This chapter is my belated celebration for announcement of Digimon Tri, IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE! My greatest wish for this fandom is to see a correction for all the wrong in 02! XDDD So here is a LONG chapter! Worth 2 chap as it contains EP 2-3!

(¯ˆ·.¸The Descend of Hope¸.·ˆ¯)

Digital World

It was an interesting sight, for the human group to be sucked into the TV screen. Patamon had no idea the thing he and Takeru installed all over the place two years ago with Gennai when mapping digital world could function like this. It was a shame he was back to child level, so he had no access to mini-computer in his helmet to analyze the TV.

"So now they can return as they please." Tailmon said. "Good for Hikari then, it would be a big problem if she can't return home because now the flow of time between digital world and real world is the same."

"Yeah." He agreed. "But I wonder…" He murmured the last part.

"What?"

Patamon looked down at gloved paws that trapped him. "When you're going to release me."

Tailmon harrumphed, "I am not satisfied yet."

"What kind of satisfaction you can derive from suffocating me?" Patamon wondered out loud. "Is there any point in doing this? It's not like I am going to run away… I have always tell you when I have to go, I never gone missing without telling you a thing." What made Tailmon this persistent?

Her grip loosened, "When you're in your adult form… your wings make me think you're always out of my reach, even though…" I want to tell you to not leave me, "You can just fly away as you please… I miss being able to fly beside you." Since they became a team she was always flying by his side, but now… she couldn't.

"So… you just miss flying with me?" Patamon queried, "Then, the solution is easy."

"Heh?"

Tailmon wondered what she saw in Patamon for the hundredth time since she realized her feeling for him. He was kind and caring of course, but his obliviousness could put even combined male digimon in their group to shame. Because she was sure her feeling was already a public secret among their friends. She should expect this, because the day Agumon of all mon asking does she like Patamon meant her feeling was already as subtle as Holy Arrow to the gut and Patamon still didn't have a clue about it.

"Are you having fun?" Patamon asked.

Tailmon supposed this should count as romantic outing, holding hands as flying through the sky… although she was using him as hang glider, and Patamon thought this was a fun game instead of a date.

"Well…"

Then again, spending time with him, to have him all for herself for now… "It's fun."

Somewhere else…

"I see… so the jamming signal is all over middle continent of digital world…" Takeru murmured as Wisemon finished his report. "Is there a sign of this signal going over other layer of digital world?"

Wisemon shook his head, "No, most likely Digimon Kaizer has not realized the existence of Lower and upper level continent… "

Takeru crossed his fingers, "But most of middle layer is already within his control…" When was the last time he visited middle layer? Not that long… few months ago everything was alright, this new enemy worked fast. Even dark masters took years to inflict this amount of damage. Was it because Digimon Kaizer was a human?

However if he was a human, one question went unanswered. Chosen children or not, that power should come from somewhere. Where this power he wield came from?

"We will continue our investigation." Wisemon concluded, "And your preparation to travel back to File Island is almost complete, please rest for today."

Takeru opened his mouth to protest, he wanted to leave as soon as possible! "I…" But Wisemon was right, he needed his rest, and subordinates needed theirs for their journey. "Fine… I will rest."

Real World

"What do you mean Takeru was NOT there and he was separated from Patamon?!"

Taichi was already prepared for Yamato's outburst but that preparation didn't save his poor eardrums. "I want to tell you to calm down, but well… I am not one to talk considering I have been in your shoes before…" Then he began to tell Yamato what he heard from other digimon about Takeru.

Other older chosen children with exception of Mimi was gathered in Odaiba park, discussing newest adventure they had in digital world. Back then Taichi and Yamato always argue, and a fight was not an unfamiliar thing between the two. However it was a surreal sight to see that Taichi became the voice of reason while Yamato was the illogical frantic brother. "So Takeru is fine out there?"

"You know Digital World…" Taichi was not cruel enough to let Yamato to have a delusion that Takeru was completely safe. "But out of all of us… you should know that Takeru has the most experience, and he survived digital world for years…"

Yamato nodded numbly, "Yeah…"

Taichi gave a playful punch to his shoulder. "I know you want to come with us to digital world, but… you should calm yourself first." Memory of Yamato's unstable period came to mind, and the child of friendship understood what Taichi was getting at. "It's unlikely Takeru will arrive soon from wherever he was. But you can count on us to drag him home for you at the first opportunity." Taichi promised. "He will return to your family…. Takeru will come home…"

Yamato nodded, "Thank you Taichi…"

The next day…

"The new chosen children is different from us back then, I wonder if it's because of age…" Sora commented.

Hikaru laughed softly, and chimed in. "Come on Sora-san, don't talk like you're already an old woman.

Patamon and Tailmon eyed the three newcomers with critical eyes, arguing about their new change of clothes of all things. "Does Sora even realize what she was implying?" Tailmon wondered in low voice.

Patamon narrowed his blue eyes at them. "This is why I wonder if that television is a good thing or not…" That new boy seemed calm, the girl looked excited and Daisuke was in the same tune with her. "I can understand the girl but after what happened yesterday… that Daisuke…"

Tailmon shrugged, "How did you guys fare back then, when everyone just arrived in digital world?"

"Well… back then we were…" Patamon trailed off.

As if on cue several adult level digimon appeared, on their body was an ominous black ring. Patamon and Tailmon narrowed their eyes at the incoming threats. How these digimon found them so quickly, and their attack was organized. This meant… the digimon Kaizer was watching them from somewhere! He could see all their movement somehow, that was why he could organize an ambush again so easily.

"No problem, I just have to evolve and beat them!" V-mon exclaimed, "Daisuke, armor-shinka!"

Daisuke grinned, "Okay!"

At once the two digimon turned towards the heir of courage, "Daisuke-kun! Watch out!"

The warning came too late as the ground beneath Daisuke cracked and the Google wearing boy fell. "UARGH!"

"Daisuke!" V-mon yelled.

Patamon and Tailmon rushed to his side, yelling. "Watch out!"

V-mon heard their warning but he barely able to dodge incoming attack from Mojyamon's bone boomerang, he lost his balance and fell backward to the ravine. "Gyaa!"

Tailmon groaned in frustration, "That idiot!" This was a battlefield and he let his guard down!

"He cut off our main fighter…" Patamon hissed. "Now we should…"

A soft thump was caught by his sharp ears and he turned around, Miyako was trembling as kneeling on the ground, Iori who was standing beside her was equally shaken. "Daisuke… he… fell and then…"

They were frozen in fear, NOW?!

"RETREAT!" Koushiro yelled, "We're not strong enough take them head on! Retreat!"

As usual Koushiro made a good decision but the two newcomers were not cooperating and Miyako started to cry and didn't move from her spot. Sora tried to calm her down, assuring her that Daisuke would be alright. Iori was still shaking and unmoving.

"I can't take this…" Miyako wailed, "I want to…"

Their enemy was getting closer and Patamon came to a decision. "We retreat! NOW!" Then he flew as fast as he could and grabbed Miyako and Iori by their sleeves, then dragged them away from line of fire much to his companion's shock. Usually his strength in child form won't be enough to drag two human children but he had trained for years and dragging two human children was easy in comparison of fighting holding Piemon off.

"Wa… wait…" Miyako stammered.

Iori snapped out of his shock and began running, he was not as bad as the other kid, Patamon supposed. "Cry later! Don't freeze! You will get yourself killed!"

Digimon Kaizer Lair

"Heeh…" He cupped his chin. "How unusual for a digimon to take charge…"

He didn't get a good look at the orange digimon before but if he recalled correctly, this digimon was… The tyrant pulled out the old recording from yesterday, browsing through the battle between his servant and the fire-armor digimon. Then he saw it, a flash of white in camera 5. He paused that scene and then maximize it so it took the whole screen. It was a blurry image of a humanoid creature with six wings, wearing all white.

Usually with just this won't be enough to know what digimon was on the scene, but he could create a program in a flash that could run a scan to compare the blurry image with every species recorded in existence of digital world. The result came out very quickly, in fact there was only one species fit the image.

Angemon
LV: Adult
Type: Vaccine
Angel type digimon with six shining wings, and its body is clad in cloth so pure white as to be divine. It is a being of perfected virtue. A holy digimon that will fight evil fiercely, with extreme composure, until his opponent is completely annihilated

Angemon, a rare digimon that said to be the original guardian of digital world. What a find he got here, however… the dark ring was a tool of darkness, so he was not sure that his creation could tame a holy type digimon like Angemon. From his research he found that a number of digimon existed for a purpose, most of the time to serve the well-being of digital world. Those digimon tended to be stronger than other species in the same level. Although there was Numemon that was created to deal with digital waste and totally weak.

However… it was worth considering to research on angel type digimon further, such a rare and strong digimon was fit to be part of his collection.

There was also some rumors he couldn't overlook. A number of digimon he caught had cried about how he would pay once the child of hope returned here. Someone named Takeru… and resistance from digimon left in the wild were waiting for this person. The number of digimon they had in their group didn't match the number of children so most likely this angel digimon belonged to this Takeru

"I see… so their futile hope is for this Takeru person…" Maybe this person would be a match for him instead of these idiots.

Wormmon perked up at the name and became somber when his partner raved about finding his match. "Ken-chan… how could you forget Takeru-kun?"

Ken whirled around, growling at useless worm that supposed to be his partner. "Be quiet!" He whipped the timid digimon with force. "How many times I told you that I don't know Takeru and Ryo you keep insisting were my friends!"

"But Ken-chan!" Wormmon cried. 'Takeru-kun…. Angemon-san… help! Help Ken!'

Back with Chosen Children

"Thank you Patamon-san." Iori panted, "For snapping us out just now…"

Miyako followed Iori's example, "Yes…" It felt weird to thank this cute digimon, but she owed him her life. "

Patamon landed nimbly on the ground as he let go of their hands. "You're welcome… it must be an overwhelming experience for you for your first time in digital world."

Tailmon snorted, "Well… next time, please run for your life properly."

"Tailmon!" Hikaru scolded her digimon.

The holy beast digimon raised an elegant eyebrow at her partner, "Tell me Hikaru, what is the most important skill you human polished when you came to digital world?"

One word flashed on older Chosen Children and Hikari's mind, running.

Sora and Koushiro recalled their first experience after their rough landing in digital world, "Ha ha ha… I almost forgot about that."

That was when Miyako and Iori realized, Koushiro-san, Sora-san and Hikari-chan ran faster than they could when those digimon was ran chasing them. In fact they ran first but it didn't take long for Hikari and older children to catch up.

So running for their life was the first skill they had to learn as chosen children?!

"Oh they get it." Tentomon beamed.

Piyomon nodded sagely, "What is the saying again?"

"Running to fight for another day?"

"Yeah."

BEEP BEEP

The digivice interrupted their conversation, signaling that it was detecting something. All digimon present expected this, they had took cue from Patamon to run to this direction. They had searched for another eggs like the one they found in the cave and found another two in a Mayan Temple nearby. That was why they led their partners to this direction.

Then they brought the new children to the eggs, it was quite a long walk up the temple but the sight of two eggs, two chances to fight digimon Kaizer were worth it. It took some convincing from Sora and Koushiro to nudge the two to try lifting the egg, they were still shaken after the ambush.

Miyako was the first, followed by Iori. Once they lifted the egg, two pillars of light erupted and two new digimon appeared. A digimon that looked like a hawk chick and a golden armadillo hopped off of the pedestal greeting their new partner cheerfully.

"Now! Miyako-san, Iori-kun!" said the hawk looking digimon, "Yell digimental-up, please!"

They nodded at their respective partner, holding the digimental egg tightly and yelled. "Digimental-UP!"

And light of evolution fulled the room.

Somewhere else with Daisuke and V-mon

It was a disappointing confrontation in Digimon Kaizer's book. This boy must be an idiot if he thought he was captured, bound and placed right across his partner digimon before they had thoroughly scan his belonging. Naturally he took digivice and D-terminal away from the boy. "You can't do anything without these right?" He chortled as holding up the two vital devices.

"Aah!"

Ken snapped his fingers and an Evil Ring flew down towards V-mon. "As a punishment for trespassing my territory I will have you to witness your digimon becoming my slave…"

V-mon glared defiantly at the tyrant, "I would like to see you try! There is no way I will be your slave! I am Daisuke partner… he is the one I've been waiting for so long!" He shouted.

"Hmph." He snorted, "Then let's see if you're capable to resist my control…"

"Stop it!" Daisuke yelled in horror.

"RED SUN!" Twin beam of red light shot the black device and it crumbled to dust, much to Daisuke's relief and Ken's shock.

Daisuke was never fond of Miyako but he had never been happier to see her riding a giant bird to his rescue. "Daisuke!" She would hold this over his head for a long while, but he was too grateful to care.

And then the rock behind V-mon started to crack and a yellow insect digimon appeared, "We come to save you!" He announced.

"Thank you!" V-mon beamed.

That must be Iori's digimon, Daisuke guessed. Now if he could get his Digivice and D-terminal back…

With Digimon Kaizer and…

"Neko punch!" Tailmon yelled as she punched Wormmon, sending the insect digimon crashing towards his master.

The impact was strong enough to make the tyrant to let go of Digivice and D-terminal he stole from Daisuke, and it fell to the ravine. "Damn it!" Digimon Kaizer cursed.

Miyako had been waiting for this and caught the falling devices. "Thank you!" She shouted in cheeky tone.

Fuming in anger the Digimon Kaizer unleashed his whip, catching Tailmon off guard. "Out of my way!" He yelled as he threw Tailmon off of the cliff.

Tailmon braced herself for a rough landing but surprised to realize she was no longer falling, "Eh?"

"You're so reckless!" A familiar voice scolded her.

Tailmon looked up, startled to see Patamon was holding her by the scruff of her neck. "Ara… but I am counting on you to save me…" She teased.

Patamon rolled his eyes, "I honestly doubt your plan to take Daisuke's devices back involves falling off of the cliff." He deadpanned then turned his attention towards Digimon Kaizer, the tyrant was calling his slaves out. A snimon, Mojyamon and a Drimogemon. "That child… could it be?"

"What is it, Patamon?" Asked Tailmon.

Followed by Tentomon who was flying beside him. "That's an amazing catch, did you say something just now?"

Patamon shook his head, "Nothing…" Then his eyes widened when he saw a worm shaped digimon was jumping up and down and was yelling something to his direction, however he was too far to make out what the insect digimon was yelling about. 'Wormmon… so DIgimon Kaizer is really…"

Below them the rest of their comrades was launching a counter attack against DIgimon Kaizer's slave, easily overpowering them. Halsemon was chasing Snimon to the air, while Digmon dug after Drimogemon underground, and Flamedramon was winning against ice user Mojyamon. It was a pretty quick battle, considering they just had to destroy the ring and freed their opponent from DIgimon Kaizer's control.

However none of them registered to Patamon's mind as he stared at the frantic Wormmon on the top of the cliff and he was almost tempted to fly over there but Digimon Kaizer grabbed the insect digimon roughly, dragging him out of their sight. 'I have to tell Takeru as soon as possible, that Digimon Kaizer is…'

"Patamon!" Tailmon's voice snapped Patamon out of his reverie. "How long you want us to stay up here?! It's scary to have your feet not touching the ground for long when you have no wings!" She shouted at him.

Tentomon snickered, "I thought you're happy to be there as long as you want…."

Tailmon blushed a deep red, "Shut up! Tentomon!"

The new pairs were chatting merrily with each other, getting familiar with their new bond. Sora and Koushiro smiled at the familiar sight. It reminded them a little of their first day in digital world, but fortunately for Daisuke, Iori and Miyako they didn't have to worry about how to get back home on to on calculating their food and looking for shelter.

"I hope they'll do their best to replace us." Sora said with a smile.

Patamon whipped around, startled to hear the word 'replace' came out so easily and lightheartedly from Sora's lips. It seemed the older kids had no problem to pass the baton to the next generation. Knowledge and Love were unsealed back to the chosen children but not to their former owners but the new chose children. Patamon eyed the two new pairs, Miyako and Hawkmon, and Iori and Armadilomon. What this development meant to them? Were Taichi, Sora and Koushiro replaced by these children? Would there be new children replacing his partner and Hikari too?

No.

"No we have to do our best too…" Koushiro's voice in the background went unheard to Patamon.

Piyomon chirped, "That's right, Sora!"

"We can't lose to younger ones yet!" Tentomon added.

Hikaru laughed, "Tentomon, now you're the one to talk like an old man…"

His blue eyes shifted to Hikari, and imagined Takeru standing right beside her. Takeru and Hikari couldn't be replaced, their crests were special unlike others. From what they gathered for the last two and half years, It supposedly borderline impossible to find embodiment of hope and light as pure as Hikari and Takeru. That was the reason why they tolerated Takeru's transgression with gritting their teeth for the last two years. They couldn't replace Takeru.

Metafalica

Takeru strode pass rows of kneeling soldiers with Dinohyumon, Grizzlymon and Wisemon in tow. The preparation was complete and he had rushed everything up, and now if only these three would let him go instead of fretting over him like a flock of mother hen it would be perfect.

"Milord! Please reconsider!" Dinohyumon cried, blocking his way much to Takeru's annoyance.

"It's too dangerous!" Grizzlymon added.

Takeru scoffed, "I can't stay idle in Metafalica while my friends are out there fighting this human tyrant! It's a little risky plan but if it can get me to Middle Continent, so be it!"

Wisemon groaned, "There's nothing we can say to convince you to stop, is there?"

"Nothing." He stated firmly. "Now… go back to your work, you have your job and it's not hovering over me." He reminded them with a huff. "That's Angemon's job." It was his partner's job to nag and nag about eating his vegetable, doing reckless things and his education, not theirs.

They groaned in unison.

Takeru walked pass them and straight to his destination, the central control room. It was still the same room as one he opened years ago when he took the throne, aside from a couple of minor renovation and alteration. The same floating chair, giant screens and glass wall. It was their favorite because ha and Angemon could enjoy the view of Metafalica island, its buzzing city and lush forest.

However today he was not here to enjoy the view. "Valdurmon, have you finish your calculation?"

The holy digimon answered shortly, "78% complete, we should be able to access data stream route by tomorrow… "

Takeru nodded, "Thank you…"

"However… I can't guarantee milord's safety by 100%, at best is 67% and even that…" Valdurmon trailed off.

He shook his head, "Don't worry yourself about it, I will be fine…" Then he became silent, contemplating his next move. "By the way Valdurmon, have you heard anything from him lately?"

"Nothing… not since he ran off to East side of Folder Continent." At least this time they knew which general direction he took.

Takeru buried his face on his hands, "That idiot… at the time like this… how bad his sense of direction could be?"

Somewhere far away in different side of digital world, a boy with brown spiky hair sneezed, startling his monstrous looking companion.

Real World

Taichi eyed his giggling sister, "I sense someone is going to tease her digimon mercilessly tomorrow."

Hikari beamed at him, "Onii-chan, I wouldn't tease Tailmon too much tomorrow…" She added, "Promise."

The new Chosen Children brought their digimon along to real world. For a while she had Tailmon with her too and her partner was happy to be with her longer. At least until Tailmon stared at the computer screen in horror that Patamon was still in digital world, and the oblivious Patamon innocently announced he was planning to investigate some places he had in mind. Hikari was sure Tailmon didn't even listen that Biyomon and Tentomon were planning the same to find out more about DIgimon Kaizer. Tailmon then demanded one of new kids to open the gate for her and then she pounced on Patamon, yelling at him for slipping away when she turned her back on him.

Poor Patamon had no idea what came over Hikari's partner. She always knew her partner had special feelings for Takeru's digimon since their first adventure. Hikari wondered how Patamon was still clueless about Tailmon's feeling for him, considering at this point it seemed Tailmon had thrown subtlety out of the window.

She could only wish Tailmon luck to get Patamon to see her more than a partner in battle.

Taichi in the other hand wished for Hikari's luck that Takeru was not as oblivious as his partner. They were still too young for dating, but with Takeru he could trust Yamato's brother with his sister.

Digital World

"You don't have to accompany me all the way to Primary Village, you know…" Patamon said to his companion who insisted to come along with him.

Tailmon snorted, "And let you go missing? Never."

Patamon wondered if he went missing that often to make Tailmon fret like this. He was sure there was only one time he didn't send a word for half a year when he and Takeru travelled alone for the first time but after that he always made sure he sent a message through all means to inform her and their friends that he and Takeru were alive and well at least once a month.

Perhaps…

"You worry too much." He said as he flew down so he could walk beside her. "I will always return… I always have, I promised you, remember."

Tailmon tensed for a moment and realized he thought she was afraid he would be gone like Wizardmon, her best friend who died to protect her and HIkari. "I know…" He was as oblivious as ever but she couldn't help but feel happy that he cared.

The next day…

Their partners just had a taste of real world's snack and Hikari couldn't help but smiled at their antics that even stern Poromon flew up and down in joy because of his first taste of heaven. She was sure Tailmon would make an exasperated face and wondered if they were going to depend their future on these three digimons. Her digimon was such a worrywart. Then again… since the first time she became part of the group Tailmon had a hard time to get along with other digimon partner because of her different mindset, especially when Taichi had a big fight with Yamato back then. Gomamon was especially vocal that Tailmon was so cold and indifferent about the conflict between friends. Came to think of it… how strange when all other digimon were fretting over Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon's battle back then, Patamon of all digimon was the only one who didn't say anything about it.

He didn't say anything but… Hikari recalled Patamon always stick with Tailmon afterward, and Tailmon became closer to him than any other digimon. It wasn't like other digimon disliked Tailmon, in fact Biyomon and Palmon were pretty close with her. It was just clear that Tailmon had different mindset than other partners, but Patamon himself was different. At first Hikaru thought Patamon was a cute digimon with a fitting adorable personality, but sometime… especially when he digivolve to his higher form his personality changed a lot. There was glimpse of this different side when he was in his child from though.

Hikari saw this side even more now. He was mature in contrast to his adorable form, solemn and thoughful. Although his flustered side was still there when Tailmon blew up at him, and he would go 'What did I do wrong this time' again. Yep, he was still Takeru-kun's adorable partner.

"Oh!" Miyako's voice snapped her out of her thought. "We got mail… from… Patamon?!"

Daisuke and Iori were equally shocked, "Not an SOS but an e-mail? How did that little guy send an email anyway?" Daisuke wondered out loud.

Iori peered over Miyako's shoulder. "It said… he wants us to go to Rar Forest… they found another eggs and he send us a coordinate file attached with this e-mail."

Miyako was impressed, "So if we input this file in Digital gate, it would automatically set to teleport us to coordinated location…" She clapped her hands. "You can't judge digimon from their looks."

Hikari blinked owlishly at that, "Is that so?"

The purple haired girl leaned closer to the screen, squinting as if she had difficulty to read the letter. "By the way… while Tentomon speaking in Kansai dialect, and Upamon in Nagoya dialect are strange enough… this is weirder. Can someone tell me why Patamon write his email in Keigo (polite Japanese) and he used difficult kanji to boot..."

"Saa…" Hikaru shrugged, that was just another mystery of Patamon.

Digital World

They arrived in the designated place, much to Daisuke's annoyance Patamon and Tailmon dragged them to a hiding tree right away. According to the two digimon it was odd that they were ambushed so easily last time, the ambush was well organized, hitting their only fighter so swiftly. Most likely Digimon Kaizer had a way to detect and spy on them. He knew their every move and if they recklessly went after the next digimental egg, it would be just another ambush.

Daisuke argued that now they had three capable fighters so what happened last time won't be repeated again, he wouldn't fall to the same trap twice. Much to Daisuke's shock, Hikari strongly against his plan to attack head on.

Hikari glared at Daisuke, "He has so many digimon under his control… yes, we have three digimon to fight him but we can easily overwhelmed by number… if there are too many of them how the three of you could deal with them?" She asked, "In our last adventure when we're overwhelmed in number there are two ways to deal with them, restraining them or large area attack." She recalled their battle against hundreds of Vilemon, which would have gone forever if not for Holy Angemon's Heaven Gate. "None of your digimon have them."

Because Hikari-chan said so Daisuke relented. So their plan was to have Digmon to dig an underground tunnel to the cave where the digimental egg was located. It was fortunate the distance was close enough for Digmon to take one lunch rest before continuiung to the cave.

Digimon Kaizer's Base

Ken was frustrated, he could always track those mongrels down but he lost them now. They had appeared somewhere near Rar Forest then they disappeared to a hiding area. They couldn't stay there forever so they would appear sooner or later. However they didn't and he was getting restless that his enemies were roaming free in his territory. He had checked the sky but there was no sign of red griffin looking digimon, and they only had one digimon that could fly. However Halsemon, the digimon belonged to that long haired girl was not big enough to accommodate flying with four humans and five digimons.

So that left… underground route!

He smirked, "Found you… disgusting worms…"

"Ken-chan? Did you call me?" Wormmon asked cheerfully only to receive a heated glare in return.

Alma Toran, 5th Layer of Primitive World

Takeru had been in digital world for three years and even in digital world he had never used bus or taxi, but now he knew the feeling of commuters waiting for transportation to arrive. Why that damned Data Stream always appeared in the worse time but when he needed them, it never came? Valdurmon's weather forecast said the weather was perfect for one to appear and he was already waiting for hours, and not even a speck of pink light of Data Stream was sighted in horizon.

He adjusted his backpack again, shifting its weight to another shoulder. "This is getting boring really fast…"

"Well milord…" Valdurmon voice came from his D-terminal. "I warn you that thing won't appear when we wants it…"

Takeru huffed, "But the weather said otherwise!" He glared at the cloudy sky, "That's why we're always wary when it's cloudy, this is the first time in my three years not seeing even a speck of pink tearing through that grey clo…."

WHOOSH!

"Ud…" Takeru finished after a bright pillar of right passed through just a few feet away from him. "Ah…"

"There it is… " Valdurmon chirped, "Calculation complete, Fractal hook stand by… "

This must be the feeling of commuters when they were late for their train, Takeru thought morbidly. "Waaaaaaaaaait! Wait!" It was just a few feet away from his reach but it was getting faster.

"Data link complete… please board the Data Stream immediately Milord, before you lost it."

Takeru wondered who input sarcasm to Valdurmon, "I know!" Takeru clicked the button of his backpack, and a pair of mechanical wings sprout from it. "Here I go!" And he flew towards the pillar of light.

Back with Daisuke and co

It was going smoothly, and Digmon was hyped up to dig all the way to the cave. Until they had an earthquake and the tunnel they dug was about to collapse. They were no earthquake expert but the timing was too precise and it was unnatural, like someone with monstrous weight was hopping up and down above them. They had been found out by Digimon Kaizer and they had to get out of the tunnel before the tyrant buried them.

Digmon didn't have to be told twice to dig his way up to the surface, fortunately they didn't dig too deep so they managed to make a quick escape. However they were welcomed warmly with Tyrannomon's fire breath and if not for Digmon quickly made another escape tunnel they would have been roasted alive.

"We will hold them off!" Miyako yelled.

They had no idea why but it seemed the Tyrannomon were targeting Hikari and her digimon, most probably because she couldn't fight back.

"Go! Hikari-chan!" Daisuke yelled, "Get the egg for us!"

"Hai!" Hikari was frustrated she and Tailmon couldn't fight but she had to do what she could for her friends.

Tailmon panted as she struggled to dodge Tyrannomon's claw, but the second swipe sent her crashing towards a tree but Patamon cushioned her fall. "It's frustrating." She scowled.

"I know…" Patamon replied. "But we have to go now!" Then they ran to catch up to Hikari, not even once looking back at the battlefield.

In another part of the forest…

It was a pretty rough landing but he managed. Takeru wondered if the coordinate was off since he saw none of his friends. However looking at his surroundings it was obvious he was not in primitive plain, forest that full of colors like this was undoubtedly part of Digital World he knew in his first childhood. He could hear faint sound of explosion and smell of something burning, the battle was close.

He turned on his heels but stopped when he saw a translucent figure standing on his way.

"Who are you?" Takeru demanded coolly, his blue eyes narrowed.

The translucent figure was a boy around his age with dark hair and wearing visor that hid half of his face. This person felt… familiar to him. "Digimon Kaizer…" The tyrant answered, "At least we meet… The child of hope, and Angel's knight of digital world… you have collected some impressive titles… your reputation alone give me a lot of trouble because digimon continue their futile resistance in hope you will come to save them…."

Takeru crossed his arms, "And you're the tyrant… I don't want to believe it, but a Chosen Children misusing their power for evil… how could you turn your back on us?"

"How observant." Digimon Kaizer murmured softly, "Unlike those idiots… you realize right away that I am a Chosen Children, and I have never been on your side so I turn my back on no one."

"Is that so?" He returned coolly, "Chosen Children are the only human allowed to enter digital world." He placed his hand on his belt where he strapped his digivice on. "Because Digivice is the only key to open digital world for human…"

The Digimon Kaizer smirked, "Correct… "

"I would love to chat… but the battle is over there." Takeru pointed at pillar of smoke that was rising to the sky. "I come here to fight not to talk to your hologram…"

"Is that so?" He snapped his fingers and his projection was replaced with a scene of battle, showing a group of children fighting Tryrannomon with their digimon. Then it shifted to Hikari running towards a cave with Tailmon. "Currently I have more than enough digimon to annihilate them, but I will refrain if you entertain me…" He said cruelly as the projection shifted back to his form.

Takeru gritted his teeth, "What are you going to do to them?"

Then his eyes shifted, "You see, your friends are eyesores to me. They keep getting on the way, their presence here feels not right to me… but you…" He smirked, "Perhaps you could be another player, my equal… so could you please get them out of here so we can play this game properly?"

Takeru shook slightly then he bowled over in laughter, "Ha ha ha ha…."

"What's so funny?" The tyrant asked furiously.

The Child of Hope stifled his laugher, holding his sides. "No, it's just… it seems you're misunderstanding a very vital point of this world." His eyes became icy, glaring coldly at the tyrant. "Who do you think you're? Digital World is not a game… this world is real… as real as our world. There is no game, no player… "

For a moment a familiar feeling invade his mind, it was fear. He steeled himself, he was a king! He shall not be intimidated! "Believe what you want… you can talk all you want but I will not heed your…"

Takeru's eyes softened. "And you used to be such an obedient child."

That froze the dark haired child, "What?"

"Have you forgotten?" Takeru pressed on, "Of who you are? Ken-kun…"

Ken's eyes widened as he cradled his head, as if he was in great pain. "Be quiet! Don't call me with that name!"

"What happened to you?!" Takeru shouted, "Come back to your senses!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" His glare was full of hatred and Takeru couldn't believe it belong to the same kind hearted child he knew. "I will kill you! Slaves! Kill him!" And the projection blinked out of existence.

Takeru's hand touched the empty air where the projection used to be, clenching his fist. "What happened to you?" he wondered as roar of Tyrannomon echoed in the background.

GROARRR!

The child of hope eyed the two advancing dinosaurs digimon skeptically, zooming in to the ring on their neck. "The same as that demon…"

And a bright flash of light erupted through the forest.

With Hikari and co

She was getting tired, as it was already years since she ran for her life. Iori looked worse to wear even though he had Kendo to keep his body in shape. However they won't give up, the digimental egg was already in their reach! They shouldn't give up hope! Her eyes widened when Iori pointed at a blinking light in the distance.

"Hikari-san! Look!"

They ran towards it, and Hikari was overjoyed when she saw a digimental egg with folded silver wings that bear her crest of light. Next to the digimental egg of light was one that looked similar that was gold in color with a tuff of mane, bearing an upside down crest of hope. It was Takeru's crest.

"It's true…" She whispered in awe, "Digimental of light and hope…"

"If we move these, will new digimon be born?" Iori wondered. "Hikari-san, is it yours?"

Hikari hesitated, "But…"

Patamon chimed in, "Just try lifting the digimental first!"

Tailmon looked excited at the prospect that she would be able to fight again. "True! Don't hesitate we have no time to waste!"

As soon as the last world left Tailmon's mouth the cave shook violently. Iori paled, "The Tyrannomon! They're trying to collapse this cave to bury the digimental!"

It was a very likely thing for Digimon Kaizer to do.

Hikari rushed towards her digimental, she was about to reach the egg when her digivice glowed and turned to the newer model Daisuke and co had. "This is…" Encouraged by the new digivice, Hikari lifted the digimental. It was so light, unlike Digimental of Courage she tried to lift before. Then a familiar blinding light of evolution filled the cave.

Tailmon could feel the rush of power within her as Hikaru shouted, "Digimental-up!"

"Tailmon! Armor-shinkaaa! Light of smiles! Nefertimon!"

Hikari beamed at her newly evolved digimon, "With this you can fight again!"

Nefertimon nodded, "Yes… of course!"

She turned towards Patamon. "There is no doubt… the digimental of hope is Takeru-kun's… it's his!"

Iori didn't have a heart to interrupt her celebration but he had to, "I am sorry Hikari-san! But Tyrannomon was getting inside!" He yelled, pointing at the crack that was forming on the ceiling of the cave. "We have to go now! Before they destroy the cave!"

Hikari's eyes were wide in panic as she rushed to remaining digimental egg. She tried to lift it but it was as unmoving as Digimental of Courage. "Ugh!"

"What are you doing Hikari?" Patamon cried, "We have to go now! Hop onto Nefertimon! The cave is about to collapse!"

The child of light shook her head frantically as she tried futilely to lift the egg. "No! I can't let Takeru-kun's digimental to be lost here! I can't!"

Patamon and Nefertimon stared at Hikari in shock. "Forget it! This digimental egg is not worth it!" The ground was shaking even more violently and bigger piece of rubble were falling from the ceiling.

"But!"

Hikari was shocked to see Patamon glaring at her angrily, "He will never forgive himself if something happens to you because of him! For Takeru, you're precious! His biggest regret for the last three years was not being able to stay by your side to protect you like he promised! His power is to protect you! There is no point if you get hurt for it!"

GROAARRR!

"UWaa!" Iori yelped in shock when a claw that obviously belonged to Tyrannomon pierced through the cave, and the clawed limb was moving wildly to make a bigger hole for it to enter.

Hikaru's eyes widened when the claw's swept through the interior and was coming towards her.

"HIkari!" Nefertimon and Patamon cried.

The Child of Light closed her eyes, preparing herself for the pain. 'Takeru-kun!' The pain never came and when she opened her eyes Nefertimon and Patamon was in front of her, right between her and the red limb with ivory claw. At first she thought they were the one who saved her but Nefertimon then wondered out loud why Tyrannomon stopped moving so suddenly.

Then she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, familiar warmth she was fond of. "That was close… you almost give me a heart attack." The voice was a little different, deeper, and older but it was still as gentle as she remembered.

She looked up and welcomed by a pair of gentle blue eyes, "Takeru-kun."

"It's been a while… Hikari-chan."

Back with Daisuke and co

It was a long battle and even though theoretically they could win as long as they went after the ring, when outnumbered they couldn't focus on one opponent while protecting their partner in the same time. Soon one by one, they ran out of energy and returned to child form, trembling on the ground and completely hopeless as the pack of Tryannomon cornered them and their partner to a dead end.

Daisuke was still glaring defiantly at the tyrant on Tyranomon's shoulder. "Grr…"

"Are you giving up already?" He queried in amused voice.

Daisuke growled, "Never!"

"You have nowhere to run." The Digimon Kaizer stated, "Look behind you." Daisuke eyed the cliff behind him, swallowing heavily. "If you'd rather jump off of the cliff you will save me a lot of trouble." The tyrant deadpanned.

Two spark of light flew towards them, shocking the Digimon Kaizer when a pair digimon encircled his pack of Tyrannomon. He knew right away they were up to no good and jumped down to the ground when he heard they cried their attack, "Sanctuary Bind!" A golden threadwas connected between the two digimon's limb, and they flew around Tyrannomon, binding them.

Daisuke's eyes widened as he recalled what Hikari told him, 'When fighting a hoard of digimon unless you can restrain them or attack a large area…' It was just like Hikari-chan said!

The restrained pack was on their mercy as the two digimon attacked, "Needle Rain! Nile Jewelry!"

The ring evaporated from existence in instance and the controlled digimon blinked their blue eyes, they were freed from Digimon Kaizer's control.

Daisuke cheered, "We won!" His smiled widened when he saw Hikari and Iori was running towards him. "Hikari-chaa…" He stopped on his track when he saw an unfamiliar blond boy was running beside her, and he zeroed in to their linked hands. "Who the hell are you?!" He cried as his hand made a chopping motion to separate their hands.

Much to Daisuke's shock Hikari-chan quickly latched her hands back to the other boy and this time she was hugging his arm. "What are you doing?! Daisuke-kun!" She scolded him.

"But Hikari-chan…"

Miyako eyed the new boy with heart in her eyes. He was a very attractive boy, blue eyes and blond hair, a sign of mixed ancestry. His blond hair was a little above his shoulders, framing his fair face. He was wearing green hat with zipper and strange symbol, turtle neck undershirt and pants in the same color with yellow rimming and grey jacket over it. He also had two black belts strapped on his waist, holding a digivice and three strange looking golden tube with intricate carving.

In short he was very pleasant to look at however…

Looking at Hikari's linked arms, he was taken. Miyako shrugged, Oh well, I can enjoy looking at him at least.

"So who the hell are you?!" Daisuke demanded hotly.

"Daisuke-kun!"

The mysterious boy have them a warm smile, his eyes lighted up as he introduced himself. "I am Ta… Ishida Takeru, nice to meet you…"

Daisuke sputtered, "So you're the guy who decided to become Digital World Explorer, or was it a hermit?"

Takeru blinked owlishly, "Excuse me?"

Hikari giggled, "Daisuke has a pretty over the top imagination."

Miyako nodded in agreement much to Daisuke's chagrin. "True… so true, by the way I am Miyako… Inoue Miyako! Nice to meet you too Takeru-kun." Then she elbowed Daisuke to get the introduction going.

Daisuke grumbled, "Motomiya Daisuke… yoroshiku…"

Iori joined in, "Sorry for the late introduction, I am Hida Iori… nice to meet you too Takeru-san."

The child of hope smiled at them, then much to their shock he bowed. "I am really sorry for my late arrival, I should have come sooner."

"Takeru-kun!" Hikaru chided him. "You don't have to do that!"

"Yeah!" Daisuke stammered, feeling nervous that the guy suddenly was getting all apologetic. "You come to save us just in time."

Miyako and Iori nodded in agreement. "You're not late at all…"

Takeru lifted his head, his smile turned sad. "I should have arrived few days ago… but circumstances didn't allow me…" He still looked guilty but at least his expression was not as restrained. "It's a bit late but welcome to digital world, new chosen children…"

There was something in his voice that made him sounded… older and it made them felt unsure of this person. They had heard a little about the old member from previous generation who chose to stay in this world but seeing the person themselves felt so strange. It was like he didn't belong to the same world as they were even though he was a human.

"So how did you get here so fast?" They were snapped out of their thought by Pegasmon's voice, the winged steed was eyeing the child of hope skeptically. "Takeru…"

Oh, right… he was Patamon's… Pegasmon's human partner. Miyako guessed it fits him to be partnered with a peculiar digimon like Patamon.

Takeru smiled sheepishly, "Well…"

Blue eyes of Pegasmon stared intently at his partner, "You did something dangerous, didn't you?"

The blond boy beamed, "It's for a good cause! Beside… hitching a ride on Data Stream is not really dangerous if we manage it twice!"

"Is that so? However…" The steed trailed off as ihis body enveloped in golden light and a spherical object flew towards Takeru's D-terminal. "It's still dangerous, Takeru… you're getting reckless." He finished in his child form.

Much to their shock Takeru burst to laughter. "Ha ha ha… I didn't really pay attention before but… you're back to, heh… Patamon?"

Patamon glared at his partner, and failed to look scary instead of cute. "Manners! Don't laugh at someone's face!"

Did his digimon just lecture him about manner?"

Takeru was still snickering, "He he… sorry Patamon… it's been a while since the last time I see you this cute."

"Ta-ke-ru…"

"Hmph… I really miss you Patamon… really…" Takeru said in shooting voice, but his smile was still as wide as ever. "I miss you to be cuddly and compact."

Tailmon chimed in, "I agree!"

"Don't agree with him!"

Takeru held his hand up in placating gesture, "I will stop teasing… alright? Now then… I should go to check…" Takeru was about to walk away but Hikari's hands held him in his place. "Uhm… Hikari-chan… I can't move."

Hikari narrowed her eyes at him, "Where are you going?"

"Just checking some things… it won't take long." Takeru assured her. "I will be back soon."

"Is it so urgent it can't wait?" Hikari asked.

Takeru began to sweat, "Erm… not really but I should…"

"Then No." Her grip tightened. "I will not let go."

Takeru laughed sheepishly, "But Hikari-chan… I am just…"

"No."

Daisuke eyed the two in annoyance but in the same time he couldn't brush a feeling he had seen a similar scene somewhere before…

Patamon wondered if this was karma for Takeru's teasing through the last two years whenever Tailmon was having a fit at him. "Well…"

"Serve you two right." Tailmon deadpanned.

Takeru looked at Hikari's determined eyes, the same one belonged to the brave and determined girl who faced Vamdemon head on. He sighed in defeat. "There's no way I can win against Hikari-chan… it can't be helped." He opened his D-terminal and began to type a message, and click send.

Hikari eyed the D-terminal he closed with a snap curiously. "Who is that email for, Takeru-kun?"

He smiled at her sadly. "Someone I know…"

Real World

Ichijouji Ken stared at the email he just received through his D-terminal with gritted teeth. How insolent! How dare he… No, he should calm down. This guy wanted to rile him up, that was why he sent this kind of message to him even though they were enemies.

The email was only one line, carved deeply to his thought.

'Do you remember who you are? Ken…'

AND THAT'S a wrap! I feel incredibly guilty to upload this so late... especially since I did pester Lord Pata for a site with info about Ryo for research and I use it only NOW and more for LATER. Lots of Patagato and Takari but well... it's how it goes here, if anyone is complaining about the pairing, go away. I don't get why Takari-haters read Takari fics just to flame us...