Me: I don't own Digimon, yada, yada, yada…uh…(turns and sees Tai sneaking out of door with ice cream) What…are…you…doing?
Tai: Uh, nothing! Sora wanted some ice cream and she said she was really hungry, so I thought-
Me: You thought I'd just let you take my ice cream without asking, huh?
Tai: Well…yeah.
Me: (smiles mischievously) I don't think so. (moves slowly toward Tai)
Tai: Uh-oh…
Digimon
The WarGame of the 21st Century
Chap. XIV-The Battle against Piedmon and Datamon
"There's a war coming…You sure you're on the right side?" –Wolverine
"At least I've chosen a side." –Storm, X-Men: The Movie
When Tai opened his eyes again, he recognized something-the Digital World wasn't its usual bright, shiny day, but rather a reshaped mountain that looked awfully familiar to him and the older DigiDestined. Davis and the younger members were lucky that they'd landed close to them since the portals they'd used were so far away from each other on Earth.
"That can't be…can it?" Tai asked out loud. He barely acknowledged the fact that Sora had wrapped her arms around his waist for comfort.
"It looks like it, but we could be wrong, right Tai?"
"We're not wrong on this. Spiral Mountain's back again." Matt declared impatiently.
"What's Spiral Mountain?" Davis had the foreknowledge to ask at least.
"When we came here after defeating VenomMyotismon, we took notice of the fact that years had passed since our departure from the Digital World. It wasn't the same as it used to be. The Dark Masters were somehow able to reshape the entire Digital World into Spiral Mountain and it eventually took all of our combined strength to defeat Piedmon." Davis had that look Tai usually had after Izzy went through one of his extremely long speeches-a look of profound befuddlement.
"Come again?"
"Never mind!"
"Well, well, well. The group of heroes have returned to challenge me even after what I did to them in the Real World. True, they did defeat me with the use of PhoenixGreymon, but that was only the result of a last-ditch effort on their part. I will not allow them to gain the advantage so easily this time. This time…we're playing for keeps."
"Okay, Yolei, remind me again why we had to split up into two separate teams again?" Davis impatiently asked his girlfriend as they hiked up one of the two sides of Spiral Mountain; the older DigiDestined were hiking opposite from them.
"Tai and the others figured it'd be too dangerous if we tried ambushing Piedmon and Datamon as one big group, so while they try taking them on from the front, we'll surprise them from behind."
"And why does Tai keep putting himself through this? He knows we can handle ourselves just fine."
"Tai's got a personal score to settle with Datamon, and Piedmon nearly killed him and WarGreymon during one of their battles when they were our age."
"Enough said."
"Exactly! If we could get up this mountain without anymore interruptions? I had enough problems getting up here the first time!" T.K. yelled impatiently. Davis glared at him in response.
"If you're getting mad at either me or Yolei, then just zip it, T.S.! I wanted to double check and make sure that I wasn't forgetting anything." Davis retorted angrily.
"Like you could remember anything beforehand." T.K. replied cynically.
"THAT'S IT! I've tried to be friendly, I've tried to be kind; heck, I've even tried sweetness, but this takes the cake!" Davis tackled T.K. to the ground and the two of them started throwing punches at each other. Kari and Yolei ran up to their respective boyfriends, pulled them apart and slapped them across their cheeks before things got too bloody for them to handle.
"Cut it out, you two! There's no time for fighting, unless we're taking on Datamon or Piedmon. I don't see either one of them, so save your insults for those two!" Yolei demanded irritably.
"You rang, younger generation?" The team looked up and sighed. Datamon stood right in their tracks, poised and ready for battle.
Tai's eyes were narrowed in pure anger. It didn't matter to him if he found either Datamon or Piedmon-he owed them both a lifetime of pain and torment! Datamon had kidnapped Sora from him, attempted to clone her, nearly sent her down Etemon's Dark Network and turned her evil in an attempt to get revenge on him. Piedmon had nearly killed him and WarGreymon during the time of the Dark Masters. The look on Sora's face as Tai had looked up into her beautiful crimson eyes…pain, sadness and a fear of losing him in the Digital World forever. He wasn't going to let them take her away again!
"Tai? Is something wrong?" Tai turned to see Sora, her eyes filled with worry as they gazed into his own chocolate ones.
"Nothing, Sora. Just that-I owe both of these Digimon so much pain that they bestowed on me…what Datamon did to you, Piedmon almost killing me-"
Sora's eyes narrowed as she grabbed Tai-they were bringing up the rear and had fallen a bit behind-by his shirt and eyed him with a look of pain and sadness.
"Listen to me, Tai: You are not going to sacrifice yourself to defeat these evil Digimon, do you hear me? I've had to stand by and watch you go into the Digital World to help our younger selves, take on Diaboromon in the Internet and see you almost get skewered and watch like a helpless zombie as I stabbed you in the chest with a sword! So you are staying right by my side throughout this entire battle, okay?" Tai eyed her with a look of amazement and understanding.
"Okay. 'Skewered?'"
"TAI!" Sora cried irritably as she collapsed into his arms and started sobbing. Confused and scared, Tai held her and took solace by being in her presence.
"I'm sorry, Sora. We knew this job had some risks when we first became DigiDestined, didn't we? I promise I won't jump into battle until there's no other choice, okay?"
Sora nodded through her tears. "O-okay. (hiccup) Are you going to keep this promise?"
"Hey, I've kept that promise not to let anything happen to you, haven't I?"
"Not recently, but you've tried."
Tai leaned down toward Sora's waiting lips, then saw out of the corner of his eye a flying sword…two flying swords.
"Sora, get down!" Tai yelled as he dived down and made sure that he took the brunt of the fall, knowing that Sora was right by him. Agumon and Biyomon came in with looks of impatience across their faces.
"Where were you two?" Biyomon asked.
"Piedmon ambushed us a few minutes ago and turned all the others into key chains without even lifting a finger! And we find the two of you liplocking?" Tai and Sora had the grace to blush as they stood up to their feet.
"We weren't 'liplocking!' More likely, we were having a debate on whether I should jump headlong into battle." Tai insisted.
"DigiDestined! The time for your demise has come. And what better for you to meet your doom than to have it on the same battleground you and I crossed swords on before?"
Tai rolled his eyes, clearly irritated with Piedmon's antics as of late. "Digivolve, Agumon!"
"You too, Biyomon!"
Immediately, Tai and Sora's Digivices glowed the same as their Crests would if they had them.
"Agumon…"
"Biyomon…"
"Warp-Digivolve to…WARGREYMON!!!/PHOENIXMON!!!"
WHAM! Paildramon was hit hard by Datamon's main attack. Davis and Ken were lucky they'd gotten their Digimon to DNA Digivolve, but they had been stopped while attempting to Mega Digivolve to Imperialdramon. Yolei, Kari, Cody and T.K. were on the sidelines, waiting for the okay from their leader.
"You are truly the equal of the DigiDestined of Courage, goggle-wearing boy. But, you are not the boy I desire revenge against, so to me, you are nothing! Digital Bomb!!" Paildramon wasn't quick enough to avoid the hail of tiny bombs headed his way and was hit again, nearly falling to the ground!
"Hang on, Paildramon! Just Digivolve again and you'll have the advantage." Ken advised.
"Right, Ken! Paildramon Mega Digivolve to…"
"I think not! Digital Bomb!!"
"Aquilamon, Gatomon, get up there now!" Yolei and Kari cried out. Nodding, the two Digimon shot upward like arrows.
"Aquilamon…"
"…Gatomon…"
"DNA Digivolve to…SYLPHYMON!!!"
Sylphymon barely blocked the attack in time for Paildramon to make it all the way through his Digivolving to…
"…IMPERIALDRAMON!!! Imperialdramon: Mode Change to…FIGHTER MODE!!!"
"You're going down, mass of wires! Positron Laser!!"
"Static Force!!"
The two attacks sent Datamon flying clear across the side of the mountain!
"Perfecto!"
"Amazing! Let's get over there, guys!"
WarGreymon and Phoenixmon were nearing exhaustion. They were giving it their best shot, but Piedmon's skill seemed to have improved since his deletion four years ago!
"Trump Swords!!! Face it, DigiDestined-it's over! Why not surrender now and save yourself the agony of defeat?"
The two Mega Digimon were hit and spiraled out of the sky toward the ground, where they hit with a sickening thud!
"WarGreymon! Phoenixmon! You guys okay?" Tai asked. He'd managed to keep his promise to Sora and stayed out of the battle, but if anything happened to their Digimon, he knew that he might have to break his promise and protect her by any means necessary.
"We're fine, Tai. Just stay back and let us handle it!" WarGreymon rumbled out.
That's when a miracle occurred in the most unlikely of places.
"Terra Destroyer!!" WHAM! Piedmon stumbled back in shock, then looked up and glared at Black WarGreymon, who was miraculously reconfigured just like normal Digimon were reconfigured throughout the Digital World.
"I was hoping you'd been reconfigured! It's good to see you!" WarGreymon gasped out as he and Phoenixmon were both struggling to maintain their Mega forms while still in the air.
"It's a pleasure to be seen. Now, to take care of this mockery of a clown! Terra Destroyer!!"
"Terra Force!!"
"Crimson Flame!!"
The three attacks nailed Piedmon straight in the chest and he screamed in agony as he was deleted once again.
"NOOOOOOOOOO! NOT AGAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIINNNNNNN…"
Tai and Sora smiled broadly as the last of the Dark Masters vanished for the last time. As he did, the other DigiDestined reappeared with their Digimon behind them.
"Matt! Weren't you guys dolls?" Sora asked.
"Not at all! We were just trapped behind some sort of invisible wall. Agumon and Biyomon were lucky to have lagged behind like the rest of you." Matt explained.
"It's good to see you guys again." Tai noted.
"It's good to be seen." came the reply.
"Not before…I have…my revenge! Digital Bomb!!" Tai looked up and surprisingly enough smiled at the Digimon.
"Tai, get out of the way!" Sora yelled out.
Calm as ice, Tai didn't move an inch. He waited for the tiny bombs to get closer and closer…
"TAI! NOOOOOOO!" Sora tried to get back to him, but Izzy and Matt held her back.
A second later, Tai whipped out his Digivice and it started glowing brightly. Seconds after that, the bombs disappeared only inches from his face.
"Prodigious. I knew our Digivices had the power to dislodge Black Gears, but I didn't know they could stop attacks like this as well!"
"WarGreymon, now!"
"TERRA FORCE!!"
"TERRA DESTROYER!!"
"CRIMSON FLAME!!"
"POSITRON LASER!!"
The four Mega Digimon sent their attacks straight into the shattered part of Datamon's damaged body! He screamed as he was deleted for the last time.
Tai collapsed to the ground as Sora ran to him, hugging him tightly and not letting go. WarGreymon came up to Tai with Phoenixmon by his side.
"Black WarGreymon's agreed to look after our territories Tai. We'll go back to the Real World with you!" Tai and Sora smiled through their tears and hugged their Digimon tightly. Davis and the others came running in with smiles on their faces.
"We've did it! We saved the Digital World and the Real World from total annihilation! What could possibly go wrong now?" Davis yelled out happily.
A second later, the ground became nothing but a hole of total blackness that sucked up all the DigiDestined and their Digimon! They all screamed as they fell down another black hole while Black WarGreymon helplessly watched, unable to lift a finger or help out.
On their way down, Mimi did cry out, "I CAN'T STAND BLACK HOLES!!!!"