A/N: So yeah this chapter took forever for multiple reasons mostly concerning laziness, but also I was fairly disgusted with the last chapter so that turned me off writing for a while. I tried to do some new things with this chapter, so hopefully they turned out alright. Please review/flame/comment because I really do appreciate that stuff.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away

Now it looks as though they're here to stay

Oh, I believe in yesterday

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be

There's a shadow hanging over me.

Oh, yesterday came suddenly

"Yesteday" The Beatles

Dusk began to overtake the Odaiba sky as Takeru, Miyako, and Iori walked along towards Daisuke's apartment building in contemplative silence. The three Chosen Children, while glad to be back together after their long term separation, couldn't help but feel anxious about their upcoming meeting with Daisuke.

Takeru felt especially anxious as he and Daisuke had never been on the best terms even before the group's dissolution. While he and Daisuke had gotten over their outright feuding fairly early on in their adventure together, things were still tense between the two of them. They just had clashing philosophies, much like Taichi and Yamato. However, unlike Yamato, Takeru had never managed to forge a strong bond with his goggle wearing leader before the group's break up.

A loud ring broke Takeru out of his musings and as he turned to find the source of the noise he saw a seemingly flustered Iori reaching in his shorts pocket for his cell phone. As he listened to Iori converse quietly with whoever happened to be on the other side of the line Takeru, notices Miyako's gazing intently in his direction as if trying to figure something out.

He figured that it probably had to with his evasiveness when it came to the topic of a certain pair of Chosen Children, but he chose to ignore Miyako's silent inquiries, instead hoping that she would just drop the subject.

Turning his attention back to Iori he noticed that the younger Chosen was seemingly just about finished with his phone call. As Iori hung up the phone Takeru fixed him with an inquisitive glance, hoping to find out what the call was about.

Iori seemed to pick up on this cue and said, "I'm sorry about that. My mother just called and reminded me that I'm supposed to have a kendo lesson with my grandfather in a half hour. So I have to go. I'm really sorry that I won't be able to help you with Daisuke and the others. Please keep me updated on what happens and if there's any way I can help."

Takeru's face fell a bit upon receiving the news, as he was disappointed that his time with Iori was coming to an end so soon. He had really missed his DNA-Digivolution partner these last five years. He had always felt an innate sense of calm when around him because he knew that Iori understood him as well as almost anyone else. Especially when it came to knowing there just certain things he didn't want to talk about.

Adding to his disappointment was the fact that he had no such rapport with Miyako. While she along with Iori had been the first of the second generation Chosen he had met, he had really never developed any sort of strong relationship with her. They had a mutual respect for each other, but there was just really no sort of relationship between the two of them, it was somewhat odd given all that they had been through together.

"Well I guess we'll see you later. I'll make sure to let you know how everything goes." Miyako said breaking Takeru's inner ramblings.

"Y-yeah we'll catch up with you later." Takeru spit out quickly hoping to cover for the fact that his mind had been in another place for an uncertain amount of time.

He noticed Miyako give him a curious look at him after his stumbled words, but she said nothing and merely started walking towards Daisuke's again. He was thankful that she hadn't called him out on his spaciness, as he was sure she had noticed. He guessed there might be some advantages in having very little semblance of a relationship with Miyako, as it meant that the outspoken girl was less likely to call him out when he was acting less than normal.

He knew that her concern about his situation with his brother and best friend, if he could truly call someone he had not had any sort of meaningful contact with his best friend, was coming from a good place, but this was his burden to bear and he did not want anyone to deal with it. In the meantime he at least had a task that he devote his attention to, thereby avoiding the despair that seemed to well up in his heart anytime Hikari and Yamato were brought up.

Deciding to truly make an earnest effort to put those negative thoughts out of his mind he turned to look at his current companion who similarly seemed to have a lot on her mind at the moment. He assumed that she was probably reflecting on how different things could have been had cooler heads prevailed on that fateful day 5 years ago. He could definitely empathize with that train of thought given that he had spent almost every waking moment of the past 5 years reliving that day and trying to find some key that would bring everything back together.

He let out a hollow laugh thinking back on how desperate he had been to get everyone back together for the last 5 years and how today of all days, seemingly out of the blue Gennai had handed him what ostensibly represented the key to bringing the Chosen back together. If he hadn't learned a long time ago to never doubt the mysterious ways of the Digital World he would've been skeptical and thought that this was all too good to be true.

"What's so funny? Do I have something on my face or something? Because if I do and you've just been staring that's really rude. I'd expect more from you Takeru, but I guess all you boys are the same. Incredibly dumb."

The sudden outburst from Miyako who had been quiet for most of their trip to this point startled Takeru to the extent that he actually stumbled due to the pure surprise of the awkward silence being broken.

"No! No no no. Really I wasn't laughing at you. I promise. I was just thinking about some stuff." Takeru rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he replied really hoping against hope that he could avoid his lavender haired friend's wrath. He had seen what happened when Daisuke managed to irritate her and did not want to repeat the gogglehead's mistakes.

Miayko's annoyed expression softened into one of curiosity upon hearing what Takeru had to say. "Yeah, I've been doing that a lot too lately." Miayko replied and let out what sounded like an exapserated sigh before continuing, "So what's on your mind? You know it's not good to keep things bottled up. You should know that as well as anybody being Hikari's best friend, the amount she kept bottled up was enough to drive anyone insane. So spill. What's on your mind?"

Takeru frowned at the mention of Hikari, but brushed it off trying to make sense of his thoughts so as to give Miyako some insight into what he was thinking. She was hardly his first choice for a soundingboard, but he didn't exactly have anyone else he could talk to. Plus, it couldn't hurt to make some actual inroads with her before they went back to the digital world again to confront whatever new evil was awaiting them, given that after all this time he still had a very .

Taking a deep breath and looking at Miyako, he summoned up his courage and began, "Well the reason I was laughing is that it's kind of ironic that it took some great evil threatening the digital world to bring us back together. I guess it's appropriate given that's what brought us together in the first place, but still you would've thought we were stronger than that. That we would've been able to forgive each other without needing the fate of two worlds hanging in the balance." Seeing Miyako's clouded over expression Takeru quickly finished, "Sorry I'm not making sense. Forget I said anything."

Shaking her head Miyako responded, "No everything you said is true. It's just...depressing. God I can't believe how out of hand we let this get. It's like at the end of the day despite all our issues with each other we still love each other and we have that connection as Chosen that no one else could really get, but somehow we forgot that or ignored it. And for what? So I could just stay angry at everyone for whatever stupid reason I had back then. Ugh these last 5 years were for NOTHING. Spending every frickin day desperately trying tos tay angry just so I wouldn't miss you guys so damn much."

Watching Miyako angrily rant, not caring if anyone was listening, was surprisingly comforting for Takeru. He fondly remembered all the times that she would dive into one of these rants back during their adventures, usually complaining about the latest way Daisuke had managed to annoy her. He took this a sure sign that things were returning to normal and couldn't help, but beam at that hopeful thought as they approached Daisuke's building to bring their leader back into the fold.

Daisuke Motomiya dribbled a soccer ball aimlessly under the lights of an empty soccer field next to Odaiba High School. This had become somewhat of a nightly ritual, weather permitting of course, over the last 5 years. He had always found solace in soccer when the world got too real for him and he needed to escape. The last 5 years since the split of the Chosen had been entirely too real for him and he focused all his energy and thoughts on tiring himself out on the field so he wouldn't have to think back to those fond memories that now hurt so much.

In his opinion his greatest strength, and according to others greatest fault, had always been his ability to not overthink things. It wasn't that he didn't think at all, despite being accused of that on many occasions, but rather he just simply decided to shrug off what he couldn't control and instead focus his efforts on what he could control. That's partially why he had been so devastated by the events of 5 years ago today.

When Taichi had passed his trademark goggles onto Daisuke, thus anointing him the new leader of the Chosen he knew from that moment on that he had a sacred duty to keep the Chosen together at all costs and to be a good leader for the team as they confronted the evils that threatened the Digital World and the Real World. While he admittedly had experienced some growing pains in his role early on, he had felt by the time they had defeated MaloMyotismon that he truly had come to fulfill the promise that Taichi had seen in him during his first trip to the digital world.

However, that had all changed for him 5 years ago on that fateful anniversary. He stood lamely as a mere bystander as he watched the Chosen break apart when he it was his duty as leader to step in and stop the arguments before they took everyone to the point of no return where things were said that could never be taken back. Still to this day he had never forgiven himself for that, and thus had stopped wearing the goggles that symbolized everything he aspired to be, yet had never truly fulfilled.

To escape these dark depressing thoughts Daisuke threw himself completely into soccer. It wasn't necessarily a huge change from before the Chosen had fallen apart, because he had been obsessed with soccer back then too, so no one had really noticed. However, for him the game took on a whole new meaning and purpose. Previously Daisuke had played soccer because it was truly his passion and he genuinely enjoyed every minute of it. Now, it was something he took part in not of out of enjoyment, but rather out of necessity to escape his own mind.

Strangely enough Daisuke had found success in his unorthodox, and what some might call unhealthy, approach to his problem. He lived his life in what could be called very mundane fashion going through the ups and downs of school and soccer, all the while pushing those feelings of despair and depression related to losing the 11 best friends he'd ever had into a deep dark hole in his mind, never to be thought about again.

The largest and most constant struggle for him was the fact that he would still se Takeru and Hikari every single day in the hallways of school or randomly run into one of the other Chosen in Odaiba. Somewhere deep inside him a part of him screamed out to reach out to his former friends whenever he saw them, but he would always suppress and ignore that voice for as far as he was concerned no one cared to associate with a failed leader. A leader who had watched as his team tore itself apart from the inside. He understood that he was alone now and he accepted the sad reality by ignoring it altogether.

Breathing heavily now after an intense hour of drills, Daisuke flopped on the ground and to catch his breath before going through his stretching routine and heading home. Looking up at the stars on the clear August night he couldn't help but think of his best friend and partner wondering if he still remembered him or if he was even alive. Daisuke knew that he could never forget Veemon, no matter how painful it might be to hold on to the memory of the little blue dragon now that they were seemingly permanently separated.

The abrupt separation from Veemon after the battle with MaloMyotismon had been such a shock to Daisuke's system that he wasn't sure how to cope with it. From what he recalled from seeing Hikari and Takeru's struggles was that this was much different than the first time they had been separated from their digimon. At least then they had gotten a chance to say goodbye, instead of being unceremoniously dumped back into the real world with no idea what had just happened or where their partner was.

Losing Veemon had been like losing a part of his soul, but he had known that he could soldier on and live his life without him as long as he had the rest of the Chosen to support him and for him to support. When he lost that support network he knew that he needed to urgently find something or someone to occupy his full attention and thus he turned to the game he had always loved that now had been corrupted by his desperation into a tool to prevent his mind from going to the places he did not want it to go.

Daisuke truly found it amazing how quickly, over the course of 8 months to be exact, that his charmed life that he had used as a springboard to hold off MaloMyotismon in the dream world could fall apart and devolve into this fake life that he lived now. Merely existing for the sake of existing, having no greater goal or purpose to work towards. He found one word perfectly encapsulated his state of being over the last 5 years, a word that he would never have associated with himself before, but now was to him synonymous with the name Daisuke Motomiya: hopeless.

Just as that thought passed through his mind he became acutely aware of approaching footsteps and a seemingly friendly conversation occurring between the new arrivals to the field. Assuming it was someone coming to use the field he shouted out with his eyes still closed, "Hey I just gotta stretch and then I'll split. You can use the other end of the field for now and I promise I won't be long. Just don't wanna get tight you know how it is."

As he finished shouting out to the new arrivals he noticed that their conversation had stopped abruptly and the footsteps had stopped too. A tense silence hung in the air prompting Daisuke to sit up and look at what caused the new arrivals to lapse into silence so suddenly. What he saw shocked him so thoroughly that for one of the rare times in his life he was rendered speechless.

"Hey Daisuke, it's been a while huh?" Miyako started in carefully seemingly trying to get a feel for Daisuke's state of mind and how he would react to her, given that they hadn't exactly parted on the best terms.

After a moment he found his voice again and replied, "Uh yeah it has been." Knowing that this surely wasn't just a social visit given that they hadn't spoken for the last 5 years he asked, "But what are you guys doing here? I'm not really sure I get why you're here at all."

Taking this as his cue, Takeru took a seat next to Daisuke flashing him a big grin asked him, "So do you miss Veemon?"

Daisuke found himself quickly getting annoyed with the blonde sitting next to him who was seemingly being coy for reasons that escaped him. Furthermore, Takeru knew that Veemon as an extremely sensitive topic for Daisuke and knew full well that he missed him, which made his line of questioning insulting to Daisuke.

As Daisuke opened his mouth to tell Takeru off for asking that obnoxious and insensitive question the blonde raised a finger to stop Daisuke from talking and said, "What if I told you that you could- no have to see him again? That the fate of two worlds requires you to see Veemon again. What would you say?"

At this latest line of questioning Daisuke became even more confused and angry with Takeru, whose grin was growing wider by the minute, while Miyako stood off to the side rolling her eyes muttering something about "stupid boys."

"Of course I miss Veemon! You know damn well I do! Where do you get off asking questions like that? What the hell do you mean 'I have to see him again'? You don't tell me what to do blondie!" The words came out so quickly and hotly Daisuke wasn't even sure of what he had said or if it made any sense, but he was determined to let Takeru know he wasn't going to let him stay up on his high horse.

Suddenly Takeru's expression morphed from the joyful teasing grin, that had been seemingly plastered to his face, to a very solemn and serious one and as he spoke up his tone indicated that he was now saying was truly important, "Gennai, or a projection of him- I'm not really sure how it works, came to me a few hours ago. The Digital World is in danger again from some sort of dark force, I don't know exactly what because he didn't have the time to explain, but he stressed that if we didn't get back there soon to fight whatever the new threat is both worlds could be in danger."

Daisuke sat there staring into Takeru's deep blue eyes trying to process the information and see if he was being serious. It was strange though, Daisuke felt like he really didn't need to look in Takeru's eyes for confirmation. He just believed him and the look in those blue eyes only confirmed it further that he was telling the truth. He saw a solemn determination in his eyes, similar to what he had seen when Angemon digivolved to MagnaAngemon to fight BlackWarGreymon, just pure desire to save two worlds at any cost. It really was admirable, though Daisuke would never admit it aloud.

Takeru seemed to pick up on the fact that Daisuke had accepted what he'd said without an argument, but he decided to continue anyway just to make sure he drove his point home and got Daisuke full up to speed. "Gennai also somehow knew about our situation...I don't know how but he said it was of the 'utmost importance' that we come together again to fight this new threat and that our partners would be waiting for us once we travelled to the digital world. So that's why we're here. We need you to be part of the team again. Are you in?"

Daisuke's immediate response was an indignant snort, to which Miyako, who up to this point had been content to be a bystander, replied, "How bout you answer us with some words doofus?"

"Who are you calling 'doofus' dork?!" Daisuke responded hotly, but with a grin on his face as he felt a sense of deja vu wash over him, fondly remembering all the times he bickered with Miyako during their time in the Digital World.

Shaking his head while smiling Takeru stepped between the two combatants before their mini-spat could escalate any further. Extending a hand to Daisuke and smiling he asked, "So Daisuke you ready to kick some evil digimon butt?"

Daisuke fiercely grabbed Takeru's hand squeezing it as hard as he could while beaming replied, "Whatever evil is plaguing the Digital World better start running because Daisuke Motomiya is back in action and ready to kick some digi-butt!"

"I guess I'll take that as a 'yes.' It's good to have you back Daisuke, life has been a lot more quiet without you." Takeru said through a huge grin before. "And not in a good way." He finished with a laugh that both Miyako and Daisuke soon joined in with, all three of them feeling better than they had at any point in the last 5 years. Things finally seemed to be looking up now that the team was coming back together.

Daisuke's smile stayed firmly rooted on his face even as the trio's laughter died down. He felt a strange yet oddly familiar emotion filling him at this point and couldn't quite place a finger on it until he noticed the yellow glow coming from underneath Takeru's shirt and suddenly things clicked into place. He now knew that word that had come to define him in his mind over the last 5 years had suddenly been rendered completely obsolete.

He was no longer hopeless anymore because hope had reentered his life and he intended to keep it that way for the foreseeable future. He would not- no he could not fail again. Takeru, and by extension Gennai, had offered him a second chance. A chance to remedy the mistakes of his past when he given into weakness and stood by while the Chosen fell apart. He would not disappoint Takeru's faith in him the way he had Taichi's. That was not going to happen.

Daisuke was suddenly broken out of his thoughts when he noticed Takeru and Miyako staring at him expectantly. "What?" He blurted out defensively with confusion laced in his tone.

Miyako let out an aggravated sigh before answering, "We were just asking if you knew what the fastest way to get to Tamachi was, since y'know you were always visiting Ken there."

Daisuke's mouth formed a perfect "O" shape and he flushed a bit embarrassed at being caught spacing out before regaining his composure and taking off in the direction of the train yelling back to his two compatriots, "Follow me!"

Deep in the darkest corner of the digital world a figure shrouded in shadows observed a monitor showing the events occurring on Earth with mild interest all the while tapping their fingers on their throne absentmindedly.

Speaking softly to themselves they said, "Please do hurry up and get here soon Chosen. I really am quite proud of what I have prepared for you. It would be quite rude to keep your new ruler waiting for too long. Gennai and the Sovereign really are fools to think that this dysfunctional group of children can stop my plans."

Laughing the figure shut off the screen and walked out of the room to continue their preparations for the return of the Chosen.

A/N: If you read this I hope you liked it and will leave a review or even a flame, those can be fun too. Hopefully I can spend less than 2 months getting the next chapter out, that is if anyone is still interested.