Happy 1st August! 15th Anniversary, yay! ;D

Since a lot of you wanted this chapter to be done as soon as possible I started to write it the day after I uploaded the last one. So thanks everyone for the nice reviews, you really made my day everyone! I'm so glad that you like this story as much as I do. So let's do that here's the next chapter you waited for (:


It's all about power

Kari

Okay Kari, don't freak out, you phoned your brother just about 45minutes ago, maybe there's a lot traffic on the streets that makes him be late. I mean, it's usual that the traffic here is horrible. There's no reason to freak out right now, he sure will be home any second. The door will probably open in less than 10 minutes and Tai is going to apologize and stuff... There has to be a logical explanation why he's late...

I turned all the lights on in the apartment, still feeling a little uncomfortable being alone in such a big apartment. Unfortunately Yolei couldn't come over since her parents and older siblings aren't home she had to look after her younger siblings. I didn't mind... first, now I would be glad if there would be somebody I can talk to or just somebody's company. The only sound that it's hearable is the voice of a few persons talking in TV. I don't even bother to watch TV anymore, the only reason I turned it on is because I don't want to sit and wait for my brother in a giant quiet penthouse suite. The clock just keeps showing me that it's getting later and later... what the fuck, Tai where are you?!

It's 12.30am now, Tai wanted to be home half an hour ago... deciding that that's enough I try to phone him again though I know that he's not going to pick up the damn phone, anyway... hope dies last, right?

This time it isn't even ringing, the voice mail answers straight away. So that means that his mobile phone is turned off, that again isn't even possible since he went out with a full battery. So there are three possibilities; first one: he turned it off because he doesn't want to be bothered cause he's on a date, but that again is unlikely since he wants to be reachable for me all the time. Second: he's somewhere in a dead spot and third: he's in the digital world. Just as soon as I think about the last possibility I feel how I start to shiver. No no no no, there's no way that he got captured, he sure is on his way home. He's okay. Everything's just fine. It has to be.

The ringing of my mobile phone makes me snap out of my daze. I quickly answer the phone.

"Tai?" I ask instantly hoping that he's the one who's calling me since I didn't check the caller ID again.

"Kari? Isn't Tai at home yet?" I hear the concerned voice of Sora. I can't help but feel disappointed, I really thought it's Tai who's calling to tell me he's on the way or something.

"No Sora he wanted to be home about half an hour ago..." I say, that's when I realize how desperate I sound. Sora stays silent for a while and I'm just about to ask if she's still here when she starts talking again.

"He sure is on his way, maybe there's a lot of traffic" she says but I can tell just by the sound of her voice that she's freaking out right now.

"Call me when he gets home okay?"

"Sure Sora, thanks for calling" I say, desperately trying not so sound too scared or something.

"Do you want me to come over?" she asks, obviously she did notice the sound of my voice. I quickly pull myself together and refuse her offer, though I really could need her company. Fact is I don't want her to get herself in danger just by driving all the way to me. We're under curfew after all, and I'm sure Gennai and the sovereign have a damn good reason for that.

"Okay I'll call you later Sora, bye" I say and hang up the phone. I'm not really in the mood of having long phone talks though Sora is one of the people I like most in the whole world.

Okay... think like your brother, who would you call first if there would be something wrong? Your girlfriend? Probably, but since he hasn't got one and obviously Sora didn't hear anything there has to be somebody else... he didn't call me, who else is there? ... His best friend!

I quickly take my phone again and dial Matt's number, hoping that he's still awake; it's almost 1am after all.

Matt immediately picks up the phone after the first ring.

"Kari? What happened?" he asks and I can tell he's a little confused that I call him. Sure he is, I can't remember any time that I would call him and not his brother.

"Tai isn't home yet. He wanted to be home almost an hour ago..." I tell him with an unusual quiet voice of mine.

"What?! How come this idiot isn't home? We're under curfew doesn't he know that?" he says and I can tell that Matt just got angry. Sure he gets angry, I mean I would be pissed too if the other emotions I feel right now wouldn't be so overwhelming.

"He does, I called him and he said he's coming home. That was about an hour ago but he's still not here..." I answer truthfully. I hear Matt cursing under his breath before he turns back to the conversation.

"Okay Kari listen don't worry. I know that you're thinking about the worst right now but I'm sure there's a logical explanation. Tai can look after himself, I'm sure he got carried away or something; you know what he's like. Go to sleep sweetheart I'm sure he's going to come home, just a little bit late, as usual" he says in a calming voice and much to my surprise I feel much better.

"Thank you Matt" I say, smiling a little. I hear him chuckling

"For what?" he says and I can tell he's smiling too, though I don't really know if he really doesn't worry about Tai's whereabouts.

"For making me feel better" Matt chuckles again.

I didn't really know Matt's soft side until yet. Sure he always was nice to me and stuff, but now I finally get why Tai feels so much better being around him. Matt is great, as a brother though. I wouldn't ever think otherwise about him, he's too old anyway.

"Good night Matt"

"Night Kari, and I'm serious... don't worry too much" he says and hangs up the phone.

Feeling a lot better now I go and grab my pillow and blanket, taking it down to make myself comfortable on the couch. I don't know but I still don't really want to go up and sleep in my room. Without Tai being nearby and an evil digimon being outside I'm sure I'm not going to get any sleep in my bed.

I'm just about to fall asleep when the voice of the newscaster brings me back to reality.

"Along with the news from tonight... the traffic in the city goes really slow because of an accident, to all the drivers out there, hope you're all patient and drive carefully.

Added to that there was a girl found in the bathroom of a rather popular bar near the shore. Her body was found about 11.40pm, it's more than clear that she was murdered in a really horrible way. There were several cuts in her face caused by bits of broken glass, the reason of her dead was massive blood loss caused by an injury on her forehead. The police already started to look for the murder; we instantly warn everybody, please be careful on the streets and make sure to lock your doors. That's it; I wish you a pleasant night"

The program changes again. I don't really know what to think, I don't know why... but something about that case makes me shiver... but honestly, I'm too tired to think about that...


Matt

The annoying buzzing of my mobile phone disturbs my peaceful slumber. I lazily open my eyes just to be met with the bright sunshine. I check my surroundings and notice that I obviously fell asleep on the couch. I turn around and take my mobile phone from the low table in front of me.

1 new Message, 12.30pm, T.K;

We meet at Izzy's in about half an hour. It's about Tai.

T.K

Fuck, so he didn't come home yesterday, honestly... I didn't think otherwise. There's a lot that can be told about Tai Kamiya, but if he tells his sister that he's going to be home in about an hour, than he definitely is home then and the fact that he were so late yesterday really did me worry. Sure there was lot traffic since it was Saturday night and stuff... but that's just not a good enough reason for Tai not coming home all night. Of course he could have gone home with some girl or something, but if there would have been a possibility he wouldn't have told Kari that he's coming home. Okay, there definitely happened something, and I have a fuckin bad feeling about that.

I quickly get up, take a shower and get dressed, ready to head over to Izzy's though I don't really want to go. Not because I don't want to know what's going on about Tai...it's not that, of course I want to know what happened to my best friend, but fact is, I do have some misgiving and I don't want them to become true.

The bad feeling I try to ignore just grows within every step I take while walking over to Izzy's apartment. Luckily I moved out a few weeks ago, so I live about 5minutes away from Izzy's new home. It's kind of funny how the older ones of us grew up so much, I mean...almost every older digidestined moved out already...

I stare blankly at the door of Izzy's apartment, not really ready to face the facts about Tai's whereabouts. I wouldn't say I'm scared or something like that... because I'm not, I just don't want to face the reality. The fuckin reality is that my best friend is probably somewhere in the digital world, captured by a damn evil digimon. I don't even want to imagine what they're doing right now to him...

I don't even care to ring or something I just step in and immediately come to face – much to my surprise – everyone of the team. Surprisingly all the digimon are in here too but since I'm not really in the mood of happy reunion I just take a seat next to Tsunomon, giving him a light smile. Kari and Sora are sitting next to each other; neither of them really looks like they slept last night. I can't even decide who looks worse, Kari in her loose shirt and the jogging pants, her hair messier than, or Sora with the dark bags under her eyes, wearing one of Tai's soccer jerseys. The expressions of the others are quite the same, everyone's expecting the worst. My gaze finally catches Koromon who's sitting in Davis' lab next to DemiVeemon. Davis doesn't even seem to notice the two digimon in his lab; his gaze is fixed on Izzy who's totally fixated on the screen of his laptop.

"Okay, first of all... did anybody hear something from Tai yesterday?" Izzy says, looking up finally.

Since I didn't really have heard from him the whole day yesterday I patiently wait for the others to say something.

"I did, logically" Kari says with her gaze fixed on the ground. I don't even recognize her voice anymore, her voice is raspy and seems to break any minute. Izzy doesn't ask further, he just waits for Kari to continue by herself, but since she isn't really in the state to get what Izzy wants from her Sora lightly nudges her in her side what causes Kari to snap out of her daze.

"I called him when I got the message about the dust-to-dawn curfew. He told me he would be home in about half an hour but when I noticed that he's late I tried to call him again but the call went straight to his voice mail" she says now a little collected.

Izzy just nods slowly, I for my part stay quiet, waiting for useful information.

"I phoned with him too, he said he's out but plans to going home soon so..." Sora says, not bothering to continue the sentence.

"Did he say where exactly he was? I mean maybe we could ask a few people if they saw him...?" Ken says quietly, obviously he doesn't really dare to talk louder in case one of the two girls will flip any second.

Sora just shakes her head, signalizing that Tai didn't really talk about where he was or what he was doing at the time he was talking to her on the phone. Typical, I didn't expect him to do anything else, Tai never tells the people he's phoning with where he is or what he does, I don't know why but it's just the way he is.

Back to Ken's idea, sure maybe it would be a good idea but since we have no idea where he has been it isn't really relevant.

"I wish we could do that Ken but that wouldn't be of any use for us. I asked Gennai to look for any signals of Tai's digivice in the digital world and unfortunately he found it" Izzy says with his gaze fixated back to the screen of his laptop.

I feel how my heart starts to pound harder in my chest and my hands starting to tremble a little. Sure I already thought something like that, but I was talking exactly about this when I said I don't want to face the damn reality. And my imagination just got real. My best friend is in the digital world and I'm fuckin sure not by his choice.

My gaze immediately wanders back to the spot where Kari and Sora were sitting just a minute ago. Sora obviously went out or something followed by Mimi probably since she's not here either. Kari covers her face in both her hands, trying her hardest not to sob. I don't even think twice before I change my seat. I take the seat next to her on the sofa, warping my arm around her. She immediately turns to me, covering her face in the spot between my shoulder and neck. I hear her sober softly and while I comfortingly stroke her back, waiting for her to calm down a bit. I don't even care to look at the others, the only thing that is important right now is to calm down Tai's little sister, because that would be exactly that what Tai would want me to do, being there for his loved ones.

"And what are we going to do now?" Yolei asks quietly from her spot between Davis and Ken. Davis doesn't really seem to even listen to the conversation. He just stares blankly at some spot in the room, while Ken's gaze is fixed on Izzy's laptop.

"Going to rescue him, what else - ?" T.K says.

"Not so fast young boy" a rather familiar voice joins the conversation. Mimi and Sora enter the room just to be met with hologram of Gennai. Sora takes the seat next to Kari while Mimi joins my side.

"What do you mean not so fast? What else are we going to do?" I ask and I really have to pull myself together to not get angry.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you. We wanted to be a hundred percent sure before we tell you anything, we didn't want you to worry too much" Gennai starts but Davis finally joins the conversation by interrupting him.

"What didn't you tell us?" he says and I can tell he's really pissed though I don't really know why exactly.

"As you probably know after the accident from Kari – "Gennai starts again but Davis interrupts him again.

"It wasn't an accident and you know that" he says, still in that pissed voice. I shot him a look that says something like "I-know-your-pissed-right-now-but-let-him-talk' he obviously gets what I'm up to because he leans back and listens to what Gennai is telling us.

"As I was saying, you probably already guessed that Myotismon is back, he really is but at the time he isn't really at full strength so it's just logical to say that he's looking for a source to gain power from" Gennai says, finally being uninterrupted.

"And why did you decide to enforce a curfew?" Kari asks and I'm surprised how calm her voice sounds. I already want to pull my arm back but she refuses to let go of me yet, so I stay in my position, hugging her even tighter.

"Because we thought that Myotismon might need someone of you digidestined to gain power from" Gennai says and I feel how Kari immediately tenses up by that. I for my part feel the cold shiver going down my spine. It's like the temperature in the room fell down within seconds.

"So does that mean that Tai ... – " Cody starts but this time it's Gennai who interrupts.

"Yes"

"How does something like that even work? Tai would never ever give him what he wants" Mimi says.

"Of course he wouldn't. But I don't think that Myotismon will give him a choice" Gennai says the most obvious.

Of course he wouldn't...stupid. If I'm sure about one thing than it's the fact that Myotismon definitely will get what he wants, I mean, he already got Tai. And to get the leader of the digidestined isn't really the easiest job ever. Quite opposite actually... as soon as I think that T.K starts to talk again.

"Wait, I don't think that to get Tai isn't really easy. And you said he's weak, so how did he get him then? I mean Tai isn't really helpless or something" T.K says and I honestly feel like he just read my mind.

"He isn't alone T.K, you all know Myotismon. He has his minions, and unfortunately there are a lot of them this time, a few really powerful ones" Gennai answers. Great...it's not like we have enough problems already.

"This is bad..." Joey says staring at the ground right now.

"You don't say Joey" Sora says and I can tell she's damn furious right now. Sora normally isn't the type of person who snaps at others like that, but luckily Joey doesn't really take her reaction personally.

"I'll tell you what Digidestined. I know you want to go into the digital world and rescue your friend right now but I have to tell you that you can't. I know this situation isn't something you're used to but you have to trust me. I look for something we can do right now but for the moment just don't do anything stupid. This is nothing you faced before; it's a lot more serious this time. The digimon are staying with you for the moment because I want you to be safe. I'm going now, just wait for my call" Gennai says before disappearing.

I honestly can't do anything but stare, I mean...what else should I do right now? This guy just told me that I'm not allowed to go and help my best friend. What if he's dead until we find him? What if Myotismon has tortured him so long that he isn't even going to recognize us anymore, what if – I suddenly feel someone nudge me, I turn to look at Mimi's warm chestnut eyes.

"Don't start imagining things Matt, you can't be sure about them anyway" she whispers and I can't help but smile at her, I immediately pull myself together and refuse to think about that any further.

"Looks like our hands are tied huh" Izzy says and I can tell he just reached something like the end of a mental downfall.


Nadia/Ladydevimon

The disrupted wings lazily hang down along my body just as well the pure white long hair that falls down my back. The chains are all over my body, in the past I loved this little detail on my body, now I feel like a prisoner with them on my body. But all these things aren't even that bad...I mean, I got used to them, the probably worst thing is my left arm, though I can't even call that an arm anymore. I look at this thing on my left side through the mirror. The red claw with that I probably killed about thousand digimon and even a few human. I look like always, everything's the same but my eyes. My eyes are still green, that lovely emerald green that I love so much, green...the color of hope.

The only thing that's really new on that body is the pounding on the left hand side in my chest... the pounding of a new received heart that beats for someone who's going to be dead in the next few days. A heart that fell in love with the villain. A human. A digidestined.

I can't stand the sight of this digimon looking at me anymore, so I change that.

The wings grow back into my back, the white hair turns into brown again, growing back to a normal length, the chains disappear and last but not least my black ripped clothes are replaced by black pants and a casual black tank top that shows the tattoo on my collarbone. A bat; the symbol of Myotismon.

"You like being a human don't you?" a cold, amused voice asks me from the dark corner of the room. I turn around and come face to face with the digimon that destroyed my life. He looks weaker again but I can tell that he's in a rather good mood. Probably because Tai is somewhere in this castle, still sleeping because the cloth that Daemon used to make Tai unconscious was soaked with some rather dangerous drug. God knows how a digimon can get something like that, but I don't really care about stuff like that at the moment. The only thing that I really care about is what Myotismon is going to do to Tai now.

Snapping out of my daze I finally realize that he's still waiting for a response.

"Yes I do" I say in the coldest voice I can bring up right now. Nobody on this earth can imagine how much hate I feel towards this digimon right now.

Myotismon doesn't respond anymore, he just makes a gesture that says something like I should follow him. Since I don't want to get into trouble I do what he wants. We make our way through a dark long corridor. The corridor is so dark that I can't even see the end of this damn thing. I got so used to the daylight and stuff that I can't stand it anymore to be longer in here than necessary but unfortunately it looks like I'm not going to leave the digital world again since we got Tai already and stuff...yeah, looks like Myotismon doesn't need my human self anymore.

We reach a rather small, round room. In the middle of it is a crystal ball flying in the air. I get a little closer to get a better look at it. First I thought this thing is something like witches use to look into the future or something like that, but after a better look at it I notice that something's in there. I gasp when I finally realize what this thing is, it's the crest of courage and I don't really like the fact that Myotismon got this thing. Anyway the next thing that catches my interest is that Daemon is standing next to the ball, doing some voodoo shit. I turn around and look straight into Myotismon's face.

"What is he doing?" I ask him since I really want to know what this stupid little idiot is doing to Tai's crest.

"Making a copy of the crest of courage, similar to that one I had of the crest of light a few years ago, but this one has some special effects" Myotismon says with his gaze fixed on the crest and an evil grin on his face... I sigh quietly in relief. Thank god it's not the real one...

"Special effects?" I say frowning. Myotismon doesn't even care to look at me, he's too fixated on what Daemon is doing right now, but he answers anyway.

"As soon as Tai touches that one all the darkness that Daemon is infusing into this copy right now will get in his body. All the positive power of Tai will turn into the opposite and since this "crest" is combined with me it will make Tai a lot weaker and me stronger than ever" Myotismon says and his grin gets wider than ever.

I feel how the sickness grows in me and I honestly don't really know what to think, or do.

"And what does that mean for him?" I ask, still hoping that he isn't going to kill Tai. I know he already told me that he is going to do exactly that but I still refuse to believe that.

"I don't know how long it'll take but at some point he isn't going to be strong enough to even wake up. You know Ladydevimon, the power of the crests is something really important for the digidestined. It isn't like their life or something, but probably even more important... if they lose this power they're not even able to walk or something, and in Tai's case like I said, not even be able to wake up...but he'll be still alive. Just sleeping." Myotismon says finally looking at me.

"Is there some way to wake him up afterwards?" I ask, not really caring about what my question makes him think.

"No" he says before changing the subject. "Anyway Ladydevimon I have a new little task for you"

I gasp ; I didn't really expect something like that.

"I'm all ears"

"Tell him where he is and that I have his crest"

"He doesn't trust you" I say rolling my eyes. Idiot...

"But he trusts you" he says blinking at me and I can't help but blush, he doesn't know about the make-out session, does he? Anyway...after what I did to him he definitely isn't going to trust me ever again.

"Not anymore" I say and I can't help but feel how this statement hurts me inside. He surely hates me right now.

"Probably... you know what. I come with you and talk to him by myself. I'm sure he's going to love that" Myotismon says, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me out of the room into the direction of the temporary room of Tai. I expected Myotismon to lock Tai somewhere in the dungeon, but surprisingly he wanted me to bring him in one of the many rooms with a bed and stuff in there.

"Listen Ladydevimon, I'm going to tell Tai the truth about you, you just have to stand by and act like the innocent girl. I know you're a good actress" he says smiling evilly at me before entering the room.


Tai (Meantime)

I feel how I finally seem to wake up from a dreamless sleep. I feel the soft thing that I'm lying on and it doesn't really feel something I know already.

I slowly try to open my eyes but as soon as I just try do move I feel how my whole world spins around, so I just keep lying on... I don't know what.

Besides the fact that I don't really know where I am I feel sick...and I mean, really sick. My head aches like hell and if I didn't know any better I could swear I drunk liters of alcohol last night. Because that's exactly how I feel right now.

Though the only thing I want to do right now is going back to sleep I force myself to finally open my eyes.

My sight is blurred...really blurred, I finally get why Joey walks against walls and stuff whenever he forgets to put on his glasses.

The aching in my head just gets worse; it feels like someone is hitting my temples with a baseball bet or something like that. I can't take a look at my surroundings since there's no light. I lightly turn my head to one side, noticing a little table next to the thing I'm lying on.

I try to move lightly, touching the soft sheets around me until it finally hits me; I'm lying on a bed and there's a small candle next to me. Okay, I'm not in totally darkness...nice, but the light isn't nearly enough to show me my surroundings. Where the hell am I dammit? And what exactly did happen?

I don't know...

I turn my head back in its original state, trying to fight against the dizziness but the fact that my sight gets blurrier doesn't really help.

Soon I feel how I lose consciousness again. Damn.

I snap out of my slumber because of the cracking of a door. I open my eyes and luckily notice that the sickness is gone. My headache also got better along with my sight, but the best – or the worst – thing is that I got my memory back. Sure it's good on one side since I know what happened but bad cause the reason does hurt me a little since Nadia is responsible for that.

I sit up and my sight immediately catches the two "persons" who just entered the room. Since a few torches on the walls are burning right now I'm finally able to take in my surroundings. The walls are grey and everything else in the room like bed...curtains...carpet and stuff is red. The only thing that is made of wood is the table next to the bed and the cupboard. Honestly, it kind of looks really comfortable.

My sight goes back to my visitors and finally I come face to face with the digimon who almost killed my little sister. Myotismon is grinning at me his usual arrogant evil smile, sitting on a chair nearby. The second person who entered the room is dressed in skinny black jeans and a black tank top, her hair falls down her shoulders and she doesn't really look like she got much sleep last night, in fact I never saw Nadia looking so...rough. Her emerald eyes lost their sparkle I liked so much and there are dark bags under her eyes. I stare blankly at her, not really sure what I should think about that right now. Is it possible that she's the reason why I'm here in the first place? Definitely, there's no doubt... I mean, she was the one who pulled me into a godless alley without a reason.

"So you finally found a new decorator huh Myotismon?" I say leaning on the wall behind the bed. Myotismon just continues smiling at me.

"So you like your room then. I'm glad" he says, that's when I notice something really new about him.

I take a closer look at this evil being. He has changed in appearance since the last time we've met him. He's in his lowest form of digivolution and honestly, he seems like he would even lose a fight with me. Obviously from the last battle with him we had been able to hit him so hard that even regeneration and rebirth did not heal him completely.

"Tell me something... isn't it kind of boring to die and then coming back to life just to die again? And this over and over again?" I ask and I just can't help it, the words just come out without me even wanting it.

"You definitely deserve the crest of courage young boy" Myotismon says, not really getting pissed.

I don't bother to say something to that; I look back at Nadia whose gaze is fixed on the ground. Her arms are crossed and her hair falls over her eyes so I'm not able to look her in the eyes. I just can't help it, I care about her and I want to know what she thinks right now, anyway she doesn't really seem alright...Myotismon follows my gaze and starts to grin like a five year old that just got ice cream.

"You probably ask yourself why she's here, right?" Myotismon says making a gesture in her direction. Nadia notices that he's talking about her and lifts her head, looking straight at me. I feel how my heart aches at the sight of her sad little eyes, I just can't stand it. Why does she look at me like this?!

I turn back to glare daggers at Myotismon, waiting for him to continue.

"Nadia why don't you tell him why you're here" Myotismon says, standing up from the chair and offering her the seat.

Nadia slowly approaches the chair, taking the seat. She doesn't dare to look me in the eyes what's quite understandable actually. She's sitting next to me, not really wanting to even start talking, she just stares down. I can't help but reach out for her face, gently lifting her head so that she's forced to look at me. I pull myself together and ignore all the negative feeling's my head is telling me I should feel against this girl right now. She probably could start the world war three and I wouldn't even think badly about her.

"Tell me" I say softly, because...god I don't know. Although everything here on this situation seems like she's a villain and stuff I still refuse to believe that, and I also refuse to believe that she has something to do with the reason why I'm here. Sure she was the last one I saw but maybe she just got captured too? Or maybe – oh god I should just stop thinking about that stuff and wait for her to talk.

Nadia slowly turns to take a look at Myotismon who's standing in the corner, looking strangely at her. She quickly turns back to me and I can tell she's scared, really scared. Suddenly every nerve on my body tells me that I have to protect that girl, no matter what it costs. I don't know why but whenever a girl that I like gets scared there's something like a switch that suddenly goes on making me do stupid reckless things just because I want to protect this person.

"Okay... I just tell you, it doesn't matter anyway", Nadia starts with a rather sad voice, looking at me. Her voice immediately makes me snap out of my daze and I drive my full attention to the girl in black who's sitting next to me.

"Actually there's not much to say. I got captured by Myotismon when I was younger and since then I was living here in the digital world" Nadia says shrugging.

"And what about the things you said? About your family?" I ask, I don't even consider that she's lying. She just seems too sincere about this.

"That was the truth" she says quietly. I suddenly feel anger welling up inside of me, anger towards Myotismon that he dared to destroy the life of a young innocent girl that didn't even know that something like a digital world exists.

"Yeah and that makes her to one of my best minions. I used her to get you, but don't be mat at her, she didn't have a choice, she does what I want, isn't that right dear" Myotismon says, laying his bony hand on Nadia's left shoulder.

I honestly can imagine how she shivers right now; there sure are way pleasanter touches.

Much to my own surprise I really don't get mad at Nadia, she just followed her order. But the disappointment that she didn't really was interested in me is bigger than I had expected. Sure I'm in love with Sora... but this still hurts. I mean... I really do care about this girl that's staring at me right now with her beautiful eyes.

Anyway this plan sure is one of the smartest I have ever heard of. Using a human beauty to gain the trust of someone he wants? That's brilliant. Though I hate this creature in front of me I can't help but feel a little impressed by the complexity of this plan. But the thing that worries me most is...if he was able to come up with a plan of this to get me, what else did he plan? What is he going to do?

"Anyway Tai I wanted to tell you that I have your crest. And as a matter of fact you don't trust me that's why I brought Nadia with me. She can tell you by herself since you know her already" Myotismon says, nudging her in the back and I can tell by her expression that he did really hurt her.

"He's right Tai. I know it's hard to believe me right now but he has your crest. He tried to use it to gain power but unfortunately for him it's useless for everyone but the owner. So you can have it" Nadia says with a soft expression.

My crest?! How? Why? And most of all... is she telling the truth? I mean, though she's innocent and stuff, she's Myotismon's minion so she's the villain. But she didn't ever harm me until the moment she distracted me so they could kidnap me – so much I did figure out while talking to them, so I know how I got here – But why should she lie about the crest? I mean it really is useless for Myotismon. He can't do anything with it. I feel how the headache slowly comes back and I have to close my eyes to calm down a bit. It just hurts too much right now for me to think any further about stuff like this. Suddenly all thoughts about my crest are flown away as soon as I catch Nadia's gaze again.

"How can I help her?" I hear me asking while looking straight at Nadia. Her eyes go wide immediately and she looks at me with a more than just shocked expression.

"You can't" Myotismon says, obviously a little confused that I rather ask about how I can help someone of his side than the most important thing that exists in the life of a digidestined.

I still continue to stare a little at Nadia taking in every little detail that makes her so gorgeous; the way her hair falls down her shoulders, the color of her eyes, the dimple on her face that gets visible whenever she starts smiling. I don't even bother to say something again; I'm just too tired to even think about what's going to happen next. The only thing I want to do right now is to rest so I lean back again, making myself comfortable and trying to come up with a good expression that shows that I don't really care what he has to say. Myotismon though notices that I'm not really in the mood to cooperate so he just opens the door, ready to go.

"If you're ready to get your crest just follow the corridor" he says and just in the moment when he wants to exit the room I finally come up with the actually most obvious question.

"Why am I here?" I ask and slap myself for not asking that as soon as he entered the room. God, what is wrong with me dammit? I didn't even think about this until yet...

It's weird, I should be frightened or something, but I'm not. Sure I already worry about how I'm getting myself out of this mess but there's always a solution I know that. The others will notice that I'm missing and as soon as they do they'll come here and get me out of here. Myotismon turns around again and smiles evilly at me.

"Because I want you to be here" he says and with that he disappears in the darkness that the door leads to.

Nadia stands up and makes her way to the door but turns around again, shooting me one particular look I don't really get and also disappears, leaving me in my room, totally tired and...Yes... I guess the fear is making his way through my body. That's the first time I start to wonder what he's going to do with me, and why me anyway? I'm not really useful for him as much as I know. I'm not really smart and if he honestly things that I'm going to be one of his pitiful minions he's just hopelessly stupid. I look around the room and what first seemed to be rather nice, looks really threatening right now. I lay back and cover myself in the soft sheets, I don't know if it's because of the thing they gave me when they kidnapped me or because I talked way too long with Nadia and Myotismon but I immediately fall asleep.

I don't know how long I was asleep but the moon is shining brightly through a window I didn't notice earlier. I get up and make my way to the window that shows an incredible view over a big forest and a lake next to it. At the end of the Forest there is a meadow that ends just before a great canyon. I can't even see the bottom because this canyon thing seems like some black hole or something like that. The only thing that connects Myotismon's castle with the meadow on the other side of the canyon is a small rope bridge. I can't help but laugh at the image that just popped up in my head; Joey walking over this bridge. God what would I give to watch this.

My gaze slowly wanders up to the crisp, clear night sky. It has been so long since I looked at the stars. I always said I'm too busy, or that the sky is too cloudy, or that it's just a "girl-thing". Now, however, as I watch them I realize that they are quite beautiful. The moon is shining with all his power and engulfs everything in silver light that's beautiful on one side and kind of scary on the other. I can't help it but my thoughts wander to Sora. My beautiful Sora that I was supposed to meet the day after the curfew decision. The girl that is in love with me for what seems like forever. I never could tell her about my true feelings since I didn't even know about them exactly. Now that I'm totally aware of my feelings I probably am never going to be able to tell her. I don't want to seem pessimistic or something but I have a really bad feeling that I'm not going to leave this castle as alive as I am now. Fuck... I'm screwed.

I turn around and look around again. Suddenly I notice an orange D3 Digivice on the table next to the bed, and next to it lays my D-Terminal with my mobile phone nearby. I immediately reach for my digivice and the D-Terminal, but of course, the battery of the D-Terminal is dead. My digivice works though but I can't really use it right now. I don't even bother to check my mobile phone since I'm in the digital world stuff like mobile phones doesn't work here.

So either Myotismon is a totally stupid idiot or giving me my things is his way to gain my trust... what I'm definitely not going to give him. I quickly pin my digivice on my belt and put my mobile phone along with the D-Terminal in my pocket. Though I know exactly that he's lying about having my crest and stuff I open the door and step in into that creepy dark corridor. I can't see a thing so I just keep walking straight ahead until I reach a door. I don't know how on earth I can see this door since there's no bit of light here, but without any more thoughts I try to open the door and much to my surprise it opens.

I enter a rather small, round room. There are torches on the wall that engulf the room in a warm comfortable light. The walls are dark and there's a red carped all over the floor. In the middle of the room is a crystal ball flying in the air and I don't really have to look twice to notice that the crest of courage is inside of that thing. I immediately approach the ball and reach out for my crest but just when I'm about to touch the crystal I pull back. There's something wrong, that's way too easy.

I mean, sure he said I can go and grab my crest but why on earth would he give it to me?! He could destroy it easily when it's useless for him. And why on earth don't I have guards or something like that. Myotismon can't be so stupid, can he?!

That's when it finally hits me; he wants me to grab the crest because there's something different about it. I take a closer look at my crest but can't find anything; it looks exactly how I remember it. Suddenly I hear a crack and immediately turn around just to see Myotismon enter the room. He looks weaker than earlier, he slowly makes his way to me and stops about 2 meters next to me, looking at the crest. He doesn't even bother to look at me or something what pisses me off just more.

"What did you do?" I ask him and I'm surprised myself that my voice sounds so hostile.

Myotismon raises his eyebrows, acting confused. "I don't know what you mean"

"There's something wrong with the crest" I say, still glaring at him.

I don't know what it is that makes me think that. I just feel that there's something terribly wrong with it though it doesn't look like that. I always felt safe and comfortable whenever my crest was so near to me, but now I feel a rather cold feeling making his way through my body. Sure it could be because I'm being held in a castle by one of the most dangerous digimon alive but...I'm not really the type of guy that gets scared by something like that.

Myotismon smiles lightly, still looking at the crest before turning to me.

"You're really good in that. Yes there's something wrong about the crest" Myotismon says and I'm truly surprised that he admits it just like that.

"What did you do Myotismon?" I ask him and get angrier with every minute that passes.

He did something to my crest; he changed it that means he changed me. And I can't let him go through with it. Myotismon just smiles and turns to stand right in front of me.

"That's for you to find out old friend" he says and I swear to god I would love to punch him in the face...actually I'm really considering if I should do it, but he probably has guards all over that place here and I'm just not able to see them.

I turn my gaze back to the crest that's shining lightly in his usual orange color inside of the ball. No doubt there's something wrong with it and I'm one hundred percent sure it's something that'll harm me as soon as I get in touch with it. The only logical explanation for Myotismon wanting me to grab my crest is that he did change something about it that will have an effect on me. I subconsciously play with the ring on my finger. Matt also does have a ring by himself; in fact, it's the exact same one. I bought two and gave the one to him as a symbol of our friendship... I don't know but the feeling of something so familiar calms me down a bit.

The others surely did notice that I'm missing since a day already passed. Why aren't there here already?!

I have to get out of here somehow...and I have to help Nadia escape the hell she's living here. She doesn't belong in this world; she isn't even a digidestined dammit. Okay...getting out of here isn't such a problem, I'm sure there are a few hidden exits and stuff. The only thing that really does worry me is... how on earth can I free a minion of Myotismon?

I continue staring at my crest...that's when it hits me. I quickly turn to look at Myotismon who noticed that I obviously just snapped out of a daze. He waits for me to say something since he already got the fact that an idea popped up in my mind...

"Let's make a deal" I say. There are a few things than can be told about Myotismon, some really bad things. But if I know something for sure then it's the fact that he doesn't break agreements.

He crosses his arms, smiling arrogantly. "Go ahead"

"I take the crest and you let Nadia go. For sure" I say and I know that I can't back up now. He's going to let her go for sure and I will take my crest back though it probably will kill me.

"No problem at all" Myotismon says obviously more than surprised. "You grew to like that girl don't you?" he says still in that rather shocked voice. I just nod lightly not really bothering to care about his stupid reaction.

"So, is that a deal?" I say offering him my hand.

"It is" he says and grabs it.

"You're insane" A voice says and we both turn to look at the person who just entered the room.

Nadia is dressed in a red shirt and the same black pants from earlier. What does surprise me is that she's wearing a black cape, similar to the one that Myotismon is wearing. Her eyes are emotionless and she looks rather pissed... honestly, I never saw her like this.

"You're doing something that you are sure will harm you and you're willing to do it just to rescue a girl you don't even know? You're innocent; you deserve a normal life without Myotismon in your life. I know him for years so it doesn't matter. What were you even thinking? Where should I go when I leave him? I have nobody left. Stop protecting people who doesn't need your help... Typical digidestined, want to help everyone just for their ego" she says and I really don't know where this anger comes from.

I remain silent and just turn back to stare at my crest. My head starts to ache again and I can't even think straight anymore. I close my eyes and try to ignore the two others in the room.

"Why are you doing this?" I hear Nadia's voice right next to my ear. I immediately open my eyes and notice that Myotismon isn't in the room anymore.

I turn around and look into Nadia's emerald green eyes. The anger is gone and the only thing that left is concern.

"What was that just a minute ago?" I ask her because her words still hurt a little. She lowers her gaze, shaking her head slowly.

"The longer I'm in the digital world the messier my thoughts get. This world is messing with my mind. I'm sorry" she says, not looking at me anymore.

I lift her head again, forcing her to look me in the eyes. "Do you know what he did to my crest?"

She shakes her head. "No I don't know anything about it."

I let go of her and step closer to the crystal ball, the bad feeling in me grows and I feel that the air around the ball is cold as ice. I shiver a little and look back at Nadia who's standing there with her arms crossed, looking at me like she's waiting for me to make my next move.

"It isn't going to kill you or turn you evil. So much I know...Myotismon doesn't trust me enough to tell me everything about his plans" she says smiling lightly at me. I think I can guess the reason why... I think, remembering the kiss I shared with her. I don't know but it seems like it happened months ago.

I turn back to look at the crystal ball in front of me and without even thinking about it anymore I reach out for my crest. Though everything in me is screaming not to do it I grab the crest inside of the ball and pull it out. First I don't really feel something different about it until an indescribable pain makes his way through my body. It's like someone just started to burn my body from the inside. I want to let go of the crest but I'm not even able to move let alone talk.

God...I'm fucked.


Sora

It's Monday morning...instead of being in university and doing something important for my future career I'm sitting in Gennai's living room. In his house... under water... in the digital world.

Everyone is sitting on the ground with their respective digimon next to them. I for my part have Koromon on my lab and Yokomon is sitting next to me. Instead of staying with Kari Gennai decided that it probably would be best if Koromon is with me... I couldn't agree more. The only thing that prevented me to totally going crazy was Koromon...and of course Yokomon. But Koromon is just... different; he's the only one that probably understands my love towards Tai. Sure Mimi and Kari know how I feel, but they're not bond to Tai like I and Koromon are.

Kari for her part is surprisingly calm, I probably expected her to be a mess or something like that, but she looks...determined. The others look all a little down, but not less determined than Kari. The probably biggest surprise is Matt. He looks almost worse than me, and I for my part do a really good job in looking horrible right now. I couldn't sleep the past two nights and the bags under my eyes are a good prove for that. The hopeless attempt to making my hair looking kind of normal failed. In the end Koromon and Yokomon were the ones that made me look kind of acceptable.

But other than me Matt always was the one who stands at least an hour in front of the mirror, fixing his hair, but I guess the fact that Tai is missing affected him more than ever.

His eyes look as bad as mine but the thing that shocks me most is that his hair is messier than Tai's ever was and the fact that he runs his fingers through it – a gesture he obviously got from Tai – doesn't make it any better. His gaze is fixed at Gennai who just entered the room, greeting everyone of us. His hands though are busy playing with the ring he got from Tai for his last birthday, the probably most important thing he owns. I know that habit, Tai also starts to play with his ring whenever he doesn't feel good or something.

"So digidestined, I'm sorry you had to wait again but it was necessary. So about our situation..." he starts, waiting for some reactions. We for our part just remain silent, waiting for some new information.

"We know for sure that Myotismon has Tai and we also know that he will try to gain power through Tai though we don't know how. Fact is, we have to get him out of there as soon as possible. We already waited way too long, but since it's Tai who got captured I think we shouldn't worry to death. He can look after himself" Gennai says, trying to calm us down a little.

"Good. So let's go now and bring him back, I don't want to risk anything by waiting too long" I say standing up already. Davis immediately stands up as well; ready to head out right now.

"Without a plan?" Yolei asks and pulls Davis down again.

"Plans never work, we just break into that thing, kill Myotismon and take Tai home" Matt says, standing up as well.

"Not so fast Digidestined" Gennai says... "You can't head out like that"

Everyone is silent, waiting for Gennai to continue speaking. He stands up and activates a screen on the wall behind him. A card appears on the screen with 4 blinking points on it. One point in the north, the other in the east, yet another in the west, and the last one in the south. Gennai turns back to us, smiling lightly.

"Before you go, you need to get your crests back"


What is going to happen to Tai? Is he going to lose all his powers to Myotismon? Will the other digidestined be able to rescue him in time? How are they going to get the crests? And what is going to happen to Nadia since she's "free" now? Find out in the next chapter! (:

I know it didn't really include a lot of action or something, but the battles will happen soon! (: For the ones who wonder when the first fights will start, I planned it for the chapter after the next one. So if this is chapter 6 (not counting the prologue as a chapter) the fights will be in chapter 8. I'm sorry if you think it's a little boring without the fights and stuff... hope you don't mind too much.

Anyway maybe you noticed that Tai was a little weird in this chapter, the reason for that is; I wanted to make it obvious what the drug they used to kidnap him did to him. He got confused and zoned out and stuff... hope I didn't confuse you with that. Nothing happened to him yet, until the end of the chapter when he grabbed the crest.

What I wanted to make a little special about this chapter is...I didn't want Myotismon to be the villain who just demands something from the prisoner, like "I want you to do that and that..." I wanted him to gain his power in another way; in using Tai's heart of gold. Tai just grabbed the crest because he thought he can free Nadia...

And last but not least, you surely noticed that Nadia lied a lot to Tai in this chapter... I don't plan to keep her the nice villain. You'll notice the change in her in the next chapter.


Anyway, this Story is still a Taiora, so don't get confused when Tai is attracted to Nadia, I just want to show his mixed feelings and confusion.

I don't give you a preview this time since the chapter is longer than usual but I'm sure you can guess what's going to happen next (: right?

If you want to have a preview again just tell me in a review or a PM and I'll write one in the next chapter.

So please leave a review and tell me what you think about this one (:

Thanks again! Have a nice day.