Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Summery: AU, very AU and dark, with mentioning of torture, violence and blood drinking. Things begin to pick up as Tai begins to look for the objects wanted by his master, the rest of the Digi Destined are stressed in their search for Mimi and fighting the evil Digimon Kaiser at the same time.

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Spawn of the vampire
Part IV
The Search for Mimi
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A dust cloud rose from the ground as the great line of Monochomons moved in a large single file line across it, each of them dragging a large wagon filled with mining tools behind them. Moving next to the Monochromons, several smaller digimons walked as well, each of them holding either a shovel or a pick axe as they struggled to keep up with the other ones, but that was just he grunt forces of this little force, around the digimons, walked his real army, countless Gazimon's and Goblinmon's marching in perfect lines. They may all be just Rookies, but with enough numbers of them, he didn't need to worry about the champions rumored to live in the city, and if they still to be a problem, there were his air force to take them down.

Looking up from his own Devidramon, he could see the other devil type dragon digimons flying in a perfect triangle shaped formation, their emotionless eyes all staring at the horizon, looking for a treat or worse, the Digimon Kaiser, that arrogant brat had actually dared to moved into his area of the digital world recently, despite everything he had done to make sure he wouldn't. Something which had been unexpected, still with all the areas the poor genius had lost in the east, it was only logical that he would start to move to the east, where barely any Digi brats showed up.

Staring out over his area of the western part of the digital world with his eyes full of concentration, Taichi bit his lip as he thought of the place he had been sent to in order to look for the four objects desired by his master, if he didn't want to lose everything as well as his life, he had to find it quickly, very quickly, his master had made that very clear.

Staring at the many digimon below him, he gave a small smile and lifted his head up to gaze at their destination in the distance, the towering stone buildings of Oasis Deen, the largest village this side of the desert, and the only place you could find water before the Digital Wasteland really began, and the place his master had tracked the first of the shrines with the legendary digi cores to.

Staring down at his force below with a grim look on his face, he nodded and lifted his hand to signal them to drop down their digging tools and instead prepare for battle. On the ground, a few of the wagons attached to the Monochomons opened to reveal the fighting force he had brought along with him, the mixed number of digimons turned to stare at the village in the distance. Lowering his arm in as a signal, Taichi yelled out the command as well. "Gazimons, Goblimons Attack!" Even if he didn't get what he wanted from them, he would at least have gotten some more slaves and a few presents to give to his queen.

Smiling and taking in the screams of terror and fear, he looked on as several buildings went down in place of fire and smoke, several digimons running around screaming or in a few cases, attacking back, their eyes showing their anger at getting attack out of the blue like that. "Devidramons." The group of the flying devil dragon digimons flew up and waited for his order. "Attack!"

It was over all too soon, the few champions who might have been able to at least stop his attack had run away with the rest of the escaped villagers, the rest of the mixed level digimons had been trapped and forced into a series of nets and cages to be taken back to the castle and the choice between becoming a slave or dying in the damp, dark cells far below the castle.

Looking down at the village from the top, his eyes moved to the one part of the city still being defended quiet effectively, mentally noting to himself that he would have to send his troops through retraining, Taichi willed the Devidramon to land right outside the shabby looking stone building, his eyes going to the number of defeated Gazimons and Goblinmon's lying in the sand around him, then he looked up at the large blue champion insect type digimon panting as he stood protectively before the doorway into the building. "You there, give up, you don't stand a chance."

Looking up, brown eyes narrowed as the digimon's four blue arms lifted up into an defensive position in case he decided to make one wrong move, the eyes moving over the sight of the massing digimon's before him, and the large Devidramon before him, then his eyes moved to look on the figure on the back of it. "You... You're a human... The Digimon Kaiser."

Shaking his head at the words of the digimon, Taichi stepped forward and lifted up a hand to move his cape out of the way, his skin and eyes growling a the feel of the desert sun beating down at it, and making him wish that he could at least have done this in the middle of the night, that way, the death tool would have really gotten high in the battle, nothing like trapped digimon's in a burning building to brighten up the night. But he was not here to amuse himself, he had a time table to keep. Returning his mind to the task at hand, Taichi allowed his eyes to look directly into the eyes of digimon before him, contempt and arrogance almost flowing from them. "You, you're the digimon guardian of one of the legendary digi cores, right?"

Kabuterimon growled as he moved a bit back to get a better attack position, his eyes sweeping over the area and settling on the large number of Rookie digimons moving in to outflank him on all sides. Then he looked up at the human before him. "Yeah, so what of it Kaiser." The words dripped with sarcasm as Kabuterimon glared coldly at the human above him.

Taichi sifted his head up and stared at the building with narrowed eyes showing the cold and evil villain he wanted to look like, while his body was burning with a feeling of joy in his cold heart, he had done it, and before that other bumbling idiot his master had turned had found one. "The digi core of legend, soon it will be mine." Lifting a hand, he smiled as he looked down at the insect before him. "Thank you fool." Then he snapped the hand down. "Attack!"

**************

Far away from the battle site, Mimi Tachikawa was sitting on a small stone bench in the castle garden, her pink hair moving with the soft wind blowing through the area at the time. At her feet, her digimon partner Palmon were relaxing as well, her vine like fingers moving into the dirt to at least get some kind of nutrition out of it. Moving her head to look at the wall outlining the garden, Mimi sighed at the rather depression thought of it also outlining the wall of her new life.

Lifting a hand to her grumbling stomach and moaning at the demand it gave her, she closed her eyes and dropped down to lie on her back, thankful for the new dress she had managed to get the Floramon slaves to make her, while she didn't like to see them cower in the dirt before her, it still left a sense of superiority and a tingling for more of it in her body. "Where is he?"

Looking up from her meal, Palmon turned her head to stare at her human partner, her insect like eyes showing a great deal of confusion and a slight amount of anger at her partners reluctance to at least make an attempt at fleeing from this place. "Mimi." Watching as the brown eyes of her partner focused on her, she stood up and crossed her arms in front of her. "I don't get you, you complain about him when he's here, and when he gone, you complain over the fact that he not here."

Staring at her partner with a deadpan expression, Mimi signed and lifted up a hand to look at, the claws on the tip of her fingers still giving her a few chills down her spine, even if she had almost gotten used to them in the course of the last week. Still, she couldn't wait to find a way to become human again, and in the meantime, there were a few needs that this body demanded from her. A loud growl filled the area and had even Palmon sweat drop at the level of it. "Um... I'm complaining because I'm hungry, and eating the food the kitchen sends me doesn't even help."

Her flower falling down to clover her eyes, Palmon sighed and felt like smacking herself in the face. "Mimi." Then she looked up at the castle and blinked as she spotted a small black feline looking down at them from one of the highest placed windows at that wall, more precisely the ones on Taichi's floor. "Mimi, how about we check out the rest of the castle for a bit, you know, just until Taichi returns."

Looking at her partner digimon in confusion, the pink haired girl finally shrugged and stood up, her eyes turned to look on the imposing stone building she now called home, even if it was just for a short while, until she had gotten the vampire boy calmed down enough for her to convince him to let her go back to earth for awhile. Then she could return with Matt and the others and bring Taichi back to the real world, and justice.

Staring down at the grass as she followed after her partner digimon, she briefly wondered why she was so reluctant to do it, he had to face justice, he had tortured and killed her friend Michael, he had hunted down and enslaved countless digimons through force and fear alone, yet, he was so nice to her, willing to go out of his way, to make her happy, but he was also evil, she had seen the cells, hell, she had lived in one, the digimon around her looked and acted happy, but she could the fear in their eyes, they were nothing more then slaves to that boy, and the most painful and dark thing to be held against him was the death of Michael, her friend, and still, there was something about the boy that made her feel strange near him, it wasn't love it just couldn't be, she couldn't stand be anywhere near him, he was so arrogant and cold, he was evil and the enermy, yet, he could also be so kind and friendly, she had seen him act completely different with Blackgatomon then other digimons, his behavior also changed when she was around him, although not as much, but it was still there if one knew how to look for it. "Izzy, he would have an explanation for this, I just know it."

Turning around and moving back into the bedroom, Blackgatomon jumped off the window still and purred to herself as she landed on the carpet, the softness of it giving her the urge to curl up and get a quick catnap before going out to find something to eat. Shaking the feeling from her mind, the dark feline type digimon began to wander over to the large doors. Her thoughts full of concern for the human boy she had been partnered with, and they weren't the same standard thoughts, they were thoughts of betrayal. "Taichi." He was the first who had treated her with kindness, before that, it had been just her, the master and that other bumbling digimon, all alone in that world, the pain of having to bear the anger of the master whenever he went into a bloodlust, waking up with more cuts and bruises then her favorite scratching post had were becoming an almost become a daily thing for them, and then, the day Myotismon came to the real world it all changed.

Moving out through the door, the black feline stopped as footsteps echoed through the hallway, jumping into the shadow's she stared at the digimon servant's walking past them, their eyes holding a level of sadness in them, and a deep fear. "He shouldn't be like this." Moving faster down the hallway, she ducked into the bedroom next to her masters, deciding to wait for the pink haired girl to show up. "He's too kind to be evil." Jumping up on the pink bed, she snorted at the color of the sheets and wondered why her partner hadn't given her the same color of sheets he used, instead of this sickening girlish one.

Dropping down on the sheets' the black colored feline closed her eyes and purred silently as the softness of the bed caused her to relax, sending her into a dream land, a dream land of the first time she had met the child her master wanted her to be partnered with, it hadn't been a good meeting, she was still sore after the beating she had received just a day before.

"Wake up you stupid furball."

The foot slammed into her side and sent her flying backwards through the air, only to have it cut off rather harshly as she smacked into the bare walls of the apartment. Her bones protesting agaisnt the treatment as she fell down onto the wooden floor. Fearing the result of not moving fast enough to please her master, the small black cat like digimon shot up into a sitting position, her face trying to hide the pain from the movement. "Yef mafter." Cursing as her mouth still had trouble saying the word correctly, she lifted up a paw to touch the right side of her face, a large welt had formed under the fur and under her mouth, a small crack in her jawbone was still in the process of healing. Unfortunately, it gave her few speaking problems until her jaw had finished healing.

Shooting a dark look down at the black feline at her troubled speaking, he finally sighed loudly and moved a hand to run it through his purple hair, but instead of completing the movement, he made it stop just as it was pushing up his front bangs, keeping the hand there as if he was suffering form something. "You see the trouble I have with servants, they're just lazy and can't even talk right."

Blinking at the words, she frowned, the master hadn't talked to her or the other lug head of a digimon he had been banished with, moving her head, her eyes traveled over to see someone standing in the doorway, a ragged look on his face, the brown hair was hanging down limply around his head and his eyes were staring at her in confusion, snapping out of her trance, she turned around and stared back at her master before he became to angry with her. "Forry mafter."

In a rare show of emotion for him, the man reached out a hand and ruffled her fur in a friendly way, but still succeeding in sending a series of sharp points of pain into her, his finger moving across the almost healed cuts on her head and ears, opening them again as his nails cut into them, still, crying out in pain would earn her another beating, and she couldn't afford that. Biting down the pain she felt, she settled for purring, hoping it would make him happy in some way.

Stopping the petting of his digimon slave and servant, the man turned around to look at the boy behind him, the eyes moving to take in the sight of the boy still lingering at the doorway. "Child, I want you to meet BlackGatomon, from now on, she will be your partner digimon, and together you two will lead the Digi world operations." Leaving no chance for the human boy to protest, he stood up and held out a hand to show that the boy was more then welcome to come in to join them. ""Please, come in, sit down, and I'll bring you your digivice."

"Hey you?"

Sitting up in a hurry at the shout, Blackgatomon shook her head to chase away the sleep and get ready to defend herself, it wasn't until she found herself looking right into the pink haired girls brown eyes that she remembered where she was. Deciding to act friendly and gain some time, Blackgatomon purred a bit and settled down into a friendly stance to show that she wasn't in the room to fight, her eyes turning to look at both the human girl and the plant type digimon Palmon in a nonchalant manner. "We need to talk." Seeing the distrusting expression on their faces, she almost laughed at the emotion. "Hey relax, I don't want to fight you two, I want you to help me."

Staring even more distrusting at the viral digimon on the bed, both Mimi and Palmon narrowed their eyes some more. "Help you, why?" The rather cold tone they showed just how much they trusted the black feline digimon.

Smirking at the familiar feeling of distrust coming from them, she smiled as she stood up on all fours, her tail twitching as she grinned at them.

**************

"Help...me."

Stopping at the sound, the small group of Koromon's turned around and stared down into the grass covered forest floor, passing through this area had become dangerous recently, all ready several digimons had gone missing without a trace, still, whoever it was calling for help, really sounded like he needed it. Moving a bit further ahead, the undergrowth of the forest parted to show them who had called out.

Lifting a hand up from the ground, a human boy stared towards the sound that had stopped close to him. "Please...Help me."

One of the Koromons felt sick to the bone at the way the boy looked, his hair was mattered with blood, and his left arms looked broken in several places, but the blue eyes were staring straight at them, even if they had trouble focusing. "Help me."

Taking charge, one of the Koromon jumped over to look closer at the boy, when he notice that the boy seemed to have gotten some kind of help recently, the more dangerous wounds looked like they had been cleaned and he had a bandage wrapped around his head. Turning to look at the rest of the digimons, he nodded at them. "You two, find the group of kids that we saw earlier."

Nodding in response, the two Koromons jumped off to complete their mission. Both of them heading back the way they came as fast as they could. Turning back to the human boy, the lead Koromon jumped closer and stared at the boy. "Who are you?"

Lifting a hand up to feel who and what he was talking too, the human boy finally gave a smile as he could hear the friendliness in the voice of the digimon before him. "Michael... my name... is Michael." Falling a bit further down onto the ground, the boy looked at the digimon with an urgent look on his face. "Please... Help me... Free her..."

Smiling as he wrapped his ears around the boy in a protective manner, the small in training digimon tried to clam down the boy. Behind him, the remaining Koromon turned to face the other digimons and three humans moving into the area, the eyes of it going wide as it spotted them. "Quick, he needs your help."

Staring in confusion, the group of kids stared form the in training digimon to the badly hurt human on the ground. One of them in fact look the most shocked at what they saw. "Its Michael." Rushing forwards, a girl with short brown haired dropped down to her feet next to him, looking back, she stared at the two boys behind her. "TK, Davis, quick, find something we can move him with."

Nodding and for once having no problems with working, the two boys nodded and began to search for something useful. Returning her attention to the boy, Kari slowly reached down and pushed a blood caked hair lock back form his forehead. "Michael, are you okay?"

Smiling, and coughing up a bit of blood in the process, Michael lifted out a hand to find his partner digimon rushing up to him. "Yes... I'm fine..." Feeling the familiar scaly skin of his digimon, he finally began to relax. "We... will be...fine."

**************

Standing above the burnt out and destroyed village before him, Taichi smiled at the sight of several rookie digimons locked away in cages and hauled up on transport wagon. Their cries of despair a sweet music in his ears. Turning his eyes and attention to the remaining digimon still fighting, he smiled at the sight of a powerful champion digimon defending the small shrine with his life. "Devidramon, destroy him."

Grinning in a sick way, Taichi followed the sight of the insect digimon struggling to keep most of the attacking digimons away, only to fall victim to a Gizimon attacking it from behind, the distraction allowed a Devidramon to slap a hand down onto the insect's type digimons back and press it into the ground as hard as it could.

Letting his own Devidramon land, Taichi jumped down to land in a safe distance from the digimon, his eyes moving to smile at the angry glare he could feel were sent at him from the digimon. Moving closer as he was feeling pretty sure that it couldn't attack, he grinned when he noticed it eyes darken as he came closer, clearly upset over his surprise attack. "Well, one of the legendary digimon's, yes?" Kneeling down to get a better look, he reached out and poked a finger onto the digimon's blue head. "I see you've grown strong enough to remain in your champion form no matter what."

Moving it's head to look closer at the human above it, the digimon tried to push itself free, only to grunt out loudly in pain as more Devidramon's moved over to hold it down. Giving up the struggle, the digimon turned it's head to followed the movements of the human boy walking closer to it. "You, you're a digi destined, other wise you couldn't come here, but you should be helping digimons, not enslave or destroy them."

Yawning as if the whole speech had been a complete waste on him, Taichi stood up and looked closely at the city shrine before him, the simple statue of a human boy and a Tentomon side by side, and in the boy's hand, a marble replica of. "The legendary digi core, so tell me." Turning to stare directly at the digimon, Taichi walked over and sat down close to him. "Where did you hide the western digi core, my master is very eager to get his hands on it."

Moving his head away, the digimon refused to look at the boy, choosing instead to keep silent and hope that the human boy would give up and walk away, still, he couldn't help but be curious as too what the boy had meant when he said master. Not many knew of the shrines and the objects they held within. "Why should I talk."

Grinning as if he expected the answer, Taichi stood up and signaled to the many Gazimon's and Monochromon's waiting nearby, some of them locking the last few digimon's away in cages. "Then I'll just have to tear the place apart, and kill of all your digimon friends, one by one." Turning to watch the large champion digimon as it began to struggle again, Taichi let out a cold laugh and nodded to the nearest Gazimon. "Begin with that house over there." Turning to another one, he smiled as his eyes moved over to the nearest cage. "And start with that Biyomon, right there."

Struggling even harder, the digimon slowly began to push off the ground; his anger giving him more strength and power then before as he strained to fight off the many Devidramon's holding him down. "Bastard, what is wrong with you." Getting his front arms free, he reached up and began to strangle the closet Devidramon in a desperate attempt to fight.

Looking back over his shoulder, Taichi stared at the digimon witha bored expression before lifting up his D3 and walked over to look closer a tthe digimon with a glowing look of anger on his face. "Listen, Kabuterimon, you will obey me, do you understand me, you worthless bug?" Getting no response form the digimon, Taichi glared at the digimon and kicked out, smacking his foot right into the underside of the tough head of the digimon to show his anger, before giving a signal to the Devidramon's as he turned around.

Screams of pain filled the air, and drew in the attention of many of the digimons around the scene from both the trapped digimon and the servants and soldiers in his army. Lying in the center of it all, the legendary Kabutarimon that fought against the darkness so long ago was bleeding from several wounds, his head and arms moving around in pain, well the arms that hadn't been broken yet were.

Looking at the rookie digimons as another one of the bug digimon's arms were broken, Taichi looked straight into the shocked eyes of a scared Biyomon, the eyes of the bird type digimon moving away from the carnage to stare right into Taichi's. Smiling as he walked closer to the cage in a slow pace, the messy haired boy lifted up the key to the cage for all of the digimosn to see. "Tell me, and not only will I spare you from suffering the same treatment, I'll even let you and one other of your friends out of the bird cage, so to speak."

Looking between the carnage and the dying champion digimon and protector of the village, the Biyomon closed it's eyes as the Devidramons turned to stare at the caged up digimons around them. "I'll tell you, just don't hurt anyone anymore." Moving a wing up, the bird like digimon pointed towards the shrine and sighed. "The thing you're looking for is buried under the statue, that's where the real shrine is hidden."

Looking at the statue with new interest, Taichi nodded as it became clear the area around it was much too big for just a simple statue of some long forgotten moldy brat. Lifting up the key and opening the door to the prison wagon, he stepped aside to allow the Biyomon and one other digimon out, the two of them staring around the remains of their village with big scared eyes. "Wonderful, and now." Snapping his fingers, Taichi grinned as both of the digimons gave a scream of terror as iron chains was attached to each of them, and a shovel and pick axe was dumped down on the ground near them. "Now that you're out of the cage, start digging."

Gaping at the human with big eyes, the Biyomon looked down at the shovel in her hands with an angry glare, her feathers starting to stand up from the sheer power she had running through her. "If you think I'll help you destroy what's left of my village, you're crazy." While her words were full of defiance, her attitude and eyes showed something else.

Sighing as if he the mere idea of her protest was too much for him, Taichi turned around and looked up at one of the hovering digimon's above him, his eyes taking on a sinister glint as he watched the hungry look of its face as watched the Biyomon. "Well, if you don't want to work, then you'll just have to die." Snapping his finger, Taichi ignored the brief scream of pain coming from behind him as the flying champion digimon assulted and killed the bird type digimon before it could even try to defen itself.

Waiting until the fact that he had just killed off a defenceless digimon with no care, Taichi moved his eyes from each of the cages containing the few prisoners taken in the village, never stopping long enough on one of them to even show his emotions. "Now, those of you who want too, can help dig up the shrine, those that won't will meet the same fate as the bird." Standing still and watching as the words sank into the rookie digimon's heads, the light of hopelessness lighting up in every one of them. Taichi smiled as he saw them turn slowly to look back at him nervously. "Now, who wants to help dig up the shrine?" The sudden cry of  "me" caused him to nearly laugh out loud.

Walking calmly away as the Gazimon's began to hand out shovels and pick axes, he took a deep breath of air and looked up at the blue sky above him, it was strange to be standing here in the middle of a world made of computer data, commanding an army of evil digimon's to do his every whim, but it also felt so good. Sitting down on the provide chair under the only shade he could find the city, Taichi stared at the mass of digimon still working like crazy before him, the small shrine house he had seen as the first thing, had become a much bigger and more beautiful looking building then before as time passed, the colorful bricks used to make it shine in the sun began to glitter once more as they were cleaned. "Well, look's the first guardians really did a great job in building this place."

Turning his head to the side, he watched as a Gazimon came running straight towards him, the gray ears on it's head flapping in the wind from his speed. "Lord Taichi." Stopping short as soon as he reached over to him, the Gazimon gave a quick salute and turned to point at the ruin with a clawed finger. "We have found the main entrance, my lord."

Grinning at the news, Taichi pushed himself out of the chair and stood up, his cape choosing that moment to move dramatically in the wind as he gazed at the rather large hole in the ground. Taking the first step, he felt the Gazimon fall in next to him; walking in the same pace and keeping a close look out for trouble. "So, Commander... Slash was it?" Watching as the digimon gave a quick nod, Taichi spotted why the digimon was called that as his eyes fell on a thin line of white fur on the right arm of the digimon, clearly gained from a battle long ago. "Have the object been found inside of it?"

Slash the Gazimon shook his head as he moved to make sure the latter leading down into the hole was clear, turned back and stepped aside to let Taichi down first. "No sir, but we are currently clearing out the front room of the house, we have also found a secret passage leading up into one of the few buildings in this village." Moving down the latter as soon as the brown haired boy had, Slash followed after his master. "The inner chamber is sealed, and from the engravings we found, it looks like a digivice is need to open it."

Nodding as he stepped up to the hidden parts of the shrine, Taichi shot a concerned look up at the darkening sky above him as his thoughts turned to wonder briefly about his queen and the promise he had given her a few days ago. "Is she mad at me?" Seeing the confused look on the Gazimon's face, Taichi quickly cleared his throat and stepped into the dark interior of the building. "Well, shall we go?"   

Staring into the darkness of the cave, Taichi felt a small chill go down his spine, as if he was standing before something more powerful then himself or any digimon he had ever met in the past, still, he had to get the digi core for his master. "Lead the way." Waiting until the Gazimon had gone ahead, Tai smiled as he followed after Slash.

The inside of the building were just as strange looking as the outside, row after row of digicodes filled the wall, often broken by several engravings of digimon's fighting or working with one another. Sparing just a few glances on them, the messy haired boy followed his Gazimon guide further into the place, the walls turning from the code engraved stone to a brilliantly color blue and white wall, turning away his eyes from the almost glowing stones, he stared up at the towering door before him, made form metal, it had several lines of blue and white running towards it, all of them curving around in a spiral pattern near the center. "This is it?"

Slash stopped and astared form the door to the boy behind him, his eyes drifting from the curious face to the device strapped to his belt, a faint glimmer of light glowing in respose to the eire glow from the door. "Yes sir, we had to stop once we cleared the entrance to this chamber." Stepping back form the door, the Gazimon made space for the human boy to step up.

Walking forward to stoop just before the doorway, Tai looked closer at the Door and spotted the reason why the digimon's had though only a digivice could open it, engraved on the center of the door was a picture of an older looking digivice, clearly it had been the key to unlocking the door, question was if he could unlock the door with his D3, it was after all a different model from the one engraved on the door. "Well, here goes."

Holding up his D3 to the center of the spiral, Tai blinked as a bright, warm light began to flow out from the screen, illumination the room with more light then the door had given off, growing to the point where it blinded everyone inside the chamber. Finally, after a painfully long time, the light began to die out, before shutting down completely.   

Looking up from where he stood, Tai blinked as he found himself staring into a second chamber before him, the spiral part of the metal door were no where to seen. Waving a hand curiously at the opening before stepping through, he took a good hard look around the new chamber he found himself in. "Well, where is it." All there was in here, was more of those dame white and blue lines on a metal background, the only thing that was different was the large statue of the tiger like creature in the center.

Stepping in behind him, Slash stared around the chamber as well, stopping as his eyes spotted something glinting in the mouth of the statue, something that was calling out to him and giving him a sense of awe. "Look over there." Walking over to what he had seen, the digimon looked up to see a rather small round sphere trapped between the tiger's jaws.

Stepping up behind the digimon, Tai stared at the statue, paying more attention to it then before, it didn't look like any digimon he had seen, he would know if he had. The strange metal mask on the head would be a dead give away. "What digimon is that?" Lifting a hand to run it over the lower jaw of the stone mouth, he stopped and move it down to run a finger over the sphere., the power within it screaming out and sending a tingle through his body at the touch. "I found it, this is what the master wants." Grabbing a better hold of it, Tai began to tuck on the sphere, grunting as it refuse to budge even the slightest bit.

Stepping up to the sphere and statue, Slash the gazimon looked more closely at the sphere. "It's a seal stone." Stepping back, he grunted and looked at his master. "Try using your D3 sir, it might break the seal on it."

Looking at the Gazimon with a cold glare, Taichi grunted and lifted up his D3, holding it close to the stone, nearly dropping it as more light flowed out from it and hit the statue's mouth, with a loud screeching sounds, the jaws opened up and allowed the sphere to fall down into his free hand, the weight of the thing surprising him. "Get the TV set, the master wants this delivered to him right away."

Saluting him before running out of the room, the Gazimon nodded and rushed off. Standing alone in the chamber after his companion had left it, Tai turned around and settled his gaze on the statue and stared at the stone, yet life like eyes of it, even if it was a lifeless statue, he could clearly feel a sense of power emanating from it. The same power as the one he could feel in his hand as the sphere glowed with the same dull light. Shaking his head and chasing away the empty thoughts starting to enter it, he turned when he saw the Gazimon bring in the TV set they had brought with them.

**************

Glowing brightly, the screen of his computer change from a simple game of solitaire to show Taichi standing in the shrine, the normal uniform covered in dust and grime, but that wasn't what gapped the person sitting in the rooms attention, it was the simple glowing sphere proudly held up by the boy. "You found one."

Moving closer ot the screen, Taichi gave a bow to show his respect before talking, his hand moving the sphere down to lie briefly on the ground before the TV set as he pulled out his D3, picking up the sphere again, the brown haired boy held it in one hand and moved his D3 closer to the TV-screen with the other one. "Yes, it was in Oasis Deen like you told me." Lifting up his D3, Taichi waited for the signal from his master that he could pass over into the real world.

Taking a few seconds to regain his composure, the master reached out and turned the screen away from him, aiming it towards the empty floor next to him. "Well, bring it to me." Grinning as the screen glowed a bright white again, he rose up from his chair and folded his hands behind his back, staring with no concern at all on the boy lying on the floor. "Welcome back."

Pulling himself up from where he had landed on the wooden floor, and turning around, Taichi blinked as he felt that the uniform he normally wore in the digital world had faded away and left him standing in a blue t-shirt with a yellow star, brown Khaki shorts and a well worn pair of sneakers instead. "Master." Bowing down as soon as he turned to face the older man, Taichi didn't look up as he held out the sphere to the eager hands of his master. "I bring you the first of the holy spheres."   

Reaching out rather fast, the master closed his hand around the rather ordinary sphere, the glow inside of it shrinking at his touch; acting as if it was nothing but pure poison it had come in contact with. "Yes, this is truly one of the Digi cores that those blasted Digital gods used to lock me out with."

Looking a bit more puzzled Taichi stepped back to look out the door into the rest of the apartment, the quietness telling him that the second child infected and transformed by his master wasn't present in the building at the moment. "By the way, where's..." Turning to regard his master, he lifted up a hand to shield his eyes as an intense red light flared up in the otherwise dark room. "What?"

As the light died down, the Master smirked as he reached out and disconnected the now dark and rather rock like sphere from the machine hit had been hooked up too. "It worked." Staring at the digivice with a rather childish glow in his eyes, he moved up his hand and reached out one finger to touch the new addition to it, a thick blue line running from the screen to a simple clear sphere on the back. "It worked, the power of Baihumon is now in my hands, and with it the first seal shall fall." Dark laughter filled the apartment as the Master returned the gray digivice to its place. "Taichi."

Stepping forward at the command, Taichi dropped down to one knee and bowed his head, showing his complete and utter devotion to the person who had turned and cared for him after Myotismon's attack. "Master, shall I go look for the next one, or add more land to your area?"

Lifting up his hand to stop the brown haired boy from talking, The Master turned his head to stare down at Taichi, his eyes no longer caring or even indifferent, the only sign of any emotion was a sort of anger burning in them as he sat down. "You have a bigger problem then that." Reaching out and pressing a few buttons on the keyboard, the screen changed to show a badly hurt blond haired boy lying in the forest with a Koromon talking with him. "I thought you said you killed this boy."

Staring at the picture with a look of confusion, Taichi stared at the video footage being played over and over again, the blond hair gave away who it was to him, and the injuries, they could only be from some of the more, darker things he had done. "I don't understand." Looking away with a shaky expression, Taichi stared into the eyes of the Master. "I saw him die, he has to be dead, he didn't respond to any of the pains I inflicted on him."

Glaring at the boy, The Master lifted up a hand and pointed at the picture. "Then fix it, before I lose all respect for you." Watching as Taichi moved over to hold up his digivice, the Master glared at him. "Your only saving grace is the fact that you brought the digivice with you." Turning back to stare at his device again, the master looked at Taichi from the corner of his eyes as he remembered something. "By the way, the next sphere can be found in the tenth sector of the south parts of the digital world, and there's another one in sector 56 to the north, it took some time to get all that information on the precise locations of them, but now that I have it, nothing can stop me."

Smiling in a dark way at the words from his master, Taichi joined in the dark laughter that filled the room. As it died down, he turned more serious as a hand moved down and pulled out his D3 from his belt. "I shall prepare the troops for attacks on those sector's, my master." Not waiting for an answer from his master, Taichi moved closer to the computer, lifting up his digivice and willing the computer to show the nearest gate to his castle. "Digi Port open."  

Looking up to see the brown haired boy fade away from the room, The Master closed his hand around the digivice in his hand, his eyes taking on a distant look. "Such a simpleminded fool, just like the other one." Standing up and moving through the room, he stopped at the doorway and looked back at the still glowing computer screen. "Once I'm back in my world, I won't need them anymore."  

**************

Dropping into his study room after returning from the real world, Taichi almost dropped to his knees and thanked some higher power for the sight of his trusted chair, the light in the room just perfect and the heat the level he liked it. In the last two days he had seen far too much sand and dirt then he ever wanted, still, he had gotten the power from one of the legendary digivice, and he had regained some standing with his master, all in all, a good day.

Or was it, sinking even further down into his chair, Taichi groaned as his mind turned to the one thing he hadn't expected to come so soon, tomorrow, he would have to mount an attack on the digi hospital were this boy, Michael was being treated, it was close to the emperor's domain, the digi destined was bound to be there. "Dammit." For the first time in three years, he would have to see his sister again, and Sora. He wasn't ready to face them, why couldn't that blond haired moron had died like a good little weakling.

Sighing out loud as he sank down into the soft and comforting embrace of his chair, he leaned back to rest his head a bit and to gather his thoughts on finding the next holy sphere and crushing the blond haired boy. Still deep in thought, he blinked as something he hadn't really noticed yet began to seep into his thoughts; the hint that something wasn't right in the room was getting bigger. Paying more attention, he noted that the light in the room was perfect all right, it still has the gloomy feel to it that he had come to appreciate, but there was a subtle undertone to it, like. "Mimi!" Staring at the walls of the room, he screamed out the girl's name as he took in the bright pink color of them, a color that nearly drowned in the otherwise dark room.

The sudden opening of the door only seconds after his yell drew his attention away from his headache and the pink color off his wall to stare at the girl walking in through the doorway, dressed in a more different and white dress, she had apparently chosen to wear something else besides the pink dress he had gotten for her, behind her, he spotted her digimon partner Palmon and his own partner Blackgatomon walking in. "You're back, well it's about time."

Looking from her to his faithful digimon rushing over to be near him, Tai groaned as he sat back down in his chair, one of his hands going to forehead to try and beat down the migraine forming again, he really didn't want to deal with more problems at that time, his other hand waited a few seconds for her to clam down and pay more attention before he lifted it up to point at the walls around him, his eyes half open to see her reaction. "Explain."

Looking in the direction he had pointed at, Mimi grinned when she noticed the walls and then laughed at the sudden understanding as too why he had sounded so desperate seconds before. "Well, I was getting moody just sitting around waiting for you in this room, so I decide to paint it in a more positive color then black." Her eyes took on an innocent look as she walked up and stood right in front of him. "Tell me, this very important mission of yours, did it succeed." Her voice showing that she didn't care if it had, in fact, her attitude sent off the hint that she wouldn't feel at all, bad if he had failed.

Tai grunted as he looked up at the doorway ceiling above him, grunting as he noticed the same pink color on it as well. "Yes, it was a success." Moving his other hand up, he started rub to rub his forhead in an effort to chase away the migraine pounding through his head mercilessly.  

Frowning as she stepped closer, Mimi stopped walking and looked down at his as she settled into the chair, her eyes looking away from him as she played with the fabric of her dress. "Where were you?" Trying to keep her voice neutral, she grimace as she could see on his face that she hadn't succeeded in it.

Smiling at the impatient note in her voice, Taichi looked up form trying to rid himself of his migraine, his eyes twinkling with the amusement he felt over her slip up. "Well, sound like you missed me, my dear." Reaching out a hand and picking up one of hers, he planted a quick kiss on the back off it. "My queen, I'm sorry that it took so long, but, I ran into some difficulties along the way."

Yanking her hand away from the messy haired boy, Mimi growled as she her cheeks flushed with embarrassment over his antics, behind her, she could feel Palmon glaring at the boy before them. "Stop that, you know why I missed you, and that the only reason." Her eyes glowing with anger at her words, Mimi crossed her arms and turned to glare at the small fire burning in the fireplace. "I won't kill anyone just to feed off them, I'm not a monster like you."

Across from her, Tai managed a few chuckles before the migraine stopped the amusement for him, frowning and holding back a hiss of pain, the messy haired boy sat up calmly and rolled up a sleeve, his pale arm glowing a bit in the dancing light form the fire, staring at it with a trouble look on his face, he could clearly see the rising number of puncture marks on it, the round welts rising angrily up towards him, each of them a reminder of the times she had fed from him, and not someone else. Holding out the hand, Tai grunted as he noticed Palmon's angry glare at him. "Drink, you need it right?"

Looking up from her silent inspection of the fire, Mimi felt her mouth water against her will, she didn't want to drink the blood, but her body was demanding it, and it was getting better at affecting her. "About time." Huffing a bit in anger to hide her confusion over the way she was feeling at his return, she grimaced as she felt her fangs grow longer and sharper. Then she grabbed the wrist and held it up to her lips, clearly smelling the desert sand and grime on his arms, then she bit into the warm flesh under her hand, getting a feeling of sickness as the blood seeped out from the two new holes in the flash when her fangs was removed, then she closed her mouth around it and took the first sip of the crimson liquid.

Sitting back in the chair and wincing as the drain on his reserves started, Tai fought down the urge to tear his wrist free and settled for staring at the brown haired girl head, watching how the light played with each strand of the caramel colored hair. "Cute." Mumbling the words as he reached out a hand to play with it, he stopped himself and frowned, lowering it back to rest on his chair, his eyes closing as a strange calm overtook him, he simply settled for looking at the girl before him, finally lifting up his free hand as he started to really feel the drain she was putting on him. "Enough." Gently pushing Mimi's head away from his wrist, Tai groaned as the rather heavy loss of his own blood mixed with his headache and loss of sleep for the last two days finally caught up with him, staring up at her as she rose, he smiled and watched as she wiped away the few drops that had missed her mouth. "Feeling better now?"

Smiling in return and turning around, she stared at him before walking over to the door, her eyes moving away from the tired brown haired boy to stare a the black feline hiding in the shadows of the chair, the glowing yellow eyes the only thing she could see, and the promise they had made to one another showing clearly in them. "I'll tell Floramon to have some food sent up to you, as well as some of your "special wine"." Her voice taking on a more distasteful note at the last two words, she turned around to leave.

Waving a hand tiredly at her words, Tai nodded and settled back to find a more comfortable position to sit in as he felt himself grow more and more tired by the minute, still, dinner and some fresh blood sounded good right about now, but still, he had preferred if she had stayed around to dine with him again, but she was right he wasn't the best company right now, and he wouldn't want to make a bad impression on her. "Thank you, Mimi."

Grinning in her shadow as the pink haired girl and the small Palmon left, Blackgatomon winked to them when they looked over and felt a smile forming when they gave a quick smile back at her. Then she settled down to think about her plan. It was almost in place. They needed just a few more things then they could pull off the plan to save the boy she had grown to like. Soon, she would be able to pay him back for saving her from the Master's wrath, and showing her that kindness did really exist, she needed just a bit more time for it to work.

**************

"WHAT!"

Izzy blinked at the sound level, and considered putting in earplugs before he continued to tell the other kids what he had found out just moments ago, already Sora Matt and at least three of the new digi destined group had returned to the small computer lap as fast as they could. In one corner, Davis and TK were glaring hole in one another and the fact sent a few chills down the computer wiz's back, those two could become a problem if they didn't put their differences aside real quick. Then he refocused on the group gathered in the room, more precisely the two looming kids standing over him. "They found Michael, Miyako and Kari are with him now, Davis and TK are looking around the place where he was found and Cody is on his way back here with more information."

Clenching his digivice tightly, Matt nearly felt like strangling Izzy in order to get more information out of him, the knowledge that one of the missing person's had turned up was enough to get his spirits up a bit, now if only it had been Mimi they had found, then he would have been completely happy at least. Still, if Michael had been found, then he might know where Mimi was. "Where are they, I'm going over there now, he might know where Mimi is."

Izzy sighed as he pushed back from the table and stared at the blond haired boy with a frown on his face, his eyes showing just how concerned he was over the whole matter. "Matt." The tone of his voice caused the blond haired boy to instantly refocus his attention on the red haired computer wiz. "They did tell me something important, that you should know, and the rest of the digi destined as well."

Still holding his digivice, Matt stared at the brooding red head and silently swore, ever since the first time in the digital world, he could tell when the red head was serious about something, and this was one of those times. "What is it, do we know who took her?" Waving a hand impatiently around to show his displeasure at just sitting around waiting, he failed to noticed the strained look in Izzy eyes as he looked up from the floor.

Taking a deep breath, Izzy tried to come up with a good way to put it, while he hadn't gotten a name or description from the blond haired American, they had gotten something from him, and it wasn't a good thing in the least. "Matt, its not a digimon this time, it a kid doing this, and it's not Ken, we know that by now." Seeing the words sink into the mind of the blond haired kid with the same effect as if he had been hit with a baseball bat, Izzy continued speaking as he looked away again. "Someone our age badly hurt Michael to the point of nearly killing him, it a miracle he's still alive. And he still has Mimi, and if Michael's story is true, I don't think we can expect her to be alive anymore."

Staring right through Izzy at the last sentence from the red head, Matt felt his digivice fall to the ground, Mimi, not alive anymore, the idea itself was a laugh to say the least, of course she was still alive, and may some God or Goddess take pity on the bastard who had kidnapped her and Michael if she wasn't. "Who is it Izzy, who's the one doing this?"

"I don't know." Staring right ahead just like Matt, the red haired kid, the holder of the crest of Knowledge felt as helpless as when he had first found himself in the digital world. "I simply don't know."

TBC: A fight, a memory and a dream.

AN: Well, another chapter finished, and it only took three rewrites and several hours spent cursing the fact that I couldn't get the plot to work, but after a talk with a friend, I began to try out some other ideas for it. Now, this part may come off as confusing and rather hacked compared to the other ones, but that is mostly due to the fact that I reused some of the older ideas and tired to work them into the new ones with as little trouble as I could.

And for all you waiting for the next part of "A Lone Digi Destined" stay calm, it's currently 60-70% complete. So expect it to be up in a week or two.

Now, hit that button down there to review it. Tell me your opinion so I might feel compelled to write a new chapter and clear up this mess. I also except fanart for it.