I Will Always Find You
«Taiora»

A/N: Welcome to the final chapter! And many thanks to Whatplanetdididial for being my beta for this last chapter.

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Chapter 8
"The Showdown"

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"Transcendent Sword!"

"Beauty Shock!" Rosemon followed after Omegamon.

"Arctic Blizzard!" Vikemon shouted, aiming his attack in the same direction.

Shortly after their escape from Chicanemon's alternate universe, the demented digimon had materialized again in true dramatic fashion, posing admist a wild flurry of desert sand - until he fired back in defense.

After doing so, the tidal wave downgraded into a miniature sandstorm surrounding only Chicanemon's body allowing them to finally see his outline. In his weakened state, he couldn't muster the energy for anything more.

Before Rosemon could restrain Chicanemon with her Ivy Hug attack so Kari could aim the crystal again to end this war for good, Chicanemon shouted with all his might, "I have something of Danny's!"

Everyone and digimon hesitated. Tai and Matt looked at each other in silent communication. In the end, Tai answered with a frown, "We don't negotiate with evil digimon. Make it easier on yourself and surrender."

Rosemon took her cue once more and this time successfully held Chicanemon in her Ivy Hug attack. The rest of the digimon stood ready to deliver the final blow along with the crystal.

Chicanemon yelped, the sandstorm surrounding him becoming smaller. He shouted enraged, "Pathetic humans! I offer something important to Danny before I die and you still choose to throw it away!"

"Wait!" A lump formed in TK's throat at the possibility. He ran to Matt and Tai. "I know there's no way I could've known this would happen, but what if he does have something -"

"What are you doing?" Kari interrupted TK. She held the crystal with a firm grasp aiming it towards Chicanemon's direction waiting for her opportunity to activate it again. "Why the hesitation?"

"It's a trick Chicanemon's attempting knowing he's about to die, TK," Matt argued. He turned back to the evil digimon shouting his next sentence. "We're not falling for that!"

"Yeah!" Joe shouted to Chicanemon. "After all the crud you've put Danny and all of us through, we're supposed to believe you?"

"...Fair enough," Chicanemon replied after a moment's paused. There was an eerie, calm tone as he spoke behind the sandstorm. "An eye for an eye, I see. I'll remove the sand to show good faith."

The Digidestined stood huddled together on high alert, their digimon partners ready to attack at a second's notice as the sandstorm immediately ceased dropping to the ground. When the scene was cleared, Sora and Mimi each threw up holding on to their significant other after their eyes focused on what Chicanemon was holding in his arms. As for the rest, their mouths hung open in shock holding close to whoever was standing next to them. Rosemon gasped, instantly releasing Chicanemon.

This was the first time everyone saw Chicanemon's true form: Danny created Chicanemon as a humanoid digimon because it was as if they were staring at Danny himself - Except with this version of Danny, Chicanemon's skin was sickly pale. There were several gaping holes throughout his body and face with digital data flickering within the holes. But what made them all sick to their stomachs was what Chicanemon held in his arms:

Danny's mangled corpse.

When they all arrived in the digital world a week ago to destroy Chicanemon, Danny was to originally come along to help them find Chicanemon. Danny said he would meet back at Tai's place, but needed to grab a few things to turn the tide towards their favor. When Danny didn't come back and he couldn't be reached, they assumed the worse and entered the digital world to where they were told Chicanemon liked to spend his time.

The moment they landed in the desert, they watched Danny argue with Chicanemon about why kidnapping him was unnecessary, and then jumped into the billowing tidal wave of desert sand to attack, despite everyone's objections. They all helplessly watched Chicanemon spit Danny's lifeless body back out onto the sand. Hence, why everyone at the beginning believed they'd die as well if they were all sucked into the tidal wave.

Trying to keep himself together, and not able to remove his eyes from Danny's body, TK slowly raised a shaking arm aiming his digivice towards it to verify if they were seeing an illusion. Sure enough, it was really Danny.

Chicanemon sneered. "Now why would I fake the Betrayer's death and cheat myself on this glorious moment to see your faces?"

"You monster," TK could barely get the words out as tears brimmed in his eyes. "Danny wasn't the Betrayer or the Originator. His name was Danny Brown. He created you and wanted to be your friend! How could you kill your -"

"He killed himself the moment he turned on me!" Chicanemon interrupted, booming with authority. "I was created to bring him happiness by showing him illusions of multiships from characters in a book. It helped him write his fanfiction. But when he met you," he snarled at TK until eventually glaring at everyone else, "you all turned him against me! He stopped writing and spent less time with me. He even dared to attempt to delete me! And for that," a small smirk appeared, "Everyone will die."

Before anyone could react, Chicanemon clapped his hands once resulting in an echoing boom, and everyone's vision turned black.

"Taichi! Taichi, wake up!" Sora frantically shook him with desperation. "Please, open your eyes!"

Startled, Taichi sat up gasping for air. He nearly lost his balance until he realized the both of them were sitting on thick, oak tree branches at Odaiba Park. They both must've dozed off again. The clouds were dark threatening to rain as parents gathered their children to head home.

Taichi yawned, then stretched as he complained, "Awww, what's the harm of a shower, Sora? You've always loved thundershowers."

"When I'm safe inside my house, idiot!" Sora argued.

"You know," he grinned waiting for the punch he was going to receive with this comment, "Just because you're in an apartment, it doesn't mean you're 'safe'. Lightning can go through the window. I've also heard that if you're talking on a landline, or even if -"

Sora slapped him on his arm and was even more annoyed that he was laughing at her reaction. "What kind of boyfriend are you? Thanks for the reassurance!"

Taichi's mouth hung open at this revelation. "We're dating? When did this happen?"

Sora clicked her tongue annoyed. "Since yesterday. Or, were you not listening as usual?"

"Dude, I swear that's something I would remember," he said quickly sitting up. "Don't you remember I'm dating -"

Yamato appeared hanging upside down from a higher branch. "Yo! What's hanging?"

Taichi screamed from being startled. Sora slapped Taichi for scaring her with his reaction after she calmed from the surprise.

Yamato raised an eyebrow, folded his arms, and shook his head. "Listen, Sora, he's not dating you. He's not even remotely into you. He and I are in a relationship. He belongs to me."

"That's not what he said yesterday," Sora answered with a coy expression.

Both Yamato and Sora looked towards Taichi waiting for an explanation.

Taichi released a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sora, I'm dating Yamato. I've never thought of you that way. Didn't we already have this conversation yesterday?"

The sky rumbled with thunder and a small breeze appeared. Sora frowned folding her arms as Yamato flipped off the branch he was hanging on landing in between them. He laid an arm around Taichi and kissed the top of his head.

"Taichi," Sora's frown deepened, "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"Tell me what?" Yamato frowned as well.

Taichi lowered his eyes letting out another nervous laugh. He couldn't take looking into his boyfriend's intense stare. "I may have said I would talk to you about a poly relationship with her, but I was kinda tipsy. So, I didn't think it'd count..."

"Excuse me!" Yamato roared. "Am I not good enough?"

"Like a trial," she shrugged. "Look, Yamato, I know you're still in love with me, but this way everyone wins, and I get to be with Taichi, and you with me."

Taichi and Yamato glared at each other. Taichi motioned to defend himself, but was met with Yamato deepening his disapproving scowl. Thunder could be heard in the distance. Before Yamato could give his verdict they heard others arguing below at the base of their tree. The three looked down to find Koushiro, Hikari, and Takeru.

"I'm not having this conversation anymore, Takeru!" Hikari argued holding a bouquet of flowers in her hands. "I'm not in love with you. Just because you're my best friend it doesn't mean we're meant to be! And I'm dating Koushiro!"

"Dating? Like a serious relationship? But that doesn't make sense!" Takeru argued back. "The two of you barely hang out, nor have anything in common!"

Koushiro stood in front of Hikari as if to shield her. "That's not for you to decide. I'm in love with Hikari, and...and I'm going to marry her!"

Hikari gasped with joy while Koushiro spun around to hug her.

Takeru rolled his eyes resting a hand on his forehead groaning. "This is unreal. This has got to be a joke. We have one argument yesterday over ice cream, and all of the sudden she's in love with him? Koushiro," he asked hoping to shed some light on a mystery. "What happened about your crush on Taichi?"

"I-I swear that's gone," Koushiro insisted to Hikari, who stood shocked at this news.

"Whoa, really? How come you never told me?" Taichi shouted from above.

Before Koushiro could respond, Yamato slapped Taichi at the back of his head with Taichi letting out a yelp. Sora, Yamato, and Taichi went back to arguing about their relationship. Koushiro blushed deciding not to involve himself with the trio.

"And what about Mimi? Weren't you two married?" Takeru tried the last thing he could think of.

"Married?" Mimi appeared from behind linking arms with Jou. "That was a sham."

"Mimi!" Koushiro whined from embarrassment from all his secrets coming to light. "You promised!"

"Honey, there's nothing wrong to admit it now," Mimi smiled explaining to everyone. "He offered to help me make Jou jealous."

"Wait, what?" Jou said confused. "That's a bit elaborate, don't you think?"

"This can't be real. This can't be real..." Takeru murmured to himself repeatedly shaking his head. "All this over stupid ice cream. All I wanted was a taste. This is way too dramatized because of not wanting to share a bite, don't you think?"

Lighting flashed closer to them causing all to jump.

Sora immediately jumped to Taichi burying her head in his chest begging in a quiet voice, "I wanna go home."

Taichi gritted his teeth feeling the pressure in the air dropping as everyone below began arguing, their voices increasing an octave. "Hey! Can you all keep it down? We're trying to decide what to do with our relationship before it starts to rain!"

"Guys," Takeru tried to shout above everyone's voice. "Guys! Hey!" He let out an ear-piercing whistle causing everyone to whine in pain holding their ears. "I said hey! Something isn't right here. Do you all feel it?"

Hikari sighed. "You're not changing my mind, Takeru."

"It's not about that," Takeru shook his head. "Don't you feel it?"

Hikari hesitated for a moment examining her surroundings. "Like...something's off."

"It's dark," Jou observed the same. "And what happened to the playground?"

Taichi jumped off the tree branch, his heart beating fast, feeling the answer was nearby. They were right. Something was off. Everywhere was pitch black except their tree, which was illuminated with a soft glow. It was as if the park they were at was swallowed whole by the darkness. The wind picked up enough in sharp, short bursts that Sora and Matt dropped to the floor to join everyone as they all huddled together for safety. Taichi's gut was screaming this wasn't normal, and when his gut spoke...

"I can't remember yesterday," Taichi said. "I mean, I know I was drinking with you, Sora, at my house, but that's just it. I only 'know'. I don't remember waking up, or what I had for lunch. I know that I'm dating Yamato, but," he turned to Yamato, "I don't..."

"You don't, what?" Yamato answered with a low growl. "Don't you say it."

Taichi shook his head unsure of how to say what he was thinking. "I don't have to because you don't remember how or when we started dating either."

"Take that back," Yamato raised his voice with a warning tone.

"I don't remember either," Jou spoke up addressing Mimi. "When did we become an us?"

Mimi sighed. "Men. They're never good at dates. Let's see. We...uh, well..." Everyone impatiently waited to hear her answer. "It's a little fuzzy?" She sheepishly grinned.

"I know I was arguing with Takeru because he stole a bite of my ice cream," Hikari tried to recall not realizing she was slowly raising her bouquet of flowers. "But, uh, I don't remember it." She looked to Koushiro to fill in the blanks.

Before Koushiro could speak his thoughts, everyone watched what appeared like the bouquet of flowers trying to escape Hikari's grasp. She gasped holding on tight with both hands.

"Somebody! Help!" she screamed. "Something is trying to take my flowers!"

"But there's no one there," Taichi replied. "Now isn't the time for jokes, Hikari."

Hikari dug her heels into the dirt with all her might holding tight to the flowers as the invisible force fought against her pulling her further into the darkness and away from the illuminated tree. "If it's a joke, how am I dragging myself!"

The group looked at each other until Takeru, followed by Taichi, chased after Hikari. The rest stood huddled together as the thunder, lightning, and wind increased.

The second Takeru touched the bouquet, his body stiffened and he blinked a few times shaking his head as if to clear the fogginess that he felt was lifted from his mind. Wait a minute. He was TK, not Takeru! Where were they? "Kari?" he ran to catch up to Taichi, who was holding her by her waist, trying to help pull her back to the tree. "Kari! Wake up! You're actually holding the crystal, not flowers! Wake up!"

"Who the heck is Kari?" she spat holding on to her flowers. "Now you're insulting me? Koushiro gave these to me and I won't lose them!"

"Now isn't the time for jokes either," Taichi responded to TK desperately holding on to his sister. "Are you blind?"

TK ignored his future brother-in-law and yelled over his shoulder to the group. "Why isn't anyone else helping? Get over here now! Taichi, try to take the crystal – I mean, flowers away," TK corrected himself. He had a hunch that if Taichi touched the bouquet like he did, the crystal would bring Tai back; just like it turned Dr. Kido back into Joe. "Use it to distract whatever's trying to pull her away!"

The others ran to them trying to hold Hikari as Taichi did what TK said. It worked. The second his fingers touched the bouquet, Tai stiffened having the same reaction as TK. While the others were beginning to have some kind of success of pulling her back to the light, Tai stretched out to reach for the flowers again. "Let go of the flowers, Kari!" Tai ordered. "I have a plan."

"I'm not Kari!" Hikari said as annoyance grew.

"Yes, you are!" Tai ripped one of her hands from holding the bottom of the bouquet and forcing her to touch the flowers.

She had the same reaction and Kari returned to herself. "Guys!" she cried. "It's Chicanemon! He's trying to take the crystal away!"

"I don't know who Chicanemon is, or what crystal you're talking about," Sora, who was still under Chicanemon's control marched over to where Tai stood and reached out with her hands into the darkness to see if she could feel this person, "but it's about to rain and I refuse to be struck by lightning. Found you, jerk!" In one swift motion, her fist swung hitting the invisible force successful with one try. The moment she did, lightning struck the ground inches away and the physical force accompanying it shook everyone to the floor.

Kari, fighting dizziness, struggled to her feet. She had to aim the flowers at everyone to bring them back so they could all escape. She had to or they would end up like Danny. The last time she felt terror like this was when she thought her brother died a few years back and the end of the world felt near. Where were Magnadramon and the others? Were they hurt?

"Kari! Kari, run!" Tai screamed. He was fighting an invisible force as he laid on the ground trying to push it off. TK jumped in to help hold Chicanemon to buy her some time.

As the others were standing to their feet disoriented, Kari brushed the flowers against the others allowing the crystal to do its job of bringing them back. When the fogginess lifted from their minds, they all huddled around her and held the bouquet aiming towards Tai and TK hoping it would catch Chicanemon. The bouquet transformed back into the crystal as if it managed to fight against the illusion itself. The wind howled around them as lightning randomly struck the ground haphazardly.

"Get off my brother!" Kari screamed in anger as the crystal released a burst of energy striking its intended target.

Tai and TK scrambled to their feet and all eight digidestined ran to the illuminated tree once more, each pressing their backs against the tree trunk and sucking in huge gulps of air. The lightning bolts striking the ground increased as did the roaring thunder.

"I'm tired of running away," Mimi huffed for air holding her belly. "I'm pregnant. I can't last much longer fighting. We need to destroy this world fast and get back to our digimon."

"Everyone, hold on to the crystal. We're breaking out like last time," Kari directed.

The crystal glowed again feeling everyone's touch. After each crest symbol activated once more, like in the last illusion they were stuck in, the crystal released short bursts of energy every three seconds allowing their surroundings to fall apart. The illuminating oak tree disappeared and the thunderstorm dissipated. Instead of shards from their surroundings falling from above, this time everything around them slowly melted away revealing the desert sky.

Their small victory was short lived.

Before they all could jump out of their prison, Chicanemon appeared in front of Kari without warning. A third of the top of his skull was missing, digital data flicking on and off from within. Chicanemon swiftly held the crystal in his hand before anyone could register he was there and croaked, "Boo!"

"No!" Kari screamed as she and everyone held on to the crystal.

The digidestined and Chicanemon all screamed struggling to hold on to the crystal. The crystal started to warm, reacting to Chicanemon's touch. It then stopped melting the surroundings and grew brighter. Chicanemon screamed placing his strength into pulling the crystal away and successfully held it in his hands while the others stared back in horror. Laughter bubbled out from within as he finally reached his goal of obtaining his only weakness. He raised the crystal above his head holding it horizontal with both of his hands holding each end.

And as he motioned to break it in half, Joe screamed with all his might charging towards the evil digimon. "I'm not going down without a fight! Even if it's my last one!"

The rest charged right after him. Chicanemon snarled, but before he could attack the bright light from the crystal was released blinding them all. The air became silent.

"Guys! Guys, are you all okay?" Davis cried out as Ken, Yolie, and Cody quickly went to each of the remaining eight digidestined trying to shake them awake. "Ken, they're not waking up!"

"They're going to be ok, Davis," Ken did his best to answer in a calm voice as he tried to shake Matt awake. "We have to believe that."

Imperialdramon, who was in Fighter Mode, lowered his hands to the ground. He could see what he assumed was Chicanemon afar off passed out. "Quick, give them to me before Chicanemon wakes up. I'll place them aside next to the rest of the digimon. Guard them while Aquilamon, Ankylomon and I take care of Chicanemon."

Yolie sniffed back tears dragging Mimi towards Imperialdramon. The original eight digimon had transformed back into their rookie forms, weak and passed out. The only information they had before Gomamon passed out was that Chicanemon attacked them after their partners were captured again. "I can't believe this is happening. How could Danny drag them all into this? Why didn't he tell us this sooner? Weren't we his friends too? I swear, nothing better happened to Mimi's baby."

"I can't find Danny," Cody stated pulling Joe towards Imperialdramon while Aquilamon and Ankylomon did their part too.

"I don't see him either," Davis sighed frustrated and scratched his head. Jamming his hand into his left pocket, he pulled his cell phone out. "Let me see that text he left again. Maybe we missed something."

Ken placed a hand on one of Davis' shoulders. "Davis, you know just as well as the rest of us that it said if we didn't hear from Danny in one hour to meet him here with the coordinates he gave."

"Yeah, I know," Davis pouted. "But why didn't Kari or TK at least email us on their D-Terminal to let us know what was happening instead of going in without us? I thought we were a team?"

Cody brought over the crystal he found jogging back to them. "I think I found the crystal, everyone! And the digimon Danny created looks just like him. It's creepy looking."

A gust of wind blew in the hot, dry desert shifting sand. Imperialdramon, Aquilamon, and Ankylomon each shielded their partners until the wind died down. When it did, Yolie wiped her glasses clean and placed them back on. Before she could comment on what to do next she let out a scream of fear and hurried to shield her face on Ken's chest. She had spotted Danny's lifeless body.

The other's rushed to her side and after following her line of sight let out a gasp of disbelief. Ken did his best to fight the nausea that was forming.

"No, no, not Danny," Yolie mourned, wiping her tears on her arm. "Ken, help me." She took hold of his shirt sleeve. "We have to help him."

Ken stumbled on his words overwhelmed. His feet were willing to move, but his mind was stuck staring at Danny. Memories of Sam's accident played in his head, ones he thought he came to peace with. Studying crime photos for the profession he wanted to pursue never stopped him cold before like this. Perhaps it was because they were strangers and he could easily detach himself. This was Danny. His friend.

"He's...Is he -"

"I don't care! He doesn't deserve to be left here!" she shouted through her tears, marching towards Danny's lifeless body.

"I've got this," Aquilamon intervened after watching Ken and the others struggle to move from shock. He looked to Imperialdramon and Ankylomon, who silently nodded in encouragement, and gently cradled Danny's body and laid him next to the others.

"We could've helped," Cody softly spoke to himself. "If only we were here sooner..."

Koushiro coughed quickly sitting up as the remaining digidestined stirred waking. He peeked through slitted eyes and after spotting Cody, Yolie, Ken, and Davis he croaked out, "Did we get it? Did we kill Chicanemon?"

"Izzy!" Yolie cried with relief hugging her friend and business partner tight. "Thank goodness you're awake!"

"Yolie! I can't breathe!" Izzy barely managed to say. "Ken, get your wife off of me!"

There's no time to spare," Izzy said. "We need to wake everyone and..." he trailed off noticing the remaining digimon had devolved back to their rookie forms. "What happened when we were trapped?"

Cody handed Izzy the crystal. "Dunno. We were hoping you could shed some light on that."

"Light..." The word meant something, but he couldn't place it until he saw Kari. It was coming back to him. "Light! There's no time to explain! Help me wake up everyone."

"Could you at least tell us why Danny waited to send us a text an hour ago to come here at this time and place instead of one of you telling us from the start?"

Izzy froze as a cold shiver ran down his spine. "An hour ago? What do you mean 'an hour ago'?"

Davis, Ken, Yolie, and Cody looked at each other confused. Davis was the one to speak up. "Look we...we know he's..." His eyes trailed to where Danny laid.

Izzy followed Davis to see Danny. He grimaced and turned back to them. "Yes, but I meant we've been missing for 6 days, which is as long as he's been..." he struggled to say the word, "dead. There's no way Danny would be able to send you a text an hour ago."

"Huh?" Davis took out his cell phone showing Izzy the date and time on the home screen. "Dude, look at the date. Heck, look at the text message. You've must've gotten a concussion to think six days."

Izzy did as Davis said and his face paled. He even took out his own cell phone to check the date as a safety measure to verify. Everything they went through, from living in the first illusioned alternate universe to this last one all happened under one hour! All the changes they've suffered through altered their sense of time. No wonder they didn't feel weak like they should've felt for not eating or drinking real food for that long period of time. No wonder their digimon were able to digivolve into their mega forms regardless of eating food from an illusioned universe. They were wasting too much time. They needed to end this right now.

Seeing his wife was waking, he crawled to her and helped her sit up. "Look, the very basic information is Chicanemon is a dangerous mega level digimon that excels in illusions. Trust nothing. Use you D-3's to verify anything and everything you see is real. You all have the same crests symbols that we do so the crystal should work. It's the only thing that will take Chicanemon out. The fact that Danny calculated to bring you here at precisely this time means he meant to use you as backup in case we failed."

Mimi wiped her eyes after registering who were standing near. She added to what Izzy said. "Please don't think this as Danny's fault. Chicanemon is acting out of misguided jealousy."

Tai spoke hugging Sora, exhaustion weighing heavily in his voice, as the others sat up. "Yes, but Danny knew the danger that Chicanemon would cause, enough to make that crystal to kill him, and that's good enough for me." He shook his head speaking more to himself. "Holy crap. One hour."

"Why are we talking? We could use this time to take it out," Matt weakly stood to his feet, his legs shaking. He was hunched over resting his hands on his thighs trying to stop the world from spinning. "We're wasting time!"

"Don't worry! He's passed out over..." Cody's eyes widened. "Uh-oh."

Chicanemon tried to stand but fell over. His left leg was blown off along with his left arm from the elbow down. Scanning the area he tried looking for the crystal and when he couldn't find it released a long frustrated scream.

Joe swiped the crystal away from Izzy's hands thrusting it into the air taunting Chicanemon. "Looking for this? We played your game. Twice!"

Before Chicanemon could retort, he noticed the four fresh faces. A sick smile grew revealing missing teeth as he addressed the newcomers. "Why, what is this? You must be...Wait, wait, let me guess." He pointed his right index finger to each, slowly moving to each target, as he called their names. "Davis, Yolie, Ken, and Cody." He curled his lips. "My collection is complete."

"Collect this!" Ankylomon responded and released an attack towards Chicanemon. Imperialdramon and Aquilamon joined the attack.

Chicanemon rolled his eyes and released a shield deflecting the attack. Normally, the evil digimon would have the strength to deflect the attack right back and marvel at the destruction. Not this time. This time sweat dripped down his forehead as he struggled to keep the barrier up. After the attack ended he took a deep breath to settle himself. That was all he needed before playing with all his toys again.

"An interesting fact I'd like to share with my toys before I pass away."

Sora leaned into Tai whispering, "Please say he's not referring to us as his toys?"

"Oh, brother," Tai sighed.

Chicanemon smirked watching all twelve of the digidestined gather to activate the crystal and aiming it towards him. "When most of you were trapped in my first world, all I did was set the rules of 'staying in character or be reset'," he counted with his fingers, "and to 'not go beyond the woods' which served as the border of that world. You all did the rest on your own. Which means, there are some serious issues with you humans. I believe the Betrayer called it a sociological experiment."

Tai hesitated. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you hear me? Wasn't I clear?" Chicanemon sighed already bored using an index finger to aimlessly draw in the sand. "The rest of you created what would happen. I was the author of that story if you will. With your memories suppressed, your subconsciousness took over to who you all secretly wished to be and, or, wanted.

"For example, Joe," He nodded to the mentioned digidestined. "Danny told me you're always following rules to the 'T'. Very studious in all you do. In the first world, your desire to become a doctor was strong and so that is what you became. However, deep down inside you wanted to be in control of everything and everyone and had some unrequited attraction to Sora and Mimi; thus, quickly changing the rules to having 'mating partners'."

"That's not true!" Joe objected, madly blushing. "I have a girlfriend whom I'm in love with!"

"You purposely spread the rumor to Matt and TK that Tai was a rapist and murderer after he came to you with the black eye, which quickly had him shunned from the rest of the group so you could have Sora to yourself and retrain her way of thinking."

"Shut up!" Joe yelled as Tai placed a hand over his black eye realizing how the rumor came to be.

Chicanemon smirked enjoying the reaction he was receiving while calmly continuing. "And when you promised Matt that Sora was his first mate to repopulate, or whatever bullshit you were spitting, oh, high and mighty cult master," Chicanemon spat out a laugh, "you took your word back because you never meant it in the first place. But how I wished this would have lasted longer to see your plans for Mimi go down. Woo! That would've been fun! Maybe that's why in the second world you asked Mimi out because you had your fill with Sora."

Davis joined the others slowly turning to Joe unsure of what to think. It just slipped from his lips. "What...the...f -"

"Come on, guys!" Joe sincerely insisted addressing everyone. "Can't you see he's trying to cause a division with us? We were all under his influence! He thrives on trickery!"

"Can we talk about Matt?" Chicanemon laughed. "Man, oh, man! In the first world, your deep desire was to have never been separated from TK and to win Sora back. But that would be too boring, so I made TK suffer from nightly amnesia. I'd apologize for interfering, but," he scoffed, "the author never apologizes for his work. Just to see Sora constantly reject you and for her to be taken away time after time running after Tai was priceless! Guess The Forbidden Red String of Fate book that your brother wrote didn't work for beans, did it?"

"Okay, that's enough with the mind games," Matt grasped the crystal with both hands this time tightening his grip. "None of what happened there was real, moron."

"No? I somehow have the ability to plant emotions inside each and every one of you?" This time Chicanemon stopped playing in the sand and stared intently.

"It must be easier to use me as your scapegoat. Go ahead and believe what was felt was fake. Fine by me. What I never expected was actually witnessing a romance blossom between you and Tai from the second world. I was like 'Whaaaaat'?" He threw his head back in laughter. "And the best part? Your face when Tai said he didn't remember when you two started dating! And then to be teased to be in a poly relationship with Sora, but oops!" He placed a hand over his mouth in a sarcastic manner, "That was fake again. Hey, Sora! Who knew you'd be into kinky shit!"

Sora's face turned a deep shade of red as she fumed with anger. Too many thoughts raced through her mind to be able to pick one to respond.

"Has anyone said you talk too much for someone that's about to die?" Matt's knuckles turned white after taking a quick glance at Sora.

"It must be lonely seeing she chose Tai over you," Chicanemon patronized. "To watch them regain their memories over and over again, constantly running into each other's arms -"

Tai let out a growl of frustration after watching Matt's and Sora's insecurities grow. It was awkward enough being placed in the different relationship scenarios, but to watch their past feelings be rubbed in their faces, to watch everyone else go through the same thing knowing Chicanemon was attempting deception once more was enough. "Everyone! Let's do this! You too," he addressed Cody, Yolie, Davis, and Ken. "Imperialdramon, Aquilamon, and Ankylomon give all you got. Kari, you know what to do!"

"Danny belonged to me, assholes!" Chicanemon screamed. He rolled to his belly and used his right hand to rapidly drag himself towards them for one last fight. "You forced me to kill him! You forced me to make you play out one more story to honor his death! You are the reason for ruining my purpose in life!"

"Your reason for existence was to be Danny's friend and help him write stories!" TK shouted his response with just as much passion. "Do you know how upset he was when he realized the only way to keep everyone safe was to take you out after seeing you were never going to understand that? If anything, you're the real Betrayer!"

Kari activated the crystal with her touch as she shouted, "Game over!"

Before Chicanemon could take another breath to react, the crystal released its final, destructive blow accompanied with the remaining digimons' attacks. Chicanemon's screams dissipated into the air along with his body. The crystal then floated into the air, the twinkling song it once softly played becoming loud, as if celebrating their victory, and exploded into a soft golden light sprinkling everywhere below within a two hundred feet radius.

Once again, the digital world was safe from evil.

The sun was setting causing the temperature to lower. The original eight digidestined glanced at each other with weary eyes, taking their digivices out and scanned their surroundings to make sure what they witnessed was real. Their digimon woke one by one and trudge over to their partners complaining about their aches.

"What are you all doing?" Yolie asked watching Tai, Sora, and everyone else scan the area. "It's over. We won, right?"

Tai wiped his brow. "After everything we've been through, it's better to -"

Sensing something was wrong, Izzy turned towards his wife and caught her in the midst of fainting. He carried her in his arms and reassured everyone since they all called to Mimi in a panic. "She's alright. Everything we've been through probably took a toll on her. I'll get her to bed for some much-needed rest."

"I'm coming too!" Palmon raced over to Izzy with Tentomon with concern. "I love you, Mimi!"

Imperialdramon, Aquilamon, and Ankylomon all transformed back into their rookie forms, following suit of the other digimon, and rejoined their partners again. There was silence until Patamon brought the needed subject up in a mournful tone.

"What should we do with Danny? We can't leave him here."

All twelve digidestined stood in silence, eyes downcast towards the desert sand. Their fallen friend didn't deserve this. Sora was the first to slowly walk to Danny's body as the rest followed behind. She wiped her tears on her left arm, then forced herself to say without breaking down in tears, "We take him home, and...and we'll figure out the rest later."

"His parents..." Ken lamented. "He was close with his parents."

TK pinched his eyes failing from holding back his tears, the guilt hovering over his mind. "It's my fault. It's all my fault."

"No, it's not," Matt pulled TK into a hug. "We need to remember how he changed after understanding the digital world and how brave he was for coming to us for help. Chicanemon was blinded by jealousy."

"Help me," TK sniffed pushing away from his brother. He walked to Danny's body. "I need help bringing him back."

Davis immediately ran over and took hold of Danny's ankles. "I got you, my man. Hold his arms."

Ken helped as well, holding underneath his back. "Me too."

"Yolie, go with them," Tai solemnly instructed. "Erase all evidence of Danny being tied to the digital world on any electronics. Even his fanfiction."

"What's fanfiction?" Cody, confused, scrunched his eyebrows and looked to everyone waiting to see if someone explained.

"Fanfiction?" Yolie questioned. "Is that what he meant by stories? It's starting to make sense."

"It's a long story," Sora eventually spoke sighing. "Let's get Danny home first."

Each footstep the digidestined took was heavy as they headed towards the nearest digiport. One by one they were all sucked in, but before Sora and Tai entered she held Tai's hand silently waiting for his attention. He knew that look. The one where she'd squint her eyes when she wanted to discuss something personal.

Catching Cody before he left, Tai asked, "Hey, man, could you do us a solid? After you go through the gate could you wait nearby until we ask for you to open the gate for us? Sora and I need to discuss something. And take Agumon and Biyomon with you."

"Please?" Sora asked placing her hands together pleading. "We'd really appreciate it."

"No problem," Cody agreed.

"Don't take too long, Sora," Biyomon cheerfully waved as she and Agumon followed Cody.

Closing her eyes, Sora took in a deep breath and slowly released it. The mix of emotions from everything that occurred, especially after finding out it all went down under an hour, was exhausting. In the beginning when Tai and she found the crystal in the cave and were resting to recover their strength, he talked about taking her to the country side for a vacation after this was done.

But all of that was trivial. She had a feeling Tai dismissed it, but she couldn't help listening to the little voice at the back of her mind to speak of something that Chicanemon brought up before they left.

"I realize this may not be the best time," she gave a quick side glance to the digiport to see how much privacy Cody was giving them, "but I just want you to know something."

For a few seconds, weariness shown as Tai's forehead wrinkled with concern. Taking hold of her hands was enough to wash it away momentarily. A soft smile grew.

"Is it something that monster said?"

"Well..."

"Really, Sora?" He chuckled. "Whatever it was we were all under his control. Unless," concern flashed in his good eye, "Were you hurt? Was it the first world?" His breathing quickened. "What Chicanemon said about Joe, was it true? Did Joe do anything -"

"No! I swear, it's not that," Sora was quick to put an end to his worries. "I know you're not shallow to think anything about this, but remember when Chicanemon boasted he was the author of the worlds we were in?

"In the first world, he influenced Joe, err rather Dr. Kido, to have Yamato as my mating partner. Whenever I was under his control, the concept in my head made sense. It was to be my civil duty. In the second world, that digimon pushed it further in wanting us to be in a polyamory relationship with Yamato."

"So?" He shrugged.

That was it? He truly didn't care?

"I know, I know," she shook her head more frustrated at herself for even daring to think Tai would hold any grudges or believe she still cared for Matt. She couldn't help but to ramble. "It's silly, but I wanted to make sure. Especially after I told Yamato that I knew he was still in love with me and we could all be together. I don't love him, Tai. That was the past. I know he still does, and I hope it doesn't cause any issues."

Tai chuckled holding the back of his neck. "Hi! Have we met? I'm Tai Kamiya and you look remarkably similar to my gorgeous girlfriend. The only difference is she knows I can feel her heart and it says it belongs to me."

Tears spilled. He truly was amazing. "No matter what world we're in," she stated with a smile sniffing back tears.

"That's right." Tai cupped her chin and kissed her. "No matter what world we're in, or whatever happens, I promise I'll always find you because we belong together."

They shared a silent hug as the last remaining light from the setting sun dipped below the horizon. The sound of someone clearing their throat caused them to look at the digiport.

"Excuse me," Cody blushed as he communicated from the digiport. "I don't mean to interrupt, but it'd probably be safer to continue the conversation here since it's night time already."

"Uh, right. Thanks," Tai sheepishly said.

Cody opened the digiport on his end. As Tai raised his digivice to go home, Sora stopped his arm.

"One more thing: After Danny's funeral, I'd rather go to a hot spring instead of the country side." She held out her pinky waiting to see if he'd agree. "Deal?"

Tai closed his good eye imagining the water soothing his muscles. He grinned, regardless of the sadness and weariness once more showing in his eyes, and locked his pinky with hers. "Deal."