It had taken most of the afternoon for Beth's group to get from ShogunGekomon's castle to the base of one of the larger mountains close to the water. As they'd decided earlier, Mimi, Palmon, Beth and Tai took the swan-boat while Joe, Gomamon, Koromon and Kylie got a lift thanks to Gomamon's marching fishes.
From the east, a voice shouted out to them. Perfect timing. Coming down the path was Matt's group and they'd found both Izzy and Zaira.
"You've gotten smaller in the blink of an eye." Palmon commented as she looked at the three Baby-Level Digimon.
"Don't bother us!" They shouted.
"Oh Palmon don't tease them, I think they're all adorable." Kylie said as she picked up Tsunomon to snuggle him. The resulting physical contact and gushing compliment made the baby Digimon flush bashfully.
"So that's so far five of us guardians with you all here makes…" Beth calculated then she looked around. "But we're missing Sora and Piyomon!"
"We didn't see her." Matt told them.
"Where could she have gone?" wondered Tai.
Kylie answered, "I lost sight of her in the forest when I went after Demidevimon on the evening she left."
Mimi then spoke up. "I think I might have seen her."
Everyone looked to her.
"Where?"
Mimi replied, "At the Gekomon's palace. But… it must've been a dream..."
"So that's what happened." Joe said.
"When Demidevimon tried to feed us those mushrooms, I remember the voice that warned me belonged to Sora." Koromon added.
"If that's the case, then why hasn't Sora come to us?" T.K. asked.
"There's no use thinking about why she's done it. We're not her." Matt answered then looked at his Digivice, the other children followed suit. The map on their digivices indicated that Sora wasn't too far from them.
"In any case, we'll have to catch her first." Zaira speculated.
"This is like playing hide-and-seek." Tai commented.
"It's coming from the north." Izzy pointed forwards.
Meanwhile in the dark mountains of Sever lay a foreboding fortress. However, none of the Digimon living in the forest dared to approach the mountain that loomed over them. They were afraid of it. Afraid of both the castle that stood at the top of that mountain, and of Myotismon who lurked within it.
Yes, it was the lair belonging to the vicious villain Demidevimon serves under. And things did not bode well for the bat creature.
He tumbled down the stone stairs in with a pained scream. And walking down the steps, out of the shadows was Myotismon himself. A six foot tall vampire with dark blonde hair, deathly pale skin, cold blue eyes, a cobalt blue outfit and a red mask.
"I've grown quite tired of your incompetence."
"Please forgive me… Lord Myotismon…!"
"Courage, Hope, Friendship… One by one, the children's Crests have regained their light in addition to the Ethereal guardians' enhancing their powers. What's worse, you've failed to bring her back."
"B-But sir, not all of the Crests have activated yet!" Demidevimon fluttered his wings points to an open image showing a somber Sora and Piyomon. "Especially this girl. Her Crest of Love will never glow! All because I've given her some advice. The other seven children should be gathering by her side any time now with only five of the guardians. If we wait for that… we will crush them with one swift stroke!" He paused before adding nervously, "Well except for Sirene's heir that is."
Myotismon narrowed his eyes, taking his minion's idea into consideration. "When that time comes, call for me. I'll personally send those children straight to Hell." He soon walked away.
"Yes, sir!"
In the meantime, the group had followed Sora's trail into the forest. When they're attacked by Flymon, Birdramon comes to the rescue. They then follow her to Sora, who tries to run away but is caught between Tai and Matt.
T.K. and the five older girls arrived with the boys' respective digimon.
"Sora, don't you like us anymore? Is that why you're running away?" T.K. asked.
Sora sadly shook her head. "No… it's not that…"
Piyomon then dropped down from the trees to land right next to her. "Sora. Tell them what happened to you."
Sora sighed then began to explain. "When Piyomon and I… left that night to look for Tai and Theo… I saw DemiDevimon talking to someone."
Kylie tensed up, her eyes darting from Sora to the others.
"And what were they talking about?" asked T.K.
"They were mentioning our Crests."
"The Crests?" Beth inquired.
"Each of our Crests has a different meaning. For example, Tai has the Crest of Courage." Sora explained.
"Crest of Courage?" Tai questioned then blinked in surprise. "I see. So that's why my Crest glowed back then!"
"Matt, yours is the Crest of Friendship."
Matt looked at his crest. "Friendship?"
"What about mine?" T.K. asked Sora.
"T.K., yours is the Crest of Hope."
"Oh! The Crest of Hope!" The little boy looked towards Patamon delightedly.
"Izzy has the Crest of Knowledge. Joe has the Crest of Sincerity. Mimi has the Crest of Purity. And lastly, mine is…" Sora hesitated then looked down at her crest. "The Crest of Love."
Tai grinned. "Love fits you perfectly, Sora. You're very sentimental."
Sora spun in anger. "No it doesn't! It doesn't fit me at all!"
"B-But… You're always worrying about the others…"
"I don't care about the others! You don't… You don't know what I'm really like, stop judging me!"
"Oh, so you're saying you'd sell us out in a heartbeat if given half the chance?!" Theo challenged connivingly.
Sora quickly went from anger to shock. "No! I..."
"Don't you know that the night you and Piyomon left to find Tai, Kylie had followed after you?"
Sora stole a glance at a silent Kylie. "No, I didn't know that."
"Then what's the problem?" Beth inquired. "What could be so bad that you get so worked up about a crest that represents something very important in life?"
Sora sadly took a seat under the tree. "My Crest… It won't glow. Because I don't have any love."
"What do you mean, you don't have any love?" T.K. asked.
"Demidevimon told me."
It wasn't even near evening yet, but the Sun couldn't be seen anywhere there. All they could see were trees with black leaves.
But Sora, Piyomon and unbeknownst to them, Kylie, kept walking in deeper and deeper.
In the forest, they'd spotted Demidevimon speaking to someone. And when he finished talking top the stranger, he saw Sora, and it was the first thing he said.
"So you're the bearer of the Crest of Love! I can't believe a Chosen Child is here!"
They didn't even ask anything and he spilled everything to us. He must have been really panicked.
"Oh too bad for you, you're a kid raised without knowing true love. That's why your crest will never glow."
Then DemiDevimon tried to attack us, so Piyomon became Birdramon and drove him away. Then Sora walked right into the mountain.
"So you believed what he said back then." Kylie commented
"Oh give us a break!" Dana huffed, "That little creep's a big fat liar!"
Sora muttered back. "No… He wasn't lying."
She then explained her family is ie-moto. Her mother, Toshiko, is a master that teaches Ikebana: flower arranging. Then there must be a lot of apprentices, and her mother must always be busy. While her father Haruhiko Takenouchi is university professor in the anthropology field. Sora loves her father and thinks that her mother doesn't care about him.
There was one little detail: Sora resents being the daughter of an Ikebana master, particularly in the fact that she's expected to carry on the family business. It was no different than finishing school: you always have to be on your best behavior and appearance.
And then there was that time when Sora was on the girls' soccer team… there was a big game that day and Sora was their ace striker. She'd tried to explain it to her mother only to be told to lower her voice or the flowers would wilt. Then her mother reminded Sora of the injury she'd gotten on her left leg. Sora insisted that she was fine then when she sat down, her mother rebuked her that she ought to quit soccer that it doesn't let her sit properly on her heels.
In response, Sora answered back that she likes soccer better than making flower arrangements. When her mother questioned how Sora could be her daughter… Sora had yelled back: 'Why can't you understand?!'
"I arrived too late, our team had lost with a big difference. I didn't have the strength to stay in that club anymore. My mom doesn't see me as anything besides the next generation successor of a flower arrangement school! She thinks our reputation as an ie-moto is more important than me! That's the kind of woman she is! That's why he was right in saying that I was child raised without knowing true love!" Sora ended up yelling the last part and looked ready to throw away her crest.
Tai grabbed her hand. "Stop it, Sora!"
"Let go of me!"
"Even if you don't get along with your mom, you can't believe in what DemiDevimon said!"
Sora just broken down crying. Matt suggested to let her cry it out.
"If it makes you feel any better, my folks are barely around for me or my sisters." Beth said flatly.
Theo slumped against a tree, her hands in her pockets. "Not that it'll help, but my biological mom abandoned me when I was toddler in an orphanage before I ran away. Cost my adoptive mother an arm and a leg to adopt me."
Said revelations left an awkward reaction from the boys while Sora continued crying.
"It doesn't…" Tai shook his head uncomfortably.
"So long as we're all confessing here…" Zaira rubbed the back of her head uncertainly. "When my father remarried it took months for my stepmother to warm up to each me and vice-versa. But she discovered – well something big happened that helped us understand each other a lot better. What I'm saying is, sometimes relatives might end up surprising you."
"We all have our pain, but just because your parent might not love you," Kylie kneels in front of Sora. "It doesn't mean we don't love you..."
"She's right, Sora." A voice called out.
Sora looked down at the puddle of tears, which had formed and show the face of the Dark Spectre Queen.
"Love can be found, it can be felt and learned at anytime in our lives. I went million of years before I experienced genuine love. But there is love all around you, for if you don't know love. then why did you go to such trouble to help your friends?"
T.K. merely stepped up to Sora. "I wanted to thank you."
Sora stopped her crying long enough to look at T.K.
"You're the one who told us not to eat the mushrooms, right?" asked the little boy.
"We knew Demidevimon was up to no good so we followed him secretly." Piyomon explained. "Also when Matt, Joe, Beth and Dana were working in Digitamamon's restaurant… we replaced a brick with those potatoes that were outside that he tried to sabotage."
Matt looked surprised. "I didn't know."
"You didn't have to hide from us." Tai pointed out.
"Sora just wanted to be alone." Piyomon piped up.
"Sora, you looked out for us even when in hiding. That's not the actions of someone raised without love." Kylie added.
"Yeah, what if Demidevimon got it all wrong?" Dana suggested. "What if it's not exactly love for friends of family? That maybe you have to find your true love?"
The boys all looked at her as if she'd grown two heads.
"I'm just eleven years old and still in the fifth grade!" Sora protested. "There's years to go before I even start thinking about romance."
"Farfetched as it is… she's got a point." Zaira's eyes had flashed a bright violet before speaking up. "I know because… in one premonition, in at least ten years…" she grimaced and flushed with what she was going to say next. "You'll take one of the boys in the group as your husband."
Tai, Matt and Sora reacted as expected, "WHAT?!"
"Eww!" T.K. made a face. "That's too much information!"
Tai pulled at the collar of his T-shirt. "Er... well, if it's true... then who is it?"
This time Vanessa interrupts. "Oh no. No, nope! No more spoilers for you. Sora, you need to find that love, maybe the reason your mother did what she did was because she loves you and wanted to protect you so badly, she made a hard choice. And you will do the same for the one you love too!" Vanessa warned before vanished from the tear drops.
Sora looked doubtful of her words.
"I really like you, Sora." T.K. admitted. "So don't leave anymore, okay? I don't like it when my family… I mean, when my friends separate."
"Yeah… I guess in some way, we've become one big family." Beth shrugged with a smile.
Sora was tearful again but this time because she was moved. "Okay, I won't." She then wiped them away and looked at them. "I'm sorry."
"Hey!" Joe's called out as he and the others ran up to join them.
Tai waved them over. "Hey, what took you so long?"
"That's because Joe fell into the river." Mimi mentioned, much to Joe's visible embarrassment.
"Mimi, you kept sitting down and complaining about how tired and hungry you were!"
While the five guardians and children conversed, they were unaware that they were were being watched by a malicious DemiDevimon. "They're all here, now to tell Lord Myotismon!"
That night, the villain made his move. The castle's stone gate opened to make way for a minacious procession: black draconic creature pulling a wooden stagecoach with a ghostly hooded driver.
As it flew into the night sky, there was no doubt that a deadly foe was about to make its frightening introduction to the heroes of the tale.
By this time, the group was fast asleep around the fire they'd set up. Unfortunately, no one was on watch, and thus made them easy targets for Demidevimon. He pulled out one of his larger demidarts, intending to pick off a few of them before the arrival of his master. But didn't count on Piyomon's acute sense of hearing, the bird digimon awoke in time to see Demidevimon aim for Sora!
"Demi dart!"
"Sora, look out!" Piyomon quickly threw herself on top of Sora, which had the dart hit her left side.
"Piyomon!" Sora cried, and pulled the syringe out of her. "Piyomon! Hang in there! Piyomon!"
"Sora… I'll protect you…" the pink bird moaned in pain.
"Piyomon!"
Sora's worried voice was what caused everyone else to stir.
"What? What's wrong?" Tai asked as he sat up.
Beth touched her head with a yawn, "What time is it?"
"Oh, look! It's DemiDevimon!" T.K. then shouted.
Upon being spotted, Demidevimon panicked and quickly fled the scene. The moment he did, the full moon was suddenly blocked by dark clouds causing the entire area the group was resting in to go dark with only the campfire as their source of light. Needless to say, this was great cause for alarm.
"Hey, who turned off the other night lights?!" Theo yelped, glancing around wildly.
A minute later, the sky cleared to show that the full moon had turned an ominous red. Furthermore, they were all now in an open field instead of a forest clearing.
"What happened to the woods?!" Dana yelped.
"Look! Up in the sky!" Zaira pointed.
They looked up to see the same large gargoylish creature pulling a wooden carriage in their very direction.
Kylie's eyes widened. "Oh no…" she whispered fearfully.
"Wha… What's that?" stuttered Tai.
The back of the carriage was opening. And a black coffin with golden etchings fell out, then opened to reveal what was inside.
It drops lightly to the ground just several meters from them. He looked human but was clearly a Digimon. None of the group knew the stranger that was wrapped in the black cape like a bat conceals itself with its wings… save for Kylie know who he is, but he's definitely bad news.
"Chosen Children, Guardians." The stranger addressed them balefully.
Sora blinked in recognition and pointed. "That's the bad guy that kept talking to DemiDevimon!"
"The bad guy has a name!" Demidevimon said defensively. "This is Lord Myotismon!"
Theo stared then glanced back at Kylie. "K, is this the same guy you said…?"
Kylie nodded nervously. "Yes."
"It just HAD to be a vampire…" Zaira said darkly but she too was uneasy.
"Myotismon?" Tai questioned.
"That's LORD Myotismon!" DemiDevimon reprimanded.
Those few moments after the villain was revealed seemed to last five life times. To Beth, as time slowed, it seemed all her senses were at full alert. She could feel the cold night air on the skin of her arms. She could hear the voices of her friends, all around her murmuring in fright. The bitter taste of fear in her mouth. And her disbelieving eyes saw clearly the tiny details, such as the cold smile on that vampire's face as he began to stalk them.
DemiDevimon's Master merely laughed coldly.
"Your journey ends here. Grisly Wing!" He opened up his cape causing a swarm of bats to fly right towards the group.
The Digimon used their attacks to hold them off, while four of the guardians transformed, poor Kylie appeared to petrified on the spot.
"They just keep coming!" Izzy yelled.
Several of the winged critters got through and began trying to bite Mimi and Joe.
"Palmon, digivolve to... TOGEMON! Everyone, get down! Needle spray!" Togemon's needles struck down many of the evil bats.
"Now! Gomamon, evolve! IKKAKUMON! Harpoon Vulcan!"
The missiles flew directly towards the vampire who merely smiled coldly.
"You got him!" Joe cheered before noticing the look on the older girls' faces.
"No, no!" Dana interjected. "Something's not right!"
She wasn't wrong. Right out of the dusty cloud, Myotismon emerged wrapped in his cape much to their shock.
"You fools don't yet comprehend, do you?" Myotismon gloats. "I was created just like my siblings, the black blood of Lady Despair was used to create my data. And you've no idea the power within the scope of her being, so give into the horror, for I am beyond your measly powers!"
He does a dramatic lifting of his cape. "Crimson lightning!" In so doing, he flung out a whip of red energy to strike at both Togemon and Ikkakumon and knocking them off their feet.
Myotismon proceeded to do the same with the other Digimon while laughing maniacally.
"Tai… He's very strong…" Agumon groaned from his spot.
"No way!" Tai gaped.
"Whoa!" Theo leaped back just barely avoid the bloody stream then scowled. "How about a little fire, bloodsucker?"
She threw a fireball at his face, only for it to stop halfway and dissipate! Any sparks that might've damaged his skin healed instantly.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" he sneered.
"Alright, then let's get physical!" Beth shouted aiming a punch, which he dodged then struck her, Dana and Zaira with his attack.
"Why does they always have to be tougher than they look?!" Dana grunted, as she tried to sit up.
"He's too strong…" Kylie mumbled, she looked a little lost.
"I have to help…" Piyomon mumbled from Sora's arms. "I'm the only one left…"
"That's impossible! Your body has been weakened." Sora refused.
"Please understand, Sora… I need to be with them!" Now the little pink bird was struggling to get out of Sora's arms.
"No, Piyomon, you can't!" Kylie gasped.
"Please don't go!" Sora added.
"Let go!"
"No! You can't go, you're hurt!"
"Why can't you understand?!"
The words that came out of Piyomon's mouth rocked Sora to the core. "Why can't you understand?!" No one knew it then… but those were the exact same words Sora had shouted to her mother on the day of the soccer game.
My mom… Sora thought. She was only trying to protect me.
Piyomon took this chance to become Birdramon, Sora and Kylie could only watch as she flew towards the vampire.
"Meteor Wing!" But she didn't inflict much damage.
"Crimson lightning!" Myotismon's counterattack hit the giant bird right in the chest!
Kylie screamed in both shock and distress. Birdramon could feel her power draining and her consciousness about to fade. She was falling and would surely be destroyed on the spot.
"Birdramon!" Sora wailed, running towards her falling Digimon. "BIRDRAMON!"
What she didn't notice was that her crest finally glowed a bright red. Sora's Digivice turned crimson and shot out a beam of light through her crest which shined down on Birdramon.
"Birdramon super digivolve to… GARUDAMON!"
Garudamon was a giant bird woman with large wings that looked something out of Native American lore.
Myotismon had shielded his eyes from bright light. "Wh-Where is that light coming from?"
Garudamon turned to gently pick Sora and Kylie up in her gigantic talon-like hands. "Sora, your love has successfully transferred to me!"
Sora shed tears of relief. "Piyomon… You look amazing!"
Kylie was too stunned to speak.
Myotismon cursed. "The Crest of Love had to activate just as I was about to claim victory!"
"I will always protect Sora and her friends!" Garudamon declared unafraid.
"Shadow Wing!" She unleashes a copy of her form made out of flames towards the vampire. But Myotismon remains a formidable opponent.
"Grisly Wing!" He used his own attack to hold off the full force of it.
Nevertheless, saving the other children and the guardians is was Garudamon's first priority. "Come, let's escape while we still can!" She picks them up and flies high into the sky.
They flew past mountains in time to see the sun rising, it was a beautiful sight to behold.
It was morning, the group was now resting by a stream.
"See? There was nothing to worry about." Tai said to Sora. "Your Crest glowed like everyone else's."
Sora was able to understand the words of the Dark Spectre Queen. "Before I knew what I was doing, I was doing the same as my mother. I didn't want Piyomon to get hurt. That's how and when I understood that mother loved me all along."
"I'm glad." Beth smiled.
"I felt your love too, Sora!" Pyokomon said happily.
"Thanks." Sora smiled back
"I'm glad you're back to your usual self!" Pyokomon added.
"I want some of Sora's love too." Tai piped up.
"Wait, did you just say you like her?" Theo smirked.
Tai blushed. "Theo, cut it out!"
"Tai, you dummy! What're you saying?!" questioned Joe.
"Joe's face is all red." T.K. noted.
Mimi then walked up to Joe with something in her hands. "Joe, shall I give you my love?"
Everyone actually looked at her.
"Here you go." She then dropped some acorns into Joe's open hands.
"Mimi… what are you doing…?" Joe dropped his gaze as the other kids laughed.
Beth playfully elbowed him. "Would you rather she dipped you?"
"Kylie, are you okay?" T.K. suddenly asked.
Kylie shivered, "I froze. I couldn't transform, let alone fight. I didn't even try to grab the others to escape. What is wrong with me?!"
"Kylie..."
Kylie looked around, until she heard her name coming from a puddle on the ground, and goes over to see it glow before the face of the Dark Spectre Queen appeared.
"Love is blind child, it's your greatest strength and your weakness. Sometimes, we find ourselves enthralled by things that are scary, because they are new, exciting, but we must never lose sight of ourselves." Vanessa warned.
Their chattering stopped when dark clouds began to cover the sky and wicked laughter rang out.
"That voice is…!" Sora got to her feet.
"Hear me well, all of you. With only the power of eight chosen children and five of your guardians, you cannot thwart the might of our dark powers." Myotismon's voice threatened.
To be continued…