Disclaimer:  I do not own Digimon or Palm Pilot.

A/N:  Many thanks to Matt4ever, Reion, chibi Nataly and miaow227 for your kind reviews of chapter 4.  You are all wonderful!  Sorry it took sooooo long to update (the next update will be up much much faster).  Chapter 5 is dedicated to you guys!  Hope it's worth the wait.  ^_^.  Long live Matt!

The Dark Scepter—Chapter 5

By Fenris5000—Angelica

Joe and Gomomon followed Tai and Agumon out of the dusty castle gratefully.  He could already feel his sinuses going back to normal.  Thank goodness.

Tai was babbling incessantly.  "So Agumon, I can't believe you've got a new level.  I figured since we didn't have crests anymore or Azulongmon's power, that you wouldn't be able to get past champion.  Wow, and now that you've got a Talisman Izzy, that means Tentomon can probably zipdigivolve too."

Izzy was nodding thoughtfully with a pleased expression on his face.  "Right Tai.  I can't wait to see it.  I'll bet it will be prodigious."

"Hey Tentomon, do you think you could give us a little sneak peak at your zipdigivolve level?" Tai asked the little red bug like digimon hopefully.

Tentomon shrugged.  "I'd be glad to Tai, only if I knew how.  I am kind of curious to see it myself." He twittered, buzzing beside the big haired boy.

"Well, we wouldn't want to force anything anyway." Izzy remarked.  "Personally, I wouldn't want to meet Skullkabuterimon."

Tai shrugged.  "Yeah, I guess you're right.  I wonder if the Talismans always have to be triggered as if we are in danger before they activate or is there another trick that we'll have to figure out."

"Maybe Matt knows." Izzy said with a raised eyebrow.

"Matt?" Tai repeated.  "And how would he know?"

Izzy shrugged.  "I don't know, but don't you think it's kind of weird that when we are in the vicinity of the new Talisman, he informs us who it's for and what it represents?"

"Well, I just thought it was a coincidence." Tai admitted, looking over his shoulder at the subject of their whispered conversation, still being supported by Sora and Mimi.  The blond looked like his walking was getting better, and he looked like he was enjoying himself.  "Humph.  We should have let Sora and Mimi have their way with him in the first place, he'd probably be back to top form already." He mumbled.

TK, Gatomon and Patamon who were in the lead stopped as TK reached for his Palm Pilot.

"What's going on?" Tai asked.

"I've got an e-mail from Davis and Yolei." TK explained with a smile.  "They say the whole gang is ready to join us.  Ken and Cody are even fully recovered, well except for the er…  chicken-measles scabs."

"Chicken-measles." Izzy laughed.  "Davis must have written that one."

"Well tell them to hurry up." Tai exclaimed.  "And tell them to bring a wagon or something that we can put Matt in."

"Well technically Tai, if they can get the gate open from their side, maybe we could send Matt right through." Izzy stated excitedly.  "Oh I hope this works.  I can't believe I didn't think of e-mailing them myself."

Sora patted Izzy's shoulder.  "It's okay Izzy, it's been a pretty intense day.  The digiport didn't work, so why would we expect e-mail to work?"

Izzy shrugged.  "Thanks Sora, but as a scientist, its usually my prerogative to test every theory before making assumptions."

"What is taking them so long?" Tai complained as he started to pace impatiently.  "I hope this works."

TK frowned.  "Oh no." He read the new message on the screen.  "It didn't work.  They can't even get the gate to open on the main land.  There is some kind of electrical disturbances originating from Ash Island that is interfering with the digiport." He looked up abruptly.  "It's been cut off."

"Cut off?" Tai repeated, his voice rising with agitation.  "How cut off?  Who cut off?  Why cut off?" He turned to Izzy.

Izzy flipped open his laptop and tried accessing his e-mail messenger program.  "Okay, it let me in.  Let's see if I can get a message to Gennai." He typed rapidly and hit the send icon, crossing his fingers.

ERROR.  MESSAGE NOT SENT.  PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SERVER.

He looked up with haunted eyes.  "Well guys, I'd say we are really on our own this time."

Gatomon tugged gently on TK's shirt.  "Maybe you could try e-mailing Kari.  The interference may originate on Ash Island, but maybe it doesn't affect communications on Ash Island."

"That's a great idea Gatomon." TK said nodding.  "We can ask her if she's doing okay and give her a bit of a progress report."

"If she even has her Palm Pilot." Matt reminded him softly.  "And if she does have it, what's going to stop her from reporting everything we say to Darknessmon and the other Evil Ones?"

Tai's eyes narrowed.  "Just what exactly is it that you are implying, Matt?  Are you saying she would squeal on us?"

Matt sighed in frustration.  "I don't know.  I'm just saying we should be careful, okay?  Kari didn't seem like she was in her right mind.  If we let some vital information slip, she might be obligated to tell her captors and maybe they could use that knowledge against us."

"Kari's strong willed." TK said with conviction.  "She could never be broken like that.  She would never betray any of us."

"And she would certainly never fire a direct attack at any of us either." Sora added sarcastically.  "Come on you two, wake up.  Matt is right.  They've done something to her to make her obey them."

Tai punched a fist into his hand.  "I don't believe that was really Kari."

"Then who was it, Tai?" Mimi demanded.  "She sure looked like Kari to me."

"I think she was a clone.  Kari and her Palm Pilot are being held prisoner in some dungeon somewhere." Tai said gruffly.  "I refuse to believe that my sister is the one who fired on us.  She doesn't have that kind of power.  They cloned her to shock us into not hurting her."

Sora rolled her eyes.  "Tai, that doesn't make any sense."

"So am I e-mailing her or not?" TK asked through gritted teeth.

Izzy closed his laptop.  "Okay, I suggest we try e-mailing her, but don't give anything away.  Just ask her if she's okay.  Maybe try mentioning something that only she would know and we'll see if we get a response.  Then we would know if she's really Kari or if a clone is in possession of her Palm Pilot."

"If the message gets through at all." Joe reminded them, taking a seat next to Gomomon and Gabumon.

"Okay." TK nodded.  "How about this:  Dear Kari, how are you?  We are fine." He made a face.  "That sounds so lame."

"Go on." Izzy prodded.

"Um okay, how about:  That big cut I got from your cat Fluff-O-Matic last week is finally beginning to heal.  Can't wait to see you.  TK."

"Fluff-O-Matic?" Tai repeated.  "We don't have a cat named Fluff-O-Matic."

Izzy smiled patiently.  "That's the point Tai.  If Kari suddenly starts talking about your bogus cat, we'll know she isn't really Kari."

Tai pulled his hair in frustration.  "But what if she thinks we're trying to talk to her in some sort of code?  She might respond just as strangely."

The digidestined and digimon glanced around at each other.  "Just send it TK." Izzy instructed.  "It probably won't go anyway."

TK hit send and held his breath.  ERROR.  MESSAGE NOT SENT.  PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SERVER.  He groaned.  "After all that, and it wouldn't even go."

"It's probably for the best." Matt shrugged his shoulders.  "There's no harm done, we still have our original plan." He turned to Izzy.  "Where to next Izzy?"

Izzy reopened his laptop and accessed his map program.  "Aha, it looks like our next stop is the Dark Forest."

Mimi shivered.  "It sounds creepy."

"What's creepy about it?" Agumon asked curiously.  "It's a forest and it's dark."

Tai turned to Mimi, who was still supporting Matt's left side.  "He's got you there Mimi."

Mimi made a face at their leader.  "I don't care.  It still sounds creepy to me.  I never did like the dark.  I like big bright shiny malls, okay?"

"Okay, okay, don't have a cow."

The little orange dinosaur-like digimon looked confused.  Biyomon flapped beside him.  "Don't even try to figure that one out Agumon.  It's what the human world calls a figure of speech."

Patamon pouted.  "Why can't humans just say what they mean?"

TK took his white hat off and tried smoothing back his hair.  "I always say exactly what I mean." He plopped his hat back onto his head.  He was just waiting for the day that his hair would start to do what Matt's did.

"You mean every negative thing you've ever said, you meant to hurt someone?" Sora asked, still supporting Matt's right side.

"Of course not." Tai grumbled for the younger blond.  "Now can we get on with the show here?  Kari isn't exactly getting any closer with us just standing here blabbing."

"Okay we're going, we're going." Sora and Mimi chimed together, taking Matt into the lead down the well-trampled lush green grass path that led away from Echo Lake and the castle.  Biyomon fluttered her cotton candy pink wings gently on the breeze just ahead of them.  Gabumon, TK, Patamon and Palmon walked right behind, keeping a wary eye open in case of trouble.

The path took them down into the valley between the small mountains.  Wild flowers dotted the hillsides with every color conceivable to the human eye.  Babbling brooks shimmered under the bright digital sun here and there.

"It's very pretty here." Sora said over her shoulder.  "But it sure seems lonely.  There should be digimon here enjoying it."

Gomomon and Joe were right behind with TK.  "Well we're enjoying it." Gomomon said with a big smile.  "And some of us are Digimon."

Tai, Tentomon, Izzy and Agumon were bringing up the rear.  Tai glanced up at the clear blue sky, shading his eyes against the bright sunshine.  "Looks like it's almost time for lunch." He said as his stomach growled loudly.

"Yeah, I guess we could all use a little rest." Mimi agreed, stopping to look around.

"Can we sit down for a few minutes?" Matt asked uncertainly.  The area looked very picturesque, but he couldn't see a source of food in the vicinity.

Tai shrugged.  "I dunno.  Hey Izz, does your little map program have any other tools besides radar?  Like a food search button or picnic site finder?" It had to be good for something besides showing:  you are here.

Izzy opened the case and booted up his laptop.  The map program came on and he clicked his options key.

"A nice restaurant would be good." Mimi suggested, batting her long lashes at the red haired computer expert.  "Or a mall food court.  And while we're there, I could pick up some new shoes.  These ones are starting to make my feet hurt.  If I'd known we were going to be doing this much walking, I would have left these darling genuine Italian leather sandals at home and would have brought my pink track shoes."

"Mimi." Tai mumbled, pulling at his collar.  "We are not going shopping at the mall; so no more mentioning of malls from you."

Matt yawned.  "Can we sit down yet?"

"Eureka." Izzy exclaimed, pointing to a little picnic table icon on his computer.  "Look, a picnic area.  And it's really close.  It has all the facilities we need.  Food, water, a table, and a few points of interest for the kids." He logged off and closed his computer again.

"So which way do we go?" Tai asked excitedly.

"Same way we were going, it should be right around…"

"The bend." TK finished for him.  "Is it just me, or are we always going around some bend or other.  And there is always some evil digimon around the bend too." He took the lead anyway, not really expecting an answer.  Joe, Patamon and Gomomon joined him.

"Are you girls getting tired of dragging the invalid around yet?" Tai questioned Sora and Mimi as they started to follow.

Sora smiled at their big haired leader.  "It's no problem Tai, unless you're getting jealous of course."

Mimi grinned hugely.  "Yeah Tai, are you starting to get jealous?  You can tell us."

"No." Tai frowned.  "You guys ought to be ashamed of yourselves.  We have to keep our minds focused here.  I just thought you girls might be getting tired, that's all."

"I'm getting tired." Matt said, yawning again.

Sora pinched Matt's cheek playfully.  "Don't worry Tai, I could carry Matt around like this all day."

"Me too." Mimi pinched his other cheek.

"Ow." Matt swatted their hands away from his face.  "Would you guys quit that please?  Only Grandma is allowed to do that."

"Aw Matt, come on, we're just trying to have a little fun." Sora said as they started off, following Tai, Izzy, Gabumon and Agumon.

Palmon pinched her own cheek.  "Ouch!  What's so fun about pinching your cheek anyway?" She had a disappointed expression on her face.  Mimi and Sora seemed to think it was fun?  Maybe they had a different idea of fun than the digimon.

The children and digimon started to walk around the bend, chatting quietly amongst themselves.  As they walked further, there was suddenly a large row of tall dark green trees set up as if it were a fence keeping them out.  Tai walked up to the nearest trees and peered between the trunks.

"Izzy, what is this?" He asked, jerking a thumb at one of the trees.

Izzy tilted his head.  "Well, at a guess, I'd say it's a Douglas fir."

Tai rolled his eyes.  "I can see it's a tree Izzy, I mean, you never mentioned this dense pile of trees when you were informing us about how easy it would be to get to our picnic site.

The computer genius shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly with a patient sigh.  "Tai, what part of the Dark Forest did you not understand?  Obviously if we are entering a forest area, there are going to be some trees showing up."

"Otherwise they would have called it the Dark Canyon, or the Dark Vegetable Garden." Gomomon said cheerily from beside Joe.

"Har har." Tai said, folding his arms across his chest with a pout.  "I don't see a trail anywhere.  Do we go around the forest or cut our own path?"

"Well Tai, I'd have to say we need to cut a trail because our picnic site is a little ways into your forest here." Izzy said scratching his head.

"Could we sit down now?" Matt asked.

"Okay." Tai said nodding.  "We are going into the Dark Forest.  We need someone brave to cut our trail."

Agumon started jumping up and down, waving his little orange arms.  "Oh me!  Me!  Please pick me.  I can blaze a trail."

Gabumon was right beside him.  "I can help too.  I have never blazed a trail before, but I am positive I could do it."

"My lightening paw is at your service." Gatomon said, joining the other two.

"Okay then, what are we waiting for, guys?  You three take the point.  The rest of us will follow."

Gatomon led the group into the forest; the grass was long and cool against their feet and legs.

"That tickles." Mimi giggled, swatting away some of the grass.

"You know Mimi, you were right." Sora said as they maneuvered sideways to get between a couple of closely spaced trees.  "This place is kind of creepy." She wasn't claustrophobic, but walking amidst the dense foliage of the forest gave her a little tingling feeling between her shoulder blades.  "I sure hope the whole forest isn't this close."  She said quietly.

Mimi glanced at Matt.  "You're awful quiet today.  Are you doing okay?"

He nodded with a small smile.  "I'm just tired."

"I hope we get to that picnic site soon." Sora whispered.  "No offense Matt, but you're starting to get heavy." She readjusted her arm under his shoulder and around his back.

"Sorry." He muttered faintly.  "Just tired."

Mimi tightened her grip as she felt Matt sag when his knees buckled.  "Hold on Sora, I think he's zoning out again." She lifted his chin up with her free hand.

"Is he okay?" Palmon and Biyomon caught up as Sora and Mimi stopped.

"I don't know." Mimi said.  "Maybe you guys should go get Tai and the others.  I don't think they even noticed we're not following them anymore." She looked around nervously.

Sora watched as Biyomon fluttered off in the direction the others had gone.  "Should we wait for the others or lay him down here?" She asked, shifting her shoulders uncomfortably.

"Let's put him down.  I don't know how much longer I can handle this." Mimi grunted.  "Tai is going to rub this in soooo bad."

"Matt?" Sora tapped him on the cheek.  "Are you awake?" His eyes were closed and his head was leaning on her shoulder.

"Mm?"

They eased him down into the grass and sat down on either side of him to wait.  "It sure is taking them long enough." Mimi snorted.  "Do you think they actually were that far ahead of us?"

"Well I'd rather it was that than they were attacked by a pack of Acolytemon." Sora admitted, fidgeting nervously.

A snapping noise, followed by some grunting caught their attention.

"Please let it just be Tai.  Please let it just be Tai." Mimi chanted with her eyes tightly shut and her fingers and toes all crossed.

Sora tried to see beyond the trees.  Her eyes lingered briefly at a spot where the bushes seemed to be shaking.  Two glowing red eyes were there, then gone.

"H…  hello?  Is a…a…anybody there?" She asked in a quavering voice.  Her hands were suddenly cold and sweaty as she realized that whoever or whatever was out there, was not going to give her an answer.

"Please let it just be Tai." Mimi was on the verge of panicked tears.  Her eyes were now wide open and she was staring at the blackness beyond the trees.  "Something is out there." She whimpered.

Palmon struck a defensive pose, watching as well.  What was taking Biyomon so long to get the others?  Were they all captured?  She caught a quick flash of red eyes, and then they were gone.  Had she imagined it?

Mimi shrieked.

All the bushes were shaking now, and the red eyes were no longer just fleeting phantoms; the grunting was louder too.

"Palmon digivolve!" Mimi cried out, reaching for Matt's left arm.  Sora already had his right arm over her shoulder and was getting ready to stand up. 

"Palmon digivolve to…  Togemon!" The dainty little flower-like digimon transformed into the large formidable cactus-like digimon wearing big brown boxing gloves.  "Go, I'll be right behind you!" Togemon shouted.

"But what if they're in front of us too?" Sora asked fearfully, backing up and turning the trio.  "We can't go anywhere.  We're surrounded!"

The Acolytemon came out of hiding; their sharp fangs were abnormally bright in the subdued light that filtered through the trees.

"Chaos force!" One of the Acolytemon glowed a smoky blue and aimed a spindly arm at them; the black claws were jagged and extended.  A wall of power rippled from the claws and blasted into Togemon and the three digidestined she was sworn to protect.  The force knocked the four down at the feet of three other Acolytemon who were charging with the same smoky blue power, getting ready to attack.

The claws extended…

"Nooooo!" Sora and Mimi wailed in perfect unison.

"Nova blast!" A deep voice growled from behind the attacking Acolytemon as an orange fireball hit them from the rear, disintegrating the threat.

Tears were blurring Mimi's vision.  She wiped them away with the back of her hand smiling.  "I don't think I have ever heard sweeter words."

"Greymon!" Sora cheered as the huge orange digimon stomped through the trees, pushing two over to make some room.  Kabuterimon, Ikkakumon and Pegasusmon came in from the other three points.

"Electroshocker!" Kabuterimon shouted, charging and releasing a blast of power almost in the same instant, taking out two more.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon stormed, launching his own attack.  The two Acolytemon he fired at plowed into the tree behind them and disappeared.  The tree made a cracking sound and fell with a boom.

Pegasusmon reared up on his hind legs and came down with a crash.  "Star shower!"  He aimed a blast of starbursts towards the rest of the Acolytemon and zapped them out of existence.  More Acolytemon took their place.

Tai and TK ran into their little clearing as the digimon battled on.

"Are we ever glad to see you guys." Sora said quickly getting up as the boys grabbed Matt.

"Don't thank us yet." Tai muttered.  "This whole forest is crawling with these ugly little freaks.  Joe and Izzy are at the picnic site waiting.  It's a good size clearing, we should be able to make our stand in there." He looked over his shoulder as they left the fight.  "Togemon, you take the lead.  Greymon, finish them off and get out of there!"

Ikkakumon, Kabuterimon, and Pegasusmon blasted a few more shots at the rapidly diminishing number of Acolytemon and backed out of the clearing to follow and protect the digidestined's rear.

The group ran as well as they could through the obstacle studded forest.  A light at the end of the forest corridor beckoned to them like a lifeline.

"Straight ahead." Tai puffed unnecessarily.

They burst through into the clearing Tai had told them about.  It looked deserted.  All that was there were a few structures.  A marble fountain with a statue of an Angel with its head down and wings lowered, and a pristine white gazebo with blood red roses growing and entwining the lattice.

Joe's head poked up from the gazebo.  "Oh it's you." He let out a shaky breath as the rest of the digidestined joined him and Izzy inside.  "It took you long enough.  We were beginning to think you all got yourselves captured."

Biyomon fluttered to Sora.  "Oh Sora, I'm so glad you're safe." She said.

Sora nodded, rubbing her bruised arm.  "Well, we can thank Greymon for that.  I don't know how many of those chaos force attacks we could have handled.  One knocked all four of us on our butts."

Gabumon and Gatomon stiffened beside Tai, TK and Matt.

"Someone's coming." Gatomon growled, her fur standing up on end.

"Oh no." Joe moaned.

Matt was leaning against the wall looking tired.  "One of the Talismans is here." He said softly, closing his eyes.

Tai peered through the lattice to see Greymon, Kabuterimon, Ikkakumon, Togemon, and Pegasusmon preparing for battle.  "Okay, here comes one of those evilmons.  Which one is it?  I can't even remember."

Izzy poked his head around the corner quickly.  The black skinned creature in the coal black cloak with the long saber tooth-type fangs was so close Izzy could even see the red symbol that was tattooed to its head.  The red head pulled back inside, breathing quickly.  "That is Chaosdevimon." He informed their leader, sweating slightly.  "His Acolytemon possess his power chaos force.  Basically it's a blast of energy.  It can destroy its target if concentrated."

Mimi shivered.  "Is it just me, or is this rescue mission getting scarier and scarier?  If Greymon had not come when he did, do you mean to tell me that Sora, Matt, Togemon and I could have been killed?"

Izzy looked at Tai, then at Mimi.  "Yes." He said simply.

"Gabumon, digivolve!" Matt instructed.

"Biyomon.  Digivolve!" Sora added.

The gazebo was filled with light as the digivolving process transpired.

Garurumon, Birdramon and Gatomon burst out of the gazebo to join the other champion level digimon already locked in combat with the Acolytemon.  The clearing they had hoped would be to their advantage was quickly filling up with the spiny black troll digimon.  Most of them were glowing that smoky blue color.

"Go Greymon!" Tai shouted over the battle, watching his large orange and navy striped digimon hurl a nova blast at the wall of advancing Acolytemon.

The rippling air effect caused by the chaos force attack started to surge towards the gazebo as three of the enemies extended their claws.

Mimi ducked, hiding her head in her arms.  "Aaaiii, I can't watch!  We're going to die!"

Garurumon and Birdramon leapt up and desperately hit the wall with their attacks.

"Howling blaster!" The ice-cold blast of blue liquid-nitrogen like energy exploded from Garurumon's powerful jaws.

"Meteor wing!" Birdramon bellowed as she hurled a wing full of fireballs at the chaos force.

The blast shook the gazebo, but did not hit it, instead the wavering wall of energy surged into the forest, knocking down a line of trees.  The ground shook as the trees fell.

"Hey, you forgot to yell timber!" Tai shouted cheekily with a smirk.

The rest of the digidestined groaned.

"Electroshocker!" Kabuterimon growled, firing his attack of fierce electric energy at the closest cluster of Acolytemon who were just getting ready to extend their claws.

Ikkakumon Harpoon torpedoed the group just behind that was advancing, taking out about five with the explosion, dissipating the creatures to fine black digidust that was carried off on the same light breeze that made the grass gently sway.

"Destroy them, my Acolytes!" Chaosdevimon commanded, raising both black-clawed hands into the air.  The red sign on his black head glowed with malice.  "They must not have the third Talisman!" His voice boomed, hurting the digidestined's ears.

Sora had her hands over her ears as she watched fearfully.  "That red thing on his head.  What does it mean?"

They all turned to Izzy who was urgently banging away at his keyboard.  His eyes narrowed.  "How am I supposed to know?  It's shaped like an impaled triangle.  Maybe he hates geometry.  Maybe it's some ancient Digimon symbol for doom.  I don't know.  There is only so much that my laptop can do."

"You can hack into a military satellite, and you can't figure out the meaning of one measly little symbol?" Tai asked incredulously.  "My impression of you has just gone way down. "

"Uh, I think we have a bit more to be concerned about than an ancient symbol here." TK said weakly, watching the fight.  He pointed a finger.  "Um, there are more Acolytemon.  And our digimon haven't eaten for a while.  This can't go on indefinitely."

"We need to zipdigivolve." Tai said, biting his lower lip, trying to stay calm.  "If only we knew how to do it."

Matt opened his eyes and cleared his throat.  "Make a wish." He said simply.

"What?" Tai demanded.

"A miracle." Matt continued.  "They say a miracle is a wish the heart makes.  Your Talisman is a heart, remember?"

Tai and Izzy glanced at each other uncertainly.

"Oh for goodness sakes you two." Sora cried.  "What harm could it do?" She watched as Togemon got hit with a smoky blue chaos force and dedigivolved back to Palmon.  "Hurry, they can't last much longer!"

"Palmon!" Mimi shrieked and leapt up to run outside to rescue her weakened rookie level digimon.

Joe grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back.  "No Mimi, you might get hurt!" He pulled the sobbing girl into a tight comforting embrace.  "Come on you two."

"I'm trying, okay?" Tai snarled.  "I wish.  I wish Greymon would zipdigivolve." He watched Greymon continue fighting.  "Matt it isn't working.  I knew you were full of it!"

"You have to be sincere." Matt said in an annoyed tone.

"I'm Courage.  If you want Sincere, talk to Mimi!" Tai exploded.  "I can't do it.  I wish I could."

TK grabbed Tai's arm, hard.  "What about Kari?" He demanded.

Tai froze.  The Talisman of strength around his neck began to flash like a strobe light.  The same effect had surrounded Greymon.

"Greymon zipdigivolve to Dynamogreymon!" The larger, fiercer digimon growled as the strobe faded.

Izzy's Talisman of wisdom began to buzz and flash a microsecond later, engulfing Kabuterimon the same as Greymon.

"Kabuterimon zipdigivolve to Kinetickabuterimon!" The large blue spindly form of Kabuterimon morphed into the giant metallic blue and silver version of himself.  His wings were long silver blades that hummed like Excalibur in the air.  He had deep blue spikes down his back and a long sharp silver claw extended at the top of each wrist.

"Prodigious." Izzy stated slowly, in awe.

"Awesome!" Tai said, his eyes were glowing as he watched Kinetickabuterimon glide in for the attack.

"Galvanic zapper!" Kinetickabuterimon belted out, unleashing his new attack.  A wide sizzling white blast of energy erupted from the metallic blue and silver digimon, searing a path through the now panicking black troll digimon, annihilating everything in its path.

Dynamogreymon breathed his incinerator attack towards the frontline Acolytemon, relieving the rest of the champion level digimon of their shield duty.

The digidestined watched from inside the gazebo, cheering silently as the tide of the battle started to turn in their favor.

"Look, they're retreating!" Tai said, doing a victory dance.  "Yes!  We beat them.  Again.  Alright!  Who's the mon?"

Chaosdevimon let out a roar of fury as his army fled.  "You cursed digidestined.  You have won  this fight, but I will soon see you all destroyed." He dematerialized out of existence.

"I hate teleportation." Tai grumbled.

Izzy nodded.  "Although fascinating, it is frustrating when our enemies can just blink themselves out of harms way.  It would be nice to actually defeat one of these Evil Ones before we have to face them all down later on with the Talismans."

"I thought we were supposed to be able to defeat these guys with the Talismans."  Sora complained.  "We have two of them.  We should be able to do some damage, shouldn't we?  She stood up and leaned against the wall of the Gazebo, listening as the clearing became peaceful again.  Their digimon dedigivolved and joined the digidestined as the children stepped out of the white structure.

"Palmon!" Mimi squealed, rushing to her flowery little friend.  "Are you okay?  I was so scared!"

Palmon grinned with sheepish eyes.  "I'm fine.  Can we eat now?  I'm starving."

The rest of the digimon chorused their agreement.

They stopped at the fountain; a few berry bushes were growing around it.

Izzy typed a few things on his laptop, and then looked up with a pleased smirk.  "You will all be glad to know that these berries are not only safe to eat, but they are also an excellent source of vitamin C."

They started gobbling up the berries.  "Hey, these are kind of good." Tai stuffed another handful into his already purple-stained mouth.

Matt was finally standing on his own, studying the fountain as he tried a berry.  He still did not have much of an appetite yet.  There was something about this fountain.  He leaned up against it and peered into the clear water.

Joe came and stood next to him.  Gomomon jumped into the fountain with a splash and started back paddling around.

"There." Matt pointed as the water rippled.  He clutched his head, feeling dizzy.

"What?" Joe asked, looking into the water.  He looked back at the blond chosen child of Friendship curiously.

"The heart Talisman of Endurance." Matt whispered.  "Right there at the bottom.  In the middle, between the marble pillars." He turned from Joe and gently lowered himself to the ground and sat down with his back leaning against the cool stone.  "It's yours if you want it Joe." He suddenly felt too warm.

Joe grimaced.  "It figures.  I've got to get wet to get mine.  There must be some cosmic injustice somewhere, laughing at me."

Gomomon sprayed water at his digidestined.  "Come on in Joe, the water's fine." The little white digimon with orange hair and purple markings jeered with sparkling eyes.  "Since you're all wet now anyways."

Joe took his shoes, socks, bag and glasses off.  "I guess it can't hurt." He squinted into the water.  "How deep would you say it is?" He started hyperventilating with anticipation.

"Deep enough." Tai said, giving the navy-haired child of reliability a push over the side.

The rest of the children and digimon stared into the water to watch their friend's progress.

Joe dove after Gomomon into the cool fountain water.  The pillars went clear to the bottom where the water was somehow pumped up into the Angel statue above.  He squinted ahead.  There was something shiny just near the bottom of the pillars.  What he wouldn't have done for a pair of prescription swimming goggles. 

Gomomon grabbed the chair between his teeth and started back paddling, only to jerk to a halt.  He tried again, then looked forlornly at his digidestined, motioning that he was unable to break it.

Joe quickly took the chair in his fingers and looked for the clasp.  His lungs were starting to burn for air, but he calmly ignored it.  The clasp opened and the relieved digidestined holder of reliability gathered the chain and talisman in his fist before kicking off the bottom of the fountain and following Gomomon to the top.

"Joe!" Sora said with relief when he broke the calm reflective surface with a whooshing breath and a huge spray of water.  "Did you get your talisman?"

Joe smiled, dangling the deep purple polished stone on the long silver chain from his dripping wet fingers.

TBC…