Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digidreams Do Come True! ❯ Sorcerymon’s Backfired Plan! ( Chapter 27 )

“Daisuke,” Michael identified.

“Takeru-kun,” Mimi pointed.

“Hikari-san,” Koushirou said.

The three finally caught up and joined Koushirou and the others. “Hi guys!” Takeru greeted brightly.

“It’s nice to see you guys,” Hikari said.

“Hey, look-it,” Takeru pointed towards the currently, fuming Digimon who’d fallen victim to Aquilamon’s “Blast Laser”, “who’s that?”

“Wizarmon?”

Tailmon looked at the Digimon that Takeru and Hikari had taken notice of. A dark scowl made its way to her white furry face as she glared at him. “That’s not Wizarmon, Hikari. That’s Sorcerymon, an old rival of Wizarmon’s! I’d recognize that foul stench anywhere!

“Before I met Wizarmon, he and Sorcerymon were good friends, supposedly, but he ended up selling him out, and betrayed Wizarmon! From that point on, Wizarmon was always alone. Later on, after I met him, he began to work for Vamdemon and so did Sorcerymon! He was nothing but a little suck up; always trying to get on Vamdemon’s good side!”

“How come we’ve never seen him before?”

“I know,” Takeru smiled playfully, “maybe he was an undercover mon!”

Tailmon held her head and groaned at the boy’s bad joke. “I hate to say it, but he’s partially right. He was never sent out to actually do much of anything, and was allowed to remain at Vamdemon’s castle. He was usually responsible for opening up gates to the human world, whenever Vamdemon wanted Digimon troops to enter it.”

Sorcerymon, who had grown frustrated of the teen girl’s arguing, turned to look towards the ones who had joined the others. The main one to catch his eye was the cat-like Digimon with the big yellow gloved-paws. “Tailmon? Is that the same Tailmon who used to hang around with that pathetic loser, Wizarmon?!”

“You’re the loser, Sorcerymon,” Tailmon shouted in anger. “How dare you try to harm these children! That aside,” she glared maliciously at him, “I always thought you were dead!”

“I’m sure you’d like that, but as you can see, I’m right here,” he patted his chest arrogantly, “digital flesh and all. I don’t die easily, and thanks to my main sources of protection, it’s remained this way.”

“Sorcerymon-sama, could you please shut that cat up?”

“Of course, but I think I’ll wait on her. She isn’t worthy of my time since she isn’t even really a challenge anymore.” He pointed towards her with his staff. “See, she no longer has her Holy Ring. The rumors I’d heard about her, turned out to actually be true. That Holy Ring of hers,” he gave her a bit of a mocking sneer, “was her main source of power.”

Tailmon looked down at the ground dejectedly. The only ring she had was the one she still wore around her neck that Hikari had given her almost two years earlier. It was true; in her adult (champion) form, she wasn’t as strong as she once was, since she had lost her Holy Ring. Tailmon looked back at Sorcerymon, and gave him a half-smile. She knew if given the chance again, she could most definitely defeat Sorcerymon in battle as Angewomon.

“As you can see, she’s weak, just like her old friend Wizarmon.” He twirled his wand around in his left hand. He was truly enjoying goading the feline on. “From what I was told, he was killed in just one blast.”

This caused the cat to tremble, and angry tears formed in her clear, blue eyes. “How dare you talk about Wizarmon like that!!!” She bawled her fists to keep herself from attacking him. “He was the best friend I ever had! He cared for me during a time when no one else did, and that includes Vamdemon! I was just his slave, and so were you!”

“That maybe so, but as you can see, I’ve been protected all of these years because of it. I never turned traitor like you!”

“Hey, if you’re weak,” Meihui chastised while holding out her katana, “then you’re weak! The weak are intolerable, and so are those who stand in the way of our master’s ambitions!”

“Will you be quiet, child! Let me handle this!”

“You’re not taking care of anything! You’re taking too long!”

“Takeru-kun, Daisuke-kun,” Hikari started, while staring at the arguing duo, “doesn’t she look familiar?”

“She looks a little like that girl that hangs around in the computer lab. I see her every time I go by there for soccer practice after school.”

“Hey yeah!! I think it’s the old Vice President of the computer club!” Takeru chimed in.

“That’s because it is her,” Koushirou told the three.

“What do you want with us?” Michael demanded. “Tell your master that we don’t care what he wants because we don’t plan on listening to what he has to say!”

“You guys, just let her talk to herself!” Mimi insisted. “Who cares who they’re working for or what they have to say; let’s just get out of here and everyone to safety! We can figure out something to do about it later!”

“I’m with her,” V-mon nodded. “Let’s go!”

“V-mon, you better armor up so we can get out of here quickly.”

“Right, Daisuke!”

“Do you think you could evolve again too, Hawkmon?”

“Sure thing, Miyako-san. Just say the words.” The girl nodded.

“Digimental…Up!!” both Daisuke and Miyako called out, allowing their Digimon to level up through the process of armor evolving.

“V-mon, armor shinka…” V-mon’s small, blue body began to grow larger, as he now stood on all fours. A horn formed on the tip of his nose, and blue lightning seemed to majestically surround him. “*…todoroku yuujou, Lighdramon!”

“Hawkmon, armor shinka…” Hawkmon also grew, no longer a puny hawk. He now stood on all fours, resembling that of a Griffon. “*…habataku aijou, Holsmon!!”

“You two should have your Digimon armor evolve too.”

Takeru and Hikari glanced at one another, and then pulled out their Digivices, showing them to Ken.

“We can’t,” Takeru gloomily answered.

“We don’t have our D-3s or D-Terminals anymore for some reason.”

“Hmm, that’s strange; I woke up without mine too.”

“You guys don’t need Pegasmon!” Patamon told them proudly. “Patamon shinka…” Patamon’s chubby body grew from a four-legged mammal to that of a humanoid. His build became quite muscular; his hair was now long and dirty-blonde. In his right hand, he held a golden staff, blue ribbons draped around his now slender body, along with wings protruding from his back. “…Angemon!!”

“You don’t need Nefertimon either!” Tailmon insisted.

Sorcerymon stared at her, unbelievingly, as he overheard her. “You can’t evolve! I already know that you can’t reach the perfect (ultimate) stage, unless your human partner has a crest, and thanks to the Dark Masters’ seal on the Holy Beast Guardians, it isn’t possible for you to!”

“I’ll make you eat those words, Sorcerymon,” she threatened in a whisper. “Tailmon, chou shinka…Angewomon!”

“Sh-she was able to evolve?” Sorcerymon gaped. ‘How? The children used up those crest powers to create that barrier to help free the Holy Beast Guardians that the Dark Masters entrapped. How can she evolve, if her human partner doesn’t have her crest power?’

“Shouldn’t you be doing something!!”

“You silly girl, stop telling me what I should be doing and what I shouldn’t be doing!”

“Then stop standing there like you have all day!”

“Look here, girl, I---”

“Ken-kun, Wormmon,” Miyako called, after getting onto Aquilamon’s back, “hop on!”

Ken grabbed Wormmon and nodded. “Sure thing, Miyako-san.”

Miyako grabbed the boy’s free hand and smiled shyly as she couldn’t help but stare at him. She felt unusual. Even though the both of them were years younger, she was still seeing the older, handsome Ken. The same thing applied to Ken when it came to Miyako; even though she was currently nine, he still saw her at fourteen.

Koushirou grumbled in annoyance. He saw the display between the two, even if it was unintentional on both their parts. Miyako and Ken’s acting overly friendly with one another, was starting to bother him some.

“Koushirou, stop standing there and let’s go!!!” the redhead heard his pink-hat-wearing traveling companion shout. He looked to see that everyone was paired up and ready to leave, ‘cept for him, who was distracted by his partially jealous thoughts, and Mimi who’d walked over to him to see what was taking him so long. “You can ride with Daisuke-kun. Hurry up before Sorcerymon stops arguing with that Meihui girl and attacks again!”

“Y-yeah, okay,” the boy muttered.

“Mimi, Koushirou, let’s go!” Michael shouted to them.

The two grabbed their Digimon, and took off. Sorcerymon, who had finally noticed the kids’ departure, was right behind them, throwing out attack after attack, blasting mostly trees, since his targets were now moving.

Mimi and Michael, were riding along with Miyako and Ken on Holsmon, running deeper into the woods. Angemon and a reluctant Angewomon (who wanted to fight Sorcerymon), were airborne, each holding Takeru and Hikari. Koushirou rode along with Daisuke on Lighdramon (who was following behind Holsmon), with a bit of an attitude, still annoyed over the fact that Ken and Miyako were acting more “buddy-buddy” than usual. He was growing slightly paranoid over it and had this urge to just continue interfering where they were concerned.

Motimon noticed his partner’s unusual manner and surprisingly, Daisuke did too, but was too concerned with getting away from the enraged Sorcerymon and the deranged Meihui to actually care.

“Koushirou-han, what’s wrong?” asked Motimon from the redhead’s arms.

“Nothing!” he snapped back indignantly.

“Okay, okay!” he responded. He wasn’t in the mood to get into an argument or disagreement with his friend.

Sorcerymon’s pursuit went on a bit more. Lighdramon, Angemon, and Angewomon saw that Holsmon was circling, and followed suit. He was heading back towards the factory. Neither of them knew what the bird had in mind, but just followed anyway without asking any questions, as he seemed to be the unofficial leader in this sense. ‘Maybe we could get the children to safety if we hide them someplace in the building. While they’re hiding, one of us could fight against Sorcerymon, another one of us can take care of that human girl, and the rest can guard the children. I just wish I could relay this information to them, without Sorcerymon, or that girl hearing. I’m surprised she’s even able to keep up with us. She’s oddly fast...’
****
“Angemon,” Angewomon whispered, “I think Holsmon is planning something.”

“I think so too, since he’s heading back to where we just came from.”

“I wonder what Holsmon is planning,” Hikari wondered out aloud.

“Who knows,” Takeru grinned, “but knowing Holsmon, I bet it’s a good plan.”
****
‘Holsmon, what are you doing?’ Lighdramon wondered while keeping behind the bird. ‘Why are you heading back?’
****
“Holsmon, what are you doing?” asked Miyako. “Why are you running back?”

“I have a plan, Miyako-san,” he whispered. “Once we get there, I want you and the children to run into the factory and to leave the rest to us.”

“R-right.”

Time they all made it towards the front part of the factory, they were all hit or were shocked by something.

Holsmon yelped as he came to a screeching halt, Miyako and her companions falling off. The same happened with Lighdramon, who also fell over from the overwhelming pain he was in, causing Koushirou and Daisuke to fly off.

When Angemon and Angewomon felt the shock, they felt themselves falling fast, but made sure to land on their backs, so that Takeru and Hikari remained unharmed.

The hit was so powerful that they all had to devolve in order to rejuvenate their energy, but, luckily, none of the children had been harmed in any way, ‘cept for a scratch here or there.

Sorcerymon and the girl looked on in surprise at the sight as they stopped in their tracks; all of the Digimon were down for the taking.

“Who’s there?” asked the magical Digimon. He couldn’t figure out how anyone could actually hide, as they were all in the front of the factory. There was nothing but open space there.

A Digimon leapt from the roof of the factory and landed gracefully to the ground. A wicked smirk was on his straw-like face, and a cawing crow sat atop his dingy hat.

“Oh no,” Tanemon shivered, “it’s Nohemon!”

“Hello there.” He tipped his hat to the befallen group, while his crow made himself comfortable on his shoulder. “I’m getting right down to business this time!” Within the blink of an eye, he shot out one of his transforming arrows, and created a huge net to capture all of them. Both Sorcerymon and Meihui just stared at the sight, quite pleased with Nohemon’s work.

Fortunately for the children and their companions, that didn’t last too long…

“Ice Arrow!!” a voice shouted.

“Harpoon Vulcan!” another one joined in.

“*Petit Fire!” a heavy-voiced “mon” called.

“*Magical Fire!” a female called out.

“*Baby Flame!” a high, squeaky-voiced male roared.

After all of the attacks had been launched, the children looked to see where they had come from and whom.

“It’s Seadramon!!” Michael exclaimed. “I can’t believe it!”

“And Sora-san, and Jou-senpai, and all of the others!” Mimi clapped in excitement. “They made it to the Digital World too!”

Nohemon had managed to block all of the attacks, by shooting one of his arrows in front of him, to create some sort of a shield. “Who did it?!” Nohemon snarled, as he saw the Digimon before him. “Which of you almost hit me?!”

“I did,” Seadramon said proudly.

“And so did I,” Ikkakumon smiled.

“I’m afraid that I’m guilty as well,” Gabumon responded with fake sympathy.

“So am I,” Piyomon flapped.

“We’re all to blame,” smirked Agumon.

“You idiots!! Why protect them? They’re of no concern to you!!” He stared down at Iori, his look growing even more spiteful than what it was earlier. “And that boy!! That Kendo boy…I must kill you!”

“NO!!” responded the petite boy stubbornly.

“Leave Iori alone!” Upamon threatened. “Upamon shinka…Armadimon!”

Armadimon rolled himself into a ball, and launched himself at Nohemon. The archer just moved to the side, as Armadimon “rolled” by, successfully avoiding his “Rolling Stone” attack. Nohemon tsked. “That was pathetic.”

Ikkakumon and Seadramon decided to take their chances against Sorcerymon, as well as the other child (rookie)-leveled Digimon, not counting Tailmon, who was an adult (champion).

“Sora-san, Taichi-san, Yamato-san, Jou-senpai,” Mimi called to her friends, “could you please get us out of here?”

They all ran over to Mimi and the others, and managed to get them out of the net. Iori noticed that the material for that net wasn’t as strong as the type Nohemon had used earlier on him. After they were freed, they all watched all of the Digimon currently fighting - minus Tanemon, Wormmon, and Motimon - against Nohemon.

“You’re not taking Iori, dagaya!”

“You’re not going to hurt his friends, either!” Seadramon threatened.
****
“Should we actually stay here?” Sorcerymon asked his current slave.

She nodded assuredly. “Yes. I want to make sure that Inoue is disposed of, as well as that young boy like our master wants.

“If you want it done right, you must stick around to make sure all goes according to plan.”

“I like the way you think. You are truly worthy.”

“May I fight as well, Sorcerymon-sama?”

“Go ahead; let’s see how well you can utilize your ninja skills.”

“Which should I go after, master?”

“One of the children.”

“Inoue?”

“No; the first one who was captured by Nohemon. I want to see how the others will react.”

She nodded grudgingly, a bit put out, but did as she was told. She really wanted to take out Miyako.
****
“I wish we could help them somehow,” Taichi stated wearily, as he and the others watched the Digimon being hurt by Nohemon.

“But what could we do?” Takeru asked. “It’s not fair that we can’t really help them!”

“Yeah! We need to do something instead of sitting around here!” Daisuke said.

“If you children really want to help, then go out there and fight along side them!” a light voice commanded authoritatively.

“It’s that girl again!” Taichi pointed.

“Yeah, it is her,” Sora concurred.

“Her clothes are just different now,” Yamato pointed out.

“She’s a ninja now?!” Jou moaned exasperatingly. “Now we’re stuck with a brainwashed ninja!”

“I challenge you,” she pointed, “the one named Michael!”

“Wh-what!” the boy blinked.

“What are you talking about?” Miyako asked.

Meihui ignored Miyako as best she could, and kept her focus on Michael. “Let’s go!”

“Let’s go where?”

“Fight!”

“I can’t fight you!”

Meihui grew annoyed over the lack of cooperation, and unsheathed her katana. She held it up to the boy’s delicate neck, causing the others to gasp. “Fight me, or I kill you here. I’d rather have a fair, honorable fight and kill you that way, than to finish you off while vulnerable.”

‘Why me,’ the boy groaned in thought.

“Whoa, hold it now! You don’t want to hurt him or anyone here,” Yamato told the girl cautiously.

“Be quiet!!”

“Um, Meihui-san,” Koushirou began, “could you please just---”

“I said QUIET!! You, fight, now!”

“Alright, alright! I’ll fight you…just put that sword away and don’t hurt anyone.”

“Michael, don’t!”

“Aww, don’t worry Mimi; I’ll be fine.” He smiled and winked at her. “She doesn’t look very strong; I could probably just disable her or lightly knock her out.”
****
“I’m surprised they actually considered her challenge. I really don’t want her hurt, not yet anyway. I’ll have her fight them to test her skill and strength after we get them back to our master.

“Hey, girl!!” Meihui turned towards the voice. “Come back here. Don’t bother those children now!”

“But you said---”

“I know what I said, now come here! There’s been a change.”

The girl grumbled something as she turned her back to Michael, her pony tail once again swishing from side to side. “You’re lucky I take orders from him,” she stated coldly. “I wasn’t going to spare you, and when I was done, I was going after Inoue.” She took off in a flash, and rejoined Sorcerymon, leaving the children a bit perturbed. How were they going to get this girl back to her senses?
****
“Sorcerymon-sama, why did you stop me?”

“I told you, a change of plans. I’ll let you fight them later, but first, I feel that I should help Nohemon out. He is outnumbered.”

The Digimon looked to be concentrating once again, as a small yellow sphere formed in his gloved hands. He then launched the small sphere, which split into mini, multiple spheres, all headed towards the Digimon currently fighting against Nohemon. The Digimon had no idea of its coming, just like they didn’t notice that Meihui had gone over and threatened the children. The small spheres hit each and every one of them. All of the children couldn’t help but yell and shout out angrily at Sorcerymon.

“Even though it wasn’t really necessary, thank you for the interference, Sorcerymon.” Nohemon pulled out his bow, and tossed it into the air. When it fell back towards the earth below, he caught and loaded it. “This will teach you children to interfere.”

He shot out arrow after arrow, pretty much hitting each and every one of the Digimon. He was through playing with them, like he had earlier. Their energy left them, which caused Seadramon and Ikkakumon to devolve, and leaving the other lower levels fatigued.

“What are we going to do?” wailed Miyako.

“We can’t worry about that now,” Mimi gulped, “look who’s coming!”

Nohemon had his eye on the prize, as he made his way slowly towards the group of children. The children began to throw things at Nohemon (which was Taichi’s idea), while Motimon and Tanemon used “Bubble” and Wormmon, “Sticky Net”. The archer just ignored the oncoming attacks, as he used his quiver as a shield, blocking everything.

The Digimon he’d left behind, had managed to stand, charging after Nohemon, but he stylishly jumped, as he let them pass him by. Each of the Digimon now stood in front of the Chosen Children, determined to keep them safe from his wrath.

“You guys aren’t very bright, you know.”

Nohemon pulled out a strange, scraggily metal looking arrow. He then shot it at them, and trapped them all, ‘cept for Iori. Instead of its being a net, the arrow had transformed into a cage, with energized locks.

“Now, let’s not have anymore interruptions!” he growled, while grasping Iori’s neck. His crow circled the two, eerily cawing. “You have a price on your head, and I plan on earning it! Since you’re the youngest, I get paid extra for killing you off.

“I don’t care if I don’t get any of your friends over there, just as long as I kill you and that girlfriend of yours!”

“Not…again!” Iori gagged. “Just…leave…me…alone…”

“ Why would I do something as stupid as that!” he snapped, his grip growing slightly stronger. “I will kill you! You’re just lucky I can’t find the girl!”

“Eiji-san…is…safe?”

“She will be until I manage to find her.”

“N-no,” Iori choked out. He was beginning to grow light-headed.
****
Being trapped in the cage, the children could only look out helplessly at their friend.

“We have to help Iori-kun,” Ken stated desperately.

“We can’t if we’re stuck in here!” Jou pointed out depressingly. “That door won’t budge!”

“Wormmon, evolve! Maybe you can break us out of here.”

“Right, Ken-chan!” he nodded. He evolved to Stingmon with ease. He was the only one who hadn’t tried fighting against Nohemon, which Ken noticed. Wormmon was bound to have all of his energy. Within the somewhat cramped space, Stingmon tried to lift the cage, but it wouldn’t budge. He then tried to slice and pick the strange, energized lock, but when he did, he received a very nasty shock.

“Stingmon!”

Stingmon devolved, and flew back into Ken’s arms. “I’m sorry, Ken-chan.”

“That’s okay.” He gave him a small smile. “You tried. I had no idea that the locks were wired. If I had known that, then I wouldn’t have even let you tried it.”
****
“Girl,” Sorcerymon called to the currently, bored looking ninja.

“Yes, Sorcerymon-sama?”

“I want you to prove your loyalty to your master, and to kill at least one of the children in the cage.”

“But Sorcerymon-sama, I thought you wanted to leave that task for our master?”

“He wouldn’t mind if you got rid of a few of them, just as long as the ones with the Digimon partners: Agumon; Gabumon; V-mon; Wormmon are spared. Those four seem to be some of the strongest, or either have the most potential, and the one with the Digimon partner Wormmon, is the ex Digimon Kaiser.”

“How do you want them disposed?”

“The katana is a bit cliché for a ninja, so how about this instead.” Sorcerymon seemed to mumble some type of an incantation; a dark, metal object materialized in his hands. He handed it to the teen. “You should know what to do.”

Meihui nodded obediently, as she made her way towards the cage. She held the six-shooter up at it.

“Meihui-san, please stop this right now!” Koushirou literally begged, grasping the bars. “Iori-kun is my friend! Stop this!” He didn’t know what he could possibly do to get the girl to think straight, but his instincts just told him to try.

“Why should I listen to a stupid pint-sized runt like you, anyway?”

“Don’t you dare call him stupid!” Miyako argued defensively without realizing it. She stepped up beside Koushirou. “He’s not stupid!! He’s really smart, and a really good friend!” Why she argued with the older girl, was a mystery to the lavender-haired computer whiz, but it was probably just pent up resentment she’d had towards her in general.

“Yeah!” Mimi chimed in heatedly, standing on Koushirou’s other side. “Who do you think you are anyway! What kind of an insensitive jerk are you!!”

The usually polite Mimi continued insulting Meihui. She had no idea why she had this urge to try and defend her red-headed friend; she just felt the need to. It seemed as if life in New York had toughened her up a bit.

“Girls, please calm down,” Yamato instructed before Jou could get a word out. He didn’t want them to set the girl off enough for her to pull the trigger. He’d learned his lesson earlier when he’d aggravated both Musyamon and Igamon, nearly costing him his life and Jou’s.

Meihui looked over at Miyako, growing annoyed at the sight of her. She didn’t care if anyone was nearby the girl or not; if that person was in the way, she’d kill that one too. Luckily for the girl, Miyako was in the front with Koushirou, just as Mimi was, meaning she could get a nice, clear shot. Meihui held the gun up towards Miyako, right in between the eyes pointed right at the bridge of her glasses. This, of course, quieted Mimi down. Everyone was now too scared to say or do much of anything, in fear of the gun going off. The Digimon were ready to attack her, but also refrained from doing anything for the same reason the kids hadn’t.

“Miyako-kun! No!” Koushirou stared at the brainwashed *kunoichi, feeling quite discontented, scared, and fearful. His brow was sweating, his heart beating erratically, hoping beyond hope that his friend wouldn’t be harmed by his currently deranged admirer. “Meihui-san, don’t you recognize me?”

“I don’t know you!” she snapped irritably. She was growing quite impatient with the redhead’s meddling. “All I know is that this girl is going to get it after Nohemon finishes with that boy over there.”

“No, you don’t want to hurt Miyako-kun, and you don’t want Iori-kun hurt,” he told her gently. Everyone else continued to remain quiet; all came to the conclusion that Koushirou was best suited for this job, since he obviously knew her.

“Oh yes I do! I have nothing against that boy Nohemon is dealing with, or anyone else here, but Inoue is my true rival!”

“What have I ever done for you to hate me so much?!” Miyako asked while shedding tears. The gun was much too close for her liking. “All I’ve ever tried to do was be your friend!! When I first met you, you were cold towards me!”

“You took something away from me that I’ve been after for the past two years!!” The look on the Chinese girl’s face turned to that of a mixture of hurt, deception, and loathing. “Someone who means a lot to me!”

“I-I never did anything like that!” Miyako insisted while clutching her chest; her heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest.

“What is she talking about?” Takeru whispered to Daisuke, both sitting “Indian style”.

“I dunno,” he responded with a shrug. “Girls sure are confusing.”

“Do you think that gun is real?”

“I don’t think so. Children aren’t supposed to play with guns or have them. Only policemen are allowed to have guns.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right!”

“You two, quiet now!!!” rumbled the ninja.

The two clammed up fast, and didn’t utter another word as they found Meihui’s irate voice scarier than the gun.

‘Put the gun down,’ Ken inwardly prayed, like the others pretty much were doing, ‘please put the gun down.’

“Mi-miyako-san,” Hawkmon called miserably, wishing there was some way he could help his human partner. Any movement now could make the difference between life and death.

“Miyako-kun has done nothing to you,” Koushirou tried his best to keep his cool, “so please leave her, and the rest of my friends alone.”

“Aww, you don’t want me to hurt your friend?” Meihui sneered, as she pulled the gun off of Miyako. Everyone, thankfully breathed out in relief, but it didn’t last long as she aimed the gun again. “How about I hurt the girl wearing that pink hat instead?” She pointed the gun towards Mimi’s face, giving off an almost inhuman, deranged laugh. “She’s pretty; I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I blew her face off.”

Mimi’s mouth seemed to glue itself shut and it was her turn to now sweat in fear. “Get away from her!” threatened Michael.

“No, not Mimi-san!” Koushirou pleaded. “Don’t hurt Mimi-san!”

“Shut up!! You all now see that I mean business, and will stop interfering so that I can get his over with! I have nothing against this girl, but her beauty does surpass that of my own! You’re a Chosen Child; I’m sure that to my Kawaii Koushi-kun, you’re pretty!”

‘Kawaii Koushi-kun?’ Everyone really thought the girl was nuts now.

“I’ve never done a thing to you! I don’t even know you!” Mimi told her defensively. “I don’t kn-know what Koushirou thinks of me! He probably always thought of me as a nuisance and annoying since I never liked his computer talk much since I could never understand it!”

‘Mimi-san, that’s not true; I never thought of you as a nuisance, and you’re far from annoying. I never thought of any of my friends in that way…’

“Yeah sure,” Meihui scoffed crossly. “You’re probably trying to get him too! I bet at your true age you’re incredibly beautiful, so you have a good chance at getting him!”

“Wh-what?! No, please!! Don’t!”

“Mimi!” Michael called out.

Koushirou stared at the scene in disbelief, just as everyone else who was too scared to do much of anything--including the crest bearer of courage. Taichi couldn’t believe that someone admired his friend so much, that she was willing to get rid of anyone she considered competition. Maybe if it was Yamato, he could, but he could never fathom Koushirou having such an admirer.

As for Koushirou, this was tearing him up inside. One of his favorite, and attractive (which he admitted to himself), friends that Meihui didn’t even know, was about to get killed, or permanently injured, depending on where she shot her. He did the only thing he felt he could do…scream out.

“YAMETE NASAI (PLEASE STOP)!!”

Meihui turned her attention back to Koushirou with an uncharacteristic, devious smirk etched across her smooth face. She took the gun off of Mimi, and put it back on Miyako. “What’s the matter, runt?” She seemed to be enjoying taunting the current ten-year-old boy. “You don’t like the idea of my hurting your two friends here?” She glanced back into the cell, and got a glimpse of the others there. “How about I go after the girl over there holding that pink bird?”

Sora gasped, as she hugged Piyomon tighter. Yamato bawled up his fists in pure anger as he stepped in front of her. “If you hurt Sora, I’ll…”

“…beat the crap out of you!!” Taichi finished up for him. “I don’t care if you’re a girl or not!! If you hurt anyone here, you’ll have to deal with me!”

She yawned. “I have nothing against her. I’ll spare her, for now, and I’ll leave that small girl alone too; the one holding the cat-like Digimon, but Inoue, regardless if I do it now or later, will not be spared. Neither will that loud-mouthed girl, who insulted me; the girl wearing that pink hat!”

“P-please, Meihui-san, don’t hurt either one of them.” The redhead went quiet, as if debating with himself. After the small moment of silence, he meekly spoke. “If you must kill somebody,” he lowered his voice a bit, “kill me.” Everyone gasped. Was he serious?! “Just don’t hurt Miyako-kun, and please don’t hurt Mimi-san just because she’s pretty. She’s a great person, and it’ll affect everyone if you do.” Koushirou ignored the many looks of alarm and confusion coming from those around him, as he stared upwards. “I don’t know what my main purpose is in life; both Miyako-kun and Mimi-san already know what their purposes are. They both know of their families and where they come from. I, unfortunately, don’t, so j-just kill me!” He then barely muttered, “*No one would miss me anyway, and when I am dead, I can then join my real family, and rid them of the burden...”

“Koushirou-han! What are you saying?!”

“Koushirou, don’t!” Mimi passionately implored.

“I’m not worth that, Izumi-senpai!”

“Koushirou-kun…” Sora murmured in surprise.

“Koushirou-san, no…” Hikari said, her eyes watering.

Jou stared at Koushirou curiously. The look on the younger boy’s face was incredibly serious. ‘Does he care that much? Is he doing this for Mimi-kun, or Miyako-kun? Koushirou isn’t that much of the heroic type; that’s Taichi’s job or a job for Daisuke-kun to just jump up like that. I could see those two speaking that seriously in this regard, but not him. It’s not…logical.

‘He did unintentionally admit to having a slight interest in Mimi-kun, even though he’s never come out and said it. He mentioned it when she visited before he got to know Miyako-kun better since they attend the same school now; then again, even I had a soft spot for Mimi-kun, but, I got over her. I wonder if Koushirou actually has. He does seem to talk about Mimi-kun a lot; Miyako-kun too.

‘We can’t seem to have a conversation without him mentioning either Mimi-kun or Miyako-kun; Mimi-kun, especially, since they send one another e-mail a lot.’

“If you want to kill someone, please kill me,” Koushirou stated once again, only this time, he sounded like he was trying to convince himself, that this was what he really wanted. “I just don’t want you to hurt Miyako-kun or Mimi-san. They are two of the best friends I have, and you’ve already stated that these two were going to be your definite victims. Just get rid of me in their place and promise me that you won’t do anything to them.”

Mimi and Miyako (as well as the others) looked over at the boy, no look of regret or anything on his part. Neither could believe what he was saying or what he was doing. They, as well as the others, also didn’t understand what he meant by his statement, dealing with “joining” his “real family”. He sounded incredibly cynical, which definitely wasn’t like him. He was never all that optimistic either, but he was never negative to the point of its being down right depressing.

“Who are you?” Meihui gave him a look of suspicion. “I don’t know you, and yet you’re trying to negotiate with me, like you do. You even called me by name; I never gave it for you to know.” She cocked the gun, and held it at him this time, right at his forehead. Everyone else seemed to hold their breaths once again, hoping for the best.

“That’s because you are Meihui Chiu-san of class 3-B, same as mine of Odaiba Junior High.”

She pushed the gun closer. “You could’ve overheard that stuff, and you never answered my question; who are you!”

Beads of sweat ran down the computer whiz’s face, as he slowly, and cautiously answered, “Izumi Koushirou.” He was really nervous, since she was ready to shoot now, since she’d cocked the gun. She hadn’t with Miyako or Mimi. “I’m your classmate, friend, and President of the Odaiba Junior High Computer Club.”

Her face scrunched up in confusion, as the gun shook in her hand. “I-Izumi-sama?”

“Y-yes,” he nodded slowly, his eyes closed. He didn’t want to have any sight of the gun, but was glad that she’d let up on it a bit, as he no longer felt the cool, metallic sensation against his pale, clammy skin. “I’m your friend.”

“No!! No!! You can’t be Izumi-sama!” she shouted with uncertainty while holding her head. The girl looked to be fighting an internal mental struggle. “N-no…he can’t be…” her voice grew gentle, “…but he has red hair like Izumi-sama. It’s the same shade of red.” She shook her head again. “No, no, it can’t be him!!” She put the gun back on him. “It-it can’t be him,” she stated shakily.

“Yes, it is,” Koushirou told her kindly. “I’m your friend,” he kept repeating, hoping that it’d get through.

“What are you waiting for! Kill them!! You have six shots!!”

“I can’t kill Izumi-sama,” Meihui said slowly. “I like Izumi-sama; he’s very nice.”

“Meihui-san, please, just put the gun down,” Koushirou continued, while trying his best to remain calm, which was showing to be quite difficult since a loaded gun was being pointed at him once again.

The girl slowly started to lower the gun. Sorcerymon and Nohemon stared in utter surprise, especially Sorcerymon. As for Nohemon, he’d actually stopped strangling Iori when Sorcerymon gave Mehui the order to kill off some of the children. He was curious if she was going to actually pull the trigger, and it didn’t hurt to prolong the killing of Iori.

“Good,” Koushirou sighed out in relief, while everyone else let out their breaths.

Meihui tossed the gun aside, and fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. “Izumi-sama, I’m so sorry. I’m soooo sorry!” Her mind back, she finally realized what she was about to do. “Izumi-sama, Inoue,” she looked at the two from her spot on the ground, “you two have gotten smaller. You look very different, Izumi-sama.”

“Meet the ten-year-old me,” he told her with a bashful smile while scratching the back of his head.

Meihui didn’t know what say to the sight of her beloved “Kawaii Koushi-kun”, in such a way, while she wiped away some of her tears. She was used of the older, handsome Koushirou, not the shrimpy, not as handsome one. Looking at him, though, she felt that he could’ve been Koushirou’s younger brother, not actually Koushirou.

“Damnit,” Sorcerymon cursed angrily. “No one has ever broken out of my mind control spell!” He glared at the children, muttering, “Even that fool Gennai hasn’t been able to since I put him under. What makes her any different?”

While Nohemon was distracted, Iori kicked Nohemon in the leg, and tried to run, but the archer, in a flash, appeared in front of him, catching Iori in the process. He grabbed him by his neck again, quite aggravated. “That does it!” he growled. “I’m going to get this over with once and for all!”

Iori was starting to lose consciousness while trying to free himself from Nohemon’s grasp. To Iori, it wasn’t very strong at all, and he seemed to be holding back a lot, but it was still effective. The boys face began to turn blue, as he gagged once again for air.

Seeing this made Sorcerymon happy. “So you’re worth paying after all,” he told the assassin, his arms crossed.

Before Nohemon could actually give a comment, which was unusual for him when it came to his being praised, a bright, white light shined around the area. A young girl’s voice called out, “Oh no, Iori-kun!” The light caused Nohemon to drop Iori a bit too willingly, while Sorcerymon, and the other children, shielded their eyes.

“Leave these children alone,” an angelic voice spoke firmly. “You have caused enough damage here.”

“That voice…” Taichi said.

“That’s the voice I heard on my way here,” Sora recollected.

“It told me not to worry,” Yamato said.

“That everything will be explained later,” Koushirou added.

“The voice is so assuring,” Mimi stated.

“She sounds so trusting,” Jou finished up.

‘I’m not getting paid enough for this.’ Nohemon began to walk off. “I’m out of here!”

The assassin took off in his signature flash, after what he’d witnessed. He just didn’t want to be bothered with it. The ones to arrive, was a woman, and along with her was a small girl (who was currently kneeled by Iori), and a big, white Digimon that resembled a majestic swan. Iori looked up, while hungrily taking in the air. He gasped and coughed, as the girl helped him up. After seeing that he was okay, she gave him a toothy grin, and then went over towards the cage where everyone was trapped.

“You shouldn’t touch the cage,” Meihui warned, “you might get shocked. I don’t remember too much, but I remember one of those-those Digimon guys trying it, and getting hurt.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

All of a sudden, a faint, pink aura of light began to shine around Hikari. The girl also had a similar glow.

Taichi panicked and rushed over to his sister.

“Oniichan!”

“Hikari, what’s wrong?!”

“I-I don’t know!”

Hikari’s glow subsided, but the little girl’s glow intensified slightly. She held her hands over the lock of the cell. It then unlocked. Miyako pushed the door open, and rushed out, just as the others had. They were all concerned over Iori.

Sorcerymon could only double take at the events that had just occurred; his slave had broken his mind control, and now some kid showed up and managed to open Nohemon’s cage. He pointed a finger shakily at them. “You won’t get away with this!”

The woman looked at the magician, no sign of fear evident about her. “We will stop you,” she told him confidently. “You will not get away with harming the Digital World anymore, and I won’t allow you to harm my world either; my old world! I know what you all are planning!”

“W-well, you’re too late!” The woman could tell that the Digimon had a big smirk about his wan face, even though it wasn’t visible. “It’s not like those children can actually do much of anything.”

“The prophecy and the Holy Guardians said that---”

“Well, that prophecy is wrong, thanks to yours truly, here!”

The swan-like Digimon, who had remained quiet all this time, couldn’t help but speak up. “What are you talking about?”

“We’re one step ahead of you. We always have been. We knew of the prophecy, so I altered it a bit by interfering with those visions of yours. I would tell you more, but I probably shouldn’t. Zanbamon wouldn’t appreciate it, and neither would our superior.” He waved his hand, and a portal opened up. He stepped through. “Goodbye losers,” he called to them as the portal closed behind him.

The woman frowned. She didn’t like the sound of that. Was Sorcerymon bluffing just to get a reaction out of her, or was he speaking the truth? Could her visions been completely off and wrong? Were the guardians fooled by their enemy’s trickery? She glanced over at the children, who all had questioning looks about their faces.

“Hello there,” the swan-like Digimon greeted, her wings outstretched.

“Wow, she sure is a beautiful Digimon!” Hikari exclaimed.

“Excuse me,” Taichi spoke up, ignoring what his sister had said, “but what’s going on?”

“Why were we brought back here?” asked Michael.

Iori, who had been trying to grasp onto reality, finally noticed the small girl who had helped him up earlier. ‘Is that…’

“Hey there, Iori-kun,” the girl greeted, as if reading his mind. “It’s me, Eiji.”

Iori’s eyes went wide in excitement. “I was so worried about you!” he told her, his voice filled with relief. “I was worried because of your not knowing much about the Digital World.”

“How did you open the lock? What happened? I felt very strange when you did that, but not in a bad way.”

“I borrowed some of your crest power since my light trait isn’t as strong as yours.”

Everyone blinked in stupidity. “What?”

“I’ll explain that,” the woman interjected.

“Yes, please do,” Miyako retorted.

“I should first introduce myself, though. I am---”

“Angellina!!” Agumon said excitedly. “Gennai has spoken highly of you!”

“Yeah!” V-mon nodded. “That’s what Agumon told me! Gennai is very fond of you.”

“Yes, my name is Angellina; *Angellina Forsyth-Goodwin,” she couldn’t help but slightly blush, “and I am very pleased to hear that Gennai-san says positive things of me.”

“You know,” Koushirou rubbed his chin, “her voice sounds familiar.”

“Now that you mention it, it does,” Tailmon agreed.

“In a way, she sounds a bit like Hikari did after that spirit took over her body,” Patamon pointed out.

“*That’s because it was her,” the swan explained. “Qinglongmon-sama gave her the power to do so at that time.”

“Qinglongmon-sama? Light trait? What is going on?”

“What’s your name, if you do not mind my asking?”

“Meihui Chiu…”

“Meihui-san, I shall make the assumption that you were the one brought back by mistake,” Angellina noted. “You do not have the characteristics of a Chosen Child, as you remained at your current age.”

“Chosen Child?”

Ever since Meihui had regained full control of her mind, she didn’t have much recollection as to what was told to her by Sorcerymon about the Chosen Children, just that Miyako was one of them. All the events after Sorcerymon hypnotized her, were a bit fuzzy, and seemed that bits and pieces of her memory were there, like how she recalled Stingmon’s shock and warned Eiji. The most vivid memory she had, though, was the horrific murder she almost committed, which scared her; the fact that she could possibly do something so horrible and how easy it was for her to be manipulated and hypnotized.

“I guess it’s kind of obvious that she’s not one,” Eiji said. “She’s too old, for one.”

“I’m not that old!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you,” the messy-haired girl hastily apologized, “but it is true that you’re too old. For someone to become a Chosen Child, you have to be under the age of 12.” She looked over at the others. “Everyone here, were originally chosen when they were 12 or younger.”

“That is correct,” Angellina confirmed.

“Excuse me, Angellina-san, but would you mind explaining what’s going on exactly?” Sora asked timidly.

After Sora spoke, Eiji’s eyes seemed to light up. “I just noticed something! That picture that was at your house! The girl I recognized in it was that girl I borrowed the crest power from! And the girl that just spoke, I recognize her from it, and the girl with the pink hat! The one with the blue hat that just spoke and that boy with the goggles, look a lot like Takenouchi Sora and Yagami Taichi! The two best players, Odaiba Elementary’s Soccer Club has ever seen!! Takenouchi-senpai broke the barrier for being the first girl to ever play! After that, the club became more coed!”

Taichi couldn’t help but grin, as Eiji made her way to both him and Sora; he liked the praise he was receiving. “Yep, that’s us. Sora and I were the perfect team and always came up with great plays.”

“You mean that the records set by us, still haven’t been broken?”

“No way! There’s a big display case dedicated to you in the sports department!”

“Maybe we should hang around Odaiba Elementary more often, Taichi.”

“You two are like celebrities there, and are an inspiration to the athletes of our school! I play Tennis, and our coach always tells us how disciplined Odaiba Elementary’s best athletes were!”

“Too bad I never broke any records when I was there,” Daisuke muttered gloomily.

“But you did get best player of the year before you graduated,” Hikari reminded him.

“Yeah, that’s not bad,” Takeru complimented.

“Even though it’s nice to reminisce, I feel that it’s more important as to why we’re here,” Koushirou stated seriously. “Also, how come we seem to have our crest powers back?”

“That, I am afraid, I cannot answer.”

“Which one? The crest power or why we are here?” asked Jou.

“The crest power; I can’t explain much about that, but I can explain a few things to you as to why your Digimon were able to evolve, and of course, as to why you are here.”

****
Meanwhile, in Zanbamon’s quarters...

“What!?!” Zanbamon roared, which caused the castle to seemingly shaking. “The girl managed to get out of your control!?!”

“I was pretty much shocked. No one has ever broken my mind control spell. Just look at Gennai; he still has the mind of a doorknob.”

“And did you say th-that Angellina showed up with that little girl?” asked Zanbamon fearfully.

“Yes, she did! She did something amazing, and unlocked the cage that had all of the other Chosen Children and their Digimon trapped.”

“Speaking of traps, where is Nohemon?”

“I have no idea. He just disappeared when Angellina, her Digimon, and that girl showed up.”

“Damn, this isn’t looking too good. I hope he knows what he’s doing by not going out and killing these kids off himself. It’s obvious that these children aren’t going to get their regular ages back. It just would’ve been easier if he’d just let us do it. We could’ve had guards stake out the different areas, and when a child was sighted, we could’ve gone to finish the child off, excluding the ex-Digimon Kaiser, of course.”

“Yeah, that probably would’ve worked out better, and I would’ve known what I know now, I would’ve ordered Ebemon to kill that redhead, or either had him sent here.”

“Let’s go. He really needs to know what’s going on so that we can figure out what our next plan of attack is going to be.”

“Without Ebemon, taking over the human world is somewhat pointless,” Sorcerymon said, as he and Zanbamon headed towards the throne room. “Without that brain extractor to control the humans and to take over their government, to rule, it won’t be as much fun. It’s also quite obvious that his brain extractor is more powerful than the powers of mind control that I have.”

“That’s true, but we can still manage to take over their world without many problems; mind control or not. Their puny weapons can’t harm us, and we’re obviously stronger. Their world also has better resources compared to ours; they’re not worthy enough to even live there.”

“So…” Sorcerymon gulped slightly as they’d reached their destination, “which one of us tells him?”

“We shall tell him together, of course.”

‘He’s just as scared as I am. He just doesn’t want to face him alone.’ The sorcerer shook his head at his colleague. “Okay then, let’s go.”

Zanbamon pushed open the heavy door, and both entered the vast room hesitantly. Not beating around the bush, both managed to tell their superior of the events that had taken place at Ebemon’s factory thoroughly.

“WHAT!!!” the robed Digimon screamed, his dark, purplish-blue eyes glowing elatedly. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE MANAGED TO GET FROM OUT OF YOUR CONTROL!!”

“I’m sorry! It wasn’t my fault!” Sorcerymon groveled. “Somehow, her fondness for that Koushirou person was much stronger than the control I had over her! If he wouldn’t have interfered, she more than likely would’ve succeeded in killing off at least a few of them.”

“Yeah, whatever,” he grumbled emotionlessly.

“I say we go find Nohemon, and kill the bastard for deserting battle!” Zanbamon said in anger. “We technically paid him for nothing!”

“Please don’t get mad at us.”

After what seemed like an eternity to both Sorcerymon and Zanbamon, their superior finally spoke. His demeanor was quite calm, as he stared down at Sorcerymon. For Sorcerymon, his superior’s being so composed after receiving such news was a bit unsettling. “Actually, I’m not mad at you. And Zanbamon is correct. I do agree about having Nohemon assassinated, and I will see to it personally, but I also feel that we should go to the human world now. We can still take it over.”

“But what about here?” Sorcerymon asked a little less cautiously.

“We shall worry about here, later. While we are busy taking over the human world, we shall leave orders for our troops to continue conquering areas here, and if they come across the children and their Digimon, just kill them off without thinking twice about it, but to, of course, spare the ex-Digimon Kaiser.” He rose slowly and stepped down. He walked across the room, his red robes rustling behind im. He stopped short of the throne-room’s door. “We shall leave for the human world as soon as possible.”

“Right,” the two bowed.

After opening the door, the robed Digimon called loudly. “Gennai!! Get your worthless ass in here, now!!”

The mindless Gennai entered the room obediently, and bowed to the Digimon. “Yes sir?”

“Help Zanbamon and Sorcerymon gather the troops! I want to start off with the Candmon, but we shall enter the human world first, and then the Candmon, then the Deltamon, etc.”

“Yes, master.”

“If you’re good,” Zanbamon chuckled cruelly, “we might not let them get their practice in by using you as the target.”

Sorcerymon joined in on the laughter, as both he and Zanbamon, along with Gennai, left to prepare the troops as their superior had instructed. After they’d gone, the robed Digimon looked out of his window, nothing but darkness all around.

“I’m going to conquer this world, as well as the human’s world,” he declared. “They will all pay for the misery and neglect that they have caused me and some of my fellow Digimon.

“The Digimon seemed to worship Vamdemon blindly while some feared him, and yet, gave me no mind at all. They will all pay!”
****
In another part of the Digital World, in an area that resembled a tropical rain forest, was Nohemon wandering it blindly. He was deep in thought. He’d finally grown tired, and sat down underneath one of the shady trees. Opposite him, was an apple tree. Even though an apple tree in the middle of what looked to be a rain forest was odd to the human world, stuff like this was all but normal there. Nohemon stared up at the serene, blue sky; loads of Toucanmon and other types of bird Digimon dominating the sky while it was currently safe for them to do so, as opposed to taking refuge, like many had been doing for a long time now.

He took out his arrow, and shot the tree, shaking two apples loose. He then shot another arrow, to keep them from falling. He rose from his spot, and pulled the arrow which held the two apples. He pulled one off for himself, and tossed the other to his crow. After taking a seat again, he went back to his thoughts, a gentle breeze blowing through the air.

‘Why does that child care so much about the Digital World? Why did I stall? It was the same as last time; I kept hesitating. I couldn’t kill him no matter how much I tried. I purposely kept finding ways to distract myself from doing my job.’

The crow cawed as it ate the delicious fruit, while Nohemon thought back to all Iori had said when he encountered him with Blue Meramon…
***

***
“He really seems to care about the Digital World. Why am I so hateful towards humans anyway? They’ve technically never done anything for me to have a grudge against them.

“That boy is right, though. I know this world is going to hell once they take it over, and so is that boy’s…but…killing is my job. It’s the path I, unfortunately, chose…”

He stood and brushed himself off, tossing his uneaten apple aside and sighed. ‘I sometimes wonder why I ever allowed myself to get into this business to begin with…’

Nohemon recalled his crow, and began wandering again, wondering what to do next…