Here it is, Chapter 3! I'm ignoring the fact that at the end of 02 they said that the kids no longer had to use Armor Digivolving and DNA Digivolving. Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 3: Strange Happenings

Within a few seconds, the rest of the digidestined and Veemon were through the clearing of tress and on top of a hill. It didn't take long for the rest of the digimon to show up, with each of their respected humans very happy to see them.

"Patamon!" TK exclaimed as the little pig-like digimon flew into his arms.

"Gatomon!" Kari yelled to her feline friend as the white cat came running up the hill on all fours and jumped into Kari's hands.

"Hawkmon!" Yolei said excitedly as she looked and saw Hawkmon flying right above her and swoop down to right in front of her.

"Hey, don't forget us!" came the unforgettable voice of Armadillomon, with Wormmon right by his side, who were both the last to come up the hill. Armadillomon walked as fast as his little legs could carry him, while Wormmon hoped as fast as he could. Both Ken and Cody went down to meet their digimon, each boy very happy them.

"Armadillomon, it's been such a long time!" Cody said.

"You're telling me," the yellow armadillo replied back.

"Wormmon!" Ken called, while a smile formed on his face.

"Ken!" the little green worm called back, just as happy. "I've missed you!"

"I've missed you, too."

It took a while for partner and digimon to catch up, but it was well worth it. The digidestined hadn't seen there digimon in months, and it was getting harder to keep them in the real world, now that more people knew and would stop at nothing to get one or to pester one of the kids about them. Trips to the digital world were becoming fewer now that school was in affect, and also that the digital world didn't need so much tending to. With it being about a year since MaloMyotismon's defeat, the digital world had quieted down; it was a nice change in such a long period of battles and world saving.

After an hour of about conversation, the kids stared out into the digital world, taking in all its wonder and beauty. "This place sure hasn't changed," TK noted as he admired the scenery.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Gatomon replied, now a bit serious.

"What do you mean?" Kari questioned, a little worried.

"It's hard to explain..." Armadillomon began, "It's like, all of a sudden, digimon are disappearing."

"What!" All of the digidestined exclaimed.

"It's not as bad as that," Hawkmon added, making the kids calm down. "It's just that, well, to put it simply, digimon are loosing there 'essence'.

"There 'essence', what do you mean?" Cody questioned.

"Well, it's weird; it's like one day a digimon will be perfectly fine, and then the next day, they're not; it's like they died but are still there, as digimon." Patamon added.

"How terrible." Yolei said, making the others nod in agreement.

"I'll say," began Gatomon, "To make matters worse, we've found some of these digimon, just lying there, cold as ice, like the life was sucked out of them."

"Is there anything that can be done for them?" Ken asked.

"We've taken them to Elecmon, and he's been able to help some survive and come back..." Veemon said, but began to trail off.

"What about the rest of them?" Davis inquired, half-heartingly wishing he hadn't asked.

"To put it simply, it's as if they don't want to come back." Wormmon finished.

"So what happens to them?" asked Kari.

"We don't know," Patamon answered. "Nothing, I guess."

"You mean, they just stay as they are, not better, no worse, just frozen like that?" Yolei said, a little shakily.

"As far as we know, yes." Hawkmon answered.

"I don't understand, why don't they break up into digital data and become reconfigured or 'reborn' into the digimon that they are now?" Cody questioned.

"Because, when a digimon dies, it's because of pain or a break in there data. With these digimon, all that's been lost is there 'essence' so to speak, or who they are. I think it's the equivalent of you humans going into a state of 'depression'." Hawkmon said, a little matter-of-factly.

"So what you're saying is that these digimon become 'frozen' or 'cold' because of the state of mind that they are in. Something has happened to them that the only way to cope with it is basically being inactive or closed off to everyone else; and the only way for them to be revived is for them to make that decision, not anyone else?" Ken asked, more to himself than anyone else as he was trying to grasp what was going on.

"Pretty much." Wormmon replied.

"This is like a depression then, isn't it." Ken asked rhetorically.

"What I want to know," began Davis, "Is what caused all these digimon to go into this state of 'depression'. What could have made them so emotional that they would want to close themselves off, and in some cases, not want to come back at all?"

"I think we'd all like to know that." TK said.

"Let's go find out then," Kari stated as she got up off the ground.

"How do we find out?" Yolei asked, feeling a little deterred.

"Why don't we start with Elecmon, after all, he's the one who takes care of the digimon?" Patamon suggested.

"Sounds like a plain," TK replied, standing up also. "Just lead the way."

"Okay! It'll be faster if we all can fly you there," Patamon added.

"Then what are we waiting for...?" Asked Davis. "It's time to digivolve!" Everyone stuck out there digivices and waited for the transformations.

"Veemon digivolve to...X-Veemon!"

"Patamon digivolve to...Angemon!"

"Hawkmon digivolve to...Aquilomon!"

"Wormmon digivolve to...Stingmon!"

"Digi-Armor energize!" Kari and Cody both shouted.

"Gatomon armor-digivolve to...Nfertimon, the Angel of Light!"

"Armadillomon armor-digivolve to...Digmon, the Drill of Power!"

"Is everybody ready?" TK asked.

"Mm-hmm," the others responded with a nod.

"Then let's go." TK said.