Chapter 24

Crouching Ryo, Hidden Serpent.

Ryo's log: August 2000, Piccolomon's coliseum, Digiworld.

Our second test took place in a horrible place, made more so the longer we were there. It was a large junkyard, filthy and reeking of stuff rotting there for years. But that wasn't the worst part, no the worst part was that a Nanomon had taken up residence there, creating horrors of living digimon to take over the world. We stopped him, thankfully, but not before he had ruined many a digimon's life.

Then we came back and found out we weren't even safe in Piccolomon's home. Somehow V-mon seemed weak and ill, the reason still unknown, and when he went to his room to sleep he was attacked. Thankfully he wasn't alone at the time; otherwise he might not have made it. So we won there too, but the assailant fled and some of the coliseum is in ruin.

End log.

For the moment things were pretty quiet, aside from the rustling of leaves in the wind or other movements in the undergrowth of the huge forest. Sitting on a log to catch his breath Ryo held two of his companions close to him. They seemed to appreciate it and with all the things going on he didn't want to risk losing them again. The third member of their little foursome flew around above them, scouting around a bit, before landing on Ryo's head.
"There seems to be nothing around for now," Tsukaimon said, "but you can't really tell in this place, it's all just too dense."

"That can't be helped I guess," Ryo sighed, shifting his gaze upward and nearly making Tsukaimon fall from his head. His eyes followed the trunk of a massive tree till it disappeared somewhere high above them. Some of the trees were hundreds of meters high, with trunks coming close to being the size of a house or even larger. Sunlight scarcely made its way to the bottom of the natural skyscrapers, but there was just enough to see by.

"Mr. Ryo, sir?" A squeaky voice came from Ryo's lap, "are we going to be okay?"

"Sure we are," Ryo said, succeeding in putting a reassuring smile on his face when he looked down at the small Poyomon and Poromon.

"Have you ever noticed how we always get separated on these kinds of things?" Tsukaimon voiced.

"Must be fate," Ryo shrugged.

"How can you just say something like that so casually? We're all alone here with who knows what out there," Tsukaimon looked around skittishly.

"Well what do you want me to say then?" Ryo replied, gesturing to the two infant digimon he carried.

"Is big brother scared?" Poyomon asked.

"What! Of course not," Tsukaimon bit back.

"He's just grumpy," Ryo said, "he wants to face what is following us as our winged messenger of death."

"Like hell I-" Tsukaimon started saying when a tremor and crashing sound washed over them. The foursome looked back to where it originated, but could see nothing. Whatever it was, it was still too far away to be seen.

"You are just like the boss sometimes," Tsukaimon squeaked, "I hate that."

Ryo choose to ignore his companion in favour of getting on his feet and bolting in the direction opposite of the sound, his two young charges held securely in his arms. Tsukaimon wasted no time in grabbing a tight hold on the boy's head and hitched along.

"Do you mind not holding on so tight," Ryo winched as Tsukaimon's grip nearly pulled his hair right out.

"I don't mind at all," Tsukaimon replied, "but do you know where you're going?"

"Yeah, I think the village was in this direction."

"You think?"

Another change in climate greeted the group when they stepped out of the portal, but they hardly noticed it while taking in their surroundings. As far as they could see they were in a huge forest, large not only because of the area it covered but also by the size of the trees.

They stood on a large wooden platform suspended between the tree tops, one of many more which seemed to form an elevating path to a large city hanging even higher. From their position they could see that many of the platforms the city was build on were actually large branches or conglomerations of branches.

"Wow, that's amazing," Bearmon breathed.

"That's a hassle to climb up to," Turuiemon said dryly.

At Turuiemon's words Ryo felt a yawn coming up he couldn't suppress and it didn't remain unnoticed either.

"You feel alright Ryo?" V-mon asked. After what had happened the night before everyone was a bit on edge concerning each other's health and unexpected fatigues. Though V-mon had made a complete recovery he had come really close to having been deleted, if he had been alone he would have.

Ryo waved off the concern, "I just didn't sleep very well, that's all. It was a pretty hectic night."

What he didn't say was that he had actually gone to sleep rather easily, even in light of the attack on his friends and the destruction of part of the coliseum. During his stay in the digital world he had become familiar with danger and could fall asleep almost anywhere, especially considering how tired he had been.

For some reason, no matter how long he slept, he kept getting more and more tired every day. Ever since those nightmares started, he thought.

Sorcerymon crouched down on the large branch he landed on. The forest around him was far too quiet to be normal which was both a blessing and a curse. It meant at least that the minds he felt were those of his comrades, but it also meant something had to be seriously wrong with the place itself. Huge as it was it should have been a haven for many digimon, but the only ones aside from his friends were the people living in the tree city. The sorcerer could only wonder at what horrors this forest could have in store for them. Then he shook his head a couple of times, taking care not to drop his hat.

"I'm getting paranoid," he admonished himself; maybe the area was just scarcely populated because of isolation. But after all the things he had seen, especially after meeting Ryo, he found it hard to believe such a simple and innocent reason. Have I changed that much since Tama City? He mentally asked himself, but he already knew the answer. The destruction of the city and the events leading up to it had left a mark on him. No one in their right mind could see such horrors and come out of it without some form of mental baggage.

This wasn't the time for idle musings though; he admonished himself again and jumped to the next branch. The first mind he sensed was close by and by now he was close enough to feel that it was only one mind. Another presence could be felt by him even further on but until he came closer he was unable to discern any separate entities within it.

A few more jumps, each covering at least twenty meters, and he stood on a branch above the mind he was looking for. The rushing of water from the river, known here as Rush Water, was starting to diminish.

He let himself float down to the form of a large red man coughing up water. The flames that usually adorned his body were matted now, the ground below him wet with water that dripped of him. Small trails of vapour came from his body and the water on the ground as his body regained his heat. It was a new sight for Sorcerymon, seeing the man of flame mostly without his fire.

"I wasn't made for swimming," Meramon said.

"So I gathered," Sorcerymon replied, "you think you can move or do you need more time? I feel the presence of the others somewhere over there."

"I think I need more-" Meramon started saying but was interrupted when a loud noise seemed to erupt from the woods Sorcerymon was pointing at. The rushing of water was silenced by the sound of an unearthly growling.

"I can move," Meramon quickly said, getting on his feet.

"Whatever that was," Sorcerymon said, "It's coming closer."

"So, which way is back to the village?" Ryo asked, looking around the group but eventually settling on Sorcerymon. The group was standing at a gully, a good twenty meters wide and ten deep, sloping down towards the middle. It very much resembled a dry riverbed and probably was.

Ryo stood at the edge on one side, holding the two young digimon they were looking for in his arms. Tsukaimon hovered above his head, making funny faces at the two youngsters to keep them occupied. At his side stood Sorcerymon, the wizard was looking pensively at the riverbed but shifted his attention towards Ryo after he asked his question. The others had already moved down the slope and stood in the middle of the riverbed. Thundermon, to converse better with Turuiemon, had descended almost to ground level.

"There's a cluster of minds somewhere at the other side of this gully. That should be the village," Sorcerymon answered, then looked down at the two digimon in the boy's arms.

"Is that correct?" The wizard gently asked them. The young digimon stayed silent for a moment, looking at each other uncertainly.

"We don't know," Poyomon said.

"We've never been to Rush Water before," Poromon added.

"Rush Water?" Ryo asked, slowly starting to become aware of a sort of rumbling sound. Before he or anyone else could react a torrent of water crashed through the previously dry bedding, sweeping everyone who was down there with it.

By the time Ryo instinctively drew back from the raging water the others had already been taken far off.

"What the…" Tsukaimon exclaimed, forgetting from shock to keep batting his wings and dropping to the ground.

"Rush Water, a fitting name it seems," Sorcerymon muttered, then snapped out of his momentary shock," Ryo, I can still feel them, we can go after them."

"No," Ryo said thoughtfully, "you'd better go after them and then come back to find us. I want to get these children home as soon as possible; the villagers said it was extremely important."

"I understand," Sorcerymon nodded, "then I'll see you soon."

With that the wizard took off running, following the stream of water.

"Come Tsukaimon, maybe we can find a crossing upstream, or even the source of this rushing phenomenon."

"Always with the running," Ryo grumbled as he ran through the undergrowth at high speed. Or at least as fast as he could with all the branches and leaves, some of which weren't larger than his hand while others were bigger than he was, that slapped in his face and pummelled his body as he pushed past them. He couldn't even use his hands to push his way through, having to hold on to Poyomon and Poromon as he was running. Tsukaimon couldn't help either, clasping on to Ryo's head for dear life.

Wood snapped under his feet, leaves crumbled under his tread, one jump and he was over a large root. A root larger than most trees back home he thought momentarily, but microscopic here, in this place.

A wall of green appeared in front of him and though he didn't know what lay ahead, he pushed through head first, like he had done so often on his wild run. Earlier he had said this was the way back to the village, but he wasn't sure anymore. Nor was he so sure now that he had been right in his assessment earlier.

Safe, there was nothing behind the leaves that could hurt him, but every time he was brushing through rashly was playing a dangerous game with fate. At some point there would be something there and he would get hurt. It was then that he realized he shouldn't have been so happy about nothing being behind the leaves as he suddenly noticed a drastic lack of ground.

"Shit," Ryo swore as the four of them went tumbling off a hill.

"What…was that?" V-mon coughed, dragging himself further away from the water. When it had hit them all, the force had nearly knocked him out cold. Looking to his left he saw Turuiemon lying on the ground not far from him, seemingly as exhausted as he was. Fighting against the current to reach land had been very tough.

"That…was a whole lot of water," Turuiemon bit back, "what did you think it was."

"Well, excuse me for asking," V-mon said.

"You're excused," Turuiemon replied, getting from lying flat on his stomach to a crouch.

"Is he alright?" V-mon asked. Right next to Turuiemon, still with one of the rabbit's arms resting on his body, was Bearmon.

"I think so; I managed to drag him out so he should be fine," Turuiemon said, looking the cub over to see if he had any injuries.

"Hey guys!" Thundermon called out from the air, moments before landing near to them, "so there you are."

"Seen anyone else?" V-mon asked immediately.

"No, you are the f-" Thundermon started saying when a crashing sound came to their attention and, this time, it wasn't from the river.

"What is it this time?" V-mon said, instantly on his guard. The three conscious digimon moved in front of the fallen Bearmon.

"Whatever it is, this time it won't catch us at unawares," Turuiemon said, getting into a fighting stance.

"Let it come," the rabbit boasted confidently. Then several large forms burst through the trees, sending wooden shrapnel across the small clearing and Turuiemon felt his confidence waver.

"Is everyone okay?" Ryo asked, rubbing an aching shoulder. Tsukaimon looked up from the two infants who were clinging to him.

"They seem fine physically, but I think they're scared again," the digimon replied.

"Again? Does that mean it's because of the fall, or…" Ryo's voice trailed off as he turned his head to look up the hill they just rolled off of. He remembered quite clearly that every time the kids got scared the sounds of their thunderous pursuer reared up closer than ever. If they were scared now, that could just mean that fate had caught up with them.

"We're wasting too much time here," Tsukaimon interjected in Ryo's stream of thought, having reached the same conclusion as the boy, "we have to get moving before it is too late."

Ryo gave a short laugh, "It already is too late; can't you feel it? The ground is shaking, there's no way to run anymore."

"We can still try," Tsukaimon pleaded, not liking the blank expression that formed on the human's face.

"I won't run and be struck from behind," Ryo said resolutely, an image of Ken falling down in pain streaked through his mind. For just a moment he had been off guard and the boy he was supposed to protect paid the price. Ken had been struck from behind and that his fault. Never will I be caught from behind again, Ryo swore mentally.

"I won't cower and hide either, hoping the problem will go away," the boy continued. So much power could be found in the world, so many digimon that surpassed him and his own in power and experience. Yet it when it came down to it only two human children and their two partners had to fight against such a thing as Millenniumon. Where was all that power then?

If anything, it's this world's fault for bringing someone as young as Ken here, young people such as us, Ryo remembered Neo telling him. A world that made children fight for them, get hurt for them or die for them. What were the odds of them winning? Slim, if none-existent, just as their chances for surviving at all.

Ryo knew he would have been dead long before this if it hadn't been for the few friends that did try to help, like V-mon. But V-mon wasn't here right now and he couldn't evolve Tsukaimon or the kids. If anything he would have rather kept them out of harm's way, but like with Ken that had proven to be impossible.

"If you want to make a run for it, go now," Ryo said, "but if death comes for me I will look it in the eye before I go. I'm not the kid that cowered for Kuwagamon anymore."

"Ryo?" Tsukaimon breathed, entranced by the image of human boy standing his ground. His jaw, set, a cocky smile on his lips and his eyes locked on the wild growth up the hill his very pose was confident and relaxed. For a moment Tsukaimon could believe the talk of this boy facing down a god. But, was it bravery that drove him, or madness? That he could not figure out, not even if he had the time to do so.

The shaking had increased many times and everything seemed to sway all over the place. That was right before several large serpentine heads shot out from the forest on top of the small hill.

Maybe I should have run after all? Ryo thought to himself, but that wouldn't have saved him from the large hydra. Unlike what Ryo had initially thought all heads were connected to a single body. The central head, and the only one that didn't seem to be mechanical, slowly lowered itself to them.

Even if V-mon was here, Ryo reasoned, they would not have been able to win without the others. The others, given by the direction this beast had come from they surely had already faced it and presumably lost, eaten perhaps. Now it was their turn. With death in sight the boy prepared his final words.

"Lord Orochimon!" The two small charges chattered happily all of a sudden and came out of hiding and Ryo's words died on his tongue.

"Huh?" He exclaimed.

"Ah little ones, are you alright?" The dark dragon said, trying to keep his voice restrained but still sounding quite loud. There was also an odd slur, very vague though, to his pronunciations making Ryo wonder if it was an accent or something else. He got his answer though when the dragon's exhaled breath washed over them, the smell of alcohol being unavoidable.

"Who are you?" Ryo asked briskly, his face contorting slightly from the nauseous smell.

"You don't know? I'm Lord Orochimon, ruler and protector of this magnificent forest," Orochimon answered, sounding quite proud, "And thank you for looking after the children; they get frightened by the dark so easily."

"Afraid of the dark?" Tsukaimon exclaimed, turning to the two small digimon, "you mean to say that every time we heard the big guy you weren't actually afraid of him?"

Poromon nodded, "The ground would shake and the darkness would move."

So that was it, Ryo thought, the rumbling of Orochimon's movements would make the trees and leaves move, which in turn made their shadows move. That meant the entire chase was completely useless.

"Somehow I feel cheated," Ryo muttered dryly.

"Shut up, don't tempt fate," Tsukaimon admonished.

"Orochimon, we lost some friends to the river a while back, have you seem them?" Ryo asked instead, ignoring Tsukaimon.

"Ah yes, they were quite energetic like you. I directed them back to the city; they should be there by now. I'll take you there; you won't want to miss the festival."

"Yeah, that would be nice since we seem to be lost a bit," Ryo said thoughtfully, "speaking of the city, everyone was in a right state of panic because these two were missing down in the forest and were hinting at how scary this place is. That wouldn't be because…?"

"Everyone's afraid of the dark," Orochimon supplied.

"Figures," Tsukaimon said, getting on Orochimon's head with the others, "Say, what's this festival you mentioned?"

"The Weekly Tribute," Orochimon said happily, his other heads nodding fervently, "to honour our protection agreement the villagers make an offering of delicious sake. Want some?"

"I think I'll respectfully decline," Ryo answered.

Back in the basement of the D1 coliseum a portal door slammed open and an irate looking boy stormed out with a small following of digimon tailing close, but not too close, behind.

Taichi, who was looking around the coliseum ground in boredom, was the first to notice Ryo's return and the rather dirty state he seemed to be in from his tumble through the forest.

"Hey Ryo, how did it go?" He asked when the other kid stormed past, muttering something about drunks and babysitters.

"What's with him?" Taichi asked.

"Don't ask, he's having a bad day," Tsukaimon answered.

Ignoring all other Chosen Ryo soon reached the solitude of his room. He was feeling angry, irritated, over something that was nothing more than a bad joke. There had been no real danger, unlike the other times, and he had gotten back earlier than before too.

He slumped down on his bed, gripping his head as a wave of fatigue washed over him. That was why he was so angry; he had wasted a lot of energy running around for absolutely nothing at a time when he had no energy to waste.

"What's wrong with me?" He muttered before closing his eyes.

"I'm telling you I'm fine," Ryo said animatedly, "I was just a bit annoyed by today's events."

"That was more than just a bit annoyed I think," V-mon reasoned, "You brushed off that festival, Taichi, us, and disappeared to your room for three hours."

"Look, you weren't the one being chased down a giant forest almost blindly because some kids were scared of the dark. I was just lucky that last hill wasn't all that steep."

"True," V-mon acknowledged, "but you weren't the one hit by a wall of water, getting swept along with it and nearly drowned."

"Oh yeah, that also happened."

"Don't sound so surprised," V-mon grumbled.

Slowly and seemingly at ease the two entered the main fighting arena, ready to take on the challenge so they could take the rest of the day off. Ryo was surprised to note that one of the girls was his current opponent and especially this one; she hadn't seemed like much of a fighter. From what he heard from the other Chosen she was pretty much a pacifist.

"Hey, Ryo-chan!" the girl in pink called out cheerfully, "so you're my opponent. Looks like you've really been hanging in there pretty well. I'm sorry though, you can't just win a girl's heart with strength alone."

She laughed to herself sweetly, before striking a confident pose, one arm stretched forward to point at the boy, "I'll teach you what that means, or maybe make you feel it!"

Caught at unawares by the girl's battle declaration, which could put that of any Magical Girl to shame, Ryo was unsure how to respond.

V-mon, looking at his partner's slightly reddening cheeks for a moment, had no such inhibitions.

"We'll take that challenge," V-mon said confidently, striking a pose of his own, "and show you why we're number one in this Tournament and beyond!"

"Oh, this looks like fun," Palmon smiled, thoroughly amused by the exchange.

"Ryo, focus and let's do this," the blue lizard muttered back. Ryo nodded and brought forth his digivice, an action that was mirrored, though with far more flourish, by Mimi.

"Let's make this a quick one V-mon," Ryo said.

"Palmon, let's show them what us girls can do!" Mimi said.

"V-mon, evolves to V-dramon!" Within moments the small lizard had grown into a dragon.

At the other side of the battleground a similar light had enveloped and changed the small plant, "Palmon evolves to Togemon!"

"Well, aren't you a big girl," V-dramon said, the words leaving his lips before he knew it.

"What did you call me?" the cactus digimon yelled back, "Prickly Bang Bang!"

Flexing her muscles Togemon unleashed a rain of her needles at V-dramon, the projectiles covering the distance between them in moments. With an agility that belied his frame the dragon jumped aside to avoid a hit. Landing in a crouch, he prepared his own counter, "Cutter Shoot!"

Just like the needles only moments earlier a new wave of projectiles shot across the field. Togemon though made no move to get out of the way, instead opting to let the energy blast clash against her red boxing gloves. Fizzling harmlessly, though they did blacken the material, the attack was negated.

Now, with a speed that belied her frame, Togemon charged forward to bring the fight to the dragon.

"V-breath Arrow," V-dramon called out, charging forward after the arrow of blue energy. Instead of just blocking the energy attack like she had done before, she hit the side of the arrow with a mean left hook right before it could hit her, sending it astray.

Not daunted by this V-dramon finished his charge and, ducking under Togemon's fists, slammed his head into her stomach.

"Ow, needles," V-dramon muttered.

"You've got some nerve hitting a lady," Togemon huffed, gripping both of V-dramon's hands.

"Maybe if you acted more like one I wouldn't have," V-dramon replied, pushing back against the vice on his arms.

"So much for tact," Ryo muttered from the sidelines.

"You brute," Togemon yelled and, with a sudden burst of strength, she threw the dragon over her head.

Twisting in the air V-dramon landed on all fours, sliding back a bit before digging his claws into the ground to stop his backward movement.

"Shouldn't have let me go! V-breath Arrow."

"Shouldn't underestimate me either," Togemon replied, again punching the offending projecting out of the way. Getting back into V-dramon's face she started to unleash a flurry of punches, driving him back as he kept dodging.

At the sides Ryo narrowed his eyes at the scene, trying to remember the last time his partner was driven into such difficulties by an adult level digimon. Mimi and Palmon were a lot tougher than they appeared to be. Across from him Mimi was cheering her partner on, but Ryo kept silent. With his partner on the defensive and even that barely, he had to be the brains of the operation, he had to find out what to do next.

He smiled, whether or not Togemon knew, she had fallen into a pattern while attacking.

"V-dramon, on three!" Ryo called out.

Mimi looked surprised, "Huh? On three what?"

"Gotcha," V-dramon smirked, dodging two of Togemon's punches. When the third one came it did so just like she had done before. Knowing what to expect he ducked past it and again slammed into her stomach.

After that V-dramon did everything he could to keep his advantage, though the hits he suffered were still a lot regardless. Finally though the Victory dragon was able to slam Togemon on her back where she devolved back into Palmon. By that time the dragon was panting for air. When Palmon stayed down, signalling the end of the fight, he gladly devolved as well.

"Aw, I lost, Ryo-chan. You put a lot of thought into this fight," Mimi said, still as cheerful as before as if she hadn't lost at all.

"Looks like you're a little cooler than I expected. When this tournament is over, let's go on a date okay?"

"Uh," Ryo stammered, unsure of how to respond to that. Mimi just looked at him expectantly, while he could only stare.

"Well done Ryoppi," Piccolomon said, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

"Uh, yeah, thanks," Ryo answered, then let himself be ushered elsewhere by the host of the Tournament.

"Spoilsport," Mimi grinned in the background.

At the end of the day Ryo found himself sitting on the top bleachers of the coliseum, looking at the moon and stars. The nights were very clear here and, high atop the arena, he could be alone without raising suspicion. He really hadn't intended to fall asleep for three hours on his bed earlier.

Footsteps to his side alerted him to a presence approaching him and he wondered if it was the mysterious attacker from last night. That would have been bad, but when he looked it was only Neo.

"So this is where you snuck off to," Neo commented, "I can understand why, the view is pretty good up here."

Without asking Neo sat himself down next to the other boy.

"It is, I rarely get a chance to look at a night sky like this," Ryo confirmed.

At that Neo showed one of his easy smiles, "Sounds good, but that's not really why you're here is it? I've got you figured out you know."

"What do you mean?" Ryo asked in surprise.

"Have you been sleeping well?" Neo asked instead, catching Ryo by surprise again.

"W-what?" Ryo stammered.

"Your behaviour, let's say that I'm quite familiar with it, keeping up a mask to the outside world to shield your inner turmoil and, if I'm not mistaken, fatigue. You disappeared for three hours to your room, there's not much to do there. So I'll ask again, have you been sleeping well?"

"Well, not really," Ryo admitted, asking himself why he was telling Neo this when he hadn't even mentioned it once to V-mon. But maybe that was the reason, Neo was pretty much an outsider to his team and he didn't want to worry them. It might be good to talk about it to someone he reasoned.

"Lately I've been having a lot of nightmares, they leave me pretty drained."

"Nightmares," Neo said thoughtfully, "could be a way of your unconscious mind to express itself, make you face something you don't want to face."

"Guilt perhaps," Neo concluded.

"Guilt?" Ryo asked.

"Didn't you tell me of your friend?"

"Yeah, I did," Ryo said, "I guess I do feel bad about what happened and that I can't be with him now."

"Do you know how he's doing?" Neo questioned.

Ryo shook his head, "Nope, haven't heard anything about him since I left. I keep thinking that no news is good news and that Gennai would somehow let me know if his condition has changed."

"But there's no substitute to actually being there," Neo said, sounding wistful.

"Right," Ryo said, wondering what brought on the change of mood in his companion. The white haired boy was leaning back on his seat, looking up at the night sky. Looking away from him Ryo also turned back to look at the stars.

"You said you were familiar with how I feel," Ryo said after a while, breaking the silence between them, "what did you mean by that?"

The moment the words left his mouth Ryo remembered a conversation he had with Neo on the first day he had arrived at the coliseum.

"Is it because of your sister?" He added.

Slowly Neo looked over, seemingly quite pleased, "You remembered. I was afraid you had forgotten our talk, like you had forgotten a certain someone's name."

"Y-you say that?" Ryo asked, turning slightly red.

Neo nodded, "I felt it prudent not to interfere, since you and Sora seemed to be having a good talk. Don't worry, I haven't told anyone about your little slip, though I can't say the same for her."

"You're trying to change the subject aren't you?" Ryo said, refusing to fall for the bait.

"Seems you're pretty much awake now," Neo mused, "alright, I'll tell you something more about what happened to her."

"Neo," a cheerful red-headed girl said in a whiney tone, "come on, what's taking you so long, hurry up."

Unlike her older brother, who was walking leisurely on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, Rei was darting to and fro around him. It was hard to imagine they were only a year apart from her excessive behaviour.

"Take it easy, we're in no hurry," Neo admonished gently, unable to remain annoyed even a moment with his sister, "I really wished you'd take the time to just sit you know, instead of dragging me around town for some fool's errant."

Rei stuck up her nose and marched on in front of her brother along the street, ignoring the displays of the shops on their side of the street and pretty much everything else for that matter. Aware of his sister's stubborn traits Neo sighed and followed in silence. Rei, pacifist through and through, was also as unmovable as a mountain when she had put her mind to something. And right now that mind had set itself to meeting up with their small group of friends.

"Hold up a moment," Neo said suddenly, stopping in front of a game store, wondering if anything new had come out that could catch his interest. His eyes fell on the new craze, a small handheld device that, in itself, was fairly unremarkable. You could raise a monster in it that would change or grow differently depending on how the user played. When connected with another one the two monsters could be pitted against each other. He had one himself, but had quickly become disillusioned with it. While it had some good properties it lacked the tactical depth he preferred. If there had been more monsters in one battle however, instead of one versus one, it would have been a lot more interesting.

"Hey Rei! Look at this!" Neo heard a voice shout from across the street. A voice he recognized as belonging to their friend Hideto. Unlike him the other boy had become quite addicted to the small pocket monster, an interest that was shared with his sister. The differences between the two boys didn't stop at their interests either, outwardly they appeared to be each other's polar opposite. Where Neo had white hair, Hideto's was matt black; Neo's eyes were a light blue while Hideto sported brown ones. Their physical traits also seemed to influence their clothing, as Neo preferred light tones to the other's black ones. Regardless of their differences they were good friends.

Unconcerned Neo looked over to Hideto, standing across the street, waving his handheld around excitedly. The boy's excitement seemed catchy and caught up in the moment and curiosity Rei started crossing the street without looking at the traffic. He'd have to scold her about that later, Neo reasoned.

The thought froze in his head when a gust of wind, generated by the car that sped past, washed over him. There was a loud sound, the honk of the car, followed by the screeching of tires. The startled girl had but a moment to process what was happening, looking at the car with wide eyes filled with fear before it crashed into her but a second later. The vehicle hit her legs first, lifting her up over the hood and against the windshield. The impact made the glass break, but the helpless girl didn't go through it; instead she was launched again, this time rolling over and off the roof of the car like a broken doll. At the end of the car she fell, but remarkably she was still conscious as she instinctively tried to shelter her head when she hit the ground. There she continued to lay unmoving.

The car started to slip and go out of control before coming to a halt many meters further, but Neo was no longer aware of anything else that was happening. All he could see was his younger sister lying on the cold hard road as a pool of red liquid seemed to form around her.

"Rei!" He screamed, clumsily stumbling over to the girl.

"Luckily an ambulance was quick to arrive on the scene and she didn't die, though she certainly came very close," Neo said, his voice sounding odd with unresolved emotions, "But the accident damaged her spine, paralyzing her from the waist down. The doctors say she'll never recover, confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life."

When Neo fell silent Ryo didn't know what to say, but tried anyway.

Neo cut him off though, sounding detached from the world, "It's horrible, isn't it? That something like that should happen to someone so innocent and full of life. Humans are so very frail, so easy to snap like a twig."

Ryo stayed silent, it was all he could do in the face of Neo's melancholic behaviour. But just as soon as it had began the blue-eyed boy returned to normal.

"But enough about my sad life," Neo said, "I came here to cheer you up a bit, not drown you in my own issues."

"It's really no problem if you do," Ryo said, but the other would have none of it. Changing the subject to some more mundane ones, at least mundane in the Digital World, Neo stayed around quite a while to converse with Ryo. Eventually, with the passing of the night, the other boy finally got up to leave.

"It's getting rather late," Neo surmised, to which Ryo nodded, "I suggest you turn in soon, that's what I'm going to do at any rate."

Ryo stifled a yawn, acutely aware again of his own fatigue.

"I will, don't want to be tired if I have to run again tomorrow."

At that Neo smiled, "Seems like all we do around here involves running somehow. I do hope you're feeling somewhat better now."

Now it was Ryo's turn to show a smile, "Yeah, I am, thanks."

"Don't mention it, that's what friends do," Neo replied, walking of to find the nearest entrance back into the coliseum, hands in his pockets. Ryo watched him take a few steps, when he momentarily came to a halt, his back still turned to Ryo.

"I wonder how Wormmon feels though," Neo said.

"Wormmon?" Ryo whispered.

"Maybe you should talk to him too sometimes; he's in the same situation as you after all. He too relaxed his guard for a moment, thinking his most precious person to be safe, only to lose him because their trusted friend drew his attention, putting him in the line of danger."

Ryo's brow furrowed, unsure of how to respond he stayed quiet.

"Oh well, this tournament will be over soon and you can go see them. I'm sure Ken will do a whole lot better by then. For now though good night and don't let the bed bugs bite."

With a wave Neo left the stands, leaving behind a boy deep in thought. Ryo's mind felt conflicted by his friend's words. At first he had indeed felt a kindred spirit in the white-haired boy's story, someone who had been in the exact same position he had been. Someone who knew firsthand, the kind of pain and guilt, he was feeling.

But, was he really like Neo, or was his role something else? Could it be that he was really Hideto, the one whose actions put an innocent in danger. Wasn't it he who had taken Ken with him to that final battlefield, wasn't it all his fault the boy got hurt?

"I didn't take him into this world, but I did take him there," Ryo concluded sadly, "I called him over, away from the safe street and into the path of a truck, one with my name on it. It really is my fault after all, isn't it? Do you blame me too, Wormmon?"

Rei's fate also showed him that, though Ken was alive, he might not fully recover. He'd voiced this to Gennai once, but the old sage had tried to assure him that the downed boy showed no signs of any debilitation. Of course the old man also professed to have no idea what was happening to Ken or when he would awaken, so Ryo wasn't assured at all.

Ryo sighed and got up from his seat to leave, the place had become a bit too cold all of a sudden. From a distance two cold eyes watched him leave, pleased at what he had seen. The impromptu visitation of a fellow Chosen, a friend, had only made the boy feel worse instead of better. And that was exactly what he wanted to see. From what he knew now of Ryo's day it was obvious that Piccolomon had deliberately send him to a place that wasn't experiencing any problems unlike the last two times. Perhaps the puffball had started to feel guilty about sending the boy off to do dangerous tasks on false pretences.

Seeing no reason to stay around now that the stands had completely emptied the shadow detached itself from his place at a wall and made his own decent from the top. Gliding unnoticed through the empty grounds the figure soon found his way to a deserted outcropping of trees near the coliseum. Deserted only from outside appearances, for within the confines of rare green a different story was told.

"Master," Renamon bowed when the figure had joined him in the natural hideout.

"These are the ones?"

"Yes Master," Renamon replied, giving the other digimon around a quick look each, "this is the squad I'll be leading, if the plan hasn't changed."

"It hasn't, you'll start the operation tomorrow morning as planned. Then we'll see how well prepared Piccolomon really is and how much our 'prodigy' can take."

Author's Notes:

Not surprisingly it took another long time for a new chapter to come out, but I've been extremely busy with all kinds of stuff the last few months and didn't have any time to write on this. And every time I did find myself with a window of opportunity I couldn't focus enough to write anything halfway decent.

Next Chapter:

The peace of the coliseum, already shaky after the assassin Yashamon made his attack, gets shaken up further. On his fourth test, rigged by the Master, Ryo learns the hard lesson that for the greater good some sacrifices are necessary.