Disclaimer: I'm not saying this anymore.... If you don't know by now, then oh well.

Chapter 10

"Alright! Now to take out the clown! You ready to DNA digivolve, XV-mon?" cried Davis.

"Davis, wait a sec!"

Everyone turned toward Tai. The younger boy looked at him, confused. "What's the matter? WarGreymon needs help, and Imperialdramon is the only one strong enough to stop Piedmon!"

"Look around you," he said, waving his arm at the pillared room. "First of all, the ceiling isn't high enough; Imperialdramon wouldn't fit well. Not to mention the pillars would get in the way. He's just too big. He'd be a sitting duck. They should digivolve to Paildramon. He's smaller and faster, making him a harder target to hit. Besides, if Piedmon does follow us out, we'll need Imperialdramon then... WHAT are you all staring at me for!?"

Matt smirked, "It's just that it's not like you to think a situation through so thoroughly before acting."

"You do tend to just rush in there a lot of the time, Tai," agreed his sister, Davis nodding beside her.

"Oh, who cares!?" he cried, "Just hurry up and digivolve! WarGreymon can't last much longer!"

"Right!" Davis looked at Ken who nodded. In a flash, Stingmon and XV-mon were replaced by Paildramon who immidiately ran towards the dueling megas, Angewomon following closely behind.

Piedmon glanced over at the newcomers while dodging WarGreymon's attack. "It seems your little friends have decided to interfere," he mused as he pulled his swords from his back. "I guess I'll just have to deal with them now rather than later. Trump Sword!" The mega's four swords flew at the oncoming digimon who immidiately flew out of the way.

"WarGreymon, we'll take it from here! You get out of here and make sure the Children return to the Digital World safely," Angewomon said as she readied a shining arrow. Exhausted, the mega glowed softly as he reverted back to his rookie form and ran back to his waiting partner.

"Celestial Arrow!"

"Clown Trick!" The arrow was blown away, and Angewomon quickly flew out of the way, watching as Paildramon unleashed his attack seconds later, only to have the sinister clown dodge once again.

"He's too fast!" he shouted, "We have to find a way to stall him just long enough for the Children to get through the gate, but how?"

Tai ran up to his injured partner. "Agumon! Are you gonna be ok?"

The little Digimon nodded. "We have to get out of here and quick! I don't know how long they'll be able to hold him."

"It's this way to the gate!" cried Matt as he led the way down a dim corridor, keeping an eye on his digivice. "Those two had better follow us or they won't be able to get out."

"Paildramon! Hurry up! You can't lose sight of us or you'll never know the way back!" shouted Davis over his shoulder, glancing back as his partner let loose another attack.

The five Digidestined ran down the hallway, Matt in the lead. They rounded the last corner only to see another Vilemon fly right at them.

"Wolf Claw!" Five bright red streaks cut the smaller digimon apart. With a shrill cry, it broke into a thousand pieces of data. "Matt!" cried WereGarurumon, "Are you alright? Where are the others?"

"They're fighting Piedmon," he answered. Upon seeing his digimon's shocked face, he shook his head. "There's no time to explain. They need your help and fast. But try to get them here as soon as possible. Remember, we only have 30 seconds."

"30 seconds!?" Tai and Davis shouted as the ultimate took off in the direction they had come.

"We'd better get out of here now!"

"They'll never make it in time!"

"What he means is that once Izzy opens the gate, we only have 30 seconds to go through or it will close on us," explained Ken, "So we can't go through yet. Not until our partners catch up with us."

"Then why did we run here in the first place?" asked Davis. "It's not like it did us any good."

"We needed to send WereGarurumon after them as soon as possible. They needed help, remember?" replied Matt, clearly unimpressed with the young leader's memory skills.

"Oh yeah..."

"Here they come!"

As soon as Kari had shouted her warning, a large explosion shook the building. Moments later, Angewomon landed just feet in front of them, glowing as Tailmon soon took the angel's place. Her partner quickly ran to her and lifted her gently.

"I'm sorry. He's just too strong for us," replied the feline weakly.

"You did your best," whispered Kari as she carried her digimon back to where the others waited.

"Ken, contact Izzy and make sure he's ready to open that gate," said Tai, his eyes never leaving the end of the hall where the sounds from the battle could be heard quite clearly. The younger boy nodded as he quickly typed a message to Miyako on his D-Terminal. No sooner had he finished than WereGarurumon ran around the corner, two swords flying behind him. He quickly turned to knock them away, gaining more cuts to his already injured body.

"WereGarurumon!" cried Matt, as his partner fell to one knee.

"Matt, tell Izzy to open the gate! We have to leave now!" shouted the ultimate.

"But what about Paildramon?" asked Davis, still seeing no sign of his partner. Another explosion hit, causing the boy to lose his balance. He sighed in relief as his partner had apparently not met the same fate as Gatomon since the attacks did not let up.

"Guys! Izzy's opening the gate in exactly 10 seconds!" cried Ken, who was also glancing expectantly towards the battle. "He'll make it," he added quietly.

Davis smiled and nodded. He then checked the time, watching as the seconds seemed to creep by. At last, the time was up. Immidiately the oval tear began to crackle with energy and the harsh wind that had previously blown through it started to let up.

"This is it!" cried Tai as he headed for the opening as quickly as possible. The wind had indeed slowed, but it was still coming through rather quickly. Shielding his eyes, he and Agumon made their way as quickly as possible through the tear. It felt like walking through a wind tunnel. But he soon stumbled forward, realizing that he was once again in the Digital World.

"Tai!" cried Sora happily as he appeared through the tear.

As soon as he had regained his breath, he shouted, "Everyone digivolve, now!" When everyone just stared at him, confused, he hurriedly got out of the way of the opening and yelled, "There's no time to explain! Piedmon might come through the gateway with us and we need to be ready if that happens!"

"Alright, Kari, you're next!" cried Matt above the noise from the battle.

The girl nodded. Grasping her digimon partner tightly she plunged into the opening, disappearing in a matter of seconds.

"Davis! Ken! Come on!" he shouted.

"If you think I'm going to let those Digidestined brats get away so easily, you are highly mistaken! Clown Trick!" cried Piedmon, a smirk no longer on his face, as the ball of energy soared past Paildramon and towards the escaping boys.

"Hurry!" Matt yelled as he pushed Davis through behind Ken. He glanced back just in time to realize that he wasn't going to make it all the way through before the mega's attack hit him. As he braced himself for the impact, he noticed a figure suddenly jump in the way and take it on full blast.

"WereGarurumon!!" The boy quickly ran to his partner who had since reverted all the way back to his in-training level. Carefully picking Tsunomon up, he ran back to the opening, checking the time. Gasping, he turned back to the two digimon still in battle. "Paildramon! You have less than 10 seconds!" And with that he made his way back into the Digital World.

"Matt! Where's Paildramon!? There's only a few seconds left!" Davis cried as the older boy quickly got out of the way of the opening.

"I know, I told him right before I came through." Seeing the slightly anxious look on Ken's face, he added, "Don't worry, he's coming."

As if on cue, Paildramon's body was flung out of the tear. As it hit the ground, he too reverted back, leaving Veemon and Wormmon lying on the ground, Piedmon only a foot behind them.

to be continued...

A/N: Ah, well, a bit shorter than I would have liked, but no biggie. I got what I wanted to accomplish in this chapter done so I'm happy. Although I apologize for the lack of Tai. I realize this is a Tai story, but there were so many characters in this chapter! Don't worry; I've got big plans for your favorite goggle boy, sis! ^_~ Dun dun dun! Piedmon is back in the Digital World once again! And in addition to that, some of the digimon are out of commission for a while! This doesn't look good, does it? Guess you'll just have to read the next chapter to find out what happens! ^_~