Demidevimon's Disease

by Cybra

Disclaimer: Digimon is not mine. All characters in Digimon are not mine. I'm not making any money off this (wish I was) so please don't sue me. I have nothing. However, Cobramon IS mine so do not steal him!!!

Author's note: As you can see, I have done some editing. The ages have been told to me that they are as follows: TK is 7, Izzy and Mimi are 10, Joe is 12, Tai, Sora, and Matt are all 11. Also, if you get queasy when you read about someone throwing up, there's a little part in here that has that. You can skip that part. It's not overly vital. Ye hath been warned so you can't flame me. S'all right? S'all right.

Tai walked with Agumon at the front of the group. Biyomon, Sora, Palmon, and Mimi were all walking together and having a "girl talk". TK, Matt, Gabumon, and Patamon were also walking together off to the side. Gomamon walked for a little ways, then waited for his human partner, Joe, to catch up. Tentomon stayed right next to Izzy as the human child worked on his laptop. The seven children were the "Digidestined" while the others were their Digimon partners.

"What're you working on, Izzy?" the bug Digimon asked.

"I'm trying to see if there might be a possible way to defeat Myotismon in the data that Gennai gave me," Izzy explained.

"So, what'd you find?" Joe asked as he rushed to catch up.

Izzy shook his head. "Basically nothing. I can only access the information on the Digimon that I've seen. I can't find anything on Myotismon since I haven't seen him, I've only seen Demidevimon."

"That annoying little guy? He's toast if he tries to mess with us again!" Tai declared.

"Oh, brother," Matt muttered.

The group continued to walk along when suddenly, Izzy swatted at something on his left shoulder. Tentomon looked up at Izzy.

"What's wrong, Izzy?"

"I think that maybe you Digimon might have something like mosquitoes in this area. I was just bit by one."

"Mosquitoes?" Mimi asked. "Oh, dear! I hate bug bites!"

"Mimi!" Sora said.

"What're mosquitoes?" Palmon asked.

Sora answered her question before Mimi could. "They're these little insects that suck your blood when they bite you."

"Gross!" Biyomon said, sticking her tongue out.

"Hey, Tai. Are there a lot of mosquitoes in your world?" Agumon asked.

Tai winced at the thought of mosquitoes. "Yeah. Way too many in fact."

The day passed without further incident.

A few days later, the group was still walking. Everyone was in similar positions that they had been in a few days ago, only this time, Izzy was lagging behind. Joe felt a little better since he wasn't the slowest member of the group this time.

Izzy hadn't thought it would be so hard to breathe in the fresh air. He was getting hotter by the minute also, even though it looked as though it was about to rain. Tentomon had wandered up with the rest of the group thinking that Izzy was right behind him.

'I don't feel so good,' Izzy thought, but refrained from making that thought come to voice.

Sora had felt that the last few days had been odd. Only Izzy reported being bitten by mosquitoes and had been bitten four different times. Mosquitoes don't pick and choose their targets. They just go for whatever is breathing. She glanced back to Izzy and noticed that he was noticeably behind.

"C'mon, Izzy!" Sora said cheerfully.

Izzy quickened his pace as best he could. Going faster made it even harder to breathe. It was as if he was under 50 feet of water and was trying to get to the surface before he ran out of air. Izzy's muscles were screaming from a soreness that he'd woken up with that morning intensified by the amount of walking done that day.

Gabumon heard a small thud from the back of the group. So did Tentomon. Both Digimon saw that Izzy had just fallen in the pathway. Tentomon flew over, hoping he'd just tripped, but Izzy didn't get up. The group stopped immediately.

"What happened to him, Matt?" TK asked his older brother.

Matt looked over at Joe who was looking over Izzy. "I don't know, TK."

Joe finished his quick once over and saw he was breathing heavily and sweating. Just to check, the older boy touched his forehead and felt a lot of heat there.

"What's the verdict, Joe?" Tai asked.

Joe looked him straight in the eye as he said, "He's sick, Tai. Very sick."

Myotismon called Demidevimon to his presence. Demidevimon seemed very pleased with himself. Myotismon began the conversation.

"I have felt the power of the Crest of Knowledge grow weaker as the days pass. It continues to get weaker still. What has happened, Demidevimon?"

Demidevimon laughed evilly. "Master, I have poisoned one of the Digidestined with the poison of Cobramon. However, I have given it in small doses, a little at a time, so that the others won't realize what's happening."

Myotismon smiled. "You have done well. The poison of Cobramon when given in little doses creates a life-threatening disease. I doubt that the Digidestined can keep one of their own alive long enough for the poison to be forced out of his system. What do you plan on doing next?"

"Well, when the first one dies, Lord Myotismon, I'll give them ALL the same treatment! That way they'll all think they caught it from their dead friend. Then, they'll all die at once, leaving their crests behind and you to rule!"

Myotismon laughed. "The fate of the Digidestined has been sealed."

Even though Joe had warned them not to move him since it might make him worse, the group was forced to move Izzy when the rain had started to fall and the temperature became colder. Knowing that the rain and cold would most likely do the same amount of damage (though maybe a little less) than moving him, they carried an unconscious Izzy into a warm cave. They gently laid Izzy down. Izzy wasn't aware of any of them around him.

"What do we do?" Biyomon asked.

Sora's eyes shifted over to Tai, their leader. Tai looked at the floor, trying to come up with a solution.

Joe spoke up, "We should stay here until Izzy's all right. This shouldn't last too long. It'll probably pass in about a week."

"Good thinkin', Joe," Matt said. "Besides, we could all use a rest."

Tentomon flew over to Izzy's side. "I'll stay with Izzy. To keep an eye on him."

"But you'll be so tired, you won't be able to digivolve the next time you need to," Agumon argued.

"WE'LL take care of him, Tentomon," Tai said. "You Digimon, and you, too, TK, have to rest more than the rest of us do. If Myotismon's minions attack, we'll need you in top form. If you're all worn out from lack of sleep, you won't help Izzy at all."

Tentomon hung his head. He knew was right. Palmon walked over and put a hand on what would have been his shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll be fine."

Tai stayed next to Izzy for 3 hours. Each one of the older Digidestined had agreed to a shift rotation, each shift being 3 hours. First it was Tai. Then Sora. Then Matt. Then Joe. Then Mimi. Then it would be Tai's turn again. Sora would be relieving him in a few minutes. He dipped Mimi's handkerchief into the "bowl", actually a half of a scooped out melon, of cold water, wrung the excess water out, and wiped it against the unconscious boy's head.

"Mmmm...that feels great, Mom..." Izzy muttered.

Tai bit his lower lip. He didn't think that was a good sign. Sora was standing there and heard it, too. Judging by the look on her face, she didn't think that was a good sign either. He could only imagine what she was thinking. Still, it was a sign that Izzy was coming back to consciousness. They hoped.

"Has he done that often?" Sora asked.

Tai shook his head. "I don't think I look anything like his mom. I'm not even a girl."

Sora sighed. "Then he might be delirious like Joe said might happen. This is bad, Tai. We don't have anything to treat something like this. Sure we can handle it when someone gets banged up pretty badly, but this sick?" She shook her head.

Izzy's eyes opened. The pair grew silent as he looked at them, hoping that he might be a little better. His normally bright and intelligent eyes were dull and not aware of what was around him. He looked at them in confusion, like he had expected someone else to be there.

Izzy looked at his two friends, his mind playing tricks on him. One second, it was his mother and father standing there. The next second, it was Sora and Tai. The two images kept bouncing back and forth.

"Mom? Dad?" he ventured. Was that his voice? Why'd it sound so weak?

The image that kept flipping from Sora to his father shook its head. "It's us. Sora and Tai."

Izzy shook his head slightly to clear it, then winced at the way his head spun. He closed his eyes and held very still, silently begging for the world to do the same. When he opened his eyes again, Sora and Tai materialized in front of him.

"What---?" Izzy began to ask.

"You're sick, Izzy." Gosh, Tai could be blunt. "You passed out on the trail."

"Trail...sick..."Izzy mumbled, trying to force his mind to focus on something. Sora and Tai exchanged a worried glance.

"That's right," Sora encouraged. "Do you know where we are?"

Izzy's eyes slowly looked around them. His mind read the information as home. But, no, that wasn't right! If they were home, Izzy's mother and father would be standing there. Not Tai and Sora. Or maybe they'd come to visit him. But wouldn't they have mentioned that they had gotten home?

"Izzy, your answer is coming way too slow..." Tai said, trying to sound light-hearted but not quite making it.

"Sorry...Digiworld?" Izzy answered, though it was more like a question.

Sora and Tai exhaled the breath they didn't know they had both been holding.

"Yeah, Izzy," Sora answered. "We're still in Digiworld."

"How're ya feelin'?" Tai asked.

Izzy took what was a few seconds for him but was actually several minutes to take inventory of what hurt and felt bad.

"I can't focus much...on things...my muscles feel sore...hard to breathe...really hot..." Suddenly, he turned a shade of green. "And I think...I'm about to hurl..."

Tai and Sora's collective eyes went wide. Tai, always thinking on his feet, ran outside and grabbed the half of the fruit rind that they had tossed out. It, too, had been scraped clean from when they had scooped out the insides to eat and to make the bowl. He ran back inside. Izzy had turned about 3 different shades of green, trying to keep himself from showing them exactly what he had eaten at breakfast. Tai was over there in half a second. Sora turned around and plugged her ears, the very sound of someone vomiting made her sick to her stomach.

"Here!" Tai said urgently as he closed his eyes.

Izzy lost the fight with his stomach as it began to empty its contents. He felt really bad for doing that in front of Tai and Sora. He hoped the others weren't watching or things might get ugly.

His hope didn't come true. Mimi had woken up when she heard Sora and Tai talking to somebody. She had seen that Izzy was up, even though he wasn't quite alert. He looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks. She stuck her tongue out and squeezed her eyes shut as Izzy began this totally disgusting activity. Talk about gross.

Finally, Izzy's stomach relaxed, albeit still quite nauseous. He had had to half-way sit up or risk choking to death because he was lying on his back. He practically flopped back down onto the cold floor which felt good against his warm skin. He looked apologetically at Tai as Tai came back inside after running outside to dispose of the mess.

"I think you might've created a new color from all that," Tai half-joked, but he still looked grossed out.

"Is it over?" Sora asked, still turned around but unplugging her ears.

"Yeah."

Sora turned herself so she faced them. She looked sheepish at the way she had reacted. Still, it wasn't much to be ashamed of in light of what had happened.

"Feel any better?" Sora asked, directing the question to Izzy.

"In a word...no," Izzy answered truthfully.

Sora's normally bright brown eyes had darkened somewhat with worry. She tended to be the mother hen of the Digidestined. Izzy felt bad for being the reason for her worry. He wanted to do something to reassure her, but his body protested against the whim. He just laid there looking apologetically at his friends.

"Maybe there's something that can heal Izzy!" Tai suggested.

"I don't know. I think Tentomon would've mentioned it if he knew," Sora said.

Izzy wanted to shout out, "But Gennai might know!" But his body refused to cooperate in order for him to get the necessary air to do such a thing. He also felt exhausted. Staying up was wearing him out. He began to go out like a light.

However, Izzy did manage to whisper, "Gennai..."

The two older members of the group's heads snapped around to him. They had been discussing what might be done about this. They thought for a moment on what Izzy had said and then it popped into their heads.

"Izzy's right! Gennai might know!" Sora exclaimed.

"Any other ideas, Izzy?" Tai asked, deciding to get Izzy to focus.

Darkness was beginning to invade on Izzy's vision. He didn't really hear the question being asked. He just murmured, "Tired..."

Both Tai and Sora blinked. Then, they finally got it.

"We're wearing you out, Izzy. Sorry about that," Sora apologized. "Go back to sleep."

Izzy didn't have any arguments. His body craved rest. He was not going to deny it any longer. He closed his eyes and let blissful darkness take him away. Unknown to him, that darkness had once again lead him into the realm that he had been in before.

"I'll stay with him," Sora stated.

"But..."

"Tai, it's my shift. Get some rest."

Tai did as he was told, but wasn't too happy about it. Neither of them noticed Mimi.

Gennai tossed out a pretzel to his fish. They were all of the saltwater type, but lived in the freshwater lake. They hungrily ate the salty food. He tossed out a bag of salty peanuts for good measure.

"I spend more on salt for you all then I spend on regular food for myself. Not that it costs me much anyway," Gennai commented.

He felt a tingle in the back of his head. Something was happening. He went back into his home and walked over to the monitoring system that he had to watch over the Digidestined. It alerted him that the Crest of Knowledge was steadily becoming weaker. Something was wrong.

"That's not possible! The only other time that this happened is when Izzy was tricked into giving up his curiosity! He's learned that it's very important so he won't give it up again!" Gennai exclaimed.

Gennai thought for a moment. "Unless...no. That couldn't happen! The only other time this would be happening is if the one who kept the Crest was dying!"

Gennai made a mental note to contact the children in the morning. He had a very bad feeling about this.

Near the middle of Matt's shift, Gennai contacted them. He appeared as he normally did, in a hologram. The others stood up and walked toward Gennai, all talking at once.

"Quiet!" Gennai ordered. There was silence. "I have disturbing news to report. The Crest of Knowledge is growing weaker by the moment. What's going on?"

Tai spoke up, "It's Izzy. He's sick."

"Sick?" Gennai asked. "With what?"

"We don't know, Gennai!" Sora said, slightly panicked. "He's been unconscious for 5 hours. When he woke up a few hours ago, he suggested that we ask you if there was some sort of treatment."

"Hmmm...What're his symptoms?"

Matt, Joe, TK, Mimi, and the Digimon looked blankly at one another. Tai thought for a moment.

"Izzy said that he was sore, couldn't concentrate, hot, and it was hard to breathe." Tai's face flashed a brief look of disgust. "He also threw up. I'm guessing that he still felt...well...bleh. He also took forever to answer questions and got tired pretty easy."

Gennai had paled. It was worse than he thought.

"What's wrong with him, Gennai?" Gomamon asked.

Gennai sighed. "Cobramon poison."

"Cobramon poison?" the group asked.

"But Izzy was never bitten by Cobramon," Tentomon argued. "He's never even seen what one looks like!"

"I know, but these are the symptoms of someone who's been poisoned with the venom of Cobramon."

"That means there is a cure! There's a way to make an anti-venom!" Biyomon said cheerfully.

"Hey, yeah!" Agumon said in a happy tone.

Gennai sighed again. "Not this way. Izzy was injected with the venom artificially. A dart or something. When given in small doses, the poison becomes a kind of disease. None of you can catch it unless you've been poisoned as well. The disease that the poison creates is life-threatening, but not impossible to overcome."

All of them let out the breath they were holding. Gennai inhaled and continued. "Of course, this is only proven with Digimon. No human has ever been introduced to this disease. Also, weak Digimon often die since they can't help themselves. Strong Digimon most often are the only ones to survive."

"But how?! And why?! And who?!" Tai demanded.

Agumon provided the answer. "Who else? Myotismon must've sent someone to try it out on a human. You guys are the only ones who can get in Myotismon's way."

"And the how is the supposed mosquito bites were actually some sort of dart! When Izzy slapped at them, he must've knocked the evidence onto the path," Sora reasoned.

Gennai nodded. "You kids are in a very bad position. Myotismon could track you down easily since you're all in one spot and aren't moving. Of course, this is assuming he doesn't realize that you know of his plan."

Tentomon gave Gennai a begging look. "Isn't there ANYTHING we can do to help Izzy?"

Gennai nodded. "Even though there is no cure for this, you can at least let him know that you're still there. That way he'll keep fighting."

The group nodded. Gennai then disappeared, leaving them all alone.

Matt had been doing some thinking before Gennai had appeared. He was so used to seeing Izzy up and about and trying to figure a way to get them home or to stop the latest bad Digimon like Devimon or Myotismon. Seeing Izzy lying there wasn't easy. Matt knew the risks they took for each other were very high and they'd do anything to help another member of the team out, but this was something that the team couldn't help Izzy out with.

Izzy had been known to think his way out a situation. After hearing the symptoms that Tai described to Gennai, Matt reasoned that that ability might be lost on Izzy for the moment. It must be frightening. Joe was coming over to both of them now, ready to relieve Matt. Joe had been kind enough to keep an eye on TK. There were always days when the teenager who normally worried too much could help out one of the others with something important.

"My turn, Matt," Joe stated. "TK's been a little testy since he can't help you with this."

Matt smiled and rolled his eyes up into his head. TK always wanted to do what the others did. Still, all of the older group was in agreement that TK shouldn't do some of the crazy and stupid things that they did. Even Izzy and Mimi who were only 3 years older than Matt's little half-brother.

Joe watched Matt get up and stretch. He'd hardly moved the entire time. Joe knew that he'd have to stay there a while, but didn't complain. All of them had heard what Gennai had said and they didn't want Izzy to give up.

"Well, I better go entertain TK then," Matt said.

"Actually, Patamon's entertaining TK right now."

Matt shook his head. He walked off. Joe turned his attention to Izzy. He didn't look any better. Gomamon came up to Joe. Ordinarily, the two of them would fight over the strangest things. Besides, they fought almost all the time. What Joe could never understand was why Gomamon had been chosen to be his Digimon partner since they were total opposites.

"Hey, Joe," Gomamon greeted him.

"Aren't you supposed to be foraging with Agumon, Palmon, and Tentomon?"

Agumon and Palmon had decided that Tentomon should do something to get his mind off of worrying. Since food had to be found, the two of them had talked Tentomon into going with them to go find something. Gomamon had volunteered as well.

"Nah. I changed my mind. I thought I'd...keep you company."

Joe couldn't help but smile. Under usual circumstances, Gomamon would've been content to pass himself off as self-centered and a complete jerk. He did a fine job at it. Still, there were these times when you could tell that Gomamon did in fact CARE about somebody else. Mostly about Joe.

"Thanks. It's gonna be lonely. You know. Because I doubt he'll talk..." Joe was ready to go into his one of his long "this and this and this could go wrong" things, but held himself back. The situation was already too negative. If Gomamon could drop that "I'm a jerk" attitude, Joe could drop the mini-lecture.

Gomamon merely nodded and stared at their friend for a moment in silence. Joe almost didn't hear him when Gomamon asked quietly, "Joe, what if he doesn't think it's worth it?"

Joe's head snapped towards his Digimon partner. "What did you say?"

Gomamon looked at him dead in the eye. "What if he doesn't think it's worth the fight? What if he just gives up?"

Joe bit his lower lip. He'd been trying to keep his mind off of that question. Still, the question couldn't be ignored.

Joe tried to be evasive on the question. "What makes you ask that?"

Gomamon looked at Izzy again. "Tentomon came up to me a while back with a question. He asked if you ever hid anything from me that made you upset. I said that you did keep secrets but when you're upset as in sad upset, you'd talk to me. When I asked why, he said that he felt Izzy was hiding something from us that made him upset."

Joe didn't know how to respond to that. The both of them sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

Izzy looked around his dream realm for the 100th time. It was dark. He still thought it odd since he normally dreamed not only with light but in color. This was just emptiness. He tried to focus his mind on a particular subject. But concentration continued to elude him.

Izzy opted not to panic. That would only make his situation worse. He decided to choose something easy. An idea popped into his head.

"Okay, Izzy, times tables," Izzy told himself.

His mind started at 5 times 9. When it came up with 45, it gave him hope. 6 times 9 is 54. 7 times 9 is 63.

"Good, Izzy...keep going..." he encouraged himself. Hope continued to blossom.

8 times 9 is...8 times 9 is...

"Come on..." he said, beginning to get frustrated.

8 times 9 is...8 times 9 is...

The whole exercise dropped off into the darkness. Izzy felt like crying. He was losing even the simple things. It was nearly impossible to focus on things like the multiplication tables and the names of Digimon other than the Digidestined's partners. Even the date of his own birthday was hard to focus on. He was frightened.

Izzy paused. No. He wasn't frightened. He was terrified. This was a fate worse than death. This was just slipping away. It wasn't possible! He didn't want to go down like this!

After realizing that he was one of the Digidestined, he had reasoned that if he didn't die of old age, that he'd go down fighting against a bad Digimon like...like...Myotismon. That was it. This was just fading away before his friends' eyes. Even worse, what would happen if he did survive? Would he be just like always? Or would he have been affected forever? Would he still be like this?

A memory flitted by his vision. The memory of his parents talking. The two of them had been discussing if Izzy knew that he had been adopted. He'd hidden that from the others. He didn't want them to know the truth about Koushiro Izumi. He also didn't let them know that he longed to be just like them. Normal. Not a super smart kid that everybody thought was some kind of freak.

In the silence, Izzy cried.

Mimi was about an hour into her shift. She hadn't said a word to Joe or Gomamon when they had switched. None of them had anything to say to each other. It would've just wasted time. Now she wished she had somebody to talk to. Palmon was still with Agumon and Tentomon. Biyomon was talking with Sora. Tai, Joe, and Gomamon were all talking quietly in one corner. TK, Matt, Gabumon, and Patamon were outside somewhere.

She leaned back against her hands, her left hand right in line with Izzy's right cheek. A few minutes later, she felt something warm and wet fall against it. She looked to see tears streaming from Izzy's closed eyes.

Mimi had been told by Joe that whatever Izzy did while he was unconscious was most likely the result of hallucinations. She understood that since Izzy couldn't see or hear her, that she shouldn't waste her breath nagging him or anything. Still...

Mimi had to look away. She'd constantly done that since the beginning of her shift. Not to mention during all the adventures the group had had. Izzy was only interesting when he wasn't paying attention to her which made her mad. Izzy didn't exist until he made her angry so she normally didn't like him. She'd normally yell at him for ignoring her.

Still there were these times when Izzy was just too interesting to be ignored. The technical jargon never made sense and he was always messing with that computer, but there were these days when Izzy did something that she always had to take a second look at the genius of the Digidestined. Like the time she was trapped in that temple's maze and he came to her rescue when she and Tentomon were about to be killed by Centaurumon. The picture of the wall breaking to see him standing there with a rock in his hands, ready to attack the wall again, and Palmon beside him was still fresh in her mind.

Mimi fingered her crest, the Crest of Sincerity. Was she living up to it? By turning away all those times, was she really being the nice person she thought she was? She forced herself to turn back to Izzy, normally full of life and curiosity, but now was weak and crying. He was quiet, not uttering a single sound, but still crying. Mimi thought her heart would break. Izzy was alone in his head, unable to hear his friends and be comforted by them. Just sitting there wouldn't let him know that someone was there.

Mimi glanced around to see if anyone was looking. Thankfully, everybody was distracted at what they were doing. She picked up Izzy's no longer gloved right hand (they'd removed the gloves so he'd at least be a little bit cooler) into her own hand. It laid there limply, not even twitching slightly. Her own hand, still in a glove, squeezed the hand in a short pulse.

It was something her mother did whenever she was sick. Then she would give a small pulse back. But Izzy's hand stayed put, limp as ever. Just like the rest of him. There was no reassuring pulse back to let her know that he'd gotten it.

Palmon had walked in with an armful of berries when she saw that Mimi was already on her shift. She had been preparing to walk over there when she saw her partner pick up the unconscious boy's hand and give it a little squeeze. There was no response from Izzy. Palmon waited until Mimi had put down his hand before she walked over there. She decided not to mention what she saw to Mimi.

Tai felt responsible for all of them. He WAS their leader and he felt totally useless. Izzy was lying there beside him and hadn't spoken a single word in over 12 hours. There were times when Izzy had cried and even screamed. Izzy had even fought against them when the other Digidestined and the Digimon had tried to calm him down when he had suddenly begun to toss and turn violently, afraid that he'd hurt himself.

Tai knew that everyone had their strengths and weaknesses. TK's were that while he was positive, he was naïve. Matt was brave, but could become overly worried about his brother. Sora was kind, but had a bad habit of trying to keep her problems to herself (like when she was afraid that the Crest of Love would never shine). Mimi could also be kind, but had a nasty habit of being selfish at times. Joe was a worry wart, but always managed to be the voice of reason. Tai knew his own strength may be that he had courage, but was capable of being very bossy. Izzy's strength was his intelligence, but he was weaker than the rest of them.

Tai never tried to think deep thoughts, he left that up to Izzy. In fact, Izzy was practically Tai's advisor. Whenever Tai came up with a decision on where to go or what to do, Izzy would figure a way out to act upon that decision. When he came up with some sort of plan, if it was acceptable to the whole group, Tai would get them to put it into motion. It was just like clockwork.

Tai thought of the conversation he, Joe, and Gomamon had a while ago.

"Tai, I don't think it would be such a good idea to go out, locate, and attack Demidevimon! Myotismon is leaving us alone since he thinks we haven't figured it out yet!" Joe had argued.

"But that little bowling ball with feathers may have a way to cure him!" Tai had snapped.

"Joe, settle down! Tai, didn't you listen to what Gennai said? There is no cure. Besides, even if we DID corner Demidevimon and he DID have some way to make one, do you REALLY think he'd tell us?" Gomamon had asked.

Tai sighed. Gomamon and Joe were right. He could argue the point from now 'till Doomsday but they would still be right. There were days when those two could be so alike it was frightening. Tai looked at Izzy.

"You wouldn't want to wake up and tell me what to do, would ya, Izzy?" Tai asked hopefully.

Agumon's nose nudged Tai in the shoulder. Tai turned to him. Agumon held out something for him to eat.

"Here. We don't want you to drop, too," Agumon said, deep worry in his voice. The worry wasn't just for Izzy, but also for Tai.

Tai gratefully accepted the meal. Agumon sat down beside his human partner and thought for a moment as Tai ate. When Tai was finished, he decided to say what was on his mind.

"Tai, Izzy will be fine. I know he will."

"I know, Agumon. But I still feel I should've done something else."

"Like what? If you had realized that one of Myotismon's minions was shooting darts at Izzy and tried to stop them, you could've been poisoned, too. Or even killed by that evil Digimon."

Tai sighed. There was nothing that he could've done to help Izzy before. He picked up the handkerchief like all the others had done, dipped it into the bowl of water, and put it across Izzy's forehead.

"I just hope that Izzy can get through this on his own. We can't help him this time."

Izzy fought against the darkness with the amount of energy he had saved up. It was becoming quite a fight to get to where he wanted to go: consciousness. It had taken him so long to realize that the darkness wasn't a dream state, it was actually the state of unconsciousness. He had to talk to Tai. Had to talk to the others. Had to show them that he was okay. He could only imagine what they were going through.

There had been times when he'd felt something that happened to his body, but it had been like he was feeling it from a great distance away. Something had fought against him when he was suddenly struggling inside and outside of his mind against a horrible memory. He knew that someone had tried to calm him down. Now, he felt something cold against his forehead. It was pleasant. Especially since as he neared consciousness, he felt the raging heat he'd felt before.

Slowly but surely, his senses began to return to him one by one. The first one was hearing. There were two voices out there nearby him. At first, he could identify neither. Then, after several minutes, he could barely recognize them. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he recognized them completely as the voices of Tai and Agumon. That's when two other voices joined them. The voices of Mimi and Palmon. Izzy felt elation, but was wearing himself down. The fight was sapping his energy.

Smell was next. He smelled the smell of Agumon (which was pretty average on the smell meter), the mold that grew somewhere nearby him, and both Tai's and Agumon's breaths. He even smelled what seemed like some sort of fruit. As he continued to breathe through his nose, he picked up each smell a little bit better. This sense was also coming way too slow.

Next up was touch. His hands were lying against the hard rock floor of the cave. It wasn't exactly smooth, but it wasn't too rough. He suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his stomach. He was so hungry!

Finally, sight came back. Using a massive amount of energy, Izzy forced his eyes open. Mimi gave a slight yelp as his eyes seemed to snap open on their own accord. Palmon and Agumon immediately left his field of vision. Tai leaned over him.

"You okay, Izzy?" Tai asked.

"Not really..." he answered, his voice barely getting above a whisper.

Tai frowned. "You hungry? You haven't eaten since lunch yesterday."

Yesterday? Had it already been a day since he'd passed out on the path? Still, Izzy answered as best he could that he was. Palmon returned with something for him to eat. Tentomon was right behind her.

At the sight of food, Izzy's stomach leapt into his throat. He must've looked slightly green because Palmon said, "Don't worry. These berries don't make you sick. They make you feel better."

Izzy could see the worry all over Tentomon's features. He tried to sit up, but realized that he didn't have the energy to. He just laid there, feeling totally useless until Tai gave him a hand. Palmon took another bowl that they had made and crushed the berries into a sort of drink. Tentomon took the bowl from her and put it to Izzy's lips.

Izzy drank it thankfully. His stomach had protested for a moment and then quieted down. It was like sipping flat ginger ale when you were queasy. The taste was kind of bland, but that was fine.

TK glanced over there and saw Izzy sitting up with Tai's help. He nudged Matt who was about to blow into his harmonica.

"Izzy's awake, Matt!" he said excitedly.

Matt's head snapped up and looked. Sure enough, Izzy was sitting up with the help of Tai and drinking something from a bowl that Tentomon held in his hands. Matt gave TK a smile.

"Let's give him a warm welcome back to the Land of the Living, shall we?"

TK nodded, waking up Patamon who was perched on his head. Patamon fell off and landed on Gabumon.

"Ow! What is going on?" Gabumon asked.

"Izzy's up. We're gonna go talk to him."

Sora and Biyomon had also walked over there, they had been told by Agumon who was right beside Tai. All of the group was soon there. Izzy looked at them, the different colors almost mixing together. He blinked slowly to focus his eyes. Tentomon held the bowl so Izzy could drink out of it until it was finally empty. The juice had filled him up completely.

"Hi, everybody..." Izzy said weakly.

Joe leaned forward. "You still look bad."

"I'll remember you said that..."

Gomamon grinned. Sure Izzy had taken the statement the wrong way, but it was pretty funny. Joe rolled his eyes back up into his head. Palmon gave a slight giggle.

"I doubt it, Izzy," Sora said. "Do you remember what we talked about last time?"

Izzy's brow furrowed as he fought for clear concentration.

"You told me...I passed out...on the trail...I was sick...something about Gennai..."

Tai nodded vigorously. "Yeah. That's right."

"Okay, so I could be wrong," Sora said, shrugging.

"You ever find out...?" Izzy asked.

Tentomon answered this time. "Myotismon had someone shooting darts with Cobramon venom at you. That's what's causing this."

"Myotismon...won't he...?"

"Attack? Not as long as he thinks we don't know." Tentomon's features showed even more worry. "Izzy, you should go back to sleep."

Everybody looked at the bug Digimon strangely.

"Why?" Tai demanded. "He's awake! That's good!"

"Yes, but it also can be very bad. Izzy is presently wearing himself out. I can only imagine how much energy it took him to wake up and he's using even more energy just talking to us."

"You're right...Tentomon..." Izzy said quietly.

"I suggest that we let him drift back to sleep," Tentomon suggested.

"Good idea, Tentomon," Biyomon said, backing him up.

Izzy looked at all of them. His vision was beginning to get that familiar darkness all around it. The part of his mind that continued to play tricks on him began to do so now. He tried to make sense of what his senses showed him without listening to that one part of his mind. He wasn't doing too well.

"It's your call, Izzy," Matt said. "If you want to go back to sleep, that's fine. We'll keep someone right here."

Izzy gave a slight nod as he closed his eyes. He willed his mind to shut down all its rapid activity. The quiet returned, but there was still the chaos nearby. He let his control go as he once again surrendered to the ever-growing darkness. He didn't even notice when Tai laid him back down on his back.

Sora wiped Izzy's brow with the handkerchief for the fifth time in five minutes. The fever had quickly increased over the past 2 days. Gennai had shown up and told them that the disease lasted about a week...considering if the person who had been infected survived the entire thing. Sora didn't know whether or not Izzy could survive that long. Every hour was like an eternity.

Izzy was sweating. Unfortunately, there was nothing that they could do. They would need someone like Frigimon to keep him cool. A few "Subzero Ice Punches" would've done the trick. Maybe.

Izzy began to thrash around rather violently. He called out their names one by one. Obviously, he was having a hallucination where all of them were gone. Sora bit her lower lip. Things were getting bad. She grabbed him and attempted to stop him from the activity.

"Don't worry, Izzy. I'm right here..." Sora said reassuringly.

Izzy didn't calm down one bit. Instead, he continued to thrash around and call for them, not really knowing what was happening. He almost kicked her, but she was faster than he was. Matt came over and pinned Izzy's feet as Sora held down his upper body.

"Thanks, Matt."

"No problem, Sora." There was an awkward pause. "Kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

"Wonder what?"

"What would happen if something like this happened again? Izzy should be hospitalized, but we're nowhere near a hospital."

Sora nodded. "We'll just have to do something like this again."

Matt sighed. "But what if it's not good enough? What if this doesn't help?"

The girl frowned. She hadn't wanted to think about that possibility. Still, the question couldn't be ignored. What if this didn't help? What if Izzy couldn't survive this?

"Then we'll have to learn from it. We'll know what not to do next time."

Matt looked like he wanted to snap at her, but didn't. Izzy had stopped squirming under their hold, his body limp once more. He had also stopped yelling causing him to be as silent as the grave. In fact, he looked more dead than alive. If it weren't for the sound of his breathing and the sweat that continued to form, Matt would've thought he was dead.

Izzy's face was a sick gray color. So was the rest of him. His features gave little testimony to what was happening inside of him. His hair was sticking to his head with sweat and out of place from all the times he had thrashed around like a fish caught on a fisherman's hook.

'Please live...' Sora silently begged.

Chaos. Anarchy. This was the scene inside Izzy's mind. Thoughts and emotions colliding together to create mass confusion. Izzy retreated back to a quieter part of his mind, but even here it was not peaceful.

'Is this what it's like to be insane?' he wondered.

His mind was normally so ordered and rational that if Mimi had ever been able to invade, she'd probably run, screaming. Now, it was a home of confusion, raw thoughts and emotions, and thoughts that would begin but wouldn't be completed. All of it was giving him a headache. He would've killed for an aspirin!

An old, annoying song that he'd heard when he was 3 suddenly came to mind. Thankfully, before the first verse started, his mind went on to others things. There was so much confusion. He was terrified.

"Somebody...help me..." Izzy whimpered. "Please..."

But nobody could hear him. He was lost in this world by himself while the others were in a completely different world. He couldn't stand the thought of living like this for the rest of his life. He began to cry out his friends' names one by one.

"Don't worry, Izzy. I'm right here..." a quiet, reassuring voice said from the darkness. He could barely hear it, but he knew the voice.

"Sora!" he yelled. "Where are you guys?!"

If Sora's voice had said anything else, he didn't hear it. He had to get out of here! But how? To do that meant that he could get lost in the massive confusion around him. But he knew that somehow he had to contact his friends. Tentomon was most likely worried sick. And if they were attacked...

Izzy shuddered. His Digivice probably wouldn't work. Tentomon wouldn't be able to digivolve to Kabuterimon. The Digivices needed energy from the Digidestined, not just the Digimon, to work correctly. All of them would be killed if they needed Kabuterimon's help.

Suddenly, a memory from when he, Tentomon, Mimi, and Palmon were in that temple together came to mind. Mimi was beginning to cry. Tentomon was trying to calm her down when Palmon began crying, too.

"Izzy, do something!" Tentomon yelled.

"Do what? My laptop can't do everything!"

"I don't know! Tell her you're sorry!"

"Sorry for what?!"

"I can't take it anymore! I haven't eaten anything and my feet are killing me and a giant lemon custard tried to kiss me and all I wanna do is get out of here!" Mimi cried.

Palmon was crying, too. "We just wanna leave, is that so wrong?!" She came around in front of the startled boy. "Honestly, Izzy, how can you be so insensitive?"

"Insensitive? What do you mean?" Izzy asked.

"You ignore us while you poke away at your computer."

"I'm not ignoring you! I'm just doing something ultra-important! Like maybe saving this world! If I can decipher these hieroglyphs, maybe we can---"

"Just keep your stupid hieroglyphics!" Mimi said, interrupting as she ran off.

"Mimi! Wait! Oh dear!" Tentomon said as he flew after her.

"You just like playing on your computer, that's all!" Palmon accused.

"You think I'm just playing around here?!" Izzy demanded.

"I almost think you like computers more than people!" Palmon cried even harder.

Izzy couldn't believe how clearly he remembered that one time. That's when he realized how he did. Palmon's accusations and Mimi's name calling had made it footnoted in his mind. Izzy still felt a little guilty for being the cause of Mimi running off.

He heard distant screaming in the background. Mimi, Tai, Sora, Matt, TK, Joe, Agumon, Tentomon, Patamon, Palmon, Gomamon, Biyomon, and Gabumon were all screaming. He vaguely felt vibrations underneath him. It took his normally quick mind a moment to realize that they were under attack. Myotismon must've found out!

Izzy forced himself to go out into the chaos. He had to get control for a few minutes at least. He would have to feed his energy into the Digivice or the others would be in major trouble. He owed it to them.

Mimi barely leaped out of the way of Cobramon's "Venom Sting". The fangs actually shot themselves out at you. Cobramon was a large snake Digimon that looked mostly like a King Cobra and didn't like it when invaders entered his home. Apparently, he'd been out in his territory only to return to his cave to see it being used by little creatures and smaller Digimon.

That's when the children's Digivices went off.

"Palmon digivolve to...Togemon!"

"Agumon digivolve to...Greymon!"

"Gabumon digivolve to...Garurumon!"

"Gomamon digivolve to...Ikkakumon!"

"Biyomon digivolve to...Birdramon!"

Greymon held the large snake back. Birdramon had to go outside and get ready for her attack.

"Let's see how you like this! Needle Spray!" Togemon yelled.

The needles imbedded themselves into the side of Cobramon, but his thick hide kept them from hurting him.

"Venom Sting!" Cobramon yelled as he turned his head towards Greymon.

"Greymon! Watch out!" Tai yelled.

Greymon ducked under the attack, but lost a hold on Cobramon. Cobramon's tail snapped against a limp Izzy, sending him flying.

"Izzy!" the rest of the group yelled.

Meanwhile, Izzy was fighting his way through the chaos so he could help. The sudden pain of his body hitting the ground gave him something to use as a guide. As he regained control, the pain increased. His head was in serious pain! When he opened his dark eyes, he saw blood dripping from somewhere in front of them.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon yelled.

Cobramon slithered under the attack. Garurumon tried to use "Howling Blaster", but Cobramon dodged that as well. Suddenly, he picked up the scent of blood. Cobramon turned his massive, hooded head behind him. Lying there was a barely conscious Izzy. Cobramon could smell the venom mixed into the blood. He raised his head up...

"Oh, no! Izzy!" Tentomon shouted as he flew in front of Cobramon. "Super Shocker!"

The electricity made Cobramon pull back in pain. He then lunged for the little Digimon. Izzy used the time that Tentomon had bought him well. He concentrated on sending his energy into the Digivice.

"Tentomon digivolve to...Kabuterimon!"

It worked! But Izzy passed out, energy spent. Kabuterimon picked up his human partner gently and placed him with his friends.

"Venom Sting!" Cobramon yelled, his two fangs shooting out again.

The fangs couldn't penetrate Kabuterimon's shell. They bounced right off.

"All right, Kabuterimon!" TK cheered.

"Electro Shocker!" Kabuterimon yelled.

"Nova Blast!" Greymon said as he attacked.

Meanwhile, outside, Birdramon swooped down so she was right in line with the snake's back.

"Meteor Wing!" she yelled.

"Howling Blaster!"

"Harpoon Torpedo!"

"Needle Spray!"

The six attacks hit all at once. Cobramon, knowing he was defeated, slithered away. Tentomon was the first to de-digivolve. He shrank down from Kabuterimon into his normal state. He flew over to Izzy.

"How'd you do that, Tentomon?" Palmon asked after she changed back.

"I don't know...All of a sudden, the Digivice had enough energy to help me become Kabuterimon," Tentomon said while shrugging.

Gabumon spoke up. "Izzy looks even weaker than before."

Sora gasped. Everyone looked at her, hoping for a reason.

"I bet Izzy transferred as much energy as possible into the Digivice..."

"...so I could digivolve," Tentomon said glumly, finishing Sora's thought. "Then that means that Izzy doesn't have much more in his energy reserves."

TK began to cry. "Does that mean he's gonna die?!"

Matt gave him a hug. "I don't know, TK...I don't know."

"He did that to save us..." Tai realized.

All of the Digidestined and their Digimon watched their friend, holding each other for some sort of comfort.

The next 5 days were murder. Izzy still didn't revive. Tentomon had looked on the bright side, saying that Izzy was just resting, but secretly knew that he was in denial. Izzy was almost gone.

The weird part was that Tentomon felt a little angry at Izzy. He shouldn't have given him the power to digivolve! Still, Tentomon knew that he wouldn't have been able to survive had he not digivolved. But it was costing him the best friend he ever had.

Tentomon remembered one time when both of them had been alone.

"Izzy, what are we doing?"

Izzy smiled. "I just wanted to get away from the others to think."

Tentomon had cocked his head to one side. "Can't you think with the others around?"

"Yeah, but I like to think without distractions. And Mimi yelling at me can be quite distracting."

Tentomon had nodded. "I suppose you're right..."

He had glanced at Izzy to see this one strange look on his face. It was a strange mix of sadness and loneliness. He wondered why Izzy wore that look. Izzy must've noticed him staring for he quickly covered it up with a grin.

"What did you just think about?"

"Nothing too important," Izzy had replied. An obvious lie.

"Izzy!" Tai's voice shouted.

"I'm coming!" Izzy rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

Tentomon knew he had come so close to finding out what bothered Izzy so much. Sure, he whined about the Digiworld, but mostly because he couldn't recharge his laptop. For some strange reason, he didn't miss Earth as much as the rest of them did.

Tentomon sighed and looked at his friend. He had gone a pasty white after the encounter. Sora had patched up the wounds caused by Cobramon, but was sure that he might have gone into shock. They knew to keep him as warm as possible, so they slipped the gloves back on. However, they didn't have any blankets or anything. It was all they could give.

Gennai visited them again. They all had these sad faces on. Gennai could instantly tell that Izzy wasn't better. They looked as though they had failed.

"The Crest of Knowledge has hardly any energy left. It's almost as dead as it was before it was found."

"Please don't say the word 'dead'," Tai requested.

Gennai bit his lower lip as he gazed over at Izzy. He had been moved to a safer part of the cave in case of another attack. Even though he breathed, there was no other sign of him being alive. Even his breathing was bad. It seemed as though that each breath was going to be his last.

"I wish I could do more to help, but I can't."

"We know, Gennai. We know," Sora said sadly.

"It's just not fair! Why do we have to split up in such a bad way?! Why do we have to split up at ALL?!" Palmon asked, making little sense as she cried. Tentomon went over there and tried to comfort her.

Mimi thought it was odd. It should've been the other way around. Tentomon was the closest person to Izzy. They should be comforting Tentomon, not visa versa. Still, she felt like she needed some comforting, too. She gave a slight sob as she tried not to break down. Tai put an arm around her shoulder, something he normally wouldn't do.

"Let it out, Mimi." He looked over at the other girl in the group. "You, too, Sora."

Sora instantly broke down. She leaned against Matt, sobbing. Matt almost fell over, but quickly recovered. TK gripped onto Matt's leg with Patamon on his head crying.

Biyomon hugged Sora from the back. All of the group had been fairly close in one way or another to each other. They lived with each other and stuck together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Gabumon looked down at the ground. Agumon put a hand on his shoulder. Joe and Gomamon both were silent. Joe was staring off into space while Gomamon was perched on Joe's shoulder, pretending to try to figure out what Joe was staring at when he, too, was just staring off into space.

Gennai longed to be able to comfort them somehow, but he had no means by which to do it. He just watched Izzy. The week's time was almost up. If he didn't awaken, he would be officially gone.

The time came...and passed. Izzy was still out. Gennai hung his head. It was over. Mimi began to cry hysterically. Tentomon pulled away from Palmon, trying to compose himself, a habit he picked up from Izzy. He walked over to his friend, slowly. When he reached Izzy, that's when the tears began to fall. Tentomon began to cry, but tried not to make it too loud for the sake of the others.

One tear fell onto Izzy's face. It slid down his cheek, starting at his eye. It was almost as if Izzy had shed a tear himself. There seemed to be nothing left of the Izzy that they had all known.

Tentomon closed his eyes, unable to look anymore. They all missed Izzy's color return, slowly at first, but returning just the same.

"Mmmm..." Izzy murmured as he began to wake up.

"Huh?!" Tentomon asked.

Izzy's eyes slowly opened. His dark eyes scanning the place. He saw everyone staring at him. Even Gennai was there. Well, not in person, but in a hologram. Izzy saw the tear streaks down the eyes of those who had cried. He weakly raised his hand up and wiped away one last tear coming down Tentomon's face. He was running almost completely on instinct.

"Izzy?" Tai asked hopefully.

At the sound of his name, Izzy finally came completely to his senses. The weariness was still there, but he didn't mind it.

"Tai..."

Even though the name was spoken in a whisper, Izzy knew that he was much better. He had said the name without having to concentrate severely on it. He looked at the rest of them, naming each one in his head easily. It felt good to think clearly again!

Tentomon hugged Izzy hard. "You're all right!"

"I won't be for long...the way you're...squeezing me..." Izzy gasped.

Tentomon released his grip slightly, but he was still hugging him. It was like he was afraid that the second he let go, Izzy would flop to the floor dead. Everyone else was in a state of numbed shock.

"I've never seen anything like it!" Gennai exclaimed. "He's the only one to go past the week time limit and actually make it!"

TK answered proudly, "That's because he's got us to look out for him!"

"Apparently so."

TK let go of Matt and flung his arms around the only slightly older boy's neck. Izzy was basically sitting up because of the way that they were hugging him. Patamon was squealing happily. Palmon was jumping up and down with joy. Agumon and Gabumon were doing some sort of crazy little dance.

"He's alive?!" Joe asked, snapping out of his shock.

"All right!" Gomamon exclaimed.

Biyomon was laughing happily with Sora. Sora was still holding onto Matt though. Matt looked happy for Izzy, but embarrassed by the way that Sora was holding onto him. Sora suddenly became self-conscious and let go. Mimi and Tai were also doing a strange dance.

"Don't you EVER try anything like that again, Izzy!" Tai ordered when he finished.

"Believe me...I'll try not to..." Izzy replied weakly.

Gennai just smiled as he watched the Digidestined celebrate.

Myotismon was furious. Sure, the Crest of Knowledge was still weak, but it was gradually getting stronger. The child had survived! Demidevimon was getting the evil Digimon's full wrath.

"Ow! Master! Please!" Demidevimon said as the bats attacked.

"I will destroy the Digidestined! I WILL prevail!" Myotismon swore, ignoring his minion's cries.

In the background, something metal, almost a ring, curled around a cat Digimon's tail flashed as the tail was swished back and forth. The cat Digimon had large claws and yellow-gloved hands. It was white except for the purple stripes. Gatomon sat there and silently laughed at Demidevimon's pitiful cries.

THE END

Author's note: Well, that's my first attempt at writing Digimon fanfiction. Please don't kill me. And I don't want any lawyers either! Like I said before, I have nothing!

Here are some ratings just for fun (don't send in results, 'kay?)

1 - Your ability to write was stolen by Vademon!

2 - That was worse than Demidevimon!

3 - Wasn't too bad, but wasn't too good either.

4 - Was pretty good, but needs to digivolve a little bit so it's a little better.

5 - Your ability to write is really good.

6 - Woah! Joe might want to borrow your notes from English!

7 - Even Mimi couldn't complain about this!

8 - Tai must be slipping you info or something!

9 - Who are you? A professional writer who just happens to like Digimon?!

10 - Prodigious!