Hello again! I said last time this would probably the last chapter, but I guess they didn't let me lol. I won't say if the last one will be because I can't tell which way it will take me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! Please review.

Chapter 5: The Threat
I slowly opened my eyes, coming across the same dark blue sky above me. I wonder how many minutes – or was it hours? – had gone by since the explosion. My eyes widened and a low scream came out from my lips as I realized what had happened. I quickly stood up and felt a little dizzy, to the point I had to hold into a tree in order not to fall down. So, I was in a forest. I just didn't know if it was the same one. I winced in pain in the right side of my torso, a little below my breasts. My white shirt was tainted red instantly and I immediately put my hand over it in a way to make the pain ease. I had no idea how I got this cut, but I would worry about this later.
I began walking, in search for another Chosen Child or Digimon that could possibly be around. Not too long after, I heard a faint voice coming from further into the forest. I carefully approached and screamed when I found out who it was.
"Takeru!" I knelt down beside him. "Are you okay?"
"Sora." Takeru looked at me from where he was sitting. For some reason he seemed pale and a little more tired.
"Are you hurt? Did something happen?" I asked alarmed and began to examine him.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just a little sore from the fall."
"The fall? Wait, did you and the others get affected too?" I took a few steps back, absorbing what I had just heard. My eyes filled with tears. "This is all my fault, I'm so sorry! If I hadn't gone after Piyomon, none of this would have happened. Yamato wouldn't… Yamato, where is he? He went back to protect me and then Mugendramon attacked us and… oh my God!" I stumbled upon a tree trunk behind me and fell down. The tears were falling from my eyes and my body started shivering at the thought he could be seriously injured somewhere I didn't even know. What if no one was with him and we couldn't find him? I wouldn't ever forgive myself if that happened.
"I'm sure he's fine." Takeru made an attempt to stand up and winced in pain. He almost fell back down. "Yamato is strong; he knows how to take care of himself."
"I know." I dried my tears and stood up, smiling weakly yet proudly. "He has always been."
"We're gonna find him, safe and sound." Takeru told me in a reassuring tone as he came closer to me. "For now, we need to see if there is someone else around here. What happened to your shirt?"
"What?" I looked down to the place he was looking at. "Oh I think something cut me at some point. It's okay though. I can take care of it later."
"Does it hurt?"
"A little, but it doesn't matter. We need to find the others first."
"We should take a look at this."
"Takeru, it's fine. Really. We need to find your brother and the others. I have to make sure everyone is okay. This can wait."
"You're always putting other people first." He smiled kindly. "I guess some things never change at all."

"Can you please get out of there?" Yamato asked rather angry at Piyomon, who was landed on a tree.
"No!" She shouted. "You are going to take me back to that girl."
"That girl has a name, it's Sora!"
"Whatever!"
Yamato sighed frustrated and began to head towards the tree. "You are coming down even if I have to get you."
"Try me." Piyomon flew to another tree.
"Ugh! You're lucky you get to fly."
"What's going on over here?" Taichi asked as he approached Yamato and Piyomon. "Why were you trying to climb that tree?"
"I was trying to get Piyomon to come down." Yamato jumped off and tapped his black pants.
"Dude, it's a lost battle. She flies."
"Yes, I know. I just…" Yamato took a deep breath and thought it was better to stay quiet. "Nevermind. We should find a way to get back to the others."
"You mean get back to Sora."
"Shut up, Taichi. Yes, I'm worried about her, I don't know if she could escape Mugendramon's attack. You should be too. She's our friend. Anything beyond that is up to me and her."
"Geez, you don't need to be so rude about this." He complained. "I was just joking."
"I'm sorry." Yamato looked down and then to the opposite side. "Let's just try to find a way to go back."
"Let's go." Taichi began to walk away and suddenly stopped. "What about Piyomon? We can't just leave her there."
"You're right. Sora won't forgive me if I leave her behind. I mean, not that I would. I don't know how to make her go with us, though."
"Maybe get her attention with something she likes?"
"That's a great idea, but I doubt she would because she doesn't trust me."
"Of course she wouldn't. Did you see the way you talked to her? Piyomon likes to be treated with kindness. I'm surprised you still don't realize that, especially while dating Sora for a few years." Taichi stood up. "Can I try?"
"Be my guest." Yamato shrugged and watched Taichi approach the tree Piyomon seemed to be sleeping at.
"Hey, Piyomon." He called, and the pink bird half opened her eyes. "There's something really good waiting for you at the camping."
"What is it?"
"It's a surprise. But I can guarantee you'll love it."
"Taichi, what are you doing? There's noth…"
"Shhh, you're ruining the plan." Taichi whispered, cutting Yamato off. "We can find something when we get back, even if it's one of Mimi's candies."
"Something to eat?"
"You bet. I saved it for Agumon, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I gave it to you."
Yamato let out a snort, finding it very funny that Taichi could say such thing. "Seriously, Taichi?"
"Quiet, Yamato!"
Much to the blonde's surprise, not only Piyomon came down but she also snuggled into Taichi's chest. Yamato couldn't help but feel a little jealous for that.
"Alright, now that she's here, we should try to find a way back to where we were."

Takeru and I were sitting by a tree after walking for a few hours, when the sun was all up that it seemed to be noon. We've managed to find a place that looked like a city, but we didn't stop to stay that much. We were so focused on finding the others we didn't want to waste time. I have to admit it felt really good to stretch my legs and enjoy this shadow.
"It's so great that you found Patamon." I said as I looked at Takeru, watching him petting his partner with a smile. Seeing them so happy made me miss Piyomon a lot more. I wonder where she was or if she was okay. "It makes me happy that you were able to make such a good progress."
"Thank you." He smiled back at me and then turned his attention back to Patamon, who was in his lap sleeping peacefully. "What about you, though?"
I shook my head sadly and looked down. "Piyomon hates me."
"What do you mean she hates you? She's incapable of hating anyone."
"She does hate me this time." I reaffirmed. "I guess I deserve it after all that I did to her during the beginning of our first adventure here."
"You definitely don't deserve this, Sora." Takeru looked at me again, and his voice was firm. "It's quite the opposite actually. You've been so caring towards all of us. You deserve only love."
"Thanks, Takeru." I smiled weakly, still avoiding eye contact with him. I could be a very transparent person to the ones close to me. "I still deserve this though. It's karma, I guess. I don't know if I'll ever be able to make progress with her again. How am I supposed to build new memories with her when she doesn't even give me a chance?"
"I know I'm not that much of a help, but give Piyomon some time. It's probably easier said than done, but she will come around eventually. I'm positive you can create some new memories with her within no time. Have faith in yourself and in Piyomon and everything will work out, I'm sure. In the meantime, we'll be there for you."
"Takeru." I finally looked at him.
"We're in this together, Sora. We're all friends. Well, actually we are family, but you know what I mean. We'll all help and support each other."
"Thank you." I said sincerely. "I feel flattered you still consider me part of your family, even if…"
"There's no if, Sora." He met my confused eyes before he went on. "I've noticed it. The time my brother disappeared suddenly a few nights ago, moments after you did. I know he went after you. I know he's been trying to get back with you. And I can see it in your eyes that you want the same."
"I wish it was that easy." I sighed. "I just can't stand having to choose between Yamato and Taichi all the time."
"I bet it's not easy for you."
"It isn't. I love your brother, Takeru. I do want to be with him, but it's just too much for me right now."
"You should tell him that. I'm sure you'd find a way through it together."
"I told him, and we agreed to take things slow."
"So are you two a couple again?"
"I suppose so." I said. "I got tired of running from it."
"Well, I'm happy about you both." He grinned. "I missed having you as my sister-in-law."
"I missed having you as a brother-in-law too." I hugged him.
Right next to us, a distortion appeared. We both stood up and looked at each other, nodding before going through it.

Taichi and Yamato kept walking, though both of them were getting tired.
"We should sit down." Taichi said. "We've been walking for who knows how many hours."
"The more we keep walking, the sooner we can find something to can lead us back to the others."
"It's pretty hard to walk holding Piyomon. She's not heavy, but my arms are sore already."
"Alright." Yamato turned to him and picked Piyomon in his arms. "You can take a break now."
"Thank you." Taichi shook his dormant arms. "But did you actually want to help me or are you hoping to find Sora soon and she sees you holding her partner?"
"You can be really inconvenient when you want to, you know?" Yamato snapped. "Not everything I do revolves around Sora. And if I was doing this to impress her, it's my problem."
"Why must you be so defensive whenever we talk about her? You were never like this before."
"I'm sorry." The blonde said. "I know I shouldn't react like this to you, so I apologize."
"Don't worry about it. I know you've been trying to get back with her."
Yamato just stood still, not knowing what to say. Not that he had something to tell Taichi, but he and I agreed to take things slow. "I guess I don't exactly know how to keep things more private, huh?"
"You do, but I still caught something in the air. And then I was sure when we got here. Since we're in eight, it's easy to know when one person goes missing, let alone two people."
"That's true." He confessed, looking down. "It's not like we were sneaking out to have a moment alone. We weren't even together when we came here."
"And are you now?"
"Yeah, but she wants to see how it goes. So she doesn't want to rush things."
"It doesn't like her that much. Did she tell you why she asked for a break in the first place?"
Yamato bit his lower lip. He couldn't tell his best friend what happened because we agreed not to tell him and keep this only between us. He hated lying, but he didn't have a choice. "No, but I know she will let me know when she's ready to."
"Do you want me to talk to her?"
"It's not necessary, thank you." He put on a smile in his face. "Everything is fine now." He looked down at Piyomon in his arms. "Or they are going to be soon."
"I hope so. It was getting awkward seeing your discomfort around each other."
"Well, it was bound to happen when there were still feelings from both sides. Things will get better now, though. And we should really get you a girlfriend."
"Hell no, we don't."
A distortion opened across them and they immediately crossed to the other side.

Takeru and I arrived to the other side of the distortion and found ourselves in another forest. The sun was setting down again, which meant we'd been walking almost all day. We looked around and noticed Koushiro, Mimi, Jou and Hikari were already there. I sighed with relief when I realized they were all fine. Almost all Digimon were there as well, except Piyomon. I felt a pain in my chest at the thought of her not surviving the attack.
"Sora!" Mimi came running to me and threw her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Mimi." I looked over her shoulder, still searching for Piyomon, in vain.
Behind us, a noise in the bushes was heard. Mimi released me and we both turned towards it. Seconds later, Meicoomon came out closely followed by a familiar figure and Mugendramon as well.
"Gennai?!" I exclaimed surprised.
"Mimi, Sora!" Koushiro yelled. "Watch out!"
We were all taken aback when Gennai grabbed Meicoomon by the neck and the Digimon started debating itself to get free from his grasp. I had to do something to help her escape, so I quietly bent down to grab a small rock and threw it towards him.
"Sora, what are you doing?" Mimi shouted beside me. "Let our partners solve this."
"They can't evolve, Mimi. They don't remember us. If we don't do anything, he's gonna take her away."
"It's Gennai."
"But not the one we used to know. Do you really think he would hunt a Digimon like this?"
"No." She admitted. "But it's still him."
"It's not him, Mimi. Can't you see there's something different about this one? His clothes are dark."
"We can't fight him, Sora." She insisted.
"What should we do then? We need to save her."
I was so focused on Mimi that I didn't even notice the two canons on Mugendramon's back being charged with yellow energy once again. Koushiro managed to push Mimi to the ground as I dodged the attack by running away. Before I could recover, I was falling down.
"You really think you could defeat me?" Gennai was pinning me down to the ground and I was beginning to have trouble breathing.
"Sora!" Mimi cried some feet away, still being protected by a concerned Koushiro. "We have to do something!"
"Tentomon, please!" The red haired boy turned to his partner, who was terrified at the situation. All he received was a negative nod in response.
"You're hurting me, let me go." I gasped for air, but I couldn't do much because his knee was pressed against my lungs. I then tried to stand up the way I could, and I felt his tongue licking my cheek. I was so absolutely disgusted that I wanted to throw up and cry.
"Hey!" A familiar voice echoed in my ears. It seemed so fainted though, as if the person was kilometers away. "Get away from her!"
I managed to look to my left and saw Yamato about to throw a rock at Gennai to push him away from me, while still holding Piyomon in his arms.