Kyle walked through the forest, completely alone. Suddenly, there was a noise, and a girl and a Digimon stepped out from the trees. The girl had icy-blue eyes, and dark brown slightly curled hair. Freckles dotted her face, and she was dressed in a white tee, and blue jeans.
The Digimon looked like a Gatomon, only she was black and gray. The tail ring was black.
“Who?” he began, but the girl smiled gently, and introduced herself.
“I’m Heather, and this is KuraiGatomon. She’s not all bad, but she is a Virus Digimon.”
The Gatomon look-a-like bowed slightly, and grinned. “And you are?”
“Kyle.” Kyle answered with out any emotion.
“Well, Kyle, why don’t you come with us? We’ll be nicer to you then the other kids were,” Heather said.
“What? How?”
“You yelled very loud,” KuraiGatomon said.
Kyle smiled slightly, then nodded. “Ok.”
Heather smiled. “Good. Now come with us.” She and her Digimon turned to go, and Kyle was about to follow when he saw a DigiEgg in the bushes. It was green, and had purple dots on it. He walked over, and picked it up. It was Anthylamon’s egg.
He then followed the two away.
Nathan and the others sat near the dying fire. It was early morning. Justin was still growling to himself.
“First thing we do,” Felina said, “Is we find Alana.”
Nathan nodded. “Kyle can wait. Alana is who we need to get back. If SaturnEclipsemon is still around, we need to make sure that she doesn’t kill Alana.”
Joe gulped. “Do we have to go out there while that monster is around?”
“Oh Joe…” Gomomon sighed.
All the In-Training Digimon had DigiVolved by that time, and were all in their Rookie (except Gatomon) stage.
Poisomon smiled. “I have an idea, Nathan. What if the flying type of Digimon,” he looked at Patomon and Biyomon, “Flew ahead and found Alana, then we followed them to her, or vise-versa.”
Nathan nodded. “Are you two willing to help us?” he asked the Digimon.
Biyomon grinned and said, “Of course!”
Patomon nodded. “I’d love to help!”
Nathan nodded. “Right. You two and Poisomon will fly around and try to find Alana.”
“You can fly?” Palmon asked, looking at Poisomon.
“I don’t have wings for nothing!” Poisomon said, pointing to the wings on his back.
Palmon blinked, then shrugged. “If you say so.”
The three Digimon then jumped into the air, and began to fly away in different directions.
“Let’s hope they find her,” Kari said.
Sora nodded.
Alana and the two Digimon began to back track from the night before, and soon found themselves in the same spot they had been. They then walked along the path, and soon found the jade stone of destiny.
They continued on, until they reached a river. Under the currant was something that glinted lilac. It was the stone of eternity.
“I have the oddest feeling,” Horkamon began as they continued to walk, “That the Council is trying to help us find the stones as fast as they can.”
“You’re right about that!” Mimicmon yelled, pointing to a blue object near a stone wall. “From what I remember hearing, Umi said that this same stone would be near the castle, and that’s about six miles to our left!”
Alana walked over and grabbed the stone. “Well, that gives us three more to find.”
“Which ones do we have?” Horkamon questioned.
“We have death, memories, time, destiny, and eternity,” the girl laid the stones out as she said their names. Each stone was about as big as chickens egg, but would most likely grow when used.
“So we’re missing life, present and whatever the silver one is.” Horkamon said.
Alana nodded. “But, where do we find them?”
Suddenly, two shapes dropped from the sky, each landing with a thud on the ground. One was green, the other was gold.
“Well,” Alana said, blinking. “That solves a lot of our problem…”
Kyle followed the girl and her Digimon for about an hour to two hours before he realized that they were going toward the castle.
“What’s your Crest?” Kyle asked calmly.
“Pain,” she answered simply.
“Oh.” Kyle felt his body go numb. “Is…is that a Dark Crest?”
The girl turned and looked at him. “Why, as a matter of fact, it is.”
Kyle nodded slightly, then said, “So, um, are we going to the castle?”
The girl’s Digimon nodded. “Yup.”
“Ah.” Suddenly, something happened that would change both earth and the DigiWorld.
Tai and the others had begun to talk, when suddenly Biyomon and the others came flying back.
“Did you find them?” Nathan asked.
Biyomon nodded. “They’re just over that way, about six miles from here.”
“That far?!” Mimi asked in shock.
Val nodded. “Alana is very good with finding short cuts in the woods.”
Nathan glanced at Poisomon. “Tell her that we’re coming to get her, and if she tries to get away, you know what to do.”
Poisomon nodded, and flew off.
Patomon and Biyomon were about to go too, but Nathan told them to stay put.
“We may need you,” he said.
The two Digimon nodded.
Alana sat examining the seven stones. Each glinted in the early morning sun like snow.
Suddenly, Poisomon came soaring down.
“Alana!” he yelled, and the blond turned and looked at him. “Nathan and the others are coming to get you.”
“Is Kyle…?”
“No. He ran off.”
Alana nodded, and put the stones in her pockets.
Horkamon and Mimicmon smiled at Poisomon, and the three began to talk.
Kyle’s Crest began to glow, but it wasn’t the dark blue as it usually was. It was glowing a dull gray.
Kyle blinked and looked at it. His Crest of Belief pulled out of the tag, and flew over his head, then broke into two pieces. But then a dull gray light came soaring over to him.
“Ah,” said Heather. “It looks like you have a new Crest.”
“What?” Kyle asked as the new Crest slid into his tag, turning it to a dark color.
“It looks like the Crest of Confusion…” KuraiGatomon murmured.
“It is,” said Heather.
“What? Why did my other Crest leave?” Kyle asked.
“You lost that trait, and received a new one. Obviously one that was fit for the Darkness to help you.” Heather explained.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that both earth and the Digital World lost its Belief,” said KuraiGatomon.
“Huh?”
“Our Crests are traits that earth and the DigiWorld need to maintain balance. Your friend, Alana is that balance.”
“What do you mean friend?” Kyle snapped.
Heather smirked. “I’m sorry. I suppose I should call her your ex-friend?”
“That’s better. Now, what do you mean by balance?”
“The balance is good and evil. She had her Combination Crest of Protection, Imagination and Healing. Then she has a Dark Crest known as Hatred. It is the only Dark Crest that doesn’t have black on it.” Heather explained.
“And that’s why She’s the balance,” KuraiGatomon said.
Kyle nodded. “I get it.”
“Good.” Said Heather. “By the way, you’re now on the side of the Darkness, so, I hope that’s fine with you.”
Kyle grinned. “If you can’t beat them, join them.”
Heather nodded. “Well, we better hurry up. The Mistress is waiting for our return.”
She and KuraiGatomon then walked up the castle steps. Kyle followed with no thought.
Nansui watched with anger as Kyle moved to the dark side of the board.
“Why did you make him change?” she hissed at Fate.
“Because it was told to be. Just as SaturnEclipsemon was seen again, it had to happen, and even I couldn’t stop him.”
Holder of Hardship looked again at the board. It looked like a chessboard, and had the children and the Digimon carved in different colors.
Alana was in the center, along with Horkamon, and she was both colors in a swirl pattern.
The Dark DigiDestened were black stone, and the others were set in white stone.
Two figures lay off the board. One was white, and it was Sean. The other was Anthylamon, also white, but she was slowly changing to black, like Kyle had.
“I told him to beware.” She said, then closed her eyes.
About an hour had passed since Poisomon had arrived, and there were noises of foalge being pushed around. Suddenly, the others entered the clearing.
Val and Felina smiled at Alana, but when they saw Horkamon they looked relieved.
Nathan and the others began to talk all at once, but then they stopped.
“Kyle left.” Justin said.
Alana nodded. “I know.”
Poisomon smirked. “I told her.”
Nathan nodded, then said, “Let’s head toward the castle. We need to end this nightmare.”
Everyone agreed, and because they had the full day ahead of them, they would most likely make it there before nightfall.
Kyle had been shown his quarters, and was aloud to wander about the castle. He could go anywhere and everywhere he wanted. So, naturally, he went to the dungeons. One of them was glowing an odd shade of silver, so he went to see what was going on.
When he reached it, he looked in, and near a window was a rock about the size of two chickens eggs stacked on top of each other. It was about one and a half eggs in width.
He went into the cell and picked it up. It began to glow a little brighter.
“Some rock…” he murmured. He decided to take it up to his room, because Judi had said that if he found anything in the cellars, or dungeons, he could keep it.
And, what he had found was the stone of Wishes, the last of the eight.
