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Author's Note: End of first arc

Love Knows No Bounds
Bind 6: Divided

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"Patamon," the Kaiser whispered fondly, holding the little Digimon closer to him. Patamon smiled his sweet, innocent smile at the Digimon Kaiser, snuggling into the human's arms.

'Patamon, I'm afraid I'll lose you again, like that time four years ago when we fought Devimon. I don't want to lose you again, Patamon,' thirteen-year old Takeru cried, snuggled inside his bed beside the yellow Digimon. 'I don't want you to be deleted.'

'Don't worry, Takeru. I won't disappear like that ever again. And even if I did, I would come back to you, just like last time,' Patamon assured warmly, wiping away his partner's tears. The little monster gave Takeru its trademark sugar-coated grin. 'We're stronger than we were back then--nothing can defeat us now. We're unstoppable!'

'Promise Patamon?" the young blonde boy sniffled. 'Do you promise that you won't leave me alone? We'll be together forever?'

'I promise!'

"Remember what we promised, Takeru? Together forever," Patamon cheerfully exclaimed, putting his forepaws onto the Kaiser's chest. The Digimon's happy voice rang out through the cold, dark base, making the fortress seem more foreboding and colder than it already was. Patamon's joy and hope reminded the Chosen Children what a dreary place the Kaiser's fortress really was.

The Digimon Kaiser gave Patamon a small smile, the young man touched by the little yellow Digimon's loyalty. Patting his partner's head fondly, Takeru felt an ominous peace growing in his heart. "We'll be together forever, Patamon, even in Darkness."

'You and I lost in this existence.'

Right then, Patamon and the Dark digivice on Takeru's side began glowing with eerie, dark light. As the evil aura spread, Hikari felt herself growing weak and nauseous, the atmosphere growing cold. 'The Darkness,' a voice gasped fearfully in Hikari's mind, 'the Darkness is growing and will soon consume Takeru's heart if you do not rescue him. Hikari, the Darkness is coming for that little one. Hope must be rescued, Hikari, for his Light is quickly fading. Hikari--Hikari, don't let go of him--'

Hikari, confused by the stranger in her mind, was about to collapse onto the icy metal base floor, but Taichi saved her when he quickly noticed his sister's disorientation. "Are you okay?" Taichi worriedly asked as he held his little sister against him. The older Yagami flinched when he felt Hikari's skin clammy and cold, like winter ocean water. Hikari violently shivered, clinging to Taichi for warmth.

"Something horrid is coming. Something's wrong with Patamon!" Hikari cried, sobbing into Taichi's shoulder. She could not stand the horrible aura the Dark Light emitted and struggled to make it disappear. Her insides wrenched and writhed from Darkness' frightening assault upon her. "Make it stop, Taichi," she earnestly begged. "Don't let Patamon change! Don't let the Darkness take them--Don't let it take Takeru!" Taichi looked darkly at his little sister, feeling the coldness in the air around him. It felt sad--depressing--Dark.

Taichi kneeled to the ground, a breaking Hikari still in his arms. Tears welled into the older brother's mahogany eyes while trying to comfort his sister. 'Damn it, Taichi, you can't be like this. You have to be strong. You must be strong for Hikari! You have to keep positive!' Taichi stared at Augumon with fire in his chocolate pools. The orange lizard-like monster regarded his partner with equal life. "Win, Augumon!" Taichi muttered. "Win and bring back Takeru. Bring back Takeru for Hikari."

'Bring back her happiness.'

"I will, Taichi."

The Digimon Kaiser's Dark digivice and Patamon reacted to one another, their powers reaching their pinnacle. Dangerous changes were about to occur, and Patamon would soon disappear. "Patamon, Dark Evolve! IceDevimon!"

"Augumon, Warp Evolve! WarGreymon!"

Hikari gasped in terror when she looked up from her tears. The Child of Light's ruby eyes were blank, fear clouding over any life within her. "Patamon! He evolved to--He evolved--He's IceDevimon"

Tailmon awoke from her unconsciousness and bristled in shock when a wave of Darkness hit her. Shakily rising to her feet, Tailmon trembled at the faint recognition of her old friend within the Dark Digimon. "Is that Patamon?" she asked with horror in her sad, innocent eyes.

"You ready, WarGreymon?" IceDevimon smirked as he flexed his claw-like hands. A cruel glint lighted his eyes. "Just promise me that you'll make this a good time; I'd hate for you to go without a fun end."

Growling at his former friend, WarGreymon replied, "You can stop this now, Patamon. We can end this now and no one has to get hurt. You and I don't have to fight to bring back Takeru, Patamon."

"Patamon doesn't exist anymore." The devilish monster cackled sinisterly. "And don't worry about Takeru, WarGreymon. He's a big boy; he can take care of himself." Taking a pointed glance at Taichi, IceDevimon maliciously added, "But you should keep your eye on Taichi. You never know where he'll go."

"Patamon." The Digimon and Chosen Children stared, awestruck by IceDevimon. Fear overwhelmed their senses as reality slowly sunk into their minds. Their bubbly yellow friend had evolved into an icy monster of Darkness.

"I can't believe Takeru let Patamon evolve into IceDevimon," Daisuke gasped, tightly clenching his fists. The Bearer of Hope, the one who had preached to Daisuke endlessly how Evil had to be controlled and banished, had just allowed his partner evolve into something truly evil. 'This is wrong: totally completely wrong. It shouldn't be like this.'

"Let's get started!" The air froze while Dark energy gathered around IceDevimon. "Ice Claw!"

While a rush of slicing icicles and an enormous mass of evil energy rushed at WarGreymon, the Digimon of Courage collected his energy for his own attack. Although the attack was ready fairly quickly, WarGreymon had to maneuver and dodge IceDevimon's relentless missiles before getting a clear target. "Terra Force!"

"No you don't--Ice Claw!"

Coming into close range of each other, IceDevimon and WarGreymon started hand-to-hand combat. The monsters traded numbing blows and sharp swipes. Taichi passionately encouraged and advised his partner. "Give that weakling what he deserves. Teach him a lesson and delete him! No mercy for this one, WarGreymon!"

The base rumbled with all the force and collisions of IceDevimon's and WarGreymon's attacks.

"I can't believe he's the Digimon Kaiser. I can't believe he's Takeru," Yamato growled fiercely. The older brother was outraged by the Kaiser's true identity; the situation was a complete and total nightmare. Had Yamato's little brother, the hopeful, innocent Takeru forgotten what his duty as a Chosen Child was? Had Takeru forgotten the meaning of being a Chosen Child, of being a friend?

'Why are you doing this?' Yamato thought harshly. 'Takeru, why are you doing this? Have you forgotten who you are? Did you forget about your duty, and your friends? Did you forget your feelings, your beliefs? What's happened to you, Little Brother?' Yamato ignored the rubble falling around him, not caring if he got injured or not; his mind was racing from fury, love, and sadness, all for his little brother, Takeru.

The Digimon Kaiser motioned his evolved partner to attack while disappearing into the shadows of the corridors leading into the base. Noticing Takeru's movements, Taichi and Yamato raced to follow the younger boy, only to be blocked by IceDevimon. "Where do you two think you're going?" the monster snapped coldly.

"Patamon, this isn't you!" Yamato argued, trying to draw away some of the devil's attentnion. Taichi snuck towards the other direction, and Yamato cheered in his heart when he saw his friend successfully disappear after his brother. "You know the difference between right and wrong, and you know this is wrong!"

Narrowing his crimson eyes, IceDevimon replied, "I'm staying with Takeru no matter what. No one else matters." After his cold words, IceDevimon swung his arms and created a huge gust of wind, throwing Yamato into the wall. Gabumon and Sora ran to his rescue.

"You'll pay for that one!" WarGreymon growled while jabbing at his opponent. As speedy as the courageous monster was, IceDevimon evaded the attack and returned it with ease.

"Yamato, are you all right?" Sora and Gabumon asked worriedly. Yamato, now regaining consciousness, nodded bleakly while trying stand on his feet. The young woman and canine Digimon were relieved when they saw Yamato had no blood or broken bones.

"Yamato! Yamato, where is Taichi?" Hikari yelled anxiously with Tailmon at her heels.

'Please, don't let me lose him too!'

"Hikari, watch out!" Daisuke yelled, tackling the girl to the ground. V-mon did the same for Tailmon. Rubble crashed harmlessly behind the four thanks to Daisuke's quick observation action. Seeing the danger had passed, Daisuke lifted himself from Hikari and asked kindly, "Are you all right, Hikari?"

"Thanks, Daisuke," Hikari hastily thanked, rising immediately to her feet. She then ran towards Yamato and asked again, "Where did Taichi go?"

"He followed Takeru deeper into the base," Yamato murmured, shaking the dizziness from his self. When the young man lost his footing, Hikari supported Yamato with her shoulders and helped him stand. "We should back Taichi up."

Sora, rushing to help Hikari, inquired, "How? You know for yourself how IceDevimon isn't allowing anyone to follow after Takeru. How are we all supposed to get through without him noticing?"

Turning and taking at look at the team he had, Yamato executively decided, "Koushiro, Iori, Hikari, and I will go after Taichi and Takeru first. Jyou, Sora, Mimi, Daisuke, Miyako, and Ken will create a diversion for us if needed."

"What do you mean by 'if needed'?" Jyou demanded.

Mimi pointed in the air frantically. "Everyone! Duck!" Just as the young lady ordered, everyone dived to the ground and missed being killed by a monster fireball. That was when the others remembered the ongoing battle.

"What I mean by 'if needed'," Yamato growled, painfully rising from the ground, "was that WarGreymon has IceDevimon pretty occupied right now. The first team might be able to slip pass him without help-but if we need it, you guys have to give it to us right away." Giving his chosen team a quick glance, Yamato ordered, "Okay, you guys and Digimon, we're going to rush towards that doorway as fast as we can. Are you ready?"

With a unanimous nod, four humans and their Digimon ran towards the dark hallway Takeru, the Digimon Kaiser, and Taichi had disappeared into.

"Why won't you just die?" IceDevimon snapped, launching numerous icy missiles at WarGreymon. Following his heartless attack, the devilish Digimon extended his slender fingers into dangerous slashing daggers.

"Patamon, this doesn't have to be this way!" WarGreymon pleaded, dodging IceDevimon's swipes and blows. "We don't have to fight each other. We can turn Takeru back towards the Light, back to how he used to be. We can save him from the Darkness!"

"Just worry about saving yourself!" IceDevimon rammed his former friend into and through the cement and metal wall.

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Seeing smoke and dust coming from behind the group, Yamato hollered, "Everyone, brace yourself!" A gust of dust and debris flew past the Chosen Children, some stones and metal pieces slashing at them here and there. Iori began to cough violently from the smoke and dust, Hikari protecting the younger boy from the cutting missiles. Yamato and Koushiro wiped away their teary eyes, trying to regain their temporarily lost sight. As soon as they all recovered, they resumed their search for Takeru and Taichi.

Reaching the end of the darkened hallway, the group of eight found themselves in larger room filled with monitors and blinking devices. Looking around some more, Hikari noticed a fallen figure and another standing over the former in a shadowed corner. The young lady gasped when she realized who the fallen figure was. "Taichi!"

While Chosen Children ran to Taichi's rescue, Takeru moved away and quietly remarked, "He's not hurt. He became like this on his own."

"Taichi, Taichi! Taichi, please be all right," Hikari cried, cradling her older brother in her arms with tears in her eyes. His body was limp and cold, almost lifeless. "Please, be all right, Taichi." The younger Yagami embraced her brother lovingly and sobbed.

From a distance, Takeru watched Hikari weep for her brother and the others observe her solemnly. The Digimon Kaiser inwardly growled. 'She cries for him when he's not even injured. Why? Why does she care so much about him, especially him? Why won't she look at me?'

At that moment, the other six Chosen Children entered the control room, the lot rushing into the area in panic. Even the brave Digimon sped with fear. "Yamato, Taichi!" Sora yelled while running towards her friends. "Watch out!"

"They're headed this way!" Mimi shouted after Sora.

Yamato stared at the group curiously. "Who?"

As Daisuke yelled a response, the answer came crashing through the walls. WarGreymon and IceDevimon, locked in each other's death grip, wrestled and slammed the other into anything and everything. The rumbling and crashing stirred Taichi back to consciousness.

'The Darkness--The Darkness is coming. I can feel it,' Taichi thought while his brown eyes slowly opened. Looking up into his sister's teary ruby eyes, Taichi knew Hikari could feel it as well. 'The Darkness is coming. And no matter how hard we try, we will lose--either the battle or someone dear, we will lose something.'

"Hikari."

Returning her attention to her older brother, Hikari could not help but grin. A heavy weight lifted from her already burdened heart. "Taichi, I'm so glad you're all right."

Sitting up by himself, Taichi embraced his sister and whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry."

'I'm sorry, Hikari, that we have to end it this way.'

"This is it: we're ending this now!" WarGreymon snarled, collecting his remaining energy together. "Terra Force!"

Seeing WarGreymon launching his strongest attack, IceDevimon released his own. "Ice Claw!"

The two attacks collided; light blinded all as the attacks fused with the other with tremendous might, resulting in a massive explosion. Rubble and dust completely filled the room, causing everyone to cry, cough, and run for cover. Koushiro, Iori, and Jyou had found some cover behind some of the Kaiser's equipment; Ken and Miyako protected each other, with the help of Stingmon and Hawkmon, of course; Daisuke ducked away with V-mon, not wanting his blue partner injured; Yamato grabbed Mimi and Sora out of harms way; Taichi protectively covered Hikari with his own body. As the dust settled, Taichi, after making sure Hikari was safe, recovered Koromon from beneath some debris.

"Koromon, are you okay?" Taichi worriedly asked, fear written all over his face. He wiped away the dust and blood covering his friend while praying for the best. Taichi could feel his heart pounding in his ears, worried that his friend had used too much energy during the battle.

Koromon looked weakly at Taichi, a sorrowful look in his bright ruby-red eyes. His expression only made the crevice in Taichi's heart grow. "I'm sorry, Taichi."

"Sorry?" Taichi chuckled weakly, trying to stay hopeful. "Sorry for what, little guy?"

"I'm really sorry for making one of your friends sad. I didn't mean to do it. I didn't want to. I'm so sorry, Taichi." Taichi stared confusingly at Koromon for a second and then realized what had happened. While shaking his head, Taichi slumped his shoulders and tried holding back his tears. Koromon bowed his head in sad defeat. Taichi's suspicions were finally confirmed.

'It's my fault. Takeru, I'm so sorry that I've made you suffer so. I'm sorry we had to end it the way we did.'

"Patamon! Patamon! Answer me!" The Digimon Kaiser, after recovering from the enormous explosion, furiously dug into the rubble, looking for his small yellow-white friend. Sharp, jagged pieces cut through his gloves and clothes and marked his skin with blood. "Patamon! Please! Answer me!"

Not able to watch his helpless brother, Yamato rushed from behind Takeru and muttered, "Stop it, you're hurting yourself! You have to stop, Takeru, he's not--"

"Get away from me!" the Digimon Kaiser snapped, swinging a fist at Yamato. Of course, Yamato had easily dodged the blow, but he was hurt by Takeru's intentions. "I'm going to find Patamon!" The Chosen Children watched sadly as the Digimon Kaiser searched for the little Digimon in vain.

"No! No! What have I done!" The Kaiser frantically pulled at his hair and tore off his goggles, throwing them to the side. A shattering noise was heard. The blonde teenager fell to his knees, sadness consuming him. "Patamon!" The Kaiser cried, sobbing into his hands.

'Now you've left me too. What am I supposed to do now?'

"Takeru..." Takeru turned around, Hikari and the other Chosen Children behind him. "I'm sorry, Takeru. I am so sorry," Hikari whispered with a diamond tear in her eye. She was close to sobbing, her heart broken from Takeru's pain. "I wish that this could have ended in a different way. I really wish that this had ended in a different way." Takeru glared at her, his tear-filled, crystal eyes jabbing an icy look at her. He quickly got to his feet.

SLAP!

"This is all your fault!" Takeru yelled viciously at the shocked Child of Light. "I hate you--I wish I had never met you! Everything here, it's your fault!" Hikari's crimson eyes and heart became empty.

"How dare you--" Daisuke ran toward Takeru, ready to deck him; but Taichi was quicker, much quicker.

BAM!

Takeru flinched, but stood strong, even if Taichi had hit him hard in the face. He would not fall with such a blow. He refused to fall, not after what Taichi, what they had done to Patamon. Daisuke's fist twitched, itching for the blow he had wanted throw at Takeru.

"Takeru, I'd never thought that you would ever--" Taichi's voice trailed off, the young man being out of breath from fury and despair. How dare Takeru strike HIS little sister? But regret was in the old leader's heart as well. Taichi was so sad that Takeru had succumbed to the Darkness. 'Takeru, I'm so sorry.'

BOOM! KABLANG!

A large explosion suddenly erupted from behind the Chosen Children, causing a few to scream in surprise. Little bits of debris scattered about them as the walls crumbled around them. "Run. Get out of here, now. Get out now, if you want to live," a cold voice ordered. The Chosen Children looked at Takeru in complete confusion.

"This base, this whole entire structure is going to self-destruct very soon," Takeru informed coldly and slowly, his face completely expressionless. "If you don't get out now, you're all going to die."

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