Digimon Adventure: Continuing Evolution

12. No More Oikawas

Kari was sitting in a lecture hall, studiously taking notes while her professor taught. Gatomon was curled up into a ball by her feet under the wooden table, tail twitching ever so slightly in her sleep. Kari glanced at her partner and smiled as a particularly strong flick brushed against her ankle. Then she returned her attention to the diagram the professor was making on the whiteboard and proceeded to copy it down. While most other students nowadays preferred to type their notes in a document on their laptops, Kari loved the tactile feeling of pen and paper. It was calming somehow, concentrating as she moved across the page in elegant, flowing strokes to create aesthetically beautiful characters (and sometimes doodles in the margins), to the point that people often stopped to comment on her impeccable handwriting.

She enjoyed just sitting down and getting lost in the clean lines that she constructed. It helped her clear her mind from all the things she was anxious about, and after the week she'd had, being in class was a welcome reprieve from more unpleasant realities.

Her contented reverie was abruptly shattered by a voice in her ear. It was Davis.

"Kari, T.K., we need backup! I have a Code Pitchfork! Repeat, Code Pitchfork! We need holy digimon here now!"

The message ended with a loud BOOM and a crackle of static. Kari was already on her feet shoving her notebook away into a messenger bag, the blood draining from her face.

"Come on, Gatomon, we need to go!" she urged quietly, shaking the feline digimon's shoulders. Gatomon's ears popped up and her eyes shot open in irritation, but after one look at her partner any objections she might have voiced died in her throat, and she nodded without a word.

The middle-aged man standing at the front of the class craned his head to the side and folded his arms crossly. "Again, Ms. Kamiya? I had hoped you would exhibit greater respect for me and your fellow classmates than to—"

"I'm so sorry, Hosoda-sensei," Kari interrupted, "but it's an emergency!"

"Of course it is," he replied with biting sarcasm, but she was already out of the room.

Kari sprinted down the hallway toward the stairs, with Gatomon easily keeping pace by her side. She touched the talk button on her earpiece. "Davis, I'm coming! Davis?" But there was no answer. She frowned and touched it again. "T.K., did you get that?"

His reply came shortly after. "Yeah. Patamon and I are on our way. We'll see you there!"

"Copy!" she said tersely.

Kari swung a hard right as she got to the stairwell, gripping the railing to keep her balance, and raced down the two flights of steps to the ground floor.

"What's happening?" Gatomon queried as she bounded down the steps three at a time.

"It's Davis," Kari panted back. "He's in trouble. He invoked a Code Pitchfork."

Gatomon's only reaction was a brief hesitation before she took the next leap. It made sense. That was why he needed her and Patamon. A Code Pitchfork meant that a species of Devimon had been sighted. Not only were they very powerful virus digimon, but they were all but impossible to be destroyed by anything except holy digimon. "I'm ready. That devil will be sorry it messed with this kitty!" she snarled.

Pushing past dozens of people in the lobby with several quick apologies, Kari and Gatomon exited the building through a pair of double-doors made of thick glass. They ran a short distance away until they had enough space, and Kari pulled out her phone. "Gatomon, Digivolve!" she commanded. Kari shielded her eyes as the bright light coming from her partner briefly eclipsed the sun's, and when it faded a magnificent angel stood in her place. Kari secured her bag over her opposite shoulder and approached the seven foot tall celestial being. "Hurry, Angewomon," she implored.