ABOVE & BEYOND ~ PART 4
Prince Saffron returned to his bride to be with a sinister smirk plastered on his face. He appalled Kari, but she remembered what she had to do and tried to let it slide. "My love, I have captured the remaining Digidestined children and the most perfect prize of all, the Julip Crystal." Kari's eyes widened in horror and once again she had to regain her composure to keep the act going. "Come now Kari, we shall be married at once and you shall be my princess." Kari bowed in respect to the Prince (all the while hating it) and replied "I am most honored my Lord." Soon she, Gatomon and Saffron were making their way to the castle hall.When entering the hall Kari looked down quickly to make sure that Saffron still had his freeze ray with him. He did, so she looked around for any sign of Tk instead. She found he and Patamon hiding behind one of the statues at the back of the hall and winked at him as if to say that all was going according to plan. They reached the altar where one of the Brachanimon would be performing the ceremony and Kari was shocked to see the frozen silhouettes of six of her friends looking down at her from the platform. She turned to the Prince and muttered "nice touch." He smiled approvingly.
The ceremony commenced and Gatomon scattered the deadened roses across the castle floor. Music that sounded like a death march filled the room and the Brachanimon priest took his place. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the partnership of Prince Saffron and Kari," the digimon began. Saffron glared at him angrily. "Just get it done!" He barked and the Brachanimon continued. Kari was given a black ring to place on her finger as well as a tiara for her head. "If anyone here thinks that these two should not be married, please speak now or forever hold you horses." The Brachanimon concluded his part and waited for someone to speak. "There's no one else here you idiot!" Saffron yelled.
As planned Tk jumped out from behind the statue and shouted. "I object!" Prince Saffron fell into place perfectly. He was distracted by the boy's sudden appearance and Kari used that chance to snatch the gun from his majesty. "Patamon digivolve to Angemon! Gatomon digivolve to Angewomon!" The transformed in unison and headed straight for Saffron. Kari had taken the gun up to the platform and started freeing their friends, while Tk shut and locked the hall door to avoid any further threat from the Brachanimon.
"You fools! You're ruining everything!" Saffron yelled in a blind rage. Angemon and Angewomon had attacked him with full strength, but even with distraction Saffron could not be taken down so easily. Kari had finished unfreezing everybody and Togemon, Greymon, Garurumon, Birdramon, Ikkakumon and Kabutarimon had soon joined the fight! The Digidestined were reunited and they were seeking justice.
A mess of digi-attacks flew toward Saffron all at once, but he dodged every one of them. "Wow, he's fast!" Matt exclaimed as Garurumon's Howling Blaster missed by a long shot. Sora gasped as Birdramon's Meteor Wing suffered the same fate. "Even without my ray gun you are no match for me." Saffron laughed as he pulled a large black whip out of his pocket. "Now you will feel the true wrath of Prince Saffron!" He yelled violently.
"The Digidestined won't suffer the same fate Saffron. You can be sure of that!" Tai yelled back. The Digidestined huddled together to combine strength as they watched their digimon attack once again with full force. Saffron raised the whip into the air and called out "Evil's Sting!" He cracked his whip against the ground and several black strands of black electricity crawled across the ground and sent the digimon flying. "No guys, don't give up!" Mimi encouraged. "Digivolve!" Izzy and Joe shouted in unison.
A buzz of reacting digivices filled the air as champion digimon transformed to ultimate and fought hard against the evil prince's attempts. As the battle raged on the Brachanimon all around the castle raced to the scene, but were unable to interfere because of the locked door. As the number of digimon outside of the room increased though, the door began to give way to the weight. Matt, Sora, Joe and Izzy ran to hold the door back against the raging Brachanimon. "Do something guys! Hurry, we can't hold them back much longer!" Sora yelled to the remaining fighters. "Don't worry Sora. We've got it covered!" Tai yelled back.
Saffron cracked the whip over and over again to hold back the approaching digimon, but he was getting tired and he wouldn't be able to do it for much longer. Kari ran over to Tk and whispered something into his ear. He nodded and turned to Magnaangemon. "Let's turn up the heat Magnaangemon! Take to the sky!" "You too Angewomon! Go!"" Kari yelled to her angel digimon. The guardians of light and hope did as they were told and took flight where Saffron's attacks were useless.
"Hurry!" The four kids at the door cried out in pain as the door behind them began to crumble. Soon the angry Brachanimon would enter the room and the kid's fate would be sealed. "Do it now our angels!" Tk and Kari held hands tightly and gave the signal hoping for a miracle. "Heaven's Charm!" Angewomon cried. "Gate of Destiny!" Magnaangemon's attack followed. The force was too great for the evil prince and he was sucked into the abyss just as the kid's strength gave way and the Brachanimon barged in.
"Oh no!" Mimi cried out in horror as hundreds of alien digimon flooded into the room. The Digidestined and digimon (who were all back in training) coward at the back of the room as the mob advanced. Then suddenly they stopped dead in their tracks. The Digidestined held their breath, waiting to see what would happen next. But instead of cries of evil and pain, the Digidestined were astonished to here shouts of joy and praise coming from the Brachan inhabitants.
"You've saved us children. Thank you!" Said one. "Prince Saffron's spell and evil reign have been broken!" Exclaimed another alien digi. The elder Digidestined watched with great gladness as Takeru and Hikari were hoisted above the heads of the castle staff and praised for their efforts. "They deserve it." Tai commented. "They sure do." Said Matt quietly. The Digidestined followed Tk, Kari and the Brachanimon out into the courtyard where they had a huge party to celebrate.
When the party came to a close, the children said goodbye to their alien digimon companions and along with the Julip Crystal, returned to DSS where they freed Andromon and Gazimon and explained the whole story. The space station operators were very glad to hear that there would no longer be a threat to the Digital Space Station and thanked the Digidestined for their help. The two took Tk aside and apologized once again for their earlier behavior. "Don't sweat it you two." He said kindly. "Kari and I have no hard feelings."
After a delicious dinner and a good night sleep the Digidestined climbed aboard Gennai's ship and started back home. They waved goodbye to their space station friends and headed off toward Digital Earth. "What an adventure!" Tai smiled, thinking back on the events. "What adventure Tai? We were frozen solid for more than half of it." Izzy pointed out. "If anything it was Tk and Kari who saved the world this time!" Joe announced proudly. "Yeah! You two really pulled it off. Way to go!" Sora exclaimed. "Good going baby bro!" Matt had to at least get a word out. "Thanks guys! I was really nothing." Tk smiled modestly. "You're my hero Takeru." Kari said sweetly and kissed her boyfriend softly. "And you're mine Patamon!" Gatomon did the same. "Uh guys?" The kids and Digimon all turned to hear what Mimi had to say. "I've gotta go to the washroom."
Tk and Kari sat on the windowsill of her bedroom gazing through the telescope at the night sky. "You still think it's just a pile of junk Tk?" Kari teased him about his earlier comments. "You know what? I think it's the most beautiful thing in the whole world." Tk smiled as he watched the stars twinkle. "I love you Takeru." Kari whispered the words softly in his ear and they melted his heart. "I love you too Hikari. Above and beyond the stars."
~MPF