Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or the idea of an external soul.

Author's Note: I don't know if I really like this chapter. It was hard and I had to redo it twice. Arg! And the title sucks. Oh well. Not all of them can be good. Thanx for all the reviews. Now I have twice as many as chapters! Here's hoping for three times as many.

Enjoy and review!

A Question of Loyalties

Davis sat sideways on one of the cradles. Its occupant, a little Pabumon, had crawled into his lap to avoid being squished when he'd sat down. He poked at its fleshy green body, staring off into the distance where Sora was still following little Suzie around. Kari had gone off to help the older girl. He shook his head and closed his eyes, feeling a little lost. Too many questions were boiling in his mind right now. Rika had looked mad when Henry had pulled her around the corner, but when she had come back around, she'd looked like she didn't care anymore. Was she mad that he'd talked to Kari, and now she'd given up on him, like she had said she would?

He sighed and leaned back a little, wincing as the change in position made his back ache. Don't know why I'm feeling so guilty. It's not like Kari said anything weird. She just wanted to make sure I was okay.

She'd given him the usual shpeal about how she still wanted to be his friend, and she didn't want her relationship with Izzy to change it any. But of course it would, because now he didn't have a chance at dating her. And that was the thing she didn't seem to see, that he had always liked her, and if he stopped, their friendship wouldn't be the same either.

But that was just too bad for her, because now he liked Rika too. Except he had to get rid of his crush on Kari before he and Rika could get any closer. If she still trusted him enough to care.

Davis groaned and shoved the little Pabumon back into it's cradle, standing up. He turned around and went over to the doorway, peeking inside. Maybe I should go find Rika. Make sure she isn't mad at me.

He headed in the door, but then stopped as he heard footsteps coming toward him. Had they found the egg already? The four them emerged out of the dusty distance, Jeri holding an orangish brown egg, a grin on her face.

"You guys found it?" He asked, staring.

Jeri nodded, holding it out to him as she got closer. "Wanna see?"

He gazed at it's warm surface. "It's so little. I wonder what he'll look like when it hatches."

"I bet it'll be something really cool." Takato piped up, lightly poking the egg.

Jeri smiled and led the others toward the door. Ken glanced at Davis, catching his eyes. He looked kind of uncomfortable, like something was bothering him.

"You okay?" Davis asked quietly, stepping up next to him.

He nodded. "Yeah. It's nothing."

"Memories?" He guessed, looking at Wormon.

After a second the digimon nodded, and Ken pushed ahead toward the door, leaving Davis behind. Feeling blown off, he watched his friend for a moment as he stood out in the sunshine.

The cinnamon haired boy turned to Rika, catching her violet eyes. "Look, Kari didn't say anything. I wouldn't have done anything even if..."

She waved a hand to quiet him. Torey came up out of the darkness and rubbed himself against her leg. "It's okay. She's your friend. You're allowed to talk to her. Just don't look so guilty when you do."

He smiled, a little embarrassed, and they headed to the doorway. When they stepped outside, everyone else was gathered around. Sora had worked her way back to the building, bringing the others along with her. Henry was holding Suzie, who didn't seem too happy that she wasn't allowed to play with any more of the baby digimon. Kari was casually leaning against the Pabumon's cradle, smiling down at the little green blob. Davis frowned as he remembered that Pabumon was Tentomon's baby form, which, of course, reminded her of Izzy. He grunted as Rika elbowed him in the ribs.

"And don't stare at her so much." She whispered.

They all headed back to the main entrance hall, where the apprentice Elecmon sat behind a desk, running through sheets of egg listings and making occasional changes. She looked up as Jeri and Sora entered to show her the egg. She chatted with the two girls for a while as her claws moved to mark down which one they were taking.

"Thank you for coming." She said, bowing deeply as they left. "You are welcome back at any time."

Sora led them back to the spongy courtyard they had landed on, and the three digimon once again assumed their flying forms. Davis crawled up onto Stingmon's shoulder, sitting next to Ken. Henry gave up his spot in Birdramon to let Takato sit with Jeri. He climbed up on Stingmon's other shoulder and appeared to loose himself in his thoughts. They took off and headed back toward the rip.

"So," Davis asked, glad that he and Ken had time to talk. "How'd you get out on a Sunday night?"

He smiled. "I snuck out. My dad thinks I'm asleep."

"How? I thought he watched your room like a hawk."

"He does." Ken said, stretching his hands and then pulling out his digivice. "Didn't Izzy show you how to cut openings between the worlds?"

Davis blinked, surprised that other people knew you could do that. "Well, yeah," he half lied, "but I didn't know he showed you."

"He did." He closed his eyes and pushed away a strand of hair that had blown across his face. "It feels good to know I can get out whenever I want now."

"So are you still gonna run away?" Davis asked

Ken was quiet for a long time. "I don't know. It depends on what happens." He gazed off at the ground, far below them.

They stayed silent for a few minutes, both thinking over different things. Eventually, Davis spoke up again.

"We'll have to do something together some time, when your dad thinks you're asleep."

Ken didn't seem to hear, and kept staring off into space, a slight smile on his lips.

Davis frowned, mad that he was being ignored. He waited for him to finish his thought process, but the minutes dragged on. "Ken!" He eventually shouted.

The other boy jumped. "What? Sorry, I was thinking about something."

He shook his head, still mad. "No, that's fine. It's okay if I'm not as important as someone that's not even here."

"What?" He asked, looking confused and slightly hurt by the remark. "Davis, I never..."

"Whatever." He interrupted. "I know Yolei is important to you. It just makes me angry that you never spend any time with your best friend anymore. Every time you get out of the house, you spend it with her."

Ken opened his mouth to say something, but Davis didn't let him.

"No. You just go ahead and let our friendship slip away. I don't care." He growled, standing up and climbing over to Stingmon's other shoulder, leaving Ken by himself.

Henry looked up as the other boy sat down next to him. Davis rolled his eyes and stared off into the distance.

What ever happened to the crest of friendship? Roxelle asked, driving home her point.

Leave me alone. I'll apologize tomorrow.

It was mean, Davis. He's going through a lot now. You didn't need to add that too.

I said I'd apologize later. He said angrily.

Rolling his eyes, he settled down for the rest of the trip, ignoring the amorphous gazelle as she floated behind him.

When they landed, the tamers spilt off and went to their own world, leaving Davis with Ken, Sora and Kari. Sora left him alone, but the other two kept trying to talk to him. As soon as possible, he broke away from them. He could feel Ken staring at his back as he walked away from the school. Listening to Roxelle for the whole trip back to the rip had started Davis feeling sorry for what he had said, but he wasn't about to retract it all yet. Ken deserved to know how he really felt, even if it wasn't all nice and fluffy. He took the bus home.

Davis listened at the door before he unlocked it and went inside. All the lights were on, and the radio was on in his sister's room, although not as loud as it usually was. She was asleep on the sofa, slumped down with her feet up on the table. The television was on too, the word mute in the top right corner, as the news anchor mouthed silent words. Davis turned it off and threw a blanket over Jun before flipping the lights in the kitchen and living room off. Before going into his room, he walked to his sister's and peeking in the door. It was empty, so he went inside and turned off the radio and the lights. Pulling the door closed behind him as he left, Davis went back into his room and collapsed face down on the bed. He sighed loudly into the blankets and kicked his shoes off, letting them fall to the floor. Eyes closed, he let his mind relax for a few minutes. Then he looked up at his alarm clock. It was only nine thirty, but he was exhausted.

"Trig test tomorrow." He whispered to himself.

Demiveemon yawned and squinted his eyes open from where he was curled up next to Davis's pillow. The boy rubbed his eyes, and scratched at his back carefully before getting up to change into his pajamas. He hit the lights and lay back down on his stomach, quickly falling asleep.

The alarm went off. Davis grunted and hit the snooze. He was still much more that half asleep. It went off three more times before he got out of bed. Pushing himself up, he whimpered as the scabs on his back cracked. More carefully, he slid off the bed and stood up. Sighing, he grabbed some clothes and peeked out his door, seeing that the lights were still off. Jun was still sleeping. He slid out the door and went into the bathroom to shower. The water hurt his back. As he was getting dressed, his sister pounded on the door.

"Hurry up, Davis." She yelled.

He carefully pulled a shirt over his head and opened the door. She stood there and looked at him.

"Morning, Jun." He said before moving around her and going into the kitchen, happily obeying her rules and not asking anything about what she had been doing before he'd come home.

He poured himself a bowl of cereal and ate in front of the TV, not really watching. He was still thinking about how he had blown up at Ken, and was thoroughly kicking himself for it. When Jun got out of the shower and went into her room, Davis dumped his dishes in the sink and went to get his books. That's when he realized the problem. He couldn't use his bookbag without hurting his back.

"Great." He muttered, staring down at his Trig and History books, as well as his notebook.

"Carry them, Davis." Demiveemon said, sitting on the couch and sucking on a slice of apple. "I'll stay home today."

"Yeah. The boy said, picking up the books and grunting at the weight of them.

He left the house without saying good-bye to his sister. He usually did it, despite her indifferent reaction, but today he wasn't feeling like a good person. He was anxious to get to school and apologize to Ken. Catching the bus, he thankfully got a seat, though he couldn't lean back against it without hurting himself. After a relatively short ride, he got off in front of the school and lugged his books inside. Kids were poking around in there lockers and chatting loudly with their friends. Davis sighed and walked through the halls, trying to get to his locker to stash his books inside. When he was almost there, he saw Ken's locker, still closed. It was odd, since he was usually at school early. It wasn't like him to get in just before the bell rang.

Davis went to his locker and tossed his books at the floor of it. Grabbing what he needed, he closed it again and glanced back at Ken's, which was still unoccupied.

"Maybe he already went to it." He whispered to himself as he headed for French, slipping inside just as the bell rang.

But he hadn't. Later on, Davis figured out that Ken hadn't even come to school today. During his second class of the day, he asked Yolei what had happened, but she didn't have a clue either. Ken had simply disappeared.

"Davis, after school you have to go find him." She had said, looking worried. "I have to fly out of town tonight, and I want to know that he's okay. You have to call me when you do."

He had promised.

What did I do? He asked himself, a little scared. Did he run away and not come to my house because of what I said. Davis, you moron!

We'll find him. Roxelle whispered, although he could sense that she was feeling the same thing.

I hope so.

Post Script: Okay, I know the ending was kinda bad. Maybe I forced it too much. Whatever. It'll make more sense with the next chapter. I need to work on that and finish it up. Hope you liked it, even if I didn't. Anyone get any info on Leomon? Please tell me if you do. Thanx a lot!!

neoKOS-MOS