Years of Preparation:

Chapter 1:

The snow had begun to fall on this dark, quiet night. There was no sound, no movement in the deserted alley, until the rat came out. It squeaked as a snowflake fell on its nose. It ran across the street to the middle of the alley. There was a puddle that had formed from the melted ice from the other night. It began to sip the water. It was a calm, peaceful moment.

Then the rat looked towards the puddle. The water was shaking. It ran back to the other side of the street, just as a leg slammed into the puddle. The young woman took no notice that her foot was now completely drenched. She just kept running.

She wore a white dress, a wool coat and carried a bundle wrapped tightly in her arms. As she continued to run she turned her head around. No one was following her. She quickly jumped to hide behind the dumpster. She sat down, bringing her knees up and covering the bundle in her arms, when she heard her pursuers.

"Listen up! We know you're still here!," a male voice said," Don't try to run any more! Our employer wants you, and he's paying us handsomely, so you might as well come out!"

The young woman peeked around the dumpster. There were two teenage guys, and a tonnage girl, all had Digimon at their feet. She jerked back around. "So, its true, isn't it?" she thought to herself,"Someone is taking Digidestined off of the streets, and turning them into killers!"

"I know you are still here!" the voice said again," Listen, I'm not just some hunter they picked for this job, you're dealing with the best here, I'm Greg Barker!"

The young woman's heart froze.

"If you know me, then you also know that it won't be long until I find you!"

The teenage girl laughed," Yeah, I've seen him track a twig down a rapid river!"

The woman needed to get out of there. Barker was indeed the best of the best. She peeked around again and saw they were all in front of the dumpster! She concentrated and the dumpster flew away from her taking the hunters with it.

"Yes!" she thought, running away from her spot, cradling the bundle in her arms, "They're not going to get me, or my child!"

Her baby started to cry, and she looked down. She smiled slightly at her son's face, when she noticed a presence in front of her. Stopping short, she saw a girl about her age with a black cat in front of her.

The girl laughed. "Hello, how are you doing?"

She didn't answer.

"Fine then, I'll get right to the point. My employer wants you and your child, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, your choice."

The girl glanced down at the black cat at the other girl's side. "If I had my Digimon with me, you'd be sorry!" Suddenly, the girl's eyes rolled inside her head She dropped her arms, and the bundle started to fall. The girl with the black cat quickly grabbed the bundle. She looked up at Barker and the other two. Barker's Digimon was just lowering a blowgun in his hands.

"What were you trying to do? Kill him?" she asked, raising the baby,"The boss would have killed us!"

"Oh, calm down, Azuna!" Barker snapped,"I knew you would have caught him!"

""Him' as you so, nonchalantly called him, is the one that the boss wants," Azuna reminded Barker,"As well as the two others that are back at the base."

"She's right," the other girl said,"Now, we need to bring Kari Kamiya and her son back to the base."

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In the heart of Tokyo rested a three-floored warehouse. It was once abandoned, now, it was anything but. The bottom floor contained living rooms full of couches and chairs, t.v. and waiting rooms, all 'front' rooms. The second floor contained more 'living' rooms, such as kitchens, computer rooms and laundry rooms. The top floors contained offices and living corders. The basement contained training rooms and gyms, however, some of the residents of the building were not training in the appointment rooms.

On the top floor, in one of the offices, an original Digidestined was trying to get work done, when the phone rang. "Hello," Davis said over the phone,"Yes, operator, this is Digidestined Headquarters..."

Outside the room, three humans and three Digimon were walking past with a pile of clothes in their hands.

"I still don't see why we had to get stuck on laundry duty!" a girl with long brown hair said.

"Well, Reiko," a boy with a mess of brown hair said, juggling clothes in his hands, "Temporarily, or not, we all still live here, and that means we need to share in the housework."

"That's right," the boy's Penguinmon said,"This place is a lot more crowded than back home, but, even there we all had to help out."

The two partners suddenly slipped on the floor and fell over, showering them with a ton of clothes.

Keiko shook her head. "You're such a klutz, Hiroshi"

"Please don't call me that," he said, getting up off of the floor,"My name is..."

"Shh!" the last boy said, mentioning to the office room.

"What?" Davis asked, to the phone,"Yes..Yes I know, but...okay..don't worry, Mrs. Kamiya, we'll find Kari."

"Miss Kamiya's missing?" the third boy asked,"What happened to her?"

"Takeshi, you mean you haven't heard?" Keiko asked.

"Heard what?" Takeshi's Kunemon asked.

"Miss Kamiya had her baby," Keiko said,"And she still won't tell who the father is."

"I don't believe it!" Takeshi said,"She won't say? I would have thought that it would have been Mr. Takashi, or Mr. Motomiya."

"They can't though," Keiko said,"From what I've heard, like two years ago, they had to talk to this Digimon named Azulongmon...."

"Azulongmon?" Takeshi asked, his eyes open wide,"The Azulongmon? Wow, they got to talk to Azulongmon! Wow!"

Keiko rolled her eyes and sighed. "Anyway.., they talked to Azulongmon and he told them that Kari couldn't have a child with either of them. That's why Miss Kamiya's older brother left."

"Tai Kamiya?" Hiroshi asked,"The Tai Kamiya? You mean the leader of the Digidestined? I thought he left because of Mr. Ishida and Miss Takenouchi."

"What is it with you guys?" Keiko asked,"Anyway, he did leave because of Mr. Ishida and Miss Takenouchi getting engaged, but, he couldn't be with Sora because he had too much power as well. It's so sad, he really loved Sora, but...."

"So what?" another voiced sneered,"That loser got what he deserved!"

All six turned around and saw a young man wearing a black cloak leaning against the wall. He had brown hair in a crew cut, and a snarl that only a mother would love. "That punk didn't deserve to be the leader of the Digidestined, and he was right to give it up! He didn't really want Sora, or else he would have tried to get her sooner, before she had already turned on him!"

"And what do you know, Malcolm?" Keiko sneered,"Why are you still here, anyway? You can't be here just to learn how to control your powers, you've done nothing but be a pain since the day you got here!"

"That is my buisness!" the American said back..

"If it wasn't for the Digidestined, you wouldn't even know how to make your Digimon Digivolve! I wish they never found you, you monster.."

Malcolm growled and started to charge at her, when Keiko took out her Digivice. She was about to tell her Digimon to Digivolve, when her hand was hit and her Digivice was flung into the wall. She spun around to find Davis standing there, his arms crossed, and an angry look on his face.

"Keiko!" he snapped,"The first rule of being a Digidestined, is not using your Digimon to fight a human!"

"But, Mr. Motomiya," Hiroshi started," Malcolm said...."

"I will deal with Malcolm," he said, staring at him, "You've been a trouble maker and you clearly don't want to learn. I am expelling you. Now get out."

Malcolm stared at Davis, waiting for him to change his mid, but he didn't. He ran out of the hallway.

Davis turned to Keiko. "If's there's a problem next time, come to one of us, got it?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. Now get back to work."

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"How can you eat that junk?" Matt asked, walking into the kitchen.

Sora looked up from the table. "What?" she asked, placing her sandwich down.

Matt walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a can. He popped the lid open. "You're eating a pickle and strawberry sandwich!"

"So?" she asked.

"That's disgusting!"

"Hey," Sora said, patting her large stomach,"This guy inside needs nutrients."

"What nutrients?" Matt asked, sitting down across from her,"That's just pickle juice and strawberry preserves."

Sora smiled slightly, and took a big bite out of her sandwich, causing Matt to gag. "So," Matt said,"Are you nervous about our addition?"

Sora's expression changed. "Yeah....."

"What's wrong?" Matt asked.

"Nothing..." Sora drifted off.

"What?" Matt asked,"I know something's wrong."

Sora took a deep breath. "Its Kasumi.."

"Kasumi?" Matt asked,"What about her?"

"Well," Sora said,"You know that she's from another reality that could become the future to this world, right?"

Matt nodded,"So?"

Sora sighed again. "I'm her mother...."

Matt stared at her for a long moment. "Then, who's the father?"

"I..I'm not sure," Sora said,"But..."

Matt nodded. "Its not me, I know, but..." he looked at Sora's stomach.

Sora smiled. "Its yours, trust me."

Matt smiled. He got up and lightly kissed Sora on the cheek,"I wouldn't still be here if I didn't, but..what's going to happen if Kasumi's future comes true?"

"It won't," Sora said,"The only other person I had feelings for is long gone."

Matt seemed to accept this. "Okay," he said,"Listen, I've got to get back to work, okay?"

"Sure," Sora said, nodding.

Matt nodded. After he left, Sora dropped her sandwhich and supported her head with her hands. "What am I going to do?" she asked herself,"What if Kasumi's future does come true? How will Matt take it? I love him, but...How do I tell him that Kasumi's father is Tai?"

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"Have you found anything yet?" Ken asked, walking into the computer room on the top floor.

Noriko turned away from the large computer system, "No," she said, placing the helmet on its computer stand. She had changed in the last two years. She had let her hair grow to shoulder length. She told her friends and family that she just wanted a change, but, Ken knew the truth, she wanted to hide the bar code that was burned into her neck when Oikawa inserted the Dark Spore into her body. "I can't find Kari," she said,"Where ever she is, it is completely psi, and digital proof. I can't search for her mind, or her Digivice's signal."

Ken nodded, sighing. "I don't know what else to do. Gatomon is really worried, and Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya are almost hysterical. If we can't find her with the most sophisticated equipment available, who can?"

"Yeah," Noriko said,"and if wasn't for Davis and Amanda, we wouldn't even have any of this stuff."

"Actually, Amanda's father," Ken said,"Just wait until the child is born, then Davis is going to really have trouble on his hands! He has no idea what its like to be a father, I'm not even sure, and Yolei.....that's not the point. If we can't find Kari, what are we going to do?"

Noriko tapped the arms of the chair,"Maybe, if we fined tuned the computer to...oh, who am I kidding? There is no way we can find her with this computer alone. We need to do some detective work. I can't find her with this. The only thing I have found, is that there is a Digimon presence in the city, a very powerful one."

"Really?" Ken asked,"Is it just one of the Digimon attacking earth? In the past two years, evil Digimon attacks have greatly rose."

"And they're all doing everything for their 'Master'," Wormmon said,"Whoever that is!"

"No," Noriko said, shaking her head,"I think its an Ultimate, maybe even stronger than that.."

Ken leaned against the door frame. "I guess I'd better tell Davis to call for some help, then."

"Are you sure he'll come?" Noriko asked.

"With Kari missing?" Ken asked, turning to leave,"He's probably on his way already."

"So," Matt said, swishing his drink around in his hand,"We've hardly had time to talk lately, huh?"

"Yeah," T.K. said, from his seat on the other side of the small cafeteria table,"It seems that if we're not fighting evil Digimon, we're training new Digidestined."

"I know," Matt said, sighing,"Ever since we talked to Azulongmon two years ago, the percentage of evil Digimon attacks have grown so high, what can we do, if it becomes too much for us to handle?"

"I don't know," T.K. said, sighing,"We've got hundreds of Digidestined, but, they're all still novices, they'll get killed. Until they are trained significantly, us more experienced Digidestined will have to handle it."

"I know," Matt sighed,"So much for a normal life, huh?"

T.K. sighed. "Yeah. We've got attacking Digimon, problem students, missing Digidestined.."

"Don't worry," Matt said,"We'll find Kari." He sighed,"Davis has, despite my advice, called in an old friend to help find her."

to be continued....