Chapter 2

"I am going with you," Tsukiyo insisted.

"No. No, Tsukiyo. It's too dangerous," Izzy argued.

"I helped design the tracking device. Why shouldn't I help you use it?"

"You don't even have a digimon! The digital world can be a very dangerous place."

"You think I don't know that?" Tsukiyo retorted. "You've told me enough about it. I don't care; I'm going with you whether you like it or not."

T.K., Davis, Kari, Yolei, and Cody watched the argument with a mixture of impatience and amusement. Ken and the digimon were waiting for them in the digital world with the tracking device they hoped would lead them to the Key and Talya. This disagreement was costing them valuable time.

"Shall we put this to a vote?" Izzy asked.

"There's nothing to vote on; it's my choice to go with you. You can't stop me."

"She has a point there," Yolei pointed out. "She'll just follow us through the digiport. I guess you could tie her to a chair or something."

"I take my mom and grandpa all the time," Cody added.

"I'm with Izzy. It's just too dangerous to take someone without a digimon to look for Nimbusmon and Dokuhebimon," T.K. opined.

"I have to agree," Kari admitted. "I'd hate for anything to happen to you."

They looked to Davis to break the tie.

"Dudes, if she wants to come let her come. Let's just go; Ken is gonna be wondering what's keeping us. Digiport open!"

Tsukiyo gave Izzy a smug, triumphant smile, then followed the younger destined. Izzy sighed and jumped through before the digiport closed.

"What took you so long?" Ken asked. Then he spotted Tsukiyo and made an educated guess.

"Did you get any reading on the Key yet?" Izzy inquired.

Ken held up the tracking device, which looked something like a Geiger counter crossed with a compass. "I got a reading a few minutes ago. She's northeast of here, but I can't tell how far."

"There's one way to find out," said Cody.

The searchers set out. They decided to stay in a group so they would have a chance against Nimbusmon and Dokuhebimon when and if they found them. Every once in a while the tracking device would pick up the Key, and they would adjust their course accordingly.

Yolei gravitated toward Tsukiyo. "What do you do for a living?" she asked bluntly.

"I'm a scientific consultant, I give lectures, and I'm a theoretician."

"That's fascinating," Yolei said. "I can see why you get along so well with Izzy and Ken."

Kari joined them. "Do you think Talya was in the digiworld the whole time between her disappearance and when she stole the Key?"

"I don't know. It's entirely possible that she managed to hide that whole time, though a human in the digital world isn't exactly inconspicuous."

"It must have been lonely with only her digimon for company," Kari speculated.

Tsukiyo shook her head slightly. "She was raised in a Russian orphanage, so it may have been an improvement. Children in dyetskiye doma are often neglected, forbidden from owning personal possessions, stigmatized for life simply for being abandoned, any expression of their individuality discouraged. And those are the lucky ones."

"That's so sad," said Kari.

Ken stopped and turned around. "We're very close," he said.

"How can you tell?" asked T.K.

"The reading I got a few minutes ago and the one I just got were twenty degrees apart."

"Uh oh. Tentomon, you'd better digivolve."

"Tentomon digivolve to...Kabuterimon!"

Kari gave him an amused look. "You just wanted to show off for Tsukiyo, didn't you?"

"Maybe," Izzy admitted.

Ken looked down at the tracking device. It wasn't registering, but he still had a feeling he knew which way to go. "This way," he said, and started deeper into the forest.

The trees became larger, closer, and more shadowy. Then they came to a place where the trees grew so close a human couldn't squeeze between the trunks. The branches had a twisted, unnatural look.

"Cody, do you think Digmon could get through this?" asked T.K. in a whisper.

Cody looked to Armadillomon, who nodded.

"Do it."

"Armadillomon armor-digivolve to...Digmon!" He dove into the ground, plowing through the tangled roots to clear a path.

After only a few meters, the trees stopped at the edge of a marshy meadow. Talya stood on a low hill, looking in their direction.

"We've got you now, Talya. It's over!" Davis boasted.

"You wissshh." The hissed words came from the trees behind them. The digidestined looked up into the glowing eyes of Dokuhebimon. "Venom Spit!"

The attack hit Kabuterimon squarely, and he tumbled back for a few seconds before summoning a counter attack. "Electro Shocker!"

Dokuhebimon dodged out of the way.

The other digimon digivolved and faced their attacker. Dokuhebimon was swift, she was powerful, and the shadows of the canopy afforded her plenty of cover. She attacked again without giving them time to prepare. "Rattle Attack!" The vibrations rammed the cluster of digimon and children like a solid earthquake, throwing them all off balance. When the shaking stopped, Dokuhebimon was nowhere to be seen.

"Spread out!" T.K. ordered.

The digimon obeyed instantly. Pegasusmon, Nefertimon, Aquilamon, Exveemon, Stingmon, and Kabuterimon took to the air and began searching the treetops for Dokuhebimon.

A cool breeze rustled the leaves, carrying the scent of rain. The digidestined looked behind them and realized Talya had transformed herself into Nimbusmon.

"Thunder Staff!"

The digimon dodged Nimbusmon's attack. Aquilamon flew toward her. "Grand Horn!"

"Lightning Net!" Nimbusmon caught Aquilamon with her attack, swung him around, and sent him crashing into the trees.

"Rattle Attack!" Dokuhebimon charged Nefertimon and Pegasusmon.

"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon flew between Nefertimon and Pegasusmon and dissipated Dokuhebimon's attack before it could impact them.

"Venom Spit!"

Stingmon dodged her attack, then circled around and tackled her. He looked up, hoping for back-up, but the other digimon were either busy fighting Nimbusmon or had already been neutralized. Dokuhebimon wriggled out of his grasp. "Venom..." before she could deliver her attack, she was struck from behind by Exveemon and de-digivolved.

"Thanks," Stingmon said.

"No problem."

They both joined the battle against Nimbusmon, but their attacks seemed to have no effect on the cloud-digimon.

Then Stingmon noticed Hebimon creeping toward the group of humans, who had retreated into the shelter of the trees. Nimbusmon took advantage of his distraction. "Thunder staff!"

He de-digivolved and fell to the ground. Immediately after picking himself up, he went after Hebimon. "Sticky net!"

His attack stuck her to a tree, but she quickly broke through. "Serpent twister!" She sent a whirlwind that picked him off the ground and swirled him around before dropping him in a dizzy heap. "I don't want to fight you," Hebimon claimed. "I have no desire to be your enemy. My partner and I just want some peace and quiet."

"Then you shouldn't have stolen the Key," Wormmon replied as he struggled to regain his balance.

"It's the only way Talya can achieve her dream."

"Which is?"

"To be a digimon, like us."

They heard a shout of victory from Davis and looked back at the battle. Nimbusmon was retreating.

"She's getting better, but she still can't stay a digimon for very long," Hebimon told Wormmon as Nimbusmon landed and turned back into a human.

"Surrender, Talya!" T.K. called.

"Not yet! Let me show you a few more tricks first!" Talya lifted her arms, and the trees behind the digidestined began to bend. They twisted their branches forward until they touched the ground, trapping the humans in a cage. Talya clenched her fist and a bus suddenly appeared around Exveemon. It came crashing to the ground; Exveemon de-digivolved to Veemon. Then Talya made a quick gesture with one hand, and the ground shook and a chasm opened, pulling the digidestined downward. The remaining digimon flew to their partners' rescue.

Hebimon slipped past Wormmon and joined her partner. Wormmon thought about following her, but he was too worried about Ken. By the time he reached him, the ground had stopped shaking and Talya and Hebimon were nowhere in sight.

The digidestined and thier digimon climbed out of the chasm. They were scratched up, dirty, and shaken.

"Are you okay?" Izzy asked Tsukiyo.

"Yeah. That was incredible!"

Ken shook his head. He was clearly much more disturbed by the Key's power than Tsukiyo was. "The way she could control the digital world...I've never seen anything like it."

No one said anything for a moment. Some of them remembered the Digimon Emperor doing things like that. Cody broke the silence. "So what do we do now?"

T.K. clenched his jaw with determination. "I'll tell you what we're not going to do: we're not going to give up. The next time we find Talya she won't beat us so easily."