"He wishes to go with us," Renamon said once they arrived back at the park. The kids looked up from their huddled little groups, and Impmon shoved away from the fox Digimon.

"You're back!" One of the boys in the group exclaimed.

"Wish I wasn'," Impmon scowled. He was ignored as Renamon's tamer stepped closer and eyed him.

"Did you work out his whole… tamer thing?" Renamon's tamer- Rika asked him.

"Not exactly," Renamon sighed. She glanced at Impmon, who crossed his arms and glanced longingly at the tree branch he had been lounging on earlier. "Can I tell them what you told me?"

"Go ahead," The devil sniffed haughtily. "Like I care."

He watched the kids out of his peripherals. Jeri, the girl who's house he had stayed in, was giving him a worried look. The Leomon was watching him as well, much to Impmon's dismay. A champions attention like that typically wasn't a good thing to have, but with such a wimpy group like the one before him, it wasn't a problem. Still…

"Impmon told me that he had tamers before, but that they didn't have a digivice," Renamon told them. He heard a few mutters from the group, making out the word 'tamers' amongst their chatter. Renamon opened her mouth to talk again, but Impmon turned back to the group.

"I can take it from here, toots," He snapped, going back on his assumption that he could handle her explaining it for him.

"Are you sure?" Renamon asked, giving him a nearly imperceptible frown. He gave her what he hoped was a meaningful look in return. "Very well then."

Impmon glanced over, and eventually focused on a tree a little past Guilmon, not really wanting to watch their reactions. "Ai and Mako. They're four and I haven' seen them in almost a year."

"Who decided to let you hang out with four year olds?" Terriormon asked abruptly, but was hushed by his tamer.

"They didn't have one of your fancy devices, and even if they did remember me, I left on bad terms. Besides, the digiworld is no kind of place for four year olds. So I'm goin' without them," He finished.

The kids considered him for a bit, some of them converging to talk. Impmon settled back on the ground and watched. After a bit, Guilmon walked over to him.

"Hey Impmon," The dinosaur greeted cheerfully. "I didn't know you had tamers."

"That was kinda the point of not telling anybody," Impmon huffed. "Why does it matter to you, pineapple-head?"

Guilmon didn't answer right away, looking back at the group of kids. "I think I would miss Takatomon if I didn't see him everyday. I miss him when he goes to school sometimes…"

"Yeah, and?"

"Sorry if you get lonely," Guilmon said, smiling at him. He sounded a bit more serious than usual. "I think I'd try to talk to Takato, even if he was mad at me."

Impmon opened his mouth to rebuke that, before the dinosaur went on.

"I wonder if Calumon is lonely," He sighed, turning back towards Takato. Impmon briefly considered the little white fuzzball that always used to follow him around. Once again, he was stopped from answering, but this time, it was by one of the kids calling the group to order.

"We're going into the digital world tomorrow! Get supplies like we discussed, and meet at 8.00," Terriermon's tamer was saying. One of the kids without a Digimon spoke up.

"Is he coming with us?"

"Impmon? Yeah."

There were some general nods. Some more things were said, but Impmon tuned out the rest of it, watching them. The kids had no idea what they were up against.

After a few moments, Jeri walked over to him and smiled. "Hey, do you want to come back to my house tonight?"

"I can take care of myself," He spat, and then regretted the harshness upon spotting Leomon behind her. Jeri didn't seem to take offense, though.

"That's alright. I have some food if you want to drop by, though. I'll see you tomorrow," She smiled and then stood up, waving to one of the humans. "Bye Takato!"

The group dispersed, and Renamon stopped by Impmon's side, facing the treeline as he took a step away from it.

"You'll be here?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, toots. I just have to do somethin' first."

"... Good luck," Renamon murmured, staring after her tamer.

"Yeah."