Chapter twelve: A Little More Help
"Mara, Ariyo, I think you and your friends should leave." Sora told them. Mara shook her head.
"No we want to help!"
"You've helped enough and besides, after what Piedmon did, I'm afraid of you two getting hurt!"
"We won't get hurt, we can take care of ourselves!" Ariyo nodded in agreement.
"That's right, you won't have to worry, we'll be careful!" Garudamon overheard their small talk.
"Sora, should I?" She asked. Sora nodded knowing what she meant. Garudamon flew into the air and picked up each of the children one by one. They tried to escape by running but Garudamon was too fast for them. Garudamon kept them in her cupped hands and flew up into the sky. She stopped when she reached about 15,000 feet up in the air. Mara peered down.
"I'm sorry Mara but this is for the best!" Sora yelled. The ground split wide open and swallowed the digidestined. As soon as they fell into the pit, Garudamon slowly descended and set the children up on top of the highest tree she could find so they wouldn't be able to jump down and enter the underground cavern. She then went in through the large fissure herself.
"Hey you can't leave us up here!" Yelled Andoru.
"Come back!" Cried Kado.
"I'm afraid of heights!" Said Makoto. Mara looked down from where she was perched. 'I-It's n-not t-too far down, I-I can j-jump it.' She thought to herself. She placed a foot on to a branch below. As she put weight onto it, the branch began to break. She quickly pulled her foot back up onto her perch.
"Now what do we do Mara?" Asked Ariyo. She shrugged at her little brother.
"I guess we just wait." Replied Hiroshi. Nazo sighed deeply.
"Who knows when they'll finish their business down there!" The children were becoming anxious, Ariyo noticed this and decided to relax them, he pulled his harmonica out from his pocket. He began to play it. Slowly, one by one they became at ease. Mara smiled proudly at her brother. She and the others closed theirs eyes and rested. They soon realized that Ariyo had stopped playing in the middle of a tune very suddenly. They opened their eyes and found themselves gazing at a vortex hovering over them.
"What's that?" Asked Hiroshi.
"I don't know." Said Dakedo. Nazo gasped as she realized what it was.
"It's the vortex we came out of!" They all gazed into it and soon saw 24 figures descend from it. They gasped as they saw that it was their parents and 16 digimon. Half of the digimon belong to them and the other half belonged to their parents.
"Look there they are!" Cried Tentomon.
"What are they doing up in a tree?" Asked Izzy.
"Who cares? We found them safe and sound!" Cried Mimi. They gently landed right next to the tree.
"Mom?" Makoto asked insecurely.
"What are you doing here?" Hiroshi asked. The children jumped down from the tree as their parents were down below holding out their arms, ready to catch them. They were set down on the ground next to their parents except for Makoto who was being squeezed by Mimi.
"You know how worried sick I was? Never ever do something like that again!" She said.
"Ariyo!" Cried Tsunomon as he jumped into his arms. Ariyo hugged his digimon a hug, being happy to see him. The other little digimon did the same.
"We've come to take you home before you kids decide to do something that would alter history." Matt explained. Mara and Ariyo looked down at their digimon sadly.
"What's wrong?" Sora asked.
"Sorry to disappoint you Mom and Dad but, I can't leave until I know for sure that the world will be saved in this time!" Mara said. Sora and Matt looked at each other. Everyone turned their gaze towards the Ishida family.
"That goes for me too!" Said Ariyo. Sora was taken aback.
"You two can't stay here, now come with us, we're going home!" Matt reached out to take Mara's hand. She put Yokomon down and pulled her hand behind her. Matt became frustrated with her.
"Mara would you stop being so stubborn?" He asked in a crossed tone. Andoru put Koromon down and stepped away from his dad.
"I'm not going either!" He declared. Soon all the children made the same decision. Makoto struggled out of Mimi's death grip and ran towards his friends. They all headed towards the opening in the ground.
"Where do you think you're going?" Asked Kari.
"We're going to help defeat Apocalymon!" Said Nazo. The children's digimon watched them from afar. Then they hopped towards their partners and jumped into their arms.
"You're coming too?" Asked Nazo.
"We're partners and best friends, I'll go anywhere you'll go!" Her Motimon said blithely. She and the other children smiled. They all continued to head towards the opening. The parents looked at each other and ran after them as well as their digimon.
"You can't destroy Apocalymon with just seven in-training digimon and a rookie!" TK said. They stopped and turned to their parents.
"You'll need six ultimate and two mega digimon as well!" Said Tai smiling. The children grinned, so did their parents and digimon.