Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Ressurection War ❯ DIGIMON EMPEROR: Gold Warrior ( Chapter 6 )

This is Ken, while Kari is still unconscious; it's my job to tell you what happened. The Digimon Emperor unleashed a synthetic digimon called Kimeramon onto the Digital World. Kari, Yolei and Davis went to fight him in battle, but they were completely defeated. Cody and I arrived a few hours later and found them barely alive. When we finally caught up with the Digimon Emperor and his digimon creation, they were attacking something called a Destiny Stone. We weren't able to stop Kimeramon from destroying the Destiny Stone, but when Kari and Tk fought each other we discovered something shocking about them, they're both reborn digidestined! Tk is Yamato Ishida, and Kari is Taichi, her own brother!

We're an invincible two top………
Just leave it to us………
Even if we're fighting, we'll do what we have to when the time comes ………
We're tomorrow's two top………
We'll kick them away………
We'll show them………
The power of a digital tamer………

We're a perfect two top………
Just let us do it………
We can turn even a bad game around………
We're a rough two top………
We still can't win, but………
We'll show them………
The power of a digital tamer………

"2-top, Davis and Veemon's theme"

DIGIMON EMPEROR: Golden Warrior

The entire desert shook in a giant tremor as the explosion threw a geyser of sand straight into the night sky. The sand that was not thrown aside from the mighty eruption, created a ripple effect in the desert surface, shooting outward in a wave motion. When the explosion finally died down, there was not a sound in the entire desert.

Taichi "Tai" Kamiya glanced at his companions. "Did..did we win?"

Yamato 'Matt" Ishida shook his head slowly. "I..I don't have any idea! I don't see anything, maybe he was vaporized?"

"He couldn't stand up against us!" Matt's partner, Metalgarurumon growled in delight.

The two boys suddenly heard the third human in the group scream at the top of his lungs. "Watch out! Behind you!"

Tai and Matt spun around in time to watch as a massive figure, cloaked in darkness, exploded from underneath the desert sands.

"She's starting to move!" Cody shouted, wanting to alert to the others.

The other digidestined quickly ran over to where Kari was lying on the couch in Gennai's living room. Each one looked on with worry and nervousness as the brown-haired girl shook violently. "Is she waking up?" Yolei asked.

Each one held their breaths until they saw Kari's movements slow down, then remain still. "No," Ken sighed, "I think she was just dreaming."

Gennai walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, carrying a small tray filled with food. He placed this down on the coffee table in the center of the room. "How are they doing?"

Ken mentioned to Kari. "She keeps having nightmares."

"Is she ever going to wake up?" Cody asked.

"She will," Gennai assured him, "But it will take some time. From what you told me, she used up much of her energy to cause her crest to glow. Her body needs time to recover."

"What about what we saw?" Yolei asked, "That image of Tai? Was that only because of the crest or...?"

Gennai shook his head. "I'm sorry, Yolei, but that image appeared because she is Tai."

"You knew all along, didn't you?" the purple haired girl exclaimed.

"I had an educated guess," the old man smiled slightly.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but Kari had to discover on her own who she truly is," he explained in his calm, elderly voice, "If I had told her, she would not have truly awakened."

"Wait," Cody said, "Neither Ken nor Yolei had images of Izzy Izumi or Sora Takenouchi when their memories awakened, so how come Kari and Tk did?"

Gennai sighed slightly, attempting to think of an explanation. "I believe it is because their memories returned to them far too quickly. Their minds were suddenly jammed full of their memories and personalities that they had when they were Tai and Matt, but they were already weak from using their Crests. Think of it as a sore muscle, if it is overworked too quickly, it cramps. Kari and Tk Takashi simply have a 'cramp' in their minds. They are struggling to come to terms with who they really are."

Yolei looked down at the brown-haired girl with longing in her eyes. "So, she's Tai? The same Tai that Sora Takenouchi fell in love with? The same Tai that I fell in love with?! This isn't fair!" she screamed, tears falling down her face.

Her partner hovered over and went to place a paw on her shoulder, but she batted it away. "None of you understand! None of you!" she cried. She charged out of the house.

The others that were in the room turned to Gennai. "Just let her be," he assured them, "She just needs time to sort out her feelings."

Ken nodded. "Something bothering you?" Wormmon asked.

"I'm worried about Davis?" he said, "He sure has been gone a long time. I just hope he's okay."

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Davis kicked a branch that was blocking the path before him. "Darn it! How could we have lost something as big and destructive as Kimeramon?"

At his side, Veemon shrugged. "Don't worry about it." He mentioned to a straight path of fallen trees and overturned earth. "We'll just follow the trail of destruction."

"But we have no idea where he is!" Davis growled, "He could be a hundred thousand million miles away by now!"

"Not likely," Veemon said, "I don't think the Digital World is that big."

"You know what I mean," Davis sighed, "This isn't getting us anywhere! Man, I really wish you could fly."

"Sorry!" the blue creature growled.

Davis smiled slightly. "Hey, I'm not complaining about you, just this situation. I know you can't fly, but I bet there isn't another digimon faster then Raidramon on the ground!"

Veemon had his head turned away from him, but then turned it back, complete with a large smile. "Yeah!"

"Digi-armor energize!"

"Veemon armor digivolve to Raidramon! The Storm of Friendship!"

Davis climbed onto his partner's back. "Let's go!"

"You got it!" the large, armored dog creature growled, charging through the path.

As he felt the wind whipped against his eyes, Davis reached to the top of his head and pulled down his trusty pair of goggles. "Hey, Raidramon, do you remember when I found these goggles and the Digi-metal of Friendship?"

"Sure do," he answered, "It was the first day we met each other."

Davis's mind flashed back to the faithful day when he was pulled into the Digital World…..

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

"Davis!" Mrs. Motomiya shouted, "It's time to get up! I'm not telling you again!"

Davis mumbled a reply as he pulled the covers over his head.

His mother stood at the doorway to his arms, arms crossed and an angry expression on her face. "What was that?"

"Nothing, Mom," he sighed, reluctantly removing the covers.

"Good," Mrs. Motomiya said, "Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." She closed the door after she left.

He yawned as he sat on the edge of his bed, slightly scratching his hair. He stumbled over to his closet and quickly pulled on his favorite shirt and jeans. After combing his hair, he went to grab his bag, which was lying next to his computer. As he swung the book bag over his shoulder, he noticed a slightly whirling noise. He turned back around and found that his computer had booted up on its own. He figured that he must have forgotten to shut it down the night before, and the jerking motion of grabbing his backpack liberated it from stand by mode. He just shrugged and had the intention of shutting it down. As his hands grasped the mouse, he saw that his mail center was on screen and he had a new message.

He looked at his watch. "I have a few minutes, why not?" He clicked on the message line, which was from someone named "Ryo Akiyama."

"Greetings, Daisuke Motomiya.

I am a friend in need of some help. If you wish to realize your true destiny, click on the link below and use the Digital Gate program and enter the Digital World. There you will meet your digimon partner, and embark on a journey which will make you a true hero.

Ryo Akiyama."

Davis raised his eyebrows. "A journey that'll make me a true hero? Sure, I'm there!" He clicked on the web address and his mail center was replaced by a strange, multicolored box. "This is the Digital Gate?" he asked.

The small image flashed brightly, enveloping him and when it faded, he was gone.

Mrs. Motomiya opened the door to her son's room. "Daisuke!" she shouted, "I told you to…? Davis?" She looked around the small room, but could not find her son. "He already left? Humm! If he didn't want breakfast, he could have just told me so."

When the bright light faded, Davis found himself standing in the center of a large cluster of rock formations and smaller mountains. "Great, where am I now?"

He scanned the wasteland, but could not find any sign of life anywhere. "How am I supposed to get back home? Face it, Davis, you've really done yourself in now." He took a deep breath, "Well, I guess there's nothing else to do but start walking."

He was going to simply walk in the direction he was facing, as he did not see anything special in any of the directions, He took a deep breath and begin to walk when he heard a loud squawk above him. He twirled his head upward and saw a large silhouette of a bird fly across the bright blue sky. When he did, he noticed the odd shape of one of the stone megaliths that was a few feet in front of him. The top of the large column of stone was carved in the shape of an arrow that pointed straight towards the ground. Davis grinned and ran over to the base of the stone tower. After examining the circumference, he found a small entrance near the base, a medium sized hole, the perfect size for a teenager, leading to a long tunnel. He knelt down and crawled through the tube shaped passage and emerged into a large cavern underneath the mountain area.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, "This is pretty cool, but why did I have to come under here?" He looked around the circular cavern before his eyes rested on a large egg resting on the side. Upon closer examination, he was able to determine that this egg was actually glowing! A slight pulsing glow, but a glow none the less.

"Weird," he said, lightly brushing his hand over top of it. Once his fingers connected with the top, the egg exploded in a blast of orange light. Davis fell onto his back and stared with amazement as the light faded to reveal a small creature standing in the egg's place. This blue creature lifted his head to stare at Davis.

"Hiya!" he waved.

Davis gasped for a few seconds before he was able to discover his voice, "Um..h..hi."

"My name's Veemon."

""I'm..Davis."

The blue creature nodded. "Davis, okay. Well, we should get started. Here, I guess this is yours."

Davis looked down at Veemon's hands. He was holding a odd-shaped device, which he handed to the startled teenager. "This is your digivice."

The teenager curiously held the object in his hand. "What does it do?"

"It connects you to me."

"Me to you?" he gasped.

Veemon nodded. "That's right. I'm your digimon partner. We're going to be working together for a while."

Davis stood up. "Um, okay, but, doing what?"

"Saving this world. You're a Digidestined, aren't you?"

Davis lightly scratched his head. "Um, I guess. Uh, why don't we get out of this cave first?"

Veemon shrugged. "After you."

The two partners climbed back through the tunnels and returned to the surface. Upon arrival, they gasped as they suddenly faced the end of a large yellow claw. "AH!" they both screamed and then instantly leapt out of the way. The top of the mountain behind them crumbled as it was torn into pieces.

Davis and Veemon turned to their attacker and saw a large humanoid creature with long arms and legs. Covering each of the hands of the creature were two gauntlets with long silver blades. "W..who is that?"

"My name is Diaboromon," he answered, "High Priest of Dark SEED. You will tell me the location of the Digimon Emperor."

"What's a Digimon Emperor?" Davis asked.

"Do not lie to me!" Diaboromon shouted, swinging the gauntlets into the ground, "Where is the Digimon Emperor?"

"Davis," Veemon said, "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about!" Davis shouted.

"Then we need to get out of here!" Veemon responded, " Back into the tunnel!"

"But, there's no way out!" Davis protested.

"Yes, there is, hurry!"

The teenager looked to the evil digimon, then dove into the hole after Veemon. Diaboromon shot his elastic arms into the tunnel, but all he was able to hit was the ground on the other side, as Davis and Veemon were safely out of harm's way on the far side of the cavern.

"Okay," Davis said, "Any ideas?"

Veemon ran over to an image of a group of glowing stars that had been carved into the side of the cavern. He pressed one of the stars, and the wall crumbled to reveal another, much larger, tunnel. "We can get out through here, hurry!"

Davis was going to ask where the tunnel led to, but when he heard Diaboromon's roar, he fell in line behind the small blue digimon and ran down the tunnel. "I'm right behind ya!"

They ran for what seemed like hours before emerging inside of a square room with brick walls and a wooden ceiling. There were paintings attached to the walls and objects littering the floors. "Veemon," Davis asked in awe, "Where are we?"

"I'm not entirely sure, Davis, but that mark over there means this is a holy area."

Davis looked to where Veemon was pointing. Carved into the brick wall above the entrance to the tunnel was an image of a small star. "That mark?"

Veemon nodded. "Yeah, it means Light. It's one of the primary powers of the Digital World. This must be a church dedicated to the Goddess of Light. Rumor has it that after the powers of darkness grew stronger; the powers of light had to hide underground."

Davis glanced around and his eyes stopped on a medium sized object on the far wall. He walked over to examine it and found that it was an oblong shaped black egg with a spike emerging from the top. "Wow," he said, "I'd hate to meet the chicken that laid that thing."

When Veemon arrived his eyes opened wide. "That's a Digimetal!"

"A Digimetal?" Davis asked, "Okay, what does that symbol near the top mean?"

"Friendship," Veemon said. He looked around the church one again, "This is an area where the Digidestined must have hid!"

"Digidestined?" Davis asked, "You mean, those kids that fought that monster that appeared in the sky?"

Veemon nodded. "That's right. I heard that the Digidestined drew their powers from the powers of Light. That's probably why that egg is here."

Davis walked over to the chest that was lying on the floor. He pried it open and looked inside. Inside, there were piles of gloves, a large pink cowboy hat, a blue helmet, a yellow laptop, a medical bag, a pink bag filled with camping equipment, a diamond shaped pendant, but it was the goggles resting on top that caught his eye. "Wow, cool!" he said, grabbing them. He pulled them onto his head and turned to Veemon. "Well, what do you think?"

Veemon gave him a curious look. "Are goggles a popular thing to wear on Earth?"

Davis was going to answer him when the entire room shook violently. The wooden ceiling began to crumble. "We've got to leave!" Veemon shouted.

The teenage boy quickly grabbed the laptop, the pendant, and the strange digi-egg. "Where to?" he asked, "We're trapped!"

The wooden ceiling suddenly exploded apart as the spider digimon dropped into the room. "Diaboromon!" Veemon growled, "This is a holy place! How are you even able to be here?"

The evil digimon smirked. "I am a master of dark magic; do you think a puny spirit ward is going to stop me? Ha!"

"Forget that!" Davis shouted, "How did you find us?"

"I refer you to my first answer." He grinned as he raised his gauntlet covered hands. "Now, I also refer you to my first question. In case you've forgotten, I'll repeat it: Where is the Digimon Emperor?"

"We don't know!" Veemon shouted, "I was just hatched!"

Diaboromon prepared to attack with his gauntlets. "Prepare to die!"

Davis stood firmly as he stared at the evil digimon. "I'm not scared of you! Killing me isn't going to tell you where this Digimon Emperor is!"

"You're probably right," Diaboromon said, "But killing you might make an example to the other Digidestined."

"Other Digidestined?" he gasped, "You mean, there are more like me?"

"That's right," the evil digimon grinned, "Now, do you want to tell me where the Digimon Emperor is, or should I kill you and begin to terrorize the others?"

Davis whispered to Veemon. "If there are others like me, we should warn them."

"But how are we going to get out of here?" Veemon asked.

The goggle wearing teenager stared at Diaboromon once again, "I'm not scared of you. I'll get out of here and help the others. No matter what!"

The black eggs in Davis's hands started to glow a bright blew. "What's happening?"

"The Digimetal is activated!" Veemon gasped, "Your desire to help the others did it!"

"But what does it mean?" he asked.

Veemon grinned. "Watch! Veemon armor digivolve to Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!"

Diaboromon was in so much awe and shock that he had dropped the hands to the ground. "He digivolved! But how can that be? The Emperor's Control Spires prevent evolution!"

Davis stared up at the large canine form of Raidramon. "V..Veemon, is that you?"

"That's right Davis! I am now Raidramon, an armor digimon! Jump on my back, now and we'll get out of here!"

Diaboromon laughed. "Do you honestly think you're going to escape?"

"That's right!" Raidramon shouted, "Thunder Blast!" The spikes on his back shot bolts of lighting into a glowing ball, which was flung straight into Diaboromon's eyes. The High Priest shouted out in pain as Raidramon, with Davis as his passenger, leapt through the opening in the ceiling that Diaboromon had created. They arrived inside of another brick room like the one below it, except that this room had a door. Raidramon charged through it and emerged to the outside world. The armored canine spun around to face the doorway and the building attached to it. "It's a temple," Davis said in awe.

"One that's going to bury Diaboromon forever!" Raidramon shouted, "Thunder Blast!" His attack brought the temple to rubble.

"That should hold him for awhile," the canine said, "So, Davis, what's our next move?"

"We've got to find those other Digidestineds."

"They won't be coming just yet," a new voice said.

Raidramon and Davis spun around and faced a figure draped in a black robe that covered every inch of his body except for his head, which was revealed do to the hood hanging on his back. He bowed slightly. "Greetings Daisuke Motomiya."

"Who are you?" the teenager asked.

"I am Ryo Akiyama."

"You sent that e-mail!"

He nodded. "That's right." He smiled when he noticed the goggles strapped to Davis's head, "I see you have already found his goggles."

"His goggles?" Davis asked.

"Taichi Kamiya's goggles," Ryo answered, "You were meant to have them, you see. You are his 'heir.'" He frowned as he looked at the armored digimon, "Although I am confused as to why you have the Digimetal of Friendship instead of Courage. Hmm…You may have Friendship because he is currently not able to use it, but you should have Courage. Hmm…"

Davis gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

Ryo smiled slightly. "Sorry. I'm just rambling. Davis, if you wish to realize your true place in destiny, seek out the powers of Courage and battle the Digimon Emperor, the self-proclaimed ruler of this world."

"And what happens when I do?" he asked.

Ryo smiled. "You'll find out."

Davis was going to ask him another question, but a loud noise behind him caused him to twirl around. When he looked back, Ryo had disappeared.

The goggle-wearing teenager took a deep breath. "Well, Raidramon, is this normal for this place?"

"You haven't seen anything yet."

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Davis smiled slightly as Raidramon charged through the destroyed remains of the forest. "I didn't think anything could surprise me more then what I saw that first day, but Kimeramon changed all of that. We've got to find him, quickly!"

The armored canine stopped at the edge of a wide cliff and growled slightly as he stared into the sky. "Maybe he's up there?"

Davis looked into the night sky and saw a large floating object. It was a monstrosity, an ugly, unholy creation of bricks, circuitry and what looked like normal dirt and rock. "I don't know," he answered, "But it's worth a try. We've got to get inside of that thing somehow."

Raidramon turned his head to a high cliff that was almost level to the floating fortress. "There's our way."

"Do it," Davis nodded.

The armored canine charged along the edge of the mountain until he arrived at his destination, a cliff above the floating vessel. The teenager took a deep breath, "Alright, do it!"

Raidramon growled as he launched himself off of the cliff and landed safely on the hovering monstrosity. They quickly scanned the top of the fortress before discovering a doorway positioned on the outside of the large bubble at the end. "Let's go," Davis said.

Raidramon charged inside and disappeared into the darkness.

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Gennai entered his living room to examine the sleeping Kari, who was lying on his couch, when he noticed that Yolei was sitting in his arm chair, staring at the unconscious girl. Hawkmon was at the purple-haired girl's feet, fast asleep.

The elderly man sighed as he approached her. "I thought you were sleeping?"

Yolei shook her head and mentioned to the guest room. "Ken and Cody are snoring. Besides, I couldn't leave Kari's side."

Gennai lightly tapped the brown-haired girl's forehead with a washcloth. "Aren't your parent's going to be worried when you don't come home tonight?"

Yolei shrugged. "We all told them we were staying at a friend's house tonight." She smiled slightly, "Too bad this kid doesn't exist." She sighed and turned to Kari. "How is she?"

"No change, I'm afraid," he answered.

She sighed again. "Gennai, why was Tai reborn as Kari?"

He shook his head. "I'm afraid I cannot answer that. I'm not even sure how you were reborn, all I know is what I sensed."

She nodded sadly. "Will she ever wake up?"

"Yes. I can only assume that she, and Tk both, are trapped within themselves. They are experiencing their memories from their times as Tai and Matt." He sighed and looked to Kari. "I only wish I knew what exactly they were remembering."

"Biyomon…" Sora's voice quivered as she knelt down next to her fallen partner. She shot her head down and ducked as the cybernetic creature known as Datamon crashed into the wall behind her, the result of Etemon's forceful attack.

The sinister monkey laughed. "Tough break! Looks like I won again!"

"Its not over yet, monkey breath!" Datamon said. He flipped over and grabbed Sora and Biyomon. "Just wait! With their powers harnessed to my own I'll be more than a match for you! Ha!"

He hovered into the air and shot through the exit. Etermon went to follow, but was blocked by Greymon, Ikkakumon and Kabuterimon. Tai, Izzy, and Joe charged through the door and around the corner and stared at an electrified fence wall. "Sora!" Tai yelled.

"Tai!" Sora yelled back.

"They've gone back out through the fire wall," Izzy noted, removing his trusty laptop.

Tai scanned the electrified fence. "Ok, The weak point was here, right?"

"Wait a minute!" Izzy protested, "Let me get back on-line to locate it."

Tai looked at his red-headed friend with a slight grin. "What can happen? This isn't the real me."

"Don't test theories now, Tai!" Izzy shouted.

Tai ignored him and begin to walk towards the wall. Joe instantly came to Izzy's aid and wrapped his arms around Tai, preventing his forward movement. "Pain still hurts Tai!"

Tai struggled to break free as Izzy continued to log onto Etemon's Dark Network. "What are you thinking, Tai? That we're in a video game? That nothing can happen to us because these aren't our real selves?

"Yeah, something like that," he grunted as he tried to break free of Joe's grasp.

"Our Digital selves are directly linked to our other selves back home!" Izzy shouted, finally realizing Tai's problem and intending to forcefully rectify it, "You need to be a lot more careful. No telling what may happen. If something happens here..."

"It happens there," Tai said, weakly Joe released his grip and felt the energy drain away from Tai. The goggle-headed leader felt his entire world cave away from underneath his feet. He had never felt this way before. "I..I can't move!"

Izzy continued to type into his laptop. "The weak point is one meter to your right."

Tai remained perfectly still. "No way! Just one false move and it's over."

Joe stared at Tai. He had never seen his friend like this before. "Hey, Tai…"

Izzy noticed the change in his best friend as well. "It's safe, Tai. We came through it all right on the way in."

"Yeah, but then I didn't know that…"

"It's okay."

Joe took a step forward. "Come on, Tai, we're wasting time. Sora needs us."

"What's wrong with you?" Izzy asked.

"Tai?" Joe asked.

The brick wall suddenly exploded apart. The three boys spun to stare at the large crater in the side of the wall. Etemon laughed sinisterly as Agumon, Tentomon and Gommamon lay motionless on the ground. Agumon lifted his head weakly. "Sorry. We held him as long as we could.

Etemon chuckled. "Now to finish off you kids and put an end to your annoying interference!"

The ceiling exploded a second later as Matt and Mimi arrived to rescue their friends. Togemon and Garurumon distracted Etemon as the human children escaped. All except for Tai, who remained in place.

Matt ran over to his rival's side. "Come on, let's move! Tai, what's wrong with you? Come on!"

After they had retreated to their camp site, Tai sat in the center of the accusing circle of his friends and hugged his knees. "I don't get it!" Matt shouted, "When that creep grabbed Sora and Biyomon, why didn't you go through the fire wall after her?"

"I couldn't…I couldn't move…" Tai sobbed.

Joe sighed reassuringly. "It's not your fault Tai. We're all in this together. We'll find a way to get them back."

Tai did not hear him or did not want to hear him. "It's all my fault! Sora! It's all my fault!"

As Kari's mind continued to become flooded with Tai's memories, Tk was experiencing his own past memories. He too, was trapped within his own memories, desperately trying to find his way back to reality.

"When I think of Tai, and Mimi, and Sora and the others, this place has changed them for the better. It's almost like they digivolved."

"You may not see it Matt, but you've changed a lot."

"Please, Gabumon, I'm the same jerk I always was. I've got it figured out. If I'm ever gonna change, I have to do it on my own! On my own. The others can't help me."

"Well, what have we here? What, you've never seen a talking tree before?"

"Not lately," Matt said.

"That's Cherrymon, the lord of the forest," Gabumon explained, running in front of Matt, "Don't move, or I'll digivolve!"

"No offense, even I felt like talking, it wouldn't be to a tree." He turned and attempted to walk away, but Cherrymon's vines block his path.

"What's the idea?" he asked.

"Young man, didn't anyone ever tell you that you should listen to your elders? So, still stuck in the same rut? Still the same jerk you always were?"

"You've been spying on me!" Matt accused him, "Okay, if you're so smart, what am I suppose to do?"

"Simple as that, huh? Alright kid, I'll help you out. To start out, you're going to have to defeat your rival."

"My rival?"

"In that lake you will see the face of the one that is preventing you from becoming as strong as you could be."

Matt walked over and stared into the lake, despite Gabumon's protests. When the face of Matt's rival finally appeared, both human and digimon partner gasped. "Tai?"

Matt started laughing. "You almost had me there, foliage face!"

"Do not hide your resent me, embrace it! For in your anger lies your strength, proves yourself by defeating Tai. Prove you are is equal, or better."

Matt stood facing Tai, anger in both of their eyes. They had faced each other this way many times before, but always as friends, never as the enemies they now were. Tai looked over his shoulder at Metalgarurumon. "Call him off!"

"No Tai," Matt said, completely unemotional," I won't."

"You've got to stop him Tai!"

"I wish I could, but there's only one person that can stop him."

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Davis and Raidramon emerged from the dirt and rock tunnel into a room of brick and metal. "I guess we're inside now," the teenager observed.

The canine slowly trotted as he examined the room they had entered. It looked like a place to hold and store cargo, as evident by the large boxes that were thrown about. "I wonder what's inside of these," Davis said, as Raidramon walked over to a pile of boxes. The goggle-wearing teenager lifted open one of the lids and stared inside at a pile of computer equipment. "What would Kimeramon need with all this stuff, for?"

"Maybe this place didn't originally belong to Kimeramon?" Raidramon suggested, "Maybe it was the Digimon Emperor's."

"Hey, that does make sense," Davis smiled, "The Emperor did create him. If I was him, I'd want to go back to the place that I could call home. Great job, buddy."

The two partners suddenly heard a loud buzzing noise. "What's noise?" Davis shouted, "Did they find us?"

He was answered when, like the first day he arrived in the Digital World, the ceiling above him blasted apart. Raidramon leapt out of the way as the infamous Frankenstein's Digital Monster dropped into the room.

"It's Kimeramon!" Davis shouted.

Raidramon instantly leapt into action. "Thunder Blast!" His attack was aiming straight for Kimeramon's head, but he used his Kuwagamon arm to bat it way, then used his Skullgreymon arm to pound the armored canine into the ground. He grabbed Raidramon with both of his Devimon arms and executed a horrifying bone breaker attack, before throwing the limp digimon into the wall.

"Raidramon!" Davis shouted. The armored canine fell to the ground and was soon covered by a bright light. The Digimetal of Friendship flew back into Davis's digivice as Raidramon once again returned to Veemon.

"Veemon!" Davis shouted, running over to him.

"No!" the blue digimon tried to warn him, "Stay back!"

It was too late, however. Kimeramon's Fusion Arms attack caused a massive crack in the floor. The teenager and his partner tried to leap out of the way, but they were pulled through the destroyed floor. Kimeramon laughed with glee as the two partners vanished in the darkness.

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Back at Gennai's Kari and Tk's minds were still replaying their memories of Tai and Matt.

Tai stood facing the electrified wall. "Oh great."

"An electric wall," his partner said, softly, "I can break through it Tai."

"Wait, I'll do it Agumon."

"Are you sure?"

"Not exactly, but if I don't do this on my own, right here, right now. I might not be able to do it. A man must face himself, before he can face his enemies!"

I think I understand Tai. Go for it!"

He held his quivering hand over the electrified fence and started to feel his doubts returning to him. He shook them out of his head and took a very deep breath. He shoved his hand harmlessly through the wall.

"Yeah!" he shouted, failing to notice how bright his crest was glowing under his shirt, "It's a fake!"

"Yippee!" Agumon cheered.

"I did it!" Tai thought, "I did it! I overcame my fear, and now I'm saving Sora!"

Tk's mind was showing him scenes of Matt's life as well.

"You're a thief!" Matt shouted, "We've worked here long enough to pay for a trip to Hawaii!"

"Hawaii's not on the schedule!" Digitamamon said, "But if you insist I'll send you to the moon!"

Joe moaned in pain as Veggiemon's tentacles squeezed him tight. "You were right Matt. You always said that we'd have to work together to get out of this mess. Now, it looks like it's my turn." He turned to his partner. "Go on, Ikkakumon, blast him now."

The wooly digimon obeyed and attempted to strike Digitamamon with his horn, but the egg digimon leapt out of the way. Veggiemon growled and shook Joe. "Tell your friend I'm a very short-tempered Veggiemon!"

Matt stared at his friend. "Do it Joe!"

"No," he moaned, "You've got to attack while I keep him busy."

Matt stared at Joe, then looked to the ground. "Oh man," he thought, "After I accused and yelled at him, he still risked himself for me. Joe, No!" The crest underneath his shirt began to glow.

"Nightmare Syndrome!"

Matt looked up just in time to see Garurumon smash against the wall of the diner.

"We can't just give up! We've got to beat them. But I can't do it alone! I need Tai, Izzy, Sora, Mimi and Joe. Together we're strong! And we can beat anything! Garurumon!"

"Garurumon digivolve to Weregarurumon!"

Matt grinned as he held his digivice. "Coming up, one scrambled egg!"

"You are your little doggie don't frightened me!" Digitamamon laughed, "Nightmare Syndrome!"

The blast of dark energy exploded from inside of his shell, it's target was Weregarurumon, but the Ultimate digimon blocked the attack with his palms.

"That was just the beginning, you little poacher!" Matt shouted.

"Needle Claw!" Weregarurumon attacked, sending the Nightmare Syndrome back at Digitamamon. The egg creature was hit with so much force, that he was sent flying into the mountains in the distance.

"They beat Digitamamon!" Veggiemon shouted in disbelief.

"Veggiemon, you'd better let go of him," Matt growled.

The plant digimon turned away from the human to look at the glares of Ikkakumon and Weregarurumon. "Unless you want to be salad!"

Veggeimon gracefully placed Joe back on the ground, then ran for his life.

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Yolei sighed as she looked at the closed eyes of Kari. She had known the brown-haired girl for a long time now, was that because, subconsciously, she knew that she was really Sora Takenouchi, and that Kari was really Tai Kamiya? Could their entire friendship have been built, because they were both giving off and receiving Tai and Sora?

She lightly brushed a strand away from Kari's sleeping face. Kari was Tai, she knew that. She was Sora Takenouchi, and the love of Sora's life was Tai Kamiya. If they were meant to be together, then why was Tai now a girl? Since she had discovered that Kari was Tai, she had been feeling strange emotions every time she looked at the brown-haired girl. She loved Tai, not Kari, but one could not exist without the other, they were one in the same. Yolei was a girl, she could not possibly be in love with another girl, could she?

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Davis slowly opened his eyes when he noticed that his forehead was becoming wet. He then became aware that he had a pounding pain shooting through the back of his head.

"Oh man," he said, slowly sitting up, "What happened?"

He glanced around and saw Veemon lying next to him. He lightly nudged his friend. "Veemon! Veemon!"

He was relived when he saw the blue digimon begin to move. "Davis, are we dead?"

"Nope! At least, I don't think so. I don't think I'd be in this much pain if we were." He glanced around and determined that they were lying on a long bridge connecting a very small room floating in the center of a massive shaft to the outer walls. He walked into the small room with Veemon directly behind him. The air inside this small structure was thick and heavy, and clung to the two partners as they entered. The room was completely bare, except for a large golden object that was resting on a table.

"What is this place?" Davis asked.

"Look at all that energy!" Veemon gasped, "I bet this is the engine room!"

Davis walked over to the gold object. The strange artifact glowed a bright gold and hovered over to the teenager's open hands. The object reduced in size until it was small enough to be held. "Hey, this is a Golden Digimetal!"

He grinned as he turned to Veemon. "Ready to see what this egg does?"

Veemon nodded in agreement. "Yeah!"

"Golden armor energize!"

"Veemon golden armor digivolve to Magnamon!"

"Wow," Davis said in amazement as he stared at the new form of his partner, "This is amazing!"

Magnamon suddenly jumped onto the small platform and pushed Davis onto the other side of the engine room seconds before Kimeramon tore through the platform. The armored digimon stood up and stared at the creature. "Davis, get to safety."

"R..right," he nodded.

Magnamon floated up to stare Kimeramon in the eyes, "The balance of power has shifted."

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Gennai ran into the guest room where Ken, Cody and their digimon were sleeping. "You two must wake up!" he shouted, lightly shaking the two sleeping boys, "There's something you have to see!"

Cody yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What is it?"

"It is Daisuke Motomiya," he said, "His digimon is battling Kimeramon."

The now awake digimon and humans jumped off of the bed and charged into the living room. Tk, Kari and their digimon were still lying on the couches on opposite ends of the room, still unconscious. Yolei and Hawkmon were staring intently at the television resting at the end of the wall. "What's going on?" Ken asked.

Yolei shushed him and mentioned to the television set. A pink Tentomon, who was holding a microphone, was hovering in front of a area of desert that was exploding around her. "I repeat, the digimon known as Kimeramon is currently battling a gold digimon. We don't have specifics at this moment, but we believe that the gold digimon is winning."

Behind the reporter, the digidestined could clearly see the evil digimon. His arms were swiping at an figure draped in gold armor. "Who is that?" Wormmon asked.

"Magnamon," Gennai explained, "One of the many evolutionary forms of Veemon."

"Maybe we should get over there to help them," Armadillomon suggested.

"But how?" Cody asked, "We don't have any idea where they are?"

"That reminds me," Gennai said. He opened a drawer on his cabinet and removed a pile of square devices. He gave one to each digidestined. "These are your D-terminals. You can use them to: store your Digi-metals, keep in touch with each other and to track one another."

Ken lifted the lid of his D-terminal and saw a screen that was currently displaying a screen of the Digital World, with a small flashing circle near one of the desert regions. "Is that Davis? But how can we track him if he doesn't have a D-terminal yet?"

"You track the digivice, it just appears on the D-terminal screen," Gennai explained.

Ken nodded. "Alright. Come on Yolei."

The purple-haired girl hesitated, she glanced at the unconscious Kari. "I…I can't…"

Ken nodded. "Alright. Digi-armor energize!"

"Wormmon digivolve to Searchmon, the Shield of Knowledge!"

The large beetle hovered outside of Gennai's house as Ken, Cody and Armadillomon climbed aboard. "If we need your help, we'll contact you, Yolei."

She nodded and waved as the armored insect disappeared into the night sky. She walked back into the living room and saw that Kari and Tk were both starting to shake. She ran over to Kari, while Gennai ran over to Tk. "What's happening to them?" Yolei shouted.

"They're experiencing a painful memory," he said.

"It looks like they're having the same one!" Yolei shouted.

"Maybe they are, maybe they are."

Kari stood in the center of a dry desert. Sand was blowing all around her, ripping at her bare legs, her face was stinging so badly that she had to cover her eyes with her hands. She could feel the cuts scratches forming on the back of her hands, but better that then her eyes. When the sandstorm finally died down, she removed her hands and scanned the area, trying to determine her location. She could not find anything specific; it was a barren desert in all directions.

"You're here?"

She turned around and saw Tk standing behind her. "Takashi?" she gasped, "What are you doing in my dream?"

"What are you doing in my dream?" he gasped, "How can we both be in the same dream?"

"We have something in common," she took a deep breath, "You're really Yamato Ishida, aren't you?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"And I'm…" She took another deep breath, "And I'm Taichi Kamiya, I..I'm my own brother. Or I am my own sister? This is so confusing!"

Tk took a step forward. "Maybe I can help."

"Really?" she snapped back, "You have no idea what I'm feeling?"

"Oh really? Well, I got news for you, before my parents gave birth to Takeru Takashi, they gave birth to Yamato Ishida."

Kari stared at him. "You mean, you're your own brother too?"

He nodded. "Yeah, so I do know what you're feeling, well, I didn't change genders, so maybe not exactly!"

"Thanks for reminding me," she muttered. She stared Tk straight in the eyes. "Why are you the Digimon Emperor?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Something happened to me, something that changed me for the worst, but didn't it happen as Tk, or Matt?"

He knelt down and slammed his fists into the sand. "Damn it! Something happened to me, and I don't even know what!" Another emotion suddenly overcame him. "All those innocent digimon…" He held his face in his hand. "Oh God, what have I done?"

She looked around the desert, "Are you having trouble waking up, too?"

He nodded. "Yeah. You've kept trying to come to this desert, but your mind has kept sending you to different parts of your past life?"

She nodded. "Yeah, the best thing that ever happened to me..to Tai, and the thing that I regretted the most."

"Me too," Tk said, "But why? Why can't our memories take us here? To this place?"

Kari took a deep breath. "Something happened here, to both of us! Why can't we remember?"

Tk shook his head. "And why can't I remember what happened to me that made me the Digimon Emperor? If only I could wake up."

Kari walked over to him and lightly grasped his hands. "Maybe we can wake up, together."

Tk nodded. "Yeah, together. We'll discover the answers, together."

When the blond haired boy opened his eyes, he was surprised to see Gennai's face staring at him. The old man gave a small sigh of relief, and then smiled. "Welcome back."

Tk sat up on the couch and looked over at the other side of the room, where he saw Yolei hugging Kari.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" the purple-haired girl exclaimed, "Kari, I was so worried."

"Y..Yolei," Kari struggled because Yolei was squeezing her so hard, "I'm…I'm okay. Please, I..I can't breath."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, releasing her grip. A small ball jumped onto the brown haired girl's chest, a ball with two cat ears and a stripped tail.

"Kari!" it exclaimed.

"W..who are you?" she gasped.

"I'm Nyaromon, the In-training form of Salamon! I used up too much energy when I digivolved to Angewomon, so I returned to my In-training form."

A memory flashed across Kari's mind of Koromon, the In-training form of Agumon. "Oh, right."

She looked over to the other side of the room and saw Tk with Tokomon in his arms. She rose to her feet and walked over to greet him. "Well, we made it out."

He nodded. "Yeah, we did."

"Well, where do we go from here? We have to find out about all the mysteries of our pasts."

Tk stared at her for another few minutes, and then shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't." He walked to the door of Gennai's house.

"Tk!" Kari shouted, "Wait!"

He shook his head. "I can't. Goodbye." He exited the house. Kari tried to follow him, but Yolei stopped her.

"Just let him go," she said.

"All right," Kari said. "You're not fooling me," she thought, "When we were in that dream together, I could feel your heart. You're truly sorry for what you did, I'm not giving up on you."

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

When Ken and the other digidestined arrived at the battlefield, they were amazed at how Magnamon was fighting. Kimeramon swung one of his Devimon arms to attack the gold-armored digimon, but Magnamon dodged out of the way and shot at the synthetic digimon with his outstretched fist.

"Magna Punch!"

His fist connected with the face of the evil digimon, sending a shock wave rippling across the sky. The force of the attack sent Kimeramon crashing into the desert sands. The gold digimon hovered over the area until Kimeramon shot out of the ground. Magnamon quickly dodged out of the way and the battle resumed.

"Wow!" Cody gasped, "Do you see him fighting?"

"Yeah," Armadillomon said, "He's fighting him all by himself! Can you image how strong he must be?"

"Ken! Searchmon! Down here!"

The brown haired boy looked at the ground and saw Davis standing on the ground, waving both of his hands in the air. Ken grinned. "Searchmon, take us down."

"You've got it," the armored insect replied, hovering down enough for Cody and Ken to pull the goggle-wearing digidestined onto his back.

"What happened?" Cody asked.

Davis quickly retold the events of how he had discovered the gold digi-egg. "…and now he's fighting Kimeramon."

The group atop Searchmon's back turned back to the sky. Mangamon swung his leg into the underside of Kimeramon's chin. "Magna Kick!"

Davis cheered. "Yeah, Magnamon! Kick his butt!"

Kimeramon recovered from Magnamon's attack. He glared at the floating gold digimon and opened his mouth. "Heat Viper!"

"Watch out!" Davis shouted.

Magnamon shot under the geyser of flame. Unfortunately, this is what Kimeramon expect him to do and shot his Hybrid Arms attack to grab the gold digimon.

"Oh no!" Cody gasped.

"He got him!" Armadillomon shouted.

Kimeramon laughed as he raised Magnamon to eye level. "I've got to get out of here!" Magnamon struggled, "But…but I'm losing power…"

"We've got to so something!" Searchmon shouted.

"Like what?" Ken asked, "You were no match for him!"

"Magnamon will win!" Davis shouted.

"How?" Cody asked, "We need a miracle!"

Davis expressed a determined look on his face. "Then that's what we'll get!" The pocket of his fighter pilot jacket suddenly exploded in a gold light.

"What's that?" Cody asked.

Davis reached inside his pocket and pulled out the glowing object. "It's that pendent thing! I totally forget it was in my pocket!"

"That looks like a crest," Ken said, "It's yours!"

"A crest?" Davis asked. He smiled slightly as he placed it around his neck, "My own crest! A Crest of Miracles."

Up above them, Magnamon's armor began to glow in the same bright light as Davis's crest. He grinned as he stared at Kimeramon's face. "This is it. The battle is over!"

He began to charge his body with all of the energy of his body and Davis's crest. "Magna Explosion!"

Kimeramon's hands blew apart from the force of the detonation. The rest of the beast's body could not move out of the way. Even if he had tried, he would not have escaped from the reminder of the explosion. It ripped through his body, tearing it into his basic data, which was flung across the night sky.

"We won!" Davis shouted.

The light from Magnamon's de-digivolution slowly faded as a blue digimon fell from the sky and into Davis's arms. "Veemon, is that you?"

"Yes, well, my name's Demiveemon now, the In-training form of Veemon!"

"That makes sense, I guess," he smiled, "You did it! You beat him!"

"Great," Ken said, "Let's get back to Gennai's house and give everyone the good news!"

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Kimeramon's rampage across the Digital World had destroyed rivers, farmland, villages and forests. It would take years before the forest had returned to the beautiful sea of green it once was, and even in the Digital World, time was a factor.

A figure with black hair walked through one of the forests that had been destroyed by Kimeramon. He gazed around at the destruction, but he was only concerned with a large stone that was lying on the ground. He reached down and lifted it up with a massive grin on his face.

"Excellent. The first Destiny Stone has been destroyed, and with this small piece, the first of the seals will fall," his grin widened, "And when the other seals fail.." He laughed maniacally as he left the forest. As he did, a fierce wind blew through the forest, momentarily removing the hood around his shoulders, revealing a black bar code on the back of his neck.

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Elecmon smiled as he watched as a trail of particles fall onto Primary Village. He quickly trotted over to where the funnel of particles had landed. All of the small data formed into a digi-egg.

"Another baby," Elecmon smiled, "I wonder what digimon this will become. It should hatch in a few days, I'd better prepare some more baby food." He ran back into his small hut.

Inside of the digi-egg, the newborn digimon was already developing. A pair of sinister, evil eyes appeared in the darkness.

To be continued….

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