Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Ressurection War ❯ Dark SEED: The Power of Friendship ( Chapter 9 )

Kari here. Last time, Dark SEED sent its general, Diaboromon to destroy the Destiny Stone of Fire. Armadillomon digivolved to Ankylomon in order to defend it, but it was no use. Meanwhile, on Earth, Yolei and I were both having hard times adjusting to our new selves. Marine Devimon attacked, and Hawkmon digivolved to Aquillamon. Tk showed up and Angemon, Gatomon and Aquillamon were able to destroy him. But I think I'm starting to get a crush on Tk! Which means I've got feelings for both Tk and Yolei! Oh boy!

We're not ready yet, just look………
If I'm right and we really get crushed………
Then what's the point?.........

Well, if you want to I can't stop you………
Just cause you're passionate about it………
Doesn't make it right………

I'm not trying to be tough……….
But I can't become enough of a kid………
To be weak ………

But if we're………
The chosen children………
Then we can do it………

I have………
A passionate heart, too………
But I just can't………
Use it as a shield………

I'm all right on my own………
I'll even walk the edge of a knife………
I'll even walk the edge of a knife………

"Walk on the Edge-" Yamato's theme..

Dark SEED: Power of Friendship

Gennai sighed as he stared up at the holographic image of the Digital World situated in his office. A series of blinking lights appeared on the multicolored planet, three of these lights blinked at a slower rate until they vanished. "This isn't good."

"I know," Ryo answered, emerging from the living room, "The Destiny Stones of Forests, Fire and Earth have been destroyed and all ready we are feeling the repercussions. The forests are dying, the earth is losing its vitality, the heat and warmth is slowly disappearing. When Light, Water, and Wind are gone, the Digital World will become a barren, lifeless, frozen, dark desert."

"And that's the best-case scenario," Gennai replied, "We'd just better hope that Dark SEED doesn't know about the hidden Destiny Stones. Still, if the Destiny Stones of the Elements are destroyed, then enough of the shield protecting the Digital World should be weakened. Dark SEED could travel to any world they wanted." He sighed, "But where could Hiroshi want to go?"

"Anywhere with power," Ryo sighed, "Does it really matter? If only we had some idea of what exactly he's after, then maybe we could be better prepared."

Gennai nodded. "Yes, I know. All of this running around without any idea of what's happening is really starting to annoy me." He lightly tapped his chin, "What can we possibly do?"

Ryo sighed. "We can only put our faith in Kari and the others."

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Kari lightly tapped her fingers on her wall as she looked into her closet. She hummed to herself as she pulled out a yellow skirt and a matching blouse and placed them both in front of her body as she examined herself in the mirror, the way only a woman can. She shrugged slightly and placed them both in the 'maybe' pile on her bed. She grabbed a pink long sleeved dress and examined the article of clothing in the mirror in the same way as the others then frowned and dropped it into a pile on the floor.

Salamon looked at the pile on the floor and then at the pile on the bed. "I guess you can't find anything to wear, huh?"

Kari frowned. "No. I just realized that I don't have anything really nice to wear."

She heard the doorbell ring as she started to hang up her rejected pile. "I don't understand why you have to wear special clothes anyway," Salamon said.

Kari shook her head. "Sometimes we like to look nice for special reasons." She heard a knock on her door.

"Kari?"

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Yolei's here."

The brown-haired girl looked around her room. There was not going to be enough time to clean up the clothes. "Uh, sure. Come in."

The door opened and Yolei walked inside. "Kari," she gasped, "It's twelve o'clock in the afternoon and you're still in your pajamas?"

She mentioned to the clothes on her bed. "I've got nothing to wear," she said, grabbing the clothes off of the floor.

"What's wrong with your regular clothes?" the purple-haired girl asked, "What's the special occasion?"

"Oh!" Salamon spoke up, "It's because…" Kari dropped the pile of clothes onto her partner.

"Oh, sorry," she said, "It slipped." She quickly spoke to Yolei before her partner could speak up," So, why are you here?"

The purple-haired haired girl's smile faded as she sat down on the bed. "We really need to talk about..us."

Kari sighed, "Yeah, I know." She sat down next to her friend and stared at her in the face. A strange feeling shot though her body and she turned away. "Sorry, it's just getting kinda hard to…"

"Look at each other without feeling weird?" Yolei asked, "Yeah, I know. I've been feeling the same way." She took a deep breath, "I keep questioning myself every time I think about our entire relationship. Were we friends because of Tai and Sora's relationship?"

"That can't be!" Kari protested, "We didn't know who we once were when we became friends."

Yolei shook her head. "Kari, look at how different we are."

"Opposites attract, right?"

The purple-haired girl sighed again. "This is hard for me too, but I think that…that I'm starting to…to fall in love with you," she blurted out.

Kari looked shock, then nodded. "Yeah, I know. But…I know we're not saying it, but you are Sora and I am Tai. Tai and Sora were in love, that's why we're in love with each other."

"Listen to me," she said, more forcefully, "Tai was a boy, you are a girl."

Kari was shocked. "I know that…"

"..and it's not like you even act like a boy," she continued, "Probably because you've spent more time as 'Kari' then as Tai. But I'm a girl too, and even if you are..open minded, I don't feel that way. But I can't get you out of my head."

She stood up and walked over to stare out of Kari's window. "I need more time to sort all of these feelings out, but…" She turned back to look at Kari, "I don't want to stop being friends."

Kari smiled. "I don't want to stop either, but I guess my feelings for you are a lot stronger then what you're feeling for me."

"I highly doubt that," she said, "Like you said, I am Sora, and you are Tai. And I do love Tai."

Kari felt a sharp pain in her heart. She had said Tai not Kari. "So, you mean…"

"I don't know what I mean!" she shouted, "Sorry." She took another deep breath, "I think that maybe…maybe we should spend some more time together, I mean not as best friends, but as…"

Kari nodded. "Yeah, I understand, but why..?"

"Because I need to see, to really see if I'm in love with you," she smiled slightly, "I'm sorry to have kept you. I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, bye," the brown-haired girl said, watching as Yolei left the room and closed the door behind her.

Salamon pushed herself out of the pile of clothes. "So, what does this mean? I'm so confused."

Kari sighed. "That makes two of us."

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

The city of Shutu rested high in the mountains of the Digital World. It was a jewel for flying digimon traveling long miles over the massive planet. Hours of flying could dampen a digimon's energy, so a city built at such a high elevation subtracted the need to fly to the ground and back to the sky. This particular city contained an added attraction, a mystic of incredible psychic powers.

One of the residents of the city, a young Biyomon flew through the large stone towers until she reached a towering pyramid. She flew up the stairs to reach the small square room resting on the top. She landed and nervously walked inside. She found a figure sitting cross legged on a mosaic designed mat. "Shamanmon?"

"What is it, my child?" a green skilled goblin with a large wooden club asked.

"Your prophecy sir, I believe it is coming true."

The older digimon chuckled slightly as he rose to his feet. "Well, we shall see." He walked towards the entrance of his stone room. "My dream told me that dark clouds were dropping from the sky." He stepped into the sun and stared at the blue sky. "Well, this is interesting," he commented as a group of black spots appeared in the sky.

"We think they are part of a force called Dark SEED," the Biyomon said, "The Guardians warned us that they were looking for Destiny Stones."

"Really?" Shamanmon asked, "Then they most certainly are searching for our Destiny Stone of Air." He turned around to look at another figure that was standing inside of his stone room. "Can you help us?"

Tatum walked into the light. "I will tell the Digidestined at once."

The green mage nodded. "And I will speak to the former Digimon Emperor, as you wish."

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Tk lightly tapped the table in front of him as he stared at the door to the small diner. He felt his heart jump into his throat when he saw that a girl had entered, but his heart returned to its normal rhythm when he noticed that the girl had long blond hair. He leaned back in the booth seat and sighed. "Man, I've got to take it easy."

"What's wrong, Tk?" Patamon asked from his backpack, which he had left on the seat next to him.

"I'm just nervous," he said.

"Why? You've seen her before, what's there to be nervous about?"

He turned to stared at the small opening in his backpack "It's..complicated."

"Excuse me," he heard a girl's voice behind him.

He smiled slightly as he turned around. "I've been waiting for…who are you?"

The black haired teenager smiled slightly as she pointed to her name tag. "You can call me Mizumi, and I'll be your waitress. Can I get you anything?"

"Um, not yet. I'm waiting for someone."

She smiled. "Sure. I'll come back in a few minutes."

Tk nodded and watched her leave. "She was cute," he thought, "Man, when I was Matt, I had girls falling all over me. How come now I can't even really talk to a girl? Matt could talk to a girl, of course, Matt wouldn't have become the Digimon Emperor! He would have been able to fight it off!"

He sighed as he looked back at the door to the diner. He smiled when he saw a familiar teenage girl with short brown hair enter. His heart began to jump into his throat again when she walked over to his table. "Hi, Kari."

She smiled sweetly. "Hi, Tk." She had finally decided on wearing her yellow skirt and blouse and a white beret. She placed her large pink bag in the seat across from Tk and sat down, breathing heavily. The blond teenager mentioned to the bag. "What's in there that's so heavy?"

"Salamon," she sighed, "She insisted on coming along."

Tk mentioned to his backpack. "Patamon's in there."

Both teenagers stared at each other in an uncomfortable silence. "So," Tk said, "Why did you want to meet me today anyway?"

Her face began to lightly blush. "Because even though you're really Yamato Ishida and I'm really Taichi Kamiya, I think I'm starting to fall in love with you. Please, take me away on your white horse to be the loyal queen at your side" she thought to herself. Out loud, she said, "Because we both have a common past that we can't remember. Something happened to us in that desert, and I think we should try to find out what."

Tk paled slightly. "What's wrong?" Kari asked.

"That memory," he explained, "I don't know why, but every time that I try to remember it, I become…nervous, sweaty, sick to my stomach. Like every time I try to remember, I become sick." He sighed, "I think that part of me doesn't want to remember. All I know is that whatever happened in that desert, made me the Digimon Emperor."

Kari smiled slightly and reached across the table to hold his larger, rougher hands in her smaller, delicate grip. "Oh, Tk, don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this. Now think, what can you remember?"

Tk closed his eyes and leaned back in the seat. "Well, I can see the desert. I'm walking across it, but I can't tell if it's as me or when I was Matt."

Kari nodded. "Go on."

"Someone else is with me. It might be you, but I'm not sure."

"Me as Kari, or me as Tai?"

"I'm not sure. We're fighting someone or something, really powerful." He twitched slightly, "A darkness was under the sand. It started..slithering? Yeah, slithering, like a snake. We knew it was going to attack us, but we didn't know when." He suddenly gave a small scream and opened his eyes. Everyone in the restaurant turned to stare at them but Kari ignored the inquisitive glances.

"What?"

He shook his head. "I..I don't know." The blond teenager took a few large gulps of water to calm himself down. He looked over at the eyes of the brown-haired girl. Momentarily, he saw the same chocolate eyes of his friend, Tai Kamiya. He felt this a bit unnerving, but continued speaking. "What about you? Do you remember anything?"

She sighed. "I don't really remember anything except I think that we were Matt and Tai. But maybe I'm thinking of something else. She grumbled. "This is so confusing. How are we suppose to figure out anything when we don't know what's going on?"

"Well, "Tk said, "If we were Matt and Tai, in a desert, maybe it happened when we fought Etemon?"

Kari shrugged. "Maybe, but I had Wargreymon, that didn't happened until after we fought Myotismon."

Tk frowned. "Yeah, I remember him." He shivered slightly, "Do you remember when we met each other in that warehouse?"

Kari nodded. "Yeah, I do, right after he stared to take over the city."

The teenagers stared at each other in an uncomfortable silence. "You know," Tk said, stumbling over his words, "I…um…you…"

"What?" she asked.

Tk blushed and turned his attention to the window to watch as people walked past. He then said something that he never thought he would ever say to Taichi Kamiya, "You look really pretty in that outfit."

Kari blushed. "R..really? Well, it was just something that I found in my closet, heh. You know, you don't look that bad yourself."

Tk felt his heart start to pound. An extremely cute girl had just told him that he looked nice. Both teenagers forgot their previous lives as Tai and Matt. The brown-haired girl reached her hand across the table and the blond boy did the same. Their hands met each other in the center of the table. They stared at each other for a long while before they heard someone stop in front of their table. They broke apart and cleared their throats. They turned their to see the person, thinking that it was the waitress. Tk gasped at the sight of the teenaged girl. "Tatum?"

Kari glared at him. "Tatum?" she asked, "You know this waitress?"

"No!" he gasped, "I mean, she's not a waitress. She's been…helping me."

Kari turned to the red headed girl. "Tatum?"

She bowed. "Yes. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Taichi Hikari Kamiya. You two have come together to try and decipher your mysterious past."

"Do you know anything?" Kari asked.

Tatum shook her head. "No, but I think I know someone who can. A digimon mystic named Shamonmon. Unfortunately, you need to hurry if you want to meet him."

"What?" Tk asked.

"What do you mean?" Kari demanded.

"If you wish to know, you must come with me, both of you at once." She turned around and walked to the door. Kari and Tk glanced at each other, then grabbed their backpacks and followed her. She lead them to a small computer shop, where a computer monitor was being displayed. She pointed her digivice at the monitor and the three humans, along with their digimon partners were pulled through the Digital Gate.

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

"Hello, Kamiya residence."

"Hi, Mrs. Kamiya, it's Yolei. Is Kari there?"

"Oh, hello Yolei. No, she isn't. She left a little while ago, I think she said something about meeting someone."

"Oh, did she say who?"

"No, she didn't. I think by the way that she was acting, it was a boy."

"A boy?" she gasped.

"Yes. She was dressed very nicely and didn't give me a straight answer, just like when I met her father. Oh, I'm sorry, I must be boring you. I will tell Kari you called."

"Yes, thank you." The purple haired girl placed the phone back onto the receiver and frowned, "A boy? I thought she was….what about me…? Maybe Mrs. Kamiya was just mistaken. Still…"

"What about you talking about, Yolei?" Hawkmon asked.

Yolei turned from her desk and looked to her bed where her digimon partner was sitting. "Kari just…hold on, that's my D-terminal." She reached over and grabbed her small personal electronic device. She flipped open the lid and reached her e-mail. She sighed slightly as she closed the lid and reached for the digivice that was lying on her desk. "Come on Hawkmon. Back to the Digital World once again."

"What's wrong?" her faithful partner asked.

"Another Destiny Stone is under attack," she sighed, "Davis just e-mailed me. That's where Kari probably is."

"I take it by your tone that you are not happy with this current mission?" the bird asked.

"I'm…it's nothing. Come on." She opened the Digital Gate and pulled her and her partner inside.

When she arrived in the Digital World she did the same routine she always did, examine her surroundings. She had materialized in a village, reminding her of a picture she had seen of an ancient village somewhere in South America. Incan, that was it. She could remember the painting of the houses and farmland built directly into the side of the mountain. She was sure that if she had lived during that time, she would have loved to be walking through the clouds, breathing in the fresh morning air, feeling the fresh air on her face, to be the Warrior of the Sky, as she was always meant to be.

"Yolei!"

She turned around and saw Davis leading the rest of the team, minus two important members. "Where's Kari and Salamon?"

He pointed to the top of a tall pyramid that towered above the other buildings. "She's up there, with him."

"Him?" she gasped, "Who?"

"Takeru Takashi."

"She's up there with him?" she shrieked.

"Now, Yolei," Hawkmon started.

"Don't 'Now Yolei' me! Why is she up there with him? Is he the one that she went on a date with?"

"Date?" Catherine asked, "Kari went on a date?"

"Hey!" Cody shouted, "I think we have a bigger problem right now!"

"What?" Davis asked.

"Up in the sky!" Armadillomon shouted, "In coming!"

The other teenagers turned to sky and gasped as the sky was covered in darkness. Davis frowned, "Get ready."

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

The green-skinned digimon bowed. "Greetings, I am Shamonmon. You are Hikari Kamiya and Takeru Takashi, correct?"

The two teenagers and their digimon partners bowed. "Yes," Tk said, "Tatum told them that you might be able to help us."

"Can you?" Kari asked.

The calm elder smiled slightly as he held out his hands and closed his eyes. "Now, let me see…please, close your eyes and concentrate on your mysterious past."

They both nodded. They thought back to their unreliable memories, their memories of wandering through the desert.

"Yes," Shamonmon said, "I see. You are wandering through the desert, chasing something?"

"Yeah," Kari said, "I think so."

Shamonmon nodded. "Yes, I can see your thoughts, but..you are not yourselves?"

Kari and Tk would have glanced at each other, but they were too deep in Shamonmon's trance. All they were able to do was answer, "Yes."

"I see," Shanomon smiled slightly, "You have souls older then your bodies, you were once Yamato Ishida and Taichi Kamiya."

"Yes," they both answered.

"I see. You are traveling through the desert as Yamato Ishida and Taichi Kamiya, a sandstorm is blowing around you. Yes, I can understand now. You are fighting a…digimon named…Etemon? Yes, Etemon the once ruler of the Server desert. You were facing him in the desert, and..you, Yamato Ishida, you were….I see a collection…nay, a life-form of black wires attacking you, piercing your neck."

Tk flinched. "Yes, I can remember now."

Shamonmon continued, "And you, Taichi Kamiya, were pulled into a time warp and returned home. Yamato Ishida, you attempted to keep the team together, but the infection from Etemon's Dark Network was already attacking your body, and your soul. You attacked Taichi Kamiya, you allowed yourself to be manipulated by Cherrymon, because of this evil. Could this be the reason that you became the Digimon Emperor? Could it be because your body was still feeling the influence of Etemon's Dark Network?"

Tk started to experience seizures across his body. "Yes…"

"But there is another desert in your memories," he said, "Another mystery that needs to be answered. You are once again wandering through the desert, but you are more experienced at this point, perhaps later in your original quest? You are again chasing a powerful enemy, but this was far more powerful then Etemon. Another great evil attacked you and…" He was cut off when a loud explosion rocked the pyramid, breaking the trio out of their memories. "What was that?"

A Biyomon flew through the door and entered the room. "Lord Shamonmon, we are under attack!"

"Who is it?" Kari asked, "Dark SEED?"

"Yes, I'm afraid," she nodded.

Kari ran over to the entrance of Shamonmon's room. "Come on Salamon."

"Wait!" Tk shouted, "Let us help you."

The brown-haired girl nodded. "Right. Shamonmon, where is the Destiny Stone of this village?"

The green-skinned mystic walked over to a large mosaic that was hanging on the wall. He pulled down the multicolored fabric to reveal the large stone hidden behind it. "This is the Destiny Stone of Air."

Kari nodded. "Right." She looked out of the entrance of the room and watched the other digidestined battle against the Dark SEED army. "If any of them get past Davis and the others, then we'll be ready for them. For right now, we'll stay here and protect the Destiny Stone."

Patamon nodded. "We're ready."

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Davis stared at the tall, skeleton digimon standing before him. "And you are?"

"My name is Skull Satanmon, one of Dark SEED's generals," he grinned a sinister smile, "And you are Daisuke Motomiya. Tell me, where is Hikari Kamiya?"

"Why?" Davis asked, "Are you too scared to face me?"

Skull Satanmon growled.

"Great job, Davis," Veemon sighed, "I think you made him mad."

"I fear no one!" he shouted, "Army, attack!"

The swarm of Vilemons shot down from the sky, heading straight for the Digidestined.

"Oh great, Davis!" Catherine shouted, swearing at him in a maelstrom of French obscenities. "Floramon!"

"Floramon digivolve to Kiwimon!"

"Veemon digivolve to Exveemon!"

"Hawkmon digivolve to Aquillamon!"

"Crabmon digivolve to Colemon!"

"Armadillomon digivovle to Ankylomon!"

"Wormmon digivolve to Stingmon!"

Davis dove to the ground to avoid a flying Vilemon. "Exveemon!" Keep them from getting any closer! We've got to protect the Destiny Stone!"

Another Vilemon flew towards him from behind, but Exveemon saved his human partner by smashing the evil creature with his massive fist. "Don't worry, Davis!" he shouted, "I'm right behind ya!"

Colemon jumped into the air and fired his Fossil Bite at the swarm of the dark digimon, destroying them on contact. His human partner nodded in approval. "Way ta' go mate! Tear those Vileamon ta pieces!" Derek cheered.

"Colemon!" Ankylomon shouted, "Watch out behind you!"

The fish digimon spun around and gasped as a group of Vilemon were closing in on him and Derek. These evil digimon were destroyed when Stingmon appeared behind them and used his Spiking Strike to tear them in half.

"Thanks, Stingmon," Colemon said.

The insect digimon nodded. "Just watch your back."

A few feet away, Kiwimon had just destroyed the Vilemon that were attacking her. "Well done," Catherine said, "Now, let uz help ze ozers!"

Her bird digimon nodded and went to run to join the other digimon, when a familiar, giant ape dropped in front of her. "Apemon?!" she gasped.

"Apemon?" Catherine asked. She started searching the village around her before she found the figure she was looking for, a teenage Chinese girl standing at the edge of the battlefield. "Yuehon."

The black haired girl nodded. "Yes, greeting Catherine."

The blond girl pointed at the pendant that was hanging around Yuehon's neck. "Give me ze Crest of Zincerity, now!"

"I do not possess the Crest of Sincerity."

"Of course not, because you corrupted it! You have perverted evert'ing my Crest waz!" she narrowed her eyes and stared at her, "I will have my crezt back! Kiwimon!"

The Chinese girl pointed at her digimon partner. "Apemon, crush her!"

Her partner nodded and grabbed his bone club and swung at Kiwimon, but in a surprising display of agility, the bird digimon leapt out of the way. She fired her bird-shaped daggers at her mammal opponent, but he used the same bone club to block the projectiles. Both combatants took a small breather and then leapt back at each other.

Davis ducked to avoid another Vilemon as he ran to the stand with the other Digidestined. He scanned the opposing army and noticed that something was somehow off. "Where's Skull Satanmon? And where's Yolei?"

%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%

Salamon and Patamon charge over to stand before their human partners as the Dark SEED general entered Shamonmon's small room on the top of the pyramid. "Don't even think about touching her!" Salamon shouted.

"Yeah!" Patamon warned.

The dark digimon laughed. "As if you could hurt me! Ha!" He walked around the small room, "No, you are not the ones that I want." He looked around the room until he found Shamonmon standing against the wall. "Ah, you are the leader of this village, are you not?"

"I am the oldest and the wisest," he answered.

"Then you know where the Destiny Stone of Air is, don't you?"

"He doesn't know!" Tk shouted, "But we do!"

"Ha!" the Dark SEED general laughed, "Don't insult my intelligence! You would not know," he pointed his staff at Shamonmon, "But he does! Now, where is it?"

"Don't tell him!" Kari shouted, "We can hold him off!"

"That will not be necessary," the green-skinned elder said, raising his palm, "I am sure that we can discuss this rationally."

Skull Satanmon laughed. "How this for rationality, tell me the location of the stone, or I will destroy you."

Shamonmon laughed. "Tell me, how to you intend to find the location of the Destiny Stone if you destroy me?"

The devil digimon laughed. "Watch. Nail Bone!" He pointed his staff at the mystic digimon, deleting him instantly.

"Shamonmon!" Kari shouted.

"Shamonmon, no!" Tk exclaimed, "No, he…he could have…." The blond haired boy clenched his fists and growled in anger. "Patamon!"

"Patamon digivolve to Angemon!"

Kari twirled to her partner. "You too, Salamon!"

"Salamon digivolve to Gatomon!"

Gatomon ran along the floor while Angemon flew on the small air currents to reach Skull Satanmon. Kari's partner reached the devil digimon first and easily jumped into air to reach his face. She executed her primary attack. "Lightning Paw!"

The Dark SEED general laughed and easily blocked her attack with his one hand, then caught her small paw in his large hand. Angemon stopped his approach, uncertain of the consequences of his actions. Skull Satanmon laughed as he stared at the face of the struggling Gatomon. "I am an Ultimate of formidable powers, while you may be a powerful Champion, you are still no match for me!" He easily flung her into the floor, causing her to skid to Kari's feet.

"Gatomon!" she shouted.

"Angemon!" Tk ordered, "Take him down!"

The angel digimon swung his own staff at Skull Satanmon's staff, blocking each other in a mighty blast. They struggled to overcome each other, Skull Satanmon proved to be the stronger as he threw Angemon to the ground. He pointed his staff at Angemon, intending to fire his Nail Bone, but the angel digimon jumped back onto his feet and head-butted the devil digimon. He grabbed his enemy and tossed him over his shoulder, crashing into the wall. The shockwaves from this impact caused the mosaic to drop to the ground, revealing the Destiny Stone of Air.

"Oh no!" Angemon shouted.

"Excellent!" Skull Satamon laughed. He began walking towards the glowing stone. Angemon jumped back onto his feet and tried to fly over to Skull Satanmon, but he was not going to make it in time. Skull Satanmon pointed his staff at the Destiny Stone, "Nail…" He was suddenly thrown into the wall by a series of glowing red rings.

"Aquillamon!" Gatomon shouted.

"And Yolei!" Kari exclaimed.

The large bird smashed through the entrance with Yolei on his back. "Hang on guys!" the purple-haired girl shouted, "The Calvary's here!" She leapt off of her Champion partner as he shot towards their enemy. "Take care of him, Aquillamon!"

Aquillamon's two horns began to glow brightly as he shot towards Skull Satanmon. "Grand Horn!"

Skull Satanmon stared at the giant bird with his glowing horns. He raised his staff over his shoulder and used it like a bat to hit Aquillamon in the face, causing him to move towards the other wall, smashing his horns into the Destiny Stone of Air.

Yolei slapped her forehead. "Aquillamon!"

Her partner pushed himself away from the stone. The humans and their digimon partners stared at the Destiny Stone. A large crack had been formed in the side of the mythical stone. "It looks all right," Gatomon said.

Skull Satanmon grinned. "It won't be for very long. Nail Bone!" His energy blast smashed into the crack caused by Aquillamon, shattering the stone into dust. The resulting shockwaves spread through the walls, causing the room to shatter.

"Yolei!" Aquillamon shouted. He shot over to her and used his body to shield her from the falling debris. The purple-haired girl shot her attention to where Kari and Gatomon were standing. She wanted to run over and protect her, but she watched as Tk and Angemon ran over to push her out of the way. He tackled her to the ground and used his body to protect her. None of the debris reached them, but neither teenager pushed themselves back onto their feet.

Kari stared into Tk's eyes as she lay on the floor. "Y..you saved me!"

The blond-haired boy shrugged slightly, he was having trouble speaking, he was just lost in her eyes. "I couldn't just let you get hurt, or worse."

As they stared into each other's eyes, they forgot their past lives as Matt and Tai, all that mattered was Tk and Kari. Their faces moved closer to one another until their lips locked together. Underneath of Tk's shirt, a blue light enveloped the two teenagers.

"Angemon digivolve to Magna Angemon!"

The newly digivolved Ultimate hovered above the remains of the top of the pyramid, staring at Skull Satanmon. "So you digivolved, who cares?" the Dark SEED general asked, "A lowly Ultimate is still a lowly digimon."

Magna Angemon's face remained unemotional as he stared at Skull Satanmon. "Perhaps you would care to see how powerful I am." A glowing sword emerged from a square object on his right wrist, "Feel the rage of my mighty sword, Excalibur!" He shot forward and swung his glowing sword at Skull Satanmon, but he blocked using his staff. Magna Angemon continued to press his sword against the evil staff, attempting to make Skull Satanmon weaken enough where his weapon would drop, allowing the angel a clear shot. This did not happen, unfortunately. The evil digimon twisted his staff around, twisting Magna Angemon's sword into a unpleasant position. The angel had no choice, he had to back off.

Skull Satanmon laughed. "You are pitiful! Just like your weakling partners!"

Magna Angemon glanced down to where Yolei was being shielded by Aquillamon, then over to where Gatomon was shouting encouraging cheers to the angel. He could not see Tk or Kari, but he assumed that they were safe somewhere, or else he would have regressed to his Rookie form. "They are not pitiful!" he protested, "They are stronger then you believe."

"Ha!" the devil laughed, "You're as pitiful as they are!"

Magna Angemon pointed his glowing sword at him. "We shall see!" He propelled himself forward once again. Skull Satanmon shot forward to meet him. The two opponents raced to meet one another, but the evil Dark SEED general stopped short and pointed his staff at Magna Angemon. "Nail Bone!"

The angel digimon twisted around Skull Satanmon and used his glowing sword to slice the evil digimon across the stomach. All were silent as the evil digimon slowly separated into two halves. His upper portion screamed as both halves were deleted.

"Magna Angemon!" Tk shouted. The hovering Ultimate angel smiled as he looked to the ground. Tk and Kari had appeared from where ever they had hidden themselves and were now cheering at him. "You did it!"

Magna Angemon suddenly gasped as he felt a dark presence behind him. He turned around and frowned at the floating figure of a long serpent digimon with a cloaked figured sitting on top. "Waru Seadramon."

"It's Hiroshi!" Kari shouted from the ground, "What are you doing here?"

The Dark SEED leader grinned as he surveyed the group. "Well, I see that Skull Satanmon was destroyed, he was a fool for underestimating you. I will not make that mistake."

"You didn't answer her!" Tk shouted, "Why are you destroying the Destiny Stones?"

"I'm surprised," he said, "Are you asking because you believe that the reason you wanted to destroy the stones is different from mine? Remember what you did with Kimeramon?"

The blond teenager frowned. "I…I don't remember."

"Ha ha!" Hiroshi laughed, "It's amazing what you do remember! Waru Seadramon!"

The large serpent shot towards the debris of Shamonmon's former room. Hiroshi grabbed a medium-sized stone from the remains of the Destiny Stone. "At least tell us what that thing is!" Gatomon demanded.

"This is the center of each Destiny Stone," Hiroshi explained, "The heart, if you will. It is here that the true essence of the stone is embodied. Now, if you'll excuse me." He turned to the battle below him, where the rest of the Digidestined had finished destroying the remainder of Skull Satanmon's army. "Yuehon, we're leaving!"

The Chinese girl looked away from where Kiwimon had her beak around Apemon's bone club. "As you wish, Lord Hiroshi. Apemon!"

"Right, oh ah!" he grunted. He pushed Kiwimon away with his leg and slammed her face with his club. He executed a series of back flips and landed next to his partner. Catherine stared up at the Chinese girl.

"I will have my Crest back!" she warned, "Zis iz not over, not by a long shot!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Yuehon grinned as Waru Seadramon flew overheard. Apemon grabbed her and leapt onto the Ultimate serpent's back. The leaders of Dark SEED disappeared into the mountain surrounding the village of Shutu.

"Damn it!" Davis swore, "They got away again!"

"Don't worry Davis," Derek said, "We'll get 'em someday soon."

Magna Angemon descended to the ground and was covered by a white light. He regressed past the Champion and the Rookie level and remained in his In-training form. Tokomon landed in Tk's arms. "You do great!" Tk smiled.

The small white digimon smiled. "Thank you."

"Tk."

The blond boy turned around and saw Kari stared at him. He started to blush, "Listen, about what happened…"

The brown-haired girl nodded. "Yeah, I know. I guess our original plan about sorting through our feelings didn't really help, huh? It just made a whole bunch of new problems."

Tk nodded.

"Thank you for saving me," Kari said, meekly, "I really appreciate it." She reached down and lifted Salamon in her arms, "Call me sometime, okay?"

Tk nodded. "I will. Now, why don't we get out of here?"

Yolei watched the exchange from a safe distance. "She's in love with him?" the purple-haired girl gasped, "She kissed him? I don't believe this!"

"What's wrong now, Yolei?" Hawkmon asked.

"Kari and Tk!" she gasped, "I think Kari's getting a crush on him, but..what about me?" She looked back at the others and saw that Tk and Kari were walking very close to each other. Behind their backs, their hands slowly met one another and their hands lightly gripped one another. Yolei watched this and felt a strange sensation in the left half of her chest as her heart broke in half.

"I was in love with her," she said, "I realize that now, but….no, I'm in love with Taichi not Hikari. She's a girl, she's supposed to be with a guy." She swallowed, "I love Tai, but he's trapped inside of that girl body. I love Tai, but do I hate Kari?"

to be continued….