Blame a couple of tests and paper for this delay. I've really been looking forward to this chapter. I'll finally get to something that I think should end up being really good… I hope. And I know you have to be getting tired of someone's particularly bad day and current low self-esteem, but I did have a reason for it and I am taking care of it. I hope you like the chapter.

"I really don't like doing this, but I'm taking the munchkins with me this time," Impmon stated. "They're trouble magnets on their own. And none of you make reliable babysitters for more than ten seconds. So Fatemon it is."

"We're not that unreliable," asserted Agumon.

"Besides, the only one who won't be in the middle of the action will be Hairball," he continued, ignoring the reptile's argument. "One boy with jumbo hair is not enough."

That particular Digidestined seemed particularly distracted since Destiny's departure. His gaze was unfocused and his expression dark. Whatever was on his mind, the purple rookie was willing to bet it wasn't a cheerful topic.

So far, they were a reasonable distance from the progressing blue fog. Small digimon were starting to creep out of the mist, but they were still far enough they weren't a direct threat yet and didn't even seem to be paying attention to them at this distance. They group was trying to devise an idea of how to get past the Guardian program to reach the "building of doom." Their best one of how to proceed was simply to go over the blue mist, but there were a couple of problems with that strategy.

"Gallantmon can't fly," Takato reminded. "And we don't have Grani to ride."

Guilmon pointed out, "We flew that one time."

"That was Crimson mode and I'm not even sure how we did that. Grani sort of… combined his power with us and we ended up with wings and red armor," the boy described. He glanced at Impmon, "You spend most of your time as Blast mode rather than normal, wingless Beelzemon. How do you switch so fast? It's almost like you skip the normal mode half the time."

"The other one has too many bad memories for my taste. Besides, as much fun as my guns are for blasting away, a cannon beats anything," remarked the purple virus. "Speaking of which, where is it?"

The tamer blinked in surprise for a moment before realization struck. He quickly fumbled through his pocket and pulled out the small, toy guy he'd been entrusted with earlier. The rookie snatched it back with a smug grin.

"If you want to mode change, Goggle-head, you have to want it, have the power to back it us, and know you can do it," Impmon explained. "You know you can reach that Crimson mode thing, so you shouldn't have a problem. And if you do, you're in worse shape than I thought."

Takato gave him a scowl, but didn't seem particularly upset about the comment. A remark like that was to be expected after all this time. But the fact that the goggle-headed tamer responded more to that one insult than the teenage Tai had to the entire conversation meant the guy was truly distracted.

"Hey, Hairball," he mocked. "Are you awake over there? You're going to steal the title "Dreamer" from Goggle-head if you aren't careful."

Tai looked up and smiled slightly, "I'm fine. Are we ready then?"

Slowly, the others nodded. Even the oblivious Guilmon (well… semi-oblivious and sometimes too clever to be the same Pineapple-head he would swindle for food) noticed that the older boy wasn't completely okay. His mind wasn't on the discussion and he didn't even seem to focus on the fact they were heading into a dangerous situation. The orange reptile seemed more aware of that fact than the bottomless pit of a rookie or his tamer, but that was to be expected of the Digidestined's partner.

"You sure you're alright, Tai?" asked Agumon, deeply concerned.

"Yes," he nodded. "We need to fix this, after all. Ready?"

The orange dinosaur nodded and the boy pulled out his digivice.

"Agumon Warp digivolve to… um, Agumon?"

They'd expected to see a bright light and a large armored mega. Instead, the orange rookie was left looking exactly the same and vaguely foolish as he stood there waiting. Mako turned to his partner.

"Isn't he supposed to turn into that digimon you fought in the park yesterday?" he asked.

"…I thought so," muttered Agumon. "I don't know what happened. I'm not hungry or tired."

"Is Tai hungry then?" asked Guilmon. "If nothing is wrong with Agumon, maybe something is wrong with Tai instead."

The brunette tamer looked horrified at his partner's suggestion about his idol, but the older boy didn't immediately dismiss the idea. Actually, Tai looked resigned to it.

"I guess I really am just dead weight," he muttered.

"What are you talking about, Tai? How could you say that?" his shocked partner asked.

"Come on, when was the last time I actually made a real difference to the team? Davis, T.K., Kari, Yolei, Cody, and Ken? They're the ones who've been accomplishing everything lately. My and Matt's younger siblings have grown up and no longer need our protection or help. Davis and Ken, not me, helped their partners stop Armageddemon last time. Even Cody and Yolei have made a larger impact on the world recently than me. Maybe the fact Diaboromon wasn't properly destroyed years ago is my fault, which means I'm worse than useless. Face it, if I can't even help you digivolve anymore, what good am I?"

The boy's tone wasn't angry or upset in any way. His words were spoken with a numb detachment. He wasn't bitter about this concept. He was simply stating what he felt was an obvious truth: he was useless and he was giving up.

"But you're a hero," Takato reminded desperately. "You stood face to face against Devimon, Etemon, and Myotismon. You and Matt stood there as Angemon and Angewomon fired arrows at you, just because a prophecy said it would work, and Agumon and Gabumon gained the power to reach their mega levels. You never gave up, even against the Dark Masters or Apocalymon. You made it to the internet by sheer force of will. And when Agumon was in trouble, you heard him all the way in the human world and found a way to reach him in the digital one somehow. How can you say you're dead weight?"

"Because all of those events are in the past. Most of them are from several years ago, back when I first entered the Digital World. But I've not been very useful since those days," the Digidestined of Courage reminded.

Impmon frowned. This particular trip into depressing, hopeless, doomed-to-fail, pessimistic thoughts were occurring at the worst possible time. They did not have time for Hairball to sit around, feeling and acting useless until he finally got over it. Everyone is entitled to having a bad day, but not when a D-reaper wannabe is trying to destroy everyone.

Snapping someone out of this could take a while, but they couldn't waste it. It was kind of annoying. Goggle-head, except at his lowest point, never acted even close to this. He was always too optimistic about success and determined to never give up in an emergency. Even that Hedgehog, Davis, didn't seem like the type to surrender when things look bad. These three seemed to be so similar at times, even with a vaguely similar appearance. What made Tai different…?

A crazy idea hit him with as much force as a charging Mammothmon. It wasn't necessarily logical, but a piece of plastic from Mako could be turned into a giant, destructive cannon. Logic didn't always apply with their world. Still, he figured that if this idea turned out to be right, he might be able to kick the Hairball into gear and get events back on track.

"Munchkins, I'll be right back. I have to do something important. Stay with Pineapple-head," he whispered to the twins beside him. He wasn't happy about leaving them behind again, but his swiftly evolving plan involved a minor criminal act. While Mrs. Olkowski is likely to beat his head in with a frying pan or half-choke him with soap for dragging his children into another world without even talking to her first, she would definitely murder him if he began turning the twins into actual criminals before they even begin school. And he remembered from his explorations the night before, his target was just on the other side of the closest building and that meant he would still be close. "If the freaky jellyfish get much closer or start acting weirder, he'll keep you safe until I get back. I promise I won't be far away this time."

The young children definitely weren't happy about this plan. Their faces darkened at the idea and their gaze fell towards the ground. It was getting harder to argue against staying with them. Too many things seemed to find small kids as perfect targets and he wanted to be there to ensure their safety. Plus, they seemed to be perfecting their "begging look" and could probably guilt anyone into surrendering their will. Or maybe he was just going soft and paranoid. If they should ask him to stay with them, he might just do it.

"Okay, Impmon," Ai finally answered softly. "We'll be good and stay here. And you said you'd be back soon, right?" She and her brother exchanged glances. "Besides, you always end up saving us if there's trouble. It'll be alright. And you said it was important. If you have to do something important, then you should do it."

He rubbed the twins' heads, earning a couple of giggles from the pair. They were definitely growing up. They were picking up the whole "responsibility" and "the safety of the world outweighs the wants of a couple of kids" thing. He would have to make sure they didn't go overboard and turn into goggle-heads, though. Of course, if his idea was right, preventing goggle-headism shouldn't be too hard.

The purple rookie swiftly scrambled up the closest building before the thoroughly distracted reptilian digimon and their partners seemed to notice and dashed across the rooftop to the next street. As he vaguely remembered from the night before, a sporting goods store sat between a small convenience store and a place that looked like it sold hats, purses, and other junk. Just like the other street, no one seemed to currently be present. Thus, Impmon felt confident no one spotted him leap onto a streetlight, slide down, and make a run for the store.

The door jingled slightly as he pushed it open, wondering briefly why doors tended to be hard to push open and handles were usually above his head. The lights were out, but most of the surrounding buildings seemed to be having similar power trouble with the fog's nearby presence anyway. Various sports balls, padding, helmets, cleats, and other items for outdoor activities hung from hooks on the walls and sat in orderly lines on shelves. The perfect organization seemed to be an open invitation for some mischief, but now wasn't the time or place for it. He was a digimon on a mission.

On the back wall, Impmon spotted his goal. It was hanging on a small hook with a tag undoubtedly describing the item's price. Of course, it wasn't like he had any money or intended to pay for it himself. If the boy felt guilty later on and wanted to come back and give the store some money, that was up to him. After all, no one could currently purchase it properly with the store's owner missing…

"I should have known some punk would try stealing with all this chaos going on," a gravelly voice growled from behind the purple virus as he reached for it, startling him slightly. "I just wouldn't have imagined it would be a goblin looting my store. Isn't this type of thing a little pathetic for you?"

Turning slowly to see who'd managed to sneak up on him, the purple rookie asked, "And isn't it a little suicidal to still be here?"

The blond man behind him was slightly overweight and wore a short beard. His mouth was twisted into a scowl towards the digimon. In his meaty hands was a tennis racket lifted from a nearby shelf, pulled back in preparation for a hard swing towards Impmon's head.

"Not to mention you're in a sporting goods store and you chose that as your weapon?" the digimon continued. "That really is the least threatening object I've faced today. Couldn't you have picked something a little less embarrassing?"

"No one steals from my store and I don't care if you're humiliated by what I use to protect my property," growled the human.

Inwardly groaning at this waste of time, he snapped back, "Look, here's how it's going to be. Me, my friends, and all those kids and digimon all the stupid adults in this world are afraid of and hate are trying to stop this blue fog and the psycho who made it from wiping out all life. Now, I need this to help someone." He waved the item demonstratively. "You can either argue or attack me for it, possibly causing unbelievable chaos in the meantime until I finally get tired of being nice and actually use force to get away so we don't get consumed by the killer fog when it gets over here while you're being stubborn. Or, you can get out of here before that mist destroys you and I'll go back to saving the world. And, if it'll make you happy and get you out of my way faster, I'll have someone pay you later for it. So choose now. Fight a pointless battle or get out of here?"

The pair stared at each other in silence for a moment. Slowly, the man raised an eyebrow.

"You're saying you need that to save the world and you're making fun of a tennis racket?"

"I know, but I'm not the one who actually needs it," groaned the digimon. "It's for someone else."

"My niece has an Aruraumon for a partner who kept her little sister from running out in traffic last week. Not all adults are stupid and ignore what is right in front of their faces. I actually remember what happened three months ago and those jellyfish and the giant monster in the bay appeared. I'm willing to believe you actually want to help humanity," he admitted, lowering his improvised weapon. He smiled faintly, "Go ahead and take it. It's fairly cheap and I'm willing to take a small loss if it helps."

Impmon nodded, "Smart choice. Now, try listening to your common sense and get out of here before the killer fog reaches this point. I have to go ignore mine and head towards 'the building of doom' in the middle."

Guilt and an undeniable sense of failure pressed down on him, crushing out every other thought or feeling. He'd experienced similar moments of hopelessness and painful realization in the past, but someone or something would always happen to offer another possibility. This time, Tai couldn't imagine a way out of this.

Not only did it appear that everything currently crashing down on them could be traced back to him and his mistakes, he'd also progressed from nearly useless to completely pointless and even a hindrance to his friends. He couldn't even help Agumon digivolve anymore. Minus outside forces like the presence of Control Spires, the spiky-haired boy could always find a way to give his partner that power. The fact the orange rookie beside him, currently trying to break through the growing wall of failure, was not a powerful mega only proved his utter worthlessness as a Digidestined.

Takato, after spending about five minutes of describing past victories and arguing alongside Agumon that the older boy was still an important and valuable member of the team, finally fell silent. The tamer's idolization of him due to a television show might have fueled his obviously misguided belief in his current usefulness, but Takato would soon realize the truth too. He wasn't some kind of unstoppable, undefeatable, perfect movie hero. He was just a kid who once went to summer camp and played a very small role in saving the worlds, with plenty of help from others. And those days were long gone.

"What are you going to do now, Takato?" Guilmon asked, looking at the boy expectantly.

"I don't know," admitted the tamer. "In the show, Matt was generally pretty good at snapping Tai out of a depression. One way he did it was simply punching him." He glanced between Tai and the red rookie before stating, "And I can't hit him. He's Tai."

"I can," a voice announced from above before a small object struck the Digidestined of Courage in the head. Jerking in surprise at the sharp pain, the older boy looked up to where Impmon perched on a lamppost. Tai didn't even remember the rookie leaving his partners side. "I've already did one pep talk today and I'm not doing another. So, physical injury works for me. Hairball, I don't care what type of crazy 'woe is me,' guilt trip you're on. Save it for later. According to your fan club," he pointed at Takato, "you're supposed to be like Hedgehog and our personal Goggle-head. Let me guess: you pull off impossible stunts at just the perfect moment and crazy miracles happen way too often, right? Well, we need that kind of thing now. So, pick those up, put them on, and act like what you're supposed to be before I set your giant hair on fire. Got it?"

Still rubbing his head, Tai looked down at the object the viral rookie had thrown at him. Lying on the blacktop, clear as day, was a pair of goggles. The lenses were a light blue set into orange, round frames. The strap was black and a price tag was still attached to it. The colors were different, but the simple shape of the goggles was comforting. He'd worn his old goggles since he was a little kid, during his time in the Digi-World, and all the way to the day he handed them over to Davis. Until this point, he hadn't realized how much he missed that familiarity. His fingers closed on the object gently.

Did Impmon actually think a pair of goggles was enough to fix everything? That he would put them on, discover a new angle or unlock a new power, and go on to regain his old confidence? It wasn't that… Wait, maybe it was. Maybe it could be that simple. When he began to utterly doubt himself, he lost who he was. He lost his confidence, his self-worth, his fighting spirit, his determination, his drive to face any foe… and his Courage. No wonder Agumon couldn't digivolve; the Digidestined wasn't even Tai anymore and was losing more of who he was with each depressing thought.

He couldn't believe how pathetic his ideas had been lately. Even if by some stretch of the imagination their current problem could be traced back to him, that didn't mean he was useless or even a threat to his friends. Everyone makes mistakes with consequences no one could predict. But giving up and trying to fade into the background didn't solve anything. He might not always lead the charge into battle anymore, but that didn't diminish his importance. Davis and the other younger Digidestined weren't replacing him; they were joining him and sharing the burden of two worlds' fates. When life tried to pull him away from those responsibilities, they would take up the slack. If he chose to return to the frontlines once more, they would welcome him and he would be just as valuable as before. He could still be the "old Tai" if he tried and he would find a way to succeed. He never considered failure as a possibility before and he didn't intend to now.

With a practiced motion, the older boy pulled the new goggles on his head. The item itself possessed no power, but it was a symbol. Just like his crest, wearing goggles was a distinguishing mark of the days where he strove to fulfill his potential. They represented a boy, thrown into a new world and tangled in a battle against evil in the form of giant and powerful creatures, who faced everything that he encountered and never surrendered. He would remain firm between any threat and those he cared about in some form or another, even if the odds were against him. With Agumon by his side, he would never give up. He would prove that he was still that person. Somehow, some way, he would find a way to stand and fight once more…

His digivice, still in his other hand, began to glow. It wasn't the usual glow from the screen, though. The entire object was engulfed in light. Tai squinted against the illumination. A small part of his mind noticed cheerful, high-pitched giggling somewhere, but most of his attention was on the shifting shape in his hand. Kari and T.K. had described the moment their old digivices had morphed into D-3's. While this was similar to what they'd mentioned, the shape was wrong. In fact, it looked almost like…

"No way," Takato gasped. "A D-arc? Tai just got a D-arc?"

The object in his hand was definitely a D-arc. The screen was surrounded by a white ring and the buttons below were a light grey. The majority of the surface was a warm orange shade. Tai knew his expression must be one of pure shock, but couldn't decide on any other reaction to his digivice's transformation.

"And my theory is proven," smirked Impmon. "Goggle-heads cause weird miracles at random."

"I don't suppose that means you'll stop making fun of me for wearing goggles then, does it?" the tamer asked.

"No way. You're too easy a target," the rookie replied. "Plus, I still think they're cutting off circulation to your brain. But, I have proven my genius and you can be impressed by it if you choose."

Before Tai could state his belief that the goggles themselves weren't responsible for his D-arc's appearance, the orange object's screen began to glow with the familiar symbol of the Crest of Courage. In addition, a ringing started sounding in his ears and swiftly shifted into voices.

Courage. The quality of being brave and showing valor. Facing that which you fear with all of your skills and abilities, even when the situation is bleak. Risking yourself to protect or save what matters most, not what will help you the most or give you the most glory.

Bravery does not mean foolhardy and selfish sacrifice. Valor does not mean only fighting when victory is guaranteed. Someone with true tenacity will continue to stand against what he fears or knows is wrong, even when all hope seems gone. They accept help from others and offer it in return, but those with courage keep the spirit of everyone burning bright because that is who they are. Valor may bring pain and death, but that is a price accepted and willingly paid if the evil to be faced is great enough.

True bravery is demonstrated when resolve and valor remains, even when fear and doubt clouds the mind. Courage is easy when victory is assured. If loss is almost certain, that is when those with tenacity shall rise to meet the challenge. That is the real test of valor.

Courage.

As soon as the final words registered in his mind, light swept over both him and an equally surprised Agumon. The light was blinding and a strange sense of strength accompanied it. The Digidestined experienced and unnerving feeling of… something happening around him.

"Agumon Biomerge to… VictoryGreymon!"

At this point, the boy began suffering a strange variation of vertigo. On one level, he seemed to be floating naked in a giant orange orb while strange writing and symbols orbited. On another, he was still in the street. Or rather, floating slightly above the street in an unfamiliar body. His skin was orange and reptilian in texture, but remained hidden under thick gold, grey, and red armor on most areas of his body. An extremely large, three-bladed sword rested in his grip and leaned against his shoulder, barely missing the metallic wing-like structures attached to his back. His face, covered by more metallic armor, seemed slightly longer than usual and he could almost see a horn on his nose. His limbs felt far stronger than he'd ever been before, muscles clearly defined where the armor didn't cover. His hands and feet were far different than those any human ever possessed, but were similar to those a prehistoric predator with sharp claws and fewer toes. And, to finish the oddness, he had a tail.

"Whoa, what's going on? What happened?" Tai asked frantically, looking around the sphere and the street in an effort to make sense of his current predicament. He spotted Impmon, Takato, Guilmon, and the twins staring straight at him, looking shocked and impressed. The Digidestined noticed two discomforting facts; he seemed to be larger than the others to a nearly impossible extent and he couldn't see his partner anywhere. "Agumon?"

"Tai?" the missing digimon's voice answered. It sounded like he was right beside the boy in the floating orb, but he wasn't in sight. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but where are you?"

"I'm right here… Kind of."

"Great. Where am I? And what happened to my clothes?"

"I don't think you're actually naked, Tai. This is sort of just in your head, more or less," the rookie's voice replied "…I think."

"You 'think'? What happened to us? There were voices, a light, and then…" The Digidestined paused, thoughtfully. A grin formed on his face as he looked around his orange sphere. "Did we just… Biomerge?"

"See? Impossible stunts and crazy miracles," shouted Impmon from the ground level. "Though Takato already pulled off that one a while ago, so it isn't as shocking."

"But he's awesome," the tamer argued. "He's WarGreymon, only more buff and with a giant sword."

"Either way, he isn't moping around anymore and we can get the show on the road," the viral rookie pointed out. "That fog is getting a lot closer and the Cyclops-jellyfish are starting to take notice of us."

With his new body, VictoryGreymon turned towards the blue mist. The Digidestined within felt mildly surprised how far it had progressed while he had been "moping around" as Impmon put it. While they'd been in sight when he first attempted to help Agumon digivolve, the small digimon had nearly come within a block of the group now. The tamers pulled out their own D-arcs as the mega chose to take action against the swarm.

"Guilmon Biomerge to… Gallantmon!"

"Impmon Biomerge to… Fatemon!"

Swinging his large weapon, the dual-voiced armored reptile announced, "Dramon Breaker!"

With one final giggle, the DigiGnome left them alone. The sad boy was no longer sad and that made everything alright for the digital creature.

Man, I finally got to shake Tai out of that depression. I've wanted to do that for a while. But I had to do it in the best possible way. And that means the way that will lead to the most awesome result.

I also considered calling this particular chapter "Return of the Goggle-head." Tai was the original goggle-headed boy out to save the world in the first season and every other Goggle-head has strove to live up to that title. And while I know that the passing on the goggles was a moment of declaring Davis as the new individual to fill that role, I missed Tai having goggles and everything that implies. If you've noticed, Goggle-heads have an amazing amount of luck, a knack for stumbling across an answer or clue without really meaning to, or pulling off impossible stunts and crazy miracles that actually end up working (how did Takato manage to hide Guilmon in the park as long as he did without someone noticing, except by the pure luck that follows the tamer around? What about Davis simply wandering around everyone's dreams when MaloMyotismon stuck them in those fantasies? Plus, we have Tai and his ability to reach Agumon no matter what the circumstances, including on the internet and in the Digi-World when there was no logical way he could have heard him or been able to know he could reach him.). I'm not saying that goggles necessarily have magic powers of awesomeness that it bestows upon their owner, but they certainly act like it sometimes. Thus, I gave Tai back the title of "Goggle-head" without stealing back Davis'.

Reviews are deeply appreciated and help motivate me to keep writing when school tries to slow me down.