I'm back! I hope everyone had a spectacular Easter! Review and let me know what you guys think!

As usual, I don't own Digimon, or anything else that you may recognize.

The Tamers all crowed around Ryo's unconscious body. The Digidestined tried to get in close too, but Cyberdramon blocked their way. Tai walked forward and looked straight into the digimon's eyes. Or at least where he thought they were. He couldn't exactly tell with the armor he was wearing.

The cyborg growled defensively. "Don't come any closer. I know what you did. Ryo doesn't want to see you."

The brown-haired boy continued to look at the digimon, seeming to have a silent conversation with him.

Finally, Tai looked at the ground ashamed, "He's right. Come on guys. Let's go over here for a while."

The younger Digidestined all looked confused except TK, Kari, and Ken.

"What are you talking about?" Cody asked.

Tai didn't respond, so Matt did for him. "Cody, we as a group have made some decisions that were, I wouldn't say bad, but not ideal. I think that you've learned that not everything is black and white, and us older Digidestined have had to make some difficult decisions. In essence, the Sovereign took advantage of Ryo and tricked him so that he would train to fight Millenniummon, a powerful evil digimon that only he could defeat. When we found out, none of us told him. We wanted to, but we couldn't find an alternate solution. Millenniummon was too dangerous and powerful."

Ken was sitting on the ground staring into space. Davis walked over, "Ken? What's wrong?"

"Ryo is here. I can't believe it. After all these years, part of me thought that he was dead."

"Ken, what are you talking about? Who is this Ryo guy?"

"He was friends with my brother and me before Sam died. He went to the Digiworld too. I helped him save the world when that black spore got imbedded into my neck. We were fighting Millenniummon like Matt said. Ryo was like another big brother to me. Then he went to this tournament. In fact, I convinced him to go to because Gennai told me to. Then it turned out to just be something to train him to fight Millenniummon again. When he went to fight that monster again, his island lair blew up. No one could find Ryo again. I blamed myself because I was the one who convinced him to do the tournament even though he didn't want to go back to the Digiworld."

"Ken, it's not your fault. How could you know?"

"Davis, you don't understand I blamed myself when he was gone and when Sam died. That grief was what pushed me to become the Digimon Emperor. I just need some time to process."

"Ok." Davis sat down beside his friend and to provide him companionship as he stared blankly into space.

The Tamers crowded around Ryo's body and watched intently. He twitched around as he relived his memories. It was terrible to watch.

Finally, Rika couldn't take it, "Ryo! Stop! Whatever is going on, stop! Wake up!" She shook him.

"Rika, stop." Henry said grabbing her.

But it did nothing. He still laid lost in own thoughts. Giving up hope, Rika whispered his name again, fearing for her friend's life, "Ryo, please."

Suddenly, his hand grabbed her hand that was still resting on his shoulder. "Hey Wildcat," he said opening his eyes.

"Ryo!" Shouted Takato relieved.

Everyone's attention was drawn back to the boy. He got up slowly and shakily walked toward the Digidestined. He approached Ken. Ken stood up and tensed. "Ken…"

"R-R-Ryo?"

Both had an intense look on their face, one of great emotion. Finally, Ryo couldn't handle it anymore. He brought Ken into a tight embrace. Tears began running down Ken's face as his emotions overwhelmed him. Pulling back, Ryo asked, "Ken what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"You're alive! I can't believe it. You are standing right here in front of my eyes."

"Ken, I'm so sorry for everything that happened. For not protecting you and then just abandoning you."

"Why didn't you come home?"

"I just couldn't, not after everything that had happened. I was just a kid. I wasn't ready for anything that happened. I tried to stay strong, but eventually, I needed to get away."

"Your parents kept looking for you, but there was no trace. It was horrible lying to them. We all missed you so much, Sam especially. He was the only one who knew the truth you know. I told him since he knew about the Digital World. I think he hated me after that."

Ryo winced. "I'm sure that isn't true. The Sam I knew loved you to death. Anyway, how are they, my parents?"

"They miss you a lot, but you know, life does manage to go on somehow."

"And Sam?"

Ken grimaced, "Ryo, Sam is dead."

"What? Wait no, he can't be."

"It wasn't long after you disappeared. He got hit by a car."

Ryo sat down on the ground, overwhelmed by grief from both his past as well as this recent news. "I don't understand. How could he die?"

A flash of rage rivaling that from his Digimon Emperor days overtook the boy genius. "How could you leave us Ryo? He was devastated. Then you couldn't even go to his funeral after he died."

Taken aback by his friend's ferocity, Ryo studdered, "I- I have no other answer for that other than what I said. Ken, can you ever forgive me?"

There was complete silence following Ryo's desperate plea. For a moment it seemed like Ken was going to hit his friend. But, slowly the rage faded from Ken's eyes. It was replaced by a deep grief. The one that had tormented him for the past few years. "Can I forgive you? No, can you forgive me. It's my fault this all happened. I shouldn't have listened when they told me to get you to take that survey. I knew you didn't want to go back. And, ultimately, that's the reason we lost you. I ruined Sam's last days and I ruined your life."

"Ken…"

"And not only that, but then I became the Digimon Emperor. I forgot entirely who I was and became a person who I hate."

"Wait, Ken, you became that?" Ryo looked at his feet. He had desperately hoped that would never happen. The Digimon Emperor Ken had been one of the most horrible things that Millenniummon had tormented him with.

"Yeah, I know I'm despicable."

Ryo looked up at him, hurt deep in his eyes, "Ken, no, you're not. I am. You took that spore for me, and I was supposed to take care of you. I was supposed to protect you and I failed! I failed you and I failed Sam! If I hadn't gone away, I could have stopped this."

"Stop!" Jeri yelled at the pair. "Passing around blame, even if it is on yourself, doesn't do any good. If I had let blame continue to consume me, the D-Reaper would still exist. The past is in the past. You need to forgive each other and move one. Sure it affects us, but we need to be present and look toward the future."

"Wow Jeri," Ryo said with a slight smile, "when did you get so wise?"

"Well you know…" Jeri blushed at the compliment.

Ryo took a deep breath and walked toward the group of older Digidestined. He addressed all of them. "You guys hurt me in the past. You hurt me a lot. I know that in some ways, you did what you had to. But, that doesn't mean that I'm just going to brush it off. If I have to, I will work with you. I understand that you are powerful. But I need time. I haven't had my memories for 4 years now. While I am now more mature and emotionally equipped to handle them, I haven't actually had time to deal with them. Like I said, I will work with you, but I'm not ready to forgive or trust you yet."

Tai nodded. "Ryo, know that we are sorry for what happened. If you need our help, please, know that we'll give it. I hope someday we'll be able to be friends again. I liked it when we were."

Ryo turned from them and proceeded to Becky and Annalismon. "Thank you," he said, "for being one of the few who cared about me beyond what I could do for the Digiworld. Thank you for holding my hand through the hard times, and for giving me a choice to remember. I imagine you had orders to make me forget. Not only for that, but for being honest the whole time. To you, I wasn't some pawn, but a person. I guess that's probably why I was able to trust you back in the Real World. Deep down I knew you were good."

Becky smiled, "It's what every person deserves. But it takes being intentional."

"Ryo, what the heck is going on?" Rika asked angrily. She had almost lost her friend, and now nothing he was saying made sense. She wanted answers.

"Don't worry, I'll explain to you guys when we get back. Trust me Wildcat, I'll need someone to help me hash this out. While Cyberdramon is my partner, he's not the best conversationalist."

"Umm Ok…"

Gennai came up to Ryo. "Are you ready to leave?"

Ryo looked to Takato, who looked to Davis, who looked to Tai. All three nodded. "Ok, let's follow Azulongmon."

The group walked for a long time, in relative silence. After all they had seen, there wasn't much to talk about at the moment.

Becky wondered about the prophecy. If it was coming to pass, then this wasn't the only emotional hurdle that they would have to pass. They were quickly becoming a group. Ryo had discovered his past, and now there was only one person missing from the party of Japanese Digidestined and Tamers. She knew if it was time, the group would swell, but the Tamers were yet not complete. Would another emotional hurdle be passed again today?

TK was a bit further back in the group, among the Tamers. He wanted the chance to meet these new people. He fell into step with Jeri. He smiled at her brightly and said, "Hello! I wanted to formally introduce myself. I'm TK, and this is my partner, Patamon." Patamon waved a paw as he fluttered over TK's shoulder for a second.

"Hi, my name is Jeri, and this little fluff ball is…"

"Calumon! That's my name!" The little white and purple digimon declared. He jumped off of Jeri's shoulder onto TK's. He looked at Patamon, "Do you want to play?"

Patamon looked at the strange digimon with surprise. "Umm not now, you know we're kinda on a mission, but maybe later?"

"You're no fun! I'm going over to Guilmon. He's tons of fun, even when he's on a mission." With that, the little digimon scampered away.

Patamon, taken aback by Calumon's behavior, whispered to his partner, "TK, I don't think I've ever met a digimon that strange in my life."

He laughed at his partner's response. Calumon was like a hyper little kid. "Is that your partner?" he asked.

Jeri's face fell. "No," she said quietly, "he isn't."

TK instantly noticed the change in her disposition and wondered what he had done wrong. "Oh, sorry, is there something wrong?"

Jeri shook her head a little and said, "Huh? No, there isn't. I'm sorry, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just still trying to deal with stuff."

TK noticed her evasion of exactly what stuff she was trying to deal with. He assumed that it had something to do with her partner. Maybe she didn't have one yet.

Suddenly, Jeri froze. For a couple hours the group had been following Azulongmon back the way that they had gone. Takato looked at Jeri and asked, "What's wrong?" But then, realizing where they were, he tensed up and gulped. Sadness came over Jeri's eyes.

TK looked over at the only familiar face, Ryo, and asked, "What's going on?"

The boy didn't say anything. He just ignored the Digidestined.

Henry, humoring his teammate's dislike of the Digidestined, sighed and answered, "Jeri lost her partner, Leomon here. There are a lot of bad memories here."

Jeri sank to the ground and began to cry. Takato walked over and put an arm around her. "Jeri, I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do to make this ok. Talk to me please."

"Takato, as much as I appreciate you trying, you just don't understand. The memories are too strong here, and all I can think about is Leomon and Megidramon. It's too horrible."

"Jeri, I never meant for that to happen. I'm so sorry." Takato back off and sat down away from the group, feeling guilty for contributing to her pain.

TK felt bad for the girl. He knew what it was like to lose a partner. He walked over. "Jeri?"

She looked up at the blond. "What?" She asked harshly. "Going to tell me to move on, or tell me that I'm not fit to be a Tamer?"

TK put his hand on her back. "No, not at all. You should be sad. You know, I lost my partner once."

Jeri looked up at him, "What do you mean? You're partner is there right beside you."

TK sighed, "Let me tell you a story. I wouldn't imagine that all those TV shows that we're supposedly starring in are really accurate. See, I was really young when I first went to the Digiworld. I was 8, so not as young a Suzie, but I was still pretty immature. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Kari, who was in the same grade, was more mature. Anyways, when we first came to the Digiworld, we fought this very evil digimon, Devimon. He wanted to take over the world."

"We were told that we had to rid the Digiworld of evil before we could go home, so we all fought against him. Increasingly, Devimon pursued power through the powers of darkness to try and defeat us. He tried to keep us from getting our digimon to digivolve. Apparently there was a prophecy. We were supposed to defeat him, specifically me."

"Finally, we went to try and finish Devimon off for good on top of Infinity Mountain. He used the powers of darkness to make himself so powerful, it seemed impossible to beat him. Then he went to grab me, but Patamon got in the way. Somehow in that moment, Patamon was finally able to tap into my energy and digivolve. It became apparent why he was the one who had to do it. He digivolved into Angemon. You know the whole angel beats the demon thing. It was an intense battle, and I was so worried. Then, just as hope seemed to be lost, Angemon used the power of the digivices to strengthen himself to make the final blow." TK's voice broke as he remembered the painful memories that he so often tried to avoid. He had never told any of the younger Digidestined this part beyond Kari. Cody only knew because Matt had told him. He felt their eyes on him as he spoke.

"Th-The problem was that it took all of Angemon's strength to make that blow powerful enough. As Devimon began to delete, he called Angemon a fool for making the sacrifice. I watched Angemon delete before my eyes. See, we didn't know that much about digimon at the time. I thought it would be the last time I saw him. It was almost like the biggest stroke of luck that I was able to hold Patamon's digiegg in my arms."

Jeri looked up at the boy. "I know it probably seems like my sob story is nothing compared to yours, but I truly do understand." He bent down and hugged the crying girl.

She sobbed into his shoulder, "I just want him to come back. It's not fair!"

"He should come back. He's a digimon. They never really die." TK tried to soothe.

"I'm afraid that it doesn't work like that here," Henry said sadly.

TK shook his head, "No, I refuse to give up hope."

Rika came over and slapped TK, "Stop it! False hope is just as bad as lying to her."

"Rika!" Jeri scolded angrily, "Stop. Maybe TK does know something."

"Jeri, Leomon's data is gone. Beelzemon absorbed his data."

TK had a thoughtful look on his face, "Hmm… I've never seen a digimon absorb data before, but I bet that if he would give it back, Leomon could be reborn."

Calumon smiled as he landed on Jeri's shoulder, "I bet Impmon would give it back!"

"Renemon," Rika asked, "Is that possible?"

"I don't know Rika. I've never heard of anything like it. Digimon absorb data because they want to get stronger, they don't just give it up."

"I guess we won't know until we see Impmon. He's in the Real World with Ai and Mako right now." Jeri sighed.

Janyu Wong sat in a chair at a computer in Hypnos. He was desperately trying to analyze the signal of the Digital Portal. He hoped to be able to manipulate the signal so that they would be able to send the children some help. Henry and Suzie weighed heavily on his mind.

Yamaki walked in the door. "We investigated the scene of the energy surge. All we were able to find was this." He held up a laptop computer with a strange looking screen.

"Let me take a closer look at that." Janyu said curiously. He took a closer look and gasped, "Yamaki! This is a picture of the Digital World!"

"I know. We looked a bit into the owner of the computer by looking through some of the files. Apparently the owner is an Izzy from Odibah. He knows a bit about Digimon, but that's all we can tell from the names of the documents saved on this. We've tried getting into his files, but this guy has iron clad security procedures. We haven't been able to break them yet. This guy, whoever he is, is a genius. If he applied, I'd hire him on the spot."

Janyu looked confused, "An Izzy from Odibah? That sounds familiar. Isn't that a character from the kid's Digimon television show? Is he really real?"

Yamaki shrugged, "At this point, I've stopped asking myself if things like that."

"I suppose you're right."

"Anyways," Yamaki continued, "We decided to see if all the Tamers were gone. They are." Janyu's heart sank, "Except for two."

"Did any of youz need a hero?" Beelzemon stood in the doorway.

"Yeah, are you ready to go back to the Digital World?" Janyu asked with a smile.