Renewed hope

Sora sat at Ash's bedside, just having the last two days hardly sleeping. She looked down at him, and traced the lines of his face, looking for any signs that he was regaining consciousness. Unfortunately, she saw none
But the events of the last few days of this event had taken their toll onto her spirit. Her beloved Biyomon has been infected by some digi-virus that keeps her in her digi-egg state. Her newfound friend, Ash Ketchum, was seriously wounded in attempt to save them all from Izzy's creation.
Sora had to stop herself reviewing the events before she loses hope, but as she saw her tears falling onto Ash's face, she knew she had no more hope. Sora's trebling hand clutched at the sheets covering Ash's body.
"Oh Ash, I can't lose you now, we just met, just getting to know each other. Please Ash, come back to me." Her voice gave out, unable to continue. She found herself with her face on Ash's chest sobbing uncontrollably. She doesn't remember falling asleep, but her physical and emotional exhaustion overwhelmed her, Sora cried herself to sleep on her friends bedside.
A few hours later...
Sora didn't know how long she slept, but she woke up to the sensation of a gentle hand stroking the side of her face. Sora sat up and studied the unconscious boy and looked at him questioningly. Did she imagine it? Did Ash touched her face? Then Ash's hand moved again, Sora had to stifle a squeal of glee. Ash's eyes seemed to struggle to open, and his lips parted a bit.
His eyes slowly opened unfocused. "Am...am I alive?" Ash said crookedly.
Sora no longer had the strength to retain her composer, and let her tears of joy flow down on her face, and covered his hands with hers. 
"Of course you're alive, you big doof!" She said in jest while putting her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug.
Ash turned his head to see her hugging him so tightly while she was still weeping in his she released him, the both of them gazed at each other. 
"Well... you do kinda look like an angel." Ash said then blushed, hearing how stupid that sounded. "I'm sorry, that sounded a lot better in my head."
"Oh, Ash!" That was all she could think to say, in her present state. Smiling at him warmly at him. She didn't plan on doing it, but she did. Sora's hand made her way to the back of Ash's jet-black hair and pulled him to her face. She had felt Ash's lips onto hers, she could not believe that she was kissing Ash..on the lips. She had released him while a giant flush was forming on her face.
"Oh, Ash.I..." She said unable to finish her sentence, being 100% embarrassed.
Ash's eyes were round and wide with surprise, but then narrowed down into an understanding look. A small smile formed onto his face, and gently took her hand. She eyes then widen as well, she looked to where their hands were. After a few seconds, she smiled and hugged him again. This time, he put his arms around while she cried on his shoulder.
"Don't you ever do that to me again! I wouldn't know what to do if you..." She didn't finished as she started to tear up a little. Ash then caressed her light brown noticed that her blue hat wasn't on her head. "It must've fallen off when I was trying to save her.", Ash thought in his mind. "I'm sorry Sora, I know you were looking out for me, I'll be more careful from now on." He said to the girl. "She does look even more beautiful without that hat on."
Sora once again released him from the hug and nodded that she knew that he will not try and kill himself again.
Suddenly a yellow streak dashed crossed the room, jumped on the bed and landed on Ash's chest. 
"PIKACHU!" Ash's Pokemon said with teary eyes. Sora couldn't understand Pikachu like Ash and the other Digimon could, but she could tell it was tremendously happy to see Ash awake.
"Chu.." It said burying it's face into Ash's chest, then licked his face lovingly. Sora immediately missed Biyomon a whole lot more.
"Ah I see that our young guest is awake!" A warm gravely voice said, Sora turned her head to see a man walking towards them. The genital elderly appearance always made her feel safe, and he still had the effect on her even in these trying times. "Hello Ash, my names Gennai. You were in pretty bad shape when we first met, so I don't expect you to remember me fixing your wounds." He added with a smile.
Ash stretched his muscles trying to set up, Sora placed a gentle hand on his back to support him. "You saved my life?" Ash asked still a little disorientated.
"Thank you very much, but the last thing I remember is pushing Lilymon and my Bulbasaur out of the way of Demonicamon's attack." Ash's eye grew wide as if suddenly remembering something. "BULBASAUR! He was hurt, how is he?!" The depths of Ash's love for his Pokemon always impress Sora.
"He always puts the safety and care for others before himself. I've never met anyone like him." Sora thought to herself, but remembering Ash's question about his green Pokemon. "Calm yourself Ash, Bulbasaur's just fine, Palmon has been taking good care of him."
"Yes, the both of you two are mending very well, just try to relax and get some sleep young man." Gennai then eyed Sora, "And you to Sora, you can't go on another night like you have been." With that the kindly old man turned and walked out of the room.
"What did he mean by that Sora?" Ash asked while lovely stroked his Pikachu.
"Oh it's nothing Ash, please don't worry about me just lay down and try to sleep." Sora tried her best to sound nonchalant, she just wanted him to rest and heal. She came so close to losing her friend. She was not about to take chances with his health now.
Ash looked into her eyes, he noticed that there was a dark red circle around her beautiful ruby eyes and a tired expression on her face. 
"You haven't been sleeping, have you Sora?" Sora could feel his warm hand interlock with hers. "You haven't been sleeping because you've been worried about me. Thank you for your concern, now it's time for you to rest up." Ash said smiled smiling at his new friend.
"Ash really,it's okay. I'll go rest as soon as I know you're sleeping, and...", but Sora was not able to complete her sentence. Ash then reached up and pulled her into the bed with him. Sora could feel her face turn crimson as Ash's comforting arms engulfed her. Totally speechless Sora was snuggled up with her head on Ash's shoulder.
"Sora Takenouchi, stop being so stubborn and get to sleep!" Ash said smugly, using the same words Sora used on him, his first night in the Digiworld. Sora had no choice but to smile snuggle up to Ash and drifted off to sleep. But before she slept, she went up to Ash's face and pecked his cheek. Ash smiled and looked at her. She didn't realize how tired she was, until she felt the comfort of Ash's embrace.
A few more hour's later...
Ash opened his eyes, it took only a few seconds for him to remember where he was and why he was stiff all over. He looked over to his right, hoping to still see Sora next to him. Ash's stared for a few second at the ruffled sheets and thrown covers, trying to capture the feeling he got while she was near him. "Ugh! Stop it Ash!" He cursed himself. He's only known Sora for a little under a week, but he can't understand why he feel so comfortable while she's around.
"She's from a completely different universe then me." Ash tried to remind himself. "After we stop Demonicamon, I'll probably never see her again. So it makes no sense for me to be falling in.." Ash stops himself, but he knows deep down there was no reason to. For maybe the first time in his life, he's in love. "But what about Misty?" and there was the core of his confusion. Before all of this Digital World stuff even happened, he and Misty seemed to be getting even closer than ever. Was he so fickle and heartless that he would toss everything he's gone through for a pretty girl he just met and probably will never see again?
Ash decided to try and not think about it anymore, besides there was work and planning to do. Demonicamon was still on the loose, doing god knows what the Digiworld. His friends Digimon were still infected with that virus. Ash managed to get out of bed and stumbled out of his recovery room. His leg muscles ached and hurt with every step, but he needed to help Sora and the others plan their next move. Ash moved towards the sounds of talking and he could recognize Tai and Izzy's voices. "If I know these guys the way I do, they probably already have a plan."
There was no plan. All of the digidestined sat around Gennai's sand garden. The room was filled with depression and hopelessness. Tai sat on the rocks clutching the digi-egg that used to be Agumon. Tai hated feeling powerless, but he had to concede. He couldn't save his sister nor any of the Digidestined from being hurt from Demonicamon. His beloved Agumon was stuck in digi-egg form, because he was too powerless to stop it, and now even his new friend Ash was badly hurt, because he was powerless.
"Damn it!", he cursed under his breath. He was supposed to be the leader, but he just let everyone down. Tai looked up and heard the rustling of leather wings through the air. Charizard landed with a thud with a fiery had sent Matt out on Ash's Pokemon to scout the Digital world and keep track on Demonicamon's activities.
"Matt, what's the news on Demonicamon?" Izzy asked while putting aside Tentomon's digi-egg. "What happened out there?"
"Charizard return!" Matt recalled the dragon-like Pokemon into the red and white ball. Matt frowned and looked at his side. "It's horrible, she's-"He cut off with a stammer. "-She's a monster, torturing those poor Digimon, till they want to die. Then she stops then comes back for a few hours to st start over." He finished with a pained look on his face.
Izzy frowned, looking as sadden as his friend. Tai knew Izzy blamed himself for everything and part of him wanted to comfort his friend. But what the loss of hope, he was unable to any of that. Powerless again. 
"Hopeless." He was able to voice his feelings. "We've done everything we could to stop her, but she beat us at every turn." Tai said allowing a tear to run down his cheek. Not one of his friends challenged him, then all knew it and felt the same way, Tai was just the first to voice it.
"At least I can make it up for Ash. Me and Gennai can remake a digital gate to send him home, whenever he's strong enough to travel." Izzy said sounding as defeated as Tai.
"Meaning?" Laxus asked. He wasn't too happy to hear that the Digidestined were going to send Ash back without his consent. 
"What the hell is this?!" Ash demanded. He stood in the hallway leading to the sand garden, bracing himself against the wall. It was obvious Tai that Ash was not strong enough to get out of bed yet.
Sora rushed to Ash's side, she placed his arm around her shoulder to help him stand on his own feet. "What do you mean you can send me back any time?!" In the short time, Sora knows Ash, she's never seen him this angry, "Do you really think I'm going to go home and leave you all now?!"
Tai slammed his first into the wall but his eyes never looked up. "Look Ash! This is not your fight! You shouldn't have been here in the first place! And you almost died saving our butts! We failed, Demonicamon is out there ripping the Digiworld apart, and there is nothing we can do about it!" Tai could no longer hold the tears that streamed down his face. He was the leader and in the face of his weaknesses, everyone's tears followed. 
"We did our best, we fought our hardest, but we lost. She's too strong, and with our Digimon out of of action, it will be a matter of time before she finds this place! Then she'll torture us all till she gets tired of us and kills us all!" Kari clutched Mimi's leg and cried even louder. "But the one thing we can do, is the wrong thing to you. We're going to send you home Ash. You'll be with your families and friends. We've all decided that the best thing for us to do."
Ash looked about himself, and all of the Digidestined kids were nodding in agreement. Even Sora that was helping him stand was nodding. He then growled. He removed Sora's arm from around his was and pushed her to the side. A look of disgust formed on his face as he staggered with what little strength he had up to Tai, pulled back his fist and punched him in the nose.
A collective gasp circled the room and Tai held his bleeding nose. 
"Now listen, ALL OF YOU! First! No one decides anything for me. So I decide when I leave!" Ash yelled angrily.
"But Ash, we only want what is best-." Sora tried to say but was quickly cut off by Ash.
"Quiet Sora, I'm not done, and second!..." Ash paused looking making sure he had everyone;s attention. "Do you all think so little of me? That you think no matter what the odds are, I would leave my friends to die while I was safe and sound?!" He then turned to the boy he punched.
"You're right Tai! I'm not a Digidestined, and this is not my world. But you are all my friends, so this makes it my fight! I care about all of you!" Ash's eyes met Sora and they stared into each other eyes for a second. 
"Damn! I've seen what you guys can do when you work together. Anyone that can use my high level Pokemon for the first time and use them effectively, can do any damn thing that they wanted to." Ash's voice then took on a pleading tone to it. "You can beat this, I know in my heart you can. You have to put your heads together and figure it out."
Matt then spoke up, "Don't you think if we had the slightest clue how to win this fight, we would be doing right now? We've gone over every detail and we keep coming up with nothing!"
Ash rubbed his chin, "Okay, go over it again with me. Maybe I can give you a fresh perspective on your own ideals."
Joe adjusted his glasses and said, "It's worth a try. We've got nothing to lose."
Izzy sighed, "Okay here, this is where we stand. Demonicamon a Digimon whom I created seems unstoppable. No Digimon, no matter how powerful seems to have any effect on her."
"Now why is that Izzy? Your Digmon are very powerful." Ash said looking down at the digi-egg Izzy carried. "She doesn't seem to even feel their attacks."
"Well the virus I made her from seems to given her immunity from any Digimon's attack, no matter the power level."
"That's right, Power level doesn't have anything to do with your Mega Digimon attack didn't touch her but the only thing that did was Bulbasaur Solar Beam, and even a weak attack like Pikachu's Flash blinded her."
Izzy nodded. "The only thing I can surmise is that, while Demonicamon is immune to digital based energy, your Pokemon attacks are based on biological energy. She's not immune to that."
Matt spoke up, "So what? Even if the Pokemon can hurt her, all of Ash's Pokemon aren't strong enough to stop her."
"Unfortunately Matt is right." Ash said. "There are even more powerful Pokemon in my world, so we don't have access to them. My Pokemon may stall her but that wouldn't last. So we're back where we started from."
"Maybe not, I just thought of something." Mimi said with looking at her Palmon and the recovering Bulbasaur. Her feeling seeing Bulbasaur and Palmon's relationship, changed after he risked his life to save her. "Remember when Lilymon used her Flower Cannon to boost Bulbasaur's Solar Beam attack?" Maybe we can do that again. It seemed killed him the first time."
"No." Izzy said, "Although Lilymon could boost Bulbasaur's attack power, once would not be enough to put Demonicamon down. And I doubt Bulbasaur could survive the processes twice. It almost killed him the first time."
"Ugh! I hate this!" Tai broke in, "We're just keep going in circles." He said angrily.
Ash grabbed Tai by his shirt, "And we will keep going around and around till we come up with something Tai. The answer will show itself. I have courage in you guys abilities and so should you!"
But then, something strange happen that made Ash pause. A soft glow came from his fist. He and Tai looked down as Ash unclenched his fist. Inside his hand Ash held Tai's Crest of Courage and glowed for the first time, since their new enemy came into their lives. 
"What in the world?" was all Ash could say.
"How can this be? Ash activated my Crest of Courage." Tai questioned Izzy.
Sora took the light that Ash held. Looking bewildered she said. "But that should be impossible. Our Crest and Tags only work for us, how can Tai's crest is reating to Ash?"
Izzy focused on the crest. Then he looked up at Ash and then to Tai. Suddenly Izzy's eye grew so wide Ash was afraid they would pop out his head. "Oh my God!" Izzy said.
"What? What do you know Izzy?" Tk asked, walking over to him.
Izzy fell against the wall laughing uncontrollably, "Oh my god, I'm such an idiot! Why didn't I see it sooner." Ash couldn't begin to figure out what was so funny. But Izzy couldn't seem to stop laughing at what was obvious only to the boy genius. Izzy finally looked up at everyone and seeing the confused looks on their faces. "Hehehehehe! Don't you see it? Tai's crest is reacting to Ash," Izzy giggled once more, "BECAUSE ASH IS TAI!" with that Izzy dissolved into a pile of laughs.
" Oh yeah, Izzy's lost it." Joe said dryly. "I think the stress just became too much for him."
Izzy wiped a tear from his eye. "No, no I finally understand something that bothered me about Ash from the first time I met him. Didn't you all think Ash seemed a little familiar to you? I know he did me. But I couldn't put my finger on it. But now it fits all into place." Izzy said nodding.
"Well would you mind letting the rest of us in on it?" Tai asked getting a little impatient.
"Okay, we already established that Ash came from a totally different universe from ours, "The Pokemon World" If you will." Izzy paused making sure everyone was following him, "Well what if the universe Ash comes from is not just a alternate reality, but a parallel one. A universe that is different in some details from our own, but in a lot of ways very, very similar. What if some maybe not all, but most people have counter parts in the other reality? So don't you see? Ash seems so much like Tai, because there are each other alternate selves, kinda like twins, not identical twins, but so close that Tai's Crest of Courage can't tell the difference between the two."
"How can that be?" Tai asked looking as perplexed as Ash. 
"Yeah we don't even look alike." Ash added.
Izzy nodded and added, "If it helps think of yourselves as half brothers, as different as our two realities that are more alike then we even realize. They have Pokemon, and we have Digimon. They have Ash, and we have Tai. There may even maybe a guy like me over there."
Ash pondered, "Now that you mentioned it, you kinda remind me of this young boy, named Bill. He's a great scientist and Pokemon researcher, but even if all of this is does that help with Demonicamon?"
Izzy eyes darted back and forth as if his finishing up his mental calculations. Ash could never get enough oh this kid's brain power. 
"Now that I see the big picture, everything is falling into were right Ash, the answers were right in front of us. All this time you, Tai, Bulbasaur and Palmon!" Izzy said excitedly.
"Slow down Izzy!" Tai said, "Remember we're all not the same track as you are. What are you trying to say?"
"We know that Demonicamon is not immune to the Pokemon's attacks, but they don't have the raw power it takes to defeat her. The Digimon have the power level but she's immune to Digimon attacks. So what we need is a Pokemon with the strength of a Digimon. That awesome plant Pokemon showed us that! He used Lilymon's flower cannon attack to boost his power to the level of a mega Digimon, and it hurt her so badly. So now we know the Digital energy and the biological energy of the Pokemon are compatible!"
Ash nodded his head as he followed Izzy's logic." Ok Izzy, I'll bite, how do we get a Pokemon up the power level or a Mega Digimon?"
Izzy stared at Ash's belt. He walked up to him and took one of his empty Poke Balls. Then Izzy held up his Digivice. "Seeing as how our two realities are so similar, I bet the technology of your Poke Ball is partly compatible with our Digivices. And I bet Gennai has enough spare parts for me to put together a Poke Ball Digivice hybrid. A Poke'vice if you will. And we even have the materials for a crest and a tag!" Izzy says something lost in his own thoughts, excited about the new project. "And being so close to each other, I can just use Tai's Digivice and Crest matrix as a template. Yes! But using the same photonic core of the Poke Ball and its quantum storage unit instead on the Digivice's digital regulator and then, key it to a Pokemon..." Izzy rambled on seeming to shake with exhilaration of a new discovery.
Sora blinked, unable to follow her friend technical mind. She grabbed both of Izzy's shoulders hoping to bring him back to their plan. "Izzy! Slow down, you lost us. You want combine a Digivice and Poke Ball? And make another crest and tag? What ever for?"
Izzy slowly towards Ash and smiled, "For our soon to be Digidestined here, Ash Ketchum. Although I guess it will be Poke'destined, but you get the idea."
"WHAT! The all said together.