Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A/N: I'll probably be updating MBFG next, but first here's another chapter! Please review!

Following the Footsteps of Destiny

Chapter 64: Calling All Digidestined

Davis Motomiya

Odaiba, Japan, Earth

"Davis, will you please get the door?" Noriko shouted from the kitchen. "I have to finish getting breakfast ready, and while you're at it, tell Ami to take Shadow out for his morning walk."

"Why do I have to walk the dumb dog?" Ami complained, stomping into the living room and crossing her arms over her chest.

Davis looked up from the newspaper he had been trying to read and rolled his eyes. "Somebody has to walk the dog, and since Dai's not here-"

"Where is Dai anyway?" Ami interrupted, glancing suspiciously around the room.

Davis studied his daughter's face for a moment and shrugged. "He left for school about fifteen minutes ago."

"You're kidding!" Ami shook her head in disbelief and glanced angrily towards the living room door as if she expected to see Dai standing there with his backpack hanging over his shoulder. "Dai never gets up early for school! Honestly, Dad, I don't know why you and Mom let him have a dog in the first place. He obviously doesn't care about Shadow as much as he says he does. If he did, he wouldn't try to avoid Mom like the plague just because she wants him to take responsibility for his pet! I think he ran out of here so early because he wanted to avoid having to take Shadow for a walk! He should be punished for that kind of behaviour!"

Trust me, Ami. You're not the only one who's surprised!

"I'm sure your mother would agree with you," Davis said dryly. "She never even had a chance to yell at him before he was out the door and gone in a flash!"

"No wonder she's in such a bad mood this morning!" Ami muttered.

Davis got to his feet and gave his daughter a stern look. "Well? What are you waiting for? Shadow already has his leash on, and he's waiting for you in the kitchen. You don't want to disappoint him, do you?"

"Dad! You and Mom are being totally unfair! Shadow isn't even my dog! Why should I have to take him for a walk?" Ami shouted.

"Because I said so!" Davis shot back, nudging his daughter towards the door. "Hurry up, or you're going to be late for school."

"Excuse me, Dad, but I promised Miya I'd meet her at the convenience store this morning. As you can see, I have better things to do with my time than look after Dai's dumb dog. Will you walk Shadow for me?"

Davis smiled slightly and shook his head. "Not a chance. Now get moving. I have to answer the door."

"Fine, but when I get my hands on Dai, I'm going to strangle him!" his daughter snapped.

She sent him one last dirty look before stomping into the kitchen, and he let out a loud sigh.

First Dai, and now Ami. Why do my kids have to act so much like me? Well, Noriko's pretty stubborn, too. Maybe this is all her fault! I never really thought there was anything wrong with my genes. After all, nobody can resist the Motomiya charm for long! Yeah. There's no doubt about it. This is definitely Noriko's fault!

"Davis, are you going to answer the front door, or not?" Noriko shouted.

I rest my case!

Davis quickly pulled open the door, and he raised his eyebrows at the sight of Kari and T.K. standing impatiently on his doorstep.

"What took you so long? We've been standing out here for five minutes!" T.K. said, his sky blue eyes narrowing into a frown.

Davis leaned against the door and smiled at them. "Sorry about that. Ami was in the middle of a big speech about my terrible parenting skills. What are you two doing here this early in the morning?" he asked curiously.

Kari glanced nervously at T.K. and bit her lip. "Davis, we need to talk to you," she said quietly. "We can't stay long because I have to get to work and T.K. has to-"

Davis cut her off with a wave of his hand and stared at them in horror. "Dai," he whispered. "My son. He told me he was going to school just before he rushed out the door this morning. Has something happened to him? Is he alright?"

"He's fine," T.K. said softly. "At least, he was when I saw him a few minutes ago."

Davis stared at the blond in surprise and frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He left our house not that long ago with Mickey and Matty," Kari explained. "I think the three of them are on their way to Ryoko's house."

"You know Dai likes to hang out with his friends before school starts," T.K. added.

Davis smiled at them and nodded. "Dai has always been big on friendship. Unfortunately he has a hard time making it to school before the final bell rings every morning, so he's lucky if he gets five minutes to hang out with Ryoko and the others!"

"Your son definitely knows what friendship is all about," T.K. said softly, giving him a warm smile. "He acts so much like you, and trust me, Davis, that's a good thing. Yolei and Ami might complain about your parenting skills, but I wouldn't listen to them if I were you. I think you make a great dad."

Davis felt his face turn red, and he quickly pulled them both into the house. "Come on. Let's go talk in the living room."

T.K.'s right. Ami and Dai definitely take after me!

"Okay," Kari said quietly, glancing anxiously at T.K.

They look really worried about something. I wonder what's going on. At least Dai's alright. For a moment there, I thought Kari was going to tell me my son had been hurt or worse...

Davis felt a shiver race down his spine, and he followed his friends into the next room. He sat down beside T.K. on the couch and gave the blond a serious look. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly. "Does this have anything to do with my son?"

T.K. blinked in surprise and slowly nodded. "Actually, it does. How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," he said dryly. "Alright. What has Dai done this time?"

"We'll get to that in a moment. First we want to talk about Mickey and Matty," Kari said seriously.

Davis turned to look at her and frowned. "What about them?"

Kari quickly told him about the conversation T.K. had had with Mickey and Matty a couple of nights ago, and when she was finished, he stared at her in shock. "You're kidding me! Rina knows Mickey's and Matty's secret, and she won't tell you what it is?"

"That's right," T.K. said quietly. "I tried to get Mickey and Matty to tell me what was wrong, but they refused to say a single word."

"Davis, we don't know what to do anymore," Kari whispered, her amber eyes sparkling with fear. "We can't punish them unless we know for sure they've done something wrong, and we can't make that decision until we find out what they've been up to for the past week or so."

"I'm scared, Davis," T.K. choked out. "If anything ever happens to them..."

Davis placed a comforting hand on the blond's shoulder and gave his friend a reassuring smile.

I never thought in a million years that T.K. and I would end up becoming this close to each other, but things happen for a reason, and this is one thing I'll always be thankful for. I'll never forget the day we managed to repair our friendship, and I know he feels the exact same way.

It had been one of those moments when you just knew everything was going to turn out okay. The two of them had accidentally ran into each other at the beach, and the rest of the story was history. Both of them had suffered a lot of heartache and sadness, but somehow they had managed to put all of that behind them and move on. Now the two of them were closer than ever, and Davis knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing would ever come between them again.

"I'm really sorry, T.K.," he said softly. "I know how much you love Mickey and Matty, but I really don't see what any of this has to do with Dai."

"Davis, did Dai skip soccer practice last week?" Kari asked, looking extremely uneasy.

Davis felt his heart begin to pound rapidly in his chest, and he slowly shook his head. "Not that I know of. I remember Noriko was worried about him that day, but when he came home from practice, he said he was fine. Why do you ask?"

"I don't think Mickey and Matty are the only ones who have a secret," T.K. replied, his eyebrows narrowing into a frown. "In fact, I think Dai, Sam, Ryoko, and Takara have the same secret Mickey and Matty have, and all six of them are making sure we don't find out what it is."

Kari nodded in agreement and rested her cheek against T.K.'s shoulder. "Cody gave us some very interesting informaton yesterday. He said Kenzo mentioned something to him about Dai skipping soccer practice. Do you know what Kenzo was talking about?"

Davis shook his head and clamped his hands together to keep them from shaking. "No," he said quietly. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Kari smiled sadly at him and leaned over her husband to kiss his cheek. "I know Dai told you he was at soccer practice, but I have a feeling he wasn't being entirely honest with you. Dai's practice took place on the same day Ryoko and Kara were conveniently late for Taysuke's soccer game, and if they had really been at Dai's soccer practice, they would not have been late. Dai's practices never run overtime."

"Matt told us about Kara and Ryoko," T.K. explained. "My niece and nephew told their parents they were late for Tay's soccer game because they got held up at Dai's practice, but I'm finding that explanation very hard to believe. Davis, our children are keeping a very big secret from us, and we have to find out what it is before they end up getting themselves into serious trouble."

Dai lied to me, and he lied to Noriko. How am I going to be able to trust him again after this?

"Kari, will you please tell Noriko to come in here?" he said calmly.

Kari gave him a frightened look and quickly hurried out of the room, her dark hair streaming out behind her.

"Davis, are you alright?" T.K. asked, looking concerned.

No, I'm not alright. I noticed Dai's strange behaviour a while ago, but I never thought it would end up causing so many problems...

Davis gazed into his blond friend's blue eyes and slowly shook his head. "T.K., you'd better call Tai and tell him to spread the news," he said quietly. "I think it's time for a good old-fashioned Digidestined meeting."

Ryoko Ishida

Odaiba, Japan, Earth

"It's too bad we weren't able to go to the Digital World yesterday," Takara said glumly. "Who knows what Vampiramon and her buddies have been up to during the last twenty-four hours!"

"Don't worry, Kara. We'll be in the Digital World as soon as school's over, and then we can start searching for Veemon and the others," Ryoko replied.

He had left his house about twenty minutes ago with Dai and the twins, and the four of them had ended up running into Sam and Takara just before reaching the school grounds. Somehow Dai had managed to wake up early, instead of sleeping in till the last minute, so they had plenty of time to talk before school started for the day.

"Ryoko's right," Sam whispered, glancing anxiously towards the school building. "Vampiramon can't cause too much trouble in the Digiworld without us there. She needs our D-Coders for her plans, remember?"

They were doing their best to keep their voices down because Mrs. Hanari was standing on the school steps. Every so often she would glance suspiciously in their direction, and the frown on her face was making Ryoko nervous.

"That's right. I almost forgot!" Takara said happily.

"Why does she always think I'm up to no good?" Dai muttered, glaring in Mrs. Hanari's direction. "You'd think she could give me the benefit of the doubt at least once in a while!"

"She's worse than your mother!" Matty laughed.

Dai groaned and made a face. "That reminds me. My mom's going to kill me when I get home from school today. I snuck out of the house before she could make me take Shadow for a walk, and I know for a fact that's going to get me into major trouble!"

"It's a good thing we're going to the Digital World before you have to face Noriko!" Takara said dryly.

"No kidding. Let's meet in the computer room after school, okay?"

"Alright, but I have to go home first, so I might be a little late," Ryoko said quietly.

Everyone turned to look at him, and he felt his face heat up.

"Why?" Mickey asked curiously.

Ryoko avoided his cousin's eyes and frowned. "I'm not really sure," he mumbled. "My dad woke me up this morning, and I could tell he was really nervous about something, but when I asked him what was wrong, he just looked at me and said he was fine."

Takara frowned and crossed her arms. "That's weird. Did he say anything else?"

"Well, I told him I was going to be hanging out with you guys after school today, and he said that was fine as long as I promised to come home first. He also said my mother wants to tell me something, but she won't know what to say until this afternoon. What do you think's going on?"

"I have no idea," Takara replied. "Did your mom say anything to you this morning?"

Ryoko avoided her eyes and shook his head. "No. I saw her before I left for school, but she didn't say a single word to me. She looked like she was lost in thought, and her face was really pale. Do you guys think there might be something wrong with her?"

Matty smiled at him and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry, Ryoko. I'm sure Aunt Mimi's fine."

"Maybe she's just having a bad day," Mickey said softly.

"There's no sense in worrying about her until you know for sure what's going on," Takara said reasonably.

Ryoko bit his lip and finally nodded. He could tell his friends were doing their best to cheer him up, but their efforts were not really helping him very much. "Come on," he said quietly. "Let's get to the computer room before our digimon end up sweating to death in our backpacks!"

"Hurry!" DemiEmbermon moaned from Dai's bag.

"Keep your voice down!" Dai whispered back.

They started up the stairs towards the front doors, and Dai gave Mrs. Hanari a brilliant smile. "Good morning, Mrs. Hanari!" he said cheerfully.

Mrs. Hanari glared at the goggle headed leader and crossed her arms. "I suggest you get inside before the bell rings, Daichi, or I might have to stick you in detention. Well, I suppose it wouldn't be a first time, but to do so this early in the week? Your mother would have a fit!" she snapped.

Dai's face turned red, and he stomped into the school without a backwards glance. "She's evil! Pure evil!" the goggle headed leader muttered.

"Dai, you'd better not get into trouble today! The Digital World needs you!" Takara scolded.

"I won't. I promise," Dai replied.

Ryoko barely heard them. He was too busy worrying about his mother. I've never seen her act so weird before, and Dad's obviously worried about her. What does she want to tell me, and why does she have to wait until this afternoon to let me know what's going on? Both of my parents were really quiet this morning, and that doesn't make any sense at all. Usually they're tripping over themselves in an effort to get me to open up to them, and today they barely seemed to notice me at all. Whatever their big secret is, I hope it's good news and not bad news...