Author's Note: I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all the great reviews I've received and such, it really means a lot to me, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story…

Chapter Three: "Crystal Digivolution."

Tears threatened to fall from his eyes, his body silently falling to his knees, as TK wrapped his arms around the small form of his digimon, bringing him in close to his chest. At the feel of the warm touch, Patamon slowly began to groan, his body starting to move, as he struggled to open his eyes. The momentary sense of relief was overwhelming, causing TK to pull Patamon in closer, as the thought of almost losing him had become unbearable.

"Patamon…"

Patamon finally managed to opened his eyes, staring through half slits into the face of TK, his body still very weak. "T-TK…"

A small smile appeared on TK's features. "Patamon! Thank God that you're ok!" He chanced a quick glance over at Kari, seeing that Gatomon was also regaining consciousness. "… This is all my fault!"

His digimon looked up at him in puzzlement, slowly shaking his head. "It's not your fault, TK."

"Yes, it is. Without Cody or Armadillomon, or the power of your crest, you're only at half power. I shouldn't have let you fight them! If that attack had been any stronger…" He left the sentence unfinished, turning to lower his gaze.

From where she lay in Kari's arms, Gatomon tried to shake the grogginess from out of her vision. "Woah … that attack was brutal!" She slowly looked up into Kari's worried gaze. "That definitely took one of my nine lives."

"Gatomon…" Kari smiled at her partner, before hugging her tight. She slowly turned her gaze as TK suddenly spoke.

"It's no use. There's just no way that we'll be able to protect Xuanwumon from the Shadowmon!" He waited for Kari's usual protests of not giving up, but found that she was silent. "We're just going to have to turn back … at least until we can find one of the digi-crystals."

"But TK, what about Xuanwumon? He might not be able to last that long." Kari fell silent once more as she lost herself in thought. "We'll have to split up. Gatomon and I will head north to aid Xuanwumon for as long as we can, while you try to find one of the digi-crystals. As an Ultimate, she stands a much better chance than Angemon."

TK almost turned physically pale. "B-But you can't … it's too dangerous."

"We have to TK. It's the only way." She slowly pushed herself up onto her feet, turning to face her digimon. "Come on Gatomon, we've got a lot of ground to cover. And you need to conserve as much energy as you can so that you can digivolve."

"Right." Gatomon nodded in agreement.

As she turned to leave, she took one final look back at the others. "I know that you'll get to us as soon as you can. But try not to worry ok? We'll hold out until then."

"Kari … I-I…" TK struggled to find the words. "I need to tell you that…"

She quickly shook her head 'no', instantly knowing what he was about to tell her, but knowing that she couldn't let him, not like this. "Tell me later, ok?" Without another word, Kari and Gatomon started running forward, through the remains of the village before them, and along the path that continued north.

TK watched their two forms slowly disappear from sight, one part of him wanting to rush after her, but another telling him that this was the only way to save Xuanwumon. He had to try and find a digi-crystal, and fast. But though he knew this, he still did not move for some time, his mind filled with the images from his dreams.

It was only the sudden beeping of his digivice, that snapped him out of his reverie. "Huh?" There was something there, faint but recognisable, a source of great power that emanated from somewhere in their area. "Could it be?"

"What is it, TK?" Asked Patamon, looking up.

He checked the small map closer, seeing that the strange source of energy was at least a mile away, and hoping with all his heart that it was what he thought it might be. "… A digi-crystal." He turned his gaze to face Patamon. "Do you have enough strength to digivolve again?"

"I-I think so." He answered. "But I don't know how long it will last."

TK nodded his head, lifting up his digivice. "No matter. We have to get to it as soon as we can!"

Digimon…

The stream of energy descended into his small form. "Patamon digivolve to…" The power began to rise from within him, growing stronger and more intense, until it suddenly faded, and disappeared from sight. "… Patamon…"

"Come on, you've got to try again." Said TK.

"Right."

Digimon…

Patamon closed his eyes, willing the Champion data to rise, as the power rose within him once more. "Patamon digivolve to…" The stream of energy ran into him, filling him with the power to digivolve. This time the digivolution occurred, and he soon digivolved into a Champion. "… Angemon!"

"Yeah, you did it Patamon!"

Angemon smiled as he turned to TK, still feeling weak from his battle with the Shadowmon. Placing his rod at his side, he wrapped his arms around TK's body, before taking to the air, following the beeping of TK's digivice…

"Something's just not right, I don't know, he just seemed really down for some reason." Davis spoke loudly into the phone's receiver, engaged with a conversation with Ken. Though almost a day had passed in the digital world, back in the real world, it was only an hour that had gone by. "Something's definitely bothering him."

"Hmm…" The line fell silent for a while, as Ken lost himself in thought. "Maybe we should all talk to him about it? And then we can find out what's wrong."

"Yeah, great idea. Ok then, Ken I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Right. See you tomorrow, Davis."

Davis sighed as he replaced the phone back onto it's stand. Maybe they were all just over-reacting, and seeing something that was not there. But there was something, something in TK's gaze every time he looked over at Kari or their digimon when they went for milkshakes, a look of sadness and fear. Whatever it was, he had to find out what. And what bugged him the most, was that if he was beginning to get worried about him, then he didn't even want to guess what Kari was feeling right now…

Kari and Gatomon continued running at a steady pace, quickly making their way through the tall grass that came up to their knees, pushing all fatigue towards the backs of their mind. All they could think about was getting to Xuanwumon in time, having already come across several groups of Shadowmon, hiding themselves from sight, and watching as they made their way north in groups of four or five.

They didn't know how long they had been running for, but sweat was sliding down the sides of their faces, their bodies growing heated and tired, until they finally came to a ridge that overlooked the valley down below. Keeping silent, Kari and Gatomon both crouched down low, before gasping in shock at the sight.

Out there before them, a hoard of Shadowmon were engaged in a fierce battle with several Meramon, Beedramon, and Monochromon, who were protecting the Guardian of the north. Xuanwumon was a digimon of a large stature, it's form that of a turtle, but it had two heads instead of one, and a large tree grew from the confines of it's back.

"Is that Xuanwumon?" Asked Kari, turning to Gatomon.

Gatomon nodded. "It is." Her gaze looked over the battlefield, seeing that the Shadowmon were gaining the upperhand. "We've got to help them out!"

Kari nodded her head, raising her digivice. "Let's do it, Gatomon!"

Digimon…

The digivice burst in an explosion of bright light, as the Crest of Light was activated, sending a stream of pure energy up into the heavens. "Gatomon, digivolve to…" The powerful data rose from within her, digivolving her form into an Ultimate. "… Angewomon!"

"Remember, we've got to hold them off for as long as we can. So we need to be careful Angewomon!"

"Right. I will Kari." She replied. Angewomon soon took to the skies, and began flying towards the battlefield, when a sudden sensation split through her side, causing her to cry out in pain. Her angelic form fell through the air, barely managing to regain her balance in time. "Ugh…" She looked up above her. "… Gargoylemon?"

A dark grin spread across the flying digimon's features, it's body small but possessing large arching wings, and thin arms that held a long staff between them. "Go no further!" It commanded, hostile in it's tone.

"Do you really think that I'm going to take orders from a hideous digimon like you?" She countered.

Gargoylemon turned angry, rushing forward with a flap of it's wings, and readying it's staff. Angewomon did the same, heading straight towards him, as her hand went for her bow. The evil digimon lashed out hard, thrusting it's staff towards Angewomon's body, but this time she was ready, quickly rising the base of her bow into the air, to counter the force of the blow. Pushing upwards to propell him backwards, she pulled back.

"Celestial Arrow!"

The arrow of pure light sailed through the air, but suddenly disintegrated on impact, as Gargoylemon began to twirl his staff protectively in front of himself. "Is that all you've got?" He taunted. "Stone Slash!" Thrusting his staff downwards, a blade of dark energy was sent hurtling towards her, cutting through the air.

"Angewomon! Watch out!" Cried Kari.

Angewomon quickly flew backwards, re-stringing an arrow to her bow. Releasing another Celestial Arrow, the holy attack pierced through the Stone Slash, causing both attacks to explode in a dazzle of blinding light. The resulting momentary blindness from the explosion, meant that Gargoylemon didn't see the next attack coming his way, suddenly crying out in pain, as the next arrow hit his body, causing him to drop his staff.

"Give it up, Gargoylemon!" Angewomon demanded.

Seeing the digimon laugh coldly, Kari followed his gaze, suddenly realising what he was trying to do, as she watched the Shadowmon press closer and closer against the resistance. "Angewomon, he's just trying to distract you from helping the others! They can't take much more of this!"

Angewomon followed Kari's gaze, seeing the ploy, before turning back to Gargoylemon. "I'll have to finish this quickly!"

Gargoylemon fumed with rage. "Meddlesome little girl!" A circular orb of dark energy suddenly formed in his hands. "Gargoyle Statue!" Hurtling the orb of energy through the air, it headed straight for Kari.

"Kari! No!" Angewomon dived down low, heading after the attack, as Kari was frozen in shock where she stood. She knew that she was not going to make it, quickly reaching out for her bow, and staring down the line of sight.

She only had one shot at this…

TK and Angemon made their way through the thick overgrowth, quickly darting inbetween the rows of large trees, as they followed the faint signal on the digivice. They knew that they had to find the digi-crystal fast, before another Guardian of the digital world was deleted, but also more importantly, before something happened to Kari and Gatomon.

"Angemon, take us down." Said TK, staring at his digivice.

"Right, TK. Hold on."

The angel digimon and his charge descended through the trees, landing lightly on the thick grass down below. TK stared at his digivice once more, looking around at their surroundings for some time, before finally pointed up ahead of them. "The signal is stronger over there."

"Great, let's go."

Together they started forward once more, jogging along a faint path that was cut through the valley ground, and finally arriving at a small enclosure, which was surrounded by large trees and rocks. Following the beeping of his digivice, TK stepped cautiously forward, beginning to see a pulse of bright blue light from up ahead.

The digi-crystal was unlike anything that he had imagined, it was small and circular, fitting into the palm of his hand, a transparent crystal orb, but with lightning jolts that sparked from inside it's core. Even from this distance, Angemon could feel the power that emanated from it.

"Wow. So that's what a digi-crystal looks like." He whispered, in awe.

TK silently nodded his head, before stepping forward to pick it up. The sudden simultaneous explosion of bright light that erupted from his digivice and the digi-crystal, caused him to take a step backwards. "Uh!"

Digimon…

Angemon could not even begin to explain the raw untapped energy that flowed within him, increasing his power by two fold, as he felt the new data rise from within him. "Angemon crystal digivolve to…"

The digi-crystal headed towards him, merging into his chest in a burst of bright light, and causing his form to suddenly change. His wings became more sleeker, agile, a thin but strong blue armour began to appear over his body, and a strange dark blue arm-guard device, that started from just below his elbow, and out towards the base of his hands. The last aspect of his appearance to change was his visor, two lightning motifs forming on either side of his face. "… ThunderAngemon!"

TK took another step backwards, taken aback in complete awe at the sight.

"I am ThunderAngemon. Using the lightning digi-crystal, I was able to crystal digivolve into an Ultimate level digimon. With my Holy Lightning and Static Pulse attacks, I will defend all that is good and pure!"

"Woah … you look amazing!" TK couldn't believe his eyes.

ThunderAngemon turned his gaze north. "Come TK, we must rejoin Kari and Gatomon before it is too late."

TK was stunned by the speed that ThunderAngemon displayed, sailing towards him in the blink of an eye with his new sleeker wings, and grabbing onto him. Now they stood a chance, with the power of the digi-crystal, together they could stand up to the Shadowmon, save Xuanwumon … and if his fears turned out to be right … Kari also.

End of Chapter Three.