Digimon Adventure 08: Vaccine

by YukiraKing

Moments after the finale of 'Digimon Adventure 07: Virus' the core group of characters are faced with internal struggles of coping with the horrors they have finally escaped from. For some, the nightmare continues, and for others it is impossible to forget, but they will have to work together to move forward and face their newest and final foe.

38. Digi See?

Y/N: This was an interesting arc to work on. We'd thought of it as being a good way to move the story along. And it was nice to get a chance to use some narrators that we'd only gotten to use the one time up until now. I got to be Veemon again, and it was definitely fun to go back to writing as him, and just to see how much he might've changed-if at all-as a narrator, now that he's older, and his and Daisuke's family has grown. I got the chance to do the same with Agumon as well. It was hard for a long time in the past for me to make Veemon and Agumon different enough, since I focused so much on Taichi and Daisuke, but I'm satisfied with their differences now. I hope you all are too. :D

U/N: So this is the start of the digimon arc. Sometimes we like to shake it up and switch over to the digimon's perspective, and it's always nice to see what they're up to. Especially since every time the worlds split we jump through time and then flashback to what happened with the humans. The digimon have lives too, so this time we thought it would be fun to write the digimon's story, since it's more important anyway (though you will see the human story too, don't worry). We considered writing each other's characters for a kind of middle arc because we thought it would be interesting to see how well we could swap them over, but instead we chose this. So here I'm Gomamon. I tried to get into his personality, but he's so different from Joe it was a bit hard.

Title: Digimon Adventure 08: Vaccine

By: YukiraKing and UrazamayKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Part 3: Digi-Interlude (Part 3)

Chapter 38: Digi See?

Veemon:

Two months. I'd been without Daisuke for two months. I wondered if Haruki could crawl yet, and then I shook my head. I couldn't keep doing that to myself. I had a business to run. I had to beat Daisuke. He challenged me, and I was a winner. I was going to beat him.

Tapirmon and Tentomon had to help Taichi figure out Kiyoko's custom built program so that they could start actually building the towns Taichi had wanted. It was slow going, because they still weren't experts, but two towns had been built, and I made sure to stake my claim and put a noodle cart in each one. I actually had two carts in each, because they were quite big, and I wanted to make sure that my fellow Veemon were capable of producing enough noodles for the digimon that chose to live there. I added an additional cart to the Temple, where mine was, and that brought my total to six. We weren't doing quite as well as I'd hoped, but there weren't all that many digimon living in the new towns yet, and there were still some stragglers in the Coliseum.

I would beat Daisuke.

I wondered momentarily how Daisuke expected to know who won, since we would never see each other again, and I decided that thought was too sad to waste any time on. I was a business owner—well Daisuke and I were co-owners, even though the worlds separated us—and I was far too busy to worry about such sad thoughts. Maybe once I was really settled into a routine, I could think about Daisuke, and hopefully by then, it won't hurt so much. As it was though, I was much too busy. I had to hire a part-time employee—a Veemon, of course, because I had to support my long lost colony—to take my place some days, as I was an active member of the Knights, and we were under the new leadership of Agumon and Gabumon, now that Neo was gone.

Sometimes I found it hard to follow their orders, because we were friends and we were all crest holders, but they didn't mind too much. I didn't think they were used to having so much control and pressure on their shoulders just yet. They had to take turns running the Knights anyway, since they were both on the Council too. It was really difficult juggling everything we needed to do. Taichi had also given us back the jobs we'd had before the Digidestined had come back the last time we'd been separated forever. Palmon and Lalamon were watching over the forest, and Tentomon was guardian for the insects with Wormmon, but also the robotic digimon with Cyberdramon helping him this time. It was all very confusing, and time consuming.

Eventually, we'd revel in the fact that we had so much to do. It kept our minds off of our missing partners. It was hard for me to have any free time. I didn't know what to do with myself if I didn't have a job to work on. I would just wallow in self-pity, and that wasn't helping anyone. Not even me. Sometimes, DemiVeemon wanted me to tell him stories about Haruki, and that was hard to do. But I liked talking about Haruki. When I told the stories, it made it easier to remember them. I told a couple of the stories a lot of times, because they were my favourites and I never wanted to forget them. DemiVeemon didn't complain when I said the same ones over again. He liked them too.

Days when the Knights went out to patrol were the best. I could leave the noodle carts behind—with Labramon and the other Veemon to run them, of course—and the memories of Daisuke that they carried, and head out into the world hunting for bad guys. Just the one bad guy really. It was just Maugrim we were looking for. I wasn't even sure he was actually in the Digital World, but Evelen was sure, and since she was his daughter, I figured she'd probably know.

We hadn't found him yet though, so I was starting to seriously doubt that it was true.

Andromon was walking with Centarumon, as they always did, at the back of the pack. Kotemon was with Dorumon and Wizardmon at the front. Evelen was walking with Dracomon right at her side, and I was on her other side, walking with Terriermon and Lopmon. Warg and Melga were fighting over who got to be beside Dracomon. They were always fighting, so it wasn't too surprising. They never really fought though. There was no bloodshed, and there were no real arguments. That was nice. I didn't want to have to step in between them. It wouldn't be very fun.

Agumon was with Dorumon, talking away about Yuuko, even though it was a sore subject with Dorumon. No one except Agumon, Gatomon and Taichi were allowed to even mention her name. He snapped at them, because it hurt to talk about her, but at the same time, those three lived with her, and Dorumon never had, so he was always eager to learn more about his partner through them, since he couldn't do it on his own anymore. Similarly, Wizardmon liked to talk to Gabumon, and to a lesser extent Patamon about Hiroaki, and Centarumon talked to Biyomon about Haruhiko. Tentomon was asked about Masami and Yoshie by Andromon and Digitamamon, and Kotemon and Armadillomon had little conversations about Chikara, remembering times when he was alive. I knew Unimon hardly talked at all, but Gomamon was always willing to share Jou's stories about Isao, when he was asked for them.

Coronamon, Lunamon and Minervamon had left soon after their partners had gone back to Earth and the gates were sealed. They decided to go and reunite with the rest of Olympos XII. They needed to tell them that Ceresmon was never coming. I felt really bad that Lalamon and Tapirmon would never get the chance to feel a fusion. It was an amazing feeling, being only half of a whole, and working in perfect harmony with not only our human partners, but a friend as well. That's how it felt being fused with Wormmon anyway. It felt that way for both Jogress and DNA digivolving. We'd done both together, and it was a pretty similar feeling. The only difference really was what we became depending on which fusing technique we were using. But they wouldn't get to experience it, and it was sad.

I didn't rub it in their face though, because that would be really rude and just not nice at all. I was trying to be nice and humble, because Daisuke wasn't there to keep me in check, and I hoped he was trying extra hard to do the same on Earth, now that I wasn't there to watch over his pride levels. It was harder than I expected it to be. I'd always been much better at it than Daisuke, but now that I had an entire colony of Veemon bragging about all of my past exploits, and practically worshiping the ground that I walked on—because I was some legendary hero that they learned about from Rei or something—it was a whole lot harder to keep my head on straight. It would be so easy to just let them praise me and to just bask in the glory they were providing me with. But I couldn't do that. Not only was it against the crest that I was carrying within my heart, but it just wasn't true. I couldn't have accomplished anything without Daisuke, and we couldn't have done half those things without having our friends around to back us up. I tried to point things like that out to the other Veemon, but they were too pigheaded, and they didn't want to listen.

There was only so much that I could do before I got tired of repeating myself.

I just had to ignore their praise, and not let it get to me. That was another reason why scouting with the Knights was quickly becoming one of my favourite activities. Everyone in the Knights were amazing fighters, and really good people, so it made it easier to realize that I had a long way to go in order to be the best I could be.

"And you're sure you have no idea where to look?" Dracomon asked Evelen. His voice was whiny, and it was getting kind of annoying, but I could also understand his frustration. We'd been looking for ages to find Maugrim, and we hadn't found any signs of him at all.

"No," Evelen said, sounding exhausted. She was probably more tired from the walking than she was from repeating herself, but it was a pretty close race.

"He's here though?" I asked, feeling guilty for annoying her, but needing to clarify once again, just to be sure.

"I wouldn't have stayed here if he wasn't," Evelen said. "I gave up everything to stop him. I didn't make that decision lightly. He's here. I know he is."

"Okay," I said. I still didn't quite believe her, but there wasn't anything I could really do about it. I wouldn't believe her until we found Maugrim while we were patrolling—or when we weren't. I wasn't picky. I just wanted to have actual proof.

"It was pretty brave," Warg said, fiddling with the bowtie around his neck. Hideto had sent them, and he was very excited that Melga wasn't the only one with an accessory now.

"Yeah," Melga said. "If we didn't have to come, we never would have done it."

"I want to be on Earth still," Warg added, seemingly embarrassed by his confession. "I don't like the Digital World."

"What's not to like?" Evelen said, wryly. She didn't have a real home yet, and she didn't have a lot of friends either. She refused Rei's offers of living with her and Taichi, and she didn't seem interested in going to Neverland with Ryou, whenever he got around to making that journey. She was just wandering, dedicating her entire existence to finding her father, and taking him captive.

"It's not so bad," Dracomon insisted. "It's not as good as Neo's house. But it's still good."

"I don't think so," Warg said, shaking his head.

"But we weren't born here," Melga added, defensively. "We were created by Spring on Earth, so this isn't our home. We're just not used to it."

"I'm never getting used to it," Warg said, crinkling his nose.

"This was my home for ages before I met Ryou, and I met him before I met Daisuke," I told them. "I'm an ancient digimon though…and I don't remember actually being taken from Witchenly when the worlds were all one. But the other Veemon tell me that's what happened. They think the people of Pangaea took the egg I was in, and then brought that home with them. I must've been in an egg when the digimon were cast off of Earth too, because I don't remember that part."

"You're old," Dracomon told me flatly.

"And you're rude," I said, crossing my arms. I wasn't too upset, but no one liked being called old. That just wasn't a fun thing. I didn't look nearly as old as I was. I looked really good for my age. Babamon was old. She looked it too. But I didn't. So there.

"Don't fight," Lopmon pleaded, sounding miserable.

Terriermon held tightly to his sister's hand, and the two of them let their ears drag on the ground. They'd been acting like that since they pushed Willis back through the gate when Willis had meant to stay behind.

The gate closed, and Palmon let out a horrible wail, as the path between worlds was sealed, blocking us from our partners for the rest of eternity. My heart cried out, but I stayed quiet. My throat was closed off with all of my welled up emotions, and I couldn't make a sound even if I'd wanted to. Daisuke was gone. He was gone and I'd never see him again. I wouldn't know my partner's fate, and I wouldn't know Haruki's either.

"The Zeta curse," Labramon murmured miserably at my side. "They won't forget about it, will they?" I shook my head. Of course they wouldn't. They weren't stupid. That curse had plagued Kurayami's family since Yggdrasil created Zeta in the first place. They wouldn't risk having a second child if it meant that Haruki would be in danger.

I had to believe that they wouldn't be so stupid.

"Without the darkness, there's no protection against it," Labramon cried. I shuddered at the thought. Haruki would be fine. He had to be. Daisuke and Kurayami would never survive losing him. Everyone else would make sure they remembered it, even if they themselves forgot, even for a second. Sora would for sure, anyway. She was attached to Haruki almost as much as Daisuke and Kurayami were. And Takeru too.

"MIMI!" Palmon cried, drowning out any attempts I'd made at comforting Labramon. No words would come from my mouth, so he wouldn't have understood me anyway. Tentomon landed on the ground next to the sobbing Palmon and did his best to offer her comfort, even if he physically had difficulty hugging her. He tried, and Palmon accepted his attempts by clinging to him.

Ryou was on the ground, having collapsed when the weight of his decision crashed down on him. When those gates closed, he lost any chance of seeing his family again, and lost what little remained of the life he'd had before the time travel occurred. Cyberdramon did not know how to comfort him, but Rei was doing her best. She was curled up with him on the ground, crying her eyes out, because Neo was gone now. She wouldn't get to see her brother or any of her friends. She cried out Katsue's name miserably, as she realized in the flurry of goodbyes that she forgot to say goodbye to her best friend.

"Why did we do that?" Lopmon cried out aghast. "Why would we do that to him?"

"Because he's got a life to live," Terriermon said firmly, though he too looked rather distraught.

"He hates us now," Lopmon said, bursting into tears. "He didn't want that. We made him be without us, and he didn't want that."

"I know," Terriermon said. "But he needed to. We can survive without him, because we've got each other. But Mrs Mary can't survive without Willis, and Willis loves Mari."

"Michael will be very happy," Betamon offered.

"But Willis will hate us forever," Lopmon concluded. "He hates us, because we're mean."

"I miss him already," Terriermon cried, and the two clung to one another. Betamon moved closer and closer, until they included him in their hugging. Soon everyone was hugging someone. Goblimon had Armadillomon. Hawkmon and Wormmon were hugging Poromon. Gatomon and Wizardmon were hugging, and so were Gabumon and Patamon. Biyomon was holding on to Taichi, showing no signs of loosening her grip, and Taichi really didn't look like he minded. Warg, Melga, Lalamon and Tapirmon were all clinging to each other, and Dracomon ran down from the Council rooms, nearly falling down the steps to join them.

"Where's Neo?" he asked, looking around desperately.

"They're gone," I said. "They're all gone. Forever."

Dracomon had not been pleased to have missed Neo's departure, but he refused to let anyone rain on his parade. Neo had told him that he would find a way to get back into the Digital World. And Dracomon believed him. I knew that Neo didn't lie on principle, but I couldn't see how claiming to be able to do the impossible would work out for him. That was probably the first lie he'd ever told Dracomon, and while it seemed sweet, it was actually pretty cruel, because Dracomon waited outside each night, counting the stars and telling them all about how Neo was coming back for him, and how Neo was probably already working on doing just that.

"Couldn't your dad just jump out of a bush and announce himself?" Warg whined. "I want to go back to the Temple. I don't want to be out here running around anymore."

"It doesn't really feel like we're doing anything productive," Melga added. "We're just wasting our time."

"I really hope not," Evelen said. "But we've got a lot of time now. It's not such a big deal to waste a bit of it, right? We're going to be trapped here."

"Only until Neo comes to get us," Dracomon supplied.

"But we don't know how long that'll take," Evelen said, letting him continue on with his delusion. I wondered then, if she had fallen for it as well. Did she truly believe that Neo was capable of breaking the barriers that Taichi had put in place?

"It took a really long time last time," Warg added. "Remember?"

"And Sigma had to do it," Melga pointed out. "Sigma's not around anymore, so Neo's gonna have to figure it out without him."

"Kiyoko's real smart," Dracomon insisted.

"Willis is too," Lopmon said, sounding a little bit happier than she'd been since they'd betrayed Willis. Terriermon nodded eagerly.

"And Koushiro," I added, begrudgingly.

"So it'll be fast," Dracomon said happily. "Forever won't be too long after all."

"I hope not," Evelen sighed. "But I'm willing to wait. I'll wait however long it takes, because I'm going to find my dad first, even if I can leave."

"It's really hard to be away from Willis," Terriermon said. "If he was here, we'd probably have found Maugrim by now." That didn't make much sense to me, but I supposed it had something to do with motivation, rather than Willis giving them some sort of magical tracking abilities.

"It can't be that bad," Evelen protested. "You've only been apart for a couple of months. You were apart longer than that before."

"You need a partner," I sighed. "You won't understand until you have one."

"I don't need a partner," she said firmly. "All I need is to find my dad."

"Is that all?"

I whirled around at the sound of a new voice. It was a tall, strong human male, with a scar down the side of his face. Evelen gasped, and clenched her hands into fists. There was a moment of total stillness. I gauged Evelen's reaction to see if this was the man we had been tracking for two whole months and found that it simply had to be. Evelen scrunched up her face and then marched straight toward him and slapped him across the face. He let her, and when she went to do it a second time, he caught her wrist.

"Once is enough, I think," Maugrim told his daughter. It didn't look like her slap had done him any damage. It really just seemed like he had been entertaining her, more than anything.

The Knights digivolved in a flash of light, and I sighed, knowing that without Daisuke, I was one of the weaker ones here, only able to become ExVeemon on my own at that point—at least in a stable form, since I could get to ultimate if I had to, but it would not last long or maybe even work at all. It was rough. I digivolved too, because I felt like I needed to, and I stood in between Warg and Melga, who had digivolved to champion as well. Agumon had become Greymon and was already advancing on Maugrim, with Alphamon, Dynasmon and Crusadermon on his flanks. Kentaurusmon and Craniamon were hanging back with Warg, Melga and me, while Terriermon and Lopmon fused together thanks to the omnipresent power of their crests, and were standing as Leopardmon, waiting for Maugrim to make his move.

Maugrim smiled at the thought of the fight before him and tossed Evelen to the side. Dracomon ran to her, hesitating on whether he ought to digivolve into Coredramon to help in the fight, or whether to get her to safety. Agumon—Greymon—made the decision for him.

"Get her out of here," Greymon growled. Dracomon nodded, and digivolved into Coredramon before scooping her into his arms, and fleeing the scene of the fight.

Alphamon was the first to go down. Maugrim used his magic to create a strange set of gauntlets, and slashed down at the valiant warrior. Alphamon fell backwards, and before he could get his footing, Maugrim kicked him hard, sending him flying through the woods, knocking down trees left and right. By the time he stopped moving, he was Dorumon once more, and his eyes were closed. He was out cold.

Crusadermon and Dynasmon decided to double team him, since Alphamon didn't accomplish much on his own. But it was no good. Maugrim just pulled out some fancy footwork and did a few back flips while avoiding my teammates' attacks. Slashing down one both of his bladed gauntlets at once, Kotemon and Wizardmon fell to the ground. He kicked each of them, sending them flying.

"Kentaurusmon," Greymon growled. "You take them back. Hurry!"

Kentaurusmon listened to his orders and collected the three fallen Knights, though he did pause before following after Coredramon, wanting to make sure Greymon had been serious. Greymon growled impatiently, and Kentaurusmon left. Craniamon surged forward as fast as he could, and I followed after him. Warg, Melga and Leopardmon were on our tails. We swarmed Maugrim, and I managed to scrap my claws against the side of his face—leaving no damage whatsoever, which was very disappointing—before a blade sliced through me. The sharp edge moved as easily as a hot knife in butter, and it left a searing pain in its wake. It was like I was lit on fire. I fell to the ground, struggling to hold on to my power. It was slipping away from me though, and I was left in my Rookie state once more.

Warg rolled to the ground on my right, his bowtie ripped and hanging limply around his neck. Melga fell on top of him, when she too was discarded. Her bow had survived mostly intact. They both were struggling to their feet. I tried to follow suit, but Andromon landed on top of us, making us topple over once more.

Greymon was still fighting, but that was only because Maugrim was toying with him. Leopardmon was dancing around Maugrim, looking for any opportunity to get back in the fight. Maugrim ejected a blade and shot it directly at Leopardmon without looking, and managed to hit our friend square in the chest. Leopardmon looked down at the glowing blade, made purely out of magic, before the glowing spread and Terriermon and Lopmon fell to the ground in surprise.

"Greymon, fall back!" I called as I crawled out from under Andromon. "We can't win this round! We need Taichi!"

"Oh, it's too late for that," Maugrim assured me, sending a sword into Greymon's side. I winced, panic rising up inside as I watched Agumon fall down. He hit the ground hard near Maugrim and I struggled to pull myself to my feet. Maugrim bent down to pick him up. He smirked in my direction, and walked out into the woods. I chased after him, but it was no good. He'd disappeared, and he'd taken Agumon with him.

Agumon:

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded.

I'd been struggling for hours, trying to get free, and I thought I'd succeeded once, but Maugrim proved to be too powerful for me. He'd defeated me completely. I couldn't gather enough energy to digivolve even to champion, and I had no way of defending myself when Maugrim came after me.

So I was in his clutches. He hadn't said a word since capturing me. He was completely silent, even when I'd managed to escape—however temporary that ended up being. There was something sinister about his silence. It put me on edge. I didn't like it. And I think Maugrim knew that. I'd spent the entire time I'd been his captive trying to off put him with my silence, but he was enjoying it too much, and I wasn't able to gather any information about what was going to happen to me.

I had to break the silence, and my question was the most obvious choice: where were we going?

Maugrim glanced over to me with his cold, hard eyes, but said nothing. I shivered at the sight of those eyes. I wondered how Evelen had lasted as long as she had with that guy as a father. His chin was strong and solid, and his build matched in every way. He was huge, taller than Taichi for sure—and boy was he stronger. I was glad that it was me that Maugrim ran into, instead of Taichi. Taichi wouldn't have lasted even a minute in a fight against Maugrim. I hadn't lasted a minute.

I would have probably lasted longer if Taichi had actually been there with me. We were a team, and I was able to get a whole lot stronger when Taichi was there being the human example of courage. It really powered up the crest in my heart, and I was able to become VictoryGreymon, which was awesome, because of how much stronger I was. The sword was pretty cool too.

"Are we there yet?" I whined, purposefully making myself as annoying as I could. I thought maybe if I got on Maugrim's nerves he'd give in and spill all his secrets. It was either that, or he'd kill me, and my data would gather back at Primary Village, where I'd be away from him, so either way, I was okay with it. I would've preferred simply getting all the information I could possibly need so that I could tell Taichi, and prove that I was worthy enough to be the leader of the Knights.

Neo had left pretty big shoes to fill, and since I didn't even wear shoes, it was pretty hard to take his place. Dorumon had a hard time listening to my orders, because he was Taichi's mom's partner, and that meant somehow in his mind that he was superior to me. He was actually kind of annoying. He didn't like Gabumon much better than me though. He didn't think we were good enough to become the leaders of the Knights, just because we had the crests. We weren't there very often before Neo left, but Dorumon was, so he figured that meant he ought to be the leader.

He also said something about how Alphamon sounded like a leader's name, since Alpha was the first Greek letter or something. I didn't know much about that, since I could only read the digital language, but Tentomon seemed to find the argument compelling.

It didn't matter though, because Taichi gave the job to Gabumon and me. We were the only ones he trusted to make sure the Knights kept running smoothly. He trusted me the most, of course, because we were partners. It only made sense. Gabumon and I had proved time and time again to have only the best interests of the Digital World at heart, and that was a quality that Taichi really appreciated.

Maugrim on the other hand…well…he didn't.

"Why won't you talk to me?" I asked, glaring at him with my best glare.

Still, I got no reaction. I sighed heavily, and he tightened his grip on my wrist, yanking me hard. I fell off balance and landed on the ground, getting dirt, sticks and grass in my face. He didn't stop walking so that I could get up either. He just dragged me behind him.

It was very uncomfortable.

Anger coursed through me and I looked up to him, getting a glimpse of his sadistic smile before more dirt and grass smacked my face and I couldn't see anymore. I scrambled to my feet, and once I got high enough, I sank all my teeth into Maugrim's hand. He let out an involuntary gasp, and his hand loosened. I got moving as fast as I could. I ran through the trees, coming out into a meadow. There was nowhere to hide in a meadow. Not that it really mattered. Maugrim appeared in front of me. I skidded to a stop, and turned around, racing as fast as my short legs could carry me.

Maugrim was in front of me yet again.

"Leave me alone!" I shouted, but he wouldn't listen. No matter where I ran, he was always there, blocking my path. I couldn't escape him. I didn't even really want to. I wanted to find out what he wanted me for. I needed to discover his plans. But I was still trying to annoy him, and it kind of looked like it was working. There were little bits of blood on his hand, but the teeth marks had healed up already. It was disappointing to know that my hard work had lasted only a few seconds at best. He was just too powerful.

He was also a fairy from Sidhendor, and Gennai had just recently (ish) told us that the only way to kill a fairy was to destroy its heart. I had no way to do that. I could never defeat him on my own. Not that I was allowed to. We needed to know what his plans were, and getting rid of him might not actually take his plans out of motion.

Maugrim seemed to have a lot of dedicated minions.

I kind of wished I could say the same. But then, since I was the leader of the Knights now, I kind of did. Mine were all a lot nicer though, and I probably would've called them friends instead of minions. Minions seemed like kind of a mean thing to call people. But I was pretty sure Maugrim called his friends minions. I wasn't even sure they were his friends.

"You can't catch me!" I told him, lying completely. He knew it. I knew it. We both knew it. But I was being annoying, and his eyebrow was starting to twitch, so I knew I was being successful in my plan. I did a summersault under his hand when he reached out to grab me, and skipped away from him. He grunted, and I started running again.

"Got you," he snarled, appearing out of nowhere and grabbing my leg, raising me into the air. I swiped at him with my claws, but nothing happened. His arms were longer than mine, and I couldn't reach him at all.

On the plus side, I'd gotten him to start talked.

The only problem with that was that I wasn't sure why I'd wanted him to talk in the first place. He was such a grumpy guy. He was evil, but that didn't mean he needed to be so gruff and angry. Lots of bad guys were witty, or even pleasant. Gaia hadn't been too bad, from what I'd heard. She saved Miyako's baby—before stealing the light and darkness from our friends. She was sweet and kind, but mostly to manipulate people. The point was, she was interesting. Grumpy wasn't interesting. Grumpy just meant I was likely to get my butt kicked because he had no sense of humour.

Yes, getting information was important—and would make Taichi very happy, but I wasn't sure how far Maugrim was willing to go in order to shut me up. I was willing to die for the cause—it wasn't that big of a decision really, when I would just get reborn after like five minutes—but I didn't really want to be exposed to prolonged pain.

Maugrim didn't look like the kind of guy that went for the easy kill if he didn't have to.

"Why don't you just kill me already?" I asked, pretending like I was bored with him or something, so that he would continue being annoyed. He narrowed his cold eyes at me, and I pretended not to shiver with deep seeded fear.

"I have use for you yet," he growled.

"What use am I to you?" I wanted to know.

"That doesn't concern you," he said simply. "'It is between Gaia and myself."

"Gaia's here?" I asked, horrified.

"No," he said. He sounded bitterly disappointed by the fact, so I knew he was telling the truth. I sighed with relief. Hikari had gone to great lengths to make sure that Gaia was trapped in Witchenly once more. It would've sucked if she escaped before Taichi sealed the worlds. "That does not mean she has no use for you, however."

"What?" I asked, legitimately confused. I had no idea what he meant. How could Gaia need me for something? I'd never really even met her. She didn't know me at all. I wasn't going to help her anyway, so what was the point?

"Don't fret," Maugrim said coolly. His lips pulled into a sinister smile, and I shuddered again. "It won't hurt too much, when the time comes."

"And has the time come yet?" I wanted to know. He shook his head once, and then flung me over his shoulder. I couldn't move much, even though I wanted to find out where we were going. I was tossed on his shoulder like a potato sack, and he wasn't being particularly gentle.

"You'll know when the time arrives," Maugrim said in a deep, ominous voice. I wasn't sure exactly how he planned on executing Gaia's plans, since I was sure her plans involved her being here. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that Taichi had to have been alerted by now that I'd been taken. He'd be out looking for me, and then I'd have a convenient escape route, once I finished getting the information from Maugrim.

Taichi wasn't always the most reliable, and he didn't actually have any way of tracking me, but he would pull through for me anyway. He always had.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked again, growing bored watching the path as we passed it by. I couldn't see where we were going, only where we'd been. It was hardly interesting to watch things disappear behind us, when I wanted to be looking towards our destination. But I wasn't in any place to make requests, so I kept my mouth shut.

"We've arrived," Maugrim announced. I squirmed, trying to peer over his shoulder, but I couldn't manage. I looked around at what I could see instead, trying to see if I could piece tighter a location. The trees had given way to grass and a well worn path. There was a house in the distance that screamed of home. I wondered…but that couldn't be right. Why would Maugrim kidnap me, only to bring me right back to the Temple where I wanted to go?

But that's where we had to be. Standing before the Temple's endless pit of a moat, this was the exact angle that Taichi's house was visible. There was no other explanation. I sighed as he pressed forward. Tapirmon peeked out of the door of his and Yoshie's—though I supposed it wasn't hers anymore, now that she couldn't come back—café. His eyes widened at the sight before him, and I hoped he'd fly away to warn the others of Maugrim's arrival.

Maugrim walked confidently over the draw bridge, and grabbed the massive chains that hung on either side of the massive doorway with one hand and pulled sharply. With a loud clanging noise, the heavy doors swung open and Maugrim stepped into the gates without hesitation. The Temple was alive and bustling, but when Maugrim walked, the sounds dulled, before stopping altogether. When he stood in the centre of Main Square, he stopped to look around. I waited patiently, wondering if he would ever find what he was looking for.

"The keys," Maugrim growled to me. "Bring me to them."

"Not on your life, buster," I told him. He squeezed me, tightening his hold. He summoned his glowing gauntlets equipped with blades made of pure energy, and turned to the nearest digimon. It was Labramon, who was running Veemon's noodle cart—with the help of another Veemon, since Labramon had no opposable thumbs.

"Take me to the keys, or I kill him," Maugrim told Labramon gruffly. Labramon's eyes widened, and he looked to the Veemon he'd been working with. The Veemon fled into the crowd, heading off to find the Knights, most likely. The Veemon colony had very ridiculous and not at all true stories about my friend. It was always really funny to hear them worship Veemon, even though he found it horribly embarrassing.

"I can't," Labramon said, trying to stay bold. But his eyes wouldn't leave the glowing orange blade. "Don't' hurt him. I just can't do it."

"I see no reason why I shouldn't," Maugrim said, moving the blade closer to my neck. I knew for sure that he wasn't actually going to hurt me. He'd already said he was going to spare me for his girlfriend's sake. I still wasn't sure what that was about, because it still made very little sense, but it was a good enough reason to not fear that he was going to kill me.

"Umm," Labramon hesitated.

"Don't do it!" I ordered. He firmed up his resolve and shook his head at Maugrim. Maugrim got angry and swung the blade towards Labramon. My dog friend jumped back just in time. It seemed almost too convenient, as if Maugrim was trying not to hurt Labramon either.

Perhaps I wasn't the only digimon that Gaia needed for her plans.

It was kind of a letdown to know I wasn't the only one that was special—but at the same time it was a relief, because I wasn't the only one!

Labramon barked, and started to digivolve, but seemed to remember that we were in a crowded marketplace, and stopped. I looked around, waiting for the others to arrive and help. But no help came. Tentomon, I knew would be in the laboratory, and wouldn't know of the danger until long after it had passed. I didn't know if any of the others were even in the Temple at that point in time.

"Where's Taichi?" I asked Labramon, upset that he hadn't come to help me yet.

"He's out looking for you!" Labramon told me.

"If you will not show me, I will find them myself," Maugrim announced. "I will raze the city to the ground if I must."

It was different when it was only my life on the line. Now it was the lives of several thousand digimon, and Ryou—and maybe Rei, depending on where she happened to be that day. Ryou and Rei wouldn't be recycled like us digimon would. It was now imperative that I give him what he wanted. I would have to show him where the keys were kept, even though it was pretty much the last thing I wanted to be doing.

"Put me down, and I'll take you," I told him, sounding beaten. He must've heard the defeat in my voice, because he put me on the ground, trusting me to not simply run away when the moment presented itself.

I took him up the stairs into the Council building, and I led him down the hall, hoping the entire time that someone would be around and be able to sound the alarm and gather the troops. But there was no one around. Labramon was the only one that seemed to grasp what was going on in Main Square, and now Labramon was trying to follow behind me, to protect me from Maugrim's madness. There was nothing Labramon would be able to do though. I'd made the only decision that I could. I had to stick with it now, and hope that things didn't go terribly, horribly wrong.

"I grow impatient," Maugrim warned me. I sighed, and picked up my pace, leading him down the stairs at the end of the hall, and opening the door to the Digimental room. He eyed them suspiciously, and greedily, but seemed to remember what he was here for when he saw several glistening keys. His eyes moved past the key to Witchenly. He glared at it, and I was afraid it would melt in the sheer heat of his wrath. His eyes found the key that looked kind of like a digivice, and he took it from its hook. I found no reason whatsoever for taking the key to the Digital World, since he was already in it. If I could've figured something out, I might not have let him take it. But to my knowledge, the key only opened a gate to this world.

I thought maybe, once he had the key, that he would leave me alone, and let me go free. But I was wrong. He was using me as a failsafe. He knew that my friends would never hurt me—Taichi especially—so he could use me as a living shield, to manage to escape the Temple.

Labramon growled angrily at him, and he kicked my friend hard enough that he slammed against the wall, falling to the ground, unable to get up again. I cried out, wanting to go make sure Labramon was okay, but Maugrim had other plans. He dragged me up the stairs to the main hall, and then out the front door and down the stairs. There was a moment of pause as he looked toward the boy known as Bitoru, and I knew there was tension between them. Bitoru had once been Maugrim's scientist and faithful follower, but now he lived here in the Temple with us. They stared for a moment until Bitoru turned his head in shame and Maugrim scoffed, marching away from his son. He parted the crowd of villagers with just his commanding presence, and he walked right out the gate, with no one bothering to even try to stop him.

I was kind of a little annoyed, because no one wanted to save me—except Labramon—but then I realized it was probably because I was stronger than most of the digimon that lived in the Temple. If I couldn't fight against Maugrim, they weren't going to give it a go. They didn't want to get hurt, or killed. They had just come back from the Coliseum—though there were still some others there—and they didn't want any reason to leave the Temple again, even if that excuse was because of being reborn in Primary Village.

Growing impatient with this habit of his—dragging me around in the dirt—I bit him hard once more and took a swipe at the key in his hand. He was too busy protecting his pointless key, to worry about catching me once more. He might've been done with me, for all I knew.

What I did know, was that I was able to escape much more successfully this time around. He was too focussed on the pond outside of Taichi's house—home—to be bothered with me. While he was distracted, I crept up behind him, and saw him stare out into the crystal clear pond. He put the key to his lips, and kissed it once, before casting it out into the water.

"I've found it, my love," he murmured.

I didn't know exactly why he needed the key so badly, if he was only going to throw it in the water. It was ridiculous. Not only was the key useless in this world, but now it was lost.

There was one bright point in all of this. He'd just thrown the key in the water. I could enlist the help of my friends, and then no one would ever have to know that Maugrim had gotten the best of me. Taichi didn't need to know how stupid I'd been to get caught—and even stupider, how I'd literally guided Maugrim to the keys. I could figure out this mess without telling Taichi. I didn't want him to be disappointed with me.

I was disappointed enough in myself.

Gomamon:

It had been a week since Agumon had been taken, and still he had us looking for that key. Obviously we needed to find it, but it was also obviously not here. The small group of gathered digimon—and Aesop who was looking much better these days after his fight with his son—were the only few who knew what Agumon had been used for inside the Temple. Labramon knew of course that Agumon had been used by Maugrim but had promised not to tell anyone, at Agumon's request. So the secret was being kept, of course. Aesop had no reason to tell anyone, but was enjoying being in the loop of something, even if he hadn't exactly been included by choice. After I had finally satisfied myself with his care he was able to go out on his own and to thank me he came with some treats he made in his new home in the Temple, but I was searching for the key and I had told him before I knew it was a secret. Agumon was keeping a close eye on him, worried that maybe he would go back to his son and tell him what we were doing, but I knew that Aesop had risked everything to fight against Maugrim—losing the fight, just to add insult to injury—and he was not going to rejoin his side. Wizardmon had heard from Gatomon who refused to keep secrets from him, and since he was desperate to know what had happened after their fight with Maugrim, she had told him. Agumon had been the one to tell her, begging her for advice, and the advice she had given was simple. "Find the key, Agumon."

So together they had tracked down Betamon and I, and the two of us were swimming in the sparkling water, searching for the key to the Digital World that had apparently been thrown this way.

When I had questioned Agumon on whether or not he was sure the key was thrown in this water, or some other body he grew upset, thinking I didn't trust him. Of course I trusted him—he was our leader—but that didn't mean he couldn't make mistakes. The water was so clear and that meant that Betamon and I could see everything from the surface to the floor of the pond. It was convenient that the pond was so close to Taichi's home, so it didn't seem too strange that we were all gathered around it and swimming here, but every day Taichi came to sit with us—sometimes only for a couple minutes, but sometimes for hours—and we were all forced to lie to him because Agumon was ashamed of the mistake he had made.

For a pond, it was awfully large, and I was pretty sure it could be considered a lake. And since Maugrim had pretty strong arms it seemed somehow likely that he maybe could have thrown the key really far into the pond itself, but Betamon and I had searched high and low for it—mostly low since things usually sank in water—but could find nothing. We even asked Syakomon—Jou's friend who once kidnapped me after being injected with a virus that Marrow had tricked Jou into using—who lived here in this pond if he saw anything, but he had been out with friends. Either that or he saw something that really made him clam up.

I figured I was pretty bitter about it all, but that was because I had several oceans to be looking after. Shinkoumon—the digimon of faith—was on the council and had the same duties as I did, which meant I worked under her and thankfully she was willing to get out and make the rounds by herself without asking questions, but I still felt pretty useless since I wasn't making any progress here either. I was also the only doctor the entire Digital World had anymore. I had been training some other digimon that were willing to learn but they weren't ready to head off on their own yet and that meant that me looking in the pond to fix Agumon's mistakes was entirely a waste of time.

But there I was, brushing clumped wet dirt aside to see if the key had lodged itself in the mud while Betamon searched through some underwater plants to see if it had simply gotten lost. Well, of course it had been lost, that wasn't the issue really. We knew it was gone, we just had to find where it had gone.

But we weren't going to, that much was obvious.

Betamon turned to me and looked up to the surface of the pond, wondering whether we should head up or not and I nodded. Betamon set off, but I waited, turning to Syakomon who was sliding slowly along the ground looking back and forth with his eyes, still expecting to find something. He wasn't quite sure what we were looking for, but he wanted to help anyway.

He caught sight of me and nodded when I showed him that I was heading up to the surface. He didn't seem like he was going to follow though as he turned from me and kept scouring the floor for whatever pearl of a find we were hiding from him.

When I surfaced, taking in the air from above I found that Betamon was already being pulled to shore by Wizardmon and Agumon who for some reason thought that since we were water digimon we were incapable of leaving the water without assistance, which simply wasn't true. I swam quickly in their direction and almost managed to climb onto land, but Agumon caught sight of me and grabbed my arm, tugging sharply.

"Thanks," I said wryly, and he seemed proud to have helped any.

"Did you find anything?" Gatomon asked, eyeing the water with wide eyes, as if she thought she might have to go in and search herself.

Betamon shook his head, "No, we didn't. I don't think it's down there."

Wizardmon seemed annoyed now and simply sighed, shaking his head, "I assure you that it is here. I can feel its presence. The key—"

"Yeah, yeah," I groaned, rolling my eyes. "You've said it before. The keys leave a trail of their power. The trail ends here, I get it. If you want to take a swim and search for the key then be my guest but I'm don't looking." Agumon gasped and looked down to me in horror. "It's pointless," I defended.

Agumon threw his hands in the air, marching over to where Aesop was sitting with his feet dangled into the cool water. "Pointless? It's pointless to find the key that was stolen? The magical key that is helping keep the worlds apart? It's pointless to try to thwart Maugrim's plans?"

I nodded my head, "Pretty much, yeah." Agumon sounded off in exasperation as he fell back into the grass, laying face up. I shrugged to Betamon who was eyeing me up and giving me very strong 'he's crazy' vibes. He was crazy of course, but that wasn't news to me. "Look, you were searching for Maugrim for two months and you couldn't find him—he shows up one day because he's ready to find you and then he comes exactly here with something he was specifically looking for and throws it into the water seemingly without cause—but we all know that's not true—and then we can't find the key. Does that seem suspicious to anyone?"

"If you're implying he has been in control the entire time—" Wizardmon started, but I didn't bother to let him finish.

"If it helps make it clearer, I'll stop implying and simply state it outright," I offered, "Maugrim is in charge. He knows what he's doing and we're feeding into his ridiculous attempts at world domination. Shouldn't we be doing some background checks on him or something to figure out more about him?"

"If you think it would help," Gatomon said, leaning to the side to look at Aesop who was humming softly to himself and enjoying the sunny day. "Do you really think that Maugrim is something to worry about though?"

Agumon sat up, propping himself with his elbows and he looked to Gatomon suspiciously, "Why wouldn't he be?"

"Gaia was the real trouble, right?" Gatomon asked, shrugging her shoulders, "She's gone now, and so is Sigma. Maugrim didn't hurt Labramon, or Veemon or you, Agumon. He attacked the Knights, but they all survived, and he's strong enough to see a different outcome. He doesn't seem all that bad to me."

"He wants us for something," Agumon said, seeming confused, "I don't know what, but it's something."

Betamon looked to me again and I rolled my eyes. Crazy Agumon does it again. "Well, you'll have to figure that out on your own," I decided finally, "I'm leaving now. I won't tell anyone though."

Agumon rocked forward and ended up on his knees, clambering toward me, "No!" he shouted, "Someone has to keep looking and I can't swim!" He totally could swim.

I looked to the others and sighed, "Wizardmon can go. I'd say Gatomon too, but with the way she fears water it would be quite the cat-astrophe to send her in, but maybe with some gentle purr-suasion you could get her to hop right in."

Gatomon breathed a small laugh, rolling her own eyes and she sighed, "You're not funny, Gomamon."

"I know I am," I winked her way. I then turned back to Agumon who looked upset still and I felt rather guilty all at once, but I wasn't about to change my mind, "Look, I have duties to take care of. It isn't fair that you expect me to sit here and look all day. If you're so sure it's here go find someone who can find it for you, like that Dolphmon from Witchenly—or tell Taichi, because that seems like a good start to me."

"I can't tell him," Agumon groaned, falling once more into the grass, this time looking rather defeated. "I know he'll be ashamed of me. I helped the enemy—the last time I did that was when Ken tricked me and stole me and I almost hurt everyone. I helped Maugrim, and Taichi can never know."

I looked to Agumon with a deadpanned expression trying to suppress all of the things I wanted to say, but after a whole week of keeping them back it became harder. "You know what?" I said, wincing as my conscience gave in to the temptation. "Taichi is here, Agumon, and you can't keep secrets from him. He trusts you and you have to be honest with him. If he were keeping something from you then you'd be upset about it, and I would be joyful if I had just a moment to keep something from Jou. But I don't get that choice anymore and you do. Don't make the wrong decisions."

There was silence following my words and Agumon looked upset, and while I wasn't one to read minds or even facial expressions I didn't know what he was thinking. Wizardmon took Gatomon's hand and Betamon let out a soft whimper. I hadn't meant to remind them of their partners, it wasn't my intention. I was just sick of Agumon asking us to keep secrets from the only partner any of us had left. We couldn't share Taichi because he was Agumon's partner, but he was all we had.

"Gomamon is right," Aesop said in a rather distant voice, like he wasn't really conscious just then, and was rather floating around in some kind of limbo as he relaxed himself senselessly. "Honesty is always the best policy. I tried to teach my son that, and he did not ever listen to a word I had to say. You should not make the mistakes that my son has made. Lying to your loved ones does not always come from a blatant lie itself, but keeping something from someone can be a lie in and of itself."

"Taichi will understand," Gatomon added, nodding along to what Aesop had been saying. "He'll know that you did what you thought was best for the Temple. Besides, if he doesn't know there is a problem he can't fix it."

"And no one solves our problems better than Taichi," Betamon said and I knew he was feeling rather guilty. He always had an issue with other people solving his problems for him, but it was true that Taichi was an expert in that field.

Agumon let out a long sigh and seemed to finally understand that we were right. It was time for him to come clean to Taichi. "Okay," he decided in a weak voice.

I felt better about the whole thing now that Agumon had promised to allow Taichi in on the inside scoop. I felt better because now I could return to my post under water, while also making sure the digimon around the world were being cared for. I had to do that for Jou who I was scared I would never see again. I didn't believe that it would be never—but that didn't mean it couldn't be.

We were separated 'forever' but we had been redefining that word for sixteen years. This would be my third forever and I hoped it wouldn't be much longer than the other two.

"That's right," Gatomon sounded rather pleased with Agumon's decision herself and she patted his back gently. "We're all going to stand behind you. No one believes that you helped Maugrim intentionally."

"I bet Palmon would," Agumon sighed, slumping his shoulders. "I just know she'll be mad at me."

"Never," I objected flatly, shaking my head. Agumon looked up in a start and stared at me for a moment, "Palmon cares about you, Agumon. She's not going to judge your decision, especially if you helped someone survive. She stands for peace as much as Mimi does—and thankfully does so much quieter—so she isn't going to judge you."

Agumon smiled to me and nodded, but Betamon was confused, "Why did you jump to Palmon though? That seems random."

Agumon's face flushed, but he couldn't respond because the back door to Taichi's house opened and company was coming to join us now. It was Rei, with her hair pulled back with a bandana, looking like she'd just been cleaning her massive house. Pal and Pul were floating around Cyberdramon's head, trying to figure out how he could hold his ultimate form with such ease—which I could admit to being jealous to since I had only once managed to become Zudamon without Jou's help and it wasn't even in a battle—and it lasted a second. Ryou made up the end of their little procession and he looked less ecstatic than he usually did, which was to say that he simply looked joyous instead.

"Hey," Rei said, setting her tray down to the ground. There were several glasses of fresh juice sitting on the tray as she offered us something to drink. Betamon was quick to take her up on her offer, but I stayed behind, looking to Cyberdramon who looked annoyed with his company. "You guys really like this pond, huh?"

"It's lovely," Wizardmon told her, bowing respectfully.

"We don't have anywhere else to meet, really," Gatomon expanded blindly, shooting off random reasons until Agumon decided he was finally ready to open up about his secret.

Rei looked confused, and looked my way, "What about Gomamon's house? He has a whole house to himself now that the worlds are separated." She winced seeing my expression but I didn't mind. She understood like the rest of us what it meant to be apart from the others, she just didn't have much tact. There was a reason she and Taichi were married after all.

"It's being renovated," I said sarcastically, and Rei smirked my way, feeling relieved that she hadn't hurt my feelings.

"Well," Rei said, clapping her hands together, "I just brought Ryou and Cyberdramon out for you to say goodbye to them, Agumon."

"They're leaving?" Agumon gasped, "Already?"

Ryou rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well, yeah," he admitted, "I'm not ready to grow up. I'm on my way to Neverland." Agumon seemed upset as he ran over to hug Ryou. Ryou patted Agumon's head and grinned down to him. "You'll see me again. If this is forever, I'll have to grow up sometime. When I'm ready to leave Neverland, you'll see me around."

It was weird to be around for the goodbye, mostly because I didn't really feel anything. It was an echo of a feeling though, as I remembered seeing Jou walk through the doorway and away from me, but I had no connection to Ryou. In the end, he decided he needed to be off, to find Veemon, Wormmon, Hawkmon and Armadillomon. They were his friends from a long time ago and he needed to see them off.

As he was walking to the door—with Cyberdramon, Pal and Pul—Agumon grabbed Rei's apron. She stopped and turned to him, and when she saw his worried expression she fell to her knees and cupped his face, looking right into his eyes, "Agumon, what's wrong?"

He looked back to us for support momentarily and then sighed heavily, looking back to Rei, "I need Taichi," he said weakly.

"Taichi?" Rei asked, "He's at work I think. What's wrong?"

Agumon turned his head from her and said very quickly, "When Maugrim took me I helped him steal the key to the Digital World and then he threw it into this pond and it's not here and I'm scared because I need to find it and I don't know how and I think Taichi will be mad at me for losing it."

Rei stared down in shock to Agumon and slowly pulled herself to her feet. "Keeping secrets is not how families are supposed to function, Agumon." Rei told him sternly, "But I understand. I am sure Taichi will too." She held out her hand to him. "Now come. You're right. We need to find him and tell him about this."

Next on Digimon Adventure 08: Now over to Biyomon and Gatomon with the weather! But like, it's not really with the weather. I just didn't know what to say. They're going to say what happens next!