"Look at these rock formations! They're amazing!"
"Yeah, yeah, Donnie…they're dork-tastic!"
A small rock hit Raph in the back of the head, and he turned to see Elisa behind him, smiling sweetly, like a little angel.
He never thought she'd have done it anyways, so he kept walking, not noticing she still held a small rock in her free hand, the other holding her tag.
At that moment, Mikey's tag started glowing, and he ran into the rock formations, following the tug.
They followed after him at a run, Tokomon running slightly ahead of his partner, as a smooth section of rock came into view, a symbol carved onto it.
It glowed yellow, like the tag, and shrunk, clicking into place inside the glowing gold trinket.
"It's the Crest of Hope." Tokomon stated, looking up at his partner.
Don was the first to notice the secret room Mikey's crest had revealed, and stepped inside. It looked like a dead end hallway, with symbols carved into the stone walls on the sides and ceiling.
The others followed him outside hesitantly as Don took out the laptop he still carried, typing quickly.
A hologram of the Digital World appeared, and he explained, with MANY big words, how the Digital World was made from data from the World Wide Web.
Another hologram of the Earth appeared, and he explained how they were interlinked. He even explained how their real bodies were in their own world, and that they were in digital copies.
But the most important detail slipped past the blue-banded turtle…
They could still die…
That's when Don got an e-mail, he looked at it curiously a moment, and clicked on it. It was an S.O.S. from someone, probably a Digimon, in trouble.
After some debating, they agreed to help if the Digimon would lead them to Elisa's crest. Don, being as intelligent as he was, used the website he'd gotten the e-mail from to actually e-mail them to the location.
The other end of the room disappeared, showing sand, and everyone looked outside to see they were in the mouth of a sphinx, an upside-down pyramid further off.
They saw Etemon's 'trailer' heading for it, and hid a bit more.
"Okay, here's the plan. Me, Don, Rach, and Elisa will go in and help whoever it is and get Elisa's crest. You three stay behind as backup."
Raph grumbled an agreement, and Gio nodded.
"Sure thing, Leo! We'll be here if you need us!" Mikey stated, a huge grin on his face.
And four turtles set out towards the pyramid.
They hid on a shadowed side, and Don turned on the laptop to find the secret entrance.
Leo checked around the corner, and flinched when Agumon accidentally kicked a rock.
He pulled Agumon back as it caught Etemon's attention.
"Hurry it up, Don! Etemon's coming!" He ordered in a whisper, and panic entered Elisa's eyes.
Rach glared at the corner, tense, as if ready to strike.
They were lucky enough to get through the hologram wall before Etemon looked around the corner, and were about to continue when Leo took a rock and threw it at the back of the monkey-Digimon's head.
As the Digimon muttered angrily to himself, walking off, a smirk flitted across Leo's face.
Once they'd walked a safe distance from the hologram wall, Elisa turned to Leo.
"You could've gotten caught back there, Leo!"
"But I didn't."
"That's not the point! You put yourself in danger for no reason!"
"Everything's fine, El. Cool it."
Elisa glared, but didn't say any more.
As they walked down the hall, another holographic wall came into view on their right, and Leo stopped when he saw two Gazimon walking in the opposite direction in the other hallway.
Knowing he was safe from sight, a sense of vengeance entered his heart. He jumped out, tripping one Gazimon before jumping back into safety.
As the sounds of fighting came through the walls, Leo nearly chuckled until he turned to an angry pink-banded turtle.
"You're playing with death, Leo!"
"No I'm not."
"Then what would you call THAT?!"
Rach moved to her sisters side, trying to calm her.
"Let's just finish this up, alright?"
Leo nodded, and they followed Don's directions to a firewall.
Elisa froze when she saw the electricity coarse through the metal wire fence, but Leo seemed calm enough.
Don found the safe passage through with the trusty laptop, and Leo was the first to walk through.
The others followed more hesitantly, and were soon in a large, electronic room. A strange glass prison stood in the center, a Digimon inside.
"That's Datamon. He'd gone missing a while back." Tentomon explained.
"Yes, it is I." They heard from the laptop.
"He's communicating through the infrared connection on my laptop…" Elisa mused aloud.
"Yes! Now get me out!"
"How do we do that?" Don asked curiously.
Datamon explained the whole process, and Don moved to the wall in order to press buttons and pull a lever.
As he finished the process, he turned to Leo.
"Can you pull down that lever? That should be it."
Leo nodded, grabbing hold of the lever, but he didn't get a chance to pull it down when Etemon appeared at the doorway.
"Well-Well-Well! It's the little troublemaker!"
Two beat up Gazimon appeared on either side, and Leo smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah…have a nice fall, boys?"
Before the three evil Digimon could attack, however…
"Agumon, Digivolve to…GREYMON!!"
"Biyomon, Digivolve to…BIRDRAMON!!"
"Tentomon, Digivolve to…KABUTERIMON!!"
"Gomamon, Digivolve to…IKKAKUMON!!"
The Digimon moved protectively in front of their turtle partners, and Leo pulled down the lever before the Digimon tried to strike.
The glass panels of the prison came off, floating in the air, before flying at Etemon.
One large one smacked into Birdramon's chest, smashing her against the wall as she Dedigivolved.
"BIYO!!!"
Elisa caught her partner, falling on her behind.
"Biyo?! Biyo, are you okay?!"
"Hey!! We set you free!!" Don shouted at Datamon.
"Yes, and I thank you fools. Not only am I free, but you brought me just what I needed!"
The electronic Digimon flew through the air, and grabbed Elisa and an unconscious Biyomon, flying out the door.
"RACH!!!! DONNIE!!!!"
As the Digimon held Etemon off, they ran through the doorway, and faced the firewall.
"The passage was here, right?"
"Wait, Leo! Let me log on and-!"
"There's no time!"
Before Leo could try and go through, Rach grabbed hold of him, keeping him back.
"Are ya CRAZY?! Ya'll get fried!!"
"It's not like I'll die or anything!!"
"But you can!!!"
Leo froze, looking at his purple-banded turtle.
"This isn't one of Mikey's videogames, Leo! You've only got one life!"
"I…I-I could've…"
Don had logged on, looking through the map.
"It's one meter to your right."
Leo seemed frozen, when a last, muffled shout made it through the firewall…
"LEO!!!!!"
'I-I can't…c-can't move…'
"Leo, let's go! We need ta get El!" Rach encouraged, but the wide-eyed look she received made her freeze.
"Bro?"
An explosion caught their attention, and they turned to see their Digimon behind them, Rookie level, with Etemon behind them.
As he lifted his hand, ready for the finishing blow…
"Howling Blaster!"
"Needle Spray!"
The two Champion-level Digimon busted through the ceiling between the turtles and Etemon.
Togemon gathered up the turtles and Digimon as Garurumon shot another Howling Blaster in order to distract Etemon.
They disappeared like ninja, and headed back through the room before Leo broke down, depressed.
Agumon tried to comfort him, tried to take the guilt away, and Gio, after hearing what happened, went to help the small Digimon.
"Leo?"
"…I'm so sorry…"
"There's nothing you could've done…"
Leo looked up at her from his sitting position on the ground.
"She was only worried about MY safety…but when she REALLY needed me…"
He looked away guiltily.
"I couldn't go through the firewall…even when I heard her call my name…"
Gio sat down beside him, smiling reassuringly, though, with the loss of her shyest, sweetest sister, she didn't feel much like it.
"No one blames you, Leo…"
"…Do you?"
She gave him a slightly confused look as Agumon and Palmon watched from further off.
"Of course I don't. We'll get her back."
Leo nodded, saying, "…I promise…I'll get her back for you…"
Gio blushed slightly, shying her eyes away, nodding slightly.
Mikey was further off, looking between the group of turtles, the pair off to the left, and the group of Digimon around him. They were surrounding him in a circle, almost as if they were protecting him from something.
With Gomamon as a pillow and Gabumon as a blanket, he settled into the group of Digimon with a content sigh.
"Do you think El and Biyomon are okay?" He asked Tokomon softly.
"I'm sure they're fine." Tokomon answered.
Mikey nodded, looking up at the sky.
'…She's like the mother I never had…I guess it'll be nice having one for once…'
And so the orange-banded turtle fell into a peaceful sleep…surrounded by little guardian angels…
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"Guys, I found her!"
Everyone sprinted towards Don, who was busy in the room, making a hologram map of the pyramid.
"We all thought Datamon took Elisa away from the pyramid."
He typed quickly, another pyramid appearing underneath the original, the tips merging.
"But I think he took her to a secret room down here. I can lead the way, but it has a firewall…"
Raph turned to Leo, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Ya ready for dis, Fearless?"
Leo nodded hesitantly.
"Yeah…Me and Don will go in and get Elisa. You three need to create a diversion."
Rach nodded, smirking.
"Bombing squad, at yer service."
She winked at her partner.
"This'll be fun."
Gio agreed, looking a bit worried.
"You two be careful, though. I don't want you to get hurt, ya know."
Leo nodded, absentmindedly patting Agumon's head.
"Then let's do this!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leo and Don slipped into the pyramid the same way as before, as Ikkakumon used his Harpoon Torpedo to distract the Tyrannomon and Monochromon.
Leo followed his purple-banded turtle through the maze of hallways, but had to take a detour through a staircase.
At the bottom of the staircase was another hall.
"The door down the hall and to the right should have stairs…and the firewall should be right there…"
Leo nodded, trying to prepare himself, when Etemon appeared at the top of the stairs behind them.
Don turned to Leo sharply.
"Go! The safe passage through the firewall is right in front of the staircase!"
"But-!"
"Tentomon, Digivolve to…KABUTERIMON!!"
"GO, LEO!!!"
Leo hesitated before nodding, Agumon following him as he ran down the hall and stairs.
When the blue-banded turtle saw the firewall, he froze again.
'I-I…I can't…'
"Go on, Leo. You can do it." Agumon encouraged.
Leo stepped towards the electricity charged wall.
'Hey, Leo! What's wrong?'
He could almost see the sympathetic violet eyes…
'There's nothing to be scared of, silly! Look, I'll show you!'
Leo stopped an arms length away from the electric-charged barrier.
'See? Come on! Where's my brave big brother?'
He reached his hand out, hesitating when his hand was about to touch.
'Go on. Don't you wanna be brave?'
Courage started flowing through his veins with the adrenaline, and he moved his hand forward, having it phase through.
His crest glowed like an orange star over his heart, and Agumon smiled.
There was a crashing sound behind them, and both turtle and Digimon turned to see Kabuterimon roll down the steps, holding Don safely with all four arms.
Etemon followed, and Leo gave Agumon a strong, determined look.
"Hold him off, buddy."
Agumon nodded.
"Agumon, Digivolve to…GREYMON!!"
As the large orange dinosaur Digimon charged, Leo slipped through the firewall, ending up in what looked like an electronic lab.
"Elisa?"
It DID look like her, same pink bandana, her eyes a shade darker.
But there was something off…what was it?
"L-Leo…"
He turned to see another Elisa strapped to a metal table, her Digimon chained to the wall above her.
That's when it hit him.
The other one didn't have that spark of life in it's eyes, the fire of warmth and security, of…motherhood, almost.
"Elisa…"
"So you found me. But it's too late! I will give my clone the Digivice and crest."
Two strange hands came out of the computers a meter or so to Datamon's left.
"And she will become the new Elisa!"
"I'll see about that!"
Leo darted forward, snatching the Digivice and crest before bolting towards Elisa.
The table and floor beneath the small female turtle disappeared, and she would've fallen into a black pit if Leo hadn't caught hold of her hand, his stomach slamming into the floor.
"I no longer need the original, so release her!"
Datamon tried to rip Elisa from Leo's grip, but the blue-banded turtle resisted.
"No! I promised Gio I'd bring her back!"
He glared at the floating Digimon.
"And I'll die before I break a promise with her!"
He dropped the Digivice and crest to Elisa, and the Digivice glowed once she caught them.
"Biyomon, Digivolve to…BIRDRAMON!!"
The large bird Digimon swooped down, and Elisa grabbed her partner's ankle.
"Hold on, Leo!"
Birdramon busted down the firewall, making it land and shock Etemon.
"El!!"
Elisa smiled sweetly.
"Donnie! Come on, guys. We're gonna get outta here."
Leo jumped onto Greymon's shoulder, and they walked right out of the pyramid.
All of the evil Digimon were being sucked in as they grouped up with the others.
When all the evil Digimon were sucked in, there was a rumbling sound, and Etemon burst from the pyramid, connected to a sphere of black wires and pipes.
"Just great! Now what?" Rach griped, glaring.
"Meteor Wing!"
"Electro Shocker!"
The attacks seemed to disappear when they reached the strange black sphere Etemon was connected to.
"Dark Network!"
A dark sphere sped by the two flying Digimon, the force knocking them to the ground.
"He's stronger than before!" Gio said worriedly.
Leo looked at his crest, which was still glowing, and turned to Greymon.
"Come on, buddy."
"Leo?"
"Trust me, Mikey. I'll be fine."
Leo smiled reassuringly before running off across the sand towards Etemon, Greymon following him.
'My courage…it's making the crest glow brighter!'
"Greymon, DIGIVOLVE!!"
A bright orange glow from both crest and Digimon, and…
"Greymon, Digivolve to…METALGREYMON!!"
The Digimon still glowed orange, and Leo held the vibrating Digivice in awe.
'He did it…'
"Dark Network!"
Metalgreymon cut the dark sphere in half with his metal claw.
"Finish him off, Metalgreymon!"
"Giga Blaster!"
The attack struck hard, but a strange portal opened, sucking Etemon in, and attempting to suck in the blue-banded turtle and his Digimon partner…and it succeeded…
The last words Leo heard tore at his heart, they sounded so broken…and they came from a green-banded turtle with tears in her eyes…
"LEO!!!!!!!!!!!!"