Hello people! Sorry for not updating in such a long time, but I have been really busy with some other stories that I started. Luckily this story will end soon so I can take a break and began working on the sequel. Another story will end soon which means that the sequel will come out faster. Anyways, thanks to digi-writer1392, Megmo8214, TrialAndError1192812, and The Nightopian Princess for reviewing. Please review, the sooner you review the sooner I update and the more reviews I receive the more I write. Also, please visit my profile and vote on which story I should write next from the list of possible story ideas. Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter Seventeen

Kouji and Rei went back to where the others were and after a while they all decided to go see the Trailmon to try to convince them to transport the digi-eggs to a safe place. However the Trailmon refused to help. They were too fearsome of what could happen to them if they left their hiding place. When they returned to the Village of Beginnings they found the Royal Knights. They had beaten Swanmon and wanted to take the fractal code from the village. Kouji and Takuya spirit evolved into Magnagarurumon and Emperorgreymon. They distracted the Royal Knights while the others took the digi-eggs. They didn't fight back in fear of hurting the eggs. Izumi left to talk to the Trailmon and they agreed to take the eggs to a safe place. Somehow the digi-eggs of the legendary warriors that they had defeated helped them fight the Royal Knights. The others spirit evolved and they all attacked together. Rei, Bokomon, and Neemon put the eggs in the Trailmon just in time. The Royal Knights succeeded in taking the fractal code.

They watched as the Trailmon left with the digi-eggs and Swanmon. Rei looked out at her world and frowned. There was very little left and what was left was nothing more than a few clumps of dirt and railroad tracks. She sighed and sat down on the edge of the small patch of land they were on. She let her legs dangle as she looked down. Kouji saw her and went over to her while the others thought of what to do next.

"Are you alright?" He asked gently.

"Yeah." She sighed.

Kouji looked out at the desolate place that used to be the digital world and felt a pang of guilt. Ophanimon and Seraphimon had trusted them with the digital world. They had trusted him with Rei and she had trusted him with, not only her life, but her home and now he had let her world be destroyed. He wondered if he really would be able to keep his promise to her and save her world. He sighed.

"Rei, I'm sorry."

She turned to look at him, confused.

"Sorry for what?"

"I promised you that I would do my best to save this world and I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry."

Rei looked at him and smiled although he could tell that she was still sad.

"It's okay. You kept your promise, you did your best. What happened wasn't your fault. This is all my fault. I'm weak and I couldn't do anything to help you guys. Ophanimon shouldn't have called you guys here. It was wrong of us to depend so much upon you. This isn't your battle and we shouldn't have let you get involved. You've fought with all of your strength and you've endured many things to save this world even though it is not yours and I am grateful to you for that, but I think that you should go back to your world."

Kouji looked at her and couldn't believe that she was asking them to leave.

"Rei, what are you talking about?"

"I don't want you guys to get hurt because of us. There's nothing more you can do for this world and I won't have you suffer anymore for a lost battle."

Kouji frowned.

"I'm not leaving until I defeat Lucemon and save this world. I don't care about what happens to me. I made a promise and I'm going to keep it."

Rei looked at him and was surprised at how determined he was. The others had heard her telling Kouji that she wanted them to leave and were surprised at her request and at Kouji's response. Takuya walked up to them.

"Kouji's right, we can't leave yet. We promised we would help and we will."

"Yeah, besides, this is our home too." Tomoki said.

"Tomoki is right, we're not just humans anymore, we're digimon." Said Junpei.

"That's right and as digimon we can't let Lucemon destroy this world." Izumi said.

Rei looked at them and smiled.

"Thank you guys. You don't know how grateful I am and I'm sorry or doubting you."

"It's alright, just don't worry, we'll get everything back to normal soon."

Rei smiled at Kouji and he smiled back.

"Yeah, I know you will."

They kept traveling and searching for a way to defeat Lucemon. They knew that they had to stop the Royal Knights so that Lucemon wouldn't wake up, but it proved to be a difficult task. Soon they ran into Gatsumon. They weren't able to keep the Royal Knights from taking the fractal code of his home, but Gatsumon decided to help them. They left to the Forest Kingdom as they knew that the Royal Knights would probably attack Seraphimon's castle. When they arrived the Royal Knighs were already there with some Knightmon. The Royal Knights decided to try to enter the castle from above as the door was well guarded. There was a protective barrier surrounding the castle.

"Alright, let's do this together guys." Takuya said.

"No."

Everyone turned to look at Kouji who was leaning against the tree they were hiding on.

"Why the heck not?" Takuya asked.

"Because I'm going to take care of them all by myself. You guys are going to have to go keep an eye on the Royal Knights. They can't get their hands on that data no matter what."

"But Kouji…" Takuya began.

"The data is all that matters now, we don't have time to argue."

"Well, that's good, but how do you expect to defeat all of them?"

"I'll go with him." Gatsumon said.

"Okay, fine." Takuya sighed.

"Next time, buddy, can you just tell us without all the dramatics?"

"Yeah."

Rei looked at Kouji and although she was worried, she knew he wouldn't change his mind.

"Kouji, Gatsumon, good luck."

Kouji looked at her and smiled.

"Don't worry, we'll be back soon. Just be careful."

She nodded and Kouji turned to Takuya.

"Don't worry buddy, I'll take care of everything."

Kouji nodded. He knew he could trust Takuya to take care of Rei while he was gone.

"Are you ready, Gatsumon?"

"Let's go."

Kouji spirit evolved into Magangarurumon and left with Gatsumon while the others went to check on the Royal Knights. They were trying to get in trough the top as they knew that was the weakest part of the barrier. They were succeeding and Takuya was about to spirit evolve when Rei's D-tector gave off a bright light.

"What is that?"

"I don't know."

She looked at it and got an idea. She pointed it to the barrier and an entrance appeared. They entered the castle and began searching for the data. A compass appeared on Takuya's D-tector to help them find it. They found it, but the Royal Knights destroyed the castle to get to the data. Wizardmon protected them from the attack and they found out that he had been the one that put the barrier on the castle. Takuya spirit evolved into Emperorgreymon, but he couldn't stop the Royal knights from taking the data.

After the fight they boarded a Trailmon. Gatsumon decided to stay as he was injured and didn't want to get in the way. Kouji told him that he was never in the way. They all rested in the Trailmon as they had been trough a lot. Kouji went over to Rei who was looking out the window.

"You should rest."

She turned to him and frowned.

"Why? I haven't done anything to help."

Kouji sighed and sat down next to her.

"You shouldn't say that. You've helped us a lot during our journey. If it weren't for you I wouldn't have found my beast spirit and I probably would have gotten lost as soon as I got here. I'm glad you're here."

She looked at him and he frowned when he saw that she still looked upset.

"No, I didn't do anything. All this time I've had to depend on you to help me. I wish I was stronger so that I could help you guys. I guess I've just been getting in the way. I'm sorry."

Kouji was alarmed when she saw that she was crying. He didn't know that she felt so bad about not being able to help. In his opinion she really had been a great help as he really doubted they would have been able to find their way around without her. She had kept them together and to him she had been what made him keep fighting. He had grown fond of her, although he didn't know just how much and so he hated to see her cry. He sighed and hugged her. He felt her hold onto him and he smiled.

"You shouldn't say that. Besides, remember what Seraphimon said, you're the most important thing to this world."

"But that's all I am. I'm just a thing that can be used. I'm not human and I'm not a digimon. I don't know what I am."

"It doesn't matter. What matters is who you are and not what you are."

She looked up at him and smiled as she wiped her tears away.

"Thank you Kouji. I'll try to be stronger."

"You already are."

Kouji smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. He remembered that the first time she had done that he had felt uncomfortable, but he had grown used to her constant shows of affection. He had never been one to show he cared for someone, but he found that he didn't really care when he was around Rei. She was the first girl he had willingly hugged and slept next to. She was his best friend, but lately he had wondered if that was all he felt for her. He sighed and let his head fall back against the seat. He knew he couldn't let himself think like that. Even if he did like her as more than a friend, he knew he couldn't tell her. It would make her sad if he told her and then left. Even though he had promised to return he wasn't sure if that was a promise he would be able to keep and if he couldn't he didn't want to hurt her more than he already would. He closed his eyes, not wanting to think about it anymore. He would just see what happened and keep her safe. The one promise he knew he couldn't break was to help her save her world and for that he would need to rest.

End Chapter Seventeen

Hope you guys liked it and once again, sorry for taking such a long time to update, but I have been very busy. Anyways, please review, the sooner you review the sooner I update and the more reviews I receive the more I write. Sayonara!