I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. This is almost over. After all this, it's almost over. But it's no over quite yet! There's still an epilogue after this, so don't go away, K? And this sounded just so much better in my head…I hope you can get it.
Before anyone says it, part of this chapter DOES borrow heavily from…aw, I ain't gonna spoil it! If you've seen it, you'll recognize it. Trust me. And I have no earthly idea what Imperialdramon or Daemon's attack. So I just…improvised. Okay, so I borrowed just a little something from Inu-Yasha…it fits him, okay?!
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Okie-dokie?
Mysterious Child
Chapter 8: Time Stream
Daemon sat in his chamber, stewing things around in his head. Somehow, someway, the two DigiDestined and their rotten little brat had escaped their cell without setting off the alarm. How? How had they gotten away?
"My Lord."
Daemon looked up. Phantomon was hovering about ten feet away. "What is it, Phantomon?"
"My Lord Daemon…" Phantomon bowed. "There is something you should see."
He showed Daemon a small portal that looked straight through the wall, into the grand hall. Two large Digimon and two slightly smaller ones were striding/flying the room carefully, their partners amongst them. Daemon grinned slightly as he recognized three of them: the DNA Digimon Sylphymon and Shakkoumon, and the Mega DNA form, Imperialdramon Fighter Mode. The other small one was an angel, and nothing but a child!
Daemon could feel the adrenaline rush through his veins. This was it! This was what he'd been waiting for, almost four years now! The ultimate fight! A true battle between the DigiDestined and himself! Once again, he could savor the destruction of his enemies, and he knew he would be victorious!
"Come!" he called to Phantomon and DemiDevimon. "It is time we end this, once and for all!"
~ * ~ * ~
The DigiDestined and their partners moved cautiously through the amazingly huge hall. Kari and T.K. were struggling to remember which to it was to their frozen future selves. But there were hundreds of doors, all so huge. It was impossible.
"Well then." Yolei sighed. "Let's just try each one until we find the right door."
The others shrugged. There was nothing else to do. But before they could even reach the first in the great like of massive doors, a red ball of energy collided with the side of Imperialdramon's head.
The large Digimon staggered but righted himself. "It's Daemon!" Ken shouted, pointing.
The Demon Digimon hovered fifty feet above them, laughing to himself. Nothing had to be said between them. It was time to fight.
"Static Force!"
"Kachina Bomb!"
"Imperial Wave!"
Daemon dodged the first wave, and sent a red fireball flying at Imperialdramon. While he was distracted, Sylphymon managed to get a good hit in from behind.
"Why you…" he growled. "Take this! Hell's Fire!"
The red ball of energy missed Sylphymon by half an inch and crashed into a wall, creating a large hole into the next room. "That was too close for comfort." muttered the DNA Digimon.
"Go get'em!" DemiDevimon shouted from the wall.
"They are on the run." insisted Phantomon, swinging his chain towards Sylphymon. "Allow us to give you some help…"
"I don't think so."
A single hand appeared in front of Phantomon's face. The crescent moon tattoo was directly between the eyes. Holymon gave him a glare. "Buh-bye." she muttered. "Crescent Beam!"
With a flash of lilac light, Phantomon disappeared. Carie cheered. "Yeah, Holymon!"
The young Digimon turned to DemiDevimon. "Wanna taste, bat?"
"No no!" the little Digimon began flying as fast as he could for the exit. "I just hang out here!"
"Coward!" shouted Daemon. Some how, he managed to break free and slammed DemiDevimon into the wall, destroying him instantly.
With a glare, he turned back towards the battle. "Now for you, young one!" he raged. "Try this…Claws of Blood!"
He slashed on of his black claws at Holymon. Fast blades of crimson red flew out towards her. Before she could react, the blade sliced at Holymon's arms and body. She fell to the ground with a cry, turning back into her Rookie form as she did.
"Gatamon!" the part of Sylphymon that was Gatomon cried.
Carie scrambled forward and lifted her partner from the ground. "Gatamon…" she whispered. "Is you okay?"
"Carie, it's not safe!" Kari ran over and scooped the little girl up with her partner, returning to the others. "Don't worry now. She'll be fine."
Daemon growled. This would be harder than he thought. But he had one trick up his sleeve that they'd never seen before. Thirteen years trapped in the Dark Ocean had paid off.
"Now, my young opponents." he grinned. "We end this here and now…"
As he spoke, he grew and grew to a huge size. The DigiDestined realized why the hall was so big as they gazed up and up at the towering figure, three times the size of Imperialdramon.
"Oh mama…" Davis whispered.
"We're in trouble." Yolei gulped.
Daemon gave one giant hand a huge swipe, and threw Shakkoumon to the ground. Sylphymon struggled to right her-/himself. Imperialdramon staggered to his feet. "Ready to quit?" Daemon laughed. "If you give up now, I may let you live."
"N-N-Never…" growled Shakkoumon.
"We fight to the end!" insisted Imperialdramon.
"Fine then." Daemon shrugged, then began sweeping all his energy into one giant attack. "Maybe destroying both you and your precious little friends will be worth the fight."
The attack got as big in relative as Tera Force was to WarGreymon, or Tera Destroyer to BlackWarGreymon. Then Ken shouted the one thing on everyone's mind. "RUN FOR IT!"
He fired the attack. The DigiDestined scrambled as fast as they could out of the way. The Digimon had a chance to withstand it. They didn't.
Kari, carrying her future daughter in her arms, looked up as the fireball came apon them. There was no way she could make it out. But Carie…
"T.K.!" she shouted wildly. The boy looked back. "CATCH!"
With all her might, Kari threw Carie forward, into T.K.'s arms. The boy didn't understand exactly what she was doing, but he caught the small girl with a disgruntled oomph and hit the ground from the force.
The giant red ball of energy zipped past, missing T.K. and Carie by a centimeter. Ken and Yolei managed to jump out of the way just in the nick of time, while Davis and Cody (who had been closer than the others, but to the other side) slid to a stop to watch it blow past.
Three Digimon flew in its wake. Six hit the ground.
It was at about this time that T.K. realized what Kari had done. "Oh my god…"
He shot his head up wildly, looking for her. Time seamed to come to a standstill when he spotted the limp form, lying singed on the ground a hundred feet away, he ran and begged the higher power for it not to be true. But it was.
Kari lay on the ground, burnt and still. Yolei had seen her too, and was running over with Ken at her side. T.K. put a hand on her forehead. It was hot, but it didn't feel alive. He put two fingers to her neck. Then he tried again. And again. Nothing.
Finally, he cupped both hands around one ear and put it to her chest. Nothing. No sound. No breathing. No heartbeat.
"No…" he whispered. "Kari, no…No!"
Yolei could see his tears, and she knew what they meant. "Oh no…" she whispered, putting her hands over her mouth. "No…She can't be…She isn't really…"
She turned away. A hushed silence fell over the room. No one moved, except for Daemon, who seamed to be enjoying this.
T.K. lifted Kari's body into his lap and caressed it gently. What would happen now? To the future? To them? To Carie? How in the world, if they made it out of this, were they ever gonna explain it to her brother?
Carie crawled to Kari's other side. She didn't understand what was going on, but she knew when the bad thing looked that please, and the old people looked so upset, something was really wrong.
She shook Kari's body. "Kari-mama?" she asked. No answer. She shook harder. "Kari-mama! Wake up!"
T.K. watched the little girl try to wake her. He knew it was no use, but you try telling that to a six year old. He himself could hardly believe it. He wiped some tears onto his sleeve.
"Oh, little papa." Daemon chuckled, bringing a red fireball into hand. "Missing your mama already? I'll be happy to let you join her…"
Something in T.K. told him he couldn't run, and Carie wasn't about to leave him or Kari there. Carie had slowly come to realization that her Kari-mama was hurt. Bad. And when people are hurt bad, they go away. She didn't want her to go away. She held the larger hand. "Kari-mama…Kari-mama…" she whispered, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
Daemon threw the ball of fire at the small group. T.K. braced himself for the death blow. Carie closed her eyes. "KARI-MAMA!" she screamed loudly, trying to wake her.
Once again, Carie's scream activated a blast of white light. But this time it came not from the small white device clipped to her belt loop, but rather from one of her tears. It blasted outward, and no one could see for quite a while. But from that light stepped a figure.
They couldn't see it properly, but using a tall staff, she knocked away the Hell's Fire easily. Daemon drew back from the light, shielding his eyes in pain. "What…What's happening?!"
"Daemon." said the creature, and her voice was beautiful. It was defiantly female, and the voice was deep and rich, flowing back and forth like a wave of water. "You have disrupted the balance of this world for the last time."
"Why you…" Daemon lunged forward. "I'll get you!!"
The creature lifted her staff into the air. "Forces of Light and Darkness, answer my call! Eliminate that which disturbs the delicate balance between the two!"
Daemon froze. He couldn't move, not an inch, not a muscle. The figure lunged forward. "Now…Leave these world in peace!" she cried, and plunged the staff into Daemon's back.
Again, the light blasted outward, but it had quite a different effect this time. Daemon vanished into dust. But the light didn't go as well. The light spread everywhere and seamed to cover everything.
In the room through the hole in the wall, a pink crystal cracked down the middle. The figure inside dropped down. She hesitated a bit, unsure of what was happening, but then she knew. She was free. And she knew how to free her friends, family and loved ones.
T.K. uncovered his eyes. Carie looked up at him, then around them. The walls seamed to be made of solid light. But they were the only things that moved. Yolei, Cody, Ken, Davis and their partners were frozen still. Even the air was still as death, nothing moved but them.
"What happened?" T.K. gasped. "Everything's frozen…"
"Don't worry." the creature was standing before them. "Time has frozen at my command. I wish to talk to you. To answer any questions you have."
She looked rather like Angewomon, but her hair was pure white and reached the floor. Her robes were silver, and instead of a helmet, her eyes were blue and she wore a silver tiara, set with gold stars. Her staff was as tall as she was, made of pure silver and toped with both a golden sun and a white-silver moon.
Carie and T.K. looked up in amazement. "Big pretty thing?" Carie asked innocently. "What your name?"
The creature smiled. "I…" she said slowly. "Am the Guardian of Space and Time, the Protector of the Balance, Cosmosmon."
"How did you do this?" T.K. asked, looking around. "Stop time, I mean."
"I have this power because of my position." she sighed. "But I am not able to break through easily. I can only be summoned in the time of greatest need. I am, if you wish, one of the Ultimate Lights of the Digital World."
T.K. shook his head, trying to work everything out. "So then…how did you get here?"
"It was Carie." Cosmosmon motioned to the little girl, who beamed with pride. "Her innocence and the desire to help the ones she loves broke the barrier of space time and brought me here.
"Now." she set her staff to the side. "What about the last questions of your future past?"
T.K. worked that part out in his head for a moment, then looked back up. "Just…everything." he finally sighed. "Why send Carie? Why not one of the older children, or a brother or sister? And why did Daemon freeze them like that anyway? Why not just kill them?"
Cosmosmon gave a slight smile. "Daemon imprisoned you future selves because he was vain." she said. "He thought he could keep you there forever as trophies of his work. But he never expected something like the younger yous to come along.
"But as the matter of Carie…The darkness started to rise when she was two, so she remembered everything. But the older DigiDestined had not yet fully decided, and Yolei and Ken had decided to wait on their little bundle of joy…So when Tai was the only one left, he knew he had to send his niece, who he had protected for two years, to your time for help or safe keeping."
She smiled again. "Does that clear everything up?"
T.K. nodded. Carie turned to Kari's body, still cradled in T.K.'s arms. Then she looked back up at Cosmosmon. "You make Kari-mama better?" she asked.
Cosmosmon once again gave a warm smile, but it seamed a little dark. "I'm afraid I can't do it on my own…" she muttered. "But with your help, T.K…"
"My help?" T.K. asked. "What can I do?"
Cosmosmon spread her arms out. Flowers appeared, huge climbing vines with giant white flowers so wide that even Cosmosmon had to hold one in both her hands. She plucked one off the vine and held it out. "This is a Flower of Light." she explained. "They grow only in the land of time, and appear when time stops. Its nectar can revive a person even from death.
"But…" she left off for a moment. "It must be completely drunk to take affect. But when it begins time will continue, and the flower will vanish."
T.K.'s head drooped. "Then…what can we do?"
Carie pulled on his arm. "T.K.-papa! Make Kari-mama all better!" she insisted.
"How?!" T.K. looked up at Cosmosmon. "If it'll disappear before complete, how can we save Kari?"
Cosmosmon simply smiled. Before T.K. knew what was happening, she had him by the back of the head. She lifted the flower to his lips and poured the sweet nectar inside. In surprise, he blocked the back of his mouth with his tongue, stopping it from sliding down his throat.
Cosmosmon drew back, and T.K. realized what she meant. If the flower disappeared with the nectar inside, it was all lost. But if he…
Looking at Kari's body, he took a deep breath through his nose. Carefully tipping her head back, opened her mouth slightly, and pressed his lips to hers. As he did, he allowed the nectar into her mouth, and leaning back as she was, it ran down her throat.
Cosmosmon vanished and the light cleared. The others started moving again as T.K. pulled away, praying it had worked.
Kari groaned and stirred a bit. Her eyes opened. "T…K…?" she asked groggily. After a moment, she sat up. "What the…What happened?!? Where's Daemon!?!"
"Kari-mama!" Carie threw herself at the older girl and gave her a giant hug. "You all better now!"
The others stopped, looking around in wonder. "What just happened?" Davis asked. "Did we miss something?"
T.K. smiled. He was too tired to answer. He just helped Kari up and muttered. "Let's go home."
A stone fell down the pile of rubble from the hole in the wall. Kari looked back. "Who's that?"
A woman with shoulder-length brown hair and tired brown eyes stood just out of the hole. Carie looked up, and her face spread into a grin. "Mommy!" she cried, running from the others and towards the woman.
Kari Takaishai took in a small gasp. "Carie…?" she whispered, then started running towards her daughter. "Carie! Oh, Carie!"
"Mommy!" the little girl ran into her mother's arms.
The woman dropped to her knees and caressed her daughter lovingly, stroking her hair. "Carie…Oh, my baby…Thank goodness you're safe…" she whispered. "My baby… My beautiful sweet baby girl…"
Behind her appeared a young man, the one in the golden crystal. T.K.'s eyes widened as his future self stepped down with his wife, then looked up at the kids. "Thank you." he whispered.
"No…Problem…" T.K. muttered.
More adults began appearing, but about that time Cosmosmon's voice came through, loud and clear: "It is time for you to go home."
The DigiDestined kids watched as their future selves pulled way into the light. Kari bid Carie a silent goodbye, wishing they didn't have to leave.
"Kari-mama!" Carie called to her, waving wildly. "I love you! Bye-bye!"
Kari smiled, then began waving as well. "Goodbye!" she called, and soon they all were shouting it. "Goodbye! Good luck! Goodbye!"
With a final flash, the adults disappeared. They found themselves in a lush green Digital World field, back in their time, back in their home.