Recap! When we last left the kids they had just found out about Maki and no she is not the 9th digidestined. We also learned about Pagnomon a new and evil Digimon Dark Master...Haha!! So out with the old and in with the new.
Part 3
That night....
Far off from where the kids had set up camp earlier a dark castle stood shrouded by dead trees and evil. Inside a cloaked man stood listening to his minion report what he had seen earlier.
"So...I underestimated the crest of friendship." He growled. "Now the girl is part of their group, it is obvious I will have to destroy her myself."
The minion shuddered, "Master, should I send out an attack?"
"No you fool!" Pagnomon yelled. "Unlike Myotismon I will watch and learn and wait for the perfect moment, then attack and when I do, I will crush not only her but all of her friends as well!"
Pagnomon went back to his thrown and seated himself, opening a window to view the children undetected. He turned to see his minion still standing there. "Go now! Leave me! If I need you, I shall call on you, now go."
The minion bowed and then left the room. Pagnomon turned back to watch and wait.
Back at the camp...
The kids sat around the fire trying to figure out what they should do next.
"Well I say we stay here." Matt said plainly.
"What are you crazy!" Tai yelled.
"No, not at all. But why go looking for trouble." Matt said trying to keep his cool, this was one time that he was hoping that Tai would listen. "Look, all we know about this Pagnomon creep is that he is powerful and evil and somehow Maki is here to help us destroy him. BUT! All we know about that is that she supposedly possess some great power, but we don't know what or how that will help us. I say we stay here, at least for a while longer and try to figure out some of this stuff."
Tai thought for a moment and then turned to Maki, "What do you think?" he asked.
"Me?" Maki said sounding very surprised. "I have no idea. I've only been here for a short time and I don't really know anything about this place. I am so not the person to be asking right now."
Tai nodded. "OK, for now we stay. In the meantime Izzy can try to get a hold of Genni again maybe get some more information from him. But with this new digimon, what was his name again Pagnomon?"
Everyone nodded their heads.
"OK, we shouldn't take any chances. Let's figure out who is one first watch and then we will go from there. We can't risk any surprise attacks."
It was then decided that Tai would take first watch, then Maki volunteered for second, and then Matt, Sora and Joe would finish up the night. With that the kids then went off to try to get some sleep while Tai stood guard for the first shift.
Maki found it hard to sleep, even though she was exhausted. At first she tossed and turned, but slowly darkness crept over her and she fell into a deep slumber. But sleep would not be kind to her that night. Her mind began to dream but no ordinary dream would visit her, she stood in a darkened room it was dank and smelled sour, the scent was so strong that it assaulted her nostrils and made her sick to her stomach. She fought the vomit rising in her throat and tried to look into the darkness to make out where she was. It was nothing that she was familiar with, then came a deep whisper of a voice, "Maki..." it said. She looked around, but the whisper had come from all directions, was she imagining it? "Maki..." it said again, "Maki...Maki... Maki..." The voice sent icy chills up and down her spine and caused the hair on the nap of her neck to stand on end. "Who...Who's there?" she asked timidly. "Mmmaaakkkiiii...." the voice replied drawing her name out in an ugly hiss. This time the voice came from right in front of her, she squinted her eyes to try to make out something, anything. "Show yourself," she yelled, "or are you a coward who hides in the shadows!" A sick laughter then filled the room, and a tall figure then stepped out of the darkness. He stood no more then a foot away from where Maki stood, yet her loomed over her. He was at least a foot taller then she, he wore a black cloak that covered his body completely and the only thing she could really make was his eyes, his terrible glowing red eyes.
"Wh.what do you want?" she asked.
"You Maki, I want you, your soul, your power." The voice said in a soft hiss.
"Yo...you can't have me!" she yelled back to the red eyes that stood in front of her.
The figure broke out into a rumbling laughter that shook the very room in which they stood. "Oh yes, Maki, I like them fiesty! But I will have you, make no mistake." He said as he grabbed her arms and dug her razor claws into her flesh. Maki began to scream at the pain that seared through arms and the terror that now filled her.
"Maki! Maki! Wake up!" Tai yelled as he shook Maki. He had been sitting by the fire for his watch when he had heard her talking to herself in her sleep, but soon her soft whisper of a conversation turned into stomach wrenching screaming waking most of the others who had been sleeping. Tai shook her a bit harder until he saw her eyes flutter open.
Maki sat up and looked around to the other who were now wide awake and began to sob uncontrollably. Tai sat down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. The others just sat and watched, except for Matt who felt a ping of jealousy from seeing Tai touch Maki, he tried to shake off that feeling and concentrate on what was going on.
"Maki, what happened? Are you ok?" Tai asked.
"No!" She said still shaking, "I had the most horrible dream, it was so awful."
Izzy who was standing to the side of her spoke up, "Maki, in your dream did your arms get cut or something like that?" he inquired.
Everyone looked at Izzy trying to figure out what he was saying. Maki just nodded her head.
"Then I believe that it was no dream that you had but something else." He said, "look," he pointed to the back of her arms which were covered in blood that oozed from four small puncture wounds on each arm.
Maki began to cry again as the rest of the group examined the wounds. Joe quickly got out his first aid kit and began cleaning and bandaging the small cuts.
"This is surreal." Matt commented, "I mean she was here the whole time, right? And she wakes up after having a nightmare with real cuts?"
"Maki, why don't you tell us what happened in your dream?" Izzy said.
After Maki finished telling the others of her dream they all looked at one another with shock. Maki was still slightly crying from fear and the pain in her arms. Sora had been sitting beside her rubbing Maki's back trying to comfort her.
"Maki, don't worry we not going to let this creep get you, right guys?" Sora said looking to the other members of the group.
"Yeah!" they all replied in unison.
"Don't worry Maki, it'll be ok." Tai said.
"Tomorrow morning I will contact Genni first thing and let him know what's happened. But for now I think it would be wise to get some sleep. If we have to battle tomorrow we will be in no shape to do so if we are all exhausted." Izzy stated.
Everyone reluctantly nodded and went back to where they had been sleeping.
"Tai, it's my shift now, so go get some sleep." Maki said softly.
"No, that's ok, I'll take your shift. Go get some rest." Tai replied.
"Are you nuts?" Maki asked getting frustrated. "I have no desire to go back to sleep right now."
Before Tai could continue to argue the matter with her Matt stepped in. "Listen Tai, it's ok, I'll stay up with her make sure she is ok and all that."
Tai just shrugged his shoulders and walked over to where the others had settled back down for the rest of the night.
Matt took a seat by Maki and looked at her worriedly. "Are you ok Maki?" he asked.
"I guess, I don't know." She mumbled softly.
Matt looked at the fire a scooted himself closer to where Maki sat, wrapping his arm around her shoulders which were shaking.
"Thanks." She said.
Matt smiled, "no problem, what are friends for?" He then kicked himself for saying that; he had wanted to say something else, but now wasn't the time.
Maki frowned slightly, "yeah." She had been hopping that he would have said something different, but... Maybe he didn't feel like that, like she did. She exhaled deeply and allowed herself to be held by Matt. They sat like that for an hour silently; Matt looked down to Maki and noticed that she had fallen asleep. He thought for a moment about moving her so she could lie down, but the decided against it, as he didn't want to wake her. Matt felt tired himself, but he had still quite a while before his watch would be over so he continued to sit there holding Maki as she slept.
What is this? He asked himself. What do I feel for her? I couldn't stand her not to long ago and now? Now I think I like her, I think I like her a lot. He looked back down to Maki's face and smiled. She looked so peaceful when she slept, so pretty. I wonder if she likes me like that? Should I tell her how I feel? He took a deep breathe and looked back down to her face carefully brushing a piece of hair out of her face. She stirred slightly. No, this is not the time. There is too much going on for me to tell her that I think I like her more than a friend. Maybe...maybe after all this is done I will tell her, but not now. He smiled to himself, at least for now I have her in my arms, he thought.
From across the fire Tai watched Matt holding Maki with a smile that spread across his face. Tai smiled to himself and lie back down and fell asleep.
The night continued quietly from the group without further incident. But in a dark castle sat Pagnomon who watched intently. "I see now!" he said laughing hysterically. "Oh this has got to be too easy!" He jumped up from his thrown and quickly walked across the room yelling. "Get in here!" he boomed.
His servant minion replied by scurrying over to his master's side. "Y...Yes Master?" he said timidly.
Pagnomon's eyes gleamed a darker red, "At dawn I want you to send out an attack, send four digimon, but..." he continued, " Do not send my best."
The minion looked up at his master quizzically and obeyed, leaving Pagnomon alone again.
The next morning....
The group sat around the camp after finishing off a light breakfast. Joe sat by Maki checking her wounds, which no longer seemed as bad; the puncture marks had scabbed over nicely and were no longer bleeding.
"Well I think we can do without the bandages now, it looks like they will be fine." Joe said standing up.
"Thanks." Said Maki.
Izzy then came over and sat in front of Maki. "Did you have anymore dreams last night?" he asked.
Maki shook her head, "no actually after that I slept pretty well. "She said glancing over to Matt who was watching her. She smiled at him for a moment and blushed and then turned back to Izzy. Matt smiled and blushed as well, then turned around and walked over to the others.
"Did you get a hold of that guy, Genni?" Maki asked.
"Actually no," Izzy replied. "I received an e-mail from him this morning saying that he already knew of what happened last night with you. He said that is one of Pagnomon's powers to enter dreams and that we should all be weary of that in the future."
"God he really is of no help is he?" Maki said.
Tai who was listening in on the conversation spoke up, "Well sometimes he really does help us out a lot, but then other times he is more confusing then anything else." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement including Izzy.
Before the kids had a chance to say another word they heard a loud voice from not to far from where they were sitting. "RED RAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the voice said.
The kids jumped up as a ray of red light shot right towards Maki, "What the!" she screamed as her hand flew up in front of her face. A beam of white light shot out from her hand blocking the attack. Maki looked at her hand dumbfounded but quickly ran over to the others who were also confused.
"Gabumon! Digivolve!" Matt screamed.
"Agumon! Go get them!" Tai yelled.
All the kids sent out their digimon to defend them, except for Maki who had no digimon to send out. She stood back with all the kids and watched the battle.
"Remind me to ask you later what happened with the hand thing," Tai said glancing over to her.
"Agumon digivolve to... Greymon, Nova Blast!"
"Gabumon digivolve to...Garurumon, Howling Blaster!"
"Tentomon digivolve to... Kabuterimon, Electro shocker!"
"Biyomon digivolve to... Birdramon, Meteor Wing!"
"Palmon digivolve to... Togemon, Needle Spray!"
"Gomamon digivolve to... Ikkakumon, Harpoon Torpedo!"
Gatomon and Patamon stayed next to their young friends to protect them if the battle should get to close. The kids watched in amazement as their digimon battled these strange evil digimon.
"Izzy! What are they?" Tai yelled.
"Hold on I am bringing them up on my computer, yes! Here they are! Musyamon, he is a Champion Wizard Digimon with a Shotgun Sword attack, Kimeramon he is a Composition digimon with a Poison Wing attack, Rockmon he is a Rock digimon with a Rock Punch attack and the one that shot at Maki that's Rayomon, he is a Composition digimon and his attack as we know is Red Ray!"
Izzy exclaimed.
"Jesus! Look!" Matt yelled getting their attention back to the battle.
The kids looked back to the battle still in progress and their digimon battling with everything they had. Soon the battle was over the evil digimon retreated, leaving the digidestined digimon de-digivolved and weak.
"What the hell was that all about?" Maki asked.
"I would assume that they were Pagnomon's goons." Izzy stated plainly. "But why would he only send four digimon against all of ours?" Tai asked out loud to know one in particular.
"First Maki's dream, that wasn't really a dream and then this. What is Pagnomon up to?" Sora asked.
"Well..." Izzy started. "I have no idea to be honest. His attack doesn't make any sense."
"Well one thing is for sure, their first target was Maki." Matt said.
"Right!" Tai said, "which reminds me, what was that whole hand up and shield thing all about? Is that your power?"
Maki shook her head, " I have no clue. I saw that red beam coming towards me and I put up my hand and it stopped."
Izzy looked at Maki questioningly, "well what were you thinking about at that moment."
"Oh S**T!" Maki said laughing nervously.
"That's it?" asked Tai.
"Um...no I was thinking that a shield might be good for that moment." Maki replied.
"That's it!" Izzy yelled. Everyone just stared at Izzy as he began his explanation. "OK this is just a hypothesis, but I believe that when Maki saw that beam of light coming towards her and she thought about a shield her power kicked in and created a shield to protect her. This must be some kind of subconscious power, one that she may or may not be able to control knowingly but maybe only in times where it is needed."
"Well that so makes no sense to me. Are you saying that I have to be in trouble before I can use this power?" Maki asked.
"For now it appears to be like that, yes." Izzy replied. "But how far your abilities go for now we don't know and may not be able to find out until our next battle."
"That is mega wacked!" Tai said.
Matt looked over to Tai; "Figures you can't find anything better to say then that." He said sarcastically.
"Oh Matt shut up!" Tai yelled walking over to stand face to face with Matt.
Sora took no hesitation in jumping up once again between the two boys, this time joined by Maki. Sora stood in front of Tai while Maki stood and faced Matt.
"Come on you guys! We have too much going on right now for you to start fighting like this." Sora said.
"Yeah, calm down, we have to figure out what to do next. We shouldn't just stay here and wait for another attack and we certainly can't waste our time arguing, so please stop." Maki said pleadingly.
Tai and Matt looked at the two girls and just turned around and walked away, "Fine." They both mumbled as they took a seat on opposites sides of the camp.
They all sat there for a few minutes in silence when Joe finally spoke up, "I think we should go, we can't stay here."
"Yeah I guess we are sitting ducks here. We should pack up camp and go now." Tai confirmed.
"And go where Tai? We have no where to go!" Matt yelled across the fire.
"Listen should we just sit here and wait for the next attack, I think not!" Tai retorted.
This time it was Izzy who decided to end the squabbling before it could go too far.
"Hey listen up you guys!" he said rather loudly gaining the attention of the entire group of kids and digimon. Once he was sure that he had the floor he continued. "It is more then probable for another attack and where and when won't matter. I think it is also safe to say that we could be attacked just as easily on the move as we can be here. Maybe staying we won't have to expend any unnecessary energy."
"I agree with what Izzy said." Maki chirped in.
"I also agree with Izzy, if we go out then we will be walking around using up all our energy, if we get attacked we won't have enough strength to fight back." Matt said trying to be calm about it this time.
Tai looked over to the others.
"Well just make a decision and I will go along with it, though I would really prefer to stay here, all that walking around really makes my feet hurt." Mimi said.
"Well although I don't share Mimi's sentiments, I would really rather not just get into another battle if we can avoid it." Joe said.
"Sora what do you think?" Tai asked.
"I have to agree with Izzy on this one, we are probably going to get attacked weather we stay here or not, at least by staying here we can get some rest in between to keep our strength up." Sora stated.
"This is crazy!" Tai yelled. "I can't believe this, staying here is stupid!"
"Looks like your out numbered on this one Tai." Matt said coldly.
Tai just glared at Matt, but he knew he was right, if everyone wanted to stay then they would have to stay. "Fine we stay, but we will all have to keep on our toes, tonight for watch we do it in pairs and anytime we split up we continue to stay in groups. Got it?"
"Got it." They all replied.
To be continued............................
Ya all will have to wait for part 4 and I will start working on that soon. Take care and give me your thoughts...
