Digimon: Conquest

Episode One: Enter Puttimon

Her feet pounded on the dewy grass, cutting through the dense forest. She knew she had to contact them, the Chosen Children. If she could only get away.

A circlet of darkness came at her, the golden ring on her tail deflected it, sending it spinning away. She turned at the sight if it, gasping, before taking off at a run again. A pounding noise came from behind her; a stampeding Unimon. The Unimon was catching up to her quickly until it was nearly on top of her. In her haste, she tripped. Her eyes widened as she realized one of the Unimon’s hooves was nearly as large as she and perfectly capable of crushing her. She tried to roll out of the way, but the other digimon’s foot still met a part of her. Once again, she was saved by the ring on her tail and wrenched herself away, knowing that she had lost her ring in the process.

She didn’t have time to go back and get it. She had to get to safety. She had to call for the Chosen Children.

**********************

Bracing himself, Takaishi Takeru stepped inside the classroom. He hadn’t, of course, expected the room to be very different from any other fifth grade class, but it was his first day as a student there and as such he was allotted the right to be nervous.

He cut through the classroom, striding to the teacher’s desk, office notice of a new student in hand. Class had yet to begin and the students were clustered in groups of friends, chatting, laughing, railing and complaining about up coming tests. The students, of course, were no different from any other fifth grade students.

Except for two.

A boy and a girl sat in their assigned seats, calmly carrying on a pleasant conversation. The boy had dark indigo hair, parted down one side and his tufted bangs combed neatly to the other. He had intense violet eyes. Ichijouji Ken, the boy slated as the genius of Odaiba Elementary. The girl had light brown hair, also parted on the side, though to be fair her hair was parted on the opposite side that of Ken’s hair. She had familiar reddish eyes.

Drawing his own eyes away from them, Takeru approached the teacher, handing him the note. The teacher read it over and instructed the boy to take a seat on the unoccupied side of the of the quieter girl. Takeru did so and being able to get a closer look at her with staring or making a spectacle of himself, he smiled. He rapped once on her desk, lightly.

“Together again,” he remarked.

The girl’s eyes lit up in recognition.

“Mm-hm,” Yagami Hikari said with a smile and nod. Ken looked on.

**********************

“Agumon!” Desperately, Yagami Taichi cried out his partner’s name again. After three years, he had returned to the Digital World only to find a mess. The goggled-boy was sure the situation was not a good one when he found himself transported. After all, he’d never entered the Digital World to find everything peaches and cream before, why hope that was the case now?

Still, he hadn’t been expecting things to be quite this way. Even the first time he was there, it was difficult to see that there was anything wrong until the children had discovered the Black Gears. This new trip, however, left Taichi wandering in an apparently abandoned yet lush area.

“Agumon!” he called again. Surely he was here because Agumon called him.

An echoing of Taichi’s name finally greeted the boy. Soon after a little orange dinosaur, a white cat and a flying pig-like creature came into Taichi’s vision. “Agumon!” he called again, relief flooding his system. What ever caused the Digital World to be so empty had not harmed his friend. “Tailmon! Patamon!”

Taichi began running towards and soon the distance between the human and the digimon had been covered.

“What’s going on here?” Taichi asked. “Where is everybody?”

“You better contact the other Chosen Children,” Tailmon advised with a scowl.

“Digimon are disappearing, Taichi,” Agumon said, looking up at his partner with concern in his green eyes. “They’re being captured!”

“Almost got me,” Tailmon added with a huff. “Did get my Tail Ring.”

“Wait--by who?” Taichi asked.

“The Digimon Kaiser,” Patamon responded, his high pitched voice unnaturally hard.

“What’s a ‘Digimon Kaiser?’” Taichi asked, blinking in confusion.

“Someone who captures digimon and makes them disappear,” Agumon answered. “He’s gonna make everyone disappear!”

“How does he make digimon disappear?”

“If anyone came back,” Tailmon responded, deadpan, “we’d ask them. They get Ringed and they disappear.”

“Like that!” Patamon shrieked as loops of darkness spiraled out from behind a nearby growth of foliage. “Run!”

Not needing another order, the quartet sped off, Taichi and Agumon both trying to be last to insure the safety of the rest of the group.

“Here!” Tailmon called weaving around trees into a denser portion of the forest. The group followed, outrunning the rings, which likewise wove around the trees, though some hit branches and dissipated on impact.

Thanks to his athletic prowess, Taichi was able to run and dodge trees and rings without getting winded. Thanks to his haste, however, he wasn’t watching the ground as he sped across it and tripped on a protruding root, landing spread on the forest floor with an ‘oof!’

His chin in the mud, Taichi opened his eyes to find a hard, pink rose an inch from his nose. As it began to glow, the approaching rings disintegrated.

“What is that?” Taichi asked, awed. He reached out and grasped it, but was unable to lift it. Three objects shot out of it, one a magenta blur, one a red blur and one a yellow blur. They floated up and out of the canopy of trees. Soon, they were no longer visible.

From the rose, another item appeared, this a necklace and charm with the same symbol on the yellow and pink portion that was on the petals of the rose.

“A Tag and Crest,” Taichi breathed. “A ninth Crest.”

The digivice latched on Taichi’s belt began to glow as well and he pulled it off, holding it in the palm of his hand. An orange beam shot from the apparatus to his free hand where a larger, silver device appeared. The middle third of the top surface appeared to be hinged and Taichi tapped with his thumb, causing it to pop open, revealing a screen and set of buttons.

“It’s for e-mail?” Taichi wondered aloud. Testing his theory, he set to typing.

***********************

Found a new crest. Come to the Digital World, quick! ~Taichi.

Inoue Miyako stared at the message that popped up on her computer for a full twenty seconds before it dawned on her that 1) She had no idea what the Digital World was and 2) She didn’t know anyone named Taichi.

The President of the Odaiba Elementary Computer Club arched a eyebrow and leaned towards the vice-president.

“You know anyone named Taichi?”

“Isn’t Yagami Hikari’s brother named that?” the V. P. responded off handedly.

“I dunno. You think she left yet?” When the V. P. didn’t answer, Miyako rolled her eyes and printed the message. “The meeting is NOT adjourned!” Miyako called. “I’ll be right back!” With that she ran out to wear the fifth grade students shoe lockers were located and spotted a girl who quite possibly could be Hikari. She was with two fifth grade boys, one with semi-long dark hair and the other with light hair covered by a white brimmed hat.

“Are you Yagami Hikari?” Miyako asked.

“Yeah,” the girl answered.

“You’ve got a brother named Taichi, right?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Great,” Miyako beamed. “You think this message might be for you?” Miyako held out the printed e-mail. Hikari accepted the note and read it over, the lighter haired boy peeking over her shoulder. Both children paled.

“We better get to the computer lab,” the boy said.

“Right!” Hikari agreed.

“Hey, wait, what’s the Digital World?” Miyako asked as they began walking as quickly as possible without arousing suspicion. She jogged after them and the other boy followed in suit, not wanting to be left alone.

“Maybe it’s a RPG,” he suggested to Miyako.

“Yeah, maybe,” she agreed. As the four dashed around a corner, Hikari and Takeru jogging as well by this time, Miyako caught a glimpse of someone in her peripheral vision and veered away from the others.

“Iori,” she greeted, “why are you still here?”

“I was helping clean up the classroom,” he answered.

“C’mon, we’ve got a mystery on the premises,” Miyako said. Iori rolled his eyes at the older girl’s fantasies and they calmly continued to the computer lab. Until a pair of projectiles buried themselves in the children’s hands, that is.

Meanwhile, Hikari, Takeru and Ken arrived in the abandoned computer lab. Soon after Koushiro Izumi barged in as well, huffing and out of breath.

“Got the message, too?” Takeru asked.

Koushiro gave an affirmative. He slumped down in front of a computer and began to type when three lights flew from the screen, two careening down the hall and one roughly forcing itself into Ken’s hands.

“A digivice!” Takeru exclaimed.

Ken looked at the thing in his hand--it was somewhat oval in shape and had an antenna and small screen. It was white over all but with magenta padding along the edges.

“Something tells me we’ve found the Guardian of the new Crest,” Koushiro said.

“That digivice isn’t at all like ours, though,” Hikari protested, pulling out her own.

“Still, we better get going,” Takeru said. “And Ken should come.”

“Um, I’m not really clear on what you’re talking about,” Ken said, uncertainty in his voice. They boy believed to a genius disliked admitting there were indeed things he did not know.

“I’ve got a lock on Taichi’s location,” Koushiro spoke up. “And the Digital Gate is open. Time to go.”

Takeru and Hikari nodded and held their digivices up to the screen, vanishing with a blinding light.

“You, too, Ken,” Koushiro said with a slight smile. Nervous, the boy held the mysterious device up to the computer screen and was gone.

Inoue Miyako, flanked by Hida Iori, swung the computer lab door open.

“What’s going on? I told them the meeting wasn’t over! Where is everybody?”

Koushiro, hand mid-way to his digivice, facefaulted.

“They must have gone home...”

**********************

“I take it this is the Digital World,” Ken said, surveying his surroundings.

“Yep,” Takeru said, taking a deep breathe and savoring the clean, digital air, “it’s great to the back.”

“Hikari!”

“Takeru!”

“Tailmon!”

“Patamon!”

The two returning children hugged their estranged partners. From behind the eager digimon, Yagami Taichi and Agumon appeared as well.

“C’mon, you won’t beleive what we found!” he said enthusiastically. He turned around to go back the way he came, blinked, and faced the others again.

“What’s Ken doing here?”

“A digivice came out of the computer for him,” Takeru said as Ken pulled out the white and magenta apparatus.

“So that’s what came out of the rose!” Taichi exclaimed.

“Rose?” Takeru and Hikari asked in unison as Ken looked at the odd thing in his hand and then at Taichi, skeptically.

This way!” Agumon cried and ran into the forest. The children and the remaining digimon dashed after him until they came to the place where the dinosaur stopped. They looked downwards and sitting in the brush, surrounded by roots and fallen branches, was a single, large, stemless rose. A necklace hovered above it. The three younger children gasped in awe.

The necklace gained altitude and floated until it was even with Ken’s eyes. Said violet eyes widened as the necklace continued it’s path, finally resting around Ken’s neck. He reached upwards and grasped the charm, it the pink center had the same symbol that was printed on each petal of the rose.

“That’s the only Crest that still has it’s full power,” Taichi told him, remembering when the older Chosen Children gave up the power of their own Crests, effectively making them worthless trinkets. “That makes you the most powerful, once we find your partner, that is.”

Ken nodded, slightly, his eyes fixed on the rose. Something was telling him that it belonged to him... Having become considerably more confidant since his arrival, Ken reached out with a steady hand and grasped the rose. Easily, he lifted it, and a wide beam of white, translucent light erupted from where the base of the rose had sat. A curled up caterpillar materialized in the beam. The children looked on, varying expressions of surprise on their faces.

The caterpillar’s eyes opened, revealing the clearest blue Ken had ever seen.

“Ken...?”

The boy’s jaw dropped as the caterpillar spoke.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Ken...” He levitated to the ground and crawled to where Ken was squatted on the forest floor.

“How do you know my name?” he asked, pulling the digimon into his arms. Somehow, it just seemed ...right.

“I’m your digimon,” the answer seemed obvious to the creature. “I’m Wormmon.”

“So what’s going on?” Hikari asked, braking the introduction. “And what was that rose?”

Taichi rehashed the Kaiser and disappearance story Agumon and the other digimon had told him earlier. As for what the rose was, he didn’t know.

“What’s a Kaiser?” Takeru asked.

“That’s what I wanted to know!” Taichi exclaimed with a short laugh.

“A Kaiser,” Ken spoke up as he stood, Wormmon held awkwardly in his arms, “is a ruler. The word comes from Caesar. A Kaiser will take over regions by force and offer citizenship to the conquered people. They then must either accept the offer or be enslaved. It was also a common practice in Ancient Rome, where the Caesar originated, to have the slaves fight one another for the entertainment of the higher classes.”

“This area must have been conquered,” Taichi said, “and the digimon enslaved.”

**********************

“What’s going on?” The Kaiser watched his surveillance screen and blinked. “Why are all those other kids here?” He turned to face the blue clad man who hid in the shadows.

“They’re playing with you,” came the response. “Your opponents. Every good game needs someone to play against.”

“I guess,” the Kaiser agreed hesitantly. He preferred the game to stay his, though now that he though about it, just capturing digimon reminded him of those other monster games that he had never cared for. “I can use my digimon now!” the boy exclaimed.

“Yes,” the shadowed figure said, nodding his head enthusiastically. “You use your digimon against theirs.”

“Cool! A fighting game!” The Kaiser leapt out of his chair and ran out of the room, ducking back in a few moments later. “Where do we keep the digimon?”

“Second level.”

“Thanks!”

“A real winner we’ve got there,” came a sarcastic voice after the boy was gone.

“Oh, posh, my dear, he’s following the plan perfectly. As far as he’s concerned, this is all a game. I can’t image anyone doing a better job. The Dark Towers are up, that’s all that really matters.”

“I would have preferred someone a little bit more fun. Does he even realize the powers at play?”

“He doesn’t care that far. As long as he can play, the complexities of what’s going on don’t concern him.”

“I think he’s boring. The Destiny Stones would have made a far more interesting bringing of the Darkness.”

“You and your stones,” the blue mon murmured, with a dismissive shake of his head.

When the Kaiser returned the control room was empty. He glanced around for a moment, shrugged, and threw himself down into his chair in a relaxed position.

“This place needs a microwave,” he said to himself. “I want popcorn.”

**********************

“Fire Rocket!”

“What the--” Taichi yelped, dodging the flames that spat at him.

“I am Fladramon,” the digimon said. “I have been sent by the Digimon Kaiser to stop you.”

“Agumon, shinka yo!”

“Tailmon, shinka yo!”

“Patamon, shinka yo!”

“Agumon...shinka to...”

“Tailmon....shinka to...”

“Patamon...shinka to...”

“I can’t!”

“Neither can I!”

“Or me!”

“I take it this isn’t a problem you normally have,” Ken suggested to the group. “Do you think it might have something to do with obelisk? It seems so out of place in an underdeveloped area such as this one.”

“No, Ken,” Taichi said, his eyes fixing on the tower in the distance for the first time, “that’s definitely not supposed to be there.”

“Ken,” Wormmon said, wringling in the boy’s arms, “use the Digimental.”

“The what?” Ken asked. Wormmon tapped the rose that was held loosely in his partner’s hand with his first set of claws.

“Say ‘Digimental Up!’”

Never one to pass up a helpful suggestion, Ken complied.

“Wormmon...armor shinka to...Puttimon, Kindness in Full Bloom!”

“An Italian cupid?” Ken stuttered. Indeed, the other children could hardly scoff at Ken’s embarrassment. His digimon had transformed himself into a pale pink teddy bear with a deep red helmet, complete with a set of protruding horns, each tipped by a large heart.

Puttimon held up one red gloved finger.

“Love,” the digimon said slowly pointing at Fladramon. The tip of the extended finger lit up. Puttimon smiled sweetly, revealing a pair of vicious looking fangs. “...and Fire.” A beam shot from the creature’s finger hitting Fladramon square in the chest. The dragon digimon stumbled backwards and with a defused orange glow, revered to V-mon.

“I won’t let him down,” V-mon warned. “Not when he’s counting on me. V-headbut!” The rookie threw himself headfirst against Puttimon. He hit his opponent dead on, but the retaliating attack from both sides was unexpected.

“Air punch!”

“Cat punch!”

Patamon grinned.

“We make a great team.”

“I don’t understand,” the dazed V-mon muttered, holding his head, “why am I so weak?” He stumbled on his unsteady feet. “It was never like this before.” Determined, the digimon redoubled his efforts, only to have a well placed Pepper Breath knock him off his feet. “V--V--V-headbut,” the digimon stuttered as he attacked Tailmon. The outcome might as well have been Tailmon attacking him.

“Too much V, not enough headbut,” the dragon decided as the world went black. Ken knelt down beside the fallen digimon and lifted him up.

“So, is there a such thing as a Doctormon?” Ken asked.

“‘Fraid not,” Taichi said sadly, “though we might be able to have Jyou check him over. He’s the resident doctor-in-training.”

“Where do we find him? Ken asked.

“Probably at the high school taking some test,” Takeru spoke up. Ken set his jaw.

“So what can we do?” Ken asked.

“Take care of him ourselves,” Hikari answered. “There’s got to be somewhere safe near by where we can take him.”

“There is,” Tailmon nodded. “There’s this huge temple not too far from here.”

“Then let’s go,” Takeru said. Patamon landed on the blond boy’s hat and smiled. With that the children set off.

~*~*~

Episode Two: A New Digitude

Koushiro Izumi was not pleased. There were several things he had found that made him happy. Computers. Being praised for his ingenuity. Tentomon. Not surprisingly, being interrogated by a elementary schooler was no where on the list.

It began with the computer club. Where did they go? She told them the meeting wasn’t over.

And then she wanted to know what was up with Hikari and those boys. They came to the computer lab and now they were gone.

There was a brief intermission of questioning then as she began to wail about some sort of Computer Lab Mystery in a way that reminded Koushiro of Mimi. It was bittersweet, for as much as all the Chosen Children missed their relocated comrade, the whining was something Koushiro could do without any day. The young boy, who looked just a bit older than Takeru when he first met him but acted older than Jyou, calmed her down soon after

And then the questioning began again. What’s the Digital World? Did Koushiro know? Does that have something do with Hikari? As she stared him down, Koushiro felt his resolve crumble, however hard he tried to remain strong. He eventually opted for saying nothing, which rewarded him a suspicious look from the girl, but nothing more. Inwardly, he sighed in relief and waited for either the children to leave or the Chosen Children to return. Both outcomes would leave him with a lot of questions to ask and a lot of theories to create.

Unfortunately, despite the prodding from the younger boy, the girl had no intention of leaving. Koushiro slumped down in his chair and hoped they would be gone when the others returned.

**********************

Something no one counted on but in retrospect should have assumed was the existence of an enormous flight of stairs leading to the temple. Having no other options at the moment, the quartet of humans and the five digimon, four traveling under their own power and one being carried, made their way up to the temple.

Once the trek was finished, Ken set V-mon down. His action pleased Wormmon a great deal, who had been getting jealous of the attention his partner was giving the enemy digimon. The caterpillar was somewhat ashamed of himself though. How could he have negative feelings about Ken’s selfless act of caring and kindness? These things were Wormmon’s favorite part about Ken. How he knew someone he just met so well was a mystery to Wormmon, but he brushed to off as a perk of being a Chosen Digimon.

Wormmon watched as Ken sat down on the temple floor beside the fallen dragon and scurried to his other side. Ken smiled softly at him, and somehow, Wormmon just knew Ken’s small smiles meant so much more than the largest grin.

“Not much to do,” Takeru mused.

“Not until we know what we’re up against,” Taichi added. “You could explore the temple, though, if you’re bored. I’d like to talk to Ken one on one anyway.”

“There was a time I would have loved that,” Takeru muttered, thinking about his younger days in the Digital World. Everything had been so new and exciting. But he had Yamato to look out for him, then... “C’mon, Hikari,” Takeru said, breaking his train of thought. “Let’s see what we can see.”

“I bet there’s a great view of the Digital World from somewhere here,” Hikari said. “We’re so high up.”

“So let’s find it,” Takeru said simply.

After the two eleven year olds departed, Taichi moved to sit down as well. Ken pulled Wormmon onto his lap to make room for the older boy to sit beside him.

“Why’d you do it?” Taichi asked, startling Ken.

“Do what?” was the response.

“V-mon,” Taichi clarified. “I mean, we’ve never punished a digimon we fought before or anything, we just let them go their own way after we make sure they won’t be causing anymore trouble. Why did you bring V-mon?”

“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Ken told him. “First off, he’s most likely a slave to the Kaiser and wasn’t acting under his own power. Slaves don’t get to make their own choices; their masters hold life and death over them. And second, he was injured. I couldn’t sit back and leave an injured creature to whatever’s out there. Whatever it is, it’s bad.”

“There’s a word for what you are,” Taichi said with a grin, “I’m not sure what the best term is though.”

“Kindness,” Wormmon spoke up, “Ken is kind.”

“Yeah,” Taichi nodded, “I think that’s it.”

“Kindness is his Crest,” Wormmon continued.

“How do you know?” Ken asked, giving the digimon a playful rub between his antennae.

“Don’t know how,” he mumbled. “Just do.”

“Guys!”

The boys’ heads snapped in the direction of Takeru’s call. “Come quick, you won’t believe what we just found!” Taichi and Ken leapt to their feet, and ran after the voice, Agumon at Taichi’s heels and Wormmon thrown against Ken’s shoulder in the same manner as a baby being burped.

Takeru and Hikari were found staring at a table, two objects resting on it side by side.

“They’ve got the symbols of Hope and Light on them,” Hikari informed the new comers.

“What’s that mean?” Ken asked. Hikari reached into her shorts’ pocket and pulled out a necklace resembling the one that adorned Ken’s neck.

“Hope is Takeru’s Crest and Light is mine,” Hikari held up her Tag. “But we gave up the power of our Crests last time we were here. They don’t really do anything anymore.”

As Hikari spoke, complete with visual aids, Takeru approached the table. He reached out with both hands for the egg shaped object that included a pair of Patamon-esque wings and a tuft of hair. With a grunt of effort, the thing was lifted from the table. With a glance at her brother, Hikari followed in suit, taking the remaining one. Each child half expected a beam of light like the reaction Ken got when he lifted the rose, but they were relieved to find no replacements for Patamon and Tailmon.

“Hey, let’s go outside and find out what happens when you say--what was that thing, Ken?”

“‘Digimental Up!’” the boy quoted himself.

**********************

At exactly five fifteen everyday, his little brother would sneak into his room to bug him. Of course, Ken’s motives weren’t to annoy him, that’s just the way it would turn out. Ken, who never studied a day in his life, a perk of being practically a genius in a public school--the absence of a decent work load, could never quite relate to Osamu’s need to hit the books every evening.

So when five fifteen came and went with no word from Ken, Osamu brushed it off as his little brother developing something akin to common courtesy. When five thirty came and went as well, Osamu began to get nervous. Even when Ken was in a rotten mood, nothing could keep him from at least trying to talk to his big bro. By five forty-five, Osamu had abandoned his desk to be the instigator of a brotherly feud.

The Ichijoujis’ apartment was fairly large as apartments go, so each brother had his own space-conscious room, leaving a room for their parents to share and another empty bedroom for guests, if the family were to ever have any.

The first room Osamu checked was naturally his brother’s and he was more than a little unnerved to find it empty. He peeked into the guest room--Ken liked to hole himself up in there with a thick novel, always an acclaimed classic, now and then, but it was also without occupants.

Osamu punched his glasses with a finger and wandered to the kitchen were his mother was making dinner.

“Have you seen Ken around?” he asked, nonchalant.

“No, dear, sorry.”

Osamu blinked.

“Don’t you find that kind of odd?” the boy asked.

“Now that you mention it,” his mother said, putting down the knife she had been cutting fish with, “that isn’t like Ken at all. Maybe he went to a friend’s house and forgot to call.”

Osamu pursed his lips. As far as he knew, Ken only had one good friend. The other kids at his school tended to shun him because of his superior intelligence. He had the unfortunate habit of making them all look like fools at some occasion or another. It wasn’t intentional, he just preferred to be with normal children when he wasn’t quite normal himself. He could have gone to the private school that Osamu attended, but his entrance test scores were on the low end of what was accepted and Ken would have rather had time to play than work himself into exhaustion for the mediocre grades he would have earned in private school.

So Ken had a lot of trouble fitting in. The boys were never able to get past his being so much smarter than they and the majority of the girls were only interested in fawning over his looks. Ken was rarely approached and far too shy to make the first move himself. Which left his one friend, a girl who had been in his class several years in a row. To Osamu’s knowledge, Ken had never been to her apartment and she had never been invited to the Ichijoujis’. The only reason Osamu even knew she existed was because the single time she called on the telephone, he had been the one answer. Yagami something...

Osamu began to trod back to his own room to force himself to study when the doorbell rang.

**********************

Miyako sat in the Computer Lab, arms folded over her chest and glaring at the junior high student. If she had met him in any other circumstances, Miyako imagined, she’d be star struck. Koushiro was down right famous with the Computer Club. Right up there with some fifth grade super genius kid, though Miyako was sure she wouldn’t recognize him if she saw him.

But in the present circumstances, the red-head knew something and he wasn’t spilling. Miyako was determined to find out what was going on. Iori had gone home already, abandoning her. Ah, well, her summer-camp chum had kendo practice to get to and all.

Koushiro was either ignoring her or trying to bore her into leaving, Miyako thought. Neither would work. She was going to get to the bottom of this mystery! At around five thirty, Koushiro excused himself. As sleathly as she could manage, Miyako followed him until he arrived at the payphone in the school lobby. Around the corner and out of sight, Miyako could barely pick up the conversation, though she was fairly certain she heard most of it.

“Gotta...their families. Don’t know when...back. Then get Sora to...it. Something Ken...Crest...Takeru and Hikari went, too. He’s met Taichi and seemed to know Hikari, ask the Yagamis what his family name is.” There was a long pause and Koushiro said good-bye and hung up. Miyako ran back to the Computer Lab, taking a short cut to beat him there. She was slumped in the same seat in the same position when Koushiro arrived again and luckily, he didn’t notice she was out of breath.

**********************

Somethings just weren’t fair, Takenouchi Sora decided, holding up a scrap of paper with a hastily scrawled address on it. Taichi had been whisked to the Digital World, found a new Crest, e-mailed the Chosen Children to report to the Digital World ASAP. By the time she got around to checking her e-mail to begin with, the takers of their ‘leader’s’ invitation had already left and it didn’t look like anyone knew when they would be back, which meant those who were left behind had to be the support staff, otherwise known as the excuses-to-tell-the-families makers.

Koushiro was trapped in the elementary school computer lab with a suspicious sixth grader. So he called Jyou. Jyou had a huge anatomy test to study for, so he called Sora, at Koushiro’s suggestion. She called Yamato, half as an excuse to talk to him and half because the best story she could come with was to say that the missing boys were having a sleep over at his place and Hikari was doing the same with her. When she got through to his apartment, his father gave her the number that she could reach him at band practice. She called him there and he agreed to call his mother to say that Takeru was staying with him and the Yagamis to say that Taichi was as well. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a family name for the other boy, or a phone number.

Jyou had told her however that this Ken child knew Taichi and Hikari. Using that information, Yamato told Taichi’s mother while on the phone that they were considering inviting Ken over but Taichi hadn’t gotten to his apartment yet, so did she know where her children had the indigo haired boy’s phone number..? No, she didn’t, but his family name was dropped and using that, Sora got a hold of an address. The phone number was unlisted.

Because Yamato couldn’t leave band practice, that left Sora to go to the Ichijoujis’ apartment in person and tell them ...something.

So now she stood, ringing the doorbell and quite certain that something’s just weren’t fair.

The door was answered by a boy about her age with purple hair and glasses.

“Hello?” he said.

“Hi, I’m here about Ken.” The boy perked up. “See, he’s got a school project with my little brother and they went to the library to work on it and just don’t know when they’ll be finished. My mom made me come over here to tell you--”

“--You’re lying,” the boy said, cutting her off.

“What?!”

“You’re lying. People always blink a lot when they’re lying.”

“I’ve got a pretty serious vision problem, buster,” Sora defended. “I blink a lot.”

“Not when you said that,” the boy chuckled. “You should try getting glasses, though.” He punched his own glasses with one of his fingers. “So what’s your brother’s name?” he asked slyly.

“Takeru,” Sora said, a little too quickly. “Takaishi Takeru. He’s in Ken’s class, ask him yourself when he gets home.” Inwardly, Sora winced.

“Mm-hm,” the boy said. “Tell you what, Ms. Takaishi, if Ken agrees with your story when he gets home, I’ll deal with it. But if he doesn’t, then I’ll tell my parents and he’ll get in trouble. You don’t want to get Ken in trouble by lying do you?” The boy grinned.

“He’ll agree, he’ll agree,” Sora nervously pressed. “After all, it’s the truth.” She tacked a chuckle to the end of her statement, though it didn’t sound calm and cool, like Sora intended it to.

“I’m sure,” the boy murmured as he closed the door.

**********************

Ken was the first to notice.

“Where’s V-mon?”

The children had passed through the main room of the temple as they headed out sight to test Takeru and Hikari’s new whatever-they-weres. When they arrived in the place Ken had left V-mon, the dragon digimon was gone.

“V-mon!” Ken called, cupping his hands around his mouth. “C’mon, Wormmon, we have to find him!” Before anyone could protest, Ken was sprinting down the entrance stairs two at a time and calling for V-mon. The other children followed, but at a slower pace. Ken reached the ground well before they did and soon they were unable to see him.

“Great,” Taichi scoffed. “Ken! Wormmon! V-mon!” The others echoed the cries.

**********************

“Ugh...how did this happen?” Ken murmured, his tongue thick in his mouth. He remembered looking for V-mon, blackness coming in a swirl of pain from the back of his head and waking up chained to a canyon wall. “Wormmon?” he asked weakly, turning his head against the rock to see his partner next to him, also chained.

“I don’t know,” the digimon admitted. “I was just following your lead.” Ken sighed and pursed his lips. He tugged at the bonds that held his left wrist to the slab of rock, but was unable to move at all. A rumbling nose drew the attention of both captives to the other side of the canyon. Rock chipped and fell, plummeting down, down, down. An unsettled feeling cemented itself into Ken’s stomach. Just when he thought he had this place figured out, life through him for a loop.

A digimon covered in purple and white fur with a snout that resembled a drill appeared, steadily chipping away at the canyon walls. Though Ken couldn’t image how the creature would be able to reach him from across the canyon, he was still nervous.

“Wormmon, can you transform?” Ken asked.

“Not without this!”

Ken craned his neck upwards at the sound of V-mon’s voice. The dragon stood on the edge above him, holding Ken’s magenta and white device along with a larger, silver one. Absently, Ken wondered what happened to the rose before bringing himself back to the situation at hand.

“I don’t understand,” Ken began, “I helped you... Why are doing this?”

“I won’t let him down!” V-mon shouted back. “He’s counting on me!”

“Who?” Ken asked, “The Digimon Kaiser? He’s just using you! You don’t have to be his slave, V-mon!”

“I’M NOT A SLAVE!” V-mon shouted as loud as he could, making Ken and Wormmon wince. “We’re partners!”

“He’s loyal of his own free will?” Ken asked in a whisper, unable to understand.

“Digimon are always loyal to their human partners, Ken. You can’t talk them out of it,” Wormmon said.

“But...” Ken protested. He did not get any further than a single word however, as a the purple and white furred digimon again made his presence known. Rocks on the captive’s side of the canyon were beginning to chip away in small quantities as well, though there was no doubt in Ken’s mind that the bits of rock would soon grow to slabs of stone.

“How could you turn against someone who tried to help you?”

This time, the question was asked in the calm, yet sorrowful voice of Agumon. V-mon turned around, face to face with his adversary.

“I’m sorry to have to do this and I know Ken will be sad, but Pepper Breath!” A burst of fire hit V-mon square in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards, Ken’s digivice and silver contraption flying out of his hands and down the canyon. Helpless, Ken watched as his new possessions tumbled towards the darkness.

A white blur swooped downwards and up. The blur took on a cleared shape as it got nearer to Ken and Wormmon: Hikari riding on the back of a white creature with large, angelic wings and a face that reminiscent of a mummy’s tomb. As the brunette set to work on freeing Ken and Wormmon, the trio noticed Takeru had engaged in battle with the purple and white Digimon. Once freed, Ken climbed on the back of Hikari’s mount behind her, holding Wormmon tightly in his arms and his hands cradled the returned devices. They flew upwards and Ken hopped down onto the firm ground, where Taichi and Agumon stood.

“I’ll help Takeru--” Hikari began, but was cut off by her brother.

“No need to,” Taichi said, “Looks like the digimon has retreated.” As he spoke Takeru, riding a flying horse, landed softly near Ken.

“They both have,” the blond stated, referring to V-mon’s disappearance. Ken closed his eyes and hung his head. Silently, he kicked a stone.

“We failed,” he whispered.

“We didn’t fail Ken,” Wormmon said, looking up at his partner sadly, “we just didn’t win today. We will though, you’ll see.”

“Not right now, though,” Taichi spoke up in an authoritative voice. “We have to get home.” He knelt down in front of Agumon. “I really don’t want to have to go through another good-bye, buddy, but we’ll see each other again soon, I promise.” Tearfully, the orange dinosaur tackled Taichi in a bear hug.

“I know, I know,” the digimon repeated, but could barely bring himself to let go when the time came.

Hikari held Tailmon affectionately.

“How many times do I have to find you before we can stay together?” the digimon asked, not sure whether the parting would make her cry or whether being held should make her purr.

“You’ve gotten so big, Takeru,” Patamon sniffed, clinging to the boy’s hat, “promise the next time I see you, you won’t have changed any.”

“I promise.”

“You’re leaving?” Wormmon asked Ken, his eyes sparkling with tears. “But you just go here. We only just met.”

Ken knelt down and gathered Wormmon into his arms.

“I have to go, I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with you and help the missing digimon.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “There’s nothing for me in the human world; I don’t have many friends, my parents don’t care about me, but it’s where I belong. Still, no matter what happens, I’m coming back tomorrow and every tomorrow after that. We’re going to help those digimon, stop the Kaiser and find out what this necklace does. You and me.”

Through with their good-byes, the Chosen Children disappeared in a flash of light. Tailmon was the only one of the four abandoned digimon able to keep tears from falling, but it was only with great effort.

**********************

At this point, Miyako didn’t think she had any sort of handle on what was going on. She did know that one moment, she had been silently glaring at Koushiro, sick of yelling at someone who obviously wasn’t going to be listening to her anytime soon. The next, the entire computer room was filled with a blinding light and when she was able to see again, that Yagami Hikari girl had all but fallen into Miyako’s arms; the fifth grade boy with blue hair was on the ground at her feet, lying on his stomach; the boy with blonde hair was sitting on the first boy’s legs and another boy with huge hair knocked Koushiro out of his chair.

“WHAT IS GOING ON?!?” Miyako screeched.

“It’s not what it looks like!” the blond boy shouted in a panic, jumping to his feet.

“We’re on the lighting crew for the school play!” Hikari blurted out, pulling herself away from Miyako.

“I was ...just...looking for my,” Taichi paused and grabbed the chair Koushiro had once been sitting in, “chair! I was just looking for my chair and now that I found it, I better be going.”

“That chair belongs to the school, there is no school play and does it look like this?” Miyako pulled out her white and red device and held it at arms length.

If Koushiro hadn’t been knocked out of his chair already, there was no doubt in his mind he would have fallen off anime-style, with his legs in the air, twitching. As it was, he just slapped his hand to his forehead.

“So it does have something to do with this gizmo,” Miyako said after reading the expressions of the other children.

Ken fished into his pocket and plucked out his white and magenta digivice. He held it out for her to see lain flat on his palm, the side with the screen and buttons face up. Miyako’s anger and frustration seemed to melt away with the simple gesture.

“When you go back into the computer--” she began, her voice softer and more curious than demanding.

“Tomorrow,” Ken said, cutting her off. He blushed slightly, embarrassed. Normally, he made it a point to be polite, but he had strong feelings where the Digital World was concerned.

“Huh?”

“We’re going back tomorrow, I promised,” Ken answered, shrinking away from the others a bit.

“When you go back into the computer, can I come?” Miyako asked hopefully.

The voices of five children rang out an affirmative.

“Iori, too,” Miyako said cheerfully, “he’s got one of these.”

“Hida Iori?” Hikari asked. Miyako nodded. The brunette smiled. “He lives in my building!”

“Odaiba Mansion?”

“That’s the one,” Taichi confirmed.

“Hey, wow, that’s the apartment complex I just moved into!” Takeru exclaimed. “I didn’t know you guys lived there!”

“Takeru moving into the same building as Hikari and Taichi just when the Digital World needed the Chosen and a new one living there as well,” Koushiro mused. “It’s possible the Digital World did that on purpose.”

“It is?” Taichi asked.

Koushiro chuckled, “Well, it is in theory at least.”

“If we’re going back tomorrow, we should get some rest tonight,” Hikari said. “It’s getting pretty late.”

“Ken, can you walk Miyako home?” Taichi asked.

“If it’s okay with her,” Ken agreed, tossing a glance to the sixth grader. The girl in question was a little shorter than him with long, lavender hair and warm golden brown eyes guarded by large round glasses. Ken noticed her face was very expressive and at that moment it wore a content half-smile.

“It’s okay with me if you tell me what happened today,” Miyako said happily. Politely, Ken offered his arm and Miyako took it, a silent contract that the younger boy accepted her ‘terms.’ As the two exited the room, the remaining children could here Ken begin the tale by explaining how he received the crest and tag that still hung around his neck.

“Koushiro,” Taichi said, taking charge now that Ken and Miyako had left, “call Jyou. Takeru, call Yamato. I’ll get Sora on the phone. I want everyone to meet in the Elementary playground ASAP. We’ve got a crisis.”

~*~*~

Episode Three: The Digiteam Complete

Ichijouji Ken was not musically inclined. Scholastics came naturally to him, as long as they weren’t too hard and he was passable with sports, but music? No, the boy could barely keep a melody and was never in tune. Yet as he quietly closed the door to the Ichijouji’s apartment, that certainly didn’t keep him from humming a song he had heard a few times on the radio, whistling now and then when he felt it suited his song. Or his mood.

“Do you know what time it is?”

Ken turned swiftly to face his older brother, who stood leaning against the wall opposite the door.

“Quarter after seven?” the younger sibling guessed.

“Try quarter to eight.” Osamu scowled. “Call the next time you’re going to be late, you little pest. It’s what telephones are for, not that you ever use one.”

“‘Kay,” Ken said amiably. “I’m probably gonna be pretty late for the next few days.”

Osamu rolled his eyes.

“Project with Takaishi Takeru?”

“Yeah, actually,” Ken said, sounding mildly surprised. “How’d you know?”

“It’s why I’m a genius and you’re not.”

Ken, having heard that answer many times before and knowing it was just Osamu’s way of saying ‘Not telling, nyah!,’ headed for his room, but stopped after a few steps.

“Hey, Osamu,” he said uncertainly, “can I ask you something?”

“Only if I can ask you something,” his brother coolly responded.

“Did Mama and Papa...did they, well, did they notice I didn’t come home?” Ken crinkled his eyebrows in an expression Osamu knew well, when Ken asked a question whose answer he knew, but hoped the results would be different if he asked out loud.

“Mama noticed after I commented on it,” Osamu said honestly, “but I’m not sure Papa did.” Ken’s face fell and Osamu feverently wished he could bring himself to lie to his brother. He had already wasted too many wishes hoping for his parents to love their second son, so instead he wished for the ability to hide the truth from him.

Even if it meant blinking a lot.

“What about my question?” Osamu asked as Ken continued to his room. The boy stopped, waiting.

“When you came in just now,” the elder occupant of the room began, “aw, hell, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that happy. What happened?”

“I met some people, that’s all. You know, friends. The people you call on the telephone.”

Osamu chuckled before growing serious again.

“You missed dinner. Go wash up and I’ll see what I can find for you in the kitchen.”

**********************

Yagami Taichi and Izumi Koushiro were the first to arrive on the playground. They sat on a bench, Koushiro on the conventional seat and Taichi along the backing, waiting for Takeru to come back from calling his older brother. Hikari had already settled herself on one of the still swings, after a quick trip to the ladies’ room.

Takeru arrived a few minutes later and took a relaxed position leaning against one of the swing set’s support beams. Kido Jyou arrived next, breathing heavy from sprinting to the meeting place, but he had been fairly certain a group discussion was on the horizon and cleared his schedule as best he could that afternoon. He took a seat on another bench after nodding his greetings, too out of breathe to voice them.

Sora was the sixth to show up, and the others noted the sour look on her face, but fearing a possible wrath of PMS, dared not to comment. She hauled herself to sit up along the top of the monkey bars.

“Might as well start the story now,” Takeru said, his posture becoming more rigid as he brought his mind back to the topics at hand. “Yamato said he wouldn’t be able to get out of band practice for a while.”

Taichi nodded and launched into a recap of how he was called to the Digital World and soon met up with Agumon, Tailmon and Patamon. He told how the three digimon explained their limited knowledge of someone calling himself the Digimon Kaiser and the story of disappearing digimon. Continuing with the tale, he shared the rose, the Crest and the beams of light that erupted from it.

Hikari took over, then, talking about Miyako who had brought the e-mail calling for help and how she, Takeru and her friend from class went to the Computer Lab. The friend--Ichijouji Ken--had been awarded with some new sort of Digivice and the three of them went to the Digital World and for a rendezvous with Taichi. The Crest linked itself to Ken, Hikari explained, and then the indigo haired boy felt some sort of desire to pick up the rose. When he did so, his digimon partner appeared, a Viral type digimon called Wormmon.

Taichi took over the story again when Hikari reached the part about the battle against Fladramon. Wormmon defeated the enemy using some thing triggered by saying ‘Digimental Up!’ and the rose. Then he insisted on helping the creature, so to keep it safe the group went to a near by temple.

Takeru began to speak, recounting how he and Hikari had gone exploring, only to find objects that would allow Patamon and Tailmon to digivolve into new stages--Pegasusmon and Nefertimon. Here, Hikari interjected and told the others that their digivices had morphed. She held the pink-on-white device up as a visual aid. Takeru continued, telling of how V-mon disappeared and Ken went after him.

Taichi told of their second battle, how Hikari saved Ken, how Takeru defeated the Kaiser’s newest lackey and how Agumon fought V-mon to a retreat.

Koushiro then spoke up, saying that two more children had new digivices.

There was a short period of silence as the new information sunk in.

“Do you think the Digital World doesn’t want us saving it anymore?” Jyou asked finally. “That it thinks we didn’t do a good enough job?”

“No way!” Taichi exclaimed. “After all, I went there and Takeru and Hikari got new digivices as well. And our old digivices still work.”

“Digivolving doesn’t, though,” Hikari said softly, swinging just a tiny bit. “We need these new things.”

“So we all go tomorrow and see what’s up,” a new voice broke in.

“Yamato!” Sora called, and hopped off the monkey bars.

“Sorry I’m late,” he offered. “Takeru can fill me on what I missed later, right?”

“Yeah!”

“So then we all go?” Taichi asked, raising his digivice to the sky for effect.

“Count me in,” Takeru said.

“Me, too,” Hikari chimed in.

“Can’t.” Jyou said sadly, “Cram school.”

“I’ll be there,” Sora agreed.

“So will I,” Yamato added, “if I can get out of going to practice, that is.”

“I missed out today,” Koushiro said, “I’m definitely going tomorrow.”

“Just like old times,” Taichi beamed. “Only without Mimi.” He added, his face dimming, “And no Jyou, and maybe no Yamato.”

“And three new kids to take our places,” Jyou mused.

“It won’t really be like old times at all,” Sora said, nostalgic.

“Isn’t going to the Digital World, seeing our digimon and having everything completely different from last time a good thing?” Takeru asked bluntly. “No Devimon,” he shuttered, “no Etemon, no Vamdemon, no Dark Masters, just--”

“--an enemy we know nothing about, who could be even worse than all of them,” Taichi cut off.

“We can go home this time,” Hikari spoke up, “and an hour here is only an hour there. There’s good and bad and maybe the bad won’t be so bad.”

“Might as well stay optimistic while we can,” Sora said with a smile for Hikari and Takeru. “‘Hope for the best’ and all.”

“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ‘Prepare for the worst’ as well,” Jyou said strictly.

“We’ll prepare for the worse when we figure out what exactly the worst is,” Taichi said. “But for now, let’s just go home. We can’t do anymore good just standing here.”

The children began to drift away, first Taichi to accentuate his point, accompanied by Hikari. Jyou left next, only allowing a good-bye and a few words about an upcoming test to escape his lips. Sora didn’t notice when Koushiro left, she was reflecting on what she had told Ken’s brother, but when she made note of those around her, only Yamato and Takeru remained. She smiled with a bit of effort and approached Takeru, wanting to clear up the day’s earlier excuse in case it ever came up. And maybe tag along when he and Yamato left together. It must be some sort of novelty for them, she supposed, being able to see each other whenever they wanted now. She promised herself if she did walk with them, she would be quiet and not interrupt any endearing moments of brotherly bonding.

“Takeru,” she began, “there’s something I want to talk to you about...”

**********************

“I don’t understand,” V-mon mumbled to himself as he hiked through Drimogemon’s tunnel. “Fladramon is usually so strong! What’s wrong with me?” He got no answer other than a slight echoing of his own voice. “I must be the only digimon alive that has a weak Amour Evolution. The Fire of Courage?” he sighed. “Bet Daisuke thinks it a Flicker of Courage after that battle.”

V-mon stopped in his tracks, staring ahead at the tunnel. He still had a long way to go before reaching his partner’s base.

“I hope he gives me a second chance,” V-mon said to the air. With that, he began his journey again, this time, he ran.

**********************

Ichijouji Ken fingered the pendant that hung around his neck. It had gotten him quite a few stares of the course of the day, but he didn’t mind as long as people didn’t start asking about it. If someone was going to pay attention to him, well, that was just fine with Ken. He was standing in the computer room, waiting to go back to the Digital World after class. Ken, Hikari and Takeru have arrived together, but Takeru wanted to check up on his older brother and see if he was coming and Hikari gone to look for Iori and Miyako. While the twelve-year-old girl had known about the trip, the young boy had not and Hikari just hoped he was still at school somewhere.

Takeru came back into the room and dropped himself softly onto one of the chairs. “He’s not coming,” the boy muttered. Ken nodded, but offered no words.

Taichi and Koushiro arrived next, coming straight from the Junior High. Sora popped in a few minutes later; she had to cancel tennis practice first. Finally, Hikari returned with a particularly excited Miyako and Iori, who was just in the process of saying he wished they’d have given him more notice.

“Everyone’s here?” Taichi asked. “So let’s go!”

“Yagami Taichi? Is that you?” At the sound of the elementary teachers’ voice, the children froze. “Izumi Koushiro and Tackenounci Sora, too? Didn’t you kids graduate?” he asked good-naturedly.

I’ll distract him, Taichi mouthed, You guys go on.

“Hey, Mr. Fugujama!” Taichi said with false, but believable, enthusiasm. “We guess came back for old times’ sake, but you know?” Taichi began walking out of the classroom, gesturing to the adult to follow him. “There’s something I’ve wanted to talk to you about...” Inwardly, the goggled boy grimaced, but it was a sacrifice for the team. Agumon would understand.

“We better get going before someone else comes,” Sora said nervously.

“Right,” Takeru said. He, being the one seated at the computer, held his green-on-white digivice to the screen. “Digital Gate, open!”

Soon, the children found themselves in a clearing, wide open spaces as far as the eye could see. Miyako’s eyes, however, were not on her surrounds.

“Hey!” she shouted, “my outfit changed!” Indeed it had, for now she sported a leather pilot’s cap, a light blue skin tight shirt and brown vest, and red pants which puffed out on her upper legs. The outfit was completed by a pair of white gloves and brown boots. A green knapsack, held by one diagonal strap added a finishing touch.

“Mine, too,” Iori said, looking himself over. He wore a long brown shirt and simple brown pants with black shoes.

Ken, Hikari and Takeru looked at Miyako and Iori before taking a peek at themselves.

Hikari’s outfit remained unchanged, with the exception of her shoes. She had been wearing off white tennis shoes but now adorned pink boots. Takeru’s clothing had a similar change.

Ken studied himself, yellow button-down shirt with sleeves folded at the elbow, khaki pants, Crest and Tag, before he noticed the change. Instead of the black semi-formal shoes he had been wearing he had black leather sneakers with two dark gray stripes on each side. At first glance, the sneakers resembled his other shoes and they were so comfortable, he hadn’t originally noticed he was wearing them.

“Sora!” A faint, high pitched voice called. “Sora, you’re here!” A running pink bird came into view, followed by two more digimon in the air and one more on the ground. “Oh, Sora, I missed you so much!” The bird launched herself into the redheaded girl’s arms.

“Oh, Piyomon,” Sora whispered, holding her close.

“Koushiro!” one of the flying digimon exclaimed, “great to see you again!”

“You, too, Tentomon,” Koushiro replied. Because his partner was not an emotional person, Tentomon was more than a little surprised when he was pulled into a hug.

Patamon perched himself on Takeru’s head and Tailmon leapt into Hikari’s arms.

“Where’s Wormmon?” Ken asked, seeing his partner no where and more than a little distressed. He jogged out in the direction the other digimon had come in, but still saw nothing. Finally something came into view, a small something moving in long jumps for a few minutes, then stopping, then starting over again. Ken ran towards it at full speed and he was soon able to see that it was Wormmon. The caterpillar soon found himself held tightly in his partner’s arms, the boy kneeling in the dirt.

“I’m sorry I can’t run as fast as everyone else,” Wormmon said, his voice slightly muffled from being pressed against Ken’s shoulder.

When the other children caught up, Ken was standing now, Wormmon still in his arms.

“So we’re here,” Miyako said, looking around. “I guess being in a another world is kind of cool, but what are we going to do?”

“Right now, it’s important we learn as much as we can about the current situation,” Koushiro answered.

“Maybe we should go back to the clearing we battled in yesterday,” Takeru suggested. “Drimogemon’s tunnel is probably still there.” Patamon took flight and paused after he was a few feet away.

“Then we should go this way,” the hovering digimon.

“What do you think, Tailmon?” Hikari asked.

“Picking up where we left off makes sense,” the cat coolly replied. The children began their trek, but a rumbling noise stopped them in their tracks.

“What. Are. Those?!?” the question began life in a sort of dry tone, though Miyako’s voice squeaked in fright on the last word.

“DarkTyrannomon,” Takeru answered. “They’re digimon who were turned viral by a computer program!”

“Should we fight?” Patamon asked.

“If they attack,” Takeru began but never finished voicing his thought. The recently appeared digimons’ actions caused him to cry, “Digimental Up!”

“Patamon...Armor Shinka to...Pegasusmon, the Hope that Gallops Across the Heavens!”

“Digimental Up!” Two other voices shouted, following in suit.

“Tailmon...Armor Shinka to...Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!”

“Wormmon...Armor Shinka to...Puttimon, Kindness in Full Bloom!”

“Miyako, Iori,” Ken called, “get to safety!”

“And where would safety be?” Miyako spat, several DarkTyrannomon surrounded the group.

“Somewhere not in the line of fire,” the indigo haired boy responded, taking his eyes off of Puttimon’s battle only for a moment to direct his gaze to Miyako. “Please, Miyako, you can’t stay in the middle of a battle unprotected.”

“Miyako, he’s right,” Iori said, “Staying here we could get hurt. It’s best to find refuge.”

“Fine,” Miyako sighed. As she and Iori ran, the young boy pulled out his white and yellow digivice.

“Miyako,” he said, “Look, there are two dots on the screen. We should follow the map.” Miyako, having no better suggestions, gave a curt nod and the two children arrived at a cave after a short jog. They took cover inside.

“Hey, what’s that?” Miyako asked pointing. Farther back, she could see something. Iori looked, and with the curiosity of a child, took a few steps closer to get a better view.

“I don’t know,” he said after a moment. Iori noticed Miyako standing just behind him and turned to look at her. His eyes seemed to be asking her if she had any ideas now that they were closer. Miyako ignored the silent question and approached the objects.

There were two of the ...whatever-ever-they-were’s. Both resembled ovals, but the bottom had been pressed flat so that they stood. One was silver in color, the other yellow. Both had strange markings, but even close, neither knew what the strange things could be.

“This one has a weird looking heart on it,” Miyako said. She grasped it by it’s two wing-like protrusions and lifted, to get a better look. A red beam erupted from the rock shelf the thing had been sitting on. Miyako took a step back; within the stream of light a creature was floating. He, she it(?) opened his eyes and flew into the open air, landing a foot or so from Miyako. With it’s inhabitant gone, the light disappeared.

“Greetings, Child of Love,” the featured creature said. He bowed. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Hawkmon.”

“Hi, I’m Miyako,” she shifted the silver object from hand to hand.

“Yes,” the digimon responded. “I know. I have been waiting for you. For quite some time, actually.”

Miyako smiled and turned to Iori.

“Try picking up that yellow thing. I bet that’s what was showing up on those little computers’ screens.”

Iori complied and a similar beam of light came forth, a yellow one this time, encasing a shelled creature. It leapt from the beam and nearly bowled the boy over.

“I’m Armadimon,” he said, amiably. “You must be Iori. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too” Iori responded.

“It took you an awfully long time to get here,” the yellow digimon continued, “but I don’t mind, I’m just glad your here.”

“I guess that was my fault,” Miyako broke in, despite the fact that she somehow got the impression the digimon had been waiting for a lifetime, not a few moments. “Maybe next time I should listen to Ken. But now, we’ll show him who can handle the line of fire!” Miyako pumped her arm. “Let’s go!”

Iori raised his eyebrows.

“Come on, Hawkmon! We’ll show Ken! We’re just as good as the other kids!”

Hawkmon, having absolutely no idea what Miyako was talking about, flew beside her while Iori and his new companion trailed behind. They reached the clearing, but the DarkTyrannomon were gone.

“What gives?” Miyako asked aloud. “What happened?”

“We freed the digimon,” Ken said smiling, “You just missed them.” Indeed, none of the armor evolutions had even reverted to their rookie forms yet. Miyako eyed Puttimon and pursed her lips. “What’s wrong?” the indigo haired boy asked.

“Miyako and I found our digimon,” Iori answered. “She wanted to prove something, I think.” Miyako scowled and blushed. “This is Armadimon, my partner and Hawkmon, Miyako’s.”

“Hi, everybody,” Armadimon said.

“Salutations,” Hawkmon greeted.

The two digimon were met with friendly replies from the other humans.

**********************

“Hey!” The Digimon Kaiser yelped. “They won! Why do they keep winning? It’s not fair, that’s three times in a row now!” He tore his eyes away from the screens. “Mummymon!” He called. No answer from the humanoid digimon came. Another digimon, however, responded.

“What’s the matter, Daisuke?” V-mon asked, coming to his partner’s side.

“Those DarkTyrannomon lost,” The Kaiser replied. “Those kids are really good. I had them totally outnumbered.”

“Well, maybe next time, you could maybe,” V-mon paused and sighed. “You could maybe give me another chance? I’m usually really strong, I don’t know what happened last time!” The Kaiser looked at his digimon, his digimon who had not be captured and forced to become his, that is.

“Maybe,” he said slowly, “if Mummymon doesn’t think it’s such a bad idea.” The Kaiser stood up and began turning off his computers. “Come on, V-mon, it’s our night to make dinner and Mom and Dad will be really angry if I don’t have everything set up when they come home.”

From the shadows, a female digimon watched in disgust and rolled her eyes. This boy was just no fun.

Next--Iron Veggiemon

Disclaimers: I forgot to put them on the prologue. Whoops! None of the characters are owned by me, nor are the situations. I’m just putting Toei’s characters into the situations and seeing how they react. A lot of stuff is pretty similar to the show right now, though things will take a very different spin.