Day 25

Morning again. It was a beautiful day out as TK walked towards the Kamiyas' apartment on the way to school. His backpack was slung over his shoulder, hiding Patamon within it.

"You suppose anyone else is gone?" asked Patamon.

"I don't know," replied TK. "I just don't know."

"They better not even THINK about coming after us," said Patamon. "I'd be right there at your side kicking some evil butt."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," said TK with a smile.

A few more minutes of walking passed. TK got to the apartment building and headed for the elevator.

"Are we there yet?" asked Patamon as TK waited patiently for the elevator.

"Hold on," said TK. "Just need to get upstairs."

"Good," said Patamon. "You wouldn't believe how cramped it can get in here!"

"Hey!" said TK. "If anyone should be complaining it's me! You got to lay off the doughnuts buddy!"

The elevator arrived and TK stepped on. The doors closed behind him as he pressed the button.

"Well if I didn't have to ride around in your backpack all this time then we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

"Oh yeah," brilliant plan," said TK sarcastically. "The only problem we'd have then would be the fact that people would run screaming if they saw you."

"I don't see why. I think I'm kinda' cute."

"I don't care if you make an adorable little kitten look like a pile of puke; people get freaked out when they see digimon."

"That sure doesn't seem very fair," huffed Patamon. "I still don't see why we have to stay hidden. Why can't humans understand that we aren't all bad?"

"I don't know," said TK. "Probably has something to do with how the world was nearly destroyed several times over thanks to all the evil digimon that have shown up here."

"It can't possibly be that many."

"Oh really? Let's see… there's Greymon and Parrotmon, Myotismon and everyone else that showed up four years ago, Diaboromon, the hundreds of digimon that showed up during Christmas, Arukenimon and Mummymon, Myotismon AGAIN, Armagemon, and let's not forget Protomon."

"Wow, I guess I had lost count," said Patamon.

About then, the elevator came to a stop and the door slid open. TK stepped out and headed down the outdoor walkway towards his girlfriend's apartment. He rapped his knuckles against the door and was welcomed in by Kari a few seconds later. Once inside, Patamon hopped out of TK's backpack, flying over to the counter where Gatomon sat, eating on a bowl of cereal.

"Morning Kari," said TK.

Kari gave TK a hug, saying, "Morning."

They both sat down at the table.

"So Kari," said TK. "Did you tell your parents about Tai?"

"Are you kidding?" asked Kari. "They'd freak out if I told them what happened! The last thing they need to hear is that Tai is missing somewhere in the Digital World and whatever has him is coming after the rest of us. I just told them that he decided to stay with some friends for a few days. Unfortunately, that excuse won't hold out for very long."

"Yeah, I told my dad that Matt got a gig in Osaka and he'd be gone for a little while," said TK. "Listen Kari, I want you to know that if there's any trouble you can count on me."

"Thanks TK, but I think I can handle myself alright. The thing about all this that has really been bothering me is the uncertainty, the not knowing what's out there. When you're around though, that all seems to disappear."

"I don't want you to worry," said TK "No matter what happens, I'll be there for you."

"Thanks," said Kari, smiling. "We'd better get going; we don't want to be late."

"Right," said TK.

"Just let me grab my books," said Kari as she stood up and walked back into her bedroom.

TK sat for a moment, strumming his fingers on the table. Gatomon and Patamon made chitchat as they waited for Kari. After a few seconds, TK got up and shouldered his bag.

"Coming Kari?" he shouted.

"Just a second," Kari replied.

TK then heard a beeping noise from his bag. He reached in and pulled out his D-3, which was going crazy. It suddenly dawned on him what was happening, and he dove at Kari's room just as a brilliant white light flooded over it. TK ran inside, reaching for Kari, who was already being pulled away. Her face was filled with terrible fear and longing for someone to protect her. She reached out her right hand, as did TK. They tried to latch onto each other as best as they could, but TK's grip lacked enough stability, and she rapidly slipped from his hand. As her arm pulled away from his, his fingers caught the small silver bracelet around her wrist that he had given her a few days earlier. The clasp broke away, and Kari was pulled away from TK. The computer flicked itself off.

TK stared straight ahead as Patamon and Gatomon rushed to his side. The small, silver bracelet dangled in his hand as he fell to his knees in utter shock. Kari was gone, maybe forever. He'd failed to do what he had promised. He had sworn to himself that that he would protect Kari until the very end, but now he had failed. Kari was gone.

Without warning, TK's D-terminal gave out a beep, indicating he had mail. Patamon, knowing TK was in no state to respond to it, grabbed the terminal out of TK's bag and flipped it open. After he and Gatomon had finished scanning over the message he offered it to TK. TK's eyes looked over the message, his face hardening as he did so.

"There's still a chance," said TK with grim determination.

TK had that look in his eyes again. It was that same look he had every time he had a job to do and only he could do it. Whenever his face looked like that, everyone knew that he had grown tough as nails. It was the look he had worn when he went off to face the emperor on his own. And now, he wore it as he went in search of Kari. He moved over to the desk and grabbed the broken goggles from it, stuffing them into his pocket. TK then ran out the door with Patamon and Gatomon in hot pursuit. School would have to wait for another day; now the remaining DigiDestined were going to the Digital World.

As this went on, Tai found himself in a cold, steel hallway. A single Hagurumon floated along behind him, giving him frequent shoves. A trail of blood trickled down the side of his mouth, and his left eye was nearly swollen shut. When he walked he wobbled from side to side. His exhaustion was quite evident. He felt like he had been without food or sleep for weeks, although in reality it had only been less than a day. Whatever had been done, it had left him tired, hungry, and weak. Normally he would have never taken this kind of abuse, but his will had been broken. His courage had been sapped away and replaced with an ever-present anxiety; a fear; a dread that would not cease. His confidence was gone. Finally he came to a heavy door on the left side of the dank hall. The door had a small window at eye-level and a strong locking mechanism, much like the other doors in this particular hallway. The door swung open with a creak, and Tai could make out other beings in that small room. It was so dark that he couldn't tell who they were, but he doubted they would be friendly.

"Get in there!" said the Hagurumon gruffly as he shoved Tai forward.

The old Tai would have instantly turned back around and slugged Hagurumon in his big ugly face, but that felt like a lifetime ago. Instead, Tai just lay there as the door closed behind him. After a few seconds he sat up, scooting back against the wall next to the door. Swirling images still plagued his mind from what he had been through. The terrifying roars of Skullgreymon still filled his ears.

The images hung in Tai's mind, mocking him, laughing at him. Tai's past mistakes, those that he had never been able to bring himself to totally forgive himself for, had returned to him. They had haunted the back of his mind, some of them for years. But only now had they been forced back into the light. He lay in the darkness, craving peace; seeking to purge his mind of the painful memories that had taken over his every thought.

It was hard for him to begin to explain what he had been through. At first it was like a dream. Slowly, his memories returned to him. There was the horrible mistake he had made that resulted in the creation of Skullgreymon. There was the numerous fights he had been through with Matt, including the brutal one that had nearly cost them both their lives. Pitting Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon against each other had almost ended in their defeat at their own hands. There was of course the whole thing with the Emperor. He had been rendered virtually useless as a DigiDestined without Agumon.

This weighed particularly heavily on Tai's conscience. He couldn't help drawing the conclusion that all his courage, all his strength, and all his leadership had come from having one of the strongest partner digimon. This had proven one of the most crushing blows to Tai's ego. His will had very nearly been obliterated.

Of course it didn't end there. There was the loss of Agumon to the Emperor. Then it was his uselessness in the fight against Malo Myotismon. But all of that wasn't the worst there was. As the experience progressed, the memories that surfaced grew deeper and more painful. They revealed to him all the times that he had failed in his most sacred charge.

Ever since Tai was very young, he had felt a sense of being the one who was supposed to protect his sister. She meant everything to him. He never wanted to hurt her. He never wanted to see her go through anything bad. He only wanted the best for her in life; but actions and desires are two completely separate things. Tai began to remember all the ways in which he had failed to protect Kari. There was the time he'd brought her outside even though she was sick; the time he couldn't protect her from the rampaging Parrotmon; the time she'd fallen into Myotismon's clutches because he didn't trust himself to protect her, trusting Matt instead. Then there was the time she'd fallen ill shortly before the battle with Machinedramon, nearly dying; the time he'd been turned into a key-chain by Piedmon; the many, MANY times he'd been unable to do anything since the Emperor first arrived. Of course, there was the time she'd been taken to the dark ocean. Tai hadn't even been aware that anything was wrong, and yet TK, her soon-to-be boyfriend, was acutely in-tune with her feelings. He'd picked up on something Tai hadn't. Tai hated to admit it, but TK was better at safeguarding Kari than Tai would ever be.

Tai felt so inadequate, so useless. He had lost his confidence, and his courage had been left in shreds, leaving only a powerful fear behind. The anxiety that Tai felt down to his very core was terrifying. It was the complete opposite of the good and strength that he felt every time he had to face a problem head-on. He was afraid.

It was about then that he had awakened, lucky to have his sanity more-or-less intact. He had lashed out upon waking up, striking out at the first thing that came near. He had kicked a Hagurumon right in the jaw. The Hagurumon had replied with a savage blow to Tai's face, resulting in his present state. Now Tai found himself in a dark room. The sound of a leaky pipe could be heard in the distance. Muffled sounds of movement in other cells echoed throughout the long row of holding pens. Tai had never felt so alone.

"Why isn't it working?!" shouted the mysterious figure who loomed behind a Datamon.

The poor Datamon just continued typing at the console as rapidly as he could, trying to figure out what went wrong.

"It's really weird, sir," said Datamon. "Despite our best efforts there have been absolutely no results!"

"How can that be?!" shouted the figure.

"The machine feeds off fear, anxiety, worry, sadness…" said Datamon. "I never thought I'd see it, but this human seems devoid of all of those emotions. If I didn't know better, I'd swear its brain was as empty as a barrel of political promises."

"This is no time for levity," scolded the figure. "This child has the strongest crest we've seen thus far besides my own. Are you telling me that our technique can't work on it?!"

"I'm afraid not, sir," said Datamon.

"Then I'll just have to handle the situation personally," said the figure. "No one can resist my crest. No one…"

"I'm sorry sir, but not even that will work," said Datamon nervously.

"And why not?!" asked the figure with a hint of irritation.

"Well, for the same reason," said the Datamon, cringing in fear. "You can't corrupt someone if there's nothing dark already there. Your influence would be wasted on this child."

"Blast…" said the figure. "A crest amplification ratio of nearly 10:1 and we can't have it."

"Well look at the bright side," said Datamon. "At least this isn't the child the Vanguard wants. I mean, c'mon, its individual strength didn't even break 100."

"That's not the point!" said the figure. "The Vanguard is meaningless now! I will destroy the DigiDestined this time myself. The Vanguard's plans will not be necessary once I claim victory, which would be a great deal easier if I had that crest!"

"Uh… er… I…" stammered the Datamon, who was clearly uncertain about the course his life would take over the next few minutes.

"Sir!" called a female Datamon from the other side of the room.

"What?!" shouted the figure.

"We're receiving a status report from Assault Force Alpha," said the Datamon.

"You got lucky this time," whispered the figure, before he strode across the command center to the other Datamon.

"They have surveyed the attack zone," said the female Datamon. "The main attack will come from the south while containment groups are posted every 100 yards along the perimeter."

"Are you certain they know what their target is?" asked the figure.

"You know better than I do," said the Datamon. "You are the one who gave your orders directly to the commander. I would assume he passed those orders down to his troops."

"Don't be too certain," said the figure. "I've been sensing fluctuations in his mind. My hold on him is not as strong as I would like. I fear that further measures may need to be taken to insure his loyalty."

"Then why, may I ask, do you keep him in a position of such power?" asked Datamon.

"Simple," the figure replied. "He's the strongest fighter in my entire legion. Of course, there's also a little revenge mixed in there too. What better way to make him pay than to make him serve me?"

"Excellent point sir," said Datamon. "Shall I tell them to begin the attack?"

"Naturally," the figure said. "Tell them to seize the targets… and then burn the city to the ground. No survivors."

"Right away, sir!" saluted the Datamon.

Back in Japan, the remaining DigiDestined had gathered in Izzy's apartment. All that remained now were TK, Cody, Yolei, Joe, and Izzy. They all carried whatever supplies they had managed to gather in their backpacks. Yolei, of course, had supplied a large quantity of food from her parents' store, prompting the digimon to paw at her backpack pleadingly.

"So how exactly is this plan of yours supposed to work?" asked Yolei.

"It's very simple," Izzy remarked. "Actually, no… it's needlessly complicated. I suppose we could have just as easily done this without meeting up at my place, but you know I…"

"…But you just love giving long boring speeches in excruciating detail," said Upamon.

"Well, I guess," said Izzy. "I wonder why that is? Maybe I should-"

"Get on with it!" shouted all the others at once.

"Um, right," Izzy said. "Well, basically I figured out how to bypass the lockout. Normally this technique would be impossible to work out, but we happen to be in luck. My readings seem to indicate that there has been a sudden surge of instability in the Digital World. This surge has resulted in an expanding field of static phase warps. I've managed to find a way to-"

"Static what?" asked TK.

"I'm glad you asked," Izzy said with a broad grin.

"Oh no," groaned the others.

"A static phase warp is-"

"That does it!" shouted Yolei. "You have ten words to wrap this up or else I'm gonna' clock you!"

"In conclusion, I have found a way through the Digiport," Izzy said.

"Then push the button already!" screamed Yolei.

Izzy sat down at his computer and began to type away.

"Everyone ready?" asked Izzy after a few seconds.

They all nodded.

"Then hold on tight!" said Izzy, pressing the 'enter' key.