Just a little note before you read this chapter: it might sound a little
disgusting to you all (in a gory kind of way, not in some other way) and if you
don't like that kind of stuff then you might not want to read it. In addition,
something that I forgot to do before Chapter 1 is a small disclaimer. Pokemon,
Digimon, and their characters never have, are not, and never will be in the
possession of yours truly and they belong to Nintendo, GameFreak and Creatures,
Inc. and whoever made the Digimon show. Thanks for reading this and I hope
you'll follow this story to the end.

Chapter 2


	White and black tongues threw themselves out, lashing at everything in
existence, from the portal that the destined humans were supposedly going to
enter. The flashing lights burned viciously into Sora's eyes, but she refused to
turn away, and she then fearlessly stepped into the portal, not having any clue
as to where she was headed. Instinctively, Matt followed her in as if they
weren't to be separated, making a headlong dive into where Sora had disappeared
into, something that no one could have ever expected. Ash was left with Misty
and Vesper, and the best friends entered together with hands clasped around each
other's, and Vesper outlined the warping device with his finger before going in
himself. If how it had appeared wasn't mysterious enough, as he vanished into
the blackness the gateway just sealed itself up, not even leaving its trace of
sheer existence behind in its wake.

	Auspiciously, Sora's foot landed on the same plane as the previous floor was
on, so it didn't seem at all bad when the darkened room transformed into another
darkened place when she passed through the gate. She turned to watch Matt's
hands rapidly coming through, followed by the rest of his body, which
accidentally tackled Sora to the ground, landing on the soft dirt on top of her.
He quickly tore off an apology to Sora, assisting her advent to a vertical
position, and peered back through the portal, making way for Ash and Misty to
appear without performing the same collision action as a certain someone.
Vesper, the eldest despite his young being, brought up the rear of the trek to a
completely different world, and his enigmatic entranceway to this foreign place
dissolved behind his back, much to the astonishment of the adolescents. He
revealed his jewel, which provided light to a certain distance for the five to
be visibly able, and he suggested the others did the same, which brightened the
mood and the landscape around them.

	"All right everyone, now that you're here our plan of attack shall be
discussed," he said semi-formally, shocking everyone but Ash, who seemed to be
not paying any attention, so Misty smacked him in the head to bring him back to
reality. He quickly regained himself by flashing an expression as if he'd been
intently listening to every word the entire time, but he gave up when four
puzzled gazes met his phony one. "As I was saying, the plan of attack is to
directly enter the black tower about a mile from here, for if you look about a
mile east, you might spot its apex." Shielding her eyes from any foreign lights,
Misty's glare eventually did spot a shade of a sable-painted building, so she
started off toward it and motioned for the others to follow, but Ash caught her
wrist, halting her momentarily.

	"Do you even know why we're headed there?" he questioned, which Misty had no
answer for, so they both turned to Vesper with their imploring pupils, silently
demanding an explanation.

	"I don't think you want the entire story already, so I'll just explain what
we'll be doing inside the tower," Vesper spoke to the group, redirecting Ash and
Misty, who had been staring. "That tower down there is known as The Raven's
Spire, and yes, Ash, it has double the meaning to you, as its importance to you
and your jewel is a great importance in understatement. Lurking in the tower is
a despicable monster, and our only information on it is that it's the owner of
the tower and that no one has ever escaped the tower, dead, alive or even in
pieces. Legend has it that if you destroy this demon, the Raven Jewel of
Destruction will have gained its ultimate power, and this power is a mystery
even to me, so it is of the utmost importance that we stay alive and finish this
as quickly as possible."

	"Well, that's a mouthful," Sora said exasperatingly, wiping her face with a
gloved hand, and then she continued by saying, "It's probably best if we get
there the fastest way possible, because it sure is freezing outside!" She was
speaking the truth indeed, for even though the wind was not quite as frosty as
it had been during her last slumber, it was enough to make the normal organism
at least uncomfortable.

	"Coming right up," Vesper commented under his ocular breath, and Sora turned
her head in puzzlement just to feel a non-frigid tingling sensation flow over
her body, which also occurred to her friends and Vesper himself. In a brilliant
flash of coruscating light, everyone disappeared once again, only to find
themselves to reform in a similar place, certainly near their previous location
but different in only one way. All heads repetitively turned to Vesper, whose
actions were definitely the cause of their relocation of some sort, but he just
shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sorry, but I can't do that thing again for a
little while."

	"Did you teleport us somewhere else again?" Matt inquired, a thoughtful and
investigating look on his face, but then he noticed a mansion-type building,
towering at least fifty feet high, out of the corner of his right eye. Swiveling
around to face the complex, whose midnight tint was overwhelming even in the
depth of what appeared to be night on the current planet, they were shocked to
be able to ascertain that it was even in existence. The unsubstantial shades of
purple in the sky gave away its position and almost gave it a perceptible
shadow, but the only lights that could possibly be seen in the tower that
emanated from it were the blood-colored eyes of the awaiting demon. The
aerodynamic beast pondered its options before flying off to seek refuge in its
personal home, and Misty shushed herself when she heard the swooping sound, as
if not to cause the sound's origin to return.

	"Ash, the supposed monster that inhabits The Raven's Spire can be fought by all
of us, but you must present it with the killing blow," Vesper said, "because you
hold the corresponding jewel. If you want to ensure that you inherit all of the
correct powers, which only you can use, you must be the final destroyer of the
demon inside, so that no danger can come about from the aftermath." Ash only
nodded his head in response, which could still be perceived because the Five
Jewels of Creation remained active in their ways of showing light, and he
proceeded to the front gate fearlessly. Misty trailed right behind him, and the
others were soon following, and Ash's hand trembled only slightly as he reached
for the unlocked door, which he powerfully threw open without hesitation.

	An unearthly silence fell upon the group, as if it hadn't been quiet enough
before, and black torches along the walls illuminated the path marked by red and
black carpeting, which led to the primary room of The Raven's Spire. The
winding, twisting throw rug took the quintet along unseen dangers, as the
surrounding floorboards were quite unstable and faulty, and Matt's foot
accidentally felled one of these boards, though he hardly was at risk of falling
through. "Do you think this monster would be particularly happy if he knew we
were intruding?" was the half-hushed question from Misty, who was concerned for
her friends' safety, but also didn't want to be compromised so early in the
mission.

	"Sorry," he whispered back, not really meaning it but not being sarcastic, for
he wanted to stay silent as much as Misty, but also his intent on finishing his
duty wherever he was predominant at the time. Still he wondered about the others
he had just met, Ash and Misty in particular, who had especially intrigued him,
and a million thoughts paraded through his mind when they entered. He'd yet to
ask, but his instinct told him that those two either were a couple or would be
sooner or later, which also brought a smile to his lips, for he'd wanted to ask
a similar question before his group had been separated…

	Suddenly, his thoughts dissipated when Sora, who had been traveling directly to
his right, was spooked when the large monitor on the wall she had just passed by
lit up in a massive blue wave. In reaction to the screen's flash, she jumped
backwards and clung to Matt's upper right arm, which seemed rather odd to him
though he didn't mind it, and then words began to appear on the monitor.

	Second door on your right, the words advised, and though Vesper was quite
skeptical of the reliability of these words and where it'd be leading them to,
and he cautiously yanked the door open when he reached it and stepped back.
Another room awaited, with a similar but smaller version of the antecedent
terminal on an ebony desk with a swivel chair near the wall, which Matt soon
found himself sitting in and preparing to type away, his gloves slung over his
shoulder. He eventually found that no matter what task he performed on the
computer, nothing at all had any effect, so he just sat back and watched as the
second set of directions appeared slowly on the data terminal's monitor. A
letter at a time, coming about once every five seconds, which was an
interminable amount of time for the waiting group, appeared until a phrase
eventually formed: Give me the jewels.

	"Like hell we will!" came Ash's furious shout at the monitor, and obviously got
no response, and though everyone agreed with him for sure, no one was quite as
expressive or half as hostile toward the unknown being as Ash was.

	Instead of an answer in words upon the screen, a rasping voice beckoned the
five to enter the center of the room, which Misty had identified as a chamber of
some sort, so Ash ran into the chamber's bottom, with Misty right behind him.
Vesper hopped onto one of the vertical railings to get an interesting ride to
wherever, Matt hurried to follow, and when Vesper extended his hand to the
reluctant Sora, she took it and jumped aboard. Spontaneous with the resting of
her feet onto the chamber's floor, it slowly began to travel down a level,
passing through an unidentifiable place due to the darkness, and continued on
down two more levels until it came to a temporary halt.

	"Before you meet me, you'll have to dispose of my disciples!" the voice
threatened once again, and as his words trailed off three dark-clothed warriors
appeared, swinging ball-and-chain weapons and clutching knives. They looked
menacing enough without the weapons, but the metal accessories made them twice
as dangerous, but the four hearts of the kids were loosened from their throats
with Vesper's words.

	"Summon through your stones for safety to come!" he shouted, and the teens
withdrew their glowing stones from their pockets, squeezed them tightly between
their palms, and began to prey for a miracle. The miracle surely did come, for
the jewels began to be levitated from their hands to return to their pockets,
and in their place lay one sword for each child to parry their enemies with.
Ash's sword was a pure black, Misty's an ocean of blue, Sora's a green-tinted
weapon, and Matt's a scolding red blade, and Vesper unsheathed his own sword,
which was colored black on one side and white on the opposite. Scalpels in hand,
though the younger ones weren't exactly mastering their use but were making do,
they stormed into battle to attempt to discourage the latest, ominous threat to
their lives.

	Vesper challenged one of his newfound enemies alone, while Matt and Sora teamed
up on another, which left Ash and Misty to parry attempted lethal and possibly
deadly blows with the third. Ash swung wildly at his opponent, who dodged easily
and followed up with dual slashes aimed for Misty and Ash, who both evaded, and
then Misty went on the offensive temporarily. She used binary side slashes to
back her adversary away, and then a vertical chop exposed a rather large tear in
his front shirt, which caused him to grunt and swing at Misty continuously with
his ball-and-chain. Fortunately for the vulnerable Misty, Ash had recovered from
his earlier miss and threw the blade's tip through the antagonist's back,
impaling his chest and protruding six inches out of his body, and he lifelessly
crumpled over as Ash removed his sword and continued attacking.

	Matt's first instinct was to stay alive regardless of the situation, so he
parried with the black warrior's attempted cuts and smashes, blocking and
sometimes reverting the direction of the attacks with his sword. This gave Sora
the opportunity she desperately needed, and with a quick swipe she opened a
gaping gash on his right forearm, which gushed thick black blood from his body
and poured onto the tile floor. This angered the foe and turned him to
aggression, so he swung low with his extremely hazardous ball-and-chain, which
Sora jumped high to avoid, but looking down she noticed that she had only
cleared the danger zone of this weapon by a few centimeters. Matt came from
behind and clearly severed his left arm, which held the weapon that could have
caused his dear friend to perish painfully, and she jabbed him in the stomach
with her scalpel for good measure and left him to expire among his own surging
blood.

	Vesper's final non-deceased opponent was alternating stabs with his knife,
which continuously missed because of Vesper's skillful maneuvers, and swings
with his secondary weapon, which were overly wild and inaccurate. Rotating his
sword between his alternating hands, Vesper charged at the demon, who knocked
away his weapon temporarily and blasted him in the ribs viciously with his
spiked steel ball, causing Vesper to crumple over in extreme pain. He would have
been finished off had Matt not impaled his torso on the left side with a lunging
slash, and the swords of the three other teenagers soon found their way to his
insides through differentiating passages. Vesper struggled to his feet with
great drudgery, regained possession of his sword, and mercilessly stabbed the
dying being in the face, his severed kisser a disgusting sight for even the most
unblinking of eyes. Just as quickly as they had appeared, all but Vesper's sword
suddenly were absorbed back into the jewels that were now pocketed, since the
imminent threat had been exterminated. In response to their successful victory,
he let out a cry of elation before falling against the wall, undoubtedly tired,
wary of battle, and in complex pain from the spikes driven into his ribs.

	Sora rushed to his side and immediately began to apply several bandages to his
injured side, slipping the cloth beneath his minimally tattered shirt and
wrapping it around his chest to complete the encasing of his wound. She pulled
out a small clip from her pocket to tightly fasten the robes of the medical
cloth to each other, and applied a few more layers as the blood soaked the cloth
crimson at a diminishing speed. Surprising everyone who saw it, including Sora,
the bleeding abruptly stopped and never showed through on the outer layers of
his large bandage, and she breathed a sigh of relief and gingerly patted him on
his battered ribs. "Thank you," he said as sincere as possible, though his voice
was slightly hampered with the injury, and she just nodded her head and helped
him up to a standing position, which took a while since any further pain forced
upon him now was simply unnecessary.

	"Well, I always wondered what it'd be like to be a medic someday," Sora
half-smiled, shrugging her head toward her left shoulder in a sheepish fashion,
and a round of applause emanated from the group, making her lightly blush.
Vesper hobbled around for a few short seconds, adjusting to his taped ribs when
he walked along, and he soon regained a normal walking pose when he approached
the deceased being to level it with a mighty straight punch to show his
disapproval. The expired entity, who had once been as vicious as possibly
imagined, now crumpled over from its propped-up state on the wall to getting to
know the solidly tough floor a little better. Misty pointed into the darkness
about fifteen feet away, which seemed to lead into another, more mysterious
room, so Ash bolted into the shady future, and no one was either prepared nor
willing to stop him, for this battle belonged to him and him alone.

	Matt and Sora walked side-by-side to follow, and Misty tended to Vesper as they
proceeded along, who was feeling surprisingly better but was still in a rather
large amount of pain after being impaled by a swinging spike. She supported his
right arm with her back whilst peering in at his bandages, which not only held
up but also prevented even the smallest glimpse of red's appearance, and smiled
as she sent him along solitary while she hastily regained distance to join her
newfound companions. As she turned to watch the redhead teen approach, Sora
noticed that her hands had remained amazingly clean through the external
operation, and that not a single drop of blood had seeped through to graze her
skin. Matt also showed visible astonishment to Sora's recent discovery, though
on a lighter scale, and also greeted Misty in her jogging advance toward him,
and then spun to his original viewpoint to project to the other side of an
already creepy tower.

	To their happiness, nothing vicious, deadly or even lethal lay on the opposite
side of the obscurity, but only another maze was about to commence when two
paths diverged to other places, both of which were mysteries. The thought of
splitting up was revolting and promising equally, for they all didn't desire one
half to be horribly slaughtered and the other not be there to help, but if one
path led to certain death, at least half of them would hopefully survive.
Finally, Ash suggested that they all take the right path on a hunch, and since
no one was to argue which way to continue, as Ash's hunch was the best thing
going currently, they followed him along the right path to wherever. If matters
couldn't have gotten worse after the lingering assault that spiked Vesper's ribs
and almost left Sora without an ankle, the subsequent words about to be muttered
altered the situation completely.

	"You made the wrong choice in coming here," the same scratchy voice echoed, its
words abounding from wall to wall, "but at least you took the correct path to
find me at last. The other trajectory would have led you to the ever-popular
bottomless pit, which I just created a vacuum in so that you'd never land and
would also never escape, so I applaud you on your correct guess. But, as your
friend stated earlier, it's his battle, and I won't allow any of you to
interfere!" and as his words halted, an enormous gusting wind blew everyone but
Ash into four different parts of the room they'd just entered. Matt skittered
wildly across the rugged ground, trying to grasp anything connected to the
ground to prevent his backward motion, but as with everyone else, he unwillingly
succumbed to the wind and soon inhabited a strange glass chamber. Only able to
pound on the massive glass window unsuccessfully, as the others could only
perform, he and his friends were only capable of proving themselves effective by
watching the ensuing battle between Ash and the Raven.

	Vesper knelt down upon a knee because the aftermath of the previous battle was
really reaching him and taking its toll, but his azure eyes still pervaded
through the glass pane as he watched the upcoming events. Sora had smashed her
head upon the tough back wall, which only created a moderate headache, and she
stumbled to the windowpane, slamming on it fruitlessly with unclenched hands.
Eventually, Misty's eyes began flowing with concern for Ash, undoubtedly her
best friend and possible crush, which was something her heart had yet to decide
on, as she pressed against her temporary prison with all her might. Though her
physical strength was certainly lacking, her mental powers psychically
transferred all the courage and hope she'd ever given to Ash, who accepted it in
a side thought as he prepared to retrieve his sword at first sight of his enemy
and hopefully slash it apart.

	In a short matter of seconds, the darkened room made way for its permanent
inhabitant for thirty years, who possessed unequaled powers in speed and cunning
that Ash had ever witnessed. The flowing wings that flapped about the oversized
bird reminded him of something he'd once seen before, though he couldn't put its
finger on it, and they allowed the bird to gracefully coast about the room with
ease. Its beak was short and pointy, its mouth filled with glistening,
razor-sharp fangs, and its eyes slit into a narrow edge of red, giving the bird
a hazardous mentality as it approached its courageous prey. The Raven circled
Ash twice overhead, and then with a flaming breath, it lit a nearby torch to
burn with extreme reddish brightness, allowing Ash to see his flying enemy's
seven-foot figure as it landed and looked forward to an easy battle and feast.
In response, Ash grasped his jewel inside his pocket for a miniscule second,
which summoned the sword he had used about ten minutes ago, and he could again
protect himself from the one who threatened his very existence.

	Waving his sword to both sides as a possible sign of dexterity and skill, the
Ketchum adolescent prepared for one of the greatest battles of his life, while
the Raven aspired to make a hearty meal out of the courageous child. The dark
avis spurted a rather small burst of black fire from its throat, a weaker attack
Ash easily dispersed of with a quick flash of his sword, which absorbed the
flame and glistened in delight. Trying his luck, Ash charged forward three steps
and slashed vertically with his weapon, but the ravenous bird was much too agile
and swift for this, as it swooped above his head to a respectable altitude and
came flying down at an expeditious speed. The human swiped away, tearing a few
handfuls of feathers off of the Raven's not-so-spectacular wings, before the
head and upper body of the beast smashed hard into Ash's torso, sending him
flying a few feet and sliding until crashing into a hardened wall.

	Ash looked to his left and up two feet to notice Misty's pleading eyes for him
to give it his all and survive at the very least, and upon seeing this he was
granted the strength inside to return to a standing position and battle on.
Given that defeating this colossal enemy was certainly a difficult task to
accomplish, he knew that whether or not he killed the Raven, the battle's
effects would last on him mentally and physically for a very long time. He
decided that staying on the defensive and trying to wear down the bird by
causing it to miss attacks was the smartest thing to do now, so he stood his
ground and prepared to dance from side to side continuously. Fortunately for
Ash, the Raven had not yet been ready to destroy him when he was slammed hard
into the concrete wall, and it could be found perched upon a massive, towering
statue similar to its own figure, awaiting Ash's proceeding move.

	Shocking him visibly, the Raven's eyes widened as much as possible when it
noticed that Ash wasn't trying to scale the statue or at least throw his sword
at it, so it sat there for a minute, thinking about what strategy to take now.
The aviation prince's mind settled on repeated aerial attacks, and so it
gracefully and treacherously threw its body into a downward spiral, ultimately
hoping to commence upon Ash's vulnerable body. Ash anticipated this attempt and
dashed clearly out of the way before he could be struck, and haphazardly for the
bird, it was able to catch the air once again and avoid unceremoniously smashing
its face into the solid ground. The Raven quickly recovered, and again caught
the small but effective circulation of the air to speed up and tackle Ash for a
second time, but he countered by rolling backwards and popping back to his feet,
almost fully absorbing the maneuver.

	Ash flashed back with a violent array of slashes, and though he missed almost
all of them by a good foot due to the feathered creature's agility, the sharpest
edge of black singed the bird's right cheek, cutting it open. The Raven squawked
in response and absolutely pasted Ash with a strong kick of both of its feet,
which caused Ash to tumble backwards, head over heels, three times before
hitting the statue and crumpling over. As the bird retreated for a quick second
to nurse its injury, Ash struggled to his feet by planting the sword into the
floor and propping himself up by use of his arms, which were still strong enough
to support such work. He had no time to rest and relax, however, as the Raven
was soon again on the offensive, coming down and pecking powerfully into Ash's
left forearm, which pierced the skin with ease and let loose a moderate flowing
of blood.

	Though his friends, who could see and hear everything about the battle but
couldn't participate themselves, were also listening intently, Ash screamed out
with all his remaining breath when its beak brought about the appearance of his
own blood. He attempted to stab at the Raven in retaliation, but his blind rage
and pain only provided him with a clean miss too far to the left, and his
adversary approached him from behind and butted its head squarely into Ash's
spine. He bent backward into an awkward position before landing to his knees,
and he coughed up a short spurt of blood after the headbutt caused immediate
internal injuries, which sickened Misty's eyes that had already begun to soften.
As the black prince of the night came around for a second pass, Ash's instinct
told him to roll to the left, and he answered his instincts positively a split
second before he would have met the bird's beak with the force of a mighty car
crash.

	Ash kept rolling and rolling, and before he was done he had flip-flopped his
direction of sight eight times, and he shook off the dizziness as he again used
his sword to help him up. The blood had stained his lips and had impacted his
shirt in a few places from his previous encounter with pain and suffering, and
though the blood still came, the rate of its appearance was much slower. This
was a good vital sign for Ash, who surely couldn't bleed to death from that
casualty alone, and his ability to furthermore stand and fight renewed his
courage once more and rewarded him with the will to fight itself. He parried
with the bird, who had regained its senses of setting and had found where Ash
was leaning against the wall, and neither got off a clean strike for a minute,
during which the Raven lost a few feathers and Ash had gained a few points for
defensive skills.

	The legendary bird had had enough of this pointless battling, so it temporarily
backed Ash to the same wall while grasping his sword so that it couldn't be
used, and then it pushed the sword away, but Ash still held it in his grip. As
he tried to regain full working possession of his weapon, the bird once again
tackled Ash, but this time the attack forced him up against an unmoving
structure, which inflicted twice the pain upon him and caused him to lose his
sword. Repeatedly it flung itself into Ash's stomach, and more and more blood
flew out of his mouth and onto the floor and his shirt, and then the Raven
backed up, allowing Ash to fall over his sword on his hands and knees, and
prepared to go for the kill. Misty screamed as loud as possible for Ash to look
out, but since he was on the opposite side of the enlarged room and since she
inhabited a glass chamber, this proved fruitless. Ash collapsed upon the sword,
not even able to exist on all fours, and the flying being with the killer
instinct backed up twenty feet in length and coasted through the air, about to
land the final blow.

	Suddenly, Ash flipped over onto his back, clutching his sword as his assailant
progressed from three feet away to two and then to one, and he plunged the sword
deep into the Raven's stomach, so deep that the handle of the blade hit its dark
skin. The bird couldn't even make a sound as Ash brought the sword, still
impaling its chest, gradually higher and higher before disgustingly splitting
its head in half, and his opponent gasped its last breath before it crashed to
the ground. Its head twitched once, then again, and then it lay motionless in a
pool of its own living fluid that Ash had not been spared of, and he wiped his
black-stained hands off onto the ground before he lay back down and rested. He
remained there for a good five minutes as the sword disappeared, and his friends
knew that he had one the battle against the Raven, but whether or not he
survived it in the long run remained to be seen.

	Ash eventually found the strength inside of him to regain the ability to search
for a way to free his companions, so he looked around everywhere in the room for
a button to remove the glass walls. His gradual steps only caused time to suffer
as he looked around, but he couldn't find it anywhere, so he leaned against the
statue and contemplated what his next action would hopefully be. It was then
that he noticed that the statue itself was quite hollow, and by knocking on its
backside he found a secret entranceway to provide him with a tunnel through
which to find the interior of the silver raven statue. His hands roamed and
fished around for a short while until they blindly came across a switch, which
he indubitably flipped to the opposite direction, and the glass walls that
prevented four of the universe's finest crashed to the ground, shattering in all
its glory.

	Ash was greeted by a resounding "You did it!" and a gargantuan hug from Misty
as she approached him from his blindside, hopping through the panel of broken
glass to embrace her savior. Vesper seemed quite surprised not only that Ash was
able to slay the dark beast, but that the glass had also come down so suddenly
when the switch was found, so he pondered his thoughts a minute before joining
Ash and his inseparable female chum. Matt, who was hardly losing interest over
the matter and had been pressing against the glass, hoping that this effort
would help to free him, almost tumbled over when its support gave way, so he had
reason for a running start to enjoy a little freedom. Lastly, Sora had been
standing a good three feet away from the glass while it fractured into a million
pieces, and its sound and impromptu reform of surroundings shocked her through
to the bone and scared her from quickly making the trio a quartet.

	Matt, who was throwing his arms gleefully around in the air and congratulating
Ash from afar, spun in circles of happiness during his full enjoyment of not
being confined to such a small compartment. He made his way over to Ash and
shook his hand, which still possessed a bit of blood on its surface through his
gloves, and nodded his head in definite approval of Ash's accomplishment. Vesper
and Sora came around to them last, and while Vesper energetically acclaimed
Ash's astounding feat and Sora patched him up a little for the next round,
Misty's lips found the perfect spot on the side of Ash's cheek. Though he
wouldn't let anyone see this but Misty, he blushed twin setting suns on his
face, and returned the favor with a second hug and a shout of elation that
echoed around the walls for a full minute.

	With Misty supporting the wounded and victorious Ash with his arm slung over
her back, Vesper, who was not feeling much better but was able to perform
regular activities with less difficulty, led the group out of The Raven's Spire.
Matt and Sora exchanged frightened looks during their trek back to where they
had come from earlier, and they concentrated on providing Vesper with the exact
path they had used before when he was faced with such a dilemma. Ash found his
groove after a minute and was able to walk alone without any outside assistance,
which meant Misty, and though it pained him to do so, it allowed Misty to
continue and not worry about whether or not Ash would collapse during his walk.
She was sent along with a faithful pat on the shoulder from Ash, which failed to
stain her shirt, and she smiled to no one in particular and tried to lighten the
mood by wrapping her arms around the necks of Sora and Matt. She used this
tactic to apply a friendly hug, which got them grinning slightly, and then she
used a similar maneuver on Vesper no more than five seconds later, with equal
results.

	Ash was still in a wary mood after such a strenuous battle with another being,
and he removed the Raven Jewel of Destruction from his pocket, which was
surprisingly unscathed after he had been flung around so violently during the
fight. As he began touching it, the mysterious jewel started to shake; not as
wildly as imagined, but it was hopping quite vibrantly between his hands, and he
called for his friends to witness this. "Do you know what's happening?" he asked
Vesper, as he seemed to be the first one there after hearing the news and the
most likely solution to whatever was occurring at the time.

	"I believe that your jewel is somehow reacting to the death of its similar
character and seems to be getting stronger!" he commented, his eyes fixated on
the animate jewel that glimmered in the boy's palms. "Maybe because you were
destined to hold the jewel and you also destroyed the active being that existed
in the legend, your jewel is becoming attuned to you after its other relation
was slain. You are now the only relative, for lack of a better word, to the
Raven Jewel of Destruction, and since you personally eliminated the other link
to the jewel, it now may have its ultimate power."

	"Does that mean it's the best it can possibly be?" the boy inquired, not sure
of what response he would get, but also curious as to what its new capabilities
were, if Vesper knew that himself.

	"In all likelihood, yes, but I've no clue as to what these new powers are that
it possesses, though they hopefully will make you more powerful in the battles
to come," Vesper answered to the best of his ability.

	"Hold up a second," Matt interrupted, startled and somewhat peeved that this
fight would not be the last, and that the next probably would not either. "Are
you implying that our work with you not only isn't finished yet, but it also has
a large future ahead on the horizon that no one's hoping to visit?"

	"In a word, yes, and in great detail, there are at least three other places
that we must visit in order for our task to be complete, and I can't perform any
of these operations without the entire group here," Vesper stated. "The next
stop on our journey will allow another of your jewels to be fully activated, and
then two more will follow, and this process is the only process that allows your
borts to be fully developed. I'm not sure about what will happen then, but you
have got to believe in yourselves, your friends, and me myself, because none of
this is possible without the full effort and heart of everyone listening to me."

	"He's right," Sora said out loud, which successfully drew the attention of all
that were within earshot, and then she continued with her agreeing statements.
"Ash already went inside that dangerous temple and risked his neck to do
something to help some stone, and do you think that he'd do anything for that
stupid rock if he didn't believe in it or its power? I'm a total believer in my
jewel and in my new friends, though I'm not even halfway sure why, and I know
that you're thinking the same thing, so let's get on with this crazy suicide
mission and find out what's gonna happen!"

	"There's one that believes in me at least," Vesper said, "so I'm going to throw
out my hand into this circle of people, and anyone who's sticking with me until
the end should let their intents be known." As soon as he did this, Sora's hand
dropped on top of his, and his gleaming blue eyes brightened his half-smile so
much that it threw her mind back to the beginning and widened her eyes to the
size of cantaloupes. Ash also joined in without a second thought of being
conservative, and with one of her two reasons already decided for her, Misty's
slim fingers fell upon the back of Ash's gloved hand. Somewhat reluctantly,
Matt's arm jutted out into the circle and his hand hovered over the rest of
theirs, and it was officially concluded that these five young humans would
strive to save the world, though they didn't know it just yet.

	 As the lovely group began to split and walk north of the tower they had just
exited, with Matt and Sora walking behind Vesper, who led again, since he
appeared to know where he was going. The group continued on, but Ash dropped
back while clutching Misty's wrist gently, and he pulled her ear closely to his
mouth and whispered, "Do you know him from somewhere?"

	Misty looked around to make sure that nobody was watching or listening to their
side conversation, and as she pulled him along to catch up with the others, she
whispered back, just as softly, "He was the guy." Misty saw the blood flush
right out of his face, and then she patted his cheek to reassure him that
everything was fine and that he wasn't a cruel man, and she dragged him along as
if nothing had happened.

	Silently, Vesper knew what they were talking about, that he had done such a
horrible deed just to preserve the life of one fourteen-year-old girl, but if it
weren't for him, no one would be standing there for certain, and he smiled.


End of Chapter 2




	Did I get you hooked yet? I really hope that I did, because if that last part
didn't at least get you to look twice, then it really didn't serve its purpose.
This secret revealed and Sora faces her greatest test yet - alone - when Chapter
3 surfaces! As always, e-mail me at David8285@aol.com and let me know what you
think of it, whether it's good, bad or just plain weird. Thanks for your help.
Until our paths cross again … au revoir!