Present: The Digital World

Rakunamon spent the next several minutes detailing his and Tsuriai's encounter with the Future Guardian.  She was a digital being called an Internet Guardian, just like the ones that had been held captive in the dungeons of Negabyte's castle along with the digimon.  A few of them were now hiding with the freed digimon, waiting for the time when it was safe to return.  However, the Future Guardian herself was missing.  Tsuriai had witnessed Negabyte do something to her, but she wasn't sure exactly what.  And she assumed the worst.  The Future Guardian wasn't coming back.  Rakunamon also explained the story behind the Internet Guardian who came from the future.  She had been following Negabyte in his quest to dominate the Digital Universe.  Several times she was able to find help from the Digi-Destined and ruin the Pirate's plans, but he always managed to run away.  The raccoon digimon went on to describe all the different variations in the timeline the Future Guardian had experienced.  Currently, this one in which she brought Tsuriai and Veric across time and dimensions was her third attempt at ousting Negabyte once and for all.  In the original timeline, however, Tsuriai and her twin brother didn't exist because TK and Kari didn't marry one another.  This was the timeline the Future Guardian wished to protect and to restore, because this was the timeline she was from.

Cody stared longingly at the girl who stood apart from the others, never taking his eyes off her as her digimon told them everything surrounding their circumstances.  It was a sad story of a girl ripped from her family and thrown into a battle and world she knew nothing about.  But she was expected to fight and set things right again.  Such a heavy burden to bear when her heart was breaking.  And as her journey progressed, she made many friends, and then lost them to this war.  According to Rakunamon, the events of this timeline were becoming the costliest in terms of lives lost during the struggle.  This weighed heavy upon Tsuriai as well.  And then to discover that, in the end, her existence would be extinguished was just too much.  As Cody watched over her, he could see all the strength she once demonstrated cave in.  There was a darkness surrounding her as she hugged herself by the lakeshore.  It seemed to snuff out the light in her heart; the light that made her happy and carefree and loving; the light that mirrored that of her mother.  Tsuriai had lost all hope of ever seeing her family again, as well.  And now, as she stood alone by the sparkling water, she retreated into her sadness.  It was just too much, even for her, the child of Light and Hope.

"We tried to keep the past from changing too much," Rakunamon continued, "so that we would have a family to go home to when we are no longer needed here in the Digital World."  Now the furry little digital monster lowered his head, his eyes closed.  "But our efforts weren't enough."  A slow tear crept through the fur on his face.  "Perhaps the Future Guardian was right," he started to choke up.  Being this emotional was a completely new sensation for Veric.  "Our destiny is to fight against Negabyte," he said.  "And, then we'll cease to exist.  Everything will finally be set right again."

"Oh!" both Armadillomon and Cody gasped.  The little yellow digital monster stepped closer to Rakunamon, forcing him to look him in the eye.  "Don't say that."

Cody left the digimon and ran to the blonde girl.

Suddenly, Tsuriai felt a pair of hands grab both her shoulders firmly.  A dark-haired boy swung around so that his back was to the shimmering lake as he held onto the blonde girl.  "Cody!" she breathed.

The boy's emerald eyes twinkled as they peered into hers.  "You don't believe that, do you?" he asked her hurriedly, almost urgently.  He searched her burgundy eyes for the indomitable spirit he had seen in her on several occasions.  She had battled insect Pirates, defeated Viral Agents, even fought against Negabyte.  But now, as she stood there contemplating her supposed destiny, that spirit was nowhere to be found.  "You don't believe that it's your fate to...to..." he couldn't find the words for it.

But Tsuriai could.  "To die?" she finished for him, her voice low and hushed.

"No!" Cody shook his head wildly, tightening his grip on the girl's shoulders.  "I didn't mean that..."

"But that's exactly what it is, Cody," the blonde girl maintained.  Her voice was smooth but quiet.  It sounded as if she had come to accept the fact.  "If we don't die fighting against Negabyte, then Veric and I will just disappear anyway," she reasoned.  "We'll cease to live.  That's the same as dying."  Suddenly, she turned her face away, not wanting to look at Cody's worried expression.  "And then everything will be right again."

"Tsuriai!" Cody raised his voice.  "No!"  His voice hinted at fear and frustration.  He leaned to the side, trying to put himself back in her view.  As soon as he made contact with her watery eyes again, he continued.  "Don't believe what the Future Guardian said," he commanded of her, shaking his head from side to side.  His green eyes were firm with an unyielding determination.

"But, Cody..." she started to argue.

"No," he said.  He wouldn't have it.  He just had to knock some sense back into her.  "The only reason the Future Guardian wants everything to go back to the way she told you is because that's the future she wants to go home to.  Just like the future you want to go back to is the one with your family," he tried his best to explain.  "They're different variations of the same period of time, but your situation is no different than hers.  What makes one version of the future more important than the other?" he asked her.  "How do we know that YOUR future isn't the right one?  Maybe that's why it's been changing so much," he offered.  "To finally be the way it's supposed to be."  Cody looked deep into the girl's wine-colored eyes.

She just stood there, her lip quivering and her body shaking as the dark-haired boy held fast to her shoulders.  She wanted so much to believe that her friend's words held some sliver of truth.  But the evidence weighed against him.  "But look, Cody," she replied.  Tsuriai lifted the arm that slowly vanished and then solidified again and again.  "Parts of me are already starting to disappear."

"I know," he conceded.  However, he had a counter argument of his own.  "But your arm keeps coming back, too," he said.  Now he ran his hand from her shoulder down the translucent arm until he came to her small, shivering hand.  He grabbed hold of it and held it in his.  "The past is trying to take you away," he told her.  "But your future is trying to hold on to you.  It's not giving up on you.  That's why you and Rakunamon haven't completely disappeared yet."

All of a sudden, Cody saw a faint twinkle in Tsuriai's eyes.  It was a glimmer of hope.  "Do you really believe that?" she asked him.

"I have to," the dark-haired boy answered.  "One of us has to keep the hope alive that you'll return to your family someday."  And then, without warning, Cody started to blush.  His shy eyes turned down to look at the hand he held and to avoid Tsuriai's gaze.  "Besides," he whispered.  "We'd be crushed if we lost a friend like you."

"He's right," came a new voice with a Texan accent.  Armadillomon and Rakunamon were walking toward the two humans.  "If you lose hope," the yellow digimon continued, "then you really ARE done for."

Rakunamon hopped into Tsuriai's arms.  Cody let go of her hand and stepped back so that she could catch her digimon.  "Please, Suri," the furry creature begged her.  "You have to have faith that we'll get through this.  I'll be by your side the whole way."

"Oh, Veric," the blonde girl looked down at her digimon with loving eyes.

Armadillomon stood at his human partner's feet.  "Us, too!" he put in.  "Cody and I'll make sure ya get home!  Right, Cody?"  the Rookie-level digimon craned his neck to look up at the boy.

"Mmm hmmm," Cody nodded his head in agreement.  Then he said, "We believe in you, Tsuriai, but we can't help you if you don't believe in yourself."  Now he peered into her eyes, searching them for her thoughts and feelings.

Suddenly, a miraculous thing happened.  Rakunamon's tail and Tsuriai's arm returned to their normal state and stopped fading in and out like a ghost. 

Tsuriai looked down at her arm, squeezing her fist shut and then opening it over and over.  She couldn't believe it!  Her hand, her arm!  They were solid again!  The blonde girl hugged Rakunamon to her chest and kissed him on his furry head.  Her burgundy eyes glimmered once again with the spirit Cody thought she had lost.  And a shy smile lit up her tear-stained face.  "Oh, Veric," she rested her cheek on his head as she embraced him.  Then she bent down to Cody's digimon and pet him as well.  "Thank you, Armadillomon," she smiled at him.  "You're such a good friend."  She stayed there for a few moments, scratching the yellow digital monster behind his ears and hugging him as well.  Then, Tsuriai finally stood up again.  She turned her gaze up, her eyes falling in line with a pair of green ones.  They were so full of a quiet yet intense passion.  That was what attracted her to him in the first place.  Slowly, she reached forward and took one of his hands with the arm that had just been restored.  Her eyes never left his.  "Thank you, Cody," she said.  Her voice was soft and shy.  For a few minutes, the two of them stood there, frozen as she held his hand and smiled at him.  But then their moment came to an end.

"Yea!" Armadillomon and Rakunamon cheered.  The two digimon were dancing in circles, celebrating and carrying on.

Tsuriai brought her hands up to her mouth and giggled.  It felt so good to be happy again after such an emotional night.  Then she dropped to her knees and dove into the middle of their dance.  "Come here, you two," she laughed, chasing after two Rookie-level digimon.  In the dark sky, sparkling stars watched as two humans and two digimon played along the shore of the lake.

Scene 6

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