Digimon Adventure 04

by YukiraKing

Three years have passed since D03, and things aren't as at peace as Gennai lead them to believe. What is going on at camp, and what will the Digidestined need to do to return to the peace they sacrificed so much for?

21. Temple War

Y/N: Wow…this is a long one. I hope that makes up for how late we've been throughout the whole second arc. I am really liking the Earth parts—they're more fun to write than the man parts…oops—and I really hope you like them too. This chapter was confusing at first to write, but I think it'll be easy to read. Review—or Comment as it is now—if you want! :)

U/N: Sorry it's late, we wrote most of it Friday to Saturday... i'm finished just now at 2:08 am on Sunday morning... yay Canada Day :D but sorry... my sister is likely asleep so you'll get it later as i'm emailing this to her from my current location... sorry about that wait... actually she just emailed me... so maybe not... hurray! Never mind... she emailed me three hours ago but I didn't get it until now! :O oh well... I guess I'll put it up because she sent me the file... I'm sure you don't care... WOW I am just tired... enjoy this freaking chapter for the sake of all the sock monkeys and dinosaur puppets... what? Oh boo... but you're probably all sleeping anyway... so this is a fun chapter-really hard to write... i think my parts are poor quality... but it was REALLY hard... i feel it's rushed but-oh make your own opinions... enjoy this arch ending SHEBAM of a chapter... And review :D

Title: Digimon Adventure 04

By: Yukira and Urazamay King

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters.

Part 2: In the Digital World?

Chapter 21: Temple War

Hiroaki:

"Do you really think that girl is going to be okay out there?" Toshiko asked me as we dragged the digimon into my home. I felt like a fool carrying what looked like a large stuffed animal through the streets, but everyone had been too busy screaming and running away from the other digimon to really take much notice of us. "I mean... a frying pan can cook a wonderful omelette but can it really defend her from all of the digimon?"

I nodded, "She'll be fine Toshiko..." I wasn't sure to be totally honest, but I didn't have time to think about Rei's safety. She was just grouped in with the rest of the world as 'unsafe'. I had to figure out why the digimon were here and how they had managed to get to the human world while our children couldn't even get to their world.

We ended up setting the Bakemon down in one of the kitchen chairs, and I was quick to find some rope and tie him up. He was still unconscious, so he was no use to me at the moment, so I turned to find Toshiko. She was standing by the door looking down at the shoes by the entry way.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"These are Sora's shoes." She said slowly. "This is where she's been staying?"

"Uh..." I froze, a little awkwardly, I nodded. "Yes... She said you and her had some sort of falling out and I was happy to keep her here for as long as she needed." I thought she would be upset that I had stolen her daughter from her, but she turned to me with a smile.

"Thank you for taking care of her." She said with a smile. She shook her head and pulled some loose strands of hair out of her face. "So where is this friend of Sora's you told me about?"

"Ah... yes." I said, motioning for her to follow me. I turned and led her to my bedroom where, sitting on the bed with his legs crossed looking particularly bored, was Wizardmon. As we entered the room he looked up excitedly.

"You're back!" he said quickly, floating across the room toward me.

Toshiko looked shocked to see that the friend was not only a digimon, but also dead... a ghost. She bit her bottom lip and tried to smile.

"Hello Ma'am!" Wizardmon smiled, "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Toshiko said slowly. She then cleared her throat. "Hiroaki said that you might have an idea of what is happening to the digimon and our children?" She looked as though that was the hardest thing she had ever done... although talking to a ghost wasn't really on my list of things to do either, he was a pretty nice digimon from what I'd gathered from him, friendly, good mannered and willing to help, so I couldn't really see what her problem was.

"I have no clue." Wizardmon said slowly.

Toshiko sighed slowly.

"I just know that everyone is in danger unless your children can figure it out!" Wizardmon said.

"Figure what out?" Toshiko asked as I looked up from the ground in which I had taken an awkward interest in. For having 'no clue' of what was going on, he seemed to have a pretty good idea of what was happening.

"The puzzle... they need to put all the pieces in the right place—they need to figure out how to keep everything apart." Wizardmon said slowly. "Only then will they be safe."

"Safe from what?" I asked slowly.

"Sudden Death." Wizardmon said.

Toshiko clutched her chest as if she thought she might have a heart attack as she gasped loudly. I felt the same way, but wasn't willing to show that. What did that mean? Did that mean that my sons could just... drop dead at any given moment? If so, I needed to help them with this puzzle... whatever it was... but I was never good at puzzle's. That was always Natsuko's job... I didn't have the patience to sit down with them and actually make a puzzle with them... but this was no ordinary puzzle... this was life or death—Natsuko! I was supposed to meet her an hour ago!

I turned from Toshiko and Wizardmon as Wizardmon tried to comfort her, only to find that patting her back only resulted in his hand falling right through her shoulder.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialled the familiar number that was Natsuko's.

I waited for only a few moments when her voice responded "Hi, you've reached Natsuko's cell phone. If you're anyone other than Hiroaki, please leave a message."

I hung up the phone through gritted teeth. So she was mad at me... understandably... but once I found her and explained to her what was going on she was sure to understand... right?

"Hiroaki!" I heard Toshiko call from the kitchen. I hurried toward her voice and found that she and Wizardmon were standing in front of a loud and struggling Bakemon.

"Let me go!" He growled. "Who are you people and what do you want from me?"

I looked to Toshiko and then back to Bakemon. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know!" He snapped, "Last thing I remember I was being beaten over the head by this crazy lady!"

"I can get another frying pan if you'd like." Toshiko warned.

"Well they're all dirty... you'd have to clean one..." I told her, "Wait—no! This is more important than dirty dishes! Why are you in the human world?"

"I was sent here." Bakemon said, suddenly calm. "The portal's are open... and the worlds are ripping apart."

"What?" Toshiko gasped, "What does that even mean?"

"It means that the worlds are tearing away..." Bakemon smirked, "Becoming one."

"They're doing what?" Toshiko and I asked together.

"You're children are not putting the puzzle together correctly." Wizardmon explained. "If they can't pull themselves together soon... then... there's no telling what will happen to this world."

Toshiko looked to me nervously, "What can we do in the mean time?"

"We can use this," I motioned towards the Bakemon, "To our advantage."

Mimi:

I loved it at the Temple. I was used to things being busy, and I had to admit that Odaiba wasn't near as busy as I liked. Oh, I loved the people I was with, but it just wasn't the same as the thrill and rush of New York City. Of course the Temple had fewer people, and a lot more digimon, and absolutely no motorized vehicles, no Time's Square and definitely no Broadway, but the thrill was still there. There were vendors and little shops and groups of digimon being trained in what to me looked like Tai Chi mixed with yoga. I would have joined them, but some of the moves required the use of a tail…and I am sorely lacking in that department.

The only thing that would have made the Temple perfect, would have been having my digimon partner beside me. I say digimon partner, because I had no idea if she was Palmon, Togemon, Tanemon or even Lilymon or Rosemon. She could have been anything, and she would have been perfect, if she was standing next to me.

Jerk-nai had blocked us out of all the goings-on outside of the Temple. It was almost as if we couldn't feel the time passing. There were few windows, and there wasn't much to see if there were. But we were on a time limit, and it wasn't fair of Jerk-nai to keep us from our friends. Not when we'd done so much for the Digital World in the past, and not when it looked like we'd be needed to ensure it had a future. Even I could see that, and I usually ignore anything unpleasant about the Digital World.

They needed us, the Digital World needed us, and Jerk-nai was trying to take us out like the trash. The idea of causing a riot by rallying all of the digimon in the Temple—rallying is something I'm very good at—briefly crossed my mind, before I decided it was too much work and would take too long to complete its purpose.

"Should we get the others now?" I asked Meiyomon, showing him another bag. I was tempted to actually buy that one. It would make a great purse for Sora, which of course reminded me that Sora—along with Yamato, Koushiro, Jou, Miyako, Ken and Iori—was still waiting for us on Earth.

"We should have got them a long time ago," he said with a toothy smile. "Iori would like this a lot. They had weapons just like he uses over there, and mommy would really like these bags too. I feel bad that we left them behind."

"Me too," I said, putting the purse down. It was making me feel guilty. And it couldn't be helped. Jerk-nai was in his meeting with Taichi, and though he wouldn't see me leaving, I couldn't help but think he would chase after me within minutes, and would no doubt catch me, seeing as it was pitch black outside and I had no idea where I was. I couldn't just go and find them. And a little part of me wanted them to keep their happy memories of the Digital World, rather than have them see it in this desolate shape.

"Oh," Mieyomon exclaimed happily. "Very pretty light show."

I turned, just in time, for a bright green light to shoot towards me. Flashbacks of when Azulongmon killed Jundomon flitted through my memory. I knew it was for me; the way it was flying, the shade of the green. I threw my hands in front of me, like I was aiming to catch a baseball. It hit my palms and I instinctively closed my fingers around it. When the light faded, I opened my hands to see my digivice!

"Take that Jerk-nai, the Digital World is calling for us again!" I shouted, causing many digimon to look at me startled, and take a few steps away. I realized with my cackling laugh I'd been spouting I seemed like a crazy person, and quickly ceased making noise. "Let's find the others," I told Meiyomon—who I was happy to see, didn't step away from me. He nodded and grabbed my hand again, dragging me through the digimon. He must have had some sort of sixth sense, because he led me right to Willis, who was also looking at the wares the vendors were selling.

"Hey Willis," I said. "Did you get one?"

"A bag?" he asked with a sly grin.

"No," I said, holding up my digivice. "A digivice, and you knew full well what I meant."

"Oh yeah," he said pulling his out of his pocket. "Gummymon and Kokomon are going to flip whenever I find them. They keep complaining about being so small."

"I would complain too if I were as small as them," Meiyomon commented. Willis and I hid our laughter, by turning our heads away. "There is Michael, just there."

I looked, and sure enough, he was climbing off of the roof of a nearby store, clutching his own digivice in his hand. He turned and saw us, grinning all the while.

"Willis!"

"Willis!"

The twin digimon came racing towards us, competing with one another to see who could get there first, and who could shout the loudest. Kokomon was loudest, but Gummymon was fastest, so I figured it was a tie. They weren't admitting it though. Their bickering was terrible. The two looked at Willis, and didn't hesitate to jump into his arms, both reaching over to touch the digivice. They were engulfed in bright lights, one in gold, the other in bronze. I couldn't tell which was which in the light, but when the light receeded, Terriermon and Lopmon were in their places.

"It feels so good to have legs again," Terriermon commented.

"I like the arms," Lopmon said, as usual purposely picking something different to start an argument.

"So you like our discover then?" Takeru asked sneaking up behind me. I gasped and put a hand to my heart. "And Gennai thought he hid them so well."

"So it…wasn't the Digital World that gave them back?" I asked, feeling a little down about it.

"Don't know," Hikari said. "All we did really was open the door so they could escape."

"Jerk-nai probably knew that they needed to get to us. I wonder why he's being so adamant about humans leaving everything to his people. I mean, his people aren't exactly digimon, are they?" I complained.

"I don't know," Hikari said, answering my rhetorical question—though I had been curious. "You'd have to ask him."

"I don't want to talk to Jerk-nai," I said.

"Then don't," Meiyomon said. "He's kind of mean."

"Hence Jerk-nai," I told him. His eyes lit up with understanding before he started to giggle.

"That's a good joke," he said. The bells on his jester hat chimed as he laughed. It was a rather soothing sound. I wondered if it was part of some hidden power he'd never thought to reveal to us. Laughter. Well, I supposed he was a jester. They live for laughs after all.

It was rather infectious, and soon we were all joining in. Maybe it was the relief of being out of danger, or the feeling of being surrounded by digimon, the weight that lifted off our shoulders when we held our digivices, the tools that could help turn this into a victory. Whatever it was, everything felt so much better when I let it out through laughter.

"I hadn't realized we were in such a humorous predicament," Jerk-nai said as he approached us. "Pray tell, what was this joke?"

"You had to be there," I said with less edge than I'd have liked. The laughter had taken away most of my spite

"Ah," he said, though he looked disappointed. I figured he was just upset that we didn't want to trust him, even with what he thought was a simple joke.

"It was just a play on words," Meiyomon started, before I clamped a hand over his mouth. The poor digimon sometimes lost his mature side to that of a child.

"Hello Taichi," Hikari said, greeting the presence beside Jerk-nai. He was cradling Koromon in his arms, while poor Tsunomon had to be carried by Jerk-nai.

"Hi," he said, though there wasn't much of a glint in his eye. I'd noticed that whenever he talked to or about Hikari, there was this sort of twinkle that appeared in his eyes. That it wasn't there was rather unsettling.

"What's the verdict?" Takeru asked.

"War," Taichi said. "An all out battle, tonight."

And that's where the twinkle had gone.

War. Was that really where the Digital World was headed? Hadn't it always used us digidestined to keep it clean, so that wars like this wouldn't happen?

"Who're we up against?" Michael asked.

"My people," Jerk-nai stressed. "Are going up against the forces that are deteriorating our world. You are to stay here in the Temple."

"You don't have enough men," Taichi stated, as if it were a lasting argument. "Gennai isn't even here."

Wait. Who was this if it wasn't Jerk-nai?

"We haven't any other options," the Jerk-nai lookalike said simply.

"You've got us," Willis said, gesturing to Terriermon and Lopmon. "You haven't got a choice in that matter either."

"And me and Koromon," Taichi said. That was when I noticed him holding his digivice firmly underneath Koromon, as if hiding it from Jerk-nai.

"You are not strong enough," the lookalike tried to protest. I still couldn't figure out who he was, and I felt bad, for being unnecessarily rude to him.

"With the digivices in our hands, and the crests in theirs, we've got plenty of power," Willis said, holding his digivice for the guy to see. He wore a cocky smile, and I had to bite back my laugh when his eyes bulged.

"How?"

"The Digital World wants our help, Mr…" I told him smugly—though I may have been lying.

"You do not remember me?" he asked confused.

"Seeing as I thought you were Jerk-nai…"

"Gennai is our fearless leader," the guy said, sounding affronted by my disrespect. "And we first met in America, in your world, Mimi."

Drat, that meant he knew me. Wait, America… "Benjamin."

"That's right, and though the Digital World seems to want you…" he started

"For now, at least," Willis added, before he could blow a gasket. "Maybe it's just because of this battle."

"Yes, you may fight this battle," Benjamin said. "If the Digital World has decided, we must follow her instructions."

That's right, I thought. We're going to make you and Jerk-nai sweat.

"And what are we supposed to do?" Michael asked, gesturing to Hikari, Takeru, Meiyomon, Tsunomon, himself and me.

"Wait here," he said. He thought we wouldn't fight him on this.

"These things expelled black gears," I reminded him. "Give us a good vantage point, and we might still be able to help."

He glared at me and I sent him a smile. I was challenging him with my eyes. What was he going to say to that? The Digital World had given them to us to use after all.

"There is a point, above the front door, where you will be able to look down on the battle without being seen," he admitted.

"We'll be there," Hikari and Takeru said at once. I smiled brightly at them. They'd fixed their animosity problem, and I couldn't be more thankful that I wouldn't have to do it for them, like I'd promised Sora. There was just too much going on at that moment.

"Be quick," was all he said as he turned and walked away.

Taichi reached over and pulled Hikari into a quick hug, which Willis copied.

"Come back," she said. "Both of you."

"We will," they said with grins on their faces. The thrill of the battle was getting to them. I could only hope that they'd keep their heads. And then they were gone, rushing into the crowd, trying to keep up with Benjamin—who I'd decided was Jerk-nai's second in command.

I looked to Takeru and Hikari, who seemed to have a rather in-depth perspective of the Temple, despite the short time we'd spent there, and they quickly rushed off in a different direction than the others did. They lead us to a doorway, which brought us to the Temple's roof. I felt like a knight preparing my bow for the aerial attack. Only, I was a girl without armour, and my bow was a little piece of digital technology that shot out flashes of light…

I stepped up to the edge and peered down. In the distance I could see at least a hundred creepy shapes along the edge of the forest, no doubt with at least double that still hidden in the forest. I hoped they were trying for that, without the men to back it up. We had Benjamin standing front and centre, with twenty of his guys holding various weapons behind him. Taichi and Willis were directly against the wall we were on top of, with their digimon—now Greymon, Wendigomon and Gargomon—standing between them and Jerk-nai's men.

Then, Benjamin gave the signal, raising his arm slowly into the air. All eyes were on him. Suddenly he flung his arm back to his side.

And our small army were running towards the sea of enemies.

Sora:

We had been walking along the shore for quite a long time now actually, and every second grew worse than the last. It was like the dark waters were pulling us into their hold, while not actually doing anything. The waves were coming in like any other beach, and splashing around like water should, but it was still pulling. I couldn't be sure that the others were feeling the same thing I was, but to put it short... it felt like someone was pulling on my heart and dragging it down into a pit of despair and loneliness. The waters were so... so pretty—but I felt sick just looking at them... I thought about the time when I was in that dark cave... and the time I was actually in the dark ocean—the time Taichi had walked away from me. When Gennai told me I'd never see Biyomon again—the second time Gennai told me the same thing... The time my mother told me...

"Sora?" Yamato asked, making me realize I had been squeezing his hand very tightly and staring at the water for a while. "Are you okay?" He asked as he looked out to the water trying to see if her could see what I saw. I noticed that the others were further ahead, they were all walking a lot faster than the two of us were.

I shook my head. "No." I admitted. "This water... It's... I'm... I don't want to be here. I just want to go home." Suddenly Yamato threw his arms around me and hugged me. He usually did this when he didn't know what to say, but still wanted to comfort me.

"It's okay." He said, which is also what he usually did, right after the hug. "The water can't hurt you. They pull at every dark, depressing emotion in your body—but so long as you have us around you, they can't hurt you." Which was... not what he usually followed 'it's okay' with.

"I know... but at the same time, it's just so... scary." I told him, "It makes me think of everything bad that's ever happened..."

"Well I'll do the opposite then." He said as our walking slowed again. "How about... going to camp like ten years ago. That was fun! And then jumping right into the digital world? Meeting Yokomon? What about... defeating Apocalymon? Twice? Going around the world and helping the younger digidestined save the world? That was awesome..." Yamato trailed off on a list of everything fun or awesome we'd done in the digital world, and out, and then, "Oh—and when I saved you from falling in that hole... and then you kissed me."

I turned toward him smiling, and rested my head on his shoulder. If anything was going to make me stop being sad about these dark, terrifying waters, it was him... "I love you." I told him smiling. And it was true... I wasn't sure what I'd do without him... probably slip into the waters never to be seen or heard of again.

He looked down at me and smiled. "I love you too Sora." He leaned toward me and kissed me, I instinctually wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Sora!" a voice called snapping me out of the kiss. I turned awkwardly to the group of digidestined walking ahead of us. It had been Miyako that had called. "Stop making out and get over here! We don't want you falling behind!" I felt my face turn red as Yamato snatched my hand from my side and set off at a run to catch up to the others. I found myself laughing as we were running, and whatever was making me laugh seemed to be cutting and piercing right through the dark oceans powers on me.

We slowed down when we reached the others who were all turned around watching us, waiting for us to catch up.

"Sorry..." I told them simply, which caused them all to turn and carry on what they were doing. Betamon was in the lead, with Otamamon right next to him, waddling through the cold sands of the ocean. Miyako was right behind him with Iori and Jou on either side of her. The three of them seemed to be conversing about 'The Plan' whatever that was, but I figured they were trying to figure out when they'd become the hero and save their damsel's. Ken was lagging behind them a bit, holding Wormmon in his arms, talking in a hushed voice to him while Wormmon giggled hysterically. Demiveemon was walking next to Ken looking sad, staring at the ground. I noticed that Tokomon was on Koushiro's shoulder, looking down at his laptop which he had propped open in front of him, probably scanning the sand, or the waters or something like he had to my key.

I instinctively reached to my backpack and looked inside. Yamato peered over as well to see what I was looking at, and I pulled out the long silver key, wrapping my fingers around it. I wondered what it was for... Koushiro's had led us into the Digital World again—what door was mine meant for? Where would it lead us? To one of those unknown worlds? One we'd never seen before?

"I haven't figured it out yet." Koushiro told me, looking over his shoulder. He slowed his walking until Yamato and I were next to him. Tokomon jumped from Koushiro's shoulder onto my head, and then into Yamato's arms. I looked down at my hand as Yamato's fingers escaped mine to catch Tokomon. "The key that I had found was such a simply concept. Place it in the door and there you have it, it opens. But with your key, first we have to figure out what sort of lock it might be for, and then we would have to decipher where that lock might be, and then we'd actually have to get there and open it, not knowing what's beyond said lock." Koushiro's rant made me smile, it brought be back to the reality that we were in the digital world... it reminded me of his original theories—I don't know why... maybe just the sound of his voice on a rant?

"Well I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually." I told him with a smile. "What we have to figure out in the mean time..." I dropped my key back into my backpack and slung the bag over my shoulder.

"Sora—not now..." Koushiro was blushing, and trying not to smile. I laughed at him and patted his head.

"Later then." I smiled at him, referring to us talking later out his love life. He blushed and pressed forward, ignoring me. He settled with walking next to the closest person, which turned out to be Ken.

"Hey Koushrio!" Ken said loudly, "Wormmon thinks—"

"I don't care what Wormmon thinks." Koushiro said flatly.

"Oh... I'm sorry." Wormmon muttered.

"No, don't be." Ken warned, then he turned to Koushiro. "Just because we haven't found Tentomon yet doesn't mean you have to be mean to Wormmon! I was going to say that Wormmon likes your new shirt. That's all."

It was a nice shirt...

"Whatever..." Koushiro said, "Thanks I guess. But I have more important things to do, like figure out what this water's biological structure is made of." Koushiro returned to his laptop, almost in a bragging way as he punched the numbers and formulas into his computer.

"That's wrong." Ken pointed out helpfully, pointing at Koushiro's screen. "You forgot to carry the one."

"Oh!" Koushiro snapped, "That's rich—as if you'd actually understand... you're right." He said slowly. Fixing his mistake. He turned to Ken with a glare of utmost disgust. "At least my brains are real."

"What are you implying?" Ken asked, "That I have a brain made of cardboard? I have a brain too you know!"

"Oh of course you have a brain! I'm not implying anything different." Koushiro said, "But I sat down and learned things. You got knowledge injected into you by an evil arachnid digimon. So... really? I'm the winner here."

"The winner?" Ken said loudly.

"Hurray you win!" Demiveemon cheered.

"No!" Wormmon argued, "He doesn't win! Wait... win what?"

"That's exactly what I'm wondering." Ken added, "This isn't a game Koushiro—I was just trying to help."

"'Trying' is the key word." Koushiro smirked.

"I was right!" Ken shouted, exasperatedly. I looked to Yamato who seemed to be enjoying the argument thoroughly. I personally thought it could have ended at any moment... it was my fault too. If I hadn't been stupid and embarrassed Koushiro then he wouldn't have moved to Ken...

"Why are you so excited about being right?" Koushiro asked, eyebrows raised, "Is it your first time?"

Ken bit his bottom lip in anger, and just as he was about to speak, Miyako's voice boomed around us.

"Stop arguing right now!" She yelled, "We're not in the position to be arguing! We need to be on the same side! Koushiro! APPOLOGIZE!" She was standing ahead of them, her hands on her hips, sending them both a glare of so much superiority that it actually terrified me.

"Sorry..." Koushiro grumbled.

"Now you Ken." Miyako shot.

"I'm sorry for arguing with you Koushiro." Ken said calmly.

Koushiro nodded slowly and then Miyako turned to follow Betamon again, along the shore of the dark ocean as Koushiro mumbled to himself and walked further away from Ken.

"Betamon how much further?" I heard Miyako say loudly.

"Not much longer now."He said, looking back at us all, "Would you like to take a break?" Miyako shook her head.

"Yes!" Otamamon added from next to Betamon. "I want a food break! I love food!"

Betamon ignored Otamaomn and said, "Alright, we'll be there in a few minutes."

And so we walked.

And we walked...

And we walked.

It turned out to be the longest few minutes of my entire life, but soon enough we were being led into the trees. Jou and Iori were both very nervous, looking around at everything as if it wanted to kill them , or worse—stop them from saving Momoe, Natsuni, and Noriko. Miyako was marching right along as if nothing was wrong at all, but it was clear to me that she was nervous and wanted to curl up in a ball and hide. Ken and Koushiro were both glaring at one another as they followed, and Yamato was talking to Tokomon. I looked back at the waters of the dark ocean and sighed. It felt good to be walking away from them finally—and away from the possibility that creatures might come out of nowhere and attack us...

But they hadn't... where had all of those shadow creatures gone? The ones that had tried to keep me in the Dark Ocean only a few years prior... they just vanished—Tokomon said they would be around all night, and as I looked up into the sky I noted that it was still night, and the moon was still floating up in the sky.

"Where is the temple you speak of?" Koushiro asked. "If it's close like you seem to think then we should be able to see it..."

"You can't!" Demiveemon chimed in with a smile, "You can't see the temple until you're inside the premises."

"Oh... that's very clever." Koushiro said with a small smile, "Gennai has outdone himself."

"It's just up ahead... through these bushes." Betamon smiled running ahead and pulling aside the large bushes. "Look!" He pointed excitedly.

Otamamon, who was standing right in the open bushes, said "That doesn't look very good!"

Miyako turned to the rest of us and pointed. "You'd all better look."

I moved forward with Koushiro and stared at the temple. It was beautiful—but that wasn't what she wanted me to see. She was pointing directly at the large army of dark, slimy creatures heading straight toward it.

Mimi:

The battle was long and hard, and there wasn't a moment when Michael, Hikari, Takeru or my digivices weren't needed. I thrust it forward once again, allowing the light to engulf one of the strange shadow-like minions of Dragomon and Fanglongmon before it could reach the Temple door. They seemed to be after something. Time and time again we had to vaporize the enemies because they were after the door.

Jerk-nai and his people must have something they wanted.

Unless they weren't after an object, but rather a person… Maybe they wanted Tsunomon and Koromon, for their crests! It didn't add up though, since Greymon was out there on the battlefield, being treated no differently than any one of Jerk-nai's men.

"They don't seem to be depleting," Willis commented. "Shouldn't we have made a dent in their forces by now?"

"Not if the Digital World is being fueled by the Dark Ocean," Hikari commented. "They aren't the same shadow digimon that I saw when I was there. These are different. They aren't Dragomon's people, they're just his pawns."

I was shocked. Hikari was never harsh, but her voice was just then. And she never spoke of her time in the Dark Ocean. Not even with Taichi. I'd heard him complain about it often enough—and I'd barely seen him since we left the Digital World three years prior.

"Alright," I said. "So we're against an unlimited army?"

"Not unlimited," Hikari said. "Just huge. They'll run out eventually, even if we have to defeat Dragomon and Fanglongmon first. It's not unlimited."

"Okay," Takeru said, blasting another one. "So we just keep at this?"

"Until morning," Tsunomon said. "They fight only in the cover of darkness. It feeds their power."

"And there are only how many hours 'til then?" Michael asked.

"I'm tired," Meiyomon said, after blowing up another one.

"Me too little buddy," I told him. "There's only so long I'll be able to keep this up. It's not enough to cause an adrenaline rush, so I'm running on fumes right now."

"Those fumes had better last us then," Tsunomon said. He was feeling left out. Koromon got to digivolve into Greymon, and the twin digimon got to fight too, while Meiyomon could use his bombing abilities to assist us. His bubble blow wasn't effective enough to do anything.

"They have to," I retorted, firing off another blast of light.

"We have to get more people."

I looked down to see one of Jerk-nai's men talking to one of the Gotsumon that were waiting by the door.

"We don't have many more, Ilya," the Gotsumon said.

"There are children in those woods," Ilya said frustrated.

"Kids?" I muttered.

"You don't think they mean…?" Hikari said trailing off as the two of us leaned closer to hear more.

"We can't afford to take that risk," Gotsumon said

"We can't afford to have the chosen children die," Ilya shouted at him.

Hikari and I gasped.

"Yeah, we're fine over here," Michael said testily.

"We totally don't need your help or anything," Takeru added.

"Why don't they take a break then?" Meiyomon asked in his cute, clueless, sort of way.

The boys didn't have a chance to correct him.

"The others are out there," I informed them. "They don't have digimon or digivices."

"They could have digivices," Takeru corrected. "They did go flying through the air. We just don't know if they've reached them yet."

"Those things literally travel at the speed of light," Michael commented. "They definitely have their digivices."

"But will a digivice help them when they're in the thick of things?" Takeru asked the question we'd been avoiding.

"It'll have to," I said with a heavy sigh. There was no way we were going to be allowed out there. "Let's just keep fighting where we are. Every enemy we vaporize, that's one less that can attack the others."

"Wait!" Takeru shouted.

"What is it?" Michael asked.

"Hikari," Takeru said. "She's gone."

"Where is she?" I asked, horrified that I'd missed her disappearance. She'd been right beside me, and I didn't know when she'd snuck away.

"What do we do?" Michael asked.

"We go after her," Takeru said, heading to the door.

"We don't even know where she went," Tsunomon said.

"To the front door, I guess," Meiyomon said. "The guards were given strict instructions not to let any of us out. She won't be able to get passed them."

"Then we go to the door," Takeru said.

"And leave our post?" Tsunomon asked.

"Yes," I said. "If she's gone to the door, we'll be closer to the enemies. Maybe it'll even be easier to get them. We won't be doing nothing the whole time. Besides, Jerk-nai didn't want us doing anything at all."

I let Takeru lead us down from the top of the wall. He needed to feel as though he was doing something, and this way he could. Michael demanded that he be at the back—"To protect you" he'd said. I rolled my eyes, but let him have his way too. I held tight to Meiyomon's hand and my digivice. I had to get myself psyched for the battle, or I'd probably break down crying.

"Hey, you!" Gotsumon shouted when we got close. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To find Hikari," Meiyomon told him.

"You mean she hasn't been here?" Takeru asked frantically. "It's the only way out."

"Are you telling me that one of you've already slipped through my defenses?" Gotsumon asked.

"Knowing Hikari, yeah," Michael said.

"The only people that've left were Ilya's new recruits," Gotsumon said.

"She's gone with them," Takeru declared. And when he said it, it made perfect sense. "And we're Ilya's newest recruits, so get out of our way."

"No," Gotsumon said, standing up taller.

"Move or I'll make you," Meiyomon threatened. There was a glint in his eye that reminded me of before he joined our side. When he was evil.

"I-I can't," Gotsumon stammered.

"Three," Meiyomon said. "Two."

"Alright!" Gotsumon said.

We didn't wait for him to change his mind. Running straight into the battle was not the best choice we'd made that day. We didn't even bother to stop and look at what it was we were getting into. And because of this, I was easily grabbed from behind.

"Let go!" I screamed, kicking my legs out and flailing my arms.

"Mimi," Taichi growled. "Stop that."

"Taichi?" I asked, turning around. I smiled sheepishly at him.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Chasing after Hikari," I mumbled.

"What?"

"Hikari's missing, she's gone after the others," I said louder.

"Hikari's missing!" Taichi shouted. Willis stopped shouting encouragements at his digimon and turned to stare at us in horror.

"Where'd she go?" he asked.

"Mimi says she's out there," Taichi told him, pointing towards the widespread battle going on in front of the Temple.

"Then we'd better find her," Willis said. "Wendigomon, Gargomon! We've got a new mission, find Hikari and bring her back."

"Right," they said in sync.

"Greymon, you too," Taichi said, running to his digimon, who reached down to lift him up onto his shoulder. I saw him send a glare in Willis' direction, as if it were Willis' fault that Hikari was so stubborn.

I relaxed, knowing that Taichi and Willis were going to take care of things. Takeru didn't look as pleased as I was, but he relented, staying by the wall and doing the job we'd been doing the entire time. Michael was happy. He hadn't liked the idea of breaking Jerk-nai's rules. I personally couldn't see how he wasn't angered by Jerk-nai, but then, most people were just annoyed…maybe it was only me that had a problem…

But I would sort that out later, because Taichi, Willis and their digimon didn't get very far, before being attacked again by large groups of these slimy, creepy…things.

"They'll never make it through," Takeru commented.

"I know," I said sounding disappointed…because I was.

"They'll be keeping these things busy," Takeru added nonchalantly.

"They will," Meiyomon agreed.

"So they won't see us leaving, will they?" he finished.

"Are you suggesting I let you run off into those woods?" I asked, horrified.

"Not a suggestion," he said. "I'm telling you that's what I'm going to do."

"But—"

"No Mimi, we don't have time. She's just one person, with just one digivice. She'll need all the help she can get to reach the others," he said.

"Gennai told us it was only safe here," Michael told us.

"Gennai also said we'd never be back here…two different times," Takeru said. "He's been wrong before."

"While I'm sure this particular point has some merit, I'm going to have to agree with Takeru," I said.

"I'm going," Takeru stated. "Come with me if you want, but I'm leaving now."

I thought about it. Briefly. About staying in the Temple, away from these enemies, but then Yamato's face came to mind. He would be chasing his little brother, given the chance. And I couldn't let Takeru go alone. Yamato would never forgive me, and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.

"Let's go," I said.

"Yay!" Meiyomon cheered. Michael grumbled, but followed behind us. We were shooting slimy creeps left and right, trying to keep Meiyomon from blowing anything up. It would draw them all straight to us if he had.

Meiyomon tripped over the root of a tree, and the creepy things jumped at him. We struggled to get them off of him, using both our hands and our digivices.

"Go boom, Meiyo, go boom!" I shouted at him, as another one of them latched onto me, dragging me away from Meiyomon, before I could beam him.

"BOOM!" he shouted childishly, and the slimy creeps exploded, slime landed everywhere.

"We've got to go," Takeru said. "Keep moving. They had to have heard that."

"Oh, I did."

We turned and came face to face with SkullSatamon. I let out a loud scream.

"There's no need for that," he said, preparing an attack in the palm of his hands.

"On three," Michael suggested in a low voice. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tsunomon, Meiyomon and Takeru nod slowly.

"One," he said.

SkullSatamon looked at us all. "Eenie meenie miney, moe…"

"Two," Takeru said.

"I choose you," SkullSatamon decided, turning his palm to face me.

"Three!" I shouted.

"Bubble-blow!" Tsunomon cried.

"Boom!" Meiyomon shouted.

"Ahh!" I screamed, as the three of us turned our digivices at him.

"Run!" Takeru said, when SkullSatamon had been effectively blinded. We weaved in and out of the trees, trying to put as many obstacles between us as possible, but there wasn't much to work with. He was going to catch us if we didn't get help. And soon.

Sora:

So that explained why the dark creatures hadn't been attacking us lately... it was because they were all accumulating around the temple... I couldn't see what was happening well, but from what I could see I had gathered that the creatures from the Dark Ocean were advancing upon this temple that Tokomon and the others had told us about—and the residents of the temple were fighting back... I thought I recognized one of the digimon there to be Greymon, but I knew that was unlikely. But it didn't matter who was fighting, all that mattered was that we weren't. The others were there... or so Betamon thought... and if they were then... well... we should have been helping them fight.

Before I could announce my thoughts Miyako practically growled at the advancing army and then turned her intense stare to Ken who nodded. He held up his digivice and jumped to his feet, tossing Wormmon into the air.

"Wormmon digivolve to... Stingmon!" As Wormmon flew through the air he shone a bright colour and then morphed into the large bug like creature that was Stingmon. He landed next to Ken who was looking up at him.

"Let's get out there and help." Ken smiled at him.

"I want to come too!" Otamamon announced from right next to Ken, half hiding in the bushes. "I've been avoiding the scary things as much as I could... but you Digidestined have been so kind to me—and you're my family know and stuff... so..."

Ken smiled down at Otamamon and held his arms open for him. Otamamon giggled as he leapt from the ground and into Ken's arms. "Now let's go." Ken turned to Stingmon who reached down and wrapped his arm around Ken and shot off without another word.

Miyako turned to the rest of us and sighed, looking back and forth to the three digimon we had left. Betamon surprisingly looked more helpful... She finally shook her head and turned to the rest of us. "We have our digivices!" She announced, "Sure our digimon are still out there somewhere, but we can still help keep the creatures back with these."

Jou and Iori jumped to their feet, both looking uncharacteristically determined to be running out into the battle that could end their lives.

"This better not last too long." Jou said flatly, looking down at the digivice in his hand. "If we spend too much time here then Momoe... well—let's just get this over with."

"I agree..." Iori said, "I mean if all of us just stand there with our digivices out, then the creatures from the Dark Ocean won't be able to affect us—or even advance! This shouldn't take any longer than five minutes or so!"

"Don't get your hopes up Iori." Yamato said slowly, looking down at Tokomon who was glaring toward the battlefield, still wrapped up in Yamato's arms. "You know as well as I do that there's always something that screws over our plans. We can't go out there hoping to be home in time for dinner. This isn't going to be easy—or fun."

"It looks pretty fun to me!" Betamon declared, a glint in his eyes... that was also very uncharacteristic for Betamon who, last I saw, pretended he had forgotten how to digivolve to avoid a battle against a simple mushroom in the past, but I wasn't going to question him, if he wanted to help I was alright by that.

"I think it would be a lot more fun if I could digivolve." Demiveemon muttered, staring after Stingmon and Ken.

"Well let's stop talking about all of this and get out there." I declared suddenly. "I want to find the others! I want to help!"

"I agree with Sora one hundred percent." Koushiro said, closing his laptop and placing it in his backpack.

"Why don't you just leave that here?" I asked him, "it'll be safer for it."

"I will not be leaving my laptop anywhere." He said flatly. "My computer is like my child. Would you hide your first born child in a bush after taking into a different dimension? I didn't think so!" He was very protective about that thing... but he didn't have to yell—I was just trying to help.

"Ken looks like he's doing good out there!" Miyako pointed out. We all looked through the bushes to see Stingmon and Otamamon fighting the creatures off as a strong beam of magenta light was shining around like a super strength flashlight.

"Well we can change that... can't we?" We all froze at the sound of the voice behind us. Turning slowly we all came face to face with digimon that I was unfamiliar with.

"Daemon." Miyako and Iori said as one. I had heard that name before—when was it? Oh! That was right! Daemon was the digimon who gathered an army of fallen angel type digimon and tried to destroy Ken—but Ken opened a portal to the Dark Ocean and trapped him there... or that was the story I had heard anyway—and it made sense that he would be here... this was afterall the dark ocean.

I jumped to my feet and dragged Yamato up with me. Koushiro staggered up after us until we were all standing around the evil digimon who was glaring down at us.

Daemon was wearing a long black and red cloak with a dark hood that casted long shadows over his face. His horns were curled and dirty, and his wings were long and violet. I could barely see the golden eyes piercing through the darkness and glaring at us, but I knew now was the time to run... but I couldn't convince my legs of that.

"So we meet again." Daemon said, standing perfectly still. "Well digidestined, this has been fun... but the one I'm really here for is little Ken Ichijouji."

Miyako gasped and looked quickly over her shoulder, nervously.

"So step aside." Daemon ordered. None of us moved, but as Daemon opened his wings and let out a roar of anger Betamon lept forward and tackled him. Daemon simply smacked the digimon out of the way. I watched in horror as Betamon landed roughly on the ground and rolled a little. I was relieved to find that he was perfectly okay as he jumped back to his feet and growled. "I suppose I will make you all move then." Daemon raised his hands in anger.

"Run!" Miyako ordered loudly, grabbing Koushiro's arm and dragging him. Betamon was following them closely, and they were all ahead of the rest of us who were running as one. Demiveemon had leapt into Yamato's arms and he was holding on tightly to Tokomon who was watching Daemon behind us.

I risked looking back and instantly wished that I hadn't. Daemon was soaring across the grass toward us, down the hill we had just run down to get away from him. His hands were glowing with flames sparking around him and suddenly he shot a large fireball toward us.

"Duck!" I screamed, pulling Yamato and Iori, the two closest to me, down to the ground. Miyako and Koushiro also fell to the ground but Jou kept running. "Jou!" I yelled as the fireball soared over our heads and flew toward him. Iori was quick to jump to his feet and run after him.

The fireball landed near Jou and exploded, the ground burst into flames as bits of dirt, grass, and stones flew everywhere. Jou had been blasted aside by the force of the explosion and had landed roughly on the grass. Iori slid to a stop when he caught up to him and helped him easily to his feet and the two ran off.

"I shall go warn Ken of the impending danger." Koushiro said flatly, clearly looking past his differences with the boy at least for the moment. "You all should attempt to keep Daemon at bay while I do so. Ken should at least know what's coming before he is murdered brutally." Miyako slapped Koushiro's arm and shoved him along his way. Koushiro set off at a run, Betamon right behind him.

Yamato pulled me to my feet and we both spun around to face Daemon who was standing only a few feet away. Instinctively I shone my digivice in his face, blinding him momentarily. Bubbles erupted from all around Yamato as the two digimon in his arms attempted to obey Koushiro's orders, but none of it seemed to be working, until Miyako jumped between the two of us and punched Daemon straight in the face.

"You stay away from my boyfriend or face the wrath of the Inoe!" She roared as Daemon staggered backward. Daemon snarled at Miyako who just laughed, "Want some more?" She asked, kicking high in the air toward Daemon's face. Daemon was quicker this time and raised his hands, catching her foot in mid kick. He pulled hard on her foot and she fell to the ground, her foot still in his clawed hands. He flapped his wings and began flying as Miyako shot me a look of pure terror. I was quick to lunge forward and grab her hands as Daemon flew with her through the battlefield.

"Sora!" Yamato yelled from behind me. "Sora!"

I looked down in fear as Daemon's heavy wings flapped, sending gusts of wind down upon Miyako and I. Yamato's face was etched with horror, so I smiled briefly at him, knowing that comforting him could wait. I was going to help Miyako. As I looked up at her I noticed that she was almost crying, her glasses were out of place, and her hair was whipping around wildly in the wind. Her backpack was slipping down her arms a little and her sundress was revealing that she was, thankfully, wearing shorts underneath. I noticed though that the goggles that were placed upon her head were completely still, not budging an inch... even the goggles thought she was a great leader.

"Put us down!" I screamed at Daemon as Miyako gripped me tightly. I looked down and saw that we were flying past Ken now... where was he taking us? "I said... Put. Us. Down." I repeated with a very angry edge to my voice.

"Sora... I'm scared." Miayko said looking into my eyes. I nodded to her to imply that I was also scared. The wind was starting to hurt as it whipped and sliced at my skin, and my nerves were getting the better of me, causing me to sweat... my grip on Miyako's hands was slipping... "Sora..." Miyako said, worry taking control of her voice.

"I told you to put us down!" I screamed up at Daemon.

"Okay." He said simply. At first I thought I had won—but as Miyako began to scream and we both began to fall I realized that it wasn't exactly how I had hoped it would be. We were falling down upon a battlefield of explosions and evil digimon, and to top it off it was so dark I couldn't even see the ground or anything around us—the worst place to fall ever! But what was worse was that I wasn't sure we'd be okay. I had learned last time we were here that the digital world didn't want us to die... it wouldn't let us die. But now, not only was it tainted by the dark ocean... but it also hadn't called us back like it usually had. We had forced ourselves back in... maybe it really didn't want us anymore—maybe we weren't supposed to be here... maybe we were supposed to die?

Stingmon caught us simply as we fell, and we both looked to him with smiled plastered on our faces as he dropped to the ground. He landed with a soft thud and let us slip through his arms.

"Wait... where is Ken?" Miyako asked him suddenly, her smile falling fast.

"He'll be fine for a moment—are the two of you okay?" Stingmon asked.

"Daemon wants to kill Ken." Miyako said quickly, "Go! Go save him! Now!"

Stingmon was gone before Miyako had even finished talking, soaring through the air back towards Ken. I noticed Daemon dropping from the sky. Stingmon was going to beat him back... so that was at least somewhat of a relief. I looked around us and noticed that there was a wall of digimon, all of them fighting the creatures that were coming after them. The Dark creatures were climbing the digimon wall as if they were some sort of playground equipment. I ran toward them, Miyako following me and squeezed my way between a Monzemon and a Drimogemon, holding my digivice at the ready.

Red light exploded around me and the creatures all backed off from the digimon nearby. Iori's plan would have worked if we were all ready to help and standing guard. I noticed Miyako copying me a few digimon over, her turquoise light burning the Creatures. I looked down the line and saw silver and yellow lights shining around practically blinding me even from this distance piercing through the dark night. Iori and Jou were doing the same as we were.

"Sora!" Miyako called. "Is that Hikari?"

I looked toward her and saw that she was pointing out into the battlefield where a tall digimon with batwings was standing over none other than Hikari herself. And even worse than the digimon standing in front of Hikari was the digimon standing behind her looking like a cross between a dragon and a blue squid... I knew who it was immediately. Dragomon.

Before I could even answer her the two of us were running through the creatures that were trying their hardest to reach up and grab at us, their slimy hands snatching toward us every now and then, only to recoil as the lights from the digivices touched them. My heart was pounding... I'd never been so willing to risk my life for someone, but I knew how scared Hikari would be—the two digimon who had caused her the most grief were around her—I wasn't sure why she was in this battlefield all alone, but what I did know was that if Hikari was here that meant the others were here too and we'd be a group again—something I'd been hoping for since we'd split up.

As we came nearer to Hikari and Ladydevimon who was standing menacingly over her I noticed that Hikari was crying.

"She's never going to see you again." Ladydevimon said, looking down at Hikari, who was hiding her head in her hands, trying to ignore the digimon, "She's mine now... I guess the bond between partners isn't as strong as you'd like for it to be."

"Hey!" Miyako growled, "Get lost losers!" Dragomon and Ladydevimon turned their attention toward us as Hikari slowly looked up and smiled, wiping tears out of her eyes.

"Sora... Miyako!" She said brightly, turning her attention toward Ladydevimon. "I might not have Gatomon yet... but I've got my friends—and really... that's what I need right now. They'll help me. They'll help me take you down... and they'll help me rescue Gatomon."

"Gatomon is dead." Ladydevimon said flatly.

Hikari gasped as Miyako and I hurried toward her. "Now we run." Miyako said quickly.

"Not so fast." The grumbling voice of Dragomon said from behind us. "My Hikari won't be leaving me again... not ever." We looked back to see him raise his arm in anger. We all screamed as he brought it down toward us.

Mimi:

Thank heavens for small mercies. That was certainly true for us as we ran through the trees. There was a small crevice that weaved multiple paths in the earth that we could slip into, leaving SkullSatamon none the wiser about our location.

"That was close," Michael whispered, breathing heavily.

"Too close for comfort," Takeru agreed.

"Now what?" I asked, being sure to keep myself against the wall of the crevice, in case SkullSatamon came back.

"Why don't we just wait here until morning?" Michael asked.

"Hikari could be dead by then," Takeru said shaking his head.

"We could be dead by then if we don't," Michael countered. It was a valid point, but I couldn't in good conscience leave Hikari to fend for herself; it was dangerous out there! And she'd just recovered from the longest sickness I'd ever heard of…and was wanted by Dragomon—last we'd heard he'd wanted her to repopulate his 'people' in any case.

"I'll go with you," I told Takeru. "Meiyomon, you could stay here with Michael if you want to."

"No," Meiyomon said. "I'll go too. It is so exciting to be chased like that!"

"Sure…" I said sarcastically. I honestly didn't understand that digi-kid sometimes.

"It would be best, I think, if we headed back the way we came," Takeru suggested. "We may have missed her while we were running, and SkullSatamon isn't likely to come back this way real soon."

"Avoiding SkullSatamon and saving Hikari? Sounds like my kind of plan," I said with a grin. I watched as he pulled himself out of the crevice, followed by Michael. They both reached down to give me a hand, and Meiyomon seemed to float his way out. He'd never stop surprising me.

We took off at a fast pace, not daring to run—it caused too much noise, and we didn't want to be chased again. It wasn't long though, before we were freezing where we stood, yet again.

"Run!"

"I am, my body can only move so fast."

"Move faster!"

"Like you can talk, you're getting a lift."

"Daemon won't be too far behind us."

"That's only if he even caught up with our trail."

"I'm fairly certain Ken is right on this one Betamon. Daemon doesn't seem to need a trail to find his target."

"Of all the times you agree with me!"

The voices were so familiar; my heart was almost aching with hope. Takeru and Meiyomon looked prepared for a fight, it sounded like Daemon was on his way. Michael, however, looked more hopeful than I felt. If this wasn't some sort of trick, Betamon was out there. He was so close to his digital partner. I was happy for him, but at the same time, I was wondering when was it my turn?

"Over here!" Michael yelled. "Betamon!"

"Michael," Takeru hissed. "It could be a trap."

"I don't care," he said. "Not if it's Betamon."

"Michael? Michael where are you?"

"Here!" Michael shouted again.

A green and blue amphibious digimon came hopping into view. His eyes lit up when they landed on Michael, and Michael was so excited. They ran at each other, and with shouts of happiness were suddenly in each others' embrace. If we weren't possibly risking our lives by standing there, I would have commented about the genuine quality that this reunion possessed that was missing during a lot of Michael's drama classes.

Ken suddenly dropped out of the sky, before I could even remind him of our situation. Stingmon was carrying him, and he was holding onto Otamamon tightly.

"Hi guys," Ken said with an exhausted smile. "What's new?"

"A lot," Takeru said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I can see that," Ken said laughing with him.

I was going to comment that this too was a potential risk, but that though was blown from my mind, when Koushiro came running up to us, stopping just after he'd passed by me.

"You run too fast," he complained, breathing rather heavily, making sure his laptop was secure on his back. It was just so typically Koushiro that I couldn't help but laugh.

"Mimi?" he said, his eyes widening as he noticed my presence. He was coming toward me instantly. It took only two steps, but when he got to me he did something I never thought he'd ever do: he hugged me! He actually hugged me. Granted it was using only one arm, but any thought about the battles and the dangers were history as he clung to me. I couldn't help but hug him back, burrowing my face into his neck. It was just something I'd hoped he'd do for such a long time, that I'd given up hope completely.

"You're okay," he said breathily. "I thought…Betamon implied… No. It doesn't matter. You're here, you're safe."

"I am," I said. "Took your advice to heart."

He laughed a little, pulling away just enough to look at my face. I smiled brightly at him, noting his relieved expression. His eyes flitted down to my smile, and then back to my eyes, only to fall to my lips once again.

I could barely contain my excitement. He finally got the hint! And he actually liked me. I was all set to lean in so he could lay a big kiss on me, but Ken cleared his throat rather loudly, right at that moment.

I almost groaned until my memories of the past twenty-four hours came flashing back to me. I couldn't believe I'd been so stupid. A kiss—though guaranteed to be wonderful—was not worth our deaths if we were caught unaware. But at the same time…it was disappointing how quickly he got over the moment. It was like fingers snapped and he didn't care about me that way anymore. He didn't even glance back at me. He and Takeru were discussing what had happened since we came into the Digital World.

I distracted myself by flitting my eyes through the trees. If Ken, Koushiro and the digimon were being followed, I wanted to know when the inevitable attack would arrive.

"I've been trying to figure it out, but I haven't had much of a chance," Koushiro was saying. "And my laptop—"

He didn't even see it coming.

I slapped his shoulder as hard as I could. He was bringing up his laptop so soon after our almost-moment? Did he just enjoy torturing me with that thing?

His eyes bulged much more than I thought they would, and he seemed to be biting back a painful scream. He couldn't hold it all back though, and let out a strangled gasp instead.

"How about we don't hit there just now?" he asked, undoubtedly in a lot of pain.

"What happened?" Takeru asked before I could

"It's not important right now," he said. "We have to get moving."

"You made me promise to be careful," I told him. "And you go and disregard that same advice?"

"I didn't have much of a choice in the matter, to be honest," he said avoiding the accusation in my glare.

"Oh no," I tell him in my no-nonsense tone. "We're going to hear this now."

"Wait," Takeru interrupted, much to Koushiro's relief and my displeasure. "Is that…Dragomon?"

Ken's head whipped towards the giant shape not too far in the distance. I shuddered. He didn't look very good, he looked mean, ruthless and quite possibly like the worst enemy we'd ever come across in the history of our adventures. He was large and lurking, and seemed to be compiled of equal parts squid and dragon.

"Eew…" I couldn't help but say.

"He's attacking," Meiyomon pointed out.

"The question is what," Stingmon agreed, flying a little higher to get a better view.

"It's Hikari!" Takeru shouted, running towards our newest enemy without a second's thought.

"Miyako and Sora are there as well," Stingmon informed us. My eyes widened in horror. Three of our friends were up against that thing?

"Let's go," Ken told Stingmon, still holding Otamamon—who looked too petrified to speak—in his arms. Stingmon gave him a brief nod, before lifting him up into the air, flying him towards the battle.

"We can help too Michael," Betamon said.

"Right!"

"Betamon digivolve to… Seadramon!"

"Attack!" Michael cried dramatically, jumping onto Seadramon's back. Meiyomon, Koushiro and I clambered on as fast as we could, lest we be left behind.

"Gotcha."

I screamed. SkullSatamon came back for us! Takeru had said he wouldn't, and though I couldn't really fault him that, I couldn't believe that—with our luck—I'd believed it for a second.

I thrust my digivice towards him, letting out a blast of bright green light. It was quickly followed by Koushiro's violet light, and Michael's white. I wasn't sure if it hit SkullSatamon, and I was glad that Seadramon hadn't stuck around to find out. We were rushing through the forest towards the creepiest, evilest digimon ever, and I couldn't help but feel relieved. I couldn't fathom the feeling. SkullSatamon would surely be nothing in comparison to Dragomon, but that was how I felt.

"Stay away from my sister!"

Taichi and Willis, both on their digimons' shoulders—Willis on Wendigomon's—came hurdling what I hoped to be SkullSatamon behind us. I couldn't see much, but judging by some of the smack-talk Taichi was getting into, our team was winning. When the smoke cleared from their initial attack, I could see SkullSatamon looking a little worse-for-wear caught in between Gargomon, Wendigomon and Greymon.

"Attack!" Willis shouted like a battle cry.

"Bunny Pummel!"

"Koko Crusher!"

"Nova Blast!"

Seadramon even added his own ice attack just for good measure. Everything seemed to still as we waited for the smoke to clear again, to see if we'd won.

"Ha!" I cried happily upon discovering that SkullSatamon was no more.

"We did it?" Michael asked, hardly believing it to be true.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Koushiro started. "But the battle if far from won. Takeru and Ken have embarked on a ridiculous quest to defeat Dragomon with only a rookie and a champion…"

"What?" Willis and Taichi yelled in surprise.

"You attacked the wrong digimon, Taichi," Meiyomon said. "Dragomon is the one currently attacking your sister."

"Then who screamed?" Taichi asked, cocking his head in confusion.

"Mimi," Meiyomon said. "Now, let us go before Hikair, Sora and—or—Miyako are killed by the great sea monster!"

Seadramon didn't need any more prompting. With Greymon, Wendigomon and Gargomon running alongside him, he slithered through the trees at a record pace.

"Here come the reinforcements." Dragomon's voice was deep and gravelly. And he did not sound happy. He could see us from above the trees, foiling our surprise arrival. "I must teach them what it means to interrupt my fun."

"No you don't!" Miyako yelled.

"Miyako, don't say anything," Ken screamed at her. Dragomon's attention was thankfully taken from us…only to be placed solely on Miyako.

"They didn't do anything to you and neither did we," she shouted, not heeding Ken's advice.

"Oh no," Meiyomon gasped, jumping from Seadramon's back, and running towards Miyako.

"I see I must first teach you that lesson," Dragomon said, looking intently at her. His eyes started glowing, I could practically feel the energy coming off of him. And then the light from his eyes shot towards Miyako.

"No!" Meiyomon shouted. He ran faster, and then he took a long, running jump, spinning in the air as he did so. As he spun, his arms and legs elongated, he gained a good two feet of height. His clothing changed from pajamas into a bright jester costume that actually matched his hat. I barely remembered seeing him like this.

He'd digivolved.

He shot his hand out in front of him, still running, first towards the sky and then towards Miyako. She was suddenly engulfed in a pink pillar, which took her away from harm's way, and brought her to Meiyomon's side.

"Are you alright," I could hear him say. His voice was deeper, but had a sort of jovial tone that didn't make sense in this situation. I figured it came with being a jester. He was no longer my little buddy. He looked like a man.

"Thanks to you I am," she replied shakily.

"Let's show this Dragomon who's boss!" Taichi shouted after a moment of silence. Dragomon still looked stunned. His prey had vanished before he could even properly disintegrate her.

The digimon all charged in for the attack, while us digidestined spread out. Takeru had run to get Hikari, hope and light were united again. They took the battle front on Dragomon's left side, while Sora and Ken took him from behind. Willis and Taichi were on his right, and that left Koushiro, Miyako and I to spread out to keep his attention from the front. We all raised our digivices, hoping beyond hope that it would be enough to beat him.

The light hit him straight on…

…but it wasn't enough. He didn't even flinch. Not even Hikari's did any real damage, and she used to glow like a light-bulb.

Dragomon started laughing. Low and dark. He was toying with us!

"One by one the resistance will crumble," he said looking directly at me. I was front and centre, but I hadn't thought it would make that much of a difference, not when I hoped the lights from our digivices would take him down.

"Then we'll go out fighting," I told him, forcing my voice to not crack.

His lights didn't glow this time, he didn't gather the energy. He didn't give me time to prepare. He just attacked.

"Mimi!" Koushiro shouted. I wanted to tell him to stay where he was, but I couldn't find my voice. I could only stare at the blast headed my way. He tackled me to the ground, forcing his laptop into my hands. "Keep it safe," he muttered. He was between me and the blast now. There wasn't time for us to evade it. It was too large and too close.

"What about you?" I whispered.

"Sora knows all my secrets," he joked. "Ask her later."

He used his body as a shield, trying to block as much of me as he could from the blast, on the off chance it would help me survive.

I couldn't stop the tears that sprung to my eyes. It had only been seconds since the blast was shot. Only minutes from our almost-moment. A moment that would never be repeated or improved upon…

I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the blast.

"It should have hit by now," Koushiro commented.

"You think?" I asked hesitantly.

"Judging by the distance and speed which it was travelling…I would say so," he said.

We waited a couple seconds more, before I risked a peek over his shoulder. There, standing before us was yet another Jerk-nai lookalike.

"Jackie?" I asked, guessing the only other name I could remember from the world-saving-escapade of 2002.

"No, my dear child," he said. "I am Gennai."

Jerk-nai! He came and saved us. I almost forgave him in that instant. I would've hugged him if I wasn't still tucked in Koushiro's arms, with my own wrapped around an old laptop.

"Thanks Jerk…Gennai," I said sending him a small smile.

"We need to get away from here now," he announced. Dragomon looked even more furious than before. "Daemon and LadyDevimon are on our tail."

"I'll fix that," Meiyomon said. His eyes glazed over, and his hands rose. Three pillars of pink light shot down from the sky. I assumed two of them to be the location of Daemon and LadyDevimon. The third encased Dragomon in its light. And then the pillars shot off into the distance, far away from us.

"What did you do that for?" Taichi asked.

"If we could have defeated them, I wouldn't have had to," Meiyomon said simply.

So the enemies lived to wreak havoc another day…

And I found I couldn't bring myself to be as upset about that as Taichi was.

Sora:

I was still staring at the place where Dragomon had been… he… was just gone! So sudden and random—and then… poof.

Would he be coming back? Probably… would I be ready for him though? None of that mattered though… what really mattered was that we were all back together and no one was too severely hurt—hopefully. It was good to see Gennai again too! Although I was a little confused as to why Mimi had called him a Jerk…

Miyako had her arms wrapped tightly around Ken, her goggles slightly crooked on her head, Mimi was handing Koushiro back his laptop, Willis, Takeru and Taichi were all crowding around Hikari, and so that left me standing alone amongst the digimon and Gennai himself.

"We should get back to the temple." Gennai said as Greymon, Wendigomon, Gargomon, Stingmon and Seadramon all returned to their rookie forms. "We have a lot to discuss. Agumon, come with me."

"Right…" Agumon said slowly. "I think we first need to figure out why Dragomon chose this moment to attack."

"It's because of them." Gennai said motioning to his surroundings. I wasn't sure, but it seemed almost as though he was meaning… us. The digidestined.

"Oh give it up." Mimi snapped, turning away from Koushiro and storming toward Gennai. "I'm happy you saved me and all—but for the name of all that is holy in this world… shut… up."

"Mimi…" Miyako said a little awkwardly. Her voice was confused, and I had to admit, I felt the exact same way as she sounded.

"You're a very loud little girl and I'm sure you have your reasons for hating me…" Gennai said slowly, "But I'm trying to save you—I'm trying to save the entire world! Both worlds."

"Well uh…" Ken said slowly, "There are more than two worlds… obviously…"

Gennai ignored him and continued. "I am saving you all! You have to leave within the hour."

"What?" I gasped along with a few of the others.

"There's no way I'm leaving." Mimi snapped. "I'm staying right here until I find Palmon!"

"Well that's unfortunate." Gennai said, "I suppose I'll drag you through the portal back to Earth then."

I had to admit, I was even more confused now than I had been a few moments ago. "Can someone please explain what's going on?"

"Gennai wants to kick us out of the digital world for no good reason." Taichi informed me simply, stepping toward me.

"He's being a total Jerk." Willis added.

"And he actually thinks that we're going to obey him." Mimi said, a smirk on her face. "We're not leaving."

"Yeah…" Takeru agreed with a nod. "Especially not after what you told us about Hikari."

"What about Hikari?" Ken asked quickly.

"She was sick because the worlds were closed off." Takeru explained to Ken.

"He said I could have dropped dead at any moment." Hikari explained. "Any of us could."

"And you want us all to go back?" Miyako asked Gennai, practically laughing at the ridiculousness of his statement. "No way Buster!" She pointed to the goggles on her head. "See these? Yeah… they make me in charge. No offense guys, but I don't care what you vote. I'm making my decision right now. We're not leaving the digital world."

Gennai looked like he was ready to scream at every last one of us. "You don't understand!"

"Oh we understand—" Mimi tried.

"No." Gennai cut her off loudly, "You don't. You're all too young to fully understand the danger of you being here. Sure if you all stay here Hikari will stay healthy and your life will be safer—but if you don't leave within an hour than the two worlds will combine. Tomorrow is the first of August… the day when the boundaries are at their weakest—and by sundown tomorrow the two worlds—Earth and the Digital World—will become one unless you all leave. All of you. And if that happens then every human being in the entire world will be in danger. Are you really willing to put the lives of your family and friends in danger just so you can have a few more hours of fun?" No one spoke after that. There was a long silence, and so Gennai continued, "Hikari, I am sorry about your health. Really I am, but the chances of you dying from this sickness is highly unlikely! It would be best for you all to just leave back to the human world to keep your families alive."

Mimi looked the most shocked. She was biting her lip, not sure of how to respond… I could tell she and Gennai had not had the most friendly of times here together, but she could clearly see where he was coming from now, and there was nothing more to say. Gennai had a point… and as much as I wanted to see Biyomon again soon, I knew I had to leave… to save Yamato's dad—to save my friends… to save my parents…

I could tell the others were starting to believe him as well. What confused me the most though was why Koushiro, of all people hadn't said anything. He was a very opinionative person and yet he had nothing to say. He looked flustered and confused.

"Well…" Takeru spoke up finally, "Even if we wanted to leave… it wouldn't do any good. Daisuke and Kurayami are still out there somewhere… looking for—"

"Her mother…" Hikari said slowly, "We need to get her out too." Kurayami and Daisuke had wandered off on their own? Why? What was the purpose in that? I wished we hadn't split up… I felt so out of the loop already. Gennai nodded and looked toward Agumon.

"That was another thing I had to talk to you about." He said, "There is a woman roaming this world as if it were her home… and unless we can rid the dimension of her for good we will never be able to split up the two worlds… and the Dark Ocean will forever be part of this world, and Earth." Agumon nodded and looked to Taichi, worried. It didn't sound like an easy task… I wasn't sure how Kurayami's mother had managed to find herself in this world at all… but I was almost glad she was here… that meant that… while searching for her we might be able to find Biyomon, or Yokomon or whoever she was right then…

"We should find Tsunomon and the other council members." Agumon decided finally. "We should discuss our next plan of action."

"That's a wonderful idea." He turned toward the now teenage like Meiyomon and smiled weakly, "Would you mind taking us to the temple?"

"It would be my pleasure." He smirked as he snapped his fingers. I was surrounded by the familiar sensation of being torn away from the ground and thrown through the air in a tube of pink light only to be tossed toward the ground with the others falling around me.

"Agumon," Gennai said straightening his clothing, and sheathing his weapon, pretending that he hadn't just been Mon-handled by Meiyomon. "Follow me… we have to make an announcement." I looked around at the beautiful surroundings… I could tell that it had been recently torn apart as some of the bricks were broken and crumbled on the ground and the cloth ceilings from the strange market stalls were ripped and singed. The demons had managed to get into here? They had managed to find their way past the guard and into the Temple? Gennai didn't look surprised at all.

Agumon nodded and followed Gennai, grabbing Taichi's arm, dragging him along, Gennai opened his mouth to object but Taichi sent him a glare of total disgust and so Gennai allowed it.

"If we're just waiting for our plan of action…" Michael said slowly, "Do you guys mind if I spend a little time with Betamon...?"

Mimi shook her head and smiled at him. "Go ahead," She said.

"Thanks," He smiled back, "Call me over if anything interesting happens!" And then he was off, running with Betamon through the cobblestoned streets.

"Michael?" I heard a voice ask from afar.

We all turned to see Jou and Iori rushing in through the Temple door looking like they had just been beaten up by a very angry bully—and I realized that they probably had.

Jou and Iori saw us and rushed toward us quickly. "What happened?" Jou asked quickly, "They all just… vanished!"

"The demons!" Iori filled in, "There we were… about to be mauled by some demons and then they were just… gone!"

"I guess when Meiyomon made Dragomon disappear… they all did." Willis suggested.

"I think that would be a correct assumption." Koushiro said, finally speaking up. "I only wonder where he has gone and how long it will take for him to get back, it just seems—"

"M-Meiyomon?" Iori cut into Koushiro's rant. "You digivolved?" I looked over my shoulder as Hikari, Takeru and Willis parted ways for Meiyomon to step through in his new attire. He smiled at Iori and waved as Iori ran toward him and hugged him. "That's awesome!" Iori laughed into Meiyomon's shoulder.

"I thought so too!" Meiyomon smiled. "It's good to see you again! Did you miss me?"

"Of course I did!" Iori said, "You're my only sibling…"

I was happy for them, finding each other again, but I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Biyomon, and at this moment, more importantly: Yamato. I had been torn away from him in the midst of the battle… he could have been anywhere! What if he was hurt… I tried to push the thought from my mind but I found that impossible as Tsunomon bounded around the corner looking distraught.

"Oh there you all are!" He cried out bouncing toward us and into Takeru's arms. "I was scared you'd all gotten hurt or lost!"

Takeru laughed, "We're fine Tsunomon! It's okay."

Tsunomon quickly looked around at all the faces and I could see the disappointment as he noticed that Yamato was one of five that were missing. He then turned to Takeru and smiled. "I'm glad!"

I noticed that Terriermon, Lopmon, Otamamon and Wormmon were all talking off by themselves and Ken and Miyako were nearby, hugging each other and whispering back and forth. Koushiro was sending Ken the deepest of glares which was cut short by Mimi elbowing him, her eyebrows raised.

Everything seemed to be back to normal now… except Yamato was gone and of course Gennai was kicking us out of the digital world… again…

"No…" I heard Takeru whisper, "Don't worry… she's fine. Can't you feel it?"

Hikari shook her head. "No… I think she's in danger—I think Ladydevimon was telling the truth…"

"Hikari…" I said, feeling awkward about butting into their conversation as both Takeru and Willis were comforting her on either side. "Even if she is in danger… we won't let her get hurt. We'll save her—no matter what Gennai says… we're a team and Gatomon is part of that team."

Hikari stared at me and slowly smiled, "Thanks…" She said, and then her eyes opened wider for a moment. "Yamato!" She called out.

I spun around instinctively and smiled brightly. There he was, standing in the doorway of the temple looking as confused as ever, Tokomon buried in his arms, and Demiveemon on his head. I ran toward him, smiling, jumping up to him, throwing my arms around him and hugging him excitedly.

"Sora!" He gasped, "You're okay!"

"Always the tone of surprise…" I laughed at him. "I thought you were hurt." He shook his head, smiling at me. I then pointed to the others and said one word, "Takeru…"

He looked over excitedly and ran quickly toward his brother, Demiveemon jumping off of his head and into my arms at the last moment. I watched as Yamato and Takeru ran toward each other smiling.

"I found Tsunomon!" Takeru said excitedly as he held up his brother's digimon. Tsunomon was smiling as Tokomon leapt out of Yamato's arms and landed on the ground next to Takeru. Tsunomon jumped into Yamato's arms with a smile on his face as he squeezed his way tighter into his partners arms. Tokomon looked upset that Takeru hadn't noticed him.

"Hey!" Tokomon called from the ground. "Takeru!"

Takeru looked down and instantly his face lit up as he fell to his knees. "Tokomon!" He cheered wrapping his arms around his digimon. I was happy for them both… really I was, but still the thought of Yokomon kept pushing its way back into my mind.

But that didn't matter right now… we had survived a war… for the most part we were all together and besides a few cuts and bruises we were all okay…

"Yamato," Tsunomon said quickly, "We need to get to the meeting!"

"What meeting?" Yamato asked.

"Just follow me." Tsunomon jumped out of Yamato's arms and jumped after Gennai and Taichi.

I looked up to the door where Tsunomon was leading Yamato… whatever they were talking about in there could decide the fate of both worlds, and even though Miyako wore the goggles… I would always think of Taichi as my leader… and I trusted him. Whatever he, Yamato and the others came up with… I would obey without a second thought… but with both Dragomon and the apparent Fanglongmon out there to bring an end to life as we know it… with Kurayami's mother hiding somewhere in the world, and with the Dark Ocean slowly taking over the Digital World, the fate of the worlds didn't look good…

Rei:

I was still holding the frying pan as the elevator opened on the ground floor. The woman that was getting her mail looked at me funny, as if I'd just escaped from the loony bin. And at the time, I wasn't quite sure I hadn't. I was replaying my last encounter as I pressed the automatic button to open the door for me. Mr Ishida and Mrs Takenouchi—who I'd finally placed as the mother of Yamato's girlfriend Sora—were carrying a small costumed child, acting like the world was in danger. And I'd believed them without even asking for proof! They just threw a frying pan my way and say "Stay safe".

I should have asked more questions. Maybe Neo was right about what Yamato and his two friends had been doing when they yelled at the sky. Perhaps it was hereditary.

But if that were true, Taichi would be crazy.

I'd spent three years with him so far, and I could safely say he wasn't. Eccentric maybe, but not crazy.

So maybe they were telling the truth…

My head was starting to hurt. As soon as the door was open however, the sounds of screaming filled my ears. I rolled my chair out the door quickly, to see what the commotion was about. There was a group of…things in the middle of the street, some chasing anyone who happened to walk down the side-walk, others ripping up the flower boxes that made this neighbourhood look so nice.

And then I rolled over a small twig, one that had fallen from my favourite shade tree.

That was it, just a teeny tiny snap, and suddenly—though I can't be sure how they heard it over the screaming—the things' eyes all turned to me. They were covered in grey fur, and had ears that made me think of a dog, but they stood on their hind legs, just like humans did. They had long tails, and a strange belt wrapped around it. And worst of all, they were headed straight at me.

I slammed my right hand on the automatic door button, and stared at them in horror. The door opened just in time for me to spin my wheels backwards, sending me into the lobby again.

"Run!" I told the woman who'd thought I was crazy.

The door wasn't able to hold them out.

I hadn't expected it to really, it was mostly made of glass—and had a button that conveniently opened it—that was soon shattered. Their teeth, I noted, looked rather sharp, as they grinned maliciously at me.

The woman who's still managed to think I was crazy let out a loud, piercing scream. One ran at her, and she tried to fight him off with her big, clunky purse. There must've been bricks in there though, as he recoiled quickly, enough for her to escape through the remains of the front door.

"No, wait!" I shouted after her. But she was already gone, headed into the streets where there were many more of these things waiting to attack.

I shook the thought out of my head. I didn't have time for this. I could feel guilty after I'd saved myself.

I had only one chance to get away too: the elevator.

I started cursing that stupid car accident as I pressed the up button and had to wait, as the things crept towards me, thinking they had me good and trapped.

And I had to agree with them, as the elevator just didn't seem to be coming.

"What are you?" I asked, trying to hold my voice steady—and doing remarkably well, I thought, considering the situation.

"We're Gazimon," the one closest to me said.

"And that means?" I asked hesitantly. So much for my bravado.

"Digimon," the one behind him said. "Digital monsters."

Oh, I thought. So pretty much my worst nightmare?

Monsters, really?

And then the most heavenly sound I'd ever heard chimed from behind me.

The elevator arrived.

I couldn't help the sigh of relief, as I rolled backwards into the elevator…only to get my wheels stuck.

"Oh no," I mumbled, struggling with the wheels. These digimon seemed to think it was hilarious though, and started laughing among themselves. Their laughter sent chills down my spine, and I tried even harder.

The first one that spoke—their leader perhaps—took a few confident steps toward me.

"Stay back," I said, shifting my purse and cell phone to the side, giving me plenty of room for my frying pan. "I'm warning you."

The laughter got even louder, and he was only a foot away from me…

And I swung, fast and hard.

The laughter stopped when their leader fell to the ground, unconscious. They weren't in such a good mood anymore. They ran at me, two grabbing either side of my chair, holding me in place, the last three were going to attack me, I could just tell. So I swung the frying pan at my captors, they let go, causing my chair to roll backwards, directly into the elevator.

"Yes!" I shouted, adrenaline shooting through my veins.

The three who'd been about to attack me paused for just a second to look at their two new fallen companions. That second was all I needed. I shot forward and pressed the close button, followed quickly by my floor number. The door was closing, and I could feel the relief spreading through me, only to have it dashed, my heart almost stopping, when one grey, furry hand—complete with big, black claws—got in between the doors, causing them to open again.

"Not so fast," he said. He and his two friends slipped into the elevator, circling around me, so that one was behind me and on either side. I didn't want them to see how thankful I was of that positioning—nothing between me and the door—so I tried to keep my face calm.

"What do you want from me?" I asked, making my voice shaky, so he'd think I was terrified, with no escape. It occurred to me that they'd only seen me moving backwards, and probably thought that was the only direction my chair could move.

"Nothing in particular," his friend on my left said.

"We just enjoy instilling fear and desperation," the third said.

"And you humans make it so easy," the first said, leaning down to whisper in my ear. I shivered, a jolt of fear finding me. I pushed it aside.

"Well," I said. "It's not going to work today!"

I swung the frying pan, first to the left, then the right. I swung my chair around, surprising the third digimon, before slamming the frying pan down on his head.

The door opened, and I pushed my wheels with all my might, flying out of the elevator, before any of them could recover, only one of the three having lost consciousness. I pushed myself directly to the Ishida's door.

"Mr Ishida!" I shouted. "Mrs Takenouchi!"

I started out with a polite knock, but the two digimon had recovered, and were walking towards me. They were holding their heads, and glaring at me. I'd angered them, and I didn't know what to do about that. I was running out of options. There were only so many places a wheelchair could go.

I started banging on the door louder, at a much more frantic pace.

"Hurry!" I yelled.

The door opened, and a frazzled Mrs Takenouchi looked down at me.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Them," I said, pointing at the incoming digimon. Her eyes widened as she realized why I was freaking out.

"Get inside," she said, taking the frying pan out of my hands. I struggled, with shaking hands, but she pushed me the rest of the way, before turning, as if a warrior, wielding the frying pan. And then I couldn't see her anymore. Mr Ishida had come and closed the door.

"What's going on?" I asked him.

"We're not entirely sure," he said, ushering me into a bedroom. I figured it was his, since there weren't any band posters or musical instruments around, but it didn't have the guest room feel to it. There were two more digimon waiting in there.

"Are Taichi and Yamato in trouble?" I asked hesitantly.

"At this point…we think yes," the digimon—that I was sure was more ghostly than the kid with the sheet…who I now knew wasn't a kid with a sheet—sitting on the bed said.

"I really hope they know what they're doing then," I said slumping back into my chair as Mrs Takenouchi came back in, tossing the frying pan only the dresser beside the door.

Next on Digimon Adventure 04: We start Arc Three, with Michael narrating for us as we find out the results of Gennai`s mysterious meeting! :O I think my keyboard is in French ÉÉÉ Yup it is. Those are supposed to be question marks. Stupid Canadian French options! GO AWAY! ? AHA! I got my question marks back! I bet you're all really proud of me and all my accomplishments—right... Michael chapter... I AM GOING TO SLEEP