Chapter Nine: Piedmon's Jackets

"Why is it you digidestined take your sweet time when it comes to saving the world?" Piedmon asked. Tai glared at him.

"Looks like he decided to come after us." Gatomon said. Piedmon stepped closer.

"I've noticed that you brats have been talking to yourselves, and seeing how you've all lost your minds," Piedmon put his left hand behind his back and began to pull out some kind of garment.

"What's that?" Asked TK.

"It appears to be a straightjacket." answered Izzy.

"I've decided to put you all in my nuthouse!" He threw the jacket in the are and it multiplied. They plummeted towards the digimon.

"Pepper breath!" Agumon fired at a jacket heading his way. It burned up but another one appeared in it's place. It wrapped around Agumon and he disappeared. This happened to each of the digimon.

"Where'd they go?" Kari cried.

"What've you done with them?!" Tai yelled.

"The same thing I'm about to do to you!" Piedmon pulled out another jacket, which headed straight for Tai. He tried to struggle out of it but failed and disappeared like the digimon. Everyone gasped.

"Dad no!" Andoru cried.

"What did you do to Tai?!" Kari streamed tears. Piedmon stood there laughing his twisted laugh. Another straightjacket appeared. Everyone ran away but unfortunately Mimi tripped over her feet and the jacket wrapped around her. Makoto tried to get her out of it but it was no use. Piedmon laughed again.

"Don't worry about me, go with the others!" She told Makoto.

"But..."

"Listen to your mother and go!" She ordered him. She then disappeared leaving Makoto by himself with Piedmon. Tears ran down his cheeks. He glared at Piedmon and saw that he had something in his hands. It was some sort of box. It was white with a small door and a barred window. Makoto looked closely and saw Tai, Mimi and the digimon still in their jackets. He gasped and ran after the others.

"Ten down, six to go!" Piedmon sinisterly laughed. The digidestined and company continued to run as they heard Piedmon's laughter. Sora looked back and noticed Makoto running with tearstained cheeks. She stopped and ran towards him. Matt saw her and told everyone to stop.

"Was Mimi captured?" Sora asked the boy. He nodded.

"Piedmon's holding them all in this box that looks like one of those padded rooms you put crazy people in."

"Looks like we have to get it away from him if we want to be known as sane." Joe said. Suddenly another jacket appeared and headed right towards Sora. Makoto pushed her away and it ended up catching him.

"How can that be? He can't even be seen?" Joe asked. Then Kado realized something.

"Remember when I punched Ogremon and he felt it? Even though we might not be seen, we're still physically here!" He explained. All the children became frightened more than ever. Piedmon neared and Sora attempted to free Makoto.

"It's no use, you better go now Sora!" He told her.

"But.." Piedmon was getting closer. Matt grabbed her arm and dragged her as they all ran away. 'I'm so sorry Makoto.' She thought to herself as she looked back at the helpless boy. The children were out of Makoto's sight. He struggled to break free. Piedmon had found the jacket lying on the ground. He looked at it awkwardly as he saw it move.

"How can it be moving?"

"Oh no Makoto!" yelled a tiny Mimi from within the white box. Piedmon heard her and smirked.

"Well, I guess the brats aren't crazy after all, oh well, I'm still enjoying myself!" He laughed again as he made the jacket disappeared. Makoto found himself inside a padded room where all the digimon, Tai, and his mom were. She fell to her knees. He cried as he saw his mom and rested his head on her lap. The children were slowing down as they kept running. Joe was the first one to stop. He panted heavily.

"I'm not cut out for this." He said between pants. Kado pulled him along with him.

"Come on dad you can't give up, I won't let you!" He dragged his father. The other children were far ahead of them, and they were left behind. Piedmon's laughter was heard and got Joe's adrenaline up. He carried Kado under his arm and ran as fast as he could. He was able to catch up with the others.

"Guys, can we please rest for a minute?" Most of them stopped and looked at him, but TK and Kari didn't hear him and kept on running.

"I know we're trying to run from Piedmon, but how is it helping us? We're still short two digidestined and eight digimon!" He cried.

"You're right, we're not getting anywhere by runing away." Matt said.

"But what can we do? We can't fight him without the digimon." Said Hiroshi. None of them knew it at the time, but a jacket was crawling through the grass. The sleeve reached out for Izzy's leg.

"I'm sorry Tai but this jacket is stopping me from digivolving." Agumon told Tai. Tai sighed.

"There's got to be a way out of here!" Just then they heard a scream.

"Aah!" They all turned to see Izzy lying on his stomach.

"Izzy? No not you too!" Izzy managed to sit on his knees.

"Sorry Tai, the jacket snuck up behind me and yanked my leg out from under me, I started falling and it coiled around me." Tai pounded his head against the wall.

"Daddy!" Nazo cried when she saw Izzy vanish. Sora tried to comfort her.

"Don't worry, we'll get him back." Nazo clung on to her leg and kept crying. Sora stroked the top of her head.

"It's okay, if we were able to defeat Piedmon in your time we can do it now." Nazo wiped away her tears and nodded in agreement.

"Sora's right, we'll figure out a way to beat him!" Matt said. He expected to hear TK cheer but he heard nothing. He looked around, there was no sign of TK anywhere. He panicked.

"Where's TK?!" Everyone glanced around. They soon noticed that Kari was missing as well.

"TK!" Matt yelled out.

"Kari!" Sora cried.

"Mom!" Dakedo hollered.

"Uncle TK!" Ariyo and Mara shouted.

"Dad!" Hiroshi screamed. There was no answer.

"No!" He said. Everyone figured that they must've been captured. They all gasped as they saw three more jackets heading their way.

"TK, where are the others?" Asked Kari worriedly. TK looked back.

"I thought they were right behind us!" Kari gasped.

"Do you think they could've been captured?" TK's eyes became misty.

"No, no they were right behind us, I swear!" He yelled out heading back. Kari stopped him.

"TK wait! You'll only be captured!" He stopped and turned to Kari. She was crying.

"I'm scared TK! What if he gets us too?" Kari sobbed. TK grew a stern look.

"He won't, we're not gonna let him!" Kari's tears and sobs ended.

"We'll save them all, I promise!" TK said. Kari smiled and nodded. Meanwhile only seven children were left after Dakedo, Joe and Ariyo were captured. Sora wept as she saw her future son being taken away from her. The three had vanished and ended up with the others. She knelt down not being able to control her tears. Mara cried with her as they held each other. Matt knelt down and put his arm around Sora.

"Don't worry, we'll get him back, and that goes for the others as well." He said softly to her. She calmed down and smiled up at Matt. She wiped her tears away. She then looked down at Mara who was still crying.

"No! I'm supposed to look out for him, I'm his big sister!" She cried.

"Hey remember what you told me Mara? He may not need you; he can take care of himself." Matt reminded her. Mara hugged Sora tightly with a few more tears coming down her cheeks. They got up from the ground.

"How are we gonna beat him though?" Hiroshi asked. Nazo snapped her fingers.

"I know, we'll just take the box from him!" The others looked at her oddly.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Asked Andoru.

"Piedmon can't see us, remember?" Nazo reminded him. Matt smiled.

"Hey that's right!" Matt said.

"We'll just let Piedmon capture me and Sora and you five will steal the box!" Matt explained.

"But what do we do after we get it?" Mara asked. They soon heard Piedmon's evil laughter nearing. Mara held on tight to Sora's leg as she saw Piedmon appear. Nazo trembled in fear, Andoru bit his bottom lip, Kado stood his ground, Hiroshi glared at Piedmon. Matt and Sora prepared themselves.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Piedmon chuckled at Matt and Sora's bravery.

"You two are either courageous or just down right stupid!" Matt glowered at him. Sora stood her ground. She then felt a tug on her pants leg. She looked down to see a worried Mara.

"Don't do it Mom." She whispered to Sora. Sora only smiled at her and stroked her head.

"Don't worry about me I'll be okay, and so will your dad."

"But what if the plan doesn't work? Who will save you then?" She asked. Her eyes started to leak tears again. She faced the ground. Sora cupped her chin and looked into her eyes.

"It will, trust me." With that said, Sora turned back to Piedmon. He knew she was talking to an invisible child. He took out two straightjackets and threw them at the digidestined.

"Go, now!" Matt yelled. The children ran towards Piedmon, all except for Mara. Sora gazed at her worried.

"Mara let go of me before you get caught!" Sora told her. Mara slowly let go, but as she did the straightjacket twirled around her and kept her from running away.

"Mara no!" Cried Sora as she saw her daughter trip and fall with the jacket coiled around her body. Sora knelt down to try to free her but Piedmon pushed her aside. Sora looked up to see that all the children were caught, including Matt. Piedmon held up the jacket holding Mara. Even though he couldn't see her, he knew he had caught something that meant a lot to Sora. Sora trembled helplessly as she saw all her friends held captive, 'He knew about our plan.' She thought to herself. 'I'm sorry Mara, everyone, I was so sure the plan would work.' She felt she had been defeated. She stood up and walked towards Piedmon. Matt knew she was going to give herself up.

"No Sora don't!" Piedmon made him vanish so he wouldn't interfere. Matt landed in a small padded room where his friends were. He got up and headed towards the barred window hoping to see Sora.

"Sora you can't let him win!" As loud as he yelled, she couldn't hear his voice. She focused on Piedmon. In one hand he held the small box containing her friends, in the other hand he held Mara by the jacket.

"So Sora, will you be surrendering yourself, or will I be forced to torture your little friend?" She glanced at Mara.

"No Mom don't!"