Alrighty guys. Here's Chapter 4. Hope you all enjoy it. Won't waste any more of your time so let's get started shall we?

Chapter 4: Don't Panic

A few hours passed; Takuya's mood improved significantly, Kouji's stepmother arrived home, and the others departed as it began to get late. Satomi was more than happy to let Takuya stay over for the night. She thought he was a good influence on Kouji and was glad that he had a friend. She always wondered why he could never get close to someone, then suddenly he had amassed a small group of friends and found his brother. She prepared a light dinner for herself and the boys before they disappeared upstairs into Kouji's room.

Takuya sighed with relief, thankful to be away from Kouji's stepmother. He was having the worst time trying to hide his teeth from her, as her upbeat personality made him want to smile and laugh. He sighed once more before helping Kouji set up a place for him to sleep tonight.

"You can't hide here forever Takuya," Kouji said nonchalantly as he unrolled a spare mattress onto the floor that he had for when Kouichi stayed over.

"I can try can't I?" Takuya quipped, smiling slightly and revealing his sharp teeth.

The younger twin rolled his eyes, "Your mother is going to worry."

"I know... I just... I know okay?"

Kouji didn't reply. The boys settled in for the night, talking about theories regarding Takuya's situation and overall plans they had until they began to feel sleep take over.

Takuya moaned and opened his eyes. He was in the black void. Just like yesterday's dream. A chill ran down his spine. It was just like before. The sounds of a great battle being raged on filled his ears.

The gogglehead looked down below and saw the same two forces fighting against one another. He immediately recognized Agunimon. His gaze then turned to the other. He still found himself getting shivers down his spine from seeing ShadowSeraphimon. Nothing's changed from before.

Takuya watched helplessly as the two mighty forces clashed with each other. Then, it happened again, in a flash of light Agunimon fell to the floor, ShadowSeraphimon standing over him.

"Agunimon!" Takuya called out to the fallen warrior.

He shot up suddenly, panting heavily from the dream. It was just like before. Down to the last detail.

"What's going on?" he asked himself. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the digital clock on the night stand. 1:55. Takuya groaned and laid back down. He just woke up in the middle of the night.

Kouji stirred, "Takuya...?" He sounded groggy. He sat up slowly, "What's wrong?"

"I had the dream again..." Takuya answered softly, rolling onto his side to face Kouji. He blinked. He could see the boy perfectly in the pitch black room.

"That bad huh?" Kouji mumbled, still tired. He reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. Takuya recoiled, blinded by the light. "Takuya?"

The brunette rubbed his eyes gingerly, "thanks for blinding me."

"Sorry?" Kouji apologized uncertainly. "You okay?"

Takuya nodded, "Yeah, I could already see you though."

"Seriously?" Kouji asked. "You could see me just fine without the light? You have night vision now?"

Takuya nodded. "Well yeah, hence the lamp blinding me the way it did." He answered motioning towards the bright lamp light.

"Sorry. Like I was supposed to know." Kouji stated but didn't say more on the subject as to not further agitate his friend. "So, about the dream. It was just like before?"

"Oh yeah. Exactly like before." Takuya answered and ran his fingers through his hair.

Kouji folded his arms and let himself think these things through. "You know, having these reoccurring dreams have to mean something really important."

"So it means that Agunimon died at the hand of ShadowSeraphimon? Gee, Thanks." The brunette replied bitterly.

"Settle down. You still don't know that Agunimon loses."

Takuya huffed quietly, "Sorry."

"Good thing I know your temper is normal" Kouji joked. He shut out the light, "Hey, let's see how good that night vision of yours." He held up three fingers.

"Three." Takuya answered immediately, having no difficulty seeing how many fingers were being held up.

"Okay, let's make it a little harder and tell me which ones I'm holding up." Kouji explained and continued the exercise with his friend, holding up his hand at different angles. After about five correct guesses Kouji decided that it was enough. "Okay, pretty good so far. You really do have night vision."

"Yeah, lucky me." Takuya sighed rubbed his eyes. "Wonder what else is going to happen to me."

"Takuya, you seriously need to calm down." Kouji reprimanded, though with a careful tone as to not set Takuya off. "I know you're stressing out but calming down will do you better than freaking out."

Takuya looked to his friend and nodded. "I know. I know. It's just… hard not to lose it."

"Hey, It'll be okay- Maybe this is a good thing." Kouji said trying to comfort him. "Maybe you're like one of those American superheros you're obsessed with."

The brunette snorted, "That's a laugh. You're the one who told me not to treat the Digital World like a video game."

Kouji shrugged, "I wasn't wrong. Besides, don't those guys act responsibly?"

"They also run around cities in spandex."

"So did we. We just had armor over it." Kouji countered. "Besides, I'm not asking you to dress up in spandex. No one needs to see that."

"Oh ha ha." Takuya replied with sarcasm though he couldn't help but smile a little. "You're hilarious, you know that?"

"Really? I thought I was a sourpuss." The twin said with a smirk on his face.

Takuya shrugged, doing his best to hold in his laughter. "Eh, not all the time. You're getting there."

Kouji threw a pillow at the boy. "At least I'm not a devious maniac like my brother."

"Oh you say that like it's a bad thing. He just knows how to have fun." Takuya shot back, throwing the pillow back at Kouji, hitting him squarely in he face.

Takuya smirked, dodging the next one Kouji threw. "Hey! Hold still."

"I think your aim is getting lousy Kou."

"I told you not to call me that!" Kouji grabbed the pillow and managed to sock Takuya right in the face, payback for the nickname he dreaded.

"Truce! Truce! I surrender!" Takuya held up his hands in defeat before his friend could proceed to pummel him with the pillow. "Jeez, you are feral."

Kouji growled, "I'll show you feral. Go back to sleep Kanbara and stop waking me up." Kouji crawled back into his bed, intent on ignoring Takuya and sleeping for the remainder of the night.

"Touchy." Takuya remarked before laying back down. "Guess sleeping beauty needs his sleep," He mumbled to himself.

"Takuya." Kouji's tone was even and dark, daring the boy to speak again. Takuya shrank under the blankets, clamming up before Kouji murdered him.

With that said and done, the two drifted off back to sleep.

Takuya moaned in his sleep, picking up a scent. Something smelled good. He cracked his eyes open and took more experimental sniffs at the air. The scent was strong and in an instant, he recognized the smell. Eggs? Soon as the thought of food entered his mind, his stomach reacted, growling loudly.

"Kouji! Takuya! Time to wake up! Breakfast is just about ready!" Satomi called out loud enough to fully wake the two.

"Breakfast?" Takuya repeated and a smile formed on his face. Breakfast sounded really good right now. Maybe Kouji would be less of a grouch with some food in his belly.

He sat up, expecting to see Kouji still in his bed. It was empty. He stood up and looked around, half expecting a sneak attack or something of the sorts. Kouji wasn't in the room any longer. "Kouji?" Takuya called out softly. No reply.

After a moment of standing there, he heard water running, like a sink. That explained where Kouji was, but not how he could here the water running in another room, down the hall. "Oh great- something new to add to my list of strange things happening to me." he grumbled to himself.

Kouji reentered the room, showered and dressed. "'bout time you were up," he teased lightly.

"Hey, guess what. I got super hearing now." Takuya stated, exasperated. "I just keep getting more stuff by the hour. What's next? Smell? Taste?"

Kouji sighed. "This sure is developing fast. So you seriously have super hearing now."

"Yup. I heard water running from down the hall; I can hear your step mom cooking downstairs." Takuya answered and sighed. "I don't know what'll happen next."

"Well, let's see. What's happened so far? Super hearing, night vision, fangs, jumping unbelievable heights, super healing, and combusting." Kouji listed.

"Not to mention stamina. Yesterday I was able to run all the way from my house to here without breaking a sweat." Takuya added.

Kouji looked at him, "How come you didn't mention that before?"

"Your brother dragged me into the flour war- remember?" Takuya stated flatly.

"Fair enough."

Takuya slumped against the wall, feeling defeated. "What the hell is happening to me..."

Kouji tied his hair back, and fastened his bandana in place. "Stop worrying- It'll get better. Geez, since when do I have to play the optimist?"

"I know, you're usually such a downer." Takuya teased, smiling a bit.

"Ha, ha. Come on, get dressed and let's go eat okay?" Kouji said with a slight smile. He tossed the brunette a brush, "Tame that mess of hair of yours too,"

"Jeez, you sound just like my mom." Takuya muttered and scratched behind his ear. He stopped instantly and felt his ear. "Oh crap!"

"What?" Kouji asked, not expecting Takuya to scream like that.

The gogglehead brushed his hair out of the way show his ears. They had grown long and pointed like an elf's. "My ears! They're pointy!"

Kouji placed his hands on his friend to help him calm down. "Takuya, you need to calm down. You're going to give yourself a heart attack."

"My EARS are POINTY!" Takuya exclaimed with greater emphasis. It was like the fire thing all over again.

"I see that! Get a grip Takuya! Do you want mom to come up here?" Kouji said calmly. He tightened his grip on the boy's shoulders. "Just take a deep breath. Okay?"

Takuya swallowed nervously, trying to calm down. Truthfully, he was on the verge of tears of panic and frustration. Kouji's grip on his shoulders grounded him thankfully, as he forced himself to take a few deep breaths.

"Better?" he asked.

Kouji sighed, releasing Takuya. "I don't understand this..."

"I have no idea what the hell is happening to me. What the hell am I turning into?" Takuya asked, still feeling scared.

"I don't know Takuya… but we'll figure out what's happening. In the meantime you need to try and stay calm. We're here for you alright?" Kouji replied to reassure his friend. "We will figure this out."

Takuya took a breath and nodded. "I know… it's just hard."

"I know. You just need to keep an even mind." Kouji told him. "Look, mom has breakfast ready for us. Just try to relax, get some food in that bottomless gut of yours and we'll go see the others after we're finished. Okay?"

The boy nodded slowly, not feeling very hungry anymore. He brushed his thick hair over his ears, hiding them pretty well. He then followed Kouji downstairs into the kitchen where Satomi had laid out breakfast for them. Takuya picked at his food, making sure to eat something so he wouldn't hurt Mrs. Minamoto's feelings, but he just wasn't that hungry.

They excused themselves, and set out to the park calling up everyone for a meeting of the minds.

"I look ridiculous." Takuya commented grouchily.

Kouji shot him a look, "Hey, the bandana hides them better than your hat does."

"I still don't get why I have to wear this thing? My hair was doing just fine hiding my ears." Takuya stated, fidgeting with the bandanna. "No one even wears these anymore."

"Oh and like people wear goggles." Kouji countered and continued leading the way to the meeting place.

"Hey! Don't diss the goggles!"

"Don't diss the bandanna." Kouji replied coolly. "Come on. The sooner we get there the sooner you can take it off."

Takuya opened his mouth to come up with some sort of retort but when nothing came out he just sighed and nodded. "Fine. Still looks ridiculous." Kouji groaned. Boy was this kid stubborn.

The park came into sight soon after. Takuya excited bounded ahead, checking for cars this time, before racing to the meeting spot. Like before, no one else was there yet. They sat down beside the tree to wait for the others to show up.

Tommy was first this time, having been able to escape his parents' scrutinizing. He waved to them. They halfheartedly waved back, making the younger boy worry.

"What's wrong?" Tommy asked, "And why are you wearing a bandana like Kouji?"

Takuya sighed and looked around one more time to see if there any other people around before lifting the bandanna to show his pointed ears to the younger boy.

"Your ears! What happened to them?!" Tommy exclaimed, taken completely by shock by the elf like ears.

Takuya shushed the youngest and waited a second for Tommy to get over his shock before speaking. "I don't know. I woke up with these things… and with a few new other things."

"Really? Like what?" Tommy asked.

"Well… I can hear a lot better. And I can see in the dark too…" Takuya answered and adjusted the bandanna. "Kouji can I take this thing off now?"

"Jeez you're such a baby Takuya." Kouji muttered to himself.

"How do you stand these things?" Takuya whined, desperate to remove the bandana.

Kouji rolled his eyes, "Better question is how do I stand you sometimes. Tommy is more mature that this Takuya."

Tommy snickered lightly as Takuya glared at Kouji.

"Fighting already?" Zoe teased from behind. She had been standing there long enough to hear the bandana argument.

"No." the three answered automatically.

She rolled her eyes. "Typical boys, So what's the emergency?" she asked, "Did something happen?"

"Kind of..." Takuya stated slowly. "Can you wait until Kouichi and JP get here? I don't want to explain this four times..."

Zoe stared at Takuya. He looked so depressed. She nodded, sitting down beside him "Yeah. I can wait."

"Thanks. I appreciate it." Takuya sighed and rubbed the back of his neck in hopes to ease his stress. "It's been pretty rough."

Tommy looked to Takuya with a sad gaze. The poor guy looked like he was really taking this badly. He looked around for his friends and spotted the two coming towards them. "There they are."

"What's up guys? Everyone all here?" JP asked with a smile on his face. The smile disappeared however as soon as he felt the depressing aura around them. "uh…?"

"I gotta show you guys something." Takuya stated, getting their attention. With that, he lifted up the bandanna to reveal his pointed ears causing the three unaware of them to gasp.

"Your ears… they're…" JP stopped, not wanting to come off as insensitive.

"Pointy. I know." Takuya answered and took the bandanna off, deciding not to put up with wearing it any longer. "I woke up with them this morning."

"Along with night vision and above average hearing," Kouji added softly, taking the bandana from Takuya and stowing it in his jacket pocket.

Zoe immediately hugged Takuya, "You poor thing." Takuya blushed, surprised by her action.

"This is so strange, and I was controlled by Cherubimon," Kouichi remarked.

"Not helpful bro."

JP tried not to stare, "How can we help?"

"I-I don't know…" Takuya answered. "I don't even know how this is happening. I mean… this is happening before I even know it."

"Jeez… this is pretty serious." JP muttered to himself. "It just happens out of nowhere?"

"Yeah, like everything else that's been happening to me." Takuya replied heatedly.

JP held up his hands defensively. "Whoa. Easy. It's just a question."

Takuya groaned and hung his head low. "Sorry… I just… it's getting worse. And last night… I had the same dream again. It's driving me crazy."

"The same one with ShadowSeraphimon?" Tommy asked timidly. The brunette nodded, not looking up. He pulled at some grass, toying with it in his fingers. The six sat there in silence, not sure how to respond.

"I wish we could talk to Bokomon... He would know what to do." Zoe said sadly. The little white digimon was highly knowledgable and could either figure the situation out or propose a solution.

Takuya snorted, "I'd take Neemon's advice about now..."

"Is there anything we can do?" JP asked. "Anything at all?"

"I'm not sure. If there were something I think we would have thought of it." Takuya answered.

"What about the train station? The underground one." Tommy suggested. "You think it might still be there? Or at least have something that could help?"

Kouji shrugged. "I'm not sure. Remember, Lucemon tore it apart when he was trying to enter the Human world. Even if we're able to get back to it, I don't think there's much that can help."

"Well it is the Digital World- maybe there's a way to get an SOS out through our phones or online. Ophanimon did it- why can't we?" JP suggested.

They gaped at him. "JP, That's brilliant!" Zoe said gleefully.

"One flaw- Ophanimon was a Celestial Angel. We don't have her powers..." Kouichi pointed out.

"Kouji and Takuya did. EmpeorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon- remember?" Tommy countered with a smile.

"But… how're we supposed to sent out an SOS? I mean… sure we had Ophanimon's power but…" Takuya took out his cell phone and stared down at it. "It's not a D-Tector anymore. Just a regular ol' phone."

"Um… maybe if we check our history?" Tommy suggested.

Takuya blinked and started pressing buttons to view his messages. He silently prayed that the messages were still there. He prayed that there would be something that could help him.

The others followed suit, searching through their messages hoping the one Ophanimon sent them back in the spring was still there. One by one, they came to the end of their message history, only dating back to a few weeks ago, not a few months.

"We could still check out the train station." Zoe offered, supporting Tommy's idea. "There might not be anything but there's a chance there could be something."

Takuya hesitated. "I'm going to stay here- If I'm turning into some kind of creature, The last place I want to be is a train station with a ton of people."

"We don't blame you Takuya." the blonde replied, "Just lay low for now, okay?"

"We'll call if we find anything." JP added, trying to cheer up the despondent brunette.

"Yeah, alright." Takuya nodded, appreciating the amount of effort they were going through to help him. "Thanks guys."

"Don't mention it Takuya." Tommy said with a smile.

"Maybe the rest of us here should try and come up with a few ideas, maybe check the net like JP said." Kouji offered. "Who knows, we might find something."

"Where should we meet up when we're done?" Kouichi asked.

"Probably my place. It's the best at the moment." Kouji answered.

"Alright, So JP, Tommy, Kouichi and I will head to Shibuya and look for anything useful." Zoe chirruped happily, "You two head back to Kouji's and try and figure out what exactly is happening or causing the changes."

The boys nodded, knowing better than to argue with the girl when she put a plan in motion.

"We'll be back in a few hours." Kouichi said as they parted ways.

Kouji nodded, "Good luck." He turned his attention to Takuya, "Let's head back and find a way for you to de-stress."

"How the heck do we do that exactly?" Takuya asked as they made their way back to Kouji's place.

"Well, how do you normal de-stress yourself?" Kouji answered with a question.

The gogglehead shrugged. "I dunno. Soccer, mindless video-games, stuff like that I suppose."

"Well, soccer isn't the best idea at the moment." Kouji stated. "We want to stay away from the public. I'm sure we can figure something out after we're finished searching the internet."

"I just hope we can find something." Takuya added, folding his hands behind his head and observing their surroundings. He sighed after a while. "To think we were supposed to have fun during the break."

"It's kind of hard to enjoy yourself when you know your best friend is hurting," the younger twin stated.

Takuya looked at him, "I am not hurting."

"You are mentally, this is really putting you on edge- You snapped at JP twice." Kouji pointed out, "That and you're scared- and don't try to tell me otherwise. I know you're trying to be strong but this is a lot for one person to deal with."

"I'm just trying to keep control. I don't want this thing to get the better of me. I don't like putting you guys through all of this." Takuya replied, keeping his gaze low.

"Takuya, you can't do this to yourself." Kouji stopped and looked at his friend. "You're tearing at the seams. It's not healthy for you to keep up with those kinds of thoughts."

"I can't help it Kouji. I… I don't like making people worry." Takuya answered and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Kouji could tell Takuya was on a downwards spiral, and it pained him that there was little he could do to help the boy beside watch his best friend turn into some unidentifiable creature. He wrapped his arm around Takuya's shoulders. "Hey, We're in this together- Just like before."

Takuya tried to shrug Kouji away, but he refused to let go. "Come on Kouji get off."

"No. Takuya- You helped me save Kouichi from Cherubimon. You were able to convince me to fight my own brother to save him. This time, we're all going to fight to help you." Kouji pressed, his voice sincere.

Takuya was touched to see such loyalty from his friend. They really did have his back. He knew they were going to do their best to help him. Maybe they could find a way to fix this. Maybe. "Thanks Kouji. I really appreciate it."

"Then don't forget it alright? You don't have to do this on your own. You were the one who showed us what teamwork is like." Kouji let his friend go and lightly punched his arm. "Seriously Takuya, don't forget it."

Takuya rubbed the spot where he was punched. He really did appreciate their help. "I hear you Kouji."

Kouji studied Takuya for a moment. He still seemed upset but it looked like he really was taking this to heart. He was satisfied with it. "Good."