..CHASING THE SUN..
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Beneath a Different Sky - Part IV
DigiWorld - ?
Tai looked up at his Digimon in amazement, his shining silhouette growing even bigger than the last time, brighter than the flames around them.
"Glad you could join me, Metalgreymon," Tai said assuredly as the gigantic monster completed his evolution into a larger version of his ultimate form, now donning a metallic helmet and arm, with wings sprouted at his back. Then Tai turned to the volcanic Digimon, who roared thunderously, stomping its forelegs in anger at the sight of the strengthened Digimon in front of him. Waves of heat emanated from the magma on his body, creating a rush of hot wind going straight at Tai.
Tai curled the side of his lips into a smirk, staring dead straight into the eyes of the Digimon foe in front of him, just before Metalgreymon launched himself towards it and knocked him back into the ground. Running off to the side, Tai went directly to Leomon, who remained still, though he couldn't tell whether he was still alive.
"Get out of the way!" Metalgreymon howled, causing Tai to dodge another fall from the Digimon, who ignited flames wherever he hit the ground. Tai ran further back to get away from the heat of the flames, wiping the sweat from his forehead from the back of his arm, though tried to stay close to his Digimon's battle.
The fight went on, as Metalgreymon jumped side to side as he dodged the monster's sprays of magma attacks. He swiped his metallic claw across the monster's chest and the monster roared, feeling bits of rock being clawed away from its body.
"Yes!" shouted Tai, watching the foe being thrown further away from the portal door, which was still glowing, waiting for him to go through it. "Just a little more, Metalgreymon!"
There came a loud cry then. The fight took a turn as flaming red magma shot onto Metalgreymon, hitting him square in the chest. He stumbled backward, trying to stand his ground, but he stumbled again as more magma sprayed onto his helmet.
Tai ran past the flaming grounds as magma now covered his partner's whole body, dripping as he writhed in pain. The foe Digimon struggled to get on his rock hard hooves, stumbling on all fours and turned around to head straight for the portal door.
"No!" Tai was stopped by a large tree branch falling in front of him, embers smoking at its edges. He fell back onto his bottom, speechlessly watching his Digimon partner falling over while being drowned in the pool of molten lava.
It brought Tai back to that day. Echoes of his friends shouting, screaming, crying around him as they watched their Digimon die, one after another. The memory paralyzed him in his place, seeing the image as clear as day of his Digimon stop moving after the sword struck him through his back-
Tai gasped, snapping out of his memory. His Digimon partner survived that attack. He's been alive all this time, still going strong. And now, as Tai stood back up, he saw Metalgreymon was still alive, rising up unphased as the lava dripped down from his body, wisps of smoke emanating.
His Digimon had never given up, and he would be an idiot to give up now, too.
"GO GET HIM—METALGREYMON!" Tai shouted out as much as his breath could take, just as the hatch of Metalgreymon's chest opened, launching the missile aimed directly at the foe's armored head.
The missile blasted against the foe's head, and it let out a shriek as though it was in more pain, letting its legs give way. Before it had a chance to fall, Tai saw Metalgreymon's arm ignite in flames of its own, before throwing his final scorching slash against the foe, its bloodcurling screech resounding throughout the valley as it fell, until it quieted and lay still.
Metalgreymon stood over the fallen Digimon, who was now fading from existence, appearing to disintegrate with each pixel breaking apart. Tai darted over immediately, running around flames and hopping over some to get to his partner.
"We did it—You did it, Metalgreymon!" Tai exclaimed, smiling. "I knew you could do it!"
"I'm sorry, Tai," came a low, unexpectedly weak grumble from the him. "It looks like my job here is done."
There was a new sound of rumbling, though it came from overhead. Tai looked up, seeing the clouds darkening the sky. It only took a few moments for rain to begin falling, dampening the burning land around them, and reducing flames to smoke.
"Well, of course it is," said Tai. "I'm so proud of you, after everything that's happened. You've been so strong."
"And that's why this truly is where it ends." The smile was wiped off of Tai's face.
"I don't understand."
Metalgreymon dropped to his knees, and Tai watched with unease as he de-volved to Greymon, then back to Agumon, before dropping with a thud on the ground.
"Agumon?!" Tai ran and kneeled next to him, picking the back of his head up with his hand, as lightning flashed in the sky, followed by loud roaring of thunder. Agumon was weak again, rapidly losing color, just as he looked in the real world. "Agumon! Talk to me!"
"It's okay, Tai."
Before he could pinpoint the voice he recognized, the pitter patter of the rain was suddenly louder and Tai looked to see an umbrella being held over him. When he turned to see who was holding it, he was instantly startled. Looking up at him was a cat-like Digimon, standing on two paws, smiling at his surprised expression.
Tai blinked as a sea lion Digimon plopped next to her, then being joined by an orange and white Digimon happily flapping its wings above them.
"Gatomon, Gomamon, Patamon…" Tai said, at a loss for words as Palmon, Tentomon, Gabumon, and Biyomon appeared together soon after. "I thought you all…"
"Mmhmm!" piped Patamon.
"Oh, the rain's letting up," said Gatomon, and she put the umbrella away.
"We didn't want to leave Agumon behind, so we've been waiting for him," Palmon squeaked.
"Waiting for him…?" Tai looked back at Agumon, whose eyes were opened once again, though Tai only noticed now that the bandage wrapped around his torso was now gone, but the large wound from the sword still appeared fresh. His heart sank, and possibly broke into pieces. "Oh, Agumon, I should have known…"
"It really is okay, Tai…" he said, his voice weakened. "It gave me a chance to see you again…"
"Stop talking like that." Tai was leaking tears now. "If I only realized you were this way…"
"There wouldn't have been time for that, and you know it. We knew what our fight was for. And we did it, Tai. And now I can leave here happy, knowing I was with you until the very end."
"You said we would see each other again, Agumon!" Tai cried. "You said…"
"I still believe that."
"Agumon…"
He then felt Gatomon's paw over his hand. "Don't blame yourself over all of this."
"You really are the best, Tai!" Tentomon said. "After Izzy, of course."
"We'll take great care of him, Tai," Gabumon said, reassuringly.
"The place we ended up, he's going to love it—there's a ton of food!" added Gomamon.
Tai laughed, still blinking tears away. "I'm sure he will."
Not too far from them came a grunt, and Leomon appeared before them all to Tai's surprise.
"You're alive," Tai said, relieved.
"Yes, but the time has come. You cannot stay here for long."
Tai looked to Agumon, feeling the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew it was time to go. After one last gentle embrace, he put Agumon in the care of the others, and stood up to face toward the door a few feet away.
"Tai?" came Biyomon's small voice. "You're going back to the human world now, right?"
Tai nodded.
"Watch over her," she said with a smile, and Tai smiled back.
"I will, Biyomon."
The sun was now breaking from the clouds. Tai walked with Leomon toward the door, the other Digimon following behind, calling out messages to send to their own partners.
"I love Kari!"
"Izzy, always the mastermind!"
"Joe! Tell him to keep working hard!"
"Tell Mimi I miss her!"
"Tell T.K. I think about him!"
"And Matt – tell him I miss him too!"
He smiled at listening to their chatter, taking every moment of it to heart. When they reached the door, Leomon stood in front, ready to open it for him.
"Tai," Agumon called, and Tai turned around, not knowing how much more he'll be crying.
"Yes, Agumon?"
"I'm proud of you too."
Tai smiled through his tears, feeling happiness and heartbreak at the same time. As the other seven Digimon smiled and waved back at him, he put his hand to his heart, wishing his friends could see them all now.
The doors were pulled open by Leomon, and Tai turned to face the doorway, now seeing the same white space and color streaks going this way and that.
"Now go, young Tai," said Leomon. "Go and save us all."
August 4, 20XX (early morning)
The seven Digidestined stood in their places for a few minutes until the Digivices stopped glowing. Sora stared at hers in wonder, though didn't have time to think about what was going to happen next.
"Stand back, guys!" Izzy said, and they all turned to the door which was now shining brighter than before. "The portal—it's opening!"
"Tai," she uttered, quickly hopping up and dashing toward the door.
"Sora! Wait!" Izzy exclaimed. "The portal is unstable—it's not safe! Stop!"
"Sora!" she heard Matt call from behind. The doors swung open hard, wind blasting furiously against them that Sora held her arms around to shield herself. She fell back even then, only to be caught by Matt and Joe behind her.
The wind stopped as quickly as it blasted, and Sora stumbled back onto her feet to see odd colors streaking along the whiteness of the portal beyond the door, almost like shooting stars. Further in, she saw him—Tai standing upright, facing the other way, but not moving. Was he thinking? Was he hesitating? Was he trying to run away again?
She had to get to him.
"MOVE!" came an urgent shout. Sora felt bodies rush past her and saw a few military men stand and position in a formation around the door, the sound of clicking among them as they readied their weapons.
"Stand back, Ms. Takenouchi," said the military woman, who had her hair down but was still wearing her formal suit. "We have to take necessary precautions, in case any monsters follow him out." Kari screamed at this, only to be held back by T.K. as she lunged toward the woman.
"What are you doing?!" Mimi shrieked. "You're putting Tai in danger!"
"You need to stand down," Sora said, standing up to the woman. "If he's coming back, it means there's no more threat to our world. I trust that he saw to that."
There was a pause, and then, with a wave of the woman's hand, the soldiers lowered their guns.
"I have to go in," Sora said then, and the others gasped as walked toward the door.
"Don't do it, Sora!" Izzy called. "You don't know what will happen!"
"Tai!" Kari cried out, already in tears. T.K. was holding her back as she tried running to him herself.
"Get ahold of yourself, Sora!" Matt grabbed her arm to pull her back, and Mimi held her other, her eyes teary.
"Didn't you hear Izzy?! Are you out of your mind?!" asked Joe.
"You don't know what's going to happen if you go in," Mimi said apprehensively.
"I have to do this, guys," she said, holding Matt and Mimi's hands tightly. "I don't care how stupid I'm being." Matt sighed.
"I know… It's just how much you care about him," he said.
"No, Matt," she replied, and she shook her head, knowing now that what she felt in her heart was so much more. "It's how much I love him."
Sora turned to the door, and Matt stopped her again, though he now looked at her with understanding.
"We'll be right behind you," he said. Sora nodded gratefully, then turned and broke off into a run toward the door, ignoring Izzy's pleas to stop.
Tai was still in the floating in the same spot, back-facing, still floating—what in the world was he doing?
"Oh, for pity's sake!" said Izzy, who gave up shouting and left his laptop to join Sora and everyone else at the door.
Sora knew she had to get to Tai, and she had to bring him back to this world. Looking to Matt and the others to meet their eyes, everyone nodded, knowing exactly what they needed to do. And then, Sora turned to face the portal, and jumped through the door.
As soon as Leomon shut the door from the Digital World, it disappeared in front of Tai, leaving nothing to look at except the portal space. Gone was the world he saw was starting a brand new day, and the bright faces of the beloved Digimon. It was just Tai now, floating in this blank, digitalized space, alone.
What am I waiting for? He asked himself. Looking down, the twist and turns of the black wires were still there, which he now knew was the connection between the two worlds. He had just lost a dear friend, and left a place he always yearned to go back to so much – At that moment, he only wished the space around him was as black as the wires below him.
He remembered the rectangular contraption sitting in his back pocket and held it out in front of him. It really did look like computer memory to him. How silly for him to think that the memories he shared with his Digimon could no longer be shared again once he threw this thing down.
What if I fell down with it?
He looked at the bomb and then the wires below. He couldn't imagine life without seeing Agumon again. Without going back to the DigiWorld. What was saving the world if his friends still had to lose their lives? What more was there to live for?
"What are you waiting for?" Sora's voice echoed from behind him. Was this another dream? He turned around, seeing her slowly float towards him with her hand reaching out to him.
Suddenly, the answers came to him. As her eyes begged and her hand grabbed onto his, he knew that this wasn't a dream at all—this was real. Real enough to no longer want darkness, but the brightness of that space to stay. His Digimon friends sacrificed their lives for him and his human friends to live on. And, seeing his friends link arms with Sora to help her float to him, Tai realized the answer to that other question was in fact right in front of him.
"It's now or never," Tai told her, ready to throw the bomb down. "Hold onto me."
Sora nodded, and as he thrust the bomb toward the wires, he wrapped himself around her tightly, his hands at her waist and holding her head, and she took hold of his waist. There was no sound, but a flash followed by a blast, forcing them to fly back toward the door to their world, destroying the last connection to the Digital World for good.
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Author's Note: Oh, it's not Wednesday? I lose track of my days... ;)
A whole mess of things happened in this chapter, didn't it? I cried writing it. I teared up re-reading it.
But hey, thanks for reading! All your reviews, follows, and favs make my day. xx
The final part of the story is coming up... Stay tuned.