Author's Note: To the few who may still be following this story, I deeply apologize for yet another long delay getting a new chapter up. What happened this time was I got blocked on how exactly to end this latest chapter, and while I was trying to figure it out, someone who's been helping me with another project bombarded me with ideas and suggestions for said project. Before I knew it, this other project was the only thing I could think about for a while. So I turned my attention to that other project for a time until I got stuck on that one, and by this point it was very hard to get back to this story again. Well, hopefully this time things will be different.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
Chapter 10: Nightfall
The afternoon was starting to fade to dusk as the two Digidestined teams currently in Japan met up in Izzy's office. The unexpected battle against CountMyotismon had only happened hours ago. Gankoomon and Gennai were also present for the meeting, but this time around Toya was absent. After everything that happened earlier, everyone had thought it best Toya take the rest of the day to rest. Once everyone had gathered, Yolei and Cody recounted everything that happened in the temple.
"Well, there is some good news to bear in mind here," Arthur began once Cody and Yolei finished their recap. "For one thing, CountMyotismon is finally no more."
"Hold it! Are we sure he's really dead?" Gwen asked. "I mean this is like the fourth time he's been killed, right? Artemis, Cindy, did you guys find a body?"
"Gwen, Digimon don't exactly leave behind corpses," Cindy pointed out.
"I'm pretty sure CountMyotismon's death will stick this time," Yolei declared. "Whatever attack Kotaro's Digimon used on him seemed to do a lot of damage. He probably burned to digital ash before he even hit the ground."
"Right. I choose to think positively and believe CountMyotismon is finally dead," Arthur decided.
Gwen crossed his arms. "Fine. But if he comes back from the dead again, I'm going to give you all an 'I told you so' that'll go down in the history books."
Arthur took a breath to compose himself. "Anyway, the other bit of good news is we finally know what power is behind Meiko."
"And knowing is half the battle, right bro?" Johnny added.
"Indeed, my old friend. So perhaps Old Gennai and Gankoomon can enlighten us on this GranDracmon."
"What we know only comes from myth, so I don't know if it'll actually be helpful," Gennai told them. "But it's said GranDracmon is an evil Digimon from the very oldest days of the Digital World. He was around even before ENIAC met his end. According to the legends, GranDracmon committed a crime against the gods of the Digital World, and for his actions he was cast out."
"Did they banish him to the Dark Ocean?" Ken asked.
"It is likely, but we cannot say for certain," Gankoomon answered. "We are talking about something that happened long before even my time. It is said though that GranDracmon was sealed away by ENIAC himself."
Jason adjusted his glasses. "Unfortunately knowing who's behind Meiko doesn't really help us."
"Good point. Especially if he's holed up in the Dark Ocean," Tai added. "He's in the one place where we can't get to him."
"So we gotta get the guy to come to us," Johnny assumed.
"He can't come to us if he's sealed away," Jason pointed out.
"Is he really sealed away though?" Matt asked. "What if this GranDracmon is coming after us now because the seal keeping him in the Dark Ocean has been broken? Maybe it broke when Lucemon escaped."
Gankoomon pounded the coffee table in Izzy's office with his fist. "This discussion of GranDracmon is pointless! Right now we should be focusing on his pawn, the Child of Darkness."
"I'm inclined to agree," Izzy interjected. "We can worry about GranDracmon another time. Right now Meiko is the more immediate threat."
"You and Jason have any luck finding her?" Tai asked.
Jason sighed. "Wherever she's hiding, it's totally off the grid. Then again, maybe we're having such a hard time locating her because she'd hiding in the Digital World."
"She could even be in the Dark Ocean for all we know," Izzy added.
Tai groaned in frustration. "We're not getting anywhere here. Maybe we should call it a night and start fresh in the morning."
Cody nodded. "Seems like a good idea to me. Right now we're just wasting our energy. I hate to say it, but our only option might before to wait for Meiko to make the next move."
"It'd be nice if we at least had a little more firepower for when Meiko shows up again," Artemis pointed out. "Last time we fought her we were almost killed."
"Ken, did you contact Davis?" Matt asked.
Ken nodded. "I finally got in touch with him last night and told him about everything that's going on. Unfortunately it'll be a few days before he can get here."
"I contacted Mimi in America as well," Izzy revealed. "Unfortunately it doesn't look like she and Joe won't be able to get here soon enough to help us."
Tai sighed. "It's just like I was saying before, a lot of us just can't drop everything else in our lives to save the world anymore."
"At least we have Kotaro and Toya to help back us up," Matt pointed out.
"Yeah, but I don't think Toya and Hackmon are really in a place to actually help us out yet," Cody pointed out.
Gankoomon crossed his arms. "Unfortunately I am inclined to agree. They took a big step forward with today's battle, but their training is not yet finished."
"And as for Kotaro, we should keep that little punk out of this," Yolei declared. "The kid's completely reckless! Plus there's his whole attitude! We don't need help from someone like him!"
"I couldn't agree with you more," Kari told her.
T.K. nodded. "We should keep Kotaro as far away from Norn as possible."
Arthur sighed. "Before I was willing to give young Kotaro the benefit of the doubt, but after his actions today I'm inclined to agree. Kotaro is more of a danger than an ally."
"Hey, he took down CountMyotismon," Matt pointed out. "Doesn't that count for anything?"
"It's the way he did it that's the problem," Tai argued. "I called it from the beginning, that kid's trouble."
"I think you're all misjudging Kotaro," Sora told them. "Matt and I met him the other day. Maybe he is a little harsh at times, but he seems like a really good kid."
"You wouldn't think so if you saw him in today's battle," Yolei told her. "You know his mom was in a biker gang."
"Oh, that doesn't surprise me a bit," Kari responded.
Matt rose from his chair. "I don't think any of you are being fair to Kotaro. Tai, T.K., Kari, you guys are all looking at Kotaro like he's another Davis. And as for today's battle, I'm not gonna defend all of his actions, but he did beat CountMyotismon."
"Maybe, but I'm pretty tempted to pop this kid in the face for the way he disrespected Yolei," Ken declared.
"Well maybe he's disrespecting us because we're all disrespecting him! None of you are even giving the kid a chance!"
"He had his chance today and he blew it!" Tai responded as he stood up.
The air inside the room became electrified with tension as Tai and Matt glared at one another. It seemed a little like the two might come to blows.
Cindy smiled and clapped her hands. "Okay! I think we all need to call it a day."
"She's right," Artemis agreed as she put a hand on her wife's shoulder. "Let's all just put a pin in this conversation before some of us do something stupid."
Arthur sighed as he removed his glasses and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "I couldn't agree more. Clearly we're all tired."
Matt rubbed the back of his head. "Fine, but I should mention one thing. Kotaro's biggest concern right now is making sure Norn's safe."
"Then he should show better judgment," Arthur responded. "But as my sister said, we should put a pin in it for now. We'll figure out how to deal with young Kotaro later."
After spending what felt like an eternity getting lectured by Himeko for his behavior during the battle against CountMyotismon, Kotaro had gone to his room with Vic. The young Digidestined had only just flopped onto his bed when his phone vibrated to let him know he had gotten a new text. The message was from Norn, and she was asking him to meet her inside the Grid that Izzy had originally set up for the Digimon. Apparently she wanted to meet up so the two of them could discuss the day's events with Erika. Norn immediately sent another text revealing Erika had somehow set up Kotaro's personal laptop to act as an authorized access point.
Kotaro immediately put his new coat and hat back on and fired up his laptop. Once Kotaro aimed his D-3 at the laptop's screen, he and Vic were pulled into the Grid. The place Kotaro and Vic materialized into was nothing like they expected. The entire area was dark, with the sky covered by massive towers hanging down from above, though the coverage was not complete and there was at least a little light shining down. Before Kotaro and Vic was a simple archway leading out to a dark-blue bridge that seemed to go on quite a ways. Parts of this bridge occasionally lit up with blue lights, and attached to the edges of this bridge were lit street lamps connected together by what looked like telephone lines.
Shrugging his shoulders, Kotaro put his hands in the pockets of his coat and walked through the archway. Vic followed close behind them. As they walked, Kotaro and Vic occasionally looked out over the bridge. What seemed like hundreds if not thousands of feet below the bridge was some sort of purple floor that occasionally lit with what looked like circuit paths. Floating in the space around them were several large hexagonal pillars that periodically lit up with blue and purple lights at the top. They were much smaller than the towers covering the sky, and just what purpose these floating objects was, Vic and Kotaro could only guess.
"Ya know, I bet if your sister was here, she'd say this place was creepy," Vic remarked as they walked.
Kotaro nodded. "I kinda like the vibe of this place myself. Gotta say though, I never expected Norn to come up with something like this."
"Oh yeah! Agu and Gao mentioned how Norn is the one who's been building the stuff inside this grid. You are right though, buddy. I certainly wouldn't expect Norn to build anything this dark or hardcore."
Eventually the bridge connected up to a very large circular platform supported from below by a massive hexagonal pillar that lit up occasionally like the pillars floating around the area. Covering much of this platform were pieces of rusted and disused playground equipment, and some giant toys and stuffed animals that looked like they had seen better days. There was also a pile of broken television sets, some of which were turned on and had screens showing static. In the very center of this platform was a very tall street lamp. As they passed under another archway onto the platform, Kotaro and Vic found Norn, Agu and Gao standing under the florescent yellow light of this lamp.
"Good evening, Kotaro," Norn greeted as the duo came up. "Welcome to Neo Kowloon."
"I thought this place was called the Grid," Kotaro responded.
"This is indeed an area of the Grid, but the server this area is on is restricted. Erika and I set it up that way. At the moment, the five of us and Erika are the only ones authorized to enter this place."
"Why all the security?"
"Erika wanted a place where she could work in private and in total secrecy. Mr. Izzy has no idea she's on this server, and the Digimon who use the Grid don't even know Neo Kowloon exists. Now then, we should head for Erika's office. She's expecting us."
Kotaro nodded and both he and Vic followed closely after Agu and Gao. They left the platform and were on yet another bridge leading into the darkness. As they walked, Kotaro could help but note how the little light filtering down from above through the cracks between the towers gave the impression that they were thousands of feet below ground.
"So Norn, you pretty much designed this whole place, right?' Kotaro asked as he looked around.
Norn nodded. "This area is actually based on something from Erika's memories. There was a cyberspace environment in the original Erika Mishima's world that was very much like this."
"The original Erika?" Vic asked with a quirked brow. "What's that mean?"
"Yeah, and what do you mean by her world?" Kotaro asked.
"Hmm…how can I explain?" Norn responded. "Are either of you familiar with the multiverse theory?"
"Sure. I've seen it in a few sci-fi shows on T.V.," Kotaro answered. "The idea is there are an infant number of universes, and each universe has its own version of Earth."
"Right. The original Erika came from one such parallel Earth."
"But I don't get what you mean by the original Erika," Vic interjected.
"The way Norn explained it to me and Agu before is that the Erika we know is a copy of this other Erika she's talking about," Gao told him.
"Essentially, yes," Norn confirmed.
"Okay, but there are still a couple of things I don't get," Kotaro spoke. "Like for one thing, why does your friend, Erika pretend she's human? I mean she's actually a Digimon, right?"
"She's not simply pretending to be human," Norn told him. "She was human at one time."
"Seriously? How's that even possible?"
Norn looked up towards the light shining down between the towers above. "The original Erika Mishima lived a very unfortunate life. She developed some sort of peculiar disease that affected her brain. The only way to prolong her life was to connect her brain to a special server and digitize her memories. Unfortunately there was some sort of catastrophe that claimed the life of Erika's physical body, but her digitized consciousness was able to survive by merging with the Digimon that had become her partner, a Wormmon. Erika's body died, but her true self was reborn as a brand new Digimon, Hudiemon."
Kotaro nodded. "Okay. I think I get it. But what I don't get is how there's another Erika in our universe who's like a copy of this other one."
"The original Hudiemon was not simply a reborn version of Erika Mishima. She also carried the memories of her entire world within her. Somehow she became a living backup file for her universe's Digital World. Soon after the catastrophe I spoke of, my counterpart from that Digital World, another Yggdrasil, transcended the multiverse as well as time and connected with me and every one of our counterparts in the ancient past, and sent each of us copies of Hudiemon. These copies would serve as living backups for our respective Digital Worlds to use in the event of some major catastrophe."
"You know, I kinda had some trouble following all that, Vic remarked.
"You're not alone," Agu told him. "Gao and I don't quite get all of this stuff about Erika either."
"A lot of this stuff went over my head too," Kotaro admitted. "But I get that you and Erika have a history. The stuff about her once being human is a little out there, but I buy it."
Norn smiled and nodded. "It won't be much longer until we reach her office."
Eventually the bridge connected to another large platform also supported by a massive hexagonal pillar with lights near the top. This platform was square in shape. On the right side of the platform was a ferris wheel that slowly spun around. Meanwhile on the left side was a two-story building with dark-blue walls that lit up in spots not unlike the bridge. Right where the platform connected to the bridge was a street sign reading, Not Found St. Kotaro and the others walked past the sign and stood in front of the building.
"Here we are," Norn told the others. "404 Not Found Street. Erika will be waiting for us inside."
Kotaro and the others walked up the front steps of the building to a wooden door with a blue butterfly symbol decorating the window. After opening the door, Kotaro and the others walked in to discover what looked like some sort of coffee shop or book store. Kotaro couldn't help but notice the rather impressive selection of books on the shelves as they walked past. The room beyond was more dimly lit and contained several small cubicles, each with its own computer.
"Is this like an Internet cafe or something?" Kotaro asked.
"This place is also based on a location from the original Erika Mishima's life," Norn explained. "One that was very important to her."
Kotaro and the others reached a door at the other side of the room with a large plaque displaying the letters, V.I.P. Norn knocked on the door, and from the other side Erika's voice told them to come in. The blond opened the door, and on the other side was a rather spacious office with a single window. Erika was sitting behind a large oak desk in the right-hand corner of the room, typing on a keyboard made from a strange white stuffed animal resembling some sort of sea mammal. A blue holographic screen floated in front of her.
"Go ahead and make yourselves at home," Erika told the five as she continued typing. "I'll be done in just a second."
As Kotaro looked around the room, he couldn't help but feel like he was standing in the office of some private investigator from an old 1970s T.V. show. He looked at the opposite wall of the room, and near the door was a large painting showing three people. The person in the middle of the painting was a tall young man with lavender hair, wearing a green tank top with a blue jacket wrapped around his waist. To the left of this person in the painting was another young man with slightly long blond hair wearing an identical jacket. The third person was a shorter young man with dark hair and a rather forgettable face, wearing a long blue hooded coat and a white polo shirt.
"The guy in the middle is my older brother," Erika revealed to Kotaro as she finished typing. "The other two are very close friends. Anyway, have a seat you guys. Norn tells me you had quite the day."
"You could say that," Kotaro responded as he and Norn sat down in the two chairs in front of Norn's desk. The three Digimon meanwhile had gone over to sit on a large couch in another corner of the room. "By the way Norn, did you catch hell from your parents about what happened today?"
"They were not pleased," Norn answered sadly. "I understand the error I made by not properly requesting permission to go to the Digital World, but I cannot understand the animosity they have towards you, Kotaro."
Erika leaned back in her chair. "I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Right now I'm more interested in the little skirmish you got caught up in."
Norn nodded and began recounting the events of the battle against CountMyotismon and his followers, with Erika listening intently. Kotaro stayed silent the whole time and let Norn tell things her way. He was impressed with the level of detail Norn gave during her story. She left absolutely nothing out.
When Norn's recounting was finally finished, Erika nodded. "Okay. Well it looks like this Meiko woman the rest of your family's been dealing with is connected with the reason I'm here. Guess I should've looked into her sooner."
"You're after GranDracmon, aren't you?" Kotaro realized.
"Wow! You're pretty sharp," Erika responded, impressed. "I caught wind of his activities a few months ago and decided to investigate."
"If you're after GranDracmon, count us in," Kotaro told her. "I owe that guy a serious beating."
"I must agree with Kotaro," Norn interjected. "I know little about GranDracmon, but he seems too dangerous for you to face alone."
Erika sighed. "Yeah. I've honestly been thinking the same thing. I've been acting alone in the hopes he wouldn't see me coming, but now that GranDracmon's revealed himself I don't think working alone is a viable option anymore. The rest of the Digidestined are likely going to start looking for GranDracmon just as hard as I am now, and chances are their search will likely reveal my presence if I keep going like I have been."
Kotaro nodded. "Okay then. So do you have any idea where GranDracmon is?"
"He's likely hiding within the Dark Ocean," Norn assumed.
"Actually, I know for a fact he's not," Erika revealed. "He was there once. In fact GranDracmon was sealed away in the Dark Ocean ages ago by your predecessor, ENIAC. But the seal was never perfect and ended up degrading over time. GranDracmon still makes use of the Dark Ocean and its resources from time to time, but he's long since given up on using it as a base."
"So where is this bastard?" Kotaro asked.
"Somewhere within Earth's cyberspace. He's out there on the Internet, holed up in some server somewhere. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find out where. He's hidden his location extremely well."
"Kotaro and I will help you however we can," Norn told her.
"Thanks, but the task of finding GranDracmon will probably be mostly up to me," Erika responded. "Taking him out will likely fall to you guys. I should tell you one thing though, Norn. In the course of my research, I discovered that GranDracmon is the reason Lucemon betrayed you."
A look of shock came to Norn's face. "What?"
"Somehow GranDracmon caught wind of how Lucemon disagreed with the way you ran things in the Digital World and used those feelings to turn him against you. The rebellion of the Seven Lords was totally his doing. He was using Lucemon and his comrades to get you and the Harmonious Ones out of the way so he could become the supreme power in the Digital World. They were nothing more than his pawns. I suspect if the Seven Lords had succeeded in their rebellion, GranDracmon would've destroyed them all the moment their usefulness came to an end."
"I…I don't believe it," Norn spoke.
Kotaro gritted his teeth in anger. "That piece of shit! I'm so gonna tear him apart when I see him!"
"GranDracmon was probably using CountMyotismon for the same purpose," Erika continued. "Just like he's using this Meiko woman. On that note, I'm going to put my search for GranDracmon's base on hold while I look into Meiko. I'll let you both know when I find something. For now you two should head home."
Norn and Kotaro nodded and the two of them left the office with their three Digimon. The five of them were silent as they left the building. Once they got outside, they stood for a few moments and looked at the ferris wheel.
"You okay Norn?" Kotaro asked.
"…Learning about GranDracmon's involvement with Lucemon's betrayal…it was a great shock," Norn told him.
"Look at it this way. This means you didn't fail him, right?"
Norn shook her head. "No. I still failed Lucemon by not knowing of the evil that poisoned him against me." A tear rolled down her cheek. "Kotaro…I want to make GranDracmon pay for what he's done."
Kotaro took Norn's hand. "Don't worry. You'll get your chance. And I'll be right by your side when you do."
Matt had not gone home after the rather tense meeting concerning the battle against CountMyotismon. Instead he had given a certain someone a call on his phone and went with Gabumon to a bar near Izzy's office. Matt and Gabumon had not gone alone though. Cody and Armadillomon had tagged along, as had Gwen and PawnChessmon. Both Matt and Cody could tell the bar was beneath Gwen's standards. The snobbish young woman acted as though everything was covered in filth.
Gwen looked at the clock on her phone and sighed. "How much longer is this man going to keep us waiting?"
"You know, you didn't have to come with," Matt told her.
"On the contrary. This little meeting is important to the cohesion of both our teams. It'd be helpful to have more than just you reporting on what we learn here. Besides, I'm rather curious about this boy everyone is writing off as some Digidestined delinquent. If it turns out he's not as bad as everyone thinks he is, it'll give me just one for thing for me to tell Arthur he's wrong about."
"It is also for Lady Norn's sake that my queen is attending this meeting," PawnChessmon added.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabumon asked.
"Well, I also want to help affirm that Norn is capable of showing good judgement," Gwen explained. "Maybe the girl doesn't have the proper stamina to use those powers of hers, but I think she at least has a good head on her shoulders. Maybe Norn is a little too innocent, but she's hardly the same lost little girl Kari and T.K. found on the street. She's been that way ever since she awakened her memories as Yggdrasil. You can see it in her eyes. If you ask me, I think you're all being too overprotective of the girl."
"You do have a point," Cody admitted. "Norn does possess Yggdrasil's knowledge and memories. Maybe we're all failing to take that into account."
Matt nodded and sipped his beer. "I guess it is pretty easy to forget sometimes that Norn was once this powerful digital god. Then again, you gotta wonder if she realizes she's not as powerful as she once was."
Gwen shook her head. "You people are hopeless."
"When you called, I wasn't expecting such a large gathering," a voice interrupted. Matt and the others looked and saw the person they had been waiting for, Detective Matayoshi.
"I wasn't expecting it myself when I called," Matt revealed. "Thanks for coming, detective."
"Well, I was off duty and had nothing else to do anyway," Matayoshi responded as he took a seat at the bar. "So what exactly did you want to talk to me about?"
"It's about Kotaro Mikihara. We understand you knew his father."
A hint of sadness came to Matayoshi's eyes. "I did. His name was Kazuto Inui. I got assigned him as a partner right after he made detective. He was young and a bit reckless, but a good cop and an even better man. Losing him was one of the darkest days of my career."
"Hard to believe that a hero cop would end up marrying someone from a motorcycle gang," Armadillomon remarked.
Matayoshi smirked. "So you heard about that, huh? Yeah, Kazuto's wife, Shiori was pretty wild. He and I ended up arresting her whole gang because they had started to get involved in drug distribution, though Shiori didn't know it at the time. She was just an angry kid who didn't realize she was headed in the wrong direction in life. It was thanks to Kazuto that she turned things around. They were a pretty good match for each other right from the beginning though. Both of them were so much alike."
"Do you know the rest of the family pretty well?" Cody asked.
"Well enough," Matayoshi answered. "I keep in touch pretty regularly with Shiori. I was happy when she married Professor Mikihara. Anyway, why are you asking me about all this? Has young Kotaro done something wrong?"
"Not exactly," Matt answered. "Kotoro's sort of gotten involved in the mess we're all dealing with right now. We're just trying to get a good sense of what kind of person the kid is."
Matayoshi crossed his arms. "But there was some sort of incident, wasn't there? Care to fill me in?"
Cody was the one who told Matayoshi about the battle against CountMyotismon and his forces. It made sense for him to be the one to tell the story since he was the only one in the group who had actually been present during the battle in question. When the story was finally over, Matayoshi burst out laughing.
"Uh, care to let us in on the joke, Detective?" Gwen asked.
It was a moment before Matayoshi composed himself. "Sorry. It's just that Kotaro going after this Digimon you told me about reminds me of something his father did once. We were chasing after a suspect driving this high-performance sports car. I told Kazuto he was going to get away from us, but my young partner wasn't going to have any of that. Right when the suspect turned a corner, Kazuto drove our car right through the park we were driving past to cut him off. He rammed our car right into the suspect's, destroying two park benches and a trashcan in the process. We caught some real hell from our C.O. when it was over."
"So would you say Kotaro's a lot like his father?" Cody asked.
Matayoshi nodded. "Kotaro may have his mother's foul mouth and a little of her wild personality, but I've seen a lot of his father in him. Maybe what he did today was a little reckless, but he's a good kid. If you need me to vouch for him with the rest of your little group, I will. But trust me, you don't have a thing to worry about from him."
"That was sort the impression I got from Kotaro," Matt admitted. "Thanks, Detective."
"There's actually a part of the story I left out," Cody revealed. "Both at the meeting at Izzy's and just now. The temple Yolei and I were investigating at the time contained a stone tablet engraved with a prophecy concerning the Child of Radiance. Yolei and I couldn't make heads or tails of it, but Norn was able to read it quite easily. She now knows she's the Child of Radiance and that she's supposedly the messiah of the Digital World."
"Oh great!" Matt exclaimed. "So much for keeping this a secret from her."
"Again, you're being overprotective," Gwen remarked.
"There's one more thing," Cody continued. "The same tablet also said the Child of Defiance, in other words Kotaro, is to be Norn's personal knight and champion."
Matayoshi raised an eyebrow. "It somehow sounds like Kotaro and this girl are engaged to be married."
Matt covered his eyes with his hand. "Okay, we certainly aren't going to tell Tai, T.K. or Kari anything about the last part of this prophecy."
Matayoshi got up to leave. "Well, I'm not going to tell you how to handle your family business, but I will say this. If Kotaro really is supposed to be your niece's champion, she couldn't be in better hands."
The last rays of the sunset were starting to fade as Himeko took a walk outside her apartment building, with Kudamon draped over her neck. Himeko generally didn't like going outside this late in the day, but she thought a walk might calm her down a bit. Everything from the afternoon's battle with CountMyotismon was just too much for her to take.
"Hime, are you okay?" Kudamon asked. "You know I'm here to talk whenever."
Himeko sighed. "I just don't know what to do, Kudamon. Both Kotaro and Toya are suddenly neck-deep in the mess with those Digidestined people."
"Well, it does seem like they're needed. I mean Toya was always meant to be Hackmon's partner, and Hackmon has an important destiny."
"Maybe, but Kotaro was just a normal kid with a Digimon. He wasn't even part of all this until that Norn girl showed up. Then both of them got caught up in that crazy battle today. Sure, they came out of it fine this time, but next time…." Himeko began to tear up. "They could both end up like my dad! I can't go through that again! I can't deal with my little brothers getting themselves killed because they were trying to be heroes!"
"Hime…" Kudamon responded with a sad look.
Himeko wiped away her tears with her sleeve. "If it weren't for that Norn girl…maybe things would be this way."
"Then why not just kill her? That would solve everything," a familiar voice spoke. Startled, Himeko turned around and saw Meiko standing under the light of a street lamp. An insane grin was on the corrupted Digidestined's face. "Norn's the reason your sweet little brothers are putting their lives in danger, right? So you get rid of her, you get rid of the danger. And why stop there? Why not get rid of all of the Digidestined? Kill them and there's no longer any problem. Your life will go back to the way it was."
Frightened, Himeko began to back away. "Just…just stay back! I don't know why you're here, but I don't want anything to do with you!"
"Mei dear, time to go to work," Meiko spoke.
As Himeko backed away, she didn't see Meicoomon's eyes light up in the darkness behind her.
Tai was sitting in the passenger seat of his own car as Johnny drove them back to Tai's place. Agumon and Elecmon were of course sitting in the backseat. Tai had to admit that it was kind of nice having Johnny acting as his chauffeur. So far it had been the sole benefit of Johnny acting as his bodyguard during the current crisis. The major downside to the arrangement was Johnny's routine of getting up at 5:00 AM to lift weights to rather loud rock music.
"Ya know Tai, you're probably not gonna like what I'm gonna say, but I'm kinda with Matt and Gwen when it comes to that Kotaro kid," Johnny revealed. "I don't think you and the others are giving him a fair shot."
Tai sighed and shook his head. "That punk certainly has a lot of people jumping to his defense."
"Well somebody has to. Look man, I'll admit Kotaro may have a little too much of an attitude, but he took down one of our worst enemies today."
"And he put Norn in danger in the process. It was way too damn reckless. Even Arthur agrees with me on that."
"Maybe, but Arthur did some pretty reckless things back during our team's maiden run taking down Mephistomon. He's probably forgotten about that. Look, I'm not defending everything the kid did today, but in my book Kotaro's got what it takes to be a top rate Digidestined. And as for Norn, from the sound of it jumping into battle was her idea."
Tai looked out the window. "Yeah, well…that Kotaro punk should've stopped her."
Johnny sighed and shook his head. "You really are a stubborn one, bro."
Suddenly the car came to a halt and its headlights went dead. Tai and the others immediately noticed that a thick fog had formed outside around them. They also noticed someone standing in the middle of the street a few feet in front of the car.
"Looks like we got company," Johnny identified.
Tai removed the special goggles Izzy had made for him from his coat pocket and put them on. "I can't tell who she is, but she's definitely infected with the Meiko Virus."
"Tai, should we go out and face her?" Agumon asked.
"You guys hang back here in the car," Johnny told the duo. "Elecmon and I will handle this."
"You read my mind, bro," Election responded.
Johnny and Election exited the car and cautiously approached the girl in the middle of the road. When they got close enough, they recognized the girl as Himeko.
"Hey…aren't you Toya and Kotaro's big sis?" Johnny identified.
"You Digidestined…you're the reason why my little brothers are in so much danger," Himeko spoke in a low cold voice. "Which is why…all of you have to die!"
Suddenly swooping down from above to land behind Himeko was a large four-legged creature with a green head resembling a dragon's and glowing red eyes. In the middle of its forehead was a large red horn, and from the sides of its snout grew two long white whiskers. The beast's back was covered in green scales, and on its back were two large white wings. It had brown legs ending in hooves like a horse, and on its rear end was a long yellow wavy tail.
"That's a Chirinmon!" Election identified. "It's an Ultimate level Digimon. I've only ever heard stories about it."
"It must've evolved from Himeko's Digimon," Johnny realized. "Let's knock him out quick!"
"I'm with ya!"
Johnny's D-3 let out the electronic cry of a single word. "BIOMERGE!"
Johnny turned into a ball of red light and entered Elecmon. Soon after, Elecmon became enveloped in a pillar of fiery red light.
"Elecmon, biomerge digivolve to…Marsmon!" Elecmon called out within the light, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name.
The pillar of light faded and Marsmon emerged. Suddenly snarling noises could be heard from within the surrounding fog. A few seconds later six Sangloupmon emerged and surrounded Marsmon.
"Looks like Marsmon might need some help," Agumon observed from inside the car.
Tai nodded. "We need to get out there and help him!"
Before the duo could make a move though, there was a loud thud on the roof of the car. Tai and Agumon looked up in time to see claws tearing through the ceiling. Meanwhile the six Sangloupmon all charged in and leapt towards Marsmon. As each one of the vampiric wolves pounced on the digital warrior, Marsmon threw them all off, shattering them into particles of data as hit the pavement. Suddenly Chirinmon flew right at Marsmon with his horn glowing bright red.
Marsmon caught the oncoming horn with both hands, and with a twist of his mighty body he slammed Chirinmon onto his side. Marsmon leapt high into the air before Chirinmon could recover and became shrouded in flames.
"Corona Sanctions!" Marsmon called out as he fell towards Chirinmon.
Marsmon slammed into Chirimon with his full weight and created a powerful blast of flames. When the smoke cleared, Chirinmon had reverted into Kudamon and was unconscious. Himeko also lost consciousness and collapsed to the pavement. Marsmon turned back to the car and discovered it was covered in a billowing dome of pure darkness. The dome faded, and standing in place of the car was Raguelmon.
"Where are Tai and Agumon?" Marsmon demanded to know.
Raguelmon chuckled. "You'll find out soon enough."
Before Marsmon could do anything, Raguelmon slashed the air with her claws and opened up a black portal in space. The Olympian Digimon attempted to chase after the fallen angel as she dove into the hole, but the portal closed up long before he could reach it. Soon after, the fog vanished. Marsmon split back into Johnny and Elecmon.
"Bro, I think we screwed up," Elecmon declared.
Johnny looked down at the unconscious Himeko and Kudamon and sighed. "Yeah pal. We screwed up royal."
Author's Note: Incidentally, the design of New Kowloon is based on Under Kowloon Level 5 from the Hacker's Memory game.
Anyway, I hope this chapter was worth the long wait. Now I can't say for sure when I'll have the next chapter up, but I'm going to try and get this entire story finished before the end of the year if I can. Fortunately I put together a little outline for how the final chapters should go, so that will hopefully make things easier. I should've done an outline for this entire story from the very beginning, but I was just so eager to get this story online back when I first started it that I skipped that step.
Let this be a lesson. For any multi-chapter story, outlines are a good insurance policy to have in the event life or something else forces an author to stop working on the story in question for a long period of time.
Please review and let me know what you think.
