I failed.

"Mer, no!"

I thought I could prepare these children.

"He gave his life… To protect us."

Train them, test them, help them grow. Build a team capable of protecting the world, as my siblings had done before me.

"Destini, look out!"

But I could not prepare them for this.

"AUGGIE!"

And I could not protect them.

"Where'd he go? Where'd he go?"

"Ellie, let's go!"

"Where is my brother?!"

So I sent them back home, where I knew they could not follow. I couldn't bear to see any more of them harmed.

"AUGGIE!"

I have failed you, my children.

I only hope I can redeem myself someday.

\/\/\/\/\/

1. Reunion

Up, down. Up, down. Up, down. The movement of the red yo-yo was all that she focused on. Until, of course, Ryu raised his beeping voice to let her know that he was hungry. Ellowin yanked the ancient toy up and caught it by wrapping her fingers around it, then reached down to the pouch at her waist, and the virtual pet hanging by a keychain from the pouch's strap. She pressed buttons on the small electronic device while footsteps approached from the left. Looking up, she saw a young man around her age walking across the parking lot. Seeing as how it was almost midnight, and the recreation center completely empty, there was no doubt that this was the person she was waiting for. His naturally blond locks were dyed a deep cerulean, but she knew it was him as soon as she saw his face.

"You showed."

"Of course," the reply came from the man, who rocked awkwardly on his heels and brushed his long blue hair out of his face. "How've you been, Ellie?"

"Don't call me that," she said, ignoring the question and gesturing for him to take a seat on the curb. She then went back to feeding her electronic child and, once he was satisfied, went back to playing with the yo-yo.

"You still have your brother's…" He cleared his throat quickly and rephrased his observation while he sat down next to her. "You still have your Digimon."

"Never stopped. Do you still have Nova?"

"Yeah, I… She's in my treasure chest somewhere in the van."

"Got it."

"You were always a bigger fan than the rest of us," he shrugged. "You know, I heard Des got married? Can you believe that?"

"Yeah, she's bringing her husband to the gathering tomorrow night."

"You have a gathering?"

"It's for Digimon fans only. You wouldn't be interested."

"Hey, come on," the man chuckled. "I'll bring Nova."

"Do you have batteries?" This was answered with nervous laughter, and Ellowin sighed before reaching into her pouch to retrieve two small, silver batteries, which she handed to him.

"Thanks, Ellie."

"What did I tell you about calling me that, Spencer?"

"Sorry… Hey, what time is your thing?"

"Past midnight."

"Perfect! I'm playing at the Hippie tomorrow night, around eight. If you have time, you should come check us out."

"You're in a band?"

"Yeah… You don't do social media much, that's right. Just like Zay. Have you kept in touch with the others any other way? I mean, other than Destini."

"I don't even remember them," she lied. "I remember there was a boy and a girl, and they were both annoying." This prompted more laughter from Spencer.

"We used to all be best friends."

"What does that even mean?"

"Well… Hey, remember when Kaylee fell off of the top of the slide when she was pretending to be Growlmon?" He chuckled. "She was freaking out because she thought she broke her leg. Luckily she was fine. THAT time."

"Remember when we went to the Digital World and tried to be heroes and a lot of people died to protect us when we messed everything up?" Spencer took a moment to think before responding to this. He made a small grunt in the back of his throat and took a deep breath.

"Ellie… We've been over this-"

"Don't do that, Spencer. Don't be my parents."

"I'm sorry, I just… We were kids, Ellowin. We played games. Pretend games. We used our imaginations, and…"

"It was real, Spencer. It happened. We all made a promise to never forget. They might have brainwashed you when we all moved away, but I'm not going to sit here and listen to you disrespect the memories of our friends."

"Okay, okay," Spencer said, gently wrapping an arm around her, his light brown hand contrasting pleasantly with her pale, freckled skin. "I'm sorry. I'm on your side, okay?" She nodded. "It happened. If you believe it happened, then I believe you."

"Liar."

"Okay, so I want to believe you."

"Sure."

"So where's that party?"

"Gathering, not party. I'll text you the directions."

"What, on your ancient flip phone?"

"Bite me."

\/\/\/\/\/

"Yes ma'am, I just got the boxes today."

"Did they ship everything to you?" his mother's voice sounded from the mobile phone. "Did it all make it okay?"

"Um… There are three big boxes. They all look fine." Zayden said as he pushed his shoulder up to hold his phone against his ear. He grabbed a collection of plastic clothes hangers - all being put to use by clothing articles from one of the boxes - and rose to his feet. He carried them with him into the bedroom of his new apartment and set to work depositing them in the closet.

"Okay, that's all of them, then. How are you settling in, my darling?"

"I'm doing fine," he said absently as he continued the closet-filling. "I landed a substitute job, which I hopefully won't screw up. I don't start until next Monday though. The landlord is really nice. She let me borrow a fan." His task done, he returned to the living room and glanced at the box fan in question, which he had still not plugged in and turned on, due to being carried away with unpacking and many other things. He had the apartment door wide open, letting the air in, so as to save on utilities. The early afternoon sunlight pouring in and providing free lighting didn't hurt, either.

"Is your AC broken?"

"N… No, Mama, I'm just cheap," he said, sitting down once again in his little circle, surrounded on one side by his coffee table and on all others by cardboard boxes and plastic crates. "I'm fine, the AC is fine, everything is fine."

"Stop saying 'fine,' it's making me think everything's not fine."

"Okay, I won't say it anymore," he laughed as he began to open the second cardboard box. "I'm… sterling."

"Sterling? Like sterling silver?"

"I'm…" Zayden sighed. "I'm marvelous. Exceptional. Spectacular… Prodigious!" He gasped, reaching into the container he had just opened and pulling out an old lunchbox.

"I think he found the Digimon stuff, honey," he heard his mother laughing on the phone.

"Oh my gosh," Zayden cheered, opening the lunchbox and marveling at the tiny treasures inside. There were mostly collectible cards and old video games, along with several folded-up pieces of paper with pencil and crayon writing. But among all these unconventional treasures, was a box-shaped device small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. It was transparent orange in color, with a solid blue border around the screen, and three small green buttons. "Polaris!" he squeaked, holding the virtual pet to his chest. "Oh my gosh, you guys kept all of this?" He shuffled through the rest of the cardboard box, admiring the assorted things he had gathered as a child.

"Of course, I remember how crazy you were about your monsters. Now, don't get carried away, I still want to talk to you for a minute."

"I'm putting it down now," Zayden said, setting down the lunchbox and slipping the virtual pet into his jeans pocket. "All yours."

"Good," she laughed. "How's the neighborhood? Is it okay? Have you met any people?"

"It seems nice, I think? I haven't really paid attention. But no one's bugged me so far, so I'm sure it's gonna be fi… Gonna be great."

"Okay, honey. Did you get in touch with your old friends? Other than Kaylee? She was asking about you yesterday."

"Not yet, I… Wait a minute. You talk to Kaylee? Like, without me? The two of you speak directly to each other?"

"Well, I didn't think I needed your permission," his mother laughed. "You know we talk, Zay. I talk to her mother. I grew up with her mother. You know that. This isn't news."

"Well, I knew you talked a few years ago, but I didn't know it was an… ongoing thing."

"I like to keep in touch. She's a nice girl, Zay."

"Uh-huh," he huffed, as he knew what his mother usually meant when she referred to anyone as "a nice" boy or girl.

"Have you eaten today?" Zayden's eyes darted to the cup of ramen sitting on the coffee table next to him, and he grabbed the fork inside it to shovel a jumble of noodles into his mouth. They were lukewarm at best, as they had been sitting on the table unattended for quite some time.

"Yes," he said finally. "I'm eating now."

"You just took a bite for the first time in half an hour, didn't you?"

"No, I've been eating this whole time," he lied, knowing she would be able to tell immediately, but not sure what else to say.

"That's it, you need somebody over there. I'm coming down there right now."

"No, Mama, you don't need to do that! I'm fine, I promise."

"No, you're not. You're going to end up in the hospital! I… Hold on, your mom wants to talk to you."

"Hey, Zay," another voice chuckled from the other end of the phone.

"Hey, Mom!"

"How are you doing, my man?"

"I'm fine, I promise," he sighed. "You're not gonna let her come down here, are you?"

"Not just yet. We'll visit sometime soon, but I'll make sure she doesn't quit her job and try to move down there."

"Thank you."

"Are you going outside regularly?"

"Sometimes," he answered slowly.

"Make sure to do it every day. And eat something every now and then. And call your mother every other week or so, so she doesn't have a heart attack."

"I will. I promise."

"Cool beans. I love you, little man."

"I love you too, Mom. Tell Mama I said I love her."

"Will do. Have fun with adult life, buddy. Bye."

"Bye!" He pressed the red button on his phone screen and placed the device in his pocket.

"That was cute."

"Aaah!" Zayden jumped at the sound of someone's voice in his apartment, unintentionally dropping the mobile phone. He turned his attention to the doorway to see his childhood friend Kaylee standing in the living room, holding a coffee shop cup in one hand.

"Sorry," she said. "I was going to knock, but the door was open, so… Um. Boo."

"Boo," Zayden said, rising to his feet once he reclaimed his phone. "Kaykay, you…" He stood there, awkwardly fidgeting for a moment, before finally closing the distance across the living room - stepping over boxes on the way - and throwing his arms around her. She raised the arm holding the cup out of the range of his grip just in time, and wrapped her other arm around him. "How've you been?" When he let her go, she held out the drink to him.

"I've been lots of ways. Better now that I have your friendly face in town again. Here, take this already." He took the cup with a grateful bow of the head. "Housewarming gift for the college graduate! It's French vanilla."

"My hero," he said, taking a few quick gulps of coffee. "My eyes were starting to mutiny. I've been up for a while."

"Do you wanna go get some more, and um… Some real food?" She finished with a sidelong glance at the ramen cup.

"Yes!" Zayden sounded his approval of the suggestion as he snatched up the cup of noodles and rushed it to the refrigerator. "You are the holder of the best ideas ever. I'll go wherever you want to, I don't really know places."

"Sure, that's fine, just.. Please don't say you're going to finish that ramen later"

"Okay, I won't say it," Zayden laughed, causing Kaylee to groan.

\/\/\/\/\/

"Don't come closer, no! Hey! Get back over there!"

"What are you doing?"

"Dying, obviously," Destini shouted as she frantically tapped buttons on the video game controller in her hands.

"So dramatic," her husband laughed from where he sat on the floor, flipping through magazines.

"Whatever," the black-haired woman growled as she dropped the controller on the recliner and turned the video game console off. "It's a dumb game, anyway."

"Yet another dinosaur game bites the dust?"

"The thing is, none of them are really dinosaur games, they're just games about shooting dinosaurs. I don't want to shoot them, I want to study them, hang out with them, go on adventures or whatever. And most importantly, pet them. If someone would make a game where I can pet dinosaurs, they would get all of my money."

"But you like Jurassic Park, don't you?"

"The Super Nintendo one I played when I was a kid," Destiny said. "It was unique and fun, even though I had to shoot the precious creatures. All the new dino-killing-or-escaping games are massive disappointments. It's the same thing over and over again. And they don't have that… I don't know. That feeling Jurassic Park had."

"Maybe it's just because you're getting older."

"Ew! Jeremiah!" She groaned and buried her face in her hands. "You said the deplorable word!"

"Sorry," he snorted, rolling his eyes.

"I'll never forgive you."

"Aw, come on baby, forgive me!" He laughed, rising to his feet, only to fall down on the chair in her lap and throw his arms around her.

"Noooo! Get away, villain!" She laughed and curled up as much as possible with her husband's legs covering her own, before landing fake punches to his chest. "I shan't be swayed by your irresistible charm and hotness. Oh!" She pushed him off of her when she heard the loud beeping of her Digimon virtual pet calling for her attention. "Fossil is hungry," she said as she grabbed her transparent green device from the entertainment center's top shelf and pressed buttons to feed the LCD monster.

"Are you going to be this dedicated to that thing when we start having kids?"

"Excuse you! Fossil is my firstborn child, and he will make an excellent big brother! And anyway, I'm not pregnant yet. Don't go counting your chickens or whatever."

"'Yet' being the key word," Jeremiah said, planting a series of kisses on her cheek and caressing her dark brown skin.

"Whatever! Get off me." She shoved him away once again, and continued to feed her digital child. "How's Donny doing?"

"Um…" He walked into the bedroom of their small apartment, returning shortly with a purple-colored device of the same shape as his wife's, with yellow accents. "He seems okay, I guess. Oh, I think he wants to play a game or something…" He set to work pushing buttons.

"You are such a bad parent," she shook her head.

"You're the one that bought the expensive thing," he shrugged.

"Don't call him a thing. You'll hurt his feelings!"

"Des. It's an imaginary monster on a screen. It doesn't have feelings."

"You have no imagination, that's the problem," she said, yanking the Digimon away from him. "It's okay, Donatello, I'm here to validate your existence. Don't you listen to Daddy."

"I have plenty of imagination," he said as he settled back into the recliner and put his arm over her shoulder. "I can imagine us with a big family, going on picnics and watching school plays…"

"Of course you can imagine it. You won't have to carry a living thing inside you for most of a year and dump it out in excruciating pain."

"No, but that's what I have you for," he laughed, but quickly straightened his face. "…Sorry, honey," he said sheepishly when he saw the killer glare she was sending him. "I'm sorry!"

"You're sleeping on the floor tonight."

"We sleep on the floor every night."

"On the hardwood floor. Not on the crappy worn-down half-mattress we call a bed. Nice try, though."

"Oh, well, it was worth a shot."

"Sigh," Destini said, letting out a heavy breath.

"You can't sigh and say 'sigh' at the same time."

"Watch me, fool," she said, pushing him off of the chair yet again. She stood and dropped her V-pet gently into her pocket, setting her husband's purple one into his hand, then headed for the door. "I'm going to get coffee. Take care of your child. And remember I'm kidnapping you and taking you to Ellowin's shindig tonight."

"Coffee at 3 pm?" he asked as he regained his seat on the recliner.

"You're surprised? You've known me, what, more than two years? You should have this stuff down."

"You can't 'have it down' when 'it' is pure randomness."

"Fair enough," she shrugged, blowing him a kiss from the doorway. "I love you, space cowboy. Don't save the world without me."

"Whatever that means."

\/\/\/\/\/

"So, have you gotten back in touch with any of our old friends?"

"I've heard about Des getting married. There were two other girls, right? I don't remember them very well.

"A girl and a boy, actually. 'Stacy' is really Spencer." Zayden almost choked on his coffee, his eyes wide.

"Good! That's so good! I'm proud of him."

"I tagged you in the post, but you're never online, so…"

"Hey, I'm plenty online, I just don't do 'social media'."

"Well, 'plenty online', did you know most of the gang's back here as well?"

"Whoa, really?"

"Ellowin's been here for years. I think she moved back as soon as she could get away from her parents. I don't see her much, though."

"That was the mean one, right?"

"She wasn't mean," Kaylee laughed.

"She was totally mean. Only to me, though."

"She seems okay these days. I talked to her once, about a year ago. She still believes we… That it was real."

"That what was real?" he asked slowly, knowing full well what she was referring to.

"Remember when we were kids, we used to play pretend Digimon games? We would make up stories and pretend they were real?"

"I wish it was real," Zayden sighed.

"Zay…"

"What? What did I say?"

"Do you remember August?"

"Y… Yeah. He was the "parent" of the group. Babysat us all the time. He went missing when we were playing in the park, didn't he?"

"Their parents got really upset when Ellowin kept saying he was killed in the 'Digital World'. They threw out her cards and tapes, coloring books… All of it. They moved soon after, but I remember how miserable she was. Not only mourning her brother, but… Angry that they wouldn't believe her."

"We were all upset about that for a while," Zayden nodded. "We all believed the same thing. It was hard not to. It all felt so real. Even now, it's hard to believe the memories are just my overactive childhood imagination."

"We had some strong ones, that's for sure. Just… I worry about her. When you meet her, don't encourage her. If she brings it up, anyway."

"Zayden?" a voice called from the front of the shop. "Oh my GOSH!" They glanced up to see a dark-haired woman who had just entered the establishment, arms flailing about.

"Hey, Des!" Kaylee called, gesturing for her to sit down at the table with them.

"Destini?" Zayden guessed, which was answered by the woman dashing over to their table as fast as she could and leaning in to hug Zayden, an embrace he accepted awkwardly.

"I can't believe you're here, Zay! I haven't seen you in so long!"

"It's nice to see you, Destini," Zay nodded shyly as the woman finally let him go and took a seat next to him.

"Boy, call me Des. Oh my gosh, I've missed you so much! What has it been, like twelve years?"

"Something like that," Kaylee said.

"It's been…" Zayden paused a moment. "Nineteen years, one month, and… nine days." They both stared at him, Destini slack-jawed and Kaylee grinning. "…Give or take a few hours. Actually, I've seen you once since then, Des, when our families went on that camping trip ten years ago. And of course I've seen Kaykay a few times in the interim." They both gave him a light-hearted laugh. "What?"

"Good old genius Zayden," Des said. "You haven't changed one bit."

"What? I've changed. I've changed a lot."

"Yeah, you got even smarter."

"That's not what I meant!"

"Oh, it doesn't matter," Destini laughed, throwing her arms around him again. "What matters is, it's you. We finally have you back!" Zayden let out an annoyed groan at all of this, but reached up his hands and squeezed the arms wrapped around his neck in a gesture to let her know that he felt the love.

"Speaking of having people back," Kaylee said, "did you hear that Spencer's band is in town? They have a show tonight."

"Oh my gosh, really?"

"Yep. Quite a long way from Arizona, but we finally get to see him again."

"He must have come all this way for someone special, huh," Destini said suggestively, nudging Zayden in the side with her elbow. "Huh? Huh?"

"…What?" Zay laughed. "What are you… I don't get it. What's going on?"

"Des ships Ellie and Spencer," Kaylee sighed.

"You can't ship real people," Zay said, scrunching up his face.

"That's what I said."

"They're crazy about each other and everyone knows it!" Des said defensively. "Spencer's always tagging her in stuff on the internet. And sending her smiley faces!"

"Gasp!" Zayden said in mock astonishment. "Smiley faces? In that case, it must be serious."

"I'll fight both of you!"

"So we should go to his show," Kaylee said, trying to change the subject. "Show our support. He might be happy to see us after so long."

"He'd better be," Destini laughed. "Wait… Tonight's not good. I have a thing. Unless it's early enough…."

"They're supposed to be playing at eight," Kaylee said. "Which, in local venue language, probably means it'll be around ten."

"Okay, well my thing is after midnight, so we should be fine. You two should come with me after the show! I'm sure Ellie wouldn't mind."

"Ellie?" Zayden echoed.

"Oh! Her secret club?" Kaylee asked, lowering her voice a bit.

"Yep. You guys would love it," she said as she tapped away at her smartphone. "Do you still have any of your Digimon stuff?"

"It's a Digimon club?" Zayden asked. "My moms just sent me all of my Digi-stuff. I have Polaris with me right now. She needs batteries though."

"Spike is laying around my house somewhere," Kaylee shrugged, and Destini handed them each a pack of batteries, which they took slowly. "Okay. Rock show at eight or ten, secret club meeting after midnight."

"And you guys can meet my husband!" Des beamed.

"What's he like?"

"He's a butthole," she said, her smile turning immediately to a frown. "And he's sleeping on the floor tonight." The two laughed while she checked her cell phone. "Okay! I texted Ellie telling her I'm bringing y'all, and she said 'Whatever'. So you're in!"

"How does 'Whatever' constitute a positive response?" Zayden asked.

"Because she didn't say anything rude."

"Fair enough."

\/\/\/\/\/

"Alright then, give it up for Mercy Love," Spencer said enthusiastically, gesturing with his arm to the band that had gone on before them. "They were great, right?" Several positive cheers answered this. "We'll… try to do around as well as them so as to not let you guys down," he said in faux-humility, which was met with a few laughs. "So yeah, we're Phantom Hurricane, and we're usually based around Arizona. Most of you have probably never heard of us, but I'm actually from around here myself, strangely enough. Anyway… Let me not waste the night away talking about myself."

"He's known to do that," the bassist, Cherry chuckled into her own mic.

"Yeah… This song is called Forever Fall. We usually don't open with this, but it's a special night, so why not?" The drummer, Cody, laughed at this, mostly unheard, and received an annoyed glare from Spencer, which he ignored while he started the song up with a steady drum line.

"All the trees and signs point to…"

A pleasing rhythm started up, courtesy of Ereck, their lead guitarist.

"Dropping what I'm holding onto.

And I/ can't/ help/ but/ think/

That/ there/ might/ be/ some/

O/ther way~

I don't wanna fall asleep tonight,

When I could fall into forever in your eyes.

I know,

It would never be enough.

I could never be-

When the clocks start ticking at three a.m.

And the moon shines on what might've been,

I know,

There's no bottom to this pit I'm falling."

Spencer danced around the center of the stage a bit during a short instrumental section, careful not to wander too far for fear of knocking something - or someone - over.

"No way I can touch down,

For fear of fire and shaking ground.

Have to build a better way,

Without leaving a scar on today.

Gotta catch more than just my breath,

Before I fall to my-

I can't take this, I can't shake this,

There's gotta be another way~

I don't wanna fall asleep tonight,

When I could fall into forever in your eyes.

I know,

It would never be enough.

I could never be-

When the clocks start ticking at three a.m.

And the moon shines on what might've been,

I know,

There's no limit to this web I'm crawling.

Keep falling, keep falling.

I can't take this, I can't shake this.

Gotta build a road to a new tomorrow.

I can't take this, I can't shake this,

Without leaving a scar on today~

I don't wanna fall asleep tonight,

When I could fall into forever in your eyes.

I know,

It would never be enough.

Can I ever be?

When the clocks start ticking at four a.m.

And the moon shines on what might've been,

I know,

There's no bottom to this pit I'm falling,

Limit to this web I'm crawling,

No bottom to this sky I'm falling down."

"Yeah!" an enthusiastic blond man in the front row cheered, raising up both of his fists in approval as the small crowd applauded.

"What do you think?" Kaylee asked her three companions sitting at the bar in the cramped venue while the band started up a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover. "Pretty awesome, huh?" Jeremiah nodded silently, but contributed nothing to the conversation for the time being.

"They're good," Zayden said. "They remind me of Boys Like Girls. Just a little. The music, not the singing. Spencer's vocals are more like…" He trailed off.

"Yes?"

"Well… Not that," he floundered, shrugging his shoulders.

"Standing in line to see the show tonight, and there's a light on.

Heavy glow.

By the way, I tried to say I'd be there,

Waiting for.

Dani the girl is singing songs to me beneath the marquee,

Overload…"

"He totally wrote that first song for Ellowin," Destini said, beaming.

"Stop," Kaylee said in a drawn-out groan. "Hey, do you think Ellowin is here?"

"Not sure," Zayden said. "I'm sure he invited her, though. Or… Do they keep in touch?"

"He probably invited her," Destini said. "I don't know where she is, though."

"Well, I haven't seen her in two decades, so I couldn't help you," Zayden shrugged.

"Oh hey, she's over there," Kaylee pointed to a brown-haired woman leaning against the back wall, a messenger bag hanging from her shoulder, eyes transfixed on the stage.

"Maybe we should say hi?" Zayden suggested.

"Ellowin!" Destini suddenly shouted, waving enthusiastically at the older woman with both arms before jumping from her seat and squeezing through the crowd as fast as possible to approach her.

"Not what I had in mind, exactly," Zayden chortled, "but it works."

"She's like that a lot," Jeremiah sighed, finally speaking up. "Sorry about that."

"You don't have to apologize," Kaylee smiled. "I remember her being kind of like this when we were kids. Well, when she was happy, anyway."

"Yeah…" Zayden nodded slowly before finishing off his soda. "That's why we have to thank you. You're apparently doing something right." Jeremiah blushed silently at this, while Zayden rose from his seat. "Well, shall we join them?"

"We shall," Kaylee grinned, and the three of them made their way slowly over to where Destini was chatting Ellowin up.

"Standing in line to see the show tonight, and there's a light on,

Heavy glow.

By the way, I tried to say I'd be there,

Waiting for.

Dani the girl is singing songs to me beneath the marquee,

Oversold.

By the way, I tried to say I'd be there,

Waiting for…"

"So he really is back." Ellowin nodded in Zayden's direction when he approached, but she said nothing else to him, and made no gesture for a handshake or hug.

"Nice goggles, Ellowin," Zay said. "What's in the package?" he asked when she made no immediate reply.

"It's for the gathering. I take it you three are still showing up as Destini's guests?"

"We'll be there," Kaylee said.

"So, Spencer's a heck of a lyricist, huh, Ellowin?" Destini asked, doing her usual elbow-nudge. Ellowin only shrugged in response, but kept her attention on the stage while the others made conversation.

\/\/\/\/\/

Once the show was over, Destini took her three guests out for a quick meal, then led them several blocks away from the busier streets and toward an area with several closed-down shops. All of the lights were off - but one suddenly turned on, bringing a splash of life to the forsaken marketplace.

"Open for business," Destini giggled, quickening her pace, dragging her reluctant husband along with her.

"Are you ready?" Zayden asked Kaylee with an excited grin.

"As I'll ever be," she shrugged as they entered the building.

"Welcome to Fragment," Ellowin greeted them. She and Spencer were standing in the front, the latter setting aside his guitar case. Three other people sat at one of the several long tables set up in the front area of the old shop, opening card tins or flipping through books. The brown-haired woman stepped over to the nearly empty window display and pressed the power button on an old, banged-up stereo, and soon catchy electronic music floated through the air.

"Fragment," Zayden echoed, as the group wandered around in different directions. The front area with the tables was partitioned off from the back by two brick walls, each starting from either the left or the right wall and only reaching halfway across the shop, forming a makeshift doorway. The opening was easy to miss at first, especially to Zayden, who never had the world's best depth perception. "I don't know why, but that sounds important somehow."

"But in a weird way," Kaylee nodded. "Like from a dream."

"It should," Destini said, giving them huge grins, as if they were missing out on something obvious.

"I'd like it to be the name of the place when my grandpa makes me the sole owner," Ellowin said. "If he does."

"What do you mean?" Kaylee asked.

"Let's not talk about me." Ellowin moved toward the table where the three strangers were seated, and tore open the parcel she had been carrying. "Well, our hard work has finally paid off," she said at a louder volume, addressing the three who had arrived first, as well as Destini. "Feast your eyes, everybody." From out of the parcel she pulled a large piece of cloth, which she spread out on the table. There were many rectangles and squares of various colors, and the background was black and blue.

"It's so beautiful," the young man in the middle of the group of three strangers said, smoothing out the cloth with his hand.

"I love it," the woman to his left-hand side agreed, pausing in her card shuffling to admire the design. "It's even better than I imagined."

"I was thinking the same thing," Ellowin said. "And it's thick enough not to get too ruffled up during a game. Oh… Yeah, sorry," she said, breaking them away from the current topic of discussion for the time being. "Guys, this is my crew. Sophie, Dylan, and Teagan." Two of the three sounded greetings upon hearing their names, but Sophie, the one who hadn't spoken yet, simply waved awkwardly before returning her attention to the cloth and the cards in her hands. "Crew, these are some people I used to know when I was a child. You all know Des, and she was a part of that group, too." At this, the three stared at the group of slightly older folks Ellowin had allowed into their club, Teagan blinking rapidly as she did so. "And, um…" She gestured to Jeremiah. "This is Des's husband, apparently."

"So, this is for the Digimon card game?" Zayden asked, eagerly eying the cards.

"The mat is for our game," Ellowin said. "We've been redesigning the rules of some of the games and melding them into one."

"There was more than one card game?" Spencer asked.

"Quite a few. Digi-Battle, D-Reader, CCG, Xros Wars…"

"Xros Wars?"

"Y'know, based on the sixth season?"

"Sixth? I didn't know there was a fourth or fifth."

"Digimon is a thing again?" Zayden asked excitedly.

"Digimon never stopped being a thing," Ellowin said. "So, who wants to try out the custom game on the new mat first?"

"Yo," Dylan said, rising from his seat to take one in front of the game mat. "I'm gonna test out my new Nature Spirits deck."

"Don't tell me what you're using, Rookie," Ellowin laughed. She pulled a deck of cards, tied up with a rubber band, out of the pouch at her waist. Once unbound, she shuffled them, while Dylan did the same with his deck. "Teagan, Sophie, y'all want to challenge some of our guests?" she suggested, dealing herself out a hand of eight cards.

"I'm down," Spencer said, raising his hand.

"I'll take you on," Teagan said, waving him over to sit opposite from her.

"Jer, you wanna play a match with me?" Destini asked.

"I'm going to exercise my right to observe without participating," Jeremiah shook his head.

"Oh, you're no fun. How about you, Kaykay?" she turned her attention to Kaylee.

"Sure, can you teach me?" Kaylee laughed. "It's been a good while."

"Of course! Sophie, why don't you play a round with Zay? Do the old Digi-Battle, he used to play that with us." Sophie nodded, and Zayden, after a moment's hesitation, took a seat opposite the quiet girl.

"Um… Hey," he said after a moment, in which she handed him a spare deck of cards from her tin.

"Hello," she responded slowly, tilting her head to cover most of her face with her hair. She shuffled her own deck while Zayden flipped through the one she had passed to him for a moment.

"They're both so shy," Destini whispered to Kaylee, leaning over the table. "Isn't it cute?"

"I can hear you, Des," Zayden said flatly.

"Stop shipping people," Kaylee said, smacking Destini's arm from across the table. This exchange garnered a few laughs from Teagan and Spencer, while Ellowin shook her head.

"Anyway," Zayden said, clearing his throat. "Awesome cards."

"Thanks," Sophie mumbled.

"I feel like I'm twelve all over again."

"That's not the kind of attitude we need here," Ellowin said.

"I think it's great," Destini cheered. "There's nothing wrong with feeling like you're going back in time for a minute."

"That's because you live in childhood, dear," Jeremiah laughed.

"That floor's not gettin' any softer," Destini sighed absently, as if it were just a passing thought of little consequence. Her husband quickly fell silent.

"What's that mean?" Teagan asked.

"Nothing," Jeremiah said.

"He's sleeping on the floor tonight, apparently," Kaylee said.

"You told her?" Jeremiah asked, to which Destini rolled her eyes.

"She's my friend, Jerry. Friends talk. Besides, I didn't tell her what you did."

"Whatever."

"So, Digimon," Zayden said, trying to steer the subject, which got him a faint smile from Ellowin. "What are the other seasons like?"

"What's the last one you saw?" Teagan asked.

"Um… Season three. I didn't finish it though."

"You didn't finish the best season?" Destini asked, and the other club members sighed.

"Here we go again," Dylan groaned.

"Well, season four is like Digimon mixed with Power Rangers," Teagan said, steering the conversation back on-topic.

"I liken it more to Sailor Moon, myself," Dylan said with a shrug as he set down his Rookie card, a Biyomon, in the foremost center space and a Tentomon in one of the two spaces below it.

"You would," Teagan scoffed.

"They're basically magical girls," Ellowin said with a nod. "Instead of having Digimon partners, they are the Digimon."

"What?" Zayden chuckled.

"They transform into Digimon," Destini said. "It's REALLY awesome!"

"In some people's opinions," Ellowin added. "Then season five goes back to the usual human/Digimon partnership thing."

"There's an Agumon," Destini said. "Not the one we used to know, but he's awesome. There's a Biyomon, too, but this one's a boy."

"A male Biyomon?" Spencer's eyes lit up. "That's the best thing I've ever heard."

"Season six is like. They all join together to become powerful. But not like Jogressing. It's different. Like a Megazord or something."

"Definitely more Power Rangers-y," Dylan nodded.

"Or Voltron," Des suggested.

"And season seven…" Dylan began slowly. "What can we say about season seven?"

"It's different," Teagan said.

"It's different," Destiny nodded.

"It's… very different," Sophie half-whispered.

"I love it," Ellowin said. "It's written better than most of the others, and they use strategies other than 'Blast it with a fireball one more time'. It just doesn't have the monsters I love the most, so…" She trailed off, and no one spoke for some time, other than giving instructions on how to play.

"So, is this what you guys do?" Zayden finally asked. "Just play cards all night?"

"That would get horribly boring," Teagan said.

"We watch episodes," Ellowin said. "Play video games, read manga, observe fan communities, have objective discussions about everything Digimon. We're halfway through the sub of Savers right now."

"Usually we marvel over whatever new Digi-thing Destini's wasted her money on at whatever given time," Dylan grinned. "And sometimes we even read and review fanfiction."

"Those are dangerous nights," Ellowin said. She evolved her Candlemon into Meramon by playing a card titled "Giant Meat" that seemed to be cut from an index card, and placed the Champion Card on top of the rookie. Dylan followed, discarding two cards to turn his Biyomon to a Leomon. The two began playing cards from their hands, while the others set up their own games, all of them sneaking glances at the custom game going on next to them.

"Oh yeah, this is my jam!" Destini jumped to her feet to run to the stereo and crank up the volume.

"One! Two! Hey!" the voice on the radio belted out.

"I'm headed off on a digital trip and that's what I plan to do," Destini sang along.

"I feel a million pounds of nerdy just hearing this song again," Spencer said, blushing.

"Same," Zayden nodded.

"Hey, are you guys thirsty?" Destini asked. "We have a fridge full of soda in the back."

"I'll take some!" Spencer raised the hand holding his cards. Jeremiah politely shook his head.

"I don't drink soda," Zayden said slowly, giving his hosts a sheepish grin. "Do you guys have any water?"

"Oh yeah!" Kaylee said, reaching into her backpack for a lunch box, which she unzipped before reaching inside and retrieving a bottle of pink fruit juice. She promptly handed this to the red-haired young man sitting beside her, and he gave her a warm smile. "Ruby red grapefruit juice is still your favorite, right?"

"My hero," Zayden said. He cracked open the bottle and chugged most of its contents in one go, letting out a content sigh while he closed the lid. "Thank you so much, Kaylee."

"Don't mention it," the blonde-haired girl said, waving a hand in the air.

"You are disgusting," Teagan observed, garnering a few laughs from around the room.

"Sorry, Zay, I have to agree with Teagan," Kaylee said. "Grapefruit is an abomination. But I fully support your right to consume it so the rest of us don't have to." Zayden grinned at her before finishing off the drink.

"Mer!" Everyone's attention was drawn to Ellowin, who had just shrieked and jumped out of her chair.

"What happened?" Teagan asked, to which Dylan shrugged.

"I just beat her Meramon. It's not the first time, so I don't know… Hey, are y'all okay?" Spencer, Kaylee, Destini, and Zayden had all frozen in place, staring at Ellowin. Destini was the first to snap out of the trance and rush to her side; the brunette had suddenly started sobbing.

"Shh, it's alright, hon."

"Mer…"

"I know. I know."

"He gave his life for us," Zayden said, while Spencer and Kaylee rose from their seats to put their arms around Ellowin. Memories he had for so long discarded as dreams flooded his mind. He could vividly see the scene of a fiery orange and red Digimon pushing him and five other children - that's what they had been, children - out of the way of a sword strike and taking the piercing blow in their place. The sword impaled the fiery Digimon through the chest, and he burst into countless tiny bits of data which quickly dissipated. The three enemies stared down the children with eager smiles. There was no one left to protect them…

He hadn't realized that he had flinched at the memory of the sword blow, and was now shaking as he pushed the memory to the back of his mind. He made his way over to the others, followed closely by Jeremiah, who was giving them all a puzzled look.

"What's going on?" Jeremiah asked his wife, who shook her head.

"Jer, it's a long story."

"Ellie, I'm sorry," Spencer said, wrapping his arms around the older girl as she wiped tears from her face. "I didn't believe you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." A bright light surrounded Ellowin, Zayden, Kaylee, Spencer, Destini, and Jeremiah, while the other three looked on in awe. Soon the light faded, ascending upward, taking the six with it.

"Ellowin?" Dylan called, receiving no response. The partial owner of the tiny building was nowhere to be seen; her cards remained on the table, and her seat appeared untouched. He ran outside and turned around quickly enough to see the last traces of the light ascending into the night sky. Teagan and Sophie followed him just as the light disappeared.

"Ellowin!" the three shouted after their leader, but no answer came. The abandoned street was devoid of life and sound, with the exception of the stereo's music pouring out of the small shop.

"I'm going digital.

Completely digital.

Now I'm invincible.

Let's all get digital."

\/\/\/\/\/

Falling. They were falling. But their descent was so soft. They could see a large land mass below. And just off the coast… islands. The memories were unmistakable now.

Fragment.

Village of Beginnings.

Home.

They were still in midair when they were attacked.

"What is THAT?"

Jeremiah's voice.

No one could react in time… But what could they have done? Each of the six had the air knocked out of them when some strange creature made up of metal tendrils slammed its body into them, sending them flying. They tried to grab onto each other, but they were divided.

But then they thought they heard…! But it was all in their imaginations, wasn't it? A loud growl five of them had heard before. But then each of them, one by one, saw the faintest flicker of white and purple, and had the sensation of being dunked in water, or perhaps gelatin, before hitting the ground and passing out.

"Ellie… Ellie… Ellie…"

"Hm…"

The human woman opened her eyes to see a tiny black fuzzy blob staring at her with yellow eyes.

"Ryu!" She pushed herself off of the thin cot she had been lying on and sat upright before grabbing the tiny blob creature with both hands and caressing their tiny cheeks with her thumbs.

"Heehee, that tickles! Hey, where's Auggie?"

Ellowin froze upon hearing this name and let go of the Botamon, turning away from them and staring into space. Part of her mind registered the rock walls and floor of some sort of cavern, but the rest of it was stuck in the past. Eventually her attention was caught by the brown brick attached to her pouch, and she lifted it up, focusing on its changes. In place of the two prongs used to connect and battle with other virtual pets, there was an empty square slot. Meanwhile, the keyhole shape had transformed into an actual keyhole, albeit a small one.

'Just like last time.'

"Ellie?"

"Auggie… August died, Ryu."

"Oh. When will he be back?"

"He's not coming back. I'm sorry… I'll take care of you from now on."

"Oh… Okay…" The Botamon lowered their gaze and turned to the side, trying in vain to fight their tears.

"Oh, you're awake," a voice sounded. Ellowin rose to her feet and spun around to face a crudely-carved doorway in the cave wall. Three humanoid Digimon, all identically composed of fire, stepped into the chamber, one of them dropping a heavy rucksack beside the entrance.

"Mer!" Ellowin ran to the Meramon who had been carrying the bag and threw her arms around him. The other two stared at her in wonder.

"You're not burning her," one of them whispered.

"Lux, do you know this human?"

"What?" replied the third Meramon, arms still bound by the tight grip of Ellowin, who was now sobbing into his abdomen. "I… I don't think so…"

"It's really you," Ellowin exhaled. "You're here. You're okay."

"Um… Yes, well… How are you feeling, young one?" Ellowin finally let go of the Meramon and took a step back to look into his blue eyes, wiping tears from her own.

"You don't remember. You don't remember me or Ryu."

"I can't say that I remember meeting either of you, but you do have a familiar air about you. I'm sorry-"

"It's fine," Ellowin said, shushing him with a finger to her lips as a tear fell from each of her eyes. "You don't have to remember me. I'm just happy you're back. Now it's my turn to protect you." This garnered much laughter from the other two Meramon, who were already seated, and she rounded on them. "Find something funny?"

"You should worry about protecting yourself first, huh?" one of them snickered.

"You want to go? I'll take you both on right now."

"Whoa, cool down a bit, little flame," the Meramon called Lux said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She took in a slow breath and turned back around to face him.

"I remember how you used to call me that all the time."

"Um… Okay," he cleared his throat and sidestepped her, heading toward a large iron pot in a hollowed-out section in the wall. "We're about to eat. Are you hungry?"

"I am!" Ryu piped up.

"Not really," Ellowin shook her head.

"Oh well, you can sit with us anyway," the second Meramon said, waving her over to the circle of stone seats. "My name's Conley, and this is Cinder," he said, pointing to the one she had challenged.

"Lux is the one who found you," Cinder said, gesturing with his head toward the one Ellowin had referred to as "Mer". "He said you fell out of the sky. That true?"

"Yeah, um… Me and five others were brought here, but we were knocked off-course by some strange Digimon I've never seen. If it even was a Digimon…" She stared off into space for a moment, and the two remained silent, waiting for her to continue. "Do any of you know how I can find Baihumon?"

"Baihumon…?" Cinder asked. "Like, actually find the deity? What do you want with her?"

"I need to know why she called me back to the Digital World." The two leaned back a little upon hearing this.

"You're a real human?" they exclaimed together.

"What do you mean, a 'real' human?"

"You're from the human world?" Lux asked, as he dropped the vegetables he had chopped into the cauldron. "I knew something was off when I saw you didn't have any memory marks."

"You lost me," Ellowin said flatly. The three fiery Digimon exchanged glances.

"I'm guessing there weren't any Digital World humans around when you were here last?" Conley asked.

"Um…"

"They look like you," Lux said. "Human, I mean. They look human, but they all have colorful markings on their skin. The gods made them because they realized that humans bring out the potential of Digimon. That's the story, anyway."

"That sounds kind of… creepy," Ellowin said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm guessing they're made out of data, like Digimon?"

"That's the general idea," Conley nodded.

"Hm… Anyway, I'm pretty sure Baihumon is the one who summoned us, because she chose us last time and brought us here. There has to be a reason."

"Wouldn't she come tell you if she needed you?" Lux asked.

"Good point," she shrugged before rising to her feet. "I guess I'm gonna stick around and take care of you, Big Flame. For the time being, at least. I need to keep Ryu in shape, too. What can I do for training around here?"

"Training?" Conley asked.

"Ryu needs proper training if he's going to grow up right. What do you do for exercise?"

"Oh, well we work with the rest of Subter City, digging our way through the rock. We're slowly moving the city."

"And Lux is a treasure hunter," Cinder added, "but you're not gonna make much money that way."

"I'm not cut out for heavy-duty work." Lux let out a humorless laugh. "But you could probably hold your own, as fierce as you are."

"I'd recommend not making your Botamon do anything like that, though," Conley said. "It won't be able to do much until it grows."

"I know that," Ellowin said. "He can come jogging with me when I'm out exploring. Not now, though. Mer, do you think you can manage feeding him while I'm out?"

"Um… Young one, I'd prefer it if you call me Lux. But yes, I can do that."

"Thanks…" the young woman turned around on her heel when she felt blood rush to her face. "I won't call you Mer if you don't want me to."

"I thank you."

"So," Ellowin cleared her throat. "Where can I get a job around here?"

"There are arrow signs along the walls pointing to the quarry," Conley said. "When you get there, ask for Agate. He'll look after you. I can't guarantee he'll give you a job, but he'll do what he can."

"He won't be hard to find," Cinder said. "He's the only… Well, since you've been to this world before, maybe you know what an Apemon is?"

"Hanumon, also called Apemon," Ellowin said. "Yellow spiky fur, usually carries around a huge bone club? Yeah, I got it."

"She knows her stuff," Conley chuckled.

"I'm home again. I know all I need to know."

\/\/\/\/\/