Sorry for the delay. I have no reasonable excuse this time. Just Writer's Block.

The Next few chapters will be very close to what was seen in season two. The next major change is in Episode/Chapter Seven. Please endure the wait.

On the note of relationships in this story and how they develop, Tai and Lucy will rather quickly come together, especially compared to the others. TK and Kari, as much as i support it, will only be lightly explored, the reason being that they are only twelve. Ken and Yolei will basically be the same. The other established relationships will follow the scale from the show.

Chapter Four: The Spires

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon announced, spitting out an orange fireball that shredded the bars to a cage in the Digimon Emperor's make shift arena.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon shouted next swiping her claws through the bars of another cage like a hot knife through butter.

"Come on, everyone," TK said, gesturing for the digimon to come on out of their cages, "Let's get going."

A swarm of Gotsumon and Elecmon piled out of the cage, running for the exit, Kari took the lead with TK, Lucy and Tai brought up the rear, and Yolei and Cody had the flanks.

"Don't stop running till your feet feel like lead," Lucy advised, keeping pace with the older boy next to her, "We don't know when that jerk might come back, so don't slow down."

"What if our feet are made of lead?" One of the Gotsumon asked as they thumped along.

"Then run until they feel like marshmallows," the girl retorted.

It would end up taking them somewhere close to fifteen minutes to get out of the immediate vicinity of the arena, and hopefully far enough away from the emperor's operations that he wouldn't bother trying to recapture them.

The Gotsumon and Elecmon collapsed onto their stomachs, gasping for breath.

"You guys are officially fugitives!" Agumon chirped, a grin on his reptilian face.

The digimon just kept gasping for breath. Some of them might have even fallen asleep. Most of the kids were breathing a little heavy, too, aside from Lucy and Tai, the two most physically active members of the group.

Kari wiped the sweat from her brow as her breathing steadied, "I hope all the Digimon Emperor's strongholds will be this easy to raid."

"I second that," Yolei said with a smile, "The less trouble we have, the better."

"Yeah, but don't you think it was too easy?" TK asked.

"What do you mean, TK?" Patamon asked, resting on his human friend's head.

"Well, don't you think it was a little odd that there wasn't even a single guard in the entire place. It's like he wanted us to break in. I think he's up to something," the blonde explained.

"Aw, man," Skymomon said, "Now that you pointed that out it makes way too much sense to ignore," the little blue monkey groaned.

"Yeah, I have to agree," Kari said next, "This guy wouldn't let us get away this easy without some kind of reason."

Tai rubbed his chin in thought, humming for a moment, then said, "We'll worry about that later, right now we should go back to the Human World," he grinned, "I'm starving, I can already smell the cafeteria food." He started in the direction of the gate between worlds.

"Count me in," Lucy said, "Sora invited me and Sky over for the night." She was walking along near the middle of the group with her hands behind her head.

Towards the back, Gatomon stopped and looked at the giant black tower that the Emperor had placed here, and many other places throughout the Digital World.

I wonder what that tower is for...

+-9

In his lair, lounging in his chair with one leg crossed over the other, the Digimon Emperor was studying a map full of black, white and grey squares. The white squares were dominant, but it was a close call with the black one. There seemed to be no discernible pattern to the placement of the black and grey squares, more like someone had just tossed them all over the place for the fun of it.

"The next one should be in place right about now," the emperor said, just as another black square replaced a white one, getting a grin to split his face, "Now to let everyone know who's the boss." He stood up and whirled around dramatically, stalking out of the room with Wormmon on his heals.

+-9

It didn't take long for his minions to deliver the Digimon Emperor to a town at the base of some rocky hills with one of the black towers, freshly erected, setting the tone for his arrival.

It wasn't long before he gathered all the digimon before him, a team of Veggiemon, yellow plant digimon with red eyes and long vines for arms, behind him, all of them wearing Dark Rings.

"This Control Spire is the most dominating object in the Digiworld," he announced, "Wherever I build one, the area around it will be under my control and all those near it will be my slaves!" at the front of the group of Gazimon he was addressing was a very familiar digimon wearing a light blue fur with darker blue stripes, Gabumon, "It's useless to try to escape and those who do will have to answer to my soldiers!" the human grinned as the Veggiemon moved forward at his command.

Gabumon just side, is head bowed, How do I get myself into these things?

+-9

"Aiiee!" Yolei's scream almost deafened the Digidestined, such was her surprise at seeing the Gotsumon they had only so recently rescued having come through the gate with them.

"Are you crazy?!" Izzy all but yelled, nearly glaring at the group, "Bringing the Gotsumon back from the Digital World?!"

"We didn't have a choice," Tai said, unrepentant, "We couldn't just leave them there for the Digimon Emperor to make into slaves, right?"

"Yeah," Lucy nodded her agreement.

"But how are we going to explain it if Mister Fujiyama comes in here?" Yolei asked.

"Don't worry," Cody piped up, "I'll tell him I'm taking a sculpting class, and these are some of my early masterpieces," the boy turned to the three beside him, "Hit it, boys." All at once, everyone of the rock digimon took a dynamic pose. The three nearest him covered their ears, eyes and mouth respectively.

"Hmm," Lucy intoned, looking closely at one of them in the widely known 'Thinker' pose, "Very... Modern Art."

"Eh, yeah, that's one way to put it," the look on the purple haired girl's face quite dubious.

Izzy stepped over to said girl, putting the problem of the digimon on the back burner for now, "Yolei, I have a big favor to ask. May I borrow your Digivice?"

"Uh, sure," she said, pulling the device from her pocket, "But what for?"

"Well, it's obvious the power from your Digivice opens the gate to the Digital World, but our old Digivices don't seem to work," the tech genius explained.

"Izzy's right," Tai nodded, holding up his silvered device, "I've tried using mine, but it just wont work. The only way we can get into the Digital World," he gestured to himself, Lucy and Izzy, "is if one of you open the gate for us."

"Exactly, which is part of the reason I wanted to try an experiment with the new Digivices, if that's okay with you," the red head told Yolei.

"Mmhm," she nodded, giving up her Digivice.

Izzy took it, giving it a cursory glance before placing it in his own pocket.

+-9

A whip cracked against the ground in front one of the yellow plant Digimon, Veggiemon.

"Let's move out," the emperor said with a cruel grin, "I've got an early tea time, in the morning." Behind him stood a hastily erected prison, for those few digimon that would dare to resist his absolute authority.

His orders given, the young man sat on a mobile throne, that was quickly lifted by a dozen of the Veggiemon, all wearing his Dark Rings.

In one of the many cells, watching as the human conqueror left for other ventures, or tea if he was to be believed, Gabumon and a pack of Gazimon plotted their escape.

"We break out tonight, boys," the fur wearing digimon informed his compatriots, then he turned to them, "Aw, why wait? Everyone, stay to the back of the cell," Gabumon faced the door of their cage and gathered the cold fire in his throat, "Blue Blaster!"

The single attack was enough to knock the steel door off its hinges and knock out one of the Veggiemon guarding the prison. The captive digimon didn't hesitate for a second, instantly dashing out of their confinement. The escape was going surprisingly well, that one guard seemed to be the only resistance and it had been little to no trouble to circumvent him.

Then a spiked, green bulb attached to a tomato red stem came out of left field, literally, and smashed Gabumon back into the Gazimon, knocking them down like a bunch of bowling pins.

"Apparently you do listen to instructions!" a new voice growled, casting a shadow over the escaping digimon.

"Who are you?" Gabumon demanded.

"I am the Digiworld's biggest salad bar, Redveggiemon! I am the biggest and the ripest of all Veggiemon. My Stink Jet attack destroys my enemies with noxious fumes!" his name was very telling. He was a deep red, like he constantly had rage boiling beneath his surface. From the top of his head he had a green leaves looking like drooping green hair. He held himself above the ground with his long, red arms that ended in green, spiked clubs. Around his middle, he wore a Dark Ring.

"Try to stop us, stinky!" the fur wearing digimon challenged the plant creature.

"For trying to escape you get to smell my roots," the champion lowered himself to the ground then lashed out with one of his clubs, "and I have root rot!"

The Gazimon winced, watching the fur wearing digimon get pummeled, but powerless to help.

"Smell this!"

"Ugh!" Gabumon groaned.

"Smell it again!"

"That's disgusting!" the pour dog-like digimon groaned, being beaten and drowned in stench at the same time, "No more, please!"

"You kidding, I'm just warming up!" the controlled digimon grinned evilly, "Hey, if you can't stand the smell, then get out of the kitchen!" the plant digimon, lashed his clubbed limb forward, bashing Gabumon so hard he was sent flying off the side of the cliff with a pained yell.

Luckily for the fur wearing Digimon, he had a relatively soft landing in a fast moving river that quickly swept him downstream, despite his struggling.

"Gah!" he coughed, "My fur is dry clean only!"

Back at the top of the cliff, Redveggiemon turned to the rest of the escapees, "Let that be a lesson be a lesson to all of you! Don't try to defy the power of the Digimon Emperor!"

+-9

Some time later, o the rocky bank of the river he had fallen into, Gabumon was barely able to pull himself ashore, pain and exhaustion making it difficult even to crawl. Before him stood one of the many TVs that had been sprinkled throughout the Digital World to act as gates.

Gabumon saw the gate and forced himself forward, "I have to warn the others," he spoke, "They need to be warned," he grunted from the effort, dragging himself another few feet before collapsing, "I have to find Matt. Ugh..." he almost coughed from the scent that filled his nose, "Man, I stink."

The poor digimon lost consciousness before he had the chance to see that the gate activated, sensing on of the Digidestined digimon, and sending a distress signal out out his partner.

+-9

In the human world, the Digidestined in question was putting on a concert with his band. Matt's group actually had quite the following in Odaiba, the concert hall was actually all but completely full of teens enjoying his music. TK was actually back stage, grinning proudly at the show. He always knew his brother was awesome.

Out in the crowd, towards the back, were Sora, Lucy and Skymomon, the digimon pretending to be just a cute back pack.

"Wow," Lucy said, "I knew that Matt had some skill, but this is great," she was bobbing her head in time with the rhythm, her pink locks swaying back and forth.

"Yeah," the sixteen year old next to her agreed, watching the blonde teen pluck the strings with a somewhat dreamy expression.

Lucy saw that and smirked, nudging her, "Hey, if you want to meet him, I could get you back stage," she joked.

Sora just laughed and nudged the younger girl back, "Hush you."

+-9

After the concert, and back in his school uniform, Matt was standing in the hall, looking out a window.

"Listen, TK, just because I have a rock band doesn't mean I can hide a band of rocks that just happen to be digimon," he turned to look at his younger brother.

"Well," TK reasoned, "Think about it, maybe they could be your backup singers."

"They sound to gravelly," the older blonde returned.

"Sup, rock star?" Lucy greeted as she walked up to the pair, Sora right beside her, "You've come a long way from playing the harmonica."

"I'll say, you played great today, Matt," Sora said next.

"Yeah, we've been practicing for months," Matt smiled briefly

Lucy had moved next to TK a teasing smile on her face as she watched her surrogate sister and TK's brother flirt with each other, "Think they've even got a clue?"

"You kidding?" the boy in the white bucket had said back, "I bet Sora's struggling with whether or not she's got a shot at my rock star brother, and Matt's just taking her flirting as wishful thinking on his part. They've been dancing around each other for the last two years."

The pink haired girl snickered.

The jovial mood came to an abrupt end, though, when TK's D-terminal rang. At the same time, Matt's Digivice began chirping a warning to him.

"There's a problem in the Digiworld," the older blonde announced.

"I just got an email from Yolei," TK added, stepping forward, "It says, 'Emergency! Hurry back to school!' Emergency?" He looked to his older brother.

"I just hope Gabumon's okay," the older blonde said.

Lucy and Sora glanced to one another and nodded, "Count us in."

"Right, Let's go!" Matt took the lead.

+-9

In the classroom, Yolei typed frantically at the computer, bringing up the gate to the Digital World, specifically targeting the gate that had sent out the distress signal. Matt stood a short distance away, taping his fingers against his arm impatiently. If he were younger, more impulsive, he might be grumbling about how long this was taking, but he wasn't, so he didn't. He knew from working with Izzy that rushing the techie on the team only caused them to make mistakes.

"Alright, the gate is open. Shall we go?" The girl's answer was Kari holding up her Digivice to the screen, initiating the transport.

In seconds, the group and their digimon partners found themselves in the Digiworld.

"Gabumon!" Matt cried out, seeing his partner unconscious on the ground before them, moving forward quickly to help him up.

"Oh, Matt!" the digimon said softly, waking up and pushing up to his knees.

"Are you okay?" the teen asked.

"Let's just say, I'll never look at steamed vegetables the same way," the digimon quipped.

"Okay, I want you to tell me everything that happened," Matt said.

"Good, we never talk anymore," Gabumon smiled.

"Hey, everybody," Yolei said, back in the human world, "I'm going over to Izzy's to get my Digivice back, then I'll meet up with you there." The girl waved a quick goodbye then stood up to go do as she said.

As she was leaving, the little pink ball of energy that was Yolei's partner hovered in front of the screen, "Have no fear while Yolei is gone, this place shall be guarded by Poromon!" the little digimon rhymed, then shut down the gate.

Standing just in front of her partner, Gatomon had a question that had been on her mind for a while now, "Why do they call those things 'Rabbit Ears'?" she asked, pointed to the two looped antennae on top of the TV, "Why don't they call them 'Cat Ears'? After all, when was the last time you saw a rabbit sleeping on top of a TV?"

Kari tilted her head to the side as she regarded her partner, "This is what you think about?"

"Okay, breaks over, let's get back to work," Patamon said, hovering near TK, Gabumon and Matt.

"What's the plan?" Lucy asked.

"Come with me," Gabumon told them, "I'll show you the way," he began to lead back the way he'd come, going through the forest instead of the river.

It wasn't long before they found themselves on a small plateau over looking the latest area targeted by the Digimon Emperor.

"Is this the place?" Sora asked, crouched down with the rest of them, to avoid being seen.

"Yes, this is the village of San Guria," Gabumon told them, "It was always a quiet place, everyone minded their own business, and then the Digimon Emperor came along," he pointed out the huge black spire that stood on the rocky hill above the village.

"Another one of those black towers," Gatomon announced.

"The emperor calls them Control Spires," the fur wearing digimon informed them.

"Control Spires, huh?" Lucy said, narrowing her eyes at the black monolith, "Guys, I've got a have baked theory about how mister high and mighty is controlling the digimon."

"I bet I know where you're going with this," Sora said, "It's right in the name, after all. Somehow, those things keep the Dark Rings empowered."

"Got it in one, sis," Lucy grinned back at the older girl, "First batch of ice cream is on me tonight."

"So, what do we do about it?" Skymomon asked, keeping them on topic, though filing that ice cream comment for later perusal.

"Whatever it is, we can't just run down there guns blazing," Matt said, "The Digimon Emperor could be down there, just waiting for us to fall into an ambush."

"Yeah, and that's not the worst of it," TK added, "If he knows we're coming for him, he might be using some of the digimon he captured as a shield."

"Right," Kari nodded, "We need to figure out a way to get down there and help out without any of the innocent digimon being hurt."

"They're being guarded by the Veggiemon," Patamon said, having come back from a quick reconnaissance flight, "Watch out for the digi-sludge!"

"Patamon, tell us everything you know about Redveggiemon," Matt told the tan digimon.

Patamon nodded, coming down to land on Gabumon's head and explaining all he knew about the aggressive plant digimon. After a few seconds, Matt looked at the rest of the group, "Okay, I've got a plan to sneak into the rest of the prison," he paused for a moment, "Who's the sneakiest among us?"

As one, all the kids and digimon, except for Sora and Matt, looked right at Lucy. The girl just grinned confidently.

"Do you think you can get past any of their guards without being noticed?" the blonde asked.

"You tell me," the girl smiled wickedly, happy to show off a little, then she moved. In the space of the blink of an eye, she was gone, then her voice came from behind Matt, "Can I?"

"Whoa, Lucy!" Sora exclaimed, "How did you do that?"

"However you did it, that's great, we'll need you to move through the town unseen," the sixteen year old boy said, "The rest of us are gonna go get captured by the enemy."

+-9

At the entrance to the village, a large sand stone gate, two Veggiemon stood on guard. From the corner of one red eye, the digimon on the left noticed the approach of a group.

"Stop right there! Identify yourselves!" he barked at them.

At the lead of the group was a Gatomon, who held up her right fore paw, showing a Dark Ring around it, "It's okay, we're one of you. We just caught these human's and their digimon." Behind her, all in ropes, were Gabumon, then Matt, Sora, Kari, TK and Cody. Patamon was flying above them, a Dark Ring around his middle, with Armadillomon taking up the rear, the ring around his left fore leg.

"Where are you taking us?" Kari demanded with a glare.

"Pipe down!" Armadillomon ordered, "You're all goin' to jail, where you belong!" The group was led into the town, piles of pink sludge falling all around them with disgusting splats, though thankfully none of it came close to the group.

The Veggiemon just laughed ominously, missing the brief shadow that moved over the wall while they were watching the prisoners.

It didn't take the group that long to make it out of ear shot of the gate guards. After making sure they weren't being watched by any other slaves of the emperor, the group stopped on a staircase that sloped gently upwards.

"Wow, those guys didn't even notice these rings were plastic," Patamon said, landing before them and tapping the dark ring.

"Don't start feeling to frisky yet," Gatomon warned, "The first set of guards were just flunkies. We haven't even faced the pick of the litter. And even if we get past them, we still have to find a way to destroy the control spire." Even as the cat digimon said it, the group turned as one to look at the black tower that might be the key to freeing the local digimon.

Sora nodded and said, "Luckily we have a woman on the outside."

They started moving again, none of them seeing Lucy or her digimon anywhere, but knowing that she was close by.

+-9

It wasn't long before Gabumon and the rest of the group tied up in the rope were led to the digimon's old cell and tossed in rather brusquely. Matt couldn't help a grunt in pain when he landed on his side, and Sora let out an 'oof' when she hit the ground.

"Just because we're prisoners doesn't mean you have to treat us so roughly," the girl glowered at the yellow plant digimon that had manhandled them.

"Aw, shut up, human, you wont have much to complain about as soon as the emperor gets back," the digimon turned around to face Gatomon, Patamon and Armadillomon, "Thanks for helping to capture them, by the way, the emperor will be pleased. We could have caught them ourselves, you know, but I guess you beat us to the punch," the controlled digimon grinned, but that grin slipped off his face when he heard clattering and saw the group of digimon removing their dark rings, easy as pie, "Ah!"

"Speaking of 'punch'," Gatomon quipped, stepping up, "Lightning Paw!" The cat digimon launched the attack quick as a shot, sending one of the Veggiemon right up against the bars and knocking him out. Kari grinned, giving her partner the victory sign.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon hit another his special attack, knocking him against the stone walls, while Armadillomon simply pinned two to the floor, "This way, everyone!" the little digimon said, leading the entire population of the prison out and deeper into the village.

After only a few minutes he turned back, "Wait, there are more guards."

And, just as he'd said, there were four more enslaved Veggiemon at the base of the stairs, laughing about something or other, not having noticed the group yet, so they ducked behind the corner before they were seen.

"What now?" Sora asked," They're blocking the exit."

"Back this way," Gabumon suggested, "It comes out on top, closer to the Control Spire."

"Good idea," TK's digimon agreed.

Just as they were exiting the village proper, Lucy showed up, sweating a little, but no worse for wear otherwise, "Good to see you guys made it out. Everything go alright?"

"Yeah. Luckily, guess we didn't need you to sneak around after all, but better safe than sorry," Matt said, stepping forward.

"Trust me, I know that one," Lucy said, pulling up the sleeve of her hoodie to show a scar on her right bicep. It was about the size of a silver dollar and looked like she had been burned.

"Oh, god, Lucy," Sora gasped, "Did you get that fighting digimon?"

"Pah, no," the pink haired girl waved the concern away, "I got that little sucker from not paying attention while visiting Meramon. He even told me I shouldn't sit so close to his personal hot spring."

Sora thought about that and giggled a little, "Yeah, I guess a fire digimon might run his bath a little hotter than we would."

"Come on," Matt interrupted, "Let's get up there and see if there's another way down."

"Right," Lucy rolled her sleeve back down and let the others take the lead.

It took nearly fifteen minutes to reach the top, but only an instant to realize that the only way down was the cliff that Gabumon had been tossed off of.

"Think we could get down from here?" TK asked wonderingly, looking for any viable route.

"Not a chance," Kari shook her head, "It's way to high and steep."

"If only we had a rope or something, we could climb down," Matt suggested.

"I'll go look for one," Gabumon told them.

"Wait," a couple of the Gazimon moved forward, "We don't need a rope. We'll just hold onto each other and you guys can climb down the Bunny-slope. Our way of saying thanks."

"That would be great! Thanks!" Matt's partner told them, "Okay, let's go!"

The Gazimon moved to run back to the others of their kind to tell them the plan, Gabumon right behind them, but the three digimon were knocked off their feet and onto their backs by the digi-sludge that smacked them grossly in the face.

"No one's going anywhere!" the voice caused the whole group to turn and see Redveggiemon standing there threateningly, holding one club limb up aggressively.

"Gatomon, Armor Digi-wah!" Kari began, then cried out as she, Cody and TK were tackled by Veggiemon and wrapped up in their tentacles.

"Let her go!" Gatomon demanded, launching toward one of the Veggiemon to swipe at him, but one of the clubs lased out and smacked her down.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Redveggiemon gloated, "No interfering! Ha!" He bashed her again.

"Gatomon!" Kari cried.

"Stink Jet!" the red digimon shouted, opening his maw and letting out a cloud of nauseating fumes that all but knocked the digimon, Lucy, Sora and Matt off their feet. The Veggiemon all leapt into action again, wrapping up all the prisoners except two. Even gagging Lucy was able to dodge the attacking Veggiemon, and Skymomon was just as quick, but even smaller, so that much harder to contain.

"Huh?" Redveggiemon looked at them, "What are you slackers waiting for, get them!" He lashed out with his clubbed arm at Lucy, but she just dodged to the side nimbly.

"Was that aimed at me?" the girl asked with a grin.

"Whirlwind Fist!" Skymomon shouted, sending a green tornado at one of the Veggiemon sneaking up on her partner.

"Grr!" the red plant growled, "I'm gonna stick you in a blender and hit puree!" he lashed out with his limbs again, but the pink haired girl jumped over his attack, dodging around him, easily.

"Lucy! Be careful!" Sora cried.

TK, Kari and Cody tried several times to get their digimon to armor Digivolve, but each time they start to even say 'armor', the Veggiemon would squeeze them tighter, keeping them from even speaking.

"Darn it!" Gabumon growled, "If only I could Digivolve!"

"There's gotta be a way," Matt insisted, struggling against the digimon holding him captive.

Lucy wasn't paying attention, however. She had her own problems at the moment. It wasn't all that hard to dodge the attacks, Redveggiemon wasn't the fastest digimon she dealt with, but humans really weren't as tough as digimon, so she couldn't afford to take her eyes off the enslaved digimon for a moment. That's not to say she wasn't paying attention to where she was going.

"Nya, nya!" the girl taunted, rolling out of the way of another attack, "Are you even trying to hit me?" she twirled left, "Come on, it's like you're going in slow motion!" she hopped over a random swipe.

Behind her, Skymomon was keeping the other Veggiemon from being able to get close to her partner, giving any that did an up close look at her Whirlwind Fist.

"Gah!" the red digimon roared angrily, "Will you just sit still and take your whipping!"

"Let me thing about that," Lucy said, rolling to a standing position right in front of the spire, putting a finger to her chin and looking upwards.

Seeing an opening, Redveggiemon put everything he had into one more attack, launching a double club attack at the pink haired teen. She waited until the vines were only a few feet away then poured everything she had into juking out of the way of the deadly attack.

The others screamed, thinking that their friend was about to bite the big one.

The Veggiemon laughed triumphantly, thinking they won.

And then the attack struck...

"What?!"

… the Control Spire.

"Awe, did you miss me?" The pink haired girl taunted.

Electricity arched off the black tower, cracks traveling up the lengths of it.

Suddenly, Matt's Digivice began keening in a familiar way, the same with Lucy's. Sora's would have too, had Biyomon been nearby. Two white bar codes shot into the sky, then rained back down on Gabumon and Skymomon, initiating their Digivolutions.

"Skymomon, Digivolve to SkyYetimon!"

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!"

"Huh?" Redveggiemon intoned fearfully, finding himself nose to nose with a horse sized wolf that didn't want to be his friend.

"Whoa!" Lucy said, looking back at the cracked tower. She had expected breaking it to release the digimon under the rings, she had no idea that it would let the older kids help their digimon Digivolve.

"Gabumon," Matt said, stunned, "You Digivolved!"

"Grr!" The wolf growled menacingly at the red plant digimon.

"Hey, uh, no hard feelings... right?" Redveggiemon said, trying to save his hide.

At the same time, SkyYetimon jumped over to land in front of the Veggiemon holding her friends hostage with a heavy thump. She bent down to look the Veggiemon in the eyes and cracked her rather large knuckles.

As one they released their hostages and ran for their lives.

"I won't be beaten like this," Redveggiemon growled, rallying himself and preparing to loose another Stink Jet at Garurumon.

"I think so," the growling voice of the wolf digimon interrupted, "Howling Blaster!" The blue blast slammed into the red digimon, sending him sliding along the ground.

"Ow..." he groaned pitifully.

"Hey, everyone!" Yolei suddenly shouted, getting everyone's attention, now that the major threats were taken care of. Running along with the girl were Tai, Izzy, Agumon and all the Gotsumon, while Hawkmon followed in the air.

Tai, Izzy and Agumon stopped in front of the Champion level wolf digimon.

"Garurumon," Kari's brother breathed.

"How did you Digivolve?" Agumon asked, not unreasonably.

The wolf turned towards the others who shrugged, "I'm not sure."

"You know what I think?" Patamon asked, "I bet when Redveggiemon's attack cracked the control spire we were free from it's power."

"They're certainly going to need a lot of glue," Hawkmon joked.

"You're right, Patamon," Lucy told the little guy, "When I tricked that rotten tomato into attacking the spire, I just thought it would short out the Dark Rings. But we can now assume that these things are how the emperor is blocking Digivolution."

"So, what does that mean for us, exactly?" Tai asked.

Sora just grinned, "That means, all we have to do is knock down the spires and that kid wont have nearly as much control as he thinks he's got."

"Exactly," the pink haired girl nodded, then looked back over at the remaining spire, "So, would anyone like to do the honors?"

Armadillomon hopped forward, "Well, if you're lookin' for a volunteer, let me be the one."

"Yeah!" Cody agreed, holding up his Digivice, "Digi-armor Energize!"

"Armadillomon, Armor Digivolve to Digmon! The Drill of Knowledge!" The insectoid digimon stepped forward, the drills on his hands and nose spinning rapidly, "Rock Crackin'!" The drills cut into the black monolith easily, spreading a spider web of cracks up along it, causing the entire tower to arch with electricity again before it began to tumble to one side. It hit the ground and became only so much black gravel. "Sorry," Digmon said, looking at the group, "I forgot to yell timber."

"Whoa," Redveggiemon said, rubbing his head with one of his clubbed limbs and holding up his inactive Dark Ring before him, "Did I get married while I was asleep?"

The other Veggiemon removed their rings as well, looks of befuddlement on their faces.

"I guess it does both, blocking Digivolution and controlling the Dark Rings," Lucy said, looking at the freed digimon, "Control Spire indeed."

"It must have acted like an electric rod," Yolei said.

"What do you mean?" Hawkmon asked, winging over to her.

"Well, the Digimon Emperor built this tower as a means of sending power to the Dark Rings, controlling all the digimon within this specific area," the purple haired girl said, then looked back at Izzy, "Isn't that right?"

"Yeah," the tech genius nodded with a smile, "I'm quite impressed with your theory, Yolei."

"I wonder how many more Control Spires there are, scattered around the Digital World," Tai said, looking at the remains of the one they'd destroyed.

"Well, whatever the number is, we know they all have to be destroyed," Matt said next.

"Sounds like the new Digidestined have their hands full," Sora chimed in.

"Leave it to us," TK grinned, "We can handle it!"

"Mm-hm!" Kari nodded, smiling herself.

"This means we can take the Gotsumon back to their home now," Agumon said, looking at Gatomon.

"I'm all over it," the cat agreed.

"Follow me," Tai said, "I'll lead the way!" He started off, the Gotsumon following him, with Kari, Gatomon and Agumon bringing up the rear.

"Wait for me," the girl said as she jogged along.

"Garurumon will stay here and protect you guys from the emperor," Matt said from Garurumon's back. He'd missed being able to ride his partner all through the Digital World. It was a heck of an experience.

"Garurumon!" all the Gazimon cheered for their new guardian.

+-9

"I'm glad the Gotsumon aren't staying with us anymore," Yolei said, once they were all back in the Human world aside from Tai, Matt, Lucy, Kari and Sora, "Every time they touched my CDs they scratched them."

"And they clogged the sink when they brushed their teeth," Cody added.

"It was kind of fun having them around though," TK said.

"Hey everyone, I really think you should have a look at this," Izzy said, sitting in front of the computer. He had been typing away as usual while they'd been cooling down from their latest mission.

"Wow! What is that?" Yolei asked, she, TK, and Cody coming to see what the deal was.

"I discovered it when I was examining your Digivice, Yolei," the Tech Genius told her, "It appears to be a map of the Digital World. Do you see this white square?" he pointed out on on the large grid on the computer screen, surrounded by black squares, "It used to be black until we destroyed the Control Spire. Unfortunately, there are a lot of black squares left, and they all have spires."

"Gee, Izzy, it's going to take a long time to turn all those black squares into white ones," Cody said, sounding a little apprehensive about how long it would take.

"And that's hoping that the jerk doesn't come back and make new ones," Yolei said.

"Well, us older Digidestined actually have a plan for that," Izzy said with a confident smile.

+-9

"They don't make Control Spires like they used to," Greymon laughed. Gatomon had already reverted from Nibimon, using her armored for to critically damage the spire, which allowed Agumon to Digivolve in the first place. Tai and Kari just smiled at one another.

"Ha!" Tai said, giving his digimon a thumbs up, "Way to go, Greymon! You're a one 'mon wrecking crew!"

Some distance away, in another area, SkyYetimon and Birdramon were looking at another spire.

"If we get any closer our digimon might de-Digivolve," Lucy called over to Sora, "Think you can hit it from here?"

"Absolutely," the older girl nodded, then looked up at her partner, "Birdramon?"

"My pleasure," the flaming bird digimon gathered her fire into her wings and focused for a moment, "Meteor Wing!"

The target was further than normal, so it took a little while longer to see the effects, but the attack screamed through the air unerringly, exploding against the spire and knocking it over.

"Awesome!" Lucy cheered, "Looks like the second pint of ice cream is on me, too!"

"About that," SkyYetimon said, looking down at her partner.

The pink haired teen laughed, "Yes, I'll bring some Tie Dye ice cream for you."

+-9

In his lair, the Digimon Emperor's Digivice chirped. He pulled out of his pocket, a frown on his face, as he looked at the map on the screen.

"What?" he grunted then pressed a button on the side sending the picture up into a screen in front of him, showing him the full grid map of the black and white squares, "How did three of my Control Spires..." he growled, "It must be those meddling kids!" He shrugged after a couple of moments, "Oh well, it doesn't really matter. Those areas were of little importance in the grand scheme of things and, in another year, I'll have the whole Digital World under my control," he stood up, smirking evilly, "And then finally, every living thing in the Digital World will become my slave, forever. And that includes those kids, too!" He laughed maniacally, envisioning his complete control of this particular world. Who knows, maybe after he was done here, he could move to Earth.

Chapter Four: End

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