Hey again, chapter 12 is here. Sorry it's taken me a while longer to do it but uni was pretty intense for a couple of months and I had to drop a lot of my leisure time. Now that it and my exams are done for a few weeks I can try and get out the last few chapters to this story. Thanks to everyone for their patience and their reviews.

Aizawa Li Syaoran Vessalius: I thought that, out of all of them, Mimi's character is the one you can play around with the most if you add some age to her (I think). Thanks and hope this chapter is to your liking.

Angelfish369: Thanks, hopefully I can maintain your interest :)

Vigatus: Fair enough. Thanks again for reviewing and I guess if I don't finish this until 2020 then I can start feeling bad :P

Mimato love 4ever: I'll try my best to be a bit more frequent these next few weeks and I'm glad you enjoyed my characterisation of Mimi.

Kyara Salvatore: It's always good to hear from new reviewers – glad you've liked it so far :)

Also thanks to Gin no Okami, TheLastNanaya, DrakeXIV, Kyara Salvatore and Neon765 for the favourite/sub And now to the chapter – hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of the characters, they are the property of Toei Animation.

A stunning flash of greyish white light, the sound of swiftly rushing air and the overwhelming sensation of being sucked through a watery tunnel. All of these hit Agumon at once as he and the other eleven Digimon passed through Gennai's portal to the Dark Ocean.

The feeling was not unlike passing through the gate to the human world, but the small orange dinosaur could feel a distinct difference between the two experiences. The inter-dimensional journey was colder, darker and more nauseating than those he had taken between Earth and the Digital World. There was an undeniable sense of despair and fear, a raw and near overwhelming rush of pure negative energy that threw Agumon off balance. It was not something he enjoyed.

It was all over in the blink of an eye, however, as the grey, dead landscape of the Dark Ocean materialised before them, and the Digimon landed softly on the sands of what must have been the darkest most depressing beach in existence, in any dimension. The sands were free of any colour that might have given them a sense of life, the waters were a sickly grey, like they had been contaminated by some unknown force of industry and pollution, and everything was covered in a thick blanket of fog that obscured everything that lay more than thirty or forty metres away. Taking in their surroundings, the twelve digital monsters experienced, some not for the first time, the terrible knowledge that they now stood in what was effectively the home of evil.

Finally, having gotten his bearings as best he could considering the fog, Agumon turned to address the team.

"This is it everyone, let's find Daemon and put an end to this."

"C'mon! C'mon! We can make it!" Tai yelled desperately as the Digidestined and Sora' mother made their final dash.

They had all followed the path of the helicopters as fast as their legs would carry them and with a depleted, but still sizeable pack of undead pursuers hot on their heels. What they had found after ten minutes of continuous running was that their chase had led them to one of Odaiba's parks, where they hoped to find safety and, if they were lucky, a way out of the hell they had been living in for the past several days.

Now all that was left between them and their prayed for salvation was two hundred and fifty short metres of open road, and at the end lay a haven of light and noise that could only mean transport and protection. However, their sustained sprinting had left many of the less athletic members of the group out of breath, which was causing them to begin to slow down. And with each passing second their quarry gained valuable metres on them.

"Faster guys! We can't stop now!" Tai exclaimed as he saw Joe and Ken, as well as T.K. and Yolei whom the carried, begin to lag behind.

Completely out of breath, the two young men nevertheless spurred themselves on, having come too far and gotten so close to let themselves or their dependents be killed now. Running on nothing but fear and the will to continue on living, the Digidestined somehow all managed to speed up, increasing the distance between themselves and the monsters chasing them.

With only some sixty or seventy metres to go, Tai and the others felt a fleeting moment of triumph. They had widened the gap between themselves and their pursuers and there was no way that the undead would be able to make up the extra ground that the Digidestined had made with their last minute, adrenaline fuelled rush. Their momentary euphoria was cut short by a cruel and terrifying sight.

Half a dozen more undead rushed out of an alleyway not far ahead and headed straight for the Digidestined. Matt, the first to see them, yelled out in frustration.

"Ah, no way!" he bellowed disbelievingly.

"Son of a bitch!" Tai screamed, not willing to believe that they had been cut off so close to their destination.

As the Digidestined skidded to a halt, they were all overcome by the same sense of anger and hopelessness. They had been cheated. Their survival stolen from them at the last moment. Daemon had obviously sent the smaller group around to head them off, and for once their foe had succeeded. As hard as they could try and fight them off, there was no way the Digidestined could fight off the forty odd monsters that now surrounded them.

In the two or three seconds he had left before they were upon them, Tai steadied himself and readied the baton he held in his right hand. He refused to let himself and those he cared about to be taken without a fight. As clichéd as it was, he refused to go to his death willingly. Glancing momentarily at the others, focusing particularly on Sora and Kari, Tai said his mental goodbyes and readied himself for the end.

But the end had not yet come. Just as the undead reached them there was a flurry of sharp, booming cracks. The sound was deafening, disorienting Tai as he whipped his head around wildly, unconsciously searching for their origin. The sounds were followed by explosions of blood as one by one, the undead fell hard to the ground, sickly red fluid streaming from fresh holes in their heads. The six or so that had rushed out from the alley to cut them off were the first to go, and not a split second passed between their fall and the whizzing of lead over the Digidestined's heads to continue the slaughter of Daemon's minions. Above the loud cracks of gunfire and the rush of bullets passing over them, it was barely possible to hear the almost moist thud of metal hitting and penetrating human flesh, or at least what used to be human flesh. The chorus of gunfire and flying lead soon came to an end, and all thirteen of them, even the concussed T.K., shuddered as the final body hit the ground with a dull thud.

The entire episode, from the moment the half dozen undead had emerged from the alley until the last of the pursuing group fell lasted scarcely more than thirty seconds and when the first soldier reached them, all any one of them could do was stare open mouth back as he spoke to them.

Tai glanced around, but was still too stunned to take much of it in. From what he could now see, the buildings on either side of the street had been garrisoned by teams if soldiers, some snipers still occupying the windows while others had come down onto the street level. As a dozen troops passed them by to set up positions, clad in camouflage army gear and wielding an assortment of rifles, sub-machine guns and shotguns, the first one, an officer, continued to try and communicate with them. He was speaking English it seemed with what sounded like an American accent, and while Tai did have a basic grasp of the language he was still far too dazed to understand him.

"I said are you kids alright? We had to fire pretty close to you all to take those bastards down." he asked, a feeling of concern just barely evident behind his stony, hardened expression.

Izzy stepped in. Still out of breath he still managed to answer.

"No, we-we're fine… Th-thanks." he said simply in English before falling to his knees in exhaustion.

"Well don't rest up now kid, this ain't over yet." the officer replied, his tone gravely and unsympathetic as he lifted his gaze from the Digidestined to the darkened street from which they had come.

Tai looked at the man in disbelief. They had hidden for days from these abominations, run for their lives on so many occasions, nearly been caught mere seconds ago and only being saved by a hail of bullets that could quite easily have hit them. How could this not be over yet?

"Are you sure Gatomon?" Biyomon questioned with a slight sense of unease.

"I'm positive, Daemon has to be up there." the white cat replied with the stern conviction she had developed over her years of slavery under Myotismon.

"But why of all places would he be up on the cliff?" Gabumon asked pensively, more to himself than to Gatomon.

"That's where the old lighthouse used to be." Patamon chimed in as memories of his last visit to the Dark Ocean ran through his mind.

"So?" Palmon retorted.

"So… So he could do that…" Gatomon whispered as they emerged from the fog into a clear stretch of the beach where the cliff could be seen clearly.

From where they now stood, they could see the beach curve slightly towards the sea, following the cliff wall until it met the ocean. The ocean was deathly still, but the jagged rocks at the base of the cliff were as menacing as if twenty foot waves were crashing down upon them. What drew their attention, though, sat at the highest point of the precipice.

Atop the slope, where the lighthouse that beamed a guiding light of darkest black and once concealed a control spire used to stand, was a sight that held the Digimon in awe. A large, pulsing, swirling fog sat at the very edge of the cliff, only instead of the lifeless grey that dominated the realm, this fog was a dark purple in colour with an ominous black hue at the centre. It was the only hint of colour in this lifeless dimension, but somehow it managed to display a feeling of evil far more powerful than the greys, blacks and whites that normally made up the Dark Ocean. Most disturbing of all were the shots of crimson electricity and fire that swirled around the misty purple mass, signalling a dark power that six of the Digimon had never before encounter and that the remaining six had been unable to defeat four years prior.

"That's not supposed to be there, is it?" Veemon queried, not taking his eyes off the mass of throbbing darkness.

Patamon and Gatomon, the only two to have visited the Dark Ocean's beach area, both shook their heads and continued to stare wide eyed at cliff.

"Y'know, all of a sudden I don't wanna be here anymore. Where's the portal?" Gomamon managed to get out before choking on the last word, the unease clear in his voice.

"Gomomon, this is no time for jokes." Gabumon chided him, but sharing his nervousness.

"Heh heh, who's joking?" Gomamon asked rhetorically, his tone now clearly displaying a deep fear.

They all looked at him, knowing both that they had come too far to back out now and that they were experiencing the same trepidation Gomamon was. The booming announcement that followed did little to assuage their worries.

A deep, hacking laughter pierced the air, reverberating through the skies and chilling the Digimon to the bone.

"You have come so far to save them…" a raspy, yet at the same time refined voice echoed, "But, unfortunately for you, your efforts are all for naught."

"Daemon!" Wormmon and Veemon exclaimed simultaneously, remembering the menacing tone of the one enemy they had never been able to best.

"Where are you!" Agumon demanded, not wanting to drag their nightmare out any longer.

"Open your eyes, little Digimon – I'm right here." the demonic sorcerer proclaimed.

The pulsing mass of purple and black mist on the cliff quickly dissipated and, simultaneously Daemon materialised before them. His appearance caught the six who had faced him before by surprise, and the others were simply appalled by what they saw. Daemon was, quite literally, half the Digimon he used to be. His entire left arm had disintegrated, chunks were missing from his cloak and from his legs, horns and torso. Even one of his eerie, grey-blue eyes was no more, with only one remaining in the black void that lay under his hood. Last and most disturbing was the slow, almost unnoticeable stream of data leaking from the areas of disintegration on his body. Their foe was practically disappearing before them, albeit very slowly.

Being creatures of data themselves, the Digimon were repulsed. It was their equivalent of a human watching someone slowly bleed to death in front of them. Not one of them said a word, but they all shared the hope that whatever was doing this to Daemon was not contagious. The thought of slowly breaking up and disappearing was almost too much for them to bear.

"Urgh! What in the Digital World is happening to you?" Palmon exclaimed, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"Does my appearance cause you displeasure?" Daemon asked darkly, clearly patronising them, "Well my imprisonment in this empty dimension was hardly my fault."

The Digimon all winced at this. Daemon clearly had vengeance on his agenda, and the Digidestined were not his only targets.

"You know, I would have been content in knowing I had destroyed your loathsome partners, but now I see that I have an opportunity to fully realise my revenge and destroy their digital pets along with them." Daemon mused openly, not at all seeking to hide the lust for violence that seemed to be coursing through him.

"Not a chance!" Agumon yelled.

The small dinosaur then began to glow, emitting a white-gold light from his body as he began his warp digivolution as the dormant digital core he had been given years ago once again awakened to grant him the power of the mega level.

"Agumon, warp digivolve to-"

The light exploded outward, blinding all of them and eliciting an angry cry from Daemon.

"What! Impossible! How is he able to do this on his own!" their foe screamed in disbelief.

"Wargreymon!"

The loud growl of the mega level silenced the angry calls of the dark sorcerer. As the light faded, Wargreymon stepped forward in all his glory. Had they not been in the Dark Ocean, his armour would have shined with a staggering brilliance that even the most hateful of enemies would have to admire and respect. As the dragon warrior planted his feet in the sand, he swung his arms out to his sides. As he did this, the claws of his dramon destroyers extended, and he brandished them menacingly in Daemon's direction.

"You were saying something about destroying us?" Wargreymon quipped, unable to suppress a light chuckle at how quickly the tables had turned against their foe.

Daemon was silent. He merely stood and observed his new enemy with his one remaining eye.

"Cat got your tongue?" Hawkmon cracked, receiving a sideways look from Gatomon.

"That's my line." she said, but herself unable to stop a brief fit of the giggles.

"Quite funny." Daemon retorted unexpectedly, causing the rookies and Gatomon to flinch, "Though I admit the circumstances have certainly changed in your favour."

"Finally, an enemy that knows when he's beaten." Armadillomon remarked lazily, "Can we finish him and go home now, I'm hungry."

"Geez, you're worse than Agumon." Biyomon joked.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Wargreymon protested.

"Enough!" Daemon yelled with a sudden surge of anger, "Do you insolent creatures truly believe you have won?"

"Yes actually. All we need to do is destroy you and your virus won't exist anymore – and you just admitted that we have the clear advantage." Wargreymon replied defiantly.

Daemon simply laughed at his words.

"You are correct; in my state I cannot defeat you, Wargreymon. But that doesn't mean I can't settle for the other eleven of you, as well as your filthy human partners." he said threateningly and, strangely, with a hint of excitement.

"And what makes you think I won't destroy you first?" Wargreymon challenged warily, narrowing his eyes at their enemy.

"Ha ha ha. You'll have to catch me first." Daemon replied simply, his one remaining eye twinkling with a dark enthusiasm.

With those words, Daemon faded and disappeared before their very eyes. All twelve of the Digimon scanned the area in a panic, but could find no trace of him. Before they could ask each other what had happened, though, Daemon's maniacal laughter began echoing across the beach, seemingly coming from all around them. Wargreymon grunted in frustration before addressing his companions.

"Stay on your guard everyone; this just got a whole lot more complicated."

The wretched cries of the undead still filled the air, but they were now accompanied by gunshots and the whirring of helicopter blades. The Digidestined and Toshiko Takenouchi all huddled together by a pair of benches, still recovering from the chase that had led them from the police station where most of them had been hiding, all the way to a park, or more specifically the park where Tai had landed in when he and Koromon were transported to Earth after defeating Etemon.

All twelve of them had been there at some point in the childhood, and despite what they had gone through, the sight of the grass and sand they had played in as kids was oddly comforting. Toshiko may have also found solace in the place where she used to take her daughter to play as a child, but the middle aged woman had run faster and further than she had in years and she was now sleeping on one of the benches, completely worn out from the physical exertion. Most of the Digidestined were content just to sit and perhaps talk a little. Cody, however, was far more interested in their saviours.

The boy observed the few soldiers who were not deployed around the perimeter. They wore camouflage combat gear and most were equipped with what looked to be night vision goggles among other pieces of military hardware. Provisions had been made for lighting via some portable generators, about the size and shape of a large car battery, as well as small amounts of food and water for any survivors who managed to stumble into the park, although apart from the Digidestined there were barely one hundred at the current time. Most were children or teenagers, likely having survived due to the sacrifices of their parents and others. Luckily for them, however, the helicopters were beginning to airlift people out of the city, to where nobody knew but it would surely be to a place of safety. Still, Cody knew, when the crisis was finally over, there would be a lot of orphans with few places to go.

Taking his mind off the losses of others, Cody focused again on the soldiers. It was only when the soldiers had come into the light of one of the generator lights that one could see where these troops were from. As the light shone on their combat uniforms, one could clearly see a patch of the American flag, Why American soldiers were in Odaiba was beyond Cody and he was particularly curious. The boy stood up and began to approach what appeared to be two officers who were bent over what looked to be a map of the city, speaking at a volume too low for him to understand their words.

Before Cody got halfway, he felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see Joe right behind him.

"Where are you going Cody?" the blue haired teenager asked.

"Ahh, I guess I'm kinda curious as to what American soldiers are doing here in Odaiba." Cody answered.

"Oh, OK." Joe replied simply, but then added, "Well I guess we can kill two birds with one stone because I was going to tell them where to find our families."

"Oh yeah... umm, I never asked before, but do how my mother and grandfather are? How were they at least when you last saw them?" the boy questioned anxiously while also hanging his head a little, ashamed of himself that he had forgotten to ask about the wellbeing of his family.

"Oh they're fine. I mean I thought your grandfather's eyes were going to pop out of his head after all the running we did getting to the hotel we were hiding in, but I think all those year of Kendo kept him pretty fit." Joe told him with a sympathetic smile, "And don't feel bad about forgetting to ask about them, you've had enough to worry about since we met up and I'm sure they would understand."

"Wait, how do you-" Cody tried to ask, but Joe answered before he could finish.

"Well Cody, considering you always drop everything but the biggest emergencies to attend your Kendo practice with your grandfather, it's pretty obvious how highly you regard your family. And seeing as you just did the old 'hang your head in shame' you always do, it wasn't hard to tell what you were thinking." Joe said, patting the younger boy on the shoulder.

"Thanks Joe." Cody said softly, feeling a little better after hearing Joe's reassurances.

Without wasting any more time, the two covered the small remaining distance between themselves and the two officers, who were still in their rather involved discussion.

"Leave this to me Cody, you're English isn't that good yet." Joe told Cody quickly before they bothered the two men.

Cody just nodded in reply, knowing full well that his English was rather undeveloped, not yet having the fluency of the high schoolers and university students.

"Umm, excuse me sir?" Joe managed to say, unsure as to how to approach them given he was unfamiliar with American colloquialisms, slang and such.

One of the officers turned around and gave Joe a strained look. The man looked to be under a great deal of stress, but he managed to reply in a somewhat civil manner.

"Sorry kid, but you'll have to make this quick. We've got whatever the hell these things are closing in from all sides and I don't have enough men in here to plug all the gaps." he said gruffly in a very thick southern accent.

"Sir what's happening and why are you Americans here? Where's our army?" Joe plied him, trying to get his questions in before he was shooed away.

"Look Son, I don't have the time to deal with this." the man said, but upon seeing Joe's expression of disappointment he sighed and turned to his right, shouting, "Lieutenant Stevens, come over here and answer these kids questions and get them off my back, would ya!"

Cody and Joe both swivelled to see the person being shouted to. The Lieutenant turned out to be a young blond woman and, after giving her superior a curt nod, she led the two boys a few metres away, closer to their group.

"OK, make it snappy you two, I need to be able to move at a moment's notice." she told them hurriedly.

Joe repeated his question and Lieutenant Stevens nodded while closing her eyes for a brief second before answering.

"We're here because your government made an emergency plea at the United Nations a few hours ago." she told them rather stoically.

"But why, and how did you get here so fast?" Joe questioned further.

"Look I don't know why your government made their decision, but my best guess is that they were out of options. And as for how we got here, this unit is of Marines from the USS John F. Kennedy. We were stationed in the Philippine Sea when the call came out and we were close enough to get here in just a few hours." she answered quickly, clearly disinterested in talking the two Digidestined and answer mostly out of obligation to her superiors, "We had some troops on Okinawa as well and they're being deployed to other areas – mostly major cities."

Cody had had not understood everything she had said, but he had managed to get the gist of it. His ears pricked up when she mentioned the US Marines, which he had heard a lot about.

"You are a Marine?" Cody said mechanically, pronouncing each word carefully as he did not want to embarrass himself.

"Well, not really – I'm a navy medic but… Well close enough." Lieutenant Stevens told him, a little surprised that the boy who had been silent up to that point had spoken.

"Umm, yeah there's one more thing. We know where there's a lot more survivors. You see they're hiding out in a hotel-" Joe said, but was cut off close to the end.

"Can you show us on a map?" Stevens interjected, suddenly more interested in what he had to say.

"Yeah, I think so." Joe replied quickly.

"Great. Come with me over here to the Major and we'll see what we can do." the Lieutenant offered, ushering Joe back over to the two officers.

"I'll see you back over with the others Cody." Joe said, switching briefly back to Japanese, as Stevens practically dragged him away by the arm.

Cody just nodded and waved his hand once before heading back over to the others.

If the Japanese government had called for international aid, Cody thought, the situation throughout the rest of the country must be as bad as it was in Odaiba. The young boy just wished that the Digimon would hurry up and put an end to the nightmare. But, for the moment at least, they were safe.

The air was still but the fog had thickened, obscuring everything further than a few feet away. As some were panicking and others were swivelling their heads in paranoia, Wargreymon stood still, an unmoving and resolute force amongst the hysteria. The mega level stayed silent with his eyes closed, trying as best he could to sense where Daemon might appear from. He had said he would destroy the other eleven Digimon, so Wargreymon concluded he was safe to assume their enemy would not flee from combat, or at least not until he had been physically overwhelmed.

The dragon warrior lamented the fact that Gabumon was unable to Digivolve to Metalgarurumon. Had this been possible, Wargreymon could have possibly relied on the metal wolf's sensors to pinpoint Daemon's location, much like they had been used to identify the real and fake swords used by Piedmon all those years ago. For now, he was stuck with only his senses and the eyes and ears of his comrades who, despite their spirit, were in no position to fight Daemon, even with the latter's significantly reduced power.

"I can't see him anywhere!" Gabumon yelled.

"Where did he go?" Biyomon chirped, trying to remain as close to Wargreymon for safety as possible.

"Where are you guys? I can't see you anymore!" Patamon yelped, apparently having lost himself in the growing fog.

"Quiet!" Wargreymon snapped, bringing all of them to silence, "Everyone come to me, follow my voice."

The sounds of hasty movement told Wargreymon that the other Digimon had done as he had told them and he felt their presence around him within seconds. As he opened his eyes and looked around he saw that his eleven friends had formed a tight cluster behind him.

"What do we do?" Wormmon asked fearfully.

Wargreymon took a second to think. While he was not in any real danger himself, the other eleven were all still vulnerable to any attack Daemon might make, made even more dangerous by the fact that they would not see it coming. Just as pressing were the fates of the Digidestined back on Earth. The longer Daemon was alive the greater the chance that their partners would fall victim to Daemon's plague. Wargreymon had to finish their foe quickly, but they needed a way to draw him out. For all they knew, the dark sorcerer could be standing right in front of them or he could be nowhere near them. Either way, the Digimon had no way of knowing unless he chose to reveal himself.

Wargreymon grunted in frustration. He could not think of anything they could do and Daemon had the luxury of time on his side. They had not come so far just to be beaten by an enemy that refused to fight them head on. There had to be something they could do to get him out of hiding.

"Wargreymon? We can't just stand here all day!" Biyomon exclaimed, "Sora, Tai, Matt, Izzy and all the others need us to beat Daemon!"

"But Biyomon," Gabumon interjected, "if we just run around aimlessly we're just going to make ourselves more vulnerable to Daemon. What if one of us got lost in the fog?"

It was with that that Wargreymon formed a plan. It was risky and potentially deadly, but at that point they were low on options and there were no obvious alternatives.

"Everyone, listen up." Wargreymon announced to them.

All talk ceased as the Digimon huddled up to their mega level protector. Wargreymon quickly explained, in a whisper, his plan to lure Daemon out, hoping against hope that their enemy was not close enough to eavesdrop. When he had finished, Wargreymon stood up and looked at the group of rookies and Gatomon before making the request he hoped he would not live to regret.

"Any volunteers?"

"Thanks son, we'll radio in the coordinates. No promises, but we'll see what we can do for all you kids' families."

Joe nodded politely, thanking the Major in English before turning around to return to his friends. Before he was out of earshot, though, he did catch the resumed conversation between the two officers poring over the map of Odaiba. He stopped walking, making sure he got every word.

"Damn it, Bravo squad hasn't checked in and they're supposed to be watching the southern perimeter."

"Should I radio them sir."

"I don't care what you do, just get me onto Sergeant Ramirez so I can find out what the hell is going on over there – the last thing I want is those freaks biting me in the ass."

"On it sir."

"And get Hunter Squadron back here ASAP, Captain. The quicker we get these civies on those black hawks the better."

"Wilco."

Joe did not like the sound of what he had heard. Some of the slang went over his head, but he had understood the general idea of what had been said. Much of what he had overheard was a little worrying. Nevertheless, Joe was heartened by the mention of 'black hawks', which he remembered were an American class of helicopter. With any luck those same choppers would be returning soon to airlift them out of Odaiba and out of harm's way.

Joe sat next to a dozing Izzy when he reached the group. Many had actually gone to sleep in the short while he had been gone. Looking around he saw Matt slumped up against a tree, his head slouching forward as he slept. Yolei, Ken, Cody and Mimi had also drifted off, all lying on the grass and breathing deeply in their slumber. Two couples caught Joe's eye, however.

T.K. and Kari, unlike most of the others, were both awake, though they were both in great need of some rest. T.K. was lying on a park bench, a balled up jacket as his pillow. The boy still seemed to be rather confused as he was mumbling to himself constantly. Still, he appeared to know that Kari kneeling right by him as he was staring straight up at her and every so often he would say her name.

As for Kari herself, she looked as exhausted as Joe had ever seen her. She was sticking by T.K., even closer than normal. Her eyes were drooping and she was swaying on her knees, an obvious sign of how badly the fatigue was affecting her. Still, she was tending to him as diligently as ever, making sure he was comfortable and listening to his murmurs. Nevertheless, Joe felt that she was going through more than just tiredness. He supposed that, given how T.K. had only been hurt a hour or two ago, the shock was still fresh. Joe concluded it was likely just worry over T.K., coupled with how worn out she must be. Still though, he could not shake the feeling that something else was getting to the girl.

Tai and Sora on the other hand had both fallen asleep up against a tree and were leaning on each other. Sora, being the shorter of the two, had her head resting on Tai's shoulder, while the boy had his head on hers. Joe smiled a little when he saw Sora clasping Tai's left hand with her right as they both slept. Even when they were both asleep they refused to give it a rest, Joe thought, chuckling lightly.

It was then that he noticed Mrs Takenouchi. She was sitting on another park bench a few metres away from Tai and Sora, quite close to Joe actually, and she was observing the couple with something of a whimsical smile. The woman must have only just woken up, Joe thought as she had been sleeping when Joe had gone with Cody to question the soldiers. She had apparently realised she was under Joe's gaze as she began speaking to him without shifting her eyes away from her sleeping daughter and Tai.

"I keep wondering when those two will get their act together." she mused tiredly before stifling a yawn.

"You know too, Mrs Takenouchi?" Joe questioned, not in the least bit surprised but still interested to know when and how she had found out.

"Joe, first of all, I'm her mother and it's my job to know these things, and second, these two are so obvious they could only manage to hide it from each other." she answered with a small laugh.

"Well that's certainly true." Joe agreed, nodding his head and looking back to Tai and Sora's sleeping forms.

However, it was at that point that Joe realised that someone was missing. Not panicking, but nonetheless concerned, he turned and asked Mrs Takenouchi where there wayward member was.

"Um, you didn't happen to see where Davis went by any chance, did you?" Joe said.

"Hmm? Oh, he went for a little walk a minute or two before you got back." Mrs Takenouchi replied before pointing at something over Joe's left shoulder, "Yes there he is, over by the fountain."

Joe followed her outstretched arm and spotted Davis, partially obscured by the water that was strangely still spurting out into the little pool surrounding the central water feature. Joe did not have time to wonder who had let the water keep going, as he thanked Mrs Takenouchi and got up to see what was on Davis' mind. Whatever it was it must have been big if it was keeping the heaviest sleeper among them awake.

Davis stared solemnly into the cascading water. To him it represented a peace he did not feel, a serenity he could not find. Ever since his father had been killed, he had felt an anger he had barely been able to suppress. The thing was, while at first he had known why he was angry, now the reason was not so clear.

The night before, all he could think about was his hatred for Daemon and his fury at how his father could be taken away from him by some evil digital has-been holding a grudge. That was before Tai had spoken to him. His mentor had tried to get him to talk about what he was going through, but Davis had just pushed him away. But then Tai had said he had expected more from the junior leader, and it seemed to Davis that the older Digidestined was suggesting that he disappointed him.

Davis remembered that his first reaction was to take it out on Tai. How could he suggest that Davis had let him or anyone else down? It was only later when Tai had apologised, though, that the younger teenager had begun to think. Maybe the Digidestined of Courage had not meant it, but that did not mean that he had not let anyone down. The more Davis thought about it, the worse he felt. Tai, T.K. and everyone else had only wanted to help him, to try and ease the pain of loss. All he had done in return was to throw it in their faces and storm off like a child throwing a tantrum.

No matter what he did, Davis could not fight the feeling of shame at how he thought he had acted. He was supposed to be the leader of the younger Digidestined. How could he just storm off like that? He could have gotten himself or the others killed.

Davis clenched his fists and hung his head. He might have been angry at Daemon, at Tai and just about everything else. Right now though, he was only angry at himself.

Through all his thinking, Davis almost failed to hear Joe approach. He turned around, however, as the older Digidestined sneezed.

"Damn allergies." Joe complained as he rubbed his nose with one of his hands.

"Hey Joe." Davis said, failing his frustration.

"Something wrong?" Joe asked.

"I'm-" Davis stopped himself from saying 'fine' as he was sure that it was perfectly clear to Joe that he was not fine.

"You're…?" Joe probed, a quizzical look on his face.

"I'm… I'm just trying to work something out." Davis said evasively, not really wanting to share how he was feeling, at least not yet.

"You wanna tell me what it is? Or would you rather… y'know, keep it to yourself." Joe questioned carefully. He was not aware of Davis' earlier outburst, but he could sense that the young leader was wound up about something and it was best not to push.

Davis just cocked his head to the side and Joe got the message. The older boy turned to head back to the group, but not before the sound of rotor blades began to resonate through the park.

The choppers were returning. Now, hopefully, it was time for the Digidestined to leave and escape from the hell that used to be their home.