Tyler stood in the Great Hall of Billy's main fortress as the digiport opened up and a body walked through. "Hello there, Peter. Dorumon," He nodded to both the boy and his partner. The digiport closed behind them and Peter took a seat at the long table. Tyler did the same. "So, how is Reboot doing?"

"That horrible block of ice that 'oh so benevolent' Billy gave me to rule over?" Peter remarked in disgust. "I hate it. It's very cold up north. The digimon there are constantly annoying me. Pestering and nagging me with their problems. Who cares if they can't thaw out the water? I certainly don't. They can all die for all I care."

"Those are harsh words. You need those digimon to survive," Tyler told him. He sipped tea from a cup in front of him.

Peter crossed his arms and glared at Tyler. "Well, of course you wouldn't have any complaints. At least your underground kingdom is warm."

"The ferrets make it smell bad," Tyler told him, referring to the Prairiemon.

"Small price to pay," the other said stubbornly. "Where is Meramon, by the way?"

"It's laundry day," Tyler replied with a grin.

"You wouldn't survive a day without him, would you?" Peter chuckled.

"I suppose I wouldn't! But then again, he wouldn't survive very long if he didn't do as I said either. Digimon are tool used to achieve a goal. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Fools," Billy roared as he entered through a digiport. DemiDevimon was once again riding on his shoulder. "Surely you realize that digimon are more than that?"

"They're simply advanced programs," Peter replied.

"Shut your mouth, Zippers," Billy commanded as he made fun of Peter's sweater. He was wearing a black sweater with a red hood and a yellow face on the front that was sticking out its tongue. The sweater had an excess amount of zippers on it, many of which did nothing at all.

"Digimon can think and feel," Billy continued.

"So we should just all hold hands and sing about happiness and friendship?" Tyler mocked.

"Don't be stupid," Billy looked at him with a dangerous glare. "I'm not saying treat your digimon with respect or kindness or anything. They are creatures that are below humans. However, at least put their talents to something more useful than washing your filthy underwear."

"Very well," Tyler told him, a little acidly. "How go your plans in the Keys?"

"Good, actually," the dark boy's mood instantly enhanced. "So good, in fact, that I have left Puppetmon in charge of things down there. I believe he can handle them. Two of them are frozen with their fear of spiders anyway! You should have seen the look on Brian's face when he saw the swarm crawling all over that village!" He thought for a moment and then added, "I wish Gabbie didn't have to be put through any of that."

"Do you have a soft spot for the girl?" Peter joked. Billy shot him a warning glare and Brian's little brother shrank a little underneath the power of it. Billy was not somebody to mess around with and Peter and Tyler knew that.

"Well, if you aren't going to be helping out with things over in the keys," Tyler spoke again, "Then it seems as though you have a bit of a vacation."

"Hardly. I have to go speak with somebody," Billy said. "Lilithmon won't like it, so we aren't going to tell her about it. Understand? I needed to stop by here for a few extra supplies. I want you two to prepare a group of Devidramon to take me where I need to go." The other two nodded at the command. "Now!" Billy yelled. The other two stood up quickly and bolted out of the room.

"Why does he hate us so much?" Peter asked as they ran down the hallway leading from the Great Hall.

"Well, you are Brian's little brother. That makes you very much the same as him in Billy's eyes."

"I am nothing like my weakling brother!" Peter roared back.

"I didn't say you were," Tyler tried to calm him. "But you have the same blood. And he hates you for that."

"Well, what about you?" Peter asked him.

"Me? I think I just irritate him."

XXX

Brian slumped against one of the ruined, dome-shaped buildings and let his body slide downward until he was sitting. The fighting had moved on away from this area and he seemed to be alone. He pulled out his digivice and stared at his reflection in the screen.

"What am I doing?" he asked himself. "Some Tamer I am. Running away from champion level digimon." He threw the digivice against the wall of another building in front of him and buried his face into his hands. "I let my friends down again. I should be over there in the fray. I'm sorry, Agumon. I'm sorry everybody. Maybe I should just go home."

He separated his fingers and saw a pair of sandaled feet. He slowly let his eyes run up the bare legs, the denim skirt, the purple blouse, and finally rested them on her face. "Why are you so down on yourself, Brian?" Lily said.

Brian gasped in shock. "Lily? But—what are you doing here? How did you even get-?" but he suddenly lost his words as she grabbed his hands and helped him up. When he had stood up completely, Lily wrapped her arms around him pressed her face against his chest.

"I missed you, you know," she told him. "Why did you have to run off like that? One minute you were standing in your room kissing me and then—"

"I had to come here." Brian stopped her. "It's important that I—it was important that I be here."

She pulled away from him for a minute. "What do you mean 'was'?"

"Do you see that thing that I threw?" He pointed to his digivice.

She went over and picked it up. "Yeah. What about it? Is it important?" She held it to her ear and shook it curiously. Brian couldn't help but think how cute and childish she looked.

"It's called a digivice. I can use it to power up digimon. Turn it over," Brian told her. She did what he said. "That symbol on the back is called the Crest of Courage. Because of that symbol, I am the Warrior of Courage."

"Okay, so what's that problem?"

"I have no courage. I just ran away from my friends because of a few spiders." He bowed his head in shame. "I can't win the battles I fight either. I keep losing the most important ones and Billy and Daemon just keep getting stronger. Now he's learned how to digivolve certain digimon to mega and he can control digimon with his Black Splinters. It seems that every time we do something good, we are instantly struck down with defeat and it's only a matter of time before they find and kill us all and I can't do anything to stop it!"

She studied him for a moment. Brian turned his back on her and pounded his fists against the wall once. He leaned his forehead against the cold stone. Lily put her hand on his shoulder and said, "Its okay to be afraid sometimes, Brian. You just have to keep trying."

He turned around to face her. "How can I go back to my friends now? How can I help them when I'm so terrified of the things we fight?"

She kissed him on the mouth. For one moment, Brian forgot every fear he had. For that one, brief moment, he felt like he had the courage that he once had when it was just him and Agumon traveling through the Wastes, trying to get home. They broke apart and he stared at her, a little dazed. "You go back to them with courage and a puffed out chest. Then you use your digivice to make your digimon as powerful as you can." She thrust the digivice into his hands. "Then you win the fight."

Brian took the digivice and stared down at it. The screen caught a glare from the remaining daylight and it looked for a moment that the Crest of Courage appeared on the screen before disappearing again. "Lily, are you really here?" he looked back up but she had disappeared. He looked around and saw nobody.

Looking back at his digivice, he nodded. Brian turned on his heels and bolted back in the direction of his friends.

XXX

Hope, Duane, and Christina fought with everything they had against the swarm of Dokugumon. Agumon, Gatomon, Leomon, and Lekismon were destroying the spiders left and right. The fight had destroyed more of the dome houses and the dirt had become trodden and devoid of grass. Hope was beginning to wonder how much longer they could all keep this up.

Their muscles ached with fatigue, but the Dokugumon just kept coming. Every time they managed to kill one, three more took its place. The whole thing was maddening.

I still can't believe that Brian and Gabbie just abandoned us like that, Hope thought. We need them! And where are they? Hiding while we do all the work.

She parried an attack and struck back, sinking her blade into the skull of a Dokugumon. The creature dissolved into data. She was tired of fighting.

"Hey guys!" a voice called from behind them. Hope looked over her shoulder and saw Brian running in their direction holding his digivice over his head. The screen was glowing.

"He's digivolving," Hope realized suddenly. "Hey everybody! Brian is going to help us fight!" All of a sudden, something jumped on Hope's back and knocked her onto the ground. She felt a sting in he side and drowsiness over came her. She slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

"Agumon!" Brian yelled, not realizing what had happened to Hope. "Digivol—" he too was suddenly tackled and pinned to the ground. Dokugumon's venom swam through his veins as well and he slowly closed his eyes.

Distracted by his Tamer, Agumon also came under the affects of Dokugumon's poison. It wasn't long before Duane, Christina, Leomon, and Lekismon all were stung by the Dokugumon. Their paralyzed bodies were thrown into a pile where they were then covered in spider web. The Dokugumon dragged the Tamers and their digimon off into the forest.

Gabbie and Dobermon watched the whole thing from behind Jijimon and Babamon's window.

XXX

"We have to go do something, Gabbie," Dobermon was saying to her. The Dokugumon had long since gone and night had fallen, revealing the three bright moons in the sky.

"I know we do, Dobermon," she replied. "But how useful can we be? We cant digivolve at all and I'm afraid of spiders. We are useless to them." She fidgeted in her chair, knowing that staying and doing nothing was wrong. It ate away at her conscious.

Babamon walked in holding a tray that supported four cups of tea. She placed one in front of Gabbie and Dobermon each. Gabbie held hers, but didn't drink while Dobermon licked at it despite the heat from it. Babamon took nervous sips from hers and Jijimon angrily declared that he did not like tea.

"Get over it you big baby," They could hear Babamon tell her husband. They argued in the background while Gabbie and Dobermon discussed things more.

"Gabbie, we can't stay here and do nothing. You know as well as I do that they need somebody to help them, and we're all they have, useful or not."

"Its hopeless, isn't it?" she asked with a weak smile

"Yeah it probably is. Has that ever stopped us before? We were hunted down in Minnesota by digimon for weeks, transported to the Digital World where we were dragged into a war that wasn't ours, you were stabbed through the gut, and then we had to survive all by ourselves in the city. There, we were nearly destroyed by Machinedramon and then whisked away back to the Digital World to fight an unknown and faceless enemy who hunts us at every turn. Not to mention Billy who is always right on our heels. Our whole adventure together has been hopeless, Gabbie, but we shouldn't let that stop us."

He paused to let her think things over. "You're right," she decided. "Sitting here moping that we don't have a DigiBlade won't solve anything. We need to go into that forest and find our friends!"

Jijimon and Babamon stopped their arguing when they heard what she had said. "You can't be serious, child!" Babamon exclaimed.

"The forest is was too dangerous!" Jijimon agreed. "We wouldn't be good digimon if we just let you two wander off into there!"

"Especially knowing that there is a swarm of Dokugumon waiting for you!" Babamon added.

"Please," Gabbie pleaded. "We have to save our friends."

Her eyes locked with Babamon's for a moment and the digimon seemed to understand. She bowed her head in defeat and said, "Very well, child. If it's something that you absolutely must do, the do it."

Jijimon looked at her in shock. "You can't be serious, Babamon!"

"I am very serious. We cannot stop her. We don't have the right. Not when the lives of their friends are at risk."

Gabbie thanked her and she and Dobermon ran out of the house and into the forest beyond. This particular part of the forest was very dark, much darker than the area that they had camped in previously. Every now and then Gabbie could see a pair of eyes staring at her through the leaves before it disappeared.

She had walked for several hours and the forest just kept getting darker the deeper she went in. Soon, she started seeing spider webs draped over the trees and surrounding underbrush. It gave her the creeps and a shiver ran down her spine.

The webbing covering the trees grew thicker as she walked. Dobermon made a point to stay very close to his Tamer. "Another human enters the forest," a voice laughed. "Why does the prey enter so willingly into our abode?" Several Dokugumon stepped out of the shadows so that she could see them. A few more crawled down a strand of web from above.

"We're looking for somebody," Gabbie replied hesitantly, the fear rising in her chest and threatening to make her puke. Spiders were bad enough as it is when they're small. Dokugumon is a living nightmare. She stood strong, however, and didn't let her fear show on her face.

"Who? Maybe we can help," Another hissed.

"I don't think you can," Gabbie replied, her voice shaking a little. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

"Dokugumon!" a different voice yelled from back somewhere in the forest. "Why isn't anybody playing with me? I demand that somebody play with me right now!" The owner of the voice appeared and he looked angry.

"Hey," Dobermon said. "You're that digimon that was with Billy back on the other island!"

"Yeah? What of it? My name is Puppetmon," the large marionette said. "I'll let you live if you play with me!"

"I don't think we have any choice, Dobermon," Gabbie whispered.

"Well, do you have a plan?"

"I think so." She then said to Puppetmon, "How about we play tag? Have you ever played tag before?"

"Tag? What's that? Is it a videogame?" Puppetmon's curiosity had been piqued.

"It's a very easy, but very fun game to play." She took a few steps towards Puppetmon and said, "Let me show you how."

The Dokugumon closed in around her immediately. "Let her through! Let her through!" Puppetmon yelled. "I want her to show me how to play tag! Show me now!"

The Dokugumon dispersed and allowed her to approach Puppetmon. "It goes kinda like this: One person is 'it' and whoever is it has to chase the other two around. If the it person tags you," she demonstrated by pushed her hand lightly against Puppetmon, "then that person becomes it and has to chase everybody else."

"That sounds like fun!" Puppetmon said eagerly. "Who wins?"

"Nobody wins. Its just fun."

"Whoever is it is losing! That's what I just decided!" Puppetmon told them. "You can be it first!" He pointed at Gabbie. He then ran away and Gabbie started chasing him. Dobermon followed suit and quickly managed to get in front of Gabbie so that she was chasing both digimon.

Puppetmon laughed the whole time that she chased them. Gabbie finally managed to catch up to Dobermon and tag him. "Dobermon is it!" Gabbie cried. "Keep Puppetmon distracted while I search around for the others, okay?" Dobermon nodded and ran after Puppetmon.

Gabbie ran away in search of her friends while Dobermon tried to tag Puppetmon. Being much faster and more agile than the marionette, Dobermon tagged him very easily. "No fair!" he yelled. "You must have cheated! I want a do-over!"

"I tagged you fair and square!" Dobermon defended himself. While they argued, Gabbie had finally caught a glimpse of her friends. They were being held in the air in a net of web. All of them were awake and they were struggling to get free, but their efforts did nothing to break the webbing.

"Fine! I'll be it for a little while! But only for a little while!" Puppetmon told him. He then began to run at Dobermon who easily evaded and ran towards where Gabbie stood. She then joined back into the game and they were running in circles around Puppetmon. He tried to run after them but he wasn't a fast enough runner to catch either of them. "I want you guys to stop cheating!" he yelled.

He snapped his fingers and two Dokugumon shot their webs and Gabbie and Dobermon's legs, tripping them up. Puppetmon casually walked over to Gabbie and tagged her. "There! I win and you lose!"

"I told you before, it isn't about winning." Gabbie sat up and tried to pry the web off her feet. One of the Dokugumon, much to her distaste, came over and took it off for her. So, only the Dokugumon can remove the web, Gabbie mentally noted, that means I'm going to have to trick them to get my friends down.

"I'm tired of this game," Puppetmon complained. "Play a new one with me!"

Gabbie suddenly got another idea. "Have you ever played soccer?"

"No, I haven't," Puppetmon said.

"Well, this one is a team sport. We need at least five players each."

"I can use the Woodmon, but who would be on your team?"

"Well, I saw some humans back there. Could they be on my team?" Gabbie asked hopefully.

"I know what you're doing!" Puppetmon accused. "Those humans are your friends! And you guys will all escape and leave me the moment you can! I won't let you leave me! You will all be my friends forever!"

The Dokugumon webbed Gabbie and Dobermon more and dragged them off into the forest. They were then hoisted into the air and placed next to the others.

"So they got you too, eh?" Duane asked when the Dokugumon left.

"Yeah," Gabbie replied.

"Okay, so what are we going to do?" Brian asked.

"It doesn't matter," Hope said. "Nothing can break through these webs."

"The Dokugumon can break the webs," Gabbie informed them. "I watched them do it earlier."

"That's a great idea, Gabbie," Christina said. "We'll just ask the nice one that we met to break us free."

"Don't be mean, Stina," Duane told her. "She's just helping. The more information we have, then the easier it is to devise a plan."

"Well, devise no longer! I have a plan!" Gabbie told them.

"Still?" Dobermon asked.

"Yeah. It's the same plan, just altered a little. Let me take care of things. Hey Puppetmon!" she yelled. "Don't you still want to play a game?"

"Leave me alone! You'll just cheat again!" Puppetmon yelled back.

"No I won't! I promise! I just want to play soccer with you! Please?"

"How do I know that you won't leave me like everybody else does?"

"Because you can keep our digimon tied up! We won't leave without them. I promise!"

Puppetmon thought about it for a moment. "Very well! I'll trust you for now!" he spoke with the Dokugumon for a second and they were quickly cut down.

The humans were put safely back down on the ground but the digimon had to remain in the web netting. Gabbie quickly went over the rules of soccer. After she was done, a space was cleared and a ball was brought out. Puppetmon used four Woodmon as his players, and the five humans made up the other team.

They all played together for a little while and Puppetmon seemed to be having a good time. "Okay," Brian said. "When do we make our move, Gabbie?"

"No doubt that Puppetmon will start to get bored soon. When that happens, somebody has to challenge him to a bet. If we win, then we get to go free. Unfortunately, I think that the only way he'll agree to that is if we promise to stay and be his friends forever."

"Okay," Brian said. "I'll offer the bet then." They broke huddle and Brian spoke to Puppetmon. "What do you say that we make a little wager?"

"What kind of a wager?" Puppetmon asked curiously.

"We play one more game of soccer. If we humans win, then you let us and our digimon go free."

"And you humans lose?"

"We stay and be your friends forever. Willingly." Brian tried not to think about that possibility too much.

Puppetmon thought for a moment. He clearly thought that it was a trick of some sort, "I agree. But, I want to change the game a little bit! I want to make it more interesting!"

The group was instantly afraid of the word 'interesting'.