In The Dark

Part Five: The Calm Before the Storm…

***

Standard Disclaimer Thingy: Characters are not mine. Plot is. I'm getting no money for the writing of this story. Digimon characters belong to Toei, etc. They can't have them back, because I've stolen them.

***

Miyako slipped into the tent quietly, so as not to disturb the sleeping occupants. To her surprise, however, there was only one, and he wasn't sleeping. Daisuke was sitting up, and it looked as though he was making an attempt to get out of bed. He'd swung both legs over the side of the cot he'd slept on and was peering with determination at the exit as if willing it to come closer.

"Are you crazy?" Miyako blurted before she could stop herself, and Daisuke was so startled he fell backwards across the narrow cot. Not noticing his astonishment, Miyako walked around to the end of the bed. "You can't walk! You're lucky you're alive."

With some effort, Daisuke pulled himself upward again, the slimness of the cot having caused his head to fall so that it was nearly touching the ground. Straightening himself again, he groaned from the stretching of his back. "I'm hungry," he protested. "And I haven't seen anyone all morning."

"Anyone?" Miyako repeated blankly. "What happened to Hikari?"

"I don't know," he replied, grumpy from the rude entrance, the pain in his back, and the hunger in his stomach. "I woke up a little while ago and she wasn't here. I expected someone to come in, see how I was, give me some food." Definite emphasis on the food. "I haven't seen anyone."

V-mon peered out from his spot underneath the bed. "Don't suppose you've brought some food?" he questioned.

"We haven't eaten either," Hawkmon explained with a sigh.

"Why not?"

"There's no one cooking," Miyako told them. "The camp is a total mess. Everyone's running around. It looks like they're looking for something. I couldn't get anyone to tell me why."

Daisuke frowned. "That sounds serious. I'd better go out and get my own." He braced his arms against the cot as though he was about to attempt to stand.

"I don't think so," Miyako intervened, stepping forward and placing her hands on his shoulders, preventing him from standing. "You can't walk! Are you crazy?"

Daisuke blinked. "I'm hungry!" he whined. "I can't stay in here and starve! My stomach will kill me before my leg does."

Snorting, the girl took a step away and crossed her arms. "Fine, be stubborn. See how far you can get on your own."

"I will," he snapped in reply.

"Daisuke -," V-mon began.

"I'll be fine. I just need to get one foot on the ground and then I can limp if I need to, right?" he grinned with (somewhat false) confidence and put his good leg on the floor.

"I'm not sure this is a good idea," V-mon tired again, hesitation in his voice.

"I can do it. Not a problem," Daisuke said, waving his partner aside. He put his weight on the good leg, slowly managed to stand up, and…

Miyako winced as he shouted loudly, cursed under his breath, and sat down again, panting slightly. "You all right?"

"Yeah," he lied, laying back on the cot and breathing heavily. "Maybe that hurt more than I thought it would."

"You were hit with a full dose of Flymon stinger poison only two days ago," Hawkmon reminded him. "It's going to hurt for a while."

"But I'm hungry!" Daisuke whined again. "I've got to get something to eat. And I want to know what's going on." He sat up again and folded his arms, pouting.

Miyako laughed aloud, and held up a triumphant hand. "Wait here, I'll be right back," she told him, exiting the tent."

"This is going to be something of a problem," he mumbled after she'd left. "I came here to help out against the Kaiser. How am I supposed to fight if I can't even stand on my own two feet?"

"I can still fight," V-mon reminded him, making a fist with his right arm and flexing it over his head.

"I'm sure this is only a temporary situation," Hawkmon tried to assure the boy, hopping on to the bed and sitting beside him. "After all, now that the poison is out of your body, you'll be fine in no time."

"I hope so," Daisuke sighed. "Still…"

"Back!" Miyako cheered, entering the tent and carrying a tall stick with her. "I got this from Jyou's tent. Hopefully he won't mind if you borrow it."

"What's it for?" V-mon asked, peering closely at the long, thin object.

"Walking," Miyako replied. "See, if you lean on this instead of putting the weight on your bad leg, you can walk a little. Not far, but at least outside."

Immediately, Daisuke looked a bit more cheerful, but still hesitant. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. Now, I'll help you stand up, and then you can lean on it for support, all right?" She stood beside him, offering an arm.

"All right," he replied somewhat tentatively. Again, Daisuke put the weight of his right leg on the ground, this time careful not to put any weight on the injured appendage.

"Good, now take this," Miyako handed him the stick. "And lean on it while you take a step."

He took a deep breath, braced himself for the pain, and leaned on the stick. Slowly, he lifted his good leg and moved it forward. "It works!" he realized. "Miyako, this is great! Thank you so much!"

Miyako blushed fiercely, and tried fiercely to hide it. "Come, we'll get some food."

A few minutes later, with Miyako walking closely alongside in case of accidents or the need of more support, Daisuke emerged from the tent to see the confusion outside himself. By this point, the groups of frantic running doctors had been reduced, but the fire for cooking was still bare. Clouds were forming over head, indicating a possible rain shower in the future, which gave the camp a dismal feeling.

"I see what you mean," he commented to Miyako, turning his head behind him.

"What's that?" V-mon questioned, pointing to the sky. Two figures could be seen heading in their direction.

"Airdramon?" Hawkmon theorized.

"No, they're too small to be Airdramon," Miyako dismissed.

"Whatever they are, they're coming this way," Daisuke noted. The two figures were descending into camp.

As they got within sight of the camp, the doctors, nurses, and various other people about the area stopped to view the approaching flyers. For a moment, the hectic atmosphere of the Village was reduced as the digimon too peered at the sky. Before long, it became obvious that they were two flying, four-legged digimon with humans riding on them. And when they were closer, it was possible to identify the humans.

"Takeru?" Yamato blinked, moving through the crowd to see his brother astride the brownish-gold creature. "What -?"

"Hikari?" Sora observed the girl on the white-colored digimon. Immediately the camp heaved a collective sigh. "Where have you been!?"
"Getting my digimental," Hikari replied once they'd landed. As if to prove her statement, the digimon beside her glowed brightly and shrunk, de-evolving to Tailmon. The light immediately flew into her pocket, and then another light surrounded her digivice, changing it into one of the more oddly-shaped newer models, this one with a pink outer edge.

"Same here," Takeru answered. "Sorry I didn't bring the carriage, Sora." The digimon beside him regressed to Patamon, and the light flew to his pocket. A moment later, his digivice was also transformed to the second type, with a green-colored edge.

"Digimental?" Yamato repeated. "But how did you get over there?" He pointed in the direction of the forest they'd flown out of. "You started from the palace. Over there." He pointed in the opposite direction.

"I guess I got deterred a little?" Takeru tried. "I found a signal on my digivice, so I followed it. The Monochromon was slow and stubborn, and I had to abandon it in the woods because it was holding me back."

"We weren't making much progress," Patamon nodded, landing comfortably atop his partner's head.

"Hikari? You got one, too?" Miyako questioned.

"Yes, I did," she nodded. "I got the signal this morning and had to follow it. I'm sorry to have worried you all."

"Follow it? Into the Kaiser's territory?" Sora clarified. She sighed. "If your brother were here, he'd…I don't want to even think about what he'd do. When you left the palace he went crazy!"

Hikari sighed. "I know, I know. I'll explain everything to him. Later. I've got to stay here and help out though. Especially now that I have the digimental."

"Which digimental?" Iori spoke up for the first time. He'd nearly been lost in the crowd of spectators, but, as usual, he got to the heart of the matter.

"Hikari. Light," she replied with a grin, removing the strange object Koushiro had dubbed a digimental container from her pocket. "Makes sense, right?"

"Mine's Kibou," Takeru spoke up. "Hope."

"Like your crest," Hikari added.

"Crest?" Yamato repeated dumbly.

"When did you get a crest?" Miyako questioned.

"When we were fighting Nanomon," the boy replied, reaching for the string about his neck. "I guess I was so busy I forgot to tell anyone. But the symbol on here is the same as the one on the digimental."

"A digimental and a crest?" Sora wondered. "Is that possible?"

"It must be," Yamato replied. "There are as many crests as digimentals. There have to be some of us that have both." 

"Well, the important thing is that now we've increased the team here by two," Miyako declared optimistically. "Now Takeru and Hikari can fight the Kaiser as well."

"No, Miyako, that's not the important thing," Daisuke spoke for the first time from where he stood at the edge of the crowd, having been left behind in the rush. "The important thing is that I get some food!"

***

Thankfully, in the camp's collection of people were a few who could turn a dead, day-old fish caught from a nearby river into a delicious meal. Shortly after the food was done cooking, the rain had started, causing everyone to retreat back to the safe dryness of the tents.

Miyako had agreed to sit with Daisuke while he ate on the condition that he not attempt to walk for the remainder of the day. He'd grumbled about this for a bit, but eventually agreed simply because he wanted the company.

"At least the food's not bad," V-mon commented as he devoured his portion. He looked up at his partner, expecting to see a joyous expression of agreement, but he was barely eating his food. "Daisuke?"

"Something must be wrong, He's not eating," Miyako noted, taking a bite of the fried fish. "What is it? You said you were starving."

The boy looked up from his plate, appearing to be emerging from a state of deep thoughtfulness. "Nothing," he replied with a heavy sigh, glancing down at his plate and spearing another piece of fish.

"That's possibly the worst lie I've ever heard," Miyako observed dryly, taking another bite of her own food. "You said you wanted me to sit and eat with you so you wouldn't be bored, but you're not very good company. So talk, all right?"

Listlessly, Daisuke swallowed the piece of fish he'd just speared. "Eh," he replied listlessly with his mouth full, and reached for another, shrugging.

Miyako fixed him with a skeptical glance.

The boy twirled the food about on the stick he used for eating and heaved a deep sigh. "I'm just thinking," he explained, taking a small bite. "You know, serious thoughts."

Miyako blinked and took another bite of fish. "Right."

"I am." He swallowed the rest of his fish. "I'm just worried, that's all," he defended with his mouth half-full.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Hawkmon observed.

"Worried about what?" V-mon questioned with big eyes. His partner only shrugged.

Miyako set her plate on the ground, having finished her meal. "Not what, V-mon. Who."

"Who?"

"Yes."

"Who?" Hawkmon questioned.

Miyako dramatically scratched her chin. "Hmm. Well, Hikari, I'd guess."

Daisuke pushed a small fish-bone from one side of the plate to the other.

"Or maybe about Ken." She stood up and strolled to the tent-flaps.

He set his half-full plate on the table beside the cot and leaned back, closing his eyes for a brief second.

"Or maybe both."

"Or maybe all that and more," Daisuke replied, peering intently at the fabric ceiling. There was silence for a moment except for the rain sounding on the tent and the ground outside. "Miyako?"

Peering at the rain through the opening in the tent, Miyako didn't bother to turn around. "Yes?" she questioned instead.

"You and Hikari are friends, right?"

Surprised at the apparent change of subject, the girl turned around and fixed him with a concerned glance. When he didn't turn away from his examination of the ceiling, she spoke: "Yes…" she replied tentatively. "Why?"

Before Daisuke could reply, the tent flaps parted, and Jyou entered, carrying a bag of medical supplies. "Well, looks like you're doing better," he commented in a cheerful voice.

"Better enough to try walking around this afternoon," Hawkmon elaborated in a slightly lofty tone.

"I saw," the doctor commented. "Let's look at it. Does it hurt?"

Daisuke shrugged slightly. "Only when I put weight on it."

"Precisely the reason why you shouldn't walk," Hawkmon stated. The injured boy only shrugged as he rolled up the leg of his pants and allowed the doctor to remove the bandage.

Miyako peered inquisitively over Jyou's shoulder as he removed the last of the fabric. "It looks a little better," she observed, glancing back towards Daisuke, who was trying not to look.

"Does it?" he asked in a conversational tone, having turned his gaze to the ceiling again.

"It does indeed," Jyou nodded in agreement as he opened his bag. "Just a few more days and you should be back to normal." He searched through his bag for a moment and produced a small bottle of healing salve and a fresh bandage.

"That sounds good," V-mon noted, nodding cheerfully. He glanced towards his partner in expectance of some sort of agreement, but now Daisuke was making a face of exaggerated pain while the cold liquid poured onto the wound.

"Hurts?" Miyako questioned.

"Just a…little," he replied, voice strained slightly. "Not… too bad."

"As long as you stay off this leg, there should be no problems," Jyou assured him as he wrapped the fresh bandage. "The poison appears to be all gone, and the wound just needs a few days to close up again." He shut the bag he'd carried in and stood up, ready to leave.

"Thanks, Jyou," Miyako said, since Daisuke didn't appear to be in the mood for talking.

"My pleasure," the doctor replied cheerfully as he exited. "Oh, excuse me."

Hikari, entering the tent, stepped to the side to allow him to leave. "Doing better?" she questioned of no one in particular.

"Much," Miyako noted. "Just stubbornness remains."

"Stubbornness?"

"Yes," she replied with a sigh. "You talk to him. He was starving before, but now he doesn't want to eat." She waved her arms in an exaggerated expression of exasperation. "I don't know what to do." With that, she left the tent, carrying her own empty plate.

"Won't eat?" Hikari questioned, taking a step towards the boy, who was now pulling the leg of his pants down over the re-bandaged wound. "Why not?"

Daisuke, still apparently not in a talking mood, shrugged and leaned back again in the bed. "I guess I'm not as hungry as I thought I was," he stated by way of explanation – a rather pitiful explanation at that.

"I'll eat it if you don't want it," V-mon offered. Daisuke shrugged, about to offer the plate to his partner, but Hikari shook her head.

"No, no, V-mon. He'll eat it."

"He will?" the blue digimon questioned skeptically.

"Yes. I think there's more outside, though, if you want to look."

"Yeah! I will." Immediately, a flash of blue zipped by as V-mon went searching for more food.

"There's no point in wasting food, you know," Daisuke commented, intrigued at the conversation that had just taken place.

"We're not going to waste it. You're going to eat it."

"I'm not hungry," he replied, a frown appearing on his face. Again, he lay back on the cot and peered at the ceiling. Hikari laughed slightly, and he moved one eye to look curiously at her.

"I haven't seen you this stubborn since you were a child," she observed. "Remember? When you were about twelve? You used to get into these silly arguments with Takeru about the most trivial things. Not wanting him to touch your things, who got to go first when you played a game. Every little thing would erupt into an argument."

Still apparently not wanting to converse, Daisuke just frowned and peered above him again. "This has nothing to do with Takeru," he said after a moment's silence.

Hikari nodded. "No, and none of those other arguments did, either."

There was another silence. Rain pattered on the roof of the tent. In the distance, a clap of thunder could be heard. A few seconds later, a flash of lightning lit up the tent.

"What happened today?" Daisuke questioned then, sitting up.

Seeing the question as an eagerness to converse, Hikari decided the question was a positive sign. "I went searching for the digimental," she replied.

"And you found it, right?"

She nodded. "Yes. Digimental Hikari." She removed from her pocket the newly-transformed digivice and showed it to him.

"Well, I guess it was easy to figure out it was yours, then," he observed, smiling slightly for the first time that day.

***

When the sun rose again, Miyako found that the camp was finally back together. After the tumultuous rainstorm the evening before, branches and leaves were scattered about the campsite. A few digimon had been injured by flying debris, and as usual the doctors were running about trying to help the refugees. There were luckily no serious injuries or damage. All the tents were still in good condition except for one which had sprung a leak in the roof after a collision with a sharp stone. The inhabitants had quickly commenced repairs, though, and the damage wasn't too bad.

The best part about the new day, Miyako noted, was that there was food. A few of the campsite's residents had shown talent for cooking, and therefore had been assigned to 'food duty,' and were required to feed the rest of them. It was a daunting task, since not only the five Chosen and their partners, but also a dozen doctors, as many nurses, and a few students also had to be provided with food. Each day, several were selected to trek to a nearby river and attempt to gather some fish.

Despite the absence of the carriage Takeru had been asked to bring, Yamato and Sora were both planning to leave that day after the morning meal. Sora spoke to Hikari that morning, and so while the others ate, the Princess was busy composing a letter to her older, slightly overprotective sibling. Miyako didn't envy the task of trying to make the adventures she'd been through sound reassuring.

Since the weather was nice, the majority of the camp's residence was eating outside. Seated on logs and stones, they chatted animatedly as they ate. Takeru was giving Iori, Armadimon, and a few of the doctors a description of what had happened the day before, complete with wide, sweeping hand gestures and a few sound effects. Miyako chuckled slightly as she heard the description.

Jyou and Yamato were having a more subdued conversation a few stones away. The doctor was attempting to list the things that he felt they might need more of. After the immensely frightening experience of discovering there was no Flymon poison antidote, Jyou was determined not to be out of anything. Yamato was attempting to scribble the listed items on a pad and eat at the same time.

Miyako carried the two plates of food into the only remaining occupied tent. Daisuke was playing with a deck of cards. Despite the fact that he had no idea of how to play a solitaire game and no opponent, he was managing to keep himself amused with some success, but he looked quite cheerful when Miyako entered.

"All right! I was wondering if someone would bring food," he stated triumphantly, immediately forgetting the card 'game' for the moment.

"If you're sure you want it this time," Miyako warned him, setting the plate on the table beside the cot. "Because if you're going to be a pain again, I'm going to go back out there and eat with the others."

"No, no, I want it," Daisuke assured her, taking the plate and immediately beginning to devour the food. "I'm starved."

"Yes, that's what you told me last night," she replied. "What brings about the change in attitude?"

He shrugged, mouth full of food.

***

"Are you sure it's wise to go in there with so few of us?" Takeru questioned, peering uneasily at the forest in front of him.

"There were only three of us the last time," Miyako reminded him.

"Yes, and look what happened," Hawkmon pointed out.

"I'm sure it'll be fine as long as we stick together," Hikari stated optimistically. "After all, you and I made it out alive yesterday, didn't we?"

Takeru looked only slightly assured.

"We don't really have much of an option," Iori reminded the older boy. "If we need to free the enslaved digimon and defeat the Kaiser, we need to eventually go into his territory."

"Either that or wait around for him to attack us," Armadimon nodded.

Miyako shuddered. "Let's just…not think about that, shall we?" she asked, and stepped into the forest.

***

Mimi had received an urgent message. Very urgent. Jyou had been entrusted with the task of writing the letter, and every word dripped urgency. The writing was scribbled, difficult to read, and filled with minor grammatical and spelling errors – much unlike the doctor's usual style. All Mimi was able to gain from the letter was something about Primary Village.

Being somewhat intelligent and lacking more pertinent information, Mimi decided that the best way to discover just what the urgent matter was would be to travel directly to the village. This time, she took a traveling companion – her mother – who had seen little of her daughter lately and was unwilling to permit her to travel an extensive distance full of danger all by herself.

Still a half-day's ride from the village, Mimi continued heading south. The easterly route they traveled had bypassed the palace altogether, and made the trip to the Village much shorter, though still several days long.

"I certainly hope that whatever this urgency is, it's not dangerous," Lady Tachikawa had commented when they embarked.

"Worry not, mother," Mimi had replied. "I'm certain there will be no danger involved." She'd stolen a secretive glance at her partner, however. She and Palmon had been in enough danger already. There was no guarantee that the mysterious message did not involve some sort of danger. But Mimi knew her mother, and therefore had kept the danger element from the accounts of her adventures as a Chosen.

Truthfully, Mimi fully expected there to be danger involved. She recalled a conversation she'd had with Gennai, the old hermit, about the nature of being Chosen. The strange little man had said that the reason they were chosen was to fight an enemy. At the time, she'd thought the enemy to be the former King, but the old man had disagreed.

'You'll have to fight many threats,' Gennai had told her. Mimi shuddered slightly at the memory.

Oh yes, she thought. This would most likely be quite dangerous.

***

Daisuke didn't ordinarily occupy himself with reading. Though he considered it an enjoyable enough pastime, he was usually more content to be doing something. However, thanks to his recent injury, it was virtually impossible for him to walk without excruciating amounts of pain. As the rest of the camp was currently busy in some way or another, he turned to one of the few things he could do.

Thankfully, it was interesting reading. He'd borrowed the book from Miyako, who, upon learning of her talents in the area of magic, had borrowed it from Koushiro. It was an old book about legends of digimon, with woefully inaccurate and second-hand descriptions of the first Chosen who'd appeared hundreds of years earlier.

As with most of the books the wizard possessed before locating the secret roomful of hidden knowledge in the palace, this particular volume treated the Chosen, digivices, digimentals, crests, and the like as mere myths. The writer of the book was obviously unconvinced of the truth of the legends, as evidenced by the condescending tone with which it was written, but apparently thought them interesting enough to research many years worth of old documents in order to compile the book.

Skimming through the boring parts and searching for information on his own digimental, courage, Daisuke found an interesting page. Each of the nine attributes which characterized the crests and digimentals was listed, and the symbol was crudely drawn beside each description one. He was eagerly examining each one, when his partner, having grown tired of napping, hopped onto the cot beside him.

"What's that?" V-mon questioned, peering over his shoulder.

"A book," Daisuke replied, lowering the volume so the blue digimon could peer at the drawings. "See? These are the symbols that the crests and digimentals have."

"That one looks like yours," his partner observed, pointing towards the symbol of courage.

"Yes, and Taichi has that crest," Daisuke nodded. "And then there's friendship, that's Yamato's crest, and love, that's Sora's."

"And Miyako's digimental, right?"

"Exactly." He turned the page to the second set of illustrations. "That's purity, which belongs to Mimi. Knowledge, that's Koushiro and Iori."

"Pretty," V-mon commented regarding the fanciful illustration of the symbol of Junshin, a tear-shaped symbol with an inner circle.

"Then there's Faith, that's Jyou," Daisuke stated, finishing that page and turning again. The next page only held two.

"Hope and Light," the blue digimon read, observing the symbols that Hikari and Takeru had found only the day before. He peered at his partner curiously. "Does that mean that all the crests and digimentals were found?"

"No, there's no crest of Hikari yet," Daisuke replied. "The other digimentals we've found; courage, love, and knowledge; has a crest that matches. If there's a digimental of light, there must be a crest of light, too." He frowned slightly. "I wonder why Hikari found the digimental before the crest."

"You found the digimental of courage before Taichi found the crest," V-mon reminded his partner.

"Yes, but we're two different people. Hikari most likely has the crest of Hikari if she also has the digimental. So why not find the crest first?" Daisuke leaned back slightly to think. "Perhaps because the crest is more powerful? And not needed yet?"

"But then why would the others have found their crests already?" V-mon climbed onto his partner's lap and peered at the symbols on the page.

Daisuke sighed and shut his eyes, beginning to feel tired. "I don't know. Maybe the crest of light is different?" He yawned.

"Different how?" V-mon wasn't willing to let the debate end just yet. He flipped a page backwards to peer at the descriptions of the crests.

"I don't know," the boy admitted. "It is a weird attribute, you know. It's easy to feel courage or friendship, or love. Or to show knowledge or purity or friendship. But how do you feel light? Or show it? And what, exactly, does that mean?" He yawned again. "I guess Hikari will have to figure that out herself."

"I guess." V-mon's interest in the subject was waning. His mind wandered as he flipped past the pages Daisuke had been reading, looking for more illustrations. "Hey -."

"What?" his partner questioned in a sleepy voice, eyes still closed.

"No one's found this crest yet," V-mon stated, pointing at the illustration. An entire page had been dedicated to information about that attribute. "Looks like it's important."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Daisuke forced his eyes open and sat up. "Kindness?"

***

Miyako peered through the dense trees. The silence around was overwhelming. There was no noise from wild digimon or humans. Her companions, too, were silent, unmoving.

"I don't like the feel of this place," Hikari remarked. This was not the first time she'd thought this, though it was the first time she'd stated such aloud.

"Agreed," Takeru nodded. His eyes were darting about him, ever alert, as though he was waiting for something to lurch from the woods and attack them. "It's too quiet."

"See anything, Miyako?" Iori questioned, peering at the older, taller girl.

"Nothing yet," she replied after a moment of contemplative silence. "The dark tower must be pretty far away."

"Is it possible the magic could be concealed from view?" Takeru questioned. Having nearly no knowledge of magic, he had no choice but to risk sounding unintelligent and ask the question.

"I'm not sure," Miyako admitted. Still new to the field of magic, she was only slightly more knowledgeable than Takeru. "I suppose it's possible."

"We should pick a direction to go," Tailmon stated. A practical digimon, Tailmon spent little time contemplating things that could have been. Debating on magic was pointless at the time, but finding some place to go was a practical decision.

Hikari agreed, though she generally tried to smooth over the edges a bit more than her partner. "Do you see any dark magic at all, Miyako?" she asked instead.

Miyako sighed. "There's dark magic all over the place," she explained. "The problem is that I can't tell which direction it's coming from. We need to find a tower that's close by in order to knock it down. But if I don't know where the magic comes from…" she trailed off, shrugging.

"I guess we should just flip a coin then," Takeru sighed. "Anyone have any preference?"
No one did, so a coin was flipped, and the party headed north along the edge of the forest.

***

Suspense! I love cliffhangers. Sure you do, too! Sorry for the delay in this chapter. I meant to have it out a week or so ago, but the darn site went down…great timing, guys!

Anyway, obviously there are a few things that are going to happen coming up. Mimi joins the story, as I'm sure you can see, and so naturally she needs to stumble into danger. When will Daisuke finally get back on his feet? And will Taichi really sit back and let his sister do all the work? Will Miyako be able to use some magic eventually? All this will, I promise, eventually be answered, and more! Stay tuned, and thanks for all the great reviews.

On a side note, apologies to Anthony for saying I'd review his story and then not doing it. Sorry! I've just been so busy, but I'll get around to it soon, I promise. Tomorrow I'm off on a five-day vacation, but I promise I'll read it as soon as I get back! Sorry again! ^_^