Boy, could that be any more confusing? Lol. Sorry for not updating in a long time, but I've been hella busy with other stuff in my life. I hope this next chapter makes up for it. But I dun think so…

Chapter 6:

After Skydramon-

Demon's Second Line

~~~

Megun stretched her arms and closed her eyes. It was a nice day to be outside for awhile. She flexed her arms and took three deep breaths, then ran off the diving board and flipped into the water. A rush of coldness came over her, but it was refreshing. After a long week of school, this was what she needed.

A bell ringing stopped her. She surfaced and saw Evomon standing on the edge of the pool, looking at her.

"You're taking a risk," Megun sighed, and swam over to her partner. "What if someone sees you?"

"Nyao! Who comes here, anyway?" Evomon shot back, "And who'd come here to see you?"

Megun sighed and flipped over underwater. She pushed off the bottom and shot like a torpedo up to the surface, ignoring the pressure the twelve-foot deep end put on her head and ears. When she surfaced, she came out of the water for a moment, then settled back down.

"D'you think we did the right thing?" she asked Evomon, floating on the pool's surface.

"Nyao nyao. Yeah," Evomon responded, "Why wouldn't we?"

"I just don't think we should've. I mean…" Megun trailed off.

Someone approached the edge of the pool and handed Megun a towel.

"You stay in any longer, you'll get wrinkles," Nadeshiko smiled, rubbing Evomon on the head nonchalantly.

Megun hoisted herself out of the pool, although the ladder was a few feet away. When Nadeshiko pointed this out, Megun shook her head.

"Too late now," she said.

"What happened last week?" Nadeshiko asked, "On Saturday. All of a sudden you and Taichi and Yamato and Sora and Koushiro and those other kids are so formal around each other."

Megun closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "It's not something to…" she let out a long cough, then tried to continue. "Sorry. I got chlorine in my lungs. Anyways," she rubbed her face with her towel and handed it to Nadeshiko. "It's not something for me to discuss.

'Although,' she thought, 'I wish now I hadn't done… that.'

~~~

Jaime flopped on her bed, Ponimon lying on the floor. There were books stacked neatly in a pile on a nightstand, but Jaime didn't want to study right now. She was too preoccupied.

"You think we did the right thing?" Jaime asked her friend.

"Yeah," Ponimon nodded. "The sooner they knew, the better."

"But…" Jaime sighed, "I still don't understand why Megun…"

"Megun what?" Ponimon asked.

'Did… that.' Jaime thought.

~~~

Power nodded, Evomon draped over her neck. "I guess everyone knows, huh? You told them, right?"

"Yes."

"Then it's all good." Power said decisively, and turned to Ken.

"And… sorry." Power said. Evomon jumped off Power's shoulders, bell ringing.

"For what?" Ken asked tensely.

Power just smiled, and did something she had never done before, and kissed him on the cheek.

~~~

'She told me she had apologized to him later,' Jaime continued thinking. 'Was that her way of dropping him a hint? I'll never figure her out. …She thinks it's weird that I spend all algebra class doing one problem.'

"Jaime?" Ponimon raised her head.

"Yes?" Jaime responded.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" Ponimon asked Jaime her own question.

Jaime thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah," she said, "I do."

"Jaime?" Dany popped his head in her bedroom. "You making dinner?"

"Are you kidding?" Jaime looked up with disgust, "What am I, your maid?"

Dany shook his head, "Okay, then," he replied defensively, "We'll order pizza."

"'K." Jaime lay back down. After a moment, she opened a book on her nightstand and began reading.

~~~

Miyako read the last few pages of her book and shut it. 'I wonder how Jaime and Megun are doing?' she thought, 'Why have they been avoiding us?'

Someone tapped on the top of her book and brought it down from in front of her face. It was Hikari. "You okay?" she asked, "You seem out of it."

"We're all out of it, Hikari," Miyako put her hands behind her head and leaned back in her library chair. "Last week was kind of big."

"C'mon," Hikari smiled at her friend, "We've had worse shocks. Remember when we found out that Ken was the Kai…"

"Hahaha. Very funny," Miyako scowled.

Hikari sighed. "But Koushiro told me the destruction of the digital world has anything but increased. I thought a little bit that it was only Skydramon who was destroying it, but…"

"It's not," Miyako finished it for her. "There is someone after Skydramon."

"And before Demon?" Hikari looked worried. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Miyako replied. "Because…"

~~~

Skydramon began to laugh maniacally. She looked up to the sky and seemed to shout: "Dark Quartet, I got the best of you this time!!"

~~~

"What do you think she meant by 'Dark Quartet'?" Miyako asked.

"A new enemy," Daisuke pulled up a chair next to Hikari.

Both girls looked at him in shock. "Daisuke?" Miyako asked slowly, "Why are you hanging out in the library?"

Daisuke shrugged. "I felt like it."

"Sure."

~~~

Megun stretched on her way up to her and Nadeshiko's apartment. On the way, she passed Ken once again.

"Now you know what I'm sorry for," she said, turning around.

"I guess so," Ken turned back.

"Nothing happened last week on Saturday."

"Huh? Oh…" Ken nodded his head. "Okay."

"Power and Harmony never existed."

"Right."

"But we'll still help you out," Megun grinned.

"Really?

"Of course. We're all chosen, right?"

"Uh-huh."

Megun shrugged and kept walking. She guessed that they could take this, now. It wasn't like they had helped the enemy. In fact, if it weren't for her and Jaime, they wouldn't be alive.

"By the way," Ken said from a distance, "You were good. At the play…"

"Thanks."

"Yeah."

~~~

Koushiro scratched his chin. "A new enemy?"

Miyako nodded. "Hikari, Daisuke and I think so," she addressed the other chosen children, "We think there's another group of people after Skydramon."

"Sort of like… a second line?" Joe asked.

"Yeah. Demon's second line, that is," Hikari looked down at Tailmon, who nodded. "Stronger than Skydramon, we think."

"But Skydramon's a Perfect," Jaime shook her head. "And this 'Dark Quartet' is stronger? That means we're dealing with what? Four Ultimates?"

"It's only a theory," Takeru shrugged.

"That's bad," Megun frowned, "Even if it is a theory, how can we defeat four Ultimates as we are now? And don't forget about Demon."

"We aren't totally helpless," Taichi barked, "I'll bet because of that flash of light, we'll be as strong as we were before!"

"Great. So Agumon can probably evolve to Wargreymon and Paildramon can probably evolve," Yamato said glumly, "That makes probably Two Ultimates against five. That doesn't seem too fair to me."

"What are the rest of us, chop liver?" Sora asked. "We can all fight."

"Like you did last week," Megun rested her chin on her fist.

Sora glared at her. Megun smirked coolly.

"We should be focusing on this 'Dark Quartet'," Mimi scolded the two fighting girls, "Not on fighting each other."

"Point," Megun relaxed. "But we need to find a way to get stronger."

"Huh?" the computer behind them beeped, as did the new chosen's D-terminals.

"Huh?" Daisuke pulled out his D-terminal. "E-mail? Woah-!!"

"I know," Koushiro nodded. "It's here, too."

All the chosen looked in astonishment at the message on the screens.

Hohohohoho. So you little Chosen Children think you got us? Just wait and see what we've got in store for you. The four of us, the Ultimate-leveled Dark Quartet, will not fall as easily as Skydramon did. You wait and see.

~ The Dark Quartet.

"It's signed the Dark Quartet," Miyako shook her head sadly, "Now what do we do?"

"You know, " Daisuke looked up at the ceiling. "It could be something like the Dark Masters; Demon could just be a part of the Dark Quartet."

"No, no," Ken shook his head, "Demon wouldn't talk about subordinates as rudely as these four did."

"And you know… how?" Megun grinned.

"Go away."

"Besides, these guys have the whole evil 'Hohohohoho' going on," Mimi said. "It sure isn't-"

"Wait… there's more," Taichi scrolled down and read the rest of the note.

P.S. Don't bother coming to the digital world. We'll come to you. ;)

"No way!" Yamato stepped back, "Does that mean the digital world is destroyed already!?"

"There's only one way to find out," Miyako said stubbornly.

"Way ahead of you, Miyako," Megun held her D-3 out. "Digital gate, open!"

Nothing happened.

"Huh?" Miyako looked at the screen. "Digital gate… OPEN!!"

Again, nothing happened.

"I don't believe this," Evomon jumped on the computer table. "Just because the digi-port won't open means the digital world is destroyed!?"

However, Hikari was looking at the message left by the Dark Quartet.

''We'll come to you'…' she thought to herself, 'They're going to attack us in the real world?'

She exchanged worried glances with Takeru. Taichi, Daisuke, and Yamato saw this and were anything but slightly annoyed.

~~~

"Hikari?" Taichi asked as he and Hikari were walking back to their apartment, "Do you… like Takeru?"

Hikari turned around. "What?" she asked her brother, "Like… like him?"

"Uh-huh," Taichi nodded his head.

Hikari thought for a moment. "Maybe," she responded, "as a friend."

"Oh," Taichi nodded his head, "I was just asking."

"'K," Hikari turned around.

"'Cause you know," her brother pointed out, "Daisuke likes you, too."

"I know," Hikari giggled, "I know."

~~~

"Hey, Takeru," Patamon commented from his perch atop Takeru's head, "DO you like Hikari?"

"Maybe as a friend," Takeru laughed, "What about you?"

"What do you mean?" Patamon asked indignantly, "Do I like Tailmon? Maybe… as a friend." He mocked.

Takeru laughed.

~~~

"Megun?" Nadeshiko poked her head into Megun's room, "Someone named Koushiro's on the phone for you."

"Really?" Megun picked up the line in her room, a hand on the towel she wrapped around herself. 'Why would Koushiro call me?'

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hi," Koushiro responded, "Megun?"

"Uh-uh," Megun twirled the phone cord around her finger. "Why are you calling me? Have you figure out what the Dark Quartet meant?"

"What? When they said, 'We'll come to you'?" he asked, "Not yet."

Megun looked outside. A clap of thunder echoed around the house like the timpani she could play. "I don't know anything else yet, either. Maybe-"

But then, a streak of white lightning struck very close to Megun's window. In the explosion of thunder that followed, Megun could only pick out the buzzing on the other line.

"Koushiro?!" she asked, "Koushiro!?"

Then the lights went out.

~~~

Hikari made her way through the dark apartment like a blind person. "Taichi?" she called, tripping over a chair in the process.

"Hikari!" Taichi called from his room. "Look at this!"

"What?" Hikari poked her head in.

Taichi and Agumon were standing some distance away from the computer. The computer, despite the power outage, was glowing like a light bulb.

"What the-?" Hikari stepped forward. "What's happening?"

"This is what the Dark Quartet meant by: 'We'll come to you'?" Tailmon followed Hikari. "That leads to the digital world."

It was true. The four of them looked at each other and then at the computer, which, thought the light, showed a digital gate that was open.

Ahahahahahahaha… Ain't it a stupid ending?! O.o Did I just say "ain't"?!?!?! ::dies::