Happy Sunday morning (or Monday depending on your side of the international date line). I know I'm feeling "easy like Sunday morning" today. Back again with part 2 of chapter one. I decided to break up the first episode into two chapters because it just seemed to flow better that way. Hope you guys like it.


The Dark Castle

In a Dark Corner of the Digital World

In the dark dungeon of a castle, where no light could come through even though there was no light outside to be found outside, a figure with pale skin and blonde hair sat in a meditative position. A red mask stretched across his eyes and a black cloak surrounded his body.

Suddenly, the figure's eyes snapped open. He had felt a great disturbance in the Force. His mouth opened to reveal two sets of fangs on both the bottom and top of his mouth as he spoke.

"They're here," he hissed, his voice barely above a whisper. "They've come."

"My lord," a new voice cried from a crystal ball. "Just as you have feared, the Destined Jedi have appeared."

The vampire narrowed his gaze as he gazed into it, looking at the figure. "I know they have, Devimon," he hissed once again. "I felt it. This turn of events is unfortunate. We must accelerate our plans. Begin deploying the Dark Gears. We will find the Destined Jedi and kill them before they can be trained."

"Yes, my lord," said the dark figure before flying out of the room. "Right away."


Jungle

File Island, Digital World

"Tai, you ok?"

Tai's eyes fluttered as he began to open them. Though he had hit the ground rather hard, his head did not hurt like he thought it would. It was certainly odd to say the least but he was just glad to be ok.

"Yeah, I'm ok, Mom," he muttered, thinking that it was just a dream…until he saw Izzy's face staring down at him. "Izzy?"

"Yeah, it's me," the younger boy nodded. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Tai nodded as he began to sit up, rubbing the back of his head. "Where's everybody else?"

"Not sure," replied Izzy. "Maybe all scattered around. We'll find them."

After getting his bearings together, Tai finally got a chance to check out their surroundings. They certainly were not at the site of the shrine anymore; rather they were in a dense forest, possibly a jungle, with no snow in sight. The trees rose high above their heads, almost to the sky, and the underbrush was so thick that it was almost impossible to see what lay behind it.

"Where are we?" he asked, looking around. "Something tells me that we are not in Kansas anymore, Toto."

"It would appear that we are in a jungle of some kind. I don't remember anything like this in the camp brochure," replied Izzy. "The vegetation is lush but the soil appears rather common."

"That's not what I meant, brainiac," Tai snapped. "I mean where are we as in what place we are in."

"You have a fair point," Izzy conceded. "I'm not entirely sure about that."

"Guess I'll just have to take a look for myself."

Spotting a tall tree, Tai made his way over to it and began to climb up until he reached a branch that hung high above the thick jungle. He grabbed his mini telescope out of his pocket and began looking for any sights that looked familiar.

"Hm. Let's see now," he muttered in concentration as he turned his telescope to the left. "The ocean? That can't be. Our campsite was nowhere near the ocean." Turning his telescope to the right, he saw a range of mountains a fair enough distance away from them. "I don't remember those mountains either. Dunno if a compass is going to help much here."

"Hey, Tai," Izzy called from down below. "What do you see?"

"Nothing that I recognize," replied Tai. "We are definitely not in Kansas anymore, Izzy."

"Enough with the Wizard of Oz jokes! Do you see anybody else?"

"Give me a second."

As Tai went to look, something flew into his line of sight. Taking a closer look, he saw a giant red beetle, bigger than any he had ever seen before, flying towards him with the intent to kill.

"Uh, Izzy," he said nervously. "I think I'm about to become bug food right now."

Just as he said that, the red beetle came in hot. Hugging his legs to the branch underneath him, Tai dropped his upper body back so that he was hanging upside down as the beetle tore off the top of the tree completely. His body shook from the adrenaline rush as he sat back up on the branch.

'Who needs a gardener with that thing?' Tai laughed to himself as the insect came around for another run. Unsure of what to do, he decided the next best thing was just to jump but he had to be a good ten feet above the ground. He could get injured from a jump like that.

'Well it's either that or become bug food,' he thought as the beetle got closer and closer. It was not until the last possible second that Tai decided to jump. Just as the beetle took out the branch, Tai leapt five feet into the air…and kept going and going. It was starting to freak him out.

"How did I do that?" he asked himself as he drifted to the ground before landing with a soft thud rather than a crash like he had anticipated.

"Tai, how did you do that?" Izzy asked, moving quickly towards him. "Are you ok?"

"Well I've certainly had better days than this," replied Tai sharply. "I'm starting to scare myself a little bit. First a can drifts to my hand and all of a sudden I can jump like a kangaroo."

A shrill cry from above alerted the two boys to the fact that the beetle was not going away any time soon.

"We better get out of here, stat!" Tai suggested.

Izzy nodded in agreement as the two took off running for safety from the beetle. For someone who was not used to exercise, let alone running, he managed to keep up with Tai pretty well. Suddenly the two felt as though the world was passing by them in a burst of speed, like one of those revolving screens in the old movies.

"How are we doing this?" Izzy cried, never realizing he had this kind of speed in him before.

"I don't know," replied Tai. "But hopefully we can find somewhere to hide."

"Hide in a tree," said a voice inside of Tai's mind. "There's a hiding tree not too far away from your position. Go to it."

'Who said that?' Tai thought to himself, wondering whether he was dreaming after all. 'Who are you? Where are you?'

"Go now!"

"Ok," he said hesitantly.

"Say something, Tai?" Izzy asked as the two slowed down from their burst of speed. The young computer expert grabbed his knees in exhaustion as it finally caught up to him.

"Something tells me that a hiding tree is nearby, whatever that is." Tai said as he began scouting the area for a tree that looked like a hiding tree. He had never heard of one before so he didn't know where to begin.

"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast! He's coming!"

Tai knew that. He could hear the sound of bark being torn away and the rustling of leaves behind them. Finding a tree that looked almost transparent, Tai grabbed Izzy by the arm and led him into the tree.

"Stay low and keep quiet," he whispered to Izzy as the two waited things out.

They could hear the beetle's loud cries, sounding almost like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park, as they got closer and closer to them. Izzy cowered in fear, wondering if he would survive this moment.

'Why did I let my parents convince me to go to camp?' he cursed. 'I should have known something like this was going to happen. Why does this always happen to me?'

Tai on the other hand sat in a meditative position and focused on staying calm. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. Once he did, he felt everything in the jungle speak to him: the plants, living things; the entire island. It was almost like they were trying to tell him something.

"All clear," a familiar female voice announced from outside the tree. "You don't have to hide anymore."

Tai and Izzy both stood up and hesitantly took a peek outside of the tree to see Sora standing before them, an amused look on her face.

"Sora," Tai smiled, breathing a sigh of relief as he saw a familiar face.

"You can come out now," she giggled.

"Uh, we were just thinking up a trap we were gonna set for that big bug," he chuckled nervously, trying to save whatever machismo that he could at the moment as he and Izzy stepped out of the tree. "Hey, Sora. You didn't happen to hear something, like say a voice, a little while ago, did you?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Why?"

"Just curious," Tai shrugged.

'That was weird. Maybe I'm just hearing things.' He quickly shook his head of the thought. 'No, I heard it. The voice was clear as day. The forest also seemed to speak to me, as if everything here is connected to a central life force or something.'

"Never thought I would see the day that Tai Kamiya ran scared from something," Sora snickered.

"I wasn't," he retorted. "We were just thinking up a clever strategy. Right, Izzy?"

"You should have seen his face, Sora," Izzy chuckled. "He was so scared."

Tai's face turned beet red as the two redheads laughed at his expense. "I was not! Now that we've found you, Sora, let's try and find the others so we can figure this out."

Just as he said that, the sound of screaming reached their ears. It was a male voice that was screaming and the source of it sounded like it was getting closer to them. Leaves on a tree branch rustled as Joe came hurling towards them, screaming his head off like he had seen a ghost.

"Joe?" Tai called, hoping to calm the older boy down.

"Guys, help me!" Joe cried. "There's this…UMFFF!"

The three of them cringed as Joe hit a low-hanging tree branch without even seeing it and quickly collapsed to the ground. He pulled his hand away from his face only to see blood on it, which he knew came from his nose. Joe let loose an even louder scream before dropping back down to the ground. There were no signs of movement.

"Joe?" Tai quickly rushed over to him to make sure he was ok. "Joe, you ok?"

"Tai, is he ok?" Sora asked.

After evaluating Joe's condition, Tai concluded that he was alright. He had just fainted from the sight of the blood was all. Taking out a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped Joe's nose free of the blood that oozed down his nose so that it didn't get into his mouth.

"Yeah he's fine," he replied. "He just fainted."

Sora shrugged. "Ok. Just leave him there then."

"TK, slow down!"

Matt and TK soon emerged from the foliage and joined the group, thankfully unharmed. Matt's eyes quickly turned to the unconscious Joe.

"What happened to him?" he asked Tai.

"He fainted," was the goggle-headed boy's reply. "So now that we are basically all here, what do we do?"

"Hold on," said Sora, looking around and noticing that they were missing one other person. "We're missing someone. Where's Mimi?"

"Who?"

She gave Tai an admonishing look. "That girl with the pink hat."

Tai's eyes brightened in realization. "Oh, her. I don't know where she is."

"Maybe she's picking flowers," suggested Izzy. "Or going on a nature hike."

Another scream reached their ears for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

"HELP!"

"Mimi!" Tai cried, immediately running to the source of the scream. The others soon followed with Matt carrying Joe over his shoulder.

Matt felt something wet make contact with his bare shoulder as he struggled to keep up with the others and carry Joe at the same time. Stopping to look, Matt noticed a wet spot at the front of Joe's shorts and immediately knew what it was.

"OH DEAR GOD!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, dropping Joe unceremoniously to the ground with a thud. "Ewwww!"

"What's the matter, Matt?" Tai asked, wondering what it was that was getting Matt so worked up. "What's wrong?"

"Joe peed his pants!" Matt cried, wiping his shoulder vigorously. "And it got on my shoulder too!"

Sora had a hard time keeping her laughter down to a minimum while Tai busted a gut laughing at the blonde's misfortune.

"Ow. My head," groaned Joe as he started to come to after being dropped to the ground. Rubbing the back of his head, he wondered why everyone around him was staring. "What's going on? Why's everyone looking at me?" he demanded.

He then looked down to the front of his shorts and saw what they were looking at. His face exploded into a red color as he tried to cover his embarrassment.

"Matt, I am so sorry," he quickly apologized. "I forgot that happened."

"Why you…" Matt looked ready to punch Joe's lights out until the sound of running reached their ears, accompanied by the screaming that they had grown accustomed to. Mimi soon came around the corner, screaming her head off as the red beetle from earlier followed above her.

"Oh no," Tai groaned once he caught sight of it. "Not again!"

The beetle dove down for an attack but they all ducked down before it could get a piece of them. Sora ran up to Mimi to make sure that she was alright.

"Mimi, are you ok?"

"Oh, Sora," Mimi breathed a sigh of relief as she clung to the older girl. "Yeah, I think so."

Sora smiled warmly. "Don't worry. It'll be alright."

"Ok, now that we are all back together, let's GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE!" Joe screamed as the beetle let out a cry to let them know that it was not going away anytime soon. They all took off running into the jungle, hearing the sounds of broken bark and tree branches hitting the ground.

'What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?' Tai asked himself as he struggled to come up with a plan. He had been in many tight situations in his life but none of them could have even prepared him for what he was facing now. It was hopeless.

"My mom is going to want a total refund over this!" Joe cried as they continued running. "Why did I let her convince me to come to camp in the first place? I should have stayed at school all summer."

"Joe, that's enough!" Matt growled. "Are you finished complaining yet?"

"Look out!" TK cried as the beetle swooped down for another attack. They all hit the ground once again to take cover.

Tai was getting tired of running and hiding. It was time for some action.

"All right, that's it. No more running away," he proclaimed, his fingers taking hold of the sword hanging on his belt.

Sora looked at him as though he was crazy. "What can we do?" she asked incredulously.

"She's right," Matt nodded in agreement, holding TK close to him for protection. "There's no way we can fight that thing and win. It's hopeless."

Tai growled in defiance. "There has to be a way."

Hearing the sound of wings flapping caused the group to continue running deeper into the jungle. They hoped there would possibly a river, or even a hidden path, that would provide them shelter from the beetle.

Emerging from the trees, they found themselves staring at the edge of a cliff with no way down.

"Great," Matt rolled his eyes. "Did anyone bring a helicopter or something?"

Tai moved close to the edge so that he could see how far of a drop it could be. He did have his newfound jumping ability to rely on in terms of getting him down, but he was not sure about the others. Seeing how far down it was, he knew that there was no way they could get there safely.

"There's no way down," he reported sadly. "We're going to have to find another way."

"To where?!" Sora demanded. Tai could sense that her fear was starting to get the best of her at the moment.

A rush of wind hit Tai square in the chest as the beetle darted directly towards him, hoping to finally finish him off. For Tai, the whole moment seemed to move by in slow motion as he bent backwards until his back touched the ground before the beetle passed over him.

Before Tai could breath a sigh of relief, he heard Sora call out to him.

"Watch out, Tai!"

He turned to see the beetle making its way back to him for another attack. He stood his ground this time, however. Something inside of him told him to concentrate and use the "power within him" to get rid of the bug. The sun on his right arm started to glow a bright orange as he extended his gloved hand out.

The rest of the kids were stunned as the beetle stopped moving, almost like it was frozen. Tai kept his concentration and with one gesture of his hand, the beetle was sent flying into the trees with a resounding crash. Everyone was finally given a moment to breathe, thinking that they had finally won this time.

"Whoa, Tai," TK cried, fascinated by what he had just seen. "How did you do that?"

"I have no idea," was the reply. Tai kept looking at his hand in shock, wondering just how he had managed to pull that off. 'Just like with the can,' he remembered.

Before they could celebrate any more, the beetle's cry came even louder than before as it got up from the group of trees that it had landed on.

"Does this guy ever give up?!" Tai gritted his teeth in frustration. Simple magic tricks were not going to put this damned thing away.

"Tai, we have to find a way out of here," said Sora, hoping to convince him to give up the fight while they still had the chance. "Give it up."

The beetle chopped its pincers threateningly, ready to make them its lunch. Tai narrowed his eyebrows as he could sense exactly what it was planning to do. He knew that the only way out of this was to fight. There was no getting around it.

He felt his fingers grasp the grip of the sword, which caused an idea to come to his mind.

"Let's see what these things can do," he said, taking it off of his belt and holding it in his hand. He then ran towards the beast with a determined look on his face.

"Tai, are you crazy?!" Sora cried after him.

"It's suicidal, man!" Matt called as well.

Tai couldn't hear them due to the amount of blood that was pumping in his ears. If he was going to go down, he was going to go down fighting. The beetle seemed to understand what he was thinking because its wings began flapping in preparation to launch an attack. Tai held the sword in both hands, trying to figure out what button on it would unleash the blade within it. He knew there had to be one. If not, he would be bug food in a second.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered between gritted teeth as he pressed a button in the middle with his thumb.

A piercing ignition sounded through the air, followed by a hum. Tai's eyes went wide as he stared at the sword, a blade of blue energy now glowing out of the top end. It instantly hit him that he knew what it was.

"No way!" he cried, a wide smile stretching across his face. "A real life lightsaber? This is so cool!"

A cry from the beetle unfortunately ruined the moment but Tai was not going to back down anymore now that he knew the swords were lightsabers. Taking a stance that he had seen from the movies, he prepared to attack with a look of confidence.

"Alright, you big ugly bug," he said while holding the blade close, the blue light illuminating the right side of his face. "Let's dance."

As the beetle came in for a strike, Tai sidestepped it and swung his lightsaber for one of its limbs, managing to cut off part of its arm. It roared in pain as Tai started to get more confident in his striking abilities. He leapt up onto the creature's back and started swinging away, causing maximum damage, so much that it fell to the ground. Tai finally plunged his lightsaber into its back once it hit the ground.

Tai heaved in exhaustion as he looked at the unmoving creature, retracting his lightsaber blade with a 'zip'. He thought it was dead so he decided it would be ok to move away. Everyone else quickly mobbed him.

"Whoa, Tai. That was amazing!" Matt cried.

"Does this mean we all have lightsabers too?" TK asked, bouncing so much that Tai was afraid the little boy would pee himself in excitement.

"That was reckless what you did there," said Sora, a proud smile on her face as she looked at him. "But I'm glad you did it."

Tai chuckled nervously. "Thanks, Sora."

A cracking sound reverberated through the entire cliff. The ground started to shake as well, causing the kids to try and keep their balance. Having lived through several earthquakes throughout their lives, they didn't think they had a reason to fear what was going on…until they saw the ground begin to break apart.

"This doesn't look good!" Joe cried as the ground beneath them gave way, sending them plummeting towards the river below.


Oh boy. This does not look good for the kids. Is this the end already? What will happen next? Find out next time.

What a lot to digest in this chapter. Who is that shadowy figure in the beginning? What was the mystery voice speaking to Tai? And poor Joe just cannot catch a break right now XD

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and are all as excited for what will come next as I am. Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you read because it lets me know just how much you appreciate this story. See you guys next time.