by: Aeris

Chapter Eleven


***Sora***

"Look out below!" Kari shouted, running off the rock and cannon balling into the water, splashing both me and Mimi with water. She surfaced a second later, grinning happily.

Jessica waited on top of the rock until Kari moved out of the way. She backed up, ran to the edge, and swan dived gracefully into the water, barely making a splash.

I'd merely jumped in, and Mimi hadn't even jumped! She'd ran into the water, and dove under to keep from freezing. Outside the water, the sand burned our feet, the rock was hot, and the air was stifling, even in the shade. In the water, though, it was ice cold, but an improvement, none the less.

Jessica's head hadn't come up yet, and we looked around, treading water, and wondering where she'd gone. Before I knew what was happening, I felt something grab my foot, and was pulled under the ice cold water.

I held my breath, turning around in the crystal clear water to see why I was down here. Jessica popped up beside me, grinning. I laughed inwardly, and tackled her playfully, forcing the air out of her lungs. She fought back playfully, elbowing me in the stomach, and I watched as air bubbles came out of my mouth.

We both came up, laughing and gasping for air. The sun hit me in the face, blinding me for a moment, and when I got my sight back, I was blinded again by water hitting me in the face.

Eyes still closed, I splashed back. Another splash, this time from another direction. "Jessica!" I cried, exasperated. I threw my hands up into front of my face, shielding my eyes from the bombard of water. "Stop it!"

The water stopped, and I dropped my hands. Jessica peeked out from behind a confused looking Mimi, and Kari was staring at us both blankly.

I scowled. "You're so immature!" I shouted. "I was totally helpless! You should know better then to hit a dog when he's down!'

Jessica swam out from behind Mimi, she didn't look that happy. "Well," She spat. "Sorry for having fun! Maybe I'll just sit around and hope Sara comes to put me out of your life!"

My shoulders slumped, this wasn't working out the way I'd planned. So I'd let my temper get out of hand, but she didn't need to explode! "Listen," I said, choosing my words carefully so she wouldn't kill me. "I didn't mean it that way. I only meant you should have given me a signal!"

I saw her weaken. And then something came over me. I splashed her the hardest I could, and both Kari and Mimi jumped out of the way when she splashed back.

And the fight was on! Kari and Mimi just looked on, while for me and Jessica, it was all out war. As you might know, there's no real meaning to a water fight, simply get wet.

"Hey, up here!" A voice yelled, and we stopped splashing each other to see who was calling us. Laughing coming from the rock. We looked up, the boys! It seemed they'd all stripped down to their shorts, and for those who wore pants, down to their boxers, (which was slightly disturbing.) Jordan's knee had healed quickly, it looked as good as new, but you could see a dark red mark on Tai's shoulder, and a purple gash on Matt's chest.

"Bonzai!" There was a splash between the both of us. Tai surfaced in the middle of me and Jessica, and she and I both gave each other a meaningful look. Jessica placed both hands on Tai's head, and I grabbed his good shoulder.

Pushing down hard, Tai went under, and both me and Jessica jumped back before he could come back up.

"Cawabunga!" Jordan hit the water doing a butt breaker.

"Geronimo!" Matt landed beside him.

"Oh, yeah, baby!" A.J., obviously.

"Yahoo!" "Look out below!" Jacob cannon balled in, with T.K. doing a cannonball next to him. They both hit the water at exactly the same time, creating a huge wave.

Izzy jumped in normally, and Joe pencil dived in.

It was obvious that even though Tai and the rest of the boys were injured, it didn't stop them from having fun. Boys, I'd never understand them.


***A.J.***

I grinned, looking around at the group. We were all laughing, at was so hard to imagine there was a war going on, and that we were in it.

I wondered if they'd acted like this before we came. I mean, they might have acted silly when they first came here, but they'd been here for a while. Had they been serious about the war? Was it because of us that they were acting like normal, everyday kids? Would we, sooner or later, be as serious as they were before we came? Would we go through so much trouble and pain that we'd be as well trained as an army? I hoped not.

"A.J.!" Jordan called, and I snapped out of my thoughts to see Jordan beckoning to me. Jessica was snickering, and I reminded myself to give her a good dunking later.

I grinned, and dove underwater to move over to Jordan more quickly. "What is it?" I asked when I'd surfaced.

Jordan flashed a smile he'd learned from Harrison Ford in Star Wars. I was totally used to it, he used it so much. Kinda like his trademark. "Well, Tai and I were going to start a water fight, and Tai chose you for his team."

"Oh." I looked behind me at Tai and saw Jacob, Sora, and Kari behind him. I glanced behind me while swimming over to my team, and saw Matt, Mimi, T.K., and Jessica lined up behind Jordan. Jessica smirked and gave me a sarcastic wink. I glared at her.

"Where's Joe and Izzy?" I asked, looking for the two absent boys. Sora pointed up to the rock, and I looked up. Joe and Izzy were sitting with their legs over the edge of the rock, and both held sticks in their hands like microphones. I grinned, this oughta be good.


***Izzy***

"Alright, and welcome to the first Water War!" I exclaimed, shouting into my "microphone". Before I could go on, their was the sound of trampling from the camp, and all twelve of the Digimon ran to the bank, plopping down to watch.

Joe cleared his throat. "My, my! it seems our seats are full! This has the start out for a great battle, doesn't Izzy?"

I nodded. "Oh, yes. But first, let's explain the rules, shall we?"

"Let's go for it!"

"Right, well the rules are pretty simple. As you can see, our friends have split into teams, led by Tai and Jordan!" Cheers came from the Digimon.

"That's right!" Joe continued. "And the whole point of this war is to see which team tires out first!The first team that gets exhausted loses, and you can keep on fighting even if you're the last one on the team! Yes, surie! That means this could take hours!" More cheers came from the Digimon sitting on the sand.

"Alright!" I cried. "Teams! Get ready...." The two teams got into battle poses, which was quite amusing to see, provided they were all soaking wet and in up to their waists in water. For Kari, Jacob, and T.K., it was up to their necks!

"Get set....." Joe called, and the Digimon hushed, all waiting in anticipation.

"GO!!" We shouted together, and instantly water was flying every where! Joe and I tried to keep up with the chaos, but it was hard. Why do you think we had two announcers? Joe watched Jordan's team, while I tried to keep up with Tai's.


***Jessica***

"Now this is what I call a war!" I yelled to Matt, popping out of the water beside him. I quickly splashed Jacob, who was sneaking up behind him. Jacob let out a wail, and quickly swam away from the two of us.

Matt spun around to watch him leave, and then turned to smile at me. I felt my heart fall to my toes, and my face flush. Hopefully he would think it was because of the sun. I smiled back, and then dove under the water and swam off. He could watch his own back from now on.

My long hair was out of it's normal braid, so it hung hair around my face and my back in clumps like limp spaghetti. I didn't care, though, since I was out of the heat. I couldn't understand how Izzy and Joe could sit up there without boiling!

I shrugged under the water, boys were just plain weird. While under the water, I was able to catch a breather, in a manner of speaking. But I couldn't stay under too long, or Izzy might call me out of the game. It was fun to watch the goings on from under the water, the kicking feet, Jordan power bombing Tai, stuff like that

I surfaced, and started swimming towards T.K., who was being attacked from both Jacob and Kari. I helped him out, and Jacob and Kari swam off squealing.

"Thanks, Jessica!" T.K. said, smiling. "I couldn't even get to splash them back, they kept on splashing me."

I smiled back. "Well, that's the whole reason of this war!" I said. "To have fun, get wet, and splash each other with water! See ya!"

T.K. swam off in pursuit of Jacob and Kari, and I scanned the area. Mimi and Sora were duking it out, and Jordan was on top of Tai. But where was A.J.? I caught sight of Matt, who's face asked me the same question.

I started swimming towards him, when I felt someone grab my foot! I was pulled under the water, and turned to see A.J. holding my ankle.

I glared down at his stupid smirking face, and shook my foot and ankle lose. He swam up to me, and I kicked him hard in the gut. Air bubbles flew from his mouth, and he shot towards the surface. I swam away from the spot, once again enjoying the sweet coolness of being underwater.

I dove deeper, under the kicking and fighting, until it was like a totally different world! The water was a dark blue, yet still perfectly clear. I could see shells and large rocks at the bottom, and even small fish! I guess that saying, "Still waters run deep" really was true. It was so beautiful! This strange feeling overcame me, as if I absolutely HAD to go there. Deeper, deeper, if only I could get a little closer....

Then I started to get this weird feeling, like my throat was closing up and my mouth threatened to open! I needed air!

I started swimming for towards the top. Oh, why had I swam so deep? Would I be able make it? My eye sight started to go foggy, and the urge to open my mouth was growing stronger by the second. I wasn't going to make it!


***Joe***

Izzy and I had stopped trying to announce the battle, we just watched. I tried keeping tabs on Jordan's team, but for some reason, I couldn't see Jessica.

She'd been swimming after Matt, and then she disappeared. After that, A.J. came up a minute later, but still no sign of Jess! I called down to Matt, who was looking concerned. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Matt!" I cried. "I think Jessica's in trouble! Check it out, will ya?"

Matt nodded, and dove under the water, but he wasn't alone. Jordan had also heard my comment, and he instantly let go of Tai and swam towards the spot where Matt had gone under. He dived down, and everybody else had frozen in their spots, all eyes turned towards that little, rippling spot in the water.

SPLASH!!!!!! SPLASH!!!!!! Gomamon and Penguinmon had ran into the water, and sped to the spot where the three had gone under. They dove, and a minute later, all five of them came up again, holding on Jessica.


***Matt***

Jessica wasn't fully conscious when we pulled her up above the surface. Jordan and I had found her pretty deep down, deeper then I thought any of us could go, and deeper then I thought the river was. We nearly lost all of our breath just getting to her, and then we had to pull her up. If Gomamon and Penguinmon hadn't come, we wouldn't have made it.

We dragged Jessica onto shore, and the others followed a little bit behind. Izzy and Joe jumped off the rock and ran over to us. At shore, we were able to catch our breath, and Joe and Izzy took Jessica onto higher ground.

Jessica quickly regained her senses, and started gulping in air. Jordan stumbled over to her, and plopped down next to her. She leaned against him. "What did you think you were doing?" He asked hoarsely, taking deep breaths. "Were you trying to kill yourself?"

Jessica shook her head, unable to speak for a moment. Then she said, "A.J. pulled me underwater, and I.... I kicked him." She took another breath. I crawled over to them, gasping in my air as well. "He went back to the fight," She continued. "But I stayed under." A smile lit up her face, and she laughed. "It was so beautiful down there! So cool, and so clear.... I went deeper, like something was pulling me down there, and that's when I realized I needed air!"

Jordan put his arm around her shoulder. "Well, next time don't go that deep, okay?"

Jessica nodded. "Sure...."


***Sara, Infinity Mountain***

I should be packing, we'd be leaving quite early in the morning. But I couldn't. It was eight o'clock PM, and the sun was just setting under the hills. I stood in front of a window, staring out into nothing. I clutched the Ebon Trist tightly in my hands, so tightly that my knuckles were going white. The wind from the open window blew about me, whipping my cape around. I didn't care.

I felt him. I *felt* him. I felt *him*! My brother..... He was out there, somewhere in the Digital World. Could it be? Or was it only because Peter got my emotions high...I let out a sigh and turned away from the window. I needed the stupid thing open because of the summer heat.

Walking over to my bed, I carefully placed the Trist on it and knelt to take something out from under my bed. A suitcase, I had to get packed before the night was through, or I'd be rushed to wake up at 2: 30 tomorrow, and that was not a thought I cherished.

There was knock on the door. "Come in!" I called, not even looking up. A Bakemon opened the door and peeked in.

"Mistress?" It asked meekly. I waved for it to come in. "Thank you, Mistress. I just came to inform you that the General has returned with a new batch of recruits, in case you wanted to know."

I stood and nodded. "Thank you for informing me. I'll be down in a moment. Get them ready for inspection."

The Bakemon bowed. "Yes, Mistress." It then left.

I brushed myself off and picked up the Ebon Trist. "Looks like the Bakemon will have to pack for me." I muttered, glancing around the room. Then I smiled, it'd be a lot cooler down in the dungeons training those morons then packing in a stuffy room.

I walked over to the door, and placed my hand on it to open it, but something stopped me. Again, I felt him.

I shook the feeling off as just the heat getting to me, but I wasn't entirely convinced.


Down in the dungeons, I found a whole hoard of Digimon, all waiting to be inspected. Most were Champion and Ultimate, but there were a few Mega's in there as well. The General had done well, as always.

he was standing in front of them all, a Mega himself. The General was tall,-- nearly eight feet, and wore a tightly fitting black uniform over his great, muscular frame. About his shoulders, fastened by a brooch, was a cape of ebony velvet, whipping about as though it was at odds with the wind--except there was no wind in the dungeons. The lining of the cape was colorless. In fact, it possessed an absolute absence of color, as though it were a dark, consuming hole in the fabric of space. I did not doubt that if I were to throw a candle into the blackness, it would be sucked into some spirit-demension and snuffed from existence.

While it's clothes defined the shape of his body, the General's skin was not exposed at any point. Perfectly formed gloves gave evidence of long, powerful fingers and leathery boots cracked and sparked whenever they touched down, as if the ground itself were in protest of his existence. Most frightening of all was the vast emptiness that filled the cowled hood. The darkness within the hood was the same I had seen in the lining of the cape. And from within that blackness-- seemingly miles away-- two eyes glowed like hot embers with a mocking, almost unnatural light.

I held out a hand. "Welcome, General. It's about time you returned."

I saw the red eyes narrow in a smile as the General bowed-quite low to reach my hand- and took my hand. He kissed it, and I felt as if I'd been thrown into a river of ice cold water. He stood, and I managed a weak smile in return, shivering violently.

The eyes narrowed even more when the General saw I was shivering. This time in laughter. "So sorry, Madam." He said, chuckling. "I forgot about that."

"A mere handshake would have done." I said, scanning the group of Digimon behind him. "But let's stick to business. What have you brought me today?"

The General nodded, and turned to show me them. He put a hand on my shoulder, and led me through them all. Each one bowing as I passed, and telling me their names, Digimon type, and what rank they were. There was one Digimon I was especially interested in sending to the Digidestined, but it would have to wait until I returned from my trip to Peter's house.

After meeting them all, I returned to the head of the group, the General behind me.

"Listen up!" I cried, and instantly, every Digimon snapped to attention. My lip curled into a smirk. "You will be tested on what I say later, so you'd better pay attention! But first you'll battle against me, to weed out the weaklings. Understand?"

They all nodded.

"Good. Now, follow me and we'll begin the battles. Give it your all, or you won't make it in, understand?"

More nods. I turned and led them into the colosseum. I first battled the Champions, who were extremely easy and then moved on to the Ultimates, who were the same rank as me.

Now I was battling a water-based Ultimate named MarineDevimon. The last of the new arrivals. I enjoyed testing his attention span by taunting him with cocky remarks, asking him questions while dodging his attacks.

"Do you know why you are being trained?" I asked, jumping high into the air and off a wall to dodge an attack called Evil Wind. I shot a blast of dark energy from the Ebon Trist at him

"To battle!" He replied, sending another gust of wind at me. I dodged this one as well.

"Yes, but do you know whom you are going to battle?" I gasped, as the third gust hit me straight on and I hit a wall. I jumped back up a second later.


***The General***

I admired Sara's battle tactics, and wondered who she had learned them from. So full of energy, she could battle for hours and still not get tired, always coming up with new taunts with which to annoy her combatants.

Now, she was jumping around the room as if she had wings! She was even able to propel herself off walls, enabling her to land behind her enemy and hit from behind. I had battled her myself a couple times, and I would win, but it wasn't ever easy.

"Anyone you wish me to!" MarineDevimon called to her, turning rapidly to keep the ever moving Sara in his sight.

"Good, I see you know your place!" She called back. "Then you'll be the first one to battle the Digidestined when I return!" She landed in front of him, holding the Ebon Trist tightly with both fists, and a sassy smile playing on her face.

MarineDevimon froze, and I saw a look of panic cross his face. He quickly covered it with indifference. "But everyone knows the Digidestined cannot be destroyed!" He said, looking her over.

Sara tilted her head a bit to the side and tossed her hair. "So?" She asked. "If I order you to attack the Digidestined, you shall attack them!"

MarineDevimon laughed. "Are you suicidal?" He asked. "Look at you! You're only fourteen! Why, you're still just a child!" His mouth spilt into a grin, revealing rows of sharp teeth. "You should leave the Digidestined to adults, even Piedmon couldn't destroy them! Stay home and play with your dolls, why don't you?"

"Uh oh. That was a big mistake!" I heard I Digimon behind me hiss. He had already fought against Sara, and he would take at least a week to heal, which was horrible, since Digimon heal quickly. If he had been a human, he would have died from even one of those wounds.

Sara's cocky grin faded, replaced with a hate filled glare. "What's your name, and where do you come from?" She asked coldly.

"You know my name!" He retorted.

"Answer the question!" Sara shouted, and MarineDevimon shuddered.

"My name is MarineDevimon, and I come from the Swamp Lands. I can survive in any water, though, and have extremely strong water attacks."

Sara nodded, her lips tightening into a thin line. "I see you're also extremely full of yourself!" She said, aiming the Ebon Trist at him with one arm. "Allow me to teach you a lesson!"

Behind me, I heard every Digimon groan and turn their heads, not even daring to watch what was going to happen next. I let out a disgusted sigh, weaklings.

The Ebon Trist admitted a soft humming sound, which grew in capacity quickly, until it was almost deafening! A black light shone from the jewel, and shot out a blinding beam.

When the light subsided, Sara was still standing there, panting, arm outstretched, and outlined with black light. The Ebon Trist was almost pulsing with energy, but soon it returned to it's normal blackness. I wondered where she found such a treasure as well as where she had been trained. MarineDevimon was sprawled on the ground.

Sara lifted one eyebrow, and nodded to herself. She walked over to MarineDevimon, and knelt beside him.


***MarineDevimon***

I looked up weakly. "Are you going to finish me off?" I asked. Why did she stall?

Sara shook her head, smiling compassionately. "No", She said softly. "I think I've proven my point. Now, let's get you to the infirmary." She put out her hand, wanting me to take it.

Now I understood. That was way all her warriors were so loyal, speaking so highly about this young girl. She showed force, but also kindness. The ability to destroy, but also the live to give life as well. She had made her point: Our lives were her's, if we displeased her, we would die. But she was not unreasonable.

I reached out and took her hand.


***Sara***

MarineDevimon took my hand, and I lifted him to his feet. He was much taller then me, as almost all of these Digimon were. I was only fourteen years old, but they understood well now that I was also strong.

As I had the power to kill, I also had the power to give life. That's the thing many Digimon miss. Threats are very useful. But be also kind, and thus complete control over my warriors, you need the helping hand as well as the killing force.

I had given the same speech, the same demonstration of seriousness a dozen and more times. I'd never failed into instill a sense of duty in my charges.

Why did they think I chose MarineDevimon? I'd read about his kind, and I knew they all lived in fear of the Digidestined. But now, he'd battle them if I ordered him to, and he knew I would pay him well if he succeeded. He was indeed, a good recruit, and would serve me well.