Chapter Three
"Tai!" Sora called ahead to their leader, as he began to trudge off again into the thick multi-hued forest. She clambered after him, reaching out to catch his arm in a firm grip. "Aren't we even going to go after him?" she questioned heavily. Sora cold just let the digidestined fall apart, they had been through too much to let that happen. Despite what either Matt or Tai thought, Matt was still one of them.
"No way!" Tai huffed. "Why should we? He left on his own. It's not our responsibility to go chasing after him." He crossed his arms angrily across his chest, glaring at the others, waiting for one of them to challenge him. What did it matter if Matt ran off. ~We're better off without him.~
"He didn't just leave, Tai. You practically ordered him to go!" Sora retorted pointedly, showing rare heat. boys could be so thick at times. Matt and Tai were just proof.
Tai rolled his shoulders, frowning stubbornly. "It's not my fault that he chose now to finally start doing as I say." he turned around again, intent on hiking a while longer. Everyone else had thought that after Matt's departure they would at least be able to rest for a bit. Tai had other plans. Matt wasn't going to put him behind schedule any more. ~That is,~ Tai admitted, ~if I had a scheduel.~ "Let's get going!"
Both Mimi and Joe groaned loudly from over his shoulder, the rest of the kids were hardly any better. None said anything directly to him however. "Come on." Tai said to his reluctant followers. "How do you expect to get home when you can't even handle a little walking? we have to hustle! there are still tons of evil digimon for us to beat, so get marching!"
That stopped any and all complaints dead. The rest of the kids wearily filed into line, a stony silence encompassing the procession through the woods. everyone had complaints they wanted to air, but one quick peek at Tai's face as he glanced over his shoulder, eradicated the idea.
It was almost two hours later when they finally stopped, and only then because everyone had begun to trip over each other. Mimi had caused one chain reaction that resulted in half of them going down. Most of them stayed down too, until Tai had poked them. After that though, Tai had really had no choice but to call for a stop. They found a nice wide clearing that they could all fit into nicely. The clearing was shaped like a lopesided circle, still kind of brushy, but roomy anyways. There were enough sticks and twigs laying strewn on the grassy carpet to feed a good fire. The kids plopped down heavily onto the hard ground gratefully. The digimon fell asleep in a large pile, half of them still standing, held up by the others. Agumon clambered over to the pile and joined the other sleeping digimon after he had lit the fire. Even he had been slightly afraid of Tai today. Tai was acting strange, but then again, fighting with Matt always put Tai into bad moods.
Tai sat down finally on a nearby log, poking at the small fire with a stick. His stomach growled grumpily, making Tai aware of how hungry he was. He wouldn't admit it, but he had completely forgotten to look for food during today's walk. They didn't have much to go on for tonight. It didn't matter though, Tai tried to convince himself. One slim night never killed anyone. The rest of the digidestined were already starting to doze off where the sat, Tai supposed this meant he got first watch. He surveyed the camp critically, at least it was a nice spot, and it was a mild night. The pinkish coloured trees swayed gently in a light breeze, and the fire danced merrily in front of him. The other kids were now stretched out on the other side of the fire, sleeping. Except for Matt.
Tai scowled, scrubbing a hand through his spiky brown hair, and straightening his trademark goggles. Sora was wrong, it wasn't his fault Matt left. He chose to do it himself. Tai was not responsible for anything Matt did, ever. Matt had taken off all on his own. Than why was it bothering Tai so much? Tai ignored the unasked question, it was pointless brooding over it, not when there was nothing he could do about it.
As night time settled over the clearing Tai's chin slowly sunk to his chest, his breathing deepening. He was fast asleep, sitting sitting up, perched on the log, when the stranger walked up behind him, smiling.
It wasn't a cheerful smile. It was a sick smile, an evil smile. The mouth twisting up at the corners in a perversion of a smile. The figure was dressed all in black, a long cloak flowing down over his shoulders. The hood covered his face, swallowing it in murkiness, all except the dark smile. The cloak itself gleamed like the night sky, deep and inky, other darker colours swirling in it's depths. It seemed to absorb all light that touched it, and shine back with it's own malevolence. The figure turned slightly, looking at each of the other children in turn. He had plans for each one of them, most involved death. A few had other uses though.
The stranger smiled again, turning back towards the boy on the log, their leader. There was really no honour in attacking them while they slept, more importantly, he wanted the pleasure of them knowing what was happening. He raised one black clad leg and spitefully kicked the kid in front of him, sending the boy sprawling, almost into the fire. the boy jumped up after hitting the ground, slightly scraped, with his fist raised. "Everyone, get up!" he hollered, startling the others out of sleep.
Tai glared at the figure before him. It was a man, tall and lanky, but looked very strong. He was fairly older than Tai, maybe around his parents age. It was impossible to tell exactly, the man wore a flowing cape, with a large cowl covering most of his face. the lips were quirked slightly into a smile, like he was silently laughing at Tai.
"Who do you think you are!?" Tai demanded heatedly as the others all rose around him. Agumon took a protective stance by his side, eying the stranger dangerously.
The man shrugged, making an offhand motion. "I've had tons of names. It'd not important. We won't know each other long anyways." The smile opened wide, as if he had made a joke, but menace shone through as well. "I'm only here to kill you Tai. You and the digidestined." The man laughed silently again. His statements sound like something taken directly out of a bad horror flick. He didn't care, he could be cliche.
Tai stepped back, unsure. "What are you? How do you know my name? Answer me!" he tried to sound calm, brave. The words quavered slightly on the way out.
"I know all about each of you." He replied easily. "That's why I'll finally be the one to get rid of you." A slight edge entered the stranger's normally flat voice, but he smoothed it out again. "Well, and the fact that I'm stronger than any digimon."
Tai's eyes opened wide, "You're Cronosmon?" he hissed, taken aback.
To the digidestined's surprise, that struck the man as hilarious. "Cronosmon? Me? Cronosmon is just a powerless idiot, who once made the mistake of trusting me. He gave me this cloak, it's how he lures in all his slaves. I was too strong for him, and I took his power." the man smiled "Cliche." he murmured. "You have to announce your origins, and then your evil plan to your victim."
Sora stepped forward, standing at Tai's other side. "Why are you here? Why do you want to kill us? You're not a digimon, so what does it matter?" She asked emotionally, looking fiercely at the figure in black.
The man shrugged again. "I want the digiworld. You're a problem in the future though, so I had to come back to now. You're still weak here."
"You're from the future?" TK said, accidentally voicing his thoughts. Patamon hovered above him, glaring and scowling and the stranger.
The man turned aside, sighing. He looked back at the digidestined frowning. "Let's get on with it."
No words accompanied the action, or force. The stranger simply lifted his hand and a thick beam of darkness blasted forth, exploding through the clearing, sending the kids and digimon sprawling to the ground. "Agumon!" Tai yelled furiously, picking himself up. "Digivolve!" the other kids followed suit, call on their digimon.
Agumon digivolve to....Greymon!
Biyomon digivolve to....Birdramon!
Tentomon digivolve to....Kabuterimon!
Palmon digivolve to....Togemon!
Gomamon digivolve to....Ikkakumon!
"Nova Blast!" Greymon growled, spitting a huge ball of blazing fire at the stranger. Than man brushed the fireball away as though it were nothing.
"Harpoon Torpedo!" several of Ikkakumon's missiles shot through the air. The attack bounced harmlessly off the cloak, not even phasing it's wearer.
The man raised his hands again, sending two identical dark beams speeding through the clearing. The first beam took Ikkakumon straight on, sending the huge walrus-like digimon flying through the clearing. Greymon clumsily dodged the second beam, grazing him across the back. The dinosaur digimon groaned in pain. Tai's crest glowed incandescently, giving his digimon new strength.
Greymon digivolve to....MetalGreymon!
Pushing himself up, MetalGreymon faced the man. "Giga Blaster!" he shouted, using his strongest attack on the enemy. The whole area around the stranger exploded in a charred mass, but he remained standing there in the center, calm as ever. "Tai, I don't know what to do!" MetalGreymon confessed.
Tai shivered. "Neither do I." his voice came out thin and scared. He couldn't give up, that was not an option. He just didn't know what to do next.
Birdramon raced high into the sky, spraying down a whole host of meteors, but none reached the man. As he pointed at each one it disappeared even as it streaked toward the ground. Birdramon suddenly felt pressed in from all sides, trapped by an unseen force. The giant bird was hurled into Kabuterimon as he launched his attack. Struck painfully by the electricity, Birdramon fell from the sky, de-digivolving into Biyomon as she landed. Sora cried out, rushing to help her wounded digimon.
"Tai, he's creaming us!" Izzy shouted over the blast of explosions as MetalGreymon tried to attack again.
The man lifted up both his arms above his head, a glowing black ball coalesced between his hands. Threads wove out of the ball, flying toward the digimon, and latching on. The digimon writhed in pain, and glowed brightly, as they devolved back to their trainee forms. "Koromon!" Tai shouted, running to pick up his digimon. He looked back up at he man, glaring. The stranger looked back, a smile of grim satisfaction settled on his face.
TK look worriedly at the carnage around him. Only Biyomon, Gabumon, and Patamon were still in their rookie forms. Biyomon was hurt, and Gabumon couldn't digivolve with out Matt. ~Where is Matt? He should be here.~ TK looked over at Patamon and nodded, giving his digimon the cue. Patamon nodded back, ready to fight.
Patamon digivolve to....Angemon!
The angel rose high above them, looking down on their attacker with steely determination. They would win. "Hand of Fate!" he called, raising his arm toward the cloaked man. A great beam of yellow-white light shot forth, streaming downwards. the figure's dark beam met with the light one, striking sparks. Angemon bent all his will and might into sustaining the attack, but he was steadily being beaten back. His own light cut off abruptly as he grew too weak. The black beam burst through, striking him forcefully, and he careened toward the ground. After he was laying motionless, he de-volved back into Tokomon.
TK held him tightly, looking around at the fear and worry that stained the older kids' faces. What would happen next?
"Oh no!" Mimi whispered fearfully, wringing her hat between her hands. "We're doomed! we can't...I just...." she trailed off sobbing into Tanemon.
"Don't give up Mimi," Sora said, kneeling beside the other girl. "There's still hope. Matt will come back, I know it!" she offered her faith to Mimi. It could happen, Matt could come back. He had to. ~Matt, please come back.~
Everyone else shared the same hope. they were losing because they weren't whole. If Matt came back, then they could win. They were a team. Nothing could beat them when they were all together. ~Nothing.~
