I don't know about you all, but this month just flew by for me…

Thank you for reviewing the last chapter: Undesirable13, Lord Jaric, Berry Doyle, Sweet Cari, dnofsunshine, and Guest! I'm glad you all seemed to feel that the Tamers were being blended into the story in a way that felt organic. I haven't read a lot of stories that try to mix the seasons, so it was nice to hear positive feedback on my own.

Chapter Seventeen: Allies

The Wong family lived in one of the nicer buildings in the neighborhood, but the apartment itself was… cluttered. Davis, totally unabashed, peered around curiously, but Cody tried to be a little more subtle. There were all the markings of a little girl—colorful toys and costume dresses thrown over every available surface—the younger sister Henry must have been escaping from. But Henry himself… They'd only just met the boy, but Cody got the distinct feeling he would fit more comfortably into the Hida household—where nothing was ever out of place. So the other things taking up space in their living area—open books, a few stray paintbrushes—likely belonged to other siblings.

This theory was proven almost immediately when Henry ducked into the next room where an older girl was lounging at the kitchen table, cell phone held up in front of her face. "Jaarin, could you watch Suzi for a little while? A few friends came over for help with our summer projects."

The girl looked up and spied the two of them standing in the doorway. She looked clearly displeased by Henry's request, and Cody could only hope she didn't hear Davis's mutter about "Sisters…"

"What? But it's your day to babysit. And now you're trying to hand her off so you can go hang out with your friends? So much for being the responsible one…"

Henry ignored the jibe with an easy grace and repeated patiently, "It's for homework. It won't be all day, I promise. We just need to go over a few things."

She huffed out a sigh. "Fine. Whatever. Maybe Rinchei has nothing better to do than play tea party…"

"Thanks, Jaarin…" he said, making his retreat before she could change her mind. He led Davis and Cody quickly down the hall. "Sorry about that. Suzi was a… surprise. Because the three of us are so much older, our parents took one look and saw countless hours of free labor. Speaking of…"

Terriermon had remained latched around his shoulders since they'd gone inside. Now Henry lifted him off. "I've got a mission for you."

His partner clued into his meaning immediately and jumped back, suspicious. "Oh no you don't…"

"No one entertains Suzi as well as you do. You know how much she loves Princess Terriermon," Henry wheedled.

"Do I ever," he grumbled. But Henry's partner could tell how important this meeting was, that it shouldn't be interrupted. So the boys watched as the Digimon walked resolutely out the door, took a few steps down the hall, and flopped dramatically onto his back. Terriermon proceeded to stare blankly up at the ceiling, looking every bit the stuffed animal. It was only a matter of time before Suzi would come along, never questioning for a second how he'd ended up there.

But it was only as second later that Henry's older sister was back, standing in his doorway with a disapproving frown. At the end of the hall, they just caught a glimpse of a little girl rushing past, being chased after by who could only be Henry's older brother. "Is this a study session or a party? More of your friends are here."

She stalked off to follow her siblings and the trio finally caught sight of the two behind her back. One was a meek-looking boy with a timid smile. And the other…

"Kari!" Davis exclaimed, rushing out of his seat so quickly Cody had to catch the chair before it hit the ground. The new boy leapt out of the way with wide eyes as he charged into the hallway, stopping just short of bowling her over. "You're okay!"

"Davis! Cody!" she exclaimed right back. "What are you two doing here? And why wouldn't I be okay?"

Davis gaped and Kari herself seemed to pause for a moment. Long enough for Cody to ask, "Well, then where have you been all this time?"

But Davis recovered at the same time. "Do you have any idea what Yolei and I have been doing the past few days?! Trying to track you down! We even went to go see TK's dad! So is it true? Did you really find a way to the Digital World?!" Davis's anger was as short-lived as his train of thought, quickly replaced by excitement.

"Wait, you've been to the Digital World?" Henry interjected behind them. He was the only one to remain seated, and Kari finally turned her attention to him.

"You must be Henry," she said, still managing to be polite amidst the sudden chaos. "I'm Kari. It's nice to meet you. And, um, yes. I have."

She glanced over her shoulder, making them all immediately self-conscious. Without another word, the four crowded into the small room where Henry was seated, closing the door behind them. It appeared to be a personal study—his father's, most likely—just the slightest bit set apart from the rest of the apartment.

Takato, seemingly about to burst, said, "And that's not all! Henry, look!"

He pointed excitedly at Kari's backpack, and she took it off obligingly, allowing Gatomon to climb out. Henry gasped accordingly, and he wasn't the only one. Within seconds, the three boys were all openly gaping down at the Digimon. Gatomon looked around the circle of faces ever so warily, finally questioning, "These are your friends?"

"Yes. Davis, Cody, meet Gatomon. My Digimon partner. Takato says you have one too, Henry?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, recovering. "Terriermon. He's… distracting my sister right now. So I guess we're all allies now? Are you three Tamers too?"

"Not exactly," Kari answered.

But Davis's attention had been captured by something else. "Wait a minute, you have a Digimon too?!"

Takato brought a hand up to the back of his head. "Yeah. Guilmon. We had to leave him behind though. He's kind of big."

"Right," said Kari. "Can we all back up a minute? What are you two doing here? What's been going on the past two days? Yolei and I were trying to track down TK… She was supposed to cover for me with my parents if I was out late. But I ended up in the Digital World. I tried calling her when I got back, but her mom had no idea where she was, and I ended up covering for her."

Henry leaned over to Takato and whispered, "Who's TK?" His friend shrugged, but no one paid them any mind. Davis had paled considerably. "She… She wasn't home?"

"No…"

"L-Look, when you disappeared, Yolei was freaking out. She called me, and we went to Odaiba to talk to TK's dad. But he hadn't seen you. After we left, she got mad at me and went off on her own. I thought she just needed to cool off. I was gonna call her when I had good news…"

Kari's eyes had widened. The other three were watching with rapt attention.

"Wait, so she's missing?" said Cody.

"Should we call the police?" suggested Takato nervously.

"If it's related to all this, I doubt they'd be able to help," said Henry. He turned back to Kari. "Could it be? How did you get to the Digital World? Could this other friend—Yolei?—have found her way there too?"

"I'm not sure. I still don't really understand the Dark Ocean myself. So I guess that makes anything possible." It was clear that they were all awaiting a better explanation. She sighed. "We should probably all sit down. This is going to take a while."

…

Rika Nonaka was seriously considering tossing her Digivice into the pond behind her house. She huffed loudly, glaring. "What good is this thing anyway if it can't give me specifics?"

"Is there a problem, Rika?" It no longer surprised her when Renamon appeared so suddenly behind her. Her partner was always watching, from somewhere in the shadows. At first she would come forth only when called. But more and more often lately, Renamon was injecting herself into Rika's daily life, trying to help with more than just the eliminating. And less and less often lately did Rika find herself blowing off her partner's inquiries.

She held up her Digivice to show the display lit up on it. It was a grid of the city and surrounding towns. Interspersed throughout it were tiny white dots. "First those stupid boys, then that girl the other night… New Tamers are popping up everywhere. And these little dots… How are we supposed to know which of these Digimon are claimed and which are actual threats? I don't have time to go off on a bunch of wild goose chases."

Renamon continued to scrutinize the map. Rika let her observe in silence for a moment. She couldn't help but feel a sort of warm appreciation. Anyone else might have dismissed her complaints as mindless bitching. What can you do? But Renamon always took her seriously.

At last, she used a claw to point out a pair of dots clustered together. "You see these two? They've remained in the same place together this whole time. It's unlikely they're two wild Digimon; one would have destroyed the other and absorbed its data by now. So I think it's safe to ignore that area."

Rika appraised the sight again and nodded. "Probably those two idiots. Whatever. Even if they get the girl in on their little playdate too, they can't hold a candle to us. Renamon, let's get going."

In the time that it took for Rika to stand up, Renamon had disappeared back into the shadows, as was expected of her. But she had to wonder. Was Rika really so scornful towards the other Tamers forming a team? They were all working towards the same goal, after all. Renamon herself couldn't help a distinct feeling of longing…

…

"Wow…" Henry murmured once her tale was complete. "So there really is a whole Digital World out there… I mean, Terriermon said so, but… he tends to exaggerate."

Cody eyed the older boy's fond, slightly bewildered smile and nodded. He had to agree. The time for lingering doubts had passed. All of his focus had to be on what came next, especially now that Yolei could be in danger.

Kari nodded too. "It is a little hard to believe. But what did Takato mean when he told me your dad created Digimon? How is that possible?"

Davis and Cody both perked up at the question, and Henry swiveled around in his chair thoughtfully, moving to rest his arms on its back. "These days my dad is a game developer, but back when he was in college, his studies were primarily focused on AI."

Davis looked at Cody quizzically, who explained without having to be asked, "Artificial intelligence. Basically, they're computers that can think for themselves."

Henry nodded. "His last year, my dad and a bunch of his friends put together the Digimon project. It stood for Digital Monsters, and they called themselves the Monster Makers. When all this started out, it was just a computer program. I'm not sure how it's become an actual world out there in some other dimension—I doubt my dad knows about this part—though I have a theory…"

"The AI," Cody supplied, and Henry nodded.

"Um… what about it?" Takato asked, speaking up for the first time. He'd spent this meeting with his eyes swinging back and forth between all the different speakers, and Kari got the impression he was a little amazed just to be a part of this group.

"One of the staples of artificial intelligence is its ability to continue to grow and develop on its own. If Henry's dad and his friends did succeed in developing a fully-functioning AI, the Digital World would have continued its progress even after they abandoned the project."

"But what does that mean—progress?" Kari asked.

Cody could only shrug. "That depends on what exactly they programmed the Digital World to do."

Henry huffed softly, annoyed at his own impatience. "I wish I could tell you. Whenever my dad would go off on his speeches about his college days… Well, we all kind of learned to tune him out after a while." He looked a little sheepish.

"Well, hey, they were all training to make video games, right?" Davis spoke up. "What was the Digital World supposed to be about?"

"Uh, what?" Henry looked at him blankly.

"The story," Davis pressed. "If someone was playing Digimon like it was a game, what would the player have to do to win?"

Kari gasped. "The Digidestined! A tale of ten warriors saving the world from some great evil? Maybe it's a little generic, but it fits. I even thought it sounded a little like a video game or a movie when TK and Gatomon were explaining it to me."

This realization seemed to send a new buzz through the room. They all sat up a little straighter.

"So those kids who disappeared all those years ago," Takato began.

"The Digital World must have been developed enough to finally play out the story it was programmed to. But the Monster Makers would have designed the heroes to be human, so the AI found a way to breach the barrier between the worlds and find itself some heroes," Henry finished.

"But something went wrong," said Kari thoughtfully. "So the AI would have tried to set the story back on track." Her eyes widened, and her gaze swung to meet Cody's. "You don't think…"

"What?" Davis interrupted, hating to be left out.

"Yolei…" Cody answered. "If we're right and she did end up in the Digital World, the AI must be trying to replace the heroes—to reset the story."

"And the Tamers…" Henry brainstormed. "Maybe we're here to take care of an unintended side effect. Wild Digimon escaping through the gateway the AI keeps opening."

"Well, that's great news!" Davis exclaimed. The others looked at him blankly, but there wasn't a trace of sarcasm in his voice. "This means the program is… how do you call it… flexible! We can find a way there."

Something about Davis's simple optimism lifted a weight from Kari's shoulders. Once again, before she'd even realized it was happening, the boundaries of her team had shifted again. She glanced around at the two boys who'd been with her all along, and the two she was just starting to become acquainted with. She thought of Yolei and her nervous but steady loyalty. And, finally, she looked down at her new partner, and the confidence in Gatomon's eyes told her all she needed to know. They could do this.

Review please!

I don't own Digimon.

The next chapter should be another big one.