It was getting late in Odaiba.
After a long game of soccer, middle-aged Taichi Kamiya and his son TJ
(Tai Junior) and his good friend Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi and his
daughter Svetlana were walking back towards their respective
apartments.
Tai used to be a courageous, kind person who would do anything for
just about anyone, but an incident that occurred around one
particular Christmas season many years ago had made him age
prematurely. He was only about 36, but he looked like he was 50. His
chocolate-brown hair was beginning to go gray, and he had grown quiet
and bitter over the years. He was only nice to his friends and, of
course, his son.
TJ was an interesting case. Tai had made a deposit at the local sperm
back about ten years ago, and the deposit had been used by an
apathetic woman. Just before delivery, she decided that she didn't
want the baby anymore, so the hospital allowed Tai to take custody of
the boy.
Aside from that, TJ was just like his father had been at the age of
10. Headstrong, fearless... He was the spitting image of his
father.
Izzy, in comparison to Tai, still looked very youthful for a man of
34. His eyes glittered with intelligence. He was truly a computer
genius. He'd married a well-off Russian programmer named Iljana
Vukavitch and they were pretty happy.
Svetlana was TJ's best friend. She was cool-headed, caring, and she
always wore a baseball cap. She spoke with a slight Russian accent,
but otherwise she was a normal kid for the area where they lived.
"Nice soccer match tonight, eh TJ?" Tai asked his son.
"Yeah, Svetlana's real good with the ball," TJ said.
"Thanks, TJ!" Svetlana said, chuckling a bit.
"Well, this is where we part ways," Izzy said as the group came to
the Izumi apartment. "See you guys tomorrow."
"Bye, Svetlana," TJ said.
"Dosvedonya, TJ," Svetlana answered.
As Tai and TJ turned around to head for their apartment, the sun set.
Night blanketed the district.
"I like Svetlana. She's nice," TJ said suddenly.
"Having a girl as a best friend is always nice," Tai muttered. "Of
course, when you get older and start developing feelings and she
doesn't return 'em and then stabs you in the back by marryin' your
worst rival, things can get very... ugly."
"...Dad?" TJ asked.
"...Sorry, TJ. I didn't mean to scare you," Tai said. "I was just
thinking about my own childhood."
Just before the duo reached their little apartment, they both heard a
sickening THUD come from behind them.
"What was that?!" TJ asked, whirling around. Tai turned around too,
and they both saw a pair of feet being dragged into a back alley.
"TJ, get in the house," Tai said. "Tell Agumon to call the
police."
"OK, dad," TJ said, sprinting up the fire escape and running into the
house.
Tai pulled out something he'd hoped he'd never have to use... a gun.
He was a Digidestined. Usually, when he wanted to attack something,
he'd make Agumon Digivolve. But Agumon wasn't here, so the weapon
would have to do.
Tai carefully walked into the alley. He spotted someone lying on the
ground. "Hey, are you OK?" he called. There wasn't an answer.
Tai went over and looked at the thing. It was a human, and it was
dead. No doubt about it. It looked like a dried husk of a man with
what could have been blond hair. "Uuuuggghhh!!!" Tai wretched in
disgust. Then he reached into the dead man's pocket and pulled out a
wallet. He opened it and looked at the driver's lisence. He couldn't
believe his eyes.
"M-Matt Ishida?!" he gasped. "Oh, geez..."
Tai had loathed Yamato "Matt" Ishida ever since Sora Takenouchi
decided to give her heart to him instead of to Tai. Tai loved Sora
more than anything, but he never got a chance to tell her. Tai had
hated Matt almost so much as to want this to happen, but...
A loud clattering interrupted Tai's thoughts. He looked up to see a
dark figure running towards the iron fence that split the alley in
half. "Hey, you!" Tai yelled. "Freeze!"
The figure kept running. Tai fired a few shots, but the thing avoided
them. Then it scaled the fence so fast, it looked like it just leaped
over. Then it was gone.
Tai holstered the gun and scrambled up the fence. As soon as he was
over, he fell into something stringy and sticky. He opened his eyes
and looked around.
It was a huge spider web.
"Awww, I'm not having a good day..." Tai sighed as he tried to pry
himself loose from the awful structure.
('Special Unit 2' theme begins playing)
"Hmm... This is an interesting case," Detective Ken Ichijouji said as
he looked over the evidence. After hearing what had happened to Matt,
most of the Digidestined force decided to meet at Ken and Yolei's
modest two-story house on the outskirts of town. "This is the 20th
victim discovered in this condition, and all of them were dressed
like they were going to get lucky."
"What condition would that be?" Mimi Tachikawa asked.
"Yeah, it looks like they had the life sucked out of them," Takeru
"TK" Takaishi added.
Joe Kido, the resident doctor and part-time coroner, stood up and
addressed the group. "All twenty victims were entirely drained of
their bodily fluids. All that remains is some kind of venom that
resembles the type injected by a black widow spider."
"Ugh!" Miyako "Yolei" Inoue-Ichijouji spat. "Hey, I'm drinking
Kool-Aid over here!"
"But here's the gross part," Joe started. Yolei put down her glass of
Kool-Aid.
"What?" Kari Kamiya asked.
"The fluids were drained and the venom was injected through...
through..." Joe stammered. He was starting to turn pale.
"It's OK Joe, you're a doctor. Spill it," Gomamon said from the
sidelines.
"...The bellybutton," Joe choked. He sighed in an exhausted tone, and
plopped back down into his seat.
"...Bellybutton?!" Iori "Cody" Hida asked. "You almost puked over a
BELLYBUTTON?!"
"The police are baffled, as they usually are," Ken said.
"Could a Digimon have done this?" Izzy asked.
"There hasn't been any tension between any parties at the summit
meetings," Tai said. As an ambassador to the Digital World, he tried
to make sure that no conflicts sprang out.
"Hey, where's Sora?" Kari asked. "She isn't here."
"The police took her in," Ken said. "She's a suspect in the
murder."
"What?!" Tai asked angrily. "Sora wouldn't hurt a fly! Not
physically, anyway... Emotionally, on the other hand..."
"Tai, are you still sour over that?!" Davis asked. "Sheesh."
"Anyway, they put her in the Odaiba asylum on account of her
testimony," Ken continued. "She says that Matt was attacked by a
'human-sized, insect-like creature' while they were out for a
walk."
"Well, that would do it," Cody said, rolling his eyes.
"Perhaps we should go and question her," Ken suggested. "I am a
detective, after all."
"I'll go with you," Tai said.
"So will I," Kari added.
"The rest of us will stay here and try to figure out just what is
doing this," Izzy said. "Come back and tell us what you found,
OK?"
"Good luck..." Mimi said.
"So, has this patient ever had a past record of insanity?" Ken asked
the doctor that was leading them to Sora's room.
"No, not at all," the doctor replied. "It must be an adult onset.
Still, I'm glad that she's in here."
"Why would that be?" Tai asked, his face drawing into a frown.
"Sora Takenouchi murdered and somehow drained her husband," the
doctor explained. "Now that she's locked up, it won't happen again.
Ah, here we are. Cell TS-4EVR."
"Unusual cell names," Kari commented.
"It's a big facility," the doctor explained. "We had to come up with
something."
The doctor opened the door and let the three people in. He then
closed it and stood at attention outside of the door.
Sora was sitting on the bed. She looked about the same as she always
had... caramel-brown hair, light brown skin... Not as pretty as, say,
Mimi, but Tai loved her anyway.
"...Sora?" Tai asked as Ken, Kari and he approached her.
"Tai?" Sora asked as she stood up. "What are you doing here?"
"We came to ask a few questions," Ken said, showing his police
badge.
"But every time I tell people what happened, they think I'm crazier!"
Sora protested. "You guys think I'm nuts, too?!"
"Just tell us what happened," Kari said calmly.
"Well," Sora began. "Matt and I were taking a walk in the downtown
area. We were passing this sleazy-looking joint called 'Blue
Lightning,' and this tall, thin, short blond-haired girl came out of
the place and tried to pick Matt up."
"'Pick him up?'" Ken asked.
"She came on so strong," Sora continued. "And when I pushed Matt
along to get him away from her, she was really angry. She grabbed my
arm, and it felt so cold... Ooohh..."
"...Then what happened?" Tai asked.
"About a block afterwards, we got attacked by some monster... It
looked like a human spider. It went straight for Matt, and I ran...
and..." Sora started bawling now.
"It's OK, Sora..." Tai said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"It's... OK..."
"You don't believe a word I said, do you?" Sora sniffled.
"We believe that you aren't a murderer and that you saw something,"
Ken said. "Look, we have to get back to the others and review this,
but call us if you need anything."
"Right," Sora grumbled. "I'll just ask one of the friendly
neighborhood doctors for his cell phone."
"Actually," Tai said, pulling something out of his pocket. It looked
like a mini-Digivice. "Izzy designed this neat little toy. When you
push this button, I get paged. Hit it if you need any help or
something."
"Thank you, Tai..." Sora said, wiping her eyes.
"We'll find whoever killed Matt," Tai vowed. "And when I get my hands
on him, he'll be sorry."
"That's the most empathetic scene I've seen come out of you in
years," Kari commented as the threesome drove back to Ken's
house.
"Her husband was just murdered," Tai explained. "You can't just
charge in and grill her."
"We'd better report our findings to everyone," Ken said as the car
pulled into the driveway.
When everyone had been seated, Izzy stood up. "Well, I found our
culprit," he said. First, he popped a tape into the VCR. "This
security tape-generously retrieved from the 'Blue Lightning' for us
by Davis-"
"My hobbies are none of your business," Davis snapped.
"Shows what happened," Izzy finished. "Here at about 1:30 in the
morning, we see Sora and Matt walking past the entrance."
"Woah! Look at that!" Veemon said, standing up. "She's the one."
"...Veemon, our suspect is tall, thin and has short blond hair,"
Gatomon said. "That one has long dark hair."
"...Which I SERIOUSLY dig," Veemon said, grinning.
"OK, sit down," Izzy grumbled. "At about 1:32, here comes our
suspect."
The group watched as a tall, thin, short blond-haired girl made a
pass at Matt, Sora pushed him forward, and the suspect grabbed Sora
for a second. Izzy froze the picture. "Now, look at this," he said.
He zoomed in on the picture. The suspect had a strange marking on her
lower left hip.
"Those look like the marks on a black widow spider," Mimi suggested.
"I saw one a while back in a book."
Izzy hit a few buttons on an overhead projector and a strange picture
appeared. It was a human being with eight spider legs and black
fangs. "This little number is a Virus Digimon called Blackwidowmon,"
Tentomon explained. "They feed off other life forms by first seducing
a victim, and then draining their body fluids while leaving a special
venom inside the corpse. They can impersonate just about anything. I
should know... One of these got my great uncle a few years ago."
"Even though the real and Digital worlds are at peace, these things
decided to search for prey in the real world," Izzy continued.
"Apparently, one has decided to hang around Odaiba, looking for its
next lunch."
"Yeah, and my big brother was on the menu," TK grumbled.
"Since the first part of its strategy is seducing prey, this thing
likes to hang around sleazy nightclubs while it looks for a potential
meal," Izzy continued. "Once it finds one, it lures it back to its
home and then... Well..."
"Your wells run dry," Davis said.
"Pretty much," Izzy said. "We have to find this thing before it feeds
again."
"Sora's innocent," Tai said. "I could tell. She was scared out of her
wits."
"Sure you're not just goin' soft because she's an unsung love?" Davis
mused.
"He's right," Kari objected. "I could tell too. She wasn't making
stuff up."
"Look, we can't do anything about Sora right now," Joe said. "We need
to find this Blackwidowmon and squash it before it strikes
again."
Night fell. At the asylum, Sora nervously sat on her cot, chewing on
her nails. Suddenly, she heard a loud scraping sound coming from the
fireplace. As Sora watched, a large spider's leg emerged from the
fireplace and latched onto the wall.
Sora screamed. She quickly took out the mini-Digivice Tai had given
her, and pushed it as hard as she could. She then busied herself
shoving as much furniture as she could in front of the fireplace.
When that didn't seem to be working, she banged on the door and
shouted for help. Of course, no help came.
The THING was getting closer. It moved between the shadows, never
really showing all of itself at once. It was indeed a Blackwidowmon.
It got closer and closer to Sora by the minute, and it was almost
upon her when...
"All right, freeze!" a voice said as the door was forced open. Ken
and Tai charged in, and the creature gave a hiss and dove under the
bed. Tai pulled out the gun he had and started firing it everywhere
he heard the creature go. Unfortunately, it skittered up the
fireplace flu and vanished.
"Blast it!" Tai growled. He then turned around. "Sora, are you
OK?"
"Oh..." Sora groaned. Then she just leaned against Tai and began
sniffling.
"...So we want you to release miss Takenouchi into our care," Ken
finished explaining to the doctor.
"Not a chance," the doctor sniffed. "Unless you have a court order,
Takenouchi stays under lock and key."
"Whoever got her husband wants to eliminate any witnesses," Tai said.
"She's not safe here anymore."
"Sorry, but we put her in here for a good reason," the doctor
said.
"You know what bugs me?" Tai asked. "People who think they're so
right when they're actually dead wrong."
"Well, that's too bad for you," the doctor snorted. "Now please
leave."
"We aren't leaving without Takenouchi," Ken said.
"Then I shall call security," the doctor said.
"No, you'll sign the release papers," Tai said, pulling out his gun
and aiming it at the doctor.
"...You wouldn't," the doctor said, sweat starting to come down his
face.
"He would," Ken reassured the doctor.
The doctor took the pen and quickly signed the release forms.
"Anyway, you'll be safe here," Tai said as Sora looked around his
apartment.
"Thanks for letting me stay here, Tai," Sora said.
"Well, I'm not going to be around much until we catch the culprit,"
Tai said. "Just make yourself at home. TJ and Agumon will be glad to
help you out, right guys?"
"Yeah, dad. Leave it to us!" TJ said cheerfully.
"No spiders'll get in here!" Agumon vowed.
"Good luck, Tai..." Sora said.
Tai visibly blushed. "Don't worry. Whoever killed Matt is gonna pay
big time."
Tai left the apartment and walked outside.
"I still don't see why we had to keep her at YOUR apartment," Kari
said as Tai, Ken and she drove down the street towards Ken's
house.
"It's better than letting her rot in the county jail," Tai
explained.
"Riiight," Ken said, rolling his eyes.
When they returned to Ken's, Izzy had an important announcement. "All
right, we've determined that the Blackwidowmon finds its prey at
nightclubs. Therefore, we'll have to go on a stakeout to all the
sleazy dives in Odaiba. Whoever finds it, you know what to do."
"If there's 10 of us, there must be quite a few nightclubs," Joe
said.
"Right, Joe. OK, we'll start infiltrating the nightclubs tonight. Are
we all ready?"
"Yeah!" all the humans and Digimon shouted.
Outside the house, two figures crouched in the shadows.
"Now what do we do?" one asked the other.
"We'll follow him," the other said. "He knows where she is. He'll
lead us right to her..."
At about midnight, the stakeouts began. Kari and Gatomon were hanging
at the 'Tropic Winds' nightclub on the east side of town. Kari had
just left the building after she decided that one catcall was too
many.
"Well, what's wrong with catcalls?" Gatomon objected as she peered
out of Kari's car. "Besides, you'd have to expect them with that
little frock you're wearing."
Kari was wearing a pretty seductive outfit. She was a knockout. "Just
goes to show you that a short enough skirt will get you in anywhere.
Well, no sign of spider woman yet," she grumbled. "We'll just have to
wait. Hey, bub! Quit gawking, keep walking!"
"...Hey, Kari," Gatomon said.
"Yeah?" Kari asked.
"Ever since this whole Digidestined thing started, have you ever
looked back and realized that you are now on a stakeout with a
talking cat?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's pretty unbelieveable, isn't it?" Kari asked, chuckling a
little bit.
Tai wasn't doing much better. He was at the 'Sultan's Harem'
nightclub in the southern area of town. "Well, no sign yet," Tai said
into his mini-microphone. "...Although I have had three offers to
dance and two who actually were interested in me as a person."
"Well, don't blow your cover, lover-boy," Kari muttered. "We're
trying to stop a killer, not get you hooked up."
"Too bad Matt isn't here," Tai said. "He'd be an ace at this."
"...Matt's the reason we're after this thing," Kari reminded Tai.
"Yeah, and-" Tai started. "Hold on... I see her!"
Tai could see a tall, thin girl with short, blond hair and a black
widow mark on her lower left hip leading a guy out the door. "I'm
going after her."
"All right. Call me if you need backup," Kari said.
"Kari, you've got to see this," Gatomon said as she put down the
binoculars.
Kari picked the binoculars up. "...Tai, are you sure that you're
following the right person? The Blackwidowmon just showed up
here!"
"I'm looking right at her!" Tai protested.
"Then that means that there's two of them," Kari grumbled. "...And
who knows how many more!"
Tai followed the couple until they reached an abandoned old mansion
just outside the city limits. There, he watched the woman motion
towards the mansion, and then disappear inside. The man was just
about to follow.
"Hold on, buddy," Tai said, stopping the person.
"Hey, what's the deal?" the man asked angrily.
"That lady isn't who she seems," Tai said.
"How do I know what you want?" the man snorted. "For all I know, you
could be her ex or something!"
"Thank me," Tai said.
"For what?" the man asked.
Tai slugged the man across the face and knocked him out cold. "Savin'
your worthless life," Tai muttered as he dragged the man across the
lawn to a safe distance.
"Tai, come in!" Kari's voice crackled on his microphone. "I'm closing
in on your position."
"That must mean there's another Blackwidowmon coming," Tai said. "I'm
taking this one out."
The car with the second Blackwidowmon and another guy pulled up. Tai
jumped out of the bushes as they emerged from the car. "Freeze!" he
yelled. The man put his hands up, but the woman charged into the
mansion and vanished.
"Get out of here if you know what's good for you," Tai shouted to the
other man. The guy nodded and drove away. Kari's car pulled up
seconds later.
"Did she go in?" Kari asked.
"Yeah," Tai said. "Come on."
The sibling pair walked into the abandoned mansion. All over the
place, there were spider webs containing husky, dry corpses.
"Ugghhh..." Kari groaned. "I'm gonna be sick."
Suddenly, the pair heard a hissing behind them. They whipped around
to see one of the women. Six hairy legs shot out from her back, her
two hands became more legs, and fangs appeared in her mouth. Her eyes
became black, like a spider's.
"Gyaaahhh!!!" Tai yelled as he pumped the monster full of lead. The
Blackwidowmon staggered backwards and fell over. It twitched twice,
and then fell silent.
Kari heard hissing from several other directions. "Sounds like we
rattled the nest," she said. Out of the corner of her eye she could
see at least five more Blackwidowmon emerging from the shadows.
"Let's get out of here!" Tai said, grabbing Kari by the wrist and
dragging her outside.
"Now what?" Kari asked.
"Formula 14 flame grenade," Tai said, pulling out a small capsule.
"Yolei's special blend."
"Yolei's one talented housewife," Kari remarked.
Tai threw the capsule into the house, then he and Kari ran down the
sidewalk and hit the pavement as the building went up in flames. One
could hear several agonizing hisses going up from the house.
"Wow!" Tai said as he stood up.
The other Digidestined had showed up and were watching the flames
boil down. "All right!" Izzy said.
"Formula 14 kicks ASS!" Davis cheered.
"What're you guys so happy about?" Mimi asked.
"Come on, Mimi," Ken said. "We just clobbered some bad Digimon, saved
a few guys' lives and blew up something big. I'd call that a pretty
good evening."
Mimi shrugged and rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered.
After a few hours, Izzy and Cody had finished surveying the wreckage.
"Well, there are 12 Blackwidowmon corpses, and 12 different web
designs in the rubble," Izzy said. "You got them all, guys.
Congratulations!"
"My brother is avenged..." TK said. "Finally."
"Well, I'd better be going home," Joe said. "I've got a golf game
with some of the other doctors in the morning."
"Me too," Mimi said, yawning deeply. "My seminar on cooking begins at
7:30."
"I'm going to tell Sora that everything's OK now," Tai said as he got
into his car.
"Be careful, Tai," Kari said. "...Something tells me that this isn't
over."
"I will," Tai said as he drove off.
In the shadows of the burnt-out mansion, the two shadowy figures
lurked again.
"Now we follow him," one said.
"She won't escape us this time," the other said.
"Sora, I'm home!" Tai said as he walked into his apartment. What he
saw suprised him. Sora had set up a nice dinner with candles and
everything.
"Oh, Tai," Sora said. "Well, dinner's cold, but I tried to make
things look nice anyway."
"We got the murderer," Tai said.
"...You got them all?" Sora asked.
"...Yeah," Tai said, his eyebrow raising slightly.
"Well, most murderers work in groups, so I thought... you know..."
Sora said.
"Of course," Tai said. "Well, I'm sure that Matt can rest in peace
now."
"Hmm..." Sora said, putting her arms over Tai's shoulders. "You think
dinner can wait for a while?"
"...I think it can," Tai said, smiling. Sora kissed him long and
hard. Tai returned the passion as he put his arms across her waist
and tugged her shirt up slightly. What he didn't see was the black
widow marking on Sora's lower left hip...
"Oi, I'm tired," Kari grumbled as she walked towards her
apartment.
"Me too," Gatomon said. "Feels like I lost three of my nine
lives."
Suddenly, three strange creatures landed in front of the pair.
"Hey, those are Matt and Sora's kids!" Kari exclaimed.
"And Biyomon," Gatomon added.
Suddenly, all three performed the transformation that the
Blackwidowmon had done in the mansion.
"WHA?!" Kari exclaimed as the three miniature Blackwidowmon lurched
towards her.
"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon shouted as she attacked. Since she had her
tail ring now, she was able to eliminate the monsters with one swipe.
They disintegrated in a wink.
"That was weird," Kari said.
"What was that all about?" Gatomon asked.
Suddenly, it hit Kari. "Oh, no!" she cried. "Come on, Gatomon! We
have to get over to Tai's right now!"
"I really have to thank you for everything you've done, Tai..." Sora
said as the two sat on the couch, staring into each other's eyes.
"I know how much Matt meant to you," Tai said, standing up and
walking a few steps. "I had to do something."
"Yes..." Sora said. "And now that you've gotten rid of the
Blackwidowmon, I can finally relax..."
Tai had his back turned to Sora. He had never told her about the
Blackwidowmon. How did she know?
He spied his gun off on a table. He turned to face it, but he
couldn't get any closer.
Sora sprouted six spider legs, her arms became spider legs, fangs
shot out of her mouth and her eyes changed into the black, reflective
eyes of a spider. She hissed violently as she knocked the gun out of
Tai's reach.
"Oh, crap!" Tai exclaimed as the spider legs wrapped themselves
around him and drew him closer.
"There are many different clans of Blackwidowmon all around the
world," Sora hissed. "We're very competitive. Two families could
never live in the same city... So I came ahead to clear the way by
tricking you brats into doing my work for me... I couldn't have done
it without you, Tai!"
"Errrgh..." Tai groaned, trying to free himself.
"Now, what can I reward you with? Oh, I know..." Sora said, one of
her spider legs unbuttoning his shirt. "You can be the first good
meal I've had in a looong time!"
"No way!" Tai shouted, spitting into Sora's eyes. She hissed
violently and loosened her grip. Tai hit the floor and scampered
towards his gun. Unfortunately, Sora was quicker and got hold of him
again.
"Why don't we try that again?" Sora growled as she lowered her fangs
down to Tai's bellybutton, ready to strike.
Suddenly, the door opened. "Hey, Sora!" a familiar voice said. "You
made me late for my date by about 20 years, you $%#$%!"
Sora looked up and hissed violently. Something that sounded like a
gun being fired three times was accompanied by Sora sliding across
the floor and slumping over. Black blood oozed out of the wounds.
Sora was dead. The body disintegrated into digital data.
"Argh..." Tai groaned as he picked himself up.
"Are you OK, Tai?" the voice asked.
"I'm sure he is," another familiar voice said. "He's always been
really durable."
Tai rubbed his eyes and looked at his rescuers. "Sora?! Biyomon?!" he
asked. "What? But... How?!"
Sora was dressed in a ragged, blue winter coat and a pinkish scarf.
They looked like very old clothes. Nevertheless, Sora was smiling
warmly at Tai.
"Well, we finally got rid of them all, Biyomon," Sora said to her
Digimon.
"Good thing I had 20 years to make my Spiral Twister attack
deadlier," Biyomon said.
"I don't understand," Tai stammered. "I... You... That thing..."
"It's a long story, Tai," Sora said. "Hey, where's Agumon?"
"I bet I know," Biyomon said, flying over to the closet and opening
it. "Figures," she said.
There, trapped in a huge spider web, lay Agumon and TJ. "Is it safe
now?" Agumon asked.
"Yeah, I've got web in my hair," TJ complained. "That spider lady
tied us up in here!"
"Don't worry, she's gone now," Sora said, pulling TJ out of the
web.
"Are you sure?" TJ asked, prying Sora's mouth open. "Where're your
fangs?"
"TJ, I'm a human, OK?" Sora reassured the boy.
"How is this possible?" Tai asked.
"You want to know?" Sora asked.
"Yes," Tai said. "How come there was a spider you and then you show
up in those old rags that I haven't seen since that Christmas 20
years ago?"
"Well, let me start at the beginning," Sora said, and she cleared her
throat...
(Flashback)
"Oh, boy! Tai's gonna love these cookies," Sora said as she walked
down the street towards the concert hall. It was a cold day in
mid-December, and she and Biyomon were going to Matt's band
concert.
"I bet I know something else he'll love," Biyomon suggested. "When
you ask him to escort you to the concert!"
"I've been waiting years to ask him something like this," Sora
sighed, a blush creeping over her face.
In a dark alley nearby, the shrouded figures of Oikawa, Mummymon,
Arukenimon and two other creatures stood at attention. "She's almost
here," Mummymon reported.
"Excellent," Oikawa chuckled. "We'll make the switch, and then our
little spy will infiltrate the group, and then suck the Digidestined
dry. It's the perfect strategy."
"Plus, our research indicates that the elder Ishida boy contains a
greater amount of the chemical that the Blackwidowmon are attracted
to than the Kamiya boy," Mummymon said. "It'll be fun to watch him
squirm as his secret love falls into another's hands... Oh, it's so
tragic... (Sniff)"
"Even if we fall, the spy will destroy them anyway," Arukenimon
chuckled. "You're so smart, boss!"
"All right, here she comes," Oikawa said. "You know what to do...
Sora."
"Leave it to me," the other figure said.
"Hmmm..." Sora sighed as she closed her eyes and blushed deeply as
she thought of how Tai might react to her question. Perhaps he would
just walk along with her, looking silly and embarrassed. Maybe he'd
hug her. Maybe he'd...
"Uh, Sora..." Biyomon started. "...We've got company."
"What?" Sora asked, opening her eyes. "WHAT THE-"
She was looking at duplicate copies of herself and Biyomon. "This is
the end of the line for you," the Sora said. "I'll take those
cookies, thank you very much."
"Hey, what are you-" Sora started.
"Me? I'm your worst nightmare," the other Sora laughed, the spider
legs and fangs appearing.
"GYAAAAHHHH!!!" Sora screamed as the spider legs wrapped around her.
All went black...
When she came to, Sora found that everything but her eyes and ears
were sealed in a coccoon of spider silk. Biyomon was sealed up in a
similar fashion. "Just thought you'd like to be awake to see our plan
go into action," Arukenimon's voice hissed in her ear.
Sora looked across the street. She saw the other Sora and Biyomon
standing by Matt's trailer with the box of cookies. Sora's heart
sank. She could tell right away what they were up to. "(Oh, no...)"
she thought to herself.
As Tai approached the duplicate Sora, Sora wanted to shout out, but
since her mouth was sealed shut with the webbing, she couldn't do so.
She was forced to witness the entire grim spectacle.
"So, are you going to the concert with anybody? Not that it matters
to me... Just wondering..."
"No, I want to stay free in case Matt is avaliable afterwards..."
As these words came out of the clone's mouth, Sora could hear her
three captors chuckle darkly. "OK, that's enough for you," Arukenimon
said, sealing the eye and ear holes of Sora's prison.
When the sealings were removed who knows how many hours later, Sora
found herself and Biyomon stuck on a huge spider web in a dark cave.
"Hey, where am I?" she asked.
"Right where we want you," a familiar voice said. Sora looked down
and saw at least eleven copies of herself looking up at her. The
difference between the copies and Sora was that these copies had
spider legs and fangs.
"Who ARE you?" Sora asked.
"We?" one said. "We are a family of Blackwidowmon. We were hired by
Oikawa to stir up some havoc in your little Digidestined party, so
one of our sisters infiltrated the group. You're staying here for the
rest of your life, girly."
Sora's mind raced. She was stuck on a spider web in who knows where
with eleven killer spiders guarding her. An evil duplicate of herself
was planning to kill all her friends... and...
"Tai, help me..." Sora said quietly.
"Tai, you say?" one spider said. "Oh, gee, I thought you were
interested in Matt. At least, that's what our sister is interested
in."
All the spiders laughed. It was a sickly, hissing laughter.
"Grrr..." Sora growled. "(I've got to find a way to get out of here
somehow...)"
(End Flashback)
"So then what did you do?" Tai asked.
"I waited for 20 long and painful years," Sora said. "Finally, I was
ready to act. I was able to quickly free myself from the web, and
Birdramon took care of the spiders. Of course, I still had to find
out where I was. It turns out that I was in a cave in the Digital
World near Datamon's pyramid; imagine the irony. From there, I warped
back here and tracked down the last Blackwidowmon. I'm sorry,
Tai..."
"Sorry for what?" Tai asked.
"Letting my guard down like that," Sora sighed. "If I had been paying
better attention, what happened that Christmas wouldn't have, and
Matt would still be alive, and... and..."
"...And what?" Tai asked again.
"...And I would have been able to tell you this a lot sooner," Sora
sniffled. "Tai, would you take me to Matt's concert?"
"A bit late for that," Tai said. "...But I would have been
honored."
"I also realized something else while I was trapped for those years,"
Sora said.
"What would that be?" Tai asked.
Sora leaned forwards and kissed him. "I love you, Tai..." she said
after she broke the kiss. "I just wish I could have told you
sooner."
"You don't know how many years I've waited to hear you say that," Tai
said, hugging Sora tightly.
"All right, freeze!" Kari shouted as she and Ken charged into the
room.
"Aaahh!" Gatomon shouted. "She's already got him in a death
grip!"
"Whaaa!!!" Tai and Sora yelled. "It's OK! It's OK!!!"
"So all this time, that was a Blackwidowmon and not Sora, huh?" TK
asked.
"And she wanted Matt more than Tai because he had more of some kind
of chemical in him?" Izzy asked.
"Yes," Joe said. "Matt naturally had a higher level of blondextrose
in his bloodstream. This is the chemical that exists in most
blond-haired teen dream musician males. It's something that no
Blackwidowmon can resist. Actually, it's a wonder that the Sora clone
lasted 20 years. Of course, if that other Blackwidowmon hadn't gotten
Matt, the clone would have sooner or later."
"Come on," Sora argued. "How else would you explain such a quick
change of feelings?"
"I'm just glad that we got everything sorted out in the long run,"
Tai said. "Before anyone else got sucked dry..."
The group was silent for a while. "...Poor Matt," Yolei finally
said.
"That was just a coincidence that there was another Blackwidowmon
family here in Odaiba already," Izzy said. "That didn't have anything
to do with the whole Sora affair."
"Well, I may have lost a good friend," Tai sighed. "But I regained
the love of my life."
"You mean..." Sora asked.
"Yes, Sora, I love you too," Tai answered.
"Oh, Tai..." Sora said, cuddling up to him.
"This mushfest is going to make me puke," Veemon grumbled.
"Well, go over there," Gatomon advised. "That stuff doesn't come out
of fur easily."
The entire group shared a long laugh. Things were finally getting
back to being as normal as they could be.