Chapter 20

TK walked at a slower pace behind Davis and Kari, kicking himself mentally as he held onto Patamon.

"I was close this time, Pata'," TK sighed. "Why is it so hard for me to tell her how I feel? I feel like...such a coward."

"You're not a coward, TK," Patamon told him. "You've stood up to Devimon. If you were a coward...you would've left me there."

"I couldn't leave you there, Pata'," TK muttered as he squeezed his friend slightly. Patamon smiled and snuggled into TK's arms. The trio finally made it into the computer room and saw everyone there. Izzy was sitting in the chair staring transfixed at the computer screen. "What's going on?" TK asked, breaking the silence. Yolei looked like she had been punched in the stomach while Cody had a look of pure anger on his face. Willis was in disbelief while Crystal's face was void of any emotion. She just held onto Icemon as if he were going to disappear in any second.

"What's going on?" Kari asked, almost afraid to know what the answer would be. In the pit of her stomach, she knew something was wrong. She'd been feeling it all day but she didn't want to worry anyone with it. Izzy didn't respond, he merely pointed at the screen, never tearing his eyes away from it.

Kari slowly took the steps she needed to be able to see the computer screen. She swallowed hard and let out a shaky breath, trying to calm herself down. Her anxiety was getting the better of her but she couldn't control it. Many possibilities ran through her head, each worse than the one before it. Finally, she made stood by Yolei's side and looked at the screen.

'No. Please no!' Her heart dropped to her stomach when she saw the destruction on the screen. It was no surprise to her that it was the DigitalWorld, what did shock her was the shape it was in. The landscape was damaged, as if multiple explosions had gone off at once. The once beautiful landscape was now charred and burnt, which made it barley recognizable. But many adventures in that world made it easy for Kari to recognize it.

"What happened?" TK finally uttered, holding onto Patamon who stared at the screen in dismay.

"The Dark Masters," Izzy whispered.

"What!" TK and Kari gasped at the same time. Davis glanced back and forth at the two as their faces paled.

"You can't be serious," TK muttered in a begging tone. "You can't be, Izzy. We defeated them. They can't be back. There's just no way."

"The DigitalWorld is an unpredictable place," Gatomon spoke up from her position on the shelf. She was sitting, looking at them all calmly. "Anything can happen. It doesn't surprise me that they're back, really. I had a feeling deep down in my paws that they would come back one day. They are Digimon after all, and we don't die."

"What's so bad about these 'Dark Masters'?" Davis asked as he put finger quotes around the phrase. "They don't sound so tough to me. Veemon, Ken, Wormmon, and I can probably handle it on our own."

"Davis, I'm getting tired of your ignorance," Kari spoke up, shocking them all. She was glaring at him and he looked back at her, a crestfallen look was on his face. It was obvious that he had said that to try and sound brave in front of her, but he was actually scared. He's heard stories of the Dark Masters from Tai and he knew that they were tough Digimon. He couldn't control what came out of his mouth sometimes but he didn't think it would actually get Kari to be mad at him. Usually she took it in stride, as if it were a routine she had to go through. "Stop joking about something that's important to our lives and the world! We're the ones who are responsible for our lives and everyone else's!"

An awkward silence fell over the room which was broken by Cody asking, "Izzy, how many Dark Masters are there?"

"Four. MetalSeadramon, Puppetmon, Machinedramon, and Peidmon," he replied, finally taking his eyes away from the computer screen to look at him.

"I'm assuming they're all in different areas," Cody continued. Izzy nodded. "I would say that we stay as one group and fight together, but in this case I think it would be a good idea to split up. We have a better chance of saving the world if we get them knocked out at one time. As long as we have a Digimon that can digivolve into mega in each group, we should be fine."

"Wait, what about our parents?" Crystal spoke up. "If we're going to do this there's a good chance that we'd have to stay in the DigitalWorld for days. I don't know about you, but my Dad will be suspicious when I don't return home after two days."

"We'll explain it to them this time," TK declared. "They know about Digimon by now, they know that we're involved in all of this. They should understand."

"So it's settled? We don't come back until we've defeated the Dark Masters again?" Kari asked.

"It's settled," Izzy replied, pushing his chair back so he could stand. He then glanced at Kari and saw the troubled look that was on her face. "Relax, Kari. We know what we're going against this time so we have the upper hand this time."

"That may be so but they also know what we're made of so we're at an even level," Kari replied. Izzy remained silent as he thought it over. "We need to meet somewhere to plan this out so there aren't any holes in our plans. All of us."

"What about Mimi? She's in New York right now. We'd be wasting time if we waited for her to get here," Willis finally spoke up. He held Terriermon and Lopmon in his arms. His grip slowly started to tighten ever since Kari, Davis, and TK came into the room and now they were trying to fight their way out of his arms to get some oxygen.

"We'll just have to meet her in the Digital World," Izzy said as he turned off the computer, his grim reflection stared back at him. "Right now don't let on to anyone else that something big is going on. The faster we get through the day the faster we can save the Digital World." He let out a breath, "We have to keep our guard up at all times. Don't forget, Digimon can find their way into our world."

"No pressure," Crystal muttered sarcastically, only to glare at Willis when he elbowed her in the ribs.

"I need you four to stay," Izzy added as he pointed at TK, Kari, Willis, and Crystal. "I have something important to tell you four."

Tai slowly replaced his phone on its base, staring at the wall in shock from the news he had just received from Izzy. Fear gripped his heart as his breathing started to turn shallow. 'The Dark Masters are back? This can't be possible!' Tai turned around to face Matt, who was sitting on his bed playing his guitar. Matt looked up when he felt Tai's eyes on him.

"What?" Matt asked when Tai didn't say anything. "Who was that on the phone?"

"That was Izzy," Tai replied. "We have a situation." Matt stayed silent as he raised his eyebrows, waiting for Tai to give him the news. "You know what we've been wishing wouldn't happen? It happened."

"Tai, you're not making any sense," Matt sighed.

"The Dark Masters are back," Tai replied. Matt's eyes widened as his jaw dropped. He lost his grip on his guitar and it fell to the ground with a loud bang, causing them both to jump at the sudden noise.

"What're we going to do?" Matt asked, finally finding his voice.

"We're going to have to go into the DigitalWorld," Tai repeated Izzy's message. "We can't come back until they're defeated."

"But...what about Midterms? If we leave now, we're going to mess up our grades."

"I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure you don't need a college education to be able to play a guitar for a band," Tai said as he rushed over to his closet and started pulling clothes off of the hangers to shove them into a bag.

"Good point," Matt agreed, jumping off of his bed and going over to where Tai was frantically shoving clothes into a bag. "But to be sure, I'm going to get my dad to explain to the school that we've...been accepted in a foreign exchange program that was set up months ago. There's no way they won't let us go. They'll think this will look good on our transcripts or something." Matt ducked when a basketball went flying at his head. "Watch it, man!"

"Sorry," Tai mumbled his apology. "It just occurred to me what this means. We've had to save our world and the DigitalWorld before. This time...it feels really different. Like we're going to war."

"I know what you mean," Matt admitted; his statement instantly grabbed Tai's attention. "You know that the Dark Masters really want to destroy us now. They'd have stronger Digimon on their side. This is like war, only we're the ones fighting and if we make the smallest mistake, it will affect both worlds."

Tai chuckled a little. "We really have a lot on our shoulders this time."

"I can jump higher than you!" DemiVeemon challenged Upamon, jumping up and down on the bed.

"I can jump higher than both of you!" Poromon declared as he, too, jumped onto the bed and started bouncing to see if he could jump higher than the other two Digimon.

"C'mon Minomon. I bet you can jump higher than those two," DemiVeemon said as he pointed at Poromon and Upamon who were having trouble getting as high as the blue Digimon was jumping.

"Ok...for a little bit," Minomon sighed, floating over to the bed.

"It's nice to know they can still have fun despite knowing what's about to unfold," Yolei commented as she spun in Crystal's computer chair. They had all gathered at her house because of the fact that she had a larger area for them to gather in and that her father knew about Digimon so they didn't have to worry about being found out by their parents. She sighed. "I still can't believe this is happening. If those Digimon can come back like that...does that mean we have to fight BlackWarGreymon again? Do we have to fight Arukenimon and Mummymon again?"

"What if Myotismon comes back? Or Devimon?" Joe questioned. He managed to get out of Medical School because he said that a family member was sick and he needed to be with him. Joe hated having to lie, but he knew that the team really needed them so he rushed there as fast as he could.

"Devimon," TK whispered, looking down at Patamon who was sitting in his arms. Patamon looked back up at TK and shared a smile with him, a secret smile. Kari rested a hand on his shoulder and Davis glared at them, kicking the hackie-sack he was messing with harder.

"I don't think we're going to have to worry about them," Izzy replied as he looked over his laptop to see everyone looking at him. "From what I can tell, only the Dark Masters have returned. No other Digimon from our past is at large so we only have to worry about them."

"What about Diaboromon?" Willis spoke up.

"That's the thing, it's like he's disappeared from the DigitalWorld altogether. No Digimon has seen from him or heard from him, but we can't rule out that he's back. We'll just have to keep an eye out for him, there's no sense in going looking for him now that we know what he can do." He closed his computer. "So, the plan is that we go into the DigitalWorld, destroy the Dark Masters as fast as we can, and then deal with whatever Diaboromon throws at us."

"Don't you think we're leaving our world vulnerable," Sora asked. "Diaboromon was able to get through the internet before, what makes you think he can't do it again?"

"He's weaker," Willis told her. "When he attacked us before...there was something different about his attack. Sure, he was able to change our Digimon with one attack...but it felt like that was the worst he could do. He isn't as strong as he was before, he could have easily gone into the internet if he wanted to, but I don't think he can."

A tense silence filled the room, the only sound came from the happy Digimon that were bouncing on the bed. Gatomon was sitting on top of Crystal's computer licking her fur and Terriermon, Lopmon, and Icemon were sitting on top of Crystal's fan, occasionally spinning it around by flapping their ears and/or wings.

The ringing phone caused all of them to jump. Crystal heard her father answer it in another room but the noise broke the tension when Tai announced, "Kari, if you want a ride home we have to leave now. Mom's going to start worrying."

"Ok." Kari held out her arms to Gatomon, who gracefully jumped into them. They bade goodbye to the others and left the room. After asking a couple of questions to be prepared to leave the next morning, slowly everyone else trickled out of the room until Izzy, Willis, Crystal, and TK were left. Matt offered to go with him back to their mother's place but TK told him to go on ahead.

TK let out a shaky breath as he tried to piece together a question to ask Izzy. Ever since the genius told him about the four other DigiEggs that were separated somewhere in the DigitalWorld his mind has been on overdrive. He was afraid of what would happen once they set foot back in the DigitalWorld. He didn't want to split up again, but he knew deep down that it might actually be a good way to eliminate the Dark Masters faster. He was also afraid of what new DigiEgg would be his. It wouldn't feel right if he got the DigiEgg of Darkness, but what if it actually was his? Would the Darkness part of the power get to Patamon and turn on him? He was afraid to know of the answer, but he would rather get the DigiEgg of Darkness than any of his friends.

"Izzy...about this DigiEgg thing," TK finally spoke up. Izzy raised an eyebrow as TK continued, "What if the DigiEgg of Darkness has a negative affect? The DigiEggs are like crests, right? That means that one of us has to have Darkness in us. What the Darkness from it...changes one of us?"

Izzy's face remained void of emotion for a few minutes before he finally spoke. "You're worried about Kari." It was more of a statement than a question, either way TK nodded. "The prophecy did say something about darkness can't live without light and only one can control everything..." he rubbed his chin in thought. "I'm pretty sure she won't get the DigiEgg of Darkness, but if it does happen...we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

TK nodded, holding out his arm so Patamon could land on it and crawl onto his shoulder. "Thank you Izzy. When are we leaving?"

"Day after tomorrow at the latest," Izzy replied. "I want to give us more time to set things straight before we leave."

"Ok. See you tomorrow." TK slipped out of the room; an air of peace filled the once tense atmosphere.

"So this is it." Izzy and Willis turned to look at Crystal who was staring off into space, her knees pulled to her chest. "We're going to war, aren't we?"

"It was inevitable," Izzy replied. "It was only a matter of time before a group of Digimon stood up to us in a big way. Despite being split up we're going to have to stick together now more than ever if we want to succeed." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "I have to go now."

"I'll walk you to the door." Willis stood, staring out the window as the two left her bedroom. Crystal could feel her father's eyes on her back as they walked towards the front door. "Are you sure we can do this?" Crystal asked, lowering her voice so her father couldn't hear her. Not that she didn't want him to hear what she was saying, but so she could mask the fear that was laced in her voice.

"We have to, we don't really have a choice," Izzy pointed out as he lifted his laptop bag over his head so the strap rested across his chest. "Are you really worried?"

"Willis and I...we've never had to go through the things you guys had to. We don't have the same experience," she admitted. "I'm more worried about him. He hasn't been the same since the virus attacked Kokomon. I'm afraid that this will send him over the edge or something."

"We can do this. We defeated the Dark Masters once; we can surely do it again. With more of us DigiDestined fighting this time, there's no way we can lose," he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it. "Just remember, half of the time we don't know what we're doing." They both chuckled. Izzy then looked down at his hand and quickly pulled it away as a blush rose to his cheeks. "Um...I-I'll see you later then."

"See ya." Crystal closed the door behind him and turned to see her father looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "What?" She questioned.

"That boy...something's not right," Christian replied as he squinted at her.

"You said the same thing when you first met Willis, and look where that lead you? You ended up looking stupid," she pointed out.

"Do you want me to do anything while you're gone?" He asked as he pulled her into a hug.

"Tell Mom that I love her, that's all," she replied. He nodded and kissed her forehead before letting her go. She went back into her room to see Willis still staring out the window.

"Willis, relax," she told him, poking him in the side and causing him to flinch.

"Easy for you to say. You didn't make a life-threatening mistake," he muttered, rubbing Lopmon's head, remembering to avoid his horns.

"Apparently you forgot what happened when we were seven." Willis turned to look at her as a smile tugged at his mouth. "Remember? We were playing in the woods, hide and seek to be exact. I fell down the side of a ravine but was holding onto a branch. Then you found me with Gummymon, Kokomon, and Frostmon. You tried to help me but you fell too and I grabbed you to keep you from falling the rest of the way. Frostmon eventually got us out by digivolving to Icemon for the first time. Remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," he replied. "We were so stupid when we were younger."

"You relapse sometimes, but that's how I know you're back to your normal self. Right now, your normal self is hiding behind your past mistakes. You gotta get over it and move on, especially now. I'll be here with you, like always."

"I'm never going to get rid of you, am I?" He questioned.

"Not even if you tried."

Willis placed Lopmon on the ground before stepping forward and pulling Crystal to him in a hug, which shocked her and caused her to blush. She wasn't used to him expressing affection like that, towards her at least. She was used to him going on and on for hours about a cute girl he met, having to watch them hold hands or hug or kiss, but he's never shown that affection towards her, and it made her feel weird, even if he was her best friend.

Sorry it took me soooo long to update! This chapter's longer for you guys. From everything that was discussed I wanted to end it in a light-hearted way. I hope you liked the fluff. Please read and review.