Chapter 35:
Emergency
Akira slowly opened her eyes. She was outside, and the ground underneath her was hard and warm. She got up and looked around, absently wondering where she was. It was night, and there was a dense fog everywhere she looked. It wasn’t until she saw a wrecked car and a streetlamp nearby that she realized she was back home.
Well, not home. Back in America, at least. Back in the Real World. But not home.
“Akira!”
Akira turned around. She could hear bouncing in the distance, echoing through the fog.
A small Digimon emerged, bouncing toward her. A round gray-furred head with bear ears and purple eyes. “You’re okay!” the Digimon piped up, hopping right into Akira’s arms.
“Kodamon…?”
“Cubmon!” the Digimon replied, in Kodamon’s voice. “Transferring to the Real World ripped a lot of energy out of me!”
“We’re back,” Akira said, looking around her. “But I don’t remember it being this foggy when we left…”
Akira walked around, carrying Cubmon in her arms, thinking. “Who else was with me when we left?” she murmured. Then she looked up. “Kei!” she called out. “Rion!”
There was no answer. And the fog grew thicker. Then, there were footsteps and a rustling of leaves.
“Kei?” Akira called, looking in the direction of the noises. “Terriermon?”
There was a growl, then a screech as something jumped out at them.
Cubmon jumped out of Akira’s arms and glowed.
“Cubmon, evolve to… Kodamon!”
“Bear Fist!”
The attack bounced off the something, which turned out to be an Evilmon. There was a cackle, as more Evilmon appeared.
“We’re surrounded!” Akira said, looking around wildly. She looked over at Kodamon. “Can you warp evolve?” she asked, pulling out her D-Coder.
Kodamon shook her head. “Not enough energy!” She scowled at all the Evilmon. “I guess we have to do this the long way…” She and Akira’s D-Coder began to glow.
“Kodamon, evolve to… Kodiamon!”
The light dissipated, and Kodiamon aimed her laser arm at one of the Evilmon. “Silver Shot!” She swung her arm in an arc, hitting a few of the Evilmon and knocking them down. Others leapt up into the air and tried to land on her.
“Chrome Claw!” Her other arm swung out, clawing the Evilmon out of the air. They landed back on the ground, unfazed.
“This isn’t working!” Kodiamon said, “We need firepower!”
Akira nodded. “Right.” She pulled out the Crest of Courage, which began to glow.
“Kodiamon, super evolve to… Helamon!”
The golden-armored bear appeared, and lunged at the nearest Evilmon.
“Solar Swipe!” The Evilmon were promptly stomped by the flames and shattered. Helamon aimed her cannon at the other Evilmon and fired. “Solar Cannon!” Two large missiles shot out, which quickly multiplied to account for the number of Evilmon still standing. The Evilmon screeched as they all fragmented into nothingness.
Akira let out a relieved breath. She walked over to Helamon and put a hand on her head as they surveyed the damage left behind.
“Not a nice welcome back,” Helamon said.
“We have to find the others,” Akira said seriously, “If the Midnight Army’s already here…”
Helamon nodded. “Let’s go!”
“Akira! Rion!”
Kei wandered around calling out names as a de-evolved Gummymon followed beside her.
“Where could they be?” Kei asked. “We weren’t that far away from each other when we left!”
“Naoko did something with our positions, I think,” Gummymon answered.
Kei nodded. “To save Akira from the car hitting her.”
“Maybe it separated all of us.”
Kei shrugged and looked around. “In any case, it’s really foggy out here. It wasn’t like this when we left!”
“Kei!”
Kei turned around, her face brightening. “Mom!” She ran toward her, and practically leapt into her arms. Gummymon hopped after her.
“You didn’t come right back after you left,” Kyoko said sternly, “And then this strange fog rolled in. Are you all right?”
Kei looked back at her, tears rolling down her face. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Kyoko looked at her, puzzled. Then she looked around. “Where’s Akira?”
“I don’t know,” Kei answered, “I think we got separated in the fog. I couldn’t find Rion either…”
“Rion?” Kyoko was even more puzzled.
Just then, Gummymon gasped. “Something’s coming,” he said, hopping to get Kei’s attention.
Kei nodded and looked out into the distance.
“What? Who-” Kyoko stared at Gummymon in shock.
“Watch out!” Gummymon shouted. He glowed, and Kei’s Digivice beeped.
“Gummymon, evolve to… “Terriermon!”
As soon as Terriermon appeared, an explosion hit right where the three of them were standing.
“Blazing Fire!” Terriermon shot blindly into the fog, but the attack hit nothing.
Kyoko struggled to get up, then crawled over to Kei, who was lying nearby. “Kei!” she shouted, trying to shake her awake.
Kei didn’t respond. She had been knocked unconscious by the explosion.
“Kei!” Kyoko shook her again, but she didn’t wake up. She looked down at the beeping, shining green Digivice lying next to Kei, then looked at Terriermon.
“Digi...mon…?” Kyoko murmured, eyes widened in recognition.
Terriermon’s eyes shot up. “You know about us?”
“No, I-” Kyoko stammered. “You’re… real. You’re all real. Takashi, and Nami… I didn’t believe them…”
She was interrupted by a low growl. There was a rustle of leaves, and then two Evilmon jumped out, cackling. Kyoko screamed, and Terriermon jumped forward.
“Blazing Fire!” But the two Digimon only brushed it away. They came closer, and Terriermon stepped back, trying to guard.
“Solar Swipe!”
Flashes of fire shot out, engulfing the Evilmon entirely. Smoke filled the air, and from it, Helamon emerged, with Akira following close behind.
The two of them waited until the Digimon fragmented, then hurried over to Kyoko and Kei, who was still unconscious in her arms.
“Akira?” Kyoko asked faintly.
Akira went down to look at Kei. “It’s all right,” she said, “She’ll wake up soon.” She and Helamon looked at each other for a moment, then nodded.
Akira looked at her mother for a few moments. “Mom…” she said calmly, “Watch over Kei, okay? I have to go.” She then turned around and started jogging away.
“Wait!” Kyoko blurted out, “Where are you going?”
Akira stopped and turned around. “I have to make sure that there’s no more Digimon running around here.” She smiled a little. “Go back to the house and stay there. You’ll be safe, and Terriermon will be with you.” She looked at Terriermon, who nodded.
“But-”
“Don’t worry, I’ll explain later.” At that, she and Helamon ran off.
“Where is everyone?”
Rion looked down at the de-evolved Gigimon standing at his feet. “I don’t know.” He looked up and down the street, squinting his eyes. “I can’t see anything in this pea soup.”
He listened closely, and heard what sounded like booms in the distance, and what sounded like police or ambulance sirens. He looked around, and saw a familiar-looking boy at the street corner. He was older – Akira’s age – and had the same chestnut brown eyes and black hair as Rion. It was his older brother, Ryou.
“Kuya!” Rion shouted.
The older boy didn’t answer for a moment. He was looking at something in the distance, with a confused expression. Then he turned his head. “Rion?” he said, then he turned back, gasping.
“Kuya!” Rion said, running up to him and hugging him fiercely.
“Hey! Whoa!” Ryou said, grabbing hold of him. “What are you doing out this late? I came out to look for you, and then this weird fog showed up. And then…” He looked out in the distance again.
Rion frowned. “What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”
“I…” Ryou shook his head. “Never mind.”
“Hungry…”
Ryou looked down at the small red Digimon standing at Rion’s feet. “Wait,” he said skeptically, “Did that thing… just say something?”
Rion smiled a little and picked Gigimon up. “This is Gigimon.”
“I’m hungry!” Gigimon piped up, “Can we get something to eat?”
“Ahh!” Ryou backed away, hands in front of him. “It… it talks!”
“Don’t worry,” Rion said, “he won’t hurt you.” He thought a moment. “Kuya, do we still have pandesal in the bread box?”
“H-huh?” Ryou stammered. “Uh… yeah?”
“Great!” Rion ran off toward their house, carrying Gigimon in his arms. Ryou followed them, incredibly confused.
Kei opened her eyes to her mother looking down at her fearfully.
“You’re awake!” Kyoko exclaimed, “Thank God!”
“Mom?” Kei sat up and looked around. She had been lying on the couch in the living room of her house. Terriermon was perched on a chair next to a front window, looking out at the street. He turned to Kei and hovered over to her as she got up from the couch.
“Are you okay, Kei?” he asked.
“Yeah. My head hurts a little, but I’m fine.”
“Be careful,” Kyoko said, “You might have a concussion.”
She was interrupted by a knock on the door. She got up to open it, and was immediately greeted by a four-foot-tall red dinosaur.
“Hihi!” Guilmon shouted, jumping out between Rion and Ryou.
Kyoko screamed and landed on her bottom on the floor. Guilmon looked at her, then back at Rion, puzzled.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Nogami,” Ryou said, “That was my first reaction, too.”
Kei walked up to them. “Come inside, before someone else sees you!” They did so, and Kei quickly closed the door.
“So, according to Rion,” Ryou said, looking from Guilmon to Terriermon and back, “they’re called-”
“Digimon,” Kyoko finished, picking herself off of the floor. “I’m aware.”
“You know about Digimon, Mom?” Kei asked, amazed.
Kyoko sighed. “It’s a very long story, and one I didn’t really believe until now.”
“Did you guys find Akira and Kodamon?” Kei asked Rion.
“Wait, Akira’s involved in this, too?” Ryou asked incredulously.
“Akira…” Kyoko started, “She and her… Digimon saved us from being attacked. She told me they were going to make sure there weren’t any more of those… things running around, and that she would explain later. Then they both ran off.”
“Well, the fog’s almost gone,” Rion said, looking out the window. “They might be back pretty soon!”
“Why was it all foggy to begin with?” Kei asked.
“Edge expansion,” Rion answered, “The foggier it gets, the easier for Digimon to cross into the Real World. It’s what Mataymon wanted to happen.”
“So let me get this straight,” Kyoko said, looking at Terriermon and Guilmon. “You two are Digimon, and those ugly black things that attacked us are also Digimon?”
“Yup!” Terriermon answered, “There are good Digimon and bad Digimon.”
The door opened suddenly, and Akira and Kodamon emerged. Akira closed the door softly, then turned around, nearly jumping out of her skin when she saw everyone gathered in the room.
“Oh. Hi, guys!” she said hastily. “Ryou… Mom…”
“I think you have a lot of explaining to do, young lady,” Kyoko said.
Akira and Kodamon looked at each other. “All right,” Akira said wearily, “Where do we start?”