k2: Warning, this scene/chapter has been drastically altered.

MK: POOR MAATT!

k2: Shut UP! I, er…I also did this in a straight third person POV due to excessive POV changes. I was unable to focus directly on Matt, so it is essentially a normal chapter.

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What now?

Rated: PG-13

drama/romance

Ch. 7-Evil Within

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Darkness. Palpable darkness. Absolute in it's depth. Sucking the light into the oblivion of an abyss.

Sparks. A flicker of brightness that has nothing to do with light as putrid yellow green mist swirls, combining with the dark void to form a circle.

Laughter. Soft, yet dark. Cold and heartless, sending shivers down a mortal's spine.

"Show to me those that I seek…show to me the Children of Destinies design."

A flicker, a flash, sparks as the mist tries to obey.

Light. So bright the darkness is forced to yield, so bright that the wraith commanding the void shrieks.

A voice. Beautiful yet powerful, speaking not of words but of thought.

Back off!

A hiss.

"What has she done now!"

Anger. Patience.

"I can always wait, guardian, they will have to come out sooner or later."

A formless shadow moves within the void, turning to watch, as the prone form of a child is unbound from a stone slab.

"After all, they are still hoping to find someone special."

A barking order.

"Sendalamon!"

A soft yet strong reply.

"Yes master?"

"Tell Pegramon I want to see him."

"Yes Master."

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Sora slowly opened her eyes, stiff and uncomfortable, with the memory of her dreams still fresh in her head. It was horrible. TK had been kidnapped and they were traveling through the digital world to-.

Matt lay beside her, tearstains marring his pale flesh. She was surprised to see him there, so close to her, on the cave floor. How did we end up on the floor? Sora thought to herself. The last thing she remembered was calming Matt, humming softly as her mother used to do when she was little, as he cried into her shoulders and then he seemed to just fall into her as he fell asleep. She had lowered his head until it was in her lap and kept it there, caressing it like she would a small child and continued the soft humming. She wasn't sure when but she must have dozed off. That didn't explain, however, how she and Matt wound up on the ground…together.

She smiled softly and caressed Matt's cheek, the touch bringing him to open his eyes blearily. Seeing Sora next to him Matt quickly sat up, looking around quickly. He clenched his hands into fists and cursed, slamming his left fist into the ground.

"I know." Sora murmured, "It isn't a dream."

"Let's get the others up." Matt stated as he began to stand. As soon as he put pressure on his ankle, however, he fell down again, cursing as he remembered his sprain.

"Okay, fist off, loose the swearing." Sora stated firmly, "Second, Mimi and I found something you can use to walk when we were looking for food to go with that left over chicken we took from your moms."

"So where is it?"

Sora stood up, stretched, and walked over to the smoldering fire where she had left everything. She picked the stick up, walked back to Matt, and handed it to him.

"Here ya go."

"Thanks." Matt murmured as he used it to drag himself up and leaned against it. All it was was a long stick, like a staff, made of thick wood.

"Wait by what's left of the fire while I get the others up." Sora stated, "there's some granola bars in the pack as well as a some fruit Mimi found."

"Oh, joy." Matt grumped, "Mystery fruit and granola."

"Shut up and eat it." Sora grinned.

As Matt limped over to the smoldering ash Sora went about waking everyone. When she reached Tai and Kari however she almost couldn't bring herself to wake them. Tai, his back against the cave wall, was holding Kari to him protectively, his head slumped down over hers as she lay against his chest, clinging to him as if he would disappear and leave her alone. Yet she knew she had to so she knelt next to Tai and gingerly shook his arm.

"Tai. It's time, Tai, we need to go."

"Mmph…. huh?" Tai looked up to see Sora staring at him and he looked down at Kari. HE sighed and began to shake Kari awake as Sora stood, leaving him to wake Kari and Gatomon, and walked over to Izzy, Cody and their digimon who had fallen asleep by the laptop. Once she managed to get the two night owls up she looked around to see who else was still asleep. Joe and Mimi had apparently fallen asleep by the fire along with most of the other digimon because they were already centered around it having breakfast with Matt.

So where is Ken and Yolie? Sora looked around for the two of them but when she didn't see them she began to walk farther into the cave. It wasn't until she had gotten pretty far in the she found them, snuggled together behind a rock with both Wormon and Hawkmon asleep next to them.

"What in the-." Sora stormed over to the two of them and roughly shook them awake. When they saw Sora standing over them they looked at each other, then at their digimon.

"Don't look at us." Hawkmon said, "We warned you that this was a bad idea."

"That's why we followed you."

"What is going on here?" Sora demanded.

"Uhh…it's not what it looks like!" Yolie cried, "It's um…it's just…."

"They were making out." Hawkmon stated, "They wanted to be alone, I came to chaperone. Nothing else happened."

"It better not have." Sora growled as she grabbed Yolie's wrist and dragged her up. "IU can't believe you Yolie! You're supposed to know better, you're the older one!"

"But we never get any alone time!" Yolie complained, "It's not fair!"

"We are in the middle of a tragedy here!" Sora hissed, "And you're engaged in a making fest!"

"Actually…we were asleep." Ken replied sheepishly.

"Your no help!" Sora shouted as she began to drag the two of them back to the others. "Not a word of this to anyone, got it?"

Ken and Yolie exchanged expressions. That was the last thing they would do, even if it weren't because of the circumstances.

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The brightness died and relief came within the void. The yellow vortex slowly warped within until a picture was formed. Trees, a blocked cave, movement.

"Ahhh. I see that magic she performed well." The darkness spoke with its soft whisperish voice as, from within the cave and through it's stone a young brunette exited. "Within the cover the children rest, preparing for the fight they will soon have to face." Movement within the void as the darkness turned, once again staring at its unconscious prize. "Soon, oh so soon, you shall taste the blood of your kin. And then the completion will be absolute."

With a silhouetted wave the yellow vortex vanished, the void remained dark and the darkness within disappeared.

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Tai grumbled to himself as he and the others trekked off towards their destination. He wasn't the least bit happy with the current time and dearly wished he were back at the cave, or his bed for that matter, sleeping peacefully. But no. HE was walking as the sun rose, waiting for the dawn to depart and the morning to begin. And morning was the worst time of day for him, especially when morning involved dawn.

Tai glanced at Mimi, babbling some nonsense about New York, shopping and…Michael?

Tai continued to zone out, not the least bit interested in the pink haired girl, though he did wonder if she would ever let her hair grow out to it's natural color….

"TAI!" Mimi screamed through his musings. When he looked at her he saw a look of murder written all over her face. "You haven't' heard a word I said, have you?"

"Some of it." Tai replied, "But essentially, no."

"Urgh! Fine!" She cried with a puff of her cheeks, "I'll go talk to Yolie! At least she can appreciate good conversation! She doesn't act like Izzy when he's glued to his laptop!"

"Hey! I resent that remark!"

"You resemble that remark." She replied with a sweetness that belied her true feelings. Tai knew she was mad.

Oh, well. He thought as he watched her walk off towards Yolie before continuing his own inner grumblings by glumly thinking his next thought. Why couldn't Gennai drop us off at the top of the mountain? Thinking of Gennai, however, he pulled the map out of his pocket. I mean, last time we used the terrace we landed at the foot of it! Why did we wind up so far from it this time?

He examined the map absently for a moment, seeing as how he hadn't really had a good look at it when he was scouting out the area ahead last night. He had wanted to make some checkpoints but there hadn't been a real reason to and he had felt quite disappointed about it.

Pulling out a pen he had barrowed from Joe Tai was about to mark down where the cave was when he noticed, for the first time since there was now daylight to see better by, that the map already had several marks on them, places they'd been in the past and stuff like that. But it was when his eyes reached Infinity Mountain that they widened. The mountain was littered with marks of all different sorts. There was even a skull drawn there indicating…something.

I wonder what that is? Tai thought idly, The portal perhaps? I wonder what all the marks are for….

"Tai?" Tai looked down to see his sister staring at him awkwardly and he realized he had stopped walking all together.

"Oh, sorry." He began walking again, oblivious to Kari until she tapped his shoulder.

"What is it?" HE asked his sister.

"Why isn't anyone scouting ahead?"

"To early to think about it." Tai grumbled. "I'll do it as soon as I finish waking up." HE didn't seem to notice Kari was debating something though Agumon did.

"Kari, is something wrong?"

"Yes!" Gatomon cried, fighting, "She just doesn't want to bring it up!"

"Is it about TK?" Tai asked softy

"No." Kari replied, "Well…maybe a part of it, but not all of it."

"Well, what? And what about TK?"

"TK is…well, he's not in pain anymore but…."

"But what?"

"Something's wrong. I just know it is. I can't pinpoint just what but…."

"IS he…alive?" Tai asked, a touch hesitant.

"Mhm." Kari didn't sound very enthusiastic. "I'm worried though. Why all the pain and then for it to stop? He's alive but…how okay is he?"

"Good question. We might want to keep this between us for the moment. We don't' want to make Matt worry more, especially if it's needless."

"Yeah, I guess your right."

"What else?"

"Oh. Umm…Gatomon keeps sensing something."

"Sensing?"

"Yeah. We were lagging behind and she caught a whiff of…something."

"We're being watched." Gatomon elaborated, "It's very feint, but I can feel it in my bones. I can't now, but that's because we ran to catch up with everyone."

"And it has you worried?"

"Yes. It's very disturbing! I can't tell if it's a good or bad digimon. IT seems to switch between hostile and non-hostile energies! It's really starting to freak me out."

"I wonder what it could be. What it could want."

"This going to be bugging me all day." Gatomon stated as she shivered.

Pricking her ears Gatomon quickly looked behind her. "It's closer! It's…." HE ears lowered, confusion clouding her face, "It's gone."

"Wha'd'you mean gone?"

"It…it just disappeared. It's gone."

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It's odd. I feel unhinged. Unchained. I feel more free, as if I can do anything and yet…it pains me.

The once child of hope opened his eyes slowly, reaching to massage the pain in his head. When he realized his arm was free he slowly sat up, looking around himself. The darkness was as thick as always and yet….

I can see as clearly as if it were day itself.

He looked around, seeing for the first time the room he was in. It was devoid of anything, nothing but the stone alter (he wasn't' about to call it anything remotely to a bed) he was on.

And the cage Patamon was in. It hung from the high ceiling by chain and TK slowly walked over to it. He examined it, examined his partner, and took the cage off the chain. It was a weak design, old and rusted. HE set the small prison on the alter and grabbed door with one hand, holding the cage with the other, and pulled hard. The door came off with a bit of effort, but he smirked with his success.

He nudged Patamon. "Hey. Wake up." He knelt down to eye level, his hands holding onto the altar as he watched his partner. The little critter stirred, but no more response after that. TK nudged him again. "Wake up!"

One eye popped open and a groan escaped the guy's throat. "I feel like…."

"Dog meat?"

"Something like that."

"We're free."

"I see that, but why?"

"I dunno. Wanna find out?"

"Yes."

TK picked the small fry up and the two began to look for a door. When he found the notch in the stone wall he pressed it, revealing it as the means for opening the wall.

With another smirk TK stepped into the furthering darkness, navigating as if by daylight.

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Darkness within darkness. The void yet again filled with a mysterious presence, looming over the flicker of putrid yellow as the vortex opens again. The dark master of the void softly laughs as he finishes the preparations for his next guest, the one that will never again see the light of day.

Voices stem from the vortex and its attention is stolen towards it. Destinies Children walk, unaware of the danger they will soon witness. Neither are they aware of the helplessness of their situation as they further approach the designated trap.

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Morning was bright as the day finally went underway. The dawn had slipped by, though slowly to some, and the pinks and purples were replaced by the bright blue of a cheery morning. Not that everyone was as cheery as the morning of course.

Sora, walking hand in hand with Matt (more or less, anyway. She was staying by his side due to his need to lean on the staff and now that the day was underway the two of them had wound up lagging behind), stared into the bright hazel sky as the chill slowly died. It was a beautiful day; the only thing to mar any contentment was the looming threat to the life of her boyfriends little brother. That knowledge was devastating to her and it bothered her to feel so peaceful when TK was in danger, but it as hard to feel other wise in this type of weather.

IT was then that she caught sight of a tiny speck in the distance growing larger and larger by the minute. No, by the second!

"Matt, do you see that?" She asked hesitantly pointing at the sky.

Looking at the indicated more-then-a-speck Matt narrowed his eyes. "Gabumon? DO you know what digimon that is?"

The particular creature heading towards them had now grown in size, quite visible and still growing. Gabumon, having a perfect view of the creature, shook his head. "No Matt, I don't think I have ever seen one like that before."

"That's no ordinary digimon." Biomon, her voice low and trembling, stated as she clung to Sora's leg. "That's…that's a Pegramon! There are very few of them left, they were almost wiped out mysteriously a long time ago! And the ones that are left are very mean!"

"What do you mean?" Matt asked, still staring at the sky.

The digimon was now close enough to receive a clear view, but still quite far, when suddenly a high-pitched sound reached their ears. In front of them the rest of the group covered their ears and Matt and Sora found themselves mimicking them as the sound became louder and louder, becoming ear splitting and head pounding until it died down.

And then it was sixty yards in front of them, shrilling off another shrill call.

"Pegramon!" Tentomon cried out fearfully as he shrank back from the creature, "It's a Pegramon! The only thing worse then one of them is their attacks! You don't' want to be anywhere near them when they rip out a Sonic Blast!"

Around the same size as Halsemon the digimon in question looked almost identical to a giant peregrine falcon, the only difference being the color, as well as the giant size. The birdmon was almost all azure blue, having shades of a darker royal color offsetting in highlights. The wings, however, were fringed in bright crimson.

"SONIC BLAST!" It cried at the top of its powerful lungs. Crashing its wings together seemed to stir the wind around it and, when it released it's wings the wind seemed to solidify and was thrown towards the unsuspecting children.

"SCATTER!" Tai cried as he grabbed Kari's arm and dodged to the side.

"Digivolve!" Matt cried as Sora tackled him to the ground. Matt cursed as his ankle groaned, feeling as if it twisted more.

"Matt, I can't!" Gabumon replied worriedly, "I've been trying but I can't!"

"Agumon!" Tai cried, "What's wrong?"

"I don't' know Tai, but it's like I'm stuck!"

"None of us can digivolve!" Gomomon cried, "We're useless!"

"SONIC BLAST!" Pegramon shouted again.

Tai looked around as the digimon circled, making way for another pass. Something was wrong, it didn't seem like it was trying to hurt them more like-.

"It separating us!" Matt cried suddenly, "Tai, Kari!"

Tai looked to his left where Kari should have been, but she had jumped opposite him during the digimon's last attack and was now off to herself. Tai, panicking, quickly ran towards her as the digimon attacked again.

"SONC BLAST!"

"Watch out!"

Matt managed to leap out of the way of another blast and, when he realized it hadn't attacked Tai and Kari when they were vulnerable he quickly looked up and around in time to see Sora slam against a rock cropping. Getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach he looked around to see Yolie Davis, and their digimon off to one side, Cody, Joe, and Izzy on another. Sora was down, rubbing at her head where she had hit the rocks, and Mimi was running towards her with Palmon at her side. Agumon was heading towards Tai while Tentomon, Wormon, and Gomomon huddle together, ready to make a stand. Without checking to see where anyone else was he quickly looked around for the attacking digimon, the sinking sensation deepening further. When he finally did spot the Pegramon he found it the middle of another pass heading for them once more.

"Tai!" Matt cried, "It's coming again, but I don't think Kari's the target!"

"What do you mean?"

"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" everyone covered their ears painfully as they received a full shot of the horrible screech. Tai, irritated, looked up just in time to see it take a dive, heading straight for-.

"MATT! LOOK OUT!" Tai cried as he, too, realized what Matt had only begun to realize. And Matt was still kneeling on the ground, his staff a foot away, oblivious to the threat.

Hearing Tai's frantic cry, however, Matt looked up just in time to see the bird's talons as they wrapped themselves around his exposed arm and he screamed painfully as his arm was jerked nearly out of his socket.

"MATT!" Sora cried out fearfully as she and Mimi watched, horrified, as Matt was swept away.

Gabumon ran forward, desperately trying to digivolve, and shot off a few blue blasters. Unfortunately they were useless against the creature as it began to soar away, Matt captive in its right talon.

"Stop that bird!" Agumon cried as he and the others, minus Gatomon, started after it. She was more intent on staring behind her, eyes wide and fearfully confused.

"It's back!" Gatomon cried, "The presence from before, it's back!"

Tai looked at Gatomon, confused, and saw her pointing in the direction they had come. When he looked over there however he saw a glinting, then a flash and a yellow beam shot out of the trees, heading right for their digimon.

"LOOK OUT!"

The digimon tried to duck the light, jumping out of its path, but Agumon, Gabumon, and Hawkmon were still swept away within and disappeared engulfed by the bright light.

"No! Hawkmon:" Yolie, her eyes filling with tears, stared in horror as she strained to see through the brightness.

"AGUMON!" Tai fell to his knees, feeling things couldn't' get any worse.

"HAWKMON DIGIVOLVE TO… AQUILLOMON!"
"AUGUMON DIGIVOLVE TO …GREYMON!"

"GABUMON DIGIVOLV TO…GARURUMON!"

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"NO!" The cry of anger shook the dark void as vortex showed the dark master the events taking place. HE cursed loudly, cursing his weak servant and cursing the woman who had saved them. "I can't have her wreaking my plans now, not when they are so close to completing! Sendalamon!"

"Yes master?"

"Get over here!"

"Yes. You wish some service?"

"Go find her! Find her and take care of her! Delay her, kill her, whatever! Just make sure she doesn't' interfere!"

"Master-."

"I know how powerful she is, I know how powerful that makes her partner, I don't care! So long as you don't' die and so long as keep her out of the way, I don't' care what you do! Just DO IT!"

"Yes master."

"You will not ruin my plans, not now not ever." The darkness hissed as it continued to stare within the vortex as, unbeknownst to it, two pairs of eyes silently watched as the plot thickened.

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"They digivolved!" Kari shouted, "But…how?"

"Who cares!" Tai cried joyfully, "Now we can get Matt back! Go Greymon!"

"Right, Tai!" the dinosaur agreed as he lumbered off.

"Yolie, grab on!" Aquillomon shouted as he flew towards her. Nodding Yolie reached out as he flew past, straddling him as one would a moving horse.

"Hang on Matt!" Garurumon shouted, "I'm coming!"

Matt, oblivious to his approaching rescue, groaned and hissed as his arm felt as though it was about to fall off.

"Leggo!" He cried as another pain shot though nerves, "You're killing my arm! It's gonna fall off!"

"Your arm is the least of your worries Human." The digimon sneered, "Where your going you'll most likely lose more." He gave Matt a little shake, forcing cry of pain from him, and flew on.

"What…are you talking about?" Matt managed to bite through the surging pain, but before he could receive an answer to his question Aquillomon shouted out his grand horn attack. It hit Pegramon square in the tail feathers and surprising it enough to drop Matt. Finding himself suddenly released Matt's eyes widened as he fell, fear of death filling him as, as if in slow motion, his body slowly turned until he was facing the approaching ground.

"Oh, no!" Yolie cried, "Hurry, catch him!"

"MATT!" Garurumon cried, speeding towards Matt before his impending impact with the ground.

Matt, seeing the ground slowly rise towards him found himself strangely calm. It was surreal to see the earth speeding towards him and-.

Feathers?

He found himself swept away by a carpet of blue feathers and he shook his head, the shock of near death swiftly clearing from his mind as other matters took over.

It must have been shock. He thought to himself as he felt the dazed feeling pass.

And then he realized just where he was.

"Pegramon!"

"I cannot allow you to die, human, it would mean my hide."

"Your hide?" Matt's mind began working at full and he stared at the birdmon's back. "What do you mean?" feeling a little unsteady Matt grabbed hold of the blue feathers knowing a fall from this height was not a good idea. Though, when he looked over the side, double-checking, he saw that he'd been caught pretty close to the ground, maybe ten feet.

"Your wanted alive!" the digimon hissed and Matt, forgetting the ground fro the moment, bit off a shocked retort.

"Alive! Somehow I don't think that's an option I am going to want!"

"Well, the only other choice is death here and now." The digimon snickered.

"I think I'll take my chances with another fall!" Matt shouted, jumping off the bird as it began to ascend.

"You fool!" It made to snatch Matt up again but Garurumon shot off a howling blaster followed up by Greymon's nova blast and the blue digimon disappeared into a disintegrating pixel cloud as Matt crashed to the earth and came to a rolling stop, unmoving.

Garurumon leapt over to where Matt had landed and looked down fearfully, his nose only inches from Matt's body. Aquillomon landed next and Yolie jumped off, fear over whelming her. She ran over to Matt and skidded to a halt, praying that the fifteen-foot fall hadn't killed him, and pushed Garurumon's head out of the way. She disregarded the growing pool of blood by his head and went straight for the pulse, waiting for a response. When she got none she went cold.

"No…no, no…." She looked him up and down, noticed the odd angle in which his leg lay, and checked his pulse again, holding his wrist with her other hand.

"Still…nothing."

She quickly turned Matt onto his back, making sure to keep his leg from being damaged further, and checked his heart.

"This cannot be happening!" She cried as she began to pump at his chest. "Come on Matt, breath darn it!"

Someone else skidded to her side and she felt rough hands latch onto her, shoving her out of the way. She watched painfully as Tai assessed the situation in less time then her and began CPR all over again. She watched, amazed, as he opened Matt's mouth and breathed, then pumped his chest.

"Matt!"

Yolie, dazed, looked over her shoulder to see the others weren't far behind Tai. As Sora passed her Yolie reached out, halting her form going any farther, and yanked her back dully. Sora tried to get out of her grasp but Yolie held tightly, knowing she would only interfere. Joe on the other hand, joined Tai in the life saving efforts and after a few more seconds Matt gasped as air filled his lungs on his own.

"Oh, thank god!" Tai sighed as Matt began coughing.

"Easy now." Joe stated as Matt tried to sit up, "I need to check you out."

"Who…who was kissing me?" Matt asked in reference to the mouth to mouth.

"Me." Tai replied

"Oh. Okay." Matt collapsed back onto the ground, "Hope Sora doesn't kill you to hard."

Tai cracked a grin and looked over at Sora. Seeing the grin Sora felt a wash of relief hit her and a smile that had nothing to do with being cheerful came to her face, tears filling her eyes.

Thank…thank goodness…!

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TK looked all around himself as he walked, studying the interior of the stone fortress he was trapped within. There were no windows, no way to tell if it was daylight or not. But then again since he was in the dark world he suspected there wouldn't be any light to look for.

He didn't see any form of decoration either just plain stonewalls. Whatever lived here lived in a tomb.

"It's any wonder any air gets in here, right Patamon?"

"The small digimon said nothing though he stared at everything. HE was increasingly watchful, waiting for something. Anything.

And then they heard it.

"Go find her! Find her and take care of her! Delay her, kill her, whatever! Just make sure she doesn't' interfere!"

TK looked around in surprise. The voice seemed to echo all around him and Patamon shivered.

"TK. I don't like that sound."

"And yet it's the one I am the most interested in." TK murmured

"I know how powerful she is," the voice continued in a rage. TK listened hard for the source and managed to determine the right direction. "I know how powerful that makes her partner, I don't care!"

TK walked down the length of the hall and turned down another corridor. The voice was getting stronger now.

"So long as you don't' die and so long as you keep her out of the way, I don't' care what you do! Just DO IT!"

"Yes master."

"Another voice." TK murmured, "We're closer."

"I'd rather we left." Patamon stated

"I can't." TK replied absently, "I mean…I want to but…I can't."

Another turn and TK reached a hall with an opening at the end. He had a suspicion this was where the voice stemmed from. HE walked forward, curiously unafraid, and slowly peeked around the edge of the doorway. What he saw through the darkness was a tall shadowed figure gazing through some form of magical window.

Watching as Matt fell from a dangerous height.

"Matt." TK wasn't sure why but he didn't seem all that concerned about his brother. It was surreal, almost as if it wasn't real. And yet he knew it was.

The figure watching the scene below was shaking with fury now. TK could almost feel the anger flaring within the creature as it hissed it's venomous insults at the window in which it looked through. TK turned away, confused. HE didn't understand anything that was going on. IF he were facing the mastermind of this entire situation then why would it be upset if his brother were hurt?

Or worse.

Pain began to enter TK's temple and his hand flew towards the source.

"TK?" Patamon asked, "Something is affecting you, isn't it?"

"I don't…I don't know."

"We need to get out of here TK."

"No…we must stay…." TK's head flew up and he looked around, panicked. He started forward at a stumbling sprint but stopped. His eyes dulled over and he straightened. "I can't go. Not yet."

"I can't leave you TK." Patamon murmured, holding tighter to TK's hair. TK's hand found Patamon's ear and gently scratched it as he turned back towards the entrance. When he returned to watching the dark figure he saw that it had relaxed.

"The fruition of my plans are still in effect." It murmured to itself and TK found himself looking into the window again. Matt was getting his head bandaged by Joe, though his leg looked awful. IT was then that the creature's next words stole his attention.

"It can still work. Despair will destroy that boy."

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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRUGH!" The pain was immense. Matt couldn't begin to think of anything worse then a bone being set and he clutched his leg painfully, his breath coming out in labored hisses as he willed the pain away.

Joe was now in the process of placing a splint over his leg and wrapping it in the bandages. That itself was a rather welcome distraction from the pain, Matt wondered why he the older boy had all the bandages. Did he really think he would need them all and who was he expecting to get hurt anyway?

You're reading too much into it. Matt thought to himself, He's just cautious. Reliable.

"Well, I think it's safe to say this is going to slow our progress a bit." Tai stated. "How is his condition Joe?"

"Well, his leg is only broken in one place, so that's some relief for us. That head wound, however," Joe indicated the bandages wrapped around Matt's head, "Indicates another problem."

"And what's that?" Sora asked

"Well, I don't have my medical books with me, I wasn't expecting something like this, but if I remember correctly Matt has a concussion. Not too bad to worry to much about, but not to minor either." HE turned to Matt, his expression serious and stern. "Your going to feel dizzy for a while, when you move that is. And extremely lightheaded. You'll also feel drowsy after awhile, be sure to ignore the feeling and don't go to sleep. Got it?"

"Yeah." Matt murmured, not entirely sure of what Joe was saying. The lightheadedness was already kicking in and he felt dazed. When Joe looked at him more closely he saw that his eyes were glazed over.

"Well, this isn't good." Joe looked around and Noticed Greymon, Garurumon, and Aquillomon were still there. "You guys haven't devolved yet?"

"We can't." Greymon stated.

"For some reason we're packed full of energy." Garurmon agreed. "It's…strange."

"Well…that is helpful." Joe murmured. "Can someone help me get Matt onto Garurumon? We can continue our journey and still managed faster then a crawl."

"Great." Tai said as he stood up. "I'll help."

Garurmon knelt down for Tai and Joe and, with a little prodding, Matt managed to climb onto the beast. He wavered slightly and held his head. A groan escaped him and he rubbed at the bandage.

"I feel sick." He muttered.

"You're going to." Joe replied. "And we still have awhile till we reach the mountain. I'd estimate about another day at the most."

"That's a clear estimation." Izzy replied, "I calculate that we won't reach Infinity until at the very least midday tomorrow."

"Well, at least that some progress, right?" Tai asked

"If we don't stop to rest."

"Oh."

"Then we won't." Matt stated, "Forget about me, I'm fine. Let's just get going. Once we reach the mountain we still have who knows how long till we actually find TK."

"He's right." Tai chewed the inside of his cheek as he pondered their situation. "All we can do is move out. Kari, I want you to sit with Matt on Garurumon, okay?"

"Yes." Kari nodded

"Good. You're going to help Garurumon keep Matt from falling asleep and falling off. Now let's move people! Times a'wasting!"

Kari and Gatomon walked over to Garurumon, boarded, and they all began to trek once more towards the portal to the dark world.

111break111

k2: (o.o)Wow.

MK: O-O You said it! Talk about changes!

k2: It's…different.

MK: TK is totally different.

k2: I almost killed Matt.

MK: Same thing as before.

k2: Yeah but…this time was literal! HE had to have CPR!

MK: (grins) You made Tai kiss him.

k2: This is a none yaoi fic!

MK: I know, I know.

k2: r&r please. I gotta know what peps think of this.

MK: WHO WANTS YAOI!
k2: NO YAOI!