Digi-Titans Ch.#3

Mere moments after the battle against Windegomon, a commotion has taken place inside the Tamer's Center. Lithe and Fang emerge inside, with the rest of the tamers and their digimon surrounding them in a tight circle. They had been talking non-stop ever since the battle, the majority of the team both confused and outraged as to what had taken place during the fight. As they pushed through the library, Lithe squeezes through the group and climbs atop the front desk. At the top of her lungs, Lithe's shout can be heard above the din.

"EVERYONE QUIET!!!"

The shout from the cat's mighty lungs caused the entire team to cease chatter and stare at the BlackGatomon. As the echoes of her words began to fade, silence slowly fills the room as Lithe gains their full attention.

"You will all have a chance to speak," Lithe spoke calmly. "Now, we defended the village from Windegomon by the skin of our teeth. At this point, it's clear now that we have a lot of work to do. As a team, we need to strengthen the bonds between Digimon and Tamers."

The Tamers and Digimon, all present, nodded in agreement simultanouesly, as Lithe continues.

"In general Tamers, while your Digimon are strong we won't always be there to defend you. In the event that such a moment may occur, Tamers must not only strengthen their bodies but they must also increase their stamina as well. Now, are there any questions you wish to ask?"

In response, Ryoko steps forward and speaks up: "I have a question". Ryoko turns to Fang, "Where did you get your powers?"

"Rea, rea," Cujo barked.

"Yeah Fang," Sparks shouted. "I have known you ever since our first gig, but not once did you ever mention anything about powers until now. You said it was a long story, well now I think we deserve to hear it now."

"Fang, is it true?" Guilmon asked innocently.

Fang responded with a deep sigh, he knew this day would come but he didn't think it be so soon. Well now, he could see in the face of every Tamer, even their partners, that there was no turning away from their curiosity. They had to know…

"All right, I'll tell you everything," Fang answered. "But first, let's go somewhere comfortable. Like I said, it is a 'long' story."

The team followed Lithe and Fang to the cafeteria, urging some of the Digimon inside to step out of the room. By the time all the tamers and their partners were comfortable, Fang positioned himself to the head of the table catching their full attention.

"My parents are bio-engineers specializing in genetic mutations…"

As Fang began to tell his story, the scene shifts to a laboratory setting with several scientists at work on a big project. Among them were Fang's parents, but like the other scientists their faces and hair were shadowed in darkness with the father's glasses reflecting in the light.
The parents prepare a serum of sorts while Fang narrates this portion.

"They were working on a serum that would strengthen a person's immune system. For five years, they have been constructing the formula before I was born…"

The scene shifts to the scientists standing by a desk separated into three spaces by a set of walls. On each space there was a rat in position locked in position by tiny shackles connected to the table. One of the scientists injects a needle containing the serum into the rats and observed the process from there. Overtime, the animals started to twitch and go wild from the effects. When the animals died, one-by-one, the scientists checked off next to "Not ready".

"When I was 2, they started the animal trials; unfortunately, they could not prevent the side effects from being fatal. Once inside the immune system, the serum would attack the organs within the body. A few more years of changes and trials, the side effects were reduced to mere changes in bone and muscle composition. They were preparing to begin testing on humans, when I took ill…"

The scene shifts to a hospital, in the midst of an evening storm in the progress. In addition to the lightning flashes outside the windows, the beeps from the heart monitor echoed inside a white room. Inside, there lay a young version of Fang lying flat atop a single hospital bed, tubes sticking through portions of his body while his parents and several of the medical staff observe the boy's status. At this point, Fang is paler in appearance, his breathing is slow and raspy, and traces of sweat can be seen pouring along his head.

"I was gravely ill with a mysterious virus, something the Doctors claimed we had picked up on our family trip to Peru. Unless they had the proper remedy to halt the effects of the virus, to halt the attack on my brain stem, I'd be dead in two hours. It was on that fateful night that my parents would make the hardest, life-altering decision of their lives…"

The scene shifts to the father figure, who returns to his laboratory, taking a vial containing the serum from a cabinet. Moments later, the father is proposing his idea to the Doctor and while no dialogue is heard it's clear through their actions that the Doctor is hesitant about the idea. But after much insisting, the Doctor gives in and allows the father to inject the serum into Fang's body.

"My father proceed to give me some of the new serum, injecting a vial full into my jugular vein. That's when the effects started to kick in…"

Upon injection, the heart monitor starts beeping at a rapid pace. Fang's body begins to shift into violent seizures, bouncing around and contorts in different angles on the hospital bed. His eyes turn white as his body twists and turns in every direction while his family and the staff observes the progress.

"The Doctors claimed they were a result of my high fever and feared I would not make it through the night. However, the very next day, they discovery: My fever broke…"

Moments after, Fang rises slowly from his bed and breathes a deep relaxing sigh as he regains his senses. The Doctors and his parents are amazed while the boy just looks around more confused than relieved. As the Doctors carefully inspect the child and steady him, the parents give each other a nod and clink their wine glasses given to them by the hospital staff. From there on, a montage shows Fang's development following his release…

"The next morning, I was awake and fully alert. Everyone was baffled, all except my parents of coure. A few days later, I was cleared of all traces of the virus and released to go home. My parents watched me close for any side effects following my release. They began the human trials informing no one in the lab they had given me the serum. For everyone and everything that received the serum either had severe side effects or died shortly after. They just couldn't figure out why the serum was not taking effect on me as well… That is, until I turned nine…"

As the days pass, Fang's family proceeded with the following analysis and further tests as the side effects slowly took shape: From a mark that developed on Fang's back, to running a 400 meter field while lifting a near 800 barbell, and the development's on Fang's anatomy within the course of that time.

"I soon noticed I had developed a mark on my back; it appeared to be a skull with a halo above it. Soon after, I further noticed that I was stronger and faster than others my age. Soon my parents noticed that my muscles were more defined and my bone structure was abnormal. After all the tests were completed, they determined that my bones and muscles were twenty times stronger than a normal nine year old. Over time, I kept getting stronger as I grew and my voice was affected at age 12 thus developing the deep voice I have now…"

All through those nights, Fang's father worked later shifts studying the serum to determine why all this was happening. But each night, his father found that he was making little progress no matter how tiredlessly he had worked to reconstruct the formula he just couldn't match the mix he had given his son.

"While all of that was going on, my father began to research which formula of the serum I was given. Unfortunately, he was never able to figure out exactly which one he had given me, since he did not write down which vial he grabbed that fateful night. While he had some success figuring out the basic composition, my father could never remix that exact formula. My father made me keep this an entire secret out of fear and to protect my and his family. And I never told anyone after that."

It was a long story just had Fang had told the gang and yet neither Tamer nor partner fell asleep for a single moment during the talk. For the whole time, they watched and listened in deep silence and interest. But not long after the conversation ended did everyone began to talk at once!

"WOW!!!"

"What a tale!"

"Amazing!"

Chattering all at once, the tamers expressed how big this story was as if this was taken from a developed document of sorts. But after hearing most of what Fang would be willing to say, this only lead to more questions primarily to Lithe.

"Lithe, you were right: We were barely victorious in our last battle," Ryoko spoke. "Is there some way we can become as powerful as Fang?"

"Rhea!" Cujo exclaimed, flexing his muscles… That comically droopped down his arms as he exclaims, "Rah, rats!"

"Not exactly because even I don't know the precise formula," Lithe sighed. "But, with proper training and learning your Digimon's techniques, it's the best way to improve. Which is why we'll need to train our bodies to become stronger and at least increase our stamina as I had mentioned earlier."

Everyone murmured in agreement, taking Lithe's words for it. It wasn't exactly what they had hoped to hear; all the same, they'd be willing to do anything to improve from their earlier battle.

"So… When do we start?" Billy asked.

"There's really no need to rush my son," Elsa replied. "It's been a long day today."

Lithe stood up. "Elsa is right Billy, for now you and the others just need to study your digi-vices' data base tonight. Then, we'll gather on the practice field at dawn. You're dismissed."

The tamers and their digi-partners made their exit to the cafeteria for dinner. As night fell upon the Center, they returned to their barracks to rest up knowing that they will have a big day come tomorrow…

<>

At the stroke of dawn, the whole team, the tamers and their partners, stood in a huge circle on the center of the field. At least more than half the team yawn, those not used to getting up in the early morn. Lithe and Fang were the last to arrive, arriving mere minutes later than the rest of the group.

"All right troops, we shall begin with some basic calinstentics to warm our muscles," Lithe instructed. "Therefore, each of you will be paired off and practive some basic defense and offense maneuvers until lunch."

"If I can give a suggestions Lithe," Ryoko replied. "Can we switch partners so that way we have a variety of partners?"

"I'm down with that idea," Dave agreed.

"What better way to be challenged than to have a little variety in our work-out," Bina implied.

"Very good idea Ryoko," Lithe replied. "Now, the first pairings have been selected randomly so we'll start with the following: Billy will face Kyle, Dave against Sparks, and Ryoko will take on Fang. Any questions?"

"Yea, I have a question," Kyle states. "Why pair me with Billy?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Billy retored.

"Sorry to bust your bubble buddy, but "I" don't trust you!"

"Well who says I wanted to work with you!"

"When did I say I ever wanted to work with you?"

"For the same reason!!!"

Ryoko finally had enough of this and stepped in between the boys. "Would you two just knock it off?!" The sound of Ryoko's scream has the boys pushed back in surprise, having never seen her angry before.

"I don't know what problems you two have had in the real world, one thing I know is this is not the time or place! If we are going to be ready for whatever Digimon gets sent to attack us, we need to work and "act" like a team."

"Ryoko is right," Lithe agreed. "If you two are going to fight, take it out on the field!"

Billy and Kyle throw each other a disdainful glance from over their shoulders. respective exhalations are visible in the air. Now they stride towards the field, far apart from each other, leaving the other Tamers nonplussed.

"Loser…" Kyle muttered softly.

"Jerk…" Billy muttered simultaneously.

All at once, they whirl to face one another.

"What did you say?!?" They both exclaimed.

The two storms towards each other and go face-to-face, while Elsa and Swanmon just sigh.

"Do you have a problem with me, Spielberg?" Billy angrily asked.

"Yes I do!" Kyle retored. "It's five feet tall and smells like cheap hair gel!"

This really hits Billy the wrong way as the confrontation intensifies! The rest of the tamers are absolutely intimidated by this as they watch the argument continued and Billy and Kyle were exchanging every insult they can think of back and forth.

"Well, you're an undersized klutz!"

"And your feet smell like motor oil!"

"You're bossy!"

"You're rude!"

"Well you got no taste in music!"

"Funny, I was going to say that about you!"

Elsa and Swanmon sigh, as the two boys continue to behave like school children in kindergarten. They had never seen their tamers behave this way before. "This is going to be a long practice," Elsa inquired.

"Indubidibly," Swanmon agred.

<>

After the tamers finally settled down and practice started, the first round revealed exactly how weak most of the humans were compared to their Digi-Partners. Billy and Kyle did not hesitate going at each other exchanging a series of blows aiming at anywhere they can land a heavy blow. When Billy kneed Kyle from the chest, Kyle swooped back with a swinging fist to the face. Neither tamer were holding back on their assault, like the makings of a bare-knuckled brawl. In retaliation, Swanmon unleashed her attack on Billy.

"Feather tornado!"

The attack caused her feathers to launch towards Billy, knocking him down with a strong gush of wind. When Billy got up, he was covered in swan feathers and spat out any that got hurled into his mouth. Kyle laughed his head off at Billy's misfortunes.

"Sparda's Rage!"

Kyle turned upwards to the source of the shout, where Elsa unleashes a wave of fireballs launched towards Kyle. He narrowly dodges some of the fireballs and hurls himself away from a big one that landed where he stood last time. Just as Kyle started to relax, it felt a very hot sensation from his pants and let out a loud holler as his pants immediately caught on flames!

Meanwhile, Dave and Sparks were having trouble all on their own. It started as Dave and Guilmon were at a stare down, growling at each other and hissing revealing their fangs. Suddenly, Guilmon dodged firing his "Pyro Blaster" attack as Dave scattered from the tiny flames. Pushing himself on all fours, Dave used his cat-like reflexes to narrowly escape the blasts and managed to lock onto a tree after a bounding leap. It was then Dave's turn of attack as he leaped off the tree toward Guilmon. The kid had a tight hold on Guilmon's back by his claws riding on his back like a bull rider on a bull. Dave was trying to wear down the excited rookie, but Guilmon was actually having fun even tumble rolling on the ground… Dave was not pleased with that. Bina on the other hand had Sparks on his toes, literally, hurling wave after wave of "Diamond Storms" causing even the most insane member of the group dancing for his life. At first, however, Sparks was enjoying himself.

"Freestyle!" Sparks shouted, doing a break dance. "Hey Bina, not only are you not hurting me, I'm having fun!" Unfortunately, Sparks had no space left to move to as he finds his back to a tree. Luckily for him, the diamonds didn't hurt him but it did form a shape of Dave in the same position on the tree.

"Okay! I take it back!"

The only team who appeared in sync was Fang and Lithe, who were evenly matched whenever they were locked in combat and neither tamer or Digimon had the upper hand. Ryoko and Cujo were coming in a close second, having practiced against each other longer than most of the tamers. Course when it was switched around, Fang still managed to use his power to stay ahead of Cujo, who had a hard time landing a his fangs for a light nibble. Ryoko actually struggled taking on the much smaller Lithe so much that Ryoko actually broke a sweat. At one point, Ryoko almost had an upper hand on Lithe after dodging a "Lightning Paw" attack but a flaw in her steps caught her off balance and exposed with Lithe's second attack actually landing a scatch on Ryoko's left arm. Ryoko just gave a silent grunt at her own mistake while Fang simply made it look easy in front of everyone.

The second round took place, as Fang and Lithe took on Billy and Elsa this time. Of all the battles that took place during that hour, Billy's and Fang's were the loudest of them all. So loud that the rest of the tamers and Digimon actually stopped just to watch as Fang and Lithe overpowered Billy and Elsa. While Billy was not a bad shot when it comes to a brawl, dishing out lefts-and-rights in between, he just wasn't a match for Fang no matter how hard he tried. It soon turned into a short fight as Billy found himself backfirst on the ground and out of it.

"I wish I had that kind of power," Kyle whined.

"Stiff upper chin Kyle, we just need more practice," Swanmon implied.

"Swanmon, no amount of training will give us that kind of power," Sparks added.

"But you got to admit, this is awesome!" Guilmon replied.

While everyone else was talking, Dave and Ryoko on the other hand just paid more attention to the match itself listening to how Fang was interacting with Lithe.

"Hold your position Lithe," Fang instructed. "Elsa's about to swoop in like a aircraft on offense… Get ready to move on my cue…"

As if expecting it, Elsa swooped from high above the sky unleashing a
"Zeus' Might" maneuver causing a bolt of lightning to streak across the ground and straight towards Lithe, who held poise in position until…

"NOW!" Fang shouted.

On cue, Lithe bounded off her feet over the lightning bolt and over Elsa. The Leatheamon had no time to refocus as Lithe knocked her out with one "Lightning Paw" sending Elsa toward the surface and she barely was able to stop herself from a hard fall. By the time Billy recovered, he saw that Elsa was out like he was and a look of concern crossed his face.

"Time out! Time out!" Billy shouted, holding his arms in the cue position.

Fang and Lithe stood where they were as Billy rushed over to Elsa, checking to see how she was. Being at her level, it wasn't a huge blow on the lioness-digimon. But still, the blow did it's job and Elsa practically had to lean on Billy, who carefully helped her to her feet as the tamers look on with the same feeling.

"Sorry Fang, we got to rest," Billy requested. "We're exhausted."

Fang simply gave a nod as he walked over to Billy, offering his hand. The two shook hands after the fight giving respect to each other for their efforts. The same was done between fellow Digimon Lithe and Elsa.

"Whoo, haven't had a work out this good in weeks," Elsa replied. "Thank you."

"Anytime old friend," Lithe nodded. "Anytime."

As both duos walked back toward where the others were standing, Ryoko called out to them, "Hey guys, I was thinking we should take a lunch break before Round 3! We need to refuel our minds and bodies!"

"Agreed!!" The rest of the gang proclaimed, Sparks on the verge of passing out additionally.

<>

Nearly half the day passed as the group walked into the Tamer's center moving towards the cafeteria. It was a little late for lunch, but the chefs could tell the Tamers were really hungry. The group gathered around some tables near the back of the room. It's so quiet in the cafeteria that anyone in there could hear a pin drop in the corner where they were sitting. Though the tamers were not severely hurt, the effects of the workout really showed as bruises appeared on portions of their bodies and Dave was cleaning himself of any scrapes he had prior to his fights. Fang finished his lunch before the others, who were mostly deep in their own thoughts. Among the group, Kyle was looking at the footage of their practice through the camcorder he brought along and it was clear he was not happy with how it turned out… Course, they couldn't really read his face well due to him wearing the sunglasses. So Fang decided to return his tray and walk back to his room for his belts. He felt naked without the belts around his hips.

As soon as he exited the room, Kyle lost his patience, set the camera down on the table, and stood up.

"I'm so mad right now!"

"Kyle…" Swanmon spoke, but Kyle interrupted.

"Swanmon, it's hopeless. The only reason Fang can easily match Lithe's power and stamina is all because the power was "given" to him! How are we expected to meet his level of battling?

"I hate to agree with Kyle, I really do, but… For once, he makes a good point," Billy agreed.

"We might as well face the music," Dave voiced his concern. "Compared to the level of our partners… We stink."

Their partners had taken heed of their frustraion the past few hours even Ryoko stood up to voice her side of the story.

"Cujo & I barely held our ground against Fang in our practice round, Lithe. There must be a way to gain more power in addition to the training; at least just so we feel equal to his level."

"If we are going to be ready for the next Digimon attack, we are going to need some supernatural help. Are sure there is no other way to gain extra powers?" Sparks asked.

Lithe raised her paw and the room went silent. She wasn't mad at the tamers for voicing their opinions but much like their partners Lithe was disappointed with the group.

"The whole point of our excercises is for you all to form a cohesive unit but this jealousy and questioning is not going to solve anything," Lithe informed them. "But… You all raised some valid points: Fang does out power everyone."

Lithe thought about it for a moment as if there is some way to help the group. And then, a thought occurred to her.

"Actually, I have been researching an ancient folklore that tells of mystic weapons that are said to infuse the owners with incredible powers. According to the legend, the weapons are hidden on an uncharted island somewhere off coast."

"… That's it?" Kyle asked. "If that's all we have to do, we should just find this island and get those weapons!"

"Actually, there is more to the story than that Kyle," Swanmon pointed out.

"Swanmon is right Kyle; it's not as simple as you think," Lithe agreed. "Based on what I've heard about the island, it's very unstable. The island itself always shifts locations in the ocean. There is also a rumor of a "curse" that plagues the island: Anyone who loses hope or stays on the island after dark never returns."

"Well regardless of the circumstance, we have to try Lithe," Sparks implied.

"Though how can we reach the island if it keeps shifting?" Guilmon asked.

"If I can somehow trace the island's location through the previous coordinates, we might just be able to reach the island just as it reaches it's next location," Lithe explained. "There is one problem: Our Center has enough power to send us there... But once we're in, there's no guarantee of our return."

"So how do we get back?" Dave asked.

"We'll just have to hope that the legends are true," Bina replied.

"Hey guys!"

The gang turns to see that Fang had just come back from his room, with all his belts around his waist. They look silent as Fang turns to each and every member huddled together.

"So what did I miss?" Fang asked.