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Ohaiyo, minna! ::waves, then awkwardly puts hand behind head:: 
Er...okay, I'll be blunt. ::shouts:: I am sooooooo sorry for taking so 
long to get this chapter out! I've been excruciatingly busy lately, I 
have a big trip coming up (I'm headed Down Under! Whoo hooo! Sydney 
Opera House, here I come! ::pumps fist in the air::), and planning for 
it has really been eating up all my time. Well, plus tha fact that the 
airline mechanics I happen to share a company with can't seem to get 
their acts together and get the damn Brussels flight to leave on time--
three times in the same week! ::pulls at hair:: Anyway....the fic is 
drawing to a close...there will probably be only two, maybe three more 
chapters after this one, so I hope I haven't lost anyone... -__- And 
again, sorry this one took so long, I hope you find it's worth it. I'll 
have a Fourteen and a half hour flight from LA to Sydney, so I will have 
plenty of time to finish writing...then all that's left to do is the 
typing, which doesn't take too long, so when I get back, expect more 
story! That's a promise this time, you have the word of Hikari! ^__^ 
Enjoy!




Tai snapped his head up.

"Did you guys hear something?" he asked.

It seemed it was true, what he had read about in science class, as much 
as he hated to admit it...when the class had read the chapters in human 
psychology--not that he understood most of what the professor had been 
talking about...one thing did stick out in his mind--one chapter had 
dealt solely with the senses and how, when one was lost, the other four 
had a tendency to compensate for it. He hadn't really believed it them, 
how the deaf often had an acutely keen sense of smell, or the blind 
being able to hear better than those blessed with sight. But he believed 
it now, oh how he did.

And he despised it.

He frowned, trying to perhaps find the source of the noise...turning his 
head in an effort to pinpoint the location of the sudden sound. The 
others watched, their faces clouded by worry and anxiety. They all were 
seated against the wall now, their backs up against the cool stone. 
Agumon sat silent beside Tai, staring down at his claws and feeling 
useless. What good was a digimon, he wondered, who couldn't even help 
his human regain his sight? Even though Agumon knew that the blindness 
wasn't his fault, he still felt rather responsible for it, as if he 
should have been able to protect Tai from Kurarimon's nightmares. 
Gatomon, in the mean time, had been pacing incessantly, worried sick by 
Kari's disappearance. She was furious. Furious at herself, anyway...why 
hadn't she run after Kari? Oh, sure, the passageways were dark and 
winding, forbiddingly dangerous and all that... Gatomon sighed. So she 
should have followed Kari, to protect her, to make certain she was okay, 
to ensure that whatever might be lurking in those shadowy corridors 
didn't harm her. Why, oh why had she hesitated? She would never be able 
to forgive herself if something were to happen to Kari... 

Sora looked at Tai, and cocked her head to the side.

"I didn't hear anything, Tai," she said slowly.

"Me, either," Agumon added.

Tai scowled.

"I was sure I--"

"Wait, hush!" Gatomon hissed, rotating her large ears. "I think...I 
think I...hear a..."

Tai leapt to his feet, not even waiting for Gatomon to finish her 
sentence.

"Kari!?" he cried.

Yamato quickly stood, and then hurried to the spot where the light met 
the shadows, trying to peer past the darkness, in search of the lost 
Digidestined child. The others waited in tense silence to see who...or 
what...it was.

They all gasped sharply when Yamato let out a shocked cry.

"Who is it?" Gabumon asked, ready to attack if it came to that.

"Is it Kari?" Tai demanded, anxious, clenching his hands.

Yamato's expression turned from that of shock to an angry glare as he 
stared into the darkness of the shadows. He stepped back cautiously, and 
curled his lip up in fury and disgust.

"You..." he growled into the blackness. "You've got a lot of nerve 
showing your face here, Pipermon." He bared his teeth as she stepped 
slowly into the light.

A cry of surprise arose from the children at the very idea that Pipermon 
would have the gall to return to them now, after what she had done. 
Gatomon's claws flexed, and she flattened her ears against her head. 

"What are you doing here, Pipermon?" she spat. "Come back to bask in the 
rays of your treacherous victory?"

Pipermon did not flinch at the feline's words, rather she just sadly 
shook her head.

"Iie," she said slowly, but her voice did not waver. "No, children, I 
didn't come here to gloat, or to brag...nor did I come here to ask the 
forgiveness I know you can never grant me..." She hesitated.

"Then what do you want?" Tai asked. His tone was neutral, there was no 
coldness to it. Somehow, Pipermon wished there HAD been...at least then 
she would have known what he was thinking.

"I simply came here to return to you a certain something I believe you 
may have recently been parted with..." she said, and stepped aside, "a 
one Miss Hikari-san..."

"Kari!"

Tai dropped to one knee and flung his arms out as a huge grin spread 
across Kari's face and she darted forward. When he felt her arms around 
his neck, he quickly wrapped her in a tight embrace, squeezing her until 
he was afraid he might break her in half.

"Kari--God, don't you EVER do that again, do you hear me??" he shouted, 
his eyes glazed with worried tears he had refused to cry. He buried his 
face in the hollow of his sister's shoulder. "Don't you ever run off 
like that again, Hikari Kamiya!" He lifted his head and slowly got to 
his feet, placing his hands on her shoulders as she took a step back. 
"Do you have any idea what I would do if anything ever happened to you, 
Kari?" he cried. "Do you know what it would do to me if I ever lost you? 
Cuz I certainly don't...I don't even want to think about it!" He paused. 
"And I sure as hell don't want to find out!"

Kari frowned.

"I'm sorry, Tai," she replied softly, "I just... There was something 
I...had to take care of." She tilted her head to the side and looked at 
the others as Gatomon leapt into her arms with delight. "I didn't mean 
to worry anybody," she added, smiling sweetly at her digimon.

The rest of the children gathered quickly around the Kamiya siblings, 
glad to be all reunited again. Gatomon purred loudly in Kari's arms, 
overjoyed to see that her human was okay. Yamato let out a relieved 
sigh. He would have felt terribly guilty had anything happened to Kari, 
considering she had been sore at him when she had run off. Had she been 
hurt, he would have felt responsible, even if his harsh words hadn't 
been the reason for her disappearance. He smiled, happy she was all 
right. Though he never would have admitted it to anybody, Yamato saw 
Kari as a younger sibling himself...as he supposed most of the kids did. 
TK and Kari were sort of the communal little brother and sister...all of 
the Digidestined looked out for them and made sure they were all right. 
Oh, sure, the older kids looked after one another, that was a 
given...but it was a little different with Takeru and Hikari. Being as 
young as they were, the junior Ishida and Kamiya children had been taken 
under the older kids' wings...whether they had approved of the idea or 
not.

Yamato's smile suddenly faded as he turned back over his shoulder.

"Pipermon, wait a second," he said, extending one arm as she turned to 
leave. "Wait...wait a second," he repeated, and she stopped, though she 
did not turn over her shoulder to look back at him. He squared his 
shoulders. "Pipermon, I...I don't understand."

She glanced at him oddly, one eyebrow lifted.

"I don't get you, Pipermon," he said slowly, walking toward her, "if 
you're working for Kurarimon, why did you return Kari to us? We're less 
of a threat when we're divided."

"Like I told you all before, Yamato-san," she responded quietly, as 
though she did not have the strength to raise her voice above a whisper, 
"I have no desire to harm you children. I don't want to hurt any of you. 
Kurarimon has advantage enough over you as it is...I figured I would 
even the odds a little and at least keep you all together."

Yamato frowned.

"But why?' he asked tenaciously. "Are you on her side...or are you on 
ours?"

She clenched and unclenched her fists.

"I...I dunno..."

"Whaddya mean you don't know?" Tai asked. There was no anger or 
resentment in his voice, only confusion, and maybe a little bit of 
dejection.

"I mean I don't know," she repeated slowly. She shook her head. "I 
just...don't know..."

"It isn't a hard question, Pipermon," Yamato growled, still smarting 
from the earlier events of the day. He was determined to get a straight 
answer from her. "It's not that difficult a question. Who's it gonna 
be...her or us?"

Pipermon refused to look at him.

"Please, don't, Yamato-san," she implored, "don't ask me that."

Yamato scowled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded coldly. "You have to make a 
choice."

She turned away.

"I don't HAVE to do anything, Yamato-san," she growled, "but you seemed 
unwilling to accept that from the start..."

"Don't hide your eyes from us, Pipermon," Jyou said softly after a 
moment of awkward silence. He looked over the rims of his glasses. 
"Please don't turn your back on us."

"We only want to know the truth," Sora added.

"And the truth lies in your eyes," concluded Mimi.

Pipermon cringed.

Kari knit her brow.

"That reminds me," she said, and approached Pipermon, "when we were in 
the corridor, you mentioned Kurarimon having a scar...a scar across her 
left eye...?"

"Oh, so that explains the weird eighties hairdo..." Mimi muttered.

Pipermon glanced up.

"The scar...?" she whispered, and looked at Kari.

"What's it from?" the younger child wanted to know. Pipermon cast her 
eyes to the rest of the children, who all looked quite intrigued by this 
new tidbit of information. She sighed.

"The scar...the scar was...an accident," she said to them. "Kurarimon 
was toying with her powers...testing what she was capable of. She tried 
to copy Piedmon's attacks to see if she could use them, for, as we all 
know, Piedmon had some nasty attacks up his sleeves..." She frowned. 
"Kurarimon found she had no trouble mastering the Clown Trick 
attack...but she ran into a few roadblocks when she attempted to master 
Trump Swords..."

TK frowned.

"How come?" he asked.

"I would suppose it was because it was a very powerful attack...and one 
she was never meant to be able to use," Pipermon explained. "But, 
whatever the reason, she was unable to control it, and the attack 
backfired on her."

"Backfired?" Tai echoed.

Pipermon nodded.

"One of the daggers basically boomeranged," she told them, "and it cut 
her face. It blinded her left eye."

Tai's face contorted. He winced at the very idea. He understood how it 
must have felt for Kurarimon to lose her sight... Even in one eye, 
vision is a terrible thing to be without...but to lose it like that...to 
be blinded by your own mistake...by one of your own powers... How 
horrific, he thought, cringing, to forever lose your sight, be it in one 
eye or both, because of a miscalculation you made yourself...!

"I can understand how the blindness would not have healed," he said 
slowly, rolling ideas around on his brain, "but why didn't the scar ever 
knit?"

"Yeah," Palmon agreed, "digimon usually heal real fast."

The rest of the digimon quickly attested to this.

"And I would think," Tentomon added afterwards, "that the fact that you, 
Kurarimon, and the twins were all a special advanced type of digimon, 
that you would be able to heal even faster."

Pipermon shook her head.

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" she asked ruefully. She placed the 
middle and ring finger of her right hand on her left forearm, and 
pressed down hard, wincing. She hissed in pain, then drew back her hand, 
holding up her fingers. The children gasped.

"Blood?" Mimi asked, crinkling up her nose. "Again?"

"That hasn't healed yet?" Jyou asked, remembering how she had injured 
herself in her struggle to save Yamato from plummeting into the gaping 
mouth of the Shin�en.

Pipermon's eyes flashed.

"The fabric of my sleeve was easy enough to mend," she said, "but not so 
the wound." She paused dramatically. "It takes me just as long to heal a 
flesh wound as any of you..."

There was a collective gasp.

"Inconceivable!" Izzy cried. "Why so long?"

"You're a digimon," Gomamon said, "how come you don't heal like one?"

"Wouldn't the fact that you're a combination of all types of digimon 
make you, like, invincible or something?" Mimi wanted to know.

Pipermon shook her head.

"No," she said slowly, "actually, that's why it takes us--Kurarimon, the 
twins, and myself--so long to heal." She looked at Izzy. "It would seem 
that, rather than increasing our ability to heal," she said slowly, "it 
actually IMPEDES it..."

"That's odd," Jyou said with a frown.

"Not really," Pipermon said, "not if you think about it from a computer 
analyst's point of view. Being that we are a combination of data, virus, 
AND vaccine, all together, it's rather like what happens when an 
internet browser is trying to load too many thumbnails at once. If those 
images do not load in a certain time span, the operation times out, and 
they just stop loading."

"So you're saying that it simply took too long for Kurarimon's scar to 
heal," Yamato stated, "and it just...just stopped?"

She nodded.

"Basically," she said.

"Whoa," Izzy murmured, "time to hit the 'reload' button..."

"So...I still don't quite understand her motives," Tai grumbled. "Is she 
threatening this world only to draw us here?"

"And had we not come," Sora chimed in, "would she have truly destroyed 
it?"

"What good would that have done her?" Mimi added.

"That�s not the issue here," Pipermon responded. "She knew all she had 
to do was threaten the livelihood of the Digital World in order to lure 
the Digidestined here."

Yamato was still suspicious of Pipermon. Even after what she had done, 
in returning Kari to the group, he had still been burned deeply by the 
sudden realization that she had been working for Kurarimon all along, 
and was reluctant to trust her again, for fear of history repeating 
itself. 

"So tell us the truth, Pipermon," he challenged, "is it REALLY beyond 
your power to give Tai back his vision?"

She frowned sadly.

"Unfortunately, yes, it is," she affirmed. She looked at Tai. "Kurarimon 
is the only one who can return it to you at this point..."

"Psh, like that's gonna happen..." he scoffed.

"Unless we manage to get the physical manifestation of your vision back 
from her, Kamiya-san," she explained, " your sight can never be returned 
to you...and the only way to get it...is to destroy Kurarimon..."

Yamato narrowed his eyes.

"So tell us how to do that," he said.

Pipermon balked.

"I...I can't..." she replied softly, after a moment of silence.

"You CAN'T?" he echoed menacingly. He clenched his fists. "You 
can't...or you WON'T?"

Pipermon shook her head quickly.

"You don't understand--"

"If you're not our ally, Pipermon," Yamato growled, "then you are our 
enemy..."

TK grabbed his brother's arm.

"Stop it, Yama-chan," the younger boy said. "Leave her alone."

"TK?"

Yamato couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was his own little brother 
standing up for the enemy?

"TK, have you gone bonkers?" he asked incredulously.

"Don't you get it, Yama-chan?" TK asked. "She doesn't want to hurt US 
anymore...so just leave her alone. Why can't you see it?"

Yamato blinked.

"See what, TK?" he demanded. "She's the enemy! If she won't tell us how 
to destroy Kurarimon, she must still be working for her!"

"It's called loyalty, Yamato," Kari cut in. Yamato spun to look at her.

"Loyalty?" he repeated. "To that monster?" He wrung his hands. "After 
everything Kurarimon has done to her? After everything she's put her 
through? After all the threats and demands...why would she still defend 
her?"

Sora frowned.

"In the same way an abused child still yearns for the love of their 
parents, or a maltreated animal still responds to the call of the master 
who beats it," she said, "Pipermon feels a certain loyalty to Kurarimon, 
it would seem. Perhaps she doesn't agree with what Kurarimon is doing, 
but she can't help us fight her."

"Kurarimon plucked her from the gutters of the Digital World, turned her 
around, and gave her a purpose again," Kari explained. "Oh, sure, it was 
an EVIL purpose, but it was still a purpose."

Pipermon was a trifle taken aback. They were defending her? She couldn�t 
believe it! She was both touched and puzzled by their words.

Yama still looked skeptical, but didn't reply. Rather, he folded his 
slender arms over his chest and grumbled indecipherably.

"Maybe it's just that she doesn't want to be the one to tell us how to 
administer the deathblow, Yamato," Jyou suggested. "She doesn't want to 
directly tell us how to flip the kill switch."

"She has no more desire to hurt us," Tai added, "we've seen that..." He 
paused. "Perhaps she just doesn't want to be the one to tell us how to 
hurt Kurarimon..."

How was it that they knew? Pipermon found herself wondering. How could 
it be that they understood? She looked at Tai, then at Kari, then at her 
hands.

Izzy straightened his back.

"Pipermon," he said after a moment, closing over the monitor of his 
laptop, "perhaps if you consider it from this point of view...?" He 
looked at her. "In our world, two forces that would not normally work 
together will sometimes ally with one another if they have a common 
enemy..."

She smiled sadly.

"That's just it, Izumi-san," she responded quietly, "we don't." She 
shook her head slowly. "I don't want to be your enemy, Digidestined..." 
she added, "but I cannot be hers." She looked at them. "Please try to 
understand..." She looked at the floor.

Kari took a tentative step forward.

"Pipermon..." she said after a second, and the digimon looked up. Kari 
smiled weakly. "I hope that, even if we cannot be allies in times of 
war...perhaps one day we can be friends in times of peace."

Pipermon inhaled sharply, and started to stammer a reply, then stopped 
suddenly, and Kari tensed. That same electric feeling was in the air 
again. Kurarimon was nearby. Pipermon glanced behind her.

"She's coming," she said quickly, lifting into the air and wrapping her 
arms about herself. "I must go. Be warned, Digidestined, it will take 
more than simply strength to defeat Kurarimon..."

Tai stepped forward.

"What, then?" he cried, extending one arm. "If strength alone won't 
defeat her, then what will?"

"Look within yourselves, children," Pipermon said cryptically, "and 
you'll find what you need. Stop searching for the answers in darkened 
corners...for you won't find them there."

"Then where do we look?" he demanded desperately.

She winked at Kari.

"Try looking in the light..."

With that, she vanished into the shadows with a soft jingle of the bells 
around her wrists and ankles.

"Pipermon--wait!" TK cried, lunging forward after her. Yamato grabbed 
Takeru by the shoulders and pulled him back. Then he let out a yelp of 
shock as a gust of cold wind blasted him in the face, and he jumped 
back, yanking TK behind him as the wind howled all around the 
Digidestined like some sort of freak, indoor cyclone.

"What's going ON??" he shouted, squinting through the wind.

The gale swirled around him and TK, then, as quickly as it had come up, 
it was gone, replaced instead by Kurarimon's form. She stood tall before 
them, ominous and portentous in her crisp alabaster uniform, her cloak 
still swirling around her feet from the very wind she had conjured up to 
get there. Here eyes suddenly narrowed in a maliciously pleased 
expression.

"How quaint," she said softly, with an underlying tone in her voice that 
could have easily frozen a Meramon, "eight Digidestined with one 
stone..."

Yamato clenched his fists and took a step back.

"You won't get rid of us so easily, Kurarimon," he growled.

"We won't go down without a fight," Tai added. His voice never betrayed 
it, but inside, he was afraid...really afraid. How was he supposed to 
lead his friends in battle against an enemy he couldn't even see?

Kurarimon smiled, looking rather bloodthirsty.

"Your courage is noteworthy, children," she oozed. "The tales I've heard 
of your bravery were not exaggerated." She widened her crimson eyes. 
"Courage, however, will not save you." She slowly and deliberately 
folded her arms across her chest. "Your death is inevitable, Little 
Ones...you will be destroyed."

"You�re so confident," Yamato said. "Perhaps you shouldn't be..." He 
looked at Gabumon, and nodded. Gabumon grinned.

"Gabumon...digivolve to--"

There was a brilliant flash of bluish light, and a strange sound like 
that of an orchestra tuning up filled the air. Gabumon was enveloped in 
the azure brightness, and he suddenly seemed to morph into a new 
creature altogether. His short, thick legs lengthened to strong lanky 
ones, powerful and graceful, like a wolf's. Come to think of it, he did 
look rather lupine now...the horn on his head had vanished, and his 
snout had grown longer. His jaws opened in a fierce growl, revealing 
rows of razor-sharp teeth.

"--Garurumon!"

Tai clenched his fists.

"You, too, Agumon," he said. "Let's show Kurarimon what the Digidestined 
are all about!"

"Right!" the small orange creature called, his green eyes flashing. 
"Agumon...digivolve to--"

And Agumon, too, began to change, as the world flashed with a bright 
vermilion orange, as though the sun were setting, right there in 
Kurarimon's castle. Agumon's stout, stocky body grew taller, and his 
stub of a tail grew to a tapering length of several meters. Adorning the 
lizard's head was a huge brownish mask resembling an animal's skull, 
with a single horn on the snout, and a pair of horns on the crown of the 
head. Dark blue stripes streaked the muscular body, and the fearsome 
reptile gave a loud roar.

"--Greymon!!"

The other digimon were quick to follow suit, evolving to a higher, more 
powerful form than before: Gomamon to a huge, furry, white creature 
resembling a walrus, known as Ikkakumon; Palmon to the cactus-like 
Togemon, who sported a pair of boxing gloves and an attitude that was 
almost as threatening as the thousands of needles covering her body; 
Biyomon to the majestic Birdramon, a huge avian creature that looked 
much like a legendary Phoenix, and Tentomon to the fearsome, insectoid, 
Kabuterimon.

Most impressive, however, were the digivolutions of Patamon and Gatomon. 
Patamon's vermilion wings folded and shrank into his head to be replaced 
by long hair the color of a summer sunrise, and snowy white wings arched 
gracefully from his back as he grew to a humanoid form. Angemon, so he 
was called now, spun his angel staff and smiled confidently beneath the 
helmet that shrouded his eyes. Gatomon grew quickly taller, and her long 
striped tail vanished as a waterfall of cornsilk-colored hair flowed out 
from beneath the helmet she now wore on her head. Angewoman's eight 
feathery, white wings sprang from her back, and she plucked at the 
bowstring that helped her dole out one of her most lethal attacks. All 
the digimon turned to Kurarimon, who looked just as cool and confident 
as she had a moment ago, as though nothing had changed at all.

"Quite impressive, Digidestined," she said slowly, clapping her hands 
together in a slow and leisurely manner. Then her face hardened and she 
quickly dropped her hands to her sides. "However, your little friends 
shan't be able to save you." She lifted her eyes to them, and flashed a 
wicked grin.

"Wanna bet?" Greymon snorted. "Nova Blast!!" 

A huge fireball flew from the dinosaur-like creature's mouth, headed 
straight for Kurarimon. Kurarimon's eyes widened, then began to glow a 
deep scarlet as she held up one hand in an attempt to deflect the 
attack. The fiery blast slammed into her hand, and parted to either side 
as though she had put up an invisible wall around herself. The children 
gasped as the attack scorched the walls of the corridor, but left 
Kurarimon barely ruffled.

"Futile tricks," she chortled, then looked to where Greymon's attack had 
blackened the walls of her catacombs. "Such destructive little 
children," she chided. "If we keep this up, you shall surely destroy my 
beautiful catacombs." She narrowed one eye menacingly. "What say you we 
take this to someplace a little more"--she snapped her fingers--
"appropriate?"

The children gasped in astonishment. No longer were they within the 
walls of Kurarimon's catacombs...no, now they were...where WERE they? It 
was like a huge indoor courtyard, and the Digidestined stood right in 
the center of it. There were two large structures off to their left, 
resembling low, flat buildings, and to the other side, there was a patch 
of small, thick-trunked trees. 

Yamato looked up, and a small cry escaped his throat. 

The ceiling--! There was...no ceiling?? What the--?

Upon hearing Yamato's startled gasp, the others lifted their eyes 
skyward and saw, much to their surprise...nothing. 

It was as if the ceiling didn't exist...but neither did the sky. There 
was nothing but pitch blackness above them...not even stars or clouds. 
It was like a Black Hole had opened up over Kurarimon's castle. Yamato 
supposed that a Black Hole would be rather appropriate. To match the one 
in her heart, he grumbled to himself.

"Where...where are we?" Sora asked, her voice trembling.

Jyou's glasses slid down on his nose and he looked overtop the lenses.

"I'd say it's a safe bet we're not in Kansas..." he muttered.

"You all look so shocked," Kurarimon laughed. "Do you really find all 
this so fantastic? You seem so surprised, but it would appear you had 
forgotten that this mountain is an extension of my own power. Surely 
Pipermon told you about that? All I need do is command it, and it will 
obey. I think, and it does, I command, and it responds. This mountain 
bows to my every whim, all I need do is snap my fingers, and it does 
what I ask!"

"I'll bet Spring Cleaning is a breeze!" Mimi grumbled.

"She sure talks a lot," TK said softly.

Kurarimon looked at the children, a gleam in her eyes.

"So, what do you think of my little...recreational area?" she sneered.

"It could use a few lamps," Mimi continued to mumble sourly, and she 
poked the toe of her shoe into the dirt beneath her feet, "and maybe 
some new carpeting..."

"Why have you brought us here, Kurarimon?" Yamato shouted.

Kurarimon's expression hardened.

"Why, to destroy you, of course," she said, as if that were no big deal 
at all. She twitched her long fingers. "I figured this might give you 
more room to run," she went on, "make things a little 
more...interesting." Her eyes narrowed. "Don't you think?"

"You're a sick mon," Tai growled.

Kurarimon grinned.

"Ah, my myopic little friend," she snickered, and Tai refused to give 
her the satisfaction of seeing him wince, "you have no sense of humor."

"Is everyone�s sense of humor supposed to be so sadistic," Yamato 
challenged, "or is it a specialty of yours?"

She glared at him.

"Do not try my patience, Child," she hissed in warning, "for it will 
only expedite your inevitable deaths."

"Well, then," Garurumon snarled, "let's get expediting! Howling 
Blaster!"

A wall of blue flames shot from Garurumon's mouth toward Kurarimon. The 
flames, as before, seemed to part around her, shooting to either side as 
water slides around a rock in the riverbed.

"You call that an attack?" she jeered. "Pathetic!' She drew her hands up 
near her face, then thrust her arms forward. "Clown Trick!"

A sort of rippling distortion purled through the air toward the 
children. The distortion wave slammed into Yamato and Garurumon, hurling 
them backward, tossing them like toys. 

"That one is an old favorite of yours, isn't it, Digidestined?" 
Kurarimon taunted, advancing on them slowly.

With a grunt, Yamato pushed up to his hands and knees.

"Try your hand at Trump Swords again," Yamato growled in response.

"Yeah, maybe you'll hit your OTHER eye," Tai spat acridly. "That might 
even the odds a little."

Kurarimon reeled back, furious, narrowing her one good eye.

"I see Pipermon has been telling you my little secrets, now hasn't she?" 
she hissed. Then a crazed grin crossed her face, and she threw her head 
back in wild laughter. "Oh, but you children made a fatal mistake in 
pushing Pipermon away," she cackled. "She was hopelessly devoted to your 
cause before you decided she was the enemy." She stopped laughing, but 
the wild smile never left her lips. "With Pipermon on your side," she 
added quietly, "you might have actually stood a chance against me..."

"She wouldn't have helped us fight you anyway," Jyou shouted trivially. 
"She felt she owed you something."

"Aside from a kick in the--?"

"Tai," Sora chided before he could finish, "petty insults won't help."

"Yeah, but it'd sure make ME feel better..." he grumbled.

Kurarimon straightened her back, and glared down her nose at the 
Digidestined.

"I grow tired of your loquacity," she said coldly.

"Our what?" TK asked.

"It's a polite way of telling us to shut up," Izzy said matter-of-
factly. TK scowled.

"Oh..."

Kurarimon's ruby eyes flashed wickedly.

"Enough playing around, Digi-dimwits," she said, an insane undertone in 
her husky voice, "your time is up!"

"Not yet, it isn't," Yamato shouted, leaping to his feet. He turned to 
Garurumon, and shouted, "Digivolve!"

"Garurumon...digivolve to--"

"Greymon...digivolve to--"

"Ikkakumon...digivolve to--"

"Togemon...digivolve to--"

"Birdramon...digivolve to--"

"Kabuterimon...digivolve to--"

"Angemon...digivolve to--"

There was a blast of light as the children's digivices began to glow, 
stronger still than they had been before, gleaming with the light of the 
strength of their spirits. Their respective digimon were engulfed in a 
colorful brilliance, and they began to change again.

"--Weregarurumon!"

"--Metal Greymon!"

"--Zudomon!"

"--Lillymon!"

"--Garudamon!"

"--Megakabuterimon!"

"--Magna Angemon!"

Kari and Angewoman stood aside to watch as the others achieved their 
fully digivolved forms. Gatomon, for some reason, was stronger than the 
others, and was able to remain constantly in her Champion form. Most 
digimon retained their Rookie form during downtime, as they had not the 
energy to keep their Champion evolution, but Gatomon had always seemed 
to have an aura of strength. Perhaps it came from working for an evil 
digimon in the past...that was bound to make anyone harden her spirit.

Metal Greymon flapped his torn pewter-colored wings and roared, "Giga 
Blaster!", sending twin missiles shooting toward Kurarimon from a metal 
breastplate he wore on his body. Weregarurumon adjusted his brass 
knuckles, then did a practice roundhouse kick before heading toward 
Kurarimon for his special Garuru Kick attack. The turtle-shelled Zudomon 
added his Vulcan's Hammer attack, and the elfin Lillymon threw in a 
Flower Cannon. After the huge Garudamon attacked with Wing Blade, and 
the mighty Megakabuterimon flew in with a Horn Buster, Angewoman and 
Magna Angemon garnished the onslaught with a Heaven's Charm and 
Destiny's Gate attack, hoping to drive the enemy into the same abyss her 
creator had been trapped in.

"That's done her for sure!" TK exulted, jumping up and down as a 
fantastic explosion erupted from the spot where the attacks had 
conglomerated. His joy, however, was a tad premature. Much to their 
dismay, the Digidestined watched as the smoke parted and the dust 
settled, only to see Kurarimon step out of the fray like one of the very 
nightmares she created. The look on her face was almost as though she 
was daring the children to try and stop her again.

She paused, and deliberately brushed some dust off her sleeves.

"Pathetic," she hissed, throwing her arms out at her sides. "What a 
joke." She thrust her arms up in the air, and the two nearest digimon, 
which happened to be Metal Greymon and Weregarurumon, were lifted from 
the ground. They let out startled yelps as Kurarimon snapped her hands 
back out at her sides and the digimon were flung backward. They slammed 
into the stone wall, and slid to the floor, both enveloped in light as 
they seemed to shrink, reverting to their Rookie forms. "You honestly 
believed that eight Ultimate level digimon could defeat ME?"

"Gabumon!" Yamato cried as his digimon hit the ground. "Oh, no!"

"Agumon!" Kari yelped, rushing over to her brother's fallen digimon. She 
took the little dragon's head in her hands and he attempted to give her 
a reassuring smile. It looked more like he was wincing.

Agumon.

Tai cursed his sightless eyes, for the millionth time since they had 
become as such. More than just the blindness itself, he hated the 
feeling it gave him...the feeling of helplessness...of uselessness. He 
couldn't even move, for fear of hitting someone or something. He felt 
dejected and worthless. What good was he as their leader if he couldn't 
lead the battle? he scoffed. Forget LEADING it, he thought to himself, 
I'd settle to be a PART of it... But he couldn�t...he had been reduced 
to a statue, more or less...unable to move, unable to participate... 
Unable even to see what was happening to his friends. Some leader I've 
turned out to be, he fumed. They're all in danger, and I can't do a damn 
thing!

He clenched his fists.

This is ridiculous! he thought. This is no time to be feeling sorry for 
myself! I won't let her beat us. I won't let her beat ME. Not like 
this...no way! He turned his head. There had to be something he could 
do...there had to be some way...

"Agumon!" he called, and Kari glanced up at her brother. There was a 
look of fierce determination in his eyes, one like she hadn't seen for a 
very long time. Agumon staggered to his feet, then, after regaining his 
composure, walked faithfully to Tai's side. Gabumon got up, and followed 
Yamato and the other children to where their leader stood. Tai dropped 
to one knee to stroke Agumon's head, silently apologizing for his own 
inability to help. He narrowed his eyes in dauntless resolve. "Agumon," 
he said after a moment's hesitation, "do you think you have the strength 
to digivolve again?"

Agumon sadly shook his orange head.

"I really don't think so, Tai," he replied honestly. Tai could hear the 
despondency in the digimon's voice.

"Me either," Gabumon groaned. "Whatever Kurarimon did to us, it totally 
drained all our energy."

There was a pause, and Tai felt a sick sinking feeling in the pit of his 
stomach. For the first time in a very long time...Tai didn't know what 
to do.

He jumped when he felt someone squeeze his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Tai," Sora said softly, "we'll figure something out."

"We always do," Mimi added with a big smile.

"And whatever happens," Kari concluded, "we'll all get through it 
together."

"Time to end the little pow-wow, children," Kurarimon's icy voice said, 
cutting into Tai's thoughts and snapping him back to the task at hand 
like a blast of cold wind. "Enough discussion," the evil digimon added, 
cracking her knuckles. "Time to get down to business..."

Tai whirled, and turned his head back over his shoulder to glare 
sightlessly at the enemy he had yet to truly lay eyes on. I will never 
let her win, he thought. No way, the Digidestined will not be brought 
down by such a deplorable creature.

"I won't have it!" Tai shouted, taking Kurarimon slightly by surprise. 
"I refuse to be beaten by a heartless monster such as you!"

Kurarimon smiled.

"Perhaps you are blinded in more than merely your eyes, Little One," she 
hissed, and Tai forbade himself to flinch at her words.

"We won't be defeated as easily as you may think, Kurarimon," Yamato 
growled.

"We may be just kids..." Sora began.

"But we will fight you all the way!" concluded Mimi, narrowing her large 
eyes.

Kurarimon's grin widened, and she lifted her chin.

"Oh, really?" she said softly. "Well, I do love a good challenge..." She 
raised her left arm at the elbow, and spread her spidery fingers. A dark 
orb of misty black energy began to form in her palm. "I am afraid, 
however," she went on, after the orb had grown to about the size of a 
plum, "that I do not have time to play with you right now, children. I 
really wish I could destroy each one of you, one at a time, slowly and 
painfully,"--she squinted at them over the ebony sphere--"but I'm simply 
too busy for that. You know, taking over the Digital World and all...it 
tends to take up a lot of one's time..." She chortled as the globe of 
darkness crackled and popped in her upturned palm as though an 
electrical current ran through it. The orb grew larger still, now about 
the size of a grapefruit.

"Heaven's Charm!" Angewoman shouted, attacking in a rather futile 
attempt to stop Kurarimon from doing whatever she was planning on doing. 
Kurarimon merely raised her other arm, and turned her palm inward, 
toward her face, stopping Angewoman's attack with no problem.

"She's just too powerful!" Jyou moaned.

"And too fast," added TK, a look of horror on his face.

"You're right," Kari agreed, looking at Angewoman, "she seems to see 
every one of our attacks coming and stops them before they reach her."

"We'll just have to be faster, then!" Izzy shouted, and looked at 
Megakabuterimon.

"Horn Buster!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon added.

"Flower Cannon!" Lillymon threw in her attack, too, hoping that 
Kurarimon would have a little more difficulty brushing off three attacks 
at once with only one hand free.

But she easily deflected the attacks, and her face had contorted with 
anger when the dust cleared.

"You weaklings dare to attack me?" she bellowed. "Your puny attacks 
couldn't hurt a Flymon! Do you honestly believe you can defeat me??"

"Wing Blade!" Garudamon cried, swooping low behind Kurarimon and 
catching her off-guard. With a cry, the evil digimon lurched forward, 
momentarily having lost her equilibrium. The dark orb she still held in 
her left hand was now larger than a soccer ball, and arcs of dark 
lightning curved through the air above it as she turned to face the 
children again.

"It is time to bid farewell to the Digidestined," Kurarimon growled 
menacingly, drawing back her left arm. Her ruby eye was an angry slit, 
and her dagger-sharp teeth were bared in fury. "Sayonara, children," she 
laughed, "the curtain is falling, and you won't be coming back for an 
encore." She gave a bloodthirsty smile, and her good eye flashed. 
"Obsidian Sphere!"

The orb in her hand started to glow, a deep indigo sheen that engulfed 
the entirety of the globe of darkness. The children gasped as a 
shockwave of the dark purple light erupted from the center of the 
sphere, knocking them all off their feet and sending their digimon 
sprawling. Tai managed to find Kari's wrist as they fell to their knees, 
and he hugged her shoulders close to his chest. She tightly clung to her 
brother�s arms, frightened but strangely calm. A strange feeling had 
come over her, as though someone were trying to tell her not to 
worry...that everything would be all right. Whether that was the work of 
some outside force or her own mind trying to console her, she could not 
tell, but it really didn't matter anyway...what would happen would, 
inevitably, happen. Kurarimon thrust her arms forward, and the sable-
colored globe of black energy sprang forth like a cannonball, headed 
right for the children. It sparked and crackled loudly, as though it was 
having trouble keeping its energy contained within the walls of the 
sphere.

"No!" Yamato cried, pushing TK the rest of the way to the ground in a 
last futile attempt to spare his little brother�s life, shielding the 
younger child with his body. Is this it? he wondered. Does it all end 
here? Now? Like this?

I'm sorry, you guys, Tai thought silently, hugging Kari close to him. 
I'm sorry. I failed as your leader, and I failed as your friend. I 
couldn't even help you fight... I'm so sorry...

As his thoughts trailed away, there was a strong blast of hot wind, and 
an electrical sensation rippled through the gale as the sphere slammed 
into the air surrounding the children, enveloping them in a deep indigo 
brilliance. With a cry, Tai felt himself slammed to the ground, and he 
twisted with lightning speed to avoid crushing Kari beneath him. He 
heard his sister�s horrified shriek, and Sora's scream of fear and the 
blue-black shadow of Kurarimon's attack enveloped them.

And then suddenly, the electric current ceased its serpentine writhing 
in the air, and the hot wind seemed to slow. The sound of the energy 
sphere's crackling complaints quieted.

"What happened?" Kari whispered, as though afraid the very air might 
shatter if she spoke above a hush. She lifted her head.

Yamato pulled himself from the ground and turned to look at TK, pushing 
up to his hands and knees. He made sure Takeru was all right, then 
looked up. He gasped, and got slowly to his feet.

"Pipermon...?" he asked, hardly believing his eyes. TK and the others 
moved to stand, slowly rising to their feet to stare, flabbergasted, at 
the equivocal digimon who had seemed so reluctant to choose sides.

They were now surrounded by a pale pinkish shell, and Kurarimon's wicked 
black lightning crackled all around them, but did not touch them. 
Pipermon was crouched just in front of them, one knee on the ground, her 
right hand up near her face and her left arm extended in front of her as 
she struggled to keep the protective shell up around them all. Her twin 
ponytails blew behind her in the tepid wind that swirled all around 
them, and filled the air with a soft jingling sound as the bells at the 
ends bounced in the blustery haven she had created.

"Pipermon?" Tai said softly, letting go of Kari's shoulders as he stood 
up. "What's...what's going on?"

She didn't reply. Her eyes were closed as she concentrated on fortifying 
the shell, her lips moving as she chanted the words to the spell over 
and over, "Patronus Liberum, Patronus Liberum..."

"Is that Latin?" Izzy asked quietly, perplexed and intrigued.

"Of course it is," Jyou said matter-of-factly. He prided himself on his 
knowledge of medical terms, many of which were in Latin. He had no idea 
what Patronus Liberum meant (not that he was going to tell anyone ELSE 
that...), but he knew that it was Latin.

Mimi's eyes got all watery.

"Oh, how NEAT!" she gushed. "Magic spells in Latin are supposed to be 
like ancient magic, like in fairy tales!"

"Mimi..." Izzy and Tai moaned in tandem.

"Well, they ARE..." she grumbled, pouting.

The children's attention quickly moved back to Pipermon as the chanting 
stopped, and she snapped her chin up, glaring directly at Kurarimon, 
whose face reflected something amid fury and sheer horror. Pipermon's 
eyes blazed with a white-hot rage, like cerulean flames, and she stood 
up straight, snapping her arms out to her sides. The pinkish shell 
exploded, sending Kurarimon's deadly Obsidian Sphere hurtling back at 
her. With a startled cry, Kurarimon leapt into the air, where she 
hovered several feet above the ground as the backfired spell shot past 
beneath her.

"Just exactly what do you think you are doing, Little Piper?" Kurarimon 
demanded, dropping back to the ground. Her cape ruffled as she rolled 
her shoulders backward, as though trying to brush off the fact that she 
had just been attacked by one of her own.

Pipermon's arms dropped back to her sides, and she narrowed her eyes 
angrily.

"Something I should have done a long time ago, Kurarimon," she shouted 
in reply. "I'm stopping you."




Sheesh, it's about time Pipermon got her head on straight, ne? Please 
review, I've been going through reader-comment withdrawal lately... 
::sigh:: But, then, I suppose that's my own fault for taking so 
godforsaken long... -__- Well, hope to hear from you all soon! Chotto 
matte!

~~hikari