Chapter 35: Night Visions
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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
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Rob McCoy found himself inside Mr. Immortal's house which was, conveniently enough, in California. Truth be told, he hadn't expected the man's living space to be so big.
The house was only a single story and had large amounts of wood flooring and random artwork, however there was quite a bit of room dedicated to the man's intellectual pursuits. The mysterious Tamer seemed to have quite possibly the largest collection of ancient scrolls that McCoy had ever seen, and they were there in front of him on display in Mr. Immortal's large library.
Maybe he did live as long as he claimed; the red-haired man thought to himself, glancing at numerous scrolls marked as 'The Trojan Cycle'. McCoy thought about that for a few seconds, letting it sink in. "Weren't all but the Iliad and the Odyssey lost?" he asked himself, remembering how he had to read the Odyssey in high school. Then he glanced at the next set, a series of scrolls that looked like they were written in some ancient language of the Middle East.
"The Book of Jashar… Interesting…"
"I found nothing." Rob turned around to see a familiar bald black man, a fellow member of the Monster Makers codenamed Babel. Along with him were a couple of cops who accompanied them to Mr. Immortal's residence. "From the looks of it, this guy was definitely a collector of antiques."
"I know. He even has lost books that I haven't seen anywhere else," Professor McCoy pointed out.
"That's interesting," Babel remarked. "I certainly hope the other team is doing better than we are, though." He was referring to the group from Saxum currently touring the Brigade Compound in the Caribbean.
"I have a feeling they're dealing with the same issues," McCoy replied.
"I hear there's some group from Echelon's Denver branch that might be setting up a way into the Digital World," the black man commented, causing the red-haired professor to turn around.
"How are they going to do that?" McCoy inquired, wary.
"I'm not sure, exactly," Babel replied, shrugging. "I know there's a quantum physicist behind it but other than that, I'm in the dark."
"Well, before going back to New York, you should stop by and look into that," the red-head suggested, curious but not holding his breath for anything. His granddaughter was in the Digital World once again, only this time she was in the flesh. He worried about her and her first time there hurt her parents badly. This time, it was even worse on them.
"Sure, I'll do that," Babel told Dolphin. He looked forward to checking out Project Gunslinger before heading back home.
###
Katarina was getting tired of all this managing already. Before going to the Digital World, she had wanted to get into a management position at Saxum, but this is making her second guess that plan. This made her normal everyday job of creating complex programs for the organization seem sane.
"So, what is the status of our efforts at searching for a way back to the human world?" the woman asked the group of Tamers in front of her, mainly consisting of Abby's team, all of which were currently stuck at the Champion Level so having them fight was out of the option.
"So far, all the teams have come up with nothing. All the TVs that led to the real world seem to have been destroyed during the Unification," Angela explained dryly, bored out of her mind. She really hated this job.
"Okay, then we'll have to continue the search, maybe even going as far as sending a team up to the orbital world eventually," Katarina told the group before turning to Robert. "Also, what's the status of the various teams of Tamers?"
"They are doing great right now, though everyone is dealing with a large patrol area," the bulky Italian-American responded. He was still reeling after the revelation of Abby being his sister, but by keeping himself busy, he had been able to push it to the back of his mind for the most part. "Thankfully the new volunteers that have been coming have helped in that regard."
Katarina was surprised. "How many do we have?"
"About two hundred showed up today," the Italian-American Tamer commented. "Yeah, we're going to have to figure out a way to manage these teams a bit better."
Katarina thought of something. "Apparently, Kyle Dibenko would like some extra recruits. We could send a few teams his way and put them under his command. At the same time, I was thinking of sending a few teams over to the Chavez Brothers' location and starting a few pacts with some of the Digimon that rule the parts beyond the former Digimon Emperor's realm."
Robert nodded.
Then they got a knock at the door. "I wonder who that is," Muchomon muttered.
Then the door burst open along with a substantial portion of the surrounding wall. On the other side was a Zudomon flanked by his partner, a grinning madman of a Tamer. "Well, what do we have here?" he asked in a peculiar accent.
Katarina was mortified. "Who let this guy in?" she asked the group, irritated.
"Oh, is that how you address the Tamer of Brazil?" he asked, raising his voice. The olive-skinned woman simply roller her eyes when she heard this boy speak. She didn't particularly like theatrical spectacles or hammy enemies.
"Okay, Tamer of Brazil, would you mind telling what it is you're doing here?" the olive-skinned woman requested, more than a little annoyed by some clown who decided to break into a management meeting. Because of that, she was glaring holes into the man's forehead.
As far as the man's looks, she could see that he was tall and not particularly handsome, with dark hair that consisted of loose curls, though slightly tighter than Antonio's. He was also broad-shouldered and incredibly muscular and from what the woman saw about the man's arms, he was surprisingly hairy. What surprised her most were the hazel eyes that stared into her soul.
"I'm here for Antonio Urrutía. He ruined my life!" the man exclaimed loudly and angrily. Katarina just continued to stare, resisting the strong urge to roll her eyes.
"He's not here right now. He left to go rescue his son from the clutches of the Digimon Queen," the olive skinned woman informed him. "Now, if you would excuse me…"
As Katarina turned away, the man grabbed her and lifted her up off the ground. She was startled by that and she could see the kids who were helping her run the Tamers' Coalition were inching toward her.
"Yeah? Well, you're going to call him lady and bring him right back here now!" he yelled in her ear.
The Greek woman was scared by the man who was holding her. She felt one arm beneath her breasts while the other was under her neck. She needed to think of something.
Then she pulled her head back and bit into the man's hairy arm hard, causing him to yelp out and let her go. After that, she barrel-rolled away. She wasn't about to let this jerk go after Antonio.
She realized at that moment that she really cared for the man and she didn't want anything bad to happen to him anymore after everything he had gone through. She needed to protect him and prevent this rogue from going after her boyfriend.
She wondered when it was that she started calling him that. Maybe it was because he was so enamored with her that when he was here, he hardly left her side. She made him happy and he was willing to do so much for her. She even pitied him when his son was kidnapped for the second time and got him a few slices of pizza from Zassomon in the cafeteria. True, he ate like a pig, something that bugged her to no end, but she was starting to realize that she really saw him as a friend, even if she didn't truly return his feelings back to him.
It was at that moment that she looked forward to talking to him again later on. They had been talking via digivice twice a day since he left for the Digimon Queen's territory just a couple days before. Now she felt a longing for him that wasn't there before. She was getting attached, even though he wasn't what she really considered attractive.
Was she developing feelings for him?
She wasn't going to let the renegade Saxum Tamer in front of her go after him. She held out her digivice and pulled out a card. One thing she never told Antonio was that she had fixed his glitch that caused Tamers to be unable to use blue cards to trigger digivolution to Ultimate. She figured it would embarrass him to no end to find out that someone else had fixed that glitch that he had looked for for so long. And to think that all it was was a badly-used pointer... The woman sighed, channeling her desire to keep him safe through a simple playing card, causing it to change into a familiar blue card. She didn't want anything else to happen to her friend Antonio after all he had been through.
"Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution Activate!" she yelled out.
MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION_
"Muchomon digivolve to… Vermillimon!" The digimon transformed into a large, pink and black-colored dinosaur.
"Everybody, get out of here right now! I'm going to try to get this battle out of the castle, but I can't guarantee your safety if you stay!" she warned the kids behind her and they all nodded before scuttling through the door behind her.
The Rogue Tamer in front of her grinned. "Playing a fire-type against a water-type, are we?" he asked, referring to Zudomon behind him.
"Maybe I am. You know, you never told me your name," Katarina told him.
"Nicolas Dos Santos," he responded, smiling in a predatory manner. He was going to get the woman to take him to Antonio Urrutía whether she liked it or not and use her as a hostage in the meantime after winning this battle.
The fat man would pay for everything.
###
Zeppelinmon flew through the clouds in the dark, fluttering over the ocean. It would be nearly a day until the airship reached the area where the Digimon Queen's castle was located and even longer until the team reached the castle itself.
Onboard, a familiar brown raccoon moved through the darkened halls, hoping to find what he was looking for. He eventually tracked the hatch along the side of the wall and glanced into it, thinking of what was inside. For his plan to work, he would have to wait until morning when they were close enough to the Queen's fortress to execute it. Until then, he would have to wait.
"What are you doing here this time of night?" the furry mammal heard overhead.
"I'm going to borrow an escape-pod later on," he responded to the airship.
"What? That is dangerous. That is very…" Zeppelinmon's objection was cut off by Prokyomon, who was determined and snapped back.
"I'm going to rescue my partner. I already failed him once and there's no way I'm going to screw up again. No way!"
The airship paused for a second before responding. "Well, you'll need me to aim you properly. There's no way I'm going to let you go without knowing where your partner is. As soon as you arrive, you're going to have to get out of the escape pod before any of the Queen's forces find you."
The raccoon was surprised. "You're not going to tell anybody, are you?" he asked.
"Not until after you leave," Zeppelinmon responded, causing the mammal's eyes to tear up in happiness.
###
Yuji wasn't sleeping well. Memories flowed through his mind whenever he woke up and his dreams haunted him.
###
"What up, Yuji?" his brother asked, standing there nonchalantly with his hands in his pockets. The boy with the long, brown hair shrugged.
"Why do you have to go to Osaka, bro?" he asked.
"I'm going to college, kid. I thought you already knew," the taller man responded. "I just thought I'd go someplace different. I'm tired of finding myself holed up in this old town, Yuj." He sat down next to his brother on the park bench and sat back, putting his hands on the back of his head.
"But, Satoshi, then we won't see each other, man," Yuji responded.
"Don't worry, kid, I'll come back. We'll have summer and winter breaks, dude," Satoshi replied, getting a bit of a smile from the kid. "Next time we see each other, we'll totally hang out, little dude."
Yuji smiled widely.
###
Finally, at about three in the morning, he got up, realizing he couldn't take it anymore, and put on some clothes. There had to be some other way of dealing with these old memories and the implications that they carried.
He walked out and headed to the airship's gym and headed straight to the treadmill. He hadn't used one before, but he knew that Antonio was spending inordinate amounts of time in that room, running, weight-lifting, whatever.
He pressed the green quick-start button and started walking at a low speed before upping it to about three miles-an-hour. He was just going to let the counter drop, even though it was set to an hour by default.
During that entire time, he thought about his brother and everything he became. He also thought about what his other self did prior to the Unification when he found out.
###
"The identity of Crimson is your brother, Satoshi," Yamaki's words in private hit the brown-haired boy like a sledgehammer, causing a massive look of shock to come across his face as his mouth dropped open. The two of them were in the conference room alone with Commandramon.
"What? Dude, heck no, man! That's totally not true!" the long-haired boy exclaimed.
"Unfortunately, we contacted a Tamer that worked with him during the D-Reaper war while in the Digital World. Apparently someone who called himself Mr. Immortal recruited him for help with a threat there."
"Uh, dude, that's totally bull!" Yuji exclaimed.
"When was the last time you heard from your brother, Yuji?" the blond man inquired.
Yuji knew the answer: before the D-Reaper invasion. It had been even longer since his brother actually visited. The goateed man kept on making excuses not to visit, mainly due to money.
"Yuji, sometimes the truth can scare us!" Commandramon exclaimed. "You have to accept it and move on!"
"Easy for you to say!" the long-haired Tamer snapped before running out of the room.
"What was it?" the cyborg reptile asked, getting narrow eyes from Yamaki.
"When humans find out something shocking, we have to take time to let it sink in." The blond adjusted his sunglasses. "The first stage of that is denial."
Commandramon didn't know that, causing him to wonder what could make him so ignorant of his partner's feelings.
###
Later, the cyborg found his partner sitting on a park bench, sulking. The long-haired boy really wanted this all to be over. He just wanted to go home and find his brother waiting for him and hates the thought of potentially having to face him.
"Hey, Yuji, I'm sorry, okay?" Commandramon told him. "I didn't mean to be so insensitive."
Yuji just sat there silently, waiting for time to pass.
"Listen, is there anything you want me to do for you?" the cyborg dinosaur asked, hoping to at least help his partner.
Yuji thought about it for a second. He needed to bury this.
"We should… I don't know; go to an amusement park or something? I need to clear my head or something." The long-haired boy got up and just as he did, his digivice started to beep. He glanced around an noticed a nearby digital field. "I know what we can do! Let's go check that out!" Yuji exclaimed, running toward the field. He didn't know what kind of enemy digimon was there, but he was going to find out.
He pushed his way into the digital field, feeling the fog rush up against his face as he entered, and grimaced as he noticed that the Ultimate-level digimon that emerged was simply an Angewomon. Nothing evil.
"Hey, my name's…"
He was cut off by the angel, who sounded positively angry. "Well, if it isn't a human, ready to kill me," she said, wrath running through her voice.
Yuji was positively stupefied. He didn't know what to do. "Uh, what?"
"You humans are an affront to the true god, Yggdrasil, who is really the one who created Digimon and the Digital World!" The digimon raised her hands. "You deserve to die!"
Yuji ran out of the way just in time for a pink energy blast to hit right where he was. He glanced over to his equally shocked but disgusted partner who looked him in the eye. The two partners nodded at each other and Yuji raised his digivice. "Digivolution Activate!"
"Commandramon digivolve to… Sealsdramon!" The cybernetic assassin proceeded to jump towards the mad angel, who merely slapped him out of the way, causing him to fall towards the , the assassin managed to turn himself so that he was feet-first and then proceeded to jump back at the enemy digimon with his knife drawn. "Death Behind!"
Angewomon again struck him, but this time, he wasn't so lucky, instead slamming into the ground. The assassin faced the angel again, despite the pain running through his body. He needed to take care of this now. Who knew how many humans this mad creature of the light planned on killing if she was allowed to get loose?
"You're pathetic," Angewomon sneered.
"No, you're the pathetic one," Sealsdramon shot back. "Humans aren't gods, nor are they trying to steal Yggdrasil's supremacy. They don't even claim to. Some even have their own god or gods."
"All the more reason to kill them, since they refuse to see his greatness and instead go after other deities!" the mad angel exclaimed.
"Well, you know what? You're a complete and utter nutcase!" Yuji exclaimed. "If your god is so great and doesn't give people a chance to see that greatness before destroying them, then he's not so great at all!"
"Blasphemy!" The angel exclaimed, raising her arms up again, this time causing the wings on her hand to expand. "Celestial Arrow!"
Yuji got out of the way just in time again. He couldn't keep this up. Eventually the angelic witch was going to hit him with her attack. But there was no way he was going to let her win.
He wasn't going to give up. "Don't give up, man! We need to stop this chick!" the long-haired boy shouted to his partner, who was still struggling to even land a hit against the angel without getting thrown back again.
Don't give up… Yuji continued to think. He wasn't going to let this chick win.
There was no way…
His digivice shone with white light, causing the Crest program of Tenacity to envelop his partner, initiating digivolution to Ultimate.
"Sealsdramon digivolve to…" The new form was a bizarre cross between a tank and a dragon, with various weapons on top of his grey, metal hid and with the turquoise wheels of a tank. "Tankdramon!"
"Tankdramon…" Yuji immediately looked up info on his partner using his digivice. "Ultimate Level, Virus Attribute, Attacks: Striver Cannon and Blast Gatling." Then he looked up info on the two attacks, his eyes widening at the description of the first one. "Whatever you do, Tankdramon, don't use the Striver Cannon!"
"Wasn't gonna. That would decimate the city, anyway!" the massive tank exclaimed. Angewomon just stood there, angry. "Hey, lady, don't you know wrath's a sin? Blast Gatling!"
The bullets penetrated the enemy digimon, covering her with numerous holes before she disintegrated into nothingness.
###
Jeri watched the clouds go by with a sad expression on her face. She didn't know what to do since she was thrust into the position of leadership by the other kids on the team, even though she didn't have a partner. She really didn't feel comfortable in that position.
She pulled out her digivice and glanced at it, seeing the static-filled screen, a grim reminder of what she lost on her last trip through the Digital World.
Then she heard footsteps, prompting her to turn around and lock eyes with Alice. The blonde girl gave the brunette an uneasy smile. "How are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm doing fine," Jeri responded with a forced smile.
The blonde frowned. "You don't look like you're fine," she replied. "You're thinking about your partner, aren't you?"
Jeri gave her a sad expression. "I… Yes, I am. I don't even feel I really belong on this team, and yet they're making me leader," the brunette told her. "My partner died the last time I was here when he was killed by a powerful digimon and absorbed by him."
Alice nodded, knowing the very feeling. A day hardly went by without her thinking about Dobermon and the sacrifice he made to bring Takato and the others the power to reach Mega in the real world. The blonde wasn't exactly partnered with the dog, however, there was a bond there and she couldn't escape the feeling of jealousy caused by receiving a new partner.
Sometimes the blonde was worried that she wouldn't be able to work with Sparrowmon on that level.
"So, how did you meet your partner?" Jeri inquired of Alice. The blonde smiled at the memory.
"I found him just a couple of days after I returned to the real world," she began.
###
Alice entered into the building, taking in the sleek design of the lobby as she walked in with her grandfather. It all smelled fresh and invigorating and she looked forward to seeing the advanced technology that Echelon had developed for monitoring the digital world. So far, though, she hadn't heard much about it.
However, things started to take a strange turn when her grandfather, Professor McCoy, was approached by one of his employees, a Latin woman with dark brown skin. "Excuse me, professor, but there's been a surprising development," she immediately told him.
"What is it?" the red-haired man inquired, his expression turning serious.
"Well, one of the Bay-Area Tamers encountered a digimon that wasn't hostile," the woman informed. Alice was surprised at that one.
"Okay, where is it?" Rob McCoy asked, hoping they didn't just delete the digimon.
"Come with me," the Latin woman replied, leading the professor and his granddaughter though the building and past various offices and laboratories and into a room that looked like a large hangar.
"What is the classification of the captured digimon?" Rob questioned.
"Sparrowmon, Champion Level, Data Attribute," the woman responded, leading the duo over to a yellow digimon that looked like a cross between a bird and a jet-plane. The digimon hovered a few meters above the ground and looked at the trio.
Alice glanced at the digimon. Something about it attracted her and she moved toward it slowly as her grandfather chatted away with the Latin woman, whose name was apparently Doctor Carmen De La Costa. The digimon lowered itself and looked at Alice in the eye.
"Hi, my name's Alice. What's yours?" she asked, putting her hand up to the digimon and feeling its cool metal surface. The digimon almost flinched, but it didn't.
"Sparrowmon," it replied in a somewhat high-pitched voice.
"So, we have no way of sending it back? Has anybody attempted to set up a working portal?" Rob asked Carmen.
"At the moment, there's a group of scientists in the Denver, Colorado area that are working on one. Unfortunately, they don't have the math right yet," Carmen explained and Rob nodded.
"So, what part of the Digital World are you from, Sparrowmon?" the blonde girl asked.
"Uh, the Western Area, Dragon Dominion," the yellow plane replied, a little nervous.
"That's interesting. I hear it's difficult over right now," the blond told the digimon, who nodded.
"The Dragon Dominion is at war right now. My village just got burned down," Sparrowmon replied, sad.
"That's terrible. I was in the digital world too just a few days ago, but I'm back here again," Alice told the digimon, sadness filling her voice.
The two talked for a while, getting to know each other. Eventually, Alice had to go. She looked at the digimon sadly. They were trying their best to get him back to the digital world, but they didn't have a way just yet.
Hopefully they could become friends in the meantime.
###
"That's a good story," Jeri told Alice with a smile.
"Thanks," the blonde replied. "I'm still trying to build up a stronger relationship with my partner, but I'm not sure what's going on."
"Well, if I were you, I would just talk to her," the brunette advised. "Conversation builds relationships."
"Thank you for your advice." The blonde then noticed Matt walking towards the two of them with a determined expression on his face. The black boy looked like he had just come up with something, probably some sort of hair-brained scheme.
"Oh, hey, Matt, how's it going?" Jeri asked.
"Not too bad, actually, just thinkin', that's all," he responded, scratching the back of his head. "What if we never went to the Coalition's headquarters and instead went straight to the Digimon Queen's castle?"
The brunette's eyes widened at that suggestion. "That's dangerous. We shouldn't do that."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, we got a couple of kids with us, but still, it's not like this Katarina chick is gonna let us go and help Antonio and his team," Matt replied, grinning and scratching his chin. "Come on, with a couple of Megas with us, we can defeat this chick in five seconds flat. Heck, I talked to Gus about it and he agreed. After all, we have the same friend that was kidnapped by that chick."
"This is too risky. We could probably discuss it in a few minutes at breakfast, but I don't the others will want to," Jeri told Matt, trying to be as reasonable as she possibly could.
"I like this idea, though," Alice said with a mischievous smile. "And besides, I met Ed while I was in the Digital World last. I kind of owe him one."
"Heck yeah! Now we just need to get Fernando to agree and maybe even Art, but I don't think he will for some reason," the black boy shot daggers in the direction of a certain curly-haired, olive-skinned boy.
###
Speaking of Art, he was doing push-ups in his room while Fernando and Patamon were busy messing around with some touch-screen gadget the Greek boy had in his digivice. "There go the piggies again. Man, who thinks up these games?"
"That game was created by some Finnish software developers, I guess. They got inspired by bird flu," the darker boy responded between sets.
"Oh, cool. Funny, this is tech out of Star Trek, only it does more!" the boy exclaimed.
"Wow, you took out more pigs," the yellow rodent on his head cheered.
"Funny, I get the feeling the rookie form of Alice's partner looks like an Angry Bird," Art joked, getting up. "Maybe it looks like the yellow one."
"You mean the fast one! That's my favorite!" Fernando exclaimed.
"Hehe, I don't know what my favorite is," Art responded. "Maybe the bomb." When he said that, they got a knock at the door and Art went over to open it.
"Hey, what up, Art?" Matt asked, wearing sunglasses that he conveniently had.
"Oh, not much, just exercising. I need to start doing push-ups again," the boy replied. "What's going on with you?"
Matt grinned. "Well, Fernando, I'm going to try to get the group to rescue your cousin," the black boy responded.
"What? Isn't that dangerous?" the brown-haired boy asked, confused as to why they would consider such a thing.
Art thought about it for a second. "I agree, it is hecka dangerous," the olive-skinned boy said with a nervous grin. "But that's definitely what I want to do."
Matt just stood there with his mouth agape. "What? Really?"
"Uh, yeah. I've got my reasons," Art responded.
"Yeah, like what?" The black boy was suspicious.
"Well, they're mine and mine alone," the olive-skinned boy replied simply.
"Come on, you've got to do better than that!" Matt exclaimed, still not buying it.
"Okay…" Art looked outside nervously, shutting the door and locking it before motioning for Matt to sit down. Art decided to sit down on the other bed in front of him and Fernando. "What I'm about to say does not go out of this room, you understand?"
"Uh, okay, dude, my lips are sealed," Matt said.
"Fernando?" Art asked the brown-haired boy.
"I already know what you're going to say," the boy said, shutting off the tablet that he was playing with. "You think I'm going to squeal?"
"No, but I don't trust Matt over here," the olive-skinned boy responded, gritting his teeth at what he was about to say. "My reason for wanting to fight the Digimon Queen is…" He paused for a second, trying to think of how he was going to word it. Then he decided to ask a question. "I know Fernie over here's got two older brothers, but do you have any siblings, Matt?"
The black boy shrugged. "Yeah, got a big sister. We don't get along, though."
"Yeah, I got two older sisters and a brother," Art mentioned nonchalantly. "And it turns out that my brother's currently being held captive by the Digimon Queen."
Matt just sat there, looking at him in disbelief. Fernando was simply surprised that the curly-haired boy would just blurt that all out.
"Yeah, right, man. You're just making all that crap up," the black boy said. "So, what's your real reason?"
"I'm bored and tired of following the rules Alexander Rinaldi subjected me to," Art said gruffly. "Besides, there's no time like the present to go and fight some witch and possibly meet some legendary Tamers along the way."
"Hehe, that's more like it!" Mat exclaimed, getting up. "Well, man, I guess we might as well get packing! Woohoo! This is going to be awesome! Nothing like an adventure, dude!"
Fernando flushed with embarrassment as the black boy left the room before turning to Art. The two friends could tell what was going through each other's' heads.
"How long did you know?" the brown-haired boy asked, curious.
"Just a few days," Art responded, his face betraying a rare display of weakness. "I just want to meet him, you know. What's he like?"
Fernando smirked. "Calm, easygoing. Kind of like your dad."
###
Antonio's night was pretty much devoid of sleep since he still had the nightmare to deal with, though he still couldn't remember what it was all about. He just laid there for a few hours as Veemon and Prokyomon slept nearby, or at least he thought the latter was there even though he had escaped through a ventilation duct.
The heavy man got up, put on some clothes, and headed out of the room. He was going to head straight for the airship's weight-room. One odd thing he was beginning to notice was how strong he had been getting. It was almost as if his muscles were healing far faster than he expected. Another thing was that his slacks seemed to be getting a little loose around his waist. The heavy man wondered what was happening, but he just attributed it to the stress he was dealing with right now. He had to face everything from his son getting kidnapped, again, and by someone far worse. At least with his ex-wife, despite her insanity he knew she wouldn't abuse Ed in certain ways that he feared the queen would.
The very thought made him shudder. He went into the weight room and spotted Yuji on the treadmill. The long-haired boy didn't seem to notice him enter and didn't pay heed when the heavy man started lifting some free-weights. Antonio tried his best not to grunt; even though the weights were the heaviest he had ever lifted. He hated it when people did that whenever he went to the gym anyway.
He wondered how he was going to get through everything. First of all, there was the whole kidnapping thing. He needed to rescue his son, and he knew that and so it was getting put into action. Second, there were his relatives in the Digital World, particularly Fernando and Ezekiel. He knew that the former was traveling with Jeri Katou's team, though he wasn't sure what to think of Art, since he had heard from the team he was traveling with that the mysterious boy was somehow connected to the second Time Lord. Plus, something about him just gave him the chills.
Third, there was his relationship with Katarina. In a lot of ways, Antonio wished he would have waited to ask her out until they had gotten back from the digital world. At the same time, he was at least glad to have her as an anchor. He could even say that he was getting attached to her, possibly even to the point of love, even though it was still too early in the relationship to say for sure. He hoped that the Greek woman felt the same way, though he had this little inkling, this fear that she didn't and that she just started dating him because she felt sorry for him or because she wanted to prove that she wasn't still in love with Mr. Immortal.
He placed all his sets on the rack after finishing his sets and headed into the men's shower room. There, he proceeded to take off his shirt and look at himself in the mirror. The truth was that, despite all the chaos and the weird nightmares, Antonio felt more energized than he had in years. Plus, from looking at himself in the mirror, he could tell he was starting to slim down, though he worried that he might end up slimming down too fast. Then he walked over to a scale that was built into Zeppelinmon's hull, stripped down to his boxers, and weighed himself.
He glanced at the scale again in disbelief. Apparently he had only lost about five pounds. For years, he had worried about his weight and for once he thought he was getting somewhere with it, but he wasn't really. Actually, he realized that what was happening was that body fat was being replaced with muscle, something that he was actually fine with.
He yawned and looked at the time on the wall. 3:30. He definitely needed to get some rest. Before that, though, he realized the need to get all the sweat off of his body, so he stripped off the rest of his clothes and walked over to the nearest shower, turning it on. Almost immediately, he felt a gush of hot water hit his skin, covering it over and washing away the sweat and worries of the day, or rather, week.
Once that was all over, he went over, grabbed his digivice, and soaked in the pool for a little bit while glancing over some programs he had on the D-Arc. He also checked his e-mail, finding a little surprise waiting for him.
He had already tried sending e-mails to the real world using his digivice, but so far his efforts had proved unsuccessful. So far, the only messages he could send were messages to people in the digital world already.
Naturally, finding an e-mail that was supposedly from his own father really took him aback. For one thing, his parents didn't have internet or even a computer. In fact, they were pretty much computer illiterate and Antonio didn't even use a computer until he started school at Palo Alto. It's got to be somebody else, he thought, opening the e-mail and reading it over.
From: Donaciano Urrutía
To: Antonio Urrutía
Subject: On Our Way
Hi, I'm heading toward the Digimon Queen's castle and I should be there a little after you guys are there to support you. Yeah. Uh, yeah, don't respond to this, okay. Yeah. Okay. Bye.
Okay, that was a little weird, the big man thought, putting the digivice on the side. What is this? The year of random relatives coming out of nowhere? He sank down into the hot water until it was just above his mouth. He thought about this whole thing. Oh, crap, you didn't have a kid, did you Sam? He couldn't think of any other explanation, unless… Please don't tell me alternate realities have something to do with this or something.
Then he remembered something that Ed had said about him being married in an alternate reality. What if that reality were to merge with this one? Would I still be married to the woman from that world? If so, then… Oh, crap, that would ruin my relationship with Kat.
"Oh, you're in here," Antonio glanced up to see Yuji, not wearing a shirt. That immediately put the big man on edge. "So, how's it hanging, old man?"
"Eh, alright…" he replied. "Just got a lot on my mind."
"Yeah? Like that hot chick from Greece?" Yuji asked, getting in the hot water on the complete opposite side of the bath. The big man still wasn't real comfortable with it. "Come on, it's so obvious something's going on between you two."
Antonio opened his mouth but stopped himself from speaking so he could think for a second. "Yeah, but I've been thinking more about my son and his predicament."
"You were thinking about all of the above, dude," the brown-haired boy said with a grin. "Come on, you're pretty dang lucky to have that chick in love with you, man."
Antonio chuckled a bit. "We just started our relationship. I'm not sure yet if it's love or not. I just kind of had a crush on her and asked her out, so she accepted, but we're still getting to know each other."
"Oh, okay, that's cool." Then the long-haired boy thought of something else. "Hey, something confused me: why weren't you guys using the same room?"
"We just started our relationship. We haven't even gone past holding hands a little yet," the big man explained. "Plus, there's a little thing in our religious beliefs that kind of prevents that."
"Ah, you guys are crazy religious peeps, huh? Me? Starcraft is my religion." The absurdity of that statement caused Antonio to laugh like he hadn't ever since his son got kidnapped the first time. "Okay, sorry if I offended you, man."
"Don't worry, you didn't offend me. I'm not that easily offended, actually," the big man explained. "Besides, I acknowledge that other people might not believe the same way I do and I accept that. I still tell them why I believe what I do if asked, though."
Yuji nodded. "Oh, okay, that works," he replied. "By the way, my brother is…"
"…One of the Triumvirate? Yeah, I kind of already know since I worked with him to help save the digital world once." Antonio smiled. "That was pretty hard for you, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, man, it's still a pain," the Japanese boy responded.
"Things like that are hard to get over. I have a brother that just screwed up and left the country a few years ago. Then there was when I left Chile without telling my parents when I was eighteen." The big man reflected on that old regret. "I can't imagine how my parents must have felt when I did that."
"Why'd you do that?" Yuji asked in confusion.
Antonio shook his head. "I… During my late teens, I went through kind of a rebellious phase and did a bunch of things my parents didn't want me to do, like join the wrestling team, ditch work at my parents' shop, go out with friends I knew they wouldn't approve of, that sort of thing. Then I applied for school in the United States to get away from my family. I guess I just… felt they were too restrictive or something, though there were a bunch of things I still held onto. I just left."
Yuji shook his head. "Reminds me of my brother when he insisted on going to Osaka for schooling even though there were a lot of closer schools. He never came back to Tokyo."
Antonio nodded. "Yeah, kind of similar, though as far as I know, your brother doesn't have a failed marriage on his hands."
"Still, man, I can't imagine how you must feel with what's been going on with Ed," the long-haired boy responded.
"It's tough. I'm coping but it's still difficult." Antonio checked his digivice again. "There's just too much going on. Don't look."
Yuji closed his eyes as the big man got out of the pool, dried off and put his clothes on. "There, you can open your eyes again."
"Hah!" the brown-haired boy scoffed at Antonio. "Come on, I've been to bathhouses in Japan, old man, so I've seen it all, unfortunately."
"Hey, I'm not old!" the big man jokingly complained with a smile. "Just turned thirty-seven last March."
"For some reason I thought you were older," the long-haired boy said.
"Nope," the heavy man smiled even wider as he left the room.
###
Vermillimon's tackle pushed Zudomon back, causing the powerful Ultimate to end up on the other side of the castle's wall. The dinosaur needed a way to get the sea creature out of the castle so that there was less of a chance of any sort of collateral damage.
Surprisingly enough, the dinosaur got some help from a surprising place. "Gargo Pellets!" Vermillimon watched as Robert's BlackGargomon shot a stream of bullets at the giant sea mammal, pushing him back a ways until he fell backwards into the moat just past the walls. Vermillimon moved his large, hulking body over to the edge to find an irate Zudomon.
"I guess it's my turn!" the digimon exclaimed before jumping out the top of the castle, altering his projectory so that he could land on the other side of the moat. The massive mammal glared at the dinosaur as he landed, preparing an attack.
"Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon shouted, bringing his hammer down and shooting an arrow of energy at Vermillimon, who took the attack head on, feeling the pain of the technique as it struck his hide.
"Is that all you've got," the dinosaur taunted before opening his mouth and unleashing a scorching blaze of red-hot flames from his mouth. "Verm Blaze!" The attack struck Zudomon, who recoiled under the extreme heat. When the attack was over, the massive walrus had blisters all over his body and his moustache had been burned off.
Zudomon didn't waste any time before attacking. "Vulcan's Hammer!" the walrus called out before unleashing an immense spark from his hammer.
"Not that again!" Vermillimon exclaimed before running out of the way just in time. He was lucky, since the attack merely grazed his massive hide instead of hitting it head-on.
But the digimon didn't expect the hammer to be heading straight for his exposed side. "Hammer Boomerang!" The attack struck him caused him to fall over on his side. Due to how his legs were, he had a hard time struggling to get up and while he did so, the walrus had already gotten his hammer back
But he had help. "Gargo Pellets!" The dinosaur looked to see Gargomon shooting at Zudomon, causing the massive sea-mammal to cover his face from the bullets. True, they couldn't pierce his hide. However, Gargomon didn't need to once Vermillimon had finally got himself off the ground.
Immediately, the large dinosaur attacked. "Volcanic Strike II!" he yelled, unleashing a volley of fireballs against the enemy digimon's chest, causing him to fall backwards as well.
"Dum Dum Upper!" BlackGargomon yelled, striking the enemy digimon with his guns and pounding him further into the ground.
"Verm Blaze!" Vermillimon shouted, giving BlackGargomon enough of a chance to get out of the way before unleashing a wave of scorching flames against the enemy digimon.
Once the flames abated, all that remained of Zudomon was a badly injured Gomamon on the ground, lying on his back.
It was over.
###
"So, what do you say? While our partners are battling, we might as well get it on," Nicolas told Katarina, who rolled her eyes.
"Sorry, I already have a boyfriend and I don't think he'd appreciate any funny business," the dark-skinned woman said with a smile.
"Boyfriend? Of course, that's back in the real world. Here you can do anything you want, baby, and nobody will know!" The South-African exclaimed, pointing at the woman. "Still, tell me where Antonio is, lady!"
"Sorry, but Antonio is currently off rescuing his son, like I said," Katarina repeated and the curly-haired Tamer charged for her.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't expect someone to trip him. "Gotcha!" Robert exclaimed as Nicolas fell face-first into the ground, right on his sunglasses. The enemy Tamer got up, fuming, his nose bloody.
"What? You little punk! You think this is funny?" the man exclaimed.
"What do you have against Antonio?" Katarina asked, on guard against the enemy in front of her and in a fighting stance. The Greek woman could see that there was quite a crowd forming around her, Nicolas and Robert, apparently hoping for a spectacle. She wasn't going to let that happen.
In reality, Katarina hated fighting and admired Antonio for always trying to find a peaceful solution. She also thought about how the man who she was dating couldn't have possibly done anything intentionally to offend the man in front of her. True, there was that time he revealed something a bit too personal about his relationship with his ex-wife, but since then, he hadn't slipped like that. She had to wonder what made him slip then, anyway.
"That whale created the policy that led to me being suspended!" Nicolas shouted, pointing again. Katarina was getting really annoyed by that gesture.
"Oh, really? And would you share with the class what that policy is, hmm?" she requested, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
"Simple, my team of Tamers didn't like an adult working among them so they ganged up on me, set up some trump charges, and had me suspended!" the enemy shouted.
Katarina was surprised. "But Antonio… You could have appealed, you know."
"I did, lady! But when I was going to go to my appeal meeting, I saw that the members of my old team that teamed up against me were there, so I left!" Nicolas informed her, grinning angrily.
"You left?" Katarina asked in disbelief. It made no sense to her. If this guy really wanted justice, then he should have attended and showed the local board of Tamers that there was no reason for him to be suspended in the first place by his behavior. He could have easily gotten everything taken care of in an afternoon. Besides, in a court of law, most of the time a defendant has to face his accusers. "That…" Katarina bit her tongue. She wasn't going to make this man any madder than he already was.
"Yeah, there's no way I'm going to be going there with those douches there! Not a chance!" Nicolas yelled.
"And you blame this on Antonio because he came up with the policy…" According to Saxum's suspension policy, there needed to be two witnesses to bring charges against someone, which was done in order to prevent just about anybody from accusing someone of conduct unbecoming a Tamer.
Just as he was about to charge again, a pair of Champion-level digimon grabbed hold of him, restraining him. "You can't do this to me!"
"Katarina, Vermillimon and BlackGargomon just defeated Zudomon," Robert told her. "You want these guys to be thrown into the dungeon?"
"Go ahead," Katarina responded.
###
Using a mirror, a comb and some scissors, Art managed to give himself a decent haircut, lowering his curly hair down to the point where it was just a little longer than Matt's, though he had far looser curls to blame for that one. After that, he cleaned up by sweeping the excess hair into a small trashcan nearby.
Once he was done with that, he used the item-storage application on his digivice to bring out the laptop that Alexander Rinaldi had gotten him during his month in Denver, pulled it out of hibernation and then brought up a DevScript app that he had been working on for a while, one that should help Jeri's team to reach Antonio's location in record time.
It was at about that time that the brunette entered into that dusty old hotel room that the curly-haired boy had called home along with Gus for the previous couple of days. Jeri had a concerned look on her face.
"You weren't at the meeting we had," she said simply.
"I already knew the turnout. We're going to the Digimon Queen's castle, aren't we?" he asked, knowing exactly what was going on. The girl nodded.
"But you should have voted. I'm sure you would have opposed it," Jeri told him.
"Listen, I actually support that decision," Art told her.
"But why?"
"My father is headed straight there while my brother is already there, kidnapped by the Digimon Queen," he explained with a straight face.
"Your father?" the girl asked with disbelief.
"Yeah, Antonio Urrutía's my dad. I can't tell him yet, though," he admitted to her utter disbelief. "Multiple realties are a pain, aren't they?"
"But…" The girl objected. "Who else knows about this?"
"My cousin, Fernando. Plus my brother's best friend, though I don't think he believed me, exactly," Art said with a chuckle. "The full name's Donaciano Arturo Urrutía, by the way?"
Jeri almost couldn't believe it. "This… You're…"
Art grinned. "No, I'm not joking. I'm the second son of the first Tamer. Like I say, alternate realities are a pain in the neck." The boy glanced at his laptop. "Any chance you can get Gustavo to come here? I need to put something in his digivice."
The brunette was still having a hard time processing everything. "That means that you, Matt, Fernando and Gustavo are all connected to Ed?"
"Uh, yeah, though I had no idea I had a brother until a few days ago." Art chuckled again. "But if that guy thinks that I'm going to let this turn me into a ball of angst, he's totally going to be disappointed."
"So, if there are multiple alternate realities, does that mean there might be one where my mom didn't die and gave me a little brother or sister?" Jeri inquired.
Art shrugged. "The existence of siblings in other worlds can get kind of hairy. I wouldn't put too much thought into it if I were you. Heck, I got two older sisters that my mom had with some dirtbag named Carlos."
"You have two sisters, huh?" Jeri inquired, sitting down on the bed.
The curly-haired boy nodded and gave the brunette a crooked smile. "Yeah... I never saw them that much since they lived in Spain and I lived in Chile, though, and I didn't really like them much, either. But Ed, on the other hand, I had no idea existed." Art got up and headed to the door with the laptop in his hands. "When are we all going to leave, anyway?"
Jeri followed him. "In an hour or two."
"Good! Cause I want to get this over with!" The curly-haired boy exclaimed.
He found the others around the pool that the Chavez brothers were cleaning out the other day, relaxing for just a couple of minutes before the next little trip they went on.
"Hey, dude, what's up?" Matt greeted as Art smiled back, though it felt a bit forced.
"Not much. Yo, Gustavo, can you come here for a bit?" the curly-haired boy requested of the blond.
"¿Qué querías que hiciera?" Gus asked, not understanding parts of what Art asked of him. What did you want me to do?
"Solo quería que vinieras acá," Art responded. "Tengo algo para tu compañero que nos podrá ayudar a ir al castillo de la Reina de Digimon un poquito más rápidamente." I only wanted you to come here. I have something for your partner that can help us go to the Digimon Queen's castle a bit faster.
The blond acquiesced, getting up and heading to where the curly-haired boy was. "I need your digivice," Art said clearly
Gus understood that part and pulled the electronic device out of his pocket. Art was a bit embarrassed that it was hot pink, but he didn't let that get to him. Instead, he sat down in a nearby lounge chair and pulled out a USB cord and connected his computer to the digivice.
After a little manipulation, he managed to put the DevScript file in the correct folder on the pink device.
"So, what's happening?" Piximon inquired, feeling a mixture of curiosity and concern.
Art smirked. "I just gave your partner a program that will double your speed every second while keeping your stamina at its maximum amount until the half-way point when it will half your speed each second instead." He then grinned evilly. "This is going to be fun!"
"What? You can do that?" Matt asked, disbelieving.
"Oh, yeah. You see, we're in a world where computer programs are reality and Digimon are basically files that contain objects. In other words, their stats are all instance variables and can be manipulated at will with the right tools, such as the digivice."
Everyone looked at him like he was nuts. Well, except for Fernando, surprisingly enough.
"In other words, when a Digimon calls an attack, he's calling a method, right?" The brown-haired boy guessed.
"More or less."
"I totally didn't understand what the heck either of you just said," Matt objected, scratching his head.
"You should pick up programming. Then you'll figure it out," Art said. "This is all pretty basic stuff. Just mild stat variable manipulation, to be honest. Check out a book on the subject from the library if you get a chance."
"Dude, I was homeless back in the digital world," the black boy told him. "Then again, I did spend a bit of time in the library, but that was just to read as many Star Wars novels as I possibly could. I guess I went on a binge or something."
"That's cool," Art told him. "So, an hour?"
Everyone nodded.
Jeri would have to let Katarina know that they weren't going to be able to make it.
###
After that busy day, Katarina was glad to be back in her room. She had just finished eating dinner and had a call to make. She was starting to like her frequent calls to Antonio. In fact, she was starting to get attached, something that surprised her especially considering her lack of physical attraction to him.
Maybe she could actually get over that... At the moment, she was definitely feeling an emotional attraction and she was starting to miss having him with her. It was definitely an unusual relationship between the two of them.
She called the man using her digivice while sitting on the bed that she was using. She greeted the heavy man with a smile. "Hello, Antonio."
"Good morning, Kat, or I guess it's actually evening for you," the man responded, smiling as well, though he didn't exactly have a good night's sleep. She found it amazing that he could smile even with everything that was going on. "Anything happen yet?"
"Well, we're sending a team to set up a third base to the south, where Jeri's team is currently. I just called Jeri and told her to leave Phillip Goddard with the team when they got there before heading here, however, I found out something strange."
"Yeah? What is it?" The man definitely sounded a bit concerned.
"Apparently most of the team voted to go and help you with the Digimon Queen," the Greek woman informed Antonio, who couldn't resist shaking his head.
"Did you tell them not to?" he asked.
"Yes, but apparently most of the team is going to go whether Jeri goes with them or not," Katarina stated. "However, they do have a Mega on their team and apparently the partner of that Art kid I told you about is immune to telepathic attacks and can project that immunity to the rest of the team."
"What's the kid's partner?" Antonio inquired, disbelieving and worried for the other team.
"Ardillamon. I never heard of it myself, so I have to guess that it's a custom digimon or something."
Antonio's eyes widened. "What? How did… That doesn't even make any sense."
"What is it?" Katarina questioned, worried.
"Ardillamon was designed by my son, Ed. It's impossible for him to have that digimon unless he designed it himself," the black-haired man informed her, really surprised. "But if it can resist telepathic attacks…" The man went over and grabbed some papers. "Oh no, that's exactly what Ed's digimon can do!"
Katarina was definitely curious. She really wished she could order this Art kid to come to headquarters, but he didn't really acknowledge her authority.
"That's impossible," the woman stated the obvious.
"Yeah, when we find him, I'll have to meet him," Antonio told her, "find out who he really is."
"You have any ideas?" Katarina asked.
"Not really. Actually, what's going through my mind, I don't like," the heavy man said.
"Oh, and speaking of things you wouldn't like, a rogue Tamer crashed a meeting I was having," the Greek woman said. "He was after you, but I dispatched him."
"What? Why?" Antonio asked, confused. "I try to be the nicest guy to everybody."
"You try, but apparently the Tamer in question didn't like some policy you set up for Saxum," Katarina informed him. "The suspension policy, to be exact."
"Yeah, that's supposed to rid the organization of any Tamers with questionable ethics," the heavy man said. "So, what did he want to do?"
"Hold me hostage. Or go out with me. I don't know why since I'm already taken." They both laughed.
"Right, I guess you are," Antonio said, not quite believing it. She accepted his invitation and he wanted to see where it went. He just hoped that with everything going on, they could actually have a good relationship. "So, dinner when I get back, Kat?"
"Sure, what would you like?" Katarina inquired, smiling widely.
"Well, since I chose last time, how about you choose this time?" he asked, giving her a dorky smile.
"Oh, since you insist… Well, there's this restaurant in France I really like…" When a shocked expression appeared on his face, she laughed. "Actually, I was thinking of checking out a nearby town with Digimon in it to see what they serve. You know, I actually made some arrangements with the leaders of some local villages."
"Oh, really, that's great!" the man exclaimed. He was happy she was actually doing a good job while he was gone, which was exactly what he had expected.
###
Finally, after a journey of two days, Zeppelinmon made its descent down to the location of the underground tunnel. The airship landed in front of the cave, a basic structure on the side of a mountain. As it descended, the Tamers onboard could see the Digimon Queen's travesty of a castle in the distance. It looked like some stereotypical supervillain lair with all the spikes jutting out.
And inside, the team realized, Ed was waiting for them.
Once the airship landed, the team of six Tamers and their partners exited the airship, which promptly devolved back into Solarmon.
"I'm glad that's over," the conglomeration of gears said, panting as his partner lifted him up.
"Now what you deserve is a nice sleep," Taizou told him. "It's a shame we have to keep on walking."
"That's alright. I'll just sleep in your arms," Solarmon told his partner. Taizou glanced around at the others. He saw Sanzomon, who had been maintaining that form for the six hours since the team entered into the Digimon Queen's territory.
"So, anything inside the tunnel?" Ayaka asked her partner as the team made their way to the subterranean path.
"I am not detecting anything, Ayaka," the monk told her in a calm voice, holding up a hand with its index finger pointing out.
"Good," Antonio responded. "I want this to be as uneventful as possible." The big man was breathing deeply. He wanted to get to the castle already and rescue his son. He was even willing to…
He hadn't told the team of his first option before fighting the Queen. He wanted to avoid violence as much as possible, only using it if there was no other choice. It was true that most likely he was going to have to face the girl and fight her partner, but he wanted to at least say that he tried diplomacy. It was part of the quality of peace, after all.
So, the team moved through the cave, following Ayaka. The blonde felt almost as if she was starting to grow into her role as temporary leader of the team. She kept telling herself that, since she knew that once they dealt with Tadashi and cured him of his brainwashing and helped him with his other problem; she fully intended to hand the leadership position back to him. It was that assurance that kept her going.
"Hey, Ayaka, is everything alright?" Taizou asked her. The blonde glanced at her friend.
"Yes, I'm fine," she responded, feeling a little nervous.
"If you need anything, let me know," he told her. "I know that Tadashi put a lot on your shoulders." They were speaking Japanese, so neither Antonio nor Abigail could understand them and they were speaking in a whisper so the others couldn't quite hear what they were saying.
"I will," the blonde replied, taking in a deep breath. She would get through this, she knew she would. She had to.
At the same time, the fact that she had Taizou to rely on really lifted her spirits.
###
Their preparations had been made and their bags packed. They were all ready.
"Well, it was good having you guys here," Pablo Chavez brothers said.
"Yeah, we'll miss you guys. Beat the Digimon Queen for us!" Pedro added. Even after a couple of days' stay, the team was still constantly getting the two of them mixed up.
"Thanks for your hospitality," Jeri told them with a smile, ready for what was going to happen next, even though she didn't want to go take on the Digimon Queen. "We'll come and visit if we're all still in the Digital World later on."
The girl glanced at the others, who were already gathered around Piximon and ready to go.
"So, basically just activate this program and Piximon will take us to where my… Uh, Antonio is located right now," Art explained to Gus in gruff Spanish.
"Oh, okay. So, it's that easy, huh?" the blond asked.
"Yeah, we should be there within a few hours. I just hope that Piximon's bubble'll be stable enough to work." The curly-haired boy gritted his teeth.
"I'm sure everything is going to be just fine!" Piximon assured him.
Art chuckled.
"So, what will you do when we're done?" Gus asked in his best English possible.
The olive-skinned boy shrugged. "I'm not sure. Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by 'done'. When we're done with this mission, uh, I guess I'll just see what the future has in store for me or something." Art chuckled. "But if you mean when we're done with dealing with the Trimvirate and the Unifications, well, that's a loaded question."
Gus nodded hurriedly. "Don't you have family?"
Art smiled. "Yeah, I guess I could go find them. It's been a long time since I've seen my parents. And then there's my brother…"
Gus immediately felt a pang of familiarity. "Your brother?" he asked, freezing up. He knew everything almost immediately and Art gestured with a finger to his mouth. They have the same smile…
"Yeah, what a surprise. I'm not an only child. I guess alternate realities can do that. Crazy complicated if I say so myself." The olive-skinned boy then lied down on the ground. "You know, I'm going to take a nap if this goes smoothly. Need to do some research."
"But what…" Gus was slightly perturbed by his new friend. "What do you mean?"
"Okay, all aboard!" Art shouted, gesturing for the entire team to gather around Piximon.
The group gathered around the pink ball of fluff as Piximon created a bubble around them. Then the bubble lifted off the ground and headed into the air, aiming straight for the Digimon Queen's palace.
The Chavez brothers watched as it left.
"You know, we should have totally gone with them. It would have been more exciting than staying here," Pablo complained.
"Oh, please. You have to be the dangerous one, don't you?" Pedro shot back. It was about then that they heard a noise in the background and turned to see a number of Mega-level digimon landing. The one in the front was a knight in red armor with white wings. There was a familiar hazard symbol on his chest too.
The two sixteen-year-olds stood with their jaws opened. "Hey, is Jeri here by chance?" a voice from inside the knight asked.
"Uh, she just left," Pablo replied, nervous and shaking visibly.
"Yeah, she and her friends…" Pedro got out before fainting.
Gallantmon Crimson Mode looked around confused. "Okay… Where'd they go, anyway?"
"To fight the Digimon Queen. I guess they kidnapped somebody that they all know," Pablo responded before fainting as well.
It wasn't often that the heroes of the D-Reaper war showed up on your doorstep.
###
A/N: Wow, it's definitely been awhile, hasn't it? Well, school's been kind of hectic and I've been needing to alter my sleep schedule, taking away from my writing time. Heh. Plus, there have been things that have been bugging me for a little while about this fic that will hopefully be rectified (the overuse of OCs, Art's storyline which I'm sure everybody saw coming and which hopefully got a decent clarification here, plus all those plot points that need resolving. Hopefully they will be real soon).
Plus, there's the edits I made to Chapters 26 to 28, lowering the amount of time Takato's team spent in that Digital World.