GoggleMaster01- Here is the next Dark Master- Puppetmon! UsoPuppetmon is of my own creation- he didn't have a slide evolution like MetalSeadramon, so I made one up. You can draw him or stick him in a fanfic, but don't steal him- give me credit! (By the way, Uso is Japanese for lie, so he's the Lying Puppet monster) Enjoy Tai's next battle. (Oh yea, and DIGIMON AIN'T MINE!)

Chapter 25

Hide, Seek and Destroy, Reprise

Satisfied with my victory, I hopped through the door and shook myself like a dog to get my hair and wings as dry as possible.

"Okay, if Base isn't destroyed, I'm playing soccer and taking a nice hot bath when I get home," I said to myself. Happy at the thought, I looked around the room. It looked like a replica of Puppetmon's house (according to T.K.'s descriptions of it), but the walls were darker and there were spiderwebs all over the place.

A Patamon shaped shadow came down the hallway. I could see on closer observation that it was Tsukaimon.

"You've actually defeated GigaSeadramon-sama. Quite splendid, actually. You've exceeded my expectations of you," Tsukaimon sneered.

"Blah blah blah, you little creep! Tell me where my friends are!" I grabbed Tsukaimon's wing and gave it an Indian rug burn.

"OW OW OW!" Tsukaimon howled in pain. "Down this hallway! You'll see the ones you want to see if you just keep going!" I let Tsukaimon go. "Thanks!" I started to run.

"Oh, but watch out," Tsukaimon hissed softly. "Puppetmon-sama is down there someplace, too."

At the end of the hallway, there was another door. I opened it and entered some kind of playroom. It was probably a darker version of Puppetmon' playroom from his previous "Housemon". There were voodoo dolls on the floor like last time, but this time, they resembled the Chosen Digimon with a black collar around their necks. There was a toybox, open and empty. And there was a TV screen. It was all fuzzy. There was no sign of Deadfoot, Lionstorm, Riverfur or Agumon.

Suddenly, I heard Agumon's voice. "Tai...Oh Tai..." I spun around. The TV screen was starting to get better reception. I walked closer to it. Agumon's face was starting to appear, but his eyes were completely red. "Join us Tai..." Agumon reached a claw OUT OF THE SCREEN and pulled me inside.

I was unconscious for a moment, or maybe a year or two. When I opened my eyes, I was in this fuzzy fog. When I looked around, I saw what appeared to be a huge window showing me the room I was just in. But, I knew that was no window- it was the TV screen!

"Hey!" I rushed over to the "window" and banged on it. "HEY!"

"What are you doing?" came a voice that sounded sort of like Gabumon's. I spun around. All eight of the Chosen Digimon (with Gatomon de-digivolved to Salamon) were standing right behind me with the same weird red eyes Agumon had.

"Are you trying to leave?" Biyomon asked. "Why would you want to leave?"

"Because I have something to do!" I yelled. "I can't stay trapped in this freaky TV set!"

The Digimon walked closer to me. "There's no reason for you to leave," Tentomon said. "Here, you will have all of your wishes granted."

"The other DigiDestined came back for us," Palmon said. "They wish to see you."

I was about to say "Really? I want to see them, too!". But, there was something up here. "Um, that's nice, but-" I began.

"Don't be shy. Poison Ivy!" Palmon grabbed me around the leg and dragged me deeper into the fuzzy fog. I couldn't see the screen anymore. After a while, Gabumon called out, "Matt, we found him!"

I looked in the direction Gabumon was calling- and my heart skipped a beat. There were seven skeletons with wigs wearing my friends' clothes! Lucky, I could barely make out the words "Made in Server" on the Izzy skeleton. They were toys, but the Digimon thought they were real!

"Great. We're all together again!" Gomamon chirped.

"Just like the good old days," Gabumon added, walking next to "Matt". "Can you play us a song to celebrate, Matt?" he asked.

This was the freakiest thing I'd ever seen in my life. "That's just a toy!" I said. But the Digimon seemed to be listening to a song, even though there was none. "Wake up!" I shot a Flamethrower at "Matt". Gabumon turned around. "Why did you do that, Tai?" he asked. "I thought you'd be happy to see them again."

"It's okay, T.K.," Patamon rubbed against "T.K.". "I'll protect you."

I remembered T.K.'s promise to protect Patamon. "What are you protecting, Patamon? Puppetmon put a spell on you!" I tried to explain.

"No he didn't! These our definately our friends, and your friends too!" Biyomon chriped.

"Get the traitor!" Salamon growled. All eight Digimon rushed at me.

There was no way I could take all eight Rookies after GigaSeadramon, especially with Agumon and the Digimon I promised T.K. I'd look after in there. There had to be some way to reverse Puppetmon's spell. I had to beat Puppetmon or-

THE VOODOO DOLLS!

That had to be it! But first, I had to get out of here! I slid out of the way and pushed "Kari" over. It hurt a little to do, but I had to get out of here. "Oh no. Kari has a fever," I said. I placed my hand to the skeleton's head. It was cold, and a shiver crawled up my spine. "Her forehead is blazing," I lied. "I need to get her some medicine. Is there any here?"

"It is impossible to get sick here," Agumon said. The eight Digimon began to charge me again.

"Well, Kari's very sensitive," I said.

"That is true," Salamon said. "But I wished that sensitivity away when I came here. I had to sacrifice my Champion form, but it was all worth it."

"She's on the floor!" I pointed "Kari" out.

"How could you push your own sister? You monster!" Salamon lunged at me, but I got out of the way. I ran back towards the screen with the other eight Digimon following me. I was confused after, having run for a long time, I didn't see the screen. I might have gone the wrong way! I went to the east.

Sure enough, I soon saw the fog clear and the screen appear. I rushed towards the screen and slammed with all my might. There was the sound of crashing glass as I fell though. I was back in reality. I spun around. The alternate dimension and the Digimon were still on the screen, but there was broken glass at my feet. I couldn't tell if the screen was still intact.

"Why would you do something like this?" Biyomon said. "Don't you want to see your friends?"

"I do!" I said, picking up Agumon's voodoo doll. Agumon promptly went up into the air. "That's why I-" I pulled the collar off of the toy's neck and gently placed it down. Agumon slowly disappeared from the "screen". "AGUMON!" He was gone. I'd killed him. No more morning roastings!

Suddenly, Agumon appeared outside of the TV. He slowly faded into view. Agumon's eyes glowed red for a split second, then faded back into green. "Tai?" he asked. "Where-where am I?"

"Agumon!" I hugged him. "I thought you were a goner. Quick! Help me take the black collars off these dolls!"

As we did our task, I explained everything to Agumon. One by one, the other Digimon came back to reality. Patamon was the last one.

"Help! T.K.!" Patamon squealed. "T.K." didn't show up. I broke the collar around the toy Patamon's neck, and he joined the other Digimon. I told them all the whole story- where I'd been, what was going on back home and what had just happened to them.

"So, Matt is really gone?" Gabumon asked.

"With the wind," I said. "But I'm sure you'll see him again."

"I can't believe you defeated GigaSeadramon all by yourself," Piyomon said.

"He he," I said, scratching the back of my head.

"So, where's Puppetm-" Gomamon began. But, he didn't have time to finish. The fuzzy TV screen suddenly flared into color and showed an image of Puppetmon in all his freakish glory.

"Oh. There he is," Gomamon said, pointing to the screen.

"Hey, Puppetmon! I've already trashed GigaSeadramon! Where are you?" I spat at the screen.

"Calm down, Halfborn," Puppetmon said. "The real question is where are YOU? Are you in my playroom? I'm going to find you, and when I find you, I'm going to KILL YOU!"

"So, it's hide-seek-and-destroy all over again, isn't it?" Patamon said. He sounded like he was about to cry. I picked up Patamon and showed him to Puppetmon. "I found the eight Chosen Digimon!" I snapped. "We can take you on!"

"Those Digimon-" Puppetmon began.

"Tai released us from your spell, Puppetmon!" Palmon said. "He- he's very good at making people come back to their senses." She blushed slightly, and I remembered my dream where I'd talked Palmon into saying goodbye to Mimi.

"So, you released them from my spell?" Puppetmon said. Then, he started squealing. "I win! I win! You're in my playroom! And you know what that means?"

The TV shut off, and a gaping hole greeted me. It seemed like the TV somehow stayed working for a short time after I broke it. The door to the playroom broke down and Puppetmon came rushing in. "Puppet Pummel!" He slammed Patamon and Salamon into the wall.

"NO!" I jumped and grabbed Patamon. I wasn't going to break my promise to T.K. Agumon, Gabumon and Biyomon attacked.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Blue Blaster!"

"Spira- OW!"

The Digimon went flying into a wall. Puppetmon hadn't even touched them. He simply flung his voodoo dolls of them into a wall. The other Digimon tried to attack with the same result. Salamon cried out "Digivolve!"

Salamon digivolved into Gatomon. (You all know how that goes, so I won't bore you with the details)

"Digivolving won't help you!" Puppetmon picked up the voodoo doll of Salamon and ate it. He then coughed up a voodoo doll of Gatomon. "Let's play, Gatomon!" Puppetmon cried, throwing her voodoo doll into the ceiling. Gatomon followed suit.

"Damn! I'm on my own here," I said. "The other Digimon can't attack because of those voodoo dolls. And if I destroy them-" I didn't want to even think about that.

Agumon began to get back up. "Pe-" he began.

"No! Let me handle him!" I said. "If you guys try to fight Puppetmon, he'll use those stupid voodoo dolls on you!" I stormed the Mega level Digimon.

"Tai! No! You'll get hurt!" Agumon cried.

"I can do this! Flamethrower! Ha!" The jet of flame caused the wooden Digimon to reel back in pain. But, it was weaker than the flame blasts I'd used against GigaSeadramon. That battle had exhausted me.

"Lie!" Puppetmon used an attack I'd never seen before. An floating popup like the one you see on computers popped up in front of him. "Flamethrower! Ha!" I shot a fireball at the popup to get rid of it, and it shot the fireball back at me. I wasn't burned, and I felt as if I recovered some strength from the blazing flames, but the sheer weight of the fireball sent me into the wall.

Popups suck, don't they?

I struggled to my feet. "You haven't won yet, Puppetmon!" I snuck behind the huge marionette. "Flamethrower!" I shot a jet of flame at Puppetmon's exposed backside. He leapt into the air, screeching loudly. Puppetmon fell on top of the floating popup and it vanished.

"Puppet Pummel!" Puppetmon slammed me into the floor. I was half conscious, and I could hear Puppetmon repeating the word "Lie!". He must have been creating more of those popups. I struggled to my feet. Sure enough, Puppetmon was surrounded by popups from all sides. There was no way to his him unless I got rid of the popups somehow. If they reflected my flame back at me, my claws wouldn't be a better choice, since they were weaker.

I was still thinking of what to do when I heard a booming voice. "READY TO PLAY, DIGIDESTINED BOY? PUPPETMON DIGIVOLVE TO- USOPUPPETMON!"

The popups vanished into thin air. Puppetmon had used them like a cocoon. His new form, UsoPuppetmon, was a Puppetmon made of gold instead of wood. The cross thing on his back was covered with spikes and his hammer was much bigger than before. His legs were longer too, and covered with spikes. Puppetmon's strings turned to copper, like electrical wire.

"GATLING BOMB!" UsoPuppetmon shot several huge missiles out of his hammer. I didn't feel like getting hit by those. "Flamethrower! Ha!" My Flamethrower hit the missiles and they blew up, sending everyone flying.

"NANOMECH HEAL!" UsoPuppetmon closed his eyes. He glowed with a steely light. When it faded, his dented metal body was repaired. "TIME TO PLAY! NANO BREAK!" UsoPuppetmon slammed me with his hammer. I had to do something, or I was going to die. There had to be some way to trick Puppetmon. I leaned my head. There was a soccer ball in Puppetmon's toybox.

"You-you sure like to 'play', don't you?" My shirt was soaked a blood red, and I could feel blood in my mouth.

"YES! USOPUPPETMON LOVES TO PLAY WAR!" UsoPuppetmon started jumping around like a six year old.

"Well, I have a new game to play," I said. "It's called soccer."

"WHAT?" The Digimon had no idea what I was doing.

"UsoPuppetmon, all you have to do is kick the ball into this box-" I emptied the toybox, put it on its side on the floor and showed him the ball- "- and I have to kick it out the door. We'll play for our lives. The loser will get killed by the winner. You'd like that, right? Oh, yea, and if one of uses our hands our our attacks, that person will die. We can only use our feet, okay?"

UsoPuppetmon liked that idea. "OKAY!" He put his hammer down.

"Ready-set-DIE!" I kicked the ball between UsoPuppetmon's long legs.

"HEY! I WASN'T READY!" UsoPuppetmon went to chase the ball- and, just like I expected, he tripped over his long legs and copper strings. He crashed to the floor in a tangled mess. The soccer ball rolled out the door as UsoPuppetmon rolled on the floor, getting himself even more tangled.

"CHEATER! CHEATER! I WASN'T READY! YOU CHEATED! AND SO, YOU'LL DIE! GATLING BO-" UsoPuppetmon started to attack, then realized he didn't have his hammer. I'd walked over to it and barely lifted it up while he rolled around. The hammer was cold and heavy, and I could hear voices in my head whispering dirty lies the entire time I held it.

"Your home will be destroyed and you friends have forgotten you...forgotten you...Give up, little boy. You have nothing to fight for," they hissed.

I shook my head. I wasn't sure if my home was okay, but I was sure that I still had my friends. "PUPPET PUMMEL!" I slammed the hammer down on top of UsoPuppetmon. Missiles shot out of it, blowing UsoPuppetmon into spare data. The hammer vanished too, and so did the voices.

"You have nothing left...nothing left..." the voices hissed in a last desperate attempt to lie to me.

The Digimon cheered and ran over to me. "Hooray! Hooray! You did it, Tai!"

We jumped around and did a happy dance. "Yea!" I said. "That's what happens when you mess around with the Odaibia Elementary soccer team's best striker!"

At that moment, a door on the wall behind the shattered TV opened. It was one of those automatic doors. I'd never seen it before.

"I guess that means we keep going," I said. We all walked through the door into a completely metal hallway. The slick metal walls had a few lights that blinked from time to time. Standing in the middle of the hallway, with a somewhat cute yet still evil sneer on his face, was Tsukaimon.

GoggleMaster01- That's it for Puppetmon's chapter! Continue on or review my fic!