Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Chapter 4

The group somehow managed to extract themselves from the heap they landed in. Yolei stared at the teens that had come out of the computer. "How did you do that?" she blurted out.

They hesitated… well, all except Davis, who was busy stuffing his face with brownies. "Uh… Well…" Izzy stammered. "Oh, Davis! May I see your Digivice?"

Cody looked at Izzy strangely. "A Digi-what?"

Davis pulled the Digivice out of his shorts' pocket and handed it to Izzy, who tried to ignore the brownie crumbs stuck to it. Izzy showed the device to Yolei and Cody. "You both have devices similar to this one, correct?" They nodded. "It is called a Digivice. It is proof that you are a Digidestined and that you have been called there for a reason, that reason being to help save the Digiworld from whatever danger has befallen it." Izzy's D-Terminal beeped. He sighed and opened the small handheld computer. He grimaced and looked at his watch. "I hate to say, but I'm afraid that I will have to be leaving now. I was supposed to be home an hour ago and my mother will have a heart attack if I don't get home soon. It will be hard enough making up and excuse for being late as it is, so I can't wait any longer." Izzy turned to the computer behind him and turned it off. "Meet me back here tomorrow after school and I will explain everything to you, Yolei and Cody, and we may even have a little field trip to the Digital World."

Everyone bid their farewells, going their separate ways; Yolei, Cody, and TK went in one direction; Kari, Tai and Sora went another, and even though Tai and Kari's apartment was in the direction of Yolei, Cody and TK's building, they walked with Sora to her mother's flower shop; and Izzy and Davis went across the street to the bus stop.

"That was an interesting first day of school, wasn't it?"

Kari set her backpack down in her room that she shared with Tai. She came back into the living room to see Tai sprawled across the couch, remote in hand. She picked up his feet and dropped them onto the floor before sitting down next to her brother. "Yeah, it was," she said.

There was an eerie silence between the two, which was rare. The only time there was this kind of silence was when Tai was preparing to give a lecture to her about her love life or a big bowl of chips was in front of him. Since there were no chips in the room, Kari assumed he was preparing for a lecture. God, help me.

"You know I don't approve of him, right?" Tai finally broke the silence.

Kari whipped her head around to face him. "What? Who don't you approve of?" Please don't say TK… Huh? Why am I thinking like this AGAIN? I don't like him like that!

Tai raised an eyebrow. "Davis, of course. Why? Did you think I was going to say TK?" He grinned. "I'm not worried about him. It's Davis I'm worried about. He's way to obsessed with you for my liking. In fact, I'm going to give you the go-ahead with dating TK, partly so Davis will take the hint and leave my baby sister alone and partly because you two look cute together." His grin got wider

Kari felt her face turn five shades of red. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." She got up from the couch before Tai could say another word and made her way to their room, but she could still hear him chuckling behind her.

She closed the door behind her and leaned up against it. She sank to the floor, lost in thought. I don't like him like that… right? I mean we're best friends, and I haven't seen him in a while, but he's still the same old TK. His personality hasn't changed a lot, so why am I feeling like this? A sudden realization hit her. "Am I in love with TK?" she whispered. "No, I can't be. It's just that he's been gone for so long and we're just now seeing each other face to face…"

Keep telling yourself that, Hikari Kamiya. One part of her said. She shook the thoughts away and picked herself up off the floor. She started on what little homework she had remaining, hoping to get her mind off of TK. Hope. TK. There's no escaping him, is there? She asked herself.

When she managed to get her homework done, she found that it had taken her two hours to finish, even she had practically no homework since it was the first day of school and she had done most of it in study hall. She had been thinking of one person throughout that two-hour period. A certain young man with blonde hair and blue eyes so deep you could drown in them.

Kari sighed. The more she thought of it, the more she came to realize that she had a crush on TK, and it was growing with every passing second. But is it a crush, or is it love? I really need to talk to a pro on this subject. Maybe I could talk to Sora. After all she is the bearer of the Crest of Love.

The next day after school, Kari stood waiting for Sora and Tai to show up at the middle school. TK, Yolei, and Cody were already in the computer lab and Izzy had just arrived, saying that the high school's bell wasn't working, so the teachers were relying on their own watches and some classes had been dismissed later than others.

"Hey, Kar!" She heard from behind her. Very few people called her that, usually only family. It was none other than her older brother, Tai, with Sora grasping his hand firmly.

Kari flashed a smile at them. "Hey Tai, hey Sora. Everyone else is in the computer lab. I was waiting for you guys."

Tai raised an eyebrow. "Why? We know the way to the lab, in case you're forgetting that we went to school here."

"Uh, well, I was actually wanting to talk to Sora about… something," Kari said. She couldn't confront her brother about this matter; she wouldn't hear the end of it if he somehow slipped and her dad heard. They would both torment her with every chance they got.

"Uh, okay then," Tai said. He let go of Sora's hand and made his way to the school. "Don't take too long!" he shouted over his shoulder.

Sora linked arms with Kari and led her over to a nearby bench. "So, let's talk. What's on your mind?"

Kari sighed. "Confusion. I don't know what I'm feeling right now."

"Hmm, this wouldn't happen to be about a boy, would it?"

Kari's head snapped up from staring at the ground. "How did you know?"

Sora winked at her friend. "You're like a sister to me, Kari. And a good big sister knows how to read her little sister like a book. At least this sister does."

Kari once again found the ground very interesting. "So… You know what I'm talking about, then?"

"Depends. What guy?"

Kari hesitated. She felt a warm blush creep into her cheeks. Sora spoke up again. "Is it a certain shorter version of Matt?"

"…Maybe."

Sora squealed. "Yeah, girl! It's about time you woke up and saw the light! We were wondering when you would find out that you loved him!"

Kari whipped her head around to face Sora. "What do you mean by that?"

"Please, Kari. Everyone knows that you two were meant to be together. Except TK, of course. It's so obvious."

Kari groaned. "Great. How come everyone knew that I had a crush on him before I did?"

Sora rubbed her back. "Well, Kari, for one thing, a lot of us have had experience with dating and love. And there is a difference between a crush and true love, mind you. I can tell this is more than a crush, considering I have the Crest of Love and it's easier for me to tell how other people feel about another person." She stood up, bringing Kari up with her. "If you want to talk again later, feel free to call me and we'll get together and discuss this further. But for now I think it's time we got to the computer lab. Everyone's waiting for us."

Kari nodded and walked with Sora to the lab. Just as they were about to enter the school, she looked up and turned to her friend, her big sister. "Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For everything. You're a great sister." She smiled.

Sora smiled back and winked. "Anytime, sis."

Sora and Kari opened the door to the computer room to find everyone there ready for their trip to the Digital World. "You guys ready?" Tai asked. "Izzy already told Yolei and Cody about the Digiworld and we're ready to hit the road."

Both girls nodded. Sora grabbed Tai's hand and smiled. They all took out their Digivices and aimed them at the screen. The familiar light surrounded them and Sora again felt herself being dragged into the computer. The scenery changed, she felt herself stop in midair for a moment before landing on her feet. "Hey, we didn't end up in a pile like yesterday," TK said.

"Yeah, now if only we could find out how to land on our feet when we go back to the school," Kari said, looking for Gatomon.

Yolei looked around. "So, this is the Digiworld, huh?" She placed her hands on her hips and looked down at her new outfit. "Hey, when did I change clothes?"

Davis and Cody also looked down at their new outfits. "Whoa, cool! I didn't notice it yesterday, but this place comes with a new wardrobe!"

Sora checked her own clothes. They were still the same; a green skirt, green shirt, white and blue bandana like a sailor would wear, and blue tennis shoes. She looked back up. Tai and Izzy hadn't changed a bit, and Kari and TK only had different shoes. "We didn't get new clothes. No fair! I hate these uniforms!"

Davis smirked and opened his mouth to say something, probably a witty comeback, but a quick glare from Tai shut him up. Instead he pretended to yawn and then shouted, "Veemon! Where are you, buddy? Veemon!"

"Davis!" A little blue reptile called back. He ran towards the group followed by Patamon, Gatomon, Agumon, Biyomon, and Tentomon. Each teen caught their Digimon in their arms and hugged them tight, all except for Yolei and Cody, who stared in awe.

"So, these are Digimon?" Cody asked. He held out a nervous hand to Patamon, but hesitated. He started to pull back but Patamon grinned and said, "It's okay; I don't bite."

Cody's eyes widened as big as saucers. "They talk, too?" TK nodded and grinned, apparently finding Cody's shock amusing. He stuck his hand out again and rubbed Patamon's head.

Yolei bent down to be eye level with Gatomon. "How cute!" She scratched Gatomon behind the ears, receiving satisfied purrs in return.

Tai stood up from his crouched position beside Agumon. "Well, Yolei and Cody, this is the Digiworld. And since you are Digidestined, we should start off by finding your own Digimon partner. We'll just start off in one direction and let the Digivices tell us where to go."

They didn't have time to do so before a large Digimon that resembled a praying mantis flew out from the forest several yards behind them.

"It's a Snimon!" Tentomon shouted.

"Tentomon Digivolve to… Not Kabuterimon!"

"Hmm… Well that didn't work!" He said. "Let's try this! Super Shocker!" The attack was deflected and he just barely made it out of the way.

The rest of the Digimon joined in trying to hold Snimon off.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Boom Bubble!"

"Lightning Paw!"

"V-Head Butt!"

"Super Shocker!"

All of the attacks dispersed and Gatomon and Veemon fell backwards upon contact with Snimon.

"Tai!" Agumon shouted as he ran back to the leader. "What are we going to do? We can't Digivolve and Snimon isn't fazed at all by our attacks!"

Veemon shook his head and sat up. "Leave it to me! I'll just Armor Digivolve and whoop this bug's butt!" He looked at Davis. "Get the egg ready, Davis!"

Davis nodded. He took out the D-Terminal and opened the device. He started to pull up the egg on the mini computer.

Tai clenched his fist. "I hate it when we have to, but the rest of us just have to run! There isn't much we can do to help. So start running!"

Everyone turned to run. The ground shook and most of the group fell to their knees. A hole opened up in the ground and Davis fell in. "Aaah!" He shouted as he fell. Sora was close enough to the hole and she peered in. Davis hung precariously from a rock jutting out from the wall. Veemon also peered over the edge. "Hold on, Davis! I'll save ya!" he shouted.

Something roared from the depths of the hole. A Drimogemon appeared. Sora gasped. It was going for Davis. The Drimogemon's eyes were blood red and she could see a dark ring attached to its wrist.

The ground shook again, but not from the Drimogemon. She turned and saw a Mojyamon stomp through the trees. It threw a boomerang shaped bone at Veemon. The boomerang hit Veemon in the back of the head and the poor Digimon toppled forwards. "Oomph!" He fell face first down the hole. Sora reached out to grab him, but she couldn't reach him. An arm wrapped around her waist before she could fall in herself.

"Veemon!" Davis shouted to his friend. He, too, reached out for the Digimon with his free hand but, seeing as Veemon was on the other side of his body, couldn't quite get to him. He suddenly let go of the rock and grabbed onto Veemon's tail. They both fell farther down into the hole. The Drimogemon caught them and pulled them back to wherever it came from.

"Davis! Veemon!" Sora shouted. Not a sound was heard from the hole. The only sounds she could hear were behind her.

"They'll be alright, Sora." She turned to see Tai, his arm still around her waist. "We'll get them back," he continued. "I promise. We're not leaving till we have Davis and Veemon. But right now, we have to get out of here."

She nodded and let him help her to her feet. They would be alright. She had a feeling that they would figure something out and escape, even if they had to get help from the rest of the team.

Yolei was still on her knees. "T-the ground j-just… swallowed them up…"

Cody was trembling violently. "I-I think I want to go home now."

Izzy ran up behind the two, followed by TK and Kari. "First we have to protect ourselves," Izzy said.

"But what about Davis?" Cody still trembled.

Tai placed a hand on the younger boy's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "He'll be fine. He has Veemon and if they put their heads together and think of a way to create a distraction, we get rescue them and all will be fine." He flashed an encouraging smile. Cody seemed to relax a little. "But right now we have to get out of here. Our Digimon can't Digivolve, so they're only at half strength. Veemon can Digivolve."

Mojyamon and Snimon were gradually closing in on them. Sora took Yolei's arm and tried to pull her up, but the girl stayed put. Yolei's eyes filled with tears. "I can't take this! I just wanna go home!" She let out a pitiful wail. Sora felt sympathy for the younger girl.

Kari knelt down next to Yolei. She whispered something in Yolei's ear, but no one could hear what she was saying. It calmed her down a bit. "Okay?" Kari said a bit louder now. Yolei swiped at the tears running down her face and nodded. Kari smiled at her new friend.

Sora didn't ask Kari what she had said to Yolei; she would probably tell her later. The group managed to create a diversion and escaped to the forest while Mojyamon and Snimon were utterly confused.

Once they were sure they were far enough away from the evil Digimon, they slowed down to a walk. No one knew how long they had been walking. Even Izzy lost track of time, since the trees blocked out any view of the sun they could get. Yolei and Kari were whispering, an occasional giggle escaping. TK and Cody were behind them, carrying on their own conversation. Tai and Sora were at front, lost in their own thoughts. Izzy brought up the rear with Tentomon.

Tai's thoughts were filled with his relationship with Sora. They hadn't been dating long. Only for a few months, just after the summer holidays began to be exact. He wondered if their relationship would last and if they would get married. Sure, he was a little young to be thinking about getting married, he was only fifteen, but he couldn't prevent the thoughts from entering his head.

Little did he know that Sora was wondering the same thing.

A soft hand slipped into his and entwined their fingers together. He didn't have to look to know that it was Sora. He smiled. He felt confident that their relationship would last for a while, if not forever.

Kari and Yolei walked behind Tai and Sora. They shared a glance and smiled at each other when Sora grasped his hand. It wasn't much, but it was still a bit romantic, right? I wonder if TK and I could be like that one day… Kari thought.

A high-pitched beeping interrupted her thoughts. Yolei pulled her Digivice from her belt and stared at the screen. Cody did the same. "Hold up," Yolei said. She stopped in her tracks. Everyone took out their Digivices. The screens showed two red dots. "Is it Davis?" Sora asked.

Izzy shook his head. "I don't think so. If it is Davis, who has the other Digivice? I think something else is making the Digivices react."

Sora turned to Biyomon. "Are there any buildings around?"

"Nope," the little pink bird said, shaking her head. "Only the temple, and it hasn't been used in years."

"It was originally built for weddings," Tentomon said. "But I don't think we're going to find any caterers inside."

"There's only one way to find out," Tai said. "To the temple!"

They continued their march through the forest until Tentomon and Agumon pulled some branches aside to reveal a temple that resembled an Aztec pyramid.

Yolei looked on with disbelief. "We have to go in there? It's gonna take forever to get up all of those steps!"

"We might as well get it over with," TK said. "We're not making any progress standing out here in the woods."

The group made their way down the path leading to the temple and started up the steps. "Could these stairs be any longer?" Yolei complained. No one really blamed her for it; they were all pretty tired and climbing up several flights of stairs wasn't helping.

"Think of it this way, Yolei," Agumon said. He pointed to the next flight of steps that led inside the temple. "Only a few more steps to go."

Yolei groaned but kept on going up the steps. They all leaned against the walls when they were finally inside.

"Even I have to admit that my legs feel like jelly," Tai said.

"And this is coming from the guy who has endured six hour soccer tournaments without a break," Kari said. "Now that's saying something."

Yolei looked up from her position on the floor of the temple. "Hey, what's that up there?"

They all looked to where she was pointing. Two more DigiEggs sat on pedestals at the back of the temple. Sora examined one of them. "That one right there has the Crest of Love on it."

"And the other one has the Crest of Knowledge on it. Maybe those are our DigiEggs."

Sora and Izzy went to where the eggs sat. They each grabbed the one with their respective crests on it and tugged. Unlike the other DigiEgg, there wasn't an electric shock running through their fingers, but the eggs still wouldn't budge. "Hmm. Yolei, come here for a minute, please," Sora said.

"You too, Cody," Izzy said. His eyes were still fixed on the DigiEgg with his crest.

Yolei and Cody were at the older teens' sides in moments. "Yolei, I want you to try to move the DigiEgg."

"Same goes for you, Cody. I have a hunch that these DigiEggs belong to you two."

Yolei and Cody were taken aback. "Um, okay, if you say so, Izzy."

Yolei gripped the DigiEgg with the Crest of Love on it and Cody gripped the one with the Crest of Knowledge. They pulled and the eggs came loose with hardly any trouble at all. A red light burst up from where the DigiEgg of Love had been and a purple light did the same where the other egg had been. A mass formed in each of the lights; Digimon, Sora guessed, since the same thing had happened to Davis the day before and Yolei and Cody were the only two without Digimon.

A miniature hawk formed in the red light and jumped out. Yolei caught it in her arms. "I'm Hawkmon," the Digimon said. "It is a pleasure to meet you, milady."

Yolei blinked. "Uh, I'm Yolei Inoue," she managed to squeak out. "Nice to, uh, meet you, too."

An armadillo formed in the other mass of light. Or at least it looked like an armadillo. It also jumped out to Cody. It yawned. "I'm Armadillomon," it said. "I was having such a nice nap…"

"Sorry to wake you," Cody said. "I'm Cody Hida."

"Howdy-do, Cody. We're gonna be partners from now on."

Izzy beamed. "Well, that solves the mystery of why our Digivices were activating. And you got Digimon in the process! Prodigious!"

"So, Yolei, we will be working as partners from now on," Hawkmon said, jumping down from Yolei's arms.

"What? I don't fight! Sure, I fight with my sisters, but that's different!"

"Are you saying that you don't fight? Harrumph. Why did I have to get stuck with the defective human?"

Sora held back a giggle. She heard Tai, Kari and TK snicker behind her. Tai came up beside Yolei. "Yolei, we have this friend, Mimi," Tai said. "She is a whole lot like you."

Sora nodded. "That's right. She used to tell us all the time that she didn't want to fight anymore, but she knew she had to."

"She did it for the Digital World and for us," TK threw in. "The more you stick with your Digimon, the closer your bond will become."

"That's a friendship that you can keep for the rest of your life," Kari said. She smiled up at the taller girl. "And you have another friend for life: me. All of us, for that matter."

Yolei smiled back. She hugged Kari. Then she hugged Sora. "Thanks guys. You've made me feel a lot better about everything today."

Izzy looked down at Cody, who was about two heads shorter than he. "So, Cody, what do you think about the Digital World so far?"

Cody looked down at the DigiEgg in his hands. "I really don't know. There's still so much I haven't seen yet. And I like to get all the information before I decide on something."

Tai flashed his trademark grin. "You remind me of another smart kid I know, Cody."

"Really, Tai?" Cody asked, looking up from the egg. "Who?"

"Well, he's standing right next to you!"

Cody turned back around. Izzy nodded. "You are a lot like me, Cody. You're a curious kid who wants to know all the facts. Just do what I did: learn to trust your instincts. And if there's a problem you can't solve, just come to me and we can work it out together."

Cody smiled and nodded at his new friends. The egg in his hands as well as Yolei's lit up.

"I beg your pardon," Hawkmon said. "But in order for us to Armor Digivolve you must say the words 'DigiArmor energize'."

Yolei and Cody exchanged strange looks and shrugged. "DigiArmor energize!"

A red light surrounded Hawkmon and a purple light surrounded Armadillomon.

"Hawkmon Armor Digivolve to… Halsemon, the wings of Love!"

A Digimon ten times the size of Hawkmon stood in his place, standing in four legs. He had a silver helmet with the Crest of Love imprinted on the top. He had four wings, two coming out of his back and two more coming from his helmet.

"Armadillomon Armor Digivolve to… Digmon, the drill of Power!"

Digmon resembled a big of some sort with a drill for a nose and two drills on each hand.

"Now, what do you say we go rescue the others?"

Sora, Kari, Tai, Izzy, TK, Cody and the Digimon watched as Yolei flew on Halsemon and Digmon as he dug a tunnel into the wall of the canyon. Digmon disappeared, saying that he was going for Veemon while Yolei and Halsemon went for Davis. Davis and Veemon were attached to the walls of the canyon by locks on their wrists and feet.

"Who's that?" Cody pointed to a lone figure at the top of the canyon. It appeared to be a teenager with spiky dark blue hair, purple sunglasses, and a cape.

"That's the Digimon Emperor!" Biyomon exclaimed.

Gatomon growled. "I'll take care of him." She ran up a path leading out of the canyon before anyone could stop her.

"Gatomon!" Kari called after her Digimon, but she was too far gone.

"Hey, look! The Digimon Emperor's got a dark ring going for Veemon!" Agumon said.

"Tempest wing!" The red lasers disintegrated the dark ring just before it hit Veemon.

"Hey, Davis!" Yolei called to him as she passed by him. "What's up?"

"Not much," he replied. "Just hanging around."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sora saw Gatomon land a punch on a worm-like Digimon. The Digimon flew back and hit the Digimon Emperor on the shoulder, causing him to let go of the items in his hand. "Wormmon, you're useless! Snimon! Mojyamon! Drimogemon! Get them all!" He cracked his whip at Gatomon and threw her over the edge and she plummeted to the ground. Somehow, she managed to land on Halsemon's back. "Way to go back there!" Yolei called from the front.

"I'll take that!" Yolei snatched the Digivice and D-Terminal from the air. They landed back where they were when they started, with Snimon hot on their tails. Yolei tossed the D-Terminal and Digivice to Davis. He opened the D-Terminal and shouted. "DigiArmor energize!" In moments, Flamedramon stood in Veemon's place.

"Now let's show them what Armor Digimon are made of!" He said. Halsemon took off with Yolei on his back and Snimon behind them. Digmon drilled into the ground, Drimogemon following. Mojyamon threw a giant icicle at Flamedramon.

Flamedramon's hand lit up with fire. He caught the icicle in his hand and it melted on contact. "Fire rocket!" Fire shot from his hand and hit the dark ring on Mojyamon, destroying the dark ring for good.

"Yeah! Go Flamedramon!" Davis shouted.

Halsemon flew directly at Snimon. "Time for Tempest wing!" The lasers hit the dark ring right before they could run into Snimon head-on. Snimon stopped and hovered in the air, confused as to what had just happened. "Whoo-hoo! Way to go, Halsemon!" Yolei called out.

Digmon dug back up to surface. Drimogemon wasted no time in following. "Gold rush!" Digmon shouted. The drills hit Drimogemon's foot with the dark ring on it. The ring disappeared and Drimogemon blinked.

Flamedramon, Halsemon, and Digmon reverted back to their Rookie forms. "Sorry we had ta fight ya," Veemon said. "But we were just trying to destroy the dark rings."

"It's okay," Mojyamon said. "Thanks for saving us. It's no fun working for the Emperor."

"Yeah," Drimogemon said as they walked away. "It's always 'destroy this', 'destroy that', 'get me a cappuccino'. Ugh."

"He makes me so mad!" Davis raised his fists. "I'm gonna show him who's boss around here!"

"So, Yolei, can I count on you to be my partner?" Hawkmon asked.

"Absolutely!" Yolei exclaimed.

"And are we gonna be a team from now on, Cody?" Armadillomon asked.

"Of course! I would be honored!" Cody bowed to Armadillomon.

Sora placed her hands on her hips. "Well, looks like the new Digidestined don't need us around anymore."

Tai shook his head. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Izzy nodded his head in agreement. "Tai's right. I'm sure there's plenty of things we can do to help."

The Digimon all threw in their agreements. Tai grinned. "Well, we've spent far too long here in the Digiworld today. Time to go home!"

They made their way back to the nearest portal and were transported back to the computer lab. Of course they landed in a heap. Something soft and furry landed on Sora's cheek, causing her to be stuck between Tai's chest and… whatever it was. She picked the thing up and looked it in the eyes. "Who are you?"

"I'm DemiVeemon! I'm the in-training form of Veemon!" The little thing said.

Sora sat up, allowing Tai to get off the floor. "How cute!" she said.

DemiVeemon jumped to Davis. "Hiya, Davish!"

Davis groaned, then laughed. "Great. He can't say my name right." Everyone laughed at him.

"So, all of the Digimon returned to their in-training forms, huh?" Tai asked.

"Yep!" Salamon said. Sora had always thought it odd that Salamon resembled a dog when her in-training and Champion forms resembled cats. "Except for me. Since I was in my Champion form when we came through, I went back to my Rookie form instead."

Yolei hugged the pink bird in her arms. "They're so cute!"

Cody stared at the cream colored blob on the floor next to him. "It's hard to believe that this tiny little Digimon can become something so big."

Izzy looked around. "Hey, where are Agumon, Biyomon and Tentomon? Shouldn't they be here in their in-training forms?"

"Here we are!" Came a voice from an overturned chair. Tai picked it up to find Koromon, Yokomon, and Motimon in a dog pile. He chuckled and picked up Koromon. "It's been a while since I've seen you like this, little buddy!" Koromon grumbled something about not being so little.

Sora picked up Yokomon. "Now the question is, how are we going to get them home without anyone seeing? The streets are still busy, even at this time of night."

"I'm sure Motimon can fit into my laptop case if I carry my laptop," Izzy said. "The other Digimon can probably fit into the younger Digidestined's school bags. As for you, Tai and Sora, I don't know how you can hide Koromon and Yokomon."

Tai smirked. "They could brave it and ride in my bag of soccer clothes."

Kari's eyes widened. "They would have to be really brave to do that."

Tai held Koromon up to eye level. "I hope you can stand the smell of my dirty soccer uniform, smelly socks and muddy cleats."

Koromon gulped. "It can't be that bad… right, Kari?"

Kari laughed. "Find out for yourself. I'm not going anywhere near the inside of that bag. And I'm not sticking around to listen to you complaining about it, either. So, Tai, I will need the keys to the apartment."

Tai tossed her the keys and went for the bag on the other side of the computer lab. The Digidestined parted ways; Poromon, Upamon, Tokomon, Salamon, and DemiVeemon rode in the backpacks of their partners; Motimon rode in Izzy's laptop case, and Koromon and Yokomon rode in Tai's soccer bag, trying their hardest not to scream out in agony.