Chapter Forty-Eight

"Would you HURRY up?" I hissed as he changed into his jeans behind the bathroom door.

"I'm trying Lils!"

"Well, what's the hold up?" I nudged the door slightly. "Did those jeans shrink yesterday or-"NO!" he yelped in a much higher-pitched voice than usual before slamming the door shut again. "Don't come in!"

"All right, all right sheesh! But you better hurry up or I'm leaving without you!"

"There is no way in HECK I'm letting you go out there alone!"

"If it means finding Viximon…" I spat. "You bet I will! I don't care WHAT you think about that!"

Tai sighed as he pushed the door back open-FINALLY fully dressed. "I'm coming…I'm coming."

I yanked on my jacket and bolted out the door with him right behind me-"Let's go!"

The night sky was covered with clouds-not a star could be seen on a night like tonight.

A dark figure stepped into the light from a lamppost, and could be recognized as the same figure from before…her cape fluttered slightly in the wind, showing what looked like a circle with crooked lines moving from the center.

Her eyes narrowed as she gazed up and down the street..as if she were waiting for something.

Or someone…

"My lady?"

"Hmm?" She looked to her right to see what looked like a tall man with long blonde hair dressed in a tux appear, as if he had popped out of the ground. "My lady it's been hours. Surely…"

"I'm not ready to call it quits for the night, if that's what you're suggesting." Her voice sounded like a low growl, deep and penetrating. "I HAVE to find her…"

He sighed. "Are you sure…you can even get her to listen to you?"

She rubbed her left gloved hand slightly. "I have to try. I can't have come all this way for nothing…huh?"

"My lady?"

Glancing down at what looked like a PDF, the girl's eyes narrowed with cold anger. "Come on. We've got trouble…"

"Viximon…Viximon!" My voice rang up and down the deserted alleyway.

Still no answering barks or yips…"She has to be around here somewhere…" Tai ran a hand through his hair in frustration as we finally reached the end of the passage and next to the highway again before cupping his hands over his mouth again. "VIXIMON!"

"Can you hear us?" Koromon called. "Answer us!"

My throat burned slightly and I ducked my head to the left. "Viximon…"

"Hey…are you okay?"

"I'm…fine." I shook my head angrily. "I'm gonna KILL her when I get my hands on her. Running off like this…"

"I'm sure these fine Lils…what's the worse that could happen?"

I glared at him, taking a step forward. "Do I REALLY need to spell it out for you?"

"Er…"

"ONE-She could get hit by a car-TWO-She could get eaten by some rabid dog-THREE-Some twerp with sticky, jammy hands might decide to make off with her-and FOUR-if Myotismon or his creeps find her first…they'll rip her apart!"

"Okay, okay!" Tai yelped, putting his hands up defensively. "I get it! Don't worry, I'm sure we'll…huh?"

My eyes widened as his Digivice started flashing. "…What is it? Is it her?" I made a grab for it. "Let me see!"

However, Tai held it out of my reach. "Lils…" he said sternly. "I mean it. Calm down."

With a huff, I crossed my arms and looked the other way.

"That's funny…" Tai murmured, looking where the signal was leading-down the road and to the left, at an archway with a high metal fence on either side.

"What is it Tai?" Koromon asked curiously.

"…It's leading to the zoo…."

I blinked. "What's…a zoo?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Well…it's a place where people keep animals in these…areas…for others to come and look at."

"What doe…" I twitched indignantly. "They keep innocent creatures in CAGES? That's…wrong!"

"Lils…" Tai shrugged helplessly. "It's not like that…the animals are probably better off here than in the wild where they're being hunted…"

"But-"Listen, we'll worry about THAT later. Let's just find Viximon!"

I sighed. He was right…"Come on then!"…

Viximon whimpered as she paced behind her glass cage. This place was strange…and every where she looked, there were animals in other cages, just staring at her coldly.

Her tail went in between her legs. Why had that weird human brought her here? And where was Lily?…

"So…what have we got here?"

She yelped as another human in a white-coat peered down at her, a woman right next to him. "Some kind of fox?…I've never seen anything like it."

"That's what the animal control officer said." The women responded excitedly, her eyes twinkling behind her glasses. "He brought her here so we could so some…studies."

Viximon whimpered again uneasily.

"Don't worry little one…" the woman said soothingly, stretching out a hand-Viximon backed away until she bumped into the back of the cage.

"Shy little thing, eh?"

"Apparently…" the scientist snorted. "You know, the guy who brought her in said she could TALK?"

"Talk? You kidding me?"

"Yeah. Gotta love the drunkards in this town, huh?"

Viximon growled as the two of them continued talking as they walked down the hallway. "I've got to get out of here…" She backed up a few paces and slammed her head against the front of the cage-"OW!…uh…"

Suddenly, a dark figure moved out of the corner of her eye. "Who's there?…"

Nothing.

She bared her teeth. "Come on! I'm not afraid of you!"

Still silence. Viximon growled again, slowly backing up…until a voice spoke from her left.

"Viximon!"

"AHHHH!"

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "Would you knock it off? Thank Yggdrasil that glass is sound proof…"

"…L-Lily?"

"Duh. Who else would it be?" I turned my head as Viximon literally jumped up and down with joy-squealing-"Thank Yggdrasil it's you!"

"Oy, Tai! Find something heavy we can smash this with, all right?"

He blinked. "Okay…can't you just…I don't know, punch the glass or something?"

I stared at him blankly. "Huh?"

"I mean…can't you use your super strength or so-"Super strength? Tai, you've been reading too many comics."

Tai huffed before looking around in his backpack. "Let's see…oh, I've got a flashlight!"

I grinned. "Sweet. Give it here."

He handed it over to me—I raised it before slamming it against the glass as hard as I could, which immediately shattered.

Instantly, alarms started blaring. "Security breach!…Security Breach!…"

"What's that noise?" Koromon yelped, his eyes wide with terror as his ears went straight up.

Tai touched my shoulder, his face turning pale as the sound of footsteps came pounding towards us. "We gotta get out of here!"

I nodded, motioned for Viximon to jump on my shoulder, before scrambling back up towards the window we'd sneaked in earlier…

We didn't stop running until we were in the middle of an alleyway-10 blocks away from the zoo.

"That was…" Tai panted. "Too close!"

I nodded, bending over to catch my breath. "Viximon…you so owe me!"
"Sorry…"

Tai just sighed again as he looked up at the sky. "Come on-let's get out of here before Mom finds out we're gone and freaks."

I raised an eyebrow. "…You know how to get back from here?"

"…Not…exactly?…"

"That's what I was afraid of…come on, let's start walking…"

Tai nodded, but as we walked back, I could sense he was distracted by something. "Hey…Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"How come before…you said you could learn any ability…but I've only seen you use fire and lightning?"

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "It's…a lot more complicated than that."

We stopped underneath a lamp post, the pale light illuminating our faces. "How so?"

I sighed and scratched the back of my head. "I can only learn abilities in my element…each star has one element that they can do. Mine is light."

Tai blinked. "Light? But I've seen you use fire and lightning…"

"They're connected to light, Tai. That's why. And I could turn invisible because that's also connected to light—in a sense."

"So…other stuff like water? Or earth? Nothing like that?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Nada. Unless…."

"Unless?…" he probed, raising an eyebrow.

"…" This outta be fun…"Unless I lose complete control." I sighed. "Then I can use…other elements, but they're really weak because they're not natural. Only about the strength of a Rookie's attack."

"Like the time you were fighting against Myotismon?"

I nodded. "Kind of…" before staring off into the distance. "I was still somewhat…I wasn't completely gone that time though. It's really dangerous when I do though because…I…I don't know what I'm doing. At all."

Tai frowned. "What do you mean?…You don't know what you're doing?"

"Tai, when I'm like that…I could turn on someone I've known for years and not know it. It's like…going mad with blood lust. I could kill someone—or really hurt them, if I use my element when I'm like that."

"Lils, I'm sure that wouldn't-"It's happened before…" I shoved my hands in my pockets and looked away again.

"…What happened?'

"…I don't want to talk about it ok-Huh?"

His eyes narrowed at the look on my face. "What is it?" Just as a feminine voice purred out, "Well…welll…..what do we have here?"