Revealation: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the charecters in Tenchi Muyo and Digimon. I am only using them for this fanfic. Please do not sue me. I would also be adding in charecters of my own. Ryu Majiki, Kenji Wen, Elly To, and Hasuma Kino. Oh yeah, Melodies of Life is written by a great composer and is the main song in Final Fantasy IX. The singer is Emiko Shiratori.



Chapter 3



"Welcome," said Washu as she greeted her guests. "I am Washu. It's my pleasure to meet you and welcome to the Masaki Shrine."


"What," Izzy exclaims when he takes a good look at Washu. "Is she who I think she is?"


"Yep," Mimi said. "That is the famous scientist that disappear twelve years ago."


"But that is impossible," said Izzy as he continues to look at Washu. "She is only a child." When Washu gives him an offended look Izzy quickly apologize. "Wait, before you get mad, let me explain what I mean. According to my observation, you look like you are just only fifteen or sixteen years old yet Washu disappear approximately twelve years ago. If you are the famous scientist, Washu, then that means that you were creating all of your inventions at the age of three or four."


"So...," Washu leaves her question hanging.


"So, what I mean is that, you are either a really extraordinary prodigy or that I somehow got my information wrong."


"No, your information are correct," said a voice. They turn around just in time to find a beautiful women walking toward them. She smiles and introduces herself. "I'm Ryoko. Nice to meet you." She stops beside Washu and look at her. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Hi mom."


"WHAT!!!"


"You're her mom," said Kari as she looks at Ryoko and Washu. "But how can that be?"


"It's because Washu is not as young as you think she is." Ryoko continues to smile as she looks at their faces. "Washu is actually a lot older than you think she is. A LOT OLDER."


"But this still don't explain..." Cody trails off as Ryoko and Washu start to laugh. "I don't find anything funny," said Cody as steams come out of his ears.


"I'm sorry," said Washu as she stops laughing. "I just can't help it. The way you guys look." She quickly wipe the grin off her face when she notice they are glaring at her. "Anyways, shall we get on to business then? I think there are a lot of things you want to know, am I right?" When they nod their head, she gives them a wink. "Okay, then. Why don't we head toward the house and go to my laboratory. Mimi, Tai, TK, Yolie, Hasuma, Ryu, Kenji, and Elly are already there waiting for us."


"What do you mean they are already waiting there for us? They are just over..." Davis looks around him and indeed Mimi and the others have already disappear. "Never mind," he said as he shoves his hands into his pocket. "Let's go. What are we waiting for?" With that said, they start to march off to the Masaki Shrine.


"It's beautiful over here," Sora thinks as they walk up the stairs toward the shrine. "It's so peaceful," she thinks as she watches the trees swaying in the wind. Her eyes wander around her surrounding as she listens to the birds as they sing their melody under the shade from the tree. The lake near the house sparkes in the sunlight as the windy breeze softly blows against them. She sighs as she takes in the beauty of her enviornment but quickly frown as she looks at her friends. "I guess they are nervous." She shudders. "Now come to think of it, so am I."


They walk in silence as they trod up the stairs leading to the Masaki Shrine. It was not long when they finally reach there. Washu turns around to face them and smile. "This is the Masaki Shrine but this is not the place that we need to go." She gave them each a sheepish grin before she continues. "But, I think the children would like to explore this place a little bit more, don't you think so?" When they all give her a puzzling look, she sighs. "Let's just say there is something inappropriate that I don't want them to see, okay?" They all nodded their head in understanding. "Good. Now Ryoko, good luck with the kids."


"What? Why me?"


"Because you are the only one that is avalible right now," said Washu.


"But Yosho told me to come here and help you, not to baby..."


"And that is what you are going to do for me." She gives Ryoko a searching look. "What? Are you going to ignore Yosho's word? I don't think he is going to like it especially when we have so...


"Fine," Ryoko grumbles. "Just shut up." She looks at the children and sigh. "I will watch over them."


"Good," said Washu as she smiles at them. She sighs and she notice the uncertain looks in Matt, Sora, and Ken's eyes. "Trust me. Ryoko is going to take good care of them."


As Sora and Matt reluctantly hand over their children to Ryoko's care, Ken continues to look at her. "I know that I am suppose to trust them but there is something odd with that woman," He thinks as he continues to look at her. He observes her spiky cyan hair and her abnormal long ears that resemble the elves from the books he had read about. He turns his eyes away when his eyes meet her shiny golden eyes. "Weird looking eyes. It doesn't look like she is a human at all." He shivers at that thought. It didn't ease his mind when he saw the fangs (her two top incisor is longer than regular human but not long enough to be sticking out her mouth) on her teeth. "Maybe she is a digimon."


Ryoko sighs as she slowly walks up to Ken. "Don't worry," she said when she reach him. "I am not going to bite." She quickly regrets her words when she saw Ken flinch. She sighs. "Look, I know I might look a little bit different but I am not going to harm your baby. Think about it. If I harm your baby, I will have to face Yolie and you saw how powerful she had become. Do you think I want to go against someone as good as her?"


"Come to think of it, that's true," Ken thinks as he slowly relaxes. He was about to hand over his daughter when Ryoko starts to think out loud.


"Well, not that I would mind facing her. I mean, I did trained her you know. Actually, I help train all four of them. Hmmm...I won't mind fighting with them again. Come to think of it, I am getting kind of rusty and a good fight would certainly help..." She stops speaking when she notice the horror in Ken, Sora, and Matt's faces. She gave them each a sheepish grin. "I am not going to harm them, I swear. I was just thinking that's all. When did I say that I am going to hurt them? I didn't right?" She sighs when they continue to give her a suspicious look. "Hey, just trust me alright?"


Ken sighs and reluctantly hand his daughter over to Ryoko. "You better take good care of her or I will hunt you down. I swear!"


"Sheesh, relax. I will take care of them." She turns away from them and starts to lead the children and the baby into the shrine. "Now I get what Yolie means when she said those things about you." She looks straight at Ken's eyes before she continues on. "When I look at you, I see the same pain in Tai, Mimi, TK, and Yolie's eyes. However, the burden that they carry is far more heavier than your's." She sighs sadly as she leads the children away.


"What does she mean by that," Sora said as they all stood there in shock after hearing what Ryoko have just barely said.


"If you want to know," said Washu as she walks down stairs. "then come and follow me."


"Uhmm...tell me if I am wrong," said Gomamon when he looks down the stairs. "But isn't this the same stairs that we just walked up from?"


"Yep." Before they can yell at her, Washu raise up her hand to silence them. "The reason that I brought you up here is because I want to leave your children under Ryoko and Yosho's care. They are one of the best fighters that we got, especially Lord Katshuhito (Yosho). Now come on! We have wasted enough time." She turns around and head down the stairs with the rest of them following behind her. When they reach the end of the stairs, Washu turns to her left and continues to walk. It was not long when they finally reach to their destination. "This is the Masaki house and this is where you guys will find all of your answer," said Washu as she turns around to look at them.


"Little Washu," said a handsome young man as he approaches them. "You're back." He turns around and looks at them. He smiles at them as he puts down his broom. He bows to them as he address them. "Hi. It is my pleasure to have you at our humble home. I am Masaki Tenchi. Nice to meet you."


The digidestines and digimons bow back at him and introduce them. Tenchi nods his head after the introduction and turn to address Washu. "Where is Ryoko? I thought she is with you."


"She is up at the shrine with the children and Yosho." She looks up and down at Tenchi causing him to blush. "I guess you are going there aren't you," she askes as she observes his priest robe. "Ryoko will be happy to see you."


Tenchi sighs as he starts to walk away. "Let's just hope Ayeka and Sakuya don't find me." He turns to the rest of them and bows one more time. "I hope you will be enjoying your stay. I've heard so many things about you guys." He turns around and heads for the Masaki Shrine.


"Come on," said Washu as she leads them into house. Amazingly, the house seems to be empty when they all walked in (if you watched Tenchi Muyo, this incident is quite abnormal). Not wasting any time, Washu quickly leads them to a doorway under a staircase. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my humble laboratory." With a snap from her fingers, the door opens to her lab.


"Impossible," said Ken as he and the others stare at Washu's laboratory. "How can this be possible?"


Washu giggles as she watches the bewilderment on all of their faces. "What? What is wrong with my laboratory? It's it big and comfy?" As they steps in Washu smiles at them and walks to a chair which is floating two feets in the air. "Oh yeah, don't mind the door," she said when she hears Davis screaming when the door they enter have disappear. "It always disappear."


"Big? It doesn't describe it," said Ken. And Ken was right about the size of Washu's laboratory. "How can she fits everything in here," he thinks as he looks at some of the glass displays which extend up to one hundred feets upward and even then, it did not touch the ceiling. Various of her inventions lie around the floor and all sorts of different speciments are being display. "I can't even find any wall."


"That's because there is none," said Washu as she sits down on the chair. When she raises her hand, a keyboard magically appears. "Now can anyone of you tell me why?"


"Because we are in another dimension," said Tentomon as he flies around the laboratory. "Somehow or another you have manage to form a new dimension in here, and that is why there is so many spaces in here."


"Correct. I've gotta say, you are quite a smart little digimon." She gave him a cute little smile. "Would you like to be my guinea pig for some of my experiments?"


Tentomon gives her a nervous laugh as he backs away from her. "WASHU!!!!"


"Alright," Washu (Ryoko, Washu, and Ryo-ohki is connected by telepathic) thinks as she heard Ryoko calling out her name in a warning tone. "I won't use them in any of my experiment, okay?" She turns to them and gives them each a cute smile again. "I was just kidding with you guys. You don't have to be that mad at me." She turns to her keyboard and starts to type rapidly. "Now lets get down to business shall we?" As she continues to type, a hole pops out of nowhere and various objects starts to move around the room and into the hole. "Now let me store these things in here and....hmmm...where are they?" She closes the hole and starts to type rapidly as she scans some of her dimension. "Ah ha...there they are." With that said, she presses a button and out pops another hole and into the room floats a huge machine.


"TK," screams Matt as he saw his brother hovering in the middle of the machine. In the center of the machine there is a tube filled with green liquid and inside the tube are Mimi, TK, Tai, Yolie, Hasuma, Ryu, Ken, Elly, Agumon, Hawkmon, Patamon, and Palmon. They are floating in the middle of the tube as they form a circle. "TK," Matt yells again as he rushes to the machine. Unfortunately, Washu has not deactivated the barrier yet so instead of reaching his brother, he slams into the invisible barrier.


"Hold your horses," said Washu as the others begin to run up to the machine. "They can't hear you guys. Don't you see they are a sleep?"


"What is going on," said Gabumon.


"Don't worry. They are not dead or anything. They are just asleep." Washu touches a button and deactivates the machine. "Now why don't you guys have a seat and calm down and let me explain." She waves her hand and instantly chairs appear around the machine forming a similar circle. When they have finally sat down, Washu gives off a laugh. "Now you guys are mine." With that said, she presses a button and begin to type rapidly on her keyboard.


"What the..." said Biyomon as some ropes appear from the chair and bind them to it. As Biyomon and the others struggle to get away from the ropes, the chairs start to move rapidly as it spins around the tube. "SORA!!!!!"


"Biyomon," screams Sora as they spins faster. "Digivolve!!"


"Biyomon digivolve to...." Before she can digivolve, darkness consumes her and she is knock out of conscious.


(Okay...from now on till the end of the "Memories" section, I will use itallic to indicate memories from the past and regular text to represent thoughts of the people that are in the present. If you don't understand what I am talking about...err...I hope you would understand as you continues to read on.)


*Memories*


"Arghh...," groans Joe as he opens his eyes. "What the!!!! Where am I? Miko!?"


"I'm over here Joe!"


"Where? I can't see you? All I can see is darkness."


"Joe, stop yelling," Izzy grumbles. "This is no time to panic."


"What do you mean this is no time to panic," Kari said. "I can't even see you guys. What is going on?"


"As for the answer to your question," said Washu as she appears in front of them. "You guys are in each other mind."


"Damn it," said Davis as he tries to reach Washu but he can't seem to find his hands. "What did you did to us?"


"Calm down each of you," said Washu as she snaps her fingers again. A door appears right behind her. "As I said, you are in each other's mind right now. When I told you guys to sat down, I have already started to activate my machine to help you go into Tai's and the other's memories."


"I still don't understand," said Gatomon.


"Okay, you see, it is kind of hard to explain to each of you what have happen in the past. Instead of telling you guys in words, I invented this machine that would allow each of you to enter Tai's and the other's memories. That way, you can experience the things that have happen to them in the past and that way, you could understand the situation much more clearer."


"Why didn't you tell us sooner," Davis yells.


"I don't know," said Washu as she gave them a sweet smile. "I think it is funner that way." When they all groan she frowns at them. "I guess you guys don't have a sense of humor. Anyways, in this dimension, you guys are not able to see each other except the shadows that are in Tai's and the other's past memories. However, I want to warn you, some of the things they went through are not very pretty, so I ask you one last time before we preceed, do you want to go through with this?" When they all nod their head, Washu sighs. "Alright, when I open this door, you will step into their memories. Let me warn you though, you might not be able to see all of the things that have happen because they might not want to show you it. However, knowing Hasuma, I am quite sure she is going to show you sides that some of them are trying to hide from you guys. Are all of you ready?" When they nod their head again, Washu smiles. "Have fun then." With that said, she opens the door and burst of bright light fills up the area where they were.


"Damn her," Matt thinks as he hears curses from the others. "Why can't she warns us about that light?" He blinks his eyes and shakes his head to get his vision into focus. "Huh...where are we?"


"Hmmm...I think we are in a cemetery," said Izzy. "Yep," he said as he reads the name and date of death from a tombstone. "I was right."


"What are we doing over here," said Wormon. "This place is starting to..."


"Shhhhhh..." said Ken as he looks around. "Can you guys hear something?"


"Mimi."


"Huh...Mimi," said Kari and when she said that, they could see an seventeen year old Mimi sitting near a tombstone. Her eyes were vacant and she sat there in silence as Palmon tries to get her to talk.


"Mimi, speak to me," said Palmon as she shakes her. Rain drops start to fall down on them two but still, Mimi did not move. "Mimi, please do not scare me like this. Mimi." Palmon starts to cry as she holds on to her best friend. "Don't be like this. Please speak to me!!!"


"Mama...Papa," Mimi murmurs as she sits there. "I can't even cry...I can't even feel. What happen to me...what is there to live for?"


"Mimi, please don't say that."


"I don't know anymore. I've lost all the ones I love." She gently pushes Palmon away as she pulls her knees to her chest. "I don't know what to hope for anymore."


"You can always hope for a better future," said Hasuma as she walks up to them. Palmon looks up to see Hasuma raising her umbrella to shield them from the rain. She looks at the grave of Mimi's parent and bow her head in respect.


"Who are you," ask Palmon as she looks at Hasuma.


"A friend. An ally from the past." Hasuma kneels down in front of Mimi and looks her in the eyes. To Palmon's shock, Hasuma threw her arms around Mimi and pulls her into a hug. "Do not suffer in silence. Please don't hide your emotions." She pulls away from her and sofly touches Mimi's face. "I understand the pain you are going through. The despair and the sense of lost. Let me help you."


"Who are you," said Mimi softly.


"An old friend." With that said, she gives the umbrella to Palmon and turns to walk away. "I will be seeing you again Mimi. Until then, take care."


"Tell me who you are!" Hasuma turns around to find Mimi standing there with anger flashing in her eyes. She smiles at Mimi and continues to walk away.


"What the," said Veemon as the cemetery disappear from their sight. "Where are we now," he asks as he looks around his environment.


"I believe we are in a park," said Biyomon as she observes some of the children playing soccer on a field nearby. "There! At the bench. It is Hasuma and Palmon." The other digidestines and digimons find Hasuma sitting on a bench and playing with Palmon. It was not long when Mimi comes strolling to their direction.


"Mimi! How was class today?"


"Wonderful," said Mimi as she bends down to catch Palmon into her arms. She smiles at Hasuma happily as she sits down next to her. "Where did you guys go to play today?"


"No where special," said Hasuma as she observes Mimi with a frown. "We just went to the mall that's all." When Mimi continues to give her a smile, Hasuma turns her eyes away from her face. "Don't do that," she said sternly. "You don't have to act in front of me. You have done enough of that when you were at school."


Mimi quickly drops her smile as she turns her glance away from Hasuma. "I can never deceive you can I?" They sat there in silence as they watch the children playing on the field. "Who are you, Hasuma?"


"Hmm? What do you mean by that?" When Mimi didn't say anything, Hasuma reach into her purse and pulls out a CD. "Here, I got this for you," she said as she hands over the cd to Mimi.


"Melodies of Life?" Mimi gave Hasuma a questioning look but she was not able to read her expression. "Why did you give me this?"


"Because you use to like this song," said Hasuma as she stands up.


"Use to? I don't remember ever hearing this song."


"Trust me, you are going to like it once you hear it."


"How do you know? How do you know so much things about me?"


"Because I understand how you feel," said Hasuma as she turns to look at Mimi. "I've lost my parent when I was just three. They were murder right in front of my face."


"I'm sorry."


"Don't be... What happen was fate. A destiny that neither one of us can escape." She reach her hand to brush away the strand of hair on Mimi's face. "But yet, I am still so different from you. I know how to feel. I know what is pain. I know what is happiness. But you?" She pulls Mimi into a hug. "You've lost those feeling when they left you. I wanted to help you but I was too late. I was too late."


"Mimi," said Palmon as she saw the vacant look in Mimi's eyes.


"You have always been good a hiding your emotion, Mimi," said Hasuma as she pulls away from her. "In the past and now in the present."


"That's wierd," said Sora as she watches the scene unfold before her. "The Mimi that I know is very sincere in how she feels. She never hides anything from us."


Matt didn't say anything as he looks on. He shudders when he hears Mimi laughing bitterly.


"Hahahah...I don't know what you are talking about, Hasuma. You always mention the past but I don't remember seeing you in the past." Mimi softly pushes Hasuma away from her. "But you were right. Since the day my parents left me, I have forgot how to feel. Ha! Crest of Sincerity! What great irony."


"Mimi, don't say that," said Palmon as she pats her on the shoulder. "You are the most sincere person I ever seen."


"Sincere?! Me!? Ha. What a laugh. Tell me, Palmon. How can I be sincere if I don't even know how happiness feels? How I can be true to myself if I don't even know how I feel?" She raises her hands in front of her face and look at them. "I didn't even cried when they left me," said Mimi. "I didn't even feel anything. Only numbness. I know I am not in denial, and I know that I have accepted the facts but yet, I don't feel the pain I am suppose to feel." She looks right in Hasuma's eyes. "Have I become a robot," she said softly. "Am I just a living being with no emotion or what so ever? What have happen to me?"


"I can't help you answer that question," said Hasuma softly. "You need to answer that question yourself. I will try to help you on your way but only you can solve this problem, and I want you to know that I cannot help you if you do not open your heart to me."


"And I will always be by your side," said Palmon.


For a while they all stand there in silence. "I am going back to Japan next week," said Hasuma. "I won't be seeing you for a while."


"I'll go too," said Mimi. Hasuma and Palmon gave her a surprising look. "I want to get away for a while. I need to go somewhere, where I can stop pretending (in case you are wondering what I mean by acting, Mimi is acting to be cheerful in order to not make her friends worry about her) and think about the things that have happen in my life." Mimi sits back down on the bench and looks at Hasuma for her reaction. For a while, she stood there in silence.


"Alright," said Hasuma as she gave Mimi a small smile. "You can come with me." She turns around and frown to herself. "I just hope I made the right decision," she thinks when she looks up to the sky.



Japan


"Hmh...rain." Mimi pushes a strand of hair back behind her ear before she steps out to meet the rain. As people rushes to their cars or to shelters, Mimi continues to walk slowly, allowing the rain to drench her body. Walking aimlessly, her hand clutches softly on the new CD she have just brought. An hour have past and she is still troding slowly through the rain. She finally stops in front of the lake that is located in the middle of a park. She pulls out the CD and touches it tenderly. "Hasuma was right," she thinks as she puts it back in her pocket. "There is something with this song..." She sighs as she recall how she lost the CD on the airplane. "I just can't believe I came out all this way to buy it." She stood there in silence for a while as she contemplates over an issue. With a determine look on her face, she calls out to the desolated park. "You can come out here, Hasuma." When no one answer her, she frowns in anger. "Come out! It's no use hiding. You have been following me. Don't think that I don't know that. I can feel you."


Hasuma steps out from the shadow as she looks at Mimi's back. She closes her eyes and lean back on a tree as Mimi continues to look at the lake. "Since when can you start sensing me?"


"Since two month ago when I meet you for the first time." For a while, they stood there in silence as they both contemplated on what to say. "Why did you follow me," said Mimi, breaking the silence.


"What make you think I was following you?"


"Who do you think I am, Hasuma?! An idiot?! I said that I can feel you so I know you were following me." Mimi turns around in anger and glares at the other girl. "I think it is time I start getting some answer. You came to me with a purpose now tell me what do you want?"


"I want to protect you, that's all."


"Protect me? From what?"


Hasuma opens her eyes and stares straight in Mimi's eyes. "From our enemies. People who would do anything to hunt you down and kill you."


"Why me," said Mimi as she gave Hasuma a frown. "Is it a Digimon?"


"No, it is not a Digimon. Our enemies is probably as dangerous as any evil digimon, not surprising if it is even more threatening." She walks up beside Mimi and looks out to the lake. "You are not the only one they are hunting, Mimi. There are five people they are hunting for and you and I are one of them. As for the other three...I think you know who they are."


"I don't know what you are talking about."


"Oh you don't, do you? Then tell me, why did you leave the restaurant so early when you saw your friends three days ago?" Mimi froze as she recalls what she felt. "You felt something didn't you? Something that made you uncomfortable and that was why you left so fast."


"Tai, TK, and Yolie," Mimi murmers. "They are the other three that are being hunted." When Hasuma nodded her head, Mimi groans. "But why are they hunting us?"


"That is what I am trying to find out. I could only tell you this, but you probably won't believe me."


"Try me!"


Hasuma look directly in Mimi's eyes before she continues. "There is one thing that connects us all together and that thing is our past lives."


"What?!!"


"I am telling you the truth. Something was left unfinish in our past lives and we are reborn to finish what we started."


"But that is impossible," said Mimi in confusion. "But is it? I don't know what to think anymore?"


"Mimi, what's really important right now is the safety of the other three. The enemies have not found them yet but sooner or later, they will. I need your help to bring them to safety."


"But how can I help you when there is still so many things that I don't understand? I don't even know are you speaking the truth or not."


"But why would I lie to you? What benefit would I get by lying to you? I need your help along with Tai and the others. The world is in danger and, believe it or not, we are somehow the cause of it."


"I don't know," said Mimi as she looks at the lake. "Please leave me alone for a while. I need to think." Hasuma gave her a sad look before she runs off. However, she did not go far because she still needs to protect Mimi. She watches as a boy and a digimon runs up to shield Mimi from the rain. After a few word, Mimi left him as she continues to walk in silence. As she turns around a corner, her mind is set. "I know you are still watching me so here is my answer. I will help you."



Six months later in Japan


"Aww...Tai, can we get something to eat? I'm hungry."


"Agumon! You just ate the last batch of cookies! I can't believe you are still hungry."


"Come on, Tai," laughs TK. "What do you expect? Agumon is always hungry."


"Well, so are you," said Agumon when TK's stomach growl in protest. TK gave him a sheepish grin. "OH!!! TAI! Over there! Food!!"


"Alright, I see it. Now stop bouncing on my head, Agumon. I can't concentrate on the road." He pulls his car into the driveway of the restaurant and parked his car. "Now lets just hurry and get something to eat. I don't want our parents to worry about us."


"It's only seven," said Patamon as he flies up and land on TK's head. TK smiles at him as they all stroll into the restaurant.


"Hi," said Tenchi as he approaches them in a waiter outfit. "How may I help you?"


"Table for four please," said Tai. Tenchi nods his head and starts to lead them to a table. "Wierd," thinks Tai as he looks around the restaurant. "There is nobody here except us. Hmh...well it is in a middle of no where and it is located midway up the mountain." He sits down next to Agumon as Tenchi gave them each a menu. With a bow, Tenchi left them to decide on what they want for their meal.


"Wow," said TK as he looks at the menu. "The food over here is quite cheep."


"Great," said Agumon. "I can order more food since it is cheep."


"Agumon. By the way you eat, it might comes out to be expensive anyways. Don't forget, half of my part time job's pay checks from last year are in your stomach."


"Come on Tai. I'm a growing Digimon. I need food."


"At this rate, I rather starve you because I can't imagine how much money it is going to cost me to feed Greymon." They all laugh and after a moment, they are ready to order. As Tenchi was taking down the order, an explosion was heard in the kitchen. "What the heck was that!!!" Tenchi gave them each a sheepish grin as he jams in the kitchen to process their order. Voices from the kitchen float into the dinning area.


"MIHOSHI!!!! What did you think you were doing?"


"I'm sorry Kiyone. I forgot that thing was flamable. I didn't mean to do that. Oh!!! Kiyone, please don't be mad at me!!! Wahhh!!"


"Mihoshi, let go of me!!!"


TK gave of a nervous laugh. "Err...I think I know why the food is so cheep over here."


"Yeah," said Patamon. "I think they scare away most of their customer and are forced to make the price so cheep. They almost gave me a heart attack."


"Do you think they burn the food," ask Agumon.


"Good question," groans Tai as another explosion was heard from the kitchen. It was not very long when a very charred up Mihoshi and a red faced Kiyone got kicked out of the kitchen.


"Stay out," said a young teenager (14 years old) with long blue hair tied up in two ponytail. Her pink eyes flashes with annoyance as she pushes Mihoshi and Kiyone out of the kitchen. "You guys are causing a mess in here. Go get clean up, Mihoshi and please don't flood the bathroom like last time. We have to have the whole bathroom floor remodel last time that happen."


"I'm sorry, Sasami," said Mihoshi as she runs into the bathroom. Kiyone picks up a bottle of asprin and practically swallow the whole bottle (I mean the pills in the bottle not the bottle itself). Within a few minute, with no other catastrophe, their feast was laid infront of them.


"Wow," said Patamon as he looks at the food. "This look really good." Before long, they start to dig in.


"Something is wrong," thinks Tai as his head starts to spin. He looks at TK, just in time to see his head hits the table. Patamon and Agumon fainted right after TK's head have hit the table. "You drug us," said Tai as he struggle to stand up. "Why?" But he didn't hear his answer because the next thing he knew, he was knock unconscious.



New York


"Ugh!!! Who would ever think that I would still be tired after that nap on the airplane."


"Of course you should be tired, Poromon. It is almost six PM in Japan and it is around five AM in New York. I don't think we would be getting any sleep until tonight."


Poromon groans as Mimi and Yolie laughs. "Don't worry," said Mimi as she drives them to her apartment. "You can get some sleep after we settle down and grab some breakfast." After driving for an hour, they finally reach Mimi's apartment. It was another half an hour when finally brought all the baggages into the apartment. Palmon, Poromon, and Yolie are sprawling on Mimi's bed as they wait for Mimi to bring in the last luggage. "Darn it," said Mimi as she lug in the lab top that Izzy have gave to Yolie. "The elevator just has to break today. It is just our luck."


"Yeah," said Palmon. "You're telling me. I never have to walk that much before."


"Come on," said Mimi as she tries to tug them off the bed. "Let's get some breakfast before we go to sleep, okay?"


"Alright," said Poromon. "I am starving. The food that they served on that plane was just plain awful. I was hungry but even I can't eat it."


"Hmm," said Yolie. "Maybe you would rather eat Davis's Digimon Special over plane food, right?" Poromon gave Yolie a horrifying look as she starts to giggle.


Mimi laughs as they rise from the bed and streaches themselves. "Oh yeah, Yolie. I have something for you." She picks up a wrapped up present on her desk and hands it to Yolie. "Welcome to New York."


"Oh, Mimi. You shouldn't have." Yolie opens the present to find a bottle of perfume. "Thank you."


"Hey, do you think they are trying to tell you something," said Poromon. When Yolie gave him a questioning look, he smiles at her. "It is kind of weird that Kari and Mimi gave you perfume at the same time. I think they are trying to indicate something."


"Hey, what do you mean by that," yelled Yolie. "Are you trying to say that I stink?"


"Well, maybe." Before Poromon knows it, he is knock unconscious by Yolie.


"Wow, Yolie," said Palmon. "Calm down. I am sure that Poromon was just kidding. Beside, Mimi brought that perfume for you because she thought you were going to like it."


"Yeah," said Mimi as she picks up the unconscious Poromon and place him on the bed. "I thought this perfume would match you perfectly and that is why I brought it."


"I'm sorry," said Yolie. "I think I over reacted." She gave them each a bright smile. "Hey, can I use it right now?"


"Yeah, sure," said Mimi. Yolie opens the bottle and spray some on her neck. She smiles at the flowery smell. However, when she turns around to look at Mimi, she suddenly felt a strong sense of dizziness.


"Mimi, what is going on? I...." Mimi and Palmon watches in silence as Yolie drops down on the floor unconscious.


Mimi nods her head at Palmon as she walks to her closet door. She knocks on it two times and out sprang Hasuma.


"I see you did it," said Hasuma as she went to pick up Yolie. "Now let's hurry up. The others are there already." With that said, Mimi picks up Poromon and follows Hasuma into the closet. Instead of just a regular closet, Washu have already help designed a warp hole that would lead straight to the Masaki's house. When Mimi and Hasuma have step through the warp hole, Palmon closes the door in Mimi's apartment before she steps through. She follow Hasuma, and Mimi as they carry Poromon and Yolie into the house. They stop in front of a room and with a soft kick, Hasuma pushes the door open. Inside, Tai and the others are already there. Hasuma drops Yolie in a nearby futon and Mimi puts Poromon next to her. "They should be waking up in any moment," said Hasuma. "All we have to do right now is to wait."


They didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, Tai begins to regain conscious. He gives off a little groan as he lifts his hand to his face. Mimi looks at Hasuma before walking toward him. Before she can reach him, Tai jumps up in alarm but quickly falls back down from his headache. "Tai," Mimi said softly. "Don't act so fast. The drug hasn't wear off yet."


"Huh...Mimi?" Tai groans as he tries to focus his eyes on her. "What are you doing over here?"


"I think I could answer that question for you," Yolie said. She is still lying on her futon waiting for the drug to wear off. Her eyes open slowly and stare at Mimi accusingly. "She is the one that drugged me!"


"What?" Tai tries to pull away from Mimi but with no avail. "Why did you do that," he hiss.


"She did it because she wants to protect you guys," said Hasuma. She rises up from her chair and walks up to them. By this time, TK is starting to wake up along with Agumon and Patamon. Poor Poromon is still unconscious from Yolie's punch. Mimi helps Tai to sit up while Hasuma helps Yolie. Sasami comes into the room (the 14 year old girl in the restuarant) and hands each one of them a glass of water. Tai, TK, Agumon, and Patamon puts their aside as they recall what happen in the restuarant. For a while, they all sit there in silence until Tai decided to break the silence.


"I think it is time that you tell us what is happening," he said.


"Look, what I am telling you might sound crazy but it is the truth," said Hasuma.


"Try me," Tai said. Hasuma gives off an amusing smile.


"That's exactly what Mimi said, and that was before I decided to tell her the truth." She looks around the room before she continues in a serious tone. "There is something that ties us all together. Something that has happen in the past."


"Digimon," TK asks. "Are you a digidestine too?"


"Obviously, that answer is no," she reply. "As you can see, I don't have a digimon with me. No. The thing that connect us is our past lives."


"What!" Tai stands up all of the sudden.


"You mean to tell me that you brought me all the way over here just to hear this?! Who do you think I am? You think I would believe in this?" He glares at Mimi and Hasuma. "Forget it. You guys are crazy. Come on Agumon! We're leaving." He storms past Mimi and heads for the door.


"Tai, please wait and listen," said Mimi as she made a grab for his hand but he yanks it away from her.


"Damn you Mimi! I thought you grew up from stubborness and selfishness. What about your crest of sincerity, huh?! You don't deserve it because of this stupid lie!" He turns to the door and was about to open it when Hasuma yells at him.


"Stop it right there!" She walks up to him in anger. "If you wanted to leave, I won't stop you but you have no right to say that to Mimi! She is not the selfish one. You are! If you walk out this door and out of this house, I can guarantee that you are going to regret it in the future!" Her words kind of shake some sense into Tai but not enough to make him stay. He turns around and apologizes to Mimi before stepping out the door. What Mimi said next causes him to stop his track.


"Don't you care about Kari? How about your mother and father?"


"What do you mean," Tai said. TK jumps up from his futon and grabs Mimi by her shoulders.


"What does this have to do with Kari," he asks in panic.


"It have everything to do with all of us and nothing to do with them," Hasuma answer. "Let go of Mimi because she does not know anything." They all turn to her. "All she knows is that your lives are being threaten by our enemies. That's all she knows!"


"Then what does this have to do with Kari," TK repeats. Yolie stands up and walks up to him to calm him down.


"It's ready," said Washu. She is standing out in the hallway and smiling at them. "If you want your answers it is best that you come with me."


"She's right," said Hasuma. "The digimons would have to stay here because I feel it is better that you guys come without them." They all nod their head and it is least to say that none of the digimons is too happy about it. However, when Sasami brought in a batch of cookies and Palmon has eats some without any problem, the digimons decided it is best that they stay there with the food. Tai, TK, Yolie, and Mimi, on the other hand, is quite nervouse. When they have finally reaches Washu's laboratory, Tenchi, Ryoko and Yosho is waiting outside.


"Washu is already inside," said Yosho as he opens the door to Washu's laboratory. "Ryoko, you are coming in with us." He turns to his grandson and shakes his head. "I'm sorry Tenchi but it is best you do not come in here."


"Hey, then why do I have to be in there," Ryoko asks. "Why can't Tenchi come?"


"Because you are needed. And as for Tenchi, it is best that he doesn't know that much."


A girl with purple hair pops out from nowhere. On her forehead, she wears a tiara that is made out of wood. She gives Ryoko a glare before grabbing Tenchi by the hand. Least to say, Ryoko is flaring up with anger. "Well then," said the girl. "I think Lord Tenchi and I would take a stroll around Funaho then."


"Wait a minute Ayeka," said Ryoko as she steps forward to block her path. "Let go of my Tenchi now!"


"Your Tenchi?! Since when did Lord Tenchi became your?" Ayeka fumed as Ryoko slides up next to Tenchi and hugs him. Poor Tenchi is muttering to himself asking why does this always have to happen.


"Since Tenchi first lay his eyes on me," Ryoko said coyly in Tenchi's ear.


"Ha...from what I heard, Tenchi was trying to run away from you because you were blowing up his school," Ayeka retort. "Now let go of Lord Tenchi before I have to resort to drastic measure."


"Heheh...lets see you try!"


"Now girls," Tenchi pleas as the two girls square off to fight. "Please don't fight. We have guests." He sighs as he notices his pleas are ignored. Ryoko raises up her hand to start the fight off but before she can do anything, Yosho runs up to her in a flash and throws her into Washu's laboratory. "Grandpa!"


"Enough time wasted," said Yosho. He turns to find Tenchi's worried face and smile. "That was Ryoko that I have thrown and you know of her capabilities. Don't worry about her." He turns to Ayeka and bows to her. "Please take care of Tenchi until I return."


"Yes brother," said Ayeka with respect. She turns to Tenchi and gives him a smile. With a last look at his grandfather, Tenchi walks away with Ayeka.


"So then," said Yosho. "Let's go." Hasuma nods her head and turn to Tai, Mimi, TK, and Yolie.


"Do not be surprise when you guys go in there," said Hasuma as she steps inside. Mimi follows her right after leaving TK, Yolie, and Tai outside. With a deep breath, they step inside Washu's laboratory. It made Yolie jumps when the door automatically closes right after they got in, but Tai and TK was to busy observing the laboratory to notice that minor thing. Washu is siting in a floating chair and is rapidly typing in her computer. Things are flying everywhere as she tries to store her stuffs in a safe place.


"What the..." Tai did not finish his sentence because a pedestal almost hit him on the head.


"Sorry," said Washu. "I am trying to clean this place up a little bit before I start. It usually don't look this bleak in here but this is the dimension where I like to do most of my experiments." She turns to give them an evil grin. With a flick of a switch, the flying objects stop and disappears into a dimensional warp hole. "Hey, don't look so surprise. I am able to store things in different dimension."


"You mean you are able to malipulate dimension," said Yolie in wonders. "Perfecto!"


"You think, huh?" Washu continues to type in her computer and out pops four glass case with two sticks and two sword hilts floating in each one of them. A holographic projection also pops out from the center of the room. Hasuma walks up to the projection and presses some button. A small picture of a planet shoots out from that projection.


"Jurai!"


They all turn to look at TK in shocks. "How do you know this planet is call Jurai," Washu said cautiously.


"I don't know," TK replies back in confusion. "That name just pops out of my mouth." He turns to look at Tai. "Do you feel something wierd inside you? It is like I seen this planet before."


"I don't know about that planet," Tai said slowly. "But I am getting some wierd feeling from one of those sword hilt."


Hasuma gives off a little laugh. "I guess I should not be that surprise. Mimi is able to sense something from you guys and you guys can feel something from the things that is related to you in the past. I think it makes things easier!"


Washu nods her head. "I think you guys will start to recall things once we starts explaining. Opps...I forgot. I am Washu. The greatest scientifical genius in this whole entire universe but you can call me Little Washu." She gives them each a cute little smile.


Yolie raises her eyebrow and whispers in Mimi's ear. "I notice she isn't modest at all." Mimi smiles.


"And I am Yosho," said the older man. He touches his glasses and his long grey hair brushes his shoulder as he bows to them. "But I am known as Masaki Katsuhito on Earth. This is the Masaki household and I am the shinto priest of the Masaki shrine. It is my pleasure to meet you all."


"Lord Yosho," said Yolie. "I've heard that name before." For some unknown reason, she feels a great urge to knee down before him like he is a royalty or something.


"And that is Ryoko," said Yosho as he points to the spiky cyan hair girl. Her golden eyes shine with mischief. She gives off a smile when she saw Tai taking a fighting stance.


"You wouldn't want to fight me right now," said Ryoko. To Tai, Mimi, TK, and Yolie's surprise, she flies up toward the sky. "I am a space pirate you know, and I don't play nice." Mimi taps Tai softly on his shoulder to catch his attention.


"I guess it is time you start telling us what is going on, Hasuma," said Mimi. Hasuma nods her head.


"Before I tell you what is going on, I would like to give you some background information so you can understand things better." She picks up a remote control from Washu and presses a button to enlarge the projection of planet Jurai. "Most of you probably don't know it, but Earth is just a colony of Jurai. You see, Jurai is a powerful empire and is the ruler of this whole galaxy, not to mention other dimentions too. However, most people don't know this because Jurai's technology is very advance. Only people that are living in Jurai and some high officials from each planets know about this planet exsistence." She flicks on another switch and the image of Jurai is replace by a picture of a beautiful women. Her long light blue hair cascade down on her back and on the center of her forehead is two little circle.


"Tsunami," said Tai, TK, Yolie, and Mimi.


"Yep, that is the goddess Tsunami," said Washu. "There are three main goddesses in this world and Tsunami is one of them. Kind hearted and powerful, Tsunami created Jurai and resides in that planet as a royal tree also known as Tsunami. The royal family, appointed by her, are given special powers. Whenever there is a royal birth, each of the baby is presented with a royal tree that have a power that is quite similar to Tsunami (not as powerful...not even close!)."


"Jurain royal family draws their power from their own tree," said Yosho. "When their tree dies, they also loses their power and die. Jurain's can also increase their power by assimilating with their trees." He gives off a little cough. To all of their surprise, except Washu, Yosho changes into a young man. "As you can see, I am not as old as you think I am. Jurai's royal family tends to have long lives. I am over seven hundred years old but yet, my real form is only twenty nine years old. Ryoko over threre is +2700 and Washu over here..." Before he can finish, Washu hits him on the head.


"It is not nice to tell people how old a woman's age is," Washu snaps.


"I don't get it," said Ryoko. "Why were you hiding your real form from us? How about Ayeka? She have been searching all over for you!"


"Ayeka..." Yosho said quitely before he reverts back to his elderly form. "She fell in love with the man she knew in the past. I've changed for these past seven hundred years. I don't want to lead her on anymore." He give Ryoko a little smile. "Beside, Tenchi is not such a bad catch either." He blocks Ryoko's blow calmly.


"What!!! You are giving my Tenchi to her just because you did not marry her in the past!"


"You know I don't mean that," said Yosho. "I escape that marriage because I was not accepted by the people of Jurai as the future ruler of that planet." He sighs sadly and looks upward. "My mother, Funaho, is a earthling and earthling is not very liked at that time. If I were to marry Ayeka (Ayeka is pure blood because her mother, Misaki, is a Jurain), there would be a uproar. I also wanted to go to Earth becasue of all the things my mother have told me about it. So...I left." He turns to Ryoko and gives her a pleading look. "Do not tell Ayeka about my younger form because I do not want to hurt her anymore."


Ryoko gives him a glare before she flies off. "I won't tell her. If Tenchi choose me, I want to win it fair and square." She lands on top of a pedestal.


"Jurai's royal tree is not only the source of their power, it can also transform into their battle ship," said Hasuma. "Therefore, you can basically say that their royal tree is also their battle ship."


"But people that do not have Jurai's royal blood can still live a long life," said Washu. "Ryoko and I are one example. You see, this all depends on the power that lives within you. If you have enough powers and abilities, you can retain your youth."


"But what does this have to do with us," asks Tai. Hasuma, Yosho, and Washu looks at Ryoko and nod their head at her direction.


"Because of me," Ryoko snaps. "Or you can say, I kind of cause it." She sighs before she continues. "Seven hundred years ago, under Kagato's control, Ryo-oh-ki and I attacked Jurai. Yosho went after me to kill me and we both landed on Earth. He manages to take away my three gems, which is the main source of my power, and lock me up in the Masaki cave."


"But that is beside the point," said Hasuma. "You see, Jurai is hard to infiltrate and not any normal human being can do that. Ryoko was an exception and her attacks cause a fear in Lord Azusa's heart. Fearing for another attack, he plans to form an outer barrier outside of Jurai. For three hundred years, he sought to find the suitable barrier's location but it ended up in vain. However, for the next fifty years, he finally manage to find three suitable planets. The planets he have choosen lies in a equilateral triangle with Jurai in the center of that triangle. Planet Earth is one of the one he choose because of Lord Yosho's presence on that planet. The other two planets is Malric and Guardina. Both of these planets are choosen because most of the guardians of Lord Azusa come from those two planet." She takes a deep breath before she continues on. "Everything was going according to the plan but unfortunately, another attack was made on Jurai, fifty years later. The attack was not made directly on planet Jurai. Instead, they attacked Guardina in hope to take over that kingdom. At that time, there were four guardians appointed in Malric and there are four guardians that were appointed in Guardina. Ryu, Kenji, Elly, and I are the guardians appointed in Malric."


"And Yolie, Tai, TK, and I are the appointed guardians of Guardina," said Mimi.


"That's correct. Believe it or not, Yolie is also the princess of Guardina. You guys have sworn to protect the royal family of Jurai and the royal family of Guardian as well." Hasuma bows before Yolie. "I also became Yolie's guardian in the future and swore to protect her." She looks up sadly at them. "But I did not do my duty fully, and I am sorry for what have happen in the past. On the day of the attack, I went off with Tai and Mimi on an emergency call, leaving only Yolie and TK to protect the kingdom. We are able to arrive back in time to win the war, but we also paid a high price. Using all of their power for that war, TK and Yolie's power starts to disappear. Fearing that we would not be able to protect this planet any longer, the five of us gives up our power and form a barrier to protect this planet from any future attack. However, by doing so, we were reverted back to a normal human being and died as one."


"This...this is absurd," said TK softly. "It seem so...unreal."


"Ha...am I real," asks Ryoko. She teleports from the pedestal and appears in front of them. TK, Yolie, Mimi, and Tai jumps up from shock as Ryoko's eye gleam with delight.


"It is true," said Hasuma. "I know I do not deserve to have your trust especially when I was the one who instructed Mimi and Sasami to put the drug inside your food and the perfume but believe me, this is not my usual method for introducing myself." She takes a deep breath and continues on in a seriouse tone. "But what I am telling you is the truth and our past lives are now interfering with our present lives."


"Okay," Yolie said flatly. "So we are connected together by our past lives but that still doesn't solve anything. Maybe you can stop going in circle and tell us the main problem right now."


"Something was left unfinish in our past lives. What it is? To tell you the truth, I don't know. All I know and all that I can tell you is that we are in danger. Our enemy is very determine to find us and kill us. I didn't know about this until two years ago. That year was when my senshi die and told me to fulfill my destiny. He told me that I have started something in my past life and that I was reborn to finish it. I didn't understand what he mean by then until later. That same year, I meet Ryu, Kenji, and Elly. I didn't remember who they were but they seem to recognizes me. Through their encouragement, I went and become the guardian for Lord Azusa. When I was given my weapon, I suddenly gain back all of my memory from the past." She walks up to the four weapons that is floating in the glass cases. "At first, I was lost. I didn't know why I would remember all those things that happen to me in my past life. You see, people die and they either go to heaven or who knows where. Instead I was reborn back into this world." When she saw their puzzle faces she sigh. "It isn't normal. I mean, people get reincarnate but into a different form and with no memory of their past but in my case, it wasn't." She reaches behind her and pull out a little stick. In a beam of light, the stick turns into a rod. "Well, I didn't remember about my past until I touch this rod. You see, it was the same rod that was given to me when I became a guardian in my past life. It had been waiting for me to return to it. Just like..." She looks at them with a smile. "Just like yours have been waiting for you guys to return."


"You mean those are ours," asks TK.


"Yes. They were calling out for you to return to them." She flicks a switch and the projector shows a planet. Yolie, TK, Tai, and Mimi gasp as they all recognize the planet. "Guradina was destroy in that same year I became a guardian." After hearing that, TK, Yolie, Mimi, and Tai froze in shock. Yolie slowly collapses on the floor.


"Our barrier," said Yolie. Tears starts to spill from her eyes. "What happen to the barrier?"


"It was not strong enough to withstand the assult. It seems like they developed a weapon that can destroy planets." She flicks on another switch on the projector and planet Guardina is replace by Malric. "Malric was destroy a few months later. It was then when your weapons start to act all wierd. They came to me when I was going to bed. They projected the image of planet Earth. I got a feeling they were trying to tell me that you guys are on Earth, and that I should be able to find you guys there. I left with Kenji, Ryu, and Elly and for a few month, we travel in space. It usually do not take that long but due to attacks from our enemy and technical problems, we arrive here too late." She looks at Mimi. "I'm sorry."


Tai, TK, and Yolie look at Mimi who is standing there in shock as she makes the connection. "My papa...mama...they didn't die in an accident?"


"I'm afraid it was my fault," said Washu quietly. They all turn to look at her. "Lord Yosho and I received a message from Jurai about what was going on. I was instructed to erase all of your data but...your data was the last one that I erased. I'm sorry."


"I was suppose to go with them that night," Mimi mumbles softly. "I didn't went because I felt kind of sick." She lifts her hands in front of her and looks at them pitifully. "They die because of me. I killed them." Tears starts to fall from Mimi's eyes as she clutches her hand into a fist. "I...will never forget. My hand is now soak with their blood." Yolie walks up to confort Mimi but before she can reach there, Mimi looks up. Yolie jumps back in shock when she sees the coldness in Mimi's eye. "I'll make them pay!" Tai suddenly gives off a shiver and Hasuma opens her mouth to apologize again. Mimi raises her hand to stop her. "It is not your fault. You are not the one that kill them."


"What are you going to do when you do find the one that did them in," Yosho asks quietly.


"They will pay blood with blood."


They all stands there in silence. Neither one of them know what to say. The silence was finally broken by Ryoko's laughter. "And how do you propose to do that," askes Ryoko. "Go and fight them? Ha...you will be lucky if you can survive even a second." Ryoko teleports in front of Mimi. She gives Mimi a challenging look. It was return with a cold glance.


"Shut up demon," Mimi said in a calm and dangerous tone. Ryoko flinchs in her tone. Anger flares up in her.


"What did you just call me?!"


"Demon."


"Why you," Ryoko reaches to grab Mimi by her collar. "Do you know who you are talking to?"


"A notorious space pirate that terrorized the whole universe for two thousand years." Mimi places her hand over Ryoko's hand. "Let go of me before you regret it, demon." Ryoko tightens her grip on Mimi's collar. To everyone's surpise, Mimi pushes Ryoko away with all her strength and slaps Ryoko right across the face. Ryoko stands there in shock for a while before her anger flares up again. Yosho reaches in front of Mimi just in time to block the energy ball that Ryoko throws toward her. With a quick move, Yosho knocks the energy ball away and knocks Ryoko out with his wooden sword. He turns to Mimi and gives her a calm look. However, when he turns to address Mimi, he did not bother to disguise the anger in his tone.


"Why did you do that," Yosho asks while he picks up the unconsious Ryoko. "She might have terrorized the whole universe in the past but that was because she was under Kagato's control. She never killed anyone. Never! It would do you good to remember that Ryoko's actions in the past was not by her own choice." He turns and walks out the door with Ryoko in his arms. He turns to address Mimi one more time. "Even right now, the energy ball that she fire is just strong enough to stun you." Tenchi's voice can be heard when he asks his grandfather what have happen to Ryoko. Before they can hear Yosho's reply, the door closes.


"Well," said Washu as everyone of them stand there in silence. "Now shall we get back to the deal over here?" When she is sure that she got all of their attention, she starts to speak. "When Hasuma reaches over here, she is extremely sad to hear about Mimi's parents accident. We know then that the enemy have already detected you and that they have fail on their first attempt to get rid of you. In order to protect you, Hasuma was sent to watch over you."


"After that....well, you know what happen," said Hasuma. "I was suppose to come back to Japan after I made sure that you were safe but I decided to stay with you a little bit longer. When you said that you wanted to follow me back to Japan, I was kind of in a tight spot. I didn't know should I bring you along with me or not because I don't know is it the right time to tell you about everything. But when you insisted to come, I let you." She looks at Tai and smile. "I was planing to locate you once I got back to Japan, but unexpectedly Mimi and I happen to run into you, TK, and Yolie in a restaurant the next day. But that is not what surprises me. What surprises me the most is was Mimi's reaction when she saw you guys. She almost fainted."


They all turn to look at Mimi. She bows her head to hide her face. "I didn't know what to react when I sat next to you, Tai. The power that is radiating out of you scares me. It didn't make things easier for me to feel the same power surging from Yolie and TK."


"Power," Tai asks. "I don't feel anything different. What do you mean my power?"


"The power that you have in your past life," said Washu. "It is trigger by Mimi's presences and by the current danger."


"But why was it never trigger before," asks Yolie. "It don't make sence. I mean, we were in a lot of danger when we faced Myotismon and all the evil digimon but it was never trigger before. Beside, this is not the first time I meet Mimi. I met her in the past before but she never felt any power from me."


"That is because the time is not right," Washu reply. "There is a gene that reside in all four of you that neither any of your parents, relatives, or siblings have it. It is suppose to be trigger when real danger present itself to you. When I mean real danger, I mean the things that were related to your past life. Hasuma did not remember anything about her past life but she retains the power she have in the past by training with her senshi. The same applies to you four too. If you guys undergo the same training (training to be a fighter) as Hasuma did, you would discover something different between you and regular people. You have the ability to grasp things faster because of your knowledge and experiences from the past."


"Then how do you expect us to trigger our power and memory," asks TK.


"Hasuma triggers her by touching her weapon, so I believe that is how you guys can trigger yours." For a while, TK, Tai, Mimi, and Yolie stands there as they think over what they have just learn in this past hour. All of these things does sound absurd but in a way, they could feel it is true.


"Alright," said Tai. "All I have to do it just touch the weapon and get back my power and memory. If that is the case, then I will do it." He walks up to the glass case and stops in front of one of the sword hilt. How he knows that sword hilt belongs to him, he have no idea. He lifts up the glass case and settle it down on the floor. With a deep breath, he reaches for the sword but Hasuma stops him.


"Don't touch it if you do not know what is the consequences." Tai pulls his hand back and looks at her. From the expression shown from his eyes, Hasuma knows what he is going to ask. She nods her head to Washu. Washu sighs and starts to type in her computer. Four ten-feet canisters pops out from the floor. When Tai, Mimi, TK, and Yolie see what is in the canisters, they give off a scream. In each of the canisters, except one, there is a carbon copy of each one of them floating inside. However, Yolie's one is not there.


"What is the meaning of this," Tai yells.


"This is a clone of each one of you," said Washu. "Err...I wasn't able to copy Yolie because I do not have a copy of her DNA but..." She runs up to Yolie in a flash and plucks out one of Yolie's hair. Yolie is screaming as she clutches her hair but Washu has already run back to her computer. She inputs the hair in a tiny slots and in the empty fourth canister, a glob of thing starts to take form. While this is going on, Washu starts to explain. "I use your DNA and a substance called Mass to make these carbon copy of each one of you. Althought they are your clone, they do not have any living soul. Instead, they are just a body of tissue."


"We need to do this because, we need you to die," said Hasuma.


"What?!"


"What I mean is that I need you to disappear from this world. I need the current Mimi, Tai, TK, and Yolie to die. They can no longer live the normal lives they have once live before. They have to give up their family and friends."


"Why?"


"I'm sorry Tai, but in order to keep your family safe, this is the only case. If the enemy found out about them then..."


"Then they would kill them like they have killed mine." Mimi's words cut through like ice but it made its point.


"I know that it must be hard to give up your family but I have another alternative." They all look up to her with hope but Hasuma shakes her head. "The only thing you can do is to run. Run away from your destiny. We will do our best to keep you safe but I don't know how long."


"I can't think," said Tai. "I need to get some fresh air. I'm sorry." He turns to walk away but TK grabs him by his arm.


"I will go with you," he said. They walk out together. Yolie quickly follows after them with only Mimi staying behind.


"Don't you want sometime to think things over," Hasuma asks.


"I don't have any other choice. I lost my parents. I have nothing to hold me back."


"Vengeance is not a good reason to become a guardian, you know that."


"At this time, logic and reasoning does not apply to me."


Hasuma opens her mouth to reply to Mimi's word but it was cut off when Washu suddenly gives off a scream. Mimi and Hasuma rushes up to her computer screen and frown.


"Tai and TK is not going to like this," Washu mumbles as she watches the police cars speeding to the accident site.


*****


"So," said TK. Tai stirs when he heard TK speaking. They have been sitting near Funaho (Yosho's Jurain tree) for half an hour and neither one of them have spoken a word. "I guess this is what they mean about Kari, huh?" Tai nods his head in silence as TK sighs and stands up. "I'm worry about Mimi."


"You're worry about Mimi," Tai said out loud in astonishment. "My god! You are going to have to give up your life with Kari and right now all you can think of is Mimi?"


"Well...at least I got you talking, right?" Tai groans as TK flashes him a grin.


"You're having fun aren't you?" Tai stands up to face TK. "I just can't believe you can make a joke at a time like this. This is our lives we are talking about. It is our dreams that we are giving up. I just don't know what to do." TK pats Tai softly on his shoulder. "When I left Kari to go to the Digi-world, it break my heart. And when we went back to save the digiworld from the darkmaster, I didn't want to leave my parents. It hurts my heart eventhough I know that we would only be gone for a short while. But now...it is forever. We can never go back to their lives again. To disappear into this world as nothing...I don't know if I should go or not go."


"I know what you mean," said TK. "I have to give up Matt and...the girl that I love. It is so hard..." Tears start to fill his eyes and Tai's eyes. "I don't know if my decision is right for Kari or not. She is going to go through a lot of pain if you and I both disappear."


"But I think it would be worth it if we can save their lives," said Yolie as she appears before them. Poromon, Patamon, and Agumon pops out behind her and went to their respective partner. "TK, you have the crest of hope and Tai, you have the crest of courage. Do not let your hope and your courage fail you right now." She touches Funaho and smiles at it. She can feel the warmth coming through it. "Funaho. Funaho is telling me to follow my path." She turns back to them and throws a rock into the lake that surround Funaho. "Even if we were to disappear, at least we are giving them hope for a better future. If we just run away and go back to them, I don't think I can live happily knowing that I can do something to help."


"Tai," said Agumon. "I don't really know what is going on but, I kind of like the things that Yolie just said. Whatever you choose, I will follow you."


"And I will always be with you," said Patamon to TK. TK pats him softly on his head and gives him a smile.


"I know what path I am going to follow," said Yolie. "I might be giving up a lot of things, and I might be hurting a lot of people because of my decision, but life comes and goes. The pain would soon disappear. As long as I know I am doing the right thing, I will do it." She takes a rock and skips it across the lake that surround Funaho. She sits down and smiles at her reflection from the lake. "Think about it. Would you rather have them live in a world that have hope or a world that does not have any hope?" For a moment, they did not move a muscle. Tai, finally, gives her a little smile and hugs her. Yolie stands up in surprise and blushes when TK also gives her a hug.


"Thank you, Yolie," said TK. "I think I know what path I am going to take. How about you, Tai?"


Tai nods his head and starts to head back to the house. "Come on! The longer we take, the more we are putting Kari and the others in danger." They give each other a grin before they run back into Washu's laboratory. "What's going on," Tai asks. Mimi is standing near one of the pedestals while Hasuma and Washu are pacing around. Washu looks up to them when came bursting into her laboratory. She sighs and motion Tai and TK to come near to the computer screen. Tai and TK give off a scream when they saw what was going on. "What happen!!!!"


"I would tell you if you would just let go of me," said Washu. Tai slowly loosen his grip on the neck of her shirt. "Now that is better. It seems like a problem have come up in Kiyone and Mihoshi's mission."


"No kidding," TK said sarcastically. "What does that look like to you?" He points his finger at the computer screne. Divers are already there looking for TK, Tai, Agumon, and Patamon's bodies. They both gave off a groan when the camera shifted to Kari and Matt's faces.


"We were suppose to arrange an accident for you guys once you made your decision to stay with us, but while we were setting up the stage, a real drunk driver came streaking through the road and knock your car off the road. That accident almost knock Kiyone and Mihoshi off the road too." She frowns when she saw the dispair in Tai and TK's faces. "Hey, it is not over yet! If you guys don't want to stay, there is still a way." She presses a button on her computer and a warp hole pops out next to her. "This will take you to the accident site, and I will tell Kiyone where to find you so she can inform the divers of your location. That way, you can go back to your family alive and well." She frowns and shakes her head. "Not well because you guys just fell off from a cliff. I think I will have to put some make up on you to make it look like you guys have undergo some kind of injury." Tai reaches his hand to stop her.


"Close the portal," said Tai. "This is fate. Beside, we already made our decisions already. We're staying." Hasuma gives him a smile and gives him a hug.


"I know I can always depend on you," she said. "Thank you." Washu closes the portal and inform Kiyone about their decision. Hasuma leads Tai, TK, and Yolie toward those pedestals. She nods her head as they give her a look of uncertainty. "Your powers and memories will be waken once you touch your weapons. Good luck."


"Wait," said Washu. "Before you touch your weapons, I need your agreement on one crucial issue."


"Now what," Yolie asks in annoyance.


"Although you will be getting your power back, but it doesn't automatically mean you will know how to use them. Beside, neither one of you are in fighting state." She takes a deep breath to prepare herself for the impact that her announcement is going to cause. "Therefore, I need all of you to train with Ryoko." She can swear that her whole laboratory shake when they shout at her in disbelief.


"There is no way I am training with that demon," said Mimi.


"Shut up!!!" They all shut up when they sees an angry Washu standing up on her chair. "I had it with all the insults you are throwing to my daughter. If I ever hear one more insult about my daughter, don't say I didn't warn you!" She gets off the chair and paces around to calm herself down. "Lets just say this is the whole deal. If you want to stay, you will have to train with her. Period! No exception!!! Ryoko have more than two thousand years of fighting experience, and she knows a lot of skills. It will benefit you guys if you train with her." She walks over to her door and opens it. "There is no way I am going to send one of my people to a battle unprepare. If you guys are not willing to train with her, then just get the hell out of here and stop wasting my time." She slams the door close when neither one of them move. "Then it is decided. I better not hear any complain in the future."


"Hmph...enough time waste," said Tai. Mimi lifts up the glass case that surround her weapon. TK reaches out his hand to touch his sword hilt. Yolie gives off a scream once she made contact with her stick. A bright light flashes from all of the four weapon once their respective owner touch them. Once the bright light have disappear, Hasuma opens her eyes to find Yolie, TK, Tai and Mimi lying down on the floor, unconsious, with their weapons clutching tightly in their hands.



The Past



"Get your slimy hand off of my daughter!" A three years old Tai backs up in surprise when he sees the queen storming toward him and Yolie's crib. His mother and little sister run up beside him and forces him to bow before the queen.


"I'm sorry for my son's action," said Tai's mother as she bows down to the queen. Tai jumps up in surprise when he sees the queen had raise her hand to strike his mother. He stands in front of his mother to block the blow but luckly the king arrive in time to stop his wife.


"That's enough, Nina," said the King. The queen gives him an angry glare before storming away. Tai's father walks up to his wife and helps her up to her feet. Tai takes his little sister hand in his and smile at the king.


"Thank you uncle Ray," said Tai. "I mean...your highness." Tai quickly correct his word when he sees the frown in his father's face. The king gives off a laugh and picks up Yolie from her crib.


"Call me uncle Ray, Tai." He bends down to Tai and pats him on the head. "Do you want to hold Yolie?" Tai nods his head and slowly cradle Yolie in his arms. Yolie opens her little eyes and give him a little smile. Tai gives off a little yelp when Yolie grabs his spiky brown hair in her hand and pull. Tai bends down to put Yolie on the floor. He takes her hand in one of his hand and his little sister in his other. "You are quite strong," said the king as he observe Tai. "A normal kid cannot handle a one year old baby that long, and it seems like it is easy for you. Have you ever thought of becoming a guardian?"


"No," said Tai. "I don't want to become one because it is too much work."


"He will become one," Tai's father said flatly. "I've been training him since he is two. He have the brain and strength to become one."


"Don't you think you are pushing Tai too much," asks the king. "He is just three years old and already he is talking like an adult."


"This is necessary in order to become a good guardian for Lord Azusa and your highness." The king sighs when he look at Tai. Tai shrugs his shoulder and sits down on the floor. Just then, a guard from the palace comes running in.


"My lord," said the guard. "There is an assult on planet Rexo. They are asking for our assistance."


"I will go," said Tai's father. "It is a Jurain guardian's duty to protect the planets that are under Jurai's ruling." He turns to bow to the king. "Please let me go to assist them in this battle." The king nods his head and with his approval, Tai's father give his wife a hug to say good bye. He turns to look at Tai and gives him a fatherly smile. "Take care of your mother and little sister for me."


"I will dad," said Tai. "I promise I will watch over Mimi and momma for you. Come back safely." Tai's father nods his head and runs off with the guard. Little do they know that was the last time they will see him.


A year after


Tai holds his sister softly in his arms as they stand there in the rain. The workers are quickly throwing the dirt into the grave before the hole can fill up with water. Tai's grandfather pats him softly on his shoulder to show him comfort. A year have pass since the death of his father. His mother was so devestated with his death that she fells into sickness. Since then, Tai have been working to feed his sister and his mother. Luckly, people know of his tragedy and are willing to let him work for them eventhough he was only three years old (now he is four). Tai bites his lip to stop the tears from flowing. Mimi continues to cry softly in his arms. His grandfather takes Mimi away from his hand as Tai continues to stand there.


"Come on Tai," said his grandfather. "Let's go home."


"I'm waiting for someone to show up," said Tai. "Bring Mimi home first." His grandfather looks at Tai in shock. Who can ever expect that a four year old boy can act so mature. Most of all, the way he say those word is...well...undescribable. Tai's grandfather picks up Mimi softly in his arms and turns to walk back home. In a few minutes, the graveyard have empty out leaving Tai alone over there. The rain is still pouring but it seems like it have no effect on Tai. He just stands there waiting in silence. He finally opens his eyes when he hears a footstep coming toward him.


"So you are finally here," said Tai calmly. He turns around to face the king.


"Tai," said the king. "What are you doing out here by yourself?"


"I was waiting for you."


"Huh? Why were you waiting for me?" For some unknown reason, the king feels very uneasy. It is probably the way Tai is looking at him.


"Oh, I just wanted to see are you really that heartless."


"What are you talking about?"


Tai gives him a narrow glare before walking toward him. "I'm talking about the way you treated mother in the past. I am talking about the way you abandon her when she was giving birth to Mimi. I'm talking about the way you went off to marry another women while my mother have to look over me and Mimi."


"Tai," said the king. He backs up from Tai in shock. "So you know."


"Yes, father," said Tai in disgust. "Mother told me before she past away. She told me that you are Mimi and mine real father." He sanks down to his knee in despair. "And to think that I used to admire you. I like you because I thought you are a kind and courageous king but...it was all an illusion." The king walks up to Tai and tries to help him up to his feet. Tai pushes him away from him. "My foster father have more courage than you ever have!"


"Tai, I'm sorry. I never thought I can hurt you so much. Let me help you." He reaches for Tai but to his surprise, Tai slaps his hand away from him.


"I don't need your help and neither does Mimi." He stands up and walk up to his mother's new grave. He turns to the grave next to her and touches it tenderly. He kisses the tombstone and bows to it. "I wasn't able to protect mama. I'm sorry papa. But I will protect Mimi, and I will become the guardian that you wanted me to be." He turns to walk away from the grave site but he stops when he passes the king. "I will also watch over Yolie since she is my little sister. I hope you will not treat her like you did to me and Mimi."


"I promise I will take care of her."


"How about TK? I hope you are providing for his mother too." The king jumps back in shock.


"How did you know about Tk?"


"There is a lot of things that I know about. That's what you get when you live in the street. Since TK is also my little brother, I will watch over him too. Don't worry. I won't tell Mimi about her real identity until she have grown up. I am also not interested in becoming a prince so you don't have to worry that I am going to tell Yolie about this." With that said, Tai walks away and leaving the king behind.


Three months after


"Mimi," said her grandfather. He have been looking for her for a long time and still he was not able to find her. He finally found her hiding in a wooden shaft. "What are you doing over here?" Mimi points her finger at the field and from a distance, you can see Tai practicing with his sword. "So you are watching Tai, huh?" Mimi nods her head. "I should not be that surprise. For these past few months, you have been following him everwhere he goes. But now, it is getting dark. It is time to go back home now and let Tai practice in peace."


"I want to practice with Tai," said Mimi. Her grandfather looks at her in shock.


"What did you just say?"


"I said I want to practice with Tai."


Her grandfather gives off a laugh as Mimi gives him a little frown. "But you don't even know how to use a sword."


"I do," said Mimi. "I'll show you." Her grandfather shakes his head in amusement and was about to tell Mimi to stop her joking when Mimi suddenly picks up a sword and swing it expertly.


"Amazing," thinks her grandfather when he continues to watch her. "She is almost as good as Tai." He is knock out of his thinking process when Mimi accidentally hits a shelf with a upward swing, causing the things on the shelf to fall down. Mimi gives off a little scream when she sees one of the paint canister heading straight for her head.


"Mimi!" Tai blasts an energy ball just in time to save Mimi from that catastrophe. He runs up to his sister and starts to yell at her. "What do you think you were doing!! You could have been hurt." He pulls her into his arms and gives her a bone crushing hug. "Never ever do that again. I was so scare that I'm going to lose you."


"I'm sorry Tai. I promise I will not do that again." Tai gives her a little smile and kisses her on her forehead.


"Go home with grandpa, and I will come back to tell you a story once I finish with my training."


"But you always tell me the same story over and over again," said Mimi. Tai gives her a sheepish grin causing Mimi to smile at him. Since the death of their mother, only Tai can make Mimi smile and most of the time, she hardly shows any emotions. It saddens Tai's heart to see Mimi like this. Mimi gives him a little hug before walking away with her grandfather. "I will wait for you at home." Tai nods his head and went back to his training.


"Grandpa," said Mimi when they are walking back home. "I want to become a guardian."


"What?" Least to say, this is quite a shocking news to him. She have already shock him two times already today, and he do not think he can handle more of her surprise. Mimi notices her grandfathers state of mind and looks down on the ground.


"I was just joking. Forget that I ever said that."


*****


Tai streaks through the busy streets as he cycles his way toward the testing area. "Damn you Mimi," he said quitely in his breath. Cars where honking their horn at him as he makes a cut in front of another car with his bicycle. "What is all these people doing out at this time? Aren't they suppose to be at work?" In a few minutes later, he finally passes through the busy street in Jurai and reaches the testing area. He jumps off from his bike and ran into the building. "I hope I am not too late." He frozes in his track when he overheard a conversation.


"Hey did you see that little girl," asks the guy. "She was just plain awesome. She just blast through all the obstacles like it were nothing. Shesh...and to think that she is only five years old."


"Yeah, you're telling me," said his girlfriend. "Hey, come to think of it, isn't she the sister of that guy who got a perfect score last year?"


"Oh yeah! She is isn't she?"


Tai groans as he collapses down on the floor. He looks up to find his friend running up to him.


"Tai," said Jack. "Did you see Mimi? She got a perfect score just like you did in the past. And like you, she is the only one that have the ability to become a guardian this year."


"Where is she?"


"I'm over here." Tai and Jack turns around to find Mimi standing there behind them. Tai quickly pulls Mimi away to talk to her privately.


"What do you think you are doing," Tai asks in anger.


"I came here to become a guardian," Mimi replies. "And I just got swore in as one." To some people who are passing by, this scene is quite interesting. Here is two young children and one of them seems to be oblivious to how mad the other one is. They can swear they see steams coming out of Tai's ears.


"Do you know how dangerous it is? Do you know you can get hurt? You can die any second. This isn't a game!"


"I know, Tai," Mimi said calmly. "Can you show me where is the weaponry room. I am suppose to go there to get my weapon."


"Are you listening to what I am saying?!"


"I am, and I don't understand why are you so uptight about it."


"What do you mean you don't understand?! I am scare you are going to get hurt. Being a guardian is no game at all. Your life is always on the line and..." Mimi stops him by putting one of her fingers on his lips.


"Don't you think I am worry about you too? You are also a guardian too."


"But that is different. I am suppose to protect you."


"But how can you protect me? Are you going to follow me wherever I go and watch me like a hawk? Tai, I might be a child but like you, I am mature enough to understand what I need to do. You of all people should know that I am the only one who can protect myself." Mimi starts to walk down the hall. "Beside, I've already swore in. There is nothing you can do to change that. I have officially become a guardian, and I will do my duty until I die." Tai stops her from walking.


Tai sighs and shakes his head. "You're going the wrong direction. The weaponry room is down THAT hall." Mimi gives him a little smile and together they walk toward the weaponry room. Once they reach there, Tai shows his ID to the two guardians that are guarding this place and told them his reason for coming here. They nod their head and let Tai and Mimi through. When Mimi went in there, she stands there in surprise.


"How can you possibly find a weapon in this place?" Tai gives her a grin as she looks at the walls that are line up with all sorts of weapon. "There must be a million of weapons over here. The wall seems like it is endless."


"No kidding," said Tai. "And this is only one dimension." He presses a button and a hole pops out of the center of the room. "This leads to another dimension where they keep some of the weapons. If you want more, you can press this button and another dimension will come up."


"How did you chose your weapon?"


"Me?" Tai takes out the sword hilt that he hides in the back of his coat. With a flick of his wrist, a blue energy blade comes out of his sword hilt. "I didn't pick it. It pick me instead." With another flick of his wrist, the energy blade disappear. "It use to belong to father."


"I know." For a while they stand there in silence as they reminisce about their father. Tai is shook out of his thought when he hear Mimi gives off a surpise cry. He turns to find a stick hovering in front of Mimi. "Is this what you were talking about?"


"Yeah but this just look like a normal stick." The stick taps Tai on his head for insulting it.


"Well, I like it," said Mimi as she watches Tai clutching his head in pain. "If you and I are really fated to be together, then come and float down into my hand." The stick floats down to Mimi's open hand and in a flash the stick turns into a rod. Mimi nods her head in approval and in another flash it turns back into a regular stick. "I guess I found the weapon that I need. Lets go back."


Tai nods his head and they head out of the building. With the approval from Lord Azusa, they were given a ride back to Guardina in one of the Jurain battle ship (when I say battle ship I mean normal ship...I don't mean the royal battle ships that each of the royal family memebers have). Tai and Mimi is really greatful because with this ship, they are able to get back home in one day. It usually take two or three days to get back home in normal ship but compare to Earth's space rocket, it is extremely fast. It only takes approximately two hours to go from Earth to Pluto in those regular ship. So Tai and Mimi take this time to test each other strength. They were finally forced to settle down because they almost blow up the ship's main controller. On the next day, Mimi and Tai said their goodbye to the crew before they head to the castle. Mimi hops on behind Tai as he peddles down the street. When they reach to the palace, the guards automatically open the gate for them. Tai is peddling pass the garden when suddenly, out of nowhere, a girl pops out from a bush on her bike. Tai swerves to his right to avoid collision but because of this action, his bike hits a rock causing Mimi and him to be thrown off the bike. Tai sits up from his fall and turns to look for Mimi.


"Are you alright," asks Tai when he finds Mimi lying on the grass next to him. Mimi nods her head and gives him a little smile as she sits up from the fall. Tai stands up and helps Mimi up to her feet.


"What do you think you were doing?!!!" Tai turns around to find Yolie glaring at him. "You should watch where you were going!"


"I should?! What about you? I was riding on the main road when you suddenly pop out of nowhere." Tai is glaring at Yolie as Mimi tries to calm him down. It did not help the situation at all when two guards suddenly appears beside Tai and Yolie. One of them raises their sword in Tai's direction.


"Although you are a guardian but you are not allow to address the princess in this manner. I would advise you to apologize to her," said one of the guard.


"And what would you do if I refuse?" The guards look startle for a moment. The guard that is pointing the sword at Tai raises his hand as if to strick Tai but before he knows it, Mimi have runs up next to him and knock him out with her rod. Before the other guard can react, Tai punches him on the stomach and knocks him out with a kick. Yolie stands there in shock for a moment. "So," said Tai. "Where were we?"


"Do you know you just knock out some of my guards," said Yolie in a calm and anger tone. Tai shrugs his shoulder as he stands there calmly. Mimi looks at them both and sighs.


"This will be interesting," Mimi thinks.


"Just because you are a guardian it does not mean you can do whatever you want," said Yolie.


"And just because you are the princess, it does not mean you can do whatever you want," Tai replies. "You were the one who was at fault and you were trying to blame me for it?!" Tai was taken surprise when Yolie gives him a quick punch on his stomach. He backs off in pain and raises up his hand to stop Mimi. "Surprising," Tai said as he gives Yolie a smirk. "You know how to fight. Hmph...not bad for a four years old."


"My father start training me since I was two." Yolie stands on guard when Tai faces her in a fighting stance. Mimi sits down on a rock as she watches Tai and Yolie starts to fight each other.


"Hmmh...Tai is playing with her," Mimi thinks. "He is not even trying his best."


Yolie blocks Tai punchs as she tries to find a open spot in his defense. "Darn," she thinks. "I am not going to lose to him." She jumps away from his attacks to give herself some room. With the extra space, she changes from her defense to attack mode. Tai easily blocks her blows as he stands there calmly. Yolie is geting more fustrated at each passing minutes as each of her blows miss their marks.


"Yolie! Tai!" Yolie, Tai, and Mimi looks up in surprise when they hear the king's voice. Yolie quickly stops her assult, and Tai gives her an amusing smile when he hear Yolie curses softly under her breath. Mimi grabs Tai on his sleeves to pull him down to a bow.


"Your Highness." The king looks at Tai and Mimi and raises his hand to tell them to rise up. Advisor Xen is standing next to the king, and he gives Yolie a look of disapproval.


"What was going on," said the King as he look at Mimi. "Why were Yolie and Tai fighting?"


"Your highness," said Mimi. "They were fighting due to some misunderstanding."


"Misunderstanding," said Yolie. "First he almost ran over me with his bike and then he knocks out two of my guard." She furiously points her finger at him. "And then he accuse me for being the wrong doer."


"Well, who was the one that pops out of nowhere in her bike? Who was the one that did not look where she is going? I was riding on the main road when you just pop out from the bushes from my left." Yolie blushes at Tai's words but due to her mother's teaching, she knows that princess should never admit they are wrong even if they were. This rule apply especially to peasant like Tai. Ray (the king of Guardina) sighs as the two young kids starts their glaring contest over again.


"Yolie, did Tai tell the truth," asks the king. He frowns when Yolie starts to blush again and drawing circles with her feet. "Then I think you should apologize to him."


"Why should I," said Yolie. "Mama told me to never apologize to anyone because I am the princess. I..." She quickly quiet down when she sees the anger flashing in her father's eyes.


"Your mother," the king thinks. "I should not have let her look after Yolie. It's been a year since she pass away and yet her influence is still affecting Yolie." He turns to his daughter and glares at her. "Forget about your mother's teaching," he said out loud. "Have your studies for these past two years been in vain? Didn't your reading teach you what is right and what is wrong?"


"I...I'm sorry papa." Her father sighs and closes his eyes.


"Your highness," said Xen. "You should not blame Princess Yolie for her behavior. She..." He didn't finish speaking because Ray raise up his hand to silence him. A smile suddenly appears on Ray's face and he opens his eyes to look at Yolie and Tai.


"Somehow I don't like the way he is looking at us," Tai murmurs to Mimi.


"Yolie, I have decided a perfect punishment for you. Instead of apologizing to Tai, I would like to put you under Tai's care for the next three months."


"What!!!"


"I think Tai would be a better teacher than your mother proves to be. So for this next three months, I would expect you to follow Tai's order. Do I make myself clear?"


"Uhm...your highness," Tai said. "I would rather settle with an apology."


"And I would rather apologize than to stick to him for three months," said Yolie.


"Ha...you think I like to see you?" The two young children starts to glare at each other again.


"My decision is final," said the king. "It is a punishment for you two for fighting in this garden." He turns to walk away from them. Xen looks at them before following the king.


"My lord are you sure this is wise," asks Xen.


"I know that Tai will help Yolie become a good leader for this kingdom," said the king. "I just hope they do not kill each other before that happen." He laughs in amusement as Xen gives him a disapproving look.


"This is torture," Tai mumbles.


"No kidding," Yolie replies.


"Hmph...at least you guys agree on something." Mimi gives them a little smile as they look at her in horrify. "So where should we go then?"


"Don't ask me," said Yolie. "I'm not in charge."


"In that case," Tai said. "I've got an idea!"


*****


"I hate him," Yolie mumbles. "I really hate him!" Three weeks have past since the accident in the royal garden. And from that day on, Tai have command her to live on the street with him and Mimi. Yolie kicks the rock on the road. Ever since she have been following Tai, she have to work for her food, give money to the poor, read tons of books, sleep out in the cold, wear old clothes, and most of all, listen to every single of his command. "Damn," she shout out loud. A group of working women turn to look at her. Yolie ignores them as she hurries on until she reaches Tai grandfather's house. She slows down her paces when she remember what happen an hour before. Sick and tierd of his nagging and constant demand, she told him that she don't give a damn about any peasants. Least to say, it didn't make things better. Tai starts to yell at her and in a burst of anger, she threw down a huge volume of book on his feet and storms out of the room. "He's going to be in a foul mood," she mumbles as she turns to walk back into the libary. She pauses at the door when she overhear Tai and Mimi's voices in there. "What the..." She sticks her ear to the door when she hears Tai mentioning her name.


"I swear," Tai grumbles. "I am feed up with her! I don't think I can handle this any longer!"


"Why do you even bother," Mimi asks. "You know from the beginning that her mother's teaching have a huge influence over her and still you...why are you still trying? She is never going to learn to judge people as people and not by their ranks."


"That's not true," Yolie thinks hesitantly. Although she did not admit it to them, she often feel sorry for the poor people. Her pride prevent her from admiting that she and her mother is wrong. She jumps up in shock when she hear what Tai said next.


"That's not true," Tai said softly. "At least I hope it is not." He gives a little wince when he stands up on his feet. Yolie can't help but gives off a little smile. "Do you know why I put up with her?" Mimi shakes her head to answer no. "You know, a guardian duty is not only to protect the royal family and their people. Their other duty is to help the future ruler to become a good leader. That way, we can be sure that the people of this kingdom will be able to live a good life." Yolie opens the door a little to look at Tai. "The last thing I want is for Yolie to become a tyrant. I want her to be a good ruler for her people and in order to do that, she must throw away any sort of social rank prejudice. If she continues on the way she is right now, she will never understand what her people want and will be disliked by her people. I want her to become a kind and compassionate ruler for her people, and that is why I am doing this."


"I see," said Mimi. "I hope she understand."


Yolie continues to stand at the door entrance as she goes over what Tai have just said. "He didn't want me to be a tyrant?" She frowns as she thinks over what happen for these past three weeks. "All that was just to train me? And all this time I thought he is trying to torture me."


"What are you doing over there?" Yolie jumps in shock and turns around to find a boy, at her age, standing next to her. He ran his hand through his short yellow hair as he stares at her. "As I was saying, what are you doing over here?"


"Shhhh...be quiet." Yolie tries to pull the boy away but it was too late. The noise already caught Tai and Mimi's attention and they come running out of the libary.


"What's going on," Tai asks. "TK?"


"Oh," said the boy. "I caught her standing out here on..." His words are muffle when Yolie puts her hand over his mouth.


"So you were eavesdropping on our conversation," Tai said in an angry tone. "Don't you have any respect for privacy?"


"Hey! Who was the one that is talking behind my back," Yolie retorts. Mimi sighs as they starts off their regular arguement. She turns to look at TK and smile.


"Are you going to be a guardian too," Mimi asks.


"Yes," said TK. "How did you know?" (incase it have not dawn on you, TK is 4 and so is Yolie, Mimi=5 and Tai is 6 years old)


"By the way you speak. Is Tai training you?" TK nods his head.


"Uhmm...do they always fight like that," asks TK as Tai got Yolie in a head lock and she steps on his already injure foot.


"Unfortunately, yes."


*****


Fortunately, the rest of the three months went fairly well. Ever since Yolie over heard their conversation, she and Tai seems to develop a truce between each other and they seem to grow quite fond of each other. TK comes to visit almost everyday and he quickly befriend Yolie and Mimi. Tai often take off time to train TK and during this time, Mimi secretly trains Yolie. Very soon three months have pass and it is time for Yolie to go back to the castle. Her father and advisor Xen are waiting at the garden for them. Tai, TK, and Mimi bow before the king when they approach them.


"How was Yolie," asks Ray.


"She is very cooperative," Tai replies. "She brought no trouble for us." Ray gives his daughter a fatherly smile.


"I'm glad to hear that."


"My lord," said Tai. "Three months have past and as the punishment is over, I am now returning Yolie back to you." He turns to Yolie and gives her a smile. "I'll see you around."


Yolie nods her head and wave goodbye to them as they walk away. Mimi turns back to look at her before she walks away. Yolie smiles at her and nods her head. "He'll see me, alright," Yolie thinks. "More than he ever know."


*****


"I can't believe this is happening," Tai groans. "First it was you and now it is Yolie. When are you going to stop springing these surprise on me?"


Mimi sighs as she sits down on her seat. A year have past since they have return Yolie back to the castle and through out these years, they are constantly seeing each others. "Tai, calm down," Mimi said softly. "It was her choice."


"You've could have stop her."


"I don't want to. If she want to become a guardian then I have no right to stop her." Mimi looks at Tai and he sits down in defeat. It have been quite a shock for him to see Yolie and Mimi poping up at this annual guardian test. Tai has come to Jurai with TK and has enter him in this test. It didn't please him at all to find that Mimi has been secretly training Yolie and that she has already sign up to undergo this test. And now, all they can do is to wait for the results as TK and Yolie undergoes the test.


"I wonder how they are doing," Tai mumbles.


"I don't know. I trained Yolie to the best of her ability, but you know. To become a guardian you do not only need to know how to fight, you must have that state of mind. As for that, I can't train her. She got to know what makes her want to become a guardian."


"Me too. TK once asks me what I mean by that but I can only tell him to search his heart." Tai sighs. "I've heard that they made this test exceptionally hard this year."


"Why? The test is already hard enough. Although they have this test every year, there are years when neither one of the contestants can pass the test."


"Because of us."


"Huh?" Mimi gives Tai a questioning look, and he can't help but smile.


"It seems like the head of the board is pressuring the creator of this test. They think that he is probably being to nice to us. For the last two years, you and I are the only one that past and with a perfect score too. And the year before me, four people pass and they all got a perfect score. If this year someone pass with a perfect score, then I think they are going to fired that guy. I think he is making this test harder because his job is on the line."


"Oh..." Mimi looks at the testing arena. "I just hope Yolie and TK pass."


*****


"I still can't believe it," TK said in disbelief. "We both got perfect score."


"Well believe it," said Tai. He turns to look at a man with a cardboard box full of his stuffs. The man gives them a glare before heading out to the building.


"What was that all about," Yolie asks. Tai and Mimi exchange a knowing glance before leading them to the weaponry room. "Incredible," Yolie said as she and TK steps into the weaponry room. "How did you guys first pick your weapon?"


"We didn't pick them," said Mimi. "They came to us." Yolie and TK gives her a questioning look before they begin their search. For an hour they search around the first and second dimension but they cannot find one that they like. "When will this end," Yolie mumbles. "Maybe I should just pick anyone."


"You can't just do that," said TK. "This will be your weapon for the rest of your life. You need to find one that you can click with." He flicks the switch on the dimension changer and they were transported to the third dimension.


"You make it sound like you are trying to find a soul mate or something. How can you possibly click with a weapon?"


"Err...like this." Yolie turns to look at TK and to her surprise, a sword hilt is floating in front of him. "What the..."


"It has choosen you," said Tai. "Whether you want it or not is up to you. Just touch it if you want it." For a while, TK stands there and look at the sword hilt. He raises up his hand and puts it an inch away from the sword hilt. A flash of yellow light shot out of it and from that yellow light, the blade of this sword appears.


"It is powered up without me touching it," said TK. He claps his hand on the sword hilt and in another flash of yellow light, the blade disappear. "I guess I'll take it."


"That's great," said Yolie in fustration. "I guess I am the only one that does not have one yet. Maybe the weapons does not like me." To confirm her thought, a stick suddenly falls on top of her head. "What the..." She turns to find the stick flying around her as it is taunting her. In anger she starts to chase after the stick. Tai, TK, and Mimi sighs as she storms out of the dimension after the stick. Well...from then on, that become her weapon.


Three years after


"That's it!!! Good LUCK getting her marry off!!!"


TK and Tai stops their arguement as they watch the prince storms through the garden. Mimi shakes her head and sighs while TK and Tai start to laugh.


"Wait! Please! Our princess means no harm..." A man of a middle age comes running out of the castle to stop the prince but he was too late. He sighs and turns to find Tai and TK laughing at this sight. "This is not funny," He scowls. "Do you know how much prince the princess have offended?"


"Come on, John," Tai said. "Lighten up. This ain't the first time Yolie offended a prince. However, look! We aren't at war with anyone of them yet. Why is that? It is because they all know that Yolie meant no harm and she always personally apologize to them in the future and explain to them that she have no intention of getting engage so early."


"Yep," TK agrees. "And they later become Yolie's friends." John groans and Mimi gives him a sympathetic look. "Beside, I don't understand why you want to find a suitor for Yolie so early. I mean, she is only eight years old."


"Princess Ayeka is engage to her brother when she is only three (I don't really know the actual age)," John replies.


"Well, in case you have not notice, I am not princess Ayeka," said Yolie. They all turn to look at her. "Beside, I don't want to be engage so early."


"At the rate you are going, I will be amaze if you ever did get marry," said John. He takes out a long list of paper and rolls it out in front of them. He pokes at it in fustration. "Look at it! She already rejected almost one fourth of all of the princes in this dimension, and that's not all. Do you remember Prince Gary?" Yolie starts to blush when she recalls that incident, whereas, TK and Tai are smirking. "He kiss your hand out of courtesy and what did you did, huh? You knock him out and threw him across half of the garden!!! Most of the princes have heard what have happen and recline from meeting with the princess. At this rate, I think I would have to start looking at other dimension."


"I told you a lot of time already," Yolie said. "That was basic reflex. I didn't know that he was going to kiss my hand." She frowns. "Beside, if you continue to introduce me to more princes, I will continue to reject them all. I don't want to be engage so soon, and I am not interested in these things. I am a guardian and the queen of this kingdom since papa have past away a year ago..." She pauses in silence as she sadly recall that day her father left her. Tai reaches up to tap her softly on her shoulder, and she smiles back at him. "I'm fine, Tai. But what I am trying to say is that, I want to focus on my duty as a guardian and help my people as much as I can. I don't want to think about marriage right now."


"Well said. Strange, I didn't think I will hear this from a princess."


They give a startle jump at the sound of a new voice and turn around to find a girl standing near the garden wall. She gives them a little smile and waves at them as they look at her.


"Who are you," Yolie asks.


"I believe that he can answer you," the girl replies. She nods her head to John's direction and they all turn to look at him.


"Her name is Kino Hasuma," said John. "She is a guardian of Princess Lina, from the planet Malric. They came here to visit."


"Yes, I remember that you told me about something like that yesterday," said Yolie. She continues to observes the girl. "Hmm," Yolie thinks. "A guardian, huh? She seems to be about Tai's age...maybe older but she is quite a beauty."


"So did I pass your test," Hasuma said.


"Huh?"


"From the way you are looking at me, it seems like you are judging me with your eyes," Hasuma said calmly as she unties the blue ribbon that is holding her long black hair back. She quickly ties back her hair and looks back at them. "So did I pass your test?"


"Well...um..." Yolie blushes under Hasuma's steady gaze. "That's embarrassing," Yolie thinks. "I've should not stare."


"What are you doing over here," Tai asks. "And do you know it is rude to eavesdrop on someone else conversation."


"Sorry about that. I was taking a walk, and I accidently over heard what you guys were saying." She smiles at them as she walks up to them. "Princess, sorry for my rude behavior," she said as she bows down before Yolie.


"It's alright," said Yolie. "You can rise." To her surprise, Hasuma didn't. "Huh?"


"I have a request," said Hasuma. "I was wondering can you accept me as your new guardian?"


"What?!"


"But why do you want to be my guardian? What about Princess Lina? Does she knows about your decision?"


"I want to be your guardian for personal reason," Hasuma replies. "For that, I don't want to say. I think every one is entitle to some privacy."


"I'm sorry, but in this case, we need to know," said Tai. "It is for the safety of the princess."


"If that is the case, then I will like to talk to the princess alone and let her decide is my reason justify." Hasuma looks at Yolie and she nods her head in approval. Tai, Mimi, and TK look at their direction while they were talking quitely to each other the whole time.


"I understand," Yolie said out loud, thereby ending their conversation. "But that does not seem to be a sufficient reason why you want to be my guardian."


"I've done a lot of traveling," said Hasuma. "And I got a lot of experience in the art of fighting. To tell you the truth, I end up spending most of the time traveling instead of protecting the princess."


"That basically show that you do not take your guardian duty seriously," said TK. "If you really do care about the princess, you will stay there to protect her."


"You're wrong! Well...right in some way but wrong in another hand. If you understand my situation then you will know why I do that."


"How would we understand if you doing tell us," Mimi said dryly.


"Alright," Hasuma said in fustration. "The princess don't like me...period." They all gives her a look of surprise except Yolie. "For what reason...that is personal. I know that she don't like me and she is not afraid to show it. The more I stay there, the more I get yelled at...and so I travel. But that is not the only reason why I travel. I travel to improve my skills. Only by traveling will you be able to meet the opponents that you normally do not meet. After all these years of traveling, I have improve a lot. To tell you the truth, and not to be arrogant or something, I think I am the best fighter among all the guardians in Malric...err...except Ryu."


"If you said you are so good, then do you dare to challenge me," Tai asks.


Hasuma raises her eyebrow and gives him a little smile. "Are you challenging me?"


"What if I am?"


"What do I get if I beat you?" Tai hesitates for a moment as he contemplate about this issue. "How about this," Hasuma suggests. "If I beat two of your best fighters, then you will let me be Yolie's guardian. Do you have a deal?"


"Deal," said Yolie. "Let's see how good you really are." She takes out her rod to prepare to fight with her but TK stops her.


"You should have consult our idea before you make such a decision," TK said. "Beside, this is no simple matter. Tai and Mimi are the better fighter than us both. If we need to send someone to fight Hasuma, it should be them."


"So who is going to fight me," Hasuma asks.


"I will fight," said Tai.


"Me too," said Mimi. She turns to look at TK and Yolie. "Do I have your approval?"


"I want to fight her but I know you will be the better choice," Yolie said in a defeated voice. "Hey, Hasuma! Let's make another deal, okay? If you finish fighting Mimi and Tai, can you fight me too?"


Hasuma laughs. "I will be glad to fight you. I welcome any challenge because this is one way to improve my skills." She turns to smile at TK. "I'll fight you too if you want." TK returns her smile and nods his head. "Okay, since we have the fighters settle, now lets settle the rule. Do you guys have a fighting room?" Yolie nods her head. "Can you show me the way?"


"What are you planing to do," Mimi asks.


"You'll see. I just want to borrow three weapons. So if it will be alright, why don't you guys wait over here, and I will follow the princess to the room."


"What is she up to," Tai mumbles as they waited for Hasuma and Yolie to return. They didn't have to wait long. Tai give Hasuma questioning look when she hands him and Mimi each a wooden sword.


"We will fight with this," she said.


"Wait," said Mimi. "I don't know how to use sword."


"Well...learn how to use one then," Hasuma replies. "My jurian weapon is not a sword either. It is a rod but I learn how to use a sword because I want to be prepare for all situation. A guardian must be able to use all kind of weapon incase they do not have their weapon in reach, they can use whatever weapon avalible at that time."


"I get what you mean but Mimi will surely lose if she doesn't know how to use a sword," said TK.


"I don't think so," Hasuma said with a smile. "From what I heard about her, she is quite a fighter. They said that she is a fast learner and very skillful. I believe she could fight me fair enough after watching the fight between Tai and I. Do we have a deal?"


"Alright," said Mimi. "I will try to live up my reputation."


"Out of curiosity, did you hear any rumor about me," Yolie asks.


"Yeah, they said that you like to beat up any prince that try to propose to you."


"That's not funny!" Yolie punches Tai and TK as they continues to laugh at her.


A minute passes by as Tai and Hasuma face each other in this battle. John announces the start of the fight and right after he finish his word, Hausma charges straight to Tai quickly. "Damn," Tai thinks as he quickly raises his sword to defend her blows. "She is fast and strong too." He stumbles back as he continues to block her blows.


"Not bad," Hasuma thinks as he continues to stay in his defence. She brought her sword down on him and he raises his sword upward to block it. Taking this oppertunity, she kicks him on his chest. Tai stumble back upon the impact. "You can't just use your sword to fight," said Hasuma as she charges at him. "You need to use your whole body to fight your opponents." She swings her sword to his right and Tai quickly blocks it. With a quick step forward, he comes up to Hasuma's side and slam his elbow on her side. She gives off a small grunt and steps off to the side. Seeing this as a opportunity, Tai went into attack mode and starts to attack at her relentlessly. He swings his sword to her left and she manages to block it. With another hand, he forms and energy ball and blasts it straight at her chest. To his surprise, the energy ball did not hit her. Instead, it disappear in the middle of the air. It is like it hit a shield or something.


"What the," Tai thinks. Hasuma uses his moment of uncertainty to gives her the advantage of attacking. She blasts an energy ball at his chest causing him to fall backward. Tai quickly recovers and moves out of the way when Hasuma is about to checkmate him with her sword. He sweep kick her off her feet and quickly stands up. When she looks up to him, she finds his sword coming down to checkmate her. She quickly swing upward and their sword clashes. To everyone's surprise, except Hasuma, her sword slices through Tai's sword and stops just an inch away from his throat.


"You lost," Hasuma said flatly.


"What the...I don't get it," Tai said it daze as he stares at his broken sword. "First the energy ball and now this. How?"


"The energy ball disappear because I form a shield to block it. As for the sword, it depends on the speed and the strength of the wielder." She raises up her feet and walks up to a pedestal. "You see, if you know what kind of speed to use and what kind of strength, your sword can cut though anything." They all stare in shock when she splits the stone pedestal into half. It is even more shocking to find her sword intact with no dent.


"That is amazing," TK mumurs. "I didn't know that you can do this."


"You can do it if you practice. So, I won the first round. I guess this mean I get to fight Mimi now, huh?" Hasuma smiles when she sees Mimi forming a energy shield. "Like they said, you are a fast learner."


"I was watching you," Mimi simply replies. She stands a few feet away from Hasuma and bows her head. Hasuma did the same and before John can announce the start of the fight, they both have already start charging toward each other.


"Their speed is almost equal," TK thinks as they attack each other. "But Hasuma is still faster. This is not good."


Mimi grunts as Hasuma's sword hits her on the side. She returns the favor to Hasuma by kicking her on the chest. Her little victory is short live because to everyone's surprise, Hasuma's speed increase significantly. Mimi soon find herself desperately trying to defend herself. "I can't win like this," Mimi thinks as she blocks to her left then her right. "I need to seize an opportunity...like...right now!" When Hasuma brought her sword down to her left, Mimi did not raises her sword to block it. Instead she blasts an energy ball right at Hasuma's stomach sending her flying backward. Mimi takes this opportunity to take in some breath but to her disappointment, Hasuma quickly rises up to her feet.


"That was good," she said. "But not good enough." She is about to charge at Mimi in full speed but Mimi stops her in her track by firing an energy ball right in front of her. Hasuma hesitates but decides to charge at Mimi anyways. Mimi continues to stop Hasuma at her tracks but Hasuma is dodging all her blast. Dusts starts to flies everywhere as the energy ball exploded on the ground. Tai sees this and panic.


"Mimi! Stop!"


But his warning came too late. The air is already fill with dust, making it hard to let Mimi sees where her opponent is located. Before she knows it, Hasuma's sword caught her on the back and she is knock unconsious. When the dust clear, Tai, TK, Yolie, and John see Hasuma picking up the unconsious Mimi.


"I guess this settle the fight, huh," Hasuma asks. Tai picks up his unconsious sister and lightly taps her on her face. Mimi slowly opens her eyes and groan. "Wake up sleeping beauty," Hasuma said with a smile. "You put up a good fight you know?" Mimi smiles back a her. She raises up her hand to Hasuma. Hasuma takes her hand in confusion.


"Welcome to the team," she whispers and closes her eyes again.


"Glad to be in it," Hasuma replies. "I guess I am accepted as the new guardian, huh?"


"WAIT!!!" They all turn to look at Yolie. "What about our fight?!"


"Hey, let me relax a bit!! I just fought two of your best fighter!" Tai picks up his sister and heads back to the castle as Yolie is constantly asking Hasuma is she ready to fight yet. With a yell of fustration, Hasuma runs after Tai with Yolie following right after her. TK and John look at each other and sigh.


*****


"WHAT!!!"


Ryu, Kenji, Elly, and Princess Lina stands up in surprise at Yolie's announcement. Hasuma sits calmly next to Tai and Mimi as they continue to eat as if nothing happen. TK, who is sitting next to Yolie, gives Hasuma a look and she gives him a little smile.


"Please calm down," said John. "Our princess have not finish speaking."


Yolie rises up from her seat and the others settle down to the table. "Maybe it is a bad idea that I am springing this idea on them at dinner time," she thinks as she see the cutting knife flexing in Ryu's hand. "I should have told them when we finish dinner." She clears her throat and speaks out loud in a clear voice. "As I said, Hasuma have asked me yesterday to accept her as my new guardian and I have accept her request." She turns to Princess Lina and bows her head. "I know that I should have ask for your permission, and I am sorry that I did not do it."


"No," said Hasuma. "Princess Yolie. It is not your fault. It is mine. I should have inform them about my decision before I confront you." She stands up and bow to Princess Lina. "I should be the one that apologize to you and I am sorry. But I hope you will respect my decision and let me stay here."


Ryu, Kenji, and Elly look at Lina but she did not do anything. She just sits there in silence as she stares at Hasuma. "Why," she asks finally.


"What use will I be at Malric, anyways," Hasuma asks. "I am always constantly traveling so I never really did fulfill my duty as a guardian to you. I think this will be a better outcome for the both of us. Don't you agree?"


"I never did like you much."


"I know." They can all feel the tension in the atmosphere and neither one of them dare to make a noise. TK look at Hasuma and back at Princess Lina. Both are looking at each other with calm and steady gaze. Lina finally break the connection and shrugs her shoulder.


"If you want to, then I won't stop you," she said flatly. She turns to look at Yolie and gives her a smile. "Let me warn you, Princess Yolie. She is not very reliable. Becareful with her."


"Err...thank you for your advice," Yolie replies. She gives Hasuma little look before they finish with their dinner.


*****


"Why are you doing this?"


Hasuma sighs and look at Ryu. Princess Lina have already boarded the ship and is waiting for the rest of her guardian to come up there with her. Kenji, Elly, and Ryu stay behind to say goodbye to Hasuma and to find out her reason for staying.


"Look, Ryu. Lina never did like me. You know that and so does everybody in the castle. I have always been look down and disrespected by the servants and everyone in the castle because they know that the princess would not help me. To tell you the truth, the only time she like me is whenever she is in danger. The reason why I travel that much is because I don't want to face her and start an argument with her."


"I know," said Kenji. "But...this is all of a sudden. I mean, why didn't you tell us about it?"


"I just made that decision when I came here." She sighs and look at them. "Come on...I am not the only competent guardian over there. You guys are all good fighters. I know you will protect the princess to the best of your ability and that you can do it well." She gives them each a smile and hugs Elly. "Take care. I will write to you guys. I promise."


"I'll miss you," said Elly. They all turn around to look at the entrance of the space ship when the princess call out to them and told them to hurry up. Kenji and Elly bid their goodbye to Hasuma while Ryu stay behind.


"I never thought that we would get separated like this," said Ryu. "Even though you always travel, you always come back a few weeks later. And now?" He grabs Hasuma by both of her shoulder. "How can you abandon your team like this? Do you remember what we said when we all went to take the test to become a guardian? We said that we will all fight together and that we will protect the kingdom together. Together."


"And I will continue to fight by your side," Hasuma said calmly. "I will fight to protect Jurai's royal family and that is my main priority. That is all guardians main priority." She steps out of Ryu's grasp and smiles at him. "Take care of the princess. Don't let the girl that you love get hurt."


"Ryu," Princess Lina calls out.


Ryu gives Hasuma one last look before he runs up to the space ship. Hasuma stands there and watches it flies away. "Ryu," she said quietly as a small tear falls down to her cheek.


Nine years after


Yolie flies backward when TK's energy ball hits her at her chest. He quickly runs up to her and is sad to find her unconsious. "I guess I over did it, didn't it," he asks sheepishly.


"What do you think," Mimi said. She and Tai are sitting at the garden's edge as they watch the fight between TK and Yolie.


"But that was a good fight though," Hasuma said as she walks up to them. TK picks up Yolie and she gives of a groan as she wakes up from the impact. "I guess the traveling have improve your skill significantly," Hasuma said. For nine years, Hasuma has fulfill her duty as a guardian and she has stay by Yolie's side while, Mimi, Tai, and TK gone out and travel around each different planets. Sometime Hasuma would travel with Yolie in disguise so that they can both improve their skills. Least to say John is not all that please.


"What is that," Mimi asks as she points to the papers in Hasuma's hand.


"Oh this? I found this music a long time ago when I went to Earth." She hands it to Mimi. In the past, Hasuma had told them that it is important to know all kind of skills because it will be beneficial to them in the future. One of the skills that they all learn and enjoy is music.


"Melodies of Life," Mimi reads out loud.


"Yep, I was wondering do you guys want to try this music out?"


"Sure," said Yolie. "I need to relax after what TK dealt me." With that said, they went and took their instruments. Tai takes out a flute and practice with it. TK brought his guitar out as Yolie strungs her violin. Hasuma settle down with the drums and percusion as Mimi practice with her keyboard. John walks out to find them practicing the music, and he sits down near the rock to observes them.


"Mimi, why don't you do the singing," said Tai once they feel they are ready to play the real thing.


Mimi nods her head and begins to sing (I will not write the lyric because it is use in future chapter). For a few minutes, the garden (not the whole garden because the garden is really big!) is fill with Mimi's sweet voice. It was interupted when a prince come running out of the palace and grabs Mimi by the hand.


"What the..." That was all Mimi get to say before the prince starts to talk himself.


"Princess!! I have heard rumor about your beauty and it is all true. Your beauty shine like the sun and your voice is so beautiful that it lightens up my heart. I cannot believe someone would actually say that you are a violent-temper woman."


Yolie frowns at those last sentence but she did not do anything. TK tries to tell the prince that Mimi is not the princes by Tai stops him. "This will be interesting," said Tai.


"My dear princess," said the prince as he continues to hold the dumbfounded Mimi. "Would you give me the honor to be your husband?" He bends down to kiss her hand. Before he knows it, he is knock unconsious and is send flying across the whole garden. Tai, TK, and Hasuma gives her a shocking look as Mimi wipes her hand.


"Sorry," Mimi said flatly. "Basic reflex." Tai and TK give off a groan while Hasuma starts to laugh with Yolie.


"See," Yolie said happily. "Even she agree with me."


John sighs as he looks at them all. "I guess I better start putting mattresses in the garden. At this rate, we would have flying prince everywhere." He sighs sadly and walks back into the castle.


Their happiness is short live when a guard runs up to them frantically. "There is some problem in Malric, Princess Yolie. The advisor over there is contacting us in the main control room."


"What?!" Hasuma jumps up in alarm and starts to run into the control room with Tai, Mimi, TK, and Yolie following quickly right after her. Hasuma reaches there in time to find advisor Xen telling them to contact her. "Xen," Hasuma screams. "What is going on? Is Ryu, Kenji, and Elly alright? How about the princess?"


"Hasuma," Xen said as the image in the screen starts to fade. "Come and help us quickly. Ryu is out on a political journey and we have already contact him. Please we need you...." The screen went black and the connection was disconnected.


"Yolie," Hasuma said.


"I understand." Yolie runs out to the space ship landing port and order them to give her the best Jurian's battle ship. As they wait for the battle ship to arrive, Tai voices his doubt.


"Xen," Tai said. "He use to be the advisor over here but once Lord Ray died, he disappear. And now he is in Malric...something is not right."


"I know," said Mimi. "There was alway something wierd about him that I can't put my finger on."


"He came to us nine years ago and he told us that he use to work for you guys," said Hasuma. "I don't really know that much about him."


"But either way," said TK. "We cannot risk not going there. Malric is one of the key outer barrier and we cannot afford to lose it."


The battle ship finally arrives and Hasuma quickly boards it. Before she left, she turns to look at them one last time. "Take care of Yolie for me. I will be back. I promise." With that said, she left them.


*****


"What the heck are you guys doing over here," Hasuma screams when she found out that Tai and Mimi have also boarded on this space ship. She have been flying for half an hour when she hears something in the back. She is shock to find Tai and Mimi hidding behind there.


"We were worried about you, and we want to help you," said Mimi.


"What about Yolie! Who is there to protect her?"


"Err...have you forgotten about TK," Tai asks. "Beside, we are guardians. Our duty is to protect the outer barrier that protect Jurai."


"I....Ugh!!!!" Hasuma covers her face with her hand. "I wonder if we can even make it. Eventhough this battleship is the fastest model of the Jurian battleship, it still takes a day or two for us to reach there."


"We'll make it," said Tai. "Why don't you try to contact Kenji or somebody over there? That way, we can know the condition over there."


"Good suggestion," said Hasuma. She takes her watch and connect it to the main computer in the ship. After a few minute of typing in it, she frowns. "I can't seem to contact Kenji or Elly! They never leave their watch anywhere (it is also a commuicator). Could they be...?!"


"Calm down," said Mimi. "Don't make any assumption. How about Ryu? He might reach there by now."


To Hasuma's relief, she is able to contact Ryu.


"Hi, Hasuma," he said with a smile. "How are you doing?" Hasuma frozes.


"Stop the ship," she told Tai. "Something is wrong!"


"What?!"


"Hasuma, what is going on," Ryu asks as he give her a worry look.


"Where are you now, Ryu? I mean which planet are you on?"


"I'm at Malric and I am heading back to the castle. Why?"


"Oh, my god," Hasuma mutters. "It's a trap! Turn back to Guardina at once!" Tai nods at her command and starts to turn the ship back to Guardina. (If you are wondering how does she knows about it...just ask yourself how would you react if you were inform that your planet is under attack. You would not react like the way Ryu is acting.)


"Hasuma what is going on," Ryu asks in panic.


"Don't let Xen get away," she replies with anger flashing in her eyes. "He is a traitor!" With that said, she disconnected from him. Ryu curses and runs through a red light as he speed toward the castle.


"Kenji! Elly!"


Kenji and Elly turns to find Ryu running toward them. They both become alarm when Ryu starts to demand where Xen is.


"He left in a space ship a while ago," said Kenji. "What is going on?"


"Hasuma," Ryu replies. "She is in danger. I just know it."


"Tell us what is going on," said Elly. "Right now is not the time to panic."


"I don't know what is going on but from what Hasuma told me, it seems like Guardina is under attack. I'm going to Guardina right now! Elly! Kenji! Watch over the princess and if you ever find Xen, capture him. Hasuma said he is a traitor or something."


"We will do the best that we can," said Kenji. "Take care, Ryu, and come back safely." Kenji and Elly watches him enter a Jurian battle ship and flies off in full speed.


Meanwhile, Tai and Mimi is speeding toward Guardina as fast as they can.


*****


"One down," TK said as another robot falls from his blow. "A hundred more to go."


"Everyone! Get into the castle right now," Yolie commands as she and a bunch of soilders are fighting to defend the civilians. Half an hour have past since Hasuma, Tai, and Mimi have left on the space ship when the enemies start to attack them. So far, TK and Yolie is doing very well in keeping the enemy at bay but they cannot keep this up any longer.


"We have to bring up the barrier," said TK as he cuts off the head of another robot and stabs one through it's chest. Yolie nods her head and orders some of her soilder to help as much civilian in as much as possible. For the next fifteen minutes, TK and Yolie is receeding back to the castle entrance as they continue to hack away all of the enemy.


"Now," said Yolie as one of her guard inform her that all of the civilian have reach inside the castle area. With a nod from TK, the both form a big energy ball and blasts it through the line of the enemy. This manage to knock out the rest of the enemy that are attacking on land. With this opportunity, TK and Yolie runs into the castle just as the barrier covers over it. "That was close," said Yolie.


"It's not over yet," said TK as he looks at the ten Jurain battle ships hovering up in the sky. Everyone wince when a beam hit the barrier. "I don't think we can handle this for long. Even with the crystal that Lord Azusa give us to form this barrier cannot take it if all of the ten battle ships shoot at us.


"I've got a plan," said Yolie said. "Since the crystal is given to us by the Jurain king, therefore, people with Jurain blood can activate it and increase it's power. However, this is also true for the royal family that is bestow with this crystal. Therefore, if I generate my energy into this crystal, I might be able to form a barrier strong enough to withstand these assult."


"Wait," said TK as Yolie starts to run up to the center tower that holds the crystal up above the castle. "If you do that, your power will be lost!"


"For my people, this is the only hope we have. Take care of them for me." With that said, Yolie runs up to the tower and reaches to roof where the crystal is located on. She lightly touch the crystal and closes her eyes as she starts to generate her energy into it. The crystal gives off a light and like she said, the barrier become stronger with her power.


"Princess," said a projection that comes out from one of the battle ship. He is a middle age man and is wearing Jurian general outfit. "Give up and join me. Accept me as the new king of this planet and unite with me."


"Not a chance," said Yolie. "I know who you are General Zeal. You are the rebel that try to over throw the Jurian empire a year ago and got put into jail for it. How you escape is not a matter to me but how dare you attack this planet!"


"I am just trying to get your attention," he said. "Give up princess. You are no match for me. Come and join me by being my wife."


"Fat chance," said TK. "There is no way I am giving her to you."


"TK?" Yolie gives him a questioning look.


"There is no way I am giving my sister away to a guy like him," he whispers softly to Yolie as he stands infront of the crystal next to her. Yolie eyes widen at the new revelation and to confirm his identity, the crystal shines and the barrier grows stronger than ever.


"Fool," said the General. "Then die a foolish death. Fire at them at once!"


TK and Yolie grind their teeth as ten beams hit the barrier. Even then, the barrier is starting to give in.


"No," TK think. "This can't be." He continues to pour in as much energy as he can.


"Fire! Full blast!!!"


The ten battle ships fire at the barrier in full blast. In a flash of light, the barrier exploded and sending a sonic wave across the whole sky. Four battle ships got knock into each other and exploded. Yolie and TK got thrown away from the crystal as the energy from the crystal repels them.


TK gives off a groan as he looks at the crystal. The crystal remain undamage but Yolie is lying on the floor unconsious. A beam of light appears in front of her and Zeal is teleported from him ship and lands infront of her.


"My, my," he said as he touches Yolie's cheek. "You are quite a cutie. Worthy to be my wife."


"Get your dirty hands away from her," TK said as he struggles to he feet. He activated his sword and charges at Zeal. Zeal blocks his blow with his energy sword and for a while, he plays with TK.


"Damn," TK thinks as Zeal easily block his next blow. "I can beat him but I am too weak after putting most of my power in that crystal." With a burst of his energy, he stricks Zeal on his left, which Zeal block and quickly make a swing to his right. His sword misses Zeal's head but it scratches his cheek.


"Imbecile," Zeal roars and he blasts an energy ball at TK's chest. TK flies to the edge of the roof and would have fallen off if he haven't dug his sword on the floor to stop himself.


Dizzy from this last impact, he is defenseless as Zeal raises his sword to inflict the final blow. However before he can do that, an energy ball him him squarely on his chest. Zeal stumbles back and looks up to find the attacker. Tai and Mimi forms another energy ball in their hand as they falls down from the sky (Hasuma drops them off from her ship). They both blast it toward his direction and he manages to block those two hits. He hisses when he see two of his ships destroy by Hasuma's spaceship. Tai and Mimi land right in front of TK and turn to face him.


"Look at TK," Tai said quietly to Mimi. He turns to look at Zeal, and his eyes flash with anger. "Prepare to die!"




Author Notes: This is a very heptic chapter for me. Reason? Three times the computer froze right after I finish writing a long part. And worst of all, I finish this chapter a few weeks before but the disk I save my file was not able to retrieve back my data so....I have retype it all over again!!! This is the final time I am typing this chapter! Good news though, two more chapter to go and then...Done! I will not do any charecter introduction in this chapter because some of the detail serves in my story for the next chapter. Till then...see ya.