Digimon Adventure: Connections

Chapter 3: Beautiful

Skyy's mouth hung open in shock. She stared down at the curious looking digimon and her voice was lost in her throat. The cute little digimon, who had introduced herself has Pleomon, cocked her head to the side.

"Skyy? Are you okay?" she asked. Skyy blinked and few times and finally found her voice.

"Oh my god it's a Pokémon," she blubbered. Tai almost laughed but he held it in, which turned it into a weird snorting sound. Izzy elbowed him in the side, glaring. Pleomon furrowed her eyebrows.

"Not Pokémon! My name is Pleomon," she corrected, and then shrugged, "never mind, I'm your partner Skyy, we're gonna be partners together!" Pleomon said happily. Just then the cave started to shudder and Skyy wobbled on her feet. Tai gritted his teeth and looked up at the shaky ceiling. Bits of rock had already started to fall from above.

"C'mon, we gotta get out of here!" Tai yelled and they all made a break for the exit. Pleomon pounced along behind Skyy, making sure she stayed ahead of her. All six made it out right as the door to the cave closed up again and the rock with the hand carving on it returned to its place. Skyy noticed though that as soon as the rock re-materialized, the swirly carvings and the handprint disintegrated from the rock and it became flat and smooth. Suddenly a deep thunderous laughter ripped through the sky and shook Skyy to her very bones.

They all looked up and the sky had become twisted and dark. Purple and black clouds streaked the once perfect blue and painted the entire landscape into darkness. The bright sunny, perfect day from a while ago was gone and instead had been stained with a cloudy, stormy evil. The laugh from before roared like thunder in the clouds and echoed and reverberated through all of them. Skyy could feel the pulse of the laugh in her chest like you would feel a loud bass beat through speakers.

"Fools!" the voice boomed. "Have the digidestined really become so stupid that they would deliver the exact thing I'm looking for right to my feet?"

"W-what?" Tai muttered, though his voice seemed fogged over compared to the evil voice ringing from the heavens. Pleomon's eyes widened.

"That voice…!"

"Skyy Tsutsumi, the newest digidestined…there is a great power within you," the voice spoke. Skyy froze. What? Her? A great power? The voice chuckled before speaking again. "It is the exactly the power I want, no, I need."

"W-what power?" Skyy mumbled. She had never felt more frozen. Her body refused to move and the voice clutched at her chest like it was gripping her insides and stopping her from breathing properly. Were the other two feeling the same way?

"You may have it with you right now, but beware; I will stop at nothing to take it from you. I will hurt anyone who gets in my way. Your friends, your family, even your little digimon partner…I will kill them all until your power belongs to me," the voice threatened loudly. Then another rumbling laughter ripped through their eardrums like a loud piercing thunder and then faded away. Along with the voice, the clouds and darkness started to part and the sun slowly returned, brightening up the scenery. The group was stunned silent for a moment. Tai gritted his teeth and clenched his digivice.

"I think we need to be heading back now," he said sternly. Izzy nodded and both started trekking back through the overgrown foliage. Skyy hesitated before following them, Pleomon trotting loyally by her side the whole way. Skyy looked at the ground and hugged herself. The two boys walked in front of her, glancing back every now and then but keeping their conversations to themselves. When they finally reached back to where they first landed Skyy saw there was a computer monitor sticking halfway out of the ground. It must've been what they came through to get here, but she didn't remember seeing it before. The two boys said goodbye to their digimon and Skyy shyly waved goodbye to Pleomon and the three used their digivices to zip back through the portal.

This time she landed more safely in the computer room. It was already late and outside the sun was setting. The school was empty and quiet and Skyy figured that school had ended quite a while ago. Skyy hugged herself tighter and sucked in a breath. Tai sighed loudly and collapsed onto the window sill beside the computers. He rubbed his face in his hands before peeking from behind his fingers.

"Well….that wasn't quite how I was expecting it to go," he muttered from beneath his palms. Izzy sat down in the computer chair and turned off the computer they had just come through. He glanced at Skyy.

"So…I guess we should explain a little, you might still be confused," he said. Skyy bit her lip before talking.

"Just…just what was that thing? That voice? And that little white and orange thing that spoke to me?" Skyy asked. Tai laughed.

"Well, it might be easier to start from the beginning, Izzy?" Tai said, lowering his hands and looking at Izzy with a grin. Izzy nodded and took a deep breath. Skyy sat down in a nearby chair. She felt this was going to be a long conversation.

"About two years ago, when I was 10 and Tai here was 11, two of us and five others all went to the same summer camp," Izzy began. "When we were there, a portal to the Digital World opened up in the sky and rained down these digivices," Izzy held up his digivice. Skyy looked at her own, seeing that they were the same.

"We each got one and after we got them we were all transported to the Digital World, only the seven of us," Izzy said. Skyy looked up at him.

"Who are the others?" she asked.

"Sora Takenouchi and Matt Ishida, they're in our class. Joe Kido, he's a year older than us, and a sophomore at another middle school. Mimi Tachikawa, she moved to New York. And TK Takaishi, he's Matt's little brother," Tai filled in. Skyy immediately remembered the ginger haired girl and the blonde boy. Was he talking about those two?

"Yes, anyway, we were transported there and once we got there we were each paired up with a digimon partner, you met both of ours today," Izzy started again.

"You mean the big bug and the dinosaur?" Skyy asked. Tai chuckled.

"Yeah, the dinosaur is Agumon, he's my partner," Tai grinned.

"And Tentomon, is mine," Izzy filled in.

"Why did you get partners? And why were you sent there in the first place?" Skyy asked. This was actually a little interesting. To think something like this had actually happened. And she was in no position to not believe them after what just happened.

"We were all sent there and paired up because we were chosen to defend the Digital World against the darkness. We are the digidestined. You see the Digital World and our world are interconnected. When one is un-balanced the other in turn is affected. Four years ago a darkness threatened the Digital World so we seven were transported there to defeat it," Izzy went on. Tai nodded.

"Yeah, and later on my little sister Kari joined as well, we had difficulties with her digivice, plus she had a cold so it was a while later before she could join us," Tai said. Skyy listened quietly.

"And then we all joined forces and together we made our digimon digivolve to higher and stronger levels and we defeated the threatening darkness once and for all," Izzy finished happily. Skyy snorted.

"Doesn't seem that way to me, unless you call that big dark evil cloud one of the good guys," Skyy said sarcastically. Tai scratched the back of his head nervously.

"See that's the problem, we have a new enemy that's just appeared and he's a little tricky to defeat," Tai said. Skyy became quiet and hugged her knees to her chest. She shivered as she remembered the booming voice that had rained down upon them earlier in the Digital World. It was so…frightening to her.

"So why… why am I here? Why did you bring me to the Digital World…and why does…that thing want me?" Skyy asked in a quiet voice. Izzy ran a hand through his short hair.

"To be honest we don't know what that thing is, we've never actually even seen its true form. The first time we've ever encountered it was today. But from what we know this enemy wants a power that you seem to possess. You probably don't know it though. But not only that, this power that you and your partner, Pleomon, have is the only thing that can help us defeat this enemy. Without you we can't do a thing to stop it," Izzy said. Skyy flinched. Pleomon. That creature was her partner? She had a digimon partner like these other boys?

"So…will you help us? Help us defeat this evil digimon?" Tai asked carefully. Skyy sat in silence and the boys anticipated her answer. A million things ran through her mind as she sat. So many questions, so many things. Why did all of this happen to her? Why couldn't it have happened to someone else? Skyy's mind flashed through everything that had happened to her today, everything she saw, and everyone she'd met. Then her mind flashed to that creature, Pleomon. She froze.

She couldn't do it.

"No."

"What? Why not? You're a chosen digidestined, like us!" Izzy said, standing up from his chair. Skyy uncurled her legs and stood up.

"I'm sorry, but I can't…I…I don't want to help you," she said curtly and made a move to leave. Tai whipped up and grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey! I'm sorry but I don't quite understand you here," he said. Skyy tried to nudge her shoulder away but Tai gripped tighter.

"I said I didn't want t—"

"It's not like we're asking you to do something horrible here, so why not is what I want to know," Tai asked, trying to soften his voice a little. He didn't want to seem like he was pressuring her to do anything. Skyy looked down.

"I...I can't get into something like this right now," she said. Tai and Izzy gave each other confused looks. Tai gritted his teeth.

"But that world is in danger! That darkness is getting stronger everyday and all those digimon that live there are getting tortured and hurt all the time because of the seekers! That thing won't stop until it gets what it wants!" Tai said, snapping to his anger. Skyy didn't bother asking him what a seeker was and lurched her shoulder from Tai's grip and he stumbled back in surprise.

"I said I'm sorry! I don't want any part of this though so please stop asking me!" Skyy yelled and quickly bolted for the door before they could try and persuade her otherwise. She disappeared down the darkening hallways, leaving two shocked and down-hearted boys in her wake.

Skyy ran as fast as she could for as long as she could. School was over and the entire school was empty and bathed in the glow of the setting sun. She didn't know why she was running; she was perfectly capable of walking instead. But the need to get away seemed to control her legs more than her need to simply walk. She ran until she reached her apartment complex. She heaved a great gasp of air and fanned her tired face. Skyy's forehead was soaked with sweat and the humid, damp air wasn't helping. She calmed her breathing as she rode up the elevator and she quickly darted past the apartment doors until she reached her own. She unlocked the door and slipped inside, grateful for the barrage of air conditioning that was left on even when everyone was out.

She entered the peaceful stillness of her home and was greeted with a comfortable, cold silence. Though somehow it didn't seem comfortable at all. It was foggy and old and brought back far too many memories. Her parents weren't home.

Skyy silently padded into her house and creaked open the door to her bedroom. She walked across the small room and collapsed onto her soft, very familiar bed. Skyy grabbed her comforter in one hand and rolled over, bringing the sheets with her so she ended up like a cocoon. She breathed in her own scent and relaxed.

Pleomon.

Skyy squeezed her eyes shut.

Pleomon.

She shut them tighter.

Pleomon.

Skyy gasped and lurched forward, pulling the sheets down to her hips. She sighed. Why couldn't she forget about that weird digimon? She felt a lump in her skirt pocket and dug her hand in to find out what it was. She pulled out the white digivice and stared at it. This thing…had started everything it seemed.

It was scary.

Not the Digital World itself, but everything that came with it. As soon as she had met Pleomon, as soon as she saw that dragon statue and it had turned into the cute ball of fluff, it scared her. That tug, that pull that had been nagging at her since she got there, it scared her. That…connection.

It twisted and coiled inside her. The promise she, now long ago, made to herself. It controlled all of her thoughts and all of her actions and she couldn't abandon it now. This thing, this adventure that was knocking on her door, it was too big. Too deep for her to handle. She thought she could handle anything. She'd stay the way she'd promised. But could she? She'd have to.

Pleomon.

Yet that creature would not leave her thoughts. That thing, the thing that rose between them like electricity the moment she spoke out. The thing she'd feared the most was gripping her down, making her unable to forget. Pleomon stayed in her thoughts and Skyy tried willing herself not to care. She didn't want to care. She'd told herself she didn't care. But, the more Pleomon ruled her thoughts…the more she seemed to be caring.

Skyy bit her lip. His words rung out in her head, overriding her thoughts. 'that world is in danger! That darkness is getting stronger everyday and all those digimon that live there are getting tortured and hurt all the time!'

Skyy's chest tightened. Pleomon? Would she be hurt? Would she get hurt and tortured if she stayed there? If that evil remained…what would happen to Pleomon? Skyy gripped the sheets in between her thin fingers.

"What if…what if I go back? Just once…..just once…to see how she's doing?" Skyy whispered to herself. Her heart told her to go but her head screamed not to. Her promise. She had to remember her promise.

But….

"I can always forget later….just once, I'll go just once, and then never again. I'll forget," Skyy told herself. Suddenly she remembered how she'd stormed out on the two boys and she groaned. She blushed in embarrassment. She'd have to go to them for help, but after she threw a tantrum like that…would they just laugh at her?

Skyy chewed on her bottom lip and pulled at her fingers nervously. She'd have to risk it. It would be embarrassing. But after, she'd never have to see them again. This was the last time.

Skyy clenched her fist in determination. Yeah! This was the last time.

Then never again.

Tai blinked stupidly and stared down at the small blonde blushing in embarrassment under his stunned gaze. Students bustled by the in the hallway glancing at them as they walked by before returning to their morning conversations.

"You…want to what?" he blubbered. Skyy looked away, pouting angrily.

"I asked if you could take me back, to that place….the Digital World, just to see if Pleomon's okay," Skyy said quietly. Tai paused before a huge grin spread across his lips. He laughed and raised a hand to ruffle Skyy's hair. Skyy jumped and tried to move from under his grip but his arm was too long and his hand just followed her head.

"Sooo, you want to go back now, right Skyy?" Tai teased. Skyy frowned.

"Hey…you can't call me by my first name…when you haven't even introduced yourself to me yet," Skyy grumbled. Tai stopped ruffling her hair and his eyebrows rose.

"What? Seriously? I never introduced myself?" he asked in awe. Skyy folded her arms across her waist.

"No, last time you just barged in the room and then ignored me and then we went to the Digital World, Izumi was the only one that introduced himself properly," Skyy said. Tai cocked his head thoughtfully.

"Ah, I guess that's right… well, I'm Tai Kamiya! It's nice to meet you Skyy!" Tai said cheekily. Skyy frowned.

"I said not to call me that…" she muttered, glaring at him. Tai shrugged.

"But it's more casual that way," he said nonchalantly. Skyy looked at the floor. Tai rested his hands behind his head and sighed. "Well if you want to go to the Digital World it'll have to wait until after school, I can't afford to miss another half a day of classes and I'm sure a new student like you can't either," Tai said. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"And whose fault was it I missed those classes yesterday," she said sarcastically. Tai chuckled.

"True, true, so I'll see you after classes end then," Tai smiled. "Hey, want to come meet my friends? You already know Izzy," Tai offered. Skyy shook her head.

"No…maybe…some other time," she said and turned to leave. Tai followed her with his eyes and shrugged to himself before turning and jogging off to find his friends.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on terribly long. Skyy found herself tapping her pencil against her notebook impatiently all during classes and she couldn't seem to concentrate. The little digimon, Pleomon wouldn't leave her thoughts and the urge to see her again was overwhelming. You wouldn't have guessed that she'd just met her for a short while only yesterday. Skyy counted down the bells until the teacher finally packed up her books and dismissed the class. Tai scooted out from his chair behind her and curled around her chair until he was standing over her. He grinned and leaned on her desk.

"Are you ready? You still want to go right?" he asked. Skyy stood up a little too eagerly.

"Yes!" she breathed. She quickly packed up her school things and followed after him. He waved goodbye to his friends and Skyy peeked over at them as they walked past. The blonde boy and the ginger haired girl gave her curious looks and Izzy looked at her with a surprised expression. But she quickly looked away and stayed close to Tai's back, following him out of the classroom and down the halls to the computer lab.

When they got to the computer lab they sighed in relief, it was empty. Tai quickly walked over to the computer they used yesterday and turned it on.

"I had Izzy set up the gate for me at lunch, and then he just turned off the monitor so it looked like it was shut off," Tai explained and as the screen slowly turned on the window with the gate to the Digital World appeared. Skyy watched him silently until he was ready and he took out his digivice.

"You ready?" he grinned. Skyy nodded and clutched her own digivice. They both held them up and the familiar feeling of drifting through the computer portal washed over them. Skyy landed a little less harshly this time, but still landed rather hardly on her hands and knees. She slumped back with a gasp and inspected the new scrapes on her hands. Frowning, she picked herself up and brushed off the twigs from her uniform. She looked around and her eyebrows rose.

Instead of the grassy field they had come out in last time, this time they'd transported to the middle of a strange looking forest. The warm digital sun shone down and the shadows of the leaves danced on her face. Skyy smiled lightly.

"Hmm…so, I guess we should get looking for Pleomon?" Tai wondered, scratching the back of his head. Skyy looked at him with a confused expression.

"Isn't there some way you can call them? We don't have to go looking for her do we?" Skyy asked, inwardly groaning at the thought of scowering this entire Digital World for Pleomon. Tai shrugged and chuckled.

"Not really, usually they just kind of know when we're coming and they show up on their own…but I'm sure we'll find her soon," Tai said optimistically. Skyy frowned. Great.

Just then the loud cracking came from above and suddenly a mix between a growl and a screech echoed from the branches, making both teens jump out of their skin.

A white blur shot down from the trees and landed with a hard thump onto Skyy's shoulders. Skyy yelped out in surprise and the weight dragged her down to the forest floor with a loud fwump. Just then the lump on her back let out a cute little laugh and she could feel it walking up her back and leaning onto her head. Skyy cracked her eyes open and a round white head with curious turquoise eyes looked back at her. Pleomon grinned.

"I found youuu!" she sang. Skyy grunted and lifted herself up. Pleomon wobbled and quickly slid over Skyy's shoulder to land comfortably in to her arms. Skyy looked down at her and held the digimon at arm's length. Pleomon grinned mischievously. Skyy frowned.

"Don't do that," she said. Pleomon stuck out a pink tongue.

"But it's fun," she sang, smiling. Skyy cracked a smile.

"You seem okay…" Skyy mumbled. Pleomon waved a paw at her.

"Please, I can take care of myself," she said proudly. Skyy smiled and hugged her, taking the digimon by surprise.

"As long as you're okay," Skyy mumbled quietly. Pleomon smiled and quickly scooched herself up onto Skyy's shoulders, balancing herself on either side. She nuzzled her face into Skyy's temple.

"As long as Skyy is here, I'm great!" she laughed. Skyy smiled and patted the small digimon's head lightly. Suddenly Tai huffed and crossed his arms.

"Oh so Pleomon can call you by your first name but I can't?" he grumbled. Skyy looked at him, for a moment forgetting he was even there.

"Of course, she's special…you forgot to introduce yourself, she introduced herself right away," Skyy said simply. Pleomon laughed impishly and Tai frowned.

"You gotta keep bringing that up don't you," Tai hissed. Skyy shrugged and began playing with Pleomon's bushy tail that wrapped around her shoulders. Tai looked around bordly and stopped, seeming to recognize something. Then he grinned. "Hey, I wanna show you something, c'mon," he said suddenly and started walking off to one direction. Skyy perked up.

"What? Show me what?" she asked, standing still. Tai waved his hand for her to follow.

"Just come on!" he urged excitedly. Skyy cocked her head to the side and glanced at Pleomon. She shrugged and Skyy sighed. She walked forwards, keeping close to Tai; she didn't want to get lost. She looked around and all the bushes and trees looked the same.

"Hey, how do you know your way around here so well? Everything looks the same," Skyy mumbled. Tai laughed.

"Well when you've been coming to this place as long as I have, you get used to everything, besides there are some things that are different. See? There's a vending machine just over there," Tai said lazily pointing to one direction. Skyy looked and saw an only vending machine sticking out from behind some trees.

"Wha!"

Tai laughed. "yeah, there's some random stuff now and then."

They kept walking until they finally came to the edge of the forest and wandered out, the forest edge was at the bottom of a hill and Tai bounded up the grassy hill excitedly. He beckoned Skyy up with his hand.

"C'mon, it's just up here, come see!" he said smiling. Skyy made her way up the hill and shielded her eyes as the sun stung them when she reached the top. She blocked the sun and when the scenery came into view she gasped.

For miles and miles there stretched a large bright green grassy field and as the wind blew the long grass stems danced around in different patterns. Long flowers of all different colours and assortments that Skyy had never seen before dotted the fields in large clumps and spread out to connect to one another. Past the field there was sharp, rocky, mountains that disappeared into the white puffy clouds and seemed hazed over in the distance. The sun shone down in rays through the clouds as their shadows flew over the field. Skyy stared in wonder.

"Oh…wow," she breathed. Tai grinned triumphantly.

"Girls seem to like this stuff, it's pretty huh?" Tai said. Skyy nodded.

"It's beautiful," she said. Tai glanced at her face and was genuinely surprised to see a soft expression there. He blushed lightly.

"Yeah…" was all he could say. They stood there for a moment before Tai wandered down a bit further down the hill. Skyy took a moment to notice and wandered down after him. Tai flumped onto the ground and stretched out his legs, leaning back on his hands. Skyy hesitated before crouching down beside him with her knees up against her chest, making sure she held up her skirt. Pleomon jumped down from Skyy's shoulders and sat beside her with her big tail curled around her legs. All three sat silently like that for a long time, just enjoying the scenery. Eventually Agumon turned up and silently placed himself next to Tai.

At one point there was some baby digimon that wandered down in the flowers and Skyy watched them play happily. They danced around the flowers and gave the humans curious looks before darting off further into the flowers were they could no longer be seen. Skyy didn't know how long she sat there. Just staring. It was the most beautiful thing she thought she'd ever seen. She was always a sucker for beautiful scenery, or beautiful anything. At one point Tai poked her cheek lightly with his finger, snapping Skyy out of her long time daze. He chuckled.

"You're so zoned out," he teased. Skyy rubbed her cheek.

"Well, you can't get scenery like this in Tokyo," she sighed. Tai nodded.

"Yeah, well maybe if you went out to the country," he suggested. Skyy shook her head lightly and hugged her knees tighter.

"Nah, even then, you wouldn't get something like this," she said smiling. Tai grinned.

"You like it that much?" he asked. Skyy tilted her head.

"It's inspiring, that's all, I'd like to soak up as much of it as I can," she replied. "but, the city has it's beauties too, like when the sun sets on the harbor and you can see the silhouette of the ferries wheel against the water," Skyy explained. Tai watched her as she spoke. He didn't really get it, not much one for scenery and stuff like that. He did appreciate a good clean view of an untouched soccer field in the wee hours of the morning though. He smiled.

"If you put it that way I guess it's nice to look at too," Tai said. Skyy frowned and hit him lightly on the shoulder.

"What are you talking about! It's beautiful!" Skyy said. Tai laughed and ruffled her hair. Skyy frowned and put her hands on head. Just then Tai frowned and rested his cheek on his hand.

"Though…it's too bad y'know? About this place," he began. Skyy looked at him curiously. "It's all threatened by that evil digimon we heard yesterday," Tai said seriously. Skyy looked at the ground, hiding her face through a curtain of blonde hair. "And only…you can help us," Tai murmured, quieting down. He glanced sideways at Skyy, trying to use her newfound inspiration to persuade her to help them. She bit her lip. They became silent for a moment until Skyy finally opened her mouth to speak.

"If I did fight…." She began, Tai perked up. "Would…would I even be strong enough?" she asked in a shaky voice. Pleomon frowned and rubbed her cheek against Skyy's arm. "Would I be able to do it?" when she saw Tai's wide eyes she quickly looked away "I-it's just a hypothetical question!" she said quickly. Tai grinned boyishly.

"When I first came here, I was only 11 but, I was also really stupid and unsure about a lot of things," he began. "actually, I still am kinda like that" he laughed, "but when I was paired with Agumon, we had an instant connection, and when we fought together, we both fought with all our strength and all our courage. You see, we all have these crests that personify our best attribute and we rely on those crests and our strengths to beat our enemies," Tai explained, Agumon nodded proudly from beside him. Skyy looked up at him.

"What is your best attribute?" she asked. Tai grinned proudly.

"Mine's courage!" he said. Skyy tilted her head.

"Does that mean I have one too?" she asked. Tai hmm'd.

"Well, when we first got your digivice, we were told that it belonged to that who holds life in their hands," Tai wondered, Skyy flinched and lowered her head. "So maybe your crest has something to do with life or being alive?" Skyy fell silent. Tai grinned, not noticing her change in demeanor. "So, as long as you believe in your crest like I did, you'll be fine!" Tai finished. Skyy shot up to her feet and clenched her fists, taking Pleomon, Tai and Agumon by surprise.

"Wha—?" Tai started.

"There's no way that's possible," Skyy muttered. Before Tai could ask why though the ground started to rumble and they both dropped their conversation. The rumbling got louder and the ground shook dramatically. Skyy stumbled back down to her feet but Tai managed to get up and stand defensively with Agumon at his side. The sound of branches and wood cracking split through the air and the group spun around and darted up the hill. Skyy gasped when they reached the top.

A seeker digimon was wrestling its way through the trees and was slicing them away with its big scythe. They must've all looked the same or this was the same one Tai and the others confronted a few days ago. Tai gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. The evil digimon spotted them and started to crash through the trees even faster to get to them. Tai grabbed Skyy's arm.

"C'mon, we gotta go!" he said frantically and dragged her back down the hill. Skyy's eyes widened in shock.

"What! You're not going to fight that thing! Its evil isn't it?" Skyy asked. Tai bit his lip and growled angrily.

"I wish we could and I hate running away from fights, but there is no way to beat these guys, we attack them but nothing happens!" Tai explained as they reached the bottom of the hill and began tearing through the grass and flowers. The seeker digimon crashed over the hill and caught up with them it two gigantic steps. Its steps shook the ground so much that Tai lost his footing and crashed to the ground, dragging Skyy with him. They landed with a grunt and quickly rolled over to see the dark digimon looming over them with greedy looking eyes.

Skyy then noticed the flowers and grass the digimon touched seemed to wither and die and turn nasty shades of brown and grey. Behind the digimon the beautiful trees of the forest were broken and splintered and lying everywhere in destroyed heaps. Anger boiled up in Skyy's chest and she flew to her feet. Hands clenched and teeth grinding together she stomped right up to the dark digimon and raised her fist to it.

"Hey, you bastard! Just look what you've done to this place! How dare you I oughta teach you a freaking lesson you bastard!" Skyy screamed at the top of her lungs whilst shaking her fist in what was probably supposed to be a threatening way. Tai stared at her stupidly.

The seeker digimon made a gross laughing sound that sounded like it was gurgling glass. The digimon raised its scythe and Skyy stopped her swears and froze. Tai leapt up and grabbed her waist, pulling her out of the way just as the scythe blade swung down and missed them by inches. Skyy fell onto Tai's chest and the wind flew out of his lungs, causing him to cough afterwards. The seeker digimon was about to attack them again but before he could a white blur pounced past them and leapt up at the digimon's face. Skyy gasped when she noticed it was Pleomon.

"Pleo—!" she yelled but Pleomon growled loudly and scratched at the digimon's face with her claws as harshly as she could. The seeker grunted and swatted her away with his hand like she was simply a fly. Pleomon flew to the ground like a bullet and Skyy winced at the sound her body made when it slammed into the earth. Just then Agumon leapt up as well and blew a huge ball of fire from his throat and it hit right at the seekers chest. But once again the digimon swatted Agumon away and the dinosaur landed just as harshly into the ground.

Tai quickly removed himself from under Skyy and grabbed her arms to hoist her up. She cried out in pain once she put pressure on her foot and crumpled back to the ground. There was a gnarly big purple bruise already flowering on her ankle. Just great. It must have happened when she had fallen with Tai. Tai bit his lip and frantically tried to get her onto her feet but a shadow bathed them in darkness. They both looked up and froze. The seeker had its scythe ready and aimed and its eyes gleamed menacingly. Skyy clutched at Tai's sleeve helplessly and winced as the blade swung down over them.

Skyy prepared to feel the blade, but when she didn't here eyes snapped open and her mouth hung open in awe. Just over them a huge fox-like digimon about half the size of the seeker held the blade firmly in its massive jaws and growled protectively.

The digimon had and thin, but muscular fox-like body that was white. Its face was long and thin and its snout was almost dog shaped. It had a set of saber teeth, two long ones that protruded from its lips and pointed down past its chin. On its forehead was a large horn that looked like a metal blade that pierced through the skin. Its ears were large and perked up. They looked like normal fox ears but slightly larger and also had two smaller ear flaps just below each ear so it gave the illusion that there was four ears. Covering its eyes was a leathery black mask that had slits that showed two gleaming, dark, turquoise eyes. On each of the digimon's paws was leathery bracelets that resembled cuffs and out of each cuff a fiery flame billowed. The digimon didn't seem to have a physical tail, rather that fire spewing from its back and just from its chin down under its belly and flowed behind it like a large fox tail. The whole digimon was covered in white fur except for orange markings that started at its nose and ended just under its belly like someone had painted only its top half orange.

The new fox digimon growled and spat out the scythe blade and the seeker stepped backwards.

"You will not hurt my Skyy!" the digimon growled in a deep, older female voice. Skyy's eyes widened.

"…Pleomon?" she whispered to herself. The fox digimon glanced back at Skyy.

"My name is Hotarumon," she growled and turned back to face the seeker. Skyy stared in awe. Hotarumon was fairly big. Her head, not including her horn, reached probably seven and a half feet tall. Skyy stumbled to her feet, minding her sore ankle and raised her fists.

"Awesome!" she breathed and a grin spread across her face. Hotarumon dashed towards the seeker and heaved four fire bombs from her mouth that rained down onto it. The seeker tried to shield with its scythe but this time the attack actually caused some damage and seeker wailed out in pain as the fire burned through its cloak. Skyy cheered louder and bounced up and down. Tai watched it awe.

As Hotarumon pounced around the enemy and launched attacks, Skyy would cheer louder, giving her digimon encouragements. Skyy called out attacks and guided Hotarumon as she fought and soon the seeker fell to its knees, its clothes and skin singed and smoking. Skyy launched a finger in the air.

"Alright!Now finish him!" She yelled and Hotarumon did just that. She shifted around the seeker so fast it looked there was multiple versions of her and from her multiple bodies grew a fiery inferno and it twisted around the seeker, engulfing his entire body. The seeker wailed out and when the fire disappeared the dark body disintegrated into the air. Hotarumon landed beside Skyy and glowed white as she shifted back down to Pleomon. Pleomon let out a loud sigh and collapsed tiredly onto the ground. Skyy picked her up and swung her around despite Pleomon's head lolling around like a broken doll's.

"That was so cool Pleomon! You're so cool!" Skyy squealed and squeezed her partner to her chest. Pleomon grumbled something before drifting off to sleep. Tai slowly got to his feet, staring at Skyy and her digimon. She…had defeated the seeker digimon….just like that….

After the battle the group was tired out and the sun had started setting, bathing the scenery in a warm glow. They headed back to the computer monitor they had come out of in the forest and said their goodbyes to their digimon. Tai and Skyy zipped back through the portal and rushed out of the empty school and onto the city streets, to the bus stop. When on the bus Skyy frowned and folded her arms.

"Hey, stop following me," she grumbled when the bus stopped and her and Tai both got off. Skyy's foot was still bruised so she was slightly limping, but it wasn't twisted so she could still walk on her own. Tai had his hands resting behind his head and his eyes were closed. He peeked one eye open to look at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I live in this direction," he said simply, his breath visible in the cold air. Skyy tightened her crossed arms and huffed. Tai grinned. "That was pretty cool, what Pleomon did just now," Tai said as if it was a passing thought. Skyy perked up and grinned broadly.

"I know right! It's was so cool! She totally beat the crap out of that bastard!" Skyy said passionately. Tai laughed.

"You have quite the mouth on you don't you?" he teased. Skyy snorted.

"Whatever,"

"So, you seemed like you had fun, despite almost getting killed," Tai said sarcastically. Skyy blushed in embarrassment but didn't reply. Tai glanced at her and chuckled lightly.

"So, did you like it? The Digital World?" Tai asked. Skyy bit her lip ad looked away.

"It was…interesting," she mumbled quietly. Tai laughed again and ruffled her hair. She frowned but didn't bother trying to evade his hands anymore as they effectively messed up her hair.

They both walked the rest of the way home chatting normally, their shadows getting longer and longer behind them as the sun set deeper under the horizon.

She said she'd only go once more. To the Digital World, to Pleomon. Then forget. Forget everything, and everyone. She'd told herself that she didn't care. She didn't want to care. She had to keep a promise. She never broke promises. She already admitted she might care a little bit for Pleomon, that's why she went to see if Pleomon was okay. Inside, she was afraid for her digimon. She didn't want the evil to hurt her Pleomon. But, still. It still scared her. She had to remember. She couldn't forget that. She had to forget this though. This would be of no help to her. That's why. That's why she said she'd only go once. She had to forget this. She had to.

She'd go once, then never again. Never again.

…..

Never….

…again?

…

Yaay! Third chapter :) this time the battle scene was actually a bit more fun to write ;P

Anyway, I hoped you liked this chapter :) please review with your thoughts! I always love to get feedback on my work.