Koushiro stared at his computer screen, his mouth gaping open after reading an email from Gennai that had arrived sometime during the night. He should have known. He should have realized that their troubles with the Digital World could not have been that easy to fix. With deft fingers, he quickly sent out an email of his own to the Digidestined, sending word to meet at Taichi's and Yamato's apartment as soon as possible. He closed the lid of his laptop and hooked the computer into his backpack. He slung the whole thing over his shoulder and quickly calculated the fastest route to the apartment. He left his apartment, hoping they still had time.

"Hikari, dear, your friends are here to see you," her mother called through her bedroom door.

Hikari closed the photo album of old pictures of her and Takeru she had been looking through and traded glances with Gatomon. She had been feeling nostalgic this morning when her eyes fell upon the long forgotten photo album on her shelf. She sighed softly, as she remembered that her school friends promised to drop by from time to time during the summer. After what had happened to her in the last couple of days, she wasn't sure she was quite up to seeing them. She really liked her school friends a lot, but she didn't think they would quite understand her wanting to recuperate from being kidnapped by evil digital monsters. They would probably think she was insane if she ever tried to explain it.

She stood up anyway and opened the door. She looked down the hallway and was delightfully surprised to see Sora and Mimi standing in the entryway. She smiled and asked, "What are you doing here?" She walked toward them as Gatomon plotted alongside her.

"We figured with all that's happened recently, you could use a girls' day out," Mimi said, smiling broadly.

"Miyako would have come too, but she already had plans with Ken today," Sora added.

Hikari smiled. Sora and Mimi were like sisters to her and she knew she would love to spend the day with them, especially since they quite understood about being kidnapped by evil digital monsters. She turned to her mother and asked, "May I go, Mom?"

Her mother smiled. "Of course, dear. Just don't stay out too late."

Hikari nodded. "Just let me grab my bag," she said. She raced back to her room and grabbed her D-3 and purse off the desk. She ran back to the door where Sora and Mimi were still waiting. As she slipped on her shoes, she called good-bye to her mother and left with Gatomon and the girls.

A D-Terminal sat forgotten on Hikari's desk. It blinked, indicating an incoming message.

Koushiro pounded on the door to boys' apartment. "Taichi! Yamato!" he called through the door. When there was no answer, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed their number. It wasn't unlikely that the two of them were asleep and just unwilling to wake up and answer the door. There was no answer on the phone either. He forced himself not to panic. He called the Yagami household, where Mrs. Yagami answered the phone. "Hello, Mrs. Yagami. This is Koushiro Izumi," he said politely, relieved that he managed to keep any sort of panic from his voice. "Is Hikari home?"

"Why no, Koushiro," she said. "She just left with Mimi and Sora a few minutes ago."

"Do you happen to know where Taichi is?" Koushiro asked. "I'm at his house now, and neither he nor Yamato seem to be home. I was supposed to help them with their computer today." Inwardly he cringed for the lie, but Koushiro knew how much they hated getting their parents involved with Digital World things.

"I don't," she said. "But you might want to try at the soccer fields near the elementary school. I know he and Daisuke help the kids there some days."

Koushiro wanted to hit himself. He should have thought of the soccer fields. He thanked Mrs. Yagami before hanging up the phone. He began running to the soccer fields, hoping to find their leader there.

Takeru had opened the door that morning and had been surprised to find Yamato at his door. Yamato took his brother out to breakfast and they just talked. They were now sitting in the park. Patamon was sitting in Takeru's lap, dozing softly.

"I don't think it's over," Takeru said, suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Yamato asked.

"The prophecy," Takeru clarified. "I don't think we're through with it just yet." He smiled. "After all, when have our troubles with the Digital World ever been over so quickly or so easily?" He paused. "Well, relatively easily, in any case. We didn't even really have to fight anyone, but those three Ultimates. I don't think Daemon is going to give up so easily. Not after he spent six years working on getting his revenge on us."

"Though I wish you weren't, I think you are probably right," Yamato said. He sighed.

"What do you think the last line in the prophecy means?" Takeru asked. To be honest with himself, he really didn't want to think about 'Hope and Light's destruction'.

"I don't know."

"Hey, guys!"

Takeru and Yamato turned around and saw Sora, Mimi, and Hikari walking toward them. Mimi was waving (it had been her that had called out). The girls came over and the group exchanged pleasantries for a moment. Hikari said that Gatomon had gone home to have her daily nap. A few minutes late, Mimi unexpectedly grabbed Sora and Yamato's arms and said, "Why don't you escort Hikari home, Takeru? It's more out of our way then it is yours."

"Uh…sure," Takeru said, a little surprised at first by Mimi's abruptness, but then he smiled when he remembered her reaction yesterday. "You know, it's not really—"

Mimi cut him off by smiling sweetly and saying, "Then we'll see you later!" She grabbed Patamon and handed him to Yamato before she waved and pulled Yamato and Sora away, somewhat against their will as neither had quite agreed to this plan, but Mimi hadn't really given them any chance to give their opinion in edgewise.

"I think we've just been set up," Takeru commented as he watched the others walk away.

"I think Mimi is way more excited about us being together than we are," Hikari said. She laughed a little. "Do you know how many hints she's being dropping these last three months?"

"Really?" Takeru asked. "You should have said something. Then we wouldn't have had to have that heart to heart in the Dark World."

Hikari rolled her eyes. "And when exactly was I supposed to bring it up? Besides, you're the one who told me that you've loved me for years. You could have mentioned something."

"You're right," Takeru said and he was pretty sure that he caught Hikari off guard when her mouth gaped open. He pulled her closer and grinned. "We should make up for lost time."

Now Hikari was grinning to. "If I didn't know any better, you're just looking for an excuse to kiss me."

Takeru's grin widened. "Is it working?" he teased.

Hikari stood up on her tiptoes and whispered into his ear. "You've got to catch me first." She slipped out of his arms and began to run away.

Takeru's mouth gaped open in indignation for a moment before he chased after her.

Koushiro had managed to get a hold of Jyou, Iori, and Ken, who was with Miyako. They said they had received his message and were on the way to the apartment. Koushiro told them to wait there because he was on his way to find Taichi. Hopefully he wouldn't be much longer. He was coming onto the soccer fields soon.

"We should not be doing this," Yamato said as he stood behind Sora and Mimi with Patamon in his arms.

"Doing what?" Patamon asked, waking up slowly. He looked around. "Where's Takeru?"

"Hush, Yamato," Mimi said. She sighed lovingly. "They are just too cute. Don't you think so, Sora?"

"I kind of have to agree with Yamato on this one, Mimi," Sora said. "What's the point of setting them up to be alone if you're just going to spy on them?"

Mimi huffed and turned away to look at Yamato and Sora. "You guys are no fun," she said. She sighed dramatically. "We'll go if you're going to be that way." She began to walk away. Sora caught up with her.

Yamato looked around the corner to watch his little brother chasing Hikari around the park. "Why is Takeru chasing Hikari?" Patamon asked.

"Who knows?" Yamato said. He looked down at the little Digimon and suddenly remembered what Takeru said when he thought it wasn't over. "Patamon, could you go watch Takeru for me, but be kind of sneaky about it? You know, don't let him see you?"

"But why?" Patamon asked.

"Takeru and Hikari deserve some time alone together, you know," Yamato said. "But I don't want to leave them unprotected."

Patamon smiled. "Okay!" The little Digimon flew away toward the park and Yamato sighed in relief knowing that he would be there to look after Takeru. He jogged to catch up with the girls.

Koushiro bent over, gasping a bit for air. He had finally gotten to the soccer fields. He looked up and sighed in relief when he saw Taichi's signature hair across the field. "Taichi!" he yelled, as soon as he had breath enough to manage it.

Taichi looked over at him and waved. He turned to Daisuke next to him and started talking to him, pointing to Koushiro. The two of them ran over to Koushiro. "Hey, Koushiro," Taichi said. "What's up?"

Koushiro placed a hand on Taichi's shoulder. "It's Daemon," he said. "He's destroying the Digital World."

Takeru finally caught Hikari in his arms. When he did, she began to laugh giddily, which put a smile on his face. Together they sat down on the grass, exhausted after their childish chase. Takeru grinned to himself. It may have been childish, but he hardly cared. At last, Hikari was his. Peace had settled upon the world for now and he could finally have a day with her with no one watching over their shoulders.

"What are you grinning about?" Hikari asked, as she leaned her elbow on her knees and rest her head in her hand to look at him.

Takeru leaned closer to her. "The fact that I believe I won this little game," he said with a smug grin.

"Hmm," Hikari said with a contemplative look on her face. "You know, when you grin like that, you remind me of Yamato. He had that same grin after he and Sora started going out. It drove Taichi crazy, really. My brother didn't mind really that he was dating Sora, but he said Yamato didn't have to seem smug about it."

Takeru laughed and laid back on the grass. "You know, if you don't want me to kiss you, you could have just said so, instead of blatantly changing the subject," he said as he smiled at her. "I'll be with you forever, Hikari, so we've got time." Hikari's eyes went wide and she whipped her head away so that Takeru couldn't see her face. Takeru sat back up, worried that he had said something wrong. "Hikari?" he ventured softly as he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Since he was thinking something was just terribly wrong and he was probably going to have to buy flowers (some of Yamato's advice from this morning's talk), it came as somewhat a surprise to him when Hikari turned her head back around quickly, grabbed Takeru's face in her hands, and kissed him soundly on the lips. Before his mind had a chance to process what was happening, she pulled away and locked his gaze in her own. "Takeru," she said. "It is so very hard to keep teasing you when you are being so sweet and adorable."

Takeru smiled and pulled her back to him to kiss her again. He rested his forehead on hers and said, in a teasing tone, "So you think I'm sweet and adorable?"

Hikari huffed in frustration and cuffed him gently on the arm as she turned away from him. Takeru just began to laugh again. "Stop being incorrigible!" Hikari said.

"But I do it adorably, don't you agree?"

Hikari rolled her eyes at him and laid back on the grass like Takeru had done minutes earlier. "You're lucky I love you so much," she said with a hint of warning in her voice.

Takeru's smile was genuine as he looked down at her. "Yes, I am," he said simply because he knew that it was everything to him.

"What do you mean Daemon's destroying the Digital World?" Taichi asked the red-faced Koushiro. "I thought he was still in the Dark Ocean. I thought we were finished."

Koushiro shook his head. "Gennai emailed me, though it was in the middle of the night and I didn't read it until this morning. He hasn't emailed me again, so I have no knowledge of the extent of the damage that has occurred now—"

"Get to the point, Koushiro," Taichi reminded him somewhat impatiently.

"Sorry," Koushiro muttered. "From what Gennai has figured, Daemon used the portal that Takeru and Hikari created between the Dark World and the Digital World to escape before it closed. I don't know why he waited for us to leave before he attacked, but he and his minions are destroying the Digital World. And I mean, destroying. As near as they can tell, Daemon doesn't have a target at all. He's just randomly destroying things. File Island is gone already and who knows what else since then. And I think it's all still part of the prophecy. 'The Master destroyed, they shall lead the Demon to devour.' Takeru and Hikari told us that Daemon destroyed Dragomon, who they said was the Master of the Dark World. And they did sort of lead Daemon out since he used their portal."

Taichi's fist clenched. To be honest, he hadn't really remembered that part of the prophecy. The line that had played in his mind constantly these last three months was the final line: Saving the worlds will require Light and Hope's destruction. Try as he could not to think about what that could mean, he couldn't help but think that it meant losing Hikari, which he certainly did not want to happen.

"We have to stop him," Daisuke said emphatically.

"That's why I've been running around trying to find you," Koushiro said. "Everyone should be at your apartment now, hopefully. At least everyone who got my message."

"Let's go!" Daisuke said shooting his fist into the air.

Taichi looked at the kids playing soccer behind him. He knew they were all in danger now. When things happened in the Digital World, it was never very long before they affected the real world. Sometimes, Taichi wanted to be nothing more than one of those ignorant kids, never knowing anything about coming close to losing a friend or even their own life. Taichi remembered when Takeru told them what happened in France, how he said that they knew nothing about being normal kids, but Taichi didn't quite agree. He remembered the time when Greymon had receded to the depths of his memory and all Taichi cared about was Hikari, soccer, and not having Sora mad at him for something or another.

"Taichi?" he heard Koushiro ask tentatively.

He was a Digidestined. He would protect his family, his friends, and the worlds, not only because there was no one else and not only because he was chosen to, but also because he wanted to. He was not one of those ignorant people who could ignore the threat to the people they cared about. He knew the threat and knew that there was something he could do about it.

"Let's go," Taichi said, echoing Daisuke's words, but his voice was low and serious.

Takeru heard the screaming and somehow instinctively knew his peaceful afternoon was over. He and Hikari seemed to rise as one. Not really sure what he could do without a Digimon and a lack of the ability to use his powers in the real world, it didn't seem to stop him from running towards where everyone seemed to be running from. Hikari was close behind him. "Well, this is just perfect," he muttered when they finally reached the scene.

"Fire Blast!"

"Do you have your D-Terminal?" Takeru asked Hikari as they watched the DarkTyrannomon destroy some car Takeru could only pray the occupants had evacuated.

Hikari shook her head. "I forgot it at my home this morning," she said. "I'm guessing this means you don't have yours either."

"No," Takeru said. "Yamato took me by surprise this morning. I didn't grab much of anything to be honest."

"Of all the times for Gatomon to decide she needs beauty sleep," Hikari muttered. "What should we do?"

"Hope," Takeru said. He looked around and saw that a news van had arrived in the now mostly deserted street. "Come on." He grabbed Hikari's hand and started to run towards the news van, which a cameraman and a news reporter had quickly climbed out of and began rolling. He noted with mild interest that the news station was not the one his father worked at. Hopefully his father had enough sense not to send someone close into what his father probably knew was a Digimon attack. In any case, he had to get them to leave for their own safety. There was no telling what a Digimon in the real world was going to do.

"…unknown whether they are connected," the news reporter said as Takeru caught the tail end of what she was saying.

He grabbed her arm and said, "You've got to get out of here!" He barely noticed the cameraman shifting slightly to catch him and Hikari in the video.

"And who might you be, young man? Do you know anything about this monster attack?" the reporter asked.

"It doesn't matter if we know anything or not," Hikari said to her. "You're in great danger here. You really need to leave before you get hurt."

Takeru had turned to watch the DarkTyrannomon as Hikari tried to get the reporter and the cameraman to leave. The Digimon hadn't noticed them quite yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time. Finally, DarkTyrannomon turned his gaze to them. "He's going to attack!" Takeru exclaimed to them, turning back to the reporter. "Go!" Not for the first time, Takeru desperately wished that Patamon was here.

"Takeru, look at your D-3!" Hikari exclaimed.

Takeru pulled his D-3 where had hooked it onto his shorts. It was glowing slightly. "Patamon?" he said softly.

"Fire Blast!"

"Angel Staff!"

Angemon was spinning his staff as he flew in front of the other Digimon and blocked his attack.

"I'm not sure what is going on," he heard the reporter saying behind them. "But it appears that an angel has appeared and is now fighting the dinosaur-like monster."

Takeru didn't bother to stay and listen to her. He grabbed Hikari hand and began to run to his partner. The reporter called after them, but Takeru didn't listen. "Angemon!" he called out. "I thought you left with Yamato."

"Yamato didn't want to leave you two unprotected, so he asked me to look after you," Angemon replied, flying down close to them after stunning the DarkTyrannomon for the moment with his Angel Rod attack. "What should I do, Takeru?"

Takeru knew what Angemon was asking. Should they try and find a computer to send the Digimon back to the Digital World or should Angemon destroy the rampaging Digimon. He wanted to ask Hikari what she thought, but he didn't want to put the burden on her shoulders too. "There's no time," Takeru said. "He could be on the other side. Destroy him, Angemon." Hikari laid a sympathetic hand on his shoulder as Angemon flew off to fight the other Digimon. Angemon released his powerful Hand of Fate attack, which obliterated DarkTyrannomon into digital bits. "Hopefully, he'll be born again in Primary Village," Takeru said, as Angemon flew back down to land next to them.

"There's no telling how much damage he could have done or how many people he could have hurt while we tried to find a computer," Hikari said.

"Hey! Kids!"

He and Hikari turned to find the reporter and her cameraman running towards them. Takeru quickly turned back to Angemon and asked, "Do you think you can carry both of us to Yamato's apartment, Angemon? I don't have my D-Terminal to turn you into Pegasusmon."

"Not a problem, Takeru," Angemon said as he picked up Takeru and Hikari in his arms. He took to the air just as the reporter reached them. She called questions after them, but Takeru could hardly hear her in the flapping of Angemon's wings.

"I'm not sure what just happened here, but it seems the threat may be over for now."

Yuuko Yagami stared in shock at the television screen. Around her feet was the remains of a ceramic bowl and cake batter she had dropped as she had watched her daughter and Takeru Takaishi appear on the screen. The picture cut back to the news station, as the news anchor said, "Thank you, Tachibana. If anyone has news about monster or knows the identities of the teenagers, please contact the station or your local law enforcement. It is still unknown if this attack has anything to do with the monster sightings of six or nine years ago, when these strange occurrences happened before. We will keep you updated of any new information."

"No," Yuuko said with a voice that bordered along breathlessness. "Hikari…Taichi…it's beginning all over again."