Page 192: Memory Loss! A Race Against Time!

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Episode

“Whadda mean ‘forget’?!”

Izzy sighed. He’d expected this kind of reaction. As the other, older DigiDestined were at college, the group in his room consisted of the younger ones. “Exactly what I said.” he muttered. “You’re forgetting what its like to be in your normal bodies. It won’t be long before you forget all together…”

“But Izzy…” Gatomon protested, running her fingers through her long, white hair anxiously. “How can that be? I don’t feel any different…”

“But you’re acting different.” Izzy noted the fingers and Patamon’s tapping foot. “As a Digimon, and even as Angemon or Angewomon, you never had nervous reactions like that.”

“But what happens when it’s done?” Kari asked, grooming herself absentmindedly. “When we’re finished…and how long?”

Izzy sighed again, trying to phrase it in less complex speech so Yolei and Ken didn’t have to translate for the others. “When…When this gets over with…You two… T.K., Kari…You’ll forget everything.”

“Everything?” Gatomon asked.

“Everything.” Izzy shook his head. “Even having partners, and your families. You’ll just be a couple of wild Digimon…Everything that makes you human…Gone. ”

There was silence, then Patamon spoke: “And us?”

“That’s the strange thing.” Izzy sighed, perplexed. “Somehow…This spell doesn’t effect you two in the same way. When it is complete, you’ll be fully human, but retain your memories of the Digital World, and having partners. But Kari and T.K. just…forget everything.”

“How long until then?” Ken asked.

Izzy sighed again before answering. “One week.”

Kari and T.K. exchanged upset looks. Wild Digimon? Forget everything? How could they ever forget their partners? How could the ever forget…

“Izzy!” Yolei suddenly exclaimed. “Take a look at this!”

She pulled out of her bad the wooden Drimojimon they’d found after their last battle. Izzy became fascinated by it, examining the doll and turning it over and over in his hands as the others told their story.

“First of all.” he said when they were done. “You shouldn’t risk Digivolving. It may speed the process up, and will continue to do so every time you do it.”

“Aw…” Kari groaned. “I liked Digivolving. Makes you feel tons stronger.”

Izzy gave her a stern look. “Don’t do it.” he warned. “We don’t want to lose any of you.”

“Izzy…the doll?” Cody asked, pressing on.

“Yes…About this doll…” Izzy turned back to the wooden figure. “You said that you found it after you defeated Drimojimon, right?”

“Yeah.” Davis nodded. “It just showed up.”

Izzy was quiet a moment, then spoke. “I think I know what’s going on here.”

“Well?” Yolei insisted after another silence. “Spit it out, Izzy!”

Izzy felt along the finely-carved edge of the doll, noting every detail from the thickness of the wood to the thinness of the paint. Finally, he took a deep breath and began his analysis.

“This doll…” he explained, holding it so everyone could see. “Is made of a special kind of wood. This kind comes only from one tree, a type of hard elm, which is only found in a certain wood in the Digital World. This wood, when carved like this, can be used in a ritual by a spell-caster type Digimon…that is, Sorceressmon or Wizardmon…and become a living, breathing Digimon.”

The kids glanced at each other. “So…this is a power that Sorceressmon would have?” Ken asked.

“Indeed.” Izzy nodded. “Gennai and I discussed it during that incident with Arukenimon. We ruled it out after Palmon found out about the Control Spire Digimon.”

“So…So they’re not real Digimon?” Cody asked. “Just…made of wood?”

“Exactly, Cody.” Izzy nodded. He lifted the doll up and blew on it, sending a cloud of fine black ash flying and covering Davis’s face. “That ash is part of the ritual. It’s from the same tree, and when sprinkled over the doll, with the correct chants, brings it to life.”

“So there could be hundreds of these things.” Gatomon muttered.

“And they’re twice as strong as normal.” Ken added. “So it’ll be tough if she pulls an Ultimate or something on us, especially without one-third of our team.”

“Exactly.” Izzy nodded. “It’ll be tough, but you have to remember: If it leads us to Sorceressmon, it’ll be worth it. She’s the only way to get everything…and everyone… back to normal.”

~ * ~ * ~

“Those brats…” Sorceressmon growled, putting the finishing paint touches on her latest doll. Her arms and face still ached from the beatings her beloved Master had given her. “I’ll show them…Master only turns on me in failure.”

She set the doll down, crossing her dark room. “You’ll see.” she whispered to her reflection. “My plan won’t fail this time! My Master will have them, and then…” Her eyes glazed over. She could just imagine her rich reward:

“My dear, this is easily the most wondrous plan ever concocted.” the Master would say to her, sipping his drink. “You’re much to good for me.”

“Oh, Master, nothing is good enough for you.” she would gush, blushing at his glory.

“How nice of you to say, my dear…”

Sorceressmon snapped out of her daydream, still blushing. “Yes! I’ll do it!” she cheered to herself. She grabbed her now-dry figure and the box of ash. Pulling the doll close, she sprinkled the ash over it gently.

“Live…Live…Live…” she chanted. “Live, you thing of wood and ash. Live and serve my Master…Live…Live…Live…”

~ * ~ * ~

Yolei yawned, leaning against the tree. “Okay…I say we take a nap.”

“We have been walking all day.” Ken sighed. “It would be nice to take a break.”

“Alright then!” Davis yawned, stretching for the sky. “All in favor of breaking here say ‘aye’!”

“Aye!” the chorus rang out, and soon they were all napping serenely in the shade of the tree.

Yolei was leaning up against the trunk, Cody had curled into a sort of ball, Ken had one way or another fallen asleep sitting up, and Davis was up the tree, stretched out on a branch. Gatomon was opposite him, on the other side, while Patamon was below her, also leaning against the trunk.

Kari yawned and curled into a ball, like a cat. T.K. folded his ears around him so that he looked like a furry blonde egg. The other Digimon were scattered around the grassy plain, fast asleep.

After about ten minutes, Gatomon glanced down. Patamon was directly below her. “Now’s my chance.” she thought mischievously.

Silently, she leapt down. Being human had not hindered her gymnastic skills, and she landed on all fours, quiet as a mouse. She crept forward apon the sleeping boy, silent.

Patamon awoke to a heavy feeling on his chest, as well as a strange warmth on his arm. This was because Gatomon had curled up to him again, hugging his arm and resting her head on his chest.

Patamon blushed red. “Gatomon. I know you’re not asleep. What’re you doing?”

Her eyes opened and she put one finger to his lips. “Oh, you shut up.” she giggled. “We’ve only got a little while longer in these bodies. Why shouldn’t we enjoy it, sweetheart?”

Patamon felt his ears get hot. He was blushing like a tomato. Gatomon smiled, then cuddled back up to him again.

There was a sudden blast of wind from above them. The DigiDestined were thrown across the grass, while the Digimon tried to recompose themselves. Gatomon groaned inwardly. “I never get a chance…”

“What…What was that?!” Yolei gasped.

“I’m not sure…” Ken muttered. “It sounded like a…Snimon…”

The green Digimon suddenly reared up over the hill. “Oh, that was good!” Davis called, stumbling back.

“One of Sorceressmon’s, I’ll take it.” Cody muttered. “We should Digivolve.”

“Right!” T.K. cheered as he and the other Digimon raced down off the hill.

“Not you.” Patamon warned, snatching his partner out of the air. “Remember what Izzy said about Digivolving.”

“You either.” Gatomon chastised Kari. The cat humphed and curled up.

Within a few minutes, all the other Digimon had Digivolved. Snimon fired a few more bolts, then flew up. “You guys take cover!” Yolei called down to her friends. “We’ll take care of this!”

With a disgruntled sigh, the four ducked into a small hole in the side of the hill and watched anxiously.

It was apparent easily that the Snimon was an even match for the Digimon they had. The Champions looped and spun and attacked and dodged, but none did much of anything to the attacker.

The Snimon suddenly struck out with one of its blades and hit Aquilamon to the ground. The bird-like champion turned back into the Rookie form, and his partner groaned, barely remaining conscious.

“Yolei!” Kari called, trying to rush out of the hole to aid her friend.

“Kari, stop!” Gatomon cried, grabbing her. “We can’t…”

“ I don’t care!” Kari cried. “I can’t stand this anymore!”

“Kari’s right!” T.K. insisted, lifting up from Patamon’s head. “Without Aquilamon, they don’t stand a chance! We’ve gotta help!”

The two Digimon raced out of the hole towards the fray. Gatomon and Patamon glanced at each other and nodded. Despite all warnings, all precautions and all dangers, they thrust their Digivices forward and began the fight…

Davis wasn’t paying attention to them. He was too busy watching his partner. After Aquilamon had hit the ground, the other Digimon thought it too dangerous and deposited their partners at the top of the hill.

The Digimon were already starting to wear down. If they didn’t figure out something soon, they’d…

The silver arrow struck Snimon in the back of the head, doing the first real damage in the whole battle. The Digimon’s heads snapped around in surprise.

T.K. and Kari were there once again, ready and rarin’ for a fight. Their still-human friends gawked. “What’re you two doing?!” Davis cried.

“What does it look like they’re doing?” Patamon asked, appearing behind him with Gatomon in tow.

“But…But you heard what Izzy said!” Cody protested. “Every time they Digivolve, we’ll have less and less time!”

The Digimon, meanwhile, were still fighting the Snimon and not each other. The Snimon was weakening. Just a little more would do it. T.K. pulled back his right hand and began building the energy for another attack.

Kari, hovering even with him, saw a black shadow start to creep up on the other Angel Digimon. It looked familiar somehow…

With a shock, she realized what it was. “T.K., look out!” she shouted, lunging forward.

The boy Angel looked up a moment, in time to see Kari shove him out of the way. The black shape came down with what looked like a long staff and struck Kari in the small of the back. Kari cried out in pain, then fell to the ground.

“Kari!” Gatomon cried, watching her partner hit. The brown cat lay wounded and unconscious in the middle of a shallow crater.

In a quick hurry, T.K. let off the energy he’d been collecting, which destroyed the Snimon for good. Then both he and Gatomon turned for the crater.…But Kari was gone.

“No…” Gatomon whispered, searching the hole on hands and knees. “Where is she?! Where’s Kari?!”

“Looking for this?”

Everyone’s heads snapped up. The black shape, now revealed to be Sorceressmon, hovered above the Digimon, smiling a huge grin. In her right hand she had the limp form, hanging helpless in her grasp.

“Kari!” T.K. shouted.

Sorceressmon laughed a low laugh. “My Master will be quite pleased with this new…offering…”

“No!” Gatomon shouted. “Give her back!”

Sorceressmon’s laugh filled the air, and before anyone could do anything, she was gone.

The others stared at the spot she had been. Gatomon’s mouth fell open in shock. “N-N-No…” she whispered helplessly. “Kari…No…”

T.K. just stared blankly for a moment, then groaned loudly and slumped in mid-air. He plummeted to the ground-head first, shedding data as he went and turning back into his Rookie form. “T.K.!” Patamon called.

“I’ve got ‘em!” Davis called, lunging forward. He caught the Digimon just before he hit the ground.

“Thanks Davis.” Patamon sighed, taking his partner up. He cradled the limp form in his arms, checking him over for wounds.

“Is he hurt?” Yolei gasped breathlessly, looking over the boy’s shoulder.

“No…” Patamon sighed. “Just unconscious.”

The Digimon stirred and slowly opened his eyes. The other’s faces lit up. “T.K.! Are you alright?” Patamon asked.

T.K. blinked and shifted sleepily. “Where am I?” he muttered.

“You’re still in the Digital World, T.K.” Cody told him. “Right where you were.”

“Oh…” T.K. showed no real reaction, but kind of gazed away aimlessly. “And… Who are you again?”

“I told you guys not to Digivolve!” Izzy raged. The others backed away. It was rare to see the red-haired child genius angry at all, and when he was you’d pretty much better do what he said.

“Well…Well what were we supposed to do?” Gatomon asked in defense. “Let them get stomped?”

Izzy glared, plopping down in his chair. “There must have been another way!” he growled. “Before that they had over a week. Now they’ve got less than three days!”

Patamon sighed and glanced at his partner, curled up on his lap. He was half-asleep, occasionally muttering to himself so quietly no one could hear. Through quite a while of coaching, T.K. had been able to pull some of his memories from the void, but they were limited. He remembered Patamon good and well, but what surprised the whole group when he remembered every detail about Kari, but little of Matt or his own mother.

The fact that he had sparked giggles in Yolei, who’d proclaimed loudly that this was grand evidence that T.K. was in love with Kari, and had been all along. This had obviously been met with some determined protests from Davis in particular, but was the only idea anyone had, and Izzy agreed…In a way.

“At this point they can only remember the things that were most important to them…” he sighed. “We can assume Kari is at the same level…If they haven’t done anything to her.”

He glanced nervously over at Gatomon. The Digimon-turned-girl had been worried sick about her partner all day long. But she was listening intently, as they were here to figure out how to get her back.

“Well?” she urged. “What’re you staring at? Do you have an idea or not?!”

Izzy jumped, shook his head, and scrambled to dig in the drawer of his desk. “Where’d I put that…Ah!”

He pulled out something small and silver, which he quickly slipped around T.K.’s wrist. The Digimon looked at it curiously. It was a silver string, with a small white scroll on it. “What’s this thing?”

“It’s a speacial charm Gennai gave me.” Izzy explained, pulling out an identical scroll and handing it to Gatomon. “It should stall the effects of the spell when you Digivolve…but it’ll only work once. So when you get in there, you can’t change back.”

“What does that mean?” Davis asked. “In where?”

Izzy punched something into his laptop, then turned it to face the others. On the screen was an ominous black castle, high in the sky that seamed to be died blood-red. “Ew…” Yolei whispered. “Yuck.”

“This is where we’ve targeted all the Dark Energy Sorceressmon has been giving off.” Izzy explained. “It’s a small castle just off the coast of the continent of Modem. As I’ve explained before, Modem is the Dark Continent of the Digital World. Sorceressmon and her Master get their strength from the Black Energy.”

“So…Who’s her master?” Ken asked.

“I dunno.” Izzy shrugged. “It could be just about any dark Digimon. We just don’t know yet.”

T.K. examined the chain quietly, trying to keep all the information that was flying around straight. It was hard to remember much of anything that hadn’t happened in the past two days, but he remembered her. And, more important, he remembered what happened to her, and his body and soul yearned to get her back.

“Are we all set?” Izzy asked, looking around at the others.

“You bet!” Davis exclaimed, speaking for the group. “We’ll start off tomorrow morning. Everyone be here by 10 o’clock and we’ll head out!”

~ * ~ * ~

As promised, they set off quickly the next morning. It took a few minutes longer than usual to go through the portal, and when they did they all came out with a burst, which of course took them a few minutes to untangle themselves.

Yolei sat up and looked around. “Yuck.” she grimaced, making a face. “What a creepy place.”

And it was. Modem, in general, is a pretty creepy place for anyone used to the scenery from Sever. However, if you’re from Modem, the greenery of Server is stranger still. On Modem, they have no greenery. They have reddery.

The grass is blood red. The leaves are red, though they turn green and blue during the fall. The wood of all trees are all different shades of black and dark gray. Flowers that are usually white are purple, while yellow is blue, and roses are green. And, may I add, the sky is blood red like some vicious battle just happened in the clouds. If you’re used to it, as most people who travel to Modem are, it’s really not as strange as it sounds.

After taking all this in, they spotted the thing they’d come to meet: A huge black castle, built on a huge rock that just jutted out of the ground so suddenly it looked like it was a piece of driftwood that had been thrown down the beach and just stuck in the sand.

I could describe the nice, long, boring walk up to the front gate, if you really like. I could tell you haw they saw enough strange plants and, occasionally, low-level Digimon to keep Izzy and Jim busy for years. I could tell you how utterly and completely creeped out and sickened they got at some of the things…but that would take a long time and you’d probably loose interest before we were half way through, so I won’t even bother.

Sum it up to say that, after an hour-long hike, they arrived at the front gates of the castle and gazed up with interest.

“Uh…Now what?” Davis asked, breaking the silence.

“I…I guess we go in.” Patamon muttered, reaching for the door rings.

Cody rolled his eyes. “Really, Patamon, we’re facing a huge castle of black energy on a continent with red grass, Kari’s being held prisoner inside by a mysterious dark master and his crazy purple henchwomon, and you think they’ll just leave the door open so we can walk right in and…?”

The door swung open with a loud ca-reeeeeeek. Patamon grinned at Cody, who was standing there wordlessly, and they started in.

“I don’t believe it.” Cody muttered, then followed after.

The inside of the castle was even more confusing and disturbing than the outside. Everything in it was pure black, so you couldn’t tell where wall ends and door begins, what was a table or a suit of armor. It was baffling and confusing, and it was a good thing that Ken had a penlight with them, or they’d have to feel their way around like a blind man.

“Talk about creepy.” Gatomon muttered, taking a step closer to Patamon, who took a step in the other direction to avoid any more embarrassing contact at that particular time.

“I think I saw something move over there!” Yolei squeaked.

Ken swiped his light in the direction she was pointing. “There’s nothing there.” he comforted. “You’re just seeing things.”

There was silence a moment as they crossed through the hall, looking for the pathway to the dungeons. Yolei stopped. “There it is again!” she gasped.

“I saw it to…” Cody muttered. “Something is there!”

Davis took the penlight and waved it around in front of them. “Come out!” he called. “I‘m warning you…show yourself!”

Lights suddenly blazed on, torches, lit suddenly by an unknown force. Standing before them, staring at the floor, was a tall, dark figure. She was dressed completely in black, with dastardly white skin and long, grayish-brown hair. Her eyes were dark and unemotional.

“It’s LadyDevimon.” Gatomon growled.

“One of Sorceressmon’s products, I’ll suspect.” Hawkmon muttered darkly. “A guard to prevent us from entering farther.”

“Well then.” Wormmon buzzed. “We’ll just have to get through, huh?”

With a few quick flashes of light, the five champion Digimon stood ready. “Are you okay, T.K.?” Patamon called up.

“Yeah!” T.K. held his arm up, showing the charm on his wrist. “This thing’s working fine. I don’t feel different at all!”

“Just remember, that charm only works once!” Gatomon called. “So don’t get hurt!”

T.K. nodded, then the group dove into the fight.

“Spiking Strike!” Stingmon buzzed, thrusting his blade forward. LadyDevimon dodged and it pierced the wall behind her, creating quite a long gash in the darkness. It sizzled purple a moment, then faded away.

The LadyDevimon turned to face them. “Darkness…Wave…” she muttered unemotionally, thrusting the dark attack into their midst.

The Digimon leapt back, away from the attack. “Grand Horn!” Aquilamon shouted, knocking LadyDevimon back with the force of his blast.

“Tail Hammer!”

“V-Laser!”

The attacks overwhelmed their fallen-angel foe. She stumbled back in mid-air, wounded slightly. “Evil…Wing…” she muttered, sending out another attack toward Ankylomon, who blocked it easily.

“She’s weakening!” Ken called to the Digimon. “Everyone attack at once and we’ll have ‘er!”

“Then let’s do it!” Davis cheered. “Everyone ready?!”

The Digimon started building their energy up for a final attack. T.K.’s eyes were drawn unavoidable to the victim of their attacks…and he stopped.

LadyDevimon looked…afraid. The wooden dolls had never looks scared or worried or…well, anything. But LadyDevimon looked like she knew she was going to die…and she looked familiar…

“Ready…” Davis coached, and the Digimon nodded. “Aim…Fire!”

“Spiking Strike!”

“V-Laser!”

“Blast Rings!”

“Tail Hammer!”

The blasts of energy flew towards their target. LadyDevimon threw her hands up in defense, still not saying a word, as the attacks combined into a single glow and grew to a point.

There was a blast and a range of explosions. But when the smoke cleared, instead of a wooden doll they saw…

“T.K.!” Patamon gasped.

The angel Digimon had thrown himself in front of the attacks, defending the LadyDevimon. He was singed and injured, but at the same time looked strong and determined, like there was some kind of mission to the whole thing.

“T.K., what were you thinking?!” Gatomon cried. “Why did you protect her?!”

T.K. groaned a moment before managing to croak two words: “It’s…Kari…”

The others stared. “What?!” Davis gasped. “What did you say?”

“It’s Kari!” T.K. insisted again. “It’s her!”

Gatomon looked at T.K. a moment, then at LadyDevimon. That look in her eyes… And the touch of brown in her hair…and her eyes again…She really did look…

“It is her!” Gatomon gasped. “Good lord…that LadyDevimon is Kari!”

The other Digimon quickly backed off as T.K. turned to her. LadyDevimon/Kari seamed confused with the fact that he had protected her, and was uncertain exactly which side he was on.

“Kari…” he whispered, holding out his hand gently. “It’s me…don’t you remember? T.K.…”

She blinked at the name. For a moment, nothing happened, then she reached out one clawed hand for his wearily, muttering, “T…K…?”

T.K. took the clawed hand, smiling and nodding. Kari wavered in the air a moment, then groaned and fell forward, into him. He caught her carefully, and slowly she turned back into the little brown cat.

“She’s back…” Gatomon whispered, then cheered. “She’s back! Kari’s back!”

The cat stirred in T.K.’s arms. He smiled down at her as they descended towards the ground. “How’re you feeling?” he asked gently.

“Better.” she whispered, a slight smile on her lips. She leaned up sleepily and kissed him on the cheek, causing a light shade of blush to cross his face.

“Aw…” Yolei cooed, partly to the two Digimon and partly to Davis. “Ain’t that sweet?”

“I see…” Izzy put his hand on his chin, reading an e-mail from the others. “So Sorceressmon’s Master put a spell on Kari…Brainwashing…”

“Well?” Tai demanded impatiently from the bed. Figuring the others would need help, Izzy had begun calling the older DigiDestined home from college for this little trip. Tai and Sora were the only ones to have arrived so far, but Matt was on his way, Mimi would be called via Digiport and Joe just had to finish something at his internship and he’d be right there. “Spit it out, Izzy! Is my sister alright?”

“She’s fine, Tai.” the red-haired prodigy sighed. “Just a little tired, that’s all. Just a sec, lemmie check what they’re planning for the evening…” he crouched over the keyboard, muttering quietly. A minute later it popped up with a message from Ken, saying they’d stay on Modem, but outside the castle walls, for the night.

“Looks like our best shot would be a rendezvous tomorrow morning.” Izzy leaned back so he could look at the other two. “Then the whole bunch of us can attack at once.”

“What about T.K.?” Sora asked. “Didn’t you say that charm only works once? What’ll he do?”

“Apparently he’s staying at the Champion level.” Izzy shrugged, but a worried look was crossing over his eyes. “He’ll stay that way all night…”

“But won’t that be awfully hard?” it was Tai this time. “I mean…the only one of our Digimon that stayed in the Champion level that long was Gatomon, and it was natural for her.”

“It’ll be a strain, yes.” Izzy sighed, none to comfortingly. “But…I’m sure he can do it. If he can just hold on, one night…everything’ll be just fine.”

~ * ~ * ~

T.K. was having trouble sleeping. Being stuck as Angemon wore him out, but he couldn’t change back. And he just couldn’t sleep, no matter how exhausted he was. But he still had to hold on…for their battle tomorrow…

“Can’t sleep?”

T.K. looked down, startled. Kari, who had been curled next to Gatomon, was now standing in his lap, smiling up at him sleepily. “Kari!” he gasped in a whisper. “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“Nah…” Kari yawned. “It’s hard to sleep here, anyway.”

She sat up, stretched a moment, then turned to face him with a worried look on her face. “Are you okay?” she asked quietly.

“I’m fine…” he muttered, none to convincingly. “I’m just a little…tired…”

Kari sighed, looking down guiltily. Something about the brainwashing spell had kept most of her memories of the others intact, especially of him, so she was about at the same level as T.K. was. But besides all that, her short-term memory was lacking, and she remembered nothing about being LadyDevimon or anything.

“I’m sorry…” she muttered. “It’s my fault. You had to Digivolve early because of me…”

“Oh, no!” he insisted. “It’s not that at all! I’d have to Digivolve sooner or later, and besides…” a gentle blush crossed his cheeks. “…We had to save you…somehow…”

Kari was taken aback, but then she smiled. “You’re so sweet.” she cooed up to him, curling up again.

She looked out over the others, all asleep. She noticed that Gatomon was curled up against Patamon once again, holding his arm. Patamon was blushing in his sleep. “Oh dear…Gatomon’s flirting again.” Kari sighed. “Shouldn’t we stop them?”

“Nah.” T.K. shook his head, smiling.

“But it makes Patamon so uncomfortable!” Kari exclaimed.

“Well, it’s just ‘cause he likes her, too.” T.K. laughed. “Gatomon’s just pretty forceful, that’s all.”

Kari nodded quietly, understanding. She yawned slightly, then curled up in his lap. In a few minutes, she was fast asleep. T.K. smiled, stroking the small animal. It still seamed so amazing to him…This creature…this sweet little cat…was the girl he’d secretly been watching for years. And he loved her just as much as ever.

He gave a little half-groan, his body tensing under the strain. Every single mussel in him ached, and his head was splitting in a killer migraine. It felt like elephants were crashing about in his head, fighting and banging on the walls with hammers. With the silence, he could hear it better than ever. The noise in his brain was deafening, and multicolored spots were appearing before his eyes. He felt desperately like he was going to be sick, and really might have felt better if he had.

“What time is it?” he groaned over the noise. He glanced over at Ken’s watch, illuminated a bright green in the dark. 4:36 AM, and he still hadn’t slept a wink. If this kept up much longer he could pass out and just forget about the whole thing.

T.K. closed his eyes painfully, trying to relax, and leaned against the tree he was by. If only the charm worked more often…if only it wasn’t his humanity that was at stake here…if only…

There was a snap from the trees like a gunshot. T.K.’s eyes flew open. Someone had obviously tried to sneak up on them carefully, but had stepped on a twig.

Carefully trying to wake Kari or the others, the champion Digimon reached cautiously back and gripped the golden staff he’d been equipped with. The noise of footsteps grew closer…closer…

Before he knew what was happening, the attack snapped around the tree two feet away like a huge, thick whip, and something dark wrapped around his wrist. He felt something cutting through his skin, long slices, but thin, like very long, very deep paper cuts.

T.K. yanked at whatever it was that was holding him, but somehow it lifted him into the air. His free hand snatched down to try and catch Kari, but the force suddenly crashed backwards, knocking T.K.’s head into the tree with a sickening thump. Everything went black for a few moments.

He was conscious again a moment later, looking up into Kari’s worried face. “T.K., what happened?” she asked fearfully.

The human-turned-Digimon sat up with a gasp, then realized he’d only been out for a few minutes. The others were sitting up, rubbing their eyes, except for Patamon and Gatomon, who were leaning over him with Kari.

“Something’s out there.” he said seriously. “Something strong…”

There was the CRASH! of trees being ripped from their roots, and three of them were torn up right in front of the DigiDestined. Sorceressmon stood there, holding her staff cockily. “I knew we’d find you here.” she laughed. “Master was right, just like Theseus and the Minotaur.”

“These-who and the Mini-what?” Davis asked, confused.

“Theseus and the Minotaur.” Ken explained in a calm voice, but he still sounded scared. “It’s an old Greek myth. Theseus was a hero who killed the Minotaur, a monster that looked like a bull. The Minotaur lived in a maze that nobody knew how to get out of, but Theseus used a ball of string to find his way out…”

“String…” T.K. whispered, suddenly understanding.

Kari turned to look at him. T.K.’s eyes were wide, looking closely at the cuts on his left hand and wrist. They were long, and deeper in some places than in others. It was like his hand had been bound tightly with rope…or even…

“She and…her master…” T.K. whispered. “They use string as a weapon…and it’s sharp…”

Sorceressmon laughed a bit, holding her hands up like she was holding a rope. It took a minute of looking, but there was a thin, clear, almost invisible piece of thread. “This lead us right to ya.”

“But…how?” Patamon whispered, following the glimmer of the string. How is it they wouldn’t have noticed something so sharp? It must have attached itself to someone…

There it was! He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. It was gone again… no, it was still there! Intertwined between all those other strands…just a little glimmer in a sea of white.

Patamon suddenly reached forward grabbed a hold of Gatomon’s hair. The Digimon/Girl let out a bit of a scream. “Patamon, what are you doing?!” she shrieked.

Patamon reached in to the hunk he’d grabbed and plucked out a single hair. It came loose easily, Gatomon didn’t even feel a tug, and he held it up to the moonlight so they could see. “This what you’re talking about?” he growled, clutching something in his hand.

Sorceressmon smirked, then tugged on her string. Patamon let out a bit of a shout and opened his hand from pain. There was a long cut across his palm, bleeding red. “Clever, you are.” the spell caster laughed.

“What the…?” Yolei gasped.

“Her ‘master’ tied the string to one of Gatomon’s hairs.” Patamon muttered, stemming the blood from his hand with the sleeve of his shirt. “We didn’t notice it before because it’s so pale, it blended in.”

“You got it, you little pest.” Sorceressmon laughed, pulling the string up. They could see the tiny red beads of Patamon’s blood on it. “My master’s thread is the most powerful force in the universe.”

“That’s what you think!” Veemon growled.

“No, you little pest!” Sorceressmon swung her staff forward, knocking Veemon back. “That’s what I know!”

There were several quick flashes after that, and soon the five champion Digimon stood ready to fight. Kari had wanted to Digivolve, but T.K. wouldn’t let her until the Master had shown up.

“Vee Laser!” ExVeemon cried, firing his attack. Sorceressmon dodged the slow blast easily, and it knocked down a couple of trees from behind her.

“Is that all you’ve got?” she taunted. The ball of purple energy started to form in the top of her staff. “This’ll give you a thrashing! Sorcerer’s…”

She was stuck from behind by rings of gold energy. Aquilamon was hovering behind her. “Less talk, more fight!” he shouted back.

Sorceressmon growled. “Why you…” she hissed, pulling something out of the pouch on her waist. “Take this!”

She threw some strange sort of powder into Aquilamon’s face. The hawk-like Digimon coughed, blinded by the cloud of purple dust, afraid to breathe it in. “Aquilamon!” Yolei called, “Get away, hurry!”

Her partner killed his own speed and dropped like a stone, crashing underneath Sorceressmon and into a couple of trees. The spell caster Digimon laughed, tossing her head back as she watch Aquilamon try to recover. “What fun!” she giggled. “Squashing the flies that get in my way…”

T.K. was on her so suddenly no one could tell how fast he’d been. Soon the two humanoid Digimon were wrestling in mid-air, the others holding back so as not to hurt their comrade.

“You think you’re so tough?” Sorceressmon exclaimed, suddenly throwing T.K. off of her. The angel righted himself in mid-air, grinning some strange sort of stupid grin. “I’m more than a match for you!”

“You were.” T.K. grinning, holding something up. It was another piece of string, but this one was thicker, more like kite string than the invisibly thin thread from before. Sorceressmon’s eyes widened as the boy snapped it in half. “Without this little guideline from your ‘Master’, you’re nothing.”

Sorceressmon stiffened, suddenly frightened. T.K. pressed on, looking more vicious than he usually did. “He was giving you your instructions through this, wasn’t he? And what about your ‘magic’?” he threw the string away, understanding it all. “I bet you don’t have any real magic at all. The only power you have is your lame attack!”

Sorceressmon growled, but the others had caught on. They were closing in on Sorceressmon, circling around her. “So her ‘master’ is the one we’re really after, isn’t he?” Ken smiled. “He’s the one with all the power, so we don’t have to worry about getting rid of a puppet, now do we?”

“Guys?” Davis glanced at the Digimon.

“You got it.” ExVeemon nodded. “V Laser!”

“Grand Horn!”

“Tail Hammer!”

“Spiking Strike!”

“Hand of Fate!”

With the final attack, Sorceressmon crashed to the ground. She stumbled away, badly wounded, clutching her staff as she disappeared into the trees. “You’ll pay for this!” she yelled back at them. “No one will fight against master Jumon! NO ONE!”

She vanished from sight. The Digimon landed near their partners. “Well.” Patamon sighed. “She’s gone.”

“What’d she call her master?” Gatomon asked. “Jumon, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Cody sighed quietly. “But what’s a Jumon?”

The ground around them suddenly began to shake and rock. They struggled to keep themselves on their feet, looking up. The black castle was glowing red with the ‘master’s rage and furry. “I think we’re about to find out…”