Chapter 3: A Tale of a time long past.

Ken, Yolei and Alex had retrieved Alex's luggage, passed through customs, and were now awaiting a bus back to the Tamachi.
"So Alex."
"Yes Kenny?"
Ken drew back in surprise.
Yolei looked at Ken and smiled playfully, "Kenny?" she enquired.
"My brother used to call me that all the time. No one has called me that in years."
"You don't mind me calling you that do ya?" Alex asked concerned.
"No, not at all. It was just odd to be called Kenny again."
"So, you were going to ask me something?"
"Do you have a device that looks like this?" Ken asked as he held up his D3.
"A D3? Oh yeah, I've got one."
"Could I see it?"
"Sure." Alex pulled back the right side of his flannel shirt, and retrieved his D3 from his belt.
Alex's D3 looked exactly like the other D3's, except for it being colored blue and purple.
Ken and Yolei looked at each other in amazement
"So this means you've been to the Digital World and have a partner digimon right?"
"You are correct."
"How long ago did you get your D3?"
"Oh geeze... Little more than five years ago."
"So that's how you met my brother! You met in the Digital World."
"Yup, it's also where I met Lauren, Jen, and became friends with Marcus."
"How are they all doing?"
"Well let's see, Marcus is doing just fine. He would have come with me except he had some last minute college visits he had to make."
"What about Lauren and Jen?"
Alex hesitated for a moment, "I thought you knew, they're dead."
"No, I had no idea. How did it happen, if you don't mind talking about it."
"It's alright, I don't mind. They died protecting the Digital World. Sam, Marcus, and I were lucky to have escaped that battle with our lives."
"How long ago was that?"
"About four and a half years ago." Alex paused, "Oh, our bus is here."
Alex picked up his notebook carrying case and slung it over his shoulder, Ken grabbed Alex's duffle bag, and the trio boarded the bus.
"Alex, my parents wanted you to drop by before you checked into the hotel; is that ok with you?" Ken asked.
"Yeah that's cool. It'll be nice to see your parents again. Speaking of which, about how long is the bus ride?"
"Forty-five minutes, give or take."
"Well if you don't mind, I'm gonna take a quick nap. I have a fifteen hour time differential to get used to."
That said, Alex opened the front flap of his notebook bag, pulled out his CD player and began listening to music as he drifted off to sleep.
Ken relaxed, leaning his head back against the bus seat and let out a deep sigh.
"Ken, what's on your mind?" Yolei asked.
"It's nothing really. It's just, when Alex called me Kenny, it reminded me of how much I miss Sam."
Yolei reached over and took Ken's hand in her's, "You know I'm here if you need me Ken."
Ken gave Yolei's hand a gentle squeeze, "Thank you, that means a lot."
They sat in silence the rest of the ride beck to Tomachi.

Davis looked up from his conversation with Tai and quickly scanned the area to see where everyone, particularly Kari, was. Too his horror, he couldn't spot Kari or T.K. anywhere.
"Hey, did anyone see where Kari went?"
"Yeah, she and T.K. said they were going for a walk about ten minutes ago." Sora replied.
"Which way did they go?"
Sora gestured toward a path that lead around the near by lake, "That way."
"Thanks." Davis said and he quickly hopped up to his feet and took off down the path.
Tai made an attempt to grab Davis' ankle as he darted by, but missed and fell into Matt.
"Davis wait!!" Tai shouted, but Davis wasn't listening. "Crap!"
Davis ran down the path trying to locate Kari and T.K.
"If that jerk T.L. tries anything with my girl, he's gonna get it."
Davis rounded a tight bend in the path, and spotted Kari and T.K. standing near the lake looking out over it. Moving silently, he ducked behind a tree close enough to be within earshot of Kari and T.K.'s conversation and decided to listen in.

T.K. wondered if Kari could sense how nervous he was, his heart beating was so fast and hard he could feel every beat throughout his chest. He couldn't' recall a moment in his life when he had been more anxious than he was right now.
T.K. and Kari both turned to face each other.
"T.K." "Kari" they said simultaneously.
"You go first T.K."
"Ok, I've been thinking about what happened a couple of days ago. I've been thinking about it a lot."
Kari's eyes dropped, "Yeah."
"Carp that came out all wrong, she didn't take it well." T.K. thought, "I've been thinking about all the things I wanted to say to you. I've been trying to think of the words to tell you how I feel," He reached down and took Kari's hands in his, "and I can't come up with any other words than these. I mean, I know we're still really young and all, and..."
Kari closed her eyes and turned her head away from T.K. "T.K., just say it."
"Damn it, this is coming out all wrong." T.K. took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I... I... I love you Kari."
Kari's eyes snapped open in surprise, she brought gaze back up to meet T.K.'s. She looked deeply into T.K.'s eyes, and then she slowly stepped toward him, dropped T.K.'s hands, and clasped her hands up behind T.K.'s neck. As Kari dropped his hands, T.K. wrapped his arms around Kari's waist and clasped his hands together behind the small of her back. Kari leaned up toward T.K and whispered, "I love you too T.K." and before he could respond, gently pressed her lips up against his.
T.K. relaxed into the kiss after the initial shock wore off, and tightened his grip around Kari's waist, pulling her closer into him.
After a few minutes, they ended the kiss and remained in one another's arms.
"I know this is kind of a silly question to ask at this point, but, would you be my girlfriend Kari?"
"T.K..." she paused "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to her you ask me that. Yes, I've wanted nothing more in my life than to be your girlfriend."

Davis watched and listened in absolute horror. He felt the warm, fiery tears well up in his eyes and begin to flow. He suddenly felt short of breath as his heart felt like it was being squeezed between a vice. Deciding he could no longer endure this torture, Davis did the only thing he could... he got up and began running back up the path. Upon reaching the picnic site, Davis quickly scooped up Demi-Veemon and his backpack and charged off toward his house.

Tai watched as his young protégé run away from the group. Tai spotted Sora getting up to go after Davis; he held up his hand, gesturing for her to stop, "Let him go. I doubt there anything any of us can do to help him right now."
"You think he'll be ok?"
"He's a strong kid, he'll be fine in time. For now, though, I think he needs some time alone. I'll check in on him in a couple of hours when he's calmed down a little."
"What do you think he saw that upset him so much Tai?" Matt asked.
Tai looked over toward the path and saw T.K. and Kari, walking up the path hand in hand, both smiling brilliantly.
"He saw his worst nightmare come true."

"Mom, I'm home." Ken called as he opened the door to the Ichijouji residence.
Ken's mother came walking out of the kitchen, "Welcome home Ken dear. Oh, Alex is that you?"
"Last time I checked it was." Alex said with a smile.
Mrs. Ichijouji walked over to Alex and gave him a hug; "It's so good to see you after all these years. Just look at how tall you've grown. How's your mother doing?"
"She's doing very well. In fact," Alex reached down into his duffle bag and produced an envelope, which he handed to Mrs. Ichijouji, "She wrote you a nice long letter. She also said to say that she's sorry she hasn't stayed in touch as often anymore, but she got really busy after she got promoted to CIO."
"She got the promotion she wanted? That's wonderful!"
"Umm. Ken said that you wanted to see me before I checked into my hotel."
"Yes, we want you to stay here while you're in Japan. You were one of Sam's best friends, it just wouldn't be right for you to stay in a hotel while you're here."
"Thank you very much. I don't see how I can turn an offer like that down."
"I have so many questions that I want to ask you, but I'll let you get settled and relax first, I know it's a long flight from Minnesota to Japan."
Mrs. Ichijouji turned her attention to Ken, "Ken, will you show Alex to the guest room?" she then noticed Yolei, "Oh, who's your friend Ken?"
"Mom this is Yolei Inoue. She's part of the group in Odaiba that I usually hang out with."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Ichijouji." Yolei said.
"It's so nice to finally meet one of Ken's friends, he talks about all of you so much. Especially you Yolei."
"Oh really?"
Ken blushed, "Mother."
Alex grabbed his duffle bag and notebook computer case, "Common kiddo, why don't ya show me where I can drop my gear."
"Sure, right this way."
Ken quickly led Alex away.

"Thanks for rescuing me Alex."
"Any time. So, pardon my asking, what's up with you and Yolei?"
"Huh, what do you mean?"
"Oh come on, it's kinda obvious that you like her."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It is."
"It's complicated. I've done some terrible things in the recent past, and I don't know if she'd be able to see past them."
Alex patted Ken on the shoulder, "I'll tell ya what Ken, later tonight I'll take you to dinner somewhere and we can talk it out. If that's ok with you."
"I'm not quite sure you'll understand all of what I'll have to say."
"Have anything to do with the Digimon Emperor?"
Ken looked at Alex utterly stunned, "Ha...How...How did you know??"
"Let's just say that I know more about the goings on in the Digital World than I care to at times. So, about dinner?"
Ken nodded his head, "Yea, I'd like that." Ken turned and opened the door to the guest room, "Here's where you'll be staying."
"Cool. Thanks Kenny."
"Um, Alex. I have a group of friends that I'd like you to meet. I'm pretty sure that most of them are still at the park. Would you mind if we went back to the park after you get your things taken care of?"
Alex tossed his duffle bag on the bed and slung his notebook carrier over his shoulder, "Ok, ready."
The pair turned and walked back to the living room where they had left Yolei and Ken's mother, however the two women were nowhere to be found.
"Ok, where's they go?" Ken asked.
As if in answer to his question, the sound of two female laughs erupted from the kitchen.
Ken and Alex walked into the kitchen area to see Yolei and Ken's mother sitting at the table.
"Oh Ken, you mother was just telling me about some of your adventures when you were younger." Yolei said.
Ken turned bright red, "Umm, We're going to head back to the park so I can introduce Alex to the rest of the crew, if that's ok with you Mother."
"That's just fine Ken. Yolei it was wonderful to meet you, feel free to drop over any time."
"Thank you. I will Mrs. Ichijouji." Yolei said.
"Alex, before you leave, take this with you." Mrs. Ichijouji walked over and handed Alex a key, "This is just so you can get in and out as you need while you're here."
"Thank you. I really appreciate you allowing me to stay here. If it's ok with you, I'd like to take Ken to dinner somewhere tonight and spend some time together."
"That would be wonderful Alex. You two go right ahead and have a good time. I'd like him home by 10:30 tonight."
"10:30 it is."
That said; Alex, Ken, and Yolei all exited the Ichijouji's apartment and boarded the bus headed for the park.

Davis arrived back in his apartment, stormed past Jun as she made a futile attempt to stop and riddle him with questions about Matt, and locked himself in his room.
Having bolted the door to his room shut, he set down his backpack and collapsed, face first, on his bed and resumed crying.
Demi-Veemon spent the next several moments struggling to get out of Davis' backpack. Having freed himself, Demi-Veemon walked over and hopped up on Davis' bed.
"Davis, what's wrong?"
Davis didn't even look up at his partner, "Go away, I just want to be alone right now."
"But Davis...."
Demi-Veemon was interrupted as Davis roughly picked him up and walked over to his computer.
"Uh...Davis, what are you doing?" Demi-Veemon asked nervously.
Davis pulled his D3 from his pocket, "DIGI-PORT OPEN!!!" he then unceremoniously hurled Demi-Veemon into the Digi-port and then closed it.
Having achieved the peace he wanted, Davis returned to his bed.

"WE'RE BACK!" Yolei shouted as she, Ken, and Alex approached the rest of the Digidestined.
"Alex, I'd like you to meet the Digidestined; this is Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Joe, Cody, Kari, and T.K. Guys, I'd like you to meet Alex Jansen."
"A pleasure to finally meet all of you." Alex said, "It's not every day you get to meet the people that clean up your mistakes."
Everyone looked at Alex confused.
"What do you mean Alex?" Joe asked.
Alex reached pulled back the right side of his untucked flannel shirt to reveal his D3 to the rest of the group.
"You're a Digidestined too!!" Tai said, very surprised.
"So, you're one of the original five?" Izzy asked.
"Yup."
"Hold on a second, if you're on of the original five; does that mean Ken's older brother Sam was one as well?" T.K. asked
Alex nodded his head, "Correct. Sam, Myself, my best friend Marcus, his girlfriend Jen, and my girlfriend Lauren, were the original five."
"So, what did you mean about us cleaning up your mistakes?" Matt asked.
"You guys took out Apocalymon didn't you?"
"Well, yeah."
"Had my team been able to do its job, you guys wouldn't have had to worry about him."
"What happened when you guys fought Apocalymon?" Tai asked
Alex walked over to a near by picnic table and sat down, the Digidestined all moved to form a semi-circle around him.
"Well, here's how I remember it..."

Five colored streams of light, Green, Red, Pink, Blue, and Yellow, rained down out of the sky over the Angic desert, as each stream hit the ground a human and their partner digimon materialized.
From the green light, a young man named Alex appeared. He stood around 5' 5" with a lean build and shoulder length sandy blond hair. His partner digimon, Pseudodramon; a brownish colored 2' tall western style dragon with a scorpion stinger on his tail, hovered beside him.
From the red light, another young man, Marcus, came into view. He stood slightly taller than Alex at 5' 7" with a muscular build and short brown hair. His partner, Creepmon; a deep crimson colored 2' 4" goblin like digimon, was standing next to him.
From the Pink light, a young lady named Lauren materialized. She stood a fair 5' 4" with a light build and blond hair that came to her shoulder blades. Her partner, Cubmon; a light blue wolf cub, was seated next to her.
From the Blue light, another young lady named Jen appeared. She stood 5'5" with a athletic build and shoulder length auburn colored hair. Her partner, Penguinmon; a 2' 6" tall penguin looking digimon, was standing next to her.
From the Yellow light, a young man named Sam appeared. He stood 4' 11" with a light build and short spiky blue hair. His partner, Wormmon, stood next to him.
All of them were dressed very similarly: Jeans, t-shirt, an untucked and unbuttoned denim shirt, steel toed ankle high boots, and Oakley M-Frame sunglasses... all in black.
Alex and Lauren's hair were pulled back into ponytails while Jen's was braided into a single long braid.
The only hint of color in their outfits was found on the left pocket of their denim shirts where their individual crest symbols were embroidered:
Alex's crest, the Star, a gray 8-pointed star with a dark teal Z in the middle.
Marcus' crest, the Diamond, a gray 4-pointed diamond with a red omega symbol in the middle.
Lauren's crest, the Heart, a gray heart with a pink pair of angel wings in the middle.
Jen's crest, the Moon, a gray crescent moon outlined in blue.
Sam's crest, the Sun, a gray circle with a yellow flame in the middle.
The group quickly surveyed the area to make sure there were no unfriendly digimon around.
"Sam, how far is the portal to the Negative Plane from here?" asked Lauren.
"It's about fifteen kilometers northeast from here." Sam replied.
"There weren't any closer login points?" Jen asked.
"There were, but they were a bit too close to the portal. The odds of us getting attacked right after login were too high." Marcus said.
"Besides, it's not like we can't cover fifteen kilometers quickly, especially with our digimon." Lauren added.
Alex reached into his right back pocket and pulled out a device that looked rather similar to a Palm Pilot called a D-pad. Alex pressed on of the buttons on the D-pad and the display projected a topographical map of the area around them. He turned to face the rest of the group, "Ok guys, this is the money run. Everything we've been working towards for the last few months comes down to this. We've got one objective this time out, close and seal the portal between the Digital World and the Negative Plane. Needless to say, this isn't going to be easy. As you can see on the map, even getting there is going to be a lot of work since the portal is located in the bottom of a deep valley."
"How heavily guarded do you think the portal will be?" Lauren asked.
"It's a pretty safe bet that we're going to end up in a large battle once we get there, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up in two or three engagements on the way over."
"We don't have any intel on this area?" Jen asked.
"Something with the energy being put out by the portal interferes with the soloton radar satellites' ability to scan anywhere within twenty kilometers of the portal." Sam answered.
"Cute." Jen said sarcastically
"Any other questions?" Alex asked, everyone shook their heads; Alex then hit a button on his D-pad, which caused the map to vanish, and pocketed it, "Alright Sentinels, let's get going."
Each of team members grabbed their D3s from their belt and turned to face their partners.
"Pseudodramon digivolve to..."
Pseudodramon grew so until he now 7' from his snout to the tip of the stinger in his tail, his wigs grew to 8' 6" from wing tip to wing tip, his wings we also moved from being anchored on his back to being anchored to shoulder joints and his upper arms were now connected to his wings...
"...WyverDramon!"
"Creepmon digivolve to..."
Creepmon grew so that he now stood just over 6'. Dark brown splotches appeared all over his crimson skin as if it had rotted and his fingernails grew into sharp claws...
"...Cryptmon!"
"Cubmon digivolve to..."
Cubmon grew into a large wolf that stood 5' 7" at the shoulder, with white fur on her two front paws and tail tip...
"...Lupinmon!"
"Penguinmon digivolve to..."
Penguinmon transformed into a giant birdlike creature that looked exactly like Birdramon except for one detail, she was colored black...
"...Sabirdramon!"
"Wormmon digivolve to... Stingmon!"
Alex hopped up on WyverDramon's back, Marcus joined Jen on Sabirdramon, and Sam hopped up on Lupinmon's back along with Lauren.
WyverDramon, Sabirdramon, and Stingmon then took to the sky with WyverDramon taking the lead, while Lupinmon and Cryptmon kept pace with the airborne trio from the ground.
All the members of the team kept a watchful eye around them, looking for any sign of possible attackers.
They came within half of a kilometer of the valley when WyverDramon stopped and landed. Alex dismounted from WyverDramon and waited for the rest of the Sentinels to arrive.
"What's wrong Alex?" Lauren asked as she dismounted from Lupinmon.
"Something about this doesn't feel right. This place should be just swarming with creatures from the Negative Plane." Alex responded.
"You think it's a trap?" Sam asked.
"I'd be willing to bet it is, but it's not like we can just turn around and forget about doing this either."
"Damned if we do and damned if we don't, huh?" Marcus commented.
"Pretty much." Alex replied as he pulled out his D-pad and displayed the map of the area. "Ok, Lauren, Jen and Sam. I'd like you and the digimon to proceed toward the portal." Alex pointed to a dune one hundred meters to the east of their current position, "Marcus, I'd like you to take up position here" Alex then pointed to another dune one hundred meters to the west, "and I'll take up position here. We'll provide long rage cover as needed until the main team has reached the portal. Once the main team has arrived and secured the area, WyverDramon will circle back and pick us up. Lauren, you'll be in charge until we link back up. Any questions?" Everyone shook their heads. "Excellent, let's get moving then."
Alex hit a button on his D-Pad and the map disappeared. He then sifted through a few menus on his D-Pad, pointed the top it toward the ground, and pressed another button. A beam of light shot out from what looked like the Infra-red port on the top of the D-pad. The light drew a 3D wire frame of a rifle. Once the wire frame was completed, the light ceased and a Styer Scout rifle slowly faded into existence over the wire frame.
Marcus produced a D-pad from his back pocked and synthesized a Scout rifle of his own.
The Sentinel snipers then retrieved their rifles from the ground and slung them over their shoulders.
Alex, Lauren, Jen, Sam, and Marcus then reached into their left front pockets and pulled out a small device which they slipped into their ears. They then looked at each other, nodded and ran off in their assigned directions.

Alex pulled out his D-pad and checked to see how close he was to being in position.
Suddenly realizing how hot it was, he pulled off his denim shirt and tied it around his waist.
As Alex reached the top of the dune he was climbing, the micro-transceiver in his ear chirped to life with Marcus' voice, "This is Diamond, I'm in position."
Alex reached up and tapped the transmit button on the transceiver, "This is Star, I'm in position. Hey Diamond, I made a change to our rifles since we used them last."
"What'd ya do?"
"Remember how we both said we wished they had a little less kick? Well, I rechambered the rifles to use .243 instead of .308 while they were in the computer. That should cut down on the recoil."
"Sweet. Thanks."

Lauren's voice rang to live on the transceiver, "This is Heart, either of you two hot shots able to see anything in our way from up there?"
Alex took a moment to visually scan the desert ahead of him before replying, "Looks good on my end."
"Heart, this is Diamond. Hold your position. You guys are headed right into a buried patrol of Dark Terrormon."
Alex untied his shirt from his waist and laid it on the sand, and laid down in a prone shooting position on top of the shirt, "Diamond, this is Star. Can I get some targeting data??"
"Star, they're approximately a hundred and twenty-five meters north of Heart's team. You can spot them the usual way."
Alex moved his sunglasses on to the top of his head and began looking through the scope on his rifle. He located Lauren and the rest of her team; they were ducked down behind a small dune, waiting for the ok to move. Alex slowly began moving his aim farther north, scanning for his targets. A few moments later he spotted what looked like a small black reed protruding two inches out of the sand; this was what he had been looking for. The small reed was actually a breathing tube that extended from the back of a Dark Terrormon.
"I count two Star, how about you?"
Alex made a quick scan of the area around the first tube and only spotted one other tube about a meter farther north of the first, "Confirmed, two targets. I'll take the Southern target."
"Roger, I'm on the Northern target"
Alex quickly sighted back in on the first tube he had spotted, and then made some minor adjustments to his scope's zoom settings so he had a closer view of the target. He then took a deep breath and allowed himself to relax as he focused on holding the rifle absolutely still, "This is Star, I'm ready"
"Diamond here, I'm ready. Ready for the count Heart."
"Alright guys, fire on my count. 3...2..."
Sam's voice broke on to the channel, interrupting Lauren's count down, "Diamond, Star, this is Sun. Don't fire."
Alex took his eye away from his scope, "Star here, what's the deal Sun? Diamond and I have made shots like this before."
"Right, but remember earlier you mentioned you rechambered your rifles to use .243?"
"Yeah, and?"
"Well, I did some quick number crunching, the lighter .243 round your using now isn't going to have enough force to get through the sand and hit a Dark Terrormon."
"Crud. Ok, anyone have any ideas?"
"Star this is Heart, Lupinmon and I are going in to draw them out. You and Diamond get ready to fire as soon as your target pops out of the sand."
Alex didn't like the sound of that plan, but he had put Lauren in charge, "Affirmative.", he then made another adjustment to his scope settings, reducing the magnification on his scope. It would make the shot a bit tougher, but it would help him to better anticipate when he would have to shoot. Again looking though his scope, he began taking long, deep controlled breaths. His scope didn't move at all as he focused on holding the rifle perfectly still and watched for his target to pop out of the sand.
"This is Heart. Get ready boys, I'm almost on top of them."
Seconds after hearing Lauren's voice, the sand around the tube Alex was watching erupted upward revealing a Dark Terrormon. Quickly adjusting his aim to the creatures head, Alex took in one last deep breath and let it out quickly. As his finished the exhale, Alex gently squeezed the trigger of his rifle.
A second later, as Alex was working the bolt action of his rifle to load another round, he heard a second rifle report.
Alex looked through his scope at where his target previously was, all that remained was a cloud of quickly dispersing black particles.
"Nice shooting boys, you got 'em both."
"Heart, this is Moon. Sun, the Digimon, and I are on our way."
Alex again lowered the magnification on his scope and did a slow scan over the rest of the teams' path, "This is Star, your path to the target looks clear Heart."
"Diamond here, I concur, no hostiles spotted."
Alex took his eyes away from his scope and kept looking for any signs of moving patrols.
A few moments later Lauren's voice again echoed though the micro-transceiver, "This is Heart, we reach the target. You're not going to believe this, but there's no one home. Just the portal. WyverDramon is on his way to pick you up Star."
Alex felt his stomach sink; this felt really wrong to him, "Copy that Heart, ready for retrieval."
Alex lowered his sunglasses back over his eyes, stood up, picked his denim shirt up from the sand and shook it out, then tied the shirt around his waist and shouldered his rifle. WyverDramon arrived a few minutes later. Alex greeted his digimon partner with a quick hug around the neck, and then hopped up on his back and took off.
After a short flight, they retrieved Marcus and rejoined the rest of the Sentinels.

The valley where the Dark Portal resided looked like the impact crater of a meteorite. It was a perfect circle about 5 kilometers in diameter and approximately two hundred feet deep. The Sentinels stood at the lip of the near vertical cliff.
"Well, how the heck are we gonna get all of us down there?" Marcus enquired.
"That's a very good question my friend." Alex replied as he rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
Jen snapped her fingers, "I've got it! Have Lupinmon and Cryptmon de-evolve to Cubmon and Creepmon, then WyverDramon can carry Alex, Lauren, and Cubmon down; Sabirdramon can carry Marcus, Creepmon, and myself; and Stingmon can take Sam."
Alex looked over at her, "Great idea Jen. Let's get to it." The team followed Jen's plan and descended into the valley.
After another two and a half kilometer run, the Sentinels had finally reached their objective, the Dark Portal.
The portal itself was an arch of gray stones that stood thirty-five feet tall and fifteen feet wide. Inside the arch was a swirling vortex of various shades of blue and purple.
Alex looked around nervously, "Ok, let's level up the digimon just in case we get jumped while we're sealing the portal."
Sam chimed in, "We can only digivolve them to Ultimate, though Alex; if we go all the way to Mega our crystals won't have enough power to seal the portal."
Alex looked at each of the digimon, "You guys ok with that?"
"It's ok Alex, the important thing is that you and others get the portal sealed." said WyverDramon.
A colored light projected from each of the Sentinels D3's into their right hand. The light formed into a colored crystal. All the crystals were shaped like a 4-pointed star with the two points on the side angled down at 45 degree angles.
Each of the Sentinels turned to face their partner digimon, while the crystals began glowing the color of their crest symbols.
"WyverDramon digivolve to..."
WyverDramon grew so that he was now twenty feet from snout to tail. The stinger on the end of his tail disappeared as his tail lengthened. His wings moved so that they were now anchored on his back instead of his shoulders, and his front arms we no longer attached to his wings.
"...WyrmDramon!!!"
"Creepmon digivolve to... Cryptmon... digivolve to..."
Cryptmon's skin and flesh melted away until only the skeleton remained, adorned in black robes with red and gold trim covered in various runes and mystical symbols.
"... Lichmon!!!"
"Cubmon digivolve to... Lupinmon... digivolve to..."
Lupinmon's right front leg, left rear leg, and the bottom half of her tail were all changed into cyber-limbs. Also, Lupinmon's nose, upper jaw, face, and eyes became cybernetic.
"... Cyber Lupinmon!!!"
"Sabirdramon digivolve to..."
Sabirdramon's form turned a little more human, much like Garudamon; however her head and body looked like that of a giant Raven.
"... Ravenmon!!!"
"Stingmon digivolve to..."
Stingmon grew a little taller, while his muscle mass increased to three times that of Stingmon. The added muscle mass caused the new digimon to hunch over slightly. He also sprouted another set of dragonfly like wings.
"... Dino Beemon!!!"
The five Ultimate level digimon took up defensive positions around their partners, while the five Sentinels formed a circle around the Dark Portal, crystals still in hand.
"Ok, let's seal this thing up tighter than Fort Knox Sentinels!" Alex said.
As each of the Sentinels raised their crystal above their head, four beams of light lanced out from each crystal, connecting it to the other four Sentinels crystals. Once all the streams of light had connected forming a star within a pentagon around the Dark Portal, the streams intensified in brightness.
The five all watched in astonishment and the swirling vortex began to shrink, slow but surely.
Suddenly, the sun went out. Using his free hand, Alex removed his sunglasses and looked toward the sky to see what was wrong. His jaw hung open in awe of the sight above him.
Above the valley, floated what appeared to be a giant, black dodecahedron.
"What the hell?!?" Alex exclaimed.
"What is that??" Sam enquired
"This doesn't look good." Marcus said
"I don't like the looks of this." Lauren said
"Umm, can we go home now?" Jen asked
A voice boomed down on the Sentinels and their digimon, "I've let my bungling minions deal with you bothersome pests long enough. I, Apocalymon, will now put an end to you personally!"
The center of each of the object's twelve sides rose up slightly and then opened. From each of the openings a four-pointed claw emerged and hung in the air, connected to the black object by a double-helix chain.
"Now you die, you miserable sentinels of the Digital World!!" the voice screamed angrily.

Don't ya just love cliffhangers?? I know I do, so that's why I'm leaving you with one. To find out how the battle between Apocalymon and the Sentinels turned out, and meet the last of my new characters, you'll just have to wait to read Chapter 4 of Winds of Change entitled "The Spear of Destiny."