By

Sara Gibson

* * *

~~~ Sunemon's P.O.V. ~~~

As you know, my mistress Queen Sonomi isn't even a Digi queen at all, but just a poor lost Digidestined who has been taken in by darkness. I finally got to show off my champion form, KiSunemon and tried to reason with Sonomi as best I could, but when she refused to come to her sences I sadly had to turn to more drastic measures. Beleive me, I didn't enjoy having to fight with my Digidestined like that, but what else could I do? Just after I got the locket away from Sonomi and back into the hands of it's rightfull owner, it started to reatct emedietly and the Digi princess was finally restored to her true form. She used her magic ring to suck the evil from Sonomi - er, Samee rather and she was finally back to normal, eccept I think she may have lost her memory. That's another story though. Anyway with the Queen's hold on the Digital world, gone all spells were being broken, including the one she put on the Digi Palace. Her old ugly castle crumbled into the sea and the real Digi palce was at last brought back from it's wattey banishment and restored to it's full and former glory. Well, you'd think this adventure would be over, but according to Piximon we aren't done yet. At least this time we'll all be fighting it togeather, as it was meant to be.

* * *

Samee glanced around the clearing they had stopped in as Piximon turned to them, flying in place as he spoke. “Digidestined.” He said it far more seriously than he normally was, hovering for a moment before he began to moved back and forth before them. “I am afraid that I must be the one to tell you. There is another evil, greater even than the Digimon Queen.” Samee’s eyes fell to the ground, she felt terrible about what had happened even though she had only scattered memories of it. It was still all her fault, but Jenn, Jenn had said that…

“Well, what’s the ‘evil’ like?” Jenn asked, staring fixedly at Piximon. Samee looked up as the other girls voice brought her back to the present.

“That’s the thing…” He paused and said rather embarrassed, his eyes closed and an apologetic smile spreading across his face, “No one has seen it yet.”

The Digidestined sweat dropped. “You mean were fighting blind?” Skye asked, looking down at Magimon for support.

“More or less.” Piximon replied, the smile still spread crossways on his face.

Magimon nodded, “It’s a bit more difficult that way.”

“A bit, yes.” Was Piximon’s reply.

“Well, where is it?” Lexxy tried a new approach. Even if they didn’t know what it was, they might know where it was.

“Erm…. about that….” Piximon began, turning toward Lexxy when she finished.

“Let me guess, ‘no one knows’ right?” Jenn asked glancing at Lexxy for a moment.

“Yes.” Piximon replied with a nod.

“Are you sure?” Foximon asked, raising an ear toward the Digimon trainer.

“I am sure,” He said, “Would you doubt my word, if so maybe more training is in order…”

“No!” they all said simultaneously.

“I mean…” Jenn said, “We should concentrate on the problem at hand right?” She nodded and the others followed suite.

“So, let’s get this straight.” Danni said, “We don’t know what it is, or where it is, or even if it’s a Digimon or a human?”

Piximon nodded, “Yes, yes, that’s right.”

“But then…” Kristina began, but was cut off by Piximon.

“Oh, it’s there, it is.” He grinned slightly.

“Oh grand.” Tania said, pulling her hat down slightly, “Another wild goose chase.”

“What do you mean ‘another’?” Emily asked, “We found the castle and…. we found it didn’t we?” She said, glancing at Samee quickly and then turning back to Tania.

“Alright then, oh grand, a wild goose chase.” She replied, more as a correction than an attempt to be sarcastic.

“No, no goose, whatever a goose is, it is an evil,” Piximon replied, looking at her rather annoyed, “It is there, we just do not know what ‘it’ is.”

Jenn sighed and looked at the mansion at the top of the stairs they were standing near the bottom of. “Well, we didn’t know where the castle was before did we?” She said, by way of a pep-talk. A chorus of no’s replied, “But we still managed to find it didn’t we?” Yeah was the general reply. “So this is the same basic concept right?”

“I guess.” Tania said, turning to Emily, “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” Emily said simply.

“So… Let’s just do it.” Jenn said, smiling at the others. She was starting to get the hang of being the leader.

“I guess we should be glad we’re still here huh?” Lexxy said, her frown changing to a slight grin. “I’m in then.”

“I guess I am too.” Cunnomon said.

“Of course you are.” Lexxy said.

Cunnomon stuck out his tongue and Lexxy smacked him in the back of the head. “Oww!” He said, rubbing his head with his paw, “That hurt!”

“Good!” Lexxy said.

“We’ll go too.” Alex said.

“And us!” Emily replied.

“It’s settled then?” Jenn said to a sea of nods. She smiled and turned to Piximon, “We’ll do it then!”

Piximon smiled at them, “Good, now you must rest, we must train tomorrow!” This comment began a tide of tired moans and groans. “Now now, up the stairs we go.” He said cheerfully. “This way Digidestined!” He said excitedly, turning and leading them toward the steps to the mansion above them. They all sighed and began to follow slowly, in no hurry to climb those stairs.

As they began to file up the stairs Samee stopped Jenn by tapping on her shoulder with her pointer finger. “Uh, Jenn…” She paused, glancing around, “I was wondering if I could talk to you?”

“Of course Samee, there a problem?” Jenn asked, turning to the other girl.

She glanced around again, “When I snapped out of…. Well, you said I was one of your best friends, what did you mean by that exactly?”

Jenn just smiled and said simply, “Well you are, I wasn’t going to lie or anything.”

Samee frowned, feeling more ashamed then ever. She felt bad enough about all the problems she had caused let alone not remembering her own friends.

Jenn looked at the other girl and paused for a moment, then grinned and said, “Hey, how about you and Sunemon help us fight the new baddy!?”

Samee looked at the redhead as she smiled encouragingly, “Well, I don’t think we will…” Jenn’s grin faded quickly. “Don’t take that the wrong way. But, well, I just don’t think it’s a good idea right now…”

“I understand.” Jenn said, smiling again and placing a reassuring hand on Samee’s shoulder, “Don’t worry about it ok?” She knew Samee needed to figure things out alone, and she didn’t seem comfortable around the rest of the Digidestined, not to mention Sunemon.

Jenn turned and followed the distant backs of the others, leaving Samee alone. “I’m sorry, really I am.” She muttered to the redhead’s back. She turned the other way and walked toward the other side of the clearing.

“Samee….?”

Samee turned around and saw Sunemon standing where Jenn had been. “Sunemon…” She paused, “What is it?”

“Samee…” Sunemon glanced at the ground then back at Samee, “I want to go with you.” She said quickly.

“Sunemon…” She smiled slightly. “Sunemon, you’re a great friend,” Sunemon smiled and her ears perked up slightly. “But… I think it would be better if you stayed here and helped Jenn and the others.” At the word ‘but’ Sunemon’s smile had faded and her ears drooped again. “Alright?”

Sunemon nodded, affixing the smile to her face again, “If you want me to stay Samee, then I’ll stay.”

“Thank you Sunemon.” Samee said, smiling. Sunemon nodded and watched as Samee walked across the clearing and disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

Sunemon walked behind the others, staring at the stone steps as they went up them.

“Hey Jenn…” Lexxy said when Jenn caught up to her.

“Huh?” Jenn asked, glancing up from the steps and watching the others climbing behind them.

“Where did Samee go?” She finished.

“Samee…” Jenn paused as the others looked at her questioningly, “She just needs some time to herself right now.” She replied, turning to look up the stairs as she went.

Foximon and Huntermon glanced at one another and stopped to allow Sunemon to catch up to them. As she dragged her paws slowly past them they started walking on either side of her and smiling, “Sunemon, are you ok?” Foximon said quietly. Sunemon just lifted her head and looked at the other Digimon.

“Hey, we Digimon Foxes need to stick together ya’ know.” Huntermon said with a smile as Sunemon turned to look at her. She didn’t smile or nod, or even move, she just walked a little faster, leaving the two Digimon to look at one another.

“Here we are.” Piximon said, opening the door of the mansion for them.

* * *

Samee walked slowly through the darkness under the trees, following a small path that Piximon had worn into the grass. On either side of the path were hundreds of trees that were growing close together, making her feel like she was walking through a hallway. She glanced up for a moment, deciding to follow the path for a while longer. As she went she began to speak out loud, not realizing that she was, “Who am I?” She said, “I mean, they all call me Samee, even Sunemon, but is that really who I am… or do I just look like her?” She looked around again quickly, “And how did I get here? And how did that… thing posses me?” She paused, stopping for a moment, “It’s all my fault that all of those terrible things happened to all of those Digimon, weather I was possessed or not, I should have fought, or not listened, or something….” She had begun walking again but stopped once more as she said, “It’s all my fault.”

For an hour she walked, talking to herself about how it was ‘all her fault’ when she saw a pool of water. She stepped off the path and walked toward it, sitting on her knees and looking into it. She saw her reflection and muttered quietly, “Who am I?”

“Don’t you know?” An elderly voice asked.

She turned quickly, half expecting to be attacked. What she saw was a large tree holding a cane and smiling at her form under a mustache made of leaves.

Samee paused, this felt like it had happened before, “Do I know you?” She asked the tree who stopped smiling and thought for a while.

“I don’t think so…. My name is Cherrymon. It is nice to meet you.” He replied, the smile appearing again.

She looked at him questioningly, she didn’t like this but spoke anyway. “They call me Samee.” ‘They’ were Jenn and the others. “You’re a Digimon right?”

Cherrymon smiled wider, “Yes.” he looked at her seriously, “And you are the once proud Digimon queen.”

“How did you….?” Samee began.

“Tell me, why did you give up such great power so easily?” Cherrymon continued, still smiling.

Samee paused, opening her mouth and closing it again. then she spoke, “I don’t want anything to do with those powers, they have too high a price.” She retorted, frowning at the Digimon. she thought to herself, did they really?

Cherrymon just continued to smile, “Look into the water again child.” He said.

“Why should I?” Samee asked, not too sure about anything at the moment.

“It’s just a suggestion, you don’t have to young one.” Cherrymon replied.

Samee slowly turned back around and looked into the water, she saw herself, then she saw something happen, and there was Queen Sonomi. Samee’s eyes widened and she began to see herself torturing Koromon and caging Tsunomon and destroying an entire village of Gemon, killing and hurting hundreds of defenseless Digimon. She saw large battles against hundreds of different foes, her Digi demons destroying them all, leaving nothing in her wake.

“GAH!!! NOO!!!!! Why are you showing me this!? Haven’t I suffered enough guilt!?” She cried out, turning away from what she saw.

Cherrymon smiled and continued to project mages of past tortures and killings into her mind. “No! Stop it…. please!” Samee said, covering her ears and crying as she fell over. Cherrymon only smiled until suddenly…

“Cherrymon, stop this now.” A voice said, coming from the girl that was laying on the ground before him. The small clearing that surrounded the pool grew darker, large clouds of black mist beginning to appear. Cherrymon stared at the clouds and then looked back at the girl as he continued to project the images. He took a step back when Samee floated up, standing as her feet hit the ground. She reached for her long sword which appeared on her belt and unsheathed it, glaring at Cherrymon.

“Q… qu…. queen Sonomi…. I… I didn’t…” Sonomi swung and sliced the champion in half, as he tried to stutter an apology.

Sonomi watched until he was nothing but pixels then fell to her knees, holding onto her face. “My god….” Samee said as she regained control, “I… I did it again!” She cried loudly. She began to cry, tears rolling down her nose as she stared blankly at the ground. “How?” She said angrily, “How could you do that!?” there was no answer but she continued, “I didn’t want to kill him!!! I didn’t have the right no matter what he did!!” She let the hand that had been covering her face fall to the ground, then curled it into a fist tight enough for the finger nails to cut into her palm as she pounded on the grass, “I’m not the Digimon Queen!!! I don’t want these powers!! I shouldn’t be able to make that sword appear anymore!!!! I can’t still have the powers!!! I can’t…” She paused, her fist uncurling slowly. “But I do…” She blinked the rest of the tears back and looked up at the sky, “I won’t do it again!!! I won’t use these powers for evil again! You hear me!? I won’t!!” She fell back onto her hands, breathing heavily. “I… won’t….” She stood up, walking down the path again.

* * *

*Flashback*

Samee was sitting at a desk, in her hand was a pencil and in front of her was a piece of paper. She was drawing something… It was a fox creature, it was familiar, it was Sunemon. As she started to darken the line on the back leg and MSN window appeared on the screen of the computer she was sitting in front of. She put the pencil on the desk and replied to her friend. The screen name on the next message was Mikki….. There was that name again…

She also saw two other names. Skye, and Jenn. They were chatting about something that they called ‘FDD’. The word Digimon kept appearing as they chatted, Samee moved to reply again and began to type, hitting ‘enter’ when she finished. She smiled at the reply.

*End Flashback*

Samee collapsed onto the sand, she stared at the dunes in the distance. “Why can’t I remember…?” she asked the desert, tears causing the sand to stick to her face. There were so many images, and yet she couldn’t seem to bring them into the front of her mind, they simply stayed just out of reach. “Why can’t I remember…..?” She rolled from her side to her back, staring up at the blue sky above her as if she had never seen anything like it before. The sun warmed her skin, making it seem as though she was under a warm blanket. She closed her eyes, relaxing her tired arms and legs, “Maybe, if I don’t think about it, I’ll remember.” Nothing else seemed to have worked. She lay there for a long while, her breathing began to slow to a steady rhythm.

* * *

*Flashback*

Samee was there again, but now there was another girl sitting beside her. Again she recognized the girl. All around them were people, most dressed in strange and oddly colored outfits… it was like Halloween or something….

The girl beside her had brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail and she too wore a costume. She had goggles, a blue headband, a blue t-shirt with two orange stars sewed to the sleeves and a pair of brown shorts. She knew that outfit, but she didn’t know how, or where she had seen it, if only she could remember…

The brown haired girl smiled at her and pulled her off toward a large booth were dolls of different people were hanging from hooks and one had the outfit that she was wearing on. It was a boy doll and the girl bought one, handing the money to the man behind the counter. Samee smiled when the girl turned and said, “Look, we’re twins!” She smiled widely as Samee shook her head and laughed.

Samee turned her head and saw a sign, “Ice-cream!!” She said, pulling the other girl across a large pathway of people. They walked along with their food and a voice from above said something, she only heard half of it, “Hello and welcome to the….. anime convention……. fun today!”

Samee looked down and saw she was in normal clothes but she seemed to be having a great time as well. She smile at the other girl as they continued to walk, running toward another booth.

*End Flashback*

Samee opened her eyes quickly, a choice she regretted. She shielded her eyes by squinting as she realized she was in a sandstorm. She turned over and folded her arms on the ground, placing her face on them so that her eyes were covered. After a long while of her attempting to shield herself the sand stopped flying and she prepared to move. She tried to push herself up and couldn’t, she was buried.

She began to dig with her hands, pushing the sand back into the hole her body had made as she went. When she reached the end her hand stuck out of the sand and she coughed as some of it fell onto her. From the other side of the thin barrier of sand something grabbed her hand and pulled her the rest of the way out, letting her go when she had herself clear of the hole. “Are you ok?” A voice asked.

She opened her mouth to speak but only seemed able to cough. After a while she finally spoke, “I’m not really sure at this point…” She blinked a few times to try and get some of the sand out of her eyes and saw the Digi-Princess smiling down at her. “Skye…?” She asked.

The princess ran her hand across Samee’s cheek and looked into her eyes, smiling again, “You will find your way soon enough.” the princess vanished as a bright light appeared and disappeared quickly. Samee lay where she was for a long while, then she said quietly, “What just happened…?” She looked around and saw no one anywhere around, and she stood up, trying to loosen the sand from her ears and hair.

She reached up to shake out her hair and her hand hit a string that hung about her neck. She looked down and saw a tag hanging over her shirt. Inside was a dark purple crest, she knew what it was, it was the crest of Patents… She realized then that she was a Digidestined, she knew she would remember eventually… She would remember everything, her friends, family, and more important, her life….

She didn’t move for a while, then turned and looked at the forest in the distance, that was where she needed to be. She had to meet the others, she just knew she did. It was strange, it was almost as if, “I can sense you, here…” She said, thinking of the Digi-Princess. She looked at the trees again and started walking, “I’m ready, for whatever I meet.”