Sorry about the time between them guys, I've had a few funerals to attend, but I really hope you guys love this, I put a lot of work into it, but I don't think that it was as long as I thought it was, anyway, thanks guys!

There was a time when I Izzy told me that appendicitis was the most painful experience of his life, I may have never had that ailment, but I would put my life savings on one thing.

This is worse.

ApocoPiedmon shoved his sword right through my abdomen, and as much as I'd like to believe it, this is not an illusion, there's a blade in my stomach. The pain is blinding, and almost too much, but it gets even worse when ApocoPiedmon retracted his weapon, and let go of me, allowing my body to smack into the ground, gasping for breath.

The only thing I can do to keep myself sane is to focus on breathing, each breath, in and out. It's the only way to not focus on the gaping hole in my stomach.

"It's a pity," ApocoPiedmon laughed, "He was an interesting foe, and without him I won't get to meet my old friend WarGreymon, but maybe this is even more enjoyable."

I watch as he lays back his head and roars with a crazy laugh, it seems to cut through to my very soul, ripping through my core, and every being, and it sends feeling I've never experienced through my body, but one feeling I have felt before, and it's spelled out right before my eyes.

I'm all alone.

Just as the thought hits me, I can feel my crest glowing against my chest, and a strange sensation enters my body.

There's a little something there, it feels like hope, but that isn't my crest, then there's a different sensation, and another finally the last one hits me, but this one is much stronger than the others.

Suddenly I feel an enlightenment, these may not be my crests but I can feel that they are the crests of my friends; Hope, friendship, light, knowledge, and most strong, Love. They are gathering in me, and now I know that I'm not really alone.

I must go on.

Thankfully, "Going on" doesn't actually involve moving because I don't know that I can pull that off just yet. But I don't feel so hopeless and that's a start.

"Hmm, he's not whimpering quite as much as I imagined." A. Piedmon complains as I lie perfectly still, just trying to staunch the flow of blood from my wound with the pressure of the ground.

"Maybe we should just finish him off." Puppetmon suggested excitedly.

"No, he's the lynchpin, I want to watch him suffer, it's vital." A. Piedmon declared, kicking my body back up against the wall. I can't help but groan from his blow, and I can feel the world around my getting very hazy, I've lost too much blood, but I can still watch.

A Piedmon reaches his disgusting, painted hand toward my chest, he clasps it around my hanging crest and yanks it from it's chain, having the crest so close to him is obviously uncomfortable for him but he isn't willing to give up his prize. He clenches his fist arounf my crest and with a sudden flurry of power he crushes the crest, shattering it into oblivion along with the tag. His discomfort is suddenly gone ad is replaced with a disturbing grin.

I can't move, but a deep chill runs down my spine as I watch my crest of Courage be destroyed. Without it, Agumon won't be able to Digivolve to the Ultimate or Mega level…that adds even more issues, they seem to really be piling up now.

Ugh, I can't give up. But with just Greymon how are we supposed to beat this little bastard, there doesn't seem to be a real solution, at least not one that I can see.

"Now that your crest is gone, destroying the others will be a simple matter! I won't even need to take them away, it'll be as easy as watching the wind blow" A. Piedmon cackles with laughter, taking in and feeding off all of my pain, and uncertainty.

It's all I can do to keep my breathing normal, the rest of the Dark Masters are giggling along with their leader.

"Why don't I fill you in Tai, seeing as you're going to be dead soon anyway." A. Piedmon taunts. "On second thought maybe you don't care?"

I do care, but I know that A. Piedmon wouldn't be willing to divulge his entire plan to me, even if he assumed that his loose end would be tied up soon anyway, so instead of listening to his taunts I just tune him out, focusing on my escape.

"Step one: Heal. That's the hard part. Step Two: Escape. Step Three: Find a way to defeat ApocoPiedmon, while trying to get my crest back and contacting my friends. That about covers it, Foolproof!" I make my very vague plan, but it seems to be the only possible choice. What I need is something to distract the Dark Masters, something that throws them off enough for me to slip away and find someplace safe, and hopefully find Agumon.

And just like that, it's as though my prayers are answered.

And half of the wall behind me explodes

"Wing Blade!" I can hear Garudamon's voice declaring her attack as it blasts the ground in front of me, forcing A. Piedmon to cease his laughter and step back.

I can hear Matt behind me, shouting. "Is that who I think it is!?" But Metal Garurumon attacks his anyway.

"Ice Wolf Claw!"

Suddenly Kari and T.K are beside me trying to help me to my feet. Kari gasps as my wound in a way that makes me cringe, but they get me on their shoulders regardless, with one arm over each.

I know the Dark Masters are rearing for another attack, but they are doing their best to keep them at bay.

"Horn Buster!" So Izzy is here as well, that makes 5 of them, not nearly enough to take on A. Piedmon and three Dark Masters, but nothing makes me happier than the fact that they're here, and although my consciousness is wavering I allow a tiny grin.

They load me into Garudamon's massive talon. I can hear someone shouting that we need to go, and the air around me is changing the Dark Masters are attacking but we've ascended from the ground and are flying away.

My mind is going but I can feel my gut stinging from its exposure to the air, I let out a sharp cry and am suddenly joined by someone, two, three, four, and fifth and a sixth join me on Garudamon's claw.

"Tai? Tai are you ok?" Kari's painfully worried voice rings in my ears, but I'm unable to respond, as badly as I'd like to.

"We need to get pressure on his wound. Holy Digi-gods that is deep!" T.K. Exclaims, sending Kari into another worried fit.

"Tai! Tai!" I can hear Agumon's voice, oh good he's ok..I wrench my eyes open and look over them all. Kari is on her knees next to T.K. who has ripped off a piece of his shirt and is trying to tie it around my waist the cloth stings but I know it's helping. I can see Patamon, Gatomon, Agumon, all around me and in the back of the group I can find the one I was looking for.

Though I can't say she is in the shape I'd hoped.

Sora is behind the group, stand with her left hand over her mouth, watching in terror, I can see that she's trembling much like Kari is , and I can tell she's worried I won't make it.

I want to call out to her, I want to scream that It's going to be ok, that she has to be strong, but I can't, and as my eyes meet her beautiful chestnut brown ones, I can feel a connection between us, something very strong and binding, like no sensation I've ever felt before.

And that, of course, is when I pass out.

Ok, I'm getting real sick of this fainting thing, yeah I know my body is really beat up. I know I'm fatigued to the max.

But C'mon!

I feel like everything that happens when I wake up happens really fast, and that really hurts my head!

I wake up in a cave, much like the one I'd been in earlier, my first though is that the events in A. Piedmon's fortress never really happened, my stomach pain corrects me however, and I can see my friends littered around the cave, exhausted from their battles but just resting, I'm relieved to find that no one is injured, except me of course.

I'm in a lot of pain, but I notice that I'm heavily bandaged, and the bleeding seems to have stopped. That's a good sign.

I reach for my chest, just a nervous habit I have, I reach for my crest, and I'm dismayed to find it isn't there. A. Piedmon really destroyed it…

"When do you think he'll wake up?

"I'm not sure Kari, I'm sure he'll be ok" T.K. held her hand, trying to comfort her.

"Mmm, I'm…ok Kari." I manage to croak, turning my head towards her, and trying to give her a thumbs up.

"Tai!"

"Yeah," I cough, "It's me."

Her cry of surprise gets everyone's attention and they all start to crowd around me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm usually a fan of attention, but just as I thought, everyone talking at once is only enhancing my excruciating headache, so while they all rabble about whether or not I'm ok, I decide to open with a joke.

"Damn Matt, take a step back man, your breath could drop Diaboromon." Giving my friend a thumbs up. Ok, not my best joke, but I'm on the spot here, I do my best.

"Not your best work Tai," He shakes his head, but I can see his smile, "You must have been hit on the head pretty hard to enhance that uncanny skill of using bad jokes at the worst times."

"Oh you know it."

"Big Brother! We were so worried," She hugs me, getting teary-eyed.

"Seriously we thought you were a goner man," T.K. agreed, looking solemn.

"Nah, It'll take more than those freaks to get rid of me!"

"Tell that to the wound in your stomach." Her voice rang over everyone's but it sounded cold, "You could have been killed Tai! Then what would you have done?!"

Sora stood in front of me, staring me down, her voice was cold and pained, but I could see her eyes. They swam with tears, though none of them had released, she seemed frightened, but I'm alright, it's all ok.

"Welcome back Tai," Gatomon purrs, and Biyomon steps forward and nudges Sora's leg, trying to get her to move forward.

"Sora, don't be mean, you know that's not what you meant, say what you really want to say."

"Oh, I meant it. Every word." Sora spat, but in moments I watched as her lip began to quiver. I stared into her gorgeous eyes and involuntarily nodded. Without a word Sora throws her arms around me and holds me close, burying her head in my chest, I return the embrace. The tightness is painful on my stomach but I leave it alone, the comfort supercedes the pain.

"You big idiot," She sobs into my chest.

"It's been a rough couple of days in the digi-world, but now I've got my friends here, or most of them anyway, and I know it's going to be alright, we will succeed. But one thought still eats away at me, and it only increases when I spot Agumon.

"Hey buddy, I've got some more bad news."

"Are we out of food?"

"We never had any to begin with? But that's not it." I pull out my damaged chain that had held my crest before A. Piedmon destroyed it, revealing its emptiness.

Everyone stared in horror, trying to figure out exactly what this meant, no more MetalGreymon, WarGreymon, or even Omnimon. "It's gone," I lowered my gaze, unable to meet the others.

Suddenly we all hear a voice, coming from Izzy, or more specifically his laptop, and he immediately flips it open to reveal Gennai, staring back at us.

"I'm sorry about these events Tai, but I'm afraid I don't have any information to lighten the mood."

"Well I doubt it could get worse."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but your destroyed crest in only the beginning."

We all stared with our eyes focused on the man on the screen, his serious expression sending chills down our bodies.

"With one crest gone the others don't stand a chance."

Izzy caught on before all of us, as he usually does.

"Wait, but that means…"

"That's right Izzy." Gennai stated solemnly, "With one crest destroyed, the rest of yours will follow within minutes."

And with those last words we turned to a gasping Matt, gripping wildly, into the air as his Crest of Friendship burst into hundreds of pieces, and dissolves into data, scattering on the wind.

What will happen next? So suspenseful! Thanks for reading guys, please please review, I need it for my confidence…thank you! Have a good day!