Author's Note: So after nearly half a year of no updates or anything I am back. I apologize for that as a lot of things occurred in the past half of year, but that's not really important. I don't want to let thing story die so I'm going to try and update regularly again. We'll see how long that lasts when I get a job, but I'd really like to be able to finish this at some point (and we still have such a long journey ahead of us.)

Still, thank you to all my reviewers who continue to support me even when it seemed like I had given up on this story. I apologize for that and I hope I haven't lost TOO many readers in the process. Regardless, enjoy this installment and hopefully I will be back soon with more.

(Episode 10: Dreams of Courage and Light)

Light was all around him but it didn't blind him. On the contrary, this light was soft and warm; it gave him strength but also made him feel safe, like it was protecting him. He wasn't sure if this was a dream or real as he felt like he was floating, but he knew anything was possible in the Digital World.

'koji'

The boy looked up when he heard his name. Someone was calling to him but there was no one but him in all this whiteness. He stepped forward, "Hello?"

The voice did not speak again but the light started to change. Koji sensed it more than actually saw a change in it. It was like the light was quivering or shifting at least that was the best way Koji could put it to words. The light seemed to glow brighter and Koji turned to the source. Amidst all the white light there seemed to be a form, though he couldn't make it out.

'koji your light is what is needed. it is the only thing that will turn the tides of War. you must find the true power of your light.'

Koji started running, trying to catch up to the figure. The shape was becoming clearer, along with the voice. "What do you mean? Who are you?" He called, reaching out to try and grasp the white form within the light.

'awaken lobomon. your light and his are the same...powerful and comforting at the same time. soft like the light of the moon but also an element that powers the sun as well. you must know this koji for it will set other things in motion.'

Suddenly Koji felt something behind him and he froze. The figure was still before him but now there was another presence and it was not as welcomed. He shuddered and turned, eyes widening as he saw a dark, black stain of a shadow stretching out behind him. At first he thought it was his own shadow but it was not in his shape. He did not recognize it at all and started to panic. What was happening? He was the Warrior of Light and he no longer possessed the elements of Darkness.

'koji. the shadows grow deeper...it was why you were called here. the shadows corrupting apollomon and yggdrasil...they are the same source. find what casts the shadow.'

He turned to the voice again but now the figure he had seen in the light was gone. Koji tried to step forward but he felt something grab his ankle. The large form of the shadow was rising and was no longer flat like a shadow should be. It was then that Koji realized where he had seen this shadow before. It was the same figure he had seen in Dianamon's well. It was Apollomon. Koji yelped as Apollomon's grip on his leg tightened and yanked him backwards. "No! No! Let me GO!"

Without warning light burst out of Koji and punched through Apollomon, two bright beams of light that completely evaporated the shadow. As Apollomon's dark shadow dissipated into nothingness the twin beams of light began to take shape. Their backs were to Koji but he recognized immediately who and what they were, "Lobomon! KendoGarurumon!"

"Discover your true powers of Light, Koji," Lobomon said.

"Your Light is the one that'll guide the way for the others," KendoGarurumon added.

Confusion flashed across Koji's face, "I don't understand. What does any of this mean? Why is my light so important and how do I awaken it?" His eyes widened, "Is this the power Dianamon was talking about for us? Please! Tell me!"

Lobomon smirked at Koji over his shoulder, "I'm afraid we can only say so much. It has to be YOU that discovers it Koji." KendoGarurumon nodded and in another flash of light they were gone and Koji jolted awake just as Yggdrasil started to transition into dawn.

He was breathing heavy and he couldn't believe that it was daylight already. He stared at his hands for a long time, having trouble believing that it was all a dream. "It felt...so real," he muttered, recalling every detail. Koji looked up and was surprised to find Tai was awake as well and looking just as shaken by his dreams. They made eye contact and Koji got the sudden feeling that Tai had experienced something similar.

Tai looked away from Koji, closing his eyes and recalling the dream that had just woke him up. It couldn't have been a coincidence that Koji had woken up at the exact same time. Tai took a deep breath and the dream played again before his eyes...

Tai didn't quite understand it, but he was back at the cave where he had first found his crest. It was carved deeply into the wall of the cave and Tai couldn't help but reach out and touch it. He'd come a long way from the kid who had stumbled along in the digital world with his friends, trying to get back home and not die at the hands of some crazed digital evil. As if in response to his touch the sun design of the crest began to glow orange. Tai blinked in surprise and soon had to shield his eyes as the glow increased and enveloped him in its warmth.

When he opened them again he was floating in an orange glowing light, with no sense of up or down. He was surprised and looked around, trying to get a sense of where he was, but there were no landmarks or anything other than the orange light surrounding him.

"tai."

He looked up, expecting to find someone floating above him but there was no one. "Hello? Uhm, hey, this is fun and all but can someone explain to me what is going on?" There was no answer, but Tai saw a shape start to take form above him. He squinted his eyes, trying to make it out but it still didn't become any clearer.

"tai. you must awaken the courage within you again. you are needed for the task ahead. Courage is needed to repel the tides of War."

Tai felt warmth growing in his chest, it was a feeling he hadn't had in a long time. He thought they had released the powers of the crests to protect their own digital world, but there was no mistaking this feeling in his heart. His hand went to his chest and, sure enough, when he looked down he could see a light shining beneath his hand, the familiar orange light of the crest of Courage. He looked back up, eyes wide, "But I thought we gave up these powers. Isn't it needed to protect the Digital World?"

"there is a greater threat. this is a great world and anything is possible here, especially for the children chosen to protect it. you should know better than to think the manifestation of courage would ever truly leave you." The mysterious voice seemed bemused by his reaction. Tai wasn't sure if he should feel better about this or not. After all, it wasn't like he needed the crest to digivolve Agumon, not when Azulongmon had granted them the ability a while ago. As if reading his thoughts the voice responded, "there is more to the powers of the crest than you realize, than Gennai or the Harmonious Ones ever realized."

Now THAT was hard for Tai to believe, but the voice sounded so sure. Tai looked down, removing his hand to see the shape of the crest glowing on his chest. It reminded him of his final battle with Apocalymon and he was pretty sure that wasn't a good thing. As Tai looked up towards the figure he couldn't quite see, Tai realized the nature of the light around him had changed. The warm orange glow was slowly being changed to an ominous shade of red. Tai shifted anxiously, he didn't understand what was going on but the nature of this place (he was reluctant to call it a dream) had changed.

Suddenly the red light became a towering figure holding a sword and with a cry of rage the figure rushed at Tai. Tai yelped and jumped back just as the sword swiped at his body. The figure continued to attack, howling with rage and hatred but his form was still unclear to Tai, and although he had a feeling it was not the same figure that had spoken to him earlier.

And on cue, the voice echoed in his ear, "when Courage is corrupted by the wrath of War, the chosen must step forward to show the true mark of bravery." He didn't know what that meant, but apparently it was supposed to be helpful. Tai didn't see HOW it was helpful, it wouldn't save him from the sword. He knew it was futile but he brought his hand up to shield himself as the sword and the figure came bearing down on him again. "AAAAAH!"

But the blow never came. Tai looked up and saw that a sword had appeared between him and the red-glowing figure. The sword between them pulsed with energy and Tai realized it looked like the same energy that had flowed around Takuya. What was even more surprising was the sword's hilt seemed to be styled much like the Crest of Courage. It was rounded and had spokes like a sun with one of the spokes stretching out to make the actual blade of the sword. For some reason, the sword reminded him a bit of Omnimon's sword, but it was clearly meant to be wielded by someone smaller, someone possibly like Tai. Its power seemed to keep the figure at bay and no matter how hard he pressed against it, the pulse from the blade kept him back. The red light began to fade as the orange light overcame it and soon it was just Tai and the sword left in a field of orange light.

"What. the. heck," Tai managed to get out, not used to such strange things happening, even in his adventures in the digital world. He felt drawn to the sword that was left behind and reached out for it, but before he could touch it the dream ended and Tai found himself lying on his mat again, hand outstretched towards the sky. Tai blinked and sat up. He felt strangely empty, like he was missing something. However, his chest still felt warm from the glow of the crest and he had to double check to make sure he, himself, wasn't glowing.

Everyone was silent as Tai and Koji finished sharing their dreams. Between the two of them, they weren't sure what was more troubling, the dreams themselves or the fact that they had been so similar. Remembering what had happened to Takuya and now this, Tai was starting to worry what changes they were going to experience here in this version of the digital world. He felt uncomfortable. At least Takuya was USED to fighting as a digimon, Tai may have been his team's leader but he'd never actually done much fighting. Sure, fist fights in school were one thing but the thought of battling a digimon troubled him. He shook it off, "Any thoughts?"

"Just that this place is getting weirder by the minute," Davis muttered, promptly receiving an elbow from Veemon. "Ow!"

Ken shook his head but looked over at Tai, "Davis has a point though. This is beyond anything we've dealt with before. These powers or abilities...I'm not sure I'm ready for something like that." He was even less of a fighter than Tai and the prospect scared him a bit. Wormmon nudged his partner, they had talked about this some last night especially when Ken couldn't sleep.

"Well, there isn't much we can do about it is there," Matt piped up, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. Everyone turned to look at him. "I'm not complaining, but the digital world never seems to give us much choice in the matter as to what they're going to throw at us. We just have to be ready for whatever happens and do the best we can." He was looking at Tai as he said this but it was directed at everyone present. He was no stranger to the digital world throwing them curveballs at every turn. "What we can focus on is doing what we set out to do in the first place. Go to this Apollomon guy and see what's up. If there is some kind of War brewing it's got to be related to him."

There wasn't much argument there. Apollomon did seem to be at the center of all this, especially if they considered Koji's dream. Ken looked down at Wormmon and felt a pang of sadness, "Are we just going to leave this village undefended then. It was just destroyed, it doesn't seem right to just leave them behind without helping first."

"This village was probably going to be attacked anyway," Henry said, ever the realist.

Agumon huffed, "That's not a very nice thing to say!"

But Henry ignored him and continued, "And Dianamon gave us a mission. We can help these digimon best by doing what Matt said and getting to Apollomon as soon as possible, especially if he has more forces like the ones that attacked yesterday."

"The boy's right," a familiar voice said and they all turned to see Superstarmon standing nearby. "Just came to check on you lot and see that you were planning on headin' out soon. Not rushin' you or nothing but the desert ain't far from here and figured you all would wanna head on out." Superstarmon was not alone, next to him was the ever present Grizzlymon and both of them seemed to be carrying large stacks of cloth.

"We can't just leave you like this," Ken insisted, rising from his spot on the ground, "Your homes were destroyed and-"

"That is our burden to bare," Grizzlymon said, smiling slightly at his kindness, "We appreciate it, we do, but we can rebuild ourselves and as the chosen ones you are the only ones capable of defeating Apollomon and his hoards. We are counting on you to do this for us since we must stay behind and repair the village."

It was clear that they were not going to take no for an answer. Superstarmon stepped forward and held out the pile, "Not that we're sending you out empty handed. We managed to rescue these. They're special cloaks made for traveling the desert area. They'll protect you from the harsher weather there and could be good for layin' low from Apollomon." The cloaks were a light brown bordering on white and made of a durable but breathable material. The boys and even some of the larger digimon got some. "We can't give ya much else, but I'm sure you understand."

"We do. Thank you," Henry spoke for the group, bowing his head in gratitude. The rest of the boys followed his gesture.

Superstarmon nodded, "Now then. Ya'll should stop by and see us when all this is over. Thanks to all the hubbub I didn't get to really properly meet with ya for myself. But fighting alongside you all was a real treat." He gave them a thumbs up and then turned to leave.

Grizzlymon chuckled and nodded to the boys as she, too, turned to leave, "Please take care. We appreciate all you have done for us in fighting the fire...we will tell Dianamon of your progress and may she bless the rest of your way."

As she left Koji gasped, snapping his fingers. The group turned to him. "What's up," Takuya asked.

"Dianamon! I just realized. THAT was the voice of the figure I saw in my dream who I couldn't quite make out!" Everyone turned to Tai to see if he had the same conclusion. Tai thought about it for a moment, closing his eyes as he once again recalled the dream.

He opened his eyes again and nodded solemnly, "I think it was, yeah. Weird, so you think she sent those dreams to us?"

Koji crossed his arms, "It could have been someone or something using her voice, but it sounds like something she would do and be cryptic about."

"Maybe it was that mysterious well she had," Gabumon suggested, recalling that Dianamon was able to see things through it. She was a powerful digimon and perhaps she had spoken to them in their dreams to help them on the next step of their journey.

"Too bad we can't ask her about it," Agumon remarked, looking up at Tai who still seemed troubled about the dream.

Tai shrugged it off, "Nah. Even if we could she'd probably say something cryptic about us having to discover the answers for ourselves. Anyway, we should head out, if I remember the map right we'll have to cross a river before getting to the desert. We can't stay here and let Apollomon's forces get away with what they did."

And so, the group started heading out of Asphodel Village. Ken glanced back, coming up at the rear of the group. He wished there was more he could do for these digimon. The destruction of their village was a sour reminder of his own time as the Digimon Emperor and he didn't like seeing such things again. Wormmon noticed his partner's lagging and scooted over to him. "Is everything okay, Ken? I know it's hard...but this is a way of helping them too."

Ken sighed as he turned his eyes away from the sight and down to Wormmon, "I know. It's just hard to see things like this and know that I could do more. I WANT to do more, but I guess they can handle repairing the village and...and maybe after we take care of Apollomon we can come back and fix the village as well."

"That's the way Ken," Wormmon chirped before scooting off again. Ken gave him a tiny smile he didn't see and followed behind him.