Digimon World Tour Chapter 32: Executive Meddling, a digimon fanfic

Digimon World Tour

Recap

[Greg] Sora was chosen to sing in this duet with Neon Hanamura, one of the newest pop acts to hit #15 on the Oricon. They proved they could be both "Friends and Lovers", and that got Matt angry. However, I had my own issues to deal with as Davis' Veemon challenged my Veemon to a fight at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. ExVeemon might've outclassed Veedramon, but not before tearing up the ceiling. When Commander Sampson found out, he was really steamed! Luckily for us, Parrotmon flew in and the Digimon worked together to roast the bird. Davis ended up losing his dignity and his cargo pants. As for Neon, it turned out he was trying to have his way with poor Sora. Typical celebrities misbehaving. So, Matt painted his little red wagon with a Tom Petty cover and a pretty mean right hook!

Chapter 32: Executive Meddling

Matt

The day after our concert in Birmingham, we took a plane to Düsseldorf, Germany. On the ride there, I did a lot of thinking. Fame had done a lot to us, and for us. I would've never dreamed of visiting as many places as I had if it wasn't for this band. We'd gotten a chance to learn so much about other countries and about ourselves.

We checked in at the Hotel Nikko Dusseldorf, this four-star hotel that felt like our native Japan. The staff had been following our success and treated us like royalty. One of the attendants had even been at my band's Christmas Eve 2011 concert. I said I was sorry for what happened, and that it was completely out of my control. At least he still liked our music.

After I settled in my room and let Gabumon out of his Digivice to stretch his legs a little, I got a phone call. I picked it up. "Hello?" "Yamato, this is Commander Sampson." "Commander. What's up?" "Well, it relates to your group. It seems Sony Music Japan has transferred your band to Sony Music Entertainment. RCA Records, to be exact." "All right. So, we got a promotion. Cool." "Right. I've penciled you in for a meeting with them at 2:00 PM this afternoon. They'll meet you at your hotel's conference room, and they've promised to keep it inconspicuous." "All right."

Sampson paused for a second. "Yamato, you don't seem too excited about this." "Boy, how'd you figure that out so fast? I've been doing a lot of thinking, and this isn't what I signed up for. I know I should be happy, but the mission seems to get in the way. It's a lot of responsibility I wasn't prepared to take. You know what I mean?" "Yes, but don't forget. Your band is a successful cover operation to protect two worlds. You should be glad it's being handled this way. I shudder to think what would happen if the world used its military forces to fight these Digimon." "Eh, maybe you're right. I'll be there at two. Thanks." "Of course. Stay strong, Yamato." I hung up, then called the gang together.

Greg

Matt gathered us for a meeting in the conference room. We had to use a number of back entrances to avoid the public, but it worked. Inside, a group of men were sitting on one side of a long table. Most of them I didn't know, but I did recognize one of them. It was Justin Timberlake, one of the former lead singers of N'Sync. When Kari saw him, she screamed like a little girl. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Then, she rushed over to Justin and hugged him. You'd think she had just spotted Mickey Mouse at Tokyo Disneyland.

Marcus, however, was not impressed. "Hold it. What's going on here? What does this pretty boy here want?" he asked, referring to Timberlake. The RCA rep didn't look impressed. "Mr. Damon, sit down. We'll get this meeting underway quickly." Everyone sat down, with Kari sitting directly across from Mr. Timberlake. T.K. sat down next to her, just to keep her focus on him.

The RCA rep cleared his throat and began. "All right. Now, RCA Records has done a careful analysis of your first album, and all the tracks from said first label. Our records indicate that the original songs have had higher sales than the covers. In addition, We've been looking over the second album and have noticed an intense lack of original material. We've decided not to release 'D.T.R.' until we get some new material written for it. New original material."

"Come on, man. Plain English. What do you want from us?" Marcus shouted. At that point, Mr. Timberlake spoke up. "Just settle down there. Simmer down, ya know? Chillax. Now, the reason I'm here is 'cause I want to welcome you to the RCA Records family. I think with us, you're gonna go far." "Ha! And what do you know about alternative rock, you trained monkey? You former boy band member." Justin snorted. "Please, get over yourself. Your sound may be alternative, but your lyrics are clearly pop. I should know, I've been trying to redefine myself."

Marcus stood up from his chair and slammed his hands on the table. "Quiet, pretty boy! Now I'm the drummer around these parts, and I'll be damned if I let the label or some hot shot like you define our sound! You hear me!?" Matt stood up and pushed Marcus back into his chair, which didn't work. Marcus only resisted, one thing led to another, and soon Matt and Marcus were on the floor punching at each other. Some of the RCA representatives were shocked and appalled. Kari hid behind Justin, who hid behind T.K.

T.K. looked at Justin strangely, then decided to split the two up. "That's enough!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Sure enough, they stopped. "I hope you all realize who you're fighting in front of. This could ruin our careers! I'm not willing to just stand by and suffer the consequences for what you two are doing. Now knock it off!" And seemingly right on cue, Matt got up and helped Marcus up on his feet. "Dang," Justin remarked. Then, he whistled. Even his whistling sounded like it could make the Top 40.

After everyone had settled down, the representatives let us listen to a demo of a song they wanted us to record. "This is written by Adam Levine, Benny Blanco, and Shellback. They're with another label, but we bought this song off of them exclusively for you," the RCA rep said. The song was named "Animals" and was pretty catchy, but not us. We listened to it, and I was the first to give my opinion. "Hmm... it's got a good beat and you can dance to it, but I don't think that's our sound. We're just not the flashmob hip-hop dance type of group." "Yeah, throw this back to Maroon 5," Rika suggested. "It sucks," Marcus flat out stated. "I like it," Justin said, only to be met with an angry glare by Marcus. "Nobody asked you, pretty boy." "Hey, dude, stop calling me that." "Make me!" Marcus stuck out his tongue at him.

We listened to a few demos and only agreed on one. It was called "It Was Always You". Unfortunately, we had to record both that and "Animals", but we could decide to move one to the third album. We decided to save "Animals" for the next album, but release "It Was Always You" as a single immediately once the album was released. We signed a few papers, exchanged some phone numbers, and Marcus even halfheartedly apologized to Justin.

We discussed what had just happened in Matt's room. "I can't believe I was in the same room with Justin Timberlake," Kari sighed. "Gimme a break, it's not like he did anything," Rika said, rolling her eyes. Marcus kept punching his fist in his palm. "Hmmm... what really gets me is the fact that we've got all these fancy-pants executives telling us how to do our job." "Music executives are a necessary evil," Thomas noted. Once again, it was up to Matt to get the group together. "Guys, I'm ashamed of some of you. Marcus, you had no right intimidating Mr. Timberlake like that. Geez, can't you behave for once? What's RCA gonna think with you fighting with everyone?"

Marcus just turned with his arms crossed. "Why should you care? Unless you're one of them." "This is my band, and don't you forget it! You should be glad you weren't fired. Then we'd be one team member short." "You really think they'd send me home? I'm the drummer!"

"I can play drums as well, Marcus. Just admit it, you're expendable," Thomas pointed out. "I'm what!?" "Expendable, disposable, replaceable, superfluous." "I don't know what that last word means, but it's fightin' time!" But before Marcus could get a good swing at Thomas, Matt got in between the two and took the blow from his fist right to the face. Rika grabbed our punch-happy hero by the hair and non-verbally set him straight. Since Marcus wouldn't punch a girl to save his life, he settled down.

RCA really wanted us to record those two songs right away, so they canceled our tour stops in Düsseldorf, Brussels, and Rotterdam. So, we reluctantly flew back to London the night of the 18th and took the weekend off out of protest. We spent the label's money like there was no tomorrow. We went to the London Zoo, we rode the London Eye a few times, we even got deluxe backstage passes to Les Misérables. We did everything in one short weekend. We just felt free to blow RCA's money, not doing anything about it. If they were going to manipulate us, we figured we'd better get something out of it.

We reported right back to Abbey Road Studios on the 22nd, like the obedient recording artists the label wanted us to be. We were rested, recharged, and ready to go. All we had to record were the two songs, do some mixing, and then okay any remixes the label and Mr. Oakenfold wanted to do. While Mr. Oakenfold was remixing, we kept Marcus out of the studio by sending him out to buy himself a shillelagh and sit in on a few Irish stick-fighting classes. "That'll take the edge off him," T.K. noted in a perfect deadpan.

Marcus

I bought a shillelagh, but I really couldn't get into the stick-fighting classes. I was thinking too much about what Thomas had said about me. Stupid Norstein, always thinks he's so better than everyone else just because he's rich and talented. He's just like that Justin Timberlake guy.

I kept walking the sidewalks of London with my shillelagh, thinking. The only things I'd ever been good at in my entire life were fighting and playing the drums. I never really thought our family was middle class. We're more lower-middle class, but at least we were, and are, happy. Dad played drums in a band when I was just a little kid, just so he could earn some extra money for us. Sometimes, on the weekends, Mom, Kristy, and I would go to the club to watch Dad warm up. I got behind the drums and started fooling around with them. It turned out I was pretty good, so Dad taught me himself. I remembered one of the things he said to me as I was learning. "The most important thing to know, Marcus, is that everything in life has rhythm. What you have to do is figure out where you fit in that rhythm, and where you can add to that."

I also had to think about why we were really here. This band was just a cover. The real reason we're all together is because we have a world we have to protect. Our world. As I saw all those innocent people running away, I couldn't help but think that any one of them could've been Mom, or Kristy, or even Dad. I had no right letting my ego get the better of me. So, I turned around and started walking back to the studio.

Veemon

Greg and the others were busy with their album, so we spent a lot of time inside our Digivices. I used some of that time to think about the battle we had with Davis' Veemon. I mean, he was just like me, except he had a different Digivolution path and a lisp. I reviewed some of their battle footage carefully. It seemed like he and Davis had a special connection, one that I thought was stronger than Greg's and mine.

Then, I thought that might be happening to the other Digimon. We don't spend a lot of time with our partners outside of fights. So, I did what I had to do and sent a message to Greg via his Digivice. About 15 minutes later, he realized me into a private room at Abbey Road. "Veemon, you could not have chosen a worse time to want to talk to me. We were listening to the album, and who knows what that crazy executive wants us to do," Greg complained. I stood firmly. "This is more important than your silly little album, Greg. I've been thinking about us." "All right, and what's your conclusion?" "Call me crazy, but I think you and I don't have that strong of a friendship. Not like the kind Davis and his Veemon have."

"Really? Now you're going to compare me to Davis? Wow." "I mean it. I know you're busy, but sometimes I can't help but think you're avoiding me. Maybe the other Digimon feel the same way, I dunno." "Veemon, you don't understand. The fact you and I are partners hasn't slipped my mind. Are you not getting out of the Digivice enough?" "Yeah, there's that. Look at Gaomon, he's an engineer." "Do you know anything about music?" I had to think about that. "...Well, no, but I know what I like." Greg laughed. "All right. Now, what's this really all about?" "I just want to know if we're still friends, and if we'll ever have the same bond the others do." "Well of course we will. I had to take a boatload of tests. Personality tests, psychological tests, all kinds of tests. You name it, I had to take it. The results of all those tests led to one Digimon." He knelt down to my side. "Me?" I asked. He nodded with a smile. "And when I said I'd trade you for a Pikachu, it was only to make sure Davis wasn't upset. If they were to make me the same offer now, I'd say 'Forget about it'. I love you, man." The two of us hugged. "Aww, you're melting my heart. I love you, too." After we broke out of our hug, we both looked around to make sure nobody had heard what we said, and then hugged again.

"Hey... I don't think they'll be finished for at least another 30 minutes. Want to mess around in an empty recording studio?" Greg asked. "Sure!" So, we looked for an empty studio and found one.

["I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"

Written by Charlie and Craig Reid

Performed by Greg Logan (Doug Erholtz) and Veemon (Derek Stephen Prince)]

Greg and Veemon go into another studio, where the human turns on an instrumental backing track on a CD player. He gives Veemon a small bass guitar while he picks up a tambourine. One thing to note, Greg and Veemon make no attempt here to copy the Scottish accents.

Greg:

When I wake up, well, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you
When I go out, yeah, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you

Veemon joins in.

Greg/Veemon:

If I get drunk, well, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you
And if I haver, hey, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's havering to you

But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

Greg:

When I'm working

Greg/Veemon:

yes, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's working hard for you
And when the money comes in for the work I do
I'll pass almost every penny on to you

When I come home (Veemon: When I come home), oh, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you
And if I grow old, well, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's growing old with you

Greg is hard at work pounding his tambourine as the two go dancing around the studio.

Greg/Veemon

But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

Da lat da (Veemon: Da lat da), da lat da ( Veemon: Da lat da)
Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da
Da lat da (Veemon: Da lat da), da lat da ( Veemon: Da lat da)
Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da

They settle down for a second as they come to the third verse.

Greg:

When I'm lonely, well, I know I'm gonna be

I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you

Veemon:

And when I'm dreaming, well, I know I'm gonna dream

I'm gonna dream about the time when I'm with you

Greg/Veemon:

When I go out (Veemon: When I go out), well, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you
And when I come home (Veemon: When I come home), yes, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who comes back home with you

Veemon:

I'm gonna be the mon who's coming home with you

Greg, impressed at that word play, gives a thumbs up.

Greg/Veemon:

But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

Da lat da (Veemon: Da lat da), da lat da ( Veemon: Da lat da)
Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da (Greg: Hey)
Da lat da (Veemon: Da lat da), da lat da ( Veemon: Da lat da)
Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da

Da lat da (Veemon: Da lat da), da lat da ( Veemon: Da lat da)
Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da (Greg: Yeah)
Da lat da (Veemon: Da lat da), da lat da ( Veemon: Da lat da)
Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da

And I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

After the song is over, there is high-fiving and fistbumping all around. Unfortunately, sitting in at the engineer's side of the studio is the rest of the band and the RCA executive. Veemon nervously gulps. "Busted," he croaks.

T.K.

The RCA executive's eyes bugged out of his head. "Wha-what is that... thing?" he stammered. Veemon nervously laughed, then decided to play it all off like it was nothing. He put away the bass guitar and approached him. "Eh, nice to meet you. My name's Veemon, but you can call me Veemon," he said, eagerly shaking the executive's hand. "Eh... charmed. You still haven't answered my question. What are you?"

"Didn't Mr. Sampson tell you? He's a Digimon, a Digital Monster," I replied. "A Digital... M-Monster?" "Uh huh. We're actually agents from the Digital Accident Tactics Squad, sent to investigate several evil Digimon appearances. The Bagra Army is out there trying to take over this world, and we're the last line of defense." "I... had no idea. Wait a minute, this is all just an illusion. I must be seeing things."

"Well of course you must be seeing things, otherwise you'd be blind," Veemon cheerfully said. "Pssst... you're not helping," Greg hissed as he took his partner back to safety. At that point, Matt rushed out of the room with his cell phone in his hand. We ended up explaining the whole thing to him. After all, why hide it from him anymore?

Greg

A few minutes later, Matt came back. He passed the cell phone to the executive. "It's for you." The exec took the call in another room, and Matt turned his attention to me. "How could you be so careless, Greg?" he wanted to know. "Me? Careless? It was Veemon's idea," I said, pointing to him. "Hey!" my partner shot back.

Matt went on, "We can't afford to take risks like this. We've been awfully lucky so far, but our luck could run out." "You have to think about it this way, Matt. Yes, we have been lucky, but the world is getting smarter. So far, the Bagra Army has followed us all the way through Europe. Everywhere we've been, we've trashed something trying to protect this world. Now, Veemon was worried-"

Veemon cut me off. "I can finish, Greg. Let me handle this. I was worried about Greg's and my bond not being as strong as yours and your Digimon's. If you're gonna pin the blame on anybody, let it be me." Matt pursed his lips, thinking. "OK. But don't let it happen again, all right?" Veemon saluted. "You got it!" "By the way, has anyone seen Marcus?" I asked.

Marcus

I continued walking down the sidewalk when I saw something fly by my foot. I ended up stepping on it, and my shoes didn't make the sound they usually made. "Huh?" I turned around and walked back to what I had stepped on. It was a pink pile of crap. I took off my shoe and smelled the bottom of it. Ugh! It smelled just like crap. I put my shoe back on and then looked for where it came from. I didn't have to look far because another pink turd hit me right on my shirt, then on my pants, and then on my face!

I wiped it away and growled, then quickly found where it was coming from. It was a snickering pink thing in a garbage can up in an alley. I switched my Digivice to normal mode and looked it up. "He picked the wrong day to mess with me... 'Garbagemon, an Ultimate-level Mutant Digimon. Until now garbage Digimon were said to be the absolute weakest, but with the arrival of Garbagemon, that conventional wisdom will probably be reversed.' Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'He wields a bazooka constructed from empty cans fastened together.' Huh... really crappy technology. No wonder he shoots out crap."

"And there's plen'y mawer where what came from!" Garbagemon bragged. I had just enough of him, so I dropped my stick and started running towards him, charging up the DigiSoul in my fists. I finally reached him and started pounding away. The way I figured it, I didn't need Agumon's help to take care of this guy. Boy, was I wrong. I couldn't make any dents in the can with my fists. All my DigiSoul did was cushion the blow on my knuckles from all that metal. "What is this, stainless steel?" I angrily wondered. "Blend ov carbonado an' Obsidian Digizoid, ter give i' a keen sharpness. I wouldn't punch an' all 'ard, mate." "Oh yeah? Well how about this?!" I punched him in the face and knocked him down.

After a few seconds, he bounced back up, can and all. "Boy, yer not a typical 'uman, are you? Like ter fight, don't you? Know what I mean?" he asked. I wiped some more crap away from my nose. "Oh yeah, you could say that." He aimed his bazooka at me. "All right, let's see 'ow yew like dis! Junk Chunker!" He fired another pink turd at my face, but this one was supercharged. The smell completely overpowered me. "Ahhhh!" Then, his crap hit me all over my body. I struggled to stay up. "Lor' luv a duck! Boy, yew really do stink! Thee're gonna be shaaahrin' fer weeks, yew will." I wiped the turds away from my face again and cleared some more off my Digivice.

"All right, that's enough! Time to bring out the real firepower. Agumon... realize!" Within seconds, Agumon was out and ready to go. First, he sniffed the air carefully. "Boss, you smell terrible!" "Yesssssss, I know. We've got an Ultimate-level Cockney speaking trash can who needs to be dumped," I said.

Garbagemon reloaded his gun. "Oh, I'm so impressed. Took yew all day ter fnk ov that, didn't it?" I decided not to waste any more breath on this guy and only shouted, "It's fightin' time!" Then, we walked all the way back up to the sidewalk. I ignited my DigiSoul all the way and got in position. So did Agumon.

"DigiSoul… Full, CHARGE!"

"Agumon Warp Digivolve to... RizeGreymon!"

I went back to pick up my shillelagh, which would now have to be washed. Oh well, I never needed it anyway. The two Digimon started fighting, and they put up a pretty even fight for about five minutes. Then, RizeGreymon laid down the pain. "Trident Revolver!" Those three bullets spun around and exploded on contact with Garbagemon. My partner used a Solid Strike on him just to be sure. That trash-talking trash can became a DigiEgg. I raised my fist and cheered. "Yeah!"

When he was finished, RizeGreymon smelled his gun. "Uh, Boss? You're gonna need a fire truck or something to clean me off." "Eh, don't show your ignorance. Just get back inside the Digivice before somebody sees you, all right?" "OK." I held up my arm and sent him back into the Digivice, then walked back to the studio with my shillelagh, whistling.

I made it back to Abbey Road and walked through the complex to my studio. People were taking notice of my, er, unique aroma. But I didn't care. Agumon and I had just crushed a Digimon by ourselves. I had swagger.

I arrived at my studio with a grin on my face. "'Sup, guys?" The others just sniffed the air, then T.K. and Kari covered their noses. "Marcus! What on Earth did you do to smell like that?" Thomas asked while scrambling to look for a window. "I think he took a tour of a sewage plant, and fell in the sewage," Greg quipped while holding his nose. Veemon tried giving his opinion. "He smells just like sh-" Greg quickly covered his partner's mouth. "Veemon! Watch your language!" Veemon broke free. "But he does!"

"It's a long story," I finally said. I got sent back to the hotel, where I took a long shower. I swear, I must've used the whole bottle of body wash. After I finished and changed clothes, I called up room service. "Hello? Yeah, this is Marcus Damon, Knightsbridge Suite number seven. I just took a long shower, and I think my bathroom needs to be disinfected. … Yeah, that was me with the pink sludge. Long story. …. Yeah, you're gonna need air masks for this one. I'll even throw in fifty quid, alright? …. Good. Thanks a lot." Later, I took a taxi back up to Abbey Road. The guys were glad I was smelling better.

Greg

The RCA executive was so hopped up on this "Animals" song, he'd even written an outline out for our music video.

["Animals"

Written by Adam Levine, Karl Johan Schuster, and Benjamin Levin

Performed by The Teenage Wolves

Lead Singer: Takeru "T.K." Takaishi (Michael Cunio)

Wolf Howl by WereGarurumon (Kirk Thornton)

Choreography by Nadine "Hi-Hat" Ruffin]

We start with an aerial shot of the London Zoo. Then, we zoom in to just in front of the wolf enclosure. T.K., dressed in comfortable and contemporary street clothes, busts a few moves while lip-synching the lyrics.

T.K.:
Baby I'm preying on you tonight
Hunt you down, eat you alive
Just like animals, animals
like animals-mals
So maybe you think that you can hide,
I can smell your scent from miles
Just like animals, animals
Like animals-mals, so baby I'm..

We see footage from National Geographic wildlife documentaries, mostly profiling the behaviors of wolves in the wild. This is interspersed with shots of Marcus, Thomas, and Matt looking particularly ready to kill (with the record executives as likely prey).

T.K.: (VO)
So whatcha' trying to do to me?
It's like we can't stop, we're enemies
Though we get along when I'm inside you, yeah
You're like a drug, that's killing me
I cut you out entirely, but I get so high when I'm inside you

Yeah, you can start over, you can run free
You can find other fish in the sea
You can pretend it's meant to be, but you can't stay away from me
I can still hear you making that sound, taking me down, rolling on the ground
You can pretend that it was me, but no..
Oh!

Baby I'm preying on you tonight
Hunt you down, eat you alive
Just like animals, animals
Like animals-mals
So maybe you think that you can hide,
I can smell your scent from miles
Just like animals, animals
Like animals-mals, so baby I'm..

So if I run, it's not enough
You're still in my head, forever stuck
So you can do what you wanna do, yeah
I love your lies, I'll eat 'em up
But don't deny the animal that comes alive when I'm inside you

In a large area outside at the London Zoo, T.K. leads Kari, Rika, Anya, Greg, and a group of local dancers in an inspired dance. This dance actually comes from the 2015 Kia Soul commercial. (All these instructions come from Hi-Hat's tutorial found on YouTube.) You start with your right shoulder down and your right foot out, balling your fists. Then, tap in two times and do the opposite, tapping in two times again. Then, run it out, going left and right. This is followed by running forward, left and then right. Then, scoot your hands forward with your right leg out (and your flat palm facing forward), and then the other way. Then, scoot in with the palms of your hands down (like paws) and slide it out (with your shoulders going right, left, right, left). Then, pump it forward with your shoulders and your knees; popping it out two times. Then, step with your left back and your right forward. Step left-right, and bring it back together. Lather, rinse, repeat.

T.K.:
Baby I'm preying on you tonight
Hunt you down, eat you alive
Just like animals, animals
Like animals-mals
So maybe you think that you can hide,
I can smell your scent from miles
Just like animals, animals
Like animals-mals, so baby I'm..

Don't tell no lie - lie, lie, lie
You can't deny - ny, ny, ny
The beast inside - side, side, side
Yeah, yeah, yeah
No girl don't lie - lie , lie , lie (no girl don't lie)
You can't deny - ny, ny , ny (you cannot deny)
The beast inside - side, side , side
Yeah, yeah, yeah!

We get closeups of some of the dancers, which quickly flash back to footage of the ferocious wolves.

T.K.:

Yo!

Whoa oh oh

Whoa oh oh oh

(Just like animals, animals, like animals-mals )

Matt lets out a lip-synched wolf howl, then we cut back to the dancers dancing in front of a green screen showing the wildlife documentary.

(WereGarurumon: (VO) Aroooooooooooooooooooooo!)

T.K.
Baby I'm preying on you tonight
Hunt you down, eat you alive
Just like animals, animals
Like animals-mals
So maybe you think that you can hide,
I can smell your scent from miles
Just like animals, animals
Like animals-mals, so baby I'm..

Don't tell no lie - lie, lie, lie
You can't deny - ny, ny, ny
The beast inside - side, side, side
Yeah, yeah, yeah
No girl don't lie - lie, lie, lie (no girl don't lie)
You can't deny - ny, ny, ny (you cannot deny)
The beast inside - side, side, side
Yeah, yeah, yeah!

When the song ends, Matt motions for the other members of the band to join him in leaving. The dancers go their separate ways. Fade to black.

Greg

We were stunned and amazed at what had come from this record executive's brain and mouth. "I think you've escaped from the funny farm," Matt finally said. "I like it," Kari gently disagreed. T.K. slowly nodded his head in agreement.

It came down to a vote. "How many of you want to shoot a music video for this song the way this guy's described it?" Matt asked. Kari, Anya, the executive, and T.K. raised their hands. "Anyone opposed?" The rest of us raised our hands. I think Marcus said it best when he waved his shillelagh and shouted "Executive meddling sucks!"

That only got the executive angry. "You blasted kids! I've worked with some difficult bands, but you take the cake!" "And we'll eat it, too," Rika added. The executive walked out in a huff, came back to pick up his suitcase, then left again.

In the Bagra Army's headquarters, Lord Bagra thinks long and hard about what he's done. "Hmm... so even Garbagemon has failed. Oh well, at least that stupid cop disguise I gave him made him a good spy. Drastic times call for drastic measures. Tactimon!" In an instant, Tactimon appears. "You called for me, sir?" he asks, bowing. "Yes... the time has come. I recall you asking me to remove the seal on your Sword of Storms. Well, that's what I'm going to do." "Splendid, sir. Finally, we'll be able to remove ourselves of those pesky DigiDestined once and for all!" Tactimon gives him the sealed sword and Lord Bagra works his magic on it, removing the seal.

Author's Notes:

You can download Maroon 5's "Animals" now for free at [slash] 1tjs1R5.

Inspiration for the "Animals" music video came from the first music video for Talk Talk's "It's My Life". It consists almost entirely of footage from wildlife documentaries, interspersed with shots of Talk Talk lead singer Mark Hollis standing in the midst of London Zoo, with his mouth pointedly shut tight and often obscured by hand-drawn animated lines.

The reason I canceled the stops in Düsseldorf, Brussels, and Rotterdam was because I wanted to move the story along. I was going to have the band appear on the original Dutch version of Deal or No Deal, but I haven't seen any full episodes on YouTube.

The next chapter's going to be big. You won't want to miss it.