The First update for the New year! Happy New Year Everyone! This fic has reached 20 reviews and there are no words to describe how freaking happy I am about it. This fic is my little underachiever that holds a very dear place in my heart out of all my fics. I'm so proud of it and am incredibly grateful to everyone who's taken the time to read it!

I'm going to issue a chapter warning as this chapter is the darkest chapter I've written so far. I was a little worried but my sorta-beta sister gave her approval so it can't be that bad... hopefully.

WARNING: IMPLIED OFFSCREEN CHARACTER DEATH. SLIGHT DETAILING OF INJURY AND BLOOD. READ AT OWN RISK.

I was going to cover Ep 16 and the beginning of Ep 17 but my sister told me this chapter was pretty heavy on it's own and to leave it for the next one.

ENJOY!

Disclaimer: Any and All recognisable content does not belong to me.

Chapter 11: To be Reckless

- They learned the hard way that she should never be left alone.

- (~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

Sarai knew better than to call for Tokomon or Wanyamon as she searched. She quietly squinted through the dark of night and whispered the two baby digimon's names. It was a good thing she'd been so cautious as several voices seemed to pipe up, sharing a devious conversation.

"Etemon's been alerted but what do we do if those chosen children wake up before he gets here?" one voice said.

Sarai crouched low and strained her ears as best she could to hear more.

"We distract them. Whatever happens we just have to make sure they don't leave."

"And if they figure us out before then?"

"I'm sure Etemon would understand why we had to kill them. So long as their dead or dealt with I don't think he'll mind. Now come on, we should check on the prisoners. Can't trust those Pagumon to do a good job on their own."

Sarai covered her mouth to muffle the sharp gasp she'd given. This was another trap! The two odd rabbit looking Digimon started to bicker and she used those few precious seconds to figure out her choices. She knew the others needed to be warned, but with Tokomon and Wanyamon missing, she didn't want to risk going back and leaving them to a darker fate. She had a feeling the two baby Digimon were being kept with the rest of the so called prisoners. She suspected the prisoners were the Koromon Agumon sensed.

What should she do?

"Hey! That Wanyamon we snagged woke up and is stirring up a fuss."

"Quick let's go deal with the annoying thing."

Sarai made her choice and stealthily followed the group. She mentally prayed that the others would stay safe long enough for her to come back. They currently had better chances than her anyway. Tokomon and Wanyamon needed her more, she could only hope they understood.

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

For whatever reason, the Gazimon chose not to tie Wanyamon up like they did Tokomon. It probably had something to do with his lack of arms.

Their mistake.

Wanyamon growled and snarled at the Pagumon attempting to open the cage so they can tie him down. He'd already released several bubble attacks, proving he wouldn't hesitate to fight them if they came any closer. He knew that they were outnumbered and were safer in the cage rather than out. Tokomon continued to whimper and cry out from behind, hoping one of the children or hatch mates might hear and come to their rescue.

Wanyamon knew they couldn't rely on a rescue alone and tried to figure out an escape plan.

Even if they did escape, they also had to free the Koromon.

Outside, Sarai was trying to figure out a way in. The cluster of Pagumon outside of the waterfall were incredibly vigilant. She could vaguely hear shouts and growls, but the waterfall drowned out most of the sound.

She hoped Wanyamon and Tokomon would be okay until she could get to them.

"That's enough!" A Gazimon growled.

One Gazimon distracted Wanyamon by banging on the cage while another crept up behind the little furball. The Gazimon behind Wanyamon reached between the bars and harshly pulled on Wanyamon's tail causing the baby Digimon to give a wailing howl.

Wanyamon's cry was so loud it managed to bypass the rushing water and Sarai didn't hesitate.

She picked up a nearby stick and rushed out of her hiding place for the waterfall.

"A HUMAN! A HUMAN! A HUMAN HAS FOUND US!" The Pagumon alerted.

The Gazimon had just finished tying Wanyamon to the bars of the cage and covering his mouth when Sarai appeared. With a mighty swing she knocked the two Gazimon out of the way and hurried to free Tokomon and Wanyamon.

"Sarai! Watch out!" Tokomon cried as one of the Pagumon charged at her with their mouth opened to bite.

Sarai yelped and tried to bat the vicious Digimon away, but she soon became swarmed by them. She was too busy defending against all the Pagumon, she didn't notice the Gazimon getting back up behind her. Wanyamon gave a muffled cry of warning but both him, Tokomon and the Koromon were too late.

"ELECTRIC STUN BLAST!"

Sarai dropped the stick she'd been using and gritted her teeth through the pain of the attack. She couldn't stop jolting in place and her scream was stuck in her throat. Wanyamon, Tokomon and Koromon screamed with fear for the human. All of them terrified, as they were unsure what would happen to the human child. Humans were fragile, weren't they?

The attack stopped but the screaming Digimon continued. Sarai swayed in the air before falling back with a heavy thud.

She wasn't moving.

Tokomon found the scene too familiar and the memory replayed itself over and over in his head. Wanyamon was screaming and fighting his binds, crying for Sarai who hadn't moved since she'd fallen.

"Did you kill it?" a Pagumon questioned as they nudged at her still body.

The Gazimon gave an uncaring shrug and instructed the Pagumon to dump her body in the cage with Tokomon and Wanyamon.

"If one human found us it's possible the other humans are awake. Quick go back to the village and keep them from venturing near here." The Gazimon instructed.

As they locked the cage, the Gazimon met Wanyamon's eyes.

They were surprised to find the small digimion's cat like eyes to be a dark blood red as it glared at them. While a little unsettled, the Gazimon brushed the feeling off and mocking sneered in return.

The left Wanyamon, Tokomon and the Koromon alone in their cages with an unconscious Sarai.

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

"SARAI!" "TOKOMON!" "WANYAMON!"

The children had searched the entire village and still couldn't find the trio. Tai searched from his perch on the roof of the tallest hut, squinting through his telescope. Matt just got back from the east part of the forest and Joe was heading back from the west. Sora and Mimi fretted by Izzy as they peered over his dirt drawn map.

"Nothing, no signs of any of them." Matt informed with a grim stare.

Izzy's brow furrowed as he added another cross to the roughly drawn map. Biyomon, Tentomon and Tai were still searching from the skies, but the red-haired boy had a feeling something sinister was in play.

"Maybe Sarai opted to get a head start on her own?" Sora tried to optimistically suggest.

Mimi shook her head frantically and all but snapped at the red-haired girl.

"As if Sarai would even think about doing that!" she hissed.

"Even if she did, why would she take Tokomon with her? She knows how much TK cares for him, and I doubt Tokomon would leave TK behind." Joe reasoned.

But they all understood what Sora was trying to do. It was better to hope Sarai had left on her own rather than the alternative.

That she was kidnapped right under their noses.

"Hey! Anything?" Tai cried out from his perch.

The children shared an uneasy look before shaking their heads. Though he was too high up to see properly, they knew their leader wasn't dealing well with the situation.

"He's losing it." Matt muttered.

"It is a lot of pressure." Izzy countered.

"Stop it. I trust Tai." Sora scolded but her eyes showed her worry.

But Mimi scoffed and brazenly spoke the truth as she always did.

"Trust him? Sure. But trusting him to lead us home is nothing compared to somebody's life."

"Mimi." Joe scolded and the pink lover huffed but didn't apologise for her words.

"We're going to find them, right Matt?" TK shakily whispered.

They'd not noticed him join them and hastily looked away from the teary-eyed child. Allowing the two brothers a bit of privacy. Although Matt assured his brother, it was obvious even he was growing worried.

"They're not by the waterfall!" the Pagumon announced as they bounced to join them.

Izzy gave a nod in their direction and crossed the waterfall drawing off on his dirt map. The children missed the glint of cruel glee in the Pagumon's eyes as they discussed where else they should search.

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

While the children were gathered around Izzy and his map, Gabumon, Gaomon and Palmon had wandered out of sight. They gathered a fair distance away from the village and shared a low whispered discussion.

"I knew we shouldn't have let our guard down! I knew it!" Palmon hissed with anger.

Gabumon gave a low growl of his own, warning her to keep her voice down. Gomamon was no help of course, the seal Digimon was more likely to encourage the plant Digimon than calm her. It was up to Gabumon to be the voice of reason, even if his own instincts were demanding he rage the Pagumon village to the ground.

"Don't do anything stupid, Palmon." Gabumon carefully ordered.

"We should tear this place apart! They've gotta be here somewhere. I don't trust those sneaky Pagumon one bit!" Gomamon snarled with a feral glint in his eyes.

Palmon nodded her head in agreement, but once again Gabumon growled at them with warning.

"Agumon's orders were clear. We stay close to our humans and keep an eye on those Pagumon until he gets back. We don't know if the Pagumon had anything to do with Tokomon and Wanyamon's disappearance."

"And if they did? What then huh?" Gomamon sneers.

Gabumon allows his anger to show on his face and grins sharply.

"Agumon said we leave them a warning and make sure they never do it again."

A viscous smile appeared on all three digimon's faces as they huddled closer to one another and continued to whisper.

"Now here's the plan…..."

The Digimon were going to make the Pagumon regret messing with their hatch mates.

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

As he always did when searching for something, Agumon followed his nose. He didn't call out his hatch mates names, too suspicious to risk being noticed. He never should have listened and let his guard down for a single moment. He should have trusted his instincts more. A mistake he would never do again.

He had managed to catch a whiff of Sarai's scent; certain he'd find his hatch mates with the human. From the scent trail he figured the human had chased after his hatch mates. He didn't know why she didn't alert the rest of the humans of where she was going, but he's certain Tai or one of the other children would say something. Agumon only had one priority in his search, and that was finding Wanyamon and Tokomon.

No one got away with hurting the youngest of his hatch mates.

He'd make them pay.

Eventually his nose led him closer to the waterfall. There Sarai's scent mixed with that of a Koromon. Agumon blinked with suspicion as the Koromon scent was every where in the village. As he moved closer to the waterfall, he heard the whimpering cry for help and recognised the voice immediately.

"TOKOMON!" he cried out.

"Agumon!" the piglet Digimon cried with relief.

"Wanyamon! Sarai! You're all here!" Agumon sighed with relief as he hurried closer to the cage.

It was then he realised something wasn't right. There was strange smell wafting about the cave. It smelt like burnt meat and not in the pleasant sense. Then he properly looked at Sarai and sharply inhaled with shock. Sarai winced as he approached, twitching uncontrollably but looking relieved at seeing him.

"Ah- Agumon! T-thank g-goodness," She groaned weakly.

She had been fiddling with the lock, or at least attempting to. She had a strange twisted pin in her hand but was struggling to keep her hands from shaking. Agumon knew without asking that she'd suffered under the attack of a Digimon and he felt something shift within him. There was a loud clang from inside the cage and Agumon turned at the sound. He found himself face to face with Gaomon who was snarling with feral outrage, a dangerous mindset to be confronted with.

"Get us out of here now!" Gaomon snarled.

Agumon didn't waste anymore time. He fiddled with the lock as Koromon and Tokomon filled him in on what had happened. As he worked on the lock, Sarai seemed to slump against Gaomon who was trembling with rage.

"Gaomon…" Agumon cautiously called.

The blue Digimon snarled, barely maintaining control over his rage. Agumon was no stranger to the feral nature of his hatch mates. He'd suffered Tsunamon in his darker days and survived. But, Gaomon was not Tsunamon and was stronger than Tsunamon. Every Digimon had a dark side, they were monsters after all. Agumon worried Gaomon might have a darker side than he could handle.

"DON'T" Gaomon snarled.

Agumon wisely stayed quiet. The blue dog Digimon only calmed when Sarai weakly cried his name.

"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you….." a sneering voice snickered.

Agumon turned and found himself confronted by two Gazimon.

"We'll be offering the chosen children to Etemon."

"Etemon?" Agumon repeated.

The two Gazimon grinned rather evilly and lifted their sharp talons to attack.

"We'll get rid of you right here."

Agumon growled and prepared himself to fight as they both lunged at him.

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

Tai tightened his grip on the pole keeping him steady. He'd already looked in this direction, but he continued to search again and again. Despite his rather calm outward appearance, Tai's mind was rampant with stress, panic and terror.

Why didn't he order a night watch? Why did he let his guard down? How could he not have noticed something odd about the village?

Tai wasn't an idiot.

Agumon had smelled Koromon and Agumon's nose never lies. He'd been suspicious, so why did he decide to let his guard down? Stupid, stupid he's so-

"Not a single sight of any of them!" Tentomon pipes as he and Biyomon join him on his perch.

Tai clenches his jaw as his shoulders began to tremble with stress and worry. He looks down and notices the others have gathered around Izzy's dirt map and are discussing something he couldn't hear. It's then he realises he's not seen Agumon in a while.

"Agumon…." He absently says as he looks into the distance.

Both Tentomon and Biyomon look up at him.

"He's late…." He whispers.

Tentomon and Biyomon share a look before nodding and flying once again; Both searching for the orange form of their hatch mate.

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

Sarai gritted her teeth as her skin felt as if it was on fire whenever it brushed against something. She could barely control the jolting of her limbs but now was no time to slack off. She had to get up. She needed to help Agumon. At some point, she's not sure when, Wanyamon had digivolved into Gaomon and if she could get him to focus more on the lock rather than her, she's certain they could escape.

"Gaomon I need you to free Tokomon while I try to break the lock." She whispered.

She winced as she heard Agumon cry out in pain while the Koromon whimpered. Gaomon growled and she gripped his fur tighter in hopes of getting him to focus.

"Gaomon, listen to me. We need to help Agumon so-"

"You're hurt!" he gritted through his fangs.

"I'm fin-"

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" He snapped at her and she quickly cut herself off.

She swallowed, knowing Gaomon was simply worried for her. So she took a deep breath and pressed their foreheads together ensuring he could see directly into her eyes. He was furious, she could see it in his eyes, but she needed him to bottle it all for now. Later, when they survive, the two of them can revisit the topic. She'd sit through an entire scolding from him if he only focused on the situation rather than her.

"Please…. Agumon needs us."

She was asking a lot but Gaomon briefly closed his eyes, took a deep breath and quickly attended to Tokomon. Sarai swallowed the thanks she almost voiced, knowing her gratitude would only anger her friend even more.

Instead, she focused on the lock and willed her limbs to do as she wanted. It took a bit of twisting and jostling but eventually the lock gave a click of release. Just in time too as Agumon was being overwhelmed by the two Gazimon's team attack.

The second the cage opened, Gaomon attacked. Tokomon stumbled out from behind them and quickly hurried over to the Koromon cages. Sarai noticed her stick from earlier and hobbled over to grab it.

"WILD ECHO!" Gaomon cried as he attacked.

"BABY FLAME!" Agumon followed.

"Tokomon here keep a hold on this for later," Sarai instructed as she passed over the rope.

She hoped tasking Tokomon with something would keep the baby Digimon from doing something reckless. It was taking all her focus to free the Koromon and she didn't want the little thing charging to fight beside Agumon and Gaomon.

Though Agumon was suffering more bruises compared to Gaomon, the duo managed to hold off the two Gazimon. But it still wasn't enough as the Gazimon levelled two paralysing attacks at Agumon and Gaomon. The force of it strong enough to throw both Digimon to the ground.

"DON'T GIVE UP AGUMON AND GAOMON!" the Koromon cheered.

Sarai slumped against the last cage no longer able to ignore the burning sting of her wounds or control of her limbs. Tokomon and the Koromon stood in front of her protectively, feeling useless as they watched the fighting Digimon.

Gaomon groaned with anger and his eyes flashed red once more. Agumon could feel Gaomon's angry aura grow darker, and he shivered. There was something wrong about the feeling. Gaomon's aura didn't feel angry but…... dark in a way that was wrong.

Something told Agumon he needed to keep Gaomon from falling any deeper into whatever he was feeling.

He spotted the waterfall and wished it would stop for just a moment. Long enough for the others to hear him cry for help.

"It's no use, no one will hear you!" a Gazimon mocked

Wait… a waterfall…... That's it!

"BABY FLAME!" Agumon cried again.

The ball of fire passed the two Gazimon and hit the gushing water behind them. There was a moment of confusion as Agumon so obviously missed the two Gazimon.

"Where are you aiming moron?" one Gazimon laughed.

But Agumon continued to target the gushing waterfall rather than the two Digimon. Sarai is the first to catch on to what Agumon's thinking and she grins.

"Agumon, that's genius! Gaomon keep them busy!" She shouts.

Gaomon doesn't hesitate.

Gaomon forms a defence around Agumon as Agumon continues to shoot fireballs at the water. Eventually the Gazimon realise the dino Digimon was creating a smoke signal and their efforts to defeat the two increase.

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

Tai's feeling restless and the last of his calm starts to fray. Just as he's about to climb down and search for Agumon himself, he spots several smoke clouds in the distance. Matt must have been watching him as the blond calls out to him.

"What is it Tai?"

"Smoke! It's coming from over there!"

All the children turn to look where he points and spot the smoke as well.

"Is it them?" TK questions with hope.

The children don't notice the panic that overwhelms the Pagumon.

But their Digimon do.

"That can't be possible! We searched by the waterfall!" one Pagumon exclaims as the group repeat his words.

"It's possible they could have gotten lost around there after you searched," Izzy reasoned.

Tai had already climbed down from his perch on the hut roof. He joined the others with a determined stride and informed them on what would happen. It wasn't a suggestion.

"I'm going to look. The rest of you wait here in case it's something else and Agumon or the others come here."

Matt grabbed Tai's arm, stopping him from simply running off, with a scowl on his lips.

"You can't just run off on your own, especially if you don't have Agumon with you. I'm coming too."

Tai just grit his teeth and shook himself free but didn't tell Matt to stay behind. Before they can make a move to leave the Pagumon piped up with loud cries.

"YOU CAN'T GO! YOU CAN'T!"

"Why not?" Joe questioned suspiciously.

Izzy and Sora crowded close from behind the blue haired boy with suspicious glares. The Pagumon began to sweat nervously as they realised they were soon to be in trouble.

"Well…. Because…." The Pagumon nervously stuttered.

Then they heard a startled scream from where Mimi had been. At her feet was a black looking creature with yellow eyes. They all stared at the creature with confusion as Mimi wondered what the heck it was.

"It's a Botamon." Tentomon exclaimed.

"What's a Botamon doing here?" Palmon questioned.

"What do you mean?" Matt inquired

"Botamon are Digimon who evolve into Koromon. Why would it be in a Pagumon village?" Gabumon answered.

"So this place is really…" Tai puzzled as he slowly realised they'd been tricked again.

The Pagumon began to sweat nervously as the children's Digimon watched them with cruel grins their partners didn't notice. But even the children watched the Pagumon with cold expressions.

"Those tricksters!" Tai growled angrily as the Pagumon started to run.

He stepped forward to chase after them but found Sora blocking his way.

"No, you and Matt go to the waterfall. The rest of us will deal with the Pagumon," she urged.

Tai gave another angry growl but took off running towards the waterfall with Matt following after. The remaining children split up to double check the village just in case there were any other Botamon or Koromon hidden in the village. While the children did that, their Digimon gleefully dealt with the Pagumon.

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

"POISON IVY!"

The Pagumon whimpered and screamed as their escape was blocked by a series of vines. They were on the edge of the village boarder and had been so close to reaching the forest. Palmon smiled at them sweetly as she retracted her vines and tugged the cluster of Pagumon closer to her.

"Where are you going? Don't you want to play with us anymore?" she simpered.

"No! No! we don't want to play!" the Pagumon cried.

"Now that's just rude. How else are we supposed to thank you!" Gomamon cheerfully grinned with his teeth shining bright.

"DOUBLE PUNCH!"

Tentomon stares down at the Pagumon with silent detachment as the Pagumon whimpers beneath him. Biyomon lands beside him and gives a twittering chirp as she shakes her head mockingly.

"You should be careful you know; tricking people has consequences." She scolds.

The Pagumon wail and cry but the partnered Digimon feel little regret.

The Digital World can be cruel and harsh, a lesson all Digimon learned to adapt to. The Pagumon's mistake was believing the partnered Digimon to be easy targets because they were partnered to the humans.

Tentomon, Palmon, Gomamon and Biyomon would make sure the Pagumon never made the same mistake again.

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

"GAH!" Agumon groaned as he fell forward.

Though Gaomon had put up a good fight, it was still two on one and eventually he was beaten. The two partnered Digimon groaned weakly from their place on the ground. But before the Gazimon could attack them further, Sarai swung at them with her stick. The three made a gruesome picture, all of them beaten and bruised with a few burns.

Sarai trembled where she stood with exhaustion, pain and terror.

But the three would rather suffer than let the Gazimon hurt the Koromon or Tokomon.

"Give up, human! You're no match for us!" the Gazimon sneered.

Despite the terror she felt and the pain, Sarai gripped her stick tighter and shook her head. Gaomon pushed himself off the ground and glared at the Gazimon, lifting his trembling fists. Agumon groaned as he tried to do the same, but he only managed to croak out a whispered cry.

"Tai…..."

"Well…... have it your way. You're finished!" The Gazimon sneered as they readied their talons.

It was faint, but both Gaomon and Agumon heard it. Soon the sound grew louder and louder until it was close enough to bring hope to all of them.

"AGUMON!" Tai yelled as he ran.

"Tai!" Agumon weakly tried to answer.

Sarai could barely believe their luck and despite how she felt, she took a deep breath and screamed as loud as she could.

"OVER HERE!"

"Sarai!" Gaomon yelled as he jumped protectively in front of his human partner.

The Gazimon had attempted to attack Sarai while she had been distracted. Gaomon yelped as their talons dragged across his snout causing three jagged cuts to form.

"GAOMON!" Tokomon wailed.

Sarai had dropped her stick to hold Gaomon with panic as the wound was rather deep. The Gazimon would have attacked again, but the stomping thud of feet had them freezing in place. They turned slowly and found themselves under the dark glare of a rather angry human boy.

"Agumon." Tai growled and with a grin Agumon felt a familiar warm light overwhelm him.

"AGUMON DIGIVOLVE TO…GREYMON!"

The Gazimon trembled with terror as Greymon grinned down at them sharply. The T-rex like Digimon was huge and much stronger than the Agumon they'd been fighting.

"Get them Greymon!" Tai ordered and Greymon roared.

"It's payback time."

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

Sarai didn't pay the fight anymore attention, too filled with panic for Gaomon. The jagged cuts on his snout started to bleed and her trembling fingers tried to put pressure on the wound. Gaomon wouldn't stop whimpering and shivering in her hold while she desperately tried to comfort him. She'd completely forgotten about her own wounds until Tai reached out to touch her.

"Sarai!"

"Gah!" she yelled as he accidentally touched her burned skin.

"Sorry! Sorry! But we need to go." Tai apologised.

"Gaomon. He needs-"

"TAI!"

Both Sarai and Tai turn to see the rest of the children appear. All of them seem to be running with eggs in their arms and a few more Botamon. Meanwhile, Garurumon began to fight alongside Greymon with Matt riding his back.

"Our digieggs!" The Koromon cried with relief.

Joe, Mimi, Izzy and Sora joined them in the cave as the fighting continued outside.

"We found them locked away in one of the huts. The Pagumon had simply locked them inside and forgot about them. Some of the Botomon had already hatched." Sora informed them quickly.

The Koromon gratefully accepted the eggs and crowded round the baby Botomon which allowed the children to properly focus on Sarai, Gaomon and Tokomon.

"TOKOMON!" TK cried with happy relief as he hugged his Digimon partner close.

"Don't leave me behind okay? You can't do that again," He sobbed and Tokomon could only nod in agreement.

"GAOMON!" Palmon cried with fear as the dog Digimon continued to whimper.

"SARAI YOU'RE HURT!" Mimi yelled.

"Move, let me see!" Joe ordered.

Sarai waved off Joe's attempts at seeing to her and pushed for him to check over Gaomon instead.

"Sarai I need to-"

"No! Look over Gaomon first! Please Joe!"

Helpless to her begging, Joe looked over the Digimon.

Outside, Greymon and Garurumon ruthlessly attacked the two Gazimon with little restraint. There was a small voice in Matt's mind that told them they were being cruel. It pointed out how the two Gazimon were obviously several levels weaker than Garurumon and Greymon.

But…... it was tiny enough for Matt to ignore.

He was too angry, too frustrated and terrified and it was all because of the Gazimon Sarai almost died again, Gaomon was injured and TK cried. Besides….if it was really wrong, Sora, Izzy or even Joe would have told them to stop.

And neither of them had said a word.

"MEGA FLAME!"

Tai watched from the opening of the cave as the Gazimon continued to cry out in pain. The red of Gaomon's blood on Sarai's hands, the burns that covered her skin. All because of them.

'They deserve this….' His mind seemed to whisper.

Tai was tired of being tricked and sick of having his friends injured because of evil Digimon like the Gazimon. He raised his clenched fist and roared his anger out.

"FINISH THEM GREYMON!"

Greymon opened his mouth, his attack building in his throat, only to stop at the sound of an electric guitar.

(~)-(~)-*DIGIMON ADVENTURE*-(~)-(~)

With Joe attending to Gaomon, Sarai attempted to walk towards the cave opening to see what was happening. She winced as she leaned against the cave walls but forgot about the pain due to what she saw. A giant orange monkey wearing sunglasses stood above them. He was holding a microphone and an electric guitar.

"Hello, Hello? Chosen children can you hear me?" the monkey spoke into the mike.

Sarai thought he sounded like those Elvis impersonators in Vegas.

"It's Etemon!" The Koromon whimpered in fear.

Etemon?

The Digimon who wanted to kill them?

"We need to run!" She hissed but only Izzy, Joe, Sora and TK heard her.

"Why?" TK whispered fearfully.

"How dare you make a fool out of me…..." Etemon growled into the mike with an unnerving grin.

"Tai…" Izzy warned but the goggle boy didn't need the warning.

The children started to back up further into the cave as Greymon and Garurumon stood protectively in front of the opening. Matt climbed down from Garurumon's back and joined the rest of the children on the ground.

"Everybody. Get ready to digivolve…" Sora whispered to the partnered Digimon.

They all began to shuffle back slowly, all except Tai who stood in place and glared up at Etemon from between Garurumon and Greymon. Sarai tried to step forward, intent on dragging the goggle boy back with the rest of them but found herself held in place by Matt and Mimi.

"What do you think your doing?" Matt hissed as he carefully pulled her back.

"I'm-"

"No. Tai can handle himself." Mimi snapped as she copied Matt and tugged her to the back of the cave.

"Since you've pissed me off…. I'm going to destroy everything in this village!" Etemon announced with a laugh.

Tai clenched his fists as the Koromon whimpered behind them.

"He doesn't know we saved the digieggs and Botamon." Izzy whispered.

"Izzy, we trapped a few Pagumon there, remember!" Mimi quietly reminded, careful not to let TK or Sarai hear.

Matt glanced over at the rest of the older children and they shared a look. When Sarai noticed their strange stares, none of them said a word to clue the girl in to their silent talk. And in turn, none of them alerted Tai to what they'd done.

"DARK NETWORK!"

Black lines appeared on the ground and rose up into to the sky. They pulsed with a strange purple light and stretched over the Koromon village. Then a crackling sound started to fizzle and zap forming purple and red lightning bolts that struck at the village and close to the entrance of the cave.

"GREYMON!" Tai shouted

"GARURUMON!" Matt cried

The two Digimon gave a roar and howl respectively in response and blasted an attack at the Monkey. Only, their attacks phased through the giant digimon and they realised he was only a hologram.

"NOW EVERYONE!" Sora cried.

But before the rest of the partnered Digimon could digivolve, Etemon released an attack of his own.

"I won't let you do that! LOVE SERANADE!" he bellowed before strumming his electric guitar.

A horrible string of music echoed around them and the Digimon quivered in place. None more than Greymon and Garurumon who were soon engulfed in a bright light. When it faded, they were back to being Agumon and Gabumon. Etemon continued to play and screech high pitched yelps and grunted shouts that grated on their ears.

Sarai fell to her knees and clutched at her head as it felt as if her ears were being melted off. She started to scream while Gaomon thrashed in Joe's hold, howling wildly.

"We have to get out of here! They're both having a bad reaction to whatever he's doing!" Joe yelled over the noise.

"Where could we go?" Mimi screamed, struggling to be heard as she tried to keep Sarai from clawing at her ears.

"His love Seranade is keeping us from digivolving?" Biyomon yelled

"Is there anyway we could fight them?" Izzy shouted.

"Maybe if we were able to digivolve to a higher level!" Tentomon replied.

"Tai what do we do?" Matt questioned as he too struggled to keep Sarai from hurting herself even more than she already was.

"This is why Gennai told us to get the crests!" Sora realised.

"Well it's a bit too late to think about that!" Joe snapped.

"TAI!" Izzy prompted as a lightning strike to the side of the cave caused several rocks to fall.

The goggle boy was struggling to think as everything was just too chaotic.

"TAI! WHAT DO WE DO!?" Mimi cried as Sarai had stopped screaming but was crying as blood dribbled out her ears.

"TAI!" Sora screamed as another lightning strike caused the cave to shake.

TK was clutching both Matt and Tokomon with a deathly tight grip as his small chest rose rapidly. Joe, with Gaomon in his arms, had crawled his way to where Mimi, Matt and Sarai were crouched. The other partnered Digimon were busy protecting and shielding the Koromon and digieggs. Izzy was clinging to the walls much like Sora.

Tai's chest was tight, and his hands were shaking, he was sweating profusely as he struggled to think.

"DAMNIT TAI DO SOMETHING!" Matt roared just as a final lightning strike caused the entrance to the cave to be blocked with rocks.

Then a small voice yelled over the chaos, bringing hope to all of them.

"THIS WAY!" a Koromon yelled.

The children and the Digimon ran to follow the Koromon leading them. They ran deeper and deeper into the cave, leaving behind the cackling laughter of Etemon. The cave was dark, and they tripped several times in their haste to run.

Sarai was practically being dragged by both Matt and Mimi while Joe carried Gaomon. The rest had their arms full with Koromon, Botamon and digieggs. They soon came to a stop as they realised it was a dead end.

The rock wall blocking their way had a strange symbol carved into it that looked like a sun.

"Where is this?" Tai questioned warily as the others caught their breath behind them.

"There's a legend that if anything were to happen to our village, we were to escape from here." The Koromon that led them said.

Tai couldn't help but think the symbol looked rather familiar. It's Sarai who figures it out first and she weakly croaks her words. She's not sure what everyone's saying as all she can hear is loud ringing. Everything surrounding her is mute to her ears. She hopes she said the right thing as she forces her tongue to shape the word.

"C-crests… t-the crests…." She croaks.

As if timed, the tag around Tai's neck begins to glow from beneath his shirt. Around them the entire cave starts to glow a bright orange light. Sarai shuts her eyes as the light is so bright to her senses it stings and Gaomon whimpers in Joe's arm. Joe takes note of the two's reactions and mentally starts to form a diagnosis that worries him.

Tai takes out his tag and the symbol in front of him seems to shine brighter. He sees the exact same symbol shine on his tag. The wall slab begins to sink along with the symbol and then floats to slot itself into Tai's tag.

"The symbol…." Tai breathes in shock.

Matt takes a step forward, still supporting Sarai with Mimi's help, and is awed at what happened.

"Sarai's right, it's a crest."

"I have a crest!" Tai exclaims with glee, but above all else relief.

Behind him the other children mirror his relief.

Finally, they're one crest closer to getting stronger.

"Look!" Sora points out.

Without the wall slab, the cave was now open and before them were mountains and trees. The Koromon gave happy cheers while the children gaped with amazement.

"We're in the mountains far away from our village!" The Koromon cheered.

"Then… we're safe!" Joe breathed with relief.

"For now…..." Matt cynically pointed out.

Tai clenched at the crest around his neck and gritted his teeth with determination. The earlier stage fright he'd suffered back in the cave taunted him in his mind, but he pushed it back stubbornly. What happened in the cave no longer mattered. It was a mistake.

He had a crest now.

Agumon was going to be stronger.

He wouldn't freeze like that again and no one else is going to get hurt again.

Sarai gave a weak groan reminding everyone that they'd not escaped their recent adventure easily. Tai focused on the problem at hand but still didn't let go of his crest.

"Sora, Izzy, TK help the Koromon settle somewhere safe for the night. Mimi, Matt we'll be helping Joe with Sarai and Gaomon. Joe what do you need?" Tai ordered.

The children gave nods and set off to do their duties with their partner digimon following along.

Tai never once let go of his crest as a part of his mind was stuck on Etemon.

The next time he saw that Orange Monkey….. Tai was going to make sure he'd never come after them again. At his side, Agumon shifted at feeling his chest sink like a rock and grow cold. He looked over at Tai but found the goggle boy to be busy with obeying Joe's command.

Perhaps…... it's all just in his head?

But the bad feeling Agumon felt didn't fade throughout the night, instead it grew worse.

*Notes of Interest: I told you this chapter was dark. Sarai is definitely going to be in lots of trouble next chapter as she faces the consequences of her reckless actions. There are several in the group who won't let it slide like they did before. Even Gaomon has a few things to say to his precious human partner. As I said, Agumon and Sarai are going to have a lot of focus in the coming chapters. Which means we'll be exploring their partner dynamic with Tai and Gaomon. As for the rest of the kids and their digimon, a dynamic is starting to form already, whether it stays that way... I guess you're just going to have to wait and see :)*

[Episodes Covered: S1ep15]