Last edited Oct20, 2004

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or Cardcaptors. All rights to Digimon go to the people who created and produced it. Rights to Cardcaptors go also to the people who created and produced it – Nelvana in North America, and CLAMP in Japan. This story was only written for fun and not profit. Do not steal the plot though, as that is mine.

A.N. '...' Means someone's thoughts. I wasn't sure how old Sakura is near the beginning of the series, but I wanted her and TK to be the same age, so I made them both 12. Also, I am a person who only has access to the North American versions of both shows. Please don't be upset it I use the N.A. first names. I tried to keep them in character as much as possible, but I totally changed the Digimon plotline so there are bound to be differences – it's writer's prerogative. Set around beginning of the second season of Cardcaptors.

Wings of Hope

Chapter 1 – Change and Loss

Piedmon was laughing. At the very top of the magically suspended rope, TK and Kari clung for dear life. Not too far away, Angemon was fighting to save them, though the chances of that seemed bleak. Monsters surrounded him on all sides, and he was struggling just to protect himself. It hardly seemed likely that he would be able to reach the two children in time.

Piedmon laughed, and TK's thoughts ran about in circles. His brother Matt, and all the others who would end up hurt if he didn't do something.

'There has to be a way to beat him. I can't lose anyone else.' Piedmon threw another set of swords at the rope, cutting it off just below TK's feet. There was no place to go except for up, but even the amount of rope above him was running out. The young boy gripped the rope tighter, and wished desperately for a way to beat the evil digimon. His eyes squeezed shut in terror, he didn't even notice when both his crest and Angemon began to glow with a fierce golden light.

'I have to beat Piedmon,' TK thought. Suddenly, the golden light erupted with a flash around Angemon, now so intense that TK could see it behind his closed eyelids. He opened his eyes, only to watch in horror as his digimon condensed into a stream of light, which headed into his crest: The Crest of Hope.

"Angemon, no!" he cried, as one of his best friends seemed to disappear.

'I'm sorry TK, but I have to do this. There is no other way of defeating Piedmon.' Angemon's voice sounded apologetic in his mind. Immediately he felt a burst of power flow into him. He cried out as the golden light that had surrounded Angemon now engulfed him. TK transformed.

His hair grew down to his waist, and was held in place by a gold band across his forehead, with a green gem in the center. His clothes changed into baggy white pants tucked into boots of the same color that came halfway to his knees, with a green and gold band along the top. He also wore a white shirt with sleeves that gathered at the cuffs with green and gold embroidery that resembled vines and stars. Out of all the changes that occurred, two of them were more apparent than the others. The first was the simple fact that he had aged, so that he now appeared to be older – at least twelve, and the second was the large pair of wings that were now on his back.

"I am Hope," he said to Piedmon, who by now had stopped laughing, a nervous expression on his face. "And I am your end."

Reaching out his had, he seemed to grab from thin air a staff. It was crystal with gold vines twining around its length. At the top, the vines split into three, holding in place a glowing green orb. Hope held the staff in front of him and traced a circle shape in the air, leaving behind it a glowing ring of power.

"Justice Ring!" he cried, pointing the end of his staff at the center of the ring. As he shouted his attack, the ring flew forward, wrapping itself about Piedmon before he could dodge it. As soon as it closed itself about the dark master, the ring formed a pillar of light that shot to the sky. When it faded, all that was left were a few sparkling bits of data.

Turning around, Hope faced the key chains that had been his friends. Not to far from them, Kari had climbed down from the rope and fainted. Pointing his staff at his friends, he whispered "Cleansing Light." The key chains glowed briefly, and turned back into the living children, who now lay unconscious on the ground. Looking at their crumpled bodies, he came to a decision.

"It would be better if they didn't remember this," he said softly. "Any of this. Or me, for I can never completely return to what I once was." His thoughts settled briefly on an image of himself at the summer camp, laughing at one of his brother's jokes not long before they had been transported to the digital world. He hadn't known then of the mess that would begin all so soon.

Raising his staff once more – 'the last time' he thought to himself – he prepared use his magic once more. This time, it used no words, no special effects. The seven digi-destined children just seemed to fade away back into their own world.

He sighed, looking even older than his apparent eleven year at the moment.

'I cannot go back,' he thought. 'But perhaps I can make myself a new life, for they who were once my family, do not know me anymore. My life will never be what it once was, and neither shall I.'

Extending his senses into the 'real' world, he scanned over various parts of Japan and the rest of the world. Finally, he found a place that seemed the right area to begin anew. A town called Reedington.

Using a little more of his rapidly diminishing energy, he created a small portal and left the digital world, reappearing in a side street of Reedington where there were no people. With a sigh, he finally released the tight grip he had on his power, and felt himself shimmer back to normal – at least as normal as he could be now.

He looked like an ordinary human. His wings had vanished, his clothing had become normal jeans and a t-shirt, and his hair had shortened, now slightly spiky. Although he looked more normal, his mergence with Angemon had been to complete for him to fully change back. He still appeared to be around twelve years old, and he continued to have knowledge beyond his true years.

"Oh well." He muttered, starting to walk towards the more populated area of town. 'I knew that I couldn't change completely back. I'm lucky that I didn't keep the wings.'