PART 5: EYE OF THE TIGER

"Tigreromon, do you know what happens when someone

fails me?"

"Yes sir, I do. And I will not fail."

"Good." Gavinmon reclined in his throne and said, "Now

destroy the children! But bring my servant back to

me..."

"As you wish, my lord." The tiger raced away to find

the digidestined...and destroy them.

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Tai walked on confidently. They would find Matt and

defeat the Dark Masters. If anyone could do it, they

could.

"Mimi!" Palmon cried suddenly as Mimi tripped over a

rock.

"I hate this," the girl said. "Can we rest?"

"It's getting late," Sora said. "We have to find a

place to sleep, anyway."

Tai agreed reluctantly and they searched for a

shelter. Then Patamon called, "Hey, look at this!"

"Oh, no," Joe said. "Not another hotel. Remember the

last one?"

"Who cares? It's gonna rain," Izzy said.

"Let's go in!" T.K. and Kari cried.

The seven kids walked into the building. It looked

exactly like the one Devimon had made so long

ago...but that was an illusion. This couldn't be an

illusion.

"It's not an illusion, I can tell," Tentomon said

happily.

Unknown, black eyes watched them. "Seven little ducks

returning to where they once separated. How touching.

And now to find the servant. I can deal with them

later!"

Inside, the kids had found the same soft beds that had

once sent them to different parts of File Island. Mimi

hung her pink hat on a bedpost. "Finally!"

Just as Tai drifted off to sleep, Agumon's green eyes

flashed. "I hear someone..."

Not far away, Matt shook his head. "I can't play my

harmonica right now, Gabumon. I'm depressed as it is."

"Then will you sing?"

A growl startled the twosome and they whirled around.

"Master has sent me to bring you back, Servant Child."

"Leave me alone, Tigreromon!" Matt yelled.

"The stones cannot help you now," the huge tiger

cackled. It was then that Matt remembered. But the

others couldn't know he needed their help right

now...and why would they help, anyway?

"I am willing to make a deal with you, Servant Child.

A staring contest. If you win, I will spare you

digidestined...for now. If I win, it's back to the

Master."

"Don't do it!" Gabumon cried.

"I accept," Matt said smoothly. He was ready to defeat

those black orbs that had imprisoned him...and he knew

he could. He clenched his fists and stared at

Tigreromon.

The coal black eyes stared right back at the boy. He

didn't move. He would be smarter this time. If he

blinked or moved, he would be caught...or if he lost.

Matt looked past the eyes, and soon he didn't see

Tigreromon at all. He thought back to before the

battle between Parrotmon and Greymon, before anything

happened in his life. Back to when the eight were

normal kids who didn't see monsters ruining Heighton,

who didn't know the meaning of Digiworld. Who were

friends. Just friends. Not a team sworn to save all

worlds, just regular people.

Matt suddenly saw fire out of the corner of his eye.

He dove into the forest before Tigreromon could

attack. He ran toward the light. Suddenly he heard,

"Tiger Flare!"

Heat washed over Matt. Footsteps approached and

MetalGarurumon appeared at his side. Matt climbed on

and they raced through the trees. "Tiger Flare!"

Tigreromon shouted. The burning fire swept over the

young boy, and he clung tighter to his digimon.

Finally they stopped in front of the hotel. Matt

gasped. Flames leapt from the windows...and Matt heard

his friends shout for help.

Matt dismounted and faced MetalGarurumon. "We've got

to go in there. How can we get through the fire?"

MetalGarurumon smiled. "Leave everything to me." Matt

got back on and his digimon raced at the house. "Ice

Wolf Claw!"

They dashed through just as the ice melted. Matt

nodded slowly as he understood. The duo bounded up the

stairs and ran toward the cries for help.

Matt coughed and shouted, "Get on, you guys!" He

helped the kids and the digimon onto MetalGarurumon's

back.

Suddenly Mimi collapsed. The smoke was making Matt's

eyes water. He shouted, "Can't we just go through the

wall?"

MetalGarurumon leapt forward and broke through the

flaming walls. Outside, all eight got off. They were

all coughing hard--except Mimi, who was unconscious.

"Thanks again," Tai finally managed to say. But the

two were gone, vanished into the night. As the

children watched the building burn, they all thought

about how lucky they were.

Suddenly a huge tiger bounded into the clearing.

"Ahhhhh! Izzy, who's he?" Tai asked.

"Tigreromon. He works for Gavinmon. He holds a grudge

forever, and he has a major attitude problem," Izzy

said. "He probably started the fire with his Tiger

Flare technique!"

"You haven't seen my other attack!" Tigreromon said.

"Fire Blaze!"

"Fire Blaze? Tiger Flare? Easy to see that he's a fire

element," Sora remarked as the children dodged the

attack.

"Palmon, digivolve to...Togemon!" Togemon walked

forward. "You're asking for some Needle Spray!"

Nothing happened, and suddenly Tigreromon smiled. He

shot a Fire Blaze directly at the unmoving Mimi!

"Togemon, digivolve to...Lillymon!"

Lillymon swept her digidestined out of the way. The

blazing light hit the ground. Suddenly another light

engulfed the digimon.

"Agumon, digivolve to...Greymon!"

"Tentomon, digivolve to...Kabuterimon!"

"Gatomon, digivolve to...Angewomon!"

"Patamon, digivolve to...Angemon!"

"Biyomon, digivolve to...Birdramon!"

"Gomamon, digivolve to...Ikkakumon!"

The champion digimon shot their attacks at Tigreromon.

He withstood them very happily, as if he enjoyed it.

Suddenly Tigreromon's eyes turned green and fired

eye-beams at the kids.

"Greymon, digivolve to...MetalGreymon! Giga Blaster!"

The eye-beams were stopped.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon cried. The children

suddenly wavered, and the younger ones fell under the

bright eye-beams.

"Haven't you learned not to mess with us yet?" Tai

asked. MetalGreymon shot at Tigreromon again.

Suddenly Tigreromon shouted, "Tiger Flare!" The

digimon all devolved to rookies. Then, with an evil

laugh, the tiger aimed at the digidestined.

A harmonica made the digimon whip around. Matt held

the instrument to his lips as he watched the evil

digimon. Matt let go with one hand and reached into

his pocket. He brought out the blue stone. Tai saw him

and held out the stone that meant courage. The others

who were awake did the same. Then Sora found the

stones for T.K., Kari, and Mimi. She placed the

pebbles in their hands.

Eight beams of light shot out and joined at a central

point. They fed power into the chain. Suddenly Tai saw

Matt fall to his knees. "What?" he asked.

"That digimon...it saps Matt of his power..." Gomamon

whispered.

Right on time, the warm voice said, "Transport," and

the kids fell to the ground, this time in

Machinedramon's city.

Mimi rubbed her head. "What happened?"

Palmon smiled. "Matt saved us all from the fire...and

then Tigreromon attacked! But we helped you, Kari, and

T.K. to get the special rocks...and we got away!"

"I'm back to a rookie," Salamon said to Kari. "Again."

The digidestined stood up. "These stone things are

weird. What other attacks does this digimon have? Why

does she take Matt's energy? And where did that kid

go?"

Matt was indeed gone, and the others could only hope

that the eye of the tiger hadn't overcome him. Then

Kari began to hum the words to a song she had recently

learned.

"Rising up, back on the street

Did my time, took my chances.

Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet

Just a kid and her will to survive.

Yeah, it's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of

the fight,

Risin' up to the challenge of our rivals.

And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the

night

And he's watching us all with the eye...of the tiger."

The six youths clapped and Kari blushed. She hadn't

meant to sing out loud. Salamon grinned at her. "Sing

if you want, Kari, we just escaped destruction!" Then

Salamon turned serious. "But what if the 'eye of the

tiger' is still watching us?"

Even Izzy was at a loss for words. Then he began to

explain a very complex experiment that could help

them, but he added, "It will take about two weeks, of

course..."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but we don't

have two weeks!" Tai cried. "Matt's gone. He's

probably hurt. We have two Dark Masters plus Gavinmon

to worry about, and that tiger. We just can't spare

two weeks on an experiment! We don't have that much

time. And what if Matt was caught, huh? He could turn

on us again! Besides the fact that Gavinmon and

what's-his-name are mad at him..."

"We didn't know you cared about Matt," Biyomon said.

"I don't! But I'm the leader of everyone, including

him!"

Two familiar inky eyes watched from the shadows.

"Gigadramon, Megadramon, Tankmon, Mekanorimon, and

Machinedramon, prepare for battle!" the tiger growled.

"And this time, I'll make sure they don't get away

alive!"

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This time...sure...this is not good. This is very much

not good. But I'm enjoying writing it! Part 6 is

half-finished already, so expect it soon!

E-mail: tuqei@yahoo.com