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A/N: (smiles) Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back! Its so nice to see you all again! I hope you all like what is to come! Today's chapter is brought to you in part by the letter, Q, and in thanks to Livin' Notorious Productions. I don't want to waste any more time. Let it begin. Love and be loved. Read… and review. Peace!
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A Moment

Some say… war is hell. These people, obviously, have never had to sit through the last few moments of the LAST day of school for the year! Those seconds have NEVER ticked by slower. Honestly, they just don't go any slower then those last few moments. Oh, and don't even get me started on the last hours! They last longer then a Rip Van Winkle nap! I sit alone at my desk, trying to gather my thoughts on what is to be coming up after this last TWO minutes. Henry, Rika, and I had agreed, six months ago, that it would be best not to tell anyone else about the portal. Henry came up with the idea, but I wasn't about to bite. However, he somehow convinced Rika to agree, and majority ruled. I'm still not sure how he convinced her, but she assures me it was for her own reasons. "Whatever." I let escape my lips while thinking about it.

I leaned back in my seat, and looked around. Everyone was talking amongst themselves, about what they were going to do with their summer time, which celebrity was the hottest, some saying their good-byes (even though they're going to see each other during the summer anyway), and some counting down the final seconds with others. Only one thing was constant, everyone was talking with someone else, except me and the person next to me. I looked to my right, and there sat Henry, lost in his own world, collecting his own thoughts probably. We didn't normally sit next to each other in class, but the teacher wasn't in the room, she was out talking with the other teachers about the end of the day as well. Also, it wasn't technically the last day, but the eighth grade class gets out a day before the rest of the school.

I peeled my eyes from Henry and gazed out the window and was met with a surprising site.

Rika was leaning up against a tree some sixty plus yards away from the window. I knew she was out of school. Her school had started earlier then ours, and hence, was out before us. She's been out about a week now, and she, Henry, and I had been spending this time to make preparations for leaving. We were prepared to tell everyone after school today, but we had to be quick because graduation was tonight. But what was she doing here?

I looked up to the clock again, 'almost a minute' I thought. 64… 63… 62… 61…

"60… 59… 58…" I said quietly to no one, to try and get a reaction from Henry, but to no avail. I watched the clock tick down some more. In no time it would be over and we'd be free… but not for long. These people, well some of them, wouldn't be free for long. They'd be in caught up in an adventure they're not expecting. They'll be in the digital world, reunited with the best friends they've ever had!

"20… 19… 18… 17… 16… 15… 14… 13… 12… 11… 10… 9…" everyone in the class started chanting, and could be heard up and down the halls.

I looked at Henry and he looked back, we stood up with everyone, and started yelling with them, "8… 7… 6… 5… 4…"

I looked around me as some were already going crazy, and chaos ensued. Kenta was standing on two desks that were together chanting and pumping his fist like Tiger Woods with every single number, completely out of character with his nature! Kenta was literally waving his chair around like a medieval sword in a riot-like fashion. Jeri was dancing with some of the other girls in the corner, and suddenly I saw Henry toss his chair out of the way as he started to run for the exit, obviously wanting to be remembered for leaving before time was up. In a fit of spontaneity I quickly threw my chair to floor as well and started to run behind him, holding my fist up in a "V is for Victory" type fashion you would only see from an NFL quarterback celebrating after throwing the game-winning touchdown. Right about now… chaos didn't seem to be good enough to describe it. "3… 2…"

We plowed through the classroom door together at the 'two' and finally "1!"

Yells of happiness were heard as the final bell rang and Henry and I had a clean path to the doors out of the school, with no one else in the halls. I turned my neck around while running to see Kazu running with the chair in his hand still and a few janitors chasing after him. I laughed out loud and turned back to look ahead, to see Henry much further ahead because I had slowed down while looking behind. I picked up my speed and started a full out sprint and passed him in the last 15 feet from the doors, burst through, jumped down the stone steps and hit the ground running. I stopped after a few steps and turned around to see Henry bursting through as he too jumped the steps, Kazu followed shortly, but no longer with the chair in his hands, probably leaving it behind to lose his chasers. He, however, did not jump the steps, but rather walked down them slowly with both hands in the air holding up his index fingers in celebration of being out of school, and he, again thinking of football, looked like he had just scored a touchdown. I smiled at him, and realized what idiots we were acting like. I heaved in a heavy sigh of relief… school was over for the summer. 'And what a summer it will be.' I thought to myself. Kazu reached the bottom of the steps just as the rest of the school came pouring out around him. He slowly walked over to us, breathing heavily. "Takato… whatever it is you want to talk about now… (heavy breath) it better be good."

I smiled, shook my head. "It'll be more then you could have ever dreamed about." I assured him.

He gave me a disbelieving face, gave Henry an acknowledging nod, turned heel, and started walking back to school doors, but stopped short of the steps, as younger students flowed around him, with almost a foot of radius around him, almost as if they're was some kind of invisible force field between 'the graduate' and 'the student.'

"KENTA! GET OUT HERE CHUMLY!" he screamed into the school, rather then walk in and get Kenta himself. I laughed at his laziness, but my mirth was cut short as I was suddenly blinded by nothingness. Suddenly my senses were hyphened; my body tight, and my muscles became tense. Someone's hands were clapped around my eyes, but no one I knew was behind me, because I could see Henry next to me right before everything went dark. I extended my arms out a bit, and got ready to elbow whoever was behind me in the stomach when my silent assassin spoke. "Guess who?"

As I heard the heavenly voice echo through my head my body became loose, as I realized who was behind me, and felt stupid for not realizing it right away. "Now c'mon, Simon Green. You know the issue isn't racial." I jokingly said, sadly though, probably not to her understanding.

"What the hell?" she said.

I reached up and pulled her hands away, turned around, and hugged the (dare I say it?) love of my life. In all honesty, we hadn't used the word 'love' in any context for one another since that fateful day last winter, which was kind of sad, considering what such a huge step forward it had been. We broke apart, and I laughed at her for not knowing what my joke was from. "Watch any movies recently?" I asked, and she gave me a very confused look.

"Never mind." I said.
"Whatever you say." She responded.

I turned to see the last few students, including many of my friends walking out of the school. Kenta came stumbling down the steps to Kazu and a lot of people came towards Henry, and Rika, as well as me. Now or never, "Are you people ready for the surprise of the summer?" I asked.

"I doubt it'll be the surprise of my summer, maybe the day." Called out Kazu, and everyone laughed.
"Okay, maybe you're right," I led them on, "the surprise of your life."

By now everyone else had cleared out and it was only us Tamers left, as we stood close to one another, and they were about to receive a shock to their systems.

I'm sure none of them consciously realized we were all the same people that fought the D-Reaper last year, maybe sub-consciously they were thinking "Hey, weren't we all a team at one point?" Well, we were, and we'll always be remembered for our heroics last year. My point being, however, that we were going to be a team again! I smiled and looked around at them, 'yeah, this feels right.'
"It was… one year ago, that we fought for the good of two words…" I started, and saw as some of their faces dropped already knowing where I was going with this, and wanting to be spared awkward stares, looked to the ground.

"… Side by side, mind you. We were a great team! The best! But we were flawed." I added. Some of those who had turned their faces to the ground looked up at me.

"We were flawed, in what we didn't know, but would soon find out… That our partners, our best friends, would be leaving us soon."
Now everyone was staring at me, and I felt an uneasiness. Now or Never! "I am here today, to tell you that this 'flaw,' this horrible loss… was not whole in itself. Our partners, our best friends, have never left us… completely." I added at the end, because of some of the sudden stares.

I licked my lips, trying to get a second wind. It was crazy thinking about how they were going to react, and how I could possibly be here, leading them on. "(pause) Who remembers going to the digital world." I asked of them.

Kazu chortled, "Who doesn't remember it?"
"Then, Kazu, tell me how we got there?"
"That portal under the old hideout." He said, impatience all about his tone. "C'mon Takato, what are you trying to say?"

"We all remember when they left us… and we all wish we could see them, just one more time, even for… a day! A minute! A moment! Any time at all, just to be with them again. But only one thing stands between us and going to see them, and its that damn portal we need." I said, completely ignoring Kazu's question.

"Damn it Takato, what are you trying to say!?" Kazu yelled at me.

I calmed my voice to almost a whisper like sound. "What I'm trying to say is… what if that portal we went through the first time… never left. What if it was still waiting there? Still underneath the old hideout? STILL accessible?"

I looked around and everyone was looking at me with open mouths and wide eyed questioning looks. Now or Never! "Still… still open and waiting for us to go through and see our partners again, even if it's just for a moment?"

"Takato… are you trying to say that…" Kazu started but stopped.
"What I'm saying is maybe you should go to the old hangout and check what going-away present Guilmon left us, buried about three feet deep." I said, with a bit of a smirk, a bit of smugness, a bit of arrogance… a bit of pride about myself.
Everyone stood around for a few more seconds, looking at each other, probably daring one another with their eyes to be the first to start running. It didn't last long because Kazu opened his mouth and closed his eyes, and it seemed like he was prepared to make a profound statement. However, he then began a sprint straight for the park, without even a breath of air for caring if the other followed.

But they followed anyway, one by one, until only Henry, Rika, and I were left standing around. "So how'd I do?" I asked them.

"Ugh nothing special." Henry said.
"Could have been better. You obviously weren't up to par on this one." Rika added.
I laughed at their sarcasm, "I know… I know… I'll try better next time I have to break some incredibly serious news to our best friends."

This made them laugh, but underneath all three of us knew what this meant. Now… now we were going to have to prepare for our journey to the digital world. There was no way around it. We had to prepare for, essentially, the unpredictable. It certainly will be interesting.
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We slowly made our way to the park, and to the old hangout, out of Takato's suggestion. We got there just as the last person, Jeri, was climbing out of the hole. We were bombarded with questions about why we hadn't told them before, how soon we had to wait before we left, what else we were keeping from them before finally Henry stood up to everyone and said, "These are all great questions, but who cares what the answers are? We'll leave when everyone, and that means every single person, is ready and prepared to leave. We still have to tell our parents about this, and explain to them that we want to leave them for the summer and go back to the digital world. Put some thought into your questions, guys. Lets be sensible about this, we need to get everyone on the same page, which we can do in some time, before we wander right into the digital world with no protection, and no digimon to protect us from harm. We need to get our act together and be prepare for the unexpected."

Everyone seemed to quiet down, and we started to disperse. It was late and they all still had graduation tonight! But tomorrow, we had to get straight to work on getting back to the digital world!

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A/N: Hmm… it was good, right? Ugh, could have definitely been better, especially the ending, but whatever, Henry's a stand up guy so w/e. I tried to be descriptive with their riot-like celebration, but just imagine that with a lot more craziness. I thought it was hilarious, but whatever. Sorry there really wasn't too much romantics in this chapter, but this is sort of gonna be more of a adventurous/romantic story. Hope you enjoyed it. Btw- that whole "guess who?" joke about the movies, just look up 'guess who' on like Google and look for the movie. You'll get it (the joke) if you've seen the movie. Please review. Oh, who likes the new endings to my authors notes? Okay, peace.

Love Always. Rukato Forever.

"Gentlemen it's time to spread the word, and the word is… Panic!"
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