T.K. stalked determinedly down the beach beside the Dark Ocean. He'd found Kari's footprints pretty quickly, and he hoped that he'd find Kari herself almost as quickly. Not that he really expected to, of course: these things always ended up being rather complicated.

"T.K., slow down!" Patamon called, hard-pressed to keep up with his partner's rapid pace.

"Yeah," Gatomon panted. "We want to find Kari just as much as you do, T.K., but we won't be any help to her if we're too tired!"

T.K. seemed not to hear, however, and continued on, perhaps speeding up a bit, in fact.

"He's lost it," Gatomon said, pausing for a short conference with Patamon.

"No, he's just afraid he's going to lose Kari," the other Digimon replied. "C'mon, we can't let him get too far ahead!"

T.K., meanwhile, hadn't slowed his stride, and the two Digimon had to run to catch up.

"Hey, what's that?" Patamon said after a long while. At this T.K. finally did pause, and his Digimon assumed his favourite perch on his head.

"What's what?" the blonde boy asked, trying to look up at his partner.

"That!"

"What are you talking about?" Gatomon said skeptically, looking out at the empty expanse of ocean that Patamon indicated. "Don't tell me you've flipped, too. I don't see any—"

With a muffled roar, a blur of white fur and feathers burst from the water with a noise and spray to rival that of a geyser. Rivulets trailing from its glossy wings and wet pelt, it circled around once, then vectored in on the three figures standing together on the beach.

T.K.'s Digivice was instantly in his hand. "Patamon!"

"I'm ready!"

"Wait."

All three froze at the deep, resonant voice.

"I am not here to harm you," the large white Digimon said, landing a short distance away from them and gazing at them with sharp, eagle-like eyes. "In fact, it is my desire to aid you."

"Oh yeah?" Gatomon growled. "And how do we know we can trust you?"

The creature folded its wings in tightly, a nervous habit perhaps, and bowed its head slightly.

"There is nothing that I can say that will make you trust me…but I am not asking for your trust. Indeed, I neither deserve nor desire it, and freely I admit that your safety cannot be ensured if you trust me."

"So what do you want?" the catlike Digimon hissed.

"As I said before, I wish to help you."

"And how do you propose to do that?" T.K. asked carefully, speaking at last.

The white Digimon was silent for a long moment, and when it spoke again its voice contained a great deal more gentleness. "So…you are the one she called for."

T.K. felt a jolt run though him. "Kari." His clear blue eyes searched the winged Digimon's deep golden ones. "You know about Kari."

The proud eagle's head dipped in affirmation.

"Is she alright? Where is she? Can you take me to her?"

"She was hale when I saw her last, though that will not be the case if we delay too long…"

"Where is she?" T.K. demanded again, and the white Digimon hesitated for a moment.

"She is with him now," he said at last in a low voice, dropping his gaze. He looked up meaningfully, as if to say, "You know who I mean."

The blonde boy took a deep, shuddering breath. "Take me to her."

It was not a request.

The white Digimon chuckled slightly and stretched its great feathered wings. "That, child, was my intention all along."

A quarter of an hour later, they were whisking over the flat black face of the Dark Ocean. T.K. and Gatomon, seated on Pegasusmon's broad back, followed after the white Digimon, who had told them his name was Hippogriffonmon. They had been flying for a good length of time now, and at considerable speed; T.K. shivered and clutched at the collar of his vest, wondering just how much farther it was to wherever they were going.

"How much farther is it?" he shouted over at Hippogriffonmon after another five minutes or so had passed.

"Not much. There—" it pointed with one clawed forefoot "—that mountain there. That is our destination."

"I thought you said Kari was with the Undersea Master—that doesn't look like it's 'undersea' to me!"

"She is in the Underwater City--far beneath these dark waters. However," he cut off a question from T.K. and an angry accusation from Gatomon, "there is a way to reach that city through a secret tunnel deep inside that mountain."

"If it's a secret, then how does he know about it?" Pegasusmon said in a low voice.

"If it leads straight to the city, won't this passage be pretty heavily guarded?" T.K. asked as they circled around the craggy mountain's perimeter.

"It would be," Hippogriffonmon agreed, coming to a landing on a narrow rocky shelf that the other three hadn't even noticed was there, "but the Dark Master believes the tunnel to be blocked off, and completely unusable."

"Where exactly does it lead to?"

"A plaza in the verycenter of the city. There is a large, loose stone plate there that will lift easily, and then you will be in."

T.K. slid off Pegasusmon's back, grunting a bit from the stiffness his legs had accumulated from the cold and lack of motion. "Thanks," he said with a bow to the white Digimon, then stepped quickly towards the gaping hole in the almost equally black rock. "Come on, guys," he said, not pausing to wait for their response.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Gatomon said, following close after.

"Right behind you!" Pegasusmon said, plunging into the darkness as well.

Hippogriffonmon hesitated for a moment, then doubled over as if in pain, a strange, gargling noise coming from his throat.

After a moment he straightened up once more, and followed after them as if nothing had happened…

…But something had.

For his eyes were now glowing a bright, vicious red.