Disclaimer: Digimon and Pullman's cutting ideas are not mine. Sky and the character introduced at the end, however, are. As well as some other stuff that I'm not as concerned about.

neoKOS-MOS: Well, this one took me a lot longer to finish up. The school year was ending, and I got depressed because I'm a senior. I decided I didn't want to impart that feeling into this story, so I was working on another one in the mean time. Finally got over that to present this to you. It's a little strange, especially the end, but it gets through a lot. 4400 words. I'm getting better at writing longer stuff. Yay!

Read and enjoy!

Preparations

Rika sat at one of the consoles, safe at MIRROR. She was watching the screen intently, body tensed. Up there, in black-and-white, Davis stepped through the window and sealed it up again. She let out a tiny sigh, and continued staring at the picture of the empty alley. Until something large and white washed over the screen for a moment, a rush of grayish energy racing toward her. The image flicked black, empty and silent. The girl swallowed and glanced over next to her where Adara was watching another scene.

"What happened?"

The older girl looked over, eyes fixing on the black square. "The camera portal must have closed up. Did something look at it or something?"

Rika nodded. "Yeah. Something big and white attacked it."

Adara's fingers flew over the touchscreen before her, making note. "It must have been Hieldramon. He's not happy, and he knows we're to blame for him loosing you."

The violet eyed girl looked down at her hands, clasped together in her lap. "I wish I wasn't so important."

Adara smiled, and reached a hand over. She set it on Rika's arm sympathetically. "It'll be okay."

She nodded and stood up, walking over across the room to where the rest of her friends were sitting on the floor. Sinking down next to Henry, Rika wrapped her arms around her legs and watched Suzie, Ai, and Mako play together in the middle of the circle. The other two young Tamers had been there when she'd arrived, looking rather scared. She hoped they hadn't been attacked as fiercely as she had, with only Impmon to protect them. Takato was wearing one of Randy's shirts, his own having been shredded as he and Guilmon fought to protect Jeri from a troop of Bakemon. The other girl hugged her little digimon and held on to the gogglehead's hand, a spooked look still in her eyes.

Kazu was asleep on the floor, curled up and snoring. He hadn't seen any action. Adara had gotten him out before they were attacked by any of Nerezzamon's minions. Kenta, on the other hand, was sitting over by Takato. He kept running his hand down Marineangemon's back, squinting at the broken glasses lying on the floor before him. Luckily for the two of them, the little digimon was a mega level, and had been able to protect them before Nora showed up with Delphiniumon to get them out of a pack of twelve Darktyrannomon.

Henry looked over at her and gave her a little smile. "You okay?"

Rika nodded, blowing hair out of her face. She looked away from him, chewing the inside of her lip. It was a lie. She was not okay. She was feeling guilty, because she had started this. If she had been more foresighted, maybe she would have seen the attack beforehand. That would have adverted this horrible night.

"Hey," the dark haired boy whispered. "Can we talk?"

She looked over at him again. Something in his voice was confused and worried. "Sure."

The two of them stood and walked over to the other side of the room. A few yards away, Sky sat at one of the consoles, his big suited head staring up at one of the screens. The back of the chair had been pushed down so he could sit comfortably. Henry eyed the heliophobe as they settled themselves at the big wooden desk. Rika snapped her fingers in front of his face and his eyes came back to her. The girl blinked at him.

He ran a hand through his hair before speaking. "Have you seen anything lately?"

"In the area of...?" She waited for him to finish the sentence.

"Okay." The boy licked his lips and glanced over at the circle of Tamers across the room. "I didn't tell anyone what happened before Randy got me and Suzie to the transition world. They only know what she told them, and you know how she gets carried away with her stories."

Rika nodded. "So what really happened, and why is it a secret?"

"Terriermon woke me up in the middle of the night because he felt someone outside. I looked out the window and couldn't see anyone. But that's when the Blackagumon broke down our door. There were so many of them. I hope my parents are okay." His eyes fell to the table for a second.

"But, anyway, I got Suzie outside and we ran down the street. Then, Terriermon told me that he felt someone again. When we were running through the streets, I thought I saw Alice."

"Alice?" Rika blinked. "But she disappeared a long time ago."

"I know. That's why I wanted to know if you've seen anything about her lately."

The redhead shook her head. "Nothing. If it was her, I hope she's okay."

Henry nodded. "Yeah. Ryo too, though he's been in the digital world since he left a year ago. Hopefully he hasn't been pulled into this whole plot."

The girl sighed and set her head down. A second later, there were footsteps across the room, coming from the elevator. She looked up and watched as Davis walked in, helping his sister.

"Davis!" She sprang out of her seat and ran across the room, throwing herself at him in a hug.

He smiled and held her close. "Hey." He breathed into her ear.

"I'm sorry." She pulled back a little.

"For what?"

"I watched you get attacked." She whispered, adverting her eyes.

"Oh." He sighed and lifted her chin so she had to look at him. "If wasn't your fault. You couldn't help that you can see."

"I know, but..."

"It's okay, Rika." He said, hugging her against himself again.

They broke apart, and Davis went to help his sister sit at the big desk. Rika found the other Tamers staring at her in confusion, she rolled her eyes and waved a hand at them, going over to kick Kazu awake.

"Cougar." Adara said firmly. "I told you to be nice."

"I was." The cat muttered, and trudged across the room, collapsing next to Chispamon.

The dark haired girl shook her head and came over to sit in the circle of Tamers. She waved Henry and Davis over as well, and the two of them came to sit down, Jun tagging along. The older gogglehead pointedly walked through the circle and seated himself next to Rika, ignoring the looks he got from the others. The girl elbowed him in the ribs to get him to stop grinning and then waited for Adara to begin.

She folded her silver ringed fingers in her lap. "Okay. First off, we're sorry to those of you who were attacked. We would have gotten you out before anything happened, but our intelligence wasn't alerted until Nerezzamon and Hieldramon started dissolving into your worlds."

"What about our families?" Takato asked.

"Yeah. And the other digidestined." Davis added.

Adara nodded to each of them. "They will be okay. Nerezzamon and Hieldramon are not ready to take your worlds yet. They aren't strong enough. The only reason they attempted to infiltrate them was because they wanted something."

"Me." Rika whispered, again staring down at her hands.

"Yeah. They wanted a seer, because you would be extremely useful to their Master."

"We won't let them get you, Rika." Suzie said, coming over and sitting herself in the redhead's lap. Rika smiled and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl.

Henry spoke up. "These two digimon, are they the commanders for this entity in the Core?"

Adara nodded. "Yes. They're two of the ones we want you guys to help us take out. Hieldramon is an ice dragon, very powerful and capable of a lot of damage. He's been gathering ice digimon to help him with his assignments. And Nerezzamon is a darkness type. We've never actually seen him, since the only time I've spoken with him was when he was hiding in shadow."

"You've spoken with them?" Takato demanded. "I thought they were evil."

"They are." The girl replied. "But we fight them all the same. They have a respect for MIRROR because, despite all the times they've tried, they can't wipe us out."

"Hey, Adara?" Sky called from across the room.

She looked over at him, and he turned his long neck to do the same.

"Can I help?" He asked.

She smiled, almost laughing. "Sure."

The heliophobe shut down his screen and came over, laying neatly next to the dark haired girl, his neck lifted in a swan curve so his head was almost level with the humans.

"Anyway," Adara said, "the third digimon we'll be fighting is Zeismon. He's not the fastest or the most cruel, but he has a lot of raw power. He's a warrior who's been around in the Core for a long time, and he's very dangerous."

"Okay, I have a question." Henry said, rubbing his eyes. "When exactly are we gonna go to the Core and fight these guys? And why do you need so many of us?"

Sky looked up at Adara, and the girl nodded. He took the question. "Well, these digimon are a lot stronger than anything you've fought before. The strongest you've fought is mega level. Except you, Davis."

"What?" The older gogglehead was confused.

"Malomyotismon. He was supreme level."

"But, my digivice said he was mega."

"Most digivices don't pick up on levels higher than mega. We'll update yours so you guys can see the last three."

Jeri looked surprised. "There's three more levels?"

Sky nodded. "Yeah. Supreme, tera, and omega. But don't worry. Zeismon, Hieldramon, and Nerezzamon are only tera level. Omega is way too strong for our team to take on."

"Why?" Kenta asked, smoothing the wrinkles on his pants.

Adara smiled, eyes cast at the floor. "Well, our digimon haven't really digivolved past supreme. Only Cougar's been to tera, and he couldn't hold it for long."

"So you're sending us to defeat these guys because you can't do it yourself?" Henry looked disappointed.

"No, We can defeat them on our own. We're just asking you to help us so we can do it all at once, instead of one at a time."

"It's okay if you don't want to come, Henry." Sky said, smile in his young voice.

The dark haired boy frowned. "No, that's not what I meant. It's just, you guys seem all-powerful."

Adara laughed. "No. We're not. But MIRROR as a whole might be. But, back to your original question, we'd like to leave as soon as possible. If we get these guys out of the way before the synchronization, we won't have to worry about them invading innocent worlds."

"So, what? Are we talking today? In a week?" Henry started cracking his knuckles.

Sky's tail flicked before he went on. "Tomorrow. We'll pull the other digidestined out of your world, Davis, and then we can be off. Of course, you'll probably want to pack some stuff, since we'll be walking through the Core most of the time."

They all blinked. Jeri chewed her fingernail. "But are you sure we're ready?"

The two MIRROR members nodded.

The Tamers looked around at each other, hesitant now that they had been directly assaulted. Takato broke out in a grin.

"Cool. Let's go get our stuff."

The group seemed to lighten up. If their leader was ready, so were they.

"Okay." Adara said, standing up. "I'll take Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri." She looked over her shoulder to the computers. "Hey, Randy, you think you can take Henry and Suzie to get some stuff?"

"Sure." He called, not even looking up from the screen he was watching. "Just a minute."

Nora walked over from where she had been working at the desk. "I'll take Takato, Ai, and Mako. Sky, you take Rika, Davis, and Jun. After you all get your stuff, we'll go to get the rest of the digidestined."

"Cool." Sky said, standing up. "Come on guys."

It was an abrupt ending, but Rika stood and followed the heliophobe back to the elevator room, Davis and Jun doing the same. She watched as the alien pulled out his digivice, one much like Nora's, but gray, with a black textured pattern covering the sides. He pressed a button and the antenna didn't erupt with any light, but the same sound of the cutting blade forming came from it.

"Why doesn't it light up?" Rika asked him as he cut a window.

"Because if it did, I wouldn't have kept it after I got it. The light would have burned me, and I wouldn't have liked that. So, this kind is special because they're only used by heliophobes."

A shrill whistle sounded behind them. "Sky, wait."

A snakelike digimon zipped through the air and landed on the heliophobe's velvet covered back. She was an iridescent color, skin shifting from red to green to yellow to blue as she moved. Her triangular head had big bright eyes that glanced over the humans behind her partner. She had two translucent wings that also shifted color, and her skin was covered with odd angular scales that made her look rough to the touch.

"Hey, when did you get back?" He asked.

"A few minutes ago. Chispamon was debriefing me. Where are we going?"

Sky's voice smiled and he sliced a window in the air. "To get some stuff."

They all stepped through and he sealed the rip up again. He led them onto the elevator before introducing his digimon.

"This is Refletamon. She's been searching the digital world for the past few weeks, serving as intelligence for MIRROR."

"Hi!" The little snake said, grinning as waving her long wings, tail wrapped around the base of Sky's neck to keep her balance.

"Um, excuse me..." Jun stared at the alien and his digimon. "Do you mean that you're not a digimon?"

The heliophobe sighed, tail twitching, and shook his head. Before Jun could freak out, he explained what he really was.

-

They cut into Rika's world first. Sky was the first one out into the darkness, Refletamon just as alert as he was. There was nothing waiting for them on the other side, so the three humans stepped through as well, Renamon with them.

"Come on." Sky whispered, running off down the street.

Rika led them on, following the ghost form of the heliophobe as he ran between shadows. It was lighter now than it had been when they had escaped, and they were at the outskirts of the city, closer to her house. She could see the street lights on in the city, and the light made her feel more safe. Soon they came to her house, and she stepped through the yard to her room, leading Jun and Davis after her. Sky sat lounging on the porch as she went inside, his echolocation horns slowly scanning the area.

The other two followed her inside as she slid the door open. Rika grabbed her bookbag and dumped all her school supplies out on the floor, bringing it over to her dresser and putting stuff inside.

"Davis, go grab me some stuff from the bathroom."

"Um," the boy hesitated. "Like what?"

"Torey will go with you." She told him, taking a pair of jeans and some socks.

As soon as he left the room, she slipped out of her pajamas and changed into some normal clothes.

"Hey, Rika?" Jun asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you. I didn't know you had a digimon and everything."

"That shouldn't be the reason you're nice to me." The redhead answered, pulling a tank top over her head.

"I know. I just..." The older girl was quiet for a moment. "I just wasn't comfortable having Davis be so happy."

Rika paused in pulling on her socks and looked up at Jun. "What?"

She shrugged, looking away. "I didn't want him to be, since I wasn't."

The violet eyed girl sighed and finished getting dressed. "I guess that makes sense. But, Jun, you don't have to do that anymore. Davis's been really worried about you."

"He shouldn't be. I'm fine."

"Yeah?" Rika stood up and walked over to her. "Are you happy with all the bad stuff you've been going through? Are you happy with Mark?"

Jun bit her lip and looked away. "Don't tell Davis."

"He already knows. He just wants you to be happy again."

"But I don't know how to..."

"Quiet." The younger girl said, glancing at the door. "He's coming back. We'll talk later."

Rika busied herself in finishing up packing as Davis walked in the door again. He handed her the stuff Torey had told him to grab and she shoved it onto her bookbag along with her clothes. Finally, taking a blanket from her bed, the girl led them out the door and back into the dark air.

"Ready?" Sky asked, standing up and looking at them.

She nodded and he pulled out his digivice. Cutting through into Davis's world, they stepped through into a chilly temperature, the sun still out in the late afternoon. It was cold, though not enough for snow. The two siblings looked at each other, and Jun wrapped her arms around herself. The heliophobe ran to the shadows, and Rika followed as Davis led them to his house. Renamon traced after, leading Sky along in he got lost trailing them.

Once they got to the door to their apartment, Davis pulled the door open and stepped inside, looking up the ice coated stairs.

"I don't know how we're gonna get up there, with all the ice. It was hard enough getting down."

"How did that happen?" Jun asked, confused.

He opened his mouth to answer, but then just shook his head. Sky shot in the door after them and pressed his hands against it, pushing it closed. Renamon appeared next to her partner.

"Whoa." The heliophobe whispered, seeing the ice waterfall covering the staircase. "Refletamon, you wanna place a forcefield over us and the stairs?"

The snakelike digimon flapped her translucent wings and rose into the air. A pale white light seemed to envelop them, as well as outline everything underneath the ice coating. Sky pulled out his digivice and sliced a small hole. The air in the room rushed at the tiny window, making it's way through and leaving a close vacuum behind. Slowly, the ice began to vaporize in the airless room, until it had all disappeared into the rip. The heliophobe sealed it back up again and made another cut, causing a rush of air into the room, until that too had equalized. Refletamon let down her forcefield and rested on Sky's back.

"Wow." Davis whispered, before running up the wooden stairs.

Rika followed slowly. The new air smelled different, almost flowery, though it also had a metallic smell to it. She looked at Sky. "How did you do that?"

He shrugged, a strange gesture on his non human features. "Ice vaporizes in low pressures. I opened a window to a world where Earth never developed, empty space, and sucked it all out."

She blinked. "Hmm. Cool."

Upstairs, the entire apartment was cleared of ice as well. Davis had disappeared into his room, and Jun was standing in the living room, looking around. Sky walked up to her.

"Jun," he whispered, "what do you want to do?"

She looked down at him, almost as if she was used to how strange he looked. "What do you mean?"

"Do you wanna stay here, with Hieldramon still poking around in this world, or do you wanna come with us, into the Core, and get involved in all the fighting?"

The older girl sighed, eyes going vacant for a moment. "I'll go get my stuff." She moved off to her own room.

The heliophobe flicked his tail, a motion Rika took to be a smile, and stretched. He looked over at her.

"Are you still blind?" The redhead asked, stepping up next to him.

He shook his head. "I can see a little, though it's kinda blurry. All the light in this world helps."

"Sky," she hesitated, unsure of what to say. "Adara said there were five of you on the team. Is the last member a heliophobe too?"

His tail flicked again, and a smile had touched his voice as he answered her. "No. Wivrig isn't a heliophobe. She's something different, even more so than me. Actually, you'll get to meet her momentarily. She asked me to pick her and Ivosmon up after we're done here." He showed her a message written in a strange scratchy language that was displayed on his digivice.

Rika sat on the arm of the sofa and watched the heliophobe for a second. He was strange as it was. What could this other person look like? A fish? A monster? A blob? She shook her head and collapsed back on the couch. She could feel Sky watching her, and Renamon watching him. Everything had changed in two short days. She was feeling a little overwhelmed.

Davis came out with his bookbag stuffed with clothes and everything he needed. The boy set the bag down and sat next to Rika, looping an arm around her waist.

"This was all coated in four inches of ice when I left."

She nodded. "I saw you leave."

He sighed and closed his eyes. "Jun's coming with."

"Is that okay?"

He nodded. "I guess. At least then I won't have to worry about her."

Rika leaned her head on his shoulder, tired. After a while, Jun came back into the living room carrying her old bookbag and a blanket.

"I'm ready." She said, mostly to Sky.

"Okay." He said, fiddling with his digivice once again. "We're kinda high here, but it'll be fine."

The heliophobe cut another window in the air and peeked through. He shrugged and jumped into it, falling down. Rika got up and looked through as well. Sky stood below, almost six feet below, peering back up at her. He waved her to jump, so she did, landing pretty heavily. She got out of the way as Davis and Jun did the same, Renamon landing next to them. Sky handed his digivice to Refletamon, and the little snake flew up to close the rip up again.

"All right," he said, leading them through the tall green trees that were growing in the area. "Let's go."

"Where are we?" Davis asked, looking back at the tall gray cliff they had jumped out of.

"We're in an uninhabited world. The last member of our team, Wivrig, asked me to come get her."

"Is she close?" Rika questioned, staring up through the tops of the leafless trees at the gray sky.

"Yeah. We'll be there soon. Just watch your step." He warned, jumping over a log.

They walked over the uneven path for a while, feeling the strangeness of the world. It was cold and smelled of fire, even though there was no sign of smoke anywhere. Occasionally, Rika would catch sight of some odd creatures through the trees, most of them snakelike with too many legs. A loud menacing screech sounded near them and she rushed forward and thrust her hand into Davis's. He looked at her and smiled.

Eventually, they came to a clearing in the towering gray trees. Short blue-green grass poked up between the pebbles strewn over the ground, and a small wooden shed sat in the middle of it all. Outside, next to the low door, lay a small digimon. It was umber brown in color, and looked like a fox, with a long vulpine head and furry tail. A smile lit up it's face, and it stood to run over to them. That was when Rika noticed that it had eight short spider-like legs, each a deep brown color.

"Hey, Sky." The little creature said, scurrying over the pebble-strewn ground. She stopped just in front of him, peering up at him.

"Hi, Ivosmon. Is Wivrig ready, or are we gonna have to wait and make Adara impatient?"

"I'm ready." Called a low female voice from the shed.

After a moment, she walked out, fitting neatly through the low door. She was an earthy green color, and looked a lot like a bulldog. Her body was thick and muscular, and her feet ended in clawless frog-like feet. Her head was large and round, with two big ears poking up. The face was eyeless, mouth closed with two sharp teeth poking through the lips on either side. Her tail, which was long and thin, arched above her back, supporting a large, softball sized eye on it's end. The big brown eye blinked at them as she came forward to meet the group.

"Hi. I'm Wivrig. Pleased to meet all of you."

Rika stared. She hadn't been prepared for this. "You're so..."

"Alien? Yes, I know. But to me, you're the strange ones. On my world, you'd never see an animal with two eyes, much less ones inside their heads."

"Wivrig'll explain everything to you guys later. Right now we should get back to MIRROR." Sky glanced over the human's surprised expressions before letting his sight rest on the other alien's eye. "You wanna lead the way to the closest exit."

The eye bobbed an affirmative and she ran off into the trees again, following a sort of path. Ivosmon scurried after her partner and Sky stepped down the path first, leading the others along. They came to a stop as Wivrig sat back on her haunches, pulling her own red and brown digivice from her chestcoat. She sliced a large window in the air and ushered the others through onto the blue energy platform of the transition world. She jumped through and closed it up again.

"So, what exactly are you?" Rika asked, walking right up to the alien.

She smiled, something that was strangely visible in the eye itself. "I'm a katrant. We come from a high energy world, number 784. Grasses grow all over the planet, and we have to see over them or through them. I have a heatsense as well, so I can do both, though we use our eyes much more."

The redhead walked a slow circle around the other creature, taking in the strangeness as the large eye followed her all 360 degrees. After a moment, she stepped back and nodded. Maybe it was seer genes, but she was fine with this alien person. Looking over at Davis and Jun, she could see that they still had some getting used to to do; both looking fully creeped out. Rika smiled at them as the train pulled up, knowing they'd be okay.

-

neoKOS-MOS: Okay. There's my fifth and last member. Now, I have a question. Are these alien characters interesting, or should I lay off them for a while? But, anyway, I hope it was a good chapter. Took me a lot of thinking and time drawing out my new digimon before I could get it right. As well as teaching me that I should never write to rap music. Doesn't make it easier.

Dark Qiviut: Thanks for the kind words. I've been trying to keep it original without going over the edge. And thank you for all the help you've been giving me.

SalimaLiAkiyama: Hey there new reviewer. Glad you like it. Have you read the prequel? Just a question. No pressure to go read it if you don't have the time. And I finally reinserted the other Tamers that I'd been leaving out. Or at least gave them a mention.

Thanks everyone for reading. Now, please review.