Ok ,so here the next chapter, just like I promised. More action, more hints, more digimon!!! I wanted to make up for the whole blonde move. This one probably isn't written as well as the others, but I tried. If there are any problems, let me know and I will fix them. Enjoy! I don't own digimon or anything for that matter, only a story.

OK and I really hate the title for this chapter so it will change. Please give me some ideas. Normally they just come to me, but this one doesn't really have a theme. So please, help me!!!

"I have learned two lessons in my life: first, there are no sufficient literary, psychological, or historical answers to human tragedy, only moral ones. Second, just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings."

-Elie Wiesel

Tai knocked on the door for what seemed like the twentieth time, but there was still no answer. He couldn't believe his luck, about half way to Izzy's house, his car just shut down. It took him twenty minutes to get the stupid thing started again. He was sure Izzy must have gone to bed, but for how excited he was when Tai talk to him, Tai had thought the little genius would be awake for days. "Izzy! Let me in, dude," he yelled knocking on the door again. "This is ridiculous, I'm coming in!"

Tai opened the door and walked inside. The entry hall was dark and the only light in the apartment came from the street lights outside. He was shocked by the sight that met him. Furniture was thrown everywhere inside the small apartment and there were holes in the wall where it appeared someone had punched it. Broken glass and dishes were scattered everywhere. Snow was coming in through the broken window and collected on the wooden floor causing the room to be freezing cold. "Izzy, where are you?" He was panicked by the absence of the digidestined. "Izzy, please answer me."

Tai heard a weak groan coming form the rubble near the window and he saw something moving. "Izzy!" he yelled as he ran to the boy. Izzy was lying on his stomach among the glass from the broken window. Tai kneeled by his intelligent friend and carefully rolled him over onto his back. Tai cursed under his breath as he looked over his damaged comrade. His body was riddled with scrapes and bruises caused by fist strikes. Larger gashes could be seen on his forearms, obviously received by defending himself from some sharp object. His right arm was twisted and broken. Snow, glass, and blood had collected in Izzy's spiky hair. All of his wounds were still bleeding, telling Tai that this hadn't happened too long ago.

"Mo…ti…mon?" gasped Izzy.

Tai looked around and saw Koromon by the small jelly-looking digimon. He was unconscious, but Koromon assured Tai he would be ok. "He'll be ok, Izzy," said Tai calmly. Izzy needed to rest.

"Tai?" Izzy opened his eyes as far as he could manage and fear emanated from them. "Tai…get out…of here." His voice was weak but panicked. "He's…still…here!"

"Who's still here?" said Tai looking around before returning his gaze to his friend. Izzy's eyes were starting to close slowly sending Tai into a panic. He lightly shook the boy so as to wake him but not harm him. "Izzy, you can't fall asleep! You have to stay awake!"

"Re-…unite…the three… parts." After the words left his lips, Izzy went limp in Tai's arms. Tai panicked even more and felt for a pulse. His heart began to relax when he found one.

Tai mentally kicked himself and grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket. He stood up and moved to the window for better reception and called the three numbers that had been drilled into his mind since he could talk.

"911, what is your emergency?" said the woman on the other side of the line.

"I'm at the residence of Izzy Izumi and I need an ambulance." He realized he sounded a lot calmer than he felt.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"My friend has been…" but he was cut off and dropped the phone when a fist connected with his jaw. He was pushed up against the wall by his shoulders, but he didn't need to look at his attacker to know his identity, he would know that punch anywhere. "He's pulled out the big guns already, huh Matt?" he said looking into the red eyes hidden behind the blonde locks. He had a black sweatshirt on with the hood pulled over his head to hide his face from passer-bys; he was supposed to be dead after all.

Tai looked at his friend's body and smirked. There was a thin trail of fresh blood trickling down his face from where his skin had split over his cheekbone. Izzy hadn't gone down without a fight. "Give me Kari," he said, but his voice was not normal. Tai could hear Matt's voice when his body spoke, but there was another, deeper voice with it as well. He knew that voice, Phorcysmon.

"So you really are a puppet now, aren't you?" He looked over to the side and saw Koromon unconscious next to Motimon. Matt must have taken care of him first.

"Give me the Light!!" Matt pushed Tai harder into the wall causing the plaster to start cracking.

"No, way in hell!" Tai yelled back. Matt was pushing him even harder and Tai screwed up his face in pain. The wall was starting to crumble behind him and soon he would be pinned between the support boards.

Matt pulled back and then lunged forward, driving a punch into Tai's stomach. He's a lot stronger since the last time we fought, thought Tai as the air rushed out of him. Matt allowed him to fall to the ground, clutching his stomach and gasping to regain his breath. Then he was picked up by his neck and held in the air, but this time, not by his blonde friend. The one holding his neck was Phorcysmon with Matt by his side. "You pass this on to your pathetic friends," said Phorcysmon with his sultry voice. "I will set Matt after each and every one of you until I get what I want. We can end this quickly with as little loss as possible, or you can allow many innocent people to get hurt. Give me the Light, and this can all be over."

Tai couldn't manage to make any words come out of his constricted airway so he did the only thing he could think of to give his answer; he spit in Phorcysmon's face. This obviously angered the digimon, causing him to throw Tai across the floor where he landed with a thud next to Izzy. He felt small shards of glass slip into his skin on his arm before he stopped and Phorcysmon strode over to him. He lunged forward with his sword, Tai just managing to dodge it with his burning lungs, and created a large hole in the floor. Tai saw the red stain on the blade as the digimon pulled it back and knew it was Matt's. Without notice, the blonde landed a kick to Tai's side causing him to lose his breath again.

He couldn't get his breath back and he had gone too long without it. Before the darkness overtook him, Tai looked up at his late friend, his face lit by red and blue lights. "This isn't over yet, Tai," he said before he and his master disappeared in a cloud of darkness. As he passed out, he heard the police crash through the door.

Tai opened his eyes and white light flooded into them. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to move, but an ache flashed through his body and he let out a pained groan, pulling the attention of the many teens in the room.

"Tai," cried a voice that could only belong to his baby sister, "you're ok! I was so worried, you got so beat up! What happened? Who did this to you? Why were you outside so late?"

"Woah, Kari," said Davis. Tai's vision was still a little fuzzy, but he could see Davis grabbing Kari so she wouldn't hurt Tai in her panic. "Give him a minute, he's been out for almost a day. Let the guy get his bearings before we interrogate him."

A day! he thought. There's no way I could have been out for that long. Then he remembered the fight and how much stronger Matt had been. It was almost as if he was a digimon himself with all the power behind that punch, and poor Izzy… "How is Izzy doing?" he asked as Ken and Joe helped him sit up.

The group around him looked to the floor. "Not so good," said Yolei. "He's in a drug induced coma. The doctor said it was lucky that you called when you did. He has a lot of broken bones and some internal and external bleeding. Whoever attacked you nearly killed him, so they put him under so he won't feel anything. The nurses are still pulling shards of glass out of him."

"Tai," said T.K., "who did this to you?"

Tai looked at the younger blonde and though he was worried about Izzy he could not help but feel a glimmer of hope looking at the boy. He no longer seemed tired or angry, and the hope that emanated from his eyes could be no other than that of his crest. Something had happened to change T.K. back to his old self since their episode in the café. He didn't want to ruin that, but they had the right to know. "Matt and Phorcysmon."

"No," said T.K. not losing any of the hopeful shine, which surprised Tai, "it wasn't Matt, it was Matt's body. There is a difference between the two now. Matt is the spirit that Kari saw and Matt's body is a puppet. Matt would never do anything like this." He gestured to Izzy who lay in the hospital bed next to Tai.

Tai looked over at his damaged friend, and winced. He had been cleaned up, but he looked even worse now that he was in the light. He had tubes connected everywhere and cuts and bruises covered his face. His right arm had a cast from his hand to his shoulder and a deep purple ring encircled his neck where someone had obviously tried to strangle him. His eyes were closed and he took shallow, labored breaths. Motimon had snuggled into the space between Izzy's left arm and chest, in a restless sleep.

"Why would anyone want to do this to poor Izzy?" asked Mimi, holding his uncased hand.

Once again, Tai knew, but he didn't know if he should tell them. Izzy wanted to wait until he knew if it would work, but then again, at this point he didn't know if Izzy would be awake in time to find out. Besides, with the clue Izzy gave him, he was going to need the other's help to figure it out. "Because Izzy is too smart." Kari looked at him, as did the others, with confusion. "I was out last night because Izzy had called me. He said that he couldn't explain on the phone, but I needed to come over to figure out if it would work before we told the rest of you. Phorcysmon must have been listening." He said the last part more to himself than for everyone else.

"Tell us what?" asked Cody.

"Izzy thought he might have found a way to bring Matt back."

"WHAT?!?!" yelled the group. Their full attention was on their old leader, even Davis with his flea-like attention span, hanging on his every word.

"Well, what did he say?" asked Sora. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. They might be able to save him?

"Nothing," he said with a shrug, though it shot another wave of pain through him. He was going to kill Matt's body when he got a hold of him. "All he said before passing out was 'Reunite the three parts.' Then I called 911 and got knocked around by Matt and his puppet master."

"Matt's body," said T.K.

"Well that makes no sense!" said Davis. "What three parts? Do we need them to figure out how to save Matt or to actually save Matt?

"He did leave us in quite a predicament," said Ken. "I'm sure he thought we would understand. That or he didn't finish what he was trying to stay."

"Nonetheless, we know there could be a way to save Matt," said Sora, a smile spreading across her face, "and that is more than we had before."

"What about his laptop?" asked Cody.

"No one could find it in his apartment," said Yolei. "Phorcysmon must have taken it with him."

"Yeah," said Kari, "but when Izzy wakes up, he can tell us what to do."

"You mean if he wakes up," said Joe. Unlike the others, he knew the extent of damage his body had taken and that he might not come out of his coma. And even if he did wake up, he might not remember the answer.

"No, we mean when," said T.K. "I already lost all hope and worked back to it, I won't lose it all again. We have to believe in Izzy and hope he will wake up. We need him for more than saving Matt."

Joe nodded and smiled. "You're right T.K., when."

There was a peaceful silence in the room, but the mood was shattered when Tai's stomach gave a hungry growl loud enough to scare SkullGreymon. Tai blushed while the other's laughed, just like old times. "I'll go find a nurse and see if we can get you something to eat," said Kari. She gave her big brother a kiss on the forehead. "I'm glad you're alright."

She walked to the door and hesitated. Then, she flung it open and stepped outside; slamming it shut, but not before Tai saw a multitude of camera flashes. He also noticed the digimon were standing outside the door, only moving for Kari to exit. "What was that?" said Tai.

"The media has been having a field day with this," said Mimi. "When one digidestined was killed it was headline news; when two more are beaten, one almost to death, it's world news. People have been trying to get you and Izzy's picture ever since it got out what happened. Their saying this is going to be Worlds War II (Worlds War Digital vs. Human war)."

"Don't be surprised if Kari doesn't come back for a while," said T.K. "They'll probably follow her all the way to the cafeteria. The police stated that they had found two young teenagers and two digimon on the scene which sent the media into a frenzy. So, because of that mistake, the whole world knows our digimon are back. We don't have to hide them anymore."

"Don't worry about them though," said Sora nodding her head to the door. "They were trying to push by our digimon until Erebmon got there. Apparently there is something about him that scares them all."

"Probably because he's a dark digimon," said Ken.

"Ken, we've been over this. He's not evil," said Sora.

Once again, Tai hated the situation he had been put in, but it was going to be easier with Kari gone. "Listen guys, I have something to tell you," he said, eyes on the sterile floor. "Before Phorcysmon left, he told me that he wanted Kari. He said until we give her to him, he would have Matt keep attacking us, one by one until there was no one left to protect her."

"Well that's just too bad because it could take a long time to take all of us out," said Davis with a smile.

"Right," said T.K., "we'll protect her to our last breath. Matt was willing to do it, so I am too. Besides, we'll have beaten him by then."

Tai smiled, he couldn't remember why he was so nervous to tell the group. He knew that they would all agree that Kari needed to be protected and would be more that willing to do it. He was just afraid that something like what happened to Matt or Izzy would happen to someone else. Phorcysmon had been more than willing to kill him, he would surely be the same way with the others.

Tai let out a large yawn. How could he have been out for so long and still be so tired? Mimi smiled at their leader. "Maybe we should all get some sleep."

"Will those journalists leave you alone long enough to let you go home?" asked Tai.

"Who said we were going home?" asked Cody. "Haven't you noticed we're in a ward?" He honestly hadn't, he had been too worried about Izzy. "There are enough beds for all of us. We're staying here for the night."

Kari walked in, once again followed by flashes and shouts, and placed a tray of hospital food on Tai's table. He took a mouthful and swallowed, it was awful. "Ugh, this food is terrible! How long do I have to stay here?"

The group laughed at Tai again, but Sora was the one who answered. "The doctor said you could leave tomorrow. He said you should be alright to go to Matt's memorial concert."

"His what?" said Tai through another mouthful of food.

"The Teenage Wolves are doing a concert in Matt's memory tomorrow night," said Kari. "They saved tickets for us just like they always do. Got a bass player too, but they said he's nothing in comparison to Matt."

More and more digidestined began to yawn and everyone decided it was time for them to go to sleep. They each picked a bed and Sora told Erebmon to bring all the digimon inside. They came in and locked the door, but Erebmon stood watch by it just in case.

"Sora," said T.K. a while later, long after the others had fallen asleep and they were the only two awake, "do you have Matt's journal with you?"

"Yeah, I bring it everywhere."

"Do you mind if I read it? My papers are at home."

"What entry are you on?"

"The third."

"Well, I'm on the fifth, so why don't you read the next two and then we can read some together." She handed the journal to T.K. as he nodded and read the two entries at the foot of her bed.

After about ten minutes, he looked back at her with tears welling in his eyes, he had long passed not wanting to show them when he read Matt's words. "Ok." He moved up by her and they turned the page to the fifth entry, and after Sora had made sure Erebmon was connected with her, they began to read.

July 17, 2002

Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote in this thing. I haven't actually had a lot of time though, with school and taking care of the apartment, so I guess I should catch it up on my life. I'm twelve now, going to start middle school this next year and then off to high school. I can't wait. Anyway, our family has gotten a little rocky. Since that episode when I was eight, I've seen my mom less and less. Our visits got shorter and shorter until they just didn't happen anymore. The same thing happened with our phone calls. I think I hear from her maybe once a month, but she is always so busy and we only talk for a minute or two. It's ok; I'm not her kid anymore.

T.K. comes over less often too, but he at least comes, and every time I see him, he still looks excited to see me. He face lights up like it's Christmas. He's the thing that keeps me going, the one piece of happiness in my life. See, I don't have very many friends. Friends cause attachment and emotions. Emotions make you weak and I need to be strong for T.K. I can never let my guard down.

Anyway, my dad sent me to this lame-o summer camp. He thinks 'it will make a man out of me; build me some muscle and get me a good woman.' Whatever. I'm lanky, that's who I am. I blame it on my parents; bad genes. I already get giggles from girls in the halls at school, why would I need to give them another reason to bother me. I mean dad said he got a 'good woman' and look what happened to him. I'll pass on the whole love thing.

So about this camp, I'm rooming with these two guys in this dirty cabin that almost makes the theater floor look more inviting; spilled pop and all. One is a total hypochondriac; probably got sent to camp to 'turn him into a man' too. The other is an obnoxious boy. He wasn't too bad when I first met him, said his name was Tai, but after that he was like a child with ADD on a sugar high. Man he has a lot of energy. He never stops! No wonder he's a soccer player.

T.K. is here too! I was so excited to be able to see him, but he is given different activities to do with the younger kids. He says the guy he's rooming with is nice, but a big nerd and kept him up until the early hours of the morning with his typing.

There is one person here who I am really interested in, though. She's a red-head with a blue hat. Anyway, she looks familiar to me. I think she goes to my school, but I'm not sure. All I know is she is beautiful.

No, I can't look at her like that. First off, what do I know, I'm twelve. Second, even if we were older I can't have feelings for her. Those feelings pulled my family apart and I won't go through that again. That feeling makes you weak.

But I just looked out the window and it's starting to rain. Wait…it's snow…in July! I need to go check this out.

"See, Sora," said T.K., "Matt has been attracted to you since the get-go." He gave her a mischievous smile.

"You knew, didn't you?" she said a little shocked by what she just read. Matt had liked her since their first adventure, but he didn't say anything. Why was he so afraid to tell people his feelings? Just because his parents split didn't mean that love was a plague. His parents separated because of a lack of love not because they cared too much.

"Matt took the divorce harder than anyone," said T.K. as if reading her mind, "even harder than Mom and Dad. He changed so much so quickly. He became extra protective of me and didn't smile a genuine smile. It was fake and he only did it when he thought I needed reassurance. He became sarcastic and I never saw him cry anymore. Eventually he stopped talking as much, became more of an observer of the conversations around him." He looked down as he remembered a conversation they had when T.K. was six. "He once told me that he didn't want to have feelings anymore, so he got rid of them. He said no one would hurt him with them ever again, that he didn't mind being alone, he was used to it. It wasn't until we went to the digital world that he started to change."

"Unfortunately the first emotion he found was anger," Sora said with a smile, "and that Tai was the first to experience it. I've been to a lot of his soccer games and I still haven't seen anyone who can hit Tai harder than Matt. He really knocked some sense into that kid."

T.K. let out a muffled laugh. His brother had gone full circle since the divorce, changing back to the caring brother T.K. had always known.

"Uhh, quiet!" yelled Yolei. "People are trying to sleep!" Unfortunately this action woke all the other digidestined and digimon, causing a lot of complaining. T.K. laughed a lot harder and Sora joined him. This was the way things should be, the way they used to be.

The group talked for a while as none of them were able to go back to sleep at this point. They were having a good conversation until the unmistakable sound of Tai stomach broke through. They turned to him, his face beat red. "What?! That food was crap!"

Sora started to laugh. "Don't worry, Tai. I'll go out and smuggle in something for you to eat from the gas station down the road."

"Sora," said Biyomon, "you can't go out there by yourself!"

'She's right, Tai warned you about Phorcysmon and his plan to destroy each of you one at a time. You'll be putting yourself in danger. We need everyone we have left to beat him.'

"Guys, give me a little credit," said Sora, "I didn't say I was going by myself. I thought Biyomon and Erebmon could come with me. I know I shouldn't be alone, especially when Phorcysmon is using Matt to get to us."

"I'll go with her, too," said T.K. "I can't sleep anyway. Patamon, Gabumon, you're coming too, right?"

"Of course," Patamon smiled. "Where ever you go, we're going to go too." Gabumon nodded in agreement.

The two digidestined got up and donned their coats to protect them from the chilly winter air. They waved goodbye to the others and left the room, happy that the journalists had decided to give up for the night. The group walked to the gas station talking about Matt, but for the first time, it didn't hurt Sora or T.K. to do so. They only spoke of the good times they had with the blonde and laughter came frequently from the two. This is the way it should be, she thought.

They entered the store with their digimon and received amazed stares from the cashier and the few customers that roamed the aisles. They grabbed some snacks and started to head toward the checkout counter when T.K. stopped.

"What's wrong T.K.?" asked Sora as she saw the angered look on his face. She walked over to him and looked at the magazine rack where T.K.'s eyes were glaring. There was a tabloid newspaper called 'The Real News' sitting on the shelf with a picture of Matt on the cover. The headline above it read, "Digidunces: There's No Way They Can Win." T.K. grabbed it off the shelf and placed it on the pile of goodies in his arms. "T.K., we're not really going to buy that? It's a tabloid. Who cares what they say."

"That's just it, Sora," said T.K. placing his items on the counter, "a lot of people read this one and a lot of them think it's true. We should see what they are saying. My mom worked for this paper for a while and she says they actually do surveys to see what people think about pertinent issues and write a story that confirms the most popular outcome. Apparently, people are afraid we are going to fail."

Sora thought about this but her thoughts were disturbed by the cashier. "Your total comes to $23.97. Would you like a bag for this?" asked the woman.

"Yes, please," said Sora as she paid.

They sat in silence as the woman packed the snacks into a couple bags and handed them to the pair. "You two are digidestined, aren't you?" They nodded. "Well, don't believe everything you read in that damn paper, ok? Even though there are those that don't believe you can do it, there are many of us who believe you can. You've done it before; you can do it again, even if you did lose that poor boy. If nothing else, do it for him."

Sora looked at her and nodded again with a smile. "Don't worry," said T.K., "we'll do it for everyone, not just ourselves. This is our world and we are responsible for all those that are in it. We have to protect everyone who believes there's a chance as well as those who don't."

The woman was taken aback for a minute before her eyes began to soften. "You are all so brave for being so young. You're heroes to us all, don't forget that."

"Thank you, we won't," said Sora. The pair waved to the cashier as they exited the store. Suddenly, a dagger flew between them and burrowed its blade into the metal divider between the two front doors. Sora and T.K. dropped their bags in surprise, but their digimon didn't hesitate for a minute.

"Patamon digivolve to…Angemon!"

"Biyomon digivolve to…Birdramon!"

"Erebmon digivolve to…Sangloupmon!"

A human-like digimon landed in front of the two digidestined without a sound. He was dressed in a blue pinstripe suit with a ragged shaman shall over it. A red scarf lay around his neck and a black animal like pelt with red eyes and silver horns rested on his head. His white hair extended to his middle back where a pair of black bat wings protruded. He carried a shotgun-like weapon in his left hand. He fixed his black eyes onto the digidestined.

"Hello, Love and Hope," said the digimon, his voice deep and scratchy (think Spike from Cowboy Bebop. It just came to mind when I saw his picture). He lifted his gun and pointed it at Sora, but before he could say a word, he was attacked.

"Meteor Wing!"

"Sticker Blade!"

The digimon jumped back to avoid the barrage. "What is that?" T.K. asked Gabumon as the other three advanced on their opponent.

"His name is Astamon, a demon digimon from the Dark Area. He uses his gun and knifes to do physical and magical attacks. I'd say Phorcysmon sent him instead of Matt to try and throw us off."

"Hell Fire!" yelled Astamon as he pointed his gun at Angemon. Fire exploded from the weapon and raced toward the angel. Sangloupmon jumped up and rammed his comrade in order to push him form harms way, only to receive the blow himself.

"Sangloupmon!" yelled Sora as her digimon fell through the air. Let me help you! she yelled in her mind, trying her hardest to open their connection. Let me take some of your pain!

'No,' his voice was pained yet soft, 'I won't allow you to hurt. You are my Faen and I will protect you from all harm. That is what a family does, they protect each other.'

He hit the ground with a hard thud and just laid there. Sora ran to his side and laid her hands on his side. She could feel his heartbeat as his muscled chest rose and fell. Please, let me help you, she thought as her tears fell on the dark creature. I've already lost an important person in my life, don't make me lose another.

She could sense him smiling weakly in his mind. 'That is why you are the digidestined of Love. You care so much for others you would even take their pain. Matt knew that, that's why he didn't tell you what he had to do to save you.'

What do you mean? He did it to save Kari, I had nothing to do with it.

'Sora, there is more to this battle than what you can see or believe is correct.' Sora looked at the digimon in confusion at his words. He began to slowly pull himself to his feet.

"Hand of Faith…Hya!!" Golden light flew from the angel's hand and crashed into the demon digimon, sending him flying.

"Maverick!" Bullets made of dark matter flew from Astamon's gun, causing the same result with Angemon.

"No, I won't let you get hurt again!" yelled Sora as she ran to the wolf and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I won't lose someone else that I love!"

Her digivice began to screech and she lifted it off her waistband. The crest of Love was shining on the screen before it shot a beam of red light at Birdramon. "Birdramon digivolve to…Garudamon."

A glimmer of fear shone in Astamon's face, but it was quickly extinguished, he couldn't let his opponent know he was afraid, but a Chosen digimon at ultimate level meant inevitable deletion and he knew it. All he could do was try to take out one of the digidestined before he died. He would be a martyr for his master and would be reborn a legend.

Astamon lunged at the blonde teen, his gun pointed right at his heart. He heard the attack call from behind him. "Wing Blade!" and the air around him began to increase in temperature.

I only have one shot at this, thought Astamon. He was the greatest marksman in Phorcysmon's army, next to Phorcysmon and his daughters, so he took his aim.

BANG!

:) I love being evil so here is another of my trademark cliffhangers. I wanted to put more into here, but I think this is an excellent place to take a break. R&R please and I will get the next chapter out as soon as I can!