Words: 3,946 (slightly smaller than usual)

Notes: The story is getting closer to the end~! It's a lot longer than I originally expected it to be (I wanted to write is as a one-shot. To be "started and finished within the day"... that didn't work).

*

Rescue Mission #2

Kari watched the older digidestined gather their things for their rescue mission with something akin to hopeful longing in her eyes. Though she very much wanted to also be part of finding the antidote, the others had told her to stay back along with TK and Jyou. Matt, of course, was preoccupied and no one bothered to tell him of their plan. All Kari could do was hope everything would go well.

"You'll be fast, won't you?" she asked worriedly. Nowhere in her 8-year-old mind did she doubt her big brother, but she was a smart girl and she knew that some things were beyond human control. The faster the others found an antidote, the less suffering she would have to watch him endure.

Sora knelt in front of her, understanding in her eyes, "Of course we'll be fast. You won't even know we're gone!"

Kari smiled brightly, "Okay!" She refused to let worry overcome her any longer, refused to be scared even though deep down she was terrified. As if seeing this, TK ran up to her and grabbed her hand, bringing the hope he was so rightly Chosen for.

"Mimi! We don't need your hair dryer!"

The pink-haired girl crossed her arms, "You don't know that for sure!"

"Please!" Sora sighed exasperatedly, "This is serious! How heavy is your bag?"

"I can carry it!"

"Can we just go?" Koushiro insisted desperately.

Kari clenched her free hand, eyes rapidly filling with tears at the group's fighting. She hated conflict normally, but it was even worse now that it was costing her brother time. She wanted to stop them, to tell them just to cooperate and act like the friends they were. She wanted—

"Enough!"

Startled, she turned to the angry voice like everyone else. A small dinosaur digimon stood shaking, eyes bright with determination. Agumon was not a very fearsome digimon in his rookie state, but he had the group frozen solid.

"We can't waste time! Tai won't get any better if you're all arguing!" It wasn't the scolding in his voice but the tears in his eyes that kept everyone else quiet. "I may not be able to digivolve, and I may not be able to do Tai proud, but at least I know how important this is!" He paused a moment to let the message resonate before suddenly grinning, "Now are we going, or what?"

Kari let out a sigh of relief as the others agreed; they now had a leader and although Agumon couldn't keep them together forever—not like Tai, her mind supplied—he would make the mission work. Indeed, within minutes the odd group of 7 were gone, leaving Kari and TK to watch their fading figures. Patomon and Gatomon remained as silent as they had been since their human partners chose to step back and let the older digidestined do their thing.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Gatomon spoke, "Let's go watch over Tai."

And so they went.

***

Matt looked up at the sound of people approaching, identifying them as non-threatening before turning all attention back to the finally unconscious Tai. Jyou shook his head in slight irritation when he noticed that Matt's single-mindedness had made his little brother look terribly neglected.

Seeking to cheer the two younger digidestined up, he smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way, "Tai just fell asleep, so hopefully he'll get some rest and be strong against this—"

"He's already asleep?!" Kari exclaimed, eyes wide with worry, "But I didn't get to tell him..." Her sentence dropped off as she knelt beside her brother and took his other hand—the one not being held in a death grip by Matt. The two looked at each other knowingly for a moment, both with a million things they wished they could have said before Tai went into a terrible battle.

"He'll be all right, won't he?" The near-whisper was just loud enough for Kari to hear, and her answer was equally as quiet.

"Don't worry, Matt. He's strong." As those words echoed in their minds, their grips subconsciously tightened, the same thought following;

And he's not alone.

***

"I can see the castle!"

"You're right! And there aren't even any guards!"

"Maybe they're finally taking a shower..."

"Mimi!"

***

Tai had known he wasn't going to be able to stay conscious for long. He had known that he would have to fight his shadow, and he had known that he couldn't fail. As the darkness had taken his mind, all doubts disappeared; there was no "what ifs" or "buts", only a determination to finish this whole thing once and for all.

But he had not known that he would be thrown into the colourful world of what looked to be a faire. Because his mind was still in that weird place between consciousness and sleep—the one where you know you're dreaming but can't do anything about it—he could feel the majority of the pain he had felt in reality. His shoulder still ached abominably, his side throbbed painfully whenever it felt like it, and his head was pulsing. Luckily, because it was a dream, nothing could add to his pain—like walking.

This he did with complete bewilderment, because nothing made sense. Why was the Ferris wheel rocking back and forth? And how come all of the people had no features? What were the clowns doing on top of the ticket booth? Why were there clowns in the first place?

"I don't understand," Tai groaned in irritation, sitting down on a bench shaped like a balled up piece of paper. His mind helpfully supplied him with the imagined feeling of relief at getting off his feet.

Then the faceless people started running, scrambling around in what looked like panic. They ran right out of Tai's line of sight, leaving the faire ground. Tai just remained where he sat, stunned. Suddenly, his dream world was entirely silent, the colour gone, the rides frozen. Nothing moved. His mind could no longer produce memories of what things felt or smelled like. In essence, all of his senses were gone except for sight.

And pain. Without the former distractions, the pain became much more obvious. Why he could feel said pain but not the air around him or the bench beneath him, Tai had no idea, but he grit his teeth and endured it.

~Time to stop fighting~

The world was suddenly black.

***

"You don't think this could be a trap, do you?" Mimi asked softly as they stood in front of the wise open back entrance. It was in the same position that Sora remembered leaving it in.

"It doesn't matter, we have to go in."

"I know that," Mimi huffed, "I just think we should know what we're getting into."

Agumon saved them all the trouble of arguing it over by running into the castle. The three humans and their digimon exchanged a single glance and followed. Each remained on their guard while they went through the maze-like hallways, but it was pointless because they didn't see another living thing whatsoever.

"I don't get it! If there aren't any guards outside, then why aren't they in here?" Sora voiced after ten minutes of unsuccessful searching.

Koushiro looked down thoughtfully before he answered, "There're only two realistic possibilities. Either everyone's gathered in another part of the castle, or they abandoned it."

Sora's eyes widened, "But if they abandoned it..."

"Then we may never find the antidote."

Agumon glared determinedly, "We'll find someone! We just have to keep looking!" A moment of awkward silence followed before Mimi suddenly whined.

"Well, can't we at least blast through the walls instead of going in stupid zigzags? My feet are killing me!"

"..."

"Mimi, you're a genius!" Koushiro exclaimed.

The girl's cheeks flushed to match her hair, "I thought it was obvious."

Sora rolled her eyes before grinning at Biyomon, "Well? What do you say? Want to blast down some walls?"

"With pleasure!"

***

"I won't stop fighting," Tai growled fiercely, glad he was still aware enough of his body to speak. He had been stuck in the gravity-less absolute darkness for what felt like an eternity. It was very similar to the first time, except that he knew he had a body by the pain coursing through every part of it.

The shadow-creature hadn't "spoken" since the dream world had gone black, but Tai periodically repeated his mantra to keep himself sane. He knew this was most likely a part of the shadow's plan, and he was determined to outlast it. Somewhere at the back of his mind, there was a frightening thought about never waking up and remaining in the darkness forever, and an even scarier one that the shadow may already have control over his body in the real world.

He adamantly refused these possibilities, trusting there to be a very clear indication of when his body was being taken over.

Finally, his patience was rewarded as the familiar pin-point of light appeared, growing until it exploded into colours and shapes. Tai sighed with relief even as he shielded his eyes, glad to finally be able to face his enemy head on. When his eyes adjusted to the light, he was once again looking down at his body from the outside. His shadow stood opposite him.

~You are mine to control~ The hiss made Tai glare icily.

"I don't belong to anyone!" He took an experimental step forward, and the ground was solid beneath him.

What is this place? He thought to himself absently, forgetting that the shadow could hear him.

~My perception of reality~

"Huh?" But the shadow explained no further, so Tai turned his attention back to the scene before him. Matt and Kari were at his body's side, each holding a hand. The thought brought a flutter of comfort to him. He turned slightly to see Jyou, TK, and all of their digimon watching anxiously. They knew he was beyond the help of common medicine.

For a moment, he let the present danger slip from his mind as he reached out to his sister, wanting to show here that he was fine. The shadow's derisive laugh filled his mind, the only warning he had before his hand passed right through Kari's shoulder as if it were air.

~You cannot touch them~ The shadow told him belatedly. Frowning, Tai tried instead to reach his own body.

An ice-cold grip froze him in his place, sending a sudden flare of pain pulsating through his entire body. A white haze frosted over his vision, but he forced his gaze to the inhuman black hand currently wrapped around his arm. Growling, he wrenched himself free and faced the shadow, chest heaving as the pain faded slightly.

"So we're literally fighting over my body," he stated emotionlessly, having already known it would be so. The shadow said nothing, but Tai could swear its beady little black eyes were calculating. It reached toward him, but Tai angrily swatted the hand away, shivering at the wave of cold and pain it caused just by a second's touch.

Finally, a hiss once again echoed through his mind, ~There's no need to fight~

"Of course I'm going to fight! It's—" but the other's soul-chilling laugh stopped him.

~There's no need for me to fight. You've lost~

A sliver of fear made Tai cautiously move his foot back, getting into a better stance to defend himself. He understood why the creature thought it had already won; just its touch would be able to bring him to his knees, and then all it had to do was go for his unconscious body. Still, Tai let a smirk grace his features.

"Don't underestimate me."

The shadow's laugh swept over the otherwise noiseless dreamscape.

***

"This is it. If there's anyone in this castle, they're behind these doors," Koushiro stated as they all stared at the ornate wooden entrance to what they guessed was a banquet hall.

Already, they'd smashed through bedrooms, dressing rooms, bathrooms, armouries, kitchens, and every other kind of room imaginable. The entire place seemed deserted, things left haphazardly around like the castle's occupants had only just run. This was the last unexplored room.

"Well?" Agmon huffed, breaking the hesitant stillness, "are we going in, or what?"

With a deep breath—a plea for there to be digimon who could show them to an antidote—Mimi and Koushiro pushed open the doors.

The banquet hall was empty.

"It's over..." Sora let out softly, a tone of disbelief in her voice. No one said a word. The quiet of the castle held everyone in their place, hope vanishing. There was no cure, not even a digimon to guide them, friendly or otherwise. How could they return to the rest of the group with only wasted time to show for their efforts? How could they fail Tai, after everything he'd—

"Do you hear that?" Lilymon's faint voice caught their attention. The others blinked, straining to sense whatever Mimi's partner had.

The sound of water splashing around sent them all running to a tiny, barely noticeable room connected to the hall. They froze in the doorway, completely shocked to find a mountain of dirty dishes and, in the midst of it all, an odd monkey-like digimon merrily humming. For a moment, they couldn't believe their eyes, until the digimon stiffened and looked up at them.

"What do you want?" It asked nervously, eyes shifting from humans to digimon. The voice was very obviously female.

The humans exchanged a glance, but it was Agumon who answered, "Your help."

The digimon's gaze flittered to the humans before going back to Agumon, "I can't help you, I have work to do."

"What if we help you in return?"

The digimon seemed to consider it.

"Alright."

***

Tai felt his body crash into an obviously solid tree with much more realism than he would have liked. He bitterly cursed the unwritten laws that said he could touch the landscape but not his friends. As he pushed himself off the ground, feeling every pain as if it were physical, he realised that in the real world he would have died long ago. Stubbornly, he forced the thought away to look at his foe.

The shadow-creature was waiting somewhat curiously, as if it didn't know why its victim was still moving. It had used no effort to fling Tai back again and again, patiently waiting for him to stay down. But that was something Tai would not do; this was his spirit fighting, pain or no pain, and he would press on until one of them could no longer rise.

~A spirit can die, you know~ the ghostly voice told him, not at all phased by Tai's unsteady steps toward it.

But Tai single-mindedly ignored it. He already knew that it was impossible for him to fight forever. He wasn't even trying to fight, really—to do so would cost only him, not the creature—but rather trying to reach his body. He didn't exactly know what would happen, but it was obvious that it was his best course because the shadow never let him get too close.

Once, when he was stronger, he had pushed past his foe and the tips of his fingers brushed his physical body, bringing an odd sensation of pins and needles, as if his hand had been asleep and had just been stirred. But then the shadow had thrown him away again, just as it was ready to do now. Still, Tai stayed as far away from it as possible while he lunged for his body.

The ice grip on his injured shoulder cut off everything but the pain and an oddly distant sound of a soul-wrenching scream, which he was too lost to realise was his. This time he was not tossed away like a rag doll, but rather held relentlessly in that draining grasp, brought unknowingly to his knees. He felt his mind growing fuzzy in an attempt to ease the indescribable pain, but something inside of him knew that to give in to sleep would be the true end.

~You've lost~ a hiss repeated in his mind, and finally Tai was left to fall lifelessly to the ground, the shadow moving toward his defenceless body.

***

"He's moving!" TK suddenly exclaimed, his excitement jolting the others out of their reveries. They took a closer look at their leader's prone body, attention drawn to the fist that continuously clenched and unclenched in Kari's grip. For a second, relief lit their worry-lined faces.

"Maybe he was able to fight the shadow off!" Jyou said hopefully as he forced himself to take a step forward instead of back. Tai's arm twitched, but his sleeping features didn't change. Instantly, Matt and Kari were on their feet, looking down warily. When Tai's other arm began to move—his injured, supposedly unmovable one—the two backed away entirely, a tense silence following as they waited for something more to happen.

The group of four humans and their digimon formed a circle around their leader, none within arm's reach. Finally, chocolate brown eyes snapped open, a hunger burning within. Their final hope died like the last leaf in autumn as they knew, without doubt, that it wasn't their Tai they were looking at.

"What do we do now, Matt?" Jyou whispered, eyes never leaving the threat in front of him, "Do you think we can tie him up?"

The blond felt like running, far away and without a single look back, but he only let out a half-desperate whine, "I don't know! The shadow or whatever wouldn't hesitate to kill us, but I certainly can't kill Tai!" It was the unfortunate truth; they were at the disadvantage, despite their numbers.

Shadow-Tai sat up, looking around at the useless attempt at keeping it from leaving with its new body. Any one of them would be an easy target to simply throw aside like it'd done to the one he currently possessed, but one face from his host's thoughts came up; a little 8-year-old girl. Grinning, the shadow flexed his new legs in preparation to stand.

"It's getting up!"

"I can see that!" Matt growled fiercely, tensing as what was no longer Tai stood up. The creature never said a word, which was a good thing for them since it would have been Tai's voice.

~Such simple prey~ the shadow thought as it finally stepped forward, closing the distance to "his" little sister.

Kari glared, completely unafraid, "You can't scare me, you stupid shadow! Tai won't ever hurt me!"

Inwardly, the shadow laughed, moving forward at a very slow, patient rate. Gatomon, however, was standing ready, fur raised threateningly and claws unsheathed. She didn't know how Kari put her trust so completely into a possessed body, but she wouldn't let her partner get hurt. Shadow-Tai stepped forward once more, finally within reach of its newest victim.

~Such simply prey~ it repeated calmly to itself, lazily bringing his host's injured arm up. It felt no pain, nor the tearing of the infected wound, though it knew the pain would be very real for the one left forgotten in a dream world. The very thought made a malicious smirk form on "his" face.

Still, Kari did not move, "You can't hurt me!"

With every intention of crushing her puny little neck, the shadow reached forward and—

Suddenly, its arm was frozen. Furiously, it tried to use the other arm, only to be stopped within centimetres of the child's throat.

~What is this?!~ it hissed, a terrible anger in the words that only Tai could hear.

A weak voice answered it, You will never touch my sister.

***

"I've only been to the Doctor's room once, so I don't really think I'll be much help," the monkey—Kosarumon, they'd learned—told her small group of followers. The childish digimon didn't trust humans, but she had taken a liking to Mimi and her magical "fur-dryer", thus the group consisted of her and her digimon partner, Tentomon—who made said magical fur-dryer work—and Agumon. The latter had simply refused to stay behind and wash dishes like every one else.

"You do know the way though, right?" Tentomon asked warily, hovering beside Kosarumon.

The digimon in question huffed indignantly, "Of course! We're already here!" At those words, everyone looked up to see a simple wooden door surrounding by stone walls. They'd been led down a hidden stairway and through a series of maze-like tunnels for this?

"Are you sure this is it? It's awfully boring," Mimi mused as the strange monkey pushed open the door. Instantly, her question was answered as the lights flickered on, reflecting off the many metal tools and glass containers of unidentifiable liquids. It was like a chemist's lab from one of those science-fiction novels she secretly enjoyed reading.

Lilymon made a contemplative noise, "How are we going to find it?"

Kosarumon shrugged, "I don't know. I told you I've only been here once."

"Do you think something could be labelled 'Antidote for poison that controls people with a shadow'?" Mimi said hopefully, knowing full well that there would be no such thing.

"No, but we could start with that obvious-looking table in the center."

"...That might work," Mimi agreed, following Tentomon. Agumon, they suddenly realised, was already there, standing on the tips of his claws in an attempt to see the various beakers. Lilymon helpfully lifted him up and together, the four of them carefully examined the table.

"Look! They're labelled! This one says 'Weapon'."

"I've got 'Food'."

"The green one is 'Sleep'."

Agumon sighed, frustrated, "But what do they all mean?"

Suddenly, Kosarumon was at their side, "Oh, that's easy. Our Supreme Ruler ordered us each to have a controller on us at all times, to recruit people to our cause. The—"

"A controller," Mimi interrupted, "Like a remote?"

The monkey digimon looked confused, "No, a controller. You know, that controls things."

The group let out a gasp, "That's it!"

"What's it?" Kosarumon wondered, completely left out of the loop, "I thought you wanted to know what the labels meant?" Everyone fell silent and nodded eagerly, hope rising now that there were finally getting answers.

Shrugging, Kosarumon continued, "Well, they're actually pretty obvious. The labels tell us how to use the controller. 'Sleep' is for when someone's sleeping, 'Food' for when they're eating, 'Weapon'—"

"For Tai," Agumon voiced softly, once more cutting of the other digimon. The words brought reality crashing down, crushing their previous light-headed feeling of success and bringing the situation into focus.

Determined, Mimi turned completely toward Kosarumon, "Which one is the antidote?"

"Oh," the monkey blinked, "We don't have one of those."

***

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Sora sighed, "I sure hope that digimon wasn't joking around when she said she'd help us."

Koushiro shrugged wearily, "Nothing we can do but hope, right?"

Biyomon fell back, exhausted, "Does hoping involve more dishes?"

*

Footnotes: ^^

Point #1: Kosarumon -- I made it up. It means "small monkey-mon" lol. It is not a part of the original Digimon storyline. (Mind, very little of this story is)

Point #2: The hair-dryer -- I wanted to show how Mimi isn't as ...fluffy-headed as a lot of people think she is (while keeping her in character) which is why the hair-dryer ended up being rather significant to Kosarumon's helping them.