Present: The Digital World

"They're no where in sight!" Cody grumbled between clenched teeth.  His heart pounded in his chest with anxiety as he worried about his friends and looked out for more enemies.  When he spoke, the human boy could feel a lump form in his throat.  They were in the middle of yet another battle in this war against some kind of viral infestation of the Digital World.  And, at that very moment, his friends, TK, Kari, and Tsuriai, along with their digimon partners were prisoners of war.  It was up to Cody and his Mega-level digimon to track and rescue them.  "What do we do, Vikemon?" the dark-haired boy asked, feeling helpless and searching for any answers that would help.

"Don't worry, Cody," rumbled the low, reverberating voice of the viking digimon.  He and his Digi-Destined partner had finally come to the edge of the forest where the land gave way to a flat meadow along its border.  "I'll find them."  Then the goliath digital monster tossed his head back, shooting his nose up into the air.

*sniff, sniff*

"Do you smell them?" the boy asked urgently.

"Hmmm..." Vikemon narrowed his eyes.  He lifted his hefty arm and pointed a finger ahead.  "They went that way," he answered.

The green-eyed boy furrowed his brow and shouted down, "Then let's go after them!"

Vikemon did exactly as he was told and took off through the meadow, flattening tall grass and soil as he went.  He, too, was anxious to find and save his friends from the menacing clutches of the Viral Agents.  But something bothered him.  "But they're up in the sky," Vikemon informed his human partner.  "Even if we catch up with them, I can't fight them in the air."

"And Patamon and Gatomon can't digivolve," Cody remembered.  He and Tsuriai had discovered two digivices crumbled into bits and pieces at the campsite.  "That just leaves us and Veric to rescue them."

"But Majutsumon isn't a Mega-level digimon," Vikemon added.  "Which means he can't defeat all those Viral Agents.  As it is, he's having trouble sustaining the power he needs to remain at his Ultimate level."

Cody's lips tightened in a mix of emotions ranging from anger to frustration to fear and to worry.  The odds were most definitely not in their favor.  His friends had been kidnapped and they needed his help.  But what could he do with just one Mega-level digimon against all those powerful Viral Agents?  The dark-haired boy thought about each one of his friends.  Kari, the holder of the Crest of Light, always bringing goodness to life with her smile and compassion.  TK, who keeps the Crest of Hope and forever inspires strength of heart even through the darkest of times.  And then there was Tsuriai, the child born of Light and Hope, the Digi-Destined of Harmony.  They're counting on me, Cody spoke sadly to himself, feeling helpless and lost.  He didn't know what to do.  But THEY would know exactly what to do, he realized, thinking about his friends.  They always had an answer even for the most difficult of questions.  And that answer was always to keep going.  Good would eventually persevere.

Now the young man's eyes started to light with a new fire in his soul.  "It doesn't matter how bad things look, Vikemon," Cody said.  "We're not giving up!"

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Majutsumon hugged Tsuriai tighter to his body.  "Hold on to me, Suri!" he warned her.  The blonde girl lifted her arms and covered her head while she hid her face in her digimon's chest.  All of a sudden, the sorcerer digimon came to an abrupt halt.  He hovered in the sky, his eyes powerful and his robes dancing in the wind.  The Viral Agent was coming straight for him with an unyielding desire to kill.  As Majutsumon called upon one of his attacks, a warm light started to glow around him.

Wall of Illusion!

With a wave of his staff, the Ultimate-level digimon generated a glimmering barrier in front of him and the human girl he carried.

**Boom!**

The Viral Agent slammed into an invisible barricade.  "AAARRRRRHHHH!!!!!!" it whined and shrieked.  With all its limbs, the vile creature scratched and pounded at the unseen obstruction.

"Uuuuggghhhhh..." Majutsumon moaned.  He held fast to his human partner with one arm and held his magical staff in front of him with the other.  As the Agent beat relentlessly on his barrier, his staff began to quiver and his body started to fade in and out.

"Oh!" Tsuriai gasped.  "Veric!" she cried.  "What's wrong?"  She could see in his face that he was in unspeakable pain.  It was all he could do to keep his eyes open and his staff up.

"I...can't...stay like this..." he managed to get out between clenched teeth.  He was using all the strength he could find just to hold on to her and maintain the fortified wall that protected them.

Tsuriai looked up into those brown-sugar eyes so full of expression.  She could see in them everything her digimon and best friend was thinking and feeling.  And what she saw now was pain, both physical and emotional.  She could tell he was hurting.  But, just when she was getting lost in his sorrowful gaze, she saw something flicker in his eyes.

"We have to Fusion Digivolve," Majutsumon demanded out of no where.

The blonde girl was taken aback.  "What?"  An overwhelming dread washed over her as memories of her past Fusion Digivolutions flashed in her mind's eye.  "N...n...no!" she shook her head wildly.  Tears suddenly welled up in her burgundy eyes.  "I can't!"

"You have to!" Majutsumon argued.  "Or we'll never get out of this!  I don't have enough power to do this by myself!"

Tsuriai's lip quivered, her heart pounding.  "But you'll die!" she cried.  "Just like Leomon and Centaurumon!"  Her red eyes peered up into those of her digimon.  "I can't lose you," she pushed.  "It'll be my fault!"

All of a sudden, the sound of breaking glass startled both of them.  The Viral Agent was crashing through the invisible wall.

"There's no time to waste," the sorcerer digimon furrowed his brow.  Majutsumon knew he wasn't going to win this argument about Fusion Digivolving, so he came up with another idea.  "We have to get out of here."  

Then, with the arm that held his Digi-Destined partner, Majutsumon slid his hand along her back until it came to the glider pack attached to her Remote Body Suit.  Gently, he placed his glowing hand on the metallic device and summoned yet another of his formidable powers.

Morpheus Corpus!

Instantly, the metal wings of Tsuriai's extreme sports uniform began to change shape.  As a bright light enveloped the glider pack, loose feathers danced in the gusting winds.  "Oh!" Tsuriai took her breath in.  She swung her head from side to side, craning her neck to get a look at her glider wings.  In a matter of seconds, they weren't glider wings anymore.  Majutsumon had transformed them into real wings, like those of an angel.  "My wings...!" Tsuriai breathed in disbelief.

The Viral Agent punched his lanky arm through, shattering pieces of the illusory wall Majutsumon had created.  With every hit, the Ultimate-level digimon became weaker, his body fading in and out.  Suddenly, a hissing screech pierced their ears.  The Viral Agent had finally broken through and was headed straight for the blonde human and the Ultimate-level digimon who protected her.

"Suri!" Majutsumon gasped.  Instinctively, he brought her in closer to him, covering her head with his strong arms.

"WAAAAHHH!!!!" the girl screamed.  She was frozen with fear.  But then, something amazing happened.  "Huh?" her eyes suddenly got wide.  The Viral Agent that was diving for them was unexpectedly intercepted by something else.  A mass of icy daggers and forceful winds overtook the black monster, sending it careening through the sky and toward the ground below.

Majutsumon hovered in the air, his eyes sparkling with hope when he saw a welcome sight.  "It's Vikemon!" he cheered.  "And Cody!"

Below them, a colossal furry giant and a tiny human waved.  The Mega-level digimon had finally found them and sent the only attack he had that could help his friends.  His Arctic Blizzard slammed into the Viral Agent that threatened Majutsumon and Tsuriai, knocking it off course and causing it to tumble through the air and to the ground where Vikemon waited with eager zeal.

Majutsumon waved his staff to demonstrate his gratitude.  Now he and his human partner could attend to other matters.  "Alright, Suri," the Ultimate-level digimon gave a firm nod.  "Let's go get your parents."

Tsuriai liked the sound of that.  "Yeah!"  Then, with her new magical wings, the blonde girl took a place beside her digital monster and the two of them flew through the air after TK and Kari.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Viking Axe!

Cody desperately hung on to his digimon as Vikemon proceeded to pummel the Viral Agent that had attacked Tsuriai and her digimon.  From his perch high on the Mega-level digimon's head, he could see Majutsumon struggling to find the power he needed.  He was having trouble just keeping his form, let alone fighting an enemy and protecting his human partner.

While Vikemon continued to beat on the Viral Agent, Cody sat in deep thought, musing over all the unanswered questions swimming through his mind.  One in particular bothered him most.  "What's wrong with Veric?" he asked himself, thinking out loud.  "He's disappearing just like he and Suri were last night!"

Memories of the night before flashed through his mind.  He and Armadillomon discovered Tsuriai and Rakunamon alone by the lake, parts of their bodies fading in and out!  Cody couldn't believe what he was seeing, but, after Veric explained what was happening, it all made sense.  The raccoon digimon and his human partner had just discovered that afternoon that TK and Kari, who are supposed to be Suri's parents from the future, may not be getting together at all!  Which would mean Tsuriai would never be born and Veric would never be created.  Their existence would cease all together!

Arctic Blizzard!

But when Cody and Armadillomon finally convinced the blonde girl and her unique digimon companion that they needed to keep fighting for their way home, the disappearing episodes stopped...at least until Veric tried to digivolve to a higher level.  It seemed that all they needed was hope and reassurance.  But now, when they needed more power, hope wasn't enough.

But after a few moments, the boy came up with something.  "That's it!" Cody yelled.  All of a sudden, pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit together.  "Suri and Veric are disappearing because their future is disappearing.  But when they started to believe in what they were fighting for, it all stopped."  His green eyes danced with the comprehension he sought.  "But if things keep going the way they are, and Kari and TK never get together or if something happens to them, then Suri is fighting for a lost cause because her future won't exist anyway.  That's why Veric can't keep his Ultimate level even though they've renewed their strength!"

Finally, Vikemon gave the last blow and the Agent was destroyed.

Viking Axe!

"So what do we do now, Cody?" the giant digital monster's voice bellowed.  Vikemon looked up to the sky, eyeing two figures flying through the air, catching up with a few more Viral Agents.

"Follow them!" the dark-haired boy answered.  "Keep them in our sights."  He knew what had to be done and his mind was set.  "We have to get to Kari and TK!"

Scene 8

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