Taichi pulled Kimiko tight again while Metal Greymon backhanded the missiles with his metal arm. The Nuclear Laser struck the dinosaur's shoulder but the Giga Destroyer exploded on contact with Metal Tyrannomon's chest. The force threw the metal digimon and his human partner against the wall. Metal Greymon roared through the pain in his shoulder and unleashed his Trident Arm, firing it through Metal Tyrannomon's shoulder. The metal digimon screamed as he regressed to Shoutmon.

"You still okay?" Taichi asked his daughter.

Kimiko nodded slowly. "Yeah." She paused, "Dad, you're so cool."

His heart skipped as Yuki Agumon and the others ran to join them. After assurances they were fine, Taichi walked towards Taiki, who was holding an unconscious Shoutmon. "So, do you want to start talking now?"

Taiki snickered. He opened his mouth but any explanation was lost as a shimmering circle appeared behind him. That was replaced by a gaping hole in the air, similar to a distortion on a computer monitor. A large metal claw emerged, snatched Taiki and Shoutmon, and vanished back through the hole.

"What the hell?" Kimiko gasped.

"That looked like my Trident Arm," MetalGreymon said.

The distortion started shimmering and three figures emerged, all preteen boys, all with unkempt brown hair, and all wearing goggles. Taichi felt his skipping heart turn cold while Kimiko squeezed his hand. "Dad, they all look like…"

She trailed off and Taichi wondered what she was going to say. That all the boys looked like Taiki, or that they all looked like him. He swallowed. "All right, so who are you guys?"

The boy who wore his goggles around his neck smirked. "You wanna know our names, is that it? You think this is a friendly gathering? Well, fine." He gestured to the other two. "That's Takato and Takuya." He jerked a thumb at his chest, "And my name's Masaru. We're just here for a little cleanup. Taiki just ran out of chances, but don't worry. We just got orders to leave you alone for now. Looks like your memory problems make you not a threat." He smirked again, "For now."

"Orders?" Taichi asked, "Who's giving you orders? And who are you?"

"You're gonna find out soon enough. Later, losers." He and the other two boys walked back through the distortion before it shrunk to nothing and vanished.

Child of Courage

Chapter VII

Kimiko's father placed the bowl of rice on the table. "Here, chicken curry." He frowned. "At least, it's supposed to be chicken curry."

Kimiko studied the dish. "Is it supposed to be purple?"

"It's not. I mean, it's not supposed to be." He rubbed the back of his head, "I think the broth made the cabbage run."

Agumon swirled the concoction with his spoon. "Did you add too much cabbage or too little broth?" He poured the contents into his mouth like he was taking a shot. "A little of both."

Her dad snarled slightly. "You can cook next time!"

The orange dinosaur burped and a small puff of smoke came from his nose. "Sure, but remember I charbroil everything."

Yuki Agumon slurped her meal down in a similar manner to Agumon. "Tastes fine to me."

"Thank you. I'm glad somebody likes it."

"Yeah, but she'll eat everything," Kimiko said, "And I'm not exaggerating."

Yuki Agumon patted her bloated stomach. "Guilty as charged."

Kimiko joined the two digimon in laughing. Her father started laughing as well. It was a deep laugh they shared, a familial laugh, a laugh to ignore the nagging questions in their minds.

The two digimon, their meals inhaled, plopped down in front of the tv. Kimiko started eating but even the unique taste of her dad's cooking couldn't keep her mind from wandering back to earlier.

"Do you think those boys were my brothers or something?"

Her father's face twisted but she didn't know if it was from her question or that he shoved a spoonful of curry into his mouth. "Why do you think that?"

She stared back with her eyebrows raised in an annoyed expression. "Seriously? They look just like you, like us!"

He chuckled. "Yeah, I guess they do. Well, you were with Taiki more than I was. Did he ever say he was your brother?"

She searched her memories but then shook her head. "No, I don't think so, but he thought I was just bullshitting with him, so he probably thought I already knew…whatever it is I'm supposed to know about him."

Her father nodded and silence filled the room. He then cleared his throat. "So, I should have asked this before, but have you been in the Digital World?"

Kimiko couldn't remember, but that wasn't surprising. She turned to Yuki Agumon, who shrugged. "Me neither, but I guess I would have had to have been born there, right?"

Something tickled at the back of Kimiko's mind but she instinctively scratched the back of her head. Must have just been an itch.

"Yeah," her father said, "I guess."

Kimiko stared at her meal and let strands of brown hair fall around her face. "Why can't I remember anything?"

"Hey," her father said.

She didn't respond.

"Kimiko!"

She looked up and found him smiling at her. "Look, I'm gonna guess that you probably ran from those guys, but you had to have a good reason, even if you can't remember. But regardless, whatever happened, it's not your fault, got it?"

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah I guess so. I just-"

She gasped as a shiver ran through her body. She suddenly found herself at a table eating dinner with a group of other children. She couldn't make out any of their faces but she knew them.

Then she was back in the present with her father standing over her. "Kimiko!"

She heaved, trying to get her breathing back to normal. "I'm okay, I'm okay. I saw those boys! I mean, I didn't really see them but somehow I remember them!" She stared up at her father. "Dad, what's wrong with me?"

Her father stammered but no words came from his mouth. Instead, he pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Taiki snarled, "I had them!"

Masaru crossed his arms and snorted. "Oh really? I must've been watching a different fight then, 'cause it looked like you were about to get your ass handed to you!"

Taiki opened his mouth but Takato cut him off. "If we hadn't pulled you and Shoutmon back here, it's very likely you would have been taken prisoner. Who knows what you might have told the Chosen."

Taiki turned to his partner before he glanced around the dark room and muttered. "Yeah, home sweet home. Like me or Shoutmon would've ever told the Chosen-"

He wanted to keep going but felt a wave of fatigue wash over him. He put a rag over his mouth as he coughed. When he pulled it back, he saw the white fabric was covered with specks of blood.

"Getting worse, eh?" Masaru asked.

Taiki pushed his fear aside and glared at the other boy. "I'm going after her-"

"No, you're not. You're out of chances."

"But-"

"No use bitchin' to me," he said with a smirk, "That comes from higher up." He gestured to Takato and the other boy walked into the shadows. Masaru gave a short wave before he, too, vanished into the darkness.

"What now?" Shoutmon asked.

"We're not giving up," Taiki declared. He felt for his digivice on his belt, "That girl is ours!"

Kimiko tapped the button on the remote and watched the channels fly past on the television. She wasn't even paying attention; it was just mindless repetition while she listened to her father on the phone. It was hard not to; a closet would have been bigger than the apartment. He would have been in the bathroom except Agumon had been in there an hour ago and it was still airing out.

"Yeah," her father whispered to his phone, "but how? Are we supposed to get each one of those boys to spit in a test tube? She remembered something last night but we can't just wait around for it to come back."

Kimiko tensed so hard that the plastic remote dug into her skin. She slammed it into the couch but the remote bounced harmlessly to the floor. It wasn't even enough to wake Agumon, who was snoring loudly in his mid-morning nap. Yuki Agumon looked up from the DS. "Something wrong?"

The human stared at the digimon. Yuki Agumon shrugged slightly. "The usual?"

Kimiko glanced over her shoulder. Her father was still looking out the window with his back to her. "Yeah, but isn't there, like, some kind of experiment we could…All right! I was just asking."

She didn't want to know what he'd suggested. She turned back and her partner nodded. "The usual."

Kimiko sighed and grabbed the sides of her head. "Dad's getting stressed out, Aunt Hikari and Tailmon almost got really hurt yesterday, and it feels like someone's trying to pop my head like a freaking zit!"

Yuki Agumon was quiet for a moment and then shrugged. "Well, you've got enough room in there, right?"

Kimiko punched her partner in the shoulder. "You could try remembering too!"

"I think whatever's messing my memories up is because of our connection, so what's the point of me trying if you can't?"

The human grumbled and snatched the remote from the floor. She was about to start flipping through the channels again when the TV screen started flickering and then froze in a kaleidoscope of pixelation.

"What did you do?" Yuki Agumon asked.

Kimiko pressed buttons on the remote at random. "I don't know! I…"

She trailed off as the pixels twisted into a familiar face. Taiki! Kimiko looked over her shoulder but her father was still looking out the window. Agumon was still snoring from the cot.

She swallowed. "How did you-"

The screen started flickering again but Taiki's voice was clear. "Sorry to hijack whatever it is you're watching, but I've got a message for…well, that person knows who they are. We're going to settle this, got it? Meet me where you remember meeting me the first time and I'll give you what you want. You've got one hour."

Then the screen flashed back to two old men sauteing in a kitchen. "He acted like he didn't see us or something," Yuki Agumon said.

"Yeah, right," Kimiko answered, "I think he was just hacking into a bunch of different signals at once or something like that." She frowned, "First place we met?"

She gasped and jumped off the couch. Yuki Agumon followed. "We're going? Should we tell-"

Kimiko paused but then continued pulling on her sneakers. "No. I'm the one that can't remember anything. If that jerk can tell me then, well, I won't be a problem to Dad and the others."

Yuki Agumon rubbed the side of her head. "That doesn't make a lot of sense to me-"

Kimiko opened the door as quietly as she could. "It's not supposed to. Now come on."

Taichi jerked his head over his shoulder when he heard the door shut. Neither Kimiko nor Yuki Agumon was in sight. He told Koushiro he'd call him back and then started for the door. In the few steps it took to reach the other side of the apartment, he glanced at the tv. A woman behind a news desk was talking. "...can confirm that our signal was hijacked." She placed a finger to her ear. "Yes, I'm now just getting reports that we were not the only ones. Someone was able to hack the broadcasting capabilities of the entire city, a feat thought impossible. Who was this mysterious boy and who was he talking to? What did he mean by the place where they first met?"

Taichi felt the color drain from his face and he kick the cot where Agumon was sleeping. "Wake up!"

Kimiko and Yuki Agumon found Taiki and Shoutmon waiting for them in the clearing in the park. The boy smirked. "You got the message. Good. I was afraid you weren't gonna figure it out."

She wasn't interested in anything he had to say other than the answer to, "Are you my brother?"

Taiki raised an eyebrow and glanced at Shoutmon. He then shrugged. "Well, since you're not leaving here, I guess you won't be able to tell the other Chosen…"

Kimiko felt like her heart was on a trampoline. This was it! Time to find out who she really was!

Then Taiki laughed. "Gotcha! Yeah, I'm not that stupid."

Kimiko gritted her teeth while Yuki Agumon growled. "You jerk! You said-"

"On the video?" he asked, still laughing. That laugh soon turned into a horrendous sound of hacking and coughing. Shoutmon reached for the boy but he batted him aside.

Kimiko then noticed Taiki looked a little paler.

The boy took a series of deep breaths and the coughing stopped."You come with us without kicking and screaming and me and the others'll tell you everything."

"Really?" If she went with him but made sure that she knew where the way out was-

"Kimiko!"

Yuki Agumon was staring at her with her mouth gaping open. Taiki was just as surprised. Kimiko shook her head. "Yeah, right. I lost my head for a second." She narrowed her eyes at Taiki. "I'll just make you talk!"

The boy laughed. "Really? The only reason you're not groveling at our feet is because of…your father."

She raised an eyebrow. "What the hell was that pause about?" She felt a chill as she said, "Were you gonna say 'our'?

"I'm through talking!" he snapped. He held up his digivice. "Shoutmon!"

Kimiko squeezed her own device. "Yuki!"

Yuki Agumon evolved into Allomon while Shoutmon grew into Metal Tyrannomon. "I thought you needed to Jogress!"

Metaltyrannomon smirked. "You know what to do to get the answer."

Kimiko gritted her teeth. "It doesn't matter that he's Fully Evolved, we'll find a way to win. Do it!"

"Shoutmon evolve to MetalTyrannomon!"

"Yuki Agumon evolve to Allomon!"

MetalTyrannomon roared before charging. Allomon repeated the challenge before running forward. The cyborg thrust out his arm and fired a missile. "Giga Destroyer II!"

Allomon tried to twist away but the projectile struck her in the side. MetalTyrannomon chuckled while the allosaurus snarled. "Oh yeah? Dynamite Head!"

She shot forward and smashed her head into MetalTyranomon's chest. He heaved but recovered quickly, smashing both fists down into Allomon's back. The allosaurus howled before using her jaws to rip metal and wire from MetalTyranomon's chest. He threw her back and clutched at his gaping wound.

Kimiko cheered while Taiki snarled. Was he sweating?

Allomon inhaled and then unleashed her Dino Burst, sending a blast of superheated air at MetalTyrannomon. He whipped his life hand out and fired a Nuclear Laser. The beam cut through the shot of hot air and struck Allomon snout. Her head jerked back and MetalTyrannomon shot forward, smashing his arm into Allomon's neck and throwing her to the ground.

Kimiko gasped and then turned to Taiki. The boy swallowed and seemed to pant with each breath. What was wrong with him? "So, ready to give up, yet?"

Kimiko turned back to Allomon, lying on the ground with Metaltyrannomon's foot firmly on her head. Her partner was about to be deleted. In her mind, she saw her father on the phone; this was replaced by Taiki and the other boys. She shouldn't have come here; she shouldn't have fallen into Taiki's trap, but she had to know.

Who was she?

She felt the energy, the dark, frustrated, angry energy wash over her body. A part of her wanted to stop it, to jerk it back, to banish it into the dark recesses of her mind but another part, a stronger part, ignored the warning and let it wash down her arm and into her digivice.

Allomon arched her head back and let out a low, deep, almost demonic roar. "Allomon evolve to SkullGreymon!"

Taichi saw the familiar light shoot up from deeper in the park. "Someone's evolving!"

"It's gotta be Yuki Agumon," Agumon said, "Or else-"

Whatever else he said, if anything, was lost as the geyser of light turned from bright white into a horrific black. Dark evolution!

The duo went from running to being in a full marathon. They raced through the park, twisting around trees and jumping over benches until reaching the clearing. Taichi slid to a stop on the wet grass and his mouth dropped. Agumon raced up beside him and gasped. "Holy shit!"

Taichi could only nod. A SkullGreymon had what was left of a Metal Tyrannomon in its mouth. That boy, Taiki, was lying on the ground, unmoving, while a familiar girl was on her knees and staring up at the evening sky.

Taichi hissed under his breath, "Kimiko…"

To be continued.