AN: I'm starting AN's now (obviously) and I'd anyone who reads this (does anyone, other than Rukimakino?) be prepared for some weird crap with parallel universes. And no, I didn't forget Suzy; she'll come in later. Sorry if this episode is particularly short, they'll get longer soon.

Claimer: Even though, as it says in my description, I don't own Digimon, I do own the characters Kigan, Sarlin, and Crystal, as well as the Arc Chargers and the Wraiths. Anthony belongs to himself, or maybe his parents, depending on your interpretation of the law. Please ask before using.

Freedom Fighters:

Part Four: Our Own War

The chrome dropship touched earth, rattling the nearby doorframes and shattering windows as it clattered to a halt. A ground-level door opened and released a plague of shadow upon the Odaiba district's largest residential area. Screams were heard in houses as a loud, deep voice bellowed. "We are the Mika'Tursien. You are fools to have refused our generous offer. From this day forth we declare you non-persons, and you shall be treated as such. You humans are too stubborn and set in your ways to see progress. You should have joined us and lived as our equals." As the disembodied voice completed its litany, 19 teenagers burst from the apartment building of Tai and Kari Kamiya. Takato Matsuda clearly thought, "There's something wrong here…" but everything else was foggy because reality warped and he was standing before Guilmon, telling him goodbye. "Why am I telling him bye?" Takato thought, still confused. Again, he was somewhere else moments later-this time New York City, site of the last Digital Gate to be sealed by the Digidestined around the world. They had acted as preparers of safehouses for the Tamers and other Odaiba Digidestined, who's D-3s and D-arcs were the only means of sealing the gates. Digidestined and Digimon from all around New York had come to contribute energy or say their farewells. The Digimon all entered the gate and disappeared shortly before it was closed. Without Imperialdramon to lug them around and all human transportation shut down by the Wraiths, the Digidestined were stranded. A bright light flashed and Takato, still feeling the ever-present nagging sensation in the back of his mind, appeared in an old, rundown library. Then he remembered! He was supposed to steal a Wraith-pain!-no, Mika'Tursien-ah, relief-ship and decimate a prison camp. But then there was the man, and the streetlight, and the, the, the…

Takato screamed and sat up in his cell. Every night he dreamt that strange, horrible dream. Every night it stopped at the same point and he wondered what it-"AHH!" Takato felt excruciating pain and stopped thinking along that path. Two voices in his head seemed to speak simultaneously. "It was true," said a young girls voice. "It was only a dream," said something inhuman."

"Who am I?"

"Takato/L2294."

"Who are you?"

"Jeri/L2294."

"How can you be me?"

"It isn't/I am everything. I can be you too, if you let me." Takato puzzled over the contradictory statement.

"You're my room?" Takato asked in confusion, believing his room was the universe.

"He's lying/Yes. Let me be you as well."

"I don't know…"

"Takato, look to your left. Walk to that wall, then turn right/Don't listen to her." Takato did so, and gasped.

"What happened to my room?" Takato looked at a sweeping green pasture, suspended two dimensionally in space a few feet from the floor.

"Its not part of your room, enter it/There's nothing there. Nothing can ever change."

"Oh, shut up already." Takato stepped through, and left reality behind.

"Not again! Why do those moron tamers always have to run off like that?" Tai sighed and flopped down on one of the few old, dusty couches in the Hideaway basement. In a small circle were the remaining Digidestined, minus the tamers who had again snuck out at night, this time with Arc Chargers. Crystal and her lieutenants were in the circle as well.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon. They're probably out on an errand or something." Matt opined.

"Why would they have brought Arc Chargers if that's the case?" Tai retorted.

"I never said it was routine, meat-for-brains."

"Shut up, Matt."

"Make me."

"Just watch me!" Tai jumped to his feet.

"I'll watch you-fail miserably." Before Tai could get a word out, Sora interrupted.

"Can you two ever stop arguing? Lets focus on what's important here."

"I agree. And I think Izzy should… uh, Izzy?" Anthony waved his hand in front of Izzy, who had done nothing but stare at his feet the whole meeting.

"I killed them… They're all dead… I killed them… They're all dead…" He mumbled over and over in a flat voice, like when Vademon controlled him.

"Guys, I think something's wrong with Izzy…" Anthony continued.

"Lets get that kid a doctor…or, better yet, a psychiatrist. He needs some serious help!" Kari suggested, while everyone hoped fervently such an idea would work.

Rika, Kazu, and Ryo panted for breath. "That was close!" Kazu wheezed.

"You weren't kidding when you said this level had tough security!" Ryo breathed, "How'd you know it was gonna be this bad, Rika?" She smiled enigmatically and said, "Just follow me. Takato's cell is right down this hall."

Takato, meanwhile, was not only not where they expected him to be, he wasn't even in the same universe. He stared out over a vast plain and decided it needed some work. "Oh well, its better than nothing." He said to himself. Just then, the plain became five rolling hills in a circle, each with a gigantic statue atop it. He looked at the one directly before him and fainted. He had looked in his own face.

"Well, where is he?" Kazu asked exasperatedly. Rika stared, flabbergasted, at Takato's empty cell. "He must have given in. Dammit!" She stormed out, never realizing she missed the gate because she didn't step inside and look.

Takato looked at this new world, saw all, and knew it was his.

"Now what?" Ryo asked a frustrated Rika.

"Now… we… find the wraiths here, and kill them, and make sure none of them do anything like this again. Ever."

To Be Continued in:

Part Five: Fallen Angels