Author's Note: Dear readers! Today is a great day! Today, it's been exactly a month since I posted the first chapter of this story and since then, we have gathered 91 favourites, 101 followers and 115 reviews! I just want to take the time out here to thank you guys so much for your support, and express just how much it means to me as a writer that so many people enjoy reading what I waste plenty of irreplaceable hours in my life writing! You guys are awesome, thank you so much! :)

Also, by some miracle, this special anniversary (well, it's a sort-of anniversarie at least) happened to coincide with a chapter that contains one of the first scenes I planned out when I began to write this story. I feel like it turned out pretty good and I hope that you guys think the same! This chapter is also a bit longer than the previous chapters, and in honor of it this story having made it through its first month, I decided to pick a quote from Digimon itself that I found particularly inspiring when I was a kid and watched the show. However, since I watched the swedish version when I was growing up, it might not be entirerly accurate to what was said in the english version, but kudos to anyone who recognize the quote and can tell me where its from in a review!

And of course, my Honorable Guest will find his answer at the bottom of the chapter! Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: Despite everything special with this chapter, I still don't own Digimon.

"I'll do it, I have to. I don't particularly want to do it, but if I can't do this, right here, right now, then perhaps
I'll never be able to do it. You have to face yourself before you're ready to face your enemy."

Chapter VI: Separated

It took a little while to wake Patamon and Tsunomon up, as they were both still exhausted from their clash with Myotismon earlier that evening. When Matt and TK had finally shook them awake and left the car, things were already going south. The fog had thinned out somewhat and a large, serpentine silhouette was visible through it, one that made Matt's blood practically freeze in his veins.

"Is that Seadramon?!" he asked his partner, feeling a phantom sensation of cold, slimy scales slithering around his body and he shuddered at the memory of their ecounter with the Sea Serpent on File Island during the early days of their adventure.

That had been one of the few times during their journey that Matt had truly thought that it was over for him. In his desperation to protect TK from harm, he had drawn the attention of the offending Champion Digimon and had almost ended up as a snack for the large dragon of the lake as a result. If Gabumon hadn't digivolved and stopped him when he did, it could've really meant the end for him.

"It looks like him, but it's too hard to see through this fog!" Tsunomon complained as he squinted his eyes to try and make out any details from the large silhouette. "We'll have to get closer to find out, but I think this might be something even worse. This one looks way too big to be just a regular Seadramon!"

Squinting with his eyes, Matt felt all the blood drain from his face in horror as he realized that his partner was right. While Seadramon had been large and terrifying on his own, he had still been small enough to fit within a small lake on File Island. This creature, whatever it was, was thicker than the oak trees back in the Odaiba Park and appeared to have curled its body around the Rainbow Bridge a bit further up the road from them. Whatever this creature was, it was too big to be a Seadramon.

As the large sea serpent lifted its head and roared towards the sky, Matt felt himself tremble and he instinctively stepped in front of his brother to protect him. However, it only took one glance over his shoulder for him to realize that TK was currently better off than he himself was. Patamon had only joined the fight against Myotismon in its last stages, so he wasn't even close to as tired as Tsunomon was. If push came to shove, Patamon probably still had it in himself to go a few rounds with a new monster, whereas his own partner did not. But to send TK and his partner out to fight...

"Come on, Matt! We've got to do something!" his brother looked up at him with a determined expression on his face.

Instantly, Matt looked away and took in the chaotic scene in front of him. People were running around in a panic, trying desperately to get away from the large beast which they knew nothing about. On some level, Matt knew that TK was right. They had to do something, they were the only ones who had even the slightest idea of what they were dealing with here! But he couldn't. He couldn't conciously send his brother into battle, there was no way he could do that when he was aware of how much damage a single Digimon could cause.

"What can we do, TK?" he attempted to dissuade his brother from taking action. "Tsunomon is too tired to fight and that thing looks like it could be a really strong Champion, maybe even an Ultimate Digimon! What are we supposed to do?"

"Well, we've got to do something! We're the only ones who can do anything at all!" Tk argued, probably not even realizing how right he really was.

Matt grit his teeth in frustration as he fought with his consciense about their course of action, stuck between what he wanted to do and what he knew to be the right thing to do. So this was what it felt like to be a leader, to be the one making all the important decisions. It was just like when Tai had disappeared after their fight with Etemon and the group had been stuck arguing between themselves about their course of action. Up until that point, Matt hadn't truly appreciated what Tai's determination and stubborn resolve really did for the team dynamic, but after that he had learned to never underestimate the difficult task that was leading. If Tai had been here, what would he have done?

'Stupid question.' Matt thought as an image of Tai's face flashed before his eyes, his eyes practically gleaming with a burning determination that Matt wished that he himself had. 'He wouldn't even hesitate in a situation like this, even if he himself was unable to fight. He would charge straight ahead to save as many people as he could, and the rest of us would follow.'

"You're right, TK." Matt heard himself say, without even realizing it. Somehow, thinking about what his acknowledged leader would have done in this situation had allowed him to take a deep breath and calm down somewhat. Somehow, the thought of Tai's fearless and determined expression, even in the face of danger, had made his course of action clear to him. As much as he hated the thought of letting TK anywhere near a battle, he wouldn't be able to face their friends again, least of all Tai himself, if he turned tails and ran now. "Digivolve Patamon and try to keep that monster busy while I make sure everyone makes it off the bridge. But whatever you do, don't get too close to the fighting, do you hear me?!"

Turning to look at his little brother, he found TK nodding at him eagerly, a determined expression on his face. Seeing the expression on his brother's face, Matt felt something within him twist uncomfortably but he swallowed it down for the time being. Steadying his grip on Tsunomon, he turned back to face whatever monstrosity was terrorizing Rainbow Bridge and took off in a sprint down the road, in the opposite direction from what most people were running in. He could think about that later, right now their priority was to save as many people as they could before that sea serpent got its hands (eh, fins?) on them.

-:-:-:-

"Mega Claw!" MetalGreymon's rumbling voice echoed across the street as he detached his cybernetic left arm and sent it flying towards his opponent. As much as he hated to admit it, this Veedramon was stronger than he had expected. He had heard legends about the Veedramon species and their seemingly inherent combat prowess while he was still a young Koromon, but he had never believed that he would come face to face with one so he had merely passed them off as legends.

As the metallic arm closed in on him, Veedramon sunk into a crouching stance and dug his feet into the ground. Just before the attack connected, he raised his arms in front of him and grabbed the giant mechanical claw by its outermost fingers to keep it from piercing his torso. The pure strength of the attack pushed him back and tore up the ground around his feet, but the Champion himself barely took any damage at all and once the flying claw had lost its momentum, it stopped dead in its tracks.

'N-no way!' Tai thought with a growing sense of dread as he watched his opponent fling the Mega Claw away into the air with a mighty roar and emerge from the clash with barely a scratch. 'He actually caught MetalGreymon's Mega Claw and tossed it away without receiving as much as a scratch!'

While the robotic arm re-attached itself to his partner, Tai began to consider their options. Unlike what he had thought, Veedramon hadn't charged straight towards them when he had received the chance. He was smart and had hung back and preserved his energy while tiring out MetalGreymon, probably recognizing that his opponent was a level higher than him and as such possessed greater potential to deal high damage. The longer the battle had been drawn out though, the more power MetalGreymon had began to use up in the hopes that he could break through Veedramon's defense, but it had been for naught and now, the Mythical Dragon had even blocked his Mega Claw! That attack had been strong enough to tear through Etemon's Dark Network like it was mincemeat and it had just been blocked by a mere Champion!

Tightening his grip on his screeching Digivice, Tai grit his teeth in frustration. This was bad, really bad! The longer they drew this battle out, the harder it would be to find Davis and Kari once they were done, but rushing it clearly hadn't worked in their favour either. Tai knew that MetalGreymon's Giga Blaster was capable of causing massive damage to both its target and their surroundings, but he couldn't just fire of the organic missiles left and right for a multitude of reasons.

First off, the attack used up a lot of energy and MetalGreymon usually only had enough for up to 3 shots, and that was when he was at full strength which he wasn't right now, since Veedramon had made sure to tire him out. Secondly, Veedramon was surprisingly agile for a creature as big as he was, and if he dodged the attack then they would've wasted a lot of energy and potentially also destroyed the surrounding buildings for nothing. Finally, there was the fact that they were in a cramped area, they had no idea how many humans could be trying to hide in the vicinity and if they missed a shot, it would blow up the entire block. Simply put, it just wasn't worth the risk.

"Well, any bright ideas yet, Tai? I'm starting to get tired here!" MetalGreymon panted out as he flew back to catch his breath.

The ground shook as the large, orange dinosaur landed again after having been airborne for a few minutes. And the moment that his feet touched the ground, Veedramon saw his chance and acted on it.

"V-Breath Arrow!" he quickly charged up his attack and let it loose towards his opponent. MetalGreymon's eyes widened and he clumsily took a step to the side in an attemp to avoid it, but it wasn't enough. The V-shaped projectile nailed him just above his right knee and with a roar of pain, he toppled over towards the side and crushed the building to his right.

"No!" Tai cried out in horror as he watched a good part of the apartment build crumble and collapse atop his partner, who screamed in pain as his head and torso was burried underneath several large chunks of concrete.

Once the dust settled, Tai immediately ran up to the unmoving form of his partner. Since he hadn't reverted back to his Rookie form yet, he assumed that MetalGreymon wasn't completely out of it yet, but he didn't look too good either, lying with the upper part of his body burried beneath what had to be several tons of rubble.

"MetalGreymon! Are you okay?!" he called, hoping that his partner could hear him underneath all that rubble. "Come on! Can you hear me?! You've got to get up, MetalGreymon!"

When he received no answer, Tai felt his heart sink in his chest as he realized that despite staying in his Ultimate form, MetalGreymon was knocked out. He wasn't necessarily injured so he wasn't weak enough to be forcefully reverted back into an earlier digivolution stage, but all that concrete must've hit his head and shaken him up pretty badly.

How?

How was it possible that with a single attack, Veedramon had managed to take his partner out of commission? And why hadn't he been able to dodge the attack? While MetalGreymon was in no way an agile fighter, he was usually swift enough to avoid ranged attacks like Veedramon's and if not avoid them, he could usually take them without much effort. So why had Veedramon's attack had such an impact on him?

"It was the sudden change in weight balance from when your partner landed on solid ground again." Tai heard Veedramon's voice speak up from somewhere behind him and he almost jumped out of his skin in fright.

Reminded that they were still in the middle of a fight, Tai was quickly on his feet again and spun around to find that Veedramon had closed the distance between them again, standing just about 30 meters away from him and the unconcious MetalGreymon. However for some reason, he was hanging back and didn't show any particular interest in finishing off his downed opponent, at least not for the time being.

"What do you mean?" Tai asked cautiously, desperately fighting the urge to run away and hide behind some of the fallen concrete. No matter what, he would not show fear in front of their enemy!

"When a flying Digimon lands on the ground again after having hovered in the air for a while, their body and particularly their sense of balance takes a short few seconds to re-adjust to the change in weight distribution across their muscles." Veedramon explained, his eyes drifting from Tai to the form of his knocked out partner. "This is especially true for large and heavy Digimon like MetalGreymon. During the few seconds their body is re-adjusting, their sense of balance is thrown off and it makes their movements sluggish and clumsy. When my attack injured his right leg, what little balance he still had disappeared and his leg gave in."

As Tai's mind processed what he had just been told, he couldn't help but feel slightly awed at his enemy's precision and well-timed attack. Even though he was no tactical expert like Izzy, even he could understand how extremely well-timed Veedramon's attack must have been to have caught MetalGreymon in the exact moment when he was at his most vulnerable. Veedramon had known that in a contest of strength, he was no match for MetalGreymon so he had been fighting more with his brains than with his brawns to make up for it, and it had proved to be frighteningly effective. He was good at what he did.

"Is that so?" a voice rumbled from somewhere behind Tai, startling both the digidestined and Veedramon.

With a mighty roar, MetalGreymon jumped to his feet, sending debris flying in all directions with enough force to hit even Veedramon, who was standing 30 meters away. The Mythical Dragon, who had thought that his opponent had been knocked out, hadn't expected the sudden attack and stumbled as a large chunk of concrete hit him in the chest and caused him to lose his breath. Tai, who had been standing just 2 meters away from the pile of rubble that had concealed MetalGreymon's upper body, had to throw himself to the ground to avoid being hit by the debris.

"Giga Blaster!" MetalGreymon roared as his dented chestplate opened up and fired off two identical organic missiles that each resembled a large ugly smiling fish. Standing just 30 meters away and still not having recovered from the concrete that had hit him, Veedramon was unable to dodge the attack.

Tai covered his ears and shut his eyes tightly as a large explosion rocked the entire street. A large shadow fell over him and his mind quickly recognized that his partner had leaned over him to shield him from any debris that could've been shaken up from the explosion. The chaos lasted for a few seconds before it died down, and MetalGreymon waited a few more seconds before he finally stood up again, just to make sure that no stray debris would fall on his human partner.

"Are you okay, Tai?" he asked worriedly, as his partner shook his head to get rid of the dust in his hair and the ringing sound in his ears. "I should've warned you, but I needed Veedramon to lower his guard."

It took a few moments for Tai to completely regain his senses. His ears were still ringing loudly from the explosion and his balance was completely off from all the shaking. Eventually, he recovered to a point where his mind could process what his partner had said and he was just about to reply that he was fine when he stood up and froze in place when he saw the devastation they had caused.

There was a large crater in the middle of the street and the lower segments of the nearby buildings had melted open from the heat of the explosion and even where the walls had remained intact, they were scorched and completely black. As he gazed out over the destroyed street, Tai found himself at a loss for words as his mind struggled to identify this as a street just a few blocks away from his own home.

"Tai? Do you hear me? Tai!" MetalGreymon repeated, his worry for his partner's well-being rising when he didn't receive an answer.

Shaking his head again, Tai forcefully pushed the conflicting emotions to the back of his conscience. Now was not the time to think about that. He could worry about the moral of their fights when they had beaten Myotismon. He was the leader of the Digidestined! If he began to question their course of action now, then the fight was already lost.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he spoke quietly without enthusiasm. MetalGreymon seemed to pick up on the fact that he was in no mood to talk right now, because he didn't prod for further details about his well-being. For a few seconds, both human and Digimon stood absolutely still as they took in the damage they had caused to the city, one of them fighting the urge to throw up from the pressure this added on him and one of them feeling sympathy for his partner. Then...

"Impressive."

From a large pile of concrete, Veedramon re-emerged. The Mythical Dragon's light blue hide had been scorched and he sported a few open flesh wounds across his chest that was leaking data-particles, but he appeared to be otherwise fine, if a little worn out. He was panting heavily and it was clear that MetalGreymon's attack had done a number on him, but considering that he had been hit by a Giga Blaster square in the chest, he shouldn't be moving around at all!

"How?!" MetalGreymon said in disbelief, staring wide-eyed at his opponent as if he didn't want to believe his eyes. "You were struck by my strongest attack head on! My Giga Blaster should've torn you to shreds!"

When Veedramon didn't answer, Tai's mind frantically tried to come up with a reason to why Veedramon was still alive. His partner was right, there should've been no way that Veedramon could've survived that blast! He had been hit straight in the chest by the missiles, hadn't he? However, as he repalyed the events in his mind, something occured to Tai and his eyes widened in realization.

"The attack never connected." he gasped out as he recalled how Veedramon had taken a large chunk of concrete to the chest just seconds before MetalGreymon had unleashed his attack upon him. "He was shielded by the large piece of concrete that covered his chest at the point of impact. The Giga Blaster hit the concrete and exploded on contact with that, not with Veedramon himself!"

The Mythical Dragon Digimon gave a tired nod in response, probably too worn out to be able to say something. Even if he had been lucky and the Giga Blaster hadn't hit him, he had still been caught in a massive explosion and it had clearly done its number on him. For a moment, Tai was tempted to let MetalGreymon loose on their opponent to finish him off, but one look at his partner quickly dissuaded him.

MetalGreymon also suffered from a lot of open wounds on his upper body, and both his chestplate and his helmet had been dented in more than one place by the rubble that had rained down on him after he fell. He also had a large gash on his right thigh, just above the knee where Veedramon's attack had hit him earlier. On top of that, he was panting heavily from having exhausted a lot of energy in the early stages of the fight, and from using a Giga Blaster when he was already low on energy reserves. To push him any further could be dangerous, and if he fell while Veedramon was still able to go on, it would be over for them. As much as Tai hated to admit defeat, he knew not to push their limits when they were on their last leg.

This fight was over.

"MetalGreymon!" he called as he walked up to stand beside his friend. "Let's fall back. Davis and Kari have had plenty of time to escape by now so they should be a safe distance away from here now. We'll go and pick them up and then we'll regroup with the others."

Upon hearing what his partner was saying, MetalGreymon's eyes widened. He had never heard Tai back down from a fight ever before. It was one of the traits that always inspired him to keep going while they were fighting against impossible odds, and he knew that it was also one of the things that made the others trust him as their leader, rather than anyone else.

"No!" he protested. "Don't worry, Tai. I can still keep going! We can still win this!"

However, his human partner just shook his head.

"It's not worth the risk. We won't accomplish anything by continuing this fight." Tai said, his eyes never leaving Veedramon. The Mythical Dragon hadn't said a word since he had revealed that he had survived the explosion, but he was still a very real threat. "Our priority should be on making sure that Davis and Kari are okay, not to win the battle. The longer we leave them alone, the bigger the risk that they get captured."

As he was reminded of the two young children they had been fighting to protect, MetalGreymon stiffened in shock before lowering his head in shame. He had been so enticed by the thought of winning the fight that he had completely forgotten why they had been fighting in the first place. Without uttering another word, he reached down and scooped up his partner and placed him on his mechanical shoulder. Tai was right, their priority should be on protecting his sister and her friend, and to meet up with the others to plan on their next move. Winning a fight wouldn't mean anything if they didn't accomplish anything by doing it.

"Okay, you're right of course." he said as he rose in his full height and spread his large, purple wings. "I'm sorry for questioning your judgement, Tai."

Keeping a careful eye on Veedramon to make sure he didn't try anything while they were trying to take off, MetalGreymon slowly but steadily rose into the air and left the battlefield. As they soared high above the buildings of Odaiba, Tai finally allowed himself a moment to relax. He couldn't check what time it was on his Digivice, since it was currently directing all its energy to maintaining his partner's digivolution, but he was pretty sure that it was well past bedtime for them. But he couldn't sleep, not yet at least. There was too much happening, and they still had so much to do...

-:-:-:-

While Tai and MetalGreymon were locked in combat with Veedramon, Davis and Kari had made their way past the alley and had managed to put a few blocks between themselves and the battle. Luckily for them, it appeared as if the Bakemon had already sweeped the buildings on this street, because they hadn't run into any of them so far. Currently, the two of them had taken cover in an abandoned garage where the door had been broken down, presumably when the Bakemon had come knocking, to allow Davis to take a breather.

The boy in question let out a sigh of relief as he sunk back against the wall. While Kari wasn't really that heavy, it still took a toll on him to have to support her weight since she couldn't even help to support herself with her twisted ankle. They had attempted it a few blocks back and all it had done was bring tears to his friend's eyes, so he had immediately told her off from doing it, not wishing for her ankle to get worse.

As he thought about making injuries worse, he slowly reached up and touched his cheek where Kari had slapped him just moments before Veedramon's attack. The skin around the area still felt sore and it stung slightly when he touched it, so he quickly retracted his hand and tried to not think about it. But no matter how he hard he tried to ignore the stinging sensation in his cheek, no matter how many times he told himself that Kari hadn't meant it, it still hurt.

He hadn't meant to upset her. All he wanted to do was prevent her from putting herself in harm's way and so far, that had earned him a hit atop his head and a slap across his face, both of whom still felt sore when he touched them. Despite that however, he found that he couldn't be angry with her for it either. If it had been his parents being abducted in front of them, he probably would've panicked as well and he knew from experience that sometimes, people said and did things they didn't mean when they were upset. Him and Jun had argued many times over the years and whenever they did, it was never pretty to watch or listen to.

As his thoughts drifted to his sister and the rest of his family, Davis felt a lump form in his throat. Had they made it out of Odaiba before the Ghost Digimon attacked? Considering Jun was already suffering from a mental shock due to having witnessed a Digimon fight, he didn't think that being abducted by an army of terrifying ghosts would help her recover any faster. He really hoped that they were okay.

Opposite to Davis, on the other side of the garage, Kari sat leaning against the opposite wall. She felt terrible with herself, but not because of the situation she had found herself in, as one might think. Since they were currently out of harm's way, the adrenaline from the Bakemon attack had left her system and it allowed her to think back to her behavior against her new friend, her arguably closest friend, since they had made up just a little over an hour ago.

Because that was really what he had become to her. Even though they had only really known each other for 2 days, she had never felt this attached to any of her other friends. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that made him feel so special to her, but she knew that she didn't want to lose his friendship from the experience of that afternoon, when she had believed that he might not like her anymore. But he had come back to her and how had she repaid him? By slapping him across the face and telling him that she hated him...

I'm a terrible friend.' she thought with a quiet whimper as she felt her throat constrict. Even if Davis hadn't thought badly about her before, he most certainly did now. Before, she had just been silly when she had thought that she may have done something to upset him, but now she knew that he had a very valid reason to be mad at her. She knew that she most certainly would've been if he had been the one to slap her across the face...

Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly, the sound of a large explosion echoed across the area and the ground shook from the magnitude of whatever had caused it. Kari shrieked in fright at the unnexpected events, but that shriek soon turned into a scream of pain as she was thrown off balance and rolled around on the floor, unable to right herself with her twisted ankle. The searing pain in the injured limb returned full force and Kari felt the by now familiar sensation of moist tears on her cheeks as she grabbed ahold of her ankle and waited for the shaking to subside.

As soon as the shaking died down, Davis was instantly at her side with a worried look on his face. The quakes had left Kari lying on the floor, gasping for breath in between her sobs, with her ankle twisted into an unnatural position. Since she had been unable to right or support herself with her injured foot, it had gotten stuck against the floor and turned almost 180 degrees from her body weight pressing down on it.

Davis swallowed as he looked down on his friend. The lighting was pretty bad so he couldn't see her ankle very well, but he could see its silhouette and could easily make out that it was completely broken by this point, whereas before it had only been twisted. For a moment, he froze in place as he stared at the unnaturally bent limb, feeling his gut turn itself upside down and he felt himself tremble at the sight. What was he supposed to do? He wasn't a medic or a doctor and just looking at Kari's ankle right now made him feel sick! What if he only made it worse?

Another gasp of pain from Kari brought Davis out of his state of panic and he looked up to find Kari's face scrunched up in a pained expression and her entire body was trembling from trying to hold in her cries and the tears that were no doubt trying to break through her closed eyelids. Seeing the state that his friend was in, Davis took a deep breath and steeled himself. He couldn't just sit there and question himself, he had to do what he could to help ease her suffering. Being a soccer player, and a particularly reckless one at that, he had twisted his own ankles many times and he knew how painful it could be.

Trying to recall what his coach had done to him when he had twisted his ankle during a practice session last year, Davis carefully reached out and grabbed Kari by the shoulders to try and turn her over so she was laying on her back. When he tried to move her however, Kari flinched and immediately tried to swat him away.

"D-don't touch m-me!" she managed to squeak in between her gasps.

However, as she tried to twist her body to get free from Davis' grip, a wave of pain erupted from her injured ankle and she cried out in agony, as every muscle in her body tensed up in response to the pain to keep her from making it any worse. The excruciating pain finally caused the built up tears to break through her eyelids, as the poor girl struggled to lay back down in the position she had been lying in earlier. It hurt even worse to be stuck half-sitting like this, but she found that she couldn't even move properly anymore, as her muscles were too tense.

'Why?! Why am I so weak?!' she mentally cried, unable to voice her own frustration at the situation she had found herself in due to the sobs that still rocked her body. It hurt, everthing hurt so badly and she couldn't even move herself to ease her own pain!

"Easy there, Kari. You need to relax, or you're gonna make everything worse!"

And just like that, Kari found herself relaxing somewhat. Her eyes were still shut tight but even through the agony, she could easily recognize Davis' voice as he grabbed her shoulders again, much more gently this time, and carefully laid her down on the ground. As she was laid down in a more comfortable position, the pain in her ankle subsided somewhat and her breathing evened out.

As she was finally able to relax her tense muscles again, Kari took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes. A pair of dark brown eyes stared back at her through the darkness with concern clearly evident in them. However, when he saw that she apepared to have calmed down somewhat, Davis let out a sigh of relief and offered his friend what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"There we go. Feel any better?" he asked as he reached out and dried Kari's moist cheeks off with the end of his sleeve.

Kari stared dumbfounded at her friend, only offering a slight nod in response. Her ankle was still throbbing painfully, but it wasn't even close to as bad as it had been just a few moments ago. Somehow, just knowing that Davis was there to help her had made the situation so much easier to bear and just looking at his reassuring smile made her feel safe and protected in a way that only Tai could usually make her feel. Was this what it felt like to have a real friend?

Seeing that Kari was feeling a little bit better now that she wasn't straining her broken ankle, Davis' thoughts turned forward to what they should do next. There was no way he could move her now without making her ankle worse and even if he could, where were they supposed to go? She needed medical attention and even if he managed to get her back to the Motomiya Residence where he knew they had some medication, he had no idea how to treat her wound.

He could of course try to make a quick run there and then come back with something to help steady her ankle, but he didn't feel comfortable leaving her on her own while there were still Bakemon swarming around. Their best chance of getting out of this was to wait for Tai and Agumon to find them, but there was no telling how long that would take and the longer they waited, the bigger the chance that something else found them...

"Was this where you heard the scream, Bakemon?"

Hearing the unfamiliar voice from somewhere outside the garage where they had found shelter, Davis felt like all the blood in his veins had instantly frozen and time seemed to slow down around him as his mind processed the implications of what the voice had said. They had been found! Someone, or something, was just outside of their sanctuary, looking for someone they had heard screaming earlier.

Looking down at his friend, Davis could see it in her eyes that she too realized what had happened and what it meant. Kari hadn't exactly been quiet while he tried to move her and if someone had been anywhere in the near vicinity, it was quite possible that they could've heard her.

"Yeah, I think so." a voice which Davis recognize as a Bakemon responded to the unfamiliar voice. "It sounded like a human kid."

That was all Davis needed to hear. They were caught, there was no way they were getting out of this one now. His heart sank in his chest and he could practically hear his heart beat in his ears as he clenched his fists and grit his teeth in frustration. He had done everything he could, and it still wasn't enough! Even after Taichi had trusted him with the safety of his sister, even after having dragged her across 5 blocks, Davis had still failed to...

Davis caught himself half way through his thought process and for a moment, the gravity of the situation seemed to diminish as he realized something. He wasn't angry or scared of the Bakemon for having caught them, he wasn't even angry at Kari for having given them away with her scream. He was angry at himself for failing to protect his friend. As worried as he was for the well-being of his family, there had been one other person that Davis had worried about constantly since this whole thing started and that person was still here.

As his gaze drifted to the side where Kari was laying in the corner of the room, almost completely concealed in the shadows, a small glimmer of hope was lit in Davis chest. Kari was still here, and she was still out of danger. There was still a chance that he could save her! Even though it was unlikely, he would be damned if he at least didn't try to save the one person he could still save!

For a moment, the two friends locked gazes and seeing the fear and horror in his friend's eyes, Davis offered her the best smile he could muster and pressed a finger to his lips to signal that she should remain quiet. As quietly as he could, he rose to his feet and looked around in the dimly lit garage. The tremors from earlier had scattered all the tools and boxes of stuff that had been packed together in one of the corners. Looking around at the floor, he spotted a large tool that was laying on the ground just a little over a meter away from him, which he quietly sneaked over to and retrieved.

While Davis was steeling his nerves for the foolish and borderline crazy plan he had come up with, Kari watched him retrieve the large tool with confusion. Once he gripped the tool by the hilt and held it in front of himself like a sword however, it suddenly dawned on her what he was planning to do and she felt a cold fear grip at her heart for her friend's safety. She was just about to call out to him and beg him to reconsider when...

"Found you."

With a hoarse battlecry, Davis raised the large tool above his head and charged at the Bakemon that had stuck its head in through the crack in the already broken down door. As he brought it down on his foe, the Bakemon yelped in pain and immediately retreated out of the garage. Feeling his heartbeat pick up, Davis gripped his improvised weapon harder and followed after the Ghost Digimon out of the garage, hoping against hope that Kari would remain quiet and stay in her corner.

Outside, he was met by 2 Bakemon and another Digimon that he didn't recognize, which he assumed was the origin of the unfamiliar voice from earlier. This Digimon was hovering in the air, just like the Bakemon, but instead of a white sheet it was covered in a gray robe that ended in a red hood. Around its neck, it had a golden necklace that held what appeared to be a large bloodshot eyeball and it held a large, golden scythe in its hands, which ended in a long chain. The creature's only visiable facial trait was its cold blue eyes, which was glowing threateningly from somewhere inside the hood.

"Well well, what do we have here?" the hooded Digimon said with a calm, almost tired voice. "I'm impressed that you managed to evade the initial wave, but now there is nowhere left for you to run, 8th Digidestined!"

Despite the situation he was in, Davis couldn't help but frown. 8th Digidestined? That was strange. He knew that Taichi and his friends, as well as Myotismon, had been trying to locate this 8th Digidestined child, but why would this creature think that Davis was that child?

"Who are you? And what do you mean "8th Digidestined"?" he asked cautiously, keeping an eye at the Bakemon that was circling around him. He was surrounded on all sides now, with the hooded creature in front of him and one Bakemon on each side. Escape would by impossible at this point, but he forcefully pushed the rising panic to the back of his mind. This was to protect Kari! If he got captured in the process, then so be it! He'd rather get himself captured than watch his friend being dragged away from him.

"I am Phantomon." the hooded creature introduced himself with a mocking bow. "And don't try to play innocent with me, Digidestined. The Crest of Light is reacting to your presence!"

As he said it, Phantomon reached inside his robes and pulled out a small golden necklace. The center of the necklace was glowing with a pink light, similar to the one that had come out of the digivice that Davis had found earlier... the digivice!

When realization dawned upon him, Davis felt like someone had slapped him in the face. It had taken a while for his mind to put the pieces together, but the device that Davis had found yesterday while walking home from the Kamiyas looked exactly the same as the device that Taichi had used to Digivolve Agumon to Greymon! But... did that really mean that he was the 8th Digidestined? He had just found it when it had been dropped from...

A jolt of fear ran through him as he realized who the 8th Digidestined had to be. Kari had told him that Taichi and the other Digidestined had been going by the assumption that the 8th Digidestined had also lived at Highton View Terrace 4 years ago, and had also witnessed the battle between Greymon and Parrotmon. Davis for his part had never lived at Highton View Terrace as far as he knew, but he knew someone else who had and who remembered that battle with a frightening amount of details. Some who also lived in the apartment building where this digivice had first appeared...

"Shadow Scythe!" Phantomon's voice brought Davis out of his thoughts, as the Ghost Digimon lunged forward and brought his golden scythe down on him. Instinctively, Davis raised the metallic tool he had brought as a weapon in front of himself to try and block the attack, but the tool got cut in half by Phantomon's scythe, as if it had been made out of butter.

Davis shrieked in surprise and lost his balance when Phantomon sent his chain flying towards him and nailed him in the abdomen, causing the auburn haired boy to lose his breath and swept him off his feet. A barely audible "crack!" and a piercing pain in his chest let him know that one of his ribs had taken a really bad hit from that one, and he had to grit his teeth tightly together to keep himself from crying out in pain.

However, Phantomon didn't give Davis any time to stop and gather his bearings. Barely had he touched down on the ground again before the chain came flying towards him again, this time wrapping itself around his neck. Davis gasped as the chain squeezed down on him and blocked off his windpipe, as Phantomon hovered higher into the air and lifted him off the ground.

The auburn haired boy coughed and struggled as best he could against the chain that was currently strangling him, but there was little he could do to free himself. He felt his eyes tear up as the lack of oxygen began to catch up to him and he desperately tried to take a breath, but all he managed to produce was a high pitched wheezing. The thing golden chain was beginning to cut through his skin and what little strength he had in his chubby little 9 year old arms was starting to fade, as the world began to spin around him and darken...

"STOP!"

Suddenly, a pink light erupted from Davis' waist that blinded Phantomon and somehow caused his chain to break. Freed from the chain that was holding him, Davis landed on the ground and immediately untangled the noose that had almost strangled him to death. He couldn't feel anything nor could he think clearly as he hungrily drew in a breath of the fresh air around him and immediately fell to his knees and began coughing from the sudden intake. His head was spinning wildly and he still felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen, so it took a few seconds for his mind to register exactly what had happened, and who had called out to him...

Realization hit him at the same moment as he heard Kari cry out in pain and he felt all the blood drain from his face. He was quickly on his feet again and ignored the nauseous feeling it gave him to move around so much and spun around to find that the Bakemon had gotten ahold of his friend and was dragging her behind himself towards where Davis and Phantomon were standing/hovering. Kari's legs was being dragged behind her, and way her left leg was hanging loosely behind her and the pained expression on her face was enough to let Davis know that the rough treatment was causing her extreme amounts of discomfort.

"No! She's injured, don't touch her!" he cried out and immediately made to run for his friend but he was switfly intercepted by the second Bakemon. With no weapon to defend himself this time, it didn't take more than a few seconds before he was pinned down against the ground by the Ghost Digimon's cold blue hands. A second later, the other Bakemon reached them and pinned Kari down beside Davis, earing himself another cry of pain from the girl.

"Well, would you look at that?" Phantomon's tired voice droned on as he descended on the two children. "Did you think that we wouldn't find your little friend if you drew our attention, Digidestined? How very noble of you!"

The mocking tone in Phantomon's voice made Davis' blood boil and he returned to struggling against his captor with renewed vigor. However, there was little he could do against the Ghost Digimon, but that only served to make him even angrier. He could hear Kari's whimpering, he could see the tears as they travelled down her cheeks and he was absolutely powerless to help her! He didn't know why, but he absolutely hated seeing her like this. It was driving him mad not being able to ease her pain when she needed him the most!

"DAMMIT! LET HER GO!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, as the first tear fell from his own eyes. A torrent of unfamiliar feelings was rushing through him as he felt the helplessness of the situation overwhelm him. Every instinct in his entire body screamed at him that Kari needed his help, that his friend was in pain and that he had to do something to help ease her suffering and yet he couldn't! It was infuriating!

While Davis was struggling against his captor and screaming profanities at the top of his lungs, Phantomon was studying the device that was clipped to the young boy's belt with interest. It was doubtlessly a Digivice, which confirmed his suspicion that this boy was indeed the 8th Digidestined that they had been looking for. For a moment, he had wondered which of these children was really the 8th chosen, but since the boy had the Digivice it had to be him. After all, he had even managed to make it somehow break the chain on his Shadow Scythe, and as far as he knew only the one chosen by the Digivice could use it.

"You can drop the girl off with the other children in the Convention Center. The boy is coming with me to Lord Myotismon." Phantomon's tired voice somehow cut through Davis' furious screams.

"Yes sir!" both Bakemon responded as they lifted their respective captives off the ground. The one holding Kari immediately went off in a different direction from the one that was carrying Davis, who instead followed after Phantomon when the hooded Digimon flew higher into the air and began to float away.

"NO!" Davis felt panic tear at his chest as he struggled helplessly against the Bakemon that was holding him in an iron grip and carrying him away from his friend. Everything around them seemed to slow down as he was forced to watch Kari getting dragged further away from him. But there was nothing he could do. The Bakemon was stronger than him and it didn't look like the Digivice was going to activate itself and help him out of this grip, the way it had helped him against Phantomon's chain. He was powerless.

Even Kari, who had previously been immobilized from the pain in her broken ankle, had begun struggling harder against the cold blue hands that were dragging her away, her survival instincts overpowering the piercing agony from her injury. She screamed and tried to twist herself loose from the Bakemon's grip but didn't have much more success than her friend.

As she looked up towards where her new friend, her best friend, was taken away from her, she felt something inside her break. He had done everything to protect her, everything to ease her pain and all she had done to him was hit him and tell her that she hated him. He had put his life on the line and faced down 3 terrifying Digimon on his own, just to give her a chance to get away and she hadn't even had to guts to apologize to him for her horrible behavior towards him.

He hadn't deserved it, any of it. Kari felt like her chest was going to tear itself apart from the guilt she felt. If she hadn't slapped him across the face so they had lost their grip on Greymon, maybe they wouldn't be in this mess. Then, perhaps her ankle wouldn't have been injured and they could've found somewhere better to hide, or they could've made it to Davis' apartment where they would've been better protected if the Bakemon ever came looking. It was all her fault! She had behaved horribly towards her best friend and now he was going to pay the price for her actions.

Author's Note: Holy maccaroni! That last scene became a lot longer than I thought it would! And I actually had a few tears in my eyes as I was writing that last part, when Davis and Kari got separated from each other. My girlfriend was sitting beside me while I wrote it and she was like "Why are you writing this stuff if it makes you cry?".

Anyway, for once I felt content with every part of the chapter when I finished it, so I really hope that you guys enjoyed it. It's a little longer than the previous chapters, but it's nothing if not fitting for this particular chapter to be a little longer. I really hope that you guys enjoyed it! Also, I want to remind everyone that I always respond to reviews in PMs so if you haven't, go check your PM Inbox! :p

While we're talking about trivial things, I want to take the time out to give a shout-out to Loki921 who have posted his first story on this website since he finally found inspiration enough to finish the first two chapters! If you haven't already, go and check out his story "Digimon: Flame in Miracles". There is definetely room for some improvement, but the story has potential!

Now that everything's been said and done, I just want to say one more thank you to all you guys, especially those who take the time out of their day to review whenever a new chapter drops! Even if it's just a few kind words, it means so much to me as a writer that people want to show that they still read the story! I won't set a review goal for this chapter, but if you liked the chapter be sure to give a review of what you liked and what you didn't like! And if you can name what episode the quote at the beginning if from, I'll give you a shout out in the next chapter! :)

Toy my Honorable Guest: Yeah, I try to keep a positive attitude when I am challenged, at least when its something that I enjoy doing and where I want to improve. No, Kari haven't really been taking the invasion well, but I think it's more a matter of Davis keeping an unusually cool head. After all, I'd be pretty freaked out too if some digital ghosts showed up all of a sudden and abducted my parents right in front of my eyes.

Yeah, as it stands right now, Myotismon have the situation under almost total control. The only good thing we can say is that it has yet to be revealed where the remaining Digidestined are at the moment, since only Taichi, Yamato and Takeru have been shown so far. And of course, Wizardmon is a wild card in this.

It annoys me to no end that Kari's unique connection to Light and Darkness was never explained further. The mystery that surrounded her character was one of the many things that made her my favourite character, but it is also one of the things that I really wish that Adventure 02 had done a better job at clearing up before it ended. I'm going to have to dig deep into Digimon Adventure nerdery to see if there are any hints to go by so I can come up with a good way to tie up that loose end when I write the sequel for this story.

As I mentioned in an earlier AN, it's hard to write a good thought process for situations like this, where instinctive action is more often than not the decisive factor. Anyone who have been in a life and death situation, myself included, know that when you reach a certain point of danger, you stop thinking and act instinctively. The thought process of what happens around you comes afterwards. A good example would be a simple car crash where the driver escape unharmed. That driver is going to be "fine" for between 20-40 minutes before the events catch up with him and what happens after that can be anything from nothing to a mental breakdown. It's a survival instinct that all humans have, and no thought process is involved.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did writing it! There was a lot that happened in it so I'm sure your review will be interesting to read! It's always nice talking to you and reading what you have to say! :) Have a good day!