Come back, Sora!

            Sora looked up and saw Biyomon above her. Sora was getting worried, and Biyomon could feel Sora's impatience growing. Biyomon circled one last time and landed next to her human companion.

"Sora, we'll find the others, don't worry!" the pink bird said to the nearly 6" tall girl.

"I know, but, I can't stand not knowing where they are!" Sora could feel her face burning. Tai was late! Biyomon knew the reason why Sora was so impatient, and let Sora know this.

"Don't worry! Tai will be here soon!" The bird looked into Sora's eyes, letting her know that she knew. Sora smiled at her companion's attempt to cheer her up.

"Thanks, Biyo. I know, but..." Sora's voice trailed off, and the girl drifted into thought. Biyomon also drifted into thought, and they both didn't say anything for a long time.

"Sora! Hey, there you are!" Tai yelled across at Sora and Biyomon. Agumon was with him.

Sora looked up, saw Tai and smiled. "What took you so long?"

Tai sighed. "Mr. Fugiama came in just as I was about to leave. He asked why I was there. I had to tell him that my computer's battery was dead, and I needed to borrow a replacement. Then I left, and waited for Mr. Fugiama to leave. It took forever!"

Sora smiled again. "Where are the others?" Biyomon asked Tai.

"Um, Biyomon, the others aren't coming. We wanted to spend some time together, here in the digiworld. Besides, Mimi has work to do in the US, Izzy is putting in a new computer, Joe is taking the day off, Matt has a concert today, and Kari is at a friend's. It's just the four of us, today." Sora looked at Biyomon again.

"Oh, I understand." Biyomon said as Sora picked her up and hugged her.

"Thanks, Biyo!" Sora said. Tai smiled.

"Hey, Agumon, are you hungry? I brought lunch! I even brought some birdseed for you, Biyomon! You want some?" Tai smiled at Biyomon as he spoke.

"Yeah, sure! What kind is it?" Biyomon looked at the bag that Tai brought. Tai opened the bag, and Biyomon looked in.

"Ooh, sunflower seeds!" Biyomon almost shook with joy, as she dived into the bag. "I love sunflower seeds!" Tai burst out laughing, shortly followed by Sora and Agumon.

            A few hours later, the sun was getting low, and the sky was turning orange and red. "Well, I think it is time to go home," Tai said to the small group.

"Yeah, I'm tired," Sora agreed. Biyomon was sleeping in Sora's lap, and Agumon was curled up by the small fire that Tai had made. "Too bad the others didn't come. They would be having a great time," Sora thought aloud. "I bet Mimi and Palmon would be having a blast annoying Joe, and Izzy would be figuring out another of his mysteries on his computer. And Matt would be playing his harmonica, with Gabumon sitting next to him." Sora sighed, and looked into Tai's eyes.

"You're right. I miss the old days, almost..." Tai trailed off, and his gaze turned to the stars, now out and shining in the warm darkness. "Too bad we were never able to relax, back then..." Tai sighed again.

Sora looked at Tai, and thought about the old days, when they were fighting for two worlds. She remembered how she was furious at Tai in the pyramid when Tai was acting like an idiot, and how she had been sick and tired of Mimi's whining, and the surprise when she found out that Kari was the 8th digidestined. Sora looked up, and was startled to see that it was now really dark.

"Tai, it's getting really late!" Sora felt a rush, knowing that her Mom would be furious at her for not coming home on time.

Tai jumped up. "Okay, let's go!" He yelled just a little too loud, and Agumon woke with a start, and Biyomon stirred.

"Wha... Sora, what's going on?" Biyomon asked, concern in her voice.

"It's okay, Biyo. We have to go home now, okay?" Sora looked down at the pink bird and sighed. "I'm sorry. We're late, and have to go."

"Can I go with you?" Biyomon asked Sora.

Sora looked down. "I don't think you can. I..." Sora let her voice drift off. "We have to go, okay?"

"Okay." Biyomon said, looking dejected. Sora picked her up and started walking. Tai and Agumon were right behind them. After a few minutes, they came to the clearing with the digiport in it that they used to enter the digiwold. Tai immediately knew that something was wrong. There was the smell of smoke in the air, and there was evidence of fire in the woods right along side of the small clearing.

"Something is wrong. This wasn't burned when we were here earlier," Tai said grimly. Sora hurried to the spot where the Digiport was supposed to be. All that she found was a crater, still smoking and warm.

            'Oh, no! Now we are stranded!' Sora thought to herself. As her panic subsided, she thought more clearly. 'Don't worry, we have been in worse situations before. Just keep calm, keep calm.' Sora looked up at Tai. Tai had a similar look on his face to how Sora felt.

"We're stuck here! Did you bring your computer? Oh, wait, I'll use mine." Sora watched as Tai reached in his pocket and pulled out his computer. He tapped away and hit the send button. 'I hope the others get the mail, they might all be asleep.' Sora drifted into thought, and she jumped when Tai announced that Izzy had replied. 'Oh, thank you, Izzy!' Sora thought as she smiled at Tai. "You can count on Izzy to be awake playing Trigonometry Trivia at this time at night!" Sora said to Tai. Tai laughed in reply.

Biyomon woke in Sora's arms and hopped groggily to the ground. Her eyes went wide in surprise. "Oh, no! We are in danger!" The little bird squawked to Sora and Tai. She quickly pulled Sora and Tai away from the clearing, into the woods.

"Biyomon! Wait, we'll get lost!" Sora pleaded to Biyomon.

"It's better than being dead," Biyomon retorted, startling Sora and Tai. Agumon nodded agreement.

            Izzy was able to get all of the other digidestined awake and to his house. He had to plead with several parents to get their kids out of bed to meet him. He addressed the whole group standing in front of him. "Listen up everyone! You all got Tai's SOS email, right? Well, I replied and got more information. Sora and Tai are stranded in the digiworld. They need our help, and a minute ago, I got another update from Tai. He says that they are in real danger, according to Biyomon and Agumon. We have to help them!"

Gasps came up around Izzy's room. Matt was the first on to speak. "But what about Mimi? Does she know about this?" Matt asked Izzy.

"Yeah, I talked to her on the phone. She is already waiting for us, and as soon as we are ready, she will meet us in the digiworld." Izzy's face grew taught, and he looked really stressed. "That isn't our biggest problem. The gate that Sora and Tai used to enter the digiworld, well, it has been destroyed, along with almost all of the others in the digiworld." The shocked faces of the others mirrored Sora's, at that moment, in the digiworld.

            "Biyomon, digivolve!" Sora yelled to her digimon. She was being chased by a strange digimon, who was able to emit a huge ball of fire every minute or so. It roared, and spat a ball of flame at Biyomon, who was starting to digivolve. The ball missed, but just barely.

"Biyomon, digivolve to... Birdramon! Sora, Tai! Grab on!" The giant bird flew down and the two digidestined grabbed on to her feet, with Agumon on the foot with Tai. Birdramon then climbed into the sky, heading away from the big spire that she had spotted.

"I've found them, but they are heading the wrong way!" Yolei cried out. She was really worried now, her friends were going away from help. They were falling into the Kaizer's hands, and they didn't even know it!

            "Excellent! Those small minded kids are being cooperative for once!" Ken smiled his evil smile, and started to send his skirmish forces to drive the two fleeing digidestined further into his trap.

            After neatly avoiding two of the Kaizer's "traps", Birdramon was finding herself really tired. "Sora, I'm getting tired! I need to land!" Birdramon could feel her energy disappearing. She started her decent, and turned as a ball of fire came up on a collision course. Tai desperately looked around, trying to see a dark spire in the dark of the night. Upon seeing none, he yelled to Agumon.

"Agumon! Digivolve!" Tai's voice was barely audible to Agumon, as the wind whipped over his body.

Agumon perked up, then called out. "Agumon, digivolve to... Greymon!" Right before he had started to digivolve, Agumon had leapt from Birdramon's foot. Greymon now was in free fall, and decided to go further. "Greymon, digivolve to... Metalgreymon!" Metalgreymon's body took the force of the fireball coming for Birdramon. He barely even noticed it. He spotted the small digimon that had launched the attack at him. "Giga blaster!" Two missiles arched toward the small digimon, who just stood and stared.

            "We have to help them!" Davis cried out. Demiveemon sat and stared at him.

"Davis, we can't get to them." Matt argued with Davis. "And even if we could, we couldn't see them in the dark!"

"But... But..." Davis sputtered out. He looked dejected, also.

"Hey, what were Tai and Sora doing in the Digiworld, anyways?" Yolei asked from in front of the computers. Cody's computer was networked in with Izzy's and Yolei's computers, giving them some major processing power.

"I don't know..." Was Izzy's reply. He looked at Matt. Matt blushed.

"Don't look at me! Tai didn't tell me anything! He just asked if I wanted to go with him to the digiworld. I wanted to go, but I had a concert!" Matt confessed.

"I got invited, too." Joe spoke, and everybody turned to look at him. "Tai said that he was going to spend the day in the digiworld, but I had a conflict when they were leaving. I know that Mimi had some major sale, or something, to attend to, so she wasn't able to go either." Cody nodded agreement.

"I was also invited, but I had Kendo practice, and Grandpa would be very disappointed if I didn't show up for it." Cody looked down. "I guess I let them down, again..."

"No, Cody! We all had things to do, and you aren't to blame! Besides, I think we can help them now!" Yolei pointed to the computer screen.

On the screen, there were lots of squares. There weren't many black ones anymore, but there were some blinking squares. Yolei explained the screen to the others, who didn't understand what they were seeing. "All of the black squares are areas with dark spires, right? And the white ones are clear, right? Well, if any square is blinking red, there is no way for us to get to it. They are the squares with no digiport. There used to be three areas with no digiport, but now more than half of them have been destroyed." Yolei pointed to a square that was blinking green, then red, them white. "That square is Tai and Sora. See, they were here a minute ago." Yolei pointed to an adjacent square, blinking red and white. "This is where they will be in 20 minutes, if they keep going the same speed and direction," Yolei said as she pointed to a white square, right next to hundreds of black squares. In every direction, for hundreds or areas, they were blinking red.

            "Sora, hurry up! They are gaining!" Tai called back to Sora, who was carrying Biyomon as she ran. Agumon was barely keeping up with Tai, and both were feeling very tired. It was now about three hours since sundown. They were still being followed, Tai was sure. He had seen the digimon, who had thwarted all of their attempts to divert from the direction they were going.

"Biyomon! Are you okay? Biyomon!" Sora called to her sleeping digimon, feeling a tear run down her cheek. Sora hated the ground now, and it wasn't even anymore. There was a hill on her left, and mountains in front of them. Sora was about to give up, and call to Tai to stop running, when she spotted a cave.

"Tai! Tai! Over here! A cave!" Sora saw Tai turn, and run back to the cave. Agumon came in right after Tai. They all slumped down against a wall, and sleep came quickly for Sora.

"They have stopped moving!" Yolei cried to the others, who were for the most part, sleeping. Demiveemon was perched on her shoulder, watching the screen. Then the dot on her screen disappeared.

            "What?! What do you mean, they are gone?" Ken yelled in rage at Wormmon.

Wormmon shuddered. "Master! Please! They were there one minute, then gone the next!"

Ken considered this. "Very well, search that area thoroughly. Don't stop until they are found! And, I want them ALIVE!" Ken turned and walked briskly out of the room, leaving a shuddering Wormmon in his tracks.

            Sora saw everything! Everything! It scared her, and she wanted to scream, but she couldn't. Then, dark. Tai! Where was Tai? She couldn't see him! Where was he? What about Matt? He was there, but too distant. She felt like crying, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned, and saw Mimi. Mimi? Oh, yes, Mimi! Mimi opened her arms to Sora, and Sora--

"Sora! Sora, wake up! Sora!" Sora's eyes fluttered open, and she was staring into Tai's eyes. She smiled up to his face, and he helped her stand up. "We have to get going! The sun is up already! I've been talking to Yolei by email, and we have to go back the way we came! That is the way to the closest digiport."

Sora yawned, them turned to Tai. "Okay, lets get moving." Sora turned to Biyomon. "Biyomon, are you ready?" The little pink bird turned to Sora and nodded.

"I'm ready!" Agumon said before he could be questioned. Tai nodded and walked to the door. Sora followed him, with Biyomon next to her. Tai peeked out into the woods around them. There were tons of Digimon here and there, looking for them! Boy, the digimon Kaizer really wanted them! Agumon looked especially nervous, and Sora didn't blame him. Tai pulled out his computer again.

            "Izzy, I got another email from Tai. They are in a cave, and they can't get out of it. There are evil digimon looking for them!" Yolei let the tension into her voice. Izzy glanced up at her.

"Well, have they explored the rest of the cave for other exits?" Izzy looked at Yolei again. She blushed.

"I'll ask them if they have." Yolei turned and typed again on the computer. Izzy got an idea and went over to Cody's computer and started to type on it.

            After bumping around in the dark, Sora finally gave up. "I can't find any other way out of here. It's too dark." Agumon looked up at her.

"Stand aside! I'll light the way! Pepper Breath, poi!" The ball of fire went down the cave, lighting it up. There was a door! Then the light went out as the ball of flame hit the wall. Sora walked up to the door, and put her hand on the handle.

"Well, here goes nothing..." She turned the handle, and pulled. At first, nothing happened. Then she turned and pushed. The door slid open without a sound.

In front of Sora lay a lighted tunnel. It was perhaps 7 feet tall, and 4 feet wide. Tai gasped, and Biyomon's eyes got really big.

            "Hey, it worked! They found a way out of the cave!" Yolei turned to Izzy, and smiled. Izzy glanced at her, smiled, and went back to work. Yolei went to the bathroom and cleaned her glasses, just to get up and walk around. She was tired, and hadn't slept much last night. Every hour she had checked for mail from Tai, and half an hour after that Izzy had done similarly. Both had sleep lines on their faces.

            "Oh, I wish I could help out! I am part of the team, right?" Mimi sat in her room, in front of her computer. It was getting late, and her dad didn't want her to stay up too late.

"Mimi! Two hours until bedtime!" Her father called up to her.

"Okay, daddy!" Mimi called back. She sighed and slumped down on her desk, next to her keyboard.

            "What do you mean, they got away?!" Ken was in a rage again. Wormmon was ready for it, and he had some good excuses ready. "I guess I'll have to do it myself, then. Summon my air force at once!" Ken turned and departed without waiting for a reply.

            "That stupid Kaizer! What does he want with Sora and Tai, anyways?" Davis said. The door opened, admitting TK and Kari. TK was holding Patamon, and Gatomon was with Kari.

"Any word from my brother?" Kari asked, worried. She had just gotten home from the sleep-over and found her Mom worried sick. The night before, Joe had thought of calling Sora's mom and telling her that Sora was at his house. They weren't able to reach Tai's Mom, though. Kari then checked her mail, and saw the SOS from Tai. Then she mailed Yolei and got the story.

"We have to go get them! They don't stand a chance against the Kaizer's Army alone! They need help!" TK said. Izzy turned and told TK about the digiports being destroyed. TK looked defeated, as did Kari. Kari looked like she was about to cry, then hid her emotions. To Izzy, she had a grim look of determination.

Yolei was about to freak out! She had tried everything, yet she couldn't locate the two missing digidestined and their companions. She knew they were okay from the emails, but she still felt helpless. She reset the search parameters on the computer, and started the search over again.

            "Do those fools think they can escape me forever? Hah! I know every hiding place in the digiworld! I will find them!" Ken's mount roared and sailed higher in to the sky.

            Biyomon was feeling sick. She yearned to see the sky again, feel the wind on her wings, and bask in the warm glow from the sun. She sighed, for the hundredth time.

"Hey, the end of the tunnel! I can see light! We made it!" Tai exclaimed.

Sora looked up, and saw the light. They hurried down to the end of the tunnel, just to find a vertical wall. They were trapped, again.

            "There they are! I found them!" Yolei yelled. Izzy and Joe were there in a flash. There was now a green dot, in a clear area, with a digiport! "Guys, we're going to the digiworld!"

            "Hey, the others are coming to rescue us!" Tai said from his computer. Biyomon flew up the wall, and came down again.

"All clear. There is a forest, like the one we were in earlier, but nicer. I can see the digiport, too!" Biyomon shared some other observations with the small group.

            Matt, Izzy, Joe, TK, Kari, Cody, Yolei, and Davis came through the digiport at the same time. Soon after Mimi appeared. Yolei looked at her D3 and saw three dots coming towards them fast. "Hey, Tentomon, Gabumon, and Gomamon have found up!" And, true to her words, the three digimon came over the crest of a hill towards them. Then, after a moment, Palmon came over too.

"What about Micheal?" Yolei asked.

"He has midterms, and can't come." Mimi explained.

"We need to help Sora and Tai." Matt told the group. They all moved to the wall and looked down. Sora, Tai, and Agumon looked up at them. Biyomon landed next to the edge of the hole. Izzy pulled out some rope from Yolei's bag, and threw it down to Tai. Agumon grabbed and climbed out on his own. He was soon followed by Sora, and then Tai.

"Wow, thanks for the help, guys. We really needed it!" Tai smiled at the others as Kari came up to him. He opened his arms, and they hugged.

"I missed you, big brother!" Kari said as she ran and hugged Tai.

"Yeah, I missed you too. Now lets go home!" As Tai turned to go to the digiport, it exploded! A digimon stood off to the side of the group, a line of smoke rising from his hand.

            "Master, I've found them!" Wormmon said to Ken.

"Very good. Now, bring me Agumon!" Ken demanded to Wormmon.

"Yes, right away, master!" Wormmon turned and spoke to the digimon in the area. He got a report, and turned back to Ken. "Master," Wormmon started.

"What? And this had better be good, Wormmon!" Ken glared at Wormmon.

"Please, master! The other digidestined are with the two that you were chasing yesterday." Ken considered this for a moment.

"Destroy them!" Ken ordered, grim determination on his face.

            The big Digimon in front of them turned, and a huge ball of flames formed in his hand. He then hurled it at the group, who were already diving out of the way. Sora was knocked back, and hurled into a tree. Her ribs hurt, and she saw red dots in front of her. The others had fared better than she had, and all were up on their feet. Sora's head cleared, and she stood with the others. All of the digimon had digivolved, except Biyomon. Biyomon was laying next to Sora, and didn't look too good.

"Biyomon!" Sora cried as she picked her digimon up. Biyomon stirred in her arms.

"I'm okay, Sora." Biyomon's eyes cleared, and she looked ready to fight. "Let me fight, Sora! I'm okay!"

"Are you sure, Biyo?" The pink bird nodded and hopped to the ground.

"Biyomon, digivolve to... Birdramon!" Birdramon flew over Sora, then flew forward to the group. Sora ran to Tai's side, and she looked at the digimon they were facing. The odds were lopsided; six champion, one ultimate, and four co-champion digimon verses one evil digimon. This must have been a Mega, because it defeated the others with little difficulty. Greymon was getting pummeled, so Tai had him digivolve again. Sora stood up to call to Birdramon when a huge ball of flame hit the ground in front of her, spewing burning twigs and leaves into Sora's face.

"Sora!" Tai cried, feeling a pouring of emotion go through him. This sent Metalgreymon into a frenzy, and he went Mega. Sora opened her eyes, saw Birdramon getting slammed around by this evil Mega digimon. She got up, and ran to get closer to Birdramon.

"Birdramon, digivolve!" Sora's chest started to glow, and the symbol of the crest of love stood out. Birdramon glowed also, and went Ultimate. Another ball of flames came toward Sora, only this time it hit a stream in front of her. Boiling water shot into the air, and into Sora's eyes and face. Pain ripped through her body, from her face down. Garudamon writhed in pain from the attacks just inflicted upon her, and her companion. Tai, Matt, and Mimi gasped in shock, seeing Sora fall to the ground. To Sora, everything went black.

            Sora woke in a bed, not her bed. Her bed wasn't this soft. She was wearing someone else's clothes, and they didn't fit right. Sora moaned softly, and heard someone walking to her side. Her eyes were wrapped in gauze, and hurt very badly. They were also swollen, and that added to the pain.

"Sora, are you okay?" That was Mimi's voice! Sora was dizzy for a moment, before she was able to sit up on her own.

"Mimi, wha... What happened? Where am I? What happened to my eyes?!" Sora felt herself start to panic. She trembled, and felt like she was in hell. A hand on her shoulder helped calm her.

"The fight is over. You were hit by some hot water. I'm really sorry, Sora..." Sora felt like crying, and almost did. Then she felt Mimi getting closer, and opened her arms. The two friends hugged, and Sora relaxed.

Sora talked on the phone with Matt. Tai had some really big problems, and was busy. Matt didn't tell Sora what the reason was. Sora felt even more afraid. Was Tai hurt? Was he going to ever talk to Sora again? Sora's mind was overwhelmed with fears, and she started to cry.

"Sora, what's wrong?" A concerned voice said to her ear.

Sora gripped the phone receiver even tighter. "Matt, I'm... I'm really scared. I don't know what to do!" Sora sobbed into the phone.

"I know," Matt said. "I'm scared, too, Sora." Matt wanted to say more, but his father interrupted him.

"Matt! Time for school!" Matt looked at the clock next to his bed, and felt panic well up inside him.

"Sora, I-I gotta go to school. I'll talk to you later... Bye." He waited to hear Sora's reply, then hung up.

Tears ran down Sora's cheeks. Once again, she was all alone. Mimi walked into the room, and saw Sora's tears.

Mimi walked over to Sora and gave her another hug. "You will be okay, Sora! I promise!" Mimi whispered into Sora's ear.

Sobbing, Sora hugged Mimi back. She trembled in Mimi's arms, and the two rocked slowly back and forth. Sora could feel the evening sun on her back, and it helped calm her. After a long time, Sora was able to sit by herself. Mimi helped her undress, and then put on nightclothes.

As Mimi tucked Sora in, she whispered "I love you," into Sora's ear.

            Sora woke in the morning. The air was still cool, and the wind blew gently outside. In the next room, she could hear Mimi talking on the phone, in Japanese. She got up slowly, and stepped out of bed. She walked to the door, careful not to walk into the wall. She found the door by feeling along the wall, it was open.

"...We will leave in a few minutes, so I gotta go now. Bye, Matt." Mimi listened to the receiver for a minute, then hung up. Sora heard the click of the phone as it went back onto its hook. "Oh, Sora! You're awake! How was your night?" Mimi walked over to Sora.

"Okay... How are Matt and the others?" Sora asked Mimi.

"Well, they are all really busy. Matt has another concert tonight, and their drummer isn't going to make the show, and that has Matt worried."

Mimi went on about Matt's band for a short time, and then switched into a serious voice. "Sora, we are going to go to the optometrist in a few minutes. Daddy made an appointment this morning, and they will examine your eyes." While Mimi talked, she guided Sora back to the room Sora slept in. Sora removed her nightgown, and Mimi helped her put on some day clothes. Then Mimi took Sora out to the living room, and Sora met Mimi's father. After a brief introduction, the three got into the Tachikawa family car and drove into see the eye doctor.

            "Okay, the wait is ten minutes. Have a seat and wait to be announced," the receptionist told Mimi. Sora let herself be guided to a chair, where the she sat down.

"Don't worry! You will be okay!" Mimi whispered to Sora.

"I hope so..." Sora replied quietly. Sora was really nervous, and Mimi felt her friend's tension. She took Sora's hand, and held it. Sora relaxed, slowly, and let her friend comfort her. The ten minutes passed before Sora realized the time was up.

            "Okay, now please look up," the doctor instructed Sora. Sora rolled her eyes into her head. "Okay, now look ahead..." Sora felt the doctor's hand lightly grip her jaw. The hand gently moved her head to the side. "Okay, I'm almost done now. I have some eye drops to put in, so please tilt your head back."

Sora pointed her nose at the ceiling. A drop of cold fluid dropped into her eye, making her jump slightly. It was very cold!

"Okay, and now for the other one," the doctor droned on. A second drop entered her other eye.

The doctor stood up, and walked out of the room. The door closed behind him, and there was silence in the room. After about five minutes, Sora heard the door open again, and Sora heard several pairs of feet enter.

"It's me, Sora," Mimi spoke gently. "Daddy and the doctor are with me." Sora felt her pulse quicken as her anticipation grew. Sora's temples throbbed, along with her heart.

The optometrist took a breath, and then spoke. "I have some good news, and some bad news. First the good news. Sora, you eyes will get better. They weren't injured that badly. You will be able to see again." He took a breath, about to continue.

"Well, is that it?" Mimi demanded of the eye care specialist.

The optometrist sighed. "The bad new is, your vision won't come back for a long time. The damage isn't permanent, but it is to a part of the eye that doesn't heal quickly. It may be a month or more before you can see again. During that time, you will need to keep your eyes out of the light. I'm sorry, but that is the only way, other than a costly operation."

"Oh, Sora," Mimi said gently. Sora felt the blood rush from her head, and she nearly collapsed. She felt relief, fear, shock, determination, and many other emotions flood through her body and mind. Her body went stiff, and Mimi had to steady her.

'I won't be able to go to the digiworld for a month?!' Panic raced through Sora's mind.

"A... Month?" Sora finally was able to speak.

"Yes, and maybe less if you take these eye drops daily," he said as he handed Mimi's dad the small bottle. Sora's mind went into shock, and she totally missed the conversation between Mimi's father and the optometrist. She finally came back to earth when Mimi took Sora's arm and led her out of the examining room, and to the car. The drive to Mimi's house was very quiet, indeed.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, and Mimi had work to do. Sora was all-alone most of the day, and missed sorely needed company. She was about to think of things to do, when a noise startled her.

"Meow!" Came from beside her chair. Startled, Sora jumped. She heard the cat's purring, and felt the feline rubbing up against her chair. Sora reached down, and held her hand out, letting the cat smell her. She could feel the cat's breath, and then the cat rubbed up against her hand. Sora petted the cat, and the cat seemed to like it. It kept rubbing against Sora's hand and chair, and purring softly. Then, suddenly, the cat jumped up on Sora's lap! Sora, surprised, jumped. The cat didn't mind, and curled up in her lap. Sora kept petting the furry animal, and it fell asleep in her arms. It made Sora feel good to have company, and Sora relaxed for a long time. Her shoulders relaxed, most of all. She had been under a lot of stress, and all of it was gone for a short time.

Sora woke suddenly as Mimi opened the door and called, "Sora, I'm home!"

"What time is it?" Sora called to Mimi.

Mimi came into the room, and saw Sora with the cat in her lap. "Oh, you met my cat," Mimi said to Sora. "She is really friendly, isn't she?" Mimi asked Sora.

The cat stirred in Sora's lap, and yawned. She then got up, stretched her back, and hopped off Sora's lap to the floor. Sora listened as the cat walked off.

"I didn't know you had a cat, Mimi. You never told me, anyway," Sora commented to her friend.

"I got her the other day, so I didn't have time to tell you about her. I think you need a nap!" Mimi took Sora's hand, and took her to her room. As they walked down the hall, their digivices started to beep.

"Uh oh," Mimi said as they stopped.

"What is wrong, Mimi?" Sora asked. Fear came over her, and could picture Biyomon injured, or worse.

"Sora, I have to go help the others! I," Mimi stopped short, seeing the look on Sora's face.

"I'm going with you," Sora informed her friend. Mimi was going to protest, say that Sora couldn't fight blind, but something in the way Sora stood stopped her.

Mimi sighed, and then took Sora's arm. The two walked into the computer room, and proceeded to enter the digiworld.

            There was a loud buzzing in the distance, and Sora's ears took offense to it. Mimi also heard the buzzing, and both girls knew it was Flymon. The two friends ran toward the sound, but stopped when the bush in front of them made a noise. "Palmon!" Mimi cried.

"Mimi!" Palmon called back, and the two friends hugged. Sora was left alone, as Mimi and her digimon went through their reunion. Mimi didn't forget Sora, and soon had her hand again. The three moved quickly toward the sound of Flymon, once again.

Flymon was attacking the others, it was soon apparent. They could hear his attacks, even from a distance. The three girls hurried through the forest, Mimi watching out for Sora. Mimi kept Sora from running into trees, and steadied her on uneven ground. Soon, Mimi announced that she could see the group.

"Oh, no! They are getting beaten back! They need help, digivolve Palmon!" Mimi urged her digimon.

"Right! Palmon, digivolve to... Togemon! Hey, Flymon! Care for some... Needle spray!" Togemon's deadly spray hit Flymon, and he disappeared.

"Way to go, Togemon! Now, our friends need help!" As Mimi spoke, Togemon put down her mitts and Mimi helped Sora on one, them she got on the other. With Togemon doing all of the walking, they were able to get to the other side of the clearing faster. Tai and Agumon were laying on the ground, both out of breath. The rest were kneeling, or otherwise resting. "Whoa! What happened to you guys?" Mimi asked the sorry looking group.

Tai stood up, slowly. He finally looked up, and saw Sora. "Sora! I'm, I'm so sorry!" He sounded like he was about to weep. "We... We tried the best we could! But, there were too many of them! The came, and they took Biyomon! We tried, but," at this point Tai broke down. He was tired, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Oh, Tai! You're hurt! What happened?!" Mimi jumped down, off Togemon and ran to his side.

Sora heard a groan, and heard Davis sitting up. "Ouch, that really hurt," he complained to himself. Vmon also was getting up, feeling just like Davis. Mimi went to each of the digidestined and their digimon. All seemed to be okay, other than some bruises and minor cuts. All, that is, except Biyomon. She was gone, and the others had been trying to protect her.

"Excellent, now I have a new digimon to experiment on," Ken the digimon Kaizer said to Wormmon. "Good work, Wormmon, for once." The evil Kaizer struck a thoughtful pose as he thought of his first experiment.

Biyomon lay in the middle of a large room, black ring around her neck. A video camera in the wall transmitted her picture to the Kaizer's control room, where he studied schematics. He was breezing through them, a particular on in mind. Finally finding the one he wanted, he grinned his most evil grin, and pushed a button.

Several minutes later, a new object started to appear in front of the Kaizer. Wormmon entered, and waited a minute before speaking.

"Master," he started. Ken spun around and glared at him.

"This had better be worth my time!" He told his digimon sternly.

Wormmon cringed, then continued. "The digidestined have beaten Flymon, and are on their way here." Wormmon looked at Ken, seeing his face contort in thought.

"They have come looking for their friend, have they? Well, might as well greet them like the deserving guests they are," after a brief pause, Ken turned to Wormmon.

Ken's cape swung out behind him as he swung around and walked out of the room, leaving a startled Wormmon in his tracks. Wormmon groaned and went about his new task with displeasure.

            All of the digidestined rested before starting for the digimon Kaizer's lair. Mimi was leading Sora, once again. They walked as fast as they could, and were making great time. A distant buzzing told them that a new Flymon had come to play. Mimi pulled Sora off the path, and hid her in a small hole in the ground.

Mimi rejoined the others, and all their digimon digivolved. They were prepared for battle. Sora listened to the sounds as digimon attacked and defended. She listened as she heard her friends urging their digimon to digivolve further. Soon, Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon were in the fight, now against Darktyranomon, Airdramon, and other assorted evil digimon. There were also some Megas in the evil lineup, like Machinedramon. Magnaangemon evened up the score somewhat, but the evil digimon were winning.

'If only Garudamon were here! She would have no problem with these digimon! But, the digimon Kaizer has her, and I can't do a thing about it!' Sora thought to herself. She felt like screaming out, using her nails and teeth, but she couldn't. Sora could hear her friends being beaten, and was about to give up on them when the unexpected happened.

The whole world tilted, and all of the digimon were suddenly blasted back into their Rookie forms. Sora was knocked back into the side of the hole she was in, and she could no longer hear the sounds of battle.

Several minutes went by, and Sora didn't hear a thing. She slowly got up and crept out from her hiding place. She felt along the ground as she crawled along. Her hand hit a foot, and she followed the foot to the leg. She soon was feeling for a pulse. With a start, she relived it was TK. His breathing was shallow, but strong and steady. She shook him awake, and he jumped up with a start.

"Oh, Sora..." He said weakly. "Are you all right?"

Sora felt relief. "Yeah, I'm okay. But I don't know about the others," she said.

"They are all okay, I think," TK said as he stood up and brushed himself off. He took Sora's hand and put it on his arm. He led her to a tree, where he let her sit. He sat next to her.

"What happened?" Sora asked him.

TK thought for a moment. "I'm not sure," he said, honestly. "The last thing I remember was seeing Angewomon shoot an arrow of hope at Machinedramon. It collided with his attack, and everything is confusing after that."

Sora thought about it for a moment, then nodded, unknowing if TK would see it or not. "I don't think that was it, TK," Sora thought about what she had felt during the loud blast. "It came from the other direction," Sora trailed off in thought.

TK looked into the sky behind him, and saw a terrible sight. "Sora, you were right. We have to wake the others now!" He jumped up, and got into motion. He woke the others with grim determination and speed.

            "Wormmon, report!" Ken yelled above the chaos that reined the area. The blast that had leveled the battlefield had also shocked the digimon Kaizer's main base of operations.

"Master, I don't know what happened!" Wormmon looked at his controls, adjusting them. Nothing happened, and the loud screaming of the wind, tearing of metal, and roar of fires continued.

Ken took the controls from his digimon. "Lemme see that!" A gasp of shock came from Ken's mouth, and he turned to his master screen. "It can't be!" Ken stuttered. He checked every reading, every setting. "Wormmon, evacuate! Get every evil digimon to the main screen! We will go to my other lab," Ken told his digimon. In the utter chaos, Wormmon forgot about Biyomon in the holding cell.

            Izzy found the closest digiport quickly. Then, everyone, even Mimi, went to Tokyo. They stood in Izzy's room, looking at a computer. A warning on the digiport beeped and a spot on the screen blinked in unison. Izzy quickly went to work, trying to piece together what had happened in the digital realm they had all been trying to protect.

After an hour, Izzy announced that he knew what was happening in the digiworld.

"A virus has infected the host computer for the digiworld. It is damaging and deleting entire areas of the digiworld as we speak," Izzy said. He paused to let Yolei sit down at the other terminal and check his findings. Her eyes went wide, and her face drained of blood.

"Can you stop it?" Tai demanded of his friend. A look of pure helplessness was the answer from Izzy. "But... But what about Agumon, and the others?" He asked, even more fear in his voice.

Izzy turned to his computer. "Well, if I hack the terminal, I might be able to let our other digimon pass, but it would take a while," Izzy said. "Ken did a pretty good job of blocking it," Izzy stopped talking, and focused all of his energy on typing.

            It turned out that Ken would help the others now. In order to get his forces of evil Digimon to the Real world, Ken had to unblock the Digiports in the Digital world. All of the digimon, other than Biyomon, were now in Izzy's room. Yolei tried to locate the pink bird one last time. Izzy had informed the digidestined that the digiworld had three hours until it was nothing other than a blank ball of rock in Digital space.

            Biyomon felt strength flow through her. A pink glow surrounded her, and the dark ring around her neck lost its hold on her. Biyomon found herself free from it, even though it was still around her neck. She quickly spread her wings and flew. "Sora, I'm coming," the pink bird said as loudly as she could muster. The driving winds blew the words away from her beak as fast as she could say them.

            "There goes another one!" All of the digidestined cringed at the report from Izzy. The digiports to and from the digiworld were being deleted, and there was nothing they could do. It took Izzy five minutes to hack the digiport so a digimon could cross, other than the digimon capable of armor digivolving. "Twenty minutes," Izzy read off his watch.

Sora could feel it, deep within her. She knew that Biyomon was going to die, but she felt too helpless to know what to do. Suddenly, she let it all out. "BIYOMON!!!" Sora screamed. Tai was there in an instant. Tears streamed down the girl's face, dropping to the floor. The room went silent, and everyone felt Sora's pain. They all felt her suffering, her love. Sora suddenly started to glow, at first it was faint. Then, as she realized her emotions, the glow intensified. It became blinding to the others, and as suddenly as it came, it dimmed down to almost nothing. The crest of love was outlined on Sora's chest, and Sora ripped the gauze strip off her face. She looked up, her eyes working again. The first thing she saw was the digiport, with Biyomon in it.

Sora ran to the digiport, and the digital gate opened for her. She didn't even have to activate it! Biyomon looked up, and suddenly was in Sora's arms. Tears streamed down the two friend's cheeks.

Izzy looked at his watch. "Two minutes. Not enough time," he said, looking up to Tai, fear in his eyes.

Tai looked at Izzy. "Can you bring them back?" he demanded.

Izzy shook his head. "Tai, Ken put the block back. I will take me at least 10 minutes to hack the terminal again," he said.

"Sora, come back! You don't have time!" Tai yelled to Sora.

Sora looked at Tai. A tear, driven by the wind, fell from her face. "I can't, Tai... I'm sorry. I can't leave Biyomon here alone..." Sora looked at the bird in her arms, and they hugged again. Tai ran to the computer, holding his digivice up to it.

"Digiport, open!" Tai yelled at it. Nothing happened. There were no longer trees in the background, just piles of sand. Dunes, and sand blowing in the wind. Driving, fierce wind. Tai tried to get to the doomed world on the other side of the computer screen again. "Digiport, open!" And again, nothing happened. Tears now streamed down his cheeks, and he dropped his digivice to the ground. He collapsed to his knees.

Sora held Biyomon in her arms, shielding her partner's body from the tearing wind. Sora looked deep into her friend's eyes, and smiled. "Biyomon, I love you..." Sora called to her partner.

Biyomon smiled back, and then pressed her head into Sora's shoulder. The pink glow was back again, now from Sora and Biyomon. The black ring around Biyomon's neck disintegrated into nothing.

All of the other digidestined watched the two stranded girls on the computer screen. Izzy looked at his watch again. His face was grim. Mimi started to openly sob, with Yolei comforting her. Davis left, unable to stand what he was watching. Matt had a look of horror and pain on his face, and his hands shook. Joe was trying to comfort Mimi, and he started to cry openly. Kari was with Tai, in his arms. Tai's face was ashen, tears running down his cheeks, his eyes big and red. TK was slumped against the wall, watching. His face was a mix of horror, and fear. All of the digimon were together in the corner. They all were asleep, devoid of energy.

Tai watched the image. Sora and Biyomon; feathers, skirt, and hair being tugged at by the tearing wind. Sora knew that the end was near, as did Biyomon. Neither of them cared; all that Biyomon knew was that she was spending her last moments with her only friend.

            Ken watched his screen. His face was a mask. No emotion showed, none. "Those two are fools!" He growled and turned away. "Come, Wormmon. I have evil plans to attend to," the Kaizer said as he walked out of the room. Wormmon took one last look at the screen and followed his master out of the room.

            Tai watched the screen through tearful eyes. Sora looked so happy, so peaceful. Then a really big powerful wind ripped through, obstructing the view of the two girls. When the wind died down a bit, and less sand was in the way, Sora and Biyomon were gone.