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Courage-Child
By Amy Behrendt
This story takes place three years after Malomyotismon was defeated. Sora’s family moved to a house outside of Odiba. Our story starts on a warm summer afternoon at Sora’s house.
Sora sat outside of the house, watching a bumblebee hover within a bed of flowers. She sighed, and leaned on her knees so the sun would shine on her back. Just then, Sora remembered how she would sit in the park in Odiba and watch the cherry blossom trees sway in the wind. Then she remembered all of her old friends; Tai, Matt, Mimi, Joe, Izzy, T.K, and Kari. Sora’s eyes grew blurry with tears. She wiped them away as soon as she heard her mother’s car pull up in the driveway. Sora ran over to greet her mother.
“Did you get the prettiest one you could get?” Sora inquired to her mom.
“Yeah. Most of all the baby cherry blossom trees were far too weak from the previous winter chill to even stand under their own strength,” her mom stated. She got out of the car and started to untie the tree from the top of the car roof. “Could you help me, Sora?”
“ I don’t think that both of us can dig a hole big enough for this tree alone,” Sora’s mom said. “Why don’t you invite some of your old friends over? They can help and it has been a long time since you’ve seen them. I can even make lunch for every one.”
“Oh, mom! That’s a great idea!” Sora cried. “I’ll go and call everybody right now!” She raced into the house. Her mom rolled her eyes at the fact that now she had to complete the task of untying the tree alone.
Sora quickly dialed the phone number for Tai and Kari’s apartment.
“ (Click) Hello, Kamia residence. This is Tai speaking.”
“Tai! This is Sora!”
“Wow! How long has it been? Three months? How do you like the new house?” Tai asked eagerly.
“Oh, I absolutely love it,” Sora answered. “But I’m so lonely. I miss all of you guys… Oh, could you and Kari come over to my house? My mom just got a new cherry blossom tree and we need help planting it. I’m inviting everyone else so this will be a great time to see the old gang again.”
“I’m sure my mom wouldn’t mind me and Kari going to your house. We’ll be right over,” Tai said.
“Ok. Thanks Tai. Bye.”
“Bye. (Click)”
Sora quickly called everyone else. One by one, all of her friends arrived at her house, but Izzy wasn’t there yet.
“Do any of you know where Izzy is?” Sora asked.
“No,” Joe answered. “He probably has a good reason for being late.”
“Well, this tree isn’t going to dig a hole for itself,” T.K piped up. “Let’s get digging!”
Voices of agreement buzzed as each person grabbed a shovel and a hole was started.
Izzy fumbled with his microphone-head phones as he was steering his car. Finally he was able to put the headphone jack into his laptop.
“Sorry Gennai,” Izzy said into the microphone. “I’m headed over to Sora’s house for a little group get together. I had no choice but to take this on the road. So what is this important message you had for me?”
“I have an old acquaintance named Eonmon. She told me to tell you that she has a very urgent message,” Gennai explained.
“Did she tell you what it was?” Izzy inquired.
“No, she was in too big of a hurry,” Gennai responded. “I have a gut feeling that this is going to be big. Oh, and since you’re going to see the others, tell them too. Please try to come to the digiworld as soon as you can.”
“Ok Gennai, I’ll get the gate to the digiworld ready while you tell our digimon that we’re coming,” Izzy confirmed.
As he pulled up into Sora’s house driveway, all of the other digidestined were already finished with the hole for the tree.
Izzy looked slightly embarrassed.
“Oh, sorry guys,” Izzy laughed nervously. “ I was late because Gennai had a very important message for all of us.”
“Why don’t we have lunch while you tell us,” Sora proposed.
As Sora’s mother brought out the food to the table, Izzy explained the plan.
“Gennai said that his old friend Eonmon had an urgent message for us. She was in too big of a hurry to explain what it was that she wanted to speak to us about. Gennai has notified our digimon and I have a gate to the digiworld ready.”
“Sora,” asked Sora’s mother. “What are you guys talking about?”
Sora cringed.
“Ah… Nothing mom…”
Sora looked over to her friends with a worried look.
“I forgot about my mom,” she whispered. “We need an alibi for going to the digiworld. As we know, time goes slower in the digiworld. I think ‘going to a movie’ will give us more than enough time. At least three days… That’s if there isn’t any trouble to run into. But Oikawa sealed the digiworld from pretty much all of the evil. I just don’t think we’re going to the digiworld for nothing…”
Sora quickly put an alibi together.
“Mom, I thought going to a movie with my friends would be a great idea. Just like old times, you know. The theater is not far from here. We could walk over there.”
“All right, but don’t stay out too late,” Sora’s mom agreed. “Here, I’ll give you guys ¥5000. That should be enough to get into the theater.”
Sora immediately stuffed the yen into her pocket.
“Excellent,” Matt said. “Lets get going!”
The group made sure that they were around the corner before Izzy set up his laptop.
“Ok, Kari,” he stated. “You have the honors.”
Kari held her digivice up to the laptop screen.
“Digiport open!” she shouted.
Suddenly, everyone found themselves on the ground, surrounded by their digimon.
“Augumon!”
“Biyomon, it’s you!”
“Ah! Gabumon!”
“Hey, Tentomon!”
“Gomamon, old pal!”
“Long time no see, Patamon!”
“Gimme a hug, Gatomon!”
Palmon eyed the happy pairs sadly.
“Where’s Mimi?” she sniffled.
“Palmon!” Mimi cried as she ran out from behind a tree. “Gennai told me to come here. Oh, Palmon. I’ve missed you!”
The two buddies hugged each other tightly.
“What’s with your hair?” palmon asked quizzically. “It’s looks like a dust mop,”
“I took rough landing,” Mimi answered. “And does it look that bad? Ugg. I knew I should have brought a comb…”
Gennai, who was waiting the digidestined group arrival, scurried up to the group and hurried them down a path in the forest.
“ We must hurry,” he said quickly. “Eonmon waits for no one.”
As they neared the end of the trail, the digidestined saw a cave in front of them. The caverns inside were long and winding.
“Ooo,” Mimi shuddered. “Mega-creepy…”
Gennai grabbed a torch from its bracket and soon the group began the long descent into the cave. Every sound made echoed off the walls, even the slightest movement seemed to sound loud. Mimi held Palmon’s hand as she precariously shuffled forward.
“I don’t like this place…” she whispered.
“Don’t worry,” reassured Gennai. “We’re almost there.”
Gennai pointed to a faint glow from around the corner. The group finally reached its destination at the end of the cave. There was a cavern room that the roof on it was so high that the bases of the stalactites disappeared into the darkness. Sitting next to a campfire and a shrine was a bear-like creature. It smiled warmly as it struggled to stand up.
“Hello digidestined, I am Eonmon,” she said in a wavering voice. “I am sorry to bring you all on short notice. I have to make an important announcement to you all. My days grow short and only you digidestined children can solve the problem that I unfortunately will leave to you.”
“I know you think that the digiworld was digitally created, completely computer work,” Eonmon continued. “But the work Oikawa did granted human passage into the digiworld. He did not create it. For you see, the digiworld began as a desolate dimension, no life forms or any lands or seas. The great faerie-like goddess, Good, took the opportunity to create a world of harmony within this barren land. She created the digimon and the land and the seas but that wasn’t good enough. The creatures she made were all the same so she called upon the tortoise god, Self, to give each creature its own personality. He worked on each life form, but found the task impossible to do. Making each living thing unique was not an easy task. Self asked the fox god, Chance, to help. Chance would arrange the personalities so each creature would get a personality by complete random.”
“One fateful day,” went on Eonmon. “A creature was created that, completely by random, was pure evil. Self and Chance were shameful of what they had done. Good said to them that it was not their fault and something like that was bound to happen. The evil creature destroyed the land and stole the life energy from a lot of other creatures. It grew stronger of hate and power until it became the demon god, Evil. He created a miniature copy of his self, the demon familiar, Fear. He used Fear to steal other creatures’ life energy. Evil soon got out of control and destroyed nearly all of the digiworld. Good was overpowered and almost became destroyed herself. She created one last creature, me. She and all of the other gods and goddesses combined their power and put it in me for safe keeping.”
“Why would they do that?” Tai asked.
“They did that so they could control the digiworld,” Eonmon replied. “Together, their power was able to overcome a huge portion of the evil. The reason they put themselves in me was that the gods and goddesses needed a believer to keep them alive. Soon after that, the remaining creatures soon forgot of the great gods and goddesses and multiplied happily in a peaceful world. But that was thousands of years ago…”
“Wow!” Mimi exclaimed. “That would be millions of Earth years!”
“Yes,” Eonmon agreed. “My power began to fade and so did the power of the gods and goddesses. Evil and Fear began to rise to power again. But a miracle happened. Oikawa open the digiworld to humans and soon we commissioned digidestined to help save our world. I believe we all know what would have happened if our dimension collapsed…”
“Our dimension would of collapsed, too,” T.K said. “The imbalance would of been too much for our dimension to have handled.”
“Correct,” Eonmon stated. “Now I have to tell you what I need of you. I am dying, and soon the evil will rage out of control. The gods and goddesses will be released from my body and will no longer have their powers combined. You digidestined must be prepared for the battle ahead. Please don’t let it be your last.”
“Oh, man…” Joe groaned. “I have a bad feeling about that.”
“Don’t worry, Joe,” Gomamon waved his paw. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you either, Tai,” Agumon announced. All of the other digimon agreed to protect their owners, also.
“What I don’t understand is why the other digidestined aren’t here, like Davis and Yolei and the others,” Izzy inquired to Eonmon.
“The gods and goddesses told me to tell only the ones whose crests were reclaimed,” Eonmon answered.
“I get it,” Izzy said. “We sacrificed our crests a long time ago to help seal the digiworld from evil.”
Eonmon hobbled over to Kari and held her hand.
“Child of light,” Eonmon told Kari. “Good wants to channel through you. She said that you are the only one she can talk through.”
“Will it hurt?” Kari asked reluctantly.
“No,” Eonmon responded. “You won’t notice.”
Kari felt a cold current in her arm. She fell limp and Tai caught her. Kari slowly stood up. She began to talk in a heavenly voice that rang through out the cavern walls.
“ On one dark day, Evil will show its face
But then he will die for this godly task”
Kari snapped back to her self and soon fainted. After a few seconds, she regained consciousness.
“I think I told of a prophecy, right?” Kari said in a confused voice.
“Yeah,” Izzy replied. “I got it all down on my computer.”
“I wonder what it meant,” T.K wondered.
“I don’t think we have enough time to sit and ponder this,” Matt pointed out. “I do think that we should get going. This prophecy is going to take some work to figure out but we should solve it while we go. Right?”
Voices of agreement rose up amongst the digidestined. As they started to venture forth, Eonmon hobbled over to them.
“Stop!” she yelled. Everyone halted and turned around. “I have no use for my body anymore. I am fading and soon I will die. Take what little energy I have left. You need it more than I do.”
“Oh, Eonmon,” Kari pleaded. “Please don’t do that!”
“I must, child,” Eonmon said solemnly. “Farewell, digidestined. Good fortune and good luck.”
Eonmon dissolved into a bright, burning light. The digimon sucked up the light and they suddenly felt stronger.
“Thank you, Eonmon,” Kari whispered with great gratitude.
“Eonmon sacrificed her life for the safety of ours,” Sora stated. “We must now save the digiworld for her sake, ours, and for our Earth’s sake.”
Gennai, who remained mysteriously quite for some time, broke the dead silence of the cavern.
“Let’s go to my house,” Gennai offered. “There we can figure out this prophecy. Heck, I’ll even make dinner!”
“All right!” Joe cried. “I think that’s the best piece of news yet. Let’s go!”
In anticipation of a well-needed meal, both digidestined and digimon hurried to Gennai’s house.
As Gennai helped serve out rice, Izzy discussed the meaning of the prophecy.
“I say we should sleep on it,” Tai recommended. “We need the sleep anyway.”
“Woooo…” Agumon buzzed. “I don’t I don’t I don’t!!! I’ve got energy to burn!!!”
“Maybe if you digimon stop snarfing down your food so fast you won’t choke,” Matt said while eyeing the hyperactive digimon. The energy Eonmon gave them clearly seemed to be showing.
“Weeee!!!” Gomamon squealed. “I can’t take it! I’ve got too much energy! Gomamon digivolve to… Ikkakumon!”
Suddenly, Joe found himself underneath Ikkakumon.
“Whoa,” Joe exclaimed. “You did have energy…”
“Yahoo!” Ikkakumon yelled. “I still do!!!”
Ikkakumon bounced about the room.
“Maybe you should calm down,” Gennai told Ikkakumon. “You will need the sleep.”
Soon after, everyone went to bed. Tai tossed and turned in his sleep. A dream penetrated his deep sleep.
“Tai… Taichi… You know your fate… Child of courage… Do not fear… Do it for the ones you love… Two worlds depend on you… Take off your mask… Reveal your true self, Tai…”
Tai sprung up. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he gasped for breath. Tai then understood what the dream meant. No, he thought, it can’t be true. His stomach suddenly felt weak. He grasped it in pain.
“Ohhh… I need something to drink…” Tai groaned. He got a glass of water and went into the living room to drink it. There he sat contemplating his dream. Sora came out of the bathroom and spotted Tai.
“What’s the matter Tai?” Sora asked Tai.
“I had a dream. I couldn’t see anything but I heard a voice. It said that I knew my fate and I should do it for the ones I love. It also said that the two worlds depend on me. My fate… I immediately knew…It’s too painful. I deny it but…”
“Tai,” Sora said with concern. “You can tell me. Hey, we’ve been friends since we were in first grade. You can tell me anything.”
Tai’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m… The one… The hero… Sora… I’m going to die…”
Sora’s heart leaped to her throat.
“Oh no, Tai… It can’t be…”
“It is and it will be… It can’t be stopped… I’m sorry… But I care for you and the others too much to let all of you die…”
“I understand, Tai…”
Sora’s face streaked with tears. She began to sob quietly and hugged Tai.
“I don’t want you to go, Tai.”
Tai comforted Sora. He squeezed her tightly.
“I’m doing this for you. All of you. Two worlds will die if I don’t.”
Tai stood up to go back to bed. Sora remained in the living room, crying.
*~*~*
“Tai,” Kari cried. “You’re serious?”
“Yes, Kari,” Tai replied. “I’m the hero in the prophecy.”
“This can’t be true,” Matt said. “You’re saying you’re going to die?”
Tai nodded his head sadly. The digidestined gasped and Kari sobbed loudly. As the crowd murmured with misery, Gennai opened up the shades to the windows.
“Hmm,” he grunted. “It’s still dark out.”
He checked the clock on the wall.
“It’s only 8:00 in the morning,” Gennai pointed out.
“Oh, man,” Tai groaned. “Already?”
He moped over to the window and took a long stare at the unusual darkness outside.
“No… No, it’s too soon…” Sora shook her head in disbelief. “It can’t be…”
“But it is,” Tai sighed. He opened up the front door and walked outside.
“Where are you going, Tai?” Agumon asked
“I need to be alone,” Tai answered.
Tai strolled into Gennai’s garden. He sat down onto a bench and stared blankly at the flowerbeds.
“Afraid, are you?” a voice growled.
Tai looked to his side. A demon-like creature sat next to him.
“I feel the fear radiating off of you,” the creature continued “I find fear an amusing emotion. Even the bravest and most gallant of men can’t deny fear. Fear is practically an emotion you creatures made yourselves. You hate it yet you need it. I myself find it a great ‘toy’ to use against people.”
Tai scowled at the menacing demon.
‘What is your point?”
“You don’t have to die.”
“I don’t?” Tai asked meekly.
“Why would you need to do this? If you go, everyone will continue on with their happy little lives,” the creature smirked. “But sure, they’ll be heartbroken. But that’s not the point. They don’t need to remember you.”
“They wouldn’t forget me,” Tai stated.
“How would you know?” the creature said. “You humans are selfish, ignorant, stupid, arrogant beings. Of course they’d forget you. They wouldn’t want to be plagued by sadness all their lives. You humans always want the easiest and fastest way to solve problems. So they’ll do the easiest and fastest way solve their problem, they’ll forget you.”
Tai sat in silence. The creature leaned over to Tai.
“Also, if you don’t die,” the creature whispered into Tai’s ear. “You can be with Sora.”
Tai’s heart stopped for a split second.
“No,” Tai choked. “I… Can’t do it… Two worlds depend on me…”
“That’s baloney,” the creature laughed meanly. “ Nearly all of the people on Earth could care less about what you do.”
“Grr,” Tai growled. “Just who are you anyway?”
“Who am I?” the creature roared. “Who am I? I am evil its self!”
“You’re Evil, aren’t you?” Tai gasped.
“You are clever, child of courage,” Evil replied.
“How do you know so much about me?” Tai inquired the menacing beast.
“I know things about you that even you don’t know,” Evil answered slyly.
“I just can’t do this,” Tai shook his head. “It’s not worth it.”
“Soon you have no choice,” Evil sneered.
“Agg!” Tai yelled, covering his ears. “Shut up! Shut the hell up!”
Tai turned to his side to further insult Evil, but he was already gone. Tai angrily stomped back into Gennai house.
“What were you doing in the garden, Tai?” Joe asked.
“Nothing,” Tai snapped. He ripped off his shoes and threw them at the floor near the door. Joe recoiled in surprise and Tai stormed out of the room.
“Tai, what are you mad about?” Kari inquired.
Tai said nothing.
“Please don’t be mad,” Kari said with worry.
Tai said nothing.
“I know that you’re mad about this whole death thing,” Kari sat down next to Tai on the couch. “I understand…”
“No, you don’t understand!” Tai yelled. “It’s not everyday that you find out that you’re going to die.”
“Please have courage, Tai,” Kari pleaded.
“Why do I need courage?” Tai grunted. “I’ll be killed then it’s all over.”
“No, no! It’s not like that!” Kari cried. “If you die in vain, it won’t mean anything. You need courage. Don’t give up and don’t submit to the darkness, Tai. You need meaning. Don’t take the ‘easy death’.”
“Maybe you’re right, Kari,” Tai sighed. “I need to think about this…”
Tai went back outside again only to see Sora sitting on a bench.
“Hi, Tai,” Sora said glumly.
Tai sat down next to her. They both sat in silence.
“I wish that…” Sora began to say. She stopped as she saw the vacant look on Tai’s face.
The only thing Sora could hear from Tai was his steady breathing. Sora stared ahead at the flowers. Her lip trembled and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
Tai slowly looked over at her.
“Please don’t cry,” he patted Sora’s back.
“Ah, you humans and your silly emotions,” a piercing voice sounded from behind Tai’s back.
“Go away Evil,” Tai growled fiercely. “I have no time for you.”
“Oh, so this is Sora, right?” Evil eyed Sora.
“W-Who is this?” Sora squeaked with fear.
“Ah,” Evil sniffed Sora. “I smell fear. Good.”
Evil grabbed Sora’s arm and she let out a cry of pain. Tai jumped up from the bench.
“What are you doing with her?” Tai roared.
“Want her? Come and get her!” Evil bolted off, pulling Sora with him. He ran over the flowerbeds and then into the bordering forest. Tai dashed after them. He ignored the fact that he was going deeper and deeper into the forest. He kept running until he tripped over a tree root.
“Damn! Were did he go?” Tai cursed loudly. He looked around and saw nothing but an endless sea of trees.
“I can’t find her alone,” Tai said to himself. “I need to get the others.”
He took out his digivice and started to search for a registering digivice. As he stumbled through the dense foliage, he saw two digivices show up. As he ran over to where they were, he heard two voices conversing.
“You’re right, I think he went over there.”
“Let me see where he is.”
Tai stopped as he heard someone walk up behind him.
“Tai! It’s me! Matt!”
Tai turned around.
“Oh, thank god it’s you,” Tai sighed in relief.
“Tai, we’ve been looking all over for you!” Izzy stated.
‘Guys, I need you to tell the others to come here as fast as they can,” Tai told Matt and Izzy. “Evil kidnapped Sora and I can’t find her my self. Also, get our digimon. I have the feeling we’ll need them.”
“Ok,” Matt said as he hurried off. “I’ll get the others.”
Soon after, the rest of the group (except for Sora) was assembled.
“Alright, Patamon, Biomon, and Tentomon, you go and scout out for Evil’s position,” Tai directed. “When you find him, Patamon will send out a boom bubble. That will signal for the rest of us to attack.”
“Right!” Patamon said. The scout group set out as the ground group prepared for the long battle ahead.
“Ok, guys, I think our digimon should digivolve,” Tai recommended.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Agumon warp digivolve to… Wargreymon!”
“Gabumon warp digivolve to… Metalgarurumon!”
“Palmon digivolve to… Togomon!
“Gomamon digivolve to… Ikkakumon!”
“Gatomon digivolve to… Angewomon!”
The group waited for a few minutes.
“There’s the signal!” Angewomon pointed to a huge bubble in the sky.
“Alright, move out!” Tai yelled. He rode on Wargreymon’s back as they and the rest of the group raced towards Patamon’s position. As soon as they got there, Tentomon already digivolved to Kabutarimon.
“Shell shocker!” Kabutarimon shocked Evil who was trying to get away.
“You are certainly clever, digidestined,” Evil scrambled about on the ground while Sora was dragged behind. Paralyzed with fear, Sora let out a scream.
“Ahhh! Help me! Please!” Sora whelped.
“Let me take care of this dingbat!” Matt and Metalgarurumon zipped between the trees behind Evil.
“Metal wolf claw!” Metalgarurumon shot out the freezing missiles at Evil. Sora recoiled, narrowly dodging the frosty explosion.
“You’ll need more then that to kill me, fools!” Evil barked. “Idiots! You almost killed your little friend here!” Evil held up Sora by her arm to show to everyone who they almost hurt.
“Argg!” Matt growled. He jumped off of Metalgarurumon’s back and marched up to Evil.
“I’m not afraid of you!” Matt yelled into Evil’s face.
“You can use all the rage you want to cover up your fear,” Evil snorted. “It’s no use against me.”
“Ahhgg! Shut up!” Matt punched Evil in the nose.
“No, Matt!” Tai shouted. He hopped off of Wargreymon and pulled Matt back from Evil.
“You’ll just get him even angrier!” Tai pleaded.
“I don’t care!” Matt snapped. “He hurt Sora!” Matt pushed Tai to the ground and started to pummel Evil again.
“No! I can’t let you do this!” Tai restrained Matt.
“ Damn it, Tai! Leave me alone!” Matt punched Tai and scrambled back to beat up Evil.
“ Please, Matt! Stop it!” Sora screamed. Matt backed away from Evil.
“Fools! Do you not know what you’ve done?!?” Evil roared. Seemingly out of nowhere, Evil produced a wicked looking sword. The vile blade glistened in shades of red and green, glowing with an internal light. Evil raised the sword above his head.
‘Meet your end, child! Poison blade!” Evil swiftly brought the sword down upon Sora, but she quickly shifted to her side.
“Grrr! How dare you!” Tai grabbed Evil’s arm and struggled for the sword.
“Let go, courage-child!” Evil swung his other arm into Tai’s stomach and squirmed out of Tai’s grasp. Tai struggled to stand up while clutching his stomach. Evil turned to Sora and gave her a cold glance.
“Now, no one can save you now, pathetic little girl!” Evil slowly brought the blade above his head.
“No!” Tai leapt in front of Sora. Evil’s sword pierced Tai’s shoulder.
“Tai!” Sora scrambled to catch Tai as he fell limp into her arms. All of the other digidestined gathered around Tai.
“Ha! No you have no one to save your world now!” Evil cackled.
“Sorry that I have to leave right now, but I won’t let you be alone,” Evil produced a ball of energy from his palm. “Fear, take care of these pitiful little creatures for me. I have no more time for them.” The ball of energy turned into a small demon, identical to Evil.
“Wee! This should be fun!” Fear squealed.
All of the digidestined stared at the tiny demon confusingly.
“What? I just want to ‘play’,” Fear smiled. “ Come on! Let’s play tag! I’ll be It!”
Fear floated up to Kabutarimon.
“Tag! You’re It!”
Kabutarimon screamed in pain and de-digivolved to Tentomon.
“Sorry, did I do that?” Fear giggled.
“Bah!” Ikkakumon snorted. “Let me take care of half-pint here! Ikkakumon digivolve to… Zudomon!”
Zudomon bolted up to Fear.
“Let’s play ‘Squash the Stupid Little Demon’! Vulcan’s Hammer!”
Zudomon’s hammer was swiftly brought down upon Fear’s head.
“Ow…” Fear squeaked. “That hurt…”
All of a sudden, Fear disappeared in a puff of smoke.
“That was too easy,” Mimi stated.
“Nothing is too easy for you, Mimi,” Joe laughed. Mimi just rolled her eyes.
“Forget about that,” Matt said. “We still need to take out Evil.”
“No… I have to do that…” Tai moaned with pain. “I might as well die quick and easy now… Than painfully slow later… I’m dying now… I don’t want any of you to get hurt by Evil…”
“You’re right, Tai,” Kari pointed out. “None of us want you to die in vain. If you die doing what’s right, it would be the most honorable thing for you to do.”
Wargreymon leaned down next to Tai.
“You were the reason why I existed. You are my only true best friend. No one can or will ever take your place. It would honor me greatly if I were to die by your side. It would be for you and all of the digiworld.”
“Oh, Wargreymon,” Tai sniffled. “Thank you…”
Wargreymon lifted Tai onto his back.
‘Come on, Tai. Lets find Evil!”
As Wargreymon flew off, the rest of the group followed closely behind. Tai barely held onto Wargreymon’s back, threatening to fall off.
“I can’t hold Tai in my claws,” Wargreymon worried. “Sora, could Biyomon digivolve into Garudamon and hold Tai for me?”
“Certainly,” Sora held out her digivice. “Biyomon?”
“Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon! Birdramon digivolve to… Garudamon!”
Garudamon gently grabbed Tai and picked up Sora off of the ground.
‘Here Tai,” Garudamon rolled Tai onto his back. “Is that better?”
“Hmmm…Yes…” Tai groaned. “Thank you, Garudamon… Oh… My head…”
Tai tried to sit up but fell onto his back and went unconscious. Sora examined Tai’s wound on his shoulder.
“He’s bleeding way too much,” Sora stated. “Joe should take a look at this.”
Garudamon plucked Joe off of Zudomon’s back and put him in her palm.
“Oh my. This doesn’t look to good…” Joe eyed Tai’s shoulder with a worrisome glance. “Here, I’ll stop the bleeding and you, Sora, elevate his feet so his brain can get more blood. He’s lost a lot of it.”
Joe ripped off a strip of his jacket and tied it around Tai’s shoulder. Sora took off her coat and propped Tai’s feet up onto it.
“Please don’t go yet, Tai,” Sora said. “We need you.”
*~*~*
Sora and Joe watched Tai for what seemed like an eternity. Garudamon broke the long silence.
“I sense Evil,” Garudamon stared ahead at a narrow canyon off in the distance. “He’s near that canyon. I feel it.”
As they neared closer and closer to the canyon, Mimi shivered and started to rub her arms briskly.
“Togomon, “ she squirmed around in Togomon’s grip. “Is it just me or is it cold out? Brr.”
“All of these clouds are blocking the sun,” Izzy pointed to the dark sky. “And it’s starting to get even darker out, too. Hmmm… Maybe this is the part of the prophecy that says ‘Dark will cloud light but never take its place’.”
The group huddled closer together so they couldn’t lose track of each other. The sky began to grow constantly darker and darker.
“This can’t be good,” T.K worried. “We can’t even see the canyon anymore.”
“Ooo, I don’t want to fall in,” Mimi squealed. “Togomon, can you digivolve into Lillymon and carry me?”
“Sure! Togomon digivolve to… Lillymon! Better?”
“Yeah. Thanks Lillymon.”
Joe strained to see the flying digimon above. They were far up, looking for the chasm but it would be to narrow for them to spot correctly.
“I guess Zudomon and I will look for the canyon for you guys,” Joe commented.
The digidestined and their digimon searched for the crevasse for a long time. The darkness was growing and the group soon began to feel very nervous. Zudomon faintly saw a gap in the ground ahead of him.
“Hey, guys. I think I found it.” Zudomon peered over the side of the canyon. All of the light in the sky seemed to be sucked to the bottom of the gorge. Garudamon stopped in midair.
“He’s here…”
“At last,” Evil was floating above the middle of the rift. “I see that your hero is barely alive. But don’t worry. The poison will soon kill him and he will suffer no more.”
“No!” Wargreymon growled. “I won’t let him die like that! He is still alive so that he can save the digiworld. I won’t let anything stop him from it!”
Wargreymon formed a globe of energy in his claws. It grew larger and larger and glowed with a powerful light. Evil squinted and slowly backed away from the light.
“What’s the matter Evil?” Wargreymon asked. “Can’t stand a little light?”
“Light! That’s what we need!” Izzy realized. “We need to get rid of these clouds… Hey, Kari!”
“Yes?”
“You have the crest of light. Maybe you can help. You and Angewomon fly up high to chase away the clouds while the rest of us keep Evil busy.”
“Right!”
Kari and Angewomon ascended into the sky. Almost immediately, the clouds broke up. Then soon the sun streaked out across the sky, seeming brighter than ever.
“All right! Here comes the sun!” Kari grinned. Evil squinted and growled.
“Ach! This isn’t going to be easy…” Evil muttered under his breath. “Grr… Fear! Come here, you idiot!”
Fear popped out of nowhere and hovered over to Evil.
“Yes, master?” Fear cowered, suspecting a slap to the head.
“Go and deal with these children,” Evil slapped Fear upside its head. “Be a good familiar and make it quick, ok?”
“Yes, yes. Anything you say…” Fear turned to the digidestined and put his hands on his hips. “You heard the boss. I hafta deal with you now, comprende?”
“Oh, come on,” T.k groaned. “This is a job for Magnaangemon!”
“’Right!” Angemon agreed. “Angemon digivolve to… Magnaangemon!”
Magnaangemon chased Fear around, a weird catch-the-demon game.
“Hey, you!” Magnaangemon yelled. “Come here!”
Fear stuck out his tongue at Magnaangemon. “Na na. Can’t catch me!”
“This is pathetic…” Matt shook his head miserably.
“I just got an idea!” Izzy shouted. “If Fear is Evil’s familiar, then if we get rid of Fear then Evil will be weakened!”
“I’ll take care of that!” Magnaangemon winked. “Gate of destiny!”
“Ahh! No fair!” Fear got sucked into the gate almost instantly. Evil writhed in pain. With his familiar dead, he became severely weakened.
“Agg!” Evil snorted. “Is there nothing I can do to get rid of you smarmy kids?”
“Now’s our chance!” Izzy pointed at Evil. “Attack!”
All of the digimon charged at Evil, attacking him from every side. Evil easily dodged every attack. He laughed manically.
“It’ll take more than that to kill me! You should of learned that by now!”
“This guy really ticks me off!” Wargreymon complained. “Anyway, isn’t this kinda my fight? I am Tai’s digimon.”
“We can’t let you do this by your sel…” Wargreymon interrupted Matt.
“Giga destroyer!” Wargreymon launched a huge ball of energy at Evil. Evil flinched.
“It seems that Wargreymon’s attacks are the only ones that do any good,” Kari commented. Wargreymon continued to pummel Evil, but it didn’t do much good.
“Ha ha ha! Fool! You dare try to destroy a god?!” Evil cackled.
Just then, Tai woke up.
“Oh… What’s happening?”
“Wargreymon is attacking Evil,” Sora replied. “He’s the only one whose attacks are any good against Evil. But it doesn’t seem to affect Evil too much, tough.”
“He needs… More power…” Tai shifted his body to get a better look of the battle.
“But how?” Sora asked. Matt and Metalgarurumon came over to Tai.
“We can sacrifice our energy for Wargreymon,” Metalgarurumon said.
“Y-you would do that?” Tai stuttered.
“Of course,” Matt answered. “It’s for the safety of the digiworld.”
Tai smiled weakly.
“Thanks guys…”
Garudamon lowered Tai, Sora, and Joe onto the ground and dedigivolved into Biyomon. All of the other digimon dedigivolved, too. Wargreymon soaked up all of the energy that radiated off of the other digimon.
“I feel the power… It’s so strange…” Wargreymon glowed with a strong light. ‘Tai… Use the power of courage to help me…”
“Alright… Buddy…” Tai slowly stood up. He started to glow faintly, the crest of courage shining from inside his heart.
“Tai… I feel your courage… From inside of your soul…”
“I’m coming… Wargreymon…”
Tai glowed stronger and stronger, the light pulsing along with his heart. He began to rise up off the ground.
“Oh, my god! Tai!” Sora cried. “What’s happening?”
“ Wargreymon… Needs me…” Tai responded. He floated up next to Wargreymon, the light off of both of them were stronger than ever.
“The energy of your crest, Tai…” Wargreymon shuddered. “It’s too much for me to handle… I must digivolve again...”
“Again… But how?” Tai stared at the crest glowing from his chest and then at Wargreymon.
“ I don’t know… But you’ve given me enough strength…”
Wargreymon burst with a flaming light, overpowering the sun. Evil covered his eyes with his arm.
“What’s happening now?!? Not another one of your light tricks?” Evil sneered.
“No…” Wargreymon replied. “I feel the power from Tai… And the gods… Helping me…”
Then, out of the blinding radiance, emerged a golden figure. It was clad in gold armor and had tall shield. Adorned upon its helm was a magnificent crimson plume. And in its strong hand was flawless blade.
“War-Wargreymon?” Tai shielded his eyes from the glare of the armor.
“No, Tai,” It replied. “Your courage helped me become Apollomon.”
“Apollomon?” Tentomon was shocked. “This digimon, or rather a half digimon and half god, is legendary. He only comes into existence when a hero calls upon his inner strength and the gods to help him. Apollomon’s attack, solar incineration, is seven ounces of pure energy that is summoned into his sword. This is enough energy to destroy whole worlds, or in this case, hopefully gods.”
“Oh, Apollomon!” Tai was in awe of his new digigod. The rest of the digidestined stared at Apollomon.
“Wow, Tai,” Joe said. “I never knew you had it in you…”
“Now, we must destroy Evil together,” Apollomon stated to Tai. “Solar incineration!”
Apollomon’s blade glowed with a fiery blaze as he slashed at Evil.
“Too slow!” Evil taunted. He darted back and forth, too fast for Apollomon to catch up with. Still, Apollomon swung his sword, trying hack at Evil. The tip of his blade successfully nicked Evil’s face.
“Agg!” Evil screamed. He grasped his face in pain. His face throbbing, an evil smirk grew across his face.
“I may be close to annihilation, but I have one last trick… Shadow of Obliteration!”
Still smirking, Evil produced an enormous orb of complete darkness. Even the light coming off of Tai and Apollomon couldn’t penetrate it. Evil disintegrated into the orb. The ball grew quickly, filling up the canyon and flowing out onto the ground above.
“Oh no!” Mimi squeaked. “We don’t have much time…”
“If it doesn’t get stopped,” Izzy panicked. “It could destroy the digiworld in minutes!”
“And our digimon can’t digivolve,” Kari pointed out. “They have no more energy!”
“Apollomon, what are we going to do?” Tai inquired.
“There’s only one thing,” Apollmon said gravely. “I must go into the center of the canyon and destroy the darkness from inside.”
“I guess this is it, Apollomon…” Tai sniffled. “You were the best digimon anyone could have… Bye…”
“For the digiworld?”
“For the digiworld!”
Apollomon bolted into the canyon, disappearing into the shadows. An immense explosion blew from the gorge but it wasn’t enough to destroy all of the darkness.
“No! It didn’t work! Apollomon!” Tai screamed. He glowed with powerful light, the crest of courage burning bright.
“I must destroy it myself,” Tai said sternly.
“What? You?” Sora shouted.
“Yes… I am the last one left…”
“No!” Kari yelled.
“I must… It is my destiny…”
Before anyone could say anything else, Tai soared into the canyon. The light he carried broke up the darkness around him. He began to fade, as the light on him grew dim. Sora ran over the canyon edge.
“Tai!” She cried. Tai went farther into the crevasse, destroying more and more darkness. When all of it was gone, Tai was none where to be found.
“No! Tai!” Sora screamed into the canyon. The only response was her echo. Kari ran over to the canyon.
“Oh… Tai…” Kari broke out in tears.
“He’s… Gone…” Sora wept.
“Oh my god,” Matt stared at the gorge in shock.
“It… Can’t be…” Sora hiccupped. Matt hugged Sora and patted her back.
“He did it for all of us, Sora… And for the digital world… He’s gone and there’s nothing to do about it…”
All of the digidestined remained silent as they stared at the canyon, for no more words could be said.
*~*~*
Sora sat in her bed, sleepless, as she had been for the past four nights. She got up and stared out of her window. Raindrops rolled down the glass and the moon shone bright through the window. A gentle wind blew the wind chimes as they played their soft notes. Sora looked at the cherry blossom tree in the front yard. Tears streamed down her face as she remembered that fateful day four days ago.
“Oh, Tai,” she wept. “Why did you have to go?”
She knelt before her window, crying into her folded arms. A faint glow softly lit up the room.
“Stupid door,” Sora complained. “That thing always gets opened some how.”
Sora stood up quickly and turned around on her heel towards the door but ran into something.
“Oof,” She slowly pulled her nose out of the object.
“Oh my god,” She gasped. “It’s not you, Tai… It can’t be… And you’re doing that glowing thing again… This depression thing is going to my head. I-I need an aspirin…”
Tai softly chuckled as he pulled back on Sora’s shirt collar.
“No, it’s me, Sora,” He smiled kindly as Sora gawked at him.
“B-but how?” Sora stammered.
“I couldn’t leave this world without saying good bye to you,” Tai replied.
“Just for me?” Sora sniffled.
“Yes…” Tai nodded. “There’s something I had to tell you. When this whole digimon thing started, I know none of us had any clue as to how to do any thing. But as time went along, I felt closer to you. This digimon thing helped me learn how much I really cared about you.”
“Oh, Tai,” Sora cooed. “But what about Matt? Don’t he and I bother you? Our relationship I mean…”
Tai held Sora’s hands within his.
“Sora… Nobody could ever stop me from loving you. Even death its self didn’t stop me. My soul would never be the same… As I started to get to know you, I knew that we were soul mates, each other’s other half. Together we could be whole again. Our souls must of meet some time before this life for I knew as soon as I saw you that you were the one… My other half.”
Sora smiled warmly. She embraced Tai tightly.
“I never want this to end…”
Tai spun her around to better look into her eyes.
“When I look into your amber eyes, I see the soul who I searched for my entire life. It feels great to be at peace now…”
Sora placed her finger onto Tai’s lips.
“Shhh…” She whispered. She kissed Tai upon his lips. Tai felt her tongue slide across his teeth.
“I love you, Sora-Chan,” Tai murmured.
“I love you, Taichi,” Sora whispered.
As they kissed, Tai and Sora glowed together. Their crests shone from inside their hearts. Out of nowhere, a small tag and a white crest appeared floating between them. The crest had the sign of infinity on it.
“It is the crest of eternity,” Tai stated. “It stands for our love. Eternal. For friends last a lifetime, but love is for eternity…”
Sora grasped the tag closely to her heart.
“Good-bye, Taichi,” Sora said. “I will miss you…”
“Good-bye, Sora, but not for long,” Tai answered. “I have the feeling that we will meet again…”
Tai then disappeared into a thin wisp of light.
“Bye…” Sora muttered. She turned to look out the window and grinned.
“Until we meet again…”
Written upon the cherry blossom tree was,
The End
Did you like it? Huh, did ya? It took me a year to develop... Yup. A year. And weeks to write, too.