Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon in any form. All characters and Digimon of this story are owned by their respective owners. No copy right infringement intended.

AN: First of all, I need to thank Sightbent for their shout out in their latest chapter of Crossing Worlds 2: Runners Prerogative as well as the help they gave me ironing out some of the problems I was having while I was putting this story together. You really helped me Sightbent. Moving on,thanks for your reviews guys! They really got me motivated. The criticism in some of them is also going to help me stay on track and keep characters in perspective.

In reply to an Anonymous review, I'm not sure if I'll have any of the Seven Great Demon Lords or the Royal Knights make an appearance in this story. As for the little civil war, you may just be right. ^^

Well, moving on, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Since I got such a warm welcome from you all, I wanted to get this out rather quickly. It doesn't take me too long to type up chapters, but college does slow me down a bit. Thankfully, I don't have any early classes in the morning because I was up till 2 A.M. typing this up for you guys. Lol. Leave a review please; they are always appreciated. Well, on with the show.

Making Plans

Kari pushed the door to her relative's place open in a huff. After she walked in, she took a few seconds to catch her breath. The young Digidestined just ran from the park to here without stopping. In hindsight, considering she wasn't as athletic as her brother she was beginning to reconsider her decision, but she supposed getting the digivice she found back to its proper owner was more important. After a few more seconds of breathing, Kari had finally caught her breath. Making her way deeper into the house after taking off her shoes at the entrance, she saw her aunt in the kitchen.

"Auntie," called Kari. Her aunt, a slim older woman with dark brown hair smiled at her as she washed the dishes.

"Yes, dear?"

"Where's Tai? Is he still sleeping?" Kari's brother, Taichi "Tai" Kamiya, was the 19-year-old Digidestined bearing the crest of courage. Tai has a history of being able to sleep through just about anything – well, except Kari's whistle. When they were younger, she always used it to wake him up. These days, she personally didn't think the leader of the Digidestined should be sleeping all the time, but he always kept up with his responsibilities so she couldn't complain.

"No," replied her aunt. Kari raised an inquisitive brow, though her aunt couldn't see it from the kitchen. She couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Her brother, Tai, had actually woken up on his own? She couldn't help but wonder if this was the second coming of Apocalymon.

"Are you making a joke, Auntie?" Her aunt laughed, knowing full well why Kari would think she was kidding. The only time Tai ever used to wake up on his own was in the middle of the night when he needed to use the restroom. Aside from that, it was less likely to happen than Kari thinking digital photos were better than a picture you could hold in your hand or put in a frame, in other words, it was impossible.

"He got up a little while ago. Said something about going to see some new horror movie; just missed him."

Kari sighed. The one time she wished he was actually sleeping and he was out and about. Thanking her aunt, Kari walked past the living room and up the stairs to the room she was staying in for the weekend. Opening the door, Kari walked in and flopped onto her bed. She didn't have a way of really knowing when Tai was going to be back so she decided to just lay down and think.

Kari hadn't had much time to really think about the boy she'd literally run into today since she'd been so preoccupied with his digivice, but she did remember her thoughts after they'd fallen. The teen blushed slightly at the thought. She remembered looking at him and finding him more than just attractive. She didn't like the boy, she knew that. Kari didn't believe in love at first sight, but she could admit she found him very – appealing – to say the least.

She remembered very clearly how handsome he was, his muscular arms, and that deep voice she definitely wouldn't mind hearing again. Her cheeks darkened again, redder this time than the last. Kari turned onto her stomach and buried her face into her pillow, mumbling. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts before turning to her side and staring at her window.

"I think I've been letting Yolei talk about boys with me too much lately," the girl sighed, "I'm starting to think like her…" Having nothing else to think about aside from the boy from the park and his D-Tector, Kari decided to do something her brother would probably call her a hypocrite for later. She closed her eyes and decided to take a nap.

Kari opened her eyes groggily and the first thing she noticed was that she was sitting up. She could hear a familiar tune, some song her brother liked that usually only came on the radio. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she looked around and took notice of the passing scenery to her left. On her right was her brother, Tai, driving.

"Tai?" she asked, her voice sounding tired and soft. Her brother glanced over and flashed a smile.

"Hey, sleepyhead."

"Hey… why am I in the car?"

"When I got back I figured it was time to head back home. I saw you sleeping and decided to let you rest so I packed up your stuff. After loading up the car I carried you to the passenger's seat, got you all buckled in, and hit the road. You must have had some day if you took a nap; too tired to even wake up when I carried you," said her brother, his eyes once again focused on the road.

Kari nodded absentmindedly. She hadn't done much physically today, but her mind had been very active. She'd been so focused on the boy and his digivice…

The boy and his digivice! Thought Kari, the cobwebs that were once clouding her thoughts now swept away by the day's earlier events. Hoping the digivice hadn't been lost while Tai was packing her things into his car, she looked around for her bag. When she didn't see it, she began to worry.

"Tai, where's my bag? It's important!" the girl exclaimed. Tai raised a brow. Kari rarely yelled, so he assumed whatever the bag held really was of some importance.

"It's behind your seat… why…?"

Kari turned back as far as she could, grabbing her bag with a bit of effort, before turning back to the front as she rummaged through it. Finding what she was looking for, she pulled it out and showed it to Tai, thankful that they were at a stoplight because his reaction would have killed them otherwise. Tai saw her holding the "new" model digivice and let go of the wheel in surprise. He didn't even try to look at the road either.

"Is that…" Kari nodded, cutting him off. "How – how did you?" Kari told him of her morning. How she'd gone for a walk through the park, bumping into the boy, watching him run away, and then realizing that the phone she thought he'd dropped was in fact, a digivice. Tai had listened to her story attentively even when the light changed to green and he had to keep driving. His expression grew serious when she was finished. He couldn't believe it. There was another Digidestined so close to Odaiba and none of them had ever known.

"We need to get this to Izzy," he said as he reached into his pocket, grabbed his phone, and tossed it to Kari. "Call everyone. Tell them to be waiting at my apartment by the time we get back. We're having a meeting." Kari nodded; her brother had entered his "leader mode." Picking up his cell, she started to dial numbers and briefly gave herself a mental pat on the back for taking that nap. For some reason she had a feeling that she, and her many other friends, wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

It was evening now; Tai and Kari had just arrived at his apartment and she recognized two of their friend's cars. Unfortunately, the only ones who could make it were Matt, Sora, Mimi, and of course, Izzy. Their other friends seemed to busy. She'd heard from T.K. that he, Yolei, and Davis were busy with a school project (one she'd finished already). Cody was busy with his grandfather, Joe was dealing with schoolwork, and Ken was getting some rest after a particularly tiring soccer practice. Kari knew it would be okay though, they could always get the others briefed on the situation later.

Kari and Tai got out of his car, not bothering to grab what little luggage he'd taken with him. Once their friends saw them Matt, Sora, and Izzy soon came to greet them. Matt had already been out on a date with Sora, so he had only needed to swing by Izzy's place on the way over. As for Mimi, she'd driven here herself. Speaking of Mimi, she'd just gotten out of her car and was walking over to them.

"So, why'd you call us here, Tai?" asked Yamato "Matt" Ishida, "Kind of interrupted my date with Sora." Matt was the bearer of the Crest of friendship. He was 19 and Tai's best friend and rival. Matt used to be a "lone wolf" type of guy, but after his adventures he'd opened up. Much older now than he was his initial trip to the digital world, he had an air of maturity about him that Kari often teased her older brother about not having. She'd say he needed to "grow up" like Matt, something Tai would frequently scowl about.

Matt was a little taller now than his second adventure in the digital world and his hairstyle hadn't changed much. The blonde's eyes were blue and he was wearing a black dress shirt with slacks and dress shoes of matching color. Next to Matt stood his girlfriend of one year, Sora Takenouchi. Sora was the Digidestined bearing the crest of love. She was a 17-year-old red head with eyes matching her hair. Sora's hair was short, but still longer than just a few years ago; it dropped to her shoulders. Much like Matt, she was dressed up, wearing black dress that hugged her figure and heels of the same color.

Sora was always the mother figure of the group; was always there whenever one of them needed some advice or just someone to talk to. Her compassion and empathy always had an impact on whomever she met. The Digidestined of love was also one of the reasons Matt and Tai used to fight back in the day. Both boys liked her and for the longest time she was leaning towards Tai. Eventually the two dated for a couple of months and in this time they realized they had grown too close, thinking of each other more as siblings than lovers. After they broke up she dated Matt and the two have been happy ever since.

"Kari will tell you guys when we get up to our room. We wouldn't be having this meeting if not for her." Matt raised a brow at his friend's reply. He was saying Kari called this meeting in a way. Figuring he'd get his answers soon enough he followed behind Kari and Tai as he led Sora up the stairs, Mimi and Izzy trailing behind them.

Once inside Tai's apartment the six of them settled down, waiting to hear what Kari had to say. Tai was sitting on the floor, leaning against his couch and soon Mimi Tachikawa, joined him. He noted that she was sitting kind of close, but paid no real attention to it. Mimi was the 17-year-old bearer of the crest of Sincerity. She was a "girly-girl" through and through. Much like Sora, she was kind hearted and compassionate, but unlike her friend she did have a bit of a vain streak. She knew she was beautiful and wasn't afraid to flaunt it. She'd lost some of her innocent side as she grew, but was still quite bubbly and even childish at times.

Mimi was a brunette with sparkling auburn eyes and a dazzling smile. Her hair was long, falling to the small of her back. It was flowing and somewhat wavy. She was wearing a blue shirt and a denim skirt along with white boots. Once Mimi was settled into her seat next to Tai, she leaned her head on his shoulder, immediately getting a reaction out of the boy.

"Mimi?" asked Tai as his sister sat on the couch next to him.

"Yes?" replied the brunette, sounding quite content.

"What are you doing?" Mimi glanced up at him in a way Tai found adorable, though he'd never say such a thing out loud.

"I'm tired. Just lend me your shoulder, okay?"

Tai continued to look at her a moment longer, scrutinizing her actions before shrugging it off and looking to Matt, Sora, and Izzy who had made themselves comfortable opposite himself, Mimi, and Kari. A table separated them.

"So," started 16-year-old Koushirou "Izzy" Izumi, bearer of the crest of knowledge, "What's the big news, Kari?" he asked, pulling out his laptop and turning it on just in case the conversation turned out to be something important or if it involved the digital world. Little did he know it would deal with both on a scale he wouldn't believe. Izzy was the brains of the group. He was very tech savvy and often had solutions to their problems. He was a good kid that tended to get too caught up in computer's sometimes, but the Digidestined found themselves thanking the fact he had this trait more than once in their adventures – now if only he could speak in simpler terms sometimes.

Izzy had grown taller than he was when Armageddemon was defeated, but he still wasn't as tall as Tai and Matt. He was a red head with short hair, black eyes, and a pleasant smile. Izzy was wearing a dark green flannel over an orange shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers.

Sora, who'd previously been amused by Mimi's behavior with the ever oblivious Tai, now focused her attention on the younger of the siblings. She was interested in what was so important too. Not only had the meeting interrupted her date, but Kari had never called a meeting before. Ever. Something must have been up.

"Yeah, what's up?" Following Sora's question, Kari dug into her purse before producing Takuya's D-Tector and placing it on the table. Her friend's reactions were instant. Izzy's eyes grew wide as he snapped up the technology, Matt raised a brow, curious. Sora stared at it, somewhat dumbfounded and Mimi lifted her head from Tai's shoulder in shock.

"Is this a new digivice!?" exclaimed Izzy.

"Is that yours Kari? Tai?" asked Sora, wondering if hers or any of the second generation kids' digivices would be going through a similar change anytime soon.

"It's not mine," replied Tai, "and it's not Kari's either." His friends looked at him in confusion. If it wasn't his or Kari's then that meant…

"There's a new Digidestined," said Matt, his voice low. From there Kari proceeded to retell her story about her morning in the park, the boy, and his lost digivice. Sora found the story to be interesting to say the least and while Izzy had been listening, he'd also managed to hook up the D-Tector to his computer. As Izzy tried to figure out the D-Tector in the only way he knew how the conversation continued.

"So there is a new Digidestined," restated Mimi, leaning her head against Tai's shoulder once more. "I never thought one could be so close without us knowing."

"That's because it shouldn't be possible," Izzy interjected, fervently typing on his computer, trying to get into the D-Tector, "I created a program to keep track of the current and any new Digidestined. It's worldwide so there shouldn't have been any holes. I've got every Digidestined in the world cataloged, but not once has there been one in Shibuya. I've never gotten a single digital signal there."

"Digital signal?" asked Kari. Izzy nodded as he took his eyes away from his laptop. He'd finally gotten into the digivice and was waiting for the information on it to download.

"Yes," he stated, "We all have digital signals. It's a signal that takes form between a Digidestined and their partner Digimon. The signal can be traced back to the digivices and from what I know based on some discussions with Gennai, it has something to do with our ability to make our Digimon digivolve at will." Izzy's friends nodded, kind of getting his explanation. Just as Matt was about to speak up again, a high-pitched noise came from Izzy's laptop. They looked at it and watched as all sorts of colors flashed across the screen before Izzy disconnected Takuya's D-Tector. His laptop's screen went black soon after, some smoke coming from the vent.

"What – what just happened?" asked Sora, concerned. Izzy looked surprised and certainly not slightly.

"It… fried my laptop. Whatever is on this digivice was too much for my laptop to handle. This has never happened before." The other Digidestined hadn't thought that could happen. Izzy's laptop had never been unable to handle something before.

"I'm sorry, Izzy," offered Matt, genuine empathy in his voice. Izzy's laptop was his favorite piece of tech after his digivice. He knew how the boy must have been feeling; he certainly never wanted to think about what might happen if his guitar ever broke. It had already happened to him once before.

"It's okay," Izzy replied after a lapse of silence. He was still trying to take in the fact that this new digivice had bested his custom laptop. "I have a back up at home… and all the data on the laptop is safely stored at home too…" he trailed off, looking up at Kari soon after. "Kari, we need to get in contact with that boy."

"You said he has your phone, right?" asked Mimi. Kari nodded.

"Call him up, Tai," Interjected Sora. This new Digidestined was becoming more interesting by the minute. Nodding, Tai pulled his own iPhone from his pocket and dialed up Kari's number. He put it on speaker and after a bit of ringing he received an answer.

"Hello…?" came the boy's voice from the other line.

"Hey," said Tai, "You have my sister's phone…" The other line was nearly silent for a bit. The six Digidestined could hear some soft talking in the background, but nothing of substance before the boy's voice came back.

"Yeah… and you have my – um… video game," replied Takuya weakly. Tai looked to his friends at the boy's lie.

"He's trying to keep what it is a secret," whispered Kari, "it's understandable. He doesn't know we're Digidestined."

"Just go along with it for now, Tai. It's best we don't confront him about it until we're face to face," added Mimi, her voice as soft as Kari's. She figured that if they told the boy they knew about Digimon while over the phone it might scare him off. It would be much more of a problem to get in touch with him if that happened. Tai nodded.

"Yeah… My name is Tai Kamiya, yours?"

"Takuya," replied the warrior of flame, "Takuya Kanbara… so… when do you want to meet up to exchange?" Tai looked to his friends for advice. Matt held up two fingers. Tai understood it to mean two days. Sounded good in his opinion; it would give them plenty of time to fill in the others and to maybe ask Gennai some questions.

"How about two days from now? Meet my sister and I at this park in Odaiba," replied Tai, giving Takuya the directions. Takuya's confirmation came shortly after so with some quick goodbye's they hung up. The six of them sat there in silence once more before Izzy spoke up.

"I'll get in touch with Gennai and ask him about the new Digidestined," said Izzy, asking to use Tai's computer. He'd made sure to install the program allowing him to contact Gennai into everyone's computers. Until now, Izzy never thought he'd need it, but he was certainly happy he'd been prepared.

The red head walked into Tai's room and got to business. It didn't take long for the old man to appear on the screen, but something was off. He seemed flustered.

"Hey, Gennai. I need to ask you some questions," said Izzy.

"I'm sorry, Izzy, but you must contact me later."

"Why? Is something wrong?" inquired the computer genius, now worried.

"I do not yet know," answered Gennai. "I shall contact you if something comes up. For now, I must tend to a guest." With that, Gennai cut the video feed short. Izzy frowned at the old man's words. He hoped nothing was wrong. Getting up, he turned to leave Tai's room. He had to tell them about Gennai's situation.

Gennai frowned after the call with Izzy. He didn't want to end his call with the young Digidestined, but he had a injured Digimon to attend to. The old man walked over to the bed of leaves in his garden that he'd made in haste. Lying on it was a very attractive female Digimon. Laid out on the ground was a slim Digimon with an almost white, golden, armor-like substance covering their face except her mouth. The armor bloomed into a transparent, peach colored crown at the top and pink hair flowed from her head to her butt. Her eyes were of pink color. A green cloth resembling plant life went from her chin to the base of her neck. It stopped there and returned around her breast, keeping them unexposed. The same plant like cloth was on her hips and moved downward keeping her lower body decent.

On the Digimon's shoulders were purple flowers atop black leaves. On her arms from the elbow down was the same armor-like substance that guarded her face in the shape of armguards. Her delicate looking green clothed hands peeking out from beneath the guards. The same substance was also on her legs from the knees down, taking the shape of a bird's talons at the feet. From the base of her neck and from her shoulders fell vines adorned with small purple flowers.

Gennai knew who this Digimon was, but he certainly hadn't expected to see her. Lying before him was Ceresmon Medium. It was rare that the digimon who was known worldwide as one of the famed members of the Olympus XII ever left the sanctuary of her much larger birdlike form, Ceresmon and even if it was commonplace, she shouldn't be here anyway. The Olympus XII went down in history as great heroes, sacrificing themselves in order to seal away the evils of Plutomon and the God Killer, Titamon.

If she was here, it probably meant something gravely wrong had occurred and that the seal may be broken. Only a few hours ago, Gennai had been enjoying a peaceful day, sipping his tea. He hadn't expected for a gravely injured Ceresmon to stumble into his garden. She'd been battered and bruised, her armor riddled with cracks and it had only started to return to its usual unblemished state. She'd only had enough strength to request his help before she collapsed and she hadn't woken up since.

All sorts of questions were running through Gennai's mind now. What had happened to her? How did she find him? More importantly, how did she even know he existed? By the time he was born into the digital world, Ceresmon and her companions were already seen as ancient warriors of legend. There was no way she should know about him. He wanted to know what was going on.

"Ugh…" the feminine groan brought him from his thoughts. Gennai knew now that his questions could soon be answered.

"Ceresmon? Can you speak?" he asked softly. The Olympian Digimon nodded slowly as she made to sit up. Gennai helped her and once she was upright, she offered the old man a smile for his help.

"Thank… you…" she said weakly. Gennai only smiled, honored that he could help such a warrior.

"What happened, Ceresmon…?" asked Gennai. He didn't want to rush her, but he needed to know everything as soon as possible so he could hopefully contact the Digidestined and have them assist in her problem. Ceresmon looked to him, her smile shifting into a frown as she balled her fists in anger.

"Plutomon," she replied. From there she told Gennai a tale that had started thousands of years before the old man's time.

To Be Continued…