DISCLAIMER: OK then, iiiiiiiit's (drum roll) disclaimer time again, folks. Digimon does not belong to moi; instead, it's the property of Toei and Saban. I wish it were mine, but there U go - what U want & what U get R 2 different things.
If NE of U other authors out there think that you 'want' to plagiarize this fic, then let me tell U, you don't! If NE body even thinks about taking this and passing it off as their own, then I'm telling you now, bub (!), fuggeddaboudit! Which closely translates as, "If you do and I catch your sorry butt then there is going 2B some serious violence happening at your place when I get there!"
Now that's over and done with, (I wasn't trying to insult NE1, believe me, I just though that I'd let people know the basic situation on this side of the keyboard,) I shall introduce the fourth part of my fic. If you have digested the blurb and still like me enough to continue then please, read on and enjoy (if you can.)
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"The Darkness Within" By Scribbler
Chapter Four ~ "Forgotten Friends"
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"Hold a true friend with both your hands." -- Nigerian Proverb
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Tai crouched lightly on the cold metal of the balcony. Getting up here had been easier than he'd thought, much easier than last time. Sounds of a movie leaked through a crack in the sliding doors before him, accompanied by laughter. She must have friends over. This was good. It meant she was still alive. He sighed quietly. That was a relief; but then, whose was the dried blood on his hands?

He waited for a few minutes, unmoving. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to leave. Some unidentifiable force locked his legs and kept him listening to the friendly sounds filtering from that apartment. Why did he stay? She was safe, so why didn't he go before it was too late? It was dangerous for him to remain, he knew. Both because of his potential discovery and because of...

The sounds of the movie ceased and deafening silence filled the cool night air. Where were the voices? What was happening? Tai jerked his head up, something was wrong. Almost silently he rose to his feet, the only disturbance a slight squeak as one of his sneakers moved fractionally across the metalwork. His eyebrows knit as he listened intently, worry bubbling in his gut.

No! That was dangerous! He couldn't afford to worry! He couldn't afford to feel! They couldn't afford for him to feel! Not now. He pushed the feeling away, forcing it to disappear before it erupted into...

Suddenly the door in front of him flew open and he was blinded by light from inside the room. He covered his eyes with his arms, protecting himself from the prying brightness. A gasp was audible from inside. He'd been discovered! No, they couldn't see him! Not any more! He was dead to them. He was no longer part of their world.

Slowly, and without any real thought to what he was doing, Tai lowered his arms and squinted through the light. There was a person at the door, a boy of about his own age with a mop of dirty blonde hair. Matt Ishida. What was he doing here? And beyond him a pretty pink haired girl cross-legged on the floor, her petite mouth wide open in shock. Mimi Takichawa. Wasn't she supposed to be in America? How did she get to Tokyo?

His friends.

No. Not any more.

His hazel eyes fell upon the third person in the room. She knelt between the two others, slender hands covering her mouth, staring at him with wide eyes. Sora. No, she couldn't see him. He couldn't let her see him like this! Tai panicked, consternation contracting his thin chest and causing his breath to come in short wheezing gasps. Yet he couldn't tear his gaze away.

Sora watched him unblinkingly. How could this be? Was this a ghost? Or was it really him? Tai? Behind her hand the corners of her mouth twitched, torn between screaming and smiling.

The boy on the balcony suddenly turned and grasped the rail with one hand. In a second he had vaulted over and disappeared down into the deep dark night.

Sora screamed. Matt ran forward and stared down at where Tai had vanished. Mimi rushed to her friend's side as he scanned the ground. Tai couldn't have survived a jump like that. It was impossible, they were four stories up. Yet something made him search the darkness for his friend.

There, was that...? Yes, it was. A figure speeding away into the darkness. Unhurt, if the rate at which he travelled was anything to go by. Matt gaped. How could someone have gotten away from a drop like that without at least breaking a leg? He considered yelling, but turned at the sound of sobbing behind him.

Sora sat hugging her friend, and Mimi comfortingly rubbed her back as heaving gasps wracked her slender body. Matt knelt beside them, unsure of what to do. He was still in a state of shock himself, and one look at Mimi's expanded hazel eyes told him that she was too. His throat felt dry, as if he hadn't drunk anything for weeks, but he forced a few words out.

"Was that.... Tai?"

Mimi nodded. "I think so."

"It was." Sora choked, her face buried in Mimi's yellow sweater. "I'd know him anywhere. Oh, Tai." How could this be? Tai was dead.

Wasn't he?

"So what do we do now?" Asked Mimi in a strained voice. Matt's face was grim.

"We call on the people who can hep us get to the bottom of this."

"Who? The police?"

Matt shook his head. No, not the police. They couldn't help with this kind of situation. If they went running to the cops saying they'd just seen their dead best friend out on Sora's balcony in the middle of the night, why they'd just laugh at them. Any adult would. No, they needed people who were used to dealing with strange phenomena and would believe what they said.

"We call the Digidestined."
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Far away, in a traditional Japanese house out in the country, someone was waiting. A teenage girl, no more than a child really, knelt on her futon with her hands together in silent prayer and her eyes closed. She wore a pair of pale pink pyjamas, and short brown hair tumbled wispily across her gaunt face. She hadn't moved in hours, and her companion was beginning to think she had fallen asleep where she was.

With a small sigh, the girl straightened up. Her hazel eyes opened and she stared out of the window opposite her bed. Silently she let her hands drop to her sides, ruffling the sheet of her makeshift bed with one slim index finger. Grandma had gone to sleep hours ago. She had listened carefully as the old woman padded to her room along the hall and retired to bed, thinking her granddaughter had done the same. How wrong she was.

"Something's wrong." The girl breathed dulcetly, her voice barely above a whisper.

From the folds of blankets on a nearby wicker chair something stirred. A pointed white ear emerged, followed by an azure coloured eye set in snowy fur.

"What's wrong, Kari?" The bundle asked sleepily.

"I can feel it." Kari murmured.

"Feel what?" The eye queried, coming more fully awake.

Kari appeared not to have heard the question, and kept on resolutely gazing out of the window. "Can't you?"

"No, I can't!" The mound of fabric snapped. "I haven't a clue what you're talking about Kari!"

The girl swivelled her head around and glanced apologetically at the quivering bundle. "Sorry, Gatomon, but I haven't had this kind of feeling in such a long time. Not since we were in the Digiworld fighting the Dark Masters."

"What?" A small white cat-like creature bounded out of the chair and came to sit next to the sage little girl. "What kind of feeling is it?"

"It's...like a voice, calling me. Telling me things." Kari shook her head and gave a wry smile. "It sounds stupid, I know."

"Not to me it doesn't." Gatomon urged. "What's it saying now?"

"It's saying..." Kari trailed off as if listening to something her friend couldn't hear. Gatomon twitched impatiently.

"Well?"

"It's saying that something's been set in motion. Something big."

"Does it say what this 'something' is?"

"No."

Gatomon thought for a moment. She'd known today would be special. Her whiskers had hurt this morning, and something always happened when her whiskers hurt for no apparent reason. The old woman had thought she'd had fleas the way she'd been scratching at her face. Stupid thing, trying to put a flea collar on me. I'd half a mind to give her a piece of my mind. What a shock she'd have had if she knew I could talk. Pretty little pussikins my paw!

"Gatomon?"

"What else does it say?" The feline Digimon asked, having a good idea of who, or rather what, was talking to Kari.

Kari shut her eyes for a moment. "It says.... that it's time to go back." She looked at her Digimon curiously. "Gatomon, does that mean...?"

"Yeah, Kari. I think it does. You can't really argue with the powers of light when the call you to do something."

Kari's face lit up, but fell again as a sudden thought struck her. "But how do we get there? It's the middle of the night, and I don't think Grandma would understand if I asked her to drive us."

"I have a better idea." Gatomon grinned wickedly. "You still got your Digivice?"

"Yeah. But there's no computer around here, the closest grandma's got is her car radio. Besides, you know I can't open a portal to the Digiworld any more."

"I wasn't thinking along those lines at all." Gatomon chuckled at her own astuteness. "I was thinking of a faster, more stylish mode of transportation."

"What do you mean?" Kari wondered, perplexed. Then it dawned on her what her Digimon partner was getting at, and a grin started to spread slowly across her face. "But it'll only work if Azulongmon's power is still in my D3."

"Only one way to find out." Gatomon purred, heading for the door. "Let's go."
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Officer Seiku O'Grady rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. He didn't need this. One of the junior officers had just brought in another body for the autopsy department, handed the paperwork to his senior and walked away again without so much as a 'do you want some help?' Seiku grunted. These newbies were all the same. Big and tough in front of their teammates, but when it came down to the nitty gritty of handling a corpse who did they turn to? The pot bellied mug above them in rank, that's who, he thought ruefully. Why do I always get stuck dealing with these things? He wheeled the trolley containing the latest victim of Tokyo nightlife down the hall and through the swinging double doors to its designated destination.

Seiku hated the autopsy department. Cold and clinical, the whitewashed walls had never really appealed to him. Plus there was a funny smell that always seemed to hang around the place - like disinfectant mixed with air freshener. There seemed to be nobody around.

"Hello?" He called in his gruff voice. No answer. Now what? What was he supposed to do with a dead body? He glared around the echoing room, irritated. It was bad enough they made him come down here, now they expected him to hang around with a corpse? What was he meant to do, strike up a conversation with it? Ask it how life was treating it? Not likely. Honestly, you had to wonder about anyone who would voluntarily train to poke around inside dead things. You wouldn't catch him looking into one, no siree....

"Excuse me, can I help you?"

Seiku turned rather abruptly to see a shapely young woman come through the swinging doors behind him. She was slim, rather short and wore a white lab coat. A pair of steel spectacles perched precariously on her nose, and there was a clipboard clutched possessively in her hands. She looked at him through curious green eyes, her hair pulled back into a tight bun on the back of her head.

Things are looking up, Seiku thought to himself. He coughed. "Ahem, uh, the name's O'Grady, ma'am. Seiku O'Grady. Officer Seiku O'Grady, in fact"

"Fiiiine." The woman drawled dubiously, obviously wondering what this strange man was doing in the autopsy department. "And why might you be here, Officer O'Grady?"

"Call me Seiku, please." He grinned at her through his thick moustache. Oh help, she thought.

"Alright, Seiku. Now, would you mind telling me why you're in my lab, and what that thing is?" She pointed at the trolley the plump man was leaning on.

"Oh, this thing?" Seiku blustered. "Just another poor soul one of my junior officers brought in. thought I'd bring him down here for you, Miss..."

"Walters. Jean Walters. And how kind of you. If you'll just bring the body over here where I can get a better look at it, Officer O'Grady."

"Seiku." He corrected.

She sighed resignedly. "Seiku." She had a slight accent. Seiku hazarded a guess at it being French, although he wasn't really sure.

Together they wheeled the trolley over to a standing lamp in the corner. Jean swivelled the lamp round and switched it on so that it illuminated the blanket covering the body with stark yellow light. She turned to a table next to her and pulled on a pair of skin-tight plastic gloves. She was in the process of attaching a mask to her face when she realised that the leering police officer was still there.

"Um, you can go now, Off- I mean Seiku. I can handle proceedings from here."

Seiku shuffled his feet. "Well, I was hoping I could stay and watch you work, Jean. I've always been interested in the study of clog-poppers, so to speak," He laughed.

Jean groaned inwardly. Could he get any more obvious? Some men just couldn't take a hint. Oh well, best let him stay. One spot of blood and he'd probably be out of there like a shot, most of them were. She handed him a pair of gloves.

"Put these on, and don't touch anything, please."

Turning her attention back to the task at hand, Jean gently pulled back the sheet covering the body before her. Even with her training she recoiled at the sight of it. It was nasty in the truest sense of the word.

"Ugh, how long was this thing lying around for?" She asked, gagging slightly as a wave of stench hit her.

"Um, I'm not sure." Seiku conceded. "A couple of days perhaps? It was in a deserted area of town, so it could have been there weeks and nobody would have known. We reckon it's probably some drunkard who got on the wrong side of someone with an extremely bad temper and violent tendencies."

"I don't think so." Jean muttered, more to herself than to her unwanted cohort. Something stirred at the back of her mind, but the podgy officer interrupted her.

"Phew, what a stink!" He wafted his hand around trying to dissipate the odour of rotting flesh. Jean growled to herself. "Is it as bad as the others?"

"Others?"

"Yeah, the other bodies brought in earlier in the week. They were pretty messed up too, from what I heard. Is this one as bad?"

"I wouldn't know." Jean replied, intrigued. "I only started working here this morning, and I haven't had a chance to look at all the files yet. Did you see them?"

"No fear!" Seiku began, and then stopped. "Um, I mean, I wasn't privy to those cases. I only read about them in the newspapers afterwards, same as everybody else."

"Interesting." Jean turned and seated herself at a computer terminal nest to her workbench. She started to type rapidly, murmuring to herself as she did so. "On initial visual examination, victim appears to have been decapitated with an unknown weapon, and the head has not been found. There is also evidence of some form of electrocution, as well as marks indicating a beating of some sort. The body is unidentified and several days old, although an exact number is unavailable at present." She paused for a moment, and then hurriedly clicked at something with her mouse.

"What're you doing?" Asked Seiku, anxious to turn away from the corpse before he heaved. Several photographs appeared on the screen as he spoke.

"There, I knew there was a connection. Now to find the files for this past week in Tokyo." The younger woman half whispered.

"Pardon? Connection?" Seiku was confused. The pictures before him all seemed to be of different dead bodies, taken from various angles.

"To the Headless Killer." Jean explained cryptically. One glance at the hairy man's face told her he didn't understand and she sighed. "For the past year I was working at an autopsy unit investigating unsolved and unusual murders. About the time I started, a string of murders began appearing all across Japan. At first there didn't seem to be any connection between them. They would just infrequently appear in random small towns, usually in the countryside. But over time I began to notice a few patterns concerning them. Number one, they all appeared in a line, as if someone was travelling from village to village, killing and them moving onto the next. But despite my theory, there didn't appear to be any evidence to support it. Until I started comparing the autopsy reports from each one. Enter pattern number two. Take a look at these photographs. What similarities can you see between them?" She indicted to the screen with one plastic encased finger. Seiku peered at it for a second.

"Uh, they're all dead?" He offered hopefully. Jean snorted in disgust at his answer.

"They've all been decapitated, fool. Plus, in each report it says that the bodies show signs of being electrocuted as well as beaten."

"Oh, I knew that!" Seiku vaunted quickly.

Sure you did, Jean glared at him. "The symptoms are exactly the same as our friend over there, and if I'm right - " There was a musical ping from the computer as it finished the job she'd set it to do. More pictures flashed up on the screen, each accompanied by a small amount of text. Jean smiled triumphantly. "Bingo! I knew it; they're exactly the same. The Headless Killer's in Tokyo, I'm sure of it."

"What?" Seiku was trying hard not to throw up as the rank stink from the carcass behind him invaded his nostrils. "What do you mean, here?"

"It's not the first time he's been in the capitol, either." Jean stated almost exultantly at her discovery. "He was here before. In fact, Tokyo was where it all started one year ago."

"What are you talking about? How did it start in Tokyo?"

Jean once again pointed to a beheaded image on the screen. "With the death of a boy in Odaiba, named Tai Kamiya. The records state that he was killed in a botched burglary at his home along with his parents and family pet. I, however, have a different theory."

"And what might that be?" Seiku asked sarcastically. He had had just about enough of this. There must be an easier way to pick up women.

"I believe that his was just the first in a long line of deaths, and now I intend to prove it by finding pattern number three."

"Pattern number three?" Seiku repeated fruitlessly as Jean rose and moved across to the dead body on the trolley. She delicately raised it's arm and, with a pair of silvery surgical scissors, cut away a piece of rotting fabric from it's clothing. She then stared down into the hole she'd created as if looking for something.

"Each body had a strange mark on them. I can have proof for my theory that the Headless Killer's in Tokyo if I can find one on this poor person." She skirted round to the other side and proceeded with a similar check there. Finally she cut off the entire chest portion of the corpse's attire. The flesh beneath was green and an evil smell escaped when she moved the tattered garments from their accustomed position. Seiku was now certain that he was going to perform a most spectacular Technicolor yawn, and was about to voice his feelings when a cry of success sounded from his female comrade.

"Found it!" she practically yelled. "Quick, come see."

Curious despite his churning stomach, and unwilling to give up the chance of a date with the pretty - albeit, quite odd and morbid - woman, Seiku complied and joined her at the carcass' side.

Jean gestured to the very centre of its chest, and Seiku leaned over to get a better look. There, etched into the skin like a brand on a Steer was a strange mark. It was constructed of three different sized circles, each one contained inside the other. Around these were eight small triangles, points facing away from the curved surface. The combined effect of these shapes resembled a disjointed sun, like an abstract logo from a consumer product or something. It was actually quite pretty, until you noticed the dried brown stains crusted into the cracks and realised that it had been deliberately cut into somebody's flesh, and from the looks of the blood they had been alive when it happened too.

Seiku gagged involuntary. "How.... interesting." Was all he could manage to say before he fainted on the floor.
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Matt sat self-consciously on the end of Sora's bed, unsure of what to do. It had been just under an hour since he called the remaining members of the Digidestined, and needless to say, they had come running without hesitation. Now most of them were gathered in Sora's apartment, primarily in her bedroom, waiting for him to say something.

Aesthetically, the group of youngsters hadn't changed much, and where vicissitudes were visible they were subtle. The most striking alteration was definitely evident in Yolei. The teenager's hair had been cut into a stylish bob, and her glasses were no more. Matt assumed she now wore contact lenses, as her vision didn't seem to be impaired in the slightest by her lack of spectacles. The pink tressed girl wore a tartan skirt beneath her knee length leather jacket, and a red beret sat jauntily to one side on her head. In all, her mien spoke of extreme self-confidence and maturity - two traits not necessarily found together in her the last time Matt had seen her. The younger girl seemed much older than she was - older, perhaps, than some of her elders whom she now sat among. Matt also noticed almost laughingly that her hand was clamped possessively over Izzy's, who sat next to her with an expression plastered on his face of both contentment and embarrassment at her action, mixed with curiosity and inquisitiveness concerning their summons hither.

Sora and Mimi sat cross-legged on the floor next to Matt, and he was uncomfortably aware that from where he was positioned he was much taller than anyone else in the room - even Joe. Eight pairs of eyes stared at him expectantly, and he shifted uncomfortably under their gaze. The silence was stifling. Ken had not yet arrived - having further to travel since he lived on the opposite side of town to everyone else. Matt knew he shouldn't start with Ken still missing, but with every passing second he pictured mental images of Tai getting further and further away from them. Clearing his throat - a sound which seemed at least ten times louder than usual in the quiet room - the blonde youth decided to begin with a neutral subject.

"Um, did anyone call Kari?" Was his voice usually that high? Surely not.

"No." TK replied, voice dull and unemotional at the sound of her name. "She never left any address or contact number when she left a year ago. Guess she didn't want anybody to reach her anymore."

Matt could have kicked himself. What a stupid subject to bring up! He knew that TK had harboured feelings for Kari, and it had hurt him badly when she severed all contact after the tragic events of last year. How could his own brother have thought that Tai's little sister was a safe topic to bring up at a time like this?

The sound of someone clearing his throat brought Matt back to reality with a bump.

"Uh, Matt?" He looked up at the speaker. It was Cody. Matt already knew that the small boy had been forced to sneak out of his own apartment in order to attend this hastily called meeting. Neither his worrisome mother nor slightly more lenient grandfather would have consented to his coming, so the usually honest-to-a-fault Cody had been forced into deception.

By me, Matt thought ruefully to himself. No, by Tai....

"Matt, I think I speak for all of us when I say, what's this all about?" Cody continued.

"Yeah." Joe agreed. "You call me up in the middle of the night, gabble some incoherent message about gathering all of the Digidestined together, and then hang up. I, for one, would like to know what's going on." He stared almost accusingly in Matt's direction.

Matt sighed. This was it, Ken or not, he couldn't put it off any longer. Not when they had asked him point-blank what they were doing there. Not when they all looked to him for some explanation, for guidance, for leadership...

No! That mantle wasn't his to claim. It never had been and it never would. Not whilst he possessed this crucial information about the true holder of that title. Matt sighed softly, gaining strength from the small exhalation of breath.

"I won't lie to you all. I know that this is too important for me to skirt around it like a coward, so I'm just gonna come right out and say it." He stared hard at all of them, as if daring them to doubt his softly spoken words. "Tonight, Mimi, Sora and I saw Tai at this apartment."

There was a collective gasp from everyone present, followed by a barrage of questions, comments and accusations thrown in equal measure at the reluctant teenager.

"What do you mean, 'saw' him?" Asked Izzy.

"Was it a ghost?" Yolei added, leaning forward.

"No, he was real, and very much alive." Matt replied. As of yet, neither Sora nor Mimi had spoken to the crowd of teenagers, and he looked desperately at them in turn for support on how to handle the situation. Silently, Mimi stood. The avalanche of word ceased with her strained expression, and eight sets of ears listened intently to what she said.

"Matt is telling the truth. Tai was here, alive and - as far as we could see - well. He was out on Sora's balcony, but when we discovered him he took off."

"What do you mean, 'took off'?" Queried Yolei, who was by far the most verbal of the group at the moment. Curiously Davis hadn't said a word, and remained staring at the carpet throughout all that was said. Mimi turned and faced the younger girl, staring her squarely in the eye.

"I mean exactly what I said. Tai jumped off the balcony and ran away."

"What?" Izzy exploded, unable to believe his ears. "But... but that's scientifically impossible. Nobody could jump off the fourth floor of a building and still be uninjured enough to move, let alone run."

"Well he did." Mimi answered curtly.

"I don't believe you." Izzy shot back.

"Neither do I." Yolei supplemented vehemently.

"I must admit," Cody conceded, "it does sound rather far-fetched. I mean, Tai's supposed to be dead, right? They found his body...."

Suddenly Sora leapt to her feet, anger shining in her hazel eyes. "Shut up all of you!" She shouted. Everyone was taken aback by this abrupt show of emotion from the erstwhile-subdued girl, even Matt and Mimi. Sora continued, betrayal and fury palpable in her quivering voice. "How dare you! All of you! Tai isn't supposed to be dead. He was never supposed to be dead! He died. That was it. It wasn't meant to happen, and now you all sit here saying that he's supposed to be gone, like it was fate or something. You never even stopped to consider that he might actually have been alive all this time. You call yourselves friends, but not one of you is willing to believe that he's come back. That we have a chance to save him now where we couldn't save him before! Are you? ARE YOU?" She glared around at the circle of wide-eyed youngsters, challenging them with her gaze to dispute what she said. No one did, and she continued defiantly. "I know that it was him. That he's alive. And I'm not just going to let him slip away from me. Not when I've got a second chance to.... to bring him home."

The ensuing rift of silence left by her scathing words hung in the air like a choking fog. Simultaneously, all members of the Digidestined team seemed to have been struck dumb by the zeal of the piqued girl before them. Suddenly, exhibiting a tremendous amount of courage and faith, one of them stood to meet Sora's gaze with one matching her conviction and credence particle for particle, molecule for resolute molecule, atom for audacious atom.

"I believe you." Davis said quietly, his usually boisterous and arrogant voice softer than ever heard before. Sora looked gratefully at him.

"I... I do too." TK stammered, wary of ruining the precious moment Davis' unusually noble act had incurred. One by one, the Digidestined agreed with him, until not one person in that room didn't believe that somehow, inexplicably, their leader had been returned to them, and that it was up to them to find him and discover what happened to him one year ago.

"Then it's settled." Matt stated needlessly. "We have to find Tai, no matter what."

"What should we do first?" Yolei wondered aloud.

"Hey, how about we use our Digivices to track him?" Joe suggested. Izzy mused on the idea.

"I don't know. The Digivices haven't reacted to anything the entire year Tai's been missing, least of all a stray Digivice. What's to say things would be any different now? Did Tai have his Digivice with him when you saw him, Matt?"

"I don't know." Matt confessed. "I didn't get a long enough look to notice something like that. I was kind of knocked for a loop that my best friend had just been resurrected in front of my eyes."

"Point taken." Izzy looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned to TK. "What about your D3s? I know our original Digivices seem to have been dormant since the last time we returned from the Digital World; there's certainly been no reaction from mine for months. Are your souped-up versions any different?"

"Uh-uh." TK shook his fabric-covered head. "It's weird, but ever since we came back from the Digiworld a year ago I've not been able to open a portal back there. It's like they changed the locks and I don't have a key any more."

"How did that affect Patamon?" Izzy mused. "It can't have been very good for him to be away from the Digital World for so long."

"He didn't come back with me." TK sighed. "When I returned last time, he just didn't come through. He stayed in the Digiworld, and the Digiport closed before I could go back and get him."

"Hey, that was the same with me and Hawkmon." Yolei exclaimed.

"Me too with Armadillomon." Cody added. As one, the entire group turned to look expectantly at Davis.

"Uh-huh" The goggle wearing youth nodded his agreement. "Veemon didn't come through either. He'd been having trouble transporting for a while, and then suddenly, 'poof', he's taking a long vacation in the Digital World without me."

"Very strange." Izzy stroked his chin sagely, pondering on the problem. Just then, the musical chime of the doorbell rang dulcetly through the heavy air. Sora rose dutifully.

"I'll get it, it's my apartment." She declared. Picking her way carefully through the mess of limbs and her own personal untidiness, the chestnut haired girl passed through the door of her bedroom, closing it quietly behind her. Only Davis watched her leave, his hazel eyes narrowed in curiosity. Why was she shutting the door? Was it to keep them in? Or something else? He swivelled his attention back to the conversation at hand, mentally dismissing his suspicions as paranoid. He was just a little tense, he told himself. After all, it's not every day the person you idolize turns out not to be dead like you thought, and is actually alive and in your city at that very moment!

"So, no go with the Digivices." Izzy summarized. "What are our other options?"

"We could phone the police." Joe offered, slightly annoyed that nobody had thought of this already. He'd reckoned without Matt.

"Do you really think they'd believe us if we called them and told them our dead best friend has come back to life, and is now running around the city with supposed super-human powers that allow him to jump off buildings without going splat? Yeah, I can really see that happening, Joe."

"OK, OK, I get what you mean." Joe held up his hands in a gesture of mock surrender to halt the sarcastic barrage spilling from his friend's lips. Matt sure had gotten cranky since the last time Joe had seen him. When was that anyway? It must've been a year ago, at Tai's funeral. Correction, Tai's false funeral. Joe suddenly started, shocked that he'd missed this vital question. If Tai was alive and in Tokyo, then who was in his grave? Whose body now lay beneath the headstone reading 'Tai Kamiya'? Joe's voice cracked as he broadcast his worries to the motley collection of young people surrounding him.

"Hey, um, guys?" He began. "Uh, hasn't anybody wondered about - " He was cut off by the door to Sora's bedroom opening, and a tall, slim figure strolling in.

Ken Ichijoji stood among the assembled group a changed person to the individual who had once worked under the title 'Digimon-Emperor'. Neither was he the shy and guilt-ridden boy who'd followed that deranged megalomaniac. Instead, the 13-year-old now possessed an almost tangible self-assurance, hued with a kindness clearly evident in his cerulean eyes. He wore a pair of faded jeans, frayed at the edges and stained in several places. This item of clothing alone was so unusual on the customarily well-groomed young man that those among the Digidestined who'd not seen him for a while were momentarily struck dumb by his mitigated appearance. He turned to them, barely concealed curiosity patent in those twin orbs of abstruse blue.

"Hey guys."

Matt was the first to find his tongue, closely followed by Davis.

"Hey, Ken. Glad you could make it -" Matt started, but the younger boy cut him off.

"What took you so long, Ken? You've missed almost everything!"

Ken rolled his eyes. "Public transport. Remind me never to catch a train again so late at night. Correction, remind me never to catch a train again! I came very close to becoming two-dimensional tonight. An effective diet plan, I'll admit, but not an altogether pleasant one" His comments extracted a muted giggling from members of the sombre group, but Ken wasn't slow to pick up on their general demeanours. Eyebrows arching questioningly, he faced Matt, who - despite his best efforts not to - was fast becoming both spokesperson and ringleader of the disjointed group. "Hey, Matt, what's going on here? Why'd you call me out so late? For that matter, why is everybody else here so late? Was there a party I wasn't invited to?"

Matt sighed dejectedly. "No, nothing so fun as that I'm afraid."

"Too right!" Muttered Joe, annoyed that his query had been forgotten with Ken's arrival. Matt shot him a look that unmistakably said, 'keep your comments to yourself unless they're asked for, Joe', and then turned back to a slightly amused looking Ken.

"What Joe means to say is that we made quite a disturbing discovery tonight, which we thought all of the Digidestined ought to be aware of."

"It must be pretty bad to get that kind of a reaction from Sora." The younger boy commented idly. "She nearly knocked me over when I came in. Didn't even say sorry either - just marched off down the corridor like I wasn't even there."

"What?" Matt exclaimed, aghast. "You mean, Sora's gone outside?"

"Yeah." Ken seemed perplexed. "Didn't she tell you she was going? She sure seemed determined about something, I thought you guy's had had an argument, if you'll pardon me saying so." He bowed a little in apology, but Matt hardly seemed to notice the gesture.

"Oh my God, she must've gone out to look for Tai!" He practically yelled. "She's all alone out there with all the psychos and perverts around. We've got to go find her!"

"Yeah, before something awful happens." Cody agreed, the memory of the article he'd read on his Grandfather's newspaper resurfacing with sickening clarity in his mind.

As the remaining Digidestined grabbed their coats and barrelled urgently out of Sora's apartment, Ken was swept up in their mad rush for the door.

"Whoa!" He cried. "Wait a minute, what's going on? Why would Sora be out looking for Tai? Tai's dead."

"We'll explain everything on the way." Mimi hurriedly extenuated. "But right now, we have to find Sora!"
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AUTHOR'S NOTES: This was the longest chapter I've written yet, and it took me quite a long time, so what did you think? Was it worth the effort? Or should I just not have bothered? All R&R appreciated, and I love reading reviews - good and bad! - so please post some.
I'm sorry for the delays uploading this and the next few chapters. You see, I like to keep several chapters ready and waiting just in case, but at the same time, I feel like I should be uploading more than I am. This results in me rushing things and the quality of the fic suffering, so you'll (hopefully) understand when I say that if I don't upload straight away, it's for a good reason. A temporary inconvenience makes for a better result, I say - but then, I'm kind of biased on this front. Oh well.

Until next time.

Scribbler ^_^;;