Sorry for the massive delay, everyone. If I wanted my hands to heal, I had to stay away from writing for a while. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, read and followed me so far through this. You're all wonderful and it fills me with such joy that you like my work.

A Second Chance

Ch. 14

"Everyone get your masks on." Willis instructed, handing them out. Takeru looked down at his mask, glancing around at the others before putting it on. Mimi didn't seem too happy about hers either, especially after wearing it so much. He thought he could hear her mutter something about permanent lines on her face from the elastic.

"I'm coming, too." Hikari said, placing a hand on her brother's arm. Taichi looked at her incredulously.

"Out of the question!" He said. "You'll get hurt, and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if that happened. Besides, you don't have a digimon partner. I wouldn't be able to protect you."

"I'm going." Hikari frowned. "I survived this long without my big brother's protection. I think I can do just fine still." She snatched one of the extra masks, and walked out. Taichi made a move to follow, but thought better of it. His head sunk low into his chest, his shoulders slumping.

"Don't worry, Tai." Willis said. "I doubt she'll be in the middle of it without a partner. We'll make sure of that. I'm sure she's just worried about the fight and wants to make sure everyone's safe. We could use some eyes overseeing everything."

"But we'll be split." Takeru said. "Won't we? There are so many gates opening. That'll spread us thin."

"It will. But we'll be close to one another. We can use short-range radios to keep in contact." Willis said. "We can come to each others' aid if we get in over our heads. Taichi can go with Mimi and you can go with Koushiro. I'll head over to the third place."

"By yourself?" Mimi asked, stopping to look at him. He gave her a quick nod.

"Don't worry about me, Mimi. I have both Terriermon and Lopmon. I'll be fine."

"As long as you're sure..." Mimi said lowly.

"We don't really have a choice." Koushiro said. "If we're going to be monitoring all three areas, we have to. There's an uneven number of us, so it makes sense the most experienced of us goes off alone."

Takeru's heart was pounding in his chest as they went through the gate back into the real world. It took them a while to reach the battle zone from where they were, being too dangerous to enter from a gate closer due to the likeliness it was being used by the digimon to break through. It only served to make each of them more tense and on edge.

It didn't take long for the sounds of gunfire and digimon yelling attacks to fill their ears. The streets were deserted for the most part, with cars abandoned if parked, bikes laying forgotten on the streets and the occasional debris where there shouldn't be. They split up, with Takeru and Koushiro taking the alleyway to the second breach point, Taichi and Mimi taking the nearest. Willis had gone off on his own almost immediately after going through, the third breach point was the farthest away.

Hikari also followed them through, and seemed to go after Willis. Takeru hoped she'd keep her distance and serve mostly as surveillance. Something like a guardian angel.

There was a crash some ways in front of them, and a large bear-like digimon broke through a wooden door to a building, standing some distance from the two of them. Tentomon and Patamon stood in front of their partners. The digimon came into better lighting, showing off a thick hulking body in purple-blue fur, the head and back sported a thick mane, and a crescent moon symbol hung on its forehead. Red shoulder pads and huge red claw gloves twice the size of the digimon's back paws clawed at the pavement. It snarled at them, standing up on it's hind legs.

"Oh no." Takeru heard Koushiro murmur behind him.

"We should get out of this alley." Takeru whispered back. "Then Tentomon can digivolve. and we'll have a better time getting past this thing."

The digimon charged, sending both boys scrambling back through the alleyway. Tentomon and Patamon served to slow it with their respective attacks. Takeru and Koushiro managed to break out into an empty street, with the digimon body slamming Tentomon and Patamon out with it. Koushiro wiped his forehead, taking a step forward.

"Tentomon!" His modified digivice lit up, filling with power.

"Tentomon digivolve to... Kabuterimon!" In the span of a few seconds, where the red beetle digimon once stood was now a much larger blue insect, much more in line to grapple with this massive bear. Kabuterimon halted the digimon's advance, planting his feet firmly on the ground and managed to push him back.

"You two should go!" Kabuterimon said. "I'll follow!"

Takeru looked at Koushiro, who glanced back at him. "Should we go?" Takeru asked.

"We shouldn't ignore his wishes." Koushiro said. "He might fight worse if he's constantly worried about us."

Despite getting further away from Kabuterimon, the attack yells were still all too clear in Takeru's ears. Though even then, they were quickly being replaced by the battle before them. It wouldn't be long until the three of them would be immersed in the middle of the fight.

Clearing a fence, the three of them ran out past a line of buildings to the sight of massive digimon battling tanks and other large machines, and soldiers littering the surrounding areas, fighting off smaller digimon on the ground. It was hard to know where to look. Both digimon and human were animated, with coordination from both sides, some airborne digimon picking up an unlucky soldier, only to be rescued by the cooperation of his fellows and a net. A mammal digimon climbed the skyscrapers and other buildings, dodging attacks. Soldiers to the other side were herding a bunch of smaller digimon by creating a wall, their shields reflecting most of the digimon's smaller attacks.

Bright lights occasionally blinded him, with mixture of fire and electric attacks or other energy firing every which way. Takeru was only brought out of his stupor when Koushiro pushed him to the side and out of the way as a fly-like digimon fell to the ground, landing where the two of them stood only moments ago.

"Where... do we even begin?" Koushiro asked. "I don't even know if we can push in."

"Let's start from the outside and work our way in." Takeru said. "Come on, we'll go around and find an opening on either side. Let's make sure Kabuterimon can still find us."

They backtracked, working their way around the fight, dodging the occasional stray bullet or attack. Scouting was much easier when there wasn't as many buildings or objects in the way. The sheer scale of the fight didn't help either. Though he suggested it, Takeru still didn't know how they could begin to wedge themselves between the two groups.

Kabuterimon joined them shortly after they started making their way along the outskirts, weaving between buildings and over various objects. The occasional digimon was seen, though none of them as big or powerful as Grizzmon, which was what the bear was named according to Koushiro. For a creature like that to get past the military, they must have been short handed themselves. The smaller digimon all rookies, fled from the approaching group.

A cry was heard ahead. Takeru sped forward, with Patamon flying after him, leaving a confused Koushiro to call after him. He leaped over a pile of boxes, grabbing the top of a fence and leveraging himself to jump over it, landing hard on the flats of his feet but he didn't stop until he reached the scene.

It was a group of rookie and in-training level digimon, about ten or so huddled in a corner. He could recognize a few of them, Tsunomon and what looked like some bird and insect types. Their names escaped him at the moment. Surrounding them were seven adult men carrying bludgeoning weapons and laughing to themselves, taunting the digmon.

Takeru looked at Patamon, gesturing over to the men. Patamon nodded, taking to the air. "Air Shot!"

The attack hit one of the guys in the back of the neck, causing the soldier to fall into the closest companion. The others turned, and spotted Takeru standing there alone with Patamon. Koushiro had yet to catch up it seemed.

"You're one of those rebels." One of the men said, his face twisting into a look of disgust.

"And you're just some thugs who joined the military because beating up digimon seemed more fun than each other." Takeru shot back. The man took a few steps forward.

"What did you say, punk?" He growled. The others were now fully facing the rebel and his tiny companion, seeming to forget the group of weak digimon they were terrorizing. Of course, rookies weren't quite as weak, but considering the number of rookies to soldiers, he could tell the digimon weren't looking for a fight.

"You heard me." Takeru said, raising his voice a little loudly. He hoped that didn't betray how nervous he felt. "There's a huge battle going on just to the left, and you're here picking off tiny digimon instead of helping your comrades, who are fighting for their lives?"

"Traitor brats should be the last ones to talk about what we're doing." Another soldier said. He was tapping his club against his open hand threateningly. Takeru stood rigid, taking a step back. Kabuterimon landed in between him and the men, causing them to scramble out of the way.

"If you want to beat something, try me." Kabuterimon growled. "Unless you don't have the guts." To emphasize his threat, Kabuterimon curled his arms together, sparkes of electricity cutting into the heavy air. Half of the men fled immediately, with three standing their ground and assessing the situation before determining it wasn't worth it, and joining.

Takeru let out a sigh. "Thanks, Kabuterimon."

"What are these toddlers doing here?" Patamon asked, flying over to the small group. They flinched and cowered away from the remaining humans, who also approached. Koushiro having found his way around the barrier, not being as athletic as Takeru.

"Bubble net." Kabuterimon said. "The digimon army brings out hundreds of the young ones to make a bubble net. Make it easy for humans and their machines to get trapped inside to be easily picked off. But things are so chaotic around here I don't think that strategy would work. It requires too much stealth."

"It wouldn't be a good idea to keep them around." Koushiro said, panting slightly. "We should get them back to the Digital World. Then at least they'll be out of the way and we can focus on more important things."

"How do you suppose we do that?" Takeru asked.

"Give them to me." Kabuterimon said. "I can fly up top and drop them in from the sky. The digimon won't attack me."

"No, but anything from the human military might." Takeru said. "Be careful."

He got out of the way to let the large insect have room to scoop up the scared tiny digimon. He flew off, leaving the three in the alleyway.

"This is a mess." Takeru muttered. "We should press on."

"Shouldn't we sit and wait?" Koushiro asked. "Kabuterimon's our only defence if something attacks us."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Takeru snapped, causing the older boy to back off. "Patamon's with us, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but... I mean, I didn't mean to imply he was weak or anything..." Koushiro stammered.

"Patamon will digivolve." Takeru said, though to reassure himself. He couldn't lose trust in that. "Let's go, Patamon."

He left Koushiro, not caring if the other stayed behind to wait for his partner or if he followed. Even if Patamon hadn't digivolved right away, Takeru was learning enough about self defence to protect them until he could. He was sure of it. He wouldn't allow himself to believe otherwise.

The battle was intense. Takeru found himself in the middle of it all, attacking digimon and disarming soldiers when he could find an opening. But there wasn't much he could do without power backing him up. The humans merely picked their guns back up and the digimon would either come back from a daze, or were deleted in their momentary weakened state. Patamon was doing his best, but even for a rookie, he was rather weak. Takeru didn't know if he'd ever felt as helpless as he did now.

Kabuterimon returned and aided him and Patamon greatly, but it still was so chaotic, humans and digimon scrambling all over to the point they blurred at times. Takeru was running on automatic, relying on the training he was getting from the Youth Division and the ever increasing reflexes that he was honing. At the very least, he could get Daisuke off his back if he claimed he wasn't training.

His frustrations built with every movement. Every punch fuelled his need to keep moving; to keep attacking. He ignored the ache in his lungs or the straining, weary feeling in his arms and legs and the bruised feeling in his knuckles, knees and feet.

Takeru was startled out of his rage and frustration induced drone when a sharp static noise shot into his ear. "T.K. how are things in your area?"

It was Taichi.

Takeru glanced down at the communicator, and picked it up. He dodged a lightning shot from some electric digimon he didn't recognize, and the creature got bowled over by a group of soldiers. He glanced around, ducking as he fled for the edge of the fight, hiding inside a store with broken windows.

"Tai, it's madness." He said, trying to keep from panting too hard into the grate. "There's barely anything we can do here on our own."

"It's the same over here, too. Togemon and Greymon are exhausted."

"It's getting dark out but nothing is letting up!" He could hear Mimi cry a little in the distance.

"We found a place to lay low while our digimon get their energy back. I think this fight might even last a couple of days." Takeru leaned back into the cold surface of the counter he hid behind, painfully aware that it was about as safe as tissue paper in front of a nail gun.

"A couple of days? What are we going to do? There's only five of us." Takeru said. "This feels hopeless."

"It might be. But we'll keep trying anyway. Save as many as we can, disrupt all we can, and keep safe. If we have to, we can try different tactics. As for you, Willis, Izzy, and Usagi, you guys can all take breaks to go to school."

"What!" Takeru heard Mimi's shrill voice from Taichi's end. "What about you?"

"I dropped out of school. I'm only working part time, so I can be here longer. You guys need to keep up with your lives outside of this. Don't worry about me."

"Tai, you dummy!"

Takeru chuckled softly. "You really are a dummy, Tai. But I think you're right. It will be suspicious if we don't show up to our regular lives only while this fight is here. But I don't like it."

"How's Izzy, Kabuterimon and Patamon doing? Has Patamon digivolved?" Takeru's jaw tightened so he could feel his jaw muscles burn at the sides of his face.

"They're all fine. Tired, I think. Resting. Patamon... is Patamon."

There was a long pause on the line. "Don't give up."

Takeru put the communicator away, heading back out to the battlefield. He didn't want to think about that or anything else. He let his instincts take over, and let the rush of battle fill all his senses and thinking processes.

Hikari found a rooftop overlooking the battlefield. She was still far enough away to be out of harms way, but still close enough to see the action with binoculars. She was mostly watching for any sign of her friends; her brother.

Occasionally she saw one of them for a brief moment in the crowd before something obstructed her vision. Those brief glimpses filled her with relief. There was nothing she could do, after all. It was silly to watch something like this up on the top of a tall building like this. It was an apartment complex just overlooking the two impact areas of downtown Shinjuku. The third area was too far away to really see anything. But the occasional radio signal from Willis to the others told her he was still alive.

The radio was next to her on the edge of the building, sitting there constantly turned on. The communication wasn't frequent. Other than that, there was nothing but the loud sounds of battle, the cries of both humans and digimon, and Hikari, sitting there like she could do something. She wouldn't be alone if she was down there, but she didn't know if that would be worse or better than sitting on the roof, alone with her thoughts near a battle with dangerous creatures and weapons, allowing her imagination to run wild. Sitting at home would be worse, at least she knew that.

She leaned against the concrete stone of the roof, checking her binoculars again. It was getting dark out now. She wondered how long the battle would go on for. Would the others leave? She and Takeru had school tomorrow. Would he skip school? Should she come up with an excuse why he wasn't in class?

There was movement out of the corner of her eye. Hikari whirled in the direction, seeing nothing. She shivered, holding herself. Great, was she seeing things now, too?

The battles shifted, sometimes getting nearer or farther away from her building, but she was sure she was far enough away that she wouldn't get caught up in the chaos. Though she was sure she was still inside the barrier that would have been temporarily set up to keep any stray digimon from escaping and wreaking havoc on the city.

Hikari looked around again. There was a scraping noise. It was faint. Grabbing her communicator, Hikari backed away from the edge. It might be a good idea to pick a different location.

A hook curled around the ledge, feeling its way to a steady hold as though it was a hand. Then a hideous creature sprang up; large jawed with huge diamond shaped ears, red bat wings and a blue body. It had no hands or feet, despite having both separated from the wings. Instead, the appendages ended with scythe-like claws. It sat on the ledge, looking at her with beady golden eyes.

Hikari held her breath, watching it unblinkingly. The digimon opened its mouth to an unnaturally large length, rows of pointed teeth bared. A screech cased Hikari to fall instinctively to the ground, not expecting the pulses from what must have been an attack to send her rolling back three feet. She got up and scrambled for the door.

The bat leaped up, slamming its body against the door just as she reached it, digging its claws into the metal. Hikari backed away, barely managing to keep on her feet. She looked around wildly. There was no other exit.

"Pipsimon!" A voice called behind the bat creature, as it slowly advanced on Hikari. It stopped, turning around. Hikari looked up to see a familiar cat-like digimon standing on the roof of the door that lead inside. She had her claws on her hips, glaring down at the bat. "You're supposed to be patrolling for a weakess in the perimeter barrier."

"I was, Gatomon. But I saw this human here." Pipsimon tried to explain, pointing a curved scythe at Hikari.

"And?" Gatomon growled.

"I figured I should get rid of her if she was going to alert the humans!"

"That is not what you were ordered!" Gatomon hissed, jumping down from her perch and landing silently on the concrete. "Do I have to show you your place?"

Pipismon looked at Gatomon, and glanced back at Hikari. "Does it matter? If I kill her, it will only make my mission safer."

"Time is what matters in your mission." Gatomon said icily. "Wasting your time on what is clearly a non-combatant civilian who is trapped on a roof when you could be looking for an escape route for our people! Where is your head at?"

Pipismon ducked his head down in apology. "I'm sorry, Gatomon."

"Leave. I'll deal with the human." Not needing more tongue lashings, Pipismon clumsily took to the air and flew off to scout more of what Hikari assumed was the perimeter of the barrier. She then turned to Hikari.

"Th-thank you... You are Gatomon, right? I mean... the one from before..." Hikari's voice trailed off the longer the cat stared at her. Maybe this wasn't the same Gatomon after all. She wasn't sure if it was possible to tell them apart.

"You're welcome, Hikari." Gatomon said finally. "Though Pipsimon really was out of line. That digimon has always been a little bloodthirsty."

"Oh." Hikari slowly stood up. "Is this all because of what I talked with you about?"

"Sort of." Gatomon said. She looked out toward the battles taking place. "We were planning on doing something of this scale sooner or later. Actually much bigger. However it was my information that I gathered about the incident in your area that caused it to speed up. We think something is happening in the Digital World and it would be a good idea to get as much ground claimed in this world as possible just in case things go sour."

"What sort of things, Gatomon?" Hikari asked. "Maybe there's something we can do besides killing each other."

"I don't know. I'm not as high up the ranks as you might think I am. All I know is that there isn't anything sustainable in the Digital World anymore to support all the digimon it used to. And I don't know how much longer we can do this. It's bad over there, Hikari."

"What about my friends?" Hikari asked. "How are they doing? Have you seen them?"

"What do they look like?"

"They'd look like me. Just a civilian. No uniform or anything, I mean. But they'd be fighting with digimon."

"Right. I remember that you're the rebels. I'll look for them." Gatomon jumped to the edge of the building. "Is there anything you want me to say?"

Hikari paused for a moment. "Just tell them to be safe. There's a blond boy down there that needs to be in class."

"Class..." Gatomon seemed confused about the word. "I'll tell him if I see anyone like that."

She was gone, and Hikari watched as she leaped across the buildings and back into the fray. Gatomon circled the central battle zone, searching for anyone of the description that Hikari gave. It wasn't the best of descriptions, however. She stopped as a large Kabuterimon flew overhead. Was it her imagination, or was it physically larger than any she'd seen before? Maybe it was her imagination.

Below, there was a boy with no armour, at least like the soldiers. Blond hair and a mask, assisted by a Patamon. He was protecting an injured Garurumon from being shot, grabbing the rifle and pointing it up in the air. The soldier tried wrenching the gun out of the boy's hands, but he kept a firm grip. The soldier charged the boy, and was hit in the side by an air attack by the Patamon. Who she assumed was Takeru threw the gun far away, where it was crushed under the foot of a Mammothmon.

The soldier, defenceless, ran back to the far end of the battle, where the military had set up camps. This was primarily where the weapons and medical supplies were kept. The digimon had something of their own base of operations just in front of the scarred gates.

Gatomon followed Takeru as he and Patamon fled into a building that hadn't been as badly damaged.

"Are you doing okay, buddy?" Takeru asked, panting. Patamon was laying on the ground, ears drooping to the ground in a way that only happened when the little digimon had no energy.

"I can still go." Patamon said. "But I'm getting tired. And it's getting harder to see now that the sun is setting."

"You should just give up for the night, Takeru." He spun around to see Gatomon standing half lit in the shadows. She delicately stepped into the fading light, large green eyes glinting.

"How do you know my name?" Takeru asked, body tense. His hand slowly hovering the ground for a weapon didn't escape her notice.

"I've been in contact with Hikari." Gatomon said flatly. "She says she wants to leave, and that you have... class tomorrow."

Takeru glanced at Patamon. "Patamon does need a rest."

"It would be best." Gatomon said. "And to show I won't attack you as you turn your back to leave, I'll go first."

She slowly walked toward the broken window, watching Takeru carefully as she did, before jumping out of sight. Takeru gently lifted Patamon, walking deeper into the building. "There's probably a back door or window we can find."

He dug in his pockets for the communicator. He gave a short message to the others he was leaving for the night and slipped out into the alleyway. It didn't take long to meet up with Hikari, who messaged him after spotting him up on her perch and together they found their way to the nearest working train station.

In comparison, Takeru was covered in dirt, cuts and his hair was unkempt and filthy. She tried helping him pat himself down before buying their tickets. They didn't talk much during the trip, settling on enjoying each others company and the silence and peace of the train.

Taichi was happy there were two less people to worry about. He stayed close to Mimi, leading her to a building and away from the fight. She had been sprayed with some sort of sticky webbing, her mask either sliced off or removed at some point and was panicking as her hands flew around her head, looking for a way to get it off. It was a mess, wrapping around her entire head and getting tangled in her hair. Unfortunately it was also wrapped around her face. He tried to keep her calm, whispering to her in what he hoped was a soothing voice and he fumbled around in his pockets.

He found his pocket knife, opening it silently to not frighten her, telling her to sit still as he carefully inserted the blade between her delicate cheeks and the threads, cutting chunks off. She took a loud gulp of air. At least she could breathe now, so the immediate danger was over. There wouldn't be any hot water around to get the webbing out.

"Looks like we might have to retreat for a bit. Unless we can find some way to heat up some water."

"Greymon can heat up water. But I don't know if he's busy." He could tell Mimi was trying to stay calm despite the fact that she couldn't see. He touched her cheek to reassure her.

"I'll try. I'll have to find a bucket and water first." Taichi stood up, only to be stopped as Mimi's hand shot out and grabbed his.

"You won't go far, right?" She asked, her voice slightly strained. Taichi placed his free hand on hers.

"I promise I won't. You'll be safe here with me, okay? We'll get you unstuck out of that in no time." Taichi wandered around the building. It was a small business. So perhaps there was a storage area they kept their buckets and mops in. He checked around, eventually finding a closet with an old bucket. Clearing the cobwebs out, he ran around again until he found the bathroom, running the water until it was hot, and filling the bucket up. He dragged the bucket over to her.

"Okay, I have something. Unfortunately the bucket's plastic so if Greymon tried to heat up the water, the whole thing'd melt. But let's get you dipped in." He placed the bucket behind Mimi and gently lowered her back. Her hair floated in the water, and Taichi could see the strands of thread slip off. It would take a bit of time to get all of it out. The hardest part would be her face.

"It's funny..." Mimi said, as she relaxed as best she could on Taichi's lap. He could feel her shoulder blades relax over his thighs. He tried not thinking about it too much as he was gently combing the webbing out with his fingers. "You would think that fighting like this would be a little more glamorous. Or action packed or something. But instead it's a lot of hiding and maintaining yourself."

"Yeah, well, when there aren't a lot of us we have to look out for one another." He splashed a bit of water on her face, rubbing at the webbing there, and gently tested the webbing over her eyes. It was still no good. He'd probably end up pulling out her eyebrows and eyelashes. "I'm going to dunk your head okay?"

Mimi held her nose as Taichi carefully dipped her head into the bucket, rubbing at her face until the webbing gave way. Outside he could hear Greymon and Togemon attacking any digimon or humans that came near. They were both protecting the building while their partners were vulnerable.

He lifted Mimi's head, and she opened her eyes. It wasn't perfect. There was still a lot of silvery strands in her hair, but most of it washed off her face at least. She smiled at him. "Thanks for taking care of me, Taichi."

He nervously scratched the side of his face. "You're welcome, Mimi. How about we get back out there?"

"It looks pretty dark out now." She stood up, wringing out her hair. "Fortunate for me because my mask snapped."

"You should probably start heading home soon." Taichi said. "You are all still in school after all."

Mimi huffed. "Taichi Kamiya, you are not the boss of me." She placed her hands on her hips. "I'll leave when I feel like it."

"When would that be?" Taichi walked over to the front window. "Greymon, we're coming back out."

"When I feel like you won't need help anymore." Mimi said quietly, stepping beside him. "Or when Togemon can't fight anymore."

"You're stubborn." Taichi murmured. "You can always come back after school. Agumon and I will probably grab a bit of sleep tonight ourselves. Mistakes are deadly."

"Four hours."

"What?"

"Four hours of sleep." Mimi said. Her voice was clear. "That's how much I want you to sleep tonight at minimum."

"Why that number?" He asked, perplexed.

"You'd sleep less, otherwise."

"What are you, my mother?" Taichi laughed.

"What happened to looking out for each other? Doesn't that also include health?" Mimi asked. She had her hands on her hips.

"Touché. Four hours. I promise." He left her side, jumping onto Greymon's tail, finding his balance before climbing up the large orange dinosaur's back. He rested on his shoulders and Greymon charged a tank, ramming it hard.

Mimi looked up at Togemon, the small flower-like digimon had grown into, amusingly enough, a large boxing cactus. "How are you holding up, Togemon?"

"I can still fight!" Togemon punched her boxing gloves together.

She faced a white quadruped dinosaur digimon with grey armour. It was thrashing around, a clear area around the creature was carved, with anything getting within its horn or thick tail, human or digimon alike were mowed down. It set eyes on Togemon, pawing at the ground in a challenging motion. Togemon puffed her chest out and stood tall.

Monochromon charged, running at Togemon. Mimi backed out of the large dinosaur's way as Togemon met it head on, grabbing it by the shoulders. Her feet slid back several feet, but were kept planted firmly on the ground. They stood still, both pushing back against one another. Mimi could see both of them shaking as they struggled to best the other. Monochromon's muscles bulged and seized under the pressure. Mimi was holding her breath, silently willing Togemon to go on, give just that much more to best the dinosaur and throw it down.

Eventually, something gave way with Monochromon hunkering down, pulling its horn up and lifting Togemon in the air. Mimi cried out to her, watching as Togemon lost her balance as she went over the other digimon's back, managing to balance on the creature's back so she didn't topple to the ground. Togemon steadied herself on the ground and started punching wildly at its back and head, Monochromon immobile under her flurry of punches.

A leg caved, and Monochromon was brought to its knees. Togemon jumped off, landing several feet away and watched carefully in case it got back up. Togemon wobbled before falling backwards into a sitting position.

"Mimi... I think I'm done." Togemon said. She glowed, and shrunk down several times her previous size until Palmon emerged. Mimi ran over to her partner, picking her up.

"I guess it's all we can do now." Mimi said, gently cradling the exhausted plant. "I feel bad for leaving Tai all alone."

"Willis and Izzy are still here." Togemon said. "Did I hear that the other two went home?"

"They did. They're younger than me so they have more to worry about." Mimi slipped through the buildings, making sure to dodge what might have been large pockets of military and digimon, making her way back to the working train.

"We'll come back tomorrow, as soon as you're able." Palmon said.

"I hope they're safe."