Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
A/N: Well, not much to say here, except that we're back to Tai's group. I will fix any mistakes I accidentally overlooked tomorrow.
Following the Footsteps of Destiny
Chapter 145: A Helping Hand
Masato 'Matty' Takaishi
File Island, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World
Masato Takaishi stood huddled next to his Aunt Sora, gazing miserably at the battle taking place between WarGreymon's group and Vampiramon's allies, and although he was witnessing Angelicmon's every attack and every move, his mind was focused on Sam and the ocean.
I hope Dai and the others can reach him in time before something really terrible happens, but what if we're too late? What if DarkAngelicmon has already found a way to hurt Sam, and I don't mean physically. I know what Vampiramon said about Lucemon, but even she thinks DarkAngelicmon may have decided to go after Sam first before capturing Lucemon. It's just not fair! I should be helping Dai and the others, but instead I'm stuck here fighting a useless battle that isn't going to help us find Sam or the Spirit Chips.
Like Mickey, he was sure the darkness he felt was coming from Sam's heart, and it scared him more than anything else he had witnessed in the Digital World so far, including the creepy shadow that had been stalking them in DarkAngelicmon's castle. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was sure DarkAngelicmon had gone after Sam, but so far he had yet to figure out exactly why the fallen angel would waste his time chasing after Sam when he could be searching for Lucemon instead. Unfortunately, all the reasons he could think of, most of them having something to do with the Digimon Emperor, weren't exactly encouraging. The worst part about the whole thing was the fact that he knew Mickey felt the same way he did, and unfortunately Mickey's feelings were usually right.
Speaking of Mickey, I hope he isn't trying to do something heroic to save Sam. I know his heart is in the right place, but his efforts to help Sam aren't going to do much good if he doesn't use his brain, too. Well, at least he's with Dai and Ryoko. I know I can trust them, even if I can't trust Mickey to keep his own head on straight. I bet he's worried about me, though he'd probably never admit it to the others, unless of course they were to ask him about it. I feel the same way about him, only in my case it's not as much of a problem. Unlike me, Mickey needs to concentrate only on Sam, but I'm not sure if he can do that. His heart is too big for that sort of thing. If only there was something I could do to help him. I wish Dai were here. He would know what to do. Sam and Mickey need me, and I need them...
"Cheer up, Matty," Sora suddenly whispered softly in his ear. "We'll all be together again soon, you'll see."
Matty slowly looked up at his aunt and gave her a half-hearted smile. "You know what, Aunt Sora? It's tough having brothers and sisters."
"Your uncles felt the same way when they were trying to save the Digital World. It might be hard, but you're still a lucky kid, Matty. I wish I could have had a sibling, but even though my parents never had a second child, that doesn't mean I don't understand how you're feeling right now. Your parents and the rest of my friends are like family to me, and even though they're all grown up now, I still worry about them."
"Mickey's bad enough as it is. Don't even get me started on Dai and the rest of my friends."
Sora gave him a quick kiss on the top of his golden head and pulled him into a warm hug. "You're a wonderful person, Matty, just like your parents."
Matty returned his aunt's hug and glanced anxiously at the yellow D-Coder in his hand. The glowing dots representing Dai, Ryoko, and Mickey still hadn't quite reached the ocean yet and their obvious slow progress towards their destination was making him feel extremely nervous. In fact, Dai and Ryoko had almost come to a complete standstill, and for some odd reason Sam appeared to be standing motionless in the forest. That's strange. Before it looked as if Sam was heading towards the ocean, so why did he suddenly stop, and why are Dai and the others taking so long to reach him? He could be in big trouble.
"I hope Kara and the others are okay," Sora said quietly, almost to herself. The female Digidestined's face was pinched with fear, and Matty could tell she was obviously worried about her daughter. Tai, too, seemed unusually subdued, and although he was shouting encouragement to WarGreymon, his words lacked their usual enthusiasm and he kept glancing back at the edge of the forest.
At his daughter...
"Be careful, MetalGarurumon, she's fast!" Matt shouted, glaring at Spritemon.
Letting go of his aunt, Matty quickly stepped between his two uncles and frowned at the battle taking place before him. Garudamon and MetalGarurumon were trying unsuccessfully to knock Spritemon out of the air while WarGreymon and Angelicmon were attempting to avoid Jestermon's barrage of pulsing black spheres. Neither side in either of the two groups appeared to be making much headway, but Matty knew it was only a matter of time before somebody faltered, giving the other side an edge that could prove to be dangerous.
"You call this a battle?" Spritemon smirked, flipping over backwards in the air and zooming underneath Garudamon's right wing. "I was expecting more from a couple of megas and an ultimate, but it looks like I'm going to suffer a huge disappointment. Fairy Cannon!"
Spritemon put her hands together and two small blasts of emerald green light shot out of the small guns concealed within her green gauntlets. They combined together to create a huge ball of glowing green energy, which she shot straight a Garudamon's back. It hit the ultimate directly between the shoulder blades, and letting out a gasp of surprise, the bird digimon faltered in the air and began to descend face first towards the ground. Luckily she managed to recover before falling directly on top of MetalGarurumon, gaining control of her wings just inches above the mega digimon's heavily armoured head.
"Garudamon, don't let her get behind you!" Sora cried, gazing anxiously at her partner.
Garudamon didn't reply, but she did pause long enough to send her partner a reassuring look before launching herself back into the air again "Only a coward attacks from behind!"
"That's your problem, Garudamon. You and your friends try too hard to follow the rules," Spritemon snorted. "What I did was smart, not cowardly. There's a difference."
"Not to me, there isn't. Wing Blade!"
A glowing orange, spectral image of a bird hit Spritemon right in the midsection and sent her tumbling head over heels through the air. She crashed into the earth hard enough to send up a cloud of loose dirt, and a piercing shriek escaped her lips, the sound ringing in Matty's ears. To his complete surprise, she sat up almost immediately, but before she could get to her feet, MetalGarurumon was upon her. Leaping into the air and using his front paws as weapons, the wolf digimon knocked Spritemon flat onto her back, his momentum sending him soaring over her body. Twisting in the air, he skidded to a stop about ten feet away from the evil mega, his face turning towards her, and let out a low growl. "Metal Wolf Snout!"
Matty gasped as four beams of energy shot out of the four laser sites on MetalGarurunon's nostrils and exploded into Spritemon, sending a swirling tornado of smoke soaring into the sky. The little mega barely had time to see the attack, let alone avoid it, and MetalGarurumon's accuracy had been about as perfect as it was possible to be. There was no way Spritemon could have survived such a devastating attack.
"Great job, MetalGarurumon, but don't let your guard down. She's not going to give up that easily," Matt warned.
"Huh?" Matty glanced at his uncle in surprise and tugged nervously on the former musician's arm. "You mean...she hasn't been turned into data yet?"
Matt looked at him and let out a deep sigh. "Evil digimon are sneaky, Matty, especially megas. They'll do anything they can to gain the upper hand, especially if it means increasing their odds of a victory. Making us think we've won when we really haven't is one of their more popular methods of deceiving us."
"Matt's right, Spritemon's a tough digimon. It'll take more than that to delete her," Tai added, shaking his head. "Come on, WarGreymon, you can do it. Jestermon's no match for you!"
Matty turned to glare at the court jester and quickly ducked as one of the evil mega's black spheres bounced off WarGreymon's shield and ricocheted towards him. His Aunt Sora was standing directly behind him, but Matt managed to pull her out of the way before the dark ball of energy could hit her in the face. Instead, it zipped past her ear and disappeared into the distance.
"Thanks, Matt, that was a close one," Sora gasped, giving the former musician a grateful smile.
Matt returned the smile and put an arm around her shoulders. "No problem."
"Watch we're you're deflecting those things!" Tai shouted, frowning at his partner and reaching out to take his wife's hand. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Tai, you don't need to worry about me."
"What about you, Matty?"
"I want to find Mickey and the others."
Tai smiled at him and gently ruffled his golden hair. "We will, don't worry."
"But...what about Kara?"
"Sorry, guys," WarGreymon called out, ducking under a black sphere himself and hurtling towards Jestermon. At the last minute he leaped into the air and attempted to tackle Jestermon, but the fool managed to roll out from under him and proceeded to dance around in a circle, his black spheres shooting out in all directions. One of them came close to Angelicmon's left wings and two more flew over the angel digimon's head, just barely missing the fluffy feathers poking through his golden hair. The rest flew straight towards WarGreymon, but once again he used his Brave Shield to block them. They bounced off the shield's shiny surface and zoomed back towards Jestermon, catching the fool completely off guard. Letting out a yelp of surprise, he quickly flattened himself against the earth and covered his head with his arms. The black spheres flew over his head, making the bells on his green, blue, and red hat sing out a frantic tune, and collided with a clump of bushes shooting up from the ground directly behind him. There was a huge explosion of dark energy, and when Matty looked at the bushes again, he was shocked to discover they had almost completely withered away.
The bushes are dying. It's like Jestermon's spheres have sucked the life out of them...
Swallowing a lump of fear in his throat, Matty moved closer to his uncles and pointed at the court jester. "Why did his attack kill those bushes? It didn't work like that when he used it on Mickey a few days ago."
"It's simple, Matty. At that point in time, he wasn't interested in killing Mickey," Tai explained, slipping an arm around his shoulders and frowning at the court jester. "All he wanted was your brother's D-Coder, but if he had wanted to kill Mickey, now that you've seen what his attack can really do, he probably could have done it easily, though that's without taking into considering the effect the Digital World has on Mickey's body. Who knows what might have happened."
"But...he did try to kill Mickey, remember?"
"Yeah, but you know Jestermon. He likes to play games, just like Puppetmon did. Killing Mickey with his attack would have been too simple, so instead of choosing the easy route, he decided to do something a little bit more interesting."
"He dropped Mickey off a building! I wouldn't call that interesting, I'd call it crazy!"
"Well, Jestermon was really angry when you guys found a way to save Mickey. Maybe, at that point, he would have been annoyed enough to just finish all of you off as quickly as possible, but Angelicmon never gave him the chance to use his attacks," Matt said quietly, his angry, blue eyes watching Jestermon's every move.
Mickey, do you even realize how close we came to losing you? I hope you're safe...
Matty squeezed his eyes shut and clung tightly to his Uncle Tai's bright orange shirt. He could feel Mickey out there somewhere, and his twin's reassuring presence made him feel slightly better, but it wasn't enough to stop him from worrying. Mickey was really upset about something. He could feel it in his heart, and although he didn't know exactly what was causing his brother so much pain, it was starting to drive him crazy.
It must be because of Sam...
"You still have yet to answer for what you did to Mickey! Did you really think I was going to let you get away with that?" Angelicmon snapped at the court jester. "Celestial Star!"
Matty looked up just in time to see Angelicmon's attack hit Jestermon directly in the chest, but instead of going down, the fool merely turned on his heel and launched what appeared to be a never ending stream of black spheres at his opponent. At first, Angelicmon was able to avoid them with ease, but as the attack continued he started to lose both his strength and his speed. Growing tired, he tried to avoid two more shooting towards his legs and failed to see the third one heading straight for his wings. Matty tried to shout a warning, but it was too late. The third sphere shot straight through two of Angelicmon's six wings and sent him crashing back down to earth. Matty could see the gaping holes in his partner's middle wings, and the other four, thought not as bad, also looked severely damaged.
"Angelicmon!"
"Stay here, Matty! If you go to your partner now, you'll definitely get hurt!" Matt said frimly, grabbing his arm to stop him from running into the battle.
"But-"
"It's okay, Matty," Sora said softly, gently patting his back. "WarGreymon and the others will help him. If you go out there now, you'll only distract them, and that will give Spritemon and Jestermon the edge. If that happens, all of us will be in danger. Angelicmon wouldn't want that."
"But...Jestermon's never been able to do something like that to our partners before..."
"They're megas, Matty," Tai said seriously, his dark eyes following WarGreymon's every move, "and for once they're acting like it."
"It looks like the game is over," Sora sighed. "Now the real fight begins."
"You're going to pay for that!" WarGreymon growled, moving over to stand protectively in front of Angelicmon.
Jestermon let out a loud cackle and began to advance towards WarGreymon. "As a firm believer in fair play, I've decided to inform you that I've changed the rules a little bit. How? Well, you'll just have to guess. The fool can't give away all his secrets. Here's your first clue. Fire Jest!"
WarGreymon just barely got his shield up in time before a huge stream of fire shot out of Jestermon's mouth and headed straight for the middle of his chest. The fire exploded into the symbol of the Crest of Courage, creating huge scorch marks all over WarGreymon's shiny shield, but Jestermon either didn't notice or didn't care because instead of letting his attack dissipate, it continued to grow in heat and intensity. Not only that, but Spritemon had managed to launched herself into the air again and was shooting her green balls of energy down at MetalGarurumon.
"Your attacks won't stop us that easily. Wing Blade!" Garudamon shouted, once again shooting a fiery orange spectral image of a bird at Spritemon.
"Giga Missile!" MetalGarurumon growled, firing a large missile from his chest into the sky.
Spritemon immediately dropped towards the earth and the two attacks collided, creating a huge explosion in mid-air.
Shrieking with laughter, Spritemon soared back into the sky and proceeded to hover above the battle field with her hands in the air. The devious look on her face immediately caught Matty's attention, and he glanced anxiously at his aunt and uncles. They, too, were watching Spritemon closely, and Matty could tell they were just as suspicious of the sprite digimon as he was. Even their digimon had paused to look at Spritemon, including WarGreymon, who was no longer trying to fend off Jestermon. As soon as Spritemon had fluttered into the air, Jestermon had immediately ceased his attack, clearly excited to find out whatever it was Spritemon intended to do.
"What is she up to?" Sora muttered, gazing suspiciously at the little mega.
Spritemon glared at Tai for a moment and slowly shook her head. "For too long we have taken pity on you and your digimon, but no more. It's time to end this once and for all. We made the unfortunate mistake of underestimating you, but I assure you, we will not make that mistake again. Jestermon and I are megas, and it's time you learned just how powerful we really are."
"Oh excellent, this is going to be good!" Jestermon said excitedly, hopping up and down on his toes and spinning around in a circle. "I believe the game has just reached a new level and there's no turning back now. Can you handle the new rules, Digidestined, or will you fall into oblivion?"
"The game is over," Spritemon hissed, "but the war has only just begun. Pixie Dust!"
Spritemon's entire form began to glow, and a shower of glittering green dust exploded out of her body and began to descend towards the battle field. Matty had seen this attack before in the past, but never had the dust been so thick, nor had it covered such a vast area of ground. Its range had widened enough to cover all four of their digimon, and almost immediately they began to cry out in pain. Garudamon hurtled out of the sky and landed with a crash next to MetalGarurumon, and WarGreymon dropped to his knees in the grass. MetalGarurumon collapsed next to Garudamon, and to Matty's complete horror, Angelicmon turned back into a rookie. His digimon barely even had enough time to let out a soft groan before his larger form disappeared and was replaced by Celestimon.
"What's happening?" Sora gasped, staring at her partner in disbelief.
"She's draining our energy," WarGreymon groaned, slowly lifting his head.
"Can't...hold...on," Garudamon moaned.
"Now what?" Matt snapped.
"This is my kind of entertainment!" Jestermon said gleefully, sitting cross-legged on the ground and pulling out his black balls. "Keep doing your thing, Spritemon!"
"Soon it will all be over," Spritemon shrieked. "Even your mega digimon won't stand up against my attack forever."
"We'll stop you!" MetalGarurumon growled, struggling to get back to his feet. "One way or another we'll make you wish you'd never tried to take over the Digital World."
"I'm sorry, Sora," Garudamon groaned, disappearing in a flash of light and turning back into Biyomon.
"Come on, WarGreymon, you have to get up! We need you!" Tai shouted, clutching his Digivice tightly in his hand.
We're...losing. They're just too strong for us. All this time they've only been playing with our digimon, pretending to be weaker than they really are. They're megas. We can't defeat them, we can't even stop them! No matter how much we believe in ourselves, even with Dai as our leader, we're just not strong enough...
"Prepare to watch your digimon disappear!" Spritemon snarled.
No!
"Horn Buster!"
Without warning, a huge bolt of electricity slammed into Spritemon's chest and sent her tumbling head over heels towards the ground at a speed that was destined to cause some major damage. A second bolt of electricity rained down on Jestermon's head and he disappeared in a pulsing blast of energy. Jerking around in surprise, Matty caught sight of a digimon who looked a little bit like Kabuterimon, only much more powerful.
That must be Kabuterimon's ultimate form. Where did he come from?
"Great timing, Izzy!" Tai cheered, pumping his fist into the air. "You, too, MegaKabuterimon!"
MegaKabuterimon landed in front of the former leader, and Izzy, Kara, and Mina quickly jumped down from where they had been sitting near his head. Mina was holding Candlemon in her arms, and Takara was holdng Dovemon. Matty barely had a chance to open his mouth before his female cousin suddenly shoved Dovemon into Izzy's arms, turned towards him, and threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug. "Matty, I'm so glad you're okay! Dai, Ryoko, and Mickey have gone after Sam, haven't they. I hope they're not in trouble. You wouldn't believe how worried I've been about everyone!"
"Same here. Good to see you're still in one piece."
"You, too."
Matty returned his cousin's hug and quickly moved out of the way so Takara could join her parents. Tai hugged his daughter tightly, and turning to Izzy, he gave the computer expert a grateful smile. "Thanks, Izzy, I knew I could count on you."
Izzy nodded and beamed at the former leader. "I told you I had things under control. Listen, Tai, we need to get out of here quick. I'm sure BlackWidowmon and Vampiramon are following us, and I know we have WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, but under the circumstances, I don't think we'll be able to fight four megas all at once and still win this battle. Besides, we need to find Sam."
"BlackWidowmon?" Matt asked, frowning in confusion.
"She showed up after you guys left, and together with Vampiramon, the two of them nearly beat us," Mina explained. "We managed to defeat Soulmon, but we were no match for two megas."
"Forget about it, you guys still did a great job," Sora replied.
Matty nodded in agreement and turned to give Takara a rather sheepish look. He'd been so busy worrying about Mickey and Sam that he had forgotten to take a closer look at his D-Coder earlier to see what had become of Izzy, Mina, and his cousin. If he had, he would have realized they were coming to help a long time ago.
"Don't worry, I forgive you," Takara laughed, easily reading the look on his face. "Now let's go find Sam. I trust Dai, but I'm still scared."
"Right. WarGreymon, we're getting out of here!" Tai shouted, waving to his partner. "Round up the others."
WarGreymon immediately leaped to his feet, and Biyomon fluttered onto his shoulder. MetalGarurumon scooped Celestimon into his mouth, and the two megas quickly hurried over to their partners.
"You guys did really well," Matt said softly, stroking his partner's armoured head.
Matty quickly hurried over to his uncle's side and held out his hands. "Celestimon, are you okay?"
MetalGarurumon opened his mouth, and Matty quickly caught Celestimon just as the little rookie tumbled out. Moaning softly, Celestimon slowly opened his bright green eyes and managed a weak smile. "I'm fine, Matty. Every single part of my body hurts, including my wings, my toes, and my ears, and it's definitely an interesting experience being someone's lunch, but other than that I'm okay."
Matty laughed and cuddled his partner against his chest. "I was so worried about you."
Celestimon's small arms went around his neck, and he felt the little digimon's fluffy ears press against his cheek. "I know. I'm sorry, Matty. Can we go find Sam now? Besides, I miss Halomon. I always fight better when he's with me."
I know how you feel, Celestimon.
"Considering you were fighting a mega, I think you did pretty well," Matt said dryly, tugging lightly on one of Celestimon's ears.
"Dad, is...is that Agumon?" Takara squeaked, capturing Matty's attention. He turned to see his female cousin pointing her finger at WarGreymon and smiled at the stunned look on her face.
Tai nodded and beamed at his partner. "This is Agumon's mega form. His name is WarGreymon."
"To protect you, Kara, I must be strong," WarGreymon said with dignity, bowing to Tai's daughter. Considering how large WarGreymon was, it seemed odd to see him showing so much respect to someone so small in stature.
Blushing furiously, Takara slowly circled around WarGreymon and stopped when she spotted his armoured wings. "It's your crest, Dad! It's the symbol of your crest!"
Tai quickly joined his daughter and tugged lightly on her long, dark ponytail. "You've heard it before and I'll say it again. In many ways, our digimon are a reflection of who we are, and we are a reflection of who they are, and you are more than worthy enough to have a digimon like Dovemon for a partner."
Takara beamed at her father and hugged him around the waist. "Thanks, Dad."
Talk about a compliment.
Tai nodded and gazed up at his partner. "This is who I am, but...it might not have been that way. Not always."
"What do you mean?" Takara asked slowly.
WarGreymon suddenly pulled the two halves of his shield together and held it out to Tai. "This is who you are."
"I know," Tai murmured, running his fingers over the symbol of the Crest of Courage and smiling at his partner.
"WarGreymon, you're...amazing!" Takara gasped, gazing shyly at the large mega. "I hope Dovemon can become like you."
"I can!" Dovemon called from Izzy's arms. "Just you watch, Kara!"
"Alright, everyone on MegaKabuterimon," Tai ordered, quickly changing the subject and pointing towards the large digimon. Takara looked like she wanted to ask him about his earlier words, but it was obvious Tai wasn't in the mood to talk about his past. "Matt, you can take Matty on MetalGarurumon."
"Come on, Kara," Sora said softly, kissing her daughter's cheek and leading the younger female towards MegaKabuterimon.
With a little help from her dad, Takara managed to climb back up and was quickly joined by Izzy, Mina, Candlemon, Dovemon, Biyomon, and her parents. Matty climbed onto MetalGarurumon behind his uncle, and Celestimon settled himself in front of the former musician.
"Dad, Mom, there's so much I need to tell you guys," Takara sighed.
Tai wrapped his arms around his daughter and held her close. "Same here, but we'll wait until after we find Sam."
"Hang on," MegaKabuterimon called out.
Matty felt a sudden gust of wind stir his golden hair, and looking up, he watched MegaKabuterimon soar into the air above his head. MetalGarurumon put on a sudden burst of speed, racing towards Sam's signal, and Matty quickly tightened his hold on his uncle's waist to stop himself from falling off. He could hear Jestermon and Spritemon shouting behind him, having finally regained consciousness from the surprise attack, but he didn't look back. All he cared about now was finding his friends.
Hang on, Sam, we're coming...