Another chapter now up. Ever so slowly this story is starting to come to an end. I actually wrote this chapter about a year ago-within this same week or so because I was on winter break then and I'm on winter break now haha. It makes me really happy to see a lot of people adding this story to their favorites list and I hope that more of you will do the same. Even though I don't own Digimon I hope I'm doing the show justice and making all you Digimon fans out there proud. Peace out!

Part 28: Haunting

"Scott, how can we be underwater?" Frimon asked in wonder. It didn't feel like they were underwater, they could breathe.

"I don't know, pal. I don't really want to think about it, let's just get out of here. We need to find the others." Scott picked up Frimon and went over to the door. To Scott's surprise, it opened quite easily. Scott glanced outside and also to his surprise, there was no one there. "The coast is clear, let's go." Scott tip-toed down the long dark corridor and constantly checked over his shoulder for signs of anything that might not be friendly.

"Scott, maybe I should Digivolve. We don't know what's lurking around down here," Frimon suggested.

"Good idea, go for it." Scott set Frimon on the ground in front of him and held out his Digivice.

"Frimon Digivolve to…Liollmon," the lion Digimon called as he changed into his rookie level. "Now what do you want to do?"

"We have to keep looking for the others. TK probably has Patamon with him, but Kari's all alone. We have to find her," Scott said, determination written across his face. "Oh man, I'm doing it again; I'm being overprotective of her."

Liollmon gave Scott and confused look and asked, "What do you mean, Scott?"

"Before, when were in the Digital World, Kari told me that I didn't need to be as protective of her. But, I can't help it, she just reminds me so much of…" Scott didn't finish his sentence. He didn't like to think about who Kari reminded im of.

"Remind you of whom? Scott, what's wrong?" Liollmon asked. He had never seen Scott so distant looking. He had a lost gaze in his eyes, like he was somewhere else. In fact, Scott was somewhere else; he had left the underwater castle and had found himself looking at a familiar place from his past.

"How did I end up here? Liollmon, what happened?" Scott asked. But his Digimon was nowhere in sight, Scott was alone. "How did I end up back in the real world? More importantly, how did I end up back in Massachusetts? I haven't been here in seven years, what's going on?"

As Scott looked around, more and more things began to look familiar, he was not that far from his old house, it was the park where he used to play. Hr recognized the big oak tree he used to climb and his favorite swing next to it. It was like looking at a picture from his past, everything was exactly as he remembered it. As he stood, gawking at his old town, a piece of newspaper flew across the ground and came to a stop against Scott's legs. "I wonder what day it is," Scott asked out loud. He picked up the paper and looked at the top for the date. "March 18th, 2001," Scott whispered. He dropped the paper and his eyes grew wide. He knew this day; it was the one day he had tried so hard to block of his mind. This was the day that ruined his life, the day that changed everything.

"Come on, big brother, mommy's making dinner. We don't want to be late," a little girl called. Scott slowly turned around and gasped at the sight that was before him. A little girl, only about five years old was skipping down the path. Her flaming red hair, tied in pigtails, shone in the setting sun. She was wearing a yellow jumper and carried a purple bouncing ball.

"I'm coming, Abby. Don't go too far," a boy's voice called back. Scott stared as he watched a young boy run to catch up with the girl. He tore down that path and took the young girl's hand. "Abby, you know you're not supposed to run off by yourself," he told her sternly.

"I'm sorry, Scott. I won't do it anymore, but let's hurry," Scott couldn't believe it, right in front of him was a younger version of himself and his baby sister.

"Abby," he whispered. Scott knew exactly what was going to happen next, he hadn't known it then though. If he had known then, Scott would have done something differently, he would have done anything to stop what was about to happen.

"Scott, what's that?" Abby asked. She pointed to a strange light that was shining in the sky. As she pointed, a strong wind began to pick up. Younger Scott held onto Abby to keep her from falling over. "Look, Scott, it's an egg in the sky." Both Scott and younger Scott looked up into the sky and saw what Abby was pointing at. A large egg was forming in the sky, bigger than any egg Scott had ever seen. A large crack filled the sky and something came out of the egg.

"Abby, let's get out of here," younger Scott said trembling. He tried to pull his sister away from the strange egg but she refused to move.

"No, I want to see what it is," she said firmly. The thing that came out of the egg moved slowly towards Scott and Abby. "It looks like a bear."

Scott watched as a creature in the shape of a bear floated down towards his younger self and Abby. It was black in color and had on a blue baseball cap and blue training braces. He came to a stop in front of Abby and looked up at her. "Hiya, Abby. My name is Bearmon and I'm your partner," he said looking up at her. The painful memory played back in Scott's memory. The bear coming out of the sky, telling Abby he needed her help. Then, against Scott's wishes, she went with him back into the sky.

"Abby, come back! You can't leave, Abby!" the younger Scott screamed at the sky. He fell to his knees and began to sob. Back then, Scott didn't know about the Digimon. No one had believed him when he was a bear came from the sky and took Abby away, after time, he stopped believing it as well. Everyone told him that Abby had been kidnapped, and that she wasn't going to come back. Soon after, they had moved, his parents wanted to get away from the place where they had last known their daughter.

"Abby, why did you go with him? You were so little; you should have stayed with your family. Abbs, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you; I should have a least gone with you," Scott cried to himself. For so many years, he had blamed himself for the vanishing of his sister.

Now, he knew the real reason of why she left. Abby was a Digidestined, somehow she had been called into the Digital World. There was only one question Scott had in his mind, was Abby still there? "Could I have done something differently?" Scott asked himself. "Could I have convinced her to stay here? Why did I let her go?" Something then dawned on Scott, another person in his life that reminded him of Abby. "Kari," Scott whispered. It all made sense to him now, why he was so protective of Kari, she was exactly like Abby.

Abby had always been sweet and kind, just like Kari was. She also hated to make people upset, it was like they were the same person; Scott had never realized it until now. He then remembered something else that had happened on that day. When Bearmon tried to take Abby, Scott tried to keep her from leaving, but Abby told him that she was a big girl and could take care of herself. Kari had told him the same thing not that long ago. "Am I the one pushing them away? I never treated Abby like a big kid and she left, then I did the same thing to Kari. What have I done?" Scott asked himself. Every time he tries to protect someone close to him, he ends up pushing them away. Scott had done that all his life, after losing Abby; he never let anyone get close to him again. He pushed away his parents, his friends in his old town, everyone. Once he moved to California, he was able to make a dew new friends but he never felt as close to them. That was, until he met Kari and he began to treat her like he treated Abby. Now, Kari was mad and him and probably hated him like Abby did. He had pushed two of the two most important girls out of his life, and it was all his fault.

As if to prove him wrong, Scott heard Abby call back to him as she floated away into the Digital World. "I love you, Scottie! You'll always be my big brother, don't forget about me!" she called to a sobbing younger Scott.

Scott hadn't heard her say that seven years, he was crying too loudly, all those years, he thought Abby hated him for always being to over-protective. "I'll never forget about you, Abbs," Scott whispered. "I'm going to find you someday and when I do, I'll be the big brother I'm supposed to be. I won't let my fear of you getting hurt keep us from spending time together. I won't push anyone away anymore," Scott decided. He looked over at his younger self, sobbing on the ground and remembered how horrible he had felt after losing Abby. "Those dark feelings of the past are over; it's time for a new Scott. Look out world, here I come." As Scott decided to change the way he acted, the scene around him began to vanish. In the place of his hometown, Scott saw the familiar looking corridor of the castle.

"Scott, are you all right?" Liollmon asked. Scott hadn't responded to his pleas for a while and he was worried. "Scott, don't make me do this." He opened his mouth and bit Scott in the leg.

"Ouch! Liollmon, what was that for?" Scott asked angrily. He then saw the look of worry and fear on his friend's face and smiled. "Sorry pal, I didn't mean to yell," he apologized.

"Scott, what happened to you? You stopped answering me, I was worried. All you did was stare off into space and whisper some girl's name."

"Abby, her name is Abby. I'll tell you about her later, Liollmon. Right now, we have to go find the others," Scott said, walking down the long hallway. "And, by the way, you bite really hard," Scott said with a laugh. Liollmon grinned and padded next to his friend.

After walking for twenty minutes, there was still no sign of Kari and TK and Scott was getting worried. "Liollmon, do you think something else found them?" Scott asked his friend. Liollmon shook his head.

"I don't think so, Kari and TK are smart. They would know how to avoid danger; after all, they've been to the Digital World many times. This isn't much different," he responded. Scott nodded and they kept walking. After a while, Liollmon stopped and cocked his head to the side. "Hold on, Scott. I hear something, it sounds like flapping," he growled. Liollmon crouched closer to the ground, his teeth bared. "Scott, back up, I don't want you to get hurt." Scott took a few steps back, but still stayed close to Liollmon. As the flapping became louder, Scott could also hear whispering. The voices sounded very familiar to him. Suddenly, the sound stopped and Scott could make out two figures a little ways down the corridor.

"Wh-who's there?" a meek voice called. Scott immediately knew the voice and his fear melted.

"Kari, it's me, Scott," he called out. He ran past Liollmon towards the figure. As he got closer, he was able to make out the shape of his friend. "Kari, you're OK!" he exclaimed.

"Scott, you have no idea how glad I am to see you," Kari said happily. She ran forward and gave her friend a small hug. "Are you OK?" she asked.

"I'm fine, what about you?" Kari gave him one of her happiest grins.

"I'm fine, I took a little detour to get here but I'm glad I found you in the end. Is Liollmon with you?" she asked

"I'm right here. Patamon, I'm glad to see that you're OK as well. Is TK with you?" Liollmon asked running up to them. Hearing the voices of his friends made him feel a lot better and he was glad that he didn't have to fight any evil Digimon.

"No, we were hoping he was with you, this means he's all alone in this place. I hope he's OK, we have to find him and fast," Patamon said with a sad tone in his voice.

"Well, why are we standing around here? Let's hurry and find him," Kari exclaimed. It was impossible for her to hide the concern in her voice. Finding Scott but not TK meant that he was by himself in this place, and on top of that he was still hurt. If TK ran into a Digimon, he would be toast.