"Izzy, What is that?" Tai asked. "It's called Kokoromon. It's a spiritual digimon. He has no offensive capabilities but can find anything using his 'Spiritual Guide' technique." Izzy said, after checking his Digimon Analyser, "Hmmm, That's odd." "What's odd?" Sora asked. "It seems that Kokoromon is a Champion level digimon." Izzy said. "So, what does that have to do with anything?" Matt asked. "It means that if I'm right, Wraithmon is beyond Mega." Izzy replied. "What do you mean 'if your right'?" Joe asked. "I now believe that Sonkei is in fact an Ultimate Digimon." Izzy said. "Why do you think he's an Ultimate?" Tai wondered aloud. "Simple. Sonkei turned into Wraithmon. If I'm right that Sonkei's an Ultimate digimon, then Wraithmon would be a new level of digivolution. And when a digimon becomes that strong it doesn't de-digivolve back to what it was before it becomes something weaker, like when the digimon reached their Ultimate levels for the first time, they de-digivolved to their In-Training instead of Rookie. So instead of De-digivolving to Ultimate, he De-digivolved to Champion." Izzy explained to the group. "I wonder what the remark about 'Half breed' meant." Mimi said. "That, I don't know." Izzy stated. At that moment they heard a moan and realized they had forgotten about Jaime in all the excitement. As they all ran over to her Joe said "We've got to check her for broken bones." "How about we do that." Sora said indicating herself, Mimi, and Kari, "That way Sonkei won't kill you when he wakes up." "But you don't know what your looking for." Joe said. "Then how about we get her dressed and then you can check for broken bones?" Mimi suggested. "Okay that would work." Joe agreed. The boys left to check on Kokoromon\Sonkei while Mimi and Sora checked Jaime for broken bones and cuts, and Kari ran to the tree to get Jaime's clothes.
While they were dressing her Jaime woke up. She tried to stand but couldn't. fortunately when Joe checked her over he said that the bone was only bruised, that and the fact that Sonkei had accidently dropped her on a rock earlier. "OH, GEEZ!! YOU GUYS ARE HUGE!!!" They heard Sonkei/Kokoromon yell. "Looks like Sonkei's up." Sora said quietly. Sora and Mimi helped Jaime back to camp with Joe and Kari in the lead. When they arrived they saw Tai laughing as Sonkei backed away from a suddenly very large Agumon, then tripped and fell on his rear. Matt was trying his hardest not to laugh and was succeeding, barely. As Sora, Mimi, and Jaime entered the clearing Sonkei looked up. "No not you too." he said to Jaime. "Uh, do I know you?" she asked. "What are you talking about? We've spent three years kissing and you still don't recognize me?" The little Champion said. "Sonkei?!" Jaime said in disbelief. "The one and only." he replied proudly. "What happened to you?" Jaime asked. "What happened to me?! What happened to you? Your huge!!" he said.
"I think that it is imperitive that we go see Gennai." Izzy said after explaining the situation. Everyone agreed. "But, how will we find him?" Joe said. "Easy, I can lead us right to his doorstep." Sonkei said with complete confidence. "How?" TK asked. Sonkei looked over to give a reply and gave a slight jump. "I'm never gonna get used to being so small." Sonkei said. "How are you gonna lead us to Gennai? We've never even met the guy." Jaime said. " According to Izzy, his Spiritual Guide can find anything or anyone." TK said, full of confidence. "Alright, then get to it." Tai said impatiently. "Okay, okay. From the Nether Realm, I summon you. Lead us to the one called Gennai. Heed my summons. SPIRITUAL GUIDE!!" Sonkei called out. There was a bright flash and a small spectre appeared. It looked like a Koromon but with arms and legs and without the antennae. "I am here master." the being said, giving a low bow to Sonkei. "The one you seek is to the east. After two days of travel you will reach a lake. That is where he dwells." It informed them. "Thanks, Spirit. Oh and before you go, could you possibly tell me how to get back to my human form?" Sonkei asked hopefully. "A kiss of true love." The spirit said. "That's it? I would have thought it would be more dificult." Sonkei/Kokoromon said. " What do you think this is a tv show, not everything is some kind of trial or something. I now take my leave of you. Farewell." it said before disappearing in another flash of light. In the spirits place was a short sword imbedded in the ground. Sonkei walked over to it and looked at it curiously. "So that's why it talks!" he exclaimed suddenly. "What do you mean 'talks'?" Izzy asked. "Huh, oh, every once in a while it says something directly into my mind, of course it's never been this respectful before. It's kinda like a psychic bond, I guess." Sonkei replied. He then turned to Jaime. "So how about that kiss?" he asked. "What's in it for me?" Jaime said sarcasticly. "That's easy, you get to kiss me." Sonkei joked back. "Oh goody." Jaime said as she kneeled down and kissed the pint sized Champion. As soon as their lips met Sonkei/Kokoromon began to glow. When the glow stopped Sonkei was kneeling in front of Jaime, their lips still locked.
"Come on you two!" Tai said in exasperation, "We gotta get going if we're going to get to Gennai's anytime soon." The kneeling couple looked up and got to their feet both faces slightly red. After they had packed up they headed east. Jaime and Sonkei were holding hands, as well as Tai and Sora. TK saw Tai and Sora holding hands and was about to start singing 'Tai and Sora sitting in a tree...' but was stopped before he could let out the second word by a warning glance from Jaime. Fortunately for Tai and Sora, No one heard TK say Tai's name but Kari, who had also seen the look on Jaime's face.
Things were relatively quiet that day, aside from the two Monochromon fighting for a mate. When they stopped for the night Agumon started a fire then went with the rest of the Digimon to get food. TK and Kari were talking quietly Tai and Sora had gone into the forest, not far just enough not to be seen but if you listened you could hear them talking, Joe and Izzy were talking about one of Izzy's many theories, Matt was playing his harmonica, Mimi was trying her hardest to understand Izzy and Joe, and Sonkei and Jaime were sitting against a tree holding hands.
A few minutes later Agumon came running back into camp yelling 'It was an honest mistake' a slightly charred Tai right behind him. Seconds later Sora came into view, her face was red from laughing. "What's going on?" Joe asked Sora. "Agumon attacked Tai because he thought Tai was an evil digimon in disguise." she said. "Why?" Kari said. " Agumon said he thought, and I quote, 'Tai was trying to eat my face." Sora explained before bursting out in laughter. Just then Tai came into view, Agumon walking behind him, holding his head. "It wasn't that funny." he muttered. After they all had a good laugh, at Tai's expense, they settled in for the night.
In the morning everyone awoke to the smell of fish cooking. First thing they saw was Sonkei sitting by a fire with Agumon and Tentomon. "Hey, you guys are up. You must have been really tired. Come on and have some fish, Tentomon caught them and Agumon and I cooked." Sonkei told the group."You can cook?" Jaime teased. "The rest of you might not want to eat the fish then. Food poisoning." "Haha. Funny. You were kidding right?" Sonkei asked, looking a little hurt. Jaime sat next to him and loosely wrapped her arms around him. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she asked, "What does your heart say?"
"Let me show you what his heart says! True Heart Revealed!" A strange humanoid digimon yelled from above their heads. Beams of light reigned down, striking Patamon, Gatomon, Tai, Sora, Joe, TK, and Sonkei. "What is that?" Matt asked, gesturing to the digimon. Izzy analyzed it. "It's Truemon, a rare Ultimate digimon that not much is known about. The analysis does say that his attack reveals the true nature of whomever it hits."
"Sonkei! Are you okay?" Jaime asked, concerned. The light had been very selective, and somehow avoided her. Sonkei shifted slightly. "I'm okay, I guess. Not that you actually care." "Sonkei, what makes you say that?" Jaime looked shocked that he would say something like this.
Sora had subtly moved closer to Tai and would have been nearly smothering him if he hadn't shrank back. Joe jumped up. "Where'd
Truemon go? I want to find out what he did to me! Come on, Gomamon, let's go find him!" Joe charged into the forest, a startled Gomamon following.
TK picked up Patamon and ran after Joe. Sonkei pulled out of Jaime's light embrace and went off to sit by himself. Jaime tried to go over to him, but her leg decided to flare up with intense pain and she dropped to the ground. Izzy cautiously moved to check on her, keeping Sonkei in sight so if the larger boy got angry, Izzy would have time to get out of the way.
It was frightening when Sonkei didn't charge and chase Izzy away, but could be heard mumbling, "See, no one loves you. She's already got another guy. And why wouldn't she? She's far too good for an idiot coward like you. Some sort of half-breed freak. I don't even know what I am. I'm not human, so how could anyone love me?"
"Sonkei...don't say that..." Jaime said, a single tear sliding down her
cheek.
She remembered what Izzy had said about Truemon's attack revealing the true nature of whoever it struck. She refused to believe that Sonkei, her Sonkei, was so down on himself. She also noticed that Tai was acting afraid, something that completely contradicted with his Crest. This set her on a new train of thought, so she completely ignored Izzy's questions.
Meanwhile, Joe and TK were still looking for Truemon. Surprisingly, TK found him. "All right! Let's go, Patamon!" "Patamon digivolve to: Angemon!" Angemon stood there. TK looked up at the Champion digimon. "Well?" "Fighting is not in my nature, TK. Only if we were attacked could I fight, and then only to protect you." Joe, however, was having no trouble convincing his digimon to fight. "Gomamon digivolve to: Ikkakumon! Ikkakumon digivolve to: Zudomon!" "Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon slammed the hammer onto the ground near Truemon, sending an arrow-shaped beam of light out that struck the Ultimate digimon.
Truemon apparently was unused to being hit, or else the attack was a
weakness, since it knocked the laughing creature to his knees. "How do you reverse the effects of your attack?" Zudomon thundered, sensing the weakness in his opponent.
"It's simple really. We don't." Truemon said, becoming serious. "What do you mean 'We don't'?" Joe demanded with more bravery than ever before. "I mean, you nor I can do anything to stop it. They must do it themselves. Right now Your 'True Selves' are being shown. You must allow your 'Real Selves' to shine through. You must listen to your thoughts, let them guide you." Truemon revealed. "How do we do that?" Joe said, more thinking outloud than asking their attacker. "That you must discover on your own." and with that Truemon faded away. Zudomon reverted back to Gomamon and Angemon resumed Patamon form. The digimon led their humans back towards the camp.
Jaime desperately sought a reason Sonkei would say what he said. She vaguely heard somewhere back in reality the sounds of Joe and TK returning and talking about something that sounded like 'true self and real self'. Then she was once again lost in thought.
"What's with Jaime?" Joe asked, noticing the blank expression on her face. Izzy shrugged. "I'm not sure. Anyway, I believe we should attend to the matters at hand." "Yeah, like how do we know if that things telling the truth?" Matt said. "According to the analyzer, it appears Truemon deserves his name. He cannot knowingly tell a lie, and if he says something he does not beleive to be true he says so." Izzy announced. "Okay that settles whether or not we can believe him. Now what did he mean about our 'True Selves' and 'Real Selves' and to 'follow our thoughts?" Joe asked. "For now we'll just have to keep an eye on those who where struck, including you, Joe." "I don't need anyone to keep an eye on me. I'm Joe the Mighty!" Joe shouted, flexing his arms.
At Joe's outburst Tai jumped three feet into the air. "Oh no!! We're under attack!" he shouted. "Ha ha! Bring 'em on! Gomamon and I can take 'em all on. YOU HEAR ME, WE'LL TAKE ALL YOU EVIL DIGIMON OUT!!" Joe shouted out a challenge to the non-existant enemies. Everyone looked at Joe oddly. When everyone had calmed down, Sora could be heard trying to get Tai to take her 'somewhere they could be alone'.
'everyone's acting so different.' Izzy thought, 'That must be what it means that the attack reveals their true nature. It must show what's in their hearts. Wow. I never thought Tai was so afraid.'
Izzy's thoughts were interrupted by by voices yelling. "Sonkei please come back!" Jaime shouted. "No way! I'm sick of you playing with my emotions! I can't believe I thought you loved me!" he shouted back as he grabbed his sword and ran out of the clearing. Everyone was stunned, they had seemed like a happy couple. Jaime fell to her knees, sobbing. "Please, come back... I do love you..." she whispered quietly.
"She just toyed with me. She never loved me. I don't blame her. Who could ever love me?" Sonkei said as he walked through the forest. He came to a clearing and sat down. he had been running off and on for the last half-hour. "I can't beleive I ever fell for that." he said. Covering his face with his hands tears began to form. "I WILL have revenge!" Sonkei shouted lifting his face to the sky. Suddenly he felt a familiar heat against his leg. "You don't want to help me?" asked as he pulled his sword out of the sheath and watched it glow a dark blue. "Fine you can stay with that... that... I don't know what she is. FINE! You can go. Get out of my sight traitor. I trusted you." He then pulled back and heaved the living blade in the direction he had come from. As he expected it flew off into the forest dodging trees and, he expected, landed right at Jaime's feet. "I don't need you. I don't need her. I don't need the Digidestined. I don't need anything but the power I possess. I am INVINCIBLE!!" He shouted with strength drawn from hatred, determination, vengeance, and heartbreak.
The group was in a state of shock and were trying to figure out what happened, except for Tai who was looking around fearfully. "What happened?" TK asked Jaime. "I don't know. He just started saying that I didn't love him and ran off." Joe stood up, "Let's go find him. We'll talk some sense into him." "What if we get attacked? It's way to dangerous." Tai said quietly. "If we get attacked we'll just kick their butts just as always." Joe said raising his fist into the air. All of a sudden Sonkei's sword plunged itself into the ground at Jaime's feet. Tai screamed and Sora wrapped her arms around him as if to calm him down. Jaime bent down and put her hand on the hilt and gasped as knowledge of the events that had taken place right before the sword was sent back slammed into her mind like a battering ram. "I've lost him. He hates me." Jaime said once it was over.
As he walked Sonkei thought about the things he could do for revenge. He stopped when he came to a clearing with a wicked looking creature. "You... I... know you... don't I?" Sonkei asked it. "Everyone knows me I am Deception. I am a digimon yet I am not. To me a Mega is as a Rookie is to a Mega." the creature said. " You are like me. I am not a digimon yet I am." Sonkei said, " Why are you here? What do you want from me?" "I want to help you take revenge on the one who 'says' she loves you." Deception told him. "I accept your offer, anything to make her life miserable." Sonkei replied, "But know this I will be the one to kill her, not you." "Agreed." Deception said, "We must go now. To prepare you for your destiny."