PART 8: IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT

Tai walked quickly, holding the beaten up Salamon

close, trying to hide the tears that streamed down his

face. He didn't want to hurt Kari, but her cat didn't

have much chance of living. It was very obvious.

"Tai? Is Salamon okay?"

Tai closed his eyes in anguish. How could he answer

his sweet sister? She was eight years old, and her

partner, her friend for life, the one she had a

special bond with, could depart at any moment. Tai

couldn't speak. He turned to Sora and opened his

mouth.

Sora nodded and took Kari's hand. "We'll fix Salamon

up, don't worry," she said. She glanced back at Tai

and saw the trails his tears had taken. Her heart beat

faster as she realized what Tai knew already.

There was practically no hope for Salamon.

Tai felt a weight lift from his arms and whirled to

see Joe. The older boy smiled. "Don't worry, Tai," he

said, cradling the kitten. "I'll help Salamon."

Tai nodded and the ache of months of fighting and

death finally overcame him. "I'm tired, let's rest for

a while."

"Tai? You actually *want* to rest?" Mimi said.

He nodded and the group stopped for the night. Agumon

curled up next to Tai, who took off his goggles and

twirled them on his finger.

Izzy watched Tai. He looked much shorter without those

awful goggles holding his hair up.

"Izz-y," the boy heard Joe call. "Get your laptop over

here."

Tai and Izzy both ran to Joe's side, Tai still with

his soft brown hair tumbling into his eyes. "Is she

okay?"

"Izzy, look up how to treat a comatose cat," Joe said.

He cast a worried glance at the small creature lying

before the three boys.

"Awwwwwwww," Four female voices whispered. Mimi, Sora,

Palmon, and Biyomon were sitting nearby, watching the

youngest children. T.K. was cradling Kari, trying to

comfort her.

"Those two would make a great couple," Mimi sighed.

"Are you nuts? I would be almost related to MATT!" Tai

said, forgetting his sister's wounded digimon for a

moment and coming over to the girls and Patamon.

"Well, if they like each other--" Biyomon began.

"No. I am not becoming part of some crazy, girlish

scheme to get them closer together. Nope. I will NOT

be related to Matt. I mean, just LOOK at that hair of

his!"

"His isn't so bad, Tai," Sora said, giggling. "I mean,

no offense, but how DO you see from under there?"

"*That* is why I have my trusty goggles!" Tai said.

"Trusty? Then where are they?" Mimi asked.

Tai brushed his hair back. "Girls!" He returned to

Izzy and Joe.

Gavinmon watched the sleeping children through his

magical mirror two hours later. Then he smiled.

"Servant, this will be your first target," he said,

pointing to one of them.

Matt blinked. "Her? Why would you want *her* to go

first? What about Tai? Can't I please kill Tai first?"

"She'll be my prisoner, bait for the rest." Suddenly

the girl opened her eyes and sat up, not knowing the

danger she faced. She started talking to the plant

which sat next to her. Gavinmon smiled. "Strike when

she is tired."

"How do I get past Palmon?"

"That's my job," Gabumon said. "Blue Blaster!" He

fired an experimental shot at the ceiling.

"I'll tell the others to prepare the arena,"

Tigreromon said.

"Good, good. Those little chosen brats will never

escape me! I have one of them on my side already, and

with the girl..."

Matt nodded. "But, my lord, why would you want Mimi?"

"It has to do with her past...and my future..."

Matt leaned forward as a new image came into the

mirror. "This is why. Watch while I find Etemon. I

need him to write me a victory song..."

"Uh, only one problem, sir, Etemon's dead. All his

helpers are dead. They're just plain dead! Dead, dead,

dead--"

"Oh, what would YOU know, Servant Child? WATCH!"

"Okay, okay, don't hold your breath."

Matt watched as a much younger Mimi backed away from a

shadow that was advancing on her. "NO! What do you

want from us? We're kids!"

"I want your lives!"

Mimi was thrown backwards by a blast from the

shadow-creature. Stunned, she fell to the ground. A

white glow suddenly surrounded the creature. Matt

looked away from the intense light on the screen. When

he glanced back, she was gone.

"What did Gavinmon want with her anyway?" Matt

wondered.

Ten minutes later Gavinmon returned. "Uh, I found some

old music," he said, embarrassed that his servant was

right about Etemon's death. "I'll be putting on a

concert now--"

"We won't be able to get Mimi, we'll be deaf," Gabumon

whispered. Matt stifled a laugh as very horrifying

music played in the background.

"If we live through this, remind me to go get my money

and buy him singing lessons," Matt said to Gabumon as

their master began.

"In the dark of the night I was tossing and turning,

And the nightmare I had was as bad as can be,

It scared me out of my wits,

A corpse falling to bits,

Then I opened my eyes and the nightmare was me!

I was once the most mystical man in all Russia ("He

was in Russia?" Matt asked.)

When the Royals betrayed me they made a mistake,

My curse made each of them pay,

But one little girl got away,

Little Mimi beware, the shadow's awake,

In the dark of the night, evil will find her

In the dark of the night weakness will show,

Revenge will be sweet

When the curse is complete

In the dark of the night, she'll be gone!

I could feel that my powers are slowly returning,

Tie my sash and a dash of cologne for the smell

As the pieces fall into place,

I'll see her crawl on her face,

They'll say, Mimi, Mimi, your grace, farewell,

In the dark of the night, terror will strike her,

In the dark of the night, evil will doom her,

Soon she will feel,

That her nightmares are real,

In the dark of the night,

She'll be through!

In the dark of the night, evil will find her,

In the dark of the night, evil will doom her,

My dear, here's a sign,

It's the end of the line,

In the dark of the night,

In the dark of the night,

Come my minions, rise for your master,

Let your evil shine,

In the dark of the night,

In the dark of the night,

Find her now, yes, fly ever faster,

In the dark of the night,

In the dark of the night,

In the dark of the night,

She'll be mine!

"Well?" Gavinmon asked, waiting for an answer.

"I think the performance was good," Matt said slowly,

"but it isn't an original work. That song is from the

movie Anastasia. You know, from Earth? Etemon didn't

write it."

"And I should believe *you*?"

"That's the problem with you Digiworld rock stars,"

Matt muttered. "Never write your *own* songs."

"Go kill her. NOW!" Gavinmon said impatiently.

"Yes, your honor." Matt and Gabumon bowed and left.

Izzy softly closed his laptop and walked over to Tai.

"Hey, wake up. It's your turn to be on watch."

"Just five more minutes. I'm so tired," Tai mumbled.

"Yeah, sure. I'm more tired than you are. Get up."

Tai rolled over and yawned. His hand flew out and

smacked Izzy, who tumbled backwards.

"OW! What was THAT for?" Izzy asked angrily.

"Fine. I'll get up. Just QUIT your yapping, 'kay?" Tai

said, standing up.

Izzy glared at Tai. "Good-night!"

"Sweet dreams to you, too." Tai walked over to a tree

to begin his watch.

About an hour later Tai heard a soft whimper. Then

Mimi sat up, breathing hard. "Hey, what's wrong, Mimi?

Bad dream?" he asked.

"More like a bad memory," she answered.

"Oh. Ya wanna tell me about it?"

Mimi hesitated, but then nodded. "It started when I

was four or five. We lived in Russia, and I was

already a social butterfly. I was in a sort of club,

and we called ourselves the Royals. I was the queen,

sorta like our president. We were just little kids,

and we saw monsters--digital monsters."

Tai's eyes couldn't possibly get any wider, but

somehow, they did.

"One of the monsters was a shadow. My friends began to

disappear, and one day the four of us who were left

decided to sleep in a real palace. It was just a big

house, but to us it was a mansion.

"So, we got permission and brought sleeping bags and

everything. And that night, the shadow got all of

them--except, of course, me. And that was when

Gavinmon--I think it was him--decided that the queen,

me, had to go. I escaped."

"Obviously."

"Yeah. And now Gavinmon's back."

"I didn't know you lived in Russia."

"When I was five we moved to Heighton, and just before

I turned seven we moved to Odaiba," Mimi said.

"Oh. So Gavinmon is this shadow that wants to kill

you?"

"Precisely."

"Now you sound like Izzy. Stop it!"

" 'Kay," Mimi replied. She yawned and rolled over to

go to sleep.

Three pairs of piercing black eyes watched the scene.

"Now, Servant Child. Kill her now."

"No, my liege. No. We won't kill her immediately,"

Matt answered.

Gabumon nodded. "It is better for her to...suffer."

An hour or two later, Tai was about to wake Joe up

when he heard a soft moan. "Hey, Mimi, you all right?"

he asked, walking over to her.

Tai blinked when he saw how sweaty she was. "It isn't

*that* hot out here," he thought out loud.

Placing his hand against her forehead, Tai soon yanked

it away in pain. "This is not natural. This is more

than not natural, this is...an unexplained

something-or-other." Tai snapped his fingers when he

recalled how sick Kari had been only a few days

before.

"Hey, Kari. Get up."

The eight-year-old yawned. "What's wrong, Tai?"

"Where's the medicine I gave you?"

Kari thought about it for a minute. "I

think...I...gave it to...Sora! I gave it to Sora so

she could keep it safe!"

"All right. Sora!"

But this search also proved fruitless, since Sora had

given it to T.K. "He had a bigger bag," she explained.

T.K. was much harder to wake up, but eventually he

said, "Okay, I'm up," and then, "Oops!" as he

accidentally kicked his bag. The bottle of pills

wasn't in it.

"Okay, Joe, do you still have Kari's medicine?" Tai

asked. "No, wait, you gave it to Izzy, right?"

Joe shook his head. "It's right here."

"Well," Tai said, "I'll wake Izzy up since the rest of

us are already awake."

"Oh, no need to do *that*, Tai. I'm awake and

attentive," Izzy said.

Sora tapped her foot on the ground impatiently. "So

why are you waking us all up?"

"Mimi has a fever or something." Tai turned to Izzy.

"And you better tell us what's wrong, because she's

burning up!"

Seven long minutes later Joe and Izzy walked over to

the rest of them. "We can't explain this. It's an

unnatural phenomenon," Izzy said.

"I've never seen anything like it," Joe added. "And my

dad's a doctor!"

There wasn't really much that the digidestined could

do after giving Mimi some of the pills. They were just

kids, after all. Joe was the oldest, and probably the

one most experienced in doctoring, but he was only

twelve.

Mimi slowly opened her eyes a few hours later. She sat

straight up and stared into the trees at the soft

white glow that seemed to burn into her very soul. She

quietly got up and slipped into the forest.

When she reached the glow her eyes flew open.

That--that couldn't possibly be--could it? She

pocketed the glowing thing and hurried back to the

campsite.

Tai sighed in relief when he saw her. "I was about to

wake the others, Mimi. Do you feel better now?"

"Oh, much better," she assured him, rubbing the glow

with her thumb. "In fact, I feel wonderful!"

"ARGH! How can she have it? Now we will never defeat

her, or the rest of those digidestined brats!"

Gavinmon screamed, banging his head on the wall.

"Pray tell, what in Digiworld IS it?" Gabumon asked.

Tigreromon snarled. "That, my--ur--*friends*, is the

mystical gem that saved the maiden over, um, oh yeah!

Over five years ago. Sorry, I suck at math."

"Exactly! Get it from the girl, Servant Child."

"Sure, whatever. Come on, Gabby."

"GABBY?! I resent that!"

"Fine, then. Gabu-san."

"Much better."

Mimi rolled the stone around in her palm as soon as

she was left on guard. "I never thought I'd see you

again. Come out, Hiromon."

A soft white smoke came from the stone and formed a

figure about the size of Garurumon. It had long ears

and a slender body. Its tail was long and had four red

stripes on it. Other than that and the big green eyes,

it was a smoky blue, even its wings.

Hiromon smiled. "Lady Mimi, you've returned. But you

have grown."

"And you, Hiromon. I suppose the others didn't notice

you in the great Heighton battle. But I did."

"Yes, mistress. If I had only been a girl, I'd have

been your digimon." He bared his teeth. "BUT, that

ugly little PLANT got to be the protector of the

Guardian of Sincerity."

"Don't call Palmon ugly. And what are guardians?

Aren't we the digidestined?"

"Once you received the crests you became guardians.

You, the Guardian of Sincerity. That one, Guardian of

Knowledge. And the one who has disappeared from the

face of the planet, seemingly, is the Guardian of

Friendship. Beware the Guardian of Friendship, child,

and when you wage the great battle, do not digivolve

without using--"

Hiromon vanished into the glimmering white gem at that

point, and suddenly it was pulled from her hand.

"Mimi, where'd you get this?" the Guardian of Love

asked.

"Oh, that saved me a while ago. Ask Tai to tell you my

stor--SORA, LOOK OUT!!!!"

The girl crumpled to the ground and a familiar figure

snatched Hiromon's refuge from her fingers. "Dear

little princess," the form said sarcastically.

Mimi couldn't move. Those eyes...they were pitch black

with an odd red glow. And Gabumon's...a terrifying

similarity! She reached out and managed to drag her

fingers across the jewel's surface. "Come out,

Hiromon!"

The smoke took shape and faced the Guardian of

Friendship. "Human, you will not harm the Guardian of

Sincerity. Ice Crusher!"

Matt and Gabumon dodged the ice that meant certain

death. Throwing Mimi the stone, Matt hissed, "You

won't escape!" and ran.

"Thank you, Hiromon," Mimi whispered as her little

friend returned to his home. Mimi turned to Sora. "Oh,

no, this is bad."

She got everyone except Kari and T.K. to wake up and

help Sora. "That's it," Tai said fiercely when he

heard how Sora got to be that way. "I am going to

wring his neck with my bare hands! Or something. Let's

go!"

"Per-fection," Masakimon said. His bright green body

was like that of a rabbit, but his ears were short and

pointed, and his tail was thick and could squeeze

anything to death. He had a bright orange bird's beak,

and he was covered in scales. He reminded Matt of a

dragon. A dragon with a peace symbol inscribed on his

chest.

"Let's go out to meet them," Arachnamon hissed. She

had a human figure, but for hair she had spiderwebs.

Her clothing was ragged and black, and her arms--well,

there were eight of them.

"Wait for meeeeeeee!" a high-pitched voice squealed.

It was Glebimon, a babyish blob of purple goo. He was

stronger than he seemed, although not so bright.

The three digimon left and Matt smiled. "We'll be

waiting if they make it to the arena!"

"I'll guard the entrance," Tigreromon said.

"With me," Eaglomon insisted. He was a large eagle

with extremely sharp talons.

"Wonderful," a voice said. "And now, the main event:

the downfall of the digi-doomed!"

"How much farther, Tai?" T.K. asked sleepily. The sun

was setting in the west--or what they thought was the

west--and they had been walking all day. Sora was

better, although her head still hurt.

"I dunno," Tai answered. His digivice hadn't beeped

yet, and he was determined to find Matt, somehow.

"Yo, dudes, what's up?" a voice asked.

"Let's get ready to rumble!" a more feminine voice

called.

"Come on, let's go, movin' right along folks--"

"W-what's that?" Kari asked.

Izzy opened his Digimon Analyzer file. "The first one

is Masakimon," he said as the bright green creature

stepped out of the shadows. "He's a mega digimon who

thinks he rules the world."

"Just like Matt," Tai mumbled.

"Next is...uh-oh, Arachnamon. Another mega. She's

really strong, and she's poisonous." The figure

clothed in black stood next to Masakimon. Her skin was

a pale gray color.

"Third one's called Glebimon. With the mind of a baby

digimon, or possibly an in-training, he'll be easiest

to beat. He's only an ultimate." Izzy paused and then

added, "Did I mention they all work for Gavinmon?"

Within seconds all the champions were fighting, except

Salamon, who was too weak. Togemon battled Masakimon.

Her Needle Spray crashed into his skin. He laughed.

"Crazy plant! Death Ram!" Togemon was grabbed by his

tail and squeezed--hard. He tossed her against a tree.

"NO, TOGEMON!!" Mimi screamed.

The other five were struggling with Arachnamon.

Already Ikkakumon and Kabuterimon had been poisoned.

"Poison Beam!" Arachnamon cried, sending Birdramon to

the ground.

"HELLLLLLLLP!!!" T.K. shouted. Glebimon had grabbed

his foot. Angemon whirled around as the blob sucked

T.K. toward it.

"T.K!" Angemon yelled. He flew at Glebimon, who

stopped him. "Glob Shield," he said calmly. Angemon

bounced off the purple shield that appeared.

"Angemon, you've got to digivolve!" Greymon yelled.

"Nova Blast!"

"I can't, I can't!" Suddenly Glebimon started to shake

T.K., who screamed for help. His digivice began to

glow. "Oh, well, maybe I CAN! All right!"

"Angemon, digivolve to...MagnaAngemon!" He zipped at

the shield and broke through. Glebimon stared at him

with big puppy eyes. "Gate of Destiny!!!"

Glebimon was sucked into the gate that appeared before

them. MagnaAngemon grabbed T.K. and flew him away.

Then he dedigivolved to Patamon.

All the digimon digivolved to ultimate except Salamon,

but before long all but Lillymon were poisoned, and

that was because she was fighting Masakimon. He

laughed harder than ever. "Whoa, flower child, don't

break a stem! Peace, baby! And the 'baby' I mean

literally!"

"Oh, you--" She dove for him and missed, wrapped again

in his deadly tail. She wriggled free and screamed,

"Flower Cannon!"

The petals hit their mark. Masakimon was down; the

cannon had hit him in his beak, which was open with

laughter. He disintegrated, and Lillymon turned to

face Arachnamon.

Time after time, Lillymon dodged the beam and hit

Arachnamon with her Flower Cannon. Finally, Arachnamon

said, "You're too good for my Poison Beam...so take

this, little daisy! Spiderweb of Doom!"

A net enclosed Lillymon, and though she tried, she was

soon reduced to Palmon. The same net caught all the

others except MetalGreymon and MegaKabuterimon. They

attacked full force.

"Giga Blaster!"

"Horn Buster!"

Arachnamon just smiled and retaliated with a Poison

Beam. Tai set his jaw and ran forward. "Arachnamon,

you're crazy!" he yelled, an idea forming in his mind.

She whirled around.

"How dare you!"

"You're an absolute loon! You only work for Gavinmon

because--"

Tai never finished as a spiderweb landed on top of him

and he heard Arachnamon's laugh. "Keep your comments

to yourself!"

Tai started to laugh when his plan worked.

MetalGreymon hit Arachnamon with his Mega Claw, and

she faded away. The spiderweb dissipated and Tai stood

up.

"Prodigious!" Izzy shouted as MegaKabuterimon returned

to Tentomon and the same thing happened to

MetalGreymon.

The digimon, though weak, were still willing to head

on, so they did. They all hurried in the direction of

the digivice signal, which they had finally found.

"Come, little prey," a shadowy form said, watching

them through an enchanted mirror. "You have the rest

of my minions to reckon with! Ha ha ha!"

His evil laughter echoed through the halls of his dark

castle as the digidestined came closer...closer to

what might very well be their doom...their

downfall...and their death...