Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Digimon Trinity

Chapter: 49/ Hidden Hearts

Henry made his way down the streets and into the park, certain that he would find Takato there. The most logical place, he felt, would be to look in on the tunnels, but given recent events he couldn't be sure if Takato or Growlmon would be comfortable with that.

It was probably just a fluke, he thought to himself, feeling a touch of relief as the noise of the city faded into the background, replaced by the sounds of birds chirping and rustling tree branches. Like a weird glitch from the digital world. And it was destroyed anyway, so we probably don't have to worry about it again.

At least, that's what I hope…

Turning a corner, he began to climb the steps to Guilmon's home to see if the dynamic duo was there. If Growlmon had dedigivolved during the night – which was possible – that would be where they were. If not…

It'll be like hunting for a needle in a haystack.

On his shoulder, Terriermon's ears twitched in agitation, causing the boy to look at him curiously.

"What's up, Terriermon?"

"Sounds like there's a bit of trouble up ahead," he said, raising his ears. "Can you hear it?"

"Not yet. I don't have ears like yours I'm afraid. How bad is it?"

"Well…Ms. Kamiya is there and Takatomon sounds a little…upset."

Frowning, Henry picked up the pace. As he drew closer he could start to hear the voices of the two in question. Yes, Takato certainly sounded agitated about something and Ms. Kamiya was trying to settle him down.

"…don't know why Ken and Davis aren't answering. I'll look into it. For now, let's just focus on finding Growlmon."

"Yeah, he can't be that hard to find," came the voice of Gatomon in support of her partner.

That doesn't sound good…

"What's going on?" Henry asked, reaching the top of the stairs to find the teacher and her pupil together. Takato looked exhausted and a bit frantic as well.

It's always something, isn't it? Henry thought sympathetically. Kari turned and pressed her lips together into one thin line, her face tense.

"Ah… Henry. It's Growlmon. He's…"

"He disappeared," Takato interrupted, his voice choking. "After showing up at my house in the middle of the night, Ken and I took him down to the tunnel where he got lost that one time and now…now he's gone. He was probably taken by that weird thing again and now who knows where he is."

"Hold on," Henry said as Terriermon hopped down from off his shoulder. "Are you sure he didn't just walk down the tunnel?"

It seemed like an obvious question to ask, and he suspected it already had been, but he felt it best to go down the list just in case as Takato could be a bit flakey at times. Takato nodded.

"Yeah. I walked up and down that tunnel so many times I wore a groove in the floor."

That's quite the hike, Henry grimaced. It goes all the way to the next town.

"What about your digivice?" he asked.

"We've already tried both of ours," Kari said, shaking her head. "It looks as though wherever Growlmon is, he's either not doing anything for us to detect or he's out of range."

Henry had to admit that would go a long way toward making Takato worried. The city was on high alert for wild digimon right now, and finding one of Growlmon's size just hanging out in a flood tunnel would look extremely suspicious. Coupled with past experience with the tunnel, it was no wonder why Takato would be so worried. Being out of range could mean he could be anywhere from a government lab to the digital world or…deleted.

He shuddered at the thought.

"Maybe we can help," Henry said, looking down at his partner. "Terriermon?"

"Yep?" the long-eared dog-bunny digimon asked, looking up, already suspecting where this was going.

"Go see if you can find Growlmon."

Terriermon sighed and turned around, hopping down the steps. "I'm on it!" he chirped back before continuing in a grumbling voice. "Since I guess I have no choice."

Henry watched him go with a touch of annoyance, having caught that last parting remark. Turning to Takato, his expression softened upon seeing Takato's forlorn face. Kari, having seen it as well, placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze.

"It'll be okay, Takato," she said. "Don't worry."

Takato nodded, but the moaning affirmative contradicted him. Heaving a small sigh, she turned to Henry.

"I hate to do this, but could you help Takato find his partner? I need to go make sure everything is all right at Ken's office. For some reason he's not responding and his phone lines are dead."

Henry nodded, frowning slightly at the Digidestined of Light. There was a feeling of tension coming from her that was almost palpable. She appeared to be trying to keep it down so as to not worry Takato.

"Sure," he said, opting to give her that privacy. "Let us know if everything is all right and if there's anything we can do."

"I will," Kari nodded before pulling away. "Let me know if you find Growlmon."

Henry nodded as she and Gatomon parted, the latter of whom sent them one final look before darting after her partner, leaving the two alone.

"How are you doing?" he asked, causing the goggle-wearing boy to repress a wince.

"I don't… I don't know, Henry. Things just keep happening and… It's almost like the universe is out to get Growlmon or something. First that girl, Rika tries to absorb him, then the tunnel… He gets into a fight with Devidramon, that Impmon digimon tries to frame him, and now he's disappeared from the tunnel again and he's still stuck as Growlmon!"

His shoulders sagged and he looked at Henry helplessly.

"What am I going to do, Henry? I can't even keep him at my house so I can watch him."

Reaching out, Henry clasped the boy on the shoulder. "Don't worry," he said, wishing he didn't feel like he was lying. "I'm sure everything's okay. When Terriermon gets back, we'll figure out where to go from there."

"Right," Takato nodded reluctantly, not feeling at all comforted by his friend's words.

###

Kari had been reluctant to leave Takato and Henry behind to look for Growlmon by themselves. It felt too much like she was passing the buck, but she couldn't afford to dwell on it.

The urgent text message from Yolei – something she had never expected to receive in a million years since she started working for Hypnos – citing a bio-emergence signal that had been right on top of Ken's agency left her in a state of great worry and concern. She had tried calling him via his cell phone – even though Yolei had already told her that she met with failure on this front – and Davis' as well, just to be on the safe side. That both turned up absent did nothing to appease the growing sense of unease in the back of her mind.

"Gatomon?" she asked, looking down at her partner. The feline digimon turned her blue-eyes at her as she padded along beside her.

"What is it, Kari?"

The woman turned away. "N-Nothing," she said. Gatomon frowned.

"You're worried about that message you got." A statement. She didn't actually know the contents of the text her partner had received, but she knew well her well enough to have picked up the change in her demeanor since getting it.

"I…yes." Kari's fingers bit into the palms of her hand. She quickly explained the situation, and Gatomon nodded, listening carefully.

"Do you think it has anything to do with Growlmon's disappearance?" Kari asked. "Ever since the tunnel, he seems to have become a target."

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Gatomon advised. "Remember what Izzy always had to tell Davis? Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

"We're not treading on any ground yet, Gatomon," Kari frowned.

"You're walking on the ground of fear and panic though. Emotions can be a terrain all on their own too. Peaks and valleys… Quicksand… The Dark Ocean knows just what it needs to take advantage of you know. What ground it's strong on. Look; we don't really know what's going on with Ken and Davis. We don't know what happened to Growlmon. It might be a good idea to expect the worst since, you know, that's our line of work, but I think we really should be hoping for the best right now."

"Hope…" Kari's expression softened and she looked away, her feelings becoming a mixture of sadness and frustration. "I wish Tai and TK were here…"

"They're not though," Gatomon frowned. "Tai's off doing whatever he's doing in the digital world and TK… Well, you know how he's never been the same since the war. We've got to adjust. You know that."

"I know." Kari forced her hands to relax, revealing the imprints of her nails in her palms. It's just so hard letting go sometimes…

She remembered how devastated she had been when she learned her older brother had vanished into the digital world, having just woken up from the titanic final battle. Takeru's coldness and general withdrawal from everyone only made it worse, nearly causing her to collapse under the weight of her trauma.

If it hadn't been for Yolei and the others…

She tightened her hands back together again.

Come on, Kari… Get a grip. You have students…new Tamers depending on you. You need to rely on yourself more if you're going to get anything done!

Picking up the pace, she hurried along, Gatomon doing likewise.

###

"Growlmon!" Terriermon called, ignoring the tense looks of passersby as he marched right past them, tiny paws cupped around his mouth. "Hey, Growlmonnn!"

Dropping his paws, he looked around in annoyance. To think that Henry had given him the order to just go off and look for the Champion on his own – With my tiny self unable to see over bushes! he grumbled internally – was nothing short of insanity in his eyes. Just how the heck am I supposed to find him in this city all by myself?! It's nuts!

Nonetheless, he would do as he had been bid, if only to see the look on Henry's face when he came back with the big-red dino in tow.

"Let's see… If I were a great red dinosaur looking for fun, I'd go…" He swung around and spotted a playground full of children. He tapped a paw on his chin thoughtfully, still not seeing any sign of Growlmon. He doesn't look like he's there… And this would be the place to go for fun!

"Oh, who knows where he'd go! Dinosaurs are weird!" Cupping his paws around his mouth, he tried again. "Growlmon, come on! This isn't fun anymore!"

Still no sign of movement from the Champion. Sighing dejectedly, Terriermon turned and started down the park path, wishing Henry had come with him just so he wouldn't have to suffer alone.

Time passed, and nothing changed except for scenery he had seen a thousand times already during his long stay in the real world. The only thing of note had been a couple arm in arm and having a discussion about the man wearing a toupee on his chest for some reason. Approaching another playground – this one with concrete sculptures – he hopped up onto a railing and placed a paw on his chin.

"How could something so big be so hard to find?" he wondered aloud. "This should be like trying to find a haystack in a haystack! Where could he be hiding? Hmmm…"

He continued to scan the playground, taking extra care to make sure he didn't miss a spot. He felt as though this time he were close, but where…?

He paused on one spot, turned back to another that he had just passed over and his jaw fell open. There, snoozing away, big and red, was Growlmon, covered in kids as they climbed all over his back and slid down his tail like a slide. All the while, an adult looked on, amazed at the 'realism' of this particular statue.

"Ah!" Terriermon yelped. "Growlmon!"

###

Kari didn't know what to expect when she arrived at Ken's detective agency, but it certainly wasn't what she found.

"What…is going on here?" she whispered, stopping at the police tape as she took in the scene before her. Black vans surrounded the building as federal agents – covered in hazard suits – milled about, taking readings and samples. That wasn't the strange part. This much she at least figured on seeing, but the ice? The sheer amount of it, from top to bottom, at the tail end of spring, and all focused on this one building…

She took a shaky breath and then hissed through her teeth. A gust of wind had blown the bitter cold emanating from the agency building in her direction. It felt so harsh that it almost felt as though it burned its way into her lungs!

The door is broken open… she thought, taking a step back. It looks like whatever happened came from the inside. Yolei did say that the bio-emergence happened right on top of them… Her mind thought back to Ken's investigations involving an IceDevimon.

"Gatomon…"

"Yeah," the feline digimon nodded in agreement. "I'm thinking it too. That IceDevimon got to them."

"We've got to find out if they made it out all right," Kari said, stepping under the police tape.

"Kari!" Gatomon exclaimed, grabbing at her skirt. Before either of them could say or do anything more, Takeru's voice caused them both to jerk to a halt and turn in his direction.

"Ms. Kamiya," the Digidestined of Hope greeted as he approached them. Feeling her heart skip a beat, Kari nodded back to him.

"T-Takeru…" she whispered, cursing herself for sounding that way – again! Oh, how she wished it were easier to talk to him, like it had been when they were children. Forcing her stance to relax, she schooled her expression to neutrality.

"Takeru," she tried again. "I…was coming to visit Ken and Davis and…" She glanced at the agency. "What happened? Is anyone hurt?"

"Ms. Kamiya," Takeru said sternly, coming to a halt in front of her and flicking his lighter open. "You are at a crime scene. You do not have authorization to be here."

"I'm just worried about our friends," Kari reminded, her voice harsh at his cold treatment toward her. Didn't he ever remember how they all used to be friends? Still, to humor him, she pulled the tape line up and stepped back onto the other side.

"Takeru…please. We don't have to be like this all the time. If nothing else, at least let me know if anyone's been hurt!"

Takeru flicked his lighter closed, considering her request for a moment. "As far as I know, there have been no injuries. The two interns, Miki Kurosaki and Megumi Shirakawa have been sent home after questioning shortly after arriving."

"Davis and Ken?" Kari asked, noticing that Takeru didn't say anything about them or their partners.

"I have agents checking their usual locations now," Takeru replied. "That is all I can tell you."

"That's all?" Gatomon said, stepping forward with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." Takeru turned his gaze down toward her, his expression hard. "That is all I can tell you at the moment."

The three of them stared at each other for a moment before Kari nudged her partner gently.

"Thank you, Takeru," she said, bowing slightly. "I'll get out of your hair now."

With nothing more to be said, Kari turned and started back in the direction of the park. Gatomon shot one last, dark look at Takeru before following after her.

"That was very informative," she said once they were out of earshot.

"Davis and Ken are missing," Kari said. Her voice felt like it was starting to choke up from emotion, but she forced herself to stay focused.

"You're expecting the worst?" Gatomon reminded her.

"I…don't know. But I think it looks too much like we should. To just suddenly disappear like that when their agency is attacked? It's too much of a coincidence." She narrowed her eyes and took out her phone. "We need to contact the others. Let them know what's going on so they'll at least be on their guard."

"Hopefully Terriermon made it back to Henry and Takato," Gatomon remarked, causing Kari to nearly drop her phone in horror.

"Oh kami…" she hissed. "We need to get to them fast!"

###

Rika arrived at a shinto temple and looked carefully around. Seeing no one, she set Calumon down and folded her arms over her knees, fixing him with a stern look.

"Listen you little squirt," she said. "I'm immune to your ootsy, cutesy act, so scram!"

Her eyes flashed angrily as she stood up. Seeing the raw fire in her eyes, Calumon squeaked and backed off, his eyes swimming with sadness. She…didn't want to play? She was mad at him? No…not mad. Hated him. His ears fell and he hesitated, only to see that she remained staunch in her gaze. Finally, with one great sob, Calumon tore off, tears blinding him. Placing her hands on her hips, Rika watched him go, feeling a bit bad about having to be mean to the little digimon.

It's for his own good though, she thought.

"Keep going, shorty!" she encouraged before heaving a sigh. She still couldn't believe that out of all the Tamers, Calumon had been so insistent on trying to play with her.

What does he think I am? A charity for fun? Dream on…

She shivered suddenly as a cold chill ran down her spine, and with it came an oppressive sensation of being…watched. Just like earlier, right before she met Calumon. Her head snapped up as she felt a surge of fear and she opened herself to her connection with her partner.

Renamon?

The horrible feeling vanished almost as soon as it appeared and she spun around, finding nothing but the shrine to greet her, though the raw chill in the air continued to bite at her exposed skin. She took a shaky breath, glancing around her surroundings.

I could have sworn that I felt something for sure that time…

"You called?" Renamon asked, materializing out of thin air by a tree. Turning on her, Rika clenched her fists tightly.

"Where have you been?!" she shouted angrily. Unflinchingly, Renamon craned her head toward a building.

"Watching you from over there," she replied simply before looking back at the girl.

"Oh…" Rika breathed, relaxing her guard, but she still couldn't shake the uneasiness in her heart.

Renamon regarded the girl carefully, eyes worried. "You don't look well. Rika, is there something troubling you?"

Shaking her head, Rika stormed away.

"N-Nothing. I'm fine."

Renamon watched the girl go, tilting her head to one side in curiosity before vanishing once more, resuming her watch over her Tamer, an uneasiness starting to form in her heart as well.

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