"I…I'm Tai." Tai replied softly. "I'm one of… one of the Digidestioned." His usual cheery voice sounded sad and dull.
"And the other?" Meteoramon asked, looking at the boy in front of her, then to the cliff she had seen the other fall over.
"Her… her name is Sor…Sora." Tai managed to choke out in between sobs.
"She's a Digidestioned too?" Meteoramon persisted to ask. Tai slowly and sadly nodded his head. Meteoramon nodded in acknowledgement then flew back up to the high ledges on the high walls. 'The Digidestioned? I thought they were just a legend. Guess not.' She thought to herself. "You can stay here if you like." She said to the weeping boy below her.
Tai wasn't listening to her. He was too wrapped up in his emotions to think. He realized how he truly felt, but now he couldn't show it to her. He eventually cried himself into a light, restless sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sora opened her eyes and looked around. Her head hurt terribly. 'Where am I?' She thought to herself. Looking around, she remembered what had happened, and she realized that she was on a small overhang on the side of the cliff, in a cave her and Tai had stumbled upon. Standing up, she found that she could almost reach the edge of the cliff. Her mind raced to the image of the Digimon that had knocked her over the cliff. 'I hope Tai is okay.' Sora thought to herself. 'He could've been hurt worse than I am now!'
Sora looked up. "Tai!" She yelled, hoping Tai would hear her call. "Tai?!" her voice bounced hollowly on the rough cave walls.
Tai opened his eyes, thinking and hoping that he had heard Sora call his name. "Tai!?" he heard it again and scrambled to the edge of the cliff.
He looked down and thought he saw the figure of Sora on a small ledge below him. He couldn't be sure because his eyes hadn't fully adjusted to the dark of the cave. "Sora??" He said, his voice strengthening with the hope of seeing her. The dry tears still covered his face from the day before.
"Tai! Down here!" Sora yelled, looking up at Tai's relieved face.
Tai, whose eyes had finally adjusted to the dark, saw Sora and was filled with joy. "Sora, I'll pull you up!" He laid flat on his stomach and reached his hands down, clasping onto Sora's hands. He pulled her half way up, and so he wouldn't lose his balance, sat up, putting his arms around her waist, and pulled her the rest of the way up. In doing this he lost his balance, falling backwards, his arms still around Sora's waist, pulling her backward away from the cliff with him. Sora landed above Tai, her face right above his. Their lips slightly brushed, just enough to make both of them blush.
Sora stood up, still blushing, and sat down beside Tai.
"Sora, are you alright?" Tai asked sheepishly.
"I'm fine thanks to you." Sora replied, causing Tai to blush an even deeper scarlet.
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"I think we should rest. We've been searching for a long time now." Izzy stated. Everyone agreed.
Mimi and Palmon sat down on a large rock; Matt, Izzy, Gabumon, and Tentomon found places on the soft grass; and Joe and Gomamon sat down on a small, moss-covered log. T.K. and Patamon ran around playing a game of tag while Agumon and Biyomon paced back and forth, worrying about their friends.
"Will you two stop pacing already? You're driving me nuts!" Matt said in a sarcastic, irritated, but kind voice.
"Sorry. I'm just so worried about Tai and Sora." Agumon replied. He kept pacing.
"I know. I'm worried too. But your pacing is making me paranoid! Besides, they're probably together somewhere." Matt said, looking at the upset lizard-like Digimon that was Tai's partner, and the pink and blue bird-like Digimon who was Sora's digi-partner. Matt sighed. 'Where could those two be? The whole group seems lost without them. I'm trying my best to lead, but I hate to admit it, but its not the same without them.' He thought to himself.
--------------4-------------
Meteoramon saw Tai pull the girl, Sora, over the cliff. She had heard of the legend of the Digidestioned, and how each of their crests had a special power. She also knew that the power of two specific crests, when combined could cause her to digivolve into her ultimate level. The crests were the crests of Courage and Love. She wondered what crests these two Digidestioned humans had. Thinking this, she spread her wings and let herself lightly drop downward towards the two. Her multicolored tail waved slightly in the air as she descended. She gracefully landed in front of the pair. Sora looked up, surprised.
"I see you have pulled her out." Meteoramon said with as much as a smile she could have with a beak. "I was wondering what crests you two have, because the crests of the legendary Digidestioned work in pairs. I was wondering if your two crests are ones that work together."
"I have the Crest of Courage and Sora…" Tai said, looking over at Sora. "Sora has the Crest of Love." He blushed unnoticeably when he finished the word 'Love'.
"Interesting. Those two crests are the ones that work best together. As a matter of fact, if those two crests unite, I can digivolve." Meteoramon said, looking at Tai and Sora sitting next to each other.
This time Sora spoke up. "What do you mean if the 'crests unite'?" She looked down at her crest, then over at Tai's crest, which was in his hand, and then looked up at Meteoramon in front of her.
"What I mean is, you both have to show the virtues of the crests, in this case, you both have to show courage, and you both have to show love at about the same time." Tai and Sora looked at each other. Meteoramon turned around to walk to the other side of the cave, when Tai and Sora both noticed the same thing about Meteoramon at the same time.
"Wait!" Sora called.
"Meteoramon!" Tai said in amazement.
"The markings on your wings. There's a heart for the Crest of Love, and a star for the Crest of Courage!" Sora said, standing up. Tai stood up beside her.
"Yes. Those to crests work together so I can digivolve." Meteoramon answered looking back at them. "With your help I can digivolve, and we can defeat the evil here."
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"We have to keep going. Way op there is a cave we haven't checked yet!" Matt said to the group of exhausted Digimon and kids. "We can go in and rest when we get there."
They slowly trudged forward towards the large cave. It had already been more than a week since the storm that had separated them so no one was expecting to find Sora or Tai anytime soon. ~----------~----------~---------~ 'Why can't I tell her how I feel?' Tai thought to himself. 'Even after what happened when I pulled her over the cliff I can't bring myself to tell her how I truly feel, that I love her. Why does it have to be so hard? I think about her all the time. Tai stop that! Think of something else, like… where the others could be. Argh, thinking about the others makes me think of how I got here, which makes me think of Sora!' Tai looked over at Sora, who was talking quietly to Meteoramon. 'Stop looking at Sora, Tai! If she catches me, I'll die!' Tai thought to himself, shaking his head to get his thoughts under control.
"Tai? Tai are you alright?" Sora asked, walking carefully up to Tai. She had seen him shaking his head.
Tai looked up, but he didn't direct his eyes toward the one speaking to him. Instead he focused on the harsh cave wall behind her. "Tai?" Sora said, noticing that he wouldn't look at her. She was also afraid to look into his dark, breath-taking brown eyes. She was surprised though that he hadn't looked at her. "Tai, I saw you shaking your head. Is something wrong?" She gazed worriedly at him. She wanted to comfort him, but she didn't know how.
"I'm…I'm fine Sora, really. Don't worry." He replied, sensing the concern in her voice. His dark brown eyes glanced quickly at her in front of him, then to her crest, which was on her chest. He quickly looked down at his own crest, still in his hand.
Meteoramon looked on from where she was. She looked down at Tai's crest in his hands, the plain, unglowing crest. She felt sad that she couldn't help the two humans to make their crests glow in unison. She knew that they had to do it themselves.
Sora sighed softly and looked at Tai, who was looking at his crest. "Oh, if you're okay." She sadly said, beginning to walk back to Meteoramon, who was a few feet away.
Tai jerked his head up to look at the girl he cared so much about. "Sora…" He said softly. Sora quickly looked back at him, concerned about him again. Their eyes slowly met.
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"Are we at the cave you guys were talking about, oh, like 10 minutes ago?" Mimi whined, stopping to rest for about the millionth time.
"Mimi, we'd already be there if we didn't have to keep stopping for you!" Matt shot back angrily.
"All of these plants are aggravating my allergies. Achoo!!" Joe said, sneezing violently. Gomamon came up to his friend and rubbed his back.
"It's okay, Joe. We're almost there, see?" Gomamon said, pointing towards the large cave, looming in front of them.
"Yay! Lets go in and rest!" T.K. yelled, running towards the cave, Patamon in tow. Matt ran after him, with everyone trailing behind him.
--------------5-------------
"What is it Tai?" Sora said softly, her eyes clouding over with concern. Tai slowly stood up.
"I…I want to tell you something Sora." Tai said, trying to calm his fear and settle the lump in his throat. But before him or Sora could say anything else, much to their surprise T.K. burst in with the rest of the group. Tai and Sora looked over in astonishment; Meteoramon flew back up on to the high ledge. Matt stopped in his tracks when he saw Sora and Tai, causing everyone to crash into him. T.K. just ran up to Sora and Tai, happy to see them again.
"Hey Matt! Why'd you stop?" Joe mumbled from beneath the pile of people and Digimon.
"It's Sora and Tai!" Matt replied, getting up from the pile. He walked towards them smirking slightly.
"Sora?!" Biyomon cried, jumping out of the pile and racing towards her friend. Her blue eyes sparkled with excitement and joy to see Sora again. She jumped into her arms almost knocking her into Tai, who also had been bombarded by his Digimon friend, Agumon.
After the group had all exchanged stories (all except what happened between Sora and Tai), everyone sat down beside a warm campfire. T.K. sat by his brother Matt, Izzy was on T.K.'s other side. To the right of Izzy was Tai, beside him sat Sora. Mimi was sitting beside Sora and Joe, leaving Joe sitting on the other side of Matt. This arrangement meant that Matt was across the fire from Tai and Sora, and he still had the 'smirk' on his face. 'I wonder what happened in here between those two while we were looking for them.' Matt thought to himself. Meteoramon decided not to bother the group, so she hid high in the ledges of the cave.
Outside the stars shone like diamonds in the dark sapphire sky. The dim, golden glow of the embers washed a pale light over the group as they laid down to sleep. Tai and Agumon, who had been put on guard duty, stretched out near the entrance of the cave. The bright moon illuminated the shadowy forest outside of the cave. Agumon yawned, struggling to keep his eyes open. Tai saw this and smiled.
"Go to sleep Agumon. I can keep watch by myself." Tai said looking over at his weary friend. Agumon nodded approvingly, but didn't fall asleep right away.
Tai looked out the entrance of the cave and was bored instantly. Watching the forest wasn't quite the most exciting thing. His eyes slowly wondered to look at his friends sleeping inside the cave. He couldn't help but look at Sora, who looked like an angel, the pale moonlight dappling over her thin body. Biyomon was curled up next to her as she silently slept. Agumon sat up, noticing Tai's gaze move from the forest to his friends.
"Tai, you're supposed to be watching outside, not inside. Is there something interesting in there?" Agumon whispered, startling Tai. Tai quickly jerked his head towards Agumon.
'Oh man. I hope Agumon didn't see who I was looking at.' Tai thought to himself. "I was just checking to see if the others are okay." He quickly replied.
"Okay Tai." Replied Agumon as he lay back down to sleep. Tai sighed with relief, once again looking out the entrance of the cave onto the shimmering sky.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A huge, black, shadowy Digimon, with brown leathery wings on his back, and two curved, sharp horns on his head; sat, thinking of what evil Digimon he could manipulate to destroy the Digidestioned. The same Digidestioned who had beaten Devimon, Etemon, and Myotismon, three very strong, very evil Digimon. His long, curved, sharp claws scratched impatiently at the arm of his throne as he waited for his servant, Myteramon, to arrive.
The small, mantis like Digimon flew in, his white insect-like wings flapping furiously to keep his spiny body aloft. His front legs were like sharp knives, or scythes, which he used to slice his enemies. His hind legs were strong with small, poisonous barbs on them. These spines also lined his back, making him a very dangerous opponent. His legs were like raptor legs, thin and very agile, which he could balance his stocky, spine covered body. He uses these legs to chase his prey at lightning speed, for he was sluggish in flight, mostly hovering about in the air. Myteramon is tough, even though he is about 3½ feet tall; he can defeat almost any Digimon he faces.
Myteramon landed swiftly in front of the large, dark Digimon in front of him, bowing slightly. "You called for me Durasythedamon? What do you wish of me?" He said, looking up into the stone cold eyes of his master.
"Myteramon, tell me what you have found out about the Digidestioned,"
"The children are on the small island of Monitora. You're servant Rhydamon has been defeated by Meteoramon."
"Where are they now?" Durasythedamon growled coldly.
"Right now 7 of them and their digimon are in Meteoramon's cave, a little off from the beach. The 8th child and her Digimon are not too far away from them. They will meet soon. Corchirmon, who you have put in charge of the island, is ready for your approval for the plan to begin." Myteramon answered authoritatively. "Al parts of the plan is ready."
Durasythedamon nodded approvingly. Myteramon was his most loyal subject and that for a reason. He was also much more intelligent and less foolish and rash, unlike most other Digimon. "Very good. When they are all together, send Corchirmon out."
Myteramon nodded, and flew confidently out of the room. 'Very good, all is ready.' Durasythedamon thought, standing up on his long, dragon-like legs. He raised his long, thin, black and red tail, glancing at its triple spiked tip. Spreading his huge leathery wings, he laughed a dark, evil laugh.