Y/N: This one isn't late!—Well, technically it is…because my last one was late all other chapters will be late…but it's my fault, not his. Oh well. I hope you enjoy it. I thoroughly enjoyed it in any case. :)
U/N: Sooo i wrote this chapter... and it's more actioney and stuff but it was necessary... quite necessary... but yeah... it wasn't the most enjoyable chapter to write... but i couldn't really finish Matt' friendship learning arch thing quite yet... and there wasn't much else i could do with Sora... soo i just wrote... sooo meh. But Kurayami... 3 love her...
Title: Digimon Adventure 03
By: Urazamay King
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters.
Part 5: Apocolymon's Spell
Chapter 49: Love's Pyramid
Yamato:
My first solid thought was that Taichi had done something to me to cause me to fall. It did happen right as he was glaring at me, so I really couldn't be blamed for being so accusing toward him. But as I fell through the seemingly endless darkness I remembered that Sora, Jou and Koushiro had already fallen as well, and thus, this was Apocalymon's doing, and whatever it was that he had planned for me and the others, he had another thing coming! We beat him before and we could beat him now!
Only... we had our digimon last time... and that's what beat him. But without the help of our crests they would never have been able to do so. So it was arguably all because of our crests... which we no longer had. That's a lie... we had them. We were just unable to access their powers just yet... or me anyway.
"Yamato... the child of friendship..." Apocalymon's voice echoed in my mind. "Just where are your friends now? Already dead or bleeding? And here you are. Alone. Falling into a realm of darkness where you are doomed to suffer. For an eternity. All by yourself..."
"Why don't you come out to me and show your face?" I yelled out, "Face me like a... a... like a mon!" I winced at my own pun.
"I would come see you, but I'm a little busy at the moment... perhaps I'll visit later?" Apocalymon said in a very mocking voice. "But by that time you'll already be dead. There'll be no need."
I couldn't help but let more fear sink in now that he mentioned death. I knew that's what he had planned, but to hear him say it terrified me. He didn't say anything for a while until finally he took a deep raspy breathe and said "My plans for you are simple Yamato. I shan't ruin the surprise, but I know you'll just... drop dead with excitement once you figure it out."
"You coward!" I screamed out, "Splitting me up from my digimon because you're too scared of me beating you!"
"Oh Yamato!" Apocalymon laughed, "You, of all people, scaring me? Ha! You can't even show your crest of friendship to your best friend! So no. I am not scared of you or your digimon."
"Bastard..." I muttered.
"Well, I'd best be off to wreak havoc on the others. Enjoy your stay!" Apocalymon said, he sounded like he may just be smiling. "Have fun Yamato!"
"Come back here!" As I said that the darkness around me shifted. It looked sort of like I was on the moon almost. The ground was like a sandy cliff and it was very gray and the sky was black and starry. I was slowly lowered to the ground until my feet were placed into the soft gray sand. "Apocalymon! GET BACK HERE! NOW!"
I groaned and looked around. Were the others in this weird world as well? And if so, where was Takeru? I was finally reunited with him again and then... we were split up! We really needed to stop this splitting up game, it wasn't helping at all.
"Takeru!" I yelled out, "Takeru!" I listened as my voice echoed. "Hikari? Takeru! SORA!"
"No one will hear you." A voice said. "Other than me of course."
I spun around and found myself face to face with a girl in a black cloak. "Who are you?" I asked her quickly.
"My name is Kurayami." She said without taking down her hood. Her face was shadowed by the thick cloth cloak that hung down past her eyes, and I couldn't see her face at all. I was sort of scared that there might not be a face at all. "You can call me Kura." She sounded very monotonous... as if she wasn't herself—but then again, I didn't even know who she was... and so this very well may be just who she was.
"I'm—"
"I know your name Yamato." Kura said. "You don't think I haven't been watching?"
"W-watching?" I asked her.
"Indeed. Watching." She said, "Watching your every movement. Watching how you have reacted to your friends, how your crest should be working, and yet it's not because of a simple cowardly boy named Taichi."
"He's not cowardly." I said slowly.
"Well here's the deal." Kura said, "You're going to watch your friends die."
"What?" I gasped loudly, "Who the hell are you?" I took a step toward her, but she just waved her hand and I felt like I had walked into an invisible wall.
"I told you my name. What more do you want?" Kura said.
"Are you a digimon?" I asked angrily.
"Do I look like a Digimon?" Kura growled, finally showing some emotion.
"So you're... digidestined?" I asked her slowly.
"Something like that." She said, starting to pace back and forth. "Now where was I...? Oh right! You're friends are all going to die. If you can sit back and watch them all die... then you will be allowed out of this world."
"Well then I'll be staying here now won't I?" I hissed, "There is no way I'm letting any of them die!"
"But if you don't get out of here then you won't be able to save Takeru... and Tsunomon." Kura said, and this time I could tell she was smiling. But it was not a friendly smile. It sort of freaked me out that she even knew what state my digimon was in, but if what she said was true... then Takeru was with Tsunomon, and thus not in this world... right? "You get the choice between... your best friend and your brother, or the rest of your friends."
"You... B—" I started.
"I don't like mean words." Kura said stepping toward me. "Now, if you have no further questions then—"
"If you're digidestined... then where is your digimon?" I asked her.
"My digimon?" She asked, "He's around here somewhere." She looked around her and sighed, "I'm not sure at the moment."
"Show me your digivice to prove it!" I growled, just trying to buy some time for my friends before she started whatever twisted game she was trying to put me in.
She sighed and held up her hand, her digivice was already there as if she was keeping it close for good measures. It was the same style as mine, old and almost ovular, but hers was black and mine was grey.
"Yamato, you are out of questions now, yes?" She asked me.
"Uh—" I faltered.
"Alright then," She smiled.
"No wait!" I called out, "Why are you here? What role do you have with Apocalymon?"
"Yamato, you may want to look over there." She said pointing off in the distance.
I spun around quickly and saw a large digimon. I knew it instantly even though his armour was black instead of white. It was Omnimon. But that didn't scare me at all. What scared me were the three people standing at his feet.
"Jou... Koushiro..." I said slowly, "Mimi! RUN!"
"Have fun." Kurayami said with a little giggle.
I turned around to yell at her and call her sadistic and an array of other rude words, but she was gone. I didn't have time to think about where she had gone, because Mimi had screamed and it was now time for me to do my best to save her and the others.
I set off running toward them. They were running away from the dark Omnimon who was simply walking after them, and yet still keeping up due to his long strides.
"Yamato!" Koushiro called out, "Yamato save us!"
They ran toward me as I ran with all of my might toward them. Soon we were in a group, running a different direction. The first thing I noticed when they came near me was the lack of life in their eyes. I knew that it must have been because they were running for their lives… but it still weirded me out… the blankness to their stares.
"We need to hide." I told them. "We need to hide somewhere that Omnimon won't find us."
"Where Yamato?" Mimi cried, "This is like a prairie!" I looked around and found that Mimi was right and so my running slowed. There was nowhere to go...
"Don't stop Yamato—come on!" Jou said quickly, "Hurry!"
I was frozen... I had no plans! Where was Taichi when you needed him? I was simply at a complete stand still... Omnimon was going to get us eventually... so why not just let it happen without a struggle?
"Yamato!" Mimi growled pulling me out of the way as a large sword swung down to where I was standing.
Soon the sword was swinging again, this time toward Jou. "JOU!" I screamed, running toward him, but I wasn't fast enough, and as the sword hit Jou's head he burst into bits of data. The collective roar of screams of fear from Koushiro, Mimi and I echoed around us.
"You jerk!" Mimi screamed running toward Omnimon who said nothing but quickly grabbed Mimi's neck and lifted her off the ground. "P—put me down!"
"Mimi!" Koushiro screamed. He grabbed a rock and threw it directly at Omnimon's face.
Omnimon turned toward Koushiro and growled as he squeezed his hand tighter around Mimi's neck, causing her to let out a mangled scream as she burst into data as well.
"NO!" I cried out, unable to keep the tears from streaming down my face. "MIMI!"
Omnimon suddenly turned toward Koushiro and took heavy steps as he advanced upon him. "Yamato... h-help!" he stuttered as tears showed in his eyes. "Help me!"
I wanted to help him... but there was nowhere for us to run even if I did... all I could do was watch in horror as he cried... as Omnimon advanced upon him. And then, as the digimon swung back his sword, I looked away... unable to watch...
This wasn't Yamato. This wasn't me! Why wasn't I helping him? He was my friend. And I wasn't going to let this happen without a fight!
I turned around and ran toward Koushiro, diving toward him and pushing him out of the way as the sword came falling down to where he once stood.
I pulled myself to my feet and then pulled Koushiro up as well. "Run! I'll stay here! I'll hold him off! Just run Koushiro... just go!"
Koushiro looked at me as if he wanted to hug me, and then changed his mind and ran. I was suddenly pushed aside roughly by Omnimon who swung his sword and shot a wave of energy to Koushiro who exploded into data.
"NO" I screamed as loud as I could.
Sora:
"Sora!" Yokomon called out as she slipped from my hands. "Sora help!" She was frantic, and I had to admit, that even now, in this dire situation... it was adorable.
"Yokomon!" I said, "Come here! Calm down!" I reached out and grabbed the pink ball and held her close to me. "You're safe, it's ok."
"Sora... I should be the one protecting you! Not the other way around.
"It's ok Yokomon, you've done your fair share of protecting. It's my turn now." I smiled at her, "I promise to keep you safe."
"Thank Sora..." Yokomon smiled, "You're the greatest!"
I smiled back at her, and even though there was darkness surrounding me I felt quite safe... looking into the darkness I remembered what Zhuqiaomon had said to Miyako and I about bringing Hikari into the darkness for eternity... I looked around. I wasn't sure why. Perhaps I was expecting to find her... to protect her. I felt awful having not done my best to protect her—but this was Apocalymon's doing... would he want the same thing as the Sovereigns? Was he their leader...? No. They're leader's name I remembered well... as Zhuqiaomon was dying he mentioned a Fanglongmon... so where was he? Was he taking Hikari already?
"Sora." The familiar voice of Apocalymon said in his menacing way that sent chills down my spine, cutting off my thoughts about Hikari. "I see you've brought a friend! And as much as I usually despise uninvited guests, this time I must say that the more the merrier... I do afterall enjoy watching people suffer..."
"What do you want with me?" I growled, "With us!" I continued, referring to not only Yokomon, but Taichi, Yamato, Mimi and the others.
"What do I want with you?" Apocalymon asked, "Well that's simple, no?"
"Well no—no not really." I said confidently.
"I want to show you that your crests are meaningless. You really don't posses them. You have no love. You've never experienced love Sora. And you never will."
"I have felt love thank you very much!" I snapped, "I love my friends! I love my family! I love Yokomon!"
"Are you insinuating that I am not your friend?" Yokomon asked.
"No Yokomon, I just love you so much that you get your own category." I smiled at her.
"Aww! I love you too Sora!" Yokomon burrowed into my arms.
"So touching." Apocalymon said slowly, sounding rather disgusted, "That is all platonic love my dear... and although that is also important. It's only half of your battle."
"What do you mean?" I asked him slowly.
"You have yet to experience true love."
"Well how is she supposed to find her true love if she's trapped in your world?" Yokomon asked as I remained silent, unable to think of anything to say to Apocalymon's statement... his true statement.
"It's not my fault that our young friend has waited... and failed in her duty to find love. She had the time. She had the chance, and yet here we are... without any indication that she has put any thought into it."
"If you had a heart you'd know that you shouldn't rush into love!" Yokomon growled, coming to my rescue again.
"If I didn't have a heart would I have given the digidestined all of this time to find themselves? To truly understand who they are...?"
"You didn't give us that time on purpose." Yokomon called out, squirming in my arms, "You were just too scared to come get us yourself."
"I wasn't scared—" Apocalymon laughed.
"No? Then perhaps you were just too pathetic!"
"That's enough out of you!" Apocalymon snapped, "I'll have you know that I could have you killed in the next three seconds my squeamish little flower bud. Now you say one more word and I'll have your head!"
"News flash!" Yokomon growled. "That's all I am—a head! I don't have a body!"
I could hear Apocalymon growl angrily at Yokomon's words. I held her closer to me trying to let her know that now would be a pretty good time to stop talking... but I was too scared to say anything out loud.
"You're lucky I'm so patient..." Apocalymon said slowly, he took a deep breath and continued, "I am a patient fellow who—"
"You're not patient!" Yokomon laughed, "You're scared of me! Even in my In-Training form!"
"Silence!" Apocalymon growled as thunder boomed around us.
"So much for patience..." Yokomon muttered.
"Death Claw!" Apocalymon shouted as one of his metal claws shot from the darkness and headed toward us. Yokomon jumped out of my arms and the claw shot right between us and then retracted. It shocked me to know that Apocalymon really could attack at any moment... somehow he was out there... lurking in the darkness.
"Yokomon digivolve to... Biyomon!" Yokomon cried out, digivolving quickly and flying toward me in her bird form.
"You're lucky that missed... next time I won't let that happen."
"It's called skill." Biyomon said. "Not luck."
"Biyomon!" I hissed, "Stop that!"
"That's the spirit, my lovely!" Apocalymon was directing his words toward me once again, "Your fall shall end shortly, and then you will be in a world where all of your dreams come true!"
"That doesn't sound very menacing..." Biyomon pointed out.
"I didn't say they were nice dreams." Apocalymon said, and then burst into laughter. His laugh faded into the darkness.
"Well isn't he a cheery guy?" Biyomon asked sarcastically, keeping her wings wrapped tightly around me. "I think he needs some therapy for that anger problem of his."
"I wouldn't say anything about it just yet Biyomon..." I told her, "He can probably still hear you."
"That's the point Sora. I want him to hear me." She said. "I want him to know that I'm not scared of him, and that I'd do anything to protect you Sora!"
I hugged her tightly, unable to think of words to express my gratitude.
"I love you Sora..." Biyomon smiled.
"I love you too Biyomon!" I cheered.
"Sora look!" Biyomon cried out pointing to the darkness around us. It was changing into a strange black and white version of an upside down pyramid. The peak of the pyramid was buried in the sand. "Where are we? This place looks... so familiar to me."
"Me too Biyomon..." I said slowly, "We've definitely been here before."
Slowly the two of us landed just outside the pyramid and in a large pile of sand. We sat in complete silence, just looking up at the pyramid for quite a while, unsure of really where to go next, and not too keen on looking for those nightmares Apocalymon seemed to promise us. But eventually Biyomon spoke, trying to find an escape route.
"Do you think if we just play his game we'll get out of here?" She asked, "You know, like... if we win—"
"I don't think it's much of a game Biyomon." I told her flatly, "I think we're stuck here unless we can just prove ourselves..."
"Prove ourselves?" She asked.
"Yes... prove ourselves worthy of..." I trailed off, pulling myself to my feet and dusting myself off.
"Worthy of what?" Biyomon asked jumping to her feet as well.
"Worthy of Love." I said as I began to walk toward the pyramid.
"Sora!" Biyomon called out, chasing after me, "You will always be worthy of love—and don't you forget that! And also... where are you going?"
"I'm going to find a way into this pyramid... Apocalymon sent us here for a reason, and so I'm going to just play along."
"I thought you said it wasn't a game..." Biyomon said taking flight to keep up with my long and fast strides through the desert sands.
"It's not." I muttered. "Biyomon I remember! I remember what this pyramid is! This is where I first got my crest of love! Do you remember that? With Datamon?"
"You're right!" She called out loudly, "But... why did he bring us back here?"
"I don't know..." I said walking head on toward the wall of the pyramid. "But we're going to find out." I walked through the wall, remembering how we had gotten through last time.
Yamato:
The moment Koushiro had died the world around me had shifted and then I was in a very similar place only now there were hills and tall dead trees. The first being I spotted while in this world was Wargreymon... a Black WarGreymon...
He didn't see me at first but then I spotted what he was chasing. And so after a couple minutes, Miyako, Iori, Daisuke and I were running from the digimon, up and down hills.
Earlier I had told myself that there was no choice but to let the others die. And that was my fault entirely. Now I had to protect them no matter what situation they were put in. Even if I was growing increasingly tired after running up these hills. BlackWarGreymon was catching up to us now, and the sad part was that he was just walking. He hadn't shot anything at us or made any real effort in killing us as Omnimon had, and I was starting to think that he wasn't planning on doing it at all.
Until of course... "Terra force!"
I looked over my shoulder and saw that BlackWarGreymon was in the air firing his attack down at us. I grabbed the closest person to me and dived out of the way, covering my face as the ground exploded. I looked over and saw Daisuke and Miyako turning into bits of data. I was too tired and shocked to even scream or cry as I looked to Iori. He was staring at his friends with wide eyes.
"Stop watching." I told him, helping him to his feet. "Let's just go—" But as we started to run that monster was standing in front of us again.
Iori screamed loudly as the long pointed claws of WarGreymon pierced through his stomach.
"Iori!" I screamed out. "NO!" I stepped forward to punch BlackWarGreymon but the world shifted around me again and I was standing once again in the prairie like lands that I was in with Koushiro and the others. But it was different this time. There was a large upside down pyramid sitting alone in the distance... and I knew I had to get there. Now.
So I started running... thinking about how if I came face to face with anyone else... I knew I just would not be able to save them. I was growing increasingly tired and out of energy and... even when I was full of energy I was useless against a digimon. I was only human and there was no way I was ever going to be able to save my friends while facing a mega digimon...
How could Apocalymon be so cruel? Killing them all... just... for the fun of it? No... why was he killing them? To train me and my crest? To make me feel true friendship?
"Yamato!" A familiar voice called. So I skidded to a halt. I looked around and saw that Kurayami, the girl with the dark cloak was standing, leaning against the wall of the upside down Pyramid. I stomped toward her, growling.
"You're a terrible person!" I growled.
"You're all alone now Yamato." She said looking toward me, finally allowing me to see under that hood of hers. Her skin was very pale and her eyes were dark. But she seemed almost worried.
"I'm all alone because you're killing my friends!" I snapped.
"You're supposed to let them die! Stop getting in the way!" She continued.
"You bi—"
"I told you." She said. "I don't like mean words. Now just remember. You're all alone."
She was sounding really familiar, so I closed my eyes tightly to try to remember where I had heard this all before. As soon as my eyes were closed Apocalymon's voice echoed in my head.
"Just where are your friends now? Already dead or bleeding? And here you are. Alone. Falling into a realm of darkness where you are doomed to suffer. For an eternity. All by yourself..."
"Alone..." I whispered. "All by... myself?"
"Exactly." Kurayami's voice said. I opened my eyes suddenly, but she was gone.
So the reason my friends seemed off... they weren't really themselves. They were created by Apocalymon to test my friendship—wait no... He was the bad guy—they were created by Apocalymon to show that I had no friendship inside of me... to make me feel alone. Which... hadn't worked. I still tried my best to save them... they all trusted me... so really... did I have friendship or not?
Sora:
Being in this pyramid again made me rather nervous. I wasn't overly happy the first time I had come here, and I was not happy this time. I was glad to have finally found my crest, but really? Love wasn't for me... I knew that then... and still I knew that. I was however rather glad to have Biyomon with me... otherwise this could have been a lot worse.
"Sora...?" Biyomon asked.
"Yes Biyomon?"
"Why here?" She asked simply. I didn't answer and so she continued. "Why did Apocalymon bring us here of all places?" we had come to a crossroad with three choices. Without talking about which path to take we both instinctually took the left path.
"Well maybe he thought this was where love was most prominent. It was where I got my crest... maybe he thought that this was where I could forever lose my crest..."
"That doesn't make any sense Sora."
"I know..." I said, "I know." There was suddenly a loud bang and the walls shook. Biyomon jumped in front of me and stood protectively. "it's ok Biyomon... I think we're safe."
A sword shot through the wall suddenly right in front of us and then retracted.
"I disagree." Biyomon said quickly. "Run Sora!" She began to run and so I followed. As we passed the place where the sword had been the wall exploded. I looked back and saw a black armoured Omnimon standing there. "In here!" Biyomon said quickly drawing my attention back to her. She pulled me into a large chamber. I smiled. This was exactly where Datamon had been. This was where I had gotten my crest.
"I think I might just have enough room in here." Biyomon smiled.
"for?"
"Biyomon digivolve to... Birdramon!" She screamed as she grew into the large firebird.
"It's Omnimon Birdramon." I pointed out. "A mega. Digivolve again."
She nodded. "Birdramon digivolve to... Garudamon!"
I stared as Birdramon melted away and the great humanoid phoenix took her place. Garudamon was strong and yet I wasn't really sure that we could win. In fact I was pretty sure we wouldn't be able to at all. Perhaps we could escape? I looked around quickly, but saw that the only door was the one we had walked through and it was now filled with the tall form of Omnimon as he advanced on us.
"Sora…" Garudamon said slowly, "If I distract him then you should be able to escape…"
"I'm not leaving you here!" I snapped rudely. I took a moment to calm down… I wasn't sure why I had suddenly grown to be so impatient, but that didn't matter, all I knew was that it wasn't Garudamon's fault. "This is Apocalymon's world Garudamon. I cannot—I will not leave you here alone. It's not safe."
"Sora, it's not your duty to keep me safe."
"I already told you! It's my turn to stick with you and keep you safe." I said loudly. "You are my best friend… I'm not leaving you here."
"Sora…"
"It's not a debate." I couldn't help but notice that I sounded a lot like my mother… "Let's do this." I turned toward Omnimon who ran at us suddenly , sword raised.
Yamato:
I stepped into the pyramid through the wall as the others had done the last time we had come to this place… where Sora had been taken from us…
The first thing I saw when I walked through the brick wall was Ken, who had his arms outstretched as if he was protecting someone. I saw that Hikari was behind him, and BlackWarGreymon was standing near them.
"Ru—" I stopped myself immediately… They weren't real. I had to let them die. That was my only way out of here… if I let them die then I would be free… And since they weren't really my friends—just images made by Apocalymon to upset me… then there was no reason to be sad…
And yet the pain in my gut was no less extreme as the ball of fire shot toward them. I closed my eyes tightly, expecting to be taken away from that place once more but when I opened my eyes again I saw that BlackWarGreymon was standing very still in the tunnel ahead of me. I was still in the pyramid.
I walked slowly toward him as he stood very, very still, and as I came near him I started running to be sure he wouldn't attack me on my way by. I looked over my shoulder as I ran and he still seemed to be a statue so I started walking again.
"Yamato?" A voice asked me. I looked over and saw a girl walk through the wall of the pyramid.
"S-Sora? No…" I said slowly. I looked over my shoulder and saw that BlackWarGreymon was looking toward us now. Slowly he put one foot in front of the other. He was coming for her…
"Yamato we have to run!" She said.
"No… you run. I'll…" I trailed off, "I'll… distract him or something."
Sora nodded and then started running. I watched her go and then when I turned back around I gasped. BlackWarGreymon was standing right behind me. He shoved me out of the way roughly. I groaned as I slammed into the wall and slid down into a sitting position.
I looked up and saw the beast running after Sora.
"No!" I called out. "Sora!" I pulled myself to my feet and started running as I wiped the dust off of my pants. I followed after the two of them and saw that there was a crossroad… there were three choices for me to go and I had no clue as to which one they had gone down…
"SORA!" I screamed.
"Yamato?" I heard Sora yell. "Yamato!" Her voice was echoing down the path to the right and so clearly that was where I was supposed to go… and yet I couldn't force myself to do it. But the path to the left was almost singing to me... as if I needed to go there fast... So I turned suddenly and ran down the left path, clenching my fists unable to contain the pain of letting all of my friends die in front of me… especially Sora.
Sora:
Omnimon slowly raised his cannon hand and shot a blast of black energy from the wolf's mouth. The energy shot straight toward Garudamon who tried to avoid the attack but was unable to do so as she was too big to move in the room. The attack hit her in the chest and she roared loudly in pain.
"Sora!" She said as she fell to her knees. "You have to leave. I won't win!"
"Then you're coming with me!" I yelled, "I told you already! I am not leaving you Garudamon!"
Garudamon looked toward me and shook her head. "Wing Blade!" She roared sending a burst of flame toward the enemy.
I groaned as Omnimon leapt over the attack and ran toward Garudamon with his blade out.
I looked away as the two of them fought… I couldn't handle the fighting… it made me want to just break down and cry but I knew I had to stay strong if I ever wanted to escape this world.
I found myself staring directly at that stand where Datamon had been kept… and my mind was sent whirring about… remembering what pain Datamon had put me through… and how he had taken my crest and tried to make a clone of me… telling me that I was so unimportant. I sighed and looked to the hole in the ground where I had fallen… Taichi had been the one to catch me. And at the time I thought that he loved me… it was the perfect romantic scene… he saved my life!
"Sora!" Garudamon yelled loudly. "Move!"
I looked over my shoulder in time to see the blast from the wolf's face come again. It hit the ground near me and exploded sending me flying through the air. I felt my skin ripping in different places from the blast. I screamed loudly as a reaction… it wasn't as if I thought screaming would help…
I hit the ground, landing on my side, and grunted loudly. I was sliding across the metal ground quickly. I tried to stop myself from sliding by digging my hands and feet into the ground but I couldn't, there was too much momentum…
And then I was falling. I had slid right into the hole that Datamon had created for me to fall into before…
I had already once thought that this would be the end of me… and I thought I was done with it… but here I was again, falling into the same exact hole.
And then there was a hand wrapped tightly around my wrist and my falling stopped suddenly.
"Taichi!" I called out suddenly.
Slowly the face of my saviour looked over the edge of the hole and grinned.
"Not exactly." Yamato said smiling.
I laughed at him and smiled, but then slowly my smile fell and I knew that Yamato would always be there to save me…
Yamato:
I pulled Sora quickly out of the hole and the two of us fell back, her landing on top of me. I laughed but she was still very serious as she stared at me.
"Sora…?" I asked, "Are you alri—" I was cut off as Sora threw her arms around my neck and kissed me roughly, pushing my head down and bashing it against the floor.
"S-sorry…" She said as she pulled away from me.
I smiled at her, "It's quite alright… I think I'll live." She smiled back and pulled herself to her feet. Her eyes were sparkling… it was weird… I was told that I was alone here and yet I knew that this was no image of Sora. This was definitely the real her. And then as if to prove my point she began to glow a bright red colour.
"Sora… what's—" I started.
"Garudamon digivolve to… Phoenixmon!"
Sora stopped glowing but her eyes did not lose the spark as she stared behind me. I jumped to my feet and looked around my eyes stopping on the bird digimon with four wings. The tail on the creature was long and rather bushy and the golden beak the protruded from its head was emitting a loud battle cry.
"Mega?" Sora asked as I took my spot next to her. "We did it…? GET HIM PHOENIXMON!" She screamed loudly.
I smiled at her as she looked down to my hand and slowly grabbed it, squeezing it tightly. She looked up to me and then grinned… somehow everything just seemed so much less…. Awful now.
"Crimson Flare!" Phoenixmon snarled sending the brightest flame I had ever seen from its beak toward Omnimon who dodged it smoothly.
There was a loud explosion to the side of us as BlackWarGreymon showed his face once more. He was standing in a hole he had made in the wall, the fake Sora's neck wrapped in his claws.
I turned quickly and stood in front of Sora and looked into her eyes. "Don't. Look." I said flatly as a loud ear piercing scream filled the air.
"What—?" Sora tried.
"Don't ask… ok?" I said slowly.
She nodded. "Ok." We both looked back to BlackWarGreymon who was running straight toward Omnimon and Phoenixmon.
"Mega Destroyer!" BlackWarGreymon bellowed.
"Omega Blaster!" Omnimon growled.
Both attacks shot toward Phoenixmon who dodged both attacks smoothly using its large wings to swerve through the air around them.
"Star-Light Explosion!" Phoenixmon sang loudly as it flapped its' four wings in almost slow motion. Slowly the air was filled with golden sand as it fell down on the enemies who both froze in their places.
And then Phoenixmon flapped all four wings as one and the air popped as both Omnimon's and BlackWarGreymon's armour changed from black to their normal white and orange respectively.
They both looked back and forth at each other and before anything more could happen the world around us melted away.
Sora inched closer to me and squeezed my hand tighter. I closed my eyes tightly and waited for the world to stop shifting.
Sora:
"Sora!" Mimi's voice called out merrily. "Yamato!"
"Yamato?" I opened my eyes and saw Takeru running toward us happily. We were back by the tree that Jou had been laying by as Koushiro and Mimi were nursing him back to health. Takeru was ready to throw his arms around his brother but he skidded to a halt as he looked down at our hands. "Oh…" He said slowly, and then a smile crept upon his face. "Oh!" He hugged Yamato anyway and smiled. "I'm glad you're alright!"
"Who… is this?" Koushiro asked, pointing to Phoenixmon who was perched on the ground next to Seraphimon, MegaKabuterrimon and the in-training digimon.
"I am Phoenixmon." The bird said smiling, "I became mega when Sora experienced true love when she kissed—"
"Phoenixmon…" I said embarrassed.
"Sora!" Mimi giggled, "That's adorable." Then slowly she looked toward Koushiro and sighed.
"What happened with you guys?" Jou asked.
I looked to Yamato who looked like he was a statue completely. And then slowly he took his hand away from me and stepped toward Mimi and Jou and threw his arms around them both. He was smiling broadly.
I looked to Koushiro and shrugged my shoulders. I didn't know what had happened with Yamato… but I promised not to ask him about it and I was not about to break my promise to him… I did love him after all…
Next time on Digimon Adventure 03: Taichi and Hikari have to face their own trials next time…and why was it that Hikari just wandered into the dark portal… find out soon!
