DD: Hey, guys! ^-^ I just want to apologise for the cliffhangers in the last chapter. Please forgive me!
Arrow: Yo! Thanks for the reviews guys!
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Yuuyomi Kagedansu of the Leaf- Dum dum duuuuum :D
Slinking Fox- Well here's your next chap :)
Digi-fanCapp- Uhhhh I guess just read this chap?
ariaT27- Sure we can help you slap Mimi (in our minds only though). Enjoy!
The Legend of the Spirits
Chapter 12: Hope
Mimi's POV:
Normally, Mimi wouldn't have minded another feminine addition to the group, especially one who seemed to care a lot about her appearance. But she did mind having the cranky, loud, obnoxious, and mainly evil warrior of water in the group.
"Why is she even here?" she seethed through gritted teeth, glaring pointedly at Ranamon - who was being carried by Agunimon with her wrists and ankles tied.
"Because she knows where the twins, Zoe, TK and Kari are," Tommy replied with a wince as Joe placed some aloe vera on a burn he had received when Agunimon had accidentally hit him with an attack that Ranamon had dodged.
"She could be lying," Tai growled, eye twitching as Ranamon stuck out her tongue at him. "Mature, isn't she?"
"And if she's not?" Agunimon growled, glaring at Tai. "We could lose our only chance to find them."
"But if she is lying, then we're wasting valuable time!" Tai snarled back at Agunimon.
The two continued to glare at one another for a moment before Agunimon grinned slightly and looked away, "She's coming with us."
Kari's POV:
Kari gasped in pain as she dodged BlackGatomon's attack, her former partner's claw having scratched her shoulder, although she knew that it would have been much worse had she not moved.
"You always were good at dodging," BlackGatomon growled, her fur bristling. "But you never were any good at fighting, were you, Hikari?"
Kari was trembling violently, her eyes wide in horror as she shook her head in denial.
"Why don't you just give up now?" the dark cat suggested slyly as she crept towards Kari. "You know that it will save you pain."
Kari sank to her knees, a tear escaping her eyes but she blinked it away as BlackGatomon neared her.
Taking a deep breath, she stood up and closed her eyes.
"Very well then," BlackGatomon's smirk turned to a scowl. "Die!"
"Stop."
BlackGatomon froze, her claws less than an inch from Kari's throat as she turned to see a tall figure standing in the open doorway, Arbormon unconscious behind him, "Duskmon?"
Kouichi's POV:
"Kouji!" TK gasped as he ran towards the side of his cell, staring in at the fallen sixteen year old.
"Is he okay?" Kouichi called from his own cell, unable to properly see his brother.
TK continued watching Kouji until he noticed the boy's slowly rising and falling chest, indicating that he was still alive, but since he could only see the boy's back, he couldn't be sure that he had no injuries, "He's still alive."
"We need to turn the oxygen back on, now," Zoe muttered as she narrowed her eyes at the bars of her cell, trying to summon the wind that had been produced beforehand.
When nothing happened, she turned to Kouichi, a desperate look on her face. He slowly nodded and extended his hand, gritting his teeth as tendrils of dark matter slowly began to form around his hand, "Come on… come on…"
After a minute or two, the tendrils merged together to form a small orb that began growing in size until it was easily the size of TK's fist and remained that size.
But Kouichi wasn't going to accept that. Growling, he placed his free hand behind the one holding the orb, frowning in concentration as the orb slowly and tediously continued its growth.
Finally, he was struggling to hold it in both hands, it being about the size of Tai's head – hair included – and he took a deep breath before thrusting it towards where his previous attack had weakened the barrier, staggering slightly as it began leaving his hands in steady streams of dark matter.
The energy ate away at the bars, streaming through the barrier and even weakening the barrier that was imprisoning TK – who was across from him.
When the energy stopped, Kouichi took a few deep breaths before slowly walking towards the large hole that had been made in the bars and barrier of the cell and stepping through them.
"Hurry up!" TK gasped, sweat pouring down his face as Kouichi nodded and ran towards where the switch was.
Observing it for a moment, he grinned slightly, noticing that it was actually two switches, one being for the oxygen tank, and another being for the barriers. He quickly turned the oxygen back on and the barriers off before running back towards the others, forming a lance almost identical to the one he used as Loweemon out of dark matter.
The sharp prongs of the weapon easily broke enough bars for Zoe and TK to slip out through, so he turned to Kouji's cell and repeated the procedure before entering.
"Come on, Kouji; wake up," he pleaded, crouching beside his unconscious brother, who had a slow stream of blood trickling down his forehead from when he had hit his head off the stone floor.
"Joe has a first aid kit with him, right?" Zoe remembered as Kouichi tried shaking Kouji awake. "If we can get out of here and find the others, he'll be fine."
"But we still need to find Kari!" TK protested.
Zoe and Kouichi shared a look – Zoe shaking her head slightly, Kouichi nodding – before the two stood up. "Zoe, you take Kouji and get out of here," Kouichi glanced towards the female blonde. "You're the only one who can spirit evolve, so you'd be fastest. And you can fly; you'll be able to see the others from the sky."
"But what if you meet him?" Zoe growled, referring to Duskmon.
Kouichi winced slightly before shaking his head, "We won't; I promise."
After a moment, Zoe nodded before digivolving, picking Kouji up and flying towards the large metal door, easily blasting it out of the way with a gust of wind.
When she was gone, Kouichi glanced up at TK, "Let's go."
Kari's POV:
Kari gulped, edging away from her partner as BlackGatomon turned to Duskmon – who glared at her, "Have you forgotten the plan?"
"No, but I thought-" BlackGatomon began only for Duskmon to cut her off.
"No, you didn't think. That's the problem." He sighed and uncrossed his arms, glancing at Kari with the eye on his left shoulder, "Is she ready."
"Yes," BlackGatomon nodded in confirmation before glaring at Kari. "But I don't get why it has to be this weakling."
"Simple; if we eliminate the holy light and hope of the group, it will fall so much faster," Duskmon explained before slowly walking towards Kari – who was paralysed with fear.
He then grabbed the top of her head with a dragon-like hand, clasping her hair tightly so that she couldn't escape. Then he repeated the procedure with BlackGatomon, although not holding her quite as tightly. Finally, he closed all of his eyes, allowing dark power to stream through his hands into Gatomon before returning to his body and entering Kari – who screamed in pain and fear of the darkness.
"Are you sure about this?" BlackGatomon grunted as Duskmon nodded slowly.
Before either of them could do anything else however, the door burst open and an orb of dark energy hurled at Duskmon, forcing him to let go of Kari in order to dodge.
"Kari!" a voice yelped as someone crouched down beside her, "Are you okay?"
"TK?" Kari looked up before crying out in pain and clutching her head, "So dark…"
"TK, I can't hold them off forever!" Kouichi yelled as he struggled to keep the lance in his hands physical while Duskmon and BlackGatomon attacked him with claws and blades.
"I feel so useless," TK muttered angrily before hugging Kari tightly, his eyes closed as he began glowing a soft, golden colour that was soon transmitted to Kari. "But I have to help."
Kari's eyes slowly opened as she pulled away from TK, the golden glow around her changing to light pink as she slowly stood up, "Light…" everyone slowly turned to stare at her, "EVOLUTION!"
The pink glow grew brighter for a moment before fading to reveal an Angewomon hovering in Kari's place.
"What in the world?" Kouichi breathed, staring up at Angewomon in shock.
"This wasn't supposed to happen!" BlackGatomon growled, glaring at Duskmon. "You swore that she would turn into LadyDevimon!"
"Hope got in the way," Duskmon shrugged before pulling out of his battle with Kouichi. "But it doesn't matter; light can easily be suffocated by darkness."
He outstretched his hands, although not at Kari, much to everyone's surprise. Instead, he grabbed Kouichi by the throat and held him up in the air and reached forwards, grabbing TK's arm and twisting it behind his back, "Which will it be? You can only save one. If you save Hope, Kouichi here will lose his head but if you save Kouichi, Hope's heart will have a hole in it."
Despite his lethal threat, Angewomon simply hovered there, her expression impassive.
Inside however, her brain and heart were having an all out war over who to choose.
Her heart told her to save TK; after all, Kouichi could summon darkness to save himself.
But her brain told her to save Kouichi; TK was hope incarnate and he could take care of himself. Kouichi on the other hand was still only sixteen and wouldn't be able to hold off Duskmon on his own.
Then she took a deep breath and made her decision with an apologetic glance at the male she didn't save.
Zoe's POV:
Kazemon flew through the air, eyes scanning the ground beneath her for her friends and the DigiDestined behind her visor.
In her arms, Kouji was still unconscious, frowning slightly as his chest rose and fell slowly.
"Where are they?" she growled. "They have to be here somewhere…"
It had been a while since she had left the Dark Continent and she was nearing the factory that JP had found his spirit in by that stage.
Finally, she managed to spot Mimi's pink cowgirl hat and Agunimon's bright armour.
Sighing in relief, she flew down to them, ignoring their cries of shock, delight and worry.
"Joe," she instantly went to the blue-haired male. "You have a first aid kit, right?"
"I never leave home without it," he replied, indicating to the small bag on his shoulder.
"Do you have anything to deal with lack of oxygen and a possible concussion?" Kazemon slowly set Kouji down on the ground before de-digivolving.
Joe nodded and kneeled down beside Kouji as Zoe stood beside him, handing him objects whenever he needed them.
First, he used a cotton pad and some water from a flask to clean the dried blood before wiping the cut with an antiseptic wipe and covering it with a bandage; Kouji didn't have a concussion, but he would have a major headache when he woke up.
Then he forced open Kouji's mouth and dropped a painkiller in as well as a few drops of water. Thankfully, the longer-haired boy managed to swallow them, even in his unconscious state.
As for the lack of oxygen… Joe sighed, "He just needs some rest."
"Are you going to explain that?" Cody asked as Zoe sighed.
"I'll explain on the way, but we need to go now."
"Why? Where are the others?" Agunimon shook his head in confusion as – in his arms – Ranamon smirked.
"They're in the Dark Continent, sugar."
"She's actually telling the truth," Zoe stated as she spirit evolved before turning to JP. "JP, will you come back with me?"
"Hey, what about us?" Davis growled.
"Zoe and I are the only ones who can fly in our human forms," JP explained as he spirit evolved, "and we can only carry one person each."
"Besides, we don't want you guys getting hurt," Kazemon smiled slightly before taking to the sky. "Come on, JP."
As the two flew towards the Dark Continent, Davis growled slightly, At times like this, I really wish I had a spirit...
Alright, that's it for this chapter, lads. Sorry for the cliff-hangers… again… but I just love doing that. ^-^ See you guys next time!