This fic will most likely never be finished by me. However the fic I'm now working on was spawned from this. I started this one towards the beginning of last school year I believe. If anyone wants they can finish it. In fact I think I'll Challenge any of the great writers out there in ff.net land to finish this fic. If anyone decides to make any headway on this e-mail me. Firenezumi@hotmail.com, thanks. Now where did that burn cream go? Sorry about the chapters but the story seems to be to big.
The Digi-Destined and their Digimon were walking through a dense forest. No one was talking, they were all just admiring the beauty of their surroundings. Then they heard the sound of fighting and metal clashing against metal. "What's that sound?" Mimi asked.
Just as Matt was about to answer, a tree began falling about fifty feet ahead. As they saw the tree fall they began to run towards it as if at some unspoken command. The sounds of combat grew louder as the group got closer to the area where the tree had fallen. As they reached the downed tree the sound of battle ended with a loud clang followed by a slight whistling ending in a thunk as a familiar sword was embedded in the tree stump. Before anyone could react they heard Leomon's voice shout "Fist of the Beast King!!"
Without waiting for anyone else Tai took off with Agumon in tow. "Don't worry Leomon, we'll help you," Tai yelled as he ran.
Tai and Agumon stopped abruptly as they entered a clearing. They couldn't move, they were to amazed by what they saw. Standing in the clearing was Leomon and he was facing a human holding a small sword and a shield that looked like a huge digivice, he was wearing a dark blue shirt, jeans, and black shoes. Neither of the two had seemed to notice Tai or Agumon.
"Hey, that was cheating! We agreed 'no energy attacks'. Remember?" The boy shouted, looking rather pissed.
"You really think evil digimon will fight fair?" Leomon asked him.
"Well, I hadn't thought of that," the boy responded calming down, some. "Alright, so you want to play rough, eh? Okay, then get ready, 'cause here it comes. Blazing Glory!!" the boy shouted as his his shield began to glow. suddenly it spewed forth what appeared to be liquid fire.
"Quick, Agumon digivolve so you can help Leomon," Tai said. What's going on? Tai wondered.
"Right, Agumon digivolve to...Greymon!" Agumon yelled as he jumped into the clearing and took the blow meant for Leomon. "Ah, Leomon. So now let me guess your trying to teach me that evil digimon gang up on their foes?" the boy asked, "Well, it doesn't matter I'll just take him on to. Hmm, he's big, I think I'll need a WAR HAMMER!" The short sword started glowing in the kids hand. It shifted from sword to hammer as Tai watched, amazed. "That's impossible! I must be dreaming." Tai said to himself.
"I really hope you don't mind some broken toes big guy," the boy mocked, "get ready, 'cause here I come... YAHHH!!! Huh? What the...?"
Now Tai was thoroughly confused seeing that the boy had let go of the hammer and it was just hanging in mid air. Greymon decided to take advantage of the situation and kicked at the kid. The boy, seeing Greymon pull his leg back to kick him, brought his shield to bear just in time to protect him self as Greymon's foot slammed into the oversized digivice. As Greymon's foot hit the shield both the shield and Greymon started glowing. The shield emitted a high pitched sound as Greymon de-digivolved back to Agumon.
"Serves you right you dishonorable little worm," the boy said cruelly as he grabbed his hammer which was still floating in the air. It was at this moment the rest of the group caught up with Tai and Agumon. There was a collective gasp as everyone comprehended what they had just seen. Sora recovered first, running over to Tai who was kneeling over an unconscious Agumon. While Sora was talking to Tai everyone else was watching the boy, who was talking to his weapon.
"What the hells wrong with you?!? I coulda died!" the boy yelled then stopped as if listening to something and it seemed that the hammer started to glow just a little. "Great, just great, there's nothing as fun as a smart-ass sword," he muttered. "Excuse me, sir, but that appears to be a large hammer, not a sword," Tentomon said stepping forward. "Huh, What? Oh, it's just a bug. But, hey when your right you right, even if your a bug. Okay Hammer, return to form:SHORT SWORD." the boy said to the hammer, which immediately started glowing and changed into a sword. "Prodigious," Izzy exclaimed. "May I examine that weapon?" Izzy asked taking several steps forward in his excitement.
"BACK OFF SHORTY!! No one but me touches this weapon." the boy yelled almost panicking. "Oh, you mean, now I can't use it?" said a feminine voice from behind the boy. He turned to face a girl wearing a black T-shirt, dark blue jeans, a single crimson glove on her right hand hand and a pair of beat up looking boots. She was carrying a folded up blue coat with red on the shoulders and elbows. He said "Well, I changed my mind since you never let me hold your bow" "Your so immature," the girl replied somewhat annoyed. "Yeah, I know, but you love me anyway, Right?" the boy said. "I don't know maybe, or maybe I'm sick of your face," the girl retorted. The boy looked at the girl for 30 seconds, then dropped both sword and shield, fell over, and started laughing hysterically.
After a few moments of this he looked up at the girl with a semi-hurt look on his face. "You were joking, right" he asked unsure of the answer. "You know I love you, now get up," she commanded. He did so and when he was at his full height she threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately standing on her tip toes.
Digi-Destined watched the pair sheepishly, not knowing how to react to something like that. Leomon shrugged his gigantic feline shoulders. "How are we supposed to fight if you two keep doing that?"
The female stepped back and glared at Leomon. "Interrupt us again, and I'll show you a fight." She shook her gloved fist menacingly. Then she turned and faced the others. "Pardon my manners. My name is Jamie Welkins. Mr. Friendly over there is Sonkei. Who are you?"
"Fascinating. But where are your digimon?" Izzy asked, looking around.
Sonkei moved forward. "You can't own another person or digimon, but anyway we don't have digimon partners, nor do we need them. We have our weapons." he said emphasizing the word partners.
"Sonkei, be nice. But he is right; the only thing we need is our weapons." Jaime said.
Sonkei stepped closer to Jaime. "Well, maybe not the only thing." she corrected, smiling.
"Okay guys, I guess we'll camp here with our new friends tonight!" Tai yelled.
"NO WAY, you are not sleeping here and we are not your friends!" Sonkei shouted.
Jaime calmly walked up and slapped him on the back of the head, hard. "Of course you can sleep here, but you gotta help us cook" Jaime said happily.
"Wait, I smell something," Leomon said, "It smells like...Ogremon!"
"Oh, you remember me. I'm touched Leomon," Ogremon's voice said somewhere in the trees.
Sonkei drew his sword from it's scabbard and shouted, "Show yourself, dog," he yelled.
"Here I am, ready or not!" Ogremon shouted as he jumped at Sonkei. "Prepare to be deleted... Pummel Whack!"
Miraculously each strike aimed for Sonkei's head was turned aside by an arrow. "Thanks love," Sonkei said to Jaime over his shoulder, she was holding a short bow in her left hand. Just then Ogremon attacked again. After a few minutes the digimon recovered from their shock at seeing a human fighting a digimon and started to go to his aid when they were stopped by Leomon. "He has to learn to defend himself," he said calmly.
They watched as Sonkei fought. Finally he succeeded in forcing Ogremon to lose his club. But to everyone's surprise(except Leomon and Jaime), instead of finishing Ogremon he put the sword back in the scabbard and handed it to Jaime. To everyone's surprise(including Jaime and Leomon) he walked back to Ogremon and extended his hand in an offering of assistance. But instead of accepting the hand, Ogremon threw dirt into Sonkei's face and jumped to his feet. While Sonkei was trying to see Ogremon grabbed him by the neck and lifted him a good three feet off the ground.
"Hah. This is to easy. Pummel Whack!" Ogremon shouted as he repeatedly punched Sonkei in the stomach.
"Aren't you going to help him?!?" Tai shouted at Jaime who only looked at the ground, shook her head, and told him "I can't, it's not what he'd want." "Who cares about what he wants! Ogremon's not even fighting fair. If you won't help I will!" He said as he grabbed the sword and charged into battle.
Ogremon was to busy laughing at Sonkei's bruised and battered body to even realize he had been stabbed by Tai, but when he did realize it he dropped the unconscious Sonkei and began running in circles yelling, then he dropped dead and faded away.
The moment Sonkei hit the ground, Jaime threw down the scabbard and ran to his side. As soon as she reached his limp form she got down on her knees and cradled his head kissing his bruised face and apologizing repeatedly between sobs. Everyone was quiet, not knowing what they should say to Jaime.
A few hours later Sonkei woke up to the smell of fish and the sound of people talking. When he tried to sit up he felt a gentle pressure on his forehead holding him down.
"Lay back down you need your rest," Jaime said from behind him. He was about to do as she said, when Tai walked up.
"Glad your up, now you can thank me for saving your life," he told Sonkei sarcastically. "How'd you do that?" Sonkei asked with minimal interest.
"Well, actually it was pretty easy. All I did was take your sword from your girlfriend there, sneak up on Ogremon, and stab him." Tai said matter of factly.
As Tai was talking Sonkei became increasingly enraged. "You did what!?!" he yelled in his fury. Sonkei reached over beside him and grabbed his sword. In one smooth motion he had the weapon out of the scabbard and up against Tai's throat. "I thought I told you not to touch my sword. I thought I heard Leomon tell you to stay out of it." Sonkei yelled, he then looked around and added "I thought I said you couldn't make camp anywhere near here."
"Uh, I'm sorry?" Tai said hopefully. Just as Sonkei was about to slit Tai's throat a hand reached out and grabbed the sword by the blade. Sonkei looked and saw the blood dripping from Jaime's hand as she calmly held the blade. He looked at her face and saw the sadness in her eyes. As fast as he had grabbed the blade, he removed it from Tai's throat and threw it at a tree where it stayed buried halfway into the trunk. Sonkei looked down at the ground, then at the Digidestined, then to Leomon who he realized had left while he was out since the large digimon was nowhere in sight., and finally he looked at Jaime who was holding her wrist trying to slow the flow of blood that was coming out of the gash in her hand. Sonkei turned and walked to his weapon and reached for it. As if by magic it unburied itself from the tree and returned to his hand, he then continued into the forest to think.
"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Tai said under his breath.
It had been several hours since Sonkei had left. Everyone was asleep but Jaime, who was sitting on the ground holding a dark blue coat. The bleeding had stopped and she was beginning to worry, he had never been gone so long, and he had never left his coat behind before. He always wore his coat except when he fought. As she realized this she realized he was out looking for a fight. Now she was really worried, there were many digimon in this forest, most were in Ultimate or even Mega form. As she thought of this a blue fireball flew from the forest and slammed into the ground next to her. The explosion threw her into the air as she screamed in surprise.
Out of the forest ran Sonkei with a ripped shirt and bloody chest. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.
"Wow, you're this torn up and still you worry only for me," she said with love and admiration in her voice.
They turned as a crashing was heard and Skullmeramon burst into the clearing. "METAL FIREBALL!!" he shouted as blue flame burst forth from the tip of the chain he was twirling. Sonkei pushed Jaime out of the way and stabbed the fireball with his sword. as the blade pierced the flame, the flame dissipated and the sword glowed with an strange blue aura. Everyone had woken up as Skullmeramon came charging into the campsite, and were now staring at the sword which was pulsating with the power stored within it.
Unfortunately Skullmeramon came out of his trance first and, to everyone's horror, he lashed out at Jaime with his chain whip. Even though the whip wasn't sharp it moved at amazing speeds, so fast that when the tip of the chain hit her chest it kept on going until it appeared out her other side. She knew she was dying and she couldn't even tell Sonkei how much she loved him, as the chain had obliterated her lung.
As Jaime struck the ground she released her grip on Sonkei's coat, it flew into the air and over Sonkei's head. Without even realizing it, Sonkei threw the sword into the air and did a high backflip and caught the coat and put it on in one smooth motion. When he landed he calmly reached out and caught the glowing sword. He looked to Jaime laying on the ground, who he assumed was dead already, then to the sword and screamed. It was not the scream of a man in great agony, but the scream of a man who had just witnessed his destiny. His scream interrupted the Digimon who had just digivolved to fight Skullmeramon. Everyone, except Jaime, turned and stared as Sonkei slowly zipped up his coat and pulled up his hood. As he raised the glowing blade above his head he said "Jaime... I will be with you shortly. Please, forgive my cowardice."
When he finished he plunged the still pulsating sword deep into his stomach. A single tear slipped down his cheek as he finished gutting himself, but instead of blood a ray of pure light energy erupted from the self-inflicted wound. In surprised Sonkei pulled out the sword and noticed it no longer was glowing.
He felt a sudden stretching as his stomach healed. There was a loud, powerful thrumming sound coming from his shield that was still by the fire where he had left it. Sonkei's skin began glowing the same blue as the sword had been but it was swirling like a liquid. After a few seconds of humming the shield apparently decided to do something more noticeable so it fired a beam of golden light straight at Sonkei. The beam was absorbed by his clothes which in turn began to glow a silver-gold color.
On impulse Sonkei raised his sword into the air and stabbed it into the ground. The earth beneath him erupted in flames, throwing everyone standing to the ground. Instead of throwing Sonkei to the ground a fountain of flames pushed him into the air and engulfed him.
When the flames disappeared Sonkei was there no more, in his place was a muscular boy in reddish-grey samurai armor holding a medieval European style shield. There were no straps holding the armor in place it was as if the armor was part of the boy's body. Then the samurai lowered to the ground and calmly walked toward a terrified Skullmeramon. "I see you enjoy other's death. We will now see how much you enjoy your own," the samurai said.
Skullmeramon fought back his fear and struck a defensive pose, his opponent was too calm, too confident. The samurai raised the shield and threw it at Skullmeramon. Skullmeramon fired many 'Metal Fireballs' at the shield to stop it's approach. All of them hit their target but it didn't even slow. In his terror Skullmeramon staggered backwards and tripped over a root just in time for the shield to fly over him and embed itself in the tree whose root he had tripped on. He breathed a sigh of relief and jumped into the offensive.
Despite his anger, Skullmeramon was getting afraid of the calm that this person was showing even under these extreme conditions. "Metal Fireball!!" Skullmeramon screamed. The blue flame slammed into the samurai's face. "Hah. How do you like that mister 'Fancy armor'?" Skullmeramon yelled with delight as he landed a hit. Everyone gasped as the samurai's head was thrown back from the force of the blow. "Actually, it was kind of bland. Here let me show you a real attack," he replied to Skullmeramon as he executed a wicked looking uppercut at the evil digimon. Caught unawares Skullmeramon fell to the ground. When he got up his eyes burned with hatred and the flame on his body went from blue to deep violet.
The digimon charged at the samurai, who dodged out of the way and smashed his fists into Skullmeramon's head. Thinking that Skullmeramon was finished he began to walk away, but the digimon jumped up and grabbed the samurai by his shoulder pads. Caught by surprise the armored boy lashed out with his feet kicking Skullmeramon causing him to lose his grip. But, just as the samurai turned to face Skullmeramon he was caught in a giant bear hug. Even through the armor the pain and heat was incredible. The samurai brought his elbows down against Skullmeramon's neck several times then he got an idea, he reached out and ripped off the digimon's mask. A feral scream erupted from Skullmeramon as he released the samurai and clutched desperately at his face. But it was to late he was already being deleted.
As soon as Skullmeramon disappeared completely the samurai walked over to the dying Jaime. She opened her eyes and looked up at him "Sonkei..." she said but was silenced by the samurai. "Shhh. Remember, I said no matter what we'd be together," he said. "I remember... I know I'm dying, please, live your life... Find someone you can be happy with... Just promise you'll never forget me, please?" she said with her last breath.
"I won't let you die like this. I intend to keep my promise," he said, and lifted his fists back and drove them into each of Jaime's lungs. " Soul Knit..." he whispered gently as his armor began to glow.
To everyone's surprise Jaime's eyes fluttered open and she gasped as she inhaled fresh air. After a few deep breaths she spoke. "Sonkei, what happened?" she asked confused. "Well, first I was attacked and you got hit, then I somehow gained this armor and killed Skullmeramon, then you died, and finally I revived you using this armors power... Don't ask how I knew to do it 'cause I don't know. In fact the only reason I know I'm not dreaming is because everyone's still staring at me." Sonkei replied, still in armor, "Come on you need to rest, I'll take you to the camp fire."
He carried her over to the camp fire and gently lay her down. Everyone was still a little stunned from what had just taken place. Tai was the first to recover. He stood up and helped Kari stand as well. Then everyone else got up and walked toward the fire. As soon as he had lay Jaime down Sonkei began to glow bright red, and the armor he was wearing burst into flames and soon went out leaving no evidence Sonkei had been on fire, except that his body was one big bruise. As the flames of the armor went out Sonkei's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell to the ground unconscious.
"Quick check and see if he's alive Joe," Tai said panicking. "It's okay he's alive," Joe said calmly. "How do you know, you didn't even check!" Tai shouted still panicking. "I know because his chest is still moving and that means he's breathing." Joe stated simply. "Oh.. I knew that I was just testing you." Tai said.
"Sure Tai, of course you did," Matt said. "Don't start with me Matt I've been under alot of pressure lately," Tai shot back angrily. "Great, here we go again," remarked Mimi as the two got into a fist fight.
"STOP IT!!! Just stop it...please," Yelled Kari as she started to cry, "I'm sick of all the fighting. Why can't you two just be nice?" "Yeah, why can't we all just get along?" TK agreed.
"I don't know ask Matt, he's the one who tried to kill us all," Tai said cruelly, knowing it would really get to Matt. "That was a long time ago, when will you people forgive me for that?" Matt said as a single tear appeared on his face. Tai was shocked, Matt never cried, well maybe a few times, but he never cried at something Tai said.
Sora stood up from where she had been sitting and walked over to Matt. "Hey, it's alright, we've forgiven you already," she told him gently and shot an angry glance at Tai. Kari walked up to Tai and said, "That was mean Tai, you know he didn't mean to do that stuff." Her voice held more maturity than anyone should have to have at her age. Mimi walked up and said something to Tai but he wasn't even listening, not only had Sora taken Matt's side but his little sister had just said he was mean, and the worst part was she had sounded disappointed in him. Now that hurts, Tai thought sadly. He knew what he needed to do and really hated it.
He slowly walked over to Matt. "Matt, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that, I guess I wasn't thinking," he said. "As usual," Sora said under her breath. "It's okay, I shouldn't have been ragging on you," Matt told him.
The next day everyone woke up at about the same time. They had all been so exhausted that no one had stayed up on sentry duty. Jaime and Sonkei were the last to awaken, they got up at the exact same time. As soon as he stretched Sonkei regretted it. He looked down at his body and unzipped his coat. His shirt was whole again, he didn't know how nor did he care really. He took off his coat and shirt and looked down at his chest. "My, what a lovely shade of purple I've become," he said as he saw the bruises. Jaime heard this and giggled at him. Sonkei experimentally touched a bruise and cried out in pain. Jaime's giggle turned into a worried gasp. "Oh my god! Are you okay?" she asked. "Well other than the fact that I'm a walking bruise and that I think Skullmeramon cracked some of my ribs I'm great," he said with much sarcasm. "Oh, well, as long as your okay, I'm going down to the river to wash," Jaime told him.
As Jaime walked towards the river Sora got up and followed. When Jaime reached the river she put her hands in and splashed her face. After the water hit her face she stood up. "Alright I know your their you can come out," she said as she turned. Sora walked out and apologized for sneaking up on her. "So why did you follow me," Jaime asked impatiently. "I...Uh...I wanted to ask you something. It's about you and Sonkei." Sora said nervously. "No you can't have him he's mine and I plan on keeping it that way, so you can just go find someone else." Jaime said angrily. "No, no, that's not what I meant. I wanted to ask you how you knew he liked you. How did you tell him what you felt?" Sora said hurriedly. "Oh, I get it you like someone and he doesn't know it right?" Jaime said smiling, "Let me guess it's Matt, right?" "No, it's not him it's...it's... Tai," Sora said looking down, "But don't tell him. Okay?" " Okay I won't tell him, I promise. That is if you tell him before two days are up, if you haven't told him I will, I do so love playing match-maker. Anyway, you see I didn't know how he felt until I told him how I felt. We had just been attacked by an evil digimon and Sonkei had gotten his arm cut off, I thought he would die from the blood loss and so I told him my feelings before he blacked out," "He got his arm cut off!! but that's impossible he still has both arms!!" Sora said. "Excuse me I wasn't done. Anyway a few minutes after he blacked out the bleeding stopped, and a few weeks after that his arm grew back. We were both amazed, I guess that's just what happens when you lose a limb in the Digiworld." Jaime finished.
Just then Tai walked out of the trees, "What are you two talking about?" he asked curiosly. "Nothing Tai, it's none of your business," Sora told him quickly. At that moment Gomamon poked his head out of the water, "Hey Tai, I'll tell you what they were talking about," he told Tai and dodged as Sora and Jaime both threw handfuls of mud at him. "What did they say?" Tai asked curiosly. "Well, it turns out that Sora LIKES someone," Gomamon replied. "Who?" Tai asked with even more interest. "She likes..." He was cut off as a handful of mud hit him in the face causing him to stop swimming and sink below the surface. Sora took this chance to jump up and push Tai out of voice range of Gomamon. "Remember Sora, two days." Jaime said as Sora and Tai vanished into the foliage.
As soon as Tai and Sora were out of veiw Jaime turned to Gomamon. "Now Gomamon, you had better promise that you won't tell Tai what was said," She told the seal-like digimon. "Okay, I won't, I promise," he said. "Good, I hope you plan on keeping that promise. You don't want to know what Sonkei does to digimon who don't honor their promises," She told him in a way that would have caused him to turn pale if he weren't already white.
"Come on Sora tell me who you like," Tai begged as she pushed him. "No, Tai I'm not going to," she said, annoyed. "Fine. What did she mean 'two days'?" Tai asked. "She said if I didn't tell y..him in two days she would tell him for me," Sora said heatedly.
"Hey, Where's Jaime at?" Sonkei asked as the two entered the campsite. "She's washing her face," Sora told him. Sonkei groaned quietly as he tried to stand. "Hey. Hey! Lay back down you need to rest!" Sora said quickly as she saw him sit up, "Besides, I thought you said you had cracked ribs." "Nah, it just feels like it, besides I heal fast." Sonkei said with a short laugh and then grimaced in pain as he put pressure on a bruise. "Hey!! Sit down you stupid, pigheaded idiot," Jaime said running into the clearing. Sonkei smiled mischieviously. "Only if you sit with me," he told her. "Fine, if it'll make you sit still," she said. As she went to sit next to him, he reached up and grabbed her waist and pulled her down on top of him. "Oww," Sonkei cried as she landed on a particularly nasty discolored spot. "You idiot, I can't believe you did that," Jaime yelled at him, as everyone else smiled and tried to keep from laughing at the pair. "I guess it was a little stupid," Sonkei admitted quietly. "A little stupid! You could have hurt yourself," Jaime said in anger. At the anger in her voice Sonkei stopped holding her and rolled her off of him and stood up. It took him a few tries but he did it. "Sword," he said in a commanding voice. The digimon and Digidestined were surprised as the sword easily drew itself out of the ground and gracefuly floated to him. What was more surprising was the fact that no matter how hard they had tried no one had been able to remove it from where Sonkei had stabbed it into the ground the night before. Sonkei caught the sword and limped over to his shield and picked it up and walked of into the forest in the direction of the river.
"Sonkei, please come back. I'm sorry. Please, you might get hurt," Jaime begged her voice full of concern. At the sound of her voice Sonkei stopped for a few seconds then took off running. When he reached the river he threw his sword into the air, jumped over the river and caught the weapon in his hand in mid-air. As soon as he landed on the other side of the river he lunged forward and swung the sword at a tree. The sword sliced through the tree with no problem. Sonkei had a satisfied smile on his face as he looked under his shirt and saw that the bruises were fading already. The sword glowed for a second then reformed as a war hammer. Sonkei looked at the hammer and wondered how it had known what he wanted it to do before he told it. " Well, if it isn't broken don't fix it." Sonkei said to himself. He swung the hammer at another tree. where the hammer struck it the trunk shattered like glass, into billions of tiny slivers. The tree stayed upright for a half second, as if not realizing there was nothing holding it up. Then it fell, right towards Sonkei. For some reason Sonkei wasn't scared. He felt a familiar warmth as the hammer changed to a quarterstaff. He placed both hands on it and raised it over is head expecting it to snap in two when the tree hit it. Instead the tree snapped as if it were a twig. The top half landed behind him by about a two feet, as the bottom half landed at his feet, mere inches from his left foot.
He thought of what could have happened right then and his face paled visibly even under the bruises. He looked back at the top half then turned to the bottom half. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he fainted.
When he regained consciousness before he opened his eyes he noticed his face was wet. Confused, he opened his eyes and saw it was dark. He realized his head was elevated and turned to see what he was up against. When he turned he saw that he had been leaning against Jaime, who was now asleep, leaning against a tree.
Her face had tear streaks running down it. She had been crying. With a shock he realized that it had been his fault she had been crying. It suddenly became difficult to breathe. He cursed his weakness as tears started flowing from his own eyes, he couldn't stand the thought that he had hurt her. He saw her shiver in her sleep so he stood and picked her up and carried her over to the fire and set her down, careful not to wake anyone up. he was about to walk back to where he had been when she woke up but stopped when he heard her voice. "Please stay, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you," she said quietly. He felt powerless to do anything but what she asked.
He walked back and kneeled next to her. "It was my fault, I'm sorry I pushed you away like that. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me, I know I don't deserve it, but please?" he asked, ashamed of what he'd done. "Of course you deserve it, you are forgiven. You know that I'd forgive you for anything no matter what," she said in a tender, loving voice, "I was afraid I'd lost you when I saw you laying their by the tree, could you just stay with me tonight?" as she spoke a tear rolled down her cheek. For an answer Sonkei reached over and pulled her to him, he smiled gently and kissed her cheek and the tear. As he lay down, she rested her head on his chest. Sonkei pulled the sides of his coat together and zipped it up halfway, enough to keep her warm but not to much as to the point she couldn't breathe. For the first time in his life he felt totally at peace with himself.
"Okay lovebirds. Time to get up," Tai shouted in Sonkei and Jaime's face. Sonkei jumped up instantly. Caught by surprise he tried to wrap a protective arm around Jaime but stopped when he remembered she was still zipped up in his coat. When he realized where he was he gave Tai look that put more fear into Tai than Venomyotismon had. "Uh.. Sorry about that, it won't happen again," said a very worried Tai. "It's okay. We've slept too long as it is. I really should thank you." Sonkei told him. "Uh, sure no prob. Anytime." Tai said confused,
"Hey Jaime, I just realized something." "What?" she asked. "Where's your bow?" Tai asked. "It's in my pocket." she stated simply. "What?!? How?!?" Tai shouted, confused. "I don't know. Whenever I go to put it in my pocket it shrinks and when take it out it grows. I don't know how. But, as Sonkei tells me constantly: 'If it's not broken, don't fix it.' So I don't." she replied. Izzy's attention had been caught by Tai's outburst. "May I see it? Please?" Izzy said, walking over. "Uh, sure. But be careful." she told him. "Okay, don't worry." Izzy said. Jaime reached into her right pocket and pulled out what looked like a plastic toy bow. Suddenly, it distorted and stretched. When it was done it was the same size that it had been when Ogremon attacked. "Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed. There was a loud gasp and the small group turned to see that everyone else had been watching the display. "Lemme see, lemme see!" TK shouted from the back. Matt moved over and let TK see. "Wow." he said. "Okay, enough gawking, let's get going. That is why you yelled in my face, right? Or did you just want to see if you could scare me?" Sonkei said to Tai. A few minutes later, they packed up and left.
An hour later the group came to a cross-road. Tai wanted to head towards the mountains while Matt thought they should keep on going the way they were headed. As usual they started arguing. Figuring they would be awhile Sonkei sat down and closed his eyes. Sonkei wasn't really listening to the two argue until a particular sentence caught his attention. "You want me to shove this fist down your throat?" Tai yelled. "Bring it on!" Matt yelled back. After hearing this and the sound of a fist connecting with a face Sonkei's eyes snapped open. "Ooh, goody. A fight, finally some excitement." he yelled as he jumped into the fray. Before Sora could break it up Tai fell to the ground followed by Matt. As Tai started to get up Sora noticed he was favoring his stomach. Matt stood and whiped blood from his mouth. Sonkei had a hand to his cheek looking kind of shocked. "You slapped me!!" he said, "You actually slapped me! I don't believe it. Not even my little sister slapped. Granted she bit, but she didn't slap. Are you sure you shouldn't be wearing a dress Tai?" Sora walked over to Tai and asked if he was okay. Kari walked up to Sonkei, "You leave my brother alone, that was mean," she said in defense of her brother. "You really care about your brother don't you? My sister would have walked up and laughed at me. How do you gain such respect? The only people who respect me are Jaime and Leomon... Well actually Leomon treats me like I'm still a kid, and Jaime... I think she just tries to humor me. How do you do it?" Sonkei asked him curiosly. "Well, it comes with being leader." Tai said with a smile. As Matt heard this he made a gagging motion and Jaime cracked up laughing. "What about your parents? And speaking of family, you never told us your last name." Sora spoke up. At the mention of parents Sonkei flinched. "Sonkei's parents are dead. They've been dead for ten years now. His sister's actually been dead for eight. She died when her and Sonkei got hit by a drunk driver. He doesn't know his last name, the accident caused him to have partial amnesia." Jaime informed everyone. "Shut up!!" Sonkei said quietly, then realizing what he had just said and to who he turned to face her, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. It just hurts. And the fact that you were talking as if I wasn't here didn't help much." "It's okay. I'm sorry too. I should've let you answer." Jaime said. "How do you know so much about him?" Joe asked. "The orphanage where he lived was next door to my apartment. I would go down and talk to him every once in a while." Jaime said. "Come on, let's get going. I hate it when I'm woken up early for nothin'." Sonkei informed everyone, giving Tai an evil grin, as if to say 'You'll live to regret waking me up'.
After a while they decided to climb the mountain. As they walked up a long, winding trail they started to hear music. "Where's that coming from?" Mimi asked. "I don't know but it sounds kinda familiar," Joe stated. "Yeah, it feels like I've been here before." Agumon said.
When they reached the top they gasped at what they saw. "It...it's the Gekomon castle." Palmon exclaimed. "Cool a castle. That means knights, and knights means swords!" Sonkei yelled in uncharacteristic excitement. As Sonkei approached the gates two Gekomon appeared and lowered spears at his chest. "Who dares approach the castle of Lord Emperorgekomon?!" one demanded. "Wait a minute! Look behind him! It's Princess Mimi!!" the second shouted. As soon as the words were out of his mouth both Gekomon dropped to one knee. "Please Princess, come stay with us for a while. It's been so long. We will throw a grand ball and feast in your honor." the first said. "Well, when you put it like that of course we'll stay." the digimon said as they started pushing and dragging Mimi to the castle, everyone just shrugged and followed.
Inside everyone dropped everything and bowed to 'Princess' Mimi. "Please get up, you're embarrassing me." Mimi said. "Yes, your highness." the Gekomon and Otamamon said as they stood. "It's just Mimi now." she said. "Yes, your high... yes Mimi." they said. Then a very large froglike digimon entered. "Where's my food? I ordered it served 15 minutes ago. What are you looking at?" it said, "Oh, hello. I thought I'd never see you again. I'm sorry about what happened last time. I was just grumpy." when he saw the confused looks the Digidestined gave him he added, "I am Emperorgekomon. Mega form of Shogungekomon." The Digidestined were quiet as they soaked up this information. "Why are you people standing here?" he bellowed at the Gekomon and Otamamon, "We must prepare a royal banquet!" Everyone cheered. "Oh no. I don't have anything to wear!" Mimi shouted over the cheers. "Don't worry. We'll get all of you dressed up in proper attire." the Gekomon said.
A few hours later everything was set up, everyone had a bath and gotten dressed. The boys were down stairs waiting by the tables of food. Agumon and Gabumon had gotten bored so the decided to see who could fit the most apples into his mouth. So far Gabumon was winning, 4-3. "Why do girls take so long to get ready?" Tai asked. "You'll have to ask them." Sonkei replied. All of a sudden they heard a choking sound and turned to find that Patamon had decided to join in Agumon and Gabumoa's game but had started choking after the second apple. Tentomon quickly got up and slapped his back making him spit out the apples. This started Agumon laughing, then it caused him to choke, which got Gabumon laughing and caused him to start choking but he managed to swallow on his own. He then helped Agumon. "Maybe we should call it a tie," suggested Gabumon. "Sure," Agumon and Patamon agreed. Tai, Matt, and Izzy gasped as Mimi came down the stairs looking absolutely gorgeous, Palmon following her, both wearing the same dress they had been wearing when Tai, Agumon, Joe, and Gomamon had found them. Kari came down the stairs behind Mimi, Gatomon by her side, Kari was wearing a blue ball gown, while Gatomon had opted to not wear a dress. When the two girls and their digimon reached the guys they recieved many compliments on their dresses and such. After a few minutes Jaime appeared at the top of the stairs. She reached the bottom and started walking towards the group, but was stopped halfway by Sonkei.
Sonkei took her hand bowed down on one knee and kissed her hand. When he rose he looked into her eyes. "May I have this dance?" he asked offering his arm to her. "My, my. What a gentleman. I would say yes but there's no music." she said. "So? Since when have we needed a reason to do something?" he asked her. "Alright, I will dance with you." she told him accepting his arm. They walked to the middle of the large floor. He turned to face her and put his right arm around her waist as she put her left hand on his shoulder. In his left hand he took her right. As they began to dance a few of the Gekomon started to play a slow waltz.
Tai smiled when he saw Kari walk up to TK and convince him to try dancing. It took a few minutes but she convinced him. As they walked out onto the dance floor Matt smiled at his little brother's attempts to dance. After awhile the two youngest Digidestined stopped to watch Sonkei and Jaime. When they thought they had the movements memorized they tried again. They didn't do very good, but it was a lot closer to actually dancing.
The Digi-Destined and their Digimon were walking through a dense forest. No one was talking, they were all just admiring the beauty of their surroundings. Then they heard the sound of fighting and metal clashing against metal. "What's that sound?" Mimi asked.
Just as Matt was about to answer, a tree began falling about fifty feet ahead. As they saw the tree fall they began to run towards it as if at some unspoken command. The sounds of combat grew louder as the group got closer to the area where the tree had fallen. As they reached the downed tree the sound of battle ended with a loud clang followed by a slight whistling ending in a thunk as a familiar sword was embedded in the tree stump. Before anyone could react they heard Leomon's voice shout "Fist of the Beast King!!"
Without waiting for anyone else Tai took off with Agumon in tow. "Don't worry Leomon, we'll help you," Tai yelled as he ran.
Tai and Agumon stopped abruptly as they entered a clearing. They couldn't move, they were to amazed by what they saw. Standing in the clearing was Leomon and he was facing a human holding a small sword and a shield that looked like a huge digivice, he was wearing a dark blue shirt, jeans, and black shoes. Neither of the two had seemed to notice Tai or Agumon.
"Hey, that was cheating! We agreed 'no energy attacks'. Remember?" The boy shouted, looking rather pissed.
"You really think evil digimon will fight fair?" Leomon asked him.
"Well, I hadn't thought of that," the boy responded calming down, some. "Alright, so you want to play rough, eh? Okay, then get ready, 'cause here it comes. Blazing Glory!!" the boy shouted as his his shield began to glow. suddenly it spewed forth what appeared to be liquid fire.
"Quick, Agumon digivolve so you can help Leomon," Tai said. What's going on? Tai wondered.
"Right, Agumon digivolve to...Greymon!" Agumon yelled as he jumped into the clearing and took the blow meant for Leomon. "Ah, Leomon. So now let me guess your trying to teach me that evil digimon gang up on their foes?" the boy asked, "Well, it doesn't matter I'll just take him on to. Hmm, he's big, I think I'll need a WAR HAMMER!" The short sword started glowing in the kids hand. It shifted from sword to hammer as Tai watched, amazed. "That's impossible! I must be dreaming." Tai said to himself.
"I really hope you don't mind some broken toes big guy," the boy mocked, "get ready, 'cause here I come... YAHHH!!! Huh? What the...?"
Now Tai was thoroughly confused seeing that the boy had let go of the hammer and it was just hanging in mid air. Greymon decided to take advantage of the situation and kicked at the kid. The boy, seeing Greymon pull his leg back to kick him, brought his shield to bear just in time to protect him self as Greymon's foot slammed into the oversized digivice. As Greymon's foot hit the shield both the shield and Greymon started glowing. The shield emitted a high pitched sound as Greymon de-digivolved back to Agumon.
"Serves you right you dishonorable little worm," the boy said cruelly as he grabbed his hammer which was still floating in the air. It was at this moment the rest of the group caught up with Tai and Agumon. There was a collective gasp as everyone comprehended what they had just seen. Sora recovered first, running over to Tai who was kneeling over an unconscious Agumon. While Sora was talking to Tai everyone else was watching the boy, who was talking to his weapon.
"What the hells wrong with you?!? I coulda died!" the boy yelled then stopped as if listening to something and it seemed that the hammer started to glow just a little. "Great, just great, there's nothing as fun as a smart-ass sword," he muttered. "Excuse me, sir, but that appears to be a large hammer, not a sword," Tentomon said stepping forward. "Huh, What? Oh, it's just a bug. But, hey when your right you right, even if your a bug. Okay Hammer, return to form:SHORT SWORD." the boy said to the hammer, which immediately started glowing and changed into a sword. "Prodigious," Izzy exclaimed. "May I examine that weapon?" Izzy asked taking several steps forward in his excitement.
"BACK OFF SHORTY!! No one but me touches this weapon." the boy yelled almost panicking. "Oh, you mean, now I can't use it?" said a feminine voice from behind the boy. He turned to face a girl wearing a black T-shirt, dark blue jeans, a single crimson glove on her right hand hand and a pair of beat up looking boots. She was carrying a folded up blue coat with red on the shoulders and elbows. He said "Well, I changed my mind since you never let me hold your bow" "Your so immature," the girl replied somewhat annoyed. "Yeah, I know, but you love me anyway, Right?" the boy said. "I don't know maybe, or maybe I'm sick of your face," the girl retorted. The boy looked at the girl for 30 seconds, then dropped both sword and shield, fell over, and started laughing hysterically.
After a few moments of this he looked up at the girl with a semi-hurt look on his face. "You were joking, right" he asked unsure of the answer. "You know I love you, now get up," she commanded. He did so and when he was at his full height she threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately standing on her tip toes.
Digi-Destined watched the pair sheepishly, not knowing how to react to something like that. Leomon shrugged his gigantic feline shoulders. "How are we supposed to fight if you two keep doing that?"
The female stepped back and glared at Leomon. "Interrupt us again, and I'll show you a fight." She shook her gloved fist menacingly. Then she turned and faced the others. "Pardon my manners. My name is Jamie Welkins. Mr. Friendly over there is Sonkei. Who are you?"
"Fascinating. But where are your digimon?" Izzy asked, looking around.
Sonkei moved forward. "You can't own another person or digimon, but anyway we don't have digimon partners, nor do we need them. We have our weapons." he said emphasizing the word partners.
"Sonkei, be nice. But he is right; the only thing we need is our weapons." Jaime said.
Sonkei stepped closer to Jaime. "Well, maybe not the only thing." she corrected, smiling.
"Okay guys, I guess we'll camp here with our new friends tonight!" Tai yelled.
"NO WAY, you are not sleeping here and we are not your friends!" Sonkei shouted.
Jaime calmly walked up and slapped him on the back of the head, hard. "Of course you can sleep here, but you gotta help us cook" Jaime said happily.
"Wait, I smell something," Leomon said, "It smells like...Ogremon!"
"Oh, you remember me. I'm touched Leomon," Ogremon's voice said somewhere in the trees.
Sonkei drew his sword from it's scabbard and shouted, "Show yourself, dog," he yelled.
"Here I am, ready or not!" Ogremon shouted as he jumped at Sonkei. "Prepare to be deleted... Pummel Whack!"
Miraculously each strike aimed for Sonkei's head was turned aside by an arrow. "Thanks love," Sonkei said to Jaime over his shoulder, she was holding a short bow in her left hand. Just then Ogremon attacked again. After a few minutes the digimon recovered from their shock at seeing a human fighting a digimon and started to go to his aid when they were stopped by Leomon. "He has to learn to defend himself," he said calmly.
They watched as Sonkei fought. Finally he succeeded in forcing Ogremon to lose his club. But to everyone's surprise(except Leomon and Jaime), instead of finishing Ogremon he put the sword back in the scabbard and handed it to Jaime. To everyone's surprise(including Jaime and Leomon) he walked back to Ogremon and extended his hand in an offering of assistance. But instead of accepting the hand, Ogremon threw dirt into Sonkei's face and jumped to his feet. While Sonkei was trying to see Ogremon grabbed him by the neck and lifted him a good three feet off the ground.
"Hah. This is to easy. Pummel Whack!" Ogremon shouted as he repeatedly punched Sonkei in the stomach.
"Aren't you going to help him?!?" Tai shouted at Jaime who only looked at the ground, shook her head, and told him "I can't, it's not what he'd want." "Who cares about what he wants! Ogremon's not even fighting fair. If you won't help I will!" He said as he grabbed the sword and charged into battle.
Ogremon was to busy laughing at Sonkei's bruised and battered body to even realize he had been stabbed by Tai, but when he did realize it he dropped the unconscious Sonkei and began running in circles yelling, then he dropped dead and faded away.
The moment Sonkei hit the ground, Jaime threw down the scabbard and ran to his side. As soon as she reached his limp form she got down on her knees and cradled his head kissing his bruised face and apologizing repeatedly between sobs. Everyone was quiet, not knowing what they should say to Jaime.
A few hours later Sonkei woke up to the smell of fish and the sound of people talking. When he tried to sit up he felt a gentle pressure on his forehead holding him down.
"Lay back down you need your rest," Jaime said from behind him. He was about to do as she said, when Tai walked up.
"Glad your up, now you can thank me for saving your life," he told Sonkei sarcastically. "How'd you do that?" Sonkei asked with minimal interest.
"Well, actually it was pretty easy. All I did was take your sword from your girlfriend there, sneak up on Ogremon, and stab him." Tai said matter of factly.
As Tai was talking Sonkei became increasingly enraged. "You did what!?!" he yelled in his fury. Sonkei reached over beside him and grabbed his sword. In one smooth motion he had the weapon out of the scabbard and up against Tai's throat. "I thought I told you not to touch my sword. I thought I heard Leomon tell you to stay out of it." Sonkei yelled, he then looked around and added "I thought I said you couldn't make camp anywhere near here."
"Uh, I'm sorry?" Tai said hopefully. Just as Sonkei was about to slit Tai's throat a hand reached out and grabbed the sword by the blade. Sonkei looked and saw the blood dripping from Jaime's hand as she calmly held the blade. He looked at her face and saw the sadness in her eyes. As fast as he had grabbed the blade, he removed it from Tai's throat and threw it at a tree where it stayed buried halfway into the trunk. Sonkei looked down at the ground, then at the Digidestined, then to Leomon who he realized had left while he was out since the large digimon was nowhere in sight., and finally he looked at Jaime who was holding her wrist trying to slow the flow of blood that was coming out of the gash in her hand. Sonkei turned and walked to his weapon and reached for it. As if by magic it unburied itself from the tree and returned to his hand, he then continued into the forest to think.
"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Tai said under his breath.
It had been several hours since Sonkei had left. Everyone was asleep but Jaime, who was sitting on the ground holding a dark blue coat. The bleeding had stopped and she was beginning to worry, he had never been gone so long, and he had never left his coat behind before. He always wore his coat except when he fought. As she realized this she realized he was out looking for a fight. Now she was really worried, there were many digimon in this forest, most were in Ultimate or even Mega form. As she thought of this a blue fireball flew from the forest and slammed into the ground next to her. The explosion threw her into the air as she screamed in surprise.
Out of the forest ran Sonkei with a ripped shirt and bloody chest. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.
"Wow, you're this torn up and still you worry only for me," she said with love and admiration in her voice.
They turned as a crashing was heard and Skullmeramon burst into the clearing. "METAL FIREBALL!!" he shouted as blue flame burst forth from the tip of the chain he was twirling. Sonkei pushed Jaime out of the way and stabbed the fireball with his sword. as the blade pierced the flame, the flame dissipated and the sword glowed with an strange blue aura. Everyone had woken up as Skullmeramon came charging into the campsite, and were now staring at the sword which was pulsating with the power stored within it.
Unfortunately Skullmeramon came out of his trance first and, to everyone's horror, he lashed out at Jaime with his chain whip. Even though the whip wasn't sharp it moved at amazing speeds, so fast that when the tip of the chain hit her chest it kept on going until it appeared out her other side. She knew she was dying and she couldn't even tell Sonkei how much she loved him, as the chain had obliterated her lung.
As Jaime struck the ground she released her grip on Sonkei's coat, it flew into the air and over Sonkei's head. Without even realizing it, Sonkei threw the sword into the air and did a high backflip and caught the coat and put it on in one smooth motion. When he landed he calmly reached out and caught the glowing sword. He looked to Jaime laying on the ground, who he assumed was dead already, then to the sword and screamed. It was not the scream of a man in great agony, but the scream of a man who had just witnessed his destiny. His scream interrupted the Digimon who had just digivolved to fight Skullmeramon. Everyone, except Jaime, turned and stared as Sonkei slowly zipped up his coat and pulled up his hood. As he raised the glowing blade above his head he said "Jaime... I will be with you shortly. Please, forgive my cowardice."
When he finished he plunged the still pulsating sword deep into his stomach. A single tear slipped down his cheek as he finished gutting himself, but instead of blood a ray of pure light energy erupted from the self-inflicted wound. In surprised Sonkei pulled out the sword and noticed it no longer was glowing.
He felt a sudden stretching as his stomach healed. There was a loud, powerful thrumming sound coming from his shield that was still by the fire where he had left it. Sonkei's skin began glowing the same blue as the sword had been but it was swirling like a liquid. After a few seconds of humming the shield apparently decided to do something more noticeable so it fired a beam of golden light straight at Sonkei. The beam was absorbed by his clothes which in turn began to glow a silver-gold color.
On impulse Sonkei raised his sword into the air and stabbed it into the ground. The earth beneath him erupted in flames, throwing everyone standing to the ground. Instead of throwing Sonkei to the ground a fountain of flames pushed him into the air and engulfed him.
When the flames disappeared Sonkei was there no more, in his place was a muscular boy in reddish-grey samurai armor holding a medieval European style shield. There were no straps holding the armor in place it was as if the armor was part of the boy's body. Then the samurai lowered to the ground and calmly walked toward a terrified Skullmeramon. "I see you enjoy other's death. We will now see how much you enjoy your own," the samurai said.
Skullmeramon fought back his fear and struck a defensive pose, his opponent was too calm, too confident. The samurai raised the shield and threw it at Skullmeramon. Skullmeramon fired many 'Metal Fireballs' at the shield to stop it's approach. All of them hit their target but it didn't even slow. In his terror Skullmeramon staggered backwards and tripped over a root just in time for the shield to fly over him and embed itself in the tree whose root he had tripped on. He breathed a sigh of relief and jumped into the offensive.
Despite his anger, Skullmeramon was getting afraid of the calm that this person was showing even under these extreme conditions. "Metal Fireball!!" Skullmeramon screamed. The blue flame slammed into the samurai's face. "Hah. How do you like that mister 'Fancy armor'?" Skullmeramon yelled with delight as he landed a hit. Everyone gasped as the samurai's head was thrown back from the force of the blow. "Actually, it was kind of bland. Here let me show you a real attack," he replied to Skullmeramon as he executed a wicked looking uppercut at the evil digimon. Caught unawares Skullmeramon fell to the ground. When he got up his eyes burned with hatred and the flame on his body went from blue to deep violet.
The digimon charged at the samurai, who dodged out of the way and smashed his fists into Skullmeramon's head. Thinking that Skullmeramon was finished he began to walk away, but the digimon jumped up and grabbed the samurai by his shoulder pads. Caught by surprise the armored boy lashed out with his feet kicking Skullmeramon causing him to lose his grip. But, just as the samurai turned to face Skullmeramon he was caught in a giant bear hug. Even through the armor the pain and heat was incredible. The samurai brought his elbows down against Skullmeramon's neck several times then he got an idea, he reached out and ripped off the digimon's mask. A feral scream erupted from Skullmeramon as he released the samurai and clutched desperately at his face. But it was to late he was already being deleted.
As soon as Skullmeramon disappeared completely the samurai walked over to the dying Jaime. She opened her eyes and looked up at him "Sonkei..." she said but was silenced by the samurai. "Shhh. Remember, I said no matter what we'd be together," he said. "I remember... I know I'm dying, please, live your life... Find someone you can be happy with... Just promise you'll never forget me, please?" she said with her last breath.
"I won't let you die like this. I intend to keep my promise," he said, and lifted his fists back and drove them into each of Jaime's lungs. " Soul Knit..." he whispered gently as his armor began to glow.
To everyone's surprise Jaime's eyes fluttered open and she gasped as she inhaled fresh air. After a few deep breaths she spoke. "Sonkei, what happened?" she asked confused. "Well, first I was attacked and you got hit, then I somehow gained this armor and killed Skullmeramon, then you died, and finally I revived you using this armors power... Don't ask how I knew to do it 'cause I don't know. In fact the only reason I know I'm not dreaming is because everyone's still staring at me." Sonkei replied, still in armor, "Come on you need to rest, I'll take you to the camp fire."
He carried her over to the camp fire and gently lay her down. Everyone was still a little stunned from what had just taken place. Tai was the first to recover. He stood up and helped Kari stand as well. Then everyone else got up and walked toward the fire. As soon as he had lay Jaime down Sonkei began to glow bright red, and the armor he was wearing burst into flames and soon went out leaving no evidence Sonkei had been on fire, except that his body was one big bruise. As the flames of the armor went out Sonkei's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell to the ground unconscious.
"Quick check and see if he's alive Joe," Tai said panicking. "It's okay he's alive," Joe said calmly. "How do you know, you didn't even check!" Tai shouted still panicking. "I know because his chest is still moving and that means he's breathing." Joe stated simply. "Oh.. I knew that I was just testing you." Tai said.
"Sure Tai, of course you did," Matt said. "Don't start with me Matt I've been under alot of pressure lately," Tai shot back angrily. "Great, here we go again," remarked Mimi as the two got into a fist fight.
"STOP IT!!! Just stop it...please," Yelled Kari as she started to cry, "I'm sick of all the fighting. Why can't you two just be nice?" "Yeah, why can't we all just get along?" TK agreed.
"I don't know ask Matt, he's the one who tried to kill us all," Tai said cruelly, knowing it would really get to Matt. "That was a long time ago, when will you people forgive me for that?" Matt said as a single tear appeared on his face. Tai was shocked, Matt never cried, well maybe a few times, but he never cried at something Tai said.
Sora stood up from where she had been sitting and walked over to Matt. "Hey, it's alright, we've forgiven you already," she told him gently and shot an angry glance at Tai. Kari walked up to Tai and said, "That was mean Tai, you know he didn't mean to do that stuff." Her voice held more maturity than anyone should have to have at her age. Mimi walked up and said something to Tai but he wasn't even listening, not only had Sora taken Matt's side but his little sister had just said he was mean, and the worst part was she had sounded disappointed in him. Now that hurts, Tai thought sadly. He knew what he needed to do and really hated it.
He slowly walked over to Matt. "Matt, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that, I guess I wasn't thinking," he said. "As usual," Sora said under her breath. "It's okay, I shouldn't have been ragging on you," Matt told him.
The next day everyone woke up at about the same time. They had all been so exhausted that no one had stayed up on sentry duty. Jaime and Sonkei were the last to awaken, they got up at the exact same time. As soon as he stretched Sonkei regretted it. He looked down at his body and unzipped his coat. His shirt was whole again, he didn't know how nor did he care really. He took off his coat and shirt and looked down at his chest. "My, what a lovely shade of purple I've become," he said as he saw the bruises. Jaime heard this and giggled at him. Sonkei experimentally touched a bruise and cried out in pain. Jaime's giggle turned into a worried gasp. "Oh my god! Are you okay?" she asked. "Well other than the fact that I'm a walking bruise and that I think Skullmeramon cracked some of my ribs I'm great," he said with much sarcasm. "Oh, well, as long as your okay, I'm going down to the river to wash," Jaime told him.
As Jaime walked towards the river Sora got up and followed. When Jaime reached the river she put her hands in and splashed her face. After the water hit her face she stood up. "Alright I know your their you can come out," she said as she turned. Sora walked out and apologized for sneaking up on her. "So why did you follow me," Jaime asked impatiently. "I...Uh...I wanted to ask you something. It's about you and Sonkei." Sora said nervously. "No you can't have him he's mine and I plan on keeping it that way, so you can just go find someone else." Jaime said angrily. "No, no, that's not what I meant. I wanted to ask you how you knew he liked you. How did you tell him what you felt?" Sora said hurriedly. "Oh, I get it you like someone and he doesn't know it right?" Jaime said smiling, "Let me guess it's Matt, right?" "No, it's not him it's...it's... Tai," Sora said looking down, "But don't tell him. Okay?" " Okay I won't tell him, I promise. That is if you tell him before two days are up, if you haven't told him I will, I do so love playing match-maker. Anyway, you see I didn't know how he felt until I told him how I felt. We had just been attacked by an evil digimon and Sonkei had gotten his arm cut off, I thought he would die from the blood loss and so I told him my feelings before he blacked out," "He got his arm cut off!! but that's impossible he still has both arms!!" Sora said. "Excuse me I wasn't done. Anyway a few minutes after he blacked out the bleeding stopped, and a few weeks after that his arm grew back. We were both amazed, I guess that's just what happens when you lose a limb in the Digiworld." Jaime finished.
Just then Tai walked out of the trees, "What are you two talking about?" he asked curiosly. "Nothing Tai, it's none of your business," Sora told him quickly. At that moment Gomamon poked his head out of the water, "Hey Tai, I'll tell you what they were talking about," he told Tai and dodged as Sora and Jaime both threw handfuls of mud at him. "What did they say?" Tai asked curiosly. "Well, it turns out that Sora LIKES someone," Gomamon replied. "Who?" Tai asked with even more interest. "She likes..." He was cut off as a handful of mud hit him in the face causing him to stop swimming and sink below the surface. Sora took this chance to jump up and push Tai out of voice range of Gomamon. "Remember Sora, two days." Jaime said as Sora and Tai vanished into the foliage.
As soon as Tai and Sora were out of veiw Jaime turned to Gomamon. "Now Gomamon, you had better promise that you won't tell Tai what was said," She told the seal-like digimon. "Okay, I won't, I promise," he said. "Good, I hope you plan on keeping that promise. You don't want to know what Sonkei does to digimon who don't honor their promises," She told him in a way that would have caused him to turn pale if he weren't already white.
"Come on Sora tell me who you like," Tai begged as she pushed him. "No, Tai I'm not going to," she said, annoyed. "Fine. What did she mean 'two days'?" Tai asked. "She said if I didn't tell y..him in two days she would tell him for me," Sora said heatedly.
"Hey, Where's Jaime at?" Sonkei asked as the two entered the campsite. "She's washing her face," Sora told him. Sonkei groaned quietly as he tried to stand. "Hey. Hey! Lay back down you need to rest!" Sora said quickly as she saw him sit up, "Besides, I thought you said you had cracked ribs." "Nah, it just feels like it, besides I heal fast." Sonkei said with a short laugh and then grimaced in pain as he put pressure on a bruise. "Hey!! Sit down you stupid, pigheaded idiot," Jaime said running into the clearing. Sonkei smiled mischieviously. "Only if you sit with me," he told her. "Fine, if it'll make you sit still," she said. As she went to sit next to him, he reached up and grabbed her waist and pulled her down on top of him. "Oww," Sonkei cried as she landed on a particularly nasty discolored spot. "You idiot, I can't believe you did that," Jaime yelled at him, as everyone else smiled and tried to keep from laughing at the pair. "I guess it was a little stupid," Sonkei admitted quietly. "A little stupid! You could have hurt yourself," Jaime said in anger. At the anger in her voice Sonkei stopped holding her and rolled her off of him and stood up. It took him a few tries but he did it. "Sword," he said in a commanding voice. The digimon and Digidestined were surprised as the sword easily drew itself out of the ground and gracefuly floated to him. What was more surprising was the fact that no matter how hard they had tried no one had been able to remove it from where Sonkei had stabbed it into the ground the night before. Sonkei caught the sword and limped over to his shield and picked it up and walked of into the forest in the direction of the river.
"Sonkei, please come back. I'm sorry. Please, you might get hurt," Jaime begged her voice full of concern. At the sound of her voice Sonkei stopped for a few seconds then took off running. When he reached the river he threw his sword into the air, jumped over the river and caught the weapon in his hand in mid-air. As soon as he landed on the other side of the river he lunged forward and swung the sword at a tree. The sword sliced through the tree with no problem. Sonkei had a satisfied smile on his face as he looked under his shirt and saw that the bruises were fading already. The sword glowed for a second then reformed as a war hammer. Sonkei looked at the hammer and wondered how it had known what he wanted it to do before he told it. " Well, if it isn't broken don't fix it." Sonkei said to himself. He swung the hammer at another tree. where the hammer struck it the trunk shattered like glass, into billions of tiny slivers. The tree stayed upright for a half second, as if not realizing there was nothing holding it up. Then it fell, right towards Sonkei. For some reason Sonkei wasn't scared. He felt a familiar warmth as the hammer changed to a quarterstaff. He placed both hands on it and raised it over is head expecting it to snap in two when the tree hit it. Instead the tree snapped as if it were a twig. The top half landed behind him by about a two feet, as the bottom half landed at his feet, mere inches from his left foot.
He thought of what could have happened right then and his face paled visibly even under the bruises. He looked back at the top half then turned to the bottom half. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he fainted.
When he regained consciousness before he opened his eyes he noticed his face was wet. Confused, he opened his eyes and saw it was dark. He realized his head was elevated and turned to see what he was up against. When he turned he saw that he had been leaning against Jaime, who was now asleep, leaning against a tree.
Her face had tear streaks running down it. She had been crying. With a shock he realized that it had been his fault she had been crying. It suddenly became difficult to breathe. He cursed his weakness as tears started flowing from his own eyes, he couldn't stand the thought that he had hurt her. He saw her shiver in her sleep so he stood and picked her up and carried her over to the fire and set her down, careful not to wake anyone up. he was about to walk back to where he had been when she woke up but stopped when he heard her voice. "Please stay, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you," she said quietly. He felt powerless to do anything but what she asked.
He walked back and kneeled next to her. "It was my fault, I'm sorry I pushed you away like that. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me, I know I don't deserve it, but please?" he asked, ashamed of what he'd done. "Of course you deserve it, you are forgiven. You know that I'd forgive you for anything no matter what," she said in a tender, loving voice, "I was afraid I'd lost you when I saw you laying their by the tree, could you just stay with me tonight?" as she spoke a tear rolled down her cheek. For an answer Sonkei reached over and pulled her to him, he smiled gently and kissed her cheek and the tear. As he lay down, she rested her head on his chest. Sonkei pulled the sides of his coat together and zipped it up halfway, enough to keep her warm but not to much as to the point she couldn't breathe. For the first time in his life he felt totally at peace with himself.
"Okay lovebirds. Time to get up," Tai shouted in Sonkei and Jaime's face. Sonkei jumped up instantly. Caught by surprise he tried to wrap a protective arm around Jaime but stopped when he remembered she was still zipped up in his coat. When he realized where he was he gave Tai look that put more fear into Tai than Venomyotismon had. "Uh.. Sorry about that, it won't happen again," said a very worried Tai. "It's okay. We've slept too long as it is. I really should thank you." Sonkei told him. "Uh, sure no prob. Anytime." Tai said confused,
"Hey Jaime, I just realized something." "What?" she asked. "Where's your bow?" Tai asked. "It's in my pocket." she stated simply. "What?!? How?!?" Tai shouted, confused. "I don't know. Whenever I go to put it in my pocket it shrinks and when take it out it grows. I don't know how. But, as Sonkei tells me constantly: 'If it's not broken, don't fix it.' So I don't." she replied. Izzy's attention had been caught by Tai's outburst. "May I see it? Please?" Izzy said, walking over. "Uh, sure. But be careful." she told him. "Okay, don't worry." Izzy said. Jaime reached into her right pocket and pulled out what looked like a plastic toy bow. Suddenly, it distorted and stretched. When it was done it was the same size that it had been when Ogremon attacked. "Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed. There was a loud gasp and the small group turned to see that everyone else had been watching the display. "Lemme see, lemme see!" TK shouted from the back. Matt moved over and let TK see. "Wow." he said. "Okay, enough gawking, let's get going. That is why you yelled in my face, right? Or did you just want to see if you could scare me?" Sonkei said to Tai. A few minutes later, they packed up and left.
An hour later the group came to a cross-road. Tai wanted to head towards the mountains while Matt thought they should keep on going the way they were headed. As usual they started arguing. Figuring they would be awhile Sonkei sat down and closed his eyes. Sonkei wasn't really listening to the two argue until a particular sentence caught his attention. "You want me to shove this fist down your throat?" Tai yelled. "Bring it on!" Matt yelled back. After hearing this and the sound of a fist connecting with a face Sonkei's eyes snapped open. "Ooh, goody. A fight, finally some excitement." he yelled as he jumped into the fray. Before Sora could break it up Tai fell to the ground followed by Matt. As Tai started to get up Sora noticed he was favoring his stomach. Matt stood and whiped blood from his mouth. Sonkei had a hand to his cheek looking kind of shocked. "You slapped me!!" he said, "You actually slapped me! I don't believe it. Not even my little sister slapped. Granted she bit, but she didn't slap. Are you sure you shouldn't be wearing a dress Tai?" Sora walked over to Tai and asked if he was okay. Kari walked up to Sonkei, "You leave my brother alone, that was mean," she said in defense of her brother. "You really care about your brother don't you? My sister would have walked up and laughed at me. How do you gain such respect? The only people who respect me are Jaime and Leomon... Well actually Leomon treats me like I'm still a kid, and Jaime... I think she just tries to humor me. How do you do it?" Sonkei asked him curiosly. "Well, it comes with being leader." Tai said with a smile. As Matt heard this he made a gagging motion and Jaime cracked up laughing. "What about your parents? And speaking of family, you never told us your last name." Sora spoke up. At the mention of parents Sonkei flinched. "Sonkei's parents are dead. They've been dead for ten years now. His sister's actually been dead for eight. She died when her and Sonkei got hit by a drunk driver. He doesn't know his last name, the accident caused him to have partial amnesia." Jaime informed everyone. "Shut up!!" Sonkei said quietly, then realizing what he had just said and to who he turned to face her, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. It just hurts. And the fact that you were talking as if I wasn't here didn't help much." "It's okay. I'm sorry too. I should've let you answer." Jaime said. "How do you know so much about him?" Joe asked. "The orphanage where he lived was next door to my apartment. I would go down and talk to him every once in a while." Jaime said. "Come on, let's get going. I hate it when I'm woken up early for nothin'." Sonkei informed everyone, giving Tai an evil grin, as if to say 'You'll live to regret waking me up'.
After a while they decided to climb the mountain. As they walked up a long, winding trail they started to hear music. "Where's that coming from?" Mimi asked. "I don't know but it sounds kinda familiar," Joe stated. "Yeah, it feels like I've been here before." Agumon said.
When they reached the top they gasped at what they saw. "It...it's the Gekomon castle." Palmon exclaimed. "Cool a castle. That means knights, and knights means swords!" Sonkei yelled in uncharacteristic excitement. As Sonkei approached the gates two Gekomon appeared and lowered spears at his chest. "Who dares approach the castle of Lord Emperorgekomon?!" one demanded. "Wait a minute! Look behind him! It's Princess Mimi!!" the second shouted. As soon as the words were out of his mouth both Gekomon dropped to one knee. "Please Princess, come stay with us for a while. It's been so long. We will throw a grand ball and feast in your honor." the first said. "Well, when you put it like that of course we'll stay." the digimon said as they started pushing and dragging Mimi to the castle, everyone just shrugged and followed.
Inside everyone dropped everything and bowed to 'Princess' Mimi. "Please get up, you're embarrassing me." Mimi said. "Yes, your highness." the Gekomon and Otamamon said as they stood. "It's just Mimi now." she said. "Yes, your high... yes Mimi." they said. Then a very large froglike digimon entered. "Where's my food? I ordered it served 15 minutes ago. What are you looking at?" it said, "Oh, hello. I thought I'd never see you again. I'm sorry about what happened last time. I was just grumpy." when he saw the confused looks the Digidestined gave him he added, "I am Emperorgekomon. Mega form of Shogungekomon." The Digidestined were quiet as they soaked up this information. "Why are you people standing here?" he bellowed at the Gekomon and Otamamon, "We must prepare a royal banquet!" Everyone cheered. "Oh no. I don't have anything to wear!" Mimi shouted over the cheers. "Don't worry. We'll get all of you dressed up in proper attire." the Gekomon said.
A few hours later everything was set up, everyone had a bath and gotten dressed. The boys were down stairs waiting by the tables of food. Agumon and Gabumon had gotten bored so the decided to see who could fit the most apples into his mouth. So far Gabumon was winning, 4-3. "Why do girls take so long to get ready?" Tai asked. "You'll have to ask them." Sonkei replied. All of a sudden they heard a choking sound and turned to find that Patamon had decided to join in Agumon and Gabumoa's game but had started choking after the second apple. Tentomon quickly got up and slapped his back making him spit out the apples. This started Agumon laughing, then it caused him to choke, which got Gabumon laughing and caused him to start choking but he managed to swallow on his own. He then helped Agumon. "Maybe we should call it a tie," suggested Gabumon. "Sure," Agumon and Patamon agreed. Tai, Matt, and Izzy gasped as Mimi came down the stairs looking absolutely gorgeous, Palmon following her, both wearing the same dress they had been wearing when Tai, Agumon, Joe, and Gomamon had found them. Kari came down the stairs behind Mimi, Gatomon by her side, Kari was wearing a blue ball gown, while Gatomon had opted to not wear a dress. When the two girls and their digimon reached the guys they recieved many compliments on their dresses and such. After a few minutes Jaime appeared at the top of the stairs. She reached the bottom and started walking towards the group, but was stopped halfway by Sonkei.
Sonkei took her hand bowed down on one knee and kissed her hand. When he rose he looked into her eyes. "May I have this dance?" he asked offering his arm to her. "My, my. What a gentleman. I would say yes but there's no music." she said. "So? Since when have we needed a reason to do something?" he asked her. "Alright, I will dance with you." she told him accepting his arm. They walked to the middle of the large floor. He turned to face her and put his right arm around her waist as she put her left hand on his shoulder. In his left hand he took her right. As they began to dance a few of the Gekomon started to play a slow waltz.
Tai smiled when he saw Kari walk up to TK and convince him to try dancing. It took a few minutes but she convinced him. As they walked out onto the dance floor Matt smiled at his little brother's attempts to dance. After awhile the two youngest Digidestined stopped to watch Sonkei and Jaime. When they thought they had the movements memorized they tried again. They didn't do very good, but it was a lot closer to actually dancing.