Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Ressurection War ❯ Dark SEED: The Mistakes of the Past ( Chapter 12 )

This is Derek. Kari and Tk were approached by Ryo and told his story, the Destiny Stones of the Elements make up a seal to protect the Digital World. Not only that, Ryo use to work for the Dark Masters. Meanwhile, Diaboromon lead an attack on the Destiny Stone of Water. Catherine fought against Yuehon, in a duel, finally getting her Crest of Sincerity back. With that crest, Kiwimon was able to digivolve to Blossumon. With her and Paildramon, we were able to destroy Diaboromon. Davis took the evil mega's Holy Weapon, the Gauntlets, but Infermon was able to destroy the Destiny Stone of Water. Now there's only one left!

I'll turn my courage into wings
And fly away soon
Now matter when
I always believe in you

There are times when I can't be strong
Times when I'm disappointed in myself
But I'll keep trying
Because I have you

That's right
We're the dreamers of the future
We've got to make our hearts evolve, too

I'll turn my courage into wings
Let's start from here
Even if I have to do it 100 times, I'll get it right
I'll turn my courage into wings
Let's start soon
Now matter when
I always believe in you

I'll turn my courage into wings
And fly away now
Unafraid of making mistakes
I'll turn my courage into wings
And fly away soon
Now matter when
I always believe in you

"I'll turn my Courage into Wings"-Taichi's Theme

Dark SEED: The Mistakes of the Past

The Boreas, hovered over a small village, as its captain grinned wickedly. She was greatly enjoying how her army was interrogating the pathetic In-training digimon residents.

"Mistress Ladydevimon?"

She turned around to address the female digimon covered in armor. "Our forces have begun to over power the Digimon below," she said, "I estimate another few hours and the entire village will be ours."

The evil witch grinned, as she turned back to watching her army over run the city below. "Excellent, Jet Silphymon."

She walked up beside her. "If I may ask a question?"

"What is it?"

"Why are we attacking a village of defenseless digimon? These Salamons, Patamons, and others are hardly a threat at all."

The devil woman frowned. "Yes, you want a challenge? Well, legends say that this town holds the Destiny Stone of Light."

"The last stone?"

"Yes. We must find it."

Jet Silphymon bowed. "As you wish, my lady. We will tear this village apart and find that Stone, no matter what."

An Alruamon ran onto the deck. "Ladydevimon," she bowed, "We are receiving a transmission from Dark SEED headquarters."

"I will take it in my room," she said, walking into the hull of the ship and into the captain's quarters. She sat down in her chair and faced the computer monitor before her, which displayed the face of Yuehon.

"Ladydevimon," the Chinese girl said, "Yolei Inoue reports that Kamiya has begun to doubt herself. She feels that Motomiya is taking her place in destiny. She is depressed and concerned about herself. She will be an easy target. Lord Hiroshi demands that you send one of your warriors to attack her."

The devil woman nodded. "It shall be done."

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

The students were cheering loudly as they ran down the halls. Everyone was throwing their books into the air, knocking into the ceiling lamps. One even threatened to knock lose. The celebrating children did not notice the dangerously swinging source of light. One trouble making boy did. He stood at the end of the hall and aimed his book at the swinging lamp. He took a deep breath and threw the book. It hit the lamp perfectly, knocking the illumination device into the ground. Luckily, ground zero was empty, allowing the lamp to shatter harmlessly. The other students roared with laughter.

Kari looked over her shoulder and sighed. "What's the matter Kamiya?" she heard someone shout. It was a popular girl named Amiko.

The brown-haired girl sighed. "Nothing."

"Then what's the problem?" Amiko asked, lightly slapping Kari on the back, "Lighten up! It's the last day of school! Come on, let's go party!"

Kari smiled. "Thanks, but I've got plans."

Amiko shrugged. "Suit yourself." She ran over to talk to her friends. Kari sighed and went back to pulling her clothes out of the locker. She shoved them into her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She walked past the smashed light and headed for the door, but stopped when she saw a figure staring at her.

"Yolei?"

The purple-haired girl glared at her. "Hello, Kamiya."

Kari sighed. "I don't suppose that there's anything that I can say that will turn you back into my friend, is there?"

Yolei grinned wickedly. "No, but there's something that I want to tell you."

Kari was in surprise. "What?"

"Oh nothing, just that I've learned from Lord Hiroshi that you're a mistake."

"What?"

"Let me explain. You may have been Tai Kamiya, but the Guardians of the Digital World chose Davis to be the heir to your powers. Think about it, Davis acts exactly like Tai, you don't. He beat Kimeramon and Diaboromon, you didn't. Lord Hiroshi says that it's only a matter of time before Motomiya figures out how to use his Holy Gauntlets. He's more of a hero then you are."

Kari protested by shaking her head. "No.."

"Think about it," Yolei grinned. She turned and began to leave the school.

"Wait!" Kari called, "That can't be the only reason you want to talk."

"Maybe, maybe not. You're in no position now to do any serious talking anyway. Goodbye." Yolei walked out of the school, leaving a distraught Kari staring after her.

"Hey, Kari!" Davis shouted, running up to her, "What's the matter?"

"I..I was just talking to Yolei," she said, "and….and…"

"What, what did she say?" Davis demanded.

The brown haired girl shook her head. "N..nothing."

Davis sighed. "Well, don't worry, we'll get to get her back. I'll do everything in my power to save her. I promise."

Kari stared at him. He sounded just like she use to when she was Tai. "I've got to go."

"Wait, what about Yolei?"

Kari did not answer.

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

Tk smiled to himself as his armored digimon, Ponchomon, continued to destroy the Control Spires that littered the grassy field in front of him. The poncho and sombrero wearing digimon slammed his boxing glove-clad fist into the tower. "Tequila Knuckle!" A large crack formed across the obelisk. He executed the same attack a second time, finishing the crack across the tower. It fell onto the ground with a loud bang.

"Great," Tk smiled. "We're actually doing it. We're fixing our mistake, this feels so great!"

"I'm glad you're enjoying it," Ponchomon grinned, walking over to stand next to him. His smile suddenly faded.

"What's wrong?" Tk asked.

"Someone's coming! Above!"

Tk shot his head to the sky and saw a familiar serpent with wings slowly descending towards him. He stared with slight anger as a familiar teenage girl with braided jumped off of the flying serpent and onto the ground. "Hello Tatum."

She instantly noticed the tone in his voice. "What is the matter?"

Tk sighed. "I had a little chat with Ryo and Gennai the other day."

She waited for him to continue. "And?"

"They told me about how the Crest of Reliability was stolen by a girl." He lowered his eyes and stared at her, "Do you want to tell me who you really are?"

"I already told you my name," she explained, "As for the Crest of Reliability…it was necessary."

"Necessary?" Tk gasped, "You stole it!"

Tatum sighed. "I can't explain my actions to you just yet."

Tk huffed and turned away. "I trusted you."

"And I have done nothing but help you," she protested. She reached into her robes and pulled out a manila folder. "Here."

Tk took the folder and stared at it. "What is it?"

"Information I lifted from Dark SEED," she explained, "I hope it helps you." She jumped back onto her Airdramon. "Just remember, I have, and always will, aid you in your quest. Farewell." Airdramon floated back into the sky and vanished over the horizon.

"Well?" Ponchomon asked, "What does it say?"

Tk opened the folder and stared at the first page inside. "What?!" he gasped.

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

"Well," Davis sighed, sitting back in his seat, "This is really one happen' party."

Veemon curiously looked at his partner. "Are you being serious?"

The goggle-wearer stared at him. "I've got to teach you about sarcasm."

"Oh," the blue dragon responded, then glance at Davis's apartment, where all of the Digidestined except for Yolei, Kari and Tk, were resting on the furniture. Derek and Crabmon were watching television, while Catherine and Floramon were chatting to themselves. Cody, Armadillomon, Ken and Wormmon were surrounding Ken's new laptop.

"Since when do you have a laptop?" Davis asked.

"My parents just bought it for me. I spent all last night transferring the files from my p.c. to my laptop. "

"So what exactly are you doing over there?"

"I'm completing my upgrade of the Digimon Analyzer. If I did this correctly, we shouldn't need to rely on using the digivices as an intermediary. Instead of one of us seeing a digimon, and then having to hook up the digivice to the computer, the wireless connection on my laptop should record the digimon's data and pull up its profile."

"That's pretty cool," Veemon said.

Ken shrugged slightly. "Well…"

"No, he's right," Cody said, "You're very computer literate. I never would have been able to do anything like this."

"Zay," Catherine said, "Where iz Kari?"

"I invited her," Davis sighed, leaning back in his seat, "But I guess she wanted to spend some time alone."

"Ya' know," Derek said, "I don't think she should be by herself right now. She's really depressed. I'm afraid of what she might do."

"I think he's right," Floramon said.

"All right, all right," Davis sat up in his seat, "I'll head over there."

"Maybe I should," Ken said, "We were best friends in our past lives."

Cody glanced at his watch. "I need to be going too."

"What?" Davis shouted, "It's only nine o'clock!"

"I promised my mother," he said, "Come on, Armadillomon."

"I'm right behind ya, buddy," he said, walking out of the apartment. Ken closed up his laptop and placed it in his bag.

"I'll see you guys later."

Davis looked at the two other teenagers in the room. "Well, anybody want to play "Spin the Bottle?"

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

Yolei placed a palm over her eyes as she rode Aquillamon across the Digital World. "I still don't see it!"

She turned around to look at the land from the other side of her partner. "It's not here!"

"You've got to calm down, Yolei," Aquillamon said, "There's no use getting angry."

The purple-haired took a deep breath. "This is so frustrating. We've been all over the place looking for that stupid mountain, and we can't find it anywhere!" Her eyes focused on a small group of houses below. "Set down in that village."

The large bird dropped into the center of the town, causing the citizens to stare in horror and awe at the invader. Yolei grinned as she jumped into the ground. "Ah, Gizamon, huh?"

"You are part of the Digidestined?" one of the Gizamon asked.

"I am part of Dark SEED," she responded, "Now, I am looking for a mountain in the shape of the turtle shell. Can you help me?"

"Why?" another Gizamon asked, "Are you looking for the Floramon village?"

"Floramon village," Yolei grinned, "Now we're getting somewhere. Where's this Floramon Village?"

The Gizamon looked at each other, then back at the purple-haired girl. "Why are you looking for the Floramon village?"

"They have something that I want," she said, "now, where is it?"

The Gizamon were silent.

Yolei sighed and jumped back onto her digimon partner. "If you want to be that way, fine. Aquillamon…"

The large desert bird soared away from the village and then spun around to resume his attack. He opened his beak and fired a series of glowing red circles into one of the homes, blowing it apart. The Gizamon scrambled as Aquillamon smashed through another building, destroying it instantly.

"Okay, okay!" one of the Gizamon shouted, "I'll tell you what you want to know."

Aquillamon lowered himself close enough to the ground for Yolei to rest on her knee and stare over. "Well?"

"Over the mountain, on a small island in the sea, a mountain in the shape of a giant turtle."

The purple-haired girl grinned. "Great. Let's go Aquillamon."

Once she and her partner had left the airspace of their village, the Gizamon stared at one another. "The Key Cards," one said, "If Dark SEED finds them, who knows what kind of damage they could do."

"We must inform the Guardians," another one said, "I will tell Genai."

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

Davis yawned to himself as he stared at the television set. "Why the heck are we watching this stupid movie anyway?"

"Zere iz not'ing else to watch," Catherine sighed, "And believe me, we tried."

"Don't you have any videos?" Derek asked.

The goggle wearer sighed. "No."

"Why not?"

"I don't have any money. Maybe I should think about getting a job…."

"Shut up!" Catherine glared, "I'm trying to watch ziz!"

Davis frowned and leaned back in the couch to continue watching the corny romantic movie. He almost cheered when he heard the familiar sound of his D-terminal. He flipped open the lid and scanned his e-mail. "It's from Gennai," he sighed, "Yolei just attacked a village, looking for the Key Cards. He said that she's heading right towards them, we'd better get there first."

Catherine sighed as she turned off the television. "Are you going to tell Kari?"

Davis thought for a second. "Ken's heading over there. If he thinks she can handle it, then he'll tell her, otherwise, I think we can handle it."

"Les Trois Musketeers," Catherine grinned, "Come, let'z go."

After sending Ken the e-mail, Davis used the computer in his room to take them to the Gizamon village. The small aquatic digimon nervously approached them. "Who are you?"

"We're the Digidestined," Davis said. The Gizamon still were not convinced, "Don't worry, we're here to help. Gennai sent us."

"All right, I guess, " the apparent leader of the group said, "The digidestined from Dark SEED are heading towards Turtle Island, in the southern seas. A giant mountain in the shape of a Turtle Shell. There's a village near the base, the Key Cards that Dark SEED is after is there."

"How'd they get there?" Crabmon asked.

"After the fall of Myotismon's castle, the Server division of the rebellion sifted through the remains and took those Cards. We decided to hide them in a place where, we hoped, they would be safe from the powers of darkness." He walked over and stared up at Davis's face. "You must find those Cards before Dark SEED does!"

Davis nodded. "Don't worry, we will."

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

Kari sighed to herself as she lazily laid on the couch, staring at the television set. She was growing tired of this corny romantic comedy; she had no idea why she even started watching it in the first place. She rose up and began to walk to the kitchen. As she did, she passed a series of photographs on the wall, of her and Yolei. She then remembered why she had started watching that movie.

Salamon saw how depressed Kari had become as soon as she began staring at the pictures. "Kari..?"

"I'm sorry, Salamon," she said, "I must be getting so moody around you, huh?"

"You humans are strange," she said, "But you're my friend, so I know something is really wrong, and it's not just about Yolei."

Kari sighed again. "Yeah. I mean, I'm Tai Kamiya, yet it's like Davis is really taking my place. He's the one that beat Kimeramon, he's the one that destroyed Diaboromon." She walked over and fell onto the couch, "He's the hero now, not me. He's even got a Holy Weapon now."

Salamon ran over and placed a paw on Kari's shoulder, "But he doesn't know how to use it yet."

Kari stared at her partner. "Yeah, so…"

"So we've got to figure out how to use yours!" she grinned, "Come on, get it out of your closet and we'll practice on the roof!"

Kari was going to protest, but the expression on her partner's face was too strong. "All right," she smiled, "Come on."

After retrieving the Holy Lance from her closet, Kari led Salamon to the roof of her apartment building. Kari stared out at the summer night and held her Holy Lance out in front of her. "Now, what exactly should I do?"

Salamon's smile quickly faded into a snarl. "What's wrong?" Kari gasped.

"A Digimon's here!" the small creature gasped, "I can hear..behind us!"

The duo spun around and saw a fox woman standing on the air conditioner duct. She had blue fur growing across her body and was wearing white clothing. "Greetings, Hikari Kamiya and Salamon," she said, "I am Doumon, an Ultimate digimon. I am an emissary from Ladydevimon."

"Ladydevimon?" Kari gasped.

"Correct," the fox-woman replied, "and I have orders to bring you before Lord Hiroshi."

"You'll never even touch her!" Salamon shouted, charging towards the invader, "Kari!"

The brown-haired girl trusted out her digivice. "Go!"

"Salamon digivolve to Gatomon! Gatomon digivolve to Angewomon!"

Kari's digimon began her attack by firing the Celestial Arrow at the fox woman. Doumon counterattacked by blocking the arrow with a giant paintbrush. "What was that?" Angewomon asked.

"This is my weapon of choice," Doumon explained, "If you want to experience what it can truly accomplish, simply wait!" She slashed her paintbrush down in a series of strokes, creating what appeared to be a circular lattice. "Observe, Demon Gate Escape!"

The lattice opened and a black slime emerged from the circle and encased Angewomon. She screamed out in pain before the blackness receded. Doumon smiled, "Impressive, isn't it?"

"It doesn't matter what you have, I'm still going to defeat you," Angewomon said. She brought her hands together in front of her and pointed them at the fox woman. She quickly flung them apart, sending a wave of white light towards Doumon. "Heaven's Charm!"

The fox woman chuckled as she used her paintbrush to propel herself into the air so she was hovering above the angel woman. She pulled her hands under her robe and fired a stream of rectangular paper. "Spell Prohibition Paper!" Each one of the magical charms attached themselves to the angel's body, sending a wave of fierce electricity through her.

"Angewomon, no!" Kari shouted.

Doumon apparently had control over her spells, because with a wave of her hand, she brought the limp Angewomon over to her. "Well, you're not as powerful as you pretend to be, are you?" she laughed.

On the rooftop, Kari screamed. "No! Angewomon!" She looked down at the Holy Lance in her hands, "If I could just figure out how to use this!" She started shaking as she griped the weapon tightly. "This is my fault, if I was a better Digidestined, I could use this stupid weapon to save Angewomon, and now my partner's going to be deleted. I can't save Yolei, Davis is taking my place, I just want to…" She screamed, holding the Holy Lance into the sky. It began to glow a dark yellow light. A beam emerged from one end and merged with Kari. A beam shot out from the other end and merged with Angewomon. Doumon stared in shock as her magical charms suddenly caught fire and vanished in a blast of smoke and light. Angewomon's glowing body was pulled towards Kari's glowing body and the two met in a blast of yellow light. When the bright glow faded, a new, single being, hovered in the sky.

The new figure resembled a teenage girl, with an extremely pale complexion and flowing white hair. She wore black dress with elegant designs and jewelry embroidered into it. Around her neck she wore a large black jewel and in her hands she carried the Holy Lance. She stared around with pale, death-filled eyes.

Doumon stared at her. "What..what happened?" she asked.

The new figure slowly turned to stare at her. Once she did, she screamed an eerie, lifeless shriek and propelled herself towards the fox woman. Doumon attempted to jump out of the way, but the new figure slammed the Holy Lance through Doumon's chest, creating a gapping hole. The fox woman screamed as she was deleted.

The new figure was not done yet. It shrieked again and began firing black bolts of darkness into buildings.

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

Tk stood on the roof of his own building, staring up at the night sky. Patamon glanced at the expression on his partner's face as he rested on the blond boy's shoulder. "You're still wondering if you should go over there, aren't you?"

Tk nodded. "Yeah. But if that information that Tatum gave us was true, then it means that Dark SEED's been around a lot longer then we thought. Kari needs to know, but…we haven't really talked about what happened when we kissed. She's really Tai Kamiya and I'm really Matt Ishida. My mind keeps telling me that what happened was wrong, but…but my heart is saying that it's right. Oh man, what am I going to do?"

The two parents had to cover their eyes as a blast of orange light filled the sky. "What was that?" Tk shouted.

"A digimon's data," Patamon gasped, "Being deleted."

Tk glanced at his partner. "How do you know that?"

"I could feel it," he said, "We'd better hurry."

Patamon quickly digivolved to Angemon and lifted Tk into his arms and soared over the buildings. They soon saw the horrendous sight of the digimon that killed Doumon. "What in heaven's name is that?" Tk shouted.

Angemon grimaced. "I think you might be coming from the wrong direction."

Tk stared up at the creature's face. He could not quite place where, but he was sure he had seen her somewhere before.

"Tk! Angemon!"

He glanced downward and saw Ken and Wormmon on a building roof, waving to them. Angemon descended to the building top and Tk jumped next to the computer expert. "What is that?"

Ken pointed the back of his laptop at the hovering woman digimon. "I'll have your answer in a second. My Digimon Analyzer should be up in any second." The screen of his smaller computer flashed for a few seconds before an image appeared on the screen. "Here we go. Persephamon, Virus Type, Ultimate Level. The Queen of the Underworld, created when a virus corrupted…" He stopped.

"Who?" Tk asked.

"When a virus corrupted Angewomon."

"Oh no!" Angemon gasped, "You don't think that…?"

"A Fallen Angel?" Tk asked, "Oh, she's hideous!"

From his perch on Ken's shoulder, Wormmon stared at the picture on the laptop screen, then up at the Persephamon that was destroying the television dishes that were on the building roofs. "She looks different then her picture."

Ken looked at the image. The black dress was the same, as was the hair, but the body of Persephamon on the screen was a black skeleton. "Yeah, why does that one have skin? I mean, it looks like a teenage girl. And this description doesn't say anything about a weapon, yet that Persephamon in the sky is using a lance."

The four males gasped loudly. "That's Kari too?"

"Remember Hiroshi?" Wormmon asked, "He merged with his digimon."

Tk stared in awe. "That's what a Holy Weapon does?"

"There must have been some mistake!" Ken said, "I don't think she was supposed to change into that!"

"Alright," Tk said, "If that's Kari, then we've got to help her. We can't hurt her though."

"Don't worry," Angemon said, "We won't." He jumped into the air and flew towards Persephamon.

"You'd better help, Wormmon," Ken said, grabbing his digivice.

"Wormmon digivolve to Stingmon!"

The two digimon flew up to intercept the rampaging Persephamon. The Fallen Angel spied the two Champions out of the corner of her eye. She pointed her Holy Lance at them and called out her attack in an emotionless voice. "Curse of the Underworld."

A cloud of gray smoke shot from the lance and enveloped Angemon and Stingmon. A transparent image of their bodies appeared behind them, and were struck by two blasts of dark lightning. The two Champion digimon screamed out in pain. "Oh man!" Tk gasped, "I never heard Angemon scream like that. What an attack!"

Persephamon's attack left the two Champion digimon stunned and motionless, but still hovering in the sky. The Fallen Angel digimon suddenly displayed a impressive amount of speed and shot over to the two digimon. She began to mercilessly pound Stingmon with her Holy Lance. "Stingmon!" Ken shouted, "Fight back!"

"Don't!" Tk shouted, "That's still Kari!"

"Our digimon are going to get deleted!" Ken protested, "We have to!"

Tk hesitated, but quickly changed his mind as he watched Persephamon attack Angemon by swinging her Lance across his chest again and again. "Kari," he said to himself, "Please forgive me and know that I'm doing this to help you." He took a deep breath, his Crest of Friendship glowing brightly under his shirt, "Angemon!"

"Angemon digivolve to Magna Angemon!"

"I really don't want to hurt you," the Ultimate angel said, pointing his glowing sword at Persephamon, "But you leave me no choice." He shot forward and slashed his saber at the Fallen Angel, but she caught it with her lance. She stared directly at Magna Angemon and spoke once again in her emotionless, eerie voice, "Windows of the Soul!" Her eyes exploded with two white blasts that sent Magna Angemon into a tailspin. When he had recovered himself, it was not within enough time to block Persephamon's next attack. Luckily, Stingmon came to his rescue by knocking into Persephamon's back. She spun around and glared at him.

"Angewomon, Kari," Stingmon pleaded, "You've got to remember who you are. Don't you recognize your friends?"

She answered him by smashing the side of his head with her Holy Lance, and then turned around to finish Magna Angemon. However, by this time the angel was ready to execute a counter strike. "Excalibur!" he shouted, firing a beam of light from his sword that struck Persephamon in the chest. He shot over to her and executed his Excalibur attack again. She responded by shrieking, sending powerful sound waves that threw Magna Angemon and Stingmon into another building roof. Persephamon shot down to attack them while they were injured, but she suddenly stopped. Her body glowed brightly.

"What's going on?" Tk shouted.

"I think she lost her energy," Ken said, "She's turning back!"

The light faded to reveal and unconscious Nyaromon and Kari, still gripping the Holy Lance tightly. They began to fall towards the ground, but Magna Angemon jumped up to catch them. He did not get the chance, however, as a wave of darkness pushed him aside and caught Kari and Nyaromon. He stared in confusion as this black wave carried the two unconscious girls back into the air, over to where a hovering female was grinning sinisterly.

"Ladydevimon?" Ken and Tk gasped.

The devil woman was soon joined by Yolei and Aquillamon. Ladydevimon's wave of bats gently placed Kari and Nyaromon on the giant bird's back. "Come," the devil said, "We must get back to the Boreas."

Aquillamon flew over to a building roof, where a laptop screen was flashing brightly. Yolei held out her digivice, opening the gate. "Yolei, don't!" Magna Angemon shouted, but it was too late, they had disappeared into the Digital World.

Ken and Tk stared in horror at the sky. "What just happened?" Tk shouted.

"They took Kari," Ken said slowly.

Tk hesitated for a few minutes, then took a deep breath. "Okay, where's Davis?"

"He, Derek and Catherine went into the Digital World to search for the Key Cards. I was supposed to get Kari and go join them, but…"

Tk nodded. "Okay, e-mail him and tell him to keep searching for those cards. We can't afford to let Dark SEED get their hands on them."

"R..right," Ken said, opening the inbox on his laptop.

"Where's Cody?"

"He should be at home…"

"Fine. Call him and tell him to pack whatever he needs: food, clothes, sleeping bags. We're going to have to pack ourselves."

"Why? Where are we going?"

"The three of us are going to get Kari back."

Ken stared at him. "You're planning on being gone awhile?"

He shrugged. "I don't know how long it's going to take. We might be in the Digital World for a while."

"Then we're going to have to tell our parents," Ken sighed.

Tk nodded. "Yeah, I know." He took a deep breath, "I'll tell Kari's parents, if you tell the others."

Ken nodded. "Sure."

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

Mrs. Hida frowned as she entered her son's room. "Cody, I thought I told you to go to bed?"

Cody turned away from his desktop computer and faced her. Mrs. Hida could immediately tell something was wrong by the look on her son's face. "Cody, what is it?"

"There's something I need to show you," he said. He turned to his bed, "Armadillomon, you can come out now."

Mrs. Hida almost fainted when she saw the yellow digimon emerge from underneath of her son's bed. "Hi."

She stumbled backwards, but found a chair to sit in. "Cody," she gasped, "What…what…?"

Cody went and stood by Armadillomon. "Mom, this is Armadillomon, he is my digimon partner, and my friend."

"Please ta' meetcha!" the ground digimon waved.

Mrs. Hida stared at her son. "You mean, you're one of those…those…"

"Digidestined, Mom," he said, "And yes, I have been one for a few months now. We've been fighting to save the Digital World and this world from destruction." He sighed deeply, "But now, one of our group has been captured by the bad digimon that we're fighting. I need to go into the Digital World to save her, but I don't know how long I'll be gone."

Mrs. Hida stared at him. "Cody, you can't go!"

"But Mom, I have to. The others need my help! I can't just abandon them!"

His mother was going to protest again, but stopped when she saw the look on his face. She could not help but smile slightly. "Cody, I don't want to lose you the way I lost your father."

Cody looked to the ground, "I know Mom, but…"

She sighed again. "But, you're so much like him. This friend of yours, she means a lot to you?"

"She's our leader Mom, she's the one that found me and taught me what it meant to be a Digidestined."

Mrs. Hida smiled again. "You need to help your friend." She turned to Armadillomon, "Will you take good care of him?"

"Always have," he smiled, "Always will."

"Then go, and I wish you all the luck in the world."

Cody smiled and hugged her. "Thanks Mom."

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Tk was so nervous that he was shaking as he waited in the hallway. The door before him spun open and a very distraught Mrs. Kamiya came running outside. "Kari?" she gasped, then frowned when she saw that it was not her daughter, but a blond haired boy. "I'm sorry, can I help you?"

Tk took a deep breath, "Actually, I think I can help you."

Mrs. Kamiya was confused. "You're not…selling anything, are you?"

"No, Mrs. Kamiya," he mentally slapped himself. He remembered her when he was Matt Ishida, but he had never met her as Tk Takashi. "I know we've never met, but I know your daughter."

"Kari?" she gasped, "Do you know where she is? I came home and she wasn't here! She promised me she wasn't going to go out tonight!"

Tk sighed again. "What I'm going to tell you is probably going to be a shock, but, your daughter is a Digidestined."

The color from Mrs. Kamiya's face drained. She almost fainted backwards, but Tk caught her. The brown-haired woman quickly regained her footing. "She's a Digidestined, just like her brother was?"

Tk had wanted to tell them about their son being reborn as their daughter, but now thought that Kari should be the one to tell them. He had only come to tell them where their daughter was. "Yes," he said, "I am one too, and Kari has been our leader."

"I don't believe it," she said, "This explains why her grades had been slipping so much. She almost didn't graduate High School, and this was because…" She shook her head slightly, "Sorry, I'm rambling. So, where is she?"

Tk took another deep breath. "Earlier tonight, she was captured by the dark forces that we're trying to stop in the Digital World."

Mrs. Kamiya gasped. "You mean she's…?"

"But don't worry," he smiled, "We're going to get her back. I don't know how long we'll be gone, but I wanted to let you know, so you would at least know…I mean, I know it's not very reassuring, but…I just…"

Mrs. Kamiya nodded. "Yes, I understand, thank you."

Tk bowed and turned to leave. "Wait."

He turned back to Mrs. Kamiya. "Yes?"

"I don't even know your name."

"Takeru Takashi, but you can call me Tk."

She smiled. "Tk, please save her."

"I will." He turned and walked down the hall.

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Elecmon sighed as he walked out of his small hut in Primary Village. He could hear more of the newborn babies crying, and he was sure that he knew why. As he ran through the small village until he reached the source of the crying. A group of In-training digimon apparently had been playing a game of pass the ball, but it must have turned very ugly because all of the digimon were now crying, except for one.

Elecmon sighed again as he stared at the lone Koromon who was now bouncing the ball by himself. He walked over to him, "Koromon, did you hurt the others?"

"They asked for it!" he shouted back.

"Koromon, you have been fighting with the others ever since you hatched from you digi-egg. Why do you have so much fighting rage inside you?"

"I don't know," he said, "I just remember fighting and fighting. That's all. My partner is gone, but all he taught me was fighting."

Elecmon looked at him oddly. "What do you mean, 'partner?"

"I don't know, I can't remember."

"Well," he grabbed the ball away from him, "You still were fighting, that's ten minutes of time out."

"No!" he protested.

"Go!"

The Koromon bounced angrily over to the time-out wall. Elecmon sighed as he shook his head. "What am I going to do with him?"

Next: While Davis, Catherine and Derek search for the Key Cards, Tk, Cody and Ken plan an assult on Ladydevimon to rescue Kari. But when a trio of female fatales gets in their way, will the boys be able to break through?