Oh my stars! Pigs are flying outside my window and Hell is reporting a rather drastic snow level. Believe it or not, I have actually updated! Yes, yes, I know. Why in the now-rather-cold-place have I waited so long? The reason for my literary lethargy actually lies in an uninteresting story of my summer. For some reason, my family deems It necessary to ship me around between relatives during the summer, often for weeks at a time. Don't get me wrong, I love the family, but that situation leaves me unable to do lengthy work on my story. I have been to San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Dillon Beach, and the Russian River over the course of these few months, often for a week or more each. I have also had to deal with my grandmother's broken femur (no lies!) and a few family projects. But enough of my excuses. I want to thank everyone who's waited (and waited) patiently. I should never have to keep you guys in the dark like I did at times, but here's to Jared Head, Renaki, BlueRenamon, and everyone else who has read or reviewed. You can expect a more frequent rate of updates from now on, because I'm not giving this one up. Now I'll shut up and let you read. Enjoy.

Matt awoke to the sound of softly chirping birds and opened his eyes to witness the first rays of dawn gently filtering through his window. He allowed his eyes to close momentarily as he lay there, but a flood of recollection for the previous day's events chose that particular moment to soak into him and they snapped open again.

"Sasha." he breathed.

He remembered everything, but had any of it actually occurred outside of a dream? It all sounded so absurd, and yet he could still visualize everything with an uncanny clarity, a certainty which he felt would never lie to him. Determined to know the truth of the matter, Matt gritted his teeth in apprehension and turned in his bed to peer over the edge.

His waiting eyes beheld a despicably clean floor, no blankets and definitely no Sasha. He sighed long and loud, falling backwards onto his bed. It had all seemed so real, so understandably clear…

"Shoulda known it was to good to be true…" he said aloud to himself, tacking on a frustrated "Damnit!" at the end of his vocalization. It wasn't the first set of realistic dreams he had had, but it was certainly the most painful.

He felt like he had lost an old friend, a companion that was going to change everything…

Bitter thoughts dripping down his mind, Matt grudgingly got out of bed and proceeded to get dressed, face downcast all the while. When he reached to the desk for his knife and watch, however, he noticed something strange. Next to the two items lay a third, a piece of printer paper rolled up tight and sealed with a rubber band.

It hadn't been there when he went to bed. Hope and curiosity flowing within him once more, he snatched the sheet of paper and hurriedly removed the constricting band. He unfurled it and his eyes ran over graceful, elongated printing.

Definitely not his handwriting nor that of any other family member of his.

Matt began to smile to himself as he took in the relieving words.

Matt,

No, it wasn't a dream. You looked like you were having a good dream, and I felt it wouldn't have been right to wake you. I picked up the sheets off the floor just in case your family manages to barge in, so hopefully they won't be able to ask any questions. I'm out at the park for now, but when you need me just use the small "Page" button in the Location section of your D-Power. Although now that I think about it, you probably already knew that, didn't you? See you in a bit.

Sasha (Here it looked as though "Renamon" had been written and then erased)

With a huge grin on his face, Matt could not help but fall back on his bed and let out a relieved breath. Life was good again.

He considered calling Sasha then and there, but decided to let her have a bit more time to herself. After all, her situation was not too different from his own: she was having to deal with an alternate lifestyle and a new concrete duty just as he was. She could probably use the time to think.

With a smile present upon his face once again, Matt unlocked his door and stepped downstairs, skirting a sleeping feline in the process. His brother was sitting at the table eating breakfast while his mother cleaned the kitchen and his father picked up trash and dirty dishes from the family room and living room.

"Finally he's awake." his eleven year-old brother, Chris, said with a voice that oozed sarcasm.

"Pfft. It's only-" Matt said as he turned to glance at the digital clock face above the oven. "10:00… Crap. I guess I did sleep pretty late…"

"Yeah, well you're lucky we saved you some food." his mother said as she handed him a plate piled with scrambled eggs and a bagel. "By the way," she continued, "have you seen the steak from last night? I could have sworn I left it out on the stove, but I couldn't find it last night to put it away."

Matt allowed a faint smirk to inch across his mouth. "No, Mom, I haven't seen it. Maybe one of the cats took it and hid it somewhere."

"I wouldn't put it past Spenser. That cat'll take anything edible that isn't roped down." his mom remarked.

"Anyway," Matt started, "I think I'm gonna go out to today and pick up a new tube for my bike tire. The old one's completely trashed. Anything you need me to get while I'm out?" he said in between mouthfuls of food.

"No, I don't think we desperately need anything right now, so you don't have to worry."

"Right, then I'll go get my money and I'll be off, alright?" Matt said as he gulped down his last bit of breakfast and stood up from the table.

"Done already?" his mother questioned. "I swear, you don't eat your food so much as inhale it. Which store are you going to?"

"The one in the Greenfield Plaza." Matt called back from the top of the stairs. "That cool?"

"Yeah."

Matt slid into his room and swiftly shut the door behind him. Moving to his desk, he pulled open a drawer and retrieved his D-Power from within, lighting up the small screen in the process. A few clicks later and he was at the Location section of the small technological instrument. Sure enough, there was a small button that read "PAGE" in the lower right section of his D-Power.

As soon as he clicked the tiny option, the holographic screen that had displayed the map retracted and the D-Power screen went white. "Connecting…" began to flash in the center of the screen, followed shortly by "Connected" and "Link Established".

The thing emitted a sharp "Ding!" and was silent, the holographic screen projecting once more from the D-Power. As Matt watched, the small yellow blip from last night began to move toward his house, though this time it bore tiny yellow type underneath it. "SASHA" it read.

Satisfied, he put the D-Power back into his pocket and moved to his bookshelf, removing a tattered copy of 1984. He flipped to page 84 and pulled out a small bronze key taped to the paper. He threw the book onto his bed and inserted the key into the safe on his desk, pulling the drawer out to reveal a green wad of bills and a few objects of more sentimental value.

As he thumbed through the money in his hand, he heard two distinct clacks at his window. He flipped the lock into place on his door and opened the window above his dresser.

"All clear." he spoke.

Sasha phased into the room beside him, a small smile showing on her face as she looked over her Tamer.

"Good morning." she said.

"Same to you. How's everything look out there?"

"If you're talking about the rifts, it's all quiet."

"Perfect. That will give us a bit more time, then. I have to go out and buy some stuff today. You want to come along?"

Sasha shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"Cool. Hang on just a sec." Matt stuffed two twenties into his pocket and threw the rest in the safe. After he shut it and replaced the key, he turned to Sasha and nodded. He moved to open the door and Sasha disappeared from the room.

Matt passed a quick goodbye to his mom and was out of the house and moving across his lawn to the field that ran behind his cul-de-sac. With a quick jump and push, he cleared the metal fence and dropped into the tall grass, standing up again to scout Sasha's whereabouts. Shielding his eyes from the sun with one hand, he spun around multiple times trying to find the elusive digimon.

Matt jumped in surprise as his partner materialized out of the air in front of him.

"Are you ready?" she questioned.

"God, I'm gonna have to get used to that… Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go." Matt turned and strode off through the browned grasses, the taller stalks crunching as they fell beneath the soles of his shoes.

Sasha sped up and walked alongside him.

"You're not worried that someone might see me?" she queried. "Yesterday you were so deadset on keeping my existence a secret from your family. Why the sudden change in attitude?"

Matt chuckled, slightly embarrassed. "I'm afraid the situation with my family will not change so fast, and for that I'm sorry-"

"I understand that."

"Right, but I've come to realize that you're intelligent enough to take care of yourself."

"One can only hope so."

"Heh. Plus, it'd probably be pretty hard to be spotted by the average passerby nowadays. People are always plugged into their earpieces and their cell phones; they're almost always too busy texting to take real notice of their surroundings. They always watch the sidewalk or their screen, hardly ever glancing at the sky. I bet if you stood in a tree or on a secluded rooftop, no one would care to exert the effort it would take to see you." Matt said with slight disdain.

"You seem very sure about all of this."

"Oh yes. I have great faith in the ignorance of others." Matt said with a laugh.

"Then I have faith in you." Sasha finished. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"There's a shopping center not too far from here called Greenfield Plaza. They have a couple of stores I need to check out, y'know, bike stores, electronics, stuff like that." As grass gave way to gravel underfoot, Matt added, "We're coming up on the main road. If you ever wanted to practice your tree-climbing, this is the perfect time."

Sasha scoffed. "Practice? I'll have you know, scaling trees is second-nature to me." With that, she bounded toward the trunk of the tree and leapt gracefully into the upper branches, blinded from sight by the thick blanket of leaves.

The body of the tree shivered slightly as she landed, and the motions carried out into ripples all across the mass of green leaves, looking for all the world like the tree was alive. Matt had to stifle a grin as he heard a distinct "Ouch!" descend from the leafy canopy of the tall tree. As he strode past the trunk and onto the paved sidewalk, he couldn't help but smile.

"Second nature indeed." he muttered aloud.