The Seven Deadly Sinning DigiDestineds

Chapter 1- Picnic

Kari smiled as she leaned back on the patterned blanket underneath her, enjoying the warmth of the sun streaming down on her face between the tree branches high above them. It was a beautiful day for a picnic in the digital world, so the DigiDestineds had jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of one last day of summer before they all started high school tomorrow. Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, and Mimi would all be seniors this year. Joe would be beginning his first day at the university. She and T.K. would be freshman, along with Davis, Yolei, and Ken. Cody would be the only one still in junior high.

Today though, it was only the eight original DigiDestineds. Ken and Davis had made the freshman soccer team and had practice all day so they hadn't been able to come on the picnic. Davis would have much rather been picnicking than practicing, but, luckily, Ken was able to keep him in line and make sure he attended the required practice. Yolei was away on a camping trip with her family and wouldn't be back until later that night. Cody, supposedly, was busy supporting his grandfather in a prune-eating contest… They hadn't asked questions.

"Kari, don't fall asleep!" Gatomon said from her curled up position next to her.

Kari opened her eyes and poked her digimon friend with the tip of her finger. "I'm not, then I'd be just as bad as T.K." They both laughed as they glanced a few feet to Kari's right where T.K. and Patamon were both sound asleep in the grass and snoring loudly.

Next to him, Joe was furiously flipping through his textbooks which he had bought two months ago and had wanted to finish reading before the first day of school. Whenever he'd look up at the rest of them, however, Gomamon would turn the page of his book, confusing him to no end.

Matt was also sitting near them, leaning against a tree trunk and strumming on his guitar. Gabumon sat next to him swaying peacefully to the music.

Kari looked over to where Tai, Agumon, Sora, and Biyomon had started up a game of soccer in the meadow. Mimi watched from the sidelines. She had somehow managed to bring two lawn chairs with her so she and Palmon could sunbathe. Kari was just glad that Mimi's parents had finally moved back to Japan so she could be with her friends before they all graduated.

Izzy, of course, was busy typing furiously on his laptop, with Tentomon commenting occasionally commenting on whatever it was he was working on. Every so often they'd take a break and stare off into the field where Tai and Sora were playing soccer before getting back to work.

Kari smiled to herself again. She loved it when they were all together. Even though it had been six years since they'd met and two years since they'd defeated MaloMyotismon, they were all as close of friends as ever and she was grateful for it. She knew a lot of her other friends from school were probably freaking out over starting high school tomorrow but Kari wasn't worried, she knew she'd have lots of friends there with her. Now, if only there was a way they could convince their teachers to allow digimon to come to school too!

The idea made Kari giggle to herself. She started to share it with Gatomon when they heard a rustle in the bushes behind them.

Gatomon's head snapped up. "What was that?"

"You heard it too?" Kari replied, "Let's go find out."

Gatomon leapt to her feet. "Okay! I hope it's a Gazimon. I love chasing rabbits."

Kari laughed. "Even if these rabbits have sharp teeth and claws?"

Gatomon looked at her with a puzzled expression. "I don't fight them, I just chase them. If I did want to fight them though…they wouldn't stand a chance…"

They reached the edge of the field where they had been picnicking and peered around. There was no one there.

"Maybe they ran away?" Gatomon asked.

"Maybe," Kari agreed. "I wonder why they didn't want to say hello." The digital world had been at peace for the last two years so they weren't worried about any evil digimon attacks like the old days. She was even kind of hoping it would be one of their old friends like Ogremon or Andromon coming to see them.

They walked a little bit further into the forest, but still didn't find a trace of anyone or anything.

"Whoever it was," Gatomon said after they'd been walking for a while, "they're long gone now."

"No, wait," Kari stopped and signaled to Gatomon to be quiet. She heard the rustling again back towards the clearing where the others were. Then she heard someone muttering. They crouched down so that they couldn't be seen underneath the bushes and crept towards the voice. It didn't sound like a friendly voice to Kari and the fact that it was hiding from them made her suspicious.

"This is gonna be like stealing candy from a digi-egg," the voice said. She recognized the voice, but she wasn't sure from where until Gatomon growled faintly in her throat beside her.

The crawled forward another few feet to see DemiDevimon spying on the others from behind a large leafy shrub. Gatomon rose to her feet, the fur along her spine standing on edge as she readied herself for an attack.
"Wait," Kari mouthed silently to Gatomon. If she knew DemiDevimon then she knew he was up to no good, but she wanted to see what he had planned before they did anything. It was still possible (although unlikely) that he wouldn't do anything at all and respect the peace in the digital world.

"Look at them all just sitting there," he mumbled to himself again. "They won't even see it coming. My new attack is perfect! That one there is way too full of himself and that one against the tree, I know his anger's still there just bubbling beneath the surface. He's like a ticking time bomb! Ha! They won't even know what's hit them until it's too late."

He fluttered his wings to raise himself out of the bush and cried out "Seven Sins!" Seven beams of light shot out from his body.
"Lighting Claw!"

She hit him right in the middle of his attack and he was flung backward into the trees.

"Not so fast DemiDevimon!" Gatomon yelled. "If you want a fight, pick on someone your own size!" She started to follow him up the tree, but Kari pulled her back.

"Gatomon, wait, look!" Kari cried, looking out into the meadow from where DemiDevimon had just been sitting. Her friends were still in the same positions she had left them when the beams DemiDevimon had flung hit each of them.

"No!" Gatomon yelled out, "I stopped him!"

Above them DemiDevimon cackled and flew away.

"Quick, Kari, help me digivolve before he gets away!" Gatomon cried, but Kari was already running across the meadow to her friends. Torn, Gatomon decided DemiDevimon would have to wait and that making sure their friends were okay was more important.

Kari reached T.K. first, who was now sitting up from his nap, his face entirely bewildered.

"What was that?" he asked.

The others were also all looking around for what had hit them. Tai and Sora had collided in a heap, sending the soccer ball flying into Mimi's chair, tumbling her over onto the grass. Izzy had fallen forward onto his computer. Joe, who had been chasing after Gomamon for his book back had tripped and fallen onto Matt and his guitar.

After Kari helped everyone to their feet she told them about DemiDevimon and what she and Gatomon had overheard.

"DemiDevimon?" T.K. asked.

"What is he doing here?" Sora said.

"I can't believe he would attack us," said Mimi.

"I can't believe we weren't prepared for an attack," Matt added.

Tai interrupted them. "Everyone calm down. We're all okay. Gatomon must have stopped him in time. Good job Gatomon!" The cat-like digimon blushed as everyone thanked her for saving them.

"It's getting late guys," Izzy said. "We should probably head back so we can all get a good night's sleep before tomorrow."

Tai and Mimi both groaned loudly at the thought of school the next day and the homework that would surely follow. And so they left the digital world to go back to the real world. The others were all relieved that Gatomon had been there protect them, but Kari wasn't so sure that she had…