"It's too bad for you that this isn't over, little girl!"

I was absolutely frozen with fear. 'Not again! Oh please, no, not again! What do I do now?!' That's what was going through my mind as soon as I heard Ken's cold voice. I couldn't let him get me, couldn't let him take me back. I'd worked too hard to escape from him. I couldn't just let myself fall right back into his hands. Knowing him, he'll probably beat me so badly that I won't survive it, anyway.

I felt a gentle hand grab me by the wrist and help me to my feet. "Don't even think about it, Ken!" Matt yelled to him. Everyone else got up and got between Ken and the two of us. "C'mon, Crystal, I'm getting you outta here," Matt whispered in my ear, starting to lead me away from everyone else gently.

"No! Don't you dare move, Crystal! Ya know, you should really know better than to disobey me by now, little one." Oh yeah, I sure did hear that clearly. I started to slow down, contemplating whether or not to do as Ken had said. I looked back and forth between the two of them—Ken and Matt. I looked back and forth from Matt's kind, pleading eyes to Ken's cold and merciless stare.

"C'mon, Crystal. Don't listen to him. We're gonna take you outta here and you'll never have to see him again. Don't you wanna see your family?" I looked at who was talking to me, automatically being met by a kind smile, despite the situation. "Go on. Go with Matt. Everything's gonna be okay," Kari urged me.

At that instant, I made up my mind. I turned away from Ken and began to walk quickly with him away from the fight about to ensue. I heard Ken yelling again from behind me. "Crystal! Get back here now!" I turned my head to look back, but Matt quickly comforted me and kept leading me away.

"No way, Ken. You here me? You don't control that girl anymore! So why don't you just leave her alone?" Thank you, Davis!

"Ha! Who do you think you are trying to tell me what to do, boy? Don't forget, I'm the Digimon Emperor, and you...you're just a lowly speck of dust compared to me!" Uhhhh ...Yeah, okay, how full of himself can this guy get it one afternoon?

Before anything else could happen though, Ken was knocked off of the tyrannomon and sent crashing to the ground. Everyone looked at what up to see who had done that. "Alright, 'Mr. Almighty', less talk and more fight if that's the way you want it!" Tai growled at him.

That was all I had time to see. Matt then pulled me around a tree so no one else could see us. "Okay, all you need to do is just hold my hand. I'm taking you to the real world. Hold on tight," he instructed me. I did as he said to do and within a matter of seconds, we were in someone's bedroom.

I looked around, a sigh of relief escaping my throat. It'd been so long since I'd last seen the real world, and I was just so glad to be back in it, even though nothing really looked all that different from Ken's fortress, save for a few things. In fact, this room looked a bit like Ken's. "Are you alright?" Matt's concerned question brought me back to reality.

"Yeah," I replied. "Whose room are we in?"

"Izzy's."

No wonder it looks a tad like Ken's, they're both the geniuses of the group.

And so, we had nothing to do but wait for the others to come back. Izzy's parents weren't home so we didn't have to worry about anybody seeing what was going on. Although it really doesn't matter because his parents knew about this...well, at least that's what Matt told me about the situation.

It took about twenty minutes, but at last the portal began to glow and the others appeared before us. And let me tell ya, they didn't look so good at the moment. "Are you all okay?" I gasped in surprise when I saw them.

They all got up and then Mimi put a hand on my shoulder encouragingly. "Yeah, we're all alright."

"Man, that Ken is one hell of a fighter. He doesn't understand the word 'quit', does he?" TK said to me as he dusted off his pants.

I shook my head. "No, he really doesn't."

"We figured as much," Joe added as he cleaned off his glasses and then readjusted them on the bridge of his nose.

I let out a sigh, suddenly overcome with a feeling of dread. I brought my gaze to the floor as I thought for a second. "I'm so sorry guys," I told them apprehensively then, my voice just barely above a whisper. "This is all my fault. If I'd just stayed at the fortress then you all wouldn't have had to fight him just then. You having to fight him wasn't fair. He's after me, not you."

I felt a pair of hands hug me gently and I turned to see Izzy smiling at me. "There's nothing to be sorry about, Crystal. We did what we had to do to protect another from his wrath. None of this is your fault, he was asking for it."

I returned the smile and sat down in a chair. "Thanks."

"No problem."

Matt then reached into his pocket and pulled out his car keys. "So hey, where do you live, Crystal? I'll drive you there."

"About ten miles east of Odaiba. I'll show you the way there."

"Okay, let's go."

I nodded silently as I got up and walked to the door. "See ya later," I heard Davis say to me. I turned back and waved goodbye to everyone. Then, I followed Matt out to his car.

The entire drive to my house, I was growing increasingly more nervous. 'What is my family gonna think of my disappearance? Do they miss me at all? Do they think I ran away, or do they think that I was kidnapped? Has any really major change occurred since I last saw them—?'

"You okay?" My thoughts were interrupted by a concerned question from Matt as he glanced at me through his rear-view mirror.

"Oh," I exclaimed, blushing a bit as I fully realized for the first time, now that all the drama was over for the day, just how cute Matt was, "yeah, I'm alright."

"Good."

My attention turned back out the window as I saw a house coming up on my side of the car. "That's it," I said as I pointed out the house to Matt. Then, I looked out the window again as we pulled into the driveway of the ever so familiar three-story house that I hadn't seen in months now.

............................................................................................................

A/N: Okay, okay, I know that Sora and Matt are supposed to be together later on in the show, but I can't resist. Matt is the second-hottest guy on the entire show, next to Ken. But hey, I'm done yet; so maybe it's not gonna end up how it looks. (Crafty eyes.)

Digimon Emperor: What are you planning?

If I told you now, then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?

Digimon Emperor: (Shivers) I'm scared of how this might turn out.

(Evil face) Hey, what's the worst that could happen? Mwa ha ha ha ha!!! (Evil laughter)

Digimon Emperor: 0o...