Author's Note: Sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter up. There's a reason for the delay, and I'll explain it at the end of this chapter. For now, let's get back to this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
Chapter 6: Sanction
"Norn! What're you doing?" Ophanimon asked. "Get out of there now! That Digimon is dangerous!"
"It is for that reason why I must act," Norn calmly responded.
Raguelmon hissed at Norn as the crystals on her body began to glow. In an instant the fallen angel fired off a barrage of purple energy bullets.
Norn raised her left hand forward as the bullets came towards her. "Victory Shield!"
A ray of orange light projected from her left hand and formed into a large transparent V-shaped shield, completely blocking the oncoming barrage. When the attack ended, Norn raised her right arm and extended the cannons attached to her forearm.
"Zeed Cannon Blitz!" Norn called out as she fired a barrage of her own.
The blue energy bullets Norn fired off struck Raguelmon and created several more cracks in her armor. Before the barrage completely ended, Raguelmon slashed the claw blades on her right arm through the air and created a black portal in space. The fallen angel dove into the portal and vanished before anyone could stop her. As Norn ended her attack, an exhausted Ophanimon descended to the ground and split back into Kari and Gatomon.
"Guess this is far from over," Gatomon remarked.
Down on the ground, QueenChessmon also split into a human and Digimon pair. The human was a young woman with long blond hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a navy blue blazer with a neon pink shirt, a short navy blue skirt, and red high-heeled shoes. Her Digimon meanwhile was a small black knight with a gold visor. In its right hand it carried a gold shield, and a black spear in its left hand. This pair was Gwen Whitmore and her Digimon, PawnChessmon.
"I was really hoping we'd be able to put an end to this whole mess today," Gwen remarked as she and PawnChessmon approached Kari. "Why is it every time we meet I end up having to risk my life against some sort of insanely powerful Digimon?"
"Sorry Gwen," Kari responded.
Gwen's expression softened a bit. "You are okay though, aren't you? I ask because Arthur's been a bit worried about you."
"You've been worried just as much," Lotosmon remarked before splitting into another human/Digimon pair.
The human that had made up half of Lotosmon was a young woman had shoulder length blond hair, wearing a purple turtleneck sweater and a long black skirt. Her Digimon meanwhile was a small plant-like creature with a green body and stubby arms and legs. It had a pink head that looked like an upturned flower, and on top of its head it had a green stem with two leaves. Its face consisted of two small black eyes and a tiny mouth. These two were Cindy Pierce and her Digimon, Lalamon.
"Hi Kari," Cindy spoke as she and Lalamon came over. "It's been way too long."
Dianamon meanwhile descended to the ground and split into yet another human and Digimon pair. The human was a gorgeous young woman with long raven black hair and deep blue eyes, wearing a simple white t-shirt with a blue vest and tight blue jeans. The Digimon meanwhile was a somewhat rabbit shaped creature with light pink skin and red eyes. A pair of large ears with blue stripes was on the sides of its head, with another slightly smaller pair on top. From its forehead dangled a long antenna with a blue tip, and it wore a silver medallion with a picture of a moon on it. This pair was Cindy's wife, Artemis Pierce and her Digimon, Lunamon.
"Sorry we couldn't have gotten here sooner," Artemis told Kari as she and Lunamon came over. "The minute our flights touched down in Tokyo we heard about the battle going on here on the news and came as quickly as we could."
"Where's Arthur?" Kari asked.
"He, Jason and Johnny are over at Tokyo Tower…fighting another enemy."
"Another enemy?"
Artemis nodded. "Some other evil Digimon that I guess showed up at the same time. Seraphimon, Omnimon and Stingmon were fighting it."
Kari became very alarmed upon hearing this. "T.K. and Tai…they're in danger! We have to get over there!"
"Easy Kari," Cindy told her as she put a hand on her shoulder. "Unfortunately getting to Tokyo Tower is easier said than done. The entire city's gone a bit crazy."
"Besides, you and Gatomon don't look like you're in any shape to keep fighting," Gwen pointed out.
"Arthur's with T.K. and the others, so they'll be fine," Artemis assured her.
"That's not good enough!" Kari insisted. "We have to get over there now!"
"Locating digivice signals!" Norn spoke from where she still hovered above, getting the attention of the others. "Signals located! Coordinates ascertained!" She then spread her arms outward. "Translocation field activate!"
A spherical field of green energy emanated from Norn's body and enveloped Kari and everyone else who had been involved in the battle. In an instant, the entire party had vanished from the area outside Nakano Broadway.
The battle against DoneDevimon continued to rage on with no sign of ending any time soon. Stingmon moved in to strike the mad demon with one of his stinger blades, only to get struck by one of the massive fists emanating from DoneDevimon's wings. The attack knocked Stingmon into the ground near Ken and the others and caused him to revert back to Wormmon. Ken rushed over and picked his fallen partner up off the ground.
"Sorry Ken…I'm totally spent," Wormmon told his human friend as Ken cradled him in his arms.
Ken smiled down at him. "You did good."
"I think all of our Digimon have about reached their limit," Matt remarked. "Even with the Team Excalibur Digimon helping us out, DoneDevimon is still too powerful."
Matayoshi meanwhile hung up the mobile phone he was talking on and approached Tai and the others. "That was one of my superiors. He told me a guard unit has just been deployed to the area. They'll be here in about thirty minutes or so."
"Then we have to end this before they get here," Tai decided. "DoneDevimon will only blow them to bits."
"He's probably going to blow us to bits as well," Ken pointed out.
Meanwhile, Marsmon and Gankoomon charged in towards DoneDevimon, only to get knocked back by his giant fists. Seraphimon, Omnimon and HiAndromon then fired off more shots of their own attacks at the demon, but none of them seemed to do any real damage.
Alphamon suddenly unfurled the gold-feathered wings on his back and rose into the air. "Digitalize of Soul!"
A magic circle of green light appeared in the sky above Tokyo Tower, and the head of a massive white dragon emerged from its center. The dragon opened its maw and fired a massive bolt of golden lighting down at DoneDevimon, creating a blinding flashed. When its attack ended, the dragon receded back into the circle, which vanished from the sky soon after. When the smoke from the attack ended though, DoneDevimon was still standing.
"Even Alphamon's attacks are having a negligible effect," HiAndromon observed. "At the moment I don't see how we can win this battle."
Suddenly there was a green flash, and when the light cleared Norn X3 had appeared in the middle of the battlefield with Kari and the others.
"Kari?" a stunned Tai exclaimed. "What're you doing here?"
"Norn brought us here somehow," Kari answered as she and Gatomon came over. "We heard about your fight here from Gwen and the others and she suddenly just teleported us all."
Meanwhile DoneDevimon roared at the new arrivals, causing both Himeko and Kudamon to cry out with fear.
Meanwhile Blanc grinned. "Oh yeah! This is what I'm talking about! Let me at 'em!"
"Blanc, wait!" Noir called as her younger sister charged heedlessly into battle.
DoneDevimon launched one of his fists at Blanc, hurling her back towards the others. Blanc was out cold before she hit the ground and she reverted back to her normal form. Gankoomon rushed over and picked her up off the battlefield, taking her back over to Tai and the others.
Noir returned to her original form and rushed over to Gankoomon. "Is she okay?"
Gankoomon sighed. "She's only been knocked out."
"…I'm sorry, Master," Noir spoke as she looked down in shame. "It seems Blanc and I are only a hindrance to you. Earlier we were in battle against the Child of Darkness…and we could do nothing against her."
Gankoomon nodded and gently set Blanc on the ground. "You both did well. Look after your sister, Noir. For now, I still have an enemy to face."
"No!" Norn called out. "This battle has gone too far!"
DoneDevimon looked up at Norn and snarled. "You…Child of Radiance! Spawn of that wretched boy!"
"You know my father?" Norn asked the beast.
"It was he who caused my first downfall!" The demon then began to chuckle. "But today I shall have my revenge! I will kill him, drink his blood…AND CELEBRATE BY BURNING THIS WHOLE WORLD TO ASH!"
"I will not allow you the chance!" Norn declared as she aimed her hands down towards the demon. "Radiance Sanction!"
A powerful ray of white light shot from the palms of Norn's hands and struck DoneDevimon. Soon after, a giant glowing white version of Norn's Crest of Radiance appeared on the ground beneath the demon and shot forth a blinding pillar of light into the air. DoneDevimon roared in pain as the light vaporized him. After a few seconds the attack ended and the mad demon had vanished.
"Unreal!" Toya declared. "To think Norn had this kind of power the whole time."
BaoHuckmon nodded. "There may indeed be at least a small grain of truth to the legend of her being the Digital World's messiah."
With the battle at an end, Vic and BaoHuckmon finally reverted to their Rookie forms. Omnimon also split back into a spent Agumon and Gabumon. Norn X3 meanwhile landed softly on the ground and split back into Norn, Agu and Gao. While Agu and Gao returned to their Rookie forms, Norn wobbled a bit as if she were about to collapse.
Alphamon immediately landed on the ground behind the girl. "Lady Norn! Are you okay?"
Norn smiled back at the knight and nodded. "I'm fine. Just a little sleepy."
Seraphimon landed and split back into T.K. and Patamon, who immediately came over to Norn's side. Kari and Gatomon soon joined them.
"That was a very impressive display, young lady!" Gankoomon remarked as he walked over. "You do indeed possess at least some of Yggdrasil's power. But…do not think you can use that power however you wish."
Alphamon quickly stepped in between Gankoomon and the Takaishi family. "If you are threatening Lady Norn, I will have no choice but to dispatch you right here and now."
Gankoomon smirked. "Performing your duty as Yggdrasil's knight even now, I see. I have great respect for you, Lord Alphamon. After all, you are the progenitor upon which I and other knights like us were based. But I am a knight of Homeostasis and will not allow any threats to its rule of the Digital World!"
"I do not know who you are, but I assure you I have no intention of resuming my role as god of the Digital World!" Norn interrupted. "Yggdrasil's time has passed and can never be again. Besides…in the end I was never that good at being the Digital World's god."
"There you have it, Gankoomon!" Alphamon declared. "Now stand down, lest I cleave you in two!"
Gankoomon nodded. "I just wanted to make it clear where we all stand. Now that I have done so, we can be allies."
"Very well," Alphamon responded before suddenly splitting into a human and Digimon pair.
The human in question was a handsome young man with black hair and glasses with square frames. He had on a dark blue blazer with a light blue polo shirt and dark blue slacks. This was Arthur Pierce, the leader of Team Excalibur. The Digimon that had been Alphamon was a small dragon-like creature with light-blue fur and a foxlike tail. The same red gemstone that had decorated Alphamon's forehead also adorned the little dragon's head. This creature was Arthur's partner, Dorumon.
Arthur sighed and adjusted his glasses. "That got a little intense."
"You're telling me," Marsmon agreed as he came over.
Suddenly Marsmon split into another human and Digimon pair. The human was a muscular young man who had short brown hair and stood at about seven feet tall. He had on a sleeveless black shirt that fit tightly to his frame, along with a pair of long camouflaged pants and black military boots. The Digimon with him was a small red mammal with blue eyes, long pointed ears, and nine pointed tails with purple tips. This was Johnny Little and his Digimon, Elecmon.
"For a moment I thought we'd have to deck Gankoomon for ya," Johnny remarked as he crossed his arms. "And I really wouldn't want to do that 'cause I kinda like the guy."
"Be interesting to see which of us would win in a fight though," Elecmon remarked.
Gankoomon looked at Johnny and Elecmon and chuckled. "Perhaps we could have a sparring match later. I'd welcome the chance to match my strength with yours."
Johnny smirked. "You're on!"
"Surely that can be saved for a much later time though," HiAndromon remarked as he came over with his hands folded behind his back. "Right now we have much more important matters to attend to."
HiAndromon then split into yet another human and Digimon pair. The human was a scrawny young man with red hair and thick glasses, wearing a grey polo shirt with tan slacks and red sneakers. The Digimon with him was a mechanical creature with a body shaped like a dark-grey gear with gold cogs and two smaller silver gears for hands. This pair was Jason Swift and his Digimon partner, Hagurumon.
"Boy, things sure got a little awkward just now, didn't they?" Hagurumon remarked. "Of course it's not the most awkward situation Jason and I had ever been in. It happened one weekend when Jason, his girlfriend and me went to visit his girlfriend's parents. It was night and Jason thought his girlfriend was in the shower, so he decided to get undressed and join her. Well, when he got in there, it wasn't his girlfriend who was showering, but…"
"Hagurumon! For the love of god, shut the hell up!" Jason practically shouted.
"Oh…sorry."
"We don't wanna know how that story ends, do we?" T.K. deduced.
Jason let out a heavy sigh. "No, and I wish to god I could forget that night. I sure wish Hagurumon could forget at least."
"Well I certainly don't want Norn hearing a story like that," Kari declared.
"And on that note, we should probably get her home," Gatomon interjected.
"Not to interfere with your parental duties, but I think we all need to have a little meeting about today's incidents," Arthur interrupted.
"Um…I guess I could look after Norn for you for a bit while you have your little strategy meeting," Himeko offered as she raised her hand. "Seems like the least I could do. I need to get Kotaro and Toya out of here anyway. Norn and her little friends can hang out at my place for a bit."
"Lady Himeko! I'd like young Toya to take part in this meeting," Gankoomon told her. "He is Hackmon's partner, and therefore shares Hackmon's duty to help eliminate the Child of Darkness."
"Sorry Himeko, but it looks like I'm needed here," Toya told her.
Himeko sighed. "There's no way I can talk you out of this, is there? Fine! Toya can sit in on your little meeting, but Kotaro's coming with me."
"I'm fine with that," Kotaro agreed. "I should probably be there to help look after Norn anyway."
"Um, I think we can get along fine without your help, Kotaro," Kari interrupted.
"Are these Norn's school friends?" T.K. asked.
"Yeah, and you can see one of them might be a problem," Kari whispered to him.
T.K. nodded and glared at both Kotaro and Vic. "Thanks for whatever help you gave us today, but I think you've done enough."
"Norn has enough protection from all of us," Gatomon coldly interjected. "No need for you two to get in the way."
"Aren't you all being a little harsh?" Patamon asked the three.
"Nah, I think they're telling it like it is," Tai remarked as he came over, eying Kotaro suspiciously. "Go home kid. No need for you to get in our way."
"What the hell?" Kotaro grumbled under his breath.
"Let's go Kotaro!" Himeko interrupted. "You heard them."
"I'll help them all get home safely," Matayoshi interjected.
"Detective, thanks for all your help," Tai responded.
Matayoshi smiled and tugged on his hat. He then escorted Norn, Kotaro, Himeko and their respective Digimon away from the scene while the others gathered together to speak.
"That cop's really growing on you, isn't he?" Matt asked Tai.
"He's turning out to be a pretty good guy," Tai answered. "And we can use every ally we can get right now."
"Agreed," Arthur responded. "In any case, we've just had to deal with two very fierce opponents today."
"Two?" Matt asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Meiko came after me while all of you were dealing with whatever was happening here," Kari explained.
Tai sighed. "We should get back to Izzy's and compare notes. I'd like to know how I ended up getting tied up here while a crazy woman went after my sister."
In another few minutes, the two teams had assembled at Izzy's office to discuss the events of both battles. Most of the Digimon were present inside the office, but Noir had taken the still unconscious Blanc into Izzy's digital grid to recover. Gankoomon had taken a seat in the middle of the office couch, with Toya and Hackmon to each side of him. It had taken only twenty minutes for both teams to finish comparing notes.
"…Well, all things considered, I'd say we got off lucky in both battles," Arthur declared.
"Um…I kind of feel like I should apologize," Toya spoke up, raising his hand. "My sister was probably right. Hackmon, Kotaro and I only ended up getting in Mrs. Takaishi's way in that fight."
Hackmon nodded. "Indeed. Our weakness made us a hindrance in that battle. Had Lady Ophanimon not spent so much of her energy trying to protect us, things might've gone differently."
"Hackmon! And you too young Toya! Do not apologize for performing your duty!" Gankoomon told them. "You did what you were supposed to do, which was to fight to stop the Child of Darkness! If you are weak, then simply work to get stronger!"
"I…I understand, Master!" Hackmon responded.
"Yes sir!" Toya replied.
Gankoomon nodded and looked at Kari and Gatomon. "And you! While I appreciate your concern for my apprentice and his friends, there is no need for you to treat them like helpless children!"
"Well sorry, but they didn't stand a chance against psycho!" Gatomon told him. "We couldn't just do nothing and let them get slaughtered."
"And Toya and his brother are just kids," Kari added.
"Were you not much younger than they are now when you faced the Dark Masters?" Gankoomon pointed out.
"He's got you there," Artemis agreed. "We were all pretty much just kids when we got pulled into doing this sort of thing. Toya and his brother aren't any different. Either way, Ophanimon using all her energy to try and protect Norn's little friends probably didn't make much difference. The only one to do any serious damage to Raguelmon was Norn."
Gwen nodded. "We probably should've just let her handle the whole fight."
"No!" Kari interrupted. "I'm not letting Norn get involved any more than she already has!"
"That's right. Norn may have a lot of power, but she's still just a kid," T.K. agreed. "I'm not letting her get into this any further."
"I agree with Kari and T.K. Norn must be kept out of this matter completely," Arthur decided. "Her safety is paramount. I know for a fact Dorumon feels very strongly about this."
Dorumon barked in agreement.
"Oh come on! The girl is basically a goddess!" Gwen pointed out. "I know she's still just a kid, but just like Artemis and Mr. Macho Knight pointed out, we were all only just kids the first time we got pulled into protecting this world and the Digital World."
"The difference Guinevere is that Norn is still in many ways a newborn," Arthur pointed out. "And while she may have great power, she's not invulnerable. She wasn't even when she was Yggdrasil, or have you forgotten the playback of Norn's past life memories we saw when we went to save her from Neo Saiba? Yggdrasil had no choice but to destroy herself in order to seal away the Seven Lords."
"There's something else we should bear in mind too," Jason interjected. "Norn was totally exhausted after she used her power to destroy DoneDevimon."
"She was in a similar state after she used her abilities to modify the grid I made for our Digimon to hide in," Izzy recalled.
"I see. So in other words, Norn may have great power, but not the stamina to use it for sustained periods of time, at least not yet." Jason shook his head. "I'm with Arthur on this. Norn's involvement with resolving this situation should be kept at zero."
"You'll get no argument from me," Tai agreed.
"There's sort of another problem though. If it took Norn to at least scare off Raguelmon, we may not stand a chance against her," Ken pointed out.
"I'm not willing to be certain of that yet," Arthur declared. "If we all face Raguelmon together, we might be able to defeat her."
"Well, we definitely ended up needing Norn to stop DoneDevimon," Matt pointed out.
"I suspect that was because you weren't able to cut off the flow of negative data that was empowering him soon enough," Jason responded. "You must've had a pretty hard time disabling that server, huh Izzy?"
"I wasn't even the one to disable it," Izzy admitted. "Someone else shut it down, and at the same time sent out antivirus software to every device infected with Devimon's malware."
"I'm guessing you don't know the identity of our rescuer," Arthur deduced.
"I have no idea who it might've been, but this is what pops up when you visit the Oracle 666 site." Izzy turned the screen of his computer to everyone to show the window displaying the mysterious Hudie symbol.
"What does Hudie mean?" Toya asked.
"It's the Chinese word for butterfly," Johnny answered.
"I'm kind of impressed a guy like you knows that," Tai remarked.
"Well, every member of our team became familiar with that particular bit of Chinese vocabulary during our very first adventure as Team Excalibur," Jason revealed. "Arthur, you don't think this means…"
"No! Her story was simply too absurd," Arthur declared as he crossed his arms.
"It was highly improbable, but not necessarily impossible. And this logo showing up…"
"Jason, haven't you ever heard of a coincidence?" Gwen asked.
"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Tai asked.
Arthur sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Right. I never even told T.K. and Kari much about my team's very first mission."
"You did tell us the Harmonious ones put your team together to fight some evil Digimon called Mephistomon," T.K. recalled.
Arthur nodded. "Mephistomon was a malefic Digimon born from the mental data of Apocalymon, who I believe you all faced once before. When Mephistomon rose up many years later, he began to corrupt the Digital World. By the time my team and I were brought in, the fiend had already annexed a significant part of the world for his kingdom. He had even created four Digimon to help him run things: Eaglemon, KingEtemon, Chaosdromon, and Pharaohmon. These four were known as the Neo Dark Masters.
"The main goal our mission was simply not just to defeat Mephistomon and his henchmen, but to also rescue someone Mephistomon had captured, the only one capable of restoring the Digital World to its original state, Hudiemon. Hudiemon was essentially a living backup file of the Digital World itself. Millennia ago Yggdrasil had put Hudiemon in a state of suspended animation, only to be awakened in the event the Digital World itself had become too corrupted to survive. Mephistomon had captured the temple where Hudiemon slept and had made it into his palace. He would've destroyed her had it not been for the strong protective barrier Yggdrasil had placed around her chamber.
"Once we defeated Mephistomon, we unsealed Hudiemon's sleeping chamber and awakened her. She then restored the Digital World to what it was before Mephistomon had corrupted it and went on her merry way. We haven't seen her since."
"What's all this have to do with who took down Devimon's malware site?" T.K. asked.
Arthur cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "Well…Hudiemon gave us a rather…farfetched explanation about her origins. First of all, she is not the original Hudiemon but rather a copy. The original Hudiemon came into being in an alternate universe. Of course, we know for a fact alternate universes exist thanks to our mutual friend, Ryo Akiyama."
"So Hudiemon came from the world Takato and the others came from?" Tai asked.
"I don't think so," Ken interjected. "Ryo told us that when he fought Millenniummon years ago, he ended up going to a lot of different universes and worked with a bunch of alternate versions of us, including an alternate version of Rika."
Jason nodded. "That's right. The multiverse theory states that there are an infinite number of alternate realities. The universe where Ms. Rika comes from is simply one closely connected to our own. Mind if I take over the explanation from here, Arthur?"
"Not at all," Arthur answered. "You could probably explain this portion better than I."
Jason nodded. "From what we were told, the original Hudiemon soon came in contact with the Yggdrasil of her universe. That version of Yggdrasil apparently linked up with other versions of itself not just in every other universe where it existed, but ones in the distant past. It then copied Hudiemon and uploaded those copies to those past alternate versions of Yggdrasil, giving each version of Yggdrasil the ability to back up its own Digital World. These sleeping copies of Hudiemon would be updated on a regular basis, and would sleep until the time their Digital World needed to be restored."
"I still don't get what this has to do with who took down Devimon's malware site," Tai interrupted.
"Here's where we get into the improbable part," Jason began as he cleared his throat. "Hudiemon told us that she…or rather the original version of herself…had once been human."
Izzy raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"
"According to what we were told, the original Hudiemon came into being when a human girl's digitized consciousness merged with the Digimon serving as her partner. And Hudiemon claimed her original human self had been a talented hacker."
"After we had awakened her and she had restored the Digital World, Hudiemon stated she was going to carry on her original self's role as a hacker for justice," Arthur added. "She kept calling herself a Hacker Digimon."
"So you're saying you think Hudiemon is the one who took down Devimon's server?" Kari asked.
"That would seem to be what the facts indicate," Jason admitted.
"No! It's simply too absurd!" Arthur insisted.
"I'm with Arthur on this," Matt agreed. "We've seen a lot of strange stuff over the years, but a Digimon that was once a human?"
"It does seem pretty unreal," Tai agreed.
"Wait, if Hudiemon was connected to Yggdrasil, then maybe Norn knows something about her," T.K. suggested.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask her later," Kari responded.
"I know not of the Vanguard's origins, but I have no doubt the server you speak of being shut down is her work," Gankoomon interjected.
"The Vanguard?" Tai repeated.
"That's what the Harmonious Ones and Mephistomon called Hudiemon," Arthur recalled.
"So she really is involved," Jason realized.
"Gankoomon, might you know where Hudiemon is now?" Arthur asked.
Gankoomon shook his head. "I know not where she is, but I have standing orders from Homeostasis not to interfere with her work. She is in her own way a protector of the Digital World."
"Well then, I guess we'll leave it at that for now."
"Arthur, you're not thinking of asking for Hudiemon's help with this mess, are you?" Cindy asked.
Arthur shook his head. "Certainly not. I'd much rather keep her out of this as much as possible, just like Norn. It would be bad for a living backup copy of the Digital World to get destroyed in the crossfire. Anyway, let's get back on topic. The fact that T.K.'s childhood nemesis was involved with Ms. Meiko in the first place is very troubling."
"Good point. Especially since Devimon was supposed to have been destroyed by Daemon when T.K. rescued Kari from the Dark Ocean," Tai interjected.
"Devimon said someone brought him back," T.K. recalled.
"So this Meiko girl has the power to bring back dead Digimon too?" Johnny asked.
"I don't think so," Tai responded.
Arthur nodded. "I'm inclined to agree. Given what we know, it's more likely Ms. Meiko is the pawn of an even greater power acting behind the scenes."
"But who could that be?" Matt asked.
"Who is manipulating the Child of Darkness matters not!" Gankoomon interrupted. "All that matters is eliminating her before she can bring chaos to both our worlds."
"With all due respect, Lord Gankoomon, we'd much rather find another solution to this problem besides destroying a fellow Digidestined," Arthur told him.
"You may search for one if you wish, but in the end I think you will find there is no other option. The harmony of our two worlds must be preserved at any cost."
"Okay, okay! Let's give that debate a rest for now," Tai interrupted. "We're not gonna get anywhere with it today, that's for sure. Let's just focus on where we go from here."
"Excellent idea," Arthur responded. "For the time being, my team and I will provide support and protection for all of Ms. Meiko's targets. Jason, you'll assist Izzy with his research into finding out about Ms. Meiko and curing her unfortunate victims."
"Check," Jason responded.
"Johnny, you'll be looking after Tai as per our earlier discussion," Arthur continued.
Johnny gave Arthur a thumbs-up and turned to Tai. "Hope you don't mind me crashing on your couch Tai. Because until this thing's over, I'm sticking to you like glue."
Tai shrugged. "Guess that's kinda what I signed up for."
"Guinevere and I will handle T.K.'s protection personally," Arthur continued.
"I'm not sleeping on any damn couch!" Gwen declared as she crossed her arms.
Arthur's eye began to twitch. "There happens to be a lovely little hotel near T.K. and Kari's building. I've arranged for us to stay there."
"Well the place better be at least four stars!"
"Look, you harpy…" Arthur began through gritted teeth.
"Anyway! Cindy and I will keep an eye on Norn while she's at school," Artemis interrupted. "Don't worry Kari. We're not going to let anything happen to your family."
Kari smiled in response. "Thanks. All of you."
"We should probably call it a day here," Ken suggested. "I'm sure we're all pretty worn out after everything that's happened."
"Good idea," Tai agreed. "I just hope we have time to get plenty of rest before Meiko strikes again."
Meiko and Meicoomon had returned to the abandoned building they had been using as their lair in the human world. Once again Meiko was in a complete rage and tearing up the furniture in the room as Meicoomon watched silently.
"THAT LITTLE BRAT!" Meiko shouted as she threw a chair into the wall. "Howdareshe, howdareshe, HOWDARESHE? She had no right to get in my way! The next time I see her, I'm going to slit that little girl's throat and paint the ground with her blood!"
Suddenly the room became fill with the sound of evil laughter. "I understand your frustration my dear, but you shouldn't let your rage get the better of you. I've made that mistake once too often."
A swirling black portal appeared in the center of the room, and stepping through it was a male vampire with chalk white skin and long blonde hair. The top half of his face was covered by a unique red mask with ends shaped like batwings. His outfit consisted of a black tuxedo with a red cummerbund. Across his torso he wore a red sash with gold trim, and on his hands he wore white gloves. Hanging from his neck by a gold chain was a large golden medallion with a ruby gem in the center. On his back was a blood-red cape with a high collar.
"Who are you?" Meiko asked.
"I am CountMyotismon," the vampire answered with a bow. "The Elder One asked me to come help you. Doing so unfortunately forces me to put off my own plans, but I can deny the Elder One no wish. I owe him too much. Besides, this gives me the opportunity to get revenge on little Kari for thwarting my ambitions all those years ago."
"You want to make Kari suffer too?" Meiko asked with a twisted smile. "Good. She deserves to suffer…after the way she's had it so good while I've known nothing but misery. You better be more of a help to me than Devimon was though."
CountMyotismon smirked. "Do not worry, my dear. I have the perfect plan to make Kari miserable. And at the same time I'll make her realize how much you have suffered as well."
Author's Note: Okay, so the reason for the delay getting this chapter up is because I've been struggling with this story a little bit during the past few weeks. I have a little writer's block regarding what happens in the story after this point. I mean I know how the thing's going to end, but getting there is a little bit of a challenge at the moment. So I've decided to take a little break from this story (hopefully it'll be a very short one) and turn my attention to another project until I can get back on track with this story.
I'm sorry that I have to make an announcement like this, but hopefully this hiatus won't last for very long. So until we finally meet again, please review and let me know what you think.