Me: Okay, ladies and gentlemen-I've held off on this for as long as possible, scrying from far and wide for possible ideas for the remainder of this story, and I've found it! I don't know how, I don't know where, but I have! Ha! I told you I'd continue this story, and I have! I don't own Digimon, by the way, or a part of "Target ~Agai Shougeki~!" from Megchan's site. I plan on using the entire song in a future chapter.

Tai: (sarcastically) I'd ask where you've been, but you just posted up a chapter a few days ago-or was that a week?

Me: Uh...it wasn't that long ago, actually! (whispers) Don't tell him the truth-he'd fillet me alive! (BlackTerriermon laughs quietly) This chapter will contain spoilers from the 4th movie; sadly, though, it won't contain that much action yet-I'm building up to that, however.







Digimon: The Final Battle

Chapter V-Old Wounds Reopened







"Your group has got to be ready. The whole world is counting on you!" -Tai Kamiya









Before long, midafternoon approached the next day, and Tai found himself outside of the school grounds having finally caught up with his missed schoolwork the night before. It hadn't been that bad-he'd only been missed for a couple of days, so he didn't have that much homework to do, and whatever he had to finish up, Sora had helped him on the previous night.

"Tai? I was hoping you'd show up!"

Confused, Tai turned and eyed his best friend Matt with a look of consternation. After the whole debacle with Sora, which hadn't been that long ago, he'd figured Matt had put it behind him, but from the way he was sounding now it didn't seem like much had changed.

"What's up, Matt?"

To his surprise, Matt reared his arm back, cocked it and sent Tai flying back toward the ground with a bloodied lip!

"I'm going out on a limb here and I'd have to say that you're not too pleased that Sora broke up with you and chose to be with me, huh?" Tai spoke up sarcastically.

"You could say that." Tai didn't know it, but Matt wasn't doing this-entirely-of his own free will.

Narrowing his eyes, Tai balled up his fists and knew one thing-he wasn't going to hold back any longer. With a loud roar of indignation, Tai launched himself forward at his best friend/rival for one last encounter!!









Watching this battle from his prison within the Dark Ocean, Daemon laughed evilly as he absorbed the dark energy emanating from the unsuspecting DigiDestined.

"That's it. Battle to the finish so I can feed off your dark energy and reenter your world and destroy it! Course, if I had my way, you wouldn't be alive to witness the destruction of your world."







Tai and Matt threw punch after punch at each other and were now wrestling on the ground, throwing punches and kicks back and forth just as Sora and Kari came up to them, their faces radiating irritation and anger.

"What's going on here? Tai, Matt-stop fighting!" Sora demanded impatiently.

"You heard her, Tai-cut it out now! You two are gonna be graduating soon and this is the last thing you need right now!" Kari added.

"Color me pink, but I don't think they can hear you." Gatomon advised from her position on top of a tree branch.

"And what are you doing up there, may I ask?"

"Just waiting for you, and to see which one finally takes the other one down."

"That's not gonna happen today if I have anything to say about it!" Sora took three steps toward Tai and Matt, clenched her fists and leaned down.









"These other DigiDestined present a controlled amount of darkness, but it shall serve me well when I breach the barrier and take over their world! Ahh...there it goes! So, it begins."







Sora grabbed Tai and Matt tightly by their ears, effectively ending the fight and forcing them both to their knees.

"What's the matter with you guys? We're a number of weeks-months-from graduation and you two are fighting over me?!"

"Correction-I wasn't fighting over you." Tai interjected. "It's kinda hard to talk a guy out of fighting when they clock you down with one hit to the face."

"Sorry, Tai...I don't know what came over me. It all happened last night and it happened so fast, I can't even tell if it happened at all." Matt explained, his mind freed from Daemon's control.

"In a nutshell, if it happened, it happened." Gatomon replied briefly.

"Okay, Matt-word for word, what happened last night?" Sora advised.

"I was driving Mimi and T.K. back home from Izzy's when I was hit from behind by something that felt like fire. It occured briefly before it vanished and I felt fine."

"'Fine,' huh? Think it's time to pay a little visit over to our resident brainiac?" Tai asked calmly.

"I do believe you are correct." Sora answered.

"One minute, the two of you are fighting; the next, your in each other's arms-what's the world come to?" Kari joked cynically.







"Very perplexing. So, you just walked up to Tai and hit him for no apparent reason at all?"

"To be blunt, yeah, I did."

Tai nodded in agreement as he massaged the spot on his face where Matt had hit him-unexpectedly-earlier that day.

"It's obvious Daemon wants to turn us against each other, but for what purpose? Why would he gain anything out of that tactic?"

"The old 'divide and conquer' trick nearly worked before, remember, Tai?"

Tai didn't need any reminders to envision the battle against WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon...it was a good thing a mysterious entity had taken over Kari's body, lest something even more dreadful were to occur.

"Yeah...we should alert the others about this as soon as possible, and quickly!"







The story has begun to spin at full speed...dyeing the Earth red...!

On the map, there is an empty paradise...let's try and save it ourselves!

Now, we're running as fast as we can...up the endless hilly road, far away...!







The day dwindled onward to nightfall, and Tai soon found himself staring forlornly at his sleeping partner, envisioning what had happened against Armageddemon and Omnimon...







Flashback-The battle near the bridge, Omnimon V.S. Armageddemon

Grunting loudly, Omnimon had just taken a direct hit to the chest by this Mega Digimon's attack, and his attacks didn't seem to be doing any kind of damage to him at all! With a roar of indignation, the Warrior Digimon stabbed the unknown Digimon straight through what could be a nose with his Transcendent Sword, and that didn't do anything! Then, in a last-ditch effort, he repeatedly used his Supreme Cannon, aiming down his mouth, and that barely even fazed him!

At that precise second, Armageddemon opened his mouth wide and fired a blast of hot, blazing fire, point-blank range, aimed directly at Omnimon! Tai, Matt and the other DigiDestined-as well as most of Japan-gasped in shock at seeing their Warrior Digimon fly backward through the air and drop to the ground within seconds of that attack colliding.

"Omnimon..."

"No!"

The Warrior Digimon groaned in extreme pain as he struggled to get back up, and as he did, his arms suddenly separated from the rest of his body, dropping to the ground with a thud! Once Omnimon stood up, his head arched backward, looking up at the sky, his eyes completely dark and vacant, no sign that he was alive at all...

"Omnimon...!" Tai struggled to fight back a sob of indignation. Not only had their best fighter fallen before the attacks launched by the enemy, but he and Matt might have lost their partners in the process. Nearing the bridge themselves, and witnessing Omnimon's downfall, Davis felt exactly like his mentor did...completely, and utterly helpless.

"Omni...mon...!"

End flashback







Tai had never felt so helpless in his life during that one incident! Sure, there was the thing between him, Sora and Matt before this, but those wounds wouldn't take as long to heal, if they ever would. A wound like this...rarely ever healed.

"Tai? Are you okay?"

Gasping quietly, Tai turned to see Sora and Biyomon in his room, a concerned look on her face. At that second, he couldn't fight back the tears any longer, so he just got up and embraced Sora tightly, his racked sobs muffled by her yellow jacket, the same one she'd worn that same fateful day.









Chorus: Stand up! There's a hero inside me...

A rising target, there's no way I can lose...!

Burn up! My heartbeat burns in my chest...

We're going to get back the forgotten tomorrow, with a heated battle...! (song continues on, fades out)







"I couldn't do anything to help him, Sora...I just stood there and watched that Digimon tear Omnimon apart! Some hero of courage I turned out to be..."

Sora smiled lightly at Tai while fighting back her own tears. She hadn't been there when Omnimon had fallen, but she had seen the end result, and that had been just as heartwrenching! "Tai, that wasn't your fault! That Digimon probably had more power than Omnimon could handle after facing Diaboromon, and this was planned out. And, at least Agumon and Gabumon are okay, right?"

Tai thought logically about this-(A/N: (gasps) Tai actually thought about something?!)-and came to the conclusion that his girlfriend was right!

"Yeah...you're right, Sora. Thanks!"

"Stupid Tai...aren't I always?"









Daemon started laughing as the barrier started breaking down, giving him access back to the Digital and the Real Worlds.

"At last, thanks to the saddening thoughts of the DigiDestined of Courage, I have regained access to both realms and can now achieve my revenge on those unsuspecting fools!"

Will the DigiDestined be on the lookout for Daemon, or will they finally meet their match against this dark villain? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!