Hail me! For being awesome tonight... or not because I have an exam tmr and I am up doing this instead... Your reviews hyped me up! So let's move on to the 10th chapter of Chronicle of Hope!

(¯ˆ·.¸In Hope and Kindness¸.·ˆ¯)

They had wondered what kind of person Ishida Takeru was. He heard about him a lot from other Chosen Children of course but that was about eight years old Takeru, basically a kind and dependable kid who was also Hikari-chan's close friend. In person Ishida Takeru still fit the image of kind boy with sunny disposition Taichi-san spoke of, but there was also some strange air about him too. Something that set him apart from them that Daisuke couldn't put his finger on.

Whatever it was, it made Daisuke wondered out loud. "He is a human, right?"

"What?" Miyako blurted out.

Fortunately only Iori and Miyako were close enough to hear him as Takeru and Hikari were standing a little farther. Hikari had Takeru in her iron grip as she typed an email to the rest of their old gang to come to the computer room. Takeru was resigned to let Hikari to keep him in place, if anything he looked pretty cheery about it. It amused him for some reason that Hikari-chan was so set in holding his hand hostage.

"Of course he is a human…" Miyako said in hushed voice. "I don't think staying in digital world for so long will make you a digimon…"

Iori nodded, "True but… I think I get what Daisuke-san meant, there is something about Takeru-san that feels a bit off."

Then much to their shock they found themselves under scrutiny of two blue orbs, it was not every day the object of their conversation staring at you as if he heard you. Just now the guy was teasing his digimon about old comfy perching spot on his head, pouting when his digimon refused to sit on his head. And now suddenly they had his full attention on them.

Takeru was smiling, gentle and warm kind that would get your guard down. "Daisuke-kun, Iori-kun and… Miyako-san… is it alright for the three of you stay so late?" The clock said 6:34PM, not that late but late enough for parents to ask question of their whereabouts if they were still in elementary school.

Daisuke shrugged, "My parents won't care…"

Iori shook his head, "I have informed my family that I might come home late today."

Miyako cringed, "I forgot… I didn't expect it's already this late… but I don't think I will get in too much trouble as they know my computer club can get this late sometimes…"

Daisuke didn't like disapproving look Takeru shot at him, and did Patamon shot him the same look too? You were a kid too! Why he acted like their chaperone?!

The door slid open revealing Taichi-san and Ishida Yamato-san. Then much to their shock the famous and cool Yamato-senpai looked like he was about to jump across the room to where Takeru was but Taichi-san held him back. "Calm yourself Yamato! Take a deep breath! He is not going to disappear! Do you want to suffocate your brother?!"

That seemed to calm Yamato down and to their second shock, Takeru approached the two older brothers with knowing smile. "It's been a while, Nii-san… so…" He trailed off, "Do I get a hug or a punch?" He wondered. "I think I deserve the latter more…"

"Takeru…" Yamato murmured in trembling voice as Taichi slowly let him go. "You're really… here… you're back…" He said as he slowly reached for Takeru's shoulder, his grip was weak as if he was afraid Takeru would break.

Takeru gave him a sad smile, "Tadaima… Nii-san, I am sorry it take so long… you can punch me if you want, I made of pretty tough stuff so you don't have to worry."

Yamato couldn't take it anymore and pulled his brother to a hug, "Idiot! There is no way I will hit my precious little brother… I was really mad at you but not anymore!"

"Nii-san…" Takeru returned the hug, "I think I deserve it though…"

Yamato pulled away, taking a deep breath, "I forgive you! You do what you think is right… as long as you return home with me now… I don't think I can be mad at you… not at all."

Takeru chuckled softly at that, "Of course I will… how can I refuse the greatest big brother on earth?"

"Hey! That title belongs to me!" Taichi chimed in.

Yamato glared at him, "As if!"

Taichi snorted at his best friend then turned his attention to Takeru. "Welcome back Takeru…" He grinned at the blond. "I bet you had the greatest adventure without us, ne?"

"Ha ha ha…" Takeru laughed sheepishly.

Ishida Residence

Another tearful reunion, and the Ishida couples couldn't suppress their joy that their youngest son had returned with them. Takeru looked so focused on wedding ring on their fingers, as if he couldn't take his eyes away from the proof that their family had become a whole again. It made the Ishida couple guilty but they were determined to make up the lost time for Takeru.

They had rehearsed their reunion many times, careful to not overwhelm their youngest. Their best effort was starting a normal family night, a dinner as chatting about their day, accompanied by TV. They also reserved a chair for Patamon, and thoughtfully provide a spoon instead of chopstick for Takeru's partner.

Takeru knew they were doing their best to made him comfortable but he knew they had endless worries for him. "Okaa-san, Tou-san, Nii-san…" Takeru began, "I am happy you want to make me comfortable… but I am sure you have a lot of things you want to ask…"

"Takeru… but we…"

He took a deep breath, "I am happy to hear how you are doing now… but, I am sure you're more concerned about how I can fit in real world. I just lost three years of education, no record… you must be pretty concerned about it." He smiled sadly, "No matter how well I am doing in Digital World in the end you want me to do well too in Real World…"

Natsuko took a deep breathe. "You have grown… I misses so much…"

"I am sorry…"

They shook their head, "Don't…" Hiroaki said, "You're not in the wrong… we're proud of you for taking the path you believe in." He sighed, "But yes… all parents want their child to be able to continue their education."

Takeru smiled at that, "That's what I want to hear." He said with a smile. "You don't have to hold back… as your son I have my duty to you, and for the last three years I have not been a good son to you so I have to made it up to you."

Yamato fidgeted, "Well… we have discussed this before, perhaps we can get a home tutor to teach you to catch up to sixth grader material…"

Takeru blinked owlishly at that, "Oh, maybe you don't have to worry too much about me catching up…" He glanced at Patamon. "We got that covered."

Patamon nodded, "Uhm… throughout Takeru's stay in Digital World we make sure he continue his education, math, science, social studies, English and so on… Because digital world is connected to real world we can access materials we needed."

Takeru nodded sagely, "Patamon won't stop nagging about it… he is worse than a drill sergeant about my education."

The three human stared at Patamon in disbelief, the orange digimon glared at Takeru. "It's for your own good!" He huffed, "Although… I am not sure how far we have covered according to real world standard. Especially in Japanese… I work hard to learn Kanji so I can teach Takeru but I am not sure I'm proficient enough…"

They stared again in disbelief, "Well…" Hiroaki trailed off unsurely, "That's good, so I guess we can go ahead and have Takeru tested to know how much you have covered."

Yamato nodded stiffly, "I still keep my old books, the curriculum didn't change much for the last few years so I think you can use them to get a feel…"

Takeru was excited about going to school again so Yamato being the pampering brother he was couldn't stop himself from rummaging his old books and retrieved his elementary school books for Takeru. Unlike Taichi, Yamato kept them in good condition. They were in living room, Hiroaki and Natsuko were watching TV while their sons and Patamon flipped through the study material.

Takeru was frowning deeply as he browse through every subjects. "Takeru…" Yamato called, "If you are not that far yet, we can call a tutor… nowadays university student teach kids in neighborhood in a pretty cheap price or I can tutor you my…"

"But… this… " Takeru mumbled, "I think I have covered all this materials in my first year in Digiworld."

Yamato and their parents gaped at Takeru, while Patamon nodded. "Right… I am sure we teach you this a few months after that mess with Diaboromon."

"But that means you cover three years' worth of material in one year!" Yamato exclaimed.

Takeru rolled his eyes, "I told you… Patamon is a drill sergeant but fortunately the lesson plan is fun, so it's not boring…"

Yamato had a feeling and he went to his room, returning with his own textbook in hand. "Ne, Takeru… try this."

Takeru took the math textbook from him, and began to fill the answer for problems on the page Yamato opened for him. Then returned it to him ten minutes later, "Here."

Yamato's eyes were wide in disbelief, "Ugh… I don't really know you get all right as Math is not my strongest subject but… it seems you know what you're doing."

Takeru rolled his eyes, "And why you ask me to work on math problem? Give it to Patamon."

The child of Friendship handed the book to Patamon, and the digimon of Hope frowned. "You get problem number almost all of them right but for seventh problem you use a too complicated formula to get it. I will give you 85 out of 100."

Takeru sighed loudly, "Fine… You never give me full marks anyway…"

"Ichijouji Ken-kun is the genius boy we will interview today… he won…"

Yamato was shocked to see his brother suddenly turned his focus on TV, their father just changed the channel. He recalled it was a re-broadcast of education program from yesterday, about a genius kid who won a programming competition. "Hm… what a kid, he is good at sports, board game, academic and material arts… is there anything he can't do?" This kind of kid made people wonder about that.

Natsuke laughed softly, "Takeru… could it be you're also a genius like Ichijouji Ken-kun?"

Takeru didn't respond, he and Patamon's attention were glued on TV. "Takeru?"

The child of hope tensed before a smile bloomed on his face, "No… I don't think I'm a genius like him. I just happen to learn ahead compared to the rest of my peers. Ichijouji Ken is a genius in soccer and judo. I am sure Taichi-san will beat me in one minute flat in soccer ha ha ha…"

Yamato laughed sheepishly, "Uhm… but I am two years older than you Takeru… maybe you can start tutoring me instead of the other way around like I imagined."

Hiroaki smiled at that, "Get yourself together Yamato, before you lose your dignity as a big brother…" Yamato snorted at that, "So, we can transfer you to Odaiba Elementary, right? Even though you can skip classes I think it would be the best if you stay with your friends… Hikari-chan is in Odaiba too."

Takeru became silent at that, "Well actually…"

"Tamachi Elementary's headmaster is proud to have a prodigy on Ichijouji Ken-kun's caliber in their school, he is the pride of their school."

"Takeru…" Patamon called him.

Takeru turned to his parents. "Tou-san, Kaa-san… I am sorry but is it possible for me to…"

Three days day…

They had refrained from going to digital world because older kids were getting busy and after the last close calls they insisted new kids shouldn't go to digital world without supervision. It was not like they didn't trust Daisuke, Miyako and Iori but they still had no way to get around Digimon Kaizer's eyes. The main reason was because Takeru was busy preparing his school, including faking school document from France their parents used as his cover story. The older kids wanted them to at least have Takeru with them who had the most experience, not just Hikari.

Daisuke would have blew up if not because Taichi telling him it would be too much on Hikari to coach them in digital world. He didn't like to rely on the new guy, but Taichi trusted Takeru to keep them safe with a good reason so he obeyed.

It was a surprise when they found that Takeru was not going to their school, and instead choosing to go to Tamachi Elementarry that happen to be just one train stop from Ishida residence.

Tamachi Elementarry

Ichijouji Ken was not easily shocked by anything but he was definitely shocked out of his wits when he saw a familiar blond stepped in to his class, wearing their grey school uniform. The teacher was excited introducing transfer student from France, who scored perfectly in their entrance test, earning privilege to transfer to their school at odd time like now. The boys looked at the newcomer in awe while the girls had hearts in their eyes.

"Nice to meet you, I am Ishida Takeru…"

Ken could feel those blue eyes were on him and he felt trapped. 'He KNEW I'm here!'

"Your seat…" The teacher looked around, "There is an empty seat beside Ichijouji, take your set there… Ichijouji raise your hand."

Ken knew he didn't have to raise his hand, Ishida Takeru knew who he was. "Ch."

Their teacher was oblivious of what he had just done and went on, "Oh, I almost forgot… since Ishida-kun just returned from France… Ichijouji-kun, please help him to adjust to our school..." The teacher must have thought because the newcomer was a genius too, Ichijouji Ken won't have much trouble to get along with him.

Ishida Takeru strode towards him, a gentle smile firmly in place. "Hello… Ichijouji Ken-kun, it seems I will be in your care."

How infuriating!

Ken thought when the bell for lunch break rang it would be his chance to escape but his way was blocked by the smiling blond. Ken was about to tell him to get out of the way but Ishida Takeru was faster to start a conversation. "Can you show me where the cafeteria is?"

He almost forgot that in school he was a perfect prodigy, he had to be polite and calm. "Of course." He gave the blond a restrained smile as they walked together to the cafeteria. It didn't take long for them to reach their destination but every time Ken tried to leave the blond always had a way to keep him from leaving. Asking what he recommended to order, where was the perfect place that was not too crowded to have lunch and then inviting him to have lunch together.

The last excuse snapped his patience in half and he was about to leave the blond, never mind his manner and image. "Are you running away?" Ishida Takeru challenged with a smile that didn't match his words.

Ken whirled around in fury but he didn't find it in him to back down from that challenge so he followed Ishida Takeru to the rooftop of their school building, a perfect place for lunch with no people around.

"What do you want Ishida?"

He crossed his arms, "Hm… I prefer how you used to call me but for now let's settle with Takeru, Ken-kun…"

He wanted to protest but from the short time knowing the blond he knew it was pointless to get this boy to change his mind. "So… Takeru-kun." He spat the name. "Let's cut the chase… you know who I am so what do you want? Shouldn't you go to the same school as those worms?" He didn't know which school they attend but most likely a public one since they had no uniform and the older kids were wearing uniform of Odaiba Middle.

"Well… it doesn't matter where I go, ne? After all… I can visit them easily through Digi-port…" Takeru said, crossing his arms. "At any rate… are you already planning to escape to digital world because I find you in real world?

So this what he meant by that challenge. "You…."

Takeru shrugged, "Relax… I want to offer you a truce so we can enjoy our school life and be enemies in DIgiworld afterschool."

It put him on guard, "A truce?"

Takeru raised a finger, "First… what happen in Digiworld stays there, so we have to treat each other as classmates. In exchange while we can talk about it none of us allowed to resort to violence in real world… this will ensure us to have normal school life."

Ken supposed he could work with that. "This means you're not allowed to bring any weapon to school." Takeru raised an eyebrow, "Don't try to fool me, I know that the three cylinders you carried around is collapsible bo."

Takeru shrugged, "Fine… I will not bring them to school, but of course both of us are allowed to bring Digivice and D-terminal." Then he raised his second finger. "Second… we can't reveal each other secrets to other Chosen Children."

Ken frowned, "Why you go to this much trouble? Keeping secrets from your friend?" He asked cynically.

Takeru smirked, "It will get messy if they know your real identity in real world and I can't have you running away from real world and compromise the secrecy of Digiworld in the same time."

"I am NOT running away!"

Takeru narrowed his eyes, "Is that so? Then… it's a relief, I don't think it's a good idea if you… say… disappear from your locked room with leaving ominous message in your computer."

Ken flushed a deep red. "I will do no such thing!" He would, not out of stupidity but if he threw this world away he had no concern of how people would take his disappearance.

"Really?" Takeru raised an eyebrow. "Great, so can we have lunch now? I am starving!"

He was very tempted to stomp off, away from this enigmatic and insane boy but he knew he would be baited to return so he chose to sit across Ishida Takeru and eat his lunch quietly. It felt like he had lost, and he didn't know for what.

Digital World (4AM in Real World)

Takeru eyed the vast land of graveyard with critical eye. Privately he named this area as Ghost Area because of sheer number of Bakemon residing here. As expected this area was under Ken's control, as all wandering Bakemon had that evil ring on them. He didn't like going behind his friend's back but he and Patamon had come to a decision it was inevitable.

He wouldn't have kept this much secret from them if only not because Ken was their enemy. Or more like… something was controlling Ken. There was no way such a kind hearted soul would be this cruel.

Flashback

"Welcome to Digital World…" Nine years old Takeru greeted the two new Chosen Children who had fell from the sky. "My name is Takeru!" Then he craned his neck towards his partner. "And this is Angemon, my partner!" The taller one had introduced himself but the other child was still shy.

The younger child with dark purple hair hugged his digimon tighter. He looked nervous and shy but Takeru could see the boy was in awe of Angemon's beauty and very tempted to come closer, a normal childish reaction his older friends had too when they saw Angemon for the first time. "I am Ken…"

"And I am Wormmon!" The green digimon chimed in, his eyes had stars at the sight of Angemon. "You're an adult digimon! Wow…"

Angemon chuckled softly, "You will evolve too as long as you believe in your partner."

Ken looked down at his digimon, "So Wormmon will digivolve to be an angel too?"

Wormmon cowered under expecting gaze of Ken, "Well… I don't know Ken-chan but I will do my best! But if I don't…" He stammered.

Takeru sweat-dropped, since Wormmon's attribute was virus it was very unlikely he could digivolve to an Angel Digimon, or more like impossible. "Anoo… Ken-kun…"

Ken smiled warmly at his digimon, "It's alright Wormmon, even if you can't become an angel you will be always be my digimon! I love you the most!"

"Ken-chaaaaan!" Wormmon's eyes became teary because of Ken's heartfelt words. "I love Ken-chan the most too!"

That time Takeru could help but thought Ken had a very pure heart, a very kind hearted soul.

And in final battle…

"Ryo-san… Ken-kun, stay here! I will check our surroundings from the sky!" Takeru barked at his teammates as he hopped onto Angemon's shoulder. "Keep your heads down!"

Ryo rolled his eyes. "Haaaai… "

"Be careful!" Ken cried before Takeru flew away with Angemon.

He shouldn't have left them… when he was on the way back after he made sure there was no trace of evil digimon left and no henchmen either he heard a loud scream from Ken and Ryo's panicked yell.

"Ken-kun! Ryo-san!"

End of Flashback

He felt his eyes getting misty at the memory, "I shouldn't have…" He should have been there to protect Ken.

Pegasmon's golden wings pulled him closer. "It's not your fault… no one's fault, that time… we did our best to save Ken. He was… fine… healthy when we send him back to Real World. None of us realized something was wrong back then…"

True, no one knew something changed within Ken. They only thought it was for the best to send him back home, but still… "It didn't change that I failed to protect him…" That was why he couldn't tell them what happened between him and Ken. It was not his right to disclose, at least partially not.

Beside it would be easier for their new members to think they were up against an evil tyrant instead of supposed comrade. He had seen how they fought, Patamon had told him that to them it was akin to school club activity, which was a little dangerous and adventurously fun because they got to be the good guy. Takeru couldn't blame them, all kids dreamed to be a hero and they were not stuck in unknown world with no one to guide them to be desperate enough to fight for their lives. The situation and condition were different from their first adventure, especially because the new members had luxury to go back and forth between the two worlds and on top of that they had school and real life.

Not that Takeru wanted them to experience the horror of being stranded in digital world, especially since now they didn't have the luxury of different time flow. Which was why as an older member he had duty to do the dirty job. It wasn't like he was going to pamper them, because they had to get their taste of digital world to grow. It wasn't something he could sheltered them from anyway. He could only hope they could overcome their obstacle like he and the rest of old gang did.

"Now… let's get started." Takeru flexed his finger. "It's good to know that Ken is not watching us now, while he could have been in Digiworld at night it's unlike he is at this hour." He had picked the unlikeliest hour for Ken to be awake. Genius or not Ken was still human, there was no way he would be up all night in Digiworld.

Pegasmon nodded, "Takeru… I think that Bakemon would be perfect." The steed craned his neck at a Bakemon who was walking out of their ghost town. "It's alone and pretty small."

Takeru took a deep breath, "Right, a perfect target."

Pegasmon swept down like an eagle that was about to catch its prey, the bakemon didn't know what hit it. All it saw was a faint shadow over him and then something bright blinding it. In ten seconds flat Takeru and Pegasmon had an unconscious Bakemon on their hands. However the prize they were after was the intact evil ring it wore.

"Do you think Ken will notice if we take it off without precaution?" Takeru wondered, his gloved fingers traced the digital rune on the evil ring. The word carved on it made his blood run cold.

Pegasmon snorted, "He has so many, so I don't think he will notice one missing."

Takeru supposed that was a logical deduction. "True." He slid the ring off of the Bakemon. "I feel bad to return it to his town in this condition…" But he couldn't free them either, there were too many of them for him to take down alone with Pegasmon, not to mention he would alert Ken that he was operating at this hour. He still had no idea how to move in controlled area without alerting Ken aside from choosing odd hour to work so he had to keep his head down.

He hated to do this but in the end it was for the best, at least until he had a way to work around the jamming signal and surveillance system.

"Okay, let's get our next target." He stretched his arms, then craned his neck towards numerous glowing eyes in the darkness. One of them stepped forward, revealing a Yasyamon. Takeru tossed the evil ring he had put inside a cylinder shaped devices. "Get Wisemon to analyze it, and go get a few samples of them like I did just now… make sure to not steal too many from each area." As expected of Wisemon and Valdurmon, in short time they managed to get safer method of transportation through Data Stream down. Even though it was only one way trip, they still had to travel manually from here because there was no Data Stream in this plane.

Yasyamon nodded, "Yes milord."

Another stepped forward, it was Meramon he recalled was working as a weapon smith. He had specifically requested the flame digimon to come for this mission. "From what I have seen the material used to create this ring is Mystril, a metal native of South area of this continent… I think it's chosen because its conductivity and abundance. I will have no problem to replicate them… if only to get similar looking device I can get some ready by tomorrow."

Takeru smiled at his subordinate, "Excellent!"

Pegasmon inched closer to Takeru. "Make sure you won't alert anyone on your way out of this plane." He told them.

They looked at him with unreadable face, as if they just noticed his presence. "Uhm Lord An… I mean Lord Pegasmon, it feels odd to see you in that form."

Takeru snickered, and Pegasmon would have face-palm if he could because in this form he had no palm. "Never mind! You're dismissed!" Why all of them had problem with how he looked?!

The next day…

They freed a group of Gotsumon from Digimon Kaizer's prison, which obviously abandoned by the tyrant because of the lack of security. Takeru didn't say this out loud though because Daisuke looked very pleased for his heroic deeds. There was no point bursting his bubble although Hikari in the end point this out and he agreed with her. Then Daisuke and Iori insisted to bring Gotsumon along to real world because they didn't want digimon they just rescued to be captured again.

Takeru stopped them, he assured them he had digimon friends who could escort them to safety. Daisuke looked skeptical but with Hikari's support, he relented. So he had Meramon to escort them to uncontrolled area under Metafalica soldier's protection. Taichi-san thought Meramon was the same one they met in their previous adventure though.

To be honest Takeru doubted Ken had interest in recapturing Gotsumon. No offense to them but they were not important enough for the tyrant to spend extra effort to recapture.

"So… why did you go to different school Takeru-kun?" Hikari asked curiously.

Takeru tensed for a moment, "I have my reason, but it's not like I don't want to go to the same school as the rest of you… it's complicated." He put a finger on his lips and shushing gesture and Hikari blushed at their sudden close proximity. "I will tell you when the time is right but for now Hikari-chan is the only one who knows I am not going to Tamachi because it's a better school... and I am not a genius."

"Okay…" Hikari supposed that was good enough for now.

Takeru knew she was upset he didn't go to her school, even though he could see her anytime in digital world because he could open Digiport from his home. They were shocked by discovery that the port could open from any computer though and even more so when they found out Takeru in the first place didn't believe the port could only be opened from one computer. He even used them to commute from school to his house, even though not the other way around.

Daisuke accused him for misusing privilege as Chosen Children for it though. It cracked him up of course because in his three years as Chosen Children he didn't even know they had ground rules.

Yamato's Band concert hall

"So, I hope you didn't get in trouble with Hikari for going to different school?" His brother teased.

Takeru laughed at that, "She is pretty upset, but then again I can see her anytime through digital world."

Yamato snorted, why his brother was so hard to tease? He was so cool whenever Yamato brought up his relationship with Hikari, no blush, no nervous stammer. He was pretty disappointed he lost the joy of teasing his little brother.

"I see… so how about the new kids?" Yamato grinned, "I heard from Taichi you did a good job leading them… subtly too, that Daisuke seems to think he is in charge even though he is not just because Taichi give him that google."

Takeru rolled his eyes, "Could you please don't make it sounds like I am the man behind the scene? I am not taking the lead of anyone or undermining anyone's authority… if Taichi want Daisuke to lead, I don't mind as long as Daisuke started to learn there is more than frontal attack in battle." He shrugged. "He seems to have difficulty to acknowledge we're up against an army, while there are only five of us."

Yamato cringed, "That bad? Not even Taichi charge head on to a losing battle back then…" The google head used to be pretty reckless and he learned the hard way to think before he leap. "Are you guys alright?"

"The biggest problem is we're up against a human this time... which mean he understand us better than Digimon." Takeru pointed out, "And also… Iori-kun and Miyako-san are calmer than Daisuke-kun, and they listened to me but… I can see sometimes there are signs they will lose their calmness when exposed to Digimon Kaizer's cruelty. Miyako-san especially… but I am sure Hikari-chan and I can keep them in line." Not that he wanted to control them, just making sure they won't get in trouble he and Hikari couldn't get them out from. "Daisuke-kun has his heart in the right place but he keep disagreeing with me and only following me if Hikari-chan made him."

Poor kid had no clue that Hikari-chan was already taken. "Ha ha ha… tough job, bro..."

They stopped talking when a girl with red spiky hair ran towards them, holding a black marker. "Can you sign my shirt?"

"Sure." Yamato uncapped the marker, "Your name?"

"Motomiya Jun." She answered.

Takeru perked up at that, "Motomiya? Could it be you're Daisuke-kun's Onee-san?" He asked.

She turned to him, confused. "Yes, but who are you?"

He smiled at the older girl and she blushed a deep red. "He is my brother." Yamato introduced him. "Ishida Takeru."

"Nice to meet you." Takeru said, "I am a friend of Daisuke-kun."

She eyed his uniform, "Uwaa… that's the same uniform Ichijouji Ken-kun wear, that elite Tamachi school?" Takeru smiled sheepishly, "So Yamato-kun has a smart and cute brother like you! I am so jealous! My brother is not cute at all!" Then she gave him her marker. "Sign my shirt too!"

"Eh?" He blinked owlishly, "Uhm… I am not a celebrity like Ken-kun."

"I collect bishounen's signature!" Jun informed him, before turned her back on him and Takeru couldn't refuse. "By the way you call Ichijouji Ken-kun by his first name, are you guys friends?"

Takeru smiled forlornly at that even though neither Jun nor Yamato could see it. "Yes… he is a classmate, and I sit right beside him."

Yamato whistled at that, "Wow… when I watch that boy on TV I never imagine he is going to be your friend even though you guys are in the same school…" He trailed off but stopped when his digivice started beeping followed by Takeru's D-terminal.

It was an SOS signal.

Digital World, outskirt of Santa Geria

Takeru knew this place, he had visited it a couple of times. It was a pretty big city, a beautiful one that located near the East coast of Server Continent. According to Gabumon, the tyrant was holding the citizens hostage with a pack of Veggiemon guarding them, and Redveggiemon was the one in charge. So their mission was to free the captured digimon. Takeru mentally noted to expand the area his subordinates protected to accommodate more refugees.

That wouldn't be good for long period because according to Yasyamon they had difficult time securing area, there were a number of hidden area he knew but those were small and access to food and water was difficult too. Liked it or not they had to find a way to completely free an area from DIgimon Kaizer's control.

Tailmon mentioned the ominous tower on the hill, they had seen it before. Takeru had his suspicion of what its function was and he would check it later.

But for now let's concentrate on freeing prisoners.

As usual Daisuke wanted to charge head on, saying it would be easy with armor evolution. Takeru could see his brother was displeased Daisuke took this mission lightly and completely missing the point. This was the downside of their current team, none of new members had a taste of defeat yet. So far everything were solved as long as they armor-digivolve, which was why Daisuke had this delusion.

"No good." He interjected before his brother could say a word, Daisuke was already used to him but it would be messy if his brother talked Daisuke down. "They have hostages remember? If we charge head on they would use them as shield."

Hikari agreed, "Takeru-kun is right, we came to rescue them so we can't get them hurt."

Daisuke whined, "Eeeh?"

Patamon cut him off before Daisuke could voice a protest that Hikari-chan was siding with Takeru again. "The guards are Veggiemon right? Those throw poops at you…" And expertly divert the topic.

Yamato latched on, "What do you know about Redveggiemon then?"

"Well…" Patamon trailed off.

They discussed their strategy and began to walk towards their destination, Takeru was the one who suggested moving because he could see Daisuke was about to blow up because even Iori was siding with them and not him. Then he stopped them, objecting Hikaru to come along because of poop throwing digimon. Takeru felt offended on Hikari's behalf, because Hikari had faced things worse than poop and Daisuke should not underestimate her. He was the newbie, not Hikari.

Takeru kept his temper in check and he was about to let the matter drop, Daisuke kept testing his temper but then he said, "Takeru? Don't you have any telepathy?!" He yelled indignantly.

In instance Takeru could feel his temper shot down, confused by Daisuke's question. "Telepathy?" He echoed in confusion, Hikari was equally confused.

"I think you mean delicacy." Iori corrected.

They couldn't hold it and burst to laughter much to Daisuke's shame.

Santa Geria City

Their plan was infiltrating the city with fake evil ring, at first they're just going to use creative foam, going back to buy some and made something resemble a ring. They had no idea where did Takeru get enough authentic looking evil rings from, and he said he had his digimon friends to make some in case of this kind of mission. No one asked further but it made them wonder what kind of friends Takeru collected for the last three years.

Takeru then suggested to divide their team, because they were infiltrating enemy territory so it was better to have a back-up. It decrease their strength but this was a stealth mission so fewer number in favorable and if all of them went they would still be outnumbered. At least this way if something went wrong the second team could rescue them.

At first Takeru wanted to be in the first team but Hikaru volunteered first, as much as Takeru wanted to protect her he knew Daisuke would insist to join infiltration team and his presence would just make Daisuke's temper worse. So he opted to be the tower control in second team along with Iori. He pulled his brother aside and begged him to keep his temper in check around Daisuke, because Takeru knew his brother looked calm in the outside but his temper could be as bad as Taichi when provoked.

Iori and Takeru watched their friends marching towards the city, and relieved when they saw the guards were easily fooled by the fake rings.

"Takeru-san?"

Takeru looked up from his laptop screen. "Hm? What is it?"

Iori inched closer, "Uhm… I think later after this mission it's fine for you to scold Daisuke-san…"

Takeru eyed the younger boy skeptically, "Why?"

Iori swallowed, "Maybe it's not my place to say this but he keep undermining your authority even though you're the most experienced person here… I just think he is disrupting our team dynamic and it seems it's just about time he is going to blow up on us."

The child of hope shook his head, "Hm… to be honest you're right that I am pretty upset with his attitude but getting angry at Daisuke-kun won't solve anything."

"Eh?"

Then he added, "And also… I am not your leader, Hikari and I are guiding you through your beginner's days in this world." He corrected in lofty tone. "We will teach you, keep you in line and make sure you will not get yourself in too much trouble…" He listed on with a grin, "But we're no leader of yours… until now to me Taichi-san is my leader and I can't replace him with anyone…"

"But…"

Takeru smiled at him, "Let me tell you Iori-kun… our first adventure in this world was different from yours, we can't expect you, Daisuke-kun and Miyako-san to become us… you're you… you will grow along with your digimon, become a better person through trials and errors." He said as he looked up at his digimon who was perching on the branch above him. "Right? Patamon?"

"Uhm!"

Iori quited down at that, it seemed he was still confused so Takeru added. "You will understand someday… but for now Hikari and I… along with the rest of old gang would be here to guide you through every step… we will watch over you but we're not going to hold your hands."

The heir of Knowledge nodded, "I think I understand a little… somehow…"

"That's good enough for now." Takeru assured him, then turned his attention back to his laptop that displayed the radar from his digivice. "Hm? It seems something happen… they took opposite route to that black tower instead."

Iori paled, "What happened?"

Takeru patted Iori's shoulder comfortingly, "Calm down… most likely the guards blocked their escape route so they have to take another route, from their speed it doesn't seem like they're chased."

Iori was impressed, "You can tell that much just from this?"

"Well…" You had to when there was an army you had to keep a track of in wilderness, and even so… this skill didn't help him in tracking certain direction challenged idiot.

Somewhere in different side of Digiworld the same spiky haired boy sneezed.

"It seems we have to move out." He decided as he held his digivice up and armor-evolved Patamon to Pegasmon. "Get on… we will take a longer route so we will not detected by Kaizer's henchmen in Santa Geria." Digmon could fly but he was not fit to carry a passenger, Pegasmon was safer.

"But…" Iori protested, "Armadimon is too heavy!" Pegasmon looked pretty strong but he was medium sized for a horse and Armadimon was heavy.

"HEY!" Armadimon was offended.

Takeru snorted. "You don't have to worry about that… my Pegasmon is stronger than he looks."

"Right." Pegasmon snorted in amusement. "Get on Iori, Armadimon… I will not fall over with just you two and Takeru."

It was impressive how easily Pegasmon carried two boys and one digimon, and even though they took a long turn to avoid Santa Geria Pegasmon didn't look winded. Iori supposed this was what set experienced digimon apart from a newbie one like Armadimon. Pegasmon and Takeru-san were veteran after all.
On the top of the hill their friends were cornered by a hoard of yellow digimon with a red one in the frontline.

They were pretty far but close enough to hear Veemon yelling that all Veggiemon was the same, and the red one was only different in color. Takeru face-palmed. "Remind me to get Koushiro-san to install digi-analyzer on your D-terminal as soon as possible."

Pegasmon sighed loudly, "Veemon… that's an adult digimon you're challenging."

Iori gaped, "But Veemon is a child!"

"Exactly!" And what's with cheering Daisuke up with cool moves? At the time like this?!

Takeru knew it was pretty mean but he told Iori to stay still for a while, and as expected Veemon got his ass handed to him. It didn't take long for Daisuke to pull his digivice and told Veemon to armor-digivolve. Wrong move to announce your intention to the world and Daisuke was quickly tackled to the ground by Veggiemon. And the rest of the hoard quickly moved to restrain them while they were distracted by RedVeggiemon's foul breath.

The red digimon then decided to punish Veemon and Takeru knew it was time to step in. "Iori-kun! Your turn… Armadimon, be careful when you jumped down… they're on top of the cliff, we can't risk an avalanche." He warned Iori's partner.

"Roger-dagya!" Armadimon saluted, armor-digivolved as he fell down.

The vegetable hoard was caught off guard by Digmon's dynamite entrance and got a face full of flying drills followed by stars falling from the sky, courtesy of Pegasmon.

"UWAAAGH!"

Pegasmon flew lower so Takeru could jump down. He pulled one of his staff and it elongated, revealing golden staff that resemble Angemon's. He charged, knocking Veggiemon on his friend's body one by one with breaking their evil ring. It was fortunate that Veggiemon was not an agile digimon, Takeru was fast but he was not that agile to deal with speedy digimon.

"Wow!" Yamato whistled as he pried a knocked out veggiemon off of his arm, "It seems you learn something from Angemon aside from math too huh?"

Takeru sighed, "So not the time to be impressed." Then turned to Hikari, "Are you alright?"

"Uhm!" She pouted, "By the way it's pretty mean of you to wait before helping us." She whispered in low voice, and Takeru flinched guiltily. "But I think I know why you did it… you stepped in before Veemon get seriously injured to boot."

He smiled at her, "I wonder how you know I was up there but never mind…" With her he would just chalk it up as her quirk.

"Digimental-up!"

Takeru watched Veemon evolve to Flamedramon and proceeded to beat Redvegiemon up, and Daisuke was cheering for him. "Although I suppose no lesson learned today…

Hikari giggled, "No… I am sure Daisuke learn something today."

"Is that so?"

Suddenly Yamato's digivice lighted up and familiar light of evolution enveloped his partner. "Gabumon! Shinkaa… Garurumon!"

Takeru turned around, his eyes widened when he saw the black tower had a Red-Veggiemon shaped crack on it. 'As I expected… '

"Go Garurumon!" Yamato cheered.

Garurumon answered it by flooding the ground with blue fire and the hoard of Veggiemon ran away from him in panic.

Takeru frowned when he realized while Gabumon could evolve now the ring was still active, which mean. "Pegasmon! Destroy the tower completely!" He yelled to his partner.

Pegasmon raised his hoof and then unleashed a green beam towards the tower. "Silver Blaze!" His attack completely obliterated the tower and the effect was immediate.

"What am I doing?" Redveggiemon wondered, pulling the ring off of his body by himself.

Takeru narrowed his eyes at the ex-slave. 'They're completely clueless of what happened to them, just like when Leomon was controlled by Dark Gear… I will ask them later if they remember anything even though I am sure they have no recollection of their slavery.'

Soon Miyako, Koushiro and Taichi arrived on the scene. Miyako analyzed what just happened and concluded that the tower was not a mere monument but some sort of radio transmission tower. Then Koushiro revealed about his founding, about monochrome map of digital world and its function. Takeru felt stupid for forgetting to analyze his own digivice. He didn't think much of it, so Gennai hid this kind of function inside. Then again he had the same map on his laptop, simply because he was the one who mapped half of digital world.

Taichi looked excited at the prospect and went to Gotsumon's area to destroy the tower. While Garurumon offered to protect Santa Geria. Takeru couldn't help but became thoughtful of the idea putting older children's digimon in charge of an area, protecting them from DIgimon Kaizer. The idea had their merits, solving the lack of area for refugees but… it had one glaring hole.

"Takeru?" Hikari called him out. "What's wrong?"

The child of hope turned to her, "I am just thinking about the idea Taichi-san and Nii-san suggested… it's a good idea. We can pass information quicker and secured enough areas for refugees but."

"But?" She echoed.

The prospect made his blood cold. "It leaves their partners in the open, a main target… what will stop Digimon Kaizer from going after them?"

Hikari paled. "That's… should we tell them? How if we take their partners with us to real world?" She suggested.

Takeru shook his head, "It's a risk we have to take." There was nothing risk free in their day as Chosen Children. "If we back down now we will back to square one… beside I don't think they will want us to keep them away from battlefield."

"I see…" Hikari murmured.

"Beside… I am sure they're already aware of this risk even though they didn't say anything…" Takeru murmured softly.

Hikari inched closer to him. "We will do our best to prevent more pain in this world… we will stop that tyrant."

Takeru smiled at her, "Of course we will…"

Tamachi Elementary

Takeru fell to a routine of having lunch with Ken in the rooftop and strangely the dark haired boy indulged this daily ritual, facing Takeru head on. He could feel the old Ken was still there, deep within this new cold persona. It was a little odd, conversing casually even though they were on different sides. Ken still treated the whole ordeal as a game and as much as Takeru wanted to beat it into Ken that Digiworld was not a game, he didn't want Ken to flee from him. It was because he acted civil, and not intrusive Ken had not run from him. Ken could deny it all he wanted but Takeru could tell Ken was still the same timid boy inside and one wrong move he would spook Ken.

"So, at last you guys learned how to take an area from me."

He didn't like it but indulged Ken's Digiworld game talk. "Yes…"

Ken snorted, "I bet you actually already suspect it for a while but you have your hands full with your idiot friends so you have no time to test your theory."

As much as he hated to admit it, what Ken said was more or less what happened. "Is calling them my friends without an insult attached too much to ask?"

He rolled his eyes, "I am stating a fact, as I don't know how you can stand them… especially that loudmouth with google. He keep undermining your authority even though he has no idea what he is doing…"

Not this talk again, first Iori and now Ken?

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh really? Is it because you change your mind yesterday about letting him to get killed?"

Takeru's eyes became cold much to Ken's shock. "Don't you dare to accuse me of such thing, I have my own reason and getting anyone killed was not it." Then suddenly the cold air disappear and the gentle smile was back. "Enough about that… so have you read the newest book from Soseki Natsuo-sensei? It's a good read."

Ken didn't know why he kept coming back, following this enigma for a conversation even though they were enemies. For some reason he found this routine as change he welcome in place of monotony his school life used to be.

ANd so I close it with Ken's civil talk with Takeru.

Please don't tell me Tamachi is half an hour by train in RL from Odaiba, I know but this is not RL, it's a fanfiction LOL

At first I want Takeru to go to Odaiba but then this idea popped up beside... it's not like Takeru need to be in the same school as them, beside he is more concerned with Ken's wellbeing in RL