Chapter 11

"Did you miss me?"

The Digidestined watched in wide-eyed horror as the mega digimon stepped out of the void, his mocking laughter ringing through the forest. As soon as he was through, the makeshift tunnel crackled with energy and collapsed with a deep boom, leaving only the forest behind him.

"Digivolve!" cried Tai. As the surrounding forest shone with the bright light of digivolution, the Chosen leader's mind was reeling. 'Piedmon is back in the Digital World! We can't let him win! We have to beat him once and for all!' But how? Agumon couldn't possibly digivolve, Tsunomon and Gatomon also seemed to be out, and Veemon and Wormmon would need to rest a while before digivolving into Imperialdramon. 'We have to keep those two safe for now. They're the best chance we've got.'

"Ken, Davis!" The two younger boys turned to look at Tai. Both were kneeling next to their weakened partners. "Get further back into the forest! We need Veemon and Wormmon to get their strength back so they can fight again! We can't chance anything happening to them right now!"

Both boys nodded and carried their digimon further from the battle. Tai watched on as the rest of the Digidestined and their partners attacked Piedmon with everything they had. Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, Zudomon, Shakkoumon, Aquilamon... Four ultimates and one champion against one mega. He was really starting to wish Mimi were here.

'It wouldn't matter anyway, we can't beat him like this,' the Child of Courage thought as he watched over his own digimon, moving behind a nearby tree for better protection, 'No matter what, we'll need a mega level digimon to fight him to even stand a chance of winning. If they can just keep him busy long enough -'

His thoughts were abruptly disrupted as a loud explosion shook the tree he had taken cover behind. Tai looked up just in time to curse himself for choosing this particular tree as one of the tree's limbs began falling toward him and his resting partner.

"Matt!" cried TK above the noise of the battle, "What's going on?" The boy quickly ducked behind a tree as one of Piedmon's swords flew by. "Why on earth is Piedmon here?"

"I'm still not really sure," replied the older brother, clutching Tsunomon in his arms, "Let's just say that I don't think it's a good idea to have MagnaAngemon use his Gate of Destiny attack anymore!"

"What?"

"TK, watch out!"

Hearing the warning, the boy quickly ran out of the way of the stray Horn Buster that flew past the area he had just been standing in. The force of the blast knocked him off his feet, causing him to fall directly into the one that had warned him of the oncoming attack.

"Kari, are you ok?" he asked as he quickly got up and offered the girl a hand who gratefully accepted.

"I'm alright," assured the girl, Gatomon by her side, "But have you seen Tai?" Her face clearly showed her worry for her older brother.

TK shook his head. "I was too busy staring at Piedmon to notice where he went. Hey Matt, have you seen Tai?"

"He should be back in that direction," Matt called back, pointing into the forest. Making sure the coast was clear, he ran over to the two younger Digidestined. "That was where he was when Piedmon first showed up. Come on, we can look for him together."

Kari nodded and turned to TK who shook his head. "I'm going to stay here in case anything happens to Shakkoumon. But you guys be careful, alright?"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of her," Matt replied with a wink, leaving his brother a light shade of pink. The Child of Friendship turned to Kari and Gatomon. "Let's go."

Piedmon grinned, chuckling to himself. With WarGreymon out of the picture, there was no longer any hope left for the Digidestined. No ultimate, let alone champion, could truly defeat him. Even the last time they fought, it was indeed an ultimate's attack that swallowed him, but it still took two megas to force him into that world of darkness.

'And I am not nearly so careless as to fall to the same fate now,' he thought as he released a Clown Trick in the direction of Zudomon who quickly made to block it.

"Wing Blade!"

Piedmon smirked, throwing two of his swords at his attacker as he sliced through the fiery assault with the remaining two. Garudamon quickly flew away from the oncoming swords, but not before one of them had scratched her leg.

"Garudamon!" cried Sora as her partner let out a sharp cry, her face revealing her anxiety.

Nimbly jumping over Aquilamon who had decided to try a direct charge, the clown mega grabbed the large bird by one of his legs and with a biting laugh threw him directly at the worried girl. The humans were weak, unable to protect themselves, making themselves easy targets.

"Sora! Watch out!"

And so their digimon would voluntarily take the hits for them. Just as he had predicted, Garudamon swooped down to save her partner. Sora ducked as Aquilamon smacked into the ultimate and the two digimon crashed into the nearby trees. The girl quickly got back up and ran to her fallen partner who was wincing in pain.

Piedmon's smirk remained. "Child's play."

"Just my luck!" cried Tai in a frantic tone as he squeezed his eyes shut, awaiting the impact.

"Pepper Breath!"

The panicked leader quickly reopened his eyes in time to see a fireball hit the limb and knock it away. It landed with a loud thud a mere few feet away and lay in a lightly smoking heap from the attack.

"Tai? Can you stop hugging me so tightly? I can't breathe very well..."

The boy loosened his deathgrip on his partner. "Sorry Agumon, I thought we were goners for sure!" he replied sheepishly.

The rookie digimon looked hurt. "You didn't think I'd protect you?"

"It's not that, I just didn't think you were well enough yet," Tai assured him, "I mean, Piedmon didn't exactly go easy on you." The boy momentarily thought back to the two megas last one-on-one match. If Matt hadn't shown up... He shook his head, not wanting to think about it. It was the same now as it had been back then. "Are you feeling alright? Well, considering the situation."

Agumon nodded. "I am a little weak. That fight really took a lot out of me. But I still want to help fight!" he said with a stern look, "There's no way I'll let Piedmon win so easily!"

"Calm down, Agumon! You still need to rest. The others can take care of it for now," the leader said, trying to persuade his partner to at least rest a while longer. "Look, I know they won't be able to defeat him, but if they can just wear him down a bit, by the time Veemon and Wormmon get some of their strength back, we may just get the chance we need." Seeing his partner's stern look upon being left out of the equation, he quickly added, "That goes for you too, of course."

"Tai!" called Kari as she, Gatomon, Matt and Tsunomon ran up to him.

The young leader looked up, relieved to hear the sound of his little sister's voice.

"Kari! And Matt," he shouted back, "You guys ok?" Knowing that their partners were hurt as well, he was glad to see that they were still in one piece.

The girl leaned down to give her brother a quick hug. "We're alright," she answered, leaning back, "But we saw a fireball come from over here so I was afraid something had happened to you."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, well..." Tai hardly wanted to admit that a tree branch had made him fear for his life when Piedmon was only some feet away. "That was just Agumon. He was probably just sending up a signal so someone could find us."

Before Agumon had a chance to protest, Tsunomon jumped in. "Are you still well enough to fight?" he asked, "Even after all that fighting you did one on one against Piedmon earlier?" Matt gave his digimon a little squeeze, having heard the guilt in his voice at being so easily defeated himself.

"Of course!" exclaimed the yellow digimon. He looked as if he would jump up to rejoin the battle at any second.

"Calm down, Agumon!" said Tai, exhasperated. "But I'm glad you guys are here," continued the leader, standing up and facing his friends, "I'm gonna need your help."

"Do you have some kind of a plan?" asked his sister hopefully.

The boy smirked. "If things go well, that clown won't know what hit him."

to be continued...

A/N: Ok, after going back and looking through my old chapters, I realized that I used mostly dub names but some original names... I kinda knew that anyway, but I'd been fixing it for the ff.net version that's up (btw, please comment there since this story feels so unloved! ;_;). It's weird now, but I don't feel like fixing every chapter, so... I'll leave it however. You all should know who I'm talking about anyway so I don't much care, lol. Anyway, one chapter left! I always said I'd finish this story and I will! I try to finish every story I start if it is available for others, if not for me than for them. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to the finale! ^_~