The Scarlet Queen Part Two: Prized Possession
A Taiora and Koumi Saga
By YashamonMaster
1 Chapter One: The Possession
I was sitting on a log thinking about the previous night when Izzy walked by. "Hey Tai."
"Hey Izzy."
"What's on your mind?"
"Last night."
"Any particular event?"
"Isn't it obvious? I mean, you are supposed to be the genius."
"I was just making sure." He sat down on the log. "You looked like you enjoyed that dare."
"You knew I would. So why did you dare me it?"
"Because I knew you would try and get back at me."
"So you had a plan too, eh?"
"Yup. Dare you to kiss Sora so you would dare me to kiss Mimi. Though I had nothing to do with the part about Sora taking her shirts off. Honest. And I wasn't ready to see Mimi like that. But you looked so cool about it. How come?"
"You haven't even admitted to Mimi you like Mimi. Sora and me have been in love, and known about it, for a while. Besides, I was going to see eventually, and I knew it."
"How could you be so sure?"
"When true love is a factor, anything is possible. Now Izzy, it's time you confessed to Mimi."
"HUH!?!"
"You're going to confess to Mimi today. No excuses, got it?"
"But I…yeah." He looked down at his shoes. "When?"
"As soon as we get back to camp."
"That could be anytime."
"We're leaving, now!"
"Mimi?"
"Yes Tai?"
"Izzy has something to say to you." I turned him towards Mimi. "Don't you Izzy?"
"Uh, Mimi. I, kind-a sort-a, 'ho boy. Mimi I love you!" He clapped his hands to his mouth after the last sentence.
"You do!?" She looked at him, a hopeful smile on her face. He grabbed her and kissed her deeply.
"Does that answer your question?" Izzy said, to a very dazed looking Mimi.
"Yeah."
"I think I'll just leave you two love birds alone." And with that, I walked off to find Sora.
I was walking towards where Matt told me he saw Sora headed, when I saw something shimmering floating in front of me. It went strait for me. It hit me in the chest and I doubled over, letting out a silent scream. I felt myself being pushed. The world faded and blurred until it came back in full. But I saw something I've almost never seen before. Myself. I was seeing my own body. And then my body got up and looked at me. And then it spoke in a cruel, hateful voice that I had never heard before.
"Ah, Tai, how are you? You look a little pale." My body let out a cruel laugh. "Hmm, what to do with you? I think I'll leave you that way. Until I need you back that is. Meanwhile, you get to watch the fun." My body smiled an evil smile. One I've seen once before. The Emerald King. Was this his spirit? Or was it a different spirit? "I can tell you are wondering who I am. Well you shall see in due time. But I will tell you this, Tai Kamiya, I am not the Emerald King!" My body winced when it said 'the Emerald King'. "Now, for the fun." On the word fun, the voice was no longer the one of hatred and cruelty, but my own. "Sora! Sora!"
"Yeah Tai?"
"You leave her alone!" The real me hissed.
"Silence fool," it said in a whisper. "Come here!"
"Why?"
"Because, I want to, um, give you something!"
"What?" I asked.
"I said silence human!" My body whispered.
"Coming Tai!"
"No Sora!" I cried out to her, but it was as if she couldn't hear me. She can't hear me.
"What did you want to give me?" She said in a tone that said, 'I know what it is but tell me anyway.'
"This!" And with that my body kissed her.
She gave my body a smile. But then it changed to a concerned look. "Tai, something seemed different." It gave me a ray of hope.
"That's not me! That's not me! Please hear me Sora!" I cried to her. But she couldn't hear. Why couldn't she hear me?
"I don't know why you'd say that."
"Hmm, must have been my imagination." She said with a shrug.
"Sora no! Don't go with him, or her, or whatever. Just don't go." But she did, and I started to cry. Silver drops of water fell to the ground.
I spent the day following Sora. It seemed like she noticed something was wrong. But whenever she mentioned it to 'me', 'I' just said, 'Must be your imagination.' She always agreed, but she still wondered. Occasionally I would check on Mimi and Izzy, or Kari and T.K. (I checked on them to make sure T.K. didn't do anything). But most of my time was with Sora and the false me.
But then it happened, the thing that almost fixed things. Sora had mentioned that she thought something was wrong. And 'I' said "It's just your imagination." But then Sora snapped.
"I am so %{^&!#@ tired of you saying that!"
"Don't talk to me that way!" And without warning, *SLAP*, 'I' slapped her. Tears filled Sora's eyes. She touched the reddening area of skin where she had been slapped.
"You're not Tai." She looked strait at my body. "You couldn't be Tai. He promised he would never hurt me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Flash back ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had. It had been 2 days ago. 1 day before Truth or Dare. We were talking and Sora said, "Tai, would you ever hurt me?"
"Of course not. What would give you that idea?"
"I was just thinking about all those divorce cases you hear about with celebrities. That's all."
"Don't worry, I doubt both of us will become celebrities. Besides, I could never hurt you. Never. No matter what."
"Do you promise?"
"What? That I'll never become a celebrity? Well, that would be nice but…"
"Stop kidding, you know what I mean."
"Yes I do. I promise I will never hurt you in any way. No matter what."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End of flash back ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're not Tai."
"Yes I am, I'll prove it." Big mistake.
"All right. Three questions. Get them all right, you're Tai. Get one wrong, you're not Tai and I leave you forever." Forever? Wait! What if the real Tai comes back! "Understand?"
"Yes."
"When did we first kiss?"
My body thought about it. "By the spring."
"What game were we playing when we preformed 'operation cupid'?"
"Truth or Dare."
"Final question. When did you first tell me you loved me?" Hard one. No one knows that but Sora and me.
Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled into my body. "Sora, it isn't me you were…" I couldn't continue because I was being forced out again. "When The…the…Emerald King almost killed me, and you looked down at me." No. All my hopes were shattered. I had lost Sora forever. To someone I never knew, and will never know. My true love was gone forever, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I couldn't sleep, so I floated around. But something stirred. I dashed away. It was my body. And it was headed for Sora. It picked her up, and started carrying her away. I followed not too far behind. Wait! If I could get to Sora without that thing seeing me, maybe I could enter her dreams and tell her what's happening. It crouched down to take a rest. I quickly dashed for Sora, and entered her dreams…
It was strange inside her mind. Finally I found her. She was sitting there in a room, with a large tag-shaped mirror(if you have seen the show you know what a tag is). She was sitting there brushing her hair, I quietly walked towards her.
"Sora." She was startled, and turned around too fast, and she fell into my arms.
"Tai?"
"Sora, the Tai you've been with today isn't the real Tai. It was some being that forced me out of my body."
"You tried to talk to me today, when I was asking you the questions."
"Yes that was me. Sora, I want you to wake up now. I'll try my hardest to get my body back. Please remember this. For me." With that, she woke up, and I was forced out of her mind.
"Tai? What am I doing out here?" Sora asked my body.
"You were sleep walking I guess, and you would have been lost forever if you hadn't stepped on me. I'm going to take you back to camp now."
"You were in my dream, I was brushing my hair when you said my name and I turned around to fast and fell into your arms and you told me I hadn't been with the real you today and…"
"Shhh, go back to sleep. It was just some crazy dream."
"Okay, Tai." And she fell back to sleep.
1.1 Chapter Two: The Power of Love
I followed my body and Sora all night. When the sun just started to rise, a castle came into view. And it was no ordinary castle. The main building was surrounded by four towers so tall you probably could have touched a cloud once you were at the top. The mighty red doors were bordered by scarlet banners with an S intertwined with a Q. I soon realized who invaded my body, the Scarlet Queen! She was after Sora! But why? Then I remembered what the Emerald King said, 'we each have strengths and weaknesses.' What did she want from Sora? Then it hit me. Love! The Emerald King stole me for my Courage, which is my Crest. So the queen must be after Sora's Love. I dashed after them, just getting through the doorway. I sneaked along, just far enough behind so my body couldn't notice me, close enough so that I didn't lose them. Eventually, we entered a gigantic room. The carpet was blood red, the curtains were beautiful scarlet. Upon the scarlet encrusted thrown sat, asleep, an older woman. She was in flowing red robes, studded with rubies, and had one of those chess-queen style crowns. She looked fairly normal. Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled back towards my body. The shimmering thing was headed for the woman. Before I entered my body, the woman chained it up, and then chained up Sora. I finally reentered my body. I tried to move, but my body wouldn't respond.
"You won't be able to move for a while, Kamiya. You have been in the Astral state for so long, you can't function. And you won't be able to move till something gives life to you." That voice, the cruel one.
"Please, let Sora go. Do what you may to me but leave her alone!"
"Looks like your vocal cords and tongue are working all right."
"I said let Sora go!"
"I'm afraid I can't. You see, I need both of your love. I don't need all of it, but some is needed. I have compiled a list of the four strongest loves in either of your bodies. One from each should be satisfactory."
"Who are they?"
"For you, Sora, Kari, your parents and," she looked up with a smirk, "Mimi."
"Huh?!?" Mimi? One of the four strongest loves in my body?
"It appears to be 'brotherly love', but still love."
"What about Sora?"
"Hmm, let's see. You, her parents, Izzy and Matt."
"Matt and Izzy?"
"Once again, 'brotherly love'. At least in Izzy's case. Matt is something different. Not true love, as you feel for Sora. But not relative love, as her parents or Izzy. I'm not sure what it is. All I am sure of is it's less than True, but more than Relative."
"You're just trying to drive us apart, aren't you?! You want me to hate her, so I'll give you my love for her, don't you?!" I was boiling with anger. "Answer me!?!" My screams woke Sora.
"Tai, what's going on?"
"This is the Scarlet Queen, one of the DigiRoyals. She wants to steal our love."
"What?" Her eyes filled with tears. "I don't want to stop loving you!"
"Not our love, as in you and me, but some of our love, as in our love for one person."
"Who?"
"I have to choose from you, my parents, Kari, and Mimi."
"Mimi!"
"Sibling love. You have to choose from Izzy, Matt, your parents and me. You love Izzy and Matt in a brotherly way."
"Well, not Matt," the Scarlet Queen cut in.
"What?"
"You don't love Matt in a brotherly way, and you don't love him like you love Tai. It's somewhere in-between," she said.
"As I was saying, we must choose one of those four."
"But why?"
"Because she'll steal all of it otherwise."
"All right." She let out a sigh. "I love Tai, and couldn't live without that love. And my parents are too important. I have to decide between Izzy and Matt. I think I'll get rid of Matt, because if I remain with him, I might fall in love," she looked strait at me, "and crush you, Tai." She gave up her second strongest love for me.
"I can't live without my love for Sora, and my relatives are too important too lose, so I choose Mimi." I looked at Sora. "I can't have her stealing my heart." Tears filled our eyes, and the Scarlet Queen spoke.
"Are you sure of your decision? For once I take the love, I cannot give it back."
"I'm sure." Sora looked sad, but she squeezed my hand and looked up at me, with a slight smile on her face.
"I'm sure," I said.
"All right." She walked forward and placed an index finger on each of our foreheads. I felt the same tingling as when the Emerald King tried to take my courage. 'Will it hurt?' I thought. 'I hope not. It hurt so much when the Emerald King did this.' Suddenly, the Scarlet Queen winced. The tingling stopped momentarily, then started again. 'She winced when I thought about the Emerald King. It's as if it hurt her when I thought about him.' She winced again. 'Hmm, the Emerald King, Emerald King, Emerald King…' I thought his name over and over again. The Scarlet Queen started to howl in pain. I had found the key to stopping her. I thought his name, tried to remember him, and did everything to keep him in my mind. The Queen shrieked and howled in pain.
"Sora, think about the Emerald King."
"Why, Tai?"
"That's what's hurting the Scarlet Queen."
"All right." She shrugged and started to think. The Queens shrieks grew louder and louder, till she let go.
"Sora, get the key ring!" Sora grabbed, missed, and grabbed again. She snatched the ring and unlocked herself, then she unlocked me.
"Come on Tai!"
"I can't!"
"Why?"
"I was in the Astral state too long. I can't move till something gives life too me!"
"Maybe this will?" With that she leaned down and pulled me into a kiss. My body started to tingle, and once we stopped kissing, I got up.
"Now let's go!'
"Not so fast, children!" The Scarlet Queen yelled. Apparently, the affects had worn off. "I must have the love!" Her eyes blazed. "I shall have your love!" She grew and changed, just like the Emerald King had. She sprouted wings of scarlet and gold, and her hands became red eagle talons. And a forked tail sprouted out. She let out a mighty roar, and surrounded herself with her wings. When the wings unfurled, there stood a great Dragon. It was Scarlet from head to tail, from wingtip to wingtip. Smoke curled out from her nostrils. She swung a mighty talon strait for us. I had little time to react. I dove strait for Sora, and a miracle happened…
1.2 Chapter Three: The Paladin Sword
I jumped in front of Sora, and brandished one hand towards the claws swinging towards us. There was a bright light, and I heard the clank of claws on…metal? When I turned forward, I found myself holding a great shield. It was a silvery-gray, with the symbols for courage and light in a circle surrounding an intertwined T and S. In my other hand, I was holding a sword, made of the same metal. On one side in read, "to the holder of Courage and Love, only you can save this world from the great evils that grip the land. When the time comes, these weapons shall become more valuable than any could imagine." And on the other side it read, "THE PALADIN SWORD." On either side was the symbols of Courage and Love.
"Those weapons, I have seen them before. They were once held by the greatest warrior of all time. He was good and righteous. With those, I could rule the Digiworld, and no one could stop me." The Scarlet Queen laughed her hateful laugh.
"This blade was meant for me! You shall not get it, foul beast!" I brandished the mighty weapon and prepared myself for the battle ahead.
"I shall take it, human. Even if I have to pry it from your cold, dead fingers. Scarlet Demon Flame!" She let loose a burst of fire. But I grabbed Sora close and blocked us with a pillar. When the flames stopped I let go of Sora and jumped out from behind the support.
"Now it's my turn!" With that I jumped forward and swung the mighty blade, cutting through the hide of the beast.
"ROAARRRRR!!!" It bellowed. "You have struck, but not killed, foolish human!" It swung its mighty paw and knocked me across the room, and thundered strait for me.
"TAI!" Sora jumped up upon the beast's back and jabbed a piece of a broken vase deep into the wound I had left.
"ROAARRRRR!!!" It roared in pain and stumbled, sending Sora flying.
"SORA! NO!!!" I dove strait for her, grabbing her in the nick of time. The mighty beast bellowed in agony. I stepped towards it, Sora just behind, and said, "would you like me to put you out of your misery?" It whimpered and nodded its head. "Well, that's too f****** bad you bitch!" With that I drove my sword strait through its heart, twisted it, and pulled the bloody blade back out. "Come on Sora, we have to go, now!"
We ran off. We would be easy to follow, since the sword left blood drops on the path. But I doubt anyone tried to.
When we finally got back to camp, we explained what had happened. The gang seemed skeptical, until we showed them the sword and shield. But we pondered the writing on one side. "Maybe Genni knows," Izzy said.
"Perhaps, see if you can ask him," Joe suggested. So Izzy sat down and started typing on that computer of his.
After a little while he perked his head up and said, "Genni said that he was the great warrior who first used the sword. The part about 'when the time comes, it shall be more powerful than one can imagine,' relates to your digimon. When they fuse, it shall be the destroyer of evil, whatever that means."
"I've been through too much today to ponder one of Genni's riddles. And I bet Sora has too." I looked at her. She nodded in agreement. "Can we just take a break?"
"Sure, why not," Matt said
"Sounds reasonable to me," Izzy added.
"Good. Well, I'm off too the beach." I said, starting to head off.
"Wait for me Tai!" Sora called, running after me.
"No, I don't think so."
"Why's that?"
"Because, I'll race ya'."
"Why not?" Sora said with a shrug. So we ran off. I was in the lead, but Sora's fast, and she pulled ahead. But then I grabbed her by the waist and plopped her down behind me. But, she won anyway.
"*Pant* You *pant* won Sora."
"*Pant* I sure *pant* did." We smiled at each other, for we knew our love was something that couldn't be broken. We kissed deeply while the sun set, sending rays of red, gold, orange and purple across the sky.
Our love cannot be broken by a thousand swords,
Unraveled by the ropes of time,
Our love cannot be stopped by any wall,
Kept back by any chains,
Our love is eternal,
Our love is true.
I really hope you liked this saga. I consider it one of my best works ever. To the people I sent it too, please post my stories, please oh please oh please. And to those of you who are just readers, please let me know what you think at ggrube@msn.com. Oh, and by the way, I came up with that poem.;)
A Taiora and Koumi Saga
By YashamonMaster
1 Chapter One: The Possession
I was sitting on a log thinking about the previous night when Izzy walked by. "Hey Tai."
"Hey Izzy."
"What's on your mind?"
"Last night."
"Any particular event?"
"Isn't it obvious? I mean, you are supposed to be the genius."
"I was just making sure." He sat down on the log. "You looked like you enjoyed that dare."
"You knew I would. So why did you dare me it?"
"Because I knew you would try and get back at me."
"So you had a plan too, eh?"
"Yup. Dare you to kiss Sora so you would dare me to kiss Mimi. Though I had nothing to do with the part about Sora taking her shirts off. Honest. And I wasn't ready to see Mimi like that. But you looked so cool about it. How come?"
"You haven't even admitted to Mimi you like Mimi. Sora and me have been in love, and known about it, for a while. Besides, I was going to see eventually, and I knew it."
"How could you be so sure?"
"When true love is a factor, anything is possible. Now Izzy, it's time you confessed to Mimi."
"HUH!?!"
"You're going to confess to Mimi today. No excuses, got it?"
"But I…yeah." He looked down at his shoes. "When?"
"As soon as we get back to camp."
"That could be anytime."
"We're leaving, now!"
"Mimi?"
"Yes Tai?"
"Izzy has something to say to you." I turned him towards Mimi. "Don't you Izzy?"
"Uh, Mimi. I, kind-a sort-a, 'ho boy. Mimi I love you!" He clapped his hands to his mouth after the last sentence.
"You do!?" She looked at him, a hopeful smile on her face. He grabbed her and kissed her deeply.
"Does that answer your question?" Izzy said, to a very dazed looking Mimi.
"Yeah."
"I think I'll just leave you two love birds alone." And with that, I walked off to find Sora.
I was walking towards where Matt told me he saw Sora headed, when I saw something shimmering floating in front of me. It went strait for me. It hit me in the chest and I doubled over, letting out a silent scream. I felt myself being pushed. The world faded and blurred until it came back in full. But I saw something I've almost never seen before. Myself. I was seeing my own body. And then my body got up and looked at me. And then it spoke in a cruel, hateful voice that I had never heard before.
"Ah, Tai, how are you? You look a little pale." My body let out a cruel laugh. "Hmm, what to do with you? I think I'll leave you that way. Until I need you back that is. Meanwhile, you get to watch the fun." My body smiled an evil smile. One I've seen once before. The Emerald King. Was this his spirit? Or was it a different spirit? "I can tell you are wondering who I am. Well you shall see in due time. But I will tell you this, Tai Kamiya, I am not the Emerald King!" My body winced when it said 'the Emerald King'. "Now, for the fun." On the word fun, the voice was no longer the one of hatred and cruelty, but my own. "Sora! Sora!"
"Yeah Tai?"
"You leave her alone!" The real me hissed.
"Silence fool," it said in a whisper. "Come here!"
"Why?"
"Because, I want to, um, give you something!"
"What?" I asked.
"I said silence human!" My body whispered.
"Coming Tai!"
"No Sora!" I cried out to her, but it was as if she couldn't hear me. She can't hear me.
"What did you want to give me?" She said in a tone that said, 'I know what it is but tell me anyway.'
"This!" And with that my body kissed her.
She gave my body a smile. But then it changed to a concerned look. "Tai, something seemed different." It gave me a ray of hope.
"That's not me! That's not me! Please hear me Sora!" I cried to her. But she couldn't hear. Why couldn't she hear me?
"I don't know why you'd say that."
"Hmm, must have been my imagination." She said with a shrug.
"Sora no! Don't go with him, or her, or whatever. Just don't go." But she did, and I started to cry. Silver drops of water fell to the ground.
I spent the day following Sora. It seemed like she noticed something was wrong. But whenever she mentioned it to 'me', 'I' just said, 'Must be your imagination.' She always agreed, but she still wondered. Occasionally I would check on Mimi and Izzy, or Kari and T.K. (I checked on them to make sure T.K. didn't do anything). But most of my time was with Sora and the false me.
But then it happened, the thing that almost fixed things. Sora had mentioned that she thought something was wrong. And 'I' said "It's just your imagination." But then Sora snapped.
"I am so %{^&!#@ tired of you saying that!"
"Don't talk to me that way!" And without warning, *SLAP*, 'I' slapped her. Tears filled Sora's eyes. She touched the reddening area of skin where she had been slapped.
"You're not Tai." She looked strait at my body. "You couldn't be Tai. He promised he would never hurt me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Flash back ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had. It had been 2 days ago. 1 day before Truth or Dare. We were talking and Sora said, "Tai, would you ever hurt me?"
"Of course not. What would give you that idea?"
"I was just thinking about all those divorce cases you hear about with celebrities. That's all."
"Don't worry, I doubt both of us will become celebrities. Besides, I could never hurt you. Never. No matter what."
"Do you promise?"
"What? That I'll never become a celebrity? Well, that would be nice but…"
"Stop kidding, you know what I mean."
"Yes I do. I promise I will never hurt you in any way. No matter what."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End of flash back ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're not Tai."
"Yes I am, I'll prove it." Big mistake.
"All right. Three questions. Get them all right, you're Tai. Get one wrong, you're not Tai and I leave you forever." Forever? Wait! What if the real Tai comes back! "Understand?"
"Yes."
"When did we first kiss?"
My body thought about it. "By the spring."
"What game were we playing when we preformed 'operation cupid'?"
"Truth or Dare."
"Final question. When did you first tell me you loved me?" Hard one. No one knows that but Sora and me.
Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled into my body. "Sora, it isn't me you were…" I couldn't continue because I was being forced out again. "When The…the…Emerald King almost killed me, and you looked down at me." No. All my hopes were shattered. I had lost Sora forever. To someone I never knew, and will never know. My true love was gone forever, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I couldn't sleep, so I floated around. But something stirred. I dashed away. It was my body. And it was headed for Sora. It picked her up, and started carrying her away. I followed not too far behind. Wait! If I could get to Sora without that thing seeing me, maybe I could enter her dreams and tell her what's happening. It crouched down to take a rest. I quickly dashed for Sora, and entered her dreams…
It was strange inside her mind. Finally I found her. She was sitting there in a room, with a large tag-shaped mirror(if you have seen the show you know what a tag is). She was sitting there brushing her hair, I quietly walked towards her.
"Sora." She was startled, and turned around too fast, and she fell into my arms.
"Tai?"
"Sora, the Tai you've been with today isn't the real Tai. It was some being that forced me out of my body."
"You tried to talk to me today, when I was asking you the questions."
"Yes that was me. Sora, I want you to wake up now. I'll try my hardest to get my body back. Please remember this. For me." With that, she woke up, and I was forced out of her mind.
"Tai? What am I doing out here?" Sora asked my body.
"You were sleep walking I guess, and you would have been lost forever if you hadn't stepped on me. I'm going to take you back to camp now."
"You were in my dream, I was brushing my hair when you said my name and I turned around to fast and fell into your arms and you told me I hadn't been with the real you today and…"
"Shhh, go back to sleep. It was just some crazy dream."
"Okay, Tai." And she fell back to sleep.
1.1 Chapter Two: The Power of Love
I followed my body and Sora all night. When the sun just started to rise, a castle came into view. And it was no ordinary castle. The main building was surrounded by four towers so tall you probably could have touched a cloud once you were at the top. The mighty red doors were bordered by scarlet banners with an S intertwined with a Q. I soon realized who invaded my body, the Scarlet Queen! She was after Sora! But why? Then I remembered what the Emerald King said, 'we each have strengths and weaknesses.' What did she want from Sora? Then it hit me. Love! The Emerald King stole me for my Courage, which is my Crest. So the queen must be after Sora's Love. I dashed after them, just getting through the doorway. I sneaked along, just far enough behind so my body couldn't notice me, close enough so that I didn't lose them. Eventually, we entered a gigantic room. The carpet was blood red, the curtains were beautiful scarlet. Upon the scarlet encrusted thrown sat, asleep, an older woman. She was in flowing red robes, studded with rubies, and had one of those chess-queen style crowns. She looked fairly normal. Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled back towards my body. The shimmering thing was headed for the woman. Before I entered my body, the woman chained it up, and then chained up Sora. I finally reentered my body. I tried to move, but my body wouldn't respond.
"You won't be able to move for a while, Kamiya. You have been in the Astral state for so long, you can't function. And you won't be able to move till something gives life to you." That voice, the cruel one.
"Please, let Sora go. Do what you may to me but leave her alone!"
"Looks like your vocal cords and tongue are working all right."
"I said let Sora go!"
"I'm afraid I can't. You see, I need both of your love. I don't need all of it, but some is needed. I have compiled a list of the four strongest loves in either of your bodies. One from each should be satisfactory."
"Who are they?"
"For you, Sora, Kari, your parents and," she looked up with a smirk, "Mimi."
"Huh?!?" Mimi? One of the four strongest loves in my body?
"It appears to be 'brotherly love', but still love."
"What about Sora?"
"Hmm, let's see. You, her parents, Izzy and Matt."
"Matt and Izzy?"
"Once again, 'brotherly love'. At least in Izzy's case. Matt is something different. Not true love, as you feel for Sora. But not relative love, as her parents or Izzy. I'm not sure what it is. All I am sure of is it's less than True, but more than Relative."
"You're just trying to drive us apart, aren't you?! You want me to hate her, so I'll give you my love for her, don't you?!" I was boiling with anger. "Answer me!?!" My screams woke Sora.
"Tai, what's going on?"
"This is the Scarlet Queen, one of the DigiRoyals. She wants to steal our love."
"What?" Her eyes filled with tears. "I don't want to stop loving you!"
"Not our love, as in you and me, but some of our love, as in our love for one person."
"Who?"
"I have to choose from you, my parents, Kari, and Mimi."
"Mimi!"
"Sibling love. You have to choose from Izzy, Matt, your parents and me. You love Izzy and Matt in a brotherly way."
"Well, not Matt," the Scarlet Queen cut in.
"What?"
"You don't love Matt in a brotherly way, and you don't love him like you love Tai. It's somewhere in-between," she said.
"As I was saying, we must choose one of those four."
"But why?"
"Because she'll steal all of it otherwise."
"All right." She let out a sigh. "I love Tai, and couldn't live without that love. And my parents are too important. I have to decide between Izzy and Matt. I think I'll get rid of Matt, because if I remain with him, I might fall in love," she looked strait at me, "and crush you, Tai." She gave up her second strongest love for me.
"I can't live without my love for Sora, and my relatives are too important too lose, so I choose Mimi." I looked at Sora. "I can't have her stealing my heart." Tears filled our eyes, and the Scarlet Queen spoke.
"Are you sure of your decision? For once I take the love, I cannot give it back."
"I'm sure." Sora looked sad, but she squeezed my hand and looked up at me, with a slight smile on her face.
"I'm sure," I said.
"All right." She walked forward and placed an index finger on each of our foreheads. I felt the same tingling as when the Emerald King tried to take my courage. 'Will it hurt?' I thought. 'I hope not. It hurt so much when the Emerald King did this.' Suddenly, the Scarlet Queen winced. The tingling stopped momentarily, then started again. 'She winced when I thought about the Emerald King. It's as if it hurt her when I thought about him.' She winced again. 'Hmm, the Emerald King, Emerald King, Emerald King…' I thought his name over and over again. The Scarlet Queen started to howl in pain. I had found the key to stopping her. I thought his name, tried to remember him, and did everything to keep him in my mind. The Queen shrieked and howled in pain.
"Sora, think about the Emerald King."
"Why, Tai?"
"That's what's hurting the Scarlet Queen."
"All right." She shrugged and started to think. The Queens shrieks grew louder and louder, till she let go.
"Sora, get the key ring!" Sora grabbed, missed, and grabbed again. She snatched the ring and unlocked herself, then she unlocked me.
"Come on Tai!"
"I can't!"
"Why?"
"I was in the Astral state too long. I can't move till something gives life too me!"
"Maybe this will?" With that she leaned down and pulled me into a kiss. My body started to tingle, and once we stopped kissing, I got up.
"Now let's go!'
"Not so fast, children!" The Scarlet Queen yelled. Apparently, the affects had worn off. "I must have the love!" Her eyes blazed. "I shall have your love!" She grew and changed, just like the Emerald King had. She sprouted wings of scarlet and gold, and her hands became red eagle talons. And a forked tail sprouted out. She let out a mighty roar, and surrounded herself with her wings. When the wings unfurled, there stood a great Dragon. It was Scarlet from head to tail, from wingtip to wingtip. Smoke curled out from her nostrils. She swung a mighty talon strait for us. I had little time to react. I dove strait for Sora, and a miracle happened…
1.2 Chapter Three: The Paladin Sword
I jumped in front of Sora, and brandished one hand towards the claws swinging towards us. There was a bright light, and I heard the clank of claws on…metal? When I turned forward, I found myself holding a great shield. It was a silvery-gray, with the symbols for courage and light in a circle surrounding an intertwined T and S. In my other hand, I was holding a sword, made of the same metal. On one side in read, "to the holder of Courage and Love, only you can save this world from the great evils that grip the land. When the time comes, these weapons shall become more valuable than any could imagine." And on the other side it read, "THE PALADIN SWORD." On either side was the symbols of Courage and Love.
"Those weapons, I have seen them before. They were once held by the greatest warrior of all time. He was good and righteous. With those, I could rule the Digiworld, and no one could stop me." The Scarlet Queen laughed her hateful laugh.
"This blade was meant for me! You shall not get it, foul beast!" I brandished the mighty weapon and prepared myself for the battle ahead.
"I shall take it, human. Even if I have to pry it from your cold, dead fingers. Scarlet Demon Flame!" She let loose a burst of fire. But I grabbed Sora close and blocked us with a pillar. When the flames stopped I let go of Sora and jumped out from behind the support.
"Now it's my turn!" With that I jumped forward and swung the mighty blade, cutting through the hide of the beast.
"ROAARRRRR!!!" It bellowed. "You have struck, but not killed, foolish human!" It swung its mighty paw and knocked me across the room, and thundered strait for me.
"TAI!" Sora jumped up upon the beast's back and jabbed a piece of a broken vase deep into the wound I had left.
"ROAARRRRR!!!" It roared in pain and stumbled, sending Sora flying.
"SORA! NO!!!" I dove strait for her, grabbing her in the nick of time. The mighty beast bellowed in agony. I stepped towards it, Sora just behind, and said, "would you like me to put you out of your misery?" It whimpered and nodded its head. "Well, that's too f****** bad you bitch!" With that I drove my sword strait through its heart, twisted it, and pulled the bloody blade back out. "Come on Sora, we have to go, now!"
We ran off. We would be easy to follow, since the sword left blood drops on the path. But I doubt anyone tried to.
When we finally got back to camp, we explained what had happened. The gang seemed skeptical, until we showed them the sword and shield. But we pondered the writing on one side. "Maybe Genni knows," Izzy said.
"Perhaps, see if you can ask him," Joe suggested. So Izzy sat down and started typing on that computer of his.
After a little while he perked his head up and said, "Genni said that he was the great warrior who first used the sword. The part about 'when the time comes, it shall be more powerful than one can imagine,' relates to your digimon. When they fuse, it shall be the destroyer of evil, whatever that means."
"I've been through too much today to ponder one of Genni's riddles. And I bet Sora has too." I looked at her. She nodded in agreement. "Can we just take a break?"
"Sure, why not," Matt said
"Sounds reasonable to me," Izzy added.
"Good. Well, I'm off too the beach." I said, starting to head off.
"Wait for me Tai!" Sora called, running after me.
"No, I don't think so."
"Why's that?"
"Because, I'll race ya'."
"Why not?" Sora said with a shrug. So we ran off. I was in the lead, but Sora's fast, and she pulled ahead. But then I grabbed her by the waist and plopped her down behind me. But, she won anyway.
"*Pant* You *pant* won Sora."
"*Pant* I sure *pant* did." We smiled at each other, for we knew our love was something that couldn't be broken. We kissed deeply while the sun set, sending rays of red, gold, orange and purple across the sky.
Our love cannot be broken by a thousand swords,
Unraveled by the ropes of time,
Our love cannot be stopped by any wall,
Kept back by any chains,
Our love is eternal,
Our love is true.
I really hope you liked this saga. I consider it one of my best works ever. To the people I sent it too, please post my stories, please oh please oh please. And to those of you who are just readers, please let me know what you think at ggrube@msn.com. Oh, and by the way, I came up with that poem.;)