A/N: So, here's chapter two. I thought long an hard about how I wanted it to play out and decided on this way. Although not too different from the original, there wasn't much I could do about that.

Just as a refresher, I'm going to post the changes I made in the last chapter here.

*Daisuke agrees to help Asuka with an art project, so he isn't with Hikari and Takeru when Miyako finds them.

*Miyako leaves with Iori just before the digivices come through the computer. Because Daisuke isn't there, Koushiro has enough time to go to the digital world before Miyako and Iori interrupt him.

*Miyako and Iori find an empty room when they rush back in. They choose to wait, not knowing what is going on.

*In the digital world, nothing much changes except that Gatomon didn't lose her Tail Ring, which was a logical error.

PLEASE NOTE, IF YOU ARE CONFUSED BY ANY OF MY DECISIONS, MY REASONINGS FOR THE CHANGES I HAVE MADE ARE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER. IF I HAVE ALREADY ADRESSED THE ISSUE, I WILL NOT ANSWER QUESTION PERTAINING TO SAID ISSUE ASKED IN A REVIEW OR PM.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers, or Fusion or any of their plot and characters. They are the property of Toei Animation and Akiyoshi Hongo. This was made purely for entertainment and does not receive any profit.

I do, however, own Asuka Akiyama, so don't steal her.

Chapter 2: The One Who Inherits Courage

Daisuke and Asuka made it to Daisuke's apartment in record time. They had run the entire way and the moment they reached the door, they'd slammed into it, fumbled clumsily to get their shoes off, and sped towards Daisuke's room. They didn't even announce that they were home.

Jun walked out of the kitchen, glass of juice in hand, to see what the problem was. She quickly jumped back when she was nearly bowled over by the two ten year olds.

"Hey Jun!" Daisuke called in greeting as he passed his stunned sister.

"Bye Jun!" Asuka called out a second later as she, too, passed the flabbergasted teen.

As soon as they passed, Jun peered out of the kitchen after them, only to see the end of Asuka's pony tail disappear behind Daisuke's door, before said door slammed shut. She stared for a moment longer, blinking at the closed door. Abruptly she turned from the door and walked back into the kitchen, shaking her head.

"I don't even want to know," she told herself.

In Daisuke's room, Asuka collapsed onto the floor holding her side and wheezing a little. She leaned against his bed frame and allowed her eyes to wander around the room. The walls were decorated with pictures, some drawn or painted by Asuka and other photographs of Asuka and Daisuke, the Soccer team, Taichi and Hikari, and even a few with Daisuke and his family. The desk sat against the window, the perfect place for studying in Asuka's opinion, as it allowed one to look out and escape for brief moments the boredom of schoolwork.

"Why is your dad's computer in here?" Asuka asked when she noticed the old desktop sitting in the corner of Daisuke's desk.

Daisuke didn't look up from his rummaging through his bag. "They're fixing the office up and Jun complained about having it in her room. It's not connected or anything, so Dad has to do all his work at the station," he explained.

Daisuke huffed in irritation as his homework and school books kept getting in the way of finding the strange device. He growled and began taking everything out and throwing it all behind him. English texts and Kanji practicing books flew like birds before landing ungracefully on the floor. Homework for math, history, science and home economics fluttered through the air while pencils and erasers rained down on hapless white papers, smudging and marking them.

"Found it!" he cried and pulled the strange device out.

Asuka finally found her own strength and began looking for her own device. It didn't take as long, because she'd thrown it in the front pocket of her bag, where she kept her drawing pencils.

Once both devices were out, Daisuke and Asuka looked at each other uncertainly.

"What do you think it is?" Asuka asked, looking back down at her device.

Daisuke narrowed his eyes as he studied the thing. It was light weight, like plastic, but it felt a lot like metal. "I don't know. Maybe it's alien," he suggested.

Asuka's eyes brightened at the thought. "You think so? That would be so cool!"

Daisuke grinned. "I know, right?" He paused and frowned again. "Unless it belongs to evil aliens that want take over the world."

Asuka sighed. "That's true. That would suck."

Suddenly, the two devices lit up, causing Asuka and Daisuke to shout in surprise and drop them. They clattered to the ground noisily and beams of light shot out of them. The light arched midway in the air and hit the screen of the computer. Black turned to white and the computers loading screen popped up.

"I-I thought you said the computer wasn't connected," Asuka said frightfully.

Daisuke swallowed. "It's not," he said and pointed at the wall beside his desk. The computer's power cord lay innocently unplugged from the wall outlet.

The computer let out a little chime and both of them jumped. Their eyes locked onto the screen, which showed the computer's homepage. Then a window popped up, which also appeared to be loading. Strange writing and computer code began to work its way across the screen. After a short time, another window opened, showing what appeared to be a real time video display of a forest. In red letters to the right of the video feed was the word LOCKED.

The lights from the devices dimmed before their tiny screens went black. The computer remained as it was.

"What-what should we do?" Asuka asked in a shaky voice.

Daisuke didn't answer her, unsure what to say. Instead he watched the small hourglass icon spin on the computer screen as something loaded. It was only seconds before the red word disappeared and a green one appeared, this time spelling out "OPEN." Daisuke looked at Asuka and she swallowed, before nodding her head and they walked towards the computer, Asuka holding Daisuke's sleeve tightly.

When they reached the computer screen Daisuke reached out towards it. Asuka held her breath, not sure what to expect, but expecting something nonetheless. Tan fingers hovered just over the forest scenery. Then, Daisuke's fingers brushed the screen. Brilliant light burst from the computer and at their feet. Asuka looked down just in time to see the little devices lit, before she was pulled forward toward the computer screen.

Being sucked into a computer and digitized was an experience that most people had never felt or even thought of feeling and Daisuke certainly wouldn't be recommending it. It's not that it hurt – not really – but it was very disconcerting. Watching yourself getting pulled into a computer screen and having your body slowly digitize and break apart to fit was really creepy and rather uncomfortable. It left a very strange tingling all over his body and a tickling in his stomach that was usually reserved for going very fast down a big hill. Having your body reconfigured as you exit the computer was even worse, but again no pain was involved. At least not until you were a person (or a digital person) again and hit the ground hard.

Of course the actual process was way too fast for Daisuke to actually think on any of this while it was occurring, so he mostly thought about it as he stood up from his crumpled position on the forest floor. Wait, forest? Daisuke looked around in shock as he saw the strange looking trees and plants. Out of everything he had been expecting this definitely wasn't on the list, anywhere.

After a few seconds of dumbfounded staring he remembered Asuka was with him. He turned around, looking for her and saw her not far from where he had woken up. She was sitting up, a hand on her forehead. He ran up to her, and was relieved that she didn't seem hurt.

"Ow… What happened?" she asked, not yet opening her eyes.

"I think my dad's computer kidnapped us," Daisuke said.

Asuka blinked her eyes open and looked ready to say something when she caught sight of their surroundings. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open in shock. She looked around wildly.

"Wh-where are we?" she asked in shock and a little fear.

Daisuke shrugged. "Beats me," he said, offering a hand to help Asuka up. "But it kind of looks like that place on the program we saw."

Asuka took his hand, giving him an incredulous look. "You're way too calm about this."

Daisuke grinned. "Not like we can do anything about it," he said. "Besides, it kind of makes me think about that Digital World place Taichi-sempai mentioned before."

Asuka took another look around. "I suppose… but doesn't that mean there are monsters here?"

"Well, yeah, but if we're here we might get to meet that friend of Taichi-sempai's Agidon." Daisuke frowned. "No that's not it… Agubon? Aguton?!"

Asuka laughed at him. "You mean Agumon?"

"Right! That!"

Asuka rolled her eyes. "I'll admit, it sounds cool, but we only ever heard about the Digital world by accident. He always stopped talking when he realized we were around. We don't actually know anything about this place."

Daisuke shrugged. "Well, it's not like we can do anything about it. We don't even know how we got here."

Asuka sighed and looked around again. She paused when her eyes landed on a television set. "Why is there a TV in the middle of the forest?"

Daisuke looked at the black screen of the TV and opened his mouth to say something, but a high pitched beeping cut him off. He looked down and saw the two strange devices laying a couple feet away. The screens were lit up. Daisuke approached and picked up the device. There was a grid like design on the screen and a red dot in the upper right corner surrounded by four blue dots. A white, slightly pulsing dot was at the center of the screen. Almost directly on top of it, was another blue dot. Somehow Daisuke knew that was where he and Asuka were.

"If we're the white dot," Asuka said from beside him, holding her own device. "Then what are the red and blue ones for?"

"Maybe we're not the only ones who got them," Daisuke said.

"If that's true, they're our best bet for getting home," Asuka replied.

Daisuke nodded his head in agreement and they began walking towards what they hoped were signs of life. As they walked, Daisuke couldn't help but stare at the scenery curiously. It didn't actually look that different from the normal world. The trees looked kind of tropical and the colors were sharper than back home, but it mostly looked the same.

It didn't take them long before they were standing before a large cave entrance. The blue dots were still blinking on the screen and it appeared the only way to get to them was through the cave. Asuka and Daisuke looked at each other, both a little nervous, but forged ahead, nonetheless.

It was dark, but the light from their devices allowed them to see up to a few feet in front of them. It was cold, and the air smelled like wet dirt. The ground beneath them was hard and compact, allowing their steps to echo against the stone walls.

As they rounded a bend in the tunnel the walls shook. Asuka stumbled into Daisuke, sending them both to the ground. Asuka pushed herself off her friend and they hurriedly stood up.

"What's going on!" she yelled.

"How should I know?"

"It's a rhetorical question, Daisuke!"

"Hey! The blue dots are moving!" Daisuke exclaimed and Asuka quickly looked at her device. It was true. They had almost been on top of the four blue dots, but now they were quickly moving to the upper right of the screen. The red dot remained where it was.

"We need to hurry or we'll lose them!" Daisuke said, running forward.

"Wait!" Asuka called out, grabbing his sleeve. "What if they're involved with that shaking?"

"Then we really need to hurry!" Daisuke said, knocking Asuka's hand away and running forward again.

Asuka groaned at her friend's recklessness, but followed after him anyway. She knew he had a point, but she did wish he would stop and think of the consequences to his actions once in a while.

It wasn't long before they made it into a large cavern. Sunlight filtered in from a hole in the ceiling and large boulders and rocks littered the rocky floor. It looked like the epicenter of the earthquake. Looking at her digivice, Asuka saw that they were wherever the red dot was, and that the blue dots seemed to have stopped moving. Asuka looked around the room to see what the red dot was, and her eyes landed on Daisuke leaning over a strange object. Asuka ran up to him, her footsteps echoing loudly around the cavern.

The object was mostly red and in the general shape of an egg. Flame like designs decorated the top, spreading out around a large, curved blade. Below the blade was an orange stylize sun symbol.

"What is it?" Asuka asked quietly.

Daisuke shrugged. "No idea, but I get this strange feeling…" he trailed off, frowning in deep thought. He leaned a little closer and grasped hold of it. It was unexpectedly hot and he quickly let it go.

"What? What happened?" Asuka asked in worry.

Daisuke shook his head. "Nothing. I just, wasn't expecting it to be warm."

"Warm?" Asuka asked before reaching out to touch it. She frowned and pulled her hand away. "It didn't feel warm," she said.

Daisuke wrapped his hands back around it. "No, it's definitely warm," he said as he felt the warmth spread through his body. He stood up, the object still in his hands.

A pillar of fiery light shot up from the object's pedestal. Slowly, a shadowy form became visible. As the light began to fade, Daisuke could see the figure was a blue reptilian beast, almost dragon-like, curled into a tight ball. Its eyes opened, and it blinked. It lifted its head and ruby-red eyes caught sight of Daisuke.

Suddenly, it sprang forward and Daisuke backpedaled. He tripped and fell to the ground.

"Hooray! Yes, yes, yes!" the two foot tall blue dragon yelled with unadulterated glee as he bounced around Daisuke. "The Digimental has been activated!" When the creature finally did stop in front of him, he held out his hand and introduced himself. "My name's V-mon. What's yours?"

"Daisuke," he said a little dazed by what was going on.

"Nice to meet you Daisuke! I've been waiting for you to come for so long."

"Waiting for me?" Daisuke question. He was so confused.

"Yes! I've been waiting for a child that could activate the Digimental of Courage," V-mon explained, but it didn't really help much.

"What are you," Asuka asked. Daisuke looked over to her and saw her standing a few feet away, staring wide-eyed at V-mon.

V-mon looked at her. "I'm a digimon, of course!"

Daisuke and Asuka shared a look. They really were in the Digital World. Daisuke looked at the device in his hands and noticed the blue dots had stopped again. He stared at them, remembering why he and Asuka had come into the cave in the first place.

"Okay, we can figure out what's going on later," Daisuke declared, pushing himself up. "But we need to go to where these blue dots are."

Asuka clenched her own device. "If they're people with the same devices, than they might know how to help," she said.

"You mean the digivices?" V-mon asked as the small group began following the blue dots into another large tunnel. "If someone has one that means they're a Chosen Child. They'll definitely be able to help you."

"Chosen Child?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah. The Chosen Children are special humans from another world. They come when the digital world is in danger."

"That means Taichi-sempai is even more amazing than I thought!" Daisuke exclaimed in amazement.

"But if we have these digivices that means we're Chosen Children too," Asuka said.

Daisuke grew quiet and looked at his digivice with renewed interest. His attention was stolen by a loud scream. Daisuke only froze for a second with surprise before he was running forward. He could hear Asuka's light steps behind him, and V-mon's heavier slapping steps beside him.

The path was straight, with no turn-offs. Only seconds passed before the small group came across a large opening. Light flooded into the cave and it took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust. Once they did, they saw they were on a small outcropping. Below them was a large clearing set into a sea of dark green leaves.

The scene playing out in the clearing made Daisuke gasp.

Taichi was there with a waist high orange dinosaur. Both looked scuffed up and bruised. Taichi's goggles laid a few feet from him. Across the clearing from them was Takaishi and a cat sized hamster with bat-like wings standing protectively in front of him, despite its wobbly state. Kneeling next to him with a ripped middle school jacket was a short red-headed boy Daisuke vaguely remembered Taichi meeting with before. Hikari was there too, but she was by the far tree-line. She sat, hands covering her left ankle. A white cat with sharp knife-like claws stood before her. Its long tail flicked angrily and the golden ring around it caught the sun.

In the middle of all of it was a huge monster, easily taller than all of them. Its body was a mass of powerful muscles, glistening black scales with deep red stripes pulling tightly over them. The horn on its snout was ridiculously large and looked viciously sharp.

"What…?" Asuka gasped out and Daisuke flicked his eyes to her. She looked sick, face pale and limbs trembling.

Daisuke's attention was brought back to the clearing when he heard a roar. The monster was rushing forward as if in a frenzy, its mouth foaming and eyes wild. Hikari screamed and Daisuke was frozen. The white cat digimon blocked it with a powerful punch, but it only seemed to stun the black digimon. The beast threw its head and the white cat was thrown backwards. It skidded along the ground, pulling up grass and making plumes of dust as it went.

"Gatomon!" Hikari yelled with horror, voice echoing around the clearing.

"Hikari! Move!" Taichi yelled. He made to step forward, but stopped short, a hand coming to rest on his ribs.

"Daisuke! What are you waiting for? Use your courage!" V-mon said.

Daisuke's eyes snapped to him. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, tone harsh.

V-mon didn't appear bothered. "Use the digimental," he said, indicating the strange artefact. "Say 'digimental up' and I can evolve," V-mon told him. Daisuke was still a little confused, but he had to do something before that thing charged again.

"This had better work!" he told V-mon and lifted the digimental into the air. "Digimental up!" As soon as the words had left his mouth a red-orange light shone out from the digimental. Daisuke felt warmth spread out from it and throughout his entire body.

"V-mon, Armor Evolve to…!" V-mon called out as he was also engulfed in the light, and slowly his form began to shift and change and the light became a raging inferno. When it had cleared, V-mon was now a tall blue dragon with red and orange armor. The coverings on his arms and head resembled the digimental with three blade like claws and a large blade like horn. When the transformation was finished he called out again. "…the Fire of Courage, Fladramon!"

Daisuke didn't have to say anything before Fladramon jumped into action. He shot from the overhang in one powerful thrust of his legs, tackling the black digimon to the ground. Daisuke couldn't make out the others' faces, but he could tell they were surprised by their tense postures.

The black digimon was forced on its side by Fladramon's attack. He used it as a springboard, propelling himself into a flip and mid-air twist. When he landed, Fladramon stood facing the digimon. It didn't stay down for long. The moment its feet were under it, it charged Fladramon. The fire dragon stood his ground and braced himself for the impact. He grabbed a hold of the black digimon's head, easily stopping it despite the black digimon's larger size. Then, with what appeared to be little effort, Fladramon lifted the larger digimon and tossed it to the side.

Daisuke thought for a moment that it was over, but the black digimon merely skidded across the ground. When it stopped its eyes glowed red. It opened its mouth and sent a barrage of fiery balls at Fladramon. Daisuke sucked in a breath as Fladramon ran forward, not bothering to dodge the attacks. As each ball of fire came within range, he punched them, causing them to dissolve into fire before fizzling out.

The black digimon seemed to realize that its fire attacks were futile, because it charged Fladramon again. Fladramon tried to grapple with it again, but this time it was able to fling its head up, effectively sending Fladramon flying straight up into the air.

Asuka's fingers dug painfully into Daisuke's arm as Fladramon was thrown. They loosened again when Fladramon appeared unconcerned. Instead the fire digimon flipped himself around so he was facing the black digimon below him. His entire body was consumed in burning flames and he called out "Fire Rocket!" as he launched himself towards the enemy.

"Aim for the Dark Ring! It will break the Kaiser's control over Monochromon!" Gatomon called out. She had recovered from the previous blow and was now hovering protectively at Hikari's shoulder.

Fladramon continued his decent, only changing course enough so that he was now aiming for a thick black band wrapped around the digimon's torso. His eyes glinted with determination as he plummeted. He hit his mark, ramming into the Dark Ring. As soon as his attack landed, he flipped himself through the air again, coming to stand before Monochromon. His form was tense until the Black Ring began to crack and crumble.

Daisuke heard a sharp gasp beside him and Asuka's hands left his arm. He turned to see her clutching her chest. Her skin was white as a sheet and her face was pinched, as if she were in pain. Her legs trembled and she stumbled forward. Daisuke quickly caught her and lowered her to the ground.

"Asuka? What's wrong?" he asked, a little frantic.

Asuka didn't answer, only shaking her head. She stopped almost immediately and clenched her eyes tightly closed. Her lips trembled with the force she used to push them together.

Daisuke didn't know what to do. He'd seen Hikari get sick once. She had collapsed on the playground and he and Asuka had freaked out. The teacher took the three of them to the infirmary and Daisuke remembered Taichi coming over from his classes. That had been different, though. Hikari had always been frail, until the next summer, that is, but Asuka wasn't. And this time, there were no teachers or big brothers to take care of her.

Daisuke suddenly remembered that Taichi was down the cliff side and he didn't have to do this alone. He turned to get their attention, but Asuka grasped his sleeve. It was a weak hold, but Daisuke stopped as if it were an iron grip. He looked at her, but her eyes were still closed tightly.

"Come on. Taichi-sempai can help," Daisuke said, trying to help her stand.

Asuka jerked back. "No!" she said, nearly falling to the ground. "I don't want to go down there."

Her voice was laced with fear and Daisuke felt his stomach drop. Asuka was rarely afraid. She did have a tendency to scream about spiders the size of gnats and clowns freaked her out. There was also a fear of vampires that they both shared. Neither were sure how it had started, but it was bad enough that they avoided any talk of them if they could help it.

But only once had he ever seen her this afraid. Their fathers' had been working a particularly dangerous case and were late coming home. She'd been terrified then.

The look in her eyes was the same as back then. Daisuke knew she wasn't afraid of Taichi and the others. She definitely hadn't been afraid of Veemon, now Fladramon. Even if she had been afraid of Monochromon he had been defeated – freed from the Dark Ring that controlled him.

Daisuke heard a heavy thump behind him. He turned, making sure to keep his hands on Asuka's shoulders, and looked at his new partner. Fladramon was walking calmly towards them. His sharp eyes landed on Asuka and he looked concerned.

"Daisuke," he said, his voice deep and mature unlike when he was V-mon.

"Fladramon, we need to get Asuka out of here," he told his partner. He looked at her trembling form in his arms. "I don't know what's wrong," he said, looking back up. "But we need to get away."

"What about the other Chosen Children?" Fladramon asked even as he came closer and stooped over them.

Daisuke shook his head firmly. "We can find them later or figure out another way home, but right now, Asuka needs to be away from here."

Fladramon nodded and picked the two humans up, Daisuke in his right arm and Asuka in his left. Daisuke quickly clutched to his partner, caught off guard by the sudden movement. Then, he clutched tighter when Fladramon shot up, jumping up the mountain side.

Taichi watched speechless as the dragon-like digimon scaled the side of the mountain, two figures in hand. He was able to pick out that they were human, but any distinguishing features were obscured by the digimon's body. If he were being honest with himself, he hadn't thought to look at the outcropping where the digimon had come from to see if someone was there. He'd been too shocked by the sudden events and then too focused on the fight to think of it.

His thoughts suddenly returned to the clearing and Taichi tore his gaze from the retreating trio. Immediately his eyes sought out Hikari. Gatomon was next to her, fussing over her sprained ankle. She looked otherwise unharmed and Taichi couldn't have been happier with that.

He took a moment to look over at Koushiro and Takeru who had helped her stay that way. Koushiro's jacket was ruined and there was a small cut on his brow. He held his hands palm up, and Taichi winced at the thought of the abrasions that would be there from when he had skid across the ground. A large bruise was forming on Takeru cheek. He moved his wrist gingerly before wincing. Patamon, meanwhile, looked exhausted, but no less fussy over Takeru's injuries than Gatomon was over Hikari's.

Taichi looked away and began making his way towards his sister. He winced when he jarred his ribs. They still hurt from when Agumon had been sent flying into him. Taichi was sure they were bruised.

"Taichi? Are you okay?" Agumon asked from beside him, worry evident in his voice even while sporting his own limp.

"Nothing I haven't had before," he said. "Although I forgot how painful the digital world could be."

"Sorry. If I hadn't called you back, you wouldn't be hurt," Agumon said, upset his partner was hurt because of him.

Taichi looked down with a frown. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm glad you called. I want to help out – we want to help out – anyway we can."

"It is our job," Koushiro said, walking up to the two. Takeru had managed to make his way over to Hikari, who was petting Monochromon like it was an overgrown cat. Taichi wondered when it had gotten over there. "As Chosen Children it's our duty to help the digital world when there's a problem," Koushiro continued and Taichi snapped his attention back to the conversation. "Besides, since Tentomon's here, I want to help even more."

"That's right, buddy. Didn't all those battles two years ago teach you this partner thing isn't a one way street?" Taichi said, looking at Agumon. "Now, let's get the others so we can figure out our next move."

The trio made their way over to the rest of their group. Hikari looked up as they approached, worry etched on her face. Gatomon had brought a straight branch over while Takeru tried to rip part of his shirt. Koushiro took off his ripped school jacket and knelt next to Hikari.

"Here, let me," he said, ripping the sleeve from his jacket. "You need to rest your wrist."

Takeru relented and Koushiro grabbed the branch, breaking it in half. He placed half the branch against Hikari's injured ankle and began wrapping the jacket sleeve tightly around it. Hikari hissed in pain and Taichi grimaced. He hated seeing his sister in pain. He wished he could help, or even splint her ankle himself, but his aching ribs just weren't cooperating. As soon as Koushiro was finished with Hikari, he turned to Takeru, holding the other branch half. Taichi sighed as he thought about Yamato's reaction to his brother's injuries.

Koushiro finished quickly and stood up. "That should hold until we get back. Although I'm curious how the school will react to our appearances."

"I know how I'd react," Taichi said, a hand to his forehead. He blinked when he realized that he didn't have his goggles on. "Where…?"

"I've got them, Taichi," Agumon said, holding up the blue goggles. "I saw them on our way over and picked them up."

"Thanks, Agumon," Taichi said, taking them. He inspected them to see if they were damaged, but other than a few dirt smudges they appeared fine.

"We really need to get going, but…" Takeru began, looking at Monochromon and the other digimon.

Patamon flew up, shaking his head. "It's alright. It's almost time to relax now," he said, indicating the setting sun.

"Eh? Why?" Takeru asked curiously.

"The Digimon Kaiser doesn't come out at night," Gatomon said.

"That's interesting," Koushiro said, looking thoughtful. "We might be able to use something like that to our advantage."

"Well, we can talk about it when we meet with the others back home," Taichi said. "Hopefully the gate's still open." Everyone agreed, not wanting to be stuck in the digital world again.

The group made slow progress, stopping for multiple breaks, either for Hikari's leg or Taichi's ribs. At first Taichi had tried to deny he was in any pain, but it wasn't long before his defenses were torn asunder by the walk and Hikari's worry. The easiest leg of their journey had been getting through the caves. Once they were free of the dark, winding corridors, things became difficult. The forest didn't have many distinguishing features and when they'd first arrived, Hikari and Takeru had been in too much of a rush to think about leaving a trail. This made finding their way back to the gate difficult.

They still made it before nightfall, which was a relief. The TV screen was still on, shining into the forest like a beacon. As they drew closer, they could see two people on the other side of the screen. They appeared to be eating something.

"That's Miyako and Iori," Takeru said, recognizing his two neighbors.

"I thought they left before we went into the digital world?" Koushiro said with a frown.

"What's taking them so long?" Miyako complained. She shoved something in her mouth. "You should have brought more ohagi."

"Isn't that your third one?" Iori asked before taking a bite of his own ohagi.

"I can't help it!" Miyako cried, shoving some more in her mouth. "They're just so good!" She looked at the screen and swallowed thickly. "Hey, they're back!"

Hikari smiled and waved at them sheepishly. "Uh, hi guys…"

"I suppose we'll get back the same way we came through," Koushiro said, reaching out to touch the screen.

The moment his fingers grazed the glass surface a light shone from the screen and the group was pulled forward into the TV. They were flung from the TV into a heaping pile on the floor. Miyako was at the bottom of the pile and Takeru was at the top. Hikari had landed half-way out of the pile with her upper body landing in Iori's lap. Taichi was bent over the legs of a fallen chair and had various peoples' legs laying on top of him and Koushiro was sandwiched somewhere in the middle.

"Someone has some explaining to do as soon as they get off of me!" Miyako howled.

By the time Fladramon had reached the forest path Daisuke and Asuka had first appeared on, the sun was low in the sky. Fladramon slowed to a stop and carefully lowered Asuka and Daisuke to the ground. The sudden change in elevation had both of them stumbling. They caught themselves on Fladramon until their legs were steady.

Once Daisuke was sure he wouldn't fall over he went to Asuka's side. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, grabbing her shoulder as she pushed away from Fladramon.

"Yeah, I'm…I'm feeling a lot better," she said softly.

"What was that?" Daisuke question, a frown marring his face.

Asuka bit her lip, shrugging helplessly. "I don't know. I just… All of a sudden I was freezing and I felt like I might pass out."

Daisuke looked at her worriedly and she gave him a weak smile. Suddenly a bright light engulfed Fladramon. The two startled and looked towards him just in time to see the light from the de-evolution shoot towards Daisuke's belt where he kept his digivice. Daisuke had just enough time to see Veemon standing in Fladramon's place before he was distracted by the light shooting from his digivice to his jacket pocket. He felt a sudden weight there and reached inside, pulling out another strange device, made from the same alloy as the digivice. It was longer and flatter, but also a little wider. It had several buttons on it, an antennae that was currently pushed down, and a looser covering that he flipped open to see that the device had a screen. On the screen a small digitized version of the Digimental of Courage bounced up and down.

Asuka leaned over his shoulder to look at the device. "Well, at least you won't have to explain why you have a large rock with a blade sticking out of it to your parents," she said.

Daisuke snorted. "Yeah, that wouldn't have gone over well," he said before turning his attention to Veemon who was sitting on the ground. "Are you okay?"

Veemon looked up and smiled tiredly. "Just tired. I can't hold that form for long."

Asuka bent over him. "You overexerted yourself for me. Thank you."

Veemon grinned. "Well, you're Daisuke's friend and Daisuke's my partner, so of course I would."

Daisuke tucked his hands behind his head, looking thoughtful. "I'm not sure I understand this whole chosen children or partner thing yet."

"Well, the Chosen Children are humans who protect the digital world and the human world. You get a digivice and with it you can help your partner digimon evolve," Veemon said.

"That's what this is, right?" Asuka said, pulling out her digivice. Veemon nodded. "Does that mean I have a partner too?"

Veemon nodded again. "Yeah, but I don't know where they are. I was sleeping under the Digimental of Courage for a long time before Daisuke removed it."

"So Asuka's partner will be waiting for her under a digimental too?" Daisuke asked.

Veemon shrugged. "Maybe. You'll have to find all of the digimentals to know for sure. If you come to the digital world enough, you'll definitely find them."

Asuka looked at her digivice. She wondered what her partner would be like. She'd already seen so many different types of digimon and she couldn't even imagine how many more were out there. A large growl startled her out of her thoughts. She looked up, expecting to see another digimon attacking them. Instead she saw Veemon and Daisuke looking rather sheepish.

"Evolving really takes it out of me…" Veemon said.

"Yeah, and we haven't eaten since lunch," Daisuke said.

Asuka giggled at the two boys. "I guess we should find that TV then. Hopefully, we can get back home the same way we came here," she said and they began walking down the path again.

A/N: Okay, so hopefully you all liked this chapter as much as the last. To anyone who might be worrying, Asuka is not a Mary-sue and I have a reason why she is acting the way she is.

Now then, for changes made in this chapter.

*Daisuke and Asuka leave school to study the digivices and end up entering the digital world through different means. I did decide that they would remain in the same general area, because it's the only place that Daisuke can find Veemon. In this instance, there are two separate TVs that lead into the same part of the digital world.

*Although not shown due to self-imposed word limits, the fight between Monochromon and the Chosen Children goes quite differently. Gatomon still has her tail ring, meaning she is at her full power as a champion. Monochromon is a champion level digimon. Some people might think this means that Gatomon should be able to defeat Monochromon. However, looking at it logically, Vamdemon used Gatomon's Holy Ring as the base for the control rings. If the Holy ring increases Gatomon's power (which it must, if losing it practically cuts her power in half), then it's only ogical to assume that on top of allowing the Kaiser to control digimon, the black rings should also give the digimon equipped with them a power boost. This leaves another question of how Fladramon can defeat Monochromon, though. Technically speaking, the digimental does not turn a digimon into a champion level. The digimentals can also give different power levels as seen with the Digimental of Miracles and Magnamon. This being said, I feel the digimentals give the digimon a power boost greater than that of a champion level, but less than that of a perfect level digimon. The reason why the chosen children would choose to have their digimon evolve into champion levels at all, if their digimental forms are more powerful, will be explained later.

Those are the biggest things I feel that needed to be explained. What's going on with Asuka will be explained later (and some of you may have already figured it out).