Taichi froze, his heart racing like never before. He could feel Yamato's body tensed, the blond boy almost whimpered in despair hearing his captor's voice. Agumon turned the flesh-light to see the man. It was one of the bandits, tall and muscular, with a seriously looking gun in one hand and a flesh-light in another. The guy needed only few seconds to turn the switch on and the thick bunch of light caught the figures of the two boys and their digimons.

"Who the hell are you!" He exclaimed, looking wildly at the Agumon and Gabumon. "I do not know, but stay where you are."

'What should we do?' Taichi thought franticly, half turned to see the man. A thought of just starting to run away really fast came to his mind, but one look at his friend shattered it all. Yamato was struggling to remain awake, shivering from cold and fatigue. There was no hope for them to outrun the bandits.

For a few moments they all just stood their, unmoving, daring each other to make the first move. The tension in the air was thick, enveloping everyone in a suffocating cocoon. Than the hell broke loose...

"Baby flame!" Agumon shouted, deciding to wait no more. He threw the ball of fire into the man, turning to his partner. "Taichi, run!"

The boy nodded, tightening his grip on Yamato and pulling the other boy alone with him. But even with the help of Gabumon they had no chance to go far. Yamato stumbled, sinking to his knees, coughing and gasping for breath. Taichi kneeled down, cursing, trying to pull his friend up again. At this moment the sound of a gunshot cut the air, freezing all present.

Taichi looked back and paled seeing Agumon sitting at the ground, a trickle of blood running down one of his paws.

"Agumon!" He shouted running his friend's side, trying to see how serious the wound was. He didn't notice the second man coming out of the corner, a gun in his hand.

XXX

Takeru paced the little space restlessly. The younger boy was distressed greatly. He wanted nothing more than to come with Taichi, to try to rescue his brother. But he was told to stay behind and wait. It was so hard. To know that Yamato was somewhere near and do nothing to help.

Suddenly he felt a little hand slipping into his own. Lifting his gaze he found himself staring into Hikari's big sad eyes. The girl just stand near, silently, lending Takeru all her support and comfort. The blond boy smiled at her weakly, grateful for her help. He than felt a new power rushing into his heart, reviving his dying hope.

But the feeling was shuttered into pieces by the awful sound of gunshot followed by another one.

XXX

Yamato forced himself to focus onto his surroundings once more. He stumbled to his feet, supported by the Gabumon. One of the men was laying at the floor, screaming in pain. Agumon's attack appeared to be successful. Taichi was standing over the hurt digimon. Yamato could see the concern and anger at his friend's face. But then he saw a shadow... The second of his captors standing out of the light, aiming to shoot Taichi.

"No!" Yamato rasped, breaking from Gabumon's grip and summoning all his will and strength to leap forward. His body collided with Taichi's the same moment that the second shot sang. The bullet flew just above them, missing by inch or two.

"It's no use, boy!" The gunman smirked. "I don't care who your friends are, but you all are dead now."

He took one more step, reloading his gun. Taichi moved franticly to stand, trying to push Yamato's body gently away, for the blond boy was so drained of strength, he could hardly stay conscious. But suddenly hid digivice worked. Gabumon was enveloped in the bright blue light before digivolving into Garurumon.

"No one's going to hurt them." He growled, baring his sharp teeth in a burning rage.

The man was surprised if not shocked by the quick turn of events, giving the champion digimon a perfect chance for attack.

"Howling Blaster!" He sent the stream of ice fire into human, not caring if he would kill him or not. The man dared to hurt his friends, he dared to hurt Yamato!

Without another glance he put his partner over his back glancing at Taichi and Agumon.

"Let's get out of here."

Taichi nodded mutely. He was uncomfortable seeing Garurumon in such a rage, memories of the time when he was at it's receiving end came uninvited to his mind. But he ignored them. What mattered now, was helping Yamato and then saving their Digital world all over again.

...TBC