Chapter 25: The Reaper's Clock
I Do NOT Own Digimon or Kingdom Hearts
Usually the mornings in Odaiba now doesn't have a sun to greet the citizens when they wake up. It'd still look like the dead of night when you get a well deserved 8 hours of sleep. Though even with that much sleep, the Digidestined and their friends still were exhausted, and decided to sleep an extra 10 minutes. Then it turned to 20 minutes. Soon it went to 30, and then an hour. They were really tired after a long hike all the way into the remains of their world, and a fight with fakes that were Sor and Matt.
Outside, traffic lights were the only thing lighting up everything in town. And the occasional lights from the houses and apartments, but mostly the lights on the streets that illuminate the place. A shadow of a Digimon then passed by, along with shadows that were phased into the ground. They were headed for the apartments the Kamiyas were staying in. They had no problems getting up to the correct door, since they've been keeping track of what they infiltrated, and what they didn't.
However, in Tai and Kari's bedroom, where Sora, Donald and Goofy were also sleeping on the floor–since the extra mattresses were gone, of course, though they didn't really minded–Gatomon woke up, since she thought she slept enough. She was sleeping with Kari on her bed, and then after yawning and stretching, she got down.
"Ahh. Wonder what's gonna be on our agenda today..." She then opened the door to the living room.
Living Room
She then wandered over to the couch–resisting any temptations that might occur–waiting for everyone else to wake up. Then, she heard something outside.
"Huh?" She then crept over to the front door, and pressed her ear against the door.
"Knock, knock." An eerie voice said, that was very familiar to Gatomon.
"Uh oh."
Whoever it was, they looked through the peep hole on the door, to see if anyone's in the Living Room. Gatomon hid from their line of sight. Then, when she made her way towards the couch, she then called to Kari, quietly.
"Kari! Kari, wake up!" It was quiet enough so that the intruder wouldn't hear her, but loud enough that Kari could hear her. She could be heard yawning, and then she opened the door.
"Ahh...Gatomon, what's wro-"
"Kari! Shh!" Gatomon immediately shushed her. Then she pointed to the front door. Kari snapped out of drowsiness, and wondered who's at the door.
"I know you're hiding back here." The eerie voice said again. Kari then immediately shut the door, and Gatomon hid back under the couch.
I know that voice anywhere. Gatomon thought. It could only be-
"I'm coming in..." The door was then busted down, and what looked like a Digimon in the shape of a reaper came in.
Phantomon! I knew he was back.
Phantomon then took his heartless army, and knocked down the door to the kids' bedroom. To his surprise, no one was in there. He was sure that he saw someone go in here. Though he knew better. He knew he had to check around the room thoroughly. Shadows checked under the beds, over the beds, even in impossibly small places, such as in the drawers of the desk.
Then some of them checked the closet, and they somehow got destroyed. Phantomon got suspicious, and then opened up the closet. Suddenly, Tai came rushing out, and struck him away with the Keyblade, along with Kari's help.
"Surprise to see us?" Tai said.
"The Digidestined? Here?" Phantomon said.
"Yeah? You haven't heard?" Agumon said.
"Seize them!" He ordered the shadows, but Gatomon already destroyed them.
"Long time no see, huh, Phantomon?" Gatomon said.
"Ohh, must you ruin my fun?"
"You must be the one who's been kidnapping people around here!" Sora exclaimed.
"Tell us what you did to those people." Donald said.
"Oh, I could, but first, you must catch me." Phantomon then floated out of there.
"Wait!" They all ran towards him, but he escaped out from the balcony.
"Oh! Got away!" Sora exclaimed.
"I knew Phantomon must have been revived." Gatomon said.
"How come?" Goofy said.
"No other Digimon could have made that good of a cut on the doors of those apartments."
"Gawrsh, and he had help from the Heartless."
"Yeah, we really must be in some rough situation if these Digimon are able to command the Heartless at will now." Sora said.
"Let's not waste anymore time here." Tai said. "We gotta chase after that evil Digimon. Otherwise, he'll keep on kidnapping people all over again."
"Right." Everyone agreed.
"Tai?" The parents checked up on all the commotion in the room.
"Oh, sorry mom. But we gotta chase after someone." Tai said.
"Yeah, if we don't get him, he'll kidnap more people." Kari said.
"We know what you have to do, but don't just skip out on your breakfast." Their mom said.
"Can we take it to go?" Tai said.
Streets
The group went out to find Phantomon.
"He couldn't have gone far." Tai said, taking a bite of a breakfast sandwich the parents prepared for both of the kids. Him and Kari got dressed pretty quickly. Kari got new magenta pants, since her old ones got chewed on, and burnt for a chunk of their quest.
"Where would he be?" Agumon said.
"Maybe in front of a bunch of heartless ahead!" Gatomon pointed to Phantomon commanding many shadows. They quickly took notice of them all.
"We've been spotted! You all, spread out, and take as many people's hearts, now!" Phantomon commanded the heartless, and they all scrambled.
"Hey! Hold it right there!" Sora exclaimed.
"Too late." Phantomon then flew off, mocking them.
"Oh no! Heartless are going around, chasing after people's hearts!" Goofy exclaimed.
"Can you guys handle the heartless?" Tai said. "Me, Kari and the Digimon got Phantomon."
"Are you sure?" Donald said, concerned.
"For all you know, he's been powered up, like that Devimon fellow." Goofy said.
"Don't worry. We can handle a challenge, right?" Tai asked the girl and the Digimon.
"Right." They answered.
"Just concentrate on getting those heartless under control, okay? If we're not back within, like, half an hour, get Matt and the others."
"Okay." Sora answered. "Be careful you guys."
"We will. Let's go!"
The four then took off, while Sora, Donald and Goofy ran after the loose heartless.
Apartment B F1
Matt, T.K., Sor, and their Digimon walked down the stairs onto the streets. Since she couldn't live by herself in the apartments, she had to stay with Matt and T.K..
"I sure do hope we can find those people the heartless took." T.K. said.
"Yeah. I do too." Sora said.
"Hey, don't feel down. We sure can find your mom." Matt said.
"Yeah. All of us can." T.K. said.
"Right." Patamon said.
"Hopefully that's soon." Sora said.
Suddenly, they saw an army of heartless running towards them.
"Heartless!?" Matt exclaimed.
"About time they attacked." Gabumon said. "I was wondering when they'll do that."
They then saw Sora, Donald and Goofy run towards them, and took out a couple.
"They need our help!" Biyomon exclaimed.
"Right! Let's go!" Matt exclaimed.
"Got it!" The kids then summoned their Keyblades, and they all ran towards the fight.
Bridge
The other kids and Digimon kept giving chase to Phantomon.
"Where's he going!?" Tai exclaimed.
"He keeps dodging my attacks!" Agumon exclaimed.
They kept running, until they got to the broken bridge, where apparently, it's where they entered into the world. The door they used to get into here was even there. Behind it was the rest of the broken bridge. One slip up, and you'd be falling into the abyss of the dark seas.
"He's not about to cross the bridge, is he?" Tai said.
Phantomon then got to the door, and disappeared into it.
"Huh? He just disappeared?" Kari said.
"He must have escaped outside! Come on!" Gatomon exclaimed, opening the door. They all entered into the door.
They had to trek a whole lot of backtracking, just to get to Phantomon. They had to go through the Final Rest, go through 4 long hallways of crushed cities, and fly outside the volcano, to get back to the World Terminus.
World Terminus
After such a long haul, they rested on the ground.
"Phew...I need, a rest." Agumon said, taking a seat.
"How much longer do we have to chase after Phantomon?" Gatomon said.
"Not very long." Phantomon then appeared in front of them.
"Alright, Phantomon! Tell us what you did to those innocent people!" Tai exclaimed.
"I merely took them away from the world. Plucked them off their precious homes, and into a place where their hearts begin to weaken. It's a long process, but more effective if we have more people brought there."
"Tell us how to get to those people!" Gatomon exclaimed.
"I would, but first, you have to defeat me." Phantomon then took off again.
"Wait! Stop!" Tai was going to chase after him again, but not after when a flame shows up out of nowhere.
"What's this?" Kari said. They walked up to it.
"Hey, remembered how we got to Hollow Bastion?" Agumon said. "We jumped into a flame."
"Yeah, and this might lead to where Phantomon might be hiding."
"Let's get going." Tai said.
They jumped into the flame, only to appear somewhere else. They got to another platform, very familiar to the one they exited to get here, however, this one has a bigger flame in the middle of the platform, instead of a hole.
They all nodded, and looked at each other with confidence, and entered the flame.
WORLD TERMINUS: NEVERLAND
Clock Tower
Once they all opened their eyes to see where they were, they saw they were hovering over a giant city.
"WHOA! That's extremely freaky! Where are we?" Tai said.
"A, big, city?" Agumon said.
"Hey, look over there." Kari said, pointing to a clock tower probably half a mile away from them.
"Let's go check it out."
"Eh, why not?" Tai said.
They all then flew over to where the clock tower was.
"Something about this, seems, very familiar." Kari mumbled.
"What's wrong?" Gatomon said. Kari then shook her head.
"Nah, nothing. Something I was thinking of."
"Do you got bad thoughts?" Phantomon came out of nowhere, and startled the little girl. "Don't worry, I'll make them feel better." By the time they reached Phantomon- or rather Phantomon reached them- they got to the clock tower.
"So, you want to fight in front of a giant clock tower?" Tai said. "Fine by me. You know we can fight you too, thanks to the Keyblade."
"Yes, I know very well of your newfound abilities. Unfortunately for you, I've got some new abilities as well."
"He must have been turned into a Dark Digimon as well!" Agumon pointed out.
"No problem. We took care of Devimon, and we can take care of Phantomon." Tai said.
"Uh, not to burst your bubble, but we handled Devimon with all of us, and even then we had problems." Gatomon said.
"Well, hopefully Sora will be done soon, and get the others here. I don't think we can take Phantomon on our own." Kari said.
*DESTINY'S FORCE(I.5)*
As they begin to fight, Phantomon keeps floating away, and dodging their attacks. Even when they do catch up to him, the attacks are useless, most of the time.
"He's been buffed up, real good." Tai said.
"This is what I'd expect from a heartless, not a Digimon." Gatomon said.
"Phantomon is a Dark Digimon. Maybe they did something to him?" Agumon said.
"We know he is a Dark Digimon, but still. Something seems off about him." Kari said.
"Why in the DigiWorld do you get that feeling, other than I have the power to do this!" Phantomon then send out a blast, that homed in, and hit Tai. Stumbling back, he realized, nothing had hurt him severely.
"Huh? Ha! That didn't hurt at all!" Tai exclaimed.
"On the contrary, it will hurt soon."
The clock tower then came to life. The hour hand was on the 4, while the minute hand started to move from the 4, that was moving at the pace of half a second.
"That clock tower's as whacky as the one back at Traverse Town." Gatomon said.
"Let's say that's your countdown." Phantomon said, pointing at Tai.
"Countdown? Until what?" Tai asked, a bit hesitantly.
"Until you are mine."
"What do you mean?"
"Once it turns 6, you'll be sucked into my soul bottle, as I've done with a lot of people who refuse to accept captivity, and after I capture you all, you'll be at the mercy of the darkness, and slowly, your hearts will be mine."
"Is that what you do with the other people you capture!" Agumon said.
"Those that resist me, and the ones that I captured earlier. I like to let them suffer a little."
"They are suffering, regardless!" Gatomon exclaimed.
"Well, then I've been wasting my time, have I?"
"Can we get back to the importance of me? Like to the fact I'm going to get caught in a few minutes, cause that clock's moving too fast!"
"We got like no time until it turns to 6!" Agumon exclaimed.
"He's gotta have a weak spot somewhere, we just have to find it." Kari mumbled.
"Come and get me!" Phantomon teased, adding a spooky yet insulting laugh, while flying away, obviously to stall for time.
"Hey! Get back here!" Tai started to chase after Phantomon, while the clock is ticking down.
Now it got to 12 again- Becoming 5 o'clock- and the numbers were replaced by evil flames, along with a number 12 appearing above the clock, looking like it was engraved. It was a timer, since it counted down from 12 to 11.
"Uh, Tai! Big scary timer ticking down on the clock tower!" Agumon exclaimed.
"Huh? Oh great. I don't really want to know what happens to me when I'm sucked into that bottle." Tai grumbled.
"Then you better hurry fast, and beat me!" Phantomon mocked again.
"Okay, he's really getting on my nerves!"
"We gotta focus, Tai! That timer's still ticking down!" Gatomon exclaimed.
"We can't do anything on him!" Agumon exclaimed.
"If only we knew what his weak spot was..." Kari mumbled.
Suddenly, something flashed in her mind that made her grab her head. It was a bad splitting headache. It was like as if something was attacking her from the inside. There were images that were flashing in her mind. She couldn't see it clearly, but she could see Sora, from a year ago.
"What?"
"Kari! Could you give us a hand!" Gatomon exclaimed, while they were trying to hit Phantomon, in vain. The attacks they do only go through him. Even the Keyblades don't help.
"You're running out of time!" Phantomon reminded them. Tai then felt weak when the timer went down to 6. He can still fight, but it feels like he's vulnerable.
"You okay Tai?" Agumon said.
"It feels like I'm getting tired."
"That's your energy being sapped this very moment. It'll soon be low enough for you to be sucked into my capture bottle." Phantomon said.
"We're running out of time!" Gatomon exclaimed.
They are trying to focus, but the more they wait, the more the timer ticks over to 12. They really can't think clearly. They're just mindlessly hacking and slashing at Phantomon. The fact of having a timer on anything stresses anyone out, mostly.
Unfortunately, the timer eventually got to 12 once again.
"Sorry for you, but time's up! Now you're mine." The bottle Phantomon has, grew in size, and acted like Garbagemon's garbage can. It then was sucking Tai in. They tried hold on to Tai, as he was getting sucked in.
"I can't hold on!" Kari yelled.
"Keep a grip on him!" Agumon exclaimed.
They weren't helping. They were getting sucked in too as long as they hung on to Tai.
"Ooh, four for the price of one?" Phantomon said.
"Kari! Just let go!" Tai exclaimed.
"What? But I don't want to lose you!" Kari exclaimed.
"Just trust me on this! I know you guys can defeat Phantomon! I mean, what did you and T.K. do when you were fighting Piedmon?"
"That was different! He's not here now!"
"Don't worry. Just stall Phantomon for as long as you can, and Sora will get here with backup."
"I don't know if I can!"
"Just trust me. I won't be gone forever. Remember, it's that bottle he's holding. He won't just let you have it, but if you can defeat him, he can set me free."
"But what can I do without you?"
"A lot of things! You dived down into unknown worlds to open keyholes to let us into those worlds. You took on Big Heartless on your own! You even took on an Organization XIII member, and destroyed him! And you even faced your own Nobody."
Kari really hasn't realized it, but she did do most of those things without Tai's help. At least fighting wise. Support wise, kind of. She did do some of those stuff with T.K., someone she really share feelings for.
"I hope you're right Tai!" Agumon yelled.
"Don't worry! When have I ever been wrong?" Tai said.
"Well, there was that one time-"
"It doesn't matter!"
"Aww, wasn't this a touching conversation? Now, say goodbye to your friend." Phantomon said. The turbulence grew stronger, and Kari lost her grip on Tai, and he got dragged into the bottle.
"TAI!" Kari yelled.
"Don't worry. You'll get him back, once you defeat me."
"He won't get away with this!" Gatomon exclaimed.
"Kari, pull yourself together!" Agumon exclaimed.
"If we want Tai back, we need to defeat Phantomon."
"Hope Tai's fine being in there, because I have a feeling we might be joining him soon!"
"Just think guys, he must have some sort of weak point."
"What could that be?" Suddenly another blast came and hit Agumon, and now he had a countdown.
"Not again!"
"Can't he just leave us alone!?"
"You guys are the ones who just follows a Digimon who's just following orders." Phantomon said.
"Give me back my brother!" Kari exclaimed.
"Aw, if you want him back so bad, then maybe you should join him."
"Don't listen to a thing he's saying, Kari!" Gatomon exclaimed. "We need to stall him until Sora and the others gets here. Maybe they'll have a clue what to do."
"That has to be fast! That clock tower's ticking faster than usual!" Agumon exclaimed, pointing out the timer still ticking down. Already it's at 4.
"Face it. This is a fight you cannot win. It'll be easier on your friends if the girl gives up right now. Like you did in the past." Phantomon said, reflecting back to when Myotismon was first attacking the city.
When the time came, and Matt and Sora's lives were being threaten right in front of her, Kari had to give herself up, and unfortunately, that lead to her Digimon friend's death.
"I did give myself up back then. I thought it would have saved everyone, but, it didn't...I'm not making that mistake again!" Kari exclaimed.
"Why are you turning your back on your brother's life? It's on the hand here, and if I do manage to get to you, and capture you, I'll take all of your hearts. It would be easier on you and your friends if you drop your weapon, and come with me."
"If I do either, I still lose my heart! Me and my friends will beat you!"
"You can try."
As much as Kari was standing her ground here, it really wasn't helping her confidence in this fight. As much as she was trying to think of a way to beat Phantomon, she couldn't with the pressure of time against them all. They really wish they would be doing at least some sort of scratch against Phantomon. Something as little as that would make them cheer, and put out birthday parties; something around that level of excitement. Anything would be decent right about now.
'What can we do...?'
*PAUSE*
Apartment B F1
Around the time that the gang was busy trying to fend off Phantomon, Sora and the others just performed the finishing attacks on the last of the heartless.
"Whew. I think that was the last of them." Sora said.
"You guys okay?" Matt said, going up to Sora, Donald and Goofy.
"Yeah, no sweat."
"So, where's Tai and the others?" Sor said.
"They're trying to chase this guy, uh, Phantomon I think it was his name."
"Phantomon!?"
"That guy almost strangled me to death last time! I got a score to settle with him!" Matt said, cracking his knuckles.
"Tell me about it. If Kari hadn't stepped in, and let Phantomon take her, we both might not be here." Sor said.
"That was thoughtful of her, but she shouldn't have done that, nether the less."
"We'd better get going, before it's too late." Gabumon said.
"Right."
Everyone nodded, and they all ran towards where Tai and the others went.
Clock Tower
*RESUMES*
The time ran out again, as the hand reached the 12.
"Out of time, once again. A shame. And here I thought you will prove more of a challenge this time." Phantomon said.
"We'd be a challenge if we knew your weak point!" Gatomon exclaimed.
"Time to join your friend."
The bottle once again began to suck Agumon in. They both tried their hardest to keep holding on to him. It wasn't as effective though.
"Why must you do this? You know it's futile."
"We can't lose Agumon too!" Kari exclaimed.
"Just hang on!" Gatomon exclaimed.
"I'm trying!"
Suddenly, the sensation returned to Kari. It was even more painful. It was so painful, she yelled in agony, and let go of Agumon, leaving Gatomon trying to hang on to him.
"What's wrong with Kari!?" Agumon yelled.
"I don't know!" Gatomon answered.
"Let go, Gatomon! Kari seem to need you more than I do!"
"F-Fine! I trust you! We'll get you and Tai out!"
She was forced to let go of Agumon, in order to get to Kari, who's hanging on to her head. Agumon was pulled into the bottle, accompany Tai in there.
"2 Down, only 2 to go." Phantomon said.
"Kari, what's wrong!?" Gatomon flew up to Kari.
"M-My...H-Head...!"
This splitting headache's gone from bad to worse within seconds. It seems enough to knock Kari out from the pain itself. From this headache, multiple memories were flooding Kari's mind. She can't see clearly. She keeps seeing Sora, Donald and Goofy with someone else, fighting what looked like to be Phantomon, as if they had fought him from before.
Gatomon was trying to help Kari, but she didn't know what to do. All the efforts she try to do to make it feel better, seems useless. Now it was more like 3 down, 1 to go. Kari tries to snap out of it, but this pain keeps shooting her back into a fetal position.
"So, this is how you meet your end. Well then, say your goodbyes." Phantomon then drew back his scythe, and got ready to attack the helpless girl. As it was trying to reach her, a Keyblade came out of nowhere, and deflected it.
"Not so fast!" Sora and the others made it to the fight, finally.
"Sora!" Gatomon exclaimed.
For some reason, with the others coming here, it made Kari's pain even more worse. Instantly, the others flew up to her.
"Kari, w-what's wrong!?" T.K. was shaking the girl, trying to get her attention.
"I-I don't know. Phantomon already got Tai and Agumon! He's like, invulnerable to our attacks!" Gatomon exclaimed.
"How are we supposed to beat him then?" Sor said.
"Well with us here, we have to find a weak point." Matt said.
"I think I remember something about this, like some sort of heartless, but...gosh, I don't remember." Sora said, scratching his head. His attention then drew back to Kari's screaming. "J-Just do what you can against him! We'll stay here, and see if we can help Kari."
"Got it." Biyomon said. They all flew towards Phantomon, and once again, regular attacks were futile against him.
"That won't work." Phantomon mocked.
"Gatomon's right when she said our attacks aren't doing a thing." Matt said.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Goofy said.
"Had they try magic yet? I would have blown magic against him right away, if you asked me." Donald said.
"Not so sure about that." Gabumon said.
Kari's head felt like it was being hammered on a million times, and it's never ending.
"What's going on with her?" Sora said.
"I don't know. She just broke down, and began screaming!" Gatomon said.
"N-Ngh..." Kari was still groaning. She wasn't grabbing her head anymore, and looked like she's fainting.
"Agh, I wish Tai was here. He'd know what to do."
"Well, do you know what we should do?" Sora asked.
"How should I know? The only time Kari got sick when I was around them, was in the Digital World, and even then, her head wasn't exploding or anything."
*STOP*
With all the fighting and conversations that were going on at once, the headache seemed to recede from Kari. In fact she seems to be floating in thin air. She is, technically, but when see tries to see what's around her, it's just nothingness. The city was gone, and replaced by darkness around her. With being of light, and a princess of heart and all, this really frightens the girl. She doesn't know how she got there in the first place. The last thing she remembered was having a massive headache.
Kari tries to call to her friends, but her voice didn't come out of her mouth, as if she's mute now. Maybe she was deaf too, since she couldn't hear anybody else. She wasn't blind; she could see herself fine.
W-Where is everyone? Am I alone? How did I get here?
All Kari can do was think to herself. It wasn't helping her much of sound withdrawal.
Why does stuff like this keep happening to me?
Suddenly, when she opens her eyes, she saw she was back at the clock tower.
Huh? Am I at the clock tower again?
Everything seems normal. The clock was ticking, and a fight could be heard. She checks it out, but finds that the people fighting are Sora, Donald, Goofy, and some other person.
Is that...Sora? But, he looks, different.
Truth be told, he looked a year younger, and wearing different clothing. Like what Kari wears whenever she goes into Limit form. She tries to call out to him, but she was still mute. She even flew up to the group, and tries to make them notice her, but they just went through her, like an apparition.
Wh...What's going on here? Why am I here?
What's more interesting, is that the heartless they're fighting looks like Phantomon. She saw something like this while her head was being pounded by a million hammers.
Okay, this-this has to be some sort of dream...Heh heh, wake up, wake up!
Try as she might, she wasn't seem to be waking up. As they fought, Kari took notice of what's going on. Phantomon and this heartless seem to not only look the same. They somewhat fight the same too. The heartless timed them on a clock, and physical attacks weren't doing a thing. Then, they used magic, and they were able to do some damage against the heartless.
Hey, they hurt it? But all they did was...cast some magic. Wait, is that what we have to do with Phantomon?
Now that she thinks about it, Phantomon's scythe alternates color. There's Red, Blue, Yellow, and White. The heartless had its heart exposed, from the looks, and it was also flashing color to color. After some more observations, Kari thinks she got it down. When the color is red, use fire. When it's blue, use blizzard. Use thunder when it's yellow, and just attack normally, when the color is white. Kari also took note of Sora casting something on the clock tower, and the timer stopped. He also yelled, "Stop!"
Wait, is that what I have to do with Phantomon? I get it! But, why is Phantomon like this heartless? I know he's a Dark Digimon, but it's not like he...
She starts to wonder, and realize something.
Could, Phantomon have been-
Suddenly, the headache came back to her, and everything was starting to darken once again.
Soon after, it stopped, though she still felt like a mess. It feels like some of her senses were coming back to her, and she eventually woke up. Gatomon and Sora was around her.
"Wha...What's going on?"
"You okay?" Sora said.
"You got conked out." Gatomon said. "You started screaming and grabbing your head."
"Oh...Right." Kari starts to recall what happened. "Sorry."
"It's okay."
"What happened anyway?" Sora said. The girl shrugged. She then starts to take a look back at the fight.
"Wh-Matt and the others are here?" Kari said.
"Yeah."
"Where's Agumon?"
"He got sucked into that bottle too."
"Oh, right..." She then starts to feel a whole lot better, and gets out her Keyblade again. Especially when she knows exactly what to do now.
*DESTINY'S FORCE(I.5)*
"Okay, this has gone off long enough!"
She then flies over to the fight, with Sora and Gatomon.
"Ahh, so you're awake, huh?" Phantomon said.
"Kari? Are you okay?" T.K. said.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Kari nodded.
"Well, unfortunately for you, not for long." Phantomon said. He started to cast the spell, which he used Tai and Agumon, and shot it out.
"Watch out!" She pushed T.K. out of the way, unfortunately taking the hit for herself.
"Oh no!" Gatomon exclaimed. The timer appeared once again.
"This has gotten a whole lot easier. Once I capture the Digidestined of Light, I'll say sayonara to everyone, and leave." Phantomon said.
"We can't let him get Kari!"
"But how!? She already got hit by the spell!" T.K. exclaimed.
"Wait, I think I know what to do." Kari said, stepping forward(Or rather flying forward).
"How?"
Kari takes a look at the clock tower, and remembers the spell that was casted on there. Even though she never had any experience with it, she has to take a try. She flies to the clock, and then attempted to use the spell.
"STOP!"
Just like that, she got it on her first try. The timer stopped, and she was safe...for now.
"Hey! Kari stopped the clock!" Goofy yelled.
"How did she do that?" Donald said.
"Yeah, I never recall Kari using that spell." Sora said. "And I don't even know where she learned that."
"But how did she know how to use it?" Izzy said.
"So, you were able to stop the clock, but it doesn't insure that you'll beat me." Phantomon said, interrupting them.
While Phantomon continues to gloat, Kari paid attention to the color of the scythe. It was blue right now.
"FREEZE!" When she casted the spell, Phantomon actually flinched, and looked like he took some damage. Everyone looked surprised. "That's his weak point! He's weak to magic!"
"Ha! I knew it!" Donald exclaimed.
"How did Kari know that's what we needed to do?" Izzy said.
"Gawrsh, now that I think about it, I think I remember fighting a heartless which seemed to act like Phantomon." Goofy said.
"Really? I don't remember it." Donald said.
"Guys, can I remind you all to the fact that Kari's gonna get captured if we don't help her?" Gatomon said.
"Oh, uh, right." Sora said. "Let's go!"
Phantomon's scythe changed color again. This time to yellow. Remembering the spell, Kari casted Thundaga, and once again, Phantomon took damage.
"Seriously, tell me how Kari managed to figure this one out." Matt said. "I'm not saying she isn't smart or anything, but still. We've been trying to figure this one out for a while, and all of a sudden, Kari knows what to do?"
"Maybe, something happened to her when she got knocked out." Gatomon said. "She didn't have a clue what to do, before she got that headache."
"What could've happened to her?" Sor said.
"Ah, phooey! Just forget it!" Donald said. "Just get back to casting magic on Phantomon!"
They followed after Kari, and started casting magic. But they were doing blindly. They didn't know about the pattern. The color turned red, and Firaga was casted. Phantomon then thought it would be a good idea if physical attacks can only hurt him now, but he thought wrong. As always, Kari knew the pattern, and did more damage to him.
"How did you ever figure out my little tricks?" Phantomon said.
"Honestly...I don't know..." Kari replied. She knew what to do here, but she didn't know exactly how she managed to learn this. All that happened was that she got a horrible headache, saw visions, and then learned the answer to Phantomon's weak point.
"Unfortunately, I won't get the answer, because your time is running out."
Surprisingly, nobody noticed the clock was going again. And it was already at 5. Everyone panicked, and flew towards the clock, until Phantomon got into their way.
"Hey! Get outta our way!" Gatomon exclaimed.
"You're not going to ruin the plans of the heartless, and Apocalymon."
"Since when did you started following orders from someone who's not Myotismon?"
"Oh, so you don't know, huh?"
Everyone became confused on that part.
"Know what?" T.K. said.
"Oh, no, I said too much."
"Or rather, you're talking too long!" Sora exclaimed.
"Actually, that works too."
Paying attention to the scythe again, Kari casted the corresponding spell, and once again, Phantomon took damage. It was long enough for her to get to the clock tower, and cast Stop, again. Just in the nick of time, it stopped right when it reached 2. Suddenly, a chain grabbed her arm, that's holding the Keyblade.
"That's quite enough eh? You've done enough spell casting."
"Let her go!" Matt exclaimed, trying to hit Phantomon, but got slashed away.
"Matt! Don't hurt them!" Kari exclaimed.
"Will you give yourself up, once again?" Phantomon said, with a glare.
"I don't think so!" Sora tries to strike again, but Phantomon held up a hand to Kari.
"Do I have to wait, or do I have to take this Digidestined's heart by force?"
Everyone then stopped.
"No way! Kari's much stronger than that!" Gatomon exclaimed.
"This is my trump spell. Once I cast this, a dark sphere will start to dig its way into her heart, and release it for me! It takes a lot of my power, and not to mention, I have to aim it properly. But right now, I have the perfect opportunity!"
Everyone then realized they were in check right now. If they don't act fast, the time will run out, and Kari will be captured, and that could mean the end of everything, since Apocalymon will start to open the way to Kingdom Hearts. But if they happen to act, Phantomon will cast his spell on Kari, and he'll instead steal her heart. They were stuck right now, and it's about to be checkmate.
Even with the hints, Kari still can't get out of this mess. Tai and Agumon was captured, her friends can't help her, and she's going to get captured anyway. With that, Apocalymon will take her heart away, and start to open the way to Kingdom Hearts, and rule over the universe. Her friends hadn't moved in a while, and the clock started moving again. Their faces scream, "We're so sorry." And after all this time, their journey could end here? Kari shook this thought out, and started thinking. Maybe another headache could kick in, and tell her something.
But instead, something flared right in her. It feels like it's a power waiting to be released. With that, Kari gets herself ready, as this could judge what could happen next. Time then ran out.
"I'm glad you took the easy way out. Now come along!" The bottle then started to suck the girl in.
"She's getting sucked in!" Izzy exclaimed.
"Ngh! There's nothing we can do..." Matt grumbled.
Not yet Matt! Kari thought.
"You may want to say goodbye." Phantomon said.
"Alright..." Kari reluctantly said. "Goodbye Phantomon!"
Suddenly, the tip of her Keyblade shone a light. It then moved towards the chain, and it cuts it.
"That was a bad idea." Phantomon said. Power was charging up, and he released the orb at Kari.
"Kari! Watch out!" Gatomon exclaimed.
She didn't know what this new ability was, but somehow, she knew the name of it. She then pointed the Keyblade right at Phantomon, and the impending attack that was rushing, quite a bit.
"Watch out everyone! MEGA FLARE!"
Within the second, a giant fireball was fired, and collided with the dark orb. The small orb contained such a large amount of power. But so was the spell Kari casted. It actually absorbed the attack, and was impending towards Phantomon, who was just as surprised as everyone else.
"Quick! Get away, before you get sucked in!" Donald exclaimed, already flying away, quickly. Everyone else did so, and the attack made contact with Phantomon, who was trying to deflect the Mega Flare. As much as he was trying to deflect it away, his hold on the spell was loosening. Soon everything became engulfed in blinding light. Everyone covered their eyes, from the force of the attack.
*ENDS*
As soon as everyone opened their eyes again, Phantomon was nowhere to be seen. He was defeated. Kari then sighed, and held her arm. Everyone then started to cheer.
Wow. Kari still pulls off a lucky move that saves us all.
T.K. thought in his head, readjusting his hat.
Luckily for them, the bottle wasn't destroyed from the impact of the attack.
"Hopefully Tai and Agumon's alright in there." Sor said.
Sora grabbed the bottle, and had a rough time getting it opened. Soon enough, he was able to get the cap off, and seconds later, Tai and Agumon came flying out of there, and face planted onto the face of the clock.
"Did we win...?" Tai mumbled.
"Sure did!" Patamon said.
"Ugh, good." Tai's partner said, rubbing his head.
"Kari pulled off an awesome trick! You should have seen it!" T.K. started to describe.
"So, Kari saved us all again?" Tai said, facing them.
"Oh, uh, well...I wouldn't say again, but..." Kari was saying, rubbing the back of her head.
"Heh, it's okay. Glad you guys pulled through. I heard from Agumon that you were screaming, and grabbing your head. Is everything alright?"
Kari knows something was odd about that. How come she saw the past from one year ago? Kari still can't comprehend that. But she feels it something she should watch over, and see if it happens to occur again. She doesn't want to worry everyone else that she's getting all these visions.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing to worry about." Kari lied to everyone, putting on a smile.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure, Tai. Don't worry."
"Well, alright. If you say so." Tai said. "If it does happen again, then I'm gonna look into this, okay?"
"Sure."
"So, shouldn't we be heading back?" Biyomon said.
"There's something strange with that Phantomon fellow." Goofy said.
"Like what?" Donald asked.
"Well, he happens to remind me of this difficult heartless that I could have sworn we fought a while ago."
"Are you sure you're not imagining it?" Sora said.
"I don't think so."
"Well, if that's true, then it might be something we have to look out for." Izzy said. "We'll know something's up if there happens to be a Digimon that represents a heartless in some way."
"Well, Dark Digimon is one thing." Matt said.
"What could it all mean?" Sor said.
"Not sure, but in any case, we have to keep on our toes."
"Right. We are in their home world basically, so anything could happen." Tai said.
"At least there won't be any kidnapping anymore." Sor said.
"Well, probably not as much." Izzy said.
"Alright. Let's head back." Tai said.
Everyone nods, and they start to make their way back to the Odiaba ruins. Though with still a bunch of questions banging onto their heads. Kari then starts to feel a slight feeling in the depths of her heart, but soon after, it went away. Once again, Kari disregards this, and keeps on going, thinking it's just last minute jitters from the last fight.
Somewhere in darkness
Phantomon has been destroyed, which slows the progress of gaining more hearts to form an alternate path to Kingdom Hearts. Those meddling kids are starting to get onto my nerves. No matter. In anyway, that girl will fall straight into out trap, and her heart will be mine to take. Her heart is strong, but it can be easily shattered. She cares so much about her friends, even the slightest paper cut on her older brother, and that boy, T.K., will probably hurt her. Ridiculous. Such a strong heart, in the wrong hands. It's almost like they want me to get the final key to unlocking Kingdom Hearts.
TO BE CONTINUED
Happy Holidays to everyone!