Chapter 36 - Run Yolei Run (Pt.2)

"The Digimon Emperor's base is up here! Follow me!" Cody cried down to the rest of the group as they all climbed up the mountain leading to the headquarters. Hearing this, Yolei sped up, passing Cody in a matter of minutes.
"Yolei!" Hawkmon shouted, racing after her, "This isn't a track meet!"
"I hate to be a fly in your suit," came Tentomon's voice from above, "But the Digimon Emperor's base is gone."
"What?!" TK said, "It can't be!"
"Let's have a look." Kari said.

The base was gone. The control spires stood like the remnants of a lost civilization. No masses of controled digimon milled around the hill.
"His base was right here!" Ashi shouted indignantly.
"Maybe it was a moble home." Davis suggested.
"Since he was leaving, he could have done the polite thing and taken all those Control Spires with him." said Armadillomon.
"Has any one seen Yolei?" Gatomon asked.
"Huh? She's gone!" Tara gasped, looking all around.
"Down there!" shouted Ashlyn, pointing. Yolei was sailing down the cliff-side, Hawkmon right behind her.
"Woo-hoo!" Yolei shouted.
"Yolei, can't we take the scenic route?" Hawkmon cried. The group groaned.

"Are you sure you saw it?" Davis inquired, "Are you sure it wasn't a garage or something?"
"You mean a...mirage?" Emi asked, "idiot" plainly written across her face.
"No! I mean a place for the Digimon Emperor to keep his cars."
"Why in the world would he a need a car if he has those giant dragons to take him somewhere?" Azukia asked.
"He wouldn't!" Davis said, flailing his arms wildly, "That's why he'd need somewhere to kepp it!"
"Oh geeze." Casey shook her head. TK walked over and leaned over the giant put with Ashlee, Kari, Davis, and Ashlyn.
"How can a whole building somply disappearing into thin air?" TK asked.
"Maybe his friends are really good magicians." said Ashlee.
"Friends?" Tara scoffed, "That loser of a human being doesn't HAVE any friends."
"What should we do?" Ariamon asked, looking at her partner, "How will we find him?"
"We just keep looking." Azukia said firmly, "We promised not to leave until the base is destroyed."
"Leave it to me." Davis said, standing up, "I'll find the Digimon Emperor by following the giant building tracks!"
"Are these like the tracks you used to find Agumon, Davis?" asked Tara.
"Shut it, Tara."
"Oo, Testy."
"Over here!" Came a voice.
Yolei was climbing a Control Spire.
"Um...did Yolei forget to take her medicine today?" asked Emi.
"She has seemed to have lost her mind." said Hawkmon, flying towards his partner.
Yolei reached the top of the tower in a matter of seconds. Pointing upwards into the air, she shouted, "I know what happened! The whole thing up and flew into the sky!"
"That doesn't seem very likely," said Hawkmon, flying in circles above her, "Somebody would have seen it if it had."
"Hm, good point..."

"It was you!" Yolei shouted, pointing dramatically at Tentomon once she was back on the ground.
"Me?!" Tentomon cried. The rest of the team was sitting on the ground, looking either bored or annoyed. Davis and Ashlyn had started a game of fetch with Puppymon, although Veemon was much more into it than his canine counter-part.
"Yes, you! You were the one who was supposed to be guarding this area while we were gone! Now tell us what you saw or else!"
"Yolei!" Hawkmon snapped, "Stop yelling at Tentomon! He tried!"
"Well he should have tried harder!"
Azukia walked up and bapped Yolei quite hard on the head. Then she grabbed Yolei by the arm and tugged her over to a place out of ear-shot from the rest of the group. Emi and Ashlee watched Azukia lecture Yolei with quite a bit of relish.
"I'm sorry, Tentomon!" Hawkmon said, bowing rapidly to the bug digimon, "Yolei really doesn't mean any of this; she's just been under a lot of stress lately."
"Well, does she have to shout at me?" Tentomon asked, "Why can't she do yoga or something?"
"What's she doing NOW?" Coronamon demanded, causing the rest of the group to look around. Azukia, it seemed, had finished telling Yolei off and now Yolei had gone off to do something else.
"I'm not asking as long she's got that hammer in her hand." said Houndmon.
"Alright, troops!" Yolei said, standing up from the edge of the cliff. She was cradeling a strand of rope in one hand and saluting with the other, "I'm off to explore the Digimon Emperor's underground empire. I'll report back then with good news!"
"You are not going to do something else crazy without someone with you." Casey sighed, standing up and brushing dirt off of her shorts.
"Yes, wait for me!" Hawkmon cried. Houndmon and Casey ran off after him and the rest of the group groaned.
"Yup. Definetly forgot her medication." remarked Emi.

"Yolei, what are you doing?" Hawkmon demanded. Yolei, Houndmon and Casey were clambering down the rope, "Have you completely lost your mind? What has gotten into you recently? Not to mention that this-
Yolei started talking at the same time and then both she and Hawkmon were bickering with each other. Houndmon and Casey sighed, catching each other's eyes.
And then something happened to distract them: A loud growl issued from the ground and an enormous spider-like digimon arose from the depths of the earth.
"Oh no!" Hawkmon gasped, "It's the dreaded Dokugumon!"
Yolei screamed.
"Poison Thread!" Shouted Dokugumon. A large amount of purple haze shot from its mouth.
"Yolei!" Hawkmon shouted. He threw himself with all his might into her and the rope swung away from the attack. It hit Hawkmon instead.
"Hawkmon!" Yolei shouted.
"Guys, get out of there!" TK shouted.
"Davis!" Veemon shouted.
"Casey!" shouted Houndmon.
"Digi-Armor Energize!" The two humans shouted.
"Veemon Armor Digivolve to...Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!"
"Houndmon Armor Digivolve to....Gargoylemon, Protector of the Skies!"
The two armor-digimon launched themselves into battle. Meanwhile, the kids pulled Yolei and Casey back to the edge of the cliff.
"Hawkmon! Speak to me!" Yolei begged. Hawkmon's eyes were shut and he was laying still in the crook of one of her arms, "Hawkmon, hang on!"
"Fire Rocket!"
The Dokugumon screamed as it fell backwards, hitting the bottom back-first.
"Blaze Cyclone!" Gargoylemon went in for the kill. The kids managed to heave the two girls back to their level just as the pit below exploded with fire. Yolei kneeled on the edge, clutching Hawkmon to her chest.
"Hawkmon! Hawkmon! Hawkmon!"
The ring fell off Dokugumon with a clatter.
"You're done." Flamedramon said. He and Gargoylemon watched the spider scuttle away.

Hawkmon was laying on a make-shift stretcher, his mid-drift bandaged with medical tape from Casey's first-aid kit. Veemon and Houndmon walked up to the group gathered around him.
"How's Hawkmon doing?" Veemon inquired.
"I think he'll be alright." Azukia said, "We got him fixed up pretty good. Now we just have to keep him safe until he's completely healed."
"He sure was brave," Ashlyn sighed, "Saving Yolei like that."
"That's our job." Puppymon said, "I do the same for you in a heartbeat."
"The point is that you shouldn't have to." Casey said, "We need to protect you guys whenever we can. You saving us should be a last resort."
"Hawkmon!" Yolei was away from the group, on her knees, and sobbing uncontrolably. Seeing this, Kari got to her feet.
"Yolei?"
Yolei didn't answer. Instead, she stood up, still shaking with sobs, "I'll stay here and take care of Hawkmon, okay?" She turned around and looked beseechingly at the group, "You guys? Find the Emperor's headquarters."
"But-" Davis began.
"I don't want to cause trouble for anyone else. Please just go!" Yolei dissolved into tears once more.
"Okay, we'll get going." TK said standing up.
"Huh?" Yolei paused.
"Well, he's right." Tara said with a shrug, "Let's go."
"...Okay." Ashi said, standing up. There was a long pause.
"I'll stay here." Kari sighed.
"Then I'll stay here, too." Azukia said. Kari looked at her, eyes wide.
"I promised your brother I'd take care of you. Rushing off does not entail that, now does it?"
"You both will stay? Really?" Yolei asked.
"More of the Digimon Emperor's slaves might attack, so we can have Gatomon and Nekomon around as bodygaurds." Kari explained.
"Good point." Nekomon said. Yolei nodded her thanks.
"Okay." said TK, "If anything happens, we can e-mail each other. And you'll always know where we are with the D3s."
"If we haven't found the base by nightfall, we'll come back here." Emi added.
"Okay." Kari and Azukia said together.
"Bye." said Cody. The larger group walked off.
"See you later." said Tara.
"Be careful." Casey added.
"Don't worry about us." said Veemon, "We've got Davis. What could possibly go wrong?"
Kari and Azukia laughed. Once they were gone, the group of three fell silent.
"Hey Yolei?" Kari began.
"Yeah?"
"I know you're trying to do what's right and all with this battle and everything, but you're going about it the wrong way."
"Huh?"
"I tried the same thing one time, but I was wrong, too."
"We have to work together as a team, right?"
"M-hm. Now you get it."
"Took you both long enough." Azukia sighed.
"Well, I'm glad we got that straightened out." Said Gatomon, walking away, "Now I'm going to see if I can find some herbs to help Hawkmon. Nekomon, you stay here and protect the girls."
"Right-o." Nekomon said in a bored voice.

"There's a lot of Control Spires around here." Ashlee remarked.
"I know." Tentomon said, "I'm getting tired of all this construction in my beautiful forest."
"Don't worry." said Casey, "Once we take care of this, this place will be good as new."
Cody paused and looked behind him. A shadow was moving far too quickly behind them.
"Hey Cody," called Armadillomon, "What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure." Cody answered, "I saw something. I don't know what it was, but it came from over there. Some kind of shadow."
"Hey! Cody!" Davis shouted, "This isn't a tour. Come on!"
"Oh. Sorry. Coming!"

The five screens in front of Wormmon showed a very scary looking bug digimon.
"Next." Wormmon said. A new image was shown, "Next. Next. Next."
A picture of Garurumon flashed onto the screen.
"A-ha." said Wormon. Garurumon blasted into tiny pieces, leaving only the hindlegs on the screen.
"I told you to be finished with that part an hour ago!" The Digimon Emperor snapped as he strode into the dark room.
"Sorry, Master, I had to finish the dishes."
The screen flickered again, this time showing a picture of Kabutarimon. It too distengrated, this time leaving only Kabutarimon's head.
"Heads- I win!" The Digimon Emperor laughed.
"We lose." Wormmon muttered.

It was sunset. Yolei was leaning against a tree with Hawkmon in her lap. Kari was sitting right next to her and Azukia was a bit away, sitting on a boulder.
"Where am I?" Hawkmon groaned.
"You're safe now." Yolei told him, "I'll take care of you."
"Just relax." said Kari.
"Hawkmon," Yolei said, tears filling her eyes again, "What can I do to apologize?"
"Just...get off my tail."
Kari smiled at the pair and got up, walking a bit into the trees. Gatomon walked up, smiling and holding some plants between her gloved claws.
"Oh." Kari said once she had seen her digimon.
"I found cat-nip." said Gatomon, "It cures it all."
"Okay." Kari giggled. Then she held one finger to her lips, "But let's give them a minute." Just then Azukia and Nekomon pushed through the vegetation. Evidently they had had the same idea.
Back in the clearing, Hawkmon and Yolei were having a heart-to-heart.
"You see, this was my chance to prove to myself that I was just as strong as everyone else." Yolei explained, "I didn't realize taking matter into my own hands could wind up huring someone, espically you. I was too stubborn."
Hawkmon laughed.
"Hawkmon," Yolei continued, "What happened to you today is all my fault. It's like when my mind gets set on something, I just can't stop until I'm finished. I'll understand if you want to find someone else to be your partner from now on.
"You're missing the point, Yolei. Those qualities that you displayed are what makes you who you are."
"Huh?" Yolei asked. Hawkmon groaned and got off her lap, dragging himself into a sitting position.
"Yolei," he said, "I like you exactly the way you are."
"Thank you. I promise to stubbornly attack my problem of being stubborn and I'll never do anything to hurt you again."
"That's a relief." Hawkmon said. Yolei sniffed and then gathered him up into a very hard hug, "Yolei, you can stop now!"

"And one and two and one and two," Hawkmon said. Night had fallen- the first for any of the Digi-Destineds except those who had visited the first time. Hawkmon was trying to work on the stiffness of his injury, "One and two and flap those wings. It's amazing. I haven't felt this good in years. And all because of catnip. Who knew? Thanks Gatomon."
"Go on!" Gatomon said, "No really. Go on, I wanna hear more."
"Watch your ego, sis." Nekomon chuckled. Then something made a very strange sound. The group in the clearing froze.
"Did anyone hear that noise?" Azukia asked.
It came again, but still they couldn't place it. After walking a bit away from thier camp, they found a rail-road car sticking out of the cliff.
"Let's climb out here and get a better look." Yolei suggested.
"Holy cow." Azukia said. Something was hanging in the sky, something massive and moving slowly.
"It can only be one thing." said Gatomon, "It has to be the Digimon Emperor's base!"
"Yolei," Hawkmon said, taking off his bandages and flinging them into the wind, "I'm sorry we doubted you earlier. You were right. It is flying."

The Digimon Emperor prowled the dark corridors of his new base. He laughed manically as he did so, gloating into the night.
"He's almost finished," he told himself, "My ultimate program."

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