Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or anything associated with it. That honor belongs to Toei Animation, Saban, and Fox. I'm just a fan who needs an outlet, so please don't sue me.

Chapter Six:

Outside the school, Anni Kamiya stood alone under a tree, waiting for Matt to come for her. She glanced at her watch for the seventh time. I wonder what's keeping him, she thought.
Four shadowed figures emereged from the shadows in the late afternoon sun and approached the girl. One of them clamped his hand over her mouth, and they quickly dragged her off. The kidnapping went unnoticed or ignored by the few remaining students on the school grounds.

"Good work, boys," Marc congratulated the band when they brought an indignant Anni before him, tightly bound and sporting a strip of duct tape over her mouth. "But you didn't have to tie her up like an axe murderer or anything."
He went up to Anni. "If I take this tape off, you have to promise not to scream. If you do, we'll just have to knock you out."
Anni's blue eyes flashed with a resentful fire, but she nodded slowly. Marc carefully pulled the tape off her mouth, inwardly wishing that he didn't have to do this to the girl. He'd much rather have had Tai tied up at his feet. This girl, he kind of liked. But she had been the easiest one to catch, and they'd found her alone. And nothing was going to interfere with his plan.
"Come on boys," Marc ordered. "We've got a bus to catch. We're going camping"

Half an hour later, the rag-tag band got off their bus at what looked like a summer camp, now eerily deserted in the autumn season. The Digivice in Marc's pocket had started beeping. He took it out of his pocket and looked at it. A blue dot had appeared at the top of the screen and was blinking. He turned around, and the dot moved to the bottom of the screen.
"I wonder," Marc thought aloud. Then, in a flash of decision, he grabbed Anni's hand, oriented himself so that the dot was at the top again, and took off in that direction. "This way," he ordered.
The six of them marched out into the woods. The blue dot on the Digivice was blinking faster and faster as they moved, and the beeping sound was becoming more frequent.
Stepping off the trail into the deep woods, they came into a clearing with a giant boulder in the middle. The rock was easily 15 feet high and 25 feet wide. Marc and the others walked slowly around the rock. On the opposite side, the Digivice started to glow with a blinding light.
When the light faded, the rock was still there, but the scenery had changed. Where the ordinary forest had been, now stood a tropical-looking rainforest of strange plants and trees. Marc didn't have to ask where they were. Anni's fasp told him all he needed to know. They were in the Digital World.

Back at the school, Matt hurried out of the door, running to the place he was supposed to meet Anni. I wish I could have told her I was going to be so late! he thought to himself. He reached the tree but Anni was nowhere in sight.
"Maybe she went home," Matt said aloud.
He saw a boy standing around nearby. He had the look of someone who'd been loitering there for some time. So Matt went up to him.
"Hey you there, I was supposed to meet a girl over by that tree. She's about this tall," Matt held a hand up to about his shoulder, "with kinda reddish hair. Did you see her?"
"Yeah," the boy said.
"Did you see if she left?" Matt asked.
"A few guys came up and scared her. She probably left with them," the boy yawned.
Matt swore under his breath and took off running. He reached the Kamiya apartment in record time, and nearly doubled over when Tai answered the door.
"Matt!" Tai exclaimed. "What's wrong?"
Matt gasped for air. "Do you....know where....Anni is?"
Tai's eyes widened. "She was supposed to be with you! The only reason I left her alone was because she said you'd be there!"
"I got kept after school," Matt explained. "And when I got out there, she was gone. And this kid said she left with some other guys. I think she's been kidnapped."
"Must be our pranksters," Tai reasoned. "Come on in, Matt. We've got to call the others. This is serious now."

"It's File Island," Anni said quietly, hardly daring to believe she was there. She only wished she could have been there under better circumstances.
"Do you know your way around here?" Marc asked.
Anni shook her head. "I didn't spend much time around here, except for when the Dark Masters messed with the landscape, and things have been destructed and reconstructed and reconfigured and..." She sighted.
"Dark Masters? Reconfig...nevermind," Marc shook his head. He turned to Donny, one of the other boys. "Let's just find a place to camp out, ok boys?"

The sun had already gone down when all eight Digidestined gatherered outside the Kamiya's apartment building. Tai was pacing back and forth on the sidewalk.
"I'd invite you all in, but I can't have Mom and Dad finding out that I lost my sister..." he said wryly.
"So what's going on?" T.K. asked.
"Anni's been kidnapped," Matt said to his brother.
"And we think it's by the same people playing those tricks on us," Tai added.
"But why?" Mimi inquired.
"There's got to be come connection," Izzy wondered.
"Someone's singling us out for these nasty tricks," Sora said.
"And my Digivice is missing..." Izzy continued.
There was a long silence.
Joe spoke up. "This may be a long shot..."
Everyone stopped their ponderings and looked up at Joe.
"Do you think maybe they're trying to get into the Digiworld?" Joe offered.
"But how would they do that?" Izzy asked. "Gennai said the gate was closed."
"Maybe there's another way in," Kari said quietly.
"What makes you say that, Kari?" Tai asked of his little sister.
"I don't know," Kari shrugged. "A feeling."
"Well we all know about Kari's feelings..." Sora said seriously.
Izzy whipped out his ever-present laptop. "Maybe we'd better get in touch with Gennai," he suggested. "See if he can tell us anything."

Marc sat in front of the pitiful little campfire he'd built, poking the flames with a stick. The others, including the captive girl, were sleeping now.
Maybe we should try to find this Gennai first, he thought to himself. Or some Digimon allies. Oh I don't know...what am I even doing here?
The Digivice in Marc's pocket started beeping yet again. Curious, he looks at it and sees another blue dot that he takes to the the position of...something or other. A red dot marked his own position. With his usual reckless abandon, he got up to investigate, using the Digivice as a guide. After a few minutes, he saw flashlight beams in the distance. As he got closer, he could hear voices spekaing softly.
Oh great, Marc thought. The society of losers has decided to crash my party.

End Chapter Six