Another half an hour went by, without much said, before the sky became completely dark.
"We're almost to the lake, you guys," Pipermon said, glancing back at the tired children, "just hang in there a little bit longer."
"Pipermon, are you sure this lake even EXISTS?" Jyou asked. "I mean, if this forest is always changing, then how do you--"
He broke off in mid-sentence when Pipermon stopped dead in her tracks and snapped one arm up at the elbow.
"Did you hear that?" she asked.
Thick tension ran through the brief silence that followed, and then Pipermon turned to face the children. She twitched her mouth.
"I thought...I thought I heard a..."
Her voice trailed off, her blue eyes scanning the trees.
"A what?" Tai asked, taking a tentative step forward. His hand slipped from Kari's loose grasp. Pipermon shook her head, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"I'm...I'm not sure--"
Her sentence was interrupted by a loud, high-pitched squeal and a blast of wind. She jumped back, hovering above the ground for a second. A dark purplish shadow appeared on the forest floor, at the feet of--
"Yamato-san!!"
She dove forward and shoved Yamato aside, nearly landing on top of him. The purple shadow exploded in white light in the exact spot where Yamato had stood a split second earlier. Her hands still gripping his shoulders, Pipermon looked at Yamato, her eyes wide in fear.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Yamato nodded, too startled to speak. The white light faded quickly to a pale purple, and a loud howling noise like that of a tornado started coming from the center of the light.
"Get away," Agumon cried, his green eyes full of dread, "it's another vortex!"
"What?" Tai shouted over the howl of the wind. He reeled back when the wind grew stronger. "Agumon!!"
He stepped forward and let out a startled cry as the wind coming form the illuminated vortex started to swirl around him, tugging at his clothes. He dug his heels into the soft dirt of the forest floor, trying to keep from moving. The winds pulled harder, slowly dragging him forward to the vortex that stood like an open mouth in the center of the path.
"Tai!" Kari shouted, lunging forward to grab the sleeve of her brother’s shirt as the swirling winds grew stronger, the vortex intensifying, threatening to swallow him up.
Pipermon's eyes still hadn't moved from Yamato's.
Why did I do that? she asked herself. If he had fallen into the rift, it would have meant one less digidestined brat for Kurarimon to have to destroy. She blinked, confused and a little startled by her own unexpectedly tutelary actions. Her thoughts snapped back to the present when she heard a frightened shout from behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she sucked in a sharp breath when she saw Taichi fighting the swirling whirlwind that was trying so hard to drag him to the center of the spinning vortex in the forest floor.
"Kari!" Tai yelled. "Kari, let go of me! You'll get pulled in, too!"
"No way, Ani-san!" she shouted back, digging her heels into the dirt. "I'm not letting go!"
Pipermon squeezed her eyes shut.
What IS this? she thought, enraged. What are these children, that they should make me question my orders to Kurarimon?? My orders...my orders to destroy them??
She tried to block out the sound of the sheer terror in Hikari's voice as she clung desperately to her brother's arm, trying with all her might to keep him from being sucked into the hellish purple hole in the path. Pipermon winced and grit her teeth as the terrified voices filled her ears and reverberated inside her head.
With a cry, she lunged sideways, and Yamato fell backward onto the forest floor. Landing on her knees, softly like a cat, Pipermon leapt to her feet and sprinted to where Kari clutched Taichi’s wrist as though she could will him to stay in place.
If he gets pulled into that thing, Pipermon thought, I may never be able to find him. Kurarimon will kill me if I lose this kid!
Accepting that as the sole reason for the actions that followed, Pipermon leapt into the air.
As Kari's grip failed, Tai was ripped from her grasp like a leaf torn away from its branch by winter's icy breath.
"No!" Kari wailed, diving forward. She wasn't fast enough, and missed him, landing hard on her stomach on the cold ground. "Tai!!"
He tried to fight the wind as it pulled him down, but it was too strong. He felt himself sinking. It had all happened so fast, but it felt like an eternity had passed in those two endless minutes.
Is this it? he wondered as the ground gave way beneath him. Will I die like this?
Reaching for the sky in a last action of self-preservation, Taichi clawed at the air like he could will it to solidify and allow him to pull himself free of the powerful vacuum in the ground. The wind grew hot, and a dizzying vertigo swept over him as he was enveloped in a purple sea of condensed space and time--
--and he felt two strong hands grip his outstretched arm.
"Wha--?"
"Hang on, Kamiya-san!" Pipermon grunted, hovering over the vortex. She yanked back hard, and planted her feet on the ground. Both hands were clasped around Tai's arm, and she clung to him as though holding on to her own last lifeline. "Hang on, I've got you!"
Yamato lifted his head and rolled onto his side, staring, awestruck. TK's eyes were wider than sand dollars. Kari pushed up to her hands and knees and felt faint as the scene unfolded before her.
"She saved him!" Jyou cried incredulously, voicing everyone’s disbelief.
TK helped his brother to his feet.
"She saved him, Yama-chan!" the younger boy exulted. "She really saved him!" Yamato had no reply.
Pipermon didn't even realize that the others were watching her. The only thing that mattered to her at that moment was pulling Taichi out of that vortex.
Yeah, right.
She pulled with all her strength, but the wailing winds were just too strong. She felt his hand slipping through her fingers.
"Kamiya-san--!" she cried. "No--!"
A cry escaped her throat as he was torn from her grasp. She flew backward, landing on the forest floor in a heap. The children gasped, too stunned and afraid to move, as Taichi was dragged into the gaping hole in the path.
"Tai!" Kari shrieked, and started to get up to run after him.
"Hikari-san, NO!" Pipermon shouted and, without a second of hesitation, she dove forward, shoving Kari hard to the side. "Kamiya-san!" she yelled, and a startled cry arose from the rest of the group as the digimon they had believed to be a treacherous enemy threw herself into the vortex after their fallen leader. With an explosive whooshing noise, the vortex flashed white again, and the seven other children found themselves slammed to the ground by the force of the shockwave of energy the vacuum expelled as it closed, sealing away who and whatever happened to stumble into it.
Agumon stood beside Mimi, who was still reeling from the traumatic scene that had just been played out in front of her horrified eyes. The dinosaur-like digimon frowned, worry and fear for his friend creasing his brow.
"I wonder..." he said softly. "I wonder...where it took them...?"
No one had an answer.
Her shoulders heaving, her hands trembling, Kari shakily got to her feet, and hurried over to the spot where the vortex had swallowed her brother. With the toe of her sneaker, she poked at the dirt, which now had swirl marks in it from the spinning winds. She kicked the ground dejectedly and clenched her fists, dropping to her knees.
"Tai..." she whispered, and silently cursed whoever had taken him away from her. Tears stung her eyes. "Tai..." she said again, her voice cracking. The others watched in torn silence as Kari pounded her fists onto her thighs and threw her head back, letting an almost inhuman wail rip from her throat. "Tai!" she screamed as the tears she had tried so hard to hold back poured freely down her cheeks. "TAI...COME BACK!!!"
Bwahaha, wow, minna-san, how's *that* for a cliffhanger, ne? ~_^ What will happen next?? You'll hafta wait and find
out!! }:D Yaaay! I finally own something! I own my villains, and Pipermon...so if you take them or their pictures (email me
if you wanna see 'em, hikari_san@hotmail.com) or anything even closely related to them without my permission I will
hunt you down like a rabid Gatomon, you hear me? ~__^ So....que piensan udstedes? That would be Spanish for
"whaddya think, everybody?" Please R&R!! I didn't come across any Japanese in this chapter...I assume everyone
already knows that "sayonara" means goodbye... So...until the next installment...oyasumi nasai, minna-san!!! (Good
night everybody!) :)
~~hikari
Back to the First Part of Chapter 5
