"The Circle of the Digidestined," written by Freedom Fighter Disclaimer: None of the characters, human or Digimon, belong to me, the writer. Author's Warning: The following fanfic features gruesome character death, both of the human and Digimon kind, violence of varying levels, some profane language, and some suggestive situations. Please do not read this fanfic if you're underage or feel that you cannot handle any of said features. ****** Izzy Izumi and Sora Ishida were standing right next to one of the portal generators in the research laboratory, ready to go to the Digital World. The rest of the staff was running about, making final preparations for the duo's trip. "I still don't know about your decision to send Tai and Mimi off together," stated Sora, who had a very worried look on her face. "They needed to work things out," Izzy told her. "It's a well-known fact that to resolve an argument, you have to talk your way out of it until you find what caused it." "But what if they try to kill each other? You're taking an awfully big risk." "They're adults, Sora. I'm sure they're big enough to fix their mistakes." "You'd better be right. If anything happens to either of them..." Izzy held his hands up, as if to defend himself. "Okay, okay! Geese... everyone's on my case these days!" "The coordinates are set, sir!" shouted Yoshi, one of the researchers. "There's a permanent portal there already, but we'll be standing by if we need to generate a second for an escape route." "I guess we're ready then," Izzy glanced at Sora. "Ready?" "Ready as I'll ever be," Sora replied. "Let's go put a stop to these guys." "Good luck!" wished Yoshi as he pressed a button on his console, opening the portal. Izzy and Sora stepped towards the portal, but before they could be whisked away to their destination... "Hey, stop!" Everyone turned their attention to the lab entrance to see what was going on. It seemed that a middle-aged woman was forcing her way through the guards. Even more amazing was the fact that she had three children with her. "Michelle? Sam?" Sora called out to two of the children by name. After all, they were hers. "Mom?" the two children cried out in unison. "If those are your children, Sora," Izzy deduced, "then that must be..." Izzy finally recognized the woman that was with them. The brown-reddish spiky hair should have given her away. It was Davis's older sister, June. ***** Episode Eight - What's the Stitch? (05.22.03) ***** Michelle and Sam Ishida were the two offspring of Matt and Sora. In fact, they resembled their parents in almost every way. Almost because of one exception... Michelle had Matt's boyish good looks, while Sam was blessed with Sora's beauty. The two of them wrapped themselves around each of their mother's legs. They hadn't seen her in a week, and obviously, they weren't used to being without her for so long. They were used to seeing their father gone because he was an astronaut. And usually when their mother went out of the country to do fashion shows, she'd take them with her. But Sora had decided to leave them in Tokyo this time around... with their babysitter, June Motimiya, even though Michelle was already ten and Sam was eight years old. And as Sora was about to find out, that had been a bad decision. "June, what are you doing here?" asked Sora. "I knew you were here!" June exclaimed, pointing at the Digidestined of Love. "Why didn't you tell me when you got back? I would've brought you your brats back!" "We're not brats!" Michelle proclaimed. "Yeah, you meanie woman!" added Sam. "Michelle! Sam!" Sora glanced down at her children. "Don't talk to June like that!" "But she treated us like jailbirds!" shouted Michelle. "She makes us take a nap when we get home from school! She doesn't let us watch TV at all! And she feeds us instant microwave dinners for dinner!" "What's wrong with that?" her mother asked. "She does it all while smoking!" "June!" "I don't smoke around the kids, Sora, I swear!" Jun confessed, holding her hand up in defense. "Yes you do, Auntie June!" cried the third kid, who was standing next to June. This one was Davis's son, Davis Jr., made evident by the fact that he looked exactly like Davis had when the elder Motimiya was eight. "Davis Junior!" June huffed, putting her hands on her hips. "You should know better," Sora stated. "Yeah!" Izzy added. "Aren't you aware of the chemicals in cigarettes that could kill you?" "I've smoked for nine years and it's never caused me any problems." "Speak for yourself," Izzy said as he fanned the air around him. "She makes Sam cough a lot," admitted Michelle as she glanced at her brother. To prove her point, Sam mockingly coughed once. "June, don't tell me you came all the way down here just to find Sora," said Izzy. "Actually, I'm here to find my brother Davis. Have you seen him around?" "Why? Did something bad happen?" "No. It's just that his wife Dora wants him home soon. It's almost time for dinner." "Davis is kinda preoccupied at the moment..." ====== Davis was actually in the northern quadrant of the Digital World, accompanying TK and Kari as they tried to get rid of the disturbance there. "This is the right place," Kari commented, checking out the coordinates on her D-3, "but there's nothing here." "No village, no Digimon, nothing but trees," TK observed, referring to the barren forestland they were surrounded them. "Are you sure you gave us the right coordinates, BK?" Davis asked. TK growled under his breath. "Davis, how many times do I have to tell you it's TK? And yes, I did put in the right coordinates." "Wait a..." Kari interrupted, walking away from the duo and towards something on the ground. "What is it?" both of the men asked at the same time. Kari kneeled down and examined the liquid on the ground. "Just as I suspected... it's blood." "Blood?" TK asked. "You mean someone got hurt around here?" "It may be more than one," Kari replied as she pointed to trail of blood that led away from their current position. "Maybe we should get Patamon and the others to come to us." "But aren't they examining the area where all those trees went down?" queried a worried Kari. "I'll go find them!" Davis cut in, turning around and running back to the spot they had entered the Digiworld from. "Are you sure we should..." "It's okay, Kari. Davis can handle himself. In the meantime, let's see where this trail leads to." The two of them walked down the path and out of view, unaware of what awaited them just ahead. ====== In the real world, Izzy had just finished explaining the situation to June. It obviously didn't go over too well with her, especially after hearing about what happened to Joe. "Joe's gone? Not him too!" June exclaimed, falling to her knees. "I didn't know you cared about Joe," Izzy said. "Don't you remember that she used to be married to one of Jim's older brothers?" asked Sora, trying to jog Izzy's memory from years back. "Joe's pretty much a family member to her." "I never got a chance to know him well," June said as she tried to hold back tears. "I should have, because after what happened to his brothers..." "There, there," Izzy consoled, nodding to two of his fellow researchers. "It'll be all right. We're going to take care of this. And I promise... Davis will be back sooner than you know it." The two researchers led June off to another room, and Davis's son followed her. But Sora's two kids were still hovering around their mother, a bit in shock over what had just transpired. "Mommy..." Sam began, "what happened to Uncle Joe?" "Will we ever see him again?" asked Michelle. Sora hesitated in giving an answer. After all, they weren't exactly schooled in the concept of death. "What do we do now?" Sora glanced over at Izzy. "How do I explain this?" "Do I look like someone who does consoling speeches?" "Mimi's right about you... you still don't care about other people's feelings." "That's not true!" "Daddy... I can explain it to them." The two elder Digidestined turned to look at Chiharu, Izzy's daughter, who had come into the lab undetected. "I've been reading some research papers online about how to deal with this. Just leave it to me!" "That's my girl!" Izzy exclaimed happily. "See, Chiharu can take care of it." "You still don't get it, do you?" Sora shouted... but she sighed, knowing that she had no other choice. "But then again, we don't have time now to do it ourselves. Are you sure you're up to it, Chiharu?" Chiharu bowed before Sora gracefully. "I definitely wouldn't have volunteered for this had I believed that I wasn't capable of fufilling my assigned duty." "Good," Sora smiled, only half-understanding Chiharu. "Michelle and Sam, you two go with Chiharu, okay?" "But what about Uncle Joe?" the two children repeated, this time in unison. "I know of the whereabouts of Uncle Joe," Chiharu told them, "but to tell you requires an extensive explanation. Follow me, please." Chiharu led Michelle and Sam out of the lab room, leaving Sora and Izzy to finally make the trip to the Digital World. "After all of these years..." Sora mumbled, clenching her fist in anger. "I know I'm not the sensitive type, Sora. But when you're a researcher, you tend to put more important things first." "You consider that not important? Joe visited us a lot so that his boy John could play with Michelle and Sam! He's the closest person they have to a father whenever Matt is off in space!" "I'm sorry, Sora! I didn't know!" "You would know if you didn't spend all your time around computers. Or researching the Digital World." Izzy sighed in defeat. "You're right. I should've learned better over these years. In fact, Sakura's been helping me fix that. But I guess I still have a lot to learn." Sora eased up and gave Izzy a reassuring pat on the back. "As long as you're willing to admit that you still have that problem, I'm satisfied. But you'd better shape up soon." "Of course, Sora! Now can we go to the Digiworld?" "Izzy!" "I'm not being insensitive! If you've forgotten, Sora, we've got a job to do, and Biyomon and Tentomon are already waiting for us." "Oh... right. Let's go then! Yoshi, keep an eye on our vitals in case anything goes wrong!" "Hey! I'm supposed to say that!" Yoshi nodded as the two Digidestined stepped into the portal and headed to their destination. ====== Izzy and Sora arrived in Sector 9.10 of the Eastern Quadrant of the Digiworld, landing in a grassy plain that was in the center of a small Digimon community. There were no houses or huts, so to speak, just nests. Usually this area was populated with all kinds of Digimon, from Tanemon to Snimon. Many of them were nowhere to be found, but there were some laughing on the ground in front of Sora and Izzy. "Are they... laughing?" Izzy noted as he spotted two Floramon, six Palmon, a Mushroommon, and three Snimon. "Seems like it to me," observed Sora. "But why are they laughing about this? Aren't they distraught over how their living space was disturbed?" "They are... they just can't express themselves that way," came a strange voice. Izzy and Sora turned and saw a Mushroommon standing before them with a smirk on his face. "Are you the one responsible for this?" shouted a not-too-pleased Sora. "May-be... what's it to you?" the Mushroommon shot back. "You're hurting innocent Digimon!" Izzy exclaimed. "Hurt? They're just having a good laugh." Mushroommon then looked back into the bushes, as if to signal someone to come out. And indeed someone did... the second of the five 'intruders,' Yellow. "Who are you?" asked Izzy, out of curiosity and because they needed to know. "Although I have a real name, I choose not to reveal it to protect my identity. But if you must call me something... you can call me by the color of my shirt, Yellow!" "Where'd you get that idea from?" came the query from an unimpressed Sora. "I wouldn't exactly be going around and nicknaming myself after a color of the rainbow if I were you." "Maybe so, but it won't matter after we get done with you! Mushroommon?" "Right," the toadstool-looking Digimon nodded. "Fungus Crusher!" Mushroommon threw a barrage of exploding mushrooms at Sora and Izzy, as the two leapt out of the way just in the nick of time. "That's one powerful attack," Izzy stated, noting the hole in the ground that had replaced the plot of land he and Sora had just been standing on. "No kidding," Sora added as she got up from the ground and held up her D-3 up high. "What's that?" Yellow asked, not recognizing the object at first. "That's a D-3," Izzy replied as he raised his into the air. "And for the two of you, that means trouble." The two D-3s, Izzy's mahogany brown and Sora's yellow, lit up, attracting the attention of their own two Digimon. Tentomon and Biyomon, who had been tending to some injured Tanemon nearby, rushed to the rescue of their partners. "Tentomon!" the bug-type Digimon announced, landing in front of Izzy. "Biyomon!" the bird-type Digimon shouted in a similar fashion. "Two Digimon?" Yellow began shaking in fear as the odds were now against him. "No worries!" Mushroommon stated confidently. "They're mine! Laughing Smasher!" Mushroommon doused the two Digimon with some sort of yellow, pollen-like powder. Before they knew it, Tentomon and Biyomon were suddenly rolling on the ground, laughing uncontrollably. "Biyomon, get up!" "I... snicker... can't Sora... ha ha ha!" "Tentomon!" "Tee hee... I can't stop... ha... laughing!" "Now they're just like the other Digimon of the forest," Mushroommon laughed (of his own free will, of course). "Good going, Mushroommon!" Yellow applauded. "These Digidestined are weaker than we thought! Let's finish them!" "You'll have to get through me first!" Sora shouted, charging right at Yellow and Mushroommon. "Aaaahhh... Sora! Are you crazy?" "She's an idiot... Mushroommon, take care of her!" "Fungus Crusher!" Mushroommon threw a bunch of exploding mushrooms right into Sora's path, but she easily dodged them. "What? She dodged them?" "Fungus Crusher, Fungus Crusher, FUNGUS CRUSHER!" Mushroommon continued to fire mushrooms upon mushrooms on Sora, but she continued to dodge them at every turn. Despite being in her late 30s in age, Sora could still utilize most of the agility she had developed during her days playing primary school soccer and high school tennis. "She's so fast for an old woman!" Yellow exclaimed. "I'm not old!" Sora shouted angrily as she got close enough to free kick the Mushroommon right into Yellow's stomach, knocking both of them back. "I'm a young 39-year old woman who can still score one heck of a goal!" Knocking Mushroommon off his feet was enough to dispel the effects of his Laughing Smasher's spell, freeing all of the forest Digimon from their fits of laughter, as well as Biyomon and Tentomon. "Wow... Sora actually did it," Izzy said, relieved. "It's our turn now!" Biyomon shouted proudly. "Super Shocker!" Tentomon shot an electric bolt out from between his wings. "Spiral Twister!" Biyomon fired a green beam of swirling wind from her beak. The two attacks combined and hit Mushroommon and Yellow full force. Yellow was mostly unharmed, since Mushroommon was taking the brunt of the hit, but both were still severely weakened. "Geese... I guess they are strong!" Yellow said in a panic as he used his D-3 to open a Digiport. Izzy gasped. "He's got a D-3, just like Mimi said!" "Let's get out of here!" Yellow picked Mushroommon up and rushed into the portal. Sora raced to try and get to the portal before it closed, but she wasn't fast enough to get there in time. Sora snapped her fingers. "I almost had him!" "That's okay, Sora," Izzy told her as he walked over. "As long as we both got a good view of his face, we can head back to the lab and have the police do a background check on him." "Good. If he and his friends think they can get away with this, then they're sadly mistaken." Sora then noticed that Izzy was on the brink of bursting out in laughter. "What's so funny, Izzy?" "I've never seen someone run that fast in my life! In fact, the only reason why a person would run that fast towards a complete stranger would be to make out..." Before Izzy could finish, Sora ran over and clotheslined him to the ground. Once that was done, Sora smiled as she rubbed the part of her forearm that had hit Izzy's forehead. "There's another reason to visit your friends more often. You would've known that I took self-defense classes a few months ago." "That's good to know," mumbled Izzy as he held his aching forehead. ====== Back in the real world, a certain housewife had just finished cooking a dinner of fried rice, baked flounder, and steamed vegetables. But as the blue-haired beauty with goggles in her hair, an apron over her beige blouse, and a brown knee-length skirt set up the table, she had one thing on her mind. "Where are those two?" she screamed as she saw that her husband and her only son were not at the table. "Davis had better be home from work soon, or, so help me God, he's really going to get it!" The woman, Davis's wife Dora, stomped over to the phone and dialed up the number for the "Noodle Noodle, Come Get Your Noodle" head office in East Shinjuku, where Davis worked. "Sandy? Yes, this is Dora. Could you please put my husband on the phone so I can get him to come home?" After a few seconds of silence for Dora to hear Sandy's response... "What do you mean he left his office early and you don't know where he is?" With that, Dora slammed the receiver on the phone. She fumed angrily as she grabbed her car keys and headed out the front door. ****** Author's Notes: Boy, am I glad that this is finally back underway? I hope you're all glad too, because there's a lot to cover in the next six week string of episodes! It's weird for me to write Sora's last name as Ishida when I'm so used to having it as Takenouchi. Maybe it's the Tai-Sora side of me that made me feel reluctant to do it. After all, when Mimi was introduced back in Episode One, I used her maiden name Tachikawa instead of the name she adopted when she married Michael... which will be revealed in a later episode. We also got to meet Matt and Sora's two children, Michelle and Sam, as well as June and Davis's wife and son, Dora and Davis Jr. No inspiration for the names here really, though the Davis Motimiya family all have names that begin with 'D.' Strange coincidence that Joe Kido's family also have first names that start with the same letter... in this case, 'J' (Jean and John). It's also worthy to note that while in the past June's first name was Jun, I've decided to change it to June. This is the spelling given by Chris McFeely at The Digimon Encyclopedia website, and with Megchan gone, he is the closest person to the Digimon community. And thus, that means that everything on his site is fact. So since Jun was spelled June on the site, thus Jun is now June. Speaking of June and her former marriage to Joe's older brother Jim... you'll get the details of that later on too. And a little CCS-connection. We now know that Izzy's wife is named Sakura. That's in addition to the fact that their daughter's name is Chiharu, as established all the way back in the first episode. ***** Next Episode - Go Get a Room! ***** Get your jackets out as the southern quadrant of the Digital World is in the middle of the winter season! Yolei snuggles up with Ken to stay warm, which disgusts Cody to no end. But they're not the only ones being lovey-dovey, as evident by Blue and his Betamon's rather friendly partnership. That, and more from Dora Motimiya... and Matt Ishida too!