Disclaimer: I've been over this twice already.

A/N: now, I'll guarantee you'll find out what happened.

          TK Takaishi sat up and rubbed his head.  He looked around, but saw only thick vegetation in every direction.  He tried to stand, but was met with direct opposition when he realized he had twisted his knee.  He fell back and writhed in pain.

          TK looked up at the tree he had fallen from.  He remembered walking home, then suddenly appearing in the Digital World.  He had appeared in a tree, near the middle.  The tree was too tall for TK to find the center of it, but he knew he had been there.  There was thick moss on the branch he had been standing on, so he slipped, and blacked out when he hit the ground.

Where was Kari, and everybody else?  Surely they were here, too.  His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of another walking through the vegetation.

^()^()^()^()^

Kari Kamiya looked around.  No sign of anybody else, besides Gatomon and Patamon.  They seemed to be waiting for her when she returned to the Digiworld.  This forest was too dense to find anyone, so Kari tried a last resort.

"TK!  Tai!  Anybody!"

"Kari!  Don't yell.  He'll hear you." Gatomon hissed.

"Who?"

"If I say his name out loud, he'll probably kill me."

"Yeah…" Patamon looked around.

^()^()^()^()^

Izzy stood up.  "Well, I guess there's no sense staying here now, is there?" he asked.

Tai looked around.  "Yeah, whatever sent us back here probably doesn't want us around.  We should leave."

"I second that!" Agumon replied cheerfully.  He knew Tai was right, but he also knew Tai had no idea who had taken the Digital World almost overnight.

"So have we reached a consensus?"

"Yeah!" Matt spoke up.  But a loud snap and the rustle of leaves interrupted him.  An ominous chill ran down his spine as he turned to see who, or what, was in the bushes.  He took a step towards the now-quiet shrubbery.  Then another.  And another.  But as soon and he was within inches of the bush, he was engulfed in a bright yellow light, and that was all he could see.  But almost without realizing it, his yellow vision turned to black.

^()^()^()^()^

"TK!"

"Kari?  Kari!"  They ran up to each other and embraced.  Patamon flew over and landed on his partner's hat.  "Ha ha!  We were afraid we'd never find you!"

"Yeah, and I was afraid I'd be lost forever!" TK laughed.

Any fear TK had dissipated instantly.  What luck!  He didn't know what was going on, or why his was in the Digiworld.  But he didn't care.  At least he had found Kari.  And right now, that was all that mattered.  He never even realized his ankle wasn't causing him pain anymore.

Suddenly, an ear-piercing scream echoed through the otherwise silent forest.  Kari knew she'd heard the voice before, but she couldn't place her finger on it.  But TK knew the person all too well.

"Matt!  MATT!!"  TK yelled back at his brother.  But the jungle was once again eerily silent.  The ominous echo had already subsided, but TK kept screaming back at Matt.  Suddenly he couldn't stand waiting around anymore.  He blindly sprinted through the underbrush, and didn't see the thorn-covered vine hanging from the tree in front of him.  TK didn't realize he had run right through it until he could feel his own blood running down his face.  But he didn't care.  Something had happened to Matt.  And nothing would stop him from finding his brother.

^()^()^()^()^

"TK!  TK!  Stop!"  Kari was never as fast as the boy she was chasing now, but her voice obviously made him hesitate.  She kept running, although weariness eventually set upon her.  She stopped, catching her breath, but what she saw next made her hold it.  TK turned around, his face red not running, but from hundreds of cuts on his forehead and cheeks.  Kari stood up, and it was then she saw the vine of thorns hanging from the branch.  They were doused with a sticky, dark red liquid.

"Kari…" TK managed in a guttural whisper, "I… I have to find Matt."

Kari walked up to him, with Gatomon and Patamon following.  "TK.  I have a bad feeling about this.  Please stay here for a while.  Besides, you need to clean your face off.  It's a mess."  Kari added with a smile.

^()^()^()^()^

Tai stared at the limp figure of Matt lying sprawled on the grass and leaves.  The bush was rustling again.  He didn't dare approach Matt's motionless body, though, for fear he might meet the same fate.  Plus he was horrified to see a short digimon walked from the shrubbery.

"Oh, my God!" Izzy gasped.  "It's…"

"That's right!" Puppetmon smiled deviously.

Davis cocked his head and looked at the digimon.  "Who's… that?"

"One of the Dark Masters from over four years ago."  Came a voice.  The team turned to see Joe, Sora, Cody, Yolie, and their digimon partners standing behind them.  Joe continued speaking.  "He was able to manipulate us, and he almost destroyed us with his barrage of deadly toys."

He was interrupted with a yell, and rustling in the bushes.  "TK!  Stop!  PLEASE!"  TK came crashing through the bushes, followed by Kari, Patamon, and Gatomon.  Tai was horrified to see TK's face covered in blood.  But that was nothing when he became reminiscent of TK's past conflicts with Puppetmon.  And the fiend obviously also remembered his hatred for the boy, because he pulled his hammer from his back.

"Now the real fun begins!" Puppetmon smiled.

Okay, I'm finally done with that chapter.  Sorry it took so long to write, but I've been swamped.  So remember to stay in school, be good, and practice good hygiene (oh, and review, too!).