Good Lord, I had no idea it would take me this long to update...sorry for the wait! At least this chapter's longer.

Price of Knowledge

I won't be coming back. Love you all.

The first answer came two seconds later.

Just hang on for a couple minutes. We're coming ASAP.

After receiving no confirming reply from Sora, Izzy had feared the worst, and had immediately made contact with as many Digidestined as he could, which only turned out to be Mimi, Tai, and Ken. Quickly tracking the location of Sora's D-Terminal, he sent the coordinates to those three before entering the DigiWorld himself. Mimi assured him she would find a way there as quickly as possible, while Tai and Ken spread the word to whomever they could. Knowing their group, the Digidestined would be five minutes behind Izzy at the most.

The digital gate dropped him on the shore where apparently a huge evacuation recently took place, telling from the many tracks in the sand. It was dead quiet. Abandoned, both by the innocent and the enemy. The red head stood there for several long seconds. The sight was inconceivable. Years ago, when the Dark Masters had invaded the Digital World, there had been several months of gradual damage done. The sight of disaster before him surpassed anything he ever remembered from that time. File Island had been reduced to ashes in a single day.

He checked his digivice for any reading of Sora's, but the screen was blank. Reverting to the slightly harder method, Izzy pulled out his laptop to track down her D-Terminal. It hadn't moved from when he had previously found it.

Izzy didn't want to think about what that meant, and decided promptly to take off in a sprint, following the directions on his computer. Tentomon wasn't there with him. Undoubtedly the rookie had been evacuated with all the other innocents on the island. That was probably for the best. The presence of a digimon like him would attract their enemy, and Izzy didn't need any attention. He had come to get Sora and get out.

A small, wooded area soon came up before him, and that was consoling to some degree. At least there was any life still here at all. A great many of the trees were scorched by the hot rampage of virus digimon, but these managed to stay standing and not crumble to ashes like most of the surrounding environment. Izzy prayed Sora was still in there and hadn't lost her D-Terminal.

There was a distant roar that caused Izzy to start and search the landscape warily. Off in the horizon, he spotted two small forms, obscured in the smoky sky. Though their appearance was blurred, he recognized the dragon digimon, circling in the air. Gigadramon and Megadramon. It didn't take long for Izzy to figure that they were combing the surface of File Island, searching. Their course was slowly taking them towards the wood where Izzy was headed. Without Tentomon, he knew he was putting himself at risk staying here any longer. There was no time to just stand. Izzy resumed his sprint, plunging into the thin cover of the burnt trees. He was close.

Closer than he thought.

Izzy came on the scene abruptly, and stopped short. It was as bad as he had feared. Why did he always have to be right? There she lay, dead.

Sora's face was peaceful, bringing him the comfort that she didn't suffer for long. Upon further examination, Izzy saw why. A Demi Dart had been struck into her leg. The red head took a step closer to her, and noticed that she had been impaled on a blade at some point, though the weapon had apparently been removed. At least their enemy had the decency to leave her body un-abused.

As real as the sight was, Izzy couldn't believe it. He was too late. She had been gone for some time. Seeing the D-Terminal in her limp hand, he assumed that she had just gotten that last message off before blacking out. It had all been out of his power. The thought stung, and Izzy felt himself quickly overwhelmed with the surge of emotions that came with it. His eyes brimmed over as he knelt beside her body.

It could be a trap...

No way! We're just bits of data, so I uploaded us as file attachments...

Okay! I believe you!

One of the last exchanges they had before Sora had been kidnapped by Datamon. That was five years ago already. It was only one of those many terrifying experiences where they feared that one of their own might not make it through the battle. Like Devimon and TK. Or Kari and Myotismon. Izzy himself had his own close call one time, against Vademon.

But now this new battle had arisen, and Sora was already gone. It was a devastating blow.

Izzy heard the cry of the dramon close, and he knew his time was running out. In a quick preparation for the worst scenario, he forwarded Sora's message to the first person on his contacts. Being as organized as he was, his first recipient would be Hida, Cody. After that, he proceeded to delete Sora's message to him, just in precaution. As bad as his situation was, he wanted to be as prepared as he could be if it did get worse. Izzy checked Sora's device, and saw that she had had the same thought. The delete notification was reassuring. At least she had kept her head on until the very last. He leafed through the several messages that had come from the other Digidestined. The ones she apparently hadn't read. Would never read.

Don't worry Sora. TK and I are coming. You are going get back home.

The red head felt his heart break at Matt's hopeful words. All they could do now was give her a good funeral.

There wasn't enough time to look through the rest. A huge creature crashed down through the thin canopy of the small forest. Izzy's cover was blown, and he was fortunately aware of it. He leapt out of the path of a swiping metal claw, dropping Sora's D-Terminal in the process. He spun to face his attacker, and saw Megadramon hovering there, glaring at him.

Izzy almost held his ground, as he nearly forgot that Tentomon wasn't with him. Yet by another streak of fortune, the red head remembered. As soon as the ultimate began to approach, Izzy turned tail and ran as fast as he could the way he came. The digimon pursued, though hindered by the trees as it swung its claws back and forth to clear its path. The fugitive could hear the metal talons slice the air above him. It only drove Izzy to run faster. Even if he were to escape, he would have felt guilty about returning without Sora. But then again, his rational mind was taken over by panic as he fled the bloodthirsty ultimate digimon. He hadn't taken the second dramon into account.

Gigadramon burst loudly onto the scene, appearing right in front of Izzy. It was a trap. A simple one, but it doesn't take much for an ultimate digimon to manipulate a lone human's movements.

The second dragon digimon had driven his claws into the ground, causing an effect similar to Digmon's drills. Only Gigadramon was far more upscale than an armour digimon. The impact and resulting tremble of the earth threw Izzy off his feet. It was all the dramon needed. He felt Megadramon's metal claw close around him, and Izzy held his breath.

He wasn't being crushed, though the grip of the digimon was tight enough to be incredibly uncomfortable. Next thing Izzy knew, they were soaring off, presumably towards Infinity Mountain, seeing that the ocean was stretching in the opposite direction. He twisted around to try and catch a glimpse to confirm his suspicions. Whoever their enemy was, their base was on the mountain. Izzy spotted the obsidian structure that had been erected on the summit.

The boy already had a hypothesis as to what they wanted with him. Shaking away the fear in his mind, he vowed to himself: whatever they wanted, they wouldn't get the pleasure of having his help. He knew where the artefact was, but there would be no way for them to coax it out of him. It could mean death. Or worse, torture. He made his resolution there, as they spiralled down to land at the entrance to the tower. It was time to be strong.

Megadramon dropped him to the ground when he was still ten feet up. He wasn't injured upon impact with the ground, but the wind was clearly knocked out of him. For several moments he could do nothing but attempt to catch his breath. His body tensed with panic as he tried again and again to get some oxygen in. The moment lasted only a few seconds, but that was enough time for the residents of the black building to emerge.

It was a Kuwagamon that showed itself.

It had been the first unfriendly creature they had met in the Digital World, all those years ago. By now, this should have been an easy enemy. For Tentomon, that is. One quick digivolution to MegaKabuterimon, and this battle would be over in moments. But Izzy didn't have his partner with him, and that meant there would be no battle at all. Izzy had no time to run before Kabuterimon's rival took a shot at him. It was only one blow, but the red head was knocked out immediately.

Izzy never knew how much time had passed before he woke. The first thing he was aware of was the nausea. His stomach swam violently; his head spun sickeningly. As he winced, he felt a sticky layer of film covering the right side of his face. He blinked harder, and felt the layer crack and peel. The Kuwagamon's strike must have drawn blood, and a lot of it. Izzy slowly opened his eyes, and squinted into the dark. Or, at least, he thought he did. He couldn't tell if his eyes were open or not, the room was so black. He presumed he had been taken inside the tower.

As he glanced around, looking for anything other than pitch-darkness, he felt a twinge in his neck. Apparently, however long he had been out, it was enough for him to develop a terrible kink, limiting the movements of his head. Izzy then realized all of his limbs were restrained. He was sitting on a flat chair, his back against a cold stone wall. His arms were bound to his sides; his ankles tied to the chair legs.

Blind and immobilized, he was completely vulnerable. He could only sit and wait.

"Comfortable?"

The soft, though deep voice shattered the silence, and Izzy started, gasping.

"No, then? Pity, though it's not like it matters."

"Where am I?" Izzy managed to ask. "What do you want? Who are you?"

"Hold it, boy." The voice grew stern. "I'm the one who will be giving the questions here."

Izzy suspected as much. He remembered his resolution. His captor would get no information from him.

"So, child, you shall answer your own questions as well as mine."

The red head decided that he was certainly in that obsidian tower, and that his captor wanted to know where that strange artefact was hidden. The only thing he had yet to learn was who exactly was behind all this. Izzy found that he didn't really want to know.

His captor addressed him. "Well, are we ready to begin? We'll start with this: are there any other children like yourself roaming our world?"

To be truthful, he didn't know. Matt had mentioned that he and TK were in their way to Sora, but he had no way of knowing if they were in the Digital World yet. Izzy didn't answer, and he soon found the limits of his captor's patience. Something sharp, a knife probably, stabbed into his right shoulder. Izzy let out a scream as he felt the point drive all the way through until he heard the metal clink against the stone behind him.

All of a sudden, his captor's voice was very close. "Shut up. That is only strike one."

Izzy did as he was told, though his breath came in quivering gasps. His enemy continued.

"I don't have very much time to waste on you, so we shall move on and get to the point," the voice continued. "You and your deceased friend have something very important to me. I want you to tell me where it is."

The red head held his tongue along with his breath. He had an idea what was coming next. Ten long seconds passed before another knife point struck deep into his left shoulder. He couldn't resist crying out, though he managed to subdue himself quicker. It felt like a giant staple had been hammered into his torso, pinning him to the wall. Each of his heavy breaths came with a pained grunt.

His captor growled, "Strike two. Surely, I thought a logical boy like you would have some sense about a subject like this, considering what's at stake. Answer me. You know where that key is."

So that's what that artefact was. A key, but to what? Izzy felt a sinking feeling fill him. He may never find out what this was all about, what his enemies were wanting to accomplish. Still, sensing that the third strike would be his last, he forced himself to speak. He didn't want to die blubbering like a weak and frightened child. Okay, maybe he was frightened, scared nearly out of his wits, but he definitely wasn't weak. Izzy was intent on proving it. His words came out bolder than he meant to, but that was just as well.

"Yes, I do know where it is. And you don't? I don't see what's wrong with that."

A roar burst in his face, and a blow connected with his jaw. Izzy's head flung to the side from the impact, wringing at his sore neck and aggravating his injured shoulders. Only his bonds held him in place. Something large planted in his chest, pressing him against the hard wall as the two blades were yanked out of his shoulders one at a time. Izzy was yelling in anguish, but it only further irritated his captor.

"Strike three."

One of the knives was plunged into his chest, and Izzy took one long gasp for air, shock filling his senses.

The sound of creaking suddenly came to his ears, confusing him. A door had been opened, letting a minimal amount of light in the room. He saw the vague silhouette of what could only be a very powerful digimon standing above him, obscuring what was in the doorway. The helmet on its head had three distinct, characteristic horns, telling him it must be part of the Greymon family. At least he had learned something about his enemy.

"We found several of the children," came a new voice, addressing Izzy's captor.

"You haven't engaged them yet?"

"No."

"Then let us hurry! I'm done here with this pathetic human."

Izzy caught a breath at the tone of his captor. Finality. The creature's silhouetted turned to him.

"Well, at least I've learned something down here, no thanks to you."

The child of Knowledge only saw a faint glint of light off of metal as the digimon's blade came down on his head. It was the last light he saw.

Let's hope the next update comes sooner. See you then!