I'm Dying. God, how did this happen? I suppose it started one day, when I was working in the store. I've been sleeping a lot for a long time, more than before. Getting up late in the mornings on the weekends, sleeping at five in the evening. a lot of things were pointing it out to me. but I never imagined that it would take such a turn. My hands started to tremble a bit, and then I felt a jolt go through my body. The next moment, I found myself on the ground, Stu hovering over me. Making a lame excuse that I had slipped and fell, I got up and went about my work in the store. But I was concerned, so I went to Sean. Normally, I'd go to a doctor, but then mom and dad would wonder why I was going there. Sean's great, has an incredible bedside attitude, but I'm digressing. He scanned me, looked at me in the eyes and said, "Eric, you're dying. Somehow, your energy is leaking out and I can't stop it. You have five months. I'm sorry." Already, I've gone to Benjamin, consulted with Sean on every medical practice I could think of, even searched out Jijimon and Gennai. Nothing. Nothing they can do will let me live. I'm sure people are beginning to suspect that something is wrong with me; Stu is looking at me strangely, and even Hikaru is getting worried at the amount of time I spend asleep. I'm dying, and there's nothing I can do about it. Time to start my will. Eric Stewart December 14, Two Thousand Three <><><> Digital Diaries : Adventures 2003 Written by Shaun Garin Toei owns digimon, and I'm not giving them back. Lord Archive wrote Red Digivice Diaries and War Diaries. Disney may own Saban now, but they will never squash down the anime revolution! Up with Digimon! <><><> File 21 : Dying Of The Light "Great! So we are we going?" Sean looked at Eric as he said, "Melbourne. Florida. We'll meet up with the local digi-destined there." "Correction: I will go there with Eric and Lee," Carter said, grabbing his long green jacket. "I know the place inside and out since I spend time there." "With your girlfriend, no doubt," Renamon commented with a smirk. Carter reddened as Lee looked over and mouthed, "Carter's got a girlfriend?" Carter sputtered. "Kylie is NOT my girlfriend!" "Then what is she? Your digital whip mistress?" Penguinmon commented, dodging a kick from his partner. "Before this degrades any further, lets get moving." Eric held up his D-3 and called out, "Digi-port open!" The screen changed and the three with digimon were drawn into the computer. <><><> Kylie Wilson hummed to herself as she pulled on a pink t-shirt. A flash of light filled the room as six figures resolved from the computer. Looking over, she blinked as Carter came stumbling to a halt, smacking into her chest. "Um, hi, Kylie," he greeted lamely as he withdrew his head sheepishly. Kylie glared at him. "If you weren't my boyfriend, I'd smack you." She paused and then hit him upside the head with two fingers. "There. Now we're even." "WHIPISH!" Sharmamon exclaimed in a sound effect, making the obligatory whipping motion as the girl tugged on her shirt. Penguinmon shook his head. "Man, he gets ALL the fun." "Quiet you," a Palmon ordered, hopping down from a hammock. Penguinmon slouched. "Yes dear." Eric quickly regained his composure, hitting Lee on the arm to make him stop laughing. "Hi," he greeted. Kylie looked over. "Hey, you're the new kids, right?" she said, bouncing over. "Kylie Wilson." "Yeah, I'm Eric Stewart, and this is Lee Chin. And these two are Sharmamon and Lopmon." Lee shook himself like a dog shaking off water. "How do you do?" he asked, shaking her hand. "Alright people, show's over. Hustle up." Carter hauled the boys out of the room. "Sorry," he said with an apologetic shrug. "Penguinmon, move it!" <><><> Carter ignored the dark stares of Kylie's father and the happy expression of her mother. Those two were a weird couple, one the epitome of all glaring fathers, the other, giddily happy that her daughter was attracting such a 'wonderful boy'. The boys sat in the living room, Eric and Lee still chuckling. Eric was sipping on a soda while Lee was playing with a Chinese puzzle box the family had in the living room. The digimon were sitting around, Penguinmon nursing a bump on his head from hitting the wall. Soon, Kylie walked in, having tied her blonde hair back with a pink ribbon, and wore a strange pink oval around her neck, held by a thin gold chain. "Hi everyone. Good morning daddy, mommy. Sorry to keep you waiting." "It's alright," Carter said as Kylie plopped down to his side. "So what brings you here?" Mr. Wilson asked gruffly, giving Windam a small glare. "Surely it is not to spend time with my daughter." Carter cleared his throat. "No sir, we are actually on a mission at the moment. We need to find something here." "A friend of ours has had a dream, and we think it will lead us to something," Eric added. "We discovered a strange mask in the last place we went, and are betting that there is something like that here." Lopmon wandered over and fished out the face shaped mask and passed it around. "Did you see anything like this?" he asked. Kylie took it and looked it over. "I do recall something like this," she muttered. "Why don't we try the museum? I'm sure there's a few places that we can look around." "I'll call up Jade. I'm sure she's bored out of her skull," Palmon said, wandering into the kitchen. <><><> "Train, train, train. That's all I do now." Jade grumbled, moving through the complex Kung Fu movements. "Gawd I hope no one sees me like this." "Focus Jade," Mr. Thompson said, shaking his head. "You must focus." "How can I focus when I'm doing martial arts with a BASKET on my head, full of potentially splatterable fruit?" Jade demanded, nearly loosing her balance. "AND to boot, on short sticks stuck into the ground?" She winced as a small pebble bounced off of her face. "With Hagurumon tossing pebbles at me?" The gear shaped digimon shrugged helplessly as Mark smiled, shaking his head. "It is all about balance. Besides, those fruits are about to go either into your mothers' apple and pear jam or the garden's compost heap. My old sensei had some strange balance techniques, but very GOOD techniques." "No offence dad, but your sensei was a nutbar," Jade replied as she nearly lost her balance. The door opened as Jade's mother, Marianne called out, "Jade? Kylie is here to see you with some friends!" "Bring them here, mom!" Jade called out. Soon, the small group of humans and digimon stopped to watch the girl balance out on the poles. "Deja Vu," Lee remarked. "Grandpa taught me this one." Mark turned to him. "Is your grandfather a martial arts teacher?" "Oh yeah. Learned this balance technique when I was seven. Although he was making me jump from each one while knocking away pebbles with my hands," Lee added, causing everyone to sweat drop. "Dude, your grandfather is a nutbar," Eric said, rubbing his neck. "I remember when I had to go through this same exercise, wearing a basket on my head, but I had to do a sword kata as best as I could. I must have fallen twenty five times that day." "That was yesterday," Lopmon reminded the goggle boy, making him wince. "That's what I told him," Jade added as a pebble bounced off her safety goggles. "See dad? It's proven. Your sensei was a nutbar." Mr. Thompson rolled his eyes as he turned to Lee. "Is your grandfather, Tseng Chin?" "Yeah," Lee said. "You heard of him?" "Tseng Chin was dad's teacher," Jade replied, balancing on one foot as the fruits teetered on the basket strapped to her head. "I'll tell grandpa about you then." Lee said. "Oh, I'm Lee Chin. And these here are Eric, Carter, Penguinmon, Sharmamon and Lopmon." "Hi," everyone chorused. Lee turned to Jade who was now flailing her arms wildly. "Stop panicking!" he ordered. "It will only lead to you falling!" "I'm trying! WHOAAAA!" With a thump, the girl hit the ground, fruits spilling everywhere. One of them rolled to Penguinmon's feet. The water digimon picked it up, eyed the apple and swallowed it whole. As Carter tried to dislodge the fruit from his partners' throat through a modified Heimlich, Kylie helped her friend up. "Sorry about that, Red," she said. "I should have caught you." "It's okay, Pink," Jade replied, standing up straight, the nickname causing Kylie to wince a bit. "Red and Pink?" Lopmon asked. "Our colors we wear," Kylie explained, gesturing towards her pink shirt and Jade's red t-shirt. "Somehow, the talismans that grant us extra power force us a specific color." "Got that right," Carter said, having dislodged the fruit from his partners throat. "When I met Kylie, she was wearing all sorts of colors. But when she got her Oval Necklace, she began to wear Pink all the time." "Same here," Jade said, holding her wrist up, revealing a red star attached to a bracelet. "I think color is a source of power for us. And believe me, it's not a good idea to wear a different color when using one of these talismans." "What, you go through Color Withdrawl?" Eric joked. At their serious looks, he blinked rapidly and said, "You're not kidding. Harsh." "Power Ranger Syndrome," Sharmamon said. "Their whole wardrobe must be monochromatic." <><><> "We're here," Kylie said, gesturing towards the large museum. "They have a whole wing of tribal masks. We should get some information there." "Are you even sure that we're looking for a mask, Kylie?" Jade asked. "Nothing tried, nothing gained," Carter reminded the group as he removed his trench coat from the sweltering heat of the Florida sun. <><><> "Incan masks, American Indian tribal masks, The Mask." Lee had to pause at that one. "Okay.." "Mask, mask, mask. more masks.." Jade sighed. "Where the hell are those two?" "They went off to find the museum curator to ask show him the mask." Lopmon looked at one of the masks. "Boy, this is more fun than watching paint dry and peel." "Where are those two?" Jade asked, folding her arms. "I know this is a big museum, but this is getting ridiculous!" "Probably getting some," Sharmamon said, earning a glare from the others. "What? Can't a mon speak his mind?" "You're disgusting," Hagurumon remarked. "I'm not disgusting," Sharmamon replied with a snort. "Just extremely stupid from drinking," Lopmon said, earning a light bop on the head from his partner. "Hey, be a nice stuffed animal," Eric said with a grin. Soon, the pair rounded the corner, Kylie holding a book in one of her hands. "Here's something that may lead to the next mask." Gathering around, Kylie opened the book and pointed to a page. "Here. There's a story about an old Voodoo Priest who found a block of cursed wood. Carving it into a mask, he sought to wreak havoc on the surrounding settlements. But it was said that he lost the mask one day, and it was found under the possession of a family. The youngest son, seeking his fathers' approval, wore the mask. The mask turned him into a hideous demon. In shame, he fled to the swamps, never to be seen again." "This is starting to sound like a Legend of Zelda game," Eric said, folding his arms. "Think about it. We got the Mask of Courage in the Fields, now it' s the swamps." "It's just a coincidence, Eric." Lee said with a shake of his head. "It could mean anything." "Whatever." Eric said, sighing. "So what now? We comb the swamps? You do realize what's IN those swamps, right?" Lopmon asked, shuddering. "I don't wanna be a gator's lunch item." "There is a safe path through the swamp just outside the city. We can walk there since it's not far." Jade said. "Alright. Between all of us, whatever is out there won't stand a chance," Kylie proclaimed, pumping a fist into the air. "Lets do it!" <><><> "Lets do it.. Kylie, this sucks." Jade grumbled. "We're almost to the run down house," Kylie called out from the head of the pack. "I don't like this," Lee remarked. "It's too dark." "I'll hold your hand," Jade remarked with a sly grin. Lee blushed as she latched her hand around his. He then blinked. "Hey, Jade? What are you doing? Did you touch my back?" Jade seemed to blink in the relative darkness as she looked at him. "Huh? When did I do that.?" "Did someone grab my butt?" Eric looked around, searching for the culprit. "Okay, this is getting weird." Kylie yelped as a creeping sensation ran up her spine. "Something is IN here!" A tremendous roar was heard, and then the crashing through foliage became quite apparent. Suddenly, trees crashed down around them as a huge black pig like monster crashed into view. The digimon were the first to react as Hagurumon shouted, amidst a pillar of red light, "Hagurumon evolve!" She expanded outwards as she changed shape into a meter tall silver star. "Starmon!" "Penguinmon evolve!" Light flared around Penguinmon as his skin tore off. He then grew three stories tall, black feathers appearing on his body. The energy exploded outwards as he spread his wings. "Saberdramon!" "LopmonOOF!" A punch from the monster knocked the digimon back into Eric's arms. "Ooow, he really punches hard." "Sharmamon evolve!" With the typical tearing of flesh from his grid, Sharmamon grew more squat and robust as he held out his weapon, which reshaped into a ninja star. "Ninjamon! Iga Style Shurinken Throw!" "Palmon Evolve!" Pink light flared around the digimon as she grew a story tall, becoming avian in form. "Aquilamon! Blast Laser!" Rings of red light showered the creature as it roared, swinging at the bird digimon. "Eat this! Meteor Squall!" Light started to rain down on the creature, exploding around him. "Mach Shadow!" Saberdramon sped by him, leaving a black fire trail. "It's not slowing down!" Lopmon shouted. "Blazing Ice!" "Die Pests!" The creature bellowed, delivering a tremendous slash to Ninjamon and Starmon. The pair fell to the ground, devolving to their rookie forms. "Alright buddy, time for round two! LopmonACK!" With a tremendous backhand, Lopmon was knocked into Eric's arms again. "This is getting redundant," the bunny digimon said, eyes swirling. "Down to us," Carter remarked. "Damnit, and I left my digimental back home!" "Can't you just evolve him to perfection?" Jade asked. "Can't!" Carter shouted back. "Not enough power!" "Aquilamon! Get out of the way!" Kylie shrieked as her digimon was slashed across the chest. "Pests," the creature growled, grabbing Kylie in his hand. "You Will DIE!" The girl screamed as her ribs creaked under the tremendous pressure. Carter looked around wildly as he tore a length of vine from the surrounding area. He snapped it at the creature's head. "Hey!" he shouted. "Come get me, ugly! C'mon! You chicken?" The creature snarled angrily as he smirked. "First I Crush You, And I Will Rip This Mortal Apart!" He grinned lecherously. "In More Ways Than One!" With a heavy thud, Kylie was dropped as Carter was swept up. "Feel Your Despair Welling Up Inside You," the creature growled as he squeezed slowly, letting the green haired teen feel every bone creak in his body. Carter writhed in agony as he grit his teeth. "Kylie.. Run.." He gasped out. "Feel It," The creature urged, taking Carter's head between his fingers and began to apply slow agonizing pressure. "You Cannot Escape It. It Is There. Cry Out. Cry Out Mortal, And SCREAM!" Carter released a tortured scream. "CARTER!" Kylie shrieked. Suddenly, light spilled from the cracks of the creature's fist as similar colored light spilled from Kylie's belt. The creature dropped it in horror. "Impossible! You have no hope left!" Two simultaneous beeps were heard as Saberdramon and Aquilamon glowed gold and pink. "Saberdramon!" "Aquilamon!" "Jogress evolve!" With a blinding light, the pair merged into a several story tall humanoid bird with tribal markings and great red wings. "Garudamon!" "Die Hope!" The creature bellowed, charging at the newly jogressed creature. Garudamon flew up into the air, out of range as it glared down. "Big mistake, attacking them. Shadow Wing!" With a scream, the creature was consumed within the flames as it exploded into digital information, a mask clattering to the ground. "Are you alright?" Kylie asked, helping Carter up to his feet. "Nothing a few days worth of rest won't cure," Carter replied with a wince. "Ow, I think my ribs are bruised." Eric picked up the mask, which then glowed a brilliant green light. As the light died down quickly, a simple green mask was left in his hands with a faint outline of a meteor shaped symbol. "Hope," Eric said, tracing the symbol on the mask. "This is the Mask of Hope." <><><> "I'll be fine.." Carter winced. "Although I have to figure out the breathing part." Kylie's mother simply shook her head as she turned to Kylie who was sporting similar bandages, the white strips showing, as she wore a bikini top to allow her mother to bandage her ribs. "Feel any better?" she asked. "I feel like hell. But thanks for asking." Carter said with a smile. "Well, all our digimon are rested up for the trip home, and we've transferred the gate code to the others digivices," Lee said, walking into the bedroom where the computer lay, ready for transfer. "We should be getting home. It'll be getting late soon." "You guys go on ahead," Carter said, waving them off. "I'll follow in a while." Eric looked at the pair as he grinned, pulling Lee and their digimon with them. In a flash of light, they were gone. <><><> Authors notes : If people are thinking I'm plagerizing with all this stuff in the fanfic, I'm NOT. I'm imitating. Jade herself, is NOT, I repeat, NOT the real Jade from Kids WB.