Episode 5 - Mission of Courage

Digimon belongs to Toei Animation Co., Fox Kids, Saban Entertainment,
Bandai, and so on... and is used without consent. I'm only borrowing
them I'll return them as soon as they release uncut episodes with
original Japanese language and subtitles.
Daisuke: What?! They'll never do that!
Archive: It's not my fault they won't cater to their market.

_________________

"We began our first mission, which was to find the Digimentals of
Aijou and Chishiki. I got the one for love," Miyako said happily.
"However, the one for knowledge disappeared on us, and Koushiro-sempai
said it went to Earth to be with its true owner."

"We had a problem during that mission, though. This black dragon
like digimon wanted to eat Koushiro-sempai for breakfast. That was
when I got the digimental and my digimon partner, Hawkmon. He armor
evolved to Holsmon and we flew to his rescue with Mimi and Tentomon."

_________________

Taichi gaze out across a field. Since his group had gotten the first
digimental before lunch, they had decided to go search for the next
digimental, Yuuki, after they ate. However, the portal had dropped
them off a good distance away from it. They decided to track it
down anyway. When night fell, they still hadn't found the digimental,
so they were forced to camp out with no camping gear to speak of.

Taichi had taken second watch. Yamato had taken first watch, and
Miyako and Mimi got third and fourth watch respectively since they
both had digimon who could evolve to a higher stage.

Taichi frowned as he glanced over to where Hikari slept. She had
insisted on sleeping away from the group in fear of waking them if she had another nightmare.

"The stars sure are beautiful," Yamato commented.

Taichi glared. "You're supposed to be getting some sleep."

"I can't seem to get comfortable. This entire situation is just
too bizarre. If they need people to fight in a war, why us? Why
not soldiers, martial artists, or anyone else who knows how to fight?"

"Because there's something special about each of you," Gabumon answered.
"You all have powers and are able to help us evolve. At least that's
what it says in one of the chambers at the temple."

Taichi laughed. "What? We have abilities like, say opening dimensional
portals or healing others with a touch?"

"Quite possibly." Gabumon nodded. "But it's my guess that not every
person has the ability to make a digimon evolve."

Taichi shrugged. "I guess that makes sense."

Agumon yawned.

"Hang in there, bud. Our watch is almost done," Taichi encouraged him.

"I'm try-"

Agumon was interrupted as some started to yell.

"Please no! Don't do this! I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I'll never do that again! Please NO!"

Taichi's legs wobbled as he fell to the ground, unable to take his
eyes off the person who was in the grips of a nightmare.

Yamato stared, not sure what to do.

"What's going on?" Agumon asked.

The nightmare came to an end as Koushiro screamed out in absolute
pain and grabbed his lame leg. He panted trying to catch his breath
and tried to stop the tears in his eyes from flowing.

"Koushiro-sempai, are you all right?" Miyako questioned.

Hikari looked up from where she had been sleeping. "That's a first.
Normally I'm the one who wakes people up."

"What happened?" Mimi asked.

Koushiro sagged, noticing everyone around him. "It was just a nightmare. Nothing to worry about."

"You were dreaming about when your leg was shattered, weren't you?" Miyako questioned.

Koushiro waved her off. "Doesn't matter."

"Doesn't matter?!" Mimi called out in shock. "You were pleading
for someone not to do something and then grabbed your leg in pain. I want to know what happened."

Miyako glanced around. Koushiro just sat there, unwilling to say
anything. Taichi had curled up into a ball. Sora had turned away
from the group. Hikari didn't look like she was going to answer
this either. She turned to Koushiro. "Do you want me to answer that?"

Miyako sighed when she got no answer. She looked up at the confused
looks of the group. "It all began with a prank. There was this ass
hole that lived near Taichi-san. He did all sorts of mean things
to people because he didn't care. Taichi-san decided to teach him
a lesson with a prank, which Koushiro-sempai helped him with. The
problem was, Koushiro-sempai was caught and found out the hard way the guy was Yakuza."

"Oh, my...." Mimi looked faint.

"Geez." Daisuke flinched.

"What's Yakuza?" Piyomon asked.

"Organized crime." Sora noticed that didn't exactly answer the question
for Piyomon. "A bunch of bad people who work together."

"Oh, like Devimon and his minions." Piyomon nodded.

"Sort of," Sora replied.

"How could you let that happen? Why didn't you try to help him?"
Yamato grabbed Taichi by the collar and pulled him to his feet.
He blinked noticing that Taichi was crying.

Taichi turned his head away. "I was a coward, all right? I was afraid
if I tried to save him, I'd get hurt or killed too."

"You jerk." Yamato punched Taichi, who fell to the ground from the blow.

Taichi just laid there, almost waiting to be kicked.

Yamato turned away in disgust.

Taichi pulled away as he felt a small hand touch him. "Leave me alone, Hikari."

Hikari shook her head. "Niichan, you did the right thing by not
trying to help him then. You would've been hurt too."

Taichi curled back into a ball. "It was all my fault. It was my
plan and I failed to make sure Koushiro got away."

Not sure what else to do, most of them tried to go back to sleep.
Miyako comforted Koushiro, while Hikari tried to do the same for
Taichi. Sora just watched them, wanting to do something but had
no clue as to what she could do.

_________________

"That digimental is somewhere nearby." Daisuke looked up from his digivice.

"I'll bet it's in that cave." Gomamon pointed off to the distance.

"Why'd do you think that?" Taichi questioned.

Gomamon shrugged. "Oh, maybe it's the dozen Bakemon and that really
evil looking Bakemon guarding it."

"A Lord Bakemon?" Piyomon flapped over to him.

"Nope." Gomamon shook his head. "But he's probably the next evolution of Bakemon."

"Wonderful. A dozen adult digimon and a perfection level," Tentomon
moaned. "How are we supposed to get that digimental?"

"What are these Bakemon?" Daisuke asked.

"They're ghostly digimon of limited intelligence," Gomamon answered.
"Alone, a Bakemon isn't much of a threat, even for a child digimon.
In large numbers or with a leader, they are very dangerous."

The evil looking Bakemon was Phantomon, a ghostly digimon whose
scythe is sure to render his opponents as dead as he is.

"Any ideas, Daisuke?" Yamato asked.

Daisuke blinked and pointed at himself. "When did I become leader?"

Koushiro limped toward him. "Better you than Taichi."

Taichi sagged but said nothing.

"I guess." Daisuke laughed nervously as he remembered what happened
last night. "Let's see. Comparable number of troops, but they out
class us in fire power. What we need to do is lure away most of
their troops and then get the rest of us through and try to get the digimental."

Taichi nodded. "We'll need to decide who breaks up into which teams."

"Right." Daisuke nodded. "Those going into the cave will be those
of us without digimon. We'll need two others to back us up in case
we don't distract enough guards."

"I'll stay to help you guys get through," Taichi volunteered.

"So will I," Yamato added.

Gomamon raised his flipper. "I won't be much good as a decoy."

Koushiro sighed. "I'll have to stay behind as well."

"You can come with me, Koushiro-sempai. Holsmon should be able to
carry both of us easily," Miyako suggested.

Hawkmon folded his wings. "I don't appreciate being a beast of burden,
but I guess I don't get much of a choice."

Koushiro thought about it. "We can also use Holsmon as a secondary
decoy to draw off more guards. If all of them chase after the first
group, we can offer air support."

Daisuke nodded. "That's a good idea."

"Let's get to it," Taichi said.

"Can you evolve now?" Mimi asked Palmon.

Palmon seized up and then relaxed. "Nope. Seems I can only evolve
when you need me to. And you don't need Togemon just yet."

Mimi nodded. "Oh, I guess that makes sense."

"Only when we need it, huh?" Sora looked over at Piyomon. "Guess you're our protectors then."

"Yes." Piyomon nodded. "Well, if we're going to do this, we should start now."

"Right." Sora glanced at Mimi. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Mimi sighed. "Let's go."

"Wish us luck." Sora ran off with Piyomon, Mimi and Palmon.

_________________

Guard duty was boring. Here he was protecting some item his lord
couldn't use, or even move. Getting any intelligent conversation
out of his men would be an exercise in frustration.

"Magical Flame!"
"Poison Ivy!"

Phantomon snapped out of his thoughts as a Bakemon was attacked
and slammed against the side of the hill. He blinked seeing two
people standing behind the attacking digimon. "Chosen here?! Get them!"

No sooner than he barked that order, the two Chosen and their digimon
retreated into some dense trees.

"You four, stop!" Phantomon ordered.

Six of them turned around and looked at him, questioningly.

Phantomon sighed. "Remain here and guard the entrance."

"Red Sun!"
"Petite Thunder!"

A Bakemon exploded into its component data.

Miyako blinked. "We... we killed it?"

"Snap out of it," Holsmon called out. "We're still in danger." He
flew off, being chased by the remaining Bakemon.

Phantomon gazed hardened in one direction. "Don't think you'll get
me to follow any more of your decoys."

"We didn't expect you to," Taichi replied smugly.

"Baby Flame!"
"Petite Fire!"

Phantomon scowled as the two fiery attacks struck him. "Do you really
think you can harm me with you're little attacks? Let's see how
this chain suits you." The chain connected to the bottom of his scythe shot out.

Taichi dived away as it almost struck him.

"You asked for it. Agumon evolve!" A pillar of light surrounded
the tiny dinosaur, and when it sub-sided a full sized and well fed
looking Tyrannosaurus Rex stood there with a horned mask over his head. "Greymon! Mega Flame!"

Phantomon cleaved the fireball in two with his scythe. "You'll still
have to do better than that, I'm afraid." He caught some motion
out of the corner of his eye. "But I must say you are a clever bunch."
His chain whipped out and wrapped around Takeru's neck.

"Takeru!" Yamato screamed in horror.

"Gabumon evolve!" A pillar of light encased the horned lizard with
a fur coat. When it faded an enormous wolf that was two meters tall
stood in his place. "Garurumon! Fox Fire!" A blue flame, aimed at
the chain, shot out of the wolf's mouth.

"Mega Flame!" A large fireball shot out of Greymon's mouth and struck the chain as well.

Phantomon blinked as his chain broke from the combined attack.

Takeru pulled the chain free from his neck and gasped for breath.
"You two go ahead," he wheezed out.

Yamato hovered over his little brother. "We'll take care of him. Go!"

Daisuke and Hikari glanced at each other, nodded, and then ran into the cave.

"This may be a challenge after all. Soul Chopper!" Phantomon swung
his blade sending out black energies. He seemed to smile as Greymon
fell to his knees. "Then again, maybe not."

_________________

"I can't run anymore," Mimi whined.

"But they're still behind us!" Sora retorted.

Mimi tripped and collapsed to the ground. "Go on. Forget about me."

Sora turned around and ran to help Mimi up. "Not a chance."

"Now we have you," the lead Bakemon said.

"Palmon evolve!" A pillar of light sprang up and a giant cactus
sprang from it. "Togemon! Let me introduce you to my right fist!"

The Bakemon flew into a tree from the force of Togemon's punch.
The rest of them swarmed around the large digimon.

Togemon smiled. "Prickly Bang Bang!" Needles shot out of her body,
turning the ghostly digimon into pin cushions.

"That hurt," the Bakemon closest to the cactus said as he started to pull out the needles.

Two others tried to attack Togemon, put her fists were proving that to be a painful mistake.

Another one moved to what looked to be an easier target, but crashed
into a tree as Piyomon blasted him with Magical Flame.

The last Bakemon hit by the needles and the first one punched by
Togemon approached the two girls. "We'll be rewarded if we kill you," one of them commented.

Sora got between the Bakemon and Mimi. "Piyomon help!"

"Sora!" Piyomon shouted, seeing her situation. "Piyomon evolve!"
A pillar of light erupted where the pink bird stood. Suddenly a
gigantic pair of fiery reddish-orange wings stretched forth, and
the light subsided to reveal a couple stories tall bird that had
a flat beak with crocked teeth growing out it. "Birdramon! Meteor
Wing!" The giant bird flapped once and sent streaks of fire at the
Bakemon that were about to attack Sora and Mimi.

"Oh, shit," one of the two Bakemon said before being incinerated with his partner.

"You killed them?" Mimi backed away from both Sora and Birdramon. "How could you kill them?"

"This is a war. It's either them or us," Sora tried to say firmly, but her voice shook.

The remaining Bakemon looked at the two adult digimon.

"Morale check?"
"Failed."
"Let's run!"
"Sounds good to me."

The four Bakemon fled into the forest.

Sora sighed in relief, watching them retreat. "Come on, Mimi. We
got to get back to Taichi and the others to see if they need our help."

"I'm not going with you." Mimi crossed her arms and didn't move
from where she was sitting. "You had no reason to kill them."

Sora was about to say something when she heard an explosion. "I'm
going back now. Are you coming or not?"

"No," Mimi replied firmly.

Togemon devolved. "Go on ahead. I'll keep her safe."

"Fine." Sora grabbed onto Birdramon's leg. "Let's go."

"Okay." Birdramon took flight, leaving the two behind.

_________________

"We lost them," Koushiro sighed in relief.

"It wasn't too difficult considering how slow they are," Holsmon
replied. "Miyako-san, are you all right?"

"Why did you kill him?" Miyako asked emotionlessly.

"I either overestimated that Bakemon or underestimated my attack.
I had not planned to delete him, just knock him out of action."

"Come on, we better go back to the others and see if they need our help," Koushiro suggested.

Miyako nodded slowly. "I guess."

_________________

"Oh, shit! It's protected," Daisuke moaned seeing that it was guarded.

The digimon sitting by the Digimental of Yuuki looked up. "If you want it, take it."

Daisuke looked at Hikari in confusion.

Hikari shrugged. "We're going to have to try. You go first."

"Gee, thanks."

The digimon just sat there and didn't move as Daisuke cautiously
approached. He looked at the guy as he clutched the egg with a curved
blade coming out it. The digimental glowed and moved easily. A bluish
light spiraled from the ground.

Daisuke blinked as a blue and white meter tall dragon like lizard
appeared. It opened its eyes slowly and then glomped the boy. "Free
at last. Hi. I'm V-mon, your friend for life."

An explosion rocked the cave.

The digimon 'guardian' stood up. "Your friends will need help to fight Phantomon."

"Great. A battle already." V-mon grinned.

"I'm suppose to use my courage, right?" Daisuke composed himself.
"Here goes nothing. Digimental up!"

"V-mon armor evolve!" A sphere encased V-mon and shattered in a
fiery explosion that caused no damage. The lizard now stood over
two meters tall and had flaming red armor on his knees, arms and
head. "Burning with courage, Fladramon!"

"Cool! Let's go help them." Daisuke ran down the tunnel followed by Fladramon.

Hikari turned and began to follow.

"Hikari, wait."

Hikari spun around. "How do you know my name?"

The digimon sort of looked something like a mage from those western
stories, except he had patches on several spots of his clothes.
"I am Wizarmon. I think we should talk."

_________________

Omake! Omake! Omake! Omake! Omake! Omake! Omake! Omake! Omake!

"Hawkmon!" Miyako screeched in horror as a large orange and white
fury tiger looking monster swallowed him whole

"Tora-chan, spit him out now!" A girl with light-brown shoulder length hair ordered.

Tora gave her a 'do I have to?' look.

The girl glared.

Tora spit out Hawkmon and the bird rolled to Miyako's feet.

"Ew. That was disgusting." Hawkmon tried to shake off the saliva that was coating him.

"But Mayuko, you said there would be a lot of food at your family reunion." Tora pouted.

"I am not on the menu, thank you very much." Hawkmon looked at his
feathers in dismay. "Miyako-san, do you know where there are any baths or showers?"

Miyako shrugged. "You have as much clue as I do. Just use that fountain over there for now."

"If I must." Hawkmon sighed and went to the fountain.

Miyako glanced at the creature with Mayuko. "That's a Toramon?"

Mayuko blinked in confusion. "No, his name's just Tora."

Miyako scratched her head. "He's not a digimon?"

Mayuko shook her head. "I don't think so. He's an oni."

"An evil spirit?" Miyako stared at the creature. "Well, I guess that's possible."

"Is he your boyfriend?" Mayuko asked, pointing at Hawkmon.

"What?!" Miyako called out in shock. "How can you ask that? He's
not even the same species I am."

Mayuko shrugged. "Love can be blind and it hardly recognizes species."

Tora sagged. "Tell me about it."

"Come on, Tora-chan, let's find you something you can eat." Mayuko left with the large oni.

Miyako sweat-dropped. "No way.... Ew...."

"What's wrong?" Hawkmon asked as he tried to shake some water out of his feathers.

Miyako looked at him and thought about what the girl said and shuddered. "It's nothing."

~~~~~~~~~~

Chibi-Sora turned off the monitor. "That was bizarre."

Chibi-Taichi nodded. "Sure was. But Inoue Mayuko and Tora are an
official couple in the manga, Ushio & Tora. It makes you wonder
even more about Inoue Miyako of our series, doesn't it? She has flirted with Shurimon."

Chibi-Sora smacked him. "Well, that's enough of that. Stay tuned for next time. Be seeing you."

"That's my line," Chibi-Taichi moaned from the ground.

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