Oh, and I don't own anything from digimon...the TV show....just my plot line....I like my plot lines so no sues!!!

CH1. The strange encounter...

The last thing he felt was his foot slip off the edge and finding himself with no ground beneath his feet. He heard screams, someone calling him, but all he could do was keep falling, faster and faster.

There was silence when he opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground, his back to the sky. How long had he been lying there? Little by little, he tried to move his body unsuccessfully. No, he couldn't help him now. Sorry, he thought. His eyesight was getting blurry. He lied there on the damp grass for what seemed like hours to him, the world could just pass by…

Crunch. His eyes immediately shot open and instantly alert. There were footsteps, but where were they coming from? Crunch. Voices lingered in the air. He tried moving again. He needed to hide, crawl if he had too. A twinge of pain immediately shot from his leg when he tried to move it. The voices were getting closer, and the footstep getting louder. He was cornered. Maybe they'll pass by, he thought. Maybe they wouldn't see him. And soon, the footsteps and the voices faded. He felt his body relax. He was safe for the moment, he thought, slowly closing his eyes.

"Hello."

His whole body jumped, causing him even more pain. His eyes were open and he found himself staring into the face of a blue-eyed stranger. A hiss immediately escaped his lips being the only thing he could think of to protect himself. And it seemed to work, for the stranger immediately reeled back. But the he wasn't alone. "Don't even bother, he looks like he's going to pass out any second now," another slightly lower voice said calmly.

"But--" The stranger met his eyes with his, but quickly looked away from his angry glares.

He continued to glare at him, not knowing what else to do and not being able to look anywhere else. He couldn't see who else was there either.

"We can't leave him here, Kouji," said the one with the higher voice, who had seemed have recovered from his scare and now bent down to stare at him again with a worried face. "He looks like he's really hurt."

"Hold on," I'll get him, said "Kouji."

He had no idea what was going on. He couldn't even turn his head and his hair was getting in his eyes.

"Just be gentle, we don't want him getting more injur---"

But at that same moment, arms grabbed across his chest as he found himself being thrown roughly in the air on somebody's shoulder. He gasped as pain went through his entire body. His eyesight was getting blurry again.

"-ed, Kouji, can't you be a little more careful?"

" 'Whoops.'"

The boy suddenly appeared within his fading line of vision, "Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes searching. But he couldn't respond. His eyes slowly closed on the worried face. And then everything went black.

----

The only sound besides the soft chirping of the birds were the steady Crunch of footsteps. Kouji and Kouichi walked silently through the forest, neither one making a sound. Eventually, Kouji broke the silence. "You're still mad at me, aren't you."

Kouichi stayed quiet and looked straight ahead. But even he couldn't keep quiet for too long. "I still think you shouldn't have been to mean," He frowned, not looking at Kouji.

Kouji rolled his eyes. "You're being so sympathetic to a complete stranger who, for all we know, could be our enemy," but staring at Kouichi's silent figure he quickly added, "Besides, he'll be okay, we're even taking him home with us."

Kouichi finally uncrossed his arms, his eyes softening. "I hope he's okay." He glanced at Kouji and the limp figure he was holding. " Even if he is our enemy, I don't like to hurt people, or see them get hurt." They fell into silence, The same thoughts crossing their minds. Kouji suddenly stopped. "We couldn't help him, not this time."

Kouichi looked at him sadly. By the time they had managed to trace the auras they had been feeling to a clearing in the woods, their friend had already disappeared. The only person they found was the wounded boy below a steep cliff. They had been too late. "But we'll find him," added Kouichi, trying to sound positive. "He's our friend, we have to do whatever we can to get him back."

Kouji looked at him and finally cracked a small smile.

"Besides," added Kouichi, " We have someone who can help us." They both simultaneously looked at the unconscious boy who was unaware of what was going on around him. "If we're helping him, the least he can do is help us."

"Yeah," Kouji finally said, "If he doesn't, I'll kick his butt."

Kouichi flinched a little, but smiled. "Right, then we got to get home!"

They eventually reached their home, a small apartment they shared with five other people (even Kouichi gulped whenever he reminded himself). Immediately after they stepped through the door, everyone ran towards them, seemingly saying a million things at the same time. Tommy, JP, and Ryo were almost jumping up and down with questions.

" Are you okay?"

"Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're okay!"

"What happened?"

"Guys, leave them alone and let them sit down!" Rika's commanding voice boomed. Immediately the boys gave them some space.

"Where's Takuya?" Izumi asked, bringing silence.

Kouichi averted his eyes and Kouji merely softened his glance and frowned sadly. "I sorry," he said, "we didn't get there in time." Everyone stayed silent, realizing the seriousness of the situation. "But we found someone who can help us!" said Kouichi brightly. For the first time since the twins got there, they all realized there was someone else in the room besides themselves. When Tommy's mouth began to move, Kouji held up a hand motioning them to stop. "But before we can get anything out of him, I would greatly appreciated someone taking him off my shoulder."

"And we need to get him some help, now," adding what his brother failed to add. Everything was immediately set into motion, with J.P. and Ryo helping Kouji carry the guy into the main bedroom and Kouichi getting help from Zoe and Rika to get all the medical supplies they were going to need.

"Wow, this guy seriously had some crap done on him." said Ryo observantly after they had carefully laid him down on a bed.

"Instead of making smart remarks, why don't you make yourself useful and move out of the way?" Rika said, aggravated. All three boys walked out of the room, knowing their job was done and they were only getting in the way.

Kouichi looked him over, touching and checking each of his arms for any serious injuries. "Well, he doesn't seem to have anything broken," Kouichi said with relief after he finished, turning to the girls beside him. "I think the best thing we can do for him right now is bandage up all everything else we can find…" he trailed off. Though the boy may have had nothing broken, he still looked deathly pale and injured. He started to lift, gently, the boy's shirt, getting Zoe and Rika to help him while he tugged it over his head. They didn't bother with the shorts though, for they were already ripped up badly and they could easily work around them. Kouichi set to work to clean all the injuries he could find while the girls bandaged after him. Every now and then a slight gasp from the boy would startle them, causing them work even more carefully than they already were as to not cause a lot of pain. Eventually they finished, and all three stepped back to look at their handiwork. "If anything, we mainly succeeded in making the poor guy look even more injured than he already was," sighed Zoe after a long pause. Kouichi didn't respond, but suddenly lay his hand on the boy's forehead. "Darn," he hissed, "he's got a fever." They all suddenly noticed the boy was breathing a little harder than before. "Well, what are we going to do now?" asked Zoe worriedly. Kouichi slowly sat on the edge of the bed, lines forming on his forehead as he looked at the boy. "We'll…" he finally said, "We'll just take care of him, the best we can….He'll--He'll be okay." He looked at Zoe. "If…we can help him get better…. Maybe that will mean Takuya will be okay…also. R-right?"

Zoe couldn't help but smile. "Yeah. They'll both be okay. They just have to."

Okay, I hope to redoe this chapter since I completely saw the scene better and different from what I wrote...someday...

And yes, I read "Balanced" from Gemini Girl (?) so the original plot line belongs to her/him (just in case) and I liked the story so much I just wanted to add my side to it...with my special character.