"The Arrival of SkullGreymon"

I'm sure everyone is interested in this chapter. Please enjoy and review!

"Oh. How far do we have to walk?" Mimi complained.

Once again, the Digidestineds were roaming around the desert, growing tired as they walked on with the summer heat beating down on their heads.

They were trying to get as far away from Etemon as they could since their digimon were still a bit weak from his sudden attack and couldn't digivolve.

"Until Etemon can't follow us anymore." Joe said.

"I don't think there is such a place." Mimi retorted.

"We certainly can't stop here in the middle of nowhere. For one thing, if we were attacked there would be no place for us to run to." Matt spoke up.

He was carrying Daisuke on his back since she had looked a bit tired and was worried she would faint again, so he decided to carry her.

She protested in the beginning, but when TK and Veemon both gave her the puppy dog look, she relented and allowed Matt to carry her.

"I'm so hungry!" Daisuke moaned as she leaned her head on Matt's shoulder.

"Hey, come on you guys." Tai said stopping and turned to face the rest of the group.

"Why'd we stop? Why's everyone so scared?" he asked.

"After all, we do have the Crest, you know." He said holding the Tag and Crest out for everyone to see.

"That's true, but do we really know the Crest will help Agumon to digivolve?" Matt asked.

"Of course. Right, Agumon?" Tai asked his orange dinosaur, who turned to him with a confused look.

"Listen buddy, this is your big chance. Don't let me down. You're the only one that can digivolve further, so either you try to get to the next level and save us from Etemon or I'll go and get myself a new digimon!" Tai said rudely as Agumon whimpered.

Hearing this, Daisuke looked over at the child of Courage in shock by the way he was talking to Agumon.

The Tai she remembered cared for Agumon dearly and she once had to hold him back from danger when he had tried to rush off to save the dinosaur when he was taken by the Digimon Emperor.

So, why was he acting like this now?

Matt felt the arms around his neck tighten as the girl gripped at his shirt and he wondered what had happened to make her react this way.

"Not much of a choice." Tentomon drawled as he flew by the duo of Courage.

"Arg." Tai growled in annoyance while Agumon sulked.

"By the way, how are we supposed to use the Crests to digivolve again?" Tai asked as he looked over at his friends.

"Well, from what we saw so far, the other digivolutions take a lot of energy, so for example, they can't digivolve if they're hungry." Izzy said.

"Another example, the partner of the digimon must be in some sort of danger. You know, like being under attack or something." The redhead continued.

"But since it's a high level of digivolving, my theory is even more energy is needed. We'll provide the food and Etemon will provide the danger." Tai said giving his partner a wink making the dinosaur whimper again.

"Can I just say how much of a stupid idea that is?" Daisuke spoke up.

"I second that!" Veemon lifted his hand while Tokomon sat on the dragon's head.

"You have to agree with her. You're her partner." Gomamon commented.

A half hour later, the group had found a place to sit and rest for a while and Tai had taken the food away from the others to give to Agumon.

Everyone was sitting back on a sand dune as they watched Tai shoving fruit into Agumon's mouth and the dinosaur appeared to be very distressed and plump.

"No more!" Agumon cried over the food in his mouth.

"Just one more eensie bite." Tai grinned as he shoved another fruit into the dinosaur's full mouth.

"Ready for the second course?" Tai asked making Agumon lean back in distress, holding his swollen stomach.

"Oh, stop your belly aching and open wide. You gotta keep on eating. Listen, everyone's giving you their food so that you can digivolve. Isn't that right?" Tai asked the rest of the group who sat on a small hill behind him.

"Yeah." Matt drawled with no enthusiasm.

"We didn't even give him our food. He took it from us. Of all the nerve." Mimi pouted.

"Well, the food won't do us any good. We still can't digivolve." Gabumon said.

"Those of us who don't work don't eat." Joe muttered.

"But I'm hungry!" Tentomon whined.

"Hey, I can't hear you. I said 'is that right?!'" Tai yelled over at his friends.

"That's right!" everyone yelled back with zero enthusiasm.

"See, that's why you've gotta try your best to protect everybody. Now come on, buddy, keep eating!" Tai ordered Agumon, who forced himself to continue eating.

"I guess there's not much else we can do to help." Palmon said.

"I don't know if Agumon can take much more." Biyomon said as she watched.

"Yeah, Tai is really pushing him. Agumon's stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey." Sora commented.

"Eat up, you need that energy!" Tai yelled at his dinosaur as he forced more food into his mouth.

"Tai's personality is taking a turn for the worst lately. I remember him being friendlier to much younger kids." Izzy said.

"Actually, now that you mention it… He was cool during soccer camp. Tai might look like he's trying to run things all by himself, but whatever crazy action he takes, he's doing it for the good of the team." Sora defended.

"Mm-hmm." Izzy nodded.

"But now all this…" Sora trailed off as the goggle head shoved another fruit in Agumon's mouth.

"We're the only ones who can help now. So you've gotta keep eating, okay, Agumon?" Tai asked.

"I can't!" Agumon whined as he fell down on his back.

"Tai's personality seems to have changed ever since he got a hold of that Crest of Courage." Sora said.

This news annoyed Daisuke as she watched the way Tai was behaving.

How could someone she had idolized and viewed as her hero become such a...brat?

The way he was treating Agumon right now was just so wrong and it seemed to border on cruel.

"Hey, Daisuke, are you okay?" TK asked as he looked up at the girl when he saw the scowl that was on her face.

Snapping out of her thoughts, the girl looked down at the curious little boy and she forced a smile for him which she hoped wasn't too strained.

"It's nothing, don't worry." she said.

Veemon looked over at his partner, wondering how she was feeling as she watched her hero become a total stranger right in front of her.

At least she wasn't seeing this as a child or else that would have caused a bit of emotional damage.

After all, there had to be a reason why people said to never meet your heroes.

"Boy, I'm hungry." Joe sighed.

Suddenly, he felt his Tag vibrating and pulled it out of his shirt to find it glowing a silvery blue color much to his shock.

"Hmm? Hey, guys! My Tag is glowing!" Joe called to his friends who all turned to him.

"That must mean it's reacting to something." Matt said.

"The Crest must be nearby." Izzy suggested.

"You think so?" Tai asked eagerly as he stood up.

Pulling out his mini telescope, the goggle head looked over the area to locate the Crest.

"Hey, look! There's something out there. It looks like a big building or something." He announced.

"That must be where my Crest is." Joe said running down the sand dunes, but he tripped over a strange black cable wire.

"What's a cable doing out in the middle of nowhere?" Gomamon asked as he lifted the cable.

The group then followed the glowing Tag and they arrived at a large coliseum that looked like an exact replica from Rome.

"Amazing, it looks like the Roman coliseum." Izzy exclaimed.

"What's a coliseum?" Tentomon asked.

"Well, Tentomon, it's an ancient arena." Izzy said.

"But the ancients didn't have big screens." Mimi said as she pointed to the TV.

It was similar to the large screens that were set up in sports stadiums where people went to watch the games.

"Or soccer goals." Sora said as she pointed out the large goal nets.

"Okay guys, let's go split up and look for the Crest." Tai said as Agumon fell onto his bottom.

"What's wrong?" Tai asked him.

"I can't move anymore. Let me rest a little bit." Agumon said turning on his side to get some rest.

"Come on. Get up! You can do it." Tai yelled.

"I can't!" Agumon cried.

Seeing the frustrated look on Tai's face, Daisuke felt a sudden hatred for the boy and wanted very badly to hit him.

"Give him a rest, Tai." Joe said making the brunette look at him.

"Hmm?" Tai asked.

"The only clue we have is my Tag. So Gomamon and I will search for the Crest. You guys relax for a while." Joe said.

"Wait, I'll go with you." Tai insisted as the three ran off to look for it.

Sighing, Daisuke took in a breath as she tried to calm herself down before she actually started yelling at Tai or she started a fight with him.

Looking over to where Agumon was sitting as he cradled his swollen stomach, the time traveler made her way over to the dinosaur and kneeled down beside him.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah. My stomach just really hurts. I think I ate too much." Agumon gave a forced grin up at the girl.

"That'll happen when someone shoves food down your throat." Veemon commented.

"Veemon!" Daisuke reprimanded as she sent him a look.

"What?" the dragon shrugged innocently.

"A soccer ball!" Sora cried out as a soccer ball rolled over to the group.

"Hey, anybody up for a game?" the orange haired girl asked.

"Yeah, that sounds fun!" TK cheered.

"That's a great idea. The human team will play against the digimon team." Matt said.

"What on earth is 'soccer'?" Tentomon asked.

"It's easy. You use your feet to try to get this ball into the goal. You can also use your chest and your head." Sora said as she kicked up the ball into the air and hit it with her head.

The ball bounced over to Gabumon, who went over to it eagerly.

"Here I go!" he chuckled giving it a kick, making it fly over to Biyomon and Palmon, hitting the bird over the head and then it bounced into the hybrid digimon's hands.

"Oh, that's really using your head." Palmon said as Biyomon was on the ground from the hit.

"Oh, and I forgot to tell you. You can't use your hands." Sora giggled.

"Unless you're the goal keeper, then you can touch the ball with your hands." TK explained.

"Yeah, you should be the goalie for your team, Palmon." Matt told her.

"Here!" Palmon called as she made a baseball throw.

The ball then landed on the ground and rolled near Tai who spotted it and ran up to the ball, delivering a powerful kick.

Everyone watched as the ball sailed over the wall of the coliseum much to their awe, but it slowly faded when Tai revealed the annoyed look on his face as he regarded the group.

"I can't believe you're playing soccer at a time like this! Will you use your heads for something other than hitting the ball? The sooner Joe finds the Crest, the sooner we can leave." He said making everyone look down in slight depression as a certain mahogany haired girl glared at him.

"You know what I can't believe? That you're acting like such a jerk!" Daisuke finally snapped as she shot up to her feet.

Sora gasped at this, surprised that someone had finally decided to confront Tai on the way he was acting.

"What was that?" Tai asked as he narrowed his coffee colored eyes at the girl.

"You heard me! You're treating everyone so badly and what you're doing to Agumon is even worse!" Daisuke yelled as she stalked closer to Tai.

She was trying to calm herself down or else she would hit him and then it would cause quite a few problems.

"It's none of your buisness how I treat Agumon! So stay out of it!" Tai yelled at the girl as he clenched his fists.

Seeing the anger on her face directed right at him sent a certain pain in his chest.

He had to keep reminding himself that this Daisuke wasn't the same little girl who was at home in Odaiba, probably trying to make his little sister feel better on not being able to go to camp.

They may share the same name and face, but they were both two very seperate people.

"I'm not gonna stay out it! If you don't get over this, then something bad is gonna happen!" Daisuke yelled back.

"What would you know?" Tai glared at the girl.

Everyone was silent as they watched the two teenagers argue, their heads moving back and forth as they saw the emotions run wild on the duos' faces.

"Better than you." Daisuke stated with narrowed eyes.

Agumon and Veemon both whined as they stared at their humans, worried that their argument would get more heated.

"Your Tag is reacting again." Gomamon said as he and Joe stood at the soccer net.

"Yeah, the Crest must be around here somewhere. Huh?" Joe asked.

The sound of clapping filled the area and everyone turned to the large screen to see a pair of gloved hands clapping.

"Who's the king?" Etemon asked as his face appeared on the screen.

"Ahhh! He's here! Etemon's here!" Mimi cried running away and the others followed her.

"Hey, wait for me!" Agumon called as he ran after the others, but was too slow due to all the food he had eaten.

He then tripped and crashed to the ground making Tai and Daisuke stop as they turned back to look at him.

"Agumon!" Tai called.

"I'll get him!" Daisuke said as she ran over to help the dinosaur.

"Daisuke, wait for me!" Veemon called as he turned to run after his partner.

Before he could step out of the net, the net then crashed down on the group and trapped them like a cage.

"Hey! We're trapped." Matt yelled.

"Goal! I sure did it. I scored a goal." Etemon cheered.

"The whole thing was a trap." Tai said.

"Does he really think he can trap us with this stupid net?" Tentomon asked as he rammed into the net, but was electrocuted and was knocked back into everyone.

Growling at this, Veemon looked over at his human as she helped Agumon stand up and was glaring up at the TV screen.

"Oh, now, listen up. You might get hurt. There's electricity running through that net. It's a shocker, I know. I really wanted to be there in person to do this myself, but I'm far too busy. You know how us rock 'n' roll legends are. Don't worry; the act substituting for me is a rare treat. Let's see if you can put your puny little hands together when you figure out who our special guest star is. Well?" Etemon inquired.

"How can we know who it is?" Tai asked.

"I'm sure y'all be surprised. Here he comes." Etemon said.

Loud footsteps were heard and everyone turned to see a Greymon wearing a black collar and had glowing red eyes walk into the coliseum.

"It's a different Greymon!" Tai exclaimed.

"This is not good." Daisuke said as she started to walk backwards and pushed Agumon with her.

When she saw the collar and glowing red eyes, it made the girl think that the Greymon was under the control of a dark ring.

Was it possible that the Digimon Emperor was the first person who came up with the idea and simply copied it?

"See? I knew you'd be surprised. Ah, I'm so evil. Let's get started, it's time to go. Okay, here's the show!" Etemon announced.

Evil Greymon snarled as he stomped on the other net across the field, crushing it under his weight as he roared in anger.

"It's time to digivolve." Tai said as his digivice beeped.

"Agumon digivolve too…GREYMON!"

As the two Greymon charged at each other, Daisuke took her chance to run away from the two dinosaurs so she wouldn't get hurt.

The two Champions had locked hands as they tried to shove each other back or throw the other one down.

Greymon rammed his head into Evil Greymon's face making him back away in pain, but then he whacked Greymon in the side with his tail.

"You can do it, Greymon!" Gabumon called.

"Don't lose to that phoney baloney!" TK yelled.

"Protect Daisuke!" Veemon shouted.

Evil Greymon snarled as he charged Greymon, ramming his head into Greymon and sent him flying back into the Digidestineds' cage, being electrocuted.

"Oh no, Greymon!" Daisuke gasped in horror.

"Greymon, you've got to digivolve!" Tai yelled from inside the cage.

"Boy, this doesn't look good." Izzy said as the good Greymon pushed himself up; the evil dinosaur standing over him.

"We're done for if he can't digivolve again!" Tentomon cried.

"Digivolve, Greymon. You've got to." Tai urged.

Greymon got up tiredly and rammed his head into Evil Greymon, trying to push him back, but Evil Greymon grabbed hold of his horns and threw him to the ground.

Spotting the human girl standing a few feet away, Evil Greymon then growled as he sent his Nova Blast at the girl who then rolled to the side to avoid the attack.

"Run!" Mimi cried as Evil Greymon then started to move after Daisuke.

Seeing this, Greymon lifted his head up and bit Evil Greymon's tail, stopping him from attacking the human girl.

Roaring in anger, Evil Greymon then started stomping his foot down on Greymon making the good dinosaur groan in pain.

"What's he waiting for? Why won't he digivolve to the next level?" Tai asked.

"It's not working, Tai. The Crest isn't reacting at all. Maybe you gave him too much to eat." Izzy accused.

"Maybe he can't digivolve." Matt cut in.

"Of course he can. Come on, Greymon. You can do it! Believe in your power and you can digivolve." Tai called.

Greymon then used his tail to whip Evil Greymon, the bad dinosaur stumbling back.

"Way to go, Greymon!" Tai cheered.

Greymon tried to use his Nova Blast, but he choked out nothing but spit.

"He certainly doesn't have any digi-manners. At least say 'excuse me'." Mimi said.

"Am I imagining it or is he moving a lot slower than usual?" Matt asked.

"He consumed way too much, so his refluxes are sluggish." Izzy explained.

"Right, Izzy." Tentomon said trying to get out of the cage, but was electrocuted by the net.

"Not again." He groaned.

Evil Greymon was dragging Greymon around the field by his tail, the good dinosaur not even looking like he is trying to get free.

"Greymon, get away!" Daisuke yelled as she watched.

"Get up and fight!" Tai ordered.

Evil Greymon was swinging Greymon around by his tail now, then let him go and fly into the stairs of the coliseum, destroying them.

"It's lookin' like this is gonna be over sooner than I thought." Etemon laughed.

Evil Greymon picked up Greymon in a headlock and ran over to the center of the field and then did a wrestling move where he slammed him down.

"We really need help! Marching Fishes!" Gomamon cried and colorful fish started to swim out of the water that was pouring out from a fountain.

There was a Gazimon standing on top of the statues with fireworks in his paws, but the fish knocked him down and stole the fireworks, bringing them over to Evil Greymon as he was stomping on Greymon again.

They caught the evil dinosaur's attention and he chased after them.

"Where did those fish come from? How could they just come out of there like that?" Joe asked.

"I don't know, but if it's not broken, don't fix it." Gomamon shrugged in responce.

"It's really elementary, Joe. There's probably just a dimensional drift in the water." Izzy said.

"Ditto." The seal digimon agreed with the boy.

"Oh." Joe said crossing his arms.

The fish then all dropped the fireworks at Evil Greymon's feet, making him yelp and try to avoid getting hit by the flames and sparks as the fish flew away.

"Thank you, fish!" Sora called as they disappeared.

"Now, what are we going to do to get out of here?" Sora asked as she turned back to the group.

"We should dig a hole and tunnel our way out." Izzy said as he and Matt lifted up a stone block that revealed dirt under it.

"Great idea." The blonde said as they all started helping lift away the blocks.

"There's a black cable here too." Izzy said when the group saw it in the dirt under their feet.

"This rock is in the way." Tentomon said staring at a stone block that had a cross symbol on it.

"My Tag. It's…its reacting again." Joe said as he held out this Tag as it was glowing the same silvery color from earlier on.

"What if this rock…is the Crest we've been looking for?" he asked as the two Greymons were locked into a fight again.

"If this really is the Crest that goes with my Tag." Joe said as he placed his Tag onto the symbol.

"Then maybe…" he trailed off as the block glowed that same silver color and it shrunk into a pendant as it slid into place in the Tag.

The ground under the group then broke open making everyone cry out as they fell into an underground cavern.

"It is my Crest. Yes!" Joe cheered.

"Look, a tunnel. We can get out through here." Tentomon said.

Everyone followed Tentomon down the tunnel and they made it out from underground and walked into the coliseum where the fight was.

They found Daisuke standing behind a stone fence as she watched the fight with a worried expression, hoping that the others would hurry.

"Daisuke!" Veemon called making the girl turn around and smile when she found her friends running over to her.

"Veemon!" she cried as she caught the dragon when he jumped into her arms.

"You okay?" Matt asked the girl.

"I'm fine, but Greymon..." Daisuke trailed off as everyone turned to stare at the dinosaur.

"Greymon, you could win if you only digivolve. GREYMON!" Tai said as he clutched his Crest.

Greymon, who was lying on the stairs, looked back at Tai as he climbed up on the short wall.

"Tai, don't!" Sora said grabbing his waist.

"Don't stop me. This is my chance to make him digivolve to the next level. Please mind your own business, Sora." Tai said to the girl.

"But Tai, without a reaction from the Crest there's no way for him to digivolve." Sora said.

"I can make him do it. Watch." Tai said jumping off the wall and running toward the two fighting dinosaurs.

"Tai, get back here!" Daisuke shouted as she watched the brunette run off into the line of danger.

"What do ya think he's going to do?" Matt asked.

"The other condition for digivolving is their partner must be in danger." Izzy said.

"He wouldn't." Sora said in horror.

A feeling of dread then filled Daisuke's chest as she watched Tai run over to the two battling dinosaurs and she felt that something horrible was about to happen.

"Hurry up and finish him off. Use your Nova Blast." Etemon laughed as Evil Greymon started up his attack.

"STOP!" Tai yelled.

His yelling startled the evil dinosaur so much that he turned his head to the side and sent his Nova Blast to the statue.

"I'm not afraid of a big fake like you. Okay, fire breath, come and get me." The goggle head taunted the evil creature.

Evil Greymon turned to him growling, Tai crying out in fear as the dinosaur went to him, Greymon watching in worry as the rest of the Digidestineds were in a panic.

"Biyomon, you've got to help Tai." Sora said to the pink bird.

"You go too, Gabumon." Matt told his partner.

"Got it." Gabumon nodded.

"Veemon, you help out too." Daisuke said urgently.

"Done and done." Veemon saluted.

"Biyomon digivolve too…BIRDAMON!"

"Gabumon digivolve too…GARURUMON!"

"Veemon digivolve too...EXVEEMON!"

"Greymon, I believe in you." Tai called as the blue wolf, the blue dragon and the red bird stood near the boy to protect him.

Greymon forced himself to rise up from the ground to fight.

"You can do it, Greymon. Digivolve!" Tai yelled as his digivice glowed green and his Crest glowed orange before it turned pitch black.

The sky darkened as black streams of light fell down from the sky, flames swirling around them as Greymon started transform into a skeletal creature that made the Digidestineds and digimon gasp in pure terror.

"What in the world?" Sora asked.

"What do you think that is?" Matt asked.

"Oh my! Is that what I think it is?" Tentomon asked in shock.

"What do you call that thing?" the orange haired girl asked.

"SkullGreymon. The sight of it makes other digimon tremble. He is a fully digivolved digimon who's explosive power causes him to constantly search for battle." Tentomon explained.

"This could be very bad. There's been some mistake and he's digivolved into a horrible monster." Izzy said as Mimi cowarded behind him and TK clung to Daisuke in fear.

As for the time traveler, she was staring at SkullGreymon in horror as she thought back to the first time she had seen the evil creature.

The Digimon Emperor had forced Agumon to digivolve and instead of his real evolution, he had become this destructive, unstoppable beast.

Pre-teen TK had once said he had seen SkullGreymon before, but he never explained how it had come into existence.

SkullGreymon growled out a snarl as he towered over Evil Greymon, his green eyes looking deadly.

Evil Greymon had the right idea to run away from him, but SkullGreymon chased after him and back handed him away and he sailed right into the big screen, a shocked Etemon backing away from the screen as Evil Greymon was electrocuted from the broken TV.

SkullGreymon then fired off the orange rocket that was on his back and it destroyed the TV along with the Evil Greymon making everyone stare in horror.

"Listen to me, SkullGreymon, if you're really the digivolved form of Greymon, then you can't hurt me!" Tai yelled.

"Tai, get outta there!" Matt yelled as SkullGreymon chased Tai.

"Tai, hurry, get away from there! It's not safe!" Daisuke screamed as she watched.

Garurumon then pounced at SkullGreymon, but the Ultimate slapped the wolf down and Garurumon landed on his feet as he ran off.

Birdramon cawed as she then flew in and grabbed SkullGreymon's shoulder with her foot, but she was backhanded.

ExVeemon then flew in and punched SkullGreymon in the face, but then the beast grabbed the dragon and threw him into the ground.

"ExVeemon!" Daisuke yelled as she ran over to check on her dragon.

Tai then ran away from SkullGreymon as the monster turned his attention back to the boy.

"Leave it to me." Tentomon said as he flew towards the fight.

"Tentomon digivolve too...KABUTERIMON!"

The four Champions then stood ready to protect the rest of the Digidestineds when Tai safely made it back to his friends while the black cables crackled with electricity.

SkullGreymon then picked up the soccer net that the group had been trapped in and he threw it at the Digidestineds making them cry out as they ran off to avoid being hit.

Birdramon used Meteor Wing, Garurumon fired off his Howling Blaster, ExVeemon shot out his V Laser and Kabuterimon used his Electro Shocker on SkullGreymon, but he just brushed off the attacks like they were nothing and then he backhanded Birdramon into Kabuterimon while he grabbed ExVeemon and slammed him into the ground while SkullGreymon kicked Garurumon down.

Seeming bored with terrorizing the humans and fighting their digimon, SkullGreymon turned and started to walk off, destroying whatever stood in his place.

Suddenly, the Ultimate stopped his path of destruction as black smoke started to drift off of his body and he was then covered in gold light as he slowly started to shrink.

"I wonder what happened." Izzy yelled as the group ran over to see what was happening.

"His energy ran out." Tentomon explained.

When the group got close enough, they found SkullGreymon had reverted back to Koromon who looked very tired and upset.

"He's Koromon again." TK noted.

Tai slid down the sand dune and ran to his partner.

"Are you all right?" he asked picking him up.

"Well, yes, but… I've done some terrible, horrible things." He whimpered sadly as he saw the destruction he had done.

"I savagely attacked four of my fellow digimon." He said sadly looking close to tears.

"It wasn't your fault." Biyomon told him.

"She's right." Gabumon agreed with the pink bird.

"You had no idea what you were doing." Veemon waved off Koromon's guilt.

"We completely understand." Tentomon said.

"I'm really sorry I didn't live up to your expectations of me, Tai." Koromon said looking down.

"It's not your fault." Matt said as he walked over.

"I know who's to blame." The blonde said as Tai stood up with a guilty expression.

"I know, it's all my fault. I'm really, really sorry." Tai said miserably.

"I didn't mean to put it all on you, Tai." Matt told him, not meaning to make him feel worst than he already was.

"It's okay. It's my fault, right, Sora?' Tai asked looking at the girl.

"Yeah-I mean..." Sora trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"I didn't know what I was doing, but I kept pushing people around anyway. I felt like because I had the Crest of Courage, I had to be in charge and fight on my own without any help from you." Tai explained.

He then stared down at Koromon as he turned away from Sora.

"I'm sorry everybody. Please forgive me." Tai held up Koromon above his head.

"Mm-hmm." Koromon smiled down at his partner.

Turning his attention over to Daisuke, Tai stared at her as she simply watched him, unable to tell what she was feeling.

But he could see the disapointment in her eyes and knew she was fighting off the urge to yell at him once again.

Letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, Tai walked over to the girl making everyone step back as they watched.

"I'm sorry. You were right this whole time. I wasn't treating Agumon right and in the end, something bad did happen. If I wasn't so obsessed with making him digivolve, then none of this would have happened. I shouldn't have yelled at you when you were only trying to help." Tai apologized.

The girl blinked at this, surprised that he had actually come to apologize to her about what had happened.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Daisuke smiled up at Tai to reassure him that she wasn't upset at him.

"Don't worry about it. We all make mistakes. I mean, as long as you don't do it again, then there's no problem. But if you do something stupid like this again, then your head's gonna roll. Got it?" she winked as she held up a fist.

Tai smiled at this as he nodded, glad that she wasn't angry at him, but was still a bit confused as to why he kept seeing that little girl every time he looked at her.

"Right." he said and everyone relaxed.

One day he would figure out just who Daisuke was and know why she looked so much like her.

To be continued...