AN: I liiiiiiiiive! ^_^ It's been a very long time, hasn't it? Sorry! Real Life (TM) got in the way. Go figure. Anyway! I hope this makes up for the wait. And, as the next two chapters are already written (mwa-haha) the in-between waits won't be as long this time. Hopefully. ^_^;; Anyway! I tried HTML code this time, but it didn't work. So I had to use the old stand-bye. Things in *s are italics. Gomen! On with the fic!
*~*~*~*~
"I-I know it isn't the same thing as...you know...the original, but..." Matt looked at Meloremon in slight confusion. The two of them were standing in the forest just outside of her old castle. It was the next morning, and the other Digidestined and their Digimon were standing a small distance away from the new friends, allowing them their goodbye. Meloremon was acting very nervous, staring at the ground with her hands clasped behind her back. She took a deep breath and looked up at him. "I know it was a terrible thing for me to do, but I want to make up for it. So that we can keep in contact sometimes." Matt blinked.
"What was a terrible thing? Make up for it how? Meloremon, what are you talking about?"
"You know, when I...when I destroyed...your harmonica." She winced, as though expecting him to lash out at her. When she finally looked back up at him, a tiny, if sorrowful, smile curved his lips.
"It wasn't your fault, Meloremon. You weren't yourself. It's ok." She shook her head.
"I might not have had complete control over myself, but it isn't ok. I thought about it a long time, and...I figured out how to make it up to you." He blinked again and tilted his head slightly.
"Oh? And how's that?" She blushed and held out her hands. A small, wrapped object was there, looking slightly like...
"It's a present," she explained. "For you. To say that I'm sorry. Go on! Open it..." Matt took the gift and looked at it, mildly stunned. "Open it!" He did. A small, silver object winked at him in the sunlight. It was a harmonica. He stared at it.
"I know it's not the same," Meloremon explained, dropping her eyes again. "I knew you probably wouldn't want it, but I just thought that-" A haunting note cut her off. Startled, she looked up to discover Matt, the new harmonica pressed against his lips, blowing gently. After the first note, he looked up and smiled softly at her. Meloremon's eyes filled with tears and Matt closed his eyes, lifted the harmonica to his lips, and played for her. His melody floated over to the other Digidestined, and while they listened, they smiled. It appeared that Meloremon had succeeded in melting one layer of Matt's defensive barrier. That was a very good thing.
As Matt continued playing, a breeze swept through the trees and swirled around Meloremon, teasing her hair and ruffling her cloths. She smiled. As the wind pulled at her, she lifted a hand to stroke Matt's cheek gently. A tiny smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and his song played on.
Meloremon turned to the other Digidestined, her hair and clothes swirling with the wind around her. "Remember my warning," she cautioned strongly. "Talk amongst yourselves and decide upon your course of action, but heed my warning." She bowed formally to them. "Until we meet again, farewell! And good luck." Her outline faded and the wind seemed to sweep her away. A glorious, musical laugh joined with Matt's playing for a moment, then Meloremon was gone, called to another song in another place. After a very few moments, Matt's song ended and he looked at the harmonica the Basic Digimon of Music had given him. Another rare, true smile graced his face as he slid it gently into his pocket. Finally he turned to the other Digidestined and walked over to them, Gabumon trotting faithfully by his side.
"So?" he inquired amiably, joining them. "What now?" Tai laughed.
"Need you ask?" Joe demanded pessimistically. "Now we go hunt down the next Basic Digimon. Izzy's already located her. So now we'll start *walking*, and after a horrendously long while, night will finally fall and we'll get to rest. Then we'll get up the next day and walk some more."
"My feet hurt already," Mimi sighed.
"Ok, ok, ok," Tai began, rubbing his hands together. "It's very obvious that our adventure has just begun, but I'm not as dumb as I used to be." Only T.K. noticed Matt biting the inside of his cheek. The younger blond hid a smile, imagining the cut-downs ricocheting about in his older brother's head. "I'm not going to just march us all day."
"No?" Mimi sounded hopeful.
"No. We're going to walk for a while-" Mimi sighed. "-but as soon as we find a suitable spot, we can stop and discuss our next course of action. Does that sound all right to everyone?" Again Matt bit the inside of his cheek. T.K. chocked on a laugh and covered it with a cough. "Ok. If no one has anything to say, let's get going."
They began marching into the forest.
Some time later, Tai had found a 'suitable spot', and the Digidestined and their Digimon were all sitting around a fire, eating lunch.
"So what do we know about this next Key, Izzy? What can your program tell us?"
"Not very much," the genius admitted, setting aside the rest of a fruit he had been eating, pulling his computer into his lap, and turning it on.
"Anything is better than nothing."
"Well, sometimes I'd argue that, Tai, but in this case you're correct. Let me just pull up the program, and...ah, here we go! The second Key is the Basic Digimon of Oblivion. That...doesn't seem to bode well for us. To continue, her name is Anamnemon, and she lives in a castle...about five days' walk from here, provided we walk at a steady pace. Which exempts running and pushing ourselves to collapse. In a situation such as this, I would suggest taking our time and conserving our strength. A Basic Digimon of Oblivion does not sound like the kind of thing one would want to run into if one was tired." Tai chewed his fish thoughtfully.
"Well," he said after he swallowed, "I guess taking our time makes sense. I mean, I wouldn't want to loose just because we're tired. That'd be humiliating. But about this new Digimon- what was her name again?"
"Anamnemon."
"Anamnemon, right. What do you think her weakness is? Meloremon's was music. What do you suppose Anamnemon's is?" Izzy considered.
"Well, I honestly couldn't say. If she's like Meloremon, her weakness is her original Type, and her original Type is the basic opposite of the one she currently represents. But there is a problem with that. There are many definitions of 'oblivion'. For instance, it could mean forgetfulness, unconsciousness, stupor, void, nothingness, even as drastic as death. As an example, while the opposite of forgetfulness would be something to the lines of memory, the opposite of death would be life. Memory and life are completely different. Therefore, I am unable to supply a theory on her original type at this moment, as insufficient information has been given me." The others all blinked. After a moment, Matt sighed.
"Ok," he began, "as *that* line of discussion is going absolutely no where, let's think about something else."
"Like what?" T.K. asked, intrigued. It was the first time Matt had initiated a conversation. The older boy considered.
"Well...how about the Principle of Eight? There are aspects of that...I think we should all talk about; just to make sure we all understand it. There are things I'm not sure I'm fully grasping, sad as that is to admit." The other Digidestined were silent, thinking. Finally Izzy spoke.
"From what Meloremon told us, this Principle has awesome powers, if only it can be figured out." Kari nodded.
"Exactly. I mean, this evil thing that's coming...it seems awesomely powerful. How can one Principle defeat it?"
"Izzy," Sora began, "are there any files in your computer about the Principle of Eight?"
"Only those I wrote," he admitted.
"Could you recap for us?"
"Certainly. All right, Meloremon explained to us last night that the heart of the Digital World was Central Fortress, and that the Fortress contained the Principle of Eight, which was really more like a Natural Law or concept. Then this morning, she told us what the Principle of Eight really was..."
***FLASHBACK***
"Ok, Meloremon." The Digimon turned to look at Tai, who smiled slightly. "It's morning, and Matt's finally awake-"
"I was up before you, Tai."
"So could you please tell us about the Principle of Eight?" She looked nervous.
"It's such a fierce thing, the Ultimate Power. Fierce and great. I am...a little afraid to talk of it. I am not the one destined to control it."
"We don't mean to be a bother, Meloremon," Izzy began politely. "But anything you know of, *anything* that could aid us against the evil that's coming here, would be of immeasurable help." Meloremon took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.
"Ok. Ok, I can do this. No problem. You might not like it, but...ok." She cleared her throat and took another breath, releasing it in a sigh again. "Once," she began, her voice echoing in the great room, "when the Digital World was a new creation, filled with life and possibility, a dark being came, to destroy the baby world and drink its energy. Though many tried, no Digimon could stand up to the evil. If any tried, it would merely kill the Digimon and use its soul as fuel for future conquests. Such was the evil's nature. It was an anti-being, the absence of feelings or life. Finally, though, the cries of the dying Digital World were heard. From beyond the veiled gate of time and space, eight figures emerged. They knew what the evil was and that it wouldn't stop at the Digital World. With their own and every other world impearled, the eight made their way to Central Fortress, pausing only to defeat the four Keys that blocked the Gates. Upon reaching Central Fortress, the eight went to the main chamber, the room that watches the sky, and knelt. Seven linked to form a circle, with the eighth in their center. Then the evil struck. The eight were wounded, but their wounds, though great, were not the end of them. The eight chanted a great incantation, given to them from the gates of heaven itself, and gathered a vast wave of power within themselves. Eight individual beams of power would do little to the evil, and the eight, being wise beyond their years, knew this. So they concentrated all of their power and passed it on to their friend kneeling in their center. He accepted the power though he knew it could kill him, for the power they manipulated was greater than he was sure he could control. The other seven, however, stood steadfastly behind him. Filled with the strength and courage of his friends, the eighth threw their attack at the evil, and it was demolished instantly. The warriors cheered, but one remained silent. Destroying the evil had been his last act of selflessness, and the eighth lay dead. In that way, the evil had won a small victory. The evil, however, even with this victory, was gone, destroyed by an energy greater than any world has ever known or will ever know. As the Principle has only ever been called upon once, this Life Sacrifice may be a necessity. It is a mystery. Such is the Principle of Eight."
***END FLASHBACK***
"...and that is all we know." The eight Digidestined considered.
"Ok," Tai said finally. "Since no one else seems to be willing to ask this question, I'll ask it. Doesn't it seem...odd...that it's the Principle of *Eight* and that there are *eight* of *us*? Gennai is sending us to Central Fortress, but we don't know why. Does anyone else think that...maybe... *we're* gonna have to use the Principle of Eight to destroy this evil thing that's coming?" There was a deafening silence as everyone digested this new theory.
"If we *are* meant to use this...Principle of Eight," Mimi began slowly, "then why couldn't we use it before? Why, in all our travels in the Digiworld, when we *needed* something this powerful, weren't we allowed to use it? Why didn't we even *know* about it?"
"It is said that trial builds character," Yamato pointed out in his quiet voice. "Perhaps we were meant to suffer and bare hardship so that we would grow into strong people. Imagine how simple it would have been to beat any of the Digimon we faced if we had an easy access kill-all with the power to destroy instantly anything we wanted it to. It would have been a walk in the park. We never would have learned anything or gained any experience. And now, when we're having to fight our way to Central Fortress, we need all that experience and all those lessons we learned. Think about it. Without those prior experiences, Joe might not have brought his bag, with all that medical equipment. Without that..."
"You make a valid point, Matt," Izzy agreed. "Then again, maybe it was simpler than that. Maybe it was just that Life Sacrifice. If a life is really needed to activate the Principle, then that's why we haven't used it. Because it can only be used once." Murmured assents greeted this theory. Yet another silence fell. No one could think of anything to say. Tai sighed and stood up, stretching.
"Ok, people," he began. "Let's get going. We have to go as far as we can before it's time to stop again." There were various moans and half-hearted complaints as the Digidestined stood and began walking. T.K. dropped back to walk with Matt, who liked to stay near the back of the group.
"Hey, Matt," he greeted. The older blond gave his brother a tiny smile and returned his attention to walking. "So...I'm glad you joined in our conversation this time. It was like you were part of the Digidestined again." Matt nodded but offered no comment. He seemed to be thinking about something. After a few minutes of walking in silence, T.K. asked, "Why so quiet, Matt?" The older boy sighed, mildly frustrated, and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"I'm thinking."
"About what?"
"Stuff."
"What stuff?"
"I don't know. Just...stuff." T.K. laughed and Matt glanced up at him. "What's so funny?"
"This conversation."
"What about it?"
"The whole thing. 'What stuff?' 'Just...stuff.' It's like when we were kids!" A flicker of a smile flitted across Matt's face.
"Yea," he agreed. "And now's about the time that I call you a baby and you start crying." T.K. laughed again. For a moment Matt watched him laugh, a tiny smile curving his lips. Then his expression melted into one of mild worry and his eyes dropped back to the path.
"What's the matter, Matt? I'm your brother, you can trust me." For a moment Matt continued as though he hadn't heard T.K. Then he looked up at his younger brother.
"T.K., if I told you something, just to voice it and work it out- not necessarily with your help- would you promise not to go about trying to fix it? Could I trust you to trust in my judgment? It would mean telling you something I've kept...relatively well hidden up to this point, and I'm still not sure I should tell everyone." T.K. blinked, astonished. Matt wanted to trust him?
"Of course you could tell me, Matt. I wouldn't tell anyone unless it threatened your life or someone else's." Matt sighed.
"And therein lies my problem," he muttered. He sighed again and looked back at the path. "Remember when I told you guys where I'd been the past five years? How I said that I caught something like a cold?"
"Yea. What about it?"
"Well, it wasn't really a cold."
"No?"
"Not really."
"What was it?"
"It was...a complication of strep throat."
"It was a *what*?" Matt glanced at T.K. and sighed.
"I knew I shouldn't have told you." T.K. immediately regained control of himself.
"No, I'm glad you told me. But why didn't you tell *all* of us the first time?" Matt scowled at the path.
"Because I knew what would happen. You'd all go nuts. Every cough, every sneeze, every hiccup would be me relapsing. It's that way with Dad. Every time something happens to me, it's hyper-analyzed until it's the disease, lashing back with a vengeance. I never get to do anything anymore. If I want to go outside, I have to take umbrellas and raincoats and sweaters and mittens and hats and...God, I almost have to take every shred of clothing I own! I'm sick of it, and I didn't want to bring that here, to the Digital World. I was worried that I'd tell you guys...and boom! The little bit of freedom I feel here would be *gone*. We'd all walk slower, we'd take more breaks, we'd stop earlier at night, rise later each morning, and I'd be the sole reason. I didn't want that! I still don't. I like walking, I like feeling like we've made progress, and I like standing watch. I'd never get to do *any* of that if everyone knew."
"Matt, why are you telling me this? If you think everything is so fine, why tell me and risk me telling someone else?"
"Because I'm weighing the options."
"What? Why would you need to...Matt, are you relapsing?"
"Yes...no...I don't know! That's why I was thinking. I was trying to decide if I should see if Joe has some...antibiotic or something."
"Why do you think you're relapsing?"
"My throat is sore, and I just feel...off, somehow. Like I'm fighting something."
"How long have you felt like this?" Matt winced slightly.
"Since...I fell off that bridge." T.K. took a deep, calming breath. "You're gonna tell them, aren't you?" T.K. took another breath.
"I'm assuming Gabumon has at least suspected that you're getting sick?" The Digimon sighed heavily.
"Yes, I've known as long as he has. Maybe even a little longer. But I can't tell anyone, because Matt doesn't want me to." Matt watched his little brother as he took another deep, calming breath.
"You're going to tell, aren't you?" T.K. looked at him, a little angry.
"Of course not! You trusted me to keep your secret, and I trust your judgment. But I can't *believe* you're doing something this stupid. How bad was your last case?"
"Oh...not too bad." T.K. knew that was only a half-truth, but didn't want to push his luck and said nothing about it.
"Ok, so you want to ask Joe if he has anything that might help with a relapse of strep throat."
"A *possible* relapse."
"Right. A possible relapse. Anyway, why don't you just ask him?"
"Because he might tell the others, and if the others find out, it's over. My existence in the Digital World as I know it is over. I don't want that to happen unless it absolutely has to." T.K. thought about that for a while before replying.
"Well, maybe that's a risk you're just going to have to take." Matt sighed.
"I knew you were going to say that. So I should just...go up to him and say, 'Hi there, Joe. Did you know that I'm a carrier of strep throat? I'm only telling you this because I think I'm getting a relapse, and I was just wondering if you had anything to combat it. I'm allergic to penicillin, though, so do you have cephalosporin or erythromycin instead?'"
"I didn't know that..." Matt blinked.
"Didn't know what?"
"That you were allergic to penicillin." The older blond sighed.
"That's all you have to say?"
"Well, what else *can* I say?"
"Nothing I guess...besides, I was just kidding about being allergic." T.K. sighed.
"Look, if you're really that worried about telling Joe, just wait until no one will hear you talk to him."
"How?"
"Volunteer for the watch right after his. Then you can ask him to wait for a bit before going back to sleep and explain things." Matt stared at his brother.
"That just shows how bad I must feel." T.K. blinked.
"What?" Matt shrugged and cocked a wicked half-grin.
"It's just that, if I was feeling better, there is no way you would have come up with that before me. Maybe I really *should* start taking it easier..." T.K. made a disgusted sound.
"Oh, *please*, Matt. You couldn't out-think me on your best day." Matt laughed softly.
"Get a life."
"I all ready have a very good one, thank you." The brothers shared warm smiles. The eight continued walking with their Digimon, perfectly content, perfectly tranquil, and perfectly unaware of the evil that would strike with the rising moon.
~**~
Joe sighed and poked the blond awake.
"C'mon, Matt. I've been up for hours. It's the last watch of the night. Your turn." The Digidestined of Friendship's eyes opened and he stared at Joe a moment. After that initial instant, recognition dawned on his face and he sat up, stretched, and yawned hugely.
"Thanks for waking me up, Joe." The older boy arched an eyebrow as Matt sat next to him on the ground by the fire.
"Wow. This recent adventure with Meloremon must really have done something to you." Matt stared at him and Joe sighed. "I mean, you just thanked me! A week ago, I could have woken you up and had a latté ready for you, and I'm not sure I would have gotten a thank you. You're a whole lot more willing to interact with us now than you were then." Matt gave a tiny, rueful smile.
"Yea, I guess so."
"What happened?" The blond looked at the fire.
"I was tired of not having any friends. Meloremon reminded me that friendship is a part of who I am. It's the most important thing I've ever had, and I missed it. I guess this is just my way of raising a white flag." Joe considered this a moment and turned to watch the fire with Matt.
"So Meloremon did all that for you, huh?" Matt shook his head gently.
"No...she didn't really do anything."
"Then what happened?"
"You guys happened." Joe looked at him, surprised.
"What?" Matt sighed again and pulled his legs up to his chest, encircling them with his arms. He continued to stare into the flames.
"When VenomCobrmon bit me, I was sure you guys weren't going to do anything. I know it sounds like a cruel judgment of you, but I'd forgotten what you were like. The kids at the school my dad put me in...they were awful. I was maintaining my silence as best I could even at school. I didn't talk at all unless a teacher addressed me specifically or I *really* had to. Even then I answered shortly. The kids were merciless. Everywhere I went they tormented me, and the more their words hurt, the quieter I got. I hated that school. I got used to my peers being mean and refusing to stick their necks out for me. So when I was hurt, I expected you guys to react like they had. I expected you to abandon me. But you didn't. I could hear all of you while I was sleeping. I kept waiting for someone to say, 'Oh, he's a lost cause. Just leave him. Let him die.' I was scared, but I knew it was going to happen. But it didn't. Then when you and Izzy figured out that you'd have to...to give me stitches, I knew you were going to throw your hands up and say, 'Nuh-uh! Isn't going to happen! Let him die, I'm not doing that!' I just knew you would. But you didn't. Mimi even came over and helped, and she hates blood. T.K. stayed by me the whole time. I thought he'd hate me for sure, but he doesn't. Sora, Tai, Kari, Izzy, T.K., Mimi, you, I just knew none of you would want me anywhere near you. But you did. I've been wrong this entire time. I was pushing you guys away because I was *afraid*. Well, I'm still afraid, but I'm tired of being alone. I guess I figured, hey. If you guys can do stuff you're afraid to do to save my life, I can do things I'm afraid to do to save your friendships." Joe was silent for a while.
Then he said softly, "You're a brave man, Yamato." The blond smiled.
"Nah. I'm just really dumb." They were silent again, but when Joe started to get up, Matt called him back. "Hey, Joe...can I ask you something?" The boy blinked and sat back down. Matt seemed unsure about what he was about to ask.
"Sure, Matt. What'd you need to know?"
"Well...you carry various assorted medical items in your backpack, right?" Joe blinked.
"Yea...so?"
"So...do you carry antibiotics?"
"Why?"
"Because...well, you know how I said I caught something like a cold when I was with my dad?"
"Yea, so?"
"So...I may have..."
"Over exaggerated?"
"Um, no. I may have... *under* exaggerated...just a bit." Joe was immediately wary.
"How under exaggerated are we talking here?" Matt bowed his head and twiddled his fingers.
"Well, let me put it this way: How much do you know about complications of strep throat?"
"How much do I now about *wha-*" Matt winced again as Joe sputtered.
"I know, I know. It was wrong of me. But if you'll just let me- Joe, what's wrong with you?" The young doctor-to-be had not stopped his sputtering. In fact, he was now gagging, as though someone were choking him. Matt turned to look at Joe and gasped.
"Joe, what's wrong?" The older boy had both of his hands up to his neck, straining vainly against a rope he could not see.
"Something..." he managed to gasp out. "There's something...around my throat! I can't...c-can't..." He chocked violently again. "Help...me!" He crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Matt reached out and began feeling around Joe's throat wildly, searching for the thing slowly killing his friend. All the while he was calling for help.
"Everybody, wake up! Something's attacking Joe! Izzy, wake up! Turn on your computer, find out what's going on!" Slowly the other six members of the Digidestined began rousing. But not fast enough. "*Something's killing Joe!*" Matt yelled desperately. "*Help me*!" Instantly the others began doing what they could. Which didn't turn out to be much. Tai and Kari began helping Matt look for something on or around Joe's neck as Izzy booted up his laptop and everyone else searched the forest. With three sets of hands feeling Joe's neck, more arguments were breaking out that progress. Matt told the two to go away and, not having good excuses to stay, they rose and left to search the forest. Finally Matt's left hand brushed something on Joe's throat. A thin line of blood welled on his fingers from the contact. Matt yelped and pulled his hand back, but only for a moment. He had found what was attacking Joe, and he wasn't letting it go. Getting a better two-handed grip on the thing, he called his Digimon over.
"Gabumon, come here!" The faithful Digimon materialized from the forest and dashed over to his Digidestined.
"What do you need, Matt?"
"You see how there's blood running from this hand to this hand?" Gabumon nodded. "Good. Cut the air between my hands." The Digimon stared at his Digidestined's hands. They were spaced about four inches apart. Blood was indeed running down an invisible line between the two and on past the lower hand to pool on the ground. Matt's voice broke sharply through the Digimon's stupor. "Gabumon! Do it! *Now*!" Pulling his paw back, Gabumon swiped at the blood between Matt's hands. His claws ripped through something and Joe began gasping in mighty gulps of air.
"I got it!" Matt called to the other Digidestined as Gomamon helped Joe as best he could. "I got the thing that was- ow, crap!" The other Digidestined gathered around Matt and Joe.
"What's the matter?" T.K. demanded. "What happened to Joe? Why are you bleeding again, Matt?" The Barer of the Crest of Friendship was struggling with something on his left hand. It seemed to be a very thin rope or piece of string, no bigger then two or three hair's widths, saturated with Matt's blood.
"I don't know what it is, but *this* is what was chocking Joe." The still gasping Digidestined sat up, rubbing his throat, and leaned over to stare at Matt's hand.
"I can't see anything but what's covered in Matt's blood," he stated hoarsely, "but when it was trying to kill me, I could see all of it. It was a long, thin white rope, going into the forest. In fact." He turned and pointed. "It was going into that tree right there." The others turned to look out into the forest. Matt's angry, frustrated, and slightly panicked voice broke the stillness of the night.
"Look, guys, I know that we need to find who ever sent this thing, but if we don't do something here pretty quick I'm gonna loose this hand!" They all looked back at Matt. The cut encircling his hand was deepening as the invisible rope constricted. Matt cursed. "It won't let go!"
"Does it burn?" Tai demanded suddenly.
"How should I know?" Matt threw back at him. He cursed again and winced. A thin sweat had broken out on his brow. "This is really starting to hurt!" Tai called Agumon over.
"Agumon, you see how Matt's blood is dripping down this thin wire?" The Digimon looked.
"Yea. I see that. What is it, Tai?"
"No time for that now, buddy. Can you set the blood on fire without actually lighting Matt's hand?" The Digimon nodded.
"Sure, I'll just blast a Pepper Breath at the blood dripping down here at the end."
"Good. Do it."
"Pepper Breath!" The fire traveled the invisible rope in both directions. The rope slicing Matt's hand burned, scorching Matt's wounded hand slightly. He winced, but didn't yell at Tai for having Agumon burn his hand. Instead he grabbed the side of his hand with the deepest cut and faced Joe.
"Do you have any more bandages or did I use them all up last time?" Joe smiled sadly. He opened his mouth to answer, but a shriek interrupted him. The thin rope had brought the fire to its owner, and the attacking being burst into flames and fell from a tree. It burned quickly and was reduced to nothing more that Digital ashes. Cries of anger filled the air and nine more creatures dropped from trees.
"You killed our sister!" The words were more growl than anything else, but the pitch of them was high and feminine. The nine figures advanced menacingly into the firelight. "You killed our sister!" they growled again. They were like no Digimon any of them had ever seen before. The creatures stood on two legs, much like humans, but their resemblance ended not far from that. They were tall, with long legs and even longer arms. Their elegant hands ended in elongated fingers tipped with needle-like nails. They were covered from neck to wrists and ankles in long, soft black fur that gleamed in the light of the fire. Long ebony hair that fell to the ground was tucked neatly behind large, pointed ears. Their faces were elegant. Delicately curved lips housed wickedly sharp fangs. Their large eyes glowed red.
"You killed out sister!" they growled once more.
"Like hell!" Surprised, the Digidestined looked back at Matt, who was cradling his bleeding left hand and glaring at the intruders.
"Who are you, pitiful creature?" one of the Digimon snarled. It was the tallest, probably the leader of the group.
"What does *that* matter? The point is that we didn't kill your sister. She attacked us! We were just defending ourselves. If you want to blame someone, blame her for being stupid!"
"She was not stupid to follow orders!" another one of the creatures, still partially hidden in shadows, hissed angrily. Even Matt seemed a little surprised at this.
"Orders from whom?" Tai asked warily.
"From the Mistress of Oblivion, the Lady of-"
"Anamnemon!" the Chosen Children chorused.
"Do you dare address her with such simple disrespect and ease, worthless brats!"
"Hey!" T.K. protested. "We're not bra-" He chocked and grabbed at his throat. In the stunned semi-silence that followed, Matt leapt over to his brother and felt along his neck. After just a moment, he winced and pulled his already bloodied hand away. Then he ran his left hand along the invisible rope, away from T.K., and Gabumon set blue fire to the thin line of blood. One of the creatures shrieked and let the cord she had held drop to the ground. The fire ate it greedily. The nine spider-type Digimon all growled and shifted angrily.
"You have hurt one sister, and killed another! We won't forgive you!"
"Yea?" Matt challenged, helping T.K. to stand up. "Well, you've attacked two of us and bloodied my hands. We didn't even *do* anything to you! So you're dead wrong if you think we're just gonna lay down and let you kill us!" Somehow the situation had deteriorated into an almost personal war between Yamato Ishida and these attacking Digimon. The sun began peeking curiously over the horizon, announcing in no unclear terms the beginning of another day. The attacking Digimon froze and looked at the sun. Then the tall leader turned to Matt and pulled her lips back in an ugly, terrible snarl.
"This is not over, *boy*."
"Far from it," he agreed, glaring at her with his hands curled into fists by his sides. As his blood dripped onto the ground, the nine creatures disappeared into the shadows of the forest. When they were gone, Matt dropped his glare and sighed. Smiling ruefully, he cupped his bleeding left hand and turned to Joe.
"So, do you have any more bandages?" While Joe doctored Matt's wounds- *again*- Tai turned to Izzy.
"What *were* those things?" Izzy sighed.
"They're pretty horrible creatures, Tai." Matt, listening to the conversation, silently agreed very violently with that observation. "They're called Araknamon. Actually, they're a type of spider Digimon. They group in large colonies and build massive, invisible webs with that cord they tried to suffocate you guys with. The cord itself is immensely complicated. If strung in a web or thrown around a creature, it merely constricts slowly, depriving the entity of breath and/or halting all motion of the aforementioned captured creature. The detained being is the only thing other than the Araknamon that can see the cord, so if an unwanted creature attempts to remove or adjust the cord on or around a captured entity, even if done accidentally, the cord responds by becoming devastatingly sharp, as Matt can probably attest to. Anyway, blood is one of the cord's only threats. Once blood has been spilt or dripped on the cord, it will always be red and easily seen. Fire is the only other way to destroy the cord. Because of its nature, it burns with astonishing ease. The only trouble is that to burn the cord you must see it. And to see it, one must either be caught in or have bled on the cord. Therein lies our main problem."
"How does a web suffocate you?" Mimi asked, slightly confused.
"When the web catches you," Izzy explained, typing furiously on his laptop, "it doesn't *stick* to you. In fact, it isn't the least *bit* sticky. What happens is the wandering creature blunders into it and is entangled. Thus, the cord can contract and suffocate you."
"Ah."
"Well, why'd they go away?" Tai demanded.
"Because they are unable to sustain direct sunlight. The ultra-violet rays catch them on fire."
"They burn that easily?" T.K. sounded mystified.
"They burn *that* easily."
"So we're safe," Sora observed, slightly relived.
"Until sunset," Izzy agreed darkly. "But after the sun sets..."
"We're pretty much doomed," Joe finished. He sighed.
"That isn't true," Matt said suddenly. Everyone looked at him. "It isn't true that we're doomed. We can fight them; we can beat them. We've proven as much already. This must be what Meloremon was warning us about when she said that our enemy's allay couldn't be destroyed by force. These things are quick, and they know how to hide. They're absolutely silent. Joe and I didn't even know they were there until they got him. And even *then* we didn't find them until that one burned and all the others came out of the forest. They're fast, silent, deadly, and seem to hate our guts with a passion."
"Is there a good side to this?" Kari demanded.
"Yes, I'm getting to that. See, they might have all of that on their side, but they have weaknesses. Fire hurts them. And if we can get them mad, they'll show themselves, so they're not that smart. We can out *think* them."
"How?" Joe asked desperately.
"Well, I was just going to ask that myself, but we're still ok. We have all day to make a plan." The others agreed with Matt's logic and began planning. In all the commotion, Joe forgot to ask Matt about his earlier question.
~**~
The sun set slowly, as if aware that sinking completely below the horizon would release the Digimon that sought to kill the legendary Digidestined. Finally, though, the wary sun was overcome by the demands of nature, and the moon rose to take its place. With almost painful sluggishness, watch after watch inched by. It began with Tai's uneventful manning of the first shift. He was followed by Sora, Joe, T.K., and Kari. At the end of her turn, Kari stretched, yawned, and woke Matt up. Though immensely tired, he picked up the deeply sleeping Gabumon, sat by the fire, and attempted to stay awake. Unfortunately, the fire was set up so that the guard could lean against a tree, and Matt was sorely tempted to sleep. About fifteen minutes into Matt's watch, as sleep began creeping over him, an unbearable pressure surrounded his neck and pulled him back against the tree. It was so quick and so silent that he couldn't even gag as the life began chocking slowly out of his body. An elegant, elongated face with glowing red eyes filled his vision. As Matt struggled with the invisible cord and writhed helplessly against the tree, the Araknamon smiled evilly, revealing her wicked fangs.
"What does it feel like?" she asked him in a growl. "To die, I mean." He stilled against the tree. "You inflicted this pain on my sister. What does it feel like now that it's come for you?" Matt gathered his anger to form a response.
"G-go...go to hell!" She laughed softly and ran a claw along his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.
"How easily your skin succumbs to my claws and my web. How easily you die." She laughed again, her face so close to his he could smell her breath. She stank of death. "If indeed there is such a place, boy, I will see you in hell. But you'll go first. Oh, don't be sad." Though his vision was blurring, he could see her face clearly. It had contorted into a look of pure malice and cruelty. "You're friends will follow you shortly. You'll be pleased to know that your death is the signal to begin our attack. When you are gone, we will kill your comrades in their sleep!" She laughed silently. A deep, all consuming rage filled Matt. He found the energy to cock his right fist. She was not prepared for the punch that caught her cheek and sent her sprawling. His energy spent, Matt's vision blacked. But his last conscious act had been enough. The Araknamon's cry of surprise and rage had woken the others. Gabumon leapt up and ran his paw along Matt's throat. When it caught and spilt blood, he set it on fire. The Digidestined and their Digimon ran over and, for a moment, thought the worst. Then Matt began coughing and wheezing and, best of all, breathing. Soon T.K. was helping him stand. Matt rubbed hit throat and looked over to where the Araknamon had fallen. The other eight had dropped out of the trees and were inspecting her bruised cheek and cut lip in fascination. No one had ever drawn the blood of an Araknamon. It ran black and sizzled where it hit the ground.
"Nice right hook," Tai complimented quietly.
"Thanks," gasped Matt in return. Suddenly Izzy snapped his fingers.
"Acidic components!" he exclaimed, surprised. "See how the ground burns when her blood hits it? It has acid in it! *That's* how they make the cords. The acid in their blood solidifies and-"
"That's very interesting, Izzy," Matt cut him off, finally able to stand on his own and glaring at the Araknamon huddled together a few feet away. "But I don't think now's the appropriate time to theorize about how the make the cord. The point is they make it, and it hurts to suffocate." Again the prowess of their opponents was made real.
"You hurt our sister!" the Araknamon growled, slinking towards the Digidestined. "You hurt-"
"I don't care." Startled, everyone turned to stare at T.K., who glared angrily at the Araknamon.
"What?" the leader growled.
"I said: I don't care. I don't care that we hurt your sisters, I don't care that the other one died last night. We didn't start this fight. But we're not going to just lay down and die, either."
"Our sister!"
"*My* brother! If you didn't want causalities, you shouldn't have attacked us. But you *did* attack us. You almost killed our friend, so we had no choice but to eliminate the threat as best we could. I'm sorry that your sister died, but you shouldn't have attacked us."
"Two are hurt, one is dead!"
"Well, two were hurt on our side, as well. And you almost killed three so far, so just be glad no more of your number are Digital ash and leave."
"Revenge. *Revenge*!" Tai answered this call with detached calm.
"We will defend ourselves."
The Araknamon attacked.
"Gabumon Digivolve TO!"
"Palmon Digivolve TO!"
"Patamon Digivolve TO!"
"Agumon Digivolve TO!"
"Biyomon Digivolve TO!"
"Tentomon Digivolve TO!"
"Gomamon Digivolve TO!"
"Gatomon Digivolve TO!"
The light and power of Digivices screamed in the small campsite. The eight Chosen Digimon grew in strength and size as the Araknamon leapt silently into the trees and disappeared. The reborn Digimon used their names as war calls...
"GARURUMON!"
"TOGEMON!"
"ANGEMON!"
"GREYMON!"
"BIRDRAMON!"
"KABUTERIMON!"
"IKKAKUMON!"
"ANGEWOMON!"
The Digivolved Digimon stood in the small clearing, looking around warily. The Araknamon had dissolved into the night, taking with them any advantage the bigger, fiercer Digimon might have had. As the Digidestined and their Digimon began carefully combing the surrounding trees, Izzy gasped and dropped to his knees. For a moment his hands went up to his throat, but he looked around the clearing and immediately booted up his laptop. Kari, who was the Digidestined closet to Izzy, saw him fall and went over to him.
"Izzy, what's wrong? Did they get you?" Izzy nodded curtly but waved Kari away when she tried to locate the string. He was alternately glancing at the clearing and concentrating on the screen of his laptop. Knowing that fire wound be necessary to remove the wire from Izzy's neck, Kari ran to the campfire, lit a leafy branch, and brought it back to where Izzy was still working. His fingers had slowed and he looked drowsy.
"Izzy, let me set the cord on fire!" He shook his head slightly again and continued typing. The wire contracted and he wined, closing one eye, but he continued typing. Finally his fingers faltered, his eyes closed, and he collapsed to one side. Working swiftly, Kari located the cord and set it on fire. The Araknamon that had sent it cried out and dropped from her tree. Greymon shot a 'Nova Blast' at it and it burst into flames. The other Araknamon hissed angrily in their trees, but they stayed hidden. The Digidestined ran over to where Izzy and Kari were.
"What happened?" Tai demanded.
"They got Izzy!" Kari explained as Izzy took gulping breaths. "He wouldn't let me burn the cord!" Tai glared at Izzy, angry with him for refusing help.
"That was a really stupid call, Izzy! What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking," the tousle-haired genius rasped, turning his computer so that Tai and the others could see it, "that I had been given a unique opportunity." They all stared at the laptop. A maze of lines crisscrossed it, weaving from one tree to another. "It's a map of all the wires strung around the campsite," Izzy explained. "Well, most of them, anyway. Remember how I said that the only ones who can see the cord are the Araknamon and the creatures purposely roped? Well, they got me on purpose, so I could see everything. Now we have a map."
"It was a stupid thing to do, Izzy." The boy winced and nodded.
"I know. But I also discovered something about the Araknamon. They work on a pattern. If you set one of their cords on fire, they come out of their trees. It's almost like a video game. If we can all acquire torches like Kari's and use this map to burn the Araknamon out of their trees, our Digimon can destroy them."
Without another word the Digidestined sought out branches that would make suitable torches.
After Izzy's brave-but-rather-stupid act had brought about the creation of a map for the Digidestined, the tide of battle suddenly and violently shifted sides. It had gone from helpless Digidestined and their Digimon attempting desperately to locate and burn out Araknamon to the total opposite. Araknamon dropped from trees in twos and threes as cord after cord was set on fire. The original nine survivors were swiftly and surely reduced to Digital ash until only one was unaccounted for. That one was the leader, and she was the one to be most feared of all the Araknamon. In all the cords that had burned, at least a few of them had to have been hers, but she never dropped from whatever tree she was in. This Araknamon was smart, and that made her dangerous. However, it had been discovered that her thread was finer, sharper, and harder to locate than any of the others. That made her deadly.
"We've got to find her!" Tai hissed desperately to the other Digidestined. "If we don't, she'll escape and get reinforcements and *we can't let her do that*! It was hard enough this time, and we're all bleeding! I don't think we'd survive another encounter." There were scattered agreements. Just then, the last remaining Araknamon showed herself. T.K. dropped to his knees, clutching at his throat and gagging.
"T.K.!" Everyone dashed to the fallen Digidestined's side. Matt began feeling systematically around T.K.'s neck for the thin wire, but his hands were already too cut up and bloody to tell if and when he hit the hair's width of web chocking the boy. Kari pushed Matt's hands away and began feeling for it in his place. Shaking, Matt stood up and looked around at all the surrounding trees.
"I know you're here," he called. "I know you're watching this and laughing, even though we can't see you or hear you. But there's already been so much death tonight, can't you just leave him alone?"
"Why couldn't you just leave my sisters alone?" was the returned growl.
"You attacked us!" Matt cried, outraged, scanning the trees again. The others were still clustered around T.K. trying to find the deadly string. Matt saw T.K.'s chest labor and asked desperately, "What do you want us to *do*?" There was a silence.
Then a soft, loathsome snarl: "*Die*." T.K.'s eyes sunk closed. His hands fell limply by his sides. Matt's anger and fear drained from him as quickly as the blood from his face. The small aches and pains of his many cuts disappeared. He strode over to his brother. Kari was in his way, bending over T.K., crying, still trying to find the cord. Matt grabbed her by the shoulder and wrenched her away so violently that she landed on her back and skidded. Exclaiming in surprise, the other Digidestined lurched over to where she lay sobbing in the dirt. When Tai turned back to yell at Matt- angry at the whole situation, not just Matt- the blond had his hands curled into fists above T.K.'s neck. His face was expressionless as he turned slightly to face a tree...and pulled at nothing. His hands, wrists, and forearms almost up to his elbow exploded in dozens of thin lines of blood. Tattered remnants of the lower sleeves of his jacket fluttered to the ground. There was a muffled cry and the Araknamon leader fell out of a tree, yanked from her safe-haven when Matt pulled on the invisible wire he had somehow found and wrapped around his arms. When the dumbfounded Digidestined finally wrenched their gazed from the outraged Araknamon back to the brothers, Matt had helped T.K. into a sitting position where the younger boy now rested, eyes closed, desperately sucking in breath after breath. A small, smoldering rope lay disregarded on the ground. The other Digidestined, now crying joyously, leapt up to crowd around the brothers. Matt surrendered T.K.'s care to Joe and stood. While the attention of all the other Digimon and Digidestined was on T.K., Matt stared at the Araknamon crouched, growling softly, in the thicket.
Garurumon's hackles rose and he bared his teeth as the two watched each other levelly, one with hottest anger, the other with cool disregard born of utter hate. Matt's blood curled around his arms to drip unrestrainedly on the ground. A silent war was being waged, a wordless challenge being issued.
The Digidestined's only warning about the final battle was Garurumon's movement. They all, including a still gasping T.K., turned to see what was going on. Garurumon, once standing at the far edge of the clearing, was sprinting across the distance between himself and his Digidestined. But he didn't stop at Matt. As he ran by, Yamato grabbed a tuff of his fur and pulled himself seemingly effortlessly onto the wolf's back. The two became one as they hurtled into the forest after Araknamon.
"What," T.K. rasped, "is going on? Where's Matt going?" His only answers were blank stares.
"I think..." Izzy winced and blushed as the other Digidestined rounded on him.
"What?" T.K. demanded, trying and failing to stand. "What do you think?" The boy genius gulped.
"Well, I could be wrong...but if I'm *right*...you're not going to like what Matt's doing..."
"*What*?" the others demanded in unison. Izzy swallowed again and took a deep, steadying breath.
"I think Matt and that Araknamon are having a showdown." For a moment, silence. They were all too shocked to react. But T.K. got over his momentary speechlessness.
"They're having a *what*?" he screeched, lurching to his feet. For a moment he swayed, and six sets of hands darted out simultaneously to steady him, but the boy got control of himself and stared penetratingly at Izzy. "I didn't hear you correctly. Tell me I did *not* hear you say he's having a face-off with the *leader of the Araknamon*."
"Er..." Izzy responded intelligently. T.K. began pacing and muttering angrily.
"What's he doing? What could he be *thinking*, going after her all by himself? I thought we were making fine progress with his whole anti-social thing, but no. He still doesn't trust us enough to even ask us to come with him. No, he has to turn it into a personal match-up with the spider-demon reject from hell. He's gonna be flattened! What was he *thinking*? Oh, no, wait. I *know* what he was thinking. *Nothing*! He wasn't thinking even a little flaming bit about how *we* would all feel. How *I*, his own stupid *brother*, would feel. No, not Yamato Ishida. He's got to go out and *prove* himself, and be a *loner*. Matt, you can be so damn *stupid* sometimes!" T.K. whirled on the others. "Why didn't anyone go *with* him?" the boy pleaded. Kari stood up.
"T.K., we didn't know."
"You didn't...*know*? Didn't know *what*? That he and lady evil were challenging each other to a fight? Oh, *why* did he have to declare war on *her*? Meloremon I understood. She had it out for him, and with good reason. But *her*? The Araknamon didn't even have a personal problem with Matt, but he had to take her one-on-one. Matt, what were you *thinking*?"
"He was thinking about you." T.K. blinked and turned to Tai.
"What do I have to do with this?" Tai shrugged, stood, and faced T.K.
"When the Araknamon got you, Matt was the first to your side. He was trying to find the cord, but he couldn't. His hands were too cut up for us to tell the difference between new and old blood. So we sent him away."
"And with good reason! He'd never have stopped until he'd cut his hands into further ribbons to-"
"But we couldn't find the cord. You passed out, and we still hadn't found anything." Tai looked down and T.K. didn't interrupt this time. After a second, the older boy continued. "Matt was talking to the Araknamon. I think he was trying to find out what she wanted with us. I didn't catch Matt's entire question, but I heard her answer. She told him all she wanted...was for us to die." T.K. reeled as if struck.
"But...but why? We never did a thing to her..."
"Ah, but we did." T.K. turned to Izzy. "We frightened her sisters, her subordinates. We frightened them, hurt them, and eventually brought about the cause of their demise."
"We *defended* ourselves. We asked them to leave us alone."
"They were on a mission. Would you turn back if it had been your mission?" T.K. couldn't reply. "I thought as much."
"But we *all* did that," T.K. said frantically. "Why couldn't we *all* fight her together?"
"Because this isn't that kind of battle." Once again all eyes turned to Tai. The boy-leader looked sad. "This is Matt's fight because it's about more than winning or loosing. It about our team." This boggled even Izzy.
"How so?" Sora questioned. Tai thought about how he was to phrase his answer.
"Well," he began finally, "it might have started out about winning and loosing, but it isn't anymore. Once the first Araknamon fell, it became more. From that moment on, if even one Araknamon survived, we weren't worthy to face Anamnemon. In the eyes of the Araknamon, we weren't worth her time. That's why they're here. Not just for us, but for anyone who would see Anamnemon. They're her guardians. So if we can't completely demolish them, they'll just keep attacking in the dead of night, and sooner or later we'll mess up and die."
"That makes...since, I guess," T.K. admitted. "But when did defending and/or proving our team become Matt's battle?"
"When he thought they killed you." T.K. blanched.
"When *what*?"
"Yes," Tai replied coolly. "He thought they'd killed you. When you collapsed, he went very cold and very pale. We only noticed it because he came over and threw Kari out of his way to get to you. He was so white...like his very last piece of sanity, his final point of being, had gone. You're the most important thing to him in this world, T.K. That isn't a light responsibility. Anyway, when we looked back at him, he had found the cord and wrapped it around both of his forearms. Then he pulled, and the Araknamon came sailing out of her tree. The cord was gone and you were breathing, so we were too caught up in the fact that you weren't *dead* to pay attention to much else. And that's where we stand. Now Matt has saved you, his family, twice, and the Araknamon has lost all of her sisters. So she needs to know if he's really better than she is. And Matt needs to know that he can defend you. None of us really know what happened to him, T.K., but for some reason he needs to prove that he can protect you." T.K., numb, couldn't reply. If Matt won, what would be the cost of victory? And if he lost...how would any of them be able to continue on this mission without him?
"It's not just me," T.K. said finally, his voice hoarse with emotion as well as the strain of earlier events.
"What are you talking about?" Mimi asked gently. T.K. cleared his throat and tried again.
"It isn't just me he's trying to protect. It's anyone who needs it. He just needs to...protect. And I wish I knew why, because if he's not careful he's going to protect us right into his own early grave!" T.K. swiped the back of his hand over his eyes. "He's so selfish! If he wins he has more emotional baggage for us to try and sort through, and if he looses...if he looses...oh, God! What if he looses?" But that question answered itself. At that very moment, there was a rustling in the bushes. Suddenly tensing, the Digidestined turned to face whatever was coming towards them. The foliage parted to reveal...Matt. He held an either unconscious or sleeping Tsunomon lightly in his right arm; the left dangled limply by his side. The forearms of his jacket were still in shreds, but various new tears had appeared in the body of his jacket and his long pants. The cut in his cheek still bled, sending a thin trail of blood down his face and neck. His golden blond hair was tussled and his eyes were filled with a quiet, unfathomable sorrow. Seeing him now, T.K. regretted his earlier anger and felt his heart break for his older brother.
"How'd you do it?" Kari asked softly, mystified. "All by yourself, just you and Garurumon...how in the world did you destroy her before she could kill you both? You were only gone ten minutes..."
Matt smiled sadly and pitched forward. T.K. gasped and darted out to catch him before he hit the ground.
"Let's stay here today," T.K. suggested tactfully, dropping to his knees to rest his brother gently on the ground. "Joe, how many bandages have you got left?" The doctor-to-be sighed, taking Tsunomon from T.K.
"Not enough for him to keep being stupid like he has been."
"But enough for this?"
"Yes. Enough for this."
AN: Sooo? What'd ya think? Kinda worth the wait? *bristles* What do you mean, NO?! You're cruel! ^_~ Just kidding. Anyway, REVIEW!! The more reviews I get, the faster the other two chapters will be out. ^_~ And guess what? Soon, very soon, Matt's tragic past will reveal itself! Totally against his will, but Anamnemon will do what Anamnemon will do. Ne? ^_~ WAH-hahahahaha!! Kawaii so Yamato-kun, NE?! AAH-hahahahahahha!!!!
*~*~*~*~
"I-I know it isn't the same thing as...you know...the original, but..." Matt looked at Meloremon in slight confusion. The two of them were standing in the forest just outside of her old castle. It was the next morning, and the other Digidestined and their Digimon were standing a small distance away from the new friends, allowing them their goodbye. Meloremon was acting very nervous, staring at the ground with her hands clasped behind her back. She took a deep breath and looked up at him. "I know it was a terrible thing for me to do, but I want to make up for it. So that we can keep in contact sometimes." Matt blinked.
"What was a terrible thing? Make up for it how? Meloremon, what are you talking about?"
"You know, when I...when I destroyed...your harmonica." She winced, as though expecting him to lash out at her. When she finally looked back up at him, a tiny, if sorrowful, smile curved his lips.
"It wasn't your fault, Meloremon. You weren't yourself. It's ok." She shook her head.
"I might not have had complete control over myself, but it isn't ok. I thought about it a long time, and...I figured out how to make it up to you." He blinked again and tilted his head slightly.
"Oh? And how's that?" She blushed and held out her hands. A small, wrapped object was there, looking slightly like...
"It's a present," she explained. "For you. To say that I'm sorry. Go on! Open it..." Matt took the gift and looked at it, mildly stunned. "Open it!" He did. A small, silver object winked at him in the sunlight. It was a harmonica. He stared at it.
"I know it's not the same," Meloremon explained, dropping her eyes again. "I knew you probably wouldn't want it, but I just thought that-" A haunting note cut her off. Startled, she looked up to discover Matt, the new harmonica pressed against his lips, blowing gently. After the first note, he looked up and smiled softly at her. Meloremon's eyes filled with tears and Matt closed his eyes, lifted the harmonica to his lips, and played for her. His melody floated over to the other Digidestined, and while they listened, they smiled. It appeared that Meloremon had succeeded in melting one layer of Matt's defensive barrier. That was a very good thing.
As Matt continued playing, a breeze swept through the trees and swirled around Meloremon, teasing her hair and ruffling her cloths. She smiled. As the wind pulled at her, she lifted a hand to stroke Matt's cheek gently. A tiny smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and his song played on.
Meloremon turned to the other Digidestined, her hair and clothes swirling with the wind around her. "Remember my warning," she cautioned strongly. "Talk amongst yourselves and decide upon your course of action, but heed my warning." She bowed formally to them. "Until we meet again, farewell! And good luck." Her outline faded and the wind seemed to sweep her away. A glorious, musical laugh joined with Matt's playing for a moment, then Meloremon was gone, called to another song in another place. After a very few moments, Matt's song ended and he looked at the harmonica the Basic Digimon of Music had given him. Another rare, true smile graced his face as he slid it gently into his pocket. Finally he turned to the other Digidestined and walked over to them, Gabumon trotting faithfully by his side.
"So?" he inquired amiably, joining them. "What now?" Tai laughed.
"Need you ask?" Joe demanded pessimistically. "Now we go hunt down the next Basic Digimon. Izzy's already located her. So now we'll start *walking*, and after a horrendously long while, night will finally fall and we'll get to rest. Then we'll get up the next day and walk some more."
"My feet hurt already," Mimi sighed.
"Ok, ok, ok," Tai began, rubbing his hands together. "It's very obvious that our adventure has just begun, but I'm not as dumb as I used to be." Only T.K. noticed Matt biting the inside of his cheek. The younger blond hid a smile, imagining the cut-downs ricocheting about in his older brother's head. "I'm not going to just march us all day."
"No?" Mimi sounded hopeful.
"No. We're going to walk for a while-" Mimi sighed. "-but as soon as we find a suitable spot, we can stop and discuss our next course of action. Does that sound all right to everyone?" Again Matt bit the inside of his cheek. T.K. chocked on a laugh and covered it with a cough. "Ok. If no one has anything to say, let's get going."
They began marching into the forest.
Some time later, Tai had found a 'suitable spot', and the Digidestined and their Digimon were all sitting around a fire, eating lunch.
"So what do we know about this next Key, Izzy? What can your program tell us?"
"Not very much," the genius admitted, setting aside the rest of a fruit he had been eating, pulling his computer into his lap, and turning it on.
"Anything is better than nothing."
"Well, sometimes I'd argue that, Tai, but in this case you're correct. Let me just pull up the program, and...ah, here we go! The second Key is the Basic Digimon of Oblivion. That...doesn't seem to bode well for us. To continue, her name is Anamnemon, and she lives in a castle...about five days' walk from here, provided we walk at a steady pace. Which exempts running and pushing ourselves to collapse. In a situation such as this, I would suggest taking our time and conserving our strength. A Basic Digimon of Oblivion does not sound like the kind of thing one would want to run into if one was tired." Tai chewed his fish thoughtfully.
"Well," he said after he swallowed, "I guess taking our time makes sense. I mean, I wouldn't want to loose just because we're tired. That'd be humiliating. But about this new Digimon- what was her name again?"
"Anamnemon."
"Anamnemon, right. What do you think her weakness is? Meloremon's was music. What do you suppose Anamnemon's is?" Izzy considered.
"Well, I honestly couldn't say. If she's like Meloremon, her weakness is her original Type, and her original Type is the basic opposite of the one she currently represents. But there is a problem with that. There are many definitions of 'oblivion'. For instance, it could mean forgetfulness, unconsciousness, stupor, void, nothingness, even as drastic as death. As an example, while the opposite of forgetfulness would be something to the lines of memory, the opposite of death would be life. Memory and life are completely different. Therefore, I am unable to supply a theory on her original type at this moment, as insufficient information has been given me." The others all blinked. After a moment, Matt sighed.
"Ok," he began, "as *that* line of discussion is going absolutely no where, let's think about something else."
"Like what?" T.K. asked, intrigued. It was the first time Matt had initiated a conversation. The older boy considered.
"Well...how about the Principle of Eight? There are aspects of that...I think we should all talk about; just to make sure we all understand it. There are things I'm not sure I'm fully grasping, sad as that is to admit." The other Digidestined were silent, thinking. Finally Izzy spoke.
"From what Meloremon told us, this Principle has awesome powers, if only it can be figured out." Kari nodded.
"Exactly. I mean, this evil thing that's coming...it seems awesomely powerful. How can one Principle defeat it?"
"Izzy," Sora began, "are there any files in your computer about the Principle of Eight?"
"Only those I wrote," he admitted.
"Could you recap for us?"
"Certainly. All right, Meloremon explained to us last night that the heart of the Digital World was Central Fortress, and that the Fortress contained the Principle of Eight, which was really more like a Natural Law or concept. Then this morning, she told us what the Principle of Eight really was..."
***FLASHBACK***
"Ok, Meloremon." The Digimon turned to look at Tai, who smiled slightly. "It's morning, and Matt's finally awake-"
"I was up before you, Tai."
"So could you please tell us about the Principle of Eight?" She looked nervous.
"It's such a fierce thing, the Ultimate Power. Fierce and great. I am...a little afraid to talk of it. I am not the one destined to control it."
"We don't mean to be a bother, Meloremon," Izzy began politely. "But anything you know of, *anything* that could aid us against the evil that's coming here, would be of immeasurable help." Meloremon took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.
"Ok. Ok, I can do this. No problem. You might not like it, but...ok." She cleared her throat and took another breath, releasing it in a sigh again. "Once," she began, her voice echoing in the great room, "when the Digital World was a new creation, filled with life and possibility, a dark being came, to destroy the baby world and drink its energy. Though many tried, no Digimon could stand up to the evil. If any tried, it would merely kill the Digimon and use its soul as fuel for future conquests. Such was the evil's nature. It was an anti-being, the absence of feelings or life. Finally, though, the cries of the dying Digital World were heard. From beyond the veiled gate of time and space, eight figures emerged. They knew what the evil was and that it wouldn't stop at the Digital World. With their own and every other world impearled, the eight made their way to Central Fortress, pausing only to defeat the four Keys that blocked the Gates. Upon reaching Central Fortress, the eight went to the main chamber, the room that watches the sky, and knelt. Seven linked to form a circle, with the eighth in their center. Then the evil struck. The eight were wounded, but their wounds, though great, were not the end of them. The eight chanted a great incantation, given to them from the gates of heaven itself, and gathered a vast wave of power within themselves. Eight individual beams of power would do little to the evil, and the eight, being wise beyond their years, knew this. So they concentrated all of their power and passed it on to their friend kneeling in their center. He accepted the power though he knew it could kill him, for the power they manipulated was greater than he was sure he could control. The other seven, however, stood steadfastly behind him. Filled with the strength and courage of his friends, the eighth threw their attack at the evil, and it was demolished instantly. The warriors cheered, but one remained silent. Destroying the evil had been his last act of selflessness, and the eighth lay dead. In that way, the evil had won a small victory. The evil, however, even with this victory, was gone, destroyed by an energy greater than any world has ever known or will ever know. As the Principle has only ever been called upon once, this Life Sacrifice may be a necessity. It is a mystery. Such is the Principle of Eight."
***END FLASHBACK***
"...and that is all we know." The eight Digidestined considered.
"Ok," Tai said finally. "Since no one else seems to be willing to ask this question, I'll ask it. Doesn't it seem...odd...that it's the Principle of *Eight* and that there are *eight* of *us*? Gennai is sending us to Central Fortress, but we don't know why. Does anyone else think that...maybe... *we're* gonna have to use the Principle of Eight to destroy this evil thing that's coming?" There was a deafening silence as everyone digested this new theory.
"If we *are* meant to use this...Principle of Eight," Mimi began slowly, "then why couldn't we use it before? Why, in all our travels in the Digiworld, when we *needed* something this powerful, weren't we allowed to use it? Why didn't we even *know* about it?"
"It is said that trial builds character," Yamato pointed out in his quiet voice. "Perhaps we were meant to suffer and bare hardship so that we would grow into strong people. Imagine how simple it would have been to beat any of the Digimon we faced if we had an easy access kill-all with the power to destroy instantly anything we wanted it to. It would have been a walk in the park. We never would have learned anything or gained any experience. And now, when we're having to fight our way to Central Fortress, we need all that experience and all those lessons we learned. Think about it. Without those prior experiences, Joe might not have brought his bag, with all that medical equipment. Without that..."
"You make a valid point, Matt," Izzy agreed. "Then again, maybe it was simpler than that. Maybe it was just that Life Sacrifice. If a life is really needed to activate the Principle, then that's why we haven't used it. Because it can only be used once." Murmured assents greeted this theory. Yet another silence fell. No one could think of anything to say. Tai sighed and stood up, stretching.
"Ok, people," he began. "Let's get going. We have to go as far as we can before it's time to stop again." There were various moans and half-hearted complaints as the Digidestined stood and began walking. T.K. dropped back to walk with Matt, who liked to stay near the back of the group.
"Hey, Matt," he greeted. The older blond gave his brother a tiny smile and returned his attention to walking. "So...I'm glad you joined in our conversation this time. It was like you were part of the Digidestined again." Matt nodded but offered no comment. He seemed to be thinking about something. After a few minutes of walking in silence, T.K. asked, "Why so quiet, Matt?" The older boy sighed, mildly frustrated, and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"I'm thinking."
"About what?"
"Stuff."
"What stuff?"
"I don't know. Just...stuff." T.K. laughed and Matt glanced up at him. "What's so funny?"
"This conversation."
"What about it?"
"The whole thing. 'What stuff?' 'Just...stuff.' It's like when we were kids!" A flicker of a smile flitted across Matt's face.
"Yea," he agreed. "And now's about the time that I call you a baby and you start crying." T.K. laughed again. For a moment Matt watched him laugh, a tiny smile curving his lips. Then his expression melted into one of mild worry and his eyes dropped back to the path.
"What's the matter, Matt? I'm your brother, you can trust me." For a moment Matt continued as though he hadn't heard T.K. Then he looked up at his younger brother.
"T.K., if I told you something, just to voice it and work it out- not necessarily with your help- would you promise not to go about trying to fix it? Could I trust you to trust in my judgment? It would mean telling you something I've kept...relatively well hidden up to this point, and I'm still not sure I should tell everyone." T.K. blinked, astonished. Matt wanted to trust him?
"Of course you could tell me, Matt. I wouldn't tell anyone unless it threatened your life or someone else's." Matt sighed.
"And therein lies my problem," he muttered. He sighed again and looked back at the path. "Remember when I told you guys where I'd been the past five years? How I said that I caught something like a cold?"
"Yea. What about it?"
"Well, it wasn't really a cold."
"No?"
"Not really."
"What was it?"
"It was...a complication of strep throat."
"It was a *what*?" Matt glanced at T.K. and sighed.
"I knew I shouldn't have told you." T.K. immediately regained control of himself.
"No, I'm glad you told me. But why didn't you tell *all* of us the first time?" Matt scowled at the path.
"Because I knew what would happen. You'd all go nuts. Every cough, every sneeze, every hiccup would be me relapsing. It's that way with Dad. Every time something happens to me, it's hyper-analyzed until it's the disease, lashing back with a vengeance. I never get to do anything anymore. If I want to go outside, I have to take umbrellas and raincoats and sweaters and mittens and hats and...God, I almost have to take every shred of clothing I own! I'm sick of it, and I didn't want to bring that here, to the Digital World. I was worried that I'd tell you guys...and boom! The little bit of freedom I feel here would be *gone*. We'd all walk slower, we'd take more breaks, we'd stop earlier at night, rise later each morning, and I'd be the sole reason. I didn't want that! I still don't. I like walking, I like feeling like we've made progress, and I like standing watch. I'd never get to do *any* of that if everyone knew."
"Matt, why are you telling me this? If you think everything is so fine, why tell me and risk me telling someone else?"
"Because I'm weighing the options."
"What? Why would you need to...Matt, are you relapsing?"
"Yes...no...I don't know! That's why I was thinking. I was trying to decide if I should see if Joe has some...antibiotic or something."
"Why do you think you're relapsing?"
"My throat is sore, and I just feel...off, somehow. Like I'm fighting something."
"How long have you felt like this?" Matt winced slightly.
"Since...I fell off that bridge." T.K. took a deep, calming breath. "You're gonna tell them, aren't you?" T.K. took another breath.
"I'm assuming Gabumon has at least suspected that you're getting sick?" The Digimon sighed heavily.
"Yes, I've known as long as he has. Maybe even a little longer. But I can't tell anyone, because Matt doesn't want me to." Matt watched his little brother as he took another deep, calming breath.
"You're going to tell, aren't you?" T.K. looked at him, a little angry.
"Of course not! You trusted me to keep your secret, and I trust your judgment. But I can't *believe* you're doing something this stupid. How bad was your last case?"
"Oh...not too bad." T.K. knew that was only a half-truth, but didn't want to push his luck and said nothing about it.
"Ok, so you want to ask Joe if he has anything that might help with a relapse of strep throat."
"A *possible* relapse."
"Right. A possible relapse. Anyway, why don't you just ask him?"
"Because he might tell the others, and if the others find out, it's over. My existence in the Digital World as I know it is over. I don't want that to happen unless it absolutely has to." T.K. thought about that for a while before replying.
"Well, maybe that's a risk you're just going to have to take." Matt sighed.
"I knew you were going to say that. So I should just...go up to him and say, 'Hi there, Joe. Did you know that I'm a carrier of strep throat? I'm only telling you this because I think I'm getting a relapse, and I was just wondering if you had anything to combat it. I'm allergic to penicillin, though, so do you have cephalosporin or erythromycin instead?'"
"I didn't know that..." Matt blinked.
"Didn't know what?"
"That you were allergic to penicillin." The older blond sighed.
"That's all you have to say?"
"Well, what else *can* I say?"
"Nothing I guess...besides, I was just kidding about being allergic." T.K. sighed.
"Look, if you're really that worried about telling Joe, just wait until no one will hear you talk to him."
"How?"
"Volunteer for the watch right after his. Then you can ask him to wait for a bit before going back to sleep and explain things." Matt stared at his brother.
"That just shows how bad I must feel." T.K. blinked.
"What?" Matt shrugged and cocked a wicked half-grin.
"It's just that, if I was feeling better, there is no way you would have come up with that before me. Maybe I really *should* start taking it easier..." T.K. made a disgusted sound.
"Oh, *please*, Matt. You couldn't out-think me on your best day." Matt laughed softly.
"Get a life."
"I all ready have a very good one, thank you." The brothers shared warm smiles. The eight continued walking with their Digimon, perfectly content, perfectly tranquil, and perfectly unaware of the evil that would strike with the rising moon.
~**~
Joe sighed and poked the blond awake.
"C'mon, Matt. I've been up for hours. It's the last watch of the night. Your turn." The Digidestined of Friendship's eyes opened and he stared at Joe a moment. After that initial instant, recognition dawned on his face and he sat up, stretched, and yawned hugely.
"Thanks for waking me up, Joe." The older boy arched an eyebrow as Matt sat next to him on the ground by the fire.
"Wow. This recent adventure with Meloremon must really have done something to you." Matt stared at him and Joe sighed. "I mean, you just thanked me! A week ago, I could have woken you up and had a latté ready for you, and I'm not sure I would have gotten a thank you. You're a whole lot more willing to interact with us now than you were then." Matt gave a tiny, rueful smile.
"Yea, I guess so."
"What happened?" The blond looked at the fire.
"I was tired of not having any friends. Meloremon reminded me that friendship is a part of who I am. It's the most important thing I've ever had, and I missed it. I guess this is just my way of raising a white flag." Joe considered this a moment and turned to watch the fire with Matt.
"So Meloremon did all that for you, huh?" Matt shook his head gently.
"No...she didn't really do anything."
"Then what happened?"
"You guys happened." Joe looked at him, surprised.
"What?" Matt sighed again and pulled his legs up to his chest, encircling them with his arms. He continued to stare into the flames.
"When VenomCobrmon bit me, I was sure you guys weren't going to do anything. I know it sounds like a cruel judgment of you, but I'd forgotten what you were like. The kids at the school my dad put me in...they were awful. I was maintaining my silence as best I could even at school. I didn't talk at all unless a teacher addressed me specifically or I *really* had to. Even then I answered shortly. The kids were merciless. Everywhere I went they tormented me, and the more their words hurt, the quieter I got. I hated that school. I got used to my peers being mean and refusing to stick their necks out for me. So when I was hurt, I expected you guys to react like they had. I expected you to abandon me. But you didn't. I could hear all of you while I was sleeping. I kept waiting for someone to say, 'Oh, he's a lost cause. Just leave him. Let him die.' I was scared, but I knew it was going to happen. But it didn't. Then when you and Izzy figured out that you'd have to...to give me stitches, I knew you were going to throw your hands up and say, 'Nuh-uh! Isn't going to happen! Let him die, I'm not doing that!' I just knew you would. But you didn't. Mimi even came over and helped, and she hates blood. T.K. stayed by me the whole time. I thought he'd hate me for sure, but he doesn't. Sora, Tai, Kari, Izzy, T.K., Mimi, you, I just knew none of you would want me anywhere near you. But you did. I've been wrong this entire time. I was pushing you guys away because I was *afraid*. Well, I'm still afraid, but I'm tired of being alone. I guess I figured, hey. If you guys can do stuff you're afraid to do to save my life, I can do things I'm afraid to do to save your friendships." Joe was silent for a while.
Then he said softly, "You're a brave man, Yamato." The blond smiled.
"Nah. I'm just really dumb." They were silent again, but when Joe started to get up, Matt called him back. "Hey, Joe...can I ask you something?" The boy blinked and sat back down. Matt seemed unsure about what he was about to ask.
"Sure, Matt. What'd you need to know?"
"Well...you carry various assorted medical items in your backpack, right?" Joe blinked.
"Yea...so?"
"So...do you carry antibiotics?"
"Why?"
"Because...well, you know how I said I caught something like a cold when I was with my dad?"
"Yea, so?"
"So...I may have..."
"Over exaggerated?"
"Um, no. I may have... *under* exaggerated...just a bit." Joe was immediately wary.
"How under exaggerated are we talking here?" Matt bowed his head and twiddled his fingers.
"Well, let me put it this way: How much do you know about complications of strep throat?"
"How much do I now about *wha-*" Matt winced again as Joe sputtered.
"I know, I know. It was wrong of me. But if you'll just let me- Joe, what's wrong with you?" The young doctor-to-be had not stopped his sputtering. In fact, he was now gagging, as though someone were choking him. Matt turned to look at Joe and gasped.
"Joe, what's wrong?" The older boy had both of his hands up to his neck, straining vainly against a rope he could not see.
"Something..." he managed to gasp out. "There's something...around my throat! I can't...c-can't..." He chocked violently again. "Help...me!" He crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Matt reached out and began feeling around Joe's throat wildly, searching for the thing slowly killing his friend. All the while he was calling for help.
"Everybody, wake up! Something's attacking Joe! Izzy, wake up! Turn on your computer, find out what's going on!" Slowly the other six members of the Digidestined began rousing. But not fast enough. "*Something's killing Joe!*" Matt yelled desperately. "*Help me*!" Instantly the others began doing what they could. Which didn't turn out to be much. Tai and Kari began helping Matt look for something on or around Joe's neck as Izzy booted up his laptop and everyone else searched the forest. With three sets of hands feeling Joe's neck, more arguments were breaking out that progress. Matt told the two to go away and, not having good excuses to stay, they rose and left to search the forest. Finally Matt's left hand brushed something on Joe's throat. A thin line of blood welled on his fingers from the contact. Matt yelped and pulled his hand back, but only for a moment. He had found what was attacking Joe, and he wasn't letting it go. Getting a better two-handed grip on the thing, he called his Digimon over.
"Gabumon, come here!" The faithful Digimon materialized from the forest and dashed over to his Digidestined.
"What do you need, Matt?"
"You see how there's blood running from this hand to this hand?" Gabumon nodded. "Good. Cut the air between my hands." The Digimon stared at his Digidestined's hands. They were spaced about four inches apart. Blood was indeed running down an invisible line between the two and on past the lower hand to pool on the ground. Matt's voice broke sharply through the Digimon's stupor. "Gabumon! Do it! *Now*!" Pulling his paw back, Gabumon swiped at the blood between Matt's hands. His claws ripped through something and Joe began gasping in mighty gulps of air.
"I got it!" Matt called to the other Digidestined as Gomamon helped Joe as best he could. "I got the thing that was- ow, crap!" The other Digidestined gathered around Matt and Joe.
"What's the matter?" T.K. demanded. "What happened to Joe? Why are you bleeding again, Matt?" The Barer of the Crest of Friendship was struggling with something on his left hand. It seemed to be a very thin rope or piece of string, no bigger then two or three hair's widths, saturated with Matt's blood.
"I don't know what it is, but *this* is what was chocking Joe." The still gasping Digidestined sat up, rubbing his throat, and leaned over to stare at Matt's hand.
"I can't see anything but what's covered in Matt's blood," he stated hoarsely, "but when it was trying to kill me, I could see all of it. It was a long, thin white rope, going into the forest. In fact." He turned and pointed. "It was going into that tree right there." The others turned to look out into the forest. Matt's angry, frustrated, and slightly panicked voice broke the stillness of the night.
"Look, guys, I know that we need to find who ever sent this thing, but if we don't do something here pretty quick I'm gonna loose this hand!" They all looked back at Matt. The cut encircling his hand was deepening as the invisible rope constricted. Matt cursed. "It won't let go!"
"Does it burn?" Tai demanded suddenly.
"How should I know?" Matt threw back at him. He cursed again and winced. A thin sweat had broken out on his brow. "This is really starting to hurt!" Tai called Agumon over.
"Agumon, you see how Matt's blood is dripping down this thin wire?" The Digimon looked.
"Yea. I see that. What is it, Tai?"
"No time for that now, buddy. Can you set the blood on fire without actually lighting Matt's hand?" The Digimon nodded.
"Sure, I'll just blast a Pepper Breath at the blood dripping down here at the end."
"Good. Do it."
"Pepper Breath!" The fire traveled the invisible rope in both directions. The rope slicing Matt's hand burned, scorching Matt's wounded hand slightly. He winced, but didn't yell at Tai for having Agumon burn his hand. Instead he grabbed the side of his hand with the deepest cut and faced Joe.
"Do you have any more bandages or did I use them all up last time?" Joe smiled sadly. He opened his mouth to answer, but a shriek interrupted him. The thin rope had brought the fire to its owner, and the attacking being burst into flames and fell from a tree. It burned quickly and was reduced to nothing more that Digital ashes. Cries of anger filled the air and nine more creatures dropped from trees.
"You killed our sister!" The words were more growl than anything else, but the pitch of them was high and feminine. The nine figures advanced menacingly into the firelight. "You killed our sister!" they growled again. They were like no Digimon any of them had ever seen before. The creatures stood on two legs, much like humans, but their resemblance ended not far from that. They were tall, with long legs and even longer arms. Their elegant hands ended in elongated fingers tipped with needle-like nails. They were covered from neck to wrists and ankles in long, soft black fur that gleamed in the light of the fire. Long ebony hair that fell to the ground was tucked neatly behind large, pointed ears. Their faces were elegant. Delicately curved lips housed wickedly sharp fangs. Their large eyes glowed red.
"You killed out sister!" they growled once more.
"Like hell!" Surprised, the Digidestined looked back at Matt, who was cradling his bleeding left hand and glaring at the intruders.
"Who are you, pitiful creature?" one of the Digimon snarled. It was the tallest, probably the leader of the group.
"What does *that* matter? The point is that we didn't kill your sister. She attacked us! We were just defending ourselves. If you want to blame someone, blame her for being stupid!"
"She was not stupid to follow orders!" another one of the creatures, still partially hidden in shadows, hissed angrily. Even Matt seemed a little surprised at this.
"Orders from whom?" Tai asked warily.
"From the Mistress of Oblivion, the Lady of-"
"Anamnemon!" the Chosen Children chorused.
"Do you dare address her with such simple disrespect and ease, worthless brats!"
"Hey!" T.K. protested. "We're not bra-" He chocked and grabbed at his throat. In the stunned semi-silence that followed, Matt leapt over to his brother and felt along his neck. After just a moment, he winced and pulled his already bloodied hand away. Then he ran his left hand along the invisible rope, away from T.K., and Gabumon set blue fire to the thin line of blood. One of the creatures shrieked and let the cord she had held drop to the ground. The fire ate it greedily. The nine spider-type Digimon all growled and shifted angrily.
"You have hurt one sister, and killed another! We won't forgive you!"
"Yea?" Matt challenged, helping T.K. to stand up. "Well, you've attacked two of us and bloodied my hands. We didn't even *do* anything to you! So you're dead wrong if you think we're just gonna lay down and let you kill us!" Somehow the situation had deteriorated into an almost personal war between Yamato Ishida and these attacking Digimon. The sun began peeking curiously over the horizon, announcing in no unclear terms the beginning of another day. The attacking Digimon froze and looked at the sun. Then the tall leader turned to Matt and pulled her lips back in an ugly, terrible snarl.
"This is not over, *boy*."
"Far from it," he agreed, glaring at her with his hands curled into fists by his sides. As his blood dripped onto the ground, the nine creatures disappeared into the shadows of the forest. When they were gone, Matt dropped his glare and sighed. Smiling ruefully, he cupped his bleeding left hand and turned to Joe.
"So, do you have any more bandages?" While Joe doctored Matt's wounds- *again*- Tai turned to Izzy.
"What *were* those things?" Izzy sighed.
"They're pretty horrible creatures, Tai." Matt, listening to the conversation, silently agreed very violently with that observation. "They're called Araknamon. Actually, they're a type of spider Digimon. They group in large colonies and build massive, invisible webs with that cord they tried to suffocate you guys with. The cord itself is immensely complicated. If strung in a web or thrown around a creature, it merely constricts slowly, depriving the entity of breath and/or halting all motion of the aforementioned captured creature. The detained being is the only thing other than the Araknamon that can see the cord, so if an unwanted creature attempts to remove or adjust the cord on or around a captured entity, even if done accidentally, the cord responds by becoming devastatingly sharp, as Matt can probably attest to. Anyway, blood is one of the cord's only threats. Once blood has been spilt or dripped on the cord, it will always be red and easily seen. Fire is the only other way to destroy the cord. Because of its nature, it burns with astonishing ease. The only trouble is that to burn the cord you must see it. And to see it, one must either be caught in or have bled on the cord. Therein lies our main problem."
"How does a web suffocate you?" Mimi asked, slightly confused.
"When the web catches you," Izzy explained, typing furiously on his laptop, "it doesn't *stick* to you. In fact, it isn't the least *bit* sticky. What happens is the wandering creature blunders into it and is entangled. Thus, the cord can contract and suffocate you."
"Ah."
"Well, why'd they go away?" Tai demanded.
"Because they are unable to sustain direct sunlight. The ultra-violet rays catch them on fire."
"They burn that easily?" T.K. sounded mystified.
"They burn *that* easily."
"So we're safe," Sora observed, slightly relived.
"Until sunset," Izzy agreed darkly. "But after the sun sets..."
"We're pretty much doomed," Joe finished. He sighed.
"That isn't true," Matt said suddenly. Everyone looked at him. "It isn't true that we're doomed. We can fight them; we can beat them. We've proven as much already. This must be what Meloremon was warning us about when she said that our enemy's allay couldn't be destroyed by force. These things are quick, and they know how to hide. They're absolutely silent. Joe and I didn't even know they were there until they got him. And even *then* we didn't find them until that one burned and all the others came out of the forest. They're fast, silent, deadly, and seem to hate our guts with a passion."
"Is there a good side to this?" Kari demanded.
"Yes, I'm getting to that. See, they might have all of that on their side, but they have weaknesses. Fire hurts them. And if we can get them mad, they'll show themselves, so they're not that smart. We can out *think* them."
"How?" Joe asked desperately.
"Well, I was just going to ask that myself, but we're still ok. We have all day to make a plan." The others agreed with Matt's logic and began planning. In all the commotion, Joe forgot to ask Matt about his earlier question.
~**~
The sun set slowly, as if aware that sinking completely below the horizon would release the Digimon that sought to kill the legendary Digidestined. Finally, though, the wary sun was overcome by the demands of nature, and the moon rose to take its place. With almost painful sluggishness, watch after watch inched by. It began with Tai's uneventful manning of the first shift. He was followed by Sora, Joe, T.K., and Kari. At the end of her turn, Kari stretched, yawned, and woke Matt up. Though immensely tired, he picked up the deeply sleeping Gabumon, sat by the fire, and attempted to stay awake. Unfortunately, the fire was set up so that the guard could lean against a tree, and Matt was sorely tempted to sleep. About fifteen minutes into Matt's watch, as sleep began creeping over him, an unbearable pressure surrounded his neck and pulled him back against the tree. It was so quick and so silent that he couldn't even gag as the life began chocking slowly out of his body. An elegant, elongated face with glowing red eyes filled his vision. As Matt struggled with the invisible cord and writhed helplessly against the tree, the Araknamon smiled evilly, revealing her wicked fangs.
"What does it feel like?" she asked him in a growl. "To die, I mean." He stilled against the tree. "You inflicted this pain on my sister. What does it feel like now that it's come for you?" Matt gathered his anger to form a response.
"G-go...go to hell!" She laughed softly and ran a claw along his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.
"How easily your skin succumbs to my claws and my web. How easily you die." She laughed again, her face so close to his he could smell her breath. She stank of death. "If indeed there is such a place, boy, I will see you in hell. But you'll go first. Oh, don't be sad." Though his vision was blurring, he could see her face clearly. It had contorted into a look of pure malice and cruelty. "You're friends will follow you shortly. You'll be pleased to know that your death is the signal to begin our attack. When you are gone, we will kill your comrades in their sleep!" She laughed silently. A deep, all consuming rage filled Matt. He found the energy to cock his right fist. She was not prepared for the punch that caught her cheek and sent her sprawling. His energy spent, Matt's vision blacked. But his last conscious act had been enough. The Araknamon's cry of surprise and rage had woken the others. Gabumon leapt up and ran his paw along Matt's throat. When it caught and spilt blood, he set it on fire. The Digidestined and their Digimon ran over and, for a moment, thought the worst. Then Matt began coughing and wheezing and, best of all, breathing. Soon T.K. was helping him stand. Matt rubbed hit throat and looked over to where the Araknamon had fallen. The other eight had dropped out of the trees and were inspecting her bruised cheek and cut lip in fascination. No one had ever drawn the blood of an Araknamon. It ran black and sizzled where it hit the ground.
"Nice right hook," Tai complimented quietly.
"Thanks," gasped Matt in return. Suddenly Izzy snapped his fingers.
"Acidic components!" he exclaimed, surprised. "See how the ground burns when her blood hits it? It has acid in it! *That's* how they make the cords. The acid in their blood solidifies and-"
"That's very interesting, Izzy," Matt cut him off, finally able to stand on his own and glaring at the Araknamon huddled together a few feet away. "But I don't think now's the appropriate time to theorize about how the make the cord. The point is they make it, and it hurts to suffocate." Again the prowess of their opponents was made real.
"You hurt our sister!" the Araknamon growled, slinking towards the Digidestined. "You hurt-"
"I don't care." Startled, everyone turned to stare at T.K., who glared angrily at the Araknamon.
"What?" the leader growled.
"I said: I don't care. I don't care that we hurt your sisters, I don't care that the other one died last night. We didn't start this fight. But we're not going to just lay down and die, either."
"Our sister!"
"*My* brother! If you didn't want causalities, you shouldn't have attacked us. But you *did* attack us. You almost killed our friend, so we had no choice but to eliminate the threat as best we could. I'm sorry that your sister died, but you shouldn't have attacked us."
"Two are hurt, one is dead!"
"Well, two were hurt on our side, as well. And you almost killed three so far, so just be glad no more of your number are Digital ash and leave."
"Revenge. *Revenge*!" Tai answered this call with detached calm.
"We will defend ourselves."
The Araknamon attacked.
"Gabumon Digivolve TO!"
"Palmon Digivolve TO!"
"Patamon Digivolve TO!"
"Agumon Digivolve TO!"
"Biyomon Digivolve TO!"
"Tentomon Digivolve TO!"
"Gomamon Digivolve TO!"
"Gatomon Digivolve TO!"
The light and power of Digivices screamed in the small campsite. The eight Chosen Digimon grew in strength and size as the Araknamon leapt silently into the trees and disappeared. The reborn Digimon used their names as war calls...
"GARURUMON!"
"TOGEMON!"
"ANGEMON!"
"GREYMON!"
"BIRDRAMON!"
"KABUTERIMON!"
"IKKAKUMON!"
"ANGEWOMON!"
The Digivolved Digimon stood in the small clearing, looking around warily. The Araknamon had dissolved into the night, taking with them any advantage the bigger, fiercer Digimon might have had. As the Digidestined and their Digimon began carefully combing the surrounding trees, Izzy gasped and dropped to his knees. For a moment his hands went up to his throat, but he looked around the clearing and immediately booted up his laptop. Kari, who was the Digidestined closet to Izzy, saw him fall and went over to him.
"Izzy, what's wrong? Did they get you?" Izzy nodded curtly but waved Kari away when she tried to locate the string. He was alternately glancing at the clearing and concentrating on the screen of his laptop. Knowing that fire wound be necessary to remove the wire from Izzy's neck, Kari ran to the campfire, lit a leafy branch, and brought it back to where Izzy was still working. His fingers had slowed and he looked drowsy.
"Izzy, let me set the cord on fire!" He shook his head slightly again and continued typing. The wire contracted and he wined, closing one eye, but he continued typing. Finally his fingers faltered, his eyes closed, and he collapsed to one side. Working swiftly, Kari located the cord and set it on fire. The Araknamon that had sent it cried out and dropped from her tree. Greymon shot a 'Nova Blast' at it and it burst into flames. The other Araknamon hissed angrily in their trees, but they stayed hidden. The Digidestined ran over to where Izzy and Kari were.
"What happened?" Tai demanded.
"They got Izzy!" Kari explained as Izzy took gulping breaths. "He wouldn't let me burn the cord!" Tai glared at Izzy, angry with him for refusing help.
"That was a really stupid call, Izzy! What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking," the tousle-haired genius rasped, turning his computer so that Tai and the others could see it, "that I had been given a unique opportunity." They all stared at the laptop. A maze of lines crisscrossed it, weaving from one tree to another. "It's a map of all the wires strung around the campsite," Izzy explained. "Well, most of them, anyway. Remember how I said that the only ones who can see the cord are the Araknamon and the creatures purposely roped? Well, they got me on purpose, so I could see everything. Now we have a map."
"It was a stupid thing to do, Izzy." The boy winced and nodded.
"I know. But I also discovered something about the Araknamon. They work on a pattern. If you set one of their cords on fire, they come out of their trees. It's almost like a video game. If we can all acquire torches like Kari's and use this map to burn the Araknamon out of their trees, our Digimon can destroy them."
Without another word the Digidestined sought out branches that would make suitable torches.
After Izzy's brave-but-rather-stupid act had brought about the creation of a map for the Digidestined, the tide of battle suddenly and violently shifted sides. It had gone from helpless Digidestined and their Digimon attempting desperately to locate and burn out Araknamon to the total opposite. Araknamon dropped from trees in twos and threes as cord after cord was set on fire. The original nine survivors were swiftly and surely reduced to Digital ash until only one was unaccounted for. That one was the leader, and she was the one to be most feared of all the Araknamon. In all the cords that had burned, at least a few of them had to have been hers, but she never dropped from whatever tree she was in. This Araknamon was smart, and that made her dangerous. However, it had been discovered that her thread was finer, sharper, and harder to locate than any of the others. That made her deadly.
"We've got to find her!" Tai hissed desperately to the other Digidestined. "If we don't, she'll escape and get reinforcements and *we can't let her do that*! It was hard enough this time, and we're all bleeding! I don't think we'd survive another encounter." There were scattered agreements. Just then, the last remaining Araknamon showed herself. T.K. dropped to his knees, clutching at his throat and gagging.
"T.K.!" Everyone dashed to the fallen Digidestined's side. Matt began feeling systematically around T.K.'s neck for the thin wire, but his hands were already too cut up and bloody to tell if and when he hit the hair's width of web chocking the boy. Kari pushed Matt's hands away and began feeling for it in his place. Shaking, Matt stood up and looked around at all the surrounding trees.
"I know you're here," he called. "I know you're watching this and laughing, even though we can't see you or hear you. But there's already been so much death tonight, can't you just leave him alone?"
"Why couldn't you just leave my sisters alone?" was the returned growl.
"You attacked us!" Matt cried, outraged, scanning the trees again. The others were still clustered around T.K. trying to find the deadly string. Matt saw T.K.'s chest labor and asked desperately, "What do you want us to *do*?" There was a silence.
Then a soft, loathsome snarl: "*Die*." T.K.'s eyes sunk closed. His hands fell limply by his sides. Matt's anger and fear drained from him as quickly as the blood from his face. The small aches and pains of his many cuts disappeared. He strode over to his brother. Kari was in his way, bending over T.K., crying, still trying to find the cord. Matt grabbed her by the shoulder and wrenched her away so violently that she landed on her back and skidded. Exclaiming in surprise, the other Digidestined lurched over to where she lay sobbing in the dirt. When Tai turned back to yell at Matt- angry at the whole situation, not just Matt- the blond had his hands curled into fists above T.K.'s neck. His face was expressionless as he turned slightly to face a tree...and pulled at nothing. His hands, wrists, and forearms almost up to his elbow exploded in dozens of thin lines of blood. Tattered remnants of the lower sleeves of his jacket fluttered to the ground. There was a muffled cry and the Araknamon leader fell out of a tree, yanked from her safe-haven when Matt pulled on the invisible wire he had somehow found and wrapped around his arms. When the dumbfounded Digidestined finally wrenched their gazed from the outraged Araknamon back to the brothers, Matt had helped T.K. into a sitting position where the younger boy now rested, eyes closed, desperately sucking in breath after breath. A small, smoldering rope lay disregarded on the ground. The other Digidestined, now crying joyously, leapt up to crowd around the brothers. Matt surrendered T.K.'s care to Joe and stood. While the attention of all the other Digimon and Digidestined was on T.K., Matt stared at the Araknamon crouched, growling softly, in the thicket.
Garurumon's hackles rose and he bared his teeth as the two watched each other levelly, one with hottest anger, the other with cool disregard born of utter hate. Matt's blood curled around his arms to drip unrestrainedly on the ground. A silent war was being waged, a wordless challenge being issued.
The Digidestined's only warning about the final battle was Garurumon's movement. They all, including a still gasping T.K., turned to see what was going on. Garurumon, once standing at the far edge of the clearing, was sprinting across the distance between himself and his Digidestined. But he didn't stop at Matt. As he ran by, Yamato grabbed a tuff of his fur and pulled himself seemingly effortlessly onto the wolf's back. The two became one as they hurtled into the forest after Araknamon.
"What," T.K. rasped, "is going on? Where's Matt going?" His only answers were blank stares.
"I think..." Izzy winced and blushed as the other Digidestined rounded on him.
"What?" T.K. demanded, trying and failing to stand. "What do you think?" The boy genius gulped.
"Well, I could be wrong...but if I'm *right*...you're not going to like what Matt's doing..."
"*What*?" the others demanded in unison. Izzy swallowed again and took a deep, steadying breath.
"I think Matt and that Araknamon are having a showdown." For a moment, silence. They were all too shocked to react. But T.K. got over his momentary speechlessness.
"They're having a *what*?" he screeched, lurching to his feet. For a moment he swayed, and six sets of hands darted out simultaneously to steady him, but the boy got control of himself and stared penetratingly at Izzy. "I didn't hear you correctly. Tell me I did *not* hear you say he's having a face-off with the *leader of the Araknamon*."
"Er..." Izzy responded intelligently. T.K. began pacing and muttering angrily.
"What's he doing? What could he be *thinking*, going after her all by himself? I thought we were making fine progress with his whole anti-social thing, but no. He still doesn't trust us enough to even ask us to come with him. No, he has to turn it into a personal match-up with the spider-demon reject from hell. He's gonna be flattened! What was he *thinking*? Oh, no, wait. I *know* what he was thinking. *Nothing*! He wasn't thinking even a little flaming bit about how *we* would all feel. How *I*, his own stupid *brother*, would feel. No, not Yamato Ishida. He's got to go out and *prove* himself, and be a *loner*. Matt, you can be so damn *stupid* sometimes!" T.K. whirled on the others. "Why didn't anyone go *with* him?" the boy pleaded. Kari stood up.
"T.K., we didn't know."
"You didn't...*know*? Didn't know *what*? That he and lady evil were challenging each other to a fight? Oh, *why* did he have to declare war on *her*? Meloremon I understood. She had it out for him, and with good reason. But *her*? The Araknamon didn't even have a personal problem with Matt, but he had to take her one-on-one. Matt, what were you *thinking*?"
"He was thinking about you." T.K. blinked and turned to Tai.
"What do I have to do with this?" Tai shrugged, stood, and faced T.K.
"When the Araknamon got you, Matt was the first to your side. He was trying to find the cord, but he couldn't. His hands were too cut up for us to tell the difference between new and old blood. So we sent him away."
"And with good reason! He'd never have stopped until he'd cut his hands into further ribbons to-"
"But we couldn't find the cord. You passed out, and we still hadn't found anything." Tai looked down and T.K. didn't interrupt this time. After a second, the older boy continued. "Matt was talking to the Araknamon. I think he was trying to find out what she wanted with us. I didn't catch Matt's entire question, but I heard her answer. She told him all she wanted...was for us to die." T.K. reeled as if struck.
"But...but why? We never did a thing to her..."
"Ah, but we did." T.K. turned to Izzy. "We frightened her sisters, her subordinates. We frightened them, hurt them, and eventually brought about the cause of their demise."
"We *defended* ourselves. We asked them to leave us alone."
"They were on a mission. Would you turn back if it had been your mission?" T.K. couldn't reply. "I thought as much."
"But we *all* did that," T.K. said frantically. "Why couldn't we *all* fight her together?"
"Because this isn't that kind of battle." Once again all eyes turned to Tai. The boy-leader looked sad. "This is Matt's fight because it's about more than winning or loosing. It about our team." This boggled even Izzy.
"How so?" Sora questioned. Tai thought about how he was to phrase his answer.
"Well," he began finally, "it might have started out about winning and loosing, but it isn't anymore. Once the first Araknamon fell, it became more. From that moment on, if even one Araknamon survived, we weren't worthy to face Anamnemon. In the eyes of the Araknamon, we weren't worth her time. That's why they're here. Not just for us, but for anyone who would see Anamnemon. They're her guardians. So if we can't completely demolish them, they'll just keep attacking in the dead of night, and sooner or later we'll mess up and die."
"That makes...since, I guess," T.K. admitted. "But when did defending and/or proving our team become Matt's battle?"
"When he thought they killed you." T.K. blanched.
"When *what*?"
"Yes," Tai replied coolly. "He thought they'd killed you. When you collapsed, he went very cold and very pale. We only noticed it because he came over and threw Kari out of his way to get to you. He was so white...like his very last piece of sanity, his final point of being, had gone. You're the most important thing to him in this world, T.K. That isn't a light responsibility. Anyway, when we looked back at him, he had found the cord and wrapped it around both of his forearms. Then he pulled, and the Araknamon came sailing out of her tree. The cord was gone and you were breathing, so we were too caught up in the fact that you weren't *dead* to pay attention to much else. And that's where we stand. Now Matt has saved you, his family, twice, and the Araknamon has lost all of her sisters. So she needs to know if he's really better than she is. And Matt needs to know that he can defend you. None of us really know what happened to him, T.K., but for some reason he needs to prove that he can protect you." T.K., numb, couldn't reply. If Matt won, what would be the cost of victory? And if he lost...how would any of them be able to continue on this mission without him?
"It's not just me," T.K. said finally, his voice hoarse with emotion as well as the strain of earlier events.
"What are you talking about?" Mimi asked gently. T.K. cleared his throat and tried again.
"It isn't just me he's trying to protect. It's anyone who needs it. He just needs to...protect. And I wish I knew why, because if he's not careful he's going to protect us right into his own early grave!" T.K. swiped the back of his hand over his eyes. "He's so selfish! If he wins he has more emotional baggage for us to try and sort through, and if he looses...if he looses...oh, God! What if he looses?" But that question answered itself. At that very moment, there was a rustling in the bushes. Suddenly tensing, the Digidestined turned to face whatever was coming towards them. The foliage parted to reveal...Matt. He held an either unconscious or sleeping Tsunomon lightly in his right arm; the left dangled limply by his side. The forearms of his jacket were still in shreds, but various new tears had appeared in the body of his jacket and his long pants. The cut in his cheek still bled, sending a thin trail of blood down his face and neck. His golden blond hair was tussled and his eyes were filled with a quiet, unfathomable sorrow. Seeing him now, T.K. regretted his earlier anger and felt his heart break for his older brother.
"How'd you do it?" Kari asked softly, mystified. "All by yourself, just you and Garurumon...how in the world did you destroy her before she could kill you both? You were only gone ten minutes..."
Matt smiled sadly and pitched forward. T.K. gasped and darted out to catch him before he hit the ground.
"Let's stay here today," T.K. suggested tactfully, dropping to his knees to rest his brother gently on the ground. "Joe, how many bandages have you got left?" The doctor-to-be sighed, taking Tsunomon from T.K.
"Not enough for him to keep being stupid like he has been."
"But enough for this?"
"Yes. Enough for this."
AN: Sooo? What'd ya think? Kinda worth the wait? *bristles* What do you mean, NO?! You're cruel! ^_~ Just kidding. Anyway, REVIEW!! The more reviews I get, the faster the other two chapters will be out. ^_~ And guess what? Soon, very soon, Matt's tragic past will reveal itself! Totally against his will, but Anamnemon will do what Anamnemon will do. Ne? ^_~ WAH-hahahahaha!! Kawaii so Yamato-kun, NE?! AAH-hahahahahahha!!!!