The Saga: Sketch Book

By: Linkmaste

Chapter 14: School Memories

Many Years Ago...

A young boy cringed as he dropped a case of eggs on the ground. It smashed, and yoked splattered everywhere along with the egg shells. That was the last carton of eggs the boy thought grimly and snapped his neck upstairs. His mother definitely heard that. She was coming down the small set of stairs into the kitchen. In seconds, his mother was there-eyes concerned.

"Tak-What happened?" She asked looking at the floor. "Are you okay?"

"Yes mama." The boy replied, reaching out. Being a six year old he still wanted to be hugged by his mother and this was no exception. His mother hastily grabbed him and a cloth. She scooped him up and started to clean the mess.

"You know you are not supposed to be in here without mommy's or daddy's permission. You could have been hurt."

The boy gazed down, embarrassed. His face flushed a bright red and he covered his face with his small red hoodie.

"Sorry, mama."

His mother pulled the hoodie out of his face.

"It's ok. Don't hide. Now go wash up for bed and put this garbage away outside ok?"

"Yes mama." The little boy replied and grabbed the dirty bag of garbage from his mother. He scurried out through the back door and out into the fresh air of West Shinjuku.

He peaked around the back alley. No one seemed to be around. In the distance traffic could have been heard because they were so close to downtown. Cautiously, his red eyes scanned the sky. Stars peaked out, but most of it was clouded. He frowned slightly. The stars would have been nice to watch, he thought.

A crash and footsteps made him jump. What was that sound? Looking around the corner, he saw some garbage cans knocked over. A sigh of relief washed over him.

"Stupid cat." The small boy muttered picking up the can with some effort. He put the trash in it and closed the lid. Hopefully, Mr. Snuggles won't get into it again. The brown haired boy looked across towards another alley and saw a girl there.

She was sad. Her tears were running down her face and she was a little dirty. The girl was almost the boy's age. With her long brown hair, most of her face was covered. It looked like she was wearing a green dress and yellow shoes. The boy was confused. Why was a girl here crying? Was she alone?

Nervous, he mustered up all the courage he could to talk to her. Just as he was about to speak to her, she looked up and he freaked. Blushing, he pulled his hood up high and scurried away to the other side of the wall so he was hidden. Great. He was never this nervous when he had battled Kazu for his favourite digimon card, but this was almost twice as scary. What to do? What to do?

"Hello?"

"GAH!" the boy cried and jumped and huddled into a ball. It was pathetic but the only reaction he could muster. The girl found him. She stood there, sniffing and whiping her nose with the back of her hand. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion. Why was this boy in a ball? She knelt down,

"Are you..okay?"

The boy said nothing and kept his hood up. The girl knocked her head to the side and reached out for the hood.

"Please, I'm not going to hurt you. You see, I ran away from daddy. My mommy passed away and I'm scared." She pulled the hood down to reveal the small boy again. Thick tassels of brown locks showed, along with two scared, ruby red eyes. "I saw you and accidentally knocked over your garbage can. I'm sorry."

The boy looked up. His eyes lit up, like he saw an angel,

"What's your name?"

The girl smiled. It was all it took to melt the boy's heart and the start of a long crush.

"I'm Jeri!"

Takato awoke and gasped for air. It felt like he was deprived of it forever. Coughing, he struggled to stand up and find out where he was.

"Guilmon?"

No answer. It seemed he was in a room all by himself. The room was a classroom with several small desks-kindergarten desks from the North America region. It had a large rug area for kids to play. He looked at some toys and looked around. Why was he in a school? Were they not travelling in a fog before?

"Jeri?" Takato called out. It seemed he was alone for the time being. Taking out his D-Arc, the Tamer found his 'Guilmon compass' and followed it outside.

That dream was an odd one. It was almost like he was right there. It was when he first met Jeri. He frowned and gave a sigh. That still hurt, Jeri breaking up with him. In the digital world. Out of all the places, it was in some crummy world where he could be killed. Frustrated, he turned into another classroom.

He had done everything right. He had been respectful, compassionate, eager to listen, and always giving her lots of hugs and kisses. What else could she need?

"What else could Jeri want?" Takato spoke softly looking at the blackboard, zoning out.

Beelzemon woke up suddenly and looked around. The fog was still there and it covered the area around him. He was on a concrete road like in the human world. Memories of what happened filled his head and he looked behind him.

"Dammit!" he yelled, seeing no one. Ai, Mako and Lindy were gone. No one was around for miles. He tried to open his wings, but grimaced. He was a little hurt from that crash. Maybe he could stay on his feet Beelzemon reasoned with himself.

"Lindy! Ai! Mako! Pineapple Head!"

No answer.

He stopped at a three way intersection. He quickly chose right and found a church. Going back and choosing another route, he brought himself to a cliff. No good there. He went back and saw there was a school in the distance. The school sounded more convincing to Beelzemon than a cliff or some ruddy old church so he walked into the one levelled school.

As he walked in, he could smell the oldness of the school. To his left was the office with a glass window so dirty that he couldn't see what was inside. Ahead of him was a hall way with two green double doors. After taking a few steps he caught in the corner of his eye a figure running into a room.

"Hey, stop!" he called, running down the hall as fast as he could and suddenly opened the door slowly. There was Lindy on the desk in the front row head down sleeping. Her floppy ears covered most of her face but he could see her shoulders rising and lowering peacefully in slumber. Forgetting about the mysterious figure, he rushed over to the desk and shook her furry shoulder.

"Lindy! Wake up." he was relieved when Lindy opened her green eyes and looked around.

"Weren't we outside flying?" she gasped as she was pulled out of her seat and looked around. Lindy stopped moving and stared, gawking at the room. It was a odd of her not to be saying anything, so Beelzemon decided to inform her on the situation.

"C'mon, we gotta find Mako and Ai before anythin' bad happens to 'em." He said tugging Lindy more and she finally moved with him. The two ran down the hall ahead of them and suddenly stopped. A white ghost like digimon appeared at the end of the hall and started to charge toward them.

"What the hell is that thing?" Lindy asked, slowly backing up. Beelzemon took out his gun and shot a bullet destroying the digimon completely.

"Bakemon. There should be more around here so we should hurry up. Can you get a fire going?"

For the moment Lindy completely forgot she was a digimon. She smirked and snapped her fingers. A fireball floated, whipping in the air. The two walked down the hall until they heard crying in a bathroom. Lindy pulled Beelzemon into the girl's room and found Ai tied up to a sink crying. Mako was also tied up, but he wasn't awake.

"Lindy, Beelzemon is that you? What happened?" Ai asked, sniffing. Tears poured from her innocent brown eyes. It made Lindy's heart ache a little.

"I dunno, Ai." Linds burned the twins' ropes and Beelzemon picked up Mako.

"We should find the others and get out. Who-or what took us here is going to get us back." Beelzemon grumbled.

With the comfort of the vague plan, the group headed out searching for the rest of the gang. Lindy kept her eyes peeled on the area while Beelzemon held out his gun. Anything near them trying to hurt them would have a bullet in their face. Beelzemon would assure that.

After Takato woke up, he took some time to peak through classrooms. He avoided the Bakemon as careful as he could, treading lightly when he heard one of them. To be fair, they were not silent as they talked to themselves a lot. It was after a few minutes of dodging the digimon that he found Guilmon slashing one away.

"Takatomon! You're ok!" Guilmon seemed relieved that his partner was alright. Destroying one behind Takato, the red dinosaur digimon hugged him. Takato returned the hug and questioned about anyone else Guilmon had seen. Indeed, the digimon had Jeri hiding in the classroom behind him.

"I was keeping Jeri safe." Guilmon's amber eyes connected with Takato's. "She was worried about you."

"Thanks, can you stand watch? I want to talk to her." The teen took a deep breath and walked inside. Jeri stood up immediately,

"You're ok." The girl smiled sadly. "I was beginning to think me and Guilmon were the only ones here."

"Well to be honest, I was thinking the same thing. Hey listen-"

"Takato." Jeri interrupted bowing her head down. "About last night..."

"I just want to know where I went wrong." Takato tensed. He could feel his frustration boiling. Terriermon would say Momentai, but Takato had a few colorful words to say instead of Momentai. "I am here for you, I gave you flowers, I even made-"

"That isn't the problem." Jeri replied frowning. She gripped the edge of her dress and played with it. Brown hair fell on her face and she brushed it aside. She wanted to look at him straight in the eye. "The problem is that I need help. I am still disturbed over what happened with Leomon and I need help. Don't you think I can be a better person if I somehow fix myself? I can't even go without a day without thinking about hurting myself to be with Leomon. It is killing me. It is truly killing me, Takato. Haven't you noticed?"

The speech Jeri gave left Takato feeling out of his body. She was hurting herself? Come to think of it, she had lost weight. Also, she was pretty distant from everyone lately. She still had a guilty expression whenever Leomon was brought up too. Putting his head down, he knew she was right. She needed help. How could he not have seen this? He ignored all the signs.

"When we get back, maybe all of us can go talk to someone." Takato looked up determined. He was a far cry from the little boy he used to be when he first met Jeri. Now, he was a leader. "We have all been through some messed up stuff. It's almost impossible to deal with it alone. We have our partners and Yamaki is going to help us too. I will respect your wishes, but I will always be here for you Jer. I'll always love you."

"Takato..." Jeri sighed.

The two embraced. It was a relief for Jeri to get that off her chest, like a black dog was always dragging her opposite of where she wanted to go. The black dog seemed to heel, and let her breathe finally.

"Where is everyone?" Takato cried. Gulimon blasted each Bakemon to death and saw the group.

"Lindymon! Beelzemon! Ai! Mako! You're all okay!" he rushed towards them and smiled.

"How ya doin' pineapple head?" Beelzemon asked. He looked at Takato. "Where's Henry and the others?"

"No clue. Lost them in the fog just like you guys. Right now, we're lost too."

Lindy thought this was a good time to speak up.

"I know where the others may be. Follow me!" She started to run down the hall, and turned a sharp left. She continued to run until taking another left again, and finally came to some doors that lead outside.

"How do you know your way around here?" Beelzemon questioned, suspiciously. Lindy ignored him and ran outside. Sure enough Henry, Suzie, and their digimon were tied to the tree in the middle of the small courtyard. Lindy rushed toward them and burned their ropes while calling their names. Slowly, Henry woke up along with Lopmon.

"Where am I?" Henry asked. Lindy answered.

"Were at my old school in Canada, I thought it was a coincidence with the soccer field but now I know for sure D-Reaper is somehow getting through my memories..."

Everything was staring to make sense to the group. But it was not just Lindy's memories. Jeri spoke up about some of the thing that happened has her memories intertwined as well. Seems like D-Reaper was going to use everything it had on the group to mess with their minds.

While the group walked around the courtyard, something else was following them. It crept slowly, and made it's move knocking Takato and Guilmon across the yard into a wall. Lindy was hit next as she was engulfed in fog and thrown away, screaming towards a wall. The crack made everyone freeze and the dark blue Impmon slumped over, groaning.

"LINDY!" roared Beelzemon taking his gun out and pointing it at the fog. "Who was that? SHOW YOURSELF!"

"As you wish." A pair of goggles was visible but then a pale face with red eyes and brow hair emerged. D-Takato stood there grinning. "Stupid slut deserved it." He muttered in English.

"Don't you dare call her that!" Beelzemon shouted, shooting the agent more but D-Takato danced through them.

"Digivolve time!" whispered Lindy and grimaced, trying to stand up. The cross around her neck started to glow. She smirked,

CREST DIGIVOULTION

"Lindy Crest digivolve to…Hopemon!" the child angel smiled and started to flap her grey wings. Swiftly, Hopemon flew side to side avoiding evil Takato's attacks. But when she got close enough to throw a punch, he swiftly threw her down and stomped on her chest making her scream out in agony.

"Leave her alone!" called out Gallantmon, pushing D-Takato out of the way. "Shield of Just!" he cried, putting up his shield and sending a bright blast of energy at the evil agent. It sent him into a play ground set. D-Takato stood up and laughed hysterically.

"Is that all you have?" Cable cords shot out of the agent and twisted around Gallantmon, sending him into the wall. MegaGargomon stood firm. He faced the threat.

"Mega Barrage!" he cried, sending a blast of explosives towards the evil thing but, it dodged them again. One did hit him. He flinched when one of the blasts impacted D-Takato. He tumbled to the ground. This was the perfect time for Hopemon to come in.

"Staff of Fate!" Hopemon sent her attack towards the agent, wounding it. D-Takato stood up and grabbed her with his black cables. With inhuman speed he threw her to Beelzemon and knocked both of them down.

"Beelzemon! Hopemon!" Ai and Mako cried, rushing towards them worried. Hopemon assured the twins they were alright.

"Bunny blade!" cried slashing the agent who was completely caught off guard and felt the gash in his side. Gritting his teeth he glitched into a teleportation attack and sent Antylamon back-instantly turning her into her rookie form. Suzie shouted and ran, bringing her out of the battle.

"Get out of my way you annoying thing!" he slapped Hopemon away and started to rush towards Ai and Mako with an evil glint in its eye. D-Takato had an excellent plan that involved destroying those twin Tamers.

"Corona Blaster!" Beelzemon cried, sending a powerful blast towards the evil agent. While the dark angel mega was still on the ground, it was going to take a lot more to put him out of the fight. Gallantmon who was ready made his attack known that he had been charging. MegaGargomon was also charging an attack.

"Shield of Just!"

"Gargo Missles!"

The blast engulfed D-Takato who screamed before succumbing to an giant explosion. The group cheered and smiled at each other. However, the victory was short lived. In exchange for D-Takato's final defeat, something else was occurring in the sky of the school.

A huge black hole was sucking everyone in! Everyone tried grabbing something- anything but nothing was there. Hopemon started to flap her wings but it was too powerful.

"What's going on?!" called Gallantmon, but no one answered.

"We gotta fight it!" Ai cried out, gripping Beelzemon for dear life. The mega himself was trying to find something hold on to or fight-but there was nothing. Hopemon and Mako first were sucked into the hole-screaming. Next was Suzie and Lopmon, followed by MegaGargomon, then Beelzemon and Ai.

Gallantmon was last and could not fight anymore as debris knocked them into the terrifying hole before them. Gripping Jeri to protect her, Gallantmon wished everyone else could be spared. The hole closed off in the digital world and all was quiet.

Choose.

Lindy looked ahead. What was that voice? Where was she? What-

Choose.

The hybrid felt the voice-or sensation interrupt her questions. Choose what? She was completely alone in darkness. There was no floor, no ceiling, nothing but darkness.

A flash of light appeared. Ahead, was a card. It looked like one of her debt machine cards from the bank but it was red. There was a odd pixilated monster symbol on the front.

Choose, hybrid. Choose your fate.

"My fate?" Lindy asked looking at the card. What could a card have to do with her fate? The card floated casually. It looked like it was not going anywhere.

Her hand reached up, but she lowered it. What was her choice?

Take the card. Or you can leave it. Choose.

Take the card? What would the card do? She could feel a power inside the card. It felt even stronger than her form as Hopemon and it was looking tempting. But she felt like once she took this card she would lose something important. Something about her past self...

What if I don't take it? Lindy thought. She looked back into the darkness. A door had appeared.

You can leave. Choose.

Take it or leave it Lindy thought. Carefully, she made a decision. After she made the decision-everything went white.

"Hey, wake up. Are you alright? Miss? Miss!"

Slowly, Lindy opened her green eyes and found herself facing a man in his late twenties. He spoke English which struck Lindy as odd. Who was this man speaking English in the digital world?

But, she slowly realized that she was not in the Digital World. Sitting up, she looked at herself first. Human. After being a digimon for so long without changing back, it almost scared her. The blonde hybrid looked at the sky. Day time. Slowly, she was fitting the missing puzzle pieces together. They were in the human world, in the daytime, and she was in her human form.

"Miss, are you alright? Should I call a doctor?"

Lindy looked at the man and smiled timidly. "Oh, I'm fine thanks just kinda fell asleep. Just me being stupid." She laughed lightly, and got up. Lindy needed to get this guy out of her hair. The man nodded and went on his way taking a girl's hand. The two were heading towards a roller coaster a few hundred feet away. But it was just not any roller coaster.

The Behemoth as standing before her. Lindy gasped as she realized she was in Canada's Wonderland. But that meant-

She was back home. Lindy was back in Canada!