Chapter 24: The Knight of the Skies

Ken: "Go Stingmon! Finish it!"

Stingmon: "Got it, Ken! Spiking Finish!"

Stingmon rushed forward and pierced his opponent, Snimon. It instantly disintegrated. Stingmon returned to Ken's side.

Ken: "Good work, Stingmon. Efficient as always."

Stingmon: "Thank you, Ken."

Ken: "Alright, we should get home now. You must be tired after all of that."

Stingmon: "Yeah, but still…"

Ken: "Yeah, there's still a lot more dark towers we need to get rid of."

The Digidestined were currently all meeting to eat during their school's lunch break.

Daisuke: "I think we should bring Ken into our team."

Miyako: "Is that a good idea?"

Iori: "It's not that simple, Daisuke. We can't just let him into our team like that."

Daisuke: "It can't be that complicated. He's changed and I think it would be very good if he joined us."

Miyako: "What if… what if he was lying to us? What if the Digimon he killed wasn't made from a dark tower?"

Takeru: "His choices are his to make. If he thinks the best way is to kill Digimon… well, I can't agree with that… until all other options have run out."

Hikari: "It's much harder for him though. It's likely a lot of Digimon would try to attack him and leave no room for him to explain himself."

Miyako: "Yeah…"

Takeru: "Whether he chooses to join us or not, it's his decision."

Iori: "It doesn't matter, I don't think we can trust him. People don't change that easily."

Hikari: "Regardless, the decision is his. If he wants to join with us, he can. If he continues to work alone, he just needs to be more careful."

The Digidestined were silent as they finished their lunch. Takeru, Hikari and Daisuke looking solemn, Miyako looking contemplative, and Iori looking slightly angry.

In a small section of the Digital World, there was a small campfire with a lone human sitting by it.

"Ahh these marshmallows are so good! I wonder where Palmon went, the leaves she is looking for shouldn't be too far away from here…"

"Perfect. The leaves are still here. I hope my tea-making skills haven't gotten worse from four years ago. I want to make sure Mimi enjoys this! Hmm? What's that sound?"

Palmon slowly went over to where she had heard sound and saw a woman standing next to a dark tower.

"An adult in the Digital World? I thought only the Digidestined could be here?"

The woman yanked one strand of her hair and it immediately sharpened as if it were a needle. She slowly poked it through the dark tower, causing it to change into a Golemon. She laughed maniacally as she commanded the newly formed 'Digimon'.

Woman: "Now, go and destroy that dam over there. Let its water flow freely. Show the Digimon that their 'river' isn't so easily controlled by a simple dam."

"She is going to bring down the dam?! I can't let that happen. Babamon and the others will be flooded! I need to get back to Mimi!"

Palmon began to run back to the mini campsite that Mimi and her had set up.

Palmon: "Mimi! We need to get to the dam!"

Mimi: "Palmon? What's happening?"

Suddenly, a rock landed in between Palmon and Mimi. Palmon dashed backwards to avoid the attack but was suddenly hit from behind by Golemon. She slammed into a tree and laid unconscious.

Mimi: "Palmon!"

"What do I… The earpieces!"

Sincerity: "Koushiro! Anyone! Help!"

Knowledge: "Mimi?! What's going on? You're in the Digital World? Oh my god you are!"

Sincerity: "Not the time Koushiro! I need help here!"

Hope: "We're on our way Mimi, Koushiro is going to open a gate for us."

Light: "Just hold tight for a bit."

Golemon began to walk away from Mimi and towards the dam. Just as he reached the base, a gate opened behind Mimi.

Mimi: "Thank goodness. He's trying to destroy the dam! We need to stop him."

Takeru: "Got it. Hikari, bring out Nefertimon, let's restrain this guy."

Hikari: "Got it."

Miyako: "I thought you need Pegasmon? You don't have the Digimental."

Patamon: "Did you forget?"

Takeru: "We don't need the Digimental for Pegasmon."

Takeru and Patamon nodded at each other.

"Patamon Evolution! Pegasmon!"

"Tailmon, Armor-Evolution! Nefertimon! Light of Smiles!"

Takeru jumped onto Pegasmon and they flew off towards Golemon. Nefertimon flew off without Hikari.

Pegasmon: "Needle Rain!"

Pegasmon unleashed small needles to hit Golemon, who was halfway up the dam.

Pegasmon/Nefertimon: "Sanctuary Bind!"

They managed to loop around Golemon and tried to pull off the dam, but they couldn't move him. Takeru looked back at Golemon.

"No dark ring or spiral… Is it a wild Golemon? It can't be the one Mimi saved right?"

Daisuke: "Let's go too, guys!"

Miyako: "Right, Hawkmon!"

Iori: "Let's do this, Armadimon!"

"Veemon, Armor-Evolution! Fladramon! Burning Courage!"

"Hawkmon, Armor-Evolution! Shurimon! Winds of Sincerity!"

"Armadimon, Armor-Evolution! Digmon! Steel Knowledge!"

Fladramon, Shurimon and Digmon rushed towards Golemon and unleashed attacks.

Fladramon: "Knuckle Fire!"

Shurimon: "Autumn Wind!"

Digmon: "Gold Rush!"

The attacks hit Golemon but didn't do much to Golemon.

Hikari: "It didn't do anything…"

"Armor evolution won't be able to beat him… but if we evolve normally, we might end up killing it. We need to avoid that if possible."

Golemon roared and released rocks at the trio of armors on the ground, causing Fladramon, Shurimon and Digmon to fall to the ground and revert. Takeru grit his teeth.

"I know Pegasmon and Nefertimon were stronger armors but is the difference between the armors and normal evolutions really this great?!"

Golemon curled up slightly and gas began to be released from his back, enveloping Pegasmon and Nefertimon. Takeru coughed and his vision began to blur.

"What… what… is… this…"

Takeru blacked out and began to slip off Pegasmon. The Digidestined began to panic.

Miyako: "How do we help him!?"

Iori: "Our Digimon can't get up!"

Hikari: "Nefertimon! Please! Save Takeru!"

Nefertimon tried to get out of the smoke but couldn't as she started to feel weaker and weaker. Takeru slipped off Pegasmon and started to fall. Takeru weakly opened his eyes.

"Is this… is this it..? We faced so many challenges… and I'm going to die just because we didn't want to kill this Digimon… sorry Hikari… sorry Onii-Chan…"

The Digidestined watched in horror as Takeru fell through the air. They all covered their eyes and turned away.

A few seconds later, they heard a soft sound of wings next to them. Hikari was the first to open her eyes and saw a large figure.

Hikari: "Stingmon..?"

Stingmon merely nodded and set Takeru down.

Takeru: "Thanks…"

Stingmon: "It's dangerous to be with your Digimon during battle."

Takeru: "R-Right…"

Hikari ran to Takeru and hugged him tightly with tears in her eyes, her momentum causing Takeru to fall on his back, with her falling on top of him. Takeru hugged her back.

Takeru: "Hikari…"

Hikari: "Please don't… be so reckless…"

Takeru: "I know… I'm sorry…"

Hikari: "We have… shields…"

"I'm sorry, Hikari. I rarely used that shield… I need to remember to use it more. You always were the most adept at using it, Hikari."

Stingmon turned around and rushed towards Golemon. He punched Golemon and began to rapidly kick him. Stingmon turned to Pegasmon and Nefertimon.

Stingmon: "Grab the rest and return to your partners! I'll buy you time!"

Pegasmon and Nefertimon nodded and quickly dived down, grabbing Veemon, Hawkmon and Armadimon. They quickly flew back to the others and set them down.

Stingmon grabbed Golemon and threw him down to the ground at the base of the dam. Ken slowly walked out from behind some trees.

Takeru and Hikari stood up, with Takeru's arm still wrapped around Hikari's shoulder reassuringly, just then, Palmon also woke up.

Iori: "Is he going to try and kill this one?"

Daisuke: "It could be a dark tower again…"

Miyako: "What if it isn't? What if he's wrong about it?"

Palmon: "That… Golemon isn't Golemon. I saw some lady changing the dark tower into the Golemon."

Takeru: "Thanks Palmon, we can't let him fight alone. Pegasmon, let's do this."

Hikari wiped the tears from her eyes.

Hikari: "Nefertimon, you too."

Pegasmon: "Alright, Takeru, but you're staying here this time."

Nefertimon: "I trust in your decision, Hikari."

Pegasmon and Nefertimon rushed back towards the battle. Ken turned towards the Digidestined and shouted.

Ken: "Go all out! It's another dark tower!"

"Can Ken really be trusted? How can Daisuke trust him so easily? Why doesn't he be more cautious like Iori?"

Takeru/Hikari: "Got it! Pegasmon/Nefertimon!"

Pegasmon: "Rodeo Gallop!"

Nefertimon: "Rosetta Stone!"

The attacks crashed into Golemon, revealing a dark colour similar to the dark towers, as if it only had the shape of a Golemon.

Daisuke: "It's…"

Miyako: "It really is a dark tower..?"

"This time he wasn't lying, Palmon already confirmed that… but… can we really trust him? It seems like it… but… no… I should follow what I know. Whether he has been lying or not, right now, he is telling the truth. And it is our duty to trust each other and help each other all the way!"

A bright light started to glow from Miyako's Digivice. Hawkmon began to stand up, feeling reinvigorated.

Hawkmon: "Miyako! Let's do this!"

Miyako: "Of course, Hawkmon!"

"Hawkmon Evolution! Aquilamon!"

Aquilamon burst out from the trees and focused on the dark tower 'Digimon'.

Aquilamon: "Blast Rings!"

Energy rings from Aquilamon's eyes and hit the dark tower 'Digimon'. It was staggered, allowing Pegasmon and Nefertimon to restrain it easily.

Pegasmon/Nefertimon: "Sanctuary Bind!"

Stingmon let his stinger be coated in energy once again as he lunged towards the bound dark tower 'Digimon'.

Stingmon: "Spiking Finish!"

Stingmon passed through the 'Digimon' as it disintegrated. He let the energy on his stinger dissipate and he turned to Ken. He flew up to him and reverted to Wormmon, landing in his arms.

Ken: "Good work, Wormmon."

The Digidestined were all gathered in front of Ken.

Daisuke: "You should join us, Ken."

Ken: "Sorry, but I don't want to drag you guys into this. This is my problem to fix. On top of that, I could… damage your reputations just by working together with you guys."

Miyako: "But, it would make it much easier for you if you joined us."

"I can't say I trust you fully right now, Ken. But we at least have a common goal, to protect the Digital World. This way, we can see your true intentions better."

Ken: "It's not whether it's easy for me or not. Sorry it has to be this way."

The Digidestined were silent as Ken turned around and began to walk off. Ken suddenly stopped as his phone received a notification. He looked at it and then turned around.

"How did they even get my number..?"

He saw Takeru and Hikari giving him a cheeky grin before they both looked away.

"You two…"

Ken gave a nod and a small smile to the Digidestined as he walked off, looking at the message.

Sincere Love: "We will be waiting for the day you choose to join us. – Miyako"

That's the end for this chapter. :D Digimon Con is coming up soon, wonder if we get an announcement for a new anime or something. :D

I just realised I never really elaborated on the time during the time gap, and also didn't really talk much about the earpieces. So here is a small lore dump for those interested :D

Time gap

The Digidestined tested and used Koushiro's program for a while, with Taichi being the main tester. After about a year, Mimi left to go to America with her parents, due to job transfer stuff. After all, in the 2020 timeline, Mimi's family has a very special tech company. A short while after that, Koushiro manages to make his program compatible with computers and laptops, it just needs to be downloaded. Mimi's family will come back to Japan for a short holiday on first August, due to them knowing about Digimon and the importance of first August for Mimi. In this fanfic, first August is the date of when they defeated Negamon. (This not canon, btw it's just me finding a way to put importance on Odaiba Day.)

In 2020, Takeru actually lives in Tokyo which is more or less near to the other Digidestined. In this fanfic, after about 1.5 years after the adventure (half a year after Mimi leaves), his mom gets a job offer which requires him to be in France with her. (Obviously it's my way of letting Takeru's minor French background have a play.) So, Takeru has the program and can travel to the Digital World. He usually went through to meet up with Yamato, Taichi and Hikari. Yamato obviously wants to spend more time with him, Taichi is spending his time testing through some kinks and stuff in Koushiro's program, and Hikari was there to help Taichi, but generally spent her time with Takeru as she found that Taichi could handle Koushiro's tasks alone.

About 2ish years after Mimi left, on Odaiba day itself, Taichi encounters the Kaiser and gets Kidnapped. After that, there is around a 6-month time gap between prologue and Chapter 1. During this time, the Kaiser was basically setting up his base, so he didn't really have any visible activity in the Digital World.

Earpieces

Made after Taichi disappeared. Koushiro syncs it to the Digivice to make it so that it is hard to hack and access the communication. They function similar to normal calls where you can mute yourself. The way they work is more or less that they connect to a special channel Koushiro set up. The earpieces are always activated in the Digital World, they just need to be 'pressed' to work or restart if not working. So basically, it auto connects to the channel when they enter the Digital World. In the Human world, just follow whatever the lore is on Last-evolution Kizuna/02 The beginning, cos I never really studied to find out how it worked in the two movies.