In the deep, deep blackness, the blackness of the void, 'neath the parched, thirsting lands where no thing remains free. the outlook was good for the Dark Lord. The Evil Emperor had for once done his job correctly. almost. He had, of course, been punished for the escape of the water digimon and other digimon; and the Dark forces had undergone rigorous and forceful training after the utter destruction of his main experimental chamber. Still, he now at last had suitable test subjects - the humans he owned already had not been missing for long in their world, so were still useful to him in his army. In the meantime, the Emperor had been dispatched to bring back the particular Digidestined - who, he was sure, would duo-digevolve to unbeatable creatures. The Dark Lord turned to his monitor, from which he surveyed all of his realm, and lots of his realm-to-be. A small group of youngsters showed up. but they were wondering far away, across the sea, and posed no immediate threat, if any at all. He dismissed them for now - tomorrow he would send out some digimon to capture them. Yes, right now his attention was focused on the other dimension.

Chapter 8 - A Light In The Darkness

"D'you get the feeling we're not actually catching up very fast?" TK called down from between his digimon's beating wings. "Yes, and making a spectacle of it to boot," agreed Cody. As the first pale rays of dawn pierced through the skyscrapers and square office buildings, the early-rising commuters were beginning to wearily stir for work. Awestruck and bewildered faces peered out of high windows, rubbing their eyes, checking clocks and last night's drink. but the graceful winged digimon soared beneath them, letting the backdraught wash over the confused people, daring them to disbelieve. Cars screeched to a halt when the joined the main road down which Flamedramon and Digmon - not forgetting Davis - were pounding. Digmon had offered to send fissures further along the slip- roads in order to gain them some privacy, but Cody had not wanted to cause destruction. Nefertimon and Halsemon were flying with Pegasusmon, Yolei having slowed down and been placated not long ago. But she had refused to give up the chase, so they had simply joined in. "Davis, you look tired," said Flamedramon in concern. Ignoring his partner's glare, he continued, "Maybe we should." he stopped. "Who's that?"

A girl of about their age with gold hair and blue eyes was running towards them. Yolei was the first to recognise her, by her clothes - a bottle-green top and pale blue jeans. "Frazz!" She exclaimed in false delight. Frazz was the girl's nickname - Yolei was unsure of her real name. Frazz was friendly and talkative; a conversation was the last thing on Yolei's mind right now, though. Frazz skidded to a halt just in front of Halsemon, who had landed in order for Yolei to speak properly, and gazed up at their digimon with sparkling eyes. Even as Yolei opened her mouth to tell her this was really not the time, a second pair of big blue eyes peeped around Frazz's shoulder. They were surrounded by snowy fur and surmounted with a blue-grey helmet. "You have a digimon?" Kari said, and this time the pleasure was real, accompanied by audible relief. "Why didn't you tell us?" Frazz beamed back at her friend, who took assurance in this and emerged properly. She was basically a cross between a polar bear and a mastiff - thick white fur covered her body, except for a belly and square muzzle of bright blue. She walked on two legs, with human-style knees; and one paw was encased in a fearsome metal gauntlet. "Actually, this is Blizzardmon, her Champion form." Frazz explained. "Isn't it just amazing when they digevolve? Oooh, you should see her when she's a rookie, she's so adorable! She's powerful now, you can tell, look at her paw." she finally noticed the other's' pained expressions. "What's the big rush?" "I'm afraid we don't have time to stay and chat right now," said Davis. "We need to find somewhere to lay low and wait for a bit. It's obvious we won't catch up with Sectryomon just by running after him." "OK," Frazz said brightly. "I'll take you to The Den. It's not high class, but it's the best hideout I know." For a moment she looked slightly downcast. "It's the only hideout still standing, so it's gotta be good." Davis gave her a sideways glance, but decided it could wait. The next second, the usual cheery grin had returned to Frazz's face. Wordlessly, the gang dismounted and followed her down the street.

"Here we are," Frazz announced proudly. It was half an hour, many blocks and a lot of strange looks later - even though they had de-digevolved their digimon, some passers-by couldn't help but wonder at the walking "toys", as the gang told them. The others stared in disbelief at what she was indicating - at the barbed-wire-topped, rusty fence, at the heap of old cars, washing machines, mattresses and other appliances. Kari wrinkled her nose in disgust at the foul scents wafting past. "But it's a dumpsite!" Yolei said, in case anyone hadn't noticed. "Hey, if you don't wanna come in, you don't have to", Frazz said resentfully. "But then you'll never know. and besides, it's about time you joined up with us." And with that, she dropped down on her belly and wriggled through a gap at the base of the fence. She moved like she had done it many times before; like finding the barely noticeable hole and getting through it was a matter of routine. "Join them? Who are they?" Hawkmon enquired. Blizzardmon looked back through the fence at them and shrugged. "If you don't follow, you'll never know. If you don't follow immediately, you'll only get there the hard way." She said mysteriously, before de-digevolving to a small, white puppy on two legs. Davis suppressed a chuckle; Kari and Yolei let out huge "aaaaah!"s. She wore a helmet several sizes too big, which hung all the way over her eyes and halfway down her back. The straps dangled on either side, giving the impression of ears - or perhaps they were ears. This disarming new look managed to break the ice, however, and Davis slid through, Veemon fitting under with greater ease. One by one the others came after, until no-one was left outside, no trace that they had been there at all. except a bright pink camera on a string, which had come undone, caught in the wire fence and gently waving in the breeze.

Davis found himself actually marvelling at the structure of their "Den". They were travelling on hands and knees through purpose-built tunnels of various odds and ends such as one would expect to find in a dump. Occasionally they came to crossroads - Frazz explained that any other paths led to dead ends, pits or traps to confuse an intruder. Davis was amazed how well she knew the way - but then, she had helped build it. After what seemed like hours, the tunnel finally opened out. It was a large, well designed area they entered - broken fridges around the edge ensured that the tarpaulin roof was at head height, from which tattered blankets hung for insulation. Tyres of varying shapes and sizes, most punctured but still round and firm, dotted the floor, covered with much cleaner blankets and towels (probably brought from home, thought Davis). Sitting on them were three younger girls and a boy of Davis' own age, who was actually in his science class. Three rookie digimon scampered toward them as they approached - a white creature with long ears and a pink belly, a strange yellow animal with blue stripes, and a big-footed rock digimon. "Oh, hi Davis, Kari, TK. Yolei and Cody?" The boy said. "I hadn't got you two down as digimon partners. but then, not even I am right all the time." His tone was dry but humorous; Davis tried hard not to look surprised at seeing him. "Oh, Psyman. hi." Psyman was the nickname given to him at school - his real name was Simone, but his reputation as a gamer within school had earned him the "psy" in his name. He was famously good at predicting the odds, making him unbeatable at the popular card and gambling games. Davis looked questioningly at the digimon and the girls, obviously their partners. "Oh, yeah. that's Sunra and Ruby, their digimon Bunnymon and Glamon. that's Skyla, her digimon was taken couple days ago. and this is Jagamon." He patted the earthen digimon's head affectionately. "Not exactly an overdose of brain, but a lot of strength, loyalty and courage. We work well together." Cody had been quietly wondering at the strange partnership of this highly intelligent, quick-minded boy and the slow, stolid potato digimon. Davis introduced his team, and Ruby eagerly invited them to sit on a tyre. There were certainly lots of spares lying around. "Um. I was just wondering, but." Davis felt something was not quite right, but couldn't put his finger on exactly what. Perhaps. Davis launched ahead. ".where are all the others? There should be more people, I think. and why this proportion of girls?" Indeed, it was unusual to have more girls than boys in a Digidestined gang; to have a ratio of four to one was highly suspicious. Psyman's strange, calculating glance seemed, just for a moment, to waver. "Because boys were the more reckless," he said. Cody frowned - this answer was not complete. Yolei sniffed, considering herself and Kari just as brave as any boy. but then, boys were the stupider, she consoled herself. As a good leader should, Tai silently absorbed the reactions of his friends, before raising an eyebrow himself. This was not the whole story. Psyman gave a heavy sigh, and began. "As soon as I found Jagamon, I knew there were others. Digimon and their partners, I mean - Jagamon called them the Digidestined. Later on, in fact, I found out that I was one of a low percentage who start out alone - most find their Digieggs in groups, as I expect you did. However they started out, there were a whole lot of other kids. And I wanted to meet them. So, I devised a simple test - I would present Jagamon to the class at large as a robot. Those who knew otherwise invariably came to talk to me after class. Many of them I had already predicted - however, Jagamon was vital in rooting out the unsuspected ones. "Anyway, one time I met a girl - Frazz here, in fact - who told me they were setting up a Digimon Den in the woods, her and some friends. It was a place digimon and their partners could get together after school without worrying about people calling the police or the lunatic asylum; also where digimon could stay and play during the day. I joined them, and before long the gang was huge, built across all the different schools through people's younger and older siblings, and we had several other Dens. I designed some traps for this one, our biggest and best - and now, our only. Those were good times - what better to do after school than go meet a load of friends, play with digimon and eat food from a whole variety of places?" "Hey, how come we weren't invited?" TK moaned softly in Kari's ear. She chuckled - at this time, they would have been busy fighting the Evil Emperor in the Digital World. "But then, just recently, people went missing. We would arrive at a Den after school to find it destroyed, the digimon gone. Some of us never turned up after school, and weren't there the next day. You know those two girls went missing several days ago? They were a part of this - they were two of the founders, in fact, of the older group - Tai's age, you know. They went into the Digital World, something none of us had done before, to try and find out what was happening. They haven't come back." "Hang on, so. how come no fuss was made over the other kids who went missing?" Tai asked. Psyman looked uncertain. "We're not sure. All we know is that notes have been arriving at school, signed by their parents - or so it seems - saying they're sick. But we called on one of their houses once, and their mom said they'd 'phoned about staying the night at a friends house to do a project. We didn't tell her the truth - not yet. We're not sure ourselves. "Just last night, a gang of boys ran away into the Digital World. And who can blame them? They were young, and they were scared. One of them was a small boy with a digivice, but no digimon. Strange case, that one. But only he got through - they were departing from their apartment, which was blown up a little later by something from the one below. Just as he entered the Gate, the computer was broken by a piece of debris. They 'phoned us, and that was when we decided to go into full-time hiding. I had no idea there were so few of us left." "So basically, there's a whole lot of mysteries and unanswered questions here," said Davis with a sigh. Veemon met his troubled gaze. "Davis, we gotta help 'em !" The digimon pleaded. Davis shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, but we've got two worlds to save here." He looked guiltily at the downcast younger girls, and at the dark, unhappy eyes of Psyman. There was a silence, broken by Skyla's determinedly cheerful tone. "We understand, it's OK. You can at least stay here the night, or as long as you want to. We'll be here indefinitely, as it seems the whatever-it-is- taking-us can't find us in here. We brought enough to make it comfortable for twice as many people; we thought there were more, from other Dens. Apparently.not." Davis frowned, then grinned and laughed out loud with relief. The others bounded forward onto tyres, and began to tell their own stories of how they defeated the Evil Emperor, while Skyla, Sunra and Bunnymon went to fetch some food from their "food store", a separate area branching off from the main room. Looking around, Davis noticed three more of these, and asked Psyman privately where they went. "Well, you know how it is, with siblings," Psyman said by way of explanation. "That way was the oldest generation - Tai's age, that way was the really young kid's age - but we didn't need to use that much. Our age group hung out round here; and through there is where all the kids of Sunra, Skyla and Ruby's age. That's where most of them were, and here. There tended to be big fights, often even involving properly digevolved digimon, when siblings got together with friends to argue with siblings and their friends. you know." Davis nodded, then shook his head. He didn't know, but at least he had his answer.

Outside, the day was progressing. Midday came and went. The sun was getting low in the sky when at last, something stirred on the computer screen. Jirimo Taruitna was not a man of great imagination, but he knew how to work with computers. He had been browsing on the Internet during his lunch break at work, and had somehow accessed a strange web page that would not let him quit. Instead of unplugging the computer, which could cause it damage, he had just left it there and turned back to his paperwork. Now, just as he was about to pack up and go home, a little lightbulb had flashed green beneath a black box. He glanced at it curiously. His expression then changed to one of surprise as the box switched quite suddenly to a picture of a bleak and desolate, dark landscape. The last thing he saw was a large, black, insectile creature spring in front of the screen, some very realistic special effects (he assumed) making it seem to be leaping out toward him.

Even for one as talkative as Yolei, there is only so much you can tell. TK had taken over the story when her throat got too sore; Kari carried on where he left off; when she got bored, Patamon and Gatomon told it between them. Veemon offered comments from time to time, but Davis was busy with his own thoughts. There was a great mystery behind all this, and yet he felt it should have been so easy to solve.

There was simply nothing left to do. Hiding is all very well, but there must be something to hide from. And whatever the danger, boredom is so often the primary killer. The digimon had curled up in tyres of their own and were dozing fitfully - all except Armadillomon, who was snoring solidly. Yolei was fretting about Ken, TK was napping, and Davis was talking with Psyman in a low voice. Kari sighed - this was going to be interesting. She rose and walked over to Yolei. "Hey, what's up?" She asked. Yolei did not answer. Kari shifted uneasily. Yolei's desperate words came back to her: then what are we waiting for? And her own confession: Only I can.I can.I can bring him back, only I. the words echoed around her head. She was the only one who could. But she did not have Davis' courage, nor Yolei's love. These things she needed if she was to successfully cross the Dark Ocean and return alive, and not like Ken. "Don't worry about it," Yolei's muffled voice interrupted her thoughts as if reading her mind. "What's the fate of an evil-susceptible boy genius against the fate of two worlds, our two worlds?" But both she and Kari knew the answer to that question: to his lover, everything. Kari turned away and walked back to her own corner. It was late, and the only light they had was that of several torches positioned around the room, facing upwards. It was not great, but it was enough to see by. "We'd better turn those off," Psyman said gloomily. "Who knows how long we'll be holed up in here." Skyla spoke up. "Not too long, or our parents, schools, clubs, friends. all of them will worry about us. No, we'd better not stay more than three nights; and even then we should call our parents the day before and say we're staying at friend's houses." "And the schools?" Sunra asked. Cody looked at them shamefacedly. "If it worked for some faceless creature, person or force, it'll do for us. I bet we can forge signatures between us." Davis gritted his teeth, but said nothing - he hated all this deception and lies. However, he could not think of a better idea, so he wisely kept quiet. Each of them dragged some blankets into piles in the centre, and collected a cushion or two from a small pile. Davis could not help wondering if this wasn't just a dream - what on earth were these kids doing? Were they mad? Between them, a load of school children of varying ages had built. this. And equipped it with supplies for a veritable army. Now they were actually living here, preparing to sleep down here - indefinitely. Because they were being hunted by an invisible something which no-one had ever seen. He shook his head: no, they were not mad. They had digimon. "Those are what we scrounged from home. It's not much, but we thought there would be a whole lot more people, needing our stuff but also bringing their own." Ruby told them. One by one, Psyman switched off the torch beams. Gradually, the room fell into darkness. Davis had put the last one next to his bed, giving Psyman time to find his own blankets before they were all plunged into pitch blackness.

CRASH! Davis was awake with a start as something smashed into the roof from above. Before he had time to roll out of the way, there was another sharp rumble, like thunder in a storm; and this time, the roof proved too weak. The hardboard ceiling uttered a final groan, before deep cracks spread like spidery fingers from the centre, further and wider, ever more appearing. From above the layers of wood came a terrible scream of rage and malicious delight at once, evil and sad, painful to the ears. It was followed by the fatal blow; the hardboard shattered, pieces flying everywhere in clouds of dust and shavings. The insulating blankets around the walls and entrances fell down with nothing left to hold them up, some bringing the fridges toppling down with them. A heavy, solid table that had formed part of the walls creaked ominously - a brief warning, as it slowly landed, bounced, its legs forming dents in the grimy, rocky floor. one right in front of Davis' nose, another in between two fingers. He whimpered in terror, and crawled from the scene at an amazing speed. In the very centre of the ceiling, from where the cracks spread out, the beast fell with the sawdust. His clawed feet raised clouds of dust as they landed on the ground; a broken microwave and several unidentifiable objects rained down after him. His red eyes glowed through the murk at the gang, coughing and struggling in the wreckage of their Den. Dragonfly wings fluttered rapidly, with a noise like a jet engine. "Ken!" Cried Yolei from where she and Hawkmon had been thrown by the force of the destruction. The creature paid her no more attention than to flick what must be called an ear, or something similar. He then raised his hand and clicked his clawed fingers. At once, a large force of a species of digimon Davis did not recognise, jumped through the now non-existent ceiling and landed around Sectryomon. They had deformed, useless wings on the backs and held chains in their scaly hands. They grinned and snarled nastily around, peering through the haze and sniffing - as they had been trained to do - for the scent of Digidestined (identifiable by the smells of two worlds, and of the strange Digivices).
"Kari, fly now! Get somewhere safe and find Ken!" Davis cried on an impulse, moving in front of Sectryomon and the ugly creatures and holding out his digivice. Behind him Gatomon, of her own accord, Armour-digevolved to Nefertimon. Kari hesitated, unsure of what to do. Yolei pushed her onto her digimon, leaving her with no choice. "Find Ken," was all her friend said. "Please." And with that, Nefertimon leaped into the clouded air, darting through the hole in the roof with Kari clinging on for dear life. The agonising indecision of Sectryomon's insectile face was obvious; but before he could choose wrongly (in their view), the gang advanced. "Armadillomon digevolved to. Submarimon!" "Patamon digevolved to. Angemon!" And that was the last Kari saw of her friends before they were lost beneath a pile of rubble and dust, hidden from view by the cleverly-situated Den location in the dumpsite. Nefertimon swooped low over the site, so low that her tail skimmed the surface; Kari loved the feeling, after so much time cooped up in hiding, of the wind blowing her hair. They wove in between logs and rusty poles, dove under teetering arches formed by large pieces of useless, decaying furniture. And at long last, they soared vertically up from the bottom of the fence, Kari practically lying on her stomach across her digimon to keep from falling off, over the top. and they kept on going. Up and up and up they flew, higher and higher until it seemed to Kari (who in fact had her eyes tight shut) that they would surely come into orbit soon. And then Nefertimon stopped quite suddenly, levelling out, beating her wings slowly and getting her breath back after such a climb.
Kari cautiously opened an eye. Nefertimon winked at her, so she opened the other one and looked around. They were hovering high up in the air, but not quite in the clouds. The entire city was spread out beneath them like a 3D map - Kari reached in wonder for her camera, but it was not there. "No time," said Nefertimon. "Have thought for your friends." Kari nodded, and scanned the awe-inspiring sight beneath her. No-one had ever had a view as perfect as this before. It wouldn't have made a good picture anyway - it was night, so it would not have worked. Still, seeing all the street lamps, bright advertisements and moving car lights was a beautiful spectacle, one that she hoped she would never forget. "There," she said, pointing. Nefertimon squinted at the huge structure she was pointing to - a cathedral, the only one in the city, but hundreds of feet tall. At its spire was the loft, not even used by the rooks any more, not since the city had been developed. "Good choice," said the digimon, and before Kari could ready herself took off once more, spinning like a streamlined dart aimed at the tiny dot that was the loft entrance. I wonder if anyone even knows this place exists, thought Kari as they neared it. Nefertimon fanned her wings, bringing them to a halt, and lowered them gently down. Kari dismounted rather shakily, and they walked inside, her hand on her digimon for comfort.
Inside, it was gloomy, but not in a bad way. Shafts of mellow white moonlight streamed fuzzily down from cracks in the roof; ancient hay bales, all but gone, rested against the sloping roof. A trio of pigeons took off in alarm as the pair entered, cooing softly as their wings flapped, a noise that seemed loud in this silent place. The sounds of the traffic and nightly life had somehow vanished. Nefertimon padded in and lay down on the wooden floor, looking steadily at Kari. The girl walked slowly after, and sat down next to her big cat digimon. Nefertimon nuzzled her reassuringly. "Lie against me," she told her partner, "for you will need my comfort when you enter that place." Kari did so, thinking that her thoughts had been ascertained - "find Ken" meant in the Dark Ocean. She shivered even at the thought of this. "Here," said Nefertimon, and dropped something from her mouth into Kari's waiting hand. No, two somethings. Kari's eyes widened, and her heart filled with guilt, gratitude and astonishment. They were the digivices of Courage and Love - Veemon and Hawkmon could not digevolve without them. "I cannot do this," she said suddenly to her friend. "These belong to them, they need them more than I do. I cannot go back there." "Davis and Yolei gave them to you to help you through the Dark Ocean," Nefertimon said gently. "You have Courage to keep you going without turning back, Love to help you find Ken in the endless darkness, and Light to show you the way. Now they have given you all they can - the rest is up to you." Kari took out her own digivice and held all three in her hands. As she lay there, staring at them, she felt a warm glow tingle all the way up her arm, to her heart and her brain, an orange light of fire and determination and bravery. she closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and opened the locked doors of her mind, inviting in the one thing kept in the dark regions of the unconscious, that only reappeared in nightmares.

There it was. spread out before her, a vast dark plain of still, glassy black water. She stared at it; it had the effect of a car's headlights on a rabbit, hypnotising yet terrifying. But the crest of Courage bloomed in front of her eyes, and energy surged through her. She set her jaw grimly and walked to the edge. The waves lapped like liquid tar, slowly, sucking at the land, reaching for her feet. Yet she hesitated only a moment before continuing in the same pace, feeling very alone and very afraid. The water never actually touched her feet; instead, it parted around them, revealing a tiny rim of black sand around each runner. This effect continued even when she was in up to her knees, and then her waist. It was strange and very creepy having dark water swirling around her, without actually being in it. Still she plunged onwards. She sensed, somehow, that to look back would be to fail, and to fail would be. in the Dark Ocean, failure was your worst nightmare. Immortal death, maybe, or perhaps she would be forced to watch her friends die first - or become a slave like they would back in the real world. she shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts, put there by the Ocean's evil influence, and walked just slightly faster. The worst part was when the water finally closed over her head. She looked upwards, and saw no light, even though she was barely underwater. She tried raising her hand up above her head - but always, the water parted around it, and it never broke the surface. She took a deep breath, forcing herself not to panic, and continued. There was a light of some sort, dim and sad, blue-green-brown, just enough to illuminate the path. Not that there was much to illuminate - black sand, black water. Was there even a path? Now she thought of it, she was just inside a human-shaped bubble, wandering deeper and deeper. All she knew was that she always seemed to be going down. It was horrible, not being able to see more than a few centimetres in front of her face; when she looked down, the bubble stretched enough to allow her to see the black sand beneath her feet, but no more. All manner of beasts could be lurking in the dark depths, watching her descend blindly towards them and waiting eagerly with open jaws. she stopped still. If she went any further without some sort of guidance, she would be lost for sure. The Dark Ocean was endless, and Ken could be anywhere within it. Then she knew what to do. In her right hand, she held up Yolei's digivice. The tiny screen glowed red, brighter and brighter. and then dimmed again. She looked closely at it. It was blank, except for a small pink arrow and an even smaller green dot. They were on opposite sides of the screen. She sighed - it was obvious what these represented. Just to test it, she turned through a right angle to the left. The arrow turned exactly the same way, at the same speed. She turned to the right; so did the arrow. In this way, she managed to make the arrow point in the direction of the green dot. She looked up. The Ocean in this direction looked no different to any other way. But she steeled her nerves and pressed on, trusting to Yolei's love for the Evil Emperor. She did not know how long she spent walking through near complete darkness, but to her it seemed like a lifetime. Step after step, all the same, never the slightest change of scenery. And then, finally, her eyes widened. She held her breath, hardly daring to hope. there was a green light shining ever so faintly through the gel-like solidity of the water. Kari hastened forward, almost running through the strange blackness. and then, at last, she entered a breathing-space. A bubble big enough for two people, and now two people there were, though one was standing and the other. fallen. It glowed green with pink swirls, and she stood for a minute, just enjoying the space - though there was hardly any of it - and surveying the scene. Right in the middle of it, lying cloaked in strange shadow, was Ken. "Ken, wake up!" Kari tried to say, but no words came out. She struggled even to make a noise; but just as if she was underwater, no sound emanated from her open mouth. This was a new panic-factor, but she kept her cool when she remembered the danger her friends were in, and she knelt down and got to work, patting Ken trying to wake him. Nothing seemed to work. Suddenly, she realised - how obvious! How could she have missed it? She picked up Yolei's digivice, and Davis' too just for luck, felt in her pocket for her own. and then, feeling like a thieving bandit, dug around in Ken's pocket. Sure enough, there it was - she pulled it out and gazed at it. It was pure black, as dark and evil as anything she'd ever seen. Carefully, she laid it on the ground, and then put Davis and Yolei's digivices on either side of it. Finally, she held out her own. At first, nothing happened. But then, a pure ray of bright light shot from her digivice. It collided directly over Ken's with an orange ray from Davis' digivice and a red ray from Yolei's. As one bright ray like a sunbeam of hope, they merged and twisted down, straight into the black digivice. The digivice was, for a moment, surrounded by light. A tremendous force crackled in the air; it was so tense that Kari thought she felt her hair going static. Then the object exploded. It shattered into a million pieces of darkness surrounded by light, filling their air bubble with a light so intense it made her eyes hurt. When next she dared to look, there were all four digivices - pink, red, blue. and a slightly smaller one with a purple backing and green decorations. Beside the pile, Ken stirred and sat up. His eyes snapped open. "No!" His mouth formed in a silent scream. Then he looked about him, saw Kari, saw the swirling darkness surrounding them, saw the digivices. He tried to say something more, but Kari was no great lip-reader. She beckoned to him to follow, and started walking back the way she had come. at least, the way she thought she had come. maybe it was this way instead. she turned back to Ken, trying to keep a look of panic off her face. He thought for a moment, then stood and took out her digivice. He held it out in front of them; nothing happened, so he gave it to her. She copied him, and a blast of searing light spread out from the screen, a line as tall and as wide as they were, going perfectly straight, parting the water for them. There was no time to lose - her friends were in trouble as long as she and Ken were still down here. She set off, running down the causeway lit up for them. Behind her, Ken faltered, an expression of great pain crossing his face; but then he ran on determinedly, though clutching his chest. The light flickered, just once at first, but then rapidly, more and more. Kari sprinted up the slope, not daring to stop and catch her breath or even to wait for Ken - it was now or never. At last, the beam was shortening, no longer her height but shorter! This could mean only one thing - the surface! Eagerly, she pushed herself as hard as she could go, as fast as her legs could run. and at that moment, the light went out. SPLASH! Kari's head broke the surface, emerging into glorious light and air and space. but even now, when she would happily have crawled to land and lay there for hours, she remembered the urgency of the situation. Where was Ken? She frantically reached into the water, waving her hand this way and that, the water parting before it. at last the gap around her arm broadened. She immeresed herself fully once more, straining to find. there! She caught hold of Ken's hand, tugged upwards, pulled him through the utter blackness. Finally, the two of them emerged into the dim light - even this amount was enough to make Ken blink and squint. They took deep breaths of air, surveying the boundlessness around them not with dread, as usual, but with relief. So much space and fresh air and light! Light.

And Kari slowly opened her eyes. Soft rays of white light slanted down, pure, beautiful light, gentle moonlight. She was surrounded by Nefertimon's warm, furry body, her downy wings laid protectively over her. She wanted desperately to stay, it was so secure and beautiful. but she had to find out if it had worked. "You OK?" asked Nefertimon. Kari smiled, speechless, and nodded wearily. "Don't worry," said the sphinx soothingly, "we have all the time we need. It has worked, I can feel it. At dawn, we will return to the dumpsite; for now, if you do not rest you will fall off my back. Besides, the others will need their sleep as much as you do. and I think Yolei and Ken need to spend a little time on their own. She should hear the tale from him before you." Kari grinned faintly, then instantly dropped back against the soft white fur behind her. Nefertimon watched fondly over her while she slept, but when the first glimmers of dawn showed over the horizon, she lay her head on her huge armoured paws and joined her partner.