Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. However, all the original characters in this story are my intellectual property. Spiffy, ain't it?

Author's Notes: For those who want to be put on a mailing list to be informed of when I (and a few other authors) update their fanfiction, e-mail me at Filled_Nothingness@hotmail.com, and I'll gladly put you on the list.

***
Circle Game
***

Chapter 4: How Illogically Logical

Catherine Motomiya was scribbling down the rough budget outline to her and her husband's noodle cart chain, when the phone rang in its shrill way. With a sigh, she leaned back in the cushy living room chair that Daisuke had long ago claimed his own, and reached for the receiver.

"Allo," she greeted, then mentally scolded herself. No matter how many years in Japan she was, it seemed she'd always slip into her native tongue when answering the phone.

"Um... Is this the Motomiya residence?" asked an unsure voice.

"Yes, it is," said Catherine, dutifully slipping back into Japanese.

"Ah, yes. Good," snipped the voice. "This is Mrs. Aino, your daughter's principal."

Something cold gripped Catherine's heart. "Is... Is something wrong with Leala? Is she okay?"

"Actually, Mrs. Motomiya," said Mrs. Aino, "I was hoping you could tell me."

Catherine blinked. "What?"

"Leala didn't show up for detention today," Mrs. Aino informed her. "I don't know where she is."

The question of why Leala had detention to begin with for once didn't cross Catherine's mind. All that mattered was her little girl was missing. Again. Memories of long ago flashed through the French woman's mind. Of her little four year old daughter gone without a trace. A week of wondering, worrying, and crying on her husband's shoulder. A week that she never wanted to relive. "Are you sure? Maybe she's outside somewhere, and-"

"Mrs. Motomiya, don't you think I've already looked?" Mrs. Aino asked, slightly annoyed. "Now, I don't know how the people in your country raise their children, but over here we make sure that have a little more respect. I think it would be a good idea if-"

"Au revoir, Mme Aino," Catherine muttered, pressing down on the receiver.

"Catherine?" Floramon prompted from her seat next to her Partner. "Is Leala all right?"

"I don't know," Catherine whispered, already halfway through punching in a telephone number.

"Hello?" greeted a masculine voice on the other end.

"Daisuke?!" Catherine gripped the receiver tightly, desperately trying to hold down her panic.

"Cathy? You sound horrible. Is something wrong?" he asked, worry evident.

"Is Leala with you?" she queried.

"No. Why would she be at one of our noodle carts now? What's going on?" the last question was soft, and overly calm. Catherine knew it; Daisuke was already on the border of Overprotective Father Mode.

"She didn't show up for detention today, and she's not here," Catherine explained.

"Well, maybe she ditched and went to practice. Or Tenshi's," Daisuke added. "You know how she can be sometimes."

"Maybe. Probably," Catherine sighed, calming herself, and trying to loosen her hold on the receiver. "I'll call Hikari."

"And I'll check the soccer field, okay?"

Catherine nodded, fingers rubbing her temples. "Okay. Call me."

"I will. Love you," he murmured, before hanging up.

"Je vous aime, aussi, aimé," she replied.

***

His thick shoes crunching on the ground, Yukio took another look at his D-Cell. The purple and white device showed he was getting closer to his partner, and farther away from the other children. It probably would be dangerous to go too far from them, but he'd have to take that chance. Besides which, they had Ichijouji with them, and she obviously had been in the Digital World without parental guidance previously. Still, he was, most likely, the most informed about the Digiworld.

Not that he really cared about the others. He never felt the urge to socialize with them. He'd much rather spend his time on his laptop. And the other children never really made an effort. Sure, Motomiya would chirp her little head off at him till Yukio felt the need to smack her with his laptop. And Takaishi would greet softly but warmly. Hell, you could barely hear Takaishi, which was fine with Yukio. Other Chosen spawn would bother him every so often, like Yagami and his damned camera, but he could even deal with that.

There was only one who ever really got under his skin. One that ever managed to truly bother and annoy Yukio. Kiyoshi. Without speaking, without moving, without anything, she would drive him insane. She'd just sit and watch him. He didn't understand it. He didn't understand her. And Yukio never liked what he didn't understand. Then, of course, there was always the fact that she'd hug him, and cuddle, and... Touch! Didn't she know what "personal space" meant?

Yukio shook his head. Now was no time to think about foolish things like that. He took another look at his D-Cell. The lights seemed even closer now. Only a little while longer.

The bushes to Yukio's right began rustle, and the short redhead stopped in his tracks. Instincts told him to bolt, his brains, however, told him sudden movements were out of the question. Per usual, his brains overruled instinct. He took a slow breath, hooking his D-Cell back onto his shorts. As if nothing was troubling, he took one relaxed step.

Yukio quickly learned that sometimes instinct is smarter than brains, as the bush seemingly exploded, and some screeching, green thing leaped out. Yukio screamed in fear as the blob toppled him over, and turned his world dark.

***

Petalmon moved her green legs as fast as she could, but, try as she might, she couldn't keep up with her partner. The girl with cherry brown curls was putting quite a bit of ground between the two of them, calling out for her lost friends.

"Ah, Leala-chan, wait up!" Petalmon cried, leaping as best she could to her newfound friend. She just managed to latch onto Leala's waist, wrapping her arms around the girl as tight as possible. Petalmon made a high squeak of surprise when Leala did not slow down. Then, noticing that holding onto Leala-chan as a mode of transportation wasn't so bad, the flower digimon laughed.

Leala finally looked down, violet eyes blinking with curiosity. Slowly, she smiled at her digimon's laughing face. "Oh," she raised a brow, "so you like that, huh? Well, then... How `bout this?!" she declared, spinning around like a top, now laughing herself.

The two laughed and twirled for a bit, every so often wobbling slightly, until Leala finally lost all sense of balance, and they fell over in a dizzy heap. They hit the soft ground, still laughing, Leala sat up, scooping Petalmon into her arms and hugging her.

"You're a silly digimon!" she exclaimed, giggling.

"You're a silly human!" Petalmon countered, hugging her back. "My Leala-chan!"

Grinning, Leala stood up, laughing some more when Petalmon refused to let go of her waist. "Okay, then," she shrugged. "I guess I'll just have to carry you."

"Yay!" Petalmon cheered, delighted.

As the two walked through the wood, Petalmon remained attached to Leala's waist, the girl not speaking up once to complain. It actually felt kind of nice to have the flower digimon holding on. Like she fit there. It was almost strange, but Leala remembered her parents talking about when they had met their own partners. It was like a piece of yourself was finally put into its proper place. An instant connection, some strange mystical bond. Whatever it was, Leala thought Petalmon was just right for her.

"Gah!"

Leala blinked at the shout. "Quoi?"

"Leala-chan, look out!" Petalmon shouted in warning.

Leala turned her head both ways to see what Petalmon was warning her about, only to find out that the danger wasn't beside her, but above her. Something large, heavy, and flailing fell on top of the girl and her digimon with a loud grunt.

"Ow-how!" Leala wailed, as she landed on her stomach, the wind knocked out of her. On top of her, Petalmon concurred the sentiment.

And on top of Petalmon, a boy with wild brown hair groaned, and tumbled off the two. "Note to self," he mumbled, shaking his dizzy head. "Practice landing."

"Ow... " Leala moaned again, pushing herself up to a kneeling position. Raking her curls out of her face with a swipe of a hand, she turned to her 'assailant.' "Hiro-san?"

The boy wiped one white gloved hand over his face, as if he were waking up from a dream, his left one still clenched. When he focused on her, he only looked slightly surprised. "Leala? Where's everyone else? Where's Tenshi and Kiyoshi-chan?"

"I don't know," the girl admitted with a pout. "Me and Petalmon were looking for them when you landed on us!"

"Petalmon?" The boy blinked, brown eyes gazing at the cheerful flower digimon.

"Hello, Hiro!" Petalmon waved, enthusiastically.

"A-a digimon?" Hiro instinctively shuffled back a bit. "You have a digimon following you?"

"She's not just any old digimon. She's my partner!" Leala crowed, proudly.

"P-partner?" Hiro parroted, trying to get the information to sink into his brain, however slowly. Then, a chilling thought crossed his mind. "Some nut job actually armed you with a potentially lethal weapon?!"

Leala huffed, clenching her fists threateningly, but it was Petalmon who innocently replied. "What's a wehpun?" the small digimon asked, clueless.

"It's not important," Leala said, frowning, putting her arms protectively around her partner. "Don't listen to him."

"Okay... " Petalmon reluctantly agreed, still confused.

Hiro stared at the girl and her digimon for a few more moments of incredulous silence, before shaking his head resignedly. "Fine. Whatever. I'm guessing since it's your fault everyone got sucked into this mess, that I shouldn't be surprised that you don't know where they are. Why me?" he groaned.

"Hey!" Leala glared. "It's not my fault! The computer gave all of us digivices. And it was Kiyoshi-chan's that glowed," she added, defensively.

"Digivices... " Hiro's voice trailed, finally unclenching his left hand, to reveal a gray and white device of his own. "Wouldja look at that," he blinked, staring at the shining screen of it.

"Cool! You got one too!" Leala declared, shuffling next to him to get a look at his digivice. She tried to reach over to tap it, and pouted when Hiro pulled it away.

"Stop that," he scolded. He looked back at his digivice. "Well, I guess we should start looking for the others, and then try to sort things out from there."

"We were already looking before you landed on us," Leala informed him, jumping to her feet. Petalmon immediately wrapped her arms around her partner's waist. Leala spun around, and started marching in a random direction... A completely different direction than what she was taking when Hiro had landed on her. "Let's go, Hiro-san!"

Hiro sweatdropped at the sporadic girl. "Um, Leala?"

She halted, and gave him a sidelong glance. "Yeah?"

"You do realize we can track everyone with these, right?" he pointed to his duo toned device.

She blinked owlishly. "Really?"

"Yeah," he rolled his eyes. "That's how my dad found my mom in a castle."

"A castle?" Leala repeated, this time turning fully, causing Petalmon to cling to the girls' waist so she wouldn't fall off. Leala's eyes were large, filled with excitement. "You think they might be at a castle?"

Hiro stared at her, flat eyed. "I didn't say that."

"That'd be so cool!" Leala said, awed at the thought.

Hiro sighed. "You are so weird." He gave his digivice a hard glance. "Now, I think if we go north, that should lead us to these group of lights. I bet that's where everyone else is."

She stared at him as he began to walk away, his eyes focused on his digivice. When he didn't turn back to her, Leala began to jog to catch up.

"Hold on, Hiro-san!" she squealed, reaching his side. "Don't leave me behind. You're being mean!"

"Oh, c'mon... " he moaned, exasperated. "I am not. I just want to find my cousins. Don't you want to find Tenshi?"

"Course, I do," Leala frowned. "But you are being mean. You'd never be this mean to Doroko!"

"Doroko-chan?" Hiro muttered, feeling his face grow warm. "I d-don't know what you're rambling about."

"'Chan?'" Leala's grin turned absolutely cattish. "'Doroko-chan?' Do you call her that? Really?" she asked, so bouncily, Hiro could almost see the cat ears pointing out of her hair.

"So what if I do?" he shrugged.

"Hiro-san has a crush on my cousin!" Leala declared, loudly.

The boy looked like he was about to have a heart attack. "Shut up!"

"You have a crush on Doroko!" Leala giggled. "Doroko! Hiro and Doroko Yagami... " Leala sighed, feigning a dreamy look. "How romantic!"

"I... Hate... You... " Hiro uttered, deadpan.

"What's a crush?" Petalmon asked.

***

"It looks like Leala-san and whomever the other light is decided to make our job easier," Kiseki said, golden eyes focused on her black D-Cell. "They met up with each other."

Tenshi sighed, relieved. "That does make things easier, doesn't it? Right, Kiyoshi? Kiyoshi-chan?" When the little girl didn't reply with a tug on his sleeve, he looked down at her. The young girl with the golden red hair was still looking behind them, worriedly. "Don't think about it, Kiyoshi-chan. Yukio will be fine. We'll meet up with him after we get Leala-chan, okay?"

Kiyoshi hesitantly nodded, blue eyes still filled with concern over her crush.

The trio walked through the forest in silence for a while, Bellmon's tailbell the only sound gracing their ears. Tenshi looked around at the multicolored foliage, wondering over the wayside TVs and radios. What a strange place the Digital World was. Maybe he could write a story about this. Different than his father's, of course. Maybe write a fictional tale, instead of just accounts of real life happenings.

One seemingly broken television crackling to life threw Tenshi out of his stream of thought. The three children stopped in their tracks to stare at the box, and Bellmon leapt in front of them, protectively. The TV screen flickered, jumpy with black and snow lines, until it finally glowed brightly, violently spitting something large, and cursing out.

"Dammit! That hurt!"

A lanky boy with light brown hair brushed his one long lock out of his face, blue eyes narrowing on his surroundings with anger and distrust. Beside him, a small green and white device shimmered in the mid afternoon sun. Kiseki stared, too shocked to make the first move. It was Tenshi, shy as he was, to greet the newcomer.

"Uh, hi there," the blonde boy ventured, walking over and offering a friendly hand.

"Back off!" the other boy snarled. Tenshi quickly followed the command when the other boy glared at him, practically baring fangs. "Was it you who did this? Were you the bastard who did... Whatever the hell you did!?"

Tenshi shook his head, confused. "I don't know wha-"

"You friggin' punk!" The boy shot up, grabbing Tenshi by his shirt collar with one hand, and clenching his other hand in a tight fist. "Fix it, you son of a-!"

"Seiko-san!" For the second time in the same day, Kiseki's gentle hands took hold of Seiko's arms, in order to stop a violent outburst. He stared at her with a surprised expression, but she didn't let go. "Calm down," she pleaded calmly, softly. "It's me, Kiseki. You're all right."

"Kiseki-san?" Seiko murmured, releasing Tenshi without a second thought. The taller boy took a few steps back, gasping for breath, as his younger cousin reassuringly patted his arm. "This is where you went to? Where is this?" Seiko added.

"Welcome to the Digital World," Kiseki warmly greeted him. She bent down, picked up his D-Cell, and handed it to him when she straightened up. "Congratulations. You've Been Chosen."

"Chosen for what?" he asked, apprehensively.

"For whatever this world has in store," Kiseki answered, vaguely. Bellmon took that moment to jump into her partner's arms, and looked quite amused as Seiko looked at her in disbelief and bewilderment. "And, of course," Kiseki said, with a small smile, "chosen to have the best friend you could possibly want."

"Of course," Bellmon purred her agreement.

Seiko, for once, couldn't come up with a worthy expletive to truly sum up his feelings at the moment.

***

Slowly, Yukio dared to open one coal black eye, quickly closing it against the brightness of the sun. He muttered a few choice words as he sat up, annoyed that his sunglasses were no longer on his face. Sighing, he opened his eyes again, blinking a few times before they became accustomed to the light.

"Oh, are you awake?" someone said beside him, the masculine voice in mid yawn.

Yukio turned his head, eyes widening at the sight of the green digimon next to him. Its face was oddly shaped; wide at the top, and curving to a narrow snout, with slits for nostrils. Its eyes were small, yellow, and the whites were actually black. It stretched its small body, eight pincers digging into the ground a bit, then finally look back up at the short boy.

"You faint easily," the creature stated, unimpressed, almost sounding disappointed.

"I-I do not!" Yukio argued, deciding that this tiny thing was no threat. All it was a stupid, obnoxious little thing, looking for a fight. "You just surprised me, that's all."

"You scream like a girl, too," noted the digimon, dully. He shook his green head, melodramatically. "I was hoping for a meatier partner."

"M-meatier?" Yukio choked.

"Yes," the creature nodded. "You know. Taller. Stronger. Buff." It looked at him, and though he couldn't see its mouth, Yukio swore it was frowning. "You're not what I pictured."

The short boy gasped. He couldn't believe this digimon's nerve! He pulled out his purple and white D-Cell, his black eyes narrowing on it, before nearly shoving it into the digimon's face. "Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but you're not my partner! See those purple dots?" Yukio demanded. "That duller one is my partner, and he's still about a mile ahead of me. So there," he added, pulling his digivice back.

The green digimon bristled. "My name is Nyokamon," he said, rather insulted. "And I don't care what that silly digivice says. I know I'm your partner. As depressing as that sounds," he muttered under his breath.

Yukio clenched his fists. "Why, you little-!"

A loud stomping sound is what stopped Yukio from his verbal tirade filled with multi-synonym insults. As it got closer, the ground began to shake, and both the boy and the digimon scrambled backwards a bit, trying to figure out what was happening. The trees to the right of them began to creek, then totally give way, falling to the forest floor like they were building blocks. The brush cracked loudly underneath the weight of whatever was coming toward them, and Yukio got the distinct impression that even if he tried to run, he wouldn't get very far from whatever thing was about to face them.

The creature that burst through the now damaged trees and shrubbery was huge --at least eight times Yukio's height-- with the body of the old Greek Minotaur myth, including a golden ring through its snout. Its left forearm was replaced with a metal canon, and it raised its head high with a mighty roar, shaking Yukio and Nyokamon even more than they already were.

It finally looked down at the shocked redhead, and rumbled deeply, "I am Minotarumon." Narrowing its red eyes, it pointed at Yukio. "You are my partner."

For an impossibly long minute, Yukio was silent, as his black eyes went from Minotarumon to Nyokamon. He looked at his digivice for final confirmation, then sweatdropped upon seeing the two purple lights still weren't near each other; they were at least a mile away.

"I... I don't think you're my partner, either," Yukio dared to whisper, knowing better than to yell at the Perfect in front of him.

"He's my partner!" Nyokamon declared, raising his head high. "Find your own!"

"Are you joking, little bug?" Minotarumon asked, incredulously. "I was sent to him by the Overseer personally!"

"Well, so was I!" Nyokamon retorted.

"You were, were you?" Minotarumon looked not in the least worried. "Well, then, this must mean we must fight for the title of partner."

"Fine with me," Nyokamon agreed.

"Are you crazy?" Yukio asked the small Child digimon. "He could squash you with his foot!"

"Sit back, and watch how it's done, shorty," Nyokamon snapped.

Yukio sputtered a bit, then crossed his arms. "Oh, fine! Get deleted. See if I care, you inane insect!"

The bug digimon ignored the boy, getting low on its pincers, and facing the large Perfect with no fear. Neither digimon, nor the boy had any idea of the true meaning of the situation. None of them realized that the outcome of the battle did not rely upon which digimon was strongest, but how strong the Chosen boy was.

Next Chapter: Half the Battle Is...