Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A/N: Ryoko's partner will be next!

Following the Footsteps of Destiny

Chapter 26: The Mystery Of The Digivices

Masato 'Matty' Takaishi

File Island, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World

"Wait to go, Angelicmon!" Dai shouted, smiling up at the angel digimon.

"Did you see that last attack? It was so beautiful," Takara sighed, hugging herself and gazing up at the sky.

"Have you guys forgotten about Jestermon already?" Matty snapped, getting their attention. "Zombiemon might be gone now, but that evil mega is still hanging around!"

"Matty's right," Angelicmon said seriously, soaring out of the sky and landing gracefully next to him. "We have to be careful."

"No need," Halomon replied, sounding disappointed. "Jestermon's gone. Look."

Matty glanced at the spot where he had last seen Jestermon, and he realized that Halomon was right. "Coward," he muttered. The mega digimon must have realized that there was no way that Zombiemon was going to win the fight. Since they had been distracted by the battle, Jestermon had had the perfect opportunity to slip away without being noticed.

Matty glared at the building in front of him and sighed. He had been looking forward to turning Jestermon into a pile of data after what that digimon had tried to do to his twin.

"Matty, are you okay?" Sam asked softly, putting a hand on his arm.

"No, I'm not okay!" he shouted. "How could we have let Jestermon get away like that?"

Everybody stared at him, and Matty turned away from them.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Dai asked from somewhere behind him. "One Ishida in the group is enough, thank you very much!"

"Yeah, well one of you is too much!" Ryoko shot back, stomping hard on Dai's foot.

Dai let out a yelp and pushed Ryoko to the ground.

Ryoko managed to grab onto Dai's shirt, and the blond took the goggle headed leader down with him.

"You're such a jerk!" Dai shouted, trying to punch Ryoko in the face.

"Yeah, and what does that make you?" Ryoko snapped back, grabbing Dai's wrist to stop the blow from hitting him and shoving the other boy backwards.

Matty had turned just in time to see the fight, and he felt his anger boil over. "What in the Digiworld is wrong with you two?" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "You guys used to share a crib together! When you were little, and your parents went to visit each other, your moms would put you down for a nap in the same playpen or crib. You didn't seem to have a problem with each other then! When are you two finally going to learn how to grow up?"

Ryoko stared silently at him, and Dai's mouth fell open.

"What's wrong, Matty?" Ryoko finally asked.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"Matty, you're not usually in the habit of yelling at people," Sam said softly, his deep blue eyes filled with concern.

"I guess I'm just scared," he whispered, turning away from them again and staring up at the angel statue. "First Ryoko almost got killed and now Mickey. I don't want to lose anyone. I guess I never realized how dangerous this world could be, until now. When I saw Mickey hanging over the edge of that building, it really opened my eyes. This isn't a game. Someone could really get hurt. The fact that I'm fully aware of it now changes everything..."

"You're right," Dai said quietly, coming up beside him. "I know it's scary, but we all made a commitment to save this world, and we can't go back on our word now. The digimon that live here are counting on us."

"But what if someone really does get hurt?" he whispered, avoiding his friend's eyes.

"We'll all protect each other," Takara said softly, giving him a warm hug. "That's what friends and family are for."

Ryoko and Dai looked at each other and quickly looked away again.

"You also have us," Angelicmon added, taking him by the shoulders and smiling into his eyes. "Our job is to protect you humans, the Digidestined. You're our friends, and we will not let anything happen to you."

"I know," he whispered, wrapping his arms around his partner's waist and hugging the angel digimon tightly. "Thank you for saving Mickey. I can't even tell you how much that means to me."

"You don't have to thank me, Matty," Angelicmon murmured. "I wanted to save your brother. If you, your twin, or any of your friends are in trouble, I will be there to make sure that you all stay safe."

"Me, too," Halomon said quietly.

Dragermon turned back to his rookie form and smiled at everyone. "You guys know that I'll never let you down."

"Matty?"

Matty slowly looked up at his twin, and quickly looked away again. "What?" he mumbled.

Mickey put a hand on his arm and smiled at him. "Our parents have always told us to do our best to look out for each other and for Rina, as well. Family and friends are important. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, our sister, or any of our friends either."

"And I'll do the same," he whispered, gazing into his twin's eyes which were filled with determination.

"I know," Mickey whispered back.

"I can't even tell you how frightened I was to see you so close to losing your life," he said quietly, his eyes filling with sudden tears.

Life just wouldn't be the same without Mickey. I would be losing my brother and my best friend. Without Mickey in my life, I'd always feel as if there was something missing...

"You don't have to tell me," Mickey said softly. "I would have felt the same way if it had been you."

"Mickey..." Matty bit his lip and avoided his twin's eyes again.

"It's okay," Mickey whispered. "I know."

"Thanks," he whispered back, giving his brother a brief hug.

"Cheer up, Matty," Halomon said, leaping into his arms and cuddling against his chest. "Angelicmon saved Mickey. You should be happy."

"Right. Sorry about that!" he laughed, tickling Halomon's ears and smiling fondly at his twin's digimon.

Halomon beamed back at him, and Matty was surprised at how much better he felt.

"Halomon has a point," Angelicmon said, giving one of the little rookie's ears a gentle tug.

Halomon twisted around to gaze at Angelicmon with awe and excitement. "I can't wait to digivolve," the smaller digimon said softly. "I hope I get to be just like you."

"You'll digivolve soon enough," Angelicmon laughed. "When you do, I know you'll have a great champion form."

"Thanks!" Halomon said happily.

"I wonder if I'll ever get used to having you for a partner," Matty murmured, glancing shyly at Angelicmon and reaching out to stroke one of his partner's wings.

Angelicmon held him close and gently placed a hand on the back of his head. "You will," the angel whispered.

"Hey, Matty? I'm really sorry that Jestermon got away. Angelicmon's last attack distracted me. I only looked away for maybe a minute, but I guess that was enough," Dai said quietly, holding out a hand to Ryoko and pulling the blond to his feet.

Matty had to smile. That was one of the best things about his goggle headed friend. Dai was always taking responsibility for things even when he did not have to.

"It's not your fault, Dai," he said, putting a hand on his friend's arm. "The rest of us could have done a better job of watching Jestermon, too."

"Oh, Dai," Takara said softly, reaching out to give the goggle headed leader a rather shy hug. "You always feel like you have to protect everyone."

Dai turned bright red and shrugged.

"I wouldn't say everyone," Ryoko mumbled, his blue eyes growing cloudy.

"Hey, I would protect you, too!" Dai shouted, looking offended. "In fact, I already have! Embermon digivolved because of you, didn't he?"

Ryoko's sapphire gaze sparkled with sudden emotion, and the blond's face turned a milky white.

Dai finally seemed to realize what he had said because the goggle headed leader clapped a hand over his mouth in horror.

Ryoko did not reply, but Matty saw a small smile slip across his cousin's face before disappearing again.

"Look, guys. I think that we should be focusing on what we're going to do next," Sam said, waving a hand in the air to get their attention.

"I agree," Andromon said seriously. "First this Vampiramon Jestermon mentioned, and now Jestermon himself. There must be a group of them working for this master that Jestermon spoke of. It's becoming more and more important that you find the rest of your digimon partners."

"So that means we have to go to Server and Text," Sam replied, frowning slightly. "You didn't get a chance to answer my question earlier. How exactly do we get to these places?"

"The same way you arrived here on File Island. The gates will take you anywhere you want to go. You just have to trust them."

"Hey, Andromon? Do you know what a D-Coder is?" Dai asked.

Andromon shook his head. "I'm afraid that you will have to discover that on your own."

"Either that or we have to find Gennai real quick!" Embermon muttered.

"Did you know that Gennai was captured by Vampiramon and the others?" Sam asked Andromon. "Leomon has gone to look for him."

"Now I do," Andromon sighed.

"There's no need for Gennai. I think I already know what they are," Mickey said quietly, startling everyone.

Matty turned to stare at his twin in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure that the D-Coders are actually our Digivices," Mickey replied, his face turning serious.

Matty's mouth fell open in shock. "You're kidding!"

Mickey slowly shook his head. "While we were battling Zombiemon, Jestermon couldn't keep his eyes off of our Digivices. Then, when he captured me, he stole my Digivice, and he basically announced that he had gotten what he came for. He kept going on about how happy his master was going to be. I'm sure of it, guys. Our Digivices are the D-Coders."

"D-Coder Digivices," Sam said thoughtfully, scratching his head. "I wonder why they are so important. They must do something special. Why else would a bunch of evil digimon want them so badly?"

"Good point," Ryoko replied, nodding in agreement. "Vampiramon and her buddies aren't trying to steal our D-Coders to stop us from digivolving. They must know that if we're really in trouble we can digivolve without them, although it would be much more difficult. There must be something else..."

"Well, we are just going to have to find out what that something is before the bad guys do manage to steal the D-Coders from us," Dai said.

"The name must be important, too," Takara muttered. "D-Coders. I'll have to think about that one for a while."

"In the meantime, I guess we should get going before our parents start to worry," Mickey said.

Matty nodded in agreement and turned to smile at his digimon who had turned back into Celestimon.

"Of course, your parents," Andromon said softly. "A human girl once saved me here in this city many years ago. It holds many memories for me. She freed me from the Digimon Emperor's control, and for that I will always be grateful to her."

"Who or what is the Digimon Emperor?" Sam asked curiously.

Andromon smiled sadly and placed a hand on Sam's shoulder. "One day you will find out, Sam Ichijouji. When you do, I hope that you will be able to understand why he did what he did. It is a sad story, and I hope that you will not take it too much to heart. It does not change who you are, my friend. In fact, if it hadn't happened, you would not even be here. Remember that when you are forced to hear things that you do not want to hear. Sometimes life can be very cruel, but I know that you'll have the strength to overcome any obstacles that stand in your way."

Sam stared silently at Andromon, looking confused. The raven haired Digidestined did not appear to know what Andromon was talking about, but he seemed uneasy as if he had just received a warning of some kind.

Matty felt the same way. Andromon's tone had definitely been a warning about bad things that were still to come.

"Let me guess, you're not going to tell us about that human girl who saved you," Mickey said with a smile.

Andromon shook his head, and Matty groaned.

"That's what I thought!" Mickey laughed. "Come on, guys. We had better head for the gate."

"Find your digimon partners as soon as possible," Andromon reminded them. "They are strong, and they will be able to protect you from digimon like Jestermon. That is why I focused mainly on protecting you humans. Your digimon stood a better chance of defeating Zombiemon than I did. Unfortunately I did not do a very good job of keeping you all safe."

"Don't blame yourself for what happened," Mickey said softly. "You did what you could. Thanks for your help."

"You're welcome and good luck, Digidestined," Andromon replied. "As for me, I'm going to go join up with Leomon."

"Thanks. Hey, Embermon? Do you think you have enough energy to digivolve again?" Dai asked.

"I think so. Here it goes! Embermon digivolve to, Dragermon!"

They all got onto Dragermon's back and flew off towards the gate.