A thick mist several meters wide abruptly rose up in one, isolated part of Tokyo's night.
Darkness, the perfect cloak for the evil lurking around. Ideal conditions for producing fear. Myotismon's first miscalculation was the strength of the sun in midsummer Tokyo. But the night belonged to him. And as such, his 'sustenance was exactly as the legend said.
It was close to the witching hour and on this evening, a young woman was headed home. There was no one out in this foggy evening besides her, so she was confused at hearing a strange sound. The creaking of heavy wheels, the sounds were coming from a wooden carriage, but there was no driver and no horses were pulling it.
A bat flew a little too close to her head, startling the lady. This was when the carriage stopped right next her. She stared curiously as a door opened to reveal a handsome caped stranger step out and smile at her. His appearance took her breath away.
For a moment, they stared at each silently before leaning in close. She for a kiss, Myotismon, for something else entirely as evidenced by his fangs.
He fed on her like the vampire that he was, dropping her unconscious body and leaving her there on the streets. She was later found by a hysterical neighbor and loaded into an ambulance en route to the hospital.
"It's like she was bitten by a vampire," the paramedic helping her whispered so low that nobody could hear. It didn't occur to him that what he'd said himself was the truth.
As the mist slowly traveled south, the number of victims grew.
Near a small shoreline by the bay, Demidevimon paced back and forth on the deck on an old tugboat he'd somehow acquired.
"What happened? They're both late." He muttered. Demidevimon perked up as the carriage rolled in. "Lady Despair, Lord Myotismon, you must hurry!"
The carriage stopped, the door opened letting an unconscious body fell out. It was that of a blonde tourist, she too, was bitten and need of medical attention. Myotismon wiped his mouth with a smirk as a smiling Lady Despair looked on.
"It's almost dawn!" Demidevimon informed them.
Myotismon replied. "There's no need to rush. Now that the Chosen Children and all eight guardians are here, it's will be necessary to increase our powers to fight them in this world."
"True, but the best thing would be not to draw much attention." Demidevimon worried.
Myotismon turned to face him. "It doesn't matter. In the end, this world will soon fall into my grasp."
"And with it, many more. Come, My Child. You need more blood, and I need the fear and pain they feel as you envelop them in your dark embrace and drain them." Lady Despair chuckled into the night air.
August 2nd already. Things had happened so quickly Beth could still hardly believe she and the girls were about to meet up with the same kids they'd babysat in the Digiworld.
"Last night, an unidentified creature appeared in the Shibaura docks…"
They were finishing breakfast in Beth's bedroom so they can listen to the news, at their feet were the pets.
"In other news… several women were taken into emergencies due to severe, unexplained blood loss. Doctors are at a loss what could've caused it and further baffled with two small puncture marks found on the victim's necks. We urge our viewers to proceed with extreme caution."
This one had all three girls stop eating briefly and look at each other.
"You don't think..." Kylie said in hushed tone.
"Could it? He's a digimon, not an actual vampire like in the books." Dana said looking unnerved.
"But he's a living manifestation of the black magic in Lady Despairs black blood," Beth explains. "This might be his way of increasing his powers, like how his creator feeds on negative emotions."
"Then it is him..." Kylie grips her neck. "Those poor girls..."
Not long afterwards they, the other guardians joined the children at the park as their meeting point. Tai, Izzy, Matt and T.K. were already there waiting for them with Haruna and Theo.
Izzy then explained that the previous evening, he'd detected a signal from the eight Chosen child in Shibaura.
"Good morning!" Sora and Piyomon arrived.
Yui walked up. "I'm not late, am I?"
"Nope, we made just in time." Sara G smiled.
Mimi came up pushing a baby stroller with Palmon riding in it, except she wore a bonnet.
"Palmon, you're heavy." complained Mimi. "Come out."
"I don't want to! Besides, you told me to stay in here, Mimi!"
"Not anymore, the ride's over." Mimi frowned.
"We're still missing one of us." Beth noted.
At that moment, Zaira came running up to them out of breath. "Sorry, just barely managed to get out to the house to catch the train."
In the next five minutes they were sitting in a circle.
"This is causing a stir all over the city." Sora brought up.
"Since early morning, the TV news kept reporting everything related to the invading digimon." said Matt.
"But it's weird." Tai commented.
"What is?" Agumon asked.
Tai leaned back thoughtfully. "When Agumon, Theo and I came back to this world earlier, the Digimon appeared then as well. But, back then, only we and Kari could see them. But this time it's different, there's a lot more witnesses and it's enough to catch the media's attention."
"Do you think it's because they used Myotismon's Gate to get here?" questioned Izzy.
"You said the gate was like a portal to other words, I suppose it would make some sense." Haruna speculated.
Matt nodded. "That must be it. If more Digimon used that Gate to enter our world…"
T.K. looked greatly frightened. "It would be horrible."
Briefly they imagined an ominous scenario of the city ablaze with Digimon swarming all over.
"Oh no, please." Mimi fearfully held her yearbook.
"What you're saying could easily come true!" Izzy concurred seriously.
"Well, we can't let that happen," Theo spoke up, "Even if some of them are chill, just the sight of them will scare off half the no maj population."
"That's why we should hurry up and find the ninth child, so we can make sure that won't happen! And to save the Digimon world!" Tai determined.
They all agreed.
"Hey!" A voice shouted out, causing the group to jump. Have they been discovered?
But it was only Joe, who had Gomamon in a duffel bag. "I'm late because I had a hard time finding my old phone book!"
Izzy then reminded them that the eighth child should have seen the Digimon with them when the incident occurred in Hikarigaoka four years ago. "What's also important is what happened in Shibaura last night."
"Does that mean they live in Shibaura?" Mimi guessed.
"They could have moved like we did." Matt observed.
"That's why I think we should separate into groups and make a thorough search in Shibaura." suggested Izzy.
"Are you sure you don't have a magic mirror or something to help?" T.K. asked the guardians.
Beth answered. "Not at hand presently, either we misplaced it or it's sitting at the bottom of our school trunks."
"Why not ask that lady Vanessa then?" Mimi questioned.
Sara G replied, "We did. She said no more spoilers, but gave us a second clue: that it's a girl, and she's literally right under our noses."
The kids let out sounds of surprise.
"Good, then that narrows down our search!" Sora smiled.
"But we don't want this kid to slip through our grasp again." said Matt. "Everyone agree?"
"That's fine with me." Mimi held up her Wakaba Preschool yearbook on the front of it. "So, what do we do with these phone books?"
"There's a good chance that the eighth child is listed in one of them. We need to call and ask if anyone had been in Shibaura last night." Izzy answered.
Joe raised his hand. "I have a summer course starting tomorrow. I'll make my phone calls, but I'll have sit out from going all the way to Shibaura."
"What?" The kids protested.
"That's not fair!" Tai scolded.
Joe flushed embarrassedly. "I can't help it, I'm studying for my entrance exams!"
Beth sighed but said to him. "Just do yourself a favor, Joey Jo-jo: Keep the digivice and Gomamon close at all times, you never know what else might happen."
Mimi then handed Joe her phone book. "Then make my phone calls for me, okay? There's my address book from Wakaba Preschool."
"That's a good idea." Matt handed his yearbook to Joe. "Here's mine from Dai-yon Elementary School. I'm counting on you."
"It might be a good idea if one of us focuses on making the calls." Izzy was the next one to hand over his yearbook much to Joe's dismay.
"He has a point. Thank you!" Sora was the last to hand in hers.
Tai walked up to the overburdened older boy, looking apologetic. "Relax. I'm not one of those kids who push their workload on others."
"Oh man, you're such a great guy!" Joe said gratefully.
"No need to say that much."
"He didn't find his phone book, did he?" Sora questioned Izzy as they walked away.
"How'd you guess?" Zaira asked sarcastically.
Beth stopped in her tracks. "And one more thing." She turns to Kylie. "Sorry, but it's best if you head home or give Joe a helping hand with those phone books. Don't forget, Myotismon's after you too. And I bet anything that Lady Despair's aching for a chance to finish you off."
Kylie was indignant. "To sit around and wait for news while there are other digimon running about? You know we can't afford to do so!"
Tai stepped in. "Hey, mind if I make a suggestion?"
After much convincing, they persuaded Kylie to head back to the Kamiya apartment and keep a close on Kari (with an accurate description from Tai, Theo and Zaira). She couldn't back out of it either, after one of the girls called the Kamiya residence informing Tai and Kari's mother, Yuuko, about returning a lost item belonging to Tai. Much to Kylie's chagrin, she bought the excuse.
By searching Shibaura that also meant the surrounding districts and rail stops such as: Mita, Shirokane, Kaigan, Tamachi, Shinagawa, Hamamatsucho, Sengakuji.
The heroes, minus Kylie, headed for the train station at station at Hinode where they would split up into three groups. They could see the damage from last night, just by looking out the window.
"That's how everything looks after the fight…" Tai mumbled.
"It looks disastrous." Matt observed.
"The eighth child is around there." T.K. said soberly.
What none of them knew was that at the same time they were headed for Shibaura and the surrounding neighborhoods, DemiDevimon was directing the tugboat which carried the hearse.
"If I remember right, this is where the eighth child was last night." He pondered aloud.
Meanwhile inside the carriage… "Feed..." Lady Despair held out her wrist.
"But Mother..." Myotismon trailed off in shock.
"We have to elude detection, and those weak mortals blood won't give you the boost you need," Sierra cups his face with her other hand. "A mother's duty is to provide for her child's health and well-being."
Looking out of the train windows, Dana could've sworn she'd seen a tugboat carrying the hearse in direction of Odaiba just before the train went through the tunnel.
As the tugboat entered the Odaiba neighborhood, a heavy fog began to shield it from view. The workers in the Fuji TV building too notice of the strange weather.
"Look outside. It's foggy. I've never seen fog this thick before."
"I heard there was even snow falling in Tama. What is causing all of these strange phenomena?"
The tugboat reached its destination: a square park on an old fortified island, better known as Daiba Park to the locals. The carriage rolled off then onto the grounds directly onto the center. Thanks to Despair's instructions, a pocket dimension had been created specifically to serve as headquarters.
"We've been awaiting your arrival. Lord Myotismon, Lady Despair!"
Myotismon merely walked out to survey the area, aiding Lady Despair in steeping out.
"This is an ideal spot. From now on, this place shall serve our headquarters." The vampire declared.
"Alright then, spread out and continue the search!" Lady Despair ordered.
Gatomon emerged upwards and had begun walking away before Demidevimon flew up towards her.
"Where do you think you're going, Gatomon?"
"You know it's our mission is to look for the eighth child and to bring back Sirene's daughter."
"You wanna sabotage my findings, dontcha? That's just like you!"
"What?"
"Go ahead, deny it! Deny it! You can't, can ya? I'm the one who found the eighth child first so I should be the one to catch him first AND bring back Sirene's daughter. "
Gatomon haughtily looked away. "Don't be dumb, the eighth child couldn't possibly stay in the same place. And second, chances are the guardians wouldn't allow Sirene's daughter to leave the protective enchantments around their domicile."
"If that's what you think, then I take it you won't have a problem with searching another area. Good luck finding either one, good-bye!" He flew off in direction of Shibaura with a snicker.
Gatomon scowled and hissed in annoyance. She might as well search around Odaiba.
Theo and Beth were with Mimi and Sora walking around several of the apartment and neighborhoods while Piyomon and Palmon were in the stroller. Only they were arguing with each other.
"You're smothering me! Why don't you go fly, Piyomon?" Palmon whined.
"Palmon, I think you've gotten fatter!" Piyomon shot back.
"That's rude!"
"Don't fight, you two." Sora scolded them. "That's not how young ladies behave."
"That's right! So don't make us turn the stroller around!" Beth also rebuked.
"Could the eighth child really be around here?" Mimi wondered as she held out the digivice. "Also… it's really hot!"
Meanwhile, at the edge of Odaiba beach, Gatomon was watching a group beach goers gathered for a wind surfing event.
"How carefree they are. There's not a chance the eighth child is among them." She said as she walked away on all fours as not to draw any attention.
Also, Kylie had arrived to the Kamiya apartment finding no one home but Kari, who was searching for the family cat. She found Tai's little sister to be a sweet little girl and dare she say it, far more aware than perceived. While talking to her, Kylie was surprised to learn she already knew the older girl was another fairy like Theo and she mentioned how Vanessa had been nice enough to sit back and talk to her until her brother and parents returned home the day before.
The blonde agreed to help her search in the nearby park, not knowing it was the very same one Gatomon was searching.
"Where could he have gotten to now?" Kari wondered.
Just then, she walked right by Gatomon. The cat digimon looked back at the little girl before Kari smiled at her.
"Hey, aren't you a friend of Agumon?" asked the eight year old.
Gatomon immediately tensed up, and turned around until she was staring at Kari face to face. Kylie, who'd been helping Kari retrieve Miko, turned and gasped under her breath. "Gatomon!"
The teenage girl reached Kari's side quickly. The little girl was too busy staring at Gatomon.
"You are, aren't you?" Kari asked, taking Gatomon's stance as a confirmation.
Seeing, Kylie stand protectively near the girl, Gatomon quickly recovered by attempting to meow like a house cat.
This time, Kari kneeled down to her eye level. "What's your name?"
Gatomon meowed again before running off.
"Wait!" Kari cried.
Kylie gently put a hand on Kari's shoulder. "Never mind her. Come, Kari I'll walk you back home."
Gatomon watched Kylie gently accompany Kari back to the apartment.
That girl… she thought. How does she know about Agumon? And in company of the Nymph's daughter no less? Could she be the eighth child?
Gatomon followed them closely but at a respectful distance. Kari was soon back in the apartment complex and unlocking the door, Kylie had stopped briefly and from the look of it Kari had also noticed, judging by what happened next.
"Come over here!" Kari turned her head and called out.
Kylie whipped her head around in time to see Gatomon yowl and duck behind a corner. Now she couldn't leave Kari alone with Gatomon lurking around.
"My mom's out and won't be back for a little bit. I'll leave the door open." She insistently pulled Kylie's hand, so that they could walk inside.
"This extreme humidity in the Tokyo Bay area of Odaiba is rare, even for summer, and the cause behind it is unknown." The TV had been turned on.
Kari and Kylie were sitting on the couch. Gatomon walked in and sat near the edge of the couch, observing them closely. Kylie, carefully kept glancing at her uneasily every now and then.
"Why do we have to keep doing this when we just got back home?" Mimi complained.
"The same reason you two still go to school: To have a future." Theo replied flatly. "The world isn't going to accommodate itself for you, life is already a big gamble. Only instead of money, it's yourself, your life, mind, etc. no matter what you do. Whatever happens, it's usually just either a coincidence or a consequence of something."
They were sitting on a bench under some trees.
"Where do you come up with this stuff?"
"That's the conclusion I figured out since I was thirteen." Theo answered, taking a swig of water.
Mimi leaned back, "I slept in a soft bed last night with the A/C on. That's when it sunk that home is the best place in the world."
"The food was delicious too." Palmon chimed in.
Beth smiled remembering when she and her sisters returned to Kibou Manor the day before. "The pets and almost every wild stray beast the family had taken in to help or rehabilitate sure gave me and my sisters a warm welcome... it's as if they knew we'd been away."
"The food at Sora's house was wonderful!" Piyomon cheerfully told the other two. "Sora's mother looked very kind, too. Right, Sora?"
Sora smiled Yeah.
"Still I'm worried about Kylie," Beth said. "I'd hoped leaving the Digital world meant we could leave that Myotismon business behind...but he's here now, and his 'Creator' is the one responsible for her birth mother's death!"
Sora looked thoughtful. "You know, it's strange. We hear a lot of mention of her mother, but what about her father? I mean, there has to be, right?"
"I don't know, mythology teaches us some higher beings can have kids without a partner," Beth said with a shrug.
"Yeah, I don't know." Theo said uncertainly. "She must've married someone, Sirene, I mean..."
"Maybe she fell in love with a digimon like Kylie." Palmon pipes up.
"Okay, first of all. Don't joke like that," Theo huffed. "And second, Myotismon isn't a GENUINE digimon. He's an eldritch monster made from a twisted sorceress' mystic blood that just happens to look and act like a vampire."
Sora was looking at a city map and checking the areas they'd had already explored. "Who knows? It's a question only those who know Sirene or the nymph herself can answer. Now, back to work… Let's see…"
"She's really focused…" Mimi whispered to Palmon. "Isn't she or any of the other girls hot?"
"They just have different levels of endurance." Palmon replied.
"I'd rather stay as a delicate girl." Mimi sighed.
"Not with the intense pressure and anxiety to always be a perfect obedient little doll from those misogynists or greedy relatives that want you to be something you're not. They don't want to know your true self, half the adults here only want to think you're a perfect little princess." Beth grumbled.
"Sounds like a lot of work." Palmon remarked.
"Well, that takes the fun out being a girly-girl." Mimi groaned. She looked up then something made her stand up and grin brightly. "Hey, why don't we try a place that has crowds of people?"
"Crowds of people?"
"Yes, over there!"
Mimi pointed right over to Tokyo tower, which was just several yards ahead of them. The older girls had to admit, it would be a good place to start.
They went inside, taking the elevator and stepped into the observation deck. Of course, the other three girls might've figured Mimi had made the suggestion to take advantage of the air conditioning but went along with it to see if they have any luck finding the eighth child.
"What a cool breeze!"
"Feels great!"
The AC vents suddenly died.
"It's getting warmer." Mimi moaned.
The rest of the people on the deck had also noticed and were complaining.
"Maybe the air conditioner broke." Sora assumed before Mimi suddenly scoffed indignantly
"How is he able to wear a full-length coat in this summer heat?!" Mimi questioned about a very large man in a trench coat. "I feel hotter just locking at him!"
"Mimi, he'll hear you." Sora tried to shush her.
"But it's true."
Beth lightly smacked her arm, "Show a little decorum, the man's probably deformed and is too self-conscious."
The man turned around to face them.
"If we get kicked out, Mimada, it'll be all your..." Theo was about to scold Mimi but what happened next made her stammer. "Fault?"
The 'man' had burned off his coat, revealing to have blue hair, chains wrapped around his muscular body and face made completely of metal.
"It's a Digimon!" Piyomon and Palmon cried.
"I'm not merely ANY Digimon," The beastly creature scoffed. "I am SkullMeramon, and I've been hoping to run into you, Theone."
Theo looked alarmed.
"You know my name?" Theo asked in shock.
"Of course, The Mad artist told me all about you," SkullMeramon leers at her in a sick way. "She said: 'Rip out the heart of the flame guardian, consume it as it still beats and your flame will never go out.' And I intend to do just that!"
Fortunately most of the people had fled in fear, which gave Theo and Beth cover to transform and the younger girls' digimon to digivolve.
"Don't count on it!" Beth snapped.
Theo took the ominous threat as a challenge. "Come and get me!" Theo taunted. She waved her arms through the air.
"Flame Dart!" Theo shot forth at the Mon. But he absorbed the blast with a metallic like laugh.
"Poor little Pixie," SkullMeramon flung out a chain which entangled Theo.
"THEO! Beth screamed as Theo was slammed into the ground, and dragged towards the digimon.
"My Lady seeks you fairies to die, slowly, and painfully," SkullMeramon explained. "She loathes the child of Sirene the most, and that's precisely why she is saving her for last."
His body burned brighter, as he lifted his flaming foot up, and tried to step on Theo.
"Fire Shield of Pele!" Theo cried out, barely erecting the shield which resisted the boot.
"Oh, a little fire left, huh?" SkullMeramon mocked. "It's futile, I burn brighter, and hotter then you, little fairy, and My Lady will have what she wants. So I may get what I want!"
"Palmon, we have to help her!" Mimi said to her digimon.
"You heard her, Piyomon!" Sora said to her partner.
"Piyomon, Digivolve to...BIRDRAMON!"
"QUINTESSENCE: AC-BLIZZARD!" Beth shot lightning from her hands, and the lightning struck the dead AC'S bringing them to life.
They immediately pelted SkullMeramon with frigid blasts, which caused steam to rise from his being, and he stumbled away from Theo.
And with that, Birdramon crashed into SkullMeramon, sending him flying out of the window, as he didn't see her till it was too late.
"Meteor Wing!" Sadly that was ineffective seeing as he was already a fire digimon.
"Needle spray!"
SkullMeramon merely burned them all before throwing a chain whip of blue fire right in Togemon's face.
"Togemon!" Mimi shouted.
The chain welding Digimon just laughed in sadistic glee at what he just did. At that moment, Kabuterimon arrived with Sara and Zaira flying alongside him while Tai and Izzy rode on him.
"Heavy Metal Fire!" SkullMeramon blew out a blast of blue fire at Kabuterimon, the insect and the fairies dodged.
But to their horror, the attack hit a metal beam, melting it and causing Tokyo Tower to start to tilt over to the side.
"Ah! The tower is falling! Kabuterimon, hold it up!" Izzy called out.
Kabuterimon does so, but that leaves them open.
"I'll burn you to the ground, and consume the heart of the Fairy of Fire!" SkullMeramon declared.
"We won't!" Tai shouts holding out his digivice.
"Let that happen!" Agumon finished.
Agumon digivolved into Greymon, and after kicking SkullMeramon in the chest, he used his Megaflame on the beast. But it absorbed the attack, and the digimon grew larger and the flames turned blue on its body.
Theo was prepared to hurl an attack at him, but Beth held her off.
"It's no use, Theo. He's a creature of fire," Beth warned. "He'll just grow more powerful, and you'll just drain your magic!"
Theo growled hating that she was helpless. Greymon leaps into the air to avoid a strike from SkullMeramon, and digivolved into MetalGreymon.
The two giant digimon charged and came to a clash, both struggling to push the other onto their side. But seemed to be that MetalGreymon wasn't enough, as SkullMeramon forced the Digimon to his knees.
Birdramon flew past the blue flamed digimon and struck him, and Beth flew at him, summoning star shaped shurikens of energy to hurl at the beast. They exploded against him, but seemed to have no effect. And Togemon tried to jump on his back, only to jump off in flames.
"Ahh!" Togemon screamed.
"Togemon! Get a hold of yourself, honestly!" Mimi yelled.
"We have to do something, or at least find help!" Theo said worried for her friends.
"Hang in there, Togemon!" Sara G yelled, a flick of her wrists brought a fire extinguisher which she broke open the nozzle and extinguished the flames.
"Heavy Metal Fire!" SkullMeramon blew out a blast of blue flames, striking Beth, Birdramon.
"BETH!" Theo screamed. She flew out to save Beth, only to be caught in the chains of SkullMeramon, and pulled in close as a hostage.
"Not another step!" SkullMeramon warned Metal Greymon. "Or I'll snap her pretty neck."
"NO! Theo!" They all called out in alarm.
Suddenly, everything seemed to get dark, and when everyone looked up, a large storm cloud had gathered in the sky, and unseen to them a transparent Dark Spectre Queen appeared, waving her arms through the air.
And immediately, it started to snow, and the snow fell onto the melting metal of the tower, stopped the melting and iced it over, so the tower remained in place.
Togemon sighed in relief as the snow put out any damage the flames have caused, and seemed to heal her, as was it did to Birdramon.
"Ahh! Ahhh!" SkullMeramon cried out in pain. "What's happening, where did this snow come from!?" He released Theo, throwing her to be caught by Metal Greymon. "MY STRENGTH! IT HURTS!"
The flames on SkullMeramon went out, and the digimon shrunk back to his normal form, and was encased in solid ice. The snow piled up, and seemed to restore the Tokyo Tower back to its original state.
And taking advantage of this unexpected snowfall, and fired from his chest two missiles, which blew SkullMeramon to snow slush.
"Wow, what a stroke of luck." Mimi cheered.
"Luck...or divine intervention?" Beth said as she flew over to Theo.
Both heard a woman's ethereal, echoing laugh, as the clouds in the sky dissipated, leaving the hot sun to shine on them once more.
Back in the Kamiya home, the news was already reporting on the fight at Tokyo tower. "According to eye-witness reports, monsters have been seen fighting each other."
There's something that tells me she is not an ordinary child. Gatomon thought while observing Kari as she and Kylie watched the news. The best thing to do would be to finish her now.
"Speculation has arisen that this may be connected to the uproar about monsters that occurred yesterday." The report continued.
In a bound, Gatomon hopped onto the back of the couch and slowly approached the eight year old child. Kylie tensed, watching out of the corner of her eye. Gatomon lifted her claw, while the teenage girl gathered a spark of magic ready to stop the cat digimon...
Gatomon had been bring about to bring down her paw, when Kari turned around with a sweet innocent smile on her face. This made Gatomon stop in place, caught off guard.
"Come here." Kari offered her hands in hopes for Gatomon to jump into them.
Kylie turned to look directly at Gatomon, who stumbled backwards onto the floor. Gatomon sat up, shaking herself, then went back to all fours and began walking for the door.
"You're leaving already?" Kari asked innocently, causing Gatomon to look over her shoulder at her and at Kylie.
The blonde teenager was eyeing Gatomon stoically.
"You'll come back to visit me, right?" Kari asked again.
Gatomon merely ran out of there, not understanding why she'd hesitated in her strike. She was unsure, she couldn't be certain the child was the 8th without proof, but as she left the apartment complex, she was immediately caught by the scruff, and pulled up to look into a pair of Violet Eyes.
"So far off the path, I barely see the promise of what you are...but your soul knows the truth, and Kari will shed light on it." The Dark Spectre Queen laughed, and her eyes glow purple. "But until such time, and even after just for safety. By My Will, I Geass Thee!"
Gatomon was overcome by a strange sensation, like fire sizzling her whole frame as the voice of the Dark Spectre Queen spoke.
"You shall not reveal the identity of this child, by action, word, or thought. None shall divine from you her identity."
And with that, Gatomon was flung from the apartments and landed on her feet, but when she looked up, the sorceress had vanished.
Kylie watched the scene, having made sure Kari would remain in the apartment until her mother returned home. At least Tai's little sister would be safe for the time being, but she couldn't sit around and wait for the others to return home. No she had to try and join the search while there was still some daylight left.
To be continued…