Unlikely Friends, Part Three

The Return of the Past

 

AN~Part Three is here!:claps, cheers, whistles: Finally! Gomen, minna-san for the lateness of this, but I had a lot of crap to do in my life outside of Digimon, so I couldn't write for a while. Well, in this part, the leaders of the Chosen Children must battle their worst enemies from the past and a few more evil Digimon to make it to the Realm of Doom. Keep remembering to send me E-mail!!!!!!!!

 

"How do you think they're doing, guys?"...

"I'm sure they're fine Kari,"...

"I hope so,"...

"You can count on it, T.K.,"

"Kat won't let anything happen to 'em,"...

"But what if somethin' happens to Kat?"...

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"Parillusionmon!"

"Yes?"

"Those bratty Chosen Children! Make sure they do not get to the Realm of Doom!"

"I will not fail you, my lord."

"I've heard that one before."

"But there was a difference that time."

"Oh? What?"

"Hydramon was a fool! I've got a definite plan to destroy the leaders of the Chosen Children! Failure is not an option, my lord."

"Good. So go then."

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"How're you doing, Kat?" I asked her as we walked through the third Pine."You look kind of tired."

"I'm fine," she said, walking past me. "I just want to get out of this forest. Something here doesn't feel right. This place looks like a 'para de congious'. A ghost forest."

"More Latin?"asked Tai from in front of us. "How can you remember all that stuff, Kat?"

"Because I am 'mere ist launguard'. The mother of language."

"Aw, damn Kat," I said, laughing."We all know you just have nothing better to do with your time!"

She stuck her tongue out at me, and we continued walking.

 

~*FLASH*~

 

We camped for the night under a thick clump of evergreen trees that shut out all the sunlight when we woke up the next morning. I went out and got our breakfast,oops lunch, since it was two in the afternoon by the time we got up, while Kat flew overhead, looking to see how far it was to the Seven Peaks.

"Only two more Pines,"she said after we finished eating. "But they're the longest ones yet. About twelve miles long, each of 'em. So if we leave now, I guess we'll be at the Seven Peaks by, oh, let's say, ten tonight. I think another campout in this place is necessary, unless I fly us over."

"Never again, Kat," Tai said firmly. "Last time we flew, you crash landed and almost got yourself killed. We'll walk."

Unless..."Kat turned."Feel up to it, Gabymon? If you Digivolve, you can get us out of here in no time. Still, if you don't want to, I understand. You took a pretty bad beating back there."

"So did you,"put in Gabumon. "Leave it to me."

"GABUMON DIGIVLOVE TO... GARURUMON!!!"

So we rode off, me, Tai, Agumon and Gabymon on Garurumon, and Kat flying ahead of us.

We were at the beginning of the seventh Pine when...

"And where do you think you're going?" A grim reaper type Digimon stood before us, wielding a silver staff in one hand and a silver sickle in the other. He wore a black hooded robe that hid his face and was so long that it trailed on the ground when he walked.

"Away from you," I replied smartly, and Kat tapped me on the shoulder.

"Don't underestimate him, Matt,"she whispered in my ear. "That's Parillusionmon, an evil Digimon with the power to bring back deleted Digimon from the dead. His staff reads people's minds, and his sickle-well, you don't want to know what he uses that for!"

"Sickle Spear!" A silver curve-shaped attack flew right at us.

"Howling Blaster!" The attacks met in the air, but Parillusionmon's was getting closer and closer to Garurumon.

"AGUMON DIGIVOLVE TO... GREYMON!!!" The giant orange dinosaur lumbered forward, joining Garurumon by his side.

"Nova Blast!"

"Sickle Spear!"

"Greymon!"

"Garurumon!"

"GABYMON DIGIVOLVE TO... GARIRIMON!!!"

"Growling Blaster!"

"GREYMON DIGIVOLVE TO... METALGREYMON!!!"

"GARURUMON DIGIVOLVE TO... WEREGARURUMON!!!"

"GARIRIMON DIGIVOLVE TO... COYOTEGARIRIMON!!!"

I stared at the three ultimate Digimon in front of us. There was the armored T-rex, Metalgreymon; the extreme fighting werewolf, Weregarurumon; and the slightly more feminine warrior, Coyotegaririmon. It had been so long since I'd seen Coyotegaririmon, since she didn't have to Digivolve much anymore. She looked a lot like Weregarurumon, but her cargo pants were black, she didn't have dog tags, she was kind of skinnier, and she had a long, bushy, white and silver stiped tail poking out of her pants.

"Giga Blaster!" The gray missles shot from Metalgreymon's chest didn't affect the phantom Digimon.

"Wolf Claw!"Neither did the rainbow colored attack.

"I'm bored with you already," drawled Parillusionmon. "I really did expect more of a fight from the leaders of the Chosen Children. Sickle Spear!" Metalgreymon and Weregarurumon de-Digivolved into Agumon and Gabumon.

"Over here, ya idiot,"snarled Coyotegaririon, who had somehow dodged the Sickle Spear.

"Huh?"asked Parillusionmon, turning."What now?"

"Ya missed me,"growled the two-legged coyote/wolf crossover."Coyote Claw!" The silver attack blasted the wierdo Digimon off his feet."Gariri Kick!"

"Hmmmmm,"muttered Parillusionmon, standing up. "I see more of a challenge in the Guardians than the rest. Perhaps I will leave these brats here now with a few of their old friends while I take out the other Guardians and Digidestined. Then I will come back for them later-if there's anything left to come back for."

"Talking to yourself again, hunh?"grunted Coyotegaririmon. "Maybe this'll shut ya up! Coyote Claw!"

"Sickle Spear!" The two attacks canceled each other out, seeing as Coyotegaririmon was the most powerful of the Ultimates, except Magnangemon.

"Spirits of the past, whoever may hear, come forward those, the leader's fears!" He spun his staff around three times, until he vanished with a bang and a puff of silver smoke. After he departed, two columns of smoke rose up and swirled around. Tai and I stared at them, transfixed.

"Come on, let's go!"Kat urged us, landing by my side as Coyotegaririmon de-Digivolved. "You heard what Parillusionmon said! He's gonna get our friends!"

But I barely heard her. The column of smoke in front of me had swirled away and cleared, revealing something I never thought I'd see again.

Someone who looked like me. An evil me. When I had turned evil and tryed to destroy my friends.(AN~I hated 'Trash Day', so I figured I'd make it a little more interesting by having Matt turn evil instead of be convinced to defeat Tai. Cool, huh?)

My worst enemy.

And in front of Tai...

Skullgreymon.

Tai's worst enemy.I had no idea that he'd hated Skullgreymon that badly. Or moreover, hated himself, for creating it.

"Mega Missle!"Three trees to Tai's left were blown over by Skullgreymon's powerful attack.

"A-Agumon, you might want to Warp-Digivolve!"

"I can't do it, Tai! Something's preventing me from turning into Wargreymon!"

"He can't move,"Kat whispered next to me. "Agumon can't Digivolve because Tai's scared."

"You don't have any friends,"the evil me sneered in my face. "They don't care what happens to you, as long as they get off okay."

"That's not true, Matt!"Kat shouted."He's screwing around with your head, Matt, just so Gabumon can't Warp-Digivolve to fight him!"

"Don't lisen to her!"the evil me snapped, shooting red beams of light out of his eyes, which hit Kat in the

chest. "You don't have any friends, and you know it! You like it better that way! Forget about them! Join back up with us and fight on my side! At least there somebody

cares about what happens to you!"

I thought this over for a second. This guy was right.

Kat hadn't spoken a word to me or Tai until really this morning, even after we had apologized. And Tai, he never cared from the start. As for the others, well, did any of them try to stop me from leaving? No. They didn't care. No one did.

"Gabumon, Warp-Digivolve,"I ordered, because that's what it was-not a request, an order.

"GABUMON WARP-DIGIVOLVE TO... HUH?" It didn't work.

"Do it!"I shouted angrily. "I've got to pay them all back for what they did to me!"

"I can't, Matt,"Gabumon said in a small voice. "It's not working this time."

"What do you mean you can't?!"I yelled, almost frantically. "Of course you can! You're just not trying hard enough! Or those kids weren't being friends to me, so my crest won't glow! What do you mean, you can't?!"

"He means,"Kat whispered in my ear quietly,"that he can't. Not 'I don't feel like it' or 'I don't want to', but 'I can't'. And he can't because you're not being a friend. It has nothing to do with us not being friends to you. We always were and always will be. But it takes two people to make a friendship. A long time ago I swore to you that no matter what happened, I would fight on your side-even if it meant fighting against Tai. It had nothing to do with me having to protect you. I was supposed to protect Tai, too. I didn't. I would've destroyed him if I was able-but you know that I couldn't. None of my attacks could reach him. He was shielded from all them. You do have a friend in me, Matt-always. And if you want me to follow you wherever you go and destroy my friends, then I'll do it-but only if that's what you really want me to do."

I remembered when Gabumon had spoken those same words to me months before. He had saved me from that cave of darkness, and so had Kat, I realized now. She had always been with me from beginning to end, even when she was supposed to be protecting me and Tai. When I had left everyone else, she was right there with me the whole time, never faltering in her loyalty. Sure she could be a real bitch at times, but whatever she did, it was for my own good. Same with the others-Sora, Izzy, Mimi, Kari, Tai, Joe, Erin, Bandit, Justin, and T.K., they were always there for me. T.K., my own brother-how could I even think of destroying him? And how could I even think of making Kat attack her friends? Even after all I put them through,

they still stood by me-because they were my friends.

"No,"I awnsered Kat quietly, but firmly. "That's not

what I want you to do. Thanks for being there for me, Kat.

And thanks for being my friend." With those words, the Crest of Friendship began to glow, shooting out a blue light that shot right through the evil me from the past

and destroying it. But now was not the time to celebrate.

"Aaaaaaaggghhhhh!!!"I heard Tai scream as Skullgreymon shot his missle at him. It got closer and closer until...

"Flaming Dart!"Tai looked up as Kat flew by him,

floating in mid-air and stopping above and in front of

him. Kat's silver attack made the giant missle explode, shattering to a million pieces. She was quickly joined by the newly Digivolved Metalgarurumon.

"Let me take care of this, guys," he growled. He got ready to shoot an attack at the skeletal dinosaur, but Kat stopped him.

"Tai's gotta overcome his worst enemy on his own,"she said, her eyes locked on the cowering form behind her.

"The Crest of Courage must gain it's light once more."

"Mega Missle!"

"And then other times, I remember I've got a job to do! Flaming Dart!"Kat flew down beside Tai.

"Listen Tai,"she told him intently, "I know Skullgreymon really freaked you out, but you can't be afraid of him. He can't hurt you any more than I could. You're not scared of him unless you want to be."

"But I created him."

"Which means you can destroy him just as easily."

"But it's my fault he's here."

"Skullgreymon de-Digivolved because you chose for him to do so. You weren't afraid of him-you were afraid of yourself and what would happen to eveyone else if he was re-born again. But there's no need to be afraid of him. You're only scared of him because you choose to be. It is our choices, Tai, that make us who we are."

"So I can destroy it if I want to?"

"You have to overcome your fear of him first."

"But what will happen to Agumon?"

"Nothing. Skullgreymon is a living figment of that past that shares no real connection to Agumon in anyway, except by those of memory."

"I'm not afraid,"Tai said firmly to Skullgreymon as it shot another missle at him. "I thought I was, but I'm really not. You're a memory from the past, a mistake from the past. Everyone makes mistakes, but we learn from them. I know I did. So whatever you do here, it doesn't matter, because I'm not afraid of you anymore."While he spoke, Skullgreymon had grown smaller and smaller, and at Tai's last sentence, a light had shot out from his crest and blown whatever was left of Skullgreymon to pieces.

"We did it,"said Kat, flapping open our wings and

soaring into the air."And I don't think we have to worry about the others. I think they'll be just fine."

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"Looking forward to doing a little mountain climbing?" I asked everyone as we stared up into the sky from the

bottom of the first Peak.

"More than anything,"intoned Tai sarcastically. "I can't wait. Jeez, I'm afraid of heights!"

"It won't be that bad,"Kat assured us, starting up. "And I thought you weren't afraid of anything, Tai."

"Well..."Tai blushed, turning red. We laughed.

"Let's go,"I said, sighing at the thought of the long climb before us. "We're not gaining ground by standing here all day."

"I agree with Matt,"Kat shouted, for she was already twenty feet above us. "Forut hagden! Dutch. Forward, hurry!"

"Burn in hell, Kat,"I smiled sweetly at her, sick and tired of her goddamn foreign languages.

"I agree with Matt,"laughed Tai, and we started on our way.

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"Go Aeromon."

"Yes,m'lord. I will not fail you."

"That's what Hydramon and Parillusionmon said. Now they are both dead, Hydramon from the leaders of the Chosen Children, and Parillusionmon from the rest of them."

"It will be different this time. I have a gift that none of them do-the gift of flight. If any of them can fly, then they are at least not truly air-worthy. I can best the best! Their destruction is iminent, I promise you that."

"So prove it then..."

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"Dammit, I hate mountains!"Tai yelled as we reached the summit of the fourth Peak.

"Quit complaining, Sonic,"I moaned, grabbing a ledge of rock. "We're all tired."

"Will you stop calling me that?! I do not look like Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"Will you two knock it the hell off?!"screamed Kat, finally coming to her wit's end. "I have had it! Sonic, Drachenfire, we're almost at the bottom, we'll spend the night there. Can you at least give me peace and quiet until we get to the Realm of Doom?!"

We stopped. Kat hardly ever shouted at us, so when she did, she meant business. Tai and I shut up. "Okay."

We reached the bottom of the fifth Peak at sunset. By then, I was exausted. Mountain climbing had always been Joe's thing, not mine.

"Only two more Peaks to go,"Tai said happily.

"But they're the biggest,"I pointed out. "Remember the Pines and the Pools? The last two were always the biggest or the longest. And at the seventh one, we always got attacked by something."

"Hmmmmm..."Kat thought this over."You're right. I'm wondering if the last leg of our journey should be an aerial one."

"Huh?"asked Tai, wholly bewildered.

"I'm thinking that maybe I should fly us over the last two Peaks. It would be safer that way."

"I agree."

"Unless we get attacked in the air..."

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"You had to say it, didn't you, Kat!"I yelled as we swerved around the sixth Peak.

"It was just an idea! Besides, if we were on the ground, we'd be toast!" As you can guess, we were under attack, this time by a pterodactyl-type Digimon called Aeromon. We were at a disadvantage this time, because among us, only Kat was born with the gift of flight.

"Aero Blade!"

"Flaming Dart!"

This was Kat's battle. None of us could help her.

"Flaming Dart! Oh, damn, I wish I had some more attacks!"

"You cannot win, Chosen Children! I am the greatest flyer there is!"

"Which explains the fact that you've never met me before!"

"You will not make it to the Realm of Doom!"

"We'll see! Flaming Dart!"

"Aero Blade!"

Tai and I watched in angst as our flying friend was blasted back into the wall of the mountain.

"This is not good,"I said, realizing that we might lose.

"I hate not being able to do anything!"yelled Tai, balling his fists.

"Aero Blade!" With a sickening thud, Kat landed in front of us. Aeromon flew down behind her, blocking our path.

"It's hopeless, Digidestined!"he shouted in that haughty voice I'd heard many a bad Digimon utter before. It was hard to believe that our journey might end as quickly as it had come. It was hard to believe that our quest might be over here. "There's no way you can win!"

Suddenly, a big glowing light shone from behind him, and I struggled to see it. It was Kat! She was outlined in a mysterious silver light. I'd seen it before. When one of the Digimon learned a new attack.

"Perhaps there is a way to defeat you, Aeromon,"Kat said, floating up into the air. A swirly, silver orb appeared in her cupped hands. She brought her hands up, over, and around her head, a silver wind following her path. "Swirling Tempest!" The ball of condensed wind was shot at the flying lizard, who tryed to dodge it, but failed, the attack being too fast and too powerful. He exploded into a million pieces.

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"Arrrghhhh! Is there no Digimon powerful enough to destroy those damn Chosen Children?!"

From the shadows, a low voice hissed at the Digimon.

"I will sssend out more fightersss, my lord. And if they fail, I will fight the Chosssen Children myssself. Leave everything to me... they will not survive the Realm of Doom by themssselvesss..."

 

~*FLASH*~

 

After defeating Aeromon, me and the other two came across a large clearing.

"I hope we can cross this without an adventure, at least," Kat sighed, scanning the horizon with her deep gray eyes.

"And if we do, you have the power to take care of it even better than before!"praised Tai, still in awe of our Guardian after her victory over Aeromon.

"There's a ledge here,"Kat observed after we crossed the clearing without event. She scrambled down onto it, then stood up and looked down. Tai and I were quick to join her.

"Well, this is it,"I said quietly as I saw what lay out in front and below us.

"No turning back now,"Tai added.

"The Realm of Doom,"Kat whispered as a wind came from behind us, making Kat's long hair blow in front of her, rising and falling in an almost systematic rythym. The sun set ahead of us, as we stood with the breeze blowing us from behind, the colors of last light of day on our faces, and the quiet fear of what laid ahead in our hearts...

 

AN~So, is this good so far? Well, things get really intense with Part Four, well, as in more adult situations, at any rate. The plot is still at the same pace, it won't really pick up until the last three parts, but Kat has a little trouble with being the only girl surronded with two teenage guys, if ya get my drift...

No! Not like that! Get your heads out of the ghetto! It's only mild stuff!

So anyway, Part Four tells about the kids' adventures in the Realm of Doom, and some haunting revelations about Kat's parents. Will the leaders survive the obvious threat of the Realm of Doom? And who are these enigmatic figures who are plotting the Chosen Children's destruction? It's-wait. I can't tell you. Plus the obvious fact that I'm not real sure myself...

Send me E-mail!!!!!!!!!