Title: Digimon: Chaotic Evolutions Redux

Chapter 6

"Kimura!" Ken hurried through the crowded hallway to catch Kimura before he left his final class of the day. It wasn't so bad near the upper level classes, but he still tried to ignore the way people hastily moved out of his way. There had been collateral damage from his arrogance, he admitted. Most people were hesitant to approach him, even as they wondered what had happened to their arrogant boy wonder. He had deliberately underperformed to try and lose the shine of genius, but… that had just garnered him attention of a different kind. At least quitting the soccer team had mostly gotten rid of his fan club.

The other Chosen looked worn out, but otherwise seemed well. It was late enough in the year that people could have been resentful of a newcomer, especially one with Kimura's class statistics behind him. Ken had seen the schedule the office clerk had handed off to Kimura that morning-surprised as he was to find out that Kimura was in 3rd year, he recognized the schedule as a rigorous course of upper level classes. Considering this school was one for the gifted, it spoke highly of Kimura's previous grades.

He didn't think anyone would cause actual trouble for the new student, but Ken knew well what resentment and jealousy could do to people. Especially to newcomers. He'd borne the brunt of the Upper Classmen's jealousy for the greater part of the year as he'd continually showed up their test scores while being only a 1st year.

They pulled away from the mass of people, both moving unusually fast to escape the attentive stares of the other Upper Classmen, curious as to what their tarnished star had to do with their transfer student. Ken let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding when they finally made it out of the school building. He slowed the pace, easing his bag on to his shoulders. It was heavy, filled with textbooks, both class related and not. He'd found it harder to absorb information, in comparison to…before. He actually needed to study, rather than take one glance and memorize it. He…didn't mind, actually. It felt better this way. He was actually earning his knowledge.

"I realized I didn't have your email." Ken broke the quiet. One thing he noticed between the two of them was that the silences stretched long. They weren't uncomfortable silences—not at all. They were surprisingly companionable, as he'd discovered on the walk to school that morning. It was the silence of not needing words; neither were much for useless chatter. "Or else I would have asked you to meet me at the gates. I'm afraid the upperclassmen don't like me much."

"Email? I don't have a phone or anything to check it."

"The D-Terminal email." Ken explained, pulling out the machine Izzy had given him. And then he paused. The others had their D-3s create the D-Terminals, but that had only been because they needed them to store the digimentals. Izzy and Gennai had worked together to design the things, and it had been the chosen of knowledge who had supplied the older group, and eventually Ken. Cell phones could send email too, he supposed, but the D-Terminals were years ahead of the current technology and worked on a different network. Cell phones wouldn't work in the Digital World. "I suppose…I will have to ask Izzy if he has another. When we split up it is easier to keep in contact through email."

Kimura took the rectangular silver device, popping the screen opening to check the interface. After a few moments he handed it back to Ken, "Sounds useful. The digivices only track."

"Are there other Chosen, where you are from?" There would be no need for tracking if Kimura was the only one. He'd figured out from listening to Hikari and Takeru's stories that Chosen Children were only called in times of crisis for the Digital World, and those types of situations usually needed more than a single person. He almost expected Kimura not to answer, but he got a response. It was soft—he seemed to be naturally soft spoken, regardless of however he'd acted in the Digital World—but Ken caught it over the street noise as they walked, "Five. Then I joined. So six."

Five. There were five other Chosen Children, somewhere in this world. He wanted to say Japan—Kimura was obviously Japanese and spoke Japanese like a native—but it couldn't be. They would have met him before now. How many others could be out there? He'd been told of Willis and Micheal, but how many others helped protect the Digital World?

How come they never tried to stop him?

The thought bothered Ken as they fell into silence again. If there were other Chosen out there, why hadn't he, as the Digimon Kaiser, ever known about them? They wouldn't have been able to ignore the…things…he'd been doing, right? They should have tried to stop him. Even if he hadn't met them, he should have seen random spires destroyed. Something.

But then Ken thought about the map he'd had in his fortress' control room. Squares upon squares of sections, each with a control spire. What had been beyond that edge? The Digimon Kaiser hadn't bothered to look, taking as much territory as he could safely control.

Could there be other servers of the Digital World out there? Each with their own Chosen? It was an interesting thought, and he might have to speak to Gennai about it. Or Izzy.

The question followed him home, haunted him as he entered his family's apartment. He put it aside once they returned, busying himself in changing out of his school uniform and into something more comfortable. It was nearing the end of the school term, so soon he would be free of the uniform for a while. Minomon pounced on him as soon as he opened the door to his room, "Is it time to go meet the others?" The digimon asked hesitantly, perched once more on his shoulder. Ken gave the little digimon a curious glance, "You appear to be in a hurry. Did something happen?"

He hadn't worried about leaving Minomon home with Akemon. The digimon had seemed quite well behaved in the Digital World, and Hikari had said the fit should pass after the night. A suspicion blossomed in his mind—had the other digimon hurt Minomon? Or bullied him?

"No. No!" Minomon squeaked, "He just asked…a lot of questions. He told some interesting stories too. There was one I wanted to share with Patamon though…"

Relieved, Ken continued packing. His school started sooner than the others, and let out sooner, but not by much. If they wanted to beat them there they would need to hurry.

x-x-x

Ken led the way to the computer lab. Kouichi followed, although at a slightly slower pace. He was being very, very careful not to jog the duffle bag as he walked. Akemon had been dubious about climbing in, but Ken had insisted.

"Akemon looks too much like a dog." Ken reasoned, "Security would never let him in."

It made sense. The guard at the entrance had looked at them funny, obviously not recognizing them as students. He'd made some noise about letting them in before Ken convinced him to call his superior. The manager had taken one look at Ken and waved them through—obviously he was known to these people. Curious, Kouichi listened to the conversation behind him as the Manager was lecturing the on duty guard,

"—recognize him? He's the one that won the International Computer Programming Contest! If he's taking the time to tutor the computer club then the Principal says he is welcome!"

Interesting. It was a nice addition to the chatter Kouichi had picked up during school. His classmates didn't care for him much, which suited Kouichi just fine honestly. He kept his head down, did his work, and listened. There had been a group at the front of the class snickering about Ken's latest test scores.

-"the boy genius is all washed up. He thought he could show us up? Pfft. It's about time he flopped"—

He'd listened; interested in the background of the one he'd be staying with for the foreseeable future. Honestly? He didn't believe a word of it. The smug, eloquent, snobbish star of the soccer AND computer team didn't fit the sullen, withdrawn, but determined boy Kouichi had been observing. Either his classmates were deluded—and given the other student's reactions in the hall, unlikely—or something major had happened just recently to knock Ken's world upside down.

Kouichi wasn't given too much time to think about it; Ken led the way to the computer lab with the ease of one who'd walked this path many times before. The students were still in their classrooms—Kouichi noticed a couple curious stares from the students closest to the door—but most of them appeared to be fixated on the clock, with the more studious still taking notes as the teacher's voice droned on.

At last Ken stopped and moved to open the door. He paused, warily eyeing the light that was shining through the rectangular window. There didn't appear to be anyone inside, so why was the light on? Eventually Ken shrugged and turned the handle, the door leaving its wooden frame with a quiet snick.

"Oh! Ichijouji!"

The call from the front of the room caught Ken like a startled deer. Kouichi tried to see around his companion, finding a tall, middle aged man striding down the aisle between the two halves of the room. Rows of computers were situated on each side, with about two placed along the thin tables. The man had been at the front, a stack of papers scattered liberally at the desk before the whiteboard.

"I see you're still helping out the club. I can't tell you how good it is to know that an upstanding young man like yourself is volunteering your time to tutor our computer club. They're all good kids, but they can be rather distracted in class. Knowing they are in the care of someone as accomplished as yourself is a relief." He clapped Ken on the shoulder good naturedly, before looking past him, blinking behind his thick glasses, "Say, who is this? Did you bring a friend this time?"

"Ah, yes." Ken seemed to compose himself, and Kouichi had the weirdest feeling he was seeing himself when one of the teachers at his school suddenly pounced on him. It was so overwhelming, and then it all just clicked, the polite smile and language sliding in to place like a mask, "This is Kimura Kouji—one of the students from my school. He has volunteered to assist me for the time being."

"It is wonderful to meet you, Kimura! I am the Physics Teacher, as well as staff advisor for the computer club—Fujiyama-sensei."

Kouichi found himself the center of attention now. Having more time to prepare for it, he was able to slide his own mask on much quicker, bowing respectfully to the teacher. "It is an honor."

"Oh don't be like that." The teacher waved off the formalities, "It is an honor for us that students from the esteemed Tamachi Academy are taking an interest in our school. Now don't mind me, I was just doing some grading since I had a free period and it is much quieter in here. I'll vacate the area before it is time for club to start."

And he kept his word. Kouichi let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding once the teacher had turned down his offer to help carry the stacks of homework, and managed to both juggle the papers and wave goodbye as he made his way whistling down the hall. Ken waited for a few moments before getting up and shutting the door. He let out a quiet sigh as he placed his bag on the table, opening it so Minomon could scamper out, "Alright. You can come out now."

Kouichi quickly set his bag on the floor, unzipping it before Akemon could tear out of the thick fabric with his suddenly vigorous attempts to get out. The small, furred form of the digimon was panting heavily by the time he rolled out of the now widened opening—glad for the air and space and to be out of the confining bag. Kouichi winced; he knew how much his brother hated that idea. He'd been counting the seconds as Fujiyama talked on and on while he packed up his things—it had taken much longer than he'd wanted. He snagged a chair and sat down, waiting for Akemon to roll to his feet and begin to pace, working the kinks out of his limbs. That had to have been uncomfortable.

"Oh! You have a digimon!" A small piping voice came from the far edge of the room, drawing Kouichi's attention to a large cabinet set against the wall. A blue blur came streaking out from underneath the shelf. The blur eventually resolved into a blue dino-type digimon, although it looked more like a dragon then a dino. A very, hyperactive dragon, it seemed as the digimon bounced onto Kouichi's lap, large expressive eyes staring up at the boy, "Is he your partner? What's your name? Where are you from? Do you have any food? Why aren't you talking? Have you seen Daisuke? Why is he growling at me?"

"What's your name?" The bouncing blue digimon was now peering down at Akemon who was indeed growling up at him. Ken, luckily, saved them from another myriad of questions by snatching him up off of Kouichi's chair and depositing him on the desk a few feet away. The digimon hopped up and down in agitation, "But—but—he hasn't answered my questions!"

"He might, if you would stop talking long enough for him to answer." Kouichi recognized that dry, but peppered with sarcasm, voice. It came from above as Tailmon leaped gracefully from the rafters of the room to land lightly on the computer desk, "Besides, it is more polite for you to introduce yourself first."

"Sure thing Tailmon! Anything for you!" He puffed up with pride, beaming back at the exasperated cat digimon, "I'm Chibimon—Daisuke is my partner!"

Kouichi smiled weakly, dizzy from Chibimon's antics. He just wasn't used to dealing with hyperactive digimon. Even Takuya hadn't ever been this bad; not even loaded up on sugar, and the rest of them carefully monitored his intake of that substance. "I'm…Kouji." He'd almost forgotten the changes in the names. He had mainly only talked to Akemon, and Ken and the teachers called him by his last name. It was easier that way. That had been Kouji's plan, most likely, and Kouichi was grateful for it.

"Nice to meet'cha!" He bounced again. "Are you suuuuuure you haven't seen Daisuke? He's late! "

Tailmon rolled her eyes and crossed the table to bop Chibimon on the head. The little blue dragon tumbled to the table protesting, "The bell hasn't even rung yet."

Just as she said that a high, shrill note went off over the loud speakers which sent Chibimon into fits of delight, "The bell! The bell!"

The cat digimon sent Kouichi a look of long suffering, before she grabbed the dancing blue digimon and dragged him to the other side of the table. She called down at Akemon, "You might want to move out of sight."

No sooner had Akemon shifted under the cover of the table did the hall fill with people. The students, at long last released from their labors, flooded the corridors. Most went one way or another and the noise was muffled through the closed door. A couple peered curiously through the door's window, but moved on. Apparently the computer club was a common enough sight.

A faint whine drifted up from under the table, and Kouichi nudged the now mostly empty dufflebag closer to the hiding digimon with his foot. Akemon stuffed his head back in gratefully, trying to block the noises and scents from coming through. Ken had thought to put some of his mother's dried herbs and flowers into the bag, to soften the scents from the trip. Akemon didn't seem to mind natural smells.

The door rattled, drawing his attention to it. He turned to the door, seeing the brown-haired girl from last night push her way through. It clicked shut behind her and she sighed heavily. She was wearing pink and white today, with what looked like a digital camera on a cord around her neck. Would those work in the Digital World? He wasn't sure.

"'Kaaaaaaaaaaaari!" He ducked his head to avoid something whizzing overhead, the sound of the name and the beat of wings warning him of the oncoming projectile. The girl—Hikari? He wasn't positive, he'd been distracted at the time—made an 'Oomph' sound as the orange blur collided with her, forcing her back a couple inches. She wrapped her arms around the digimon, its wing-like ears fluttering with the motion, "Is TK here yet? Where is Takeru?"

"He'll be here in a minute." She said soothingly, giggling. "I went on a head of the others."

"Patamon?" Kouichi blinked, feeling a distinct sense of déjà vu as he recognized the small orange winged digimon. He shook his head, even as the use of his name caught Patamon's attention. He squirmed around in Hikari's hold, looking over his shoulder, "'Kari, who's that?"

"His name's Kouji. Where's the rest of you?" She looked about the room, spotting Tailmon and Chibimon. Ken and Minomon were sitting apart from the little knot around Hikari, watching the clock quietly. The halls had emptied, and the others still hadn't shown up.

"Sleeping like a cat on a windowsill." Tailmon responded, "I'm surprised Chibimon didn't wake them up." She prodded the dragon digimon, who was glaring daggers at Patamon. The winged digimon didn't seem to notice. A couple flaps of his wings had Patamon airborne and hovering curiously in front of Kouichi. Looking down into those big blue eyes kept reminding him uncomfortably of Bokomon's "child", even if he was lacking the large pink band he'd inherited from his mama-papamon. "Have we met?"

"No, it was another Patamon."

"Oh! I've never met another.—what was he like?"

"He was very brave. Very brave, and very loyal. He saved all our lives." It wasn't Kouichi who answered. It came from beneath the table. Akemon staggered out. He looked ill. Kouichi wordlessly reached down and picked up his brother, placing the much smaller digimon on his lap. Kouji didn't even argue. Obviously he remembered their conversation last night.

"You must be Akemon." Patamon hovered lower and patted the digimon on the shoulder, sympathetic, "We'd hoped you'd feel better by today." Akemon grumbled his thanks. Kouichi really hoped the others showed up soon so they could get into the digital world. His brother needed a break.

"That's no fair! You spoke to him but not to me?" Chibimon ducked out of Tailmon's reach, scrabbling across the table and perching on the edge closest to the others. The glare the dragon digimon directed at Patamon intensified, if it were possible. It was one which should have sparked a fire and incinerated his target—if he hadn't been so small and cute that is. Patamon returned the glare with equal intensity; they must be rivals over something, but over what he couldn't tell.

"Oh cut it out you two." Tailmon cut in. The cat digimon parked herself next to Hikari—who had been watching the whole thing while trying to stifle her giggles—and rolled her eyes at the two, flicking her tail irritably, "You are acting like babies."

"Okay, Tailmon!" They both chorused at the same time, only to glare at each other directly afterwards. It wouldn't have been as funny if Chibimon hadn't been half Patamon's size.

"They are worse than you and Takuya…" Kouichi muttered under his breath. He heard Akemon give a muffled snort in response. Kouichi couldn't help prodding his brother's side, earning an ear flick and a half-hearted swipe in return. That was a good sign. "At least we weren't fighting over a girl."

Kouichi caught an ear flick from Tailmon, and a startled look crossed her face. Kouichi didn't bother fighting the smile, if his brother's hearing was anything to go by; she had to have heard him. Any further comment on the juvenile behavior was derailed, however, as the door to the computer lab opened once again.

"Takeru!" Patamon cried, losing all interest in Chibimon; his wings beat the air rapidly as he propelled himself toward the person in the lead. He was about Hikari's height, with messy gold hair beneath a sand colored cap, and a face that smiled and laughed easily. He reminded Kouichi immediately of Tomoki with the hat, but the smile was all Takuya. The boy laughed, catching the digimon in his arms, "Patamon! How was your day?"

"Great!" The winged digimon chirped happily, "There was no class today, so we didn't have to hide the entire time." Catching Takeru's look he added, "We were careful! But then that teacher showed up and we had to scramble to hide, but Ken and Kouji showed up and got rid of him. Then Hikari came and now you're here!"

"Mm-hm." Takeru replied skeptically before addressing Chibimon, "Daisuke and the others are right behind me." The dragon broke out into another sequence of excited bouncing, running along the table and making a surprising leap across the aisle to the other side. The little party broken up, Takeru noticed Ken and Kouichi, "I see you guys made it okay. That's quite a ways to travel right after school. My name is Takaishi Takeru and Patamon is my partner."

Kouichi tried to return the boy's smile, but he was starting to feel uncomfortable. So many introductions, and there was still more to come, "Kimura Kouji and my…partner Akemon."

Any further conversation was cut off by a plethora of people trickling through the now open door. The leader was a boy who immediately reminded them of Takuya, right down to the goggles on his head. He had messy dark red-brown hair and dark brown, bordering on black eyes. Next to him was a girl, who was a little taller than her fellow. Her most distinguishing feature was her long purple hair—dyed? It had to be. Even in another world he didn't think that color could be natural. She had large round glasses, which she paused briefly to adjust as she moved inside. Behind her was a smaller boy. He appeared to be a couple years younger with a short, neat, chocolate brown hair.

"Daisuke! You're late! Are we going? Huh? Are we, are we, are we!?" Chibimon launched himself at the boy in the lead—the one with the goggles—catching on to his shirt and scampering up to the shoulder. That, or in the arms seemed to be a good spot for the smaller digimon, Kouichi noticed, as two more digimon squeezed out from under the cabinet. A pink ball with wings and a little red feather on its back was rooming excitedly around the girl, and another ball, this one with yellow fur and feather-like extrusions was yawning sleepily, only to be gently picked up by the younger boy.

Goggle-head laughed loudly, "Of course Chibimon! We just had to wait for Taichi and the others."

"Yay!"

Three more people filed in, two of which Kouichi recognized from the night before. It was Taichi and the red-head he'd briefly met last night. The last person was in the same uniform as the other two—it looked like a standard High School uniform, dark-green—but she was in a skirt rather than slacks. She was smiling fondly as she watched the antics between digimon and their chosen—this appeared to be par for the course, as strange as it felt to Kouichi.

Hikari and Taichi worked together to explain Kouichi's presence to the others, so Takeru ended up doing the rest of the introductions. He moved to sit in the chair next to Kouichi, quietly pointing out the others, "This is the rest of our team. The one with the goggles is Motomiya Daisuke. The girl is Inoue Miyako, her partner is Poromon—he's the pink one. That is Hida Iori and his partner Upamon. The others—" He indicated the three elder teens, who stood a little bit off to the side. They didn't appear too interested in Taichi's recount of their meeting the day before, perhaps he'd already told them? "Are Izumi Koushiro and Takenouchi Sora. Koushiro prefers to be called Izzy, though. They are some of the older Chosen. I think we are splitting up to look for the Crests today, so they decided to come along."

"Okay guys!" After some time, Taichi suddenly spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "Now, everyone got the email from Gennai right?" There was a round of affirmatives, "Good. We're splitting into three groups today. Daisuke, Ken. You two are with me. We are going to check the Koromon Village. Takeru, 'Kari, you two will be with Sora. Izzy will take Miyako and Iori—a"

Daisuke interrupted, "Hey! Why does TJ get to go with 'Kari? I want to go with Kari!"

"Daisuke." Taichi responded firmly, as Takeru flushed and Hikari giggled, "I'm sending 'Kari with Sora for a reason. Sora's Crest was found in an old base of Etamon's, and Tailmon is the only one with an ultimate form."

"Then I'll go instead of TA." He crossed his arms stubbornly, "I'd need to be there to protect her."

"Takeru's crest was found in the same pyramid. He's going with them." Before Daisuke could protest again, Taichi headed him off, "I need you with me Daisuke. The digimon we're looking for is a mega, and he was recently seen near the Koromon villiage. If he's there, Wargreymon could use your DNA evolutions as backup."

Even as Daisuke tried to look sullen he seemed to puff up in importance at the special task he'd been given. "Fine. But if anything happens to 'Kari…" He gave Takeru a threatening glare. The blonde gave him a smile and thumbs up, "Don't worry. She'll be fine with me."

"You two nitwits like to forget that I'M the one who protects 'Kari." Tailmon said in a huff, to which Hikari responded by grabbing her unceremoniously into a hug with an exaggerated, "My hero!"

Everyone except Daisuke laughed at that. The goggle-head steamed, shooting daggers around the room, especially when he noticed even the new kid was laughing quietly. Even Akemon chuckled.

"Well, where's the new kid going?" Daisuke hrmphed, crossing his arms, "Don't tell me he gets to just sit around and have a tea party while the rest of us are busting our butts finding these crest things."

Kouichi shifted uncomfortably now that the attention was back on him. He shrugged, "I'll go wherever."

"We could use another." Izzy said thoughtfully, "I was thinking we could look for the cactus where we found Mimi's, or the stadium for Jou. They were all in the desert, and with Halsemon and Kabuterimon we can cover a lot of distance. Does your digivolution have flight?"

Kouichi shrugged. He didn't know. Izumi and Junpei were the only basic spirits with natural flight abilities. If their rookie forms were based off their spirits, it wasn't looking likely for Anyamon's evolution. If they could even figure out how to use natural evolution.

"Hah!" Daisuke crowed, "You mean you can't even digivolve? What use are you then?"

"Daisuke!" Hikari scolded him, aghast at his outburst. He looked a little sheepish when he noticed her expression but didn't apologize. It was taking all of Kouichi's willpower not to wilt under the weight of Daisuke's unrepentant comment. He wasn't a Chosen. He was a warrior, and he was banned from using Lowemon. What did that make him?

Akemon had jumped to his feet and was growling at Daisuke, ears flat, teeth bared. "Don't you dare talk to him like that."

"And don't you growl at Daisuke!" Chibimon puffed himself up on Daisuke's shoulder, "C'mon Daisuke, let's get to the Digital World! I'd like to see this puppy act so tough when I'm Veemon!"

"Both of you cut it out." Taichi cut in. "Kouji's here to help, Daisuke. And he's coming with us. Izzy—" He ignored the younger teen's sputtering, turning to the other. The rest of the Chosen had kept well out of the fight, broken up into their separate groups. "Could you set the gate for Sora's group and ours?"

"Sure. I have the coordinates right here." Izzy tapped his temple and moved in front of a specific computer. It took seconds to boot up, what appeared to be a window into a lush forest, a green light blinking in the corner of the screen. Kouichi stopped paying attention, deciding to ignore the Chosen as they chatted. Instead he ran his hand through Akemon's fur, both taking comfort in his brother's attempts at defense, and trying to calm the growls and tense muscles. At least once they got to the Digital World he wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. Not in the same way. He felt kind of guilty at the thought that he wouldn't be feeling so helpless anymore. It was selfish. He knew Kouji would chafe at both being on the sidelines, and being civil—especially if they were going to be traveling with Daisuke.

He just ignored everything, drawing back into that place he went so that he didn't have to hear the snide remarks when he wore the same clothes twice in a row. So he didn't hear the jealous mutters about his grades coupled with the insults to his shabby appearance. He remembered the rest of the warriors—being accepted as part of the group, even after the adventure was over, was a nice feeling. He remembered Kouji, coming over to help around the house, inviting him and his mom over for dinner, asking stiffly for some tutoring, when Kouichi knew his pride hated the idea of help…

After some time something touched him gently on the shoulder. He looked up to find Ken leaning over him. "It's time."

Kouichi shook himself, nudging Akemon who jumped from his lap to the ground to allow him to stand up. Hikari's group was gone already—when did they leave? Izzy was moving away from the computer, and the scene through the window had changed. It was now a tropical jungle, with small, rounded huts seen through the break in the trees.

"Alrighty Izzy, keep in touch." Taichi grinned and pulled out the small, squareish device Kouichi hadn't gotten a good look at the last time he'd seen it. It wasn't a true square, more as if it had inwardly curving corners. He assumed it was a digivice of sorts, Gennai had mentioned the Chosen had different models than they did. He cast back into his memory, trying to remember what they'd had to do to cross over from the other side. He honestly hadn't been paying too much attention, his focus being drawn every which way by all the sights and smells of the digital world. They'd stopped in front of a…TV? He remembered that much. And then Taichi and Ken had pulled out these devices…and then light, and falling, and all of a sudden Anyamon was gone, leaving Kouichi bewildered and alone in his mind.

He couldn't help himself—he was looking forward to being Anyamon again.

He fished his D-Scanner out of his jacket pocket, looking down at the digivice. It looked more similar to Ken or Daisuke's digivices in design; although neither of theirs had the scanning port for the digicode. They probably didn't need it.

The others were all facing the computer screen, digivices in their hands and waiting. Daisuke was standing closest to him, and the goggle-headed boy glanced to the side once, and then did a double take, "Hey, your digivice is different. It's black."

No one really had much time to act on his comment because Ken pointed his device at the computer screen, "Digital Gate, Open!"

x-x-x

The first thing Kouji felt was relief as the world materialized around him. He'd felt an unknown pressure lifting as they spun through the gateway, the presence of Akemon's mind retreating as the door revolved and the lock clicked, leaving him as human again. He managed to land on his feet this time, even with the disorientation from going from four legs to only two. Only Taichi, Ken and Daisuke were scattered around, the others weren't coming.

Daisuke. Kouji's expression hardened as he fought back a scowl. He did not like the Chosen. The reddish-brown haired teen was still decently close, but Taichi quickly pulled him away, talking to him in low, but sharp tones. Kouji didn't try to stop it as his lips pulled into a grim smile. It served him right.

Instead, he ignored the others for the moment. He used the time to stretch his arms, and tracked down his brother. Anyamon had ended up a little ways away, and he was working on getting the kinks out of his movements. It took him even less time than yesterday and soon Anyamon was moving without any awkwardness. Anyamon shook himself as Kouji approached, "How're you feeling?"

"Much better." Came the rumbled response. The great cat closed his eyes and breathed, Kouji immediately knew he was testing the air, cataloguing the scents in the immediate vicinity. Even thinking about that action had him feeling queasy. He retained little more than lingering after effects from his time as Akemon, but he was not looking forward to returning to the Human world. Tailmon said it would get easier—and it had. But it was slow going.

"Hey, Kouji." Both human and digimon turned at the reluctant voice. Daisuke was walking toward them, a larger blue dragon digimon at his side. The Chosen had his hands stuffed sullenly into his pockets, and he refused to look at them. Taichi was watching him closely. Kouji gave the barest hint of a scowl before he blanked his expression. There wasn't even the pretense of warmth in his voice as he acknowledged, "Daisuke."

"Look, we got off on the wrong foot. Everyone's been talking about you and the Crests all day and…well. I got salty. Let's try and start over, okay?"

Kouji eyed the brunette warily, was he doing this because he was truly sorry? Or just because he got told off? Given the lack of actual apology in there Kouji was willing to bet the latter. Fine. They could start over. That didn't mean Kouji had to like him. "Fine." He took the proffered hand shake, even if his grip was tighter than normal.

Meanwhile, the digimon were having a similar confrontation. Anyamon watched as the blue digimon broke away from his partner, creeping warily toward that great cat. "Still want that fight?"

"Uh, nope. Wow. You've sure gotten big." Anyamon was a head taller than him, "You sure you're a rookie?"

Anyamon shrugged. The dragon shifted uncomfortably before he suddenly stuck out a clawed hand as a peace offering, "Look, let's let bygones be bygones. You don't growl at my partner, I won't growl at yours. No hard feelings?"

Anyamon shifted to his haunches, lifting his front paw to place it in the other digimon's claws. The digimon brightened exponentially, getting a little of his Chibimon bounce back, "Great! I'm sure we'll be great friends. My name is Veemon, but you can call me Veemon. What's yours now?"

"Anyamon."

"Weeeell, Anyamon, old buddy, old pal." Veemon attempted to sling an arm over the big cat's neck, but just patted him on the neck when he realized he couldn't reach, "I think we'll get along swell."

x-x-x

A/N: Sorry, it's a day late. I totally meant to post this yesterday. I. Am. Not. Good. At. Writing. So. Many. People. Think about it! 6 digidestined, 6 digimon. Plus Sora, Taichi, and Izzy. Then Kouji and Kouichi. 17 characters! So I broke it up. Groups of three or four are more manageable. But they still have digimon so darn it x.x

Plot starts next chapter, I swear. It's a pretty darned large chapter. Daisuke randomly decided he wanted to be important. Then again, he kinda is the Taichi of Season 2 so…he kinda is. So Daisuke has a much larger presence in this fic.

I hope no one minds my use of both Japanese and English names for the kids. The way I justify it is the English names can also be nicknames :D

Let me know what you guys think. Or any suggestions, or even any speculations as to what happens next! It has nothing to do with what happened in the old fic, so no cheating :P

See you next week!