Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Digital Trilogy - Episode 1 - A Time Honored Tradition ❯ Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Cody held his digivice up and allowed it to receive the energy from the digivice of the defeated human. Ankylomon reverted back to Armadillomon.

"Cera, we warned you. But you just couldn't let it go. You had to keep killing. I'm sorry we had to do that, but you left us no choice." Cody was not happy that he had to kill Monochromon. Neither was Cera. She stood and glared at Cody. She lunged at him, ready to take out her rage on him for defeating her. Cody was shocked. He stood frozen. The moment seemed to move in slow motion. Armadillomon tried to help him, but he moved to slow. Suddenly Cera stopped, and stared behind him.

"I think it's time for you to leave." Cody heard TK's voice behind him. He turned to see TK and Yolei, each with .45 magnum in their hands, trained on Cera. At their range, there was no chance they'd miss her. Cera turned and left.

"You people have no right to police the rest of the world. Someone will stop you, and I'll see to it that they succeed." Cera's words hung in the air as she vanished around the corner into an alleyway. Cody turned back to his friends. Ken, Kari and Davis were also there, behind his two armed friends. TK and Yolei holstered their weapons where they couldn't been seen, but could be readily reached.

"Do you two always carry guns? I thought we were here to preserve life!" Cody was shocked that they'd carry such weapons. It was very out of character for them. TK decided to explain the situation to the young boy.

"We all do, Cody. Izzy and Sora don't; they hate guns that much. And Joe doesn't because of the Hippocratic Oath. You remember Mimi? She does too. But she just has this little one-shot thing. Have you ever seen one up close?" Cody shook his head to indicate he hadn't. "Take a look." TK un-holstered his gun and twirled it with extreme skill, turned the safety on, and handed the gun to Cody, handle first. Cody took it. It was heavier than he thought, and was too large to be of any use to him. It looked so quiet and peaceful, despite the anger, noise and violence Cody knew it was capable of.

"Why do you all have guns? Guns kill people, and we don't do that!" Cody handed TK back the gun like it was some diseased thing he wanted no part of.

"The same reason the police carry guns Cody. To protect ourselves and to protect people who can't protect themselves. A gun can be a tool if used by the right people. And we like to think we are." Cody understood the logic, but he still didn't like it. Yolei decided she'd add her two-yen worth.

"Cody, it's optional. Not required. Each of us chose this. You don't have to have one." Cody was still trying to wrap his mind around it, when TK spoke up again.

"Cody, look at it." He did, TK was holding the gun like it was some mythical object in his hand. "This object right here, so small and so ready to burst forth with violence..." Davis snickered a bit at TK's little poetic speech. "Yes, it can kill. But this right here, saved my life once. And it's saved Kari's twice." Cody looked at Kari in disbelief. She simply nodded to confirm what TK said.

"Weren't we one our way to Kari's place for pizza?" Ken reminded everyone about the reason they were all out when they were side-tracked with a digidestined challenger.

* * *

They walked the rest of the way to Kari's, not very far. When they opened the door, they saw Tai, Izzy, Joe, Sora and Matt sitting around the table.

"Hey I was wondering when you guys were getting back," they heard Tai shout. "Do you and TK want some pizza? We were just about to order!" The six came out of the entrance way. "Oh, the rest are here. Hope you guys got money cause I don't have enough to feed us all." As TK and Ken worked out how much money they had and what toppings they wanted, Yolei and Kari noticed that the five older kids were all kind of quiet. Like they had received bad news.

"What's wrong guys?" Yolei asked as innocently as she could.

"Nothing!" Joe slammed his fist on the table, got up, and went out on the balcony. The others were surprised by Joe's outburst, but they seemed to have it justified in their mind's eye.

"Sit down, guys." Matt said.

"But we haven't ordered yet!" Davis' whining was cut short by the other children following directions.

"Cody," Tai spoke, "you know we consider you a member of our group, even though you haven't been fully trained yet." He nodded in agreement. "And you know we call ourselves the Ultimate Twelve, right?" Again, he nodded. "Well, it seems we either find someone new, or we change the name. The eleven of us here make up the group."

The six newcomers drew breath, shocked. "What happened to Mimi?" Yolei asked. The two had become more than friends in the past few months, and recently had a vacation in Hawaii together.

"Mimi was defeated. She saw another ultimate digidestined challenge only a champion, and stepped in to put a stop to it. He killed the champion digimon and his human, and he defeated Lillymon. He said she was the first, and that the rest of us would join her." Sora's explanation said it all.

"What level is he?" Ken asked.

"Ultimate, eight. Mimi overheard Talomon say it." Sora added.

"That's bad guys. I'm mega-three and Matt is mega-one. This guy is very close to overtaking us." Tai had a look of sorrow on his face.

"Why does he hate us so much? Why does he want to kill us? So he can kill others without distraction?" Cody was hanging onto the belief of which their group was founded.

Joe came back in and sat down. Izzy spoke up now. "Cody, how much to you know about being a digidestined?"

Cody thought for a moment and spoke, "we each have a digimon. When we defeat ten digimon at our own level we move up one. We can only challenge one on one, uhh... that's all I know."

Ken filled in the rest. "We don't challenge humans, only digimon. We can't challenge on holy ground. And if you're a member of our group, you stop all challenges; to maintain life."

"An excellent idea." Cody very much supported the last item.

"But you know we have enemies," Tai said, "there are lots of digidestined who support us. But there are lots who hate us. They claim we have no right to police them, and we should mind our own business. What do you say to that?" Cody thought about it for a bit.

"Having a few people mad at us is a small price to pay for preserving life."

"We'll see Cody. Now there seems to be someone strong enough to stop us. And I'll bet he'll have support. Both our sides have a justifiable reason for doing this. I hope you're ready." Tai's words left a quieting effect on the small boy. He had just been accepted into the ranks of a small army at the beginning of a war.