05-31-2009, 11:09 PM
Seeing that the previous problem is fixed and the auto-merging of posts is off, I now present the continuation of this story ^^
Chapter 6: Reinforcements
"Hurry up, Davis, we've got to get the soda before any of our... 'friends' show up." Yolei rushed the goggle-headed teen into her family's convenience store, a silver haired kid following behind in a fresher version of his original clothes. They immediately went for the refrigerated section of the store and picked up liter bottles and six-packs of all the soda they could carry, putting them into shopping bags. Lei had an idea. He didn't know if it would work out right, but it was worth a try.
"Wait a moment..." Lei said retrieving his backpack. "Put some of them in this." Unsure why, they start placing some of the carbo drinks into his backpack, which doesn't bulge from the quantities of it, and what they could carry in the shopping bags so they would have some. Davis and Yolei thought about asking him about the backpack, but time was short.
"Who would have thought soda would be the way to stop this thing...?" Davis almost chuckled as he picked up a few cases of Sprite and placed them into the backpack.
"Well, who would have thought you'd have to save the world." Yolei smirked. The Digidestined of courage rolled his eyes as Lei puts back on his backpack.
"You sure are strong Lei." Yolei remarks.
"This backpack can hold more than it looks. Weight doesn't eff--" The lights blinked and frizzled before they clicked off completely, leaving the three in the dark, "--fect it... Much. "
"Uh-oh..." Davis murmured.
"RUN!!" Yolei screeched, nabbing all the soda she could, dashing for the front door with Davis close behind, Lei following. As they reached for the glass doors, they began to shiver and quake.
"This isn't good..." Lei states. He tries to stop, but slips and falls onto the floor on to his side, a soda pinching his back as he fell onto his backpack. Yolei slid to a stop and caught Davis before the glass itself shattered towards them. Shards cut all through their skin and the shopping bags as they fell to the ground, some of the soda spraying open and dribbling over the floor. Lei's jacket and jeans got a little cut up, but he only got a few minor cuts on his arms, but a shard was implaled into his leg. Davis moaned and plucked a large chunk of glass from his arm before struggling to his feet and helping Yolei up. Lei groaned aloud as he pulled the peice out of his leg, now bleeding a little, but he was able to get back to his feet, taggering a little. As Davis got Yolei to her feet, he heard a cry from outside the store quickly rise in volume, taking him by surprise. "Veemon....?"
"--- HEADBUTT!!" Davis felt the full force of his own Digimon's attack which went him flying, luckily, into an aisle of bath tissues and paper towels. This still shook the teen and momentarily stunned him as the small blue Digimon turned to Yolei. Lei, surprised, was working on his Fireball spell and prepared to attack. His right hand had red particals forming slowly since it was difficult to concentrate with the injury to his leg.
"Get back Yolei!" Yolei, not noticing what Lei had in mind, backed away but Veemon caught her arm and pulled her forward, using his small size to trip her right off her feet painfully onto the glass. He wasted no time in keeping a firm hold on her wrist, wrenching it up her back and making her yelp in pain as the blue Digimon increased the pressure to the humerus and scapula. The Digidestined of Time's eyes shot wide in shock that Veemon would even do such a thing to a friend of his, then narrowed, remembering that this wasn't the same Veemon that he knew. He wanted to attack, the flame ready in his hand, but he would hit Yolei as well as Veemon, so he closed his eyes and did what he didn't want to do. She clawed at the glass and grit her teeth as she tried hard to raise herself from the floor.
"Let me go!!!" Yolei shouts to her captor.
"Insolent little humans... So easy to pick off one by one..." Veemon scoffed aloud, pressing against her arm even hard and making Yolei cry out with pain. Veemon seemed to not even notice Lei's presence at all.
"Hey, blue boy." Veemon glared at the one in front of him. "Forget about someone? Fireball!" He threw the fireball straight for Veemon. He let go of Yolei and dodged the fireball and it went out the window, it's explosion making a small crater outside.
Veemon sneered at Lei. "Missed me."
"Not quite." A deeper voice called, standing to Veemon's right. It was another person that looked like Lei, but with brown hair and glasses. He wore a black color outfit similar to Lei's.
"Dark Beam Blaster!!" Purple beams shot out faster than Veemon could respond and was pummeled with the attack. Veemon crashed into a wall where the main counter was, splintering it as he connected with it. Lei joined next to his counterpart, finished with the attack. Davis was up and helping Yolei up off the floor.
"Damn, how did he get so strong, and why...?" He panted, holding his side and checking on Yolei. He saw Lei doing it for him, and another that resembled him standing a few feet away from them. -Did that blow mess up my vision?-
After helping Yolei, Lei went to the new arrival. "You ok?" The new arrival looked to Lei, who mouthed, 'Pretend you're me'.
He nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I'm fine." Veemon laughed and slowly rose to his feet. He shook himself from the wood as multiple green cuts healed themselves.
"That won't happen twice I promise you karavis." He growled, rushing Davis. He crashed Davis into a metallic display case and immediately began pummeling his face rapidly in a flurry of punches. Each hit felt like a sledgehammer attached to a jackhammer, pounding quickly but with incredible force each time. Davis' arms flailed to try and get Veemon off of him, but to now avail as the dragon pinned down his arms. Lei were a little confused why Veemon would go after only the original Digidestined, but him and his copycat ran into the fray, trying to kick Veemon off. Veemon flipped his legs up and countered with a backwards drop kick to their faces and they collided onto the floor, the copycat landing on top of Lei, and vanished when he did. Lei felt a little disoriented, and had a hard time getting up, a side effect of the Duplication Spell.
Yolei fell back among the bags of soda and sat, dazed, on the floor for a moment. Veemon growled as he hopped back onto Davis and pressed his thumbs firmly against Davis' Adam's apple. He choked and strained up harder against the blue dragon, making small gurgling noises as his eyes widened. Yolei tried a last ditch effort in throwing a can of nearby soda at the back of Veemon's head. It made contact! But it did little to detour Veemon other than him stopping to give her a sharp glare and receiving a face-full of pop. He blinked at the substance spraying his face and licked his lips. Veemon instantaneously cringed and twitched, releasing Davis' neck and clutching his own with harsh coughing.
"Pa rin... lacia..." Veemon muttered as he tried to cough the soda out of his mouth. Davis took the moment to bring his legs up and kick Veemon off into the refrigerated sodas, bursting most of them open. Lei shook his head and his vision cleared when he saw Veemon land in the soda area. Grinning from the reaction he had, Lei got up and ran up to the blue dragon, grabbed and shook two of the cans that fell from it and opened them, spraying him in the face, body, everywhere.
"Drink up!" Lei said. "You look a little thirsty." As the flavored sugar-water drowned Veemon, he kicked and spasmed against the assault. Yolei helped the coughing Davis up as they watched the Digimon burst from the soda in a fit of rage, his eyes blood red with his mouth foaming thick with froth, knocking Lei into the snacks area. Lei looked around and saw through pained eyes that he had hit something metal. He sees a candy bar to his right.
-I could use a snack...- He grabs a chocolate bar and eats it quickly, feeling his magic strength return from the chocolate boost. -Whoa, that's interesting... Better get more for later.- He puts a good amount of snacks in his backpack for later.
Veemon crawled from the aluminum cylinders with great difficulty as if his body was fighting with itself. He choked and let out what only could be described as a gurgling, indigious screech before arching his back to the ceiling. His eyes clenched shut as he shot vomit from his mouth. Lei gets up and walks to Davis and Yolei, and to see the effect a little better.
"You guys alright?" Lei asks them. They both nod slowly as all three watches what is happening to Veemon. The dark greenish goo spewed onto the ground in one large retch before wavering and falling to the side, unconscious. The green goo sputtered and twitched before falling limp and turning a deep blue color. Lei and Yolei were frozen with surprise as they looked at the sight, taking in what they just witness.
"Veemon!!!!" The goggle-donning teen ran without a second thought to his fallen partner, cradling him in his arms, "Vee! Are you all right? Wake up!" He shook him slightly, but got no reaction other than soft moans from the dragon.
"We've got to get back to Izzy's." Yolei groaned from the injuries as she gathering up the undamaged soda and placing it into new shopping bags. Lei took a yellow ribbion out of his backpack's side pocket. Looking at it for a second, he was reminded of his mission that he was originally given. He uses the wide ribbion to bind up the wound until he could get back home. Davis nodded and lifted himself up, wincing at the pain in his cut arm from the action and goes over to grab a few bags but keep Veemon in his arms at the same time.
"I'll take those for you, you're too badly hurt to carry it all." Lei said to Davis as he took the soda bags away from him and puts it in his backpack. Davis doesn’t even respond to this , but uses the free arm to carry Veemon better. They start to leave, the half-destroyed store behind them. Before Lei left, he took a glass jar of jawbreakers, emptied out the contents and bent down. Lei uses the lid to gather up the blue goo.
"My mom is going to have a it when she sees this tomorrow..." Yolei said sadly, looking oer the damage one last time.
"Something for Izzy to look at." Lei scooped it up into the jar and sealed it. Looking into it, he sees a small, thin tendril on the side of it. -Hmm, I may need to tell Jacob about this too...- Then he followed, putting it inside a hidden pouch in the backpack. He looked over to Yolei. "Don't worry, at least you know it wasn't your fault." Yolei didn't respond back as she walked next to Davis, looking over to Veemon, worried about the two, since Davis' arm was still cut.
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As they left, they didn't see a figure of a seventeen-year-old girl in a tree overlooking the store, her black hair and the skirt of her fighter's suit flowing softly with the wind. The light from the lamppost reflecting lightly off of her headband which had a metal plate on it with a diamond engraved on it. She looks down at the fleeing group, not knowing what to make of them. A purple haired girl with glasses, a spiked brown hair boy, and with him a Digimon that he was carrying. She watched them go before noticing a third human, this one with silver-like hair and a blackish blue outfit. Her mind filled with anger as she looked apon him.
"Lei...." She said silently, her voice turned to an evil tone. She touched the blade her favorite weapon, her six-foot length by one-foot width Neck-Cleaving Knife. With a smile, she lowered her hand. -Revenge is near... what you did to us.- She frowned. -But now is not the time...- She shook her head as another thought came to her. -No. I must answer my callings." Leaping from the tree, she disappeared into the night, not leaving a trace behind as she goes on her way, jumping from terance to terance of the other buildings..
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They left the shambled grocery store and up the street back to Izzy's apartment as fast as they could, Lei following behind, Davis not being able to keep back his tears as he looked at Veemon lying limply in his arms, his left arm slowly dripping with his own blood, but no one had noticed yet, not even Davis. Lei stopped for a moment, hearing something strange in the air. He looked around, but didn't see anything, but heard some leaves rustling from a nearby tree or bush.
-It might have been a stray dog or something... but I could've sworn... no.- Lei shook his head -They can't be out here, they don't exist in this time.- He turned and ran to catch up to the others. -But then again, I better mention this to Marin later. She may know something about this...- Yolei and Davis had stopped after a few blocks to check on their friend now that they were far enough away. Lei turned to check on Veemon as well, setting the soda aside for the moment.
"Is he... He's not...?" She swallowed hard. Davis shook his head and smiled at her, wiping his eyes with his right hand. Lei stopped and looked around, then observed Veemon.
"He's fine, I think... He's breathing and everything, he's just... Drained, I guess." He sighed with relief and gave his unconscious partner a tight hug.
"That's great..." Yolei smiled as well, "Maybe he can help Izzy with what happened as well." Davis nodded quickly but she was sure he didn't hear her.
"Along with what was left back there." Yolei looked at Lei as he took out the jar, reveling the blue goop for a second then returning it to his pouch.
"Are you sure it's wise to take that? What if it comes back to life? " Yolei asked, looking a bit uneasy.
"From what Izzy said, it shouldn't. Besides, what could go wrong at this point?" Lei said with a shrug. They had one of their friends back and they could worry about saving the world a little later. With that, she picked up the bags again and, with Davis, Veemon and Lei following behind, sprinted all the way back to Izzy's.
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Along the way, Yolei spoke to Lei. "I saw you get those snacks."
Lei stopped. "You did?" Davis stopped as well as Yolei who was looking at Lei with a smile.
"Don't worry, you can have them this time, from the way the store looks now I wouldn’t be surprised if a few things did turn up missing." She siad with a little worry in her voice.
A startled Lei replied. "Thanks." Davis looked at the two, then shook his head and laughed to himself.
"By the way, who was that other person? He looked just like you." Then they continued on to Izzy's house.
"That's my... friend. His name is Paul." They left it at that for now. Lei was still a little nervous about explaining how some of his spells work, since his Duplication Spell requires a small sacrifice to use...
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When they arrived, Lei looked around the area. Something seemed to be off a little. "Something’s wrong." He said, looking concerned. Yolei stumbled with the knob as they arrived, still nervous that one of the others had seen them, but managed to push inside along with Davis and Lei. She grabbed her soda that she had set down, pulled it inside, slamming the door and locking it as she gave a long sigh. Lei looked around and didn't like what he saw. Davis sat against the wall clutching Veemon tightly as he looked around the apartment.
"Y... Yolei?" He said, blinking.
"Wha-" Yolei was about to ask but she didn't even notice the damage at first. She gasped as she turned around. Izzy's apartment was like a disaster area. Furniture ripped apart, holes in the walls, scorched chairs and rubble from the ceiling on the floor. More or worse than the store they just left. Lei reached into his backpack and pulled out two revolver-looking weapons.
"Hope these work..." Yolei and Davis looked at Lei questionably. "What? It's just soda." He aimed at the wall and pulled the trigger. Dark liquid came out. "I get thirsty too, but I didn't think I had to use these like real guns..." Lei tossed one to Yolei. He would've given his other to Davis, but he was dealing with Veemon at the moment. They went on ahead, searching the rooms. Yolei looked around then gasped again before running through the apartment, frantically searching for something. Lei emerged from Izzy's room just before Yolei was about to go in there. He was holding an orange object.
"There's no one here... and StarRenamon may be in more trouble than I had thought." Davis laid Veemon aside on a ripped pillow and got up, and looked at Lei.
"What did you find?" Lei raised his hand with the object, showing Davis the armor-clothes that his digimon always wore.
"He never takes off his armor except to sleep and bathe. I'm also worried about FlamePalmon." Yolei went past Lei and into the kitchen. Davis followed her. His path was blocked, however, when Yolei stumbled back into the living room looking pale.
"Izzy's gone too..."
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The two Digidestined searched through Izzy's house for any clue to what happened, while Davis tended to Veemon. Yolei was in Izzy's room, while Lei was at what remained of Izzy's computer in his computer room.
"Looks like these things don't know much about computers..." Lei said as he examined the main console, which was intact, so any information on it wasn't lost. The screen was shattered and would never work again, along with other accessories. The disk that Izzy had used to identify the slime was inside the disk drive of the computer console, which protected it. A light mint scent came to Lei. He rose his head, sniffing the air. Lei puts the computer back down and searches the cabinets underneath. When he opened the first one, he saw a green hand with a dark greenish substance on it.
"Palmon?" He reaches for the hand and slowly grasps it. When he did, it twitches.
"HOLY HELL!!! Damn..." He let go of the hand and pulled his back. The hand that grabbed the other went past his face with that mint scent. He sniffs the green liquid on his hand, finding it the source of the scent. Finding a nearby rag, Lei wipes off the liquid. He opens the other cabinet and finds the rest of her, cramped into the small cabinet with more accessories for computers. The edges of those pieces scratched her skin and made her bleed.
"So much for protection..." Lei said to himself. She groaned softly.
"Palmon!? You're alive?" She opened her left eye a little and looked at him. Lei took an item called a Core Medicine out of the left side of the backpack and had her drink it. The Core Medicine didn't recover her strength just yet, but it helped in keeping her form a little more stable so that she would stay alive.
"What happened?" Lei asked her. Palmon tried to speak, but could only get out a moan of pain as she tried to move. Lei looked around her and moved some of the parts out of the way so that she wouldn't be hurt by them. Seeing another bundle of rags, he rolls them together to make a pillow and places it under Palmon's head, careful not to hurt her any worse than she is already.
"Stay in here until I return. Ok?" She gave a small nod, closed her eye and went to sleep. He puts back the Core Medicine. -If she hasn't dissolved yet, then she'll be ok for a while.- .
-Lei!- Lei jumped at the sound.
"Wha---" He looked around, seeing a trashed room, but no one besides Palmon was in it.
-Lei can you hear me!- Lei narrowed his eye and thought back.
-Tone it down a bit will you!?!-
-Sorry, Jacob sent his newest invention to your house. It may help you out.-
-Thanks Marin... Hey.- Lei thought out to her.
-Yes?- Marin responded.
-... Can Sari and Janis be in this area?- Lei asked as he was watching Palmon for a moment as she was sleeping. The Core Medicine seemed to be working well as her injuries were healing rapidly.
-I don't know for sure.- Was all she said, then silence. Lei closed the doors to the computer desk and all was silent. Lei didn't quite understand. Usually Marin is straight with him on a lot of things, but se sounded a little uncertain when he asked her about Sari and Janis. He got up and walked out of the room. Davis saw him and asked what startled him.
"Found Palmon. She's hurt, but I helped fix her up a little. Let's let her rest for now." Lei replied as he met Yolei in Izzy's room. He had noticed that Davis bandaged his cut arm with a torn shirt. Yolei saw him as she got up from where there were some drawers intact at one time.
"Nothing!" She slammed what she had back onto the pile, frustrated.
"We're not going to find---" Lei stopped in mid sentence, noticing something in the room. He walks over to the closet. "Did you check here yet?" She shook her head. Lei slowly put his hand on the doorknob and quickly opening it. Lots of stuff fell out along with a blue fox.
"StarRenamon!?" The Digidestined of Time got the junk off him and pulled the unconscious digimon out, cuts covering him from head to legs and his star on his head was cracked a little. His gloves were full of tears and holes, as if done by claws.
"Yolei... Help me." She ran to him and got under StarRenamon’s left arm, Lei on his right and lifted him to the living room, where Veemon was standing now, talking to Davis with a hand over his blue ear. Davis looked away for a moment and saw Lei and Yolei carrying StarRenamon. They carried him to Davis and Lei said to him as he had him get on his side.
"We're not safe here. I think we may be better off at my place, no one knows where it is except StarRenamon and a few others." Davis nodded, while a confused Veemon stared at the two.
Yolei asks Lei, "What about Palmon, we just can't leave her here." A sickening look came over Lei's face.
"She's... not able to come with us right now. I found her in the computer… room..." Before he could finish, she moved the unconscious fox's weight to Davis and ran to the computer room. While she was looking, Lei took what sodas were left and dumped them into his backpack, then slung it back over his back.
"Uh... Davis? Who is this?" Veemon asked. He had met StarRenamon in the past, but his memory was a little fuzzy due to the bad experience that he went through.
"StarRenamon, my partner. See that orange, metal thing on the couch?" Veemon looked around and saw it. "Get it and let's get going."
"Poor girl, " Yolei said to herself as she met up with them. "She doesn‘t have the strength to move..." She takes StarRenamon’s arm around her neck, taking some of the weight off. Lei had a thought come to him.
"Has anyone seen FlamePalmon?" The two shook their heads as Veemon asks.
"Who's FlamePalmon?"
"Damn...Well...I'll tell you later, but we do need to go. Those that came may return." The dragon Digimon gets StarRenamon’s Armor and follows the rest out the door. Veemon had a little trouble carrying it from the weight of it, but managed to do it.
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Lei leads them to a forest a few miles away from Izzy's house, looking around along the way. He waves his free hand and the underbrush parts for them. They go down the path and a few minuets later, they see a run down house, boards hanging limply in some areas, some poorly made patches reveling holes, among other things. This looked more like a condemned house than a hideout.
"Lei, you sure this place is safe?" Davis asks him. Lei only smiles and leads them in, avoiding the holes on the stairs. The others proceed in the same way. When they were all in, Lei closed the door, turned on a lamp and went upstairs.
"Set him on the sofa." Lei said to the surprised Digidestined as he went. Although the outside looked unstable, the inside looked like any other house. A couch in front of a TV in the middle of the room with a long table between them, three doors, one that appeared to lead to the kitchen, one to a restroom and one that lead to the back of the house. A set of stairs next to the door lead to the second floor of the place. They set StarRenamon down onto the sofa as Lei brought down some folding chairs for them, also one for Veemon. Lei passed them out. They sat down and rested for a while before Lei said to Veemon, "Veemon, do you remember anything of what happened while that creature was inside of you?"
Veemon thought for a moment. "Not too much... Just that it was looking for something called 'hosts'... and something about not one person alive will have direct connection to me... and some strange noises..." The blue dragon digimon was quiet for a time. "That's it. I can't remember anymore."
-Hmmm…- Lei thought about what he said. -Izzy said it does takes control, so the host is somewhat aware while it‘s in control.. That thing I thought I saw on Gatomon looked like a snake. That white thing must have not been an illusion. It must also effect memory because Veemon didn’t remember me or StarRenamon at first. But one thing is for certain…-
Davis stood up. "We do have something to fight it with now." Davis looked at Lei and he nodded to him.
"And a weapon to use it with." Lei said as he went back upstairs. Davis glanced over to Yolei.
"Weapon...?" She shrugged. Lei came down with three big super soakers, one under his left arm, two on his right. The three got wide-eyed at the blasters. They were as thick as trees. From the way Lei was holding them, they weren't heavy.
"I found one at a construction site a couple of days ago. Hope the original owners don’t mind, but I had a friend modified them to be similar to my backpack and send a few back here." He handed one to Yolei, who smiled, then one to Veemon and Davis, who looked confused.
“Why are we using Super Soakers to fight?” Veemon asks.
“I was just about to ask the same thing. “ Davis said.
“Soda is our best weapon against this infection. Why not add some style to it?” Lei dumped out his backpack of the sodas inside. "Fill the blasters with the soda and take some for reserve, like grenades. The only thing you have to worry about is when you run out. When you do..."
"What about you? Aren't you going to use one?" Yolei asked.
"No, I have my own weapons." He pointed at his back where a pommel was sticking out from, but he was actually pointing to the two smaller squirt guns in the same side of his backpack. No one had ever noticed that pommel until now. Davis was about to say something, but Lei beat him to it. "How bout something to eat? I'm sure you must be hungry. Davis and Yolei, take what you want from the kitchen. Veemon, I'll need you here with me, guarding StarRenamon... and I'll fill you in to what's happing to this point." Davis and Yolei nervously went to the kitchen. Lei removed his backpack, a scabbard attached to the inside of it, took a few of the snacks out of his backpack, and puts it back on. He hands Veemon three of the five he took out and looked at Veemon. "Well, I guess you would want to know what's going on..."
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"Grrrraaahh!! How can that happen!" A girl slaps Gatomon down to the floor. "How could our leader be captured!!!!" Gatomon looked up at the new leader, trying to explain what happened. Matt, Kari, Tai, Tentomon, Agumon, Gabumon, T.K., Patamon, Hawkmon and Mimi were in the room with Gatomon as well as someone that was in a shadowed part of the room near the group. Mimi was still in her shredded clothes as was Kari, howing a bit more skin than they would normally allow, but they weren't themselves at the moment. Matt or T.K. didn't try to sneak any peeks on Kari, nor did Tai on Mimi. Patamon and Hawkmon didn't even flinch, but they were more worried what this girl was going to do to them after she was finished with Gatomon.
"I.. I don't know. It--" WHAM! Another slap that dwarfed the previous one, leaving a handprint showing on Gatomon's white fur. Her head snapped back from the force. Since Gatomon returned from the store that Veemon went to destroy the unworthy ones, and finding traces of the dark blue slime on the floor near the soda area, all she received in return was a severe beating, as if she was the one who did it.
"No excuses." The girl said coldly. "Now..." She turned to the others. "Where were the three you were suppose to get with Number 6?" Tai lowered his head. Gatomon gave her the only answer there was.
"Only that blue fox was there... and that red plant... We tried to get them to tell us where the other one was but they wouldn't-- gah!" She grabbed Gatomon by the neck and held her out for the others to see her beaten body.
"Not acceptable... But at least you managed to infect Number Seven, that still doesn't let you off. The rest of you! If you fail your punishment will be much worse than this." The new 'leader' threw the worn cat to the group and fallen to the floor, rolling to them.
"Search out and eliminate Numbers 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, and 16!" The group turned to leave. "Number Seven. Come with me." Number Seven turned around, her maroon leaves falling over her eyes a little. She uses a vine to move them aside as the plant Digimon followed her into the next room and closed the door. Jun stood near the window, while Number Seven stood in the shadows.
"Number One can still be recovered. It has come to me that you know where they took Number One correct."
"Yes Master, this host knows their location." FlamePalmon said, with a grin as she stepped into the moonlight, the light giving her red skin an eerie glow. "And I'll be glad to tell you." She added happily, a faint glow to her eyes.
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In a tree not far from the building, a red bird was sitting there, watching and hearing the events unfold inside. With a squawk, and a flap of her red and green wings she took off into the night.
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"...After I blasted you with that soda. you convulsed and coughed up this blue goo." Lei took out the jawbreaker jar that he used to gather up what remained of the viral slime and held it in his left hand. When he took it out, he stopped. The once blue had turned green again, and what was inside was moving slowly. "Uh-oh. Not good... Davis! Yolei!"
Veemon staggered back. "It...I.I.I.I.It's alive?" The frightened blue dragon stammered. The two Lei called raced from the kitchen. The green slime inside starts to vibrate.
"Wha--" Yolei saw the jar.
"Oh shit. Not again!" Davis cursed. The jar explodes, cutting Lei's hand with the shards, the slime falling to the floor. Shouting a small swear, he pulled up his smaller squirt gun that he had earlier with his left hand and tried to take aim at it. Veemon was already gone, left for the kitchen with Davis, who followed after him. Yolei brought up her blaster when a small snake shot up to the sleeping form of StarRenamon. Lei moved his right hand over the sleeping fox and quickly said "Barrier!" and a green light covered StarRenamon before it could reach him and bounced off. Yolei soaked it in soda when it landed. When she stopped, all that was there was soda, as if the soda dissolved it.
"Was that thing the real--" Then she noticed Lei doubled over, groaning. A new wave of pain shot through his arm when he used his barrier magic. Lei looked at his hand and saw why. A piece of glass was inside the palm of his right hand.
"Yolei... Bathroom... second door..." He pointed upstairs. "...under the sink..." He fell to his knees and grabbed the shard. Yolei raced upstairs and quickly found a roll of gauze. "First my leg... now my hand... AAAARRRRRRRGGHH!!!" Lei's scream filled the house as she ran back down. She saw that he had pulled it out and handed him the gauze roll. The injured Digidestined of Time doesn’t notice. He just sits there, panting and murmuring, as that purple glow on his chest starts. Davis pokes his head out of the kitchen door.
"Yolei? Can you come in here?" She walks into the kitchen, Veemon next to Davis. "What happened?"
"I'm not really sure. That... slime revived somehow and a snake shot from it to StarRenamon. Lei did something to repel it and I blasted it," Yolei lifted her blaster for a second before lowering it. "But when Lei protected his digimon, he hurt his hand worse where the glass jar cut it I think."
Veemon smiled. "So it's really gone?"
Yolei shrugged. "I guess so, there wasn't any of it remaining." They looked into the living room. Lei was sitting on a recliner, panting, his crest giving off a purple light. They decided that the coast was clear and went back into the room. Lei's head was down as he was still murmuring something, the purple glow gone. Yolei glanced at his hand and noticed he hadn't used the roll yet, but was almost healed. He stopped when he noticed her and put on the wrappings.
"Well, good job Yolei. Now we do know how to destroy them completly. I won't be able to draw for a little while now..."
Davis asked, "How do we what?"
"What Izzy didn't understand." Lei finished applying the wrappings. He took a glove from his backpack and slipped it on to protect the wound. "It's parasitic like he said in his last report of it, but the slime just extends it's control over the host and acts like a regenerating shield. Soda is the key to this, but he didn't know how to use it, but then again, neither did we until now. They have to be sprayed directly, to remove the slime and destroy the creature that it causing it." Yolei and Davis sit back down on the other sofa, Veemon sat with StarRenamon on the one across from them.
"So it was that snake I doused that is causing everything to happen?" Yolei asks.
Lei nodded. "Yeah... although, I don't really know what to make of it myself. I've seen glimpses of them, but nothing to help us with."
"What's with the sword?" Davis asked, out of the blue.
Lei looked over to Davis. "My defense." He took it out of it's scabbard and shown them the blade. The sword blade was silver with a red pommel and a purple crystal between them. A click from the sword and they split in two. Lei grimaced a little when he grasped one with his right hand. He rubbed them together, making a swiping sound, then puts them back together and back into the scabbard. "Don't worry Yolei, it's not for the digimon. This is a favorite sword of mine. " Lei replies when he saw a worried look on her face.
"So, when's the rescue mission?" Davis asked. Lei looked in his direction.
"We're waiting for three more." Yolei, Davis and Veemon exchanged glances. Lei turned to the door. "Wish they'd hurry though."
"Who to hurry?" Davis picked up one of the cans of pop that weren't used for the blasters, opened it, and took a sip from it. Veemon took one too, opened it, but like always, swallows half of it in one go. Lei didn't reply as they waited.
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Outside, four figures stood together, a tall one, one a little smaller than the tall one , another almost the same height, and another about a foot shorter, with a piece of paper.
"The directions said ten steps away from the light of the lamppost, and wave a hand to the bushes... sounds like a lot of nonsense to me."
"Well, if you don't try..." The third boy said.
"Ok. Ok." The tall one waves his hand over the bush wall. Nothing happened.
"See. What did--"
"Wait a minuet." The small yellow one said. "Somethin's happening." The bush that he waved at parted for them to pass. "... Well, let's continue. And hope that this letter is true to the source." The second boy replied. They found a path and followed it, the panel closing behind them. Across the road from the hidden entrance, a dark, small, dragon-like silhouette was standing there. He had decided to follow this group of people and it seemed that it was worth it. Silently, he disappeared into the night. The small party looked back, now knowing that there was no way back but to continue since the opening closed. They follow the path to a dark, run down house.
"Now I know this isn't a real letter. Look where it lead us to!" The tall teen companied.
"These steps are walkable, " Said the third kid. " but avoid the holes." They do so and they reached the door. Knocking on it three times, they stand and wait, glancing at the dark windows.
"This place gives me the creeps..." The yellow one comments.
"Well, now all we have to do is wait--- " The doorknob moved, causing everyone to jump.
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There was a knock on the door. "About time..." Lei sighed as he got up, making sure he didn't put too much pressure on his slightly-injured hand and leg. He went to the door, the trio behind him. Before he grasps the doorknob, he says to it.
"Unlock..." A white-purplish glow came over the knob. Davis, Yolei and Veemon watched in amazement.
Veemon thought to himself. -Haven't I seen that before?- He tried to remember where, but couldn't. The light faded and Lei opened the door, the light from the lamp reveling four figures.
"Glad you could make it. Come on in." The slowly came in, a tall boy with glasses, white shirt and blue pants, a smaller boy with brown hair and a beige shirt that fell to his knees and a digimon with yellow plates on his back.
"Joe, Cody, Armadillomon. This is a surprise." Yolei said to them. Who was behind them surprised them even more.
"Izzy!? You escaped?" Davis said to the frazzled Digidestined of Knowledge. His shirt was torn some and his hair was a bit misplaced.
"Yeah. While you were gone, I kept lookout at the window and saw Tai and Gatomon were coming toward my place. StarRenamon told us to get out and... well, Palmon ran into the computer room, don't know what became of her, while I went to the back door."
Lei closed the door and turned to Izzy. "We found StarRenamon in your closet, but how did he get out of his armor?" Joe, Cody and Armadillomon went to talk with Davis, Yolei and Veemon, the latter filling in the new arrivals on what's going on. Izzy looked at StarRenamon’s armbands.
"I guess Gatomon was trying making a move on him, and somehow undid his armor. I feel sorry that I had to leave him, but if they had me... well, you guys would be in trouble." A dark expression came over Lei's face. He walked to Izzy, completely forgetting about the three he had sent for.
"Gatomon was left alone... with this infection... with StarRenamon?" He asked slowly, hoping that it wasn't true.
"I'm sorry. He might-- Hey!" He pushed Izzy out of the way and to StarRenamon, who was waking up. Izzy, leaving the two alone, joined Davis and the others. Lei slowly shook the sleeping digimon, purple eye opened and fixed it on Lei.
"Uhh... What a night." StarRenamon groaned.
"StarRenamon, listen to me. What happened?" StarRenamon looked around and saw he was back at Lei's house.
"Uhh. my head hurts... I spotted Gatomon and Tai coming down the road. I told Palmon to follow Izzy out the back, but she panicked and went back to the computer room. I did fight Gatomon and FlamePalmon battled Tai long enough for Izzy to get out. Guess it was worth it. Gatomon was the one who did this, or rather, the thing controlling her. Tai had overpowered FlamePalmon and..." A tear fell from his eye. Lei lowered his head in realization. "He dragged her off into the kitchen. I haven't seen her after that. " StarRenamon was crying a little, worried or his plant girl. "Gatomon almost had me if I didn't use Image Render. I stayed in the closet after that." Lei stood up and handed StarRenamon back his torso armor.
"Here's your armor back, you will need it." A smile came over the blue fox's face as he sat up to put it on, but Lei could tell that he was still upset. Joe walked up to Lei.
"Were you the one who sent that letter with the parrot to me?" Lei stood up and turned to him.
"Yeah that was me. Did Izzy and Davis fill you and the others in on what's going on?"
Joe nodded. "Yeah, they did." Lei went back upstairs and got a few more of the huge liquid blasters and brought them back down.
"FlamePalmon..." StarRenamon said. He was crying softly. "I failed."
Lei went to Joe. "Are these legal?" Joe was a little nervous as he took the one Lei offered him.
"They are to save the world. I found one of them in an empty lot, had a friend redo them so they are lightweight and can shoot up to one hundred shots before it needs to be reloaded." He made sure everyone heard this. He handed one to Cody and Armadillomon. "They work the same as any water blaster or gun, aim and pull the trigger, only this time, they shoot soda. Don't say it Joe, it's the only effective thing against this disease thing." Lei took one more blaster, his last one, and gave it to Izzy. "Yolei proved a point earlier tonight when I was going to bring what was left of 'Number one' to Izzy for study, but it came back to life. The one controlling the host is actually a small snake that gives off a slime to extend it's reach. When you get the infected person to consume the soda, or drenched in it, the 'green goo', the only name I know to call it, will leave it and turn blue, making the snake defenseless. Izzy's assumption with the soda proved useful." Izzy smiled with pride. "When it is blue that's when you are to drown it because it is weakened when it is blue. Once the snake itself is drowned, it will dissolve and be no more." Silence filled the room when he finished.
Izzy decided to break it. "That's a better analysis than I could give."
Lei shrugged. "That's how it happened. And you need to fill them up with those." Lei pointed to the area of the room that had all the sodas and cases.
Lei went to StarRenamon. "StarRenamon, I'll need your help Paraspelling every victim so we can get a sure target." Wiping his eyes, he nodded. "Ok. Now that everyone knows what to do, let's get some rest for a couple of hours so--."
A squawk was heard from upstairs as a red and green bird flew into the living room. Everyone ducked to avoid it.
"Whazzat?" Armadillomon shouted, bringing up his blaster when the bird landed on Lei's arm. The only ones who wasn't spooked were Joe, Cody and Lei. He held the bird close and scratched it's head.
"This is Rosa, my messenger parrot." The bird squawked and made a few sounds to Lei. She had red feathers with a splash of green on the back of her neck. Her wings were red too, but with blue and green at the tips. Rosa was almost three feet long, head to tail, one and a half to the feet, and one heck of a beak, curved to a point on the top and flat-tipped on the bottom, three inches from top to bottom.
"Ok, I know you're hungry, I'll get you some food." He looks to the others. "I'll be back, she needs her fresh food and water. Make yourselves comfortable." Lei went upstairs. Davis looked around to the others as they started to fill their blasters.
"Has anyone ever seen a bird like that before?"
"Macaw actually, in the Green-wing family." Izzy spoke up. "The last-known area I had knew them to be in in a Bird-Refuge in America called Feathered Friends Forever. "
"Feathered Friends! That's it!" Yolei exclaimed out loud a smile on her face. Everyone stopped at her voice.
"What's it?" Cody asked. Yolei lowered her voice.
"There had been something about Lei that I have been trying to figure out... and I think I have." Everyone looked at Yolei with confusion. "I've heard about that refuge for parrots. Izzy, do you remember the name of who was there, anything."
Izzy thought for a moment. "Hmmm. There was a kid who worked there at one point but I don't know his name, he was their caretaker for the parrots I think."
Davis started to see what this was going to. "Isn't that one who feeds and cleans... A caretaker?"
"Yes, Davis." Izzy said.
"No, that can't be true..." Cody spoke up. "Because if you're right, he died in a car explosion a few months ago. Right Joe?"
Joe nodded. "Yeah, we heard that on the radio. Poor kid. His name was Paul if I heard right. " Yolei sighed and stared to walk around.
"O.k. So did he have glasses with brown hair? I saw someone with Lei that looked like that earlier while we were getting the sodas." Izzy thought for a moment, trying to remember the image that he saw.
"Yeah, that's what he looked like. Well, the reason we were there was... " Joe began to tell of his assistance in America, his real reason for being there.
Yolei sighed again. "I guess I better go see if Lei is ready then." Yolei said as she headed upstairs.
End of Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Reinforcements
"Hurry up, Davis, we've got to get the soda before any of our... 'friends' show up." Yolei rushed the goggle-headed teen into her family's convenience store, a silver haired kid following behind in a fresher version of his original clothes. They immediately went for the refrigerated section of the store and picked up liter bottles and six-packs of all the soda they could carry, putting them into shopping bags. Lei had an idea. He didn't know if it would work out right, but it was worth a try.
"Wait a moment..." Lei said retrieving his backpack. "Put some of them in this." Unsure why, they start placing some of the carbo drinks into his backpack, which doesn't bulge from the quantities of it, and what they could carry in the shopping bags so they would have some. Davis and Yolei thought about asking him about the backpack, but time was short.
"Who would have thought soda would be the way to stop this thing...?" Davis almost chuckled as he picked up a few cases of Sprite and placed them into the backpack.
"Well, who would have thought you'd have to save the world." Yolei smirked. The Digidestined of courage rolled his eyes as Lei puts back on his backpack.
"You sure are strong Lei." Yolei remarks.
"This backpack can hold more than it looks. Weight doesn't eff--" The lights blinked and frizzled before they clicked off completely, leaving the three in the dark, "--fect it... Much. "
"Uh-oh..." Davis murmured.
"RUN!!" Yolei screeched, nabbing all the soda she could, dashing for the front door with Davis close behind, Lei following. As they reached for the glass doors, they began to shiver and quake.
"This isn't good..." Lei states. He tries to stop, but slips and falls onto the floor on to his side, a soda pinching his back as he fell onto his backpack. Yolei slid to a stop and caught Davis before the glass itself shattered towards them. Shards cut all through their skin and the shopping bags as they fell to the ground, some of the soda spraying open and dribbling over the floor. Lei's jacket and jeans got a little cut up, but he only got a few minor cuts on his arms, but a shard was implaled into his leg. Davis moaned and plucked a large chunk of glass from his arm before struggling to his feet and helping Yolei up. Lei groaned aloud as he pulled the peice out of his leg, now bleeding a little, but he was able to get back to his feet, taggering a little. As Davis got Yolei to her feet, he heard a cry from outside the store quickly rise in volume, taking him by surprise. "Veemon....?"
"--- HEADBUTT!!" Davis felt the full force of his own Digimon's attack which went him flying, luckily, into an aisle of bath tissues and paper towels. This still shook the teen and momentarily stunned him as the small blue Digimon turned to Yolei. Lei, surprised, was working on his Fireball spell and prepared to attack. His right hand had red particals forming slowly since it was difficult to concentrate with the injury to his leg.
"Get back Yolei!" Yolei, not noticing what Lei had in mind, backed away but Veemon caught her arm and pulled her forward, using his small size to trip her right off her feet painfully onto the glass. He wasted no time in keeping a firm hold on her wrist, wrenching it up her back and making her yelp in pain as the blue Digimon increased the pressure to the humerus and scapula. The Digidestined of Time's eyes shot wide in shock that Veemon would even do such a thing to a friend of his, then narrowed, remembering that this wasn't the same Veemon that he knew. He wanted to attack, the flame ready in his hand, but he would hit Yolei as well as Veemon, so he closed his eyes and did what he didn't want to do. She clawed at the glass and grit her teeth as she tried hard to raise herself from the floor.
"Let me go!!!" Yolei shouts to her captor.
"Insolent little humans... So easy to pick off one by one..." Veemon scoffed aloud, pressing against her arm even hard and making Yolei cry out with pain. Veemon seemed to not even notice Lei's presence at all.
"Hey, blue boy." Veemon glared at the one in front of him. "Forget about someone? Fireball!" He threw the fireball straight for Veemon. He let go of Yolei and dodged the fireball and it went out the window, it's explosion making a small crater outside.
Veemon sneered at Lei. "Missed me."
"Not quite." A deeper voice called, standing to Veemon's right. It was another person that looked like Lei, but with brown hair and glasses. He wore a black color outfit similar to Lei's.
"Dark Beam Blaster!!" Purple beams shot out faster than Veemon could respond and was pummeled with the attack. Veemon crashed into a wall where the main counter was, splintering it as he connected with it. Lei joined next to his counterpart, finished with the attack. Davis was up and helping Yolei up off the floor.
"Damn, how did he get so strong, and why...?" He panted, holding his side and checking on Yolei. He saw Lei doing it for him, and another that resembled him standing a few feet away from them. -Did that blow mess up my vision?-
After helping Yolei, Lei went to the new arrival. "You ok?" The new arrival looked to Lei, who mouthed, 'Pretend you're me'.
He nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I'm fine." Veemon laughed and slowly rose to his feet. He shook himself from the wood as multiple green cuts healed themselves.
"That won't happen twice I promise you karavis." He growled, rushing Davis. He crashed Davis into a metallic display case and immediately began pummeling his face rapidly in a flurry of punches. Each hit felt like a sledgehammer attached to a jackhammer, pounding quickly but with incredible force each time. Davis' arms flailed to try and get Veemon off of him, but to now avail as the dragon pinned down his arms. Lei were a little confused why Veemon would go after only the original Digidestined, but him and his copycat ran into the fray, trying to kick Veemon off. Veemon flipped his legs up and countered with a backwards drop kick to their faces and they collided onto the floor, the copycat landing on top of Lei, and vanished when he did. Lei felt a little disoriented, and had a hard time getting up, a side effect of the Duplication Spell.
Yolei fell back among the bags of soda and sat, dazed, on the floor for a moment. Veemon growled as he hopped back onto Davis and pressed his thumbs firmly against Davis' Adam's apple. He choked and strained up harder against the blue dragon, making small gurgling noises as his eyes widened. Yolei tried a last ditch effort in throwing a can of nearby soda at the back of Veemon's head. It made contact! But it did little to detour Veemon other than him stopping to give her a sharp glare and receiving a face-full of pop. He blinked at the substance spraying his face and licked his lips. Veemon instantaneously cringed and twitched, releasing Davis' neck and clutching his own with harsh coughing.
"Pa rin... lacia..." Veemon muttered as he tried to cough the soda out of his mouth. Davis took the moment to bring his legs up and kick Veemon off into the refrigerated sodas, bursting most of them open. Lei shook his head and his vision cleared when he saw Veemon land in the soda area. Grinning from the reaction he had, Lei got up and ran up to the blue dragon, grabbed and shook two of the cans that fell from it and opened them, spraying him in the face, body, everywhere.
"Drink up!" Lei said. "You look a little thirsty." As the flavored sugar-water drowned Veemon, he kicked and spasmed against the assault. Yolei helped the coughing Davis up as they watched the Digimon burst from the soda in a fit of rage, his eyes blood red with his mouth foaming thick with froth, knocking Lei into the snacks area. Lei looked around and saw through pained eyes that he had hit something metal. He sees a candy bar to his right.
-I could use a snack...- He grabs a chocolate bar and eats it quickly, feeling his magic strength return from the chocolate boost. -Whoa, that's interesting... Better get more for later.- He puts a good amount of snacks in his backpack for later.
Veemon crawled from the aluminum cylinders with great difficulty as if his body was fighting with itself. He choked and let out what only could be described as a gurgling, indigious screech before arching his back to the ceiling. His eyes clenched shut as he shot vomit from his mouth. Lei gets up and walks to Davis and Yolei, and to see the effect a little better.
"You guys alright?" Lei asks them. They both nod slowly as all three watches what is happening to Veemon. The dark greenish goo spewed onto the ground in one large retch before wavering and falling to the side, unconscious. The green goo sputtered and twitched before falling limp and turning a deep blue color. Lei and Yolei were frozen with surprise as they looked at the sight, taking in what they just witness.
"Veemon!!!!" The goggle-donning teen ran without a second thought to his fallen partner, cradling him in his arms, "Vee! Are you all right? Wake up!" He shook him slightly, but got no reaction other than soft moans from the dragon.
"We've got to get back to Izzy's." Yolei groaned from the injuries as she gathering up the undamaged soda and placing it into new shopping bags. Lei took a yellow ribbion out of his backpack's side pocket. Looking at it for a second, he was reminded of his mission that he was originally given. He uses the wide ribbion to bind up the wound until he could get back home. Davis nodded and lifted himself up, wincing at the pain in his cut arm from the action and goes over to grab a few bags but keep Veemon in his arms at the same time.
"I'll take those for you, you're too badly hurt to carry it all." Lei said to Davis as he took the soda bags away from him and puts it in his backpack. Davis doesn’t even respond to this , but uses the free arm to carry Veemon better. They start to leave, the half-destroyed store behind them. Before Lei left, he took a glass jar of jawbreakers, emptied out the contents and bent down. Lei uses the lid to gather up the blue goo.
"My mom is going to have a it when she sees this tomorrow..." Yolei said sadly, looking oer the damage one last time.
"Something for Izzy to look at." Lei scooped it up into the jar and sealed it. Looking into it, he sees a small, thin tendril on the side of it. -Hmm, I may need to tell Jacob about this too...- Then he followed, putting it inside a hidden pouch in the backpack. He looked over to Yolei. "Don't worry, at least you know it wasn't your fault." Yolei didn't respond back as she walked next to Davis, looking over to Veemon, worried about the two, since Davis' arm was still cut.
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As they left, they didn't see a figure of a seventeen-year-old girl in a tree overlooking the store, her black hair and the skirt of her fighter's suit flowing softly with the wind. The light from the lamppost reflecting lightly off of her headband which had a metal plate on it with a diamond engraved on it. She looks down at the fleeing group, not knowing what to make of them. A purple haired girl with glasses, a spiked brown hair boy, and with him a Digimon that he was carrying. She watched them go before noticing a third human, this one with silver-like hair and a blackish blue outfit. Her mind filled with anger as she looked apon him.
"Lei...." She said silently, her voice turned to an evil tone. She touched the blade her favorite weapon, her six-foot length by one-foot width Neck-Cleaving Knife. With a smile, she lowered her hand. -Revenge is near... what you did to us.- She frowned. -But now is not the time...- She shook her head as another thought came to her. -No. I must answer my callings." Leaping from the tree, she disappeared into the night, not leaving a trace behind as she goes on her way, jumping from terance to terance of the other buildings..
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They left the shambled grocery store and up the street back to Izzy's apartment as fast as they could, Lei following behind, Davis not being able to keep back his tears as he looked at Veemon lying limply in his arms, his left arm slowly dripping with his own blood, but no one had noticed yet, not even Davis. Lei stopped for a moment, hearing something strange in the air. He looked around, but didn't see anything, but heard some leaves rustling from a nearby tree or bush.
-It might have been a stray dog or something... but I could've sworn... no.- Lei shook his head -They can't be out here, they don't exist in this time.- He turned and ran to catch up to the others. -But then again, I better mention this to Marin later. She may know something about this...- Yolei and Davis had stopped after a few blocks to check on their friend now that they were far enough away. Lei turned to check on Veemon as well, setting the soda aside for the moment.
"Is he... He's not...?" She swallowed hard. Davis shook his head and smiled at her, wiping his eyes with his right hand. Lei stopped and looked around, then observed Veemon.
"He's fine, I think... He's breathing and everything, he's just... Drained, I guess." He sighed with relief and gave his unconscious partner a tight hug.
"That's great..." Yolei smiled as well, "Maybe he can help Izzy with what happened as well." Davis nodded quickly but she was sure he didn't hear her.
"Along with what was left back there." Yolei looked at Lei as he took out the jar, reveling the blue goop for a second then returning it to his pouch.
"Are you sure it's wise to take that? What if it comes back to life? " Yolei asked, looking a bit uneasy.
"From what Izzy said, it shouldn't. Besides, what could go wrong at this point?" Lei said with a shrug. They had one of their friends back and they could worry about saving the world a little later. With that, she picked up the bags again and, with Davis, Veemon and Lei following behind, sprinted all the way back to Izzy's.
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Along the way, Yolei spoke to Lei. "I saw you get those snacks."
Lei stopped. "You did?" Davis stopped as well as Yolei who was looking at Lei with a smile.
"Don't worry, you can have them this time, from the way the store looks now I wouldn’t be surprised if a few things did turn up missing." She siad with a little worry in her voice.
A startled Lei replied. "Thanks." Davis looked at the two, then shook his head and laughed to himself.
"By the way, who was that other person? He looked just like you." Then they continued on to Izzy's house.
"That's my... friend. His name is Paul." They left it at that for now. Lei was still a little nervous about explaining how some of his spells work, since his Duplication Spell requires a small sacrifice to use...
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When they arrived, Lei looked around the area. Something seemed to be off a little. "Something’s wrong." He said, looking concerned. Yolei stumbled with the knob as they arrived, still nervous that one of the others had seen them, but managed to push inside along with Davis and Lei. She grabbed her soda that she had set down, pulled it inside, slamming the door and locking it as she gave a long sigh. Lei looked around and didn't like what he saw. Davis sat against the wall clutching Veemon tightly as he looked around the apartment.
"Y... Yolei?" He said, blinking.
"Wha-" Yolei was about to ask but she didn't even notice the damage at first. She gasped as she turned around. Izzy's apartment was like a disaster area. Furniture ripped apart, holes in the walls, scorched chairs and rubble from the ceiling on the floor. More or worse than the store they just left. Lei reached into his backpack and pulled out two revolver-looking weapons.
"Hope these work..." Yolei and Davis looked at Lei questionably. "What? It's just soda." He aimed at the wall and pulled the trigger. Dark liquid came out. "I get thirsty too, but I didn't think I had to use these like real guns..." Lei tossed one to Yolei. He would've given his other to Davis, but he was dealing with Veemon at the moment. They went on ahead, searching the rooms. Yolei looked around then gasped again before running through the apartment, frantically searching for something. Lei emerged from Izzy's room just before Yolei was about to go in there. He was holding an orange object.
"There's no one here... and StarRenamon may be in more trouble than I had thought." Davis laid Veemon aside on a ripped pillow and got up, and looked at Lei.
"What did you find?" Lei raised his hand with the object, showing Davis the armor-clothes that his digimon always wore.
"He never takes off his armor except to sleep and bathe. I'm also worried about FlamePalmon." Yolei went past Lei and into the kitchen. Davis followed her. His path was blocked, however, when Yolei stumbled back into the living room looking pale.
"Izzy's gone too..."
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The two Digidestined searched through Izzy's house for any clue to what happened, while Davis tended to Veemon. Yolei was in Izzy's room, while Lei was at what remained of Izzy's computer in his computer room.
"Looks like these things don't know much about computers..." Lei said as he examined the main console, which was intact, so any information on it wasn't lost. The screen was shattered and would never work again, along with other accessories. The disk that Izzy had used to identify the slime was inside the disk drive of the computer console, which protected it. A light mint scent came to Lei. He rose his head, sniffing the air. Lei puts the computer back down and searches the cabinets underneath. When he opened the first one, he saw a green hand with a dark greenish substance on it.
"Palmon?" He reaches for the hand and slowly grasps it. When he did, it twitches.
"HOLY HELL!!! Damn..." He let go of the hand and pulled his back. The hand that grabbed the other went past his face with that mint scent. He sniffs the green liquid on his hand, finding it the source of the scent. Finding a nearby rag, Lei wipes off the liquid. He opens the other cabinet and finds the rest of her, cramped into the small cabinet with more accessories for computers. The edges of those pieces scratched her skin and made her bleed.
"So much for protection..." Lei said to himself. She groaned softly.
"Palmon!? You're alive?" She opened her left eye a little and looked at him. Lei took an item called a Core Medicine out of the left side of the backpack and had her drink it. The Core Medicine didn't recover her strength just yet, but it helped in keeping her form a little more stable so that she would stay alive.
"What happened?" Lei asked her. Palmon tried to speak, but could only get out a moan of pain as she tried to move. Lei looked around her and moved some of the parts out of the way so that she wouldn't be hurt by them. Seeing another bundle of rags, he rolls them together to make a pillow and places it under Palmon's head, careful not to hurt her any worse than she is already.
"Stay in here until I return. Ok?" She gave a small nod, closed her eye and went to sleep. He puts back the Core Medicine. -If she hasn't dissolved yet, then she'll be ok for a while.- .
-Lei!- Lei jumped at the sound.
"Wha---" He looked around, seeing a trashed room, but no one besides Palmon was in it.
-Lei can you hear me!- Lei narrowed his eye and thought back.
-Tone it down a bit will you!?!-
-Sorry, Jacob sent his newest invention to your house. It may help you out.-
-Thanks Marin... Hey.- Lei thought out to her.
-Yes?- Marin responded.
-... Can Sari and Janis be in this area?- Lei asked as he was watching Palmon for a moment as she was sleeping. The Core Medicine seemed to be working well as her injuries were healing rapidly.
-I don't know for sure.- Was all she said, then silence. Lei closed the doors to the computer desk and all was silent. Lei didn't quite understand. Usually Marin is straight with him on a lot of things, but se sounded a little uncertain when he asked her about Sari and Janis. He got up and walked out of the room. Davis saw him and asked what startled him.
"Found Palmon. She's hurt, but I helped fix her up a little. Let's let her rest for now." Lei replied as he met Yolei in Izzy's room. He had noticed that Davis bandaged his cut arm with a torn shirt. Yolei saw him as she got up from where there were some drawers intact at one time.
"Nothing!" She slammed what she had back onto the pile, frustrated.
"We're not going to find---" Lei stopped in mid sentence, noticing something in the room. He walks over to the closet. "Did you check here yet?" She shook her head. Lei slowly put his hand on the doorknob and quickly opening it. Lots of stuff fell out along with a blue fox.
"StarRenamon!?" The Digidestined of Time got the junk off him and pulled the unconscious digimon out, cuts covering him from head to legs and his star on his head was cracked a little. His gloves were full of tears and holes, as if done by claws.
"Yolei... Help me." She ran to him and got under StarRenamon’s left arm, Lei on his right and lifted him to the living room, where Veemon was standing now, talking to Davis with a hand over his blue ear. Davis looked away for a moment and saw Lei and Yolei carrying StarRenamon. They carried him to Davis and Lei said to him as he had him get on his side.
"We're not safe here. I think we may be better off at my place, no one knows where it is except StarRenamon and a few others." Davis nodded, while a confused Veemon stared at the two.
Yolei asks Lei, "What about Palmon, we just can't leave her here." A sickening look came over Lei's face.
"She's... not able to come with us right now. I found her in the computer… room..." Before he could finish, she moved the unconscious fox's weight to Davis and ran to the computer room. While she was looking, Lei took what sodas were left and dumped them into his backpack, then slung it back over his back.
"Uh... Davis? Who is this?" Veemon asked. He had met StarRenamon in the past, but his memory was a little fuzzy due to the bad experience that he went through.
"StarRenamon, my partner. See that orange, metal thing on the couch?" Veemon looked around and saw it. "Get it and let's get going."
"Poor girl, " Yolei said to herself as she met up with them. "She doesn‘t have the strength to move..." She takes StarRenamon’s arm around her neck, taking some of the weight off. Lei had a thought come to him.
"Has anyone seen FlamePalmon?" The two shook their heads as Veemon asks.
"Who's FlamePalmon?"
"Damn...Well...I'll tell you later, but we do need to go. Those that came may return." The dragon Digimon gets StarRenamon’s Armor and follows the rest out the door. Veemon had a little trouble carrying it from the weight of it, but managed to do it.
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Lei leads them to a forest a few miles away from Izzy's house, looking around along the way. He waves his free hand and the underbrush parts for them. They go down the path and a few minuets later, they see a run down house, boards hanging limply in some areas, some poorly made patches reveling holes, among other things. This looked more like a condemned house than a hideout.
"Lei, you sure this place is safe?" Davis asks him. Lei only smiles and leads them in, avoiding the holes on the stairs. The others proceed in the same way. When they were all in, Lei closed the door, turned on a lamp and went upstairs.
"Set him on the sofa." Lei said to the surprised Digidestined as he went. Although the outside looked unstable, the inside looked like any other house. A couch in front of a TV in the middle of the room with a long table between them, three doors, one that appeared to lead to the kitchen, one to a restroom and one that lead to the back of the house. A set of stairs next to the door lead to the second floor of the place. They set StarRenamon down onto the sofa as Lei brought down some folding chairs for them, also one for Veemon. Lei passed them out. They sat down and rested for a while before Lei said to Veemon, "Veemon, do you remember anything of what happened while that creature was inside of you?"
Veemon thought for a moment. "Not too much... Just that it was looking for something called 'hosts'... and something about not one person alive will have direct connection to me... and some strange noises..." The blue dragon digimon was quiet for a time. "That's it. I can't remember anymore."
-Hmmm…- Lei thought about what he said. -Izzy said it does takes control, so the host is somewhat aware while it‘s in control.. That thing I thought I saw on Gatomon looked like a snake. That white thing must have not been an illusion. It must also effect memory because Veemon didn’t remember me or StarRenamon at first. But one thing is for certain…-
Davis stood up. "We do have something to fight it with now." Davis looked at Lei and he nodded to him.
"And a weapon to use it with." Lei said as he went back upstairs. Davis glanced over to Yolei.
"Weapon...?" She shrugged. Lei came down with three big super soakers, one under his left arm, two on his right. The three got wide-eyed at the blasters. They were as thick as trees. From the way Lei was holding them, they weren't heavy.
"I found one at a construction site a couple of days ago. Hope the original owners don’t mind, but I had a friend modified them to be similar to my backpack and send a few back here." He handed one to Yolei, who smiled, then one to Veemon and Davis, who looked confused.
“Why are we using Super Soakers to fight?” Veemon asks.
“I was just about to ask the same thing. “ Davis said.
“Soda is our best weapon against this infection. Why not add some style to it?” Lei dumped out his backpack of the sodas inside. "Fill the blasters with the soda and take some for reserve, like grenades. The only thing you have to worry about is when you run out. When you do..."
"What about you? Aren't you going to use one?" Yolei asked.
"No, I have my own weapons." He pointed at his back where a pommel was sticking out from, but he was actually pointing to the two smaller squirt guns in the same side of his backpack. No one had ever noticed that pommel until now. Davis was about to say something, but Lei beat him to it. "How bout something to eat? I'm sure you must be hungry. Davis and Yolei, take what you want from the kitchen. Veemon, I'll need you here with me, guarding StarRenamon... and I'll fill you in to what's happing to this point." Davis and Yolei nervously went to the kitchen. Lei removed his backpack, a scabbard attached to the inside of it, took a few of the snacks out of his backpack, and puts it back on. He hands Veemon three of the five he took out and looked at Veemon. "Well, I guess you would want to know what's going on..."
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"Grrrraaahh!! How can that happen!" A girl slaps Gatomon down to the floor. "How could our leader be captured!!!!" Gatomon looked up at the new leader, trying to explain what happened. Matt, Kari, Tai, Tentomon, Agumon, Gabumon, T.K., Patamon, Hawkmon and Mimi were in the room with Gatomon as well as someone that was in a shadowed part of the room near the group. Mimi was still in her shredded clothes as was Kari, howing a bit more skin than they would normally allow, but they weren't themselves at the moment. Matt or T.K. didn't try to sneak any peeks on Kari, nor did Tai on Mimi. Patamon and Hawkmon didn't even flinch, but they were more worried what this girl was going to do to them after she was finished with Gatomon.
"I.. I don't know. It--" WHAM! Another slap that dwarfed the previous one, leaving a handprint showing on Gatomon's white fur. Her head snapped back from the force. Since Gatomon returned from the store that Veemon went to destroy the unworthy ones, and finding traces of the dark blue slime on the floor near the soda area, all she received in return was a severe beating, as if she was the one who did it.
"No excuses." The girl said coldly. "Now..." She turned to the others. "Where were the three you were suppose to get with Number 6?" Tai lowered his head. Gatomon gave her the only answer there was.
"Only that blue fox was there... and that red plant... We tried to get them to tell us where the other one was but they wouldn't-- gah!" She grabbed Gatomon by the neck and held her out for the others to see her beaten body.
"Not acceptable... But at least you managed to infect Number Seven, that still doesn't let you off. The rest of you! If you fail your punishment will be much worse than this." The new 'leader' threw the worn cat to the group and fallen to the floor, rolling to them.
"Search out and eliminate Numbers 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, and 16!" The group turned to leave. "Number Seven. Come with me." Number Seven turned around, her maroon leaves falling over her eyes a little. She uses a vine to move them aside as the plant Digimon followed her into the next room and closed the door. Jun stood near the window, while Number Seven stood in the shadows.
"Number One can still be recovered. It has come to me that you know where they took Number One correct."
"Yes Master, this host knows their location." FlamePalmon said, with a grin as she stepped into the moonlight, the light giving her red skin an eerie glow. "And I'll be glad to tell you." She added happily, a faint glow to her eyes.
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In a tree not far from the building, a red bird was sitting there, watching and hearing the events unfold inside. With a squawk, and a flap of her red and green wings she took off into the night.
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"...After I blasted you with that soda. you convulsed and coughed up this blue goo." Lei took out the jawbreaker jar that he used to gather up what remained of the viral slime and held it in his left hand. When he took it out, he stopped. The once blue had turned green again, and what was inside was moving slowly. "Uh-oh. Not good... Davis! Yolei!"
Veemon staggered back. "It...I.I.I.I.It's alive?" The frightened blue dragon stammered. The two Lei called raced from the kitchen. The green slime inside starts to vibrate.
"Wha--" Yolei saw the jar.
"Oh shit. Not again!" Davis cursed. The jar explodes, cutting Lei's hand with the shards, the slime falling to the floor. Shouting a small swear, he pulled up his smaller squirt gun that he had earlier with his left hand and tried to take aim at it. Veemon was already gone, left for the kitchen with Davis, who followed after him. Yolei brought up her blaster when a small snake shot up to the sleeping form of StarRenamon. Lei moved his right hand over the sleeping fox and quickly said "Barrier!" and a green light covered StarRenamon before it could reach him and bounced off. Yolei soaked it in soda when it landed. When she stopped, all that was there was soda, as if the soda dissolved it.
"Was that thing the real--" Then she noticed Lei doubled over, groaning. A new wave of pain shot through his arm when he used his barrier magic. Lei looked at his hand and saw why. A piece of glass was inside the palm of his right hand.
"Yolei... Bathroom... second door..." He pointed upstairs. "...under the sink..." He fell to his knees and grabbed the shard. Yolei raced upstairs and quickly found a roll of gauze. "First my leg... now my hand... AAAARRRRRRRGGHH!!!" Lei's scream filled the house as she ran back down. She saw that he had pulled it out and handed him the gauze roll. The injured Digidestined of Time doesn’t notice. He just sits there, panting and murmuring, as that purple glow on his chest starts. Davis pokes his head out of the kitchen door.
"Yolei? Can you come in here?" She walks into the kitchen, Veemon next to Davis. "What happened?"
"I'm not really sure. That... slime revived somehow and a snake shot from it to StarRenamon. Lei did something to repel it and I blasted it," Yolei lifted her blaster for a second before lowering it. "But when Lei protected his digimon, he hurt his hand worse where the glass jar cut it I think."
Veemon smiled. "So it's really gone?"
Yolei shrugged. "I guess so, there wasn't any of it remaining." They looked into the living room. Lei was sitting on a recliner, panting, his crest giving off a purple light. They decided that the coast was clear and went back into the room. Lei's head was down as he was still murmuring something, the purple glow gone. Yolei glanced at his hand and noticed he hadn't used the roll yet, but was almost healed. He stopped when he noticed her and put on the wrappings.
"Well, good job Yolei. Now we do know how to destroy them completly. I won't be able to draw for a little while now..."
Davis asked, "How do we what?"
"What Izzy didn't understand." Lei finished applying the wrappings. He took a glove from his backpack and slipped it on to protect the wound. "It's parasitic like he said in his last report of it, but the slime just extends it's control over the host and acts like a regenerating shield. Soda is the key to this, but he didn't know how to use it, but then again, neither did we until now. They have to be sprayed directly, to remove the slime and destroy the creature that it causing it." Yolei and Davis sit back down on the other sofa, Veemon sat with StarRenamon on the one across from them.
"So it was that snake I doused that is causing everything to happen?" Yolei asks.
Lei nodded. "Yeah... although, I don't really know what to make of it myself. I've seen glimpses of them, but nothing to help us with."
"What's with the sword?" Davis asked, out of the blue.
Lei looked over to Davis. "My defense." He took it out of it's scabbard and shown them the blade. The sword blade was silver with a red pommel and a purple crystal between them. A click from the sword and they split in two. Lei grimaced a little when he grasped one with his right hand. He rubbed them together, making a swiping sound, then puts them back together and back into the scabbard. "Don't worry Yolei, it's not for the digimon. This is a favorite sword of mine. " Lei replies when he saw a worried look on her face.
"So, when's the rescue mission?" Davis asked. Lei looked in his direction.
"We're waiting for three more." Yolei, Davis and Veemon exchanged glances. Lei turned to the door. "Wish they'd hurry though."
"Who to hurry?" Davis picked up one of the cans of pop that weren't used for the blasters, opened it, and took a sip from it. Veemon took one too, opened it, but like always, swallows half of it in one go. Lei didn't reply as they waited.
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Outside, four figures stood together, a tall one, one a little smaller than the tall one , another almost the same height, and another about a foot shorter, with a piece of paper.
"The directions said ten steps away from the light of the lamppost, and wave a hand to the bushes... sounds like a lot of nonsense to me."
"Well, if you don't try..." The third boy said.
"Ok. Ok." The tall one waves his hand over the bush wall. Nothing happened.
"See. What did--"
"Wait a minuet." The small yellow one said. "Somethin's happening." The bush that he waved at parted for them to pass. "... Well, let's continue. And hope that this letter is true to the source." The second boy replied. They found a path and followed it, the panel closing behind them. Across the road from the hidden entrance, a dark, small, dragon-like silhouette was standing there. He had decided to follow this group of people and it seemed that it was worth it. Silently, he disappeared into the night. The small party looked back, now knowing that there was no way back but to continue since the opening closed. They follow the path to a dark, run down house.
"Now I know this isn't a real letter. Look where it lead us to!" The tall teen companied.
"These steps are walkable, " Said the third kid. " but avoid the holes." They do so and they reached the door. Knocking on it three times, they stand and wait, glancing at the dark windows.
"This place gives me the creeps..." The yellow one comments.
"Well, now all we have to do is wait--- " The doorknob moved, causing everyone to jump.
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There was a knock on the door. "About time..." Lei sighed as he got up, making sure he didn't put too much pressure on his slightly-injured hand and leg. He went to the door, the trio behind him. Before he grasps the doorknob, he says to it.
"Unlock..." A white-purplish glow came over the knob. Davis, Yolei and Veemon watched in amazement.
Veemon thought to himself. -Haven't I seen that before?- He tried to remember where, but couldn't. The light faded and Lei opened the door, the light from the lamp reveling four figures.
"Glad you could make it. Come on in." The slowly came in, a tall boy with glasses, white shirt and blue pants, a smaller boy with brown hair and a beige shirt that fell to his knees and a digimon with yellow plates on his back.
"Joe, Cody, Armadillomon. This is a surprise." Yolei said to them. Who was behind them surprised them even more.
"Izzy!? You escaped?" Davis said to the frazzled Digidestined of Knowledge. His shirt was torn some and his hair was a bit misplaced.
"Yeah. While you were gone, I kept lookout at the window and saw Tai and Gatomon were coming toward my place. StarRenamon told us to get out and... well, Palmon ran into the computer room, don't know what became of her, while I went to the back door."
Lei closed the door and turned to Izzy. "We found StarRenamon in your closet, but how did he get out of his armor?" Joe, Cody and Armadillomon went to talk with Davis, Yolei and Veemon, the latter filling in the new arrivals on what's going on. Izzy looked at StarRenamon’s armbands.
"I guess Gatomon was trying making a move on him, and somehow undid his armor. I feel sorry that I had to leave him, but if they had me... well, you guys would be in trouble." A dark expression came over Lei's face. He walked to Izzy, completely forgetting about the three he had sent for.
"Gatomon was left alone... with this infection... with StarRenamon?" He asked slowly, hoping that it wasn't true.
"I'm sorry. He might-- Hey!" He pushed Izzy out of the way and to StarRenamon, who was waking up. Izzy, leaving the two alone, joined Davis and the others. Lei slowly shook the sleeping digimon, purple eye opened and fixed it on Lei.
"Uhh... What a night." StarRenamon groaned.
"StarRenamon, listen to me. What happened?" StarRenamon looked around and saw he was back at Lei's house.
"Uhh. my head hurts... I spotted Gatomon and Tai coming down the road. I told Palmon to follow Izzy out the back, but she panicked and went back to the computer room. I did fight Gatomon and FlamePalmon battled Tai long enough for Izzy to get out. Guess it was worth it. Gatomon was the one who did this, or rather, the thing controlling her. Tai had overpowered FlamePalmon and..." A tear fell from his eye. Lei lowered his head in realization. "He dragged her off into the kitchen. I haven't seen her after that. " StarRenamon was crying a little, worried or his plant girl. "Gatomon almost had me if I didn't use Image Render. I stayed in the closet after that." Lei stood up and handed StarRenamon back his torso armor.
"Here's your armor back, you will need it." A smile came over the blue fox's face as he sat up to put it on, but Lei could tell that he was still upset. Joe walked up to Lei.
"Were you the one who sent that letter with the parrot to me?" Lei stood up and turned to him.
"Yeah that was me. Did Izzy and Davis fill you and the others in on what's going on?"
Joe nodded. "Yeah, they did." Lei went back upstairs and got a few more of the huge liquid blasters and brought them back down.
"FlamePalmon..." StarRenamon said. He was crying softly. "I failed."
Lei went to Joe. "Are these legal?" Joe was a little nervous as he took the one Lei offered him.
"They are to save the world. I found one of them in an empty lot, had a friend redo them so they are lightweight and can shoot up to one hundred shots before it needs to be reloaded." He made sure everyone heard this. He handed one to Cody and Armadillomon. "They work the same as any water blaster or gun, aim and pull the trigger, only this time, they shoot soda. Don't say it Joe, it's the only effective thing against this disease thing." Lei took one more blaster, his last one, and gave it to Izzy. "Yolei proved a point earlier tonight when I was going to bring what was left of 'Number one' to Izzy for study, but it came back to life. The one controlling the host is actually a small snake that gives off a slime to extend it's reach. When you get the infected person to consume the soda, or drenched in it, the 'green goo', the only name I know to call it, will leave it and turn blue, making the snake defenseless. Izzy's assumption with the soda proved useful." Izzy smiled with pride. "When it is blue that's when you are to drown it because it is weakened when it is blue. Once the snake itself is drowned, it will dissolve and be no more." Silence filled the room when he finished.
Izzy decided to break it. "That's a better analysis than I could give."
Lei shrugged. "That's how it happened. And you need to fill them up with those." Lei pointed to the area of the room that had all the sodas and cases.
Lei went to StarRenamon. "StarRenamon, I'll need your help Paraspelling every victim so we can get a sure target." Wiping his eyes, he nodded. "Ok. Now that everyone knows what to do, let's get some rest for a couple of hours so--."
A squawk was heard from upstairs as a red and green bird flew into the living room. Everyone ducked to avoid it.
"Whazzat?" Armadillomon shouted, bringing up his blaster when the bird landed on Lei's arm. The only ones who wasn't spooked were Joe, Cody and Lei. He held the bird close and scratched it's head.
"This is Rosa, my messenger parrot." The bird squawked and made a few sounds to Lei. She had red feathers with a splash of green on the back of her neck. Her wings were red too, but with blue and green at the tips. Rosa was almost three feet long, head to tail, one and a half to the feet, and one heck of a beak, curved to a point on the top and flat-tipped on the bottom, three inches from top to bottom.
"Ok, I know you're hungry, I'll get you some food." He looks to the others. "I'll be back, she needs her fresh food and water. Make yourselves comfortable." Lei went upstairs. Davis looked around to the others as they started to fill their blasters.
"Has anyone ever seen a bird like that before?"
"Macaw actually, in the Green-wing family." Izzy spoke up. "The last-known area I had knew them to be in in a Bird-Refuge in America called Feathered Friends Forever. "
"Feathered Friends! That's it!" Yolei exclaimed out loud a smile on her face. Everyone stopped at her voice.
"What's it?" Cody asked. Yolei lowered her voice.
"There had been something about Lei that I have been trying to figure out... and I think I have." Everyone looked at Yolei with confusion. "I've heard about that refuge for parrots. Izzy, do you remember the name of who was there, anything."
Izzy thought for a moment. "Hmmm. There was a kid who worked there at one point but I don't know his name, he was their caretaker for the parrots I think."
Davis started to see what this was going to. "Isn't that one who feeds and cleans... A caretaker?"
"Yes, Davis." Izzy said.
"No, that can't be true..." Cody spoke up. "Because if you're right, he died in a car explosion a few months ago. Right Joe?"
Joe nodded. "Yeah, we heard that on the radio. Poor kid. His name was Paul if I heard right. " Yolei sighed and stared to walk around.
"O.k. So did he have glasses with brown hair? I saw someone with Lei that looked like that earlier while we were getting the sodas." Izzy thought for a moment, trying to remember the image that he saw.
"Yeah, that's what he looked like. Well, the reason we were there was... " Joe began to tell of his assistance in America, his real reason for being there.
Yolei sighed again. "I guess I better go see if Lei is ready then." Yolei said as she headed upstairs.
End of Chapter 6
Nyaa... Will be around but not very much.
