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Ackbarfan5556: You don't have to wait anymore now ;-) Go ahead and play that music to your heart's content.

Music Chick: Who doesn't love a part with Gomamon in it? You'll find out in just a moment.

Thank you to Malorn FairyTail for favoriting and following the story.

Good day, all, and welcome to the next chapter of this story. Hope you all had a fantastic New Year and are planning on making 2019 the best year it can be. I certainly know that I am because not only am I going to be graduating college, going to Japan, going to grad school, but I will also be doing the sequel story to this one at some point this year.

I also want to welcome 4fireking for helping me with the story. He has guest written several parts in this chapter and did a heck of a job with it.

Anyway, let's get back to the story. Who is it that has come to save the children?

The Destined Jedi gasped upon hearing the familiar voice. It had been a while since they last heard it, but it was music to their ears. They opened their eyes to see Gennai standing in front of them with a wide grin.

"Gennai!" they exclaimed.

"You kids run away from here," the old man instructed as the Dark Masters began to get up. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can."

"Let us help you," said Matt. "We can destroy them together."

"Yeah," TK agreed. "You shouldn't fight them all by yourself, Gennai. They're the toughest bad guys we've faced yet."

"No, you're not strong enough to destroy them," Gennai shook his head stubbornly. "I'm doing this to protect you. Get out of here!"

"Why can't you understand, Gennai? We want to help you." Tai growled as he took fistfuls of his hair in frustration.

The old man turned away from them to gaze at the four large Digimon staring him down. He knew that this was where it would end, but he was going to give the children the best chance at escaping as he could.

"Don't worry about me, my young friends," he said, not daring to look back. "This old dog has a few new tricks up his sleeve. Go! Now!"

As much as the group did not want to run and leave Gennai alone to face the Dark Masters, they trusted his judgment. After all, it was because of him that they learned about their destiny as the Destined Jedi, and he taught them everything that they needed to know to survive. They would be lost without him.

"Come on, gang! Let's go!" Tai ordered.

"But, Tai," Matt began to protest, but was quickly shot down by their leader.

"No time to argue with him, Matt."

The Destined Jedi ran for the nearest tunnel out of the theater. Once they were under the cover of shadows, they stopped at the far end to watch the duel.

With the children gone, Gennai held his saber defensively in a Soresu stance.

"Well, look who finally decided to reveal himself at long last," Piedmon chuckled as his twin red lightsabers activated. Puppetmon activated his lightsaber as well. "It has been a long time, Gennai."

"That it has, Piedmon," the old man returned as the two sides eyed each other in anticipation. "You will not get away from me this time."

The clown laughed heartily, like he had just been told the funniest joke in history. "The years have not been kind to you, old man. It is you who will not get away from us."

Rather than wait for an order to attack, MetalSeadramon went right for Gennai like a heat-seeking missile. Despite his old age, Gennai jumped high into the air to avoid the oncoming assault. MetalSeadramon's face collided with the ground, creating large skid marks in the dirt.

Gennai landed harmlessly on the sea serpent's long body and ran along it. He slashed his back along the way, earning loud cries from MetalSeadramon every time he did so. It had been a long time since he was in battle, but he felt twenty years younger than he was. It was like riding a bicycle.

Puppetmon stood at the end of MetalSeadramon's tail to meet Gennai head on. The two exchanged a few strikes before locking their sabers against each other. Gennai winked at the puppet with a mischievous grin, distracting him enough to kick him in the chest. As Puppetmon recuperated from the blow, Gennai used the Force to send him into a column.

The Destined Jedi watched in awe as they watched Gennai do all sorts of tricks and flips as the Dark Masters surrounded him to try and land an attack. They were surprised at how agile he was and how fluidly he moved from one attack to the next.

"Wow," Tai breathed.

"He's amazing," Matt nodded in agreement.

Machinedramon blasted two shots from the cannons on his back towards Gennai. The old man was quick to react, using the Force to halt them in mid-air before sending them right back. The machine Digimon roared in pain as the blasts hit him. The only Dark Master left standing was Piedmon.

The clown did not give Gennai a chance to rest as the two locked sabers right away. He was stronger between the two of them, but Gennai was as quick as a mouse and hard to catch. It only frustrated Piedmon further when his opponent would launch an attack and then back away.

"Stop running!" Piedmon roared as Gennai dodged an attack. "Your power has grown weaker, old man. Just surrender already."

Gennai chuckled. "Now why would I do that? I'm just getting started."

The two re-engaged. Piedmon struck with his right lightsaber while keeping his left one locked to his thigh so he could strike underneath. He was waiting for Gennai to do something other than blocking so he could strike underneath him. Gennai finally pushed back, his adrenaline rushing with the power of the Force, and Piedmon jabbed right for his torso.

Gennai leaped over the clown the moment Piedmon made his jab. Now he hovered above Piedmon until he used the Force to help him fall slowly back down.

Their battle encircled the entire coliseum in a blur of red and blue. Whenever Piedmon would gain the upper hand, Gennai found a way to escape before much damage could be done. They once again found their way to the floor of the arena, staring each other down.

Gennai panted in exhaustion after dodging Piedmon once again. He couldn't keep this up for much longer. He wasn't as young as he used to be, making this much harder on him than it would have.

"Face it, you're losing energy fast," Piedmon taunted, sneering evily at the old man. "You cannot keep this fight up any longer, Gennai. It's time that I did what I should have done a long time ago and destroy you."

Hidden in his sleeve were many knives, all serrated and lethally sharp. He deactivated his left lightsaber, a proud smirk on his callous face, before he let the knives fly in a quick throw.

Gennai could hardly see all the knives. He blocked three of them with three swings of his lightsaber, but a fourth one landed in his shoulder, splotching his shirt with digital blue code dwelling inside him.

"You never had much strength in both those arms; now you only have one to protect you," Piedmon laughed wickedly. "I can cleave you in half with your lightsaber locked in place. Any last words?"

Gennai looked back at the group of children watching the battle with nervous anticipation. A smile began to grace his features. He knew he couldn't win, that was obvious at this point, but if he could give the Destined Jedi a chance to escape, then they would live to continue the struggle against the Dark Masters in his place.

He centered himself in the Force, ready for what he was about to do next, before finally addressing Piedmon.

"You may destroy me now," he said. "But the cause I fight for will go on. So long as the Destined Jedi fight for the balance of the Digital World, I will never truly be gone."

Piedmon's sneer widened as he tightened his grip on his sabers.

"Then goodbye, Gennai!" Piedmon dashed towards Gennai with only his right lightsaber activated until his horrid breath touched the old man's beard. With one last evil laugh, he activated his left lightsaber and cut through Gennai. All that was left of him were his cloak and lightsaber.

The Destined Jedi screamed in horror. Mimi started to cry, as did TK and Kari, Joe looked like he had just seen a plane crash and burst into flames in front of him. The others stood completely in a daze, not wanting to believe what they just saw. Gennai was dead.

"NO! GENNAI!" Matt screamed, his body becoming numb as the Dark Masters set their sights on the children. Piedmon had picked up Gennai's saber and hooked it onto his waist.

"You want to be next? Well, that can be done," said the clown as all four Digimon darted for them.

The others began to run, but Matt stood permanently locked in place.

"Matt, come on!" Tai yelled. "We have to go!"

The boy didn't seem to hear him because he did not make any sort of movement. He had practically become a statue at this point. Tai ran quickly over to him, grabbing him around the torso.

"No! Let me go!" the blonde cried as Tai moved him away.

"Matt, it's too late!" Tai growled harshly. "There's nothing we can do right now. If we stay here, we're all dead! Come on!"

Reluctantly, Matt followed Tai's order as the two Jedi used their enhanced speed to catch back up to the others. The Dark Masters followed right behind them, only urging the Jedi to move faster.

Finally, Piedmon halted his comrades with a chop of his arm, ceasing their chase as their prey ran further into the desert.

"Why'd you stop?" Puppetmon complained, miffed that their chance to destroy the Jedi was ruined. "We could have destroyed them!"

"Good things come to those who wait, Puppetmon," Piedmon placated the puppet. "We'll just have to pick them off one at a time. Gentlemen, the time has come for you all to showcase your talents. MetalSeadramon, you're up first."

"Thank you, Lord Piedmon," the sea serpent nodded graciously before burrowing his way into the ground.

The Destined Jedi did not stop running until they were absolutely sure that the Dark Masters were not chasing them. Despite their heavy hearts, they pressed on and on until finally reaching a beach. The sight of the ocean and hearing the crashing of waves helped set them at ease only temporarily.

Everyone was heartbroken and distraught. TK and Mimi were dripping with tears while their eyelids trembled in fear. Mimi's hands shook, and TK's sheens were soaked with tears. It took Kari to help TK and Sora to help Mimi.

Mimi sobbed loudly into Sora's shoulder as the girl comforted her. Joe and Izzy gazed down at the sand with forlorn looks, while Matt looked out at the sea. Tears cascaded down his face, unable to believe that Gennai was dead. It felt like a piece of his heart had been ripped out, torn up, and spit out. They wouldn't have gotten this far without Gennai's help - the Force was his strength, and through all the prejudice of his age, he was still a great Jedi - now he was dead because a semi-white and black faced clown killed him.

Tai wiped away tears that were welling up in his eyes and checked on TK and Kari, asking if they were okay. They nodded silently before he patted them on their backs comfortingly. He then turned to look at Matt.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

The blonde-haired boy didn't turn to look Tai in the eyes. The only thing he could hear were sniffles coming from Matt.

"Matt?"

"I can't believe he's gone," Matt finally croaked out.

"There wasn't anything we could have done," Tai patted him on the shoulder. "Gennai did what he thought was right and that's that. We have to focus on destroying the Dark Masters."

Matt ignored him, continuing to stare out at the waves crashing onto the shore.

Tai could see that it was a waste of time trying to get through to him, so he went back to the others. Joe and Izzy seemed like they were slowly pulling themselves together, as was everyone else. Mimi had stopped crying by now, but still had tears in her eyes.

"What do we do now, Tai?" Sora asked, her heart heavy with sadness.

The brown-haired leader felt everyone's eyes gazing upon him expectantly. Without Gennai, they would have to figure things out for themselves so that they could defeat the Dark Masters. The weight of the world seemed to be pressing down on his shoulders.

Finally, he said, "I know we're all in rough shape, but we have to keep moving. Gennai wouldn't want us to be sitting here moping around while the world is in danger; he'd want us to be together and fight. He will not have died for nothing, I can promise you that. Let's get going."

"None of this should have happened!" Matt growled as everyone reluctantly picked themselves up. "Let's stop and rest for a bit. We all need more time to mourn."

"If we did that, the Dark Masters would find and kill us in no time," Tai shot back. "We need to find a safer place to hide."

"Not everyone has ice running through their veins like you do, Tai!" shouted Matt, getting into Tai's face. "In case you've forgotten, without Gennai, we would be nowhere! We certainly wouldn't be who we are now!"

"I haven't forgotten! I know that Gennai meant a lot to you Matt, but you heard what he said. He believes in us and believes that we can destroy the Dark Masters. He wouldn't want us to be sitting around like this."

"What do you know?"

"What do you know?" Tai fired. "Gennai is dead, Matt. Deal with it! Now are you going to follow us or stay here and wait for the Dark Masters to come find you?"

The glare never left Matt's face as he and Tai eyed each other for several moments. The tension was so palpable that everyone nervously waited for something to happen.

Finally, the blonde's face eased and he reluctantly nodded.

"Fine," he relented. "You're the boss, Tai. Lead us on."

Tai smiled as he nodded back, happy that Matt saw things his way. Everyone soon began making their way down the shoreline to find a good hiding place where the Dark Masters would not find them.

Matt wished he never agreed to let Tai be the leader after hearing the way he ordered him around like that. He suppressed his anger as they walked since anger leads to the dark side, and falling into it would be a scathe on Gennai's name.

The eight Destined Jedi continued walking along the beach until they saw two converging islands that seemed to remind them how they were on their first steps to getting home again. This time, they knew what their mission was: Destroy the Dark Masters.

Izzy sensed it; a familiar life form deep in the water was coming towards them. His sense erupted with flaring energy as the gold snout serpentine Digimon, MetalSeadramon, appeared from the water. He was gigantic as islands with ocean water raining down from his scales.

"Everyone, quick! Use the Force to move something to camouflage yourself!" Izzy shouted, the desperation of saving them in his voice.

Tai and Matt looked like knights in bloody war when they raised their hands out. The change in their attitude changed how the Force connected with them. Kari, in all the excitement, stumbled to the ground. She was new to using her Jedi powers, so it tired her out very easily. Tai only glared at Matt over their not-so-neutral friendship and Gennai's death. The blonde returned the gesture.

Trees moved, rocks rolled towards the Jedi, and Mimi even made sure the grass patches under the trees were moving. Their efforts ended up being pointless because MetalSeadramon saw right through their hiding places.

"You won't escape from Lord Piedmon or me, Destined Jedi," he snickered wickedly.

MetalSeadramon took a breath in, and then breathed out. He raised his tail out of the water. Fused on his tail fin was a giant lightsaber blade rounded into the shape of a leaf. Without a second to waste, he dove right for the Jedi. This was where he finished them for good.

The kids ducked down as MetalSeadramon swiped his lightsaber blade across the hiding places they were behind. They were now completely exposed to the serpentine Digimon with nowhere else to run.

They all activated their lightsabers as MetalSeadramon made another pass.

"Here he comes!" Tai cried as they deflected away his lightsaber strikes. MetalSeadramon was relentless and launched a blast of teal energy from his snout. Aside from a few trees being sliced down, the Jedi were completely unharmed.

Knowing that they couldn't fight like this, they broke away towards the trees behind them. They hoped to force MetalSeadramon to choose whom he went after so that the other group could launch a counteroffensive.

"If you think splitting up is going to work against me, you're wrong," the sea serpent roared, his laughter echoing across the land. "It's useless to resist, Destined Jedi. The time has come for you to be destroyed!"

Energy began to charge up in his nose, his sights set directly on where he knew the children were hiding. But before he could release it, a sharp pain, like a shark grazing him, ripped through his tail. He grunted in pain as he looked underneath him to see the source of it.

Leomon had sunk his lightsaber into the serpent's tail as he held on desperately to his saber. He had sensed that the Destined Jedi had returned, so he came to help them in any way he could.

Although MetalSeadramon couldn't pry the lightsaber or Leomon off by thrashing his tail, he was still gifted with very sharp teeth the size of great white shark's. He was feeling ravenously hungry, even for a fuzzball like Leomon.

He swung his tail up over his head and leaped up, ready to have Leomon lynched off. The lion warrior was steadfast and used the Force to push MetalSeadramon down to the ground. The serpent hit the ground with a loud thud, sending dirt and sand into the air. Leomon landed softly on the sand.

"Leomon," MetalSeadramon hissed with contempt.

"MetalSeadramon," the lion returned with a growl.

The Destined Jedi snuck glances out from behind their hiding places to see what was going on. They had anticipated MetalSeadramon's attack, but it never came. They gasped excitedly to see Leomon after going so long without seeing him.

"Leomon!" Tai called.

The lion man glanced over at the group of children. He flashed them a smile and a nod.

"How's it going, kids?" he greeted. "Been a long time. Now, watch as I destroy this overgrown sea lizard."

Without another word, he and MetalSeadramon leapt into the air to meet each other head on. MetalSeadramon opened his mouth wide to try and snatch Leomon into his jaws, but the lion was quick and bounced off of his nose. The taste of blood filled MetalSeadramon's mouth as he bit his tongue, trying to find where Leomon was.

MetalSeadramon grinned as he felt footsteps on his back.

'There you are.'

With one buck of his rear end, the sea serpent sent Leomon flying down to the ground.

"Let's get in there, guys!" Tai cried as he and the others activated their lightsabers. They rushed out from the brush, giving loud war cries as they engaged the Dark Master of the Sea.

MetalSeadramon turned his attention away from Leomon and onto the group of children instead. With one swipe of his tail, he unleashed a powerful wind that threatened to blow the Destined Jedi away. The children held firm until the wind died down, but they were quick to realize that it was merely a distraction.

"Now I've got you!" MetalSeadramon snickered sadistically as he aimed the lightsaber blade on his tail right for Tai.

"Watch out, Tai!" Kari cried as the blade moved mere inches away from her brother's chest. There wasn't enough time for him to react to it.

Tai closed his eyes as he prepared for the inevitable. Someone then dashed in front of him and took the attack instead. A dying gasp rang out along the beach as the lightsaber plunged into the figure's chest. Everyone gasped.

Tai slowly lifted his eyelids to see who had taken the blow for him. A red lightsaber stared him directly in the face…right through Leomon's chest. He flinched in disbelief. He could feel his eyes burning red on the outlines from how the shock caused his eyes to widen.

"Next time, don't get in my way," MetalSeadramon hissed victoriously as he pulled his tail back, dislodging the saber from the lion's chest. Leomon fell back to the ground with a thud.

"LEOMON!" Mimi and TK screamed in horror, unable to bear the thought of losing another friend to the Dark Masters.

"With him out of the way now, it is time for you all to die!" MetalSeadramon growled as he once again darted for Tai, his jaws opened wide.

But Tai was ready for the attack. He sidestepped MetalSeadramon at the last second, causing the serpent to literally eat dirt. He spat it back out to have another go at Tai, but the boy was quick and dodged the attack.

This continued several times. The other Destined Jedi felt like they were watching a game of whack-a-mole the way that Tai would dodge and then come back in a different place. The leader eventually started teasing MetalSeadramon.

"Over here! Over here!" he cried in a singsong voice, blowing a raspberry at the sea serpent. "Bet you can't catch me!"

MetalSeadramon growled as his frustration grew. He was the lord of the sea, and yet here he was playing childish games. It was time to end this now. He kept his focus as he made another dash for Tai. Anticipating that he would dodge, MetalSeadramon had his tail ready to strike the Jedi if his primary attack didn't work.

The sound of lightsaber meeting flesh filled the air.

Whose attack landed? Find out on the next Destined Jedi.

To make up for the fact I did not introduce Whamon in the story, I decided to speed up when Leomon would die due to not having Etemon (and MetalEtemon by extension) in the story. Anyways, two deaths in one chapter. How much sadder can this get?

Be sure to leave a review and subscribe because things are about to take a turn for the worse for the Destined Jedi. Stay tuned, and I will see you guys next week.