Lights flared at different points of the rotating globe before him. Wind whipped through his hair as he found a brightly shining point near the Californian coast. Then suddenly, it ceased to exist. Sean found himself walking down a long hallway. Dark, lit with nothing but green burning torches. 'I know this place,' he thought to himself as he proceeded down the hallway. He came to a couple of large doors, Egyptian hieroglyphs etched on the door. Reaching out, he pushed the door open. And behind the door was.. ------------------- The phone jostled Sean out of his nap. Fumbling for the phone, he rattled the phone in its cradle for a moment as he picked it up. "Hello?" "Hi, Sean." "Carter." Sean sat upright, rubbing his eyes free of sleep. "What now?" "Just wondering if you've done your valentines shopping for Hikaru yet. I have yet to get some things for Kylie and I was wondering." Sean sighed. "You really cut things close, don't you?" A sheepish chuckle was heard over the phone. "Well, yeah. I was kind of busy. Got an email from Koushiro. Did you hear about the London Group?" "Yeah. I did." Sean sighed. "That was rough." "It's been two months and it hasn't been the same since in London." Carter sighed. "Anything new on the dream front?" "Yeah. I got a new location. Have everyone meet me in the park, and bring your laptop." "Gotcha. Bye." "See ya." ------------------- Digital Diaries : Adventures 2003 Written by Shaun Garin Toei owns Digimon. And since they don't want 01 and 02 anymore, I'm keeping em. Ellen Brand owns the villains. So if you want to use them, ask her. Kids WB owns the Yu-gi-oh TCG. I'm just using it for pure episode fodder. ------------------ File 22 : Crystal Clear Shadow Eric leaned on the tree, breathing deeply, his breath making puffs of vapor in the air. It had been a short run from his home, but it had tired him out. Lopmon sat to the side, watching him. "You should tell them," Lopmon said. "I can't. Not yet." Eric slid down to the roots of the tree as he inhaled deeply, and let the breath simmer in his lungs for a moment before letting it out, his breath creating vapor clouds. "They'll find out eventually," Lopmon added, huddled in a small sweater. "Find out what?" The pair jerked to see Jullie standing beside them, dressed in a winter parka amidst the snow. "Um. nothing really," Eric said, standing up, brushing snow from his jeans. "If you say so," Jullie said uncertainly. The sound of boots on snow was heard, as Raine and Labramon trudged up the hill. "Are we the only ones here at the moment?" Raine asked curiously. "Seems like it. Lee said he'd be here in a little while." Eric pulled out his deck of Duel Monsters and held up the deck of cards within his hand. "Look what I have. Just came in today for release next week, so I got first dibs on it." "You are so cheap," Labramon said after a moment of scrutinizing the cards. "Remodeling a Yugi Structure Deck around Sealed Exodia." "I am NOT!" Eric protested. "Look, my deck is carefully crafted. I may not have the Blue Eyes White Dragon like some people." he glared at Raine who only smiled mischievously, "who will remain nameless, but I do have quite a few good monsters in this deck. Besides, if I LOOSE Sealed Exodia, I'll just play my other monsters." "You OWN a card store, Eric. How come you don't have Blue Eyes in your deck? For that matter, Red Eyes Black Dragon, Time Wizard, Baby Dragon, or any of the other featured cards from the TV show in your deck?" Labramon asked incredulously. "Because, his mom and dad don't want him taking cards from the store. Besides, he's already got an edge. He's remodeled a Jounouchi Theme Deck last night, adding in a couple of Black Magicians and Black Magician Girls, PLUS three Sealing Swords of Light, two Thunder Bolt and Black Hole. And lets not forget his Trap Cards." Lopmon grinned as the others sweat dropped. "My god, he's unstoppable," Lee said, shaking his head, having heard the tail end of the conversation. "Speaking of the game while the others aren't here, did my order come in?" Eric nodded as he pulled out a box of cards. "Here you go. Pay me, and I'll give it to my parents." The girls looked at it as the box was handed to Lee who popped the cardboard top open. "A whole box of Yu-gi-oh Duel Monsters Boosters?" Raine asked. "How much money did you spend for this?" "Considering that Eric gave me a discount by ordering it through him, only a hundred dollars," Lee said, holding out the money to Eric who pocketed it with glee. "It's cold," Raine said, shivering. "Where are the others?" "Not sure. Lets go over there, where the public fire pit is." Eric said, gesturing towards the roofed area. ------------------- "Lets see. Time Wizard, Dragon Knight Gaia." Lee raised an eyebrow at that card. "Wow, a Secret Rare card. That's nice. And Tiger Axe." "Cyber Commando, Blue Ninja, Metal Dragon, Silver Bow, Jar of Greed, Dragon Orb, Electric Whip, Scavenger Ghoul, Full Moon, Harpy Lady Triplets, Demon Summon, Ten Thousand Reflections, Saint Magician, Breath of God, Ancient Elf, Shrouded Magician : Tao, Black Demon's Dragon, Change of Heart, Red Eyes Black Dragon, Magic Lamp, Fake Trap, Release of the Soul, Thousand Dragon, Magic Jammer, Flame Keroberos.." Raine sighed. "What a box. And this is about half of the contents." Lee shrugged. "I suppose it's worth it." "I was under the impression that half of these cards weren't available yet," Labramon said as she shuffled a couple of cards under her paws. "They aren't, normally, but my parents are allowed to do pre-releases and got Lee this box two weeks before anyone else would get it. He could make some really good decks with these." Eric said with a smile. "Sorry we're late, traffic was murHOLY COW!" Hikaru exclaimed as the others dusted off their coats. "How many cards do you have there?" "Enough to build a huge army of Duel Monsters," Sharmamon said as he finished building a deck. "I pity the poor fool who tries to Duel us!" Carter chuckled as he booted up his laptop. "Alright people. Lets get a move on. I'll stay behind to keep an eye on people. I suppose all your Duelists will want to go?" "Hell yeah," Lopmon said with a grin. "I have a few Digi-destined to lay a Dueling Smackdown on." Eric chuckled. "He got into an argument with Kyle of the California Group about who was a better Duelist." "Dueling aside people, we do have a Mask to gather," Sean said as the group finished their preparations. "We'll hold the fort down," Jullie said with a smile. "See you everyone!" "Thanks," Lee said. "Digi-port open!" -------------------- "California. and we should have left our winter coats back home," Hikaru said, shedding her coat. She still wore her Selphie type of cowgirl dress and boots underneath it. A boy then came up to them, the small group having ported into a computer room from the Californian part of the digital world. He had brown hair in a buzz cut and brown eyes. "So, you guys must be the Edmonton group," he said, sticking out his hand. "Hi. Kyle Evanick." "I'm Eric Stewart, and these are my friends, Lee Chin, Raine Hart and Hikaru Ninomiya. And our digimon, Renamon, Sharmamon, Labramon and my partner, Lopmon." The group either waved and such as Lopmon stood up on Eric's shoulder, pointed one hand and said, "Evanick, I challenge you to a Duel!" Kyle blinked. ------------------- Raine sat beside Be Ann and the rest of the Californian Digi-destined. The first was a chinese girl named Be Ann who had a Hagurumon. The second was a younger boy with black hair and brown eyes named Trevor. He had arrived fairly unannounced. His partner was a Goblimon, a fact that made Eric's heart sink after finding out about the disaster this christmas over in London. The third member of the team was a girl named Lesley, sporting black hair and green eyes. Her hyperactiveness reminded the Canadian team of Miyako or Daisuke. She seemed to be a leader of a second generation of Californian Chosen with her stance and posturing. Her partner was a Wormmon. A younger girl, around age 10 or so, stood to the side with a V-mon. Her name was Katie. The last member of the team was a much younger boy named Jesse. His partner was a squat Mushroomon with a similar wide eyed expression. "This ought to be quite the Duel," Hikaru remarked, fingering her own deck inside her dress. Lopmon grinned as Lee finished shuffling his deck, as his hands were too small to do so properly. "Good game." He extended his paw. "Good game," Kyle said, extending his hand, almost lazily, shaking. "Too bad I'll win." "We'll see about that," Lopmon said. "He's doomed," Eric remarked. As per Duelist etiquette, the pair shook, withdrew and then shouted, "DUEL!" Lopmon drew his hand as Kyle did the same. The pair stared each other down. "My move." Lopmon drew a card and laid it down. "I will start with the Royal Hall Guardian with an attack of 1650!" Most people blinked, as with Kyle. Recomposing himself, he fished out another card. "I will play my card as well! I summon the Man-eating Bug with an attack of 450!" "Lopmon's got this in the bag," Joe said, standing beside Kyle. "Better think of something fast." Kyle bit his lip. "I also play this Magic Card! The Fire Arc! Which brings your life points down 200!" Lopmon smirked. "Nice try. But I know that when I attack, it will destroy my Royal Hall Guardian instantly. Instead, I do this. I will play this Field card, Toon World." "What good can that card do for you?" Kyle asked. Inwardly, he cursed. He had never seen that card before. "Nothing. I attack with my Royal Hall Guardian!" Lopmon tossed his card. "And he goes to the Graveyard." "That was stupid," Be Ann said, brushing away a lock of black hair. "Lopmon' s Life Points are down by 1200." "Trust me, if he played that Field Card, he's going for the kill." Eric said, having felt this attack before. "Kyle's doomed." Kyle smirked. "This is for you, bunny boy. My best card! The Blue Eyes White Dragon! With an attack of 3000!" Lopmon's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You asked for it. I play my own card. The Blue Eyes Toon Dragon with a similar power of 3000! And with the Field Power bonus of 500 jacking it up to 3500, it makes your own Blue Eyes White Dragon extinct!" Lopmon smirked at the shocked boy, his jaw scraping the ground. "Care to play again?" "I see what you mean," Be Ann said, shaking her head. --------------------- "You have GOT to trade me some of these cards!" Kyle exclaimed over the table. "I don't have even half of these monsters! Hell, I didn't know they existed at all!" "While the anime is a good reference, the trading card game is actually quite more difficult to master," Raine said, stabbing a shrimp with a fork. "There are so many more combinations you can use. I've noticed you have Blue Eyes White Dragon, right?" Kyle nodded as he swallowed a bite of seafood. "Yeah. I just included it into my deck." "That's the problem," Renamon said, snagging a salmon roll. "If you just throw cards into a deck, there's no way to support them if you loose your massively powerful monster. You loose it somehow, and everything else will die faster than Sharmamon going through sushi." Sharmamon looked up, pausing in mid sushi eating. "What? Someone call me?" "I get the point." Kyle sighed. "I just stuck the card in there. I didn't realize you had to build around it." "Look at it this way. The Blue Eyes White Dragon is VERY rare to get. I'm surprised you even have it." Eric swallowed. "I've sold people hundreds of packs and not once they got the Blue Eyes. Sure some others have Red Eyes, but that's hard to get as well. The reason why all of us have Exodia in our decks is that my parents own a card shop, and we can buy the Sealed Arms, Legs and Exodia pieces. You only get one piece of Exodia in each volume of cards." "And since all of us have cards not yet released, it kind of makes it slightly unfair," Raine said, picking at her Dim Sum. "You suck. So you mean to tell me that you have Exodia in your decks?" The Canadians nodded, Be Ann's eyes growing wide. "All of you?" "Including our support staff of Gina and Chibimon," Labramon said. "Hell, even Carter and Sean who don't play that often have Exodia in their decks. Actually Sean goes Black Magician but he's got it in the deck somewhere." "There's quite a good chance of someone in our group drawing Exodia at least once in a battle, and a bit less of drawing all five pieces," Lee said, stabbing at his food on the plate. "Chibimon said something about Fate, so we left it at that." "I feel so outclassed," Kyle remarked. A low beeping was then heard. As the Californians looked around, Eric fished out his tricorder. "Um, guys? We've got a problem. A high concentration of digital energy is located to the north, about one hundred meters." "That's the park," Kyle said. "And what do you mean, concentration of digital energy?" "A digital field," Hikaru clarified. "We should get going." "I can carry two." Renamon added as the pair of digimon backed up. "Alright. Lets get going. Labramon evolve!" Light entombed her as her skin seemed to peel off, revealing a grid. Her grid expanded outwards as she was covered in gold and ivory. The energy exploded outwards as she howled. "Shiisamon!" "Renamon evolve!" Renamon leaned backwards as her skin tore off as well in the maelstrom of energy. She then went onto all fours as her tail fanned out, golden fur appearing on her grid. A candy cane striped collar with a bell appeared as the energy exploded outwards. "Kyuubimon!" "Cool," Trevor allowed as he got onto Renamon's back. "Let's get a move on people!" Eric proclaimed as the pair of digimon tore off towards the park. ------------------- "I have a bad feeling about this." Lopmon held up a hand to forestall the coming retort from anyone who thought of the paticular reply. "And if you say 'Thank you Captian Solo' one more time, I'll smack you all." Sharmamon pouted, as with Katie. "Spoil sport." The thick mists swirled around them as Eric removed his goggles. Raine removed her sunglasses as well as Shiisamon trotted behind her into the mists. Kyle, Be Ann, Trevor and Lesley followed behind, Jesse holding back to keep Katie out of the line of fire. Lee was last, taking up the rear with Sharmamon. "Can you see anything?" he asked. Eric shook his head. "No, nothing." "I really have a bad feeling about this one," was Lopmon's opinion, shivering in the mists of the digital field. "It feels like death warmed over." "Boy, that sure is morbid," Sharmamon remarked. "Everyone, stay alert," Shiisamon warned. A chill wind suddenly blew through the field as a low growling sound was heard. Then, a low chuckle was heard. _So, the forces of light comes to play with me. Interesting._ The mists parted to show a dragon, completely made of darkness. Storm clouds and thunder began to pool above it, spinning in a most unpleasant manner. The creature seemed to smile meanacingly down on them. Eric looked at his tricorder and cursed. "What the hell? There's no data on this thing." _Well now. This is most pleasant. I will deal with you, Eric Stewart._ Eric jerked. "How do you know my name?" The dragon smiled. _I know._ "Well, we're going to stop you no matter what," Lizramon proclaimed as the digimon prepared for the fight. "Everyone, evolve!" Kyle shouted, giving the order. "Lizramon evolve!" Lizramon was surrounded by a pillar of light, the light fading to reveal a humanoid figure with dragon like motifs on his body. "Flameramon!" "Hagurumon evolve!" The small gear like digimon exploded into light. The light faded as electricity crackled around it's small body. "Thunderballmon!" "Goblimon! Digimental up!" Trevor shouted, holding out his D-3. "Goblimon Armor Evolve!" A red egg like shape encased him as it exploded outwards into harmless shards, revealing a human sized blue dragon in flame embossed armor. "Flamedramon! The Fire of Courage!" "Wormmon Evolve!" Wormmon shouted as a light grew around her, fading quickly to reveal a large mantis like green bug, towering two meters. "Snimon!" "Digimental up!" Jessie and Katie chorused. "Mushroomon Armor Evolve!" A sphere formed around Mushroomon as it shattered, revealing a two meter tall Gargoyle. "Gargoylemon!" "V-mon Armor Evolve!" The sphere became more squat as the being exploded outwards, forming into a meter tall and long red creature. "Setmon!" "Stay together," Eric cautioned, pulling his blade from the D-3. It glowed so brightly, that the shadows seemed to cringe at the shining blue blade. _Your power is diminished only by your fear,_ the shadows hissed. _Tell me, what do you fear?_ "I fear no one," Eric replied, holding the sword with both hands. "I fear no digimon." _But what if, I am NOT a Digimon?_ His voice was like liquid cold, shivers of fear forcing its way down the ones facing the monsterous form. _I am living evil, distilled nightmare. Nightmares that creep into your soul, the fires of dispair, pain, hurt, fear, doubt. Anger leads to sadness, sadness leads to fear, fear leads to hate, hate leads to suffering, suffering leads to darkness..._ "What are you?" Kyle whispered, positively spooked. _I am Nyghtmayr!_ The black shadow dragon bared wickedly long teeth that gleamed in the darkness, reflecting nothing but shadows. _As for your friends, they may play with the Minor Demons. Arise! Despayr! Dowyt! Hatryd! Bytyrness! Fyar! Arise!_ Several shapes then pulled themselves out of the ground, looking like smaller versions of the larger Nyghtmayr. Eric wasted no time. "Spread out and attack!" The digimon wasted no time, adding their powerful assults at the Minor Demons. Some fell, screeching, only to reform within a span of a heartbeat. The five Californian Digi-destined ripped into their foes, directing their digimon. Hikaru joined the youngest of the five as Raine and Lee prepared to help their friend who was hacking away with the glowing sword. _Prepare yourselves,_ Nyghtmayr said with a evil smile as a dome of black energy seperated Eric from his friends. _Let us try Despair._ Eric dropped to the ground, a million images spinning in his head like a jumbled kalidascope. People laughing at him, others crying for his help. People dying because he was too slow. His friends abandoning him. The myriad of images seemed to assult his mind as he dropped the sword, it's light going out like a lightbulb that was broken off from it's power. 'What is this? I. I feel. so alone. so hopeless.' 'God, no! No! I can't! Stop it! Get out of my head!' 'Raine. Raine, goddamn it, wake up! Don't die on me!' 'Jullie? Jullie? Jullie? NO! Get up! Please, don't leave me..' 'Lee? You won't leave? No, wait, where are you going? God no! Please, don't leave!' 'Lopmon! No! Where are you? Are you. dead? NOOOOO! LOPMON!' 'Please, don't leave me. I can't fight alone.' The creature grinned to itself as Eric curled up into a fetal position, screaming at his inner demons. _Such delightful fears. let us try anger._ ------------------- 'I hate you.' 'I hate you! Why can't I tell you that?' 'I HATE YOU! Damn it, you bastard! GO TO HELL!' 'Die! Die, die, DIE!' 'Why can't you die.?' 'You are supposed to be dead! I will make you pay for what you have done!' ----------------- Raine stood, watching in horror as Eric had stood up, swinging his sword at an unseen foe. He was blindly screaming in rage, the blade of his Sword gouging the turf, every so often creating dark sparks of energy as it struck the wall of shadow. "Let him go!" Raine demanded as they redoubled their attacks on the wall of shadow. _No._ was the simple reply. _Let us try Fear. Let us see your inner demons._ ---------------- 'What are you doing?' 'I don't understand.' 'What? No! Get away! Get away!' 'I trusted you! Get away!' 'No. please, make it stop, make it stop!' 'Please. don't do this to me.' 'It hurts! It HURTS!' ------------------- Lopmon looked on, his face a pale green as the feelings flooded his mind through their link. His face was streaked with tears as he sobbed. "My god," Lopmon whispered. His expression turned to rage. "This. this is.." A paw balled into a fist as he wanted to help his partner with all his might. "We've got to help him!" Raine exclaimed, having finished beating on the wall of energy. She leaned on Shiisamon as she sobbed. "Please, someone help him. He can't take much more of this." The demon smirked. _Let us try. Doubt._ ------------------- 'What if I'm not good enough?' 'What if my actions get someone killed?' 'What if my family gets attacked?' 'What if I'm too late?' 'What then?' ------------------- _Such delicious doubt for a mere child._ The demon seemed to lick its chops. _Let us see. There is one more emotion I wish to feast upon before absorbing him completely._ "Absorb?!" The group cried out in horror. Already, Eric's form was starting to flicker in and out. He moaned, curling up into a ball. "That's it! We take him out now!" Lee cried. "Sharmamon!" "Sharmamon evolve!" Sharmamon's skin tore off as he shrunk down into a smaller squat digimon. He was then covered in red and tan as his club reformed into a ninja star. "Ninjamon!" "Take it up a notch!" Raine ordered, whirling to her digimon. Golden light with tinges of emerald spilled out from her Talisman of Mind, the light filling her D-3. "Shiisamon super evolve!" Shiisamon was swallowed into the darkness as creaky gates exploded off their hinges, revealing the huge three headed dog. "Cerberumon!" "Hell Fire!" Cerberumon howled, the sky around them becoming a starry void. Then, a huge ball of fire crashed down amidst the shadow demon who howled and hissed angrily in pain. _Foolish mortals!_ it snarled. "Foolish THIS! Iga Style Shurinken Throw!" The ninja stars bit into the demon as it stumbled backwards. "I want my friend back! Blazing Ice!" The creature grunted as the ball of freezing flame impacted on its head. _DAMN MORTALS!_ A wave of blackness flashed out, knocking the attackers back wards. _I AM NYGHTMAYR! THE ESSENCE OF ALL DARK EMOTIONS! I AM PURE DISTILED NIGHTMARE! YOUR ATTEMPTS ARE FUTILE!_ "But nightmares end," Lopmon said, getting up from where he had fallen. "When the sun comes out." Lopmon took one step forward, then another. And with a hiss of some sort of energy, he passed through the dome of energy. Nyghtmayr stared. _IMPOSSIBLE!_ he roared. _NO ONE CAN GO THROUGH THE WALL!_ "You are not going to harm him anymore," Raine said, passing through the wall, followed by Cerberumon who glared at him. "Because we are going to stop you," Lee announced, following her. _More sacrifices then._ --------------------- "Eric? It's Raine." Eric looked up through teary eyes. "Raine? No, you're dead. I failed you." "No," Raine said gently, kneeling beside him, wrapping him in her arms. She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I was never dead. You never failed us." Eric sobbed into her arm. "But. but I saw you all die. and then he came and." Lee knelt down, touched his shoulder and then joined the hug, hugging him from behind, leaning his head on his shoulder. "Hey, Eric, remember the time when we all went out for Ice Cream and we got attacked by that swarm of Numemon?" Eric chuckled, grasping a hand in his own. "Yeah, I remember. We all got covered in crap that day." "It took us weeks to smell normally," Raine said, giggling. Eric chuckled. "Yeah, I remember. Mom said she would have to burn all my clothing." "Eric, we'll do anything for you. Just ask." Raine said, holding him tightly. Her voice changed slightly. "And I'll do anything for you as well, Stewart. I've grown attatched to you and I'm not going to let you get away. Understand?" Eric nodded through teary eyes. "I understand, Raine, Yami." Lee ran a hand through Eric's hair. "Eric, we love you," he said seriously. Eric gave him a funny stare as Lee chuckled. "Not like that, you pervert." "What he's trying to say is, we all love you." Lopmon joined the hug, bringing it to four. "I love you, Eric. I'll do anything for you. Just ask." "We all love you," Ninjamon said, scuffing the ground with a toe. He smiled as he sat down next to Eric. "Hell, all of us would give our lives for each other." "What we're all trying to say is, we are there for you. Always." Cerberumon smiled gently. "All of us are behind you. We'll never leave." "Guys, I.." Eric smiled as he nodded, closing his eyes. "Together. We are strong." The young boy stood up, grasping his sword in hand. One hand fell atop the other as the three stood in the howling malstrom of darkness. The glow of the blade turned blue, then green, then red as the light mixed together into a prismatic glow that flared, beating the darkness back. Nyghtmayr howled in pain. _DAMN YOU!_ He howled. _I WILL CRUSH YOU WHERE YOU STAND!_ And with that, his jaws opened up as it came to bite them in half. Time slowed once again, as the heartbeats of three people resonated as one, the pulsing of a fourth echoing in the background. Eric opened his eyes, smirked as he swung the sword in a circular arc. "This one is for humanity." His expression turned into a grin as he held up the sword. "Time to fry, Nyghtmayr! HAH!" The sword made of brilliance cleaved the darkness in two in a massive beam of pure light, taking the Minor Demons with their master. And in the silence echoing in the aftermath, Kyle's proclimation of "That was it?!" was heard. And the mask of Light fell to the ground. ------------------ "Thanks for coming." Eric's parents kept a nervous eye on the digimon, who sat in the living room. They were currently arguing over which type of chips were better; Cheddar and Sour Cream or Ketchup. Everyone, save for the digimon, were watching him. "I called you here for an announcement." "About these. degimon?" Eric's father asked. "That's DIGIMON," Eric corrected. "And yes, this is a part of it. Almost a year ago, we fought a digimon called Ice Devimon. He proceeded to freeze the whole city. I. was fatally wounded in that attack, and somehow, survived. But the gist of it is, that I'm dying, mom, dad. And I have only three months left." Sean took up the slack as everyone gaped at Eric's announcement. "I had diagnosed him with some sort of life force leak. There's no way to plug it, and from what Benjamin said, it would take a tremendous amount of energy to patch it up." "You're DYING, and you didn't TELL US?!" Raine exclaimed, horrified. "I'm so sorry, everyone." Eric said, sitting down heavily. "I didn't mean to worry you. But after my brush with death, I figured I should tell you." His eyes traveled to the Mask of Light, it's vaguely Incan shape and design reminding him of the previous adventure, just a few hours before. "Oh my poor baby boy," Mrs. Stewart sobbed, enfolding him in a hug. "Mom, I'll be fine. I've already made my peace." Eric sighed. "I just wish.." "We all do," Carter said, closing his eyes. "We should go. This is a family affair, after all. C'mon, Penguinmon." One by one, they filed out, leaving the Stewart family alone. ------------------- Authors notes : Yeah, it's rather sad. I just finished reading something Archive sent me, and got me into the mood to write this episode. Ellen Brand was a great help in this episode, lending me the enemies. True, it was dealt much like her story, the Dark Mirror Trilogy, but I hope it was good enough for you all. If you wish to read her fanfiction, it is on Fanfiction.net where this story is being posted.