It was late in the morning when everyone finally woke up but I had been up for ages. Terriermon and Lopmon were in the kitchen trying to get breakfast for everyone but they needed to wait for me to use the hob.
"Have either of you seen Autumn?" Ken came in with a yawn.
"She'll be in the basement, we'll take you there." Terriermon replied.
"She woke up a few hours ago, saying she had to look at something." Lopmon jumped off Terriermon's head and then nearly tripped over her own ears.
"Careful, Lopmon." Wormmon went over to her and she blushed.
"It's nothing; I do that all the time. Not as much as my brother though." She brushed it off.
"Hey!" Terriermon exclaimed. The others were now awake too and had found the kitchen.
"Now that everyone's here, let's go!" Lopmon lead the way. They were back at the main entrance and Lopmon went over to the centre portrait which hung between the stairwells. She jumped and pressed the painting in. The wall started to move and they proceeded to follow the stairs downwards into the dark and gloomy looking laboratory.
"Why is it so dusty in here? It's as if no one has been here in years." Kari asked Lopmon.
"They haven't. Well except for Autumn of course but she doesn't disturb much of it." Lopmon's tone was still uplifting.
"There's only one part of the lab she goes to..." Terriermon on the other hand had a stern tone.
"I have a feeling we're about to find out why, aren't we?" Ken stood still for a moment. A wave of worry had washed over him.
"C'mon, it's not far now. See that light there?" Lopmon pointed to a room straight ahead where a dull light emanated. They entered to find Autumn sat with piles of research papers and several computer screens with lots of unreadable words displayed on them.
"Hey, Ken?" Davis called from the other side of the room. "Isn't this your mum?" He asked, holding a wooden framed photograph of two women smiling together.
"Yeah, but I don't know who the other woman is." He stared at the picture, trying to think how long ago it was taken.
"That's my mother." I said without moving. My eye were locked on the screen in front.
"They knew each other?" Ken asked.
"Yes, a long time ago. They grew up together. As did we, you just don't remember much. I'll start from the beginning. Our mothers were always best friends. In fact that's how my mum met my dad. My dad was a friend of your dad; I think they worked together at one point, until twenty years ago."
"What happened twenty years ago?" TK asked.
"The digital world. My parents found it somehow and they ended up there. My dad received a digivice, the same model as the original digi-destined. They began researching the digi-world and my dad found a partner. His name was Impmon. They would keep travelling back and forth to the digi-world all the time. When my parents found out they were going to have me, they moved house, they used to live in Hightenview Terrace. Anyway, shortly after I was born, Impmon digivolved into Devimon but something went wrong and he attacked and killed my parents. I don't know how but I ended up back in the real world and I had a guardian called Louis, a friend of my dad's, who knew all about the digital world. I think he had been looking for me and my parents for all that time, of course time was flowing differently so it must have only been a month or two tops. It was no coincidence I ended up at the same school as you Ken, Louis thought it would be good for me to stick with you and your mum was always there to help, there was Sam too of course..." She trailed off. Autumn and Sam actually used to be very close and Louis would always tease her for having a crush on him, which she didn't. She played with Ken too but because Sam was older he was like a babysitter so spent more time with her when Louis was busy.
"After that happened Louis became ill and passed away, that's when I went to live in America with my Aunt and Uncle, and my cousin, Willis. I was only there for two years then I came back here to study. That's when I found the basement and all of this."
"So you've been here since you were ten?" Davis was trying to figure out the maths.
"Yes, after I found all of my parent's research I received my digivice and two digi-eggs. I thought it was destiny trying to help me find out what happened to my parents. Eventually I found a letter from Louis explaining it and I set out to find Devimon. That journey brought me to my friends; Fuyoko, Natsuko and Haruko. People just called us the four seasons because that's what our names mean. Eventually the others joined and we had a good time bonding with our Digimon. I actually forgot about Devimon, until I heard about the group of digi-destined who were fighting him. I was going to join but me and my friends were helping the digimon instead. I'm certain that it's the very same Devimon that Tai and the others fought, who killed my parents. We split after that, I wanted to get back to having a normal life. Then you disappeared, Ken. It's only now that I remember; my digivice and digi-eggs weren't all that came from the digi-world that day. This stone tablet came too. It's a prophecy of some kind about a child born and raised in the digi-world who will become part digimon themselves. I came down here to try and figure out who it could be."
"Maybe we can ask Azulonmon?" Cody suggested.
"That's actually a great idea, let's go!" Yolei stood up. Just as we were about to leave there was a loud bang then a dull thump upstairs. When we got up there Mummymon was out cold in my living room.
"He needs help right now!" I shouted. Moments passed and he came to, he was in really bad condition.
"Arukenimon... Please help." He was struggling to get his words out. "She's in danger... digi-world."
"You should rest, Mummymon!" I tried to get him to stay laying down but he refused. Using all his strength he stood up and put his hands on my shoulders.
"Daemon has Arukenimon. Please help her." He passed out again. We went straight to the digi-world and it didn't take us long to find Daemon.
"The prophecy child returns to her world. Join me and we can take over both worlds with ease." He was looking straight at me. "How have you not figured it out yet? You were the child born in this world, raised by Leomon for five years until you disappeared back to the human world."
"You're stupid if you think I would ever join you!" I shouted at him.
"Don't you want to realise your full potential? Vargamon..."
"What? What did you just call me?" I could feel a strange sensation in me... I felt myself step back without meaning to.
"Perhaps it is too soon, or there is another way to unlock your power!" He suddenly lifted up his arm and fired a beam at Terriermon and Lopmon. Then he turned to the others and fired at them too! I ran to take care of my digimon whilst the other digimon digivolved and began to fight. I felt so helpless. If only I knew what this power was that Daemon was talking about, and what Vargamon was...
"Akiko..." Lopmon struggled to get up.
"Lopmon you need to rest, you're hurt too much." I held her in my arms.
"No, we can fight, he may be strong but we can still win this." Terriermon heard his sister's words and he got up and started staggering over.
"She's right, as long as we have each other he won't beat us."
"You guys..." I didn't know what to say. I was overcome with emotion. I stood up and they stood beside me, with my strength as theirs the mega digivolved into Antylamon and Rapidmon. By the time I noticed it was too late... the others had all fallen, my friends... and the Rapidmon and Antylamon went hurtling past me. I stood alone against Daemon. I felt a swell of emotion and I noticed I was crying... but I wasn't feeling sadness, I was feeling a great deal of anger and hatred. My whole body started glowing... changing. Could this be what Daemon was talking about? My true power...
"Is she... digivolving?!" Davis talked to himself but the others were thinking it. I had become a digimon somehow... I was on four legs, I felt so different. Stronger... and furry...
"She became a digimon!" Yolei sat and watched as I began to run at Daemon.
"The prophecy is true..." Cody added in disbelief. All I could think was, am I strong enough to beat Daemon on my own?