Ep3
Disclaimer: I still don't own Digimon or any other licenced products that appear in this story. I do not intend to make any profit off this work of fiction. Go ahead, sue me, but it won't do anything.
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long. And sorry that it is so long. I hate translating things to HTML.

Episode III:
Moving On

Ken's Voiceover: All right, so we ended up in this really weird evil world after being kidnapped from the real world. We managed to survive the attack of this Emperor Khartan guy because some weird person showed up and saved us. He came with a Wargreymon that can digivolve to the next level! Afterwards, we had to survive on our own. The guys got tangled up saving a village, and TK risked his life to beat up the bad guys. I hope this doesn't get any worse.

"What happened to you guys?!" Kari sounded especially frantic.
"TK took a swim." Veemon stated, jumping up on a log and starting to munch on an odd shaped vegetable lying there.
"I'm all right." TK nodded. "Really."
"How did you manage to do this to yourself TK?" Kari took in the general state of his clothes, which were all still wet, his pale demeanor, his shaking shoulders, and everything else.
"I got careless."
"He held off two Tyrannomon all by himself." Ken stated flatly. "He got them angry and distracted and held their attention so that Stingmon and I could finish them. If you think wet is bad, he was almost deep-fat fried."
"You did what?" Kari gasped, grabbing his shoulder.
"Whoa." Was all Yolei could say. "I thought Angemon couldn't Digivolve."
"He can't." Ken's voice was level, but you could hear something in there shaking. "You have no idea how much he scared me when he tried to take them on on foot."
"I helped." Patamon sat up.
Gatomon rolled her eyes. "I bet you did."
"If you guys are done yelling at me." TK was still shivering a little. "I think I'm going to go lie down. Wake me up for dinner."
"Sure thing TZ!"
"Davis!"
TK smiled and closed his eyes, and let exhaustion wash over him.

Earlier:
"Man, I haven't felt this bad since TK snuck a rock under my bed." Matt stood up and tried to strech a kink out of his back.
"Why did he do that?" Sora had already yawned and crawled out of the pile of dried grass and leaves that had formed a cozy comforter for the night, along with Biyomon.
"Probably because I dumped a glass of water over him while he was sleeping to make him think he had wet his bed. But I only did that because he stole my guitar strings."
"Was that before or after you glued his hat to your art project?" Joe wanted to know from where he was already feeding the fire that had nursed the night guard through the darkness. He looked a bit dishevled, but otherwise just like the same Joe that had gotten them through so many scrapes.
"That was an honest mistake."
"Sheesh. You guys don't even live in the same house, and you have problems." Sora shook her head.
"So, are we all ready for breakfast?" Matt asked, moving toward the fire, where some thoughtful person had stacked last night's leftover meal of fruit and vegetables.
"I certainly am!" Biyomon announced.
"Me too!" Gomamon poked his head up at the mention of food.
"So where is everyone?" Palmon wanted to know.
"Well, Mimi's still sleeping, and so is Tai. I thought we would let them sleep while we got breakfast ready. After all there's no reason to get them up. And Izzy and Tentomon are over there, working." Matt pointed to where two figures could be seen, hunched over the new laptop, carefully and rapidly hitting buttons.
"Leave it to Izzy to get worked up this early in the morning. Any idea on what they're working on?" Sora asked, yawning.
"Some way to find a Gate." Joe shrugged. "He explained some of it to me, but Biology and Medicine are my things, not Computer Science."
"Can we just get breakfast started?" Biyomon asked, ruffling her pink feathers. "Please?"
"Sure thing." Matt leaned down and picked up the piece of scrap metal he had found yesterday that made a nice frying pan. Quickly he mashed up some more different roots and poured them in. Joe's gift had shown them to be not only harmless, but edible, and offered a few cooking tips, including how to make a dough-like porridge out of them. Yesterday Matt, who got to be the cook, since he was the only one who actually knew anything about it, had created a pancake like object out of it. Today, he would try the same thing.
"How are you doing?" Sora leaned over Izzy and watched him busily inputing computer commands into the screen.
"Not bad. I think I can use the electromagnetic scanners to zoom in and determine which part of the photonic spectrum is being defracted by the interdimensional phenomenon of an active portal. Then, using a triangulation matrix, and adjusting for the pertubation…"
"Izzy, you're doing it again." Sora tapped him on top of the head.
Izzy blushed suddenly and groaned. "Sorry Sora."
She smiled sisterly at him as Joe wandered over to watch them. "'S Okay. So, what are you doing?"
"Well, you should know that a portal between worlds warps space. Just like all those portals we've seen before, where it looked sort of like everything was being sucked into it. Well, those portals warp space, which is why they look so weird when you get close to them. The best way to detect warped space is through light. Normally, light flows in straight lines and all, so that when it reaches you it should come in a predictable pattern. Well, a portal warps that pattern, and I'm looking for visual inconsistencies. It will take a while to work the bugs out of the system."
"Wow Izzy, I think I understood that." Joe stood still in shock for a moment.
Sora nodded. "You're getting better all the time. But we do have something that you could use your genius on?"
"What might that be?"
"Waking up Tai."
Izzy shrugged, packed up his laptop for a moment and joined them watching Tai snore. He was out like a light. Even Mimi was yawning her way awake.
"I wonder why he's so tired?" Joe asked.
"Because he didn't sleep much last night." Matt's voice was quiet and deadly serious.
"He didn't?"
"No, when I took my shift, he was up staring at the stars. Every once in a while, I heard him sniffle. I think he's worried about Kari."
"He was doing that when I was out too. I don't know if he slept at all." Sora whistled. "He must be really worried."
"Yeah. I'm worried too, but I saw TK less. I was forced to remember that he'd grown up while he was away from me. Tai never had to think of Kari as grown up and mature. He's paying the price for that now."
"I guess so, anything we can do?" Sora and Matt were ignoring everyone else and staring at each other.
"I don't know Sora. I really don't. And I don't know if I can stand it for very long."
"Well, we can worry about that later." Izzy looked over. "Fortunately, I have a plan to wake up Tai with a very high probability of success." He leaned over Tai and whispered in his ear. "Tai, breakfast."
"Huh? What? Food?"
Everyone laughed. "Good morning Tai."
"I see he hasn't changed." Gabumon snickered to Matt.
"Did you think he would?" Matt asked back.
"Seeing how Agumon never changes, I guess not."
After breakfast the group got up again and started discussing where to go, with the exception of Izzy, who was staring at his computer. After a moment of typing, he stood up.
"I think I have an answer." He stated boldly.
"What?" Tai sounded grumpy.
"There is a disturbance of some kind that could be a gate over in that direction. Somewhere." He pointed to the west.
"That's it, that's all you know? I can't believe that…sorry Izzy."
"S'Okay Tai, I know what you're thinking. Anyway, I was taking some notes on those towers that we noticed the other day. There's another line over there. And one over there, and they all lead toward the same point. My theory is that the person who controls them has a palace in that direction, and is probably either right over the gate, or knows where the gate is. Maybe we can find out from him."
Tai shook his head. "You're still my favorite genius Izzy."
"Isn't he though." Matt grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.
"So if we go that way, pretty soon we'll be back with our frineds." Mimi exclaimed extatically.
"That's great!" Sora exclaimed.
"I think we're ready to go get them." Joe exclaimed.
Behind them the Digimon made a sudden circle.
"Is Joe being positive?"
"Did he just sound enthusiastic?"
"Maybe a black gear got him or something."
"Or he's been drinking too much caffeine."
"Nah, Joe's always had it in him, even if he didn't show it."
"I guess he has changed, though you haven't."
"Hey!"
"C'mon guys!" Tai yelled, starting to clean up the camp. "Let's get going."

A few hours later, they were slightly less cheerful.
"I feel like I've been walking all day." Agumon complained. "I'm getting tired."
"You have been walking all day." Tentomon pointed out. Izzy just grinned.
"At least nobody's seen us." Tai remarked. He was looking at everything with his goggles, depending on their magnification to keep anything from sneaking up on him. That and Izzy's ever increasing skill with his new laptop. Sora and Matt walked beside Tai and Joe walked beside Izzy, keeping them from running into things while they kept a look out.
"According to what we saw on that last hill, there should be a lake on the other side of this ridge. We can rest there, maybe set up camp for the night, and get an early start tomorrow." Sora suggested brightly.
"Wow! I love a day at the beach!" Mimi near-shrieked.
"You don't have to be so loud Mimi." Palmon remonstrated her.
"I think we could use a time-out." Joe suggested. "Let's get up that hill."
Matt just grinned and hit Tai on the back, almost knocking him over. Gabumon chuckled.
"Well, at least it isn't that tall. You were right, I can see that lake." Tai gazed ahead with his goggles. "Wait, what's that? Everyone down."
Everybody, Digimon and human dropped to the ground for a moment, but nothing happened. After a few seconds Sora and Matt crawled to the front. Izzy followed them leaving Joe and Mimi and the Digimon behind. They all peered over the edge, but they could see nothing but a cluster of shapes. Izzy quickly connected his laptop to Tai's goggles and hit the enter button, and gasped as an image appeared on the screen.
A large humanoid bull Digimon was beating up on a group of Koromon and Yokomon who were scrambling around on a small island. It was obvious that the small in-training Digimon had meant that island to be inaccessible from land, but the other Digimon had made it across. Even as they watched, the large interloper grabbed a single pink Digimon and threw it into the ground hard. He seemed to be demanding something. Izzy pushed his image on the screen.
"Got a problem guys. That big one is a Minotarumon, an Ultimate level Digimon of unknown powers. His Darkside Quake attack involves that huge drill on the end of his arm. If he gets close enough to one of us to use it, we're goners."
Tai pounded his hand on the ground. "We can't just give up, can we?"
"We can't rush in and fight him either." Izzy pointed out reasonably.
"We can't just give up!" Matt yelled.
"Yeah Izzy, we've got to do something." Sora sounded upset.
"I didn't say we couldn't do anything, I just said we should come up with a plan. And I have one. Here's how it goes…"

Kari stood up from her vigil beside TK and rejoined the others.
"Will he be all right?" Yolei asked.
"Yeah, he's just tired, and exhausted, and cold and hungry. He probably needs to just rest." Ken nodded knowingly. "He really took a lot out of himself today."
"He's good though." Armadillomon was considering something.
"Yeah, he is." Ken shook his head and hugged Wormmon to him. "So, did Hawkmon find anything out there worth looking at?"
"There is the ruins of an old road behind those hills over there. It looks unused, so we could probably take it to go look around." Yolei turned back to Kari. "Kari, are you all right?"
"I'll be fine." She did not sound fine.
"Don't worry Kari." Gatomon touched her on the shoulder. "He'll be all right."
"Why don't you go take a walk?" Ken suggested, exchanging a glance with Yolei.
"Walk? Sure…OK." Kari got up slowly and walked off.
"I'll go with you!" Davis shouted.
"Oh no you won't!"
Kari walked away from the cheerful gathering slowly. Something in her was hurt deeply by seeing TK in pain, and she was not sure why. Did he mean more to her than she had thought? After all, this was not the first time he had seen him in terrible danger.
A brief flash, a moment of falling, falling into darkness, a frightened face of a young boy, a glowing golden radiance, Kari banished the memories almost immediately. Others swarmed up to take their place, but she shook her head and tried to clear it. Why did TK mean so much to her?
For a moment, she stood paralyzed in place, waiting for something to happen, something to make sense, but nothing did. As her thoughts chased their way through her mind, another image seemed to appear in her head.
She was looking out of someone's eyes at something she had never seen before. Around her soared Digimon of every description, and other things as well, beings that looked like angels and flying robots and machines of war. They soared through a crystal sky, miles above a deep blue ocean, with the salt breezes ripping through her hair as it trailed off behind her. The sky was full of them, soaring in all sizes and shapes and speeds, racing through the wind and the air and cutting through the ocassional cloud like they were tissue paper.
Kari felt like jumping for joy, perhaps indulging in a squeal or two at the sheer beauty of being able to fly with such speed, such force, and at the power of the accompanying wings. But then she realized that the person who was doing the flying was feeling anything but mirth, a touch of apprehension and fear. And those around her were staring ahead, keeping their facial expressions carefully neutral, watching only ahead. Instead of being happy, these people were serious, focused and nervous.
Kari started when a voice spoke in her mind, echoing in her thoughts.
"We've gotten the first line, but those Reaper demons are playing havoc with the right flank. You've got to kill those carriers before they launch against the battle line."
"I copy." The woman opened her mouth to respond. "All units, I repeat, all units, designate the carriers. Blue squadron, gold squdron form on me, we're going in."
The sky tilted crazzily as the image twisted and suddenly she was diving toward the ground. Tiny specks there began to race upwards, their screams echoing in her ears like her worst nightmares, but the crowd around her was unleashing vast powers hammering downward, and then the world exploded in death and destruction.
Kari shook her head as the image faded abruptly, wondering, abstractly, what kind of image that was. As her thoughts moved around in her skull, she ignored a mass of cracking sounds above her.
Hikari, look out!
She moved without thought, throwing herself out of the way. A split second later a huge branch crashed down where she had been standing a few moments before. Kari stared at it a moment, adrenaline pumping through her system, and then slowly regained her breath. She looked around for whoever was responsible for warning her, but saw nobody. Puzzled, she frowned and returned to camp, to that island in the desolation.

TK floated in a dream. He was standing on top of a mountain, a tall one, its roots disappearing below him into a vast, trackless forest. It was night, or at least evening, and the sky was vaguely lit by a red and black glare from one side, the reflections of a disappeared sun. The mountain itself appeared to be carved of black rock, rock like obsidian, gleaming like glass and standing upright like a natural tower in the ground of the forest. Everywhere he looked he could see vague landmarks, but they disappeared, as if they were shrouded in a dark cloud, or as if he were floating in a sea of mist. Beneath him was a sharp drop off, falling away toward ground that looked like it was a good thousand meters beneath him, vague and indistinct. He backed up nervously as a small shower of pebbles broke away beneath his feet, hurtling downward into darkness.
"Takeru Takaishi." the voice was flat, calm and unemotional. He turned around to view a tall man standing behind him, black cape flying around his shoulders, silver and gold armor adorning his body. "You cannot win this war without Hope."
"But I have Hope." TK protested.
"Perhaps Takeru, but you have no understanding of how your crest actually works. As such, you are, in a way, helpless. Until you unleash the full power of your crest, your friends are doomed, and your time is limited."
"I thought I didn't have the crest anymore!"
"You can't get rid of it that easily. You brought it into yourself, do you think you could seriously abandon it like that?"
"Well we did!"
"Not even Gennai has that kind of power. You still bear the crest's markings. Now they form your last Hope."
"Then how do you use it?" TK demanded, trying to stay away from the figure.
"Are you afraid of falling off this mountain?"
"Yes, what does that have to do with this?"
"Good." With one stride the man was at his side, grabbing him by the collar and, with a powerful thrust of his arm, throwing TK over the side, sending him spiraling toward the Earth below. TK could feel himself begin to scream as he spun through the air, and this time, there was no Angemon to save him.

TK jerked upright, sweating heavily. He felt nervousness roll off him in a wave, as the remnants of the dream faded into his memory, if not his imagination.
"TK, you're awake." Kari yelled behind him, grabbing him around a shoulder. "I'm so glad you're awake."
There was an odd weight on TK's stomach, and he looked down as a lump of the blanket he was sleeping in rustled suddenly and a familiar orange set of ears poked up. "Yeah TK, you wouldn't want to miss dinner."
"You're sweating, are you all right?" Kari asked, sounding concerned.
"Yeah, bad dream."
"Maybe I should have woken you up earlier. You were thrashing around a little." Kari now sounded apologetic. And nervous for some reason, something that made TK wonder briefly before he forgot about it.
"Don't worry about it. And Kari?"
"Yeah?"
"Th…thanks for watching out for me Kari." It was a good thing that it was already night, and darkness was already setting in, so that neither saw the other blush.
"Come and get it!" Davis yelled. "If he doesn't get over here, I get TE's share."
"Davis!" Yolei yelled.
"If you cooked it, you can have it." TK joked as he walked over and sat down with Kari trailing behind him.
"No, me and Ken cooked it." Gatomon looked at him. "I'm glad to see you back on your feet."
"I'm glad I still have feet."
"Well, time for some soup." Ken suggested. He held out a strange wooden bowl filled with a thick, rich vegetable soup and TK took it, smiling gratefully.
"So did anything happen during my nap?"
Kari looked disturbed, but nobody else noticed.
"As a matter of fact, yes. I think that Yolei and I figured out why we can't make our Digimon digivolve like they can back in the regular Digital World."
"Really, why?" Davis asked.
"In the Digital World, when a Digimon divigolves they take power from their human partner and the world around them to accomplish it. For our Digimon, since they are good, they require the energy of all that is good in the world and in their partner to do this. However, here, in Parsifal, which is a world shrouded in darkness, they cannot draw the energy of Light from their surroundings, and can only draw it from their partner. This means that they simply do not have the strength to DNA Digivolve anymore, not without a massive infusion of power. Angemon is nearly the embodiment of good, and it will take a lot more than anything we have at the moment to Digivolve him again. It's like before he learned how to Digivolve the first time, it took a lot to make him do it."
"Well, that explains some things. Any ideas?"
"Not really." Ken shrugged. "The Digimon in that village back there mentioned items of power hidden in the mountains that might be able to help us. We think that we should be able to follow those paths."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Davis yelled. "Let's get going tomorrow. We can get through those mountains and find something that'll allow us to turn the tide on that nasty Khartan guy."
"Ssoo…you seek to destroy my master…not wise for you to reveal yourself by Digivolving…" a new voice rasped over them, this one loud and evil and hollow.
"We've got company!" Davis yelled unnecessarily, raising his Digivice.
"Veemon…digivolve to….ExVee…ExVeemo…a little help here!"
"What's wrong?" Davis demanded.
"I don't know Davish. I just can't seem to Digivolve."
"We wore ourselves out fighting earlier." Wormmon looked around wildly. "I can't do it either."
"And Gatomon can't digivolve at all, so that leaves me. Don't worry guys. I'll take care of everything." Yolei held her D3 out as a familiar light began to emanate from it.
Hawkmon…Digivolve to….Aquilamon.
"Figure out what's going on out there Aquilamon!" Yolei yelled.
"I can answer that." Ken replied from where he was fiddling with the scanner. "I'm reading a whole nest full of Digimon. I have a Dokugamon, some undead Digimon called Raremon and a whole patrol of Bakemon. I think we've got problems."
"Bakemon are weak enough we should be able to take them with our rookies." TK yelled, "but the other two are tough. We better get out of here, while Yolei holds them off."
"C'mon everyone." Davis was up and running, grabbing his stuff from the ground and shoving it in his backpack. "Time to go." Ken and Kari followed his lead.
"Aren't you packing up?" Cody asked as he grabbed his stuff.
"I'm already packed." TK smiled. "Besides, Yolei might need a hand if Aquilamon gets exhausted up there."
"Then I'm staying to." Cody made up his mind and wrenched around in his tracks.
"No Cody, you don't want to be foolish. You aren't strong enough yet."
"This isn't about strength." Cody replied, unsheathing the sword he had been given. "It's about honor, and what it means to be a friend. And seeing how you were passing out a few hours ago, you shouldn't talk."
TK fought off a wave of dizziness, looked down at the younger boy, then smiled. Both of them were not really up to fighting, but it was something that had to be done. "All right Cody, let's go get them."
Suddenly the ground behind them wrenched upwards and erupted into a fountain of earth, finally resolving into a Digimon that looked like a giant gray slug. It smelled awful.
"Well, there's Raremon." TK muttered.
From the other side a huge spider crashed out of the brush, followed by a horde of white-sheeted ghosts.
"And there are the Bakemon and Dokugamon. Showtime."
Aquilamon dived out of the sky, stooping like a hunting hawk, horns glowing, unleashing his Great Horn attack on the Dokugamon, sending it flying back into the horde of Bakemon. Even as everyone scattered the Dokugamon up righted itself and fired off a series of purple threads from its mouth, filling the air with poisonous, burning thread. Aquilamon danced on the air currents avoiding the fire, having drawn first blood. Veemon rushed ahead and slammed into the spider, sending it falling backwards. Wormmon and Armadillomon fired simultaneously, catching Raremon off guard, and giving the other Digidestined a moment to run for their lives.
"We've got to get out of here!" Davis screamed again, unnecessarily.
"Of course, let's go." Ken backed him up.
The Bakemon started moving forward again. TK met the first one, swinging his staff around, and there was a comforting thunk as the first ghost collapsed on the ground, eyes flashing like a train signal. Cody waved his sword around, frightening two more away from him, but the others closed steadily.
"Lightning claw!" Gatomon rushed upwards at the Raremon, heading straight for his eyes.
"Breath of Decay!" A blast of fetid, explosive air rushed back down, sending Gatomon flying to land in a limp heap on the ground.
"Gatomon!" Kari rushed over to her fallen friend, even as Davis shouted desperately at her.
TK swore at himself, and then blocked another Bakemon and slammed it back with the end of his staff, trying to find a way out for him and Cody. Behind him, he watched Kari grab her fallen feline friend and cradle her white body to her chest, crying silent tears. A Bakemon almost ripped the staff out of his hand, and he was suddenly reminded of how recently he had been completely exhausted. His heart sank as he watched the evil Digimon surround him, flashing white with black claws bared. Cody slashed at one with his sword and it backed off.
"What do we do TK?" Cody asked. "I don't think we can hold them off much longer."
In the sky Aquilamon was suddenly hit, and spiraled downward, crashing into the ground some distance away, rumbling to a stop, and laying there.
"Get up!" Yolei screamed, and then she screamed again as two Bakemon grabbed her from either side, pinning her in place.
The Raremon lurched forward, grunting, its stink permeating the air. One massive appendage rose above Kari's head and slowly descended, freezing the moment in TK's mind. He could feel the Bakemon overcoming his defenses, he could feel Cody's calmness and hopelessness, he could feel Yolei's terror and the sudden agony of Davis and Ken. He could feel the Digimon trying to fight. He could feel Kari's heart as she watched the blow that would kill her, and inside he raged in frustration at his helplessness, even as a sudden sensation felt like it was ripping his heart out. That feeling sped outward, ripping and tearing up his soul until finally it erupted down, out of the piece of solid fire that was stuck to his hip, and out into the world. In his mind as well as in his ears he could hear a familiar voice scream out the fateful words.
"Patamon digivolves to...Angemon!"
"Hand of Fate!"
A beam of brilliant golden fire, brighter than the sun, and more awe inspiring, flashed by TK, over his head, arcing downward like the wrath of a lose piece of the heavens, descending to unleash its anger on the inhabitants below. Roaring like a hurricane, tearing up the ground like a tornado, it struck Raremon in the center, exploding him into a million pieces of disintegrating data.
"Angemon." TK smiled. "Go get them."
The helmeted angel gazed down, and TK could feel the invisible eyes boring holes in the helmet as the magnificent figure gave back some of the Hope that had been leant in his creation. "Don't worry Takeru. I won't let you down."
Suddenly he shot aloft again, six feathered ivory wings pumping magnificently, blazing in the halo of the power of a true angel. The staff twirled around hypnotically, drawing the eye to it as it glowed.
"Angel Rod!"
The staff exploded into a thousand shafts of light, reaching out like arrows and hammering into the Bakemon, scattering their data to the four winds. For a moment TK felt like he was standing in the middle of a rain of diamonds, and then the light shot backwards, reforming into the staff.
"Poison thread!" A shot of purple thread erupted upward from the Dokugamon, aiming at the flying angel.
"Hand of Fate!" A bolt of celestial fury shot downwards, obliterating the purple thread and exploding the spider Digimon into nothing.
For a moment Angemon just stood there, and then he was surrounded by a golden nimbus that gradually reduced itself in size and intensity until only Patamon was there, falling toward the ground to be caught by TK.
"You all right Pata?" TK asked, cradling the orange and white mammal in his arms.
"I've been worse. Do you have any candy?"
"Sorry pal, though you've more than earned it. Anyway, we better get going."
"That was so awesome!" Davis slapped TK on the back. "Angemon is the bomb. He's almost as good as ExVeemon."
"How did one Champion beat so many others?" Ken mused.
"Simple." Kari had recovered and was now walking alongside them. "Angemon is no ordinary Champion. He's an angel Digimon, a being of light who is especially effective against those who serve the darkness. Since those Digimon gave themselves to evil, he was incredibly effective against them. The same thing happened to Gatomon." The white cat nodded in agreement.
"Well, regardless of his incredible powers, we better make tracks. We'll carry you guys if we have to. C'mon, let's go!" Davis was frantically dancing with impatience.
"All right already."

"You can stop now." The voice was calm, confident, a challenge in its own right.
The Minotaurumon looked up from where he had just finished pummeling a small Koromon into the ground. His bullish eyes narrowed dangerously and he snorted angrily as he gestured at them with his drill arm.
Taichi Kamiya did not even flinch, his eyes focused angrily on that of the Ultimate Digimon. Beside him Agumon stood calmly, composed, waiting, a veteran warrior preparing to return to battle once more. They stood alone, marking the course packed earth of the shore with their shadows, immovable, letting the wind blow by them without responding to it. Their eyes and faces were resolute.
"You demonstrate nothing picking on the weak. What did they ever do to you?"
"They disobeyed my master." The Minotaurumon spoke in a horrible growling thunder, grating on the ears of those listening. "Daemon must be obeyed."
Tai felt his heart lurch in his stomach at the mention of the ill-omened name, but his face remained resolute. "Daemon, eh? Well, I guess Daemon will be disappointed, because you are going to leave those Digimon alone now."
"And why would I do that fool?"
"Because if you don't, we're going to make you."
The Ultimate threw his head up and laughed. "You? I have heard of you Digidestined. Your powers are now weak, but Daemon will reward me well for destroying you."
Tai dropped back, one hand flashing to his belt and bringing up his Digivice. One Champion against an angry Ultimate. Well, nobody ever said life was easy.
Agumon digivolve to….Greymon!
The minotaur looked at the huge orange, brown and blue dinosaur and laughed. "Is that all?" he charged across the water, holding his drill arm out.
"Nova Blast!"
Greymon dropped into rapid fire mode, filling the air with blasts of fire that whistled close in and exploded next to Minotaurumon. Each explosion did not do a lot more other than slow him down, but they were starting to weaken him.
"Time to go!" Tai jumped up on Greymon and the dinosaur took off, running for the forest edge. Minotaurumon raced after them, racing and trying to get his Darkside Quake attack into range.
"Let's get him!"
"Howling Blaster!"
Garurumon, with Matt riding on the back, shot by, a stream of blue fire hammering Minotaurumon back towards the water, stunning him. Another stream of fire lashed at him, but he forced himself off his knees and to take the offensive, racing after his new opponent.
"All right, they're off the island. Fire at will."
"You got it Izzy!"
"Harpoon torpedo!" A huge black horn whistled over the lake and suddenly exploded into a familiar set of green missiles that dropped down out of the sky and hammered the brown minotaur.
"Meteor Wing!" Bolts of flame toppled to earth like their fiery namesake, immolating the ground around the now confused Ultimate. Birdramon and Ikkakumon were the two Digimon that he was unable to touch, one standing in the middle of the lake, the other flying above.
"Needle spray!" Togemon marched in from the forest. Garurumon turned around and Greymon bared his teeth. As one they sent a horrible volley of fire lashing at the Ultimate, driving him backwards. He was still strong, but he was getting hit too many time, and he could not bring himself into attack range. Nevertheless, he was still a powerful foe, and he roared in rage as he threw himself at his opponents.
But his target was simply not there. Greymon backed off again, and the concentrated fire of Garurumon and Togemon caused the angry Digimon to stumble to a halt. Even as he collected his thought, another salvo by Birdramon and Ikkakumon slammed into him.
For a few minutes the battle continued in the same way. The grounded Digimon disappeared before Minotaurumon's raging attacks, and their continued fire was wearing him down. But the Champions were not tireless, and now they were beginning to pay the price.
Suddenly Greymon de-digivolved into Agumon. Minotaurumon howled in triumph, rushing in to crush both Tai and Matt who had come to his aid.
"Now, finish him!"
Kabuterimon darted over the water at full speed, his wings straining. With a single scoop he grabbed Minotaurumon in his arms, lifting him up and carrying him upwards. Even the giant insect could not have accomplished this against a full strength Ultimate, but Minotaurumon was weakened by the hammering blows. As he howled in frustration Kabuterimon was moving higher and higher, over the clouds and beyond. And then, in one terrifying moment he turned around and dived toward the ground. Wind rushed by the frantically pumping wings as the ground loomed large in his vision. He could feel his arms weakening as the confused Minotaurumon realized something was amiss and tried to break out. Just a little more, just a little more…
Minoaturumon broke free of the grasp of the giant insect, exhausted, for just a moment, before Kabuterimon released him. There was a moment of sudden exhaustion and disorientation as the insect suddenly retreated in the minotaur's view, and then a sudden dawning moment of realization.
And then he slammed into the side of a mountain at a speed just slightly greater than the speed of sound. The explosion blasted away part of the mountainside, and when the rock dust cleared all that was left was a few specks of disintegrating data.

"I think I strained a muscle." Agumon tried to reach over his shoulder to his back.
"I think my wing's busted." Tentomon tried to strech frantically, mulling over the damage caused by his super-accelerated flight.
"Daemon?" Tai was talking to a Koromon. "What's he doing here?"
"He came through a magical gate not long ago. He started collecting evil Digimon and sending them out to attack and conquer the countryside. Now, his evil cronies control the whole world."
"Magical Gate! Where is it?"
"At his castle at the Blood Spire. He calls it the Pinnacle. It's over there." The pink Digimon bounced in the direction they had been travelling. "If you're really the Digidestined, he's been looking for you. He won't hesitate to stop you."
"This confirms my theory." Izzy pointed to his computer. "He controls the gate. We must sneak towards him and avoid as much confrontation as we can before we can destroy him and use the gate to rescue the others."
"Whoever this creep is, when I'm done with him, he'll be through!" Mimi smacked a hand into her glove emphatically.
"Let's go get him!" Tai's voice was cold, but his eyes were uncertain.
Matt raised an eyebrow at Tai's new uncertainty, but nodded.
Together, they set off to war.

Interlude: Koushiro Izumi

I still remember the first time that we mounted a night watch. It was that night that Seadramon attacked us, the one we spent on the bus that eventually took us home. Of course, the action was already over by the time I took my shift, but I had a weird night anyway, and a scary one. Back then I still wasn't ready to trust in Tentomon, and I kept seeing monsters in my mind, lurking behind me, waiting for me to make a mistake. I was resolute in the face of my fear, and when the time came for me to abandon my shift I felt a sense of accomplishment. I felt that I had faced terror and survived.
I think that was my most terrifying moment in the Digital World up until our second attempt to reach home. Before I was always confident in my skills, believing that my skills would provide me with an answer, and that the answer would be the correct one. I guess I forgot to account for the fact that I could be wrong, that it was possible for me to fail. That one moment, when Tai chose me to find our way home, I was terrified. Of course, logic puzzles were my hobby, and his choice was the logical and right one, but for the first time I knew that worlds would suffer if I didn't get the right answer. When I triumphed there, I ultimately regained my confidence in myself, and in my mind.
Today, I had another terrifying moment, one that tested me. I knew that for my insane plan to work, I had to hold back while my friends were in danger, and the truth is that was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. It's easy to think up a plan, to cover the most probable contingencies, to attempt to account for all possible variations. But, this is reality, not a fairy tale. There is a moment of horrid realization as the plan goes into action, a moment of shocking truth, much like that which occurs to the chessmaster who has moved his pieces and now watches his friends march off to war. To realize that your friends lives are now in the hands of a plan that you created, and that you can do nothing to help them is one of the hardest things in being a leader.
Tai feels down and out. He knows that it was my plan that succeeded, that we really aren't respecting him as a leader. The truth is that, if I have become an impromptu leader for our little group, I would do anything to give the burden back to him. But this task is too important, the stakes too high. And though he is best fit for bearing the burden, all of us must pitch in to help. More to the point, I can't not help him.
I guess we all do what we have to do. No matter how much it scares us. And maybe that is what makes us heroes.

Interlude: Citadel

Dawn came at the usual time, but the Basiton of Light was still covered in shadows. Slowly, like the marks of a passing flock of clouds, the shadows moved across the city, only to be replaced by others. On the ground, there was a distinct lack of activity. No schools were in session this day, no office management jobs were functional, street sweepers and public works officials took the day off. Everywhere people were standing, staring at the sky.
Above them the sky was filled with power. Warship after warship filled the sky with their commanding presence. Dreadnaughts and Supercarriers blocked out the sun, while their escorting warships followed them, giving the impression that a school of fishes was making their way across the sky. A single one of those warships was always impressive, a fleet was beyond compare. But this, this was Citadel's War Fleet, and the air was turned black with barely contained rage and fury as the warships of the Light made their way to the front lines.
Here and there smaller dots flickered in the sunlight that marked the dawn, flitting about like buntings, but with a serious air that spoke of a more determined approach. They were the wings of Megas and Ultimates who would provide air cover along with the heavier fighters and bombers of Air Command. Carefully they wove their way through the overhead warships like the wind itself, sometimes staying in the clear, sometimes almost caressing the sides of the monsters they guarded. But eventually they to moved onward and left the scene, filling the air behind them with the turbulence of their passing.
From far away, the citizens of the city could see the flare of light from an interdimensional transit, in the direction the warships had been heading all morning. And from the top of the tower the dwarfed even the spires of the palace below, a single figure stood on a narrow balcony and watched the flying fortresses fade into another world. He was young in appearance, though perhaps bent with age and the weight of the mistakes he had made and the lives he had forfeited in the past. One hand strayed up absently to finger the hilt of the sword he wore, and then dropped back down. And then, finally, as the last of the ships disappeared, he raised that hand again, perhaps a salute to brave warriors, perhaps a tribute to the dead.
Then Gennai turned and re-entered the tower. Once more, the storm had come. The Dragon Host had flown. Citadel had gone to war.

Note: I'll try to cut out some of the action, and give you more character. Except I think I suck at character writing. Any comments (but please no flames) can be sent to danalwyn@hotmail.com