Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
A/N: New chapter! Okay, so just a reminder, next week I'll be posting the first chapter of my new Kingdom Hearts story and I want to update Trinity and The Demon Years again, so it might be a little while for the next chapter for this story, but it will be coming. That's it for now!
Following the Footsteps of Destiny
Chapter 185: Tempting Fate
Tai Kamiya
File Island, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World
Clinging tightly to WarGreymon's neck, Dovemon held securely in his lap, and glancing at the two young boys who were perched on the mega digimon's other shoulder Tai called out, "How are we doing, Matty?"
"Well...according to my D-Coder, we're almost about three quarters of the way up the mountain, and judging by the position of Dai's signal, it looks like we're closing in on him pretty fast."
"Do you think maybe we should land, Uncle Tai?" Ryoko asked hesitantly, clinging tightly to Matty's right arm for balance. "If he sees us coming we might scare him off. Plus, I wouldn't want us to inadvertently give away our position, especially since we're getting close to the top of the mountain. If Vampiramon or one of the others spots us, we could be in big trouble."
"Not only that, if we get caught, we'll never be able to reach Dai before he makes it to the top of Infinity Mountain," Alopemon added, his small, lanky arms clutching Ryoko tightly around the waist.
I don't even want to know what will happen if Dai reaches Kara and the Spirit Chip before we can find him...
Squeezing his eyes shut, Tai quickly took a deep breath to calm himself, and nodding his head in agreement he said, "You guys aren't going to hear any arguments from me. Angelicmon, how are we doing back there?"
"So far it does not appear as if we are being followed. If Spritemon has decided to make good on her threats, then she must have gone after either Davis' group or Kari's group."
"Great, just what I needed to hear," Matty muttered to himself, shaking his head in despair. "I hope Mickey and the others are all okay..."
"They'll be okay. I believe in them," Dovemon said softly, nodding her head for emphasis.
Bringing up the rear and doing his best to protect WarGreymon's back in case Spritemon did decide to come after them, Angelicmon quickly sent his human partner a reassuring smile, but instead of smiling in return Matty continued to stare gloomily at the breathtaking scenery below him, his face a mask of fear and uncertainty.
And it's all because of me. I'm the one who made Dai angry. I'm the reason why we're in this situation to begin with...
"Tai, where should I land?" WarGreymon asked quickly, his sudden words interrupting the former leader's dark thoughts.
Pointing towards a relatively small ledge jutting out from the face of the cliff right before the mountain path curved sharply to wind towards the peak, he said, "Do you see that ledge up ahead? Right there should be fine. Like Matty said, it's probably better if we approach Dai on foot. That way he'll be less likely to see us coming, which means he won't have as much of a chance to run off on us if he decides he still doesn't want our help. Knowing him, he's probably not paying the slightest bit of attention to his D-Coder, so I think we'll be safe."
"I haven't seen Dragermon yet, which means Dai must be travelling on foot, as well. I doubt he'll manage to get very far before we reach him, so be prepared," WarGreymon warned, diving out of the air at top speed and quickly heading towards the cliff.
As soon as the large mega landed, he quickly turned back into Agumon, and giving the little rookie a grateful smile Tai said, "Thanks, buddy, I owe you one."
"It was nothing."
"Are we ready to go?" Angelicmon asked quietly, his bright green eyes searching the ledge above them for any sign of danger.
"Time to head up," Alopemon said firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Turning on his heels, Tai quickly started up the rocky path, Agumon by his side and Dovemon cuddled against his chest, and feeling a slight tug on both of his arms he smiled weakly at the two golden-haired Digidestined, who had come up on either side of him.
"Uncle, do you think Dai would really...you know...give in to the darkness in his heart?" Matty asked hesitantly, looking uncertain of whether or not he should have spoken.
"If he does, what will happen to him?" Ryoko demanded, clearly expecting an answer.
Frowning at the two boys walking on either side of him, one his nephew by blood, the other his nephew in spirit, Tai wanted desperately to tell them about his past, but he knew now wasn't the time to be dwelling on his mistakes. Right now, he needed to focus on finding Dai before it was too late.
"Uncle?" Ryoko insisted, tugging anxiously on his arm.
"There's really no way of knowing for sure. I hope it doesn't come to that, but...if it does, we can't give up on him. We need to believe in him; now more than ever."
"I believe him," Matty said firmly, his hands clenching into tight fists. "Even if he did act like a total jerk earlier. He's not a bad person. I don't make friends with bad people. He just needs to have faith in himself again, that's all."
"I believe in him, too," Dovemon said firmly, her eyes sparkling with determination. "There's no way Dai will ever let us down."
"He might act like an idiot sometimes, but he isn't stupid," Ryoko snorted, his blond eyebrows narrowing into a deep frown. "Even if he has completely lost it, I'm never going to give up on him. He can try to leave me behind all he wants, but it isn't going to work. I'll just keep following him no matter how many times he tells me to get lost. I'm more stubborn than he is. Sooner or later he'll give in. Just you watch!"
Their Spirit Chips...I wonder...
There was no way of knowing for sure, but all of a sudden Tai couldn't help wondering if maybe it wasn't so hard to figure out which Spirit Chip belonged to who after all.
Only time will tell I guess...
"How are we doing, Ryoko?" Alopemon asked curiously, leaping into his partner's arms to get a closer look at the golden-haired Digidesrtined's blue D-Coder.
"We're almost there! Dai should be somewhere just up ahead. His signal hasn't moved at all in the last ten minutes, so I'm assuming he's probably stopped to check out his surroundings and to make sure he isn't being watched or followed. If we hurry, we'll be able to catch up to him in no time. Like Tai said earlier, knowing Dai, he's probably only watching his immediate surroundings instead of his D-Coder, which means most likely he doesn't know we're coming."
"You hear that, Angelicmon? We're almost there!" Matty said cheerfully, turning to smile at his partner. "Uh...Angelicmon? Hey, are you listening?"
"Huh?"
Immediately sensing the sudden tension in the air, Tai quickly glanced over his shoulder to look at Matty's partner, and spotting the angel digmon's odd expression he frowned in confusion. "Angelicmon?"
"What's wrong, Angelicmon?" Dovemon asked curiously, looking concerned.
Instead of responding, Angelicmon stood very still, his emerald green eyes scanning first the peak above their heads and then the cliff down below. Apparently sensing some kind of danger, his golden spear appeared suddenly in his hands, and stepping towards the edge of the cliff he held his weapon out in a defensive position.
"Angelicmon, what's going on?" Matty cried anxiously, hurrying over to his partner's side and tugging anxiously on the celestial digimon's soft feathery wings.
"Are we being followed?" Agumon cried, immediately crouching into an offensive position, wisps of smoke curling up from his large jaws and escaping onto the air as little puffs of smoke.
Ignoring Agumon's words, Angelicmon said quietly, "He's here."
"Who's here?" Alopemon asked, shaking is head in confusion.
"You don't mean...DarkAngelicmon?" Matty gasped, gazing at his partner in disbelief.
"I sense him," Angelicmon murmured, almost to himself. "His presence is now stronger than it has been at any other time we've been on the mountain, expect for when he confronted us. He's close by, and yet..."
What the...
Leaping into the air, Angelicmon suddenly dived over the side of the cliff, disappearing from view, and gaining altitude he appeared suddenly in the air before them, his emerald green eyes studying Matty's pale face. "Wait here."
"W-what? Hey, where are you going?"
"Keep looking for Dai. I'll be back before you know it."
"Are you telling me you're going to just up and leave your partner?" Alopemon demanded, glaring accusingly at the celestial champion. "Apparently Dragermon isn't the only digimon who's lost his mind around here!"
Bowing his head, Angelicmon said softly, "This is something I must do. Besides, I know I can count on you, Dovemon, and Agumon to keep Matty safe for me. I'll try not to be gone for long. Please keep looking for Dai and Kara. We need to find them as soon as possible."
"Angelicmon, wait!" Matty cried, racing towards the edge of the cliff and waving his hands in the air. "Be careful!"
"I will be. Don't worry about me."
"Please...come back."
Diving towards his partner, Angelicmon ruffled Matty's blond hair, and pulling his human partner close in a quick hug the celestial digimon said softy, "I'll always come back to you. Stay out of trouble while I'm gone or else you'll hear about it from me later."
"Only if you follow your own advice."
Laughing, Angelicmon quickly fluttered back into the air, and waving one last time to his partner he flew off back down the path, disappearing around the other side of the mountain.
"You don't think he's going after DarkAngelicmon, do you?" Agumon asked hesitantly, nervously scratching the back of his head.
"Of course he is!" Alopemon shouted angrily, crossing his arms over his chest. "Tai, why didn't you stop him?"
"Yeah, why didn't you stop him?" Ryoko asked quietly, imitating Alopemon's posture.
Smiling slightly, Tai ignored their accusing stares, and nodding his head towards the edge of the cliff he said simply, "Even if I had wanted to stop him, I doubt I would have been able to, and besides, it wasn't my decision to make."
"No, it wasn't," Dovemon said softly, shaking her head in despair.
Whirling around to glare at Matty, Alopemon snapped, "Why didn't you stop him?"
"Davis was right, you really are getting worse than me!" Ryoko muttered, smiling at his partner in amusement.
Blushing a deep shade of red Matty mumbled, "I...well...I couldn't stop him. Not really. This is something I think he feels like he has to do, and...um..."
Coming to his nephew's defence, Tai said firmly, "I'd be more worried if Angelicmon was going after Vampiramon all by himself, but since DarkAngelicmon hasn't really been threatening us all that much lately and he does seem to want us alive, I'm not too worried about it."
"But, he says he wants you humans alive. He doesn't care about us digimon!" Alopemon protested.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Ryoko countered. "Those two...Personally, I think there's still too much unfinished business between them for DarkAngelicmon to do anything too drastic. I doubt he'll even attempt to delete Angelicmon until they finally manage to get everything out in the open between them."
"In the meantime, we should hurry. Dai's started moving again," Matty mumbled, avoiding Ryoko's eyes.
"Come on!" Agumon called out, racing up the path with Alopemon.
"I'm actually more worried about the fact that DarkAngelicmon left the peak of the mountain than I am about him trying to attack anyone," Ryoko said quietly. "They have Kara's D-Coder, which means they must know we've all gotten separated. I don't think Vampiramon sent him to keep us all in line, which is what Spritemon is trying to do, but if that's the case then why did he leave? Anyways, once we reach the top of the mountain, they're going to be ready and waiting for us."
"Which means we need to be careful," Matty muttered.
Ryoko's right. They know we're coming and they're going to do everything they can to stop us from getting our hands on Kara and the Spirit Chip.
Shaking his head, Tai quickly followed after the two digimon, his heart thumping rapidly in his chest, and making sure Matty and Ryoko were following behind him, he continued to hurry up the path, Dovemon shivering slightly in his arms.
About ten minutes later they rounded another corner, and spotting Dai up ahead, Tai promptly skidded to a stop, causing both Matty and Ryoko to run into him from behind.
Standing on a huge pile of large rocks, the top of his head just peeking over the ledge one level up from the path they were all currently following, it looked as if Dai was trying to scope out the territory further up ahead, obviously searching for any sign of Kara, the Spirit Chip, or their enemies, and next to the goggle-headed leader Embermon was watching the path down below, doing his best to protect Dai's back.
We've found him, but...will he actually stick around this time or will he try to run off on us again? Dai...I know it's hard, but you have to listen to me...
Immediately spotting them, Embermon's whole face lit up, and waving them over he shouted, "Tai! Dovemon!"
"Embermon, get down here right now!" Alopemon snapped, his fluffy blue tail bristling with anger.
Leaping off the rocks, Embermon quickly hurried over to Alopemon's side, and lowering his large emerald eyes to the ground he mumbled, "I'm sorry."
Instead of getting angry, Alopemon's face softened into a smile, and wrapping his tail around the other rookie's left arm in a gesture of affection he said dryly, "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."
"Um...speaking of Angelicmon, er...where is he?"
"Well, about that..."
"Dai, get down here!" Matty shouted, angrily crossing his arms over his chest.
Surprisingly, Dai hadn't even so much as jumped at the sound of Alopemon's voice, but despite his calm and cool composure, Tai could tell the goggle-headed leader was surprised to see them. Clearly he hadn't been paying close attention to his D-Coder.
Like Ryoko and I suspected earlier...
"Having fun?" Ryoko said coolly, his bright blue eyes studying the goggle-headed leader's guilty face.
Looking a little unsure of himself, Dai slowly started to make his way back down to the ground, and shuffling towards Matty he attempted a weak smile.
Instead of smiling back, though, Matty hit Dai hard in the chest with his fist.
"Ouch! Hey, you don't have to be so rough!"
"You jerk, Dai!" Matty shouted, his other fist connecting with the goggle-headed leader's stomach. "Don't you ever do something stupid like that again! How could you just run off like that and leave us all behind?"
"I'm sorry."
"You're not sorry!" Matty snapped, kicking the goggle-headed leader in the shins for good measure. "You're not sorry at all! Running off on your friends, treating us all like dirt, attacking my partner? Every time you mess up, I'm always there to back you up and this is the thanks I get for it? You're a jerk, Dai! A big, stupid jerk, and if you think I'm going to forgive you, forget it!"
"I'm sorry."
"You know, you've done a lot of stupid things in your life, but this time you've reached an all time low!" Matty shot back, his amber eyes sparkling dangerously in the light of the sun. "Don't even bothering apologizing because I don't want to hear it!"
Avoiding the golden-haired Digidestined's eyes, Dai said quietly, "I'm really sorry, Matty."
Dai...
Blinking in surprise, Matty's whole face suddenly crumpled, and sagging against the goggle-headed leader's shoulder he mumbled, "Don't ever do something like that again."
"I'll...try not to. Matty, listen..."
"W-what is it?"
Dai wrapped his arm around the golden-haired Digidestined's shoulders, and shaking his head he said wearily, "Nothing. We'll talk later."
"You two good now?" Ryoko asked mildly, gazing calmly between his two friends.
Nodding his head, Matty gently pushed Dai away, and giving his cousin a weak smile he said softly, "Yeah, we're good."
"Then let's focus on the problem at hand."
"You mean...you're not going to yell at me?" Dai asked hesitantly, glancing suspiciously at the golden-haired Digidestined.
Ryoko raised his eyebrows, and smiling slightly he said dryly, "I've spent my whole life yelling at you, and so far it hasn't done any good, or am I wrong? Either way, I think this time we'll just skip all of that and get right to the point. Relieved to see us, are you?"
Much to Tai's surprise, Daichi's face suddenly turned a deep shade of red, and avoiding the golden-haired Digidestined's eyes he mumbled, "Maybe a little bit, only..."
"What's wrong, Dai?" Agumon asked curiously.
"Um...where are all the others?"