DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Okay, here Chapter 3. I just want to thank my small amount of fans. Reading your wonderful reviews, proving that you accually enjoy my writing, helps me get through the day (since school is a waste of time). I just want to say something that "Frozen Twins" made a mistake on in his review. Digimon CAN die. If they are destroyed in the real world their data is stuck in the real world. Like what happened to Gatomon's friend Wizardmon. In season two, he came back as a ghost. And Myotismon became a spirit who needed to take over Oikawa to still live.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Three- Rely On Me

Later that evening, Tai was lying on his bed. His thoughts were jumbled. So many things went on that day. Mimi broke down, the digidestined were now being targeted by a new evil, he yelled at Matt, who was only trying to help him, and he came to the conclusion that he doesn't have a single ounce of courage left within. He wanted to try and clear his head but when he tried an image of Sora came to mind. In fact, every night when he closed his eyes to think of had happened to him during the duration of the day that was about to end, his mind would always drift to the moments he had spent with Sora. There wasn't a day the two weren't together, even if it was for minutes at a time. There was no doubt in his mind, he was in love with Sora, but he also knew that nothing would ever happen between the two of them. He knew Sora. He knew everything about her. She could never fall in love with someone she looked at as her best friend. Of course he wouldn't have the courage to tell Sora how much he loved her. She would just tell him that he was just her best friend.

Tai tried to stop his brain from thinking about Sora long enough for him to get some sleep. His thoughts finally came to an end and Tai fell into a nice peaceful sleep to dream the night away. Of course the only thing he ever did dream about was Sora.

The next day, around eleven a.m., Joe was on his way to Izzy's house for their meeting. He and Gomamon decided that they should probably take a shortcut through the area bordering the pier. The faster they met up with the others the better. Joe's thinking was that Michael wouldn't attack a large group of digidestined so when he got to Izzy's, he would be safe.

"Are you sure we should walk this way, Joe?" Gomamon asked his partner. "It seems kind of deserted."

"That's a good thing then, Gomamon," Joe replied. "That means that Michael Kenro is nowhere in sight."

They had been walking a while now and were close to Izzy's house.

"I hope were almost there Joe," Gomamon complained. "I'm getting tired."

"Were about ten minutes away from Izzy's, ok Gomamon," Joe answered. "You can rest when we get there."

"You mean if you get there," a voice said.

"Huh?" Joe was startled as he turned his head towards an alleyway in which the voice had come from. A young man with brunette colored hair and blue eyes walked out of the alley with a Wizardmon following him. The boy was wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and a red blazer. "Wait a minute, you're…"

"…Michael Kenro," Michael completed Joe's sentence. "I know who I am and you probably know why I'm here. If you would to be so kind as to hand me your crest, we can be on our separate ways."

"Look pal," Joe began. "I'm not going to let you ruin any chance for us to stop you from destroying the digital world."

"Destroy the digital world?" Michael laughed. "You actually thought that Izzy's harebrained theory was true."

"Wait a minute. How did you know about Izzy's theory?"

"Isn't it obvious? I've been spying on you guys using Wizardmon's Magical Game to clone himself. That way I could know who would be dumb enough to walk the streets alone while I was tracking you guys down and stealing your crests." Joe began to get annoyed. "The real reason I want the ten crests in to have unrivalled power."

"Unrivalled power?!"

"With each crest a single person possesses, the balance of power created by the crests tips in their favor. With each crest I have, me and Wizardmon become stronger."

"Well then, it looks like I can't let you become a treat to the human and digital worlds. You've got yourself a fight. I sweep the floor with you easily. The others are counting on me right now. There is a reason they call me 'Good old reliable Joe'."

"Whatever. Wizardmon, attack!"

"Go get him Gomamon! Digivole!"

In an instant, Gomamon began to glow. "Gomamon digivole to… Ikkakumon!" he said as he digivoled.

Wizardmon charged for an attack. "Magical Game!" he said as a beam of green thunder came from his staff. Ikkakumon jumped into the water next to him to evade the attack.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon yelled as multiple horns from his head were fired towards Wizardmon.

"Magical Game!" Wizardmon said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke, dodging the wave of missiles.

"Darn it… I missed."

"I won't… Thunderball!" A barrage of charged energy balls flew from atop a building straight for Ikkakumon who dove under water to try and avoid the attack, but was still struck by the bombardment.

"Ikkakumon!" Joe screamed as he watched his partner sink into the harbor.

"It's no use fighting with Wizardmon," Michael said to Joe as he scanned the waters for his friend. "My power is too strong for any one digimon to take on."

Wizardmon then levitated himself down towards the water planning on making his final move. Suddenly, Ikkakumon burst out of the water. "Slamming Attack!" he yelled as he body slammed Wizardmon, forcing him to fight underwater.

"Yes!" Joe exclaimed. "Take him out, Ikkakumon!"

Ikkakumon then fired more missiles at Wizardmon, but this time Wizardmon could not move fast enough to dodge them, and was hit head on by the exploding projectiles. Then Ikkakumon repeated his actions, landing intense blows on Wizardmon each time.

"Keep this up Ikkakumon, and we'll be done in no time!" Joe shouted.

Michael just stood there calmly. He knew what the outcome would be. This was just a setback. One that wouldn't be continuing for much longer. "Wizardmon, bring this battle back to dry land," he said.

And just as Michael finished his sentence, Wizardmon raised his staff and pointed it towards Ikkakumon. "Magical Game!" he yelled as green lightning shot from the staff and blasted Ikkakumon directly out of the water, forcing him to fly into the air. Then, Wizardmon used his Magical Game to teleport himself into the air above Ikkakumon. "Thunderball!" And with that, a ball of energy crashed into Ikkakumon, sending him falling straight to the ground.

"Ikkakumon!" Joe cried in terror. "You need to digivole!"

Just then his crest began to glow along with Ikkakumon. "Ikkakumon digivole to… Zudomon!" Zudomon roared as he stood there ready to attack the spellcaster digimon.

At Izzy's house, everyone was present except for Joe, who was fighting with Michael and Wizardmon. Izzy began to grow worried that Joe had fallen victim to one of Michael's attacks. "Joe is usually the first one here," he said.

"I know," Matt answered. "Where could he be?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to go look for him." Izzy answered.

"Fine then."

"If I'm not back soon, one of you come look for me." And with that, Izzy and Tentomon left to locate the whereabouts of Joe and Gomamon.

Back at the pier, Zudomon began his attack on Wizardmon. "Vulcan's Hammer!" he cried as he slammed his hammer onto the ground causing a beam of energy to fire from it, straight at Wizardmon who was still in the air. He attack hit dead on and Wizardmon fell to the ground and splashed into the water.

"Yes, now we can take the battle underwater again." Joe exclaimed in a heap of joy.

"Not really," Michael interrupted his burst of joy. "Take a look at Zudomon."

Joe turned his head toward Zudomon, only to see a puff of smoke appear above him. Wizardmon was now standing on Zudomon's back. "Thunderball!" Wizardmon said as the energy ball forced into onto Zudomon. Zudomon then fell down, now paralyzed from the attack.

"It's over now." Michael said calmly, having known this was going to be the outcome. "Finish him."

"Yes Michael," Wizardmon said. "Magical Game!" he cried blasting the neighbouring building causing huge amounts of brick to crash down on top of Zudomon, crushing him until, Zudomon started to become bits of disappearing data. Zudomon had been destroyed.

"No," Joe said not realizing at first what had happened. "He can't die!" he then yelled. Joe didn't know what to do. His friend was now dead. He couldn't handle the pain. He did what he might do in any other situation like this one. He fainted.

Michael then walked over to Joe and took the crest from around Joe's neck. "Two down, seven to go," he said, pleased with his progress. "Let's get out of here Wizardmon."

"Agreed," Wizardmon agreed.

"Not so fast!" a voice said from the air. "You'll have to deal with me first!" Izzy had just arrived, flying on the back of Kabuterimon. He landed and stood by the unconscious Joe. "Now that you're weakened, I'll have Kabuterimon finish you off to avenge Joe and Mimi."

"Sure," Michael said. "Why not?"

"Be prepared then, because I'm more prepared then Joe was.

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Note: How will Izzy fare against Michael now that he has three crests. Find out in Chapter Four. Until then, please send your reviews. Your kind words inspire all of my writing, that and the terrible season two ending. TAIORA MUST LIVE ON!