Chapter 11: Endgame

They were ready. None of them had questioned how Jack had known, they had just trusted him. So here they all were, back by the lake, waiting for the fight to begin. Izzy tossed a rock into the lake and watched it sink. "Why are you so sure he's coming?" Izzy asked.

Jack was leaning against a tree, seemingly unconcerned about the fight he said was coming. "I wasn't kidding when I said I was a prophet." Jack said. Although he was trying to look like he was keeping his cool his eyes were darting around looking for something.

Izzy rolled his eyes, "Yeah a prophet, what next, huge sea monsters in the middle of the desert.

TK was on the other side of the lake skipping stones. "Okay Takeru," Kari said putting her hand on TK's shoulder, "tell me what's wrong."

TK looked up at her worry evident in his eyes. "I don't think we can do this." he admitted. "Only four Ultimates against Piedmon, we just aren't strong enough."

"Don't give up hope Takeru," Kari said sitting down beside him, "after all you are hope." She sighed, "It does look kind of bleak." she admitted. "We've been in worse spots though: we beat Malomyotismon, we beat Apoclymon, and you beat Devimon."

Kari bit her lip when she saw the pain in her eyes at the mention of that name. She looked down at the ground and tried to think of one that would cheer him up. "You saved me from the Dark Ocean." she said with a little grin.

TK looked over at her, "Speaking of which, how are your nightmares?"

"They're fine." Kari lied. She rested her head on TK's shoulder, "They're all gone when I'm near you." she admitted. "I think we should sleep together every night." she suggested.

"I'm good with that." TK said with a smirk, Kari blushed.

Melissa felt like a fifth wheel. She had no partner, no experience, and no secret knowledge. She was merely excess baggage, just someone else to protect in the upcoming battle. A fight everyone else seemed to be stressing over.

"Hello Digidestined." A voice said from above them. "It's so good to see you two again, through my own eyes."

They looked up to see the, to some, familiar two-toned face of their foe. Piedmon had come for them. "Too bad we're ready for you!" TK yelled up at him.

Piedmon laughed, "So the crybaby's the leader now." he remarked. "What happened to the idiot with the goggles?"

"Don't call Takeru a crybaby!" Kari yelled.

"Quit making fun of Tai!" TK shouted at the same time.

"So what if Davis is an idiot!" Izzy exclaimed simultaneously.

"You lot don't stand a chance." Piedmon stated. "You even came here with an unarmed girl." Melissa gave the clown digimon the finger. Kari smiled and nodded approvingly.

"Let's go." TK said grimly.

"Patamon digivolve to Angemon digivolve to Magnangemon."

"Gatomon digivolve to Angewomon."

"Tentomon digivolve to Kabuterimon digivolve to Megakabuterimon."

"Skullmon digivolve to Bonemon digivolve to Skelemon digivolve to Necromon."

Piedmon surveyed the four Ultimates in front of him, "Still not enough." he declared.

Both Magnangemon and Necromon slashed at Piedmon but the Mega blocked both attacks. He twisted to the side and avoided the arrow that Angewomon fired at him. "Horn Buster." this attack came from above and a reminder that combat was three dimensional.

Piedmon glared at the insect that had dared to hit him. "Trump sword." All four swords converged on Megakabuterimon and sent him to the ground as Tentomon. "You cannot defeat me." he bragged, "If you left that girl behind you might have stood a chance." Seeing Melissa's confused eyes he continued, "Didn't you ever wonder what happened to your poor little Demi? Well I'll give you a genealogy; the egg hatches and Pakamon comes out, it digivolves to Minidevimon, it digivolves to Demidevimon, it digivolves to Devimon, it digivolves to Myotismon, and finally into me."

"Fuck you!" Melissa yelled. "You're not my Demi! Demi was my friend, he would never do something like this." There were tears in the corners of her eyes. "You're not my Demi, you, you, you killed him, you, you, fuck you!"

"I don't think he's lying." Kari said sadly, "That whole genealogy sounds right."

"That's because it is." Izzy said softly.

"You're the smart one Izzy," TK said, "can't you come up with someway to beat him?"

Izzy slapped his head with the palm of his hand. "I'm sorry." he said, "I can't think of anything; my thoughts just won't clear up. I need a smoke."

"Do you even know what you're smoking?" Jack growled at him. "All it is is Tums in incense form. Anything you came up with on it you would have come up with off it."

Izzy looked up at Jack, "You mean that stuff did nothing?" Jack nodded. "So, I came up with all of that on my own." Izzy said with pride in his voice, a deep purple aura began to build around him.

Tentomon rose to his feet. "Tentomon warp digivolve to Herculeskabuterimon." Piedmon spun to face his newest adversary but he wasn't quick enough, "Mega Electroshocker!" The attack hit home and blasted the evil clown into the ground. "Izzy your confidence in your intelligence is giving me strength." the insectoid Mega stated.

Izzy suddenly got an idea. "Melissa," he called, "I think he's feeding off your fear. Just remember that if he's really your partner he can't physically hurt you."

The other digimon attacked as Piedmon got up. He dodged a slash from Magnangemon and threw two of his swords at Angewomon. Magnangemon knocked them both aside and Angewomon fired an arrow past her fellow angel and hit Piedmon in the shoulder. Piedmon grimaced in pain; it felt like his strength was being drained away.

"Reaper's Scythe." Piedmon brought up a sword to ward off the blow, but the scythe cut straight through it. Piedmon then noticed a cord of light connecting him to Melissa's digivice. He threw his final sword at her in an attempt to sever the connection forever.

Melissa just smiled serenely at the sword and it stopped a hair's breadth from her face and then fell to the ground, harmless. "Mega Electroshocker." the attack knocked Piedmon into the air and away from everyone but Magnangemon.

"Gate of Destiny." the gate opened, began to pull everything in front of it in, and it took all of Piedmon's diminishing strength to keep himself outside of it.

"Celestial Arrow."

"Dark Slash."

"Giga Scissorclaw."

The three attacks struck Piedmon in the back and propelled him forwards through the gate. Once the gate shut Melissa dropped to her knees and let the tears flow.

"Melissa it's okay." TK said stepping towards the girl, "It's all over now."

Without warning Melissa spun and punched TK in the gut. "You don't get it do you?" she shouted. "I just watched and helped in the death of my first real friend, my best friend, and damn it my best friend. You have no fucking idea how I feel!"

"Oh I've got a pretty good idea how it feels!" TK yelled back. "When I was eight years old Patamon died."

Melissa rolled her eyes, "Then why is he sitting there next to you?" she asked. The digimon had all since dedigivolved.

"Melissa," Kari began, "digimon never really die; their data just gets recycled and they come back as an egg at Primary Village."

Melissa looked at Kari through tear filled eyes, "You mean Demi's coming back?" she whispered. Kari nodded once. Melissa grabbed her in a crushing hug and whispered near silent 'thank god's and 'thank you's. She stepped back abruptly a second later and wrinkled her nose, "You really smell like sex." she commented.

Kari blushed and looked away. Under her breath she mumbled something like, "We didn't actually have sex."

While they were speaking a corona of light surrounded them and when it faded they were in a city. "So where are we now?" Jack asked.

"Home." Melissa sighed while looking around. "We're in Chicago."

Well Piedmon was Melissa's partner, who saw that coming? No, I really want to know.