FicWad

Episode Six: Nash and the Sea Chart




As a few rays of sunlight began pouring through the closed curtains, Sora slowly woke up, taking her time in returning to the land of the living. She was definitely feeling refreshed, and ready to face the day. Of course, she was almost always ready to face any day. She just felt…happier about it than usual.

Stretching her arms, she froze when her elbow bumped into something warm, soft, and moving. It was rhythmic, indicating that it was alive at the very least. She turned her head, suddenly suspicious of who was sharing her bed.

Upon laying eyes on the other occupant, she saw that her first guess was wrong, and that it was not Biyomon. Because Biyomon had never made her blush four different shades of red for any reason.

Tai was lying on his side, breathing rhythmically. He was obviously oblivious to the fact that he was being watched. He just kept snoozing, a small smile plastered on his face. For some strange reason, Sora did not want to know the reason. She checked over the side of the bed, where she saw that Biyomon and Agumon were sleeping peacefully on a few folded up blankets. For a moment, she was wondering why they were in her apartment, and why Tai was in the same bed as her. Then it came back to her, and her entire face turned red.




Last night

“All right everybody! It’s time to see who sleeps with who tonight!” Gomamon exclaimed, pulling out several straws from Joe’s backpack. “The two who pull the short straws are going to be sharing a bed together for one night!”

“All right, give them to me!” Joe grabbed all the straws from out of his Digimon’s flippers. “This is not anyone’s dream come true! So don’t act like something’s going to happen during the night!”

Interestingly, six faces heated up with that statement. Tai’s, Sora’s, Izzy’s, Mimi’s, Alex’s, and Luna’s.

“Okay, long straw gets to sleep alone tonight. Short straw has a sleeping partner. As per request, T.K. and Kari are not part of the drawing. However, that still leaves one bed that needs a partner. Any questions?” Joe took a look around. “All right then!Let’s get picking!” He picked the first one. “Looks like I sleep alone tonight. Thank God.”

“Joe, you are no fun at all,” Gomamon complained. “You are absolutely no fun whatsoever.”

Joe looked at his Digimon partner. “You have a pretty vivid imagination. You figure it out,” was all he said before he turned to the others. “Who’s up next?”

One by one, everybody picked a straw. Matt, Ramus, Alex, Luna all pulled the long straws, all of them breathing a sigh of relief as they did so.

Not so for Tai and Sora. When it came to their turns, they pulled out the short straws. When they saw that they were short, they went white with shock, then red with embarrassment. Both of them looked at the straws, then the others, then at each other. They were both speechless, to say the least.

Hello. Did someone make a raving understatement?

“Well, looks like Tai and Sora get to sleep together tonight,” Matt said, looking rather smug. “Try not to wake us up.”

Tai turned around sharply. He got the gist of what Matt was insinuating, and in this instance, he didn’t particularly like it. “And what does that mean, Matt?”

Sora had also turned to watch the keeper of friendship. “Yes Matt,” she asked sweetly, too sweetly in fact. “Whatever do you mean by that?”

Matt backed off slowly. Tai’s temper, he could handle. Sora’s, he could try to sooth. Both of them on the other hand, he might as well sign his will now and get it over with. “Um…nothing,” he managed to squeak out.

“Good.” Sora turned around and grabbed her backpack. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get ready for bed.” She was also blushing ten ways to Sunday, but she wasn’t going to let Matt, or anyone else see that. It would only add fuel to the fire, in her opinion.

Tai was also red in the face, but it was partially from embarrassment, partially from anger. He forced himself to calm down though. He didn’t want to have a heart attack. He needed his faculties, he needed…he needed a damn cold shower. But seeing as how they didn’t have showers, he would settle with a cold bath. But judging from the fact that they had no running water, he was pretty much in trouble. Deep trouble.

‘Oh well,’ he thought. ‘Time to prepare for a long night.’ He started to try and get his hands on a free bed, only to find that they had already been taken. In fact the only one that wasn’t taken was in a position that was rather…out of the way. ‘Oh boy, I have a small problem.’

Unbeknownst to him, he wasn’t the only one who was having problems.

Sora was sitting in a small alcove that she had found, writing in her diary. She had been carrying it around with her ever since that day when they were transported to Lunar. In that diary were her deepest thoughts, her fantasies, her dreams, and her problems. What she was writing about definitely qualified in that last category.

“/Dear Diary,/

Oh, what am I going to do? I have no idea as to what I'm feeling at the moment. I have to sleep, in the same bed as Tai! And all because of astupid pair of short straws. This would probably be the worst day of my life… but I’m not sure.

I still don’t know what my feelings are for Tai. He’s my friend, practically my brother in every aspect. He’s also someone I can trust with my life. But now, I see him as more. I see him as one of the greatest things to ever happen to me. I see him as a slightly headstrong, but extremely trustworthy boy. Why is that?Why am I seeing him like that?

Oh diary, I wish you could help me out here.

She sat there for a moment more after finishing her entry, lost in thought. She was honestly having a hard time breathing. Every time she looked at Tai, she found herself hard pressed to not jump into his arms, a trait that wasn't really like her. She had always been modest around the boys, and most of them would soon move on to Mimi. Not that that was any better, as Mimi actually believed in falling in love with the right man. Sora felt that way too.

She finished getting ready, looking n the mirror. ‘This is going to be a night to remember,’ she thought, ’even though I probably don’t want to remember it.’ Then she took a deep breath, turning around as she did so, and walked out of the room, trying to get herself under control.

Tai, by this time, had not only gotten himself under control, he was currently talking to Agumon and Biyomon about something. “Probably on the lines of getting revenge on Matt,’ she thought. Figuring that wasn’t such a bad idea, she stepped into the room.

“All right, everybody!” Joe called out. “Everybody to bed!”
Gomamon groaned. “Joe, you’re starting to sound a lot like Luna.”

“And that’s probably a good thing with Gomamon around,” Tentomon whispered to Palmon. Palmon nodded.

“Okay. Which bed is ours?” Sora asked. Tai led her to the one in the back. “Oh.”

“Well, it’s the only one empty. The others all claimed theirs while you were away, and that includes Patamon and Gatomon. They had fallen asleep on one of the beds, and no one had the heart, or the courage mind you, to wake them up.” Tai was trying not to look at Sora.“Well, let’s get to sleep. The sooner the morning comes, the sooner we can get out of this bed.”

Sora climbed in first, liking how Tai thought at that particular moment. Tai got in after her.

Sora liked the feel of the mattress. It was soft, but not too soft. It also was clean, thereby eliminating one of her concerns. However, the bed was also a little small, as it wasn’t big enough for two people to sleep in it comfortably. She knew a way around it though, but it also brought a slight pink tint to her cheeks.

“Tai, you’re going to have to get closer, and put your arm around my waist,” she whispered. “Otherwise, neither of us are going to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Um…okay.” Tai was looking rather nervous as he followed Sora’s advice, putting his arm tentatively around her waist. He blushed a bright red at their new position, with her pressed tightly against him.

“Well…good night, Tai.”

“Night.” Tai followed her instructions, before laying his head down on the pillow, closing his eyes. Slowly, she heard his breathing slow and deepen, and turning her head slightly, she observed him. ‘He looks so peaceful when he’s asleep,’ she thought enviously. Awake, he was very intense, very focused in anything he did. Asleep, he looked like a young boy, the type of boy the girls dream about during their free time. Much like she did anyways.

She decided to follow her own advice at that moment, and she put her own head down. Thankfully, the pillow was large enough for both of them.

One minute later, she was asleep.




Present Time

Sora watched Tai for a few seconds, remembering the dream she had had before she had woken up. It was definitely a very nice dream, and matched her present mood. She felt safer than she did at any other point in her life. She also didn’t want to wake Tai up, but they had to get up soon.

“All right. You can stop pretending to be asleep, Sora.”

Tai’s voice startled Sora out of her reverie. She looked and saw him staring at her through narrowed eyes, observing her in much the same way as she was observing him. She blushed even more. “How’d you know?” she asked quietly.

Tai chuckled. “Well, I was sleeping, minding my own business, when all of a sudden, I get elbowed by someone. Do you know who she is?She’s about your height, same hair color and style. Seen her?”

“Oh you…” Sora popped him lightly on the arm. “How’d you sleep?”

“Rather well. You?” Tai returned nervously.

She smiled warmly. “I slept okay.” She slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “I suppose we’re going to have to wake up everybody else.”

“I guess you’re right.” Tai got up reluctantly, and pulled his backpack out from underneath the bed.

For a moment, Sora got a good look at his upper body, and wondered exactly when he started to buff up. Deciding to figure that out later, she cupped her hands over her mouth. “All right everyone! Time to wake up! We need to get up and get ready for the day.”

Luna yawned, and slowly sat up. “Is it morning already?” she asked sleepily. Izzy also sat up, looking wide awake already.

Tai went over and opened the window, allowing the morning sunlight to enter the room. “I think that’s a yes,” he replied, now fully awake. “Come on you guys! Get up! We need to get ready to leave!”

A pillow sailed through the air, striking Tai full in the face. Another one hit Sora on her side, almost knocking her back on her own bed. She recovered though, and with a glance to Tai, Luna, and Izzy said,“You do realize that this means war.”

“Agreed.” Tai picked up the pillow. “All right boys and girls! Time to wake up!” He threw the pillow right at Matt, which hit him full in the face.

What immediately followed was a lengthily and costly pillow war. Well, costly for the pillows anyways.

----

After cleaning up and changing their clothes, as well as paying for all the pillows they destroyed, they set out for any last minute shopping done. Then they began their journey to the old woman’s forest.

They left the town two hours after they had woken up, ready for anything… even rain. And Joe made that his first question of the day.

“What I want to know,” he began, “is how a people who have never heard of cars, are stuck in a fifteenth century way of life, and also have magic, can still have umbrellas, cameras, and know how to keep food chilled to preserve it?”

Alex looked at Izzy, somewhat confused. “Is he always like this? I mean, asking questions that we don’t have the answer to?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Izzy looked around. “I do believe we go this way,” he said, pointing in one particular direction.

“You’ve got a good memory, my friend.”

“It’s just that I remembered that the path split into two different paths. I distinctly recall coming down the right path… well, you know what I mean.”

“Well, let’s get going. We need to get that Sea Chart!” Nall called out, painfully near Tentomon’s ear. Tentomon turned around, managing to get the point across to Nall that he was annoyed without words by this. “Sorry, Tentomon.” He began flying in that direction, the bug Digimon right behind him.

“I would ask who made him leader, but I don’t think I want to know the answer,” Tai commented.

----

They walked for about an hour, waiting for the inevitable complaints to issue from Mimi’s mouth. When they didn’t, they turned to look at her in surprise.

Mimi was walking, not even paying the slightest attention to her feet. In fact, she looked like she was deep in thought. This was even more surprising for her. Mimi

In fact, Mimi was thinking about something, namely about the events of last night. When T.K. and Kari had come up to that little restaurant, several minutes late, they had seemed preoccupied about something. Tai and the others didn’t press them, but Mimi knew that they wanted to know what they had seen. So did she. But if they wanted to keep it secret, then she wasn’t going to pry. After all, she had her own secrets to keep.

Kari and T.K. were walking side by side, as was common these days. Patamon and Gatomon were doing much the same thing. All four of them were discussing who they saw in the portrait.

“I’m telling you, the male angel looked like Angemon, only wearing much nicer clothing,” Gatomon said, looking rather love-struck.

“Oh please. Angemon’s much better looking!” Patamon argued.“Though I gotta admit, he does have a much nicer staff that Ido. And what about the female? She looked simply ravaging!”

Gatomon rolled her eyes. “Typical mon. Always looking at womanly charms.” She smirked. “Now the male was simply gorgeous!Those blue eyes, and that handsome face!” Her eyes turned into proverbial hearts.

“Ugh!Be still my beating heart! It is simply too gruesome to comprehend!” Patamon empathized this by placing a diminutive paw over his heart in mock disgust. Secretly though, he was jealous.

Gatomon turned to scowl at him, only to see something else entirely…




The female angel flew through the air around the Goddess Tower, hair streaming in the wind like a banner. Her magnificent wings flapped every once in a while, keeping her moving at breakneck speed. She performed various acts of aerial grace and cunning, working her lithe body in such a way that a bird would probably cringe just looking at it. But it did nothing to calm the tension in her soul, or the alertness of her glance. She was waiting patiently, if with a little uneasiness.

“Angelica!” a voice called out, stopping her in her tracks. Instantly, her bow materialized in her hands, the quiver of arrows appearing on her back. She pulled one out, notched it in her bow, pulled it back, and released. It soared through the air, only to be deflected by a staff of silver.

The male angel flew through the air, his staff coming down in a downward arc designed to knock her into a loop.

Angelica formed a pink sword in time, deflecting the staff, retaliating with aseries of sword attacks that would have made Zorro pause. These were neatly deflected by the staff wielding male, before he retaliated himself.

“You’re slowing down, Angelus,” Angelica finally stated, taunting her adversary. “You used to be able to disarm me by this time, and with ease. What ever is the problem?”

Angelus grinned. “Perhaps you are just getting faster,” he returned, blocking another attack with his staff one handed. At the same time, he was edging his other hand to Excalibur. “I might be getting slow…” He unsheathed it, and almost immediately swung it in a side swipe maneuver. Angelica disengaged from her attack on Angelus’s defenses, a look of surprise on her face. She noted that her blade was now half its original size.“Or maybe I’m just playing around with you.”

“Oooh, you are going to pay for that!” Angelica shouted, laughing as she did so. They always practiced like this, always were trying to trick each other with new moves, or get under each others skins. Sometimes, she succeeded, sometimes he was victorious, but it was always fun… as well as unpredictable.

“I would like to see you try… but as you know, I win this time.” Angelus sheathed his sword, sending his staff back into the fortress.“You’re right though, I am getting a little slower. But I’m also a few hundred thousand years older than you.”

Angelica flew over to him, letting him embrace her with his arms. They shared a passionate kiss that left them both breathless. “All right,” Angelica panted, looking into eyes so similar to her. “You win… this time. And you're not getting that slow.”

Angelus laughed. “If you wish it, you can win next time, if you’re lucky. But right now, I believe that you owe me one of your famous home cooked meals.”

It was Angelica’s turn to laugh. “I believe that I’ll do just that! In fact, I will make enough for everyone else to have some. Maybe it’ll get Althena out of her room. It's that time of year again.”

Angelus groaned. “She is not doing that again. She does that every year at this time!” He started to wheel around. “I am going to talk to her right now!”

“Not a good idea Angelus. She asked not to be disturbed.” She quickly turned him around to face her again. “Besides, you have talked to her every year at this same exact time, and it hasn’t helped one bit. She wants you to enjoy yourself this year, because you turn into a grouch around this time after speaking with her. She’ll be fine in a few hours. Just give her time.”

Angelus thought about it. “You’re probably right,” he reluctantly conceded. “It’s just that I don’t like seeing her like this!”

“And you know what she’ll say; ‘Don’t worry about me, old friend. You live your own life.’ It‘s actually sound advice when you think about it.” Angelica smiled a little bit.

Angelus looked forlornly at the Tower. “She deserves some happiness, just like the rest of us,” he groused.

“I know, my love.” Angelica held him close. “I know…”

Patamon snapped out of it, turning to look at his fellow Digimon. “Did you…?” he asked.

Gatomon nodded.

----

“I think that the man looked like a grown up version of you T.K.,” Kari mentioned, watching her best friend begin to shudder. A small smile emerged on her face. “I mean, blue eyes, dirty blond hair? That’s what you’ll probably look like when you get bigger.”

T.K. turned to her, nodding reluctantly. “I hope that I never wear armor like that guy! I don’t think I’d have the same effect that he did. But you’re right, he does look a little like me.” He lapsed into silence, thinking about that picture.

Kari took that moment to observe him. ‘He looks older when he’s thinking,’ she thought, discovering that she liked that. She also found it very familiar. Like she had seen something like this before. Almost like it was out of a dream she had never had.

Suddenly, she found herself seeing something else. Something that also had avaguely disturbing familiarity to it…




A young man sat on a sofa, deep in thought. He was staring at what looked to be a meditative tree, planted at the edge of the room. It was out of place, for the room had a feel of complete and utter luxury, though there were very few possessions. Not that he would have noticed if the entire room was filled with earthly possessions, so great his concentration.

“What are you thinking about, husband?”

A woman walked up in front of Takeru, eyes twinkling as she asked that, breaking the man's concentration. He quickly recognized her as Hikari, his counterpart, confidant, and wife of over four thousand years. His trademark lopsided smile appeared on his face. “Well, you know me Hikari,” he replied. “I sometimes think about some of Althena’s decision, and wonder if they were the right thing to do. And I wonder; will anything ever be the same again?”

At that, Hikari felt a wave of sadness flow through her. She had been thinking the same thing, which was the reason she had sought out her husband. She had wanted to ask him for some advice in helping Althena. “You should see Althena. She locks the door to her room in the Goddess Tower, and begins second guessing herself for every time someone dies, or in this case, tries to destroy everything she worked so long to put together. It makes her so sad, and me rather upset. I mean, it was three thousand years ago!”

Takeru put his arms around her, drawing her close. While Angelus, the Angelic who was Althena’s oldest friend, Hikari was the Goddess’s best friend. They were closer than a lot of siblings.“I know what you mean, Hikari. And I know that you want to help her. But we are only human, despite our infinite powers, immortal life spans, and Althena‘s case, goddess status. We can’t predict every little thing that will happen. That would take someone with more power than even Althena.”

She looked at him, basking in his comforting presence. “How can you keep such an open mind, even after everything we’ve seen? How can you keep Hope so close to your heart, even when the Goddess loses hers? And how can you believe that there are beings more powerful than the Goddess, even after all of this time?”

Takeru gave her a small kiss on her lips. “Because I know that without Hope, the powers of darkness will win for sure. It would be the same thing if we lost the Light. And that’s why we were chosen, beloved. Because we never lose our Hope and Light, because we’re Althena’s Hope and Light. And we’ll always be. Just as we’ll always be each other’s Hope and Light.”

Hikari leaned into the hug. She knew all of that, not just because of classes, but through hard experience. “You’re right, Takeru,” she said, a small smile gracing her face. “But maybe this upcoming Goddess Festival is just what the healer ordered. And maybe she will finally stop blaming herself for events that she could not control.”

Takeru nodded in agreement. “Perhaps you’re right. And perhaps…she will find love…again.” The two of them chuckled a little. “Now, to answer your last question, despite the fact that I am Lunarian myself, I was raised to believe in only one god, an all powerful creator of the universe. Also, you know there are infinite realms out there. There will always be more powerful things out there than our Goddess Althena…”

Kari snapped out of it, shaking her head to try to clear her head. She felt like she had just seen something from another person’s life. But it felt like something she had personally experienced.

“Takeru…” T.K.’s voice broke through her train of thought, and she turned around to look at him in shock.

“The man’s name was Takeru,” T.K. said again, looking certain.

Kari nodded. “And the woman’s mane was…Hikari.” She looked at him. “You…had the same vision I did?” she asked attentively.

T.K. nodded. “I think so. It’s almost like…we’re seeing a part of their lives. And it’s pretty far into the past, if you ask me.” He looked spooked by what they had seen. “Whatever’s happening, I don’t think it’s anything concerning the Digital World. I think it’s concerning us.”

“… Ithink you’re right. … Do you think Patamon and Gatomon are having visions as well?”

“Yeah, I think they are.”

----

Ramus looked back at the two kids. “I don’t think I like where their conversation is going. What about you?” he asked Agumon.

Agumon looked at him. “It’s really none of our business, unless it becomes too much of a problem for them. So I’m going to stay here, and think about home until tonight.”

Tai and Matt were watching them as well, though that was their right. “If they weren’t nine years old, I would think they were married, or something,” Tai mentioned.

“I know what you mean,” Matt commiserated. “You’d think they had been married for…millennium.”

“A little too broad in your time span there buddy.” The brunette’s gave shifted over to Patamon and Gatomon, who were also deep in conversation. “And their Digimon are just as bad. I mean, look at them!”

“Oh, we’re looking,” Gabumon replied. “They’re better at it than you two.”

“Gee thanks Gabumon,” Matt grumbled. “You sure show some loyalty.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m always here for you, my friend.”

----

Over the next couple of days, T.K. Kari and their Digimon partners continued to discuss the visions they had had, and point out little details about them. This continued to confuse the living hell out of everyone else, with the exception of Izzy and Ramus, as they were locked up in another battle concerning business. Mimi and Tentomon were rooting silently for Izzy, though the fight seemed to always end in stalemate.

This would continue into the night, as Izzy and Ramus switched from finance to philosophy, an area that Ramus was completely inadequate in. Izzy walked right over him, though the bulky Lunarian gave asupreme effort.

Luna, on the other hand, was a master of Lunarian philosophy, and it proved to be a match against Earth raised scientist. Through their arguments, both sides learned a great deal of the ways they had been raised, as well as some of the other’s culture. It proved to be very entertaining as well.

Others took the night time to play games, or talk to their friends.

Palmon watched Mimi as she began walking over to where Luna and Izzy were now sitting, looking very thoughtful about something. Mimi said something to Izzy, which the keeper of knowledge nodded to before getting up and walking over to Alex. “You think so?” she asked, turning back to Tentomon.

Tentomon nodded. “All the evidence the evidence points to it,” he replied. “Izzy really likes Mimi. I’ve caught him staring at her like a deer caught in headlights. And when he realizes he’s being watched, he blushes a very interesting color, and turns back to his computer. It’s as obvious as the wings on my back.”

Palmon felt a wave of pity for the boy genius. “I don’t know if Mimi feels the same way. She hasn’t said anything about Izzy at all.” She pondered about it for a moment after saying that.“Grant you, she might be too shy to say anything about him. Istill don’t understand humans.”

“I don’t understand them any better myself,” Tentomon grumbled. “Then again, I don’t understand our fellow Digimon any better, so I’m not too worried.”

“Neither am I. I’m just worried about Mimi and Izzy.” Palmon looked even more forlorn, if it was even possible.

“Yeah, so am I.” Tentomon examined the entire problem at every angle.“I don’t think either of us want our partner to go ballistic.”

“Precisely. The question is though, what can we do? Drag him away from his computer? He practically sleeps with that thing! Except when he’s talking to someone, like now,” she groused.

Tentomon suddenly got a mischievous idea. “Why don’t we plan for the day when we get them together? It /will /take a lot of planning, and possibly a much larger Digimon then we got.” He looked proud of himself.

Palmon was also happy. “Yeah. Let’s plan now and wait for some of us to digivolve! It’ll not only go much smoother, and probably be much safer too.”

“Agreed.”

----

“I just cannot figure out whether or not she likes me or not,” Izzy commiserated to Alex, who was also currently with girl problems. He figured Alex could help him with some advice. And if there was one thing that Izzy could work with, it was advice.

After his battle with Luna had ended with a draw, and Mimi had shooed him away so she could talk to Luna, Izzy had wandered over to where Alex was sitting. He had asked him a single question. “What do you know about girls?”

Alex had told him to sit down and to tell him what he meant by that. Izzy had then told everything he could think about a certain honey colored hair young lady wearing a big Texan type hat. What he wanted to know is what you did when you liked someone so much that he you couldn’t get her off your mind. Why he wanted to know, the keeper of knowledge didn’t know.

He also didn’t know why he was feeling this way. It was…laughable, to say the least.

Alex turned his gaze towards the two girls in question. “Well, Iwouldn’t know how a woman’s mind works,” he finally said, “but I can tell you is that it’s perfectly natural of you to ask these questions. It’s also understandable that you feel this way towards Mimi. It’s harmless…well, most of the time anyways, as well as a part of growing up.”

Izzy sighed, his gaze turning to the girl in question. “It’s just that we are complete polar opposites in every possible way. I am a studyholic who spends almost every possible moment on the computer. She is the ultimate mall rat who could melt the plastic on any store. We have nothing in common.”

Alex grinned, unable to believe it. He had found the flaw in that argument. It was so obvious that he had to restrain himself from laughing. “Au contraire, mon fraire,” he retorted. “You do have a few things in common with each other.”

Izzy looked at him, a little surprised. “Oh yeah? What?” he asked, curious.

“Well…you’re both Digi-Destined. I’m guessing that’s a very exclusive club there. And you both fight for what you believe in.”

Izzy considered it for a minute. “You’re right,” he finally conceded. “Anything else?”

Alex smirked. “Yeah, and this one doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out. The fact that the two of you came to each others aid whenever the other’s in danger. You, when Mimi and Ramus were about to come to blows. Mimi, when you had been poisoned in the Weird Woods. And oh yeah, the fact the two of you blush whenever you’re caught staring at one another. The only four who haven’t noticed that are T.K., Kari, and their Digimon, and that’s because they’re not paying attention!”

Izzy took a look in the four in question, and saw that they were talking about something, not even paying attention to the world around them.“Hmmm…good point. So, what do I do about Mimi?”

Alex pondered for a moment. “You need to tell her how you feel,” he finally replied. “Otherwise, you’ll go crazy.”

“Good advice. When exactly are you going to follow it?” Izzy noted that Alex suddenly seemed interested in his shoes. “Oh come on,” he said, unknowingly paraphrasing Tentomon’s words.“It’s as obvious as the computer on my back.”

Alex chuckled. “So I guess we’re just a couple of love-sick fools who are too cowardly to tell the girls of our dreams that we love them, huh?”

“Most definitely.”
“Want some water?”

“Please.”

----

“I don’t know if he likes me at all,” Mimi lamented to Luna.“I mean, we’re complete polar opposites in everything.”

Luna sighed, smiling a bit as well. “It is a very personal dilemma, and one I can’t help you with, as I’m having the same problem you are having. But hey, you know what they say. ‘Opposites attract’.”

‘If only you knew,’ Mimi thought. Out loud though, she said,“But I don’t think he sees me as anymore than as afriend. He spends about as much time on that computer as he does with us. I don’t even know what he’s thinking about half of the time!” ‘Actually, I do, but I’m not going to say that.’

Luna noticed the look in her eye, and suddenly felt a strange sense of curiosity go through her. /‘Interesting,’ s/he thought. ‘There is more to Mimi than meets the eye. A secret that she doesn’t want anyone to know. The question is, what is it?’ “Well, he did come to your aid when Ramus called you crazy. And I have caught him staring at you like a man dying of thirst would stare at a glass of water.” She looked at Izzy and Alex. “In fact, it’s obvious to everyone, except Izzy…and T.K. and Kari.”

“And for very obvious reasons. They have their own problems to contend with.”

“As do we. We need to tell the boys of our dreams how we feel, otherwise, we’re going to go crazy, and start acting weird.”

“Agreed.”

“Do you want some water?”

“Yes, please.”

----

On the fourth day of there journey, Gomamon looked up and said, “So this is the Old ‘Woman’s’ forest.” He frowned. “Doesn’t look like much.”

“Looks like a damn haunted forest,” Alex noted. Ramus gave an audible gulp

Izzy had already pulled out his computer out, and had begun scanning the interior of the forest. The results of that scan were, to put it bluntly, promising. “It appears safe to enter,” he said, satisfied.

Tai pulled his sword out its scabbard. “Well, let’s be ready, just in case. I don’t think any of us want another surprise attack like in the Weird Woods.”

Agumon cracked his knuckles. “You got that right, Tai.”

Alex looked over at Izzy. “Is there anything we need to worry about?” he asked. “Because it looks like Tai and Agumon want something to beat down.”

Izzy consulted his computer. “‘Mantle Wrapper’. A cousin of the Fly Trapper. It’s slightly weaker than it,but possess many of the same attributes. It also has the same attacks as the Fly Trapper. Next, ‘Mutant Ant’: The Godzilla of the ant colonies. It has no added attributes, but it does have exceptional defense. It is resistant to skill attacks, so don’t use them.” The next monster came on the screen. “ ‘Killer Fly’: A pumped up version of the Mutant Fly. It has a special attack called Dive Bomb, which calls roughly double the damage of a normal attack, as well as the ability to poison its victims. And finally, ‘Killer Wasp’: A wasp that puts the hornet to shame. It has two attacks that can poison any living, moving thing.” Izzy checked his backpack to make sure he had antidote herbs with him. “It’s also the strongest bug in there, so be on your guard.”

“Duly noted.” Matt had his hand on the handle of his own blade. “I think that you need to get your head out of the computer once in awhile. It’s starting to become freaky.”

“Oh, I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Ramus commented, his short sword already out and ready. He was ready for anything, and he wasn’t going to let a small problem like bugs stop him.

‘That makes two of us,’ Matt thought, holding the handle in adeath grip. He knew that they were probably not going to have aproblem. At the same time, he wasn’t going to be caught unprepared this time.

They entered the forest, their eyes roaming the immediate area around them. At the same time, they were relaxed. After all, as everyone knew, any fly could be swatted with the right flyswatter. It was just in this case, the flyswatter was sharp and pointed.

They explored the forest, running into more of those chests that Izzy was starting to find extremely confusing. Some of them held money or items, which they felt was okay. Others held a bunch of Killer Flies, which almost immediately attacked. The lot of them weren’t afraid. Annoyed at the delay, but not afraid.

They met up with a bunch of Mutant Ants halfway through their journey. They were dispatched with, and with extreme prejudice. The Mantle Rappers were dispatched with just as easily. It made the Digi-Destined feel like they were playing some kind of video game.

All that changed though, when they met up with a trio of Killer Wasps. Suddenly, the game became interesting.

“Tentomon!Keep it up!” Izzy shouted encouragingly, as Tentomon and Patamon went toe to toe, or wing to wing, with two of them, engaging in an aerial battle that would have put the Red Baron to shame. Super Shockers and Boom Bubbles flew through the air as they tried to hit their opponents, only to miss the wasps by a couple of centimeters.

The wasps fought back with their stingers and claws, aiming for close range, but running into the same problem. This went on for a few minutes more.

Matt and Gabumon dealt with the third one, as Matt was practically swinging his sword around erratically. Gabumon was waiting to strike. He didn’t have to wait long.

“BLUE BLASTER!”

“Sword Dance!”

Alex had entered the fray, unleashing his attack upon the creature. It mostly missed, but one slice did clip its wing. It stopped for asecond, but that was all that was needed, as the blaster hit it full in the face.

At the same time, Matt stopped his frantic swings, and did a solid uppercut with his sword, slicing it in half. However, in doing so, it also released all of its juices, spraying Gabumon in the process.“Ugh, bug shit,” he grumbled, trying to get it out of his fur.

Tentomon by this time had finally out flown his foe, and unleashed a Super Shocker at it. The Wasp barely got out of the way. It wasn’t able to get out of the way of the next attack.

“SPIRAL TWISTER!” Biyomon released her attack, aiming for the wasp. It hit, just as the wasp was hit with a Super Shocker. It promptly disintegrated into a pile of dust.

Patamon and his wasp were still caught in their deadly game of cat and mouse, trying to hit the other. The Wasp was flying a little slower, but it was still slashing at the Digimon with its full strength. Patamon was sporting small cuts, but it seemed the poison wasn’t affecting him, as he was still flying at peak efficiency. He was also bruised, indicating that the wasp was trying to body slam him into the trees.

Biyomon flew over to where the two were still fighting. She had begun to formulate a plan, but she would need some help. “Luna! Fire an arrow at the wasp!”

Luna nodded, then notched an arrow into her bow, pulled the string back, and released. At the same time, Biyomon unleashed her attack.

The wasp broke off its attack on Patamon and dodged the two attacks. Biyomon however, expected that to happen. And it gave Patamon the advantage.

Patamon, the wasp no longer on his tail, blew it away with one last Boom Bubble, knocking it ten ways to Sunday. In others, he slammed it through a tree. It was promptly put out of it’s misery by Luna, who shot an arrow at it.

Alex took a look around. “I think that’s the last of them,” he reported, sighing in relief.

“And good riddance.” Gabumon looked even more haggard than before.“I really hate wasps.”

“I go with that,” Joe grumbled back, trying to get bug juices out of his cardigan.

Patamon flew over to Gabumon. “Need a comb Gabumon?”

Mimi was checking her hat. “Thank you, lord. No slime,” she exclaimed, though it sounded…hollow…to her.

Palmon turned to look at Mimi. She had detected that small detail, but didn’t know what to make of it. It was like Mimi didn’tcare about the hat. “Yeah, I’m fine Mimi. Thanks for asking.”

Mimi was abashed. “Sorry, Palmon.” This time it was genuine, so Palmon the earlier slip to the back of her mind. It still was nagging at her, though.

Izzy had taken out his computer again and had begun scanning the area around them. “I believe that there is clearing about thirty feet in front of us that is devoid of insects,” he said, pointing in that direction.

“Well, let’s head in that direction, before more of those wasps show up.” Tai began walking in that direction, Alex and Agumon right behind them. Everybody else looked at their retreating backs, shrugged, then followed.

----

They entered the clearing, pretty much unscathed, though covered in the bug’s remains. All of that was forgotten however, as they beheld something rather…ordinary compared to everything else they had seen.

“What is this supposed to be?” Nall asked incredulously, flying over to inspect a tortoise-shaped shell of wood. “Some kind of booby-trap?”

“Looks like it,” T.K. replied, bending to take a look inside the shell. “Looks like something a kid my age would make out of blocks.”

Izzy stepped forward to check one out, taking care not to accidentally set it off. “It appears to be set up to capture food. Preferably abeast of some kind.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mimi stoop to check another one of the traps, an expression of curiosity on her face.

Nall snorted in derision. “I can’t imagine a creature dumb enough to stumble under this thing!”

Gomamon looked up, grinning. He began saying, “Well, look on the bright side. At least we haven’t found anyone under these things yet,” when a noise attracted his attention. “Hey, what’s that?” he asked instead.

Straining, they all listened. Finally though, they could discern a voice crying out, “Hey! Hey there! Get me out of this thing!”

Nall did a one-eighty in the air, looking around in confusion. “What the-?” was all he got out.

“Where did that come from?” Agumon asked, just as confused. “/Who/did that come from?”

Gomamon looked at Nall. “You were saying?”

Nall did not reply, as he finally zoomed in on the general direction of the voice. “That sounded like it came from further up the trail!” Everyone started running, or flying after him. Izzy and Mimi straightened and picked up the rear. “Too…much…running,” Mimi panted. Izzy nodded.

When they reached where the voice was emanating, Nall flew over to a trap that had been sprung, and rapped the shell. “Hello?” he called out. “Who’s in there?”

Joe stooped to peer at the bottom of the trap. All he saw were a pair of blue-black shoes. “I would say someone who was stupid enough to get caught by the trap,” he replied sagely.

Nall shot him a really dark look before returning his attention to the trap. “Ummm, what exactly are you doing?” he asked bluntly.

The answer came rather quickly, and with a side order of arrogance, and tinged with desperation. “What does it look like I’m doing, peasant?!”

“Hmm…being caught in a trap, and you can’t escape,” Tai answered bluntly. Gatomon just looked at the trap, a little annoyed.

The voice deemed it not necessary to reply. Instead, he ordered, “I order you to release me from this contraption immediately!”

Everyone stared at the trap. “Pretty pushy, don’t ya think?” Palmon asked.

Nall looked over at Alex. “He sounds pretty rude Alex. What are we gonna do?”

“I say we leave him here,” Ramus replied, sounding particularly certain. “He isn’t hurt, and I’m sure that he’ll get out of this…eventually.”

“Okay. All in favor?” Tai’s, Matt’s, Ramus’s, Agumon’s, Gabumon’s, Nall’s, and Gomamon’s hands or paws shot up into the air. “All right,” Alex said. “Luna?”

Luna looked rather tempted to go through with it, but then shook her head negatively. “While I’m tempted to agree, I think we should help him. After all, Laike didn’t desert us when we needed his help…”

Alex was torn, but he eventually sighed. “I guess you’re right,” he groaned, moving over to the trap. “Tai, Izzy, Ramus, would you assist me?” Tai and Izzy nodded, and moved into positions for optimum lifting. Ramus just moved into position.“Ready and…/heave!/”

With a little bit of effort, as well as being unaware of the love-struck eyes of Sora, Mimi and Luna, moved the shell off of the trapped one, dropping it about several feet from its former location. Then they waited, breathing slightly deeper, the only sign that they had exerted themselves.

The young man slowly stood up after a few moments when he realized that the sky was now open for him to see. He looked around, and satisfied, grinned. He pulled out a comb from out of his robes, and twirled around in his fingers for a few seconds before running it through his hair.

He deposited it back into his robes before even acknowledging his saviors. “Hey there kiddies!” he said in greeting. “My name is Nash. I’m a level three apprentice from the magic city of Vane that floats around the Goddess Tower.” He gave them atwo finger salute. “The area around the Old Sea Hag’s house can be a little tricky, so be sure to watch your step around here, okay?”

The Digi-Destined looked at one another, then at Nash, then back at each other again. “Is this guy for real?” Agumon asked. Tai shrugged.

“I think he wants us to believe that he is an impressive individual.” Gabumon ruffled his fur in indignation. “Something that’s not going to happen for a while.”

Nall was understandably, and predictably, annoyed. “What are you saying? You’re the one who was trapped, not us!” he snapped. “And would it kill you to let a ‘thanks’ pass your lips?”

“Yes,” Palmon threw in. “Would hurt you to be humble as well?”

Nash laughed. “Who, me?” he asked. “I’m in the third rank of the Magic Guild…and the best magician in my class.” He would have gone on about himself, but something seemed to make contact with his brain, and he swiveled his head in Nall’s direction. “How dare you say I was trapped when Iwas just…uh… When I was just investigating how this silly contraption was made!”

Palmon just smirked. “Yeah, and how were you going to get out? Nudge it to death?”

“This is why I hate leaving the city,” Nash practically roared, glaring at the cactus Digimon. “You country folk don’t have any manners!”

Nall was getting angrier as Palmon stood there, her mouth hanging open in shock. “You’ve been yelling at us since we got you out of that trap, and we don’t have any manners?”

Palmon had finally closed her mouth, and was currently being held back by Agumon and Tai, both who were actually exerting effort. “No Palmon!” Tai grunted. “He isn’t worth it!” He was surprised that Palmon was this angry, a feat that not even Myotismon had accomplish.

Izzy, understandably, was much calmer than the rest of them. “Mister Nash,” he addressed their new acquaintance. “We were under the impression that you were in an uncomfortable position, and we resolved to help you out of that situation.”

Nash was a little bit surprised at this calm statement. “Oh,” was all he managed to get out. His ire was cooling down, so he asked.“So, what are your names?” with a little respect in his tone.

‘Now that the magician’s calm.’ “Hello Nash,” Luna began, trying to do this properly. “My name is Luna. We are all travelers from the village of Burg. These are my friends.” She pointed to each one in turn, “Alex, Ramus, Nall, Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, Joe, T.K., Kari, Agumon, Gabumon, Biyomon, Tentomon, Palmon, Gomamon, Patamon, and Gatomon.” She took adeep breath. “Try saying that five times fast.”

Nash looked slightly dazed by the name overload. “I’d rather not,” was all he said on the matter. He turned to the Digimon.“Why do you all have ‘mon’ at the end of your names?”

“It’s short for monsters,” Biyomon explained cheerfully.

“Ah.” Nash filed it away in his ‘Ask again later when I /don’t/think they’re off their rockers.’

Luna pressed on, hoping to nip this confusing time in the bud. “Are you going to the Old Woman’s house?” A nod answered her question. “You should join us. It would be much safer for us to travel together.” She looked over her shoulder, and decided to ignore Tai and Agumon’s frantic negative hand signals. “What do you think, Alex?” she asked sweetly.

Matt observed Alex’s expression shift a little. “She’s got him pretty much wrapped around her finger,” he muttered.

“I can agree with you on that,” Nall muttered back.

Alex sighed again, knowing that he had lost before he had even realized that a decision had to be made. “Well, I don’t like the idea…and for obvious reasons, but you’re right Luna. It would be much safer if we were to go together as a group. What do you say, Nash?”

If anything, Nash looked even more confused. “Go with you…?” he asked, thoughtful. No one had ever asked him to join them before.“Well, protecting beautiful women and simpletons is the duty of every Guild member.” He made his decision, his smile in full force. “All right. I will travel to the Old Sea Hags house with you. I just hope you all appreciate my exceedingly good gesture!”

“Oooh…I think I’m going to have a headache,” Ramus moaned.

“I think Nash is a headache,” Nall grumbled.

“Ditto,” Patamon added, looking like a storm cloud.

Izzy consulted his computer, if for no other reason than not to look at their newest companion. “I believe that her house is to our north,” he finally said.

“Well, we better get going then. This fortune cane is burning a hole in my backpack,” Tai said, releasing his grip on Palmon. “Don’t attack him…yet.”

As they began walking, Nash asked, “You said you were from Burg, didn’t you?” Luna nodded. “I heard that a girl with a beautiful singing voice lives there…do you know her? I mean, what I said about her is wondrous.”

Nall looked surprised. “I know that Luna is really good, but I don’t really know about wondrous,” he stated skeptically.

“You’re the singing princess of Burg?” Nash slowly smiled, one laced with admiration and respect. “I would love to here you sing sometime, Luna.”

“Well…” Luna thought about it, then nodded her head. “All right…”

“All right! I’ll hold you to that.” Nash immediately turned his attention back to the task at hand. “Let’s go have aword with this Old Hag!”

Nall sneered. “Who put you in charge, buster?” he growled. “Alex, this guy bugs me… a lot!”

Alex nodded sympathetically. “He bugs me too, Nall,” he told him soothingly. “But what can you do about that?”
“Kill him, and make sure his body is never found,” Tai’s suggestion earned him grunts of approval from the boys, with the exception of Izzy and T.K., and earning stares of disapproval from the ladies. “What?” he asked blankly.

Kari groaned, already not liking this. “Oh brother. This is going to be a long trip.”

----

The Old Ladies house was an average house in every sense. It was also something of a fixer-upper.

“What did she make this thing out of,” Gatomon asked. “Clay and bearskins?”

“I think the consensus is sticks and stones,” Sora answered.

“Actually, you’re both right.” Izzy scanned the structure. “I think it’s a hodge podge of everything you have said. And it’s been that way for years. The door is okay though. It’s just wood.”

“Is that house even sanitary?” Joe asked, looking green around the gills.

“I don’t think so Joe,” Gomamon answered.

“All right, then. Let’s get this over with.” Alex walked over and knocked. He stepped back quickly, not wanting to touch it for any longer than necessary.

For a moment, they heard nothing. All was quiet within the building.

On the moment he had decided to try again, they heard feet shuffling across a wooden floor, and someone muttering within. Straining his ears slightly, he tried to make out what that muttering was.

“On the pricking of my thumb, something tasty comes…” The door opened to reveal the occupant of the house. She blinked her wrinkled eyes at seeing them. “Uh…erm,” was all she managed to get out for a few moments as she gawked at them.

“Uh…hello?” Sora said questionably.

That seemed to snap the old woman out of it. “Hello, children!” she exclaimed, eyeing them hungrily. “Don’t you look delicious…er, delightful.”

Tai looked a little uneasy. “This suddenly doesn’t seem like a good idea anymore,” he muttered to Joe.

Joe nodded, looking rather green himself. “I’ll have to agree with you on that.”

The woman looked at each and every single one of them in turn. “What is your business with me?”

Izzy quickly stepped forward, as the old woman had just given Mimi a look over. “We came to ask you if you wanted to trade for the Sea Chart,” he immediately stated, drawing her attention away. We need to get it back to the Captain of the /Hispaniola/.”

“You want the Sea Chart?” the woman murmured, looking thoughtful. She got a faraway look in her eyes, her ancient eyebrows knitting together at the center of her head. “Well…Since I assume that you won’t part with your tasty little pets…” the Digimon and Nall threw particularly dirty looks at her, which she ignored, “Will you trade me the Water Cane?” she finished.

Izzy’s mind went blank. “Could you excuse me for a second?” he asked, heading to the rear of the group. Once he was out of sight, he pulled his laptop out of his sack and turned it on. “Maybe it’ll be on file. What is a Water Cane?” he typed into the computer. He got an answer

Water Cane: Amagically charmed object that is created for use by those who are magically gifted. Creates a sphere of water that can be used to attack any monster anywhere in range. Is primarily used against earth and fire resistant creatures.

“And there’s a picture,” Izzy muttered to himself, looking up. His glance passed by Nash, and he saw that Nash was carrying something in his sack. “And Nash has got one.”

Nash looked at him, catching the look that Izzy was throwing him. “What is it?” he asked, having a sinking sensation in his gut.

Izzy walked over to him. “We need that Sea Chart, and she’s willing to give it to us, but only if we trade her a Water Cane. You have a Water Cane.”

“Yes I know this. What’s your point?” Nash asked impatiently, the knot in his gut tightening.

Izzy took a deep breath. “Could you trade with her?” he asked hesitantly. “We really need that map.”

“What?” Nash couldn’t believe it. “I was given the cane by Ghaleon before I left Vane!” he shouted, not even paying attention to the others. “I’m not about to exchange it with a warty old hag for some crummy old map!”

“And here we go,” Agumon muttered, shooting a glance in Biyomon’s direction. She nodded.

The Old Woman’s wrinkled and lined face started to redden.“Warty…Old…Hag?” she started to snarl.

Sora and Ramus each grabbed the magician by a shoulder. “Could you excuse us for a moment? Thanks,” Ramus said sweetly, as he and the keeper of Love dragged Nash back to Tai and the rest of them.

Nall watched them as they did so. He didn’t really feel any compassion for the young magician, considering how arrogant he was to everyone else, but that did nothing to solve their immediate problem.“We really need that Sea Chart, Alex. What do we do?”

“We could always knock Nash out…but that wouldn’t be right,” Alex added hastily, as Luna was getting ready to give him her patented evil eye.

Luna dropped the gaze, smiling gently. “Would you like me to talk to him?” she asked. “Nash seems to be fond of me…”

Ramus looked affronted. “No way, Alex!” he exclaimed, drawing strange looks from everyone else. “The only thing this egomaniac understands is tough talk.”

Alex and Tai stared at him. “And you would be the expert on that?” Tai asked sarcastically.

Alex thought about it, before gesturing in Nash’s direction.“Well…if you think you can do it Ramus feel free to do it. Though I doubt you’ll succeed…”

Ramus grinned. “Watch and learn, Alex.” He made his way over to where Nash was standing. “Hey, Nash…”

Alex noted that as the two spoke, Nash seemed to become more agitated with each word that. Finally, he said something back that made Ramus suddenly stop and stare in shock. He turned around and walk back to Alex sullenly.

Alex smirked. “So, what have we learned?” he asked teasingly.

Ramus simply glared at him. “He’s worse than I am on any given day. Talk about being as stubborn as an ox.”

Tai turned to Luna. “Well, looks like we’re doing it your way.” He sighed. “May God have mercy on your soul.”

“Thank you for the reassurance.” Luna looked a little nervous as she walked over to their newest irritant. “Nash…” she began, “without the Sea Chart, we can’t sail to Meribia, and we desperately need to go.” Her gaze became pleading, and she gave him a soulful look. “I’m begging you…please…will you trade your cane for the Sea Chart?”

Nash was speechless, his mouth hanging open like a baby’s. He couldn’t believe that she was asking him.

Nall noticed that his jaw was hanging, and shouted, unable to resist, “Hey Nash! Need some help picking your jaw off the floor?”

“I…uh…well.” Nash couldn’t articulate any form of speech. He was still in shock. However, little by little, his prideful smile came back into play. “Luna, there’s no way I can turn down a woman as beautiful as you.” He turned to the old woman. “Her you go,” he said, giving her the Water Cane. “And my apologies for calling you warty.”

The Old Woman smiled. “Don’t worry about it. You were nicer than a lot of others.” She motioned to them to come in. They did so, waiting in the main room. The woman went into the next room, saying, “I’ll be back in a moment,” over her shoulder.

As they waited, the Digi-Destined looked around them, seeing the insides for the first time. It was considerably better maintained than the exterior. “It looks like our living room,” Kari commented.

“It looks like Mister Endyimon’s apartment,” Izzy mentioned.

Tentomon turned to look at him. “Mr. Endyimon?”

“Oh, he’s a friend of my family. He and I are both orphans, as we both lost our parents at a young age. He’s really the only one who I could relate to…until I met you guys.”

“Oh.” Mimi thought for a moment. “Now that you mention it, I know Darien too. My Dad taught him everything he needed to know about the stock market. He taught me about modeling on his spare time.”

Izzy looked amazed. “And here I thought I knew you, Mimi. I thought you were going to be a scientist.”

Palmon watched as Mimi’s eyes crimp at the mild banter, as if it had struck a chord deep within her. ‘Interesting,’ she thought. ‘I figured Mimi would wince at something that involved using her brains. Instead, she looks…so sad. Why?’

Izzy had seen the change in Mimi too, and was about to ask about it, when the old woman’s voice suddenly exclaimed, “Found it!” His attention snapped back to the door, just as the woman came out, carrying a somewhat yellowed parchment. “Here’s the Sea Chart kiddies,” she said, giving it to them. Tai took it, putting it in his sack.

Kari bowed. “Thank you, miss,” she said.

“Don’t mention it, kiddies.” She escorted them back to the door, waving to them. “Good bye kiddies!”

“Bye!” was roughly what twenty-one voices said as they returned the wave. Their goal had been achieved, and with no blood spilt.

“You know,” Matt noted as they walked back to the forest entrance,“She was actually a very nice lady. A little weird, but nice.”

Gabumon grinned. “You’re right. We did get the Sea Chart, and made a new acquaintance. All in all, a very good day.”

They entered the clearing, all feeling happier about the world in general. As they passed the traps again though, Izzy and Mimi detached from the group and began looking one again.

Nall flew over to them, confused as anyone could ever be. “What in the name of the Goddess are you two doing?” he asked.

Izzy looked up. “I’m trying to see what the bait is,” he said before looking at Mimi. “What are you doing, Mimi?”

Mimi blushed a little.“Just…curious myself.” Then, “It’s fruit!”

“Huh?” Nall flew in closer, saw what it was, and laughed. “All that’s in this trap is a banana…still hungry, Nash?”

Nash glared a Nall. “Are you talking?” he asked scathingly.

“I think that’s a yes.”

----

The sun was just starting to set in the sky as the Digi-Destined and adventurers walked out the forest, spirits up for the first time in two weeks. Practically all of them were smiling, except for one. And that was for one very obvious reason.

“Phew!Talk about a long day!” Palmon exclaimed, shaking one of her feet. “I think my roots are starting to grow toes now!”

Gomamon looked at her, grinning. “You say it like it’s a bad thing,” he stated casually. He received a glare from her in return. “Sorry! Geez, you people have no sense of humor! Did any of you note the fact that I was joking?!”
“We did. We just didn’t find it funny. Actually… we don’t find any of your jokes funny,” Agumon replied, revealing something that the others had been hiding from him since day one. “Your sense of humor is atrocious.”

Gomamon looked affronted.

“…And don’t ever do that again!” Nash’s voice roared, which was immediately followed by Nall’s voice saying, “Oh, what, this?”snidely.

Izzy and Ramus looked at one other, then at the two of them. “They’re worse than we are,” Izzy commented.

Ramus nodded. “And far more dangerous. I mean, with the exception of that first time, we’re not at each others throats.”

Tai, however, was just a tad bit more annoyed, and he wasn’t beyond letting it show. “Knock it off, you /baka/,” he snapped, “before I knock both of you…and I apologize in advance, Sora…on your damn asses!”

His threat brought the two in question to a dead halt, staring at him in shock.

“Now then,” Tai continued on, quieter now that he had their attention, “let’s continue on until sunset. Is that all right with all of you?” Everyone nodded. “Good. Nash, you do have a bed roll, don’t you?”

Nash patted his shoulder bag. “Right here,” he elaborated, sounding like he would have to be an idiot to forget.

“Good boy. We’ll have to keep you around then. Let’s get moving. The sooner we get away from this forest, the sooner we can actually have dinner.”

Agumon came over to Palmon and bent down. “Here, you can ride on my back for a while.”

Palmon, astounded, blushed. “S-Sure.” She mentally kicked herself. ‘Get a grip girl!’ she scolded herself.‘He’s just helping you out! He didn’t mean anything by it!’

The group walked on, Agumon carrying Palmon on his back for about half an hour and T.K. and Kari talking about something. Nall and Nash were staying as far away from each other as humanly possible, and Izzy and Luna discussed Earth and Lunarian chemistry. Science, not interpersonal relationships. They were /not /going there.

Mimi, which was quickly becoming the norm for her, was not complaining about her. What /was /odd for her though, was the fact that she was rummaging through her small purse, muttering, “Where is it?” quietly to herself.

T.K. heard this though, and wondered what she was looking for. He didn’t inquire though, instead saying to Kari, “Could you excuse me for asecond?” before walking a little faster, heading in Tai’s direction.

“Where’s he going?” Patamon asked, confused.

Gatomon shrugged. “Over to Tai. Now then…”

----

They set up camp, three hours after they had left. Tai and Alex immediately handed out duty assignments, and the group broke off to do their jobs. Joe, Gomamon, and Ramus were responsible for getting the tent out and setting it up for the night. Izzy, Tentomon, and Nash were given the task of getting their bedrolls set up. Mimi, Sora, and Luna went to get firewood. Kari, Gatomon, Biyomon and Palmon were told to get plates and eating utensils out, a fact that was confusing until they realized that Nall was carrying more than just recuperative items. Why, they didn’t know, but they weren’t going to ask.

T.K., Patamon, Tai and Agumon, after the girls had obtained enough wood, went through the process of making a fire for Matt and Gabumon to cook upon. It was upon this time that Agumon noticed something was bugging Tai. “Tai, you seem distracted. Is there something wrong?”
Tai was silent for a few moments more. He was contemplating whether or not to answer, but decided that if they couldn’t give him advice, then no one could. “Well, we’ve been here for about a month,” he began. “We’ve pretty much beaten some pretty big odds, met a giant dragon with the personality of…well, Kari, met a man who is a superb swordsman, and, oh yeah, beat a conman at his own game and recovered a Sea Chart.”

“What’s your point, Tai?” Patamon asked.

“In that month, none of you have been able to digivolve. It makes me feel like I’ve been doing something wrong, that there’s something I haven’t been doing. I feel like…I’ve failed you guys.”

Agumon looked rather touched. He put a hand on Tai’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it,” he said optimistically. “Remember what Izzy said? It’ll take time for our bodies to become accustomed to this place so we can digivolve. And I’m not worried. When we work together as a team, we’re actually very hard to beat.”

Tai looked at him. “But what if we meet someone who can beat you?What then?”

Patamon spoke up. “Then we’ll do our best.” He grinned.“After all, we didn’t beat Apoclamon by giving up, now did we?”

“They’re right, Tai,” T.K. added, grinning. “We didn’t get to be where we are by running scared. We got there by standing our ground and not giving up. We’ll find a way.”

Tai finally managed to smile a little himself. “Okay guys. I’ll worry about something else. Like you and Kari. I mean, what’s going on with you two? It still can’t be the dreams, can it?”

T.K. became serious, the look of an older and wiser man shining through his eyes. “We just saw something in Saith that stumped us, Tai. We’ve been trying to make sense of it ever since we left there. And we don’t want to tell you guys until we do.”

“It’s not just you two.” His attention shifted to the two Digimon. “You and Gatomon are acting weird, too. What was it that you guys saw in Saith that’s become your favorite topic of discussion?”

T.K. and Patamon looked around for a moment, as if afraid someone would overhear them. “Your sister and Gatomon might have our heads for this, but I guess we can tell you, but only if you promise not to tell anyone else, not even my brother.”

“Okay.…So, what is the big secret?”

T.K. took a deep breath. “We saw a picture of a group at one of the stands. All of them looked very familiar to us, and it’s been something that we’ve been trying to figure out ever since. Two of them looked like Angemon and Angewomon, and two of them looked like older versions of me and Kari.” He took another deep breath. “We’ve also had visions. We know their names were Takeru and Hikari. My full name is Takeru.”

“And Kari’s full name is Hikari,” Agumon continued, now understanding what they were telling them. “This effectively means that we have an even bigger mystery than before.”

“And I’m getting the feeling that your dreams are connected to this somehow,” Tai added, stepping away from the fire.

T.K. would have continued the conversation on, but Matt chose that moment to walk up to them. “If you’ve got the fire going, I’ll make the rest of dinner,” he said, telling them subtly to get something to eat and get away from the fire so he could cook aculinary masterpiece. Or camping version of one.

“Okay. What’s for dinner anyways?” Tai asked.

“Hamburgers,” was the answer as Matt got a few packages of beef out of the food bag. “Also, fruit salad. Speaking of which, you better go get some before Ramus eats it all.”

Tai sighed. “You’re right, as usual.” He began walking over to where the salad was, the others not far behind him.

T.K. walked up next to the keeper of courage. “I’m gonna tell Kari and Gatomon that you know now,” he said quietly before detaching and heading to where Kari and Gatomon were, waiting for them with food.

Tai and Agumon continued to walk where the salad was, only to find Izzy and Tentomon guarding it against a hungry Ramus. “Let everyone else have some first, Ramus!” Izzy was saying. “Otherwise, I’ll let Tentomon electrocute you into oblivion!”

Agumon stepped up next. “And I’ll fry your sorry carcass if you don’t move right now!” he roared, letting Ramus know that he and Tai were hungry and ready to hurt anyone that got in their way. Ramus backed off immediately. “Thank you.”

“Nice work, Agumon. Don’t ever do that again.”

“You got it, Tai.”

----

Kari stared at T.K. like he had grown a second head. “Why?” she asked, stunned.

T.K. sighed. “Because he was worried, and he was becoming extremely agitated as well,” he replied. “Also, I made him and Agumon promise not to tell anyone. He deserved to know, that’s all.”

Gatomon took another bite of fruit salad. “While I don’t think you should have done it without all of us agreeing to it, Tai wasgetting agitated. And an agitated Tai is a Tai to avoid at all costs.”

“Agreed.” Patamon set his plate down. “I wonder if Matt’s done with those Hamburgers yet, because I think Ramus just finished off the salad.”

Kari looked at the man in question. “I’m actually surprised that he isn’t bigger,” she observed. “He eats enough for four people.”

T.K. nodded in agreement.

----

The next several days were pretty much the same as that one. With the addition of Nash into the group, Izzy and Ramus reached an unspoken agreement to shelve their discussions for the duration, instead joining forces to make sure that Nall and Nash maintained a cordial relationship with each other. In essence, they were trying to make into friends.

They would have had better luck with convincing Piedmon to become a good guy. Nall was simply too stubborn, and Nash was too arrogant. Avolatile combination in the best of times, and definitely not something that the others appreciated a great deal, as it grated on their nerves, and their tempers, every day.

When they were a day away from Saith, Tai finally put his foot down, and told them in no uncertain terms, /again, /that if they didn’t stop, he was going to hurt them, very, very badly. They stopped after that, though the cease fire would only last so long.

Finally, they entered Saith the next day, slightly wetter than they had been the day before. “A light drizzle, eh Luna?” Agumon grumbled, looking at Luna. That was the last time he ever listened to someone other than Gatomon. The furball had been right on the money.

He blinked when he saw that she wasn’t paying attention. “Uh…Earth to Luna.”

Luna blinked, turning her gaze to the digimon. “Oh come on,” she replied, “It could‘ve been worse.” She turned her attention back to the town. “I wonder what everybody is doing? They all look so busy.”

Mimi looked around. “You’re right. They look very busy. They’re moving a lot of the crates.”

“I bet they’re trying to finish their work before dinner,” Nall looked proud of himself. “Hey, that sounded down right sensible.”

“Umm… that reminds me, when do we eat?” Ramus asked.

Tai groaned. He knew kids fatter than Ramus who ate less than him. “Is that all you think of?” he dug into his backpack, pulling out apack of beef jerky and tossed it to the pudgy boy. “Here, chew on this.”

Sora tracked the crowd’s movements. “Wait a minute,” she muttered, seeing something that wasn’t right. “Hey, guys!It looks like the crowd’s moving towards the entrance. They’re moving awfully fast to just be doing their jobs. And they‘re all coming from the general direction of the harbor.” She got afunny feeling in her gut. “I think something’s up.”

Agumon stared at the crowd, too. “You’re right, Sora.” He began walking in the general direction of the harbor. “Let’s go see what’s going on.”

Tai immediately moved as well, grabbing Agumon by the scruff of his neck.“Whoa there, buddy!” he exclaimed, remembering that monsters were destroyed if they were found without a human next to them. “You can’t walk of by yourself in this town. You’d have a giant bull’s eye on your chest!”

“Tai’s right.” Patamon landed on T.K.’s head. “Remember, we’re basically monsters with manners and the ability to figure out the concepts of right and wrong. We would be target practice for someone with the proverbial itchy trigger finger.”

“So what else is new?” Gomamon asked sarcastically. “We’re/always/ target practice for something or other. I’m really not worried.”

Tai didn’t look even the least bit mollified. “How about you and me go together Agumon? That way, your life is not in danger when it‘s actually avoidable, and we can learn something.” He turned around to the others. “I want you guys to stay outside the harbor building. If there’s something that needs to be dealt with, then you’ll be in shouting distance. But let’s not overload the poor harbormaster’s mind.”

“How about we stop by the statue first?” T.K. asked. “Because I’m feeling sore.”

Agreeing to that, they began pushing their way through the massive crowd, trying to get to their first target. As they moved though, Agumon noticed that the crowd seemed to be thinning. When they reached the statue, the crowd had almost disappeared. And it was still moving to the edge of town. “What the hell is going on around here?” he asked as he put his hand on the side of the statue, feeling his bruises fade away in a pale green glow. “It’s like they’re running from something.”

Tai backed away from the Statue, noting absently that he was next to Sora. “I guess we’re going to find out in a few minutes.” He turned to pierce Nash with a glare. “And we are not going to show off our ’superiority’ in this detail. Is that okay with you?”

Nash looked rather annoyed. “Now look, peasant,” he growled.“I don’t have to show off how superior I am. Everyone knows that I am superior”

“Then keep your mouth shut,” Patamon growled back, now becoming seriously angered.

“Kill each other later,” Tai told them, nipping the problem in the bud. “In the meantime, let’s get going.” With that, he and Agumon began to head in the direction of the harbor. Everyone else followed, like a school of fish.

----

The port was almost deserted now, with only a few people hastily moving cargo to primitive looking carts, and pushing them out of the port.

“What the Hell…those are tools that the port usually has!” Nash exclaimed. “Why are they moving them?”

Gatomon suddenly cupped one of her ears, listening hard. “Hey, do you hear that?”

“What?” T.K. listened long and hard. He definitely heard something, and it confused him. “What the…slurping?”

Joe shuddered. “Well, it’s confirmed. Now I’m worried. Unless Gomamon is eating something that I don’t know about, Ithink something’s in the docks.”

“And thankfully, I’m not, because I’m hearing it too.” Gomamon looked sick. “I thought I slurped loudly.”

Tai looked at him. “You slurp?” he asked.

Alex interrupted the resultant conversation before it could begin. “Let’s press on. Some things we shouldn’t have to hear.”

They entered the building, immediately observing how much it changed. Before, it was full of people trying to push their way to the desk. Now, only two people were in there, and they weren’t moving one inch. Their eyes were opened real wide, and they were staring at something beyond the wall.

Biyomon flew over to where they were, observing them. “They’re in shock,” she reported, confused. “It’s like they’ve seen something so terrifying that they couldn’t handle it.”

T.K. looked around. “We need to find someone who can tell us what’s going on around here. Now where to find someone.”

As he said this several people ran by, all of them panicking, and blubbering. They were wearing what looked to be some kind of uniform. They weren’t slowing down though, and it became apparent they were running for their lives.

Agumon barely managed to get out of the way, saving his toes in the process.“What the hell is going on around here?” he asked once again, now seriously worried.

Izzy stared out after them. “They appear to be running for their lives,” he observed.

“Very astute,” Ramus rumbled.

Nash continued to watch them as they receded into the distance. “I think the question here is, why are they running?” He got avery important look in his eyes. “And I’m going to find out. I will be right back.”

Matt immediately grabbed the scruff of Nash’s collar, stopping him before he had gotten too far. “Whoa there, Sherlock. If we let you go, then we’ll never find out what they’re running from. How about we let Tai and Agumon find out what we need to know?”

“I’ll go too,” T.K. suddenly blurted out, walking through the port door.

Tai looked at them. “If a problem arises, I’ll send Patamon to get you guys. No problem.”

Joe gave him a pitying look. “Every time you say that, it does become a problem. So stop saying it.”

Tai gave him a really dark look as he, Agumon, and Patamon followed T.K. in.

Nash looked at the spots they once occupied. “Why is it, you allow achild who is younger than the majority of you go into potentially dangerous situations?” he asked.

Matt looked at him. “Because he knows how to defend himself, that’s why.” He turned to stare at one of the remaining crates. “I just hope it’s not too serious.”

Joe groaned. “Don’t pin your hopes on it.”

----

“Get everybody in here,” Tai grumbled, unable to believe their bad luck. “We’ve just experienced a change in fortune.” And as Patamon flew back to get the others, he reflected upon that change of fortune. This was a very annoying situation that they were in. And what’s worse, he had no idea what to do next.

He turned around when he heard the door open, and the others entered.“Joe,” he began immediately. “I’m going to stop saying that now.”

This confession did nothing to mollify Nash. If anything, he grew even smugger with that sentence. “You see? If you allowed me to question the crew, we wouldn’t have had to worry about being in the dark. Good decision there. Now we may never find out. If I had been in charge-”
Agumon’s temper finally snapped.“All right! That’s it!” he roared, turning around.“You have been nothing more than an asshole ever since we got you out of that trap, and I’m sick and tired of it! You think you’re better than everyone else? Get your fucking head out of the gutter right now, because the world does not kiss the damn ground you walk on!”

Everyone stared at Agumon in shock. Sora’s mouth was hanging open. The Digimon were in various poses of movement, and now were doing pretty decent miming positions. Ramus and Alex looked ready to bolt in terror. Luna and Mimi were like Izzy, just staring at him.

Nash, on the other hand, felt his own temper snap. “And you are aselfish little beast who doesn’t understand a damn thing about me, or what you are talking about! So how about you at least realize that I don’t listen to you, cretin! And, oh yes, I do knowthat I am better than you!”

“Why you-!” Agumon couldn’t finish the sentence, and instead prepared to shish-ka-bob Nash. Nash brought his hands together to begin summoning a spell. Tai started to move forward. Izzy was trying to be heard over the sudden commotion. Alex was trying to get in between the two combatants.Everything was spiraling out of control. None of them knew who was going to strike the first blow, or when.

Fortunately, it never came to that.

The second Agumon was ready to flambé Nash, a growl emanated from a far corner of the room, surprising everybody out of the tense situation that had formed. They turned around to see…

“Guys. It’s the captain of the /Hispaniola/!” Luna exclaimed.

“He’s here still?” Nash asked.

Biyomon nodded, nonplussed. “Guess he has a stouter heart than most.”

“And probably a much more humble demeanor,” Agumon said snidely, turning his gaze to Nash.

Tai started checking the inside of his backpack, giving a series of grunts, before finally pulling out the Sea Chart in triumph. Walking over to the captain, he said, “I think this belongs to you.”

The Captain looked at the Sea Chart with a look that one would reserve for family. “Ya brought the Sea Chart!” he roared, relieved, though there was an underlying sense of…fear to it. He didn’t give Tai a hug, though that’s what he wanted to do.

“Glad to be of help. So can the Hispaniola set sail soon? We really need to get to Meribia.”

At that, the Captain’s fear intensified. “I’m grateful ta the lot of ya…”

“But…?” Agumon asked impatiently, needing clarification.

“… But me ship’s is bein’ devoured by a wretched beast from the hellish depths!”

Now he had everyone’s complete attention. “That’s terrible!” Sora exclaimed. “What could have made it come after your ship?”

The Captain thought about it for a moment. “It musta been all the fish in me cargo bay.”

Gatomon and Nall perked up almost immediately. “Fish? Did you say fish?” they asked simultaneously. Kari and Alex face- faulted in surprise.

Another growl emanated from the bearded one. “Yes,” he replied, somewhat surprised by the question.

Nall turned to face Alex, fear now showing on his face. “Guys, we have to help this guy!”

“Yeah!” Gatomon piped up. “All that fish is in danger! We have to save them!”
Kari looked at her Digimon friend. “You scare me sometimes, Gatomon But we should help him. It’s the right thing to do.” She looked to her brother. “What do you think, Tai?”

Tai gave some thought to it, but his decision was never in doubt. “You’re right, Kari. It is the right thing to do.” He turned to the Captain. “Maybe we can help you deal with it.”

The Captain stopped in mid growl, so great his surprise. He stared at Tai like a man who had been told he was going to survive cancer. “Are ya offering ta slay the monster for me?” he asked hopefully.

Alex stepped forward. “Yes, if you let us. After all, we need to get to Meribia, and you need your ship. Now, if you want our help, please escort us to your ship.”

The Captain growled, this time one that conveyed his relief. “Bless ya kids! Walk this way to me ship! And watch your step!”

Following the Captain through the door, the group entered the docking zone of the harbor, all scanning their surroundings. Along the way, they noticed that there were very few people here, mostly crewmen too frightened to move.

Then they took one good look at the /Hispaniola/, saw the reason why.

“Ewww! That’s one ugly creep!” Mimi shrieked, trying to keep the smell from getting into her nose. This time, she didn’t have to fake it one bit.

Izzy gave a much more clinical description about what they were seeing.“It looks like across between an octopus and a jelly-fish.” What he thought about the creature though, was something that he didn’t care to say in front of everyone else.

“Izzy, what are you talking about?! That thing is a giant walking turd!” Matt exclaimed, looking sick.

“Thanks for the mental image, Matt,” Gabumon grumbled.

T.K. took a look around. “Where’s the rest of your crew?”

His question was answered, not with words, but with the sudden appearance of more of the crew in question, catching their breath. “Run while you still can Captain!” one of them gasped before running again.

“Captain!” another gasped out. “We all tried to attack the monster, but it was no use…he just ate all of our weapons!” He took alook behind him. “I let the deckhands retreat until we figure out what to do…uh, what/ are/ we going to do, Captain?”

Before the Captain answered, another crewmember ran up. “Captain, the monster’s eating right through the hull! Let’s get out of here before he starts looking for desert!”

Yet another crewman joined them. “Captain, don’t think any less of me, but… /run/!” All three of his subordinates then turned tail and ran like wet dogs. Not that anyone could blame them.

The Captain growled again. “My crew’s a blasted bunch of lily-livered cowards!” he declared. “Ta think I let those scurvy dogs sail with me!” He suddenly shifted his gaze to them. “Ya kids aren’t scared though, and that’s why I’m gonna let ye handle this on yer own!” And with one last growl, he turned tail and ran like the grim reaper was after him.

The adventurers watched them run back into the harbor building. “The only time I had ever seen anyone run like that,” Matt observed,“was when I saw a girl with a strange hair style and her cat run at mach three down the sidewalk. Why, I’ll never know.”

Izzy began analyzing the monster with his computer. He frowned. “The scanning program is taking longer than necessary to get an identification on it. Maybe the monster is of a rarer variety…”

“…And while you’re analyzing it,” Tentomon snapped, “That thing is gobbling up the rest of the ship! We have to take it out now!”

“Hold it! I have a theory!” Izzy started to look at the top of his screen checking the selections. “Hmmm…file, edit, view, insert, format, tools…that’s what I need.” He clicked the tools button. What he was looking for was apparent by the commands displayed. “Monster, Digimon…Boss?” He clicked it…and instantly, the creature’s profile came on the screen.

Saline Slimer: Acreature from the darkest depths of the ocean that attacks ships laden with fish, and other aquatic delicacies. It strikes with jelly like hands, and is considered a danger to the sea-lanes. Its only weakness is that of electricity, but as of late, no form of magic has been able to penetrate the protective covering surrounding it. It also possesses the ability to regenerate any damage it sustains.

“Well, that explains that,” Izzy grumbled, putting his computer away, and notching an arrow into his bow. “I think it’s time to deal with it.”

“We are in complete agreement.” Tai looked at Nash. “Looks like you’ll be jolting something after all.”

Nash looked cautious, instead of his usual cocky expression. He was still confident, however. “A creature like that can be hurt by physical attacks, or skill attacks that rely on physical attributes,” he stated. “Also, fire attacks can burn away the outer shell, thereby allowing any magical attacks to get through. Like that thing said, it can regenerate, so it looks like we’re going to be at this for a while.”

Agumon looked confident himself. “Well then, it looks like I’m up to bat.” He started walking up the plank, his intent obvious. Every one else looked at his back, then shrugged and followed him.

Nall got a closer look of the Slimer as they approached, and almost flew backwards in revulsion. “/This/ is what has everybody running scared, Alex?” he asked incredulously. “Matt’s right, it’s a giant blue booger!”

“Yech!No wonder everybody is running!” Alex stated, looking nauseous. He shook it off, pulling his sword out of its scabbard. He needed to keep his mind focused on the objective.

“Oh well.” Nall shrugged, as only a creature in flight can do. Out of mind, out of body. “Let’s start picking!”

The Slimer apparently heard that little remark, because he slowly began turning around.

“Ummm, Nall,” T.K. began, getting a very bad feeling in his gut. “I think he heard you.”

The monster started to slowly ooze his way over to where they were standing, it’s intent pretty obvious. It was going to eat them for no other reason than they were there.

Immediately, Tai and T.K. split up, heading in opposite directions. The rest of them followed their example as they filed on their way on the ship. Their tactic was simple; Make it follow one of them, and the rest would attack while its back was turned.

Agumon, on the other hand, chose another approach. A strong and direct approach, in fact. “PEPPER BREATH!” he roared, releasing a sphere of fire at the Slimer.

The Slimer turned its head toward him, just in time in intercept it with his head. It disintegrated the portion of the bubble, leaving the head vulnerable for a second. Biyomon immediately took advantage of this by releasing a Spiral Twister at it. The Slimer gave a wince, at least they thought it was a wince, when the attack hit it, inflicting some damage.

“All right, Nash. You’re up!” Tai shouted.

Nash concentrated hard. “/Check this out/!” he finally roared. “/Thunder Bomb/!”

A yellowish sphere formed above the Saline’s head, gaining size with every second as electrons were collected. When it reached acertain size, a storm of lightning bolts rained down upon it, striking at the same spot Biyomon had. The Saline Slimer was soon obscured by a cloud of smoke.

Satisfied, the magician lowered his hands as the sphere finally used up the power it had stored. “There, that should take care of that,” he said.

Tai, who usually would be the first one to agree to that, took a closer look this time, as the cloud began to dissipate. He quickly backed up, his blade still up. “Uh…guys,” he began. “I think we’re going to do more than that!”

“Huh?” Nash looked back at the rapidly dissipating cloud…and promptly went pale with shock.

The Saline Slimer’s protective covering had fully regenerated, and was reflecting the majority of thunder bomb.

“Okay. That didn’t go as I had hoped,” Nash managed to say, taking a step back.

“Izzy, you said that the Slimer was vulnerable to electricity!” Agumon shouted.

Izzy looked at Agumon. “I was going to tell you guys, but you ran forward before I could. The Slimer cannot only regenerate his injuries, he can also regenerate his protective field. We’re going to have to burn all of it in order to have a shot of beating him!”

“Then we need a bigger fireball!” Agumon reared his head back.“PEPP-”

The Slimer, possessing just enough intelligence to know that the tasty looking orange thing was a threat, reared it’s own head back, then let loose a water loogy at Agumon. It hit, trapping the Digimon in a glue like prison. He struggled, to no avail. “I’m stuck!” he shouted.

Joe got Izzy’s computer out, and accessed it. “It looks like it has three attacks; your basic physical attack, an attack called gelatin breath, and a holding move called mucus.” He looked up in annoyance. “I think we know what mucus looks like.”

Now Tai got a little pale. “I think we’re in trouble,” he said, turning to Nash. “Do you know any fire magic?” Anegative shake of the head answered his question. “We’re in trouble.” He turned around. “All right, guys. Looks like we do this the old fashioned way!”

“Agreed!” Izzy, Luna, and Ramus pulled their bows back, and released their arrows at the Slimer. They all slammed into the side of the Slimer, not doing any significant damage, but getting the Slimer’s attention away from Agumon. “Okay, we just got its attention away from Agumon. Now we try to do enough damage so it’ll return to the sea!”

“Good idea, Izzy. BLUE BLASTER!” Gabumon released a stream of ice at the Slimer.

“BOOM BUBBLE!” Patamon unleashed his sphere bubble, adding his strength.

“SUPER SHOCKER!” Tentomon let loose a deluge of lightning.

“SPIRAL TWISTER!” Biyomon’s tornado attack spiraled through the air with one purpose.

“Thunder Bomb!” Nash let another sphere of lightning form above the Slimer. Again, lightning bolts flew from the sky.

All of these attacks collided with Saline Slimer’s protective bubble, where it was promptly deflected. They quickly ducked, barely escaping the power that flew above them. Gabumon got clipped by astray lightning bolt, which ended with his being thrown into the air. Their reflected powers hit the guardrails, smashing most of them. This pretty much annoyed the hell out of everyone else, but what happened next hanged all of that.

The Slimer retaliated with another sphere of water, this one slightly different in color and velocity. The reason for that though, became apparent when it slammed into its target.

Tentomon didn’t even have a chance to get out of the way. The sphere made contact with him…and exploded, blasting Tentomon right out of the air. His cry of pain was cut off as he sailed over the edge of the ship.

“Tentomon!” Izzy shouted, barely dodging a tentacle.

“MARCHING FISHES!” Gomamon shouted, already next to the rail. He had seen Tentomon get knocked overboard, so he was ready.

On his command, a large squad of colorful fishes rose from the water, forming a large makeshift raft. Tentomon fell on it, unconscious, but no longer in danger of drowning. Gomamon breathed a sigh of relief.“Finally, I did some good,” he stated.

Palmon let her vines shoot into the air, catching Gabumon in mid air. The furred digimon let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Palmon,” he called down. “Now throw me at him!”

“Not a good idea!” Agumon roared, still trying to break loose. He’s going to attack again!”
The Saline Slimer did just that, letting another water sphere soar through the air as he reformed his hand, and prepared to bring it down on Palmon. Mimi ducked as it flew overhead. Izzy turned around, notching his bow again as he did so, and released another arrow. Luna and Ramus also did so, trying to distract it.

“Explosion Staff!” Alex shouted, jumping in the air. As he began to fall, he began to concentrate on his objective; the hand of the Saline Slimer. Mystical energy began to gather on the blade, turning it bright red.

As the tip of blade came in contact, a fiery blast suddenly engulfed the hand, vaporizing it utterly. He continued his descent to the ground as the creature reeled back, its equilibrium disrupted by the sudden shift in its gravity.

Palmon threw Gabumon into the air, shooting her vines like a bunch of spears at the Slimer. Gabumon unleashed another Blue Blaster at the opening. Both connected, getting another wince out of the creature.

Tai and Matt ran forward, swords at the ready. And they used them to good advantage, slashing at the monster. Three more arrows from their resident archers, combined with those sword attacks, finally wrenched a cry of pain out of it. Unfortunately, the damage healed quickly before they could capitalize.

Gatomon began edging her way towards the Slimer’s rear, trying to get aclear path of attack. But she needed it to stop moving its overgrown head for a second.

“BOOM BUBBLE!” Patamon’s attack ricocheted off the Slimer, but it also forced it back several feet. ‘That is one tough mon,’ Gatomon thought. To make things better in her opinion, the Slimer was now in a still position. And she took it.

“LIGHTNING CLAW!”

Gatomon’s claws cut deep, doing far more damage in one attack than they did over the last few minutes of combat combined. And it had more of an effect as well, eliciting a scream of excruciating pain from the monster. ‘Somehow, I don’t think I should be able to do this much damage.’

The Slimer immediately reformed its hand, which it used to slap Gatomon away. All she felt was herself getting slapped by something wet, and then a sensation of flying through the air. She slammed into the main post at a decent speed.

The Slimer wasn’t done yet, though. It immediately threw its hand out in a grabbing motion, trying to catch one of the moving bugs. And its first target became obvious when its hand approached Sora. She let some Poison Darts loose, quickly realizing that they weren’t having any effect. As a last ditch effort, she pulled her helmet off, throwing that at the Slimer. The Slimer caught it, then popped into its mouth. She let out a sigh of relief as she quickly ran, but also felt some sadness as she watched the Slimer eat her helmet. She had had that helmet for several years.

She could worry about that later, as she saw the monster spit another sphere of the mucus at her. She could not move out of the way in time, and Biyomon would not be able to save her this time. She braced herself.

Suddenly, she felt herself being shoved out of the way by someone. A telltale set of goggles answered that it was. “/Tai!”/

Tai had begun moving almost immediately, not knowing if it was mucus or another Gelatin Breath. All he knew was that Sora was in trouble, and he had to protect her. However, it cost him, as the sphere soon had him in similar predicament as Agumon. He was out of the fight.

And then, it all became moot, as the Slimer was soon hitting every last one of them with Gelatin Breath’s and its hands, taking them out one at time. Kari was the only one to get out of way in time, but she soon tripped over a bunch of ropes, and fell down, losing her grip on her scepter.

Now that the threat was out of the way, the Saline Slimer could now go and pick and choose what delicacy it was going to eat next. His roving eyes laid themselves on the struggling form of Tai, licking its mouth in hunger. It started to move in his direction.

“Tai…” Sora mumbled weakly, struggling to get up. She watched helplessly as the creature picked Tai up, and slowly examined him, opening its mouth.

Agumon began struggling harder to break out of his mucus prison. “Come on, break damn it! /Break!/” he grunted.

Tai looked at his current predicament with a certain air of helplessness. Outside though, he was still struggling. He wasn’t going to go into the night without a fight. But he was out of time. ‘I am not going to give up! We can still win this!’ he thought viciously. He felt the Slimer’s grip tighten even more. It made him struggle harder.

The Slimer prepared to drop Tai into its maw…and Tai’s digivice activated almost immediately, sending a narrow beam of energy in Agumon’s direction.

And Agumon simply smiled. /‘I’m going to enjoy this,’/he thought, the mucus stretching beyond its limits.

AGUMON DIGI-VOLVE TO …GREYMON!

Ramus, who had managed to get his head up. For that reason, he was able to watch in shock as Agumon suddenly began changing. His height and mass increased, and his arms grew a tad more muscular. Blue stripes appeared on his back. His teeth grew more serrated, reminiscent of adragon. A skull mask descended, settling on top of his head. His tail stretched out, becoming longer, more flexible. His eyes though, remained the same, but with a hardcore look to them. “My god,” he gasped, “Mimi was telling the truth.”

Mimi only smiled, getting up herself, limping slightly as she removed an herb from her own backpack. “Told ya,” she said.

The Saline Slimer dropped Tai in surprise as it stared at this new threat. It didn’t see Tai hit the deck, run over to Sora, and pull her out of the way. Somehow, it knew that this creature would be considerably more difficult to defeat.

Greymon grinned,making his appear even more terrifying. “You want to eat Tai,” he growled, “you’re going to have to go through me.”

The Slimer growled as well, before hurtling its hand at Greymon. Its objective; to squash the rival predator like a bug.

Greymon’s claws sliced right through the watery hand, destroying it utterly. The remains of it splattered all over the injured Digi-Destined as the Slimer fell backwards again, trying to regain its equilibrium. It recovered faster this time though, and hurtled another gelatin breath at the orange lizard.

Greymon simply blew fire, disintegrating it with ease. He then used his tail like a club, slamming the boss into the main post. It slid to the ground, barely missing Gatomon as she staggered out from beneath it.

The impact however, also blew Tai over the edge of the boat. He flailed, fell over the edge…and was promptly caught, upside down, by abattered, but conscious, and extremely irate Tentomon.

“Thanks Tento!” Greymon called out, turning around to see the Slimer rise up. With something that probably was a roar, it charged towards him.

He had had enough of this thing, and he was going to end it now.

“NOVA BLAST!” A massive sphere of fire, more massive and ten times more powerful than the Pepper Breath attack, shot out of Greymon’s mouth, heading right at the Saline Slimer.

It didn’t even stand a chance.

The fireball impacted, engulfing the creature for a moment in fiery luminance before exploding. An unearthly shriek of pain rent through the air, making the entire town stop moving in surprise. They could see a massive blast of flame erupt up into the sky, like an omen.

Finally though, the inferno died down, and the cloud of smoke dissipated, allowing them all to get a closer look at the Slimer. What they saw was something truly satisfying; the Saline Slimer trying to get reorient itself. Then they saw something else that even more satisfying, as it brought with it a bulls-eye on the Slimer.

“The field! It’s gone!” Matt exclaimed.

“Attack!” Gabumon shouted.

Tai and Matt slashed at the Saline’s exposed head, causing it to roar in agony.

“LIGHTNING CLAW!”

“Sword Dance!”

“POISON IVY!”

Gatomon and Alex cut deep, moving out of the way as Palmon picked up the broken rail, and threw it into the Slimer’s side. Izzy and Luna let their arrows fly, hitting the creature’s backside. Another unearthly cry, this time of rage, filled the air. T.K. didn’t even worry about it, and simply used both of his hands in a clubbing blow, striking just underneath the creatures jaw. The Slimer flew into the air, screaming.

“BLUE BLASTER!”
“SUPER SHOCKER!”

“SPIRAL TWISTER!”
“BOOM BUBBLE!”

“Check this out! Thunder Bomb!”

“NOVA BLAST!”

The three attacks, all concentrated on singular target, collided with the Saline Slimer with explosive results. It was so bright that the team had to cover their eyes.

From out of the explosion, the battered husk of the Saline Slimer fell to the ground, hitting with enough force to almost crack the wood. It struggled to right itself. Its body was now an unrecognizable black, one of its eyes was swollen shut. It was definitely bleeding a pale green substance, and it was not healing at the same rate as it used.

Izzy noticed this. “It looks like all the cumulative damage is too much for it,” he said. “We got a chance to take it out.”

Kari looked at it for a moment, a thought nagging at her, something that was trying to make itself known, something…

She quickly realized what it was. “I think I know how we finish it off for good,” she stated. “Can I try something, Tai?”

“Sure.” Tai took another swipe at the Slimer, stopping it in its tracks. “And that was for almost eating me, booger boy!” He walked away.

Kari pulled the scepter out of her pack. She held it up, allowing her newfound powers to flow through it, and said only three words.

“/Light…Scepter…Activation!”/

From out of Kari’s scepter emerged a powerful beam of energy, seemingly gaining strength as it flew. The symbol of Light stood out in stark relief in the center of the blast. It was more powerful than anything any of them had ever witnessed.

It hit the Slimer full force, reducing it to so much charred dust. It didn’t even have one last chance to scream.

But it did have enough time to do one last attack. And with its last breath, it took it.

“Izzy!Move!” Mimi cried out, running in his direction as she saw one last gelatin breath issue from the dying Slimer’s mouth.

Izzy tried to get out of the way, but he tripped over a piece of the rail that was behind him. He hit the ground, the breath leaving him.

‘No!”Mimi held out her hand in one last futile attempt to grab Izzy’s hand. Or so she thought.

When her hand had gone up, a jet of flame shot out from her fingertips like a flamethrower, destroying the sphere a split second before it hit.

Silence reigned Tai and the Digi-Destined stared at her in shock. “Did…Mimi just do that?” Sora asked.

Tai looked rather pale. “I’m not going to ask her.”

Greymon looked spooked. “I think I’m going to avoid making her angry from here on out.” Palmon nodded in agreement.

Alex, Luna, and Nash were somewhat less surprised. After all, being raised in a world filled to the brim with magic tended to dull someone’s disbelief of such things. “I think there is more to Mimi than meets the eye,” Alex whispered.

“On that, we can agree,” Nash returned with.

Ramus joined them in their conversation, rubbing his leg fretfully. “I think trying to agree or disagree with her has now become academic.”

Of all of them, the only two who weren’t surprised were Izzy, who had had his eyes closed the entire time, and Mimi, who was busy checking him for injuries. “You sure you’re okay?” she asked quickly.

Izzy cranked his neck from side to side, checking to see if it was broken.“Except for being bruised in unmentionable places, I’m fine,” he replied. “What about you?”

“I’m fine.” ‘Now that you’re safe.’

Tentomon flew over to the ashes that were once the Saline Slimer. “Just how I like them,” he said, satisfied. “Dumb and fried.”

“You and every other person on this planet,” Nall retorted.

Greymon stretched his arms out in satisfaction. “It feels good to be able to digivolve again.”

“On/that/, we can agree,” Tai grumbled, turning to Matt.“Matt, could you please go get the Captain and his crew? Tell‘em that we’ve dealt with their little problem. I’m kinda waterlogged.”

As Matt started jogging to the harbor building, Gatomon walked over to Kari. “Looks like you figured out how to use it.”

Kari stared at her scepter in curiosity. “And yet another mystery for me to solve here,” she muttered. “I wish I was playing hide-and-seek right about now.”

“Ya know what, Kari? So do I.”

Nash walked over to Mimi. “Uh, Mimi,” he began attentively.“How were you able to do that? I mean, cast magic?”

Mimi thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “I mean, all I wanted to do was save Izzy, and then…foom! Fire comes out of my hands…without singing my gloves!” she finished incredulously, checking her gloves in disbelief.

“Don’t worry.” Nash held his hands up in an attempt to get her attention, marveling at her ability of concentration. “Your own magic won’t do any damage to any of your clothing. It’s part of you. Just like electricity is part of Tentomon, or me.”

“Oh, thanks.” Mimi felt relieved. It quickly became alarm though. ‘I almost gave myself again!’

Palmon noticed the change in Mimi, but decided not to inquire about it. They had bigger fish to fry, so to speak. And they were coming up at that particular moment.

The Captain growled once in fear at the sight of Greymon, then growled again in happiness. “Ya kids did it!” he exclaimed. “Ya slayed the beast and saved me ship!” He turned to Tai. “Would ya be kind enough at hand over the map?”

“Oh.” Tai pulled it out of the outer pocket. “Here you go.”

The Captain took it from Tai, and clasped it to his heart. “I’ll never let this lovely rag out o me grasp again!” Abruptly, he turned around, startling Gomamon out of his semi-trance. “Yer headed for Meribia?”” he asked. A group nod answered his question. “I insist ya sail on the /Hispaniola/…free o’ charge!”

Everyone looked amazed, and delighted. “Really?” Ramus asked, eyes already twinkling in delight. “You’d do that for us?”

“Of course!” The Captain growled, looking happy enough to fly. All he needed was pixie dust. “Without what ya did, I wouldn’t have a ship to sail! Whatever I can do at help, I will!”

Joe began to look apprehensive. “Just don’t rock the boat too much,” was all he said on the matter.

Gomamon sighed, closing his eyes. “Joe, I don’t think he gets to decide that.”

Alex walked forward, smiling as Joe gave Gomamon a pitying look. “How long will it take to repair the ship?” he asked.

The captain looked around him. “Excuse me sir,” he called up to Greymon. “Could ya become smaller or somethin’?”

“Oh!Sorry.” Greymon dedigivolved back to Agumon.

“Thanks.” The Captain surveyed the ship for a moment. “It’ll take me crew a while ta fix the damage…but they’ll be done in the morning. These buggers are lucky ta have jobs after that cowardly display!”

“Oh what, and you weren’t?” Agumon grumbled. Tai silently agreed, but elbowed his partner in the side to quiet him down.

“So, is there any place we can go to stay the night?” Nash asked, the arrogance gone from his voice. Izzy silently approved.

The Captain thought about it. “You can get some rest at the dock house. I’ll have the crew roust ye at daybreak. Didn’t ya hear me!” he suddenly roared, causing his crew to jump in surprise. “Get ta work! And the first one o’ ya who ran away gets ta swab the slime of the deck!” Still roaring, he chased his crew up the ramp onto the ship, where he dispensed assignments in the same way.

Finally though, Nall said the one thing that now was going through their heads. “Tomorrow, guys…tomorrow we’re gonna be in one of the biggest city in the world!” He grinned. “What do you think it’s like? Will the people be friendly? And will they have good fish?” He chuckled at that last question.

“Enough with the fish already!” Five voices sounded off at the same time, Ramus’s among them. “You know what the best part of it is, Alex?” he asked, as Kari giggled at the expression on Nall’s face. “My dad wouldn’t believe it if he saw it!”

“That would make two of us,” Izzy muttered to Tentomon.

“Ditto.”

“I’m just happy to be leaving this hill billy haven behind,” Nash exclaimed. “A person as sophisticated as I am needs the commerce and culture of the city…” Nash’s voice trailed off when he noticed that no one was even listening. “I also need people who listen to me when I’m speaking!”

Agumon turned around.“Oh, I’m sorry, Nash. Were you saying something?”

Everyone laughed at the expression on Nash’s face. “Oh, Nash!” Palmon squealed. “You had that coming!”

Nash began chuckling as well. “Too true,” he allowed.

“Well, let’s go get some rest, Alex,” Ramus suggested, “and a snack. Fighting that monster made me hungry!”

“Good idea, Ramus.” Alex thought about it. “In fact, the Goddess Festival starts today, if I recall my dates correctly. Maybe we’ll get some food there.”

“I applaud that idea!” A voice called out from nowhere.

Tai and the others turned around to see who the voice belonged to. They saw a woman with silver meatball pigtails and a white dress making her way over to them.

Kari smiled widely. “Hi, Sere!”

Sere turned to look at her. “Oh, hello Kari,” she returned cheerfully. “I was on my way to the harbor to offer my services with dealing with the monster, when all of a sudden, I saw a couple of huge flashes of light. Was it you?”

“I…just figured out how to use something the White Dragon gave me a while back,” she answered shyly, blushing as she showed her the scepter.

Sere’s eyes widened to saucer shape. “The Scepter of Light!” she exclaimed in amazement. “And you say that the White Dragon gave it to you?”

“Why is that so surprising?”

“It’s just that, the Scepter of Light hasn’t been seen in anyone’s hands for about fifteen years!”

Twenty voices sounded off in the next moment, all shouting, “Fifteen years!”

Sere managed to calm down. “Yes, fifteen years. It disappeared around the same time Dragonmaster Dyne died.” She turned to Kari. “And now it seems that a Guardian of Light is needed again.”

Kari looked thoughtful. “You’ve got a point,” she said.“What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing. It’s just that the last time that there was a guardian of Light, when she had finished, she disappeared around the same time as Dyne.”

Now Tai looked confused. “Why did she disappeared at that time?”

“Haven’t a clue. All I know is that she and the other five guardians attended the Goddess Festival in Burg first, then vanished. No one really knows what happened to them after that. There is speculation that the Goddess sent them on a long term mission, but I for one, don’t think that’s the case.” She suddenly looked at Luna, smiling. “I see you’re wearing that necklace I gave you,” she added warmly.

“What do-?” Luna suddenly had the proverbial light bulb go of in her head. “It was you?” she asked. “You haven’t aged.”

Sere’s smile became a little sad. “Let’s just say I look younger than I am. It’s a blessing /and /a curse sometimes.” She chuckled humorlessly before turning to T.K. “Could you come by my stand before you go to bed? I want to give you something before you go.”

“Oh, okay.” T.K. didn’t understand why he was saying yes, except to a sudden surge of curiosity. ‘Guess I’ll find out eventually,’ he thought.

Nall flew forward. “C’mon, let’s go to the festival already! I want to have fun, and some food. Fish preferably.”

Everyone groaned as they started to walk. “What is your obsession with fish?” Izzy asked. “There are other foods than fish. Chicken, for example.”

“Yeah, but fish is the best!” Gatomon purred, looking rather put off by Izzy’s suggestion.

Mimi looked at her. “Okay, now you’re starting to scare me,” she said.

Tentomon sidled up next to Palmon. “Let the planning for Operation Playing Cupid begin,” he whispered. “We’ll put it into effect when the rest of us have digi-volved.”

“Agreed,” Palmon whispered back, grinning wickedly, then looked around. “Hey, where’d Luna go?”

“Huh?” Nall did a three sixty-degree turn in the air, spotting Luna over Mimi’s shoulder, near one of the piers. “Luna?” he called out. “Are you…okay?”

Luna started, caught off guard. She didn’t think anyone had noticed her stop. “I’m sorry,” she said, looking at them for a moment. “Why don’t you guys go on ahead? I’ll catch up…”

And Kari was struck with another sense of déjà vu. Something about that expression seemed so familiar…

“You okay, Althena?” Hikari asked, looking very concerned. She did not like the scene she was currently seeing.

Althena looked up, looking clear-eyed. “Are my eyes tearing up?”

“/No.”/

“Then your answer is, no.” Althena sighed, picking up the glass again. “I have probably hit an all time low in terms of my self-pity,” she stated pathetically.

“Yes, but drinking?” Hikari picked up a bottle of ale that was half-empty. It gave her a pretty good idea where the rest of the contents were. “Angelica, I can understand. Angelus, I can accept. Me, I know I can drain an entire crate of whiskey by myself without losing any of my faculties! But you?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You never touched any alcohol in your immortal life!”

Althena downed half the contents in the cup, her expression never changing.” And now I am. You should be proud of me. I have now become an immortal b-”

“If you say that word,” Hikari warned, “I’m going to knock you out.” She looked out the window for a moment. “Is it the Vile Tribe invasion that has you down now?”

Althena looked up. “If I had handled the situation differently, then maybe we wouldn’t have this war in the first place.”

“And if you had handled it differently, we might have been attacked even earlier, and Lunar’s inhabitants would have been mostly slaughtered.” She looked at Althena. “In my opinion, you shouldn’t crucify yourself on this decision. You had no idea this would happen.”

Althena threw the drink back, sighing. “I should have. I should have known that they wouldn’t be able to live in peace with my people. They are too violent, too unpredictable.”

Hikari sat down next to her. “You know that the same thing could be said for about ninety five percent of the population,” she reminded her friend gently. “So I wouldn’t be too concerned. You are not responsible for anything, but for acting with the best intentions.” She patted Althena’s shoulder supportably. “And I will tell you something I haven’t told Takeru yet. I would have done the same exact thing you did.” She formed another glass with a simple thought, and poured herself aglass. “And I would probably be doing what you’re doing right now, and that’s trying to drown your sorrows in a pool of darkness.” She paused for a moment. “Not succeeding, mind you.”

Althena chuckled. “I guess we do think alike, as the others are always telling us. How sad.”

“Yeah, pitiful little us. Cheers.” The two clinked their glasses together. “But seriously, are you…okay now?”

Althena smiled sadly. “Not completely, but I’m feeling a lot better now.” She looked at the bottle. “How about we finish this off…”

Kari snapped out of it. “I seriously do not like where this is going,” she muttered. “I’m going to have a long chat with this Althena when I meet her.”

Unbeknownst to her, Luna was silent, having had the same vision. Stewing over it, she walked over the edge of the pier, looking forlorn.

Nall flew upwards. “Alex, something’s up with Luna. You saw the look on her face.”

Alex knew what he meant. “I know. And I think it had something to do with that last battle. Something seemed…different in her.”

“Let’s talk to her and find out what’s wrong,”

“Good idea.”

Luna stared out at the ocean, her gaze distant, and her thoughts elsewhere. She was thinking of two things. Two things that happened quite recently to her.

For starters, she was thinking about that vision she just had. She was wondering if that was really something that happened all those years ago, or if her mind was starting to play tricks on her. That was something she couldn’t figure out. What confused her the most was the fact she thought she had seen it before from somewhere before. But that wasn’t what was foremost on her mind.

What was forefront in her mind was the battle with that Saline Slimer. She had watched as the others spread out, ready to fight. How Alex had charged forward fearlessly, not even excepting the fact that they would be defeated. How even Mimi continued to fight with every fiber of her being, something that would have normally confused her to no end, if she were thinking about it. How she had almost given up hope when the monster had struck all of them down. And her amazement as Agumon evolved into Greymon, an evolution that ensured its defeat.

And her guilt when she realized something about herself. And even though the Slimer was defeated, the guilt remained.

“Luna… what’s wrong?”

She turned around to see Alex standing behind her. She wasn’t surprised though. In fact, she had been expecting it. She sighed.“Alex…I…” she began, cut off, took a deep breath, and tried again. “I’m not going with you to Meribia with you. I’m staying here.”

Alex was shocked by this. Luna was just kidding around, wasn’t she?“Luna…I don’t understand. Why do you want to stay here?”

Luna smiled sadly. “Everything you’ve talked about, everything you’ve ever dreamed of since you were a boy….it’s come true. You’re on a fantastic adventure, just like Dyne.”

Alex thought about it for a second. “Yeah…but that’s not the problem, is it?” he asked, like he already had an inkling of what she was thinking about.

Luna sighed, a melancholy feeling emerging. “I always told you that I believed in you… but deep inside my heart, I’m not certain I really did. Why else would I be so surprised at what’s happening to us, Alex? It’s just so…unbelievable.”

“That’swhat you were concerned about? How do you think I felt when Ilearned of what I was to undertake? I mean, all I was going to do was go to the Dragon Cave, help Ramus get a Dragon Diamond, and that would be that. Instead, I’m now on my way with the pudgy friend, and the most beautiful girl in all of Burg and Nall, to the largest city in the world, alongside sixteen people from another realm, who are trying to get home. I mean, when Quark told me that the desire to become a Dragonmaster burns in my soul, I was unsure of myself too. Anyone would be.”

Luna didn’t look the least bit mollified. “But you’ve grown so strong, Alex. Strong enough to venture into the unknown…with nothing but confidence in yourself and your friends.”

Alex opened his mouth to say something

“If I couldn’t put all of my faith and trust into you,” she plowed on, not giving him the chance, “how can you put yours in me?” She felt even guiltier, but she had to say it. “All I would be on this adventure is a burden, Alex. I know you won’t admit it, even to yourself, but somewhere deep down, you know it’s true…”

“But, Luna…” Alex was desperately trying to say something. Anything to let her know that she was wrong.

“I’ve made up my mind, Alex. I’ll watch you set sail in the morning…and then I’ll return to Burg.” She tried to smile. “I’ll wait for you there, Alex…I’ll always wait for you.”

She started walking past him. “Good night, Alex…”

“Not so fast,” Alex exclaimed, snagging her hand. If this was what was going to happen, then he was going to make sure that it was something worth remembering. “Will you at least allow this fool to join you at the Goddess Festival for a few hours?”

Luna did smile now, this time with real warmth. “Yes, please do.”