Y/N: This time around I wrote one of my favourite Ken chapters, and I enjoyed writing Mimi's as well. I hope that the feelings are mutual, and that you like reading them too.

U/N: I only wrote one part this time, and it was Matt. I had a lot of fun with his interactions with a certain psychopath and I hope the chapter receives the response it's meant to. Matt is kind of a difficult character to write because he's kind of confusing. Especially since we sort of merged the dub and the original version. Oh well, this is kind of the end for Matt, I hope you like it.

Title: Digimon Adventure 09: Free

By: YukiraKing and UrazamayKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Tri-pocalypse

Chapter 02: Little Talks

Yamato Ishida:

The realization that Gaia wasn't going to kill me came pretty quickly. She was not even attempting to strike me, and was instead dragging me along behind her. I was glad, to some degree because there was no way I could fight off Gaia alone. She was stronger than me in every aspect. But at the same time, I wished she would just stab me through the heart and rid me of the embarrassment and humiliation of being dragged around by a crazy person.

What she wanted to do with me, if not to kill me, I did not know, but I wished she would just tell me because at the very least I did deserve to know where I was being taken.

Her slender fingers were wrapped around my wrist and I couldn't do anything to free myself from her, and no matter how many times I tried to pull free she would somehow find a way to hold tighter still. Her grip was clamping down sharply now and it felt like my bones would soon snap in two. Gaia's strength seemed to be immeasurable and somehow her power was radiating off of her and seeping into my pores. Like the air at a greasy burger joint, I could feel the thickness and the negativity that surrounded her, and I wanted nothing more than to free myself from her grasp.

But how could I save myself? Aegisdramon and UlforceVeedramon hadn't been able to easily defeat her—if they would have been able to at all—and I was definitely not as strong as the two of them. Or even one of them. So I knew I would have to wait this out and slowly discover where it was that she was taking me and hope to make an escape at the end of the line, otherwise I knew I would wind up dead.

But why wasn't she killing me now?

It was strange to be dragged through such familiar streets and yet recognize nothing at all. The regular restaurants that were supposed to be there had not yet even been thought of, the trees that had been planted were so small still, and every advertisement was dragging me painfully through my childhood—much like Gaia was doing as well. What time had we been taken to?

As I scanned the faces of the populace—the few people who were actually outside, which somehow wasn't very many—and found that I didn't recognize any of them, but that I hated every one of them. Why weren't they trying to help me? One of them snorted with laughter and another simply stared. One glared at me as if I were the problem disturbing her baby as I called to them for help.

Why couldn't they see that there was a problem here? I was embarrassed still, but would have been thankful for their assistance. I figured I knew why they weren't helping but I didn't want to admit it. If a man was dragging a woman around, then that would be an issue—depending how far back we came I supposed—but since it was Gaia, a seemingly delicate flower of beauty, there was nothing wrong because I could simply overpower her and abuse could only go one way.

Maybe my mind was jumping too quickly to a place of typical societal alignment, because I had come from a time where people were actually seeking equality, but it made sense to me. If they saw me dragging her, there would be an issue. But they didn't seem to realize that I couldn't overpower her. She was stronger than I was and she wanted to kill me.

And sure, I was embarrassed and felt humiliated, but it wasn't because she was a woman—I didn't care about being defeated by a woman. I wasn't like that. What I cared about was that I was being dragged around and no one was helping me. Period.

Thankfully, that didn't last forever.

"What do you think you're doing?"

I spun around quickly to see who had spoken. Gaia staggered to a stop and I nearly tripped over her extended leg. I took the opportunity of our stillness to use my free hand to pry her fingers away from my wrist but she was simply too powerful, and did not even look my way. Giving it everything I had didn't even register as something she needed to pay attention to. Gaia was too powerful.

When finally I had looked to the woman who had spoken my heart sank. She was standing in a beautiful kimono and her hair was pulled back into an elegant bun on the back of her head. She was so young here, but it was definitely her, coming back from the grocery store with a big brown paper bag full of vegetables in her arms. The sun was gone now, but the light from the streetlamps was casting a rather eerie glow across her pretty face that was somehow exuding confidence, gracefulness and anger all at the same time. She was always good at that though.

"Who are you?" Gaia snapped loudly.

Toshiko Takenouchi chose not to answer the question. "Why are you harming this boy?" she barked in her perfect voice.

"That is none of your concern, you peasant!" Gaia snapped, and spit came from her mouth.

Toshiko seemed disgusted as a single drop landed on her cheek. She gently reached up to wipe it off and then looked back to Gaia. "This is unacceptable. This is abuse, you realize? I will not have you doing this on my street."

Her street? So she lived here during this time? I supposed that made sense. Sora had once said she lived here in her early years, so her mother could have lived here longer and we would never know. Unless we asked her of course, but it sort of felt like I wasn't going to get that chance. Unless of course Gaia was taking me to a five star restaurant and treating me for my hard work over the years, but that really didn't seem likely.

"Release him," Toshiko ordered.

I looked to Gaia, impressed with Toshiko's bravery, but then again, she thought this was a normal woman. Gaia was anything but normal. I saw her free hand twitch and vines began to sprout from the ground, slinking silently through the cracks in the old paved street. Toshiko did not see them, and she would not see them in time. I knew that.

"Toshiko you need to leave now," I snapped.

She turned to me, shocked. "Who are you?" She asked inquisitively, "how do you know my name?"

"I know everything about you," I exaggerated, "that's why you need to trust me and go." Toshiko looked like she had several follow up questions, but I couldn't let her waste any more time. "Thank you for trying to help, but you need to leave before she kills you." Toshiko's face finally seemed to show the amount of fear that I would have expected from her and she slowly shook her head as if to say she wouldn't leave me alone with the psychotic woman. "I'm fine! Go!" I insisted, but still Toshiko wavered in her decision. "Now!"

Finally Toshiko gave in and she turned on the spot, running from Gaia and I, holding her groceries close to her chest. She was worried and frightened, but I hoped she at least had Haruhiko around to comfort her. I knew he spent a lot of time working in Tokoyo, so she may have been running back to an empty house for all I knew.

"How valiant," Gaia said sarcastically. "You should have let her help you. You would have a better chance at escaping."

"So I let her die so I can be free?" I asked sharply. "Not a chance. I'm not a cold hearted bitch, like you." Gaia looked back to me with her nostrils flared. "I have been raised by my father and by the Digital World itself to always be true to my Crest and the Crests of the others. Every single Crest will gently suggest that you don't kill random people for no good reason."

Gaia tightened her grip on my wrist and I gasped in pain, wishing I hadn't said anything at all. "You are a fool who knows nothing of power."

"I don't know," I said through my gritted teeth. "I felt pretty powerful when I showed Gabumon my true Friendship. He evolved to a super ultimate and we tore straight through Arkadimon—our strongest foe at that point in time. I mean Yggdrasil was pretty strong as well, but we made quick work of him too. Oh sorry, did that offend you? He was your other half and all."

Gaia slapped me across the face and the tingling pain spread through my entire body somehow. It felt as though every nerve in my body was screaming frantically and running around from some horror movie villain. My knees gave way and I fell to the paved street and Gaia grabbed my face in one hand, squeezing it tightly as she looked me dead in the eyes.

I hated that my first thought was how pretty her eyes were.

"Yggdrasil may have been half of my heart, but I was not there to protect him," she snapped. "If you think you will be able to defeat my other half—my true half—then you are seriously deranged. This time I will be here. I will be able to defend my darkness like I could not do my light."

I wanted to stay quiet and to not speak, but I could not stop myself. "You'll defend him like you defended Maugrim then?" I asked, my voice coming out in a slurred jumble because she was still squeezing my face. "He's dead because of you, did you realize that? You killed him—the only person who was standing by your side."

Gaia's eyes had tears in them for a brief moment, but they were quickly washed away. "Maugrim never stood by my side. Not willingly. The only allies I truly have are Astamon and Bagramon."

"Astamon is dead too—" Gaia slapped me again, but I wasn't finished. "And if Bagramon doesn't die soon I'll do it with my bare hands for what he did to Iori." She slapped me again. This time she wasn't satisfied though and she slapped me once more, finally releasing my wrist, but only for a moment. She grabbed it again, differently this time and she leapt over my head, bringing her foot sharply to the small of my back. A moment later I was pressed down against the street with the small pebbles of the ground digging into my cheek, and Gaia had my arm held behind me.

I was so scared she would break it.

Instead, she held me in my new painful position for a moment or two and then released me. She removed her foot from my back and then pulled me to my feet. "Do not disrespect me again, or you will meet the same fate as all of your fallen friends."

"If you wanted me dead you would have done it already," I noted. Gaia looked angry and annoyed and for a moment, based from the fury in her eyes, I was so sure she was going to snap my arm in two but instead she simply turned away from me and began dragging me once more.

It was clear to me this time that I had been correct. Gaia did not want me dead—at least not yet. There was something she was going to use me for that I knew I would hate more than death. I did not want to assist her plans or her rise to power in any way, no matter how small. Gaia had already taken the Digital World by destroying the Temple, and she had taken Sidhendor, and Witchenly, and the Land of Dreams and she had put Neverland back together only to take it as well. She was ruling everything and I wasn't going to continue letting her.

If, when we arrived at our destination, I found that she wanted me to help her power grow, I would do what had to be done. I would kill myself.

It sounded dark and it definitely was. But I would do it if it meant keeping Gaia from winning the war. It was my duty as a Digidestined to ensure that the worlds found peace. I would do everything in my power to keep that from becoming a reality.

As Gaia began to drag me I began theorizing about where she was taking me. The only logical place that I could come up with was under Apocalymon's cloud of darkness. He was still forming, but that made sense to me. She would bring me to Apocalymon and perhaps he would decide what to do with me. There was a small spark in the back of my mind that was scared Gaia needed to replace Maugrim. She needed a 'loyal' servant and someone she could rely on. I was scared she would try to brainwash me into filling that role, even if I knew it wasn't something I would do. Even if I knew it was something Gaia wouldn't want. It was still a fear that I could not completely wash away.

And besides, Apocalymon made more sense. Gaia had said 'my true half' as if she were only half of herself and that Apocalymon made up that half's heart. In that aspect, I supposed it made sense that what Maugrim had explained to us would come to play here. Terra, Gaia's other personality, would represent Yggdrasil and peace...

I cleared my throat as I planned my tactics, but I couldn't think of anything to lead with. Sora and Taichi had been trying to get me to just go with things since I was eleven, so I figured now was as good a time as any to just take the leap. "So Terra," I said loudly. Immediately Gaia tightened her grip on my wrist, but this was different than the other times. She simply stiffened at the sound of her other name, and her anger was either concealed or not present. "Terra?" I prodded. "You're the good one, right? What do you think about all of this? Don't you think that Gaia is going too far?"

"Do not speak with her!" Gaia shrieked loudly, turning sharply to slam her fist into my shoulder. I cried out loudly and stumbled back, but Gaia was holding tight and she pulled me back quickly. "Do not ever speak with her."

"Is that you talking?" I asked. "Or is that Terra?" Once more Gaia wound her hand back to slap me across the face, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I felt a sort of exhilaration in me now. I was pumped with adrenaline and my own anger and pain was finding an outlet in making Gaia angry instead. It wasn't a healthy relationship, but quite frankly, I didn't care. "How does Terra feel about you killing Maugrim? Harmonia? Theta? Surely the two of you don't agree on everything. There must be something that you've done that has been against Terra's wishes."

Gaia looked furious now and somehow that felt like an accomplishment to me. I wondered briefly if this was what it felt like to be Taichi. "The story states that Gaia loved Maugrim but found that she was not alone in that. Terra also loved him, right? So what did Terra think when the love of her life was betrayed by her other personality?" This time Gaia did not strike me, but instead turned her head to look to the distant ground, biting her lip. "Maugrim is dead! Do you even understand what that means? You will never see him again. Maugrim cannot return to this world and has chosen Harmonia over you! Maybe he wouldn't have done that if you hadn't killed his wife!"

"Enough!" Gaia ordered loudly. "You will suffer for your insolence!" She twisted her hand back and a vine wrapped around her forearm before forming a sharp point at the end, extending from her hand. This was it. She was going to kill me now. I was somehow glad. I wanted to meet death bravely and gracefully rather than helping Gaia in her schemes. She was quick to draw her arm back but she froze suddenly. "No he will not." She said sharply. "I don't care what we need him for—well I certainly do. We must gain more power, you idiot girl—we have enough power—we will never have enough power!"

My eyes slowly widened in confusion as the two halves of Gaia began arguing with one another. There was anger in her face, and then there was annoyance, and it went back and forth between the two until she let out a cry of pain and sorrow, where tears began to fall from her cheeks. For the slightest of moments I felt bad for her before everything she had done came flooding back into my mind. She was not a good woman. "W-we need him for his Crest!"

That made sense. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that before—while I wasn't sure what they wanted with the Crest I was sure it wasn't good. I did want to know though... I wondered if asking Gaia would be a terrible idea, but somehow I found myself asking anyway. "What do you need my Crest for?"

She looked up from where she was in a crumpled heap, propped up by her knees and glared. I wished she would just let go of my arm so I could escape if she wasn't going to at least answer me. But she did, to my surprise. "Apocalymon needs the Crests. Yggdrasil is dead and because of that the balance is shifted. I am unbalanced now. Apocalymon needs the Crests for my truest power to return."

I laughed, and somehow that set Gaia back into normal action mode. She slid quickly and easily to her feet and she pulled me closer to her face, glaring with rage all the while. "What is so funny, boy?"

"Well I don't have the Crest," I shrugged. "At least not all of it. We're all just like you now, Gaia. We all have two parts. When the Crest came back to us after you stole them they split in two. Gabumon has half of my Crest. You need two people for friendship to work—well, you don't, because there are two of you—"

I knew I shouldn't have said it, but I couldn't stop myself. And then Gaia was coming at me with her strange vine blade and I knew death was coming. I knew—even though it was against Gaia's plans—that she was going to kill me now.

"Spiral Twister!"

Gaia shrieked as a blast of fire shot straight between the two of us and even released me for the first time since she had caught me. I did not hesitate to take advantage of this, and I turned and I ran. I caught sight of Biyomon nearby and I felt only fear for her. I was not happy she had saved me. Without Sora she could not evolve high enough to defeat Gaia and instead of going to get help she had simply put herself in danger as well.

Unless we could run faster than Gaia.

Biyomon was flapping her wings as fast as she could and the two of us were flying down the street the way Gaia had come with me, and I didn't know where to find the others, but I couldn't bring myself to grab my digivice and look. I had to keep running and pushing through the burning sensation that spread through all of my joints.

But all at once I stopped. Not because Gaia had caught me, or because I felt the need to give Biyomon a better chance at survival—but because my ally had fallen.

With a cry of pain Biyomon had slammed into the pavement and I could not leave without her. I just couldn't do it. She was screaming to me, begging me to leave her, but I wasn't going to go. I couldn't go back to Sora and tell her where I had last seen Biyomon.

I would let Biyomon tell the others where I was.

I saw the thin vines wrapping around Biyomon's legs and keeping her in place, and I thought that Gaia would simply reel her back in, like a fish caught in the open sea, but when the sharp vine that Gaia used as a blade came soaring quickly toward the both of us, I knew what was happening.

She was going to kill Biyomon.

I reacted with all of my pent up anger and caught the vine. Held tightly between my clamped fists the vine tried desperately to strike Biyomon and to escape my hold, but I couldn't let it. I couldn't let Biyomon die. Not here. Not ever.

I pulled the vine away, pulling with more strength than I even had to offer and when I finally released it, the vine slammed into the sidewalk, splitting the cement in two.

My heart dropped when I saw the vine retracting from the sidewalk. There were only two other people in the streets now and they were both running the opposite direction. It was probably safer that way. "You can't kill her!"I screamed when the vine came back toward us. "She has the Crest of Love! You have to keep her alive!"

Biyomon looked up to me, finally tearing her eyes away from the tangle of vines that held her in place. "She wants the Crests again?" I nodded, but could not answer because Gaia appeared next to us.

She grabbed my wrist once more, and smiled at me, as if to thank me for my information. I felt guilt and anger in my chest and turned away from her. I heard a squeak and knew that she had grabbed Biyomon now too. I hated that I could do nothing more to help her, but at the very least I had given her a little more time. If we could wait until the right moment she could evolve into Birdramon and free herself. Biyomon could still get out of this alive, even if I couldn't.

"I want you to kill me," Biyomon said, startling me. Didn't she understand that Gaia might actually do that for her? "You can't do anything with the Crests anyway, so kill me and spare me the humiliation of helping you. I don't want to do anything for you ever. The Crest of Love is way too precious for someone like you and I don't think you deserve to use it for anything—even if you could figure it out. When your goon Bagramon was chasing us around Yamato and the others told me how you killed Theta. She was the creator of the Crests in general. She loved them more than she loved you, but she loved everything nonetheless. You can't understand love because you also allowed your love to die! If you love someone you have to want them to be happy, and I don't think you understand happiness at all. If happiness was a Crest it sure wouldn't glow for you either." Gaia seemed annoyed with Biyomon's incessant talking, and chose to simply start walking, dragging not just me this time, but Biyomon as well. Biyomon was not done ranting though. "I can't believe someone as evil as you thinks that you could use the Crests. The only traits I think you know are those deadly ones that made everyone crazy five years ago. Greed, Envy, Sloth, Pride, Lust, Gluttony, and Wrath. And just so we're clear, this isn't the Crest of Pride, but just like a general bad sort of pride. And also, maybe not sloth at all—no wait, you always get your minions to do stuff for you, you lazy loser."

My eyes widened at Biyomon's insult but Gaia didn't even seem to be listening. The only proof that she had heard her at all was the slight twitch of her eyebrows, but she pressed onward, dragging us further down the street toward Apocalymon's growing form.

"I mean it's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Biyomon asked loudly, still tugging at Gaia's grip and trying to escape. "You had the Crests with you for months and months. Never did any of them glow, Gaia. You had them, sure, but they're useless unless you understand them. If you can't feel love, or keep a friend, or do something for the greater good or even be honest, then what good are the Crests going to be to you? You'll have a bunch of power floating around you that you will never be able to tap into because you're a twisted sociopath with a sick desire for power, and your disgusting need to always be on top is completely insane and deranged and I think that if you take my Crest from me and kill me, then my friends are going to rip you to shreds before you get a chance to do it to anyone else. Sora, Tentomon, Hawkmon—all of them are going to destroy you, and I know that, because I know them. And I know what the Crests mean and I know that all of my friends have the capability to show those traits inside their heart. That's how I know that they'll save the day in the end, and how I know you'll lose. You'll lose because you're selfish, needy and alone."

It was different to see Gaia strike someone else, but Biyomon took the hit well, but somehow I didn't, and I struck Gaia across the face with a balled up fist. Seeing her hit Biyomon like that was just too far, even though our digimon had been taking all the hits for us for so long.

Gaia shrieked in annoyance and released my arm, and I tasted freedom for a second until her hand wrapped around my throat instead. "If you ever touch me in that way again I will end your life so quickly. Without you Digidestined I won't need your Crest power anyway. I am choosing to obtain it for my own gain, but if you truly crave the sweet relief of death, I shall grant you that."

I swallowed thickly and painfully when Gaia finally released my neck. I took in a big gulp of air and then Gaia grabbed my wrist again and finished her walk to Apocalymon.

We had been so close apparently because she eventually stopped and looked up to the giant swirling cloud, clearing her throat. "Apocalymon, my loyal subject." She waited for a response, but there wasn't one, like Apocalymon did not like the way she spoke to him. "I have with me, two half Crests."

"Where are the other halves?"

I had not been expecting a response at all and so the sound of his deep antagonizing voice sent chills through my entire body, straight to the core. I could remember the voice from before, but it sounded sharper and angrier now. We had defeated him twice before, but neither time was he at his full power.

"They are on their way, I am sure," Gaia said with a devious smirk.

"Good," Apocalymon hummed. "I am nearly ready." Biyomon and I exchanged looks of horror. "My form is nearly completed. Soon I will join you."

"I'll be waiting," Gaia responded smoothly, and that was when the fear really sank in.

Ken Ichijouji:

Aegisdramon and UlforceVeedramon crashed down into the street, crushing me against the pavement. I was under the full force of their weight for only five seconds at most, but it felt like an eternity. Soon, Veemon and Gomamon were lying on top of me, but even their considerably lighter weight felt painful to my aching body. I clambered to my feet, once Jou and Daisuke had both removed their partners from their fallen place on my chest and legs. Once I was sure I was breathing properly, and that nothing was broken, I tried to focus. I'd lost my handcuffs, but those were hardly the most useful tools in my arsenal. To be fair, only the guns tucked into holsters on my belt—tucked under the sides of my open jacket, so as not to cause panic among my friends—would be of any real use at that point. One of them wasn't even mine. I'd taken it from Yakuin when he'd been trying to shoot me, and Astamon had gotten involved. Yakuin was still in the hospital, and I hadn't exactly had much free time to return his weapon.

I didn't even want to return it until Gaia was stopped.

Yakuin was one of her most dedicated minions. His mind had been corrupted through Moretsuna's influence, which was attained by Maugrim's efforts—who we now knew was Gaia's most thoroughly brainwashed cohort of all. It was so confusing. I wasn't sure who was acting of their own accord and who wasn't. Only Gaia and Yorokobi seemed definite to me. Yorokobi had continued the fight when Gaia's control had gone. She'd left Earth, heading somewhere that I hadn't bothered to have clarified, and all the other people that she was controlling returned to their natural state. Yorokobi was the only one that was still loyal to Gaia.

That didn't mean she was the only one entirely though, and Yakuin had tried to kill me, so I thought I was rather justified in keeping his firearm away from him. I had to keep the two guns hidden however, because the sight of them freaked Miyako out most of the time—and that was just my own. She wouldn't appreciate me having two guns at my disposal.

I appreciated it though. It gave me a modicum of safety, in an otherwise helpless situation. We had Gomamon, Tentomon, Patamon and Veemon. Patamon was too injured to be of any help. I scooped him off of the ground, where he'd fallen when the two of us were crushed by our digivolved friends. He was groaning softly, and curled into my touch. I knew he wouldn't be able to fight on his own. We needed more than just the four digimon. It was too much pressure to put on our four friends.

"We have to find the others," Daisuke said, instantly taking command. I didn't mind. I was an officer, yes, and I had a lot of training about what to do in human cases of this same thing. But I was far from comfortable with my abilities. It wasn't like Gaia was going to make demands that we could try to work with. It wasn't a normal hostage situation. She was crazed, but she was balanced. She was in control, whether we liked it or not. She had the power that we were lacking.

But she also tried to flee from Aegisdramon's strength, so I knew that we could beat her, with enough luck on our side.

"This is bad," Jou said. "This is very bad. Yamato won't be able to beat her. We just lost Yamato. How are we supposed to tell his parents? How are we supposed to tell Takeru? Or Sora?"

"Jou, keep your wits about you," Gomamon said quickly. "There's no time for you to be the logical voice of pessimism. He'll be fine. We'll get him back."

"It is scary though," Patamon added, in support of Jou. "I'm scared for him. I don't want anything to happen to him."

"He'll be fine," Gomamon repeated.

"He will," Daisuke agreed, though he hesitated for a few seconds. "We just need the others to help track Gaia down."

"We don't need the others," Veemon said, shaking his head. "You've got a digivice on your belt. Just use that to find one digivice all by itself. That'll be Yamato, won't it?"

"Good thinking, Veemon," Daisuke said. I pulled out my own digivice, while Daisuke started fiddling with his. He was pressing a button, trying to widen the search. I was more interested in the three signals that were headed our way. We had backup coming to us, without having had to ask for it.

"I'm going to see who it is," I said. Everyone else came with me. Veemon looked exhausted, but he was guiding Daisuke along, while Daisuke tried to triangulate Yamato's location. He couldn't figure it out. There was something wrong. I knew it. He knew it. Everyone realized it pretty quickly. Yamato and Gaia hadn't left long before we started moving. They couldn't have disappeared completely.

But when I thought about it, I realized that yes they could.

Gaia knew how Norn's powers operated. In this time, Yggdrasil also existed, and as he was a part of her heart, it was likely that he'd be far more lenient with her than he really ought to be. She could travel between the worlds. She could conquer them all right now, and there was nothing we could do to stop her. We had one key with us. We could travel through time and that was it. That wasn't enough to be able to stop her. The gates between the worlds hadn't been opened yet. Most worlds were completely sealed off for us still. We might be able to get to the Digital World, if we could find a strong enough internet connection—which really wasn't all that likely since we were either in the late eighties or early nineties. Either Michael or Jenna was being born. There weren't many options to pick from. Internet just wasn't as much of a priority of the world yet.

"Breathe," Patamon instructed me gently.

He was right. I shook the thought from my mind. I didn't have time to worry about what Gaia might do. We had to worry about finding her before she could do anything. She wasn't our only worry though. Yorokobi was wandering around somewhere, having escaped while we were busy with Gaia and the whole Yamato situation. She had been abandoned by Gaia in favour of Yamato—who Yorokobi hated with an unparalleled fervour. She was already unhinged due to—according to Gomamon at least—her parent's conditioning as they raised her. She was losing everything she held dearly, was struggling under the realization that she amounted to nothing. She wasn't the cream of the crop. She wasn't the bee's knees, or the princess she believed herself to be. She was whiny, she was helpless, and she was desperate. That was a dangerous combination.

And she was once again free to do whatever she wanted while she roamed the streets of the past, because she wasn't worth our time—not with Gaia and Apocalymon at large. Yorokobi was the gum at the bottom of our shoes: annoying, but relatively harmless.

"We're almost there," Jou said, picking up speed and passing me.

"But where's Yamato?" Daisuke questioned, as Veemon raced after Jou. "We should have seen him by now. It's worrying that we haven't."

"Maybe whoever we're meeting saw him," Patamon said, trying to rally enough hope to spread around. I tried to believe him, but my mind was too distracted by the idea that Gaia might've stolen him away to a different world.

"Hikari!" Veemon cheered. Gomamon struggled out of Jou's arms and moved as fast as he could towards Hikari. Hikari wasn't alone. I knew that, but I was incredibly pleased with the people she'd been travelling with.

"Ken!" Miyako called. "Look, Wormmon, it's Ken!"

Patamon flew from my arms and nestled himself in Hikari's hold, while I moved towards Miyako and Wormmon. I wrapped my arms around them tightly, and Wormmon struggled, before climbing up me and resting on my shoulder, while I held Miyako. She was shaking.

"It's okay," I said, unsure whether I was lying or not, which made me feel incredibly guilty.

"We don't know that," Miyako said, with a sad smile. "Hawkmon is still missing. Iori has Armadillomon, but Gatomon hasn't been found yet either. I don't know how many others are still missing."

"We'll find them," Wormmon said, sounding as though he'd been repeating the same thing over and over again.

"I know," she said. She didn't really believe it though. She was afraid, and it was evident in everything from the way she was holding herself, to the way her eyes shifted constantly from one place to another. She thought someone would jump out and get us at any given moment. She took a shuddering breath and looked into my eyes. "I don't want to leave Mai alone. I didn't want this for her. I didn't want to risk orphaning our daughter. I'm so scared."

"We'll get back to her," I promised, hoping I could deliver. "It's destiny."

"No," Iori said, from his place several feet beyond Miyako. He was practically lurking in the shadows. His eyes too, were shifting from side to side. He was terrified, but the downturn of his lips assured me he hated it. My gut twisted, knowing what he'd gone through.

No.

I didn't actually know what he went through at all. He wouldn't talk about it, and no one was going to press him to say anything. He couldn't sleep, and he couldn't handle anyone getting close to him. That was all that we were able to really glean from him during the incredibly short time since Miyako freed him. He didn't have time to really recover. He was physically still weak. He'd had maybe twenty-four hours at most to get back to himself. He was exhausted and dangerously thin. He was just a shadow of his former, angry self. He was once a strong contender; he was one of our top fighters. He would become that again. I had to believe that. It hurt to think that he might not recover from this. Physically, he had a much better shot at getting over this than he did emotionally.

"Autumn was unable to see the outcome of the final battle," Iori added. "She couldn't foresee what would happen with Apocalymon, because Hideto, Mari, Kiyoko, and now Willis are all involved. They've escaped their destiny, with a little of Autumn's help, but neither Autumn or Gaia were able to see any of Alias III. If they're involved with the defeat of Apocalymon—which I'm hoping they will be, due to the fact that being in the past is not an option really—then Autumn never would have been able to see our victory, or our failure."

"Which is why Gennai was always so adamant about sealing the worlds off after every defeat," Jou said with a sigh. "He wanted us to succeed, and he thought perhaps we had."

"We'll win again," Hikari said firmly. "I will not let the chaos win. I won't let any of the kids lose a parent. I won't."

"We're a team," Wormmon murmured into my ear, for both Miyako and I to hear. "I'll keep you safe. And when we find Hawkmon, he'll help me. We don't want anything to happen to either of you either. Mai needs you."

"And Poromon needs you and Hawkmon," Miyako told him firmly. "So does Mai. We're a family. We're all a family."

"And we're all fighters," Daisuke pointed out. "Now, I know there are some doubts, but we don't have time for them right now. Gaia's getting away with Yamato as we speak. We need to find the others, or find Gaia. I want Yamato back, and I want him to be alive when we find him."

The reaction the others had to Daisuke's news was overshadowed by a quick response. "It would be safer to get backup first," Armadillomon said, debating with himself. "Gaia is a formidable force. We might have enough strength between us to win, but we also might not. I've never faced her before. I was fighting the digimon she was commanding."

"Taichi and the others aren't far from here," Hikari said quickly. "We came to find you because we thought you'd wandered off, and Miyako found Armadillomon and Wormmon asking humans for directions, which sent them running off in terror."

"We'll just find the others then," Daisuke said, pressing his digivice's button again, searching for anything. "You'll have to lead the way. I think my digivice is malfunctioning."

Hikari led the way, and I walked with one arm around Miyako's shoulders, while she cradled Wormmon. I whispered encouragements to her, though we both knew I was trying to psych myself up, more so than her. She didn't call me out on it though. My mind was whirling with the possibilities still. Was Gaia even still on Earth? I didn't know. I was scared of the answer. I was also afraid that she'd gotten to our friends first, and that was why our digivices—not just Daisuke's, because Jou and I both double-checked—weren't able to find them. Maybe Gaia took them to another world too.

Or maybe Apocalymon was causing incredible interference.

It was a much more positive spin on things, as depressing as it was. I tried to focus on that explanation. It was a distinct possibility. The chaos that Apocalymon was made up of was definitely both unstable and powerful. Diaboramon had caused enough interference to throw electronics off. Microwaves, cell phones and even store registers stopped working properly.

And Diaboramon was just a glitch. He was less powerful than Arkaidimon, less complex than Behemoth and Jezebel and all of Arnold's later creations.

Apocalymon was the be all and end all of bad guys. He was the final fight we'd have to face. He was more powerful than the great evils, because he had created them. He threw them off balance, because he needed their strength. He grew stronger with each act of chaos, with each fall into darkness. The Dark Masters, the Death Knights, the Sovereign, the Sins, Dragomon, Kurayami's mother...they all added to his power, but they weren't as big of contributions as Fanglongmon, and the Devil. I was sure the virus had created enough panic and chaos to have assisted with Apocalymon's return too.

I had helped, once—twice really.

The first time I became the Digimon Kaiser, I created chaos like it was my job, and then Fanglongmon drew on the darkness that remained in my heart from the Dark Spore that had once taken over my senses. Twice I had worked for the wrong side. I fed the chaos myself, and it was awful to realize that no matter my current actions, I'd helped create Apocalymon, just as Arnold had, just as the Devil had, and I was no better than any of them in that regard.

What made me different, was that I was going to own up to my mistakes. I was going to fight against the monster I created with my hatred and cruelty. I would right the wrong that I'd caused.

And if I could stop the Digidestined from accessing their digivolution power when I was eleven years old, than yeah, Apocalymon was smart enough—or simply powerful enough—to block out a few digivice signals. I was just glad that he obviously wasn't taking a leaf out of my book and eliminating our false digivolutions. While most of our partners could now access champion without our assistance, champions wouldn't be enough to beat Apocalymon, no matter how powerful of a team we were.

"No," Miyako said, worriedly. "This doesn't make sense."

"They said they'd wait for us," Armadillomon explained.

I looked around. We were on a sidewalk, beside a park. The park was abandoned, except for a couple holding hands as they took a late night stroll. Neither member of the couple looked familiar to me. Obviously, our friends had not waited as they said they would.

"They have to be around here somewhere," Hikari said stubbornly. I could understand the fervour behind her voice. Her brother and fiancé were among those that were missing. She had every motivation to be desperately hopeful. And for her sake, I was going to be hopeful too. I'd decided it was Apocalymon that was preventing us from finding them, after all. That was hopeful of me.

Miyako stepped away from me, with Wormmon still in her arms. Hikari and Patamon wandered to the left, as if they expected the others to just jump out from behind the trees that were scattered along the park's perimeter. Jou and Daisuke were bent over their digivices, while Veemon joined the others in their search. Gomamon was tired, and hurt, but he was throwing positivity at everyone like his life depended on it.

"We can do it," he said.

"They're just one step ahead of us, waiting for us to catch up, it's no big deal," he told us with a laugh.

"We've done this twice already, it's old hat by now," he dismissed. "It's going to be a piece of cake. We'll be done by dinner. What do you think we'll get to eat? I'm famished."

"I was thinking about starting a digimon nurse program when this all blows over. There needs to be more than just me prepared to help digimon out when Jou's busy. I think we could probably talk the Fight Club's medic into joining our practice too, and maybe even Shin," he said, with such a blasé tone, as if he wasn't worried one bit about what was coming for us.

We knew he was lying, but he was really helping us relax, while we searched for our friends. We wouldn't be able to justify hanging around much longer. Yamato was in danger. It would be safer for both us and him, if we waited for the others, but it was definitely better for Yamato if we didn't dally. He needed us now.

Something orange moved out of the corner of my eye. I turned to it immediately. I was hoping for something familiar, and I got it.

"Agumon!" I announced.

I moved towards him instinctively, hearing the others flocking back towards me, headed in the same direction. Hikari and Patamon—who was still nestled in her arms—were the first to catch up to me. Hikari reached out and touched my arm. I was confused, but watched Agumon.

He was far larger than I remembered him being, now that I thought about it. Agumon opened his mouth and summoned an impressive collection of fire, before he spit the swirling flames out into the sky, where they shot toward an airplane.

Miyako bumped into me from behind, gasping at the sight. Gomamon was appalled. Veemon moved closer to Agumon, wondering aloud what had gotten into our friend. "Agumon, stop it! What are you doing?"

"WAIT!" Hikari ordered. I thought for a moment she was talking to Agumon, but she wasn't. She was talking to us, pointing to a small human that was hanging from Agumon's shoulders. "That little girl..."

"Maybe he's helping her find her way home," Armadillomon said, trying to see the best in our friend, even though he was acting so oddly.

"He's not," Hikari said, convincingly. "That girl...that's me, guys. That's me. I know where we are—I mean when we are. This is my first interaction with digimon. This is all our first interaction with digimon. He won't hurt me. But that's also not our Agumon. He's one of the digimon Gennai warned us got through the open gates."

I wanted to stay on task, but my body froze. My mind wouldn't do the math. I couldn't figure out what year it was, but it didn't matter. If Hikari was that small, that young, then so was I. We were born the same year. She was three, four, maybe five years old at most.

Osamu didn't die until I was older.

As I stood there, watching an oversized Agumon interact with little Hikari, my brother was somewhere, living and breathing. My family wasn't broken yet. It was strange to be able to know that, to be in a world where he wasn't dead.

It sucked too, because I knew I could never do anything about it. I couldn't change the past without potentially ruining the future, and with peace at our fingertips, I couldn't be selfish and screw it up. But for that moment, when I realized he was still here, I wanted to. I wanted to find him, and tell him all the things I'd wanted to share with him over the course of my life, but couldn't, because he wasn't there. I wanted him to know how important he was to me, even though he probably wouldn't care. He never seemed to, even though I'd idolized him as a child. I missed him, all the time still.

"We need to find Taichi before Greymon shows up," Hikari declared. I wiped the tears from my face that I hadn't intended on shedding, and nodded towards her. Hikari purposefully led us away from her younger self, and chose a direction at random. I let her lead, not understanding what she meant about Greymon. I had no recollection of whatever important event was taking place around us, but Hikari and Jou seemed to understand, and that was good enough for me.

I wasn't in any sort of headspace to even try to sort that out.

While I was in the middle of the painful process of putting Osamu out of mind, we stumbled across a store window displaying several televisions. It was bright, and originally the light was what drew my attention, but it was the news report that held my attention.

"Miyako," I said, pointing. She saw what I did, and soon everyone was watching Aquilamon on TV as he battled it out against Bagramon. Iori let out a strangled sound, and was already scanning the images to find distinctive markings that would tell him where they were.

"It's the harbour," Daisuke said sharply, pointing to the screen to something that didn't last. I hadn't seen whatever landmark he had, but I trusted his judgement. "He needs help. We can't leave him to fight alone."

"I need to go to him," Miyako said firmly. I put my arm around her. I was going with her. Daisuke and Veemon both offered up their services, but it was Iori that was surprising.

"I'm going," he said simply. He was still feeling the effects of Bagramon's attention, and he was ghostly pale. He was terrified, and shaking, but the anger was back in his eyes. He was watching Bagramon give attention to one of his friends, to Miyako's partner. He'd felt responsible for Hawkmon's near demise during the virus, and he wasn't going to let anything happen to Hawkmon now.

I was kind of proud that it wasn't just revenge that was fuelling him.

"What about Yamato?" Gomamon asked sharply.

"What about Yamato?" Hikari asked, confused. I winced, realizing we'd never really explained what happened. Jou waved me off, when I tried.

"We'll find him and the others," he promised. "Aquilamon's in just as much danger, and we actually know where he is. You save him, and we'll find Yamato. Go. Now!"

"Right," Daisuke said, racing off. Iori followed after, careful not to get too close to Daisuke, or to Armadillomon and Veemon, who were running with him. Miyako took Wormmon to follow suit, and I was going to follow too. But there was something I needed to do first.

"Jou," I said, reaching under my jacket and pulling out one of the guns I was carrying. I made sure the safety was still on as I handed it to him, showing him what to do, should he find need of it.

"Just in case," he said, not looking all that happy to be holding a gun. I couldn't waste any time trying to convince him that it was a good idea. I had to catch up to my wife, partner and friends. Aquilamon was in trouble. I needed to be there for my family.

Mimi Izumi:

"Are you sure we should have left?" Sora worried. Koushiro patted her shoulder casually, without a care in the world. He wasn't divorcing her. It wasn't fair. He was acting so nonchalant, and maybe I should have been too. There was a lot at stake, and I really shouldn't have been focusing any portion of my mind, not even a tiny piece of it, on the words Koushiro had spoken to me.

He wanted to divorce me.

Who knew how long he'd wanted to divorce me. Morganna hadn't even stolen my heart away yet when he'd said it. Unless he knew I was going to be weak enough to have my heart taken—but then strong enough to get it back all by myself, thank you very much—there was no way that my brief stint as an unwilling bad guy could have been his motivation.

And now I'd sent us all back in time, taking Gaia and Apocalymon with us. This was the worst. Sora sighed, and Koushiro let his hand drop.

"They'll find us," Taichi said firmly, wagging his digivice in the air as if Sora had forgotten about them. I wasn't very excited about leaving the others behind. We'd sworn that we'd wait for them. It wasn't fair of us to abandon the others in the past, without having any real way to contact them.

I'd tried to volunteer to stay behind, but Taichi refused to let me, which meant I had to walk behind Koushiro and try to keep my mind on the important things.

Apocalymon was going to destroy everything we had ever held dear, everything we'd dedicated our lives to protecting, everything destiny demanded that we accomplish.

Also, Gaia was here possibly, probably, and so was Palmon, which was super important to keep in mind, because Palmon was my tiny ray of hope in this bleak situation, and without her, I was wallowing, falling into a pit of despair where I would flounder until Apocalymon won.

"You're fine," Takeru murmured, carrying on a completely separate conversation with Tentomon at my side, trusting that Hikari and Miyako and Iori would find us when they needed to. "You're not scary at all. I promise."

"Those kids seemed pretty scared," Tentomon lamented. "I was trying to be fun and play, but they were terrified. I don't like that I'm scary. Why can't they see the me that's inside."

"I don't know buddy," Takeru said, shaking his head. "They're just kids, you know. And sometimes when kids are looking at a giant bug, they just don't know how to handle it. Kids are afraid of a lot. Don't worry about it."

"What if Haruki, Mai, Kana and Renjiro are afraid of me?" Tentomon worried, despite Takeru's words.

"Emiko's not," Takeru pointed out.

"Emiko's not a typical child," Tentomon said shrewdly. "Everyone's going to be afraid of me forever. Koushiro's future children will cry at the sight of me, and Koushiro will throw me away, in favour of his children, and I won't even be able to blame him."

Laughter ripped out of Takeru's mouth. He couldn't catch his breath, he was taken off guard by Tentomon's ridiculous statement. I was a little focussed on the part where they were just Koushiro's children, not ours. I was feeling really down already, and was trying to put that behind me, but it wasn't working with little reminders.

"I'm glad you find my pain amusing," Tentomon said, offended.

"That's the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard," Takeru said, shaking his head. "I thought you were supposed to be grounded and logical. Koushiro loves you, and any kids he has will love you too. Not only because you're completely lovable, but because you'll be around them their entire life and they'll be used to you, and therefore won't know that you could be scary."

"Alright then," Tentomon said, sounding rather sceptical.

"The same will be true for Haruki and the others. They'll love you, because you'll always be around. Now, don't you feel better? Those kids in the park don't know about digimon yet. I'm sure there'll be lots of kids in our time that wouldn't run screaming. Their parents might, but kids are typically more accepting," Takeru said with a shrug. He turned to me, and threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me next to him. "Now, what's got you down?"

"It's nothing," I said quickly, glancing at Koushiro. Takeru might've missed it, but Tentomon didn't. He was far too observant for his own good—or my own good anyway.

"Uh-huh," Takeru said, sounding like he didn't believe me at all.

"What did Koushiro do now?" Tentomon asked pointedly.

"Nothing," I lied quickly. Neither believed me, of course, and both waited patiently for me to spill my guts. "I'm lovable, aren't I?"

"Easily the most lovable person ever," Takeru said quickly, before pausing. "Other than Hikari, I mean, because she's awesome—but you're awesome too, just a different awesome. There was once a time, when I was a kid that I thought you might be the same kind of awesome, but I got over that. I don't mean that you got less awesome or anything, I just realized I was more interested in someone else."

"What I assume he means is that anyone would be a fool not to love you," Tentomon said, cutting Takeru off before he could embarrass himself further.

"Then why does Koushiro want a divorce?" I asked in a hushed voice. Taichi, Sora and Koushiro were still walking in front of us after all, and I didn't want Koushiro to know how much his words were affecting me. Obviously they were affecting me pretty terribly, but I didn't want him to know that. I was mad at him!

"I don't know what you're talking about," Takeru said earnestly.

"He'll be enough, until we can find the others," Koushiro said fervently, breaking into our conversation unintentionally.

"But one mega isn't enough," Taichi grumbled.

"He's a super ultimate," Sora defended, "and we'll find the others, don't even think that we won't."

"Mimi," Takeru said, pulling my attention away from them. He couldn't lessen my worry though. I didn't want Koushiro to hear us talking about this. "Koushiro loves you. I've seen it. He really loves you, more than his computer even. You're so important to him. I learned a lot about his feelings a while back, while we were in the Land of Dreams together. He was trying to not show me anything, but I could see right through him. I can still see through him. And he still loves you more than anything."

"Well, love isn't enough, apparently," I said with a scowl, though I was kind of pleased to hear that Koushiro apparently still loved me. I wondered whether I'd done something wrong, or if he had. I decided he must've, because I knew I hadn't.

I was trying to come up with a way to change the subject—like maybe turning it towards the certain doom that was gathering strength and forming into Apocalymon in the distance. The lightning and stormy clouds were really a sight to see, but the larger they got showed us how close Apocalymon was to completing his body. He would be able to wreak havoc on the past, and it was all my fault. But I was brought to a halt before I could say anything. There was more than just thunder on the horizon. Another sound was brought to my attention.

"Is that howling?" I murmured.

"I didn't hear anything," Takeru said, shaking his head.

"Must be the nerves," I said with an awkward laugh. I didn't believe that of course, because I was so sure I had heard something that sounded vaguely like a howl. I didn't want to insist that I was right though, because I was already convincing myself that I was in the right in my relationship with Koushiro. I knew one of us had done wrong and I simply wouldn't accept that it was me. If I kept insisting I was right, I was scared that I might create an altered reality in my head where I could never do wrong, but I knew that wasn't true. So instead I wrapped my arms around myself, and continued following Taichi, Koushiro and Sora. They were over the fact that we only had one digimon to help us in our quest. We'd find the others. Hikari, Miyako and Iori would bring us help, whenever they managed to catch up to us.

The air was getting colder—though that might've just been me, as I was practically shaking with fear—and the wind was crashing against us, as though Apocalymon was trying to keep us away, so that we couldn't prevent his grand return. But I heard the sound again. It was louder this time, more chilling than even the air or my fear.

"I'm going to check it out," Sora shouted over the wind. I moved to follow her, but Koushiro caught my hand.

"We shouldn't split up any further," he argued looking between Sora and I. "Tentomon can't protect us all unless we're in one place."

"We'll be fine," Sora said, with a rueful look. "We're just scouting. We won't be fighting. We'll be right back. Give us like twenty minutes, and we'll be back. We've got digivices. Don't be such a worrywart."

Koushiro let go of me then, partially because I was glaring at him. How dare he try to control my actions in order to protect me? I was a stubborn woman, and he didn't even want to be married to me anymore, so I didn't even feel like finding a compromise. I just turned around and raced off after Sora, who had exchanged quick words with Taichi—words that I could not hear over the wind.

The howling came roaring on the wind again, and we picked up our pace. There was only one wolf that we knew was prowling around the streets. It had to be Garurumon. I was so excited to see him. I wanted to find another one of our friends. I was tired of worrying about everyone. I just wanted us all to be safe.

Once again we heard the howl fly through the wind. There was something a little off about it. It was higher in pitch than usual, and my heart pounded in my chest. He must've been hurt! I pushed myself further, and very nearly overtook Sora—but she was far more athletic than I was, and it was pretty much impossible. She was also very worried about Garurumon.

We whirled around the corner, and slammed against a woman. I was thrown off of my feet, feeling my ankle bend under me in a way that it wasn't meant to go. I screamed in pain as I fell to the concrete. The rough surface dug into my skin, leaving a large gash along my leg, and pebbles imbedded in my palms. Of course that would happen now. Why not hurt Mimi when she's already tormented emotionally and mentally? But Sora was shouting too, and that worried me. She was tougher than me.

The woman we'd crashed into wasn't just an innocent bystander. It was Yorokobi Fujimoto. I hadn't realized we'd brought her back with us. I hadn't meant to. I didn't even realize she was anywhere near us. I hadn't seen her.

But I didn't have time to lament over my mistakes. Yorokobi had Sora slammed against the stone wall of the alley we'd come through. We were coming up to the river. I knew where we were, but I didn't exactly spend a lot of time wandering through alleyways. It wasn't a good habit, considering how many people wanted to kill us all the time.

Yorokobi was being added to that list.

"Sora!" I called, trying to get to my feet. My foot was still at a bad angle though, and it felt like sharp knives were being stabbed down to my bone, and stars danced in my vision. I managed to get onto one foot, but I couldn't exactly race to Sora's rescue effectively.

That fact didn't stop me from trying.

"Leave her alone!" I yelled at Yorokobi, moving slowly in her direction. She swatted out at me. It was only when the sharp, burning started in my arm that I realized it wasn't just her hand she was waving around. She had a knife, and she wasn't afraid to use it.

"Get back," Yorokobi snarled, "this is between me and her."

"What did she ever do to you?" I demanded, lunging, despite the pain in my ankle, running on pure adrenaline. My attempts to steal back the knife were for naught, because she sliced into my shoulder, and I crashed to the ground in a heap of pain and misery.

She caught Sora around the neck, and held the blade against Sora's stomach. She didn't want to kill Sora swiftly. She wanted my friend to suffer. I didn't understand why though. What had Sora ever done to hurt Yorokobi?

"I'm sorry," Sora said, sounding decidedly not sorry in the slightest, which I thought was probably a bad move when someone had a knife to her stomach, intending to cut her open and let her bleed out. "I didn't do anything to you!"

"Wrong," Yorokobi said. "I'm nothing now. I'm dirt on the bottom of people's shoes. There was a time that the name Yorokobi Fujimoto opened any door. I was somebody. I was important. Everyone wanted me. But you and that Digital Man of yours ruined everything. I had a plan! I was going to rule this country, and now that dream has been ripped away from me. You've destroyed everything, you've destroyed me, and now I must return the favour."

"That wasn't me!" Sora insisted. "Yamato and I weren't the ones that smeared your name. Our campaign was about love and acceptance, not putting others down. I never hurt you. Neo did all that. He wanted to rule, and he doesn't let anything stand in his way."

"Neo would never hurt me," Yorokobi said, sounding desperate to believe that. I knew, of course, that he'd turned her down in a spectacular fashion. It was painful to see her cling to even the remotest of chances that someone wasn't against her. "This was Yamato Ishida! He's a menace, and he needs to be stopped. Gaia chose to take that task for herself, but I will have revenge! I'll take it out on you, his Angel in the Sky!"

"Why does everyone like that one so much?" Sora growled, trying to subtly move the knife away from her, so that she could get away—or disarm Yorokobi. But Yorokobi caught on quickly.

"You think the Digital Man can save you?" Yorokobi said cruelly, laughing with the purest of enjoyment, despite the twisted actions she was exhibiting. "He can't. He's probably dead already. Gaia doesn't like to take risks. My queen is far too powerful for a stupid human man to stand a chance. Are you ready to join your love in hell?"

"He's alive," Sora said fervently, her eyes glowing with a fierce loyalty. Yorokobi wasn't distracted the way I was though. She brought her knee up into Sora's stomach, accidentally slicing Sora's hip with her knife in the process. Sora didn't fall fast enough for Yorokobi's liking, and got a second hit from her knee to make up for it. Yorokobi kicked Sora when she went down, once, twice, three times. I couldn't keep up with the blows. I screamed as loud as I could, hoping there was a good Samaritan somewhere that could call the authorities.

I knew we couldn't afford to have the police apprehend Yorokobi, because she was from the future, same as we were, and she needed to get back there, but I wanted desperately to have her moved away from Sora. I crawled towards her, catching her foot, and getting stomped in the chest as a result.

Yorokobi sat on Sora's chest, and Sora fought with all her power to get her away, but Yorokobi was wielding a knife dangerously close to Sora's neck, and so Sora needed to be careful, or else she'd just help Yorokobi kill her.

It wasn't fair.

Why couldn't anything be easy for us?

I tried once more to stop her, but my chest was aching, there were metaphorical knives stabbing into my entire leg, as the pain from my ankle ate away at the adrenaline that was coursing through my veins. Blood was all over me, from the gash the concrete had left during our unfortunate introduction. Tears poured down my face as I screamed, continuously for help. Anyone could help us. The knife was stabbing into Sora's arm, Yorokobi was smiling, and talking loudly over the wind.

"We'll have to make sure the Digital Man can recognize you," she said viciously. "There won't be much left when I'm done, but I can make sure he knows you're the Angel in the Sky. A label would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"Stop it!" Sora shouted. Pain laced her voice, and she was trying to get rid of Yorokobi with her legs, while she grabbed the knife handle with her free arm. She was going down fighting, and I was going to keep fighting alongside her, even though fighting was my least favourite thing to do.

I tangled my bloodstained fingers in Yorokobi's hair, and pulled back sharply, remembering when I'd fought Mari, and longing for the past. Mari wasn't trying to kill my friend when we'd fought. Mari wasn't even really trying to win the fight. She just needed to do something so that Neo wouldn't think she was shirking her duties. Yorokobi wasn't pulling her punches. She swung the knife behind her, catching me in the arm again. I shrieked, trying to catch it, but it was too late, She's already swung it back towards Sora, putting it close to her face. I wasn't sure if it had already broken the skin or not. Sora wasn't screaming, but I wasn't sure what that meant.

She might just be trying to not give Yorokobi the satisfaction of hearing her pain.

Vines wrapped around my waist and pulled me backwards. I screamed and thrashed, not wanting to die at Gaia's hands, and fearing what I'd find when I looked at her. Would she carry Yamato's body as a trophy in order to make us lose hope? It sounded like the twisted type of thing she might do. I kicked, screaming in fear and pain, as my almost certainly broken ankle wobbled during the motions.

"Pepper Breath!"

My heart hammered. Agumon was here. He would save us. But then logic caught up to me, and I realized that wouldn't work. Not if Gaia had me. He could beat Yorokobi, but without Taichi, he couldn't even hope to beat Gaia.

"Mimi, you're safe," Palmon called, as the vines pulled me against her chest. I watched as the Pepper Breath slammed into Yorokobi's back. She snarled in pain and anger, and turned to see Agumon. Sora gathered enough strength to shove Hideto's sister off of her, and scrambled in order to back away.

Palmon removed her vines from me, and sent them at Yorokobi, wrapping the woman tightly in her hold. "Poison Ivy!" Palmon walked up to Yorokobi and glared at her, forcing the human to meet her eye.

"You can't blame others for your own failures," Palmon told her, anger barely concealed in her voice. "You have to take responsibility, or else you're just burying yourself under excuses. You're letting the hatred and fear get you down. You can't rise from the pain if you don't accept it, and accept what you did wrong. Everyone has faults. What makes a good person isn't a lack of faults, or a collection of fake qualities. A good person is someone that knows when they've made mistakes, and learns from them. You can do that, Yorokobi. You can follow Puraido out of the hole your parents dug for you. Hideto led the way, and Puraido followed. You can do it too. I know you can. No person is inherently bad. There's good in you, if you can just find it. Learn from what you've done here. Please. You don't need to follow Gaia. There are other options. There are always options for those that are willing to look for them."

"You're a waste of space," Yorokobi snarled. Her eye was twitching, and she was jolting every once in a while. Her mind was overloaded. It was impossible for her to rid herself of Gaia's conditioning, of her parents' conditioning. "I should've killed you when I had the chance. You made a fool out of me, leading me on a wild goose chase across that godforsaken world of yours! You began my downfall. You made a mockery out of me among the EVOLVE elite!"

"Yorokobi," Palmon said sternly, "you made a mockery of yourself. You don't need to be like this. Learn from your mistakes. You're a terrible villain. Learn to be good instead. By being good, people will forgive your faults, and you'll make strides in repairing your reputation. You can recover from this. I know you can. Anyone can do it, with enough support. I'll support you myself if that's what it takes. Gomamon's helping Puraido."

"I wouldn't accept the help of a common earthworm, why would I let something worth less help me in any way?" Yorokobi sneered, spitting in Palmon's face. Agumon let out a sound of protest, and started to stomp over to the pair, completely missing the flash of anger that passed over Palmon's features, as she reared her head back and let out a menacing tone.

"You're spitting at me?" she said slowly. "Let's see how you like it. Stinking Attack!" Palmon breathed deeply, and let out a toxic cloud of fumes that left Yorokobi choking for air. Agumon, still upset about Yorokobi's mistreatment of Palmon, and clearly not paying attention to Palmon's own form of revenge, reared his head back, and let out another Pepper Breath.

"Agumon, no!" I cried, but it was too late. The flames got near the fumes, and lit up on fire. Her hair was a mess of flames, and Palmon threw Yorokobi away from her, afraid of the heat the fire gave off. Yorokobi arched through the air, and rolled down the riverbank when she landed ungracefully. She rolled right into the water, where the flames were thankfully extinguished.

But she didn't resurface.

"No!" I screamed. I got to my feet, growling in pain as the knives attacking my ankle decided to become red hot pokers, rather than simple blades. But I pushed through the pain that was impossible to ignore, choosing to focus more on the pain than the laughing that Palmon and Agumon were doing as they exchanged a high five.

Sora was scolding them, and I fell to my knees along the bank of the river, carefully lowering myself into the water, screaming when a hand latched around my injured ankle. I reached down into the water, and the fingers left my ankle in favour of my hand, and I pulled Yorokobi out of the water. She was shaking, terrified, and insane. But she was coughing water from her lungs.

She was okay. Sora was okay. I would be, after Jou looked at my ankle and told me what to do about it.

But we didn't know about Yamato. And we didn't know about Garurumon. Yorokobi was a poor imitator, and our friend was out there too. I hoped he was finding Yamato. We'd need his help to make sure Yamato was found—or avenged. Unlike with Yorokobi, Palmon wouldn't be able to find anything even remotely redeemable about Gaia.

I hated fighting, but I knew we still had a lot in store for us. One look at the looming, dark, angry clouds was enough to assure me that time was running short. Apocalymon was on his way, and I needed to push through the pain and face him. I was done with all of this fighting, and the only way I could get out of it, was if we finished him off, once and for all.

Next on Digimon Adventure 09: Next up is a bit of a flashback section as TK and Cody lead us straight into the final battle with a little less than the normal amount of grace.