by: Aeris

Dear readers: I realized I made a mistake in chapter seven, but only after I'd sent it out. It's about Sara, she's not twelve, as the chapter says, she's fourteen. And Dovemon is another of my creations, no one can use her without my permission!

Chapter Nine


***Jordan***

The new camp site was a large clearing in the forest, it had two paths which we'd have to explore, and as we soon found out, one of them led to deep little river near a small hill. Mimi was estadic, she'd been complaining about a bath for quite a long time. I liked it, dispite the heat.

Dovemon looked around from her perch on Jessica's shoulder. Her ice blue eyes taking in every new detail. "I like it," She cooed softly as she and Jessica looked around. "It's a nice site. Good job, Tentomon!"

Tentomon blushed. "Thank you, Dovemon. It was the closest spot I could find, and it was taking alot of energy to keep flying so high for so long!"

"You should talk!" Biyomon said, grooming her feathers that had been ruffled after the long flight. "I'm the one you had to carry twenty-three people!"

While the Digimon were talking, we were silently looking around at the new camp, it was perfect, just needed a little work, but perfect.

Tai clapped his hands to get everybody's attention. "Allright, people! Let's get this site suitable for living! I think we'll have-" Tai was cut short by my Tag when it started to glow with a white light. I took it off and held it out in front of me like a lantern.

Everybody saw the light from my Tag and froze. Gatsomon walked over to me and followed me as I walked around the camp.

"Anyone know what's going on here?" I asked, following the swinging Tag up the hill and down the path that led to the river. The others followed at a distance, but Gotsomon trailed at my heels, dragging his large, rock feet.

"Yeah, your Tag has found a Crest!" Mimi said, coming over to my side. Palmon followed, and Gotsomon smiled at her, and nodded.

Mimi and I glanced at each other. She shrugged, and the sun caught her hair, making it shine. It was the first time I noticed how pretty she looked when that happened, and I loved her smile, so careless and happy. I could feel my face start to glow just thinking about it.

Wait a minute, my face wasn't glowing because of Mimi, it was glowing because of my Tag! The Crest! I'd totally forgotten about it! Turning back down the trail, I followed it until I came to the river.

The river was really cool, it was actually like a small beach! The water was deep and clear, and the bottom of the river was lined with stones. There was a large rock overlooking the beach, right above the deepest part of the river, and it seemed as though that's where my Tag was guiding me, so I followed it.

I carefully scaled the rock with one hand, holding my Tag out in front of me with the other one. MImi, Gotsomon, Palmon, and the others followed close behind.

At the top of the rock, I saw it was strangely colored in the middle. There was a large tile-shaped gold and silver piece in the middle, a golden upside-down triangle with three little triangles on all three sides and a circle within a circle in the biggest triangle, the background was silver.

Mimi gasped. "That's a Crest!" She said in a hushed voice, as though she had to speak quietly.

The others stood in awe, and Tai shoved me forward. "It's you Crest, Jordan. Go for it!"

I stumbled a few steps forward, and turned back to my friends. "How do you know it's my Crest?" I asked.

Tai smiled. "Easy, you Tag was the one that sensed it. That means it's your Crest."

I turned back to the large tile, and swung my Tag out above it. The tile started to glow, and slowly rose from the rock, leaving a large, tile-shaped hole about five inches deep.

The tile rose to my eye-level and stopped. It started to shrink, smaller and smaller, until it was small enough to fit in my Tag. All this time, my Tag was pulling itself up and closer to the glowing tile, or my Crest, as I should call it. Then the Crest moved closer to my Tag, until it was right by it's side. Then it turned around and slid itself into my Tag! The glowing stopped, and my Tag and Crest dropped back down on the chain and just hung there. I picked it up and looked at it in my palm. Mimi gasped as she looked at it from over my shoulder.

"That symbol means Strength!" Izzy said, coming over to see the new Crest. "So I guess you have the Crest of Strength. It also had two colors, I wonder why....I have to add this to my program!" Izzy promtly sat down on the rock and opened his lap-top. After a few minutes of him typing and us all just staring at him, he closed his mini computer and stood up.

"What are you all gauking at?" Izzy asked, slipping the lap-top into his backpack. "We have the Crest, so let's get back to camp!"

Jessica walked past me, Mimi and our Digimon to the edge of the rock. She stared silently down into the dark water, her eyes sparkling. I knew that look, it said the wheels in her head were turning in the making of some kind of plan. I wondered what it was, but knew I'd have to wait to find out. Dovemon looked up into Jessica's face, then back down into the dark water, wondering what her partner was thinking.

Matt looked concerned. "Jessica? You alright? We need to get back to camp and set it up."

Jessica snapped back to reality and turned back to the others and nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm okay." She said, walking over to Mimi and I.


***A.J.***

I stood on on the rock like the others, watching Jessica go into that trance-like thing when she looked into the water down below. Water's always had that effect on her, she loves it so much. I wished I was water as I watched her staring down into the darkness. Then she'd have to like me, not to mention I'd be a lot cooler. Man, this heat was boiling!

'So," I thought. 'Jordan now has a Crest, leaving only me and Jessica without one. Coincidence? I think not!'

"Hey, A.J.!" Gazimon called, swatting my leg with his paw.

I looked down. "What?" I asked.

"All the others have gone back to camp, I was waiting for you to come back to our world!"

I looked up quickly, and saw no one around. They'd left me behind!

"Hey guys, wait up!" I called, running to the edge of the rock and jumped off it, landing hard in the soft sand, and took off in the direction of camp. Gazimon followed me at the same fast pace.

Back at camp, I saw everybody had already started on the camp. The older kids and their Digimon were rolling logs from the woods into the middle of the clearing, where T.K., Kari, Jake, and their Digimon were setting up a fireplace.

I ran down the hill, gasping for air. Then I noticed that Jessica and Matt were rolling the same log over to the middle. So I headed their way. "Why'd you guys leave me there?" I asked Jessica.

Jessica stopped rolling the log she and Matt were pushing. She smirked. "Oh, were you gone? I didn't notice." She said in a tone that was just plain annoying.

I caught Matt ginning from behind Jessica as he remained bent over the log, obviously listening in on our conversation. I ignored him for the moment, but just wait until I caught him alone....

"Talk to Tai, he'll tell you if there's anything left to do." Said Dovemon, poking her head out from inside Jessica's backpack. I wondered what she was doing in there.

I nodded and headed over to Tai, where he and and Sora were rolling a log together.


***Dovemon***

I watched as A.J. and Gazimon headed over to Tai and Sora, then pulled my head back down into Jessica's backpack. Amazing things, those backpacks. So full of useless objects, like clothes without sleeves or pant legs, just the body of it. Jessica had four of these types of clothings, three were one piece, one in a pale blue, one in dark green, and a smaller one in a butter yellow color. One was even made out of two pieces of cloth! They were both a dark pink with a green outlining. They were quite comfortable to lay on, though.

The backpack was full of other things, as well. Like these little packages of something called Hershey's Chocolate. It smelled delicious, but I decided that if Jessica wanted to share it with me, she's give it to me herself. There was also this little black box with a window in it and lots of little buttons and a little black vine coming out of it. The vine attached to this thing with fuzzy coverings, I wondered what it was. There was a little book in there too, but it was locked, and since I couldn't pry it open with my beak, I decided to leave it be.

The backpack lurched forward and then stopped. Popping my head out of the backpack, I saw Jessica was resting on the log she and Matt had been pushing. Looking around, I saw Matt had gone over to talk with Tai.

"Jessica?" I asked, pushing my way out of the backpack and onto her shoulder. She turned to look at me and scratch me under the chin.

"Yes, little bird?" She asked, laughing as I nuzzled her on the cheek.

"What are those things I found in your backpack, the cho-co-late, and those four colored pieces of cloth?" I asked her, fluttering to her feet. "and what's that little black box?"

Jessica laughed. "Oh, I see you've found my chocolate and bathing suits. I put them in my backpack for some reason just before I came to the Digiworld, but I didn't figure out why 'till just a couple minutes ago! And that little black box is a walkman. It plays music."

I flapped my wings excitedly. "Music? Could I hear some of it?"

Jessica smiled sweetly and and took the walkman and little vine out of the backpack. Placing the little fuzzy coverings over my ears and holding them there with one hand, Jessica placed the walkman in between her legs with the other and hit a small button on the box.

I jumped back as loud noises could be heard from the fuzzy coverings. It was so loud! And you could bearly make out the words of the guy saying. I yelped and ripped the covering off of me.

Jessica giggled. "You don't like it?" She asked, hitting the stop button and putting the walkman away.

"Jessica, that's not music!" I protested. "Well, it actually could be music from hell, but that's definitely not any music I've heard before! Noise, maybe, but not music!"

Jessica laughed softly, picking me up and throwing me playfully into the air "You sound like my mom, she always tells me that."


***Matt***

I smiled as I watched Jessica play with Dovemon. The bird was so small, only the size of a real dove. It looked like a real dove, too. If it's eyes didn't have that intelligent gleam, and if it couldn't talk, I wouldn't even think it was a Digimon!

But my attention wasn't centered on Dovemon, it was on Jessica. Her upturned face caught the sunlight, and her melodious laughter sounded like music to my ears.

"You really like my sister, don't you?" Jordan's voice broke through my thoughts, and I tore my gaze off of Jessica and looked at Jordan's smiling face instead.

"What makes you say that?" I asked, my face burning.

"Simple, you always get this weird look in your eyes when she looks at you, smiles at you, and talks to you. Plus, you always seem to pair yourself up with her! Come on, I know you like her."

I laughed at him and turned my gaze back to Jessica. "Well, I might like her a bit...."

Jordan playfully punched me in the arm. "A.J. won't like that, but I bet Jessica'll love it. She likes you, I can tell, and I'd love to have someone like you in the family. Wait a little while more, about a week, then make your move on her."

I nearly passed out when he said "I'd love to have someone like you in the family". Staring at him, I said "Woah, aren't you forgetting something? We've just met, and don't forget I live in Japan!"

Jordan shrugged his shoulders. "So? You two could still get together. Believe me, when Jessica puts her mind to something, she doesn't back down."


***Peter, Infinity Mountain***

I was back in my Wisardmon form, turning human drained my energy if I kept it on too long. Sara and I were in the War Room again, and Sara was going through her choices of Digimon she could sic on the Digidestined.

"Sara, what's the matter?" I asked, watching her as she placed her arms on the computer counter, her head down, and stiffened her body.

"It's nothing, Peter." She hissed through clenced teeth. "Nothing. Nothing but that the Digidestined have a new Mega!"

I jumped back a few steps, surprised by her harsh tone. In jumping back, though, I tripped over my cape, and sprawled full length on the floor on on my back.

Sara looked up at me and walked over to help me, keeping one hand on the counter. Then, from my place on the floor, I realized that she was walking slower then usual. Taking a closer look, I noticed that she was limping!

Before she could get to me, I'd scrambled to my feet and rushed over to her. "What happened to your leg?" I asked.

Sara shook her head and closed her cape around her leg, shielding it from my gaze. "It's nothing, Peter. Just a stratch."

I gave her a lopsided grin. "Oh, really? Couldn't fool me, Sara. A mere scratch wouldn't make you limp, now what happened?"

Sara sighed. "Well, if you must know, I banged my knee against a corner of a wall as I was walking down a hall. My mind was on other matters, and I didn't notice it."

"Sara, you made this castle yourself. You could walk the through entire castle, in the center of every hall, blindfolded and with your hands tied behind you back!"

"Now Peter, you know I couldn't do that."

"Then what happened?" I persisited

Sara looked towards the screens. "I don't know. It happened during that battle with those Digidestined." She nearly spat out the last word.

"Can I see?"

Sara nodded and slowly pulled her dress up on one side, just a little past her knee. The dress revealed a large wound, it covered her entire knee, and was a dark purple and blue. "I had just finshed Nightmare Claw," She said. "And the dust hadn't settled yet, but I felt a sharp pain in my knee, and then, when we'd returned, I checked it out, and this was here."

I nodded and she let the dress drop. "Did the Digidestined hit you?" I asked.

"No, I made sure of it. And I didn't "feel" anything hit me, I just felt the pain and the wound appeared." Sara turned back to her work.

"Do you think-maybe-just maybe- your brother was in the woods, and he was accidently hit by the rubble?"

Sara whirled around, her hand raised to strike. I saw pain, disbelief, and anger in her eyes. "My brother?! How dare you speak of him!" I could see the tears about to overflow in her eyes."You know he's dead, Peter! Why do you even speak of him?"

I jumped. "But Sara..." I said softly. "He may still be alive. How else could you have gotten that on your knee?"

Sara's tears were gone in an instant, replaced by an anger I'd never seen before. "He's dead, how could you torture me by saying that he may still be alive? You know he's dead! I got this wound on my knee by shere luck, you hear me?"

I was stunned. "But Sara...."

"Away from me! I won't hear any more!" Sara turned her back on me, and limped back to the control panel.

"Sara!" I pleaded, following her.

"Away, Wisardmon! Get out of my sight!"

Those words stopped me like a knife. Never before in my life, had Sara called me "Wisardmon. Sadly, I left the room and telelported to my room. Where the memory of my first meeting with Sara rushed into my mind.

~Flashback~

A small, four-year-old boy walks into the Wisardmon family yard for the first time in his life, followed closely by his twin sister Sara and Myotismon, their father. The three of them are clothed in the tradition black morning clothes.

A smalll boy Wisardmon watches them from the window of his cottage. The girl catches him staring, and gives him a huge smile.

The Wisardmon's mother glances out the window, and waves the boy to follow. Opening the door, she goes out to meet the vistors, the boy hiding behind her cape, eyes bugling.

Myotismon and and the boy's mother clasp hands, in show of old friendship. "It's good to see again, Mrs. Wisardmon." Myotismon greets her.

"Ay, and you too, Myotismon." She agrees. Looking at the two small children, she smiles. "It's good to see the children, also. How's the boy?"

Myotismon smiles broadly and gives a booming laugh. "The boy? Why, he has more energy then I can handle!"

"And the girl?"

Myotismon nodds. "She's well also."

"Good. Boy!" She gasps, as the boy tuggs hard on her cape. She pulls the cape away for her guests to see her boy. "Come now, child. Greet our guests."

The boy walks up shyly. "G-gg-good day!" He stammers, sending the small girl into a fit of giggles. Her brother quickly hushes her.

"Sara, we're not to be rude!" He scolds, and she instantly stops.

"What's your name?" She asks, smiling sweetly at the boy.

He blushes. "Wis-Wisardmon!"

Sara blinks. "Wisardmon? But isn't that your mother's name?" She looks up quizzically at her father. "Father? How come they all have the same name, but everybody in our family has different names?"

Myotismon chuckles and patts Sara on the head. "Because, Princess," He says, picking her up and throwing her up in the air playfully. "We're different then them."

Her brother looks up. "But dad, aren't we all Digimon?" He asks.

Myotismon places Sara back on the ground, and ruffles the boys sandy brown hair. "I'll tell you later, son. But now, let's go inside, shall we?"

Sara turned once more to the small Wisardmon boy. "I don't think Wisardmon suits you. I shall call you Peter!"

"Sara!" Her brother gasps, and both her father and "Peter's" mother laugh.

"Now Sara, we're not to be naming other Digimon's children, are we?"

Mrs. Wisardmon smiles. "Aye, but it's nothing. Besides, I think Peter be a nice name for the boy. It has a nice, strong ring to it!" She waves them into her cottage.

Myotismon herds his two children into the cottage.

"I'm sorry to here about Marie." Mrs. Wisardmon says, poring tea into a cup for Myotismon. The three children are sitting on the floor nearby, playing with Peter's toys.

Myotismon's eyes cloud with tears. "Yes, but I know she wouldn't want us to morn forever. Marie was always looking to the future."

"Aye, and what about the boy's tutor? I don't like the looks of that one." Mrs. Wisardmon asks, taking a spoon to stir the soup for dinner.

Myotismon laughs. "Piedmon? Nonsense, I'd trust him with my life!"

Mrs. Wisardmon shake her spoon at him. "Aye, then you'd lose it. I tell you, he only be after the castle, and your children ain't save in his hands."

Myotismon shakes his head. "Mrs. Wisardmon, you're too full of the normal superstitions. Piedmon wouldn't do anything like that!"

While the adults talked like this, the children were in their own disscussion.

"I don't understand why Father likes my brother more then me." Sara confides in Peter, being careful not to let her brother hear.

"Sara, let's not have any whispering, eh?" Her brother scolds, stopping his eavesdropping on the adults long enough to scold her. "It's not polite."

"You're not my father!" Sara retorts.

"True, but I'm you older brother. And father's heir, besides."

"By twenty minutes!"

"True, but I'm still older." With that, Sara's brother turned his attention back to the adults.

"He make me sick when Father's around." Sara told Peter, talking as low as she could without whispering. "He tries to make Father proud, but whenever Father leaves, he always plays with me and treats me as his equal. I do love him, but he can be so annoying!"

Peter smiled. "I never knew my Papa. He was gone before I can remember."

Sara looked at him in astonishment. "Oh, that's so sad. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"Oh, no! I enjoy listening to you talk about your family. Aye, it's quite funny. Tell me more!"

Sara giggled, "Gladly." she said, and instantly launched into a story, telling Peter all about the house, her room, and the nasty old school teacher; Piedmon. "He's my brother's tutor, but I think he's an old bat!"

~End of Flashback~

I sighed, she was so different back then. One year after our first meeting, Sara was an orphan. Her father went to Earth one day while she was visiting us, and he never came back, her mother had died before that. And her brother, nobody knew what happened to him. He was walking with his tutor, Piedmon, one day after dusk by the river bed, and after that, only Piedmon returned.

He made up some story about the boy falling into the river and dissapearing with the current, but all us 'country' Digimon knew the truth. Piedmon wanted the estate to himself after Myotismon died.

Anyway, Piedmon was banished to this small little castle where he met the other three Dark Masters and created the 'Dark Master's Training School for Digimon'. Myotismon would have never let Sara go there if he were alive.


***Sara***

I didn't regret talking to Peter in that tone of voice, he should know not to talk about my brother. I faught the tears that threatened to spill over as I thought about him. We were twins, and he was older by a good twenty minutes, but only that.

Father'd always favored him because he was a boy, Father's heir. But after the accident, I became the heir, and Father got me as educated as I could. But he never knew I was friends with Peter....If he did, I'd be skinned alive, that was for sure.

Shaking off the painful memorys and my sensitivity, I left and room and headed for the library. I could settle things with Peter later, and there was some things I wanted to look up....