Episode 36:

“The Firewall”

By

Jennifer Morton

and

Shelli-Jo Pelletier

* * *

~~~ Samee's P.O.V. ~~~

Lordessmon thought she would finally finish us off, but we finished her instead. With our base constructed, we had a place of defense and time to plan. We studied Lordessmon’s ways and planned a way to trick her at her own game. Sunemon and I knew we had to be the bait. After all, we still have a lot to make up for from my time as the Queen. . . . When Lordessmon attacked us, we were able to ambush Lordessmon and with a focused attack--and KiSunemon showing off her Ultimate form, ChiKitsunemon--we finally deleted that pure evil being. Now my only question is, do I go home now? And what will I do, if so. . . ?

* * *

As they stood out in the clearing where Lordessmon was defeated, the Digidestend continued to look down at their digivices in great anticipation.

Meanwhile their In-Training Digimon crouched on the ground, covering their ears from the high-pitched beeps. The noise suddenly ceased, and then a new one was heard. All eyes fell on Lexxy's laptop, where it was coming from. The raven-haired girl opened it up, wondering what could be causing all the commotion. She knew better than to expect a ride home any time soon, but whatever was about to happen, there was a feeling in the air that a final battle was drawing near.

A window flashed on the screen, indicating that an instant message was waiting to be answered. Lexxy clicked on it. "Lexxy, are you there?" it read.

Lexxy stood still for a moment as the others crowded around to watch over her shoulder. "Well, aren't you going to answer?" Eekamon urged.

Lexxy was a bit startled by the instant message at first and didn't quite know how to respond. She didn’t even know there was a chat program on the laptop! It was a few seconds before she figure out it must be the anonymous pen pal that had been helping them out. She allowed her nerves to settle a bit before she began typing her reply. "Yes, I'm here. Our digivices are acting strange though," she typed, also speaking out loud as she did. She thought maybe the person (was it a person?) on the other end would know what was happening.

The response was quick. "Don't worry, your digivices are fine."

"Tell your online boyfriend to quit with the mind games already and tell us who he really is!" Tania demanded.

"How do you even know it's a boy . . . or even a human for that matter," Lexxy retorted. "Although, maybe it is time we found out. . . ." Lexxy typed the question.

"Who I am is not important right now . . . just follow my instructions and I promise, you will find out in due time.”

"Okay, then shoot!" Lexxy replied.

"First go back to your base. Gather as much food and water as you can. You and your Digimon are going to need a lot of energy for what lies ahead." Lexxy paused from reading the message for a moment and looked up at her fellow teammates. Although their expressions were laced with fearless determination, she could still sense nervousness. She continued to read the message. "When you're ready, contact me immediately and I will walk you through the rest of the way.”

* * *

Everyone agreed to follow their benefactor’s directions. They quickly reached their base again. Before packing up, the Digidestined had a quick bite to eat. "Before we leave the base, do you guys think you can digivolve to your Rookie forms? I don't want to take any chances," Jenn asked the row of full Digimon, who were now ready to take on just about anything.

"Sure thing Jenn!" said Junumon. She turned to face the other Digimon. "Ready, guys?"

"READY!" they all said in unison.

"Junumon digivolve to . . . Foximon!"

"Eekamon digivolve to . . . Cunomon!"

"Bamboomon digivolve to . . . Pandamon!"

"Cheemon digivolve to . . . Cheekomon!"

"Dotremon digivolve to . . . Diratimon!"

"Munamon digivolve to . . . Yazumon!"

"Autumon digivolve to . . . Jaymon!"

"Babybunnimon digivolve to . . . Magimon!"

"Kintermon digivolve to . . . Huntermon!"

"Nakomon digivolve to . . . Nerimon!"

"Kitmon digivolve to . . . Sunemon!"

"Welcome back, Foximon!" Jenn smiled warmly at her Digimon.

"Great to be back!" the Fox Digimon replied, stretching her legs as they began to walk out the door.

"Okay," Lexxy began, opening her laptop once more. Their pen pal had been standing by online, waiting for their reply just as he said he would. "Okay, we're ready! What's next?" Lexxy typed.

"You must travel one mile south. There you will find a firewall. Here is a map. As you can see, it's not far." There was a pause and then another message followed. "Stay online as long as possible. I will remain here in case you need further assistance."

"Roger that," Lexxy replied and the group went on their way.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, the Digidestined stopped in a clearing near the edge of the woods. The group looked around in confusion; there was no wall in sight.

"Okay, now where's this firewall?" Jenn asked, starting to get a bit impatient. It had been a long walk, and the day was turning out to be a hot one.

"There's something strange about this place. . . ." said Samee.

"Samee's right, maybe we should head back, before we fall into another trap." Sunemon shuddered, getting ready to turn around.

"No, wait!" said Skye. "Whoever this person is, something tells me we can trust them. There's a strong feeling about them; I can't explain, but you'll just have to take my word for it. Besides, this may be the only way we get home!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. With the wisdom and spirit of the Digi Princess inside her, they knew it was doubtful she was wrong. There were moments when it seemed as if the Digi Princess was speaking through Skye's words. This was one of those moments.

Tania turned to Lexxy, who had just set her lap top down for the moment, giving her sore arms some much needed Relief. "Now what?"

Lexxy double-checked the map to confirm that they were in the right place. "I don't understand, according to the map it's suppose to be right here!" She began typing once more. "There is no firewall here."

Again the response was immediate. "Oh, trust me, it's there. Just follow my instructions. The firewall is invisible. It's a defense mechanism, to keep someone from knocking it down."

"Well, that's not gonna stop us!" said Jenn.

Lexxy read off the next message. "So, here's the plan. Foximon needs to digivolve to PolarGlorymon, then use her Polar Ice Storm attack to freeze the wall. This will make it perfectly visible.”

"Ya get all that, Foximon?" Lexxy asked the little fox Digimon.

"Just tell me where to aim!" Foximon replied.

Lexxy pointed to the spot, according to the map.

"Foximon digivolve to . . . Glorymon!"

"Glorymon digivolve to . . . PolarGlorymon!"

PolarGlorymon floated in front of the area where the firewall was supposed to be, preparing herself. Her eyes began to glow and she held out her arms, but before she could release her attack, something dark streaked from the woods and struck her!

The attack was powerful, knocking PolarGlorymon to the ground right at Jenn’s feet. “Are you okay!?” she asked her Digimon, kneeling next to the silver fox Digimon. PolarGlorymon growled softly and looked up in the air.

Hovering above the group of Digidestined and Digimon was a sleek black female with pale skin, red eyes, and a cruel smirk. “Don’t even think about it, Digidestined,” she sneered.

“LadyDevimon!” gasped Kristina.

“Why did I think this was going to be easy?” muttered Jenn, just as another form flew from the woods to float beside LadyDevimon. Who else, but her masculine partner, Devimon. The ground began to shake, and suddenly a DarkTyrannomon stomped out of the forest to make the evil trio complete.

“Um, we have trouble, brb,” Lexxy typed frantically into the laptop before snapping it shut and putting it back on her back. “Guys, time to digivolve!” she said.

“Right on!” Cunomon growled eagerly. He was ready to fight anything.

"Cunomon digivolve to . . . Sartomon!"

“Pandamon digivolve to . . . Kombatmon!"

"Diratimon digivolve to . . . Dracomon!"

"Yazumon digivolve to . . . Djarumon!"

"Cheekomon digivolve to . . . Cheetormon!"

"Jaymon digivolve to . . . Skylamon!"

"Huntermon digivolve to . . . Agurimon!"

"Nerimon digivolve to . . . Nedikismon!"

“Sunemon digivolve to . . . KiSunemon!”

“Sartomon digivolve to . . . DracoSartomon!”

"Kombatmon digivolve to . . . MetalKombatmon!"

"Dracomon digivolve to . . . MegaDracomon!"

“Djarumon digivolve to . . . PunkDjarumon”

"Cheetormon digivolve to . . . WereCheetormon!"

"Skylamon digivolve to . . . Saromon!"

“Agurimon digivolve to . . . MidnightAgurimon!”

“Nedikismon digivolve to . . . Altormon!”

“Magimon digivolve to . . . Athenamon!”

“KiSunemon digivolve to . . . ChiKitsunemon!”

Despite this quite impressive display of digivolution, the trio of evil did not seem concerned at all. “How precious,” snorted the LadyDevimon. “Why doesn’t our pet play with yours? I’m sure they’ll play nicely."

"DarkTyrannomon, attack!” Orderd Devimon.

The black dinosaur Digimon roared loudly, shaking the trees and making the human children hold their ears. Before they had recovered, DarkTyrannomon stomped forward and waded into the sea of Ultimate Digimon, slashing out left and right with his metal-tipped claws and shooting red-hot flames. The gang of Digidestine Digimon began fighting back, but they weren’t fooled by the plan of attack. When LadyDevimon and Devimon began zeroing in on the humans, there were already Ultimate Digimon circled around them protectively.

“You won’t get them so easily!” Saromon screeched up at the two evil Digimon.

“PolarGlorymon!” Jenn yelled, dodging as Devimon swooped down and tried to grab her with his claws. “No matter what, keep aiming at that wall! We have to destroy it!”

“Not on my watch!” LadyDevimon hissed. She turned from her attack on the Digidestined and dove at PolarGlorymon. The two female Digimon circled each other warily. PolarGlorymon easily slipped sideways and avoided a wave of bats from the dark lady.

Suddenly something struck LadyDevimon from behind, causing her to cry out in shock. It was WereCheetormon! The shaggy feline Digimon flipped up into the air and landed square on the evil female with perfect accuracy, sending her face-first into the ground.

“Eat dirt, Miss Evil!” snarled WereCheetormon from her spot on top of LadyDevimon, shoving her further into the dirt with a foot on her back. The cheetah looked up. “Now, PolarGlorymon!” she called.

Smiling her thanks, PolarGlorymon turned to the spot everyone had been fighting around. “Polar Ice Storm!” she shouted, sending a blizzard of cold flakes at the invisible wall. Just as predicted, the wall froze into a solid block of ice. On the ground, LadyDevimon howled in rage and struggled in a fistfight with WereCheetormon, who wasn’t letting her up any time soon.

“That thing doesn’t look so tough,” laughed PunkDjarumon, leaping over a fireball from DarkTyrannomon. He spread his wings and flew to the top of the wall, landing on it and pulling out his guitar. “Sonic Riff!”

The deep chords of the electric guitar shook the foundation under his clawed feet. As PunkDjarumon continued to play, cracks appeared in the wall. The evil trio tried shooting attacks at him to stop him, but the ten other Digidestined Digimon distracted them.

LadyDevimon screeched and tried to ram WereCheetormon with her spear-like Black Wing attack. That was the last straw for the feline Ultimate.

“You know what?” growled WereCheetormon. “I am sick of you! Heeya!” She whirled in a circle and kicked out with her strong hind leg, knocking LadyDevimon right off her feet. The villainous female sailed over the heads of the others and crashed into the cracked firewall. PunkDjarumon took flight as the wall came crumbling down.

Devimon growled darkly. “That’s IT! No more nice play! DarkTyrannomon, turn up the heat!”

DarkTyrannomon opened his jaws, the fire building in his mouth, turning from red to bright white with amazing heat. He let a white fireball fly toward the Digidestined Digimon, but from the direction of the woods came a voice.

“NOVA BLAST!”

A smaller orange fireball intercepted the dark dino’s attack, knocking it harmlessly to the ground. Into the clearing strode a strong, tall Greymon!

TO BE CONTINUED. . . .