Why hello! Good to see all of you. I suppose you are wanting chapter ten? Just a moment, if you will. In the mean time…
Gatomon: Hedgi Naysomay Aisling does not own Digimon. Nor will she ever own digimon. Or anything she references. And it's a good thing, to, seeing as she just ki-
HNA: Gatomon, don't you need to go comfort Matt?
Gatomon: hiss.
Well, that takes care of that! Thanks for the reviews, as always, they make me feel very shiny.
PrincessJaded: did I say Zoyamon?( I don't think I did hmm)? But sort of , yeah. Ziyamon is the rooky form of Zikanamon. No, the foolishness of love isn't a ref( well, it might be, and probably is. But I didn't intend it…) I'm glad you love the story.
Twilight in Rain: it does seem that way, doesn't it? And the others- well, erm, the cells ARE in the center of the castle- but if I had killed everyone, I don't think I would be able to write 3 chapters after this one, so… questions are lovely! I'm glad you are waiting, but you don't need to be patient. You can yell at me to hurry.
Light Of Hope 07: better late then never! I don't mind. I'm glad you think I'm a good writer- I always think, 'oh this chapter stinks but I need to post it so I can get to the better written stuff' and then you guys tell me it was good- something that makes me very happy. I do love the cliffies. As for the rest- read on!
Merryb: correct, I did kill her off. That little part has been planned since the beginning. I love pulling the unexpected. Just wait until the next chapter! Or this one. This one works too.
Serenityrose: congrats on the TSA bit- how nice of you to tell the others without being able to get the peak yourself. And yes. They are 'harry' for this bit- minus the paralysis. Anyone who wants to understand what I mean by that, pm me and I'll explain. It's kind of a long story/inside joke about TSA.
LoneWolfVampire13: I believe it has been established that I am very evile : ) I don't think you'll go that crazy...will you? Uh oh. And for the stories sake I did need to kill Pella. You will have to wait and see. Let's not get the FBI involved, 'k ? : )
Digidestind of Balance: maybe I didn't. They are wonderful people, I know that. But so was wizardmon…( hey! I just gave you a clue to something. Look at the tense!!!!) wow…did it make you cry? Heh.. srry… but I'm glad you like the chapter.
I have now established that killing off/almost killing off/threatening to kill off characters gets me reviews. Oh the fun I shall have!
On ward! Or should I say, On word!
Matt continued to grieve, with Gatomon and Gabumon standing limply by his side.
"I shouldn't have pulled a head, I should have stayed with them!" he thought, replaying the image in his mind, unable to stop it- turning around, seeing T.K's face as the stone grated and came down. It was too much. Too much had been lost today. T.K. Kari. Tai. Joe. Izzy. Sora. Mimi. His best friends in the world. And the digimon. They're all gone. All of them. Why couldn't I save them! If Tai hadn't come to talk to me, he'd have been safe, and if the other's hadn't come after us, so world they. This is all her fault. Her fault. I Hate her. She killed them, as surely as if she'd used a gun or knife. Pella. That horrible, despicable.." Matt felt his tears turn hot, and his fists clenched. He wanted to destroy something, kill something.
"Matt," Gabumon laid a paw on his partner's shoulder. "Hatred and anger won't bring them back. I hate her too, but it won't solve anything."
"I know, but it sure-"
Matt stopped abruptly, and looked at Gatomon.
"Yes?" he asked, swiping a hand over his eyes, trying to clear away some of his tears, glad of anything to pull his mind from the memory.
"I didn't say anyth-" she mewed
"Shh!" Matt interrupted, listening hard.
There it was again.
A faint whisper.
"M…mmaa…t…?"
It was coming from within the rocks!
"T.K.!" Matt began digging again, ignoring the pain in his hands. "T.K. I'm coming! Tai! Kari!" Gatomon and Gabumon began digging as well, carefully but diligently.
With the moving of the last stone, Matt saw it. A tiny cavity between four boulders- and within it his brother, Kari ,and Tai, and the six digimon- all covered with scrapes and bleeding from gashes, but otherwise safe and sound.
Alive.
With help from the two uninjured digimon, Matt hoisted his friends free of the cave, now crying with joy. The friends embraced in a group hug.
" I thought I'd lost you," Matt kept repeating, praising God for this miracle.
But the elation was short lived- for though some of the group had survived, the loss of Mimi, Izzy, Joe and Sora weighed heavily on their shoulders. Could there possibly have been away for them to have made it? No… it was impossible.
While the survivors attempted to stop the bleeding with strips of clothe torn from shirt sleeves, the digimon, who had fared much better than the children, tried to navigate the piles of stone, hoped in vain to see any sign of the missing digidestind. As they returned with heads hanging low, and hearts broke anew, something- a memory ?- called to them.
" Matt! Tai!" there it was again. That voice. A very familiar voice. There was no doubt about it- it was real.
"Sora!" all of the mourning friends turned from the fallen castle to see their missing comrades charging toward them. As they drew closer, Kari could see that their cheeks were wet with tears, tears that continued to come. The group, reunited at last, embraced, laughing and crying, crying and laughing, and seemed content to never let go.
At last they broke apart, and Tai spoke.
"How did you escape? Pella told Voidmon she locked you up- what happened?
"Pella? What do you mean? Is your head ok?" Mimi demanded, shaking her head.
Izzy muttered something to himself, "That makes sense," he concluded.
T.K., who had Taken Kari's hand answered. "She betrayed us- she was working for Voidmon. She was the servant who…took you away. When she returned, she said shed separated you and…and…" he choked on the words, looking away.
"What happened ?" Sora looked franticly from face to face.
"Voidmon told her to help him fulfill a Prophecy- to…kill T.K. or Kari…she said things and we thought she was going to choose Kari, but instead she did something- ordered a digimon to kill her, and the walls came down." Tai's voice was only a whisper.
Joe's eyes widened, but he said nothing. This topic was clearly to hard to discuss at the moment.
"But how did you escape?" Kari asked, her brow crinkled in confusion.
"Simple. We were never locked up." Izzy replied slowly.
[flashback]
"Let go of me!" Mimi screamed at the Bakamon, who didn't listen.
"Mistress," it said, addressing the servant holding Izzy's hands tightly , forcing him forward," the tower rooms are the other way.
"I know!" snapped the hooded figure. "Master Voidmon has changed his plans. They are not to be separated. Follow me, or I'll see you punished." Her voice was familiar, but under the duress of capture, Izzy couldn't place it.
Down the hall see led them, until they reached a door made of metal bars a hand's width apart- a large cell. With one hand, Mistress unlocked the door, and thrust her prisoner in, followed closely by Joe, Sora and Mimi.
She closed the door, and turned to the Bakamon.
"You are dismissed, I shall guard them." She commanded, and the digimon departed.
"What do you want? We aren't going to help you find your stupid Crest-Barer, you hear me?" Sora screeched.
Mistress ignored the question. Before anything else was said, they heard a clatter, and a faint, "forgive me." Then Mistress was gone, and something was glittering on the floor of the cell- a brass key.
"Is it a trap?" Joe asked, bending down for a better look.
"Do we have a choice?" Mimi asked back, snatching the key and hefting it in her hand." That…whoever it was left it for a reason. Didn't you hear her? She asked for forgiveness. I say we get out of here!"
"I agree. Let's go, we have to find the others. Who knows what that monsters doing to them?" Sora put in.
"It seems safe enough- even if it is a trap, is it any safer than waiting here?" Izzy added.
Since Joe had the longest arms, he was the one who reached through the bars and unlocked the door.
The castle was a maze of passageways, but before to long, the four friends had found their way back to the main hall. Just as they were about to turn down the hall that led to the room were they had found Tai and Matt, the castle began to shake.
" run!" Joe shouted, grabbing Mimi's hand, pulling her to safety.
"Palmon!" she cried, as she tried to run back, restrained my Joe and Izzy. They continued to run as far as they could. As they turned back, they saw the castle crumble in a pile of stone and dust.
"No! Tai!" Sora fell to her knees, refusing to believe it. "Tai! Biyomon! Tai!"
They were gone. Gone. Dead. She felt her friends sink to the desert ground beside her, weeping. And then they heard a voice, Matt's voice.
" Matt! Tai!" she called and she ran, the others hot on her heels.
[end flashback]
"That's what happened." Mimi, who had taken up the story midway, finished.
Izzy shook his head.
"If Pella… why did she allow us to escape, if she..?" he asked.
"Who knows?" Tai said bitterly. "She's dead now." He pointed at the rubble.
With help from Mimi, Joe, sora and Izzy, the three injured digidestind reached the place where they had left the packs. As Joe set about treating the various scrapes, Sora reached into her pack- and pulled out a rather crumpled envelope.
Without a word, she handed it to Tai. He read the rather smudged words in familiar handwriting on the front- "Give to Tai or Matt After this is all over."
It was from Pella. Looking at Sora curiously, Tai asked, "Where'd this come from?"
"I found it in Joe's bag." Sora said quietly. She had guessed, from the way Tai's face paled, who it was from.
"Do you want me to read it?" she asked gently.
"No…I will." Tai took a deep breath as the others gathered around, and opened the letter.
TBC…….
Well, I hope you all liked this chapter! It took me about 5 drafts to write…heh. The story is slowly drawing to a close, but I promise, it isn't over till I say so.
I referenced yet more of TSA 4, a continuation of last chapters. However, there will be no sneak peaks, as I haven't started writing the next chapter. Also, next chapter will be very late. Why? Well, my first wisdom tooth is coming in, and it hurts like heck- not only is my jaw to small, but apparently it's infected.. So pity me. I can't even talk! Anyway, I love all of you who have read this far and put up with my cliffies :) It means a lot to me each time I get a review. Lets see if we can top 50 this chapter, shall we? Um.. that's about all. Read and review, have a lovely day, and be nice to your dentists.
See you next time….whenever that may be.
Hedgi Naysomay Aisling