Last Time: Everyone looked up in the sky to see the portal to the Dark Ocean and everyone had their reactions. Davis and Madison rushed to investigate while TK and Patamon did the same. Kari, fearing that the Dark Ocean was reaching for her again, hid beside Li's bedside. Meanwhile, Savagemon and Psychomon subdued Yue and Ruby Moon, leaving them an opening to head for the Dark Ocean. And now, our story continues.


Keeping Secrets: Part 6


Davis tried his best to keep up, but this girl was running for dear life. Just by looking at Madison Taylor, he didn't think she could run so fast. Or maybe it was the tremendous weight that was hindering Davis' speed. The weight of his huge backpack that was holding DemiVeemon. But after a long few minutes, they had finally made it to the clock tower.

But by the time they made it there, the portal to the Dark Ocean had closed. And Madison fell to her knees and pounded her fist into the ground.

"Sakura!" she cried out again.

Davis walked over and put her hand onto her shoulder. "Um…is there something I should know?"

Madison looked up at Davis with wide eyes…as if she had just remembered she was looking into the face of a stranger. She didn't say anything.

"Davis?"

Davis looked around when he heard that familiar voice. It had to be one of the oddest places to meet him, but indeed he was there. It was his good friend, TK Takaishi, who came running up to him in his pizza delivery boy uniform.

"Davis…did you see what I saw?" TK asked.

Davis nodded. "It was a…" He stopped. He forgot…there was a stranger in their midst and he made sure to note that to TK with a tilt of his head.

"Who's this?" TK asked.

Madison turned around got to her feet. "My name's Madison."

TK was about to introduce himself, when Madison cut him off with a horrified gasp.

"YUE!"

Madison suddenly ran towards a fallen tree and knelt down. There was someone under that tree and Davis and TK decided to look and see who it was. The tree moved a few inches and someone came out from under the tree. Davis took a step back. It was a white-haired guy with huge angel's wings. But this was no Angemon. This was something else.

"Yue, what happened?" Madison asked.

"I was too late," the guy called Yue answered. "They took Sakura and Tori into that…portal. They said they were going to some place called…the Dark Ocean in the Digital World."

Davis and TK immediately exchanged glances upon hearing that. It couldn't be happening, but someone had opened up a portal to the Dark Ocean…but they didn't come for Kari. They came for someone else. There were a lot of questions going through Davis' mind now. But it was TK who spoke up.

"Did you say the Digital World?" TK asked.

Madison turned to the two boys and shot them a glare…as if she thought they had been hiding something from her. Davis didn't know what to make of any of this and decided to take a few steps back. But as he backtracked, he bumped into someone. Davis turned and stood looking at an angelic woman in red with butterfly wings.

"You two know something, don't you?" she demanded.

"Do you two KNOW about this?" Madison added.

Seeing Davis occupied with Madison and the woman in red, TK walked up to the guy with the wings.

"What did you see…uh…?"

"Yue. I am Yue. And I saw three evil creatures abducting my mistress and her brother and taking them into this 'Digital World'."

"What did they look like?" TK asked.

"One was a hairy, bulky creature with great strength. The second had eight legs like a spider and a large skull on top of them. And the other one wore a long cloak and an ugly mask. They looked most unusual."

TK looked over at Davis. "Three weirdoes going off to the Digital World. Why do I think this sounds like three evil Digimon?"

Davis only nodded. That had to be it. It sounded so out of the ordinary…that it couldn't POSSIBLY be anything else. But these descriptions didn't match those of any Digimon Davis had ever seen.

"Digimon…?" Madison asked curiously.

TK and Davis exchanged glances again. It looked like they said too much. Although Digimon had been coming to a select few, they weren't commonplace just yet. The world wasn't quite ready for them yet. The two boys began to wonder if they said too much.

"Guys…talk to me!" Madison snapped. "This isn't the time to be keeping secrets! My best friend and her brother are in danger!"

That was very true. Disaster could be just moments away and indeed the time for keeping secrets was NOT now. And Davis had known Madison for a whole…two hours. He knew he could trust her.

Davis scratched the back of his head. "Um…gee…where do I start…?"


Once they had finally arrived, Sakura looked around to see where she was. It was a very gloomy place, devoid of any color. The only colors present were those of the outsiders, namely Sakura, Tori, and those evil Digimon. Everything else was just black and white.

Sakura was still tied up and couldn't loosen the grip of the rings. If she could loosen SOMETHING, she could quickly take out her wand and dispose of these evil ones with the Sakura Cards. But there would be no such luck on this day…or night. With the black and white atmosphere, Sakura couldn't tell what time of day it actually was.

Sinestromon held out his hand as they all reached their apparent destination. "This will be sufficient. We will restore our master here. Drop them, Savagemon."

Savagemon dropped Sakura and Tori on the ground. Sinestromon started walking slowly towards Sakura as the Card Mistress could only ask her questions again.

"What do you want with me?!" Sakura demanded. "Why ME? Why TORI?"

"HEY!" another voice shouted.

Everyone turned to the cave to see someone emerging. It was a little purple creature with pointy ears, a red bandana around its neck, and red gloves on its hands. The little guy didn't look very happy to say the least.

"Who the heck invited you guys?!" the little creature demanded. "This is MY cave! And I don't take kindly to visitors! So you'd better get out of here before I decide to THROW ya out!"

"A little pipsqueak like you?" Savagemon scoffed. "Throw US out?"

"You don't know who you're messing with?" Psychomon added. "Who do you think you are?"

"I'm Impmon, the baddest Digimon you'll ever see! And if you know what's good for you, you'll find some other cave and GET OUT OF HERE!"

Psychomon cackled. "The little pipsqueak's threatening us! That's the funniest thing I ever heard!"

"Oh, you're gonna laugh, huh?" Impmon sneered. A flame formed at his fingertip. "I amuse you, do I? Maybe you'll find THIS something to laugh about. Bada Boom!"

Impmon tossed the flame, grazing Savagemon by the ear…setting it on fire. The big one started rolling around, trying to put his ear out.

"Consider that a warning shot!" Impmon growled. "And you losers won't get another one, so GET OUT! Don't make me have to mess ya up!"

"How annoying!" Sinestromon groaned. "Get rid of him! We have more important matters to attend to!"

Impmon leaped forward and faced off with Sinestromon. "Oh, more important, huh? You're just gonna ignore me, are ya? Don't think I'm worth your time, is that it?"

"WE'RE going to give you a chance to step away," the irritated Sinestromon said. "We're busy trying to restore our master!"

"Master?" Impmon scoffed. "Not around MY cave, you're not! Listen here, ugly! In case you haven't noticed, this area has a maximum occupancy of ONE. And that ONE is ME! So take your humans and move somewhere else! Or I'll wipe the floor with you AND your master!" The flame at his fingertip ignited again and he tossed it at Sinestromon. "Bada Boom!"

Sinestromon dodged the attack and shook his head. "This is pathetic. I've never seen such a weak Digimon…with such a big mouth. Psychomon, Savagemon, dispose of him!"

Savagemon walked over and picked Impmon up over his head. Impmon continued his uncanny barrage of insults and verbal threats while Psychomon calmly started digging a hole in the sand with his eight legs. Savagemon plopped Impmon in the hole while Psychomon calmly filled the hole like a dog burying his bone. Impmon's whole body was buried…with the exception of his head.

"You guys are gonna be sorry! Now I'm REALLY MAD! You just wait 'til I get out of here! I'm gonna barbecue the whole lot o' ya! Ya can't keep me here forever! You just wait and see!"

"This just keeps getting weirder," Tori muttered under his breath.

With all that was happening, Sakura could hardly keep up. She had seen a lot in her lifetime, but she had never actually been taken to another world before. And she had never seen a place as…depressing as this Dark Ocean was.

Sinestromon turned his attention back to Sakura. "Now that THAT unpleasantness is out of our way, let's continue…shall we?"

Sinestromon grabbed Sakura and pushed her away from Tori, knocking her to the ground. He looked on with his evil masked face and Sakura could only imagine what he wanted. She had a vague idea.

"So…where are those cards of yours?"


It took a long while, but Madison listened intently to the entire explanation. And if Sakura's life was weird, then this had to be absolutely BIZARRE. Madison had seen a lot in her life, but yet she still couldn't bring herself to believe what she was hearing.

"So…what you're saying is…there's a whole world filled with…Digital Monsters?"

The boy in the white hat named TK nodded. "That's right. That's kinda how I reacted when I first saw it. Well…actually, I was eight at the time, so my reaction might have been a LITTLE different."

"I just can't believe what I'm hearing," Madison said softly. "So Sakura and Tori have been dragged into this world?"

Ruby Moon shook her head. "A world full of Digital Monsters? It sounds absurd."

"Yeah? Like a guardian woman with butterfly wings is so much more believable?!" Davis pointed out.

Ruby Moon shrugged. "Actually, guardians have no gender, but that's not the point. I'm just saying I'll believe in Digital Monsters when I see them."

As if on cue, Davis' backpack tipped over and the zipper started to open up. A little blue creature came rolling out of the backpack and the little guy gasped for a breath of fresh air. Madison couldn't believe it.

"I think he heard you," TK grinned.

"What IS that?" Yue asked curiously.

Davis walked over and picked the blue creature up. It had a nice, innocent little smile and Madison had to admit…the little guy looked cute.

"This is DemiVeemon," Davis answered. "And he's a Digimon."

"And he's not the only one here," TK added. "Patamon! Come on over here!"

Madison looked over to see something coming from the distance. It was a little white and orange creature with long ears that came flying into TK's arms. It was like the thing was some kind of pet.

"Hi, TK!" the thing called Patamon said cheerfully.

Ruby Moon blinked. "THESE are Digimon? Are you trying to tell me Sakura and Tori were taken by a trio of…these things?"

"They don't all come like DemiVeemon," TK clarified. "Some of the Digimon are really big. And a good number of them can be evil…like the ones that took your friends. But if our Digimon have enough energy, then they can get bigger, too. They can Digivolve."

Madison tilted her head. "Digivolve?"

TK looked over at Davis. "Davis, this might be a good time for a demonstration."

Hearing his cue, little DemiVeemon jumped off of Davis and bounced to an isolated spot.

**DemiVeemon…Digivolve to…Veemon!**

Before her very eyes, Madison saw DemiVeemon turn into a slightly bigger blue creature. But he was still half her size…yet he still had that ignorant smile on his face.

"Any more questions?" the one called Veemon asked.

"Just one," Madison answered. "WHERE did they take my friends?"

TK and Davis looked like they were about to answer…until they were all joined by one more who was just catching up. It was Eriol and it looked like he had done a lot of running, because he got there dead tired.

"I saw the portal," Eriol said. "And I got here as fast as I could. Ruby Moon, where are you?"

Ruby Moon walked up to Eriol. "I'm right here, master. But we're having a few issues at the moment."

"What kind of issues?" Eriol asked curiously.

Ruby Moon pointed behind Eriol. The reincarnation turned around to see…TK and Davis. While this alone was enough to cause confusion, it got worse, because an overzealous Kero flew out of Eriol's pocket.

"Hey, who are these guys?!" Kero demanded. "Yue, why are you letting them see you like this?!"

"Hey, I recognize you," Eriol told TK. "You're that pizza delivery boy."

Davis suddenly threw his hands up in the air. "Ok, TIME OUT! Who's the talking stuffed animal?!"

"Stuffed animal?!" Kero shouted. "Why you…!"

"Settle down, Kero," another voice calmly said. It was Spinner, who was coming out of Eriol's other pocket. "You never COULD watch your temper."

Davis' jaw just about dropped. "There's another one?"

"And who are you supposed to be?" Eriol asked…before noticing Veemon. "And WHAT…is THAT?"

Madison could literally see everything falling apart before her eyes. Confusion was running rampant now and even SHE was having a hard time believing this. It sounded like something out of one of Zachary's tall tales.

TK shook his head and threw his hands up. "Ok…I think it's best we start from the very beginning…unless there's SOMEONE ELSE who hasn't showed up yet?"

"This should be everybody," Madison replied. "You don't have to say anything, TK. I'll fill them in."

"That's good, Madison," TK smiled. "So I guess now you can tell us YOUR story."

Madison blinked. "My story?"

"There's a reason those three Digimon want your friends," TK explained. "And…Davis and I may have a few questions regarding your…unique friends."

Madison sweatdropped. "Well…"

Eriol held out his hand and spoke in his deep voice. "It's best if I explain this. After all, I should know the whole story better than anybody." He looked over at TK and Davis and decided to begin the VERY long explanation. "I guess I should begin by saying that…Sakura is no ordinary girl…"


Kari finally opened her eyes. The feeling of darkness that kept surrounding her was suddenly gone. She felt the grip that the Dark Ocean had on her start to loosen. And the short-haired young lady finally came to her senses. She stood up and walked towards the window. The portal she saw earlier was gone.

"It's gone," she said softly. She quickly fell to her knees as a tear hit the ground. "Thank goodness it's gone."

"What's the matter with you?" Li asked curiously. "Is there something I should know?"

Kari turned back and suddenly realized that she must have completely broken down in front of Li. She completely lost it in front of a stranger. And to say the least, it had to have looked VERY awkward. She hung her head down.

"I'm sorry, Li. You probably think I'm a total head case. I'll leave if you want…"

"No, it's ok," Li cut her off. "I don't think you're a head case. I've seen a lot weirder, trust me. But…what made you react that way?"

Kari looked out the window again. "I don't want to say. It's……………you wouldn't understand. It sounds so crazy."

"I've dealt with crazy before," Li said dryly. "Look, I don't know you very well, but I do know this sounds serious. Maybe it's best if you talk about it. No one can help you if you don't talk about it."

"Well…I still don't want to say anything," Kari muttered. "Besides…it's not like YOU'LL tell me YOUR problem."

"My problem?" Li repeated.

"There's a reason you were out there lying in a pool of your own blood," Kari clarified. "And it has something to do with some girl named 'Sakura'. And every time I ask you about what happened, you won't tell me anything. No one can help you if you don't talk about it."

Li was clearly taken aback by those words. It looked like Kari got to him…and it looked like he was finally ready to talk. Almost…

"You wouldn't believe a word of it…" he said.

Kari walked over and sat at the boy's bedside. "Try me."

"I guess there's always Erase," he mumbled under his breath. Then he shrugged. "Ok…I'll tell you. But you have to promise to keep this a secret…because I have to start at the very beginning."

Kari hesitated…then nodded.

Li began the long explanation. "My girlfriend, Sakura…is no ordinary girl…"


Next Time: Ok, now that our CCS and Digimon characters are getting acquainted, what happens next? What do the three evil Digimon intend to do with Sakura, Tori, and the Sakura Cards? Find out next time!


Any comments? Then mail me at AmericanCaptor@hotmail.com and don't forget to review below!