Disclaimer: Okay...I'm out of witty disclaimers. I shall have to consult 
my "Idiot's Guide to Witty Disclaimers" manual before I come up with any 
others. Here's part seven in the mean time. Since Kari seems to be 
having such a conniption over the face that I have taken so long to post 
the next chapter *anywhere*...I decided to combine what was originally 6 
and 7 into this one, so I can get to 8 sooner. Kari, you happy now?? ~_^ 
So here is super-long chapter 7. Enjoy!




Games of the Mind *Chapter Seven*




"Tai?" 

Pipermon's eyelids twitched. 

"Tai, where are you?" 

She opened her eyes, rapidly blinking away sleep as she heard Sora's 
worried voice, calling out for her lost friend. 

Right on time, she thought, and stretched her arms up over her head. She 
looked down at Tai, who was still sound asleep beside her. 

"Kamiya-san," she said softly, shaking his shoulders, "Kamiya-san, wake 
up." She grinned when she heard him groggily mumble something along the 
lines of "just five more minutes..." 

"Come on, Mophead," she said a little louder, poking him in the ribs, 
"wake up, your friends are looking for you." 

He mumbled something indecipherable, then slowly sat up, stretching his 
arms. He blinked, and spun back to Pipermon. 

"What time is it?" he asked, sounding worried. 

Pipermon looked up at the sky. 

"About ten-thirty, I would guess," she replied. "Why?" 

She saw his shoulders slump. 

"It didn't work," he mumbled, angry and disappointed. 

"What didn't work?" 

Tai shook his head. 

"Nothing," he said, "nevermind." 

He scowled. Koushiro had been wrong, the blindness hadn't fixed itself 
overnight like he had said it might. Although, Tai never really believed 
it would... He sighed and shook his head again. Pipermon stood up and 
stretched again, arching her back. She glanced down at Tai, who was 
still sitting on the ground, his hands on his ankles. She blinked. 

"Come on, Kamiya-san," she said, leaning down to take his arm. "Come on, 
I'm sure they're all worried about you." She pulled him to his feet-- 

--and his knees gave out from under him. He pitched forward with a yelp, 
and Pipermon caught him under the arms. 

"Whoa, whoa, careful, easy," she chided, gripping his upper arms. She 
looked at him questioningly. "Are you okay?" 

Tai managed to get his bearings, and quickly pulled away from her. 

"Yeah," he said, a little startled by how woozy he suddenly felt. "Yeah, 
I'm fine, I guess I'm just not totally awake yet." He laughed nervously 
and put one hand behind his head. 

Pipermon didn't believe him, but she decided not to bother him about it. 
He would tell her if he wanted to, it wasn't her place to pry. She ran 
her fingers through her hair and pulled it up into her signature twin 
ponytails. 

"Come on," she said again, tugging his sleeve, "I heard their voices 
this way."




"Tai! Tai, can you hear me?" 

Sora cupped her hands around her mouth and called out again. 

"TAI?" 

Her shoulders sagged. 

It's useless, she thought, we'll never find him in this accursed forest. 

Yamato, walking beside her, noticed the slump in Sora's shoulders. He 
reached out and reassuringly squeezed her forearm. She looked up at him. 

"Don't worry, Sora," he said with a smile, "I'm sure he'll turn up. 
We'll find him...we always have before." 

She smiled, feeling a little better. 

Yama cupped his hands around his mouth. 

"Tai!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the trees. "Tai, where are 
you?"




Pipermon peeked out from behind a tree and beamed at what she saw. 

Seven children. 

Lost and forlorn as they looked, those seven children were the sweetest 
sight she could have imagined. It appeared that they had run into some 
old friends during the hours of the morning, as a handful of new digimon 
now accompanied the children. Along with Tai's Agumon, Pipermon now 
counted a Gabumon, a Patamon, a Gatomon, a Tentomon, a Gomamon, a 
Palmon, and a Biyomon. She stepped out into the clearing, and waved one 
hand above her head, signaling to the group. 

"Yamato-san!" she called. "Izumi-san! Over here!" 

All the children turned at the sound of her voice. 

"Pipermon," Yamato said softly, as though he were convincing himself she 
really existed. He broke into a run. "Pipermon!" he shouted, and the 
others ran after him. Pipermon stood in the clearing and hesitated, a 
little unsure what to think...all seven other children were sprinting in 
her direction, Yamato at the front of the group. Eight digimon followed 
the children in close pursuit. 

"Where is he?" Yamato demanded before he had even stopped running. He 
slid to an abrupt halt at Pipermon’s feet, then reached up and grabbed 
the neckline of her unitard, pulling her face down close to his. "Where 
is he?" he shouted, and she turned her face away from his accusation. 
"What have you done with him?" 

"What are you talking about?" she cried, wrapping her fingers around 
Yamato's wrists. "Done with who?" 

"With Tai," he growled, "what have you done with Tai??" He shook her. 
"Where IS he?" 

"I'm right here, Yama," Tai said, stepping out from behind the tree. 

"Tai!" Yama shouted, and tossed Pipermon backward. She squeaked in 
surprise and stumbled back a few steps, then stood up straight and 
folded her arms over her chest. She scowled at Yamato and stuck her 
tongue out at his back. 

"Ungrateful, accusing little brat," she grumbled under her breath. "Next 
time I'll think twice before shoving YOU out of the way of any temporal 
vortexes..." 

She watched in bemusement as Yama proceeded to grab Tai by the shoulders 
and shake them gently, like he was making sure Tai was really there. 

"Tai, you...you're okay!" Yama said, his blue eyes wide. 

"Well, of COURSE he's okay," Pipermon scoffed, throwing her arms up in 
the air, "what did you THINK I was gonna do, EAT him?" 

"Tai!" 

Yama jumped back as Kari rushed forward and threw her arms around her 
brother's waist, burying her face in his shirt. "I'm so glad you're 
okay," she said, "we were so worried about you!" 

Tai stroked her hair. 

"About me?" he said laughingly. "You know better than that." 

Kari pulled back when Sora walked up behind her. She stepped aside as 
Sora hugged Tai's arm close to her and lay her forehead against his 
shoulder, relieved beyond words to see him alive. 

"Sora?" he questioned. She had forgotten that he couldn't even see her, 
and blushed, stepping away quickly. 

"Tai...I'm...really glad you're safe," she said haltingly. "You...you 
really had us worried." 

"I'm fine, guys," he assured them all, smiling. He lifted his head and 
turned his face toward Yamato. "Pipermon really came through," he 
continued pointedly. "She kept an eye on me last night." 

Yamato was surprised. 

"She did?" he choked out. 

Tai nodded. 

"Yeah, she did," he said, and Pipermon felt her face flush crimson. She 
stepped back, jumped up into the air, then sat down primly on a tree 
branch nearby. Tai frowned as he continued, "I think we all owe her a 
big apology, you guys. She could have easily left me on my own last 
night, but she didn't. That's proof enough for me that her intentions 
are good." 

Yama scowled, and silently folded his arms over his chest, turning away. 
Kari blinked, and slowly walked toward the tree where Pipermon had taken 
up roost. She stood beneath the branch and peered up at the digimon. 

"Pipermon, Tai's right," the young girl said, "we DO owe you an 
apology..." 

Sora stepped up beside Kari, her hands clasped near her chest. 

"We misjudged you, Pipermon," she said. "If what he says is true, then 
Tai may very well owe you his life." 

Yama grit his teeth and sighed. He glanced back over his shoulder. 

"We're...we're sorry, Pipermon," he said stiffly, turning back to face 
them. He clenched and unclenched his fists. "We were...we were wrong 
about you, and we're sorry." He looked at her, and stared into her blue 
eyes. "We won't doubt you again." 

Pipermon took a deep breath and looked down at the branch upon which she 
was perched. 

Those were the exact words she should have wanted to hear...so why did 
she suddenly feel as though she had been punched in the stomach? She 
wanly hopped down from the branch, landing softly on the ground. 

"Well," she said, "shall we get going, then?" 

"Wait a second," Kari said, "you haven't met the rest of our digimon 
yet." 

"Oh, yeah," Agumon said. He turned to Tai. "Tai, along the way here, we 
ran across the rest of the digimon we were missing." 

Tai grinned. 

"That's great," he said, "it'll be a lot safer going with everyone's 
digimon here." 

"Especially since I can't digivolve," Agumon added, sounding very small. 

"I've been thinking, Agumon," Izzy began. 

"This is news?" Koushiro's Tentomon quipped. Ignoring his insectlike 
companion's remark, Izzy knelt down beside Agumon and held out his 
digivice, still glowing a bright violet light. 


"You see how my digivice is glowing?" Izzy asked. Agumon nodded. Izzy 
turned. "Tai, hold out your digivice." 

Tai fumbled for a moment as he tried to remember which pocket he had 
stuck the digivice in. Upon finding it, he pulled his hand out of his 
pocket and held the device up in the palm of his hand. 

"Okay," he said. 

Standing up, Izzy took the digivice from Tai's hand and held it down for 
Agumon to see. 

"You see how Tai's digivice glows so much fainter than mine?" he asked 
the reptilian creature. Agumon nodded again. Izzy stood up, and dropped 
the digivice back into Tai's palm. "I believe," Izzy said, "that’s the 
reason you can't digivolve. In the same way you cannot digivolve if you 
and Tai are separated, neither can you digivolve if something happens to 
him or to the digivice that should impede their output level." 

Biyomon looked over at Izzy. 

"So, you mean if something should happen to any of you kids," she asked, 
blinking her large blue eyes, "that person's digimon would have to 
remain at its current state of evolution until their human was 
restored?" 

"Exactly." 

Tai scowled at Izzy's logic. Unfortunately, it made sense. 

"That's just fabulous," he muttered bitterly. 

Kari took his hand. 

"Don't worry, Tai," she said sweetly, "we'll figure out how to fix you." 
He smiled weakly at his sister. Kari turned back to Pipermon and 
proceeded to rattle off introductions of everyone else's digimon. 
"Guys," she went on, grinning at her Gatomon, "this"--she gestured--"is 
Pipermon." 

Patamon blinked his bright blue eyes rapidly, and protectively planted 
himself on TK's shoulder. 

"Pipermon?" he echoed. "I THOUGHT it was her..." 

"Isn't she..." Palmon began, twitching her plantlike arms. She tensed 
beside Mimi's leg, ready to attack. 

"She was a servant of Piedmon before he was destroyed," Gabumon 
interrupted, stepping in front of Yamato. 

Gatomon narrowed her large azure eyes and flexed her claws. 

"She's not to be trusted," the catlike digimon hissed. 

"No, no, no, you guys," Kari said, holding her arms out at her sides and 
standing between the skeptical digimon and their target. Pipermon was a 
trifle taken aback by the young girl's spirit. 

"Pipermon is our ally now," Tai told them. "She's been a real big help 
to us. We have to trust her." 

Gatomon wasn't convinced, but stepped back. 

"For now," she said almost inaudibly. "We shall see...her true colors 
will come out in time." 

Pipermon winced. Winning over the other digimon was going to be a task. 
Even if the children were easily fooled, the digimon were more aware of 
her reputation and would be harder to sway. She scowled. This was going 
to be harder than she had first expected. 

Gomamon snickered. 

"What's so funny?" Jyou asked, afraid of what his digimon's answer might 
be. 

The little digimon waved one flipperlike foot. 

"Pipermon," he said, and laughed again. 

Everyone gave him a funny look. 

"Don't you get it?" he asked. Pipermon lifted one purple eyebrow. 
Gomamon giggled some more. "Piedmon...Pipermon..." 

Blank stares. 

"Piedmon...Pipermon..." he went on, not believing the density of his 
human companions, "Pied, Piper...Pied Piper...hah hah...funny..." 

The children all rolled their eyes and slapped their hands across their 
foreheads. 

"Ohh, nevermind..." Gomamon replied, shaking his head hopelessly. 

Pipermon smiled, and started forward. Maybe this wasn't going to be so 
hard after all... 

"Let's get a move on," she said, "it's still early, we can still cover a 
few miles before lunch."










They had walked about a mile and a half before they could stand Mimi's 
whining no longer and decided to stop for lunch. Mimi eagerly dug into 
her purse and fished out the soy sauce and the chopsticks again. Kari 
sat down on the ground, glad to rest her feet. Kari saw Pipermon take up 
her usual perch in a tree branch, watching the group from the treetops. 
Kari frowned as Gatomon flexed her claws again before taking a seat 
beside her. She stared at her digimon quizzically. 

"What's wrong, Gatomon?" she asked. "You look like something's bothering 
you." 

Gatomon twitched her large ears. 

"I don't trust her," she said. 

"Trust who?" Kari asked. "Pipermon?" 

"Something just doesn't add up," Gatomon growled. "Why would she all of 
a sudden want to turn over a new leaf and help us out?" 

Kari gathered the catlike creature into her lap and placed her fingertip 
on the end of Gatomon's nose. 

"You worry too much," she said, winking. 

"Maybe you don't worry enough, and I’m trying to compensate," Gatomon 
grumbled in response, and Kari laughed. She placed Gatomon back on the 
ground, and fidgeted with Tai's goggles on her head. They still slipped 
down. She toyed with the headband in the back and managed to tighten it 
so they fit right. 

"Much better," she said to herself, and her eyes scanned the group of 
children. A smile crossed her face as she watched Jyou attempting to 
make a riceball with Yama's instruction. He failed miserably; his 
riceball looked more like a mutant creme puff, and Gomamon told him so, 
despite Gabumon's attempts to stop him. Mimi was munching away at her 
own food, dousing the riceball in so much soy sauce that Kari was 
certain the salt would cause the older girl's tongue to shrivel up. 
Palmon chided her to go easy on the soy sauce, but Mimi would have none 
of it. Kari laughed when she heard Mimi explain that, "Mom always uses 
three packets of soy sauce per riceball.". Palmon frowned, and her dark 
green eyes narrowed. 

"Mimi," she said after a moment, "I've been meaning to ask you...who is 
Ny?" 

Mimi blinked. 

"What?" she asked, confusion apparent in her voice. 

Palmon gestured at Mimi's shirt. 

"Your shirt," the plantlike creature exlpained, "it says 'I heart Ny'. 
'I love Ny'. You never told me you had a boyfriend." 

Mimi blinked again, looked down at her tee shirt, then threw her head 
back and laughed hysterically. 

"No, no, Palmon," she said between guffaws, "not Ny...N-Y...that stands 
for New York, it says 'I love New York'!" 

Palmon was a trifle confused by all this, considering she had no idea 
what a york was, be it an old one or a new one, but decided it wasn't 
worth the trouble of asking. 

Kari shook her head and turned her gaze to the rest of the children. She 
saw Izzy absently chewing on his own riceball as he pecked at the 
keyboard, Tentomon by his side. TK and Patamon were sharing a 
particularly large riceball, and Tai and Agumon were arguing over who 
was going to use the last packet of soy sauce. 

It all seemed so normal...who ever would have guessed that eight young 
children would hold the future of two shadow worlds in their juvenile 
hands? But, wait a minute...that was only six others, Kari realized, 
making a total of seven. Who was missing? 

Then Kari's eyes fell on Sora. 

"Sora?" she called softly. 

Sora was still standing in the clearing, alone with her Biyomon in the 
center of the path. She hadn't come to join the other children for 
lunch, she hadn't taken a riceball. In fact, she hadn't moved from where 
the group had been standing when they had agreed to take a break. Kari 
slowly got to her feet and approached Sora. 

"Sora?" she asked again, "are you okay?" She suddenly noticed that the 
air around her had grown silent. The talking, bickering, and all 
conversation otherwise had ceased when the others noticed Sora. The red-
haired girl stood, stoic, silent in the center of the path, her hands at 
her temples as though her head were pounding. Biyomon stood beside her 
human, a silent vigil, unsure of what exactly was going on. The avian 
digimon fluffed her salmon-colored feathers with a frown. 

"Sora, what's wrong?" Biyomon asked. Sora made no attempt to reply, 
rather dropped hard to her knees. 

"Sora!" Kari called, and darted to her friend’s side. "Sora, what's 
happening? What's the matter?" 

Kari felt a presence behind her, and turned to see that the rest of the 
group had instantaneously come to Sora's aide, Tai gripping Agumon's 
shoulders to guide him. 

"Sora!!" Biyomon cried, afraid now. The digimon's eyes welled up with 
frightened tears. "Sora, what's wrong with you? Are you hurt?" 

"My...my head..." Sora managed to groan, pressing her palms against her 
forehead. "It's pounding...pounding...it hurts so much...my god...!" 

Everyone gasped when she leaned forward on her knees and cried out in 
pain, tears springing to her large green eyes, which were squeezed shut 
as an incapacitating agony swept over her. Tai tensed and started to go 
to her side, then looked away, realizing that in his current state, he 
wasn't going to be of much help. He couldn't even see where she was, 
much less see what was wrong with her. Agumon looked up at him as he 
felt Tai's hands slip from their grasp on his shoulders. The digimon 
frowned at the look of torn anger in the boy's face. Tai flinched when 
he heard Sora cry out again, and he clenched his fists, damning his eyes 
for not functioning properly. 

"I've got some Aspirin-free acetaminophen in my duffel," Jyou suggested, 
pushing his glasses up on his nose. 

"What's that?" TK asked. 

"He means Tylenol," Pipermon said, dropping softly to the ground beside 
Takeru, "but I don't think that will do her much good." TK was startled. 
In all the commotion, they had all forgotten about Pipermon. Jyou 
started to ask her how in the world she knew what Tylenol was, but then 
thought it would be better to ask questions AFTER they had figured out 
what had happened to Sora. Biyomon took a step back as Pipermon 
approached Sora and dropped to one knee beside the girl. Placing one 
hand atop her golden auburn hair, Pipermon closed her eyes. After a 
second, she gasped, and quickly drew her hands away as though she had 
been stung. She leapt to her feet. 

Kurarimon... she thought, staring at her hand. Kurarimon...what are you 
doing? 

"Sora, why didn't you ever tell us you got migraines?" Jyou asked, 
attempting to come up with an explanation to her sudden pain. 

"But...I don't," she replied, almost too soft to be heard. "I...I never 
have--" She completed the sentence with another cry of anguish, and Tai 
cringed at the sound of her scream. If only he could see! If only he 
could have done something to help! If only--! 

"Jyou, DO something!" he shouted, throwing his arms in the air. Jyou 
spun to look at Tai. 

"Do what, Tai?" he cried in reply, staring at him. "Dammit, I'm a 
doctor, not a psychic! I dunno what's wrong with her! If she's never 
gotten migraines before--" 

"It's not a migraine," Pipermon interjected sharply, her hand still near 
her face, "it's your enemy." 

"Huh?" 

A startled cry arose from the whole group. 

"You mean the enemy we were brought here to destroy has done something 
to Sora?" Tai demanded, balling his hands into fists. 

Pipermon nodded. 

"There is dark energy all around her," the digimon said, "that’s what 
startled me when I touched her. The enemy's evil powers are strong, and 
somehow the dark energy has gotten into Sora-san and caused this." 

"So what do we do?" Biyomon asked, frowning as Sora pressed her hands 
harder against her forehead. 

Pipermon didn't reply. She knelt down beside Sora again, and leaned 
close to the girl's face. 

"Sora-san, move your hands," she said softly. 

Sora obeyed, slowly drawing her hands away from her face. She looked at 
Pipermon, her eyes squinted in pain, and Pipermon felt a pang of guilt. 
Kurarimon...why are you torturing them like this? she wondered. Pushing 
the thoughts from her mind, Pipermon moved until she was kneeling 
directly in front of Sora. She placed two fingers on Sora's forehead, 
and two from the other hand on her own. 

"What are you doing?" Kari asked softly. She fell silent, however, when 
she heard Pipermon softly begin to chant something. 



"Rains from the Heavens, Winds from the North,
Zephyrs of Mercy, I beg you, come forth;
Rescue this child from agony's clutch,
Free her from pain with mine own healing touch--
Breath of Restoration!"


The children gasped as a breeze that seemingly came from nowhere swirled 
around them. It sparkled as though a million tiny pieces of glitter had 
been scattered throughout it. Pipermon opened her hands, spreading her 
fingers and pressing her right palm up against Sora's forehead, her left 
palm against her own. There was a flash of light, and Pipermon yelped as 
she was thrown backward. Jyou caught her under the arms, and then she 
quickly dove ahead, grabbing Sora's shoulders as the girl slumped 
forward. Biyomon let out a cry as Sora's lifeless form crumpled into 
Pipermon's arms. 

"What'd you do to her?" Yamato demanded, stepping forward. 

"I got rid of her headache," Pipermon snapped back, gently shaking 
Sora's shoulders. "It's a powerful magic spell, so it has a tendency to 
knock the other person unconscious for a minute or so." She lightly 
slapped Sora's cheek with the back of her hand. "Sora-san," she said, 
"Sora-san, wake up." 

Sora moaned, and her eyes flitted open. 

"Huh?" she said, and blinked rapidly. "What...what's going on?" She 
looked up. "Pipermon...wha...?" 

"Feel better?" Pipermon asked, grinning. 

Sora raised one hand to her forehead. 

"The pain is...it's GONE!" she said, amazed. "It's just gone! Just like 
that!" She glanced at the others, then back at Pipermon. "How did you--" 

She was cut off when Pipermon let out a cry and clutched her head. She 
cringed, and seemed to shrink as she dropped to her knees. 

"Pipermon?" Sora gasped, hesitantly taking the digimon's shoulder. "Are 
you all right? What's going on?" 

Pipermon waved off Sora's help. 

"It's a side effect of the spell," she explained, holding her head. "The 
magic draws the ailment from the victim into whoever is casting the 
spell, and the malady is dispelled from there." 

"So you're feeling now what I felt before?" Sora gasped, horrified that 
anyone would put themselves through such pain by choice. 

"It only lasts a moment," Pipermon insisted, "it'll pass..." She 
cringed, and the children and digimon watched in awestruck amazement as 
a black mist rose from Pipermon's body, then exploded into the air, 
dispersing the pain that had stricken both she and Sora. Pipermon 
sighed, and sat down on her knees, running her fingers down her face. 

"That...that was inside me?" Sora choked out, still kneeling on the 
ground. Pipermon nodded at her. Sora looked taken aback. "No WONDER it 
hurt...that certainly didn't look pleasant..." She paused. "Thank you, 
Pipermon." 

Pipermon laughed, and got shakily to her feet. 

"No problem," she said cheerfully. She rotated her shoulders and cracked 
her knuckles. "Wow, I haven't used that spell in a while!" 

"Pipermon, isn't that dangerous?" Mimi asked. "I mean...taking on 
someone else's illness or pain? Can't you get hurt?" 

"Not if you know what you're doing," she replied simply. "It worked 
exactly like it was supposed to, both caster and castee are good as 
new." She smiled. 

"And had something gone wrong," Koushiro said, frowning, "then what?" 

Pipermon's smile faded. 

"Well, I've never HAD it go wrong before," she said, placing her finger 
on her chin. "I hope to keep the winning streak going..." 

Tai stepped forward and held out his hand. 

"Sora," he beckoned. 

She blinked, and took his hand. He pulled her to her feet and squeezed 
her hand. 

"Sora, I'm so happy you're all right," he said softly, wishing he could 
see her. Wishing, more than anything, that he could see them all...even 
for just a moment...he felt as though he had been stumbling through the 
darkness for days, when, in fact, it had only been just over twenty-four 
hours. She smiled at him, even though she knew very well he didn't know 
it. 

"Thanks, Tai," she said, squeezing his hand back. 

"Something still bothers me, though," Jyou said after a moment. Everyone 
turned to look at him. "If the enemy was somehow able to cause this to 
happen to Sora...could he or she not do something like that to ANY of 
us?" 

"Jyou has a point," Tai said, never dropping his hold on Sora's hand. 
"And if that's true...who's next?" 

"And will it be the same thing, or something different?" added Yamato, 
scowling. 

"Will the enemy know what Pipermon can do?" Biyomon chimed in, worried. 
"Will the enemy know that she can foil their plans with her magic?" 

"Will it be something more serious next time?" Kari asked, fear in her 
large brown eyes. 

"Yeah, Sora was okay this time around," Izzy said logically, "but, who's 
to say that whatever happens next time will even be susceptible to 
Pipermon's magic?" 

"Those are questions we'll find the answers to in due time," Pipermon 
replied quickly. "We'll worry about that when the time comes. For now, 
let's keep walking. We've still got a ways ahead of us, and only about 
six hours of daylight left." 

She started forward, again leading the group of children and digimon 
down the path. 





Kurarimon swept her hand across her crystal ball, and the image was gone 
in a swirl of purple haze. 

"Just exactly what do you think you are doing, Little Pipermon?" she 
hissed, tapping her fingertips together. 

"Yeah, who does she think she is?" 

Kurarimon winced at the grating voice. She turned and glared as Ivymon 
continued, "Kurarimon, next time, can WE be the ones to deceive the 
enemies, and beat HER up? How come Pipermon gets to have all the fun, 
and all we get is the crap beat out of us?" 

"Shut up, Ivymon," she snarled, her ruby eyes blazing. "You and Hollymon 
have a job to do, so go get started." 

"Yes, ma'am," Hollymon said quickly, dragging her brother out of the 
room by his long, lionlike tail. 

"Hey, ow, stoppit!" he protested. "Lemme go, I say!" 

Kurarimon put her hand on her forehead and sighed. 

"Why must I be surrounded by such simpletons?" she wondered aloud, 
turning back to her crystal. She waved her hand over it again, and the 
mists swirled, focusing the picture on the little band of travelers. She 
looked at Sora. "You were lucky, Little One," she said, "Pipermon was 
able to save you from my poison..." She moved her hands, and the image 
in the sphere shifted, then zoomed in. She grinned and narrowed her 
eyes. "This one, however," she said softly, stroking the orb and 
laughing quietly to herself, "this one...perhaps will not be so 
fortunate..." 

She threw her head back and cackled as the image smeared and swirled in 
the purple mists. 

"Oh, no," she laughed maniacally, "this time will be different. This 
time...I will be ready..." 

She stood up, and her cape swirled around her ankles as she left the 
chamber, her sinister laughter echoing eerily through the stone walls of 
the old castle.



Don't go away yet, there's still lots more! Okay, minna, gimme some 
feedback here, whaddya think of Pipermon? Is she good? Is she evil? Am I 
convincing you guys? Throw me a bone here... Kay, gotta run...oyasumi 
nasai!!
~~hikari 

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