A/N: Finally, the next chapter. Took me a while to write this, I had almost all of it done and then left it a few days before writing the end. Oh well.
Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or any of the digimon characters. I do, however, own Eterna, Plutomon, and Tam the pink Otamamon. An Otamamon is a real digimon that exists in the show and in the card game, I just made up that you can get pink ones. It is very unlikely that a pink Otamamon will ever appear in the show or the cards, but please inform me if it does, I will be very surprised. Thankyou.

Dark Enchantress

Chapter Four
Further Developments

Kari waited. It had been several hours since she and Gatomon had been captured by Eterna, though she couldn't tell exactly how many. Tam the pink Otamamon was sleeping, and Gatomon lay next to Kari, drifting between sleep and awakeness.
Please find us soon, Kari prayed.
"Gatomon?" Kari tried tentatively.
"Hmm?"
"Do you think we'll ever get out of here?"
"We might, but on the other hand we might never leave here again. But Eterna will be defeated, Kari."
"How can you be so sure?" Kari replied, beginning to cry.
"Please don't cry, Kari. Eterna might rule for weeks, months, even years, but she will be defeated when the time comes. The evil might defeat good, but good will be reborn. Good may defeat evil, but evil will always exist in some shape or an other. Everything comes to an end, but many things will begin again. And Eterna's reign will end, Kari. That's how the story goes."
"But what if the others don't come for us?"
"I don't know, Kari," Gatomon laid her head on her partners shoulder, "All we can do is hope."

Meanwhile, the others were still tracking Kari and Gatomon.
"They must near here, guys," TK called from where he was sitting (on Pegasusmon's back), "We're getting close to the signal coming from Kari's D3."
They were crossing the desert now, and could only trust the signals on their D3's that they weren't getting lost, there were so little things they could identify their place by in the desert--no trees, no shrubs, only the occasional large rock.
"Erm, guys?" Yolei asked, pointing at a large hill of sand, "Didn't we pass that sand dune five minutes ago?"
The others didn't even have a chance to respond, when a Rockmon rose from the dune, letting out a traditional roar.
"That's Rockmon! His Rock Ball attack will bowl you over!" called out Flamedramon in true digimon analyzer fashion.
"Rock Ball!" Rockmon attacked, sending out... well... a ball of rock, basically. The attack missed the digidestined, landing on the ground near Davis, Cody and their partners. Flamedramon and Digmon clutched their respective humans and jumped into the air, attempting to keep their parteners--their friends--safe.

Eterna waved her hand, creating a rather misty window into what Davis and the gang were doing. She smiled. So they had met Rockmon. Only a champion, to be sure, but he would do his job, even so.

"Fire Rocket!"
"Star Shower!"
"Tempest Wing!"
"Gold Rush!"
"Spiking Strike!"
((A/N: I think Spiking Strike is Stingmon's attack. Please tell me if I'm wrong.))
"Rock Ball!" Rockmon returned the attacks. This Rock Ball went straight into the air, aimed at where Pegasusmon and Halsemon were, for some reason, close together. The two digimon had to dodge, for their partners. sakes, but weren't quite quick enough.
"Halsemon!" Yolei, riding on Halsemon's back, cried as they swooped towards the ground. Pegasusmon fell in much the same way, and both digimon de-digivolved as they hit the ground.
"Hawkmon, are you OK?" Yolei asked as she got to her feet, helping her partner up.
"I'm fine, what about you?" came the typical reply.
"TK!" Patamon cried as he de-digivolved.
"Patamon." TK held his partner in his arms, as he glared at Rockmon.
"You think we should?" Davis asked Ken.
Ken nodded, "Definitely."
Flamedramon de-digivolved, and then Veemon digivolved again, this time to ExVeemon.
Then, "ExVeemon!"
"Stingmon!"
"DNA digivolve too... Paildramon!"
Paildramon looked at Davis and Ken, "Do you think we need to Mega Digivolve?"
"Let's wait and see." Ken replied.
"Right! Desperado Blaster!"
The attack hit Rockmon, who glared (as well as a rock digimon _can_ glare, anyway), "Rock Ball!"
"Desperado Blaster!" This time the attack hit Rockmon's Rock Ball, destroying it before it could make any impact, nevertheless it showered shards of rock over everyone, "Desperado Blaster!" This time it hit Rockmon again. Rockmon glared, and retreated back into the sand dune. Paildramon de-digivolved back into Veemon and Wormmon.
"That was easy!" Davis grinned.
"Too easy." TK stated, grimly.

Eterna smiled to herself. They had got past the first line of defence. About time, too. It was becoming boring to just toy with the children like this, she wasn't Puppetmon. They would arrive at her base soon, no doubt expecting a challenge. Well, if it was a challenge they wanted, then a challenge she would give.

The group--or what was left of it, without Kari, Amelia and their partners., had arrived at a large fortress made from jet black stone, a fortress that they could only assume was their new enemy's base.

Inside the prison, Kari and Gatomon both felt a short, sharp pain in their necks, where Eterna's little metal clips were attached. Both Kari and her digimon cried out at the same time.
"What was that?" Kari said, worriedly putting her hand to where the tag was.
"Don't worry, Human of Light, it was nothing harmful. Not directly, anyway." Eterna's voice echoed around the room.
"What do you mean, not directly?!" Gatomon yelled, standing up.
"_Why_ must you people always assume that the villain will tell the victims her evil plans? I'm not that stupid, Gatomon. So let's just say I needed something from you, and those clips were the perfect way to get it."
"What do you mean?!" Gatomon yelled. Kari winced, covering her ears. It was pretty amazing, really, the sound that could come out of that little white digimon.
"You come back and tell me what you mean!" Gatomon yelled. But Eterna was gone, or else she wasn't listening.

The digidestined entered the fortress. It was pretty confusing in there, black hallways that twisted and turned and ran into each other, and all looked exactly the same. In a few minutes, the group didn't even have the vaguest idea of which way they had come in by.
"This is hopeless!" Yolei yelled, utterly frustrated. Her words echoed through the corridors.
"Is hopeless! hopeless! hopeless! less! less! less!"

Eterna smiled. So the children were there. She stood up, and colors once again swirled around her--this time red, blue, lavender and others--and when the color storm died down, the younger (and much shorter) Amelia Heart stood in place of the evil enchantress.

The digidestined were still walking through the fortress, when Amelia and Plutomon stepped out from a passage in front of the group.
"Amelia, Plutomon! Where _were_ you guys?"
Amelia ran forward and flung her arms round Yolei. ((A/N: No this is NOT shoujo ai or yuri or whatever you call it.)) Yolei (quite rightly) looked taken aback.
"Erm--Amelia? Why are you hugging me?"
Amelia straitened up, obviously embarrassed--blushing like her head was on fire.
"How'd you get here, anyway?" Yolei wondered.
"Me and Plutomon went off to see if Kari and Gatomon had left the ruins, and we got lost in the desert, and eventually ended up here," explained Amelia, "But we couldn't find them and now we don't even know how to get out of here!"
"Well, you don't have to worry about us." came a familiar voice, and two figures entered from another passageway. They looked, sounded, moved and spoke exactly like Kari and Gatomon--but their eyes were different. They were blank, with no pupils and no light shining off of them, just the reddish brown of Kari's eyes, and the clear blue of Gatomon's.
"You don't have to worry about us," said one of the people, the one who looked like Kari, "we're right here."
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A/N: So, how do you like it? I know there was a lot of loose ends left when this chapter finished it, but they'll all be cleared up eventually, probably within the next three chapters. In the mean time, don't forget to R&R!