Disclaimer:  I do not own Digimon, I just like writing about them ^_^

Special thanks to:  miaow227, Rainbow Daydreamer and Miyo86.  Thank you for reviewing chapter 8.  Finally, here is the last chapter of this story.  I hope you all like it!

The Dark Scepter—Chapter 9

By Fenris5000—Angelica

"103, 104, 105…"

"Gomomon, would you please stop counting the stairs?"  Joe begged, wiping a shaky hand across his sweaty brow and fixing his playful little digimon with a hard glare.  "It isn't helping to make this any easier, you know."

Gomomon looked up with wide eyes.  "Sorry about that Joe, I just thought it could be useful to know how many we climbed, just in case we have to come back down them in a hurry."

"Are we nearly there yet?"  Palmon asked, looking at her pink clad digidestined huff and puff with concern.

"I see it?"  Tai said excitedly.  "Just a few more steps guys."

"And then what?"  Izzy asked from the rear.  "We haven't even formulated a plan yet."

Gatomon stopped.  "Sure we have.  We are going in there attacking.  While all you guys keep the evil Mons distracted, I am going to find Kari and snap her out of their control."

"What if she's a clone?"  Sora asked with heavy sarcasm. 

"Oh yeah."  Tai said, looking unsure.  "That was my awesome theory earlier, wasn't it."  He halted as well; just shy of the last three steps up to the door.

"Tai."  TK said, patting his friend on the arm in a condescending manner.  "What would be the point of making a clone of Kari?  They have her held prisoner, all they would need to do is hypnotize her or blackmail her into doing their bidding."

Tai's shoulders slumped.  "Yeah, I guess you're right.  I just don't like the idea that someone has been playing with my baby sister's head."  His hand was clenched in a white-knuckled fist.  "Those monsters are going to pay."  His tone was chilling with the menacing promise.

Agumon straightened.  "You can count on me Tai."

"All of us."  Gabumon corrected, his face set in determination.

"What if the Acolytemon are there too?"  Mimi asked fearfully.

Tai nodded.  "Pity for them."

"Let's go!"  Matt urged, beside his best friend as they mounted those last three steps.  They paused at the top.  "Should we knock first?"

Tai pondered for a second.  "Nah."  They turned the stiff cold darkened knob slowly and heaved the (heavy) door open.

The door opened, revealing a large chamber that had to be a tower top.  The ceiling was at least thirty feet high, with the top half tapering up to a point like a cone and made out of some transparent colorless material like glass, enabling the room to be bathed in bright natural light.  The room was large and round in shape and contained no furnishings at all except for a raised circular shaped platform right in the middle.  The light shone down from the cone like a spotlight, illuminating those who stood in the circle beneath eerily.

"Kari."  Tai whispered as his big chocolate colored eyes rested on his sweet little sister standing in the center of their five evil enemies.

"Let us try one more time."  The deep grating voice of Darknessmon boomed across the room.

"Come on."  TK whispered from behind Agumon and Gabumon.  "Let's go get 'em."

Tai turned, bringing his fingers to his lips.  "Shhh.  I don't think they even know we're here.  Let's wait a minute and try to attack when they are distracted by something else."

"But Tai, that might be too late."  Izzy warned his normally impetuous leader.  The red-haired genius was typing away at his laptop, a concerned frown on his face.  "I think they have been trying to open the porthole off Ash Island."  He said as they watched the five evil ones throw their black light into the fragile little brunette digidestined in the center.  Kari in turn, aimed her golden scepter with the black-jeweled eye above her head at the apex of the cone and a dense black light shot straight up.  Light and energy crackled in the ceiling and a tiny tear seemed to start out of nowhere, growing larger by the second.

"It's opening."  Izzy said in an agitated voice.

Tai nodded.  "Right.  Okay that's our cue.  Let's go!  Agumon digivolve!"

Agumon smiled.  "It's about time.  Agumon zipdigivolve to Dynamogreymon!"

"Gabumon zipdigivolve to Zenithgarurumon!"

"Patamon zipdigivolve to Spiritangemon!"

Matt gave TK a quick pleased smile, glad that their digimon were not left out of the new digivolving level.

"Tentomon zipdigivolve to Kinetickabuterimon!"

"Biyomon zipdigivolve to Cyberbirdramon!"

"Gomomon zipdigivolve to Maximikkakumon!"

"Palmon zipdigivolve to Bionictogemon!"

The room was flooded with the flashing strobe light as the seven digimon evolved to their highest levels without a second thought, amazingly bypassing the bridging levels they had normally had to reach first.

Gatomon led the others out into the open with flashing blue eyes.  "Kari!"  She yelled.

The blank-faced girl jerked slightly and the black light stopped firing from her scepter as she drew her arm down by her side.  The small tear in the air in the ceiling of the chamber drew shut as the sparking energy ceased.  The room was oddly quiet after the hum of the scepter was gone.

"Curse you digidestined."  Darknessmon snarled with venom as he whirled around, his dark cape swirling around his pale body.  "That labyrinth was supposed to keep you occupied for longer than this."  He brought his staff up and smashed it to the floor five times.

Tai spun around, his eyes hard.  "Okay guys, look alive, we all know what happens when he does that."

"Acolytemon!"  Mimi shrieked as she flattened herself against the wall in fear.  "Wasn't it bad enough we have to fight all five evil ones without their minions?"

"Chaosdevimon's white fanged mouth stretched into a grim smile.  "Not just minions."  His voice boomed across the room.

Dynamogreymon met with the first wave of Acolytemon to storm into the chamber.  "Incinerator attack!"  The intense white fireball flame erupted from the large orange dinosaur-like digimon's fierce jaws and engulfed the three little spindly yet sinister spiky Acolytemons he aimed at.  An explosion of digidust immediately followed.

"Yay Dynamogreymon!"  Tai cheered.  "Give it up Darknessmon, your minions are no match for our zipdigivolvers.  Just give Kari back to us, and maybe we'll leave you and your cronies alive and in one piece!"

Darknessmon's cold black soulless eyes watched the leader of the digidestined with mirth.  "How very charitable of you.  How very foolish."  He turned back into the circle with a sardonic smile and aimed his obsidian rod at Kari, still standing unmoving and unresponsive in the center.

All five let loose their power into Kari, who aimed her winking scepter over the chain they formed, not at the digidestined, but at the growing number of Acolytemon.

"Alright, she's broken their spell!"  Tai smiled in relief at seeing his little sister attack their unrelenting enemies.

Izzy shook his head as he watched the black energy engulf the Acolytemon.  "Um, I wouldn't count your chickens quite yet, Tai."  The Acolytemon were getting bigger.  Spinier.  Longer fangs on the bottom jaws as well as the tops.

Joe laughed nervously.  "This is all a bad dream.  This is all just a bad dream.  This is all just a really really bad dream."  He gulped, flattening himself beside Mimi; the sweat was rolling down his face.  "How come I'm not waking up?"  He moaned.

"Zenithgarurumon, attack!"  Matt yelled as his eyes watched the unexpected digivolution of the Acolytemon in revulsion.  This was bad.  This was very bad.

Zenithgarurumon, roughly twice the size of Garurumon, leapt off the floor with his powerful hindquarters, sparkling silver and blue stripes in the white light of the chamber.  A long silver and blue horn replaced Gabumon's yellow one on his head making him look like a cross between the mighty snow wolf and the majestic unicorn.  "Arctic cauterizer!"  He met the next group of the new and improved Acolytemon who were charging up, glowing a sickly green color.  His jaws opened, releasing a gush of what appeared to be a silver liquid nitrogen like attack that sprayed onto their enemies, freezing the beasts instantly.

"Nice."  Dynamogreymon complimented as he picked out his next target.

"If you liked that, wait until you see what I can do."  Spiritangemon soared across the chamber with Cyberbirdramon and Kinetickabuterimon at his side.

"Atomicacolytemon attack!"  Darknessmon shouted across the chamber, slamming his staff to the ground in fury.

Cyberbirdramon and Kinetickabuterimon swooped out of formation and zeroed in on their targets.  A blast of blue power hit the angel with the pristine white cloak, cape and wings of gold and silver feathers right in the side, sending him reeling back with force.

"Spiritangemon!"  TK yelled with an anguished voice.

The digimon righted himself and a gold halo appeared in his hand from out of thin air.  "Halo of purity!"  He yelled, throwing the shining ring at the attacking Atomicacolytemon who seemed panicking at the unexpected recovery of the angel digimon.  The ring appeared to expand as it neared the enemy and drop over it's head and down its shoulders, squeezing closed until the big black spiny monster exploded to a pile of digidust and rained uselessly to the scuffed up stone floor.

Mimi peered through the fingers that she was trying to hide behind to see just how badly they were faring against these ghastly Atomicacolytemon.  The only good thing about them was that they were evil digimon of very few words.  There was nothing worse than a chatty villain.  Her eyes fell onto her own digimon.  What was her name now?  Bionictogemon?  The large sparkly metallic green cactus on two legs was about twice the size of Togemon, and instead of a set of boxing gloves, she wore long sparkling gold gloves on not two but six lithe arms.  Each wrist was equipped with a golden bracelet with a raised cylinder on it that was mounted on another ring around her forearms.  On her head, she wore a delicately spiked golden headdress.

"Poison needles attack!"  Bionictogemon yelled in a voice sounding more like Lilymon's than Togemon's.  She aimed her two top hands towards a small group of Atomicacolytemon who were a split second from attacking the digidestined.  A blast of rapid fire needles as sharp as scalpels and as long as brand new pencils projected from her wrist cannons across the chamber and buried themselves into the Atomicacolytemon's jet black skin.  With a pained howl, the huge spiny beasts disintegrated into a puff of midnight digidust.

"Yay Bionictogemon!"  Mimi shrieked, clapping her hands rapidly.

Maximikkakumon took a hit in the shoulder from behind and stumbled forward a step; he turned and gave the offending glowing red Atomicacolytemon a death glare, raising his long shiny blue trident into the air.  "Tornado tusk!"  He thundered as the green and blue swirling energy harnessed by the huge metallic orange furred digimon was sent forth.  The tornado trapped three of them in its swirling fury.  The twisting Atomicacolytemon burst into smithereens.

"Gatomon!  Now's your chance!"  Tai yelled decisively over the sounds of explosions.  "We'll keep these suckers busy.  Get Kari out of here!"

The little white cat-like digimon with the large blue eyes and formidable yellow claw gloves saluted her big haired leader and leapt towards the circle of evil ones dodging as Cyberbirdramon and her adversary plowed past and into the wall, kamikaze style.  Gatomon didn't stop to see the outcome; her eyes were riveted on her target.  The little digidestined holder of the crest of light.  The rest of the battle was a simple blur of light and explosions.  "I'm coming Kari!"  She cried with renewed energy.

The little mousy-brown haired girl in the navy blue athletic pants with white piping down the sides and yellow pullover hooded sweater turned unresponsive black eyes towards the quickly approaching little white digimon.

"Gatomon, watch out!"  Sora yelled as she watched Kari lift the gold scepter to aim at the little champion level digimon.

Ebony energy blazed from the black eye of the scepter and engulfed the little white cat-digimon in its flame.

"Oh no."  Izzy groaned, seeing a transformation take place.  In place of Gatomon, now stood the statuesque new and improved model of Angewomon.  Gone were the beautiful blond hair and snow white feathers, instead, the creature looked like a ladydevimon on steroids.  Black hair, black feathers, black uniform and helmet.  A cruel smile played on her shiny black lips.

Tai stomped his foot down in fury as he watched the hideously beautiful deviant gracefully lift off the ground with a sweep of her shadowy wings.  That was NOT supposed to happen.  So Kari was this far under the evil ones influence that she would attack her own digimon for them?  He watched the corrupted digimon glide purposefully after Spiritangemon, her claw like hands flexed in a way that looked like she was going straight for the pure white and gold digimon's throat.

"Spiritangemon!"  TK yelled as the new evil digimon was about to strike.

"Darkangewomon!"  Spiritangemon shouted, his voice heavy with sorrow.  "You can fight this.  Your heart is still yours."

Darkangewomon's smirk grew chillier.  "Black heart!"  She yelled as a beam of crackling black power was shot from her eyes.

Spiritangemon ducked and a gold halo was suddenly in his hand.  "I hate to do this to you, my friend."  He paused with a regretful frown then hurled it at her with all his might.  "Halo of purity!"  The gold ring grew as it spun towards Kari's digimon.  Darkangewomon swooped into a rapid descent as the glittering halo maneuvered to follow its target as if it were a heat seeking missile.  The tainted digimon kamikazed into the floor, leveling off at the last instant a second before the halo hit with a sparkling crash, leaving a shower of glittery gold dust in it's wake.

Tai groaned as he watched the battle continue.  Darkangewomon and Spiritangemon were about evenly matched and even though they were worlds apart, they seemed to be able to anticipate one another's attacks exactly.  The rest of their digimon were being kept busy by the unending army of Atomicacolytemon who were practically materializing from out of nowhere.  They were going to have to come up with a strategy pretty quick if they were going to come out of this battle victorious.

"Izzy!"  Tai shouted in a forlorn voice.  "What are we going to do?"

An unnerving peel of mirth echoed across the spacious chamber.  Darknessmon frowned, crossing his arms.  "There is nothing left for you to do but watch as we destroy your precious digimon."  The pasty-skinned fiend drawled in a saccharine tone.  "And then we'll finally finish you infuriating digidestined off; once and for all!"

Matt rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, yeah.  We've heard that one before you Bonehead!"

"Matt!"  Sora shrieked, staring at the blond holder of the crest of friendship anxiously.  It would not be good to provoke the evil ones into forcing Kari to attack them again.

Izzy joined Tai, watching Kinetickabuterimon zing past them and wham into two more Atomicacolytemon and zap their stunned forms with his galvanic zapper.  "Okay, here's the situation in a nutshell Tai.  Our digimon are doing a bang-up job, but even they can't continue indefinitely.  They are going to run out of energy sooner or later."

Matt, TK, Sora, Joe and Mimi joined the two, listening quietly to the red haired genius spell it out.

"The Atomicacolytemon will just keep coming until all our digimon revert back to rookie and then they will finish us off one by one unless we come up with some way to turn the tide of battle.  We need Kari on our side, then the evil ones will be powerless and maybe the Atomicacolytemon will leave.  They always seem to turn tail and run just as soon as their master's show signs of weakness.

Tai scratched his head agitatedly.  "We already know all of this Izzy.  Don't you think we've tried to get Kari back already?  And where has it gotten us?  Now we're fighting Darkangewomon too."  He whispered, stealing a glance back at the circle of evil ones.  "What I don't understand is:  what are they waiting for? Why don't they get Kari to attack us directly?  Why play this game of watching the digimon fight?"

Izzy was clicking away at his laptop.  "Well Tai, my best guess is that opening that portal off Ash Island must have weakened their powers somewhat.  I don't think they have achieved their full potential yet, and need to recharge.  Attacking us directly would probably seriously deplete what reserves they've got, and then they won't have enough power to get that portal open."

"So you are saying we should provoke the evil ones into spending their energy on us to weaken them further so we can prevent them from opening up the digiport?"  Tai asked skeptically.

Joe frowned.  "I am not liking this plan one bit.  Our digimon are too busy battling Atomicacolytemon, so that means you are suggesting that we are provoking this mindless attack?"  He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with quivering fingers.  "Now I am the first one to admit that I am not getting an award for bravery any time soon, but I'm not stupid either.  There's got to be another way."

"Well what about our Talismans?"  Mimi asked, gazing lovingly at the creamy pink colored charm between her fingers.  "They have to be able to help us, otherwise why would we have them?"

Izzy fingered his green Talisman absently.  "They have been a help."  He stated briskly.  "Our digimon have been able to zipdigivolve to the next level."

"And took out a wall."  Joe added, turning abruptly back towards the battle to watch Zenithgarurumon blast another four Atomicacolytemon with his arctic cauterizer.  The black digidust settled and four more of the nightmarish beasts popped up in their place.

Dynamogreymon slammed into the nearby wall after being hit with the rippling blue power-force of five of the Atomicacolytemon working together.  The large spiky orange dinosaur-like digimon in the gold tri-horned helmet lay unmoving, then a soft glow surrounded him and the large form started shrinking.

"No!"  Tai yelled, running to Agumon and grabbing his rookie stage digimon tightly.  Cyberbirdramon and Bionictogemon were instantly at their side to shield them from further attacks.

"Comet blaze!"  The large half-bird, half android with the long red and silver feathers shouted, hurling a massive fireball at the monsters who downed Dynamogreymon.

"Poison needle attack!"  Bionictogemon shouted fiercely, letting loose a barrage of the long needles towards their enemy.

The offending digimon disappeared in a wink.

"Okay guys!"  Tai yelled fiercely, slowly getting to his feet, his talisman in his hand strobing brightly.  "Let's see what these babies can do!  Strength!"

Izzy, Joe, Sora and Mimi held up their Talismans, which also began to shine as brightly as Tai's.

"Wisdom!"

"Endurance!"

"Faith!"

"Harmony!"

Matt fell back a step, covering his eyes as the swirling colored energy swallowed him up.  The power absorbed into his skin and he could feel the warmth pulsing through his whole body.  His eyes opened, and calmly, he turned to TK.  "Ready?"

TK nodded rapidly as he watched the cobalt force erupt from Matt's eyes like icy lasers.  The blue light transformed to sunshine yellow sparkling rays as they approached the younger blond and passed into him, igniting every sense.  The wielding scepter was an extension of himself.

Matt was still surrounded by a pale blue aura.  "TK, aim your scepter at Kari."

"What?"  TK demanded incredulously

"Are you nuts?"  Tai demanded harshly.  "Aim the scepter at the bad guys!"  He roughly pushed his floppy brown hair off his face.

"No!"  Matt responded, turning glittering blue eyes on their leader.  "First we need to free Kari from their control, then we'll have Darkangewomon back."

Joe looked skeptical.  "You want TK to shoot Kari with his scepter?  Did you even see what happened to that wall he destroyed downstairs?  And you want to hit Kari with the same thing?"

The tall blond scowled at their resident worrywart.  "It's a light scepter Joe.  It can't hurt her.  It can't harm us.  It's just a tool.  It leveled the wall because we needed to be here.  It is also a cleansing light."  He watched Kinetickabuterimon sail past, slamming into Maximikkakumon.  The weak golden glow surrounded the two as they dedigivolved back to Tentomon and Gomomon.  "Trust me, and you had better do it fast before the rest of our digimon end up like those three."

Izzy wore a torn expression.  "I'll probably live to regret this.  TK, do what Matt says.  He hasn't been wrong yet."

"But what if it doesn't work?"  TK fretted, feeling the pull of the scepter.  It was charged to the max and ready to go.  "I couldn't live with myself if I hurt her."

Sora watched the fight with growing panic.  They only had four zipdigivolvers left in combat and were terribly out numbered.  "Just do it TK, I'm sure Kari would rather you took the risk than left her the way she is right now!"  The black soulless eyes on the usually pert little girl were tragic.  They had to end this, one way or the other.

TK gulped, letting his eyes rest on their leader.  "Tai, what should I do?"  The bewildered boy was too pure and innocent to be faced with a decision of this caliber alone.

Tai studied his best friend through narrowed eyes.  "Ishida, if anything happens to my sister, I will never forgive you."  He faced TK.  "Do it."

The younger blond wiped the sheen of sweat from his forehead and turned to the circle of villains and held his breath.  You can do this.  Matt says it will work.  I just have to have faith.  The five evil ones watched with mocking eyes.  They knew he was terrified.  What would happen if he was to aim at them instead of Kari?  Would they be destroyed?

He felt a warm hand on his forearm and looked up to see Matt gazing at him intently.  "If you aim for the evil ones while they still have Kari as their puppet, they will absorb your light, corrupt it, and feed it into Kari.  She will have enough evil light energy to defeat our digimon, kill us if they wish, and open the digiport to escape their banishment on Ash Island.  Once free, if they stay together, they will have the combined power to destroy the digital world and open digiports to our world and any other world they can find."

TK's mouth went dry.  The wielding scepter in his right hand was vibrating with stored power.

Bionictogemon careened past them and slammed into the wall.  The soft glow surrounded her and she dedigivolved back to her rookie stage.

"Palmon!"  Mimi screeched, rushing to her little digimon friend, tears were glittering in her eyes like diamonds.

"Oh no!"  Izzy choked.  "Look!"  He was pointing at the ring of evil mons who were transferring more of their black energy into Kari.  "They are going to try to open the portal again!"

Matt watched with narrowed eyes.  "Come on TK, we've got to hurry before all our digimon are defeated!"  They only had three left who were combat ready.

"I can't."  TK wailed, lifting his arm up.  "Here, you take it Matt."

Matt shook his head.  "No.  TK, you are the only one who can make it work."  He moved closer to his younger brother and put his arm around his shoulder.  Tai joined them on the other side and shrugged, putting his hand on TK's back supportively.

"You can do it TK, we're here to help."  Joe, Izzy, Sora and Mimi surrounded them in a tight semicircle.

"What if I hurt her?"  TK's uncertain eyes were locked on Kari, who was lifting her scepter towards the ceiling again.  It stopped about halfway.

Izzy's eyes widened in realization.  "She's going to shoot us!  She's not trying to open the portal!"

"Oh no."  Mimi cried out.  "Come on TK, you've got to help her.  If she hits us, then no one will be in a position to help her!"

Tentomon, Gomomon, Agumon and Palmon leapt between them.

"Agumon digivolve to…"

"Gomomon digivolve to…"

"Palmon digivolve to…"

"Tentomon digivolve to…"

Nothing happened.

Cyberbirdramon, Zenithgarurumon and Spriritangemon were still fighting the Atomicacolytemon, blasts of energy volleyed across the room rapidly.  The huge demonic beasts were starting to level off in number.

TK sighed as he watched the black glow emit off the little girl.  It was now or never.  He lifted the scepter and aimed it at his best friend in the whole world.  "Forgive me Kari."  He whispered as tears freely ran from his eyes.  The scepter hummed and the pure yellow light blasted forth just as the hollow blackness crawled towards them.

"No!"  Darknessmon howled in fury.

Tai squinted into the awesome light.  The evil one sounded seriously vexed.  Maybe they had actually done something right.  "Can anybody actually see anything?"  He demanded in frustration.

"How long does this last?"  TK asked.

Matt shrugged.  "Your guess is as good as mine.  The scepter will probably stop when it's ready."  No sooner had he finished his uncertain comment than the light softly faded.

The Atomicacolytemon were engulfed in the same soft yellow light and dedigivolved back to the smaller versions of the beasts and scurried out of the room, as usual, cowering when things started turning out of their favor.

"I think things are starting to look up."  Izzy remarked cautiously.

TK started forward hesitantly.  "Kari?"

"Wait TK."  Sora said, grabbing his arm.  Kari had not said anything yet to clue them in as to her state of mind.  The red haired girl did not want a repeat performance of what had happened earlier to Matt.

One of the flying digimon was glowing a soft lavender color.  The light faded and the black figure of Darkangewomon was replaced by the delicately beautiful blond Angewomon, only she had silver and gold wings like Spiritangemon and a white cat suit that sparkled lavender.

The circle around Kari was broken as the five evil ones staggered around in a stunned stupor.

"TK, Tai!"  Kari yelled excitedly.  The blank black stare was gone from her face, and the jeweled eye of her gold scepter was lavender in color now.

"I am Star-Angewomon."  The new and improved Angewomon stated powerfully.  "You evil ones have done quite enough.  Solar spray!"  She shouted as star-studded energy flew from her fingers towards the five cowering creatures remaining for the side of evil.

Kari leapt off the alter and ran to her brother and friends.  She grabbed TK in a huge hug.  "Oh TK, thank you for saving me."

TK blushed.  "Well…  it wasn't just me.  We all did it."

Star-Angewomon broke her attack as Spiritangemon glided in gently beside her.  "Glad you're back."

"So am I."  Star-Angewomon said, watching the now neutralized evil ones shrink back from the advancing forms of Cyberbirdramon, Zenithgarurumon and the four rookie level digimon who were overpowered only minutes before.  "Come on Spiritangemon, let's show these guys a real banishment."

"As you wish."  Spiritangemon tossed one of his golden halos into the air and Starangewomon aimed her long shimmery-gloved fingers at it. 

"Solar spray!"

The ring grew larger and shone like the sun as it was held suspended in midair, spinning wildly.  Spiritangemon delivered a second halo that amalgamated with the first, spinning the opposite direction, opening a large black hole.

"Empyrean Void!"  The two angel-type zipdigivolved digimon called out in unison.

"No!"  Darknessmon howled forlornly as the dense black light shone through the void and reached out like a giant hand, grabbing Darknessmon, Chaosdevimon, Banefiremon, Sorceryladydevimon and Poisonmegamon all in one tight grasp and draw them inside.  Their final shouts of fear and fury vanished in a wink as the void sealed shut behind them.

Only a pleasant silence was left. 

"Well good riddance to bad rubbish."  Mimi exclaimed, dusting off her hands and grinning from ear to ear.

"Thank goodness for that."  Sora sighed as she watched Cyberbirdramon, Zenithgarurumon, Spiritangemon and Star-Angewomon dedigivolve back to their rookie states and join their beloved digidestined.

Joe was whirling around apprehensively.  "Are you sure we should be relaxing?  What if they come back?  We didn't banish the Acolytemon.  What if they want revenge and just ran out to find some reinforcements?  Maybe they are out there right now planning on ambushing us when we least expect it."  He had a glazed haunted look in his eyes as he kneeled down and picked up his little white digimon with the orange hair and purple markings for comfort.

"Joe, you're squishing me."  Gomomon gasped, struggling to loosen his worrywart digidestined's ferocious death grip.

Izzy was click-clacking away at his laptop rapidly.  "I don't believe we have to worry about being attacked any more Joe."  He said with a satisfied expression.  "See?  The five evil ones have been completely banished to a void-type of prison.  They are absolutely cut off from anything now.  The Acolytemon need a master; they are sort of like a parasite really.  Without an intelligent being lording over them, they scatter and sort of fade away.  Deleted.  No will to live.  No hunger for revenge.  They were just puppet soldiers."  He paused, pushing his red bangs back off his forehead as he accessed another window on his laptop.  "And the interference that surrounded Ash Island earlier is gone now.  The Digiworld knows the five evil ones are gone and have lifted the um…  bars of the prison."

The screen on the laptop grew brighter all of a sudden.  "Ah, speak of the devil, I think we are about to get some company."  The genius stated, scrambling out of the way.

A jumble of assorted body parts and colorful little Digimon came tumbling from the screen.

"Ow!  Davis, get your foot off of my face!"  Yolei shrieked with an outraged voice.

"I will as soon as Cody gets off my stomach!"  Davis gasped, rolling his eyes around crazily.

"I can't move either!"  Cody exclaimed breathlessly.  "I think I'm tangled up with Ken."

"Sure, blame it all on me."  Ken said calmly as he removed his legs from around Cody's legs and got up, extending a hand to help the little Kendo student up.

"We really must find a better way to land when we do that."  Hawkmon said, righting himself as he watched everyone else follow suit.

Davis leapt to his feet.  "Okay, we're here.  Where are the bad guys!  We'll stomp 'em.  Oh, hi Kari.  Well, where are they?"  He whirled around, searching the room frantically.  "Come on ya big spiny creepy thingies!  Come on out and fight me fairly this time!"  His fists were up and he was shadow boxing, minus the shadow…

"Davis."  Kari said smiling.

"Not now Kari."  Davis grunted.  "I am challenging the piggly beasts who captured you."

Tai walked over and cuffed his younger look alike lightly on the head.  "You're too late Junior, we've already defeated all the bad guys.  We're going home now."

"Thanks for showing up though."  Matt snickered.  "As they say:  better late than never, right Tai?"

Davis's eyes bulged.  "All of them?  You guys defeated all the bad guys?  But you couldn't have!  You need Imperialdramon.  He is the coolest DNA digivolver after all."

"Says who?"  TK, Cody, Yolei, Kari, Matt and Tai yelled in unison.

"We didn't need the DNA digivolution."  Sora said smiling.  "Our digimon each underwent a new transformation."

Davis choked.  "What?"

"Zipdigivolving."   Mimi batted her eyelashes at him, smiling sweetly.  "Our Digimon were bigger, stronger and much more fashionable than ever before."  She squealed in delight.

"Bu…  bu…  bu…  but how?"

Tai lifted his Talisman from under his shirt.  "We collected these heart Talismans and they transformed the Digimon, plus gave us the firepower within ourselves to defeat the five Evil Ones and break their spell over Kari."

Kari let go of TK and hugged Matt tightly.  "I'm so sorry I attacked you the other day Matt.  Are you okay?  I thought you had been killed."

"Huh?"  Davis asked, scratching his head in bewilderment.  "Kari almost killed Matt?"

TK nodded.  "Yeah, I still don't know how he got better so fast."

Matt shrugged; one arm was still draped casually around Kari's shoulder.  "As soon as you guys started firing that light from your Talismans at me, I felt stronger.  I guess it must have been a healing light as well.  It healed Kari too."

"So you knew you were attacking Matt?"  Sora asked Kari slowly.

Kari's smile disappeared.  "Actually I was aiming at TK and Tai."  She admitted with a shudder at the memory.  "I remember it all like it was a colorless bad dream.  I saw everything, but I couldn't do anything unless they made me do it.  I couldn't stop it."  She wiped a tear.  "It was the first time they tried me out.  They were thrilled to have a digidestined for their puppet.  They could sense that I am light, so they had me captured by the Acolytemon.  They wanted me to destroy you all on that first meeting."  She continued, shivering.  "If you had been one hour later, I probably would have had the power to kill Matt rather than just injure him."

Matt gulped, paling visibly.

"Well what I would like to know is, why didn't they just come after us again together before we had the chance to collect the Talismans.  They could have attacked us at any time using Kari to kill us."  Joe said in wonder.

Tentomon fluttered beside him in the air.  "They sent the Acolytemon and a holographic image of one of the five Evil Ones to keep us occupied while they spent all that time trying to engineer a way to open the gate to escape Ash Island."

The air beside Yolei and Hawkmon started shimmering, heralding the approach of Gennai.

Tai clapped his hands.  "Yay, you made it."  He smiled as he watched the young version of Gennai solidify before them.  "So how much did Frigimon take you for, hmmm?"

Gennai smirked, a blush staining his cheeks rosily.  "Ahem, that is none of your business, digidestined."  He crossed his arms over his chest.  "Ah, so you have banished the five Evil Ones."  He nodded his head in approval.  "Very good, and the Acolytemon have scattered.  The threat of multiple gates linking dimensions has been thwarted…"

"Huh?"  Davis's jaw dropped.

Gennai blinked.  "Well getting off Ash Island was their goal, but they had more plans in store for the future:  like removing boundaries between all the dimensions and creating one world.  Ultimate chaos; ruled by them."

"But I thought you said they hated each other."  Matt reminded their mentor with a confused expression.  "How could they just suddenly get along?"

Gennai shrugged.  "Well, when people or digimon are forced into similar unfavorable situations, common sense leads one to form a solution that best suits the problem.  In all probability, once they had succeeded in their plans, they probably would have killed each other off."

"I'm just glad it's all over now."  TK said with relief, getting a nod in agreement from almost everybody present.

"It can't be over."  Davis pouted, stomping his foot down.  "Veemon hasn't zipdigivolved to his next level yet."

Gennai rolled his eyes.  "And he won't be either, Davis.  Zipdigivolving is not something your digimon is ever going to need to do.  The Talismans are actually going to be returned to me for safe keeping, in case the five Evil Ones ever return.

"They won't."  TK said firmly.

"But Veemon just has to zipdigivolve."  Davis said, his eyes bugging out on the verge of panic.  "If he doesn't, then…  then Kari won't be my girlfriend anymore…"

Tai pulled the elastic band of Davis's goggles and listened for the satisfying THWAP as it snapped back.

"Ow!  What was that for?"

"Davis, I was never your girlfriend."  Kari replied sweetly, patting his shoulder.

"Huh, never?"  Davis asked, trying for the puppy-dog-eyes look he had seen some kid use on TV who managed to get his way always.

"Never."  Kari and TK said in unison, handing Gennai their scepters as the others handed their Talismans over.

Mimi frowned.  "But what about Matt?  He had some sort of power, but he didn't have a Talisman.  Before we have to go home, I want to know everything."

"Yeah."  Sora agreed nodding her head.  "Gabumon even digivolved to Weregarurumon after Matt had gotten hurt."

Gennai scratched his head.  "Really?  Hey that's great!  So I guess you digidestined are finally beginning to digivolve yourselves."

"I…  I…  I…  digivolved?"  Matt stammered, wide eyed.

Gabumon hugged his digidestined around the legs with his biggest grin yet.  "Oh Matt, you're one of us now!  I am so happy!"

"I think I need to sit down…"

"Matt digivolved?"  Tai and Davis demanded loudly at the same time.  "I wanted to be first!"  They glared at each other, and then at Matt, who just gave them a sickly smile back.

Gennai held up a warning hand.  "Never force a digivolve, remember?  This is the digital world; sometimes you need to adapt to survive.  Matt may have been the first of you digidestined to wield some natural power, but I'm sure that with a little time, it could happen to the rest of you as well.

"This is so cool!"  Yolei giggled.  "We could all digivolve!"

Joe rubbed his head.  "Wow.  Well on that cheery note, I hate to be the stick in the mud around here, but we should probably be getting back home before we're missed too badly.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I need a little nap."

"Joe's right."  TK nodded, smothering a yawn.

Mimi gasped.  "Oh no!  What day is it?"

"Wednesday."  Izzy stated, closing the digiport program on his little pineapple laptop.  "Why?"  He shut the lid.

She was counting on her fingers.  "I'm flying back to America tomorrow."  She said with a relieved sigh.  "I almost forgot.  But we have to get back quickly if I'm going to finish my shopping!"

Sora checked her watch.  "I've got a tennis match in an hour."

"I'm late for band practice."  Matt moaned.

"Aaaaaah!"  Tai and Davis shrieked in perfect harmony.  "Soccer practice!"

Joe was hyperventilating.  "Exam…  must study."

"Computer club."  Izzy jerked to his feet.

"Kendo lessons."  Cody muttered.

"Chess club."  Ken sighed.

"Photo club."  Kari tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear.

"Nap time."  TK smothered another yawn.

Gennai pointed behind them rolling his eyes.  "Okay, you have all established that you have better things to do right now than shoot the breeze with me.  Your carriage awaits."  A television set materialized from out of a digital oblivion, ready to transport them home.

"You have to leave?"  Biyomon asked sadly, flapping her pink wings to lift off the ground and flutter in the air beside Sora.

"Yeah Biyomon, but we'll be back real soon."  Sora smiled warmly at her rookie stage digimon, then turned to watch as TK aimed his D3 device at the TV.

"Digiport open!"  The screen lit up with a pleasant hum.  "Thank goodness."  TK said, glad that it finally worked.

The digidestined, Hawkmon, Armadillomon, Veemon, Wormmon, Gatomon and Patamon stepped into the bright light, looking back and waving to those staying behind.

"Well here we go again."  Hawkmon lamented.

"It's not so bad."  Wormmon said in his soft nasal voice.  "At least we're all together."

"I still can't believe you digivolved and I didn't, Matt."  Tai punched his best friend in the arm.

"Hey, what can I say?  When you've got it, you've got it.  Now don't be punching me in the arm anymore Tai, or I'll digivolve to my ultimate level and cream you."  Matt responded as they faded into the TV…

The End.