Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Shinobimon Trilogy ❯ Revelations ( Chapter 3 )

Revelations

By Jack

The next day, Cody was once again at Izzy's house.

"Ok, let's see what the computer can tell us about that Digivice you picked up," said Izzy as he sat down in front of the screen.

With a couple of taps on the keyboard, Izzy brought up the data, filling the screen with all sorts of charts and diagrams that Cody had a hard time following. As he was trying to make sense of what he was seeing he glanced over at his friend. Izzy was at the moment studying a graph that he had pulled up from the landslide of information that was moving around in front of them. What ever it was had caused the computer genius to frown in concentration

"Izzy, what is it?"

"It's a graph showing the signal line of the Digivice you found."

"Ok, that explains that line, but what about the other two?" he asked as he pointed to the lines that were crossing each other every couple of spaces.

"That's what I can't figure out. The computer doesn't know either. It says that they're different but they share the same wavelength. It's almost as if…" He trailed off as his hands flew over the keyboard.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't think anything is wrong, but if I'm right this is going to be amazing!" he said as he plugged in his own Digivice into the slot in his computer. After a couple of commands he pulled up three different graphs in front of the first, each with a single line flowing through it.

"You see Cody, each of these graphs represents the signals that our Digivices, Digimon and we give off," he said as he pointed to each in turn.

"We give off signals?"

"Yes. The human brain and body use electricity to send thoughts and information throughout us to our muscles, organs and such. These electrical impulses give off a small electromagnetic signal. Although normally they're usually too low of a frequency to show up on any scans. Because of our travels to and from the Digital World the signals of the Digidestines have been naturally heightened to the point that they'll just barely register on a deep scan."

"But that's not the reason that you're excited," Cody stated knowingly.

"Not entirely, that's only part of it," said Izzy as he tapped a couple of keys. "This is what's so amazing."

As Izzy spoke the three separate graphs started to move towards each other. They slid together, merging to form a single graph. This new graph continued towards the one representing the signal Cody found. Slowing down as it maneuvered itself over the other, the graph superimposed itself over the stationary graph.

"They… match," said a stunned Cody.

"Yes they do. This shows that each of these signals is connected into each other. Which means that…"

"Which means that," interrupted Cody, "the Digimon, the Digivice, and the Digidestined… are one entity."

"Precisely," said Izzy as he turned back to the graph. "The question is, what is he, or she, doing here and how are we going to able to find the person and ask them? Does he even know that he's part Digimon or even a Digidestined?" He stared at the screen in deep thought.

"Well, we could go around the city and try to pick up the signal again," suggested Cody.

"No, I don't think that would work. The city's too big to do it and besides, we don't even know if he or she is still around. You did say that the signal was too weak to get a direction off of…" The computer genius trailed off again as he once again turned to the flow of data that was being paraded across the screen.

"What is it now?"

"We've been thinking that the source of the signals was too far away from you to get a good direction from, right?"

"Yes. So?"

"But what if we were wrong?" Izzy said as he brought up the graph that showed the mysterious signals to the foreground once again. "Look at this." He said, pointing to the amplitude reading of the lines.

"It's lower than the originals."

"Right. It seems that the merging between the three has bonded them together. While the entire entity is strong, the individual parts were weakened, so the signal output of each would naturally be lowered."

"So," reasoned Cody, "the signal that I picked up wasn't too far away to get a direction, it was too weak."

"Right, and that means the signal needed to be very close for you to pick it up. Was there anything strange or anyone around you when you found the signal?"

"No, I was in Yolei's house. There wasn't anything weird and there was no one around except…" Now it was Cody's turn to trail off into silence.

"Except what? Who was in the room?" asked Izzy.

"Chris. Chris was sleeping on the couch in the living room. He was the only one there," he said, his eyes widening.

"Where is he now?" asked Izzy.

"I left him with Kari and T.K. They were going to show him around the city."

"We have to tell them about Chris. He might be dangerous."

"I'll send her an e-mail, then we should go find them," said Cody as he pushed himself towards the computer.

***

"So Chris, What do you think of Odaiba?" asked Kari as they walked down the main street, buffeted by a mass of people who flooded the sidewalk while trying to get to all sorts of shops and restaurants that lined both sides.

"Well, it's a lot more crowded than Canada" he returned as he dodged a large group of children entering a toy store.

"What's it like in Canada? Where over there do you live?" asked T.K.

"I'm from the central part of the country and it's very nice. If you get far enough away from the city you can see for miles in all directions. There's nothing but fields all around you. It's especially beautiful in late summer when all the plants turn a wonderful gold," he said with misty eyes.

"Wow, I wish I could see it. It sounds lovely," said Kari as she tried to imagine the landscape.

"Yeah, maybe we will someday. And when we do, we'll have a great guide to show us around," said T.K as he patted Chris' shoulder.

"Thanks T.K, it would be fun to show you around my home town," said Chris as he bowed his head at the complement. Looking up, something caught his eye. "Hey! Are those chocolate covered rice balls? I love those things!"

The two Digidestined watched as their friend made his way over to one of the many vendor stands that lined the street and immediately got into a fight over the price of the snacks with the owner. The argument quickly grew into a shouting match between them.

After a couple of minutes Kari was distracted from the spectacle by a beep from her D-terminal.

"Hey T.K," she called to her companion. "We're getting an e-mail."

"What does it say?" he asked as he joined her.

"It's from Cody," she said as she scanned the message. "It says: `Stay away from Chris, he isn't what he seems. Where are you?'"

"'He isn't what he seems?' What does he mean?" asked T.K as he looked at the message.

"I don't know but Cody's usually right about this kind of thing. So I think we should follow his advice."

"Hey guys! What are you looking at?"

They both jumped. Turning, they saw Chris in front of them with a chocolate covered rice ball in each hand. Obviously he had won the argument between him and the vendor and settled on a good price for the snacks.

"Oh, nothing. It was just an e-mail from Cody," explained T.K with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

Chris shrugged. "Ok, you guys want to go the park? It looks like there's a theater performance going on there."

"Uh, you go on ahead Chris. We need to wait for someone," said Kari.

"Alright but you'll miss the show." He said as he walked off towards the park. taking a bite of his snacks.

After he had left, Kari turned back to her D-terminal. "We'd better tell Cody where we are so he can explain what's going on," she said as he typed her response.

***

"Izzy! It's a message from Kari," called Cody. "She says that they're downtown and that Chris has just left to go see a play in the park."

"Good, that should keep him busy until we can get to them and explain what we found. Let's go!" he said as he grabbed his coat off the peg and ran out the door, with Cody on his heels.

***

While all this was happening, Yolei was enjoying the day by doing a little shopping downtown. As she was wandering from store to store, she spotted T.K and Kari farther down the street. Shouldering her already full bags, she made her way towards her friends as best she could through the crowds.

When she arrived there she could see something was wrong. Their faces were creased with worry and their mouths were sporting puzzled frowns.

"What's the matter you guys?" she asked.

Her voice obviously startled the two because they both jumped when they heard her. Turning, they relaxed when they recognized their friend.

"Oh, hi Yolei," said Kari as she tried to put on a smile, but she was obviously having a hard time keeping it there.

"We were just trying to figure out a message that Cody sent us. It's about Chris and it's got us confused," explained T.K.

"What did it say?" asked Yolei as she dropped her bags and sat down next to the two.

"It said `Chris is not what he seems'," Kari replied with a shrug. "Then they said they'd be right here, so we're waiting for them."

"Chris is not what he seems? What does that mean?"

"We don't know. We're just as stumped as you are," answered T.K.

"Ok, but where's Chris now?"

"He went down to the park to watch a play," said T.K.

"Do you really think Chris could be dangerous?" asked Yolei.

"That's what we need to ask him," came a voice from behind them.

They all turned towards the source and found a very out of breath Izzy and Cody. Without going into any more explanation they sat down on the benches. After a couple of minutes they had caught enough of their breath to go on

"We found the source of the Digivice signal that Cody detected the other day," began Izzy.

"It turns out that the source was Chris," continued Cody.

"What? You mean that Chris is a Digidestined?" exclaimed T.K

"Wait, it gets better," interrupted Izzy. "It turns out that Chris is not only a Digidestined but a Digimon too."

"Whoa, slow down Izzy. I thought that only humans could be Digidestined. Not Digimon," said Yolei.

"You're right. But Chris is a Digidestined human and a Digimon. Somehow they've merged with a D-3 and now they're a single entity," said Izzy.

Everyone just stared at the genius in disbelief.

"That's not possible, is it?" asked Kari.

"But it makes sense," mused Yolei, "It would explain what happened last night at the school."

Everyone turned towards Yolei with confused expressions.

"What happened at the school Yolei?" asked Cody.

"Oh, that's right! I didn't tell you," said Yolei as she smacked her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Last night after he left I found Chris' wallet on my bedroom floor. It must have fallen out when he hit the wall. So I went after him to try to give it back. I found him outside of the school but before I could call him he slipped in through the front gate. So I followed him into the computer lab, then he disappeared. He must have gone through the gate to the Digital World."

"Hmmm," said Izzy as he rubbed his chin in thought. "That would mean that he at least knows that he is a Digidestined. I don't know if that is a good thing or not though."

"What do you mean Izzy?" asked Cody.

"It's simple really," interrupted T.K. "Since he knows he's a Digidestined and he didn't tell us about it, there's a possibility that he may have been turned by the Emperor to the side of darkness. He could be spying on us for him."

"But let's not jump to conclusions here. I'm not ready to condemn him just yet. After all, he did save my life," Yolei reminded everyone.

"Well, there's only one way to find out for sure," said Kari "We have to find him and ask him."

"Right, the play should be just about over. It should be easy to find him," said T.K. as he started to walk to the park with the others following quickly behind him.

***

T.K was right, the play had ended by the time the group got to the park and most of the spectators had already left to find another source of entertainment. It only took a couple of minutes of looking to find whom they were there for. Chris was sitting beneath a large green tree, eating the last of the chocolate covered rice balls and relaxing under its cool shade.

"Look, there he is," said Kari as she pointed towards the tree.

"Alright you guys, lets keep this under control. Since he probably doesn't know that we know what he really is, don't show our hand as soon as we get there. Maybe we can talk this out calmly," said Izzy.

The others nodded and continued to the tree. When they got there, Chris finally spotted them. Getting up off the ground and dusting himself off, he moved over to them.

"Hi guys! Man you missed a good play," he said as he grinned.

"Hi Chris. We were just talking…" That was as far as T.K got before Yolei interrupted him.

"All right Chris. We know what you really are. Now you better tell us what you're doing here or else!" she shouted.

As soon as he heard this, the grin that was on his face was replaced with a quick succession of emotions. The first was confusion, after that was surprise. Then a flash of anger rolled across his features. The anger was quickly suppressed and finally something like disappointment remained.

He sighed. "Alright. I think you should know the truth but I'd better let my friend behind you explain it for me," he said as he pointed to the rear of the group.

Everyone turned in the direction that he was indicating, hopeful of solving this mystery once and for all. Only there was no one there but a lone squirrel looking for some nuts it had buried last year and most likely wouldn't be much help to them anyway. They turned back, questions already forming on their lips. But Chris was already half way down the block and moving fast.

"Nice going Yolei," sighed Cody as they started to run after the fleeing boy.

***

Davis was having a good day. The sun was out, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and his pockets jingled with the sound of coins as he made his way to the arcade. As he walked down the street he started to whistle an aimless tune that he had made up on the spot. Arriving at the corner before the arcade, he was surprised to see Chris running at top speed towards him.

"Hey Chris!" he called, but it seemed his friend didn't hear him. He was busy concentrating on running and occasionally glancing behind him. He was still hurrying towards Davis, so the auburn-haired boy decided to try again. "Chris! Stop!" he yelled at the top of lungs. No luck. Chris was almost on top of him when Davis decided that the only way to stop him would be to resort to drastic measures. So he did the only thing that came to him; he stuck out his foot.

This action got the desired result though. As soon as Chris hit the outstretched leg he pitched forward with a yelp of surprise. He hit the ground with a thud and a muffled `ooof'. But to Davis' surprise, he almost immediately got up and began running again but was stopped by a hand from behind. He whirled around, fists raised and legs spread as if expecting to have to fight his way out of whatever stopped him.

"Whoa Chris! Calm down, it's just me!" Said Davis as he tried to pacify the teen in front of him. "What's going on? What are you running from? Are you in trouble? What…?"

"Look Davis, I can't talk now," he interrupted, lowering his fists. "But you can do me a favor though."

"Yeah? What is it?" Davis asked, slightly confused.

"I need you to stand here, Ok?" Chris said as he positioned him in the center of the sidewalk, just around the corner.

"Uh sure but why?" Davis asked, but he was only met be the sight of Chris already sprinting down the street.

Davis was still scratching his head trying to figure out what just happened when he was hit from behind by a something moving really fast. Actually it was a couple of somethings and he soon found himself on the bottom of a pile of those somethings even more confused and even a little sore. He grunted and tried to shove them off when a familiar voice caught his attention.

"Davis? What are you doing here?" asked Yolei from the top of the pile.

"Being crushed, that's what!" he snapped back as the rest of the group quickly got off him.

As he got up off the ground he found the other something's that were with Yolei were his friends. Brushing himself off, Izzy turned quickly to him and asked, "Davis, did Chris just come by here?"

"Yeah, just before you guys ran into me. What's going on? Are you chasing him?"

"There's no time to explain, just come on!" yelled Yolei as she ran down the street in the direction that Chris had just taken.

"Why can't anyone tell me what's going on?" he asked to no one in particular as he started after his friends.

***

After a couple of minutes of running through the crowded streets, they managed to close the gap between the fleeing Chris so they could just barely see him. He was dodging between groups of people trying to get away at an almost fevered pace. It was really hard even keeping him in view as they fought their way through those same but now startled people.

As they raced around a corner they found the street deserted. No one was there, not even Chris.

"Oh great! Now we lost him," sighed Kari.

"Would someone tell me what's going on?" complained Davis.

"No time. Come on! I think I know where he's going!" said Yolei as she dashed down a side street.

***

"The school? Why would he go here?" Davis asked as they rounded the corner that brought the structure into view.

"Davis, there's no time…" started Yolei.

"…To explain. I know, I know," he finished. "But when this is all over, you guys owe me a good one."

They followed Yolei into the building and up the three flights of stairs to the top floor of the tower that housed the now familiar computer lab. Hurrying to the door that would let them into the room, Yolei almost smacked herself against the wood.

"It's locked," she pointed out as she rubbed her nose.

Peering into the window, they could see Chris standing in front of one of the monitors. The faint sound of a computer finishing starting up filled the room and could be heard even through the door. As the screen brought up the usual background of the school, he put his hand to the screen and closed his eyes as if to gather his concentration.

"What's he doing?" asked T.K

Right as he said that, the usual image of the gate that linked this world to the digital one appeared on the monitor. "He's opening the portal to the digital world!" exclaimed Izzy.

"What! How is that possible?" Yelled Davis, who was by now thoroughly bewildered.

"We've got to stop him!" cried Yolei as she pulled on the door, trying to force it open. "Come on! Help me!" she pleaded to the others, who quickly came to her aid. But despite all of their efforts, the door wouldn't budge. They all watched helplessly as the gate clicked from closed to open. The monitor cast a glow throughout the room and started to pull Chris in. His form was almost touching the screen when everything went totally black.

The glow died away and computer shut down, closing the gate as it went. Chris' eyes shot open in astonishment and looked around in confusion, trying to find what had caused his escape to fail. The Digidestines on the other side of the door were equally surprised by this sudden turn of events looked around to find the cause of this miracle. The source quickly let itself be known as the group turned towards the sound of someone clearing her throat.

"Kari?" said T.K in astonishment.

And it was Kari. She was standing beside the now open circuit breaker panel that controlled the entire distribution of power to the floor, with her finger on the master switch that cuts off all current.

She shrugged. "I want to find out what's going on too you know."

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about Chris getting out of here anymore, this door is the only way out and we're three stories up so he can't jump," said Izzy.

"I guess he has no other choice than to come out. But what's taking so long? What's he doing?" asked Yolei.

Cody looked back into the room and his eyes went wide. "He's jumping!"

"What!" Came the astonished shout from the group as they rushed to the door. There, on the other end of the room was Chris. He had the window open and already had one of his legs over the sill. They watched is stunned silence as he moved the other leg up and sat, teetering on the edge. He paused in his escape to take a quick glance towards the ground, which didn't last long as he just as quickly snapped his eyes closed and tightened his grip on the window frame.

He seemed to take a couple of seconds to ponder his situation and another couple to take a second glance below him. He seemed to come to a decision when his shoulders slumped in defeat. He swung his legs back into the room and jumped off the windowsill onto the solid floor of the room. He turned towards the door and sighed as he saw the six very relieved faces of the Digidestined peering back at him through the glass. Walking over to the door, he reached up and undid the lock. Almost immediately the door slid open and spilled the kids onto the floor at his feet.

He looked down at the pile of arms and feet. "Well, you got me," he said simply. "You probably want an explanation, hmmmm?

"You bet we do," said Davis as he got up from underneath the pile. "At least someone is willing to tell me what's going on."

Izzy was the second to get up and ignored the barb and the hard look that accompanied it from Davis. He turned to Chris as he brushed himself off. "Shinobimon I presume?" he asked.

"At your service," came Chris' reply as he gave a small sweeping bow and a grin.

"What?" came the startled cry from the others who were still trying to get up off the floor. Davis just started at the two in stunned silence, his mouth moving up and down but no words came from his lips.

"But if I may ask," returned Chris, ignoring the cries of disbelief. "How did you find out?"

"It was simple really," began Izzy. "Cody picked up your Digivice signal when you were sleeping but we didn't know what it was until I finished a deep analysis. After we found the three intertwined signals, I realized what you are."

"But what is he?" asked Yolei as she got over her shock.

"He is the combination of a Digivice, human, and Digimon. A sort of hybrid between the three," said Izzy to the once again stunned others.

"Is that what we are?" asked Chris as he grinned wildly.

Izzy razed an eyebrow. "You mean you're not?"

"Whoa, hold on a sec," interrupted T.K. as he held up his hands. "You said `We'."

He nodded. "That's right. We're not a hybrid. I am human and Shinobimon is a Digimon, just like you and your Digimon," he paused as if to find the best way of explaining it, "but we're just connected to the same space I guess."

By this time the shocked expression on Davis' face had disappeared and was immediately replaced by a confused one. "What?" he managed to say.

Chris sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Look, even I don't fully understand it myself and I've been living with it for a while now. All I know is that I and Shinobimon are, well, bonded or attached somehow and that my Digivice is the only thing keeping us from merging completely."

"So let me get this straight," said Yolei. "You are a human with a Digimon attached to you?"

Davis still looked confused. "But why can't we see Shinobimon now? And why couldn't we see you when we saw Shinobimon?"

"Well, I think that's because the person, human or Digimon, that is present depends on which dimension we're in." Chris paused a second to lower himself into a nearby chair before he continued. "If we're in the Digital World then the Digimon, Shinobimon, is the one that's there. For the real world, I'm the one in control. I think it's something like how you guys change outfits when you travel back and forth through the gate."

"Ok, that makes a little more sense," said Izzy as he paced the floor in front of the group. "But even though you don't have a D-3 in the physical sense you still seem to be able to control enough to open a gate to the Digital World."

Chris nodded, "When Shinobimon and I fused, my Digivice somehow changed and formed a barrier between us. But the power needed to keep the barrier up is extreme, it needs most of its power and a lot of ours, so opening a gate is the one of the few things my Digivice can spare energy for."

"But how do you know all this?" asked Yolei, who by now was very interested in finding out how all of this worked.

"Simple," Chris shrugged. "My Digivice told me."

The group of Digidestines just looked at him and for the first time began to doubt his sanity and the truth of the entire thing.

"Your Digivice told you?" asked Kari slowly.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Chris' mouth. "I know it seems weird but yes, my Digivice doesn't just separate our bodies, it separates our minds too. And it somehow managed to link Shinobimon's thoughts, and mine. We both can talk to it but it's a really limited conversation. Binary is a hard language to understand."

It seemed that the confusion still had Davis in its grasp. "So you can talk to Shinobimon with your mind?" he asked, and Chris gave a nod. "So what does he think of telling us all this?"

"To be honest, he doesn't like it. But he knows that we had to tell you guys sometime."

"So when where you going to tell us?" asked Yolei angrily.

"Hey, I wasn't planning on telling you at all for a long time and it would have stayed that way unless you hadn't decided to step in front of a moving truck," Chris countered defensively.

"Oh yeah? I could have gotten out of the way myself."

"Yeah right, you were scared stiff."

"I was not, I was just taking my time because I knew that I could get out of the way."

"You were screaming."

"It was a battle cry."

"That's the most high pitched battle cry I've ever heard."

"Well, you snore."

This seemed to surprise Chris. "I snore?" he asked.

"Yes, louder than Davis in fact," Yolei said smugly.

T.K had just about enough of this argument. "Alright you guys stop fighting," he said as he positioned himself in front of Yolei.

"Yeah, we're all friends here right?" agreed Kari as she moved in front of a confused Chris.

"I didn't know I snored," he said.

Yolei was just about to say something else when she was interrupted by squeals coming from all the Digivices in the room. Grabbing his, Izzy looked at the tiny screen that was flashing with an angry red. "It's a distress signal," he said as he moved to one of the computers. "Quick, someone turn the power back on."

Kari ran back out into the hall and flipped the power breaker giving the computer lab back the power for the computers.

"Where's it coming from?" asked Cody.

Izzy bent over the screen and watched as the computer displayed a map of the Digital World with a blinking red `X' over a barren patch of desert lined with a large range of mountains to the west. "Here," he said as he pointed to the location on the map. "I'll try to get a connection to the monitor in that area."

After tense seconds of key tapping, the screen flared to life with a brief burst of static, which quickly cleared to reveal the image of a very distressed Tentomon.

"Izzy! I'm so glad you're here," exclaimed the Digimon.

"What's the problem Tentomon?" asked the boy genius, skipping the reunion and getting straight to business.

If the Digimon was surprised by the forwardness of the question, he didn't show it. "The Digimon Emperor just attacked a village at the edge of the desert. It was so quick no one saw it coming. The dark rings possessed most of the Digimon in the first few seconds. But fortunately it seems that the Emperor ran out of his supply of dark rings because he captured the rest of the townspeople in his base. Then he just left into the desert following the mountains. The town's a mess Izzy, there are still fires burning."

The faces of everyone present were grim with the weight of the news as Izzy spoke into the connection. "We'll be right there Tentomon." And he cut the link.

Izzy turned to the others in the room. "We'll finish this later, right now we have a rescue on our hands."

Davis snapped out of his confusion Finally something that he could handle. "All right! Let's go!" he shouted as he took out his Digivice and pointed it at the gate. "Digiport Open!"

Seconds later, the computer lab on the third floor of Odaiba Elementary was empty.

***

The sight that greeted the Digidestined as they were flung through the portal onto the charred ground was one of total destruction. Splinters of wood, the last remnants of houses, littered the area. Huge craters dotted the landscape with and the sky was turned to the dark of night by the thick smoke from countless fires that cast a haunting flicker over the carnage

They all stood in stunned horror, their minds trying to process the information their eyes were sending them.

"Oh my god," breathed Yolei as the light of the fires reflected off her glasses.

"The Digimon Emperor has gone too far," whispered T.K.

"I'd have to agree with you there, T.K.," said Tentomon as he flew into view from around a crumbling section of wall. "This is all that's left of a town of about two hundred Digimon, just a pile of smoldering ruins. It's horrible." The little Digimon sighed and turned back to the group before noticing a new face. "Uh, who's your friend?" he asked.

Startled by the question, the Digidestined turned around to be startled even more when they found Shinobimon standing there instead of Chris.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that," said Davis.

Izzy nodded towards the cloaked figure. "Uh, Tentomon this is Shinobimon, and Chris. I'll explain later," he added in response to the confused expression that the Digimon wore. "Now which way did the Emperor go?"

"He went north, following the mountains. And I think I know where he's going," said Tentomon. "Can you get a map of the area?"

Izzy nodded and brought up the map on the screen of his laptop. It showed the same desert and mountain ranges that they saw earlier but this map extended further. The desert continued east along the range and disappeared out of view. To the west, a large, lush forest sprang up that ran the edges of the mountains until it thinned into the ripples of small foothills to the north.

"There's another small village at the edge of that forest. That's probably where he's going," said Tentomon as he pointed to the location.

Shinobimon peered over Izzy's shoulder as he studied the map. "Hmmm, He'll have to go around the mountains to reach it, his base can't fly over them," he said in a low voice.

"The only way he could do that would be to go through this pass through the mountains farther up," said Tentomon.

Izzy studied the map and ran some calculations before speaking. "All right, if he is going for the village he'll get there in less than an hour with his head start. We have to beat him there. That means that we'll need to fly over the mountains to do it."

At that comment Shinobimon tensed slightly but recovered quickly, but not soon enough to stop Yolei from noticing.

"What's wrong Shinobimon?" she asked.

"It's nothing," he said in a tone that meant the questions should stop, then turned away and headed towards the others who were already getting ready for the flight.

Yolei shrugged. "All right," she said, and then turned to Hawkmon. "Ready to save some Digimon?" she asked.

"I was hatched ready," said the bird beside her as they took off after the others.

***

Five minutes later the team of heroes was in the air and screaming towards the mountain pass at top speed, much to the obvious discomfort of Shinobimon. The ninja had a tight grip on the back armor of Pegasusmon and had his eyes shut tight. This change in behavior wasn't missed by T.K, who turned to look at the Digimon riding behind him.

"What's the matter Shinobimon?" he asked.

"It is nothing," dismissed the Digimon.

"Well there's obviously something the matter," persisted T.K.

It was apparent that the questions were causing Shinobimon even more discomfort than whatever was doing it in the first place. Luckily, Yolei saw this and wisely decided to change the subject.

"So, Shinobimon. How exactly did you and Chris become partners?" she asked.

"It is a rather complicated story that would need some time to explain," he said. He seemed to relax now that his concentration was diverted. "The short version of it involves a thunderstorm, a bowl of chocolate ice-cream, a roller-skate, and a Digiport."

He left a couple of seconds of silence for the others to make their own conclusions before continuing. "It was almost two years ago when it happened, just after the Digimon Emperor came to the Digital World. As far as we can tell, we were chosen to stop him before he became too powerful but it was too little too late. We tried but obviously we weren't able to stop him, his power grew too quickly. The only thing we could do was to cause enough trouble to try and slow him down; quick attacks on bases and supply lines. And we waited for someone else to come and help. Then you came."

"But why didn't you tell us right away, instead of avoiding us?" asked Cody as he held on to Pegasusmon's back.

"And tell you what?" asked Shinobimon. " `Hello we are a Digimon and a human fused together and were here to help you defeat the Digimon emperor.' You would have tried to attack us on the spot."

"You have to admit, that does seem a little strange," said Kari.

"So what we saw for the last two days was an act?" demanded Yolei. "The fainting, getting trapped between the dimensions, Chris being from Canada? Everything?"

"No," said Shinobimon. "Chris really is from Canada."

"Oh yeah? Then how did he get to Japan?" asked Izzy.

Shinobimon sighed. "One of the few abilities that we have been able to get our Digivice to do is to open a digiport to a different location. Which means we can open one in Canada move to another in the Digital World and come out at another location, in this case in Japan. That's also how we got `lost' in between dimensions; we managed to stop the portal mid transfer. We planned to stay there until you gave up on us but we decided it wouldn't be honorable for us to put you through that sort of guilt of losing Chris. So we just decided to disappear, that is until you caught Chris while he was leaving."

"And the fainting?" prompted Yolei.

"That was real too."

"But if you already knew about the Digital World, why did he faint?" asked Kari.

"To be honest, we didn't expect you to come out and tell Chris about the Digital World. We thought you might've told him he was dreaming or tried to knock him out or something. The surprise, along with the fact that it was the middle of the night in Canada knocked him out," explained the ninja.

Davis, who had been quiet for the entire time, finally spoke up. "Shinobimon, What level are you?"

"I'm a rookie, technically"

"What?" exclaimed V-mon. "You mean to tell me that I was beaten, in my champion form, by a rookie?"

"I said I'm technically a rookie," countered Shinobimon.

"How the heck can you be technically a rookie?" demanded Davis.

"I mean my form is a rookie; my power, because I have two life forces inside me, can become equal to a champion. But it does have some dangers."

"The blood," said Kari.

"Yes," said Shinobimon as he nodded. "As you know, most of our energy is sacrificed to maintaining the separation between Chris and I. But we can temporarily channel it and use it to fight. But because of immense drain of stopping the portal and running all over the place, our power got to the point where it was so low that parts of us started to merge and flicker. Though the fight stopped in time, Chris' shoulder was hit. But luckily my Digimon healing was able to repair the damage."

Davis sighed heavily. "This is one strange day," he muttered.

"And it's going to get even stranger," said Izzy. "Look."

Below them was the valley that split the mountain range in two. And pushing it's way though the trees that lined its bottom was the ominous form of the Digimon Emperor's base.

"We don't have much time, he's already half way through the pass," said T.K as the group spiraled down towards the floating menace.

***

Once the Digimon were in range they wasted no time in starting to pummel the floating base with whatever they had. Bolts of energy crashed into the rock but the lumbering structure just shrugged it off and kept on moving.

"It's not working! We're not even scratching the surface!" called T.K as he and Pegasusmon flew around for another pass.

"He's right! We need to think of something else!" agreed Izzy.

"Well whatever is we do we'd better do it fast! Look!" yelled Yolei as she pointed to two large doors that had opened on the front of the base that started to spew out the mindless Digimon under the control of the Emperor.

"Quick! Back to the mountains!" shouted Kari as she and Nefertimon turned away from the quickly growing horde of zombie soldiers.

***

Izzy sighed as he slumped down to the ground and brought out his laptop. "This is going to be harder than we thought," he said as he brought up an image of the base on the screen.

"It's heavily armored," sighed T.K, "what ever we throw at it doesn't even get passed the rock let alone the metal inside."

Izzy turned to their newest companion. "Shinobimon, do you know anything that could help us?" he asked.

The ninja shook his head. "I am afraid that I can not tell you anything of importance for I have never been inside, except that the bridge is here and the main hangar is there." He said as he pointed first to the top of the base and then at the lower front.

"You know," interrupted Davis as he studied the image, "I don't see any windows on that thing. I wonder how he sees where he's going?"

Izzy just shrugged. "Probably some sort of video link to cameras on the outside…" The boy trailed off as his eyes widened. "Davis! You're a genius!"

"I am?"

"Yes! You've just given me a plan that will save that village!"

***

"Yes! Excellent!" exclaimed the Digimon Emperor as he watched his monitors as his minions pummeled the Digidestined and their Digimon. "Soon I will be rid of those annoying thorns in my side once and for all!"

As the cloaked figure erupted into a fit of evil laughter, he was interrupted by a smug voice behind him.

"Man, we were trying for tormenting and we only get `annoying'? We're losing our touch."

"What?" Screamed the Emperor as he whirled around and saw something that wasn't possible. Before him stood the Digidestined and their Digimon, totally unscathed and ready for battle, "Impossible! You're outside! How are you in here and out there?"

Izzy just smirked. "You know, you should put better encryption on your video channels. Or else someone could hack in and trick you by looping the signal," was the only thing he offered as an explanation to the stunned questions.

The Emperor turned back to his control panel and tapped a sequence of keys until the whine came from the wall and a section of it dropped away to open a window overlooking a smoking charred battleground littered with craters and dazed Digimon just recovering from possession of the dark rings.

The Emperor's eyes blazed fire as he howled, "Guards!" and then turned towards the Digidestined. "You may have fooled me but it will not happen again. You will never get out of here alive." As he spoke, doors all over the room hissed open and red-eyed Digimon poured out into the room.

"Uh oh, looks like we've overstayed our welcome," said T.K in a very powerful understatement. "Everyone blast anything you see and let's move!"

Cody turned to his partner as the other Digimon blasted the enslaved minions and any equipment they could see. "You heard him Digmon."

"You got it Cody!" said the insect drilling machine as he punched through the floor with his powerful drills.

With the amount of Digimon and humans inside the relatively small space of the control room, things got out of hand really fast. Explosions and energy blasts flew through the air and filled the room with stifling heat and choking smoke. Most of the combatants were fighting shoulder to shoulder often with the people they were supposed to be fighting without even knowing it.

In the middle of the brawl Flamedramon dodged a punch and struck down a Bakumon. "Davis, this is getting out of hand!"

"No kidding!" he yelled back as he ducked a kick. "We need an exit fast!"

"Did someone say exit?" asked Digmon as he popped his head up from the hole. "I've got one ready and waiting."

"Perfecto! Common everyone! Let's get out of here." said Yolei as she jumped down into the opening.

As the rest of the team made their way out, Davis stopped and turned to the emperor, who was still shouting out commands like a madman, and smirked. "Hey emperor! You'd better get out of here because in a few seconds this place is toast!" And with that he jumped after his friends. As soon as he landed he turned to Flamedramon. "You know what to do."

His Digimon partner nodded, "This place is cooked. Fire Rocket!" and let loose with a huge fire ball and sent it back up the tunnel. After a few tense seconds the sound of explosions shook the tunnel.

"Alright! Nice job Flamedramon!" said Davis as he patted his partner on the back.

But Shinobimon cut the boy's celebration short as he looked back down the passage. "I do not think that was a good idea Davis," said the ninja as he turned to run from a jet of red-hot flame that rushed back down towards them.

"I think you may be right," gulped Davis as he yelled to the others. "We'd better move!"

***

As the computer screen in Yolei's room once more that day glowed with the energy of an inter dimensional portal being opened, the Digidestined came back to the real world with their usual lack of grace and dignity.

"Oooof," groaned Kari as picked herself up of the floor. "It was really lucky for us that we were flying over that TV when we jumped. Is everyone OK?"

Chris was the second to get up and surveyed the group. "Yeah, I think everyone's fine. It's lucky that we got out of there in one… Ack! Davis your hair's on fire!"

"What?" yelped Davis as he immediately moved his hands to his smoldering hair in a vain attempt to pat out the flames, "Put it out! Put it out!"

"Where's the fire extinguisher?" yelled Izzy as he looked around the room.

"Here!" said Yolei as she came back into the room with a full glass of water, which Davis quickly snatched out of her hand and dumped over his head.

Davis sighed with relief as the last tendrils of smoke dissipated into the air. "Thanks Yolei," he sighed.

"No problem Davis, besides, I didn't want my room smelling like burnt hair anyway," she smiled.

"By the way, did anyone see what happened to the emperor's base?" asked Izzy.

"Yeah, I saw it limping away from the village just before I went through the portal," said Cody.

"That's good, I don't think he'll be causing an trouble for a while at least," smiled T.K.

Suddenly everyone turned around at the sound of two hands clapping together. "Well, it's been fun you guys," smiled Chris as he moved back towards the computer, "but I've got school in a few hours and I need at least some sleep. I've got to get back to Canada."

Izzy raised one of his eyebrows in clear suspicion, "Uh Chris, I think you left that a little late. Even if you get on the next flight, you wouldn't get home for hours."

Chris just smiled. "I didn't say anything about flying, I'm Digiporting. It's another small talent of ours, even though because only one portal can be open in one area at a time we have to travel to another area to get to where we're going, it's still faster," then he pressed his hand to the screen and gave a last wave. "See you guys later!" and then he was gone.

Davis stared after the now gone boy, still sputtering on the last drops of water. "I'm definitely never going to get used to that kid."

***

The End

~Jack