Sorry for the delay on this one. I was… quite simply… just writing something else for most of this past month. ^^' I don't believe it's even the longest delay I've had between chapters, but I felt guilty that another project was taking up the time I usually devote to this one. I guess that's a good thing, though, right? That my time away from this story feels like it was longer than it actually was? We're still going strong.

Thank you so much for reviewing the last chapter: Guest, bryguy2324, Berry Doyle, and Vigatus! And thank you, Magiccatprincess for reviewing a few different chapters on your way through!

Chapter Thirty-One: Courage Pt. 2

It was not long at all before the darkness swallowed them whole. Takato made the mistake of glancing back and found that there wasn't even a speck of light showing them back to the entrance. He wasn't sure if the strengthening fear was a natural reaction or an outside influence—and effect of their environment. In any case, it felt like they'd taken a step back into the Dark Ocean. Just what was this place?

He was suddenly more aware of Guilmon's claws gripping his hand. Not in a way that hurt. But it was unsettling to think his partner was even more nervous than he was. Takato gave it a quick squeeze and then sped up their steps. As if they could outrun their fear.

He was expecting the light to return at some point. Maybe a doorway. But there was no warning before suddenly they were falling. The breath was sucked from Takato's lungs before he had a chance to scream. For a moment, there was nothing but flailing limbs and rushing air.

And then he found himself waist-deep in… what seemed to be a pit of sludge. Guilmon was suddenly nowhere in sight, and he was stuck on that for a moment before he could even process that he couldn't move. The dark ooze wasn't moving up to his chest, but the sensation was suffocating at first. He had to force himself to take a deep breath and focus. This was all part of the test. A test of his character… And Piximon wouldn't let anything really bad happen to them… right?

Well. Maybe that wasn't the best track for reassurance. He needed to channel someone with a clear head. What would Henry do?

He tried to take in his surroundings and saw… school desks rising up around him? Yeah… Now he could see the enormous chalkboard stretching across the whole front wall. He glanced behind him and saw the door in the back corner just where it always was. Piximon's 'cave of truth' had spit him out in some warped version of his classroom.

The familiarity was almost comforting, actually.

A creaking sound drew him attention to a desk not far from where he remained mired in the floor. And the reassuring calm flew from him the second he caught sight of the figure perched on the desk. A girl sat atop it, one leg crossed casually over the other.

She was giant, like the rest of the room, and maybe that's why he didn't recognize her at first. In his defense, he did think that well-worn green dress looked a little familiar… and her face was turned away, shrouded in darkness. He would have questioned whether she was even aware of him at all… if not for one of her hands being turned sharply in his direction. Perhaps that sounded insignificant, but that hand was cloaked in a raggedy hand puppet.

And it was the sight of this that made Takato gasp in recognition and strain upright. "Jeri?!"

All he got in response was an eerie giggle, and it chilled him to the bone. He hadn't been sure what to expect out of his own subconscious, but if anyone was going to form and place some sort of pressure on him… Well, his first guess would have been his parents or his teacher. Maybe Kari or Rika. Even Kazu or Kenta before Jeri.

Jeri was… sweet. A little odd, but he'd always gotten along with her just fine. He couldn't picture Jeri caught up in all this insanity and darkness. She was just a girl in his class who somehow struggled to fit in even more than he did. Well, okay. Maybe her propensity to speak through the puppet she always carried around with her was a little weird. But he'd heard it was a keepsake from her mother, who'd died when she was young. It made sense for it to have sentimental value. It was nothing that couldn't be rationalized away… right?

Looking at her in this setting, he wasn't so sure. The puppet leered at him. Jeri swore it was a dog, (he'd felt her silently urging him to agree when she asked him if he thought it was cute…) but he'd always thought it closer resembled a fox with its sharp, mischievous features.

"Ta…ka…to…" it called, quiet but chilling. It was an awful, warped parody of Jeri's sweet voice. It made him struggle harder, but the puppet was unmoved. "Did you miss me?"

The words froze him. Of all the things to ask. He'd expected to be threatened. Maybe literally chained up to accompany this pit he'd sunk into. Put into a position where he'd have to fight tooth and nail to overcome an enemy and escape. This was all very… creepy. But not outwardly cruel. Its tone was almost friendly.

"I… of course I've missed you, Jeri," was what he blurted out when his mind was about to quit. In the few days he'd been here in the Digital World, he had found the time to miss just about everything from home. "But I'm needed here."

The puppet's head tilted ever so slowly. "…Are you?"

Suddenly he was falling again, the pit liquefying around him. He slipped right through and was left feeling like he'd dashed through a waterfall or something. It was jarring, but he landed on his feet a second later in a very familiar playground.

The buzz of voices reached his ears a second before he realized just how crowded his surroundings were. He turned in a slow circle, his eyes sweeping over it all. He spotted Henry and all his siblings over by the slide. The older two were both distracted, phones held up in front of their faces. His friend lunged forward as Suzie almost lost her footing on the ladder, but the little girl caught herself without his help. The scene made him smile. He almost wanted to call out to the other boy… but he knew somehow that what he was seeing wasn't really there.

He saw Kazu and Kenta crouched under the domed jungle gym, riffling through the decks they'd put together for a popular trading card game. He saw, strangely enough, Rika and a few other girls in the same private school uniforms standing over by the fence. As close as they stood, it was clear they weren't really together. While the other three played with their hair and were clearly in the middle of a gossip session if Takato had ever seen one, Rika was turned away, eyes on the Digivice in her palm.

Nearly all the filler space was taken up by nameless faces from the halls. He wouldn't be surprised if all these kids really did go to his school, but Takato had never been the most social. He stood in the center of it all, and he was the only one completely alone. Though not for long.

He actually stumbled a bit as something rushed past him, brushing his shoulder as it passed. The figure was nearly sprinting away, but he recognized her to be Kari. As she faded into the distance, he noticed others standing off by themselves now too. Davis, Cody, a few others who were a little blurred because he'd only ever seen them in pictures. They were all turned away from him, their eyes focused on something far off in front of him. And soon, they began to fade as well.

"You know where you belong," Jeri's voice floated back to him now. With a sinking feeling, he whipped his head in the direction of the fence and then over to the slide. The private school girls noticed no change. Suzie pushed herself over the top and down the slide unassisted. Rika and Henry had disappeared too. "Let the others take care of the heavy lifting."

Anxiety surged within him, for more than one reason. "I can't do that!" His protest sounded weak even to his own ears.

"Do you think they need you? Do you—"

"You know I don't!" Takato cut the manifestation of his friend off before those mocking, faux-sympathetic questions could continue. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides. He was shaking all over. And miraculously, his anxiety had vanished. Like something had snapped within him. Like he'd felt so much fear lately that his receptors for that emotion were just numbed out.

He exhaled angrily, and the playground around him faded out like his new friends had. It was a small reminder that this journey was taking place in his subconscious, and he ought to have some amount of control over it. Takato took some strength from that.

The tiny patch of exposed dirt under his own two feet was all that remained. There was nothing to see but darkness in all directions, but still he felt no fear. His spirit guide—if that's what this dark Jeri was supposed to be—had yet to try and cut back in, so he went on in a more measured tone.

"You know I've never felt like I belonged. The others all claim to be just as ordinary, but they've found confidence somewhere that I've never experienced. I keep waiting for something to change, but it never does. I run after everyone else into these dangerous situations, but I'm still just me."

Takato held out his hand before him, and his Digivice appeared in it. It plating was this almost regal gold color; it shined in a way he noticed the others' didn't. In his more cynical moments, he'd found it terribly ironic.

"But I was chosen too, wasn't I?"

"Is that all it takes?" He was struck again by how… neutral his guide's voice was. As eerie as it had been in appearance, Takato had yet to sense any hostility.

"I… I don't know. I guess it takes something to fight for… Someone to fight for."

"Is your cause unworthy?"

"Of course not! I want to save everyone too…" His irritation had petered out, and he was left feeling a little like he had last night, as he'd been lying awake after Piximon's 'training.' He was exhausted… but his emotions were calm, and his mind was clear.

"Then what's holding you back?"

"The same thing that's always holding me back… Myself."

The area in front of him began to light up, like a sunrise in his mind. A chair rose up in front of him and kept rising, rising… until he had to crane his neck to see the top. It was pure white, looked to be made of solid stone, and when a girl appeared perched atop it, Takato thought it resembled a throne. It was his mind-Jeri again. He still couldn't see her face for some reason; it was swallowed by the shadows that remained above. But as he watched, the hand hosting the puppet lowered until both were resting on the white stone, fingers gripping the edge alongside each of her knees. She hunched forward in her seat, crossing one ankle over the other, and Takato noted that she was starting to seem more her age, whatever that meant.

"Are you still looking for someone to fight for? Someone closer?"

"Someone closer?" he repeated, confused. Was she suggesting the other kids weren't important enough to him? He thought back to Kari, rushing past him with such urgency. He supposed… if it was his brother… if he even had a brother… he might, in fact, be pushing himself a little harder.

But… that didn't feel quite right either. He was passionate about their cause. He did have a personal connection to it. And he felt the call of it a second later.

Takato didn't answer Jeri. He took one step forward and then another. Those few steps morphed into a steady pace, undeterred by the seemingly solid throne directly in front of him. It began to shine, the wall of light blocking out everything else as he got closer, until finally, he stepped right through it.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting where he was spit back out, but he soon found he recognized this place as well. He was back at the garbage dump where he'd met his partner. It was at the very outskirts of the city. All closed down for the night, the only light came from the streetlamps from the next street over.

But no… That wasn't right. There was another glow from somewhere out of his line of sight. It was what had originally drawn him deeper in that first night, apart from the frantic beeping of his Digivice.

He crept forward now, more confident than he'd been the first time, but determined to trip over less debris. The landscape gradually sloped downward. His end destination was the bottom of the pit. The glow of what he knew to be a portal to the Digital World gave everything surrounding it a crimson tinge. The first time, he'd been distracted by his newly-created partner sniffing around the garbage heaps, generally causing trouble. Now, he wondered where this portal would have taken him, if he'd been adventurous enough to explore it.

"Takatomon?" he heard his partner's unusually hesitant voice a second later. "Is it really you this time?"

He turned around to see Guilmon trotting toward him in his awkward, unbalanced way. He knelt down automatically, holding his arms out to catch the red dinosaur in a hug. "Guilmon! I'm glad you're okay… What do you mean, am I real this time?"

He felt Guilmon's nose snuffling around by his ear and laughed a little at the tickling sensation. "I was looking for you everywhere… I was in your house… and your school… and the alley where you bring me bread… But every time I saw you, you walked away from me."

The innocent sadness in Guilmon's voice made his heart hurt. He knew his partner didn't quite have a grasp on symbolism to understand what that might reflect in this mindscape. He vowed now that he'd never have to find out. "Yeah… Sorry about that. I know I took my time getting here… but it won't happen again."

He stood back up and turned to face the portal. He felt Guilmon's eyes follow him as he rose. The calm he'd found had not left him. Even his childlike partner could feel the change.

"When I was talking to Jeri… she asked me if it was enough to be chosen. I wasn't sure what she meant. But then we started talking about finding someone to fight for… and I think I understand now."

His Digivice was still in his hand. It had begun to glow in a faint, welcoming way.

"I have a choice in the matter too. I can either sit back and let everyone else face the real danger… or I can jump in headfirst and fight alongside them. The first time, the Digital World chose me. This time, I choose the Digital World."

Guilmon walked up to be perfectly in line with him so that they were both facing the portal. This place was equally dark and eerie, but the anxiety his partner had been exuding in the Dark Ocean was nowhere to be seen. Gripping his Digivice a little tighter, they took the first step together.

…

When the light died down again and they reappeared on the other side, Takato could feel that something was different. He didn't recognize where they were, for one. But also, the half-illuminated, shimmery quality of the other destinations was missing from this place. So, where there were context clues as well, somehow it was something he could just feel. They'd left his mental sphere behind. And they weren't back at Piximon's place…

He could hear frantic voices down the hall. He glanced around quickly… and wasn't quite sure what he saw. Dark floors, dark walls, a trail of closed doors leading down this long hallway. He would have guessed they were in an office building if the lighting wasn't so dreary. Not exactly the most productive atmosphere.

A gray rabbit-like Digimon came rushing around the corner, shouting back to someone, but pulled up short when he caught sight of Takato and Guilmon. "What? More intruders?!"

Guilmon didn't hesitate. A ball of fire flew past Takato before the Digimon had time to call for backup. His aim was a little off—it scorched the wall behind him—but it sent the Gazemon into a hurried retreat.

Takato steeled himself, turning fully to face the turn their opponent had disappeared around. Even if they were just ordinary workers and not appointed guards, they were sure to raise the alarm now. He was sure this wasn't over yet, and he was right.

The Gazemon returned with another four or five of its fellows, poised for battle. Takato took a deep breath. He could do this. At the very least, he'd stood back and watched Rika work enough to know what it was supposed to look like. And Guilmon appeared downright eager. He'd darted forward and was hunched toward them with a vicious look on his face. The growl bubbling up from his throat was enough to make the Gazemon hesitate.

And now that he'd found the right mindset… it came almost too easily.

His Digivice grew warm in his hand a second before his partner began to glow. It lit up the dim hallway so dramatically that it froze them all for a moment, shielding their eyes. And when the light died down, Guilmon had been replaced by another red dinosaur-type Digimon. One that barely fit in the hallway. A glance down at his Digivice revealed him to be Growlmon. And when another fireball began heating up, ready to be launched, their opponents scattered.

With an impressive show of restraint, the attack slowly extinguished, and his mouth closed. It was much more of a struggle for him to turn back around towards Takato in this narrow hallway. Some part of him smacked against the walls with each step, hollow booms echoing around them.

"Wow…" Takato murmured, reaching up to the feel the small mane of white fur that had grown along the back of his partner's neck. "Growlmon, you're amazing!"

"You were in danger," he said simply, his voice deep… There was a constant growl to it. It wasn't hard to see how he'd gotten his name. "I needed to protect you."

Takato chuckled a little. "Yeah… And you sure did. Now we just have to figure out who we were sent here to protect."

He looked around, not sure where to start. Figuring out where they'd been sent might be a better first step. He reached out and experimentally pushed on the door nearest to him. It swung open easily, unlocked, but it was empty. Glancing around at the wall of screens, he suspected it was the room the first Gazemon had vacated the first time he'd gone to mobilize the troops. These screens showed images of even darker rooms—jail cells, he realized. And… given how many of those cells were busted open, their prisoners fleeing, he could see what had caused the initial alarm.

He watched for a bit longer, staring at each screen carefully. On a few separate occasions, he spotted human beings darting around, Digimon who were moving with more purpose than the others. He didn't recognize any of them, but it buoyed him up. He already knew he wasn't alone—at the very least, he would always have Guilmon. But a little more backup never hurt. And he couldn't imagine anywhere his teammates would be executing a prison break… other than the Digimon Emperor's lair.

Okay… Okay. So they'd been dropped into the middle of the biggest battle he'd known they'd be facing. The jails were being liberated… He had yet to run into the actual Emperor… So what could he do from here? Takato wasn't sure how they'd ended up here exactly, but whatever force was responsible, they had to have ended up right here for a reason, right?

He locked eyes with Growlmon, nodded once to signal that he was ready to move on, and the two moved forward as slowly and stealthily as possible when one of them was a giant dinosaur that barely fit between the walls. With no feel for the layout of the building or any way to pinpoint where they were on a map even if they had one, he headed to the door at the very end of the hallway.

It was also unlocked, and it also swung open to reveal a room lined with computer screens. Some of these were alight with activity—the one with the symbol of the sun growing brighter with each step he took closer. He wasn't sure what that meant yet. So he backtracked, stepping out and reaching for the door to the next room.

Third time's the charm.

Takato eased open this door and suddenly suspected at least a few of the other doors along the hall must be nothing but decoration. This door opened up into a room at least twice as big as the last two, and unlike the last two, it was bright and open. There was lots of expensive-looking equipment spread across the tiled floor and a few monitors… but it was clear the subject they were monitoring in this case could be seen with human eyes. Most of the far wall was made of glass. He could tell it looked down onto a room even bigger than this one, but before he could get close enough to see what the Emperor had been observing, he spotted the boy in the bed.

Perhaps 'bed' wasn't quite the right word. 'Examination table' was more like it. He was hooked up to some of the wires and strapped down, but he appeared unresponsive anyway. Takato noted wild brown hair and scuffed up clothing… and as he got closer, he saw those same marks on his skin, around the places where he was hooked up to the equipment. His stomach flipped a bit as he realized they were electrical burns.

Once he squeezed through the doorway, this was one room Growlmon actually fit comfortably in. Takato motioned for him to just stay where he was so he didn't have to worry about his partner getting tangled up in anything. He crept closer to the boy, wishing his memory was better, wishing he'd paid closer attention to the old photos of the original Digidestined.

He was just close enough to reach out and touch him when the glow erupted in the middle of the room like an explosion. Takato whirled around, some of that familiar old panic flowing back into his veins. His eyes immediately sought out his partner, who met his eyes with a Don't look at me; I didn't' do it expression. And he could tell the Digimon hadn't moved. He'd grown in more than just size.

In any case, it wasn't hard to find the culprit. A second later, his eyes found one of the machines set up by the windows, where the light was emanating from. He started toward it but pulled up short when the little glass front panel shattered. The beams of light grew into shapes a little more distinct, until that now-familiar sun symbol was shining on the opposite wall. The crest of Courage…

In that second… with his Digivice, the other boy's Digivice in one machine, and the crest in the machine before him all aglow… he had a wonderful moment of clarity. He understood where he fit in this puzzle.

If only it had ended there.

Review please!

I don't own Digimon.

Well. I talked a little about Takato in my author's notes in the last chapter. He's probably the one character whose journey I was most stressed about, going into this fic, because… I mean, I know we're actually working with three team leaders in this story, and Kari technically (at first, at least) took up the role of The main protagonist. But the one holding the crest of Courage is the real leader. That's always been the feel I got. (It can't be just me, right?) There's always so much going on with everyone… I guess I've worried that it hasn't allowed for enough gradual growth of character.