Here's a little background info for those just tuning in. Four Earth years prior, the double D's defeated the Dark Masters and Apoclymon. Just recently, Palmon was kidnapped and changed human by a bishonen digimon named MarquisDemon. But upon his defeat, the teens learned his true name was Merlin.
So it's off to Gennai's house, to understand just who the heck he really was, and why he and his sister Nimue were nowhere to be found on the Digi-analyzer.

If only it were that easy.....

A.S.D.A-except for my little pink bishie gomamon girl.

Beautiful Stranger
by Nefertanya dragongurl Ahhotep

"I looked into your eyes,
And my world came tumbling down.
You're the devil in disguise,
That's why I'm singing this song to you."
~Madonna, Beautiful Stranger


Chapter 1: Baby's Got Blue Eyes

Dusk was settling upon the glade where the digi-tachi were settling down for the night. The sun's last rays played on the cliff face behind the glade, painting it rich shades red and orange. It's effect was soothing and peaceful to the troubled soul. Unfortunately, the troubled souls were too busy grumbling to themselves to notice. It had been another trying day for the digi-destined-another monster defeated, another argument between Matt and Tai. Exhausted, they were all irritable and aching for rest.

Well, everyone but Gomamon that is. Somehow, the trickster had retained his patented upbeat attitude, and proceeded to lighten up the other's moods with a few practical jokes-a stolen hat here, a disrupted fishing attempt there. Unfortunately, all his attempts at humor backfired on him and make just matters worse. at one time, he barely managed to escape getting his ear literally chewed off by a cranky Agumon.

Finally frustrated with his antics, Joe sent him to look for food, or wood, or danger-anything to get him out of the way before one of the others actually got a chance to strangle him. Pride hurt, the water digimon waddled off towards the cliff face till he came across a crystalline pool not too far from the camp.

*SPLASH!*

Gomamon leapt into the cool, comforting waters and explored the glassy depths. Strangely, there were no aquatic creatures to be seen, although the pool seemed to be healthy and full of vegetation. He sighed and swam up to the surface. There he floated on his back and allowed self-pity to surround him like a second skin

. "Why can't they just lighten up?" he thought sourly. "Don't they understand that we need to keep our spirits up? To stay strong we mustn't let all this mystery and mayhem get to us again like it did when we were younger?"

Suddenly he felt it. That particular sensation one gets when one is being watched. Very closely. And very close to you. Startled, Gomamon bolted upright in the water and spun around.

And found himself staring right into a pair of beautiful eyes the color of a perfect tropical lagoon.

Gomamon let out a small gasp and backed up a few paces. Gomamon stared in shock. He blinked his eyes hard a couple of times, trying to prove that what he was seeing was an illusion. But this was quite real. Another gomamon was staring intently at him. Although most of it was under the water, he could tell that it was slightly smaller than him, indicating that it was female. She had a magenta pink mane and...

A magenta pink mane?!

That part of Gomamon's brain that was unaffected by her sudden appearance reasoned that there was no such thing as a Gomamon with a pink mane. Gomamons by nature had various shades of red, but nowhere in the spectrum was *that* color. The front of it fell over delicately into her blue eyes, another shade he couldn't recall ever seeing.

Who are you?"

Finally over the initial shock, he was curious, and more than a little annoyed that he had been observed without his consent.

"Where did you come from? I've been here for quite some time, why didn't you just say hello? What do you want? AND WHY ARE YOU JUST STARING AT ME?!"

The only response he was awarded with was her continued stare. Flustered, the male water digimon stared back suspiciously, trying not to fidget in front of her unblinking gaze. Silently, the female slid her gaze to something behind Gomomon's shoulder, her eyes widening at some object there.

A sense of dread whispered over him as he turned around reluctantly. "Huh? What is it?"

As far as he could tell, there was nothing there to be on alert for. He turned back to question the newcomer. But she was already...gone? Quickly he dove under the surface, searching as fast as his flippers would let him. He briefly thought about calling his fish friends, but as there was no life in the pool to begin with, he doubted that they would be of much help. She was nowhere to be found underwater, so he gave up and swam to shore. Before he left, he gave one last look around. Who was this mysterious she-digimon, and why was she here? Was she a spy? If she was, why would she let herself be seen by him?

He ran off to camp to tell the others what had occurred, unaware of the blue lagoon eyes that followed him from the bushes sadly from the bushes. He was too far ahead too hear the crashing commotion emanating from those bushes as a tall tan figure walked away, a limp paw dangling from one side.

~1~

Chapter 1: Crying Wolf-er, Seal

"I'm serious, guys!"

Gomamon had finally reached the digidestined campsite and relayed his current situation to them. He'd anticipated confusion, he'd anticipated concern. He hadn't anticipate on amusement.

"Oh, c'mon Gomamom! You really expect us to believe a disappearing digimon?" teased Tai. "And a female one at that!"

"Aw, poor Gomamon getting lonely?" whimpered Gabumon with a pathetic expression on his face, causing the laughter to grow more raucous.

Gomamon's jaw dropped. Of all the digimon....He briefly thought about revealing Gabumon's feelings towards a certain plant digimon.....but no, that wouldn't be fair to either of them.

Still, it hurt that his best friend's refused to believe him. So what if he had played a few jokes before? He'd never invent a story that could lead the team into danger, real or imagined! This was all that female's fault, he thought sourly. Her and her bright pink mane, big blue eyes, cute little ears...

He growled and shook his head as if to derail his train of thought. Then, laughter still burning in his ears, he waddled off to mope under a tree.

"Ahem." Gomamon looked up at the familiar voice to see his Joe standing there. The tall boy smiled warmly at the grumpy little digimon.

"May I please join you?"

Gomamon shrugged and looked away, putting his head on his paws. "If you wish. I really don't care either way." he replied coolly.

Joe sat down with a sigh. "What's wrong, Goma-kun? Another joke backfire on ya? That's never stopped *you* before."

He reached out and scratched behind his guardian's floppy ears. The water digimon looked up sadly and wailed, "That's just it, Joe! This wasn't some colossal joke. There really was a strange digimon out there! One I've never seen before!"

"Well, Gomamon, you *have* been playing pranks all evening-"

"Joe, I would never pull a stunt like this. It's too dangerous to make up stories like that, especially after all the battles we've all fought! Do you really think I'd lead *you* of all people into danger?"

Joe looked at Gomamon's sincere, sad face and melted. "All right, maybe you're telling the truth after all. But you gotta admit it is strange, a female gomamon appearing out of nowhere and completely anti-social. What's the DigiWorld coming to?" Gomomon smiled at the jest, and Joe smiled back. The tired digimon crawled into his lap and snuggled down. "I wonder who she is. Do you think she's a spy, Joe?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Can't really say. But if she is, we'd better watch our backs. She may bring a lot of trouble our way." Resting against the tree trunk, the pair fell into a very deep sleep.

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Chapter 2: Premonitions


The next morning turned out to be rather uneventful. Everyone except Joe seemed content to spend the morning hike mercilessly teasing Gomamon about his lost 'girlfriend'. Tired of protesting against deaf ears, the red-head pouted silently, taking the abuse.

He huddled close to Joe, who was lagging behind the others, an act rather unusual for him. But today he was pondering over a strange dream he'd had just before waking. In it, he found himself in an eerily lit castle, nearing a slab-no, not a slab. An operating table, with someone or *something* on it. Was Gomamon's mysterious discovery a clue? Or was it just some bad fish? In light of their current treatment of his little friend, perhaps he'd better hide these notions from the others. He could do that. He'd be like a wall, impassive and unemotional. He would fool everybody!

"What's wrong, Joe?"

Apparently not very well.

"Huh?" Startled, he turned to look at Sora. "Oh, nothing really. I was just...thinking how things are so quiet here."

Up front, Tai halted and smirked evilly. "Oh, great Joe. Why don't you just jinx us all?" he said sarcastically, referring to the many times Joe himself had leveled such accusations against his teammates.

The tall boy blinked in surprise, then ducked his head in apology. "Tai, chill out." barked Sora, "That's just silly superstition." Tai blushed lightly, then continued walking, sufficiently chagrined.

"Joe?" Looking down at the concerned water digimon. "Yes?"

"What is it, really?"

Sighing in slight annoyance, he looked up at a random cloud and answered, "Just a bad dream I had last night, Gom. That's all." He stared straight ahead and quickened his pace. Gomamon immediately got the message -topic closed.

For two whole sunny days, the digidestined walked in peace, camping under the stars each balmy night. However, on the third morning, a general sense of unease filled them. This morning dawned cooler and grayer, almost as if the entire area was forlorn. Everyone grew very snippy and short, and a fistfight between Agumon and Tai had almost been inevitable at one point.

"What's going on?" Sora wondered aloud, one arm around the little orange dino in comfort. "I can't believe *you* of all digimon would try to bite Tai for no good reason!"

"I know!" he wailed, considerably distressed by his own actions. "It's like the air itself is grating on my nerves! I just snapped."

Sora nodded knowingly. "There sure is something weird going on. Hopefully we'll leave it all behind tomorrow."

"Hey, What's that over there?!"

The others glanced warily at the tone in the wild haired boy's voice. Tai took no notice, as he was too busy ogling the something in his mini-scope. Finally, Matt sighed and strolled over. "All right, what is it?"

Tai gave the tall blonde the scope. "It looks like some kind of castle!"

Matt peered in the direction his friend had been looking again, and blanched slightly. Sure enough, it was a castle. "So it is." he affirmed gloomily.

Compared to this, MarquisDemon's castle looked like the Holiday Inn. Even from this distance, Matt could tell it was very decrepit, and almost seemed to have a glow around it.

"I say we avoid it like the plague.'

"What?!" Tai screeched in Matt's ear. "You gotta be kidding!"

"Don't you remember the last time we went into a beat-up castle?" he jerked his head towards Palmon. "Palmon nearly drowned, and MarquisDemon nearly killed Mimi."

"And then they both turned out to be trapped souls! We freed them!"

"*We* didn't do anything! It was that, that, that Nimue/Ladymon woman who convinced him to stop, who ran in front of Palmon's attack! All we did was run around like a bunch of cockroaches in a cheesy apartment!!"

And so for the better part of a half-hour, the two leaders bickered, eventually adding a little fist action before reaching a compromise. They'd go to the castle, but leave the moment things seemed like they were going too far.

Joe didn't dare sleep a wink that night. He kept staring in the direction of the castle, even though it was too dark to see it. His dream haunted him too much to try to sleep, even though there was no evidence that the castle had any connection to it.

Beside him, Gomomon slept fitfully, mumbling in his sleep. Joe thought about the little she-gomamon that his friend met. Was she really real? Why didn't she talk to Gomamon. Granted, he was probably being very stereotypical, but he had always seen gomamons as very personable, chatty characters. Goma had mentioned something about a pink mane-maybe she'd contracted a virus? Virus-afflicted digimon always appeared to have different colorations than their normal counterparts, so maybe she was. Or maybe she was just being shy.

Well, no matter. Tomorrow they'd be at the castle. Tomorrow, Joe had a feeling, all his questions would be answered.

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Chapter 3: We're Going In!!

It was almost sundown when they all finally reached the castle. Up close, it looked even more decrepit and frightening than from within the mini-scope. Strange howls and squeaks filled the air, along with a persistent smell of burnt grease.

"Maybe we should turn back?" suggested Mimi hopefully, Palmon cowering a bit behind her skirt. TK also drew back, Patamon's ears peeking from behind his hat(a/n: did I ever mention I hate that Gillagan hat? He's wearing his old hat here).

"No Way!" cried Tai, Kari and Gatomon very close behind. "We've come this far. We gotta see this through!"

"No, we don't." snapped Matt. "We never agreed to go inside, Tai. We just agreed we'd check it out!"

"How are we going to check it out if we don't go inside? Besides, I had a dream last night." He turned back to the massive structure and stared up at the turrets that threatened to tip over on him. "I dreamt there was someone trapped deep inside. I'm not leaving till I make sure it wasn't just an illusion."

"Was there an operating table?"

"Huh?" the others turned towards Joe in surprise. He blushed a little awkwardly. "I had a dream the night before last. Someone was on an operating table in some eerie castle."

Tai's face practically glowed. "There! See? We *have* to go inside now! Someone needs our help!"

"Besides, climbing down the mountain in the dark would be way too dangerous. This land is unfamiliar to us, after all." confirmed Izzy, staring up at the castles turrets. "Hmm. I wonder if this is really some sort of factory, like Andromon's. Those squeaks certainly sound mechanical in nature."

Tai held up his fist in triumph. "Well, c'mon let's get a move on! It's probably like a hotel on the inside!"

"Yeah, like Devimon's mansion." Sora grumbled sourly.

Tai boldly ran up to the door, Sora, Izzy, and their digimon close behind. Kari grabbed T.K's hand, who promptly blushed, and with a gulp, followed her brother.

"Or a mausoleum." muttered Mimi softly. She felt someone close to her, and looked in surprise at Matt. Smiling gently, he patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Mimi. I'm sure whatever's inside is no match for us and our digimon." he said softly.

Both the wolf and orchid agreed vehemently, althogh they passed apprehensive looks at each other when Mimi turned away. Grateful to Matt for the reassurance, she allowed him to take her elbow and be guided to where the others were standing.

*Great.* Joe thought to himself. *I had to open my mouth.* He looked down at the little seal, who looked back worriedly. "I think this is a bad idea, Gomamon." he sighed.

"For once we agree." Gomomon replied dryly. They went towards the entrance, where Tai was tapping his foot impatiently, eager to have a new adventure. After a silent pause, the door creaked open slowly. But no one was there to welcome them, and no one answered their hails.

"I don't think anyone's home." said Palmon.

"There's gotta be someone!" Tai cried indignantly. "Doors just don't open themselves!"

"Maybe it was a ghost!" offered TK Kari gasped and stepped closer to him, and Patamon and Gatomon shrunk behind their legs.

"Quit trying to scare everybody, Tai!" Matt snarled.

"I'M NOT! Your brother brought up ghosts, not me!"

"Yeah, well-"

Sora and Mimi jumped in between before another major fist fight could start. "That's enough Tai! We don't need this right now!"

"Please Matt! Don't fight with Tai! Mimi gave her most imploring look, Sora looked ready to kill.

After several tense moments, both boys it was better to pay attention to the dilemma at hand. They still vividly remembered Sora's last mood swing, and unconsciously, Tai rubbed his head.

Meanwhile, Joe and Gomomon were still hanging around the entrance. "Man, I just know I'm allergic to haunted houses." Joe whimpered.

"Oh, shut up, Joe!"

Joe looked down in stunned surprise at his usually good-natured digimon's harsh words. Gomamon blinked, then ducked his head as he realized what he'd said.

"I'm sorry Joe. I guess I'm more nervous than I thought." he apologized. Joe smiled and bent down to scratch behind Gomomon's ears.

"Hey everybody! Come look at this!"

They all turned to find Izzy and Tentamon near a rickety old staircase. Upon somewhat closer inspection, it looked like it had once been very elegant and grand, but time and neglect had reduced it to dimestore reject.

"What's up, brainiac? asked Matt.

"Look up there, at the top of the stairs. Notice anything out of the ordinary?"

The digi-tachi followed the finger he was pointing with. While the rest of the staircase was broken down and ugly, the top landing looked like it had been just made. The polished brass finish and varnished wood all reflected a purplish glow that seemed to emanate just out of view.

"It's so pretty! What is it?" exclaimed Palmon. Izzy pulled out his laptop and started tapping.

"I'm not sure Palmon. Perhaps if I try to enter-Hey! What the-?"

"What happened, Izzy?" Tentamon buzzed of his shoulder.

"I-I don't know! When I tried to enter the data into my laptop, it froze and shut off!" He gazed at the purple glow. "I know I just charged up my batteries, so whatever is up there must have the power to disrupt electronic signals." he said in slight awe.

Joe took a few steps back. "That sounds rather dangerous!" Ignoring Joe's protests, Tai began to navigate the stairs.

"Only one way to find out!"

"Tai! We just can't go flying upstairs!" Matt screeched incredulously. "Those stairs are so old they'll probably break when we step on them!"

Tai, however, was not to be deterred, especially by Matt. "We'll be fine if we're careful, Matt!"

He called from the third step. "See? We just go slow, and hang on to the railing. Piece of cake!"

Agumon eagerly hopped up to follow, but the others(who had a greater will to live)were more reluctant.

"No Way! Uh-Uh! Don't you guy's know I'm allergic to heights?!" squawked Joe as he frantically waved his hands, even though no one was arguing with him.

"Here guys!" Sora came out of nowhere, holding the end of an old rope. "We can tie this around our waist just like professional spelunkers do! That way if one of us slips or falls through, they won't have very far to go because the rest of us can stop them!"

Tentamon turned to Izzy. "That's great, but what's a speed-lunker?"

Izzy took the rope from Biyomon and tied it around him. "A SPELUNKER is someone who climbs mountains and caverns."

"Or in our case, stairways!" giggled the pink bird.

"All right, everybody ready? Let's go!" cried Tai, rapidly tying the rope around Agumon and himself. Pretty much ignoring Joe's protests, the group slowly picked their way up.

*I know you're around her somewhere." Gomomon thought to himself. "I can just sense it. We'll find you, and then the others will see I'm not lying! But I wonder what you want from me? And what are you doing in a place like this anyway?" *

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Chapter 4: We All Fall Down!

A sudden shriek and a sharp tug on the rope around his belly pulled him from his thoughts. Halfway from the stairs, Mimi had miscalculated a move and suddenly found herself dangling above a dark, hazy abyss. Screaming was the only option available to her, so she eagerly exploited it to the max. Luckily the rope, though very old, held fast, and with Palmon's help, Matt managed to pull her back up.

"Mimi, quit screaming! You're safe now!"

Mimi promptly stopped wailing and whimpering, flung herself into Matt. "That was SO scary!! Thank you so much Matt for saving me!"

Matt, surprised by her outburst, stumbled to find answer and blushed. "Uh...yeah, sure, no problem."

"Hey I helped too!" pouted Palmon. "Oh, of course! Thank you too, Palmon! Thank you so much!" Mimi hugged her plant digimon as hard as she could.

"Well, if you all are done with the heroics, let's get a move on here, 'kay?" Tai sniffed rather crossly. "We're almost to the top!"

The purple glow grew brighter with every inch they conquered, yet its source still remained hidden. Finally Sora was pulled onto the landing onto the thick, plush, vermilion red carpet. They untied themselves, and cautiously began to look around.

*CR-R-R-ACK!!!*

The double D's watched in horror as the staircase they'd just finished clambering up turn into a pile of scrap lumber and rusty nails. Slowly, a few heads turned towards Mimi.

"It's not *my* fault!!" she cried when she realized what they were thinking. "It's not like I *planned* on falling!"

"Mimi's right." Gabumon piped up, his voice slightly echoing as he peered over the edge. "The wood was so rotted I'm surprised now that we all made it unharmed! It's probably been threatening to do this for years!"

"But then why is this part so new looking?" Palmon asked him. Gabumon blushed as he shrugged, slinking back to Matt's side.

"And more importantly, how are we going to get back downstairs?!"

"Relax, Joe. I'm sure there must be another way out somewhere." soothed Sora.

"Over there!" Izzy cried.

Just ahead of them, at the end of a long hall, was a large, heavy looking door surrounded by the brilliant purple glow. With silent consent, they all followed Tai towards it. The horrid squeaks and odors previously they noticed outside became stronger and louder as the neared the apparent source.

"Hey, does anybody else realize we never heard any of these sounds on the stairs?" asked Sora.

"Now that you mention it, no we didn't. That's very peculiar." Izzy remarked. "I wonder how that would occur?"

"Who cares? It's probably something bad anyway." moaned Joe.

"Maybe we were so caught up in being careful(and my near-death rescue)that we just never thought about it" Mimi offered. The others stared at her in response.

"Joe?"

He looked down. "Yes, Gomomon?"

The seal digimon looked steadily at the door ahead. "You may think this is totally crazy, but I get the feeling that other gomoamon is here somewhere. Actually I've felt it since we found this place, but I didn't want to upset you."

"Or get laughed at by the others."

Gomomon's ears drooped a little. "Yeah, that too."

Joe put his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. "If she is here, then I wonder if she's been leading us into a type of trap. After all, just about every digimon we've come across in these kinds of circumstances has wanted us dead. Maybe this is some big scheme to kill us all."

Gomamon pondered Joe's words for awhile. *Is that what you wanted me for? As bait to help you destroy my friends? But this seems a little extreme. After all, there were plenty of chances before now when we were vulnerable. Or were we supposed to meet our ends on the staircase...?"*

Sadly he shook his head. "Couldn't tell ya."

Go On!

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