The Survival of Hope

by Mewgia Mirrorcoat

The Dark Ocean kept invading TK's dreams. He wanted to know why. When it actually came for him... 'Even guardians need saving sometimes, TK.'

13. Charge

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. However, I do own the grunt enemies (called Spawn...). This seems to make me a bad person in terms of storyline and the poor characters, I guess...

A/N: So, forty-five pages and a heck of a lot of work. I never expected this chapter to end up this long; I even cut out the last scene to be included in a future chapter. However, I can only hope that the flow of this chapter still goes well. All I can say is that I thank the endless spamming of both the Transformers Soundtrack and Score for helping me churn out about three quarters of the entire thing. Plus a dark room at two in the morning.

And here is the thirteenth chapter.

---

Charge

The outline of the tall, ominous stone tower gradually growing in size as they drew nearer might have repelled any normal being, but the group only doubled their efforts to reach it. At the present, it was their goal, the entrance to a place where a friend lay beyond.

Kari still held on tightly to Patamon, mostly to make sure he did not get pulled away from the speeding group and become lost behind them. She was staring straight ahead, not talking to anyone, focusing only on what was ahead and what needed to occur.

We need to get inside that tower. We need to get there as soon as possible. TK needs us. We're his hope now.

She had started having strange feelings that something horrible and devastating would happen if they did not make it into the Dark Ocean soon. Although she had been afraid she might overly worry the others, she realized that she had managed to connect to TK in some manner and promptly informed the rest of the group. It only increased the feeling of urgency.

Not long after, Mimi had finally managed to make her D-terminal work, having spent the least amount of time in the darkness around the warp. She had sent the message about everything that had happened in the group's attempt to enter, and after shouting a large, hearty "YES!" once the message went through, had sunk back into the post-warp depression. It did not help that minutes after the report had been sent, Tai had sent reply saying that they needed to talk urgently the moment they arrived at the tower.

The atmosphere surrounding the group was tense and serious. Still flying towards the tower, Kari heard a sudden beep from her D-terminal. She automatically pulled it out to check – Ken and Mimi did the same.

Stay put. Land by the purple tree that's about to fall down.

She blinked, and glanced at Ken and Mimi, who had also looked up simultaneously. Without questioning (though she wanted to), she relayed the message to Nefertimon, who immediately began circling gently in the air drafts.

Ken apparently understood the message exactly, as he was looking about wildly for any motion of a falling tree. Kari could see that in this area, it was mostly forest with many patches of darkly colored trees... and after reading the message, the tufts of purple from the forest canopy caught her eye.

A few moments later, she heard a crash of something tall falling over.

Stingmon had already turned, confirmed the site, and started in the direction of the fallen tree. Wordless, Nefertimon followed, still solemn with the understanding of what had to occur. Kari only focused on where the two digimon were flying towards, still glancing every now and then at the tower. It still looked a good distance away from them, possibly taking another ten or so minutes to reach it flying if they tried, so she supposed it meant the entire group was convening nearby. Likely, at the purple tree.

It took only moments to reach the spot where the tree had fallen. Kari could see the others crowded around it, mostly wandering back and forth restlessly as though nervous and worried, though from the various marks on the tree, she could tell that all the digimon had outdone themselves on it. As Nefertimon and Stingmon drew closer, she saw many of them lift their heads up to gaze at the last members of the group, watching as they came to join; those who did not looked too depressed and dejected to notice. Kari could not help but notice that Davis was among them.

They respectfully backed away to create a space for Nefertimon and Stingmon to land. Kari could not help but see that they were watching her with a sense of apprehension; briefly, she felt hurt, but realized it was not because of her, but because of what had been told by Patamon and what she had said in reply.

Her thoughts were confirmed the moment Nefertimon's paws touched the ground. Kari jumped down from her partner's back as she always did when dismounting, and in an instant, Matt raced up and grabbed her by both shoulders, looking frantic.

"What's going on, Patamon lost his partner connection with TK which normally only happens if one of two partners dies, but you're sure he's alive?!" he shook her vigorously, his tone full of urgency and fear.

Kari wanted to answer, to assure Matt that his younger brother was indeed, alive, but before she could, Tai came up and gently tried to pry his friend from her first.

"Matt, I know he's your brother and you have every right to freak out the most out of all of us, but you're manhandling my sister," he said in what Kari thought was one of his most authoritative voices yet.

Matt took a deep breath, and forced himself to let go. He took a step back, as though trying to control his actions and keep his mind from panicking. Then he looked back into Kari's eyes pleadingly.

Kari returned his gaze. "TK is still alive. I'm absolutely sure of it," she said, resolute.

Matt continued staring at her for a moment. Then he slowly sank to the ground, silent but lowering his eyes. He dug his hand into the soil, gripping at it with tense fingers.

"That's... good to know..." he whispered, his normally collected voice quavering.

The solemn atmosphere covered the area like a thick cloud, each person somber in their thoughts as silence also settled about them. Almost automatically, Gabumon walked up and gently placed a claw on his partner's shoulder.

Matt did not respond to Gabumon, but bowed his head, his body shaking slightly. At that moment, Sora chose to approach him as well, carefully positioning herself opposite Gabumon. Then she slowly wrapped her arms around him, giving him a reassuring squeeze as she did so.

The blond pulled his hand from the ground and gripped the hand and claw of Sora and Gabumon, finally acknowledging them and taking in the comfort they were trying to give him. Beyond that, he still stared downwards, his hair hiding his eyes from view.

Sora turned her head slightly to make eye contact with Tai. "We should start," she spoke, not letting go of Matt but speaking with a firm tone.

Tai nodded in reply, his face uncharacteristically grave as he looked at the entire group. Kari watched as he seemed about, making sure that the each person seemed reasonably settled. Ken, Mimi, and Palmon had already dismounted from Stingmon, the four of them simply matching Tai's gaze.

"My group put together a battle plan after we finished scouting," he explained. "I know you guys just got here, but... I think it's in TK's best interests that we do this fast."

At that, Tai glanced over towards Izzy, who once again had his laptop out. With a single nod, Izzy began typing furiously, only pausing to accept what looked like a charged laptop battery from Tentomon. The others, starting to become used to this sort of organization before major, more planned than the defending maneuvers they did more commonly, moved into a sort of semi-circle around Tai and Izzy.

"Oh, you should stay digivolved. We'll be fighting almost right after this meeting," Gabumon commented, his line of sight resting upon Stingmon and Nefertimon briefly. He gently nudged Matt as he did so, as the teen gradually plodded away to join the circle, with one of Sora's arms still draped around his shoulders.

Stingmon only rumbled in response. "Understood. TK will need all our support."

Kari let Patamon perch on her head, a position she knew TK always granted his partner. She could feel the small digimon stiffen slightly as she moved into the circle as well, flanked by Nefertimon, almost as though scared about what might happen in the immediate future. As far as she knew, TK was still alive, but had seemed very weak and not quite awake when she had spoken with him. Even if he had recovered from that since then, she felt that his state had been a bad omen.

Quietly, she turned her attention up towards where her brother stood with Agumon, in fact right before the fallen purple tree from earlier. Izzy and Tentomon sat a bit off to the side, seemingly preparing for some sort of presentation.

Tai now stood before everyone, his calm demeanor almost giving off his leadership aura, but not masking the apprehension that even he felt. He only shrugged as the large holographic screen with a map of the area popped into existence behind him, glowing in the darkness of the night; in response, he began to address everyone. "All right, Izzy worked out most of the strategy for this battle, so I'll let him explain that, but on some more important notes, we have some stuff to go over.

"First off – the Vilemon here may or may not be in league with whatever's in charge of the Dark Ocean. They could very easily be innocents in this, and we would be attacking them for no reason at all; so, I'm going to go in with Agumon to talk to them first."

Apparently, that was news to everyone minus Izzy and Tentomon. The group suddenly turned into a mild spree of shouting.

"Tai, that's idiotic!"

"You can't do that!"

"You serious?!"

"That's suicide!"

After a few more seconds of varied yelling, Tai rolled his eyes and glared. The look he gave everyone was intense enough that the noise died to silence.

"I know it might be suicide," he answered calmly, gazing briefly at Joe before turning his attention back to everyone. "But it's worth a try. If the Vilemon are innocent and willing, they actually might let us go in, and then we don't have to fight. No one gets hurt. I'll take that risk."

Agumon nodded along with him. "We already talked it over earlier," he assured the others. "It'll be fine; if things go badly, I'll protect Tai. Besides, it's a good idea."

Kari felt as though Tai would walking to his death.

Glancing about at the still uneasy Digidestined and digimon, Tai chose to continue. "Anyway, I'll be doing that at the very beginning. And the moment I get attacked is the moment you guys get to start the battle.

"Remember, the point of this is to get into the tower, to wherever that portal is to the Dark Ocean, so we can save TK. I don't think any of us feel great about this entire attack, so if something really bad happens, get off the battlefield. And then contact everyone, letting them know. At some point, we'll regroup back here at Point A... right here where are right now, remember that... to figure out more for the purpose of getting in. I'll send out an email via D-terminal when we do... or if I can't for some reason, Matt or Davis will."

At that, he looked pointedly at the two said people.

Davis looked a mildly surprised, but otherwise kept his mouth shut, nodding. Matt just seemed slightly confused as to why Tai would ask him.

Before he could ask though, Tai turned straight towards Izzy. "Let's get to the battle plan now."

Izzy wasted no time as he moved slightly to address everyone. Tentomon flew towards the holographic screen, apparently preparing to help in the explanation, while Tai and Agumon carefully walked over to the side so that everyone could see the screen clearly.

"Okay, so these are pictures we took of the area earlier," Izzy began, bringing up a slideshow of photos. "As you can see," he clicked through the slideshow, "The tower is well guarded. There are mostly Vilemon everywhere around it, they seem to keep circling around. And..." he paused at one photo. It looked like a humongous mound of grey and red, with mottled spots of brown ground and one large circular structure in the center. "Uh, this is a full on aerial shot," he explained. "The circle in the middle is the tower. So, obviously what we're facing here is... rather akin to an army guarding a fortress.

"They don't seem fairly organized though," he continued, again letting the pictures go on and off the screen. "From what it looks like, they mostly seemed to be sitting around waiting for something. Though, from our observations, about half of the forces outside were eventually replaced over time by more from within the tower, with the previous half entering in. Which means that a large portion of the overall number of enemies is also inside the tower."

At this point, Izzy closed the slideshow.

On the screen, without the photos covering it, lay a diagram of the entire battlefield.

Tentomon began buzzing as he went to start pointing at certain parts of the map. Izzy simply continued his report. "Tentomon's acting as the pointer since this program is stupid and I didn't have time to animate any arrows of any sort," he said matter-of-factly. "Anyway, the diagram is identical to the aerial shot shown earlier. Notice the terrain."

Tentomon moved to show some of the ridges on the diagram.

"This is fairly important. These are the edges of the area," Izzy noted. Then he saw the somewhat blank looks of the more newly arrived members of the group. "The tower is in the center of this sort of crater, which actually puts us at a tactical advantage. Remember though, the Vilemon can fly, so this may not last long if we aren't careful.

"We're going to split up into five groups, seeing as Tai will be attempting to play ambassador and TK..." Izzy stopped, suddenly swallowing. "TK's not here." He quickly shook his head, as though forcing himself to focus on the task at hand. "Anyway, we'll surrounding the tower at five different points, and mounting a head on assault, since it's pointless to try sneaking in anyway. However... here's the main thing.

"We have no idea what's in the tower.

"Ideally, it would be best to draw out as many of the troops from inside the tower as possible. In fact, since the real purpose of this attack is to reach the portal inside, the main assault will act as a distraction, while a select group will try to enter the tower. Note though, this will not occur for a while, seeing as we would have to thin the numbers of the enemy a considerable degree first.

"So, here's the plan."

Izzy faced everyone, a hard look in his eyes.

"Each person except for Tai, chooses a partner; ideally, one flying digimon partnered with one primarily ground based digimon; DNA digivolving partners are also going to be more ideal than not. Each set of partners will begin at one of the five points on this map," he nodded, and Tentomon in turn buzzed to point out each area. "When you get to your point, message Tai. He'll message when he starts his part. Once the signal has been put out to actually begin the battle, work together to create distractions and draw the troops outside. Try to spare lives if possible, but remember that the Vilemon may be actively trying to kill. In which case, attack out in self defense. Please everyone, don't be stupid about this.

"At a certain point in the battle, Tai will contact one of you form a group and head inside. The reason we're not doing this right now is because this step depends on the physical and mental states of everyone at that point.

"Last but not least, if you do get into a bad circumstance, come straight back here to Point A, and contact Joe if he's not here. He's acting as our medic, seeing as he knows best what he's doing and that he stopped by a Digiport on the way here to get supplies. Kudos to him for managing to steal extra medical stuff from his dad.

"All right then. Pair off, everyone."

Kari spared a glance at Nefertimon, who only tilted her head slightly in response. As one of the partners who regularly flew about, they knew they should let the ground based pairs choose the groups. The two quickly moved closer to each other, deciding to watch as the four members of the group whose digimon could not fly in the Champion mode paired off with those who could.

However, as Mimi and Palmon moved to Sora and Biyomon, and Joe and Gomamon made eye contact with Izzy and Tentomon, Kari began to feel that her worries were slightly unneeded. Then, she saw as Davis and Ken made the quick decision to split up, whereupon Matt joined Ken and Cody joined Davis, she felt almost surprised, but relieved, to know exactly who her partner was.

Yolei and Hawkmon strode up to her, both with stony blank faces that betrayed no emotion other than an acceptance of what was to happen. Kari remembered clearly that Yolei had hated the destruction of other digimon... and that in this battle, they were quite possibly going to be causing a massacre.

She would have asked how Yolei was doing, but the older girl beat her to it. "Are you holding up okay?" Yolei asked, the blankness in her face dropping and showing sincere concern.

Kari nodded. "Yeah. What about you?"

Yolei scrunched up her face, as though expecting something. "I'm fine... I'm more worried about you though." At Kari's surprised look, she shrugged. "I know when you're deflecting attention away from yourself, you know. It's okay, I won't ask. Hawkmon and me'll be right by you."

Kari could not help but think that Yolei had grown to a point where she could read her own DNA digivolving partner's emotions. It probably came with having their partners literally join together as one.

And strangely, the particular kinship she felt with Yolei was one of the few reassuring things she had felt throughout this current ordeal with the Dark Ocean.

"Everyone set up? Good. Sora's group, by the back," Izzy began handing out commands, Tentomon helpfully flying about to show exactly where each group would be stationed at. Kari tried to listen more closely, but her mind drifted instead, thinking about everything from the upcoming battle, to what lay inside the tower, and the lingering hope she still had that somehow, everything and everyone would be all right in the end. Vaguely, she thought she heard a last lingering comment from Izzy, and then a shout from Tai.

Then Yolei gently tapped her forehead. "Hey Kari, look sharp."

Kari blinked. "I'm sorry... I was distracted..." she noticed the others beginning to disperse slightly, some preparing to digivolve, and Izzy starting to put his laptop away. "Uh... where are we?"

"Front entrance area, closest to Tai and Agumon's position. Basically, we just fly north to the ridge."

Kari nodded. "Nifty."

It was at that moment that Davis decided to wander over to where she and Yolei stood. He looked at her with a somber expression. "Kari, can I talk to you alone for a sec?"

Kari, seeing Davis' sorrowful eyes, nodded. Without another word, Davis beckoned for her to follow and walked away through the trees.

With a slight glance in Yolei's direction, she carefully picked Patamon up off the top of her head. "I'll be back," she whispered, setting the digimon atop Nefertimon, before silently trailed after Davis.

The said boy had stopped in a small grove of trees away from the main clearing area, staring up at the still dark sky. He looked surprisingly thoughtful as he did so, not turning as Kari gently entered the area behind him.

It had been a while since the last time he had spoken to her, she realized.

"Davis?"

He did not answer, still only gazing away at darkness above. For a moment, Kari wondered if he had heard her, and briefly opened her mouth to speak again. However, she realized, as she glanced at his shadowed figure, that his fists were clenched, and he seemed to be struggling with something internally.

She delicately stepped up to him, noting how tense he seemed. Gently, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Davis? Is something wrong?"

He took a deep breath.

"We're going to get him back."

Kari blinked in surprise as Davis suddenly whirled around, placing his hands on her shoulders with a fierce gaze staring back towards her. "I believe you, he's alive, and we need him back. So let's both go into this and fight for that person we both care about, because we know what he was going through before this, and we're going to help him out. You make he's all right too, 'kay?"

Kari nodded in slight dumb shock, surprised at how suddenly Davis had changed his demeanor. He only nodded tersely and gave her a half smile, before striding forward, past her and back towards the clearing.

However it was as his hand lingered on her shoulder and gently drew away that she knew there was something more.

"Davis, what's wrong?" she asked in a stern tone.

He stopped. "Nothing."

"You're usually the blunt one, you say what you think," Kari continued. "And we are friends, we've fought together, we're in the same class, you would think I would know that something's off by now."

His shoulders immediately sagged. Kari was surprised by how quickly she had managed to make Davis drop his wall and speak more truthfully.

"You're right," he turned again towards her, the same serious half-smile on his face. "There is something more wrong. There's just too much of it to say, and I can't figure out how to make it make sense. And there isn't that much time either. But hey, I tried..."

"Davis."

She had a hunch as to what he was thinking. However, she did not want to fully bring it out; she knew that everyone had enough on their minds at the moment as it was.

"You understand... how, because of who we are and what crests we hold, why TK and I are the way we are, right?" she spoke softly, stepping towards the boy with a gentle expression lifted towards him. "Unfortunately, it makes us targets, and so we end up having to support each other through what happens. We sort of... understand the kinds of things we both have to go through, things that not everyone else has to deal with."

He nodded. "I know. I just didn't know how bad things could get with it until yesterday afternoon. But... I kinda started picking up on it a while back."

He paused, looking down at the ground. Kari glanced away, unsure of what to say. The silence between them only echoed the awkward seriousness of everything.

A few moments later though, Davis looked back, his eyes filled with pain and worry. "How long have you guys had to deal with this kind of stuff?"

"... you've heard the story about TK, Patamon, and Devimon, right?"

Davis blinked. "No, I haven't. This is part of what happened about four years ago, isn't it?"

Kari nodded, not meeting his gaze. "Yeah. I wasn't there when this happened... Devimon was the first true enemy that the older kids had to fight. I don't think they'd even been in the Digiworld for barely even a week at that point, but... maybe you should ask TK himself for the details. Or the older kids... even Patamon… mostly because that battle is the reason why TK can have such splits in how he acts. But the majority of that came because..."

She trailed off, almost not wanting to continue. She remembered how solemn TK had been when explaining to her what that experience had been like; she did not know how he would take it if he found that Davis knew exactly what had happened. But at this point, she thought he should know.

He was really much smarter than most people gave him credit for.

"Devimon was going after TK," Davis finished her sentence. "And whatever happened was really painful."

Her silence confirmed his statement.

"You see, this is why I feel so bad now. You and TK've had to deal with these evil digimon coming after you ever since you were little. Looking at it now just makes me feel like such an idiot for being the way I used to be. Back when this all started... for us younger kids anyway. And now the stakes are so high, and if we mess up, someone's gonna die. I'm just so worried that someone might be TK. I can't let that happen. And I'm supposed to be a leader, right? How good a job have I been doing? You and me were the first out of everyone to know that something bad was gonna happen, and what good did I do? I couldn't do anything. TK's in the Dark Ocean. Alive, but in trouble. And..."

He looked at her, eyes scanning her figure briefly before staring down dejectedly once again.

"Davis... you're a lot more mature than most people think you are."

He blinked bemusedly.

"And really... thank you. For everything. You're not letting me down or anything. I know that everyone going on... it's hard for you too."

Davis let out a hollow laugh. "Yeah, I guess you do."

Before he could say anything else, Kari strode forward and wrapped her arms around him. His body froze for the briefest moment, and suddenly she found him returning the gesture. He choked something back softly, shaking a little as he hugged her back, and she gently squeezed him a bit in a reassuring manner. Then, she suddenly realized that he was close enough that she could feel his heart pounding in his chest, as the beat continued faster and tensely...

He pulled away slightly. "Thank you, Kari. You know, I really meant what I said earlier too," he said, smiling. "He's alive, and we aren't giving up. We're going to get him back. Me and Cody are right next to you and Yolei for starting points in the battle, so I'll be close by for this. It's all gonna be okay, so yeah. And, uh..."

He suddenly leaned in. Kari felt the briefest touch, a sensation of lips brushing past her cheek, gently pausing in the movement to linger before pulling away...

"Make sure he takes good care of you."

With that, Davis hopped away, giving her one last smile before rushing out of the small clearing.

Kari softly lifted a hand and touched her cheek. Davis, I know what this means for you... Thank you... and I'm sorry.

She felt her mind wander as she slowly started trudging away and back towards the main clearing, following in the direction that Davis had just left. It seemed that everything was changing, like some things were coming to an end, while others continued to affect everything. For a moment, she wondered... what it would have been like if she was not the Child of Light, TK was not the Child of Hope, and the darkness stopped trying to target everyone. It was a blind wish for peace, for the evil to stop hurting those she cared about.

Davis was proof that fighting all the time forced people to mature faster and think more deeply than they might have at their age. She was perfectly aware what he had essentially said he was giving up, for the reasons that he actually did care about more than a crush. It was everyone, his friends, the team, the group as a whole...

Evil and the darkness wanted them dead. She could not allow that to happen. No one could.

Carefully pushing her way back into the main clearing, she saw only Yolei, Aquilamon, Nefertimon, and Patamon sitting there, still waiting. Inwardly aware that Davis and Exveemon had already left, she made her way towards the last few that she would be starting the battle with.

"Are we ready?" Yolei asked. A slight glimmer in her eyes told Kari that she had just seen Davis leave, and had the faintest idea of what had just occurred between her and the younger goggle boy.

Kari nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."

She approached Nefertimon, stopping only briefly as her partner gave her a knowing look. She sighed, gently placing a hand on the digimon's flank and reflecting.

It's all about to start. TK... we'll be there soon...

With that, she determinedly pulled herself up and mounted.

Patamon hopped down from his spot where he had been sitting on Nefertimon's head, looking as serious as Kari had ever seen him. He automatically placed himself into Kari's arms, as it was safer for him to be held while the group flew to their starting position.

Kari held on, and making eye contact with Yolei, nodded.

Yolei, having already mounted Aquilamon, replied. "Yeah. Let's go."

In unison, the two digimon lifted into the air, being gentle and quiet in the still dark night. Understanding the need to stay low and unseen, they stayed within the masses of trees, silent but for the powerful heavy beats of their wings propelling them forward. Aquilamon led the way, gracefully gliding between tree trunks and branches, focused towards reaching the starting position.

Behind, Nefertimon watched with an observant eye for the ridge they were to set themselves at, as well as perhaps any enemies lurking in the forest as guards. The sky still a black blanket with the dots of light peeking down from in between its meshed weaving, the peace seemed superficial in the knowledge of what was to come.

Aquilamon slowed, bringing his wings up to halt his movement. Nefertimon copied the motion, knowing that as Aquilamon was in the lead, he would be able to know when to stop and what position was right in preparation for a quick assault. Another gesture from Yolei told the others behind that the inference was true.

With no words spoken between them, the Nefertimon and Aquilamon lowered themselves to the ground, coming lightly onto the firm soil. Looking out, Kari realized that only a thin barrier of trees separated them from an enormous expanse of something that was no longer forest. They truly were at the ridge, where they were set to stay until Tai and Agumon were threatened.

They stayed mounted for reasons that they might have to start at any moment, when Tai and Agumon began their attempt at diplomacy. A little nervous, Kari gently nudged Nefertimon, who understood and pawed her way forward. She stopped next to Aquilamon, who also looked out onto the expansive field that was the crater, with the tall shape of the imposing tower looming in the center of it.

Staring further, Kari could see that the entire ridge was lined by the outline of the multitude of trees, but once the ground began sloping downwards, the landscape became barren and empty. She could not see exactly what color it was, due to the fact that dawn had not yet come and the sky was still dark, but she could at least tell... and feel, that there was no life there. Looking up, she wondered briefly if the others had reached their spots yet. She could see nothing from across the long expanse, but she knew that somewhere in the trees around the crater area, the other Digidestined and digimon would be sitting in wait for the signal if it needed to be given.

However, the shapes of the Vilemon told her more. Now seeing it for herself, she saw that there were large groups of them, practically an army really, and far too many for only a group of eleven Champion level digimon to successfully defend themselves against. She sincerely hoped that Tai would succeed in this crazy idea of his, because then it would mean they would have no need to fight in a battle where they were outnumbered and had to act quickly in.

"If something happens, who's sending the message to start the attack?" Kari found herself asking as she gazed over the field at the army.

"Tai," Aquilamon rumbled from behind. "He said he would set his D-terminal so that the moment something went wrong, he could whack it and it would send the message to everyone. His words exactly."

Kari giggled slightly. "It figures that he would be the one to just whack his D-terminal."

She immediately sobered. The circumstances where he might have to 'whack' anything were serious as they were, and she knew that at this point, any move could have disastrous results.

"Oh, we didn't message him, did we?" Patamon suddenly interjected, sounding still very quiet and somber compared to his normal self. Yolei wordlessly pulled out her D-terminal and began to press buttons briefly.

She finished moments later, pressed one more button, and then held it out in wait for the signal that would mark the last chance they had of making it to the Dark Ocean without the need for the battle.

They waited in silence.

The telltale beep moments later told them everything.

I'm going in. – Tai

Kari had had to pull out her D-terminal and look herself. It was just another sign that something was about to happen, that her brother was going out into the field to risk his life for the sake of no conflict, and that every move made on the chessboard of the tower's battlefield could lead to a trap based from the mastermind who had set everything and planned for how his opponent's decisions would lead to their demise...

Wordlessly, she pushed the device back into her pocket. She looked back out onto the field, watching for any sign, any motion that might show the start of what was to come. As two figures emerged from the trees and slowly made their way down the slope onto the field, she bit her lip in anxiety.

The moment the Tai and Agumon reached slightly more leveled ground, a large group of Vilemon gathered and surrounded the pair.

Kari did not think this boded well at all.

"Digidestined!" one of the Vilemon rasped. "What business do you have here?"

She was suddenly surprised when she realized how close she and Yolei were to Tai's position. They could hear the conversation, though distantly.

Tai raised his hands defensively. "I'm not here to fight anyone, I come in peace."

Kari watched as Yolei slammed her head against her palm. Evidently, she thought that the cliché thing to say in that particular situation. Though there really was not much else he could have said...

The Vilemon who seemed to be the leader only growled. "What is it you want?"

"I want to ask a few questions, and then for your help."

"What sort of questions?"

Agumon was eying the surrounding digimon apprehensively, and he glanced up at Tai in worry. The boy somehow was still managing a straight, serious demeanor.

"How much do you know about the Dark Ocean?"

"It depends on what you want to know."

Kari saw Tai bite his lip, as he was reaching into a dangerous area where his decisions could lead to one of many conclusions, either good or bad. After a moment of thought, he took a deep breath, and headed towards one of the blunt questions everyone needed him to ask.

"I've heard that this tower houses some sort of portal to the Dark Ocean. Is that true?"

The lead Vilemon suddenly grinned maliciously. "And you need this portal to save your friend?"

Tai stared, taken aback. "H-how..."

The Vilemon continued. "You have need to enter the Dark Ocean? Of course you would. This Child of Hope, who is of course one of your companions. You would not leave him to his death. How expected. Such honor."

"How do you know?" Tai breathed, suddenly looking tense. Kari clenched a fist, fearful for her brother and worried as to where this conversation was going.

"How do we know?" the Vilemon repeated, chuckling. "We were told, of course."

"By who?"

"Such an inquisitive human. By our masters, of course. If you want access to the Dark Ocean, you may wish to wait a few hours though."

The Vilemon gave Tai a hard look.

"After all, the Lord of the Dark Ocean would prefer to accept your visit after the preparations and the ritual are complete.

"Or, maybe we can save him the trouble of dealing with you."

Everyone stared in horror. In unison, they all glanced at Kari with apprehension in their eyes.

"Now," she commanded immediately.

The digimon jumped into action.

It was not a moment too soon. The Vilemon all leaped in unison, aiming for only two targets – Tai and Agumon. Tai shouted and ducked down as Agumon stood and called out, a bright light shining around both of them.

"Agumon digivolve to... Greymon!"

In the delay taken during digivolving, Nefertimon and Aquilamon had both swooped down upon the field. The Vilemon had already attacked, but not before Greymon managed to shield Tai from the brunt of it. The sudden incessant beeping from Kari's pocket told her that Tai had managed to send out the signal message already. The others would start fighting now.

The battle had truly begun.

"Rosetta Stone!"

"Blast Rings!"

The attacks blasted the crowd of Vilemon, knocking some away and managing to loosen the hold of others, but the majority continued to reach forward and attempt to claw their way to reach the single digimon and human lying in the center of their focus.

The image of another memory, one from much earlier that morning as she had awoken and renewed the link on the crystal mirror, rose in Kari's mind as Nefertimon streaked by the mob and angled back for another attack. She saw as a horde of dark beings had encroached upon one boy, reaching forward hungrily as he tried to defend himself with a D3 and a handaxe...

The scene was too familiar.

A blast of flame shot from the center of the pile, expanding outwards as it exploded.

"Nova Blast!"

Greymon's attack successfully blew away a few Vilemon, enough for the digimon to charge forward and out of the target zone of the enemy. He was cowered slightly over, holding Tai's figure protectively as he methodically whipped his tail back and forth, smacking any Vilemon attempting to follow.

Kari nudged Nefertimon forward. "Let's help Tai!"

"Understood!"

Nefertimon dove down, aiming her head towards the Vilemon directly behind the retreating duo.

"Cat's Eye Beam!"

The light phased its way through the rest of the crowd of enemies. They shrieked as the light burnt them, and they shouted out in frustration and anger as they tried to evade the continuing attack, as Nefertimon repeated it during her swoop.

Kari noticed Yolei and Aquilamon out the corner of her eye zooming forward to continue the defense of their fellow member. She held on tightly, both for the sake of Patamon and for her own safety, trusting her partner to do what she excelled at on the battlefield. In the meantime, she herself decided to visually examine the pair that had just narrowly escaped an unforgiving end.

To her great relief, she saw Tai hop out of Greymon's arms, looking a little frazzled but otherwise unharmed. He wiped his brow, taking a deep breath and holding onto the Champion level digimon steadily. She noticed that he mouthed something as he did so; Kari could easily guess that he was either being thankful to Greymon for protecting him, or expressing his disappointment (or something more vulgar) at the fact that his attempt at diplomacy had failed. But it had not been his fault; the Vilemon were purposely working against them.

"Are you all right Tai?!" Kari called down as Nefertimon prepared to make another dive.

Tai looked up, his face immediately brightening as he saw his younger sister. He waved and jumped up atop Greymon so that he could stay with his partner during the battle. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine!" he answered. "Let's do this thing!"

She nodded back. "All right. Be careful!"

A tender smile momentarily passed over Tai's face. "You too."

Greymon gave what could have passed as a salute. "I'll take care of him. Now, we fight!"

With that, the digimon promptly began stomping away, his footsteps loud booms that echoed throughout the area. Kari realized that in the distance, she could hear the sounds of explosions and intense crashes where she knew that the others must have already entered the battle.

She glanced to where Yolei and Aquilamon were eying her as though searching for signals to keep with the battle plan. Instantly, the purpose of the attack came back to her.

We need to get most of the enemies from inside the tower to come out...

She nodded towards them. Yolei nodded back, her face serious and determined. "Right. Chaos time."

With that, she let out a battle cry, and Aquilamon dove down towards the ground with his horns pointed forwards.

Shouts of "Grand Horn" and "Blast Rings" filled the air as the pair pushed past the hordes of enemy digimon, their strength combined coming out as the power behind the attacks. To Kari's surprise, the enemies below did not last long under the onslaught, but many instead withered away after a few hits.

"Kari, do you sense something odd about these digimon?" Nefertimon rumbled underneath her.

She nodded. "Yeah. They seem weaker than they should be... and they're not..."

They were withering and practically melting into nothing. Not bursting apart into data.

Kari glanced down and noticed Patamon wrinkling his nose slightly. "This feels fishy. Like something isn't going like we think it's going to."

Something suddenly shot upwards from the ground, missing Nefertimon only as she darted away in an automatic response. Kari nearly lost her balance as she tried to both hold Patamon and stay atop Nefertimon, but only her riding experience saved her.

"We've got company. Hang on!" Nefertimon shouted.

Something from below was shooting blasts upwards. A quick glance told Kari that Yolei and Aquilamon were in the same predicament, dodging and diving simultaneously.

To someone with projectile attacks, the two fliers were very large and clear targets.

Nefertimon began her evasive maneuvers, swerving right and left as shots came up at her. She darted forward with a fast burst of speed, then dropped down as another attack soared over her. Kari felt the attack's heat as it barely grazed past.

Then Nefertimon flew in a wide circle, head pointed down.

"Rosetta Stone!"

Multiple bursts of the attack zoomed downward, dropping down and exploding, like bombs falling. Each one boomed as it hit the ground, as clouds of dust and smoke erupted up and into the air.

Nefertimon whirled around, changing directions and shooting out more of her attacks. All along the ground, shouts and shrieks of digimon sounded as they were barraged.

It was only the knowledge that they had known about TK and were most certainly working with the enemy that kept Kari adamant in letting Nefertimon keep attacking. It seemed like slaughter to her, as Nefertimon flew high above the reach of the majority of the enemy below, and used her powers against them as they could not counterattack.

She knew that the others would have called it 'tactical advantage'.

As much as she disliked it, she was in the middle of a battle against others that would certainly be trying to kill her and her friends. There was no point to thinking about morals and the destruction of others.

The shots coming from below came again. They came in quick succession, as though whomever was attacking had adjusted their aim and were trying to the best of their abilities to gain a hit on the fliers. Nefertimon swerved to the left, then dove sharply in the other direction as a shot came from that side; she then began swiftly changing her flight patters in the effort to dodge the shots.

Kari pressed herself to Nefertimon's back, knowing that as she did so, she was also securing Patamon there, keeping him in her arm. She felt her weight shift forward, then to the side, then a sudden drop as Nefertimon dove in for another attack.

"Rosetta Stone!"

The digimon had aimed carefully this time, being more concerned with her target. A roar, different from that of the Vilemon, sounded as the attack made contact down below.

Nefertimon lowered a wing, banking and letting loose another set of the same attack, aimed and steady. They hit the same target, and Kari heard another last roar that died away as something below faded in the midst of black smoke.

Black smoke?

Nefertimon resumed her previous tactic of letting her attacks fall to affect as many of the enemy as possible. Now she was circling various areas, her voice shouting out as the attacks shot out and landed where the enemies were most concentrated. What looked like masses of digimon soon became scattered clumps here and there, separated and confused.

Then what might have been a legion charged out onto the field.

Kari eyed it suspiciously. It had come from the direction of the tower, which meant reinforcements.

Whatever it had been that had been firing blasts into the air had others like it in this new group of digimon. Kari found herself being jostled back and forth and had to grip onto Nefertimon with her arms and legs, whispering an apology to Patamon for squashing him. Nefertimon was maneuvering crazily in the air, with jerky turns and both sudden dives and an occasional barrel roll. Having never had to face so many enemies shooting like they were, Nefertimon was clearly having trouble continuing to dodge.

Kari on the other hand, was beginning to worry that she might fall off. Not knowing what else to do, she held on for dear life.

The blasts were still coming. She could feel the searing heat of them as Nefertimon barely dodged, and morbidly, she wondered what would happen if they were hit.

Moments later, she distantly heard Yolei scream.

Nefertimon was still dodging and trying to attack at the same time, but Kari tried to look over towards where she had heard Yolei's voice. But with the continual movement and her being almost unable to move for fear of falling off, she could barely more her head to try and see. Then Nefertimon changed directions again, and she lost whatever sight of Yolei and Aquilamon she might have had.

Kari then felt Nefertimon barrel roll again, found her concentration broken, and shrieked as she lost her grip.

Flailing, her legs automatically tightening onto Nefertimon's flank and her sense of gravity shot, she desperately tried to regain control and pull herself back though while upside down. She could hear Patamon squealing as he nearly flew out of her arms; she caught sight of heated blasts coming straight at her head from below, but Nefertimon kept moving so the attacks went past her instead.

Then Nefertimon was upright again, and she flopped to the side, grabbing the digimon's neck to break her motion and not fall.

"I'm sorry Kari! Rosetta Stone! I had to dodge like that! Rosetta Stone! Rosetta Stone! These don't stop coming!" Nefertimon shouted out, trying to apologize and attack at the same time.

Kari just gasped and pressed herself back onto Nefertimon's back. "It's okay!"

From between her chest and Nefertimon, Patamon just groaned. "It's weird being the rider in this!"

"Just ride on TK's head while he's playing basketball!"

Her mind brought back to the battle from her own comment, Kari took the slight lull in movement to look for Yolei and Aquilamon. She suddenly realized that she could not see them anywhere; there were other figures in the air much further away in differing locations around the tower, but as far as she could see, Nefertimon was the only flier in the nearby area.

Then there was a buzzing of wings, and she saw as Kabuterimon shot past into her designated battle air space, and then straight off and towards the edge of the crater to where the beginning of the forest was.

She could almost feel the worry spread through her, Nefertimon, and Patamon combined.

Nefertimon had started obsessively attacking downwards in retaliation for the earlier shots at her. Below, Kari could hear the shouts and cries of digimon as they were hit, as they dissipated into nothing upon defeat.

They were flying more normally now, gliding smoothly and in a twisted pattern that overlapped and went everywhere as Nefertimon attacked continuously. Scanning the ground, Kari saw that the numbers of enemies they were fighting against was decreasing.

Now that there were less digimon below and the ground had been more revealed, she realized that the entire battlefield before her was in fact littered with what looked vaguely like poles and spikes. Small white flags and flying ropes seemed to fly from them, fluttering in the wind caused by Nefertimon's strong beating wings.

She could feel an energy coming from them as the ornaments around the poles continued to swing about. It was almost as though they were connected to the tower in some way, like they acted in correspondence with it...

The purpose of the current phase of attack echoed through her mind again.

Draw the majority of the forces outside of the tower, for the sake of those who go within...

She leaned forward. "Nefertimon, those poles... aim for half of them, leave the others there. I think those things tell those inside the tower what's going on out here."

Nefertimon understood the unspoken comment that had not been added to her last sentence.

"Rosetta Stone!"

The attack landed squarely on the right side of the area, making the ground explode into a cloud of dust and flying shards of stone.

Nefertimon continued flying about, watching for attacks as the dust cleared away. Kari looked down and saw the destroyed remnants of the poles and spikes on the side, whilst others stood around where Nefertimon had aimed.

As she expected, the energy around the poles increased. She could feel it buzzing in the air around her, filling it with something that warped the space with an unearthly sense. Looking down below, she noticed that suddenly, the flags themselves abruptly glowed a dark color before fading back.

And moments later, more enemies came surging out of the tower, heading directly for the field where she had aimed, right towards her.

At the same time, the scent and feelings of the darkness she had felt around the other enemies on the field, and the tower itself, washed over her as though a new wave had been released into the world. It was as though one of the dark warps that had been opened up around the Digiworld was right around her, but stronger and not threatening to destroy her... it simply was.

The digimon below were not only Vilemon and whatever it had been firing the blasts upwards at them, but a mixture of many different kinds of Virus types. Kari winced, knowing what she and Nefertimon were doing, but grit her teeth. It was all to save someone, and it mattered because these digimon were part of the evil that came from the tower and the Dark Ocean, she told herself.

"Let's keep going," she said.

Nefertimon nodded in reply, and dove down.

"Rosetta Stone!"

The attacks fell down and made the ground explode, more clouds of dust filling the air. The digimon once again vanished, not into data, but into nothingness as they seemed to dissipate into the darkness.

Into the darkness... it feels just like the darkness from the warps! And that darkness is that of the Dark Ocean...

"Something's wrong. This feels like the Dark Ocean," Kari spoke, staring downwards.

Nefertimon attacked once more before responding. "I know. I'm recalling how those Divermon in the Dark Ocean weren't actually Divermon."

"So you mean that these digimon might not actually be digimon?!"

"It's a possibility."

Like those... things in the mirror... that huge evil digimon called them Spawn, right? Are these -

It was in that moment that Kari suddenly realized that each of those strange feelings about the digimon below had been about the same thing...

And at that moment the digimon in the dark army decided to release themselves and reveal what they truly were.

With a unified yell that spread across the entire field, in every direction surrounding the tower, the massive army morphed. All color was shed; bodies grew in size; suddenly the ground was a giant mass of tall, black creatures that all reeked of darkness and seawater. Patamon let out a noise of disgusted shock.

"Those things!" Nefertimon shouted. "They aren't digimon at all!"

No... they're the Spawn... it's like they expected...

A dark grey serpent-like creature with draconic wings shot up into the air at them. She shrieked as it charged directly towards them, its coils forming in some sort of attack –

"Cat's Eye Beam!"

The attack hit and bounced away, a loud pinging sound echoing as it did so. But the creature recoiled backwards briefly, the spot where the attack had hit leaving a white mark before fading back to dark.

Then it recovered and continued its assault.

Nefertimon dropped downwards as it shot forward. She swerved her head around, aiming at a closer range. "Cat's Eye Beam!"

As the creature turned, hearing the cry, the attack hit it straight on its nose. It reared away in pain, roaring and writing in the air.

And before Kari quite knew what she was doing, she had briefly released her grip holding onto Nefertimon, held out her hand towards the monster, and let out a shout.

White energy focused into the hand, and then shot out as a blast of light.

It hit the creature in the same place where Nefertimon's attack had hit earlier. However, this did what the digimon's could not; it penetrated the hard skin of the creature, and pushed through completely. There was a visual remnant of the blast's trail of motion, a single straight line of dimming light.

The creature did not let out another cry. It withered away.

Kari stared at her hand.

There was a pause.

"Was that you, Kari?" came Nefertimon's surprised voice.

Kari could not muster the extra energy to answer. Patamon gulped slightly in response. "Yeah, it was her. I think she's in shock," he spoke for her.

It was happening again. That same power that had come as she was trying to force her way through the darkness into the warp earlier, the one that Ken had said was becoming stronger because of her proximity to the darkness. The power of light from within her, because of who she was. And it was most certainly strengthening, from the battle and the fact that the enemies had just revealed themselves.

She clenched the hand. She could use that power of light offensively now. And if she could use it to attack... then she was going to fight as well.

"Nefertimon, I'm helping you out from here on!"

Nefertimon nodded, turning her head back towards Kari. "All right then. Let's go!"

Kari scanned the field again. She could see that all across the area, Spawn were shooting up into the air and taking the same form as that serpent figure that had just attacked them. However, she recalled that the creature the Spawn had transformed into not the form of any digimon she had ever seen; it was as though that form had been a mere semblance of one, a variation that served as a more convenient method of attacking.

Mentally, she began taking notes.

They shapeshift. But... they seem to like being in their normal forms better. The darkness is strong here, coming from the tower. The air too... the darkness from all the warps earlier! They're drawing on that!

Immediately, panic rose within her. She had no idea how much of the darkness had managed to seep into the world, only that it was dangerous and that it was being used.

The vast space of the entire Digiworld must have diffused its power to a degree however, because she could not sense it directly, not any more than she normally could. Still, if the darkness around was strengthening, then it meant further misfortune for everyone.

For her though, it was both a blessing and curse. This she knew far too well.

She transformed her panic into determination. Panicking won't help now. But now... I can fight back.

Catching sight of another huge Spawn, in the form of the draconic serpent, Kari held out her hand.

"Hyah!" she shouted, her cry acting as a mental focus as the attack blasted out as it had before.

Light shot out, the blast hitting the Spawn. It let out a roar that quickly changed into its characteristic shriek, then withered from the strength of the energy that had hit it.

"The transformed ones are weaker!" Nefertimon called out, now seeming to give out battle tips. "They don't last as long as the others do! Aim for them!"

So they have to give up something to transform? Makes sense...

She suddenly heard a shout of pain, and then saw a green flash shoot past the tower. The figure spun in the air until a furious buzzing of wings brought it to a stop; it was Stingmon and Ken. For a moment, they looked nearly frozen except for Stingmon's wings as they rested aloft but unmoving. There was some sort of conversation going on, that apparently concluded quickly as Stingmon shifted positions to hold Ken in his arms.

Kari blinked and realized suddenly that she could see a lot of something dark that stained where Ken was.

Then Stingmon shot forward, seemingly towards her; but she could tell that he was aiming to reach another location. He passed quickly, the wind raising and blowing around her in his wake. And then he was in the distance, heading towards the trees, and to where Kari realized had been the original meeting place.

Which meant that something must have happened to them.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she realized that she knew what those dark spots had been.

"Nefertimon, something's wrong, turn around, we've got to go make sure Ken's all right!"

Nefertimon swung herself towards away from the tower, not questioning Kari's concern and beating her wings to make her soar towards 'Point A'. The digimon began her flight away, somehow knowing, like Kari, that something had just happened that was not right.

It was in that moment that an air current from behind blew wind past them, the opposite direction of the wind they would have felt.

Kari sharply twisted and froze, a shriek escaping when she saw the enemy that had approached suddenly from behind.

Nefertimon heard and immediately dove.

The Spawn in its flying form shot forward, barely missing Nefertimon. Kari ducked her head down as it darted over her, instinctively curling her torso forward and using her back as a shield to protect Patamon.

Nefertimon then banked to the left, preparing to attack back. But at that moment, the blasts from the ground began again, this time coming from many different locations from below.

At once, Kari took a deep breath and steeled herself.

"Nefertimon, I'll attack, you evade!" she shouted, aware that by doing so she would let Nefertimon focus on keeping them alive.

"All right!"

It was difficult to see this Spawn, Kari realized as she searched above for it. But she had to think of where it had just been, where it was about to go, and somehow track it. Yet... she could track it...

She looked up, held up a hand, aimed using her intuition, and focused.

The light from her attack lit up the sky above, clearly outlining the form of the Spawn that had turned and was bearing down upon them. It made contact, going through and destroying the enemy as it had for the others.

In that moment, she realized that the sensation of musty, humid mist was streaming past her, feeling both warm in a discomforting manner, and chilling to the rest of mind and body. She recognized it instantly, and sharply turned her head to look around. There was a pounding in the air and a slight wind blowing into her face, but with the darkness and the sounds of inhuman shrieks and twisted roars, it gave off the feeling of something impending.

Kari closed her eyes briefly to let her senses reach out, feeling the motions of Nefertimon dodging, though not nearly as urgently as before. The darkness was around her, but then where –

She gasped as she felt the presences of the Spawn in the air.

They were completely surrounded, in every direction except for below.

"... Nefertimon..." her voice came out as a small whimper.

While they had been attacked by that single Spawn, apparently the others had used that time to circle around them, creating no escape path and making Nefertimon their target.

This is bad, this is bad, the Spawn are smarter than we thought, this is really bad, we're in huge trouble, can't give up... don't give up...

Kari, in desperation, held her hand out again and focusing, began aiming it anywhere she felt any dark presence. Nefertimon jerked forward beneath her, but she somehow managed to keep her arm raised, pointing at something that she could barely see.

The attack shot from her hand, just as a blast from below forced Nefertimon to flip sideways. However, this time more prepared, Kari managed to hold on, all the while hearing the searing noise of her own attack destroying an enemy.

The heat of the blast from below came quickly as it passed by, then faded. Kari distantly heard Nefertimon shout "Rosetta Stone!", aiming down below; knowing the time it took for her to prepare her own counters, Kari snaked her arm around Nefertimon's headdress to keep her grip and set up her attack.

A few bursts of light and the withering of the same number of enemies later, Kari realized that something was very off about their current situation.

The surrounding Spawn in the air were not directly attacking them. Only the continued blasts from the enemies below kept Nefertimon dodging in all directions, and the Spawn around them were slowly weaving together around them, closer and closer.

Everything seemed wrong about it. Kari half expected for each enemy to fire an attack in unison, but they were simply flying about, as if they were biding their time or waiting for something.

She narrowed her eyes in frustration. Silently, she raised her arm again, focusing her energy and aiming in a random direction. The light shot from her hand, completely obliterating one of the Spawn above, illuminating the others around it briefly. Then it had withered away, and the hole in the formation of enemies had been covered and vanished as the Spawn wove themselves tighter in the air.

Something was nagging at her mind. She knew that something was not right about the situation, yet she had reason to worry even more.

She glanced around, vaguely noticing that she could no longer see stars above her. She could make out the shapes of enemies around them, now as she was able to discern them better even while riding Nefertimon in the middle of evasive maneuvers. She caught a glimpse of something that briefly caught her attention, lost sight of it, and then...

Felt the darkness around her suddenly thicken.

She inhaled sharply in shock, then coughed as the darkness choked her and hurt her throat. As she gasped, Patamon gasped and began pointing. "They're – they're – they're - " he squeaked.

Kari followed the gaze of his scared blue eyes and only because of the visible energy around it, saw why Patamon was reacting.

A few Spawn in the air were coming together, as though they were separate clouds of darkness combining to form a single entity. The darkness around them felt distinctively heavy, as though it was giving the new creature power.

Kari suddenly received a sense of foreboding and doom.

She thrust her hand out towards it just as completed its transition.

Light streamed from her at the new resulting figure, striking it in the form of some sort of large beam. She saw that this new figure resembled that an actual dragon, though one with extremely long wings and features much more fierce and demonic than any normal dragon like creature she knew of should have... and it had no color. It was simply a black shadow in the face of her attack, surrounded by smoky tendrils of tangible darkness

And in terms of the attack itself...

This is new... but I keep having to focus...

Kari felt her attack gradually increase in power, pushing its intensity upon the hapless creature that was writhing in the air, under assault from her. Its strange, high pitched roar brought a chill to her heart, as it sat there suffering as she attacked it back.

Then the creature shot upwards, flipping upside down and letting out its own counter – a stream of dark energy that warped and twisted the very space around it.

Nefertimon dove down to evade it, then contorted her body slightly to dodge an incoming blast from below. She rolled over in the air. "Kari, now, together! Cat's Eye Beam!"

Kari focused her energy at the same time, trusting herself to briefly let go of Nefertimon to let loose the same type of beam she had managed to shoot forth before.

Combined, the attacks managed to do something to the creature. Kari's stream of light froze it where it was, and it let out its unique cry that sounded like a mixture of that low roar and dozens of shrieks as it writhed again in midair. Nefertimon's beam then hit it directly.

Her attack bounced away. A slight lit indentation marked exactly where the contact had been made, but otherwise the creature seemed unaffected.

As Kari's light faded, she was suddenly aware of more blasts coming from below. Nefertimon noticed in time, but was forced to shoot forward towards the dark creature to evade it.

"Nefertimon, why - " Kari began, but Nefertimon's swerve to the side stopped the question. However, the digimon seemed to understand the unspoken.

Why are my attacks working, and why aren't Nefertimon's stronger? She's a digimon! So what does this mean?!

"I know what you're thinking," Nefertimon said, sounding apologetic. "And... my answer is that I really don't know..."

In the slight lull in the dodging and attacking, Patamon's shout brought their attention to something else. "It's doing something!"

The creature was moving its claws quickly in a strange pattern, as though it was holding a ball of energy and was quickly tossing it back and forth from claw to claw. It took a moment for Kari to realize that that was exactly what it was doing; it was making some sort of attack, and strengthening it...

She knew she had to stop it immediately. She held out her hand again and focused energy again, trying to force as much power into it as possible. She drew from everywhere within her, to give it the strength it needed to stop the creature.

"Hyaaaaa!"

It was a humongous beam this time, of light and energy combined that lasted for only a few secondsss. Kari could feel the warmth and defense that it gave her, but had to hold her arm as steady as she could so sustain the attack and keep it steady for its short duration.

Her attack hit the flying creature, causing it to fade with one last roar, but its attack had already formed, a pulsating orb of crackling lightning mixed with a tangible darkness that circled throughout it.

And from where Nefertimon was, unable to maneuver out of her position by the continued blasts from below and the transformed Spawn still surrounding them, they could not escape from it.

Then she finally saw it; the location of the blasts and where they were coming, the seeming mesh of a cage that the Spawn had formed around her, Nefertimon, and Patamon, where the orb was...

She realized it too late.

It's a trap!

The orb began flashing, and a sudden protective instinct suddenly pushed her to a single action.

"Patamon, back to A!" she shouted, literally tossing the digimon as hard as she could downwards in the opposite direction of the orb. He squealed in shock as he tumbled through the air, but Kari knew it was not a moment too soon. She could only hope he, with his small size, could escape.

Then the orb exploded.

The resulting blast hit Nefertimon, and Kari as well.

She felt the force of the attack encompass her; she could see nothing, only feel the pain as her world imploded, becoming but a bright, burning light that engulfed her entire being. She was barely aware of falling, falling away from Nefertimon, but the hot searing impact of the attack had stolen all her attention. All she could see and feel was the pain and light, as air escaped her throat in a high pitched scream.

If it was suffering, to fall burning to death, then what was death? And what would happen to the others, to TK –

She was suddenly aware of a large being hovering over her, exuding an aura of repulsive happiness and evil intent. It was closing in on her, gurgling as it crawled forth, and she felt a weight smothering her body and pushing her down.

"Get off me!" she cried, struggling.

Without warning, light exploded around her again, but this light was warm and comforting. The weight suddenly lifted; she vaguely heard an inhuman shriek as something flew away from her.

The light faded. At once, Kari managed to open her eyes, realizing that she was lying crumpled in the middle of a small impact crater. Automatically, she wondered how she had survived, as her last memory had been falling from Nefertimon after an attack.

Her body aching, she sat up, bringing herself back to reality. The light had given her energy, and, as she supposed, protected her from the worst of the damage, but she had landed in the middle of the field, separated from everyone her partner, and far away from anyone else.

She looked up. It had been a Spawn that had attacked her while she lay helpless on the ground earlier. It gave a low moan as others of its kind gathered around it to charge at her.

It was then that she suddenly knew exactly how TK had felt throughout much of the previous day every since his disappearance into the Dark Ocean.

She could not focus on bringing her light energy out for offense. The Spawn were too close this time, it took a slight lag to prepare the attack, and she felt as though she had no energy left.

Instead, her hand went straight for her D3, and she held it up while trying to force her energy out, knowing her life depended on it.

The Spawn pounced.

It was only with the help of the shield she had created purely from instinct that the Spawn were repelled. She found herself aiming the D3 in random directions, in hopes that she would blast the enemies away from her.

At the same time, she was drained. The attack had forced out much of whatever her light power was into keeping her live, leaving her without the energy to continue pouring out her strength into protecting herself from the Spawn with the same techniques she had been using earlier atop Nefertimon. It was indeed a long lasting battle, and she was left with nothing but her D3 and a weakening shield.

Fear washed over her as the shield flickered and died away. She needed something other than her D3, something that would help her survive.

In a desperate effort, she hit the nearest Spawn with her fist. Her weak attack did almost nothing; the creature only laughed and dove at her. It took a duck and the aim of her D3 to fend it off; it snarled and backed away cautiously.

Glancing around her, Kari realized that she was surrounded. The many Spawn had created a circle around her, as though not sure of the best way to attack. They shuffled among themselves, their low voices echoing about the crowd.

She tried to draw on the energy that had served her ever since the attempt on the warp earlier, and throughout the battle. Though still present, she found it harder to pull it forth into a more manifested form for protection. All she could do was let her body pulse softly with the dim glow of light.

The Spawn were gurgling again, and Kari knew they were preparing to attack at once. She had no escape, she could not see anyone nearby, and she had no idea what had happened to Nefertimon after being hit by the attack. All she knew was that Nefertimon was still alive, as she could feel that.

She looked about madly for something. TK had had that hand axe, now she needed something as well, if she hoped to somehow make it away to safety...

A burnt piece of heavy rope, the remnants of the many pennants that had been flying about the tower area, caught her eye from the debris on the ground.

Instantly, she was reminded of Ken as the Digimon Emperor.

She grimaced. Do I have a choice?

Kari bent down and picked it up. She felt uncomfortable, in her plan to fight with the rope, but it seemed a better idea than being armed with only the D3.

TK gets a hand axe, and I get a rope. I'm not going to last very long.

It was something though.

As the Spawn came closer, she twirled the rope around her head, before letting it crack down upon the group approaching. She winced at their squeals of pain; it made her feel as though she was an oppressor, or some sort of almost evil being that prided itself in the screams of others.

One duck later, she made herself think pragmatically, forcing herself to simply use the rope for the fact that it acted as a sort of weapon.

With a cry, Kari jumped and lashed out with the rope, somehow managing to repel the Spawn directly before her. She winced at its squeal, but held out her D3 and looked away as her energy channeled into the device and blasted the creature away.

Immediately, she drew her resolve. She would find Nefertimon, and to do that she herself had to fight.

She twirled the rope around, it spinning around her as she ran forward. The Spawn around her drew away, as though afraid to attack yet wanting to come closer. She glared back at them, almost daringly, as she continued twirling the rope and holding out her D3.

One did dare. It was repelled away by the spinning rope, and a quick burst of light from the D3.

Another leaped from behind. She felt it grab onto her shoulders; she automatically tried to pull herself away, turning around sharply. It was still there even as she did so; it refused to let go. In a desperate move, trying to keep it away from her, she took hold of the other end of the rope, formed a loop, and threw it over her shoulders, and pulled on both ends.

The Spawn made a gagging noise. Taking that moment as an opportunity to escape, she pulled both ends even harder for a few moments, then let go of one and spun around. She felt the Spawn's grip slacken, and then it was gone. A half turn told her that it had flown away from her and fallen into another group of its kind.

Right and left, she cracked the rope. Inside, she hated the fact that she was doing it, but she felt that it was justified seeing as that it was in self defense. The Spawn were indeed after her, and she had no choice but to fight back.

As she was twirling the rope again, still surrounded by the multitudes of Spawn and ready to attack them back if she had to, she suddenly realized that in the distance, above the din of fighting and explosions, she could hear a human voice. She struggled to make out exactly what was being said, but as she moved closer, she suddenly realized that she could hear it much more clearly the moment she recognized the voice.

She could recognize it anywhere.

"Damnit, let me go!" Tai screamed, sounding anguished. "Let me go! Kari! Please, don't be dead! Hold on! I'm coming! Let go of me! Kari!"

Her eyes widened. Her legs began moving on their own, pushing her forward towards where she had heard her brother shouting for her. The enemies in her way were knocked away by her continued motions with the rope, and those that refused to move were blasted instead by her D3. She refused to keep him waiting; she and Nefertimon had after all been hit directly by the blast earlier.

She did not know how she managed to force her way through the masses coming at her from all sides. She simply felt an energy burning around her as she tried to come closer to her brother...

A gap in enemies before her and the flash of blue and brown suddenly caught her attention. Kari sped up, going forward, and suddenly she saw.

She saw Tai surrounded by the Spawn. They had all managed to grip onto his body, but somehow the boy was resisting, fighting against them. He strained as they pushed him down, as he continued shouting out, now with pain mixed into his earlier cries.

But then, one Spawn jumped forward, gradually changing it forms, its limbs morphing into a curved blades as it brought one back to strike –

"NO!"

Kari forced her remaining energy into something as powerful as she could muster, and light exploded outwards from her, blossoming in a giant wave of cleansing force.

She heard the Spawn screaming, their material bodies withering away to nothing in the onslaught. The light covered everything else, filling her sight with nothing but white that was both blinding and powerful. Wind rushed around her, circling in a storm of something clean and pure.

Then it faded, releasing its last bit of energy in the aftermath. Kari was left standing in the center of a very large empty circle, where only moments before there had been multitudes of the enemy.

Except for one prone figure lying in still swirling dust.

Her eyes widened, and she rushed to Tai's side.

Please still be alive!

She knelt down and gently turned him over. To her great relief, the only sign of his near death was a rip in his shirt, lightly decorated in blood from the cut across his chest.

But it was a little deeper than a simple shallow cut either. It was not fatal, but not harmless.

It disturbed her to know what had nearly happened, and that he could have died, but she had managed to save her brother in time.

Tai's eyes fluttered open, as he was still reeling from the shock of everything that had just happened. They widened at the sight of Kari kneeling over him.

"K...Kari..."

She needed no more reason to embrace her brother. He returned it, and they sat for a few moments, holding each other tightly in the center of the battlefield, a quiet moment of peace in the midst of chaos.

"You're alive... I almost thought..."

"It's all right. I'm really here."

"Kari... I can't lose you."

Kari gently released him, glancing slightly at the blooded rip. Tai, having sat up fully, sighed, shaking his head. "That doesn't matter. I... I had to make sure that you were all right... that I hadn't lost you."

Kari lent him a hand, helping him back to his feet. He quietly mumbled as she did so, almost not paying attention to her except for the fact that he gripped her hand so tightly that she knew he was afraid that she would vanish. "I... I can't imagine what Matt's been feeling like throughout everything, ever since yesterday. I feel bad for him... for everything... and at the same time, I'm selfish and only keep thinking, what if this happens to Kari too? But... it just means... I can't lose you... I'm scared out of my mind... of what'll happen..."

He shook his head wearily. "I just can't help it. I'm so stupid... thought everything would be fine until we'd made the army size go down... didn't realize it would come to this... they're stronger... they knew we were coming..."

"They're all from the Dark Ocean."

At her words, Tai's head turned sharply to look at her. She chose not to return his gaze, though she continued holding him in the effort to both support and comfort him.

She sighed. "It all starts with the Dark Ocean. And it's there we need to get to."

The Spawn from further away had recovered from the onslaught of light that Kari had let off earlier, having been less affected than those closest to her. They now crowded around, seeming both wary of the smaller child before them and hungry for the power at the same time.

Tai glanced around at them. He seemed to have also recovered from his near meeting with death, and he instinctively moved closer to Kari, to try and shield her from the danger surrounding them. He gulped and gave her a worried look.

A couple Spawn took that moment to attack. Kari and Tai both shot forward at the same time, Tai with digivice in hand. Kari however, had begun swinging the rope again, and she cracked it over the head of the Spawn closest to her. One more strike with it had the rope wrapping around the Spawn's neck; without quite meaning to, she pulled the rope back.

The Spawn gargled once, and then faded into nothing, with some tendrils of black smoke exploding away from it.

She stared at the spot where it had been standing, and at the rope in her hand. Behind her, she was aware to Tai staring at her in return.

"Is that a rope?" he asked incredulously.

Kari nodded, looking over her shoulder. Tai had moved back to his position of defending her again. "I needed something for a weapon," she answered, hoping it would justify her reason for having it.

He was staring at her in a mixture of shock and amazement. Then he shook his head, eyes still wide. "Never thought I'd see that..." he muttered. "Still, whatever works, works."

She shrugged. "Anyway, let's stick together and keep fighting. We can find you a pole or something; our digivices work wonders too."

Tai laughed darkly. "I figured that part out earlier. But no Kari, you got hurt badly. You should get off the field and get back to Point A."

Kari swung her rope and whacked away a Spawn that had been coming up from behind Tai. She pulled him forward slightly, making sure he was out of her line of attack, before proceeding to beat back the others that had come along with it.

The Spawn having retreated slightly, Kari deftly pinched her brother's shirt and eyed the rip. "I'm kind of thinking the same thing for you."

Tai shook his head, sighing. "I'm not talking you out of this battle, am I?"

"I have to find Gatomon first."

He nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I get it. I need to get back to Greymon too."

Tai held up his digivice, and a great shower of light burst from it, pushing back more of the Spawn coming towards them. Kari blinked in surprise as some of them even withered, just as they had when she had fought back against them with her inner power.

My brother is so strong...

She sensed something from behind. She twirled around, letting her momentum swing the rope for her. With one last flick of her wrist, she hit the offending monster coming at her, it falling back with a loud smack.

A few more hits at the others around her gave her some space. Quickly, she darted backwards and hit another a few times that came from her side. Another blast from her D3 forced it away back to the mass of enemies that surrounded her and Tai.

She heard a battle shout, and almost smiled. She turned briefly to check on her brother, and she saw that he had managed to find one of the broken poles that had once been standing with flags, ropes, and other ornaments upon it. He was using it as a sort of poker and club at the same time, as he stabbed away at the enemies with the broken, splintered end, and whacked any other who came towards him.

She backed up so that she could feel Tai's presence close to her, looking about for any sign of a large orange dinosaur or a white catlike figure. Then she spun the rope again, preparing to both attack for and defend her brother as well. She refused to let the Spawn come between her and Tai; she could not let him be further injured, and with her back by his, she would know he was close.

Kari's rope was spinning again, hitting any that came close to her. The Spawn were seemingly afraid to come closer, but she had to wonder why they were not changing forms. They had not failed to do so around Tai, but since she had been separated from Nefertimon, she had not seen a single one attack her in any but their basic form.

One of the bolder Spawn darted in close, managing to make it past the thrashes of the rope. Kari found a shriek escaping her mouth, surprised that this had managed to occur, and fortunately held out her D3 in an automatic response. The creature was blasted back, vanishing and fading away as the familiar black smoke of the darkness circled and wisped away.

"I'm fine, it's gone," she quickly spoke, aware that Tai was likely looking over his shoulder at her in concern.

"Want me to grab another pole for you?" he asked.

"I'm okay, just - " she was suddenly aware of darkness being pooled in around them again. And it was being drawn towards the group of Spawn surrounding from Tai's side of their circle. "Get down Tai!"

She spun and pulled her brother down by the shoulders. It was just in time, as tendrils of darkness began spinning in the air, and even more mist began settling in the area of a large group of Spawn right before them.

A moment later, as the Spawn began acting more as shadows and pooling together as a large black blob-like form, Tai suddenly tensed. "Shit, not again," he muttered under his breath.

"Again?!" she gasped. He had seen it happen already?

He clenched his fist. "I swear, this is like the sixth time. Except those times I was with Greymon, now we don't have any digimon with us. We're in real trouble now."

"I know," Kari breathed. "Otherwise I'd still be with Nefertimon. But I think I can defeat it."

Tai jumped and stared. "What?!"

She was really shocking him often today. Not waiting to explain, she wrapped the end of her rope around her wrist so as not to lose it and to free a hand. She knew she was exhausted, and it was very difficult to pull out the light from within her now, but to stop the Spawn and that new figure, she had no other choice. And she had to protect her brother.

Drawing deeply into herself, she held out a hand, and focused once more.

It was that beam of light that came out, and she held the energy present as she hit the glob that was the figure the Spawn had been trying to form. There was no roar this time, but the shrieks of the Spawn forming a symphony of creatures and their pain.

Before long, the group had withered away, unable to stand the force of the attack.

Kari released her concentration, panting slightly. One half second later, she recognized more residual trails of darkness, of Spawn preparing to strike.

Still with the energy of the attack from before running through her, she let her instincts guide her directly to the next action.

Light blossomed out around her like a dome, covering both her and Tai so that they were within the area field of it. It was a shield, but one that was stronger than the others she had made before. She could feel the warmth and slight breeze that came with the light, as it pushed away the mist and smoke of the darkness. The air suddenly felt calm and pure.

Outside the shield, the Spawn were blown away by its force. Most of the others cowered away from it, as though in pain. Some of the Spawn however, charged forward as though not worried about something such as a shield... or perhaps they were unaware. The moment they touched the light, she shrieked in agony and drew away. One that did try to push forward managed to force half of its body into the light – and then it convulsed briefly, before crumpling and withering away again.

Kari narrowed her eyes. She pushed even more energy into the shield, expanding it outwards, making the Spawn back away even further.

It was as the Spawn had left a large distance between them and the two humans they were assaulting that Kari finally felt herself reach her limit. She gasped, trying to keep the shield, but the light finally gave out, and the shield flickered and died, only vague visual spots and glows showing that it had ever existed.

Close to her, Tai was in absolute awe. "K-Kari... you're amazing..."

She smiled. She had been able to keep her brother safe...

Then she felt fatigue take over.

The attack and the shield must have taken whatever light energy she had had, for now she found herself unable to stand. She collapsed forward onto her knees, struggling to stand. "I... don't think..." she panted, "I can... do that... again..."

Tai instantly knelt down and looping an arm through her arms and around her shoulder. He then stood, supporting Kari with him as he held out the pointed end of the pole defensively. "Just hold onto me, I'll keep you safe," he spoke, a quiet determination emanating through his voice.

His strength seemed to radiate from him, but even Kari could tell that he was exhausted. Somehow, he was able to continue going on; she guessed it was his endurance built up from years of soccer; however, he was also breathing hard, like her, and his shirt was wet from a combination of sweat and, on his chest, blood.

And yet... his energy was almost circling around him, as though there was a fire burning within him that was ready to explode in all its power.

Then she suddenly noticed something. She could see an aura around him, a red one that glowed brightly.

Her eyes widened.

TK was talking about auras. He was seeing them earlier on, I remember him telling me that, so now I'm seeing them too. Wait, so does that mean he's affected by the darkness like I am?

She suddenly noticed something more about the red aura. There was an energy about it, one that was surging all over Tai's body, and some of it even... flowing into her, where Tai was holding her up. It seemed as though he was unconsciously giving her extra strength and power to help her.

"Tai, can you see auras?" she blurted out.

He glanced down and stared at her blankly. She could tell he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "Uh, never mind," she muttered, smiling weakly.

In any case... I'm not the only one that's getting changed by this 'exposure' to the darkness. TK, and I think even Tai...

The Spawn had recovered once again, and Tai gripped Kari closer. "Get back!" he barked at them, brandishing the pole threateningly.

However, apparently a teenage boy with a pointed stick, particularly one separated from his partner did not make much of a threat to the Spawn. Now that Kari had been weakened greatly, the enemies charged forward, intent on attacking, and seemingly knowing that there was now much less of a threat in doing so.

At once, he was stabbing the pole forward, skewering a Spawn on its end. As it screeched and faded, he thwacked another over the head and forced the one next to it to the ground with the same blow. Throughout it all, he still supported Kari up as he fought.

But there were too many. Kari knew both she and Tai had been weakened during the battle, and they had been drastically outnumbered from the beginning of it. And now here they were, surrounded and without their partners. The current outlook on the situation was not promising.

However, it was in that moment where Kari heard in the distance a series of booms and explosions, and the shrieks of Spawn as they faded away. The noise was coming closer, and as Tai continued trying to fend off enemies Kari could now visually see that fire was falling from above, raining down upon the Spawn.

It was the fire that made her realize that finally, help had arrived.

"Tai, someone's here!" she called out, suddenly realizing that her voice was also a little stronger and she felt a bit less weakened.

Tai glanced upwards. His eyes widened as he beheld whatever figure it was in the sky that had come. "Flames... I hope that's who I think it is!" He held up his digivice. "Kari, you think you could help me get rid of these few monsters here then?"

Kari nodded. "Yeah."

As she held out her D3, and her brother his digivice, they both let out battle shouts as light flooded out, forcing back the Spawn and even causing a few to shrink and wither away. However, it was as one more beam of light, coming from up above, that the enemies could take it no more. They all let loose one last screech of pain, before vanishing into nothing under the onslaught of light.

The ground before them was clear now. There were still Spawn present, but many had drawn back and were shuffling away, retreating for the time being and preparing to attack again in time.

Kari sighed in relief. They were momentarily safe.

She finally took the moment to look above. She too saw flames, part of a figure that was too far away for her to notice clearly. However, she knew that the aid had come from that figure, which meant that there was only one pair that it could be.

As the flaming figure drew nearer, Kari smiled in knowing. It was Birdramon and Sora.

Tai's face broke out into a relieved grin. "Sora! Birdramon!" Then his expression dropped the moment Birdramon grew closer. "What happened?!" he shouted in horror.

Sora's grimace was evident even from a distance. Her entire right leg had been splinted, held straight by a long, thick stick that had clearly been from the nearby forest, and tied there firmly by various bandages. She was sitting atop one of Birdramon's talons, her other leg bent to lock her sturdily where she was. However, Kari could see that Sora had apparently taken another bandage and used it to fasten herself to Birdramon's leg as a precaution.

"Hurt my knee, already saw Joe, I'll explain later!" she called down. "Greymon's been freaking out about you, Tai! I'm glad I found you!"

"Greymon?"

Sora nodded. "He's a little ways down the field, coming this way."

Tai's eyes lit up. His head automatically twisted, and he strained to see any signs of the familiar digimon coming closer.

Kari did so as well, knowing that with Greymon near by, they would be safer.

At that moment, Sora was squinting her eyes. They widened after a few moments. "Tai, what in the world happened to you?!" she cried out. "On that note, you're supporting Kari. What happened?!"

"Kari saved my life," Tai spoke before Kari could say anything. "It's thanks to her that I'm not any worse. And she's dead tired."

Sora looked sternly at both of them. "I'm thankful that you're both alive," she answered sincerely. "But the two of you should get back to Point A."

"Not without our partners," both Tai and Kari replied hotly at the same time.

It was at that moment that Birdramon butted in, her eyes gazing on a point further away and behind the pair. "Then you should prepare to leave Tai."

Tai blinked. "What?"

"Nova Blast!"

Kari and Tai jumped at the shout and the now easily recognizable shrieks, and both twisted around to see a huge blast of flame from the side made direct contact with the enemies exploding outwards with an incinerating burst of heat and flickering shades of orange and red.

Kari could see that now he was not fighting them directly, even Tai cringed at the screaming noises the Spawn made as they burnt in the attack.

However, he recovered much faster than Kari knew she herself would have.

"Greymon!" he hopped back to his feet, waving his arm holding the pole to grab the digimon's attention.

Greymon could not have missed them. He looked incredibly relieved.

"Tai, you're all right!" the digimon shouted, bounding forward and clawing up clumps of earth as he did so. "It's crazy here, you need to stay with me!"

Tai nodded. "I know, I'm sorry about earlier. But I found her all right."

Kari suddenly realized why Tai had been apart from Greymon earlier. Her brother must have leaped off of his partner and run into the mob of Spawn towards where he had seen her and Nefertimon fall.

She stared at him in shock. He seemed to not notice as he turned to her. "Kari, can you stand?"

Kari nodded. "I think so, but why did - "

"All right, let's give it a try."

He gently released her, his hand still on her back in case she fell. Kari wanted to protest about Tai's earlier action, but felt a sudden wave of dizziness swim over her. She stumbled slightly.

No, you've got to be strong! Tai dove into the enemy to find you, and he could have died! No, he almost did!

She drew her resolve and stood straight. The field still looked a bit distorted to her eyes, but it was quickly returning to normal. She refused to let weakness show at this point.

With that, she turned and faced Tai, a (hopefully) reassuring smile on her face. "Looks like I can."

Tai sighed in relief. "Great." And he called over towards Greymon. "Greymon, we should stay and help Kari find Nefertimon!"

"No!"

Kari's indignant exclamation must have shocked him. He jumped and sharply looked at her, the expression written all over him.

"You need to get yourself taken care of, and now that you have Greymon you can get back safe. Tai, don't argue," she added as he opened his mouth. "I don't want anything else happening to you too. You need to go and see Joe. Oh, and keep your pole. I'll be fine, I promise."

He moved his mouth soundlessly, as though trying to come back something against her stern words. However, he finally closed it, looking down at the ground.

"Fine," he spoke softly. "But the moment I get this thing checked out, me and Greymon're coming back to help you."

Kari gave sincere laugh. "I knew you would say that. Thank you."

He raised his head and gazed directly into her eyes. "You're my little sister, after all," he gave her a half smile. "What else are big brothers for?"

He said nothing else. He turned he vaulted up onto Greymon's back.

"Sora, look after her!" he shouted. "I'm making a retreat!"

Sora only called back. "Good! Get yourself taken care of!"

Tai nodded, then glanced back at Kari. "Be careful."

She returned the gesture. The focus of Tai's eyes did not leave hers as Greymon began the retreat, and it was only when he was nearly turned around backwards that he finally broke the contact.

Kari took up the rope from the hand where she had been holding the D3, preparing to return to the major fighting of the battle to find her partner. She felt the world tilt again; she purposefully stamped a foot into the ground, mentally steadying herself. Somehow, it worked, but she knew she would need to keep herself upright in order to continue.

From above, Sora shouted down again. "I'm here to look out for you! I'll do what I can to help!"

"If you see anything white, tell me!" Kari called back.

With that, she bent her legs slightly in a ready position, gazing at the enemies before her. They were still quite a distance away, as they had been before, but she was preparing to attack directly. She had to find her partner, and the only way to do so was by fighting.

"I can do this," she muttered to herself.

And with those words, she charged.

It was as though she had a determination that was fueling her. She could not attack with the light within her like before, but that was not keeping her from continuing. Her rope smacked down upon any and all that came near her, as the twirling motion had become almost natural.

Yet in the distance, she could hear another voice. She fought her way towards it, her rope moving and her D3 coming up every few moments to blast an enemy away. She could not tell exactly what it was, yet at the very least, it was a voice, and a voice could lead to something important... anything. It had been a voice that led her to Tai, barely in time, and now it pulled at her.

A few moments later though, she realized exactly what it was that owned that voice.

It was another Spawn, but one that was slightly different from the others around it. It seemed a bit taller, and she could feel the darkness circling it more than others she had encountered. Still, she knew that it could mean something if she could make it closer.

It was not until she managed to create a clear path to it with her D3 that she finally understood its words.

The Spawn shouted in its gurgling tones. "Fight! Bring down the Digidestined! Not much longer now till the boy dies! Power is ours!"

Kari discovered an anger and rage within her like she had never felt before.

She marched straight up to the shouting Spawn and with a strength she never knew she had, picked it up. "Tell me!" she yelled at its face. "Tell me about him!"

It laughed in its guttural tones, with only the barest of words coming out. "Dead by dawn... dead by dawn... then we feast, we gain..."

She dropped it in shock. TK was going to die... he was really going to die... but dawn had not come yet, so there was still time... time was running out...

The Spawn took the opportunity to take a swipe at her. In an automatic movement, Kari jumped back and lashed out with the rope in her hand. Then with her D3, she blasted it away, watching in a strange satisfaction as it vanished away from existence.

She had to tell the others. If they were running out of time, then they had to move on to the second part of the plan immediately. They could not waste any more time trying to battle and defeat the army they were attacking, while they slowly lost energy and became fatigued by it.

Her hand moved to her D-terminal, but another group of Spawn approached. She automatically attacked as they jumped, her rope hitting them all as she ducked and rolled away beneath them. Panting as she returned to her feet, she tried again to reach for the gadget, but she felt a Spawn come up from behind. This time, she wasted no time in managing to whip the rope around its neck, pulling on the other end without concern.

It was almost as though something was lost. She no longer cared... these creatures had been trying to kill her friends, destroy what she held dear, and now they were calling for more death... particularly one that would occur when dawn arrived.

She moved on in her attack towards the next enemy, knowing that unless there was more room around her and less Spawn to worry about, she would be unable to contact the others quickly. She had only two choices, which were to either defeat all the enemies around her, a feat that she realized would be very difficult for her at this point, or find her partner as quickly as possible.

It was then that she noticed a Spawn that had changed its form.

It was in a different shape this time from the others she had seen so far, something a bit more similar to what Agumon normally was like, only taller than herself and much more vicious looking. However, knowing Agumon and his abilities, she could only inference as to what this particular Spawn would do.

It answered her questions by opening its mouth and shooting out a huge burst of fire.

She jumped back out of the way of the attack. Behind her, she heard another shout and a large explosion; Sora and Birdramon were nearby. With those thoughts, she leaped back towards it, her personal safety disregarded.

She successfully sidestepped it as it turned towards her again, swinging her rope around as she did so. It having gained some velocity as she twirled it, it came and hit the Spawn with a loud smacking noise.

Only moments later, the flames had returned.

Kari's eyes widened as the Spawn managed to alight the end of the rope, and fire began traveling up it towards her. She suddenly had no idea what to do, and the rush of battle she had had only moments before vanished.

What was I thinking?! I don't usually just jump into fights! This isn't good – fight fire with fire.

She had no other choice. If she was to survive, she had to return to her mode of fighting.

She kept her grip on the rope, ignoring the fire that was coming up the rope closer to her. Instead, she swiftly changed directions and circled around the Spawn, watching as it turned along with her. However, the burning rope still stayed surrounding it.

As the Spawn opened its mouth for another burst of fire, and the flames on the rope came too close for her comfort, she gave the rope one last swing upwards before letting go.

The rope still acted as a whip, but this time it was one that was covered with a fiery sheath. It flew and hit the Spawn, but stayed where it was encircling the enemy, wrapping the creature in its burning essence.

The Spawn let out a monstrous roar that momentarily oscillated back into a shriek. Kari took a deep breath as she watched it try to remove the flaming object from its figure. It seemed confused enough that she took her chances and rushed up again, this time kicking it in the side like she had seen Tai do on occasion to trees after bad soccer matches.

Finally, as it lay writhing on the ground, she shouted out and thrust out her D3.

The light that burst from it was weaker than it had been before, but it was enough. The Spawn let out one last shriek of pain and withered to nothing.

Relieved, she then turned her attention to a more immediate matter.

Her eyes gazed forward and down, and she promptly stared at the burnt end of the rope resting at her feet, now roughly two hands long.

There goes my weapon...

Feeling a bit of panic rising up within her, Kari picked up and hurled the useless makeshift whip at the closest Spawn, hearing a satisfying thonk noise as it made contact. She now had her only her D3, and without the energy to attack with the light within her, she knew she was extremely vulnerable.

The Spawn were aware of it as well.

Be like Tai, be like Tai, he could fight with just his D3... but he wasn't out of energy and he almost died anyway...

Before her thoughts could continue on though, a white blur rushed past and all worries were momentarily forgotten.

Gatomon pounced, easily cleaving the closest Spawn in two with her claws. The creature vanished in an explosion of black smoke. With a swish of her tail, the digimon spun around and gracefully slashed out at another, before jumping up and dispatching more. She fell down to the ground, and vaulted off with one claw to finish off her final target, clearing the immediate danger.

Then she turned and jumped into Kari's expectant, waiting arms.

"You're all right..." the digimon mumbled, burying her head into her partner. "I'm so relieved..."

"Me too," Kari answered. "I wasn't going to leave the field without you with me."

They embraced for a few moments, taking comfort in knowing that both were alive. Kari could tell that Gatomon had been fighting tooth and claw across the field to find her, after having been separated in the attack earlier. She gave Gatomon another reassuring squeeze, trying to tell her in any way that she could that she was there, and they would both make it through the battle.

Then without warning, her D-terminal beeped.

Kari knew without opening it what signal this was. Even as a precaution, she pulled the D-terminal out and briefly glanced at the subject line.

Part 2 Start. Come to Point A.

Kari snapped it shut and shoved it back in her pocket. "Gatomon, how do you feel?"

"Like a wall of bricks fell on me?"

Kari grimaced. "That answers that. Don't worry. I'll protect you this time."

She looked up to where Sora and Birdramon were still swooping down, attacking. She waved her arm at them.

As they were a distance from her, Kari knew they would be unable to hear her. The moment Sora looked down, Kari quickly pantomimed out her message, motioning and pointing in the direction of the meeting area.

Sora nodded, a sign that she understood Kari's meaning.

Birdramon swerved around, flew in a straight line from Kari's position towards the edge of the field, and shouted.

"Meteor Shower!"

It was a distant yell, but the meaning behind it was unmistakable.

Fire rained down, falling upon the hapless enemies. They vanished into clouds of black smoke, screaming as the flames engulfed them.

And then as the ground cleared of enemies, forming a sort of clear path up towards the edge of the crater and into the forest, Birdramon swiftly turned again, gliding back. And Sora was shouting as they drew close.

"We'll cover you! Go!"

With that, Kari immediately turned from the tower and ran.

She was exhausted, but having been fighting earlier and there still being explosions around her, she found that it gave her enough adrenaline to continue running. The ground before her was clear of enemies, a welcome sight to her. With only the goal of making it to the forest, off of the battlefield and out of the chaos, she placed all of her concentration upon running.

She had no idea how long it took. All she knew was that the line of trees was coming closer, the wind blowing against her face. She could hear explosions and shrieks behind her, and red flames fanned at the edge of her vision. Her legs were moving on their own now, but it took all her willpower to keep them moving. The trees were larger to her eyes now, and she thought to herself that she just needed to keep going. Her breaths came out rhythmically, but her voice was intermixed in them, gasping and strained.

All she had to do was make it beyond the trees and then it would be over...

The moment she made it past the first line of trees and into the safety of the forest, she finally gave herself the luxury of collapsing on the ground.

Kari took in everything around her for some moments as she lay there panting, thinking of the calm away from the distant yelling and shrieking. The explosions still continued, but she was much farther away now than she had been.

It was peace that was on her mind. The peace of being within the forest's serenity, where the Spawn were not following her towards, the relative silence surrounding her, the looming shadows of the trees as they stood silent and somber on the border of chaos. The ground was moist here beneath her, as opposed to it having been dry and dusty down in the crater closer to the tower; and for once the stench of that darkness that emanated from the tower was faint.

She found her hand gently releasing the hold on Gatomon and burying itself in the soil. Her fingers dug in, and she found herself gripping the sweet earth as though it was a lifeline, a slight reminder of a time when they had not needed to fight, when they had already saved the Digiworld and now they rebuilt it, not knowing of the battle and darkness ahead. For a moment, she was not lying on the edge of a battlefield, but she was on a grassy hill with everyone, as they sat happy and peaceful, TK's laughter echoing next to her.

In the next moment, she was herself again, reality forcing her to awaken from the dream.

She sat up, then paused slightly as she realized that Gatomon had pulled herself out of her grip. The digimon was sitting on the ground, pawing at it slightly and staring up into the sky. She suddenly knew that Gatomon was thinking the same things as she was.

Quietly, Kari turned back towards the battlefield. She knew that Sora and Birdramon had been covering their escape, but she could not see them close by.

A pang of worry struck through her. She stood and gazed out over the field, the sudden horrible thought that perhaps something had happened to them during the last few intense minutes rising up in her mind.

Then she saw a familiar red flamed plume soaring in the air distantly, still shooting out meteors of fire and attacking the enemies in that area, both on the ground and in the air.

They didn't follow...

The realization of what had just happened finally sunk in. Kari shot to her feet and stared out at Birdramon's figure, suddenly wanting to charge back into the battle if only to help them.

"Gatomon, they didn't follow us back here!" she exclaimed in worry, turning to the digimon still on the ground.

Gatomon sat up in urgency. "Why?!" she cried out, her eyes mirroring what Kari knew she felt as well. "Are – are they – we need to figure out - "

Before she could continue, as they both lost their thoughts of reason and prepared to return to battle, another voice cut in.

"Kari? Gatomon? Is that you guys?"

It was Cody and Armadillomon, running through the undergrowth looking tired and concerned. She noticed there were a couple small bandages on Cody's face, which meant he must have had at least a few minor cuts.

Cody stopped, leaning over and panting. Armadillomon looked a little better off, and while Cody took the time to recompose himself, the digimon looked up at Kari and Gatomon. "You guys look like you're all right! Are you?"

Kari and Gatomon shared a glance. "I'm so tired, I want to collapse into a bed and not wake up until next week," Gatomon proclaimed, a slight tinge of irony in her voice. Kari knew it was the truth. She herself could only concur with the digimon's statement.

"Other than that, we're all right, I think," she continued off of Gatomon's statement.

Cody finally stood up, the look in his eyes brightening slightly. "Good," he breathed. "You're the last ones here, we were getting worried that something happened."

"The last ones? But..." Kari twisted her body to look out into the sky over the field again. She could clearly see Birdramon's flying form soaring and still attacking. "But what about Sora and Birdramon? They're still out there!"

Cody responded by grabbing Kari's hand. "They're not coming, they're staying out there. Besides, they were here earlier. Come on, you need to get over to Point A now! We need you!"

She stared for a moment, not quite comprehending the sudden change in subject. Her mind too sluggish to think any more, she only gazed ahead blankly as Cody grabbed out his D3.

"We're flying back, it's faster that way," the boy explained. "Let's do this quickly!"

Armadillomon nodded.

"Armadillomon armor digivolve to... Digmon, the Drill of Knowledge!"

Cody then hastily ran around Kari and began pushing her towards his partner.

Kari finally pulled her senses together. "All right, I'm going," she announced, giving Cody a weary smile to relieve him of his worries. She realized that he looked very concerned for her current state.

"It's okay, we've got something to help you," he spoke.

Digmon lowered himself down to ease Kari's path onto his back. "Yeah, or at least we think it's gonna help," he continued. "Patamon wants to see you, by the way."

Those words sparked some more awareness into her head. "So he made it back all right?" she asked eagerly, climbing atop Digmon. Behind her, Gatomon pounced up as well.

"Yeah. Tai and Greymon're here too."

With that, Digmon straightened up. Kari blinked when she realized that Cody was not coming with them.

Cody noticed her reaction. "I'm checking on the field from here," he answered, giving her a serious look. "I also really need to watch out for the others still out there."

Gatomon choked, and Kari's eyes widened. "Others still - "

"Hang on!" Digmon jumped up into the air.

They sped away, Kari shrieking in shock, watching Cody's small figure disappear into the distance. Digmon was pushing himself, she realized, trying to deliver her back to the clearing as quickly as possible.

The wind blew in her face, leaves brushing past her and the sound made by Digmon's buzzing wings otherwise filling the silent void with noise. He whipped past trees, dodging and hopping up over a few as he went. Kari knew it was pointless to argue with Digmon about Cody, or ask about what was happening with the others until they reached the clearing. Digmon was placing all his energy into focusing on the path ahead.

It was a much faster ride than it had been atop Nefertimon towards the crater. But then, they had been concentrating more upon stealth and their ability to remain silent as they approached, knowing what was about to come ahead. This time on the way back, the enemies knew they were attacking, and there was no need to hide their presence.

The flight ended almost as quickly as it had begun. Digmon reared up and stopped very suddenly, enough so that Kari and Gatomon had to cling onto his back in order not to fall off. The wind swirling around them, Digmon lowered himself to the ground and as his feet touched the soil, he let the top of him crouch down further to aid in Kari and Gatomon's disembarking.

"We're here," he said tersely.

Kari took no time to wait. As she dismounted Digmon, hopping down to the ground with Gatomon in tow, she could now see the shapes of humans and small, obviously Rookie forms of digimon. Most were simply standing, though she could tell there was movement and a tense silence throughout the clearing.

"I've got to get back to Cody. We'll return," Digmon spoke. Kari nodded, and with a rustle of leaves and buzzing of wings, Digmon had vanished back into the darkness of the trees.

Not wasting another moment, she and Gatomon rushed into the clearing, the same one she and the others had been at not too long before.

The first thing she noticed was that Tai had removed his shirt, and Joe was busy wrapping some bandages around his chest. Her brother seemed tired and a little annoyed, but he obediently followed Joe's instructions every time the older boy asked him to change his position slightly. Agumon and Gomamon were standing a little off to the side, both looking exhausted, and Agumon holding Tai's shirt in his claws.

He saw her first.

"Kari! You made it back!" he exclaimed, a relieved smile breaking across his face.

The others reacted immediately.

A slew of "Kari!" and "You're okay!" and other variants rushed towards her, as her presence was registered in the minds of everyone.

Before anyone else could ask her how she was or comment, Patamon shot at her and buried himself in her arms.

"I was so worried, and I couldn't do anything!" he practically sobbed. "I'm so sorry! I saw you fall and Nefertimon had already turned back to Gatomon on the way down, and then all those Spawn things in the air started flying around and I had to get out of there, and you'd told me to get back here, so I did, and I left you and Nefertimon there, I'm sorry!"

Kari gave him a hug. "Listen, it's okay, I was worried about you too. I'm glad you made it back all right."

"But I abandoned you!"

At that, Gatomon groaned. "What could you have done?!" she shouted. "Nothing! TK's not exactly here to help you digivolve, stop blaming yourself! We knew the risks, though we never thought it'd get this bad! We're all right, we're here, see? Now quit it with the self pity and think about what you're going to do the moment we get TK back!"

Patamon was so shocked that he stopped crying.

Kari herself was a little surprised at Gatomon's outburst, but understood that it was not completely out of character for her. And besides, what she said was true. "I know you feel bad about the fact that you can't protect TK right now, and you have no idea if he's all right. I can tell you that he's alive, but - "

Her mind flashed back to the battlefield. Her eyes widened.

She found herself shouting over Patamon's head. "What's the battle plan right now? We've got to hurry!"

The others paused in slight shock for a moment. Davis took that moment to shrug helplessly. "We still need Cody to get here."

Kari began shaking a little. "Please tell me he'll be back soon, we don't have much time."

Everyone was staring at her in a mixture of understanding and some surprise.

At that moment, a buzzing noise suddenly grew louder in volume, and then Digmon burst into the clearing with Cody. "We're back!" the digimon shouted, the wind from his flight finally catching up to him and blowing leaves around the area.

Cody hopped down, looking grim. "Everyone's doing all right," he reported, seeming far too forlorn for his announcement.

It was Davis who stepped forward, his face worried. "And Ken?"

"Him too. Well, at least Stingmon..."

Davis swore and punched a nearby tree in frustration. "The idiot..." he muttered, Veemon coming up behind him to try and comfort him.

As Digmon reverted back to Armadillomon and Davis let himself plop down onto the ground dejectedly, Kari glanced at the assembled group. Everyone looked exhausted, and all the digimon that had earlier digivolved had reverted back to their Rookie forms. However, there were fewer pairs of digimon and human partners than she knew there were in the group. There should have been eleven. Performing a quick headcount, she saw that there were only seven.

A sinking feeling in her stomach, she turned towards Izzy, who was closest. She noticed that for some reason, he was now wearing a hooded sweatshirt that was too large for him, which she recognized as Joe's. "We're missing people. Where're Ken, Stingmon, Yolei, Aquilamon, Mimi, and Togemon?"

Izzy sighed and shook his head slightly. "They were here earlier, but they left to continue fighting, because their status is worse off than ours right now and we're moving on to the second part of the assault. Sora and Birdramon too."

Kari blinked, feeling relief at knowing that the missing were at least still alive, and briefly made eye contact with Gatomon still in her arms.

In response to that, Tai turned his head slightly as Joe finished binding his chest. "They're mostly fine apparently. But they're going Ultimate because the enemy's gotten stronger." Joe stood and faced the younger boy, nodding. Tai nodded back. "Thanks Joe."

"You've got to be careful Tai. This is the sort of thing that's happening throughout the battle."

Tai shrugged as Agumon came forward to return the shirt.

Joe only glared, watching as Tai took it and began putting it back on. "You know that Ken almost got his left arm completely sliced off right? He left before you got here, and he insisted on going back in, he and Stingmon left before we could stop them. He'll need to go to the emergency room after this battle if he wants to keep his arm. Plus, Sora's got her knee dislocated, Yolei's got burns on her back, and Mimi has a head injury. And it's not like the rest of us are unscathed either."

At that, he abruptly turned and pointedly looked at Izzy.

Tentomon winced, and Izzy coughed.

Tai sighed dejectedly, gingerly poking the bandages that could be seen through the rip on his shirt. "I know that. You should check over Kari too then, you know that she got hit and fell from pretty high up."

Joe automatically turned on his heel and strode purposefully towards Kari.

Kari on the other hand suddenly remembered her great concern for Ken, recalling seeing him and Stingmon retreat.

"Ken! How was he?! Why did he insist on leaving - " she found herself speaking.

"He," Joe interjected, looking irritated but still being gentle as he placed his hands on Kari's head, "is an idiot. A genius idiot with a stubborn streak. I'm blaming Davis for his behavior."

Kari automatically looked around the circle, and managed to find Davis just in time to catch his indignant expression, but the boy in question otherwise said nothing. He looked equally worried and haggard, it having been his best friend who had been so badly injured.

Joe continued on, ranting as he examined Kari's head and other areas of concern. "So those monster things decide that they're going to reveal their true forms and attack with everything they've got, and the flying ones obviously go after Stingmon, which is bad since Garurumon can't back him up from the ground, and then Stingmon gets injured, and Ken stupidly decides to protect Stingmon's wing from injury as well so they can still fight, which of course ends badly, it was just a good thing that I'd already gotten off the field to treat Izzy when Ken came – that doesn't hurt, right Kari? Anyway, I've never fancied myself as some sort of army surgeon, I'm not even in high school yet, I guess it's just a good thing I know how to suture stuff, had to make Ken take the pain meds, and he'll be nauseous later, he spends like ten minutes sitting like a good boy and then just hops on Stingmon and takes off, I knew I should have just tied him up the first time he said he wanted to go back in, damnit, why didn't he just pass out, now he's going to be an extra idiotic genius and probably get himself killed, there was just so much blood earlier, I..."

He took a deep breath. Gomamon took that moment to crawl up to him.

"Joe, calm down. You're stressed."

"Of course I'm stressed!" Joe shrieked, flinging his arms up into the air.

The younger members of the group were now staring at Joe, as they had never before seen him lose his demeanor quite like he was at the moment. The older ones however remembered clearly how often Joe had used to act some years before in the face of certain crises. It was almost nostalgic, but at a very inappropriate time.

Joe finally released Kari. He had taken a few calming breaths and rubbed his temples, but slowly his control returned. He looked over at her as she met his eyes questioningly. "You'll be fine Kari. There's nothing serious that you need to worry about. Some scrapes and you'll probably have some pretty disgusting bruises tomorrow though," he answered, the side of his mouth turning upwards. "I'm actually really relieved, I was afraid you might have gotten a concussion or something."

Then he twisted slightly and began fishing in his pocket. Kari raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he pulled out an energy bar.

"Here, you should eat this," he proffered it to her.

She glanced down at Patamon, whom she was still holding. She was slightly confused... as Joe was looking at her and giving the food to whom?

Patamon only nodded in understanding. "Yeah, it's for you Kari." He gently pulled himself away from her and into the air, where he landed again down next to Gatomon.

Kari sighed, then took the bar from Joe, giving him a questioning look. "Thanks, but wouldn't Gatomon need it more?"

Joe was already reaching into his pocket. "She does need one too," he explained, coming up with another energy bar. "But you need to eat too." He knelt down and gave it directly to Gatomon.

Kari stood there and stared at the bar in her hand.

Her confusion must have shown on her face, because Joe grimaced slightly and Tai answered for him. "Patamon and I kinda told him about your powers with light," her brother said sheepishly. "He figures that you'd be ready to pass out by now, so we should treat you like a digimon and give you food."

She shrugged and began tearing open the wrapper. "Thank you," she answered, smiling and taking a bite. "I really appreciate the thought."

Gatomon had already sliced the wrapper open and was gobbling the food down. She managed to finish it quickly, pausing for a few moments as she let it settle. "Oh, I feel better," she exclaimed.

Kari on the other hand could not eat nearly as quickly as Gatomon could, but even she did not take the time to enjoy the taste. It was, after all, just some food to help her regain some energy. As she chewed, she took the few moments to glance around at everyone, taking in each person individually. She was beginning to become worried about them, now having heard some stories about the well being of the others.

She knew perfectly well of Tai, who was now shifting in place next to Agumon, the bandages beneath his shirt visible through the blood lined rip. Joe seemed haggard, the stress showing on his face as he gazed at her in concern. It was Gomamon next to him that looked stranger, an almost uncharacteristic seriousness about him. However, he did not seem to have any injuries. And of Cody and Armadillomon, they both seemed far too old, particularly Cody, for their youth.

It was Davis and Matt that caught her attention. Davis was sitting on the ground, curled up with his head to his knees, shaking. Veemon stood next to him, a claw on the boy's shoulder and an equally somber expression portrayed upon his normally cheerful self. She realized why, having now heard more about Ken. And Matt, whom she remembered had been partnered with Ken, was pale and sweating. He gazed blankly out at nothing, not even responding as Gabumon sat and every few moments tapped his leg. It took a moment to realize, in the darkness of the predawn morning, that there was a splotch of blood on the boy's shoulder.

Feeling a little sick as she realized that it was not Matt's, she bit down and swallowed the last of the energy bar.

Now, she decided she had to focus back upon the next part of what was to happen. She crumpled the wrapper in her hand, stuffed it in her pocket, glanced at Izzy, who was still nearby, and nodded. "Okay, I ate it. Now what's the plan?"

Izzy was looking at her intensely. "Do you feel any different?"

Kari had to stop for a moment and study herself. She felt mostly as though she had just eaten an energy bar, which was to say there was not much change at all. However, she knew that this idea had been one that they had hoped would reenergize her.

Not willing to say that nothing had happened, she quietly focused energy to her hand. To her surprise, she found that the light energy was present again, though still weak. But it was growing.

Releasing, she smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I can feel it again," she answered, closing her hand.

Then, purely out of curiosity. "Joe keeps referring to you, Izzy."

Izzy gave her a sideways glance. "It's not nearly as bad as he makes it out to be. He's more reacting to Ken than anything else."

She looked at him pointedly. "What happened to you?"

He pretended to ignore her, until she glared and gave him very gentle nudge on the shoulder.

He rolled his eyes and spoke very softly. "Fine, one of Spawn apparently enjoyed the usage of needles a lot, and so took the form of something that used them extensively. We were on the receiving end of an attack. Tentomon could withstand it since he has an exoskeleton, I wasn't quite as fortunate."

"Your back was synonymous with pincushion," Tentomon chimed in quietly. "And those needles weren't small. I think you humans call then senbon?"

Kari's eyes widened in horror. "Senbon?!"

Izzy smacked his forehead. "This conversation is over. And this is why I'm not telling anyone else."

She found herself staring at him. So that was why he was wearing Joe's sweatshirt, to cover up his injuries and keep others from staring at a shirt with pinpricked holes strewn across it.

Hearing Izzy's account of what had happened, Kari suddenly began thinking of all the injuries that the others had received. She had seen Sora earlier, and Ken as he and Stingmon had fled the battle... and Yolei had been burnt by the attacks. So that was what that scream had been earlier... and Aquilamon had been responsive and flown Yolei straight out. Then there was Tai, Mimi, Izzy...

She was slowly beginning to realize something. She had escaped relatively unscathed compared with others, and it seemed that everyone had been fighting different Spawn that had been trying very hard to kill them. And the ones around her...

It had felt like they wanted to eat her, but now looking back on her experience, she could see that that had not been their intention. It was as though they had been trying to weaken her, but not kill. It was a worrying feeling.

Were they targeting her for some other reason?

Izzy gave her a determined, hard look. "Anyway, listen, most of the forces here have been drawn to outside the tower. The portal should be somewhere inside." He glanced over at the tall forbidding structure for a moment, before looking back at her with that same glint in his eyes. "Kari, I already talked to Tai, and I'm sorry you have to do this. Choose two sets of partners and at the best moment, get to the interior of the tower. We'll keep everything under control from out here."

Tai was looking at her too, the grieving, haunted expression in his eyes telling her how difficult it was to let her do this. She knew he had witnessed the major attack and her fall, and he did not want to send her into the tower.

She herself was surprised at the decision. "I'll do it," she said, "but why me?"

"Light."

It was Davis who spoke, looking equally saddened and somber.

Her mind suddenly shot back to the conversation she had had with him earlier. And then the energy bar.

Instantly she understood.

The ones wielding darkness were after her, but she also held the greatest weapon to counter them. Flashes of the battle popped up, from her first attacks on Nefertimon's back, to the fall, Tai's rescue, her own strength as she fought...

She nodded slowly. "I understand."

With that, all those present quickly separated into human and digimon partner, standing still like soldiers at attention. They seemed solemn and serious, as though they knew what was to come.

Kari thought quickly. Her mind flashed back to the one Spawn as it shouted out, as she had lifted it into the air with anger and demanded to know about what was happening to TK. The sky was still dark, but she could feel that dawn was coming soon. There was not much time left.

She glanced around the group, and made her choices.

She knew that was taking Matt and Gabumon. Along with being among the strongest of fighters in the group and still being in fairly good shape despite the enormity of the battle, Matt was TK's brother. He would want to be the one to see TK and fight to the death for him. It simply felt right.

As for the other person...

Kari walked up to Tai. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry for letting you down out there, for getting hit and everything..."

He smiled gently, and pulled her into a tight hug. "What are you talking about?" he answered in a muffled, breaking voice. "You're alive. And you freaking saved my life too. How are you letting me down?"

It took her a moment to realize that he was crying.

"Tai?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to come in with me?"

"I'm your big brother, do I need to answer that?"

She gave a small laugh, squeezing him a little. "Thank you."

Quietly, they released each other, Tai smiling slightly but looking away so as not to reveal to the others some of the tears on his face. Kari only inwardly laughed, knowing her brother for his own traits.

Then she quietly glanced around until she found Matt and Gabumon, who had both been silent throughout the entire exchange since she had arrived. Solemnly, she marched up towards him and made eye contact.

He looked pale and drawn, his expression difficult to interpret. She saw many things in him as she gazed; seriousness, worrying, exhaustion, somberness, determination, grief, love, understanding, sadness, more that she could not continue to name. But she knew why. She recalled how protective he had been of his younger brother only some years before, and she had heard that that trait had been one of his more defining features earlier before she had joined them. If he had been that way then, what he felt now was just as strong if not worse.

Briefly, she wondered if that cry the Spawn had been shouting, the one that had brought anger to her when she heard the mention of TK's death, had been repeated across the battlefield.

"You want to come," she spoke. It was a statement, not a question.

Matt nodded, silent. His blue eyes practically pierced her with intensity and emotion.

She nodded back. "Then come with me too."

He closed his eyes slowly, a sense of preparedness coming over him. "Thank you," he breathed.

She smiled kindly at him. She understood what it meant for him, how he needed to be able to see his brother directly and face him, and know that everything would be all right.

"Wait!" Cody shouted, his green eyes blazing. "Let me and Armadillomon go with you too!"

Kari looked at Cody, who seemed to be pleading. She knew that he and TK had always had an interesting relationship, especially after they had become partners for DNA Digievolution. Cody had a right to go inside with her, but...

At the same time, she had already chosen whom she wanted to go inside with. And there was the fact that Cody was younger, still had so many more things to experience, and that she did not know what lay inside of the tower... and what would TK say if Cody got hurt? Besides, Cody was in essence, as the youngest member, also the one to reach out to the others who would join their ranks... as TK and Kari had, after everything that had occurred in the first adventure.

"Cody," she kneeled down, for the first time seeing Cody not as just another member of the group, but as someone with the potential for more. "I know you want to see TK and make sure he's all right. He's your DNA digivolving partner, after all. But what would he say if you got hurt? And plus... you're the legacy. In a few years time, if certain things come to pass, you'll probably be the one leading a newer group around as the most experienced member. Like TK's been doing for us."

Cody paused slightly, before arching one eyebrow up at Kari. "I know you're trying to protect me. I'm a member for the group too, you know, I have a right to fight for my partner!"

"I know. But it's also important that you help make sure other people, including yourself, stay alive."

Cody stared at her.

Kari only smiled sadly. "If everything goes wrong, I want you to be the one who warns Gennai, and gets everyone prepared. And make sure that everyone else gets out okay too. Joe can't do everything by himself."

Before he could say anything else, she gently embraced him and quickly turned. Her decision had been made, and she was ready.

She immediately changed the subject as she turned to the others. "How long until dawn?"

Kari saw that Matt's eyes had widened. So her conjecture about him had been right. Beside him, Gabumon looked up fearfully and gently clasped the boy's hand. She noticed that he squeezed back.

They all looked at each other briefly. It was Veemon who answered. "Can't really tell, but it's gonna be soon," he said, smiling in an attempt to be helpful.

Davis only looked a little puzzled. "Is dawn important?"

To Kari's surprise, it was Matt who broke first. His eyes narrowed as he glared around the group. "I don't know if anyone else heard this," he began, glancing at Kari, "though I guess Kari at least did, but there were some Spawn shouting it out on the battlefield. If we don't get to the Dark Ocean before dawn, TK's gonna die."

Everyone was shocked into silence. Patamon involuntarily squealed and began shaking, to which Kari knelt down gave him a reassuring squeeze.

Tai recovered first. He looked around at everyone, and seeing their states, moved to action. "Everyone digivolve now! We're moving out! Tower group, be ready, others escort! Go!"

They shook themselves out of their stupor and prepared. Each human pulled out a digivice.

"Veemon digivolve to... Exveemon!"

"Gomamon digivolve to... Ikkakumon!"

"Gabumon digivolve to... Garurumon!"

"Armadillomon digivolve to... Ankylomon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to... Kabuterimon!"

"Agumon digivolve to... Greymon!"

"Gatomon armor digivolve to... Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!"

Kari vaulted up onto Nefertimon effortlessly, then glanced down as Patamon jumped up and into her waiting arms. She squeezed her legs a little to make sure she was firmly on and in no danger of falling.

It took only a few moments for the others to mount their partners, and circle around in readiness to return to the battle.

Tai, retaking his leader role, looked at everyone with a determined eye. He turned to Kari and Matt, both atop Nefertimon and Garurumon respectively, making eye contact. They all nodded in reply and mutual understanding of what was to come.

Then he turned back. "All right. There're huge entrances into the tower, and since we're up against an army, we're charging. You guys cover us. Status now?"

Davis spoke for them. He saluted. "All ready for escort."

Kari glanced about at the group prepared for the next stage of the assault. Cody with Ankylomon, Joe on Ikkakumon, Izzy on Kabuterimon, and Davis on Exveemon were all there, watching her as she sat atop a newly digivolved Nefertimon again. Both Matt and Tai, with their respective digivolved partners, were with her, nodding as they knew how the plan was about to proceed.

She realized that they were waiting for her signal.

She closed her eyes briefly, taking a couple of deep breaths. Quietly, she steeled herself inside in preparation.

And she looked up, feeling ready to meet the conflict.

"Let's go."