Koushirou collapsed into the chair by his desk, letting out a large sigh. He had just gotten back from tutoring a younger student for his honor society, and really, he didn't get enough credit for all the work he did. Literally, the red head would have to go over equations at least twelve times until the younger boy finally got them. Koushirou admitted, it frustrated him. However, he knew the boy couldn't really help it. After all, that was why he was asking or help.

Koushirou sunk further down into his chair and felt his eyelids droop. It wasn't even dinner time, and he was already exhausted. Perhaps some homework would keep him awake- and it would be productive. Koushirou sat back up in his chair and took his laptop out of his bag. It was still warm from being used earlier and the device felt familiar in his hands. The boy smirked and placed it on his desk, opening it up. With a single blow, he blew off some dust and food particles before pressing his finger heavily into the power button.

On contact with the 'on' switch, though, Koushirou felt his finger begin to get hot. Instantly, he pulled it away and stuck it in his mouth to try and cool it down. His eyebrows furrowed as he winced in a bit of pain, but Koushirou wasn't one to let technology do that to him.

The boy watched in confusion as his computer continued to turn on. Everything seemed normal. Perhaps he had just gotten shocked. Once the 'login' box popped up, the boy grabbed for his mouse. However, once again, on contact, the boy felt a heavy shock burst through his skin.

"Mmp!" Koushirou exclaimed, once again throwing his finger in his mouth. Why did he keep getting shocked?

Once his hand was cooled down, he reached for the mouse again. However, he moved incredibly slowly. The boy could feel an intense amount of heat rising from the machine, but he had no idea why his laptop was acting in such a strange way. His hand felt fine as he got closer and closer to the mouse, so he couldn't figure out why he was hesitating. Why was he afraid to touch the computer that was so familiar to him? It was probably just overheating anyway an-

"What?" Koushirou stopped thinking after noticing a small purple light coming out from under his finger. It was only a centimeter or so away from the clicker on the mouse. Slowly, the boy raised his hand until he could see underneath it, then he gasped. From his finger to the mouse, there was a giant stream of static electricity. It was colored bright purple, and it kept growing as the boy moved his hand farther away.

Koushirou should have tried to make it go away, but he was too fascinated to do anything but stare. In his hand, he felt nothing- no sting, no burn, no pain. What was going on? The redhead racked his brain until he remembered something: his digivice. It had gone off in class that day and shocked the same hand that was now causing this to happen.

Instantly, with his free arm, the boy grabbed for his digivice and stared at it. The screen was dark and bare, and no matter what he pressed, the device wouldn't light up.

"It's.. broken?" Koushirou muttered to himself, too busy to notice that the stream of electricity had ceased to exist. "Tentomon? Tentomon!"

Without a moment to spare, the boy jumped from his seat and gathered his bag. Something was going on. He had to tell the others. He had to get to Taichi's.

Taichi stared at an empty spot on his bed. Well- a seemingly empty spot. Although it looked empty, a spot on the mattress where it was pushed down said otherwise. Sora was still invisible, and Taichi had tried every possible remedy from the internet to make her come back. The boy scrolled through his phone. The notepad application was still open and filled with messages Taichi and Sora had sent to each other. It would have made everything ten times easier if Sora could at least be heard.

The boy shut his phone and let it hang loosely from his fingers. He was sitting backwards on his computer chair and he placed his head on the back, letting it rest. "You know Sora, you might be stuck like this forever."

A thump on the bed was the only response. One thump was for 'no', two thumps was for 'yes'. They decided it would be easier to create a yes or no system rather than trade Taichi's phone back and forth for simple answers. He sighed, deciding not to respond to the girls answer. The boy had become mentally exhausted from everything they had tried.

"It's useless." Taichi moaned, kicking at the floor to send himself spinning in the chair. The moving air felt good against his burning skin.

As he spun, he didn't notice the lump on his bed disappear. He only noticed Sora had gotten up once he felt a sharp slap against the back of his head. The girl grabbed for Taichi's phone and spelled him a message.

'I'm not staying invisible forever. Fix me!'

The boy read the message through tired eyes. "Why don't we pour some flour on you so at least as you walk home no cars will hit you."

Taichi took another whack to the back of his head.

"Will you stop that?" He exclaimed, wincing and rubbing the spot she'd hit. "I'm breakable you kn-"

The boy was stopped mid sentence. He could see her. All of a sudden, Sora was there. She was back!

Taichi grinned widely. "Sora! Say something!"

"What?" the girl responded, clearly confused. She hovered above him, obviously still not aware she had become visible again.

The boy simply continued to smile, taking in her voice. It rang through his ears with accomplishment, even though he really had done nothing.

Once Sora realized the boy was looking straight into her eyes, she rushed over to the mirror. When she was invisible, Taichi had no idea where her eyes were. He could only look over in her general direction. Now, he knew.

The girl nearly cried when she saw her reflection staring back at her. She reached out and touched the mirror with her palm, gasping with delight as the hand on the other side reached out to touch her. "Taichi! I'm back!"

The boy was about to respond, but he was instantly squished by one of the girl's large hugs. "We did it!"

"Yeah- we- yeah!" Taichi struggled to respond. He gasped for air jokingly once the girl let him go, but what normally would have annoyed the girl now only made her happier.

"I... I have to go home!" She said suddenly, glancing at the clock on his dresser. "My mother must be worried sick! I didn't realize how long I'd stayed here." Her stomach dropped. If her mother questioned her about where she was, what was she going to say? She'd been invisible?

"That's probably a good idea." Taichi said, moving towards his bedroom door. "But hey, if this happens again, please let me know. We should really talk to Gennai or something."

"Gennai?" Sora asked, pausing for only a moment.

"Well yeah." The boy answered. "Anytime something weird like this happens, a digimon always seems to be behind it. We should probably try to contact Gennai tomorrow to see what's going on. But for now, I think we both need some rest."

Normally, Taichi would have been all for figuring out what was happening in the moment, but the heat was getting to him. It had taunted him now for hours since he left school. Like having a fever, it made him feel tired and achy all over. His muscles felt strained, as if he had just done a vicious workout.

Sora nodded as she walked out the boys bedroom door, only now noticing Hikari and Yamato on the couch. She waved to them slowly, not stopping to talk. There was no doubt in her mind that both of them had wondered how Sora was leaving, but had never come in.

Taichi, who had just really noticed who Hikari was with, raised an eyebrow at the two. "What are you doing here?" He asked, facing Yamato.

"I- uh, I..." Yamato stammered, his voice shaky.

Hikari, however, helped him recover. "He's helping me study for science!"

Taichi looked skeptical about the urgency in his sisters voice. "But Yamato's no good at science..."

The blonde plastered an innocent smile onto his face, just hoping Taichi would go away. Hikari stared at him as well, hoping her brother would believe her lie.

'Whatever. We have bigger problems right now."

For the first time, Hikari felt relieved to hear someone's thoughts. However, she still watched just to make sure Taichi was going. Her older brother walked Sora towards the door, the girl moving much quicker than him.

'My mother is going to kill me. I'm so late. I'm so late.'

However, after Sora had walked out the front door, instead of hearing the door shut, they heard Taichi call something out.

"Yamato? Jyou? What are you two doing here. Are you... are you alright? Wait..."

Instantly, Hikari and Yamato- well, Takeru, turned to each other, their eyes wide with fright. Now what were they going to do?

Yamato and Jyou had run the entire way to Taichi's. They were half scared for themselves, and half concerned for everyone else. It took them a few minutes, but eventually, the Yagami's building was in sight.

"Yes!" Jyou gasped, completely out of breath.

The blonde smiled, quickening his pace. "Almost there- wait!" Suddenly, the boy stopped. Jyou ran passed him, clearly not noticing, so the blonde had to grab the back of his shirt to get him to slow down.

"Hey!" Jyou exclaimed, but Yamato put a finger to his mouth, quieting him.

"Look!" He whispered, motioning with only his eyes towards the top of another nearby building where a large digimon stood. It either was the creature from before, or it was one that looked exactly like it.

Jyou followed his gaze and nearly screamed. "Another monster!" He cringed, picking up his pace again.

"Where are you going?" Yamato whispered as loudly as he could after him.

"Taichi's!" Jyou responded. "I'm not fighting another one of them! Oh no!"

The blonde grunted and followed after him. He didn't want to fight another monster either. He needed his friends. He needed Gabumon.

Yamato and Jyou both ran down Taichi's hall once they had gotten into his building. They saw Sora speeding towards them as well, looking clearly worried herself. As they passed each other, Sora turned to look at the blonde for a moment, her mouth gaping. She pointed at him slightly and looked back at Taichi, as if she was going to say something. Yamato had no idea why she was looking at him so confused, but he kept on moving, determined to tell his friend about what happened. Sora appeared to have ignored whatever caused her to be confused, as she kept moving as well. As Sora disappeared down the stairway and Yamato and Jyou finally made it to Taichi's doorstep.

"Taichi!" Yamato gasped, putting his hands on his knees and bending over. It had been clear he'd ran the entire way. Jyou didn't look much better. He leaned up against the wall himself, huffing and puffing.

"Yamato!" Taichi exclaimed, looking from the blonde to the other end of the hallways. "Yamato?"

"Yes.." The blonde responded as he stood up straight, his voice confused. "I'm Yamato."

"But.." Taichi stammered, looking back inside his apartment once again. "You're already here!"

"What?" Yamato asked, pushing the boy aside as he stepped into his house. He walked down the hall, leaving both Jyou and Taichi confused in the doorway. With a few more steps he rounded the corner to the living room and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. On the couch sat Hikari and... and him?

"Who are you?" Yamato shouted to his sitting look-a-like. Although his skin had been freezing, he felt it heating up. A bead of sweat dropped down the side of his face as he stared at the stranger.

Hikari bit her lip as Takeru stood up, placing a hand on his chest. "Yamato... it's me... Takeru..."

'There's not even a use to try and hide this anymore.'

"Takeru?" Yamato responded, his voice shaking as his mind tried to piece together what was going on.

'What the hell is happening?'

'I hope he believes me.'

'I'm so out of shape, I can't believe I ran all the way here!'

'I hope Sora makes it home alright. Wait.. I'm not hot anymore!'

'Can't be Takeru.. running... Sora... This is... lying... strange...NO! HELP!'

"STOP!" Hikari shouted, gripping her head with her hands. She fell back down onto the couch, tears forming in her eyes.

All four of the boys instantly stared at her, quite confused.

"Hikari? What's wrong?" Taichi asked, running towards her. He fell down onto the couch next to her and pulled her head to his chest.

The girl cried into her brother's shirt, still clutching her head. "The voices, the voices. Stop thinking! Just don't think, I can't take it anymore! There's too many of you!"

"What?" Taichi asked, wrapping his arms around the shaking girl. "What voices?"

Hikari attempted to catch her breath before responding, preparing to reveal her secret. "YOUR MIND! I can read your minds! Okay?"

Taichi looked from the girl to Yamato... Takeru.. whoever he was, looking for him to reaffirm what his sister had just said. Takeru nodded in response, but Taichi wasn't even surprised.

"It's okay.." Taichi said, placing a hand on her shoulder and pushing her back so he could look her in the eyes. "Weird things are happening to me too." He forced himself to laugh a bit. "I can somehow spit raging fireballs out of my hands."

The real Yamato looked strangely at his friend, but stepped forward and added to the conversation as well. "I can make ice."

Takeru also responded, looking directly at his brother. "I can shapeshift... I think."

Hikari looked up at the three boys, taking in all their confessions. She wiped tears away from her eyes and smiled a bit, realizing she wasn't the only one who was going through something strange. Before she spoke though, she looked at Jyou. The blue-haired boy instantly put his hands up after realizing everyone was now looking to him.

"No." He said, starting out calmly. "I'm not getting involved in this. I am not some sort of super-human weirdo who can blast things from my hands or morph into animals or whatever you say you can do! I won't buy it!" By the end of his little speech, the boy was shouting. His head faced the ceiling and his eyes were closed. He expected someone to say something to him, but no one did. When he looked back at his friends, they were all still staring at him, waiting for something.

Jyou looked each one of them in the eyes, beginning to hyperventilate. As much as he denied it, he was one of those weirdos. Something was going on with the digidestined and no amount of yelling was going to get him out of it. "Fine." He huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "I can do things with water."

Yamato jumped, suddenly remembering what he had come here to tell everyone. "Okay guys, so we have these weird powers, but there's a bigger issue. Something's after us. I was at my apartment and this monster broke in and tried to kill me!" The boy put his hands in the air and turned to Jyou, lowering his head a little. "And I uh.. I would probably be dead if it weren't for Jyou."

The older boy blushed. He was never really good with compliments. It had been a chance encounter anyways, nothing heroic had really been done. After all, Jyou had originally gone to the boy's apartment to harass him about school, but he wasn't about to admit that. He was just thankful he had been there.

After a moment of silence, Taichi looked from his sister to his other friends. "Hey, the same thing happened to me, too. Sora and I were walking home from school when a monster appeared and attacked us. Sora suddenly turned invisible and managed to get us away, though."

"Invisible?" Jyou asked, his voice skeptical.

"Are you really going to doubt it, water-boy?" Yamato asked, turning to his friend.

Instantly, Jyou lowered his head, refusing to say anything more. His brain was about to explode. Him and all his friend had powers, some weird enemy was out to get them, and no one had any idea what was going on! This was just perfect in his opinion, considering there was another monster lurking on a roof nearby, no doubt waiting for one of them to emerge from the apartment.

"Wait." Jyou said suddenly, running towards the window of the living room. He glanced up at the roof he had looked at before. The monster was no longer there. It was gone. "Yamato! Come here! The monster's not there anymore!"

"What?" The blonde asked, dashing to the window himself. All their friends followed them, pushing each other for a view outside.

"You mean there was a monster watching us before?" Taichi asked, attempting to glance over Jyou's tall shoulder.

"Yeah," he responded, "it was just sitting there... waiting."

"For what?" Takeru asked, still resembling Yamato. His older brother raised a brow at hearing his own voice.

"One of us, no doubt." Jyou concluded, backing away from the window. "Maybe it got tired of sitting there and went away. That'd be nice, right?"

"Maybe..." Taichi mumbled, his attention suddenly being drawn to Hikari once he heard a small gasp escape her lips. "What is it?"

The girl tangled her fingers back in her hair, a look of fear spreading it's way across her face. "Before... when you all were thinking... I picked up on someone else... someone calling for help.."

Taichi opened his mouth to say something, but his jaw remained gaped. His eyes suddenly grew wide and his voice became urgent. "Sora!"

Sora jumped the last couple steps of the stairs before pushing the door open to the outside. The night air hit her hot face and cooled her down, encouraging her to slow her pace to a fast walk. Still worried about getting home late, the girl crossed the parking lot and made it to the sidewalk that ran parallel to the main street. Just a few more minutes and she would be home. Just what was she going to tell her mother? She supposed she could make up some story about Taichi failing a test and needing immediate help. That had happened more than once. She just hoped her mother would believe it.

The streets were bare and empty and a chill went down Sora's spine. The girl was nearly a block away, but still in view of the boy's apartment when a voice behind her caught her attention.

"Chosen child!" It called menacingly.

Instantly, the girl spun around to see who had addressed her. From a tall building behind her, she watched a large man jump and land on the ground with a crash. The sidewalk below him crumbled, leaving a large dent where the creature landed. Instantly recognizing the creature from before, Sora gasped, turning to run. However, with instant speed, the monster jumped over her, landing on the other side.

"Don't even try to run." It growled. "I can read your mind, there's no use trying anything tricky."

Sora may have responded if she was feeling a bit braver, but it was cold and dark, and she was alone. There was only one thing she could do. The girl shut her eyes tight, nearly hurting her head from how tight she squeezed them. "Come on, come on." she muttered, her eyes bursting open to look at her hands. However, once she saw them, her breath was taken from her.

"Trying to turn invisible?" The monster asked, closing the distance between them. "That's right, I know your little game, and it's useless. You can't control it."

Completely disregarding the monster's warning, Sora turned around once again to try another shot at running. However, the monster instantly blocked her way again, this time landing right in front of her. The closeness shocked the girl and caused her to let out a cry.

'No! Help!'

"Scared?" The monster asked, grabbing the girls upper arms with his large hands. In response, the girl wiggled in his grip. A sadistic smile came to the monsters face as he tightened his long fingers around the girls arms and torso. "Good."

Before he could make a move though, a small voice caught his attention.

"Sora!"

Both the girl and the monster looked up towards the Yagami's building to see a boy with a poof of brown hair staring down at them from a balcony. Although he was far away, a look of pure fear could be seen on his face. The boy's eyes were wide and his hands gripped the railing of the edge as if he were about to fall from it.

"Hold on! I'm coming!"

The large creature snarled as he threw Sora to the ground. The boy disappeared back into his apartment as the digimon stepped closer and closer to the girl. "Sure he's coming, but I'll get rid of you right now."

The monster stood directly above the girl and raised a giant fist into the air. Sora felt her entire body freeze as she shut her eyes, expecting to be crushed. However, yet again, before the monster could do anything, another voice was heard- but this time, it was closer.

"Don't touch her!" A figure in the distance screamed. It was holding something in it's left hand and aimed at the monster with it's right. Without warning, a huge shot of purple electricity blew out from the figure and hit Sora's attacker, sending him flying backwards. Taking advantage of the moment, Sora jumped from the ground and ran towards whoever had saved her. Her chest still felt frozen as she attempted to remember how to use her legs. Everything felt numb to her- she felt like she should have just died.

However, the girl stopped in her tracks just as she figured out who the mysterious figure was. It was Koushirou running towards her with a laptop in his hand. He waved with his free one, clearly not seeing what Sora could behind him. Following the boy closely was another monster, completely identical to the one who was slowly picking himself off the ground. The girl covered her mouth and pointed, trying to form words to warn the boy. However, nothing came out of her quivering mouth. She couldn't help the boy notice until he actually made it to her- once he did, Sora grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around.

The monster that was chasing Koushirou now blocked off any escape route in front of them. The other monster- who had managed to close the distance between itself and the two teenagers- now blocked the routes behind them.

"Koushirou.." Sora muttered, feeling herself back up into her friend.

The two were now back to back, each of them staring at their own personal opponent. Koushirou looked over his shoulder at the girl. "This is a... predicament."

"Is that all you have to say about it?" Sora retorted, her heel now backing up against the boys.

There was nowhere left for either of them to go. Koushirou tried desperately to create electricity like he had before, but honestly, he had no idea how he had done it. Nothing was working now. Sora was trying her hardest behind him to turn herself invisible, but she was having no success either.

"Come on.." Sora grumbled, "What's the point of having powers if you can't even use them?"

She felt herself becoming angrier and angrier as the monsters grew closer. She was useless, helpless. She couldn't do anything to help her friend. He had risked his life running at her before, and she could do nothing in return. Sora clenched her fists together as she felt Koushirou's lungs panting up and down through her back. His breathing was heavy and rigid. He was scared. She had to do something... something...

"No!" Sora shouted suddenly, throwing both her fists into the air. She couldn't let those creatures hurt him. She wouldn't!

As if on cue, a large gust came spiraling through the area, knocking both monsters off their feet. They flew away from the two kids and crashed into two buildings on opposite sides of the street. As glass shattered and concrete crumbled, both Sora and Koushirou saw Taichi and company running at them from the apartment building.

"Hey!" Koushirou waved, smiling brightly at them. He had no idea what happened- he was simply happy to still be breathing.

Sora, on the other hand, stared wide-eyed at her fists. Gently, she brought them down from above her head and held them close to her face. Had she just done that? Had she created that gust? She couldn't have.

"You're okay!" Hikari shouted happily, nearly skipping to her spot in front of the two kids.

Taichi, Jyou, and the two Yamatos followed closely behind her. Jyou ran up and placed two hands on Koushirou's shoulders, asking him if he was injured. Taichi ran to Sora and wrapped his arms around her entire body, lifting her into the air. "You're alright!"

"We are..." Koushirou responded, staring past Jyou at the two blonde boys. "Yamato?"

The real Yamato pointed at his brother. "Don't get us confused. That's my brother. I'm the real me. He's shape-shifted or something out of jealousy of my looks."

"Hey!" Takeru retorted. He probably would have said something more, but unfortunately, the two monsters had crawled out of the holes the force of the impact had created in the building.

"You're in for it now!" One of them screeched, raising it's hands in the air.

Instantly, as if they were falling from the sky, five more monsters came down and landed with a thud on the street, encircling the chosen children. Each one looked exactly like the other, with a trench coat and hat seeming to be the uniform. Taichi, Hikari, Jyou, Sora, Koushirou, Yamato, and Takeru all backed up against each other, creating a smaller circle of their own.

"What are we going to do now?" Hikari said under her breath. "We can't fight all of them. We don't even know how to control these powers."

Taichi formed fists with his hands as he stood his ground. He could practically feel the desperate heartbeats of his friends in his own chest. "There's... there's one for each of us."

-surflilu.