Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Digimon Trinity

Chapter: 168/ Episode 24: Light Me a Candle

Rika, seated in Renamon's arms, landed on the apartment balcony. Her feet touching down, she tapped her knuckles against the glass, getting the attention of the red-haired computer nerd, Izzy, from where he sat. Getting up, the man made his way through the mess of power cords and slid the balcony window open. A warm scent not unlike the smell of Takato's bakery wafted over her and Rika felt her stomach growl in response. She ignored it.

"Good to see you," he greeted. Rika nodded in return. She was about to tell him that Takato and Henry were going to be late, but the sight of Takeru Takaishi sitting in a chair, as calm as casual as anyone could be, drew her up short.

"Ugh," she grimaced. "What is he doing here?"

Takeru looked at her impassively, and as Rika's eyes adjusted to the indoor lighting, she saw Armadillomon and Hawkmon seated on the floor next to him, suggesting the presence of Cody and Yolei.

"That's quite the chilly welcome," Armadillomon said. Hawkmon sipped from a cup of tea.

"Well, you can't deny that it hasn't been earned."

"I wouldn't," Takeru agreed with a nod. Indeed, as he remembered, their first official encounter had been when, in a fit of rage, he nearly throttled her friend, Henry. Coupled with everything he had been doing thus far, he would have been surprised that he got any kind of greeting from her at all.

Rika Nonaka, as her file suggested, did not suffer fools gladly. Nor did she take kindly to those who hurt people she cared about.

And I've been both.

"Well?" Rika folded her arms together, looking at the man crossly, clearly expecting some kind of answer.

"Takeru is here because he has information that will help us plan for rescuing your friend, Calumon. He had been in contact with our friend Gennai prior to his disappearance and so far knows the most about the Trinity Prophecy that concerns you and your friends."

"Great," Rika bristled, her fingers tightening about her arms. "More of this stupid prophecy nonsense. Does this mean we get to hear who's behind it and why they decided to pick us to manage like a fashion shoot?"

Rika seethed inwardly as Izzy fixed her with a cocked eyebrow, not quite understanding the reference. Takeru, for his part, nodded inwardly, understanding quite well and better than even Rika knew.

"Unfortunately, I cannot divulge any information regarding the source of the prophecy. Such groups have been targeted by the Darkness before, which resulted in instances of 'corrupted' prophecies. We don't want another Eiji like before."

"Eiji?" Renamon cocked an eyebrow in mirror of Rika. The vulpine digimon ran through what she knew of the Digital War, but the name drew up nothing for her.

"Oh please. It's just us here," Rika pointed out, already dismissing the name as unimportant.

"That doesn't mean it's safe to discuss them," Hawkmon said in support of the blond-haired head of Hypnos. "Walls have ears, young lady. Walls have ears."

"Don't call me 'young lady,'" Rika scowled at the bird digimon before returning her attention to Izzy. "I don't trust this guy. I certainly don't think he should be helping us. I don't care what information he has."

"Can you at least hear what he has to say?" Armadillomon asked. "At the very least, have some of the pie that Mimi's making. That ought to be worth the trip, right?"

As if in response, Renamon's stomach growled now, causing the girl to shoot her partner a fearsome look that demanded to know how she could allow such a thing to occur, and in front of Takaishi no less. The vulpine digimon could only bow her head apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Rika. I neglected to have something to eat earlier while patrolling."

"Ugh. Fine." Rika's indignant scowl returned even as she relented. "You deserve a break anyway. Unlike some people."

That last parting shot had been at Takeru, who bore it without response.

"Well, now that that's settled, we can all wait for the others to get here."

"They're going to be a while, unfortunately," Rika sighed, making her way over to a nearby wall and propping herself up against it, arms still folded together. "Apparently Gogglehead and Jeri got themselves in trouble with their new teacher. Henry's waiting for them to get out."

"Boy, this sure takes me back to the old days," Armadillomon chuckled, looking up at Hawkmon.

"At least it's not as bad as Davis stopping to admire himself in the mirror," the bird digimon said.

Rika rolled her eyes at that. "Are you for real?"

Takeru's expression remained passionless. Instead, his eyes glanced down to the other side of the room where he saw, peeking from out of a corner, Yolei before she quickly ducked away.

###

Yolei scowled at the scene before ducking back into the kitchen.

"Well, Rika's here," she announced to Cody and Mimi. The pair of them looked up from their various cooking-related tasks. Taking up a knife, she proceeded to return to her own work of chopping up vegetables – in this case, a Daikon. The blade made quick, heavy, thunk-thunk-thunk noises that caused Cody to watch her with worry. The man glanced over at Mimi meaningfully but the woman simply smiled and continued with her own preparations for the night's dinner.

"I see," Cody began carefully. "I met her once during that fight in the subway tunnels. Back when I broke my leg."

"Quite the little firebug, isn't she?" Mimi grinned. "Although I must say, it's pretty quiet out there."

"Her profile says that she could very well leave things be as long as Takaishi doesn't make too big of a deal of himself," Yolei said. "Especially if someone like Izzy is willing to work with him. Not that she'll be happy with such an arrangement of course…"

"You sound like you would prefer that she do something to make her dislike of him known," Cody said. Yolei's knife made a bit of a louder thunk at that and she cursed as the Daikon rolled off the cutting board and hit the floor below. Yolei glared at it.

This is not my forte, she thought to herself, fingers curling about the knife handle. With considerable effort, she placed it on the table and knelt down to pick up the fallen green.

"All I know, is that if I were in her place, I'd be throwing his butt out of here." She shot Cody a hard look, reminding him of his role in preventing her from doing just that.

"Which is why you're in here," Mimi said, stabbing a mixing spoon in her direction as the purple-haired woman made her way over to the sink. "If TK is coming back and helping us, I want him to feel welcome. I'm not going to have you pick a fight with him just because you're upset over how he's made a mess of things."

She lowered her hand to her belly and brought it to rest there. "We should be setting a good example here for our children. Even if they can't see what's going on, they're still sensitive to what's going on around them."

Cody's eyes flickered up at her. "She kicks when you're upset, doesn't she?"

"She does," Mimi smiled at him before raising her voice an octane. "'Mommy! Mommy! Knock it off! I'm trying to grow in here!'" She gave a laugh and patted her belly. "That's what she's saying, I'm sure of it."

As Yolei washed the vegetable off in the sink, she felt one hand wander over to her own belly. Still nothing showing yet, but she could feel the slight change developing there.

"Besides," Mimi continued. "We've all made mistakes and we're going to make more before we get grey hairs. We should be doing more to help him work past that and do better. I've never seen where heaping scorn has helped someone do better."

"You haven't been working with him for the last few years," Yolei pointed out, shaking off water droplets from the Daikon. "You haven't been seeing the things he's been doing." Returning to the table, she set the Daikon back down on the cutting board. Leaning against the table, she closed her eyes. "And…he made me believe he was right toward the very end."

She felt her fingers curl against the cutting board, remembering the shaking of the building as the pig digimon marched its way down the streets. The images of the digimon army as they surged throughout the streets, attacking civilians and destroying buildings. She could still hear the reports of the casualties as they came in.

Opening her eyes, she took a shaky breath, eyes brimming with tears.

"I joined Hypnos to try and help him… To keep him on a straighter path than what he'd been on and in the end, I began to become just like him. And it didn't even matter when it was all over. We didn't do anything. Just made a big hole in the sky."

Her expression softening, Mimi placed a hand over Yolei's.

"And we'll all be back together again," she said softly, but firmly. "We'll fix this just like we used to fix everything. By being a team."

Yolei pressed her lips together, looking at her friend skeptically. In recent years, she had come to wonder about Mimi's optimism and how she could still hold onto it after everything she experienced. She thought she had understood it before, but these days she could only shake her head at the naivety of her youth.

At the same time though, she so very desperately wanted to hold onto that optimism. They had performed so many miracles back in the days of their youthful adventures. What could stop them now when the Darkness hadn't been able to do so before?

Because before we didn't have TK lose hope so bad he thought it was a good idea to just press the nuclear option, she thought, glancing back in the direction of the living room.

Yet, didn't TK have hope again about the Tamers? Or was that only because he was out of all other options and was desperate to succeed?

Only the thunk-thunk-thunk of the knife in the Daikon answered her unspoken fears and questions.

###

Nami Asaji looked up from her desk to find her students entering the staffroom, essays in hand. Pulling away from her seat, she stood up.

"We're finished, Ms. Asaji," Jeri said, coming to a stop in front of her.

"I hope you've all thought about what you've done," she said. Whatever it is, she added mentally, giving each of them a stern look. "And I hope you all understand that I don't do this to be mean to you. I want you all to amount to something. You'll be in middle school soon, after all."

Her eyes hovered on Takato. For a wonder, the boy returned her gaze without flinching. Feeling slightly discomforted by the resolved look in his oddly colored irises, she shifted her attention over to Kazu. The taller boy merely grinned.

"We understand," Jeri said, handing her the essay notebook.

"That's good," Nami nodded, taking each one in turn. "I hope that means you'll take things more seriously next class and that you'll all be paying attention."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Kazu smirked, folding his arms behind his head. "Trust us. You won't have to at all from here on out."

Nami felt an odd note in his voice that she couldn't quite place. He didn't sound as though he were mocking her, but there was a joke in there somewhere. She cast her eyes about the rest of her students. Takato and Kenta were both looking at Kazu with a slight frown, as though silently scolding him. Clearly, whatever he was joking about, she clearly wasn't in on it.

"We'll do our best," Takato said, looking back at her. "I promise."

That look again in his eyes. That resolve. Something had happened in the time since she had punished them that made the boy look as though he had grown taller in some manner. She could read it in his posture. Straighter and more confident. His shoulders were not slumped in any fashion and there was a healthy glow of maturity in him.

Maybe I got through to him, Nami thought, but somehow that felt off to her. Boys like Takato didn't grow up from one stern talking to and an essay on the importance of paying attention. If that were the case, her predecessor would have resolved his inattentiveness long ago. And from what Mr. Mori told her, Ms. Kamiya's methods weren't all that different from her own.

The children parted ways with her, hesitating only briefly at the door to bow and bid her goodbye. The door shut, leaving Nami alone with her work. Sitting back down, she perused the pile of homework and resumed marking up answers to the assignments. There were a lot of red marks to go around and writing out an explanation as to why the students were getting the questions wrong rapidly began to wear on her.

"I need a break from this," she said wearily. Heaving a sigh, she looked over at the essay notebooks. Once again, the strange behavior of her students – most notably Takato and Jeri – came to mind and her curiosity pricked, she set her red marker aside and took up the first one on the pile.

"Well, might as well see what they wrote," she said, flipping it open. Takato's. Fitting, she mused before settling in to read. Takato's essay began with a soft touch.

"It's not that your lessons are always boring," it began, and she found herself smiling at his comforting words. "But we'll be taking a break from school, starting tomorrow.

Nami blinked. That unexpected hammer blow had come completely out of nowhere and was quite unlike anything she had read from the boy when familiarizing herself with the class. Takato was not a longwinded student, but he was hardly so blatantly blunt, especially when he normally would explain himself and his behavior while attempting to soothe over ruffled feathers.

"I'm sorry about this reflection essay turning into an absence notice," she read on, and the essay stopped there. Dead stopped. She thought back to the way he had looked earlier. The resolve in his eyes. It was as if there had been no further need for anything else to say. He had stated his intentions and that was all there was to it, save for an apology. He felt bad, but it wouldn't stop him.

Becoming frightened, she closed the essay notebook in a hurry and quickly picked up Jeri's. A strange feeling had come over her that there was something connecting all four of them together. That perhaps, whatever was going on with Takato, that had been the reason why Jeri, Kazu and Kenta had all stood up to be punished alongside him.

Flipping open the notebook, she read Jeri's essay, equally short and without preamble.

"We're going to the digital world because it's our duty as responsible citizens."

No further words were said. She hurried over to Kazu's. His essay, by comparison, was even more bare than the previous two, but chock full of is overwhelming confidence.

"We're off to kick butt in the digital world! That could be educational, right?"

Kenta's essay was strangely pedestrian by comparison, and more of a musing and worry than anything else.

"I wonder if the class' average score will go down without me… I'm coming clean before I go. I stole the class hamster."

Nami gasped in growing horror.

"What is this?!"

Her stomach twisted itself in fear. All manner of thoughts flashed through her mind as to what could have caused this and what the children meant in their essays. They were…leaving? Going to the digital world? How? Why? They were kids! And besides, what could they possibly do?

Was that it? Did they feel so helpless over the attacks that they saw no further use in attending school? Had she pushed them too far that they decided collectively to just give up in light of the mounting pressures?

She threw herself out of her chair and ran out of the staffroom after them.

###

Henry tapped the screen on his phone, finding Rika's annoyed message to him wondering where the heck he and Takato were. He smiled at her concern and was about to type back a response when Takato's voice hailed him from afar.

"Hey! Henry!"

Looking up, Henry waved back in greeting and Terriermon climbed up onto his shoulder.

"Hey, Takatomon!" the long-eared digimon called back. "It's about time! Rika's getting worried about you! You're going to have to do an awful lot to make it up to her!"

"I…what?" Takato blinked, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. Jeri giggled next to him.

"Sorry," Jeri said. "Ms. Asaji made us write essays because we weren't paying attention."

"You mean Chumley wasn't paying attention," Kazu corrected with a smirk. "You just stood up and decided to take the fall with him. Beat me to the punch."

"You mean you didn't want to look bad when she stood up," Kenta grinned. Kazu shrugged.

"Whatever. Either way, we're in the clear now. By the time she reads those we'll be long gone."

"Stop!"

"Aw, nuts," the group said as one. Coming to a halt, they all turned to find Ms. Asaji running after them.

"Well… This could get ugly," Takato said quietly as she drew up to them, panting heavily. Jeri gave him a comforting smile.

"I'm sure it'll be all right."

"All of you…!" Nami exclaimed, waving one of the notebooks at them. "What is this about? What is the meaning of it?! What do you mean you're not coming back?!"

Takato looked at her in blank confusion. "We wrote everything we had to say," he said before Nami's feet caught his attention. He blinked, startled. She was still wearing her indoor slippers. She had been in such a rush to find them that she hadn't bothered to change shoes.

"Explain it properly so I understand!" Nami demanded, her eyes blazing wildly. "Going to the digital world?! You will do nothing of the sort! You're not Digidestined or…or…"

Her words fell away from her as Henry came into her field of vision. Perched on his shoulder was Terriermon. Something clicked in her mind and her eyes slid back over to Takato.

His file… It did say he had a digimon…

Color fled her face as realization dawned in her eyes. "The children that were with the digimon…" she whispered and immediately found she wanted to slap herself for not seeing it sooner. But that means, Takato…

"You talking about me?" Terriermon prompted, waving a paw at her and interrupting Nami's train of thought. Startled, she backed up reflexively.

Looking somewhat abashed, Jeri folded her hands in front of her. "Teacher… We're sorry for acting so selfishly, but taking a break from school without saying anything would be wrong. We didn't want you to worry."

"And you don't want us around," Kazu said, folding his arms behind his head with a wide grin. "We're nothing but trouble. Man, I wish this had happened during the summer break."

"Things aren't that convenient," Kenta reminded him. Takato frowned slightly at the pair, remembering that summer had not been peaceful either and had nearly resulted in the destruction of the world.

"That's enough!" Nami exploded, looking at the group of children angrily. "Is this supposed to be funny?! Making this decision on your own! Children going on a journey all by themselves… How do you think this makes me feel?! Why have you told me all this? I don't have anything to do with it! Have you considered what people will tell me?" Unable to take it anymore, tears burst from Nami's eyes and she leaned her hands on her knees, attempting to steady herself. "You're my responsibility! For goodness sake, you're only kids! You can't even get through P.E. without getting hurt!"

Takato took a step toward Nami, a comforting smile on his face. "We're leaving once we find a way to the digital world," he said, his tone betraying not a sign of fear. Nami's sobs broke off at the maturity she heard in it. The simple statement of fact that was so unlike the boy. "But we'll tell our parents before that, so please keep quiet until then. We know you care for us, Ms. Asaji. But we were meant to do this."

Jeri looked at their teacher apologetically. "We're really sorry," she said while Kazu nodded next to her.

"But we've already decided. Besides, I'll be there to keep an eye on them."

"You can't," Nami stammered out, only for Terriermon to speak up.

"Come on, lady. Momentai."

Nami looked up at the long-eared digimon in confusion. "Huh?"

"Momentai," Henry clarified. "It means don't worry."

As one, the group bowed to Nami and without further word, turned and headed off. Nami shakily reached out toward them. She couldn't believe this was happening. Her students were going to go to an alien world. They were leaving and worse yet, the universe had conspired to make them all need to go there.

"B-Bye!" Terriermon called at her, waving one long ear and a paw at her.

"Wait… Please!" she half-whispered, her vision of the world wavering. Her balance becoming unhinged, she collapsed to her knees. Fresh tears slipped free from her eyes and drew rivers down her cheeks.

"Impossible," she moaned between sobs. "They're just children."

###

"You're a bad boy, Takatomon," Terriermon scolded as they made their way down the streets. Takato let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and guilt spread across his face.

"I know," he admitted. "Man, I hated to have to tell Ms. Asaji that. I wish we had gotten to know her better."

"Not just that," Terriermon giggled from his spot on Henry's shoulder. "You made Rika worry and wait. She's going to give you an earful when you see her."

Takato blanched while Jeri beamed at the boy.

"Don't worry, Takato," she said. "That just means that you mean a lot to her. I'm sure she'll be fine once she sees that you're all right."

"Provided that she doesn't change that herself," Kazu chuckled. "She's crazier than a Deva. Chumley, how do you end up finding such weird friends?"

"You know, you're one of those weird friends," Jeri giggled before playfully sticking her tongue out at him.

"Hey!" Kazu exclaimed indignantly. "Jeri, I'll have you know that I'm the most normal one here!"

"Speak for yourself, doofus," Kenta laughed while Jeri again giggled.

"Hmmm… Speaking of which," Henry said, passing his phone over to Takato. "Do you want to tell her yourself that we're on our way?"

"Don't forget to put a little heart emote in it," Terriermon snickered. Henry rolled his eyes at that.

"Terriermon…"

"What? Your sister's always saying about how messages should have a little love in them. I'm sure Rika would appreciate it."

"I'm just…going to write out a quick message," Takato mumbled while blushing. Taking the phone, he hurriedly typed it out.

Henry: Hey Rika. It's Takato. We're out of class now and on our way. Sorry for making you worry. See you soon.

He paused, briefly considering taking Terriermon's advice before deciding against it and hitting send. Plopping atop Takato's head, Terriermon peered past the boy's goggles and at the phone.

"Ohhh…" He pouted. "No heart? She's not going to be happy with you now, Takato."

Takato sighed as Henry's phone buzzed.

Fast, he thought, taking a look. Jeri and Henry both peered over his shoulders to see what Rika had to say. A quick read caused Takato's heart to plummet into his stomach.

Aw nuts… he groaned inwardly.

"Whoa…" Terriermon laughed, looking at Takato with sympathy. "She's definitely not happy with you. Told you that you should have included a heart."

"Cheer up, Takato," Jeri said, hoping to keep his spirit up. "I'm sure everything will be all right."

Takato groaned again. He just could not win at all.

###

"Get in here, Gogglehead," Rika's voice rang from the inside of the apartment almost as soon as the door swung open.

Takato winced as Palmon gave him a sympathetic smile. Entering, the group of children kicked off their shoes and made their way into the living room. It was quite crowded, and for once Takato felt relieved that he and Jeri had not brought Guilmon and Leomon along. Cody, Yolei, Ken, Izzy, Sora, Joe, Mimi, Takeru (Takato raised an eyebrow in surprise at his presence) and Rika sat together amidst a sea of food and computer cables and all of them with their partners – minus Takeru's that is. Takato found himself wondering just where they were going to sit.

Where's Ms. Kamiya? he wondered, seeing neither her nor Gatomon. He frowned slightly, passing his eyes over the group in case he missed them, but he turned up nothing but the curious presence of Takeru Takaishi.

"Um… Mr. Ichijouji?" he began, remembering that Ken had asked him about her earlier in the day. "Is Ms. Kamiya here?"

Ken hesitated and shook his head. "Izzy will explain everything," he said.

Worry lanced throughout his chest, but Takato managed to prevent himself from pursuing further. If her absence was going to be explained than there wasn't much point in pestering the man for more information. Heaving a sigh, he passed another look across the room, nodding to each Digidestined in turn. Sora and Mimi both smiled sweetly at him. Joe nodded casually and Takato smiled upon seeing Cody up and about again.

Digital medicine sure does wonders, he thought.

His eyes fell on Rika now and his heart just about stopped as he saw her staring flatly at him, sipping at some tea. Hoping to diffuse the annoyance she no doubt felt toward him now, he waved goofily at her.

"Hi?"

"You're late," Rika admonished from behind her teacup.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Just hurry up and sit down so we can get this show going."

"Hey, you want to lighten up on him?" Kazu asked heatedly, suddenly coming to his friend's defense. "It's not his fault he got detention. Ms. Asaji's got it out for him."

Rika narrowed her eyes at the visor-wearing boy. "Look, I don't care. I just want to get this over with, so just sit down already."

"Where are we going to sit?" Kazu demanded, not losing the heat in his voice. "There's barely enough room to stand!"

"Maybe Rika will let Takato sit on her lap," Terriermon quipped, causing Takato to abruptly start in terror as Rika's eyebrows shot up. Henry sighed.

"Terriermon…"

Setting her teacup down, Rika got to her feet.

"Who invited you, anyway?"she asked Kazu, deciding to ignore the rabbit-dog digimon for now. At her icy tone, Sora glanced in her direction. "Because last I checked, this was going to be a meeting for Digidestined and Tamers."

"Well, we're going to be Tamers too!" Kazu replied gruffly before looking at Kenta. "Right?"
"Right!" the bespectacled boy nodded in agreement.

"Besides," Kazu continued, "we've had Chumley's back ever since this Deva stuff started. We should know what's up."

"We don't have time for this right now," Ken spoke up with exasperation. "Look. Just… find a spot somewhere. We'll all make some room. In the meantime… Izzy?"

"Right," the red-haired man nodded as the newcomers made their way as best they could over to where Rika was and sat themselves down on the floor. "As you're all aware, Vikaralamon's attack yesterday caused widespread network damage. This has caused all communications and Internet connections to be sporadic. We're currently in a 'Goldilocks zone' but how long it lasts is anyone's guess. And that's not all there is either."

He paused, looking at the Tamers.

"We have reason to believe that Kari has been kidnapped by the forces of Darkness."

Takato felt as though he had a thunderclap go off in his mind. Rika sat up a little straighter and all the others looked a little shocked as well.

"What…?" Jeri breathed, sounding more than a little scared. Takato didn't blame her. While he didn't know all the specifics, he knew just enough. Kari had been a target for the Darkness ever since she had been his age and had been taken by them to the Dark Ocean at least twice, one of which had been during the War.

"Are you sure?" he piped up, finding his voice.

"Unfortunately, no," Izzy replied, shaking his head. "But she's been out of contact for far too long and made no attempts at doing so. On top of that, she wasn't in her apartment and no one knows where she is. Not even her family."

"Takato, you were the last one to see her that I know of," Ken said. "Did she behave in any way that seemed off to you?"

"N-No." Takato shook his head vehemently. His mind was a storm of emotion, but he forced himself to focus. "I mean, she seemed relieved to see me. Um… Now that I think of it though…" He glanced at Jeri. "She said she was going to check in on you. Did she?"

"No." Jeri shook her head. "Why?"

"I was trying to tell her that you were a Tamer, but my parents were there at the time and I…really couldn't." He looked back at the others. "Anyway, she just seemed happy to see that I was all right and that everyone else was too." He winced, remembering Davis and Matt. "For the most part, I mean."

"But how can you believe that the Darkness has taken her?" Henry chimed in now, becoming interested.

"We don't have any direct evidence right now," admitted Izzy. "But the dimensional barriers between the worlds have degraded considerably since yesterday's battle."

"The portals!" Takato burst out suddenly, remembering his conversation with Ken. "The firewall was weakened!"

"Right," Izzy nodded. "And that creates an opportunity. Kari has spoken about how she was becoming afraid that the Darkness was targeting her again after what happened during the Indramon battle, where Gatomon dark-digivolved to Ophanimon Falldown Mode."

Takato shuddered, remembering how closely they all came to being killed by their teacher's partner. "So… The Darkness is trying to influence her. And they used the damage to the firewall to get her."

"That's the hypothesis," Izzy said. "But we have no direct proof beyond her absence. But the longer she's missing and not contacting anyone, the more likely it's the case."

"Terrific," Rika groused. "So, we've got two people in need of rescuing now. As if it wasn't bad enough that Calumon was captured as well."

"Maybe," Izzy said. "But until the firewall is repaired, this also means we have a way to get to the digital world and find them both. Portals are appearing. For now, many of them are small, but if a large enough one appeared…"

"Can your computer detect any?" Sora asked. Izzy shook his head again.

"Unfortunately, not yet," Tentomon said from Izzy's computer. "Our equipment is limited here, but a digimon should be able to sense one. The effects won't last for very long though, so we have to move quickly."

"Then what are we waiting around here for?" Kazu asked. "Shouldn't we be getting going now?"

"I know just the mon who can start us off," said Rika, glancing over at her partner. The vulpine digimon bowed her head.

"I'm on it," she said, disappearing from view. Rika turned her attention to the others.

"I can fill her in on whatever else we talk about," she said.

Joe adjusted his glasses. "Okay. So, I guess we should talk about teams once we find a portal and plan out how we're going to go about the rescue mission. Someone's going to need to stay behind. We can't leave the real world undefended while we search for Kari and Calumon. With the digital world being as big as it is, who knows how long that could take?"

"That's where I come in," said Takeru, getting to his feet now. "Because there's one team that has to go to the digital world, and that is Takato, Rika and Henry."

Sora pressed her lips together unhappily. She wasn't surprised, given what Matt had told her about his meeting with Tai, but at the same time she wasn't happy either.

"It's the Trinity prophecy, isn't it?" she asked. Takeru nodded.

"The Trinity is the key to the future," he said. "And we can't afford to risk losing that if we are to save our friends and the world."

10