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Willis stopped with a sigh, and wiped his sweaty brow with his arm. Ever since their last run-in with Wendigomon, three days ago, Willis and Terriermon had quickened their pace as much as possible.
Terriermon plopped down on the ground beside him, “Well Willis, if ‘Find the d...’ meant find the desert,” he looked around and sighed, “We’ve definitely succeeded in that.” Willis kicked a bit of dust into the air. Not exactly a desert, but this part of Texas certainly did seem pretty close. But both Willis and Terriermon knew that a desert wasn’t what they were looking for; they were looking for a person. Or possibly more than one.
Izzy clacked away at the keyboard in front of Max’s computer, occasionally lifting a hand to move the mouse around and click on something. Behind him, watching closely, were Max, R.J., and Mimi, each with their In-Training level Digimon in their laps.
Izzy stopped for a moment and swiveled his chair around to face them. He spoke to the six others at once, “As far as I can determine, some form of a digital surge caused the modem to somehow transfer its normal output into some kind of unknown server connection.”
Mimi cocked her head, “In English, please?” Tanemon, Palmon’s In-Training form that resembled a green plant bulb with a small sprout on top and four stubby feet, looked up at Mimi from her lap, “The digivice zapped the computer and opened a gate to the Digital World.”
Mimi blinked, “Why is it I’m the only one who can’t understand a word Izzy says?” R.J. muttered something under his breath to Max, and they both chuckled. Mimi eyed them angrily, and they soon quieted.
Izzy continued, “As I was saying, the computer made a connection to the Digital World. Ever since the battle against Diaboramon on the Internet, I had formed a theory that the Internet and the Digital World were somehow linked, but I could never quite figure out how.” He examined the purple digivice in his hand, “I think these might be the answer I’ve been looking for.”
Max scratched the back of his neck and spoke up, “You know, Izzy, you just reminded me. Whatever became of that guy with the old model digivice, that you said was heading towards Houston?”
Izzy smiled and turned back to the computer screen, “I’m glad you asked, Max.” He clicked away with the mouse, and soon the digivice-locator map appeared on the screen. Max, R.J., and Mimi inched in to get a closer view. Izzy zoomed in on Texas, and tapped the screen above a red dot, “Ever since the Diaboramon reading disappeared, this dot has been moving closer and closer to,” he tapped on the green dot near Houston, “this guy here. My guess is that the old digivice holder is looking for the new digivice holder.”
“What I’d like to know,” R.J. interrupted, “Is just what WE can do about it. I mean, we’re not going to actually head all the way down to Texas and meet up with these guys, are we?” Izzy shook his head, “That’s not EXACTLY what I had in mind, R.J. I think I might have a plan.”
Willis looked around to make sure no one was looking, and dropped half his sandwich into his backpack. He was getting closer, he could feel it, but that didn’t mean he could go without eating. So he had stopped at a small diner to get a bite to eat. He heard content munching in his backpack, smiled, and started in on his lunch.
The bell on the door gave a jingle as someone entered the diner. Willis looked up at the new arrival. He looked to be about 15 or 16 years old, standing about six feet tall and with a dark tan. His jet-black hair was tied a blondish-red at the tips, but lacked any real form or style. He wore a pair of brown khakis and a white, untucked short-sleeved dress shirt with the top button undone, giving him a slightly formal air about him. On his feet he sported a pair of dusty Timberlands, and silver watch glistened on his left wrist.
The boy approached the counter, and smiled at the wrinkled, grey-haired waitress, “Hello there, ma’am.” he said without the expected Texas accent, and the word “ma’am” sounded quite odd. He continued, “I was wondering if you might rustle me up some burgers to go?” The waitress smiled and nodded, “Sure, Nomandy, but please do drop the southern-talk. You know it doesn’t sound right coming from your sweet little mouth.” The boy, Nomandy, blushed a bit as he sat to wait for his order.
Willis jumped a bit at the beep that came from his pocket. He reached in and pulled out his digivice. It was shaped like a cross with the corners rounded off. It was white in color, and had a raised circle in the center, with a small LCD screen in the center of that, and three blue buttons, one on the left side and two thinner ones on the right.
He pushed the larger button, and what looked like a small map appeared. Willis’s eyes widened as he examined it, “Terriermon,” he whispered excitedly, “We’re really close!” He looked up, and almost dropped his digivice in shock. The boy who had just walked in was examining something in his hand, too. A gray, rectangular device, slightly resembling Willis’s.
The boy was staring at Willis, too, and he stood up and walked over to Willis’s table. He sat down in front of him, “Is that what I think it is, buddy?” Willis nodded slowly, “If that’s a digivice you’re holding, then yes, it is what you’re thinking.”
“Digivice, huh?” he asked, looking it over in his hand. Willis noticed a peculiar symbol on the top part of the digivice; it was a dark gray cross-shape, taller than it was wide, with a small triangle at each corner. “That sounds about right,” the boy continued, “Well my name’s Nomandy, pleased to meet you.” He held out his hand. Willis put out his hand too, and they shook as Willis said, “I’m Willis, and boy am I ever happy to meet you.”
Max watched with suspense as Izzy clicked away at the computer, opening and closing menus faster than Max could read them. Finally, Izzy sat back and cracked his knuckles, “That should do it. Is everyone ready for an experiment?”
Mimi sighed, “Let’s just get this over with.” The four of them proceeded to pull out their digivices, and hold them up to the screen. Izzy then said, “As I said before, this will take us to a reasonably close area to the two digivices, but I’m not sure of their exact location.” They all nodded in return, and with their Digimon at their sides, they all said at once, “Net-port, open!”
Willis and Terriermon followed closely behind Nomandy as they made their way through the alleyway between the diner and the neighboring video store, where Nomandy had mentioned he worked. Willis nearly tripped on a glass bottle, but covered his loss of balance with an attempt at conversation, “So, Nomandy, you say you’re from up North?”
Nomandy looked back and nodded pleasantly, “The Northwest, or Pennsylvania to be exact.” He stopped at the end of the alleyway and peaked his head out, examined the surroundings a bit, and nodded, “Okay, the coast is clear. Let’s go” He walked at a slightly faster pace forward, and crouched down between some shrubs, quickly followed by Willis and Terriermon. Willis watched as Nomandy lifted a rectangular stone slab from the ground, revealing a set of stairs.
“Whoa!” Willis said, “Where did this come from?” Nomandy motioned for Willis and Terriermon to enter, and as they did he responded, “It used to be an old bomb shelter during the fifties. I found out about it during that whole Y2K thing, and I’ve been using is as kind of my personal place ever since.” He followed Willis and Terriermon once they were inside, and carefully replaced the cover from underneath as he did.
Willis looked around the converted bomb shelter. A cheap red carpet covered most of the iron floor. One wall was made up of almost completely baron, rusted metal shelves. On the shelves was mostly dust, with a black digital clock/radio, and a currently off lava lamp. The bottom shelf, however, had been converted into a makeshift bed, with a rectangle of foam padding, a thin blanket, and a pillow with no case. The only light came from a florescent light on the dull metal ceiling.
Then Willis saw why they had come down here. Floating near one of the corners, with an excited look on its face, was a Digimon. Willis judged that it was most likely a Rookie by its size. It was serpent-like, its body about three feet in length, and its head about one additional foot. It was a blue-ish shade of green, sea color, but from the rim of its mouth to the tip of its tail was a strip of white on its underside. On its tail tip was a spiraling bit of red hair, and hair of the same shade was on the back of its head. It had large green lizard-like eyes, and a short white horn jutted from the top of its head. It held itself in a flowing coil, floating in mid-air.
“Willis, meet Dramon. Dramon, this is Willis. And that there is HIS partner Digimon, Terriermon.” Dramon smiled and slithered through the air, circling Willis twice before coming to a stop, “Nice to meet ya!” it said in an excited voice, and a thin tounge whipped out, quickly licking Willis’s face before returning to Dramon’s mouth. Willis tried his best not to shutter.
“You’ll have to excuse Dramon; sometimes he can be a bit capricious.” Nomdany chuckled. Willis cocked his head, “He can be...what?” Nomdany shook his head and sighed a bit, “Never mind.” A bit of a wind could be heard starting above ground.
Willis’s eyes shot wide open. “Not now!” he thought in his head, “He can’t be here now! Not when I’m so close to finding the answers I’ve been searching for!” Willis looked up at Nomandy, who had a puzzled look on his face. Wills’s face turned grim; he hadn’t relized he was vocalizing his thoughts.
“What are you talking about?” Nomandy asked puzzledly, “Who’s here?” Willis sighed, and tried to explain as fast as he could.
After Willis’ quick explaination, the four of them headed outside to at last face Wendigomon. As they emerged from the shelter, their faces were filled with determination. Their only sign of nervousness was the persperation that dotted their forheads. As they stepped out, Nomdany gasped. The brightness of the sun had faded into a dismal gray, as everything seemed darker. All around them, strange ribbons of wavy air swirled about, making a humid wind the blew their clothes and hair, but provided no coolness.
Slowly the streams of air closed in on eachother, swirling around and forming into Wendigomon. Nomdany stared in deisbelief as the virus infected Digimon appeared. As it appeared, its tortured voice called out, “Willis....”
Willis closed his eyes, fighting back tears, and cletched his digivce tightly. He turned to Terriermon, “You know what you have to do. Be careful...Terriermon...” Terriermon nodded, “Don’t worry Willis, I’ll make everything right again.” A flash of light...
Nomdany’s eyes widened, “How did he...what just happened here?!” He turned his head to Dramon, “Can...can you do that, too?”
“Gargo-Barret!” Gargomon yelled, rapidly firing several rounds as Wendigomon. Wendigomon raised an arm, and the bullets seemed to bounce off a thin barrier of shadow surrounding Wendigomon. Willis sounded choked, “The virus has almost completly taken him over...”
Nomdany clenched his hand around his digivice, “Dramon, you have to go help Gargomon!” Dramon nodded, and swiftly slithered through the air towards the battling brothers. Dramon opened his mouth, “Sizzle Spit!” and hundreds of thread-thin strings of heat surged from his mouth in a long stream before striking Wendigomon’s side, yet producing no more than a light waft of smoke upon impact.
Nomandy kicked the ground, making a few strands of yellowish grass airborn, “It’s still not enough. Dramon, do you think you can do what Terriermon did?” Dramon looked back at Nomandy, then turned to look at Gargomon, who had become engaged in a grapple with Wendigomon, “I’m not sure. I want to, but I don’t know how!”
Nomdany clenched his hands. “This isn’t right,” he whispered, “Willis came all this way so I could help him, and I don’t even know what to do. I have to help him...I have to!” Nomandy’s digivice began to glow brightly. A flash of light...
Nomdany started fixatedly on Airdramon, whom had only a moment ago been Dramon. He was serpant-like like Dramon, but larger and longer in size. His skin was the same color, but his underbelly was instead segmented, and dark blue in color. On his back was a large pair of red wings, and his head from his mouth and up was an exo-skull, with two branch-like horns coming out the back. His hair was streaked with both yellow and red, but he still had the red tuft of hair on the tip of his tail.
“Alright, you did it Dramon! Eh, I mean Airdramon!” Nomdany shouted. Willis looked up at Airdramon and smiled with hope. It seemed things might turn out for the better after all.
Airdramon flapped its large wings, and flew forward again towards Wendigomon and Gargomon. Airdramon stopped to hover above them, and opened its mouth, “Spinning Needle!” With that, a barage of stone-like needles; each spinning like a little drill, and them all spinning in one big circle; flew downwards at Wendigimon. Wendigomon threw up his arms to knock away the needles, and Gargomon took full advantage. He cried out, “Bunny Pummel!” and spun around quickly, smacking Wendigmon’s stomach with his guns.
Wendigomon doubled-over and clenched his stomach, letting out a grunt in his strange double-voice. Airdramon spread his wings and descended on Wendigomon, more needles flying from its mouth. The needles struck into Wendigimon’s back, but they still continued to bounce off the thin layer of shadow.
Willis kicked the ground. “This isn’t getting us anywhere!” he shouted, “Even if we were doing any real damage, we’d only be hurting Lopmon! There has got to be a way to get that stupid virus out of him!”
Nomandy put a firm hand on Willis’s shoulder, “Don’t worry, man, we’ll think of something. But right now its better if Airdramon and Gargomon slow him down a bit.” Willis slowly lifted his head and nodded.
“Howling Crusher!” Wendigomon’s odd voice rung out, and an orange ball of energy lept from inside his mouth at Gargomon, hitting him directly in the face. Gargomon grunted, and rolled across the ground for about five yards. Airdramon cried out, and bared his teeth to bite Wendigomon. Wendigmon reached up and grabbed Airdramon’s jaws, holding them wide open. Airdramon gagged, and flapped his wings despratley in an unsuccesful attempt to flee. An insane smile crossed Wendigomon’s mouth as he called out, “Howling Crusher!” Another ball of energy fired from Wendigomon’s mouth, this time directly down Airdramon’s throat. Airdramon cried out as the explosion errupted in his body, spewing out his mouth, and he fell to the ground.
“No!” Nomandy cried out, “Airdramon!” He tried to run forward, but Willis held him back as much as he could. But they both froze solid as Wendigimon turned to them. Their veins filled with cold blood and they were parylized with fear. Wendigomon opened his mouth, and an orange ball started to form.
“V-Nova Blast!” a far-off voice roared out, and the ground behind Wendigomon errupted in a flash of blue light, knocking Wendigomon on his stomach. The attack Wendigomon had been forming fired upwards, exploding in mid-air.
“What was that?!” Willis called out. But his question was answered as a light blue dinosuar-like dragon came running up from behind Wendigomon, a boy with brown and spikey hair riding its back. “The cavalry has arrived!” the boy called out.
Wendigomon unexpectedly leaped up from the ground, simultaneously swinging its arms around, smacking the dragon Digimon in the face, and knocking the rider off its back and onto his own. The dragon growled, “Hammer Punch!” and punched Wendigomon in the nose, knocking him backwards with a flurry of flying drool.
“Max!” a man of about twenty from thew sound of him called out, “I told you to wait for the rest of us!” Nomandy looked around for the source of the voice, unable to find it until he looked up. There, in the sky, was a giant blue beetle with a red-haired man on its back. Nomandy glanced back to the ground, and there were two more digimon; one a giant cactus carrying a pink-haired woman in the boxing gloves that covered its hands, and one a lion man, a boy with spiked dark red hair sitting on its shoulders.
“I can’t believe it!” Willis said with the first hint of joy Nomandy had heard out of him since they met, “It’s just like my dream! The eight forces...untiting to save Lopmon! It’s really happening!”
“Izzy!” Max called out, “Is this him”?!” Kabuterimon landed next to Veedramon, and Izzy flipped open his laptop. He answered back, “The read-out matches perfectly. This isn’t Diaboramon, obviously, but the virus that infected Diaboramon is inside this Digimon.”
Suddenly the black-haired boy standing a few yards away called out, “R.J?! R.J, is that you?!” Him and the blonde-haired boy came running up, the blonde stopping to crouch beside the rabbit-like digimon with guns on its arms that was laying on the ground.
R.J. hopped off of Leomon’s shoulders, and dashed forward to meet with the other boy, “Hey, no way! Nomandy, is that you?” The two high-fived eachother. Max looked at them, “I take it you two know eachother?”
R.J. nodded, “This is Nomandy, Max. He used to live in my mom’s neighborhood before he moved down here.”
Izzy interjected with urgency in his voice, “I hate to interupt, but there can be time for introductions later. It would appear that this Digimon’s unconcious state was short lived!” And at that moment, Wendigimon leaped to its feet with an un-earthly growl.
Mimi dropped from Togemon’s hands, and the four Digimon rallied together, quickly followed by Airdramon. “So that’s your Digimon?” R.J. asked Nomandy nodded, “Yep, and he’s the bravest guy I know. Go get’em, Airdramon!” The Digimon advanced.
“Light Speed Jabbing!” Togemon called out, her fists punching at Wendigomon in a swift blur. But every punch was met by one of Wendigomon’s hands, blocking the effect entirley. Next, Kabuterimon flew into the air above Wendigomon and called out, “Electro-Shocker!” With that, a purple ball of electricity lept from his six hands and smashed into Wendigomon’s head. Leomon leaped up from behind Wendigomon and thrust its fist forward, “Fist of the Beast King!” A lion head fireball launched from his fist, and smacked into Wendigomon’s back. Wendigomon snarled again, but much louder, its voice echoing all around. Wendigomon’s body started to convulse, seeming to ripple and change color.
“No...” Willis barley managed to make audable. He shouted out loud, “The virus is trying to transform Wendigomon’s body!”