Chapter 9

Tai took Izzy´s hand and lead him to the door.

"It will be all right."

Tai reached out to open the door and suddenly strange sounds and thoughts filled Izzy's mind and he had to grab Tai tightly so that he wouldn't fall while trying to block everything.

But it was just too much as panic, pain, fear and disgust all ran through his mind at top speed, making him dizzy and unable to think of anything else.

"Stop it...stop it!" he screamed out in pain as he dropped to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Tai immediately knelt down beside him.

"Make it stop, I can't stop hearing them."

"What do you mean? Who do you hear?" Tai rubbed his back confused.

"I can't block them, I try and try but I can't block them."

"Who can't you block?" Tai grabbed Izzy's hands as they dug into his temples.

"These feelings. They keep flooding inside of me and I can't shield from them. Why can't I shield?"

"I don't know. The door is still closed so you shouldn't be able to feel outside so deeply."

"They aren't the problem. It's not from outside, they come from inside," Izzy squeezed his eyes closed to try and block the pain. "Please stop!"

Tai was thrown backwards as a red light appeared around Izzy and blue light appeared around the shield that attacked it.

"Izzy!"

Izzy screamed before passing out underneath the strength of the attack and both lights disappeared.

Shocked Tai ran over and turned the unconscious boy around, heart stopping for a moment as he saw the blood at the corner of his mouth.

"Come on, you have to fight whatever this is. Fight it, Iz."

He didn't know how long they sat there like that but his gaze snapped down as he felt cold fingers grab his shirt.

"Thank god, what happened?"

He helped him sit up again and Izzy looked up to him.

"You have to go."

"What? You can't seriously think that I am going to leave you."

"No, they are angry that I got away again so they want revenge now. I can't let them hurt you."

"Away again?...you mean you've managed to escape before?"

"Tried repeatedly, but always failed."

"And with them you mean Arukenimon? Did she do this?"

"I can't keep fighting them anymore, Tai. I'm just so tired."

"I know, but you can't stop. Why don't you lie down for a while?"

As Izzy nodded Tai lifted him up and brought him to his bed, smiling as he noticed Izzy was already asleep before he'd covered him.

Checking to make sure he was truly asleep, Tai left the bedroom door open and made his way to the phone.

"Ishida residence speaking."

"Matt, it's Tai."

"What's wrong?" he could hear the worry in the other's voice and sighed.

"We didn't save him."

"What?"

"I don't know how to protect him, Matt," silent tears ran down his cheeks.

"I'm on my way."

As Matt hung up Tai sighed relieved.

If anyone would have a good idea it would be Matt.

About five minutes later Tai heard a knock on the door and opened it to see Matt, Joe and Kari standing there.

"What happened?" Matt asked.

"He woke up some time ago and seemed all right. But when I wanted to take him out he began to scream. Saying feeling attacked him from the inside and when he tried to shield himself a blue light appeared and attacked him."

"I figured it had been too easy to get him away from there," Matt nodded.

Surprised they all looked at him.

"Well, think about it. They've been fighting him for ten years. You heard it when we were in that cave. They had broken his shields; they wouldn't let him get away that easily now that he's vulnerable."

"So what can we do?" Kari asked.

"I don't know."

"We can't," Joe answered as he walked to Izzy and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

"What do you mean we can't?"

"You heard Gennai; they will never leave him alone as long as he's got these powers."

"What if we take them away then?" Kari suggested.

"No, we tried that already. Only the first try almost killed him, we can't take it away from him forcefully and he doesn't know how to give them up."

They all sat down on the ground while Joe sat on the edge of the bed.

"Combine."

"What?"

"Combine his power. If he learns to control them then he might be able to destroy them. But he doesn't have to strength to learn it anymore," Joe thought for a second. "When he tried to defend himself he was attacked viciously, right?"

Tai nodded.

"I thought so. Because they broke down his shields, he can no longer defend himself and they can attack him. If we lock his power, they might be distracted long enough that he can learn to use it bit by bit."

They all stared at him blankly before Kari hesitated to speak up.

"You want to break his power into pieces and lock it up...where?"

"In us."

"How do you mean in us?" Tai asked confused, but Kari and Matt both nodded.

"Yes, that would be a solution. They'll be confused and won't know who to attack. While they are distracted then Gennai can teach him how to use his powers properly."

"And you really think he will readily agree for us all to endanger ourselves?" Tai asked sceptically.

"He won't have a choice," Joe shrugged. "He knows he doesn't have the strength to keep his powers safe any more. It is the only way.

"Right...the only way."