Chapter 9 - Old Reliable (Pt.1)

group of furry orange digimon pushed through the snow as the Digimon Emperor behind them whipped them again and again. The blizzard was not letting up making it even worse of the orange digimon.
"Where this, it's cold." Wormon said, walking up and clutching a coat between two of his purple pincers. The Digimon Emperor scowled.
"Leave me alone!" He shouted, kicking Wormon. He went back to torturing the orange digimon. One fell over, completely exhausted from all the manual labor, "Get up!" He shouted, whipping it as the others of its kind crowded around.
"Hey quit it!" A white and purple digimon with an orange main had grabbed the whip between his two flipper-like claws, "They're all tired and need rest. Maybe someone should use this whip on you, you big bully."
"Number one- don't ever talk to me without calling me 'sir'. Number two- don't ever talk to me." The Digimon Emperor snapped, pulling his whip back so quickly it knocked the white and purple digimon over, "Whoever among you can defeat this creature will win a surprise package. The rest of you will get some lovely parting gifts. So who's up for the challenge?" The sqaut orange digimon growled as they encircled Gomamon.
"I know all about Gizamon." The Digimon Emperor told Gomamon, "They're amphibian digimon. Their fins cut through the water like knives."
"They won't attack me." Gomamon said. But he was incorrect. At that exact moment, the Gizamon leapt into the air and curled into wheels. Spinnin at an enormous clip, they ran into Gomamon. He fell on his back into the ice, bruises blooming all over his small body.
"That was way too easy." The Emperor said, standing over Gomamon. Wormon stepped in front of him.
"Now they've defeated him, Master. Now give them their reward."
"Right." The Digimon Emperor said with a smile. He drew his whip back into his handle and watched as dark rings swarmed into the air and collared the Gizamon.
"Here is your reward," He told them, standing in front of the now mind-washed Gizamon, "You get to be my slaves. Now get back to work building the prison!" The Gizamon hopped away to do their bidding.
"Move it, Wormon," The Emperor snapped, "I want you to make me a hot chocolate."
"But Gomamon..."
"Let him freeze." They left the battered digimon laying in the snow. Once the coast was clear, he opened his eyes and struggled to get on his belly. When that was done, he began crawling across the ice.
"Just got to climb up this little hill...Okay, maybe it's not such a little hill afterall." After a lot of struggling, he made it to the top where the winds and snow flew around even more forcefully. Half-way covered in the snow was a TV set, "Huh? What's that?" He crawled towards and then, his strength gone, he wrapped his arms around it and moaned, "Joe..."

A tall boy with long-ish navy blue hair and glasses gasped as the Digivice on his belt loop began to flash red and beep.
"Gomamon!" Joe gasped.
"So are you guys ready for that big anatomy test today?" One of the boys he had been talking to asked.
"Yeah, I speant the hold night studying," The other said, "How about you Joe?"
"Uh...I just remembered that forgot to remember something. Gotta go." Joe rushed off leaving the two boys behind him very confused.

The bell at the middle school rang, signaling the end of another day. Cody and Ashi were walking down the stairs when Davis called to them.
"Hey Cody! Ashi" Davis shouted. Cody turned around.
"Oh, hi guys. What's up?" He asked.
"What's up?" Davis repeated, "Are you crazy? Where ya going?"
"We're going home. We've got Kendo practice this afternoon."
"What?! Practice later! The Digi-World is in danger!" Davis said, jumping up and down frantically.
"Sorry, Davis." Cody apologzied, "My grandfather is the teacher. He'd be very disappointed if I missed a lesson."
"Besides, you don't need us little kids tagging along." Ashi said, still sore about the conversation they had had a few nights ago.
"See ya." Cody said, bowing his head. The two younger kids turned around and walked away.
"Yeah, but..." Davis called after them to avail. Kari and Ashley happened to walk up.
"What's the matter with you?" Kari asked. Davis instantly cheered up.
"Kari, great! I'm going to the computer room. Why don't you come with me?"
"Sure." Kari said, "Let's go."
"Really? You and I together alone in the dangerous Digital World? Finally, it'll be my dream come true."
"Excuse me? We're both coming, Davis." Kari said. Davis looked up and noticed Ashely. He squinted at her for a minute.
"Oh, that's right...who are you again?" Ashley turned a light shade of pink and Kari gave Davis a suspicious look.
"This is Ashley. She's a Digi-Destined now, rememer?" Davis didn't look like he did, but went on to say:
"O-Oh yeah. That's right. Besides, I said, 'I'm studying French...Par Le Vou?'"

If Davis had been disappointed when he'd found out Ashely was coming with Kari and him, it was nothing compared to the disappointment he felt when they made it and found TK, Yolei, Tara, Emi, and Azukia already there working with the computer.
"I just can't win." He mumbled, hanging his head as Kari walked fully into the room. Ashley lingered for a moment and then followed.
"What's going on?" Kari asked, immediatly sensing that something was amiss.
"We just got a message from the Digital World," TK explained, "It's a distress call from one of the digimon."
"Who?" Kari and Ashley together.
"We're not sure." Emi said.
"I've got it." Yolei said, "The signal is coming from one of the black areas controlled by the Digimon Emperor and it's a lot farther than any area we've been to."
"Well, this should add to our frequent flyer miles." Kari joked.
"Oh, did we get a free to trip to California after this?" Emi asked.
"According to this map the Digimon Emperor's area is getting longer." Yolei said.
"His ego is, too." Tara said, "They're probably proportional."
"It won't be long before he controls the entire Digital World," Davis growled.
"And every single digimon is in danger..." Kari said, looking on the verge of tears. This, of course, caused Davis to go into "hero mode".
"All right, I've had enough of this clown. Let's all head to the Digital World."
"Yeah, we're gonna find Ashley's digimon today." Azukai said, giving her sister and fond noogie.
"Azukia..." Ashley said in a strangled voice.
"Wait! We have to wait for Cody!" Oompamon said in a high pitched voice while he bounced up and down on one of the chairs.
"And Ashi!" Rishumon added, doing the same.
"They aren't coming." Davis snapped.
"What are they doing?" Rishumon and Oompa chorused.
"They say they have kendo practice," Davis said with a sigh.
"One question...what's kendo?" Oompamon asked. Davis slapped each of them with a rolled up magazine. Oompamon flew into a furry and shouted:
"What ya hit us for?"
"You wanted to know what kendo is."

Ashi had taken off her face mask and was sitting on the floor. Sweat covered her now pink face and every once and awhile she would take a few swallows from the water bottle beside her.
Cody was still in session. He and his grandfather had come to a standstill and you could hear Cody's heavy breathing in the silent room. He took a faltering step foward and was beaten by his opponent. Soon, they had taken their armor off and were sitting in a cirlce with Ashi.
"Let's take a break." Cody's grandfather announced, "What is the matter with you today, Cody? You just don't seem to be concentrating enough." Cody bowed his head.
"I'm sorry, grandfather." His grandfather stood up and turned has back on the two children.
"You have not lost interest in the martial arts, have you? Or hanging out with your old grandpa?"
"Of course not!" Cody said.
"Yeah, we love this class!" Ashi said.
"I can read faces. Something is troubling you both deep inside. Cody, your father acted the same way when he was a boy. I have been to many lands and met many people and in all my travels I have found only one thing I can count on: PRUNE JUICE!" Cody and Ashi reacted in different ways. Ashi fell over and Cody's facial expression twisted.
"Yeah, take two big glasses! You'll be fine!" He continued, "You want some?" Ashi sat up and both kids looked at him with straight faces.
"No thank you," Cody said as Ashi shook her head, "My problem is a bit too big for prune juice. There are others who are counting on me and I'm afraid I'm going to let them down."
"And I'm upset that they won't let me help because I'm too young." Ashi said in explination of her own problem.
"I once told Cody's father that people only rely on you to the extent that you rely upon yourself." Cody's grandfather said sagely, "Trust in yourself and you will not let anyone down. As for you, Ashi, just do what you think is right and they'll trust you in the end."
"Right. We got to go, Grandpa!" Cody said, "Come on Ashi!" Ashi started and then quickly began to gather up her things and follow Cody out, "Thanks for the adivice." They ran out the door. They bowed at the door and told him good bye.
"No problem is too big for prune juice." Cody's grandpa said after they had left.

"Oh boy!" Oompamon screamed at the top of his tiny lungs, "I knew Cody and Ashi would show up!"
"It's not Cody or Ashi, now everybody hide!" Davis said. The room was in a panic for a few seconds as everyone grabbed their digimon and ran about in circles. The door slid open and everyone stopped.
"It's Joe!" Kari said.
"Thanks for the update." Tara said sarcastically.
"Hi, guys." Joe said, holding up a hand to the room. Rishumon and Oompamon looked dejected, "Wow, even though Tai and Azukia told me about it, it's strange seeing the digimon here in the real world."
"This is Joe," TK said, introducing him to Davis, Yolei, and Ashley, "He's the old friend we told you about."
"Oh, the doctor." Davis said. Demiveemon leapt out of his arms as Davis waved, "That's really cool."
"Would you mind looking at my tonsils for me?" Yolei asked, hugging Poromon closer to her body.
"Nice to meet you. Azukia has told me a lot about you," Ashley said.
"Joe, this is Yolei and Davis." Kari told him.
"And this is my little sister, Ashley," Azukia told him.
"Joe isn't really a doctor yet." Emi said.
"Good to finally meet you Ashley." Joe said, shaking her hand.
"I'm glad you're here," TK said, suddenly turning serious, "We got a distress call from the Digi-World."
"I know. It's from Gomamon."
"So your digivice was triggered, too? That's why you came." TK said.
"Candy!" Exveemon said as he tugged on the plastic sack in Joe's hand. Joe lifted it up and the little digimon started jumping up and down in an attempt to get a hold of it.
"Hey, these are supplies for an emergency," Joe said with a laugh.
"Do you plan on coming to the Digital World with us, Joe?" Kari asked, "We could really use your help."
"Absolutely. I'm worried about Gomamon. Besides, you think I'm going to let Azukia have all the fun? No way!" Azukia stuck her tongue out at him in a playful manner and Emi and Ashley laughed.
"These are the digivices of the new Digidestined," TK said, showing Joe his green one, "They're the only things that can open the gate to the Digital World."
"Yeah, Izzy gave me a heads up about them. And he also told me about this jerk that calls himself the Digimon Emperor."
"All right," Yolei said, "Let's open the gate." They each held their digivices up the the screen.
"What about us?" Cody chose that exact moment to come bursting into the room dramatically, Ashi behind and not looking nearly as worried.
"Cody! You made it, you made it, you made it, you made it, you made it, you made it!" Rishumon gave her own grettings to Ashi and joined Oompamon in repeating "You made it!" for several more minutes.
"You'll have to excuse them. They're hyperactive." Cody said apologetically to Joe.
"Okay everybody. The gate is open!" Davis announced.
"Come on, let's go!" Yolei exclaimed.

They landed on the top of a snowy mountain lined with pine trees. Davis immediatly began to shiver and hug his arms to his chest.
"Great, I hate the cold." He slouched over to Kari.
"Kari, are you okay?" Kari nodded a yes. Joe was off to the side, digging through his plastic sack.
"I'm sorry, we weren't properly introduced before we took our trip," Cody said as he and Ashi walked up to him, "My name is Cody and this is my friend Ashi." Ashi gave a shy smile and bobbed her head.
"Hey, I'm freezing my butt off over here and you're introducing yourselves? Let's get going!" Davis snapped.
"Aren't you cold, Tara?" Emi asked.
"Nope. I thought you'd be cold with your shorts, Emi." Tara answered.
"I guess Davis is just sensitive to the cold." Azukia laughed. Joe took something out of his bag and handed one to Cody and another to Ashi.
"Here you can use these. They're hand warmers." He passed them out to the rest of the group. Kari and Emi chorused a thank you.
"Leave it to you," TK said with a grin after taking his, "Good old reliable Joe."
"M-hm!" Azukia agreed.
"I watch all those survival shows on TV." Joe said in explination to Ashley's half-way amused, half-way wondering look. Yolei, meanwhile, was desperatly attempting to rip hers open.
"It won't open!" She complained. The packet flew out of her hands and lay in the snow, where it started to steam. She bent down to pick it up and noticed that where it had melted the snow, a closed eye could be seen, "Joe, look!" Joe rushed over.
"Whoah! Gomamon!" He leaned down and frantically began digging his friend out. When the rest of them realized what was going on, they joined in, too. Eventually they managed to get all of him out, "Gomamon, speak to me!" Gomamon sat up a bit and looked blearily at Joe.
"Joe?"
"What day of the week is it?"
"It's Saturday."
"Actually, it's Thursday. But you never did know the days of the week, so you're back to your old self."
"I heard from Tentamon we could use that TV to contact you when we were in trouble."
"Boy, looks like you're going to wipe out my whole first aid kit."
"I always get sappy at renuinons," Armadillomon remarked, "I think I'm actually going to cry."
"Don't, your tears will turn to icecicles," Gatomon warned.
"You look terrible, Gomamon," Joe said as he stroked the side of Gomamon's face, "But I mean that in a nice way."
"I picked a fight with the wrong guy: the Digimon Emperor." Gomamon explained. Just then, the Digivices started to beep again. Instinctively, everyone but Joe and Ashely held them up to get a look at it. The other two quickly caught on and did the same.
"I'm getting a Digi-Egg reading somewhere to the left," Emi annouced, pointing in a general direction.
"Me, too." Ashi said.
"Well, nothing to do but look for it," Tara said with a grin, "That's probably where we'll find Ashley's digivice."
"What are we waiting for?" Azukia asked, "Let's go!" They began to travel towards the place their digivices were indicating. About twenty minutes later, they found two nearly buried in the snow. Azukia bent down and brushed the ice off of each of them.
"The Crest of Harmony?" Kari asked, looking at the one on the left.
"And another new Crest." Tara said, looking at the one on the right. Azukia stood up and looked at her sister.
"Well, give it a shot." She said, gesturing towards the Digi-Egg of Harmony.
"Why should I pick that one up if it has your Crest on it?" Ashley asked, looking a bit confused.
"Tai couldn't pick of the Digi-Egg of Courage. Only Davis could." Azukia said, "Look, I can't pick it up." She walked over, braced herself, and then tried to pick of the egg. To her surprise, it lifted straight up and since Azukia had really put some muscle into it, she fell over onto her back, "...Ouch."
"Azukia, you got a Digi-Egg!" Ashi exclaimed, pointing at as though no one else had noticed.
"I did?" She sat up and looked at the Digi-Egg beside her, "I mean...I did!"
"I can Armor Digivolve now!" Nekomon said, doing a happy little dance.
"Okay, Ashley, you know that what that means!" Azukia said, holding her egg out to show Ashley.
"What does that mean?"
"That the other one is yours!" Ashley backed up a few paces.
"I'm...I'm not sure, Azukia."
"Aw, come on!" Ashley shook her head, "For me?" She still shook her head. Azukia walked up to Ashley and made her eyes big and pouted, "Pwease?" Ashley looked at her, quickly looked away, and then tapped her foot impatiently.
"Fine. But it's not going to get unstuck for me." She sighed dejectedly and walked up to it. She bent down, picked up, and showed to the others, "See? It didn't move." But they weren't paying attention. Right where the Digi-Egg had been a few moments before, blue light was flashing, "What are you guys staring at?" They pointed and Ashley looked around too.
An ice blew something tore out of the light and ran straight into Ashley's legs. Everyone bent over to look at it. It grinned and righted itself.
"Hello. I'm puppymon. It's a pleasure to meet you all." Puppymon looked like an ice blue puppy with floppy ears and a purple color that held a gold tag. She looked around the circle for a moment until her gaze fell upon Ashely, "You must be my partner."
"Me?" Ashley asked, pointing to herself.
"Yup! You and me!" Puppymon announced. Ashley paused, stunned for a moment, and then picked Puppymon up.
"I'm Ashely. I'm so glad to meet you!"
"Great...just what we need. A dog." Nekomon groaned.

They went back to their original mission of destroying the control spire. When they spotted it, Davis ran to the top of a snowy hill and turned to face the group.
"He's built another control spire here, too!"
"We already knew that." Emi pointed out, "Yolei told us before we even came here."
"What's that?" Joe asked.
"A control spire." Tara answered.
"It's the Digimon Emperor's secret weapon," Kari explained to him.
"He captures these digimon and puts dark rings on them, turning them into his slaves." said TK.
"Sort of like the Black Gears from when we were younger," Emi said.
"The control spires are the power source for the rings," TK continued.
"And no one can digivolve." Kari finished.
"Dude! I'm gonna rip it down!" Davis said.
"But we're going to have to cross this ice if we want to destroy it," Kari warned.
"Now I know what Matt means when he says I'm walking on thin ice," said TK.
"Didja bring any skates?" Yolei asked Joe, "We need several pairs."
"Sorry, I'm all out."
"Hey Joe...you have any rope?" Davis asked.
"Yeah."

They began the task of chopping down the trees. The digimon grouped together to help each other cut down the trees as quickly as possible. Pretty soon they had enough lumber to make a small make-ship raft/sleigh. Using the rope they borrowed from Joe, they tied the logs together. Davis stood up and wiped the sweat off of his brow.
"Well, that's done."
"It's beautiful!" Ashley said.
"Now all we have to do is ride!" They tied the digimon (minus the injured Gomamon) to the sled with Puppymon at the front.
"That's easy for you to say," Armadillomon said, "We're pulling."
"Leave it us!" Puppymon said. Ashley smiled.
"Come on guys." Cody said, "We're counting on you!"
"Okay!" Patamon said cheerfully. The humans and Gomamon boarded the sleigh and the Digimon turned to face the direction they were pulling.
"Now mush!" Davis called.

"So they're here?" The Digimon Emperor snapped, turning around and looking away from the work he had been overseeing, "And they brought another one?!"
"M-hm." Wormon said with a nod.

The Digimon were tearing through the snow and the children riding were laughing as the sleigh they had built flew across the ice.
"Go Veemon!" Davis cheered.
"What a way to travel!" Yolei called.
"Uh-Oh." Patamon said, "We've got visitors." As the Control Spire neared, a line of Frigimon came into view.
"Oh look," Yolei said, "Snowmen! How cute."
"Yeah...not so much." Emi said, "They've got a dark ring around their legs!"
"Attack!" The Digimon Emperor commanded from his vantage point. Each Frigimon punched forward and sent out ice towards the kids. The Digimon frantically tried to avoid all the attack and the sleigh lurched heavily back and forth with their movements.
"I think I'm getting snow-sick!" Tara said.
"Forget about the Frigimon. They aren't very fast and we can out run them!" Joe told the Digimon.
"What?!" Davis asked.
"Our mission is to destroy the Control Spire, right? So it's better to keep going than to waste time fighting!"
"But they're attacking us!" Davis protested.
"Joe's right!" TK told him, "Run pass them!"

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