Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A/N: Back again with a new chapter! Thanks everyone for your reviews last chapter and I will definitely have to check out that list about evil overlords! (Somehow it doesn't surprise me that DarkAngelicmon broke a few rules!)

Following the Footsteps of Destiny

Chapter 179: The Spy Revealed

Tai Kamiya

File Island, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World

Almost unable to comprehend the reality of his sudden unexpected confrontation with Daichi, Tai stared blankly at the spot where, only moments ago, Dragermon had uncharacteristically launched a swirling stream of fire at Angelicmon, catching the celestial digimon off guard. Even from several feet away, Tai could see the angry red flush on Matty's cheeks, but despite the fact that his nephew was clearly upset, Tai could not seem to summon enough energy to offer the golden-haired Digidestined even a few small words of comfort.

Dai, no...

Hovering majestically in the air against a backdrop of bright blue sky, his scarlet body shining brilliantly in the light of the sun, Dragermon had virtually ignored all sense of logic and reason, and his motivation for doing so was not the kind of thing Tai could easily ignore, especially since Agumon most likely would have done the same thing for him if he had been in Dai's place. In fact, Dragermon's behaviour was so reminiscent of the loyalty MetalGarurumon had shown Matt twenty-nine years ago, it was enough to make Tai wonder if perhaps he had inadvertently travelled back in time, to a place and a past he did not want to revisit.

If Daichi goes and does exactly what I did...If he ends up like me, I'll never forgive myself. It's like what happened with the Crest of Courage all over again...

Aware of the fact that both Davis and Noriko were anxiously leaning over him, concern evident on their faces, Tai quickly lowered his dark eyes to the ground, his heart racing and his mind growing numb with shock. An array of smooth pebbles and sharp rocks littered the path beneath his slumped body, digging into the fabric of his dark blue jeans, but despite his aching knees and the pain shooting up his legs, he did not move from his position on the ground.

"Tai, are you okay?" Davis asked, kneeling next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about Dai. He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Tai quickly shook his head, and avoiding the younger man's eyes he mumbled, "No, and you don't need to apologize."

"Tai..."

"I'm the one who should be apologizing. It's my fault he ran off like that. I...I shouldn't have been so harsh. He's right, you know. I'm not his father. I shouldn't have..."

"Tai, I would consider it an honour for you to think of Dai as your son."

"Huh?"

Looking up in surprise, Tai stared at the former leader with his mouth hanging open, and blushing a deep shade of red Davis mumbled, "Well, you know...I've always looked up to you, so...if you do think of Dai as your son..."

"Come on, Davis, you're a great father. With a son like Dai and a daughter like Ami, you shouldn't have any reason to doubt yourself."

"I know, but..."

Leaning close to Davis and placing a reassuring hand on the former leader's shoulder, Tai said quietly, "None of this is your fault, Davis. I told you. I'm the one who made him angry."

"If you're going to start blaming yourself again, I don't want to hear it," Davis said shortly, pulling away from him. "None of this is your fault either, Tai."

"But, I..."

"Forget it. It's no one's fault. Sometimes things like this just happen and we have no control over them."

"Cheer up, Tai," Agumon insisted, trying unsuccessfully to smile. "The Tai I know wouldn't give up so easily just because our mission hasn't exactly gone according to plan."

"I agree. The Tai I know would never give up on Daichi," Gabumon said quietly, nodding his head for emphasis.

They're right. If I give up on Dai now, Takara might not make it. The Ruler of Darkness may need us alive for the moment, but I don't think Vampiramon shares his opinion. If we make her angry enough, she might just decide to disobey her master's orders, regardless of the consequences. If that happens, both Dai and Kara could be in serious trouble.

"What are we going to do now?" Noriko whispered, a slight tremor in her voice.

The fear in her dark eyes was so strong it made Tai feel sick to his stomach, and unable to look at her, he proceeded to gaze quietly at his hands, which were clenched together tightly in his lap.

Kara, you would never give up on Dai. I have to keep believing. For Davis, for Noriko, and for you...

"Well, for starters, I think the first thing we need to do is contact Izzy. He needs to know what's going on," Joe said quietly, letting out a deep sigh. "I'm sure he's been monitoring our progress on the computer, but even so the map he has of File Island isn't the same as the map he used to guide you guys through DarkAngelicmon's castle on Cyber. The map he had of the castle was an exact layout of the building's interior, which allowed him to track all of you separately or as a whole through the hallways leading towards the crests and the dungeons, but with Infinity Mountain, it's not the same. The map Izzy has of File Island is too general. It doesn't just focus on one location, which means to him our signals probably just look like a bunch of coloured dots crammed together on the small part of the map labelled Infinity Mountain. In fact, the area marked Infinity Mountain on his map of the Digital World is so small it probably won't even be able to tell him that Dai has left our group."

"I get it. Without a detailed map of Infinity Mountain, Izzy won't be able to track our progress very effectively," Ryoko said slowly, his eyebrows narrowing into a frown. "A map showing a close up of Infinity Mountain would be best, but without one the most Izzy can probably make sense of at this point in time is our general location. He can tell we're on Infinity Mountain, but that's about it, which explains why he wanted Hawkmon and the others to remain behind. They're acting as his eyes and ears, since they can probably tell more about what's going on than he can."

"Do you think they might have spotted Dragermon?" Veemon asked curiously, his words sounding just a little bit uneasy. "If they did then that means Vampiramon could have seen Dragermon, too."

"I doubt it," Joe said pleasantly, giving the little rookie a reassuring smile. "Remember, Vampiramon's waiting for us at the top of Infinity Mountain. Unless she happened to be looking over the edge of the cliff at the exact moment Dragermon made his dramatic exit, there's no way she could have seen anything. Not only that, she'd also have had to have been leaning over the cliff on our side of the mountain. Basically, she would have had to have been in the right place at the right time to spot Dragermon, and the chances of that having occurred are pretty much slim to none. Hawkmon, Armadillomon, and Gotsumon may have seen Dragermon, but I very much doubt Vampiramon would have noticed anything out of the ordinary. Like I said earlier, she's too high up on the mountain."

"Even so, we need to be careful," Alopemon warned.

"That's easy for you to say," Matty mumbled, making a face. "As for Izzy, even with limited resources, I get the feeling he probably knows there's something fishy going on, which wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. He might not know the exact details, but this is Izzy we're talking about. He is a genius, after all."

"Or so he says," Gomamon joked, trying unsuccessfully to lighten the mood.

"Kari, would you mind emailing Izzy and explaining the situation to him?" Matt said calmly, his expression unreadable. "Sora deserves to know her daughter's life is in danger. I hope it doesn't come to that, but even so she should be made aware of the situation."

Tai flinched, and trying his best not to think about his wife he mumbled, "They need to know about Dai, too."

"Yes, I was going to email Izzy earlier, after Kara got captured, but then Dai started acting up and I forgot all about sending a message," Kari said solemnly, pulling out her D-Terminal. "I'm sure Izzy and the others will be worried, but right now we don't have time to ease their fears. We'll just have to do our best to keep moving. I know it's not much, but if we manage to rescue Kara, at least then we'll be able to send Izzy some good news for once, though there's still the Spirit Chip of Bravery we need to worry about."

Sora, I'm sorry. I couldn't save Kara, just like I couldn't save you. If anything happens to our daughter, it'll be all my fault...

"What about Dai?" Sam said meekly, his cheeks turning a deep shade of red.

Tai stared at the raven-haired Digidestined, and leaping suddenly to his feet he said quickly, "I'm going after him."

"W-what?" Mickey gasped, his mouth dropping open in surprise.

"Tai," Matt said calmly, gazing directly into his eyes, "don't you think we should talk this through as a team before you go running off to play hero?"

"It's not like that! Look, I'm the one who made him angry. It's my fault he left, which is why-"

"How many times am I going to have to tell you it's not your fault before you'll listen to me?" Davis groaned, slapping a hand against his forehead. "Man, you're even worse than I am!"

"But-"

"You can't leave without us!" Glowmon protested, anxiously fluttering his small wings. "If you're going to go after Dai then we're coming with you!"

Lowering his voice Tai said insistently, "That won't work. Someone needs to stay here to distract our spy. It'll be easier if I go alone."

"Oh, of course. Because we all know relying on our friends to help us is too risky and naturally trying to do everything by ourselves is always the best course of action," Ryoko said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"It's not like that! In fact, it's the opposite! I'll be relying on you guys to stop our spy from following me. We can't afford to have someone getting in my way while I'm trying to locate Dai. If you all come with me, we'll be attacked for sure."

"Our spy will attack us regardless of whether or not it's all of us or just you who leaves," Gabrielmon countered, summoning his staff and pointing it at the cliff above their heads.

"That's exactly my point, but if the rest of you act as decoys, I'm sure I'll be able to find Dai and bring him back before the fighting gets nasty, which won't happen if we all go after Dai together. How do you expect us to find him if at the same time we're trying to fight off an enemy who is more powerful than us? And how do we know we're not being followed by more than just one digimon? Or maybe we're just getting ahead of ourselves and we're not even being followed at all! How do we know for sure? At least this way we'll have an idea of what's really going on."

"We are not your decoys," Angelicmon said stiffly, and angry flush appearing suddenly on his pale white cheeks.

"And who is to say they are more powerful than us?" Angewomon said indignantly, fluttering her wings in disapproval. "I will not deny that they are powerful megas, but none of us have even begun to reach our full potential yet, most especially Dragermon and his friends. Our friends. It won't be easy, but we will win this war. Of that I am sure."

"Um...Uncle Tai?" Matty mumbled, avoiding his eyes. "Listen, I want to help Dai just as much as you do, but I don't think going after him alone is a very good idea. You're not thinking straight and I-"

"We need to get him back! I don't care how we go about finding him, we just need to get him back!"

"Tai? What is this really all about?" Matt asked quietly, his sapphire eyes growing dark and shadowy.

Tai hung his head and avoiding the golden-haired Digidestined's eyes he choked out, "I don't want Dragermon to end up being another SkullGreymon."

"S-SkullGreymon?" Mickey gasped, his amber eyes growing wide in shock. "Uncle, what are you talking about?"

"So...that's what this is all about," Matt said slowly, ignoring Mickey's outburst. "I thought so. Listen, Tai, we don't have any way of knowing for sure what's going to happen. If I were you, I wouldn't give up on Dai so easily. He's strong, maybe even stronger than the two of us. I think he deserves more credit than what you've been giving him so far."

"I know, but I..."

"Tai, I'll be the first one to admit that my son has his moments, but he's not a quitter and he's not just going to let himself be swallowed up by the darkness," Davis said confidently, his dark eyes daring anyone else to disagree. "He's a fighter, and he''ll win. And I'm not saying that just because he's my son. He's a good leader and the fact that his friends are still here all together, despite their problems, proves just how good of a leader he really is."

Sam, Mickey, Matty, Ryoko...They're all here together, even after everything they've been through, and it's all because of Dai. He's keeping them here with him, something I wasn't able to do...

Tai suddenly felt Matt's hands come to rest gently on his shoulders, and looking up at the golden-haired Digidestined he mumbled, "Matt, if anything happens to Dai, Kara will..."

"Nothing is going to happen to Dai, and even if something were to happen to him, Kara would never blame you."

"But-"

"Look, I know you have huge expectations for Dai, as do all of us, but he's still new at this whole being a leader thing. Give him time, and I bet he'll surpass both you and Davis. Not because the two of you weren't good leaders, it's because Dai has two good leaders to learn from."

"Matt..."

"Dai has those goggles for a reason, and no best friend of mine would ever give up on someone he cares about," Matt said firmly, looking him straight in the eyes.

He's right. Giving up on Dai would be like giving up on Taysuke, my own son. Tay would be so ashamed of me if he knew...

Taking a deep breath, Tai slowly nodded his head, and giving Matt a weak smile he said, "Matt, I've never been so scared in my whole life."

Matt glanced back at Ryoko and gazing quietly at his son he said softly, '"I know. Trust me, Tai, I know exactly how you feel."

"You do realize Sora's going to kill me, don't you?"

"No she won't."

"Uh, Matt, this is Sora we're talking about. You know how she gets with Tay and Kara."

Matt raised his eyebrows, and smiling slightly he said dryly, "Sora won't kill you because if we don't rescue Kara, I'll kill you first."

Rolling his eyes, Tai felt a genuine smile slip suddenly across his face, and pulling the golden-haired Digidestined into a tight hug he said quietly, "Thanks, Matt. You're right. I shouldn't let myself get too carried away."

"Since when did our roles become reversed? You're supposed to be the one convincing me, Tai, not the other way around."

"Hey, come on! You've caused enough drama already. It's someone else's turn now!"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were purposely trying to annoy me," Matt shot back, scowling.

Laughing, Tai quickly pulled away from the golden-haired Digidestined before Matt could plant a fist into his stomach, and turning to face the rest of the group he said sheepishly, "Sorry, guys."

"Don't worry about it," Ryoko replied, giving him a quick smile.

"I'm really worried about Dai," Penguinmon said hesitantly, glancing anxiously at his partner. "If we're not going to follow him then what are we going to do?"

"We're still going to follow him, we're just not going to let Tai go alone," Kari said firmly, giving her brother a stern look. "I agree we need to find Dai as soon as possible, especially since we have no idea what he'll try to do once he does finally reach Kara, but it's too dangerous for anyone to take on the task of looking for him without any kind of backup. I also don't think it's a good idea for all of us to go either because then we'll definitely have to fight off whoever may be tailing us, which would interfere with our task of trying to find Dai."

"You're right, Kari," Joe agreed, nodding his head for emphasis. "Whatever we do, we need to be careful, and since it sounds like you have some sort of a plan, what do you suggest would be our best course of action?"

"We should split up into several groups. At least two. One group to follow Dai an one group to fend off our enemies. Unfortunately, for our plan to work, some of us are going to have to act as decoys, but it's not like we've never been in this kind of situation before. Once Tai's group has found Dai, we can all quickly meet back up again. We'll have to if we want to get the Spirit Chip. Both Matt and Joe will have to be there."

"In that case, I'm going with you, Tai," Ryoko said firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. "You are going after Dai, aren't you?"

"Well, If Ryoko's going with you then I'm going too!" Matty cried, determined not to be outdone by his cousin. "Please, Uncle? Take me with you!"

Tai was about to answer when a small human shaped shadow suddenly passed over the ground beneath his feet, like a bird flying over his head, and looking up in surprise, he felt his heart leap into his throat. Standing on a small ledge jutting out from the rocky wall to his left was the very spy they'd been hoping to outmaneuver.

"Thinking of splitting up, are you?" Spritemon snapped, her transparent wings sparkling brightly in the sun. Despite her size, she looked quite impressive standing on the cliff above their heads, and her brown eyes were glittering with anticipation. She was standing with her weight on one foot and her arms crossed over her chest, and judging from the expression on her face, she was not at all pleased with the events that had just recently transpired.

"You again!" Ryoko shouted, glaring at the female mega.

"What do you want now?" Sam snapped, clenching his hands into angry fists.

Spritemon raised her eyebrows, and smirking at the raven-haired Digidestined she said, "What do I want? Simple. If you want to ruin my master's plans you're going to have to go through me first. Split up, will you? I don't think so. Not on my watch you won't!"