==Friday afternoon

Site-2 was government code for the 'fallback' site for many of the operations that Hypnos had formerly handled. At its inception, Hypnos was meant to be a government monitoring station, watching for suspicious communications that might indicate terrorist threats or other such hazards of 20th century life. Later, when digimon had started to appear, Hypnos was converted to find ways to combat this new potential threat.

Reilly reflected on that, marvelling that now it served as a means for a young girl to ask her parents for permission to go save the world.

"No. I absolutely forbid it." Kyle Motomiya said to his daughter. There was no video; the lab back on Hitomi's homeworld had, according to Izzy, suffered a major accident, and was being repaired. No problem, he assured everyone, they had to rebuild and update about 90% of the equipment that had been lost anyway. For now, it was just an audio signal.

"Papa...please...?" Hitomi begged. "The digimon here already took Calumon and Mr. Yamaki-"

"The guy that kidnapped you?" Kyle asked, steel in his voice.

"Yes." Hitomi answered.

There was a scuffle on the other side of the line. "Hitomi?" June, her mother, asked. "Is there no other way? Can't you...bring him here?"

"No. The original Hypnos building was destroyed in our last fight."

More shifting. "Hitomi, if that digital world's anything like ours, then there's going to be at least three more Mega level digimon guarding the place, plus whatever forces they have there."

"Dad? We don't have a choice." Hitomi said quietly.

It sounded like Kyle was about to reply, but he stopped. "You didn't call to ask permission." he finally said.

"No." Hitomi answered quietly.

There was some sniffling from Kyle. "This isn't fair. You're growing up, and I'm not there to see it."

"Papa..." Hitomi started to sob.

Reilly rolled her eyes, then glanced at Talli, who shrugged helplessly.

=====

Digicross Tamers episode 21
'Setting out!'

=====

==Saturday, Matsuki Bakery/Residence

"Uhh...Mom? Dad? Can we talk?" Inside, Takato was shaking. Keeping Guilmon had been a necessity, in Takato's mind. His mother wasn't too keen on pets, forbidding even a goldfish to him. And a big, red, digital dinosaur... He really envied Henry right now; his dad already knew what was happening.

"Takato?" his mom asked, stepping into the kitchen. "What..." she started to say, then stopped. Behind her son was a large red..."MONSTER!" she shouted, back-pedalling.

"Yoshie, what is it?" Takehiro Matsuki called, running in. He stopped short when he saw Guilmon. "Umm...Takato...?"

"Well, mom, dad, this is Guilmon. He's a digimon, and I kinda created him..."

"Honey?" Mie asked weakly.

"Aspirin's in the top shelf, left hand cupboard. Beside the antacids. Maybe bring those too, I think I'm about to need them."

==Kato home

Satoshi Kato fixed Gabumon with a steely glare. Gabumon, drawing on all his experiences facing down dangerous opponents, returned the stare, but without making it look too threatening. Looking up, Satoshi addressed his daughter. "And these digimon...Gabumon's one of them?"

"Yes...I mean no...Gabumon's saved my life a bunch of times, he's not like the other digimon that are attacking the city!"

"Be that as it may, I don't see why I should allow you to do this, Jeri. It's too dangerous for a little girl to go off into a war zone."

"There's no one else that can do this!" Jeri protested. "You're always talking about my duties and responsibilities." she said, angry now. "He," pointing at Gabumon, "is my partner, and this," indicating her D-Arc, "won't work for anyone else." She stepped back, fearing her father might try to snatch it from her. "I didn't want to just leave. I thought you should know what's happening."

Satoshi winced. Jeri had guessed his plan correctly. Okay, he thought, the stern father routine's not going to work, she's too old for that. Maybe reasonable parent..."Jeri, I just...you're 10 years old. And we're talking about fighting monsters in another dimension! What if something happens to you?"

"Nothing will." Gabumon said, voice leaving no room for argument.

Despite himself, Satoshi found himself believing the digimon. He could see the determination in Gabumon's eyes, and could tell that he could back up his promise if necessary. "You really didn't want to just run away?" he asked quietly.

Jeri shook her head. Sniffling, Jeri ran forward, hugging her father.

"Jeri...your mother, your real mother...she'd be proud of you."

==Park

"So." Janyu said, sitting on a park bench beside Henry. "You have to do this?"

"Takato, Rika, and I have the most experience, dad. And Hitomi's actually been to a digital world before."

"But not this one." Janyu countered.

"Yeah, but that's still one more than anyone else here, except for our digimon. Well, not Guilmon, but you know what I mean."

"Hypnos was wrecked, and I'm needed back here to help, Henry. I don't know if I can afford to go with you; we have to find out what's going on down there, and keep trying to find a way to get Hitomi back home, too. And you, if you go through with this."

Henry glanced at Terriermon annoying Houndour, who responded with a small gout of flame. Which got Suzie upset and starting on one of her lectures about 'the proper way a lady should behave.' "I think I'm glad. If both of us went, Suzie would demand to go to. I don't think I could take that."

"I don't think Terriermon could take that." Janyu added, making both of them laugh. Sighing, Janyu glanced at Kotemon. "And, as good as Kotemon is...Maybe it's best if some of us stay behind, in case there's another attack."

"That's what I was thinking." Henry agreed. "You, Alice, even Suzie if necessary..." A pause, then "Have...should I tell mom now, or later?"

"Now, I think. She knows something's up; Houndour's not exactly subtle. And it's better to have the screaming out of the way now, rather than later."

Henry chuckled. "Yeah, torching the evening paper isn't exactly subtle."

==Nonaka house

Rika went over her belongings, wondering which one she should take with her. Cards, definitely. Spare clothing, sure. Swimsuit, yeah right, I hate that stupid thing anyway. Takato's going to bring food, if his parents don't pack him off to another continent, so that should be okay...

"You won't need food." Renamon said. "Digimon don't normally eat, except when we're being sociable."

"We're not digimon." Rika replied. "But thanks."

"You should tell your grandmother." Renamon said, after watching Rika sort items for another minute. "Somehow, I doubt your mother would approve."

Rika stopped packing, and said "I will" in a surprisingly quiet voice.

Curious, Renamon moved closer to her partner. "Rika? What is wrong?"

"Nothing." Rika replied angrily, praying that that wasn't really a tear that was crawling down the side of her face.

Renamon nodded, understanding. She said nothing as Rika stood up and left the room, walking towards her grandmother's room.

Quietly, Rika knocked on the door. "Grandma?"

"Come in, Rika." Yuka said, smiling at her granddaughter. Instantly, she knew something was very, very wrong. "Is everything alright?"

"No." Rika paused, then continued. "Look, you know about that big fight yesterday?" Yuka nodded, already knowing where this was going. "Well, they took Calumon. And that guy that grabbed Hitomi earlier."

"And you're going to go get them." Yuka replied quietly.

Rika nodded. "Me, Takato, Henry, Jeri, and Hitomi."

"When are you leaving?"

Rika, in a very calm voice replied "as soon as we find a digital portal. Hitomi can't use her D-Arc to create one on a computer, but Henry's dad and the others think they can create one to send us there and bring us back."

Yuka smiled a bit. "You've thought this through. When you go there, what will you be doing?"

Rika snorted. "Keeping everyone else alive."

"Especially Hitomi?" Yuka asked, smiling again as she saw Rika blush a little. "I can see you two have grown close."

"I just taught her a few things about the card game, that's all." Rika replied, turning away. Sensing that her grandmother wasn't convinced, she looked back, and added "why don't you just adopt her?"

"I don't think her parents would approve." Yuka replied calmly, still smiling. Rika groaned, giving up. "Rika, didn't you once tell me you wanted a sister?"

"Yeah, just before d..." Rika started to say, then stopped. "Yeah. Once."

Yuka took one of Rika's hands in her own. "Rika, I'm sure everything will be fine. From what Renamon's told me, I know that you'll take care of everyone that's going."

==Next day

"Hello?" Kenta asked, opening the front door of his home. "W...Hitomi?" he gasped. "Uhh...HI!" he said, "ahh...what brings you by?"

Hitomi's face reddened a bit at Kenta's antics. "I, no we need to talk. We were going to yesterday, but then the digimon attacked, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Kenta replied. "So...park?"

"That would be nice." Hitomi replied, wondering how she was going to handle this.

==McCoy apartment

Alice quietly picked up the dishes, and took them back to the sink. She was dressed a bit more conservatively, but it was still all black, and her silver cross was still in position. "And who decided to leave me out?" she asked Henry.

"Alice," Henry said calmly, "look, we can't all go. Dad has to stay behind to get the portal ready for our trip back. And Suzie's just too young to go."

"I've been at this longer than Jeri." Alice said, a bit too sharply. In the adjoining room, Dobermon looked up, but said nothing. "And if you so much as think about saying that you don't want me to get hurt..."

"It's not that." Henry replied.

"If Hitomi were here, she'd say you were lying."

"Well she's not!" Henry retorted angrily. The two stared at each other, Henry's dark eyes meeting Alice's ice-blue ones. Finally, Henry broke off, and turned to leave.

"Wait." Alice said suddenly. Henry stopped, but didn't face her. "Just promise that you won't get killed, alright?"

"Sure." Henry replied, still not facing her. Somehow, Alice knew that the was smiling a bit. "I'll see you later."

==

Kenta had a sense of dread as he and Hitomi walked down the pathway. "So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked slowly. Hitomi looked around, and indicated a park bench that they could sit on. It was fairly early in the day, so there was little chance of being disturbed. It seemed almost too perfect, Kenta thought. Sunny day, birds are singing, she looks like she's got something really serious on her...

Suddenly, it hit him. "Oh, I get it." he said, dejected. "I know I'm not that good looking or anything, but, well..."

Hitomi almost fell over. "No, it's not like that!"

"Hitomi." Kenta sighed. "Look, I'm sorry if I've been creeping you out or anything. It's just that I think you're really special, and...well..."

"Kenta...there's someone.." Hitomi trailed off.

Oddly, Kenta felt a bit better. "Figures." he sighed. Noting Hitomi's confusion, and misreading it completely, he went on. "Well, someone as smart and pretty as you must have like a zillion boyfriends back home. I understand." He made to get up, but Hitomi stopped him.

"Kenta, please. If I'd known, I'd have told you sooner, really."

Kenta smiled a bit. "I believe you." he said. Maybe, he thought, having your heart stomped on isn't so bad.

"You'd like him." Hitomi said. "His name's Hiroki. Hiroki Hida."

Hida and Motomiya? Kenta wondered. "Sure. And you've got a cousin named Kamiya, right?" he asked jokingly.

"Two sisters, unofficially." Hitomi corrected.

Kenta started blinking as he parsed this. "Umm...Is there something you're not telling me?"

Hitomi nodded. "My parents are Kyle and June Motomiya. And my uncle is Davis Motomiya."

==Matsuki bakery

The sign read 'closed due to illness' on the door, resulting in a lot of unhappy shoppers. Still, Takehiro and Yoshie had bigger things on their mind than the day's profits. "We can't let him go." Yoshie declared. "He's still a child, he's my baby!"

"He's our son." Takehiro replied calmly. "Why couldn't it have been magazines? I know how to deal with magazines. Or cigarettes? But no, he had to go and create a digimon and get involved with a war."

"I guess parenting is still full of surprises." Yoshie admitted weakly. "Somehow, I don't think we'll be able to take Guilmon away."

"Not if what he says about creating him is true. Or about how he's already helped save this city several times."

"This isn't the same, Takehiro! He's going to go off with a group of children and fight even more powerful monsters! And he won't even be at home!"

"He won't be alone, Yoshie." Takehiro tried to console his wife.

"No, he'll be with a whole group of kids, a regular field trip!" Yoshie retorted. "He's just a baby! We can't let him do this!"

Takehiro held his wife tightly. "We don't have a choice. And he's not a baby."

"He's my baby! And he always will be?"

"Oh? Tell him that Jeri Kato's around sometime, and see how he reacts."

==

Five minutes later, Takato was called in. "Takato." his father started. "Well, we can tell you're determined to go, so we won't stop you."

"D..Dad?" Takato gasped.

"It's like you said earlier." his mother sniffed. "You're the only ones that can save the world." Finally, she lost control, knelt down, and bear- hugged Takato. "AhHHH! My little baby's going to leave and never come back!"

"Mom, don't be silly." Takato replied. "Of course I'm coming back. We all will, promise."

Takehiro sighed. "Alright then. But you'd better not pull any funny business just because Jeri Kato's going too."

Takato's face went bright red. "DAD!" It had the desired effect of getting Yoshie to laugh, so Takehiro decided that it was worth it.

==

Takeru Motomiya watched as Izzy, Ken, and Yolei all tinkered with various parts of the communicator. "So...anything I can do?" he asked.

Izzy looked up. "Thanks, no. You see, we have to try to repair the system so that we can send a signal from our world to the alternate earth that Hitomi is on. The problem is that we don't have a digital world to send the signal through, and we had to do some very minute adjustments to make sure that he signal was calibrated correctly. We've got audio back, but pictures are a bit harder to handle. Still, another few minutes and we should be able to do something."

"Cool. I wanted to show off Veemon's new evolution, and my spiffy new digivice to Hitomi." He twirled the small black and white sphere around.

"That must have been some adventure." Ken said. "Sounds a bit like the time I met Ryo when I was about your age." He smiled, remembering better times.

Takeru suddenly thought of something (yes, it's possible. -ed). "Hey, Uncle Izzy? Why not build this thing in the Digital World here? Couldn't you use that to send the signal?"

Izzy sighed. "It's not that simple. You see..." Izzy trailed off, lost in thought. Then, he looked right at Takeru. "Takeru...THAT'S BRILLIANT!" Ken and Yolei both looked confused. "Instead of trying to force the system to remodulate the communication beam so we-"

"Izzy!" Yolei ordered. "English!"

"Right." Izzy replied, calming down. "Instead of trying to adapt the communication link to go straight from one world to another, we can use the dimensional instability of the digital world here. If I'm right-"

"It'll be much easier to make a link, and probably easier to make a portal connection!" Ken said, excited. Looking at Takeru, he added "Takeru, you're getting that bike you wanted."

Yolei groaned. Takeru had expensive tastes. It was then that the communicator switched on.

==Site-2

Kenta looked around. "So, you're a secret agent?"

Hitomi smiled. "No. It's my way of talking to everyone at home."

"Hello?" a voice called over the speaker. Kenta blinked. That voice sounded familiar.

"Hi, aunt Yolei. Is mom or dad around?"

The screen by the speaker flickered, and the person Hitomi was speaking to came into view. "Oh, good, it's working. Izzy? Can you get Kyle and June? It's Hitomi again."

Kenta stepped back, stunned. "Yu...yuhh..."

Yolei looked at Kenta. "I don't know, Hitomi. I mean, Hiroki's going to be crushed." Hitomi blushed.

"It's not like that! This is Kenta."

"You're Yolei!" Kenta finally managed to say.

Yolei sighed as Kyle and June came into view. "I can see we're going to need some autograph tables when we get you back."

Half an hour later, Hitomi led Kenta out of Site-2. 'Floating' didn't begin to describe Kenta's state of mind. "Kenta?"

"Wow...Hitomi, I never knew...the digidestined are real. Wait'll I...no, I can't tell anyone, can I?" Hitomi shook her head. "I guess not. Kazu would flip though. Who else knows?"

"The other tamers." Hitomi replied. "And now you, too."

"Thanks." Kenta said quietly. "So, Hiroki's your boyfriend, then?"

"Yes." Hitomi admitted, blushing a bit. "You'd like him. He's a bit like you."

==

Dolphin and Babel watched the two leave. "So, Dolphin...Alice and Henry made it official yet?"

"Funny." Dolphin replied. "If I tried anything like that, Alice'd fry me." he glanced at a readout. "I got something!"

Reilly ran over. "It's a portal. I'll get the others."

==Nami's apartment.

"Thanks." Nami said quietly. "I'll tell her." She hung up the phone. Hitomi had returned about an hour earlier, and was getting ready for dinner.

"Who was it?" Hitomi asked, stepping out of the living room.

"It was the lab." Nami replied. "They found a portal you can use. I guess you'll be leaving soon."

"Do you want me to stay?" Hitomi asked, voice quiet and serious all at once.

Almost furious, Nami shook her head. "No! You have to do this, and...and I don't have the right to stop you..." she sobbed.

"I mean it." Hitomi said, tears starting to fall. "If you want me to...I'll stay here with you." She looked up into Nami's face. "I meant what I said before. If I do have to stay here, I want to stay with you."

"Us too." Eevee said, padding over from the small bed he was pretending to sleep in. Noctowl, resting on the windowsill, cooed lightly, indicating he agreed.

Nami held Hitomi for a few more minutes, both of them crying, then stood up. "No." she finally said. "Takato and Jeri are going...they need someone responsible to take care of them."

"That's Rika's job." Hitomi responded, ignoring an offended 'ahem' from Eevee.

Monday morning

The portal that the Monster Makers had found turned out to be in a place that Takato knew very well. It was the construction area where he had first found Guilmon. "Boy, who knew, huh?" The place where Guilmon had appeared was covered by a small tent, with several armed guards standing around it.

"So all this is your fault, gogglehead?" Rika asked. "Figures."

The last battle had forced the school to close for several days; a stray energy blast had levelled the teacher's lounge. Normally, Kazu would have been celebrating, but...

"YOU'RE GOING TO THE DIGITAL WORLD?" Kazu half-shouted, making Takato flinch. "Oh, sure, you get a digimon, cool evolutions, and now you get to traipse off to the digital world. And you're not letting me?"

"Well, duh." Rika answered, already annoyed. "You don't have a digimon, you've never been in a battle, you've got no useful skills that I can even SEE. Give me one reason we should let you tag along."

"Uhh...Kenta and I can carry stuff!"

"No, Kazu." Kenta said. "Trust me, we're out of our league."

Kazu tried not to look too stunned. Kenta NEVER said no to him. "Hey, our partners might be in there!"

"There are thousands of digimon where we are going." Renamon replied coldly. "The chances of you finding one who would want to be teamed with you are exceedingly slim."

"Kazu, drop it." Henry sighed. Where were Jeri and Hitomi? "We don't know what we'll be getting into down there." And why was Takato's pack so large? "For all we know, it'll be a war zone."

"Besides." Janyu added. "I prepared for this. Kazu, I think you remember your father." Kazu was about to say something as a large hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Good day, sir. Your son was just seeing us off."

"Good. I've been telling the boy he should work on his manners a bit." Kazu's father said.

"Sorry we're late!" Jeri called from across the park. She and Hitomi, followed by Gabumon and Eevee, were running as fast as they could manage. Following at a more sedate pace were Ms. Asaji and both of Jeri's parents.

Takato started to call out to Jeri, then stopped. "Jeri?"

Jeri ran over, smiling. She had switched clothes, swapping her usual skirt for a pair of jeans, a light beige T-shirt, and a sweater. "Hitomi said that dresses don't do so well in the digital world. Especially when there are boys around." Takato blushed, getting a laugh out of everyone else.

"Takato?" Hitomi asked. "What's in your backpack?"

Takehiro spoke up. "Oh, we just made some extra food for Takato and you while you were gone."

Hitomi frowned slightly. "Maybe we should split it up then. I think this pack's about to break."

"Good plan." Henry said. "If we lose one pack, we won't loose everything. And God forbid we should have a hungry Guilmon."

Rumiko Nonaka looked around, still not clear on what was going on. "Rika, do you really have to go? I mean, wouldn't the army be better suited for this?"

Rika sighed. "No, mother. We're the only ones that can do it."

"Well, OK." Rumiko agreed sadly. "But you'd better be careful out there!"

"I will take care of her." Renamon said. Rumiko 'eep'-ed in response. Rika felt a headache coming on.

"Watch yourself, Henry. Don't do anything foolish."

Henry nodded. "Get Calumon, get Yamaki, find Ryo if we can, and get out. As long as you get the return trip worked out."

"Losing Hypnos set us back, but we can manage. Mr. Kamiya had some ideas he wanted to send to us."

Kazu, listening in, looked baffled. "Mr. Kamiya?" he asked.

"Not who you're thinking of." Kenta said. And he was telling the truth, after a fact.

"Jeri." her father said, still glancing at Gabumon. "Come back to us."

Her step mother smiled, holding Jeri's baby brother in her arms. "He's going to miss you."

"I'll miss you both too. And Gabumon won't let anything happen to me. From anyone." Takato coughed, trying to pretend he hadn't heard that. Satoshi gave his daughter one last hug, and stepped away.

"Goodbye." Hitomi said to Ms. Asaji. Both looked ready to cry. Smoothly, Jeri walked over and prevented Rika from making any gagging motions. They hugged each other, then separated, Hitomi walking over to join the other tamers.

"So long." Kenta said, waving. Hitomi smiled and waved back.

"Through here." Dolphin said, opening the tent up. "It showed up just after Hypnos was wrecked. We think it's a weak area between the dimensions. If you can get in anywhere, this should be the place." Everyone stepped in.

"Alice?" Takato gasped. Alice was standing just inside the tent. "Umm...you're going with us?"

"No." Alice replied. "Like you all said, someone has to stay here and make sure you have a home to come back to." Looking at Henry, she added. "Just make sure you come back." Henry nodded, face reddening a bit. A small smile on her lips, Alice left the tent. Wisely, Terriermon said nothing.

"So, now what?" Takato asked, looking at Hitomi.

"Well, it worked at home." she replied, holding her D-Arc up. "Digiport OPEN!" Hitomi's D-Arc glowed, and the portal seemed to ripple slightly.

Janyu glanced at a readout. "It's still not stable enough to go through."

Jeri held up her D-Arc, as did the other tamers. "Digiport OPEN!" they all called. Gradually, a shimmering area started to become visible, eventually solidifying into a purple and black rough circle.

"Always wanted to say that." Jeri said, giggling a bit.

"It's stable." Janyu said. "You'd better get going!" Nodding, everyone stepped in, vanishing as soon as they entered the portal. "We're getting telemetry...they're OK, and on their way."

==Next Episode On their way to the digital world, the Tamers meet Ice Devimon, who wants to make Rika his tamer. And even if the Tamers do manage to survive, they still have the entire Digital World to search, filled with potential enemies. To find out what happens, watch for Digicross Tamers episode 22:
'Obsessed digimon Ice Devimon'

PS: No, I haven't forgotten Kazu and Kenta. Yes, they will get digimon. Just let me write the story, and I'll get to them. I'm looking at you, Ninetales :-p