Location: Odaiba, Japan
     Time: Present day, shortly past noon, Odaiba time.
     The sky darkened, a fog like no other rolling in from all sides and cutting Odaiba off from the rest of the world. Evil digimon flocked about, attacking innocent people in order to bring them together in hopes of finding the eighth Digidestined child. All over the city these digimon, aided by an army of Bakémon, a ghostly digimon who is very evil, rounded up people left and right, separating children from their parents and capturing any child who put up any resistance.
     In the middle of the city, in a large park, a portal opened and belched out a somewhat disoriented young man. He was clad in baggy blue jeans, black boots, a flaming red winter coat, and beneath that a black turtle neck. In each hand was a bottle of a red juice drink with the symbol for fire on the sides. He sneezed a couple of times before he set down the bottles and searched his coat for a tissue.
     "Oh man, where the hell am I?" he asked, looking around. When it finally dawned on him he said, "Shimatta, I'm in Japan! I only went out to pick up a couple of bottle of fire potion." He then coughed, which wracked his body as he covered his mouth with his sleeve. "To top it off, my cold is getting worse."
     When he noticed the dark fog surrounding him he shivered. A moment later a small black cat with a white, star shaped patch on its forehead popped out of the front of his coat and draped its body around the back of his neck. The cat swished its tail about, eventually draping it down the young man's right arm.
     "Where are we Alex?" the cat asked, surveying the city, "It's cold and creepy here."
     "We're in Odaiba, Japan," Alex said before he popped open one of the bottles and took a long swig of the liquid. "This stuff should come in handy since my sickness is taking a lot of my energy."
     "Does that mean you won't be able to transform?"
     "I don't know Star. Why?"
     As Alex asked that several Bakémon approached on all sides, himself clearly being their target. He reached into a pouch that was hooked to his belt and pulled out a pair of orange dice, which he hurled towards the approaching army of Bakémon. When the dice impacted they exploded, coating those it touched with liquid fire.
     "Napalm dice?" Star asked, "Nice touch."
     "Leave it to Sadie to find a gaming store with some interesting dice," Alex said as he got to his feet, the bottles of fire potion in hand. Star leapt from his shoulders and evolved to his panther form before attacking several Bakémon, tearing them to ribbons. As Star landed Alex hurled several fireballs at the Bakémon, taking them out before collapsing to his knees.
     "Alex!" Star said, running to his charge's side, "are you ok?"
     "Too weak to do too much spell casting," Alex said as he pulled himself up onto Star's back, "You're going to need to...."
     Alex passed into unconsciousness a moment later. Star made sure Alex was secure before he began a mad dash down the streets of Odaiba in hopes of finding some help.

     "Patamon, why is it so foggy?" TK asked as the digimon and digidestined made their way through the city. With them were Matt and Gabumon.
     "Gee, I don't know TK," Patamon answered, "But it sure is creepy."
     "It must be Myotismon," Matt said, "only he would do something this creepy and frightening."
     "Yeah, you're probably right," TK said as a somewhat familiar form came into view in the shadows. "What's that?!"
     "It looks like a panther with somebody riding it," Gabumon said as the form came closer.
     "It's Alex and Star," Matt said, taking off at a dead run towards the black panther and the young warrior.
     "Matt, TK, Gabumon, Patamon," Star said as he came to a screeching stop. Alex's body tumbled from his back, the bottle of fire potion rolling on the ground. "Something's wrong with Alex."
     "He looks bad," Matt said, "weak is an understatement."
     "He caught one heck of a bad cold, and that fire potion is what he used to keep his energy up," Star explained. Matt picked up one of the bottle and read the contents.
     "Well, he'll be ok with a little rest," Matt said, a sigh of relief passing his lips, "The Gingsing in this drink will help him to recharge his power. But what are you doing here?"
     "Wish I knew," Star said, "one minute we're out getting this drink, the next we're here.... it all happened so fast."
     "What the heck hit me?" Alex moaned, rubbing his head. He sat up a moment later, almost knocking TK from his feet. "Where are the Bakémon?!"
     "Shhhh... keep it down," Gabumon said in a hushed tone, "we're trying to avoid them. Myotismon has cut the city off from the outside world and he's searching for the eighth child."
     "Who happens to be my sister Kari," another familiar voice said from the fog. From the fog came Greymon, Tai and Kari on his back. Tai and Kari dismounted as Greymon devolved back to Agumon.
     "Ok, we have the eighth child," Matt said, "but where are the others?"
     "I don't know," Agumon said, "chances are they're spread throughout the city or have been captured by Myotismon's forces."
     "We just have to hope for the best," Gabumon said. "I know Izzy and Sora can take care of themselves, and Mimi and Joe can come through in a pinch."
     "Which means they'll be all right," Alex said as he finished off one bottle of fire potion. A moment later he regained his feet, though he was a little shaky for a moment, he managed to keep his balance. "We need to find Myotismon and teach him a lesson."
     "Any idea where he would be?" Patamon asked. A sweatdrop formed on Alex's head.
     "Hmmm...." Matt said, deep in thought, "If Izzy were here he could think of a way to find our friends, Gatomon, and then Myotismon, and do all that in a matter of a couple of hours. If we scoured the city it would take us a really long time unless.... Say Alex, do you have your pocket computer handy?"
     "Um.... yeah. Why?"
     "Can you lock on to other digivices for a large radius?"
     "I can try," Alex said as he pulled out his computer and started typing at a fast and furious pace. A map appeared over the screen, five red blips and four blue blips in one area. Small green blips moved throughout the cityscape, and four more red blips appeared, blue blips near them. In the center of the city scape was a large orange blip surrounded by green blips with a blue blip. "The red blips indicate us and the others, the blue blips indicate our digimon and my cat, the green blips are lackies, and the big orange one is Myotismon himself."
     "Wow," Kari said, "that blue blip must be Gatomon." she said, pointing to the one near Myotismon.
     "Yeah, and I hope for all our sakes she'll be ok," TK said. "Do you think you can find our parents?"
     "There are so many people concentrated in several areas it's difficult to get a lock on any specific person," Alex said, "Those two red blips there at that stadium or train station must be Sora and Mimi. That one by the docks must be Joe, since Ikkakumon is a water type animal. That one in the apartment center has got to be Izzy."
     "But the blue blips don't correspond with the red ones," Tai said in his simple manner. Alex zoomed in on the area where Sora and Mimi were, a little more definition added. One red blip was soaring through the sky on a blue blip, and one blue blip seemed very weak near a red blip and both were surrounded by green blips.
     "They correspond, but something is wrong," Matt said, "That's Ishida station, near where my dad works."
     "But that's clear across town," TK said, "There's no way we'll get there in time."
     "When you have a sorcerer on your team, never say never," Kari said, turning to Alex, "can you get us there Mister Alex?"
     "I can try Kari," Alex said, a light blush creeping across his face, "I can't tell her how weak I am, since she's counting on me to save Gatomon and they need my help defeating Myotismon. Yet something about her gives me the strength I need to work my spells."
     "Technically that's the convention center," Izzy's voice said over the speakers in Alex's computer. Alex was so startled he nearly fell onto his butt. "Nice to see you're online and functioning again Alex."
     "Um.... Izzy, is that red blip in the apartments you?" Tai asked. A sweatdrop formed on the computer.
     "Yes, that's me. I'm here with Tentamon and my parents. Where are you guys?"
     "We're currently someplace in the middle of this fog bank and we're completely lost," Agumon said, "I don't know which direction is which."
     Alex sighed as he cast a Regen spell under his breath. "Tai, you and Agumon follow me and Star to the convention center. Kari, you stay here with Matt and Gabumon, and take my computer so you can stay in touch with Izzy and the two of us. I'll use the remote hookup..." he said before he broke into another fit of coughing. Kari handed him one of the bottles of Fire Potion, which he took a swig from before clipping the bottle to his belt. "As I was saying," he said, continuing, "I'll use the remote hookup on my wristband to keep in touch with the others. Hopefully we'll be able to take out the trash."
     "Good luck," Matt said as Star increased in size, turning into the Sphinx like creature he morphed into in the Digiworld.
     "Thanks," Alex said as he leapt onto Star's back before hauling Tai and Agumon up onto Star's back.
     "Keep an eye on Kari," Tai shouted as Star took off at high speed.
     "Wait for us," TK shouted as he and Patamon started running after Alex and Star, only to be caught in Matt's strong grasp. "Hey, what did you do that for?"
     "You'll be safer here," Matt said, looking his little brother in the eyes. He smiled a moment later and added, "and besides, we might need Angemon if any of the evil digimon come to take Kari away."

     Across town, in the convention center, the Bakémon were terrorizing the people inside. Outside the convention center Togemon was engaged in a battle with Black Tyranomon, which wasn't going to well. In a last ditch effort Togemon digivolved into her ultimate form of Lillymon. The plant pixie fluttered about with grace and style, stunning Black Tyranomon with her Flower Cannon and bringing him back to his senses with a floral wreath. Meanwhile a pair of Bakémon grabbed Sora, only to reveal themselves as Sora's mother and Biyomon. In a flash of light Biyomon digivolved into Birdramon and took to the air with Sora in tow.
     "Mimi!" Sora shouted as Birdramon soared through the sky. Mimi looked up and waved, giving a victory sign to indicate Lillymon had whipped Black Tyranomon into shape.
     "Don't celebrate your victory just yet," a mysterious voice said in such a way as to send chills racing up and down the spine. Out of the fog bank emerged Myotismon in all his vampiric glory.
     "Myotismon," Mimi gasped when she saw the vampire, "eeewww..... those colors simply do not match."
     "Now is not the time Mimi," Lillymon said as she fluttered up to attack, "Flower.... CANNON!"
     A beam cannon emerged from a large flower bud in Lillymon's hands, charged for battle. A slug of some sort was fired at Myotismon, which struck a force barrier and exploded into a rain of flower petals. Myotismon grinned before striking at Lillymon with his Crimson Lightning attack, which the pixie was able to dodge quite easily. Unfortunately his Nightmare Claw attack put Lillymon out of commission. The pixie turned a pale shade of gray before plummeting to the ground.
     "Lillymon!" Mimi shouted as her digimon went down for the count.
     "Meteor Wing!" came from above as Birdramon attacked Myotismon, distracting him long enough for her and Sora to swoop down and pick up Lillymon to spirit her to safety.
     "Mimi, be careful!" Sora called as she saw her friend retreat into the convention center, "Birdramon, take us away from here!"
     The firebird sailed higher in the air, away from Myotismon. Sora took her digivice and used it to track the others. Seeing two in the same area she knew that some of her friends must have found one another. She motioned to catch Birdramon's attention, then indicated they should head for the warehouse section of the city. A small winged bowling ball was hot on their trail, trying to figure where they were going. Once it knew Sora was returning to the warehouses it flew back to Myotismon, who was terrorizing the townspeople in the convention center.
     "Hey boss, I have some juicy information for you!" the bowling ball said.
     "What is it Demidevimon?" Myotismon asked, "Can't you see I'm trying to extract some important information?!"
     "But that Sora girl is heading for the warehouse section of the city, and I'm sure we could find the eighth child and some of the other digidestined where she's going."
     Myotismon tossed the person he was "questioning" into a nearby fountain and turned to fly towards where Birdramon was flying. "Demidevimon, take care of the humans while I'm gone," Myotismon instructed as he left.
     "I won't let you down boss," Demidevimon said as he fluttered down into the convention center. There he hypnotized the townspeople and put them into a sleepy trance. The only person who wasn't affected by this was Mimi, who was protected by her crest.

     Elsewhere in the city Alex and Tai were racing for the convention center at breakneck speed atop Star. From different points in the city they recieved tactical data from Izzy and Sora through the communication channel. Anything tha got in their way wound up being fried by Agumon's Pepper Breath, erased by an Elmekia Lance, or hit with Star's prisim beam and turned into something less dangerous, like a piece of trash they could easily drop in a waste basket.
     "How much further to the convention center?" Alex shouted so his words wouldn't be carried away by the wind.
     "Not too much further," Tai responded, "If I remember correctly it's another three or four blocks."
     From the fog before them came a swarm of Bakémon, who apparently were on guard duty since their first reaction when they saw the sphinx creature was one of surprise. Their second reaction was to form a wall to keep the creature before them from passing. Star skidded to a stop, almost throwing his passengers from his back. Alex flipped from the back of his mount, a sphere of greenish black energy forming in his hand as he chanted a spell under his breath.
     "Virul Blade!" he shouted, a sword forming as he grasped the sphere. One Bakémon was cleaved in half with the blade, infecting those the pieces touched with the same biological problem the blade caused, which was a very powerful cold germ. Within moments the entire group of Bakémon was infected, and the moment following they all spontaniously combusted, leaving digital ashes to drift to the ground. Once the obstacle was over come Star charged on. Alex leapt up to catch hold of part of the armor, and then swung himself back onto his seat. From that point on there was little, if no meaningful resistance given from the evil forces. They eventually reached the convention center, finding Mimi at the entrance, huddled in a ball and crying her eyes out. Tai, Alex, and Agumon dismounted from Star, who shrank to cat size and ran to Mimi's side.
     "Don't cry Mimi," Star said, leaping onto her shoulder and snuggling beneath her light brown hair, "we're here now."
     "What's wrong Mimi"? Alex asked, crouching next to her. 'She must have been asleep when something pulled her from her slumber,' he thought, noting her pink pajamas and pink slippers.
     "Guys, my parents," she said, wiping a tear from her eye, "they're asleep and I can't wake them."
     "We'll save them and all of the other people who are here," Tai said, "we know who the eighth child is."
     "And we should probably be heading back to her and Matt and TK," Alex said as Star morphed back into being a large sphinx creature. He hopped onto Star's back, pulling Mimi, Tai, and Agumon on before Star took off like a rocket, leaving a trail of dust as he ran.
     As they neared the warehouse where they left Kari, TK, and Matt, more and more Bakémon attacked the group, these ones not falling as easily as those before them.
     "This could mean one thing," Alex said as he fired off a Burst Rondo.
     "They've found where Kari is and these guys are stalling us," Tai said. Alex nodded.

     At the warehouse Kari, Matt, and TK were pacing about, waiting for Tai and Alex to return. Every few minutes Matt would check the time on his digivice, grumble something, and continue pacing. TK and Kari would look at one another, shrug, and continue on their trajectories. A couple of minutes later Sora's voice came over the digivices.
     "Hey guys, look up," she said. Matt and TK ran outside in time to see Birdramon land, releasing the stone cold Lillymon before folding her wings behind her back. Sora ran to greet the brothers, a lot on her mind.
     "Guys, Myotismon has most of the people in the area in his grasp," she said, "They're being held at the convention center."
     "Did you see Tai and Alex?" Matt asked. Sora shook her head to indicate a negative response.
 "I didn't know Alex was in town."
     "He's here," TK said as he ran up to Sora and hugged her knees, "him and Star are back and they said they would help us to fight Myotismon. Isn't that wonderful?"
     "A pity he isn't here now," a ghastly voice said from above. The humans and their digimon looked up to see Phantomon and a couple of Bakémon floating above and looking smug with themselves.
     "Give us the eighth child and we'll let you go free."
     "Never!" Matt said, "We'll never relinquish the eighth child to the likes of you!"
     "Then you shall be destroyed," Phantomon said as two portals opened, a large praying mantis coming from one, a wasp type from the other. "Meet Snimon and Stingmon."
     "They just had to be insects, didn't they?" Patamon said as he and TK hid with Kari in the shadows.
     "Time to digivolve," Gabumon said, "Gabumon digivolve to...... Garurumon!"
     The small dog like creature was surrounded by a globe of light, and from that came a large wolf - like creature. The wolf dove at Stingmon, its teeth clamping around the three foot stinger. Stingmon swung its body about, smashing Garurumon into buildings and whatnot until the wolf released its grip.
     "Birdramon, digivolve!" Sora shouted as Snimon began attacking the firebird. Sora's crest glowed, beginning the transformation to the ultimate level.
     "Birdramon digivolve to.... Garudamon!"
     Flames sweapt about the firebird, and from the flames came a winged bird - man. Garudamon met Snimon head on, only to have the praying mantis strike hard enough to smash Garudamon into the side of the building.
     "Garurumon!" Matt shouted as his digimon was smashed into objects.
     "Garudamon!" Sora cried as Snimon attacked her digimon.
     "It chokes you up, doesn't it?" Phantomon said, snapping a chain so that it wrapped about Matt's throat. Matt struggled against the tightening chain to gasp for breath.
     'They're getting hurt to protect me,' Kari thought as she stepped from the shadows to see the whole picture. Sora had since taken some comfort and safety in Lillymon's cold arms, and also tried to protect Mimi's digimon. Garurumon was being bashed about and stung by Stingmon. Snimon was lashing out at Garudamon, crushing her deeper into the wall. Matt was beginning to turn blue due to a lack of oxygen.
     "Kari, come back," Patamon said before a couple of Bakémon attacked him.
     "STOP!" Kari screamed at the top of her lungs, "STOP FIGHTING! THAT'S ENOUGH!"
     Complete silence followed this outburst, as there was a cease to motion as well. Kari took a couple of tentative steps forward. "I'll go with you peacefully."
     "You would give your life for these others?" Phantomon said, releasing the chain from around Matt's throat and watching the digidestined drop to his knees. Snimon and Stingmon backed off from attacking Garurumon and Garudamon, and the Bakémon that were attacking Patamon backed off as well.
     "Kari!" Patamon shouted.
     "Don't go with them!" Sora shouted as Kari was enveloped in a bubble by Phantomon. The bubble rapidly rose and stopped when it was before Phantomon.
     "Oh man!" Matt growled as Phantomon floated off with Kari in tow, "Tai is going to flip when he finds out they got his sister!"

     As Alex and Star fought off the army of Bakémon, Tai and Agumon took care of finding locations for the other digidestined, thanks to Alex's wrist computer.
     "Matt and TK are with Sora now," Agumon said as he looked at the readouts.
     "And Mimi is with us," Tai said, "which leaves Izzy still left in the city somewhere."
     From the battle field came a shout of, "Mega BRANDO!" before several large explosions rocked the area. Tai and Mimi peered out from around the corner to see Alex and Star giving victory signs, most of the Bakémon gone. Those that remained ran like their after lives depended on it.
     "We got 'em!" Star exclaimed as he hopped onto Alex's shoulder.
     "We taught them not to mess with us!" Alex cheered as he watched the Bakémon flee in terror. As he watched, something caught his gaze.
     "Tai, toss me my computer," he said. Tai tossed it, baseball style, and Alex caught it and clipped it to his wrist in one continuous motion. "Now let's see what we have here."
     The computer generated image was fuzzy at first, but gradually came into focus. When he saw who it was he cross examined the trajectory with a map of the city.
     "This is bad," he said when he saw the blip moving towards the center of the fog bank, "they have Kari and now they're heading for Myotismon."
     "Say WHAT?!" Mimi exclaimed in Alex's ear. Alex fell over, his ears ringing from the girl's high pitched shriek. Mimi also fell over, landing in Tai's arms.
     "They got Kari, didn't they?" Tai asked. Alex and Star nodded gravely. "We have to go and save her."
     "At least she'll be with Gatomon," Agumon said, trying to comfort his human counterpart.
     Star grew into the giant sphinx again and the group piled on. The sphinx took off like a shot, smoke curling in his wake. As they rocketed through the city Alex tapped into the communications network in an attempt to contact the others.
     "This is Alex to all digidestined in range of this transmission," he said, "Tai, Mimi, Agumon, Star, and myself are in persuit of what we believe to be Kari and Phantomon. According to all tactical data they are heading for the local tv station, which appears to be the source of the fog bank. Meet us there as fast as you can."
     Once the transmission ended a separate line opened up on Alex's communication system.
     "This is Izzy and Tentamon," the voice said as Izzy's image blinked onto the screen, "We're at the station right now and Matt's and TK's father is here as well. No sign of Myotismon... yet, but if we see him we'll keep you posted. Izzy out."
     As the sphinx continued on its way Mimi tried to figure out who was missing from their group.
     "Let's see," she said, "I'm with Tai and Agumon. Sora, Matt, and TK are with their Digimon and Lillymon. Alex and Star are here. Kari and Gatomon are with... " she shuddered, "Myotismon, which leaves Izzy who is with Tentamon and Matt's and TK's dad, and.... JOE!"
     "Joe?" Alex and Tai said, "We're missing Joe?!" Mimi nodded.
     "Why didn't we realize this sooner?" Alex asked, "We're missing one of the digidestined and we're going against Myotismon!"
     "Just calm down," Agumon said, "I'm sure Joe can take care of himself. Besides. he has Gomamon with him and those two make a dynamic duo."

     Outside of the city, in the bay, a large and very furry aquatic mammal was making its way through the water at a fairly steady pace. Seated atop its back was a young man whose wardrobe screamed "bookworm".
     'This is just great,' Joe thought as Ikkakumon sailed across the bay, 'I go out of town for a day and when I try to get home the city is under seige and there is a pea soup fog surrounding it. I know there is trouble, and I know I'm needed, but why did everything have to break down at a time like this?'
     At that moment Ikkakumon reached the bridge leading into the city. As the fog swirled away an evil digimon by the name of Megaseadramon came into view, wrapped around the bridge like a snake around its dinner.
     "This could be trouble Joe," Ikkakumon said to warn his partner of possible turbulance, "Just hold on tight and leave everything to me."
     The aquatic mammal held its head so that the horn was pointing at Megaseadramon. "Harpoon Torpedo!" The horn launched from his head in a puff of smoke, split open in mid air, and sent forth a guided missile, which struck Megaseadramon. Ikkakumon fired off several more of these projectiles, and all of them struck the sea monster, but when the smoke cleared Megaseadramon was still there.
     “I hate when this happens!” Joe wailed as Ikkakumon barely dodged MegaSeadramon’s lightning attack. The second bolt was on target and dumped Joe into the water.
     ‘Just great,’ Joe thought as he began to go down for the count, ‘the others need my help and I’m stuck here. It’s part of my responsibility to be there for the others.’
     Joe’s crest of responsibility glowed, initiating his digimon’s ultimate transformation.
     “Ikkakumon..... digivolve to.... Zudamon!”
     A wave washed over Ikkakumon and from the resulting waterspout came a creature that resembled some sort of turtle. A hammer formed in its right hand, lightning crackling around it. The creature dipped its hand into the water and fished out a half drowned Joe, who blinked a few times to get his bearings.
     “Wow, I now have my own ultimate digimon,” Joe said as he climbed onto Zudomon’s back.
     “That’s right,” Zudomon said, “now just hold on tight and I’ll get you into town safely.”
     MegaSeadramon used its lightning attack, expecting to toast Zudomon with one shot. However, Zudomon used its horn like a lightning rod, channeling the electricity through its body and out into the water.
     “Vulcan’s Hammer!”
     Zudamon brought his hammer down, striking MegaSeadramon in the head and knocking it unconscious. MegaSeadramon unravlled itself from the bridge before sinking into the water. With the threat neutralized the ulitmate digimon turned and swam into the break in the fog that the battle had created.

     “Hey Alex, Tai, you still there?” Izzy’s voice crackled over the communication’s network that had been set up.
     “We’re here, but a tad bit occupied,” Alex said as he ducked and dodged the attacks of some of the larger digimon they were encountering, “what’s happening computer wiz?”
     “I’m picking up Joe’s digivice on the map, and he’s heading into the city by the bay,” Izzy explained.
     “Just as I expected,” Agumon said as he belched a few fireballs at the small army of Bakemon that were heading their way, “Gomamon digivolved into Ikkakumon in order to get Joe to us.”
     “Is Myotismon still at the tv station in the center of the city?” Alex asked, launching a few of his own fireballs at several large insect digimon.
     “That he is. According to my calculations, you should be within ten blocks of that location right now.” Izzy replied.
     “What about Sora and Matt and TK?” Mimi asked as she dodged the swipes of one of the insect type digimon. Star moved in behind the insect and utilized a prism beam, sending the insect to bug heaven.
     “They’re ten blocks away on the other side of the station.”
     “And where are you located?” Tai asked as he ducked and covered moments before Agumon belched a few more fireballs, striking down the insect that was attacking Tai.
     “Currently I’m at the tv station with Matt’s and TK’s father, so right now everything is just prodigious.”
     “We’re slowly pulling ourselves together,” Star said as his body shape shifted to a young man with long black hair, friendly green eyes, and a wardrobe that consisted of a black shirt, tight black jeans, black boots, and a black leather jacket. In his hand formed a longsword with a twin crescent pommal. Mimi took one look at him and her eyes turned to hearts.
     “Um... Mimi... now is NOT the time to be drooling over my guardian,” Alex said as he fired off a Rune Flare, which took out the remaining insect digimon in the area. “Izzy, we have this area clear. Can you give us a reading on how many more evil digimon we have to face?”
     “According to my calculations, the only ones that remain are surrounding the tv station,” Izzy replied, “they’re acting like a guard brigade or a force wall or something.”
     “That’ll get us there even faster,” Tai said as he took off towards the tv station.
     “Be careful Tai.”
     “We’ll see you in a few,” Alex said as the connection ended.

     Across the city the other digidestined saw the Rune Flare and began to converge towards the source. Sora and TK rode in Garudamon’s claws, one of which held the still stone cold Lillymon. Matt hopped onto Garurumon’s back and followed Garudamon toward the flash of light. Joe was still out on the water on Zudamon when something bumped up against the digimon’s giant shell. At first he thought it was just debris, but it turned out to be a digimon dressed like a spell caster.
     “I must.... get this to.... Kari,” the digimon said, holding a crest and tag that glowed a faint pink.
     “Kari?” Joe said, “Then that would mean that she’s the eighth child that everyone is looking for.”
     “We already knew that Joe,” Tai’s voice said over his digivice, “right now Myotismon has her and Gatomon and we’re on our way to his home base.”
     “Is that what the bright flash of light was about?” Joe asked.
     “Yup,” Alex’s voice said, “that was li’l ol’ me, your friendly neighborhood spellcaster. Please hurry. We’re going to need everyone’s help with this one.”
     “I’m on my way, and I have someone with me who might help,” Joe said before Zudamon increased its speed. ‘They’re all counting on me again. I guess I really am reliable and responsible.’

     A short time later the group pulled itself together in front of the local TV station, quite a few of the digimon in their Ultimate forms. Izzy and Tentamon met the others outside of the station, where they explained the current situation.
     “Mytoismon should be on the roof,” Izzy said, “and he has Gatomon and Kari up there.”
     “And that leaves few options left for us,” Tai said, “should we go up there and knock his lights out or wait here for a better plan?”
     “We should go up there and hit him where it counts,” Alex said as he began to cast a levitation spell.
     “Woah, hold on there a minute mister spell thrower,” Izzy said as he opened his laptop, “there are a few things you need to know before you go flying into this mess. First, Myotismon has Kari and Gatomon in an energy bubble, which means he can easily propel them out into the open and drop them so that none of us can get to them in time. Secondly, we don’t know the full extent of his powers, so your spells may or may not work. Thirdly, he’s got an entire army of Bakemon backing him up, plus Phantomon and who knows how many other incredibly large digimon behind him.”
     “Don’t we have Angemon and Garudamon and Zudomon and Lillymon....”
     “I almost forgot about Lillymon,” Sora said as Garudamon set the stone cold Lillymon onto the ground, “she took the brunt of one of Myotismon’s attack and she’s, well, ice cold.”
     “I think I have someone who can help,” Joe said as he rode in on Zudomon, another digimon resting on the back of the giant turtle creature. Zudomon bent down so that Joe and the other digimon could hop off.
     “Isn’t he one of Myotismon’s informants?” Tai asked as Agumon digivolved to Greymon.
     “No, he’s a friend,” Joe said, “he brought us the crest and tag belonging to Kari, and I’m sure he can help Lillymon.”
     The digimon had since crouched down next to Lillymon and had cast a spell. A moment later Lillymon sat up, the color returning to her body. “Wizardmon,” she said, “what the heck happened? Where’s Mimi?”
     “I’m here for you Lillymon,” Mimi said as she stepped to the front and embraced the plant pixie. She turned to Wizardmon, tears in her eyes, “Thank you Wizardmon. You saved Lillymon.”
     “Well, I think we’re back at full fighting capacity,” Star said, drawing attention to himself, since he was still in human form. “Umm.... remember me, the guardian.... I sorta digivolved myself.”
     “We can talk about this later,” Matt said, “right now we have MAJOR troubles going on up on the top floor.”
     A pair of portals opened, bringing forth a pair of Kuwangamon with nasty dispositions. Garudamon leapt into action, followed by Garurumon, who digivolved into WereGarurumon, Greymon, who digivolved into MetalGreymon, and Zudomon.
     “Get inside and save Kari,” WereGarurumon shouted as he and the other two digimon leapt into battle.
     “What about you?” Matt shouted back.
     “We’ll take care of things down here,” MetalGreymon replied, “Now GO!”
     The digidestined humans and the smaller digimon ran up several flights of stairs, Wizardmon hopping onto Mr. Ishida’s back since he was still weak from being dragged out of the river. When they reached the top floor they could see Myotismon standing atop the building, laughing it up with Phantomon and DemiDevimon. The humans remained as quiet as possible, listening in on their conversation.
     “We’re growing ever closer to ruling this world,” Myotismon said, “and with the eighth child in our possession the digidestined can’t do anything.”
     “We’ll see about that,” Patamon said a little too loud. The three evil digimon turned around and faced the group. “Um... hello.”
     “Unless you give up we’ll destroy your precious Kari and her digimon,” Myotismon said, waving his hand so that the bubble floated about one hundred meters into the air.
     “Tai!” Kari shouted, “Don’t worry about me Tai. Just defeat that batface!”
     “Time to digivolve,” Tentamon said as he and Patamon moved to the front line, “Tentamon digivolve to.... Kabuterimon!”
     “Patamon digivolve to.... Angemon!”
     “Kabuterimon digivolve to.... MegaKabuterimon!”
     An angel and a large brown bug erupted from where the smaller digimon were only moments earlier. From the side of the building came Garudamon, MetalGreymon, WereGarurumon, and Zudomon, all of whom stopped when they saw the predicament that everyone else was in.
     “This does not look good for anyone,” Izzy said as Lillymon sailed past his head, “if my calculations are correct then we’re in for the fight of our life.”
     “We’ll take care of Kari and Gatomon,” Alex said as he cast Ray Wing, sailing over Myotismon’s head. When the vampire lord tried to strike out he found Star’s sword deflecting his attack.
     “Never mess with my charge,” Star said before leaping into the air, his sword above his head. He quickly regretted it thanks to a bolt of crimson lightning that sent him flying through the observation deck and out into the stairwell.
     “Stop the spell caster,” Myotismon bellowed as he dodged and dispelled the attacks of the other digimon.
     “Mister Alex,” Kari shouted as Alex neared the bubble. A moment later the bubble popped, sending Kari and Gatomon in a downward spiral.
     “Kari! Gatomon!” Alex shouted as he dove as fast as he could, first catching hold of Kari’s hand, then catching Gatomon by the back of her neck and coming in for a landing on a nearby rooftop.
     “Well, we’re safe,” Gatomon said, “and this kitty’s about ready to use bat for brains as a scartching post.”
     “You’re not doing anything without this,” Wizardmon shouted as he hurled Kari’s crest and tags across the chasm. Gatomon leapt into the air, catching hold of the crest before being caught by the little girl.
     “Thank you Wizardmon,” Gatomon called as Kari put the crest around her neck, “now we just need that digivice and I can digivolve.”
     “Coming right at you,” Tai shouted as he pitched the best he could, the tiny digivice sailing through the air and into Kari’s hand. A moment later Kari’s crest glowed, beginning Gatomon’s digivolution.
     “Gatomon digivolve to..... Angewomon.”
     Alex and the others looked at Angewomon and blinked, since another angellic being usually meant something BIG was going to happen. Myotismon was rather tied up with other things at the moment, since the other digimon were busy attacking him head on.
     “We gotta get you to safety,” Star said as he came up beside them, his clothes a little worse off for wear. He lifted Kari onto his shoulders and headed for the stairwell of the building they were on. “Alex,” he called back, “take care of TK, since Angemon has yet to reach his Ultimate form.”
     “Right,” Alex said as he leapt across the chasm, dodging any fire that came his way.
     “You’re not going anywhere you brat,” DemiDevimon said as he flapped into Alex’s path, “You are going to pay for making me look bad.”
     “Outta my way,” Alex said as he stuffed a fireball in DemiDevimon’s mouth and watched as the winged bowling ball got a major case of heartburn. With a Ray Wing in effect he picked TK up and took him to a lower level of the building, where they could watch the battle from a safe distance.
     When things began to get too hairy, Alex turned to TK and said, “I believe in the powers that all of you possess, but we really need the power of hope more than anything right now.”
     “What do you mean Mister Alex?” TK asked, his eyes shining with youth and innocence.
     “What I mean is you have some magical power imbued in you that we could really use right now in this battle.”
     As Alex said that he unclipped his pentacle talisman from around his neck, “I want for you to take this and wear it.”
     “But Mister Alex,” TK said as Alex clipped it around his neck, “won’t you need it yourself?”
     “Not particularly,” Alex replied as his gauntlets with six of the Chaos Emeralds formed around his wrists and his sword which held the seventh gem appeared on his back. “My Chaos Emeralds work just fine for spell casting.”
     As he said that Weregarurumon crashed through the wall next to them. The pair looked out a nearby window to see Myotismon duking it out with most of the other Digimon. Angemon and Angewomon tried their own attacks on the vampire lord, only to have them proven ineffective. One swat with a bolt of crimson lightning slammed the pair of angels into the side of a building, rendering them inactive.
     “Angemon!” TK cried, the crest of Hope and the talisman glowing, “Mister Alex, what spell shall we use?”
     “Just follow my lead,” Alex said, assuming the starting position for his favorite spell. TK followed suit. “Repeat the words after me.”
     TK nodded and Alex closed his eyes to start the spell. “Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows.” Alex chanted.
     “... crimson beyond blood that flows...” TK chanted, following Alex’s moves for the spell.
     “Buried in the stream of time is where...”
     A bolt of crimson lightning tore through the window, wrapping around Alex and pulling him out of the building. Star tried to cut him free, but a second bolt tossed the sphinx through a building as well.
     “Mister Alex!” TK shouted, “How does the rest of the spell go?!”
     “Forget the Dragon Slave,” Alex shouted, “Matt would never forgive me if I taught you that one.”
     “The Dragon Slave?” TK asked, recalling a long hidden memory, ‘I remember a shojo anime, with a powerful sorceress named.... Lilly, who traveled with her sidekick named Garren. She had one big spell that could blow away any big monster who got in her way... almost any big monster. Maybe it’ll help me out here.’
     “Hey you ugly pile of bat skin,” TK shouted, getting both Phantomon’s and Myotismon’s attention.
     “A small brat dares to talk to us like that?” Myotismon said, outraged that one so small could be so disrespectful.
     ‘I get one shot, and then I end up like the others,’ TK thought as he prepared to cast his own spell. “Light beyond dawnslight, gold beyond sunlight that flows. Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows...”
     “That spell...” Myotismon gasped, dropping Alex to a rooftop below him. “Phantomon, stop him before he finishes casting the spell!”
     “Yes master,” Phantomon said, moving towards TK at an incredible rate, only to be delayed by Lillymon and Angewomon.
     “TK, finish casting the spell,” Lillymon shouted as she fired her Flower Cannon at Phantomon.
     “I pledge myself to punish all the fools who stand before the mighty gift bestowed to my all to worthy hands...”
     A large sphere of golden energy formed above TK’s head as he chanted the spell. Lillymon and Angewomon grabbed Phantomon and hurled him into Myotismon the same moment that Alex cast a Flow Break around the pair.
     “Do it TK,” Alex shouted, “finish casting it!”
     “Demon SLAYER!” TK shouted, bringing the sphere before his body. The sphere exploded into a beam which vaporized Phantomon on contact and weakened Myotismon, not to mention slammed him through a building. Myotismon crawled from the hole a moment later, just in time to have a pair of glittering purple dice explode in his face, a blizzard forming and enveloping him.
     “How? How were you able to wound me?” the vampire king asked as he struggled to his feet, snow falling from his shoulders.
     “Let’s just say you underestimated your opponants,” Alex said as he floated up to the same level as Myotismon. “Simply put, you snooze, you lose.”
     “Why you little...” Myotismon said, preparing to attack, “Grisley...”
     “Heaven’s CHARGE!”
     Angewomon created a pocket dimension which gave her access to incredible power. TK fired another Demon Slayer spell into the pocket, which joined the attacks of the Digimon. Once the power level was sufficient Angewomon commenced her attack.
     “Celestial Arrow!”
     A bow formed off of Angewomon’s left glove, which she notched with an arrow comprised of light and celestial power. She released the arrow, which pierced Myotismon’s evil heart and vaporized him in a flash of light. The digimon digivolved to either their rookie or in - training forms and their human counterparts joined them on the ground.
     “Did we get him?” Alex asked as he finished his third bottle of fire potion.
     “Nothing on the astral plane,” Star said, his form now that of a small kitten, “I hope we got him.”
     “So do I,” Patamon said from atop TK’s head, “I don’t know how much more we can take.”
     “I don’t know how many more times I can fire off the Demon Slayer,” TK said through a  yawn, “I’m tired.”
     “I think we all are,” Matt said, “that battle took a lot out of us,” he added, looking at the now sleeping Gabumon.
     “Time to go Kari,” Tai said as he looked to his little sister, who was staring at the sky, “what’s wrong?”
     “The fog,” Kari said, “it hasn’t lifted yet.”
     The others looked to the sky, only to see it still blocked out by a thick mass of clouds.
     “If we didn’t get him, where did he go?” Yohkomon asked from Sora’s arms.
     “We’ll think better in the morning,” Matt and TK’s father said. “There might be a room at a nearby motel for you kids and your digimon to rest for the night and in the morning we’ll search the city for Myotismon and find your parents.”
     A round of yawns rose from the group as they walked towards the nearest hotel, which was a couple of blocks from the scene of the battle. As they walked off a stray bat flitted down and alighted on Myotismon’s creepy mask, turning into energy which was absorbed into the mask. A pair of eerie red eyes glowed from the mask, beginning the resurrection of the undead king.

To Be Continued....