A/N: I dont own digimon or any of the characters etc etc etc. I actually had a little bit of trouble with the ending of this chapter but i tried so dont hate me :) hope you enjoy!

They walked awkwardly, side by side, letting the silence overcome them. TK had never felt such a tension, especially between the two of them. In an effort to avoid contact, he swerved slightly, causing him to lose his balance on an uneven piece of sidewalk and trip. Kari laughed as she helped him up, but he accidentally pulled her down too. Suddenly the two of them were laughing as if the awkwardness had never existed, and TK again felt hopeful that maybe he could at least maintain a friendship with her.

He didn't have time to test this theory, though. When they got to the park, Tai, Sora, Cody, and Yolei had already arrived. Kari greeted everybody and went directly to Yolei. TK, almost starting to worry again, allowed Patamon to fall gracefully onto his head and walk over to Tai, Sora, and Matt, who had just arrived.

"Hey, little brother," Matt said. "Everything okay?" TK tilted his head to the side. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kari and Yolei looking at him. He was determined to not blush.

"Uhm, I'm not sure yet," he said. "Better wait for everybody else to get here before I say anything."

Needless to say, Davis arrived last; with Tai's old googles about to fly off his head, he came to a sudden stop, panting as a tired looking DemiVeemon came struggling behind him.

"Sorry...I...forgot...the time..." he managed to get out between pants, doubled over, trying to get his breathe. TK fingered the necklace of his tag and crest, remembering the day Gennai told them that they could have them back, since the sacrifice of Oikawa would hold the boundaries of the digital world in check.

"TK," Cody said, once the attention had come off of Davis. "Is this about the strange thing you saw in school today?" Everybody's eyes shifted towards TK. He cleared his throat.

"Yeah," he began. "So...for the past few nights I've been having this dream. Well, its more of a nightmare really." He was beginning to lose confidence. "I-I didn't think much of it. I thought it was just a dream - a nightmare." He saw Kari nodding him on. He took a deep breathe. "I can't remember all the details. Just an evil laugh." An evil laugh that was becoming more familiar by the second. "And then today, at school, I chased a shadowy creature down the hallway."

"A digimon?" his brother asked.

"We weren't sure," Cody admitted. "It looked pretty humanoid, but it was very big, and darker than a shadow."

"Its not like we haven't seen any human-looking digimon before," Tai said, repeating something Cody had said earlier. Silence settled around them like autumn leaves, falling between the DigiDestined gently.

"So, we have another problem?" Joe asked, his voice a perpetual whine. His voice portrayed what everybody else was thinking; TK could see the anxiety wash across everybody's faces. I wish I didn't have to bring this on them.

"So what's the problem?" Davis shouted. "We'll just kick butt! Nothing can beat our last adventure!" TK just shook his head. Davis has no idea. Izzy stared at TK with a quizzical look.

"TK, do you know who it was?" Izzy asked. TK didn't answer. He kept his head down, avoiding the gaze of his friends. He felt somebody gently place their hand on his shoulder. He looked at saw Kari, eyes giving him the encouragement Izzy's words didn't.

He stood up straight, his gaze directed at nobody in particular and finally said this theory aloud. "Devimon."

Cody, Yolei, and Davis looked confused; TK saw the recognition in Kari's face. But it was to the other six that he directed himself.

Tai and Matt's faces fell; Sora sank to her knees with her hands on her face; Izzy was already running through the possibilities, his face dark; Mimi, recently returned from America, had her hands over her mouth in shock, and Joe was muttering to himself about his luck. TK's hands were trembling, but he could not get a grip on them.

"Are you sure, TK?" Matt asked. "Absolutely sure?" All he could do was nod back. The reactions of the older kids had spread to the younger kids; though only vaguely aware of the threat Devimon posed, their faces were washed with anxiety.

"How is that even possible?" Sora whispered. "I remember...quite vividly...him being destroyed."

"Sora, you're forgetting that digimon don't really die," Izzy said. "We fixed Primary Village so that our friends could be reborn, but...I guess it wasn't limited to just them."

Joe had begun pacing, his hands moving wildly around, now complaining louder about the rotten luck of the group. Mimi walked up to him, gently grabbed his hands, and brought them down to waist level.

"No matter what comes, it is important to stick together," Mimi said sincerely. "We will take this challenge the way we have dealt with everything before."

There was silence again, but a less defeated, anxious sort of silence. It was the kind of silence that unified people, that brought them even closer together. Tai put him arm around Sora and drew her closer, lightly kissing the top of her head. Joe didn't pull his hands away from Mimi, but gripped them tighter.

"You're right, of course," Joe said. "Best not to panic."

"Imagine Joe not panicking?" Kari whispered as the group dispersed. TK found himself smiling, remembering the times where Joe had done nothing but panic.

"Try not to worry too much, TK," she said. "We'll get him."

A week later, however, they hadn't. TK had had the dream 3 more times, though he finally began remembering a little more each day. Every Algebra class ended with TK being given extra homework to practice.

"Cheer up, KT," Davis said cheerfully on Thursday. "The week is almost over, and the dance is tomorrow!" The thought of the dance, surprisingly, did not do anything to lighten his mood. Every mention of the dance sent a vision of Kari being swept off her feet by Shinji during a waltz.

"Come on, little brother," Matt said. "We need to get you something to wear to this dance if you want to impress the ladies." TK had a sneaky suspicion that, although he had never physically said it aloud, Matt knew who he really wanted to impress.

Sora and Tai joined them at the mall. Tai's wardrobe had failed the "girlfriend inspection," as Sora had called it, so he also needed something to wear. TK shuffled absentmindedly through a stack of clothes while Matt kept shoving the most ridiculous outfits into Tai's arms for his best friend to try on.

"Hey, TK," Sora said gently. "Are you excited for the dance tomorrow?" TK shrugged and turned away without saying a word. Then, realizing how rude he had been, turned back.

"Sorry, Sora," he apologized. "I've just had a lot on my mind lately. I guess I'm just really not into the dance."

"I figured," she said. "I know that you've got a lot on your plate, what with the horrible nightmares, and…girl troubles." Does everybody know? TK wondered. Does that mean Kari knows?

"These kinds of areas are my specialty, remember?" she said, while touching the Crest of Love that hung around her neck. "Though, to be honest…the only person who doesn't know is probably her." TK returned to shuffling through the clothes. "Here, try this." She gave him a plain blue button down shirt that, as she put it, "brought out the color of his eyes."