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Um...here.



Games of the Mind *Chapter Sixteen*





When there was silence again, Pipermon turned back to frown at the empty 
air, cursing herself for having just committed the heinous act she had.

She was a murderer.

She sank slowly back to the ground, her mind a mix of a myriad of 
horrible emotions...anger, fear, hatred... She had killed two of her 
fellow digimon... She never imagined that taking a life would feel this 
way...she felt as though her heart had been torn from her chest by way 
of her own hands. She clenched her fists in rage and guilt, condemning 
her very name for the perpetual bloodstains she would now bear on her 
soul. She slumped to the ground, and her legs gave out from under her. 
Falling forward on her hands and knees, she squeezed her eyes shut, 
feeling weak and sick.

"What...what have I done...?" she whispered, staring at her fingers as 
they dug into the dirt beneath her. "What have I DONE??"

She sucked in a sharp breath when she saw a pair of feet approach and 
stop just before her. She didn't look up. She didn't have to, she 
already knew who it was.

"Pipermon..." Yamato said softly. 

"Pipermon!" Jyou gasped, running up behind Yamato. "Pipermon, you're 
BLEEDING!"

There were cries of shock and surprise as the rest of the children 
gathered around the wounded Pipermon. Yamato gnawed on his lower lip, 
feeling guilty for having said so many awful things about her before.

He dropped to one knee. "You...you saved us, Pipermon," he said. "You 
destroyed them...destroyed your own comrades...to save all of us..." 

She looked up at him, her stomach reeling. He did not smile, but there 
was gratitude in his eyes that said much more than a smile ever could 
have. Glancing around, Pipermon saw the rest of the children had all 
gathered around her, all looking quite like they had seen better days. 
Jyou's glasses were bent and resting rather sideways on the bridge of 
his nose, and his duffel was covered in dust, the strap fraying near one 
end. Mimi's hair was all disheveled (and she was rapidly trying to 
remedy that), and she had scrapes on her knees. Plus, all of the digimon 
were back in their Rookie forms, save Gatomon who remained in Champion. 
Pipermon shook her head. Children should not be subjected to such 
things, she thought. These are horrors that would bring most adults to 
their knees, and yet, somehow...these children remained standing, ready 
for more, ready to throw down their lives to save this world and their 
own. Ready to do whatever it took to brink Kurarimon down. She shook her 
head again. 

TK looked all around them, his large blue eyes scanning the damage 
surrounding them. "Does this mean we won?" he asked timidly.

"Iie, Takeru-san," Pipermon said, "we haven't won anything..."

"But Kurarimon is--"

"Temporarily out of commission," she interrupted Sora, quickly getting 
to her feet, wincing as the pain in her cut shoulder screamed when she 
moved. She grit her teeth. "I've bought you some time, that's all."

Yamato stood up and spread his arms to his sides. "So what do we do 
now?" he asked. "Tell us what we need to do, Pipermon."

"We'll get her while she's down and be done with it," Jyou said.

"Quick and painless," Gomamon added.

"That's all she wrote," a newly recovered Tentomon concluded.

"I didn't see her write anything," TK whispered to Patamon, who 
shrugged.

Suddenly, Pipermon found ever pair of eyes was upon her. She fidgeted.

"Well?" Tai coaxed.

"I can't," she whispered.

Yamato fisted his hands and growled angrily. "Not this again," he 
snarled. "What's wrong NOW?"

"Clearly your intentions lean toward helping us," Izzy noted, "so why do 
you refuse to do that?"

Pipermon shook her head. "No, you've got it all backwards," she told 
them, wringing her hands. "It's not that I won't...it's that I CAN'T."

"You've told us that a dozen times," Gabumon accused, "and you've yet to 
explain the reasons behind that statement."

"Why is it that you will fight Kurarimon FOR us," Patamon asked, "but 
refuse to tell us how WE can destroy her?"

"Because if I tell you then it won't work," she said, gritting her 
teeth.

"Nanda?!" Yamato exclaimed.

"I can't tell you anything more than I already have," she said firmly. 
"This is something you kids must discover on your own. I have evened the 
odds as much as I--" She paused, and her eyes fell on Taichi. "Oh, 
wait," she whispered, "I forgot..." She paused, then crossed her wrists 
in front of her, twisting them inward until her fingertips touched. 
Whispering something the children couldn't quite hear, she then cupped 
her right hand in the palm of her left, and the glowing blue sphere 
faithfully returned, reappearing safely in her hand. She smiled at it, 
then looked up, slowly walking toward Tai. "Kamiya-san," she said, 
cupping the sphere gingerly, as though afraid it would break, "close 
your eyes."

He snorted. "Like it makes a difference..." he groused.

"It will," she replied hotly, dropping to one knee in front of him. 
"Trust me, just close your eyes."

Rather perplexed, Tai did as she said, and closed his eyes. He was 
momentarily startled by the fact that there was no difference. He was 
looking at the same blackness he saw when his eyes were open, which was 
quite a troubling prospect. He uncomfortably shifted his weight from one 
foot to the other, and then he heard Pipermon slowly begin to chant 
something; soft, rhyming stanzas that almost sounded as if they could 
have been song lyrics.



"Through eyes that can't see, on wings that can't fly;
in a voice that can't speak lives a song that won't die.



"Turning hatred to friendship, forging courage from dread,
it takes your very deepest fears and makes them strengths instead.



"The song is called Hope, and Hope is eternal
as long as it lives in a heart filled with light.
It will let the lame walk, bring faith to the lost,
and return to the blinded their heaven-sent sight!"



She flattened out her palms and blew softly on the sphere, which had 
darkened to a deep indigo color. The glowing globe of blue light lifted 
silently from her hand and hovered in front of Tai's nose. He scrunched 
up his mouth when he felt a strange sort of warmth across his face as 
the sphere floated closer. Pipermon splayed her fingers, angling them 
inward, and guided the little orb closer to Tai's face. The second the 
glowing ball of light touched the bridge of the boy's nose, the blue 
radiance exploded, spreading across his eyes until there was a bright 
patch of blue running horizontally across his cheekbones that spread 
quickly up to his brow.

He let out a strangled cry and clapped his palms over his eyes as a 
strange sensation rippled across his face. It didn't hurt, not really, 
it felt more like the prickly pins-and-needles sensation one feels after 
their foot has fallen asleep. However, as the feeling intensified, it 
began to burn...

Yamato started to step forward when Tai let out another yelp and dropped 
to his knees, pressing the heels of his hands into the hollows of his 
eyes. Pipermon frowned, looking away, then lifted a few inches off the 
ground and floated slowly backward until she was several feet behind the 
group of children, none of whom seemed to notice she had left. The 
Digidestined gathered, anxious, in a horseshoe shape around Tai. He 
squeezed his eyes shut and lurched forward, catching himself on his 
right arm, his left hand now covering both eyes. He grit his teeth 
against the burning in his eyes.

What've you DONE to me? he cried silently. Pipermon...what did you DO?!

Then suddenly, the pain was gone. As quickly as it had stricken him, the 
burning pain had vanished. With his left hand still covering them, Tai 
slowly opened his eyes--

--and yelped as a brilliant white light flooded them. He cringed and 
clamped his eyes closed again to block out the bright whiteness. What 
had happened? It was like the complete opposite of what had happened to 
him before!!

"Tai?" came a frightened voice, and he felt Kari's touch lightly on his 
shoulder.

"I'm okay, Kari," he said softly, though he wasn't certain he believed 
it himself. He carefully trying to open his eyes again, half expecting 
the white light to greet him a second time, instead of the blackness he 
had become so accustomed to. He slowly opened one eye. The white light 
had dimmed so it wasn't quite so bright, and he looked down at the palm 
of his hand that he still had up near his face. Looked at his--? Hey--
wait a second!!

He blinked rapidly, then pulled his hand away from his face. Waggling 
his fingers, he let out a startled shout of sheer delight as his eyes 
saw his fingers move. He snapped his head up sharply and saw Kari's 
concerned eyes looking straight into his. He SAW them. Still reeling 
with disbelief, he leapt to his feet, nearly knocking Kari backward. He 
stood up straight, and scanned the faces of the other children slowly. 
Sora, a look of panic in her lovely green eyes, was fearfully clutching 
her forearms, as though she were cold. Jyou, beside her, looked about 
ready to vomit...but, then again, he tended to look that way 
frequently... Yamato and TK stood next to him, Yamato's fists clenched 
in hopeful anxiety. Nearby stood Mimi, her large eyes glazed with tears, 
and Izzy, clutching his computer tightly to his chest. Scattered in 
between the children were their digimon, similar expressions of fear and 
hope in their eyes. Tai looked at Agumon, who looked more despondent 
than he had seen the little dragon look in a long time. Agumon, he 
thought to himself, and a small smile crossed his lips. He looked back 
down at Kari, who had backed up a little bit, and he reached his arm out 
to her.

"Kari...?" he said, as though he wasn't quite certain it was really her. 
She blinked. A huge grin suddenly split his face. "Don't look so 
worried, Li'l Sis," he chided, winking at her. 

"Look so...?" she echoed almost inaudibly, and then she beamed. "Tai!" 
she cried, rushing forward. "You can see again!!"

He stooped over and spread his arms, wrapping her in a tight embrace, 
then he lifted her high in the air, spinning her around and around, 
laughing--something he hadn't really done since this whole ordeal had 
begun. He had forgotten how good it felt to really laugh. He brought his 
arms down and hugged his sister again, tightly, almost desperately. "I 
thought I would never see you again, Kar," he said softly, his voice 
cracking. "Literally..." he added dryly as she pulled her face back to 
look at him. His signature lopsided grin was wider than ever, and his 
warm brown eyes had that mischievous sparkle in them again. "The goggles 
look good on you, Kar," he added after a pause, and she laughed. The old 
Tai was back.

He looked past her at the others, beaming, and the expressions of the 
Digidestined turned from those of fear and concern to relieved joy as 
they rushed forward toward the friend and leader they had been so 
worried about for the past four days. Sora took his arm in hers and 
hugged it tightly to her side, and Kari threw her arms around his neck, 
the smile never leaving her face. Tai clasped hands with Yamato, and the 
blond boy gave him a look that betrayed so many emotions at once it 
could not quite be interpreted to mean one thing or another.

"Welcome back, Tai," he said.

Betwixt all the laughter and clamoring of voices, Tai had a strange 
feeling that something was missing. With a small frown, he set his 
sister back down on the ground and lifted his head. The voices died down 
as all eyes turned to Tai, who was surveying their surrounding as though 
looking for something he had lost.

"Tai, what is it?" Sora asked softly. "What's wrong?"

And then he noticed, off to the right, a lone figure standing, her hands 
clasped behind her back, a pair of ponytails crowning her head. Tai took 
a tentative step toward her. "Pipermon?" he asked, and suddenly felt 
stupid. As if it could have been anyone else, he told himself wryly. 

She met his eyes, and smiled broadly. "A face to go with the voice, ne?"

A smile split the boy's face as he was finally able to look at the 
digimon who had done so much for him--for all of them. His eyes had only 
been dark for four days, but he felt as though he had missed a lifetime 
of things in that time span. She approached the children again, and Tai 
struggled to stammer a thank you, but Pipermon waved her hand as a sign 
that he really needed say nothing.

"I believe it was the least I could have done, for all the trouble I 
caused you," she said. "I merely gave back what was stolen away from 
you."

"You've done a lot more than that, Pipermon," Tai said, smiling 
gratefully. 

"How did you do it?" Jyou asked eagerly. "I thought you said you 
couldn't!"

"I said I couldn't unless I got his sight back from Kurarimon," she 
corrected with a sly smile. "I did just that."

"What did you mean?" Yamato suddenly piped up, slicing through the happy 
chatter like a jagged knife. She looked at him. He squinted. "You said 
before that you couldn�t tell us what to do, that if you did, it 
wouldn�t work." He paused. "What did you mean?"

She frowned. "Listen to me," she said, "I can't tell you how to destroy 
Kurarimon. I just can't. If I tell you how to do it, then you won't be 
able to. You have to find out for yourselves." Yamato gave her a 
skeptical look, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Haven't you figured 
it out yet?" she asked, spreading her arms. "Everything she's done has 
been a clue. Everything that's happened to you has been a clue. Haven't 
you seen the connections?"

"Connections?" Agumon echoed.

"Is that like what you do with the dots in those activity books they 
give you on airplanes?" Mimi asked facetiously.

"I prefer an internet connection," Izzy mumbled.

Pipermon let out an exasperated sigh. "She's been TOYING with all of 
you!" she cried. "This whole time, she's been toying with you! It's just 
another one of her games! The entire ordeal, everything--they've all 
been pointing to one thing! Have you all been blind!?" She gasped when 
she realized what she had said, and looked at Tai. He blinked at her, 
and she floundered. "Sorry," she mumbled, feeling like an idiot. 
Recovering quickly, she looked at Yamato. "Think about this," she 
instructed, "what was the first thing that happened? The first event 
that alerted you that something wasn't right?"

"The fact that I had gone blind..." Tai said without hesitation, a 
little bitterness in his voice. "And the nightmare."

Pipermon smacked her fist into her palm. "Exactly!" she shouted. "So 
what do you see when you can't? What stands before the eyes of the 
blind?"

"Nothing," Kari said.

"Uhn-uhn," Pipermon said, shaking her head. "Guess again...it's not that 
nothing is there, its' just that all they see is--"

"Blackness," Tai said quietly. "Nothingness..."

"Keep going," Pipermon urged, gesturing with her hands.

"Darkness!" he said.

"Bingo!" she exulted. "And what was it in the nightmare that you ran 
from?"

"The darkness," he said again. "The cloud...it was so dark..."

Her face broke into a wide grin. "You're getting it," she said. "And 
what happened then?"

"The storms," Kari said, pointing skyward. "The huge storms over 
Odaiba."

"Uh-huh," Pipermon affirmed, "and what was unusual about them?"

"There was no lightning," Jyou said after a moment of silence. "No 
lightning at all!"

"But what does it all mean?" Mimi asked.

"Haven't you kids noticed the changes around here?" Pipermon asked. "How 
the air has grown so cold, how the sky grows dark so fast?" She turned 
and looked at Sora. "Sora-san, when you were hit with Kurarimon's magic, 
what happened? What did you feel?"

"I was cold,� Sora said. "It was like my blood had gone cold. The pain 
was so intense, I couldn't even see! It was like everything had gone"--
she gasped at the realization of what she was about to say.

"Dark..." Pipermon concluded slowly, and Sora nodded eagerly. Pipermon 
looked at Yamato. "Yamato-san, the hallucinations you experienced," she 
continued, "the faces you saw, the voices you heard...what was it that 
caused their pain? What was it that was driving them mad?"

"The darkness..." he said slowly. "Everything...everything I 
saw...around them...it was jet black..."

"Hai," she said, clasping her hands together. She gestured off to one 
side. "Look over there," she went on, pointing, "look at those trees, 
what is strange about them?"

The children all turned their eyes to the grove of trees off to their 
left. They were small, with thick trunks and low, flat, skeletal 
branches. But--wait a second--they were all--!

"Dead!" TK gasped. "they're all dead!"

"Yes!" Pipermon responded. "And what must a tree have in order to live? 
What does it need that it doesn't get here?"

"Sunlight," Jyou answered quickly.

"So what made these trees die?" Pipermon prodded further.

"The darkness," Izzy said. "Trees can't live in darkness, they need 
sunlight for photosynthesis. Without light, they cannot produce the 
energy they need to live."

Kari inhaled sharply as something clicked in the back of her mind.

Darkness, she thought, and furrowed her brow. There is one way to beat 
the darkness...

"Right, Izumi-san," Pipermon told him. She gave Yamato a pointed look. 
"The whole time, Kurarimon has been flaunting her strength...but at the 
same time, she was betraying her weakness."

Yamato scowled at her. "Will you knock off the Obi-wan Kenobi BS?" he 
growled. "Just give us a straight answer for once, dammit!"

"I've already told you," Pipermon snapped back. "I CAN'T do that, 
Yamato-san, why won't you LISTEN??" She fisted her hands. "I've gotten 
the twins out of the way,"--her breath caught in her throat, and she 
looked down and briefly squinted her eyes shut--"Kurarimon is all yours 
now, with no distractions." She lifted her head. "All you have to do now 
is figure out what it is you're supposed to do..."

"But we already hit her with everything we had," Tai said softly, "and 
it wasn't enough."

"What more can we do?" Mimi asked.

The darkness... The wheels in Kari�s head were turning as her mind put 
the pieces together. Kurarimon's strength lies in the darkness... One 
way to lift the black of night...

"I told you children already..." Pipermon said firmly.

The only way to destroy a shadow...

"...that strength alone would not be enough."

...is to use...

"Then what is??" Yamato demanded.

...the powers of...

"Light!" Kari cried suddenly, startling everyone, including Pipermon. 
"The powers of light!" She looked at Pipermon. "You've been trying to 
tell us that the entire time, haven't you? Her weakness is light!" Her 
eyes moved to her brother. "It's...it's me..."

"You, Kar?" Tai asked, sounding worried. "But...but why you?"

Kari placed her hand near her heart. "Because it is the power of my 
crest, Tai," she said, smiling at the others. "It's like you said to me 
before, Pipermon:" she went on, "'There is one way to beat the darkness/ 
One way to lift the black of night/ The only way to destroy a shadow/ is 
to use the powers of..."--she paused--"light."

"Light?" Yamato echoed incredulously. He scowled at Pipermon. "And how 
hard would it have been to tell us that, like...YESTERDAY?"

"Once and a thousand times," Pipermon said in exasperation, "I couldn't 
have." She suddenly looked as though the weight of the world had been 
lifted from her shoulders. She was so happy that they had finally 
discovered what they needed to. Maybe now things would end up the way 
they were supposed to. "The power of light over darkness is a fragile 
one...the balance is delicate. It is something that must be discovered, 
not something that can be told. For the power to work, not only must 
that person's heart be filled with light and hope...but so, too, must 
their mind."

"So...it was like the light had to come on in our brains before the 
power would work?" Mimi guessed.

"Exactly."

Yamato scoffed.

Pipermon gave him a sidelong glance. "If you kids hadn't discovered it 
on your own...brought it to light, if you will," she continued, "then 
the power would not have worked."

"So why didn't Kurarimon just tell us?" Yamato sneered. "If that would 
have screwed us over, why didn't she just tell us 'it's light!' ?"

"Because she didn't know," Pipermon snapped. "She didn't know that 
telling you would mean your destruction. She had no idea that all she 
had to do to thwart all your efforts was tell you exactly what I had so 
often refused."

Yamato narrowed his eyes. "Why?" he demanded. "if you knew, why didn�t 
she?"

"Because she never bothered to think about it," Pipermon shot back. "She 
never stopped to think that the obvious answer might be the wrong one. 
It never occurred to her that the beaten path would lead her to 
destruction...she never stopped to think that the ..." She paused. "It 
doesn't matter," she went on after a moment. "You have the key now, and 
that's what counts."

"But why Kari?" Tai asked, clenching his fists. "Why does she have to be 
the one to do it?"

Pipermon frowned. "That is her crest, Kamiya-san, and the power within 
her spirit." She paused. "It wasn't her choice," she continued, "nor 
anyone else's really... She bears the crest. She has the power, and the 
light within that can save you all."

"But what do I do now?" Hikari asked softly. "Now that we know it's up 
to me...what am I supposed to do? I dunno how to use my light against 
her."

"You WILL, Hikari-san," Pipermon assured her. "When the time comes, you 
will know what to do."

Tai scowled. Why can't it be me? he fumed silently. This had happened 
once before, when a magical entity had taken control of Kari's body to 
give the Digidestined some much-needed information about their 
pasts...how they had witnessed the fantastic battle between Greymon and 
Parrotmon six years ago at Heighton View Terrace...how that had been the 
night they had been chosen to be the Digidestined... The creature had 
only been able to communicate with the bearer of the crest of light, and 
hence, it had no choice but to borrow Kari's body for its informational 
purposes. It was then that they had first learned the power of the crest 
of light. How, within the heart of one of the group's youngest members, 
slept a power more awesome than any of the others. It had infuriated Tai 
that such responsibility should rest upon the fragile shoulders of his 
little sister. How he had wished desperately that he could take those 
responsibilities upon himself and save Kari from them, knowing very well 
he could not. One could not choose the crest they bore, it was simply a 
reflection of the strongest trait within that person's heart.

He sighed.

Not again, he thought. Why did it have to be Kari?

"Kamiya-san?" Pipermon said, and he glanced up at her, again reveling, 
for just a moment, at how wonderful it was to be able to see again. 
Pipermon leaned down slightly and gave him a small smile. "Kamiya-san, 
she won't be fighting all alone," she told him, as though she could read 
his thoughts. He raised his eyebrows in question. "You'll all be helping 
her," she continued. "For, just as Courage alone would never be able to 
destroy Kurarimon, neither would Light." She paused dramatically. "It's 
going to take all of you,"--she glanced at Kari--"but, Hikari-san, you 
must be the catalyst. YOU must knock over the first domino."

"Domino?" she echoed, scrunching up her nose. "But how?" she asked 
again.

Pipermon smiled cryptically. "You'll know when you need to," she said, 
and stood up straight, looking to Tai again. Taichi gave her a somber 
look, then glanced back at his friends. A smile crept its way across his 
face. How he had missed them. There was just something so reassuring 
about their faces...even when they were frightened, or hurt, or 
lost...it was comforting to see that, as long as the Digidestined were a 
team, no one would be afraid or injured alone. Oh, it was true, they had 
been there the whole time, but it just wasn't the same, being able to 
hear them but not see them...to feel their presence and yet never see 
their faces... He made a promise to never again take his sight for 
granted, for he had seen how quickly it could be snatched away.

Tai was so busy studying their faces, that he failed to see the movement 
just off to his left. He didn't see Kurarimon's single red eye blaze in 
fury as she slowly, painfully, pushed to her hands and knees. he didn't 
notice as she drew her hands up to her chest, didn't realize what she 
was doing as a dark sphere gathered between her palms. No one saw the 
black orb between her hands until it was too late to stop it.

"Obsidian Sphere!"

"Tai, watch out!!"

"Huh--?"

Tai whirled to his left and saw the sphere of dark energy flying toward 
him. Time seemed to stop, and Tai finally saw his enemy. He gasped at 
the sight of her; the single blood-red eye, the bloodthirsty snarl on 
her face... As the seconds seemed to protract to minutes...to hours, Tai 
saw the crackling orb of black lightning hurtling his way. With a 
startled cry, he threw his arms up in front of his face in an effort to 
shield himself.

Then suddenly he was shoved hard to the side.

Time resumed its normal speed.

Tai hit the ground hard, snapping his head up quickly to see who had 
pushed him out of the way. He let out a strangled cry of horror.

"Izzy--NO!"

Koushiro had seen what the enemy was up to just in time to push Tai out 
of the way...but there hadn't been enough time...he hadn't been fats 
enough...to save himself. Now he jerked and convulsed in the black 
energy of Kurarimon's wicked spell.

"Izzy!" Tai cried, leaping to his feet, ignoring the pain in his side 
where he had hit the ground. "Dammit!"

"No!! Izumi-san!!" Pipermon shrieked. "Deuces Wild!" she shouted, 
sending the cards flying at Kurarimon, screaming vile curses at the 
digimon she had once called master. She gasped as Kurarimon's lightning 
ball fizzled and popped, then died out when its creator was bombarded 
with the charged cards and fell, reeling, to her knees, her power 
momentarily lost. "Izumi-san!" Pipermon choked out, lunging forward to 
catch the auburn-haired boy's lifeless body as he crumpled to the 
ground. She gripped his shoulders tightly and shook him gingerly in an 
effort to revive him. "Izumi-san! Izumi-san, come on, wake up!"

The others gathered in a tight circle around them, leaning in close to 
see what had happened. Tentomon was paralyzed, too stunned and shocked 
to move. Could...could Izzy really be...be dead? Could he really have 
sacrificed himself?

Pipermon shook him again, not even glancing up into the horrified eyes 
of the seven other Digidestined as they gazed, terrified by what had 
just happened, at their unmoving comrade.

"Izumi-san," Pipermon begged, "please...please open your eyes! Izumi-
san!!" She shook his shoulders again. "Koushiro-chan!" she cried 
desperately, her heart pounding in her throat. Oh, god, she thought, 
tell me he's not gone... Tell me we haven't lost him... "Izzy..." she 
whispered, a single tear sliding down her cheek, "Izzy...you can't be 
dead..."

Cradling his body, Pipermon lifted her head to glare in the direction of 
Kurarimon's battered form. Tai saw a furious flame in her eyes like 
nothing he had ever seen before. There was a deep, raw, burning hatred 
in her kind blue eyes now, a loathing like no other. For a split second, 
he felt a twinge of fear, and was suddenly very glad he was not the one 
on the receiving end of that fiery glare. She looked at Jyou and gave an 
almost imperceptible nod of her head, and he dropped to one knee to take 
Izzy's lifeless body from her grasp. She started to shift the boy's 
weight to the arms of his friend, but stopped suddenly, glancing down. 
She gasped as Izzy suddenly twitched in her arms and sucked in a ragged 
breath, then contorted into a racking fit of coughing.

"Izumi-san!" she cried, helping him sit up. She slid one arm around his 
heaving shoulders as Jyou took the boy's forearm, supporting him as he 
attempted to get the air back into his lungs. "Izumi-san, thank god 
you're all right,' she said, more to herself than anyone else. Koushiro 
glanced up at her, but said nothing, as though afraid to open his mouth 
to speak. His dark eyes were wide in fear, his heart thudding loudly in 
his throat.

"Wh...what happened?" he finally managed to rasp out.

"We thought you were a goner!" Tentomon said, relived, lifting off the 
ground, his insect-like wings buzzing softly.

Izzy grinned. "Tentom--" he started to say, then nearly collapsed in 
another fit of coughing.

"What the hell kind of stunt was that to pull, Izzy?" Tai demanded, too 
relieved to see Koushiro was okay to really be sore with him. "You about 
got yourself KILLED!"

Izzy locked eyes with Tai.

"You would have done the same for any of us, Tai," he said with a wan 
smile, and Tai's breath caught in his throat. He gave a half-grin.

"Glad you're okay, buddy," he said, clapping Izzy lightly on the 
shoulder.

Pipermon and Jyou helped Izzy to his feet, and then Pipermon turned, her 
eyes narrowed severely.

"Let's do it, then," she said icily.

"Pipermon?" Jyou asked.

She gave the Digidestined a look of pure determination. "I'm going to 
help you," she said without any hint of a waver in her voice. "If it 
takes my final breath to do so, I will help you destroy her." She fisted 
her hands and continued in a frigid whisper, "Kurarimon has hurt me for 
the last time..." She looked at Izzy, who appeared a little worse-for-
wear. "I will not see any of you children killed because of the 
ambiguity of my actions... I won't watch you be defeated because I 
hesitated."

There was a moment of stunned silence, then Tai clenched his hands.

"All right then," he said, pumping one fist into the air, "let's go take 
back the Digital World!"


Wellll...okay, here's the deal, I tried to post this last night...but my 
computer was being retarded and wouldn't do it (as I proceeded to shake 
the monitor back and forth a la Tai from the movie), so I said "fine, 
screw you then," and went to bed. So here I am, posting it this 
afternoon instead. Hah hah, stupid computer...Hikari is not so easily 
deterred, you dumb piece of machiney! Muhuhahahaha!!! ::gak:: Okay, 
sorry, I got a little carried away...must be this Tropical Strawberry 
Guava juice I bought at Food Lion. ~_^ Well, gang, we've reached the 
home stretch! Please review!! What do you think?? Who will triumph?? 
Ack! It's so exciting!!
~~hikari