"Taichi, we've been walking for a long time now, are you sure you don't want to rest?"

"I'm sure Agumon." Taichi grimaced with each step he took. "It's only a little farther. It has to be."

Agumon sighed as he obeyed his hard-headed partner. It was obvious the boy needed to rest. Something had taken all his energy away, but he didn't know what. Taichi began walking forward again, only to let out a muffled cry as he set his foot down on the ground.

"That's it, Taichi." Agumon crossed his arms across his chest and looked boldly up towards the boy. "I'm not walking anymore. I won't walk until you rest."

"Fine." Taichi looked down at the digimon. "Then I'll go on without you. I need to find my friends."

Agumon opened his eyes wide. He should've expected that stubborn response. "But Taichi, you can't go on without me! Who'll protect you from the evil digimon?"

"Doesn't matter." Taichi grunted as he walked. "I need to find them. I need to find all of them."

"Ughh.." Agumon looked to Tsunomon who gave him a helpless glance as he hopped after the boy. Agumon quickly followed, unwilling to leave his partner.

Taichi turned around. "Glad to see you've made the right decision, Agumon." He weakly smiled, trying to reassure his partner. However, Agumon wasn't too convinced. He left his arms blatantly across his chest as he followed closely behind.

The digimon felt something wet drop upon his back. He looked up at the sky, but there were no clouds to be seen. Another drop fell, this time on his arm. Agumon quickly brushed it off, paying no attention. However, once it hit the ground, he stopped in his tracks. Since when were raindrops bright blue?

"Taichi!"

The boy turned around, annoyed. "What is it now?" But when his eyes saw what was going on, he quickly dropped the laptop he held and ran over to his friend. Tsunomon hopped along, sucking in air in preparation for an attack.

"No! Don't!" Agumon held up his hands to guard the numerous blue droplets which appeared behind him. They quivered and squealed as they hid behind his massive orange body. "They can talk."

When Taichi reached him he took a desperate breath before asking what he was talking about.

"Show him." Agumon asked.

Quickly, the blue droplets began to spell something out.

"Help.." Taichi read quietly. "Help who?"

They immediately began moving around again, dodging each other with perfection. "Yamato."

"Yamato!" Taichi hid the pain that exploded in his body as he did a little jump in the air. "You know where Yamato is?"

They spelled out yes before quickly scrambling away.

"Wait up!" Taichi called as he chased after them. Pain shot through his legs as his chest tightened. The boy simply pushed the pain to the back of his mind. He wasn't even sure if he could trust whatever they were. These.. things, knew where Yamato was, and he needed to find him. Trust was out of the question.

Taichi came to a halt, followed seconds later by Agumon and Tsunomon.

"Is he here?" Tsunomon asked impatiently. However, he never got an answer. Almost immediately, the droplets threw themselves onto the tiny digimon. He tried to scratch them off, but they absorbed into his skin.

"Tsunomon!" Taichi called, "Get off him you traitors!" The boy ran over towards the digimon, but before he could reach him, Tsunomon became engulfed in light. Taichi covered his eyes, only allowing himself to look through the slits between his fingers. From his blurred vision, he could see Tsunomon changing form. He was lifted into the air in a bright blue ball. It spun around and twisted and shrunk, until finally, Garurumon landed on the ground. He still glowed bright blue, but his face looked determined. He scratched the ground with his paw and let a howl ring into the distance. The blue light that surrounded him slowly began to fade away. The droplets once again formed and landed on the ground. Taichi finally allowed himself to see completely.

'Come' The blue droplets spelled out. Taichi tried to keep his eyes on them, but he couldn't take his attention off the giant wolf that was now pounding himself into the ground.

"Garurumon! What's wrong!" Taichi called to him. "Don't do that, you'll hurt yourself!"

But, before Taichi could get a response, the blue droplets on the ground began to spin. They created a sort of whirlpool. They began to move faster and faster until a large hole appeared in the ground. It got bigger and threatened to suck Taichi and Agumon into it. The boy looked over at Garurumon.

"Yamato's down there!" the wolf howled as he jumped into the blue pit.

Taichi looked at his own digital partner. "Agumon?"

"We don't have a choice Taichi!" Agumon struggled to say as blue sand flew up into his face.

Taichi shook his head before jumping into the hole. He screamed as he fell. The dirt around him grew darker and darker as he became farther from the daylight above. Soon, however, the dirt turned to walls. Taichi looked down and could see a floor- a hard floor. Taichi flailed in the air, struggling to find a good position to land in. When that failed, he covered his face, and prepared himself for the impact. Thankfully, he landed on a pillow of blue. It absorbed his weight- and Agumon's. The boy shook his head and looked up. In front of him, he saw Garurumon circling two other digimon. It appeared that the they were trapped with whoever the two digimon were, there were no exits to be seen.

"Agumon, who are they?" Taichi stood and helped his friend up.

"I don't know Taichi, but look!" Agumon pointed to a mass of blond hair behind the two armored digimon. Taichi gasped at the sight. Against the wall lay the still body of Yamato. His bloody torso struggled to move up and down. It shook with each breath his lungs ached for. The two guards stood in front of it with their swords at the ready. Garurumon was closing in on them. His mouth was wide open, letting his large teeth be seen. He was ready to rip through anyone to get to Yamato. At once, the wolf lunged towards the two digimon. He grasped one by the neck and threw his body into the stone wall across the room. The other one took his sword and slashed it across Garurumon's back. However, the wolf paid no attention to the cut that appeared under his fur. Garurumon charged the last digimon and pinned it against the wall with his claws.

"How dare you!" The wolf cried as he raised his other paw. The armored digimon didn't have an ounce of remorse in his eyes. It was as if he didn't fear death. With one swift motion, Garurumon struck, and the guard vanished into a million pieces. Without wasting a second to rest- or react from the murder of the two evil digimon, Garurumon ran over to Yamato. He pushed his long nose under his stomach and gently flipped his body over. When the boy didn't move, Garurumon laid down next to him and pushed his head against his bleeding arm. His thick fur stopped the bleeding a bit, but it was still becoming soaked with the red liquid.

Taichi ran over and threw himself down next to Garurumon. "Wake up Yamato!"

The boy held back the tears that formed in the corner of his eyes. He looked down at his friend, trying to figure out what to do. Had he been to late? Taichi counted the seconds between each one of Yamato's desperate breaths. The time between them was much too long. Quickly, Taichi took off his blue short-sleeved shirt and wrapped it around Yamato's arm, making sure not to disturb Garurumon too much. His shirt quickly became damp, but it started to help stop the bleeding. When the fabric couldn't hold anymore of the liquid, Taichi ripped his white undershirt off and put it in place of the blue one.

"Come on Yamato, wake up. Come on." Taichi strengthened his grip around Yamato's arm. His shirt was beginning to turn a deep and deadly red. The blood seeped through onto his hands. Taichi removed one and looked at his palm. He tried to shake the blood off, but he couldn't. It stained his skin and would certainly serve as an awful reminder if Taichi couldn't think of something to do. However, Garurumon beat him to it.

"Wake up." The digimon said, nudging his nose into the boy's face. When he got no response, he spoke up again. "Wake up Yamato, Taichi needs you. Takeru needs you, your friends need you. You need to wake up or else the digital world will be ruined.."

Taichi crawled on his knees over towards Yamato's head. "Garurumon's right." He continued. "We all need you Yamato, come on. We all need your friendship. We need your help… I need your help." The boy looked at his bloodied palm. "I can't do this without you."

Suddenly, the surroundings became engulfed in blue. Taichi and the two digimon looked around them, only to see familiar blue droplets coming out from hiding in the walls. They floated towards the three. Taichi raised his hand to them to try and keep them back, but they went right past him. They hovered over Yamato's body, as if they were silently discussing whether to do something about it. The wolf looked at them desperately. Taichi wondered if he somehow knew what they were thinking. Suddenly, however, the droplets drove themselves into Yamato's skin. Taichi fell backwards as Agumon jumped in front of him. Garurumon placed his head back on Yamato's arm to make sure the bleeding wouldn't become worse again. In a matter of seconds, the blue had disappeared. All the blue droplets were gone. Taichi couldn't tell whether they had all forced their way into his friend's body, but that didn't matter. He needed to figure out their intent. Carefully, Taichi crawled back over towards Yamato. He looked at Garurumon before placing his hand on Yamato's uninjured arm. However, the second he touched it, Yamato sat up.

"Yamato!" Taichi shouted in surprise. "You're…you're okay!"

The boy received no response. The blonde boy began to sweat as he looked around. "Takeru!"

"Takeru's not here!" Taichi struggled to say over the boy's shouting. "Yamato! Listen to me!"

Taichi had so many questions, but he couldn't get them out. Yamato kept shouting for Takeru over and over again. "Takeru! Takeru!"

"Yamato! Calm down!" Taichi grabbed his arm to try to keep him from flailing about. "You'll hurt your arm worse!"

Yamato threw off the boy's grip and began to shake. "Takeru!"

Taichi looked to Garurumon, who looked just as worried and confused as he did. "Yamato! We'll find him! Please calm down!" With that, Taichi got on top of him in an attempt to keep him still. Garurumon pressed his head down as hard as he could on Yamato's arm. Agumon held his claws down against his feet. All Taichi could do was beg him to relax. It was a feeble attempt to save his life.

X

Sorry for the long awaited update, guys! However, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I'll start working on the next one as soon as my school schedule let's me, but I promise, it won't take as long as this chapter did!

*surflilu.