"I guess we have to admit that he has a talent for running away and hiding himself from us", the young girl sighed.
Her tall, blonde friend gave her a sympathetic look. He knew that she was worried but she tried so hard to let nobody see too much of her concern.
"Well, he had a lot of practice in the past. I guess old habits don't die that fast at all."
The brunette girl grimaced a little at the meaning of his words not trying to hide her discomfort this time. She hated constantly being reminded of who their friend once had been.
"You know that he has changed. The Digimon Kaiser is gone and he won't be coming back ever again. He promised it."
"That sounds as if you aren't so sure at all. Why is that? Are you afraid that he may not be able to keep that promise?"
"Or is it something else that makes you so concerned?" he added after a moment with a mischievous grin on his face.
The smaller girl blushed a little at his last remark, knowing fully well what he was talking about, and refused to look in his deep blue eyes when she answered.
"Stop joking around, will you! This is serious but instead of helping me to find him you just make fun of me." She tried to acted annoyed but the small blush was still on her cheeks. "Why did I have to end up in a team with you?"
"Would you prefer to go with the others? Then you would have to bear with Daisuke's and my brother's fighting over who should walk beside you. I don't have a problem running around here alone so if you wish we can contact the others and arrange a meeting point where you could join them."
He pulled out his Digi-vice, still grinning, to locate the others.
"You enjoy making fun of me, don't you?" the girl inquired angrily.
"Actually yes! I'm constantly oppressed and now you are trying to take the last bit of fun I have left in my life. That's not fair." he returned in a fake whiny voice pocketing the small device again.
She rolled her eyes at her friends antics.
"If I didn't know who you really are and what you really think I would probably even believe what you just said" she answered in a more serious tone now.
"Well, you know that there is always some truth in everything I say. It doesn't matter if you are serious or not, you can't just ignore the world around you. Neither can you ever completely deny who you are. You can pretend to be somebody else but in the end you will still be the same person. It's just an other layer of your personality."
"I don't like your way of seeing things."
"I thought as much. Is that because it would mean that the Digimon-Kaiser and Ken are still the same person and that the only thing which has changed is the one who is dominant now?"
"Please stop bringing those memories back. I don't want to hear it. You know that I'm trying to forget them. The Kaiser is gone for good and he won't come back again. End of the story."
That said the brunette girl increased her speed and left her blonde friend walking behind her.
* * *
At the same time not too far from the to arguing teenagers two other humans and a small purple digimon opened their eyes and began to discover the world around them.
"Did we make it? It doesn't seem that different to our Digi-world. Are you sure this is the right place?" the young blonde girl asked uncertainly.
"I don't know if that's the right world. We have to look around a little to be sure but at least I can assure you that it is an other world than our Digi-world." the brown haired boy tried to calm her.
"What makes you so sure?"
"Just look at the sky. Isn't it beautiful?" he said while pointing up.
Alice looked up at the perfectly blue sky overhead thoughtfully. In the world they had just come form, their own Digi-world, you could see streams of data covering the sky like clouds. But in this world the sky was immaculately blue. Perfect and beautiful but at the same time this seemed to be wrong and cold. Maybe it was too perfect to be real.
"Actually I prefer the night sky. The moon and the stars are truly beautiful whereas the sun is only bright and hot. But anyway you are right. This shade of blue is really amazing. It only looks a little fake, don't you think?"
Ryo was already searching the surroundings for anything that might look familiar. But unfortunately without much success.
"True, but we still should stop starring at the sky and get going now. It's already late and we should at least have a place to stay over night if we don't find my friends before nightfall.
The Digi-world is not the safest place no matter how peaceful it might look at the moment."
"But there is still plenty of time before the sun goes down, right? We could start looking for those guys now and maybe we find a suitable place for the night while we are doing that."
"Sounds good enough for me. Come on! Let's get going!" That said Ryo grabbed her hand again and began marching.
* * *
The sun had almost vanished behind the horizon and Ryo and Alice still hadn't found anything. Neither had they met any of Ryo's friends nor had the found a place which would provide shelter for the night. Not much had been spoken since they had arrive in this world but that wasn't necessary anyway. Both of them knew what they were looking for and they were already used to longer periods of silence.
They had just reached the top of a small hill and the setting sun behind them was casting long shadows when Ryo suddenly stopped walking. Alice who had been walking behind him nearly bumped into him but before she could start complaining about his sudden halt she noticed that the young boy had spotted something near the edge of the wood which was stretching out at the left side of the small hill.
She strained her to see something in the shadows and finally she had managed to see it too. A slender dark figure probably not much taller than herself was walking along the edge of the wood. Obviously the figure had noticed them as well because suddenly he stopped for a moment before it leaped gracefully into the bushes and vanished between the trees.
"What was that?" Alice asked curiously.
"I don't know but I think it's about time that we find a refuge for the night." Ryo answered darkly.
Alice looked back to the wood one more time before she followed Ryo who was already walking down the grassy slopes.
She had just caught up with the boy when he suddenly stopped again but this time she was too close and too fast to keep herself from crashing into him. The young blonde was clearly annoyed now.
"Why the hell do you always have to stop so suddenly? You could at least warn me!"
"Sorry." He apologized half-heartedly. "But I've found something. Over there."
He pointed towards a small river which was leading into the wood the strange creature had entered only a few minutes ago. Alice couldn't see anything special. Sure the silvery water was shining beautifully in the fading daylight but surely he wouldn't stop for such a reason.
Her eyes were following the shiny band towards the point where it vanished between the tall trees and then she noticed it too. There was a small fire right at the point were the wood opened up a little to let the river pass through.
"Who could that be down there?" she asked Ryo.
"It could be just about everyone or everything. But I guess we don't have much of a choice but to go down. We still don't know where to stay tonight and it's almost dark now."
The young boy paused for a moment obviously deep in thoughts. Then he continued with a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Maybe we are lucky and it's somebody I know. We should give it a try."
* * *
From the shadows under the tall trees only a few feet from the small fire a pair of crystal clear blue eyes kept watching the two newcomers marching down the slopes.
"Are we expecting guests, darling?" the one with the blue eyes asked the smaller figure which was hidden in the shadows behind him.
"Oh will you please stop joking around! This could get serious." An annoyed female voice answered.
After that neither of them spoken and they just kept watching the two figures silently as they came closer.
* * *
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