Hey, y'all! It's me, Mister Disclaimer! That's right, I'm come back to resume my original duties as the world turns! With all my heart and passions, I've made a welcome return from another dimension after visiting my sick twin! Actually, he's my great, half-cousin in-law who was in the general hospital during the days of our lives! He was dying, and all my children visited him! They were young, and the restless patients in the other rooms were much more noisy and less behaved! After our visit we went out for some fun and bowled, and the beautiful scores I racked up were incredible! Some guide offered me some tips, since I wasn't as good as I thought. He tried guiding light, so as not to distract me. Anyway, I managed to do even better and my "teacher" offered me this tasty foreign wine called port...CHARLES! I remember now! THAT'S the dude who taught me!
Wait a sec...I'm truly sorry! I'm getting off subject here, and I must continue my duties, so here goes...
I...DON'T...OWN...DIGIMON!!!
HEY! I did it! I actually got my lines right for once! Hey, Whose! I didn't screw up this time! I really, really...aw, man! He's asleep! Now he'll never believe me! Oh, well...maybe next time! On with the story...
Second Chances For Sora - Chapter 15
In the vast and somewhat elegant realm known as the Digital World, things were ANYTHING but pleasant! Through the eyes of six kids who were part of a larger group known as the Digidestined, what they saw couldn't be happening!
Investigating the "ruins" of an old pyramid they made quite a number of incredible discoveries. To get the ball rolling, an old enemy of theirs, a robotic like creature known as Datamon, (whom they killed four years before) had created a "last will" or legacy left behind. This "will" was the last portion of his consciousness that he had pre-programmed into the pyramid's computer systems, which in turn, created a double of one of the Digidestined, Sora Takenouchi.
The "twin" tricked the Digidestined into returning to the pyramid, in order to trap them within. Afterwards, Datamon's "will" made itself known to the inhabitants of the complex, then used his powers to remotely activate the hidden abilities within Sora's double, gradually transforming her into a half-human, half-whatever being, with but one goal...to TERMINATE the Digidestined!
Unfortunately...Tai Kamiya, the Digidestined of Courage as well as the team's leader experienced extreme personal interaction with this artificial replica of his best friend, and suffered the consequences. The amount of emotional impairment and mental trauma that was delivered to him in spades was incredible.
Whenever the chips were down, all hope was lost, and every other available resource had been exhausted, Tai was always known to remain on his own two feet, standing tall and staying strong for everyone else. But due to this new dangerous dilemma, he had lost all hope for possibly the first time ever in his life.
Within a cube-shaped force field, the Digidestined did their absolute hardest to shouts encouragement, but nothing they did seem to reach him. His thought and will had retracted, and for the moment, Tai was far beyond reach. An uncanny emptiness permeated his entire being. If only there was someway to get past the mental barriers that his mind had unconsciously set, and jump start his usual fighting spirit...!
From the Digidestined's point of view, they watched in complete and utter shock as the individual acting as Tai's executioner ("codenamed" S.O.R.A.), swung her arm which had morphed into a sharp, blade-like weapon. Its target was not a preferred one, by popular demand, especially since it was Tai's neck. From the view screen where the last remaining piece of Datamon's mind was preserved, he watched this little dramatic scene play out with complete and undivided attention.
Since the "real" Datamon had been destroyed approximately four years ago, he was now incapable of achieving whatever lofty goals he originally had in mind, but at least he would thoroughly enjoy the pleasure of watching his foes fall and crumble under his wrath!
"Well...this certainly appears to be the end of the line for you, Digidestined!" Datamon said in a cruel, cold, robotic tone. "Now without any further ado, S.O.R.A., let's commence the demise of this inferior human being! I believe the medieval royal rulers said it best..."
Sor, Kari, Joe, Matt, Izzy, and Mimi all held their breaths, wondering what would happen next.
"...OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!"
The other six Digidestined shouted, yelled and hollered various things all at once, except Izzy, who kept on watching his digivice. Quickly doing a bunch of calculations in his head, he made a hypothesis about the oncoming lone signal from another digivice. He then took a look at the hole in the wall that S.O.R.A. has created a minute or two ago.
"Guys, brace yourselves!" he said, doing what he instructed.
"Huh?!" they all asked.
Tai wasn't sure whether or not things were moving in slow motion, or if he was hallucinating...but at the moment from when S.O.R.A. began to swing her blade-like arm, the most amazing thing happened. The light began to return to his lifeless eyes, as he heard a small voice in his head that sounded like...Sora.
"Hang in there."
Suddenly, his eyes widened partially at the influence of the strange voice. Still seeing everything in slow motion, he bent his head out of harm's way just in the nick of time! Tai's head was facing upward, so his eyes caught a good glimpse of the glowing red cutting weapon that was originally meant to cut off his head, and instead, nicked a few of his "wild" hair strands that didn't make it.
S.O.R.A. watched in amazement as he did a lopsided cartwheel to the left, while she completed her full swinging cut to Tai's right.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" yelled an enraged Datamon.
Everyone cheered loudly from inside the cube, as Tai put a fair amount of distance between him and S.O.R.A. Now bent over on one knee, he breathed in and out very heavily, due to the acrobatic stunt he just pulled, and also because he just realized the full extent of the amount of danger he was truly in.
"BAH!" the creature on the video monitor hollered. "Nice little trick, Tai! But you're still in imminent danger!"
S.O.R.A. didn't seem very happy either about Tai's escape from death, and her now-ugly face got even more horrific as her nasty-looking expression got even nastier.
"AHHHH!!!" she yelled as she raised her sword-arm up high as she prepared to slam it down on Tai and cut him in half!
Tai clenched his eyes shut as he was fresh out of ideas on how to proceed, since his first dodging of the blade was purely out of instinct. But that's when the REALLY amazing thing occurred. And it came in a heavy voice from seemingly nowhere...
"METEOR WING!!!"
"Huh?!" everyone yelled.
Tai, S.O.R.A., Datamon, and the other six kids trapped in the cube watched without blinking once as another miracle hit the scene.
"No way..." Tai whispered to himself.
Upon the screech from before, a shower of gigantic fireballs shot down into the room they were in through the hole in the wall at terrific speed. Some of them struck S.O.R.A. and she dodged the rest of them, not wanting to get hit any more than she could avoid.
The hole in the wall got even bigger as more fireballs plummeted into the side of the pyramid, leaving a MUCH bigger hole in the wall, which was now nearly demolished, with not much left.
Tai dropped on both knees again as he received his second big shock for the day.
In the distance but closing in fast was a orange bird with large wings that looked like they were on fire as they continuously flapped. It was a Birdramon! And not just ANY Birdramon. Upon closer inspection, Tai could see someone hanging to one of the legs...
There was no mistaking the individual for someone else. Those crimson eyes, the short, curved auburn hair, the yellow t-shirt, the blue jeans, the dark gray sneakers, the red watch...and the unforgettable hair pin clipped onto the side of the person's head.
"SORA?!?" Tai and his other six friends yelled nearly at the top of their lungs.
"TAI!!!" Sora yelled in equally loud voice from far away.
Tai's eyes froze in place again, but this time for the better, hopefully.
"N...no way..." Kari said, more surprised than she'd ever been before. "THREE Soras?!"
Once Birdramon was close enough to the ground, Sora let go and jumped to the ground and landed safely on the ground. Upon sight of what was going on, Sora ran over to where Tai was and locked eyes with him.
"Tai, are you okay?! TAI!" she yelled, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him.
"S-So...Sora...are...but...I mean...I thought you...you...you and her..."
"Well, you can clearly see that I'm not her!" Sora said with a half-smile.
A single tear trickled down Tai's cold cheek, and he reached out with one of his hands to gently feel and slowly stroke Sora's cheek. It was warm, as were the thoughts and feeling inside Tai that were starting to regain their flame and potency.
"You...you're real...!" he said, eyes widening for the millionth time.
"Of course I am!" Sora said, starting to cry a little herself.
A tear of her own slipped out of her eye and brushed Tai's index finger, still touching her cheek. Tai said nothing but nodded as his mouth curled into a small, and half-sad smile.
"Who else would I be?" Sora asked.
"Sora..." Tai whispered. But he started audibly crying, as Sora hugged him tightly. Tai held onto Sora just as firmly.
"I'm here..." she whispered back. "...and I promise that I won't leave you...ever!"
Still trapped inside the cube with the others, Sor felt a small pang of jealousy and sadness rush through her system once more. But she smiled, glad at the fact and truth presented in front of her that visually dazzled everyone...her twin, her double, her counterpart...her SISTER...was real.
"How...how did you...WHERE...did you..." Tai asked.
More than a dozen questions were bubbling inside Tai's mind, eagerly aching to get out and await their answers. But for now, he would have to contend with the present situation at hand.
"We'll talk about it later...by right now, we have a few baddies to put away for good! Are you with me?"
"I...I dunno if I can do this..."
Unbeknownst to Sora, Tai's heart was still healing from just what took place a few moments ago. Datamon's scheme really did a number on Tai's feelings, even when that menace operated from beyond the grave.
Little did anyone else know that here and now...for the first time in years...in the Digital World...Sora Takenouchi and Tai Kamiya would fight alongside each other side by side...the way it was meant to be and WILL be from here on out...
...now and FOREVER!
"Don't worry, Tai. I KNOW you can do this!"
"Are you sure?"
"Well, hey...you don't just hafta take my word for it...I brought along some help!"
"Huh?"
Tai's smile grew a little more as he saw someone run towards him through the remains of where the pyramid's wall was. A little yellow-colored dinosaur-like digimon with big eyes, and an even bigger heart to match. Augumon!
"Augumon! Hey there, buddy!" Tai exclaimed with growing glee in his voice.
"Tai! It's good to see you again!" he said in his high-pitched voice. "Sora told me that there might be trouble brewing...and it looks like she was right! So I'm here to help you in any way that I can!"
Tai brushed away his tears and hugged Augumon tightly.
Datamon and S.O.R.A. hadn't said much, flabbergasted at these turn of events. Not only did Tai escape S.O.R.A.'s attack, but...
"...the REAL double of Sora has intervened?!" Datamon yelled. "This is UNACCEPTABLE!!!"
"Yeek!" Mimi squealed, covering her ears. "Isn't there a volume control on that stupid computer somewhere!?"
Apparently, sound was able to transmit through just as loudly as it did outside of the force-field cube that the other Digidestined were still trapped in.
"So, it's true..." Tai said to the image of Datamon on the monitor. "...S.O.R.A. wasn't really who I thought she was!"
"Sad to say, it's all true!" Datamon confirmed. "I lied about that scan of Sora I conducted four years ago. But I DID scan her, while she was living here for nine months! By that time she made this pyramid her home, I had already reconstructed my consciousness and had secretly spread my mind into the systems inside this complex! While she slept, I made scans of her and took small blood samples that were nearly impossible to detect!"
"You used me, TOO!" Sora yelled.
"Quite so, my dear! And with that, I created S.O.R.A.! But since you've decided to make an unscheduled and unexpected appearance, S.O.R.A. has partly lived out her usefulness! More's the pity...yet I still retain the knowledge that you shall all perish very soon!"
"Not if we can help it!" Tai noted, indicating Augumon's abilities.
The digivice in Tai's hand began to beep continuously and he held it out in Augumon's direction. The small screen on it began to emit a bright pale-bluish light.
"Augumon...DIGIVOLVE!" Tai yelled.
The entire body of Tai's digimon partner began to glow until only the silhouette could be seen. Then the silhouette started to grow taller and bigger until it was about the size of the gigantic hole that Birdramon had made. Tai heard Augumon's voice which gradually grew deeper, but louder.
"Augumon digivolve to...GREYMON!!!"
The Digidestined cheered as the digital monster standing before them was enormous. Augumon's body was much bigger, and his skin turned orange with blue stripes on it. The top of his head was now covered with some sort of thick, brown, facial covering with a horn on it. Augumon had digivolved into the powerful Greymon!
"Ready, to fight, Greymon?" Tai yelled.
"Always, Tai!" Greymon declared.
"Then fight with THIS!" S.O.R.A. snarled, jumping unusually high and swinging her sword-arm at Greymon.
The blade glowed red again, and shot out a sphere-shaped energy blast at the massive digimon. But Greymon was ready and countered by fighting fire with fire...
"NOVA BLAST!!!" Greymon roared.
A humongous fireball erupted from Greymon's mouth, and made contact with the energy blast that S.O.R.A. fired. But her attack couldn't even begin to compare with the power that this champion-level digimon possessed.
Greymon's fireball practically swallowed up S.O.R.A's attack and kept on heading towards her.
S.O.R.A. held up her sword-arm, and tried to block the attack, but the fireball hit dead on, and although S.O.R.A. was still standing, her arm had reverted back to its original state, despite being singed and burned. Birdramon was not about to be left out of this important fight, so she gave S.O.R.A. a little extra something to worry about.
"METEOR WING!!!" Birdramon cried, flapping her fiery wings once more.
Another hailstorm of fireballs entered the room. S.O.R.A. didn't have a chance to escape in time and the flame engulfed her whole. Everyone squinted their eyes from the flame and covered their ears as they heard shrieks and screams coming from the replica of Sora's double.
S.O.R.A. closed her eyes and collapsed to the floor, lifeless.
Tai and Sora opened their eyes and saw that it was over.
"BLAST!" yelled Datamon from the video screen. "You think that this is the end of it, Digidestined?! I've barely even begun to play!! I'M GOING TO-"
"HEY! You keep quiet for a bit!" Greymon roared.
The giant digimon smashed his elbow into the monitor and literally stepped on the computer consoles that were powering the monitor. Datamon's image instantly dissolved, as did the cube that surrounded the rest of the Digidestined.
"We're free!" Izzy cheered.
"What was your first clue?!" Matt happily and sarcastically said.
"Fresh air at last!" Mimi chirped, stretching her arms.
Tai and Sora hugged each other tightly again. They weren't smiling, but that didn't mean that their scarred hearts weren't filled with relief.
"Thank goodness that you're okay!" Sora sweetly whimpered.
Tai closed his eyes tightly and began to cry again before.
"Sora...I started to think that I lost you again...! I didn't know what to believe when..."
"That WASN'T me," Sora firmly established.
Sora cupped Tai's face and stared at him straight in the eyes.
"Tai...we've been best friends since we were five years old. In all time we spent together...have I ever REALLY lied to you?"
Tai thought hard for a moment to think.
"Guess not...I mean...I can't say that I remember..."
"I've NEVER lied to you before, Tai...and I'm not lying now."
Sora, still holding Tai's face in her soft hands, smiled as she slowly closed her eyes and sweetly kissed him. Now free from the cube-shaped prison, Kari grinned at the couple as she snapped a couple more pictures with her digital camera.
Everyone happily regrouped with each other and looked over the smoldering body that was Datamon's Simulated Organism, Replicated Artificially. It was covered in smoke, rubble, debris, and dirt. Despite there being not much left of the Sora-replica to look at, Kari couldn't resist taking at least one snapshot of the horrid thing that attacked them so fiercely.
"So, Sora..."asked Tai with his arm around his girlfriend. "Tell me...what happened after you split off from us."
"Oh, yeah..." Sora, said, scratching her head. "Well, I felt that going back to the pyramid might turn out bad, but since so many people ran off to the bathroom, I just went ahead to the Digital World, to get Biyomon and Augumon. After our picnic the other day, I secretly told the two of them to hang around the area just in case we needed their help."
"Looks like you were correct," Izzy noted.
"Hey...if that's all that was going on, then why didn't you just tell me?" Tai asked.
"Tai, I wasn't sure whether or not I was right. And I didn't want to arouse any suspicion or stir up any unneeded panic."
"Is that really all that you've been up to? I mean, maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I thought you were acting pretty weird for a while there..."
"Was I? Hmm...well, I guess I'm just weird, then!" Sora cheerfully replied.
Everyone laughed a lot at this but Matt quickly stopped when he remembered something he had to ask Sora about.
"Sora! What about T.K.!?" Matt asked in a panic. "That Sora-mutant-thingy tossed him into orbit! Did you see him!?"
Sora smiled, acknowledging how sweet it was that Matt was still (partially) looking out for his "little" brother, even after all these years. Fortunately, Sora had good news about T.K.'s whereabouts.
"Not to worry, Matt! Actually, T.K. should be-"
"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh..."
Everyone's hair stood on end, as an eerie and regrettably familiar cackle filled the atmosphere. The Digidestined turned around as they watched in amazement as Datamon's creation, S.O.R.A., actually got up and moved towards them!
"No way!" Sora yelled.
S.O.R.A. spoke to the Digidestined, but now her voice was distorted and mechanical, almost if someone had combined their voice with hers.
"You're all much bigger fools than I thought if you truly believed that I could be defeated so easily!" she said.
"Datamon's back...AGAIN?!" Joe panicked.
"What's going on?!" Matt asked.
"Oh, I'll tell you...the last of my consciousness was originally incapable of taking a physical form, since I was trapped inside the pyramid's computer systems! But on an impulse, I used the last remaining systems that were functioning to transmit myself into the body of S.O.R.A., my own creation. Since she never truly had a mind of her own, it was more than simple to take it over!"
"Like that matters!" Tai retorted. "Greymon and Birdramon burned up that replicated body so badly that it couldn't possibly do any harm to anyone!"
"Wrong again, young one!" Datamon snapped. "While I created S.O.R.A., I implanted several backup systems and tactical programs into her makeup that makes her built to last for a very LONG time! Watch and learn!"
S.O.R.A.'s body began to glow white, and the Digidestined were forced to shield there eyes from the light.
"Something's happening!" Kari yelled.
"Something's ALWAYS happening in this world!" Joe complained.
The joined being that was composed of S.O.R.A's body and Datamon's mind grew much larger and taller, nearly equal to the size of Greymon! The flesh of the humanoid arms ripped off and revealed long, robotic limbs, similar to Datamon's. Her left eye glowed yellow, and some of her teeth transformed into long fangs. Her auburn hair grew a bit longer as well and stuck out in various directions. The rest of the simulated flesh became all pale and the veins could be seen from underneath the skin. The feet that were covered by sneakers ripped off as well, and revealed bigger, sturdier metal feet. Sora began speaking to Tai, but neither of them could tear their eyes off the incredible transformation that was taking place before them.
From the Digidestined's perspective, their chances of victory looked bleak.
"Guess you lose the prize for having the wildest hair now...huh, Tai?" Sora asked.
"For some reason, Sora...I don't think I mind," Tai said.
"EVERYBODY MOVE!" Izzy hollered.
The Digidestined did just that, as Datamon in his new body attempted repeatedly to literally stomp his feet down on the eight kids!
"AHHH!!!" Mimi screamed as Datamon headed in her direction.
"Look out!" Joe yelled as he pushed Mimi to the ground, managing to move both of them out of harm's way.
"Th...thank you, Joe...you saved me!" Mimi exclaimed with a couple tears in her eyes.
Joe was about to say something along the lines of "it was nothing", but Mimi inadvertenly silenced him when she got to knees and grabbed her friend, hugging him tightly and burying her cute face in his chest. Joe got a little concerned when he felt Mimi shaking.
"Mimi...are you, uh-"
"I was so scared! Thank goodness you were there to protect me!"
Joe rolled his eyes a little, not quite believing what was happening to him. Matt saw and believed it thoroughly, briefly grinning and giving Joe a "thumb's up" sign.
Back on the battlefield, things were only getting worse, as Datamon persisted in his rampage.
"Greymon!" Tai yelled. "A little help here, please?!"
"You too, Birdramon!" Sora shouted.
Greymon grabbed Datamon's arms and did his best to hold his adversary in place. Birdramon flew high into the air and served the enemy another helping of her famous flaming meteors. Birdramon flapped her wings and did just that, but at the last second Datamon wrestled Greymon to the ground and hurled him into harm's way instead! Greymon was pelted with the hot meteor shower instead and fell over in pain.
Birdramon tried attacking again and flew into Datamon's direction at top speed, hoping to ram into him directly. But Datamon, being as smart as he was, accurately calculated Birdramon's flight path and the exact time it would be right for him to interrupt. As she approached him, he grabbed her beak very tightly and threw her into Greymon, who has just gotten back up.
Datamon's arms grew even longer, shooting out and punching both of the champion-level digimon in their stomachs hard.
Greymon was down, but certainly not out! Summoning up as much strength as he could, he fired yet another Nova Blast attack at Datamon. This time it hit and Datamon was sent back with some recoil and fell over. Tai's digimon pal quickly got up and locked hands with Datamon, and the two of them wrestled each other. Greymon hoped that this would give Birdramon enough time to get up and attack again.
Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. Her interaction with Datamon took more out of her than she thought. Birdramon could barely move, much less get up. Sora ran over to her fallen digimon partner and shouted words of encouragement.
"C'mon, Birdramon! Get up! You can do it!" Sora yelled at the giant bird creature.
"Don't worry, Sora...I won't let you and your friends down..." Birdramon struggled.
"Sora!" Izzy yelled, running over to her. "You've gotta make Birdramon digivolve further into her 'Ultimate' form! That goes for you too, Tai!"
"Say WHAT?!" asked a disbelieving Sora. "How do I do that?!"
"It's not something you really 'do'..." Sor said walking over to her twin, "...it's more a matter of something you feel. Believe me, I know."
"Well...I'm not sure if I can do this, either..."Tai said. "And besides...we lost the power of our crests..."
"Look, you've both known your digimon for a long time..." Matt said, "...that means that only YOU two know how to bring the full power of your digimon out!"
"Just look inside your heart and find the way," Mimi gently added.
Sora and Tai looked at each other. Tai then refocused his attention back on the action, watching Greymon fight for everyone's safety. Then Kari ran over to her brother to put his mind and concentration in its place.
"Guess Datamon's little 'prank' has you a little more rattled than you'd like to admit, huh?" she asked, taking Tai aside.
"Whaddya mean, Kari?" Tai asked with a worried look.
"Tai, you've never good at lying or hiding things from people. At least not from me. I think one of the big factors in digivolving is the emotional connection to your digimon."
"Huh...but..."
"Datamon's mind game was terrible, no one's denying that. But it's already made you emotionally detached from the current situation at hand."
"That's not true...!"
"Yes, it is. You just don't realize it."
"After Sor turned you down, you lost something. It was your courage. And Greymon won't be able to digivolve ever again if you can't reclaim it."
Tai had no response, because Kari was right. Even after Sora was discovered and brought much joy to Tai's life, there was still quite a big hole left in his heart. And there was but one person to blame...
"That's all my fault," said a voice.
The two Kamiya children turned their heads and saw Sor walking towards them with a sad, but serious look on her face.
"Excuse me?" Tai asked.
"I said that it's all my fault, Tai. I guess I hurt you a lot more than I thought. And it's also my fault that all this is happening now."
"Well, it's not TOTALLY your fault...like I said, we all lost the power of our crests a while back..." Tai said, trying to make Sor feel a little better.
"Still, that doesn't mean that there isn't another way to get Greymon to digivolve!" Kari noted.
Tai thought hard about what was going on. And it was clear that Greymon would need to be a lot stronger if he wanted to prevail. But with the exception of Sora, everyone had given up the power of their crests to help further preserve the Digital World. If only there was some way to give Greymon more power...!
"Tai! I think I may have something!" Izzy yelled.
"Whatcha got?" Tai asked.
"I used my laptop and managed to decode one of Datamon's most guarded computer files. Apparently, he had some sort of nearly unlimited power source, which he named 'Consumption Of Unlimited Replenishing Artificial Gauging Energy'...do you understand what I'm saying?"
Tai shook his head, causing Izzy to sigh.
"Tai, this file was top secret! It's a lengthy file about Datamon's REAL source of power, and partially explains why the pyramid was rebuilt so precisely, and just why Datamon has so much strength! Now follow me, my computer is detecting a potential energy source that might help Greymon win this fight!"
Izzy told Tai to follow him back into the pyramid, and led him back to the smashed computer consoles.
"Tai, help me move this console away from the wall! And let's be quick about it!"
"Okay...and why are we doing this again?" Tai groaned as he pushed the heavy machinery.
"Because once Datamon finds out what we're up to, he'll come after US! And if that weren't enough, Tai...think again about the first letter of every word from the name of the file I deciphered!"
"So?"
"SO? Tai, think about it! The first letters of the words spell out COURAGE!"
"But I still don't get it!" Tai said as he pushed the console away far enough.
"You'll see in in a moment! Okay, now...my laptop detected the signal that came from within this wall!"
"Izzy, there's nothing here but stone and-"
FWASH!!!
The cracks between the stone slabs that made up the wall began to glow a bright orange!
"NO!!!" Datamon cried from afar, realizing what the two kids were up to. "Get away from there!!!"
Panicking, he pushed Greymon aside hard, causing him to fall over. Still merged with S.O.R.A., he ran as fast as his new body could carry him to the pyramid.
Some of the stone slabs on the wall crumbled to reveal another thin slab underneath them, with a strange symbol on it. It was a giant circle, with two smaller ones inside it, and eight tiny triangles surrounding the outside of it, pointing in eight different directions.
"No way...this is...the Crest of Courage?!" Tai said, completely flabbergasted.
"Don't ask me how it got here. But somehow, your crest was...reborn inside the walls of this pyramid!" Izzy confirmed.
"Then..." Tai said, as everything was becoming clear to him now, "...that must mean..."
Something clicked inside Tai's mind, as he reached out with his hand and walked towards the glowing orange symbol engraved in the wall.
"Step back from that crest!" Datamon yelled, as he drew closer.
But Tai kept on moving forward and the moment his hand touched the stone, everything changed. The bright flash of orange light grew even brighter and blinded everyone for a moment. As the flash dissipated, the light retreated into a strange tiny rectangular shape, floating in front of Tai. And the symbol had transferred from the wall to the glowing rectangular object, still emtting orange light.
"Tai, look!" Izzy exclaimed, pointing at Tai's neck.
Tai looked downwards and saw a thin string of light around his neck. As that light faded, a white thread appeared in its place, connected to a gold-colored pendant at the bottom, with a small, clear, glass-like window in its center.
"No way!" Sor yelled.
"It's his tag!" Mimi announced.
"Forget the tag...his crest is back!" Kari said.
Tai looked in front of him, and indeed his crest WAS back. It moved of its own accord towards him and slipped perfectly into place inside the glass-like setting with a soft "click".
The crest within the tag glowed once more and faded again.
"Izzy, you were right! It is my crest!" Tai happily cried.
Datamon stopped in his tracks upon realization of what just happened.
"And I want it back!" Datamon shouted.
"I'm afraid you got things backwards!" Tai yelled. "You took this crest from ME! And Greymon and I are gonna show you how to REALLY use it!"
Datamon scoffed at this, but he knew that he was partially bluffing as he watched Tai's orange crest begin to glow brightly once more...and Datamon knew precisely what this meant...
While this events unexpected turn of events was playing out, Sora broke off from the others, took a deep breath, and walked over to Birdramon. She kneeled down where her hurt partner was and stroked her fur.
"Please, Birdramon...I know you have what takes to win! Datamon manipulated Tai...he used me...and WE have to stop him now!"
"Are...you sure that...I can...do it, Sora?" Birdramon groaned.
"I've always been sure about you."
"But...it hurts...and I'm not the original Birdramon from before..."
"Look, maybe I'm the real Sora, or maybe I'm just another fake like that replica back there...and I know you're not the same digimon partner I first started out with...but that doesn't make you and me any less real NOW, does it!?"
"Well...maybe..."
"When I realized that I was trapped in the Digital World, a huge portion of me shut down, and I gradually began to lose faith that I might never get home, that I might never see the others again. But when I came to the Primary Village and met you, it all changed. Some real happiness was brought back into my life! You joined me in my travels, and you refused to leave me, no matter what! At first I thought that you were just being stubborn, but that's when I realized the truth. You weren't staying with me just out of obligation, or stubbornness, or for fear of being lonely or abandoned...it was because you were my truest friend in the Digital World...and you loved me."
"Th...thank you, Sora. I won't...disappoint you..."
"I realize now that you brought back into my life what was lost when I found that I was stuck here for four long years...my power of love for others...and for myself."
"Do you...care for me as much as...the others?"
Sora had a few joyful tears in her eyes, and walked towards her fallen friend, hugging her softly.
"Of course I do..." Sora said, letting a few more tears slip out. "...I love you."
Suddenly a faint red glow emitted from under her yellow shirt. Sora pulled her tag out from under her shirt collar and firmly fixed her gaze on the red crest with the strange heart-shaped symbol on it. Sora's Crest of Love began to glow as brightly as Tai's Crest of Courage.
"Sora...your crest is glowing, too!" Mimi noted excitedly.
Sora nodded, with determination in her eyes. She and Tai looked at their hurt digimon and then at each other. It was clear by then what they had to do...
"Greymon..."
"Birdramon..."
"DIGIVOLVE!" they both yelled in unison.
Immediately Tai and Sora's digivices vibrated and beeped loudly, and turned orange and red, respectively. A strong, steady beam of light erupted from the devices' screens and struck their crests. The beams of light became even brighter as they exited the crests, and struck their digimon, increasing their strength.
Bathing in the stream of energy that recharged their bodies, Sora stared in amazement as the two digimon on the battlefield digivolved again. Sor smiled at her sister's look of surprise. She realized that this was Sora's first time to witness something like this.
Greymon immediately got up and cybernetic machinery that resembled some kind of armor appeared over his chest and face. His left arm was then covered by a metal gauntlet, with long sharp metallic claws, and purple wing-like objects riddled with holes sprung from his back, like the petals of a blooming flower.
"Greymon digivolve to...METALGREYMON!!! GRAAAWL!!!"
Birdramon also got up and Sora watched intently as she witnessed Birdramon digivolve for the first time.
She greatly grew in height and her body shape became more humanoid, growing long arms and giant strong fists, while most of her body deepened into a dark red color. A mask-like object appeared over the digimon's face, similar to Greymon's, but this one was red with a blue pattern on it, a white feather sticking out of its top, and long golden hair streaming out of the back. Thick white fur covered the neck, with white stripes on her wrists and thighs to match.
"Birdramon digivolve to...GARUDAMON!!!"
Partially due to the amount of power that had been infused within their bodies, the two digimon roared in loud voices that could have shook mountains apart.
"Sora, I can feel your love...it's making me strong!" Garudamon said in proud, deep voice.
And you're not the only one who feels it, Tai thought.
"AWESOME!" Sora screeched with glee.
"I'll protect you, Sora!" Garudamon added.
Tai smiled a lot as he saw the look on Sora's face. To say that she was happy would have been a major understatement. The smile that was stuck to her face was one of the biggest he had ever seen, her eyes were wide open, not daring for a moment to close, and her fists were clenched tightly in excitement.
"GO GET 'EM!!" Sora and Tai cheered, realizing that this fight was now in the bag.
Not that Datamon no longer had an infinite energy supply to replenish himself with, his strength was extremely limited. At that moment, his mind partially snapped. It no longer mattered if he did not survive. his enemies must suffer and be eradicated...by ANY means!
Datamon went berserk and lunged himself at his foes. But Tai's digimon, now powered up to its "Ultimate" level, was more than ready to take him on.
"GIGA BLASTER!!!" MetalGreymon roared.
Small openings on MetalGreymon's chest plating fire long sleek missile-like projectiles at Datamon. They exploded on contact with the enemy, knocking Datamon onto the ground. Then MetalGreymon grabbed his adversary by his barely functioning robotic arms and hurled him into the air, like a rag doll.
Garudamon flew up into the air past Datamon, at faster speeds and higher altitude than she ever could have imagined in her "Champion" level. Now she was in perfect position to attack, as well.
"WING BLADE!!!" Garudamon cried, as her entire gigantic body became engulfed in flame.
Everyone saw Sora's digimon in action, and they couldn't have been more pleased with what transpired. The flame-infused digimon morphed into a creature resembling a phoenix and flew straight into Datamon, who had been tossed into the air by MetalGreymon.
Garudamon landed gently, but Datamon didn't fare nearly as well, seeing as how he crashed landed into the ground, partially on fire. Though severely injured, Datamon screamed once more as he took one last giant leap in an effort to kill the one human who was solely responsible for his demise...Tai!
Tai closed his eyes and braced for impact, but that when yet another great surprise registered in his mind. Only a few meters from reaching Datamon, time seemed to freeze. Everyone gasped as Datamon dropped to the ground in pain. Writhing on the ground in pain, everyone stared as they saw a long staff that had impaled Datamon (from behind) straight through the torso.
But what really caught everyone's attention even more was where the staff came from.
All eyes aimed upwards in the sky, where a huge digimon was flying in their direction. It was a gigantic humanoid creature with huge wings, ribbons, boots, bracelets, and a huge metal helmet completely covering the top half of its face. And there was a human riding on his back, holding on tight.
"It's Angemon!" Sora said happily. "Long time no see!"
"And if he's here..." Tai said, "...then that means..."
"T.K.!!!" Kari exclaimed with tear-filled eyes. "He's all right!"
"Guys!" T.K. yelled from up high, "Hope you don't mind...I brought along some reinforcements!"
The heavenly Angemon flew towards the Digidestined as fast as possible, and went low enough for T.K. to jump off and land safely on the ground. Then he flew towards Datamon, pulled his staff out of the weakened digimon, and used it like a golf club, hitting him hard across the ground with it.
"Hey, little guy!" Tai cheered. "You made it after all!"
"But how-" Joe began to ask.
"After S.O.R.A. tossed me out of the pyramid, I started whizzing into the air. That's when Sora and Birdramon caught me. We quickly exchanged stories and she left me near the Digiport to go get Patamon to help. So I ran home as fast as I could and brought him here. I'm just glad we weren't too late!"
"And good going, too!" Sora said, congratulating him on his luck.
"Wasted...efforts..." Datamon groaned. "Time...to...kill you ALL!"
"And it's time for me to end this!" Angemon said, in a strong, courageous voice.
Angemon flew even higher into the air. From where he was now, he had a clear view of the digimon-human hybrid that the others had fought against. He drew his right fist back, as if to throw a punch.
"HAND OF FATE!" Angemon cried.
The fist began to glow bright orange, and immediately he punched forward, and a tremendous ray of orange light shot out towards the battle field. The Digidestined were forced to cover their eyes (for the umpteenth time) from the bright light of Angemon's attack.
Datamon was struck by Angemon's attack, and was left with barely any sign of life showing.
"You da MON!" Tai and Sora cheered at the same time.
Everyone else soon joined in, cheering in excitement and relief, seeing that T.K. was okay. That is, except for Matt who ran towards him.
"T.K., THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE OKAY!" Matt cried as he grabbed his brother, giving his little brother a big bear hug.
"Matt...I'm glad...to see you...but let go...I can't...breathe...!" T.K. managed to say.
T.K.'s older brother laughed a little and let go. But just as T.K. began to catch his breath again...Kari ran over to hug her boyfriend even harder than Matt had.
"OH, T.K.! I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE ALIVE!" Kari practically screamed as she started kissing him repeatedly.
"What th...NOT YOU, TOO!" T.K. complained, but the younger Kamiya child hardly cared about T.K.'s ranting as she continued to kiss his face nonstop.
Sora, Mimi, Matt, Tai and Sor started hooting and cheering as Kari persisted in her passionate display of affection. Izzy and Joe just snickered a bit.
"Uhh..." went T.K. as he saw everyone laughing.
Still...Kari was being attractive in her own way. Her innocence, cuteness and purity were not qualities to be taken lightly and could easily melt a boy's heart.
T.K. began to groan as he became mildly embarrassed from Kari's actions and once again pulled his hat down over his eyes.
It seemed as all was safe in the sector of the Digital World where the kids were. But Izzy turned his head when he heard a groan. His eyes nearly popped out when he saw Datamon (still fused with S.O.R.A.'s body) struggling to get up.
"Oh, not again!" Joe complained.
"This is bad..." Izzy stated. "As long as that regenerative program is infused within his consciousness, there's always a chance that he'll survive."
"Then we have to dispose of him...to the point where there's nothing left!" Tai suggested.
"Actually, I had another idea..." T.K. said, indicating his digimon partner with his thumb.
"Ah, I see..." Matt said with a sly nod.
"Listen up, everybody..." T.K. instructed. "...pull out your digivices! Angemon can take care of the rest!"
The nine Digidestined got in a circle position and pulled out their digivices. Angemon flew above them, waiting to T.K.'s idea to play out, hoping that his plan would work.
"What's going on?" Sora whispered to Tai and Kari. "If the rest of you lost your crests, then there's no way for Angemon TO digivolve! And even if you managed to pull it off, WHAT would Angemon digivolve into!?"
"Heh...you'll see," Tai said, lightly chuckling.
"Remember...I said that there was more than one way for digimon to digivolve..." Kari noted.
Holding their arms out, and clutching their digivices firmly, the Digidestined concentrated with all their hearts and minds. That's when the nine digivices began to glow. Thin streams of white light shot out of Mimi, T.K., Kari, Matt, Izzy, Joe, and Sor's digivices and struck Angemon, who now looked as if he was getting stronger. Although engulfed in the light, he could still be seen.
Bright red and orange light emitted from Sora's and Tai's crests and digivices, which were still vibrating and beeping. Once those two additional lights hit Angemon, they could only see his silhouette.
Sora glanced at T.K., who looked more determined than anyone else. Wow, she thought. He's really grown, too...just like Kari. They really ARE made for each other...!
"Angemon...DIGIVOLVE!" T.K. hollered.
T.K.'s digivice turned yellow and started to vibrate, too. Everyone kept their eyes locked in the sky, and watched as Angemon's silhouette began to grow bigger. Once more, a bright flash of yellow light filled the area and dissipated just as quickly. Sora's ears tweaked a little when she heard a booming voice from up above.
"Angemon digivolve to...MAGNAANGEMON!!!"
Sora's eyes widened and she gasped when she saw what emerged. T.K.'s digimon partner was still standing proudly in the sky, but he looked very different. Additional long wings had sprouted from the digimon's back. His white body suit had long yellow sashes across the chest, a purple gauntlet covered his left arm, a matching purple helmet appeared over his head, and gray, metallic boots covered his feet.
"Wow! Patamon, you've really grown! Who knew the little guy had it in him?!" Sora exclaimed with glee.
"Looks aren't everything..." T.K. noted with pride. "He's also got the necessary strength to back up his grand appearance! Show him whatcha got, MagnaAngemon!"
The Ultimate-level digimon looked down at his human friend and nodded. He slowly moved in the air and flew over and above where Datamon was, still alive, but barely functioning. MagnaAngemon began a declaration, deciding Datamon's fate.
"Datamon...you've disrupted enough innocent lives already! There's no place in the Digital World that's suitable enough to control and contain your malicious influences! Therefore, you shall be punished! Your consciousness will be banished to another place...where you shall NEVER return!"
"Impossible...!" Datamon hissed.
"The beginning of your demise shall commence HERE!"
MagnaAngemon raised a long purple blade-like tool connected to a gauntlet on his right hand and waved it in a circular motion. The white outline of a circle appeared where the digimon had waved his tool, and suddenly an image of a closed, sealed gate appeared within the circle.
"What is he doing?!" asked a very curious Sora.
"Sending Datamon to another dimension...where he'll never hurt anyone again!" T.K. said angrily.
"GATE OF DESTINY!!!" MagnaAngemon roared.
With those words, the portal T.K.'s digimon had created opened up, and some great force - a vacuum like no other - was gradually pulling Datamon inside it!
"Datamon..." T.K.'s digimon pal said, "...it's over! We've BEATEN you!"
The humanoid-digimon hybrid did its best to hold on, but it was far too late. Datamon's robotic arms stretched out as far as they could. He sunk his metal claws into the sand, desperate to hold on and remain in this realm, but his resistance was utterly futile.
That wasn't all...everyone gasped as the remains of the pyramid was being sucked in as well!
Piece by piece, every little and last bit of the stone complex that had served as Etemon's immense headquarters, Datamon's secret laboratory, and Sora's makeshift home was being pulled along.
"I...WILL...NOT...GO!!!" Datamon screamed as he was being dragged by the unconquerable current.
But Datamon used the last of his strength and extended one of his arms to its maximum extension and reached out for Tai's neck!
Tai yelled in horror, but just before Datamon's robotic fingers could even brush the tiniest hairs on his neck, a huge chunk of stone debris from the pyramid struck him in the face and caused him to lose his grip on the ground. Now being pulled in by the Gate of Destiny's typhoon, and pushed in by the hunk of stone that hit him, his demise was imminent.
Tai, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, T.K., Sor, Kari, Joe, and Matt watched in anger, determination and complete satisfaction as a tremendous current pulled Datamon into the vortex MagnaAngemon opened up. The Digidestined didn't even bother to cover their eyes from everything that was happening, as they didn't want to miss a single second of this.
The last thing Datamon saw was the confident expressions firmly fixed to the faces of the Digidestined. He couldn't...and wouldn't believe it! But it was really over...it was true...he had LOST!
The untouchable, underestimated, and unbelievable unified strength of Courage, Love, Friendship, Knowledge, Sincerity, Reliability, Hope, and Light had prevailed against all odds! Evil today had received a incalculably strengthened strike from the forces of Good, which had persevered like never before!
"NOOOOO!!!!!" he screeched.
CLACK!!!
The Gate of Destiny shut its doors tightly after Datamon and the entire inverted pyramid had been consumed by the vortex, which immediately disappeared into thin air.
The nine kids who had witnessed the entire scene stood together as a team for the first time in a while. After a moment they all looked at each other, and their eyes widened at the realization of the truth. They quickly jumped for joy and cheered at the top of their lungs due to the fact that they had won!
"We did it!" Mimi yelled in happiness.
Almost acting on instinct she jumped into Joe's arms, which shot out of reflex, catching her slender body. Mimi's eyes shot open and bugged out, realizing what she just did. She nervously looked at Joe and locked eyes with him, blushing slightly. But the two of them paused and started laughing.
The three Ultimate-level digimon - MetalGreymon, Garudamon, and MagnaAngemon - looked at each other as well, and nodded. Their bodies started to glow and they de-digivolved back into their "In-Training" forms, Koromon, Yokomon, and Tokomon. Their human friends ran over to them and picked them up, since they were no bigger than heads. Actually, that's pretty much ALL they were reduced to after expending so much vast amounts of strength and energy.
"Koromon! You okay, buddy?" Tai asked, holding up the pale-pinkish colored head-like creature.
The little digimon shook his head (and long rabbit-like ears,) and coughed.
"Yuck...I think...that I ate...some sand...when I fell to the ground..."
The kids laughed, knowing that everyone - humans and digimon alike - were okay. Kari ran over to T.K., who held the small white Tokomon in his arms. Both of the kids softly pet the digimon's head.
"Good job, Tokomon...you were great!" T.K. said in a warm, caring voice.
"So were you, T.K.!" Kari added. "And I promise I'll forget about the piggyback thing as long as you promise to be more careful from now on!"
T.K. chuckled, closed his eyes, smiled, and nodded at Kari's words.
Meanwhile Sora held up her digimon, the "In-Training" Yokomon. Sora looked at her closely, not having seen her digimon in this form in a long time.
"Yokomon...how are you feeling?" she gently asked.
The round, small pinkish digimon with blue-leaves for hair stared at Sora with her round green eyes and sighed in relief.
"Is...everyone...okay? I mean...did I do okay, Sora?" she half-timidly asked.
"You did an excellent job, Yokomon!" Sora congratulated her friend, and lovingly hugging her. "I'm very proud of you!"
Yokomon closed her eyes and flashed a wide smile.
"Well, I for one couldn't be happier that this mess is all wrapped up!" she said with relief.
"It's true..." Tai agreed. "The legacy of Datamon is finally over! I think we really defeated him for good this time!"
"And we did it all as a team!" Sora noted.
"Some team," Sor semi-muttered. "We almost lost!"
"But we didn't!" Kari countered. "But the truth is...we've all been too busy with our own lives."
"Kari's right," T.K. said. "Sometimes it feels like we've only been getting together simply because we're all Digidestined! But we're more than that!"
"Very true!" Mimi chirped. "When you really get down it...we're also friends!"
"Yeah, we need to make changes in our lives to REALLY stick together and be there for each other when it counts! Inside AND outside of the Digital World!" Joe replied.
"Due to our elaborate and conflicting schedules, I calculated that our success rate decreased because we've been behaving differently!" Izzy continued.
"Without the strength of our unity, we're weaker! And that last fight proved it!" Matt announced.
"But look at us now..." Sora stated. "Once we started believing in our combined efforts and put our hearts into our abilities, that's when we turned the tables. And look!"
Sora pointed to Tai as he held up his newly retrieved Crest of Courage.
"We all lost a small part of ourselves over time! But being involved in that fight pushed me to reclaim my courage! And I got it back in spades!" Tai exclaimed.
"You couldn't be more right, Tai!" Izzy said, smiling.
"Maybe we'll all get our crests back someday!" Kari suggested.
"I hope so, too!" Mimi cheerfully squeaked. "That piece of jewelry could go well with my dresses! Although my green crest was a bit tacky!"
The other eight Digidestined (as well as the three digimon pals) stared at Mimi blankly, then broke into near-uncontrollable giggles, chuckles, and snickers. And for the next few minutes...the warm, infectious unification of genuine laughter filled the atmosphere.
TO BE CONCLUDED...
Well, I certainly hope that you were all totally and pleasantly psyched about this new turn of events! Looks like the road seems pretty smooth for everyone from here on out, huh? PLEASE send in your reviews about what you think! Our people are standing by, waiting for your calls! Ha, ha! Just kidding!
Anyway, tell me what you thought! Bet you people didn't expect this chapter to play out the way it did, huh? Did I fool you? Whatever the reason, I'm glad that you all hung tough and lasted this far! But it's not over yet! There's still at LEAST one more chapter to go! And after that, I have a small announcement to make!
So, I'm outta here! Didja hear that, Mr. Disclaimer...oh, geez...he's sleeping on the job AGAIN! Man, you see what I put up with? Oh, well...ciao for now!