"Uh... you sure she won't scratch me?" the saleswoman asked in a fearful tone of voice. "I mean, she's kinda big for a cat..."
"I assure you that my friend is as harmless as a little kitty-cat, ma'am," Kari told the nervous owner of the clothes store.
Gatomon grinned. "I won't scratch you or bite you... I'm just here to help Kari choose a present for our friend's birthday."
"Well... if you say so, then I guess I'll just believe you," the woman said. "Now, Miss... did you decide which dress you would like?"
Kari smiled and nodded. "Yup, I'll take the pink one. That's just Mimi's color."
----
Shortly after, Kari and Gatomon left the store with their shopping bags. Gatomon was slightly staggering under the size of her bag, but as a Champion Digimon, she was certainly strong enough to carry it.
"Geeze, Kari..." she muttered. "Your present for Mimi sure is pricey... Where did you get all that money from, anyway?"
"Oh, I just put some aside in case I would need it for something special... And the last time Mimi was here in Japan, she, Sora and I were just strolling through the mall, when all of a sudden, Mimi stared into a display window, saw the dresses inside and was like: 'Oh wow, look at those cute dresses! I wish I had one like that...' And so I decided to buy her one for her birthday."
Gatomon shrugged. As a Digimon, she had no need for any sort of clothing. Only when she digivolved to Angewomon would she wear some clothes... and those were provided by the Digivolution itself.
All of a sudden, multiple shouts of surprise attracted their attention. The pedestrians yelled in panic when suddenly, the sleek form of Stingmon came flying out of a side road, slamming right into the wall of a building.
"Hey, looks like Ken is in trouble," Gatomon shouted. "We better get over there."
Kari groaned. "Evil Digimon again? Why can't they just stop bothering us?"
But when she saw the strange monstrosity that stepped out of the side street where Stingmon came from, she certainly was surprised.
"That's not a Digimon..." she realized. "What... what the heck is that thing?"
It was taller than a bus, and looked just like a giant, purple armor come to life. It's claw-tipped gauntlets and the massive boots didn't seem to be attached to the main body at all, but the monster moved as if every part of its body would be connected. On its chest, they could see a strange emblem.
Then Kari saw Ken. He was standing on the side of the street, clutching his Digivice in one hand, and his chest with the other hand. What was wrong with him?
"Ken!" she shouted. "Over here!"
He looked up upon hearing her voice and came running her way. Meanwhile, Gatomon prepared herself to fight.
"Kari, I'm ready!"
Kari nodded and raised her own D-3 Digivice.
"Digi-Armor Energize!"
Gatomon gleamed with the brightness of light.
"GATOMON ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO... NEFERTIMON, ANGEL OF LIGHT!"
The sphinx-like Armor Digimon took off from the ground and soared towards the bulky form of the monster, which slowly approached the fallen form of Stingmon.
"Cat's Eye Beam!" Out of her headdress, twin beams of light came shooting at the armored creature and hit its helmet, which made it spin around. When it came to a stop, it turned around to face the newcomer.
"I am your opponent!" Nefertimon exclaimed, hovering in front of him.
Ken and Kari met each other behind a parked car.
"Ken, what happened?" Kari wanted to know. "What is that thing?"
"I... I don't know." Ken clutched his head. "I only know that it and other creatures were following us through town the whole day long. And every time I look at them, I feel this stinging pain in my head... and my heart."
"Definitely not your everyday Digimon," Kari realized. "Did it show any signs of intelligence?"
"I'm not sure..." Ken groaned. "For a moment, I thought I could hear their voices... but then, they just seem to act out of instinct."
"Well, it certainly can't continue with its rampage just like that," Kari said. "Hopefully Stingmon and Nefertimon can take care of it, we would need Davis or Yolei for a DNA Digivolution..."
The Guard Armor saw another enemy that had showed up. It decided that its first opponent had been weakened, so it shouldn't be a big bother to take him out. Its boots should be able to take care of him by themselves.
Nefertimon watched in surprise as the monster's metal boots suddenly detached themselves from the main body and came stomping towards Stingmon, who was just starting to recover. The rest of the body came floating her way, with spinning gauntlets.
"Well, aren't we tricky..." she grumbled. "But you don't look like you can fly just like me." And with an elegant pirouette, she dodged the Armor's assault. At the same time, she stopped the metal boots with a cry of "ROSETTA STONE!"
The magical missile hit the left boot and broke it apart. The remaining boot seemed to twitch in surprise, but it still jumped up to smash down on Stingmon's body.
Stingmon raised his hands as he winced, expecting to be squashed under the attack.
"FIRE ROCKET!"
Three blazing fireballs came flying out of nowhere and intercepted the flying path of the boot, destroying it.
Stingmon managed to gather himself. "Flamedramon..."
"Hey, I want some part of the action too, you know?" the armored dragon of courage smirked.
Further away, his partner Davis cheered him on: "Yeah, well done Flamedramon! Show that tin can what you can do."
The Guard Armor noticed another opponent. It realized that victory wouldn't be as easy as it had assumed. Still, the overwhelming craving for pure hearts made it crazy with desire, so it stayed to fight.
It's gauntlets shot forward to hit Nefertimon in mid-air, but the Heartless didn't bargain for Digmon.
"Gold Rush!" the insectoid underground Digimon shouted as he emerged from the ground, shooting his nose and claw drills at the Guard Armor.
The big explosion destroyed both gauntlets at once, so that only the madly spinning main torso and the helmet were left.
"Dammit, stand still!" Flamedramon cursed. "I can't get a clear shot."
"Allow us," Pegasusmon said while he flew at Nefertimon's side.
Together, they flew a wide arc. "GOLDEN NOOSE!"
The golden band of light wrapped itself tightly around the Guard Armor's torso and prevented it from spinning. It also held it in place.
"All yours, Flamedramon," Nefertimon shouted.
That's all their fiery friend needed to hear. "FIRE ROCKET!"
His attack hit the monstrous fiend right in the middle.
The torso shook around wildly, while from its inside, beams of light were pouring out. Slowly, it dissipated into nothing, while a glittering heart came floating out of its top, vanishing in the sky.
"Thanks for your help," Wormmon told his friends after they had reverted to their Rookie forms (or Champion, in Gatomon's case).
"Ah, we never leave a good friend hanging," Armadillomon grinned.
Davis and the others came running to Kari and Ken.
"Hey Kari, are you all right?" Davis asked instantly.
"Yes, I am... thanks, Davis."
"How nice of you to notice that I'm here as well..." Ken grumbled. "But I'm fine as well, you don't have to ask."
Davis chuckled sheepishly. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that, you know? But, see... the girls always need some additional protection."
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Yolei and Kari yelled right into the goggle-wearing boy's ears from both sides at once.
T.K. and Patamon chuckled as their self-declared 'leader' winced under the acoustic assault of the two girls.
Cody inspected the battlefield. Not a trace of their enemy was left.
"Like a Digimon..." he murmured. "But, it didn't dissolve into data, that's for sure."
He looked up to where the strange heart had vanished. "But if not data... then what was this being composed of?"
He then saw something lying on the ground. "Huh? What's that?"
The small boy picked up the tiny chain with the strange, key-shaped pendant...
----
Inside a dark place, a cloaked figure looked up from what it was doing.
"The first fragment has been found," it said. "We have to make sure to find the others before anyone else does."
Two gleaming eyes appeared in the darkness. "Don't worry," a female voice purred. "I'll take care of them if you wish. I still have to pay them back for what they did to my sister..."
The cloaked figure turned around and nodded. "Very well, I leave it in your hands, BlackGatomon... or should I say 'in your paws'?"
The black-furred feline stepped out of the shadows with a smirk on her face. "You know, for a Heartless, you sure got a nice sense of humor."
The stranger chuckled at that. "Well, if you say so... But take care when engaging the white feline... you don't want to end like your sister, do you?"
"Well, you know what they say: All cats are gray in the dark!"
And she laughed.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Fri, 05 Jan 2007 20:14)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.