AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Happy Friday! Thank you all to for the love on the last surprise chapter! I wish I was able to post twice a week consistently, but there is a lot happening right now. Thanks for bearing with me on the weekly updates, and if I do get a chance to drop a couple of extra bonus chapters in future I absolutely will.

Stay safe, stay well, and I hope you enjoy today's update!

CLIMBING BACK UP

After leaving the lake, Hikari had taken them to a well-worn path that wound through the trees and would take them to the top of the cliff. The straps of Hikari's makeshift pack were digging in to Daisuke's shoulders, and he had to keep flexing his fingers every so often to make sure they hadn't fallen off. Hikari offered to take the pack more than once, and every time he turned her down with a grin. He'd offered to take it, and take it he would (even if it made his fingers tingle).

When Tailmon spied a group of ghost-like digimon ("Bakemon," she'd hissed) floating on the path ahead she had quickly ushered them deeper in to the trees. The ground was booby-trapped with pot holes and burrows and littered with leaves the size of Daisuke's hand, and the process soon slowed to accommodate the uneven ground. He bit back his complaints, following Hikari as she floated gracefully through the forest, hopping over vines and fallen branches with practiced ease. Daisuke was much slower, keeping one eye on the ground to avoid tripping.

"So what do you do?" Daisuke asked as he dragged himself over another large tree root. Several feet ahead, Hikari hopped lightly over a patch of vines and turned back to face him.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Daisuke tried to land gracefully, but the pack threw him off balance and he stumbled. Veemon ran to his side and tried to hold him steady, but his little arms barely managed to scrape Daisuke's elbow. Daisuke flashed him a grateful smile anyway and straightened, hitching the pack a little higher.

"In the Digital World," he said. "What do you do all the time? Do you have… I dunno, school and stuff?" Hikari smiled and shook her head.

"No school."

"That sounds amazing," he laughed stumbling after her. She waited for him to catch up before carrying on, and she offered him her hand to help him across another bulging root. This one came up to Daisuke's thigh, and Daisuke accepted the offer with a silent nod of thanks.

"I think I'd take history over running for my life any day," she said lightly, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Her fingers caught the small scar on her cheek and she winced.

"What happened?" Daisuke asked. Hikari smiled again, though this one was different, and she quickly turned away.

"I fell," she answered. As her arm caught the sunlight Daisuke saw the mottled purple-green marks that were splashed across her skin. He reached for her arm before he could stop himself, pulling it back in to the light.

"And broke your wrist?" he asked, examining the bruises that spilled across the top of her hand. Hikari quickly pulled it out of his grip and tucked the arm behind her.

"I'm just clumsy," she said with a sheepish smile. Up ahead, Tailmon's ears canted back and she glanced at Hikari before pressing forwards again with Veemon close behind her. Hikari ducked her head and carried on; Daisuke tried to glance at her wrist again, but she was walking with her hands clasped in front of her now, blocking them from view. He adjusted the pack again and took off after her, carefully picking his way through the leaves and branches to try and catch up.

"I met Jou," he said when he was beside her again, and the tension in her shoulders melted in an instant. She turned towards him with a smile that encouraged him to continue. "He got left behind, just like you thought. He's made this little hospital for all the injured digimon. And we met Gabumon and Palmon." Hikari's eyes widened.

"You met Gabumon?" she breathed. Daisuke nodded. "And Yamato? What about Yamato?" Daisuke swallowed thickly, remembering the sight of the unconscious blonde hovering over Santa Geria.

"He… ah… we didn't meet him, exactly, but I saw him," he answered. "He's the Kaiser's prisoner." A tear spilled down her cheek and she quickly brushed it away, glancing towards the digimon up ahead.

"Tailmon!" she cried. Tailmon turned with a smile.

"I heard!" she answered. Hikari let out a strangled laugh and Daisuke frowned.

"You're… you're happy that he's the Kaiser's prisoner?"

"I'm happy that he's alive!" she gasped. She brushed away the tears and took a deep breath. "He… the last time we saw him and Gabumon, there was a fire. We couldn't find them after that and we thought… It doesn't matter. At least we know they're okay." Daisuke didn't quite think that being a prisoner was 'okay', but Hikari had already moved on. "What about Taichi? How is he?" Daisuke tried to grin, but then he remembered what Sora and Koushiro had told them earlier and the smile faltered. He hoped Hikari hadn't noticed.

"He's good! He's out of town with his – with your parents. They… uh… they needed to get… out of town for a bit..." he finished lamely. He cleared his throat and hopped across a narrow stream before turning back to Hikari and holding out a hand to help her across. She didn't need it, he knew, but she smiled and took it anyway. "He misses you."

She stepped across slowly, pausing for a second on the bank before pulling away.

"I miss him too."

"Well why don't you come back with me?" he asked. She shook her head and adjusted the scarf around her neck.

"I can't."

"Sure you can! These new digivices can get you guys through the gate too-"

"No, it's not that," she murmured, though her voice was quiet. She turned away and started after the digimon. "We have too much to do here, with the Kaiser and his digimon. Now that we know that we can break the dark rings, we can help more digimon, and they say that if you destroy those dark towers then digimon can evolve again-"

She tilted sideways with a yelp, her toe snared in a vine, and she twisted as she fell. Daisuke reached for her, trying to keep her on her feet, but he only managed to grab the handkerchief tied around her neck. It hung limply from his fingers as she fell heavily to the ground.

For a moment she lay there, gasping for breath, until her coughing turned to giggling. Tailmon and Veemon barrelled back towards them, with Tailmon rushing to her partner's side, but Hikari waved her away with a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said, sitting up slowly and rubbing at her shoulder. "I just tripped. See?" she added, turning to Daisuke with a bashful grin. "I told you I was clumsy." Daisuke couldn't help but smile back at her, and he reached down to grasp her uninjured wrist and pull her back to her feet. She tossed her hair back out of her face and dusted the leaves and dirt from her shoulders. Daisuke waited until she had readjusted her quiver before holding out her scarf, though as she reached for it Daisuke's eyes caught the ring of purple around her neck. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her in to the light.

"Hikari! Your neck!" he exclaimed. Hikari's eyes bulged and she quickly pulled herself free, her hands flying to cover the bruises.

"I – It's nothing-"

"Do you have to be so stubborn?" Tailmon hissed before turning to Daisuke. "The Kaiser did this to her."

"Tailmon!"

"The Kaiser?" Daisuke asked. Hikari snatched the scarf from his fingers.

"It's nothing," she repeated, tying it around her neck as she turned sharply on her heel and stalked away. Tailmon bounded after her, and Daisuke blinked – trying to figure out how they'd gone from laughing to fighting in the blink of an eye – before realising he was being left behind, and he quickly scrambled after them with Veemon hot on his heels.

"Why do you keep defending him?" Tailmon demanded. Hikari remained silent, her eyes fixed pointedly on the path ahead.

"It's not 'nothing' if the guy tried to kill you," Daisuke added, and Tailmon nodded in firm agreement. Now that he'd seen it he wondered how he hadn't seen it earlier; the bruising bled around the edges of the scarf, spreading almost fully around her neck. "You think Taichi'll call this nothing?" Hikari whirled to face him, but instead of anger her eyes were wide with fear.

"Don't tell him," she pleaded. She reached for his hands, clutching them tightly. "Please, Daisuke, don't tell him."

"Why not?" Her hands were so soft and small in his, which were big and coarse. Her eyes burned through him, wild and glassy and filled with a silent plea. At last she took a deep breath and stood back, and in the blink of an eye the fear was gone, leaving her calm and collected behind a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Because he'll worry," she said, as if that was enough.

"Then come home and stop him from worrying," said Daisuke. "Be there when he gets back in to town!"

"I can't," she said firmly. She turned away, gripping her bow tightly as she began walking away. Daisuke grit his teeth and followed, clambering over a thick root.

"But you can! You can sleep at my place – you'll take my bed, and I'll take the sofa – and then we'll go meet him when he gets back!" The sofa was old, lumpy and had acquired a particularly musty smell over the years, but Daisuke would take it in a heartbeat for her. "C'mon, Hikari-"

"Daisuke, drop it." She glared at him over her shoulder and he froze. For a brief second Hikari had been replaced by a furious Taichi – the resemblance was uncanny – and then her face softened. "Please…" She waited for a moment but Daisuke's voice had deserted him, and in the silence that followed she turned away and walked on. Veemon quickly scrambled after her, and she scooped him up with a strained laugh as she placed him on her shoulders. Tailmon sat down by Daisuke's feet, staring after her partner and shaking her head before blinking her large blue eyes up at him.

"We shouldn't fall too far behind," she said. Daisuke swallowed and nodded, hoisting the pack higher before following.

"Don't you think she should go home?" he asked quietly. Up ahead Veemon was pointing to colourful fruits in the canopy overhead. Tailmon shrugged and sighed.

"What can I say?" she asked. "Hikari's my partner. I never thought I'd find her, and then when I did I never wanted her to leave." Her tail twitched and she leapt over a large hole in the dirt. Daisuke skirted it carefully.

"I guess you got your wish, huh?"

"I didn't want it like this," she said quietly. "I wanted us all to be together, and Hikari did too."

"But I don't get it. If Hikari and Taichi love each other so much, why did Taichi leave her behind?"

"I don't think they had a choice." She paused, wringing her paws together and glancing ahead to where Hikari was throwing Veemon high in to the trees towards the large, plum-like fruits that dangled overhead. Tailmon slowed down and Daisuke slowed down with her. "When they defeated Apocalymon, the Digital World was so damaged that it needed time to reformat. The Chosen Children were only called because the Digital World needed their help, and once they'd defeated the darkness they had to go home. The gate to the human world was only open for a little while, and we didn't make it in time." Daisuke frowned.

"But why didn't she just follow them through?" he asked.

"It wasn't like that back then," she answered. "The Digital Gate only opened when it was needed. You seem to be able to come and go as you please, but Hikari never found a way home."

"How old was she," he asked, "when… when she was left behind?"

"Eight, I think."

"Eight?!" Tailmon hushed him with a glare and he quickly swallowed his surprise, glancing ahead to Hikari. She was some distance away now, and he watched as she finally threw Veemon high enough for him to grab a fruit from the canopy before landing heavily in her arms with a victorious cheer. He clambered on to Hikari's shoulder to wave the fruit at Daisuke, and Daisuke forced a smile back at him. Veemon tore off a chunk before sliding out of view again, and Daisuke let the smile fall. "How old is she now?" Tailmon shrugged.

"We don't know. Humans have a weird way of keeping track of that kind of stuff," she answered. "It's been six or seven cycles since she got left behind."

"How long is a cycle?"

"Three hundred and sixty-four point two five days," she answered. Daisuke frowned.

"Point two five?" She shrugged.

"Don't ask me, it's based on your world," she sniffed. "Besides, that doesn't mean much. Time can move differently here."

"But Hikari's been here that long," he murmured. "However long it's been on Earth, it's felt like seven years for her." The realisation made him feel cold. He didn't remember much about being eight years old, but he remembered the time his dad left him alone in the checkout line at the grocery store because he'd forgotten to get milk, and in the five minutes he'd been gone Daisuke had been convinced that his whole world was ending.

"She's strong," Tailmon said softly, and Daisuke didn't miss the note of pride that rang through her voice. "At first I was so scared, you humans are so fragile, but not her. She's always been so brave. A little too brave, sometimes…" She trailed off with a troubled frown. Daisuke adjusted his grip on the pack and ducked under a vine as thick as his arm. They were thicker here, and packed closer together; up ahead, Hikari and Veemon were tugging at a thick network of vines that had blocked the path.

"Do you think she wants to go home?" he asked. Tailmon sighed.

"I'm not sure." She sounded hesitant, and her eyes were fixed on Hikari's back. "There's something she's not telling me… Then again, there's always something she's not telling me." Hikari and Veemon tore the last of the vines down, and Hikari turned back to them.

"Come on!" she called. "We're almost there!" As Hikari turned her attention back to the path ahead, Tailmon fixed Daisuke with a hard stare.

"You do not tell her that we were talking about her," she hissed. Daisuke's voice died in his throat at the sudden harshness in her voice, and he nodded mutely. Tailmon bounded away, brushing her tail against the back of Hikari's legs as she rejoined her partner. Veemon meanwhile had been waiting for Daisuke atop the fallen vines, and as soon as Daisuke was in reach Veemon clambered up his arm and settled in to ride on Daisuke's shoulders, sitting on top of the pack. Daisuke groaned at the extra weight but he didn't complain, especially when Veemon leant forwards and rested his chin on Daisuke's shoulder. It was oddly reassuring.

"Hikari was tellin' me that she's real sorry she got so mad at you," he said sadly. "Why do girls do that?" Daisuke blinked, peering at his partner from the corner of his eye.

"Do what?"

"Get mad at you and then be sorry for it?" Veemon's eyes were so large and innocent that Daisuke couldn't help the laugh that rose in his throat.

"If I could answer that question, I could write a book."

"You mean you can't write?"

"That's not what I meant."

"I think the coast's clear."

Koushiro's voice echoed round the cave, but Miyako barely heard him. That monster, Ikkakumon, had seemed so huge as it had towered above them. She could still see the sun gleaming off his fierce tusks, could still feel the heat of the explosion, could still smell smoke and singed hair. She buried her face in to her knees and wrapped her arms tightly around herself, clenching her eyes shut.

"Miyako?" Hawkmon asked. His voice was quiet and unsure. "Are you quite all right?" Miyako wished she could say yes – wished that she was brave and strong enough not to be afraid – but then she saw Daisuke falling all over again and she shook her head.

"Miyako." She sniffled and lifted her head. Koushiro was standing by the mouth of the cave. Miyako sniffed again.

"Can't we just stay here?"

"We should find Daisuke and make sure he's okay," said Iori. Sometimes Miyako hated how logical he was. Of course they had to find Daisuke, but finding Daisuke would mean going outside, and outside there was Ikkakumon and all other sorts of monsters – all bigger and stronger than them. Her insides turned to jelly and she buried her face in her knees again.

"But I don't wanna fight!"

The cry echoed off the walls until all she could hear was her own terrified voice. She bit her lip, tasting blood as sobs that were half fury and half fear stole their way from her lungs and threw themselves at the wall before coming back full force.

Ikkakumon was out there, waiting for them with his rocket-horn and bloody claws. And if it wasn't him, it was the RedVegiemon or Snimon or Drimogemon – there were too many; Miyako was already losing count. And when it wasn't the digimon, it was the Kaiser, with his stupid laugh and his ridiculous cape-

A hand on her shoulder made her jump, and she blinked at Koushiro through her tears. He was kneeling next to her, but the sympathetic smile on his face only made her feel worse.

"I can't do this," she whispered. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and shivered. "I'm scared." To her surprise, Koushiro smiled a little.

"We all were." Miyako blinked; she opened her mouth but her words refused to come out, and Koushiro rocked back on to his heels. "At one point or another, we were… well, terrified. Even Taichi." Miyako tried to imagine the brash upperclassman as a quivering wreck and she scowled. He didn't seem the type to curl up and cry.

"You're lying," she grumbled, "to make me feel better." Koushiro chuckled a little.

"I wish I was," he said. "Jou was scared of a lot of things, especially at the start. And Taichi and Yamato, they'd get scared too, but they were too scared to show it. Ended up punching each other more often than not." Miyako let out a surprised giggle and Koushiro's smile widened. "And Mimi – oh, wait until you meet Mimi. She was just like you. She didn't want to fight either, and she wanted to go home… but she did it. She fought for the Digital World, and for us."

He paused, his mouth hanging open as though he wasn't quite sure what to say. He pulled his hand away to loosen his tie and offered her a reassuring smile.

"The thing is, it's not so scary when you don't have to face it alone," he said at last. "Digimon don't just fight; they're some of the very best friends you'll ever make. And the more you do together, the stronger your bond will become. It's a friendship you'll carry with you for life." His reassuring smile gave way to a certain fondness that made Miyako wonder if he was thinking of Tentomon. Over his shoulder, Miyako saw Hawkmon ruffle his feathers awkwardly, staring down at his talons. In the silence he slowly lifted his large eyes until they met Miyako's.

Miyako had never really had friends. She was too loud and bossy for the other kids in her class, who quickly learned to keep their distance. It was hardly her fault; as the youngest of a boisterous family, she'd always had to fight for attention. She'd never been deemed 'cool' enough to hang out with her siblings, and had consequently never learned what 'cool' was, though she knew enough to know she didn't have it. The other girls in her class weren't in to computers and video games like she was (hobbies she'd inherited via second-hand machines from her brother Mantarou, who seemed to tolerate her the most). She'd tried hanging out at the mall like her sisters, but she'd never seen the appeal. She supposed it was different when you had friends.

Even her friendship with Iori was tenuous at best. They'd become friends via chance encounter; they'd both sat at the same abandoned bench one lunch time, and Miyako – unable to bear silence – had struck up an incessant conversation with him until he'd been forced to talk back. But then he was just as odd as she was, albeit in a quieter way. He was a friend in that they would go places and do things together, but he was hardly someone she would run to with her problems.

But there was something in Hawkmon's eyes that made her feel like she might just run to him. They'd spent less than a week together, and already she'd confided more in him than in anyone else. She hadn't thought twice about it – she'd just known that everything she'd shared with him would be safe; that he would protect her secrets just as fiercely as he would protect her.

Suddenly she was scrambling forwards, having cast Koushiro aside behind her, and she buried her tear-stained face in to Hawkmon's feathers. She clutched the little bird close, not quite sure how to tell him what she was feeling. Hawkmon didn't need words; he simply wrapped his small wings tightly around her and suddenly Miyako could feel everything they couldn't say.

When they left the cave, Iori and Koushiro took the lead with Armadimon following close behind them. Miyako brought up the rear, watching the two boys conversing in hushed tones and wondering if Iori was receiving a similar pep-talk (Iori looked more serious than usual, focusing intently on Koushiro and hanging off his every word). And so she hung back, glancing every now and then to Hawkmon who would catch her eye and offer her a quiet smile.

They clambered back up the mudslide and picked their way back through the forest. Miyako hadn't realised just how far they'd run, and the walk back seemed to take two if not three times as long. The humidity beneath the canopy clung to her like a blanket, and trails of sweat and mud trickled down her neck and beneath her collar. She crinkled her nose; she didn't care what the family bathroom rota said, she would be having a long, hot bath when she got home.

"I think I see him," Koushiro murmured. He was squinting down at his digivice, holding the screen so close to his nose that he was almost cross-eyed.

"What is it?" Miyako asked. Koushiro frowned.

"I'm not sure… I can't tell if that's one signal or two." Miayko looked at her D-3, pushing her glasses higher up her nose for a better look. It was hard to tell – the signal was squeezed into the upper corner of the small screen – but it definitely looked like two.

"One's blue, so that's Daisuke, right?" she asked, holding out her D-3 to Koushiro. The screen on the D-3 was a fraction bigger than that of the digivices, and Koushiro gave her a grateful smile as he examined it.

"It looks like the other signal is from the older digivice model," Iori suggested, glancing up from his own D-3. "It doesn't appear to have a colour."

"Which means it's probably not the Kaiser," Koushiro said, the relief evident in his voice. "It could be Jou; we aren't far from his camp."

"Maybe he heard the commotion and he came to investigate," Miyako offered. Koushiro grimaced and slipped his digivice back in to his pocket.

"Maybe," he said quietly. Then, louder: "Whoever it is, we should regroup with them and with Daisuke. Ikkakumon could still be in the area, so we should probably head home once we're all-"

They broke through the treeline to find Ikkakumon waiting for them. He gave a deafening bellow and Miyako felt her blood turn to ice as he lowered his horn towards them.

"Digimental up!" Iori cried. Koushiro grabbed Miyako's wrist and pulled her back towards the trees as Armadimon raced the oncoming missile. Digmon emerged just in time and his armoured shell took the brunt of the hit. Miyako felt the heat wash over her as Digmon laughed and turned.

"That tickles!" His drills let out a shrill whine as he plunged them in to the earth, sending a jagged fissure racing towards Ikkakumon.

"Miyako,"said Hawkmon. He was standing before her, his wings tucked close in to his body and his eyes gleaming with determination. "We should help them." She swallowed thickly and closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths. Her D-3 grew warm beneath her fingers, chasing the ice from her veins, and she tightened her fingers around it until it felt like her whole body was ablaze. She opened her eyes, meeting Hawkmon's gaze and giving him a determined nod.

"Digimental up!"

Holsmon was quick to join the fray, twisting nimbly around Digmon and soaring high in to the air infront of Ikkakumon where he spread his wings wide.

"Tempest Wing!" He twisted in to a tight spiral whipped the wind around him in to a frenzy. A tornado burst forth, striking Ikkakumon in the chest and sending him staggering back. By the time he had recovered, Holsmon had already fixed him with a well-aimed Mach Impulse attack that splashed against Ikkakumon's forehead. The digimon roared furiously, aiming is horn at Holsmon. Miyako called for Holsmon to be careful as Digmon fractured the earth at Ikkakumon's feet with a large Gold Rush attack. The Harpoon Torpedo was a misfire, and Holsmon twisted lazily around the attack before swooping closer with another Mach Impulse.

"The ring!" Koushiro cried. "Attack the Dark Ring – Iori, watch out!" Ikkakumon staggered blindly, rising up on his hindquarters to bat at Holsmon, trying to swipe him from the air. As a heavy paw came down dangerously close to Iori, Koushiro rushed to his side. Iori had jumped back from the attack, but judging by the way Koushiro dragged him several steps further away, Iori had not jumped back far enough.

Miyako was watching the pair so intently that she didn't notice that Holsmon had been struck from the air until he slid across the ground, coming to a stop perilously close to the cliff edge. Ikkakumon celebrated his victory with a belching roar and he slammed his front paws back on to the ground.

"Holsmon – NO!" Miyako stumbled forwards as the tears began to swell, only to stop dead in her tracks as Ikkakumon turned sharply to face her. The sunlight was gleaming off his black horn as he dropped on to his haunches again, aiming the tip of the rocket straight at her.

"Miyako look out!"

Koushiro's voice was distant as Ikkakumon's horn erupted in fire and smoke. Miyako stopped breathing, her heart stopped beating. The torpedo swam gracefully through the air towards her like a polished-basalt dart, crawling through the air. Why was Holsmon moving so slowly? The rocket had already travelled several feet before Holsmon had even registered the danger. And it was drawing closer, getting faster, and suddenly Miyako's starving lungs took a deep, greedy gulp of air-

Something slammed in to her waist and the world span around her. It wrapped itself around her, and together they fell in a tangle of limbs as they rolled away from the deafening explosion. The ground was still shuddering as Miyako came to a stop several feet away, her head spinning and her stomach churning and her ears ringing as she found her face buried in thick, brown fur. No, not fur; it was hair, she realised, as the owner pushed herself further back, staring at Miyako with large rubicund eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked, quickly scrambling backwards to give Miyako some room. Miyako sat up slowly, her breath coming in short gasps. The girl was watching her closely, large eyes studying Miyako from head to toe until finally Miyako managed to dislodge her voice from where it had stuck behind the lump in her throat.

"F-fine," she stammered. It seemed good enough for her saviour who glanced over her shoulder before jumping lightly to her feet and pulling Miyako up with her.

"Hikari!" Two voices cried out in unison; Hikari ignored Koushiro and turned to Daisuke as he emerged from the trees. Fladramon had joined the fray, lending his fiery fists to the assault, while an oversized housecat darted nimbly around Daisuke's legs, gathering scattered arrows and stuffing them back in to a hastily-discarded quiver. Hikari took off towards the cat who unhooked a strung bow from around its chest and threw it towards Hikari, who snatched it from the air. In a single fluid motion she dropped to her knee and snatched several arrows from the quiver to stab them in to the dirt. She planted one in the bow, pulling it back and following the fight with the tip of the arrow, though she quickly let it drop again.

"It's no use! I can't get a clear shot on the ring, and I risk hurting Ikkakumon if I miss."

Miyako stared back at the digimon, watching as Digmon worried the ground at his feet while Fladramon pummelled his legs and Holsmon swooped and pecked at him from above. Ikkakumon fixed his eyes on Holsmon, but every time he tried to rise up to attack the others kept his paws firmly grounded.

"Wait!" Miyako cried, sprinting towards Daisuke and Hikari. Daisuke's mouth opened in anticipation of what was sure to be some scathing remark, but Miyako quickly cut over him. "We have to call off Digmon and Fladramon. If it's just Holsmon, then Ikkakumon will lift himself up to attack like he did before. That'll give you a clear shot at the Dark Ring." Hikari nodded wordlessly, staring back at the fight.

"And you can take it out, right?" Daisuke asked eagerly. HIkari shook her head, drawing the arrow back again and tucking her fingers against the corner of her mouth.

"No," she answered, "but I should be able to fracture it so the others can destroy it." Daisuke nodded and ran towards the fight. Hikari's eyes widened. "Daisuke, be careful!"

"Fladramon! Hey, over here!"

As Daisuke recited the plan, Miyako watched Hikari with fascination. Crouched on one knee, Hikari held the bow taught, staring down the arrow's shaft with breaths so small that at first Miyako wasn't sure if she was moving at all. As she held her post, ready to strike at a moment's notice, her shoulders shivered and her fingers twitched around the string. The muscles in her back quivered, and a small tremor ran down her extended arm as a bead of sweat rolled down the back of her neck.

The sudden twang of the bow caused Miyako to yelp in surprise. She'd been so focused on Hikari that she hadn't noticed Daisuke beckon Fladramon and Digmon away from the fight. Ikkakumon had risen up on to his hind legs, and Hikari's arrow flew true to its target. With a CRACK the ring began to break, forming a million hairline fractures that spread over the polished surface like electricity. They watched with baited breath as Digmon dove in, setting his menacing drills to the task, while Fladramon sent several Flaming Fists at Ikkakumon's belly. The fire splashed across the fur, and as Ikkakumon clipped Holsmon's wing he began to crash back down to the floor.

Miyako clutched her hands together desperately as Digmon was lost behind Ikkakumon's mammoth paws. Then, after a moment of silence, the Dark Ring shattered, and Ikkakumon was surrounded in a bright light. He shrank down to a fraction of his original size before flopping to the ground, unmoving.