A/N: Oh god guys, I am really sorry. It is currently nearly the end of the semester and I was just swamped. I'm still swamped but I'm here to update this at least! Please enjoy and let me know what you think! Arc One is steadily coming to an end.

1-7

WarGreymon rushes to throw an attack to hold back the iridescent laser and it works, just barely. He's pushed back, but the dragon is stubborn and angry and pushes it back. Taichi is right near him, pushing Wargreymon forward with his tiny body. It doesn't seem to be helping but it's comforting to have the kid close.

The attack ends and the two of them move out of the way. Taichi's gaze is back on his sister, whose hair is rapidly losing color with her skin almost see through but she turns her shrieks to laughter, beautiful, childlike laughter that ends with her righting herself in the air. The violet flames return, running to evaporate the blood on her hands.

"It can't be…!" Koushiro is carefully storing his laptop away, a feat that alone makes them turn to him in worry. "She was sacrificed… and Vamdemon returned as VenomVamdemon, so why would she still be being drained like that?"

Sora looked at Hikari, at her pale silver hair, and thinks she understands. "They're connected," she said as MetalGarurumon pushes off the ground, debris and building flying everywhere. Piyomon looks at Sora nervously and Sora smiles in return, if reluctantly. Her partner has a deep-set look of sorrow and determination at the same time and, as she looks around, they all do. Their partners know something, and they aren't going to say it.

But they're still going to fight.

"Okay," she says softly. "Go."

They all rush up as one, evolving too fast to see where they're going but what they're doing is clear. Ikkakumon's missile struck one of the eyes on his abdomen and he roared. Koushiro watched Hikari, who bobbed a little more unsteadily.

"Sora-san," he began. "Hikari-san is connected to VenomVamdemon, correct? Through her partner… what's going to happen when, when he-" He clamps his mouth shut, suddenly full of dread. The words are at the tip of his tongue but he can't let them go.

"We have to figure out how to beat him first."

LIttle Taichi stares up at the fight, watching WarGreymon appear to dance with fire at his claws, dodging the lasers. "All bad guys have a weak spot," he explains with the self-assurance of a young child. "All of them. That's how the good guy win."

"Especially if they aren't getting hurt," Takeru affirms. "We just gotta find it!"

Sora wonders if because they are the youngest, the two of them are simply able to deny the effects of reality. Or is it because they feel they can change it.

Then Takeru continues, very softly, not weeping, but soft. "If Hikari-san were down here instead of up there," he begins. "She would tell us to pulverize this creep and worry about the rest later. We can't save her if he's still around."

Taichi grins. "I like how you think!"

Sora is sure then, that it's the latter. And she hopes to god that the others are willing to think the same way. Because like it or not, the Digimon are fighting.

And they have to make sure they are winning, too.