biyomon was not surprised that she was having trouble keeping up with sora. if someone was in trouble and sora could help, she'd get there fast.

'that's the cabin they said they were at. shouldn't we wait for someone else?' biyomon said as the cabin came into view.

'by the time someone else comes it might be too late!' sora protested, still heading for the cabin. biyomon sighed and tried to catch up.

sora ran in the door of the cabin, to find it empty. biyomon flew up shortly after.

'there's no one here?' sora asked.

'i'll look around outside. you look inside.' biyomon said.

the cabin was not very big, just a couple of rooms. there was only a table in the main room, and sora noticed something on it. she neared and picked up the item, and realised what it was. the plastic painted frowns of mimi and kari stared back at her and she dropped the keychains in surprise.

'no way, it can't be him...' sora told herself, only to hear biyomon yell outside. sora raced out to see her digimon partner get caught by a hankerchief. sora quickly looked around for piedmon, only for him to jump down from the roof of the cabin behind her and quickly pick. up biyomon. he held the transformed bird up as sora ran towards him

'i wouldn't move if i were you. i'll snap your parrot in two.' he threatened. sora skidded to a halt.

'why are you still alive?' sora asked.

'oh, is it time for questions? oh fine, i'll answer. the answer to that one is, that nice digimon emperor brought me back from where you little pests sent me. do you know where you sent me? it was dark and very quiet. i couldn't feel anything. i was alone in my mind. and now your three friends are as well.'

'but the last time...'

'last time you felt nothing, it was just like being asleep. i know. this time it's different. i've had a fun little idea. see, kari and mimi have their keychains linked now. they can actually speak to each other if they want. but they're too busy panicking. go get them. don't hold the key alone just yet.'

sora was about to defy, but piedmon simply waved the tiny inanimate keychain that had been biyomon. she picked up her friends and the key carefully, making sure not to hold the key on its own.

'now what?'

'now hold the key.'

sora did so, and heard both of her freinds screaming and crying for help.  sora dropped the key in surprise.

'what do you think?' piedmon asked

'i think it's horrible!' she shouted.

'thanks!'

piedmon picked up the two humans and the key, grinning at sora as he did so.

'i remember the last time we met really well.' piedmon said, still waving biyomon threateningly.

'so do i. i remember you lost then as well.'

'ah, yes, thanks to tk and kari. but kari's not going to be any help. i didn't get her last time but i bet she'd have been a nice keychain then, don't you think?'

'what's with the keychain thing anyway?' sora asked.

'i like to collect nice things. so i turned annoying things into nice things. and it worked pretty well so i'm trying again. annoying things like you.'

he pulled a handkerchief out and sora tried not to scream or run. she knew it was pointless.

'oh, just to make it more fun, you'll know you're just going to be in your mind and speaking to anyone on your keychain. see if you can convince the other one you get clipped to they're not just hearing things. trust me, it's not going to be easy. they probably are hearing things by now.'

piedmon threw his handkerchief. he picked it up to reveal sora, converted like her friends into a plastic trinket. stick-like legs going into the solid block skirt and torso, stick arms and balled hands topped with a crude frowning head. he pulled the key out, hearing his new favourite sound. he first daydreamed of what that would be like with all the digidestined making that noise at once. then he wondered where to put his new decoration. on with mimi? with kari?

'eeny meeny miny mo, catch a keychain by the toe, if it screams, laugh.' he said, landing on mimi. he immediatley clipped sora to mimi's keychain loop and listened in. mimi was crying in her mind, wanting her parents and all the usual things people who were terrified witless wanted. piedmon then heard sora speak out.

mimi? she said. she had to try a few times before mimi responded.

who's that? mimi asked.

it's me, sora!

what?

mimi, you're not alone, we can talk to each other. you can talk to kari as well...

this is a trick or something. i'm hearing things or piedmons making me hear them. mimi thought

no, it's not, it's really me!

no it isn't. nice try piedmon but it don't buy it.

sora tried again, but mimi was now ignoring her. piedmon hadn't expected that. now sora might have been wondering if she was tricked. this plan had worked well. he got actual toys from it, and he got to play mindgames. soon the digidestined would be totally transformed. bodies into keychains and minds turned insane. ken had told him three new digidestined had been working with kari and tk. he had wanted those two especially, having been the ones to beat him last time. now he had eight digidestined to catch including one of his old friends. he wondered who else might be coming.

~~~~~

like sora, tk rushed to help his friends. but unlike sora he'd planned to wait for someone else. that changed when he arrived near the cabin and saw piedmon going inside, carrying what looked like keychains. he didn't get a good look but tk didn't have to. he knew mimi, kari, gatomon and palmon were keychains and piedmon was just waiting for anyone else to come.

'what do we do?' patamon asked.

'wasn't sora coming too?' tk asked.

'yeah, but she was ahead of us...'

'then that means he's caught six of us already and he's waiting on everyone else to come.' tk concluded.

'we tell them to wait?'

'no. you wait here. i've got an idea.'

tk quickly ran towards the cabin before patamon could protest, and he watched as tk ran inside. what was tk's plan anyway?

'i think he planned to jump in, have me chase him, and make you digivolve to something like, i don't know, that annoying idiot with wings that ruined my plan last time?' piedmon said. patamon barely got to yell out when the tissue landed on him and he found himself... bigger.

'oh, by the way, it failed. you'll notice you're not even a real angemon.' piedmon taunted as he threw the handkercheif. he quickly picked up the new keychain and ran to his cabin. he almost had both of them. tk was already running out of the cabin when piedmon was halfway there. he could slow the human down.

'i already caught your little friend! now give up or i'll throw all seven of them in the fire!'

tk halted. piedmon simply laughed, and walked towards him, handkercheif ready.

'i'd taunt you and tell you what's going to happen but i've done that enough today. maybe it'll pass down the chain to you eventually if mimi stops ignoring sora...' he said, and threw the small piece of cloth.

to his surprise, it hit nothing, but tk had already charged him, yelling in rage. piedmon was so shocked at this tk managed to land more than one punch in during his attack and steal a sword from him. piedmon wasn't taking that. he simply tapped tk on the back of the neck. the human stopped yelling and collapsed, dropping the sword. piedmon picked it up.

'i bet you wonder why you can't move now. that's because i used my clown trick to paralyse you. i'm not so sure i want you as a keychain any more.'

tk tried to speak, but he could not even move his mouth. he could barely make his eyes twitch. piedmon flipped tk onto his back so he was staring up at the sky. he then went to fetch the other keychains. he dangled these in front of the still-paralysed digidestined boy.

'take a good look. here's what you might not become. your friends are all trapped here, just their minds and whoever is on the next keyrings for company if they can convince them they're not going nuts. see, you've been a real pest. your partner beat me. you even managed to dodge it when i was letting you keep your friends company. i think you don't get to join now.'

piedmon heard a growl from the paralysed human. his eyes were filled with anger. very different from the coward who had been running away with the girl now dangling off the key just now, the girl still sobbing and thinking she was alone. mimi was silent, ignoring sora's efforts to talk to her.

'you could have been able to speak to kari. let her know she's not alone. here, listen in.' piedmon said, reaching down and putting the key into tk's hand. the eyes, to his surprise, grew even angrier and the growl got louder. he was either berserk or insane. piedmon liked berserk or insane. they reminded him of himself. but piedmon placed the point of his sword on tk's forehead anyway. the boy just seemed to get angrier.

'oh well.' piedmon said, drawing the blade back.

~~~~~

it hadn't been quite as much fun as he had hoped. stabbing the ground beside his head and then dropping the hankerchief had just meant that tk was wondering if he was dead or not. he had quickly figured out he wasn't and he was just a keychain. he dangled the four humans up to the sky, taking a good look. tk wasn't linked to the rest yet. and now he had to wait again, but he had some entertainment. he linked tk up to kari's keychain loop and waited for tk to try and waste his time like sora...