Note: I do not own the rights to Digimon Frontier or "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or favorited! Enjoy…

Chapter 12

Just because we check the guns at the door...

TK sat up quickly in the darkness of his room, a cold sweat clinging to his skin and his breathing heavy. The shadows seemed to press against him. Shivering, TK clamored out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. He slipped quietly back into his bedroom so as not to disturb his mom and turned on the desk lamp. He picked up his D-Terminal and considered messaging his brother or Cody, but decided not to, placing the D-Terminal back on his bedside table. It was two in the morning. No reason to wake his brother or friends up for nothing.

TK frowned crossing his arms. He didn't know what had woken him up. He hadn't been dreaming, and if he had been, it wasn't vivid enough to remember. Certainly not vivid enough to wake him up.

Lying back against his pillow, TK sighed. He was wide awake now. The shadows seemed to be undulating and writhing outside the light of his lamp. TK shivered and pulled his blankets to his chin. He closed his eyes hoping he would fall back asleep.


Cody took one look at his DNA partner and knew something was wrong. TK's shoulders were slumped, dark circles shadowed his eyes, and he seemed unusually unfocused compared to his usual chipper self. Yolei, oblivious, prattled on about classes and general school gossip, never pausing to give her companions a chance to speak. Cody inched closer to TK and shook his arm. TK jerked straighter and looked at Cody startled. Cody frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Cody. I'm fine," TK replied flashing Cody one of his fakest smiles.

"I don't believe you," Cody said sharply, stopping abruptly on the sidewalk.

TK paused mid-step, smile slipping from his face. "Look, I just had trouble sleeping last night, okay? Probably just stress from school and everything going on in the Digital World."

Cody crossed his arms and studied the older boy. But before he could say anything else, he heard Yolei calling from up ahead, "Hey! What are you guys doing? We're going to be late!"

"Come on, Cody," TK said firmly dropping the subject. Cody followed unhappily. TK was being secretive. As they continued their walk towards the school, Cody debated whether he should talk to Matt or not.


The wound on Koji's back from Ophanimon's Hellscythe still burned three days later. As a result, his movements were stiff and slow, much to Takuya's chagrin.

"Come on Koji! I'm bored!" Takuya whined.

Koji rolled his eyes. "You're not a child, Takuya. If you're bored, go find something productive to do."

Takuya grimaced. "Please Koji? Please? Please? Please?"

Koji groaned and rubbed his aching temples. He had thought normal Takuya was annoying. Tainted Takuya was unbearable. All of Takuya's leadership qualities and sense of responsibility had vanished leaving a friggin puppy that had to be entertained twenty-four seven. The only thing Takuya cared about now was fighting, whether he was sparring with his friends or destroying the enemy. He had been going on and on about his encounters with WarGreymon for hours, eager to face such a challenging opponent again.

"If I do it, will you shut up?" Koji snapped, patience running thin.

"I won't say another word!" Takuya promised gleefully. Koji rolled his eyes, knowing full well that Takuya couldn't keep his mouth shut for more than five minutes. He led a happy Takuya outside Ophanimon's castle and evolved into Lobomon. Takuya evolved into his Tainted Agunimon form and crouched into attack mode. Koji's back still hurt, but he ignored it as Agunimon lunged towards him, fist aimed for his face. Lobomon easily blocked it with his arm and began his counter attack, unaware of the malicious gaze of an unknown enemy watching him.


Duskmon hid in the dark shadows of Mercurymon's room. The room had high ceilings and no windows. Pockets of darkness were tucked into every corner, making it very easy for Duskmon to spy without being detected.

Mercurymon lifted his mirror shield and gazed at the face of one of the Digidestined kids. The boy had bright blue eyes and a mop of blonde hair covered by a hat. Duskmon recognized him as the kid the Taint had tried to attack. A surge of jealousy bubbled within him as he recalled Koji saving him. Originally, he hadn't given the boy a second thought nor had he cared that the Taint had been drawn to him for some unknown reason. But now he wondered why Mercurymon was spying on him.

Mercurymon's mirror changed, instead showing Koji and Takuya as Lobomon and Agunimon sparring just outside. Duskmon inwardly groaned and rolled his many eyes. He had asked Takuya to stay near Koji in case his back started bothering him, not fight him and possibly make the injury worst.

Mercurymon watched his mirror intently, focusing on the Warrior of Light. "Why art thou so unaffected by the Taint?" he murmured with a frown on his mirrored lips.

Anger coursed through Duskmon. It wasn't any of Mercurymon's damned business! His job was to assist Lady Ophanimon and help her keep track of her domain, not spy on Koji or some random Digi-brat.

After a while, Mercurymon lowered his mirror, Koji fading from its polished face. Duskmon slipped further into the shadows, coming out just outside of the castle. He circled around until he found Takuya carrying his brother on his back. Duskmon disappeared in the flash of strips of light and returned to his human form.

"I thought I asked you to watch out for Koji," Koichi said with a slightly irritated tone.

Koji lifted his head up. "I don't need a babysitter," he grumbled.

"We were just having a little fun," Takuya insisted. "I just went a tiny bit overboard."

Koichi shook his head. Takuya gently set Koji down pouting. "Aww come on! If I don't train, how will I be able to defeat my nemesis?"

"Nemesis?" Koichi asked with an amused smirk.

"Who the hell are you talking about?" Koji asked standing gingerly to his feet. Koichi resisted the urge to help. "You don't have a nemesis!"

"Of course I do!" Takuya insisted. "WarGreymon is my nemesis! I must prove that I am the superior Greymon! The number one Greymon! In a fight to the death!" He punctuated his last statement by punching his hand in the air.

Koji shook his head and mumbled something that sounded like, "Moron."

"Come on you two," Koichi said. "It's almost dinner time." Takuya let out an excited whoop and darted towards the castle door. Koji and Koichi followed at a more moderate pace, Koichi watching his brother out of the corner of his eye. He was going to have to keep a better eye on him and Mercurymon it seemed.