Unfortunately, I was not able to finish this when I wanted to (Thursday) because I got a pretty bad chest cold and couldn't even get out of bed, let alone make it downstairs to the computer room. But, after an extensive rest and several doses of cherry shoe polish cough syrup, I'm back with this most sought-after chapter. And I apologize for the lack of 'new Digimon' creativity that one person asked for. It's just that when I came up with this idea in my mind, LadyDevimon and Phantomon (later Chapter) were the first things that came to mind, and now the story just doesn't seam right without them.

Disclaimer: How many times do I have to say it? DIGIMON IS NOT MINE! Get over it.

Mysterious Child

Chapter 3: Gatamon

"NO NO NO NO NO!" Carie screamed at the top of her lungs.

Instantly, everyone's minds started panicking, but they forced themselves to remain calm. "Carie, what's wrong?" Kari asked. "Is something…"

Carie pointed at the DigiPort on the computer screen. "NO NO NO NO NO!" she shouted again, and this time she stood up. "No go to D-World! D-World bad! No Go!"

"Dee-World?" Davis asked questioningly.

"I think she means the Digital World." Izzy told him. He sat down, eye-level with the girl. "Carie, why can't we go to um…D-World?"

"D-World bad place!" Carie cried. "Bad Things come from dere! Bad bad bad bad things!" she looked around at the hypnotized group of older kids, eyes flashing almost dangerously. "D-World take mommy and daddy 'way. D-World take 'way Uncle Tai. D-World make every one go 'way! D-World bad bad bad BAD!"

She whimpered a bit and tears started appearing again. "D-World bad…" she murmured. "Bad bad bad…."

Kari knelt down and hugged the little girl. "I'm sorry." she whispered, then looked up at the others. "Maybe we shouldn't go. I don't think it'll go over well…"

The others nodded. "Then meeting adjourned." Tai said, standing up. "We'll figure out how to work this later."

Kari picked Carie up. She looked at the little girl, then at T.K., then at the DigiPort. The same question as the night before rang in her mind. "What happened to the world? What happened to us? What happened?"

~ * ~ * ~

"YOU FOOL!"

DemiDevimon was blown back. He straightened up and bowed. "I apologize, Lord Daemon." he said. "I…"

"I DON'T WANT YOUR SNIFFLING EXCUSES!" his master boomed. "I WANT THAT LITTLE BRAT BACK, AND I WANT HER BACK NOW!"

DemiDevimon cowered. A tall, strong figure appeared behind him in the darkness. "May I make a suggestion, master?"

"What is it, LadyDevimon?" Daemon asked, much more gently.

The evil female Digimon held up a small, tiny little cage. A small, tiny little shaking ball was curled inside. Daemon smiled. "Ah…perfect…"

~ * ~ * ~

Something sent the DigiDestined to the park. Not all of them, but Izzy, Tai, Kari, Yolei and T.K. went for some reason. It went something like Carie wanted to go to the park, Kari agreed to take her, Carie wanted T.K. to go with them, Tai went to watch, Yolei loved to see little kids at play, and Izzy wanted to keep an eye on Carie. So, they went to the park.

Carie immediately ran forward and leapt onto the tire swing. It went back and forth, back and forth, then slowed to a stop. Carie giggled. "Daddy." she said in a sing-songy voice as it turned slightly around in a stationary circle. "Can oo come gimme a push?"

T.K. glanced uncertainly at Kari, who nodded. He came to the tire and picked it up, then gave it a gentle push forward. Carie went flying, giggling more and more, arms spread out and turning like she was pretending to fly.

After a moment of this, she stopped and dropped down through the hole in the tire. Then she crawled out, stood up, and brushed herself off. "Now let's try the jumble gym!" she laughed, and ran off towards the monkey bars.

T.K. sighed and sat down next to Kari on the grass. "Oh brother." he muttered. "She's a ball of fire."

"She's a kid, T.K." Yolei laughed. "Little kids are like that."

Carie was now running up the side of the slide, then sliding down, giggling. Kari smiled. "She's so sweet."

Carie landed on the ground and laughed once more, scattering sand everywhere. Then she stopped and looked up at the sky. She leapt to her feet and ran to Kari. "Momma!" she shouted, panicking.

Kari and the others scrambled to their feet. "What's wrong?" Izzy asked.

Carie hid behind Kari's legs and pointed at the sky. A crowd of bats was coming closer, coming together, and becoming an evil-looking, woman-shaped Digimon. "LadyDevimon!" Yolei shouted.

The evil Digimon laughed. "Hello, little girl." she hissed at Carie, who hid behind Kari again.

Kari crouched down and let the girl duck into her arms. She glared up at LadyDevimon. "Leave her alone, you big bully!" she shouted. "You should be ashamed, chasing after a helpless little girl!"

LadyDevimon laughed. "I'm afraid I can't leave, child." she said menacingly. "You see, my master, the Lord Daemon, dearly wishes this girl returned to him. And your future ruler does not like to be kept waiting."

"Daemon?!" Tai cried.

"Yeah. Daemon." LadyDevimon snapped. "And the girl is coming with me. Or I may just have to dispose of a little friend of hers."

She held up a tiny, black, steel cage. Inside was a tiny, quivering orange cat, the same color as Patamon, with big, blue eyes.

Carie's eyes widened. "Gatamon!" she shouted, standing up, just for a moment. "Don't hurt her!"

Kari looked at her. "Gatamon?" she asked.

Carie looked up with tearing eyes. "Gatamon." she sniffed, pointing at the cage. "She's my best fweind. We've been togeder since we was babies…"

Tentomon took a closer look. "I know her." he buzzed. "Gatamon is a cat-like Digimon, like Gatomon but very rare. This tiny orange type only appears every now and then."

T.K. looked at the quivering child, then at Patamon. "Ready?"

"Let's do it." Patamon growled.

Patamon, Digivolve to…Angemon!

Angemon flew forward. "Hand of Fate!" he shouted, firing the golden blast from his right hand.

Kari looked down. "Gatomon, you're next."

The cat-like Digimon nodded, then Digivolved to Angewomon. She fired a silver arrow at LadyDevimon. "Take that!"

LadyDevimon moved back to avoid the blast, but when she did so she dropped the cage holding Gatamon. It fell to the ground and burst open, freeing the little orange cat. "Carie!" it shouted, running for the small girl.

LadyDevimon righted herself. "Why you…" she growled, then looked at Carie and Kari. "Let's see you stop this! Darkness Poison!"

The beam of black energy flew at the two girls. Kari crouched down and covered Carie from the blast. The others were too far away to help. "Kari!" Tai shouted.

Gatamon ran forward, leaping up. "Carie!"

Carie closed her eyes and screamed. "Gatamon!"

There was a flash of light from Carie's bag. Out fell something that looked sort've like a pure white D-3, but the light emitting from it was too bright to see. It covered everything, but seamed to focus on Gatamon. Then something no one ever expected happened…

Gatamon, Digivolve to…Holymon!

Before them was a beautiful angel Digimon, with long, golden hair the same color as Gatamon's fur, long robes of pale lilac and pure white, and a beautiful, gentle figure. Her eyes were covered by a silver shield-like helmet with a crescent moon on it. Her features were not as developed as Angewomon's. In truth, she looked more like a child than either of the other Digimon, but she was still an amazing site as she blocked the two girls from the dark attack.

"Woah." Agumon whispered.

"That's Holymon." Tentomon buzzed. "She's one of the Angel Digimon, like Angemon and Angewomon. She uses the power of moonlight against the dark creatures."

Tai brushed his hair back. "That little Gatamon must have Digivolved." he muttered.

"That synchs it." Izzy said, snapping his fingers. "Carie must be a DigiDestined, and Holymon's her Digimon partner."

Kari and T.K. both gaped. "That's amazing." T.K. whispered.

"She's beautiful." Kari said next to him.

Carie didn't seam so happy. She was clutching the white device to her chest and looked like she was going to cry. "Gatamon, how could you?" she sobbed, but no one heard her.

Holymon flew up, between Angemon and Angewomon. "Need some help?" she giggled.

Angewomon couldn't help but smile. There was a sort of charm around this new Digimon, something even a serious battle couldn't stop.

LadyDevimon gave a low chuckle. "You think this…this child can help you against me?"

Holymon's eyes narrowed. Without a word, she flattened her hand out and pointed the palm at LadyDevimon. A small, lilac crescent moon tattoo was in the palm that now faced LadyDevimon. "Crescent Blast!" was shouted, and a moon-shaped beam of white energy blasted from the moon.

The beam struck LadyDevimon between the eyes. The evil Digimon was flabbergasted, unable to speak, as the beam spread over her body. Just as the light got too bright to bear, she gave one final cry: "Lord Daemon…forgive me…" before the light cleared, and LadyDevimon was no more.

Gatamon returned to her Rookie form, the tiny orange cat. Gatomon and Patamon were right next to her. "Wow." whispered Kari in awe. "One hit, she took out an Ultimate."

Carie sniffed and buried her face in Kari's shirt, clinging to the older girl's arms. Kari and the others were busy congratulating the Digimon. Gatamon leapt over to Carie and stood by her feet, looking up at her partner. "Carie…Is something wrong?"

The girl looked at her partner, then turned away. "Carie…cheer up!" Gatamon rubbed up against the back of her partner's knees. "We beat 'er! She's gone! We won!"

"NO, GATAMON!" shouted Carie, sitting up angrily, splashing her partner with tears and yelling loud enough that everyone turned and stared at her. "NO NO NO!"

Kari stared her. "Carie-" she began, but the girl wasn't listening.

"No more fighting!" Carie shouted at Gatamon, big, wet tears splashing down from her eyes. "You know what fighting do! Evwe time we fight, someone goes 'way! First Mr. Ichijo, then Uncle Matt, then Mr. Hida…Everyone go 'way!"

"B-But Carie…" Gatamon started.

"NO MORE FIGHTING!" screamed the child again, shaking slightly.

The group of kids stared at her in shock. Carie's bottom lip trembled a bit, then she threw herself at Kari and sobbed. Kari sat stunned for a moment, then pulled the girl in tightly and hugged her.

Izzy sighed and shook his head. "This has just gotten a lot more complicated." he muttered under his breath.