EPISODE 52: Time Off From Home

Saturday zipped by, and Sunday eventually came around. Oddly enough, it's quite a rainy day! Huge, thick, dark, ominous-looking grey clouds hung over the town like a bucket that had been knocked over, pouring out all the water that's in it. Rain crashed down like garbage being loaded into a garbage truck, coming down in sheets that seemed to laugh at umbrellas and rain coats. There's no thunder or lighting, but the swift and merciless pounding rain wasn't going to let anybody get through it's myriad powerful little water droplets unscathed. Huge puddles formed at the end of every driveway or street corner. Balled up drops of water fell from leaves and flower petals, even though they themselves were being harassed and bombarded by the bullies that are the voluminous droplets of water pouring from a rather very angry sky. People scurried around their houses, making sure their houses didn't flood.

If there's one thing Kosuke hates, it's rain. He mostly has quite an aversion to it because it keeps him from getting out of the house, which means he's stuck with Kanako all day. As of right now, she's still sleeping in her bedroom as sober as can be. She hadn't had any drinks since she drove away Minako and Otoya yesterday, but Kosuke was still incensed with her because of what she had done. Kosuke loves his pristine blue sky, cloudless and without one ugly smear. Sadly, the big bad grey clouds have arrived to literally rain on his parade for real and now show not just him, but anyone any mercy at all. Kosuke wondered if Minako was going to come by his house to tell him about the solution she found to his studying problem. One good thing about the rain is that it actually gave Kosuke time to do some early morning studying. Patamon helped him out a few times too. Patamon was flying around happily when he felt some water drop onto his head. He looked up and gasped.

"There's water coming through the ceiling!" Patamon exclaimed, which stimulated Kosuke into looking up at it in alarm, just as appalled by it as Patamon.

"Awww, confound it all! They could have at least fixed this place up before we were forced to move in here!" Kosuke complained angrily as he left to run into the kitchen. He pulled out some duct tape, a piece of card board, and a rather tall stool. He placed the stool under the spot where the water is leaking, stood on it, and put the card board on the hole.

"Patamon, would you mind holding this while I put the duct tape on it?" Kosuke asked.

"Sure! I'd love to!" Patamon replied jauntily, happy to be able to have something to do for a change. Like Kosuke, he also doesn't like being cooped up in the house all the time.

Happily, Patamon flew upward and put his little black hands on the card board, holding it in place as Kosuke let go of it and proceeded to put the duct tape on it. Once it was on, Kosuke pressed on it deeply with his hands so it will be nice and secure. Kosuke and Patamon both let go and stopped to see if water would permeate through it and fall onto the floor. Thankfully, not one drop came out.

"Yay! It worked!" Patamon cheered. Kosuke flashed a smile. The two of them high fived each other. Kosuke went and put the stool away. Patamon then remembered something Kosuke just said.

"You say you were forced to live here. What do you mean by that?" Patamon asked curiously as Kosuke returned.

"My parents and I used to live in a bigger, much nicer house on the next street. If you can believe it, we were kinda wealthy before Dad up and left. He felt we were too stupid to continue living in that house, so he sold it and threw us here like garbage," Kosuke explained.

Patamon stopped flying and he descended onto the table in response to his feelings of dejection. "Oh. That's horrible."

"I know. Stupid, right?" Kosuke mused. "My old room was much better and much nicer than what I have now. We actually had a really nice back yard too."

"What was it like?"

"It had some swings, and lots of open space for us kids to run around in. There was this big tree we'd climb on and play games around. If you can believe it, I used to love climbing trees and seeing the world from high up. I wasn't afraid of heights at all."

"I think I can see why."

"You're right. Even back then, I had a desire for freedom. Yun and Minako aren't climbers so they chickened out most of the time. I really do miss that back yard."

"I'll bet you do."

"It's raining really hard out. I don't think Minako's gonna come in this weather. I would actually like to see her try though."

"But isn't it kinda slippery out? I wouldn't want her to get hurt coming here."

As it would turn out, Kosuke and Patamon both found their answer. A second after Patamon said that, a knock was heard at the door. Kosuke stood up and ran over to answer it. As he opened it, the rain howled and poured in at full force with great power, along with some wearing a big purple rain coat stumbling inside, sopping wet. Kosuke removed the rain coat and stepped back with shock.

"Minako? Salamon?"

Yes, Minako and Salamon actually came to Kosuke's house despite the horrid weather! Minako, despite how sopping wet her jacket looks, came in dry, with her blonde ponytail perfectly dry and supported by her usual purple ribbon. She came in wearing a long sleeved violet red shirt with a small V-neck and a white piece of cloth filling it up, black jeans, and purple rain boots that matched her coat. Salamon was tucked in Minako's arm underneath her coat, so she's dry as well. On Minako's back is her big purple backpack.

"By God, Mina! You actually came to my house on foot in this horrible weather?" Kosuke yelled, shocked by the fact that Minako is actually gutsy enough to not only suggest going through pouring rain, but actually pull it off. Minako smiled brightly.

"Yep! A little rain won't stop me from fulfilling my promise!" Minako said cheerfully. Kosuke, still stricken dumb with disbelief, scratched his hair a little.

"Jeez. You're crazy," Kosuke mused.

"I know," Minako replied, not phased by Kosuke's comment.

"It was all her idea! I didn't think we could go out in this weather, but she kept on insisting that we come anyway! Wan!" Salamon piped in, dumbstuck herself.

"I'll bet it was tough getting here," Patamon told her.

"Actually, it wasn't all THAT though. I watched the weather early this morning, and I made sure to check which areas had the worst cases of flooding," Minako explained as she placed her backpack on the couch.

"But what about your parents? Aren't they worried?" Kosuke asked with concern.

"They're still sleeping right now. They both worked really late last night, so they came home dead tired. Besides, I found out this rain's not gonna last long. It'll be gone by noon, but it'll let up by at least 9:30 AM. My parents don't get up until late in the afternoon when they work late at night, so it'll be fine!" Minako explained as she got her digivice out.

"It's true. Once they work late and fall into bed, they sleep like hibernating bears, and NOTHING can wake them up! Not even a rain storm! Wan!" Salamon piped in with a smile.

"Wow! You sure are sneaky, Mina-chan!" Patamon said with his little arms crossed.

"Nobody said I was one hundred percent goody two shoes," Minako said.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about? You said something about a way to help me study?" Kosuke asked.

Minako snapped her fingers with delight. "Yep! I've been thinking about it a lot, and based on some research I did, I suggest that we should go to the Digital World!"

"The Digital World? To study?" Kosuke asked, confused.

"Yes. As you know, the time we spend in the Digital World barely has any effect on the passage of time in the real world. Think about it! We could spend months in the Digital World and not a minute would pass! It would be as though we never left!" Minako explained, looking quite happy and enthusiastic about what she's suggesting.

"You're right. Whenever we came back from the Digital World, not much time passed," Patamon said.

"Exactly. Since the passage of time in the Digital World doesn't have much effect here, I thought it'd be a great place to study! Don't worry, the Digimon will come with us in case something bad happens," Minako explained again.

"You're always one to properly prepare for stuff, Minako," Kosuke said, smiling a little.

"Yep! When it comes to trips or picnics or anything like that, Mina-chan's no slouch! Wan!" Salamon piped in cheerfully. Minako threw on her backpack.

"If you want, we can go right now!" Minako said.

"But does the digivice work indoors? And how will we know if that mystical veil thing is open or not?" Kosuke asked. He remembered the time Yun told him about what happened to her and Aria in the Digital World when Airdramon attacked, and Yun made sure to tell them about the mystical veil.

"Yun said it works indoors just fine. As for the mystical veil...honestly, I'm still trying to find out more about it. I don't quite know when it'll be open or not, but there's nothing wrong with trying, is there?" Minako said, still a little dubious about the mystical veil herself. Kosuke got his digivice, books, notebooks, and D-Heart.

"Well, you're here now, so I guess there's no turning back. I say let's go for it," Kosuke said.

"Okay! I'll come too!" Patamon said.

Minako and Kosuke both held onto each other's hands, opened their digivices, pressed the door button, and waited for a digital portal to appear. Thankfully, one appeared right beneath their feet, and they fell in, with Salamon and Patamon joining them. They didn't feel scared this time, and they kept their eyes closed as they fell into the Digital World patiently, even though it must be confessed that Patamon and Salamon clung to both of their tamers with dear life as they cowered in fear, though they refused to vocalize it.

Although they didn't expect to do so, they realized, without opening their eyes, that they landed on something soft. Kosuke, Minako, Patamon, and Salamon all opened their eyes to a very strange yet enthralling sight. They landed on a place full of soft orange sand, but it was what was on them that surprised them. Coral reefs! Huge, shining, mandarin orange coral reefs. They were all awestruck by the sight. The reefs stood tall and dignified, their little wiggly leaves being carried by the wind. They looked exactly like trees, looking as though they're saying "I've gone far beyond the sea, so I'm closer to heaven than you are!" Kosuke was the first to speak upon being stricken dumb by the sight.

"Aren't coral reefs supposed to be underwater?" Kosuke asked.

"This is very illogical and makes absolutely no sense, but nobody really said that real world rules had to apply to the Digital World. But I HAVE to say...they're beautiful!" Minako exclaimed.

"Oh! Oh! I know this place! This is Topaz Reef!" Salamon yipped as Kosuke sat down on a nearby rock.

"Topaz Reef?" Kosuke asked.

"Yep! I remember coming here once before! It's far into the Net Ocean, and it's one of the most popular rest stops for under sea Digimon, or anyone in general. Unfortunately, it's too small and compressed for Digimon to inhabit, so there's nobody who lives here," Salamon explained cheerfully.

"I can see why it's called topaz. It's beautiful," Kosuke mused.

"Do you see any digital spots, Mina-chan?" Patamon asked curiously.

Minako looked around cautiously.

"I see a couple over there, but they're far away. There's some in the ocean, but they look like they're reforming," Minako explained, using her index finger to point to the places where she sees the unstable digital spots.

"We'd better avoid those," Patamon said.

"That'll be easy, since we're here to study and all. This place is perfect!" Kosuke exclaimed with a bright smile as he opened one of his books. Minako sat down on another rock and opened her laptop. Thankfully, the weather in the Digital World right now is nice and sunny, without a cloud in sight, and the ocean is as calm as a sleeping baby and flat as hardwood floors.

"This will give me time to do more research," Minako mused happily.

"Hey Patamon! While Mina-chan and Kosuke-kun study, wanna play?" Salamon asked sweetly.

"Sure! I'd love to! I've been so cooped up in the house all day, I didn't think I could last much longer! Come on! Let's play!" Patamon replied jauntily, which made Salamon happy.

Neither Kosuke nor Minako brought any watches with them, so they're not able to tell how much time passed, but they didn't mind, since once they got back to the real world, no time would pass at all. Kosuke studied diligently and silently, Minako searched for answers on various parts of the Digital World, some she managed to find and some she didn't, and Salamon and Patamon played merrily and happily to their hearts' content. They chased each other around, wrestled each other playfully, climbed the huge reefs (or in Patamon's case, flew) and pretended to be lookouts on a ship, searched for pretty rocks and sea shells, and made sand castles with the wet sand using their findings as decorations. Minako and Kosuke looked at them and saw how happy they are.

"We used to play like that, didn't we?" Minako asked.

"Yeah we did," Kosuke replied.

"Want to join them?"

"I guess there's no harm in taking a little break."

Minako and Kosuke got up and decided to join them.

"Hey! Can we join you two?" Kosuke asked.

"Sure! Come on down, friends!" Patamon gestured happily.

Minako, Kosuke, Salamon, and Patamon all played together happily. They chased each other around, wrestled with each other playfully, climbed the big reefs and pretended to be lookouts on a big ship, looked for rocks and sea shells, made sand castles, everything you do on a beach, they did. Minako or Kosuke didn't bring any swim suits so they couldn't go in the water, but they didn't mind. They weren't particularly interested in going in the water anyway. If they came home wet, their parents would think that they were out in the rain and scold them severely (well, Kanako wouldn't notice if she was drunk, but Minako's parents surely would). Minako and Kosuke laughed heartily.

Kosuke couldn't remember the last time he was this happy. For so many months, he was forced to take on all of a parent's responsibilities. He cooked meals, paid the rent, cleaned the house, everything. Kosuke felt so bogged down by every one of these tasks, and his simmering feelings of hatred and anger against those who betrayed him so cruelly, that he no longer felt that he could be a child or even have a childhood. Not only that, these feelings of hatred spilled out in currents at those he loved and he didn't realize it until it was bashed into his cranium by Angemon, who managed to help him come to his senses. Kosuke had lost all hope and thought he could never be a child again. Thankfully, this isn't the case. Ever since Patamon came into his life, Kosuke finally began to realize what he had lost. Ever since his dad left and his mom turned to alcohol to take her away from reality, Kosuke focused too much on himself and began losing his ability to care for others and be nice to them. Patamon managed to remind him of who he really is. At first, Kosuke didn't know why, but then it hit him: Patamon is literally everything Kosuke was when he was a child: jaunty, cheerful, friendly, and at some points, kind, understanding, and with a heart of gold. It's no wonder Patamon was his partner, because he's everything Kosuke was and always wanted to be. Kosuke wondered if maybe Patamon was the kind of person he's yearned for all his life, everything a person should be. Patamon scolded him and treated him like a normal parent would if he did something bad, but he never talked down to him or treated him like he wasn't worth anything, like his dad did when he decided to leave. Kosuke couldn't be happier, and he finally realized it: Patamon is the best thing that ever happened to him.

For Minako, it was another story. Since she knew from experience that Melody was the closest to Yun in terms of friendship, she remembered that she was the closest to Kosuke when they were younger. Back then, Minako was pretty much the mother figure of their little quartet even before the Digimon Brigade came around. She made sure they didn't get into trouble (though it must be confessed that Minako did cause her own share of mischief), she made sure they didn't get into any fights, taught them the right things to teach, and kept them all in line, especially when it was important to do so. Sure, they made sure to give her time to be a kid of her own, which Minako appreciated greatly, but over the years, she realized that their little quartet was crumbling and drifting apart because of things going on in their lives. Kiyoshi dying, Melody disappearing, Kosuke's father leaving, and Kosuke's own temporary regression, all of those things led to the quartet eventually drifting apart. Minako always was a rather altruistic girl and always made sure to give her friends space when needed (Yun did the same), but even she was too locked up by her sadness to care about what happened. She wondered what she would have done if Salamon hadn't come into her life. Or Yun. Or just about anyone who cared about her or is important to her. Sometimes, Minako wished to go back to the happy days where they played and jumped around and watched cartoons and read books and told funny jokes together. Now, Minako felt as though those days have finally returned thanks to the Digimon and the Digimon Brigade, and even she couldn't be happier. She wondered if she finally found peace with herself.

Salamon and Minako were happily wrestling in the sand when Salamon's cream-colored ears perked up in alarm.

"What's wrong, Salamon?" Minako asked with concern.

"I hear Digimon talking! In the ocean!" Salamon exclaimed.

"Where?"

"Right over there!"

Salamon pointed to the area in which she heard the voices. Minako gestured Salamon to be quiet, which she did, and decided to very slowly tip toe to the ocean a little. She took her shoes and socks off so she wouldn't get them wet, and she liked the feel of the Digital World's ocean water, which felt no different than the ocean at home, but like Salamon said, she heard voices.

"Do ya see that? Those are humans!"

"Wow! What a surprise! I've never seen real humans before! I always thought they were just an old Digi-folk tale!"

"I guess they've shown themselves to us at last."

"So what should we do?"

"Well, they don't look ferocious or volatile, and they're a lot smaller and scrawnier lookin' than I imagined, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to meet them and say hi. But we still have to be careful. Who knows what could happen."

"Isn't that a bit risky, though?"

"Yeah, I know. But still, let's see how everything turns out."

"Look! I see other little Digimon with them too! Wow! They've actually domesticated Digimon too!"

"Is that a bad thing or a good thing?"

"I dunno."

Two male voices spoke to each other from underwater, but Salamon and Minako, with their ears perked up, managed to hear it as lucidly as though they were listening to their favorite music. Finally, two heads poked out from under the sea. One of them looks like a shark clad with sea blue armor, with an upside down grey triangle on the tip of it's head and three grey rectangles above it. It's eyes are sea blue and it's teeth looked quite ferocious, though the Digimon didn't sound as though he was going to use them. The second one is a big bluish purple sting ray, with red eyes, not glowing Dark Emblem eyes, a pale yellow marking on it's head, and two long antennae. Neither of them have glowing red eyes, so they don't have Dark Emblems, which Minako found most reassuring. Soon, Kosuke and Patamon saw them and immediately became alert.

"Mina! Look out!" Kosuke yelled as he ran over to them.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shot out his attack, which Salamon noticed.

"Holy Roar!" Salamon, which her high pitched attack, managed to knock away Patamon's attack and scare the two Digimon back into the water.

"What the freak? Those Digimon were about to attack you!" Kosuke exclaimed.

"No they weren't. They weren't going to hurt us. We heard them talking just now. Besides, they don't have any Dark Emblems on them, so we don't have to fight them," Minako explained as calmly as possible. Salamon, seeing some shadows underwater, was relieved to see that they're still here. She decided to have them come out.

"It's okay! You can come out! We won't hurt you! Sorry about Kosuke-kun just now. He tends to do things without thinking sometimes," Salamon told them gently, hoping that they'd come out. Kosuke was a little irked by Salamon pointing out one of his flaws, but he knew it wasn't out of malicious intent, so he kept his mouth shut.

Cautiously, the two Digimon poked their heads out again. Minako and Kosuke got their digivices out and looked up their information.

"The shark-like one is Tylomon. He's an armor level sea animal Digimon. His attacks are Torpedo Attack and Hydro Wave," Minako said.

"The giant sting ray is Mantaraymon. He's also an armor level sea animal Digimon. His attacks are Tail Booster and Torpedo Agility," Kosuke said.

"Umm..." Tylomon muttered first. "H-Hello."

"Hello!" Patamon exclaimed cheerfully. "Sorry we scared you just now. Kosuke thought you were trying to hurt us. I guess I did too. We hope you're not too mad."

"It's...fine," Tylomon muttered again. "You're humans, right?"

"Yes. I'm Omori Minako, and this is my friend Hanemoto Kosuke," Minako explained kindly and softly.

"See? I told you their names didn't end with mon!" Mantaraymon exclaimed at Tylomon.

"Yeah yeah, I know," Tylomon retorted rather sarcastically.

"What are you two doing here?" Kosuke asked with his arms crossed.

Mantaraymon decided to ascend onto the surface a bit more, showing more of his body. "We were just gonna do our usual pit stop business here, but then we saw you. It's okay. We don't live here so you're not trespassing or anything."

"We kind of guessed that," Kosuke said.

"Mantaraymon and I are having a race to see who can reach this place first without any breaks, and I won!" Tylomon explained. Mantaraymon ducked his head back into the water in shame.

"Aw, come on, Mantaraymon! Don't get all angsty! There's always next time!" Tylomon told him.

"But you always beat me!" Mantaraymon replied, which made Kosuke, Minako, Salamon, and Patamon break out laughing merrily.

"You guys are funny," Patamon said.

"Pteramon would have a fit if he saw you guys," Kosuke muttered to himself. Mantaraymon and Tylomon stopped squabbling.

"So...what are you humans doing here?" Tylomon asked politely.

"We came here so we can study in peace. There's some stuff going on in our world and we thought we could take some time away from it for a little while," Minako told them just as politely.

"What kind of stuff?" Mantaraymon asked.

"Rain. Lots and lots of rain," Kosuke said.

All of a sudden, Minako had an idea.

"Oh! That totally reminds me! If you don't mind me asking, have you heard of a Digimon named MoonMillenniummon?" Minako asked the two aquatic Digimon.

Mantaraymon and Tylomon looked at each other with confused faces.

"MoonMillenniummon?" Mantaraymon and Tylomon asked, sounding quite confused.

"He's a Digimon like you two, only he's supposedly really strong," Minako explained again.

Tylomon and Mantaraymon looked up at the digital sky as they ruminated and thought deeply about Minako's question. It was Mantaraymon who decided to respond.

"I've never met one, but there have been tales that have been passed down from ancient times about MoonMillenniummon. The elders down at my hometown tell them all the time, and I remember them telling a story about a MoonMillenniummon. If my memory serves me right, MoonMillenniummon is a soul Digimon that exists within a Millenniummon's inner world. Millenniummon is MoonMillenniummon's pre-digivolved form. They say that after a Millenniummon was defeated, it's dark spirit overtook him and caused him to undergo a dark digivolution, which resulted in him becoming MoonMillenniummon. Because he's a spirit Digimon, he doesn't have a fixed form, even though he often takes the form of a HUGE crystal. Because he's a soul and doesn't have substance, he's immune to physical attacks. The elders once said that MoonMillenniummon has the power to open rifts in time and space! There has never been a Digimon capable of even defeating a MoonMillenniummon throughout history. That's all I know, I'm afraid."

Minako, Kosuke, Salamon, and Patamon all looked at each other with surprised faces. If this supposed Master really is this MoonMillenniummon Digimon, then as they are now, they obviously have no chance against him! Minako could tell that a Digimon like this was dangerous, but to have the power to open rifts in time and space and be immune to all physical attacks, and the fact that NOBODY in all of history has ever defeated a MoonMillenniummon? Just the very thought almost made Minako fall onto the sand. Even Kosuke was distressed.

"Does he...have the power to destroy the entire Digital World?" Kosuke asked.

"To be honest, there hasn't been any record of one being capable of destroying the Digital World. Ugh! Just thinking about the Digital World's destruction makes my head pound!" Tylomon exclaimed with a grimace at the final sentence.

"Oh lord, don't make me think about it!" Mantaraymon exclaimed.

"We're sorry. We didn't mean to frighten you or anything. You see, one of our friends has a suspicion that the Digimon who may have destroyed the Digital World may be this MoonMillenniummon character, but we have no real evidence yet. We do know that we've met a lot of Digimon who contributed to the Digital World's destruction, and the Digimon who destroyed the Digital World is their master," Minako explained.

"If you don't want to tell us anything or don't know, that's fine," Salamon piped in. Tylomon hopped closer to the sand.

"It's alright. Our memories of that day are kinda fuzzy, but I definitely remember a Leviamon attempting to destroy our kingdom once!" Tylomon said.

"He got most of us, but the elders managed to defeat him and banish him far away!" Mantaraymon said with a smile, even though he technically doesn't have a mouth.

"I know, right?" Tylomon said.

"Do you know if this Leviamon said anything about working for a master or someone like that?" Patamon asked.

"Nah, he didn't say anything about working for anyone. This one was a wild creature," Mantaraymon said.

"But we have run into some little knaves who definitely worked for a so-called master. They keep putting these things called Dark Emblems on innocent Digimon and make them go crazy!" Tylomon explained.

Minako began thinking. Patamon noticed.

"What's wrong, Mina-chan?" Patamon asked.

"If this MoonMillenniummon character really is this master they serve, then why does he have a bunch of Digimon working for him when he's supposedly very capable of doing everything himself?" Minako asked herself.

"I heard one of them saw that their master is trapped in some kind of huge rock formation and can't get out because he used up too much of his power, but they still didn't say whether their master is a MoonMillenniummon or not," Tylomon explained.

"Guess they're pretty good at hiding things, aren't they?" Kosuke said.

All of a sudden, Mantaraymon leaped out onto the sand right in front of Kosuke, which frightened Kosuke a little into taking a few steps back. Mantaraymon looked up at Kosuke with smiling eyes.

"You humans are kinda cool! Can we be friends?" Mantaraymon asked innocently. Kosuke smiled a bit and put his hand on Mantaraymon's head. It felt quite slimy and slick, but nice, cool, and soft so Kosuke didn't mind.

"Sure. I'd love to be friends with you," Kosuke said.

"Yay! We made some new friends!" Patamon cheered happily.

Minako and Salamon looked at Tylomon, who looked back at them with a curious look on his face.

"So...you cool with that? I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine," Tylomon stammered. Minako shook her head and smiled.

"I don't mind if we became friends. You seem like a nice Digimon, so it's okay," Minako said, which made Tylomon smile a bit.

"Hm! My very first human friend! I never thought I'd see the day!" Tylomon exclaimed happily. Minako then had an idea.

"Oh! I have an idea!" Minako said. She pulled out a D-Chip from one of her pockets and put it in her digivice.

"Fellow Digimon friend, please appear before me. Butterflymon, respond to my prayers!" Minako said as she prayed for Butterflymon's appearance. A purple light shot out of her purple digivice and into the sky, then back onto Topaz Reef in the form of Butterflymon, who then woke up looking very confused.

"Oh? What's this? Where in the world am I?" Butterflymon asked herself in her confused but pretty voice. She then saw Minako and Salamon, and she smiled.

"Minako and Salamon! How lovely it is to see you both again! It's been a while, hasn't it?" Butterflymon said.

"It sure has. Sorry if we called you at a bad time," Minako said.

"Oh, not at all! In fact, you called me at a great time! I was forced to deal with that mischievous little Toucanmon and had to sit through his incessant whining and complaining. You've actually saved me," Butterflymon explained.

"I'll bet it must be tough," Salamon said.

"Indeed it is," Butterflymon agreed. At the same time, Kosuke had called for Pegasusmon, who just gracefully descended onto the ground.

"Hello, Kosuke. It's been a long time," Pegasusmon said in his kind voice.

"It sure has been," Kosuke told him.

"I see you're doing well. How wonderful," Pegasusmon said as Patamon decided to hop on his head.

"Wow! You guys can call for other Digimon too? I never knew!" Mantaraymon exclaimed with surprise.

"You have other Digimon friends? Interesting," Tylomon said, not as surprised as Mantaraymon is.

Suddenly, the entire island shook. A vociferous rumbling sound echoed in the skies, causing even the water to look very disturbed. Kosuke and Patamon both clung to Pegasusmon, who ascended into the air as soon as the rumbling started. Minako and Salamon both clung to Butterflymon who followed Pegasusmon's lead. Mantaraymon and Tylomon shot back into the water.

"What is that?" Butterflymon yelped.

"Is it an earthquake?" Kosuke asked.

"No! Look! I see something over there!" Pegasusmon whinnied in alarm. Everyone looked in the direction where he pointed.

What Pegasusmon saw couldn't be more disturbing. At first, it was a big horn coming out from the ocean, but that horn turned out to be connected to something bigger, as the thing it's attached to appeared out from the sea under falling water. Once the water spilled back into the ocean, it unveiled a ferocious Digimon. The Digimon has a furry orange face, hands, and feet, but the rest of his body is a smoky blue sea grey. On his forehead is a long white horn, and on the top of his mouth are two huge teeth, bigger than the rest of his teeth which look as though they're the size and thickness of big steel bars! They looked very slick and sharp, very capable of gnawing through even the hardest, thickest steel. On his back is a orange, white, and green shell with three big horns coming out of the green part, along with a long orange tail, and in one of his hands is a huge silver hammer, with one end being flat and the other end being slightly shaped like that of a grim reaper's scythe! His eyes are glowing red, which meant one thing: a Dark Emblem is on him. Kosuke looked up the Digimon's information.

"He's Zudomon, an ultimate level. His special attack is Vulcan's Hammer!" Kosuke said as he pulled out another D-Chip and decided to call for back up as Zudomon roared viciously and loudly.

"Let's make sure he doesn't reach Topaz Reef!" Pegasusmon exclaimed.

"I agree!" Mantaraymon said.

Soon, Pteramon descended in front of everyone wearing a rather smug smile on his face.

"You rang for a handsome mechanical pteradactyl?" Pteramon asked.

"We need your help taking down that Zudomon over there!" Kosuke said.

"Will do!" Pteramon said.

Zudomon roared again, splashing water everywhere.

"Come on! Let's digivolve!" Patamon exclaimed as he hopped off of Pegasusmon.

Patamon digivolved into Angemon, and Salamon digivolved into Gatomon and then into Angewomon. Pegasusmon, Pteramon, Mantaraymon, Butterflymon and Tylomon remained as they are. Zudomon roared a third time as he tried to knock Pegasusmon, with Kosuke on his back, out of his way, but Pegasusmon swiftly flew away.

"I'll distract him! Tylomon and Mantaraymon! Since you two can swim underwater, try and see if you can find a Dark Emblem!" Pegasusmon said in a commanding voice as he dodged another one of Zudomon's attacks.

"Yes sir!" Both Tylomon and Mantaraymon obeyed his command and dove underwater in a flash. Angemon and Angewomon decided to attack first.

"Hand of Fate!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

Those attacks would have hit Zudomon if he hadn't suddenly swam out of their way and made them (the attacks) hit the water. Zudomon angrily and ferociously swung his hammer around, hoping to knock out Pegasusmon, who kept zipping around him like an annoying house fly. Kosuke clung to Pegasusmon tightly. The more Pegasusmon flew around, the more choleric the volatile Zudomon became. Butterflymon and Pteramon decided to attack.

"Butterfly Serenade!"

"Missle Storm!"

A rain of missles and glowing butterflies hit Zudomon, causing him to cover his eyes, which gave the Digimon just a little bit of time to look over his big body and find the Dark Emblem.

"It's not on his shell!" Minako said as she rode on Pteramon's back.

"Gee, you think?" Pteramon retorted.

"It's not on his head!" Angewomon called out.

"It's not on any of his arms either!" Angemon exclaimed.

"It's not on his chest also," Pegasusmon said before Zudomon uncovered his eyes and roared again, splashing water all over the place.

"Uh, Kosuke?" Minako asked, looking quite pained.

"Yeah?"

"DUCK!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

Ferociously, Zudomon threw his hammer at him and Pegasusmon like a boomerang. Thankfully, Pegasusmon swooped downward and dodged it in the nick of time. The hammer fell into the water, and Zudomon stammered around, looking for it angrily as he howled like a hungry werewolf.

"Thanks for the advanced notice!" Kosuke yelled out.

"No talk! Fight Digimon!" Minako yelled back.

"Torpedo Attack!" Little mini Tylomons shot out of Tylomon's mouth, hitting Zudomon in the face.

"Torpedo Ray!" Mantaraymon rammed himself against the volatile, truculent beast, causing him to fall back a few steps.

"What have you got?" Angemon yelled out.

"We found the Dark Emblem! It's on Zudomon's left foot!" Tylomon yelled out for them to hear.

"On the top or bottom?" Angewomon yelled.

"The top! We should be able to get it off! Lemme just-" Mantaraymon had a plan, but he wasn't able to execute it right off the bat because an angry Zudomon used one of his free hands to smack Pegasusmon out from the sky, causing Kosuke to fall off of him.

"Kosuke!" Angemon swooped down to try and save him, but even he could tell that he wouldn't be able to make it in time.

Kosuke screamed and squeezed his eyes shut. He wished he could fly so he could save himself. Sadly, he doesn't have wings, nor will he ever have any. If that wasn't bad enough, he isn't exactly the best swimmer. Kosuke thought this was the end of him, but...

"Torpedo Ray!"

Instead of falling into water, he found himself falling on something soft and slimy. He opened his eyes and, much to his and everyone else's relief and ecstasy, he's on top of Mantaraymon!

"You alright there, buddy?" Mantaraymon asked.

"I sure am! Thanks!" Kosuke said with a smile.

"Hang on tight! We're going in!" Mantaraymon advised. Kosuke clung to Mantaraymon and closed his eyes as the giant purple sting ray Digimon descended under water and sped right toward Zudomon, who didn't seem to notice him coming. Angemon and Pteramon both managed to pull Pegasusmon out of the water. Once Pegasusmon came out, he shook himself around, trying to get all the water off of himself, which me managed to splash on Angemon and Pteramon a little bit. Pteramon didn't rust or anything so he's just fine.

"You sure took a dive there," Angemon said.

"Remind me to learn how to swim before I get knocked into water by a giant sea Digimon," Pegasusmon retorted with gratitude. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now let's keep that Digimon away from Topaz Reef, because he's heading there right now!" Minako told him as she pointed to Zudomon, who is now slowly plodding through the thick ocean water right toward Topaz Reef, which is now totally unprotected. Butterflymon, Pegasusmon, and Tylomon all swooped in front of him.

"We won't let you pass! Butterfly Serenade!"

"Star Shower!"

"Hydro Wave!" A thin but bright shock wave of blue energy shot out of Tylomon's mouth, combining with Butterflymon's attack and hitting Zudomon square in the face. But that wasn't the end of it.

"Tail Booster!" Underwater, Mantaraymon dredged his sharp tail slightly above Zudomon's foot. After a few seconds, he zipped away from him as fast as he could and ascended onto the surface.

Zudomon suddenly felt every single muscle in his body tense and feel like a thousand needles dredging themselves into every single fiber of his body. Zudomon suddenly found himself unable to move. He fell backward and howled in pain. Mantaraymon saw Angewomon right as he came onto the surface.

"Angewomon! Heads up!" Mantaraymon flung himself at an angle which caused Kosuke to be flung right toward Angewomon, who managed to catch him.

"Tylomon! Now's our chance! Let's attack him while we can! Everyone else, return to Topaz Reef! We'll take it from here!" Mantaraymon commanded proudly.

"Are you sure you can do it?" Minako asked.

"Of course!" Tylomon said as he and Mantaraymon both descended into the water and swam up to Zudomon's left foot, which has a small Dark Emblem on it.

"Tail Booster!"

"Torpedo Attack!"

Thankfully, both of their attacks made the Dark Emblem shatter into a million pieces. They smiled at each other, high finned each other since they have no hands, and swam back to the surface and onto Topaz Reef. Angemon and Angewomon both de-digivolved back into Patamon and Nyaromon. Zudomon slept in the middle of the ocean, looking as though he didn't want to wake up. Minako hopped off of Pteramon and ran over to the two undersea Digimon with a smile on her face.

"You've really helped us. Thanks so much!" Minako exclaimed happily as Nyaromon hopped next to her.

Mantaraymon blushed a little. "We're just glad we could help. Besides, Topaz Reef may not be totally inhabitable, but it's important, so we felt we had to protect it."

"We're glad you did! Nyan!" Nyaromon piped in cheerfully. Kosuke gave Mantaraymon a high five, though Kosuke was the one who did the hitting since Mantaraymon's fins could knock him down onto the sand. All of a sudden, Patamon shrieked.

"Tylomon and Mantaraymon! Look! You're both glowing!" Patamon exclaimed.

Confused, the two of them looked around themselves, and they saw that Patamon is right. They are glowing! Both of the symbols on their foreheads glowed, but in different colors. Tylomon's up side down triangle glowed in a bright sky blue light, while Mantaraymon's glowed in a soft indigo light. Then two balls of light both floated out of the two Digimon, danced around in the sky for a bit, then descended before Minako and Kosuke. The sky blue light fell into Minako's hand, and once the light dissipated, out came a little blue shark shaped gem stone that shined like a sapphire. The indigo light fell into Kosuke's hand, and once the light dissipated, out came a little indigo sting ray shaped gem stone that shined like amethyst. Nyaromon, Patamon, Butterflymon, Pegasusmon, and Pteramon watched with awe.

"Wow! I think you just got their D-Chips!" Patamon said.

"D-Chips? What are those?" Tylomon asked.

"They're pieces of your data that take the form of a stone if a human who already has an assigned Digimon partner bonds with you," Pegasusmon explained kindly.

"Since when did you know about D-Chips?" Kosuke asked, crossing his arms and sounding quite suspicious.

"Since that time you got my D-Chip. I remember one of your friends explaining them, so I decided to keep that knowledge in mind," Pegasusmon replied. Minako and Patamon both couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"I guess we're secondary partners now," Minako told them.

"Wow! This is great! We're kinda partnered with humans now! Yippee!" Mantaraymon cheered happily and started swimming around in circles.

"Don't make yourself dizzy, Mantaraymon!" Tylomon advised with concern, which made everyone laugh heartily. Once they stopped laughing, Pteramon decided to speak.

"So do you wanna stick around for a while? I've got some cool jokes I wanna tell you!" Pteramon said.

"We'd like to, but we can't. We have to go home," Kosuke told him.

"But the Digital World's time doesn't affect the passage of time in your world, does it?" Butterflymon asked.

"Yes, that's true, but we still have our own lives to live, and we don't want to make our friends and family worry in case a lot of time does pass in the human world," Minako explained as she cradled little Nyaromon in her arms.

"That's very true, yes. We don't want to get in the way of your lives, so if you want to leave, you can. We won't stop you, but be sure to come and visit sometimes," Pegasusmon said.

"Awww! You're all leaving already? Come on! Watch me and Tylomon race!" Mantaraymon complained as Kosuke got his digivice out.

"We'd like to, but we have stuff to take care of at home. Maybe next time, okay?" Kosuke told him.

Tylomon sighed. "Sure. Next time. Have a safe trip home!" Then he looked back at Mantaraymon. "Hey! Wanna race back to the continent?"

"Oh, you're so on!" Mantaraymon exclaimed. Then, with lightning speed, the two of them zipped away from Topaz Reef as fast as torpedoes. Literally, since they both have attacks named after torpedoes.

Minako and Kosuke both got their digivices out and said their goodbyes to Butterflymon, Pegasusmon, and Pteramon. They opened their digivices and pressed the door button. A digital portal appeared underneath them and they fell in. Again, they weren't scared. However, this time, they fell on something hard. They both woke up to find themselves back in Kosuke's living room.

"What time is it?" Kosuke asked.

Minako looked at the clock. "It's 7:56 AM."

Nyaromon looked out one of the windows. "It's still raining llamas and goats outside."

Kosuke stood up to look for Patamon, but he found that Patamon had de-digivolved back into Tokomon. Kosuke smiled and picked up the little white Digimon with his hands.

"That was a lot of fun! Let's do it again some time!" Tokomon squeaked happily.

"Yeah. Definitely," Kosuke said.

Minako looked at her backpack, and something hit her.

"Oh! That's right! I can't believe I totally forgot!" Minako exclaimed as she rummaged through her bag and pulled out her laptop.

"What's wrong, Mina-chan?" Tokomon asked.

"Kosuke! I forgot to tell you! Earlier yesterday, I was surfing the net and I found that this website is holding a poetry contest! You can submit one of your poems and everything! I think you can still do so. Hang on, let me check," Minako said as she opened her laptop and began typing on it really quickly.

In response to this, Kosuke ran to his room, pulled out his little poem book, and back to the living room all within five seconds. In that very short time span, Minako opened up the site's web page.

"Good! You can still submit!" Minako said.

"Can I see it?"

"Sure," Minako moved away so Kosuke could sit down and look at it.

Once Kosuke laid his eyes on the web page, he felt as though a very promising door of opportunity had been opened just for him to enter, and he immediately knew for a fact that he was not going to let this chance slide. The deadline isn't until next month, but Kosuke immediately skimmed through his poem book and tried to decide which poems to submit. Once he read through the entire thing (which was within 5 measly minutes), Kosuke finally decided. Oh, yes. He knew very well which poems he decided to submit, and submit them he did! He typed them into the submission board (It has a limit of five poems per competitor) and pressed send. Once he found that the poems were sent, he closed out the web page and gave Minako her laptop back.

"I'll bet this is what you've been waiting for, isn't it?" Tokomon said.

"Oh yeah! If this can get me closer to my dream, then I'm willing to take any opportunity I can get," Kosuke said, flashing a confident smile.

"Do you really think they'll accept entries written by a little kid though?" Nyaromon asked.

"Who knows. The site didn't say anything about an age limit," Minako told her.

Considering how hard the rain is falling, Kosuke kept Minako and Nyaromon in the house for a while longer. At least until the rain stops falling so hard. Kosuke took Minako, Tokomon, and Nyaromon to a rather private part of the house that not even his mother would bother going into: the basement. It wasn't exactly the best, but it wasn't squalid or dingy or anything like that. Just a plain little room that doesn't have much in it aside from a sub pump, a few old cleaning products, and an old table that can fit up to six kids. They decided to pass the time by telling each other things. They talked about the Digimon, the present, the past, the future, the things they liked and disliked in the past few weeks, things that recently happened, everything. Like with earlier, Minako, Kosuke, Nyaromon, and Tokomon enjoyed every minute of it. Sometimes, they played around on Minako's laptop. Minako showed Kosuke lots of things, like pictures she took, pictures she editted and photoshopped, videos on YouTube she found (both funny and heartfelt), pictures of long ago that she downloaded onto her laptop just recently (namely lots of childhood photos her dad took), etc. They listened to music and browsed other websites too, and they all enjoyed every minute of it.

It went on for hours, but they were so immersed in their time together that they failed to notice that time had passed. However, they were able to tell how much time had passed once they heard that the rain is letting up. Even in the basement, they could hear the rain pounding and assaulting their house. Nyaromon was the one who noticed and pointed it out.

"Hey! I think the rain's stopping!" Nyaromon exclaimed.

Minako, Kosuke, and Tokomon looked up and listening closely. They didn't hear anything.

"You're right, Nyaromon. I don't hear it anymore," Minako said.

"Do you think the rain stopped?" Tokomon asked curiously, looking up at Kosuke with his round, beady black eyes.

"Let's go check!" Kosuke edicted.

He, Minako, Tokomon, and Nyaromon ran up the stairs and dashed to the nearest window. How surprised they were! The rain has totally stopped! It's still a bit cloudy, but the sun is managing to win the fight with the thick grey clouds, and some of it's golden effulgence permeated those wicked and insidious clouds, signalling the clouds' surrender. The street and sidewalks are darker than usual, completely wet because of the rain. Some spots had huge puddles on them. Leaves and twigs were scattered all over the place. But Kosuke saw a woman walking her dog happily, which obviously meant that the rain has finally subsided.

"Took long enough," Kosuke said.

"What time is it?" Nyaromon asked.

This time, Tokomon looked at the clock. "Wow! It's almost 12:30!"

"Jeez! Four and a half whole hours?" Kosuke yelped.

"It would seem so," Minako said with a smile.

Kosuke was about to say something, but the sound of footsteps stopped him from doing so. Minako noticed, and Kosuke put one of his fingers in front of his mouth, gesturing everyone to be quiet, which they did. They quietly hid behind the kitchen counter, since Kanako hadn't been in there since her meeting with Patamon. Silently, Kosuke, Minako, Tokomon, and Nyaromon all peeked out from behind it so they could see what's going on. Much to Kosuke's surprise, Kanako is up and about! She actually has her hair up, and is dressed! Well, she threw on a slightly old white T-shirt with a vase of red poppies on it, a pair of blue jean pants, black socks and dirty black and white sneakers. In her hand is a small red purse. Kanako didn't even go into the kitchen. She just walked out of the house. Once she's gone, Kosuke spoke.

"That's weird. Mom never dresses up or goes out," Kosuke whispered.

"Do you think we should follow her?" Minako asked.

"Oh yeah. I want to make sure she doesn't buy any more bottles," Kosuke said.

Secretly and cautiously, the two kids and Digimon snuck out of the house and followed Kanako while making sure to hide occasionally so that she wouldn't see them. To Kosuke, just the thought of Kanako getting dressed, being sober, and going outside was quite a very peculiar and strange thing to him, since Kanako hadn't gone out in months as far as he knew. Especially not after she began turning to alcohol to relieve herself of her sadness. For a minute, Kosuke almost couldn't discern her since he's so used to seeing her drunk and doing nothing but lay on the floor in a drunken mess. Not only that, throughout the entire walk, Kanako did not look behind herself. She kept on looking and walked forward. No looking back. It was as if she finally found something in her life and decided to put her past behind her. Of course, Kosuke didn't dare give himself false hope. He had been betrayed before, and he wasn't going to have to go through it again.

Surprisingly, they managed to follow her without being caught and find out where she's going without any difficulty at all. However, much to Kosuke's dismay, Kanako was just going to the bank that's a little ways from the main road. Kosuke sighed and left right as he saw Kanako go in, which confused Minako and the Digimon.

"You're not going to see what she does?" Minako asked with concern in her voice.

"I already know what she's going to do. She's just going to take money out of her savings so she can spend it on more alcohol. It's really no surprise to me anymore," Kosuke said.

Minako thought about contradicting him, but she assumed that it would just bring out his bad side, so she and the Digimon left with him as well. It's a good thing the rain stopped. Minako and the Digimon couldn't be happier. Kosuke knew that his mother had money secretly saved in some account, but he assumed that she didn't use it for anything but alcohol. He wished he was older so he could withdraw money from there on his own, but this wasn't the case. Feeling dejected, Kosuke kept his head down and walked away. But he and Minako stopped once they saw something else. They saw Otoya walking happily with a boy. The boy was a bit taller than her, and he looked to be about 12 or 13 years old in age. He has long pale brown hair and hazel green eyes, just like Kosuke's but just a bit more brown than green. He has a long diamond cut jaw, olive skin, a thin complexion, and quite a handsome appearance. Labramon stayed by Otoya's side the entire time.

"Look. It's Otoya," Kosuke said, showing Minako the couple.

"Hey! You're right! Should we say hi?" Minako asked. Kosuke nodded, and Minako waved her hand.

"Hi Otoya!" Minako called out, which successfully caught the attention of Otoya and her boyfriend.

"Mina-chan! Kosuke-kun!" Otoya called out happily and waved back. Minako and Kosuke ran up to them.

"What are you doing out here on this icky day?" Minako asked.

"I'm on a date with Akira-kun here! This is my new boyfriend, Narumi Akira! He's in the 7th grade! Akira-kun, these are my friends, Hanemoto Kosuke and Omori Minako!" Otoya chirped happily, introducing them to each other.

"Hi. It's nice to meet you both," The boy, Akira, said in a slightly cracked voice. He really does sound like he's finally hitting puberty.

"Hey," Kosuke said.

"Same to you," Minako said with a smile.

"We're on our way to the ice cream shop right now! Akira-kun loves pistachio, just like me!" Otoya said.

"That's wonderful. I hope your date goes well," Minako told them.

"You two seem like nice kids. Otoya's lucky to have people like you in her life, right Otoya-chan?" Akira said to Minako and Kosuke, then to Otoya with a kind smile.

"Of course! By the way, I hardly ever see you two walking around together. What are you doing out here?" Otoya asked kindly.

"I was just helping Kosuke study for tomorrow's test," Minako told her.

"I see. Well, I hope you pass, Kosuke-kun! If you ever need help, you're more than welcome to ask me!" Otoya said as she wrapped her arms around Akira's right arm.

"I really hate tests, so I know exactly how you feel," Akira told him. Otoya looked at her watch and gasped.

"Oh! Akira-kun, we better get going!" Otoya said.

"Yes, Otoya-chan," Akira replied. Minako, Kosuke, and the Digimon, Labramon included, thought that his voice just then sounded rather monotone. Otoya didn't notice.

"It was great seeing you two! I'll see you at school tomorrow! Bye!" Otoya said happily as she and Akira walked away. Kosuke and Minako were about to do so when they noticed that Labramon stopped in his tracks.

"What's wrong, Labramon?" Nyaromon asked.

"Something about that boy...isn't right," Labramon muttered.

"You think?" Kosuke asked.

"His feelings...aren't genuine. I can sense it," Labramon whispered rather ominously. Kosuke, Minako, and the Digimon all looked at each other with confused faces until Otoya called out to Labramon.

"Labramon! Come here, boy!" Otoya called out.

Like any faithful canine companion, Labramon silently ran toward Otoya, leaving Kosuke, Minako, Tokomon, and Nyaromon all alone.

"What did Labramon mean when he said that Narumi-san's feelings aren't genuine?" Nyaromon asked.

Minako and Kosuke looked at each other again, then back at the Digimon.

"Who the heck knows," Kosuke muttered as they decided to walk back home.

The Digimon didn't know it, but both Kosuke and Minako had an idea about what Labramon meant, but decided not to reveal it.

The two kids and Digimon decided to go back to Kosuke's house for a bit...but when they got there, Kosuke immediately grimaced when he saw another thing about the house he didn't want to deal with.

The landlord.

He's a rather scruffy little man in his late 30's, with long black hair tied in a ponytail, a long face, cocky-looking brown eyes, and a very disagreeable and fierce temper.

"Aw, shoot! The landlord!" Kosuke mused angrily.

Right now, the landlord is angrily banging on the Hanemoto door.

"Hanemoto! Hanemoto, you come out here right now!" The landlord yelled, sounding very incensed. He then turned around and saw Minako and Kosuke a few feet away. He immediately walked up to them and put Kosuke on the spot right away.

"Hey kid! Where's your no-good mother at?" The landlord asked with a touch of vanity in his voice.

"The bank, last I checked," Kosuke replied gruffly.

The landlord crossed his arms and gave Kosuke the stink eye. "You ain't lyin' to me, are ya?"

"No! Why would I?" Kosuke yelled back.

"Look, kid, I ain't playing games here! I need the rent right this minute!" The landlord exclaimed gruffly. He then noticed Minako and gave her the stink eye.

"Ah, now I see! Yer too busy prancin' around with yer little girlfriend here to care about payin' me any of my rent! Think she's so much more important than rent, eh? Well you've got another thing comin'!" The landlord said.

Minako got mad. "Hey! I'm not Kosuke's girlfriend! I'm just his friend, and who are you to act all cocky?"

"Look, I'm the landlord of this here place, and since you're my tenant, you're obligated to pay me my rent whenever I see fit, and you're far behind already! I should have kicked you out months ago!" The landlord edicted rather proudly. "Don't gimme that 'my mother's too drunk to care about making or paying any money' garbage like that either! That ain't no excuse!"

"You think EVERYTHING that happens to me is an excuse! Quit acting all high and mighty! Money doesn't grow on trees, y'know? And in case you haven't noticed, we don't have much, so quit giving us a hard time!" Kosuke yelled, becoming rather choleric.

"Me, give you a hard time? You haven't paid me any rent lately, and I work real hard to keep this place afloat, and I need that rent to make a living, so quit actin' like the world revolves around you!"

"Sir, please stop! Kosuke doesn't think that!" Minako tried to mollify him, but it didn't work.

"You shut yer trap, prissy! This ain't any of yer business so get outta my way!" The landlord yelled.

Suddenly, something flew at him and hit him square in the face! Not enough to hit him, but enough to make him walk back a few steps. Not only that, it felt rather soft and crinkled. It fell into his hands right after it hit him. The landlord looked down at his hands and saw that in his hands is a pile of money the size of a small notebook! Minako and Kosuke turned around to find Kanako, staring daggers at the landlord, with fire in her eyes. She walked past Minako and Kosuke and right up to the landlord, giving him some good stink eye.

"There's your rent. It should cover the rest of the past few months too. Now stop giving them a hard time and leave," Kanako told him in a quiet but very austere and stern voice. The landlord, surprised by her temerity, decided to keep his mouth shut and leave with the money in his hand. Kosuke was quite surprised by Kanako's courage and audacity. Perhaps that was why she went to the bank earlier, to use the money to pay off the cocky and insensitive landlord. Kanako shed her courageous expression and looked at Kosuke with kind eyes.

"Sorry about that, Kosuke. You okay?" Kanako asked in a low voice. Kosuke nodded. She then handed him a small white bag. Kosuke opened it and found some frozen dinners, snacks, small vegetable bags, and other essentials inside.

"The snacks are for you. I'll make dinner tonight. I have to run some errands right now. I'll be back soon," Kanako told him, then turned to look at Minako.

"You're...Omori Minako, right?" Kanako asked. Minako silently nodded.

"Sorry I kicked you and your friend out yesterday. It was wrong of me," Kanako said as she finally walked away to do whatever errands she needed to do. Kosuke, Minako, and the Digimon were all speechless. It was Tokomon who broke the silence.

"Kosuke? Did you see that? She was great! Y'know, I think she might be improving!" Tokomon said.

"Yeah! She didn't act all drunk! Maybe she-" Nyaromon almost said, but Minako put a hand over her mouth.

"Shh! People are coming!" Minako said.

She's right. Two women are talking amongst each other and walking past them.

"Are you going to participate in next Saturday's city wide yard sale?"

"Oh, yes! I have so much stuff I want to sell! I bet I could make some good money off of them!"

"Let's hope this year will be better than last year."

"I couldn't agree with you more."

Kosuke's eyes widened as he listened intently to the two women.

"A yard sale?" Kosuke whispered to himself. If next Saturday is the city wide yard sale, then Kosuke would be able to sell some things and make money! Kosuke ran back into the house with Tokomon, leaving Minako and Nyaromon alone.

"Kosuke!" Minako called out, but he didn't answer.

"Maybe he wants to sell some stuff and make money?" Nyaromon asked.

"Probably. He'll do anything to get out of any situation he's in," Minako replied, sounding a little surprised.

What Kosuke didn't know was that Kanako's first errand wasn't exactly what one would call an errand, especially when it comes to the place she was going.

In her glory days as she called them, Kanako loved going for walks. The beautiful scenery, the peace and quiet, the time given to you to think and lose yourself. Kanako used to love this. But ever since she had become drunk, she didn't find pleasure in such trivialties anymore. But now, with this open opportunity, she decided to go out for a walk to someone's house. She was quite surprised that she forgot that she used to love doing things like this. It also helped that the after rain smell calmed her wonky nerves. She wondered why she ever stopped doing things like this in the first place. But right now, she remembered that she had something to do, and she set out to do it, and this time, she wasn't going to succumb to the temptations of alcohol, and she wasn't going to drink it or let it screw up her brain again. When she's drunk, she hardly knows that she's doing anything. But when she's sober, she sees and remembers the damage she caused, and it made her feel guilty and despondent. But what made her feel worse was that she felt she could never fix the damage she caused. Kanako convinced herself that she's incapable of fixing mistakes, only causing them and exacerbating them. But right now, this was one thing she wanted to do, and she wanted to do it right.

After a good while, she arrived at her destination: the Wakamiya house. It had been a long time since she had been here. The last time she was here was when she took Kosuke here to play with Yun a couple years ago. She was quite surprised with the fact that the house hadn't changed since then. At first, Kanako was a little hesitant upon knocking on the door. Who would answer it? Would anyone remember her? Would they think she was some salesperson and slam the door in her face? Kanako couldn't help but wonder, but she didn't want to let her fears get the best of her. She balled her fists, steeled her courage, and decided to go for it. She plodded up the sidewalk, on the porch, and right in front of the door. She balled her fist again and tried to knock on the door. At first, she felt herself be frozen with fear, but she silently and courageously squashed the fear down into the deepest, darkest, alcohol-infested part of her soul, and gave the glass door some good knocks with the little strength she had. At first, nobody came right off the bat, but a minute later, someone did. Hisako answered the door, and was surprised upon seeing Kanako.

"Oh! Ka-Ka-Kanako!" Hisako gasped, covering her mouth a little. Kanako didn't say anything right then, though it must be confessed that she was happy upon seeing someone remember her and her name. After a bit, Hisako calmed down.

"Would...you like to come in?" Hisako asked politely.

"Yes. Thank you," Kanako muttered as she walked into the house.

Hisako escorted Kanako to the dining room table and gave her a blueberry muffin.

"These are very good," Hisako said as she gave her the blueberry muffin and went back to the kitchen. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Orange juice, please," Kanako whispered, albeit loud enough for Hisako to hear. Hisako poured some orange juice into a small plastic cup and set it down in front of Kanako. With a blueberry muffin in hand, Hisako sat down away from Kanako. They're both on each end of the table.

An awkward silence creeped up in between them. Kanako didn't touch her blueberry muffin and orange juice, and Hisako awkwardly ate hers. Even after she finished, she didn't say anything. The silence went on for a good five minutes until Kanako finally got the mettle to break it with her slightly raspy voice.

"It's...been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Y-Yes. It sure has," Hisako muttered, sounding a bit cautious.

"How have things been at work since I left?"

"A little dull. It's not the same without you."

"How have you been?"

"Good."

"It sure was icky out, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it sure was. Our basement nearly flooded, but Yun saw it early and had Teruki fix it before the water got out of the utility room, so nothing got wet and nothing important was ruined."

"Ouch. It's a good thing he did."

"We're just lucky that Teruki's good at fixing sub pumps."

Both Kanako and Hisako talked in hushed, slightly uncomfortable voices. No, they didn't hate each other. They were just very surprised by each other's presence, especially because of how long it's been since they've spoken to each other. Finally, Kanako looked Hisako in the eye.

"Yun...your daughter...how is she?"

"She's doing very well. Right now she and a friend of hers are at the park playing. It's been a year since you saw her, right? Do you want to see a picture of her?"

"Sure," Kanako whispered. Hisako went into the kitchen, pulled out a little photo book, pulled a picture out, ambled back to the dining room table, and gave the picture to Kanako.

The picture showed Yun standing next to Melody, flashing the peace sign and smiling happily, which made her cheeks turn rosy. Yun was dressed in a blue kimono with pink cherry blossoms all over it, while Melody was dressed in a dark green kimono with red birds on it. The picture was taken at the town's local festival. Melody looked a little sour in the picture, but Yun looked as though she were having the time of her life. Kanako smiled a bit at the picture.

"They sure have grown," Kanako muttered.

"That was taken when Melody returned. When the festival came around, Yun begged to invite Melody since every year they went to that festival together...at least, until Melody disappeared. It made me cry a little back then...to see her so happy."

"I can tell. Do you know what happened to Melody?"

"Sort of, but not all the details. Yun doesn't know anything, and I don't plan on telling her about it yet. I'm afraid she might get the wrong idea."

"I don't think so. She's a nice little girl, isn't she? I don't think any new information about Mel will change a thing about how she feels about her. If anything, I think she's the one influencing her...and all of us. You see it, don't you?"

"See what?"

"That uncanny ability to influence others. I've seen it in effect, and lord, does it do good. You're quite lucky to have a kid like her in your life."

"She doesn't think so."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She still has self-esteem issues."

"Kosuke's getting some too, thanks to yours truly."

Hisako didn't say anything in response to that. Another awkward silence followed, but it was shorter than the last one.

"Hisako...I'm sorry. About everything," Kanako muttered as she decided to eat the blueberry muffin.

"Oh. Don't say that. None of it is your fault. I'm sure you're traumatized by what happened," Hisako told her kindly with concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I am. Kosuke...he hates me. I don't blame him though. I'm the one who ruined everything."

"That's not true. Seiichi was wrong to hurt you, and on no grounds, no less."

"I...I want to stop drinking. But I don't know how. Whenever I try to, the alcohol seems to take over me. I know it doesn't help any, but I don't know what else to do. Besides, I already caused a lot of damage I can never fix."

"I think you can fix it. If you want, I can help you."

"Kosuke...his life is ruined because of me. He shouldn't take on all of my responsibilities. He's too young."

"I know. If you ever need anything, just ask me and I'll help however I can."

"Actually, there's one thing I want you to do for me," Kanako rummaged through her purse and pulled something out as she finished her blueberry muffin.

She ambled up to Hisako and placed the thing in front of her. Much to Hisako's surprise, it's a My Little Pony toy. A pure, pristine white pony toy with long, straight, pale pink hair, small sky blue eyes, and a strange assortment of red circles, triangles, and hearts on both sides of her flank arranged in a circular pattern.

"Wha-"

"Her name's Sundance. She reminds me of Yun a little. She's brave and kind, though klutzy and people are always angry at her."

"B-But Yun doesn't play with these."

"I know, but can you at least give it to her? It's to let her know that I still remember her...and that I hope she can help Kosuke find freedom and spread his wings."

Hisako was quite surprised. Kanako wants Yun to have a My Little Pony toy, something she doesn't play with, as a way to ask her to take care of Kosuke? What does Kanako mean by spread his wings? But Hisako did remember one thing: back in the old days, Kosuke and Yun were also quite close. Yun always helped Kosuke and made sure he didn't get into trouble, and in return he stood up to those who picked on her and played with her. Times seemed turbulent now, and Hisako thinks that Yun has collected enough toys and stuffed animals (even throwing away the ones Yun doesn't play with anymore when she's not looking), but she didn't want to disappoint Kanako, so she took it as Kanako sipped the orange juice.

"Sure. I'll let her know," Hisako said with a smile.

Kanako smiled again. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"I really do miss the happy times we shared together."

"I'll bet you do."

"If you can believe it, when I was a girl, I was quite the rabid pony fan."

"I'll bet you were."

"This may seem kinda random, but...if Kosuke were a pony, he would be a pegasus, no doubt. Namely Firefly. She was a daredevil, always flying around looking for adventure and freedom. I'll bet he wants nothing more than to leave this horrid world."

"I remember he was quite mischievous back then."

Once Kanako finished her orange juice, she stood up.

"Thanks for listening to me. I appreciate it," Kanako said quietly.

Hisako stood up as well. "You're welcome. Like I said, if you need help, you're more than welcome to tell me."

"Sure. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the muffin and orange juice. You should be a baker."

"Oh no, I can't bake stuff that good."

Kanako ambled to the door and waved goodbye to Hisako, and Hisako waved back. Kanako left the house and walked away, lost in her thoughts.

'Now that I think about it, the kids seem to remind me of a lot of the ponies. Sundance and Yun are a lot alike, but then again, Yun seems to like unicorns and pegasi just as much. Medley and Twilight are kinda like Yun. Oh, Minako is definitely Wind Whistler without a doubt. Kosuke's a combination of Firefly and Gusty. Melody's all Gusty and Twilight the pegasus,' Kanako thought. She couldn't help but chuckle a little at her comparisons.