"Well, the vacations over." Emily looked at Joe who had spoken.
"Over?"
"Well, yeah. Now we're going to have to go romping through the woods again, looking for GAG, the Guardians of the Universe, and other hero-type stuff." Joe stuffed some towels into his bag.
"Yeah, the Guardians," Emily stepped out onto the balcony and looked out over the trees. It was surprisingly quiet outside. Almost suspiciously quiet.
"I hope you enjoyed your stay here. I'll make sure we all pray for your safety, Digidestined." Leomon shook Tai's hand.
"Thank you Leomon. I speak for all of us when I say we had a wonderful time." Tai smiled. Then he turned around. "Ok, so is everyone here? Are we all set to go?"
"Um, Tai?" Sora tapped Tai on the shoulder.
"What is it Sora?"
"Well, Joe and Emily aren't here."
"What? Well where are they?" Tai looked around the lobby wildly.
"Chill out Tai. They're still in their room packing." Matt got his usual irritated tone in his voice.
"Packing or making out?" Tai arched an eyebrow.
"Oh God, Tai! Stop acting so hormonal!" Sora whacked Tai across the back of his head. "I'm sure they'll be out in a minute."
"Emily, don't you think we should go now?" Joe zipped up his bag.
"Sure, Joe. I'll get over there in a se- Woah! What the heck's that?" Emily gaped up at the sky as a black spiral formed in the middle of a cloud. The spiral grew wider and wider, until something suddenly fell out and landed about 100 feet away from Emily's balcony, in the woods. She turned to Joe who was standing next to her. "Do you know what just happened?"
"Not a clue. Let's get down there and tell Tai and the others."
"I have a better idea. You go and tell the others and I'll go and see what fell out of that spiral thingy."
"But, shouldn't we go together? It could be dangerous!"
"Oh, Joe! Danger's my middle name! Well, actually, it's Jean, but that's not important."
"But it could be- Hey! Where are you going?"
"Just go get Tai and the others and bring them over to where that thing fell," Emily was climbing over the balcony. " That's where I'll be." She hopped into a tree nearby and slid down the trunk, then took off into the woods.
Tai was just about to send Kari up to see where Emily and Joe were, when Joe stumbled out of the elevator.
"Joe! There you are! Where's Emily?"
"Emily? Well, she kind of... ran off... into the woods." Joe said meekly.
"She ran off into the woods? Well that's just great! Just great! And would you mind explaining to me why she's out there?" Tai put his hands on his hips.
Sighing, Joe told him about the black spiral in the sky that had dropped something into the woods and how Emily decided to go investigate.
Tai was quiet for a second, then said, "Well, the only thing I think we can do is go out and meet her. Are all the humans ready?"
"Yeah!" the other Digi dsetined's held up their bags.
"Are all the digimon ready?"
"Uh huh." All the digimon nodded.
"Hey! Where's Candymon?" Gomamon looked around.
"Oh no! Not her too! She must be with Emily! Let's go! "
"Good bye Leomon! Thank you for the great time at the Digimon hotel!" They all screamed as they raced out the door to where Joe said the thing had landed.
Meanwhile... "Hey! Emily!"
"Aaaah! Oh, Candymon! It's only you! You scared me!"
"Really? I scared you? Cool!" Candymon smiled evilly.
"Oh, shut up! How did you find me?"
"I saw you jump over the balcony, so I followed you."
"Great. Now you're starting to take after me! Let's go find that thing that fell out from the sky, ok?"
A few feet ahead, Emily thought she saw a figure laying on the ground. As they got closer, she saw that it was a person. "I've heard of raining cats and dogs, but this is ridiculous!" Emily shook her head. "Come on, let's get a closer look."
The person was, in fact, a girl Emily's age and Emily felt that she looked vaguely familiar.
The girl groaned and looked up at Emily with big blue eyes. "Where am I? What happened?" She stood up and studied Emily. Emily studied her. She was a little bit shorter than Emily, with shoulder length blonde hair, fair skin, and a few freckles that ran along her cheeks. She was wearing a white baseball-t with sleeves that went down to the elbows and had a black paw print in the middle of it, blue jean flares, and white sneakers. Compared to Emily, they were total opposites.
Then the girl spoke, "E- Emily? Is that you?"
"Katie!?" Emily stared in bewilderment at her.
"Emily!" The two friends threw their arms around each other in their happiness.
"Uh, Emily?" Candymon felt left out.
Katie looked down at her, "Ah! What's that?"
"I'm Candymon, pleased to meet you. And you are...?"
"K-Katie!"
"Katie?" Candymon looked at Emily. "Is this the one you're always talking about?"
"One and the same." Emily smiled. "It's so good to see you Katie! What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? I wanna know how I go there. And where the heck am I?"
"Well, you're in the Digiworld."
"Digi what?"
"The Digi world, ya know, digital world?"
"So where's that supposed to be? A new place at Disneyland? What, do they have digital teacup rides and digital Mickey Mouse souvenirs?"
"Uh, no."
"Teacup rides? Mickey Mouse? What's she talking about, Emily?"
"I'll tell you later." Emily grabbed Katie's arm. "Come on, Katie. I might as well take you to meet the others."
"The others? What are you talking about, Emily?"
"Well, let me put it this way. Where were you before you ended up here?"
"I was uh, taking a break from practice. Ya know, taking a walk."
"Katie, you weren't really doing that, were you?"
"Fine! I had just hung up from talking to Jesse. I got a little, um, upset, and-"
"A little upset? Come on Katie! I've known you since we were three! I know it takes more than '' little upset' to make you leave practice."
"Fine! He broke up with me! Jesse dumped me, ok? He said- "She looked down, "He said that he'd rather date a fan of GQ than date a member. He said I wasn't there for him! Can you believe that?"
"What! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! You were paying for his rent! You bailed him out of jail 3 times! The only reason he's gotten anywhere in this world is because you were there for him! Ugh! I can't believe him!"
"Yeah, well, maybe it's all for the best. Now we'll have some extra spending money!"
"All riiiight!" They high-fived each other. "But, now maybe we should get back to what we were talking about. You say you left the theater?"
"Well, yeah.. I was pretty upset. I had just stepped outside, when this thing fell out of the sky." She held out a digi-vice. "Then everything went black, and here I am!"
"Hmmm, that sounds like what happened with me. Except I landed in a tree that Candymon was eating in. She's my digimon."
"Ok, this whole digi fetish is starting to get weird. Can you explain this better?"
"Well, when we get back to the others, I'll have Izzy explain as much as possible to you. But put it this way, since you've got one of these," Emily pointed to her digi vice. "You have a digimon that protects you while you're in the Digiworld. Like Candymon here." Emily motioned to Candymon who smiled proudly.
"So where's my digimon then?" Katie put her hands on her hips and looked around.
"Did some one call me?" Emily and Katie turned to see a small digimon hop out from a tall patch of grass. It looked like a small yellow rabbit with an even lighter yellow fluffy tail, deep violet eyes and a tiny pink nose.
"Guys, er, I mean, ladies," Candymon stepped forward, "Meet Bunnymon, an old friend of mine."
"Aw, how cute!" Katie bent down and picked up Bunnymon.
"You aren't bad looking either, Katie!" Katie practically dropped Bunnymon.
"How did you know my name?"
"I'm your digimon!" Bunnymon nuzzled Katie a little.
"Well, this is great. Let's go tell Tai we've got company." Emily grabbed Katie's hand and started to guide her back towards the hotel, when Joe and Tai suddenly appeared.
"It landed right over here Tai, see?" Joe was pointing to where Katie was standing with Bunnymon.
"Joe! Boy am I glad to see you!" Emily ran over and hugged Joe.
"Huh? Emily! Did you find out what fell out of that spiral?" The rest of the Digi destined appeared behind Tai who was yelling at Agumon for stealing the bed sheets from the hotel.
"Oh yeah! Meet Katie!" Emily dragged Joe over to Katie who was clutching onto Bunnymon in fear. "Katie, this is Joe and Gomamon."
"Hey." Katie smiled nervously. Kari stepped out of the crowd with Gatomon.
"Hi! I'm Kari! You must be the 10th child! This is Gatomon!"
"Hi. I'm Katie!" Katie smiled.
"Bunnymon!" Gatomon looked up at Katie's digimon who hopped out of her arms to get a better look at Gatomon.
"Gatomon! I haven't seen you since, I don't know when!" The two digimon hugged. "I didn't know you have been reunited with Candymon, either. This is great, the three of us all together again!"
Candymon joined them as the other Digi destineds introduced themselves to Katie. Bunnymon looked over at Emily and Kari. "Do they know yet?"
"No. There hasn't been a lot of time lately. We just finished with our mini vacation. Maybe now, we'll be able to let them know about the three of us." Gatomon smiled happily.
"Hey! How'd this get in here?" Katie looked in her purse and pulled out a tag with it's crest already in it.
"Oh, that's a tag. Now you need to find the crest that goes with it, so Bunnymon can go to her- Hey! No fair! You already have yours!"
"So?"
"I had to wait for mine. It was in a fountain." Emily was annoyed.
"Hey! Let me see!" Matt reached out to take Katie's tag and crest. At that exact same time, Gabumon tripped on a rock and slammed into Matt. Matt fell forward, throwing his arms around Katie as he tried to maintain his balance.
"Are you ok?" Katie helped Matt back to his feet.
"Oh, sorry." Matt blushed as he pulled his arms off of Katie.
"It's ok." Katie blushed a little, too. "Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey! You have this too!" Matt held up a credit card, similar to Emily's, except that hers read N'SYNC.
"Don't you remember, Matt? Katie has the power to transform too. She's in our band GQ." Emily looked around, "Where's my guitar case? I didn't leave it at the- oh! Thanks Joe!" Joe handed Emily her guitar case. She dug round in it and pulled out the picture of her band.
"Oh yeah! That's her right there with the keyboard, right?" Matt handed the picture back.
"You take that thing every where, don't you?" Katie eyed Emily's guitar.
"How do you explain this? Hmmm?" Emily picked up a flat, rectangular case.
"Hey! Be careful with that!" Katie tried to grab it away from Emily.
"Ah ha! I take my guitar everywhere, and you brought THIS!" Emily opened up the case and pulled out a thin, guitar shaped object that had piano keys on it.
"Emily! Put my key board down!" Katie grabbed it away from Emily and put it away.
"So Katie, is you digimon like Emily's? Does she go from in-training to rookie to Ultimate?" Matt looked the two digimon.
"I do not!" Candymon and Bunnymon both yelled at the same time. "What weirdo told you that?"
"Gennai did."
"Well, personally, I think Gennai's a little whacked." Candymon rolled her eyes. "He probably assumed that we only digivolved twice because, well, There aren't any other digimon like us around. We're hard to track. I'm in my rookie form, actually. I don't know why he thought I'd be in my in-training form. Bunnymon's in her rookie form too. Emily already saw my Champion form, Goobermon."
"So you do have other forms." Tai and Izzy joined the conversation.
"Yeah, before this, I was Moyamon, and before that, I was Minamon."
"And before I was this, I was Mikumon, and before that, I was Colamon." Bunnymon and Candymon smiled, proud that they could remember all this.
"Very curious." Izzy stared at the two digimon.
"This stupid thing just keeps getting more and more complicated!" Matt sighed. "First we get the 9th child, then we find out about GAG, then we find out that Emily's a super hero," Katie coughed. "Emily and Katie are super heroes, then we find out GAG has some weirdo's called the Guardians of the Universe, then we find the-"
"The Guardians? What's happened to them! Emily, what happened to the Guardians?" Katie panicked.
"GAG has them." Emily looked down.
"Who?"
"Look, I'll explain later. But I think you should know this before anything else. Take out your card." Katie took out her transformations card. "Now transform into CATastrophe."
"Here? With all these people around?"
"They already know. Don't worry. Now transform."
"Ok," Katie sighed and held out her card. "N'SYNC!" Her card glowed, then faded. Nothing happened. "What? I'll try again! N'SY-"
"Katie! Don't! There's nothing you can do right now. The guardians have been taken from Orgisian and put in a force field. The force field keeps their power from flowing out and letting us transform. Even Betsy on Earth can't transform."
"What? How do you know all this?"
"Laurence talked to me telepathically. She told me."
"Hey! How come She always contacts you and not me?" Katie stamped her foot.
"Because I'm the leader. Godiva was the leader, remember? And who had her spirit? Me!"
"I smell a cat fight," muttered Tai, as Emily and Katie stared at each other in disbelief.
"Oh shut up, Tai!" Both girls turned angrily to him.
"Just kidding! Just kidding!" Tai slowly backed away and backed up into Gatomon.
"Did I just hear you make a cat slur, Tai? Because if you did..." Her claws glistened.
"Oh, me? Well I, Uh... Heh heh..." Tai slowly turned around. "I think now's a good time for me to...RUN AND HIDE BEHIND SORA!!!"
"And I think that's about all of it!" Izzy closed his laptop and looked at Katie. "So did you understand what I was saying?" He, Tai, Emily, and Tentomon had spent the last two hours explaining to Katie about the digivolviing process, the use of the tags, the digivice, their adventures battling Devimon, Etemon, and Myotismon, and the reason that they had been chosen as the Digi destineds.
"Well, most of it. I can't believe I forgot about that night at Heighten View Terrace!" Katie stroked Bunnymon's fur as she spoke.
Joe sat next to Emily. Half awake, and half asleep, he gazed at Emily through his soulful eyes. We're together. We're finally together. We're going to be happy. Everything will be all right. She'll save the Guardians, we'll defeat GAG and save the other digimon, and then we'll do what ever we want. Who knows? Maybe we'll all stay here for a while at the Digimon Hotel again. Or maybe we'll go back home... Whatever we do, we'll be happy... so happy. Joe's eyes slowly allowed themselves to shut. He felt Emily's gentle arm pull him closer to her. He allowed for himself to be lowered into her arms as her voice continued to laugh with Katie's as they talked about their adventures as the GQ. Her fingers gently entwined themselves through his hair as she continued to speak. As sleep began to engulf him, a thought ran through his head.
He saw Emily and Katie standing with Candymon and Bunnymon. Then, suddenly, Emily and Katie looked different, more super hero-ish. Then Kari and Gatomon joined then. She too, changed, becoming taller, and older looking. Katie looked at Kari, "You're sure you didn't hurt yourself?" Kari shook her head and smiled as Katie's crest began to glow. "Concern." She whispered.
Kari looked at Emily. She smiled at her brightly. "I'm so glad that you're happy, and not leaving the Digi destineds. I really like you!" Her crest began to glow. "Light." She whispered.
Emily looked at Katie, "Your song. You start it, then it stops. Please tell me what's wrong. I can't stand it when you're upset. You break my heart when your song won't play." Emily's crest began to glow. "Music.' She whispered.
Suddenly, beams of light, like the ones that had held down VenomMyotismon, appeared. They connected to each other in a triangle around the three digimon. Katie and Emily's digivices' glowed and Candymon and Bunnymon went to their champion level. The light of the crests grew stronger, and the three girls joined hands. Then, they each began to recite something that sounded like a combination of a pact and a spell:
"Let me guard, let me go.
Let my (music/ light/ concern) take me higher.
Let my (music/ light/ concern) unleash the true ones within.
Let her truth shine through!"
A bright flash of light filled the triangle, swallowing the digimon, then spreading out and swallowing Emily, Katie and Kari as well. Then, six shadows began to appear in the light. Suddenly, another flash of light covered everything, and a soft, yet commanding voice spoke. "You, the one they call Joe. The one who is loved by Godiva. You will not be the one who harms her. He is gone. You will remember nothing of what you have just seen until the right time. Now return to your sleep. I know that you will want to wake soon in Godiva's arms." Blackness began to fall over the light. Sleep began to hit again. "Remember nothing until the right time."
While the others talked, and TK and Kari lay asleep next to Tai and Matt, Joe stirred in his sleep. Emily gently stroked his face, then looked away. "Joe, your song..."
The sleeping Joe smiled, and silently murmured "Laurence and the Guardians."