Hello again. This is the penultimate chapter of this story and its going to set us up for the finale. It's not perfect, but I hope you all enjoy it. As you approach the end, I find your faults and mistakes start to become really obvious and I can see that I have some serious improvements to make, but I am treating this as a learning process and if nothing else I'm starting to see the specific things I need to fix in my writing.

As for the final chapter, unfortunately it will have to be put on hold until late November, early December, when I hope to post it and a short-ish epilogue. To answer to some reviews:

Vigatus: You kind of pre-empted me a bit there. Kind of the bane of releasing chapters once every so often, the explanation can often come in the following chapter.

Mimato love 4ever: Thanks, and I hope I don't disappoint.

Aizawa Li Syaoran Vessalius: Thanks again for your kind words :)

Guest (I'm thinking this might be nerdxx3 – it shows up as 'Guest' in my emails): I guess we all need to be full of ourselves once in a while :P. Hope you enjoy this chapter too.

Also thanks to Just Smile3 and Slow Snail for favouriting and cutey-azn and AngelSachiya for following.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of the characters, they are the property of Toei Animation.

A clamour of shouting filled the air while the soldiers hurried about, carrying out their instructions like buzzing worker bees. While these American troops had been patrolling outside the park only minutes ago, they had since been ordered back inside the fence and were now establishing defensive positions at the four gates leading into the safe zone they had established, a seeming oasis amid the chaos that was the city of Odaiba. As the unit commander barked orders to his subordinates, a curious and worried Izzy Izumi looked on, oblivious to the conversation his five friends were having right next to him.

He had been listening to the Major speak to his second in command, a Captain who apparently went by the name of Barnes, for a few minutes now, ever since the order had gone out for the American squads to return. What bothered Izzy was the rather flustered mood the Major was in and the fact that there were less soldiers than the young genius had assumed there would be. Izzy's hopes had not been helped either by the fact that he had overheard the two officers speaking about how one of their squads, Bravo he had heard, had been wiped out. The Izumi boy had heard a lot about the US Marines, and he knew that anything that could annihilate a whole team of them had to be either very powerful or incredibly cunning.

While Izzy was mulling over these details, his brain working a mile a minute, he overheard something of interest as another soldier ran up to the two officers.

"Sir, I've managed to get a hold of Sergeant Kowalski and Alpha squad!" the young man panted as he delivered his report.

The Major appeared momentarily surprised by their good fortune, but he regained his composure a second later.

"Good work Specialist. Is Kowalski on the radio now?" he questioned intently, clearly hoping to find out what was happening with his wayward troops.

"Yes sir, just over here sir." the Specialist replied, motioning over to some equipment about twenty metres away, among which Izzy could see a radio from where one could hear a faint crackling.

Receiving a nod from his superior, the soldier led the two officers over to the radio. While Izzy was aware that there was little he could do to help, his curiosity was also very powerful. It had always been the case that the more he knew, the safer he felt and that element of his persona been tested severely throughout their ordeal, especially early on when the Digidestined had no idea what was happening. Now he was compelled to find out what had happened to some of the troops who were defending him and his friends, what Daemon's minions were doing and maybe how they had managed to take down a squad of the Americans.

Izzy followed the Marines, slowly at first but then speeding up when he saw that they either did not realise he was behind them or did not care whether or not they were overheard by a civilian. Izzy was focused so much on the Americans that he did not hear the calls of his friends who had noticed his movement away from them. He came to a halt by a lamp post some ten metres away from the Marines, still ignorant of the fact that his friends were calling after him. It was only when Matt placed a hand roughly on his shoulder did he notice.

"Dude, what the hell are you doing?" Matt questioned, a little irritated that he and the others had been ignored so completely by their genius friend.

Izzy simply placed a finger to his lips to quiet the Digidestined of friendship; he did not wish to miss out on what he had come to hear.

"Kowalski what the hell happened to you and your men? Bravo are all already dead, so give me some good news for a change." the Major spoke sternly, but still, beneath it all, it was possible to hear a twinge of concern for the wellbeing of his troops.

"Sir, those… those things ambushed us." came the voice of who must have been Sergeant Kowalski, sounding slightly crackled through the radio, "We fought our way out, but we've taken casualties and we're cut off from your position in the park."

"Ambushed? Cut off? Sergeant, according to intel these things couldn't figure out which end of a rifle fired bullets, let alone set traps for us." the Major challenged, and Izzy saw his eyes narrow, the man's cynicism clear at what his subordinate was telling him.

"Well intel was off Major. I swear, those things waited for us to walk right into the fuckin' middle of 'em before they came out and attacked us." came the Sergeant's reply, the man now sounding more flustered than when he had first spoken through the radio.

"Well are you alright now at least? You said you'd taken casualties." the American commander enquired.

"We lost Jenkins and Mendoza sir, and Ducard got tackled by one of those things and has a dislocated arm. We also had to burn through a lot of lead to get out of it, so we're low on ammo as well." Kowalski informed his superior, his voice sounding grave.

"OK… OK Sergeant, what's your current location?" the Major questioned.

By this stage Izzy had heard all he wanted to. His curiosity had been satisfied, even if what he had heard was less than comforting. The situation was becoming more and more dire, and until the Americans' black hawks returned, there was nowhere else for them to go. The redheaded genius moved silently away from the officers, Matt close behind.

"So these things keep getting smarter or what?" Matt stated more than asked, clearly discomforted by the new information.

"It's Daemon. He's controlling them remember." Izzy explained, his mind already having made sense of everything, "While combat planning is cognitively impossible for the infected, the same obviously isn't true of Daemon. I'm sure that he is more than capable of setting up ambushes."

"So, the American squad they said were all killed – that would have been Daemon too, right?" Matt asked, unnerved at his recollection of their enemy's ability to control his minions.

"I have no doubt that it was." Izzy replied simply.

"Great, walking corpses smart enough to take on soldiers. Remind me when we broke the thousand mirrors again." Matt commented sardonically.

Izzy forced a laugh. While being ignorant of facts and details had always made him afraid, knowing what they were up against was burdensome of itself. The only thing left for him to do now was to inform the others of what he and Matt had listened in on. After that, all they could do was wait. Wait for whichever happened first – the return of the helicopters or the final destruction of Daemon by their Digimon partners.

Wargreymon roared as he deflected another of Daemon's fiery blasts. He had been on the defensive for almost fifteen minutes, and while he had not taken any real damage, the armoured warrior was beginning to grow weary of his foe's constant attacking from behind the smoky veil of fog that covered the Dark Ocean in its entirety. At one point Daemon's strikes had stopped for a short period, no more than two or three minutes, but they had soon resumed, much to Wargreymon's dismay and annoyance.

Deciding he had had enough, the mega Digimon brought his claws together and waited for the next blow to be struck. He did not have to wait long, as a roaring ball of fire blasted in from behind. Wargreymon jumped and intercepted the attack, the fire fizzling out on the armoured skirt attached to his leg. Simultaneously he called together his energy, forming his ultimate attack.

"Terra Force!" Wargreymon yelled as a colossal, orange ball of pure energy formed almost instantaneously in his arms.

Holding the pulsing orb above his head, he twisted to face the direction the fiery shot had come from. Then, heaving his arms forward, he threw the ball straight into the fog, directly at the source of the attack. A split second passed with only the rushing sound Wargreymon's energy blast flying through the air. Then there was only light.

The radiance exploded outward, piercing the mist, illuminating the beach they stood on and nearly blinding all of the Digimon. It was soon joined by a storm of dust and wind as it rushed outward from the point of impact. Patamon, who had been hovering a metre or so off the ground, was blown out of the air, landing on top of Wormmon, who grunted and squirmed feverishly until Veemon pulled the little flying Digimon off him.

All the others remained still. They stood in eerie silence, watching the glow emanate from the murkiness, a temporary shining sun that lit up the dark, horrid dimension. As the light faded they were left back in the grey half light, wondering if they had finally triumphed over their adversary.

"Did it work?" Palmon asked tentatively.

"There's no way he could have moved fast enough. Even as Metalgarurumon I would have had trouble escaping that attack." Gabumon declared confidently.

Before anyone else could agree with him the same echoing laugh that had mocked them since they had met its owner rang out across the beach. This time, however, they could all tell from where it was coming. Before they all turned a full one hundred and eight degrees to face their enemy's new location, the dark sorcerer unleashed another of his scorching bolts of flame. This time Wargreymon was unable to stop it. The fire blazed past his dramon destroyers, surging into the crowd of his companions and finding its intended target.

The hissing and singeing of fur could be heard as Gabumon collapsed to the ground, smoke wisping slowly from his burned coat.

"You may want to re-evaluate your assumption." Daemon hissed maniacally, his voice oozing a sick sense of satisfaction.

Biyomon, Palmon and Tentomon immediately rushed to Gabumon's side, while Wargreymon assumed his defensive posture once again.

"How are you still alive!" Wargreymon roared into the mist, his anger rattling the other Digimon to their cores.

"Ha! You think that I can't outrun a poorly aimed blast like that?" Daemon chided, "Don't think your blind fire tactic will work against me."

For a few seconds Wargreymon was silent, trying to figure out what had just happened.

"This can't be possible; I threw my Terra Force right where that attack came from." Wargreymon said softly, more to himself than anyone else. He was therefore shocked when he received a reply.

"Or did you?" came Daemon's menacing tone, but this now he was behind them again.

Wargreymon spun around but was greeted only by the swirling mist, tormenting him, an impenetrable blanket that concealed their foe. The mega Digimon roared in anger and slammed one of his claws into the ground, embedding it deep in the sand. Daemon's laughter once more reverberated through the fog, mocking them and their every attempt to stop him. Then everything fell silent. The Digimon were all in two different worlds. Some shook with anger while others searched frantically for their enemy, even though there was little to no chance that they would be able to spot him in the haze. One of them had other things on his mind, however.

"Is Gabumon OK?" Patamon asked fearfully, bringing them all back to reality.

Tentomon, who had had his bright green eyes fixed in the direction from where Daemon's voice had last come from, immediately jerked his head back down to face the unmoving Gabumon, whose fur coat was still smouldering from the blast that hit him.

"He's unconscious, but I don't think it's as bad as it looks." Tentomon explained as he returned to examining his injured friend, "It seems like his coat helped protect his skin from the fire, but he still got hit pretty hard by that last attack."

The other Digimon all breathed a sigh of relief, but Wargreymon did not drop his guard. The mega Digimon had already seen how Daemon could strike from anywhere at any time and he did not intend to be caught unawares again.

His great concern now, though, was mobility. If Gabumon would not wake up and could not be moved then he and the others would be stuck in the middle of the beach, giving Daemon an even greater advantage.

"Can you wake him up, or can we move him some place safer?" Wargreymon asked gruffly as he continued to scan the area with his claws raised, ready to block any incoming attack. This time Biyomon was the one to describe Gabumon's condition.

"He's out cold – I don't think we can get him up." she relayed.

"Also I'm not sure it's safe to try and lift him or anything." Palmon added worriedly.

"We don't have much of a choice you guys. Standing out here in the open is far too dangerous with Gabumon in this condition." Wargreymon replied, feeling the pressure of the situation.

"But what if Daemon attacks us while we're moving him?" Tentomon questioned pointedly.

Wargreymon made to retort, but before he could Veemon chimed in.

"Speaking of Daemon, where is that creep? He hasn't attacked since he hit Gabumon." The little blue monster wondered out loud, clenching his fists and holding them up as if he wanted to start fighting as well.

Wargreymon was a little confused at first, but now that it had been mentioned, Daemon did not seem to be anywhere near them. If he was, the dark sorcerer certainly was not doing anything, or at least not that they could see. It was similar to his first wave of attacks. There had been a gap, only a few minutes long, where the fire blasts had stopped and everything was still. Of course they had started again soon enough, but the break had been there and somehow Wargreymon was not able to sense their enemy's presence during that time.

Now it was the same again. The armoured dinosaur was not getting the eerie feeling of being watched, just a discomforting stillness. Since he could not see through the fog he could not be sure, but Wargreymon could not shake the feeling that Daemon had left the area, for what reason he did not know.

"That… is a good question Veemon." Wargreymon said slowly.

The mega level looked down at his unconscious friend. Gabumon would be safer somewhere off the beach and now, assuming that Daemon was indeed someplace else, they had a golden opportunity to get him there. The only question was where this safe place could be. Luckily, they had one or two individuals familiar with the area.

"Gatomon, Patamon – is there somewhere out of the way we can take Gabumon? We need to be quick." he asked hurriedly, hoping that there was a place close by.

Gatomon responded quickly, bounding out in the direction they had seen the cliff face and calling over her shoulder as she went.

"Quickly, I do remember somewhere nearby."

Mimi stood silently as Izzy recounted the conversations he had listened in on. Despite his best efforts, Daemon had been thwarted at every turn so far. The efforts of the now dead Colonel Takagi and his forces had held back the undead long enough for the Digidestined to escape, and even when he had finally managed to surround the teenagers with his minions the timely arrival of the Americans had spared them the terrible fate their vengeful foe intended.

But now, Mimi sensed that Daemon was growing ever more determined to ensure their deaths. The effort he was putting into organising and directing his horde was considerable. As Izzy had described, the way he had his thralls take out one of the American squads had been methodical and calculating, more so than anything they had seen from him and his undead up until that point.

This is what Mimi found confusing. Why now? Had something happened to make Daemon even more desperate or impatient? Could it perhaps mean, she wondered, that their partners had arrived in the Dark Ocean?

"Izzy, do you think Daemon is doing all this now because of the Digimon?" Mimi asked once the redheaded genius had finished, causing his head to snap around in her direction.

"That's exactly what I was thinking Mimi." Izzy replied with a small nod, "I assume that either our partners have either confronted him or have at least entered the Dark Ocean."

"Good, then this should be over in like half and hour." Tai declared confidently, sweeping his hand out before him.

"I would hesitate to be that confident Tai." Izzy warned him seriously.

"What's the problem? There's no way that Daemon can beat Wargreymon?" Tai protested, surprised by Izzy's lack of optimism.

"I'm gonna have to agree with Tai on this one Izzy. I mean, you heard what Gennai said; Daemon is a shadow of what he used to be." Matt agreed, folding his arms as if to signify the finality of his statement.

"But that's just it. Daemon probably knows he can't win." Izzy retorted calmly.

"What? I don't get it." Joe said blankly.

"Let me put it this way; if I were Daemon, I would be stalling for time and not trying to fight a superior enemy like Wargreymon head to head."

Mimi knew what Izzy was getting at now and she decided to reply to the unasked question.

"So, if he is stalling, he's just hoping that we die before he does." she concluded, her tone deflated and troubled.

"Essentially yes. We can't be sure exactly what's happening in the Dark Ocean right now, but I'd bet that's what's happening." Izzy affirmed solemnly,

Mimi was unsure as to how she should feel. Now that they were under the protection of the American marines they were arguably in a better position than ever. But there was still an unpleasant feeling at the back of her mind, an aching weight that challenged her optimism. Daemon had proven his skill and cunning and they would be foolish to think he was anywhere close to giving up on his dreams of revenge. Until she heard the black hawks returning, Mimi knew that her doubts would remain.

As she looked again to her friends, the reality was brought home to her once again of not only what she could lose, but what would be lost to the world if the Americans failed to protect them. Joe was, and had been since he was just a kid a summer camp, a potentially brilliant doctor. Izzy, with his mind of technical brilliance, was destined for great things. Matt had musical talent and boldness that would take him far. Sora was perhaps the most empathetic person she had ever met and Mimi was certain that her future lay in helping others, like she always had. Last of all, in Tai she saw a talented athlete and a strong leader, both of which were beyond doubt. All of that could be lost at any moment.

In Tai and Sora, Mimi also saw the romance that she and the others had been trying for so long to think of a way to bring out in the two. For years now they had watched each other from afar with gazes laid bare their thoughts, and for so long they had continued on blindly, oblivious to they could easily discover if they only had the courage. Now there was the prospect that the happy day, where the two childhood friends would finally cast aside their shackles of doubt and timidness and have what both had for so long desired, might never come.

Mimi pondered whether it would be worse for them to discover each other, in the way that only they had so far failed to see, before the end came, or for their true feelings to stay hidden even to the death. To lose something that one had enjoyed so briefly, or to be ignorant of the fact it ever existed. It was difficult to fathom. Mimi just hoped the sounds of the black hawks would fill the sky before long so she would never have to find out.

For now, all that could be heard was distant gunfire, screams and shouts. Most terrifying, however, were the bone chilling growls and moans of the undead, barely audible above the other strife that had consumed Odaiba and their homes. Only now they were getting louder.

Matt jumped as the American soldiers, who had now barricaded themselves in the park along with the older Digidestined and a handful of other civilians, fired the first round of what was to be their last stand. The squad of marines that had been cut off, as he and Izzy had overheard, had not returned and Matt was beginning to doubt they would make it at all.

The only bright spot in all of it was that Sora's mother and the younger Digidestined, including his little brother, had already been air lifted out. Matt had no idea what T.K. was doing or if he was getting any medical attention, but at the very least he was certain that his brother was away from the this hell hole – the hell hole that Matt himself was still stuck in. With this in mind, he smirked. It was almost a blessing in disguise that T.K. had sustained a concussion only hours before, otherwise it would have been another battle on top of Davis to get him to leave.

Matt looked around. He, Tai, Sora, Mimi, Joe and Izzy were congregated on the outskirts of the landing area where the helicopters were set to land again when they returned. The other survivors, most appearing to be at least thirty or older, were dotted around the same space. Some were talking in whispers, one or two were even crying, but most simply sat or stood silently. There was little else they could do apart from wait and hope that they would get out safely.

Fifty metres away, eight American soldiers were taking cover behind a pile of upturned benches and tables that they had used to barricade the park's western gate. They worked in tandem, four firing their weapons, each being careful to cause as much damage as possible with every bullet, while the remaining four either reloaded their own guns or waited their turn to fire once their comrades had expended their current magazines. Their discipline and skill was evident and their transitions were nearly instantaneous, with breaks of less than a second between each. The dead were starting to pile up, with felled corpses already numbering in the dozens.

From where he was, it was possible for Matt to see every shot being fired and every impact upon Daemon's undead thralls. A few days ago, when all of this had started, Matt had been disgusted and terrified. The blood, the violence and the death had rocked him to his very core, and on several occasions he had needed a considerable amount of willpower to avoid throwing up or breaking down in fear. He had hid it as best as he could and by his own reckoning he had done an admirable job of remaining composed. But still, for the first couple of days he had been dangerously close to the edge; one more scare, another sight of a person having their throat bitten into and ripped out would have sent him tumbling over it.

Now, however, it was different. He watched as the marines systematically slaughtered the undead, shooting each one once in the head and once in the heart. Some required more punishment before they succumbed, but each one would eventually fall. He watched as body after body hit the ground hard. He watched as more and more blood poured out, soaking the grass and staining the stone pathway, causing each new corpse that fell to make a nauseating squelch as it landed on the now sticky, red-brown surface where once children and families had once walked in peace and happiness.

Matt saw all of this and took it in without a second thought. Less than a week ago the same scene would have sent him reeling. Now, frighteningly, it was almost bordering on normal. It had been a quick few days, but in that time he, as well as the others he was sure, had changed. It was only a few hours ago that Matt himself had bludgeoned some of the walking corpses, displaying a desperate but calculated brutality that, if he was honest with himself, scared him. It was strange, he thought, that he should think about this now, but the sight of this undead massacre brought forth in his mind everything that had happened since the outbreak.

Their Digimon had probably made it to the Dark Ocean and would soon be fighting Daemon if they were not already; it would all be over in the next few hours, helicopters or not. But even as they were so close to the end, and as much as he kept trying to convince himself otherwise, Matt knew things would never be the same. Too much had happened. They had seen so much and so many things had been destroyed, to say nothing of all the thousands, possibly more who had died because of a four year old grudge.

The whole ordeal had affected them all differently, but none of them in a good way. The likes of Davis, Yolei and, to a certain extent, Kari had been broken down, their feelings of anger, fear, hurt, confusion and powerlessness all bubbling to the surface and spilling over. Mimi was the complete opposite to those three. The once bubbly teenager had calmed down but had also lost so much of the enthusiasm and flair that made her who she was. Now all Matt saw was a girl who had been forced to give up a part of herself. He hoped that these changes would not be permanent, but as everything was balanced on a knife's edge as it was, there was some serious cause for doubt. Sora, Joe, Tai and the others were a little harder to read, but there was little doubt that they too were not the people they were a few days ago.

Matt then thought of himself. Had he changed? Was he any different? He had always been emotionally guarded, even after the fight against the Dark Masters during which he had turned a corner and become more comfortable with opening up to other people. Despite everything he was still able to maintain his characteristic 'cool' exterior, even though there was really no point; stress fear, grief or worry, they were all feeling at least one of those.

Matt felt no different, but he knew that could not be true. He just kept thinking back to the police station. He and Tai had been brutal when they had taken down the two undead outside the doors. They had been quick, but the viciousness of how they had struck their targets was not something Matt could easily forget. It had been only a moment, a moment of wild desperation, but in those few seconds he had committed the most violent act he ever had. Even if what he had struck down was already dead, his actions still lingered heavily at the back of his mind, burrowing deep and solidifying themselves in his memory.

Matt told himself for what felt like the millionth time that he had only done that because he had no choice. They had to get away safely. He could not have allowed one of those things to endanger them. Besides, it was dead, just a corpse. Why should he feel bad about doing that to something that was not even alive? But still he could not quiet his mind. A pressure had built in his head. It was something he could not describe. Was it guilt, regret or disgust in himself? It was something he had never felt before yet it was strangely familiar, close to a feeling he had experienced before, but years ago.

Sighing, Matt looked back over at the barricade from where the soldiers were still firing at the undead. The blood did not faze him, the bodies did not disgust him and the gurgling moans did not scare him. If there was one thing he knew, it was that he had quickly become accustomed to this death, gore and violence. 'Desensitisation', he remembered, was what one of his teachers had called it when they had once had a class discussion about movies and violence. It was a loss of innocence, or at least however much he had had left, and it was all Daemon's fault. It was all because of some random Digimon from their past who was still hell bent on revenge after all these years.

"I hope the Digimon rip that bastard apart." Matt muttered to himself, now with a sense of rage rising in his belly.

While he and his friends stood by, the shooting and yelling continued from the gate.

"Shit, running low on ammo Corporal!" yelled a private.

"We all are Howard!" the Corporal shouted fervently in reply, "You and Carter run a grab more – these things just keep coming!"

"There's so many! It's like the whole city got infected and are all headed here!" another private yelled.

The Corporal grunted and loaded another magazine into his assault rifle.

"Well let's hope we don't run out of bullets before they run out of bodies."

"Lay him down here." Gatomon instructed after they had moved deep enough into the cave.

"Nice place…" Gomamon quipped as he scanned around, looking at the dark, slimy walls of the cave which Gatomon had led them too.

The cavern, they had found, was down at the bottom of the cliff, opening up on the sand and proceeding deep into the rock of the rock face. It was wet, the walls were thickly coated in moss and it smelled like a combination of salt and a musty stench that none of them could quite identify. But, at the very least, it provided them with shelter from Daemon, who would now be unable to sneak up on them given the single entrance. That was, of course, assuming he was not already in there this was not where Daemon had been disappearing to.

"I remember seeing this place when T.K., Patamon and I came here to rescue Kari all those years ago." Gatomon recounted, "She told me later that she came in here and… found the things we saved her from."

Gatomon shivered as she remembered the things that had tried to take Kari away to the being they now knew to be called Dagomon. Kari had had many close calls before, and each time Gatomon felt torn up inside, like she had not done enough to keep Kari out of danger. These were not easy memories for her to recall.

"Will you be able to take care of Gabumon?" Wargreymon asked his friends.

"He should be fine with us – provided we're not attacked again, of course." Tentomon replied matter-of-factly.

"Good." Wargreymon said, "Now it's about time I finished this."

The other Digimon all sprouted looks of apprehension at his declaration.

"You're going out alone?" Biyomon questioned with obvious concern for her friend.

"All of you would only be useful as Digimon shields and I'm definitely not using any of you for that." he responded sternly, turning around to face the cave entrance and putting his back to them.

The Digimon knew better than to argue. They would have to wait the final round out as their most able warrior went out in search of their foe.

"Good luck Wargreymon." Gatomon uttered softly, but loud enough for them all to hear, and her words were echoed by the others.

The hulking armoured warrior turned his head around to look at his companions, two whom he gave a simple nod before proceeding back out into the mist. Now he would once again face the test of fighting an enemy he could not see.

"Last mag!" one of the marines yelled as he loaded his assault rifle with the last of his ammunition.

"Everyone back up!" a marine corporal bellowed, motioning for all of the civilians to stay behind him as the undead continued to advance.

The American troops had succeeded in felling scores of the walking corpses, but after half an hour they had diminished their ammunition and now had no choice but to fall back further into the park. Sora stayed close to the other Digidestined, not wanting them to get separated in a potential panic.

As they neared the centre of the park, Sora spotted the major who was in command of the marine forces in the area. He was frantically yelling into a radio, so loud that she could understand him clearly even from a distance.

"Refuelling?! Sir, I have a small army of these things bearing down on us! We can't wait another fifteen minutes – we're not gonna last! Fucking hell, which genius decided to park the fleet that far out anyway!" he screamed furiously into the mouthpiece.

Sora could not hear the reply, but whatever it had incensed the man as he violently threw down the receiver before removing his sidearm from its holster and cocking it.

"Marines, we need another way out – follow me!" he declared as he raised his pistol, ready to open fire as the need arose.

As the undead continued to pour into the park by the dozens, the Major shepherded his troops and the remaining civilians towards a corner of the park. While the gunshots were now less frequent, due to the marines trying to conserve what ammunition they had left, there was no sign of the soldiers giving up. They all had their backs to the wall at this point and if they were going down they would not do so without fighting to the bitter end. Sora hoped that it would not have to come to that and by the looks of the Major he had a plan to get out of the park without having to fight their way through the slowly advancing horde.

After a few more moments they reached the far north-east corner of the park. What they noticed was that there were no undead on the other side. Sora assumed that they had all gone for the gates and left the corners alone. This was their chance.

"We gonna climb this or what?" Tai wondered out loud when he too noticed the absence of Daemon's minions on the other side.

"It's too tall." Joe pointed out in a deflated tone, arcing his head up to see the top of the twelve foot high fence, "And even if you got a boost you'd pretty much impale yourself on the spikes at the top."

Sora looked at the top of the fence and saw what he meant. The fence, like many that framed parks, was made up of a continuous row of thin, vertical metal rods. Each one was topped off with an ornamental spike, resembling the fleur-de-lis symbol but far less ornate as well as looking quite sharp from where Sora was standing. Joe was right, there was little chance they could climb over. There was nothing they could grab onto as there was only one horizontal bar to grab onto and that was near the very top, and there were no other possible handholds. Even if they managed to get a boost there was a danger they could seriously hurt themselves. Sora was willing to take that risk as at least then there was something of a decent chance of surviving. However, once again the marine commander caught her eye.

The man had ordered his soldiers to fan out and form a semi-circle, protecting the civilians from harm while he and his second in command were crouched at the bottom of a segment of fence and for some reason he had made sure that everyone including the civilians were a good thirty feet from where he and the Captain were crouched. Sora could not see what it was they were doing, but she managed to overhear snippets of what they were saying.

"Quickly Barnes… not much time?" the Major grunted and he fumbled around with something.

"Isn't this a little dangerous sir?" the Captain replied worriedly. His voice was low so Sora had to strain her ears to hear him.

"Too slow… need to get out quick." came the Major's muffled response.

"What are they doing?" Matt asked, his attention taken away from the bloody violence and toward the two officers.

"I'm not sure." Sora muttered her response.

Another few seconds passed by in a blur, the redheaded girl feeling the pressure building upon them, her head feeling heavier as the stress continued to build. Amid the tense chaos, she noticed that she was hearing gunfire less and less. Turning to face the defenders, her eyes were met with the sight of half a dozen marines no longer firing their weapons, but fighting hand-to-hand. Some were using their guns to club the undead while others had unsheathed their combat knives and were stabbing and slicing vigorously at their ravenous opponents.

"OK, we're good!" came a yell from behind.

Sora turned to see that the Major and Captain Barnes had backed away from the fence and what they had been hastily working on was now in plain sight. What they had done was set up a cluster of eight or nine grenades at the base of the metal spokes. She could not see exactly, but it appeared that they had thread a thin piece of rope through the pins so that they could all be pulled at once. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight before her.

"Um, guys…" Sora stammered, but the Major's shout drowned her out.

"Everybody hit the deck!" he bellowed while the Captain repeated what he said in rather poor Japanese. Their point was made though.

Startled, everybody flinched and threw themselves on the ground. Sora followed suit and covered her head with her arms, nervously peeking up to see what would happen.

Satisfied that everyone was on the ground and at a safe distance, the Major yanked the rope and dove for cover. There were many simultaneous pings as the grenade pins were all pulled out at once. The sound was almost comical to Sora and she might have laughed had she not known what would follow.

There was a rumble, followed by a cloud of smoke blown rapidly outward. This was accompanied by a deafening blast that shook the air. There was a ringing in her ears, a high pitched hum that sounded like a musical triangle, only extreme and violent in nature.

Sora looked up again. Everything was in clear focus, but the ringing made everything seem slower to her, and the shouts she was hearing were almost undetectable from out of the background hum. Strangely, it was almost peaceful. No screaming, no gunfire, just the ringing engulfing all of her senses. But as the ringing died down everything began to speed up again, and the chaos returned.

The marines were already on their feet and were marshalling the civilians towards the sizeable hole that had been created in the fence. Sora raised herself sluggishly to her knew, not yet fully reoriented. Looking back, she saw the Americans still fighting off the undead, but the brief moment where they had needed to take cover had cost them. Two or three had been overpowered, more ripped flesh and gushing blood, and several others had also run out of ammunition and were now fighting hand-to-hand. The twenty to twenty-five left standing were either continuing to fight or had moved back to help the civilians.

Sora moved to get to her feet, but she was helped by an unknown pair of hands. Turning her face up to see who had assisted her, she was met by the face of the American Major.

"C'mon miss, let's get you out of here." he said gruffly.

Sora thanked him quickly before another pair of hands grabbed her by the shoulders. She whipped around and came face to face with Tai, whose brown eyes conveyed a sense of worry and urgency.

"Sora, are you OK." he questioned, nearly blurting out his words too fast for her to understand.

"I'm fine Tai, let's go." she replied hurriedly, her senses now fully back in order.

It appeared that she and Tai were among the last of the civilians out as most had either ducked through the hole in the fence or were waiting to get through while a few soldiers had also passed through to the outside to cover them. Matt, Joe and Izzy were among those waiting to pass to the other side, with Mimi just starting to slip out. Before Tai and Sora got close to them, however, there was a shout from Captain Barnes who was helping Mimi and an older woman through the fence.

"Sir, they're onto us!" he yelled, pointing to the outside of the park.

Undead had started to file towards the opening from both sides, leaving very few gaps for the survivors to run through.

"Son of a bitch!" the Major bellowed when he saw their new predicament, "Just run – nobody wait for anyone, just go!"

"Fucking Daemon!" Tai grunted as the frenzy began and it suddenly became every man for himself.

When Tai and Sora came up to the fence, the others had already passed through it. The four of them were waiting on the other side, but Sora did not want them to wait.

"Go! We'll catch up!" she yelled at them.

For once they simply trusted her word and started off. Only Joe hesitated, but Izzy grabbed his arm and dragged him off.

As the last bullets were fired and all the soldiers had switched to fighting with knives and hands, Tai and Sora slipped through the fence. Sora looked back through at the Americans but Captain Barnes urged them away.

"Go kids, before you're cut off, we can handle ourselves!" he ordered as he too pulled out his combat knife and running to join his comrades still inside the park.

Tai and Sora, accepting that all they could do was run, turned and chased after their four friends who were still in site and were moving quickly towards a small side street.

As Joe, Mimi and Izzy ran on, Matt stopped at the corner and beckoned furiously to Tai and Sora. Before they could reach him, however, a half dozen undead moved between them and the side street the others had run into.

"Shit!" Sora screamed as she saw their path blocked.

"Tai! Sora!" Matt yelled, beginning to back up as some of the thralls began to move toward him at a fast shuffle.

"Matt just go, we'll find another way!" Tai shouted back.

The pair did not wait for a reply as the undead moving towards them began to break into a run. Seeing a dark alleyway in the other direction as their only option, Tai and Sora sprinted towards it with Daemon's minions hot on their tail.

They entered the unlit crevasse between two tall office block, and were met with only shadows and silhouettes in the darkness. They moved swiftly, but their pursuers were out for blood. The time for running would soon be over.

Toshiko Takenouchi sat in silence as she watched the helicopters that had transported her to safety disappear into the distance, on their way back into the city. They had taken her to a medical ship, part of a US naval task force. The six younger Digidestined were off on other parts of the ship, but she had chosen to isolate herself.

Slowly, she looked down at her palm where she had been clutching a small, blue-white object. Sora's Digivice sat lifelessly in her hand. While usually very light, it felt to Toshiko as if she were trying to hold up a boulder. The weight of the Digivice mirrored the heaviness of her heart.

She had picked it up before she had left her home. She had intended to pass it to her daughter, in case she needed it. She had meant to do this, but fear had stayed her hand.

The Digivice represented to her everything that her daughter had done, everything she had been and everything she had become. It was a mark of the journey that Sora had embarked on when she was just a young girl at summer camp, and it was the path she still walked.

"Please come back to me Sora…" Toshiko whispered soulfully, looking out across the ocean to Odaiba just as the sun began to rise behind her.