Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
A/N: So, I posted a new chapter list on the forum if anyone wants to check it out! Other than that, there's really not much to say at this moment, so enjoy the new chapter! I'll check again to catch any mistakes I might have missed.
Following the Footsteps of Destiny
Chapter 191: Losing Faith
Tai Kamiya
File Island, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World
Shocked by Daichi's harsh words, Tai watched in silence as Embermon digivolved into his champion form, and feeling a sharp tug on the right leg of his blue jeans, Tai looked down to see Agumon gazing up at him, the little rookie's bright blue eyes glittering anxiously in the light of the sun. "Tai, what should we do? I don't think Dai's going to listen to us no matter what we say."
Kara, please be okay. I couldn't stand it if anything were to happen to you...
Unable to look at his daughter's lifeless body, Tai quickly turned his face away and said quietly, "I don't care what anyone says. It's not too late to help Dai. It's never too late."
"Tai..."
"Dragermon's gong to need some help. You better digivolve back into WarGreymon. I'll take care of Dai."
"If you're sure..."
"He's sure," Ryoko said seriously, appearing suddenly behind Agumon, Matty by his side.
"What would you have me do, Ryoko?" Tirimon interrupted, nudging the golden-haired Digidestined's shoulder with his nose to get his partner's attention.
"You'd better help out, too. Don't try to win this fight, since I don't think the three of you will be able to do so on your own. Just see if you can stall them long enough for the others to get here. That's when the real fight will most likely begin, and if I'm right then that means you guys will need to conserve your energy."
"I wish Angelicmon was here," Matty mumbled, gazing miserably at his feet.
Slipping his arm around the younger twin's shoulders, Ryoko said softly, "I'm certain he's fine, Matty."
"But...you don't know that for sure."
"No, but I do know he would never let you down, especially when you need him most."
Turning to face into his cousin's shoulder, Matty mumbled, "Thanks."
"Don't mention it. That's what family is for, right?"
Looking up in surprise, Matty stared at his cousin, clearly startled by the golden-haired Digidestined's surprisingly affectionate tone, and smiling shyly in a manner very reminiscent of Mickey, he quickly ducked his head in embarrassment, obviously unsure of how to respond.
"I'm ready, Tai," Agumon said seriously, his eyes on Dragermon, who was hovering in the air above Jestermon and BlackWidowmon.
"Go for it, Agumon."
We need all the help we can get...
"Agumon warp digivolve to, WarGreymon!"
"I'm right behind you!" Tirimon growled, bounding towards the two megas and circling them like a predator ready to pounce on its prey.
In response to the challenge, BlackWidowmon turned to the fool beside her and said, "Jestermon, keep an eye on the humans. Don't let them come anywhere near the Kamiya girl. We still need her."
"The fool doesn't need to be told twice. I'll watch her, but that doesn't mean I'm going to deny myself a little bit of fun, too."
"Whatever, just make sure she stays unconscious and that the others don't get close to her," BlackWidowmon snorted, rolling her eyes. "As for me, well, we may need Daichi and his friends, but their digimon partners are useless to us. If I delete a couple of them, I'm sure our master won't be too disappointed."
"Now you're talking!" Jestermon cackled, dancing his way over to the pedestal and seating himself next to Kara's limp body. "You'd better put on a good show for me. I'd hate to be disappointed. Though Puppetmon was an even bigger fool than I am, he was right about one thing. A boring game is no fun at all!"
Flinching at the mention of a name he did not particularly want to remember at the moment, Tai glared at the court jester, but before he could shout back an angry retort, Dai snapped, "If you think bringing up the Dark Masters is going to scare me, you're in for a big surprise. In case you haven't noticed, I don't scare easily and flaunting your mega status isn't going to make me start whimpering like a frightened little kid either! I don't care if you're rookies or megas. Either way you're going to pay for what you did to Kara!"
"Is that a fact?" BlackWidowmon hissed, her glowing red eyes narrowing into angry slits. "Venom Darts!"
Without warning, a barrage of poisonous needles shot out of the glowing red hourglass pulsing like a beating heart on the bodice of BlackWidowmon's black leather outfit, and shooting up into the air, they embedded themselves into the underside of Dragermon's belly, eliciting a cry of pain from the dragon digimon's large jaws.
A second volley of needles from the female mega's thin wrists pierced Tirimon's right side, and letting out a soft growl, the fox digimon stumbled and fell back against the circle of rocks.
"Let the games begin!" Jestermon cried dramatically, throwing up his hands and launching his black spheres directly at WarGreymon.
Swerving to avoid the deadly black balls of energy, WarGreymon quickly came to Dragermon's defence, and throwing up his arms, he shouted, "Terra Force!"
Leaping to the side and using her eight spider legs to scuttle over the rocks, BlackWidowmon managed to avoid the attack, which exploded into the ground and sent up a massive tornado of jagged stone chips, and standing on one of the large boulders, BlackWidowmon snarled, "Venom Darts!"
In response to the spider digimon's retaliatory attack, WarGreymon held up his Brave Shield, bracing himself for the attack, and right on cue BlackWidowmon's poisonous needles bounced of its shiny surface, clattering harmlessly to the ground.
"Nice one!" Dovemon cheered, doing her best to avoid looking at her partner.
Nice, indeed.
Taking advantage of the female mega's obvious surprise at his speed, WarGreymon launched another fiery ball of energy at the female mega, his aim right on target, and realizing all at once there was no way she was going to be able to avoid the blast in time, BlackWidowmon quickly jumped down into the centre of the circular monument decorating the peak, her head disappearing behind the rocks. A moment later, WarGreymon's blast exploded on impact, and due to the force of his attack, two of the large boulders shattered into pieces, the debris just narrowly missing Tirimon's unconscious body.
"Careful!" Matty cried, though his attention was focused more on Jestermon than it was on the battle taking place.
"Close, but you were just a little bit off!" Jestermon cackled, summoning his black spheres and juggling them wildly over his head.
Letting out a growl, Dragermon slowly raised his head, and leaping into the air from the spot where he had fallen near the pedestal after BlackWidowmon's attempt to delete him, he turned to look at his partner, uncertain of what to do.
"Get him!" Dai shouted, his face a mask of fury.
Grabbing onto Dai's arm, Matty cried, "No don't! He's too close to Kara! If Dragermon attacks him, Kara might-"
"Let go of me, Matty!"
"Are you crazy, Dai? I'm not going to let you do something stupid you'll end up-"
"Shut up and get off of me!" Dai snapped, pushing the younger twin roughly away.
Catching Matty by the shoulders, Tai turned to look at Dragermon, and gazing intently at the dragon champion, he said calmly, "Don't disobey Dai, but don't do anything that would require you to hurt someone who's important to you either."
"I'm not going to let you do this, Dai!" Matty shouted, glaring at the goggle-headed leader.
Before Tai could even attempt to stop his nephew, Matty suddenly jerked out of his grip, and without warning the younger twin punched Dai directly in the face.
Uh oh.
Letting out a yelp of surprise, Dai fell backwards onto the ground and holding a hand to his cheek, he stared at Matty in disbelief. "What was that for?"
"What do you think it was for, you idiot?" Matty shouted, an angry red flush appearing suddenly on his cheeks.
Instead of responding, Dai tackled Matty to the ground, his fist connecting with the younger twin's nose, and both boys struggling to be the one in control, the two of them rolled past Ryoko's feet in a struggle of kicks and punches.
Much to Tai's surprise, instead of making a fuss, Ryoko merely stared impassively at the fighting duo, his face void of expression. Though nothing about his demeanor revealed what he was thinking, clearly Ryoko was not at all impressed, and making no attempt whatsoever to help either one of his friends, the golden-haired Digidestined nodded towards Dragermon and said, "Do you think he got the message?"
Turning his back on Matty and Dai, Tai let out a weary sigh and said, "I hope so."
This isn't the way it was supposed to be...
High above the pedestal, Dragermon's emerald eyes were narrowed in concentration, and smoke was streaming from his large jaws, making him appear more dangerous than he actually was at heart. "You would cower behind a young human girl just to save your own skin? Just when I think evil digimon can sink no lower..."
"Careful," Jestermon warned, an evil smirk turning up the corners of his mouth, "You wouldn't want to accidentally roast dear little Takara, now would you? If so, then the fool suggests you back off a little, unless you want to suffer the consequences."
Swooping out of the sky, Dragermon scooped Jestermon up with his large claws, and flinging the mega digimon halfway across the top of the mountain, he shouted, "Dragon Fire Spin!"
Immediately, a swirling stream of fire shot out of his mouth, and streaking through the air towards Jestermon it engulfed the mega in flames, but instead of forcing the court jester into submission, the blaze suddenly dimmed and three black spheres of energy shot out of the fiery tornado, heading straight towards Dragermon. One hit the dragon digimon's left wing and the other two exploded into his side, sending him tumbling over the edge of the peak.
"Great," Ryoko groaned, slapping a hand against his forehead. "It looks like Dragermon did get the message, but that doesn't change the fact that BlackWidowmon and Jestermon still have the upper hand."
Kara...
Relieved that his daughter was safe, though he was annoyed that Jestermon had somehow managed to scramble his way back over to the female Digidestined's side, Tai nodded in agreement, and putting his hand on Ryoko's shoulder he said quietly, "We haven't lost yet. As long as our digimon can hold their own until the others get here, we should be okay."
"What about those two?" Ryoko snorted, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the two fighting boys behind them.
Tai could hear Matty and Dai screaming insults at each other from somewhere behind and off to his left, and without even bothering to turn around, he said, "Let them fight. If it keeps Dai occupied for a little while, we might actually make it out of this in one piece."
"I figured you'd say that, but...Uncle..."
Turning to look at the golden-haired Digidestined, Tai said softly, "They'll find a way to forgive each other, no matter what they say."
"I agree," Dovemon piped up, settling herself next to Ryoko's feet and gazing anxiously at her partner. "Dai and Matty would never let something like this ruin their friendship."
Hopefully...
Up until now, Dovemon had been strangely quiet, and she had not even made an attempt to join the fight, which normally she would have done on any other occasion, despite being in her rookie form.
Studying the female rookie now, Tai could understand why. Clearly she was trying her best to do what Kara wold have wanted her to do, and it was obvious she wanted to be fresh and ready for battle the minute Kara woke up.
Tai thought it was a good strategy and he admired the rookie for her ability to remain relatively calm and clear-headed despite the fact that her partner was in great danger.
Deep down inside, Tai himself felt numb, and the only thing keeping him from losing his head completely was the fact that he needed to stay calm for Dai's sake and for the sake of all those who were counting on him. It was the only way to save Kara and he would sooner give up his own life then allow his daughter to become a victim of the evil that was trying so hard to consume the Digital World and all of its innocent occupants.
"Do you think Dragermon's okay?" Ryoko asked anxiously, nodding his head towards the edge of the cliff.
Smiling slightly, Tai said, "If he's anything like WarGreymon, and I'm sure he will be eventually, then I have no doubt he's probably just fine."
"You're a lousy friend, Dai!" Matty suddenly screamed, his shrill voice reaching Tai's ears and making him wince.
"Yeah? Well, same to you!" was the harsh reply from Dai.
Why does this always have to happen?
Frowning slightly, Tai continued to watch the battle in front of him, but a quick glance over his shoulder revealed that the goggle-headed leader had Matty almost in tears, but despite the seriousness of the situation, Tai did not raise his voice, nor did he try to intervene to get the two boys to stop fighting.
If they were ever going to commit to fixing their friendship, it was something they were going to have to do for themselves.
"Ring of Fire!"
Glancing over at the circle of rocks in surprise, Tai watched in satisfaction as a huge fiery blaze erupted around BlackWidowmon out of nowhere, causing her to disappear in a huge explosion.
Looks like I was right about Dragermon!
Smiling at the large champion digimon, who had erupted into the air from the mountain somewhere down below and was now hovering over the circle of rocks above BlackWidowmon, Tai said in relief, "Great job, Dragermon."
"Thanks for the help," Tirimon added, nodding in approval.
Before Dragermon's sudden appearance, the fox digimon had been leaping all over the circle of rocks trying to avoid BlackWidowmon's poisonous darts.
"My turn, Terra Force!" WarGreymon shouted, sending his fiery blast at the incapacitated BlackWidowmon.
Once the smoke cleared, Tirimon pounced on the female mega, and shooting an icy wave of energy from his mouth directly into her face, he shouted, "Arctic Blast!"
"Good one!" Dovemon cheered.
Letting out a shriek of rage, BlackWidowmon rolled out from under the fox digimon, and flinging him to the side with the use of her spider legs, she screamed, "Venom Darts!"
This time Tirimon was ready for the female digimon's attack, and leaping over the barrage of poisonous needles, he shouted, "Winter Inferno!"
"No!" BlackWidowmon shrieked.
Slashing the female mega across the stomach with his glowing tail, huge, jagged icicles erupted all around her body, encasing her in a block of ice which exploded into a chilly blast of snow and ice chips.
Though she looked a little out of sorts from all the explosions coming at her all at once, despite the chain of attacks, it was clear the spider digimon still had plenty of energy to spare, and she did not seem at all fazed by the fact that she was obviously outnumbered.
"Our digimon can't keep this up forever," Ryoko said quietly, anxiously crossing his arms over his chest. "They're bound to run out of energy long before BlackWidowmon does and if that happens..."
"I know."
Letting out a weary sigh, Tai glanced back towards the path leading back down the mountain, Dovemon hovering anxiously in the air beside him. A quick glance at Ryoko's D-Coder showed Matt and the others still had a little ways to go before reaching the peak, and shaking his head, Tai turned to gaze fearfully at his daughter.
Matt, Kari...Hurry, guys. We need you...