Author's Note: Welcome to the new chapter! I really appreciate the reviews and watches I've been getting from you all. It really motivates me to continue (though I would probably continue anyway)! I warn you that the next chapter might be delayed a bit if I can't get chapter 6 written out (I don't want to upload chapters unless I have the next one done), but I'm slowly working on it and hopefully by next Thursday we'll be golden. Just giving you a heads up about next Thursday so hopefully there won't be anything to worry about.

Thanks again for sticking with me! From here on out it's going to a little more difficult to juggle all the characters so let me know if you think I should write a little more about one of the other guys (I'll try to keep it balanced but sometimes characters are louder than others).

(Episode 04: A Civil Reunion)

The sun slowly set on the higher planes of the oldest Digital World, at least, the light dimmed as Yggdrasil cycled from day into night. There was not so much a sun and moon here as the ever changing light of Yggdrasil's tree. Koji gazed up at the strange rainbow colored sky as the light continued to shift over the surface of the lake. He looked in both directions before climbing back up into the tree and nodding to his companion, "Looks like they're gone."

His companion, Tai, reminded him a lot of Takuya. After the initial shock of everything had worn off, Tai had been immediately friendly with him, exchanging names and asking Koji a million questions about how he was able to turn into a digimon and why he didn't have a partner like Agumon or why the Seadramon had attacked him. Koji answered as best he could but even he couldn't keep up with all of Tai's questions and, besides, their little search for their friends was interrupted by the shouts of "APOLLOMON'S SPIES HAVE BEEN SPOTTED" coming towards them. Neither boy had really understood what that meant but they weren't sure they wanted to get involved just yet. Koji was the one who had told Tai to climb the tree and he was a little surprised when Tai actually agreed with him. They had to help Agumon up because his smaller legs just weren't made for climbing trees. From there they had watched as a large band of rabbit-like digimon sprinted past them, heading for another side of the lake shore.

Once they were sure that the hunting party was gone, Koji dropped out of the tree. He landed and then looked back up into the branches at Tai. Tai helped Agumon drop down first before joining him. "Well, what do you think that was about" Koji asked, not sure what to make of the rabbit digimon or what they were saying.

"I dunno. They sounded like they were pretty angry though. I say we stick with searching for our friends and avoiding the bunny brigade." Tai flashed Koji a grin and Koji couldn't help but smile back a little. Koji couldn't help but trust the guy which was a big thing for him since it usually took him a long time to warm up to others. Of course, having been on a life changing adventure a year ago with Takuya and reuniting with his brother had helped in mellowing him out a bit. Even so he felt like Tai was just too much like Takuya not to trust. Tai didn't treat him like a little kid either, despite being older. If anything Koji felt like he should be looking out for Tai given that the other boy was relying on a digimon to protect him. Koji's eyes fell on Agumon and he second guessed even that. He wasn't sure if it was his inner warrior instinct or what but he could instantly sense a link or bond between these two. It was...similar to the bond he had with his warrior spirit, only this was external.

As soon as they started walking again Tai began asking Koji more questions and even Agumon, who had seemed to dislike Koji at first (probably because he had insulted him), asked a few things about Koji's digital world. It became apparent very quickly that they probably weren't from the same earth, let alone had experiences in the same Digital World. Koji could see that Tai was just as shocked by this as Koji was and neither was really sure what to make of this news.

"I mean, if that's the case, then what Digital World ARE we in," Tai asked, looking back up at the sky as if it would have any answers. While they stayed in sight of the lake, after the commotion from earlier they had opted to walk within the forest...just in case.

Koji shrugged, "Beats me. It certainly doesn't feel like the Digital World I'm familiar with and you already said Agumon claimed the same. There has to be a reason we both ended up here though, right?"

Tai nodded, looking back down at his digivice, "It looks like we're really getting close to those other signals." He then continued on with the conversation, "I think the fact that we're Digidestined might have something to do with it. You said the way you ended up here reminded you of the first time you went to the digital world...well it was the same for me. Only, my digivice started acting funny and then I blacked out and found myself here with Agumon."

"Yeah, and I was in my Digital World before I woke up here too. So even if this was our Digital World Tai, why would I black out too?" Agumon asked, raising a valid question. Something just wasn't adding up about all of this. There wasn't much time to think about it, however, as Tai's digivice showed that in just a few paces they would at least find more Digidestined, if not their friends.

Tai exchanged a glance with Koji before reaching out to push back the bushes. The leaves rustled as he parted them and suddenly a white and green rabbit launched itself at Tai's head. Tai fell backwards in shock and, thankfully, this caused the rabbit eared digimon to overshoot his target. Koji whipped around, tracking the creature, "What the-?"

"Terriermon! Wait!" A voice shouted from the other side of the bushes and pushed through them to reveal a young boy with dark blue hair and an orange vest. He nearly tripped over Tai but stumbled to the left of him and then shot the Terriermon a glare, "I told you not to just attack what was coming."

The Terriermon drifted back to the ground, controlling his landing with his inflated ears, "Oh come on Henry. It was just for fun. 'Sides, we already knew it was more humans...Davis's digivice went off remember?" Terriermon landed in Henry's arms and the boy just sighed.

Koji and Tai were staring at the digimon like it was nuts but a certain name had stood out to Tai and he pushed himself back up to a seated position, "Davis? As in-"

"Hey Tai!" A familiar voice called out as he, too, stepped forward through the bush. Veemon wasn't far behind the goggle-head and waved at Tai and Agumon as well. "Man I can't believe you're here, too! This is great now we'll TOTALLY be able to rescue Ken and Takato."

Koji crossed his arms, giving the two new boys a once over before looking back at Tai, "Friends of yours then?"

Tai nodded as he got back to his feet, "Yeah, well, Davis is. I'm afraid I don't know the guy with the Terriermon."

"The guy with me is Henry," Terriermon replied with a grin.

The bushes rustled for a third time and a small brown rabbit hobbled out. It took one look at Tai and Koji and its eyes instantly lit up with wonder, "Oh my! More Chosen!"

This reaction was not exactly what Koji or Tai had expected. Tai looked from the Lopmon back to Henry, "He with you?"

Henry shook his head, looking down at the Lopmon again. It was nothing like Suzie's Lopmon that was for sure. Still, that was another matter entirely and he really hoped that if anyone else showed up in this strange old world it wasn't her. "He's someone we kidnapped to give us answers about Ken and Takato."

"What happened to Ken?" Tai asked, immediately looking over to Davis.

"He was captured along with Henry's friend Takato. Ken is apparently labeled as an enemy to Dianamon along with Takato and their digimon. Guilmon especially because he's a fire type. Lopmon here was just telling us how we could sneak in to see Dianamon before the trial and clear our friends' names." Davis wanted to also tell Tai about the whole "oldest digital world ever" then when he remembered that there was someone with Tai he didn't know. He looked a little like Ken only with a much harsher expression on his face. "Hi, I'm Davis by the way and this is Veemon. What's your name?"

Koji didn't realize Davis had changed the topic to introductions until he was asked his name. It took him a minute to recuperate since his mind was still processing the information Davis had been giving them. Apparently more Digidestined were stuck in Dianamon's clutches and Koji had a feeling that the shouts about Apollomon earlier were connected. He put that aside and replied, "Koji."

"Nice to meet you both," Henry said, bowing his head slightly in greeting. He then turned back to the Lopmon. He wasn't sure if having more people was going to help or hinder them, but he had a feeling if he brought it up then Tai and Koji would just get mad at him. He'd had enough trouble just getting Davis to listen to him after all. "So what's the plan Lopmon? Do we just sneak back in?"

Lopmon looked up at the sky, clearly trying to figure out how much time they had. He then nodded, "It would take too long to convince the guards of your intentions but we will have to be stealthy as fighting your way into the fort would also be a bad idea. There are several tunnels that we Lopmon use to get in and out of the fort for easy foraging. We can use those to regain entrance and then I can show you the way to Dianamon's court. I just hope we can make it before the decision has been made."

Henry and Davis looked up at the sky; they could see that even though there was no sun, the light was certainly heading towards dusk. They didn't have a lot of time left to plan or act. Davis pounded his fist into his hand, turning back to the group, "All right. Let's get this rescue started!"

Everyone seemed ready to go but Tai still wasn't so sure about this. He hesitated, looking down at the digivice in his hand. It was still bothering him that Agumon couldn't digivolve and now Davis wanted to go into a weird fort and try to rescue two friends. What if something went wrong? His hand clenched around his digivice. No, he couldn't be thinking that way right now. Not only was it not like him but it went against everything his crest stood for. Besides, as far as he could tell he was the oldest here and he owed it to them to make sure they got out safely.

"Come on Tai, they're gonna leave us behind," Agumon said, tugging at his partner's hand.

Tai looked up to see that Koji, Henry, Davis, their digimon and Lopmon were all standing on the edge of the tree line waiting for him to join them. He took a deep breath and marched forward. They'd get in and rescue Ken and Takato...one way or another.

"It is time."

The voice came from the other side of the heavy door to their cell and Ken looked up to find the leader of the Lekismon standing there with chains in hand to escort Ken and Takato out. Ken looked past her to find that Guilmon and Wormmon were already with her and he smiled slightly in relief, "Hey, Wormmon, are you okay?"

"Just fine, Ken." His partner spoke in a reassuring voice. Honestly he had been worrying a lot about how the humans were doing too so it was good to see that the Lekismon had treated their prisoners well. Wormmon was riding on Guilmon's head again, a fact that Guilmon didn't seem to mind. Ken wondered if it was because it took Guilmon's focus away from the fact that he had a muzzle on.

"Guilmon!" Takato shouted, almost rushing forward when he was stopped by Lekismon. He froze and then lowered his head, "oh...right." Apparently he had forgotten where he was and that Lekismon was not going to let him out of that cell until he put the chains on. Takato obliged, as did Ken, and the two boys joined their partner digimon in the hallway while Lekismon prepared them for escort. Takato leaned over to Ken and whispered, "So do you think we stand a chance?"

Ken tried to hide his worry but it was only mildly successful. He did not meet Takato's gaze though and instead just whispered back, "I don't know what sort of trial they have...but I guess we don't get much say in the matter." The Lekismon seemed more the type to shoot first and ask questions later, so it was a wonder to Ken that they had been brought in as prisoners at all. It was promising at least; perhaps Dianamon would be more willing to listen to them than her arrow happy guards.

The Lekismon led Ken and the others through the tunnels. Ken tried to pay attention to the turns but after a while even he lost track. He could tell Takato was trying to do the same but it was hopeless for both of them. In the cell they had talked about escaping at this point but it was becoming clear that that wasn't going to happen because they'd just get lost and then captured again. All they could do was follow them to Dianamon now.

The weaving tunnels eventually led out into open air again and they found themselves towards the very center of the large fort now. The court was a strange one, an open air temple with grand white columns with vines growing up and wrapping around so you could only see hints of the white beneath. This seemed to be the going theme of this place, Ken realized, a lot of natural resources and leaving things to nature. The columns surrounded a large clearing and Ken noticed that most of the other buildings were in a circle around it, at least five feet in diameter away from the columns. There were several seats set up but few were occupied. As Ken took all of this in his eyes were eventually drawn to the female digimon standing in its center looking into the waters of a well.

Ken's first thought was that she looked a lot like one of those mecha you see in some anime, although she wasn't quite as tall as one of those giant robots. That wasn't to say that she wasn't an impressive size and she easily towered over everyone present at around 8 feet tall. She was mostly white with purple accents on all of her armor pieces. She was covered in the armor as well, some of it even taking on the shape of crescent moons, including two large shoulder pieces and the boots that even had faces on them. There was no way to really see her face except for her eyes which were also purple. She turned away from the well and immediately the Lekismon bowed, also forcing Ken and the others to the ground as well.

"Who are these that you bring before me, Lekismon?" Dianamon asked. Her voice was pleasant, but Ken could tell she had a commanding presence and that the nice tone might not last for long.

The leader of the Lekismon rose from her bow and stepped forward to gesture at her prisoners, "These are the human digimon and fire type digimon that we discovered trespassing on your territory. We thought they may be spies sent by Apollomon and we wish to hold them in trial for also attacking one of ours."

Dianamon looked thoughtfully from Lekismon to the boys and then to their digimon. She paused on each one of them as if trying to read their thoughts or perhaps their very souls. Ken tried to look as innocent as possible, but of course with that in mind all he could think about was all the horrible things he had done in the past. Eventually Dianamon stepped forward, "Lekismon, I can see why you were worried. However, I do not believe that a trial will be necessary."

"My lady? Does that mean you wish to kill them immediately?"

"Actually-"

"Stop!" The sudden voice rang through the court of Dianamon and everyone froze. If anyone had bothered to look at Dianamon instead of at the source of the voice they would have noticed a look of amusement appear in Dianamon's eyes. Of course, everyone was too busy whipping their heads around to see the human child wearing goggles storm in to the clearing, followed by a Veemon and then several others boys and digimon. "You can't kill them! They didn't do anything wrong and they don't work for this Apollomon guy either!"

Several of the Lekismon present brought up their ice arrows, prepared to attack. Veemon jumped in front of Davis to protect his partner but Dianamon swept forward, swinging her weapon into the ground to bring attention back to her as she stood between her guards and the boys.

"Davis?" Ken exclaimed, his eyes wide with surprise. While he had expected he couldn't be the only Digidestined here it was still a surprise to see that they had shown up.

Takato looked just as surprised and then he broke into a grin, "Henry! Man it's good to see you."

The Lekismon did not lower their arrows, however, until Dianamon spoke, "My guard, while I admire your desire to protect me and my forest I am most disappointed in your behavior as of late. You should have used your senses better and you would have discovered that these are not digimon at all but human children. I was going to say, before we were interrupted," she paused, glancing over at Davis who smiled sheepishly, "that there is no need for an execution because they have been invited to this land by Yggdrasil himself."

The Lekismon started lowering their arrows until only the leader seemed unsure. She looked up to Dianamon, "What do you mean my lady? Why have they been brought by Yggdrasil and why did they end up in your forest?"

"Actually, that's a pretty good question," Tai spoke up, stepping forward a bit now that they weren't being threatened by killer bunnies. "Why WERE we all brought here?"

Dianamon looked calmly between her guard and the Digidestined before nodding, "I will tell you what I have seen but first we should perhaps release your friends from their bindings. I would rather this be a pleasant conversation." Four of the Lekismon stepped over to the imprisoned boys and released the chains around them. Ken rubbed at his wrists before going over to Wormmon and scooping him up, whispering softly to him that he was glad he was safe.

The quiet tension of the moment was soon interrupted by the pounding of hooves outside of the court and several Moosemon stampeded into the circle of pillars. Dianamon was the only one unsurprised to see them and the leader of her guard scowled up at the large digimon, "What is the meaning of this?"

The largest of the Moosemon stepped forward, "We have captured spies after a glorious chase through the woods. They put up quite a fight but as soon as we captured them we brought them here only to find out a trial was already being put into action!" Two more of the Moosemon trotted forward with loads on their backs. They were accompanied by a pair of Gaomon, dog-like digimon with blue and white fur and for some reason they wore boxing gloves. The Gaomon were apparently the ones that had worked the straps on the Moosemon because now they were releasing them. The large loads fell off and made grunting sounds when they hit the ground, hard. With a little wiggling the tarps that had been covering them fell off and two boys and a Gabumon were revealed causing Koji, Tai, Ken, and Davis to gasp.

"Takuya?" "Matt?"

The aforementioned boys looked up, also surprised. Although, Matt's surprise quickly turned into a smirk, "Why am I not surprised you're here Tai?"

Tai snorted, "I could say the same to you."

Takuya was still struggling inside his bindings, "Okay, so if we're the enemy why aren't THEY tied up and tossed in a sack?"

"Because we know better than to get caught," Koji replied, just relieved to see a familiar face and to know that Takuya was okay. He could easily slip into the sarcastic banter he kept up with his fellow Warrior. "I can't believe the great Warrior of Flame went down by a bunch of Moosemon."

It was meant to be a joke but Koji regretted it when he saw the look of sadness on Takuya's face. Takuya glanced away, "Yeah...about that..."

Dianamon stepped forward again, placing a hand on the head of the largest of the Moosemon, "I appreciate your work, Moosemon, but I am afraid these are friends sent to help us. I realize they have the mark of fire upon them but you must not hold it against them." Moosemon bobbed his head, accepting Dianamon's words. Dianamon's eyes lit up with a smile again, "Will you please have your Gaomon release them. I need to speak with them all." The Gaomon proceeded to do so and Takuya and Matt with Gabumon soon joined their friends. Dianamon nodded, pleased with this, and then turned to the Moosemon and the Lekismon, "I ask that you return to your posts. I have a long conversation ahead of me and need you at watch to make sure we are not interrupted again." The Lekismon and Moosemon groups both bowed to their lady and then turned and dispersed from the circle.

The light was turning darker and as it did the pillars covered by ivy started to glow, almost like moonlight. It reflected off of Dianamon's armor and off of the water in the nearby well. It was a breathtaking sight but none of the boys present were much interested in it at the moment. There were several unspoken questions hanging in the air and Dianamon knew that she would soon have a long and difficult story to tell them. Instead, her eyes fell onto the Lopmon standing near Henry's leg. "Ah, Lopmon. You are still here. Please inform the others that they should prepare dinner and places for our guests to stay the night. The preparation should buy enough time for me to inform our guests of what they have been summoned to do." Lopmon nodded and then scampered off, most likely to go gather more Lopmon or whoever else worked at fixing food and beds.

"Okay, seriously, what is going on lady?" Davis finally blurted out. He could only take so much of this mysterious build up that Dianamon seemed to be doing. It was like she was purposefully stalling this conversation. She had to know that they were ALL curious about what was going on.

"Davish, maybe we should be a little nicer to the digimon that just saved us," Veemon hissed to his partner.

Dianamon continued to have that amused sparkle in her eyes, "No, it is all right. I suppose I owe you some explanations after the events that have transpired. Please, have a seat, and we shall speak of what is happening to you and all Digital Worlds."