"Ah yes. All three at your champion level. That was what the tablet said, wasn't it? 'All three at champion levels and all six shall bring power beyond imagination.'" He turned to Emily. "That's how it goes, right?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" She glared at him.
"Hmm, Perhaps you should come with me then." He motioned for them to follow, and they had no other choice but to obey. They walked into the smaller hut, which contained nothing but a stairway leading down. They followed it until they entered a room at the end. "Welcome to my dungeon. It holds the conscious," He snapped his fingers and seven pokeballs appeared on a pedestal. "And the unconscious." He motioned to two cells on their right. One held the other Dig destined, the other held three girls who seemed to be in suspended animation.
The girl to the left had short blonde hair held in two loose pigtails. She had a black stripe going down her nose. Her eyes were closed and her head bowed down. Her cheeks each had the shape of an hourglass on them. Katie had the exact same symbol on her transformation card. She looked very familiar. "Catalina!" Katie gasped.
The girl to the right had slate hair that framed her face, then suddenly curled at the ends into tight spirals. She had two jade orbs on the back of her head that had small back snakes burned on them. Three small half circles went down the slope of her nose. Her head was, also bowed and here eyes were closed. She had the symbol of a rising sun on each cheek. That symbol was also on Kari's transformation card. "I- is that…?" Kari stared. "Is that Modova?"
"Yes," Katie murmured. "She looks like Betsy and like you. You two are connected, just like Catalina is to me."
The girl in the center had long dark brown hair that hung over her shoulders. Seven gold spikes stuck out of the tiara on her bowed head. Two triangles pointed downward went down her nose. She had black lightning bolts on both cheeks and Emily had them on her transformation card. Her eyes were, also, closed. "She looks just like-" Kari almost yelled.
"Godiva." Emily closed her eyes and a tear ran down her cheek. Then she looked angrily at Gary. "Why are you doing this?"
"Isn't it obvious?" He ran a finger down Emily's hand, which she pulled away. "I want power. And this," He placed a large stone tablet in front of them. "This can give me power. You! The leader!" He pointed at Emily. "Come read one of Orgisian's tablets. I'm sure your Queen Laurence won't ever miss it."
Emily gritted her teeth as she looked down at the tablet before her. "There will always be the greater force. The great force will have power but will be alone in it's captor. And there will always the captor's captor. And there will always be the more greater forces. When all forces join, there is a power. All three at champion and all six shall bring power beyond imagination. The power shall be itself. Things must be. And the power shall forever be in it's being. The captor shall be, the power shall be. Let the power shine through and let the truth guide."
Joe opened his eyes and listened to Emily read. When he heard the last line, he thought of something. Do not remember. Do not remember what? And don't remember until when?
"Now, what should I do that would convince all of you to cooperate? I just need you girls to be at you champion level and things'll go fine. I can rule all the known worlds and you can go free under my rule." Gary tapped his fingers on the tablet.
"No." Emily growled.
"Oooh. Too bad!" He pushed a brick on the wall and the walls of the other Digidestined's prison cell began to close in. "Those walls are pure granite. Your friends will be flattened into a bloody pulp."
"You wouldn't!" Katie slammed her fist on the wall.
"I would!" Gary laughed.
"Emily!" Joe yelled, reaching through the bars. "Don't worry about me! Just do what you have to so you can be safe!"
"Joe!" Emily took his hand. "I won't let you die Joe!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out her card.
"Emily? Should we…?" Katie held out her card.
"We've got to! Star Wars!!"
"That's our signal Kari! Just read your card and hold still till you're done! N'SYNC!!"
"Gotcha! Korn!!"
There was a loud zap and the three figures of Katie, Emily and Kari were gone for an instant in a flash of light. Then they were there again, only different looking. Emily was wearing a blue spaghetti-strap midrift and a gold pleated skirt than was 9" above her knees. She had a blue visor over her eyes. Katie was wearing a pink halter top and a gold and black striped skirt that was, also, 9" above her knees. Kari had suddenly gotten a growth spurt and looked four years older, standing at Katie and Emily's height. She was wearing a green tanktop, a khaki skirt and a gold choker. The back of her head had two small coiled buns.
"Matt! Matt! It's just like Sailor Moon!" Yelped Tk.
Emily, who had now transformed into Gold Card, grabbed a piece of tissue from a pocket on Kari's skirt. She squeezed it until her hand glowed. She opened it to reveal a gold card. "Hang on Joe! Hang on you guy!" She threw it at the bars. It cut through them like butter and then disappeared as the bars clattered to the ground. Katie screamed at the top of her lungs, then flung her arms out in front of her. The walls of the cell blew up as the others ran out of it. "Kari! Close your eyes and repeat after me. Please get me the master-balls on the pedestal."
"Please get me the master-balls on the pedestal!!" Two snakes stuck their head out from behind Kari's head, then slithered through the air and returned with the seven master-balls. "So that's why I'm Madame Medusa! Here you guys!" She tossed each digidestined a master-ball. "Hang onto them until we finish things up!"
"Finish things up? I'm sorry, but it's YOU who are finished!" Gary snapped his fingers and everyone was outside again. Only the smaller hut wasn't there. "I have no use for this disguise anymore!" A darkness rose out of Gary, who collapsed on the ground.
"Ee vee ee!" Eevee ran out of the hut and grabbed Gary by the shirt collar, tugging him away from where the ten Digidestined stood.
"I am VenomDevimon! The combined darkness of Devimon and Venom Myotismon! I used that boy's knowledge of capturing things to lure you here and then hold you all here with a clever power-hungry plot.. And now that I've got you all here, I'm going to destroy you all like I should have a long time ago!"
"And this time we don't have War Greymon, Metal Garurumon or Angemon to save us! Now what?" Cried Sora.
"This can't happen! They were dead! " Matt held Tk.
"Darkness envelope!" The darkness grew until it completely surrounded them all. Tai and Matt tried desperately to find a way out, while Mimi cried. Izzy shook but did his best to try to clam her down. Sora stood there in shock and Tk clung to her arm. "Yes, try to escape. The more you struggle, the more open to the darkness you are. And once you're over taken, nothing will stop me from destroying you." A horrid laugh echoed in the dark.
Joe tried desperately to see Emily in the dark. Do not remember until the right time. The right time! He suddenly remembered the vision he had the night Izzy and Emily had explained Digimon to Katie. He remembered it all! "Emily, Katie, Kari, Goobermon, Burimon, Gatomon! Can you hear me?"
"Joe? We're all together. We can hear you." It was Emily's voice.
"Emily! I need you to try something. Laurence came to me in a dream the night Katie first appeared. She told me not to remember until now and-"
"She came to you in a dream?" Katie yelled. "Then just tell us what to do! She knows the prophecy's better than anyone I know!"
"Okay, Gatomon, Burimon and Godivamon all need to stand together and you three have to stand around them."
"Okay. Done." Emily's voice. "Oh their songs are starting to become over-whelming! They're full of fear!" A flash of aqua shone vaguely in the dark.
"I hope everyone is okay and not hurt." Katie murmured. A flash of red joined the aqua.
"I want things to be okay." Kari sighed. A flash of pink joined the red and aqua.
"Now what do we do Joe?"
"You're following it perfectly! Now I need you to say-"
"We know. All of a sudden, we know what we need to say." Slowly, in the order of Emily, Katie and Kari, they chanted-
"Let me guard."
"Let me go"
"Let my"
"Music"
"Concern"
"Light"
"Take me higher" This line was said together.
"Let my Music"
"Concern"
"Light"
"Unleash the true ones within. Let her truth shine through!" This was said together also. There the light from each crest shone until they were connected in a triangle.
Joe looked around in the dark. Suddenly, he could see the glowing figures of Emily, Katie, Kari, Goobermon, Burimon and Gatomon. Mimi stopped crying, Tai and Matt stopped trying to escape, Sora snapped out of her shock, Tk clamed down, and Izzy stopped shaking. They all clutched a master-ball as the glow became stronger.
Outside the darkness, the shadow figure of VenomDevimon stood next to the suspended figures of the Guardians of the Universe. "Soon my pretties, the Digidestined will be gone and so will you spirit captors. Soon your spirits will have to return to their original bodies and then I will have enough power to control both worlds!" Then, the darkness exploded and seven battered Digidestined stood holding seven master-balls. "What? Well I'll deal with you later. Such a pity though, that the GQ and their Digimon had to die to save you."
"You can't" The voice came from Emily but it wasn't hers "kill me." The Digidestined parted to reveal six figures. Three of them were Emily, Kari and Katie who were still transformed, only they were transformed in a new way. Their tops and skirts were like armor, made of light-weight metal, while a tiara with seven spikes glistened on Emily's head. Lightning bolts were on Emily's cheeks, the rising sun was on Kari's and hourglasses were on Katie's. "We are the Guardians of the universe, Guardians of the known worlds." They said in unison. Then in turn, with voices that weren't theirs, "Modova"
"Catalina"
"Godiva"
The other three figures stepped forward. One of them was recognized as Angewoman. To her far left stood Dessamon, the ultimate level of Burimon. She wore woodsy green dress that was cut off on one side to reveal her leg which was tied up in a knee-high boot. Her green hair hung in loose tresses and her eyes glowed copper.
To Dessamon's right, stood Godivamon, the ultimate level of Goobermon. She wore a deep red gown and fingerless gloves. Her rainbow streaked hair flowed behind her as she walked forward on bare feet on a floating golden disk. Together, the three of them said "We are the Guardians of the universe, Guardians of the Digital unknown worlds." Then in turn, "Angewoman, goddess of good"
"Dessamon, goddess of fate"
"Godivamon, goddess of all that is destiny"
Emily, Katie and Kari joined their Digimon and, together, they all said "We are the Guardians of the Universe."
"What? This can't happen!" VenomDevimon looked around in horror. "But then you forget. I'm a shadow, I can always get away…"
"No." Emily closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"No." Katie put her hand together and closed her eyes.
"No." Kari held her arms over her head. Then they each released their positions and a force field surrounded the shadow.
Emily looked at Godivamon, Dessamon and Angewoman. "Finish him."
"Heaven's charm!" The cross of light departed from Angewoman's arms.
"Fate of Evil!" A red orb appeared in Dessamon's hands. She placed it in the center of Heaven's charm.
"Wrong's destruction!" the disk floated out from under Godivamon's feet and sucked Heaven's charm and Fate of Evil into it. Then it flew at VenomDevimon. There was a screeching sound as the shadow was ripped apart. Everyone was thrown backwards except the six Guardians. "We must leave soon. But we leave you this gift." Godivamon turned to the Digidestined as her disk returned under her feet. "Destiny's reward!"
"Fate of Good!" A clear orb appeared in Dessamon's hands as a thin gold disk slid off of Godivamon's. They merged, and a pure white light spread through everything.
Eevee lay on Gary's stomach in misery, listening to the battle outside. Then she heard Godivamon and Dessamon leave their parting gift and a pure light shone into everything. What was this feeling?
Joe opened his eyes and sat up. He had such a pure feeling in himself right now. Where had it come from? Then he remembered, Godivamon. He looked over to where they had stood. There was nothing there but two digieggs and Salamon, who lay passed out with Kari, Emily and Katie who had returned to normal. "Emily!" He ran to her side.
"Mmm go away Katie! Gimme five more minutes and I'll get the gum out of Betsy's hair in a while." Emily muttered.
"Emily! Come on! It's me!"
"Joe?" Her eye fluttered open. "Joe, what happened? I felt Godiva's power take over me completely and then…well, did we win?"
"Yeah. Of course. And all thanks to you six."
"Hey where's Candy? OH MY GOD!!!" Emily grabbed Candymon's Digiegg.
"Huh?" Katie's eyes snapped open. "Woah! What happened here and why is my Digimon an egg?"
"They're resting!" giggled Tk. "But I know how to hatch 'em! Just rub them real gently!"
Emily rubbed hers and then a small blue puffball with a big black koala nose came out. "Aaaw how cuuuute!!!"
"Moya! Moya!" It squeaked.
In the meantime, Katie had rubbed her egg and small yellow horse shaped blob with tiny fluffy ears popped out. "Ooooh! Cute!"
"Cola cola!"
"Let's see, that's Moyamon and Colamon, the baby form of Candymon and Bunnymon." Izzy clicked around on his laptop.
Emily and Katie looked at each other, "Cuteness factor, 10!"
"Does that mean we're not cute?" Everyone turned to see Agumon, Gabumon, Biyomon, Palmon, Patamon, Gomamon and Tentomon standing together. Suddenly, they were tackled by Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, and Tk. Gomamon had already perched himself on Joe's shoulder.
"Hey Joe, come here!" Emily pulled Joe and Gomamon over to the hut Gary had first come out of. "Come with me to check on Eevee."
As they got closer to the hut they heard a voice. It was soft and gentle, speaking soothingly. "Gary? Gary wake up! Come on." Emily and Joe peered in the window to see a beautiful tanned woman with long brown hair, wearing a white dress. She stood over the passed out Gary, gently trying to revive him.
"Is that a cheerleader?" Emily made a face. She didn't like cheerleaders.
"Gary?" He stirred. "Gary, you're okay!"
"Eevee! Where's Eevee? Is she okay?" Gary jumped up. But his wasn't the evil possessed Gary they had seen before. This Gary had a light in his eyes. Emily whispered to Joe that Gary's' song was okay.
"Gary, when you were struck by that darkness, you became possessed and-"
"Oh my God! I killed Eevee!! Oh no!!! I'll never be able to forgive myself!"
"Gary! Eevee's okay! I'm Eevee!"
"What? How could you be her? She's a Pokemon."
"You didn't let me finish. After you became possessed, we ended up here in this place called the Digiworld. You caught a bunch of Digimon and I decided to try to save you and everyone else by finding the legendary Digidestined. I found them and they came to save you and some people you'd kidnapped, called the Guardians. The darkness that possessed you left, you passed out, and I pulled you over here. Then I heard someone leave what they called a 'parting gift' and a white light shone throughout everything. When I opened my eyes, I had become a human. But it's only just for enough time so I can tell you something."
"Tell me something? If anything it's about how much you hate me for being so cruel while I was possessed."
"No Gary. This is something else. I love you."
"What?"
"I love you Gary. I've loved you since the day first saw you outside the Professor's house. I waited a long time to finally be with you Gary, and I'll always be happy, just being with you." She began to fade. "Just remember, I love you." She kissed him on the cheek, then shrank down and became regular Eevee.
"Eevee! I wish you had told me sooner!" Gary scooped up Eevee in his arms and hugged her tightly.
"Ee vee ee! Eee vee ee vee eee?"
"Yeah I'm great! I feel great and I'm so happy to be with you!"
"Ee vee ee vee ee vee!" She nuzzled his chin.
"I know! And I vow you'll always be my first and only love!" He grinned.
"Ee vee ee!"
"Okay! You're right! You'll always be my first love." "How sweet!" Emily said too loudly. Gary looked up, startled. "Oh I'm sorry. I'm Emily, one of the Digidestined. And this is Joe, a Digidestined too."
"Um, hi. I'm Gary."
"Yes, we know."
"I'm sorry if I injured you or any of your Digimon while I was possessed." He lowered his head.
"It wasn't your fault. Besides, the Guardians of the Universe took care of your possessor, VenomDevimon. It was, actually, the combined darkness of two evil digimon that the Digidestinde defeated before I came here."
"Where are these Guardians? I'd like to apologize to them for kidnapping them."
"They're gone. Once the power holding them was gone, they were teleported back to their planet, Orgisian." Emily sighed as she looked around.
"Ee ee vee eevee vee ee vee ee." Eevee jumped from Gary's arms onto Emily's shoulder.
"You're one of the Guardians?" Gary looked in amazement at Emily and Moyamon.
"Yeah, well…" Emily blushed and shifted on her feet.
"That's right!" Joe proudly put his arm around Emily's shoulder.
"You saved me." Gary stepped forward and took Emily's hand. "Thank you. You saved me and other innocent people."
"Hey let's not give me all the credit!" Emily laughed nervously. "Hey where are all your cheerleaders?"
"What cheerleaders?" The hut was empty of everything, save a few pokeballs around Gary's waist.
"I guess when Godivamon and Dessamon left their gift, it sent things back to normal." Gomamon spoke up. "I'm Gomamon!"
"Oh, um hi. You can talk?"
"Of course!" Gomamon laughed. "He's talking this better than you did Joe!"
"Hey! That's not funny!" Joe smatted Gomamon lightly on the head.
Emily walked slowly out of the hut, Gary at her side while Joe and Gomamon argued behind her. "How come you didn't go back to your world with everything else?"
"I don't know…"
Suddenly, Moyamon digivolved to Minamon. "It's because of Dessamon's parting gift, Emily. It's called Fate of good, and it puts things the way they should have been. I guess Gary's coming here was part of fate, so he stayed."
"Oh. Well what about Godivamon's attack?" Emily let Gary hold Minamon.
"That was called Destiny's Reward. It gives everything a pure, beautiful feeling and, for some, it will grant a greatly wanted wish. Like it did with Eevee."
"Ah, I see." Emily tickled Eevee under her chin. "Well, why don't you come with us Gary?"
"Oh I don't want to intrude on the Digidestined party."
"You won't be. It's always good to have more allies, and it's not exactly safe out on your own."
"Well if it doesn't bother anyone else, sure I'll come."
"Great! By the way, what do you have on in those, um pokeballs?"
"Oh these?" Gary held up one of his pokeballs. "I've got a charmeleon, a hitmochan, a nidoking and an archanine. And then there's Eevee who I'll never put in one of these."
"Cool." Emily and Gary traded Minamon for Eevee again. "Then let's go tell Tai and everyone else we've got company! Come on Joe!"
"Huh? Oh okay! Coming!" Joe ran after them. This is great! We did it! The Guardians are safe, the evil's gone and Emily's happy. He snuck up behind Emily and put his arms around her waist. "Gotcha!"
"Ah! Joe!" Emily laughed and turned to face him. "Picking up my habits I see." She kissed him. He kissed her back.
"Hey you two! Get a room!" yelled Katie as Colamon digivolved to Mikumon. Then Matt tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey Katie… Uh, I wanted to say that you were really great out there, saving us all and everything. And I was wondering… uh…"
"You were wondering if…" Matt and Katie blushed.
"Oh heck with it!" Matt grabbed Katie around the waist and kissed her.
"Why do I suddenly feel nauseous?" Mikumon muttered to Minamon.
"Try coughing up a fur-ball. That always makes ME feel better." Salamon joined the two in-training Digimon.
"There you are!" Kari ran over to Salamon.
"Okay everyone! I have an announcement to make!" Tai stood up on a tree stump. "That means everyone has to stop making out and listen!" Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Tai. "First of all, I want everyone to say hi to Gary who'll be joining us. This is the UNPOSSESSED Gary, so we shouldn't have to worry about any problems."
"H- hi!" Gary blushed and looked around.
"I'm Tai and these are my friends from camp! This is Sora-"
"Tai! We've already heard you do that a hundred times!" Matt whined. "Let someone else do the introductions."
"I'll do it!" Izzy jumped up. "I'm Izzy and this is Mimi." Mimi waved. "this is Matt and Tk." Tk flashed a grin "This is Sora, Tai and Kari. And that's Katie and Joe and Emily."
"It's an honor to be traveling with you guys." Gary smiled.
"Okay and the next matter of business is," Tai returned to his tree stump. "What should we do next?"
"Let's go home and take the Digimon with us!" yelled Tk.
"Okay who likes the idea of going back to Earth with our Digimon for a while?" Everyone raised their hand, but Gary.
"Come on Gary! You can stay with Katie and me!" Emily nudged him in the arm.
"Really? I don't want to be-"
"Oh shut up! Just come and stay wit us! I like your company."
"Really? Okay." He raised his hand.
"Okay, then it's unanimous. Digivices in the center, people!" Tai held out his digivice and, after making sure their Digimon were with them, everyone did the same.
"Um, I don't have a…" Gary stared to back away.
"Oh you!" Emily grabbed his hand and asked Joe to hold Minamon for her. "If I'm going, you're going." The digivices began to glow.
"We're going home again!" Matt smiled.
"You mean you're going to cook for me again Matt?" Gabumon asked.
"Yeah."
The glow became stronger and a flash enveloped them all. The next moment, they were home.
And they were all home together.
The End