Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Toei Animation does.

A/N: Pro Tip, listen to the Benny Hill Theme on repeat the duration of this chapter. Twice the fun! You'll know where to start lol.

Ch. 29 Run Around

The sliding doors to the balcony were open to allow the fresh breeze to drift through. The smells of grilled takoyaki and fried donuts from the vendor carts wafted up from the streets below. Normally, that would be enough incentive for Tai to gather up any lose change and rush out the door, but the summer heat was making him drowsy. He had already eaten four slices of watermelon so he wasn't hungry. He didn't stir from his starfish sprawl across the couch and eyed the television. He had flicked through the stations without finding anything interesting before sticking it on a nature documentary about honey badgers and pressed the mute button. On screen, the honey badger was busy fighting with a rattlesnake. The badger had been bitten three times but showed no signs of collapsing. It looked halfway decent enough to hold his attention for a few minutes before he took a nap. Still not moving, he patted the couch cushions around him trying to find the remote to un-mute it.

"This is your idea of a day off? Doing nothing?"

Tai turned his head towards the voice to see a round pink head with long floppy ears residing on the coffee table.

Koromon frowned at him with unimpressed red eyes. "This is boring!"

"This is relaxing," Tai corrected. "Sometimes you just need one day to take things easy. It helps reset your mind and body."

Koromon bounded off the coffee table to land squarely on Tai's chest. "Or we could do something fun!"

Tai yanked gently on one of his ears. "Like what?"

"Throw me in the air! I want that!"

"You like that game, don't you?" Tai laughed. "You know, you can probably bounce higher than I can throw you, though."

"Throw me! Throw me! Do it now!" Koromon insisted, his red eyes burning with impatience.

"Alright, calm down," Tai said. Then without even bothering to sit up, he picked Koromon up with both hands and tossed him into the air.

"Higher! Higher!" Koromon cried with each throw.

"Any higher and you'll crash through the ceiling," Tai said, wondering what had gotten into his partner. Usually, Koromon would be whooping with delight right now, but instead, the pink Digimon's toothy mouth was set more into a grimace than a smile. His eyes were closed not in an expression of rapture but one of fright.

"Hey, you doing OK, buddy?" Tai asked worriedly as he caught him on the last throw. He could feel Koromon trembling between his hands and finally moved into a sitting position.

Koromon opened dissatisfied, accusing eyes. "This game isn't fun. Who would ever think that?"

Now Tai was just confused and a tiny bit hurt. "You liked it well enough before," he said. "What's wrong this time?"

"I just wanted to see for myself what it was like, that's all. It was right on top inside the golden box," Koromon said with an odd inflection in his tone, one that didn't fit his naïve, curious In-Training persona. He stared at Tai with half-hooded eyes as if measuring the very worth of him. "He likes when you teach him human games. He likes learning new things. But this is special to him. He believes your bond is strengthened every time you engage this ritual. What a fool."

Tai felt a cool sweat break out across his brow. "Who are you?" he asked, because this Koromon here in front of him was not his Koromon.

"Yes, he is," came a voice as if they had read his mind and suddenly Agumon was at his side beaming happily at them both. "He is now. We're his partners, Tai, and we have to show him what partners do!"

Tai stared at the disgruntled pink head in his lap glaring up at him with scornful eyes and drew in a breath. "BlackWarGr—"

"What are the ones on the bottom?" the Koromon asked Agumon, ignoring Tai completely. "The memories buried in darkness and shoved to the farthest corners of the box? Show me those first before sketching me into this idyllic painting you revere so much."

A shadow fell across Agumon's face. "Those are off-limits."

"Don't partners share everything?" the Koromon scoffed. "First you thrust this bond on me without my consent then refuse to share anything that does not match the half-truths you consistently spout. How can I possibly trust anything you say when you forbid me from knowledge that is rightfully mine now?"

Agumon was silent for awhile as he battled internally with himself. When he finally raised his head, he locked apologetic eyes with Tai. "I'm sorry… he deserves to know… I have to show him."

Tai already knew the memory Agumon spoke of, because it was one he also pushed deep down, too disgusted at himself to look at it: SkullGreymon.

"You don't have to be here for this," Agumon declared, lifting a claw and placing it palm-flat on Tai's forehead. "Go back to sleep, Tai."

Tai opened his mouth to protest, because that wasn't fair, he wasn't that weak, he didn't need his own partner to shield him from his ugly past mistakes—but he was falling, down, down, spiraling madly out of control until…

He was back inside the hachitama.

"Agumon? Agumon!" he called out feeling acutely alone in that moment.

Shadows were oozing down the dome walls like slow-moving tar, condensing together until they had pooled beneath him like a magnificent black cloak.

"Beware the darkness…" Wizardmon's voice floated on the air, whisper-fine and urgent.

"Why did you try to kill Oikawa?" Tai asked, looking around for any sight of him.

There was nothing there. Nothing but the shadows thickening into black claws as they reached for him. He tried to run, but the cloak was like oily quicksand beneath his feet and he found himself sinking fast down into it.

"Enemy," Wizardmon's voice rang out sharply, louder every time he spoke the word. "Enemy. Enemy. Enemy. ENEMY."

"I know he's the enemy now. Wait, Agumon! " Tai cried just before the shadow claws closed their icy grip around his throat.

He couldn't breathe. He was drowning in the shadows' suffocating embrace, being dragged under into an empty black abyss that threatened to devour his name, memories and very existence. He had the faintest, fleeting thought that this was what BlackWarGreymon feared the most before Wizardmon's face hovered inches away from his own.

The Digimon looked like a ghostly afterimage accidentally caught in a photo: translucent and fuzzy around the edges.

"Lost," Wizardmon uttered, staring at him with sorrowful blue eyes. "Lost."

The shadows swarmed up over his head, obscuring his vision and all Tai could feel was the vicious chill of an eternity of nothingness that awaited for him.

oOo

"Hey, wake up. We're almost there."

Tai cracked opened his eyes groggily. Matt was adjusting the scarf around his neck, concern peaking through his blue eyes as looked at his friend.

"You feel OK?"

Blue eyes. Blue eyes. The color blue mattered somehow, but Tai felt too tired and drained to dwell very long on the odd thought.

"Ugh, fine," he yawned, straightening his arms over his head in a stretch. "Did I drool on you?"

The concerned look melted away into a smirk. "No, but you snore. Ridiculously loud. Jun might be interested to know that ahead of time."

"She'll be even more interested in how you know that piece of info, haha—urgh!"

Matt had gotten him in a headlock yet again. He had grown quite skilled at that maneuver.

"Matt, Tai, the station is approaching. Are you both ready?" Izzy's voice floated out from their digivices.

Matt released Tai from his deathgrip. "Almost," he spoke into the digivice. "Gabumon, you all covered?"

Gabumon brought a furred claw up to his head in a salute. "Ready, Matt!"

Tai stared at him. Because Gabumon was wearing a purple rain poncho and floral-patterned kerchief tied around his head to hide his ears and facial features. He hadn't been wearing that earlier. Actually, Tai was pretty certain those items of clothing had not been on hand when they had boarded the train.

"Where'd you get that disguise?" he asked curiously.

Matt shot him a weird look. "We got them at the Lost and Found box when we switched trains last time. The other Digimon have their outfits too. They can't be seen in the open now anymore. It's dangerous for them."

Tai had stopped listening halfway though. "The last time… we switched trains?" he echoed feeling the beginning of unease settling in stomach.

He glanced out the window. The wintry terrain had vanished. In its place lay a sprawling city of skyscrapers and congested traffic. He looked back inside the train car and realized he and Matt were no longer the only occupants. It was nearly packed with people, mostly tired-looking salary men and women heading home after a long shift at work.

"Where are we?" Tai asked trying to figure out how he was missing a good section of time from his memory.

"Shimbashi Station," Matt said frowning at him. "Don't you recognize Tokyo Tower?"

"I…"

"Matt, the doors!" Gabumon cried pointing.

The train had stopped at some point in their conversation, the electric doors sliding back with a whoosh and the car's occupants had began their mad stampede outside. Tai and Matt stepped back into their row of seats to avoid being swept away by the tidal wave of people.

"Put your hood up!" Matt hissed as a few tired stragglers cast sideways glances at them.

Tai yanked the hood of his coat over his bushy hair hoping the people were too weary to care or think too much over whether his face might have seemed familiar to them or not. It was plastered over every news bulletin in Japan by now probably.

Matt donned his sunglasses and squashed TK's floppy hat lower on his head before setting foot in the aisle, Tai and Gabumon following in his wake.

They made it outside and kept walking with heads down, trying to blend in with the main body of the crowd that was trying to exit the terminus. They were halfway up the escalator to the surface when Sora's voice drifted out of their digivices.

"Uh, guys, we have a problem."

"Really?" Matt said. "A new one?"

"Yeah, I really don't think the police or Self Defense Forces appreciated how often the Fuji TV Station gets attacked by monsters every couple of years because now they're being super paranoid about spot-checking," Mimi joined in.

They found out what he meant when they reached the surface and saw the station's exit perimeter being blocked off by a squad of police accompanied by a military-looking official. They were allowing people to leave but not after doing a bag-check, metal detector wipe down and what looked like a facial recognition scan from some strange hand-held device that emitted lasers.

"I knew they were holding out on the public with superior technology," Izzy said, his voice brimming with excitement.

"Yeah, well this isn't exactly the time I would have wished for them to reveal that little detail," Matt said. "Where is everyone?"

"Over here, below the letters," Joe's voice directed.

They looked over and saw their friends beneath the Shimbashi Station sign, evenly spaced out with enough distance between them to look like they weren't together. Their Digimon stayed close to their partners, each one wearing an outfit as ridiculous as Gabumon's. It helped that other teenagers were loitering nearby, clearly disgruntled at the unexpected police checkpoint. A group of leather-clad, chain-belt wearing youths leaned against the brick wall smoking as they cast scowls at the officers on duty, clearly in no hurry to be searched or face-scanned. Matt and Tai passed a group of high-school girls in uniform, band instruments in cases strung across their backs, as they stood in a circle mad-texting, their faces clearly upset.

Oh, that's right, Tai thought in a daze. It's Monday.

It seemed so long ago that they all had made plans for a simple weekend get-together and then faster than they could blink, he winds up getting kidnapped and branded a alien terrorist-sympathizer, stringing his friends along for the joyride. The past twenty-four hours had zipped by in a blur. It was Monday late afternoon and the high school clubs would be letting out at this time.

If he hadn't been so careless, none of this would have happened. They would have gone to school as usual and he could have seen Jun. Now he didn't know how long it would be when he saw her again. They could all have gone living as normal lives as possible for whatever window of time was open.

Yet even as Tai thought this, he knew it wasn't really true. Not with his sister and the younger kids still fighting their own battles. Not with the world clueless and frightened at these monsters invading their homes and lives with no warning or reason.

"You would deny people the right to know that we are not alone, of what extraordinary and magnificent beings Digimon truly are instead of this vicious image of the half-picture people are presented with now? You Digidestined, the saviors of both worlds—such selfish children," Oikawa had sneered at him in disdain.

He knew that if time could be reversed and he was allowed another choice, that he would still have gone to the tv station with Oikawa.

Except maybe he would be smart enough not to underestimate Oikawa's evilness on the villain ratio scale, drop his guard and let himself get shot this time.

Matt and Tai settled under the "shi" part of the lettering, Gabumon between them. Tai had fully prepared a back story of him being their wizened old grandmother if anyone looked too closely because there was no way the Digimon could pass for a child—not with that white fur and floral kerchief anyway.

"I don't suppose you could hack into whatever crazy techno gear they're using to disable that face-scanner thingie, could you, Izzy?" Tai asked into his digivice.

"You know I can," Izzy said sounding slightly offended that his computer skills were being questioned. "But I would need direct access into whatever private server their using and that is not possible unless I can physically open the scanner and hack it manually. I don't think they're just going to hand it over if we ask nicely."

"They don't even need that device really. They could probably just recognize us from our faces on sight," Sora said sourly looking at the giant tv screen on a building across the street.

Tai watched as face as well as the faces of his friends flash across the screen followed by short, fuzzy clips of their presence at last night's attack on the Fuji TV Station. One of the helicopter's skycams had actually caught a shaky angle on BlackWarGreymon carrying him unconscious under his arm. He turned his head away after that, feeling the guilt gnaw at him.

Matt elbowed him in the side. "Quit it… or I'll tell everyone you don't remember anything since after the first train."

Tai jerked his head towards him sharply. How did he—

Matt's eyebrows furrowed behind his sunglasses. "Don't think I wasn't paying attention." His tone implied there would be a follow-up discussion about this at a later time.

"Well, they do think the Digimon are aliens and some of us can shape-shift into humans," Mimi' was saying with a force light-hearted tone. "I bet their scanner thingie is a way to see behind our masks!"

"That's great," Joe sighed. "So, anyone have any bright ideas that include us not getting arrested for conspiring against the government and being hauled off for aggressive interrogations, as well as permanently blemishing our personal records?"

"It's a little late to start worrying about the last one," Sora said.

"Not if we take down ugly-face and expose him it's not!" Mimi chirped.

"I would just like to say that while I'm with you guys one hundred percent, I do miss those days when all we had to worry about was the next upgraded evil Digimon bent on World Domination and not you know, our own government thinking we're the bad guys and throwing us in the slammer for three consecutive life sentences," Joe said, anxiety rising in every word until his voice was nothing but a high-pitched squeak at the end.

"What we need right now is something simple," Izzy murmured deep in thought. "Something to take up the police's attention for just a few minutes for us to slip past. A dist—ahem—diversion, of sorts."

"What, like a riot?" Matt asked, sounding way too eager for Tai's liking. Perhaps he had some pent-up tension he felt like unleashing.

"Nothing violent," Sora said in a disapproving tone.

"Yes, we wouldn't want them to tear-gas everyone which I'm fairly sure they would at this point," Izzy agreed.

Joe bit back a strangled moan at that notion. Tai could see him mentally adding "rebel conspirator forcefully struck down by tear gas at riot" to his imaginary criminal records.

"Mimi, what if I start crying really hard and loud, would that help?" Palmon's voice drifted faintly from the digivice.

"No, why would you even think of that?" Mimi cried.

"But you said you wanted the police's attention."

"Not on us!"

"How about I summon Marching Fishes and make it rain on everyone?" Gomamon supplied his own suggestion.

"No, you would just playing into everyone's fear of another alien attack!" Joe was sounding exhausted by the amount of stress he was under.

"And no one wants slimy wet fishes in their hair!" Mimi added.

"Everyone, just calm down and let me think!" Izzy snapped. "Maybe if I find an access terminal I can hack into the electrical system of this station and cause some power outages…"

"There's an easier way, you know," Sora said, her voice right beside Tai's ear as she had stepped next to him close enough to touch.

"I thought we were practicing social distancing," Tai said.

Sora smiled. It wasn't her usual soft smile of tenderness and encouragement. He had only seen this smile maybe twice in his life. The first time had been when he was seven and had thrown up in her hat. The second time had been in elementary school and the rival soccer team had thrown quips about them being easy to beat because there was a girl on their team. She had smiled this way too both times before she had gotten revenge: lips curved all the way to her ears yet never showing her teeth like she was holding back a burst of laughter and copper eyes shining full of fiendish glee. It sent chills down Tai's spine.

She leaned in closer. Tai caught a faint whiff of strawberries. "I think Matt might be depressed by all his concerts that have been canceled, don't you think?"

Tai caught on quickly. He always did. They had terrorized both their mothers when they were younger by their crazy schemes and play-games they concocted. Somewhere between slightly before the Digital World and middle school Sora had stopped adding to the mix of Tai's brazen ideas and her need to show off her rebellious side. When he had complained about it to his mom she had said Sora was growing up and that Tai needed to also. He thought he had seen the last of this side of his friend. He was wrong.

"All that music cramped up inside him needs an outlet," He nodded. "I heard that if an artist doesn't exert their creative talent for an extended period they can lose their gift."

They shared twin matching grins at each other before turning to Matt who had missed their little exchange. All his focus was on those leather clad thugs like he had hit the jackpot. Tai didn't think he had let the whole riot idea drop completely yet. Well, there was about to be an uproar soon anyway.

"Hey, Matt, you know we love you, right?" Sora said sidling up to him with that devil smile, hands clasped together in front of her in a picture of innocence.

Tai placed a hand on his friend's back. "This is for your own good," he said solemnly. "We can't let your bright career wash down the drain at such a young age."

Matt stiffened under his palm as he turned his shaded gaze back and forth between them realizing Something Was Up. "What is that supposed to m—"

Sora's arm moved so fast he didn't have time to duck. "OMIGAWD, IS THAT MATT ISHIDA?!" she unleashed a piercing scream as she knocked off his hat and sunglasses in one fell swoop.

The band club of high school girls jerked their heads up at the name, their mouths forming little 'o's' of wonder when they caught sight of their idol, blond hair messy and unkempt from his hat and blue eyes widening in horror as he realized the fate that awaited him.

"NO WAY!" Tai shouted. "MY LITTLE SISTER IS YOUR BIGGEST FAN! CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?!"

"Matt Ishida?"

"Matt Ishida?"

"MATT ISHIDA?!"

Matt's name was soon taken up by the crowd (most of the voices primarily female) until it reached a deafening crescendo. He didn't even have time to take two steps back before swarmed by a horde of high school girls from all directions. There was more than one club stranded at the station. Tai and Sora had to scramble a safe distance away in order not to be knocked down and trampled.

Tai watched as the police and military official turned their sights on Matt who was in danger of being torn limb from limb from his admirers as they yanked him back and forth. They glanced down to their datapads then back up several times before seeming to confirm that yes, it was indeed one of their wanted persons of interest before they began barking orders into their communicators and started forward.

They vastly underestimated how great the depths of blind devotion a Teenage Wolf's fan possessed, much less an entire mob of them.

Matt was practically buried under the mass of bodies as his fans attempted to shield him from the police's line of vision.

"Matt, we don't care what they say about you on the news!"

"Whether you're an alien sympathizer or not, we know you have a good reason for it!"

"They claim you're partially responsible for the attack on Fuji TV Station but we know you were trying to stop the Black Beast!"

"They don't understand you're trying to save the world!"

"You're our hero, Matt!"

Yet again, Matt had to go and steal his thunder, except there was no way in hell Tai was going to be jealous over being almost crushed to death by his multiple over-zealous fans' suffocating embraces.

Matt had to surface for air eventually, sputtering red-faced as he did so, clawing wildly at the air as if there were an invisible rope he could grab to lift him away from the madness.

"You do know he's going to kill both of you when gets free," Mimi remarked to Tai and Sora, stifling a laugh.

"Yeah, let's be gone before that," Tai commented, eyeing the blocked off perimeter. The police forces were all converging on Matt, spreading their ranks thin. There were only two policemen standing to the far left behind the guard rails and their gaze was also fixated on the mob of raving fangirls not on the rest of the crowd.

"We're just going to abandon Matt?" Gabumon cried in distress. "They're going to eat him alive at this rate!"

"Oh, he wishes," Tai said. He yelped as Sora pinched him in the shoulder hard enough that he felt it through his coat.

"He'll be fine. His fans won't let anything bad happen to him," Sora told Gabumon.

True enough, the police were having a hard time just moving through the horde of high school girls who were thwarting their every attempt to reach their target by throwing handbags, makeup, and shoes at their heads.

"Leave Matt alone, he's not a criminal!"

"Why don't you go catch those monsters in Tokyo Bay instead?"

"How about doing something useful for once like filling up those potholes in the streets!"

And then, in a sudden selfless act of loyalty, the fangirls released their idol from the tangle-hold of clutching hands to link arms together and form a shield of human bodies in a valiant standoff against the law.

This would have been the ideal time for Matt to take his chance and bolt away from the scene. Except his bruised ego and notorious temper flared up when he caught sight of Tai and Sora a few yards away smiling sheepishly at him.

"YOU!" He shouted, face practically purple from indignation.

Notably, the police took interest in whatever had drawn their target's attention from immediately evading capture. Tai watched as recognition sparked in the police officers' eyes when they narrowed their gazes in on him and his friends.

"Dammit, Matt, too soon!" Tai cursed, turning and making a mad dash over the guard rail, Sora following in quick procession. The moment their feet hit the pavement on the other side, they were off and running, weaving between police cars, and playing tag with the few policemen who had remained at their station.

Biyomon swooped out of the sky like an over-sized pink pigeon when an officer snatched Sora by the arm. "HIYAH!" she shrieked with a heated war cry, head-butting the man in the forehead with her own and knocking him flat on his back.

Gabumon was also in favor of assisting his partner from capture. "Leave Matt alone!" he yelled at one particular officer who had gotten through the mass body of fangirls and now was too close for comfort. The policeman went down hard under a magnificent flying tackle who then found himself to his chagrin, wrestling with what appeared to be a really sturdy, hairy grandmother.

"Kya! He's hurting that old lady!" One of the fangirls screamed.

The crowd began to boo loudly at the police. It started out as a sullen murmur then rose steadily into an angry roar. Multiple flashes went off as people started snapping pictures.

At this point, the group of leather-clad gangsters decided it was best for them to seize this opportunity amidst the chaos to make their own break for it. Soon, the police had their hands full of not only a swarm of protective fangirls but also several youths whooping wildly as they shoved through their ranks, and taking vindictive pleasure at pulling punches at any uniformed officer who tried to stop them. If Matt had wanted a riot, he had gotten one.

There was probably enough mayhem at that moment for the Digidestined to sneak away without too much trouble.

Only Gomamon decided to cast his own net into the troubled waters.

"Marching Fishies!" he screamed, his voice ringing with pure unadulterated glee.

Cries of alarm filled the air as slimy, wriggling, scaled bodies of fish rained down from the sky onto people's heads and began flopping on the ground.

Tai had rarely seen Gomamon use this attack so he wasn't quite sure what to expect, but the fishes that appeared seemed to have some sort of sentience and also shared Gomamon's sense of humor. Their high pitched giggling resounded through the crowd as they swept under the policemen's feet, knocking them and everyone else in close contact off balance and causing a massive domino effect as bodies were quite literally hitting the floor.

"Gomamon!" Joe cried in admonishment, but his partner didn't give him time for a scolding as the remaining fishes formed into a floating raft, carrying both him and Gomamon over the metal guardrails and a safe distance away from the blocked off perimeter.

"Hey, if he gets to use his idea, then so can I!" Palmon huffed, taking a deep breath and opening her mouth. What came out wasn't crying but more what sounded like that time Tai had slammed his locker door shut on Matt's fingers: a punctuated, scratchy yet shrill scream deafening enough to make someone's ears bleed if they listened for too long.

"Palmon, stoooooppp!" Mimi shrieked, covering her own ears. A surprised yelp escaped her mouth as a hand wrapped around her ankle belonging to one downed policeman who was bound and determined not to let hysterical fangirls, rebellious punks, or alien fishes bar him from his duty.

"Mimi!" Palmon yelled, halting her earsplitting caterwaul to wrap her limb-like claws around her partner's arm in an attempt to pull her free.

The officer was stronger than he looked. The result was the upper half of his torso being hauled from the pile of fallen bodies as he refused to let go of his objective's leg and Mimi being yanked back and forth in vicious game of tug-o-war.

"Oh, stop, I'm not a yo-yo!" she cried. "Somebody help!"

Tentomon plopped down beside the officer in a buzz of wings. "Pardon me," he said politely. "But we'll be taking her along with us, even if her voice does sometimes grate on my nerves."

Mimi's sputter of outrage was drowned out by the policeman's pained shout as Tentomon zapped his hand with a small jolt of electricity.

Mimi stumbled sideways a little as she was abruptly released. "Ow, I think you got me too!" she whined rubbing at her ankle.

"Oh, please, that was a simple static shock. Now hurry," Tentomon said, ushering her and Palmon along with shoo-ing motions of his claws.

"Where's Izzy?" Mimi asked as they scrambled over the guardrails.

"I've got it!" an exuberant voice exclaimed. The Digidestined turned their heads to its source to see Izzy standing near the military official who had been part of the point-check allowing people to leave. He waved a small, hand-held device wildly at them. "Guys, I've got their facial scanner!"

The military official, a man in his late forties with salt and pepper hair, glanced down at his empty hands then over at the boy who was standing oh-so nonchalantly next to him with top-secret government technology in his possession and blinked disbelieving eyes behind thick-framed spectacles as if he were trying to process what exactly had just happened.

Izzy turned the scanner over his hands, running his fingertips along its sleek, black exterior. "Prodigious!" he cried, excitement bubbling over. "Some type of titanium alloy for its coating, am I correct? How many gigabytes does this bad boy have in its hard drive? I mean all those faces—so much information to sort through. And the software—I assume it's the same grade as JAXA tech?"

"Well, actually, we use—wait, give that back! That's government property!" the military official roared coming back to his senses and lunging at the boy.

Izzy ducked, but not fast enough. Meaty hands grabbed his backpack and Izzy's feet scraped futilely along the ground as he was dragged backwards.

Blast Izzy and his insatiable curiosity, Tai fumed, stomping forward to the middle of the road and flinging back his hood to reveal his untamable mane of hair that had been his signature to the world at identifying his face.

"Heed the words of Starlord Galaxeo!" He cried. "Release my comrade, human law official!"

The frenzied whispering and gaping stares broke out as soon as people saw his features. The military official was staring too, but he maintained his strong grip on Izzy with one hand like a trained soldier that he was and began mouthing orders into a communicator strapped around his wrist.

"Listen well!" Tai proclaimed, trying to keep his tone as deep and somber as possible. "Like I tried to tell you before, we mean no harm to anybody, but we're on a mission and have a tight schedule to keep and you are hindering us from our goal! You have no idea what dark powers are at play over control of your planet!"

He was hoping one of the Digimon, Tentomon probably, because he had the most sense, would take the hint and use his little performance to sneak over and set Izzy free someway. What he wasn't expecting was for a black hole to suddenly open in the pavement a few feet in front of him emanating an eerie purple in color and a red-hooded figure sprouting curved white horns to begin to slowly rise from within. There were wings too, great ebony leathery wings with red claws on the tips. It was like a scene straight from every horror movie when some idiot tried summoning a demon out of hell.

"Holy shit," he heard Matt swear in awe, and a small part fear, from off to his right side.

"Guys, I swear I'm not doing this, not even a little bit subconsciously!" Tai choked, throwing up his hands in defense.

The aura around the red-hooded figure crashed over everyone in unseen waves of silent, deadly malice. It seemed ironically poetic that the sun chose that exact moment to set—the last rays of sunlight faded, dousing everything in blue hues of twilight. The darkness crept from the black hole, sending out a biting, icy chill of hostility before it. The figure's face was not visible beneath the red hood, but two golden orbs gleamed wickedly within its depths.

Tai shivered at the sight of them, feeling as if all warmth and hope had been sucked out of his very marrow. The air in front of him reverberated heavily with a cold so dense it made everything shimmer and bend like a mirage. Tai saw the threads for a brief instant coiled around the figure—vibrant and crimson, tangled and knotted like a giant ball of yarn, violent and pulsing—before his vision snapped back to normal.

He stumbled backward, the breath in his lungs escaping in one long gasp like the wind had been knocked out of him. The golden orbs had no pupils but Tai felt the intensity of their gaze boring through him. Somehow he knew the figure was aware he had seen the threads for that short moment and their interest was piqued.

Only the head of the horned figure had risen through the portal. Its massive leathery wings were still caught half way. Tai only had the barest fraction of a second to begin to worry over how they were going to fight this thing, when a chain shot up from the pits of the black hole and wrapped itself around the monster. Electricity crackled around the metal links in livid blue sparks as the chain dragged the hooded figure back down into the darkness. The figure didn't fight it or show any sign that the attack caused it any degree of pain. It simply laughed.

It was more an amused chuckle than full-bodied villainous laughter, velvety-soft and dangerous.

"Tell Ichijouji I've come to reclaim what it is mine," the red-hooded monster hummed.

The black hole closed shut as soon as the last tip of his horns sunk into the void and then the pavement appeared clear and unobstructed, like the figure had never existed at all.

A stunned silence lay thick and heavy across Shimbashi Station for several long seconds as everyone tried to process what they had just witnessed.

Tai shook his head, putting the message and its implications to the back of his head until he had time to analyze them. He cleared his throat. "S-See!" his voice cracked half-way through the first syllable as he pointed at the empty space where the monster had disappeared. "That's the kind of stuff we have to deal with practically every day, now can we please move along?"

"It's that alien sympathizer who was on tv!"

"He's in cahoots with the Black Beast!"

"They conspired together the attack on the news station!"

"Now Starlord Galaxeo is summoning demons!"

Unsurprisingly, most of the accusations flung his way were from Matt's voracious horde of fangirls eager to find the most plausible scapegoat to defend their idol's innocence.

"What, no I'm not! No I didn't!" Tai knew he shouldn't be taking things so personally, but this made it twice he had tried to warn the public about a bigger picture than the one they were seeing and they just took everything he said as threat.

Granted, he could admit how conspicuous it looked having the evil Halloween monster pop up right after his short speech as some sort of intimidation tactic on his end, but the fact that they were so willing to jump ship from 'aliens' to 'demons' on labeling Digimon made him despair that anyone wanted the truth at all.

The only good thing to come out this whole debacle was that Izzy had gotten himself free, courtesy via Mimi who had slipped over silently and sprayed the officer in the eyes with a small bottle of perfume. The man let go astonishingly fast screaming something about "culprits have mace!" and groping blindly in front of him, but the two were off and running at that point.

Tai decided to take their initiative and follow in pursuit. He heard the fall of Sora's footsteps close behind him. From his peripheral vision on his right, he saw Gabumon rip off his disguise and use his horn as a battering ram to knock over the metal guardrails allowing Matt and him to escape the blockade. Up ahead near the road's junction, he saw Joe, Gomamon tucked firmly under one arm, flailing his free hand at them in a frantic gesture for them to stop.

The children found out why a second later, when a swarm of cop cars came speeding down the main road, alarms blaring loudly.

There was no going forward, there was no going backward either, with all the police officers they had just evaded captured and pissed off.

"Everybody scatter!" Tai yelled and the group split off down the two side roads.

Tai and Sora followed fast on the heels of Izzy and Mimi down the street to their left. Matt, who was the farthest behind, bolted down the street to the right along with Joe, who had done a mad little tap-dance where he stood as he waited for him to catch up. The brigade of cop cars divided their forces as they pursued the culprits.

The dusky blue of twilight had deepened into the royal purple of evening. The Minato district of Tokyo was too large for the police to set up check points at every public platform. There had been one at Shimbashi Station because it was one of the major entry-ways into the city. The children figured their best chance would be to blend in with the crowds on the sidewalk and escape notice. It was more difficult that they initially thought, considering two of the main factors giving their presence away were a stream of police vehicles chasing them and their Digimon who had to shed their costumes in order to move more agilely. When the people in the crowd weren't stopping to gawk openly at them, they were stepping back to give them a wide berth, which made it extraordinarily easy for the police to keep track of them.

Izzy was only a couple of yards away, still within earshot, but that didn't stop Tai from shouting into his digivice at him.

"You just had to take the facial scanner, didn't you?!"

"I had to! It's important!"

"You can steal top secret government tech later! Let's focus on saving both worlds right now!"

"Says the person who summons actual Satan from the pits of hell!"

"That wasn't me! Why didn't you take out your Digimon Analyzer and scan him while he was there? Oh, that's right, you couldn't! Because your computer was in your backpack that the old geezer snagged a hold of you with. Because you couldn't leave the smart shiny object well enough alone!"

"Boys!" Sora admonished them sharply. "Save your breath!"

"Waaah, for real though!" Mimi huffed and puffed. "I don't think I can run much longer!"

Her stamina was put to the test a moment later when the more police cars sounded in the distance ahead growing louder each ticking second as reinforcements drew closer.

"We need to split up!" Sora cried.

The children found their numbers dwindling again as Izzy and Mimi ducked into an arcade strip filled with shops and Tai and Sora rounded the corner of a business building to their right and raced down the one-way street. Car horns honked angrily at them as they rushed past, impeding traffic, but by the screech of tires behind them, it appeared that they had thrown off the cop cars in any case. Now the police had no choice but to chase them on foot, not that they were going to make that any easier for them.

They ran until they thought it safe enough to walk, zig-zagging across the city, becoming mere shadows in Tokyo's nightlife, sliding between the streetlamps and flickering neon signs. They encountered occasional patrol cars on the look-out, but they kept their heads down and pushed Biyomon behind them out of sight until the danger had passed. Time slipped away from them, the sounds and colors all rolling together in a dizzying blur until they found themselves leaning against the wall in a particularly dark patch of alleyway, resting their aching feet—just where exactly, Tai couldn't say. They hadn't been paying much attention to their surroundings so much as trying to shake off their pursuers.

"Mmm, I've heard of some birds having flat feet, but this is ridiculous!" Biyomon said as she sat back on her feathers, kicking her clawed feet out in front of her.

"Ugh, I think we're lost," Sora sighed wearily as she massaged the calves of her legs.

The faintest fragment of his forgotten dream filtered back into recollection.

"Lost," Wizardmon uttered, staring at him with sorrowful blue eyes. "Lost."

Tai sat down heavily. There had been more in the dream, he knew that. A lot more. But there were gaps in his memory he didn't understand.

"Did you see me when we switched trains last time?" He asked Sora. "Did I seem… off to you?"

Sora seemed too worn-out to be confused by this random question. "I only caught a glimpse of you and Matt from afar. You looked fine. Why?"

"Nothing," Tai said quickly. The last thing he wanted was for her or anyone else to think he was going psycho. He took out his digivice and tried to contact the others. "Izzy, are you there?"

He waited but there was only static on the other end. He tried again. "Matt, are you ok? Joe? Mimi, can anyone hear me?"

Sora tried as well, but received the same response. She frowned. "Maybe it's not working because we're too tired to focus properly. Let's rest for a few minutes."

"I guess. I don't suppose you have a cell phone?"

"Izzy made us leave ours behind at the cabin. Actually, he wanted us to smash them but Mimi protested strongly against that so he backed off. What happened to yours anyway?"

"It got destroyed," Tai said, giving the simple explanation. "Things have been so crazy I didn't have time to replace it."

"At the park where LadyDevimon was," Sora was shrewd. "Where you and Jun were on a date."

"Yeah."

An awkward silence lingered in the air only broken by Biyomon complaining that she was molting from all the stress. Sora laughed and dug around in her pockets. Pulling out a comb, she began to groom the downy soft feathers. Biyomon leaned into the soft strokes with a sigh of contentment, placing her head in her partner's and dozing off.

"I suppose Jun has a different side to her that the rest of us haven't seen yet," Sora said. "I can tell you're happy with her. I saw it in Fujiyoshida City."

Tai recalled Izzy saying something similar when he had guessed about their relationship despite not knowing much about her.

"I can trust you know what you're doing and that you must really like her a great deal if you want to go out with her."

It was a good sign that most if not all of his friends would eventually accept Jun given time. He should have felt happy, but there was tension brewing now full of months of unspoken words and inevitably, Sora was the first to cave.

"So, Matt's Christmas Eve concert…"

"Are we seriously going to talk about this right now?" Tai bit out. "It seems… so irrelevant."

Sora leveled serious copper-brown eyes at him. "That's it, right there. You avoid talking about us. Me and Matt. You talk to us, but you just carefully avoid the subject of us being a couple altogether. Have you noticed? Everybody else has asked us how things are progressing; about when we both knew that the feelings ran mutual; about what are plans are for the future. But you don't ask. Not ever."

Tai felt himself shrink slightly. "Everybody?" Well, so much for thinking how suave he had been at acting like he hadn't cared that his two best friends had traipsed off to LaLaLand and had left him behind.

Sora blew out a breath of exasperation. "The reason Matt wanted all of us to get together this past weekend was partially so you and him would have a chance to talk so he could gauge your feelings on the matter. I think he was afraid we might have accidentally hurt you."

"Hurt me?"

"It's just…" Sora didn't turn her gaze away but pink spots had blossomed in her cheeks. She sounded embarrassed. "I thought you might have wanted to ask me out then. At the concert."

"Oh, that," Tai said, inwardly wincing as he remembered his lame pick up line he had thrown at her in a desperate attempt to allow Jun to escape Matt's rejection with her dignity intact, which had not been successful. "Nah, I was just stalling for time."

The pink flush had spread across Sora's entire face now as she glared at him, seeming slightly offended.

Tai could have let her go on believing that in blissful ignorance. It was a good excuse and it was true to boot. He really hadn't been asking her out at Matt's concert, but she deserved to know the truth.

He leaned his head against the wall as he confessed. "Look, this thing with Jun goes way back and I know it didn't start off entirely healthy. She was only using me at first to get Matt's attention and I only gave her Matt's schedule in the beginning because I thought she would distract him from you. I think I knew even back then. I'd seen all the glances you guys gave each other."

"Wow, that was a petty move," Sora said, her voice dry but her face showed no surprise, like she had suspected all along.

"And the worst part is," Tai said as he realized suddenly. "I'm not sure if I ever really did like you in that way or I was just infatuated with the idea of liking you because it made sense."

Childhood friends: a boy and girl. Both are playmates as young, than when they grow up, of course their feelings run deeper and they end up happily ever after. Why shouldn't it have been Sora? They had first met as preschoolers in a playground: one bushy haired kid who had pulled up the majority of the school's garden before a fierce red-headed girl had bowled him over screeching that he was hurting the flowers. She had calmed down when he told her he was just picking some for their teacher and they had been best friends ever since.

Those feelings of what he thought were jealousy when he first realized Sora might like Matt as more than friends—those feelings of almost resentment that he squashed down when he still saw them together now, what were they then?

"This is going to sound weird," Sora said, selecting her words carefully as she struggled to explain. "I'm not jealous of you and Jun, I'm not. I like Matt a lot. I just… get this really irritated and uncomfortable sensation here," she pressed a hand to her chest, "when I see you two together."

It clicked.

"No, I understand actually…" Tai said nodding. "Like when I see T.K. or Davis hovering too close to Kari and I want to yank them both by their ears and toss them on their butts." He thought about WarGreymon blocking Angewomon away from him with his shield—at how furious his partner was that an interloper had tried to intervene with their bond. "I think it's human nature to be a bit possessive even with friendship." He remembered how Izzy had been surprised to hear that Tai thought of him as best friend alongside Matt. "I don't think anyone, not just us, enjoys our connection to other people being interrupted or altered in any way even when change is unavoidable. Does that make sense?"

"But that feels wrong somehow," Sora said, but she looked relieved that he had put the emotions into words.

"I know. We're so messed up," Tai laughed, his heart feeling lighter.

"We should go on a double date when this is all over."

"Really?"

"Yes, it will be good for everyone." Sora wore a determined expression now. "And maybe it will give Matt more confidence to be more bold in his advances. He hasn't even kissed me yet."

"Okay, TMI, Sora. Now I'm getting triggered flashbacks to when I caught my parents making out on the couch on Christmas morning one time," Tai shuddered. "Seriously, though, not even a peck on the cheek?"

Sora shook her head sadly. "He turns bright red whenever we just hold hands. Whenever I try to initiate something deeper, he makes up excuses and runs away."

"If it helps any, last time we talked, he was trying to write you a song," Tai supplied helpfully. Not a love song, though, a 'I'm-sorry-I-told-you-your-cooking-sucked-please-forgive-me' song, but she didn't need to know that part.

Sora's lips were pressed into a thin line as her eyes flashed in annoyance. "I don't want a song. I want to kiss him so hard he forgets his own name!"

She had hissed the last part so ferociously, Tai felt a bit frightened for Matt whenever he got his act together. He was going to be devoured.

"Maybe we should try the digivices again?" he asked with a weak chuckle, because he honestly did not know what else to say to that.

They both tried but with zero success at contact. They had just decided to head to the address that Yolei had given them and hope everyone else had made it there safe, when Biyomon shot up from Sora's lap, all her bristling feathers on end.

"Someone's coming!" she cried, eyes narrowing as she swiveled her head from the left and the right of the alleyway. "From both sides!"

Tai and Sora stood up quickly, eyeing the stagnant darkness with weary trepidation. There were multiple footfalls on the concrete—the sounds of cans being kicked and chains jingling—as they advanced, until they stepped into the muted glow of the moon that was not blocked out by building walls. They found themselves surrounded by the same leather clad youths that had been stuck at Shimbashi Station.

"What do you want?" Tai demanded, taking a defensive step in front of Sora.

One member of the gang, a young man with locks of stringy black hair shoved under a red beanie and wearing an oversized grey hoodie shuffled forward with a wide grin.

"Nice trick you played back there on the badgecaps with the demon summoning," he cackled.

"I didn—yes, yes, I did. And if you don't leave us alone, I'll do it again!" Tai bluffed, deciding it best to let them think he was solely responsible for having Satan at his beck and call at a moment's notice.

The guy in the beanie only laughed, not seeming terrified in the slightest at the threat. "Someone wants to meet you. We're gonna have you come with us." He made a small gesture with his hand.

They close ranks in on them so fast, Tai didn't even have time to protest he had other plans. He found himself with his arms pinned behind his back in a grip so painful it made his eyes water. Sora gave an alarmed shout somewhere behind and he writhed madly trying to escape, but all that accomplished was his captor shoving him face-first into the brick wall. He felt the sting of the mortar bite into the flesh under his right eye and knew that was going to leave a mark.

"Let go of Sora or you'll get it!" Biyomon's voice shrilled, heavy with anger.

"Don't hurt them, Biyomon!" Sora cried.

"What?!" Biyomon and Tai's voices exclaimed in unison.

"Let's just go along with them for now, alright?" Sora said. He couldn't see her, but she sounded more exasperated than afraid, so she wasn't hurt at least.

The person twisting his arms behind his back pressed closer. He felt hot breath against his ear and the smell of nicotine wash over him. "Smart girl you got there. You gonna listen to her and not give us any trouble?"

Tai gritted his teeth and nodded. He felt his captor back off and ease his grip but did not release him. A cloth was dropped over his eyes and tied around his head. A blindfold, great. He heard Biyomon's startled squawk and knew she wasn't pleased by this either.

"Sora?" he called out.

A body was shoved over into his side and he caught the faint whiff of strawberries.

"Here," Sora said, hands scrambling to clutch at the back of his coat.

"We're gonna take a little stroll now and everybody is gonna be real quiet unless they want to be gagged too, got that?" the guy in beanie told them in a deadly tone that left no room for argument.

They walked. Tai wasn't sure how long or how far. All he was aware of was the constricting grip on his shoulders that guided him forward blindly and the reassuring presence of Sora at his back accompanied by the clickety-clack of Biyomon's talons on the concrete. Tai didn't dare struggle or do anything to call attention to what he knew must look like an odd group to passerby's. He couldn't risk their safety on the off chance anyone would actually help.

When they finally came to halt, Tai found his legs were quivering in exertion. He felt like they walked half of Tokyo and for all he knew, it could be true. The blindfold was ripped away and he blinked at the dim lighting of the park that was their surroundings.

"Brought him, boss, like you wanted," Beanie said, pushing him forward a little. "Him and one of the other ones as a bonus."

Tai gaped at the figure that walked out from the shadows of the trees. He didn't know what he had been expecting but it certainly hadn't been this person in a black and white pin-striped shirt and shaved up-do.

"Saw your interview on tv the other day," Mohawk dude huffed striding forward until he stood in front of him, looking strangely for once, like he was not going to kill him. "I think you might have left a detail or two out."

He thrust his arm outward and Tai instinctively jerked backwards expecting another knife slash flung his way, but all Mohawk held out was the palm of his hand and what lay within it: a digivice glittering innocently under the guttering shine of the streetlamp above.

"Where's your lizard-buddy?" Mohawk asked casting his gaze around. His eyes fell on Sora briefly and slid over to Biyomon. "They come as a set, right? This gizmo and the Digimon?"

The breath caught fast in Tai's throat. "You called them by their name," he said in wonder.

"That's what you called them, right, on tv," Mohawk said impatiently. "That's what Gazi says they're called too."

"Gazi?" Tai echoed.

A spare shadow detached itself from the lampost's silhouette and darted forward, wrapping itself around Mohawk's leg. Tai saw the grey fur and tufted ears and tail and knew before it had even poked its head around.

"Gazimon," he said wryly.

Of course, Mohawk's partner would be a Gazimon.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Sorry, to cut it off there, but it was getting too long and I might as well add on the rest to the next chapter which I really am happy to write. This may surprise you, but I don't like ending the chapters on cliffhangers.

Just FYI, Izzy didn't steal that scanner just for laughs or for a lark. It does have a plot purpose muwhahaha. But that was fun writing it. Before anyone asks, yes, that was Daemon, no, Tai didn't accidentally summon him, but I think Tai's having a perpetually bad case of Murphy's Law these past few chapters, hahahaha! Oh noes, Daemon is in the picture now. Remember, waaaaay back when, I told you all I didn't write him back when he should have appeared bc I was going to use him later. Later is now. And we still have Oikawa and you know who to deal with. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world! P.S. The digivices not connecting are also plot points.

It felt nice to finally have Sora and Tai talk it out. Glad to have that out of the way. You guys will love the next chap btw. I didn't think this one would be so long, bc it was a lot shorter imagining in my head, but these digidorks are just too fun to write! If you didn't read the a/n up top, then really, go put the Benny Hill Theme on repeat and reread. It makes it ten times funnier.

Anyway, if you have a favorite scene you can tell me that in a review if you don't know what else to say. Until, the next update, my lovely readers!