Author's Notes
Here is the next chapter in my story. Sorry it took so long, my laptop's giving up the ghost. it won't let me edit documents on here, so i'm having to go to the library to post this. but to save time, i've already started the next chapter; Sacrifice...
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON OR ANY CHARACTERS IN THIS CHAPTER.
Please read, review and rate.
"Flower Cannon!"
"Hurricane Wave!"
"Atomic Inferno!"
"Terra Destroyer!"
Tai watched as the attacks surrounded Lilithmon. They made contact with the Demon Lord, causing everyone to cover their eyes as smoke filled the room. He removed his hands and saw nothing.
He looked around at the digimon. Lillymon and Kazemon stayed airborne, looking around while WarGreymon and Aldamon watched each other's backs.
"Where did she go?" Kazemon asked.
"Be on guard, she could appear anytime." WarGreymon said.
Lillymon screamed and fell to the floor, de-digivolving in the process. Everyone looked around, not seeing anything. Aldamon was the next person to scream, losing his digimon form.
Kenta looked at his digimon. "Crabmon, you're going to have to go mega level."
"Whenever you're ready Kenta!" Crabmon agreed.
Kenta picked out a card. He was about to swipe a card when he felt a sharp pain stab itself in his back. He screamed and fell to his knees, catching a glimpse of a purple flash leaving him.
He felt his legs seize up. He tried to stand, but to no avail. He tried to talk, to make a sound, any sound. But nothing left his mouth.
He saw in plain view, a purple dress, motionless, in front of him. He slowly lifted his head, seeing the paleness of Lilithmon's face.
She raised a hand and brought it down. Kenta felt the air hit his face, but no pain. He looked up and saw Kazemon, shivering in place. He moved away as Kazemon fell into his arms. She turned back into her human form. Her loud sighs showed exhaustion and pain.
"Zoe." Kenta managed to breath out.
"Guys! Move!" Tai called. "WarGreymon!"
WarGreymon looked and instantly saw what Tai meant. He jumped over to Zoe and Kenta and jumped away, taking them with him to safety with Joe, Ryo and Cyberdramon. Joe looked over Zoe and Kenta quickly yet thoroughly.
"This is useless." Yutaka called. "We need to get out of here."
"How are we going to do that?" Matt asked. "There's no way out."
Tai looked around, he needed a miracle. They needed a miracle. And they needed it now.
A bright light suddenly shone, stunting Lilithmon in her actions, and blinding Kari, who had been watching in the corner. She took her arms away and was surprised at the total lack of digidestined in the room.
Koichi looked at his surroundings. He was in a white space, seemingly floating. He felt a hand touch his shoulder. He spun around, seeing a surprised Mimi and a sleeping Tanemon.
"I'm sorry." She said.
"It's alright." Koichi smiled. "You just surprised me, that's all."
"Where are we?" Mimi asked.
"Your guess is as good as ours." Came a voice Mimi knew as Tai's.
She turned around and indeed saw Tai, floating with Takuya, Ken, Jeri, Ryo, Ai and Mako. Their digimon floated around at different angles to each other.
"This is quite different." Leomon observed.
"I want to know what saved us." Takuya voiced his opinion.
"Yeah. We were in a totally unwinnable scenario and suddenly, some great power has saved us." Ken added.
"Who would have the power to save us?" Jeri asked.
Koichi looked at Takuya. "Ophanimon?"
Takuya thought about this. Ophanimon did have the power to reach out to other worlds. But she had only used it to recruit them. She upgraded their D-Tectors. He thought about Seraphimon.
Even though they never knew him long as Seraphimon himself, when he was an egg and in his rookie form as Patamon, he had a lot of power. It was him who granted himself and Koji to fusion evolve to Aldamon and Beowulfmon. And that was when he was an egg.
"I don't know." Takuya said. "Even though the three angel digimon had a lot of power, I don't think they would have the power to this alone."
"The digimon sovereign have a lot of power." Impmon thought aloud.
"There has to someone who can do this." Mimi said.
By now, every other digidestined had gathered around, each formulating their own theories. Every other theory contradicted another. Eventually, they all had to agree on one thing.
This was immense power.
"Where do we go now?" Yolei asked.
Cody looked around and saw a break in the white space. "There." He pointed.
Everyone looked around and saw the hole. They somehow propelled themselves to the hole. They looked through and saw red, black and dark blue lines swirling around.
Curious, Cody reached out and touched the portal. He fell through instantly. Armadillomon dived after his partner.
One by one, everyone else touched the portal, falling in and joining Cody on the other side.
Davis woke up feeling refreshed. Then the memories of what had happened the previous days flooded his mind.
He looked around at his small group. The digimon were huddled together. Shinya was laying by Rika and Sora. Koji was resting his back on the wall. Jun and JP were resting on each other's shoulders. Davis looked down at his stomach and smiled. TK was curled on him, resting peacefully and seemed soothed by Davis' breathing.
"Morning." Whispered a voice.
Davis looked up and saw Henry. "Morning."
"How'd you sleep?" Henry asked.
"Better than I thought I would." Davis admitted, lightly placing a hand on TK's head.
Henry looked at the two. "You really like him don't you?"
"Not when I first met him." Davis admitted. "I was jealous of him."
"Jealous?"
Davis nodded. "Yeah. When I first met him, I liked Kari. I was jealous of their friendship. I was constantly trying to impress her. Remember MaloMyotismon?"
"I think I remember the episode." Henry recalled. "I never thought about it then but now I know about you two, thinking back, I was wondering why you went after TK."
Davis nodded. He thought back to that moment, telling Henry as he recalled.
'FLASHBACK'
'ExVeemon launched an attack of his 'Vee Laser' against the form of MaloMyotismon.
"It's working." Davis realised, as his belief seemed to be powering ExVeemon. "It's working!"
MaloMyotismon seemed unimpressed. "So you want to play hardball do you?"
Davis was still as confident as ever. "All right! Go ExVeemon! Make him shut that ugly mouth of his!" ExVeemon complied by firing another 'Vee Laser'.
MaloMyotismon jumped back and glowed with a white light. "Mental Illusion!"
Davis covered his eyes as the light shone. He looked around, realising that the light was still shining strong but it wasn't affecting him.
His friends were staring directly into the light, their eyes were blank. They began to be surrounded by a cocoon made by the light.
Soon, the cocoons grew into large boxes. Davis knew he had to do something. He had to get them out. But he knew if he went after one of them, MaloMyotismon would most likely destroy the others.
'How can I get to them?' Davis asked himself. 'At most, I could get ExVeemon to help me, but that means leaving three of them. I need help.'
As if they had heard his pleas, his Digi-eggs of Courage and Friendship exploded from his D-Terminal in red and blue lights.
'How?' Davis asked in his mind, unable to talk aloud.
'You want help don't you?' asked a familiar mature voice.
'Well, help is what you shall receive.' Added a second, gruff voice.
'This is not possible.' Davis said. 'You're ExVeemon.'
'We're eggs Davis.' The Digi-egg of courage said. 'We've just sort of absorbed Veemon's personality.'
'This world is helping you get stronger, simply because you wish it.' The Friendship egg answered. 'I guess this world is giving you some extra help.'
Davis saw ExVeemon looking at him with determination in his eyes. 'We can do it Davis. Together.'
'Just tell us what to do.' Courage said.
Davis was about to say when something stopped him. He looked at his feet. 'TK.'
'What about him?' Friendship questioned.
'I'm going for him.' Davis said, his eyes sparkling.
'What about Kari?' ExVeemon asked, knowing how Davis felt about her.
Davis looked at the Digi-egg of Friendship. "Raidramon, go for Kari. Kind of like, symbolising the great friendship we have.' He turned to the Digi-egg of Courage. 'Flamedramon, go for Cody. He needs the courage to get through this.' He turned to his champion digimon. 'ExVeemon, you're going for Yolei. Don't argue.' He said, before anyone had a chance to say anything.
He turned away from the three. He wiped his eyes clean of any tears. 'Just let me see if he's ok. I have to go to him.'
The eggs floated to two boxes and ExVeemon went to a third. Hawkmon, Gatomon, Armadillomon, Patamon and Wormmon had already entered each of the boxes. Davis watched as the eggs erupted in fire and lightning, joining ExVeemon in entering the boxes. Davis gulped down some saliva and pulled open the box. '
'END FLASHBACK'
"It's always the parts off-screen that I wish I saw." Henry smiled.
"I don't know why, but it was TK that I wanted to get myself." Davis said, looking down at his boyfriend's head.
Henry looked around. Renamon opened her eyes and carefully manoeuvred out of the digimon. She made her way to the edge of the cave.
"Renamon?" Henry asked.
Renamon shook her head and turned around. "I thought I heard something."
"Given your senses, I'd trust them any day."
"But even I am not sure how far away the sound is." Renamon admitted.
Davis held TK's head as he moved away and set it down gently. "Something could have happened with the others. Maybe you're hearing something echoing down the tunnel?"
"Maybe." Renamon said, satisfied with that theory. For now.
"What's going on?" asked a voice.
Davis, Henry and Renamon turned to see Shinya, Rika, Sora and Jun looking at them. They each had a look of concern on them.
"Nothing." Davis answered. "We're just thinking about what we can actually do."
"Any ideas?" Sora asked.
"Not right now." Renamon answered. "None of us have ever backed out of a fight because we were having to fight a former ally."
"But we should be doing something." Jun insisted. "If not fighting directly, then in some other way."
"And what way would that be?" Rika asked.
"Getting some information about the Demon Lords." Jun instructed. "We're going to find a nearby town and see what they can tell us."
The large group looked at their surroundings. Five of the digidestined looked around, feeling a great sense of familiar dread.
"Tai?" Mimi asked, moving closer to him.
"I know." He said. "We need to be careful here." Tai felt a hand pull on his sleeve. He looked down to see a concerned Takato.
"Tai, please tell me we're not where Apocalymon is." He begged.
"I wish I could." He whispered.
"Well, at least we know how to beat him." Kazu smiled. "Take out the claws first, then attack the body."
Matt looked at the tamer. "What if Apocalymon uses his ultimate attack?"
Kazu instantly sighed. "Even if Sora and TK were here, it would have been better if we had Kari as well."
"It took all eight of your digivices to contain it." Kenta remembered.
"And even then, it was close." Joe finished.
A low growl surrounded all of them. This was all too familiar. Yolei held Ken close while Takato stayed close to Jeri.
"What's that noise?" Yutaka asked, making sure his brother was in sight.
"Apocalymon." Izzy confirmed.
"So where is he?" Ryo asked.
"Forget that for now." Kazu ordered. "Everyone! Bio-merge and digivolve to mega! Now!"
With the bright light of digivolution, the digimon digivolved as high as they could go. Takuya and Koichi became Aldamon and Rhihimon, whilst the other warriors became their beast spirits. The only one's feeling left out were Ankylomon, Aquilamon and Stingmon. Without Angemon, Gatomon and ExVeemon, the champion level was the highest they had attained. Guardromon also felt a little depressed since he hasn't digivolved since returning to his current level.
"Welcome to the Nega-Verse." A multitude of voices chimed.
"Who's there?" called Koichi, unfazed by the darkness.
"Only us digimon." A small dark-blue digimon appeared.
It was a DemiDevimon. Behind him appeared five other digimon; Vilemon, LadyDevimon, SkullSatamon, Myotismon and Puppetmon.
Aldamon smirked. "This is going to be a piece of cake."
The six digimon smirked and stayed close together. "You have no hope of defeating us."
"That was creepy." Zoe stated.
"We are one." The six digimon said. "Yet we are many."
"You're not that many." Korikakumon boasted. "Look at all of us."
Rhihimon zoomed around the six digimon and shot an attack at DemiDevimon. Puppetmon spun around, using his hammer to deflect the attack.
"I guess it's time for us join forces." The digimon chanted. They flew back, creating a large space between them.
"What are they doing?" Cody asked.
"I'm afraid to think." Justimon admitted.
"We can't think like that!" Tai shouted. "As soon as we start having doubts, we'll start making mistakes. We can't give up."
A scream drew everyone's attention as the six digimon melded together to form a large black object.
"What now?" Gallantmon asked, joust ready for battle.
The object extended itself to reveal yellow panels with markings on. Claws appeared from the edges and floated about. A small figure appeared from the top of the object, red and blue tubes fed into the being and the object, connecting them.
"No way." Kenta said, MarineAngemon hiding behind him.
Tai scowled. "Apocalymon. Ok everyone, we need to work together."
"You cannot defeat me." Apocalymon boasted.
"That's what you think." Tai argued. "Five of us have beaten one of you before. Besides, we can defeat anything that comes our way." Tai looked around. "Kenta, Zoe, Suzie! Defence! Everyone else, go for the claws!"
"Wait Tai!" Rhihimon called. "Matt mentioned his ultimate attack. What is it?"
"A big bang."
"Doesn't sound so bad." Anubismon said aloud. "It's just a little noise, right?"
Tai shook his head. "Nope. It could destroy this universe, and others too."
"So what do we do then?" Beelzemon asked, keeping Ai and Mako nearby.
"What we always do." Tai answered. "We find a solution. People are counting on us. We can't give up." He had a determined look to his face. "All of us, we have one thing in common. One and all, we're the digidestined. Look at what we've done before in our separate universes.
"Look what we've done in this world. We've released the beast spirits from the Dark Quintet's control, who we in turn, returned them to their true selves as partner digimon of the digidestined. Sure, we've lost Kari to the Demon Lords, but I know we'll get her back. I believe that."
"How can you believe something like that?" Asilmon asked. "Isn't this a hopeless situation?"
"That's the kind of thing we can't let cloud our minds." Tai scolded. "I know this is your first time adventure as a digidestined Yutaka, but please believe that anything is possible in the digital world if you believe."
"He's right Yutaka." Korikakumon said. "Together, there's nothing we can't do."
Asilmon looked at Apocalymon. "Then let's do it."
Tai smiled, knowing his pep-talk was doing some good for others. He just had to hold on to the belief for the time-being.
The beast spirits instantly destroyed the claws, while the bio-merged digimon had no trouble destroying the human form on top.
"We did it!" Kazu called.
Dark shadows spilled from Apocalymon's body. "You think you have me defeated? Think again." Tai held his breath. This was his ultimate attack. "Total Annihilation!"
Tai looked around, everyone was terrified. He knew something had to be done. Sure, not everyone was here, but he had been part of the group to defeat an Apocalymon before. He didn't give up then.
"And I'm not going to give up now!" he suddenly called.
WarGreymon suddenly glowed orange. He seemed to be radiating from Tai's determination; his courage.
He smiled. "Matt, Mimi, Joe, Izzy, reach down for your determination. Think about why you're fighting."
Each of them closed their eyes; breathing deeply, their digimon suddenly glowed the colour of their crests.
They opened their eyes. "Fascinating." Izzy said, unable to say anything else.
"Now guys! Go get him!" Tai commanded.
WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, Rosemon, Plesiomon and HerculesKabuterimon charged at Apocalymon.
Rosemon and HerculesKabuterimon led the charge. Rosemon used her thorn whip to scratch the surface while the bug digimon used his pincers and his strength to open the scratch for the other digimon to launch their attacks inside Apocalymon.
The body exploded, splitting back into the six digimon. They seemed to be exhausted.
MetalGarurumon shot a beam of ice and destroyed Puppetmon. Anubismon and Asilmon shot twin beams and pierced Myotismon's heart. LadyDevimon was easily defeated by the combined efforts of Zephyrmon and Beelzemon.
SkullSatamon was incinerated by Aldamon and WarGreymon. Vilemon was taken care of by Ankylomon, Stingmon and Aquilamon. DemiDevimon was left to be shot down by Guardromon.
Everyone cheered at their latest triumph.
Tai placed himself on WarGreymon's shoulders. "Ok guys, Apocalymon has been defeated. Now, let's try to get back to the Dark Ocean. My sister is there and she needs rescuing."
Rhihimon leant to Zephyrmon. "I guess Takuya's lost his leadership now."
The space beneath them began to peel away. "Guys, look down." Ai said.
Everyone looked down to see a small green island with a mountain in the centre. The water surrounding it seemed to be filled with ones and zeros.
"What the…?" Yolei asked.
Before anyone knew what was happening, they felt nothing beneath their feet and they began to fall through the air. The digimon tried their best to stop the falling humans, but couldn't.
The nine humans exited the cave and began to head in a random direction. Jun looked at her brother; wondering what his brave face was hiding.
The truth was; nothing was bothering him. Strangely. After his talk with Henry as everyone was waking up, he felt better about everything.
Sure Kari was mad at him and TK, but why should that bother him? Kari was evil now. He had TK and TK had him. Henry had at least put some of his mind at ease.
Henry, on the other hand, was growing more concerned as time went on. If someone as strong as Kari could be swayed, then how long would it be until another was claimed for the side of evil? A small pair of eyes suddenly blocked his vision.
He jumped back, startled. "Terriermon? What are you doing?"
Terriermon jumped off Henry. "Come on Henry, tell me what's wrong."
Henry looked at the cream rabbit digimon. "I don't know."
"Come on Henry. Do I need to remind you we're a team?"
"He's right Henry." Sora inputted. "If something's bothering you, it's best you get it off your chest. I know it's hard to say, but Kari was obviously troubled by what happened with TK and Davis. She didn't want to talk about it and the Demon Lords took advantage."
TK looked down at his shoes. He knew it was the truth but still couldn't face it. He felt a slight squeeze on his hand. He looked to see Davis smiling slightly, trying to comfort him. TK couldn't help but smile.
It was just two years ago when Davis was shouting at him, just for knowing Kari. Now, here he was, holding his hand, comforting him.
"So then, where are we going?" Shinya asked.
"We're not sure Shinya." Renamon replied.
"We're just hoping that we're going to find someone who can help us." JP added.
"How long will that take?" the youngest asked.
"As long as it takes." Koji said, instantly flinching. He hated it when he got that response and now he was giving it.
Henry took out his digivice and opened the compass. He looked around. He noticed something. "Guys, this isn't where we entered."
"What do you mean?" Jun asked. "We came out the same opening we came in."
"But we came out of a desert." Henry emphasised. "So how did we get into a grass plain?"
Everyone looked around and realised they were indeed on a grassy plain. The digimon were puzzled by this but not surprised.
"The land is changing." Renamon said.
"Obviously." Rika sighed.
"Rika, let her talk." Henry instructed.
"That's all I know." The fox digimon admitted. "But I have a theory with no foundations."
"It's not best to go on random theories." TK said, trying to distract himself from his thoughts.
"Let's just listen to it." Koji said. "Worst case scenario, it may give us a few laughs."
Renamon seemed insulted by the comment but decided to share her theory nonetheless. "We know the Demon Lords have had a lot of power, but have not been able to reach their full potential until we arrived."
"Or at least, until Kari arrived." Jun said.
"Exactly." Renamon nodded. "From what I gather from hearing Kenta and Kazu talk about the digimon show; Kari has been a source of power. Maybe all they wanted was Kari's power to add to their own, and nothing more."
"So Gatomon digivolving to Lilithmon was just a bonus to them?" Sora asked.
"I believe so." Renamon replied. "Earlier, I thought I heard something. It now appears that what I heard, was the land shifting. Or at the very least, the cave changing shape so we'd end up here."
"Why would the cave change shape?" Rika asked.
Renamon shook her head. "I don't know."
"There has to be a reason." Davis said.
"Well, let's find one." Koji ordered, walking past them all.
Sora looked and saw Rika's irritated face and Henry's face, deep in thought again.
Davis looked at Sora. "He's a little bossy, isn't he?" he asked.
Sora looked down at him and smirked. "Like you can talk?"
"Yeah, but you how I am." Davis answered. "Besides, just because he's the oldest here, does he think he's the boss or something?"
Henry looked ahead and saw Koji's shoulders stiffen. He rushed up and saw Koji muttering something. He didn't hear the words, but on another note, Henry was pleased he couldn't hear. He placed a hand on Koji's shoulder. "Calm down Koji."
"That kid is just so annoying." Koji sighed.
Henry smirked. "That's Davis. He's always been like that."
"How do you put up with him?" Koji asked.
"I never have." Henry answered. "Apart from this adventure."
"Not your dimension?"
"He's from Sora's." Henry replied.
The group carried on walking for thirty minutes, not getting anywhere. The plain had led them to a forest that seemed too easy to get lost in.
"How do we not get lost?" Jun asked.
"I could digivolve and fly everyone over the forest." Biyomon offered.
Shinya looked at the pink bird. "Not necessary." He spirit evolved into Timbermon and placed his hands on a tree.
"What are you doing?" TK asked.
Henry looked at Timbermon's face. He observed the sheer concentration on the warrior of wood's face.
Timbermon took his hands away and turned to the group. "Ok guys, follow me. The forest will guide us through."
"You commune with nature?" Henry asked, trying to understand.
"Well, it's more to do with my element. Or something." Timbermon tried to explain. "Maybe it's the digimon in me. I know when we were trying to get Barkdramon on our side, Timbermon tried to feel through the earth but he couldn't. He tried a tree but he couldn't do anything there, until I touched the tree too."
"That sounds more like he needed you." TK answered. "You know, the two of you as one."
Koji nodded. "Not bad TK. That's how our spirits work. They're not at their full potential unless they have a human to wield their power."
"But Nimuemon and the others said they were different digimon." Jun recalled.
Koji nodded. "Yes, they were corrupted into Ranamon…"
Even though he was listening, Davis was trying to think about the future of the digital world. Despite the vast numbers of digidestined, the team would never be complete without Kari. If they weren't going to fight Kari, maybe there was another way.
"Maybe there's another way." He muttered.
"Davis?" Veemon asked. Everyone looked at him. "Are you ok?"
Davis looked around. "I was just thinking, none of us want to fight Kari or Gatomon…"
"Lilithmon." Koji interrupted.
"Whatever." Davis scowled. "The point is, we don't fight her, so why don't we find another way to fight her? Or we could try to weaken her?" Davis looked around at the staring faces. "I know. It's a stupid idea. Never mind, it's too like Jun's idea."
JP smiled. "Actually, that is a good idea."
"What?" Koji asked.
"Think about it." JP beamed. "If we can, somehow, take out one of those Demon Lords, possibly Leviamon, since he was the one who corrupted Kari. If we take him out, then that may loosen the evil hold on her."
Timbermon placed his hands on another tree. Ten seconds later, he removed them. "This tree says that there's a small town nearby. It claims a digimon there may be able to help in our quest."
"The trees are listening in?" Davis asked.
"They are living things." Henry answered. "Besides, we don't know what happens from a trees perspective."
"Considering it's the only lead we got, let's go." Davis said. "Lead the way Shinya."
"Wake up Ryo."
Ryo opened his eyes and saw a pair of blue eyes looking down on him. He sat up and looked around. "Matt, where are we?"
"I think we're on File Island, but it's different to how I remember it." Matt answered, Zoe and Ai and Mako standing nearby.
"Where are the others?" Ryo stood up.
"Not too far." Zoe answered. "The digimon made sure we stayed together. Well, the majority anyway."
"Majority?" Ryo asked.
"We haven't been able to find Tai, Mimi, Suzie, Takuya or Kai." Matt replied.
"I hope they're ok." Ryo said, following the small group to a large fire by a lake.
He smiled as Cyberdramon walked over. "Ryo, are you hurt?"
He rubbed his arm. "I think I was in an awkward position."
"Well, get Joe to look you over." Cyberdramon said. "He's looking everyone over."
Ryo smiled. "If it'll make you happy, partner."
Cyberdramon looked as his partner went to the blue-haired doctor. Only Ryo knew how caring he really was.
'I'm glad Ryo knows me as well as he does.' Cyberdramon thought.
Joe had just finished checking Ryo over. Thanks to Cyberdramon, he had only suffered a few bruises and a swollen ankle. He could walk just fine, but Joe had said that, "If Cyberdramon hadn't helped you when he did, you could have broken your leg. And without the proper equipment here, I don't know how quickly it would have healed."
And that had stuck in Ryo's head. He looked over at Kenta. If Zoe hadn't saved him when she did, who knows how bad it could have been?
"Ryo? Are you alright?" Kazu asked.
Ryo shook his head, breaking his thought train and smiled. "Yeah, I'm alright."
Kazu looked at Ryo. "Are you sure?"
"Well, I'm worried about how bad our injuries could get." Ryo confessed.
"What do you mean?"
Ryo looked back at Kenta. "Look what happened when we fought Lilithmon last. If Zoe hadn't saved Kenta when she did, what would she have done? How bad would Lilithmon have hurt Kenta?"
Kazu sighed. "I don't know. We've just been lucky haven't we?"
"Extremely lucky." Ryo emphasised. "Hey, who's going to lead us now?"
Everyone looked around. No-one had realised this problem. Since both Tai and Takuya had been separated from the group, they hadn't thought about a 'leader' for the remainder.
"Well, how about Matt and Izzy lead us?" Takato spoke up.
Matt and Izzy spluttered at the utterance. "What? Us?"
"Well, it would be the best thing." Yutaka agreed.
"But we can't lead." Izzy argued.
"Our group fell apart when Tai disappeared." Matt added.
"Well, you'll just have to man up." Zoe sighed. "According to you, that was years ago! You're bound to have worked without a leader sometime, right? We've worked without a leader, we're just lucky that we have so many people."
Ryo looked at the digidestined of Knowledge and Friendship. They looked at each other. They nodded at each other and Matt smiled. "Ok guys, I guess Izzy and I are the new leaders."
"And due to our recent battle, we're going to set up camp for the night." Izzy looked around. "MarineAngemon? Can you get some fish for us?"
Antylamon, with Suzie and Takuya resting on her shoulders, walked through the valley.
"Where are we Antylamon?"
"I don't know Suzie." Antylamon answered. "For all we know, we could be in yet another digital world."
"I don't think so Antylamon." Takuya said. "I think the world has merged with another. Look at the rock face."
They all looked at the rock and noticed that the rock was several different shades. As the tall rabbit digimon walked on, they noticed that everything was melding together.
"This cannot be good." Antylamon shook her head.
"We have to hurry and find someone else." Takuya said. "First things first, let's get to that cactus. You can de-digivolve and rest while we all get a little shade."
With the promise of a rest, Antylamon picked up her pace slightly. No matter how fast she walked, the cactus was still the same distance.
"Is it a mirage?" Antylamon asked.
Takuya put a hand to his forehead and squinted. "I don't think so. It looks like it's walking away."
"Antylamon, go quicker please." Suzie said.
"Hang on." Antylamon said, greatly speeding up.
With Antylamon's new speed, they were approaching the cactus, which to their slight surprise, had a red boxing glove.
"Togemon?" Takuya called.
The cactus stopped and turned around, revealing the other boxing glove was carrying a passenger.
Antylamon stopped just before Togemon. They looked down and saw the girl on the glove.
Takuya smiled. "Hey Mimi, glad we found you."
"At least we're not lost alone." Mimi smiled.
"I think that made sense." Takuya said.
"Anyway…" Mimi inputted. "Togemon's seen something in the distance. That's where we were heading."
"The only trouble is that I'm getting tired." Togemon said. "I started this journey as Rosemon. An hour ago, I was Lillymon and ten minutes ago, I de-digivolved to this form."
Antylamon reached down and grabbed Mimi. "Don't worry about it. Relax, I'll carry you." Togemon stood there and glowed yellow. Antylamon picked up the exhausted Palmon. "Hang on, I'm going to run."
"Are you fast?" Palmon asked.
"Very fast." beamed Suzie.
Tai, Agumon and Kai were looking around some ruins that made Tai think about ancient Rome and its coliseums.
"This place is cool." Kai said.
Tai looked around. "Yeah, it is cool, but I can't help but feel some déjà vu about it."
"Tai?"
Tai looked around and saw Agumon holding a black cable, partially buried in the ground. Tai's eyes widened with recognition. "Agumon, put the cable down and get over here." He ordered.
Agumon did what he said and looked at his friend. "What's wrong Tai?"
"Remember the last coliseum with cables?" he asked, warning.
Agumon thought and gasped. "Etemon."
"Who's Etemon?" Kai asked.
"Some monkey digimon who thinks he's Elvis." Tai answered.
"Tai?" called a voice.
Tai waved as Mimi, Suzie and Takuya walked in. Mimi looked around and turned to Tai. "Please tell me this isn't Etemon's coliseum."
Tai nodded. "Black cables and all."
"Well, let's get out of here." Takuya said. "From the looks on your faces, Etemon isn't friendly."
"Indeed he isn't." fizzed a voice.
Tai and Mimi looked up to a big screen. The image on the screen showed Kari and Lilithmon.
"Kari! Please, stop this!" Tai called.
Kari shook her head. "So sorry big brother, but as I keep saying, this is where I belong."
Mimi shook her head. "What happened to the little girl who refused to let darkness take hold?"
Kari scowled. "She got sick of everyone walking all over her and no-one considering her feelings."
Tai sighed. "Again with this? Kari, you have to let it go! TK is with Davis! Accept it!"
"She has accepted it." Lilithmon inputted. "She accepted it since our last meeting, maybe before."
"The point is that I'm not coming back. Besides accepting TK and Davis, I've also accepted the fact that no-one loves me. Have fun!" she taunted, the screen turning black.
"What did she mean 'have fun'?" Lopmon asked.
"She was talking to us." A sly voice answered.
Looking away from the screen, the group saw Barbamon with at least ghost digimon wearing black conical hats.
In a flash of orange light, WarGreymon was ready to protect Tai and the others, as was Aldamon and GigaGaiamon.
Barbamon pointed his staff at the children. "Soulmon, attack!"