Hey everyone. I know I promised that I try to upload the last chapter before Christmas… well, I really did try but I just couldn't manage to do so because I had a really tough time in school and yeah all in all I had to reread the whole story so the last chapter will be as good as possible.

Okay, enough of my babble, here's the last chapter. I hope you like it.

And once again, I'm sorry for a few mistakes in grammar or vocabulary, English isn't my first language.

Battle Scars

Tai

I'm not really able to tell when exactly this burning pain in my chest started to get worse again. Sure it never left but... well I thought Gennai said something about it will fade in a few days, or weeks. But feeling this all too familiar burning getting worse with every minute passing does kind of worry me. Well... looks like Myotismon's crest did some more damage than I've thought.

I'm not sure how much time passed since we destroyed Astamon but it's pretty dark already and I can tell that the rest of the team gets more nervous the later it gets. I know that it might be stupid to wait for Myotismon to make the first move... but there's something in me saying that it would be for the worse if we would attack first. So I decided that the digimon should rest as much as they can –much to my surprise they didn't disagree with me and went to sleep a little – while we stay up and make sure to wake them up as soon as Myotismon decides to show himself.

The night is rather cold... and quiet, a little too quiet for my taste but well... I think I should be thankful for the few hours of peace. But the fact that the lives of my closest friends on earth is in rather great danger is kind of torturing at the moment.

I let my gaze wander around the location, checking every little inch for something that doesn't seem to fit in. We're sitting around a fire on the edge of the clearing. Behind us the forest extends itself and there in front of us the cleaning suddenly stops and falls down in a massive, deep canyon. The only thing that leads to Myotismon's castle on the other side of the canyon is the rope bridge.

"We should attack", Davis states, breaking the silence that remained for the last hour. Sora lifts her head from my shoulder, waking up from her light slumber.

"No... Our digimon need all the rest they can get", she says, looking at the bunch of the sleeping rookies beside us.

"We could pull the whole castle down... our digimon don't really need much energy for that", T.K joins the conversation. "It would be so easy."

"Do you really think that would work?" Matt asks him, crossing his arms before his chest.

"Why not?" Davis instead of T.K

"That would be way too easy guys... you know this guy as good as me. So you should know that there's much more needed to destroy him", Kari says looking rather thoughtfully at the flames of our bonfire.

"Tai what do you think we should do?" Joe asks. Sure... whenever they're starting to discuss things I have to be the one who takes the lead.

Well... seeing that pulling down his castle will be a total waste of time, and energy I don't see a reason to do that. Knowing Myotismon and his normal strength it wouldn't even hurt him a little, so no, I don't think that that would be a good idea.

"I'm agreeing with my sister here. Our digimon need as much rest as possible and if Myotismon is willing to give them time to gain energy... I appreciate it. Besides, the idea of pulling the castle down isn't stupid, but probably useless, as Matt said already."

I state after overthinking the whole situation once more.

"Aw come on! Izzy say something he listens to you", Davis says.

Izzy for his part looks calmer than ever, looking in my direction with a small smile on his lips, before saying his first few words since a few hours.

"I stick with my leader." That's enough to shut everyone up. I can't help but smile lightly... I started to forget about how it feels like to be their leader. Sure I know who I am and what I have to do, but actually seeing them doing what I think is the right thing to do is something else...and I have to admit I kind of like it.

But anyway...the more I think about it the more I doubt my decision from earlier... I know it's probably pretty stupid not to strike now, and I can tell a few of the others are thinking exactly the same, but I just can't get over that weird feeling inside of me... and that is what causes me the worst headache right now. Sora obviously feels that something isn't right because I feel her squeeze my hand much tighter than usual, forcing me to finally lift my gaze from the bridge and looking straight at her. "God she's so beautiful..."

"Are you okay?" She whispers, leaning closer to me so I'm the only one who hears her. But before I'm able to respond Davis, once again, starts to speak.

"I understand that you all stuck with our leader and stuff... but I still don't get why we shouldn't attack now!" I can tell that he really can't see any reason as to why we don't do anything right now, but to be honest, he's starting to get on my nerves with that, and just when I'm about to shut him up Ken answers in my stead.

"Look Davis it's like... soccer. If we play on another field than the one in our home town the others have home field advantage, it's the same here. Although it seems like Myotismon is vulnerable right now I'm sure he's not. After all he sucked pretty much of Tai's energy out of him and I can tell –as well as everyone else here – that Tai's amount of power is rather big", he says calmly. "I'm sure Tai overthought the whole situation before deciding that we don't rush into things."

The rest of them nods in agreement and much to my surprise –and relief – Ken's little speech was logical enough for Davis to understand because he shots me an apologetic look which I just wave of as in he shouldn't worry about things like that.

The team gets quiet again and to be honest I'm rather relieved that Davis' distraction caused Sora to forget about her question a few moments ago. Sure she's my girlfriend and I love her, but I don't really see a reason as to why I should worry her by telling her that my chest started to ache again. After all, I don't think it means something... at least I hope that.

Seeing that it won't get me anything to focus on the burning pain inside of me I decide to simply ignore the fact that my body is aching as hell. Instead I just let my gaze wander around every one of my team, my family. The strain of the past few weeks are more than just obvious on everyone's face. They're all looking rather tired and I can tell more than half of them are hurt, physical and mental, whereat the latter probably because of the psychical pressure this situation causes.

My gaze slowly wanders around and back to the rope bridge again that's still hanging still –no wait, it's swinging. Why the fuck should this bridge swinging?! It isn't even windy right now...

The realization hits me suddenly and I can feel the icy cold shiver making its way down my spine. I immediately jump to my feet what causes everyone to stare at me with mostly scared expressions. I lightly narrow my eyes and try to see something –or in this matter someone – near the bridge, but there is nothing... Davis is the first one who's standing beside me, followed by Matt and the rest of the team, as well as our digimon who woke up finally. I look around, desperately looking for some sign of our enemy... and just like I had a feeling I had that prevented me from attacking Myotismon back there when everything was quiet, I feel something bolting up in me and once again, my mouth is faster than my brain –but this time it's in our favor. Obviously.

"EVERYONE DOWN!"

Much to my great relief nobody dares to ask why or what just caused me to shout like that or worse, hesitates, no, they immediately throw themselves on the ground, covering their heads from the upcoming blast. I grab the ones who are nearest to me and pull them all down on the ground, just in time because the dark energy beam brushes right above our heads, causing the trees to catch fire immediately. The fire immediately spreads itself around the front part of the forest and circuits us. Great, now we can't back up, and not go too far ahead since there's the abyss...

Seeing that no other attacks follow the first one I dare to sit up lightly, looking around the lying figures of my friends. I quickly check if nobody's missing before I turn to check on Sora who got pulled down by me in a rather harsh way. I actually wanted to be a little softer but it went too fast, and I was quite worried about her safety. I reach out and slowly stroke her back what causes her to slowly turn around, knocking off the dust that lays over everyone. She takes my hand and kisses me softly, something what means I shouldn't worry, that she's fine and stuff. I slowly get up what causes the others to lift their heads and after a few seconds of everyone checking the situation they get up as well, looking at the humanoid digimon who's standing right on the edge of the abyss.

"Long time no see digidestined... except you of course Tai", Myotismon greets us. I can't help but back off a little. After all I nearly died because of this son of a bitch.

"You just don't know how to die do you", I hear a rather familiar voice speaking up. I turn around and see Paildramon looking straight at our enemy. I didn't even realize that our digimon digivolved already, but yeah... there they are, everyone in their highest form of digivolution.

"Well...looks like you just don't know how to destroy a digimon for good", he says, showing his trademark smirk, although he looks a lot different now.

The last time I saw him he looked like the first time we met him seven years ago, but he sure has changed. His wings that were quite ripped and hanging down are shining in a dark black shade and look like new, as well as the rest of his clothes. He's dressed completely in black, but the main difference is his face; his red mask his gone and gives us access to look straight at his face. There's a rather nasty looking scar through his left eye, but that obviously doesn't really cause him to get blind or something. No, his eyes are shining in a dangerous looking red shade and his hair isn't the usual blonde anymore, instead there's a bunch of white hair on top of his head. All in all he looks quite different, and I can't help but think that my power caused him to not only get a lot stronger but also change his appearance.

"Oh trust me, we know", I hear the all too familiar voice of my partner before he sends his attack in direction of my personal worst nightmare.

"Terra Force!" The great fire ball of WarGreymon shots through the air, aiming for Myotismon who –much to my confusion –lazily lifts his hand in a gesture normal people would stop someone or something. But that's impossible... he can't stop an attack with bare hands, can he?

WarGreymon's fireball hits Myotismon's hand, but instead of harming him in any kind of way the ball stops at his hand, getting smaller with every second until it disappears completely.

I, as well as the rest of us, including our digimon gasp in shock, absolutely not believing what just happened.

"Did he just absorb the attack of a mega digimon as if it were nothing?" Izzy whispers quietly beside me and I don't really have to listen to him to hear the disbelief in his voice.

"He's doing the exact same thing Ladydevimon did when we met her", Cody states. And that's what catches my interest.

"What did you say?"

"Oh Tai I guess I can explain that best", Myotismon says, taking a few steps in my direction. WarGreymon however immediately stands in his way, not letting him take any step further to me. I for my part don't really have a problem with Myotismon wanting to talk to me; don't ask me why but... I have some strange feelings that tell me what to do today. So I don't really say much, I just lay a hand on my partner's arm, signalizing him that it's fine and step in front of our group of digidestined, as well as the digimon. The joy in Myotismon's eyes however isn't something that gets unnoticed.

"Looks like you kind of trust me", he says, smirking devilishly at me;" well that doesn't surprise me, after all you did spend quite a few days in my castle, unharmed."

"I wonder how it would have been if you wouldn't have needed me", I reply not really wanting to look away from his eyes... there's something about them that amazes me...kind of, and I can tell he knows. But if I really think about it... yes I kind of do really trust him for some unknown reasons to me. He's one of my worst enemies after all, and he tried to kill me, not only me, but also my sister and the rest of the digidestined just a few seconds ago. But there's something in these evil eyes that gives me a comforting feeling...and I just can't lay a finger on it, yet.

"Okay enough of this bullshit. How did you do that just back there?" Davis asks, taking a few steps in Myotismon's direction until he stands right next to me, a few steps in front of the rest of the group. Myotismon's smirk gets wider... but the look in his eyes gets cloudier and... –what? Sadder?

"It's because Ladydevimon has had the same energy source as me", he answers simply, his gaze not leaving mine as he adds something more...;" am I right Tai?"

Uff, there it is again, shame. Shame for being so naïve and weak so that he didn't even had to do much to get my power. He just had to find a girl that would fill the hole in my heart because I couldn't be with the one I really wanted. And he did find someone, now she's dead because I couldn't save her in time. And he's going to pay for that.

The insecurity from earlier is replaced by rage as soon as my mind concentrates itself on the one thing I'm really fighting for today. I'm not fighting for the digital world, or my family and friends...

I know revenge isn't really the thing digidestined should fight for, but I will get mine. I will take revenge on him for putting Nadia in a position she surely would die.

"Wing Blade!" Garudamon's attack causes me to snap out of my daze and focus myself back to the battle, although my mind feels kind of cloudy because of that weird amount of emotions I feel right now. God what's wrong with me?!

"Flower Canon!"

Lillymon's attack follows Garudamon's closely, both aiming right at Myotismon who starts spinning around until there's nothing but a sort of black tornado. Both attacks bounce off of him, shattering in million sparks.

"Unbelievable", Sora whispers in total disbelief. Mimi for her part just stares at the scenario with her mouth open.

Myotismon stops spinning around and continues his way towards me. God why is he so interested in me today?

As soon as his gaze catches mine again the rage is gone again and leaves me back with the clouded emotions buzzing in my head, giving me a massive headache.

"Tai try to fight it", WarGreymon whispers as quiet as possible, so I'm the only one who hears him. I look at him and my confusion is probably obvious enough on my face because he doesn't wait for me to ask before he starts to explain.

"Every time he catches your gaze he's messing with your head Tai. Gennai warned us, remember? He's playing with your emotions as well as your mind. I don't know why he has access to your feelings Tai but you have to fight it off", WarGreymon says, forcing me to look into his eyes.

As soon as my gaze catches the one of my longtime partner the confusion disappears and I'm finally able to think straight again. Oh god he's right... he's messing with my mind, as Gennai actually really did warn us... well. I'm screwed. I –

A bloodcurdling scream echoes through the air, causing me to snap out of my own thoughts and spin around. I would recognize this voice out of a million.

Without even thinking further I immediately run to Sora who's cowering on the ground. Her head rests on her knees while she's holding her chest with a –as much as I can tell since her face is mostly covered by her hair – a painful expression. I knee next to her, trying to get her to lift her head or something like that so I can look her in the eyes but she doesn't even seem to notice me next to her.

"What did you do to her?!" Matt shouts angrily from his spot next to Mimi a few meters away from us.

"Huh... I guess I forgot to tell you something rather important about this whole battle against me..." Myotismon starts but trails of as soon as he spots me next to Sora, noticing that I'm obviously not talking to WarGreymon anymore. Forcing myself to not look him in the eyes I focus on getting an overview of the whole situation right now. Lilymon is bending over Mimi who's in a similar position sitting on the ground like Sora is here, as for Garudamon... she's lying on the ground, unconscious.

"And what would that be?" Megakabuterimon joins the conversation, getting ready to attack our enemy.

"Well... every time I manage to harm your digimon, you're the one who's going to feel their pain. That's one of the cool sides of getting the power of a digidestined", he says and I don't really have to look at him to notice the disgusting smirk on his face.

"I'm so sorry Sora", I whisper, laying a kiss on her temple. Her hand grabs mine and she finally lifts her head, that's when I wish she wouldn't have. I could tell by her posture that she's feeling a rather great pain but seeing the tears running down her cheeks, knowing that I'm the reason she's in so much pain causes my already broken heart to shatter once more.

Sora

The pain slowly fades away and I'm finally able to lift my head and look in the dark brown, worried eyes of my beloved boyfriend. Tai is kneeling down next to me, looking like he's dying something like a thousand deaths right now. I know he feels probably rather guilty now because of the situation, but I'm tired of trying to convince him that it isn't his fault. So I don't.

"I'm okay", I say forcing myself to smile lightly since the pain is almost gone now... fortunately Garudamon managed to get on her feet again.

"Let's play one of my favorite games... I call it, remember a memory", Myotismon begins;" I begin, I remember your partner almost dying. Do you remember that Garudamon?"

Garudamon however doesn't respond she's just staring at him, getting ready for her next attack.

"Seeing that you're not really seeming to remember the scene, I'll help you out with your memory", Myotismon says and without us even getting what he's up to he drives his claws into the ground. But nothing happens.

"What was that for?" Yolei whispers confused.

"I don't kn –", Ken starts to answer her question but is interrupted by Joe's panicked shout.

"Tai, Sora watch out!" he shouts. That's when I finally notice that the ground underneath us is giving in.

Tai doesn't even take time to think twice, he immediately grabs my hand and forces me to get up, running into the opposite direction that the one where the ground is giving in, exposing a rather deep looking hole.

Just when we're about to reach the others I feel the ground underneath my feet giving in too, causing me to fall. The next thing I know is, that I'm hanging, Tai's hand still holding my wrist.

Suddenly, I'm not here anymore... instead I'm in Datamons pyramid again... holding onto Tai's hand in a desperate attempt not to fall down in the hole of totally darkness, just like now. The only difference is that Tai is holding on to the verge of the hole with one arm and me with his other.

Oh god he's going to fall if he doesn't let go of me...

"Tai! Let go", I shout up to him. He looks down to me with an expression of total disbelief and... fright? However, instead of loosen his grip around my wrist he does the complete opposite.

"Tai for god's sake what are you doing?!"

"Something I should have done a few years ago", he starts, looking down at me again and I can tell he needs all of his strength to hold not only himself, but also me;" not letting go."

Although his words are warming my heart up I can't do anything but think about that he's going to die... and that because of me. If he doesn't let go of me now he can't get up again... I'm too heavy.

"Tai we're going to fall", I say, feeling the hot tears making their way up.

"Exactly. Together." It's the only thing he says before I hear MetalGarurumon's attack hit Myotismon's what causes the rock Tai was holding all along to break... and that again, causes us to fall.

Tai immediately reaches out for me again, pulling me close to his chest and since he's the only thing I can get a hold of right now I embrace him as tight as possible, closing my eyes and waiting for the impact that will kill us both.

"I love you Tai.

Matt

I can't really describe the emotion I'm feeling right now... it's like, losing everything you care about. I know I sound rather harsh if I say it like that but...well, seeing Tai falling down in a hole I don't really know what's on the ground of kind of really does drive me crazy a bit. That sounds probably rather egoistic since Sora fell down with him, but it's not like I don't care about her falling down there too. Of course I do, the thing is just... the bond between me and Tai is different.

So here I am, digging the ground where the hole was just a few seconds ago. Davis and Ken are beside me, doing the same thing and I don't really have to take a look at us to know that we look rather desperate right now.

"Myotismon what did you do?!" Kari shouts and her voice a few pitches higher than usual.

Myotismon's expression is rather emotionless... yeah, he doesn't even look pleased with the fact that he just managed to kill not only one of the strongest digidestined but also the leader of them. He scans the ground where Sora and Tai fell down –the spot we're were digging a few seconds ago, but seeing that it's hopeless we stopped – without even showing a hint of an interest what just happened here.

"Looks like I sent them to hell...literally", he says, looking straight at MetalGarurumon who managed to injure him quite a bit with his last attack. The attack which caused the ground to quake and our friends to fall...

Davis tenses up next to me and I can tell he's fighting against the rage that boiling up in him right now, Ken for his part is knelt down next to him, looking at Myotismon with an expression of pure disbelief. I let my gaze wander around and see Mimi who's still holding onto her stomach and Joe who's trying to help her somehow. As for the rest of the digidestined... well they don't really seem like they're going to fight further, although we didn't even do much yet. But something is different this time... he's not beating us with pure attacks... god he didn't even really attack us. He managed to block every single attack our digimon attacked him with... as if he just waits for them to get tired or something.

"He's brilliant", Davis whispers next to me so I'm the only one who's able to hear him right now, I turn around confused what causes him to explain what's on his mind right now.

"He's not fighting our digimon Matt, don't you get that?"

"What do you mean Davis?" Ken joins the conversation, obviously being able to hear him too.

"The only thing Myotismon wanted to do all along was to kill us, right?" Davis begins to explain properly, Ken and I nod in response what causes Davis to continue.

"And every time he tried to kill us our digimon were the ones who protected us so he couldn't get near us... but now he has Tai's power and every time our digimon attack him unsuccessful the attack returns to them and harms them.. In other words; us. If he keeps that up we're going to be dead in the next hour or something like that", he says and I have to admit. He's right.

"Great... and what are we going to do now about that?" I ask the only obvious question.

"I' don't know yet but I'm sure Tai would know something...", Davis says, trailing off when mentioning his idol's name.

"Yeah but the only problem here is that we don't know where they are", Ken says, his gaze directed on the ground underneath us.

"You're going to pay for that!" I hear WarGreymon's angry shout and the next thing I see is Myotismon flying through the air and crashing right into the wall of fire that's still burning around us, like a circle.

Myotismon for his part immediately flies out of the flames hitting his fist into WarGreymon's head. The dragon digimon however responds with his own fists and since he's rather angry right now the impact of WarGreymon's hit causes the vampire digimon to fall down to the earth. That's when MetalGarurumon joins the battle finally again; the wolf digimon runs to Myotismon's laying figure, sending one of his attacks at him.

"Metal Wolf claw!"

MetalGarurumon's attack hits his victim in full impact, causing him to slide over the ground up to the verge of the canyon.

I'm just about to jump up and sigh in relief when Myotismon gets to his feet again, looking absolutely okay. God I can't believe that this vampire is so tough...

"I'm fed up with your plays", Angewomon says, aiming her arrow at him.

"Angewomon stop! He still has to tell us where my brother and Sora are", Kari says, causing her digimon to stop right in her tracks.

"Oh I can tell you where they are but I dare to doubt you want to know", Myotismon says, starting to laugh like a maniac.

I don't know why but his reaction kind of gives me the creeps...

Tai

Pain. Once again, I'm waking up to feel an incredible pain inside my body... the burning pain I already got to know a while ago got worse, a lot worse. I force myself to open my eyes and come face to face to a birdlike digimon that's bending over me, looking me straight into the eyes.

"Oh!" Without taking too much time I immediately back up, just to feel that the ground I'm sitting on suddenly stops. Just when I'm about to fall the digimon grabs my shirt and makes sure that I'm sitting on the ledge again.

"Who are you?" I manage to say, trying to ignore the pain that's daring to overwhelm me.

The digimon possesses four wings that shine golden, causing the dark area we're in to shine lightly. It wears holy rings around its ankles. I can tell just by looking at the bird like digimon that it's probably a mega... but whose?

"Are you saying you don't recognize me Tai?" The digimon responds looking at me with its blue piercing eyes. That's when my gaze catches the lying figure of Sora right next to the bird and my mind clicks.

"Biyomon?" I ask in total disbelief.

"Well... my name is Phoenixmon, but I'm the mega form of Biyomon", she responds in a rather proud voice. I can't help but smile at her; she finally managed to reach the mega level...

"I caught you both when you were falling. I was already on my way back up when the heat got unbearable what caused me to stop here", she says... Well, she's right... the heat here is unbearable.

I slowly lean over the verge of the ledge we're sitting on and look down to what seems like the middle of earth. At least that explains the heat...

There a couple of meters down the flames are burning like one imagines the hell to be. I can't help but think that Myotismon kind of tried to open a hell gate or something like that. I lean further over the verge and take a better look at the flames... there is something weird about them, or did I just lose my mind completely?

"Phoenixmon... am I crazy or are there figures, trying to get up?" I ask quietly, not believing what I'm just seeing.

"Well Tai you're not imagining a thing if that's what you worry about. These are souls of creatures who died in the digital world and never found piece... you could call the place her something like, limbus. At least, that's what you humans would call it", Phoenixmon responds, wrapping one of her wings around me to make sure that I don't fall down or something –at least, I think that's the reason.

Forcing me to turn around of these shadow like creatures my gaze catches Sora once again and I finally snap out of my daze and lean over her.

"She's alright. She just lost consciousness because of the fall I guess", Phoenixmon says, noticing my worried expression.

"We have to get her out of here", I say, slowly beginning to feel light headed because of the heat and my own burning inside of my chest. I automatically lift my hand and touch the spot where the infected crest of courage was once hanging, causing all this mess inside of me. Although the crest got destroyed by Ladydevimon herself the pain is returning, and getting worse the more I'm sitting here on the ledge, looking down at this so-called limbus of the digital world.

"Are you hurt?" Phoenixmon asks me, looking at my hand on my chest.

"I'm fine", I respond, forcing myself to stand straight. I let my gaze wander up and see that the hole we fell down was pretty deep...

"It's a rather long way up huh?"

"It is, but I manage to get you out in no time. I just had to stop here so I could get used to the heat. That's why I didn't fly up immediately after I caught you two", Phoenixmon says in an apologetic voice.

"Don't worry about it... how long was I unconscious?"

"I'd say not quite an hour", she responds. Okay, looks like we should hurry.

Phoenixmon obviously notices my uneasy expression because she grabs Sora with one of her claws and me with her other before I can protest or something like that.

"I guess we should hurry huh?" she says. And without waiting for an answer from me she flies up, leaving the fire and the creatures down there behind.

Phoenixmon flies in such a fast pace that I have to close my eyes in an attempt not to get sick or something... her claws around my upper part of the body however don't really help to make it better. I open my eyes again and look up; hoping to see some light beam or something that shows the exit, but none is in sight... that's when I remember Phoenixmon saying something like the hole closed... Oh –

"Star-Light Explosion!" Phoenixmon attack pierces straight through the air, hitting the rocks right over us. Just a second after Phoenixmon attack hit its aim. The heat of the underworld is gone and my lungs are filled with fresh air. Thank God.

"Tai!"

"Sora!"

As soon as Phoenixmon sets me down I feel a pair of strong arms embracing me. Immediately recognizing my best friend I return the hug. Judged by the way he's hugging me so tight I can tell he probably thought I'm dead or something.

"I honestly didn't think I'd see you again", I hear him whisper in my ear, confirming my thought. I tighten the hug for a second before I let him go; after all I have to look around the area.

The digidestined are all gathered around us since there are a few rather great rocks that offer a little bit of protection from and explosion's impact or something like that. However our respective digimon aren't here, as well as Phoenixmon although she was standing next to Mimi a second ago. Mimi for her part is knelt down, Sora's head on her lab. I know I should probably be on her side right now, but my responsibilities as a leader are more important at the moment. I should make sure to never mention that to her...

Just in that moment a black figure dashes past me and stops about three meters in front of me, turning around with a devilish smirk on his face. Myotismon doesn't really look different, although there are a few cracks in his clothes and he's bleeding lightly here and there, but all in all I can't really say that he's badly injured or something like that. Just when he's about to take a step in my direction –

"Double Stars!"

Shurimon's attack is about to hit Myotismon right in his stomach. He takes a step back and hits the attack with nothing but his bare fist, sending the attack back to Shurimon himself, knocking him down completely and causing Yolei to cry out in pain before sinking down to her knees..

"Next time don't get in my way", Myotismon says directed at Yolei who still doesn't really seem like moving, I can just imagine the massive pain she's feeling right now that she can't even stand straight anymore...

"Well...now back to you Tai, I honestly hoped that I'd see you again. I didn't mean to kill you, I hope you know that", he says, approaching me again but just in that moment the rest of the digimon appear from behind the flames.

"Don't you dare to get near Tai you pathetic son of a bitch", WarGreymon shouts angrily sending one of his famous fire balls directly at him, and much to my surprise, hitting him in full impact. Myotismon obviously was too focused on me that he didn't even get the time to block WarGreymon's attack. The impact of the attack causes us to hold onto our digimon so that we don't get blown away or something like that. I stretch myself as far as I can to take a good look of the spot where Myotismon landed after WarGreymon's attack hit him, but the other digimon don't even give the smoke a chance to disappear...

"Everyone together we have him right where we want him", Paildramon says getting ready to attack Myotismon by himself.

"Desperado Blaster!"

...It's like the rest of the digimon just waited for this moment to come because as soon as Paildramon's attack is shot the others shot their respective attacks right after the first one, causing a massive beam of light.

"Electro Shocker!"

"Flower Canon!"

"Gold Rush!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

"Ice Wolf Claw!"

"Terra Force!"

"Crimson Flame!"

"Soul Vanisher!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

The massive beam of energy hits the spot where Myotismon is laying on causing the crater to get much bigger and the explosion to be much louder, not to mention more dangerous. I lean over Sora in a protective way so nothing happens to her while she's unconscious. I can't help but start to worry about her. Why didn't she wake up yet?

"Tell me...leader of digidestined. What does it feel like to see the girl you started to get feelings for getting killed by your own partner?" Myotismon's voice breaks my own thoughts, causing everyone to turn around for about 180 degrees, seeing Myotismon standing there –much more injured than before – smirking evilly at me. Although our attacks really did harm him finally I can't help but get pissed... god why can't he die finally?!And why the fuck is he asking me questions like that. I was ignoring the pain of losing her... why does he have to remind me of her, now?!

Instead of giving him some sort of answer I just stare blankly at him, trying my hardest not to show any emotion, and most of all, not looking into his eyes. I can feel the presence of everyone I care about right behind me. I didn't even notice that I took a few steps in his direction...

I don't know why but it's like someone just made an invisible sign that the battle stops here for a second...it almost seems like everyone wants to hear what Myotismon has to say to me... I can feel his gaze on me but I still refuse to look at him...

"Aren't you angry at all Tai?" he starts again and I can feel him getting nearer. Well I probably should back off now... but I can't, or rather; I don't want to. Not anymore anyway.

"Tai don't listen to him." Izzy's voice seems far away... although I know he's probably about a meter behind me it feels like he's in another world or something like that.

"Tai he's messing with your feelings... try to get him out of yourself", WarGreymon says, laying a hand on my shoulder but for some unknown reason to me I back off of him. I can tell just by taking a look in his eyes that he's scared. Scared because he thinks I lose myself, but I won't. I just want to... what? What do I want?

I take a few steps back from WarGreymon standing in the middle of him and Myotismon. I honestly don't know what's happening with me right now. The burning pain in my chest reached a point where I start to think about ripping my chest wide open and throw everything out until the pain vanishes, but I shut my mouth and ignore it again.

"Come on Tai... show a little emotion. I know exactly how you feel right now", he says, continuing to approach me. I for my part just stop right here where I am and avoid his gaze.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a certain blonde digidestined trying to get by my side... but unfortunately for him MetalGarurumon stands in his way in an attempt to protect him or something like that, although I don't really see a great danger in the situation right now. There's no need to be scared, is there? Myotismon won't do anything...

"Let go MetalGarurumon", Matt's voice causes me to lift my gaze up and turn around to him. His gaze catches mine and I don't really know what he sees in mine right now but he obviously doesn't like it.

"He needs me, don't you see that?" I hear him saying in a quieter tone. I'm just about to walk straight back to him when I feel a bony hand grip my shoulder, pulling me back.

"WarGreymon killed her without even to hesitate and you appreciate that?" he whispers right next to my ear... and I know he's right. One of my best friends –my partner – killed the girl I honestly started to care about, deeply and I didn't do anything to protect her... I was right next to her and didn't manage to save her. But my partner was the one who actually killed her. Without me even wanting it I feel the anger making its way through my body. I'm just about to turn around and finally look my opponent in the eyes when WarGreymon's voice clears my mind again.

"Tai don't listen to him... you know I had no other chance", he says, trying to get nearer to us. Myotismon for his part takes a few steps back –not letting go of me– until we reach the verge of the canyon.

"One more step WarGreymon and this boy learns how to fly properly", Myotismon says, causing everyone, including Matt and the rest of the digidestined to stay back in shock.

Well that's probably the moment where I should start to panic or something like that... but I'm feeling rather calm right now, for some unknown reasons to me though...Probably because he's still messing with my inner feelings.

"What are you doing to me?" I ask him slowly turning around to look into his eyes but this time, it's him who's avoiding my gaze. His arm is wrapped around my chest, making it impossible for me to escape.

"I'm helping you Tai, don't you see that?" He whispers in his unusual calm voice, causing me to calm down too, but on the same time the pain to get worse.

"You know Tai, I was surprised myself when I finally saw that she started to like you, a lot. And for some unknown reasons to me you started to like her too, I know that so tell me... why aren't you hurt? I really thought you felt the same as she did...", he says, still right next to my ear so I'm probably the only one being able to hear him.

"I loved her, but I was and always will be in love with Sora, the girl you tried to kill not even an hour ago", I reply, fighting against the dizziness that's daring to overwhelm me.

"But she did mean something to you didn't she", he says, more than asking it.

I don't really want to respond to that but seeing that he tightens his grip around my chest, causing the pain to get beyond bearable I just nod. And that's enough of a response for him because he finally lets go of me. But without him keeping me grounded I slump down to my knees, feeling my mind get cloudier than ever and a massive headache coming. Anyway, I don't really have time to get myself together because once on the ground I feel Myotismon's hand gripping strands of my hair and pulling me up to my feet again. The pain comes so suddenly that I don't even have time to get what's happening. I wince in pain –something I rarely do since I hate to give the bad guys the satisfaction of seeing me hurt. Since he has me right where he wants he finally catches my gaze and I immediately feel the pain I tried to avoid since the moment Nadia pushed me out of the attack breaking free, driving the hot tears in my eyes.

"Do you feel now Tai?" I hear him say, although I barely am able to hear him anymore.

"Let go of him you bastard!" Davis shouts angrily trying to get near him but Izzy immediately grabs his arms, trying to hold him back. I don't really know what Matt says to my little mini me but that is obviously logical enough that Davis gets it and calms down, a little bit at least.

Myotismon for his part doesn't even bother to take a look at the digidestined, neither at their digimon. He's all focused on me and, on my feelings, obviously. He slowly lifts up his claw, sliding it lightly over my throat but not killing me yet.

"I asked you something", he says not breaking the eye contact. Since I lost any grip on me or my feelings I can't help but get my sight blurry because of the unshed tears in my eyes. No I'm not going to cry, not now.

"Let go of me", I say but unfortunately for my pride it comes out like a plea than anything else.

"Looks like I finally was able to break you, you so-called great, brave leader", Myotismon says, smirking like some child that got ice cream or something like that. I know I'm giving him full satisfaction of seeing me like that, but fact is, I can't ignore the pain anymore. On one side there's the physical pain that's burning my chest up and on the other there's the mental pain of losing someone you cared about.

"Let go of him Myotismon!" Angewomon and MagnaAngemon shout angrily, both aiming their weapons at him.

"As you wish", is the only thing he answers before he finally let's go of me. Anyway as soon as my feet touch the ground again I feel the dizziness get worse and can't manage to hold my balance anymore. I take a step forward...and of course, fall.

Looks like I forgot where we were standing...

The next thing that happens is a blurry sequence of different things, first I feel myself falling, a rather great distance before some metallic arms manage to catch me. The digimon who caught me flies back up in such a fast pace that I have to close my eyes, trying to clear my mind a little. The next thing I feel is being laid down on the hart ground...much to my surprise the burning pain dies away lightly... The last thing I get to see before I finally lose consciousness is my best friend, throwing himself over me to shield me from a rather nasty looking attack that Myotismon threw at me.

Fucking idiot.

Kari

As soon as Myotismon lets go of Tai he slumps down on his knees, making it obvious for everyone that he's anything else than fine. Myotismon for his part doesn't even give him a minute to collect himself, instead he grabs him by his hair and pulls him back to his feet, causing him to wince in pain –something I didn't see him do like, ever – and us all to take one step forward in an attempt to step in. Our digimon however stand all in front of us, like a wall or something, preventing us to step in and cause Myotismon to kill my brother.

"He probably felt bad for a while now..." Joe says causing everyone, including Matt who didn't care to listen to any conversations of the past few minutes to turn around.

"What do you mean?" he asks, not even trying to hide any of his feelings.

"He looks like he's suffering a rather great physical pain... as much as we know Myotismon is able to only mess with our mental state. And he didn't harm Tai physically... so why couldn't he even stand on his feet when Myotismon let go of him for a second?" Joe asks more to himself than to us but we're all getting his point.

"It may sound weird... but I think it's Myotismon's presence that is causing him this pain", Angewomon says thoughtfully, not turning away from the scenario. Unfortunately none of us is able to hear what they're talking about but the worst thing is... none of us dares to interrupt since Myotismon could push Tai down that deep canyon within a second... that means, as soon as someone of us makes a wrong move or something he'd send him flying. And I'm definitely going to make sure that that doesn't happen.

"I don't get it", Yolei says, refusing to even take a look at Myotismon. She turned around a while ago... I'd do it too, but I want to know what he does to my brother. Or at least, I want to make sure that he doesn't kill him.

"I think I do..." T.K says slowly, causing everyone's attention to drive to him;" Myotismon gave Tai the dark crest that connected Tai with himself –"

"Are you saying the connection is still there?" Ken interrupts him, frowning lightly.

"No. Ladydevimon broke the connection before she died", Paildramon says, crossing his arms before his chest, probably waiting for a moment when he can finally step in and stop Myotismon from torturing my brother finally. I'd do it by myself... but I don't want to risk his life...

"Gennai told me about it...", Izzy says quietly.

"What?" Matt asks turning slowly to our little genius.

"I know what's wrong with Tai", Izzy responds lifting turning his gaze away from the two on the ledge. Seeing that no one is saying anything Izzy takes that as a sign to continue

"When Myotismon connected Tai with himself, a part of the wrong crest's darkness managed to get into Tai's body. That was the reason Tai was feeling such a bad pain at first. Gennai tried everything to get this part out, and fortunately he managed to do so... but seeing Tai now I can tell that Gennai obviously couldn't remove everything." he says, leaving us all in shock.

Wow. This day gets just better and better...

"And what can we do to help him?" I ask, not really sure if I want to know the answer since I'm not even sure if there's something we can do.

"Isn't that obvious?" Davis answers, his gaze directed at Myotismon's figure holding onto my brother. "We kill him."

"MetalGarurumon we have to do something, please", WarGreymon's voice immediately catches the interest of every one of us.

"What do you feel?" MetalGarurumon asks, turning to look at his longtime friend.

"He's suffering. I don't want him to suffer much longer, he can't take it. Myotismon is messing everything up", WarGreymon says, clenching his fists. I don't really have to see his eyes to know that the anger in him is growing, I can tell just by the way he's standing, bent over lightly as if he's getting ready to run right into the battle again.

"Okay, I have enough. I'm stepping in", MagnaAngemon says aiming his weapon at our opponent, followed by Angewomon who's doing the same.

"Let go of him Myotismon!" they shout in unison, causing Myotismon to look up from Tai and turn around. A smirk appears on his face...

"As you wish", he answers, setting Tai down on his feet again. But seeing that Tai isn't well at all he can't hold his balance what causes him to miss one step and falling down the cliff.

"NO!" WarGreymon shouts immediately flying after him.

"You knew that would happen you little..." Megakabuterimon says angrily. I honestly never saw him as pissed as right now.

"Well my friend... it isn't my fault that you bring your totally weakened leader to such a place. You kind of, killed him, indirectly of course", he says, still smirking that disgusting smirk of his.

Much to my relief WarGreymon comes back to view again, holding an unconscious Tai in his arms. He lays him down a few meters next to us, turning his attention back to the battle.

"Electro Shocker!"

Megakabuterimon's electric shock hits Myotismon right in his chest, causing the vampire digimon jerk for a few moments before he can get a hold on himself.

"I'd rather didn't do that if I were you", he says, looking kind of pissed now.

"Crimson Lighting!" he shoots his red energy beam, but not aiming for Megakabuterimon at all. And before I even get what's happening Mimi's hysterical shout fills me in

"Matt no!"

Just in the moment when I turn around I see Matt throwing himself over Tai's still limp body on the ground, shielding him from Myotismon's attack. It's like I'm reliving the moment when I did the exact same thing for my beloved Digimon, the only difference here is that this attack is much more dangerous, and Matt's not doing it for his digimon, he's throwing himself over my brother, his best friend. T.K doesn't waste any more second and runs to his brother's side, as well as everyone else.

"Matt, Matt can you hear me?" T.K kneels down next to Matt who's laying consciousness next to my brother. I have to say I'd never imagined that I'd see a sight like that... not even in my worst nightmares. Much to my relief Joe assures that he's fine after checking his pulse.

"That's bad", MagnaAngemon says from his spot next to Tai. Angewomon lays her hand on by brother's forehead and I can tell by her posture that something's bothering her, as well as MagnaAngemon.

"What is it?" I ask, once again, not really sure if I really want to know the answer.

"Myotismon managed to get much more dark energy in his body than he actually can bear..." she answers, sounding like she doesn't even talks to us, but more to herself.

"And what does that mean?" Davis asks his voice full of concern...and much to my surprise even a little scared.

"This is Tai's battle Davis. If he doesn't wake up by himself there's nothing we can do, neither Gennai for that matter", MagnaAngemon says, his gaze directed at me as if he's waiting for me to break down or something. The fact that T.K's gripping my hand convinces me more that they're obviously thinking that exactly that will happen to me right now. But no, I refuse to lose the grip on me yet, I pulled through everything until now and I will pull through this whole battle. As well as my brother will do.

"Okay" is the only thing I manage to get out before I free my hand out of T.K's grip, signalizing him that I'm not really in such a bad state that I already need someone who makes sure that I don't lose consciousness or something.

"He already managed to get three of us down, our leader included... what now?" Cody asks quietly, his gaze directed at the lying figures of Matt, Sora and Tai. I can't believe this is happening right now...

"We fight", Davis says as determined as ever, getting back on his feet after kneeling down next to Tai's side for a while.

"Friendship is such a beautiful thing, isn't it?" Myotismon's voice snaps us all out of it, driving everyone's attention back to him.

"I have to say... I didn't see that coming, I mean... who would have thought that someone is stupid enough to throw himself over someone else just because of, something like, friendship", he says more than asking something.

"Anyway digidestined, I'll make sure that your leader dies first, for sure. And now, get out of my way", he says, approaching us slowly before he sends his next attack, aiming –once again – at Tai.

"Crimson Lighting!"

"Don't you dare ... – Brave Shield!" The attack bounds on WarGreymon's shield causing it to turn around and shot right back to its owner. Myotismon for his part doesn't really seem impressed. He lazily lifts his hand and catches the attack with his palm, causing it to vanish immediately.

"My turn... Desperado Blaster!"

„And our", Megakabuterimon says, causing everyone's digimon to shot their respective attacks once more at him, but this time making sure to hit him.

"Mega Claw!"

"Ice Wolf Claw!"

"Horn Buster!"

"Flower Canon!"

"Gold Rush!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

"Ice Wolf Claw!"

"Star-Light Explosion!"

"Excalibur!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

And there it is; just when I'm about to think that an attack from our side finally will work out, Myotismon just shouts something we're not really able to hear before spreading his arms out as if he'd fly away right now, causing every single attack to get reflected without even hitting him. The attacks spread over the whole place here, causing every one of us to lay on the ground in an attempt to avoid the reflected attacks. Phoenixmon, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon for their part throw themselves over their respective, unconscious partners, shielding them from everything that would harm them in their labile state.

The impact of the several attacks hitting some spot on the ground –thank god nobody from us got seriously hit or something – causes me to slide over the earth and crashing in a rather nasty, big rock. I know I should probably get up now and check on everyone if they are alright or something... but I'm just too tired to do so. I just want to home.

Tai (meanwhile)

After lying down on the ground for a while now, enjoying the feeling of being painless I force myself to open my eyes.

Besides the fact that there's absolutely nothing here I kind of feel comfortable. I slowly get on my feet and look down at me. My ripped and burnt clothes were replaced by a simple white t-shirt and matching white pants, as well as white shoes. Actually... there's everything quite white here isn't it? Oh god... am I dead?

"Missed me?" a voice says, causing my heart to beat faster than ever and me to turn around for about 180 degrees. However the moment I see her –completely dressed in white, her long brown hair falling down her shoulders like a waterfall and her eyes... oh god her eyes – I feel like I've been drowning for hours and this is the moment my lungs get filled with air again.

She looks me straight in my eyes with her deep emerald green ones, grinning cheeky.

"How...Where...What?" I stammer, not being able to get a full sentence out.

"Too much questions, too little time my friend", she says smiling melancholic before her expression turns in a more serious one. She lays her hands on my cheeks, causing me to look her deep in her eyes.

"Listen Tai; Myotismon managed to pump a lot of darkness inside of your body, causing your mind to get all fuzzy; you have to fight that", she says and although I absolutely get what she's saying I can't help but embrace her instead of commenting the new received information. Her silky arms wrap around me, hugging me as if she didn't see me for years.

"Tai I'm serious. Myotismon is more powerful than ever, you have to stop him...remember the pearl", she says, taking a step back to look me in the eyes again.

"How do you know about the pearl? I thought Gennai –", I start since I absolutely can't see a way how she found out about that. Not even the other digidestined know about the conversation I had with Gennai that night...

"I know quite a few of Gennai's trumps", she says, smirking lightly.

God she isn't even dead for a day or something but I already started to miss that smirk... I can't believe this is the last time I see her. I have to admit that I'm not really willing to let her go just like that; now that I can see her right in front of me causes me to overthink the whole situation. I'm sure there's somewhere a way to get her back and then... what. What about Sora, I'm unconditionally in love with her; I'm not even allowed to think about someone else in that way, god I'm such an ass... a confused one.

"What is it?" she asks me, causing me to snap out of my thoughts and look back at her beautiful face.

"I don't know if I can come to terms with that whole situation...", I admit, avoiding her gaze.

"My situation?" she asks, frowning lightly. I just nod as a response since I'm not really in the mood of long explanations. She grips my chin and turns my head, forcing me to hold her gaze.

"Tai I forgot how it felt like to be free you know...and with your partner killing me, he gave me something I'll be thankful forever. I am free Tai... I've never been better", she says, smiling brightly and I don't really can tell why but I believe her. And all of the sudden I feel a great weight getting lifted up from my shoulders.

"How come I'm not dead?" I ask her, changing the subject...

"Actually Tai... it's your choice", she says, now being the one who avoids my gaze. I repeat her gesture of earlier, forcing her to hold my gaze.

"You can choose", she answers my unspoken question. What?!

"I can choose between death and life?" I ask, frowning just by saying something like that out loud. Who am I? God?!

"No...You choose between me and her", she says, her eyes getting watery all of the sudden.

Ouch... definitely didn't expect that. But Nadia for her part doesn't even give me the time to think about it.

"Tai listen", she says as soon as I seriously start to think about choosing. I know it sounds cruel and I know I'm a total ass for even thinking about choosing some other girl over Sora but...

"I'm not letting you chose wrong", she says, causing me once more to look at her in total confusion. She takes a step forward again, her hands laying on my chest, her forehead leaning against mine.

"I love you Tai", she starts, causing my heart to jump up and down wildly;" and because I love you, I can't be selfish. I let you go."

The kiss I get doesn't really last long, it's enough to give me my lost strength back.

My eyes fly open. The first thing I come to feel is that the burning pain in my chest is gone –thank god! The next thing however doesn't really feel good. A limp arm is laying over me and after turning my head to the right side I come face to face with my best friend who's lying in the same position as me, and –thank god once again – he's looking at me with his sapphire blue eyes.

"Are you alright buddy?" he asks in his raspy voice, managing to get something that looks like a grin on his face.

"You're stupid. Did I ever tell you that?" I reply, remembering that the only reason I'm not dead yet is that this idiot next to me threw himself over me, shielding me from Myotismon's attack that surely would have killed me since I wasn't in such a good state. I'll be thankful for that forever...

"I know you love me. Stop pretending you don't", he says. Unbelievable, he jokes around in situations like this?!

"Tai..."

"Yeah Matt?" I say, feeling rather concerned because of sudden change of his voice.

"I'm so cold", he replies, his gaze directed at the sky. I feel the cold shiver making its way down my spine. No. no. no. no. no!

I crawl nearer to him, ignoring all the bruises and... Probably a few broken bones and lay my hand on his cheek, causing him to look me straight in the eyes.

"I'm getting you out of here. I promise Matt", I say fighting against the tears that dare once more to come up.

"Okay"

I quickly sit up and check the situation, on my left hand side Sora is still lying consciousness on the ground, Matt on my other. As for the rest of the digidestined they don't really look better. Everyone's lying down as if there was an explosion or something and they tried to cover. WarGreymon, Phoenixmon and MetalGarurumon are lying right next to my feet. They all actually look quite... no, I don't think like that now.

"WarGreymon?"

Much to my relief WarGreymon lifts his head looking at me in surprise. "Tai! You're alive"

I can't help but smirk. „Sure i am"

„What happened? How did you manage to beat that dark energy in you? "He asks and i can tell he's quite proud. Remembering Nadia, since she's the reason I managed to beat whatever Myotismon did to me I remember the pearl she talked about. Or better Gennai gave me...

~.FLASHBLACK.~

I barely notice the coolness of the night... I'm too focused on staring at the calm waves of the sea. I know I probably shouldn't have gone out in the middle of the night. But fact is; I just couldn't bear it anymore to be down there in Gennai's home feeling miserable for being such a weak leader. I don't even know why I'm still calling myself that... I proved already that I'm nothing but a naïve little kid...

"Do you mind if an old man joins you?"

"I wouldn't call you old Gennai", I reply gesturing him to sit down next to me.

"Well I'm much older than I look like", he says –a grin on his face.

I don't say anything... since there's really not much to say right now. I don't even see a reason why he wants to "join" me here in the middle of the night.

"You know Tai... I barely get scared", Gennai starts slowly catching my interest for some unknown reason;" but when I saw Matt carrying you in my house I have to say; I freaked out", he says quietly, looking at the waves.

"Why?" Is the only thing that comes to my mind. He turns around, a warm smile on his face.

"Because I care" he says, laying a cool, little, white pearl in my hand. I look down at it and back to him not really getting what's going on right now.

"Use it when there's no hope left Tai. It'll help your digimon to get back to full strength if they lose it. But be careful. It drains you out of energy", he says before getting back on his feet and walking away.

"Gennai wait!" I call out to him, causing him to turn around;" why are you giving me this?"

"So you can go back to the one you were once"

~.END OF FLASHBACK.~

The white pearl lies in my palm catching WarGreymon's interest.

"You're not going to use it are you?" he says in a worried tone, but seeing that Myotismon is getting up from his spot where he laid just a moment ago –I guess the explosion hit him too – I crush the pearl. Immediately after that a glittering white light spreads over the area, touching everyone's digimon that's lying on the ground just to vanish after not even five seconds.

"What happened?" Shurimon says, getting back on his feet again. Followed by everyone, not only digimon but also digidestined.

"Tai?" Sora's voice is like music to my ears. I turn around and give her the brightest smile I have before feeling the drain of energy all of the sudden. I slump down on my knees, but force myself to ignore the sudden fatigue and embrace her. My heart beats as fast as ever and for all I care the whole world can go down now. I've got my Sora back.

"You did it", Kari's arms wrap themselves around me from behind, quickly followed by a few others who feel the sudden desire of hugging me.

"Alright. Let's send him to hell. Once and for all", MetalGarurumon says, gripping Myotismon by his collar.

"No! How did you manage to escape my control?!" Myotismon shouts angrily at me. And it's a real pleasure to give him the answer.

"Looks like your minions aren't really that loyal to you are they?" I say, inwardly smiling at the thought of Nadia, who found peace finally.

Myotismon's eyes get wide and this little moment of carelessness is his doom.

"Mega Claw!"

WarGreymon's claw hits him right in his face, causing him to fly through the air since my partner's attack is quite stronger because of that energy kick.

Myotismon crashes in his castle that doesn't really look good either since almost everything broke down already, although we didn't do much.

"We have him right where we want him. Now", MetalGarurumon directs, causing every digimon of us to get out their weapons and shoot their attacks at the debris of the castle where Myotismon is lying on. The different attacks hit Myotismon in full impact, causing him to cry out in agony and then... everything's quiet. He's gone. Finally.

Not being able to fight against the fatigue I give in and let me being caught by some arms...I guess Joe's.

A really bright light meets me when I slowly open my eyes. I'm getting really tired of blacking out the whole time. I really have to do something against it... at least I'm at home finally.

I stretch out in my bed enjoying the softness of the sheets and the ripple of an afar fountain or something. –wait, a fountain?!

I open my eyes fully and sit up lightly, looking around the strange room I'm in. the bed is pure white as well as the sheets. I look down at me just to be met with a rather unusual sight. My whole upper part of the body is heavily bandaged.

The room is rather big and the whole wall to my right side is glassed what gives me a breathtaking view over the ocean. Next to my bed is a little table with some weird looking bottle on it. Next to the bottle is my digivice as well as my mobile phone and my crest. Okay, at least I can tell that there isn't some enemy who wants to kill me...

"You probably wonder where you are", Gennai says, leaning on the door frame, smiling warmly at me.

"Well Tai, you're in the temple of the Sovereigns. After you blacked out we had to get help for you and Matt. Fanglomon didn't hesitate a second and got you all out of there. I was surprised myself"

"Fanglomon as in great holy beast –something like God of the digital world? " I ask in absolute disbelief. Gennai just nods.

"There are people who are waiting for you downstairs Tai", he says leaving me alone in this massive room. Since I don't really want the *people who are waiting for me* to wait too long I quickly get out of the bed and get dressed with the first that comes along.

I exit the bedroom and walk down a corridor, the walls are all in pure white and I have to squint my eyes because everything's so bright here. I make my way down a spiral stair –that's white too... what a surprise! – And enter a rather big room with a great table and am met with ear-piercing applause. I look around just to be met with every digidestined –who all look rather battered with several bruises and bandages all over their bodies. Much to my relief Matt's sitting on a chair, having similar bandages on his body as me, clapping alongside with the rest of the people/digimon in the room. Added to the digidestined there are several digimon I've met through the years including Leomon, Andromon and a few more. The biggest shock however are the five holy beasts I've known from stories clapping along with the rest.

"Sit down Tai, leader of the digidestined", Fanglomon greets me, causing the applause to stop and me to sit down, along with the digidestined, Sora on my left, Matt on my right side.

"Well... first I want to say, it's an honor to meet you", he starts causing Matt to grunt beside me.

"I know your team probably doesn't like us very much but I have to apologize for our behavior", he says directed at the others. They for their part don't really show any reaction.

"Anyway. You proved that you are truly someone really special", Fanglomon says, the other sovereign nod in agreement.

"Well I wouldn't be the one I am now if there weren't the others. They did a lot more than me I –"I start since I don't really see why he's talking just to me like that. I didn't even do much! But Kari interrupts me.

„Don't be modest Tai. You saved us all. We all would be dead without you. Everyone, without exception", she says and after taking a look at the expressions on the others I can tell they all think the same way as her.

"We thank you Taichi. You were great out there", Zhuqiaomon says, being the first sovereign of the hemispheres who joins the conversation.

The room is dead silent and I can't really tell why. I can feel the tense atmosphere that comes from the other digidestined; they truly don't really seem to like the sovereigns. I for my part don't have any reasons as to not like them or something; after all I didn't meet them before.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Gennai breaks the silence, sounding kind of pissed actually.

What is there more to say?

"Do you know something I don't?" I ask, leaning over to Matt who turns around and gives me a small smile that doesn't reach his eyes.

"Yeah you were out for a few days so the rest of us had a really interesting conversation with the sovereigns", he replies, turning his attention back to Fanglomon who seems nervous, kind of.

"We have to apologize to you Tai", the tree-like sovereign –I think Ebonwumon – starts.

"The connection between you and Myotismon was way stronger than we thought it was", Zhuqiaomon says, looking down on the table and I can tell he isn't really ashamed or something like that, no he's rather pissed.

"I never should have let you get out there Tai, I'm –"Fanglomon starts but gets interrupted by Baihumon who didn't say anything until now.

"We are sorry Tai", he says holding my gaze.

So they knew it would be dangerous to let me go... truly interesting, but even if they would have told me that earlier, I would have gone anyway. I knew by myself that it would be really dangerous, but it was my choice so I don't really feel bad towards them. But I don't give them any answer since I feel kind of obligated to not give them the satisfaction of being forgiven because I can feel the rest of my team doesn't like them at all so... I stick with them. I just nod, signalizing them that I accept the apology, but nothing more.

Fanglomon gives me a short nod before getting up from his spot and exiting the room, followed by the other sovereign, everyone but Baihumon.

"I'm glad you got your love back Sora", he says before following the other holy beasts.

"So am I", she says grabbing me by my collar and leaning in for a kiss. Hell how I've missed this!

"Get a room!" Davis says jokingly closing his eyes with his hands. I can't help but laugh, enjoying the feeling of finally being unburdened.

"So... any ideas what we're going to do now?" Ken says, leaning back in his chair.

"What do you think?" T.K says smirking happily.

"We'll wait for the next bad boy to come", Cody ends the T.K's sentence causing everyone to burst into laughter.

"Guess that's what we do isn't it?" Matt says, joining our laughter.

Yeah... guess that's what we do.

Well. This is it. I'm finished. Kind of feel sad actually… but proud on the same time. I instantly hope you liked this story and enjoyed reading it as well as I enjoyed come up with everything and of course writing it down. For everyone who doesn't like the fact that I chose Tai as main figure in this fic... I'm sorry, that I'm not sorry lol. He's my personal favorite character so... yeah I hope you don't mind too much.

Anyway I think about writing a sequel, either for this story or my first one, but I'm not sure yet. I need some time to come up with new ideas and stuff, but I'm definitely not going to stop writing!

So this isn't' the last time you hear something from me lol.

Please review the story and share your thoughts with me about it. Anyway, I'd love to know your opinion about a sequel.

So with that I wish everyone a happy new year may all your wishes come true! (: