Hey everyone, it's Dream Ablaze here (but call me Rea) with a new Digimon fic. :3 This story is probably the reason why I haven't updated 'Fast Times at Odaiba High' very recently, so if fans of that are reading this, please don't kill me. x-x; Yes, I realize I should be working on some of my other fics instead of writing a completely new one, but. I'm not. xD;

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I do, however, own this plotline. Yaay. :3

I hope you enjoy this first short chapter!

The Pyramid of Darkness
Part I, Chapter 1: Love Triangles

Sora was really getting tired of this.

She'd thought that once she quit soccer and took up, oh, say, tennis, she'd be free of it all. But it had just gotten worse, as today illustrated. Two of her best friends had showed up after practice, and instead of being happy to see them like she would have once been, she sighed to herself, not even masking a smile.

"Hey Tai. Hey Matt," she said monotonously at seeing the two boys standing before her. The brown-haired boy had a wide grin on his face, and the blonde looked content also, though his hands were shoved in his pockets and he didn't show it much.

"Hi, Sora!" they said in unison. It was going to be a long walk home.

"Sor, I was wondering if you missed playing soccer at all. Cause I'd be willing to play anytime you wanted. Just say the word, okay?" Tai offered.

"Um, yeah! Thanks!" Sora said.

"Someone was talking about how good your voice is," Matt said. "You know, you could sing in one of our songs if you wanted to."

"Wow, really?" Sora said, eyes widening. Matt's band was pretty big now, and this was kind of a chance of a lifetime. Sure, she didn't really aspire to be a singer or musician, but it was still a kind of insane offer.

Tai crossed his arms. "You know, Mimi has a much better voice than Sora. You should use her instead," he said, sulking.

"Are you serious? I'm sure Sora's voice is great!" Matt said.

Tai looked flustered, like he thought Matt was currently winning. "Her soccer-playing skills are better! Sora, if you ever wanted to come back and play soccer again, I can be your personal coach. I mean, you were really good, but you haven't played in a long time."

Tai was such a good soccer player, so this was also really nice – even if he was just saying it because he'd insulted her singing voice, which wasn't very good, a few seconds ago. It was especially nice considering he could be improving his own soccer skills instead of teaching her new techniques.

"That's so nice…" Sora said. "If I ever get back into soccer, I'll let you know!"

"You were into soccer once, so it'll be easy for you to get back into it," Tai said decisively, calming down now that he felt he had the upper hand. "Not like singing, which you were never into."

Matt just glared at him, and Sora tried to keep her unaffected face without killing one of them or more.

-x-

"You both signed up to be in dance class with me?" Kari asked, eyes wide as she stared at the two boys in front of her. Both were beaming.

"Hey, I'm a great dancer! Besides, if we get to dance with partners, you and me can be together!" Davis said enthusiastically.

"Don't worry, you don't have to dance with him. That's why I signed up!" TK added. "You can just dance with me instead. What are best friends for, right?"

"Hey, I'm her best friend, TS!" Davis retorted.

"My name's TK! And um… Let's see… I've known her since we were eight. And how long have you known her?" TK countered.

"We have a much closer relationship! It's quality, not quantity that matters!"

"Hey, hey! Guys! Um, you're both my best friends! And I'll dance with both of you in dance class," Kari said with a fake smile.

"I want to dance with you first!" Davis cried.

"You both will, or neither of you will," Kari said, shooting them both a slight glare. Neither of the guys knew if she was joking or not – and to tell the truth, she wasn't really sure either. After all, she'd gotten so sick of Davis and TK's constant rivalry lately that she wasn't really acting herself.

She and Sora had conversations about the confusing love triangles they were in, and how both guys competed constantly for the girl's attention and praise. They were both utterly sick of it. Neither of them wanted to choose between the guys, despite any feelings they might have had, knowing that if they did, they might lose the other one as a friend. Friendship was much more important than some short-lived romantic relationship that would ultimately kill that friendship, too. That was what Sora said, anyway. She was a bit more jaded about the whole thing than Kari – probably because she was older?

Kari valued their friendships too much to put any in jeopardy. So she didn't even consider her own feelings when she decided not to favor either or them and merely stay friends with them both. She'd once teased Davis by flirting with TK, but now she realized that was wrong. It had only made the relationship between the three worse. It might have seemed fun to be in a love triangle at one point, but now it was just tiresome.

"Let's just go buy you guys ballet slippers," Kari said with a sigh.

Both guys froze. "Ballet?"

-x-

Rika wasn't a big birthday person. So you were a year older – so what? It just meant you were getting older and closer to death, she thought cynically. There was nothing good to birthdays, especially when faced with a dilemma like hers.

She'd received two presents today that just made her even more confused. Well, okay, it wasn't so much the presents as much as the cards. With a scowl, she grabbed the first card again and read it.

Dear Rika,

Happy birthday! You're older now, obviously, and I hope that you like my present. I spent a lot of work on it, and I hope you don't, you know, use it for firewood or anything. Or laugh at it, which might be worse. Um, I know it's not very good. I made you look uglier than you are. How about I just say I was afraid of making it too good because then it might come to life like Guilmon did? And it wouldn't be very good if there were two of you. You're unique and special and there's only one of you in the world, Rika. Hopefully you know what I mean here.

Love, Takato

Why did he have to write love at the end? No, she didn't know what he meant at the end. Why couldn't he buy her a present, or make her… oh… bread, or something? Instead, he'd drawn her a picture of herself. Or at least she thought it was herself. She looked different. She was smiling. She thought she might actually look pretty in it – but Takato had said he'd made her look uglier than usual.

And what about the other card that was bugging her?

Pumpkin!

Happy birthday! Don't worry, even when you get old and wrinkly you'll still be beautiful to me!

Hopefully my present impresses you, seeing as that's my sole aim in life.

Ryo

Ergh. Leave it to Ryo to shamelessly flirt – just to annoy her! – in a birthday card. He was just too predictable. Unfortunately, Ryo's present did impress Rika. He'd gotten her an amethyst pendant, shaped like a diamond, on a silver chain. Her mother had seen it and almost gone crazy, saying Ryo was 'the one'. Naturally, she hadn't thought much of Takato's present.

Rika shoved the cards away, annoyed at herself. Why was she letting herself get all bothered by this? They were just stupid boys, they didn't mean anything. She told herself to stop thinking about their dumb birthday cards, though the nagging feeling in the back of her head made it almost impossible.

-x-

Zoe was going on a date. She couldn't help but smile as she neared the park, where she was supposed to meet him. Her first date ever, though a few guys had asked her out before. She'd turned them down, waiting for a certain boy to ask her out. After awhile, she grew too impatient and decided to ask him instead – and he'd accepted.

She was elated now, as she headed towards the park. She was so lucky! As she reached the park's edge and glanced around, she suddenly heard a voice calling out to her: "Zoe!"

She smiled and turned to see him. "Hey, Tak – " She trailed off when she saw that it wasn't her date, but JP running towards her. "Er, JP! What are you doing here?" she asked, silently begging him to leave. Oh, she hadn't even thought about JP, the boy who had a hopeless crush on her and had no idea about her date with Takuya. How could she have been so stupid? She didn't want to hurt JP…

"Just going for a walk," he said. Zoe stared at him. A walk? JP was always the one complaining about walking anywhere in the Digital World. "Okay, fine," he said, grinning. "You caught me! I called and your mom said you'd gone to the park."

"Oh…erm… yeah," Zoe said. "Listen, I just came to… do a strenuous exercise regime! You should probably leave if you don't want to do, um, a lot of strenuous exercise!"

"In that outfit?" JP asked, dubious, looking her over.

"JP, stop checking me out!" she shrieked, glaring at him. "I am so angry at your behavior that I am going to go over here and you are going to go home if you ever want me to forgive you!"

"Huh?" JP asked, scratching his head.

"Hey, Zoe!" came another voice, just as Zoe was about to quickly walk away from JP. "JP!"

Oh crap, Zoe thought. It was Takuya now, hurrying toward them with a grin.

"What a coincidence!" JP said with a grin. "Us all randomly meeting in the park like this!"

"Um, randomly?" Takuya laughed. "Zoe and I are meeting here – mmggh?" Zoe had clapped her hand over his mouth.

"Oops, sorry! You just had… um… something on your face," Zoe said lamely, not removing her hand. Takuya tugged away though, laughing.

"You're crazy," he told her. "Anyway, Zoe and I were meeting here before our – "

"Look, a Digimon!" Zoe cried, pointing at a dog walking by. The boys immediately glanced over, fists clenched. They saw the dog and looked back at Zoe strangely.

"Are you feeling okay?" Takuya asked.

"Not really. I think I'm very very sick," Zoe said with a sigh of relief. She had successfully changed the subject! Now JP would never know she and Takuya were going out, and she could tell Takuya later she wanted to keep their relationship a secret so she wouldn't hurt JP! How romantic!

"If you're sick, maybe we shouldn't go on a date today."

Zoe and JP both stared at Takuya, shocked – for different reasons, of course.

"Date?" JP asked, face falling.

Zoe shut her eyes tightly. Now she'd done it!

-x-

A faint light appeared in all three dimensions at once, freezing time for a split second and gathering those it called, carrying away the four girls before they even had a chance to register this in their heads.

They were rudely dumped before a celestial being, glowing with holy radiance, in a place where all worlds converge…

End of Part I, Chapter 1: Love Triangles

Soo, what'd you think of it:3 Suggestions, comments, criticisms, and whatever else are greatly appreciated! xD

Meaning PLEASE REVIEW, even if you hated it. ;