Disclaimer: Must I say this again? Hmm, guess so. Nope, I don't own Digimon.

*Ring! Ring!*

"Hello, Ishida residence."

"Hi Matt!" the girl on the other end practically screamed, "This is Jun! I was just wondering if you were free tomorrow, because I am, and I thought we could spend the day together, ya know? I mean, you're always so busy practicing with your band and such that I thought it'd be nice if just the two of us could get away for awhile! Ya know, somewhere we can be ALONE and maybe TALK and-"

"Uhh, sorry, Jun," replied the boy, quickly thinking of an excuse to get off the phone, "My band is practicing ALL day tomorrow because, uh, we have a really big performance coming up, so I can't miss it." 'It's a good thing I'm on the phone so she can't tell that I'm lying,' thought Matt. 'At least, I hope not.'

"Oh." There was a short pause on the other end before she cheerfully asked him where he was performing.

'Crap.' "Um, well, it's, uh, really far away."

"How far?"

"New York."

"REALLY? Wow! That is so cool! When is it? I'll have to fly over there to see you!"

"Uhh, it's..." Matt glanced at his calendar and noticed a random date was circled. "It's in four days."

"Oh no! I have to get ready to go now! I'll never be ready in time! Bye Matt! I gotta go pack! See you in America!" With that, the crazed fangirl hung up.

The boy sighed in relief as he put the phone down. He knew that Jun really would go to New York if she thought he was there. He tried not to laugh as he thought of her running around the Big Apple looking for him, though he did feel a little guilty. But only a little. He looked back at the calendar, a confused look on his face.

"But why on earth would Dad circle that date and write 'Happy Buffalos' on it?" He shrugged and was about to open the fridge when the phone rang again.

"Don't tell me she's figured it out already," he moaned as he picked up the receiver and tentitively said, "Hello?"

"Matt? Are you alright? You sound nervous about something."

He quietly let out the breath he'd been holding. "Naw, I'm alright. What's up, Kari? You done taking TK shopping already?"

The girl giggled. "Well, I went easy on him and said we could leave. I have a feeling he'll be seeing pink dresses in his sleep tonight."

The older boy laughed. He knew his little brother didn't really like shopping much, but if it had to do with Kari, he wouldn't miss it. "So what is it you wanted? I have a feeling you didn't just call to tell me about the new dress you bought."

"Well, I was wondering if Tai was with you."

Matt frowned. "Sorry, I just got back from band practice. I haven't seen him all day. Why? Is something wrong?"

Kari paused before answering. "No, nothing's wrong. It's just that Mom said he went out a while ago complaining that he was bored, and he never came back. I know he's old enough to take care of himself, but I just have this feeling that something happened to him."

"It is getting pretty late," he replied, glancing at the clock, "Do you know where he went?"

"Mom said that he went to the park, but I looked all around and he just wasn't there. Then I thought maybe he went to visit you..."

"Ok. Listen, I'm sure Tai's fine. But if he doesn't show up in another hour or so, call me back, alright?" Matt wasn't sure what good he would be, but if his best friend was missing, he couldn't just sit there, even if it meant searching the city for him.

"Alright. I'll be sure to call you if he's not here by then. Thanks, Matt."

"No problem," he said with a smile.

But as they said their good-byes and hung up, he couldn't help thinking about what Kari had just told him. The girl's hunches were usually right, especially when it came to Tai. 'I wonder where he could be?' he thought to himself, 'It's not like Tai to just disappear like that.'

As he tried to think of places his friend would have gone to, his phone rang. Again. Irritated, he picked up the phone. "Yes?"

"Matt! I'm glad I got ahold of you!" said Izzy, "I need you to head over to the Kamiya's right away. I've tried contacting Kari, but her phone's busy. Something happened to Tai and Davis in the Digital World!"

"What? What happened?" 'So that's where he went...'

"Get Kari and meet me at the park. I'll explain everything then. But right now I've got to contact the rest of the Digidestined," said Izzy hurriedly.

"Ok, we'll be right there."

Without so much as a good-bye, Matt grabbed his coat and ran out the door.

A few long minutes later, TK had his arm around Kari who was nervously looking at Izzy, waiting for answers, their digimon in their laps. Matt scanned the group and noticed that everyone was finally accounted for.

"So what happened, Izzy?" he said, breaking the silence.

The boy opened his laptop and began typing. Not looking up, he said, "Earlier today, I was helping Yolei fix Cody's computer. It took a while, but when we finally got it working properly, we pulled up the gate that leads to the Digital World. But as I looked at it closer, I noticed there was something wrong." At that, Izzy turned his computer around so the others could see what he was looking at. Ken was the first to notice the small black dots on the screen.

"What are those spots?" he asked.

"Those black spots are actually tears in the Digital World itself," Izzy explained, "The tears act like small but powerful vacuums that pull anything, or anyone, that gets near them into a different world."

"A different world?" said TK, "Is it the world of wishes we followed Oikawa to before?"

The other boy shook his head. "As far as I can tell, this is a whole new world."

"Did Tai get pulled there?" asked Kari, worried.

"And Davis too?" Ken added.

Izzy nodded. "Along with the spots, I also picked up a signal that seemed to be coming from one of our digimon. When Yolei, Cody, and I went to investigate, we found Veemon, but Davis wasn't in the area. He told us that he and Tai were tracking Agumon on their digivices when his signal vanished. They then found one of the tears, but not knowing what it was, Davis got too close. Tai tried to help him, but managed to get pulled in as well."

"That's Davis for you," said Yolei, shaking her head.

"So, what now?" asked Sora, "How do we get them out if the tears are like vacuums? We would just be pulled in too."

"I've been working on a solution, but it'll take more time. I wanted to let you all know what we had found, and I was hoping Ken would give me a hand," said Izzy, looking at the quiet boy.

"Of course," he answered with a short nod.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" asked Joe.

"No, not really. This may take a while, and the more people around the harder it will be to concentrate on the problem."

"How about we make a phone chain so that everybody will be contacted when you do come up with something," suggested Matt.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. As the geniuses began talking quietly, the rest of the Digidestined wrote down the list, Kari's name at the top. When they had done all they could, everyone went their separate ways, TK walking Kari home. Matt shoved the paper in his pocket and briskly headed home.

'Always have to play the hero, don't you, Tai?' he thought wryly, 'You had better be alright or someone is seriously going to get it.'

to be continued...