"Hope...Courage...Love...Friendship...Kindness...Knowledge...Reliability...
Those strong feelings...from where can they truly come from?
How can they be part of those driving forces behind ourselves?
Our dreams may be a great force, a great power that may lead us on...
For those who have lost hope...
Dreams can bring it back..."

Chapter 6 : Through the Dreamer's eyes

The first half of their day had been a lot shaking, no doubt about this. Both Tamers and Digidestineds had been shaken by the events that had transpired in the cave hideout used by the Black Spear gang. But, with their leader who had been lost...or rather, killed, would they make themselves known again?

That was something Kari was wondering right now.
She was wandering the streets of the city, dressed differently now. She was wearing knee length light blue jeans with a light pink t-shirt with the word 'angel' written in white on it. Along with that, she was wearing a pair of small light brown gloves. Also, she had dyed her hairs with a darker brown coloring than her normal color. For once, she had removed the hairpin and let her bang fall in her face. It gave her a more similar look back in the time when she had first come in the Digital World.

"Is what we done right?" she thought. She still thought about the very recent events that just happened. Had Regan done a good thing in killing Darius? He had claimed that the monster already killed him. Was it true or not? Unfortunately, it seems they would never know.

Right now, Regan had been left in the hands of the two Tamers, though right now, the only thing he was doing was sleeping. According to what she had thought about this, Regan may not be as powerful as Kari, in terms of Bio-Modify.
Of course, that considered the fact that Gatomon is a Champion level digimon, and so does Ryumon. That put them on equal terms now, in term of strength. Even so, he seemed more powerful than usual. Perhaps some kind of special boost...or simply his determination?

Kari sighed. She knew very well the extent of Regan's determination. Whenever he really want to do something, you might as well try to convince the sun to not rise instead. Of course...considering that...
Small bickering voices drew Kari's attention out of her thoughts as she looked toward the other side of the road she was walking on. A small park was there, and she saw a few boys that seem to pick on a little girl. All of them were probably around 8 years old. The boys mocked the girl a bit and walked away, leaving the little girl sad, and obviously, on the verge of crying.

Taking pity, Kari went to the other side of the road and to the little park, coming up to the young girl. She had her back faced to Kari, so she obviously didn't saw her coming, especially since Kari could hear her sob right now.
"Hey there, little girl. What's wrong?" Kari gently said, putting a hand on the little girl's shoulder.
The little girl gasped slightly and turned toward Kari. The Digidestined could clearly see the young girl's wet eyes now. Though Kari partly took interest and curiosity about how the young girl looked like.

She was dressed in blue shorts and a green sleeveless shirt, and light blue shoes. Although her hairs were of an even darker shade of color than Kari's currently dyed hairs, the hairstyle was a bit oddly similar to her, but her bang was much more smaller than Kari's, even when she was younger. And she had also had light blue eyes.
The little girl looked curious at why that stranger had called out to her.
"Could you tell me what happened with those boys?" Kari asked gently while putting one knee down in front of the younger girl, so to better look at her eye-to-eye.

She sniffed sadly again. "I wanted to play at the digimon card game with them, but they didn't want to. Only because they said that I cheated before. But I had won, I'm sure of it. I wouldn't want to cheat." She said.
Kari took pity on the little girl. Perhaps that in some ways, she did looked a bit like herself when she was younger. "I'm sure you didn't want to cheat, and I'm sure you were really good. They just aren't really good, and...well...they probably don't really like to lose a lot..." Kari said, adding a small hesitant smile in the end.
The little girl still didn't look all that much convinced. Kari turned a little more thoughtful.

"Hey, would you promise me to stop those tears if I bought you an ice cream?" Kari asked gently.
The little girl stopped sniffing and started wiping off her tears, adding up a small smile. "Yeah." She said more happily.
"Come on." Kari said starting to rise up then stopped. "By the way, what's you name?" she asked.
"I'm Catherine. But my friends call me Cathy." The little girl replied.
"Well, I'm Kari." Kari replied. "And can I call you Cathy?"
"Sure." Catherine replied more happily.
"Alright, let's go get that ice cream now." Kari said, fully standing up, and took Catherine's hand. She didn't let go of Kari and looked happily at her as they started walking.
"You know, your name's like Kari Kamiya, from the show." Catherine said.
Kari slightly frowned sadly, but quickly buried her uncertainties. She couldn't show that to Catherine. Instead, she made a more fake, happy smile. "Yeah, I get that a lot." Kari said with a little giggle, which made Catherine giggle as well.

---

Regan yawned as he stretched himself. After sitting up on the bench, he checked the hour on his digivice. "Boy, looks like I slept longer than I thought." He remarked with a small hesitant smile.

"Regan? Are you...okay?" Regan turned to see Kylee starting to sit aside from him. She didn't look fully well about him.
"What's wrong about me? I feel well." Regan said. He then realized and frowned, his expression turning more serious. "Oh...it's about what happened, right?" he asked seriously.
Kylee nodded. "In the end...you...well, Kari think you...digivolved..." she said.
Regan was slightly taken aback, but he quickly remembered...
"Oh yeah...I guess...we can say that I did digivolved..." Regan said, looking a bit to the floor, resting his hands together on his legs. "But...when it happened...
I heard Lizomon's voice...
And he said he would lend me his wings..." Regan added.
"Lizomon?" Kylee asked. "You're sure about that?"
"Voice, attitude and everything. That seemed like him...
Or perhaps...a remnant of him...in the data I have in my body..." Regan said, more darkly.
After that, he remained a bit more silent. Kylee remained silent as well for a while.
"You know...there's something I wonder..." she started. "Clearly, now we know there is more than one Real World, all like alternate realities, right?"
"Yeah?" Regan simply said, wanting Kylee to continue her reasoning.
"So, would that mean, that there could be, well, others...like us?" Kylee asked.
Regan turned curious. "You mean...other Regans, or other Kylees?" he asked. "Actually...that may be true."

"What?" Kylee said, surprised.
"I did met Kari's older brother in the Digital World...but I also met another Tai as well, and at the same time, the 'original' Tai was there too." Regan said.
"You aren't joking, right?!?" Kylee asked.
"Nope." Regan replied. "His outfit was kinda much like the first season, along with a cloak. But his digimon...that wasn't an Agumon.

According to Lizomon, that's a Veedramon. That 'other Tai', called Taichi, called it Zero." He added, lifting his shoulders with a shrug.
"Well...I'd never thought it could be true..." Impmon suddenly said, jumping on the couch besides Kylee.
Ignoring Impmon's sudden appearance, Regan continued on. "So, according to that logic...that means there could be another 'Regan' in this world...
Perhaps there's another 'Kari' in this world as well. Different, but with some similarities. I doubt that their names would be the same though. Perhaps a bit similar." Regan said.
"Yeah, I'd wonder who that Kari from my world could be." Kylee asked with a small wondering smile.
Regan sighed. "Would we really need to know who it is? It's not something really that important, you know."
Kylee shrugged with a smile. "Sorry, I kinda was wondering a lot about that."
Regan rose up from the couch. "By the way, where's Kari and I mean 'our' Kari." He said, looking around with a slight smile.
"Oh, she went to take a walk. But she made sure to change her clothes and put on a hair dye first before leaving." Kylee said.
"Ah, okay..." Regan said, putting his hands in his pockets. "You know, I think I'll take a walk. You and Impmon can go home now."
"You're sure about that?" Kylee asked with some concern.
"Yeah. You helped us a lot for today. Let's meet up tomorrow okay?" Regan said.
"That's okay with me." Kylee said. "I'll phone Riza about that as well."
"Okay. If there's a problem, you can call." Regan said. As he went to the door, he took his cloak from the table and put it on...

---

"Mmm...that's really good!"
Both Kari and Catherine were sitting on a bench, both of them with an ice cream in hand, a chocolate flavour for Catherine, and a vanilla one for Kari.
Kari simply looked a bit wondering at Catherine, who seemed happier now, and busier eating her ice cream.
Catherine then stopped and looked curiously at Kari. Kari started being a bit uncertain, wondering what she should say about why she was constantly looking at her.
"Hey, are you forgetting about your ice cream?" Catherine asked.
"Oh...sorry Cathy." Kari said hesitantly, and started eating up a bit of it. Fortunately, it hadn't really melted.
"Hey, you saw it, right?" Catherine suddenly asked.
"Mmm?" Kari looked curiously at Catherine.
"The show." She said. "You saw Digimon too, right?"
"Oh...yeah, I saw it too..." Kari said, looking ahead, as if she was seeing something really far ahead. A thought then came up to her.
"What's your favourite character in the show?" Kari asked.
"Well, it's Kari." Catherine answered happily.
"Kari?" Kari asked, slightly surprised.
"Sure! She's really awesome and great!" Catherine said.
"What makes you think she's awesome?" Kari asked with some slight uncertainties.
"Well, she's really kind and sweet. She always looked up to see the good in other people. In some ways, she kinda seems like an angel." Catherine said. "I...I even got a Gatomon doll as well..." she added with a slight blush.
"Oh, really?" Kari asked with a new smile. "Well, it isn't that bad."
Catherine smiled at Kari, relieved she wasn't mocking her.
"She's your favourite character too, right?" Catherine asked.
Kari was slightly taken by surprise about that one. "Well..." she started. But she was really unsure about that. "Yeah...I guess a bit...
But...sometimes...she doesn't seem that strong..." she said sadly.
"Aw, come on! If you're talking about those times when she was getting taken by the Dark Ocean, then she did manage to beat it and get out. She's a really awesome character in the show." Catherine said.
Kari remained pensive, but she kept a smile at what Catherine was saying.
"Oh, I gotta go now! It's getting late!" Catherine suddenly said and leapt off the bench. She turned to Kari. "Will I see you again?" she asked.
"Mmm? Well...perhaps..." Kari said.
"Okay. Bye then!" Catherine said. She then started to turn and run away.
"Wait!" Kari suddenly called.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Catherine asked, looking curiously at her.
"Thanks..." Kari said with a tired smile at her.
"For what?" Catherine asked confusedly.
"Oh...nothing." Kari said, slightly embarrassed with herself.
"You're welcome!" Catherine said with a giggle and ran away.

Kari remained sitting, having finished her ice cream since a while now. She simply stared emptily ahead of herself, many things circling in her mind...
"Kari?" a familiar voice came to her ears. She looked up to see Regan standing near her.
"Regan?" she simply asked. For a moment, both looked a bit uncertain at each other, a bit confused.
"...Mind if I sit?" Regan asked after a while.
"Oh, sure..." Kari replied as she watched Regan sitting.
"So...How are you doing?" Kari asked.
"Better, thanks. Kylee explained to me a few things about what happened. So, you weren't doing anything special?" Regan said.
"Oh, well...I was just walking around...and I met a little girl.
You know...she looked a bit like me..." Kari said.
"Well...who knows, it could be the 'you' from this world." Regan said.
"Huh?" Kari was confused about this.
"Oh, it's just that Kylee and I talked about other us, different versions of ourselves in other realities. You do remember that we met Taichi in the Digital World." Regan said.
"Oh...so you mean...that Catherine could be the 'me' from this reality, and that there's an alternate Regan here too?" Kari said, realizing about it.
"Catherine?" Regan asked.
"Oh, the girl that looked like me. She's younger though. I think she had around my age back when I went in the Digital World for the first time..." Kari said.
"So...did you and her got along well?" Regan asked, with a slight smile.
"Well...kinda..." Kari said then she suddenly gasped.
"What's wrong?" Regan asked, clearly worried.
"Regan, look there!" Kari said, nearly panicked and pointing ahead of them.
Regan looked, and he too gasped at what Kari was pointing.

A boy that was walking on the other side of the little park. But that boy was dressed in dark blue pants, with a flaming style coloured t-shirt along with white shoes. He had black hair pulled in a ponytail along with having brown eyes.
Despite that he seemed to look a bit different, considering his clothing, there was no way neither Kari nor Regan could forget or mistake who it was.

Darius Duke. The leader of the Black Spear, the criminal gang that had kidnapped Kari and Kylee sooner in the morning...
But...as far as they knew...

He should be dead...

"It's him! It is him!" Kari said, completely astonished, and very worried.
"This doesn't make any sense!" Regan said. "He...he died right in front of us!" He too was completely astonished of that.
Rising up from the bench, Regan tightened his fists as his expression hardened. Probably knowing what Regan intended, Kari hesitantly rose up too and followed Regan as he walked strait toward Darius...if it was him indeed...

"Darius Duke..." Regan said seriously as he approached the other boy.
"Huh?" the other boy turned at him with some surprise, also noticing the slightly uncertain Kari who was partly standing behind Regan. "Is there something you'd want from me?"
Regan frowned a bit. The boy did look like Darius, and he reacted to the name when he spoke it. But...
"Aren't you a member of Black Spear?" Kari asked uncertainly.
"What? Me? I'd never be one!" he said in rejection. "Haven't you heard that the entire gang seemed to have crumbled sooner in the morning? The police arrested a lot of them, but nobody knows how they suddenly crumbled." Darius added.
That made Regan frown. Of course, considering the fact the he and the others had been responsible for the gang's having fallen...but how was the leader of the gang standing in front of them right now? Taking a look at Darius' arms, Regan saw that he had no black spear tattoos at all, and same for the one that was supposedly on his chest, the one that they could have noticed the spear end coming out of the shirt. And it would have been virtually impossible to remove a tattoo in only a few hours without anything noticing the results on the skin...

That didn't make any sense...
"You don't have a twin brother, do you?" Regan asked.
"No." Darius said, looking weirdly at Regan and Kari. "Is that for some hidden camera or what?"
Kari and Regan looked at each other, utterly confused. Finally, they looked back at Darius. "No. Sorry, we just mistook you for someone else." Kari said.
"Ah...okay..." Darius said. "Didn't seemed like someone you liked, eh?"
"Not really." Regan said with a shrug.
"Hey, are you guys Tamers?" Darius suddenly asked.
"Huh...well, no..." Regan said.
"Well, I'll get myself a digimon soon." Darius said. "And if you do get one, perhaps we could have a match. You look like nice guys." He added with a smile.
"Yeah, perhaps..." Regan added with another shrug.
"Well, goodbye then, Darius." Kari said. "If that's indeed your name."
"No, you're right on it. I'm Darius Duke. Though I kinda wonder how you knew about me." Darius said.
"Oh, never mind. Bye then." Regan said as he turned and walked away, followed by Kari.

"Now that's really, really weird..." Regan half-whispered to Kari. "How can Darius be alive? And he acted like he didn't know us at all. As if he never met us, or never was a part of Black Spear..."
"I have no idea...but that's really weird...hold on...it's kinda like whatever has caused everyone in this city to forget about what happened when you were here the first time..." Kari replied.
"Yeah, a lot like it..." Regan muttered.
"Think we should tell Kylee and Riza about that?" Kari asked.
"Well...perhaps not now. For now, let's try to get some rest from that day." Regan said.
"Yeah, let's hurry a bit to get back to the apartment. It's starting to get cold." Kari said, rubbing her arms and slightly shivering.
She then felt Regan's cloak being draped on herself and blushed slightly from that. "You don't need to do that..." Kari slightly muttered to Regan, not really looking at him, her cheek still slightly pink.
"Come on. What's wrong with that?" Regan said with a little smile.
"Hum well...that's really kind of you Regan..." Kari said with a small smile, slightly looking at him, who was looking ahead. She clutched the cloak tightly to better keep herself warm as they returned back to their 'hideout'...

---

Back at their hideout, Regan and Kari had taken a more appropriate meal for the evening, to the contrary what they had in the morning.
"I wonder, in which way we could really repay Kylee and Riza..." Regan said, resting his chin on his hands as he was sitting at the table. "They have done a lot for us..."
"Yeah, that's right..." Kari replied, sitting at the opposite side of Regan. "But...even then, there's not really anything we can do right now..." she added sadly.
"Yeah..." Regan said grimly. "Aside from that 'impressive' Bio-Modify ability we have, that's kinda the only thing we have on us right now. Our partners are lost somewhere else and we don't have one inch of hint about their whereabouts..."
"Gatomon..." Kari whispered sadly.
"Wherever they are though...I'm sure they must be trying their hardest to get to us...They aren't gonna give in easily...and they probably wouldn't want us to lose hope too much..."
"Yeah, you're probably right Regan..." Kari said. Then she yawned, putting a hand in front of her mouth. "Well...I think it'd be time to go sleep, right?" she asked tiredly.
"Hum...wait a minute...we only have one bed and a couch..." Regan said with a frown. "Oh well, I'll take the couch." He added.
A frown came on Kari's face. "Regan...do you really need to give of yourself for the others? You can have your right of comfort, you know." She said.
"But Kari..." Regan said.
She gave him a more serious look, one that would brook no questions. "Tonight, I'll take the bed, okay...but tomorrow, we'll exchange, and we'll continue that way." She said.
"Well...sounds more okay to me...okay then..." Regan said.
Kari looked a bit more relieved. "Mind if I take a shower first?" she asked.
"Okay." Regan said, and Kari went up to the bathroom, but not before going in the bedroom, where the bags with the clothes bought recently were. "Oh, by the way, we bought a pyjama for you." Kari said as she came out of the bedroom with a light pink pyjama, and a towel before going in the bathroom. "It's in the bag on the bed." She added before closing the door.

Regan kindly nodded and went to the bedroom as he heard Kari starting up the shower. Rummaging through the mentioned bag, he found a light red coloured pyjama for him. At least it was of an appropriate size.
As he checked on the couch, he noticed a part of it could unfold to make a small bed. Well...at least this was better than just the simple couch.
But no doubt Kari would still insist on what she had just suggested. In a sense, she was right.
As Kari was over with her shower, and came out dressed in her pyjama, Regan took his turn, making sure to mention about the new detail with the couch. She nodded about it, and he went in the bathroom, with his own pyjama, and another towel that Kari took out from a bag before handing it out to Regan and he took his own shower before getting out, ready to go to bed.

"Good night Kari."
"Good night Regan."

As Kari went in the bedroom, Regan went to the couch bed, with a blanket before lying down, and letting out a tired sigh.
"Well...I hope that it's going to be better tomorrow..." Regan muttered to himself before closing his eyes...

---

And as night came on the city, many people all went to sleep, all waiting for the next dawn and day...

Unaware of what was going to happen in the night...

---

Although everything seemed like an endless mix of green colors and many other visions, she could see things more clearly than anyone else.

But right now...her senses had noticed something peculiar...
And if she wouldn't act soon...then it may be too late, for many innocents...

---

Kylee was running. That's all she was aware right now. A dread feeling of fear had crept in her mind, and running away was the only thing that came up to do. She looked back, to see some mass of something dark that moved after her.
She tripped, falling on the ground. Not having time to rise up, she looked back, to see the 'thing' above her.
It opened a huge maw and lunged forward to swallow her whole...

---

With a large scream, she woke up, still drenched in sweat and shaking. She looked around, dreadfully panicked, hoping that no monstrosity was around...
But fortunately, there was nothing...only the calm silence of the morning greeted her.
Looking around just to be sure, Kylee started being more relieved...
Until her eyes fell on the clock.

9:56 am

If she had school right now, Kylee would have been in one heck of a mess right now. But since right now, the school had been closed temporarily, that wasn't a problem.
However, there was another troubling thing about that. She was expecting to be woken up sooner, at least around 8:00 am.

So, why didn't her mom or Impmon came up to wake her up?
"Impmon?" she asked.
She heard a small mumbling and noticed Impmon lying down on the floor...apparently still sleeping...

"Hey Impmon! Time to get up!" Kylee said.
No answer from Impmon.
She got down from the bed and picked up Impmon before shaking him. "Come on Impmon! Sleeping time's over!"
Despite that his head bobbled in every direction as Kylee shook him, Impmon still remained asleep.
"That's weird..." Kylee muttered to herself. She hurried to dress herself up and started climbing down the stairs to get in the kitchen, when she noticed that her mom was also still sleeping in her own bedroom.
"Mom!" Kylee called out to her. But she didn't answered.
"Now that's starting to be scarier..." she muttered again.

She went to the phone and dialled up Riza's number.
For a while, no one answered, and Kylee put the phone down before dialling up again. This time, the number of Regan and Kari.

No answer as well, even when she waited around 5 minutes for them to answer. No doubt that the Digidestined would have answered in a normal situation...but it seemed that it was anything but normal...

Taking an apple out of the fridge, Kylee soon ran outside, hurrying to eat it up as she ran outside in the city...which seemed dreadfully quiet...

Correct that, there was sound, a car's horn that was sounding...as if somebody was constantly pressing on it.
Kylee ran up to where the sound came from, and noticed a car that had slammed in a building...the driver asleep on the wheel and constantly pressing on the horn.

"Sir! Wake up!" Kylee shouted to the man in the car. He didn't move either. Just like Impmon and her mother.

"What's happening?" Kylee thought, clearly worried "It's like if everyone in the entire city is still asleep!"
"No, Regan and Kari. They have to be awake. Perhaps it has something to do with them!" she thought again, and started running for the Digidestineds' hideout.

---

She opened up the door with a bang, but what she saw didn't make her relieved. Only more worried.

She saw Regan sleeping on the couch bed, but judging from his expression, he didn't seem to have a good dream. At a few moments, he was actually shaking, if only briefly.
She ran up to the bedroom, and saw Kari who was still sleeping. Unlike Regan, her expression was like everyone else she had noticed that had fallen asleep in the entire city.

"Kari! Kari, wake up! Please!" Kylee said, shaking Kari many times. But Kari didn't react, seemingly as much affected as anyone else in the city.

"No, no...What's happening?!? Come on! I can't be the only one awake right now!" Kylee said, stepping back from Kari, fear creeping in her. "What's wrong now? This can't be normal!"

"No...it isn't..." a voice suddenly spoke...in Kylee's mind...
"Huh?!?" Kylee looked around, searching for anyone that would have spoken...but not one was here. Only Regan who was sleeping and same for Kari. No one else was there...So who had talked?

"I know what is happening right now, Kylee Henke..." the voice spoke again. This time, she identified it as a woman's voice, a voice that sounded almost dreamy.
And there was something in the voice...that didn't seem to make the speaker...truly human...
"Who are you? Where are you?" Kylee said, still looking around.
"I could say more, but for this, I would need to manifest myself much more...do you really think you will be able to handle it?" the woman's voice spoke.
"Y-Yes..." Kylee answered.
"Very well..."

A green mist slowly appeared out of nowhere, spreading around Kylee…and somehow seemed to devour her surroundings, as if the entire apartment, Kari, and Regan vanished, everything replaced by the green mist…

And in the midst of the midst, one single form was slowly walking toward Kylee, slowly approaching…
Kylee looked uncertainly toward the unknown approaching person…
As it neared, Kylee could identify it…or part of its features that is…

It was a woman, tall and slim. She wore a long translucent robe of the color of green. As she approached more, Kylee saw her face.

A woman, possibly around 30 years…however if she did looked human…the color of her skin seemed to be a bit more greenish in tint. Long beautiful flowing hairs of the color of a deep emerald came out of the hood. Her beautiful face remained calm however there was one offsetting detail about her…about her eyes…

They were closed.

Even despite that there was no wind around, the beautiful and mysterious woman's robe continued to flutter as if there was one.
No doubt that every part of herself, clothes, hair, skin…all of it were tinted in one shade or another one of green…

"Who…who are you?" Kylee asked, stunned by the mysterious woman's appearance and her unique beauty.
"You may call me Ysera…the Lady of Dreams…" the woman answered.
As she spoke, Kylee realized that she seemed to slightly fade and return, as if she was a ghost or a figment of her imagination…if she would have ever been able to imagine such a thing.
"Lady of Dreams? I don't get it." Kylee said, a bit confused, then realizing something, she stared harder at the woman. "Have you done something to my city or what?!?" she asked.
"No…" Ysera answered. "I did not..."
"But who did this?" Kylee asked. "Do you know who it is?"
"It should not be 'who', but 'what'…" Ysera spoke, her lids of her eyes still closed. Though she may not be really sure of that, Kylee could slightly notice that Ysera was moving her eyes beneath her lids, as if looking at some things that Kylee couldn't see.
"What? What is 'what'?" Kylee asked.
"A phenomenon…One that has fell upon all inhabitants of this town…
Thanks to my powers, I managed to free you so you could awake." Ysera said.
"What? But what kind of…thing…could affect an entire city?" Kylee asked
"The Nightmare…" Ysera answered grimly.
"The Nightmare?" Kylee asked.
"As I constantly watch, and sometimes, affect the dreams of all sleepers, I can always see the lighter and darker ones. A balance in dreams…
However…there is a dark phenomenon that has started to exist, that is a danger to the balance…
It is called the Nightmare. No, it is not those simple nightmares that you may have sometimes when you sleep. The Nightmare is something far else…" Ysera explained.
"…I see…" Kylee said, very uncertain.

From what she could realize, that Ysera, that Lady of Dreams, was something very powerful, that had a very long reach…and right now, there was probably something that was scaring it…That Nightmare thing…It was something that even seemed to gave pause to that 'woman''s powers…

"I will need your aid to go seek what is holding the Nightmare here…" Ysera said.
"What? You want me to go in that thing? I don't even know what I have to do!" Kylee said.
"The Nightmare is a random phenomenon…But there is something that seem to have hold it here…Normally, it would have simply passed over, without any true risk for you, aside from some slightly worser nightmares than usual…but this time, the Nightmare remained…And I know it is not a sentient being. Only a disturbance like one of those natural disasters, like tornadoes." Ysera added.
"Oh…so that's not normal that the Nightmare is…'stuck' on my city, right?" Kylee asked.
"Indeed…and that is why I need you to discover what it is, and aid me to free your city.
As we speak, I am straining to protect all of the inhabitants of this city, but it may not last…and for that, I need others to seek the problem within…
That is why I need you…" Ysera said.
"Me?" Kylee said, pointing at herself.
"Yes…Take this…" Ysera said, raising a hand, holding something inside.
Kylee reached out and Ysera put something in her hand. As the Lady of Dreams removed her hand, Kylee looked at what she had given her.

It was a crystal…a green coloured one…
"What am I supposed to do with that?" Kylee asked.
"I will explain later…" Ysera said…and started to vanish completely.
"No! Wait!" Kylee said.

But Ysera completely vanished…and soon after this, the mist completely vanished, and Kylee found herself back in the apartment that Regan and Kari were using as hideout. She was standing in the bedroom again, with Kari still looking asleep as before…
Or trapped by the Nightmare in truth…

However, there was something different. When she looked at her hand, the crystal that Ysera had given her was still there. It then glowed.

"I am sure you have been wondering why I chose you. Because you are quite receptive to dreams…even if you do not truly belong to it. This is why I reached out to you, to warn you, when Regan Astrasz and Kari Kamiya came again to this world…" Ysera's voice spoke in Kylee's mind again.

"Reached out…" Kylee repeated then she gasped, realizing what Ysera meant…
Her strange dream back in school…

It had been Ysera's doing all along! She had actually sought to warn Kylee about Regan coming back! But…

"Well…I didn't really understood the message…" Kylee muttered, lowering her head a bit.
"Few can truly understand my calls when I send them as such…" Ysera's voice said again.
But now, with this new discovery, it made Kylee have more faith in herself. Ysera had faith in her…and the Lady of Dreams actually trusted her…if Kylee was thinking right.
"Alright, what do you want me to do?" Kylee asked.
"Alone, it may be extremely risky for you to go exploring what is affecting the Nightmare…So I will let you choose someone else I will attempt to free as well so that he or she can help you…" Ysera said.
"Oh…someone else? And…I got to choose?" Kylee asked with a slight uncertainity.
"Whoever you believe may help you best…I will wait…but please do not take too much time…" Ysera spoke again.
"Oh…okay…" Kylee said. But she was very much uncertain.

Who should she choose? Impmon? Riza? Veemon? Regan? Kari?
Those were the first persons to come in mind. Who else may really be able to help?
But right now, Riza, Impmon and Veemon were a bit away from her. Getting to them may take some time…and perhaps she may not have that time…
So…Regan…or Kari?
"I know Regan has often been strong…" Kylee whispered…
"About him…There is something odd…I am unable to truly reach out to him…I'm afraid I cannot manage to free him if you would want him to help you…" Ysera said.
That sits not very well for Kylee. But still…
"Kari." She said.
"The Digidestined Child of Light?" Ysera asked.
"Well, if that's how you call Kari, yeah, that's her. Can you free her?" Kylee asked.
"Very well. Place the crystal in one of her hands, and I will do the rest." Ysera ordered.
Kylee did as Ysera requested, opening one of Kari's hands and put the crystal in the palm before closing it and then stepped back a bit.
As soon as she did that, the crystal suddenly flared of a bright and powerful green light that forced Kylee to shield her eyes.
Then the light ceased and Kylee could look back at Kari.
She heard her move a bit. "Kari?" Kylee asked.
"…Huh…Kylee?" Kari asked weakly, slowly opening her eyes. She started rising up, coming to a sitting position. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
Kylee looked slightly uncertain. "Uh, well…it's kinda a long-" she started, but suddenly, the green crystal in Kari's hand glowed again, startling both girls.
However, it was Kari that looked the most surprised. "Huh…Ysera?" she said.
"What? You know about her?" Kylee asked.
"No, no…it's not that…" Kari suddenly said, looking strait at Kylee. "That woman just said her name was Ysera. She's talking to me."
"Oh…" Kylee said, realizing that Ysera had decided to hurry things up about the explanations.
"The Nightmare?" Kari said. For Kylee, it was as if Kari was on a phone conversation with someone else, because try as she might, there was no way Kylee was able to hear one thing of what Ysera could say to Kari.
The look of confusion on Kari's face turned worried. "You mean…everyone? All of them?" she asked. There was a very slight pause. Kylee could almost imagine that Ysera was answering something like "All of them."
"But, I don't get it. Why is Kylee here, right now?" Kari asked. Another pause, much longuer this time as Kari continued to listen to Ysera's words.
"You want us to…stop that thing?" Kari asked with clear worries. Yet another pause, shorter than the previous one.
"So…we're kinda like your only hope for the city?" Kari said.
She sighed sadly. "Okay…" she said and rose up from the bed and handed the crystal to Kylee.
"What does she want?" Kylee asked as she took the crystal.
"Oh, I think she'll tell you. I'll just get dressed first." Kari replied as she took her clothes.
As she entered the bathroom, Ysera's voice spoke in Kylee's mind again. "Once she is ready, I will bring you in the Emerald Dream."
"The Emerald Dream? What's that?" Kylee asked.
"The world of the sleepers. It is there, that your mind and soul goes when you sleep. You could consider it as an idyllic, illusionary version of your world…But be wary. I already warned Kari about this.
My realm is beautiful, very beautiful. And it can be so much, that you may be enticed to sleep there forever…" Ysera explained, finishing a bit grimly.
Kylee gulped a bit. She never really thought that such 'world' could be dangerous. "But, since we always go there when we sleep, why aren't we taken if it can be so dangerous?" Kylee asked.
"Because you are not truly conscious in the Dream…" Ysera answered. "This time, you will be fully conscious, and thus be truly able to beheld my realm…"
The bathroom's door opened as Kari walked out, dressed in her casual clothes, not those she had recently bought with Kylee, but those that could be easily referred as her 'Season 2 clothes'.
"Alright, we're ready." Kylee said.
"Both of you must hold this crystal, and then I will be able to bring you to my realm…" Ysera said.
"Kari, you have to hold up the crystal as well." Kylee said to Kari. She nodded and put her hand on it as well.
"Okay, we're ready." She said.
"Prepare yourselves…" Ysera said...
And the crystal flared again, its light seemingly engulfing both girls this time…

---

A strange feeling of displacement hit Kylee as she closed her eyes to protect herself from the light…

And then the next thing she registered was the lack of ground beneath her feet.

She opened her eyes to see Kari right in front of her, as expected…but she was green coloured…as was everything, absolutely everything around her.

Everything was of a green tint in colouring…
But the other detail that Kylee noticed…is that both girls were actually…'standing' in mid-air…and with no floor beneath their foot, as if the apartment had completely vanished…

And gravity took its toll on Kylee as she suddenly fell, and started screaming…
Only to be grabbed at one hand by Kari.
"Kylee! Get a hold of yourself!" Kari said.
Kylee looked up to see that somehow, Kari was actually floating.
"Hey! How can you float and not me?" Kylee said.
"I'm floating because I want to. You don't realize it? This is the world of dreams, of the mind." Kari said. "In a way, we can do anything here…provided we want it.

So, if you want to float, or fly, you just have to will it…" she added.
Kylee realized what she meant. She tried concentrating, wanting not to fall anymore…
And suddenly, she felt no gravity anymore, as if weightless…
Kari released her hold on her hand...and Kylee noticed that she was floating too!
"That's just so…awesome!" Kylee said, grinning like a child.
And soon after, she suddenly flew up in the sky, spinning and giggling happily.
"Kylee! Wait up!" Kari suddenly said, but not as happy as Kylee…but actually worried. "Stop now!"

She suddenly flew up as well and stood in front of Kylee.
"Huh? What are you doing Kari? What's wrong with you?" Kylee asked.
"Did you forget Ysera's warning?" Kari asked. "She said her world could be so beautiful that you could want to stay here forever…And that's what you may have started to do…Nobody would want to lose you here…" she added sadly.
"Oh…sorry…" Kylee said, slightly lowering her head, and willed herself to land down on the ground, soon imitated by Kari.

Now, on the ground, she looked around. And truly, it made her more confused about 'Ysera's realm'…if that was the case…

Phoenix City was completely gone. There were no traces of the city whatsoever…
As if the city actually never existed in this realm. The mountains in the distance looked sharper than the one in the real world. Everything looked calm…but most of all, it looked like if no human or truly sentient beings ever were on this world…

"It's the same world…but without humans' presence…" Kari said, slowly realizing the truth. "The Emerald Dream…is what our worlds would be…if humans and other animals never existed…"

A beautiful, calm landscape filled with many flowers and other plants, all blooming healthy existed instead of the city.

"It's just so…wonderful…" Kari said, eyeing their surrounding with wonder. "So peaceful…"
"Kari…Remember what Ysera said…" Kylee warned worryingly.
"Oh…yeah…sorry…" Kari said, returning her attention on Kylee.
"But…I don't get it…where's the problem? Everything here looks okay." Kylee said.
"There's surely something wrong here…Ysera wouldn't want to call us without a really good reason." Kari said.
"Well, whatever's the problem, I want to see what's wrong!" Kylee said.

And suddenly, the landscape rippled…and the real world seemingly appeared over the landscape.

Phoenix City appeared, seemingly replacing the flower fields. Yet, if 'reality' seemed to have replaced the 'dream', everything was still tinted in green.

And in all of this…a huge dark stormy cloud floated above the entire city.
In fact, many things around, buildings and such looked distorted…more nightmarish…

A huge mind-splitting pain suddenly flared in both Kari and Kylee's heads and both fell on their knees, holding their head in pain.

"Wh…What's wrong?" Kylee said with a pain voice.
Kari said nothing, trying to fight the pain, but she was clearly as much affected as Kylee.
"Fight the pain…the Nightmare is not conscious…but it seeks to affect whatever is in its field of influence…and you are in it now…You must fight the pain, fight the Nightmare if you want to struggle and succeed to discover what is causing this terrible problem in your world…" Ysera's voice came into their heads, though it nearly seemed to sound in a screeching, that pained the girls even more. Still they clearly heard it well…
"F-Fight it…" Kari said. "We have to...For everyone else…
T-Think…about your friends…" Kari managed to say.
Kylee wasn't sure to get what Kari meant, but she focused on those friends that mattered to her. Impmon, Riza, Veemon…along with Regan and Kari. And even possibly Lizomon and Gatomon…

Soon the pain started to fade to nearly non-existent…yet only a small part of it remained, but it was easily tolerable now. Kylee slowly rose again, and looked around, clearly disturbed. She noticed that Kari also managed to fight the pain and had succeeded.
"You're still feeling it, right?" Kylee asked worryingly.
"Yeah…I don't think the pain will completely fade here…it is part of the Nightmare…" Kari said.

Then, another kind of sound came to their ears…screams, pained screams and screeches…
Horrified, Kylee realized what those screams were…

All of the inhabitants of the city…all of them probably screaming in pain, or in horror. Each of them trapped because of the terrible phenomenon…
And that also included Riza, Regan, Veemon and Impmon…
"You're…you're hearing that…right?" Kylee said, fear creeping in her.
"Y-yeah…" Kari said. She looked as much troubled as Kylee. "But…let's try to find what's causing the Nightmare to stay here…and stop it…"
"If we can…" Kylee said.
"No. We mustn't try to think like that Kylee. If we do, we may condemn all of us…" Kari said.
"Oh…I'll try…" Kylee said.

Both girls started walking around the distorted city, the screams still heard in the distance, all coming from various directions…
And clearly, all of this was very much disturbing and troubling the two girls.

But as they continued to walk around, in the distorted city, they both started to feel something…

"Do you feel that Kari?" Kylee said.
"I do…" Kari said. "It's just…wrong…"

A wrongness…something that should not be…

"I think we found it…whatever is causing the Nightmare to remain here…" Kari said.
"Okay, let's get to it and kick it out." Kylee said, tightening a fist.
Both girls turned toward the parks, where they felt the wrongness increase…
As they continued, the trees inside the parks only looked every more twisted than before. Clearly, the source of the problem was here…
"Hey Kari, look there…" Kylee said, pointing to something farther ahead.

One lone figure standing motionless…and from what both girls could feel…that was the source of the wrongness…and of what was blocking the Nightmare from leaving…

"Hey you! What are you doing here?!?" Kylee yelled at the figure.
"Kylee, be careful…" Kari silently said to Kylee, putting a hand on her shoulder. There was definitively something not right about that person…

As they approached a bit, they saw that the person had its back turned to them. But it was dressed in a cloak, which looked shredded at the ends at the feet.

And it turned at the girls, showing its identity as the hood fell off the face…
And both girls gasped and stepped back when they saw who it was.

"Regan?!?" Kari said.

The face looked like Regan, but all of his clothes looked more shredded and damaged than usual.

"No…it can't be you…it can't…" Kari said.
"Wait a minute…" Kylee said. "I'd want to see the real colors! That would help us!"
And suddenly, the green tint that permeated everything faded, the original colors of everything around becoming more present…The huge dark cloud was still present in the sky…but now, there was something different about Regan who was standing in front of them…

"I should have known…" Kylee said, angered.

Regan's hairs were not brown, but gray. His eyes were blood red, same for the cloak. Along with that, he wore gray gloves, purple shirt, a dark sickly green coloured vest, and black pants along with gray and black shoes…
This was not Regan Astrasz at all…

"Ragnarok…" Kari said, eyeing the Regan look-a-like with both fear and contempt. "How can you be alive?"
"Alliiiivvveeee?" Ragnarok spoke in a very odd speech. He didn't even really seem like…himself…
"A fragment…a remnant of him…" Ysera's voice spoke in Kylee and Kari's minds. "Even if he was destroyed, the rage, the hatred of his soul was not truly destroyed, and a minor fragment was trapped here, where he was destroyed. And that hatred…that rage filled with pain has attracted the Nightmare here…

We could say…this is Ragnarok's last plague…"

"Darn it…even if we beat you before Ragnarok, it looks like you couldn't really bite the dust…And it looks like we'll have to finish that…" Kylee said.

Ragnarok remained still, head low…then he suddenly unleashed a huge screech before throwing his arms at the two girls, and both his arms suddenly stretched, turning into large torrent of flames that went for both girls.

Kylee jumped and floated upward while Kari brought her hands defensively in front of herself as the flames engulfed her.

"Kari!" Kylee shouted.

Ragnarok roared and charged strait toward where Kari was and threw a punch…which was blocked by a Gatomon-like glove.

Kari, in her Bio-Modify form, held up Ragnarok's hands as he struggled against her. "I really wished that you were gone Ragnarok, that Regan had managed to deal with you…but it seems that we'll have to this…for him…" she said before suddenly raising one foot, striking Ragnarok in the face and propelling him a bit upward.

But as she tried to punch him, he suddenly flew backward and landed, a mad grin appearing on his face.
He then ripped off his cloak…as his body started changing…
His hands turned into black claws, long black horns grew out on the side of his head, and a long black tail could be seen in his back…
"What's he doing?" Kylee asked, floating a few feet near Kari.
"He copied Regan's Bio-Modified form…and adapted it as BlackLizomon…" Kari said.
Ragnarok yelled before throwing his arms aside and electricity flowed on his before two rips in his back appeared…and two large wings grew out. The claws on his hands and the horns also grew longer, stronger.

"Now I think he digivolved…right?" Kylee asked.
"Right…He's on the Champion level like me…" Kari said.
Ragnarok madly yelled before charging at Kari. Kari readied to attack.
"Wait! What am I supposed to do?!?" Kylee asked.
"Use your imagination!" Kari said as she ran up to meet Ragnarok, and crouched low to attempt a leg sweep, striking Ragnarok on his feet and making him stumbled right behind Kari. But as he fell, he threw down on hand to stabilize and rise himself before turning to face Kari again, who glared at him with a Gatomon-like glare.

A large fiery blast exploded on Ragnarok's back, throwing him forward as it surprised him. Kari, also surprised by what just happened, hurried to charge forward, and slashed at Ragnarok's torso before lifting him and throwing him above and behind her.

As he wailed while being thrown, Kari looked behind her to see who attacked Ragnarok…

And it was Kylee…
With red slightly tattered gloves in her hands, along with a red bandanna at her neck…and a purple tail coming out of her back…along with, no doubt, Impmon's ears.

"What? You said to use my imagination." She said with a shrug. "Couldn't I imitate you as well?" she asked.

"Well…never mind…at least it's not for real, like me and Regan…" Kari said with a frown. "Let's just get rid of him."
"Okay." Kylee said.
Ragnarok yelled as he flew back down again. He clasped his hands together, gathering dark energy in them before pointing his open palms at the two girls. Two balls of dark energy flew out of his hands.

While Kari skilfully dodged one ball, Kylee snapped her gloves fingers together, creating a flaming spark which turned in a fireball that flew at one of the dark energy ball and exploded on it.

"Hehe, that's kinda cool…" she said with a sly smile, too much reminding of Impmon. "Hey wait a minute. I better not get too much like Impmon, damnit…" she muttered to herself.

Ragnarok landed hard on the ground, eyeing the two girls with clear hatred. If there was indeed rage, anger in his eyes, along with some intelligence…there indeed seem to have a lack of soul…
Ysera was awfully true…the Ragnarok in front of them was not even the real one…but a meager remnant of the monstrosity that he was…but still a potent danger…

Ragnarok roared again before rearing his wings, then flapping them hard toward the girls, sending out a strong wing, and followed by dark electrical blasts unleashed by his wings.
Both girls leapt out of the way, but one of the multiple electric bolts struck Kari on the leg and she fell on the ground.
"Kari, are you all right?" Kylee asked as she came up Kari.
"Watch out!" she warned. Ragnarok charged strait at them with a mad sneer. Kylee threw herself in the way, attempting to block him with her arm, and he impacted hard on her, pushing easily throwing her back. But Kari lunged from below and struck him with her uninjured leg before slashing her claws at his face, and left multiple red marks on it.

Ragnarok, his face thrown back due to the claw strike of Kari, looked back down at her, the wounds on his face slowly vanishing…
"Down!" Kylee yelled. And Kari obeyed, throwing herself down just as a large fireball flew and exploded on Ragnarok, blasting him in smoke.

"Can you walk Kari?" Kylee asked as she came back to Kari.
"Yeah, I think so." Kari said.
Suddenly, two horrifyingly long arms stretched out of the smoke and grabbed both of the girls by their neck, lifting them up in the air.

Ragnarok stepped out of the smoke, burnt and even more scrapped, which didn't made him look better, his arms unusually stretched and as they held the two girls hard. He growled like a beast as he tried to crush their necks.

Both Kylee and Kari struggled to prevent Ragnarok from killing them, but the effort was proving to be a really hard one. Kylee was finding it slowly more difficult to breathe, and Kari wasn't in a better state as well.

"No…we can't fail…we can't…" Kari thought in despair. "My friends…Gatomon…it can't end like this!!!"
"Anyone…help…" Kari managed to say.
"Come on…" a voice suddenly whispered in her mind…But not Ysera's…

"Catherine?"
"Kari! Help!" her voice suddenly said.

Kari gasped and suddenly screamed. "Nooooooooo!!!"

Something at her right hand started glowing…before a huge flash of light erupted from her, startling Ragnarok who released his grip on Kylee and Kari, seemingly pained by the light as he stumbled back.
Kylee fell on the floor, huffing and catching her breath before she looked at Kari…who still floated in the air, covered in light.

One final flash of light erupted from her, causing Kylee to look away…then her eyes widened as she looked back at Kari…

She floated down, eyes closed and filled with an unusual calmness…However the real detail that really surprised Kylee was something else.

Kari had lost her Gatomon tail, gloves and ears…only to be replaced something else…
Instead of her usual gloves, she was now wearing long white ones…
Her hairs had also grown to a greater length, while she also wore white boots. Also, a pink coloured thin cloth line was partly wrapped around her wrists, floating behind her.
And with that, she also had eight large feathered wings coming out of her back…

"Kari…you digivolved…" Kylee said, easily recognizing how the gloves, wings, boots and the cloth line that normally belonged to Gatomon's Ultimate level…Angewomon…

Though there was a slightly odd detail: Kari lacked Angewomon's suit and her helmet.
Still, Kylee guessed it wouldn't mean Kari was weaker.

Ragnarok growled at Kari before charging at her.
Eyes still closed, Kari brought her hands in front of her before clapping them together, in a smiliar fashion to Angewomon's Heaven's Charm attack.

A pink glow came out of her hands before she separated her hands and extended them to her sides, drawing a long pink arc in front of her, as a vertical pink line of energy also appeared before both the line and the horizontal energy arc of energy flew at Ragnarok, shaped more like a pink coloured cross.

Ragnarok stopped and folded his wings in front of him, obviously seeking to protect himself from the attack as he got enveloped in the pink light that then exploded on him, a loud pained shriek coming out of him.

Kari let out a tired sigh and opened her eyes. "I just hope it can be enough…but knowing Ragnarok, he's probably not gone yet…" she said.
"Why's tha-oh yeah…" Kylee said, rising up and looking toward the smoke, pointing a glove to be ready to strike.

A large serpentine form made of flames surged out of the smoke, but suddenly, multiple energy blasts flew out from behind Kari and Kylee, along with a few fire balls, and exploded on the flaming form, causing it to recoil itself.

Surprised, the girls looked behind them to see two new persons coming, yet quite familiar…and unique.

"Hey girls!" Regan shouted. However, he had drastically changed. The lower halves of his legs and arms were covered in metal, cybernetic limbs that ended in long metallic claws. Two larges metallic wings came out of his back instead of his cloak, and even a pair of jet thrusters were slightly visible in his back and the horns on his head were also covered in metal.

As for Riza…he had changed as well, now actually having Flamedramon's knee pads, a mask much similarly made, feet covering that were also made similar to Flamedramon's. He also wore Flamedramon's chest plate and the same 'gauntlets' than Flamedramon, though more adapted to his hands since it had five claws instead of three.

"Regan? Riza? How are you here?" Kylee asked.
"Some woman named Ysera helped us come here." Riza said.
"Yeah, we can kinda got…well…you can guess it…" Regan said with a shrug. He then eyed Kari with some surprise, actually really noticing her changes. "You digivolved?"
"Yeah…and so does you…again…" Kari said, eyeing with with curiosity.

A roar interrupted them as Ragnarok, in flames charged at them.
"Let's just finish this! We'll talk later!" Regan said, pointing his arms toward Ragnarok, and two slots opened on his cybernetic parts on his arms to reveal two small cannon barrels.
"Right." Kylee said.
Riza threw his right hand backward, bursting in flames, then threw it forward, sending out a volley of fire balls.
Kylee snapped her fingers, sending out a fire ball of her own while Regan's arm cannons shot out multiple multi-coloured energy blasts toward Ragnarok.
And finally, Kari raised her right arm, before the wings on it stretched themselves, Bringing her left hand to her right arm, a white energy arrow appeared on her arm before she released it at Ragnarok.

Ragnarok got struck by all the attacks, stumbling down before he finally got impaled by Kari's 'Celestial Arrow' and finally shrieked one last time before exploding in flames.
While Kylee and Riza slightly protected themselves from the explosion, Regan and Kari did the same, using their wings for that.

Finally, the fire completely faded…and a huge wind flowed out from nowhere, pushing the dark clouds over the city with relative ease, completely dispelling them…

"It's over…" Kari said, clearly relieved, with a tired smile.
"I must congratulate you, young children…" Ysera's voice spoke before the woman herself appeared out in front of them. "I am truly grateful of your actions."
"Oh well, we simply did we had to do." Kylee said, rubbing a hand behind her head. "Oh…also, we aren't keeping those…'states', right?" she asked with some slight uncertainities.
"If you are referring to you and Riza's Bio-Modify status…no, you will not keep them, since you were never affected by the 'appropriate' conditions, like Regan and Kari.
Though, I think there is not doubt that both Regan and Kari did digivolved…" Ysera answered.
"Oh yeah, how did you digivolved again Regan?" Kylee asked.
"I'm not even sure how I did it." Regan said with an uncertain shrug. "Anyway…" he looked at Ysera again, his gaze more serious. "I'd like to thank you for helping us as well."
Ysera simply nodded.
"But…there's something I'd like from you." Regan added.
"Something?" Ysera asked, cocking her head aside a little bit. "You truly are acting a bit arrogant, considering who I am."
"I know." Regan said. "But perhaps you could help me and Kari, about something else this time…"
"And what could it be?" Ysera asked, her expression neutral.
Kari slightly looked at Regan with some hesitation.
"Our partners…Lizomon and Gatomon…Do you know where they are? Perhaps you could bring them to us? Surely, you could do something about them!" Regan said.
Ysera remained silent.
"Please!" Regan pleaded. "You have to help us!"
"Despite the importance you may have, Regan Astrasz, do you honestly believe I can allow such small request?

No. I cannot." Ysera said neutrally.
"But…" Regan started.
"It is enough now. Each of us has done its respective share. Thus, it is over, and you no longuer need to be here." Ysera said on the same previous tone and vanished again.
"Wait!" Regan started and stepped forward.

A huge flash of light engulfed every of the Tamers and Digidestineds.

---

Kylee opened her eyes with a gasp, and she noticed she was lying on the floor…and so was Kari, right in front of her…But Kari had a more saddened expression…

"Damnit!" Regan cursed from the living room. "Damnit!"
Now Kylee understood what had just made Kari sad…

---

"You can't be serious!!!"
"That's the truth…Darius is alive…"
"But somehow…he doesn't remember us…"

Evening had come and the Tamers were taking a dinner with the Digidestineds, at their appartment. And now, they discussed about the odd events that happened prior to this mysterious incident and encounter with Ysera.

"It was him…" Kari continued. "I'm sure of it…but…how he's alive…I have really no idea…"
Kylee remained silent while she was staring at her plate.
"Never thought Ragnarok would have still left one little remain of himself…good thing he's completely out now…" Regan said.
"Kylee? What's wrong?" Kari asked.
"Oh…" Kylee started. "I was thinking about Ysera, and those things in that Emerald Dream…
Regan, do you really think she would have been able to find Lizomon and Gatomon?"
"No doubt about it." Regan said before taking a bit of his mashed potatoes. After swallowed what he ate, he continued. "She's probably able to know about everyone sleeping, thus their minds and soul. That means she should have been able to easily find Lizomon and Gatomon, no matter how big the universe is…"
"But…she was kinda kind to us, and a lot pretty…so why did she went all neutral about that?" Riza said.
"Pretty? You actually gaped when you saw her Riza." Regan said with a smirk, and Riza blushed at the remark.
"She probably has more to deal with…She must have bigger concerns than just the desires of two kids…" Kari said sadly.
The others looked at her silently.
"Considering who she is…the Lady of Dreams…her powers must be really huge…but that means, she must have huge concerns, things much bigger than just us to deal with…" Kari continued. "We'll have to continue by ourselves…to try to find them by ourselves…
All of us have their own parts to do, right?" she finished, looking at the others.
"…Yeah…you're right…" Regan said.

Suddenly, the computer in the next room started beeping before the screen opened.
All of the kids looked toward it, surprised.

And suddenly, a voice was heard, coming out of the computer screen.

"Hello? Is that thing working? Anyone?"

It was Lizomon.

"Lizomon!" Regan shouted, nearly leaping out of his chair and running to the computer screen.
"Regan! It is you! Glad to hear your voice!" Lizomon's voice said happily. Kylee, Riza and Kari also hurried up to the computer.
And the screen finally flared to life, with Lizomon now visible in the screen, filling out most of it…
"Lizomon! Where are you?" Regan asked worryingly.
"Hum well…we're kinda confused about it…but we're still searching a way back to the Digital World…" Lizomon said with some confusion.
"'We'?" Kari said. "Gatomon's with you?" she asked hurryingly.
"Kari!" Gatomon's voice came out before Lizomon moved himself a bit and Gatomon's face showed in the screen, and she clearly was happy to see her partner.
"Gatomon…" Kari said, a smile coming on her face.
"About going back to the Digital World…we aren't there…" Regan said grimly.
"Huh?" Lizomon asked on the screen.
"We're on a Real World…Riza and Kylee. That reminds you of anything?" Regan said.
"Oh…never thought you would have end up somewhere else…but at least, that's a lot better for you two than for Gatomon and me." Lizomon said with some confidence, with turned to some uncertainties. "And sorry about the eject thing…it was kinda the only way I thought about to escape that guy."
"What do you mean?!?" Regan pressed on.
A growling sound was then heard, coming from the screen. Gatomon started to look away. "Lizomon! They're here again!" she said.
"What? Who are 'they'?" Kari asked.
"Sorry, but time's up!" Lizomon said. "Gotta close this before they could notice you or any possible way to you!" Then they saw him pull back his hand, balled in a fist…
And he struck the screen, on his side, which caused the screen on the Digidestineds and the Tamers' side to go blank.

"Lizomon…Lizomon! Answer damnit!!!" Regan said, shaking the screen.
"No…Gatomon…" Kari said, tears forming at the edge of her eyes.
Riza and Kylee remained silent at they watched all of this.
What possibly could have attacked the two digimon, and where could they be?
Kari started crying rather loudly while Regan remained seemingly shocked, his fists slammed on the computer's table as he looked at the now blank screen…
Even Impmon and Veemon remained silent from the events that just happened.

"Regan…" Kylee started. "At least…we know something…that they aren't gone…"
"Yeah!" Impmon quickly added. "They're strong guys! They won't let get themselves easily! They know you care for them, and they wouldn't want to dissapoint you!"
"You know…in all of this…I think Ysera did considered your request…at least a small part of it…" Riza suddenly said, thoughtful.

That made all the others pause. Regan looked at Riza, his expression half-surprised and half-shocked while Kari, still mixed between sadness and newfound surprise, stopped crying to look at him.
"What do you mean?" Kari asked, her voice sounding troubled.
"Regan, you wanted Ysera to find them…perhaps she managed to do something so that they could talk to us, even for a little bit…and at least show that they weren't gone…that they are still alive, trying to get to you…" Riza explained.
"In other words…" Kylee said, slowly realizing the strange truth. "She managed to keep your hopes in a better state…
She kept your dreams alive…What she does best…"

"Our dreams…" Regan repeated. A small, dark smile came on the corner of his mouth. "Heh…seems I was a bit wrong about her…I guess I'll have to apologize to her next time I see her…"
"Perhaps she already knows…" Kari said, still sad. "But what I'd really dream for is to be with Gatomon again…at least I would feel better. Going back to the Digital World without her…I can't do that…"
"So do I…without Lizomon…I can't either…" Regan said darkly.
"At least guys…Ysera did the best she could for you…
She showed you that your dreams aren't really out of reach…that you can still have some hope…" Veemon said. "So you gotta hold on to it…"
"I guess so…" Kari said.

And silence came again among them…

---

Somewhere far beyond, in a much different place…
A world was in ruins…dark digimon running amok.

Yet…some humans and digimon sought to struggle against them, still giving out some resistance.

While many kids with digimon were struggling against a Machinedramon, the huge machine digimon laughed, at how his opponents were weak compared to him…

And suddenly, blasts of flames appeared out of nowhere, consuming the Machinedramon until it left absolutely nothing…

One single form, barely a shadow among others in this ruined world kept his gaze toward where the Machinedramon was before it walked away, unnoticed by anyone.

"Not here…Then…where?" the figure muttered to itself.
Then, it paused and turned to its left. "I know you are there. Show yourself." The figure muttered.

"I am not here to threaten you, Wiseful One." Another deep voice spoke from the shadows.

"Eranikus…" the thin figure spoke. "What are you doing here?"
"I bring word from my mistress. She said you would be interested by such, and it concerned your search."
"Tell me more…"