Digimon Tamers: Entelechies

Realize

February 2005

Li Residence

There was a knock at the door. "Jianliang? Can I come in?"

Jenrya turned away from his computer. What could his dad want at this time of night? "Sure," he said after a moment's hesitation.

The door creaked open and Janyu stepped inside, making sure to close it behind him before he said anything. "Sorry to bother you, son, but I needed to ask something."

"What is it?" Jenrya asked, a look of concern crossing his face. "Is something wrong?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad," Janyu assured him. "It's… probably nothing at all, but, well, can I see your digivice for a second?"

"My digivice?" Jenrya asked.

Janyu nodded. "Yes. I need to check something."

Jenrya reached down next to his desk chair for his backpack. He hadn't used his digivice in three years now, but he still kept it close at all times. "What do you need to check?" he asked, holding it up to his father.

Janyu carefully took hold of the device. "I need to make sure it still works," he said as he fiddled with the buttons.

Jenrya was unconvinced. "Trust me, it does," he assured his father. "But if there's something specific you need to see, maybe I can show you."

"Oh, I think I can manage," Janyu tried reassuring him. "It should only take a second."

"Why the sudden interest?" Jenrya asked.

"I'm going to go to the store in the morning and I wondered if you needed new batteries." He could tell from the look on his son's face that he wasn't buying it.

"Dad," Jenrya persisted. "I think I deserve to know what's going on."

Janyu sighed. "I don't want to get your hopes up."

"Whatever it is, I can handle it," Jenrya told him.

Janyu stopped his fiddling for a few seconds and regarded his son silently. After what he'd done three years ago, perhaps he did owe his son an explanation. "You used to be able to track digimon with this, right?"

"Only sometimes," Jenrya reminded him. "It seemed to pick up the ones that had just realized best, but it wasn't always reliable."

"I see," Janyu said gravely. Despite his best efforts, the digivice wasn't responding at all.

"Come on, dad. Tell me."

Janyu handed the digivice back, glancing past Jenrya and out the window in the direction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. "I got a call from work," he explained. "They say that they've been tracking a wild one. They think it might have realized."

Jenrya very nearly jumped out of his chair. "Really? Where?"

Janyu gestured to urge his son to calm down. "They don't know. They can't even be sure if it was able to realize at all."

"But this is the first time one's even tried since the D-Reaper," Jenrya pointed out.

"I know, I know," his father assured him. "It was a long shot, but I thought it would be worth seeing if your digivice could pick it up."

Jenrya stared at the device in his hands, growing frustrated at its silence. "So what do we do?"

"I'm going in to the office," Janyu said. "For all we know it could be an equipment malfunction or user error. I want you to get to bed and I promise I'll fill you in as soon as I know more, okay?"

"Dad, you can't expect me to—"

"I know it's asking a lot," Janyu cut him off. "But please, trust me to find out what's going on."

"Can't I come with you?" Jenrya pleaded.

Janyu shook his head. "Not this time. Please, son. Be patient. Try and get some rest while we sort this out."

"I'm not so sure I'll be able to sleep at all," Jenrya muttered.

"Just try, okay?" Janyu asked. "Do something to take your mind off it. But… if your digivice does respond, call me. Okay?"

Jenrya sighed. "Okay, dad."

"Good," Janyu said with a nod. "Now don't worry. I'll be back before you know it. Until then, have a good night, Jianliang."

"Goodnight, dad."

Janyu left the same way he'd entered, shutting the door quietly behind him. Jenrya had suddenly lost interest in what he'd been up to on the computer.

He knew it was a long shot—a million to one odds—but what if it was Terriermon? Or any one of their partners? It was almost impossible, but they'd been resting their hopes on impossibilities for years. They sent messages into the digital world without knowing what digimon, if any, would get them, or if they could even be heard if they were found. They lost sleep over the digital gate Takato had found—too small to be used, but growing bit by bit since it first appeared. They knew that the digital world, the D-Reaper, and all the digimon had been reset back to a time before the D-Reaper could threaten anyone. Yet they still held on to hope that against all the odds they might somehow be with their partners again.

And now it felt closer than ever. A digimon might have realized. He had to talk to someone. He grabbed his phone off the desk and sent a hasty text to Takato: "Still awake?"

He stared down at his phone, willing it to respond. He was feeling so high strung that he jumped out of his seat when it did exactly what he was hoping it would a couple minutes later. "Yeah" the message read. That was all the confirmation Jenrya needed to call Takato up.

"Hello?"

"Sorry to call so late," Jenrya explained, knowing that Takato always went to bed early so he could be up to bake and run deliveries every morning.

"It's okay," Takato assured him. "What's up?"

"Something big," Jenrya said, starting to pace around his room. "At least… if it's true. My dad was in here and—and, well, I…" Jenrya hesitated. If he was going nuts over this already, did he really want to tell Takato? Maybe his dad had been right about getting his hopes up.

"Are you okay?" Takato asked.

"I'm fine," Jenrya said, shaking off his doubts. "Perfectly fine." It was too late to change his mind about this now. "My dad was just in here. He says that that Hypnos thinks a digimon might have realized."

There was a loud crash on the other end of the line, forcing Jenrya to hold his phone away from his ear. After a few seconds Takato's voice spoke up again. "A digimon?"

"Yeah," Jenrya confirmed, once again transfixed on the digivice in his hand.

"Who?" Takato asked. "Where?"

"They don't know," Jenrya went on. "They aren't even sure of anything yet, but from the way my dad sounded, I don't think it was a false alarm. Can you see if your digivice is picking anything up?"

"Yeah! Hang on," Takato said. There was more rustling noises as Jenrya waited, still pacing around his room. Jenrya could swear he stopped breathing when he heard Takato finally speak up again. "Jen?"

"I'm still here," he said. "Well?"

"Sorry," Takato said dejectedly. "It's not doing anything."

Jenrya sighed. "Neither was mine. I hoped yours might be different."

"It's okay," Takato assured him. "Nothing wrong with checking, right?"

"Stupid digivices," Jenrya grumbled. "You could be standing right in front of a digimon and these things might not even beep, or they could go ballistic and point you to an empty room. I swear they have minds of their own."

Takato laughed. "Too bad they didn't come with instructions, right?"

"Maybe we should have asked Mr. Mizuno to write some down before he dropped off the face of the Earth again," Jenrya huffed.

"They're not all that bad," Takato pointed out. "Sure they're not perfect, but my digivice helped me find Guilmon more times than I can remember."

"That's true," Jenrya had to admit.

"Hey, maybe we should ask the others," Takato suggested. "One of them might have better luck."

"I don't know. Maybe we should wait until we know for sure if there's something to look for."

"They'd want to know," Takato insisted, "even if it turns out to be nothing at all."

Jenrya sighed again. "You're right about that. I can call Ruki if you want."

"I'll call Kenta then," Takato offered.

After Takato hung up he didn't waste a second. "Kenta?"

There was a yawn on the other end. "Takato? What time is it?"

"S-sorry if I woke you up," Takato quickly apologized, realizing his mistake. At least it wasn't a school night.

"It's a little late to be calling," Kenta grumbled.

"I know, and I'm sorry," Takato apologized again. "It's important, though."

"What's wrong?"

"Can you check your digivice for me?" Takato asked. "Jen says a digimon might have appeared."

"A digimon…?" There was a long moment of silence from the other end. "You're serious?"

"Humor me," Takato pleaded.

"…All right. Give me a minute."

Takato waited anxiously, the light of his desk lamp the only thing illuminating his room. Everywhere he looked were mementos of Guilmon, from the glare coming off his goggles to the scattered cards and old toys on his shelves to the doodles on his school notebook. Even after three years, Takato could still hear remember his last promise to Guilmon, the promise to see him again, the promise he hadn't been able to keep. …At least, not yet.

Finally there came a response. "Still there?"

"Yeah," he answered.

"Nothing. Are you sure about this?"

"Not really," Takato admitted. "It's, well, it's a long shot. I'm sorry if I bothered you."

"Don't be," Kenta told him. "I'm glad you called. I was starting to think it might never happen, you know?"

"It will," Takato assured him. "I promise we'll get them back."

"Yeah, someday." Kenta hesitated for a few seconds. "Hey, when it does… finally happen, where do you think a digimon would show up?"

"The park," Takato said. He was sure of it—that was where he'd found the digital gate so long ago. It would have to be there, wouldn't it?

"You know, it's not very far," Kenta pointed out. "Do you think we should go and make sure for ourselves?"

Takato couldn't help smiling. He knew calling wasn't a mistake. "Sure. I'll see if Jen wants to come."

"I'll let Hirokazu know what's going on," Kenta added. "Besides, for all we know this digimon appeared in Edogawa and he's already tracking it down."

Takato laughed at the thought. "I wouldn't put it past him."

"Hey, you should try calling Juri," Kenta suggested.

Takato hesitated. "I—no, she's probably asleep already. I can talk to her in the morning."

"If you say so," Kenta said. "Anyway, I should call Hirokazu. See you in the park?"

"Yeah," Takato said, trying to hide the excitement in his voice. "See you soon."

Normally it would have taken Kenta about twenty minutes to get dressed and down to the park, but tonight it was closer to forty since he had to talk to Hirokazu and then be careful to sneak out without his parents noticing. Hirokazu, of course, had no more luck with his digivice than anyone else, but Kenta could tell he was taking that fact much harder than the rest of them. He'd have to do something to cheer Hirokazu up when he came to visit the next Sunday.

It seemed Takato was running behind schedule too, according to the text Kenta received as he was getting close to the park. Though there wasn't any snow left on the ground it was still bitterly cold out; Kenta had to huddle in his heavy coat and rub himself to keep warm. While waiting, though, he caught a glimpse of something unusual: several distinctive black vans, each laden with transmission equipment, drove by, and at least one of them kept circling the block.

"Kenta! Hey!" Takato called out as he and Jenrya jogged toward him.

"Hey, guys," Kenta said in a hushed tone. "Looks like Hypnos already beat us here."

"I'm not surprised," said Jenrya, his voice muffled by the wool scarf wrapped around his nose and mouth.

"Do you think we should still go ahead with this?" Kenta asked.

"Of course," Takato said. "We never let them stop us before, right?"

"Right," Jenrya agreed. "Besides, if we stay out of sight they shouldn't give us any trouble; remember that they don't want anyone knowing they're here either."

"So what do you think?" Takato asked, glancing down at his still silent digivice. "Where should we check?"

"Let's check out Guilmon's hideout first," Jenrya suggested. "If the digimon came through the digital gate there might be some clue. It might even still be in the area."

Kenta nodded. "I haven't seen any of those Hypnos guys on the path, so we might be able to sneak in without them noticing."

The three of them headed into the park, sneaking as quickly as they dared. For the moment, at least, the coast seemed clear.

"Hey, Kenta?" Takato asked, barely loud enough to be heard.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry we took so long," Takato apologized. "Ruki kept Jen on the phone for a while asking a lot of questions, so I couldn't get through to him. He even had to talk her into calling Ryou. I thought some more about calling Juri, and… Anyway, sorry about making you wait out in the cold."

"It's okay, I understand," Kenta whispered back. "So Ruki, Ryou and Juri didn't get anything on their digivices either?"

"Ruki didn't," Takato explained. "I don't know about Ryou, and I still didn't call Juri."

Kenta sighed. "So no one has picked this thing up? Are we even sure it's real?"

"They seem to think so," Jenrya said from his position up ahead, crouched behind a park bench. He was spying on a couple of men in suits waving their flashlights about on the path. "Looks like we have to find another way around."

"We could try going through the trees," Kenta suggested.

Jenrya shook his head. "It's too risky. They're looking for anything sneaking about. Plus, the grass is still covered in dead leaves so there's no way they wouldn't hear us."

"What about the path by the fountain then?" Takato chimed in. "We'd have to double back, but we shouldn't have any trouble spotting any Hypnos guys in the area."

"They could spot us, too," Kenta reminded him.

"Maybe, but I don't know if there's any better way," Takato said with a shrug.

"We might as well give it a try," Jenrya agreed. "Hopefully we'll see them before they see us."

Kenta sighed, admitting to himself that they were right. The trio started backtracking. They were lucky to see two more men in suits walking away from the fountain as they approached.

"It's clear," Jenrya whispered.

"You do know you're not a ninja, right Jen?" Kenta asked. "The scarf isn't fooling anyone."

Takato suppressed a laugh. "Be serious, Kenta. We don't want to get caught."

"Yeah, yeah," Kenta said dismissively. "Hey, do you guys think it's anyone we know?"

"The digimon?" Takato asked. "Well… probably not. The odds would have to be pretty slim, but…"

"But you still hope it is, right?" Kenta asked.

"…Yeah," Takato had to finally admit.

"Well, it still could be," Kenta reminded him. "Even if none of our digivices show anything, there are still others. Hey Jen, did you ask your sister?"

"She was already asleep," Jenrya said. "I didn't want to drag her into this too."

"Well maybe her digivice reacted," Kenta said. "Or maybe Impmon's tamers have picked something up."

"I'll be happy if it's a real, live digimon," Takato said. "If it can show up here, then maybe more will too."

"All the more reason to find it before Hypnos does," Jenrya reminded them both. "I'd like to stay in the loop if they really are coming back."

Takato froze suddenly. "Did you guys hear that?"

They both looked back and shook their heads wordlessly. They listened closely, and their ears picked up on the sound of voices coming up the path. They looked around, nearly in a panic, until Takato started moving. Jenrya and Kenta followed close behind, running onto a playground and ducking up inside a familiar play structure there, safely out of sight.

A few tense moments passed inside, Kenta feeling his heart thumping in his chest, even as he, Jenrya and Takato tried to maneuver themselves in a space much too tight to hold three teenagers comfortably. Still, they remained frozen as they heard approaching footsteps in the bark dust. Then came a knock on the outside wall of the plastic structure, like someone rapping his knuckles against it.

"You can come out. They're gone."

Takato was the first to emerge, hanging his face down through the hole in the structure. Sure enough, there stood Ruki, a bemused look on her face.

"You know, you guys really suck at this whole 'sneaking around' thing," she informed him.

"When did you get here?" Takato asked.

"Just now,' Ruki told him. "You three sure make it easy to find you."

"Is that Ruki?" Jenrya asked from inside. "What's she doing here?"

"Hang on, I'll ask," Takato said back up into the structure. "Well, Ruki?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked. "C'mon, let's stop wasting—" She stopped mid-sentence and listened. They were about to have company, and Ruki wasn't waiting around to meet them. Unfortunately, there really was only one place to hide, so she shoved Takato's head back up and swiftly climbed in herself.

"Ow! Ruki!" Takato complained.

"Shut up, Matsuda. You've had worse."

"Move over, I can't breathe!" Kenta chimed in.

"Ruki, you're kicking me," Jenrya yelped. "Seriously, who wears steel-toed boots?"

"They'll come in handy if I feel anyone's hands where they shouldn't be," Ruki hissed.

When they started hearing noises outside they all went silent, hardly even breathing. It was the sound of more Hypnos agents searching the playground and talking over the radio without having anything useful to say. It seemed they weren't having any more luck than the Tamers.

This went on for several minutes, the Tamers meanwhile doing their best to adjust their positions to something more comfortable. Even though the Hypnos agents were still in the area, their muffled conversation seemed to be far enough away to at least share a few whispers back and forth.

"What are you doing here?" Takato asked, almost silently.

Ruki shrugged at him like he was an idiot. "Same as you," she answered at the same volume.

Takato pointed into the distance. "But you live across town!"

Ruki rolled her eyes at that. "No wonder it took so long to get here."

The four of them paused for a few seconds to listen before picking up where they left off.

"We could handle this," Takato insisted.

"Yeah right," Ruki scoffed.

"Hey," Kenta cut in quietly, catching Ruki's attention. He made a phone gesture. "Ryou?"

Ruki mimed a sort of "blah, blah, blah" gesture before making a gagging face. Kenta persisted, pointing at his digivice, to which Ruki only shook her head.

Ruki had to admit that she was actually surprised to bump into them tonight. Jenrya hadn't mentioned anything about going down to the park when he'd called her, after all, so she thought she could sneak in without anyone finding out she was stupid enough to try this stunt. She knew there was almost no chance it was Renamon. That "almost" was all she needed.

The truth was she didn't mind calling Ryou. Despite their differences, she had put her life in his hands before. She was willing to be perfectly civil under the circumstances. Waking him up from a sound sleep was an unintended bonus.

"Rise and shine, Akiyama."

"Ruki?" he'd asked, still half-asleep. "Am I still dreaming?"

"Are you saying you have dreams about me?" she'd snarled.

"Nope, definitely awake."

Of course his digivice was every bit as useless as hers. She honestly didn't even think they still worked. If she was going to find this digimon, whoever it was, she was going to have to rely on her wits to do it.

But of course, as long as she was stuck in here, she wasn't finding anyone. After twenty minutes or so, she was convinced that those two Hypnos goons were either the laziest or the most thorough men in the entire operation. Finally, enough time had passed without hearing from them that Ruki decided the coast was clear. A quick look outside confirmed her suspicions and she dropped down.

"Come on," she whispered back to the others.

"Ruki, wait," Jenrya cautioned her as he dropped down behind her. "The digital gate has got to be swarming with more of those guys by now."

"Probably," Ruki admitted. "But I didn't come all the way out here not to see for myself."

"She's right," Takato said, dropping down next, though still hunched over and rubbing his sore back. "Wait up, Ruki. I'm with you."

"Time's wasting, ladies," Ruki reminded them.

"Fine, we're coming," Jenrya huffed as he helped Kenta down, whose leg had fallen asleep while they hid.

They weren't too far from Guilmon's old hiding spot now. Unfortunately, as they drew nearer, they could confirm Jenrya's suspicions about it. Hypnos had the place locked up tight and put under surveillance ever since the digital gate was discovered three years earlier, but normally you couldn't even tell the place was being watched. Now they could see a pair of floodlights set up on the path and bustling activity.

"Maybe they don't have the back covered," Kenta suggested.

"Come on," Ruki said confidently. "Only one way to find out."

Yamaki sighed, unsure if he was still cut out for field work like this. "What are youdoing here?" he asked without looking up from the copper-colored digivice he'd confiscated.

"It's a public park," Hirokazu shot back, looking proud of himself despite being flanked by Hypnos agents on either side. "The real question is what are you doing here?"

"Emergency maintenance," Yamaki said casually. "There's been a gas leak, so we need everyone to clear out of the park until we can contain it. It's a matter of public safety."

"Bullshit," Hirokazu barked. "Who is it, huh? Who did your goons find?"

"I have no idea what you're referring to, Mr. Shiota," Yamaki said slyly. "Now then, since it seems to be well past your curfew, I'm sure we can arrange transportation for you back to Edogawa right away."

"I'm not going anywhere until I see this digimon!" Hirokazu shouted.

"As you can see for yourself, there is no digimon," Yamaki said, offering Hirokazu his digivice back.

Hirokazu snatched his digivice back in a huff. "You guys probably couldn't find it anyway, wearing sunglasses at night."

"Somehow, I don't think I would be in any position to question someone's attire if I were out on a night this cold with a shaved head and no hat," Yamaki pointed out.

"It's not shaved, just really short," Hirokazu corrected him. "Besides, the cold never bothered me anyway."

As if Yamaki didn't have enough of a headache to deal with tonight. That brash overconfidence, that complete disrespect for his elders, that open contempt for authority… it was like looking in a mirror. Under different circumstances he might have a good laugh over this encounter, but not when there was so much at stake. He was lucky, then, that yet another unexpected visitor would turn out to be his salvation.

"Hirokazu!" All eyes turned down the path, spotting Kenta as he jogged toward then. "There you are, I was looking everywhere for you!"

"Kenta?" Hirokazu asked in surprise.

Kenta didn't give him a chance to get another word out, grabbing him by the arm and giving Yamaki a broad smile. "Thank you for finding him, Mr. Yamaki! I was worried sick. I was taking him home when we got separated. Don't worry; I'll get him back to my place. We wouldn't want him wandering the streets so late at night, after all."

Hirokazu was as baffled as ever. "Huh? But Kenta, I wanna—" He was cut off when Kenta tightened his grip considerably. It was enough to get the message across. "O-oh. Oh yeah. I was… lost?"

Yamaki grumbled, but at least this was one way to get Hirokazu out of his hair. "Fine. I'll have someone see you out of the park. I'm sure you can find your way home from there."

"Of course! Thank you, sir!" Kenta said with a quick bow as he dragged Hirokazu back down the path he'd come from, one of Yamaki's agents following close behind.

They didn't say anything on the long walk out of the park. Looking around, Kenta saw even more men in black suits than he'd seen on the way in; it wouldn't be long until they had the whole park locked down at this rate. It took about five minutes to get to the edge of the park, and even then they kept quiet until they had crossed the street and passed out of their escort's sight once more. It was only then that Kenta let go of Hirokazu and could breathe a sigh of relief.

"Just so you know, I could've handled that," Hirokazu reassured him.

"What are you even doing here?!" Kenta demanded. "Did you seriously hop a train from the other side of Tokyo at this time of night?"

"No, I flapped my arms and flew here," Hirokazu said in a dopey tone.

"You can't keep pulling this stuff," Kenta warned him.

"Relax, man. It's all good."

Kenta let out an exasperated sigh. "Are you okay?" he asked, his tone suddenly shifting from angry to worried. "It looks like they knocked you around." He was looking at the bandage across the bridge of Hirokazu's nose.

"Oh, no, that's from a couple days ago," Hirokazu assured him.

"You got in another fight?" Kenta groaned. "You've got to take better care of yourself."

"I take great care of myself," Hirokazu told him. "You should see the other guys."

"I'm being serious," Kenta said.

"Sure, whatever you say, mom," Hirokazu said while rolling his eyes.

Kenta harrumphed and looked away. "Fine then. You go right ahead and get yourself killed."

"Kenta, dude, c'mon," Hirokazu insisted. "We've got to get back in there and look for that digimon."

"No, we've got to wait here for the others," Kenta said. "Takato, Jen and Ruki are taking care of it."

"They're here too?" Hirokazu asked.

"Of course," Kenta assured him. Hirokazu should have expected no less. "I'd be with them if I didn't have to help you out."

"I told you I had it all under control," Hirokazu reminded him. "I don't need anyone covering for me."

"Yeah, well, I did it anyway." Kenta rubbed his hands together to keep warm.

Hirokazu looked away, lazily scratching his head and leaning against a street sign. "…Whatever."

Neither one of them said anything for a bit. It always used to be so much easier for them to carry on a conversation. These days it was like pulling teeth. Kenta finally piped up again. "For the record, you did help."

Hirokazu looked at him again. "Huh?"

"Distracting Yamaki, I mean," Kenta clarified. "It gave the others a chance to slip by."

"Oh." Hirokazu nodded, processing what Kenta had said. "Cool."

"Don't get too excited," Kenta said mockingly.

"I said it was cool."

Kenta shook his head. "I still can't believe you came all the way out here on a rumor. Your mom's gonna kill you."

Hirokazu shrugged. "What else is new?"

Kenta sighed again. "You're making things harder for yourself than they have to be."

Hirokazu merely shrugged. It was nothing he hadn't heard a million times before. The last thing he needed was to get the same lecture from Kenta, too.

They didn't have much more to say to one another while they waited. Hirokazu kept his eyes fixed on the park across the street, watching more Hypnos agents show up, most of them apparently unhappy to be called in to work at this late hour.

Hirokazu held onto the unspoken hope that this mystery digimon would turn out to be Guardromon. Kenta should have known he'd come here, no matter how far he had to travel or what time of night it was. He was too proud to say it out loud, but he thought that if Guardromon came back, then in some small way things would go back to the way they used to be.

What did emerge from the park, though, were Takato, Jenrya and Ruki. They checked that the coast was clear before jogging across the street to where Kenta and Hirokazu waited.

"What happened?" Kenta asked.

"They had the digital gate on lockdown," Jenrya reported, "but it sounds like they didn't find a digimon."

"If it was here, it's long gone by now," Ruki added.

"So what do we do?" Kenta asked.

"It could have realized somewhere else," Takato reminded everyone.

"If so, it could be anywhere," Jenrya grumbled. "And something tells me it wouldn't stick around in one place for long."

"So…" Ruki paused to think. "What's our next move?"

"I don't know," Takato admitted.

"What can we do?" Kenta added.

"Nothing," Jenrya concluded. "At least, not right now."

"Giving up already?" Hirokazu asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

"No," Jenrya responded. "What I mean is, unless our digivices decide to point us in the right direction, we don't have any leads. We can't exactly do a block-by-block search of the whole city. We need to wait for some kind of clue to turn up."

"Are we even sure this digimon is real?" Hirokazu asked.

"Definitely," Takato said. "From what we heard those Hypnos guys saying, they seemed really sure to me."

Ruki nodded. "Me too."

"Remember, guys, it's not like a digimon can hide forever," Jenrya pointed out. "They tend to attract… attention."

"That's true," Takato said. "I remember even back before I made Guilmon there were all sorts of rumors about weird things going on: strange kids playing pranks, thick fog banks coming out of nowhere on a sunny day, unexplained property damage…"

"Giant pigs levelling the shopping district?" Ruki pointed out.

"The point is, it's going to have to leave a trail of some kind," Jenrya concluded. "If we work together and keep our eyes open I know we can find this digimon… whoever it is."

Takato yawned. "Not tonight though."

"Probably not," Jenrya admitted with a laugh.

"Great," Hirokazu sulked. "What a bust this was."

"At least we know for sure that it's real," Jenrya pointed out. "We all need to be patient a little while longer."

"We've all heard that one before, Li," Ruki scoffed.

"I'm outta here," Hirokazu said. "I've got to catch a train."

"Don't be an idiot," Kenta scolded him. "You can spend the night at my place."

Hirokazu was about to offer some resistance, but Kenta's glare convinced him that turning down the offer was not an option. "…Fine."

"Don't worry guys, I promise you we will find this digimon," Takato added.

Culumon was the best at hide and seek ever. That was because he knew that whenever humans are trying to find something they look down but not up. No matter how many of them walked by, not a single one of them bothered to check the top of his tree.

But as always, Culumon began to get bored of his game. The grumbling in his stomach told him it was time to go find something yummy to eat, and knowing the human world, there was sure to be plenty to choose from.