"Well that was fun," Tai said sarcastically, rubbing a bump on his head.
"We have no time to waste," said Seraphimon. "NightmareOmnimon couldn't have gotten too far away, but he could still escape."
"I don't think escape is his plan," said Ken from atop GrandKuwagamon. "Besides, where could he possibly hide?"
"Even so, we can't afford to lose track of him," said Seraphimon. "I will search for him immediately."
"I'll come with you," said Magnadramon, gently laying down Bahadramon on the ground.
"No, you must remain here," said Seraphimon. "The others will need your talents if they hope to recover by the time we must return to the fight."
"Alright," said Magnadramon reluctantly. "Just be careful."
"I will," said Seraphimon.
Seraphimon quickly floated up into the sky to get a better view of the surroundings. Magnadramon quietly floated back to the ground, where she laid her claws on the wounded Bahadramon and began to project healing energies over his body.
Meanwhile, a group of onlookers stood about two hundred feet away from the scene, watching everything unfold.
A blonde man in a black suit began to speak into a radio. "Riley, we've got a major situation down here. Looks like a whole mess of wild ones. Can you confirm?"
"Give me a minute, sir," said a female voice on the other end. "All of our instrumentation registered a major energy spike a few moments ago. If they are wild ones, they're like nothing I've ever seen before."
"Great, just great," said the man.
"What's going on here, Yamaki?" asked a middle-aged man with glasses and dark hair.
"I was hoping you'd know," said the blonde man. "After all, you and your friends designed the arc."
"Well it was never designed to do anything like this," said the other man. "In fact, I sincerely doubt there's any connection at all."
"So it's just a happy coincidence that these mysterious digimon happen to show up only a few minutes after the arc?"
"I'd have to say so."
"Uh, excuse me," interrupted a brunette boy with a black shirt and a visor. "Seems to me like you two are overlooking the fact that there's a bunch of humans there too!"
"That's right!" asserted a Guardromon standing behind the boy. "It's entirely possible that what we have here is another group of tamers."
"You know, he just might be right," said a redheaded girl with a spiky ponytail. "And by the looks of it, all the digimon there are Megas."
"Megas who've probably seen better days," another brunette boy with a red bandana pointed out. "They've been in a fight recently."
"So what are we waiting for?" asked a dark-haired boy with an orange vest. "Let's go meet 'em."
"Oh boy! New friends!" exclaimed a red, dinosaur digimon.
"Neat!" a stout, purple, dragon digimon said.
"You guys go on ahead," said yet another brunette boy, this one with goggles and a blue sweater. "I need to… talk to someone."
The boy was glancing at a strangely emotionless girl in a green dress.
"Okay Takato," said the boy with the vest. "We'll tell you how it went."
A small portion of the group, consisting of the boy with the bandana, the boy with the vest, the girl with the ponytail, the boy with the visor, another boy who wore glasses, the purple dragon digimon, the Guardromon, a Terriermon, a fox-type digimon, and the red dinosaur digimon began to walk toward the strangers.
"Hey guys," muttered Davis. "I think we've got some company."
The other DigiDestined all quickly realized what Davis meant when they saw the large cluster of people, and the crew approaching them.
"Quick! Hide the digimon!" Tai said instinctively.
"And how exactly would we do that?" Matt sweatdropped. "Look at them!"
"Try the stuffed animal routine!" said Davis.
"You've GOT to be kidding me," said Valkyrimon, who was leaning back against a tree.
"Well we've got to do SOMETHING!" said Davis.
"Not really," said TK. "I think that if you'd stop panicking for a second and look over there you'd see that ours are not the only digimon in the park."
"Huh?" asked Tai and Davis.
Soon, everyone was aware of the approaching digimon and humans, and they waited in silence until the approaching team came to a stop roughly twenty feet from the clustered DigiDestined.
"Okay, play it cool," whispered Davis.
"What do you want me to talk about?" whispered TK in response. "The weather?"
"Hey, who says you're the one doing the talking?" whispered Tai.
"Well SOMEONE better do the talking!" whispered Yolei through clenched teeth.
"Just let me do the talking and we can get all of this straightened out," whispered Michael.
"This is getting awkward…" said Mimi nervously.
Luckily for the DigiDestined, a similar situation was happening amidst the other team.
"Hey, now that we're a little closer, do they remind you of anyone?" asked the boy with glasses.
The boy with the visor looked hard for a second, and then a moment of sudden realization hit him. "Holy cow! No way! It's them! From the T—"
The girl with a ponytail pressed her heel down against the boy's foot hard before he could get out another syllable.
"I know where you're going with this, and don't even think it," said the girl. "We've seen some weird stuff in the Digital World, but this is just outright impossible."
"Then how do you explain that they're standing right there?!" whispered the boy with glasses.
"You must admit, he has a point," said the fox-type digimon.
As this went on, the boy with the scarf had stood at the head of the group, carefully scrutinizing the faces of everyone until he finally came to one individual that piqued his interest. The hair, the face, the eyes… they all seemed very familiar. But where and when had he seen them before? It was like something out of a dream. After a few more seconds, the boy had a strong hunch, and he decided to take a risk. He took a few steps forward, followed closely by the purple dragon digimon.
"Ken…?" called the boy, being the first to speak. "Ken… Ichijouji?"
Ken stepped to the front of the group, a very curious look in his eyes.
"It is you…" said the boy. "Amazing…"
"Yes, I'm Ken Ichijouji," said Ken. "Who's asking?"
"Oh come on," said the boy becoming suddenly much more lighthearted. "It's only been like three years. Don't tell me your forgot your best buddy and DNA digivolving partner already!"
A few seconds passed where one could see the gears working in Ken's head.
"Ryo?" asked Ken. "Is that you?"
The boy just grinned.
"Ryo Akiyama!" said Ken, returning the smile. "It IS you!"
The two of them rushed forward, giving each other a big hug and laughing joyously.
"Um, why is Ryo over there laughing with THE Ken Ichijouji?" asked the boy with glasses.
"Last time I checked, *I* was Ken's DNA digivolving partner," Davis said with a frown.
"Hey guys! C'mon over!" insisted Ryo. "It's cool."
"Sweet!" said the boy with glasses and the one with the visor together.
Both of them rushed forward to greet the people they already seemed strangely familiar with. The other boy and the girl, as well as the digimon all drew forward more cautiously.
"Wow! Look at 'em all!" the boy with the visor ogled the digimon. "Imperialdramon! HerculesKabuterimon! Wargreymon! Diaboromon! Magnadramon!"
"Kerpymon and MegaGargomon!" the boy with glasses chimed in. "Preciomon, Rosemon, Metalseadramon, Metalgarurumon…"
"Hey Ryo, what are you doing here?!" asked Ken after some more jovial laughing.
"That's what I was hoping to ask you!" said Ryo. "After all, it's you who's trespassing in my neck of the woods."
"Well… it's sort of a long story," Ken scratched the back of his head. "Let's just say I'm here on official business."
"And your friends there?" asked Ryo.
"Oh, they're my… backup!" said Ken.
"Hey!" shouted Tai and Davis together.
"So what about you?" asked Ken, quickly drawing the attention from the dejected leaders. "Who are these guys?"
"Well, those two are Kenta and Kazu," said Ryo, pointing to the two mystified guys over by the digimon. "And this is Henry and Rika."
"Hi," said Rika.
"Nice to meet you," said Henry.
"Ahem!" the Terriermon coughed.
"Oh yeah," said Ryo. "That's Terriermon there, and Guardromon, Guilmon, Renamon, and this here is Monodramon, my partner."
"Thanks for the intro!" said Terriermon gleefully.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Guardromon with a slight bow.
"Likewise," said Renamon.
"Hi there!" said Monodramon.
"Monodramon, huh?" asked Ken. "How did…?"
"Also a long story," said Ryo. "So where's Wormmon?"
"Over here, Ryo!" said GrandKuwagamon.
"Wow, Wormmon!" said Ryo. "Looks like you've been working out since the last time I saw you!"
"Hey, quit it!" said Izzy in response to a poke that Kazu had given him.
"Told ya he's real," said Kenta.
"Of course I'm real!" said Izzy.
"Relax, dude," said Kazu. "I didn't mean anything by it!"
"Hey TK," whispered Davis with a snicker. "Check out Rika over there."
"Yeah…" said TK with a little smile. "She's quite a looker."
"Sorry, but you're already spoken for, TK," Kari said angrily. "Remember?!"
"Hey, nothing wrong with looking!" said Davis in defense.
"Well if you like her so much, then why don't you wave or something?" insisted Kari.
"Oh all right," said Davis.
Davis nervously waved at Rika, a broad grin on his face.
"Oh great," Rika muttered as she rolled her eyes. "Now I've got TWO goggleheads to deal with."
"Hey, who's this?" asked Kazu as he and Kenta approached Bahadramon.
"That's a good question," said Henry as he stepped toward the unconscious dragon.
Henry then reached into his pocket and brought out something that could only be a digivice. He held it in his hand and looked down at it as a holographic screen popped up. After a second or two, a picture of Bahadramon popped up in the image with assorted bits of data.
"Bahadramon, data-type Mega digimon," Henry said. "His strength is the stuff of legends, and he attacks with the Nail Wing and Gaea Flare."
"He's with me," said Jack, stepping toward the three boys.
"And you are…?" asked Kazu.
"The name's Jack."
"Are you a DigiDestined too?" asked Kenta suspiciously.
"What is this, twenty questions?" asked Jack. "Of course I'm a DigiDestined! Now could you tell us who you are?"
"Well… that's a little tricky," said Henry.
"He's gone," said Seraphimon as he floated back down to the ground and made a smooth landing next to TK.
"Uhh…?" groaned Bahadramon.
"He's regained consciousness," said Magnadramon, removing her claws from him. "He'll be just fine very soon."
"Bahadramon!" said Jack, quickly running to his partner.
"Okay Ryo, what's the deal?" asked Ken. "I get the feeling your friends know more about us than they should."
"Hoo boy," Ryo sighed. "You just asked a mouthful."
"Ken, we don't have time for this," said Izzy very seriously. "If that virus is running around loose out there, he could cause some serious damage."
"Virus?" asked the dark haired man with glasses, who had gotten much closer, as had the rest of the group. "A virus you say?"
"Yeah, that's right," said Izzy. "A computer virus. It's been trying to destroy the Digital World for years. We were chasing after it when we found ourselves here."
"Oh great," said Rika. "And here I was thinking we had enough trouble with the D-Reaper."
"D-Reaper?!" asked the DigiDestined all at once.
"Now focus," said the man. "You've got to tell me all you know about this virus."
"What's up, dad?" asked Henry.
"It's too early to be certain," said Henry's dad. "But if it is what I think it is…"
"Too early my foot," said Rika. "I'm going home. You guys can call me in the morning. I'm beat."
"That sounds like a good idea, dear," said a kindly older woman whom the DigiDestined surmised to be Rika's grandmother.
"Whoa, you've got a point," said Henry, quickly checking his watch.
"Well we're tired too!" said Tai. "Where are WE supposed to go?!"
"I think I know a place," said the blonde man in the black suit. "It's comfortable, and it should provide us with the necessary cover we need to… discuss certain matters."
"Hey guys, I think it'd be best if I took Jeri home first," said the boy with the yellow goggles.
"Don't worry about it Takato," said Henry. "We'll help you catch up when you get back."
"Don't worry Takato," said Guilmon. "I can tell you about our new friends on the train!"
"I'm coming too!" said a small, white digimon with an odd mark on his forehead.
"Well then let's get going, little guy," said Takato.
"You're coming home too, son," said a man with jet-black hair and a cap.
"Aw, come on, dad," said Ryo.
"No buts," the man said firmly.
"Hey, mind if I tag along?" asked Ken. "I mean, we haven't seen each other in years. We have some catching up to do."
"That alright, dad?" asked Ryo.
The man sighed. "Fine."
"Hey, if Ken's going then so am I!" said Davis. "No way am I missing out!"
"Well, the more the merrier," said Ryo.
"Just keep those creatures of yours out of sight," Ryo's dad, eyeing GrandKuwagamon and Imperialdramon coldly.
"Don't worry about it," said Imperialdramon. "We can just hang back with the others."
"Alright then," said Ryo. "But Monodramon is coming."
Ryo's dad sighed again. "Alright."
"Cool!" said Davis.
"If either of you see you-know-who, don't hesitate to find the rest of us," said Tai.
"Relax, dude!" said Davis. "We know what we're doing."
"Okay then," said Tai. "We meet up again at dawn, right here."
All of the DigiDestined and their digimon nodded in assent.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[Hope everyone liked that chapter, but with school having started, expect them to be a little bit farther apart. Also, in case you haven't seen it already, be sure to check out the brand-spanking new Protomon pic. As always, don't forget to review…]