Disclaimer

Disclaimer: *yawn* Okay, okay, here it is again. I don't own digimon. I don't own the Labyrinth either, it belongs to Tauromon. The one thing in this chapter I do own is... Tauromon. Does that mean the labyrinth is mine after all?

Here we are, the final battle! Until the next final battle, that is. This is just the final battle against Tauromon. After my footy team suffered a painful loss in the Grand Final (and I mean painful - half the team were injured) I've come to write a bit and relieve myself of the awful memories. With footy season gone, I can go back to worrying about world politics, terrorists, the Ansett crisis and the fact that our toaster is broken. Enjoy.

Chapter 9 - The madness of Tauromon

"Thought you were real smart, didn't you? Do you think I couldn't tell the changes in my own Labyrinth?"

Tauromon was the only thing standing between the digidestined and freedom, but he was a formidable creature. The only mega digimon in Mordremon's army, he was a fierce fighter and was unstoppable once he got angry. And he was very quick to anger.

"Izzy, what do we do now?" Tai asked, urgently. "How do we fight him?"

"I don't know, Tai." Izzy shook his head. "There's no tactics here. He doesn't have any plans, so we can't counter them. All we can do is hit him with everything we've got."

"And heaven help us when it gets dark." Sora muttered, darkly. The sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon, and it would be very difficult to battle by starlight.

"We'd better finish this battle quickly, then." Biyomon announced. "C'mon everybody, let's go get 'im!"

You know, I really don't like to write in the digivolving bits. It makes me feel stupid.

Greymon barreled down the path towards Tauromon as Birdramon and Kabuterimon took to the air. Garurumon leapt from wall to wall and Ikkakumon stayed at the back of the line, bombarding Tauromon with blasts of his harpoon torpedo. Tauromon held his ground, refusing to give in to the barrage of attacks.

"Palmon, aren't you going to digivolve?"

Palmon, who had been lost in her own thoughts, started and looked up to see Quetzalmon wearing a concerned look.

"Why would you care?" she growled, turning away.

"Why shouldn't I care?" Quetzalmon looked a little confused now. "I mean, we need your help. You're digidestined, you're supposed to fight evil digimon. You're supposed to protect Mimi."

"Mimi doesn't need me. She has you now." Palmon replied, bitterly. Quetzalmon was somewhat shocked.

"Is that really what you think?" he asked. "Mimi is a wonderful human, even if she doesn't like fighting, and I know she liked me too, but I can't help her. I'm not digidestined. You are."

Palmon wanted to ignore Quetzalmon, to turn away, but a cry from Mimi caught her attention. Mimi was in no more danger than any of the other digidestined, but she seemed horrified by the fight, backed up behind the other kids as far away from the action. As Birdramon was thrown to fly over the heads of the children and crash against a back wall, Mimi cringed and looked, pleading, at Palmon.

Without another thought, Togemon was storming down the path towards a rampaging Tauromon.

Amazing, the things that can change your mind.

The battle was not going well for the digidestined. Birdramon picked herself up and continued trying to fight, but it was difficult for her. And Togemon's contribution had not made much of a difference. Kabuterimon had been knocked down several times, and Garurumon had gotten completely lost when Tauromon had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and just thrown him half way across the Labyrinth. And as for Greymon... the big dinosaur had suffered the most of all, his head-on collisions earning him blows just about everywhere. His bony, skull-like helmet was beginning to show a few minute cracks from all the attacks it had taken. The only digimon not harmed much was Ikkakumon, hidden down a side passage and firing a constant stream of Harpood Torpedos. Something had to give, and it looked like it was going to be the digidestined.

"Bullseye!" Tauromon let off one of his favourite attacks, the red energy ball knocking Birdramon and Kabuterimon to the ground. To rid himself of the other digimon, Tauromon simply stomped his two feet on the ground so hard that the tremors threw Greymon, Togemon and all the digidestined off their feet. Even Ikkakumon shook a little, though he never ceased his constant attack.

"I think we need a change, team!" Tai announced, clambering to his feet. "Champion digimon aren't going to be strong enough. Let's go ultimate!"

A few seconds later, MetalGreymon was charging down the path to lock horns with Tauromon. Literally. Lillymon, Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon resumed their own fierce attacks. The children heard another roar from a little way away, out of sight:

"Ikkakumon, digivolve to-"

"Hold it, Ikkakumon!" Joe interrupted. "Don't digivolve yet, we need you to keep up the harpoon torpedo."

"Well, if you say so, Joe." Ikkakumon grumbled. He had wanted to go ultimate like the rest, but if Joe wanted him to keep bombing Tauromon, then that was what he would do.

MetalGreymon and Tauromon were still locked together in a sort of strange wrestling match, like so many other wild creatures were apt to do. Although their respective horns were twisted together, they had also gripped each other's hands/claws and were straining to push each other progressively further backwards. It was more a fight for bragging rights than it was for the good of the team. Neither of the digimon could use their special abilities, as MetalGreymon's claw was gripping Tauromon's hand and Tauro's horns were locked in the dinosaur's. This was simply a test of their pure strength - and right now, Tauromon was winning.

Inch by inch (it takes to long to write centimetre) MetalGreymon was slipping back towards the human children. He had refused offers of help from the three airborne digimon, although he had no objection to the continued attacks of Ikkakumon. Although the occasional torpedo did peel off in the wrong direction and blast MetalGreymon instead.

"Matt, what the heck do you think you are doing?" Mimi demanded, seeing Matt clinging to one of the walls.

"Yeah, those wall could collapse any minute." Izzy added. "What with all the fighting going on."

"Oh, be quiet for a minute and let me climb." Matt replied, irritably.

"But what are you doing?" all eyes (apart from the ones trained on the fighting digimon) were on Matt now, temporarily distracted from the battle going on so close to them.

"I have to find Garurumon." he shouted, straining higher. "It's getting dark and he might not be able to find his way back."

"Matt, it's a bit hard not to notice the battle here." Sora reminded him, impatiently. "I'm sure Garurumon can find his way back without you risking your silly neck."

"You don't have to do this, Matt." Joe put in.

"I really don't want to see you dead." Tai agreed. "Well, not right now, anyway."

"Thanks a lot." Matt shot back, sarcastically. "Great to know how much you care, Taichi. But I don't care what you lot say, I'm going to find Garurumon. We need him here."

More protests arose as Matt rose progressively higher, always claiming that he'd be fine, they didn't have to worry. He couldn't ignore them forever, though, and was almost starting to doubt the wisdom of his actions when he found Quetzalmon hovering above his head.

"I think you should let Matt go and do what he wants." Quetzalmon announced. "He needs to find his digimon. If it was your digimon who was lost, then any of you would want to find your partner, too."

The others nodded reluctantly and began to change their protests to encouragement. And Lillymon turned her eyes away from Quetzalmon, her head full of thoughts. For defending Yamato was certainly not for Mimi's sake alone. Could she have been just a little wrong about Quetzalmon's attitude?

Shaken by an answer she did not really want to believe, Lillymon turned her attention back to the battle - which was not going at all well for MetalGreymon. Despite the fact that Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon were helping out now, and Ikkakumon had finally digivolved to Zudomon, the big, (mostly) orange digimon was quickly losing ground and was now backed up almost to the place where the humans were standing. If help did not come fast, then they could all be in some serious danger.

******

Matt was now balanced precariously on the top of the wall. The sun had set and the light was quickly dimming. He strained his eyes but could not see the big blue digimon anywhere, not even from the top of the wall, where Gabumon said he could see everything. Oh, where was that silly creature? It wasn't just the battle, Matt was sure, he really just wanted Gabumon back, right here next to him. He wasn't going to do what Mimi did when Palmon ran away. He wanted his digimon back.

Matt shook his head and tried to put all thoughts of Mimi out of his mind. He shouldn't be comparing her to himself, no matter what she did. Look at the silly girl, keeping back in the shadows there. How could she just let Palmon run away?

Stop it! he thought, There must be a reason. There has to be. I don't know why they were separated but they're back together and Lillymon's fighting again. Just think about Garurumon.

MetalGreymon took another crunching step backwards, now only a metre or so from the round room in the Labyrinth's centre. Matt felt a few shards of brick come loose from the wall he was sitting on. He'd better get on with it if he wanted to stay alive much longer.

"Matt, get down from there, you idiot!" Sora yelled. "Garurumon can find his own way back."

"No, Sora, I'm going to find him." Matt was stubborn when he wanted to be.

"Please, Matt, we don't want to be wiping you off the floor when this is over." Tai this time. "It'd take too long, there's so much of you."

"Taichi, for the last time, you are not helping!" Matt found Tai rather annoying at times.

With a huge roar, MetalGreymon stumbled backwards again. His thick tail thrashed about, smashing huge portions out of the walls. All the children ducked as the walls began to crumble. Including the one that Matt was sitting on.

"Matt, get down from there NOW!" someone yelled.

Garudamon, Lillymon and MegaKabuterimon were all latched on to Tauromon now, their wings flapping/buzzing like mad, trying to force him backwards or at least ease the pressure on MetalGreymon. Zudomon had flattened Tauromon's feet with his hammer several times, but Tauromon eventually kicked the annoying sea creature out of the way, causing it to de-digivolve.

"It's okay, Gomamon." Joe said, grabbing his digimon and dodging a flying rock. "You tried."

"Matt, GET OFF THE BLOODY WALL!!!" Taichi forgot to try being funny this time.

Matt shook his head, only just managing to hold onto the wall. He didn't know how he was staying on, what with the shaking and the crumbling of the bricks, but he was here. With another swipe of MetalGreymon's tail, the walls shook again and Matt was nearly thrown off. The other kids were in trouble right now too, and weren't able to yell at him to get down. But there was no way he could get down from there now anyway, not with MetalGreymon actually in the circular centre of the Labyrinth. The others were actually looking for side tunnels to hide from.

The place shook again and Matt felt himself slipping. The sky was pitch-black and he couldn't see a thing save for the battling digimon behind him. Holding on with only one arm, Matt reached for the digivice on his belt and held it out as far as he could.

"GARURUMON!!!"

A beam of light shot out from the digivice, lighting up the darkness as it went. The light shot between two walls and there was a sort of explosion, lighting the area around it so that Matt could just see a glowing Garurumon leap up from where he had been lying on the ground. Then the light disappeared again, plunging Matt back into darkness as he slipped down, desperately looking for a foothold to steady himself. But before he could start to worry, Matt was swept off the wall by a creature that bounded up from the other side of the wall, a creature with very furry, blue, striped hands...

"WereGarurumon! You got here after all." Matt grinned as the digimon placed him on the ground.

"Sure did." Garurumon growled. "Now I think my friend MetalGreymon might need a hand."

Jumping nimbly on top of MetalGreymon's head, WereGarurumon unleashed a Wolf Claw attack which exploded against Tauromon's head and back. The part-human only grunted and continued harassing MetalGreymon. It was not enough - yet.

"Taichi, COME HERE!!" Matt roared. Tai popped up suddenly beside him with a silly grin on his face.

"Yes, master?"

"I think it's time we gave Tauromon everything we've got. The whole thing. You get what I mean?"

"I believe I do." Tai's smile hardened into a determined look. "MetalGreymon, back off."

"But Tai, I was just about to-" the dinosaur protested.

"Just do it."

Reluctantly, MetalGreymon wrenched his horns from Tauromon's and stepped backwards, taking WereGarurumon with him.

"Now de-digivolve." Matt ordered, beating Tai to it. The digimon were starting to get the idea, and shrunk back down to become Agumon and Gabumon once more.

"What, you're giving up already?" Tauromon sneered. "Weaklings, all of you." He hit each of the three digimon behind him a hard blow, and they fell back to Biyomon, Tentomon and Palmon.

"Go get 'im, boys." Sora murmured.

"Oh, I hope they can do it." Mimi had a worried expression on her face.

"It's okay, Mimi." Quetzalmon reassured the girl. "I have a feeling they know what they're doing."

"You know, for a pipsqueak, that thing's pretty smart." Joe admitted, fiddling with his glasses."

"As smart as me?" Gomamon wanted to know.

Probably smarter. Joe thought to himself, turning back to watch the fighting digimon.

"Agumon!" Tai began, "Let's give this monster everything we've got."

"C'mon, Gabumon." Matt continued, "It's time to go Mega!"

Warp-digivolving, of course.

Tauromon was rather surprised to see WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon glaring at him, and wasn't so sure of himself now. He could take as many champion or ultimate digimon as they wanted to throw at him, but two Megas... nobody had told him these digimon could get to their Mega stages. At least it seemed to be only two of them. If the others were mega too, he might have a problem.

"I suppose you two think you're pretty good." Tauromon growled.

"No, we don't think we're good." WarGreymon replied. "We are good."

"I'll take that as a yes." Tauromon snarled.

"It doesn't matter what you say," MetalGarurumon was getting impatient. "It's how we fight that matters."

"Well put, MetalGarurumon." Tauromon smirked. "If that's the case, then why don't we begin? Bullseye!"

"Terra Force!"

Tauromon's energy ball was overcome by WarGreymon's Terra Force. Tauromon stepped back in surprise, never expecting such a powerful attack.

"Now do you think we're hopeless?" WarGreymon asked, loftily.

"There's more than one way to fight." Tauromon roared, hotly. "Earthquake!"

He stomped his feet and the ground began to pitch and cracks appeared. Tai and Matt stumbled but were saved from falling down the cracks in the earth when Biyomon and Tentomon swept through and knocked them back. Only Palmon was left on the other side of Tauromon's bulk, separated from the rest. She was trying to make her way to the Labyrinth's exit, although the earthquake attack and impending darkness were making things difficult.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Quetzalmon chirped, guessing Mimi's thoughts.

"Oh, I hope so," Mimi shook her head. "I don't know where I'd be without Palmon."

Tauromon's attempt to shake the other Mega digimon was not quite having the desired effect. Instead of being thrown off their feet like Tauro had hoped, the two Megas simply rose into the air, making things even more difficult for the raging beast. He hadn't been prepared for flying opponents, although many, many Mega digimon possessed that power.

He just wasn't one of them.

There were, however, other ways to achieve an end. With another energy ball forming between his horns, Tauromon vaulted to the top of a wall and managed to grab MetalGarurumon's foot, dragging the giant digimon down. Tauromon dragged himself clumsily onto the wolf's back and with both hands around the blue one's neck, sent the Bullseye attack flying to smash against WarGreymon's chest, temporarily stunning the orange beast. He then tried to strangle MetalGarurumon and rid himself of another opponent, but the wolf writhed and bucked midair, so that Tauromon had a hard time keeping his balance. Finally MetalGarurumon could see an opening and took his chance.

"Ice Wolf Claw!"

The icy blast sent Tauro plummeting downwards to land heavily. He looked at MetalGarurumon, who was panting heavily, and WarGreymon who was shaking his head and beginning to wake up. Maybe there was a way to beat these two...

Tauromon glared with reddened eyes as the two digimon floated down to land in front of him. He was getting angry now, to angry to be bothered with tactics, to angry to think. There was no thinking, no planning now. Just fighting. Had to fight, had to hurt them, had to win.

"Tauromon, have you had enough yet?" WarGreymon bellowed. "If you will let us all go freely from the Labyrinth, then we will leave you unharmed."

"And what if I don't let you go?" the evil one whispered, dangerously.

"Then we will not stop fighting until we have destroyed you or we ourselves are destroyed." MetalGarurumon answered.

"Well, that's where I've got the advantage, then." Tauromon snarled, maniacally. "Because I will keep fighting, even after I am destroyed. I will never, ever stop fighting."

And with that, Tauromon barreled towards the two digimon and sent them both smashing through several walls.

Tauromon was now fighting at a level that no-one had ever seen before. He was a maniac, driven to insanity by his rage. He seemed not to notice the terrible wounds he was receiving, nor the destruction that he himself was creating. The only thing that remained clearly in his mind was to destroy WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. No, not destroy. That was too blunt, to clean and evasive. He wouldn't destroy the other digimon, he would kill them.

After going around and around in the seemingly endless fight, all three digimon were becoming exhausted. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon stood and panted for a moment, refusing to look at the cuts and gashed they had acquired. But their wounds were nothing compared to those that Tauromon had taken. The red eyed monster looked as though he had been bathed in blood, covered from head to foot in criss-crossing cuts. One arm hung limp by his side, having been damaged so severely by MetalGarurumon's teeth that it was no longer able to move. And yet, the bizarre creature refused to stop, charging at the others once again.

"Terra Force!"

"Ice Wolf Claw!"

Tauromon was thrown almost all the way to the Labyrinth's exit by the ferocity of the attacks. This time, he took longer to get up. The pain had finally managed to seep through his defenses and he found that his head was slowly clearing, that the madness was starting to fade.

As the red light of battle faded from his eyes, Tauromon turned his head to see another creature, a tiny one, standing next to him. He propped himself up on his good elbow and looked at the things beside him. Yes, he recognized it now... one of those digidestined thingummys. What was it doing way over here? It was saying something. Talking to him.

"Tauromon? Are you okay? You look awful, if you don't mind my-"

Tauromon slowly sat up and picked up the creature in the palm of his good hand. He began walking back to the rest of the strange group, stumbling from his many injuries. He could see WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon waiting to attack him again, but he held up his hand before they could make a move.

"Don't attack." his voice was rough and unsteady, but carried the message. "If you come one step nearer, then this little one with be ground to dust." he closed his hand, hiding the digimon and it's frightened face.

Even in the darkness, Mimi had no doubt about what was happening. Somehow, almost instinctively, she just knew. "Palmon!"

For it was Palmon, searching for a way out in the darkness, who had been captured by the mad ruler of the Labyrinth. She was scared, so scared, that this crazy digimon would kill her before she had a chance to redeem herself to Mimi. In this moment of crisis, Palmon wanted more than anything to make up for the things she had done in the last few days, to Mimi and to Quetzalmon, but now she may never have the chance. Peeking over the top of Tauromon's fist, Palmon could see WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon hovering uncertainly. Tai and Matt, all of the others, in fact, had no idea what to do in this sort of a stand-off. But the only face Palmon was searching for was Mimi's, the face that was so worried, so tense that Palmon swore that if she ever got out of this mess, she would never upset Mimi again.

Palmon didn't notice the fact that Quetzalmon was no longer hovering by Mimi's side.

"Psst. Palmon." someone whispered in the flower's ear (I just realized how strange that sounds; does Palmon have ears?)

Palmon didn't turn her head but whispered back, "Is that you, Quetzalmon?"

"Yes, it is." Palmon felt the tiny bird come to rest on her shoulder. "Palmon, I know that we didn't get off to a very good start, and I'm sorry about it. I was kind of rude to you when we first met... you surprised me, that's all."

"I should be the one apologizing." Palmon argued. "I was horrible, I didn't even give you a chance. Please, you should be the one to forgive me."

Quetzalmon sighed. "Palmon, I know that you and Mimi have a very special friendship, one that I could never hope to echo. I shouldn't have acted the way I did, but don't blame Mimi for it."

"Oh, I won't." Palmon almost smiled. "After all this, I don't think I could ever be angry with Mimi again."

"I'm going to try to get you out of here, Palmon."

"You're mad!"

"Someone's got to do it." With that, Quetzalmon puffed up his feathers, making himself look twice as big as usual, like a big round ball of feathers. Then, to Palmon's shock, he burst into flames!

"Firefly!" the fireball shouted, ramming itself into Tauromon's hand. The monster dropped Palmon and roared in pain and shock, turning to the strange little thing that had hurt him.

"What is this?" he grunted. "Stupid creature."

He swung his (now singed) hand at the flaming bird, but Quetzalmon zipped nimbly out of the way, then darted in to burn the giant one again. A dazed Palmon looked up from where she had fallen to witness the strange spectacle, a tiny ball of fire harassing a gigantic monster. If it weren't for the fact that it was dangerous and would affect the fate of the digital world, it would probably be quite funny.

"C'mon, Quetzalmon!" Palmon cheered, to Mimi's obvious surprise. "Go get him! Burn the stupid fool, go for his head, dive and grab his tail, bite his toes, duck! Quetzalmon!"

The tiny digimon crashed to the ground next to Palmon, and the fire surrounding him died abruptly. Once again, he was a little blue-green bird.

"I'm sorry." he squeaked. "Tauromon's just to good for me."

"Don't worry about it, Quetzalmon." Palmon reassured the bird. "It's time for me to fight. Get back to Mimi if you can, she'll look after you." Then the plant digimon turned back to Tauromon. "You may have beaten Quetzalmon and survived attacks from the other Megas, but this time you're going to have to stand up to me!"

Mimi, running forward to scoop up Quetzalmon (and scold Palmon) was amazed to find her digivice suddenly beginning to glow an incredible green colour, brighter than it had ever done before. A huge beam of light shot out to hit Palmon, who began her most incredible transformation yet.

"Palmon warp-digivolve to..." (okay, just this once)

Palmon flipped over and zoomed upwards, first to Togemon, then Lillymon, then another incredible Mega digimon that none of them had ever seen - until now.

At first, the digimon seemed humanoid, but with an odd feature - her head was encased in rose petals. She was dressed entirely in red and she also had extremely high black boots. Several large, green leaves covered her shoulders and surrounded the back of her neck but allowed for her long, blonde hair, tied with a red ribbon, to stream out behind her. A long, white cape appeared, a pattern of crescent moons around its jagged edge. As human and digimon watched in awe, two thorny vines appeared and wrapped around the digimon's red-gloved arms; the one on the left arm formed into a whip and the one on the right a long, thin blade known as a rapier. A new Mega digimon had joined the ranks.

"Rosemon!"

"This is incredible." the amazed Mimi whispered. "My little Palmon, a Mega digimon."

"You'd better believe it, Meems." Rosemon grinned wickedly. "You'll be seeing me around, that's a sure thing."

One of the boys (I suspect it was Matt) gave a low whistle.

"What exactly is the meaning of all this?" The exhausted Tauromon demanded.

Rosemon looked around, thoughtfully. The other Mega digimon had been reduced back to Koromon and Tsunomon and had gone back to their human companions. Quetzalmon was safe with Mimi. Joe, Izzy and Sora had come out of their hiding places to gaze at the new digimon. She turned back to Tauromon with a smirk on her face.

"It means, big guy, that you're done for. Thorn Whip!"

The whip in Rosemon's left hand flicked out to catch Tauromon a stinging blow on the snout. He staggered back, more in surprise than in pain, and rubbed the place that Rosemon had struck.

"You'll regret that one. Bullseye!" the maddened monster roared. But his roar of anger turned to one of shock when Rosemon's Thorn Whip disintegrated the energy blast with a careless flick.

"You're a bit tired, aren't you?" Rosemon taunted. "Had a long day, huh? Let's see if I can help you sleep a little easier."

Rosemon's whip tangled itself around Tauromon's neck this time. As he tried to tear it with his working hand, Rosemon paid him a hard kick between the eyes. The monster staggered back, dazed, and sat down on the ground, very hard, rubbing his head distractedly. The flying flower fairy hovered in front of him with a cheeky smile on her face.

"There, now don't you feel better?" she teased.

"Actually, I think I'll be waking up with a splitting headache tomorrow morning." Tauro mumbled.

"The way you've been behaving tonight, I'm not surprised." Rosemon scolded. "Drinking's not the only thing that'll give you a hangover, you know. Madness seems to have the same effect."

Madness? Yes I was mad, I suppose. But it helped me, didn't it. Sometimes, my dear, madness can come as a friend." With those cryptic words, Tauromon swung around and lashed out at Rosemon with his tail, sending her flying this time.

"What was that for?" Rosemon demanded, picking herself up.

"You were annoying me." Tauromon shrugged.

"You think that was annoying, you should try this!"

The whip struck out again, this time wrapping itself around one of Tauromon's feet. Rosemon yanked it hard and the giant's feet were pulled out from under him, bringing him down to earth with a thud. The flower fairy reeled it back and, before Tauromon could recover, was mercilessly attacking the back of his head, striking it time and time again. Tauromon, though exhausted and already badly injured, was still refusing to go down without a fight and rolled over, grabbing the whip in his hand and pulling Rosemon towards him. She kicked desperately at his hand, then struck him lightly with the rapier in her right hand. Tauromon let go of the whip and jumped backwards, shaking his hand.

"How do you do it?" Rosemon asked in wonder.

"Do what?" the beast grunted.

"Keep fighting, even when you're hurt so badly. Most digimon would have lost this battle long ago, and yet you're still here, still going. How can you do that?"

"I'm afraid it's because I'm completely mad." Tauromon sighed. "It's really not such a good thing. Look at me, I'm a mess. If I had given up when most digimon would, then I would never have had to earn a lot of these injuries."

"So you'd rather be a little more sane and give up when you can?" Rosemon asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Tauromon lowered his head. "Yes, I would." He looked up, and there was no red light of madness in his eyes but cold, clear understanding. "Remember that. Remember it when you face Mordremon, for she lives with a madness far harder to bear than my own."

"It has been an honour to fight you, Tauromon." Rosemon said, solemnly.

A ghost of a smile flitted across Tauromon's bruised face. "Ah, but we're not done yet, are we?"

"Indeed we're not." Rosemon agreed, and the fight began again in earnest.

Rosemon's Thorn Whip lashed out again and again. Tauromon's sheer bulk let him dominate the flower fairy at times. They circled, jabbed and ducked, always keeping in mind what the other's next move would be. This sort of calculated fighting was entirely new to Tauromon, but he could get used to it, he thought. He had plenty of time. For in the digital world, nothing is ever truly gone.

Rosemon knew that now it was the time to land her last blow. She was exhausted and didn't know if she could keep fighting much longer, and she knew that despite the energetic way he fought, Tauromon must be exhausted too. He was backed up against one particularly large pile of rubble, panting heavily. Now was the time to strike. For only the second time during the battle, Rosemon tightened her fist around the blade in her right hand. Raising it above her hand, she plunged towards Tauromon.

"Rose Rapier!"

The rapier buried itself in Tauromon's stomach. With one last, echoing roar, the crazy beast disintegrated, the dust floating away beyond the labyrinth to the sea where the first rays of sunlight were beginning to peep over the horizon.

A cheer went up from the other digidestined as Rosemon de-digivolved and once again became a little Tanemon. During the fight she had almost forgotten that the others were there, and smiled as Mimi came to scoop her up, hugging the little green digimon so tight that for a moment she could hardly breathe. Mimi smiled even more widely when Quetzalmon appeared and perched on her shoulder without a single protest from Tanemon.

"Mimi, I'm sorry." Tanemon began. "I've been really stupid the last couple of days, about Quetzalmon and stuff, and I'm really sorry."

"And I should have tried harder to be nice to Palmon." Quetzalmon admitted. "I'm sorry too, Mimi. Will you forgive us?"

Mimi laughed and hugged them both. "How could I not forgive you, you wonderful silly creatures? You were both unbelievable the way you fought Tauromon."

"Really?" Tanemon wanted to know.

"Really." It was Joe this time. "I have honestly never seen a digimon so crazy as that Tauromon, and I don't expect I will see one again for a long time."

"Even we couldn't take him down." Koromon said as Tai strolled up.

"Yes, and we've been Megas for years and there were two of us." Tsunomon agreed.

"Well, I don't think I could have done it without you two." Tanemon told them, modestly.

Chattering and laughing, all of the digidestined headed out of the Labyrinth as the sun crept slowly over the horizon. When they got to the forest, Mimi turned around to see Quetzalmon hanging behind.

"Quetzalmon, what are you doing?" Mimi cried.

"Can't you come with us?" Tanemon pleaded.

Quetzalmon shook his head sadly. "No, I'm afraid not. I must stay in the Labyrinth, for there is much that needs to be done here. But I wish you all good luck on your travels, and I hope that you have some luck fighting Mordremon. We will all help you in any way we can."

"You already have, Quetzalmon." Tanemon smiled.

******

At about midday, after walking very slowly through the forest, the digidestined decided to have a rest and sleep for a while. After all, they had been up all night fighting Tauromon. As Tanemon was dozing off under the warm sunlight, she heard a little voice chirping in her ear...

"I forgot to thank you, Tanemon. Those mushrooms were delicious."

~~~~~~

Okay, so I love battle scenes. Even I agree that that was almost too detailed, but what can I say? I was having fun. By the way, I don't know if that's what Rosemon's attacks are really like. I know that the attacks are Thorn Whip and Rose Rapier, but not how they act or what they do. This was just my guess.

In the next chapter we shall meet the next main villain. See you then!

(PS a review would be nice)