Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ DigiTerra: The Digital Earth ❯ Chapter 3: New Strength Arrives! Michell, the Terrible Chimera ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Yesterday was a really bad day.

Davish seems to be feeling a bit better today though,
'specially after making our new symbol. So Davish an'
me are still gonna be able ta kick butt when the time comesh.
Yolie'sh lookin' okay too. Cody... I ain't so sure about.
He'sh taken his Grandpa'sh goin' away pretty hard and
Armadillomon told me he didn't sleep at all. I'm sure
he'll cheer up though, when he getsh reborn in Primary Village!
Humansh act a whole lot like Digimon, so I bet they reformat
the same way we do, too. But I don't think itsh as easy for
them... Cody'sh mom and Yolie'sh mom were talking about doing
things to the body that got left behind the last time I heard
them.

Oh, hi! My name'sh Veemon! I'm a Legendary Dragon Digimon
that bringsh good luck. I may be small and cuddly, but
I got a hard head that I'll use to pound my enemies with my Vee
Headbutt!

We're still at Yolie'sh place. After all that happened
yesterday, I don't blame nobody for not wantin' ta keep
goin'. It was startin' ta get dark too so we went back
inside the store and decided to spend the night. Besidesh,
we couldn't leave all the humansh alone overnight! What if
more Digimon that were controlled by the Emperor came? They'd get
all thish beautiful food for themselvesh!

Yolie'sh folks have a small office upstairs and some spare cots
downstairs that we were able ta make inta beds and stuff. Davish
and me spent most a' the night upstairsh talkin' ta Jim. He told
us about how important it was that he got back to the hospital as
soon as we were able ta go. With all that'sh been goin' on since
both Earth and the Digital World turned inta one, there'sh been a
lotta accidents and fights and stuff and both humansh and Digimon
need a place they can get better at. So Davish said he'd try to
get everyone to go with us and take Jim to hish hospital in the
morning. He said it'd be okay because Woodmon and Ogremon felt
bad about what happened to Cody'sh grandpa and wanted to do
something to make up for it, so they could guard the other
humansh and make sure nothin' got 'em while we were away.

Although... I'm still wonderin' how thish whole fushion thing
with Earth and the Digital World happened. We haven't found any
cluesh yet, and I bet we couldn't even if we'd been lookin' for
'em....

+ + +

"I don't understand you."

Perched on a rooftop, overlooking the city with a clear view
of what had once been Tokyo Tower and Infinity Mountain,
Asuramon turned his head slightly to glance at the new arrival.
He appeared as an almost-human elderly man, with a top knot at
the very center of his bald head and a large, bushy moustache on
his face. The old man was dressed in black robes with a red
lining, and leaned heavily on his cane to support himself.

"What confuses you, Gennai?"

"Well," Gennai said, "First Musyamon brings about the Dark
Children to wreak havok in both worlds, and now you've got these
new ones involved. Now, if I'm still able to see things
straight, they may actually be a big help to the Digidestined
before all's said and done. Their Digimon partners are three of
the four Legendary Digimon, after all. But what are they in this
whole sorry mess? I saw nothing that indicated that any of the
Legendaries would have to be awakened again, and I don't understand
why Wormmon and his partner aren't with the others...."

"The new children are the hearts that will beat for this new
world. Neither world could survive on their own," Asuramon
replied. "As such, it is fitting that the Digital Earth should be
guided in its beginning time by Digidestined with partners as
wise and powerful as the Legendary Digimon."

"But they're not strong enough yet," Gennai scowled at Asuramon.
"This was even more than my experienced Digidestined could
handle. And after everything Veemon's already been through, to
give the poor child another human partner who's more than likely
not to survive the trials he'll have to face..."

"Motomiya's heart is strong. He can carry the Dragon's burden,"
Asuramon said.

"The other boy's heart was just as strong, and look what happened
to him," Gennai countered.

"Merely a sign of how far the Digital World had decayed."
Asuramon turned to gaze at Gennai intently. "Even you cannot
deny that it had become nothing but... a mess, in its last days."

"I know that," Gennai relented. "When a Digimon like Kimeramon
can be born through natural Digivolution, it's definitely a sign
that there's something out of whack. But this is like kicking a
television when the cable goes out. It's far too much and it
won't fix anything."

"It does not matter anymore," Asuramon said, "It is done. Their
strength is growing rapidly, and their second virtues will soon
awaken. When the time comes, they will be ready."

"You haven't told them about the drawbacks of the Digimentals
yet, have you? Not to mention what happened to the other
Children? Or what will happen to them as well?" Gennai asked.
"They can't possibly understand the burden they've taken on."

"Those are things they will learn in time," Asuramon said.
"Though I will guide them, protecting them too much would weaken
them. I cannot expect them to be able to do the impossible if
they have been coddled and have not found the true powers within
themselves."

"This is the wrong path, Asuramon," Gennai said. "This could have
all been fixed a long time ago if Apocalymon had appeared as
foretold. If we could find out why he didn't appear, we still
might have a chance of fixing all this...."

Asuramon said nothing for a moment before replying. "Apocalymon
did not appear for his battle. The prophecies were rendered
invalid. Our path was chosen then, and we have no choice but to
walk it."

Gennai rubbed his eyes for a moment and when he reopened them, he
was alone on the rooftop.

+ + +

Mmm! Cake! Yummy!

... oh, you're back now! Want some?

... uh-oh, I ate it all already. Sorry.

+ + +
DigiTerra: The Digital Earth

A Digimon: Digital Monsters Fanfic by Christian Rogers (AKA The
Flashman) and Alicia Ashby (AKA Lynxara)

Aided and abetted by: Damien Karolev, Shelby Scott,
Ben-San Arizona and Jeff Yang

Digimon is copyright Toei Studios, Saban, and FOX Kids.
+ + +

Chapter 3: New Strength Arrives! Michelle, the Terrible Chimera

+ + +

"Veemon!" Davis said. "I wanted some of that cake too! Did you
have to eat ALL of it?!"

"But you just got up all of sudden," Veemon replied. "I thought
you weren't hungry."

"I was just getting some milk!" Davis said. "How can you have
cake without milk?! It's like... like... milk without cake!"

"I'm sorry, Davish," Veemon hung his head and guiltily wiped the
crumbs off his paws.

They were sitting in folding chairs at the main register stand in
the store, looking out the window as the sun rose over the
strange landscape. Davis slumped down in his seat, sighing a
little as he looked at his forlorn friend. "It's okay," he said,
"I should have said something." He paused to take a sip from the
small carton of milk he'd gotten before continuing. "Anyway,
what do you think of my plan? Think the others will go for it?"

"It'sh worth a shot!"

"Yeah!" Davis agreed. "We take Jim to the hospital and then come
back here and get the others once we've made the hospital safe.
I mean, these guys gave us free food and a room for the night, so
getting them outta here and to someone safer is the least we can
do."

"The food STILL isn't free, Davis."

Davis rolled his eyes as he turned to look up at Yolie. She
seemed unusually grumpy as she sat down across the register from
him, a large cup of coffee in her hands. "Morning," he said.
"Sleep well?"

Yolie just looked up from the steaming cup of coffee and snarled
for a moment before her head dropped down once again. "Five,"
she said.

"Five hours?" Davis asked.

"Minutes."

"S'more than I got!"

Yolie looked up again, her eyes narrowing as she said, "You're
way too chipper."

Davis shrugged. "Hey, a tough guy like me can go days without
sleep and still look as cool as ever!" He flashed her a big grin
and that earned him another snarl in return as Yolie took a large
swig from the styrofoam cup. "... so how's Cody?" Davis finally
asked, his enthusiasm dampening.

Yolie sighed a little. "He's... dealing with it. I haven't seen
him this bad though since..." she trailed off, letting the steam
from the coffee cup caress her face.

"Since when?" Davis asked.

"... ah, hell," Yolie grumbled after a long pause. "I'm sleep
deprived, my brain's about as sharp as tapioca pudding and we
seem to have nothing better to do at the moment than bond, so...
lemme tell ya a little story."

+ + +

This little tale of mine starts a few years ago. I was only five
and my sister was eight. And I was still cuter then her back
then, too. We still shared the same room at the time but my bed
was closer to the window so I guess that's why I heard it first.

There was a clanking noise outside my window. Something was on
the fire escape. I ignored it at first, thinking it was probably
someone who lost his keys or something. I started getting
concerned though when the sound stopped outside my window.

For a moment, there wasn't any sound at all... and then I started
to hear it. Someone was crying. I almost missed it at first
because of how soft the sound was, but now that I'd heard it I
couldn't... unhear it, you know?

I crawled out of bed and looked out the window. I didn't really
see anything until I looked down and to the left.

And that's how I met Cody.

He was so small... of course, at the time, he was only like,
three years old, so I guess it makes sense that he'd be little.
But... it was more than just his physical size. He was shaking
really hard and crying... but now that I think back... it was
like he was really trying to force himself to stop.

"Whatcha doin'?" I asked as I opened the window just enough to
stick my head out.

He jumped a little and looked at me. His eyes were red and the
sight of another person must have been too much for his self
control at the moment. He just... broke down.

"My daddy..." he said, his voice really choked up. "A bad man
hurt him and he had to go away forever."

I was kind of confused at this point... I hadn't really had any
personal contact with death at the time, so I wasn't exactly sure
what he meant by the "go away" part... but I knew I couldn't
leave a little kid alone to just cry, so I opened the window a
little more and hopped out.

"Doesn't your mommy miss you?" I asked.

Cody shook his head. "Mommy's asleep. Couldn't cry at the
funeral... didn't cry at home. Gotta be strong now... gotta be
the man of the house till grandpa moves in. Gotta be strong!"

I sat down next to him. "Why?" I asked.

"'Cause daddy said when he's gone, I gotta be the man... unless
grandpa's there..."

"Oh..." was all I could say. I... don't know why I did what I
did next, but it felt... right. I reached out and hugged him.
"That sounds like a hard job, so I'm gonna be your friend, okay?
And I'll be the most sincere and honest bestest friend you've
ever had! And I'll make sure you never ever ever have ta cry
again. My name's Yolie."

"... Cody," he replied softly.

Some job I did on that promise, didn't I?

Some hero I've been so far.

+ + +

"Man..." Davis replied. "Yolie, look... Cody's still alive, your
family's still alive and you shouldn't feel sad about that. And
since you're alive too, there's LOTS of good stuff we could do if
we think about it."

"Like WHAT?!" Yolie shouted.

"Maybe have some more cake?" Veemon asked, innocently.

"Indeed," Hawkmon added, "Some food right now would be..."

He stopped talking as he realized the two humans were too busy
laughing at Veemon's comment to hear him. Both Yolie and Davis
realized it wasn't all that funny a joke, but they didn't care.
The stress needed release.

"Okay..." Yolie said as she started to calm down. "I needed
that..."

"Yeah," Davis agreed. "Thanks, Veemon. You rule!"

"... Thanksh for what?" The Digimon asked, genuinely confused as
the humans burst out laughing again.

"Is this a private joke or can anyone join in?"

The group looked up and were greeted by the smiling face of Jim
Kido as he slid into a seat next to them. "Sorry for
eavesdropping," he said, "but I was looking for you guys. I
thought of something else you could do for the good of
humanity... although it may sound a little selfish at first."

"Lay it on us," Davis said.

"I want you to find my kid brother, Joe. I know he's somewhere
out there in the middle of all this insanity, and he's probably
in really bad trouble... because, well, he's like you two. I
mean, he has a monster pet that fights with him against evil
monsters and stuff. I'm really worried about him because he's
not really very aggressive and I'm afraid he might have gotten
hurt... and if he hasn't, I know he can tell us about what
happened that made the world go insane."

"Wait, he's got a partner? He's a Digidestined, too?" Yolie
asked in surprise.

"Well," Davis said. "We already know RP and Kari are Digidestined
too... with those Ange-things. So maybe there's a whole lot more
of us than we thought."

"RP?" Jim asked.

"He means TK," Yolie replied. "It's a nickname for Takeru
Takaishi... he's a nice, cool boy who goes to school with us. So
of course, he's Davis' arch-nemesis." She tried not to giggle at
Davis' attempt to suppress a snarl of rage.

"Ah," Jim said. "Well, it's been a while so I don't really
remember their names all that well, but he sounds like he might
have been the really little kid I met that time seven years ago
when all the monsters showed up in Tokyo the first time. And my
kid brother was there... and does TK have a brother? Because I
remember the really little boy having one, a kid with a bad
attitude and huge hair..."

"Matt Ishida!" Yolie squealed in delight. "I've heard of him!
He was the lead singer of a band when he was in high school, and
he performed at one of our dances once! Oooh, he was so cute! I
bet he's a real idol singer by now...."

"Yeah, yeah," Davis scowled at Yolie's shameless fanning.
Apparently even mention of his supposed arch-nemesis' brother was
enough to irk him. "Well, I bet Kari was there too, if there was
a really little girl there...."

"Yeah... I think there was!" Jim nodded.

"Cool! Were there any others?"

Jim thought for a moment. "Well... I remember two girls. One of
them was kind of tomboyish, I think... and the other one wore a
huge pink cowboy hat. Oh! And this one kid I know I'll never
forget. He wore these goggles that look kinda like yours all the
time and I could never figure out why...."

"Wait," Davis said, shock and joy mingling in his face. "TAI?!"

"Tai... yeah! That was his name!" Jim smiled.

"Tai KAMIYA is a Digi Destined?!" Davis was, of course, far too
macho and manly to squeal in delight the way Yolie had. But he
was coming as close as a guy could before those around him would
begin to severely doubt his sexuality.

"I THINK that was his name, anyway..." Jim said, unnerved by
Davis' sudden rush of high enthusiasm. "And... there was one
more! A short little quiet guy with red hair. All I really
remember about him was that he was supposed to be really smart
and I never saw him without his laptop open...."

"The Koushirou 'Izzy' Izumi?!" Yolie replied, her eyes suddenly
brightening even further. "The Legendary President of the
Computer Club?! Oh god, he was always such a dreamboat and I had
SUCH a crush on him..."

"Had?" Davis thought sourly to himself. Man, why did Yolie have
to be so hyper all the time? It got irritating. Why couldn't
she be as cool and collected as he was?

"It sounds like you two know some of them," Jim stated,
curiously.

Davis glanced toward the doctor and nodded enthusiastically.
"YEAH! Me and Tai were on the same soccer team for a little while
before he graduated! I even got these from him!"

Jim took a closer look at the goggles that Davis frantically
pointed to on the top of his head. "I THOUGHT those looked
familiar." He smiled a little as he spoke. "So you'll do it?"

"Sure!" Davis said. "We'll keep an eye out for 'em and keep our
ears to the ground and find him for you in no time at all."

Yolie, meanwhile, had glomped Hawkmon tightly and sighed as she
traveled off into her own fantasies. "Me and Izzy... fighting
side by side... on missions of international mystery under a pale
moonlit sky..."

The two males just stared at Yolie as Hawkmon struggled for
freedom.

"... is she always like this?" Jim asked, blinking.

"Nah. She's usually worse," Davis replied, brightly.

+ + +

Nobody thinks I'm smart 'cause of the way I talk. But I know
more'n you'd think I do. Most Digimon also think I'm just a
nasty guy with no moral code just 'cause I'm a Virus Type, but I
got my honor.

Fightin' old guys till their hearts give out on 'em ain't
anywhere in my Ogremon's Code. I know that much at least. So
that's why me and the Woodmon 're standin' guard for these humans
right now. Even though we all know it was because of those Ring
things of that Emperor jerk, it's still our fault in a way fer
lettin' ourselves get caught by 'em in the first place. So we
got a debt to repay, as far as I see it.

It's still amazin' though... after I came to, I check myself fer
bruises and stuff and I think I got more from that old guy than
from those weird Armored Digimon. It's too bad, really. If he'd
been a little younger and I hadn't been under that dumb Ring
things control, I mighta fought with him anyway. I like a good
Rival.

Heh, I ain't had a Rival fer a while. I ain't seen Leomon's
shaggy face in way too long. Knowin' him though, he's probably
mixed up in the thick a' all a this somehow and don't got no time
fer little ol' me no more. Hell, he's probably had some kinda
hand in the world goin' wacko and all us Digimon suddenly bein'
alongside all a' these weird lookin' humans.

Woodmon's tensing up all of a sudden and I can see why. Here
comes the kid with the Armadillomon. He brushes past both a' us
with a quiet sorta nod and keeps goin' into the back room where
there's the sheet with the old guy's body under it. The
Armadillomon smiles and waves at us. I don't think he really
understands what's goin' on. I ain't surprised. His human may
be able to make 'im tougher for a little while, but he's still
just a li'l baby Rookie with a lot t' learn about how things go.
I remember Devimon tellin' me once that humans weren't like
Digimon and that when they died, they stayed dead. They don't
get reborn, or at least, if they do, it's not like how we do it.

The kid gets down on one knee and starts whisperin' stuff to the
covered up body. Neither me 'er the Woodmon really wanna do it,
but we can't help overhearin' some of the stuff he's sayin'.

"I still want..." he says, pausing a moment to take a deep
breath. He looks like he's havin' a hard time. "I still want to
live by what you taught me," he finally picks up again. "A man's
responsibility will always be to the living first. To protect
those in his heart who still exist in this world. To be gentle
and kind to all who exist. To be able to show mercy. To save
the lives of those who are not strong enough to fight those who
hurt them."

He takes a moment ta take another breath and he sorta shakes a
little. I don't think he's got that much energy in him left. Not
that I blame 'im, humans tend t' be pretty high-strung. But it's
gonna be a long day fer 'em out there and they're gonna need ta
be as sharp as they can be if they wanna make it alive.

"You also told me," he says again, "To not seek vengeance. There
is no good in revenge. Instead, seek justice. Seek to right
that which is wrong. Vengeance leads only to sorrow."

It's then that I notice the sword he's got by his side as he
draws it from the scabbard. Man, that thing's as skinny as he
is. But... I can sense that it's like the kid, a lot stronger
than it looks. Heh. Maybe I should see if he wants ta be a Rival
with me.

"I will see justice done for you, Grandfather," he says lookin'
at the blade, his eyes goin' cold behind those weird glass things
he wears on his face.

Ya know... now that I think about it, maybe I don't wanna have
him fer a Rival after all. He's kinda scary. I feel kinda sorry
for what Mr. Emperor is in store fer, too. Somethin' tells me
that, right now, this kid's definitions a' 'justice' an'
'vengeance' ain't too different.

"Hey, Oggie!"

... OGGIE?!

What the... oh, it's the new Goggle Boy. Sheesh, dat kid's gotta
lotta nerve. Lot like the other Goggle Boy I used ta know but
sorta not too, ya know? He's got a different look in his eyes,
kinda like the li'l Wolf Boy that Gabumon had. I remember
hearin' some Digimon tell me once that since humans don't come
back the way we do, they gotta make sure they swap data with
other humans before they die to make a new baby. Wonder if that
means this Goggle Boy's came from the old Goggle Boy and the Wolf
Boy sharin' info. Kinda weird, but hey, who'm I ta judge what
humans do?

"Whadda ya want?" I say, making sure he knows that what's goin on
behind me and Woody ain't something he can walk in on.

"I need to talk to Cody," he says. "It's time to get ready to
go."

"I don't think he's ready just yet..." Woodmon says, his voice
droppin' to a whisper.

"I'm ready."

All three of us jump in surprise. Geeze, he even got da drop on
me.

We turn around and there he is, sword hidden from sight again,
standin' there plain as day. "Are you sure?" Goggle Boy says,
lookin' up at him. "I know how you're feeling but we gotta get
going... we could stay another hour at least or something if you
don't think you can, but..."

"I'll be fine," Cody says. "You'll need me and I intend to be out
there with you."

"Alright!" Goggle Boy says, smiling. "I knew we could count on
you!"

Cody looks like he's gotten hit by a Bone Boomerang to the
stomach for a moment after Goggle Boy says that, but then he's
all normal and serious looking again when he replies. "While you
live, you'll always be able to."

And then he just walks off. Like I said, scary. 'Cause I think
it was pretty much left unsaid that if ya weren't livin' then ya
could count on him doin' stuff for ya too.

+ + +

His duties were finally finished for the day. Now he could tell
the Master.

Wormmon crawled down into the main room as quickly as his small
body would allow him, shouting. "Master! Master! I've found
something you should see!"

There was only one person in the entire room, surrounded by
glowing monitors that hung in the air. He was a young man
dressed in a strange dark blue and white bodysuit. Heavy-looking
gold armor plates were draped across his shoulders, a pair of
dark cape-like pieces of fabric hanging down from them. Thick,
silvery metal bands clasped across his wrists, apparently holding
the dark blue gloves that covered his hands in place. Similar
bands wrapped around his ankles, just above his dark blue boots.
His hair frizzled into a wild nest of dark black spikes, with two
silvery-grey stripes running along his temples. His eyes were
hidden behind a pair of golden glasses with thick-looking violet
lenses. He turned in his chair, tossing back his pseudo-cape as
he addressed the Digimon, his voice a mocking sneer. "What is it,
you worm? Have the Freaks decided it's time to start playing the
game?"

"No," Wormmon said, shaking his head. "It's something a LOT
better."

"Oh?" the human replied, a dark frown coming over his cold
features. His voice became a mocking falsetto. "Let me guess,
you've decided to put sunflowers in my room again? Or maybe
you've made a happy little cake that you want me to eat so I'll
smile and say, 'Oh I'm SO giddy and happy and just full of sunny
joyfulness right now'?"

"Well... no... but if you want a cake...."

"I was being SARCASTIC, you segmented buffoon!"

The sound of a whip cracking filled the air. Wormmon's head was
snapped to the side from the force of the blow. The little insect
Digimon did nothing to try and soothe the welt that formed on his
cheek as his master clipped his weapon back onto his belt.

"I'm sorry, Master...." Wormmon said timidly. "But this IS really
important...."

"Very well," the teenager sighed in annoyance. "Show me."

One of the screens blipped to life, replaying a curious scene
from the cafeteria of a near-by school.

"Veemon, Armor Digivolve TO... FLAMEDRAMON! The Fire of
Courage!"

"... What's this?" The young man started out of his seat, glaring
at the image of the armored dragon that appeared. "Armor
Digivolve? What area was this recorded in?"

"Sector Seventeen sir," Wormmon said. "And I checked, the Control
Spire for that area was in perfect working order."

"Then this little fellow shouldn't have been able to Digivolve at
all." Wormmon's Master sat back down, folding his hands in front
of his face. "How... interesting."

"There's more, Master."

"More?"

"Hawkmon Armor Digivolve TO... HALSEMON! The Wings of Love!"

"Armadillomon Armor Digivolve TO... DIGMON! The Drill of
Knowledge!"

The young man's features, beneath his folded hands, became a
scowl. "Three of them."

"Yes," Wormmon said. "And look at this! There are humans with
them too! And they have Digivices that are just like yours,
Ke..."

"NEVER CALL ME THAT NAME!" The Master screamed as he bolted out
of his chair. "My name is the DIGIMON EMPEROR! THAT is the only
name you should know! And also know that there is NO ONE like ME,
especially NOT one of those Digidestined FREAKS!"

The sound of the whip echoed through the room as blow after blow
rained down on Wormmon's body. Once his rage had been
sufficiently vented on the quivering, half-conscious Digimon, the
Digimon Emperor turned back to the screen.

"Well, well..." he said to himself. "Their Digimon have to be
using some kind of alternate power source. Even if my Control
Spires didn't make it impossible for them to get energy from
their humans, the result now should have been a Transfer
Digivolve, not... this." The Emperor tapped a few buttons on the
keyboard that shimmered into existence in front of him, watching
the monster digivolve over and over again. After a few
repetitions, he finally spotted the clue he knew he'd have
to find. A few deft taps froze the recording of Flamedramon's
emergence he'd been watching, and then zoomed in to focus the
screen on the strange emblem etched on the back of the Digimon's
armored chestplate.

"Ah-ha! Courage..." The Emperor's fingers flew across the
keyboard as he continued to speak, bringing up cropped, still
images of the other two Armor Digimon. "... Love... and
Knowledge. I should've known they'd be allied with the Freaks.
I wonder how they're connected... bah! It doesn't matter,
anyway. They're all too weak to be of any consequence to me at
all. If they try anything... I'll crush them with ease."

+ + +

I'm a doctor, not a Digidestined.

My name's Jim Kido, and just like the rest of the world, I'm
currently in a whole bunch of trouble. It's not like I haven't
been in this situation before, though. It's been awhile since I
got caught up in that whole thing with Myotismon and the other
stuff my kid brother was dealing with, but at least I still
remember everything that happened. A lot of people seemed to
forget... it was really frightening at the time, but Joe said
that it was probably for the best and that we shouldn't make a
big deal out of it. I'm beginning to think that maybe we should
have. But at least now the fact that I never forgot means that I
have the advantage of vaguely knowing what's going on. To think
I used to complain about having to spend most of my formative
years sharing the house with my brother's pet talking seal-thing.

I guess this also means I can still blame Joe if the sun doesn't
come up tomorrow. Granted, right now I'm worried about what will
happen if the sun comes up and there's nothing left for it to
shine on. As near as I can tell, the city's in ruins, and I
don't think anybody has any idea what's going on in the rest of
the world or even in the rest of Japan. And we'll never survive
to find out if we just let the whole city sink into anarchy.
That's why me and the new kids here are all making this trip to
the hospital. Something tells me they're going to need every
doctor they can get, and I know this city needs a safe haven
that'll help get people from getting hurt in these stupid turf
wars that have started.

It's a good thing these kids don't look like they'll be needing
my services anytime soon. Davis is healthy as a horse and
probably almost as smart, if he's half as much the jock he looks
like. And if breakfast this morning is any indication, he
probably goes through sugar like a blast furnace.

The sugar devouring definitely goes for Yolie, too. She looks
pretty healthy, if a little pale. But I hear she works with
computers a lot, so that probably explains it. If she keeps
wandering around the city like she has been the last few days,
then at least her face should get a decent tan.

Cody's probably in okay shape, since I know he practices kendo
regularly. But he's got to be at least ten pounds underweight and
he's probably as blind as a bat without his glasses-- those
things look like coasters compared to my lenses. That's the
problem when a kid hits a growth spurt as fast as his mom said he
did, sometimes certain parts of your body reach a certain point
and then decide "Okay, I'm stopping here now, thanks."

All talk of health issues aside, things seem safe for the moment.
It's quiet, and if you don't mind me being cliched, a little TOO
quiet. I can't help but wonder if everyone's hiding inside their
buildings or if they're just somewhere else... hell, for all I
know, they could all be dead. If they were alive, I don't see
why they wouldn't at least give a shout out to us to let us know
that they were still alive. I won't speak for the others, but I
know that I'M pretty cuddly. Granted, given the blatant lies
this Digimon Emperor has been spreading around, even my subtle
good looks may not be enough to keep the kids' monsters from
scaring people.

If everyone's gone, I wonder if the Emperor herded them off to
wherever his base is. And if they're dead, I wonder if it was
the Emperor's work, or one of the other things out there....

I don't mean the Digimon, although there's probably a few of them
out there who aren't all that friendly. I mean some of the rumors
we heard from the people and Digimon the Hidas and I ran into
while we were stumbling through the city. Rumors about...
monsters. I mean, REAL monsters, things that aren't Digimon but
aren't really human either. Normally I'd say they were JUST
rumors or urban legends born out of fear, but with the way things
are right now, it's hard to feel sure of anything.

"WHOA! Check it out!"

Davis shouting is the first noise any of us has made in awhile,
but his outburst is extremely justified. When we all look in the
direction he's pointing, it's easy to see that the landscape
ahead has.... changed, a lot. In fact, there's a visible line of
demarcation where the normal, well, okay, abnormal considering
all the random objects lying around now-- cityscape stops and the
latest patch of weirdness begins. One second, it's just
alternating grass and asphalt, and the next it's completely
petrified. By everything, I mean EVERYTHING, the buildings,
the ground, the lamp posts and fire hydrants and mailboxes, even
the trees that are growing out of the concrete even though they
shouldn't be. It's all been turned to stone.

There's a chill in the air, too, but no wind. The sun's still
shining, but it's just... cold. The Digimon are shaking. Cody
speaks next, his voice quiet and tense. "This feeling... it's
almost like it was back where we found...." He suddenly trails
off and glances a little bit guiltily in Davis' direction. Makes
me wonder what they found.

Davis just nods at him. He looks a little grim, which is a weird
contrast to how aggressively cheerful he was when I met him.
Yolie purses her lips into a thin line. "Back where?" I ask.
It's obvious something really bad is about to happen, I'd just
like to have some idea what and where I should hide.

"This feeling of coldness," the bird with the belt on his
forehead, Hawkmon I think his name was, says. "We've encountered
it once before when we passed through a rather unpleasant
territory. The same chill of evil permeates this area."

"But it ain't exactly the same," Armadillomon adds, his rustic
accent growing husky. "Thar's somethin' a might different
about this one. It's like... thar's somethin' CONNECTED ta what
we felt before but it ain't the right exact same. Ya'll know
what I'm sayin'?"

Davis seems to wince a little at that prospect, his eyes
narrowing as if he's thinking back on something. I've got the
feeling that whatever they found the last time they felt this
went above and beyond the usual variety of 'bad' we've been
running into lately.

"If that's true," Cody says, "then maybe we should try and go
around this area."

"That's going to be a problem then," I say. "One, this is the
quickest way to the hospital. Two, we don't have any idea how
large of an area this is, so we could lose hours, maybe even a
day or two, trying to find a way around it. I'm not exactly
thrilled at the idea of having to go through a place like this
either, but I say it's a better choice then the alternative."

"You have a point..." Cody says, reluctantly. "But maybe it
would be a good idea to be careful until we have a better idea of
what we're up against." Gah, just the way his voice sounded there
and the way he tilted his head and adjusted his glasses... I
almost felt like I was talking to Joe for a minute. Well, at
least these kids have a good level head around them, then. I
always got the feeling from the way Joe talked that he was the
only sane one out of the kids with the monsters.

"Yeah," Davis says, "but can we really take the chance? I mean,
like he said, it MIGHT be safer to just go around, but we don't
know how far we'd have to go. If we take too long that'd keep
Jim away from people who'd need his help. We have to be a little
reckless here if wanna get anything done! I say we go!"

"For once, you're right," Yolie says, a wide, eager smile on her
face again. "Let's do it! If any evil monsters are waiting for
us then we'll just give them a good butt-kicking! We've got our
armor eggs, right?"

Davis and the Digimon agree. I look at Cody out the side of my
eye and I can tell he's not too happy about this. The big frown
that's on his face for a moment a rather noticeable clue.

"Okay," Cody says. "But let's be careful... I have a very bad
feeling about this."

"You worry too much, Cody," Yolie says with a smile as she pats
her friend on the hand. "We'll be just fine."

Our gentle giant turns a little red at the cheeks and I can't
help but try to hide a smirk. I thought he stuck by Yolie's side
just a little too much. I hope this guy decides to make a move
soon, I KNOW Joe's still kicking himself for not doing the
same for the girl with the pink hat back in the day. Although,
if you asked him about it now he'd just change the subject.

And so we're off again. One thing I'll tell you, these boots--
well, okay, penny loafers-- were NOT made for walking. Even
though it's really the only option we have at this point, my feet
are starting to kill me.

"... Jim?"

I turn around, almost glad for the distraction from my aching
feet, and look at Yolie. Her eyes have gone wide as she points
to something off in an alleyway. The others and I look in that
direction and I know for sure at least my blood has frozen solid.
It's... two things really.

The first is the small body slumped against the side of the wall.
It had to have been a small kid, only about seven or eight years
old. He's dead. I can tell because he doesn't have his head.

Above the body, ripped into the wall and then painted in with
what could have only been the remaining blood of the victim, was
a strange glyph. It looked like a triangle that was missing a
side, with a short line running parallel to one of the 'prongs'
and an arcing line branching off of the other. It reminds me of
the 'conjuring' signs that kids in high school who read BS
Western black magic books, like the Necronomicon, would paint on
things and take real seriously. I laughed at it back then. It's
not so funny now.

"Doesn't that look like the symbol on your Digi Egg, Yolie?" Cody
asks, obviously trying to draw both his and our attention away
from the heartbreakingly small body. "It's like you took the top
half off of the heart."

It's only half successful as Yolie nods in that way only someone
suffering from a shock can and says, "Yeah, but that doesn't
explain what this thing is doing here."

"The symbol you're speaking of is the Crest of Love," Hawkmon
says. "Which is where I draw power from through the Digimental to
become Halsemon. But yes, as Miss Yolie said, there is quite the
resemblance to the Crest of Love, though I can't imagine anyone
misdrawing the Crest like this or using it for such a horrid
purpose."

"So what does it mean?" I ask.

Nobody has any answers. It takes a while for us to pull our eyes
away but, soon enough, our not so merry little band starts on
it's way again. We're all shaky as hell now. I mean, even a
doctor isn't going to get used to sights like that. I feel
really bad about leaving the body behind, but I dunno what we
could possibly do in the way of a burial right now. I swear, I
can feel how tense everyone is in the air. It seems as if
everything's about to burst at any second.

Joe... where the hell ARE you? Are you even still alive? If you
are... what's happened to you?

+ + +

Yolie looked at her watch.

It was 11:45 A.M.

In another three minutes, the way both her and her companions
viewed the world, which had already needed a vast adjustment,
would be changed once more. Of course, at the time, none of them
knew it.

"This portion of the city seems to be particularly barren...."
Cody muttered aloud, his eyes scanning for any signs of life.

"No kidding," Davis said, "Too bad there isn't any kinda audience
or this would be the PERFECT place for a ROCK concert!"

Cody, Jim and Yolie all stared at Davis. "... Don't you get it?"
Davis said lamely. "Rock... everything's stone... ah, forget it."

"Trust me," Yolie said, "we will."

Davis grumbled to himself as he continued to walk on, "Jeeze, try
to tell a joke and you get your head bitten off..."

"Well, it was a STUPID joke," Yolie exclaimed suddenly, stamping
her foot down for emphasis. "And can we just be quiet and KEEP
WALKING?!"

She stomped on ahead, growling incoherently under her breath as
Hawkmon fluttered after her. Davis and Cody shared a look with
Jim.

"Charming, isn't she?" Jim noted, dryly.

"She's just tense. She gets like this when she worries," Cody
sighed. "And I can understand her distress..."

"If she keeps acting like this WE'RE going to be the
ones in distress," Davis replied.

Cody sighed again, increasing his pace to catch up with Yolie,
lowering his voice to a whisper as he drew close. "Are you
okay?" he asked.

"No, Cody..." Yolie replied, her voice also low, "I'm not. I've
seen more death in these last two days then I've ever seen in my
entire life... I mean, I still like the idea of being a hero and
all but... well, I didn't expect the newness of it all to wear
off so quickly."

Cody nodded solemnly, taking a good long moment to properly
figure out how to word what he wanted to say before he said it.
"Yolie..." he began, "I want you to know someth..."

He was abruptly cut off as, from behind them, he heard Davis
shouting. "Guys! Look at that... whatever it is, coming towards
us!"

The two humans and their companion Digimon looked up in the
direction Davis had indicated, shielding their eyes so they
weren't blinded by the sun's glare. A large, amorphous winged
figure was slowly descending toward them out of the most intense
part of the light. "Is that a Digimon?" Cody asked.

"If it is," Hawkmon replied, narrowing his eyes to get a better
look, "then it is one I am completely unfamiliar with."

"Yeah," Armadillomon added. "Ah don't recognize that kinda shape
neither."

"Veemon?" Davis asked, keeping his eyes on the approaching
object.

"It'sh.... it'sh..." Veemon said, the strain of the mental
process showing as he scrunched his face up in thought. "...
something I ain't never seen before."

"Oh, THAT helps," Yolie grumbled.

"... Fellas?" Armadillomon asked suddenly. "Does it feel even
colder alla a sudden?"

Jim visibly shivered, rubbing his hands as he said, "Now that you
mention it... yeah."

"It's the evil that's infected this area," Hawkmon said grimly,
looking up at the now rapidly approaching figure. "That creature
must be its source!"

"Then I guess we'd better get ready to fight!" Davis said,
adjusting his goggles.

"There's something else we'd better do first," Cody replied.

"Huh? What's that?" Davis asked.

"DUCK!" Cody shouted as he dived downward, reaching out with a
hand to drag Davis down by his jacket's furry collar after him.
Yolie and Jim threw themselves rapidly down to the ground as
well.

The figure suddenly swooped in hard and fast, its form becoming
more visible as it dived at them. The amorphous shape of its
body was the result of the large brown cloak the being wore.
Red, tattered birdlike wings seemed to jut out of its back
through carefully cut holes in the cloth. A strange crimson
ribbon was wrapped around its shoulders and floated freely behind
what one could only assume to be its arms. A naginata with a
blade that glowed faintly with violet energy, clenched tightly in
a humanlike hand that was barely visible outside of the cloak's
flowing sleeve, swiped viciously down at the group before the
being ended its dive and soared back up in the air.

The Digidestined and Jim scrambled aside, the naginata's blade
skimming along the street and leaving a gash in the pavement
behind it. "Jim!" Davis ordered. "Get behind some cover and leave
this to us!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Jim replied, ducking down
behind the nearest abandoned car.

"And now..." Davis said, holding out his D3, "... DIGI-ARMOR
ENER...GIZE!"

The D3 beeped several times... and nothing happened.

For a moment, the group stared at Davis as the figure landed.
Its face was obscured behind the visor of what looked like a
heavy, vaguely beetle-like helmet. "DIGI ARMOR ENER...GIZE!"
Davis shouted again, desperately.

Still nothing save for a few fleeting beeps.

Davis looked at Yolie and Cody. They exchanged a glance, nodded,
and raised their own Digivices as they shouted as one. "DIGI-
ARMOR ENER...GIZE!"

Hawkmon and Armadillomon were engulfed in explosions of elemental
power, their digivolved Armor forms emerging moments later.

"DIGMON! The Drill of Knowledge!"

"HALSEMON! The Wings of Love!"

"What's going ON?!" Davis shouted in frustration. "C'mon, you're
supposed to do what I tell you to! DIGI-ARMOR ENER... GIZE!"

Again, a short series of beeps and nothing more.

"Davis," Yolie said sharply, "go hide with Jim! You and Veemon
can't handle something like this if you can't Digivolve!"

"I can still fight!" Veemon objected.

"Yeah!" Davis added. "I'm not backing down just because of some
stupid little glitch! There's gotta be something we can do!"

"DAVIS!" Yolie yelled. "Get your butt OFF this battlefield
because you and Veemon are USELESS like this! How STUPID are
you?!"

Davis flinched from the words, slowly backing away from Yolie and
Cody as Halsemon and Digimon stepped between them and the
mysterious figure. "Ah don't like this, Halsemon," Digmon said.
"Somethin' about this don't seem all that right. Ah STILL don't
know who or what that is.... "

"Nor do I," Halsemon replied, "but we seem to have no choice in
the matter. We must stand and protect our friends."

"Friends," Davis thought bitterly to himself as he and Veemon
joined Jim in hiding. "Then they just shoulda let me kill myself
fighting that thing. I know they aren't talking about me."

The figure raised the visor on its helmet, revealing an all-too-
human face. The features were distinctly feminine, and indicated
a young woman of perhaps seventeen or eighteen. She might have been
considered beautiful if not for the unnervingly neutral
expression on her face, or the dead, soulless look of her dark
green eyes. She raised the arm that held the naginata at the
Armor Digimon and spoke in an even, emotionless voice. "Brother
has commanded his death. Leave or surrender your heads."

"Whose death?" Yolie asked, chewing her lower lip nervously. The
image of such a normal, human face connected to such a body with
such obviously nonhuman traits was making her stomach flip-flop.

The woman swung her blade's point in the direction of the car
that Davis and Jim were crouched behind, and let the blade rest
when it was solidly pointing at Davis' head. "The defiant one,"
the woman said simply.

"Whoa!" Davis exclaimed. "I'm at this for like, one day and I
have an arch-enemy already! Cool!"

"Sorry," Digmon said, the drills on his hands and face beginning
to whirl, "but we're all you get."

"And I do believe we shall be more than a suitable challenge for
you," Halsemon added, crouching.

"Very well, then," the woman said, lowering her naginata into an
attacking position and beginning to walk forward in a slow,
measured pace. "Die."

"Hey! HEY! Wait a minute!" Yolie exclaimed, trying not to sound
too panicky. "You're a bad guy! You can't attack us until
you've at least introduced yourself! It's against the
Supervillain's Handbook or something, I know it!"

The woman paused. "... Musashi Sadamoto. Michelle."

"That's better," Yolie nodded, hands on her hips. "Now... GET
HER, Halsemon!"

"EAGLE EYE!" Halsemon shouted, his twin eye beams streaking
toward her.

"GOLD RUSH!" Digmon hastily added, firing his drill missiles.

"... wait, I didn't think good guys were allowed to take the
first shot...." Cody began, blinking at Yolie in confusion.

"Doing everything by the book is highly overrated," Yolie
replied, adjusting her glasses in a scholarly fashion.

Michelle darted to the side of the incoming attacks with far more
grace than her awkward body looked capable of possessing. She
raised her free hand, still covered by her cloak's voluminous
sleeve, and pronounced two simple words. "Scissor Claw."

The sleeve was abruptly shredded to pieces as three sets of sharp
metal blades ejected from it at high speed. Halsemon narrowly
ducked under the blades and he soon joined the others in gawking
at what the destruction of her cloak's sleeve further revealed
about his opponent's strange body. Her left arm was oversized
and made completely out of metal. It was clamped onto the side
of her body in the fashion of a cyborg, the metal armsocket
connecting to shoulders that seemed to be otherwise made out of
normal human flesh. A metallic blade slid out of sheathes set
into the tips of each of her enormous metal fingers to replace
the blades she had fired at her opponents.

"... What ARE you?" Cody asked in horrified disbelief.

Michelle said nothing as hideous black vines writhed out from
under her cloak's intact arm to wrap solidly around her
naginata's handle. As she spoke, her oversized, bestial fangs
became obvious to the onlookers for the first time. "I am the
chimera." With that, she slid her visor down once more,
obscuring all of her face save her mouth.

"Guess we ain't gettin' by 'till we knock her out," Digmon said.
"Ya'll wanna lead this dance or should I?"

"Allow me to lead!" Halsemon surged forward, quicky spinning his
body to create his tornado attack. "TEMPEST WING!"

Michelle took a deep breath in and then roared out her
counterattack in a voice that sounded utterly demonic when
compared to the soft, emotionless voice that had emanated from
her before. "HEAT VIPER!"

From her open mouth came a torrent of green energy that smashed
into and through Halsemon's high-speed air vortex. The
resultant explosion threw the Armor Digimon against the wall of a
near-by building, his body leaving an impression in the partially
smashed brick of the wall after he fell down. Digmon, meanwhile,
slammed his hand-drills downward into the earth, the ground
shaking as a giant fissure opened and spread toward Michelle.
"ROCK CRACKING!"

Michelle's wings spread, allowing her to simply fly up into the
air and over the fissure. Digmon stood up and quickly fired off
another salvo of drill missiles at her. Michelle, with uncanny
agility, easily dodged the projectiles and countered with
another round of finger knives.

Digmon was unable to dodge quickly enough, the blades knocking
him off his feet as they impacted with his chest. Halsemon
regained his footing and flew into the air as well, a savage cry
escaping his mouth as he charged. Michelle countered by swooping
down at Halsemon herself, her naginata extended in front of her.

The noise made by their head-on collision was like a thunderclap.
Michelle felt the air rush out of her lungs as Halsemon's armored
head rammed into her stomach and forcefully threw her out of the
air. Halsemon fell as well, screaming in pain as a black,
bloodlike fountain of liquid data rushed out of the large slash
mark that began at his shoulder and ripped halfway down his back.
He collapsed, his body glowing as energy streamed away from him
and back into Yolie's D3. The much smaller form that remained
behind was motionless, sprawled helplessly on the ground.

"HAWKMON!" Yolie cried in alarm, rushing out to check on her
Digimon partner.

"Digmon!" Cody said, pointing to Michelle's motionless form.
"Keep an eye on her! If she moves... knock her out again."

"Right!" Digmon replied. Cody then ran after Yolie.

"Hawkmon!" The young girl cried. "Speak to me! Please, don't
die... Hawkmon!"

"There's... less of a chance of that... if you... would stop...
shaking me..." Hawkmon replied weakly as one of his eyes opened
just a tiny bit.

"I'm sorry, Hawkmon..." Yolie said, forcing herself to hug the
bird Digimon more lightly. "It's just... all that blood I tho--"

"HEAT VIPER!"

Yolie could feel all the blood draining out of her face. Both she
and Cody turned around just in time to see Digmon struck full on
in the chest by the venomous green energy blast. The resultant
explosion hurled the Armor Digimon to the ground, the plate over
his chest cracking as his body began to glow. A surge of violet
energy returned to Cody's D3 as Digmon shrank back into
Armadillomon. The force of the blast continued to propel
Armadillomon's now-tiny body backwards, the little Digimon
flipping over several times before lying still.

"ARMADILLOMON!" Cody cried out.

Michelle stood, her expression still the same as it was when the
humans had met her. She slowly began walking toward Cody and
Yolie.

"Yolie..." Cody said, his voice dropping into a serious tone.
"When I signal you, take Hawkmon and Armadillomon over to Davis
and Jim and get them all out of here."

Yolie looked up at her friend in shock. "But what about
you?" she asked.

Cody drew his bokken from the makeshift holder on his back. "I'll
cover you. NOW!"

The skinny boy stood to his full height, bowing his head slightly
to Michelle before charging. Michelle returned the nod and
braced herself, easily dodging the bokken's forward thrust. She
countered by swinging her naginata around towards his head in a
smooth, precise attempt at decapitation. Cody anticipated the
swing and ducked it, then lashing out with a bokken strike at her
legs. Michelle leapt over the low, sweeping attack and twirled
her naginata in mid-air to point the blade down at Cody's exposed
back before she thrust it downward.

Cody barely rolled out of the way, the naginata slicing deep into
the earth. He could tell that he was tiring already, but
Michelle looked and moved no differently than she had when the
battle had started. Nevertheless, Cody stood once more and aimed
a forward thrust at Michelle's throat. Michelle needed only to
pull her shoulders slightly to the side to entirely evade the
thrust, and countered with a vicious kick that caught Cody
squarely in the stomach. Stars and violent bursts of color
clouded his vision as he staggered back from the force of the
blow, gasping for oxygen. Michelle pressed her advantage,
slicing out at his neck again with her blade. Cody jerked
backward violently to evade her second, much closer attempt at
taking his head, the blade raking lightly across his chest
instead. Ignoring his new wound, he stepped forward into the
opening Michelle had provided in and swung his bokken solidly
toward her shoulder. Michelle grunted a little as it connected,
but otherwise seemed unaffected by the blow.

"Not good," Cody thought.

Yolie, meanwhile, had managed to collect Armadillomon and ran
back to join Davis and Jim behind the ruined car. "That kid's
crazy," Jim exclaimed. "He doesn't stand a chance like this."

"Cody!" Davis shouted. "Get OUT of there! You can't beat her
with a STICK! You'll die if this keeps up!"

"If... I can protect my friends..." Cody wheezed in reply before
jumping awkwardly back from another powerful swipe of the
naginata's blade.

"What is wrong with you, man?! I am not worth dying for! I'm
not... " Davis paused in his shouting, as a thought struck him.

"He's willing to do that much for me? He thinks I'm a... friend?
No way," Davis thought to himself. "Nobody really likes me... not
even Kari. I'm not someone who deserves friends anyway... Yolie
was right... I'm useless... it's gotta be my fault that Veemon
can't become Flamedramon anymore...."

Davis suddenly felt a tugging on his pants leg and looked down to
see Veemon. The dragon Digimon's red eyes were shining brightly
with eagerness and determination. "Davish, lemme fight too!"

"Are you NUTS?!" Davis spat back. "You wouldn't stand a chance
against... whatever she is!"

"Neither doesh Cody and he'sh still fighting!" Veemon replied
with equal intensity. "I wanna protect you too, Davish! You're
the best friend I've ever had! I'd rather die and get deleted
than let her take you or any of my friendsh away from me!"

"Even if they die..." Yolie thought to herself as she watched the
fight progress. Cody's last few dodges had been growing
increasingly awkward. He was now bleeding from several minor
cuts on his arms, chest and one potentially serious-looking one
on his neck. He was panting up a storm as the front of his
outfit began to turn an ever-brighter shade of red. Michelle
walked forward, raising her naginata above her head to deliver a
final, crushing blow.

"NO!" Yolie suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs. "Cody, you
idiot! You can't die yet! Don't you know how important you are
to me?!"

And then suddenly, both she and the world around her were
engulfed in a sea of pale green light.

The combat stopped instantly. Cody looked on in surprise as
Michelle screamed in agony and stumbled away. The light seemed
to be causing her actual physical pain... or, perhaps, hurting
her on a far deeper, more spiritual level. "Yolie..."
Cody said softly, his eyes wide with wonder. "What's happening to
you?"

If Yolie noticed the aura of light around her, she didn't seem to
care as she approached her friend. "Cody..." Yolie said. "I made
a promise to you a long time ago. I promised I would be the most
sincere friend you'd ever have. I haven't been that friend.
I've always taken you for granted... but not anymore, not ever
again...."

Hawkmon blinked as he sat up. The green light radiated around him
as well, energizing him almost instantly. "Oh my," he said. "I
suddenly feel quite a bit better."

Cody's face turned slightly crimson as Yolie reached out and
hugged him despite his currently sweaty and bloody state. "I...
I've always wanted you to be able to count on me. You showed me
such kindness for so long, even though I know how cold and
serious I have to seem to you. I want everyone in my life to
be able to rely on me... but especially you...."

As he spoke, Cody's own body began to emit a soft, violet aura of
its own that slowly but surely increased in strength and
intensity. It flowed seamlessly into Yolie's pale green aura,
provoking a howl of unimaginable agony from Michelle as the
light's power grew.

Armadillomon sat up as his body was engulfed in the same purple
radiance as Cody's. "Ah haven't felt this good since ah had mah
first chocolate bar," he said.

Off to the side, Davis looked on in awe. "... I wonder what it
feels like... to have someone that cares about you that much. I
wish I had friends like that...."

Yolie looked up at Davis and smiled. "Stupid," she laughed. "You
already do!"

"In fact, you have two," Cody added, gently.

"And me! And me!" Veemon added, hopping up and down in place with
enthusiasm.

"Friends... but..." Davis whispered. He wanted to tell them that
they were so mistaken, that they were wasting their affection.
None of them had any reason to care about him at all. He'd done
nothing but stand there alongside them, feeling happy with them
as good things happened and sharing their pain as bad things
happened. Something so trivial couldn't warrant a declaration of
friendship, could it?

But as he remembered how Veemon had shared the pain of his
losses, and how much it had meant to him to know that he wasn't
utterly alone in the world, he knew he could lie to himself no
longer. Davis knew he'd never truly been alone at all, and
would never suffer alone again. And, his heart promised, neither
would they.

And in that moment, blue light surged from his body in a silent
shockwave. "I understand!" he marveled, oblivious to his aura or
the fact that its power had driven Michelle to her knees. "God,
I'm so stupid and I understand, I really understand it now..."

Jim watched all of this, shading his eyes against the excess of
multicolored radiance. His mouth hung open in awe. "What on
Earth is going on?" he asked himself. This made it all the more
surprising when he received an answer.

"Sincerity, Reliability and Friendship." Jim turned around
quickly, looking at the new arrival. He gaped at the Digimon he
saw behind him, floating placidly in the lotus position. "They
are the second virtues," Asuramon continued, "those qualities
within their hearts which they desire to truly share with those
around them."

Jim blinked. "... And that means... what, exactly?"

"The first virtues - Love, Knowledge, and Courage - are their
will to fight, the responsibility for the Digital Earth they
choose to bear. But the second virtue is their will to exist, the
desire that will bear them through the sufferings of this life.
It is from this strength," Asuramon said, a small smile crossing
his face, "that they shall receive new power."

The three glowing Digidestined blinked in surprise, as if
awakening from a dream. The light around their bodies began to
coalesce into their outstretched hands, and condense into solid,
egglike shapes. "What's going on?" Davis asked, his eyes wide in
surprise.

"I'm... not quite sure," Cody said. "Could these be...."

In Davis' hands there formed a strange black egg, with a jagged
golden blade sticking out of its end. A blue glyph was etched
upon it that resembled a blue yin-yang, the ultimate symbol of
harmony and balance.

"It looks like a flip-flop with a nail in it," Davis said softly.

The egg that formed in Yolie's hands was dark leafy green, with a
glyph that resembled a pale green teardrop etched on its middle.
The entire thing seemed to be sprouting from the giant shuriken
that it sat on. "Are these new Digi Eggs?" Yolie asked.

In Cody's hands there formed a silver and purple egg with a flat
bottom and a small, jagged spike emerging from its top. A small
ovular window-shape was etched on the silver side, and a silver
cross etched on the purple side. "That's what they appear to
be," Cody said.

The light faded once the new Digi-Eggs emerged in their bearer's
hands. Michelle reached under her helmet's visor to rub her
eyes, glaring at the Digidestined as she staggered to her feet
and raised her weapon once more.

"Well," Davis said, "If they look like Digi-Eggs and they formed
like our other Digi-Eggs, then let's see if they work like Digi-
Eggs! Ready, guys?!"

"Ready!" The others chorused as they raised their Digi-Eggs to
the sky.

"DIGI ARMOR ENER...GIZE!"

"Armadillomon, Armor Digivolve TO..." A soft blue light enveloped
Armadillomon's body, the Digimental of Reliability appearing in
its midst and pixelating away as its data was absorbed. The
light grew into an ovoid shape, becoming thicker and more solid
as it did so. Armadillomon's body grew and distorted into a
white, metallic, fishlike shape. A whirling drill-like spike
emerged from the fishlike creature's apparent nose and broke
through the 'shell' of the deep blue egg that contained it. The
energy cascaded away from the reborn Digimon's body as waves of
water that flowed over the pavement that he hovered above. "...
SUBMARIMON! The Reliable Guardian of the Sea!"

"Hawkmon, Armor Digivolve TO..." An egg of pale green light
surrounded Hawkmon's body as the data of the Digimental of
Sincerity pixilated away, shrouding his form as it grew into a
more humanoid and human-sized shape. The egg was shattered from
within as two giant whirling shuriken attached to springy vines
ripped through it. The green energy became so many shimmering
leaves that drifted obediently away on the wind to reveal the
white-clad form that now stood where Hawkmon had been mere
moments ago. Spring-like vines served as the plant-person's arms
and legs, and shuriken replaced his hands and feet. His torso and
head were obscured by shimmering white fabric, his gleaming
yellow eyes seeming to peer out at the world from within a void
of darkness. "... SHURIMON! The Samurai of Sincerity!"

"Veemon, Armor Digivolve TO..."A globe of viciously crackling
blue electricity engulfed Veemon's body, quickly absorbing the
black data that pixilated away from the Digimental of Friendship.
Veemon's body grew and distorted into a quadrupedal, almost
canine shape, though he still retained the soft blue skin and
lizardlike head and tail that clearly announced his true dragon
nature. The black data of the Digimental wrapped around this
body, sheathing it in a black armored shell. A black facemask
with a jagged blade like a lightning bolt protruding from the
forehead wrapped itself around the Digimon's face, as massive
black armored claws formed on its feet. He ripped through the
field of electricity, absorbing the power back into his own body
via the three black armor rods that extended from just below the
base of his neck and shoulders. "... RAIDRAMON! The Storm of
Friendship!"

"Wow..." Jim said, looking on in awe as the three Digimon
digivolved all at once. "Do they always do stuff this
impressive?" He waited for an answer, and turned around as he
was met with only silence. Asuramon was gone. "... well, he's
polite," Jim grumbled, before turning back around to watch the
fight.

"This kicks ASS!" Davis exclaimed as he looked at Raidramon.

"Damn right," Raidramon growled back.

"A ninja! I've got my very own personal ninja!" Yolie squealed
happily. Shurimon seemed, if anything, moderately embarrassed by
his human's enthusiasm.

"... I get a submarine?" Cody asked, blinking.

"What's wrong with submarines?" Submarimon smiled back at Cody.

"Nothing..." Cody replied, slowly. " ... but why are you
floating?"

"How else would a submarine fight on land?" Sumbarimon replied.

"... that's a good point," Cody had to agree.

"HEAT VIPER!"

The humans and Digimon scrambled aside as Michelle's attack tore
a trench through the pavement. The self-proclaimed chimera had
obviously found time to regain her strength at the same time her
opponents had been discovering their new abilities, and was as
dangerous as even.

"Get on!" Raidramon ordered, crouching down so Davis could easily
climb on his back.

"You got it!" Davis replied, hopping on and steadying himself by
grabbing hold of Raidramon's back-prongs.

Shurimon, meanwhile grabbed Yolie by the waist. The two of them
vanished from sight in a swirl of leaves, reappearing a safe
distance away from the battlefield. "Please wait here," Shurimon
requested.

"No problem! Now, you get back in there and kick her butt!" Yolie
smiled back at her partner.

The plant-ninja Digimon kneeled respectfully to his partner
before disappearing in another cloud of leaves. "Your wish is my
command."

The hoverjets that lay just behind and beneath Submarimon's fins
and tail reduced their power, allowing the submarine Digimon to
sink lower to the ground. The glasslike part of his back slid
backwards, revealing what appeared looked unnervingly like a
cockpit, complete with a pair of joysticks. "Climb in!"
Submarimon urged brightly.

"Um... alright...." Cody glanced over Submarimon's cockpit for a
moment, before deciding that the best way to fit his lanky body
in would be to lay on his stomach so he could manipulate the
control sticks with his hands if it became necessary. The
position proved to be perfectly comfortable once he'd slid
inside, Submarimon's hatch closing over him with a satisfying
click. Normally such a small, enclosed space would have made him
feel extremely anxious and frightened, but his claustrophobia
seemed willing to make an exception for Submarimon.

"Let's get her, guys!" Raidramon cried, his body crackling with
blue electricity. "THUNDER BLAST!"

Bolts of electricity surged downward from the spikes on his body
to collect in the horn that emerged from his facemask, before
shooing upward to form into a ball of lightning that streaked
towards Michelle. The inhuman girl narrowly jumped aside, just
barely avoiding the attack.

Shurimon reappeared on the battlefield, his metallic hands spinning
as leaves settled around his feet. The strange spring-vine appendages
lashed out and streaked toward Michelle as he cried, "DOUBLE
STAR!"

Michelle found herself forced to slide back to the side again,
both blows having come far too close to her wings for comfort.

"SUBMARINE ATTACK!" Submarimon cried, a hail of compressed air
blasts firing forth from the spike that served as his nose.

Michelle was forced back yet again, dodging the blasts until she leaped up
on a small pile of rubble. She slipped and collapsed to the
ground as one of the blasts struck the rubble beneath her,
destroying her footing.

"All together now!" Davis shouted.

Raidramon's electrical power charged up once again. "THUNDER
BLAST!"

Shurimon reached behind him and removed the giant shuriken that
rested there, then flung it at Michelle. "DOUBLE STAR!"

On the side of Submarimon's face, twin torpedo tubes opened,
letting two larger projectiles of super-compressed air fire
forth. "OXYGEN TORPEDO!"

Michelle, too off-balance to dodge, was struck hard by all three
attacks. She screamed in pain as she was flung backward, only the
black vines keeping the naginata from flying away from her body
entirely. "And STAY down this time!" Yolie cried out as she
watched the chimera-woman fall.

However, Michelle refused to admit defeat. She struggled back
up to her feet, her teeth gritted as she raised her cybernetic
hand...

"HAND OF FATE!"

... and was struck down again, this time by a solid beam of
golden power that streaked down from the sky behind the Armored
Digimon and into her chest.

"... This is a new development," Cody said.

"You kids have some friends you didn't tell me about?" Jim asked
in surprise.

"If so, it's only because we didn't know about them either!"
Yolie replied.

"CELESTIAL... ARROW!"

"That voice... I know that voice," Davis said, his face
brightening in happiness. "It's KARI!"

Michelle snarled as she leaped back into flight to avoid the
arrow of white energy that streaked into the ground she had been
standing upon only a few seconds ago. She paused slightly, face
contorting in anger and disgust before she turned and began
flying away from the battle with all the speed she could muster.
Michelle quickly disappeared from sight, the sudden distraction
provided by the new arrivals covering her escape.

Davis was certainly oblivious to her departure. He had already
leapt off of Raidramon's back and begun running toward the source
of the newcomers' voices. "KARI!" Davis shouted out in joy.
"You're ali..."

He stopped talking as a single white feather drifted down from
the sky, brushing across his nose before settling into his
outstretched hand. Davis looked up, and was struck completely
speechless by the site he beheld.

"Unbelievable..." Cody whispered.

"They're... angels," Yolie breathed.

The newcomers were standing on a nearby rooftop. Both figures
were clearly humanoid and human-sized, one male and one female.
The female was dressed in a tight-fitting pink and white bodysuit
with a low cut bodice. A molded and strangely delicate-looking
golden chestplate covered her slight breasts, and one of the
bodysuit's legs seemed to have been ripped away completely,
revealing a long, slender white leg. A pink ribbon traveled
around her arms and behind her back. Her face, save for her
mouth and the lower part of her nose, was entirely covered by a
grey metal facemask with a silvery cross etched into it. Long
white gloves covered her arms nearly up to her shoulders, and
white high-heeled boots covered her feet.

Her companion was dressed in a similar white and blue bodysuit
and carried a large golden staff in his right hand. A cross-
emblazoned face mask similar to his companion's covered his eyes
and most of his nose. Majestic, white feathery wings sprouted
forth from his back. They were folded neatly at the moment, the
occasional feather drifting downward from them as they shifted in
place. A golden shoulderpad was clamped down over his right
shoulder, and armored guards protected his knuckles. Despite his
powerful, imposing presence, there was something infectiously
friendly about the smile he flashed down at the group.

"... no way, no way..." Jim muttered, trying to fend off panic as
his mind worked through the implications of this discovery.

"Hi, guys," the male said, happily. "Don't be afraid. It's just
me... TK."

+ + +
To be continued...
+ + +