Izzy rushed downstairs, pulling his shirt on as he went, leaving his
shoes behind. As he burst into the kitchen, a delicious aroma met his
nostrils, but he was too upset to notice. "Where is he?!" he panted,
looking all around. "What have you done with him?!"

  The others looked up in surprise. "Good grief, Izzy, you look like you
just lost your last friend," Sora said, from where she sitting on
Kamui's lap.

  "I believe I did, actually!" Izzy said. He leaned down and peered
under the table, wild with panic. "Tentomon! Reveal yourself!! Tentomon!
Where are you?!" He felt close to tears.

  "Tentomon is gone?" Matt asked cooly. "That's odd."

  "'Odd' barely brushes the surface!" Izzy straightened up, regaining
his focus for a moment. His eyes widened in horror. "What a moment - ALL
the Digimon are gone. Every last one. Where are they? What's going on
here?"

  "Digimon?!" Tai asked in confusion, wrapping his arm around Marcy's
shoulder. "Oh, yeah! Those silly-looking monstsers who tag along after
us and get in the way!" He laughed and set his goggles at a jaunty
angle. "Wow, Izzy, chill out already! We won't need them in Rosemon's
castle. Do you see any enemies here?" He spread his arms wide.

  Izzy stared at the seven strangers - Jennifer, Marcy, Nene, Kamui,
Derik, Clark, and Koteri - and he narrowed his eyes. "Yes, I DO see
enemies! I see seven of them, right here with you! And if that Rosemon
lady was here I'd see eight of them!"

   Jennifer giggled. "Joe, your friend has a strange sense of humor!"

  "Yeah, you're way over-reacting, dude," Matt said scornfully. "Relax.
You're probably just jealous because you don't have a girlfriend yet."

   "We're going to stay here forever!" Mimi added. "So get used to it!
You may enjoy sweating and fighting more than living in a fancy castle,
but luckily the rest of us are slightly smarter." She smiled at Derik.
"I can't wait! Disco dances every night, perfumed baths, warm beds, plus
all this scrumptious food!"

  "And wait till you see the pool!" Koteri said to T.K.

  "A pool? That's wonderful! Too bad I left my swimming suit at home,"
Kari said.

   Izzy pulled at his hair in frustration. Why were they ignoring him?!
Usually his friends listened to his theories. "You've all been
brainwashed! It's exactly the way I said - falling in love makes humans
go crazy and forget everything they learned. They become completely
impractical! And Rosemon must know that, too - that's why she uses these
good-looking kids as her weapons instead of guns or cannons."

  Everyone looked very bewildered. "What are you talking about, Izzy?"
T.K. asked. "Guns? Cannons?"

  "I'm trying to say that Rosemon is defeating you and you don't even
know it!" Izzy yelled. "See how absent-minded you've become? You don't
notice ANYTHING anymore, except your new boyfriends and girlfriends!! A
bomb could go off and you wouldn't even blink!! Don't you think this
whole situation is strange? Think about it for a moment."

  Tai shook his head. "Everything seems just fine to me."

  Izzy tried to explain. "Isn't it weird that Clark knew Kari was
allergic to coconuts before she said a single word to him?! And that
Koteri knew T.K.'s name before he'd introduced himself to her?! And what
about all the Digimon disappearing?! Tentomon left overnight and Gatomon
disappeared in less than a second. We're powerless without our Digimon!
If we don't leave soon, Rosemon will have us entirely DEFEATED!"

   All the strangers were beginning to look very uneasy. Kamui tugged at
Sora's sleeve, trying to distract her. "Did you like the hibiscus I
showed you last night?"

  "Don't change the subject!" Izzy exploded. "It won't work, I tell you!
Whatever you're trying to do, it won't work! I'll see to that myself!"
He took a step forwards. "Let our Digimon go, or I'll-"

  All of a sudden the kitchen floor shook slightly. Izzy stopped talking
and stared down. Before he could move an inch, the tiles beneath his
feet flipped over, leaving a gaping hole underneath him. Izzy screamed
and tried to grab onto the edge of the tiles, but it was too unexpected.
He fell into the fathomless hole, his yells growing fainter and fainter.
After several minutes, the tiles flipped back into place.

  "What was that?" Tai asked, blinking his eyes. "I thought I heard
something."

  "You didn't," Marcy assured him, rubbing her cheek against his own.
"Nothing at all is wrong."

  "Yeah," Tai agreed happily. "Yeah, I know that. I was just being
silly." He laughed, and everyone else echoed his laugh, feeling
unusually happy.

  Except Matt. He was staring at the floor, looking confused. Over his
chest, hidden by his shirt, his Crest of Friendship was beginning to
glow softly. Nene shook his shoulder, trying to get his attention.
"Matt! Matt! Tell me again about that time you fought Demidevimon!"

  Matt ignored her, looking impatient. "Wait a moment, Nene! Something
is wrong - something just doesn't seem right -" He looked around the
table. "Somebody is missing."

  The other Digidestined looked at him. A light of understanding began
dawning in their eyes. "Hey, you're right!" Tai said slowly. "In fact,
lots of people are missing . . . but I can't remember who they are!"

  "Gato - Gato - GATOMON!" Kari exclaimed suddenly, sitting straight up.
"She's not back from the gardens yet!" She grabbed her Crest of Light.
"Gatomon! Where are you?! Agumon? Biyomon? You've all disappeared!"

  Clark grabbed her and stared her in the face. "Kari, there IS no
Gatomon! What are you talking about? Everything is fine!" He gave her a
charming smile, and for a moment Kari was comforted. Then her older
brother jumped to his feet, knocking Marcy to one side.

  "Kari's right!" Tai yelled. "We've all been fooled! Our Digimon have
been taken away, one by one! We're defenseless! And -" he looked around.
"Where's Izzy? He was here a moment ago!" He turned to Marcy, furious.
"What the heck are you doing?!"

  Marcy tried to look innocent. "N-nothing! You're just imagining
things, darling! Now finish your orange juice."

  Tai slammed his fist on the table. "Forget the orange juice, I want my
friends back, safe and sound! We've been at this castle too long. And
DON'T CALL ME DARLING!"

  Jennifer, Marcy, Nene, Kamui, Clark, Derik and Koteri all looked
around nervously. The Digidestined were on their feet, looking normal
again - as well as dangerous. No longer dreamy and dazed, their hands
were doubled into fists, and there were hard expressions in their eyes.

  Jennifer made one last attempt. "Joe! Tell your friends to stop this,
right away! We were so happy when we were alone. Why should they spoil
our romance?"

  "There isn't any romance!" Joe snapped. "Not when you've taken
Gomamon! Where is he? Hand him over, now!"

  Derik stood up and pushed down his sleeves. His expression was cruel
and purposeful. "I hate to do this, Mimi. I honestly do. But if you
seven losers aren't going to settle down, I guess there's nothing we can
do but fight!"

  Sora gasped as the room lit up with a brilliant light. Eight small
colored globes shot through the air, leaving a trail of sparks behind
them. They hovered over the table for a split second, making a low
hissing sound - then Jennifer lifted her arms high.

  "Skaramon!" she called.

  "Frodomon!" called Marcy.

  "Unonnomon!" called Nene.

  "Kapimon!" called Kamui.

  "Vilsemon!" called Derik.

  "Zabamon!" called Clark.

  "Freedmon!" called Koteri.

  "ROSEMON!" they called in unison.

  Each of the globes exploded, revealing seven small Digimon and finally
Rosemon. Instead of the wreaths of roses, she was now standing with a
sword in her hand. This time she didn't look pretty at all. Her eyes
were narrowed cruelly, and when she grinned, they could see sharp teeth
underneath her pretty lips. She tilted the sword so that it rested
dangerously near T.K.'s head. Matt took a step forwards.

  "You keep back!" cackled Skaramon, a demon-like Digimon with a pointed
horns. "Unless you want to taste my Fiery Pitchfork attack!"

  "Without your Digimon to protect you, you're nothing," added Frodomon,
a blue bird with a brilliant yellow tuft of hair over one eye. "We can
easily defeat you! Let me demonstrate - WRITHING FEATHERS!" A stream of
metal feathers shot from under his wing, heading straight for Mimi. She
screamed as one of them lodged in her hat. Behind her, the couch was
ripped into ribbons.

  "This is ridiculous!" Tai said, looking pale but angry. "We didn't do
anything to you! Just let us go, and we'll never come back!"

  Rosemon laughed unpleasantly. "Ah, if only it were that easy! Don't
you see, foolish Digidestined child?! I lured you here on purpose, and
created these illusions to make you lose touch with reality."

  "Illusions?!?" Matt cried.

  "Did you think they were real people?" Unonnomon chuckled. She was a
fish-like creature, with rings through each fin. "Watch this! CRIMSON
DELUGE!" A rush of red water poured towards the seven children, washing
up against the ceiling and covering them completely. When the level
subsided, the children were gone. Only Koteri's apron lay on the ground.

  "Derik!" Mimi shrieked.

  "Don't worry, he was only an illusion," Kapimon drawled, twisting her
long serpent's body over the table. "He never really existed." She
twitched her tail at Kari, who shuddered and came closer to Tai.

  "You're evil Digimon, aren't you?" Joe said, who was still a little
dazed by the disappearance of Jennifer.

  "How insightful! And it only took you two days to figure it out,"
Rosemon said scornfully. Her voice was icy with contempt. "I've never
met such stupid children before. It serves you right to be in this
predicament."

  "Why are you doing this?!" Tai yelled. "We're trying to save your
world! Aren't you grateful?!"

  "How dare you!" said Vilsemon. He looked like a little elf, with long
ears and squinting blue eyes. "We don't need you to save our world! In
fact you're just putting the rest of us to shame! Digimon have lived
here for years and years - don't you think we can save our own world
without the help of humans?"

   "So that's it!" Sora said. "You're angry at us because you think that
Digimon should save their own world, instead of letting strangers do it
for them!"

  "Couldn't have put it better myself," said the small, feline Digimon
called Zabamon. "Let us fight our own battles! You can just go back
where you came from!"

  "We'll make a deal," Rosemon bargained. "If you promise to leave and
never come back to the Digital world again, we'll give you your Digimon
and let you go in peace. But if you stay, we'll have to kill you all,
you know. It's your choice - go the easy way, or go the hard way."

  "We can't leave!" Tai said staunchly. "We were given a mission, and
we're not backing out! I don't care if you think we're butting into
something that's not our business. We were brought here for a reason,
and we're not leaving, no matter what. Sorry!"

   "Is that your last word?" Freedmon, a small Digimon that looked like
a toy bear, asked. "I'm warning you, my Smothering Cloud attack isn't
very pleasant!"

  "It would be an unfair fight!" Kari protested. "We don't have our
Digimon to help us!"

  Rosemon laughed along with her henchmon. "I think that's the whole
point, deary," she taunted. "Why do you think I needed the illusions to
distract you? Your friend Izzy was right - there's nothing that dulls
the senses more than falling in love!"

   "Well we're not going back, so kill us if you want!" Tai said with
much more bravery than he felt. To Kari he said softly, "Don't worry, I
won't let them touch you. Wait for a chance to escape and then run!
Someone has to live to save the Digiworld."

   "But I don't want to lose you," Kari said, her eyes filling with
tears.

  "Don't worry, I'm a big kid! I can take care of myself!" Tai forced
himself to smile encouragingly, even though at the moment he wouldn't
have minded crying himself. Kari smiled back with trembling lips.

  "Isn't that sweet," Unonnomon sneered. "I won't mind putting a stop to
such disgusting corniness!"

   "Don't listen, T.K.," Matt said bravely. "We've faced worse
challenges."

  "Yeah, but never without our Digimon!" T.K. said tearfully.

  "We'll manage!" Matt insisted. "Just trust me and don't give up hope!"

  T.K. reached for his Crest. "Yeah - my Crest IS the Crest of Hope,
isn't it? If only Patamon was here . . . "

   "All right, that's enough of that!" snapped Zabamon. She raised her
clawed hands over her head and prepared to strike. "LETHAL PERFUME!"

  Instantly, a stream of poisionous gas shot from her claws, headed
straight for Joe . . . .

   "JOE, LOOK OUT!" Sora shrieked.

   But it was too late. Joe was trapped in a corner. There was no
escape. While the rest watch in horror, the stream caught him in the
stomach, knocking him flat to his back and sending his medical bag
flying across the room.

  As the vile fumes filled his nostrils, Joe began to feel dizzy. He
wouldn't be able to survive much longer - someone had to do something
quickly!! It was too late . . .  his eyelids flickered shut and his
mouth went slack.

   "JOE!!" Sora screamed, but her voice came from far away . . .

   Joe lay on the floor, unconcious and helpless. At the same time
Skaramon raised his pitchfork for an attack. "FIERY PITCHFORK!" A long
line of metal feathers glinted through the air, headed straight for Joe
. . .

                                       TO BE CONTINUED!