PeterN: I never thought it would take me this long to get this far. One year today since I started writing Immaterium (with really huge gaps in-between lots of parts). I have to say thanks to Theo 'Blitz' Leung for actually persevering with reviewing this.

Immaterium (Part 22)

Kari looked at the others as they walked out the door, finally Mimi had been calmed down and they'd decided to try and find Sora, Izzy, and the rest of the digimon. They closed the door and she settled back down onto the sofa and turned the news back on, the horror of the events both petrifying and compelling a nearly worldwide audience to watch the news services in their area. She turned her head towards the window, catching a quick glimpse of Joe, Mimi, and her brother hurrying down the road.

Joe, Mimi, and Tai walked quickly through the streets. The decision had been made to check Sora's place, the Izzy's place. None of them daring to think ahead to what to do if they didn't find them there, none of them speaking or thinking about Matt and TK. They hurried through the deserted streets in silence, only one vehicle was out, an ambulance, sirens blaring as it raced off. They looked up and after barely a moment's hesitation, ran after it as fast as they could.

A small crowd of emergency vehicles were gathered at one end of the bridge, a single police officer keeping back the small crowd as they tried to satisfy their curiosity. Tai ran up ahead of Joe and Mimi, straight past the officer and looked at the small huddle of paramedics and ambulance crew. A single figure lay on the stone cold ground, a portable oxygen pump attached around her mouth. Her pale white face completely still, and her chest moving up and down in time with the oxygen pump. Lifeless eyes staring straight upwards as he looked into them.

He missed his step, knees sagging as he looked at the girl and crashed to the floor. Part of him noticed Joe and Mimi nearing him and the police officer talking to someone, at him, as his face hit the ground. Tears streaked down his face again as he shut his eyes tight, a single name escaping his sobbing lips.

"Sora…."

Waves rolled by crashing into the base of the cliff with a roar muted by distance, clouds floated by in the sky, the sun beamed down, and a small breeze blew in his face. Matt pulled his harmonica out of his pocket and played a few noted before sitting down on the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling over the side. He closed his eyes and started playing a slow, sombre song, forgetting the idyllic but seemingly empty world around him. A small figure walked up behind him and listened intently while he continued to play the short tune. He ended it, put the harmonica back in his pocket, and sighed.

"Matt."

He turned round, coming face to face with Gabumon. A smile finally spread on his face after what seemed like unending days of solitude on this island.

"Gabumon. I'm so glad to see you, I haven't seen anyone since I've been here."

"Me neither, I followed your harmonica though. Your song, it sounded so sad. What was it?"

"I don't know, it just came to me." He sighed and pulled the harmonica out again and started slowly playing the same sombre song once more.

Gabumon looked out across the peacefully rolling ocean again while he listened to Matt's harmonica. He lay back and watched the clouds float by, drifting on the gentle breeze that blew in his face. The harmonica stopped and he glanced at Matt, the way his gaze was unwaveringly fixed on something behind worrying him. He whirled around and his eyes widened. Dozens. Hundreds of them. Slithering and dancing towards them. Grotesque and seductive. Razor claws, slashing, beckoning. He looked round at Matt. Nothing there. Moving towards them. Eyes drawn back to the deadly dance. He shook his head, cleared it for a moment. Ran. Ran into Matt. Knocked him away from them. His face softened. Sense returned to Matt a little.

"Run!"

They turned and sprinted. Both realised too late. Both fell as they found the cliff. Ground and sky flashed by. Rocks smashed them. Faster. Ever onwards. Ever downwards. Everything turned black. Their lifeless bodies smashed into the ground far below, blood seeped out of them, washed away by the small incoming tide. Gently lifting them up and pulling them towards the ocean.

Slowly she dragged him along, struggling to move him as he frantically kicked and punched in vain at her.

"Stop struggling TK. It'll be easier if you just come along with me." She half muttered in an attempt to get him to stop hitting her

"Never! You're not Sora! And I'm not going with you if I can help it!"

Sora looked at TK as her body moved to the creature's control, she saw the blood he was covered in, felt it cover her hands where she dragged him. Felt the blows he tried to get away with. Felt the inexorable power of the creature control her body totally and half control what she said. She cried out in anguish. The sound echoed through the empty nothingness she was dragging TK through. She jumped. Her body, it was back.

She dropped TK as she fell to the floor. Mumbled apologies tumbling out of her mouth as TK fled away from her in terror. She sunk lower, further and further downwards through the darkness as she wallowed in self-pity. A speck of light caught her attention as it burst into life far below her. Slowly but surely it was getting closer. Straight towards her. Stretching out it rapidly filled horizon to horizon. Fire. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened as she accelerated faster and faster towards it. Billowing flames shot up at her, burning but without setting her alight. Burning, laughing, balls of incandescence danced around her as she plummeted. Jabbering, gibbering, balls.

Pain flared through her leg as one slammed itself into and through her. Her jeans caught fire and she screamed in pain. More and more of them smashed into her. Arms. Legs. Head. Everywhere. Her entire body turned into a screaming fireball of agony. Her eyes looked past the flames and saw only more flames. Her burning wreck of a body wracked with pain, hurtled into the flame pit. A spray of flesh, bones, and blood exploded out where she hit, dancing on top of the flames long after her body had been obliterated.

The Greater Daemon stood in shock, it played those agonising few seconds where it had lost control of her body over and over in its head. Every time cursing itself with the best insults it could think of for being so over-confident, again.

An evil smile touched its lips as it started mumbling to itself. Too long. I will wait for you to come to me no longer. I will take all of you. Now. It raised two slender arms in defiance and exclamation. Balls of lightning erupted from its palms, a flickering and explosive brilliance, rolling through the air. Walls phased in and out of existence, thin air exploded. Everything around it twisted out of shape and reformed as the Greater Daemon slowly floated into the air, power coalescing all round its form and searing out, searching out for the twelve that had made a complete mockery of it and the two that had turned to the loving embrace of Slaanesh.

A flash flare of blinding incandescence annihilated everything the Greater Daemon could see as it spoke.

"Run. Cry. Die! Your torture is eternal once I have your souls."

Izzy looked. Greenery was all around him. His mouth gaped open as he realised all his injuries had suddenly disappeared. He noticed seven others, with almost identical looks on their faces for their own personal reasons. He tried to formulate some theories of what was going on, giving up sooner than he'd started.

Mimi made sure her face showed the same look of surprise all the others had. The game had to be played out as best as she could. She checked the others' reactions and blinked in surprise when she saw a girl who looked about eight years old with them

Joe glanced round furiously, his mouth trying to say something, but only a single whisper of breath coming out. "Where…?"

Sora stood perfectly still. Once again she forced herself to ignore what had just happened. Forget that she had been a hurtling human fireball, had probably exploded when she smashed into whatever the flames where coming from. She shuddered. Forced the memory to the back of her mind and turned her head to see where she was. All of the digidestined, and Tai's little sister, where there. TK slowly backing away from her, and Tai staring at her with eyes wider than they should go.

Matt slowly brought his hand to his head. He knew he'd cut himself when he fell down the cliff, yet he was perfectly fine and with the rest of the digidestined around him. He looked as far as he could into the horizon. No cliff was anywhere. Just an endless forest of trees and plants.

TK frantically whirled his head round. One moment he had been fleeing through nothingness away from the monster impersonating Sora, and now he was here. Somewhere in a jungle he guessed a few moments before noticing Sora. She was back in her normal clothes now, and she definitely didn't have wings anymore. She stared back at him; imaginary daggers shot straight from the look and lacerated his heart a thousand times over. He started to back away, a blur shot out from the side of his vision and launched itself at her making him pause for a moment.

Tai doubled over with nausea and vertigo, his vision blurred and doubled for a while and he glanced upwards. Through the blurs he saw her. Tears swelled in his eyes as he leapt forward and hugged her tight. "Sora! You're all right! I s-saw you lying there. I thought you were dead…"

"Is this the Digiworld?"

"What?"

"Is this the Digiworld, Tai?" it was Kari, her eyes full of surprise

"K-Kari? Where… I mean why… how are you here?"

"I don't know. I was watching the TV and everything got covered in a sort of blue light, then we were all standing here."

"Uh… I hate to be a wet blanket…" Joe interrupted his gaze locked firmly on something above them, "but we have slightly bigger problems to worry about now…."

"What are you talking about?" Tai shouted over the rest of the groans

"Only a few dozen angry looking digimon flying straight at us!"

Everyone looked up for a few seconds, maybe thirty digimon in all were bearing straight down at them, eyes blazing with anger as they began to prepare an attack. They quickly glanced at each other before deciding what to do.

"RUN!"

Everyone bolted straight for the nearest edge of the clearing they were in. All their previous worries instantly forgotten as a plethora of attacks smashed into the clearing, turning it into little more than a bog.

"DemiDevi Dart!"

Thunk. Faster. Round a tree. Another. Thunk. Darts flying. Hitting trees, ground, everything. Thunk. An extra burst of speed and the darts stopped flying out at them. Tai risked a glance back and saw that everyone had more or less kept up with him.

"V-Laser!"

Lashes of light. Racing past. Trees disintegrating. TK glanced back. Tripped. The ground rushed at him. Hit him in the face. A yank on his arm. Hauling him to his feet. Sora. She mouthed a word. Run. Trees blurred past as they prayed to be missed. The attacks stopped and they glanced back again. Clear. Still they ran, pain lancing up their legs as they pushed themselves beyond the limit. Another clearing ahead. Too large too avoid.

As one they screeched to a halt when they entered it. There, at the far end, stood one of the Greater Daemons. It turned its head towards them and raised an arm in an almost friendly manner as it smiled seductively with its fanged mouth.

"So glad you could make it. I was half afraid that those digimon I… shall we say coerced… into driving you towards me would kill you before I got to play with you." Its smile dropped away into a more savage expression and its eyes locked on Kari. "And just what are you doing here? This was meant to be a private revenge. Never mind. I'll just kill you as well as the others. I hope you're ready to die, I know I'm ready to kill you my little toys."

PeterN: Please read and review, maybe one day I'll actually manage to write these parts in a normal amount of time again.