Dragon Heart

There was nothing surrounding her only total darkness, the only indication there was any solid ground was a thin layer of mist that covered it. Sora found herself here naked alone and running for her life, as she ran an ear splitting roar sounded behind her.

Looking over her shoulder she saw a pair of glowing red eyes peering from out of the darkness followed by a fire ball aimed at her, the ball of flames hit the ground just short of her but the force of the impact knocked her off of her feet. No sooner had she hit the ground, Sora felt a force of air pass overhead causing her to use her arms to shield her head, a wall of flame ignited from the ground surrounding her.

Sora looked up and saw a figure standing in the flames and even though she couldn't make out any features the silhouette of the person was familiar to her. The figure turned to look at her revealing glowing red eyes, the two stared at each other then suddenly the figure transformed into a large black dragon its red eyes sparkling like precious gems as it let out a roar. Somehow Sora felt herself drawn to those eyes as if she could see the creature's soul behind them.

The beast leaned forward till the tip of its snout was inches away from her face, getting up off the ground she ran her hand along its top jaw its obsidian black scales rough to the touch and her hair flying about the creatures warm breath caught it and warmed her body she opened her mouth a word forming on the tip of her tongue. *"T..."*

"Ms Takenouchi." A voice rang out, stirring Sora from her slumber. Opening her eyes she found herself no in some dark shadowy dimension but at her desk, her other classmates staring at her.

"Well Ms Takenouchi, I'm sorry if you find my lesson boring." the teacher said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "It may not be as fun as practising your tennis but I'm afraid that I'll just have to struggle on with what I have."

"Yes ma'am, I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Sora said as she returned herself to an upright seated position, *'Pompous windbag...'*

Fortunately for Sora the bell signalling the end of class and the end of the school day sounded, normally she would train with the tennis team but she had just lost all her motivation for the game. She was even thinking about quitting the team (she couldn't even remember why she took up tennis in the first place as she was perfectly happy playing soccer when she was younger) so she decided to head home.

As she walked the streets that would lead her home her thoughts drifted back to the dream she'd had in class, even now she could vividly recall terror that had gripped her as she ran head along into the darkness, pursued by her tormentor. But when she looked into the eyes of that dragon all fear had vanished, leaving her with a sense of safety and security, despite being surrounded by flames.

Banishing these for the time being her mind instead went over more recent events, a frown forming on her face before letting out a sigh. *'It's been eight months since Tai left and things haven't been the same, everyone just doesn't seem to have the same spark they did when he was around. We all took him for granted, thinking he was always going to be around and now he isn't. Kari's not talking to me for some reason and Matt told me she kicked him in the groin when he went over to see her.'*

Sora then shook her head. No, it wasn't just Kari that had changed it, was everyone. With their the leader gone the group seemed to be drifting apart. She hadn't seen Izzy, Davis, Ken or any of the others in weeks let alone spoke to them, it seemed the glue that had bound them together had eroded.

She remembered when she had to inform Agumon about Tai's disappearance and it hadn't gone well, the orange reptile type had run off to the cave that served as his home and refused to come out, even Biyomon and Gatomon couldn't persuade him.

What was worse for her that her relationship with Matt didn't seem to be a stable as it had been before Tai's departure, his best friends departure meant the mantle of leadership had passed to him and he caved under the pressure. *'I guess Tai was right all along, Matt was never meant to be a leader or carry the weight of responsibility that goes with it.'*

Sora was so absorbed in her thoughts she almost didn't realize she had arrived back at her house which was located above her mothers flower shop, she sighed as she entered since she had to help run the shop today when all she wanted to do was crawl into bed but no such luck.

Heading upstairs the copper haired young woman made a beeline for the bathroom, she had just enough time to take a quick shower and change into that kimono that her mother insisted she had to wear before her shift started.

The atmosphere was tense as Tai glared at his opponent, he was not in a very good mood today.

Life at the Academy so far had been…interesting. Not long after the incident that had merged the entire academy together Syrus had snuck over to the Obelisk girl's dorm after getting a phony love letter but had been caught by Alexis and her two friends Mindy and Jasmine, Alexis sent a message to Jaden and he and Tai headed over to rescue Syrus.

Once there Alexis told them that she would only let Syrus go and not report them was if Jaden beat her in a duel which he accepted. The match between them had been intense, after all Alexis was known through out campus as the Queen of Obelisk Blue and she really was as good as her reputation.

She drove Jaden into a corner with her Cyber Blader, a monster who had varying special abilities depending on the number of monsters on her opponents field, then made it even stronger with the equip spell Fusion Weapon boosting its power even higher. However Jaden able to turn the tables thank to his Elemental Hero Thunder Giant, its special ability allowing it it to destroy monsters with base attack is lower then its own, and pull out a victory.

A couple of days after that it was time for the monthly test that would determine a students rank, thanks to a late night both he and Jaden had slept in that morning causing them to miss half of the written test. However during their mad dash to the main building the two of them happened on a middle aged woman trying to push her van up the hill and since they were late anyway the two boys decided to help her out.

After their written test they had their duel test and somehow Jaden ended up facing off against Chazz whilst Tai himself had to square off against another stooge from Obelisk, both their matches had been almost one sided with Chazz driving Jaden into a corner by summoning VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon and Tai wasn't fairing much better as his opponent had also summoned a very powerful monster, however the two friends were able to turn the tables by playing very rare cards.

It turned out the old woman who had introduced herself as Ms Dorothy owned the card shack and gave them some rare cards as a reward. Jaden combined his Winged Kuriboh with the spell card Transcendent Wings and summoned Winged Kuriboh Lv 10, it special ability to destroy all the opponents attack position monsters and reflect their attack points as damage had allowed him to turn the tables on Chazz.

Tai himself meanwhile had pulled of an impressive combo with his Volcanic Doomfire, which he'd strengthened with Salamandra, and the trap Spiritual Fire Art – Kurenai to tribute Hammer and inflict damage to his opponent's Life Points equal to its attack points. The two of them were offered to move up to Ra Yellow but they both declined wanting to stay at Slifer Red because that's where they belonged.

Their next misadventure came because Jaden fell a sleep in class and he, Tai and Syrus had to deliver twenty replacement Duel Disks to Crowler's office, apparently someone had been going around challenging other students and taking their Duel Disks if they lost. It was then they encountered Hassleberry again and challenged Jaden to a duel stating that Jaden would have to hand over all the Duel Disks if he lost.

Hassleberry was a tough opponent, his dinosaur deck proving to being a real handful due to its ability to summoning monsters quickly but Jaden was able to stage a come back using his Skyscraper field spell and his Elemental Hero Wild Wingman and finished him off. With their duel over all the stolen Duel Disks were returned to their owners and Jaden, Tai and Syrus gained Hassleberry as a friend although to their surprise, and Tai's chagrin, when the Dinosaur user showed up carrying all his stuff explaining he was here to learn from Jaden and now they had him sleeping on their floor.

However right now Jaden, Syrus and himself were currently in big trouble, a couple of nights ago the three of them along with Hassleberry, ventured into the Abandoned Dorm where in a chamber beneath it they found a man called Titan, a self-proclaimed shadow duelist who was holding Alexis hostage so he could use her as bait to lure Jaden into a duel against his fearsome Archfiend deck.

Turns out the guy was a fraud using cheap tricks and mind games to convince his opponent's into believing he was the genuine article but then just when things seemed to be looking up when suddenly this weird eye symbol appeared on the floor followed by this black mist which swallowed him Jaden and Titan.

They then found themselves in place surrounded by black fog then these small black blob creatures appeared, then suddenly Tai's Little Chimera and Red eyes Black Chick appeared and a Winged Kuriboh emerged from Jaden's deck and the three spirits fended the shadows off Titan however wasn't so luck as the shadows over powered him and were absorbed into his body, he then told them they were now in the shadow realm threatened them saying that Jaden and Tai would have to give up their souls if Jaden lost, fortunately Jaden was able to summon one of his strongest monsters Elemental Hero Bladedge using a combo of Elemental Hero Bubbleman and Bubble Shuffle, and finish him off.

It was then the shadows went crazy and began ganging up on Titan dragging him down into the floor before they turned on Jaden and Tai when their spirits led the two boys out of the darkness through a beam of light which took them back to chamber and the black mist disappeared.

The four of them freed Alexis who woke up when they got her outside, she then told them about her brother Atticus who had vanished from the academy last year and she had come to the Abandoned Dorm to pay her respects. Tai and Jaden told Alexis that they were there for her and would help in any way they could which she appreciated.

However the next morning Tai, Jaden and Syrus were called before the school board, which consisted of Crowler and Chancellor Shepherd, someone had snitched about them going to the Abandoned Dorm and unless Jaden and Syrus could win a tag match and Tai could win a one on one match and if even if only one of them lost they would all be expelled.

Whilst in preparation Jaden and Syrus dueled in which Syrus drew the ultra rare card Power Bond, a spell that would allow Sy to fusion summon machine type monster and then double their attack points although during his end phase he would take damage equal to his monsters original attack points, but Syrus refused to play it. Jaden and Tai then found out about Syrus's older brother Zane who was known throughout the academy as 'Kaiser' who had told Syrus he wasn't good enough to play Power Bond.

Later both boys faced off against Zane and his mighty Cyber End Dragon in an attempt to give Syrus confidence for their up coming duel and although they lost it did give Syrus the will to carry on, whilst Zane told Jaden and Tai he was impressed with them promising the boys a rematch when they were strong enough Jaden and Tai, who had gained a great deal of respect for Kaiser Zane, agreed promising to become stronger duelists every day until they were strong enough to challenge him again.

Finally the day had come, Jaden and Syrus were to face off against a pair of professional duelists the Paradox Brothers, twin duelists who specialized in tag team dueling. This whole thing stunk of a set up no doubt cooked up by Crowler so the three of them would be expelled. However Jaden and Syrus overcame the Paradox Brothers and their Dark Guardian Syrus using Power Bond to combine his UFOroid and Jadens Elemental Hero Tempest to create UFOroid Fighter.

Now it was Tai's turn and now the pressure was really on, if he lost then Jaden and Syrus as well as himself would be expelled. But what really ticked him off was when he saw who his opponent was: "Hassleberry!"

Up in the stands Tai's friends were just as shocked as he was. "What! Tai has to duel against Sarge." Jaden exclaimed, "But he's our friend, it's not right that they should have to face each other like this."

"I think that's what Crowler had in mind." Bastion replied.

"Sorry Corporal," the military nut replied, ever since his defeat by Jaden Hassleberry had started calling Jaden Sergeant and Tai Corporal, "Don't got a choice, Crowler said he'd give me detention for a month if I didn't and if I let you win he'll make it ten times worse."

*'Damn you Crowler, trying to turn us against each other.'* "Don't worry about it, just don't hold back." Tai said as he removed one of his decks from his deck holster shuffled it and placed it into his deck slot, he grabbed his goggles and headband pulled them up onto his forehead, "Now let's see who deserves to be top of the food chain, your dinosaurs or my dragons."

"You're on." Tyranno replied as both of them activated their Duel Disks and drew five cards.

"DUEL!"

[TLP: 4000] Tai drew a new card and before looking at his opening hand, after a moment he selected a card. "My move and I summon Mirage Dragon in attack mode." He announced.

Mirage Dragon

ATK: 1600/DEF: 600/Level: 4/Attribute: Light/Type: Dragon/Effect

Your opponent cannot activate Trap Cards during the Battle Phase.

With a cry, a yellow Chinese dragon with blue hair appeared before him. "Turn end." Tai announced.

[HLP: 4000] The Sarge drew his first card, "Not bad, so I summon my Miracle Jurassic Egg in defence mode,"

Miracle Jurassic Egg

ATK: 0/DEF: 2000/Level: 4/Attribute: Earth/Type: Dinosaur/Effect

While this card is face-up on your side of the field, this card cannot be removed from play. Place 2 counters on this card each time a Dinosaur-Type Monster card is sent to your Graveyard. By Tributing this card, select and Special Summon 1 Dinosaur-Type Monster from your deck whose Level is equal to or lower than the number of counters on this card when it was Tributed

A pearly white egg appeared. "Next up is the Field Spell Jurassic World."

Jurassic World

Type: Field Spell

All face-up Dinosaur-Type monsters gain 300 ATK and DEF

The arena suddenly transformed into a prehistoric landscape, savage looking jungle surrounding them and a smoking volcano could be seen in the background (MJE 0/2000→300/2300). "Hope you like the scene change Kamiya, thanks to it all my dino's get a 300 attack and defence point boost," The tan skinned teen said, "I'll defer to you."

Tai drew a new card, trying to figure out what the Sarge was up too. Right now he didn't have any monsters that surpassed that egg's defence points. "I summon Alexandrite Dragon in attack mode."

Alexandrite Dragon

ATK: 2000/DEF: 100/Level: 4/Attribute: Light/Type: Dragon

A large dragon, its body glittering and sparkling like jewels, appeared. Whilst it was beautiful to look at, its eyes burned dangerously. "That'll do for now, your move."

"Thank you kindly," Hassleberry said as he drew his next card, "I'll summon Babycerasaurus in defence mode."

Babycerasaurus

ATK: 500/DEF: 500/Level: 2/Attribute: Earth/Type: Dinosaur/Effect

If this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, select a Level 4 of lower Dinosaur-Type monster from your deck and Special Summon it

A second egg appeared on Hasselberry's field, no sooner had it appeared it then cracked open to reveal a small green Ceratopidae Dinosaur (BCS 500/500→800/800).

*'I know for a fact that Sarge has better monsters then that. What's he up to?'* Tai wondered as he drew, "Mirage Dragon attack, Mirage Flash." The yellow dragon fired a beam of energy that was a wash of colour from its jaws striking the baby dinosaur destroying it then suddenly part of the egg began glowing.

"Confused. Whenever a dinosaur monster is sent to the graveyard 2 spell counters get added to my Jurassic egg. Then by sacrificing it I can summon a monster from my deck whose level is equal or lower to the amount of counters on my egg." Hassleberry explained.

*'Damn, so that's his plan. He wants me to destroy his monsters so later he can sacrifice his egg and summon a more powerful one.'* Tai cursed.

"But that's not all, when Babycerasaurus is destroyed I get to summon a new Dino to take its place," Hasselberry explained as he began searing through his cards, "I summon Element Saurus."

Element Saurus

ATK: 1500/DEF: 1200/Level: 4/Attribute: Dark/Type: Dragon/Effect

This monster gets the following effect(s) while there is a monster(s) with the following Attribute(s) on the field:

**.** FIRE: Increase the ATK of this card by 500 points.

**.** EARTH: Negate the effect of an Effect Monster that is destroyed by this monster as a result of battle.

A large brown skinned predatory dinosaur with a horn on the tip of its snout with red spines running along its body appeared, (ES 1500/1200→1800/1500). Tai frowned. "Turn end."

The Sarge made his next move. "Now Element Saurus, attack Mirage Dragon..." A gout of flame emerged from the dinosaurs mouth and destroyed Tai's dragon [TLP: 3800].

Tai grimaced and drew from his deck. *'What am I going to do? If I destroy his monster his egg gains another two spell counters. And if I don't he'll sacrifice them and summon a stronger one anyway...'* "I play Pot of Greed, so I get to draw two new cards."

Pot of Greed

Type: Basic Spell

Draw 2 cards from your Deck

He drew again. "Now I play the spell Stampeding Destruction."

Stampeding Destruction

Type: Basic Spell

You can only activate this card when you have a face-up Dragon-Type monster on your side of the field. Destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field and inflict 500 points of damage to the controller of that card.

"With this I destroy your Jurassic World and hit you for 500 points of damage." Alexandrite Dragon fired off an orb of shining energy, striking Hassleberry's Field Spell and destroying it caused their surroundings to revert back to the duel arena [HLP: 3500].

"Now go Alexandrite Dragon destroy Element Saurus, Diamond Burst..." The dragon fired off another orb of dazzling energy that ripped through Hassleberry's dinosaur [HLP: 3000]. "Turn end."

Hassleberry drew a new card, *'Perfect...'* "I special summon Gilasaurus in attack mode."

Gilasaurus

ATK: 1400/DEF: 400/Level: 4/Attribute: Earth/Type: Dinosaur/Effect

You can Special Summon this card from your hand. If you do this, your opponent can Special Summon 1 monster from their Graveyard

A brown skinned raptor like creature appeared. "Don't forget Hasselberry, Gilasaurus lets me special summon a monster from my grave." Tai told him, "I summon Mirage Dragon in defence mode." In a flash the yellow dragon was back, curled up slightly.

"That don't matter to me, since Gilasaurus is a special summon I can summon another monster from my hand," Hasselberry retorted, "Like this one: Dark Driceratops."

Dark Driceratops

ATK: 2400/DEF: 1500/Level: 5/Type: Dinosaur/Effect

During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

The Raptor disappeared and in its place stood a large four-legged green skinned creature, its head was bird like with its beak and featured crest, due to Gilasaurus had been sent to the graveyard two more area's lit up on the Sarges egg.

"Now go Dark Driceratops take out his Mirage Dragon." the creature charged forward and crushed Tai's monster under its large foot. "In case you forgot, my monster's ability inflicts damage to ya equal to the difference between our two monsters strengths. Now drop and give me 1800, 1800 lifepoints that is." [TLP: 2000]

*'Agh, that dinosaur's effect is lethal. If I don't come up with something on my next turn I'm done...'* Tai grimaced as he drew a new card, *'Yes, this is perfect...*' "I sacrifice Alexandrite Dragon to summon White-Horned Dragon."

White-Horned Dragon

ATK: 2200/DEF: 1400/Level: 6/Attribute: Dark/Type: Dragon/Effect

When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: Target up to 5 Spell Cards in your opponent's Graveyard; banish those target(s), and if you do, this card gains 300 ATK for each card banished by this effect

The jeweled dragon vanished and in its place was a red dragon with yellow eyes and a white horn sticking out of its forehead. "What why'd you play that? that thing is 200 points weaker then my dinosaur?" Hasselberry exclaimed.

"Not for long. When its summoned, White-Horned Dragon lets me remove up to 5 Spell Cards in your grave and power it up by 300 for each one." Tai informed him, "Sure there's only one in your graveyard but it still gives my dragon enough power to take out your over grown lizard."

The sarges graveyard and the horn on the dragons head began glowing (WHD 2200→2500). The dragon then let out a beam of flames which engulfed the dinosaur [HLP: 3000] Two more lights lit up on Hassleberrys egg.

"OK, nuff foolin around. Its time I showed ya the real power of my Dino deck." Hasselberry said as he drew a new card, "I sacrifice my Jurassic Egg to summon Black Tyranno." The egg then cracked in two releasing an orb of white light that transformed into a large black T-Rex with red eyes and a mouth filled with large teeth.

Black Tyranno

ATK: 2600/DEF: 1800/Level: 7/Attribute: Earth/Type: Dinosaur/Effect

If you opponent Controls no cards except Defense Position Monster Cards, this card can attack your opponent directly.

"Alright, Black Tyranno forward march." Hassleberry ordered, his eyes transforming into feral slits, the dinosaur roared as it charged forward and latched its jaws around Tai's dragons throat shattering it into shards of data [TLP: 1900].

Tai drew a new card sweating nervously then his eyes widened when he saw what he'd drawn. *'I have only one shot left but it all depends on drawing the card I need on my next turn for it to work...'* "I summon Masked Dragon in attack mode."

Masked Dragon

ATK: 1400/DEF: 1100/Level: 3/Attribute: Fire/Type: Dragon/Effect

When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard as a result of battle, you can Special Summon 1 Dragon-Type monster with an ATK 1500 or less to your side of the field from your Deck. Then shuffle your deck

A red dragon with gleaming armour scales on its head and along its back wings and tail appeared on the field.

"Wait, why's Tai summoning his monster in attack mode?" Syrus asked.

"To counter Black Tyranno's special ability. If all the opponents cards are in defense mode, Black Tyranno can attack directly." Bastion explained.

Hassleberry quickly drew a new card. "Tyranno take out his monster." He ordered and the giant dinosaur let another roar before stomping on Tai's dragon [TLP: 1200].

"I use Masked Dragon's special ability," Tai announced "When its destroyed I can summon a dragon type monster with 1500 or less attack points from my deck, and I summon Black Dragon's Chick."

Black Dragon's Chick

ATK: 800/DEF: 500/Level: 1/Attribute: Dark/Type: Dragon/Effect

Send this face-up card on your side of the field to the Graveyard to Special Summon 1 "Red-Eyes B. Dragon" from your hand

For a third time, an egg appeared on the field, this time on Tai's side, which cracked open to reveal a small Black Dragon that bore features similar to those of its adult form. It then flapped its stubby wings the baby Red-Eyes took off and landed on Tai's shoulder.

Breathing heavily Tai drew his next card. *'This is it, all or nothing.'* He snatched the top card off his deck and looked at it, *'Yes this is the one.'* "This duel is over I summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4."

Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4

ATK: 1600/DEF: 1000/Level: 4/Attribute: Fire/Type: Dragon/Effect

Control of this card cannot switch. During the End Phase of a turn that this card destroyed a monster by battle, by sending this card to the Graveyard, Special Summon 1 "Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6" from your hand or Deck

A silver bird of prey appeared on the field. "Next I play the spell card Level Up!, with this I can send my level 4 Horus to the Graveyard and from either my hand or deck special summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 in its place."

Level Up!

Type: Basic Spell

Send 1 face-up "LV" monster on your side of the field to the Graveyard. Special Summon a monster from your hand or Deck that is written in the card text of the sent monster, ignoring any and all Summoning conditions

Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8

ATK: 3000/DEF: 1800/Level: 8/Attribute: Fire/Type: Dragon/Effect

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by the effect of "Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6". You can negate the activation and effect of any Spell Cards and destroy them

The bird let out a cry and began glowing, it grew larger transforming into a large creature with a the body of a dragon with the wings and head of a predatory bird.

"And now I use Chicks ability, by sending it to the grave I can summon straight from my hand the fully grown Red eyes-Black Dragon in its place."

Red-Eyes B. Dragon

ATK 2400/DEF: 2000/Level: 7/Attribute: Dark/Type Dragon

The Hatchling let out a growl and took to the air hovering high over Tai's head, it grew a tremendous amount in size. Its wings grew into a great black cape, and the claws on its arms and legs extended. It let out a challenging roar as it took its place along side Tai's other dragon.

"Alright." Jaden cheered excitedly.

"What is it?" Alexis asked.

"Red eyes is Tai's favourite monster and it's what's going to win him this duel." Jaden replied.

"Whoa." Alexis replied as a duelist herself she knew there was no bigger thrill then having the monster you valued above all others win a match for you.

"It's over, Horus attack his monster, Black Mega Flame and Red eyes Black Dragon attack him directly with Inferno Fire Blast." The bird like dragon fired a beam of blue flame at Hassleberry's monster incinerating it then the black dragon unleashed a large fire ball which slammed into Hassleberry bringing him to his knees [HLP: 200].

"Nice try Corporal," Sarge said getting to his feet, "But not enough to beat me."

Tai smiled as he took a card in his hand and slid it into his duel disk. "I know that's why I have this one last card to play, the spell card Inferno Fire Blast."

Inferno Fire Blast

Type: Basic Spell

Target 1 face-up "Red-Eyes B. Dragon" you control; inflict damage to your opponent equal to its original ATK. "Red-Eyes B. Dragon" cannot attack the turn you activate this card

"This lets me hit you for damage equal the attack points of my Red eyes. The only draw back is my dragon can't attack but right now that's a pretty moot point as your about to lose the rest of your life points."

Once more the black dragon let off a fire ball that slammed into the Sarge draining the last of his life points [HLP: 0.]

Cheers erupted from all around the stadium (unless you happened to be wearing blue). "Alright, he won and we get to stay at the Academy." Syrus cheered as Jaden and himself jumped out of their seats and headed for the platform where Tai was helping Hassleberry to his feet.

"This is great, now Jaden and Tai will get to stay here." Alexis said to herself it was then she noticed that Bastion was looking at her.

"Don't you mean Jaden Tai and Syrus?" he asked.

"Er, of course…what I mean…moving on." Alexis stammered a blush spreading across her cheeks, Bastion chuckled and shook his head as he headed after Jaden and Syrus Alexis stood there for a few seconds before joining them.

Jaden leapt onto the dueling platform. "Alright, that duel was awesome." He cheered Tai laughed and the two of them performed their best friend handshake/salute Hassleberry walked up them.

"Nice work there Corporal, you out maneuvered me." The military nut said.

Tai smiled as he gave him a salute "You weren't bad yourself Sarge. You had me in several tight spots plus your method's of summoning your monsters was impressive. Let's do this again okay."

Hassleberry smiled and returned the salute. "Ten-four."

Bastion and Alexis then appeared on the platform and congratulated them they then all looked out into the stands noticing a steamed Chazz stomping off his two cronies in tow, it was then they saw Zane who gave them a small nod before he left. *'Wait for us Zane,'* Tai thought, *'Me and Jaden will keep getting stronger and when were ready we will duel again...'*

She found herself here once again naked in the darkness but this time she wasn't afraid. *"Sora…Sora…Sora."* Her name was called out over and over she followed the sound and as she did her surrounding changed from seemingly endless darkness and mist to a long hallway the walls floor and ceiling made completely from ice, she walked along till she entered a large room and in the center sat a man no older then herself and as naked as she was, he was to far away to make out any features but what she could tell he had long messy blond hair, he rose up and stared at her.

*"Sora…"* his voice no louder then a whisper yet it echoed about the room and also the voice seemed familiar to her but she couldn't place it. He then stretched out his hand to her and she felt herself begin to move forward as if her body were on autopilot however her mind was screaming at her to stop.

*"Sora."* A voice from behind her snapped her out of her trance just a trails of fire appeared surrounding her, looking behind her she saw him the man in the fire, his red eyes ablaze.

Large pillars of ice shot of out of the ground behind the blond man and the fire surrounding the other man became more intense, then suddenly the blond began changing, he dropped to his knees as fur appeared on his body, his face came longer till it became a snout until he transformed into a giant white wolf with cold blue eyes. At that same moment the other man transformed into the black dragon and let out a threatening roar.

The wolf snarled in response then fired a beam of ice at the dragon which took flight to dodge it then unleashed a large orb of crimson flames at the wolf who leapt out of the way. The dragon swooped down from the skies and knocked the wolf onto its back and clamped its jaws around its victim's throat. Sora looked on as the two giant creatures tore into each other unable to tare her eyes away from the carnage, suddenly using its legs the wolf managed to kick the dragon away and got back up onto its four legs letting out a snarl.

It then turned its gaze on Sora, opened its jaws ice blue energy began gathering. At the same moment the wolf launched its attack the dragon appeared in front of her, using its wing to take the brunt of attack. Letting out a cry of pain, the black scaled creature collapsed to the ground.

*"No,"* Sora cried as she placed her hands onto the beasts face and stared into its eyes, *"Are you ok?"* A low growl emitted from the creatures throat as if responding to her.

*"Its ok."* Sora said softly as she ran her hand along its snout she then climbed up onto its head, images of her adventures in the Digital World flashed through her mind, partially Tai and how no matter what the odds he would never give up and how he could inspire the others around him to never lose hope.

*"Come on, don't give up. You can do it, I know you can."* She said in a whispered tone. Hearing these words the great beast rose to its feet and glared at the wolf, letting lose a roar that sounded like it had enough force to shake the ground beneath its feet.

*"Inferno...Fire Blast…"* Sora said no louder whisper she didn't know where those words had come from but somehow they felt right. An orb of crimson flames formed inside the dragons open jaws which it then fired at the wolf exploding on contact creating a light that grew brighter and brighter until it engulfed everything.

"Sora, Sora. Wake up." Sora grudgingly opened her eyes and found her partner Biyomon who was shaking her, she gave a quick glance at the clock by her bed side and saw it was 2:45 AM.

"What is it Biyo?" Sora asked groggily.

"You were tossing turning and muttering in your sleep." the pink bird replied.

"Don't worry, I was just having a weird dream. That's all." Sora replied as she sat up her partner snuggled up to her.

"What was it about?" Biyomon asked.

Sora stared at her partner for a few seconds wondering if she should "A dragon…"