Sora carefully put the glass of what Feona had termed nerf milk in front of T

Sora carefully put the glass of what Feona had termed nerf milk in front of T.K. The boy smiled and quickly wolfed down the contents.

"Thank you Sora."

Yokomon, Koromon and the other digimon had already fallen asleep on the sofa. Mimi was carefully lying blankets over them. T.K. yawned.

"You should really go to bed T.K." admonished Sora.

T.K. shook his head, partly in protest, partly in an attempt to wake up. "Nuh uh. Not until Matt comes back."

Feona drained the last of the liquid from her mug. "Okay, who wants more caf?" Tai, Sora and Joe raised their hands. Feona busied herself with the peculator.

"I still don't see why you think we're jedi," complained Tai, stretching. "Everything we've done so far is coincidence."

Feona snorted. "Yeah. Doyle has a vision of jedi from another world, then you guys show up. Izzy throw lightning, Sora reads minds and you yourself have been shown to have a greater awareness of your surroundings than most people." She placed four mugs of steaming liquid on the table. "You're absolutely right. Nothing but coincidence and wishful thinking." She sat back down and put her feet on the table.

Tai glared at her. "You know, sarcasm is very unbecoming in you."

Feona mimed a salute. "Thank you."

Joe inhaled deeply over his mug. "Why my parents never let me drink coffee is beyond me." He took a sip. "What about the rest of us? Are we going to do something just as weird?"

Feona shrugged. "Don't know."

Sora cupped her hands around her own mug. "How did it happen for you?"

"I'm not the best example to follow," mumbled Feona into her mug.

"Well I've had it," said Mimi. "Some of us need beauty sleep you know." She started to climb the stairs. "'Night everyone." She got half way up to find someone blocking her path. "Izzy! You're awake."

Izzy nodded gingerly and moved back up the stairs to let Mimi past. As she past him she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Good night Izzy."

Izzy again descended the stairs. "Hey guys."

"Hey Izzy," called Tai. He waved for the small boy to join them. "Feeling better?"

"Much," agreed Izzy. "I still wish I knew what happened though."

"It's rather simple actually." Feona took her feet off the table and sat properly. "Remember back when you first arrived and you were shot by the Imps?" She got nods from all around the table. "Remember Izzy was faking, even though Gomamon had seen him being hit? What happened was that he absorbed some of the energy from the blast. But he didn't know what to do with it. So the energy started to overheat his body and make him sick."

Izzy nodded. "That theory fits with what happened."

"But how did he do it?" asked Sora.

"It's like you and Tai," guessed Joe. "If it comes to the crunch instinct takes over. That's why he absorbed the hit, but didn't lose the energy, right?" He looked at Feona for vindication.

She nodded. "More or less correct. The Force isn't an exact science."

T.K. yawned again. "So we have these really crazy magical powers? All of us?"

"I'd say that's a given. You make your digimon, what was it, digivolve?" Feona cleared up T.K.'s glass. "You should really go to bed. Matt will come back when he's ready."

Sora stood up. "I'm going to bed too. Call me if anything happens with Matt." Together Sora and T.K. headed upstairs.

Joe sighed. "I'm going too." He followed the others upstairs leaving Tai, Izzy and Feona sat round the table.

"What now?" asked Tai after a few moments silence. "Do we attack Myotismon? Or bide our time with you doing nothing?"

Izzy considered this. "We should learn more about this Force if there is such a thing. Only then can we guess at the current state of affairs."

"Oh the Force exists." Feona sat back down. "Too many jedi have existed to deny it."

Tai decided to lighten the mood and gave a sly grin. "So how would you feel about going out with me?" he asked jokingly.

"Wrong age," replied Feona with a twinkle in her eye. "Izzy's a possibility though."

"What?" Both Tai and Izzy were confused.

Feona mimed zipping her mouth shut. "I'm not telling." Suddenly she laughed out loud. "It's been a long time since I've mucked around with kids close to my own age."

Both Tai and Izzy looked worried. Finally Izzy spoke up. "Are you alright?"

Feona sobered up a little. "Sorry. I never had much of a childhood. I had to grow up pretty fast." Her commlink started to beep. She pulled it off her belt. "Doyle?"

"We've got trouble. I'm in the hospital. Matt's in the bacta."

Doyle had been tailing Matt for about an hour when Gabumon decided to speak up.

"Why Matt?"

Matt turned and slammed his fist into one of the alleys permacrete walls. "I don't know. I just snapped." He shook his fist to dispel the tingle left by the impact with the wall. "It's all to much Gabumon. First we're sucked into your world where we have all these responsibilities thrust on us, and now I'm in this weird world that looks like some really old science fiction movie being told that I have to save this world too and on top of that I've got some really freaky 'powers' that I'm supposed to learn to use." He sighed. "And all I really wanted to do was go to summer camp with my little brother." He kept wandering, moving deeper and deeper into the city and into thought.

This whole situation is just screwy. It can't be happening. I'm passed out, that's it. I hit my head or in a coma, or dreaming or something. Matt put his hand into his pocket and placed his hand around his harmonica. This is the only thing that stands between me and madness. I don't know what's real anymore. Is this real? Or this something I always wanted and my brain decided to provide in some sort of twisted way. He sighed. I always wanted to be different, to contribute something. To show Mum and T.K. that I'm someone worth their love. But I'm not. I just attacked one of my best friends, someone who's feeling every bit as confused as I am. Why is it I seem to burn as many bridges as I build?

And why the hell did I call him Freak? Great going Matt, now they all hate me for what I said. How could I say that after Feona has tried to help us? Or after Tai saved Leia? Or after Izzy chased off Demidevimon? Or after Sora helped Mimi back at the Gekomons' castle? We're all freaks, every one of us. How would people react to us if we went home with our digimon in tow? Matt humphed. Probably call us freaks. Probe us, dissect us, and stick us in little jars… He shook his head sadly. No, we became outsiders long ago. It's just I'm the outsider of the outsiders.

But why can't I be the outsider? Why do I have to follow Tai, or listen to Izzy's suggestions? I can be just fine on my own. I know what's best for me and T.K. Tai just has to accept he can't push me around like the others. I deserve to have a voice in decisions.

I'm not even making sense to me anymore….

Doyle started to worry. Like all worlds Coruscant had its good areas and its bad areas. It was a general rule of thumb that the deeper you went into Coruscant, the seedier the surroundings got. Matt had long since passed areas were even Doyle with his less than honest background would be content.

Gabumon watched the area carefully. He knew full well that Doyle was following them, due to the human's peculiar scent, but he could pick up others moving along with them. "Matt? Maybe we should turn back."

Matt seemed to take note of his surroundings for the first time. "Wow it's dark round here." He turned in a small circle. "I agree we should get back, the question is how?"

Doyle stepped out from the shadows. "Maybe I can help."

Matt was furious. "You were following me? How could you?"

Doyle raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'm just watching your back, that's all. This isn't a very good neighbourhood." His eyes darted too and fro. "We really should be leaving." Matt nodded and moved towards him.

"Oh you're not going anywhere." Part of the shadows along one wall detached and turned into a Rodian holding a club. "You humans should know better than to come down here where you're not wanted." Behind him another Rodian, a Tunroth and a Quarren moved out of the shadows, each holding a different sharp implement.

"We…We were just leaving, weren't we lad?" Doyle put his arm over Matt's shoulder and started to steer him away.

"Oh no." The Quarren's tentacles wound and unwound themselves fretfully. "You came into a place where you're not wanted. You should be punished." He advanced on them, knife in hand.

The Rodian clicked away in its own language. Matt receiving the translation via his digivice paled. "We really should get out of here Gabumon, Doyle."

"You don't have a choice human," sneered the Tunroth. "None of your kind walks onto our turf and walks away again." He eyed the digivice that Matt had on his belt and the cord of his tag visible over his collar. "Especially when they have stuff we can sell to the Jawas." The foursome advanced on them.

"Blue blaster!" The bolt from Gabumon missed as the aliens dodged.

"Nice try," consoled the Tunroth. It pulled a blaster and pointed it at them. "Try anything else and they'll never find your corpses. Now hand over that electronic gizmo on your waist and the jewellery."

Matt's cry of "Never!" was drowned out by Gabumon cry of "Gabumon digivolve to Garurumon!"

The Tunroth took one look at Garurumon and fired. The laser bolt tore across the wolf digimon's flank. The other aliens drew their blasters and opened fire. Garurumon howled and crashed to the ground. The shooters then turned their attention on Matt and Doyle.

Doyle, seeing them turning his way, rolled out of the way and behind the cover of a large pile of trash in the dark alley. Matt wasn't quite fast enough and took hits to this shoulder and thigh. He clenched his teeth to prevent himself from screaming as he fell to the floor.

"Matt…" moaned Garurumon, tottering to his feet. "No! Garurumon digivolve to WereGarurumon!" Still woozy from the blaster hits, WereGarurumon could do little else than intimidate the aliens. The Quarren and the non-Basic speaking Rodian fled in terror. The Tunroth and the other Rodian were made of sterner stuff. The Tunroth fired continuously at WereGarurumon, causing the digimon to stumble. The other Rodian advanced on Matt. He lined up for a shot to Matt's head. "This'll teach you humans to stay out of our affairs." Doyle leapt out and tackled him, causing the shot to go wide and score across Matt's stomach. This time the boy did scream.

Doyle stood facing the Rodian, his now red eyes glowing eerily in the darkness. "I suggest you leave us alone." He swung his own blaster up to aim at the alien. "You don't want to mess with us humans," he sneered. He advanced until the dim light picked up his decidedly inhuman face. The Rodian let out his races' version of a gasp and ran. Doyle spun to face the Tunroth that was still letting WereGarurumon have it. He raised his blaster and aimed a foot to the right of the Tunroth. He fired, taking a chip out of the wall, then moved his aim directly to the Tunroth's head. "Why don't you leave like a good little piece of scum?" The Tunroth tried to bring his blaster to bear but Doyle stunned him before he could pull the trigger. "Gotta love that toggle switch."

He quickly holstered his blaster and moved to Matt's side. "Matt?"

Matt coughed weakly, spraying small red flecks from his mouth. "Who the hell are you? And where's Gabumon?"

A battered Tsunomon hopped up beside him. "Right here Matt. Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"Tsunomon," sighed Matt contentedly. "You're okay."

Doyle looked at the gaping wound in Matt's stomach. "But you're not kid. We've got to get you to a hospital." He laid his coat over the boy, then carefully slipped his arms under Matt's knees and supported his shoulders. "What ever you are now Gabumon, you'll have to either ride on my shoulder or walk."

Tsunomon eyes the spikes. "I'd rather walk…Doyle?" he guessed.

Doyle carefully lifted Matt. The blonde whimpered. "Yeah, I'm Doyle." He started to walk briskly.

Tsunomon bounced alongside him. "I knew you smelt funny for a human. What are you?"

Doyle nervously eyed the blood starting to seep through his jacket. "I think we should concentrate on Matt for now."

After about five minutes later Tsunomon and Doyle ran into a hospital emergency centre with a barely alive Matt.

Doyle looked around for a twoone-bee. "Help! I've got a boy here with severe blaster wounds!"

Two men came up with a trolley bed. "Put him down on this," said one of them.

Doyle complied. He followed behind them as they wheeled Matt into the medical bay. Tsunomon hopped up into his arms.

"Will Matt be okay Doyle?"

Doyle looked down at the fuzzy orange digimon. "I don't know…er…"

"Tsunomon. And I hope so."

Doyle nodded at took out his commlink. He thumbed it on. "Feona?"

"Doyle?" Feona's response was quick. Doyle decided she was probably waiting for him to return with Matt.

"We've got trouble. I'm at the hospital." His sensitive hearing picked up the sharp intake of breath at the other end. "Matt's in the bacta. He was injured in a lightfight." He sketched out the details quickly and gave her the name of the hospital.

"Be there as soon as we can." She signed off.