Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digimon TZ: The Beginning of The End (Original) ❯ From Hell and Back Again ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Apprentice of Gennai 
One of my favorites I guess. Mimi's recovery and the assault on the Factory.
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 03.25.2006 | Updated On: 03.25.2006 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.9K | Visits: 173 | Status: Completed
One of my favorites I guess. Mimi's recovery and the assault on the Factory.
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 03.25.2006 | Updated On: 03.25.2006 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.9K | Visits: 173 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon or anything else in this fic.
Digimon TZ: The Beginning of The End
Episode 4: From Hell and Back Again
by: Gennai's Apprentice
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Izzy and Joe both cried in unison.
The battle had been going straight to hell. Leomon had already knocked out Birdramon and things got much worse as Mimi lay in the tall grass bleeding. Joe rushed over to Mimi with his Medkit, but Izzy was too busy fighting Leomon with Matt to help.
"Mimi... Mimi, you gotta hang on!" Joe said as he wrapped a bandage over her arm. "The Gizamon got you pretty bad and sliced a deep cut knicking your bone. You gotta stay strong, girl."
"Joe, behind you," she whispered, "Gizamon."
"I got 'em, Joe, you just concentrate on Mimi." Tai grunted as he stabbed it with his iron rod and it disappeared in little bits of data.
Tai and Sora had already beaten their three foes and Tai went over to backup Joe. Sora went out to help T.K. and Kari with their last enemy, but instead of continuing their attack on the youngest of the group, it turned and went straight for Sora.
"Birdramon, Digivolve to... Garudamon! Garudamon, Wing Blade!"
The attack incinerated the Gizamon into millions of data bits. That took care of one of the Gizamon, and now Garudamon went after Leomon who began a retreat towards the forest. Sora told Garudamon not to pursue, instead the great bird picked up the eight and flew them to Andromon's factory.
Inside the factory, Izzy was just staring at the door where Joe and Mimi had entered earlier. The rest of the Digidestined were just standing around as well as Jenji and even Ogremon who was crying.
"I believe this is the first time anybody's ever witnessed a virus Digimon crying." Jenji mussed to himself.
"I'm crying because Mimi's my friend and she helped me when I was injured, but now I can't even help her..."
Just then the door opened revealing a tired Joe in the doorway. "I've bandaged her up and put her arm in a sling, but she's lost too much blood. Fortunately, she was one of my first patients and I remember her blood type well... B positive, exactly like mine. I wanted to ask if any of you also have the same blood type."
All of them except Izzy shook their heads in dismay. Izzy just kept staring at Joe, then spoke up.
"I don't know what mine is, but I'll give it up for Mimi."
"I'm sorry Izzy, but I have no time for blood tests, I'm gonna need you right now Kari. You're studying to be a nurse correct?"
"Yeah."
"Mimi's missing a liter of blood, I'm going to supply half of it which would put her out of the danger zone, but I don't have the instruments necessary for a blood transfusion, so we'll have to do it manually and quickly."
"That's too dangerous, you'd lose too much blood and it could knock you out. Plus so many injections would be simply too harmful for both of you." Kari said shocked.
"It's alright, Kari. Forget about that, I just need you to do it." Joe responed calmly.
Joe then sat in a chair next to Mimi who was lying on the steel floor. He pulled out a sterile syringe from his bag, and Kari did as she was told.
Thirty minutes later, a sweating Kari walked outside the room. "Joe and Mimi are both unconscious. If things go right they should be up in a day or two." she told the group.
Two days later, they woke up. While they were asleep, Izzy had been most of the time lying in bed like a rock, unmoving. He got up, though, to talk once in a while. When he did, he talked to Jenji about the security laser cannons around the factory, which they hadn't noticed the first time they were there so many years ago. They finally got it working, as well as video camera attachments for live transmissions on his laptop and the main computer. After that, he simply lay on a bunch of chairs set up like a bed until Joe and Mimi woke up.
Joe was the first to get up and began complaining of a splitting headache. A few hours later, Mimi got up and the group gathered around her.
"Thanks Joe, for saving my life, twice." she whispered still sort of weak.
Joe started to blush, but for some reason, Izzy started to go red with anger. <Why am I like this. This isn't me. I can't let whatever it is control me.> Izzy thought to himself. Then Mimi got up and everybody surrounded her very happy for her recovery. After everything was over with, she kissed Joe on the cheek, and whispered something into his ear. Later, after the group broke up, Izzy called Joe over to another room, the programming room which controlled everything. The place where he shut down the entire factory with the single swipe of his finger.
"Joe, I don't want you to make any moves on my wife. You left her behind in my care, entrusting me with her. She's been the light of my life, the apple of my eye. Don't you dare take her away from me!"
"I save her life, and this is the thanks I get. I loved her long ago, but it's over now. We're still close friends, and what I did was not for my sake, but for Mimi's. I know I left her to you, because I knew you'd take care of her, and she loves you too. She told me. Apparently jealousy has taken over you, now."
"Look, I'm sorry..."
"No you're not, I can see it in your eyes. I'm outta here."
Joe turned to leave when Izzy grabbed him, but Joe, who had grown considerably bigger than Izzy because of his job, simply threw him to the wall, erasing the programming. Izzy just watched as Joe once more made for the exit of the circular, and now dark, room.
~@~
"Hey Jenji, what do you think about your new toy?" Tai asked putting a hand on the young man's shoulder.
The two were standing inside the control room of Andromon's factory. Jenji had been working hard for hours on end. His concentration dedicated to the task at hand.
"Toy?" Jenji asked in bewilderment and surprise.
"What I meant was, how's the security system?" Tai asked, his stern eyes looking into Jenji's
Jenji looked into the Tai's eyes, and what he saw in them didn't surprise him. In those dark brown eyes, his posture, his whole character radiated hope... him and his friends were the only hope left for his world and the inhabitants in it. "I don't know, Tai," Jenji said swivelling around in his chair. "The system is pretty old, so problems are to be expected. After a field test, it seems the lasers can put a pretty big dent in digizoid steel after a while."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that anything from Champions on down aren't a problem. An Ultimate would probably get the beating of his life, and well... I'm uncertain on the effects on a Mega."
"Good, good. Keep working on it, I'll get Izzy to see if he cou-- What the hell?" Tai shouted just as the whole facility was plunged into darkness.
"We're probably under attack, Jenji!" Tai exclaimed. "Try to get some power and contact the rest of the team."
"Tai, the entire system's down, the only way to get power back is to turn the emergency generators manually.
"Alright then, you go and check on those generators, while I check on Mimi and see how she is."
"Right!" Jenji said as he got up from his chair and slammed into a wall...
Later, after everybody, except for Joe and Izzy, was in the room where Mimi was recovering, Tai demanded to know what was going on.
"I don't know," replied T.K., "but I did see Joe leaving the factory."
"Why the hell would he do that?"
T.K. just shrugged at Tai's question, when the door opened and revealed Izzy who looked tired and had some bruises on his arm.
"We had a fight. Everything's okay, just that some programming was erased in the Primary Office."
"If everything's okay, then where's Joe?" asked Matt.
"I don't know. I simply don't know."
"I think I'm beginning to see what went on here." Sora said. She whispered something into Tai's ear for a few minutes, then Tai started speaking again.
"It looks like Joe left his bag here. Check if you can find something that can give us light, there aren't very many windows in this place."
"Here's some matches and flares," Kari offered, pulling some out of the bag.
"Thanks Kari. Me, Matt, and Sora, are gonna look for Joe."
"I want to help, it's my fault he's gone."
"No Izzy, you need to fix that problem you two made. Also, I want you to talk to Jenji on upgrading the lasers so at least it might scare a Mega Digimon away, got it?"
Izzy nodded his head wearily.
"Good, let's get to work."
~@~
"Life's cheap." Joe started talking to himself as he walked across the waving grass. "I've been walking for a while now, about thirty minutes maybe. I should've never left Japan. I could've been an artist or a poet maybe, but Jim just had to drag me along didn't he. Dang it Jim," he shouted to the clouds, "I could've had Mimi, but NO, I had to deal with diseased tribes, civil war victims, and a missile that could've killed me a million times over! If only I had the courage to tell her when it counted...
*Flashback*
"So, this'll be the last time I gonna see you, Mimi. Perhaps in a long time."
"Joe... I don't want you to leave."
"I promised my brother I would, and I'm going to stick to my promise."
"But..."
"Look, you have Izzy with you. I know he'll take care of you."
"I know he will too, but I'm REALLY going to miss you. Can't you like tell Jim or something."
"Look, Mimi, stop making this hard on me..."
"Come on Joe, our flight to Geneva is leaving in ten minutes! Hurry it up!" shouted Jim casually to his younger brother.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. I'm coming already. Boy Mimi, I'm already 23 and he still treats me like a kid."
"Give me a goodbye kiss at least."
The two then kissed each other, but it wasn't passionate. Instead it was a quick friendly kiss as Joe then went towards his brother. But he didn't go immediately.
"Izzy come over here."
"Yeah Joe."
"I want you to take care of Mimi, you got it." Joe said emphasizing the words 'take care.'
"I don't think I... But she loves you, not me."
"No, she love you as much as me, but she's too shy to say. She loved me as a brother... She loves you with a special love. A romantic love. Love like a wife to a husband."
"Are you serious?!" Izzy shouted in bewilderment, perhaps a little to loudly.
"Yes, she told me so." motioning him to quiet down. "Although I love her, my leaving will make it easier for her to come out of her shyness. I can't bring her along with me nor would I want to. Where I'm going will be unstable, warring, hostile nations. That's where my brother and I are going to be sent. To help those who are helpless, to fix what is broken. You can give her a good life..."
"Flight 275 for Geneva, Switzerland, last call. Departure in five minutes." the speakers echoed throughout the airport.
"Bye Izzy, take care of her."
"Thanks Joe."
Over in the distance, two teenagers, a guy and a girl were running toward the terminal.
"Finally, my sister and T.K. are here. Hurry up! Joe's leaving in a couple minutes!"
"Sorry we're late, finals took forever to finish." said T.K.
"Here we are again." Matt started, "The Digidestined, Champions of the Digital World separating for who knows how long."
"Yup, first Joe, then who knows who's next to leave." said Sora.
"Well I know one thing for sure, when we get together again, we are gonna KICK SOME SERIOUS BUTT!" exclaimed Tai.
"YEAH!!!" everybody cheered.
"Joe, no more time, we're gone!" Jim shouted by the gate leading into the airplane.
"Bye guys! I'll see you again some day!"
"Yeah, some day." whispered Mimi, "Some day..."
*End Flashback*
~@~
"Hey Mimi, how ya doin'?"
"Feeling much better, Kari."
"Do you need anything?"
"Yes, tell me how you guys were doing before we all came back to this cursed world. I notice Tai's matured a lot since I last saw him."
"Yeah, ever since our parents died in the car accident, he started to sober down. Every soccer team in Japan wants him because of his skill and leadership abilities. I mean, the Odaiban Rockets haven't lost a game for five years now."
"How 'bout Sora, what does she do now?"
"She's an author, a 'fiction' author. You know how we were all heroes for a while, but as soon as Odaiba was finished rebuilding, well... everybody just passes it off as a bad nightmare. She started writing about the Digiworld under nonfiction, but no one liked it because they thought it was too unrealistic. When she changed it to a fiction series, she won so many awards I don't think I can name them all!"
"You and T.K. are married now, huh? Well you're a nurse, what's T.K.?"
"He's in computer animations. It's a good job, pays more than a nurse and would put us a little higher than the middle class."
"Good, good." Mimi starts coughing and Kari heads off to get a glass of water for her when she bumps into somebody.
"Hi Kari."
"T.K.! You scared me!"
"Sorry. Izzy's almost done, and I was going to check up on him. I came here to see if you wanna come."
"Sure as soon as I get a glass of water for Mimi."
~@~
"JOE!!! Over here! Come back!"
Joe saw Tai, Matt and Sora who were still far but were catching up quickly. "Well, it looks like they finally found me. But why would I want to go to them, I mean, they're always... they're always... there when I needed them. This isn't me, this isn't ol' Reliable."
"Joe we've finally caught up with you! What are you doing?" asked Sora.
"I needed time alone and I got it, let's go back."
Matt, who was tired after trying to keep up with Tai and Sora agreed wholeheartedly, "Good idea, a very good idea."
~@~
Izzy had been working for two hours straight now trying to translate and decode the secret computer language. He had finally finished that part, now he took out his magnetic pen and started to write down exactly to the precise size and figure which was erased. It had been over an hour writing, erasing, writing, erasing, and so on until it was almost done. He only had three more figures to write in when T.K. and Kari came in.
"How's it going?"
"Almost done, T.K., almost done."
With a final flourish, he finished the last stroke and power returned to the factory and everything continued on as normal.
"Man Izzy, you are sooo smart!"
"Thanks Kari, but I'm not smart. Knowledgeable, but not smart." Izzy replied with a downcast face.
Kari completely ignored his comment told him that Mimi would like to see him as soon as he was done. He immediately went to her and as soon as T.K. and Kari left, Mimi started talking to her sweetheart.
"Izumi, you know I love you, right? Joe was never really in the past, but I don't feel the same way about you as I do to him. I mean, he was always there with me when we were last here. I felt the protection of the older brother I never had. But you, you are a different subject. I loved Joe for his hidden courage. I love you for your hidden sensitivity, your hidden caring, your hidden love. People think you're so obsessed with computers, but I know you, Izumi, I know you and I love you."
"Thanks Mimi, I love you so very much."
The two were enveloped in each other's warmth for a few minutes inside the cold steel room until a voice came over the intercom.
"Izzy, Jenji here. We got a problem, come to the control center immediately... Leomon's back and he's got Ikkakumon and a bigger army with him."
Izzy stood up and kissed his pink princess right before he raced off to the control room where Jenji was. Inside, he found T.K. and Kari as well as the one whom he was looking for. As soon as Izzy walked in, Jenji whispered and gave a motion for him to come over. There gave him a briefing on what was going on.
"Izzy, according to some security cameras around the five kilometer perimeter, Leomon’s back with an Ikkakumon, as well as more Gizamon as well as Mushroomon."
"I remember the little twerps. They’re some of the late Puppetmon’s friends." T.K. replied shuddering at the mention of Mushroomon. "We were playing his crazy game of ‘Seek and Destroy’ when it gave my hiding spot away."
"Well whatever they are, they sure do look mean." Kari said chidingly, to her blushing husband hugging him.
"Okay break it up you two. We're in the middle of an emergency, and you two just had to get romantic didn't you." Izzy broke in.
Kari and T.K. just shrugged at him and started kissing.
"Alright, alright already, I know you two didn't have your honeymoon yet, but first things first." Izzy looked in Kari's direction pushing her gently towards the door, "Kari, I need you to go back to Mimi and take care of her, you're our resident nurse, so that falls to you."
"What can I do Izz-man?"
Izzy looked at him quizzically then walked towards the door calling for T.K. to come with him "Come with me, T.K. Oh, and Jenji, try to get those lasers operational and ready in case we need them."
"Yes, sir!"
Jenji picked up one of several headsets on the dashboard and gave it to Izzy, "Before you go, here are some short range communication headsets, I already gave one to Ogremon."
"Prodigious, does Ogremon have his on?"
"He should." Jenji replied.
Izzy turned the headset on and contacted Ogremon, "Ogremon? Ogremon!"
"Yeah, Izzy?"
"Ogremon, meet T.K. and me at the main entrance, we have trouble."
"Got it." the Jolly-Green-Giant-with-a-Cudgel replied, "Oh and by the way, Izzy, Mimi wants to talk to you."
There was a little static and background sound, then the voice of his little princess came over to his attentive ears.
"Izzy, this is Mimi, Ogremon's headset was on super loud so I heard what you said. Please be careful, Koushiro Izumi, or else."
"I will, don't worry." He said with a small grin on his face. He cut off the connection, and turned to T.K. and Ogremon at the door, "Okay guys, let's kick some contemptible Digi-butt!"
Ogremon and T.K. just looked at each other and broke out in laughter.
~@~
"Ya' know Joe, you sure did walk a long way. I mean, didn't you at least stop to rest once?" Matt said panting hard, doubling-over.
They had been walking for almost two hours, according to the position of the Digital Sun, since Tai, Sora, Biyomon, and Matt had found Joe wandering around the island. Matt, who was never very athletic, was getting more tired than the times when he ran from some girl named Jun a long time ago. It took them about two hours just to find him, and now they had to make the return trip back.
"I've been working out since I left you guys," Joe said trying to help Matt up, "besides, I'm supposed to be the whiner, remember."
"Things change ol' buddy." Matt said, accepting Joe's help. "We've all changed a... Hey! we're almost there! I see the factory!"
"Settle down, man!" said Tai with his ears still ringing from Matt's joyful cry. "I see something other than the factory on the horizon. It's pretty big, good thing I brought my telescope."
"Your telescope? I thought you gave that to Pixie." Sora said remembering her little daughter playing adventurer with the old telescope Tai brought with him to the Digiworld.
Tai snapped his fingers, getting his wife out of her reverie. "I did Sora, but it looks like she left it by the computer when we were sucked into the portal. I just picked it up and pocketed it right before we left."
Tai looked through his telescope, adjusting it once in a while, putting it in focus. He handed it to Joe and spoke with a quiet and very grave tone, "Joe you'd better take a look at this."
Joe took it from Tai and looked in the direction where Tai was pointing, "Ikkakumon..."
~@~
At the main entrance to the factory, T.K. and Izzy were armed with their iron rods and Ogremon with his huge mace. Opposite of them were Leomon, Ikkakumon, and a bunch of Gizamon and Mushroomon. To the left of them were four figures running as fast as their legs could carry them.
~@~
Joe, who was running with amazing speed towards the combatants, was in the lead with Matt taking the rear and Biyomon in Sora’s arms to reserve her strength. Each one of them had their trusty rods, which served the double purpose of walking sticks or powerful clubs.
They were getting pretty close now and saw Izzy, T.K., and Ogremon at the main entrance ready to defend to the last man.
~@~
"So Izzy, what’s the plan?" asked T.K. hiding behind a barricade of junk they had built up earlier to defend the huge factory.
"Well, first, we’re going to wait until we get some cover fire from the laser batteries. When the enemy gets close enough, we jump out from behind this barricade here and attack. Hopefully the lasers will take out a good amount of the rookies and maybe neutralize Leomon and Ikkakumon."
"Sounds good to me."
Jenji came on the headsets with bad news, "Guys, we have a problem. The lasers aren’t responding. Izz, you’re gonna have to think up something FAST."
"Ten-four, got it, and Jenji, pull out anything you can use as a weapon and help us out over here." Izzy changed frequencies so he could talk to Kari. "Kari, you there?"
"Yeah."
"Odds are saying we're going to lose. Try to find a way to get yourself and Mimi out quickly and join the others. We'll try to hold them off, Good Luck!"
"But..." Kari tried to interrupt
"No buts! Just do it! Also, tell Mimi I love her so very much!" Before Kari could try to change his mind, he quickly cut off the connection and gave new orders to the two. "T.K., stay here and guard the door, Ogremon and I will try to hold them off as long as we can. Keep up contact with Kari, and when she and Mimi get out, you scram too, got it!"
"Yessir." T.K. replied and took his position.
~@~
Kari threw her headphones on the floor in bewilderment and a tinge of anger. "Crazy Izzy's gonna sacrifice himself, we might as well make it worthwhile. C'mon Mimi, lean on me, and let's scram."
Kari tried to help Mimi up, but Mimi struggled against her friend.
"NO! I'm not letting him die here! He's going to die an old man with me by his side! Kari, we've gotta do something!"
"Fine," Kari said giving in and grabbing the two iron poles by the makeshift bed, "I don't like the thought of leaving my honey here too. But you're still too weak to go anywhere. I don't know what to do."
"Well, we could be decoys..."
Just then the headset crackled to life T.K. on the other end.
"Kari! Kari, are you there?!"
"Yeah, I'm here, we're okay, what's up."
"Don't leave the factory, things are getting really hot out here, I know Izzy won't like it but just try to hold out in there until we can draw them away. Your brother and Biyomon's here. Just stay put, alright Kari!"
"That won't be a problem at all." Kari said grinning at Mimi as the headset disconnected. "At least we won't have to worry about anyone sacrificing themselves. We still have a chance with my brother and the rest of the gang to help!"
Both Mimi and Kari nodded at each other in satisfaction.
~@~
"Biyomon, Digivolve to... Birdramon! Birdramon Digivolve to... Garudamon!"
Tai screamed a war cry as he and the rest of the Digidestined stormed the left flank, Izzy’s group aided by Jenji charged from the front, and Garudamon made airstrikes on large pockets of the evil Digimon.
"Harpoon Torpedo!" shouted Ikkakumon as one of his horns flew off the top of his head slamming into the factory wall. Fortunately, all it did was blast a small dent, mostly because the factory was made of Digizoid Steel. Nevertheless, enough torpedoes would eventually blast through the extremely strong material.
"Somebody cover me, I’m going in!" Joe cried, making a mad scramble to reclaim his Digimon. He was going to get Ikkakumon, his best friend, back at all costs. Matt came along side of him and together they knocked away the annoying Mushroomon and Gizamon attacking them from all sides.
~@~
Izzy was by himself fighting three Gizamon and a Mushroomon. He swiped the first one off its feet and slammed the bar onto its spiny back. The next two Gizamon were more cautious. Surrounding him on both sides, they sprung up and did their ‘four-leg kick’ attack, but instead of hitting him, Izzy simply stepped back and two more Gizamon were lying unconscious.
"Fungus Cruncher!"
The Mushroomon got him in the center of his stomach, throwing him back and leaving him breathless, but before it could pull off the ‘final blow’ Ogremon swept it away with his spiked club.
"Thanks." Izzy nodded in thanks and looked behind him. He saw that two groups made an attack where T.K. was. T.K., occupied with the first group left the entrance unguarded allowing the other group to go in. "Ogremon, I saw three Gizamon and two Mushroomon head into the factory, I need you to go after them and and help Kari protect Mimi."
"I’m on my way." Ogremon replied as both he and Izzy went to help T.K. After they had beaten them back, Ogremon and T.K. went inside to go after the intruders, while Izzy stayed on guard.
He watched as Garudamon gave both Leomon and Ikkakumon the beating of their lives. She easily dodged each attack, while using her Wing Blade attack to wear down the other two. Everytime she just blasted the ground near them. It was obvious she didn’t want to kill them.
He also saw Joe and Matt moving through at least seven evil Digimon just to get to Ikkakumon. Izzy knew right away what they were doing. After they freed Ikkakumon from the Black Digivice, they may even try to free Leomon from whatever hold DeviDramon had on him. Things were going well for now, and hopefully, the battle would soon be over...
"Leomon Digivolve to... SaberLeomon! Twin Fang!"
The attack hit Garudamon hard. She was already weakening noticably, but now her power was completely drained. Garudamon immediately de-Digivolved into Biyomon.
"Oh boy, this is certainly one inauspicious inconvenience..."
~@~
"Holy Crap! What the hell are we gonna do now, Matt? SaberLeomon’s a frickin’ Mega Digimon." Joe shouted frantically.
"Why the hell are you asking me?! I’m just helping you out, but if I were you, I’d say, 'LET'S GET THE FREAKING HELL OUT OF HERE!!!'" Matt howled, high-tailing it for his dear life, back where they came.
"GOOD IDEA!" and Joe followed suit, but stopped as suddenly as he started. Matt had already taken a good lead, but he knew that even if they ran, they couldn’t run their whole lives. <Which would be a couple minutes if something didn't happen quick,> he quickly thought to himself. Somebody had to stop this perpetual retreat. And that someone was going to be him.
~@~
Izzy was watching his friends go off in a general rout. After Leomon digivolved into SaberLeomon, Tai, Matt, Sora, and Biyomon were running like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. The reason they were doing this was because they were being chased by at least twelve crazy Digimon. It was twelve, because some of the others had finally woken up from their unconsciousness. Joe, on the other hand went chasing the twelve that were chasing his friends.
It would have been interesting for Izzy to watch Joe chase the enemy while the rest ran off, but he was a little too busy worrying his head off. One thing that added to his worries was the fact that Ogremon had lost his way inside the factory.
"Izzy, this is Ogremon. I lost my way, when those little punks split up. T.K. went one way and I went the other. It looks like I’m stuck in a big room with lots of blinking lights."
"Ogremon! You’ve been living inside there for at least three weeks already! Don’t you know your way out?!"
"I don’t have a good memory. Please don’t be mad at me. I have some good news and bad news. The good is that I smashed one of them into a bunch of blinking lights, and the bad news is that now the big screen says Laser Batteries Armed."
"That’s great news! I can’t get there so you’ll have to take over the weapon systems."
"Huh?"
"Okay, do you see a joystick, four buttons blinking red and three buttons blinking blue?"
"Uh-huh."
"Push the first red button, then the second blue button."
"It says, ‘Sector 1 Laser Defenses Armed’ and ‘Triple Fire Activated.'"
"Good, now do you see the big screen with a cross and a circle in the middle?"
"Yup."
"Use the joystick to aim it on that large group of bad Digimon, then pull the red trigger."
As he was speaking, three bright green lasers struck the group of Digimon pursuing Tai and the others. It disintegrated some and blasted away the rest.
"Great Job, Ogremon!" Izzy then decided to head into the factory and see how the rest of his friends were doing.
~@~
"Noooooooo!" SaberLeomon howled, "Why must you continue to oppose me! IF YOU SURRENDERED, your deaths might have been slightly less torturous. But now YOU must DIE! Howling Crusher!" A huge powerful force tore up the ground in front of Jenji, throwing him back and knocking him unconscious. "Your next, Twin Fang!" The attack went straight for Sora, but something happened. The crest of Love glowed with a bright red light, giving Biyomon, who had de-digivolved, an energy she had never felt before.
"Biyomon, Warp-Digivolve to... Phoenixmon! StarLight Explosion!"
The super-bright explosion caught SaberLeomon off guard and threw him into the air, but this big bad cat still had a couple lives left.
As the two Mega Digimon were fighting, Joe was making another run for Ikkakumon. He ran hard through the barrage of lasers which dissipated what was left of the force that was to destroy the Digidestined. He ran unopposed.
"This one’s for my friends!" he cried charging straight for Ikkakumon. "This one’s for Izzy!" He plunged the rod into the ground using it as a pole vault. "This one’s for Mimi!" Joe flew up into the air kicking his legs and arms madly about and grabbed onto the side of Ikkakumon’s white shaggy coat. "And this one’s for ME!!!" his chest glowed with a blue light revealing the crest of Reliability, and with the sharp blow of his fist, he shattered the Black Digivice. A bright white light surrounded Ikkakumon who then de-digivolved into Gomamon. After shaking off the shock, he immediately jumped into Joe’s arms.
"I’m so sorry for attacking you Joe. Will you forgive me?"
"Of course, Gomamon, but right now we gotta take care of SaberLeomon. Gomamon Digivolve!"
"Gomamon Digivolve to... Ikkakumon! Ikkakumon, Digivolve to... Zudomon!"
"C’mon, Zudomon! Let’s go kick some kitty BUTT!
"Vulcan’s Hammer!"
Leomon, who was already busy with Phoenixmon, was swept to the side and gave a great howl from the pain coming from his side and de-digivolved back to Leomon. There was no way he could face a Mega and an Ultimate Digimon as well as those annoying lasers which were constantly stinging him like bees. He did what any person with a brain would do... He ran for his life. It was finally over, all of the evil Digimon, except for Leomon were deleted.
Phoenixmon and Zudomon both de-digivolved back to Biyomon and Gomamon. Tai, Sora, Matt, and Jenji gathered around the seemingly exhausted Joe and were hugging him and patting him on the back, because he was the one who saved all of their butts from total annihilation. Not Tai nor Matt, him.
Gomamon came forward and Joe picked up his white, aquatic little friend. For every cynical thing Joe had ever said, Gomamon always had some joke up his sleeve to counter it. For every single thing Joe did, no matter how cowardly or how heroically he acted, he was behind him all the way. When his ever faithful friend attacked him, it dashed his hopes for everything and anything. Now, it was fully restored.
"You’re a real hero, Joe. You’re my hero... and my best friend."
"Thanks."
Ogremon, Mimi, Izzy, Kari, and T.K. all came running out of the factory, and joined the group in their celebration. Jenji hushed the group, then came running to Joe, hugging him, and crying on his shoulder.
"Joe, you saved us! You risked your life to save us all!" screamed an overly joyful Jenji.
Everybody sweatdropped.
~@~
A huge black dragon appeared from the shadows. It's tattered wings drifting in the cold breeze inside the dark castle lit by only a few candles. He shook his mighty tail and slammed it on the solid rock floor.
"Gennai! Leomon! You have both failed me!"
"Sorry, my lord." The two replied groveling at the thing’s feet. They trembled at his voice, knowing that continuous failure was completely unacceptable.
"Leomon! I am demoting you and putting Andromon in charge of my Personal Guard. Andromon, make plans for the destruction of the Digidestined immediately, using all means necessary, but Gatomon and Angemon will stay here and protect me. I will be in my chambers. Now LEAVE Me!"
DeviDramon’s Personal Guard left along with Gennai to renew their attempts on the lives of the Digidestined. DeviDramon knelt down before a large Black Ring which rippled. When it became smooth, a familiar being appeared. A monkey with kingly robes and a crown, a monkey...
"My lord and my king, King Etemon! What is your bidding?"
"Uh-huh! That’s the way uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it..."
TO BE CONTINUED...
The Battle between Good and Evil rages on...
Digimon TZ: The Beginning of The End
Episode 4: From Hell and Back Again
by: Gennai's Apprentice
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Izzy and Joe both cried in unison.
The battle had been going straight to hell. Leomon had already knocked out Birdramon and things got much worse as Mimi lay in the tall grass bleeding. Joe rushed over to Mimi with his Medkit, but Izzy was too busy fighting Leomon with Matt to help.
"Mimi... Mimi, you gotta hang on!" Joe said as he wrapped a bandage over her arm. "The Gizamon got you pretty bad and sliced a deep cut knicking your bone. You gotta stay strong, girl."
"Joe, behind you," she whispered, "Gizamon."
"I got 'em, Joe, you just concentrate on Mimi." Tai grunted as he stabbed it with his iron rod and it disappeared in little bits of data.
Tai and Sora had already beaten their three foes and Tai went over to backup Joe. Sora went out to help T.K. and Kari with their last enemy, but instead of continuing their attack on the youngest of the group, it turned and went straight for Sora.
"Birdramon, Digivolve to... Garudamon! Garudamon, Wing Blade!"
The attack incinerated the Gizamon into millions of data bits. That took care of one of the Gizamon, and now Garudamon went after Leomon who began a retreat towards the forest. Sora told Garudamon not to pursue, instead the great bird picked up the eight and flew them to Andromon's factory.
Inside the factory, Izzy was just staring at the door where Joe and Mimi had entered earlier. The rest of the Digidestined were just standing around as well as Jenji and even Ogremon who was crying.
"I believe this is the first time anybody's ever witnessed a virus Digimon crying." Jenji mussed to himself.
"I'm crying because Mimi's my friend and she helped me when I was injured, but now I can't even help her..."
Just then the door opened revealing a tired Joe in the doorway. "I've bandaged her up and put her arm in a sling, but she's lost too much blood. Fortunately, she was one of my first patients and I remember her blood type well... B positive, exactly like mine. I wanted to ask if any of you also have the same blood type."
All of them except Izzy shook their heads in dismay. Izzy just kept staring at Joe, then spoke up.
"I don't know what mine is, but I'll give it up for Mimi."
"I'm sorry Izzy, but I have no time for blood tests, I'm gonna need you right now Kari. You're studying to be a nurse correct?"
"Yeah."
"Mimi's missing a liter of blood, I'm going to supply half of it which would put her out of the danger zone, but I don't have the instruments necessary for a blood transfusion, so we'll have to do it manually and quickly."
"That's too dangerous, you'd lose too much blood and it could knock you out. Plus so many injections would be simply too harmful for both of you." Kari said shocked.
"It's alright, Kari. Forget about that, I just need you to do it." Joe responed calmly.
Joe then sat in a chair next to Mimi who was lying on the steel floor. He pulled out a sterile syringe from his bag, and Kari did as she was told.
Thirty minutes later, a sweating Kari walked outside the room. "Joe and Mimi are both unconscious. If things go right they should be up in a day or two." she told the group.
Two days later, they woke up. While they were asleep, Izzy had been most of the time lying in bed like a rock, unmoving. He got up, though, to talk once in a while. When he did, he talked to Jenji about the security laser cannons around the factory, which they hadn't noticed the first time they were there so many years ago. They finally got it working, as well as video camera attachments for live transmissions on his laptop and the main computer. After that, he simply lay on a bunch of chairs set up like a bed until Joe and Mimi woke up.
Joe was the first to get up and began complaining of a splitting headache. A few hours later, Mimi got up and the group gathered around her.
"Thanks Joe, for saving my life, twice." she whispered still sort of weak.
Joe started to blush, but for some reason, Izzy started to go red with anger. <Why am I like this. This isn't me. I can't let whatever it is control me.> Izzy thought to himself. Then Mimi got up and everybody surrounded her very happy for her recovery. After everything was over with, she kissed Joe on the cheek, and whispered something into his ear. Later, after the group broke up, Izzy called Joe over to another room, the programming room which controlled everything. The place where he shut down the entire factory with the single swipe of his finger.
"Joe, I don't want you to make any moves on my wife. You left her behind in my care, entrusting me with her. She's been the light of my life, the apple of my eye. Don't you dare take her away from me!"
"I save her life, and this is the thanks I get. I loved her long ago, but it's over now. We're still close friends, and what I did was not for my sake, but for Mimi's. I know I left her to you, because I knew you'd take care of her, and she loves you too. She told me. Apparently jealousy has taken over you, now."
"Look, I'm sorry..."
"No you're not, I can see it in your eyes. I'm outta here."
Joe turned to leave when Izzy grabbed him, but Joe, who had grown considerably bigger than Izzy because of his job, simply threw him to the wall, erasing the programming. Izzy just watched as Joe once more made for the exit of the circular, and now dark, room.
~@~
"Hey Jenji, what do you think about your new toy?" Tai asked putting a hand on the young man's shoulder.
The two were standing inside the control room of Andromon's factory. Jenji had been working hard for hours on end. His concentration dedicated to the task at hand.
"Toy?" Jenji asked in bewilderment and surprise.
"What I meant was, how's the security system?" Tai asked, his stern eyes looking into Jenji's
Jenji looked into the Tai's eyes, and what he saw in them didn't surprise him. In those dark brown eyes, his posture, his whole character radiated hope... him and his friends were the only hope left for his world and the inhabitants in it. "I don't know, Tai," Jenji said swivelling around in his chair. "The system is pretty old, so problems are to be expected. After a field test, it seems the lasers can put a pretty big dent in digizoid steel after a while."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that anything from Champions on down aren't a problem. An Ultimate would probably get the beating of his life, and well... I'm uncertain on the effects on a Mega."
"Good, good. Keep working on it, I'll get Izzy to see if he cou-- What the hell?" Tai shouted just as the whole facility was plunged into darkness.
"We're probably under attack, Jenji!" Tai exclaimed. "Try to get some power and contact the rest of the team."
"Tai, the entire system's down, the only way to get power back is to turn the emergency generators manually.
"Alright then, you go and check on those generators, while I check on Mimi and see how she is."
"Right!" Jenji said as he got up from his chair and slammed into a wall...
Later, after everybody, except for Joe and Izzy, was in the room where Mimi was recovering, Tai demanded to know what was going on.
"I don't know," replied T.K., "but I did see Joe leaving the factory."
"Why the hell would he do that?"
T.K. just shrugged at Tai's question, when the door opened and revealed Izzy who looked tired and had some bruises on his arm.
"We had a fight. Everything's okay, just that some programming was erased in the Primary Office."
"If everything's okay, then where's Joe?" asked Matt.
"I don't know. I simply don't know."
"I think I'm beginning to see what went on here." Sora said. She whispered something into Tai's ear for a few minutes, then Tai started speaking again.
"It looks like Joe left his bag here. Check if you can find something that can give us light, there aren't very many windows in this place."
"Here's some matches and flares," Kari offered, pulling some out of the bag.
"Thanks Kari. Me, Matt, and Sora, are gonna look for Joe."
"I want to help, it's my fault he's gone."
"No Izzy, you need to fix that problem you two made. Also, I want you to talk to Jenji on upgrading the lasers so at least it might scare a Mega Digimon away, got it?"
Izzy nodded his head wearily.
"Good, let's get to work."
~@~
"Life's cheap." Joe started talking to himself as he walked across the waving grass. "I've been walking for a while now, about thirty minutes maybe. I should've never left Japan. I could've been an artist or a poet maybe, but Jim just had to drag me along didn't he. Dang it Jim," he shouted to the clouds, "I could've had Mimi, but NO, I had to deal with diseased tribes, civil war victims, and a missile that could've killed me a million times over! If only I had the courage to tell her when it counted...
*Flashback*
"So, this'll be the last time I gonna see you, Mimi. Perhaps in a long time."
"Joe... I don't want you to leave."
"I promised my brother I would, and I'm going to stick to my promise."
"But..."
"Look, you have Izzy with you. I know he'll take care of you."
"I know he will too, but I'm REALLY going to miss you. Can't you like tell Jim or something."
"Look, Mimi, stop making this hard on me..."
"Come on Joe, our flight to Geneva is leaving in ten minutes! Hurry it up!" shouted Jim casually to his younger brother.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. I'm coming already. Boy Mimi, I'm already 23 and he still treats me like a kid."
"Give me a goodbye kiss at least."
The two then kissed each other, but it wasn't passionate. Instead it was a quick friendly kiss as Joe then went towards his brother. But he didn't go immediately.
"Izzy come over here."
"Yeah Joe."
"I want you to take care of Mimi, you got it." Joe said emphasizing the words 'take care.'
"I don't think I... But she loves you, not me."
"No, she love you as much as me, but she's too shy to say. She loved me as a brother... She loves you with a special love. A romantic love. Love like a wife to a husband."
"Are you serious?!" Izzy shouted in bewilderment, perhaps a little to loudly.
"Yes, she told me so." motioning him to quiet down. "Although I love her, my leaving will make it easier for her to come out of her shyness. I can't bring her along with me nor would I want to. Where I'm going will be unstable, warring, hostile nations. That's where my brother and I are going to be sent. To help those who are helpless, to fix what is broken. You can give her a good life..."
"Flight 275 for Geneva, Switzerland, last call. Departure in five minutes." the speakers echoed throughout the airport.
"Bye Izzy, take care of her."
"Thanks Joe."
Over in the distance, two teenagers, a guy and a girl were running toward the terminal.
"Finally, my sister and T.K. are here. Hurry up! Joe's leaving in a couple minutes!"
"Sorry we're late, finals took forever to finish." said T.K.
"Here we are again." Matt started, "The Digidestined, Champions of the Digital World separating for who knows how long."
"Yup, first Joe, then who knows who's next to leave." said Sora.
"Well I know one thing for sure, when we get together again, we are gonna KICK SOME SERIOUS BUTT!" exclaimed Tai.
"YEAH!!!" everybody cheered.
"Joe, no more time, we're gone!" Jim shouted by the gate leading into the airplane.
"Bye guys! I'll see you again some day!"
"Yeah, some day." whispered Mimi, "Some day..."
*End Flashback*
~@~
"Hey Mimi, how ya doin'?"
"Feeling much better, Kari."
"Do you need anything?"
"Yes, tell me how you guys were doing before we all came back to this cursed world. I notice Tai's matured a lot since I last saw him."
"Yeah, ever since our parents died in the car accident, he started to sober down. Every soccer team in Japan wants him because of his skill and leadership abilities. I mean, the Odaiban Rockets haven't lost a game for five years now."
"How 'bout Sora, what does she do now?"
"She's an author, a 'fiction' author. You know how we were all heroes for a while, but as soon as Odaiba was finished rebuilding, well... everybody just passes it off as a bad nightmare. She started writing about the Digiworld under nonfiction, but no one liked it because they thought it was too unrealistic. When she changed it to a fiction series, she won so many awards I don't think I can name them all!"
"You and T.K. are married now, huh? Well you're a nurse, what's T.K.?"
"He's in computer animations. It's a good job, pays more than a nurse and would put us a little higher than the middle class."
"Good, good." Mimi starts coughing and Kari heads off to get a glass of water for her when she bumps into somebody.
"Hi Kari."
"T.K.! You scared me!"
"Sorry. Izzy's almost done, and I was going to check up on him. I came here to see if you wanna come."
"Sure as soon as I get a glass of water for Mimi."
~@~
"JOE!!! Over here! Come back!"
Joe saw Tai, Matt and Sora who were still far but were catching up quickly. "Well, it looks like they finally found me. But why would I want to go to them, I mean, they're always... they're always... there when I needed them. This isn't me, this isn't ol' Reliable."
"Joe we've finally caught up with you! What are you doing?" asked Sora.
"I needed time alone and I got it, let's go back."
Matt, who was tired after trying to keep up with Tai and Sora agreed wholeheartedly, "Good idea, a very good idea."
~@~
Izzy had been working for two hours straight now trying to translate and decode the secret computer language. He had finally finished that part, now he took out his magnetic pen and started to write down exactly to the precise size and figure which was erased. It had been over an hour writing, erasing, writing, erasing, and so on until it was almost done. He only had three more figures to write in when T.K. and Kari came in.
"How's it going?"
"Almost done, T.K., almost done."
With a final flourish, he finished the last stroke and power returned to the factory and everything continued on as normal.
"Man Izzy, you are sooo smart!"
"Thanks Kari, but I'm not smart. Knowledgeable, but not smart." Izzy replied with a downcast face.
Kari completely ignored his comment told him that Mimi would like to see him as soon as he was done. He immediately went to her and as soon as T.K. and Kari left, Mimi started talking to her sweetheart.
"Izumi, you know I love you, right? Joe was never really in the past, but I don't feel the same way about you as I do to him. I mean, he was always there with me when we were last here. I felt the protection of the older brother I never had. But you, you are a different subject. I loved Joe for his hidden courage. I love you for your hidden sensitivity, your hidden caring, your hidden love. People think you're so obsessed with computers, but I know you, Izumi, I know you and I love you."
"Thanks Mimi, I love you so very much."
The two were enveloped in each other's warmth for a few minutes inside the cold steel room until a voice came over the intercom.
"Izzy, Jenji here. We got a problem, come to the control center immediately... Leomon's back and he's got Ikkakumon and a bigger army with him."
Izzy stood up and kissed his pink princess right before he raced off to the control room where Jenji was. Inside, he found T.K. and Kari as well as the one whom he was looking for. As soon as Izzy walked in, Jenji whispered and gave a motion for him to come over. There gave him a briefing on what was going on.
"Izzy, according to some security cameras around the five kilometer perimeter, Leomon’s back with an Ikkakumon, as well as more Gizamon as well as Mushroomon."
"I remember the little twerps. They’re some of the late Puppetmon’s friends." T.K. replied shuddering at the mention of Mushroomon. "We were playing his crazy game of ‘Seek and Destroy’ when it gave my hiding spot away."
"Well whatever they are, they sure do look mean." Kari said chidingly, to her blushing husband hugging him.
"Okay break it up you two. We're in the middle of an emergency, and you two just had to get romantic didn't you." Izzy broke in.
Kari and T.K. just shrugged at him and started kissing.
"Alright, alright already, I know you two didn't have your honeymoon yet, but first things first." Izzy looked in Kari's direction pushing her gently towards the door, "Kari, I need you to go back to Mimi and take care of her, you're our resident nurse, so that falls to you."
"What can I do Izz-man?"
Izzy looked at him quizzically then walked towards the door calling for T.K. to come with him "Come with me, T.K. Oh, and Jenji, try to get those lasers operational and ready in case we need them."
"Yes, sir!"
Jenji picked up one of several headsets on the dashboard and gave it to Izzy, "Before you go, here are some short range communication headsets, I already gave one to Ogremon."
"Prodigious, does Ogremon have his on?"
"He should." Jenji replied.
Izzy turned the headset on and contacted Ogremon, "Ogremon? Ogremon!"
"Yeah, Izzy?"
"Ogremon, meet T.K. and me at the main entrance, we have trouble."
"Got it." the Jolly-Green-Giant-with-a-Cudgel replied, "Oh and by the way, Izzy, Mimi wants to talk to you."
There was a little static and background sound, then the voice of his little princess came over to his attentive ears.
"Izzy, this is Mimi, Ogremon's headset was on super loud so I heard what you said. Please be careful, Koushiro Izumi, or else."
"I will, don't worry." He said with a small grin on his face. He cut off the connection, and turned to T.K. and Ogremon at the door, "Okay guys, let's kick some contemptible Digi-butt!"
Ogremon and T.K. just looked at each other and broke out in laughter.
~@~
"Ya' know Joe, you sure did walk a long way. I mean, didn't you at least stop to rest once?" Matt said panting hard, doubling-over.
They had been walking for almost two hours, according to the position of the Digital Sun, since Tai, Sora, Biyomon, and Matt had found Joe wandering around the island. Matt, who was never very athletic, was getting more tired than the times when he ran from some girl named Jun a long time ago. It took them about two hours just to find him, and now they had to make the return trip back.
"I've been working out since I left you guys," Joe said trying to help Matt up, "besides, I'm supposed to be the whiner, remember."
"Things change ol' buddy." Matt said, accepting Joe's help. "We've all changed a... Hey! we're almost there! I see the factory!"
"Settle down, man!" said Tai with his ears still ringing from Matt's joyful cry. "I see something other than the factory on the horizon. It's pretty big, good thing I brought my telescope."
"Your telescope? I thought you gave that to Pixie." Sora said remembering her little daughter playing adventurer with the old telescope Tai brought with him to the Digiworld.
Tai snapped his fingers, getting his wife out of her reverie. "I did Sora, but it looks like she left it by the computer when we were sucked into the portal. I just picked it up and pocketed it right before we left."
Tai looked through his telescope, adjusting it once in a while, putting it in focus. He handed it to Joe and spoke with a quiet and very grave tone, "Joe you'd better take a look at this."
Joe took it from Tai and looked in the direction where Tai was pointing, "Ikkakumon..."
~@~
At the main entrance to the factory, T.K. and Izzy were armed with their iron rods and Ogremon with his huge mace. Opposite of them were Leomon, Ikkakumon, and a bunch of Gizamon and Mushroomon. To the left of them were four figures running as fast as their legs could carry them.
~@~
Joe, who was running with amazing speed towards the combatants, was in the lead with Matt taking the rear and Biyomon in Sora’s arms to reserve her strength. Each one of them had their trusty rods, which served the double purpose of walking sticks or powerful clubs.
They were getting pretty close now and saw Izzy, T.K., and Ogremon at the main entrance ready to defend to the last man.
~@~
"So Izzy, what’s the plan?" asked T.K. hiding behind a barricade of junk they had built up earlier to defend the huge factory.
"Well, first, we’re going to wait until we get some cover fire from the laser batteries. When the enemy gets close enough, we jump out from behind this barricade here and attack. Hopefully the lasers will take out a good amount of the rookies and maybe neutralize Leomon and Ikkakumon."
"Sounds good to me."
Jenji came on the headsets with bad news, "Guys, we have a problem. The lasers aren’t responding. Izz, you’re gonna have to think up something FAST."
"Ten-four, got it, and Jenji, pull out anything you can use as a weapon and help us out over here." Izzy changed frequencies so he could talk to Kari. "Kari, you there?"
"Yeah."
"Odds are saying we're going to lose. Try to find a way to get yourself and Mimi out quickly and join the others. We'll try to hold them off, Good Luck!"
"But..." Kari tried to interrupt
"No buts! Just do it! Also, tell Mimi I love her so very much!" Before Kari could try to change his mind, he quickly cut off the connection and gave new orders to the two. "T.K., stay here and guard the door, Ogremon and I will try to hold them off as long as we can. Keep up contact with Kari, and when she and Mimi get out, you scram too, got it!"
"Yessir." T.K. replied and took his position.
~@~
Kari threw her headphones on the floor in bewilderment and a tinge of anger. "Crazy Izzy's gonna sacrifice himself, we might as well make it worthwhile. C'mon Mimi, lean on me, and let's scram."
Kari tried to help Mimi up, but Mimi struggled against her friend.
"NO! I'm not letting him die here! He's going to die an old man with me by his side! Kari, we've gotta do something!"
"Fine," Kari said giving in and grabbing the two iron poles by the makeshift bed, "I don't like the thought of leaving my honey here too. But you're still too weak to go anywhere. I don't know what to do."
"Well, we could be decoys..."
Just then the headset crackled to life T.K. on the other end.
"Kari! Kari, are you there?!"
"Yeah, I'm here, we're okay, what's up."
"Don't leave the factory, things are getting really hot out here, I know Izzy won't like it but just try to hold out in there until we can draw them away. Your brother and Biyomon's here. Just stay put, alright Kari!"
"That won't be a problem at all." Kari said grinning at Mimi as the headset disconnected. "At least we won't have to worry about anyone sacrificing themselves. We still have a chance with my brother and the rest of the gang to help!"
Both Mimi and Kari nodded at each other in satisfaction.
~@~
"Biyomon, Digivolve to... Birdramon! Birdramon Digivolve to... Garudamon!"
Tai screamed a war cry as he and the rest of the Digidestined stormed the left flank, Izzy’s group aided by Jenji charged from the front, and Garudamon made airstrikes on large pockets of the evil Digimon.
"Harpoon Torpedo!" shouted Ikkakumon as one of his horns flew off the top of his head slamming into the factory wall. Fortunately, all it did was blast a small dent, mostly because the factory was made of Digizoid Steel. Nevertheless, enough torpedoes would eventually blast through the extremely strong material.
"Somebody cover me, I’m going in!" Joe cried, making a mad scramble to reclaim his Digimon. He was going to get Ikkakumon, his best friend, back at all costs. Matt came along side of him and together they knocked away the annoying Mushroomon and Gizamon attacking them from all sides.
~@~
Izzy was by himself fighting three Gizamon and a Mushroomon. He swiped the first one off its feet and slammed the bar onto its spiny back. The next two Gizamon were more cautious. Surrounding him on both sides, they sprung up and did their ‘four-leg kick’ attack, but instead of hitting him, Izzy simply stepped back and two more Gizamon were lying unconscious.
"Fungus Cruncher!"
The Mushroomon got him in the center of his stomach, throwing him back and leaving him breathless, but before it could pull off the ‘final blow’ Ogremon swept it away with his spiked club.
"Thanks." Izzy nodded in thanks and looked behind him. He saw that two groups made an attack where T.K. was. T.K., occupied with the first group left the entrance unguarded allowing the other group to go in. "Ogremon, I saw three Gizamon and two Mushroomon head into the factory, I need you to go after them and and help Kari protect Mimi."
"I’m on my way." Ogremon replied as both he and Izzy went to help T.K. After they had beaten them back, Ogremon and T.K. went inside to go after the intruders, while Izzy stayed on guard.
He watched as Garudamon gave both Leomon and Ikkakumon the beating of their lives. She easily dodged each attack, while using her Wing Blade attack to wear down the other two. Everytime she just blasted the ground near them. It was obvious she didn’t want to kill them.
He also saw Joe and Matt moving through at least seven evil Digimon just to get to Ikkakumon. Izzy knew right away what they were doing. After they freed Ikkakumon from the Black Digivice, they may even try to free Leomon from whatever hold DeviDramon had on him. Things were going well for now, and hopefully, the battle would soon be over...
"Leomon Digivolve to... SaberLeomon! Twin Fang!"
The attack hit Garudamon hard. She was already weakening noticably, but now her power was completely drained. Garudamon immediately de-Digivolved into Biyomon.
"Oh boy, this is certainly one inauspicious inconvenience..."
~@~
"Holy Crap! What the hell are we gonna do now, Matt? SaberLeomon’s a frickin’ Mega Digimon." Joe shouted frantically.
"Why the hell are you asking me?! I’m just helping you out, but if I were you, I’d say, 'LET'S GET THE FREAKING HELL OUT OF HERE!!!'" Matt howled, high-tailing it for his dear life, back where they came.
"GOOD IDEA!" and Joe followed suit, but stopped as suddenly as he started. Matt had already taken a good lead, but he knew that even if they ran, they couldn’t run their whole lives. <Which would be a couple minutes if something didn't happen quick,> he quickly thought to himself. Somebody had to stop this perpetual retreat. And that someone was going to be him.
~@~
Izzy was watching his friends go off in a general rout. After Leomon digivolved into SaberLeomon, Tai, Matt, Sora, and Biyomon were running like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. The reason they were doing this was because they were being chased by at least twelve crazy Digimon. It was twelve, because some of the others had finally woken up from their unconsciousness. Joe, on the other hand went chasing the twelve that were chasing his friends.
It would have been interesting for Izzy to watch Joe chase the enemy while the rest ran off, but he was a little too busy worrying his head off. One thing that added to his worries was the fact that Ogremon had lost his way inside the factory.
"Izzy, this is Ogremon. I lost my way, when those little punks split up. T.K. went one way and I went the other. It looks like I’m stuck in a big room with lots of blinking lights."
"Ogremon! You’ve been living inside there for at least three weeks already! Don’t you know your way out?!"
"I don’t have a good memory. Please don’t be mad at me. I have some good news and bad news. The good is that I smashed one of them into a bunch of blinking lights, and the bad news is that now the big screen says Laser Batteries Armed."
"That’s great news! I can’t get there so you’ll have to take over the weapon systems."
"Huh?"
"Okay, do you see a joystick, four buttons blinking red and three buttons blinking blue?"
"Uh-huh."
"Push the first red button, then the second blue button."
"It says, ‘Sector 1 Laser Defenses Armed’ and ‘Triple Fire Activated.'"
"Good, now do you see the big screen with a cross and a circle in the middle?"
"Yup."
"Use the joystick to aim it on that large group of bad Digimon, then pull the red trigger."
As he was speaking, three bright green lasers struck the group of Digimon pursuing Tai and the others. It disintegrated some and blasted away the rest.
"Great Job, Ogremon!" Izzy then decided to head into the factory and see how the rest of his friends were doing.
~@~
"Noooooooo!" SaberLeomon howled, "Why must you continue to oppose me! IF YOU SURRENDERED, your deaths might have been slightly less torturous. But now YOU must DIE! Howling Crusher!" A huge powerful force tore up the ground in front of Jenji, throwing him back and knocking him unconscious. "Your next, Twin Fang!" The attack went straight for Sora, but something happened. The crest of Love glowed with a bright red light, giving Biyomon, who had de-digivolved, an energy she had never felt before.
"Biyomon, Warp-Digivolve to... Phoenixmon! StarLight Explosion!"
The super-bright explosion caught SaberLeomon off guard and threw him into the air, but this big bad cat still had a couple lives left.
As the two Mega Digimon were fighting, Joe was making another run for Ikkakumon. He ran hard through the barrage of lasers which dissipated what was left of the force that was to destroy the Digidestined. He ran unopposed.
"This one’s for my friends!" he cried charging straight for Ikkakumon. "This one’s for Izzy!" He plunged the rod into the ground using it as a pole vault. "This one’s for Mimi!" Joe flew up into the air kicking his legs and arms madly about and grabbed onto the side of Ikkakumon’s white shaggy coat. "And this one’s for ME!!!" his chest glowed with a blue light revealing the crest of Reliability, and with the sharp blow of his fist, he shattered the Black Digivice. A bright white light surrounded Ikkakumon who then de-digivolved into Gomamon. After shaking off the shock, he immediately jumped into Joe’s arms.
"I’m so sorry for attacking you Joe. Will you forgive me?"
"Of course, Gomamon, but right now we gotta take care of SaberLeomon. Gomamon Digivolve!"
"Gomamon Digivolve to... Ikkakumon! Ikkakumon, Digivolve to... Zudomon!"
"C’mon, Zudomon! Let’s go kick some kitty BUTT!
"Vulcan’s Hammer!"
Leomon, who was already busy with Phoenixmon, was swept to the side and gave a great howl from the pain coming from his side and de-digivolved back to Leomon. There was no way he could face a Mega and an Ultimate Digimon as well as those annoying lasers which were constantly stinging him like bees. He did what any person with a brain would do... He ran for his life. It was finally over, all of the evil Digimon, except for Leomon were deleted.
Phoenixmon and Zudomon both de-digivolved back to Biyomon and Gomamon. Tai, Sora, Matt, and Jenji gathered around the seemingly exhausted Joe and were hugging him and patting him on the back, because he was the one who saved all of their butts from total annihilation. Not Tai nor Matt, him.
Gomamon came forward and Joe picked up his white, aquatic little friend. For every cynical thing Joe had ever said, Gomamon always had some joke up his sleeve to counter it. For every single thing Joe did, no matter how cowardly or how heroically he acted, he was behind him all the way. When his ever faithful friend attacked him, it dashed his hopes for everything and anything. Now, it was fully restored.
"You’re a real hero, Joe. You’re my hero... and my best friend."
"Thanks."
Ogremon, Mimi, Izzy, Kari, and T.K. all came running out of the factory, and joined the group in their celebration. Jenji hushed the group, then came running to Joe, hugging him, and crying on his shoulder.
"Joe, you saved us! You risked your life to save us all!" screamed an overly joyful Jenji.
Everybody sweatdropped.
~@~
A huge black dragon appeared from the shadows. It's tattered wings drifting in the cold breeze inside the dark castle lit by only a few candles. He shook his mighty tail and slammed it on the solid rock floor.
"Gennai! Leomon! You have both failed me!"
"Sorry, my lord." The two replied groveling at the thing’s feet. They trembled at his voice, knowing that continuous failure was completely unacceptable.
"Leomon! I am demoting you and putting Andromon in charge of my Personal Guard. Andromon, make plans for the destruction of the Digidestined immediately, using all means necessary, but Gatomon and Angemon will stay here and protect me. I will be in my chambers. Now LEAVE Me!"
DeviDramon’s Personal Guard left along with Gennai to renew their attempts on the lives of the Digidestined. DeviDramon knelt down before a large Black Ring which rippled. When it became smooth, a familiar being appeared. A monkey with kingly robes and a crown, a monkey...
"My lord and my king, King Etemon! What is your bidding?"
"Uh-huh! That’s the way uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it..."
TO BE CONTINUED...
The Battle between Good and Evil rages on...