Yagami Hikari was certainly feeling anxious as she watched the opaque television screen for any sign of a friend. Her loyal digimon was pacing back and forth in front of a large gray boulder the girl was sitting on. Nervously, she massaged the back of her neck, and suddenly jumped up off of the rock, startling Tailmon. "I can't take it anymore! Where are they?!"

"Don't worry, Hikari, they'll be here soon. Just don't do that again."

The lithe girl sighed and quietly responded, "I just wish that someone would get here." As if Digiworld had heard her, the TV screen suddenly lit up with a bright flash and a small form came through the glass clutching an equally small item.

Tailmon cautiously approached the figure, whose identity was concealed by the increasingly uncomfortable darkness. After a few moments, Tailmon turned back to Hikari with a smile and whispered, "It's Iori, and he's asleep."

Smiling with relief and amusement, Hikari gently picked up the little boy with Armadimon following along, formerly asleep in the boy's arms, and walked back to her previous location, keeping the child in her grasp. Lately, Hikari had been wondering about how Sora could have felt about being the babysitter of the group those years ago, and now, the brunette figured, she was going to find out.

"Still thinking about your conversation with Sora?"

Hikari was surprised. "How did you know?"

"There is a strange bond between Digidestined and Digimon partner," Tailmon began, "and even I don't really understand it. I feel quite ancy to say the least right now. You really shouldn't be worried, Hikari, they will all come soon." From behind Hikari, a small sienna tabby cat shot out, following a red unsuspecting (and unidentifiable) digimon. The feline stopped when it saw the television, and headed over to the appliance to investigate. Tailmon turned around to watch Rusty sniff it a few times and then screech as four more figures fell through the screen.

"Ouch!" came a familiar, masculine voice. The remaining photons of light from the flash lit up the scene for a brief second, revealing a flustered Miyako on top on a blue-haired boy with somewhat long hair.

The light was gone, but the three beings could still hear quite well. "G-gomen Ken." Moments later, another light illuminated the small group as a rather tall young woman stepped out of the end gate, narrowly missing the Ichijouji boy's face.

"Ohayo Mimi, Miyako, Ken," Hikari gently shook Iori as she was whispering her greetings to each individual. Mimi nodded her hello and Miyako walked over to her little friend.

Whispering she said, "Iori-kun, time to wake up. We-" but was cut off by the sudden illumination of the television. This time, V-mon appeared, lugging what looked like a heavy bag behind him, and, moments later, was followed by Daisuke, who was carrying an even bigger bag.

Ken stood up to help the brunette (and to avoid being trod on). "Arigatou, Ken," came Daisuke's reply. V-mon set down the bag at Mimi's feet and collapsed with a sigh. The teenage girl picked up the blue digimon along with the bag.

"Oh, V-mon, this doesn't feel too heavy to me. What's inside?"

"Nineteen chocolate-covered rice balls," V-mon replied exhausted.

"Ch-chocolate covered rice balls?" Mimi squealed, beaming. "Daisuke-kun, you're my favorite digidestined!"

Daisuke set down the bag after insisting to Ken that he was fine. "Well," he responded to the ecstatic Tachikawa, "that's one good turnout at least. I just hope that ane won't be too mad when she finds out there's only one left. How is everyone?"

The Yagami girl was about to respond to Daisuke' question, but a flash of light and the appearance of another human-digimon pair interrupted her. There, standing in the fading light were Takeru and Patamon, both equally as worried and tense as she felt herself. No words needed to be exchanged; just the look of confidence that he sent to her accompanied by the gentle smile was all that was considered necessary.

Black trench coat and all, Jyou stepped out of the TV behind Takeru and digimon and also nodded to show the group he acknowledged them. Walking straight over to Mimi, he huddled her over to the side, to begin an urgent, whispered conversation. Hikari strained her ears to try to hear what they were saying, but another flash of light distracted her.

Koushirou entered Digiworld with a bit less grace than Takeru or Jyou. He came out of the screen quite violently, landing on his stomach and sliding a few feet as if he had dived headlong into whatever device he used to get there. On his back lay his trusty pineapple computer, as well as another bag, which Hikari naturally assumed to be some item of food…'Or several large items of food,' she deducted with a closer investigation.

"Now that you are all here," Tailmon continued mysteriously, "I think that it is time for my explanation…"

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::Konnichiwa minna-san! ^_^ Great to be here!::

::All right, now we get to the part I promised you would come, Yamato, Taichi and Sora find themselves in whatever land they are in! And, I will tell you what is going on too! That's always nice, I believe.::

::Thank you to the new people who reviewed this time (Valerie, sl_toocoolish, *Relena*, Rocke&Roll (who writes the BEST fics you MUST READ THEM!!!), ^_^(), Chelsea, and …), and the people who reviewed again. I love hearing from you all! Reviews are so nice to get. I don't believe anyone who hasn't been an author can imagine the satisfaction of getting a good review, even if they only do get just one. An author is forever in debt to the person who liked their tale, and can only hope to keep satisfying them with another chapter, or another story. Truly, I thank you all.::

::FF.net hates me, and so do my Muses right now…It took me forever to write this (and to upload it too), and I've kind of come at a stand-still. It takes me forever to update my fics (gomen!) and I just got some new inspiration on a trilogy I've been thinking about writing for some time now. Don't worry, this story's not in limbo, and it's not on the back burner. It's just simmering for a little bit, not boiling. And plus, I still have to work on Rb's fic (gomen Rb-san!) but it's actually coming along::

::To … and other Taiora advocates: The trilogy I'm going to write isn't a Taiora, but another story I'm writing called ::wolf:: is. So, don't flame me and wait a little for that one to appear here! ^_^::

::Okay, enough of my mushy thank-yous, explanations and what-not and on with the fic!::

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"Otou-san, just a little longer." As if the strangely colored air stream had heard and understood the response given to it, it swirled around its current victim even faster, giving the wind-chill factor a chance to freeze the human awake.

The boy shivered, grasping for the comforter that should have been around his body. Azure eyes shot open at the realization that neither the comforter, nor his soft feather pillow were anywhere near him. The starlight wind spiraled around the teenager once more before shooting off into the forest.

A hand provided support to the male as he scrambled to his feet and the same hand tucked several strands of chin-length blonde hair behind his right ear. Ishida Yamato sped off as fast as he could through the fragrant trees; the forest reeked of their intense soothing smell. If the wind had not intrigued and frightened the boy so much as it had, he was sure that he would have just stopped to breathe in the intoxicating scent. Sure as he was that the forest had some sort of enchantment over the senses, what his sapphire eyes feasted upon next could have blown the sheer beauty of the forest away.

Slowing down to a stop, the Ishida boy marveled at the scene before him. He was standing at the edge of a rust-colored cliff, marbled with tans and yellows, gazing down at a landscape far more diverse and wonderful then he could ever have imagined. In the corner far to his right, the forest continued, coming to almost a dead stop where the bluest water he had ever seen ran sparkling right beside it. Deep cerulean orbs followed the running stream past storybook shacks like those seen in ancient times to a wide plain, freckled with vibrant oranges and reds, which the blonde assumed to be flowers. The plains stretched for a bit, until they faded into the continuing forest, which wrapped itself around a gargantuan mountain, at whose top rest a pearl white castle, with blue towers and turrets. Yamato could even, just barely, make out gold and emerald flags hanging from the traditional castle-like walls and flying freely in the breeze from the tower tops. From what looked like not even ten kilometers away, there was a great ocean, stretching as far as his eyes could see, with an equally beautiful shore to accompany it, with no signs of civilization nearby.

He would have stayed to marvel at the sights a bit longer, had not the same wind decided to remind the blonde that he was following it. Same as before, the chill crept up the Ishida's spine and after mentally shaking himself out of the grand reverie, he pursued the strange breeze determinedly.

Racing down the pathway that somehow Yamato hadn't noticed before, the wind wound itself around trees and bushes of different kinds, as if to show the direct path he should take. Yamato wasn't used to trusting things, especially strange and possibly magical winds that appeared out of nowhere, but, something spoke in the back of his mind, telling him that it was his best choice to do whatever the wind did, as it didn't seem to be harmed by its route.

'Then again, Yamato,' he thought to himself, 'it's wind, and it's not solid and nothing could probably hurt it. Maybe a fan, but…'

The wind suddenly slowed its descent into the valley, slowing the Japanese boy with it. He looked down the side of the pathway, noticing that he was going down the cliff in a spiral-like fashion. Wondering how he could have missed it as he was drinking in the vast and wonderful view from at the top of the cliff, he noticed that the wind was suddenly at the end of the pathway at the bottom, and was shooting into the forest. Yamato sighed and continued down the trail a little faster than before. Near the end of it, however, his feet gained speed, too much speed, and as the Ishida tried to slow down, his shoed toe caught on a projecting stone, causing him to lose his balance and travel the rest of the way down the mountain quite uncomfortably.

"Ouch…" he muttered, as his body came to a stop by the aid of one of the fragrant trees. Rubbing his aching head, Yamato rose to his feet and searched around for a sign as to which direction the wind could have gone. Out of the corner of his eye, an almost translucent indigo glittered and the Ishida set out after it immediately, all thoughts of questioning and doubt pushed aside.

Once again the trees closed in on him, and the farther he went into the forest to follow that strange phenomenon, the bigger they seemed to grow. By the time Yamato saw the mist stop over a shadowed figure, the foliage could have outranked fifteen stacked Tokyo Towers…at least!

Turning his attention from the gargantuan greenery, his blue eyes scanned the collapsed object; he dared not walk any closer until the shadow could be identified. Squinting, he could make out a few curves in the right places, signaling that it was female, and possibly human. The bright light of the sun that had shone warmly on his face only minutes before was now blotted and patchy as it strained to seep through the foliage, giving only a few patches of light for Yamato's eyes to use. The female was wearing-or, as Yamato remembered, was-green as far as he could see. The vapor abruptly and inevitably vanished and a great high-pitched shriek came from above the boy to follow.

Spinning around, he caught the last of an enormous blue bird, and a single large feather fell to the forest floor. 'It was just a bird…' Yamato consoled himself, 'no reason at all to panic.' The blonde shifted his gaze back to the shadow. From the bird's absence came a new, bigger patch of sunlight, which illuminated the figure's face.

"Sora!"

His outburst must have startled a few more birds, for the rustling of leaves and the flapping of wings died out whatever else the blonde had begun whispering to his friend. The Takenouchi was as limp as her fiery hair, which fell about her face and shoulders, and the iciness of her skin along with her blue-tinted lips genuinely scared the blonde. "Come on, Sora! Wake up!" he whispered urgently, but the words never took flight on the wind like the horrible birds.

From behind Yamato, another dark figure arose. It was a trembling, teenaged-sized being, with large dark brown spikes coming out from its head and heavy footsteps. Circling around its head was a blue haze, which just illuminated the deep warm chocolate orbs and green uniform.

"Where are we?" Taichi asked, rubbing the arms that hugged his body. The wind shot off to the south with the vanishing egg-layers. A sudden look of worry crossed his face as he saw Sora's limp body. "I've never seen anyone so cold. Of course, I'm pretty cold myself. Is she all right?"

"She's…still breathing." Swallowing, Taichi walked over to the pair; they knelt down on either side of the redhead, "I'm sure she'll be all right soon."

Wanting to get off of the subject, Taichi said, "A strange cold, blue wind lead me here. Did you-"

"Hai, and I got the bump on my head from it too."

Taichi's eyes couldn't help but wandering back to his best friend's figure. "We better try to warm her up, or wake her up, or both for that matter." He watched as Yamato gathered her into his arms and began to rub her back. Big brotherly concern twanged somewhere in the back of his mind, but he pushed it aside and got back to the current train of thought. "It was in our bedroom too."

"Nani?"

"It was after Hikari, and that's how I got here. I put my hand in it to wave it away, and the next thing I know, I'm surrounded by these huge trees, and freezing my-"

The phosphorescence shot back above the teens and spiraled down around Sora. It enclosed her face and slowly spread down her arms. Yamato, out of impulse, let go of her body, yet it didn't fall down to the ground, it stayed, hovering only a few centimeters above the ground. The Ishida knelt down to lay a hand on her; fear mirrored in his eyes, but Taichi stopped him. "Don't touch her!" he whispered fiercely, "It might freeze you like it did me."

Hopelessness seemed to be in the air, for all the pair could do was watch as the smoke entered her mouth, traveling down her throat. As it invaded her body, it brought her gently down, and her cheeks became flushed with color. When her hand made contact with the forest floor the haze wrapped around Yamato's fingers, also traveling throughout him.

Taichi, however, was not going to be taken so easily. He took one great big breath in and held his nose with his fingers. Warm chocolate eyes crossed as they watched the fog float lazily up to him. Refusing to take a breath, though, was hard work. The vision around the edges of his eyes was starting to darken, small bright spots blinked in front of him. Slowly, his lungs started to burn, and the white lights turned red. The air forced its way into his cheeks, making them bulge, and when his mind started to fog he collapsed.

Fuzzy vision barely made out the air stream that floated to his face and into his nose and between his parted lips. Taichi closed them, fearing the worst; whatever would happen, he didn't want to see it…or die with his eyes open. The mist froze his nose and tongue, making them numb with the cold. The freeze traveled down inside his neck and when it got down to his chest, it vanished.

Tingly. That was the word Taichi could have used to describe it, tingly. He felt his lungs tingle, the inside of his throat tingle, his fingertips, earlobes, knees, ankles and arms all tingle with pleasure; even his eyes, closed as they were now, tingled. A peaceful feeling spread from his heart to his hands and feet, and a little sigh escaped his mouth. Unhurriedly, Taichi opened his eyes.

Someone's hand was down his throat.

"AIII!" Taichi bolted upright, and ran smack into Yamato, who obviously had experience the same thing. The bluish hand that had been in his gullet was gone and the brief flash of blue Taichi had seen before knocking Yamato down indicated that the beings other hand was in him.

Yamato pushed Taichi off of him. "Get off, baka!" he barked, standing up to brush himself off. Taichi saw goosebumps up and down the Ishida's arms. Reaching a hand out to touch his own arm, Taichi felt a sudden chill and saw the bumps there too.

He spun around to see Sora and saw a smile on her face and a third hand down her throat as well. A man's arm, bluish in tint, was attached to that hand and a small moan of pleasure sounded from the girl. The man twitched, and with a sick smirk, proceeded to move his second hand from her face downward.

With a battle cry enough to scare the remaining bright green bird from the tree, Taichi ran to the man to knock him down and braced himself for the impact his foot would make with the man's head. As he got there and gave his famous goal-scoring kick, his foot hit air and he went sprawling to the side, tumbling head over heels.

"You sick bastard!" Yamato screamed and tried the more direct approach of yanking Sora off of the ground by the hand. He shook her to try to wake her of the dream-like state and her eyes fluttered.

The hazy blue man stood up. He was taller than Yamato by a few inches and much more muscular. His hair was cut short and his hands were quite large, only he appeared now to have just two arms. Barefoot, and wearing nothing but a simple, almost Roman robe and a crown of white sparkling stones as see-through as he was, the man frowned and remarked, "Ruining all my fun, are you?"

At that moment, Sora's eyes chose to open fully and found themselves staring straight into Yamato's. After a beat of silence she flushed. Then, like a wave on the sand, whatever the man had been doing to her in her mind broke onto her consciousness. "Oh, God," she whispered and then buried her face in the Ishida's shoulder, sobbing.

"Oh little girl, you fear me so? How it hurts." He gave a sick grin to go along with the sarcastic puppy dog tone he had taken. "Come here, my rukui."

Sora's fingers dug into Yamato's back. "Protect me," she whispered, clearly frightened. Yamato's arms drew her in closer as he stared daggers at the scantily clad man.

The Yagami, fully awake and adrenaline pumping, raced in front of his friends, arms open wide, and demanded, as to where they were, who he was, why they were here, when they could leave, what exactly he did to them and what the hell "rukui" meant.

"Ah, the frank and callous attitude of the youth," he remarked with an air that snapped a few of Taichi's nerves. "You are in the Kalani Forest, where exactly in it, I have no idea. I merely was sent here to bring you together and to give you shanani. Kalani Dokoru told me that as long as I got you together, I could do whatever I wanted with whomever I wanted; and as she did not send Chocolo and as I am not anything like he, I chose the girl." Here he stopped as to savor something. "Mmm, I have never quite had that experience with a human girl before…"

"You dirty-"

"Ah-ah-ah!" he interrupted Taichi, "I have not finished! I am Stijid, and you are now formally invited for an audience with the Kalani Dokoru, by whom you have been brought here, yet I gave you shanani. But, I'm afraid that until you have conversed with the Dokoru, you cannot leave." With that Stijid backed up and vanished.

"Wait!" Taichi yelled.

Stijid materialized again. "Yes?"

"You didn't answer my last question!"

"Ah, you can ask your delicious friend over there what it means. I gave her more shanani then she needed, and a bit more than shanani I must say…" he gave that wicked smiled again.

Yamato refrained from going over to that pervert and smacking the brains out of him and instead clutched Sora tighter. "Can you at least lead us to Kalina Doruko?"

His white eyes narrowed. "Kalani Dokoru, and no, but I am allowed to give you some hints." And at that, he began chattering along in some foreign language for quite some time. It was mixed; Yamato understood some words, and others he did not. As he talked, Yamato realized that he was no longer speaking his native Japanese, but the same musical language that Stijid was speaking.

Shooting his gaze back to the blue man, he saw that with each word a miniscule part of him vanished. Now, he was more of like the beginnings of a jigsaw puzzle rather than the see-through being he was before. A bird soared above them casting its shadow over the group.

"And remember," the phosphorescence said as he completely vanished, "nothing is ever as it seems…"

::fin::

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::itty bitty note::

::*ahem*::

::None of those weird words like Kalani are Japanese. I made them up myself; it's a language that's going to go along with the fic!::

::I am reaaaaaally disappointed in myself for that last chapter, it stinks. It's long and boring. Now, this one I'm proud of! I even added some Sorato in there because *drumroll* this IS going to be a Sorato!::

::And now, a friendly reminder that I don't own Digimon::

::I don't own Digimon::

::Ta-da! *sweatdrop* Well, feel free to review please! ^_^ Ja, minna!::

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::dragonfire::