Yoshi's Confidence Problems

In Yoshi's mind...

A younger version of Yoshi was weeping inside a changing room.

"Yoshi, please." Her mother begged outside the locked door. "Open up. Be a good girl and come home with mommy."

"No!" Yoshi shouted. "Just leave me alone mom! I don't want to see you or my sisters!"

"I don't want to see anybody!" She screamed, roughly throwing the flowers to the ground.

At that, Yoshi's eyes snapped open.

"Are you okay Yoshi?" Lalamon asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay. It was just a bad dream, is all." Yoshi replied.

The next morning in Merukimon's fortress…

"I hear them." Merukimon remarked. "The footsteps of those humans. Each one's a slap in the face. They think they can destroy me?"

"No! Me destroy them!" Keenan replied. "Falcomon! Time to attack hu-mons!"

Falcomon hummed in agreement as he flew off after Keenan, only to crash into an ice pillar.

"I don't get it." Gotsumon noted. "How could Falcomon give the vaccine to those humans? It must be because he was raised to think Keenan a human, was his brother. That must be it. But helping the humans has made him a traitor and traitors must be punished!"

With the DATS group…

The team was trekking in the snow through the forest.

"Agumon." Yoshi turned to the dinosaur. "You must be the slowest slowpoke I've ever since."

"Give me a break, Yoshi." Agumon complained. "My legs are killing me."

"Less talking, more walking!" Lalamon chirped.

"Our mission's way too important to keep doodling like this." Yoshi retorted.

"But I'm not doodling at all. I can't help but that my legs are short." Agumon protested. "And I'm starving."

"Don't you worry Agumon." Marcus assured his partner. "We can take a break."

"No, we can't!" Yoshi objected violently.

"But why not?" Marcus asked.

"If you haven't noticed Marcus, we're out in the open." Charlie answered. "If someone attacks, we wouldn't be able to protect ourselves."

"Oh I see." Agumon noted.

"Yeah, alright." Marcus agreed. "But that doesn't mean you could be mean to Agumon."

"I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just trying to lead this mission to success." Yoshi corrected.

"Do what I say or I will get mean." She threatened. "Got it?"

"Yes." Marcus and Agumon chorused in fear.

"Don't forget it." Yoshi retorted before she walked off.

"Double don't forget it." Lalamon added and went after her partner.

Charlie and Ami shot her a concerned look before following the two.

"Who made her boss anyway?" Marcus asked the others. "I mean I can lead us to success."

"No thanks, Marcus." Thomas replied as he followed them. "I'd actually like to stay alive on this trip if you don't mind."

"You what?" Marcus exclaimed in shock.

After trekking for some time…

"Heads up!" Charlie called out, noticing a snow trail on the snowy slope, the sign of something dropping from the other side of the snow mountain.

Cyclops fired at the snow causing Keenan and Falcomon to leap out of the snow earlier.

"You!" Ash snapped in anger. He charged forward to intercept his attack.

"Bad hu-mons!" Keenan shouted, delivering a kick that was blocked by his shield before he was thrown back.

"I'll like to see you try and make me!" Marcus challenged.

"Then me will!" Keenan replied, D.N.A charging his Digivice.

"Falcomon digivolve to Peckmon!" Falcomon announced as he evolved.

"Bring it on!" Marcus tried to punch Peckmon who simply knocked him away.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon released his attack, splitting the two apart and forcing Peckmon to fly up and Marcus to land on the snow.

"Are you okay, Boss?" Agumon asked.

"Kunai Wing!" Peckmon unleashed his attack on the two.

"How lame!" Agumon rebuked, the daggers striking the ground before them. "You completely missed!"

Then the daggers exploded.

"Next time, don't speak so soon Agumon." Renamon informed him as she ran along with the group.

With Peckmon firing his 'Kunai Wing' at them, the group had to run.

"Yoshi, I have to digivolve too!" Lalamon told her partner. "Quick, before it's too late!"

"This is the perfect chance to take down the humans!" Gotsumon declared as he flew into the battlefield. "Now Mammothmon! Attack!"

At this command, the said Digimon emerged from the snow it was hiding in, trumpeting.

"Now Mammothmon! Strike down the humans before they even know we're here!" Gotsumon ordered.

With a loud trumpet, the mammoth sent a horde of snow crashing down the slope.

"You hear that?" Keenan told his partner.

"Sounds like trouble." Peckmon agreed.

As the avalanche crushed in on them, Peckmon tried to run away, but was washed away by the snow. The avalanche continued to swallow Marcus and Agumon.

"Get to higher ground!" Thomas called, pulling Yoshi up, but not before they were taken away by the snow.

"No, Thomas!" Gaomon gasped at his partner.

"Lady Ami!" Tailmon's eyes widened as the snow continued to descend into a high cliff.

Back at headquarters…

"Oh no! I've lost their signal again!" Megumi gasped.

"I just scanned the entire edge of the cliff top and even whole cavern below. But I'm not picking up anything." Miki reported.

"Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means." Megumi begged. "Commander, they aren't really gone for goo, are they?"

"Keep it together, Megumi." Sampson told her. "Scan for their data again. Full spectrum analysis. Leave no stone unturned."

"Roger!" Megumi and Miki chorused.

"Even if I have to go there and look for them myself." Sampson added. "We will find them."

"Looks like you're having a bit of trouble, huh?" Yushima noted as he entered.

"I don't believe it." Sampson gasped as Yushima smiled at him.

Back in the Digital World…

"Boss, it's all clear. You can come out now." Agumon told his partner after he dug himself out of the snow pile.

"What bad luck." Marcus remarked as the pair pulled themselves out of the snow.

"Whoa, where did everybody go?" Agumon asked as he looked around.

"Maybe they were buried, just like we were." Marcus replied as the two trekked down the snowy slope. "Look! There's someone!"

"Yeah, it's Gaomon, Renamon and Tailmon." Agumon agreed when the three saw the blue wolf Digimon look down the cliff.

"Gaomon, Renamon, Tailmon!" Marcus called out to the Digimon.

"They're gone?" Gaomon blinked, picking up Thomas' Digivice from the snow.

"No!" Marcus gasped.

"Yoshi, Lalamon and the others too?" Agumon added.

"They can't be!" Marcus gaped. "Guys answer me!"

"Lalamon!" Agumon called out.

"No!" Marcus noted. "Let's go, Agumon."

"Huh? Where?" Agumon asked.

"What do you mean where?" Marcus demanded. "We got to go down there and rescue our friends now!"

He was just about to descend down the cliff when Keenan's boomerang intercepted, almost throwing Marcus off balance.

"Hu-mons!" Keenan demanded. "We not done!"

"This kid is getting annoying." Marcus remarked as Agumon pulled him back to his feet.

"What do we do now, Boss?" Agumon asked.

"We win." Marcus replied. "Gaomon, Renamon, Tailmon go save the others. We'll take care of these guys ourselves."

"Right." Gaomon remarked and the two Digimon slid down to find their partners.

Grabbing the rushing Keenan by his wrist, Marcus tossed the younger boy over his shoulder. Falcomon dived in to attack Marcus, only to be knocked back by Agumon.

"Nobody messes with my Boss while I'm around!" The orange dinosaur retorted.

Falcomon growled in response and the two Digimon stared down at each other.

Down the cliff, in Yoshi's dream…

The younger Yoshi was looking on as her two sisters performed their piano duet on stage.

My sisters are so much better than I am. She thought, after hearing them play flawlessly.

"Just keep practicing." Her mother encouraged the younger Yoshi who sat by the piano. "You show a lot of promise, Yoshi. You'll be as good as your sisters one day."

Yeah right. The younger Yoshi scoffed. She then gasped when the thunderous applause sounded from the audience, indicating that her sisters had finished their duet and it was time for her to start her performance.

The younger Yoshi then approached the center of the stage, her legs quivering in nervousness.

"Next is Yoshino Fujieda. Everyone give her a big hand, won't you folks?" the emcee announced.

"Alright, it's your turn, Yoshi." Her mother encouraged from the curtains. Yoshi shook from apprehension from the applause. "Good luck! You can do it, Yoshi!"

"Yoshi?" her mother gasped when her youngest daughter remained still after some time. "Yoshi!"

"Yoshi?" Lalamon tried to wake her partner. "Yoshi!"

"Yoshi, are you okay?" the plant Digimon swept the snow off her partner's head. "Yoshi, you just have to wake up!"

"Mom, that you?" Yoshi asked, peering her eyes open.

"You're awake!" Lalamon sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

"What happened?" Yoshi moaned as she got up.

"We were hit by an avalanche." Lalamon replied.

"Where's everyone else?" Yoshi asked as she looked around.

Charlie was forcing himself to his feet while Ash and Greg dug themselves out of the snow.

A few feet behind them, a red blast of energy melted the snow that buried Cyclops.

"Thomas, no!" She gasped, seeing the unconscious blond beside her. "Thomas, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Thomas replied. "Don't worry about me, Yoshi."

"When we were knocked over the cliff, he cushioned your and Ami's fall with his own body." Lalamon supplied.

"Thomas..." Yoshi muttered.

"As I told him more than once, chivalry isn't dead with him around." Ami remarked, climbing out of the snow.

"You alright?" The two teens asked the blue-haired girl.

"I'll be fine, once my head stops ringing." Ami muttered.

"There's no time." Thomas told the three females.

"Need a hand?" Ami joked mildly, offering her hand, which Thomas took.

"Let's find a place to hide." Charlie told her while Ash and Greg dragged Thomas along.

"That avalanche might not been an accident." Thomas remarked. "An enemy could attack any moment."

"What about Marcus and the others?" Yoshi asked the pair.

"I'm guessing they avoided falling over the ledge."

"Something wrong, Lalamon?" Yoshi asked when her partner gasped.

"Something's coming!" The plant Digimon reported just as Gotsumon flew in with Yanmamon.

"This is really weird. I could have sworn that they land right around here." Gotsumon remarked when Yanmamon landed on the snow. "So strange."

"Go, spread out and search for the humans." He ordered the Kuramon that were with him. "There's no way I'm leaving here without getting this close. Let's go!"

"Is he one of Merukimon's henchmen?" Yoshi asked as the four hid in a small crack by the slope once Gotsumon was gone.

"Probably, and if we don't do something, he's going to catch us." Lalamon noted. "We will have to defeat him and those other Digimon too. We must attack!"

"No way!" Yoshi protested. "There are too many of them to take on by ourselves."

"Yoshi, what's gotten into you?" Lalamon asked. "You've never backed away from what needed to be done before. What's going on with you?"

"Who am I kidding? I gave Agumon grief about being slow earlier, but I'm the one slowing everyone down." Yoshi muttered to herself.

"Yoshi." Lalamon chided.

"No, it's true, Lalamon." Yoshi replied. "Whenever we've been up against our toughest enemies, it's always been everyone else who handled the really hard work. Cause I'm useless! I'm just way too weak!"

"No, that's not true!" Thomas voiced out. "Come on, Yoshi. You're one of our very best."

"I know what this is about." Lalamon remarked. "You're worried because I haven't digivolved to the next level."

"Don't worry, Yoshi." She assured her partner. "You haven't fallen behind or anything like that. We'll figure it out somehow. You'll see. You guys are all talented in your own ways."

"Tell her." She told the other teens.

"Stop it!" Yoshi rebuked.

"Yoshi!" Lalamon gasped.

"Look." Yoshi added. "Just stop. I know it's not true. I've known since I was a little kid that I don't have any real talent. My older sisters could do everything and I couldn't do anything. Makes you choke under pressure."

Her eyes tearing, she recalled the dismal piano recital. She had been crying when she sat on the piano stool, unable to play her intended piece.

"I've accepted it, I have no talent." Yoshi remarked.

Just then, a Kuramon appeared before them, followed by two of its comrades.

"Oh no! They found us!" Lalamon gasped in shock.

Gotsumon laughed as he descended into the crack the four had hidden themselves in. "You can't run and you can't hide. All that you can do is lose."

"Yoshi." Lalamon gasped at her partner.

"I can't take anymore of this." Yoshi wept.

"Then I will!" Lalamon noted determinedly as she floated outside.

"Hey, get back here." Charlie ordered.

"All traitors to Digimon will be destroyed." Gotsumon told the floating plant Digimon. "As you're about to find out! Mammothmon, these traitors are yours to deal with. Now make them regret they ever came here!"

Lalamon gasped as the said mammoth appeared behind her.

"Rolling Upper!" Gaomon unleashed his attack on the mammoth. Before the mammoth hit the ground, it managed to knock Gaomon off.

"Cat Punch!" Tailmon hit the mammoth in its tusk with her fist. Back-flipping, she landed on her feet.

"Gaomon, Tailmon leave this to me!" Lalamon told him. "You just stay here and protect the others."

"You can't take him on by yourself." Gaomon told her.

"I'll be fine." Lalamon assured him. "This is something I have to do."

"Alright." Tailmon nodded and the two headed off to guard their human partners.

"Even if I can't digivolve to Ultimate level, I won't back down!" Lalamon remarked determinedly.

Up top…

"Me hate all hu-mons!" Keenan hollered, tossing his boomerang at Marcus.

"Look kid!" Marcus retorted as he jumped to dodge the boomerang. "What's your malfunction? I mean you're a human just like I am."

"No, me a Digimon." Keenan shot back. "It's because of hu-mons like you that me have no mother no more."

"You what?" Marcus gasped.

"Me hate hu-mons. Now me show you just how much!" Keenan hollered, jumping up to throw his boomerang again.

Marcus tossed the boy over his shoulder just as Keenan dived down at him.

"Keenan!" Falcomon dived to his partner's rescue.

"Look, I'm sorry for your loss." Marcus remarked. "But I've nothing to do with it."

"Come on Keenan. We have to retreat." Falcomon urged, pulling the boy out of the snow with his claws.

"No!" Keenan protested, struggling against Falcomon's grip.

"I feel for the kid, but he just can't keep attacking us." Marcus noted as the pair took off.

"I wish there was something we can do to help him." Agumon agreed.

"Let go!" Keenan struggled against Falcomon's grip. "Me want revenge!"

Back down the cliff…

"Seed Blast!" Lalamon shot out her pellets at the mammoth.

"Just let me handle this, sir." Gaomon told his partner. "And Yoshi, you got to help Lalamon."

"What's the point?" Yoshi replied. "I can't really help. I'm just not good enough! Even with my psychic powers."

"You're as good as you allow yourself to be!" Gaomon scolded her. "And are you really going to let Lalamon fight all alone?"

Back in the battle…

"Lala Spiral!" Lalamon spun the leaves on her head, only to have Mammothmon freeze the leaves and throwing the rookie level Digimon back to the ground.

"That's it. I've seen enough." Ash declared as he ran out to assist Lalamon.

Back in the crack…

"Lalamon can't digivolve to the Ultimate level, but that doesn't stop her!" Gaomon retorted. "Find the courage to do what you need to do. You just have to remember what you are fighting for, Yoshi."

"Remember what I'm fighting for?" Yoshi echoed.

"Yoshi." Ami began. "Every one of us is born under a star. Some are born lucky, others are not. Regardless however, each one of us has been guided by Destiny's hand; a path that has been laid out for us even before we were born."

Turning a stern look at her, she added, "When Destiny closes a door, she opens another bigger one before you."

"You already have the key in here." She pointed to Yoshi's heart. "All you have to do is find which door the key opens."

"Then, why are you giving up when you hadn't even tried?" she reminded the older girl.

Back in the battle…

"I don't know if I can win." Lalamon remarked as she got back to her feet. "But I can't quit. I have to protect Yoshi!"

Then, she squealed in horror as Mammothmon closed in. The Ultimate level Digimon was knocked off it's feet when Ash rammed his shield into the mammoth's side.

"You alright?" Ash asked her.

"Yeah, thanks." Lalamon replied.

"Fall back for now. I'll take over the battle from here." He instructed. Lalamon nodded as he ran forward and struck one of Mammothmon's legs with his shield. Mammothmon smacked him with his trunk, sending him flying back a few feet.

A shocked Yoshi saw him land in the snow.

In the crack…

"That song." Yoshi gasped, hearing Lalamon's voice.

Flashback

The younger Yoshi was weeping in the changing after her failed recital.

"You'll be okay, Yoshi." Her mother assured her outside the door. "You love to play when you're at home practicing. Just be as confident here as you are there. You don't have anything to prove to anyone but yourself."

With that, Yoshi approached the piano again.

"That's right." Yoshi realized. "That was the day I played it. That song!"

Dashing out, she faced her singing Digimon, recalling that she had been playing the piece she wanted to play during the recital when a beam of light appeared before her with Lalamon's digiegg.

The younger Yoshi smiled as Budmon hatched from the egg.

"Your song guided me to the Human World, Yoshi." Lalamon told her as the then in-training Digimon landed in the younger Yoshi's hands. "This was the first lullaby you taught me."

As Lalamon sang, Mammothmon sank to its knees, succumbing to the plant Digimon's lullaby.

"If it wasn't for you." Lalamon added. "I couldn't have used the song to take Mammothmon down. I wish you could believe in yourself, Yoshi."

"Lalamon!" Yoshi called out to her panting Digimon.

"Yoshi." Lalamon turned to her partner.

"I'm sorry for deserting you." Yoshi apologized. "We're a team and that means I always have to be there for you, just like I know you'll always be there for me."

"Yes." Lalamon nodded. "But I'm not the only one who cares about you."

"About time you got your head on straight Fujieda." Wolverine commented.

"Yoshi!" Marcus called out as he and Agumon slid down the snowy slope. "You okay? We're here to save you!"

"And even they aren't the only ones looking out for you." Lalamon added as Yoshi turned to see Gaomon supporting his injured partner. Ash, Greg and Charlie stood alongside their partners as well, giving her a thumbs up.

"Thank you." Yoshi replied.

"How sweet." Gotsumon mocked. "I almost hate to take you down after that beautiful moment, but I will."

"Rock Fist!" He released his attack on Mammothmon, waking the mammoth up.

"Mammothmon, quit lying around and destroy these humans already!" he ordered. "And you better hurry up about it, Mammothmon."

"Let's show them what the team of true friends can really do, Lalamon." Yoshi told her partner.

"Right. Let's do it!" Lalamon agreed.

"D.N.A Full Charge!" Yoshi called forth Lalamon's Ultimate evolution.

"Lalamon warp digivolve to Angewomon!"

"D.N.A Full Charge!" Logan exclaimed.

"Gomamon warp digivolve to Zudomon!"

"They did it!" Marcus gasped in awe. "Lalamon and Gomamon digivolved!"

"I knew they could pull it off." Thomas added. "Both Lalamon and Gomamon reached the ultimate level."

"Nice." Ash smirked. "Now it's time to finish this, you guys."

"Let's take them down, Yoshi." Angewomon agreed.

"As long as we work together, this guy doesn't stand a chance." Yoshi remarked.

"So bring it on, you pathetic pack of dirt." Angewomon retorted.

Mammothmon trumpeted and approached the newly evolved Digimon.

"Holy Slap!" Angewomon unleashed a slap filled with love.

"She took him down like it was nothing!" Gaomon was astonished.

"I knew that she would be powerful, but this is beyond what I thought." Thomas agreed.

"Finish him off, Angewomon!" Yoshi told her partner.

"You too Zudomon!" Logan added.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon fires a holy arrow made of thunder.

"Hammer Spark!" Zudomon slammed his giant hammer into the ground, which resulted in a thunderbolt that turned Mammothmon back into a digi-egg.

"It's not over! I'll still get you!" Gotsumon swore, flying off on Yanmamon.

"Angewomon!" Yoshi smiled at her partner. "We did it."

"We sure did." She agreed.

"Awesome! Now we can all digivolve to the next level!" Marcus beamed as he and Agumon slid down to meet the others.

"I always knew you could do it." Thomas added as the ten males and one female ran towards them.

After the battle…

The group continued their trek in the snow.

"Look!" Lalamon suddenly pointed out.

"It's the Infinite Ice Ridge." Thomas noted.

"And Merukimon's inside there somewhere." Marcus added.

"But how do we find him?" Yoshi asked. "Infinity is pretty large last time I checked."

Marcus blinked, turning to see Yushima fishing on the frozen pond beside the group.

"You guys sound a little worried." Yushima chuckled.

"It's the old guy that gave me my Digivice!" Marcus exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, that's a secret." Yushima chuckled.