Part 3: A Prophecy Fulfilled
"Hmm," Gennai said, out loud to himself, "I hope the digidestined are okay. That Ami can be a real handful sometimes."
"Talking about me behind my back?"
"Princess Ami!" Gennai shouted, startled at her sudden appearance, "You're here! And so soon."
"What did you expect?" Ami asked angrily, "You never really gave me a choice. Forcing me to come back here."
"I didn't force you," Gennai said, smiling, "The ring brought you back."
"Why?"
"You know why."
"No!" Ami shouted, "It's not my turn. Not anymore. I've been through this before! I defeated her before!"
"Temporarily," Gennai pointed out, "You defeated her temporarily. She's back, Princess. And because of that, so are you."
Ami looked away, "Those kids...are they...is that them?"
"The digidestined? Yes, that's them. You like?"
"If they are the digidestined, then there's no reason for me to be back here. They should be able to handle this on their own."
"They won't be able to, you know that."
"There's eight of them! There's only one of me! Why should I have to-"
"Because it is your duty!" Gennai shouted, "Perhaps you have been away from the digital world too long to remember that."
Ami clenched her fists, "This isn't fair. I made sure that I would never-"
"You created them so you wouldn't have to come here again," Gennai finished for her, "But what you forgot is that destiny knows no ulterior motives. It takes its own course. No matter what you want. Even if you are the Princess, you can't escape it."
Ami released her hands. She looked at Gennai, "You've gotten old," she said quietly.
"And you've become young."
"So are they."
"So were you when you first saved the digital world."
"I was here for a long time, I grew up!"
"The digidestined have saved this world many times over. They have proven themselves worthy against many foes. Isn't that what you wanted, why you created them? Or was it just to make your life easier?"
Ami glared at him, even after all these years, he was still annoying, especially when he was right.
"Has she surfaced yet?"
"No, she can't yet, she'll need the ring."
"I have the ring."
"Exactly why I brought you here."
"I thought you said that the ring brought me here."
Gennai sweatdropped, "He he, with a little of my help."
Ami groaned, "So what now?"
"So what do we do now?" Sora asked, as the kids all settled down on the grass to rest after hours of walking.
"We have to get the ring, like Gennai said," Tai said, getting up, "And if that girl has the ring, then we'll just have to take it from her."
"Why don't you stop and think, Tai," Matt said, annoyed, "Or has the sun fried your brain?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You saw the way she controlled the ring," he continued, "She obviously knows how to use it because it's hers. We can't just take it from her."
"But Gennai said-" Izzy began.
"Gennai says a lot of things, most of them don't make any sense," Matt said, cutting him off, "We can't always do what Gennai says. He can't be right all the time!"
"Sure I can!"
"Gennai!" the kids exclaimed at the holographic image that appeared in front of them.
"Greetings, digidestined," Gennai said, "I have someone who is dying to meet you. If you will all be so kind as to come to my house."
"How will we get there?" Mimi asked, "I'm not walking anymore!"
"No need for that," he said, "I already have transportation provided for you," he explained as a blue light appeared and surrouned the children.
"What is our next move, Mistressss?" Hydramon asked, bowing.
"This is perfect," a loud voice boomed, "Just perfect. The princess has returned just for me. I am so flattered. I will be sure to pay her a special visit when I get out of this pit. Thank her for all the years I've spent rotting in this hellhole."
"But now we have to deal with her and the digidestined," Yetimon piped up, "Do you think we can handle it?"
"The digidestined will be no match for me, I doubt they could even comprehend my powers!" the voice continued, "No, no, this will be between the princess and I. This time, I'll make sure she dies for real."
"How are you going to do that, when you can't even leave this cave?" Yetimon asked.
Echnidymon smiled and backhanded him into a wall, "Don't ask stupid questions. But if you must know, I'm going to draw her out. If I can't go to her, I'll bring her to me."
The digidestined landed hard on the floor of Gennai's house.
"Ow!" Joe exclaimed, "Isn't there a less painful way to land?"
Ami rolled her eyes as the digidestined began to pick themselves up.
"I'm glad you could make it, digidestined," Gennai said, "There's someone here who I'd like for you to meet," he motioned to Ami, "Digidestined, I would like to introduce the Digimon Princess."
"What's a digimon princess?" TK asked.
"Ami?" Gennai urged.
Ami sighed, "Since the creation of the digital world, the digital world was ruled by mystic digimon. They were digimon much like the ones now except they were a lot more powerful and tended to be really ugly. The most powerful of them was called Echidnymon, the mother of all digimon. Echidnymon became corrupt with power and wigged out on everyone causing death and destruction wherever she went. One of the guardians prophesized the coming of the Digimon Princess, a child from the other world that would set the good digimon free by releasing the light of goodness and dispelling the evil digimon created by Echnidymon and her followers," Ami said mechanically, "Guess what? I'm that princess. Yeah, I couldn't believe it much myself either. Anyway, I was basically dragged her and spent a very long time, fighting the forces of evil in the digital world. Finally, I defeated Echnidymon, sealed her in a big cave. But now she's back, I guess she dug her way out or something, whatever, doesn't matter. Now, I have to defeat her again before she goes postal on everyone...again. Any questions?"
The kids looked at each other.
"So are you a digimon?" TK asked, raising his hand.
"No."
"You came to the digital world before we did?" Izzy asked.
"Yes."
"So if you have to defeat Echnidymon by yourself, then why are we here?" Matt asked.
"That's a really good question," Ami said, turning to Gennai, "Why are they here?"
"That's easy," Tai said, "We have to work together if we want to beat this Echnidymon."
"It won't work," Ami said, "I'm the only one that can destroy her."
"Why's that?"
"You don't know what she's capable of, you have no idea. She truly is a monster and she'll rip you apart the first chance she gets. She's not like any of the other clowns you've dealt with in the past," Ami argued, "There's no motive behind what she does, it's just death and destruction. She does this because she likes to see others suffer. She's evil and maligned and like nothing you've ever gone up against. Are you prepared to handle that?"
Tai gulped.
"Well if you insist on handling her yourself..." Joe said, laughing nervously, "There's no point in us stopping you."
"Joe!" Sora exclaimed.
"Uh-oh," Gennai said, worriedly.
"What is it?" Tai asked.
"There's trouble in the forest, not far from here," he said, "Some digimon are being attacked."
"Oh no!" Kari exclaimed, "We have to help!"
"Right!" Tai shouted, taking the lead, "Come on, gang, let's go!"
The group started to head out of the door when Ami stopped them, "No!"
They stopped and turned around.
"Don't," she said slowly, "It's a trap."
"How do you know?" Matt asked suspiciously.
"I just do. It's Echnidymon, she's setting a trap for me."
"Then you stay here, while we go and help those digimon," Tai said.
"Okay," Ami said condescendingly, "Maybe you don't understand me. It is a trap. If you guys go, you'll get killed. Understand?"
"Well what are we supposed to do, we can't just sit here and do nothing," Matt argued.
"That's exactly what you should do," Ami said, "This isn't your fight!"
"Well it doesn't matter," Tai said, walking away, "I'm going to help those digimon whether I have to go by myself or not. Come on Agumon!"
"Right," his digimon said following.
After Tai left, the rest eventually followed in his lead.
"What are they doing?" she asked Gennai, "They're idiots! Don't they know that they'll get killed?!"
"They know," Gennai said, "They just don't care. I remember when you used to be like that."