Chapter 17

"Come out! I know there are more of you!" T.K. shouted as he prowled through the streets of Odaiba in the hunt for another witch, magical being, or familiar. Or for just another fight altogether. I've already killed two witches and three familiars, but that's not enough. They all must die!

"T.K.! There you are! Where have you been?" A familiar, though angry-sounding, voice snapped the Child of Hope out of his bloodthirsty haze as he turned to see his mother pulling up to the curb and inching to keep pace with the younger blond.

"Mom!" The sudden arrival of Nancy startled him, even more so when her scowl told him that an explanation was in order.

"Where have you been all day?" she demanded. "What if a witch attacked me? You were supposed to protect me at all times!"

"About that..." T.K. had forgotten about the deal the Ishida-Takaishi family had made in all of the mess with successive witch attacks and Kyubey's revelation. The last time he had left her was when she had been unconscious and he had taken her home to sleep. And she remained asleep all day.

"Seems you have a lot of explaining to do!" Nancy continued. "And you can share it with me once you get in the car!"

"I can't right now, Mom," T.K. said. "And what I was going to say was that you had been asleep all day, and I didn't want to wake you. Besides, what's the point of protecting you? It's not like I'm going to be around much longer."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nancy asked, eyebrow raised and anger gradually dissipating to slight worry. "T.K., what's going on?"

T.K. ignored her, continuing to walk and move on with his witch hunt. I don't see the point in discussing things further, nor am I going to worry her. The less she knows, the better.

"Takeru Takaishi! You'd better get in this car right now!"

However, the Child of Hope continued on his merry way, focusing on the next witch to cross his path. That was, until a beep in his pocket stopped his hunt. T.K. fished out his D-Terminal – the source of the beep – to see a message from Matt.

T.K., where are you? We need to talk. Meet me at the park.

"Don't you dare ignore me, young man!" Nancy snapped. "I am your mother and here to help you, not hurt you!"

"Matt just sent me a message telling me to meet him at Odaiba Park," T.K. said. The DigiDestined held some Digital World-related meetings there, so the younger blond wasn't surprised Matt had chosen the park for this kind of situation.

"I can drive you to the park," Nancy decided, which was clearly not an offer but a demand. "You can tell me what's been going on along the way." She sighed, her face softening. "I want to know what's going on with you, T.K.. I also want to know what had happened Saturday night and why I was out for almost two days." T.K. opened his mouth to protest, but Nancy held up a hand to silence him. "And I'm not taking no for an answer."

Sighing, T.K. got in his mother's car, and judging by her tone and glare that could intimidate even Azulongmon, he knew Nancy was going to make sure she gained the truth.

Matt, Sora, Cody, Biyomon, and Gabumon met at Odaiba Park, where they had been discussing how they would deal with T.K. since they had left Sora's place. The wish Kyubey had told them T.K. made rattled them. They all knew destroying all agents of darkness was impossible.

"I don't want to attack him, Sora. I'm sorry," said Matt. "At least not yet. He's still my brother."

"Yeah," Gabumon agreed. "We should try to talk some sense into T.K. first."

"But he killed three of our friends, Matt," Sora argued. "If what Kyubey's saying about T.K.'s wish is true, then we may not have a choice in the end."

"He's still my brother," Matt repeated.

"Okay, guys," Cody interjected. "Let's just wait for T.K. and see what happens when he gets here."

"Before we get tense again," Biyomon added, hovering between Matt and Sora to mediate. "But I do agree with Matt." She turned to the Child of Friendship. "We'll try to talk sense into T.K.. Hopefully he'll listen to reason. He's our friend and hopefully our words can reach him."

The sound of a car pulling up cut the discussion short, as the group turned to see Nancy and T.K. parking on the curb across from the park.

"T.K.! Over here!" Matt called to his brother as the Child of Hope got out of the car to join the group. The older blond was surprised to see his mother following suit.

"I see you're surprised that I'm joining you," Nancy said as she and T.K. took seats in front of them. "I forced T.K. to tell me everything."

All three DigiDestined's eyes widened, with Cody asking. "So, you know...?"

"Yes, Cody, I know the truth," Nancy confirmed, then she stopped herself to take a look at Cody. "Wait, Cody? But... you're..."

"You didn't tell her, Matt?" Sora asked.

"Well, with everything that's been happening..." Then the Child of Friendship froze mid-sentence to regard T.K.. "That was your job, T.K.! You're the one who was with Mom!"

"That doesn't mean I had the time, either, Matt," the Child of Hope replied.

"How is Cody alive?" Nancy asked, redirecting the conversation to the initial subject.

"Well, I'm not actually alive," Cody corrected.

"None of us are," added Sora. "Except you and the Digimon."

Nancy scratched her head. "I'm confused."

Matt, Sora, and Cody explained the whole truth about magical people, with Cody explaining how he was "alive." Once they were finished, Nancy's confusion quickly morphed into an expression of fear.

"So this Kyubey thing put your souls in those gems?" Nancy asked.

Gabumon nodded. "That's why I'm constantly worried about Matt now. And that's not all of it."

"If our Soul Gems are filled with darkness, a magical person becomes a witch," Biyomon put in.

"So you guys are all walking corpses," Nancy concluded.

"That's exactly what I said," Matt agreed. "Which is why we're trying to find a way to break the contracts. We know Kyubey's hiding it."

"There is no way," T.K. spoke for the first time since after they finished the story.

"What the hell are you saying?" the Child of Friendship sputtered.

"You know exactly what I'm saying, Matt."

The Child of Friendship's eyes widened at what his brother was insinuating. "Don't tell me you've been listening to Kyubey!"

"And why not?" T.K. snapped. "Maybe Kyubey is right, there really is no way to break the contracts like there was no way to save Tai."

"Wait, 'was no way?'" Matt repeated, then his eyes widened. "T.K., don't tell me you..."

"Yeah, I used his Grief Seed," T.K. confessed, defiance evident in his voice. "Like I told Izzy, I came to a realization. The realization that turning into witches is our fate."

"T.K.!" Cody shot to his feet. "You know Kyubey's lying! You know he can't be trusted!"

"T.K., what's going on?" Nancy asked. "Nobody's leaving until I get some answers!"

"Yeah," agreed Matt, glowering at his brother. "What's going on?"

"Why did you kill Izzy and steal Tai's Soul Gem?" Sora asked. "Izzy was looking for a way to save Tai."

"What?" Nancy gasped in horror, then regarded her younger son. "Is this true, T.K.?"

T.K. scowled at everyone.

"Well, is it true, T.K.?" Matt asked. "Tell us."

After what felt like a few long, stressful, silent moments, the Child of Hope spoke.

"Isn't it obvious? Especially when I've already told you the reason?" T.K.'s glare pierced everyone one-by-one. "There's no way to break the contracts or save Tai. Plus, we're all doomed to become witches, so I only made the process easier for Izzy and made him understand."

"T.K..." Gabumon's voice trailed off in fear. "You...really did kill Izzy."

"Took you long enough to realize it." The Child of Hope sneered.

"How could you, T.K.?" Tears began to well up in Nancy's eyes.

"Especially when Izzy was going to find a way out of this," added Biyomon.

"I can't believe you would listen to Kyubey!" Matt jumped to his feet, glaring at his brother. "He could have been lying."

"On the contrary, Yamato."

Everyone looked up to see Kyubey perched on the tree, beady pink gaze on the group.

"What are you all looking at?" Nancy asked.

Matt forgot his mother couldn't see Kyubey, and that was a good thing, too. Hell, he wished he couldn't see the devious feline being. "Kyubey's up there, Mom; you just can't see him because you're not magical. And good thing because he's the one who started all of this."

"Yamato, how many times must we go through this?" the Incubator asked.

"I know you're lying!" Matt shouted. "About everything! You persuaded T.K. to kill Izzy and steal Tai's Grief Seed!"

"Takeru chose to do both of those things," Kyubey clarified. "I merely stated my suggestion. However, my response to your claims remains the same: there is no way to save Taichi or undo the contracts. You will eventually become witches; however, if you keep your Soul Gem purified, you can avoid that fate."

"But for how long?" Sora asked. "What if every witch is wiped out and we can't clean our Soul Gems?"

"That's exactly what I have been wondering," T.K. interjected. "Which is why I did what I did."

"But we were going to find a way out of this!" Gabumon pleaded.

"There is no way out!" the Child of Hope shouted, causing the entire group to jump backward. "We're all going to become witches eventually, and since witches are among the powers of darkness, I have to kill you all!"

Matt stumbled back to the ground, frozen at the realization of the change in his brother. Sora was right. T.K.'s... T.K.'s lost it. He wants to kill us because we'll turn into witches one day. While that saves the worlds, it's the wrong answer.

"T.K., come on! Look at me!" Matt gripped his shoulders. "This isn't you! Listen to me! Don't listen to Kyubey!"

"Yeah, T.K.!" Biyomon put in. "No one else has to die!"

"There is no way out of it." Kyubey hopped from his perch to join the group. "You all are fated to die except the Digimon and the adult human."

"Please, T.K.!" Nancy was at the point of tears. "We can figure this out!"

"I don't want to hear it anymore!" T.K. assumed his magical form, then attacked the others with a wave of golden energy.

"Move!" Cody transformed as well and activated his shield to block the attack. "Run! Get Mrs. Takaishi out of here!"

Matt, Sora, Nancy, and the Digimon began to scramble across the street, only for the atmosphere to change right in front of them. The scene with Nancy's car and the neighboring block ripped in two like paper, revealing a cross between a jungle and a beach. A cardboard moon shone in the papery night sky, and papier mache palm trees swayed in the breeze. This was the last thing anyone needed right now.

The annoyance didn't stop there, as a creature leaped out of the dark sea and onto the beach. The landing caused the ground to reverberate and nearly made everyone lose their footing.

"Everyone okay?" Matt asked while he steadied himself.

"We're fine," Sora replied as she checked the Digimon and Nancy, all of whom managed to remain on their feet. "Nobody's hurt over here."

"Same here," Cody said, using his staff as a crutch.

"I'm fine, Matt," Gabumon put in, having managed to bounce off of his paws.

"No problems here...yet." T.K. was hanging on to his own staff.

Everyone turned their focus back toward the creature: a fish from the waist down and an ape from the torso up.

Now we have two dangers to deal with... Matt thought, and one of them is my brother.

A smack from the witch's fin halted the Child of Friendship's thoughts and sent him flying into a palm tree.

"Matt! Are you okay?" Sora ran to his side to help him up.

"I am..." Then the older blond spun around. "Where's Mom?"

He and Sora looked around, but Nancy was nowhere in sight. She was just right here. She must have run off somewhere to hide, but I'll feel much better if she's nearby. I can't lose her, too. I know she and I haven't talked much, but I don't want her to die.

"I'll look for her, Matt!" Sora started to search in the forest of palm trees. "Go take care of the witch and look after T.K. and Cody!"

When Sora and Biyomon disappeared into the jungle, Matt focused his attention on the witch that pinned Cody to the sand with its fin and held Gabumon and T.K. in a stronghold with its muscled arms. The Child of Friendship transformed, then sped forward to free his pals. He delivered a Full Moon Kick to the fishy primate's head, causing it to lose its grip on T.K. and Gabumon and remove its weight from Cody.

"Thanks, Matt!" Cody crawled over to him.

"I thought we were going to get bench pressed," added Gabumon.

Unfortunately, Matt earned a glare from his brother. "I didn't need your help, Matt!"

"It sure did seem like you did." Cody glowered back.

"There's no time for that right now!" Matt fished out his Digivice and held it before Gabumon. "Gabumon!"

"Gabumon digivolve to...Garurumon!" The Digimon of Friendship assumed his Champion form. "Garurumon digivolve to...WereGarurumon!" He elevated to his Ultimate, prepared to fight.

"Where are Sora and Biyomon?" Cody wondered when he noticed they were gone.

"They went to find Mom," Matt responded, then noticed that T.K. had already made a beeline for the witch. "T.K.!" He rushed in to save his brother. Since when has my brother become so reckless? He hates the darkness, but still...going in without a stitch of a plan was asking to die.

"Leave me alone, Matt!" T.K. snapped as his staff glowed to prepare an attack. "I can handle this myself!"

"So much for a plan!" WereGarurumon followed suit. Cody was on his heels.

"Stop it, little brother! You're going to get yourself killed!" the Child of Friendship pleaded.

The witch raised its fin at them and swung.

"WereGarurumon, we need to grab the fin!" Matt urged. "I know it's not much of a plan, but we have to save my brother!"

The werewolf Digimon nodded, grabbing one end of the fin while Matt grabbed the other.

T.K. and Cody, glowing staffs in hand, aimed for the witch, then fired silver and gold streams at it. The witch, however, crossed its arms to guard the attack, rendering it ineffective.

"No fucking way!" T.K. shrieked, now enraged.

"T.K., calm down! We have to think clearly about this and come up with a plan!" Cody pleaded.

"Shut up!" The Child of Hope blazed with golden light, shining like a supernova against the dark labyrinth. It struck the witch full force...as well as the others.

"Holy shit!" Matt lost his grip on the witch, followed by WereGarurumon. Both plummeted in the sand.

Cody flew into a tree, his back slamming it full force.

The witch was engulfed in the light, falling backward into the ocean. Half of its fin was singed along with part of its head.

T.K. charged at him then, shining staff thrusting its way into the witch's chest. Light exploded out of the mer-primate's body, then the witch fell limp. But T.K. didn't stop. Instead, he continued to pummel the creature, blood spewing out of the heart. He laughed sadistically, issuing taunts and threats.

"Stop it, T.K.!" Matt ran over to grab his brother, but the Child of Hope pulled away from him, continuing his assault.

"Why would I stop, Matt?" T.K. laughed again. "This witch needs to suffer, and it will suffer! I promise that the others will follow! Don't you agree, Matt!"

When T.K. turned to look at Matt, the older blond saw the craze in his blue eyes. Mixed with rage, insanity, and pure malice. His head cocked to the side. "T.K...what happened to you?"

"Don't tell me you have sympathy for this creature, Matt!" T.K. pointed at the dead witch, studying his brother intently.

The labyrinth faded away, returning to the Odaiba Park atmosphere. The witch also vanished, dropping a Grief Seed. T.K.'s face was distorted with hatred.

"You were defending the witch!" the Child of Hope snapped. "Which means you're slowly turning into a witch!"

"That's not true and you know it, T.K.!" Cody interjected.

"So you're with him, too, Cody." T.K. shook his head. "Defending the powers of darkness, I see."

"You misunderstood us," Matt tried again. "Plus, the witch is dead, so there was no need in attacking it any further."

"And we're not defending the darkness," added WereGarurumon. "We're trying to get you to listen to reason."

However, T.K. still didn't listen, instead pointing his staff at the trio. "I'll kill you two first; I know you're becoming witches based on what you've been saying."

"T.K., please!" Matt pleaded.

But the Child of Hope charged at the Child of Friendship, preparing a blinding attack. Matt blocked with his spiked knuckles and pushed him back hard.

"He's lost it," WereGarurumon said.

"Truly," Cody added. "And I'm sure Kyubey's just enjoying this entire spectacle." He hazarded a glance at the catlike creature only a foot away from the fight, emotionless as ever.

"Oh, I haven't lost it." The Child of Hope recovered from the impact. He grinned wickedly. "Not even close. You all, on the other hand, have. That's why I'll stop you. I'll go after Sora next, wherever she is."

"Sora!" Matt looked behind him to see that the Child of Love, Biyomon, and Nancy were nowhere to be found. At this point, that was a good thing, for T.K. would have to find them first. It was also a bad thing, knowing whether or not they were safe. They could have run into another witch. I don't want anything to happen to her, I won't let anything happen to her! But T.K.'s my brother!

A blast of golden light from T.K.'s staff interrupted the Child of Friendship's thoughts. The energy singed every cell of his body. Who would have thought T.K.'s magic was so intense? The older blond collapsed to the ground, numb.

"Matt!" Cody ran toward him to help, but T.K. came again, his staff raised to deal another intense blow.

"No!" Matt pushed the youngest DigiDestined away as soon as Cody pulled him to his knees. He shrieked as he felt the full impact of the staff tear into his side like a massive meat cleaver. His vision flashed red for several long minutes as he crumpled to the ground. His vision then blurred, but he could make out Cody and WereGarurumon by his side.

"Matt..." WereGarurumon's voice swam in the Child of Friendship's head as he collapsed.

Wait, I can recover from this, Matt remembered Kyubey's explanation about healing oneself with magic. I just need to know how it works. He tried to rise to his feet, but still couldn't. Well, damn! What's the point of being "invincible" if I don't know how to use it? He closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate.

Suddenly, he felt strength coming back to him and his wounds healing. The deep wound in his side mended like a piece of fabric, and most of his strength returned. The numbness from T.K.'s attack disappeared, and Matt could feel the sensation returning. The older blond opened his eyes to see a flash of red and an auburn blob in his face.

"Matt? Are you alright?"

"Sora?" When his vision came into focus, he confirmed it was indeed Sora and Birdramon. But someone was missing. "Where's Mom?"

"I took her home, Matt," the Child of Love assured him. "She's safe."

"How did I heal?" Matt wondered. "I couldn't get my Soul Gem to listen to me."

"Don't worry, Matt. I cleaned your Soul Gem with a Grief Seed I swiped from T.K. before we escaped Tokyo Tower," said Sora with a grin. "Yep, he never knew. And don't worry, it's not Tai's. Anyway, we still need you, especially when they're not doing well over there."

The Child of Friendship looked past the Child of Love to see that WereGarurumon and Cody were indeed struggling, Cody knocked into the tree and WereGarurumon landing on top of him.

"Guys!" Matt rushed over to them, Sora and Birdramon following. "Are you okay?"

"Define 'okay,'" the werewolf Digimon quipped. "T.K.'s too strong."

"How did you recover from that wound, Matt?" Cody asked.

"No time for that now," Sora interjected. "We need to focus!"

"Sora, you're back!" Cody said. "Where's Mrs. Takaishi?"

"She's at home," Matt responded.

"For now, we need to focus on T.K.." Birdramon glanced at the crazed Child of Hope.

"I'm sorry, guys, but I can't fight T.K.." Matt backed away. "He's my brother."

"Matt." Cody gripped the older blond's shoulders and locked eyes with him. "T.K. killed Izzy and used us, too. We've discussed this back at Sora's. If we can't talk sense into T.K., we'll have to stop him."

An intense, golden blast cut the discussion short. WereGarurumon kicked it away, but it was so powerful it still caused damage as it made the Digimon recoil.

"Cody's right, Matt!" the Ultimate-level shouted at his partner. "We have to kill him to save lives because if he kills us, he'll go after other magical people and even potential ones. We have to fight if we can't reason with him!"

Another damaging stream of light from T.K. interrupted their persuasion. This time, everyone dodged it, the group splitting to both sides of the blast.

"T.K.!" Matt called out after he regained his footing. He stared at his misguided little brother with a mix of fear of sadness. "Stop this! This isn't you! We can figure this out! But first, you need to think clearly!"

"I don't want to hear any more, Matt!" T.K. spun his staff and released a gilded disc of magic at the older blond.

They're right; we don't have a choice, Matt thought as the disc closed in on him. But still... The disc slammed into him, sending him flying into the street. I know I have to fight, and I will. The Child of Friendship crouched on all fours to attack. He charged T.K., spiked knuckles first and slashed his brother across the chest. However, he didn't dig deep enough to kill him, as T.K. retaliated with another blast of magic that knocked Matt back.

"Full Moon Kick!" WereGarurumon launched a roundhouse kick at the Child of Hope, but T.K. blocked the impact with his staff. Cody followed up with a barrage of silver orbs at T.K. The onslaught fried T.K., who crumpled to the grass. Sora and Birdramon then topped it off with body-shaped flames that burned T.K. intensely.

"Matt, now!" the Child of Love called.

Matt charged his brother again, spiked knuckles ready to finish him. However, when he reached the younger blond, he froze, looking down at the downed Child of Hope, who was climbing to his knees.

"Matt! He's weak! Do it!" Cody urged.

"I...can't..." Matt said, staring at the recovering T.K.

"Can't...do it, huh, Matt?" T.K. taunted and sent a slash of golden light at the older blond, sending him flying into Sora and Birdramon.

"Are you okay, Matt?" Sora asked as they rose to their feet.

"Matt! What happened?" Cody demanded.

Matt didn't have time to answer that, as the group found itself rolling out of the way of another stream of gilded energy. The older blond checked his Soul Gem to see it was nearly filled with dark energy again.

Sora and Cody must have been thinking the same thing, for they checked their own Soul Gems to see theirs suffered the same fate.

"Does anyone have any more Grief Seeds?" Matt asked, but received a pair of shaking heads in response. The Child of Friendship swore. "We need to escape and regroup, then."

"That'll give us time to come up with a plan," added WereGarurumon.

"You're not going to escape that easily!" T.K. threatened as he raised his staff to gather energy for a more powerful spell. "There's no point, anyway. We're all doomed."

Birdramon and WereGarurumon moved between the younger blond and the other DigiDestined.

"Birdramon," Sora's eyes widened. Her body shook a little with panic.

"Sora, I know what I'm doing," The Digimon of Love hazarded a glance back at her human partner. "I am destined to protect you, even if you're a magical girl. I have to protect you."

"Same here, Matt," WereGarurumon said to the older blond. "We're supposed to protect our partners. Being magical doesn't change that."

"You two are crazy!" Cody sputtered. "You don't stand a chance against T.K. like he is now."

"You don't know what we can do, Cody," Birdramon replied. "And don't worry, we'll catch up. You three just need to go!"

Cody took a step back, reluctantly nodding. "Okay."

"Go, Matt!" WereGarurumon urged.

"Birdramon, digivolve!" Sora raised her Digivice as she stepped back to join Cody, whose staff was glowing to prepare to teleport.

"Birdramon digivolve to...Garudamon!" The bird Digimon assumed her Ultimate-level form and faced T.K..

"Good luck..." Matt joined his friends. The last thing he saw before they vanished was his brother launching his attack at the two Digimon, causing a supernova-sized explosion. "WereGarurumon!"