Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ One Crest, Two Crests, Old Crests, New Crests? ❯ Rebooted and Backed-up! ( Chapter 2 )

Ok, here's chapter 2. If u recall, in 'Beautiful Stranger', the gang finds a oddly colored female gomamon in a creepy castle. She was being held prisoner by a digimon named Heymon, who was trying to uncover the secrets of digivolving. Forced to digivolve and attack, she proves to be a formidable foe. But before the DD's can convince her against Heymon, she is deleted by Ikkakumon.
In our last chapter, we find poor Goma is really in the doghouse. Gennai makes an appearance, and a new crest is discovered. But the crest has a surprise in store...

A.S.D.A, except for Genki Kawaii, Heymon, and the soon-to-be-named female Gomamon, which are my creations!

One Crest, Two Crest, Old Crest, New Crest?
by Nefertanya dragongurl Ahhotep

~Haven't we met?
You're some kind of beautiful stranger
You could be good for me
I have a taste for danger.~
~Madonna, Beautiful Stranger

The pink haired creature opened blue-lagoon eyes and stared blearily at the assembled cast of characters. Blinking a few times, they suddenly opened wide in recognition, and she galloped up to Joe to nuzzle his leg.

"Is this for real?" he asked with slight trepidation.

But it really was her. Back from the beyond and in seemingly good health.

"It's real, all right." Gennai nodded, looking pleased.

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Gabumon shouted. 'It's been less than 2 days since she was deleted! No digimon can be reconfigured to rookie level *that* quickly!"

"Maybe she isn't really a digimon." Gennai mused.

The team stared at him, even the little newcomer. Had the old man lost it? What else could she be?

"Allow me to explain." Gennai answered, stroking his bushy mustache. "You see, she's not quite what you think. She is actually a very rare digital being-only the seventh of her kind to pass through this world. The form varies with each birth, and as a general rule, there is only one present in the Digital World at a time."

"You're right, that is a different kind of digimon." Tai replied with a nod. "But what kind of creature is she?"

Gennai stood proudly, arms folded behind his back. "An Upgrade."

"A what?" Palmon asked, looking at Izzy.

"An Upgrade." Gennai repeated. "A digital being that, when it finds the right target, can increase the power and strength of said target. And this-" he gestured to the tag on the rock. "-is her crest. The Crest of Strength."

"Then who is her digidestined?" Kari asked. She was thoroughly perplexed. Wasn't the digidestined supposed to appear *before* the crest?

"You won't know that until she finds her target."

The little female went eagerly but cautiously to the crest. She sniffed it a few times before slipping it over her neck. Proudly she walked back to the others. Then a claw got caught in the cord and she landed on her face.

"Ah, poor thing." Joe chuckled softly as he helped straighten her out. "Here, why don't you let me hold on to it for you?"

She nodded her agreement and he slipped it off her neck and on to his own, where it clacked against the Crest of Reliability.

"Hey, what do we call her? Upgrademon?"

"Actually Joe, her innate name is Upgrade number seven." Gennai snorted in amusement as the little female crinkled her nose in disgust. "But I get the idea she doesn't really care to be called that!"

"We could call her Gomamon." offered Tai. Gomamon's ears perked in alarm. "Uhm...wouldn't that be a bit confusing, seeing as there'd be two of us?"

As he'd feared, fifteen eyes whipped around. *Are you still here?* was clearly etched on each face. The little female, on the other hand, noticed him for the first time. She ran happily up to him and wrapped her flippers around his neck in a tight squeeze of affection.

"Oh, that's right. Gennai, didn't you say Gomamon helped somehow?" TK inquired.

"Yes, he did." The Obi-Wan nodded gravely while the female nuzzled her head against Gomamon's chin, causing him to blush a brilliant scarlet. "By using his Harpoon Torpedo attack, Ikkakumon brought about her deletion. In doing so, he also negated the influence of the black wires and gears inside her that were causing her so much pain and suffering."

"I did that?" the sea lion asked in amazement. The upgrade finally pulled away long enough to nod.

"Yes, you did. Heymon realized the possibility of her deletion, and was careful enough to make a back-up copy, if you will, of her. We could have freed her back-up earlier, but with the original file so corrupted-"

"-The back-up would run the risk of becoming infected or deleted too!" Izzy finished.

"Exactly."

"But...but I didn't *mean* to attack! I didn't even want to! Believe it or not, *something made me do it*!!"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that question at this time. Good luck, children!"

And with that, the hologram faded out, leaving them behind. It was *very* quiet then. Slowly, one by one, they turned to look at Gomamon, who was trying his best to fend off the upgrade's playful attempts to knock him over. They both quickly realized that they were being watched, and Gomamon was quickly on alert, ready to defend himself.

"Goma...we're so sorry." Joe knelt down before him and inclined his head. "Can you ever forgive us for being so cruel?"

The others murmured apologetically. Gomamon stared in disbelief. In the space of two days, he'd been mocked, snubbed, threatened, shoved, and ignored Now they wanted *him* to accept *them* again. Could he forgive them so easily?

"Joe..." he began, voice cracking. His Joe. His pessimistic, over-cautious, brave-when-it-counted Joe. The one who had said the most hurtful things of all....

"If you try pulling a stunt like this on me ever again, I'll get my fish friends to *tickle* you to death!" he whispered hoarsely before leaping into his partner's lap.

"Deal!" Joe laughed between tears as hugged the little sea lion tighter.

Well, what did u expect? C'mon, lets move on! That girl needs a name!

On to Chapter 3: The Name Game!