Damn, it's been a long time since I worked on this…Though why I'm doing so at 11:40 PM in mid-darkness while listening to 'Monsters INC.' in a mystery in itself.

Once again, a BIG thank-you to Salamon2, who, as usual, sent me a jump-starting e-mail so I'd get this stupid thing done already.

Nobody got my word in there, and everyone was wondering "What's a Jumon?"

'Jumon' all together means 'magic spell or incantation'. 'Ju' means magic and 'mon' means word. So 'Jumon' means 'magic word' or in Digimon 'magic monster'. Get it?

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, but Sorceressmon and Jumon both belong to me.

The Grass Is Greener

Chapter 7: Master Jumon

The DigiDestined dropped to their hands and knees on the ground. The Digimon quickly ducked over their friends, covering them. T.K. dropped down to one knee and pulled Kari, Gatomon and Patamon over. The rumbling grew worse and worse, nearly yanking trees out of their roots.

Suddenly there was a huge crash that knocked the trees in front of them right over. As the sound faded away, they opened their eyes to find what looked to be a small old man wrapped in a dark purple cloth, long strings stretching out from inside its folds.

"Ah…DigiDestined…" he hissed. "If that's what we could call you, you pathetic humans."

"Pathetic?" Davis growled, climbing to his feet. "Your little friend thought that too."

"Careful, Davis." Ken muttered. "If that really is Jumon, he has all the powers we though Sorceressmon had, and probably more."

"Exactly." Jumon's hand appeared from the cloak. It had long fingers and was covered in dark navy-blue gloves. The strings were attached to each finger, like a puppeteer's wires. He swiped them to one side and three long cuts appeared on Davis's cheek before he realized he'd been hit.

"And I can do much more than that." he cackled. "Much much more…but you knew that, didn't you?"

He was looking at T.K., Kari, Patamon and Gatomon, all of whom had been glaring at him since he'd started talking. The others gazed back at them, questioningly. "You…" Patamon growled.

"It's been quite a while, hasn't it?" Jumon laughed. "I'm surprised you could recognize me!"

"We don't forget trash like you." T.K. growled, eyes narrow with fury. "I still have nightmares about that damn playhouse."

The others stared. T.K. was not one to curse, in any situation. This was bad.

Jumon just continued laughing. "What's that? You didn't like our little game last time? What a bad sport!"

"Why couldn't you just stay dead?!" Gatomon hissed, her voice growing low.

"You know this guy?!" Yolei exclaimed.

"Do we." Kari's voice was determined and scared at the same time. "He started out as one of the Dark Masters."

"It's got to be him…" T.K.'s voice was curled in hatred. "Puppetmon…"

"Puppetmon?" Cody asked. "That explains the strings…But I thought he was destroyed."

"Fools!" Jumon laughed. "It has been easy to rebuild myself! Now I am Jumon, master of the Digital World!"

"You're not the master of anything, Pinocchio!" Davis snapped. "Ready, ExVeemon?"

"You've got it!" the blue Digimon leapt forward. "Vee Laser!"

Jumon simply side-stepped the attack, smirking. "Fool." he laughed. "I have powers you can only imagine!"

"Davis, just relax." Ken warned his friend, using the voice of reason, as usual. "Think about it. Jumon is a mega-level Digimon. We should take him on with the same level."

Davis thought a moment, then grinned and nodded. T.K. looked up from his place. "We'll keep 'em busy while you two DNA Digivolve." he said, taking flight. "Just hurry up, okay?"

"I'm coming too!" Kari jumped up. Before T.K. could stop her, she'd Digivolved to the Angewomon form and was ready to fight.

The four champion Digimon hovered over the cloaked Digimon, but he just laughed a bit as their attacks came flying and side-stepped them. It was only seconds later that Phildramon appeared in the fray. That was all the energy they could muster up.

"Desperado Blaster!" the DNA Digimon shouted, firing the lasers from his hips.

"Fools." Jumon laughed, taking to the air as he dodged the attack. "You still don't know what you're up against. Perhaps you've forgotten my old trick?"

Strings from his fingers suddenly flew out, curving towards Phildramon. T.K. and Kari recognized it instantly, though it had been four years since the attack was last seen. "Watch out!"

It was too late. The string attached themselves to Phildramon's body, and with a yank he was by Jumon's side. "Now…attack!" the dark Digimon laughed.

Phildramon, eyes widening, suddenly lunged forward and struck Ankylomon down with one swipe. The yellow Digimon struggled to pull himself back up. "Ankylomon!" Cody gasped.

"Phildramon, what the heck are you doing?!" Davis shouted.

"I-I can't help it!" the DNA Digimon cried. "My body…it's moving on it's own!"

"It's his strings." T.K. muttered calmly, hovering out of Phildramon's reach. He's using the strings like he did with WarGreymon and MetalGurrurumon."

"We've got to get them off him!" Kari exclaimed.

"Agreed, but how?" Aquilamon asked.

"We need to get them off all at once." T.K. muttered, thinking back to Puppetmon's battle four years earlier. "And while he's distracted, or else he'll just reattach them. Then they'll have to separate, so he can't have that much of an advantage if he does get a hold of one."

"And how do we do that?" Davis called up.

"Wait…" Kari's eyes lit up. "I've got it!"

"Got…what?" Gatomon asked.

"T.K., I know how to do it!" Kari cheered, grabbing his arm. "Just distract him for me, please, get him to turn his head!"

"Kari…are you sure?" T.K. was hesitant to let her do anything that might put her in danger. "It'll be…"

"Dangerous, yeah, I know." Kari insisted. "But I can do this. Don't worry…I'll be fine."

T.K. looked at her a moment longer, then sighed. "Okay…fine…"

Jumon laughed, looking around at his opponents. T.K. was soaring upward, then hovered about three stories straight up in the air. "What's the matter, Angel-boy? Scared?"

"Shut up." he growled, pulling his arm back. "Hand of Fate!"

Phildramon knocked it away easily as Jumon laughed. "Is that the best you can do?" he chuckled. "Or are you holding back for the sake of your poor friend?"

"Heaven's Charge!"

The strings on Phildramon suddenly snapped and the Digimon took that time to instantly separate, unfortunately it was into Chibimon and Leafmon. "WHAT?!" Jumon exclaimed, spinning around.

Kari was hovering behind him, looking very cocky with her arms out. "Got'cha that time."

"Why you little…" Jumon growled. "Take this!"

He slashed his hand at Kari. The female angel didn't have time to move away before the strings were flying at her. "Kari!" T.K. gasped, but it was too late.

The strings cut into her flesh, slicing open long gashes in her legs and arms. Kari let out a strangled scream before dropping like a rock. T.K. dove for her and caught her just before she hit the ground.

"Kari…!" Gatomon gasped, running over with Patamon. By the time T.K. had landed, the angel had turned back into the tiny little cat out of the pain. She was still wounded, so at least she still had a bit of human in her, but this as not the part to have right now.

"How's she doin'?" Patamon asked, putting his hand on Gatomon's shoulder as she took Kari in her arms.

"I don't know…" Gatomon whispered. "She looks…awful…"

Kari stirred a bit, opening her eyes sleepily. She spotted the tallest figure leaning over her and smiled at him. "Sorry, T.K.…"

"For what?" he gulped, eyes filling with tears.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help out a bit more…"

"Don't be silly." Gatomon soothed, stroking her partner calmly. "You were great."

"We have a problem!" Yolei called as she and the others hurried over to them.

"Yeah." Cody nodded, taking everything in. "Veemon, Wormmon and now Kari are all out of commission, Aquilamon's hurt, and I'm not sure T.K. can last much longer like this."

"I'm fine." T.K. insisted, but he was still looking tired.

"But what can we do?" Gatomon exclaimed.

"What we really need now…" Patamon sighed. "Is backup or something. We need more fighters…"

There was a crash from behind them. The group looked up as Greymon crashed in through the trees, followed closely by Gururumon, Kabutarimon, Birdramon, Togemon and Ikkakumon. Gatomon looked over at Patamon. "Good call."

"You guys need some help?" Matt called. He was riding on Gururumon's back and grinning like a maniac. "The cavalry has arrived!"

TBC…

Mwahaha…Another cliffhanger! Yes, I am evil and I know it…but hey, at least I got the chapter out, right? Ciao for now!

*~GS~*