Digimon Adventure 06: Data

by YukiraKing

Three years have passed since Yggdrasil's defeat, and the digidestined thought they had brought about peace, but things are not always as they seem. New foes threaten that peace, and the digidestined struggle to hold on to what little they can. Will they be able to fend off these foes, or will peace elude them forever?

36. The Wrath of Moretsuna

Y/N: I wrote Davis's. It was intense, and sad, but fun in a way. It was just a really interesting chapter.

U/N: I mostly remember that this chapter was plotted wrong a couple times before it came together the way that it did. I remember thinking it was awesome, but I'm not entirely sure what goes on xD I hope you like it!

Title: Digimon Adventure 06: Data

By: YukiraKing and UrazamayKing

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

Part 4: War

Chapter 36: The Wrath of Moretsuna

Takeru Takaishi:

"RUN!" Iori screamed as the men rushed inside the building. The building that was meant to be a safe zone for the digimon and for us. How had they found us? It was so sudden. It was so intense—where had they even come from. It seemed like they were pouring in from the walls, from nowhere specifically, just from everywhere.

There were fires of violet light coming from every direction, hitting digimon of every shape and size. One slammed right into a Numemon who was running right past me, and then out of nowhere one of the intruders pulled off his mask. It was the man with the scar down his face. The one I'd seen so long ago. Who was he? What was he doing here at the Coliseum? Why was he attacking us? Why couldn't they just let us be?

Then he reached forward and his large hands wrapped around Hikari's wrist and he pulled her toward him. In her other arm was Patamon who was screaming and crying, but Hikari's hand would not let go. They were both going to die unless I could catch up to them. I started running, seeming to get nowhere until I heard another scream, this time behind me.

I froze and slowly turned, my eyes widening at the sight of Yamato tied with thick chains. He was in trouble too. They all were. Everyone I cared about was going to die unless I could do something! I needed to fight them all, and I needed to win, but I could only be in so many places at once.

And then a giraffe ran through the Coliseum, ripping the roof off as it screamed out an unfamiliar sound. Slowly the bubbling in the animals throat became a high pitched operatic sound as it stopped moving all together and fell apart as if it were made of dry clay. The clay piled up on the floor of the Coliseum, and suddenly Mimi and Palmon were climbing up to some shining Digimental, desperate to get a hold of it.

Then, in one swift movement Mimi flickered out of existence and then back in, this time standing directly in front of me her nose pressed against my own, and her eyes turned red, her skin turned black as night and her hair became long and white, "Leavethis place now." She said to me in a voice that I didn't recognize. "Leave before I make you."

I looked down to my feet on impulse and did not recognize my body. I was Kiyoko. I looked back up to Mimi whose mouth was hanging open and a loud hissing sound was escaping from her throat.

And then I was screaming out in shock, flailing my arms as I sat up sharply in bed, my sheet flying off my torso and doubling up over my legs.

I was frantic still, looking around, throwing the blanket off of myself all together. Patamon was in Primary Village—how could he be in danger? Hikari was nowhere to be seen. Yamato... everyone was calm.

It was a dream.

I took a deep breath and fell back into the comfort of the bed I'd been given. I'd been having increasingly horrible dreams as time went on. I didn't particularly like dreaming as it was, whether it was a good dream or not. Because the feeling when you woke up from a good dream was, though not as bad as experiencing bad dreams, not enjoyable in the slightest.

I let my head fall to the side where there was a large bed up against the other corner of the open cell where Daisuke and Kurayami were meant to be sleeping. Veemon's bed was empty, as were the small dog beds for Patamon and Labramon. I was alone still... I wasn't afraid of being alone necessarily, but I was afraid that the absence meant something bad. What if everyone who I'd grown so used to being around was in danger now?

I sat up sharply when the orange curtains acting as a divider for our cell were pulled apart, seemingly on their own. My eyes fell down to the white form of Gatomon who was looking up to me, worried. "Was it you who yelled?" She asked, and I nodded. "You okay?"

"Just a dream..." I said, falling back again. She leapt up onto my bed and sat attentively. "It was a nightmare. Everyone was in trouble. I couldn't decide what to do." Gatomon nodded, listening, but saying nothing. "I want everyone to be safe in here. In the Coliseum. I don't want to fear for their lives anymore just because I can't see them at any given moment."

"But what makes you think they're in danger?" Gatomon asked.

I sat up again and looked to her incredulously, "Gomamon was taken by people who don't like digimon, Michael and Neo are both missing in action, Noriko was shot, and there are people travelling the world trying to kill everyone."

"Not everyone," Gatomon admitted, "But I get your point. You just have to trust that they can take care of themselves." I shook my head, but she didn't let me object, "Your parents trusted you to go to a different world when you were seven years old. A world they knew was inhabited by monsters. By things they could not understand without going themselves, but they knew they could not go with you. And you made it out alive."

"I don't want to discredit our adventures," I told her quietly, "But they were nothing compared to this. Sure, fighting the great evils was dangerous and any of us could have lost our lives at any moment, but there was always a goal. We have nothing now. There is no obvious ending to our struggles. I don't know how to do it this time."

"Just because the ending isn't as obvious as bashing in the face of the enemy, doesn't mean there isn't a goal." Gatomon said, "This goal might take longer to reach, but we'll get there... and think of it this way. If girls didn't exist for a long, long time, and then suddenly they just appeared in your world—disguised by a magical spell as things you thought were normal—how would you react?"

"Well I'd be really confused," I admitted. "And then that would be where sexism came from, I guess."

"Well in theory," Gatomon said with a humourless laugh. "But sexism is still around. Natsuni talks about it all the time, and how women are still not treated as total equals. But it's been getting better."

"Yeah, well I don't want to wait that long for this." I said, my voice quiet. "We shouldn't have waited that long for women either. Or for different races—or any dividing unique factors. No one deserves that."

"Maybe not," Gatomon said with a sigh, jumping to her feet. "But we can't control a person. We can only try to show them the light."

"And you would know," I joked as she headed for the hallway again.

"Oh ha ha," She said over her shoulder, "Punny."

And then she was gone, leaving me alone to get dressed. When I was, I headed to the kitchen where my mother was preparing a sandwich. I smiled at her and she sighed, handing over her sandwich, "Thanks Mom," I grinned, taking my breakfast. "How has your blog been going?"

"Not really my blog," She admitted, "But it's going well. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm starting to pick up on the Digital language. And we're getting more and more responses. It's actually really fascinating to see just how many known chosen's there are in the world. Far more than I would have estimated. It's also contains the first comment section on any internet site I've ever seen that doesn't have some kind of ridiculous argument about nothing. Because we're all fighting for the same cause. Justice. I'd never seen her so excited about work before, and even if she wasn't getting paid for this I knew it counted as work, and she was doing a good job. Sure she wasn't the only one involved. I knew Kiyoko and Willis were also taking part, but just the fact that my mom was contributing to something so cool was enough for me to give her all the recognition.

She—they—really were doing something very cool too. It was basically a safe space where all Chosen and Digidestined could get together and talk about issues, ask for help, seek safety and ultimately be a team. Our team was growing, now larger than it ever had. I had enough trouble remembering that there were nineteen of us Digidestined and twenty different digimon, not to mention siblings, parents and close friends—now I might have to keep track of hundreds more from all over the world.

Not that I was complaining. This was unquestionably a good development.

"Alright, I see you're not listening, so I'll just go," Mom said, a smirk on her face.

"No—sorry, I totally was." I insisted, "I just kind of zoned out."

"It's fine," Mom said, "Hikari was looking for you anyway."

With the thought of Hikari came the memory of my dream, and with that came sleep, and what had come just before. We'd been out for hours searching for Gomamon. Yamato had apparently suggested that we try looking for the enemy camp, which was a nice change. Usually he and Taichi were so insistent that Hikari stay home and knit—no, even that would be too dangerous for their liking. But Yamato was asking us to go out and actually do something. But did that mean he wanted us hurt, or that he trusted us?

I assumed it was the latter, but we weren't speaking right now, and I could never tell what he was thinking in that secluded head of his. I just wanted to know that he wasn't still mad at me. I would have asked him too if there wasn't so much going on... no, I wouldn't have. I didn't want to talk to him. I did want to know, but I was hurt. I just couldn't seem to see anything from his point of view as hard as I tried.

But that would be an issue for another day. Hikari was looking for me and that could only mean that she wanted to get back out into the world to look for Gomamon again. I was walking through the Coliseum hallways before I knew it and found Coronamon and Lunamon talking in whispers about Kazuya and Masami who were sleeping. They, along with Kae and Yoshie, who were both still out on another trip to the Coliseum, had decided to retire from the travelling job as soon as tomorrow. Kazuya and Masami weren't even sure if they were going back out tonight, let alone tomorrow night. But they couldn't do it anymore, and no one blamed them, but I think they thought we were all disappointed because they continued to list their reasons. We all knew they couldn't keep doing it. Honestly I'd been thinking for a while about replacing them.

Mari was trying to explain to Digitamamon why he was going to have to share a room until we could locate the West Wing, but he was having none of that, which was borderline amusing. Watching the two immensely stubborn beings lash out at one another. Digitamamon's Tapirmon and Kiyoko's Tapirmon were having a similar conversation next to the two of them, but much more calm. Wormmon was sitting, kind of sad in the living room with many of the other baby digimon, each of them quiet for once as they watched, with tear filled eyes, one of Wormmon's favourite films. Emiko was there too—glaring at Masa who was crying more than the rest—with Bearmon and Monmon on either side of her, snuggling up and resting. Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon were watching Masa, thankfully, since Miyako was at the Temple and Jou was busy with Noriko. I knew that was where Iori would be too, and Noriko's fiancé. I'd not gotten much of a chance to talk to either of them since we'd brought Tomotsu to the Digital World for Noriko. Iori hadn't said much on that excursion, just that he was sorry for always being so mean to me.

I told him it was okay, since he really wasn't that mean to me, just about the brother thing. So it was pretty easy to forgive him.

Mrs Takenouchi's Mushroomon was riding the new Unimon who I was pretty sure was partner to Isao Kido. It was cute, but I didn't think Unimon was enjoying it much. And apparently Mushroomon wasn't supposed to be doing so because Toshiko Takenouchi was chasing him and telling him to "Get off the nice unicorn!"

Warg and Melga—who I was getting really good at telling apart from Agumon and Gabumon—were sitting with Hideto, the three of them eating breakfast before what was sure to be another busy day. Poor Hideto was saddled with the most work of anyone, tied maybe with Willis. I did what I could, but somehow they were just faster at everything than I was.

MetallifeKuwagamon was holding a tray of food that was surely to be for Babamon, who was calling out about how hungry she was, and Katsue was slipping past him under his arm, holding Monimon.

"Hey," She said almost solemnly, "Any luck finding Gomamon?"

"No," I sighed, "You?" She shook her head and was off. There really was no need for explanations.

I still hadn't found Hikari, so I continued my trip down the round hallway, this time finding Pal and Pul, searching for any tricks that might lead to the West Wing. Down the hallway just a little Agumon and Gabumon were doing the very same thing with Rei. She smiled to me, but otherwise paid no attention.

Then, out of nowhere a blonde boy stepped in front of me. My stomach seized up and I thought for a moment it was Yamato, but I was relieved to find that it was Willis. He smiled to me in a way that said he really didn't want to talk, but I waved anyway. "Hi," He said. He looked like he was going to walk off and then he stopped, "Do you know where Kae or Yoshie are?"

"On the walk," I told him.

"Damn." He sighed, "Do you think they'd let me take over?"

"Of course," I told him, "I'm sure they'd be happy to." He smiled a genuine smile and I couldn't help but smile with him. "You miss them, don't you?" He nodded and then we were both silent before he awkwardly walked off.

Then finally I was confronted with the girl I was looking for. I swear I'd gone through every person in the entire Coliseum before finding her. She was talking to, of course, Yamato, both of them looking less than enthusiastic. Yamato was the half of the conversation facing toward me and he looked up, making eye contact, and then pointed me out. Hikari was quick to turn and thanked him as he walked off. Of course. He was avoiding me... "Takeru," Hikari said with a grim expression. "We have to get back out to find Gomamon."

"Already?" I asked, looking to my half eaten sandwich that my mom had made me. She nodded as though she was fully awake. Of course she was. She somehow managed to be fully attentive with only a few hours of sleep, and she was always awake before me. She looked to a bulky watch that didn't belong to her and sighed. "We're late?"

"Not really," She said, "But we should really be out looking."

"Okay, let's go." I said.

It really didn't take long to get to a computer since there were computers everywhere now. We'd gone on a search of the Digital World already, and so apparently Hikari and Yamato decided to switch locations hoping a new outlook would help find him. We were in the streets near my mom's apartment when we arrived. It reminded me that my mom had a boyfriend that we should probably bring with us into the Digital World...

Hikari started telling me all about Yamato's time on Earth, and how Moretsuna had caused a riot, and everything that happened with Ken. "Then we should get him," I said, cutting into the end of her story, "If he can't go to work we need to bring him to the Digital World."

"Ken is busy," Hikari said, shaking her head. "We can't worry about every individual person. Right now we have to focus on only those who can't save themselves. We'll check up on Ken later maybe, but right now Gomamon demands attention. And Michael, and Jun and Momoe, Shuu and even Neo maybe. Daisuke is looking for Jun, and so are Momoe and Shuu, but no one knows where they are. Yamato was just telling me. They need to be found, and if no one gets in contact with Neo soon we're going to go out looking for him too."

"And Michael?" I asked.

"Yamato was at the Temple last night on his way back to the Coliseum and he spoke with Jenna. She's going out today." Hikari explained.

"So we're the Gomamon team?" I clarified.

"Exactly." She said, "Any ideas where to look?" I shook my head and she sighed, "I thought so." It was a pretty depressing day, but it helped knowing that I was with Hikari and that I'd protect her through anything. I knew she'd be safe even if I couldn't be sure anyone else would be. I wouldn't let anything happen to her like my dream threatened.

It actually didn't take long for me to suggest we take a detour. We had walked in the general direction of Yuudai's house, so I requested a visit so we could offer him safety. I didn't know him as well as I knew Fumiko, but I was happy my mother was happy with him anyway.

I knocked on his door and he answered quickly wearing tight athletic clothing. "Hey!" He said with an enormous friendly grin. He pulled me toward him and patted my back into a hug. "Hikari, right?" He questioned, hugging Hikari. I was happy to see him too, but he was coated in sweat after his run and that was more than a little smelly. I didn't really mind though. I wasn't clean myself. We'd left before I got a chance to have a shower in one of the many bathrooms Kiyoko had set up. "Come inside! What are you doing here?"

"We're just looking for our friend," I told him.

"Well he's not here," He joked.

"Well, no." I admitted. "I came here specifically to ask if you wanted to come see my mother again." His face lit up and from that point on it was easy enough to convince him. He wanted time to pack, so we left him to do that, promising to come pick him back up later tonight. "Bye," I called out, closing the door behind us.

"He's possibly the most friendly man I've ever met." Hikari said with a gentle smile. I couldn't agree more. I always came from his house feeling more optimistic.

"Friendliest," I corrected though. "Most friendly isn't correct."

"Oh yeah?" Hikari smirked, "Well you would know, Mr Author."

"Not really an author until it's published," I reminded her.

"Well we'll have to find the most friendly publisher in town," she said, taking my hand and starting to walk backward. "And the most friendly editor, and together they can make your dream become a reality." I smiled, but it didn't feel genuine, and apparently it didn't look genuine either. "I know, having a dream seems silly in times like these, but they're important. I think it's unhealthy for us to give up our entire lives just because some people want us to." She looked panicked suddenly, "I'm not saying we shouldn't be doing what we're doing, just—"

"I know what you meant," I told her, this time with a real smile. "And maybe you're right. I shouldn't give up just because the universe decided to take a crap all over our time here on Earth."

"Exactly!" She smiled, "Though I might have worded it differently."

"I know you would have," We were laughing together then, walking through the streets together until someone shoved right past us rather rudely. I glared at him, but Hikari apologized for being in the way and immediately fixed her position so she was walking next to me, facing forward. We watched the man go, turning sharply down a street where I was suddenly aware that there was a growing chant. "What's that?" I asked slowly.

"Let's go see?" Hikari suggested, pulling my hand and setting off at a run. I wasn't sure if she was nervous or excited, I wasn't sure what I was feeling for that matter either, just that the chanting was kind of annoying, and even a little eerie. My eyes flicked to the sky when I thought I saw movement, but there was nothing.

As we rounded the corner I understood why. There was a pillar of smoke emanating from the middle of the street, the dark clouds contrasting against the grey sky. The ground was littered with jackets that people had thought to wear during the damp day but had taken off when the bonfire became too hot. Under the fire were piles upon piles of logs and books and broken furniture, burning away as if they were never meant to do anything else. And the people, including the man who had pushed past us before, were all having a jolly old time, chanting, singing, talking and dancing. Each of them had vaguely triumphant looks on their face as they celebrated... something.

"Is this a festival or something?" Hikari asked innocently.

"I don't think so." I said, pointing out a large piece of cardboard that had been attached to two wooden stakes. The sign read 'DWD' in big black letters. Hikari's face became annoyed very quickly, her arms crossing. "I know." I said, putting my arm around her shoulder.

"It's just horrible," She said frustrated. She looked around, scanning the crowd until she found something, and she set off, away from me, practically at a run. I followed her as best I could through the crowd, but I lost her quickly. She was better at weaving in and out of the people. I wasn't worried though. If she was amongst the crowds of DWD supporters she was likely to be safe. No one would question her unless she said something, which I would assume she wouldn't do. I didn't stop looking for her though.

"HEY MAN!" A very, very drunk man cheered into my ear, elbowing me sharply. His breath was putrid. I turned toward him trying to imitate his grin, and failed, so I just smiled and hoped he wouldn't see through it. "This is my bonfire!"

"Yeah," I said, "There's the fire," I pointed to it helpfully.

"Yes!" He laughed, "Welcome!"

"Thanks..." I said awkwardly, "What's it for?" I tried, fishing for some information.

"I don't even know!" He burped after his sentence and then laughed, heading off into the crowd again. I rolled my eyes and continued my search for Hikari, but it seemed to be no use. I pushed through the crowd, heading toward the fire thinking she might've wanted to see what this was for, but I didn't see her there either. I spotted a low risen roof on the side of the street and forced my way toward it, climbing up to look around.

My eyes were scanning the faces, searching for Hikari. I know she'd been wearing an oversized sweater and a pair of jeans, trying to keep comfortable for our long day of searching, but everyone seemed to be wearing oversized clothing, and they were all taller than Hikari too. But my eyes did find someone familiar, though not someone I was hoping to come across.

It was Ken's boss leaning against a police cruiser. The chief of Police. Moretsuna. Seriously, was that man everywhere? I'd heard loads of things that he'd done. Like attacking Ken and Yamato, apparently Miyako too, wherever she was, shooting Noriko. I shook my head trying to rid myself of the horrible thoughts that were rising with the boiling anger. I couldn't cause a scene. I needed to only find Hikari and get out of the mess of this crowd. Sure they could lead us to something, but none of them looked to be ready to go anywhere any time soon. And even if they did I was going to have to have Hikari with me to follow them. I couldn't just leave her here.

Then I spotted her.

She was standing, speaking with someone whose back was turned to me. She was waving for me to go toward her, so I pointed to the fire and she nodded agreeing to meet there. I hopped off the roof and found myself, once again, pushing through the ridiculous crowd. It took about five minutes to get halfway across the wide street because the people were so tightly packed. I popped out of the people, nearly tripping into the fire, but a pair of firm hands caught me.

"Shuu is here," Hikari explained as I looked to my savior. She was right, it was Jou's brother. He looked pretty worn out though. His eyes had dark circles under them and his skin looked pale from lack of sleep. "He's looking for Jun."

"You think she's here?" I asked.

Shuu shook his head. "No, but I can't leave." He looked around before explaining. "Last night I heard someone coming, someone who was obviously drunk, so Meramon—who I stupidly brought with me—panicked and sat in the middle of the street. The man thought it was a bonfire, and soon there were people everywhere throwing flammable things at Meramon assuming we were sending some message to the people who support digimon."

"What message would that be?" I asked.

Shuu shrugged, "That drunk people can easily mistake digimon for nonsensical things?" Hikari managed to laugh, but I just found myself looking toward the bonfire where, sure enough, Meramon was seated in the middle, his eyes clenched shut. He was sitting cross legged on the pile of ashes and burning logs. "You see my problem."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Moretsuna is here."

"Who?" Shuu asked.

"The Cheif of Police." Hikari explained nervously, "Where is he?" I pointed in the general direction of Moretsuna and Hikari nodded barely paying attention, trying to come up with a plan. "What if one of us goes to get a computer? We could send Meramon back without anyone knowing?"

"That might work..." Shuu agreed.

"Woah..." A slurred voice from next to me said, "Look guys, if you look into the fire long enough you can see its soul. There's like... a spirit of a man in there." He looked excited, "You see it?"

"No." We all said quickly. "Nope, you're insane." I added.

"Maybe..." The guy said, leaning forward. "So cool..." Then he was off, likely to tell his friends. The news would spread fast and if it got over to Moretsuna then we'd have a problem. He couldn't know Meramon was in the fire before we could get him out.

Also. We had to find Gomamon still, so this had to go quickly and smoothly.

But of course I knew that nothing ever did go smoothly for us.

Shuu wanted to stay with Meramon, so Hikari and I debated which should stay with them as well, but eventually Shuu told us to both go because we were drawing attention. With a quick apology we set off, hurrying to the nearest computer store. Shuu had told us where to look because neither of us were too familiar with the area. We snuck through an alley to make sure we avoided Moretsuna, and worked our way back around until we found the store Shuu had mentioned.

I held the door open for Hikari and she stepped inside, looking around to the shelves lined with all sorts of computer programs, keyboards and other computer related devices such as headphones, or carrying bags. The blue carpeted floor was covered with shelves filled with laptops, and tables where desktop models sat. The shelves in the front were as tall as my shoulders, so there was room for many computers. I started looking them over, realizing there was no way we could purchase a random computer. I had no money at all. Like, literally no money at all.

"Excuse me," I heard Hikari say. I looked up to where she was speaking to the woman behind the counter. Her hair was blonde and her face looked bored and a little cat-like. "I was just wondering if there were any computer models we could take out on a test run."

"No one does that." The woman said, almost amused by the question.

My eyes fell to the computer in front of me and found that it was the exact model of one of the laptops Alias III had stolen for the Coliseum. "Just a twenty minute test run," Hikari explained, "We can bring it back immediately."

"I'm sorry, no." The woman was straight to the point.

Hikari turned to me, frustrated, "Thank you," she said to the lady before moving toward me. "What are we going to do?"

My eyes flicked up to the woman behind the desk and I saw she was flipping through a magazine. I looked back down to Hikari and debated suggesting what I was thinking. It was wrong in so many ways, and I knew Hikari wouldn't go for it on a usual day, but this wasn't a usual day. "We take one." I said under my breath.

Hikari's eyes widened and she gasped, "What?" She whispered, "No!"

"Well what choice do we have?" I asked nervously, looking back to the lady. "Meramon could be in trouble. We can either steal a computer, or we can let him die."

She looked to the woman and groaned, "There has to be another way." She said, looking to the cord connecting the computer to the ground through a hole in each of the shelves. "Besides, there's no way to take it."

"Can I help you?" The woman called, overhearing some of our conversation.

Hikari was so nervous I could almost hear her heart beating quickly. She brushed some of her hair behind her ears and said "N-no thank you. We're—" We both froze, looking over our shoulders toward the door. There had been a scream. A loud one. We both waited in silence, staring to the glass door. Maybe it was nothing.

Then there was a series of screams that were impossible to ignore.

Both of us shot through the door, the sound of the screams grew exponentially once we had gotten back outside. We were rushing down the street together, holding hands tightly to ensure we weren't separated this time.

As we neared the crowd it became very obvious that these were the people screaming, each of them panicking more than the next, bumping into each other, trying to escape. They were running down the streets in every direction they could, some running toward us, making our path more difficult.

Someone slammed into me so hard I fell to the ground, and Hikari's hand was pulled from mine. I heard her yell out louder than the panicked drunk individuals, but her voice faded quickly, and I knew she had been pushed away from me. But I couldn't wait for her. I didn't want to think about what they were running from, but it was hard to ignore the creeping thoughts in my mind.

It was Meramon. I just knew it.

It took me a few tries to get to my feet, but when I did I ran forward, my elbows out in front of me, pushing against the oncoming people to get through them. I was shoved back and forth roughly as I fought the flow of people trying to ignore the pounding of my head and my heart until finally I emerged from the crowd near Moretsuna's vehicle. I was both relieved and frightened to see that he was nowhere to be seen. I turned toward the pillar of billowing black smoke nervously and moved forward as the crowd finally dispersed.

My heart practically stopped when I saw Moretsuna standing with his back to me and his arm raised in front of him. He had to have a gun that I couldn't see because standing in front of him was Shuu, his arms outstretched with Meramon standing behind him in the fire.

I heard a scream of panic that was different than the others and saw Hikari running through the last few partiers, toward Moretsuna. She had told me how Noriko had been shot, and this resembled the scene too much to ignore even for me, and I hadn't been present.

"Stop!" Her scream caught Moretsuna's attention and he cocked his head toward her. "Don't do this!" Hikari cried out, stopping in her tracks when Moretsuna's gun pointed to her instead.

"It's you again." Moretsuna said, a grin forming on his face. "I'll get you this time." Shuu and I both set off toward him, but Shuu was much closer, and he grabbed his arm, forcing it down where Moretsuna shot to the ground before swinging his free arm around to punch Shuu in the face knocking him out of the way.

Moretsuna now had a clear shot to both Meramon and Hikari. I was racing toward him as fast as my legs would carry me, but he pulled the trigger before I could reach him.

The ball of violet light moved so quickly through the air toward Hikari.

I froze, watching it. I watched it sly right toward her shoulder, and then I watched a she ducked out of the way like it was something she did every day.

I had barely paid any attention as I ran directly into Moretsuna, shoving him into the fire that Meramon had climbed out of. I hadn't meant to do something so violent, but I didn't regret it either. He fell back, landing with his arm in the flames. He pulled it back sharply, his hands wrapped around a burning log that he threw toward me.

I used my arm as a shield, but the log hit hard, and the heat scorched my sweater, then before I knew it Hikari had tackled me out of the way.

We crashed to the pavement, the rough ground tearing at my arm. Hikari landed on top of me and was struggling to get to her feet as quick as she could, but there was never going to be enough time. Moretsuna was mere feet away and was pointing his silver gun at the two of us.

"Fire Blast!" Meramon shouted, bursting into raging flames and running quickly toward the enemy. Moretsuna scrambled to get out of the way, dropping his gun in the process. I thought about grabbing it, but Shuu's hands were wrapped under my arms and pulling me to my feet. Hikari was already up and then the three of us were running after Meramon.

"Turn!" Hikari screamed, "Go left!" Meramon obeyed and we followed him as fast as we could.

I checked over my shoulder and saw Moretsuna racing after us. "Dammit!" Shuu shouted. I looked and saw he was looking back as well, but we wouldn't have to go much further. I knew where Hikari was leading us.

"Up those stairs!" She yelled. Meramon jumped up half of the metal stairs and finished, not questioning Hikari and pushing open the door in front of him. Shuu rushed after his partner first into Yuudai's house, and Hikari was up next. I was right behind her.

But then the stairs were flying toward my face. I cried out when my face came in contact with the metal. I moved quickly though, looking back to see Moretsuna, his big grubby hands wrapped around my leg. He was sprawled out on the stairs, looking like he had dived the last few feet. He looked up to me, licking his lips excitedly.

"You can't all get away." He said his voice sharp and rough, but weak from the running. "You're under arrest."

"And you have the right to remain silent." Hikari said from above me. I couldn't see her, but it wasn't necessary to know that she was the one who had thrown the porcelain flowerpot at his head. He grunted and his grip loosened. "Get up!" Hikari screamed, half dragging me up the stairs.

Once I was on my feet, we shot through the open door and slammed it shut, locking it behind us.

"Takeru!" Yuudai said in shock. "Your face! What's going on?"

"Get to your computer," I ordered him. "Get your stuff, and get to your computer." He was panicked. I'd never spoken harshly in his presence, and I certainly had never told him what to do. He was quick to do as I said though, gathering his things that he had already packed and shoving them into his computer room as Moretsuna slammed against the front door. I ushered Hikari into the room after him and saw that Shuu and Meramon were already waiting there, the portal up and ready to work. I looked to the front door when I heard a loud crack and saw that it had broken open. "Go!" I shouted, rushing to the computer where the light was surrounding us.

I was fully aware that he was behind me, and instinctively I grabbed a pen that was sitting on the counter, spun around and stabbed it into his arm. He cried out and jumped back as the room disappeared.

With a crash we were all sitting on the floor of the Temple, looking around to make sure he hadn't come with us. There was a collective sigh of relief, and we were left to settle in and sort ourselves out. I had landed on one of Yuudai's suitcases and pushed it away from myself and slammed my back against the wall next to the open portal door.

"That man," Hikari said when Yuudai helped her stand, "Is insane. I swear, he's not human. There's got to be something wrong with his brain."

"Most likely." I admitted.

"What is going on?" Yuudai finally asked. "I want to know."

"It's a long story." Meramon told him, but he didn't get a chance to respond because Shuu interrupted us. We all looked to where he was curled up, his back against the wall. He was crying. "Shuu?"

"It's Jun!" He cried out, slamming his hands into his reddening face. "She's in trouble. I have to g-go back. I have t-to find her! I have to save her!"

"Daisuke is out there right now looking," Hikari assured him, kneeling down and putting her hand on his shoulder, "He'll find her... I believe in him, and you should too. He's brave and he's strong and he's pretty smart on the fly despite the way he'd like you to think. He can do it. He'll find her."

Daisuke Motomiya:

I should've sent my mother ahead of me. Jun needed me, yes. But Jun was the one that suggested I get Mom to the Digital World in the first place. She'd be so mad at me if I didn't do it. I couldn't though. I typically had a one track mind. If I decided to do something, I was going to do that thing. I've gone years without lying to Kurayami because one New Year's day, I told her I never would. She'd never asked me if her jeans made her look fat—even when pregnant—like she promised me she wouldn't. We made a good team most of the time.

But right now? I was ticked off.

She was at her Dad's house, she'd closed herself off and she still had Haruki and Labramon with her. It wasn't safe for either of them—Labramon, because he was a digimon, and Haruki because he was my son. People knew who I was. If they knew about him, they might try and take him from me. And I needed him to stay safe. It wasn't just an abstract concept that we were fighting against. Sora told me that Eart declared war. They were shooting the people that supported digimon if they were in the way, and sometimes they just tried to beat their opponents with stilettos.

Yeah.

Momoe swore she was fine, but she was limping her way across town. We weren't going door to door, because that was super suspicious, but we wanted to.

Momoe had only joined me after she'd sent Jou's father and step-family off to the Temple. She'd lost Gomamon, and she was so mad about it. She was simmering, and I supposed she hoped we'd find him while we searched for Jun. I was scared for him. I knew what these guys did to digimon, I'd heard Koushiro talk about what he saw and even he couldn't say it with his usual boring, lecture-like tone. He was emotional through it. And they had one of us this time. Taichi and Koushiro had saved Andromon—and Tinkermon—before anything had happened to him, but with the tanks surrounding them now, they couldn't afford to go out on such a mission. Especially when Gomamon could be on Earth or the Digital World. We really had no idea where they'd have taken him.

If I was evil, I'd probably lay evidence leading my enemies to one world, while really being in the second. I just didn't know if they did that, or were leading us to believe that, or didn't even bother.

They hadn't left any traces of Jun that was for sure.

But I knew that Jun was strong. She'd fought against Dad for me; she would fight against her attackers. She had her two digimon to look after too, and she was a fierce mama bear when it came to those guys. It was almost like they were her children. It was strange, but at the same time it was so natural that I didn't question it. People formed different bonds with their partners. I knew that Iori's family was half digital by that point. His brother was his mother's partner, and he treated his grandfather's Kotemon as if he were his uncle. His aunt was the fairy of summer—which I couldn't understand at all, because I was supposed to share a similar bond with Spring, but I couldn't say that I did—and he acted as if a certain pair of Numemon were old family friends. He took Kotemon on picnics, and he and Natsuni were almost an old married couple with their routines for their digimon. She looked after them while he was at school, and they played together, and helped with the chores—just one each—and got treats for good behaviour—and since they lived with Iori, they always had good behaviour. They treated their digimon as children, like Jun did.

I treated Veemon as if he was my best and closest friend, because that's what he was, but I knew Veemon treated Gatomon and Agumon as if they were his siblings, mimicking the close bond that had formed between Hikari, Taichi and me while I lived with their family.

But I also knew that Taichi acted like Agumon was the world's wisest adviser, and Neo's Dracomon needed a stern parent from Neo, like did Rei's friends Pal and Pul needed from her. Biyomon just needed a friend from Sora, one who would love her unconditionally, and treat her as an equal and nothing less.

Each individual, partner and digimon, needed something different from one another. And no matter what it was they needed, the partnership was a beautiful thing. They completed each other, helped to guide each other away from pitfalls and keep themselves going on the right track towards a happy future. Veemon jumped at the chance to help me with my noodle-cart idea. And I knew that Otamamon—and to a lesser degree, Gekomon, because he was still sort of new around here—was always pestering Jun to start doing what she loved to do, to get a job that made her happy, and not just pleased Dad.

I needed to find them so that Jun still had that chance.

"Stop thinking negatively," Momoe ordered. She said it playfully, but I knew she was serious. I could see it in her eyes. They hadn't lost the hard edge since I'd met up with her. She wasn't handling things in the healthiest way, but she'd decided against crying until after we'd succeeded in our missions, and I could appreciate that. Crying wouldn't help Jun, focus would. "We're going to find her. She's still got to marry Shuu, you know. And even though I'm not particularly looking forward to the part she'll make me play in it, she's got to plan the entire wedding again, so she needs to be found. I don't want them putting the wedding off again. They've done that enough already."

"I know," I said. "They were engaged long before I was. I couldn't understand why she's taking so long. The wedding doesn't matter, it's the marriage that counts. Kurayami and I only took a week."

"Jou and I took time with the first ceremony," Momoe said with a grimace. I didn't really like remembering that attempt either. Emiko was kidnapped, and we were all infected by one of the seven sins, it was just not a good time. "But I didn't even think about planning the second time around. All I could think was 'we're going to die' and I wanted to be married before that happened."

"Now you've been married three years, just about," I remembered.

"Yeah," she sighed. "But this isn't the time for a celebration. Our anniversary is coming up, and I can't do anything to help him. He's trying to save Noriko, you know? I won't take him away from that for a reason that's so selfish. We'll have plenty of other anniversaries in the future. At least, that's what I keep telling myself, but I don't know for sure."

"I do," I said firmly. "We're going to find Jun, and she's going to be alive, and everyone's going to make it out of this war."

"It's kind of unreasonable to think that way," Momoe sighed. "No war is without casualties. Look how many digimon have already been taken before the war even started. I don't even know what kind of war it's going to be. Sure they sent tanks in and started blasting at Kiyoko's shield, but I haven't seen any legitimate soldiers join the fray, it's just the DWD. That makes me think maybe the ambassador is a part of it, and that he's going to use his position to try and sway the Prime Minister and then the whole country to join them. If he can do that, then we're scooped. The Prime Minister will be able to supply the soldiers they'll need. And that's all assuming they don't have some nefarious plot being put into action already."

"You've thought further ahead than I have," I admitted.

"I know," she said. "You're stuck on Jun, but I know she's okay. She has to be. She'd have taken the digimon down the fire escape or something before the bad guys even got into her apartment. You said the window was unlocked, didn't you?"

"You're right," I said, feeling legitimate relief course through me for the first time in days. Why hadn't I thought of that? Jun was sporadic and crazy sometimes, but she wasn't stupid, and leaving the door or windows unlocked wasn't something she would do when she had digimon with her and there was a threat against them. She wouldn't make it easy for DWD to get to them. "Someone has to be hiding her. There's no way she could still be out on the streets. Not with Gekomon and Otamamon."

"We just have to think who it could be," Momoe said.

"So we go to the people we know support the cause we do," I summarized. "We'll start with Mr and Mrs Ishida. Iori complains about the house so much, I know we're close. All these places give me that vibe."

"Okay," she said getting excited. "I've been hoping to get a chance to send more people Taichi's way. The Yagami's would be a good start too. Obviously Kurayami and the baby, and Labramon and her father too. Yamato has friends right, from his band? Jun used to be obsessed with them, she could be there. It's a stretch, but it's something. I should use that payphone to call my father, she could be there, he would hide her, and he'd want to know. He'll keep an eye out."

"And I'll call my mother," I added, already pulling out my phone to call her. I had put it off long enough. She was going to the Digital World now. I didn't care if she wanted to wait for news of Jun. She was getting somewhere safe, so I wouldn't have to add her to the ever growing list of people that were missing.

Michael, Neo, Jun, Otamamon, Gekomon, Gomamon.

I just hoped there weren't going to be any more. It was stressful enough as it was.

"Did you find her?" was her greeting. She was just as frantic as I was about this, more now that Momoe had said something that had calmed me down. I wasn't just running on sheer force of will anymore, I had a reason to hope.

"No," I said simply. "But we're going to. We've got a plan. I need you to go to Kurayami. Grab your bags and get to her dad's house. You've been there before, I can't give you directions, so I hope you remember. I don't want anyone to potentially overhear."

"I want to help you," she said stubbornly. I had to get if from somewhere I guess.

"No," I said firmly. "You go to Kurayami. I need you to help keep Haruki safe. I know you can do it. Because you kept me and Jun safe all our lives."

"I never had these serious threats to deal with," she said modestly, though I knew she was flattered, which was my intention of course. "Fine," she decided. Mentally, I did a little happy dance. "Call me when you find her."

"I'll come to you when I find her," I said. "But you're going to be in the Temple. I'm going to call Kurayami in a bit, and you'll go with her."

"But—"

"No buts," I said. "You're my mom, and I love you, but you're going to do what I say for once. You wanted to be a part of Haruki's life, right? So do it. Protect him, and get him to safety. And while you protect my child, I'll go save yours. Deal?"

"Deal," she said, less confidently than I would've liked, but she was resigned to my decision, which was all I could ever hope for in this case. I hung up the phone without saying goodbye. I couldn't bring myself to do that. It sounded so final. I wasn't going to say it. I was going to see her later, soon. And there was nothing that could change that fact.

I looked to Momoe, who was whispering frantically into the receiver of the payphone. Her hands were moving in front of her as she tried to explain what was going on to her father. She had the phone cradled between her ear and her shoulder.

I took the few minutes I knew I'd have to wait for her to try and formulate a plan.

We had a list of people to get to the Temple, as was my original mission. The list was growing slowly, but I hadn't done much to shorten it. I'd been too preoccupied with Jun and worrying about Kurayami to be able to focus properly. Now, it was more imperative than ever that I succeed.

Taichi's parents, my surrogate parents were still on Earth. I'd have to stop by Yuuko and Susumu's place and make sure that they sent Kamemon through at the very least, though I would prefer if they went with him. Hiroaki and Fumiko Ishida were still here. All four of their children had been in the Digital World when I last checked. Not that Yamato and Iori would've liked that generalized grouping. They didn't like that they were technically brothers now. Sora's family was safe. I'd sent Toshiko at the beginning, having run into her just outside her flower shop. I couldn't find Mimi's family if I tried, they were in another country. I just had to hope that someone else had the time to find them along with Michael and Willis' parents—and maybe Tatum's. Koushiro's family and Ken's were collected before I'd seen Toshiko, so that was good. Momoe just sent Jou's family, and thankfully Takeru and Hikari shared with Yamato, Iori and Taichi, so there were fewer people I'd need to find. My mother was with my wife and son and father-in-law, or would be soon, and I'd get them all in one swoop. Miyako's parents refused to leave, and there was nothing Momoe could do, so what chance did I have? Neo didn't want his mom around, and Rei never asked for her, so I wouldn't be finding her. Hideto's family was apparently the villains in this situation, and Mari's family "sucked" according to anyone I'd asked, so there were fewer people to find. But Jou's brother Shin was missing too. I'd have to add him to the list. And I supposed Natsuni's parents might need to be found. Momoe said something about them, but I'd been trying to determine where a duck's footprint could really be Gekomon's at the time, and I didn't remember what she said.

Either way, that was a lot of people without even adding Amai, and the other dark spore children—although I imagined they weren't children anymore—and Yamato's ex-band mates and Sora and Iori's professors. Did Kurayami want to offer a space for her therapist? I didn't even know. She hadn't really talked about him in awhile. Mimi had at least one former employee that didn't try to burn her establishment down, did Izumi want to come? She had been a digidestined before even we were, did her team want to come? I didn't know. It was stressing me out.

I needed someone to just give me a list.

"Ready?" Momoe asked. "She hasn't been to Dad. He said he'd keep an eye out for her, and that he'd make sure to hide her if anyone came looking for her. He's mad at Mom for her behaviour. I had to assure him that just because Mom and Mantarou aren't going to be able to see Emiko again that didn't mean he and Chiziru would have to suffer the same fate. Did I do a bad thing, swearing Emiko wouldn't get to see them without even consulting her? She loves Mantarou. I'm pretty sure she thinks Mom is evil incarnate since she'd never give her chocolate cake before dinner, but Mantarou was her favourite uncle. He used to play games with her, and he didn't always let her win but for the most part she felt invincible with him."

"He made his choice," I assured her. "And you can always take it back. He knows you're serious now, and he's probably thinking it all over again and again, wondering how he can make it better. He probably never thought he'd be on your mom's side, so that's got to be a shock for him."

"I hope so," she said bitterly. "I can't believe them though! They thought I'd make up something as serious as Noriko being shot. That was Yorokobi's story, and they believed her. Her! Over me. I'm their daughter, their sister. I would never try to trick them when things were serious. I never have in the past. I've been flighty, sure, I did go for a tour around the world and come back with a baby without warning, but I've told them everything since then, because I didn't want to hurt them that way ever again."

"Maybe now that they know Jun's missing, they'll believe you," I offered. "They know Jun, they could just call her and know you're telling the truth."

"Have you tried that?" Momoe asked suspiciously.

"What do you take me for," I said pretending to be offended. "There's no answer at all, the phone can't be reached. I'm pretty sure it was in the apartment when it caught on fire. If Jun was in a hurry to leave, she wouldn't risk the digimon's lives for a phone."

"I'm just surprised she hasn't called us yet," Momoe said. "It's the only flaw in my otherwise flawless reasoning. If she could have called us, why hasn't she?"

"Don't rain on my parade," I warned her. "You gave me hope. Don't take it away."

"Sorry," she murmured. "I'm just freaking out. A lot. My parents won't come to safety and are in the clutches of an evil woman. The evil woman who hired her family to steal Gomamon for some unknown but undoubtedly horrible purpose, and happens to be Hideto's sister—who he rightfully hates. He's got me on his side of that fight, whenever, if ever, it takes place. I'm sure he's got Miyako and Jou and Ken too."

"We can't fight them yet. Not until Jun is safe, and all the people are gathered. That's our mission, that's what we're meant to do," I reminded her.

"My mission is self imposed," she corrected. "Sora assigned me only to Jou's family. Shin hasn't been seen in awhile, he's finally gone off on his own. I want to find him, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea, because it might strip him of this new independence that he's found. The mission I gave myself was to send as many phones and music devices as possible to Kiyoko so that we can send more digimon over at one time. They're shooting at the shield, Daisuke. That's bad. What happens when they break through it? I need to make sure there aren't any digimon left inside. That's what Taichi wants, and he's too busy to accomplish it. So I'm doing it for him."

"Right," I said. "Well, now I feel like I should have grabbed Jun's phone."

"Shut up," she said, pushing my shoulder with a laugh. "You said the fire chased you out of the room, unless you were lying, I'd say there'd be a good chance you'd be a pile of ashes by now if you'd grabbed the phone. You're useless to us dead, Daisuke. We don't want that. Take chances, take risks, but be safe about it. We'll find another way. Your mother has a phone, and Kurayami too. Her dad probably does. Almost everyone on Earth that we send over will have one. It's 2015, Daisuke, they're kind of popular."

"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes. My pocket started ringing and I pulled my phone out, ready to re-convince my mother of the plan and was shocked to see Ken's name on the display screen. I answered it immediately. "What's wrong?"

"Where are you?" Ken demanded. "I'm coming to help you. Miyako's got Hawkmon, they're in the Digital World now. I split up with Katsue, Monimon and Yamato, they're here to find Gomamon. My cover was blown. I'll help find Jun and then we'll all head over to the Digital World together."

I rattled of our current location, before changing my mind. We were heading somewhere else, so I told him to meet us at the Ishida's house. He agreed and hung up. Spending so much time pretending to be someone he wasn't really gave him a dramatic flair. I rolled my eyes and Momoe and I decided to rush to the Ishida's. Knowing Ken, he'd probably beat us there and be waiting dramatically, leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed telling us we were late.

We ended up beating him there, and Fumiko ushered us inside. We explained what was going on, how she needed to get to the Digital World right away and she hesitated. Hiroaki was at work, and she didn't want to leave him. It took a hell of a lot of convincing, but I played with her emotions more than I wanted to. I didn't lie though, so that was a plus. I told her how scared and lonely Meiyomon was feeling. I preyed on Iori's anger and fear over potentially losing Noriko. Momoe jumped in and told her how Natsuni really needed a motherly hand right now, because her mother betrayed her, Goblimon and Armadillomon and it potentially cost her father's life.

Whoa.

I should've paid better attention earlier. He would have to move up on the list. We knew the others were alright, just frustrated and needed information. He could be in worse shape than that. I'd go see him after finding Jun. Natsuni would like that surprise I think. I hoped. He had to be alive, didn't he? Totally. Of course he did. I wasn't prepared to find out any differently.

In the end, that was enough. Fumiko started packing right then—lightly as per Momoe's instructions, since she'd have to carry it with her for the hours long walk—and we settled in to wait for Ken to arrive. It took him literally an hour to get there. Fumiko was ready to go, just waiting for Ken to get here so she could lock the door before she left.

"I ended up on the wrong side of town," Ken said sheepishly, effectively loosing the cool factor of his new, no-nonsense secret agent persona. "I did run into that Izumi girl, you know the waitress? I sent her to Tai's mom's house. I hope that was okay. She had a friend with her, she said Hideto invited them. I figured that was the best bet. I didn't have time to hunt down a computer and send them myself."

"Good," I said. "We're heading there soon anyway."

Ken nodded and we said our farewells to Fumiko, watching her disappear into her computer. I felt a sense of accomplishment, as we finally had something to show for our work on our missions. Hiroaki had an iPod so he could carry Yamato's music with him whenever he wanted. Fumiko had taken that and her phone, which meant we saved two more digimon at a time, in addition to Fumiko herself. Once we found Jun, I'd say we were on a roll.

We just had to find her first.

Only we didn't know where to look. I was still kind of looking for Amai, since I'd promised DemiDevimimon I would, but I still didn't know how to find her. And Ken reminded us of the dark spore children, since he could remember their names, so he led us to two of them. The two boys. He apparently talked with them sometimes, discussing the after effects of the dark spore. I hadn't known that about him. I knew I needed to spend more time with him. He was my best friend. It was my job to know these things. He'd lost touch with Keiko though—the other girl aside from Noriko—but he knew her name at least. We sent the boys into the Digital World with their digimon, asking Hiroshi if he knew where we could hunt her down.

He gave us an address.

And we were off.

I gave Ken my hooded sweater. He needed it more than I did. It wasn't even cold anymore. But he was still in uniform, and it was drawing attention. It was especially unhelpful when his radio—which he still had clipped to his belt—started spouting out the voice of his boss, Moretsuna. He was angry. Someone had gotten away with a Meramon—not what he called him, but for polite reasons, we decided to paraphrase—and he was calling in everyone to help look for Ken, because he just had to be behind it. He was one of the bad guys after all.

Sometimes I wondered how someone could get his whole world turned so upside down. Ken was the good guy in this situation and Moretsuna was the bad. It had to take a special brand of crazy to think that the complete destruction of an entire race of beings was the right thing to do.

But the point was, the streets had more officers patrolling them, and we were getting a bit frantic by the time Ken's radio went off again, this time Ken flinched. It was his partner—his old partner—saying that there were signs that Ken had been in his apartment, and asking if Moretsuna wanted him to remain behind to see if he'd come back. I patted Ken's back then, it had to be rough having someone you trusted explicitly turn your back on you so completely.

We could only be seen by the light of the streetlamps, which was a blessing. It helped to keep Ken's uniform hidden, and it made it harder for the police officers to spot us at all. It was also a curse though. It was proof that another day had come and gone and I still hadn't found any sign of my sister. I tried to keep the hope Momoe had given me alive. She'd left of her own free will, she wasn't taken. But it was hard to do when the heavy night grew around us and was a breeding ground for despair.

"This is the address," Momoe said, looking up to a townhouse. I was expecting a big apartment building, not a row of houses all crammed together one after the other, with stairs leading up to each one. They weren't wide houses. And they all looked the same. We double checked the number of the red brick house four times before we dared to knock on the door.

"Who is it?" a soft female voice called.

"Daisuke Motomiya," I said. "We've come to get you to safety."

"Okay," she said, opening the door for us. I saw a soft, gentle face framed with long brown hair. She wore a flour stained apron and was looking at us nervously. "Come inside quickly. I don't want any unnecessary onlookers."

We slipped through the door in record time. She led us to the back of the house—a warm and welcome place that felt strangely creepy to me—to the kitchen where the smell of fresh bread hit my nostrils. My stomach gargled, reminding me that I hadn't bothered to feed it today. Keiko—for that was who she had to be, there was no other explanation—laughed and got small plates out of her cupboard and sliced up generous portions. I slipped into the front room though, because I had someone I needed to call. Now. I dialed the number quickly and waited for her to answer.

"Hello?"

"Kurayami, did my mother make it to the house?"

"Yes, she's here," she said. Her voice less guarded that in had been for the past few days. "I have to tell you something."

"If I let you will you go to the Digital World?" I wasn't teasing, but I let my voice sound like I was.

"Yes," she said, catching me off guard. It was a lot easy to convince her than I'd thought it would be. "Daisuke, Moretsuna hurt Haruki."

"What?" I asked horrified. When had the bastard got close to my son? I'd seen what he did to Ken, and Noriko was another hit against him. But to hurt a baby? That was low. Haruki couldn't defend himself. "How?"

"He tripped me, on purpose," she said miserably. "And then...then I found out Grandpa's dead."

"Naturally?" I asked as hopeful as I could.

"I think it was Moretsuna too," she said. I could hear the emotions in her voice as she tried to hold them back. I wanted to be with her right then, but I knew she wasn't really ready to share it all just yet. She was just telling me because I needed to know.

"Get to the Digital World," I begged. "Before he finds you again. I can't...I need you safe."

"And I need you safe too," she said. "Haruki needs you."

"Then I'll meet you in the Digital World as soon as I can," I promised. "I just can't leave Jun."

"I know," she said. "Just come soon."

"Okay," I told her. We talked for a few more minutes, about nothing, about everything before we exchanged goodbyes and hung up the phone. She'd even put the phone next to Haruki so I could talk to him. I almost cried when he gurgled back to me. I missed him. And now I was sending him off to the Digital World, and I wouldn't be able to just go to our temporary home and cuddle him up at night. He'd be safe, which was good, but I would miss him every second.

"I thought I heard you, Daisuke."

I turned to the stairs that led to the second floor and nearly killed myself clambering over the railing to get to her. It was Jun. She was okay. She was here. I pulled her close and I wasn't going to let her go, no matter how uncomfortable the position really was. I just wanted her to stay close. I never wanted to lose her again.

"I'm alright, Daisuke," she said. "I would've called you, but I can't remember anyone's number. I can't believe how dependant I am on my phone's contact list."

"Jun," I said breathily. "Jun."

"That is my name," she joked. "Otamamon, Gekomon it's just Daisuke. It's safe to come down. It smells like the bread is done."

Otamamon hopped down the steps grinning at me. Gekomon was more reserved, and though his skin was healed the injuries left some pretty nasty scars. Not that I'd tell him that. I was just glad that he was okay, and was happy enough with Jun to smile again. He had a YukimiBotamon in his hands, and I assumed that was Keiko's partner. The three digimon raced into the digimon, ready for some bread, while Jun and I walked at a much slower pace—I still hadn't let go, and it kind of made it hard to navigate the hallways. YukimiBotamon had eaten the bread on my plate before I'd even entered the kitchen, and was trying to sneak some off of Ken's while Keiko got him his own.

"Momoe," I called, and her head whipped around to the doorway. She screamed and flew towards us, becoming another growth Jun would just have to get used to. Ken smiled at her, but remained at his seat, pulling his plate away from the ravenous baby digimon, leaving it to go demolish Momoe's share instead.

"What happened to you?" Momoe demanded.

Jun laughed.

She laughed.

"Why don't we go find a seat, and I'll tell you," she said. She led us back to the front room, and we got cozy on the couch. Momoe, Jun and then me, all in a row. Otamamon sat on Momoe's lap, happily letting Momoe rub his head, and Gekomon tentatively sat on mine. Ken asked if he could set up Keiko's computer, as he'd rather just get to the Digital World and make sure his wife was alright. So he was doing that, while Keiko sat on the chair facing the window. Only the glow of the headlights of passing cars made it through the heavy curtains she had in place. She wasn't taking any chances. She had YukimiBotamon on a tall table beside her chair. He was still munching away at a pile of bread chunks.

"He stress eats," Keiko said defensively when I asked if it was healthy for the little guy. "It's pretty stressful these days to be a digimon. I'm not going to take away his only coping mechanism."

I had to admit, that was fair.

"Okay, so Shuu and I only know like two other tenants in our apartment building. There's this older lady that lives a few floors down, and she's sweet, and I love her. And then there's the idiot that lives across the hall. I hate him. I know it was him that called the DWD to my door. He'd seen Otamamon before, and he thought he was a throw pillow at the time, but he's been getting more suspicious lately, and then he saw Meramon. There are only so many things that that fairy's spell can make someone think a man of fire is. And he thought it was really weird that we had a camp fire in our apartment. I told him it was just a specialty lamp that we decided didn't suit our decor, and I made Shuu bring Meramon to the Digital World with him. I thought we'd be okay after that," Jun said. "But I got a call from that sweet old lady."

"I met her," I said, knowing it had to be the same woman.

"She's a doll," Jun said happily. "She said people had asked her where to find Jun Motomiya and Shuu Kido. Now she said she didn't know us, and called me as soon as they'd left. She didn't like the look of them, she said. She said they looked like bad apples. So she warned me, and I grabbed Otamamon and Gekomon and we slipped out the window, down the fire escape."

"Then she stumbled into the bakery I work at," Keiko said, picking up where Jun left off. "And I saw the two digimon, and I knew I had to help her, so I took my lunch break early and slipped them into my car through the back door."

"We've been here ever since. I just can't figure out the gate," Jun said sheepishly. "I thought it would be easier than it is."

"It's ready," Ken said. "Should we go?"

"Let me just grab some snacks for the road, and maybe a few changes of clothes. Do we have time for that?" Keiko asked. We let her do her thing, and watched YukimiBotamon demolish his pile of food. He didn't finish though, because suddenly he was glowing brightly and I knew he was digivolving.

My heard stopped.

The window shattered as a purple blast burst through it, followed by three more. I tucked Gekomon to safety, and I saw Ken trying to get to YukimiBotamon. Keiko rushed back into the room and was just in time to see a large burst of purple slam into her baby digimon. He screamed out a dreadful sound and was gone.

Just like that.

She let out an inhuman howl of anguish, falling to her knees convulsing almost on the floor. Jun ran to her immediately, trying to get her to her feet. Ken was holding his digivice, waiting for us to get to him so we could all escape unharmed.

But then the door slammed open, falling flat on the floor and Moretsuna himself walked in. He sneered at Ken, wanting to say something, but Otamamon and Gekomon caught his attention, as did the sobbing girl on the floor.

"I got one," he said gleefully. He looked horrible. I'd seen him only once before, but he didn't look so bad then. He had a swollen eye, and a large bruise on his cheek. Dried trickles of blood were on his forehead and soil was all through his hair. But it was the wild, malicious glint in his eye that stood out most to me. He raised his gun and aimed it towards the couch. I grabbed Momoe and pushed her up and across the room, Ken caught her before she could fall to the ground and sent her through the open gate. Jun was trying—so hard—to get Keiko up but she wouldn't move. I acted instantly to protect Gekomon, knowing full well that if it was Jun in my place and Veemon in his, I would expect the exact same response, and I hooked my right arm around his middle, and ran at Ken, throwing the frog digimon at him.

"Go Ken," I told him.

"But—"

"He wants you and the digimon most, get going!" I snarled, racing over to my sister.

Moretsuna wasn't happy with the development, going trigger happy and shooting at everything as thought digimon were hiding in every nook and cranny. I dragged the girls behind the chair Keiko had been sitting in and eyed the distance to the computer. Thankfully Moretsuna was too crazed to think clearly, or else he would've already destroyed our only escape route.

"I'll distract him," I told them. "When he's focussed on me, you two get to the computer and get through."

"No," Jun said. Keiko was still too distraught to say a word. "I'm the older sister, I'll be the distraction."

"It's not up for discussion," I growled. "This is serious Jun. I want you to listen to me and do exactly what I say."

"Daisuke—" she tried to protest. But I was already on my feet, running to the kitchen, opening the back door wide.

"C'mon Veemon!" I shouted. "We've got to get you out of here."

Moretsuna barrelled his way towards the kitchen just as I knew he would. I'd shouted a digimon's name after all. I ducked behind the island in the middle of the kitchen floor and crawled around it. He spotted the door and went outside without delay. I grinned and ran back towards the living room, ready to make my exit, having outsmarted Moretsuna.

I didn't want to leave him here. I wanted to destroy everything he cared about and rip him apart piece by piece, but I had to think about Haruki here, and I didn't think he'd appreciate it if his father was in jail for murder. But that man had hurt my baby, shot my friend, and killed my wife's grandpa. And he'd shot a defenceless Burpmon—which is what I knew YukimiBotamon was turning into. He'd been eating too much, I knew it wasn't a good idea. He'd eaten more than he could handle and had digivolved to Burpmon whose sole purpose in life is to eat everything.

Moretsuna had done enough damage, and he needed to be stopped.

But not today.

Jun and Keiko were still hiding behind the chair when I returned to the living room. "What the hell are you still doing here?" I yelled at them. In hindsight, worst move possible.

"I can't move her," Jun said exasperatedly. I grabbed Keiko's arm and pulled her to her feet. She tried to sink down again and I just hauled her back up. I knew I was being rough, but we had seconds before Moretsuna connects my voice from the kitchen to my yell in here, and realizes I've sent him on a wild goose chase. Keiko tried to sink to the floor again. She wasn't cooperating and my life was in danger. My sister's life was in danger. And I knew she lost her partner but this was ridiculous. There was a time and a place for grieving. In the middle of a life and death struggle? That was not the place.

"Get to your damn feet," I snarled at her. "Or we'll leave you behind!"

"No we won't," Jun said, grabbing her other arm. Together we hauled her ungrateful butt over to the computer. I pulled out my digivice just in time to see three purple blasts fly through the kitchen door into the living room. He was back. I grabbed the digivice and held it to the computer. The light was starting to surround us when Moretsuna came around the corner. He shot another blast our way, and then the house was gone.

I grinned.

That was a close call.

"Jun!" Momoe shrieked, running over to us. Otamamon and Gekomon were hot on her heels. Shuu, who had been expressing his happiness for their return also joined them. I thought it was a celebration, but it didn't turn into a group hug. Jun collapsed to the floor, clutching her side. There a hole burnt right through her shirt, and her skin was bright red.

She'd been hit.

"What happened?" Shuu demanded, grabbing my shirt and pulling me real close to his face.

"She was shot," I said, the words getting thicker. They caught in my throat.

"Who?" he wanted to know.

"Moretsuna."

Next Time on Digimon Adventure 06: With so much going wrong, how are Hideto and Willis supposed to handle drama that comes their way?