By: 7 of 11
Chapter One

T.K. looked up at Tsunonrimon from besides Kari, defiance in his eyes. "You hurt her…" he turned his gaze to his former partner, and the defiance was gone, yet replaced by a wistful sadness. "And you helped her do it." He remained unmoving for a brief eternity.

"Enough!" shouted Tsunonrimon. "You try my patience, child!" Abruptly, she stood up straight, as if listening to a distant voice. A smile gradually grew on her face. "They are here!" she whispered. "Come, Angemon, Angewomon! Let us show the Digidestined the wrath of Darkness!" The three walked out of the stone doorway, which sparkled briefly after they had left, and disappeared.

T.K. got up and started to run towards the door. As he crossed the threshold, however, the doorway flashed and he was thrown backwards. He cried in agony. "T.K.!" cried Kari. Weakly, she pulled herself up from the floor and went over to the other Digidestined. As she knelt down at the unconscious T.K.'s side, waves of nausea overtook her system, and she was plunged into a deep sleep. The two lay on the cold stone floor, unmoving.

"Flower Cannon!" Lillymon took out several of the numerous attackers with verdant blasts from her weapon, but they were replaced by even more. She cried out in pain as one of them sank its teeth into her shoulder. This momentary lapse allowed even more of the swarm to get in.

A roaring battle cry caused them to pause from tearing Lillymon apart. The Digimon barely had time to feel surprised before an angry WarGreymon ripped them all to shreds using his powerful claws.

Lillymon looked at WarGreymon. "Thanks for the help."

"Don't mention it!" growled the Mega Digimon.

"Black Magic!" WarGreymon was suddenly thrown forward in a burst of energy as dark as night. Lillymon turned around to see the Dark Trio of Angemon, Angewomon, and Tsunonrimon floating right above the main tower of the palace.

Matt, still clinging on to Dragomon's back, narrowed his eyes. "You…" he hissed. "What have you done with T.K.!"

Tsunonrimon looked at Matt as if he were a speck of dust. "Now, now," she chided. "You mustn't be so rude when talking to your elders, boy." The Dark Queen floated forwards. Angemon and Angewomon started to follow, but Tsunonrimon halted them. "You wait here."

Tsunonrimon levitated over to Dragomon nonchalantly. Everyone eyed her cautiously, but no one wanted to do something that might ignite a full-scale battle.

"If you are so impatient to know where your little companions are," she began. "They are in the castle's keep. However, I warn you, you will not be able to defeat us. It would be the wisest decision to simply leave. They are mine, and no one shall take them from me. If you turn around now, I shall let you go."

"Yeah, right!" scoffed Jake. "We came here to get T.K. and Kari back, and there's no way in Hell that you'll get us to give up on them!"

Tsunonrimon shrugged. "We gave you a chance…" She raised her hands high above her head. "Unholy Slash!" A crescent of midnight started to take shape in her fists. She brought it down suddenly, and it extended in a slice to Dragomon's chest.

Dragomon roared in pain and started to thrash wildly. The four Digidestined tried to hold on, but it was no use. It was a very long drop to the forest floor below.

Chapter Two

(Author's Note: This occurs while the rescue party {see pt 3} is going to Tsunonrimon, they haven't started fighting yet)

"Sora." Sora closed her eyes even tighter, trying to drive away the voice that was waking her. "Sora?" Maybe if she pretended to still be asleep, they'd go away. "Sora!" With great reluctance, Sora opened her eyes and sat up.

Izzy looked at her. "Good, you're awake. Let's go to find Tai, Matt, and the others!"

Sora blinked. "Izzy? What time is it?" She looked around, confused. It was still dark out.

"Five in the morning." Izzy replied.

"Five?!" Sora looked at Izzy. "You woke us up at five in the morning! Izzy!"

Joe spoke up from where he was packing a bag, with Gomamon's assistance. "He thinks that if we get going earlier, we'll be able to meet up with the group before they can get into any trouble. And you know there's going to be trouble."

"Well, I guess so…when you put it that way." Sora stood up and yawned. "Come on, Biyomon, time to get up."

The party cleaned up the campsite and then started down the path where the first group had gone. They never noticed the figure following them. A figure that looked like a Minotaur and wore iron gauntlets on his hands.

"Lunchtime!" yelled Gomamon happily. Joe pulled some sandwiches out of his bag. "That's all?" Gomamon looked crestfallen. "Oh well, I suppose it will have to do."

The three Digimon and their partners all sat down to eat. Without warning, the air behind Joe started to waver and solidify. The other five, seeing this, started to back away from Joe, mouths agape.

"What? What's wrong? I don't have something in my teeth, do I?"

"No! It's…it's…"Sora pointed, but couldn't finish the sentence.

"There's someone behind me, isn't there?" Joe turned and looked up at the Digimon. "AHHH!!! It's Invisomon!" Joe dove forward, barely missing getting smashed by a steel glove.

Gomamon dropped the half-eaten sandwich. "Joe! Gomamon digivolve to…IKKAKUMON!" The shaggy walrus glared at Invisomon. "Harpoon Torpedo!"

Three of the missiles streaked at the Minotaur. "Demon Punch!" The gauntlets started to glow a bright white. "HYAA!" Invisomon brought his fist up and around, knocking the projectiles back at Ikkakumon, who was thrown backwards.

"Tentomon digivolve to…KABUTERIMON!"

"Biyomon digivolve to…BIRDRAMON!" And the battle raged on.

Chapter Three

The four Digidestined were falling, unable to do anything. Jake closed his eyes and waited for the end. There were three clangs on metal below him all of a sudden. Then he landed on MetalGarurumon's back, too. As he gasped for air, he saw that MetalGarurumon had caught the four of them not thirty feet above the dense foliage of the forest floor. A second later and they would have been pasty-colored spots on the ground.

"Hurricane Beam!" Angemon swerved around Dragomon's attack. The beam, still continuing, struck the peak of the palace tower, ripping it clean off. In that room, Matt saw, were two very familiar figures lying side by side. "MetalGarurumon!" He yelled, his voice hoarse. "Up there! The tower!"

MetalGarurumon grunted an affirmative, and sprang higher into the air, landing right in the exposed room. "T.K.!" shouted Matt, running to his brother's side.

"Kari!" Tai leaped off of MetalGarurumon's back and sprinted to his sister. He, ever so gently, picked her head up and put it in his lap. "Kari…" he saw the horrific bruise on her side. "Oh my god…what did they do to you?"

Matt looked at the electric burns on his brother's hands and face. "What happened here?"

Mimi and Jake bent over the two boys. "Are they…are they dead?" asked Mimi, worried.

"No, they're just badly hurt." Choked Tai. "Tsunonrimon will pay for this."

The Digidestined turned as a cackle came from behind them. "Oh, how touching." Tsunonrimon sneered. "The families will die together." She started to gather power. "Black…" A pink blur suddenly dropped out of the sky, hitting Tsunonrimon in the back of the head.

"All right Lillymon!" cheered Mimi.

Tsunonrimon recovered from her out-of-control falling and turned to Lillymon. "Ah, the flower child wants to get in on the fight. News flash: The 60's are over!" She crossed her arms in front of her face. "Rain of Blades!" She flung her hands outward again, releasing a spray of swords. Lillymon was thrown down into the forest below, helpless.

WarGreymon struck at Angewomon with his gleaming claws, but he couldn't seem to hit her. She was too fast for him. Finally, he saw his chance. He drove his foot up in a kick to her chin, snapping it shut. As the angel fell backwards, WarGreymon brought his arm back.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon's beam attack struck home, colliding with the Mega's back.

WarGreymon grunted in pain and turned around to confront this new threat. "Terra Force!" The gigantic sphere of fire shone a deep scarlet as he held it high over his head. He hurled the attack at Angemon, who was totally enveloped in the blast. As the angel dove out of the fireball, seemingly unscathed, WarGreymon paused for a second. This wasn't right. He was a Mega Digimon, Angemon was only a Champion-stage. How could Angemon possibly have survived the Terra Force? He was forced to abandon this train of thought, however, as Angewomon re-entered the fight.

Chapter Four

Izzy was working at his computer frantically. "Izzy, this is no time to play games!" protested Joe. "Invisomon is kicking our Digimon's butts!"

"I know that, Joe!" explained Izzy. "One of the main problems with fighting Invisomon is that he can turn invisible. However, he still has a computer code in the Digiworld when he is transparent. So if I upload a program into the Digiworld that can isolate that code and display it…"

"Then we should be able to see Invisomon no matter what!" finished Sora.

Izzy nodded. "Right!" His fingers flew over the keyboard. With a final triumphant stroke, he pushed Enter. "Uploading now…"

Without his normal effects, Invisomon suddenly appeared in the air, aiming a kick at Kabuterimon. With the program in place, however, Kabuterimon could see Tsunonrimon's henchman and react accordingly. The bug flew out of harms way. "Electro Shocker!" the ball of electricity hit a very startled Invisomon in the back.

Invisomon fell to his knees, obviously in pain. "What?" Sora was confused. "One shot from Kabuterimon does that much damage? How is that possible?"

Izzy smiled. "As I thought. With his natural camouflage ability, Invisomon probably never felt the need to enhance his defensive strength. Right now, he probably is the defensive equivalent of, oh say, Greymon. It's an even match now."

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon shot twin fireballs at Invisomon, who looked up with what Joe imagined was horror as the Digimon was picked up and thrown into a tree.

The Ultimate got up and looked at Birdramon. "Demon Punch!" He hit the gigantic bird straight on, but this left him open to a Harpoon Torpedo salvo from Ikkakumon. Invisomon fell to the ground, defeated. He shimmered, as if he was going to turn invisible again, and disintegrated.

"Yeah! You are the best, Izzy!" shouted Joe.

They were interrupted by a gigantic thunderclap in the distance. They all turned to see tiny specks shooting flashes of colored light at each other.

"Looks like trouble…" Izzy began.

"And where there's trouble…" Sora continued.

Joe groaned. "There's Tai and the others." He finished.

"Birdramon!" shouted Sora. "Take us to them! Quickly!"

Birdramon looked down at the trio. "I can't carry all of you and your Digimon like this."

"Please! Birdramon, you have to! Otherwise, Tai will be hurt, I just know it. You have to!" Sora's crest started to glow.

"Birdramon digivolve to…GARUDAMON!" The humungous avian bent over to pick up the group. She flapped her wings once then took to the air.

Chapter Five

"What? Where am I?" Kari slowly opened her eyes. "What happened?" She seemed to lose focus for a second, then she regained it. "Tai!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Tai looked down at his little sister. "We're all here to rescue you guys from Tsunonrimon. She's not paying any attention to us," he guestured at the small group. "But she's doing a good job of defeating the Digimon, and it won't be long before she turns on us."

Kari weakly sat up, then winced and brought her hand to her side as jolts of pain shot through her body.

"Do you know what happened to T.K.?" asked Matt. "He has really bad burns, and I'm worried about him!"

Kari thought. "He ran out the door," only then did she realize that since the roof had been blown off that there was no door. "And something shocked him. I think Tsunonrimon put a spell on the place or something."

It was then that a triple attack from the three Megas-WarGreymon's Terra Force, Dragomon's Hurricane Beam, and MetalGarurumon's Ice Wolf Claw-sent Angewomon sprawling, and the angel crashed to the stone floor of the tower room not ten feet from where Kari was.

"Angewomon!" cried the young Digidestined. Fighting the pain, she went to her former companion's side. "Are you alright?"

"Kari! What are you doing?" yelled Jake. "Angewomon's evil! If you try and help her, she'll just hurt you…or worse!"

Kari turned to him. "I don't care! Angewomon was once my friend, and I still remember that! Nothing can change what she did for me before!" With those words, Kari's Digivice started to radiate with a brilliant, pure, white light.

In wonder, the girl removed it from her belt and looked at it. She turned back to the downed angel, the Digivice in her hands still. The light washed over Angewomon's face, and what seemed to be a miracle occurred. The radiance seemed to chase the evil aura around Angewomon away like daylight banishing the shadow of nightfall. Angewomon turned to Kari. "Kari?" she breathed. "What…what happened? The last thing I remember was Tsunonrimon…LOOK OUT!" the angel screamed.

Kari turned to see Angemon raising his staff high above his head like a club. Reflexively Kari brought her arms up to block against the blow she knew was going to come. The Digivice she still clutched in her hand shone again, and Angemon halted his attack. The evil was expelled from him as well. "Kari?" the holy warrior said, confused. He looked over to where T.K. was still lying unconscious. "T.K!" he shouted. "What have I done?" Slowly, Angemon dropped his staff.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault, Angemon, Angewomon." Said Mimi. "It was Tsunonrimon who turned you to evil." Mimi pointed to where Tsunonrimon was currently beating up on Dragomon.

"Tsunonrimon…" Angemon growled. "Matt," he called. "Take care of T.K.." The warrior floated into the air, to where Tsunonrimon had her back exposed to him. "HAND OF FATE!" The beam tore through the air and smashed into the Dark Queen.

Tsunonrimon turned in surprise. "ANGEMON!"

Angewomon flew to besides Angemon. "We're free now, Tsunonrimon."

"And we've got a grudge to settle…"

Tsunonrimon threw back her head and laughed. "You, teach me a lesson? I think not! For today shall see the defeat of the Digidestined, one way or another! Do you hear me? You all will lose! And," she added, dropping her voice down to a menacing whisper. "I shall take a very personal pleasure in destroying the two of you."

A voice came from behind Tsunonrimon. "Not if we can help it!" She turned to see Izzy, Joe, Sora, and Ikkakumon-who had spoken-climb off Garudamon's back, with Kabuterimon hovering closely besides them.

Tsunonrimon, for the first time, looked nervous. "Well, it seems that you outnumber me." She said, getting her sarcastic edge back. "So now it is time for me to exit." She started to rise higher in the air, and a glowing column of light surrounded her.

"Oh no you don't!" Shouted Matt. "Come back down here and fight us!"

She ignored him. "Oh, and what kind of host would I be to leave without a parting present? So here it is…" A sphere of darkness started to surround her, growing bigger with each second, until it was larger than any attack they had ever seen before.

"Run! Get everyone out of here!" shouted Dragomon, realizing what was going to happen. "Quickly!"

The Digidestined leapt into action. Matt scooped up his brother and put him on MetalGarurumon's back. T.K. started to stir. "Matt?" he asked. "What's happening? What's going on?"

"Shhhh." Hushed Matt. "We need to get out of here now!"

As the group made their exit, Tsunonrimon put enormous bolts of energy into the sphere. "HAVOC!!" she screamed shrilly. The ball expanded rapidly, destroying almost everything in its path. It finally collapsed in on itself in a gargantuan explosion, which hurled all the Digidestined around.

Jake opened his eyes weakly. He couldn't move…a glimmer of light caught his attention. What was that? A crystal…thrown here from the depths of the mountain, maybe? It was very pretty and fine-cut for being a natural stone. Compelled by some urge which he couldn't explain, Jake reached his tired arm for the crystal. As soon as his fingers closed around it, Jake suddenly felt new life come into his body. He had energy again.

Jake pocketed the crystal. He wouldn't let this out of his sight.

A rumbling suddenly shook the ground. Jake looked into the sky to see it swirling around and around like some sort of cosmic vortex. A voice-Tsunonrimon's voice-emanated from it. "Well, well. I see you've survived my Havoc attack. Now I have no choice but to finish you off…heh…prepare to meet your deaths, Digidestined…or should I say the DigiDoomed?" she laughed coldly, and Jake found himself surrounded by a brilliant, unholy, light.

When it cleared, he realized he was in some sort of giant chamber. The Digidestined and the Digimon were all surrounding him, looking as confused as he felt. The centerpiece of the room caught all of their attention, however. Tsunonrimon stood there, dressed as a queen, but wearing all black. Around her were her henchmen: Leprechaunmon, Cerebrusmon, and Goblinmon.

"Oh, I am SO pleased that you managed to come." Tsunonrimon smiled, and that made Jake want to throw up. "Welcome to my throne room. Take a long look around, for it is the last place you will ever see. Good-bye…" she pointed. "Attack!"

To be continued…