The ark was floating through the realm between the real world and the digital world. The tamers were casually chit-chatting as if they were going on a picnic. Takato held Juri's hand throughout the trip, Jian was cautioning Shaochung and the other middle-school tamers about the do's and don'ts to follow. His sister and Mako weren't paying much attention to him and instead asked Ruki about advice on what kind of modify cards to use in different situations. Over the years, Shaochung had grown to admire Ruki as a tamer more than the Ryo, even though she had received her first digi-modificaton card from him... Ruki was of course more than glad to have yet another disciple under her wing, though she would never explicitly show it. And so, while she taught the other two, Jian ended up lecturing Ai, who listened to him with utmost interest. She had developed a small crush on him over the years of coming over to their place and playing with his sister. Hirokazu and Kenta were talking to Ryo, though the latter seemed to be off it. He still kept a smiling face and pretended to listen to the two. His mind lingered on the dark message they had heard. All of their digimon were eating (Guilmon and Monodramon), playing some kind of game (Guardromon, MarineAngemon, Terriermon, Impmon and Culumon) and sitting in silence (Renamon). All was good until a sudden violent jerk tossed them around.

The ark suddenly began a downward spiral causing all of them to spinwithin like they were inside a washing machine. They all screamed until it stopped mid-air. A jet of black ink splatted against the glass and an eye like that of a Parasimon could be seen. It looked at the tamers focusing on someone in the middle and smile formed from within the ink. The tamers and their digimon immediately went into battle mode. However, the ink-like digimon merely laughed and dissipated into a smoky mist.

"What was that all about?" asked Hirokazu.

"I don't know. But we'd better be careful," said Takato, still holding Juri's hand. She squeezed his hand. The ark slowly moved and began to prepare for its landing. Once it landed smoothly, the tamers and their digimon tumbled out one by one. They were now standing on the desert just like when they had come all those years ago when they had ventured to save Culumon. A wave of nostalgia hit them all. It was so good to be here again.

"So, where do we begin our search for the Sovereigns?" asked Juri.

"Good question," said Takato. "Um...uh...I don't suppose we could wander around calling out to them?"

"Sure and they'll definitely answer our call saying 'hey, over here!' right?" said Ruki, sarcastically. "Don't you have any better ideas?"
"Hmmmm...Actually, I think I have a rough idea of their location," started Ryo. All eyes were on him.

"That's the legendary tamer for ya! Will you guide us there, Ryo?" asked Hirokazu, his eyes shining adoringly at his hero.

The older boy scratched the back of his head. "I could be mistaken...It has been many years after all."

"Oh, stop being so humble and just lead us, oh perfect one," said Ruki, giving him a slight knock on the head.

"It's ok even if it's wrong. Although I'm sure it's not since we trust your experience. A lead is still a lead. Please guide us to the Ryo," urged Takato.

The older tamer agreed and began leading the troop towards the west. They walked for days and days, camping at little spots. It was already a week since they arrived yet they hadn't reached their destination. What was more disturbing was the fact that no digimon came to attack them. If any came, it was only to be friendly or to hero-worship Ryo (much to the digimon queen's dismay). This only made the Tamers feel even more unsettled, like the calm before the storm. It was night time again and this time they set up camp near a cave. It was quite a large one though none had seen it in their previous venture, except Ryo.

"How long till we reach the place, Ryo?" asked Hirokazu.

"Hmmmm...From here I would say by tomorrow morning," answered Ryo.

"Great!" said Takato. Jian pulled out his laptop (it was given by Yamaki before they left), pulled in his D-power and immersed himself in analysing the message by comparing them to the various digimon they had fought. Kenta was helping him as well. Curious about what they were upto, Ruki sat next them.
"What are you guys doing?" she asked.

"I'm trying to figure out what those two messages could mean," replied Jian, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"We've been analysing the data of the digimon we know so far to see if any of them have anything to do with time," chimed in Kenta.

"What about Mephismon? He seemed to have that kind of ability when we fought him last time," suggested Ruki.

"I already analyzed him. He does have potential but I don't think he's as powerful as this message seems to suggest." He took off his D-Ark. "This isn't enough. We need data of more digimon."

"Hmmm...How about using Ryo's D-Ark? He was in the digital world longer than us," suggested Ruki. Upon hearing his name, Ryo turned his head in her direction, raising an eyebrow. She ushered him to come over.

"Jian needs your D-Ark," she said. She didn't have to say anything more for he understood. He handed the technician his D-Ark, then plonked himself next to Ruki. They were sitting so close that their arms touched ever so slightly.

"Must you stick so close to me?" asked Ruki, annoyed.
"Oh? But from what I see there is a 30mm gap. So, I'm not exactly sticking to you," retorted Ryo.

"Right..."

Though the two of them continued to chatter and bicker like they usually did, both had a warm feeling coursing inside them. Hirokazu sat next to his best friend and was gloating about how awesome Ryo was to be able to meet so many digimon. Ruki rolled her eyes at this and was about give a snide remark when her eyes fell on the now silent tamer. His facial expression seemed so far off that she couldn't help but wonder what those cerulean eyes were seeing. The little dragon, who and somehow digivolved into Cyberdramon seemed to be agitated but didn't take off after any enemy digimon.

Meanwhile, Takato, Juri and the younger tamers took the opportunity to explore the cave. It wasn't very deep, however, there was a faint florescent light coming from within. As they neared it, they saw many strange inscriptions on the wall.

"What is all this?" asked Juri, as Takato switched on his flashlight.

"It's seems to be in some kind of language," said Shaochung, running her hand over some of the markings.

"I don't recognize this language though. Is it some kind of specially created one?" asked Mako, pulling out his mini telescope to have a better look at the small writings. "I think this must be some kind of digimon language. Hey, Impmon, can you read this?" he asked, looking at the imp-like digimon. The purple-coloured digimon stepped forward and squinted his eyes while staring at the squiggle like writings. He shook his head. "No, I can't. This must be something the humans came up with."

"Hmmm... But I've never seen anything like it," said Juri. "Though, I feel that this place possibly holds some kind of power."

"Culumon can feel some strange energy beyond this wall, culu," stated Culumon.

"Maybe it's some kind of food recipe," added Guilmon causing the others to sweatdrop.

"I don't think so," said Takato. "Is food all you can think about Guilmon?"

"I also think about you, Takato and everyone as well," replied Guilmon. Takato couldn't help but smile at this. "Besides, I can smell something nice from these walls. It's like...like the Guilmon bread you bake!" His tamer couldn't help but shake his head at the analogy.

"But Guilmon's right about the smell," said Culumon. "I can smell a sweet fragrance too, like a some kind of garden."

"You're both not making sense right now," said Mako.

"Wish we had an archaeologist with us. Maybe they can tell us what it is," suggested Juri.

"I don't think they can help us within things about the digital world. But I know someone who does," said Takato. "I'll take a few pictures of these and send them to Yamaki. He and his team will probably be able to figure it out."

"Good thinking, Takato." After sending the Hypnos leader the data, the 3 tamers and their digimon came out. Takato reported all that was inside the cave to the others. "Hmmmm... Interesting," said Jian. "I'll check it out as soon as I've finished analyzing Ryo's D-Ark."

"Why don't you take a break Jian? Or atleast give your laptop one?" suggested Ruki.

Jian smiled and shook his head, before turning his attention back to digi-analyzing. The tamers had a quiet dinner after which Jian and Kenta went to check the caves. By the time they came out, the sky was blue again. Neither Jian nor Kenta had been able to figure out the language so they decided to wait for Yamaki's report. Even though they had travelled a lot, none of the tamers were sleepy, given that this was the digital world. Hence, they set off to find the sovereigns once again.

A/N: Yes, I know this wasn't much. Do let me know how it was. The sovereigns will be in the next chapter