Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

A/N: A new POV!

Following the Footsteps of Destiny

Chapter 33: All In The Name Of Friendship

Nobunari 'Noah' Kido

Odaiba, Japan, Earth

Noah leaned against the wall next to his locker and frowned. Miya and his cousin Ami were suppose to be meeting up with him, but so far they had not bothered to make an appearance. He barely even noticed because he was too busy worrying about his younger cousin.

I wonder what's going on with Dai. He said he would tell me eventually, but I'm not so sure that he will.

He could not help feeling a little bit concerned. After all, Dai was like a little brother to him, and they were very close. Since his cousin was three years younger than him, he felt like it was his responsibility to make sure that Dai stayed safe.

I wish he would tell me what's wrong. What if he's in trouble? How am I suppose to help him when he won't even tell me what's going on? He could be in danger!

"Noah! Over here!"

He looked up and smiled as Miya came towards him. A lot of things had changed in the past twenty-five years, but the best thing that had happened was the fact that they no longer had to wear school uniforms. That's a relief. I can't even stand the thought of being stuck in a sea of green!

"Hey, Miya," he said, watching her closely.

She studied him for a moment and flipped her long raven hair over her shoulder. "I didn't see you at lunch today. Where were you?"

"Oh, Shina needed some help with her physics project," he replied, trying not to smile.

At that moment Shina happened to walk past them, and he waved his hand to get the other girl's attention. "Hey, Shina!"

"Hey, Noah!" Shina replied, winking at him and blowing him a kiss.

Miya's face turned red, and she grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's go find Ami."

She started to drag him down the hallway, and he grinned. Dai definitely knows what he's talking about. I'll have to remember to thank him later!

He gave Miya a hopeful look, and they almost ran into Ami.

"Hey, guys. I was just coming to meet you. Are we ready to go?" Ami asked.

"Yes," Miya said quickly, glancing around the hallway in search of Shina. It was obvious that she was hoping not to catch a glimpse of the other girl's flaming red hair.

So far Dai's plan was working perfectly.

They stepped out into the sunshine and slowly made their way towards the park.

"So, where's Dai today?" he asked, turning to glance at his female cousin.

Ami shrugged. "I don't know, probably off somewhere with his friends."

Noah came to a stop and stared at her in surprise. "Hey, wait! Didn't you mention something about him being grounded earlier?"

Ami frowned, and her face took on a thoughtful look.

"He was grounded, but not anymore. Dai has been able to do whatever he wants, ever since he got back home from his soccer practice a couple of nights ago. Don't you remember? You were at my house when it all happened. For some reason Mom was really worried about him. I think she has forgotten all about the fact that he's suppose to be grounded!"

"That's strange," Noah murmured, feeling a little confused. Aunt Noriko has never once let Dai get off that easily! I wonder why she's so worried about him. Does she think that Dai might be in trouble and that's why she's being a little nicer to him? It looks like I'm not the only one who suspects something. I know Ema's definitely suspicious of Dai!

"What's wrong, Noah?" Miya asked, putting a hand on his arm and giving him a concerned look.

He was about to answer when Ema and her friends came running up to them.

"Have you seen Dai?" his sister asked, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

He raised his eyebrows and smiled in amusement. "Why? Are you spying on him or something? Face it, Ema. You're never going to get him to admit to skipping practice so why don't you give it up already?"

"What's this about Dai?" Ami asked, glancing between the two of them.

"Your brother skipped his soccer practice, I'm sure of it!" Ema replied. "He wasn't on the soccer field when we walked by there, and the others were nowhere to be seen!"

"He could have been heading for the locker room," Taniko reminded her. "Maybe the others decided to go with him and wait outside the door."

"Yeah right!" Ema snorted. "If you expect me to believe that, forget it!"

"Why would Dai skip soccer practice?" Ami asked, looking confused. "He loves soccer!"

"That's what I'd like to know!" Ema shouted.

"Are you saying that my brother lied to my mom and dad?" Miya interrupted, looking surprised. "I thought that was more my style!"

"No kidding!" Taniko muttered.

"Ema, will you leave Dai alone?" Noah said, rolling his eyes. "It's none of your business what he's up to, anyway!"

"Yeah, well I'm making it my business!" she said stubbornly. "Aren't you worried about him?"

"Of course I'm worried about him," he replied, frowning slightly. "But I'm sure he'll tell me what's going on eventually."

"You don't think Dai's in trouble, do you?" Ami asked, looking a little worried. "If he really did skip practice, then something must be wrong."

He put a comforting arm around his cousin and sighed. "I don't know, Ami."

"Well he'd better not be! Nobody messes with my little brother and gets away with it!" she snapped. "Well...except me, of course!"

"Are you sure you guys don't know where Dai is?" Kenzo asked, glancing around the park.

"We saw him in the hallway at school, but somehow he managed to get away from us," Taysuke added.

Miya shook her head. "No. Sorry, but we haven't seen him."

"Well that's just great!" Ema muttered.

"Come on. Why don't we go to the convenience store and see if Yolei will give us something to eat," Noah said, tugging on one of his sister's pigtails.

"Don't count on it!" Miya giggled.

Ema made a face at him and sighed. "Fine, but I'm not giving up on Dai!"

"Ema, you'd better not tell my parents any of this!" Ami warned, giving the younger girl a dirty look.

"I wasn't going to!" Ema shot back.

"Good, because I don't want Dai to think that I told them!"

"Why would Dai think you told them?" Ema snorted. "Obviously he would suspect me considering the fact that you aren't even suppose to know!"

Noah shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and frowned. What's going on with you, Dai?

"We had better get going," Taysuke said softly. "Maybe we'll meet up with them at the store. I'm really worried about Takara."

"You're not the only one," Ami sighed, placing a hand on Taysuke's shoulder. "Thanks for ruining my day, Ema!"

Ema stuck her tongue out at her older cousin and rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, Noah. I'm sure Dai's okay," Miya whispered softly in his ear.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, as they started down the street, and sighed. "I hope you're right."

Miya leaned her head against his shoulder, and he jumped in surprise.

"Dai's a tough kid," she said softly. "He'll be alright."

He smiled slightly and rested his cheek against her raven hair. That's true. He also gives the best advice of anyone I know!

Ami turned around to smile at him and gave him the thumbs-up.

"Maybe Ryoko chopped Dai up into little pieces, and he's hiding the body parts in his basement!" Taniko giggled.

"Don't make fun of Ryoko!" Taysuke shouted, looking upset.

"Tay's right. Ryoko's not that bad," Noah said, shaking his head in amusement. Dai might not like Ryoko, but I do. He's a pretty cool kid. I don't know why my cousin hates him so much.

"The only thing Ryoko's guilty of is being too handsome for his own good!" Ami giggled.

"It sounds like someone has a crush on Ryoko!" Miya said, giving her best friend a sly look.

"Shut up!" Ami mumbled, her face turning pink. "Why would I have a crush on him? He's a year younger than me!"

"My dad's a year younger than my mom," Miya smirked.

"Hey, Ami. If you married Ryoko, he'd end up being Dai's brother-in-law!" Ema giggled.

"I'm sure Dai would be overjoyed at the news!" Noah said dryly.

"In that case maybe I should marry Ryoko!" Ami giggled. "It would be worth it just to see the look on Dai's face!"

The others laughed, but Noah remained silent as they continued down the street.

Wherever you are, Dai, I hope you're okay.

Unfortunately he had a bad feeling that his cousin was in big trouble.

Ryoko Ishida

Server, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World

"Now, which one of you wants to die first?" BlackWidowmon asked.

Gnomemon grinned and twirled one of his knives in the air. "I think their leader should be the first one to go. He has been causing us the most trouble!"

"An excellent idea!" BlackWidowmon replied. "I'd like to see them defeat us without their precious leader!"

"No way!" Ryoko shouted. "I'm not going to let either one of you hurt him!"

"Leave my partner alone!" Embermon shouted, struggling to free himself from BlackWidowmon's webs.

"Go ahead! Just try and stop me!" BlackWidowmon smirked. "Once I finish him off, his D-Coder will be all mine!"

"Oh yeah?" he snapped, reaching out and grabbing Dai's Digivice. "There's only one problem with your little plan. If you want to get your hands on my friend's D-Coder, then you're going to have to catch me first!"

He leaped to his feet and ducked under BlackWidowmon's arm before she even had a chance to blink.

"Ryoko! What are you doing?" Takara shrieked in horror.

"Take care of Dai!" he shouted back, racing for the door.

"Don't just stand there, follow him!" BlackWidowmon snarled, shoving Gnomemon forward.

"Ryoko, get back here!" Alopemon snapped, his eyes filling with sudden fear.

"Crazy human!" Ogremon muttered.

Ryoko barely heard them. He was too busy trying to distract BlackWidowmon and Gnomemon.

I have to get them away from Dai, otherwise they're going to kill him!

He was not about to let that happen. What they really wanted was the D-Coder, and Dai was useless to them without it. Now that I'm carrying two D-Coders, I've suddenly become much more valuable to them. If that isn't enough to get them to follow me, then nothing is!

He just hoped that his plan worked.

Sam Ichijouji

Server, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World

Ryoko disappeared through the door, and Sam felt a stab of fear. He's going to get himself killed! We have to go after him!

"Ryoko!" Mickey cried, scrambling to his feet.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Matty snapped, grabbing his brother's arm to stop him from running off.

"Our cousin! He's in trouble! We have to help him!" Mickey shouted, struggling to pull his arm out of Matty's grip.

"You're not going anywhere!" BlackWidowmon snapped. Gnomemon had gone after Ryoko, but unfortunately BlackWidowmon was still hanging around.

Sam knelt next to Takara and put a hand on her shoulder. "Kara, give me your D-Coder," he murmured.

"Why?" she whispered back, looking frightened.

"Someone needs to stay here with Dai. The rest of us will go after Ryoko. Without your D-Coder, BlackWidowmon will have no use for you, either. Hopefully she'll take the hint and follow us. That will give you a chance to help our digimon free themselves."

"But-"

"It's the only way to help Ryoko," he said softly. "Hopefully our digimon will be able to reach us in time."

Takara's eyes filled with tears, but she finally nodded. "Okay. Be careful," she whispered, gazing down at Dai's pale face.

Dai's head was resting in her lap, and he did not look ready to wake up anytime soon.

"Hey, BlackWidowmon!" he shouted, taking Takara's D-Coder and holding it up. "I've got two of these things on me, and I know you're dying to get your hands on them! Well? Are you going to try to take them from me or are you just going to stand there all day!"

He held up his own D-Coder, to prove that he was carrying two, and she let out a snarl of rage. "Give those to me, right now!"

He turned to look at the twins, and they both nodded.

Thankfully they had both caught on to what he was trying to do, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"If you want them, come and get them!" he shouted, racing for the door with the twins right behind him.

This plan had better work! Otherwise we're all going to end up dead!