Author's notes: I left you in a bit of suspense in the last chapter! (smiles evilly while Sora comes up behind her and whacks her over the head. "You can't hurt my Tai!") Go read to find out what happened ( MadMaddie runs away with Sora chasing her, screaming out curses.) Sorry for the late update! Damn Writer's block!

Once again Italics are Digidestined's thoughts.

'This' is telepathic speech.

Disclaimer: On first Chapter.

The Crests Within. Chapter Five.

            This is it. I shall die in my own home, not saving the digital world from disaster. Odd I never pictured it like this. Tai opened his eyes, determined to face his death with courage. "Tai!" A sudden blast of icy air swept across the room blowing the flames away from his friend. The blast got stronger, a thin layer of ice slowly appearing on every object in the room as the fire was wiped out. Tai, covered with a light frost, shakily pulled himself up onto his knees. Matt was standing by the door arms out stretched and shaking.

"What just happened?" Matt didn't answer, his mouth was open slightly as he stared at the charred and frozen remains of Tai's bedroom.

"I haven't a clue but I think we should go tell Izzy."

~*~

            A greenish blur of trees and plants before he was in the swirling mist of gold that was his very core. Pushing himself further he sought out his hope. The very material that held the fabric of his soul together. It was shinning brightly within, shining to the point where it was hurting him. Telling him that something was happening, something beyond the digital world. He frowned, something was happening in the human world. A flash of golden hair and blue eyes Matt . . . spiky brown hair and chocolate eyes Tai . . . Then the red hot feeling of fear and bitter taste of pain echoed within him. But not his, someone else's, Matt and Tai's. And suddenly he was jerked back into the digital dimension, he looked up to see Ken's face hovering above his own. The violet haired boy stopped shaking his friend and sat down in front of him, "What happened?"

"I dunno, it was Matt and Tai. They were back home but I don't get it, something bad and good was happening. I really can't explain it." Ken cocked an eyebrow at the blonde but didn't say anything, their abilities were very hard to understand. Tk's especially. The blonde groaned and sunk his face into his hands, this just isn't fair.

"What part of it is?"

"Huh?" Tk said in a confused voice as Ken turned to look at him. "You said that 'this wasn't fair' and I said 'what part of it is?'"

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did I heard you."

"No, I thought that I didn't say it." Ken gave Tk a bewildered look before putting his hand to the blonde's forehead. "Are you feeling alright? Did you use too much energy looking inside you?"

"No I'm fine I  just . ." He paused thinking about what he had said and shook his head, "Okay maybe you're right. I think I'm just gonna stay here and relax."

"That might be a good idea." Ken said as he watched the blonde stretch out in the sun, they had finished helping the twin shaman with the children a while ago and had been practising their abilities when they had both felt a sudden jolt inside them. As if something was wrong, Tk had gone inside his soul (something Ken guessed came with his ability) the blonde had found little but enough to make both uneasy. What was going on back in Japan? They didn't know in slightest, there was no digimon to help explain why they had been taken here and not the others. No friends to help ease their worries at night. Ken sighed and flopped down beside Tk, the only people that could help them now where themselves.

~*~

            Izzy sighed as he bent over his laptop typing out an e-mail to Gennai. He looked up at Matt and Tai, whose burns were being treated by Joe. The two had rung up babbling something about a fire in the Kamiya's apartment. The rest of the team had been called and they were now sitting in the living room after examining Tai's bedroom. Izzy sighed and pressed send as he looked everyone over, the worry for Tk and Ken was getting to them all. Yolei and Davis had bonded over their worry for Ken, the purple haired girl now leaning on Davis's shoulder, her eyes staring blankly ahead. Cody had been taking his frustrations out in Kendo, the worry however clouded his judgement. Which explained the bruises covering his arms from where his grandfather had won their fights. Sora had done the same thing, spending hours playing tennis until she nearly collapsed. Joe had buried himself in his work, hoping to drive the fear away. It had seemed the most logical solution and he to had done the same thing. Tai and Matt had held onto the fact that Tk and Ken wouldn't give up so neither could they, which had until Tai's apartment caught on fire, been working. Kari had been hit the hardest of them all, she had received no more visions but nightmares of what could happen had plagued her dreams. Leaving her with bags under her eyes, a startling black against her now pale skin. The girl in question sighed as she curled up in a tighter ball on the sofa, she had never given up before but somehow Izzy had the odd feeling that most of Kari's hope came from Tk. And with him gone she had no one to look to, it was the same with Yolei. The purple haired girl had needed her weekly phone calls from Ken and with him gone her world had fallen apart. Izzy didn't expect Gennai to return their e-mail, he hadn't the last one which had been more important than Tai and Kari's apartment mysteriously catching on fire. So he was surprised when five minutes later Tai's computer beeped, crowding round it they opened the e-mail up. And with a flash of light all ten digidestined vanished.

~*~

            Tk stared at the head shaman, looking as if he was listening though his mind was in another place completely. Bored, bored and bored. His stories are usually quite interesting but not tonight.

I agree completely.

Tk started when he realised he had just heard Ken's voice in his head. Okay so maybe I wasn't loosing it earlier. Tk thought to himself as he turned to look at Ken who had an equally startled face. They both snapped back to Bussho and carried on pretending to listen, though they were really turning over what just happened in their minds.

            Tk struck the flint, lighting the candle. Placing it beside his bed he looked over at Ken in the dim light. After listening to Bussho's stories Kiko had ushered them to bed and blown the candle out. After waiting for quiet to settle the pair had quickly sat up and gotten ready to talk.

"Okay what happened?"

"I think we talked through our minds seeing as I definitely didn't say I was bored out loud."

"Should we see if it will work again?" Tk nodded and closed his eyes, 'Ken can you hear me?'

'Yep, this is amazing!'

'No kidding'

'Next time we have a test I am so gonna be asking you for the answers.' Tk's laughter filled Ken's head, smiling at his friend the violet haired boy said a goodnight before blowing out the candle and snuggling down to sleep. Perhaps their powers weren't so bad after all.

~*~

            Tai slowly opened his eyes, groaned and closed them again. Why did the sun have to be so bright? He felt something poke him in the side, he swatted it and rolled over onto his side and yelped. Sitting up he rubbed his side which was painful, looking down he realised he had rolled onto a patch of thistles. Hold on, thistles? Looking round he realised he was on a moor, eight digidestined scattered around him. He groaned and rubbed his back which was sore from sleeping on the hard ground and a bunch of rocks. Ah, the wonders of sleeping in the digital world. Tai thought to himself sarcastically, he started when someone tugged his t-shirt. Yelping he turned round to see Cody sitting there, looking at him. The younger boy smiled up at him, "I thought I should wake you first." He whispered, Tai nodded and thanked him before ordering Cody to try and wake some of the others. Stumbling over to Matt he proceeded to shake him until he woke up, this of course resulted in Tai being thrown onto his backside when Matt punched him.

"Don't ever wake me up like that again." He said as he pulled himself up and went to wake Joe up. Tai rolled his eyes muttering something about stupid blondes under his breath as he went to get Sora up.

            Ten minutes later and everyone was awake and moving out. Well nearly everyone.

"Nap time." Mimi mumbled as she snuggled closer to Matt's back, the blonde was carrying her piggyback style as they trudged through the forest.

"I don't believe this!"

"What is it Davis?" Sora asked in a tired voice as she leaned on Tai's shoulder.

"Where are our digimon?"

"We don't know, if we did I'm sure we'd be finding them."

"Sorry, It's just that if the digimon were here we'd be able to find Ken and Tk easier. I'm really worried."

"We all are Davis there's nothing to apologise for." Sora said from her position against Tai. They continued to walk in silence, pushing past the trees as they dragged their legs through the tall grass. A quiet snapping sound rang through the air to Tai's right, the brunette turned frowning as he regarded the trees. Nothing. Five minutes later there was a rustling, like someone accidentally brushing past a pile of dried leaves. Stop it! It's your imagination. He told that to himself again when he heard a crunching sound above him. Twisting his neck up, he peered into the dense canopy above them. "What is it Tai?" Sora asked as she tugged on his sleeve, her tired hazel eyes staring into his own. "I don't know." She rose an eyebrow to tired to ask what he meant. "I think we're being followed." He whispered in her ear as he stared ahead, burying her face in the crook of his neck she replied even quieter, "What do we do?" Tai paused chewing his lip, then tightening his arm around her waist he sped up. Matt frowned at Tai's sudden change in pace but decided not to ask. He paused, straining his senses, until he too heard the occasional rustle of someone treading through the forest alongside them. Hopefully the others would be smart enough to realise not to ask, Matt thought as he walked faster. Quickly catching up with Tai and Sora, he could hear the others following just behind them. The rustles on the side of them grew quicker and more frequent as they sped up. Mimi had woken up, her hands clutching his shirt tightly as they continued to walk. Seconds later she slid off his back and carried on walking beside him as their pace quickened. There was a loud cracking sound from the left and branch came toppling down from the trees above. "Run!" Tai ordered and the digidestined sprang forward, pushing past the branches and leaping through the grass as they darted forward. They could hear an assortment of grunts as they were followed through the forest. Breaking out into rolling hills as far as they could see, they continued to run. Their feet pounding on the short grass as they ran for their lives. The babbling noise of digimon got louder and Mimi gave a short cry as she saw a group of at least thirty digimon heading their way. It was matter of seconds before all ten digidestined were standing back to back, completely surrounded. Their were Drimogemon, Gekomon, Otamamon and many other digimon they had met before surrounding them. The odd thing was that they looked slightly crazy. Their eyes were bulging and their tongues lolling out their mouths, and they all seemed dimmer. As if the colour had been drained from them, leaving them darker than usual.

"They're everywhere!" Mimi cried out as she backed away, all the digidestined now forced into a circle.

"How are we going to get out of this?" Yolei asked as Davis as she pulled her hands into a fist. A low thumping met the maroon haired boy's ears and he turned his head slightly.

"I don't know. But whatever you do, don't look to your right." Sadly enough Yolei didn't listen, the girl looked over her shoulder and winced. A huge troll like digimon was making it's way over with another band of smaller digimon.

"Wonderful, we are surrounded by crazed Digimon that are intent on killing us and a great big ugly thing is now stomping over to crush us with it's feet. Absolutely perfect."

"Don't you mean Perfecto?"

~*~

            Tk sighed as he ran a hand through his messy blonde hair, he shouldered his backpack as he stared into the distance. He glanced over at his companion, Ken was peering at the map the Tediimon had given him. It wasn't a very good map, it only went as far as the next village but that was all they needed. The feelings Tk had experienced about Matt and Tai had worried them, add the fact that they could now talk thorough their minds left the pair thoroughly confused. After discussing their situation they had come to the conclusion that they needed to find out what was going on. Gennai was the only one that would know. So they had told the Tediimon of their idea, the digimon had been accepting of it. Kiko had packed food and other supplies for them as well as handing them a map and they had left that morning. Now halfway through the day they were still in the middle of nowhere. Another sigh escaped the blonde's lips as he turned to face his friend. "Shall we stop for food?"

"Sure, I need to work out where we are anyway. This map is confusing, everything looks the same!"

"Come now Ken, a smart genius like yourself should be able to work out how to use a map." Tk said teasingly as he pulled out some sort of Tediimon sandwich. Ken glared at his friend before taking a swig of water from his water bottle as he looked the map over.

'Worried?' Tk snapped out of his thoughts as he looked at Ken, he nodded as he toyed with his gloves.

'So many things could have happened to them, we may be too late to do anything.'

'This is Matt and Tai we're talking about, you know the pair better than I do and I know that they can always get themselves out of trouble.'

'Technically we're not talking.'

'Oh, be quiet.' Tk smiled as he shoved the remainder of his sandwich in his bag and stood up.

"Shall we?"

"Let's, I want to get to the village before nightfall."

~*~

            "So what are the plans?" Joe asked as he took another step back to avoid being bitten. "Not a clue." Tai replied as he sent a kick on a digimon that was getting to close for comfort. It rolled over and sat there clutching it's head. It was then that out of the corner of his eye he noticed a Drimogemon moving towards Sora. "Sora, look out!" But it was too late, there was no where for her to move to without putting someone else in danger. If she moved right Joe would be in the line of fire and left Izzy would be, so she stayed still. "NO!" Tai's hands flung out, a red glow emitting from them as a burst of fire slammed into the digimon diving for Sora. The digimon flew high over the moor and back into the forest, it's fur on fire. Tai froze with shock for a second before he turned to face Matt. His shocked expression slowly faded into a smirk as he eyed his friend. The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle seeming to fit into place.

"Ya think we can fend them off with these powers?"

"I think so." Matt replied, the two stood shoulder to shoulder and raised their arms. The digimon had seemed to realise that the pair were the real danger and moved forward to annihilate them but the boys got there first. A jet of fire and ice leapt forward throwing the digimon backwards either frozen or on fire. The two slowly turned their arms round spraying each digimon with the two elements. The group of digimon either unconscious, deleted or in a great deal of pain decided to back off. Turning tail they ran dragging their fainted friends with them.

"T . . Tai what did you two just do?"

"No idea." The brunette said to Sora before he fainted.

~*~

            Tk started and sat bolt upright, shaking slightly as he tugged his blanket closer. A barrage of emotions, that he was positive weren't his, had flashed before his eyes as he slept. Something to do with fire and . . . ice? He shook his head, trying to clear the fog from his mind as he sat there. He lay back down and closed his eyes trying to get back to sleep. He and Ken hadn't reached the next village as they had hoped and were spending the night in a dried out moor wrapped in a couple of blankets. Burrowing under the blankets he tried to sleep, but his mind wasn't co-operating and all calm thoughts had fled him.

'What's up?'

'The sky.'

'Tk, I'm serious.' Ken's eyes peeked over the edge of his blanket as he stared at the blonde who had come to the surface to glare at his friend.

'I felt their presence again.'

'Does that mean that something bad is happening?' Tk shrugged and stared up at the sky, the stars twinkling merrily at him. 'I don't know Ken. The sooner we get to Gennai's the better.'

~*~

            Tai groggily opened his eyes, slowly focusing them on the fire that flickered before him. Squinting slightly he could make out a group of dark lumps on the other inside of the fire. My friends. He looked to the right seeing Joe silhouetted against the moon, standing watch. Rolling onto his back he could see Matt beside him. No one else was near them, a frown furrowed his forehead. Leaning over he poked the blonde in the side, Matt groaned and batted Tai's hand away. Glaring slightly the brunette continued to poke his friend until Matt's eyes fluttered open and he turned to look at Tai.

"I hurt all over Taichi Kamiya, you better have a good reason for waking me up." Matt growled as he sat up. "Shhh, you might wake the others." The blonde looked over the group before turning his eyes back to his best friend. "Explain."

"I think they're scared of us."

"Come on Tai! You have to be kidding."

"I'm being deadly serious. Usually if one of us is hurt the rest will go out of their way to make sure they're comfortable. Add to the fact that since our first trip to the digital world us two and Sora have been inseparable. Like the time we caught the flu when we were twelve and she stayed with us. Taking care of us until she also got sick. She wouldn't leave us then why now when we only fainted?" Matt didn't reply, he couldn't. He didn't have an answer to his friend's question. Sighing the blonde settled himself back down, "Whatever the reason I'm sure we can talk it through. Now go to sleep. You know I get grumpy in the morning if I don't get any sleep." Tai chuckled to himself as he lay down beside his friend. Matt words had soothed his worries, however they weren't banished. A jolt of fear passed through him as he lay down. What if they couldn't talk it out?

~*~

            Tk smiled and nodded at the digimon who was chattering to him happily, the small Yokomon along with other groups of in-training digimon lived in a huge village run by a few champions. He smiled and nodded wondering when the digimon was actually going to give them some food. He shifted his foot and continued to nod as the small Yokomon continued to babble.

'Getting bored?'

'She's worse than Bussho.'

'Didn't think that was possible, poor you.'

'Get your butt over here Ichijouji, I'm not facing this horror alone.' Ken smiled to himself as he continued to look into the horizon. They had gotten here half an hour ago and had so far gotten no where. The village was situated a digimile or so after the grass started to go back to green again. They were placed in the middle of a large hill, that way they could see any approaching digimon. Or in their case people. The Yokomon had seen the two coming and had decided to greet them. Tk had asked if there was a place to get food and find a map and the digimon hadn't stopped chatting since. Ken ignored Tk's annoyed yells that ran through his head and continued to take in his surroundings. He was surprised when Tk's voice faded out, even more surprised to see Tk's and the Yokomon's retreating backs.

'Hey!' He yelled in the blonde's mind as he ran after him, Tk smirked and ignored his friend as he caught up. 'That should teach you to ignore me.' Glaring at his friend Ken followed them into the heart of the village.

~*~

            Matt slowly opened his eyes, yelping when he saw a pair of big hazel eyes peering into his own. The owner of said pair of eyes also cried out and moved away, startled. Resulting in her landing on her behind.

"Sorry Meems." Matt said, sitting up and extending a hand towards her. The girl looked up at him from behind her hair.

"Th . . . that's okay." But she didn't grab his arm, Matt frowned slightly. And gestured again for her to take his hand, surprisingly she grabbed his wrist to help her up. After pulling Mimi to her feet, Matt gave her an odd look.

"Why wouldn't you take my hand?"

"Well, I . . . it's just . . ." Mimi mumbled, squirming as she refused to meet his eyes.

"You're scared." Most people wouldn't be able to detect the hurt in Matt's voice, mind you Mimi wasn't most people. "I'm sorry!" She wailed out as Matt turned to walk away, "It's not you I'm afraid of it's just your powers." Matt cocked an eyebrow at her. "You and Tai nearly burnt down the apartment by accident. You might hurt anyone of us without meaning to and I just kinda don't wanna get hurt. You understand right?" Matt nodded as he tried to move away again, only to find that Mimi had thrown her arms around his waist. Her face pressed firmly into his back. "Don't walk away Matt. Just explain to us what happened." The blonde nodded, turning to face Mimi. He flashed her a rare smile, one usually reserved for Tk. Or perhaps Tai if he had done something super nice or was actually being mature. Mimi separated from Matt and jumped up down, clapping her hands happily.

            An hour later after a breakfast of berries and a chat with Tai and Matt the digidestined were sitting down, thinking. "I think Gennai knows what's going on." Sora looked up from her place on the ground at Izzy. "What?"

"Gennai didn't so much as bother talking to us until he found out what Tai and Matt had done."

"He didn't exactly talk to us." Sora said, her eyes reverting back to the clouds.

"No, but the point is that he obviously realised what was going on and decided to bring us here."

"Do you think Ken and Tk are with him?" Izzy looked at Matt, who was sitting there a pained look on his usually icy face. "It's a possibility." Joe said, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "They might have experienced the same sort of powers themselves and told Gennai, he could have then pulled them to the digital world."

"But why wouldn't they tell us?" Yolei asked, wrapping a strand of hair round her finger and tugging it.

"Maybe they were like us." Tai's words, though few, meant a lot. They had all noticed the way Matt and Tai had fidgeted when talking to them. Absolutely terrified at what their friends were going to say to their abnormalities. They stopped worrying however when Mimi and Sora hugged them, before proceeding to tell them off for not realising something sooner.

"Perhaps but let's hope they're alright and they actually did manage to get to Gennai's."

~*~

            "They will see you soon."

"Who's they?" Ken asked looking at the Yokomon jumping about at their feet. The digimon had taken them over to one of the main buildings, which had surprisingly been several stories high. Not to mention the fact that the doorway was huge. Perhaps that was for the champion digimon. But not many were that big.

"They? They?! They are the two that started this village off! Once great rivals and now the best of friends. Though they argue a lot. The pair of fought many battles including that with the first digidestined." Tk started at this point but the digimon didn't notice. It continued to blabber on about how they had created the village because of all those weak and innocent that were killed by the DarkMasters. Then onto how they actually built the village. Tk tuned it all out.

'Tk? Do you know who he's talking about?'

"Really Yokomon, what is it?" A broad smile made it's way across Tk's face as he slowly turned round to face the creators of the village.

'Yes, yes I do.'

"Leomon!"

To Be Continued . . .

I love the friendships between some of the boy's mainly Tai and Matt, Davis and Ken, though friendship between Tk, Ken and Davis is by far the best though you don't see much of that. Oh, and if anyone's wondering about Kari's dream it's coming up later. ;) Lot's more torture for our poor heroes and heroines.

Character Guide.

Bussho: Head shaman of the Tediimon tribe.

Arata: Shaman of the Tediimon tribe, twin brother to Ayano. (Teacher to very young Tediimon.)

Ayano: Only female shaman of the Tediimon tribe, twin sister to Arata. (Teacher to young children.)

Shiki: Shaman of the Tediimon tribe.

Ryoichi: Shaman of the Tediimon tribe.

Takuji: A child, little brother to Kiko.

Kiko: Cook in training, older sister to Takuji.