Chapter 6

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"Well, I guess you could stay here for a while if you want, but I don't know where you'll sleep or anything." Takeru says.

"Thanks so much. I really appreciate it."

"Well, I try."

"I'll just sleep out here or somethin."

"Nonsense." Matt says, coming out into the living room where Takeru, Kari and Reko are sitting. "My band's starting our new tour today. I'll be gone for a month or so, so you're welcome to sleep in my room while I'm gone."

"Thanks Matt."

"No problem." He says as he puts down a suitcase near the front door. "I'm always happy to help."

Matt walks back down the hallway to his room to get another suitcase and his guitar. As he comes back out, the doorbell rings.

"Mark's probably here with the bus. I'll see you guys in a couple months."

"Bye Matt! Bye Gabumon!" Everyone calls out the door.

"Bye everyone!" Gabumon calls back.

Takeru closes the door behind them.

"I can't believe they're already going on tour. It seems too early, it only seems like it's been a week since Matt told me, and yet it's been five months."

"Yeah." Kari adds in.

"So, what exactly brings you here?" Takeru asks Reko.

"My dad and I had a huge argument the other day. I can tell he no longer wants me around."

"It seems like everyone's having arguments lately." Gatomon says with a sigh.

"What? Oh, yeah. Your parents moved out, right Kari?"

"Yeah." Kari says with a sigh. "But I'm glad. Our little family was getting nowhere fast. All anyone would do after Tai moved away was yell at me anyway. I felt like I was in some sort of prison, or something close to it."

"That's kind of how I felt, too. And all the yelling was because Kari and I are partners. Her parents never understood any of the Destend stuff. They never -wanted- to understand that both Kari and I need to be partners, and that we have no choice but to work together."

"We want to work together. We always have, why would we stop just because my so called parents want us to break apart and never see each other again? I guess the finally figured that out, so they left."

All of the other Destend and Digimon nod. Reko, however, doesn't understand the friendship between partners.

"Why can't you break apart?" Reko asks, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't Digimon just for work and fighting?"

"No!" Takeru says strongly. "They're not just for work! They're a best friend you have for life. You can't just treat them like crap, like Ken did a few years ago. They're not slaves, they're just as alive as you and me. Most people don't understand that. But that's just because they're clueless and they've never met a Digimon, or been friends with a Destend."

"I would've thought better from you Reko. You've been friends with Kari for years!" Patamon squeaks.

"Well sorry!" Reko says. "I never knew that it's so complex. I figured you fight together and that's it. But I know now."

All of them stand there for a minute, when there's a beam of light in front of Reko. Rays shoot out from all sides (in their anime-ish way) and slowly the glow fades, until they can see a silver D-3 and the Crest of Truth floating in front of Reko.

"Whoa! Is it mine?" he asks, cupping his hands under the DigiVice and Crest. Both items slowly lower into his hands, and they lose their glow.

"Wow! I'm a Destend!" Reko exclaims.

"How did -that- happen?" Patamon asks angrily.

"I guess his partner was waiting until he understood the bond between Destend and Digimon." Takeru answers.

"Wow." Reko says, looking at his DigiVice and Crest. "Is this a crest?" he asks, holding up the small object.

"Yeah. That's the Crest of Truth." Kari explains.

"Wow. Cool!" Reko exclaims. "But where's my partner?"

"Give him time to get here." Takeru says.

"Hey guys?" Sora asks as she opens the front door. "Has Matt left yet?"

"Yeah." Hikari answers.

"Oh, okay. I thought I might've gotten here late, but I wasn't sure. I just got out of class a while ago and drove straight here." She says, feeling a bit down because she missed her chance to say goodbye to Matt. "Hey Reko, where'd you get a DigiVice from?"

"I'm a Destend."

"Cool. Welcome to the group!.. Well, I have to go guys, I'm applying for a college today, and I'd better be ready. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck Sora!" some of the Destend say as she walks out the door.

"Thanks, guys!" Sora says, waving at the Destend from down the hallway, before disappearing down the stairs.

"Time really does fly when you're having fun." Gatomon says.

Gatomon said exactly what everyone was thinking. (besides Reko) The whole gang has been together since they were all kids. Takeru and Kari were so young when they became Destend that they can't remember a time when they didn't have partners. And now they're both sixteen, and the original Destend are going to college. Time passes too quickly.

Before Takeru is even able to close the door, Davis rushes inside.

"We need help now! You have to come to the Digital World! Hurry, please!"

"Wha.what's going on?" Takeru asks, running after Davis, with Kari, Nemoriku, their partners, and Reko in tow.

"There's no time to explain." Davis says, heading towards the Ishida's computer. Raising his DigiVice to the monitor, he exclaims, "DigiPort open!", and they're soon off to the Digital World, with Reko tagging along behind, since it's his first time there.

"Wow!" Reko exclaims. "This is like a dream or something!"

"There's no time to suck all this in, sorry dude, but we gotta get going." Davis says, getting on his partner's back.

"DigiVolve!" Nemoriku says to Tsumon. "Why can't you DigiVolve? You just did the other day!"

"I don't know!" Tsumon answers.

"Give it time!" Takeru yells to the two. "Just get on Pegususmon. Hurry up now!" Nemoriku and Tsumon hop on, and Reko gets on Nefertimon, sitting behind Kari.

Hurriedly, all the Digimon follow Davis's partner. They find a gruesome sight at their arrival. Stingmon, Aquilamon, and Ankylomon are fighting as hard as they can, yet their moves aren't working at all.

"Davis!" Ken calls. "It's time for Veemon and Wormmon to DigiVolve!"

"Right!" Davis yells, running over to Ken. Stingmon De-DigiVolves to Wormmon, and then both Veemon and Wormmon DNA DigiVolve to Pieldramon and then to Imperieldramon.

As Imperieldramon moves in to fight, Ankylomon and Aquilamon move out to DNA DigiVolve with Patamon and Gatomon. Soon, Slyphemon and Shikukumon are in there with Imperieldramon, battling it out for the sake of both worlds.

"Thank God you guys made it here!" Yolei says joyously to Takeru and Kari. "We couldn't do much without you!"

"It still doesn't look like we're doing much." The child of Kindness says, dropping his head to look down at the ground.

"No." Takeru says strongly. "You have to believe that they can accomplish this, just like all the fights before. We have to have hope."

They stand there, watching their partners attack again and again, waiting, hoping one of the attacks will cause at least a flinch or a scratch, or some sign that they'll win. After a tiring hour and a half, the enemy Digimon still hasn't shown any signs of anything, making tension rise by the second.

"That's it! What are we going to do now?!" Davis asks. "Even I can tell nothing good is happening here. Isn't there a plan B or something?"

"Why yes, actually there is a way." Gennai says, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "You must find the key."

"The what?!" Reko asks, raising an eyebrow.

"The key to the balance of the Digital and Real Worlds, and they key which can rid darkness and bring light. The key is a person. That's all I can tell you, because that's all that I know." He says, then disappearing in the same unusual way of which he came.

"The key?" Kari asks.

"Jeez, Gennai didn't even tell us if it's a guy or girl. It could be anybody!" Davis exclaims.

"Well, we don't really have the time to even talk about this right now. We have to find whoever it is before that Digimon attacks us back." Cody says, worried.

"For all we know, the key could be one of us in this group. Reko doesn't have a partner yet -- it could be him." Takeru says.

"Don't you think the key would know it if they were the key? I'm just as confused as you are."

"Well, we'd better get searching." Yolei says.

"But, how? If we take our partners, who'll know what happens next." Kari says.

"Well, Nemoriku and I can go, since we can't really help anyway." Reko answers.

"At least one of us needs to go, though. I'll go, too." Takeru says.

"Why can't we just get Izzy to join in? He works nights anyway. Besides, he's the computer guy, and he knows more about the Digital World than any of us do." Davis points out.

"Great idea Dai!" Takeru says, running off. "Let's all hope that he says yes!" he yells back at the group.