Inside the Odaiba Elementary Computer Lab TK stood at the window looking outside at the group in the playground. "Hurry up Mimi, the guys are waiting for us!" he said a bit impatiently. "And they're not looking very happy."

"Just a sec," Mimi replied. "I really need to get this done tonight, or my mom will be so angry."

"I'm typing as fast as I can!" Cody said, typing frantically on the keyboard.

TK rolled his eyes slightly. It figured that Mimi would have someone else doing the actual work part. "Just what is this anyway?" he asked Mimi stepping up beside her to get a better look. "And why does it have to be done now?"

"It has to be done now because there's a party tomorrow that she has to read it at," Mimi answered.

"Party?" TK looked lost and confused. "So your mom is having you write a speech for her to read at a party?"

"Not me," Mimi said, sounding exasperated. "Cody!"

"Okay," TK shrugged.

"I'm almost done." Cody typed away, when suddenly the screen was taken over. An ugly-looking creature stared out at them with a menacing look in its yellowed eyes.

"Whoa, what's that?!" Mimi cried.

"The screensaver?" TK answered doubtfully, edging closer to the computer.

"It wouldn't come on while I'm typing!" Cody said.

"Hello," the creature on the screen said. Cody jumped back in surprise.

"And it wouldn't talk either!" he exclaimed.

"I'm Merlockmon," the creature said in an important-sounding voice.

"Who?" TK asked.

It glared disdainfully back at this lack of recognition. "Don't speak, just listen. And listen carefully," Merlockmon ordered. "I want a specific Digi-Destined, and if this human does not show up within the next 24 hours I will release hundreds of virus digimon into your world."

"I think he's serious," Cody said quietly.

"Of course I'm serious!" Merlockmon shouted, holding up Tigramon by the scruff of her neck. "And if that's not enough motivation, I have his digimon partner —"

"Gatomon?" Mimi interrupted.

"No, that's not Gatomon," TK whispered.

"Well then, who is it?" Cody asked.

"We don't know that digimon!" TK stated. "She's doesn't belong to any Digi-Destined we know."

"Maybe she belongs to one in America?" Cody whispered to Mimi.

"No I don't think so," Mimi replied, shaking her head.

"She belongs to a Digi-Destined you know, I've sensed her presence in your area!" Merlockmon insisted. "And if you don't bring me the Digi-Destined of Strength you will see—"

PEPPER BREATH Merlockmon cried out in pain as Agumon's attack hit his hand, making him drop Tigramon to the ground. Gatomon ran to her side and began to help her to her feet.

"Tigramon, you okay?" she asked. Weakly, Tigramon nodded and took Gatomon's kind gesture they quickly rushed behind Agumon as a shield. However unnoticed to everyone around something quietly stirred in the shadows.

SAMONI STRIKE Merlockmon attacked, hitting Gatomon in the back and pushing her into Tigramon.

"Gatomon!" Mimi cried out, watching the battle intensely. She turned to the younger boys. "Is there anything we can do?" she asked.

"No," Cody answered. "The portal still won't respond to our digivices. It won't open!"

"Then there's nothing we can do to help?!" Mimi gasped.

BLUE BLASTER Gabumon hit the evil digimon in the shoulder, but Merlockmon immediately turned and released another attack at him and Agumon. As they dove for cover, Gatomon attacked. But Merlockmon knocked her back to the ground, and released another attack at Tigramon.

"Tigramon, duck!!" Gabumon shouted at her.

"Tigramon?" a small voice whispered thoughtfully from the shadows, his small orange eyes peered out from his hiding place in the shadows. Hearing the name and seeing the fight, he decided to join in.

FIRE COMET The streak of red fire flew at Merlockmon's attack on Tigramon, pushing it off course into the wall. The digimon bounced off the wall quickly redirecting its second attack at Merlockmon. But the evil digimon turned sharp making it possible to knock him out of the air. Landed hard on the floor he was able to roll to his feet glaring up at her large opponent.

"You!" he gasped.

"Miamon!" Tigramon shouted happily.

"I've been looking all over for you!" Merlockmon growled, slowly moving closer to the red curly-tailed fox-like digimon. The three Digi-Destined eagerly watched from the computer lab.

"Agumon, do something!" TK shouted pounding his fist on the table.

"Oh, I can't watch anymore!" Mimi covered her eyes with her hands.

"You've been looking for me?" Miamon laughed. "Shows how smart you are, I've been here under you ugly nose the entire time." Merlockmon dove at her, roaring in fury.

PEPPER BREATH BLUE BLASTER The two attacks hit him squarely, pushing him back giving Tigramon the chance to ran to her friend.

"Miamon, are you okay?" she asked.

Miamon was about to answer when Gatomon interrupted her. "Look out you two!" Gatomon shouted as Merlockmon's Samoni Strike attack buzzed right between them. They dove off to opposite sides for safety.

"I didn't need a shave!" Miamon growled angrily. Without thinking, he and Tigramon attacked together. TAIL SLASH FIRE COMET

Merlockmon was hit in the back and knocked over as Miamon and Tigramon bounced to opposite sides of the prison. Something caught Miamon's eye as her paws hit the floor.

"Tigramon!" she shouted. "The portal!"

"What?!" Tigramon's ears perked up and she quickly glanced around.

"Behind you! He had to open it one way to transmit his message!" Tigramon spun around and faced a small blue screen. "Jump through it! And don't stop until you find her!" Without hesitation, Tigramon jumped into the portal.

"NO!" Merlockmon shouted angrily as Tigramon disappeared.

Just as Mimi decided to peek out from behind her hands, Tigramon came flying at her through the computer. Mimi yelped, stumbling backward into a chair. Landing smoothly on all four feet Tigramon hit the floor. But she wasn't prepared for the slick linoleum floor which kept her sliding until she hit the wall. Shaking the dizziness from her eyes she bolted out the door and down the hallway.

"Follow her!!" TK shouted, running after the digimon with Cody close behind. Mimi remained where she was, shaken and appalled, and looked back at the screen. The battle was still continuing, and it seemed the evil digimon was winning.

"You will bring me the keys or else!" he shouted, just before the screen went back to its original state. The portal had been closed. Mimi stared at the computer screen, utterly confused, and then abruptly pulled herself back into reality.

"I have got to tell the others!" She jumped up to run, but stopped short at the door. Hurrying back, she hit print on the computer. As important as this all was, her allowance and therefore shopping money depended on getting this speech to her mother. Impatiently waiting for it to print, she snatched the paper as soon as it exited the printer and ran out of the room.

Outside Kari jumped to her feet, "Look there's TK and Cody," she said pointing to the two boys running out of the school. But when they didn't stop to look at them her smile changed to a frown. "Hey guys, over here!" she called out but it wasn't enough they were locked on full speed ahead.

"Where do they think they're going?" Matt growled. "They call a meeting and don't even come to it."

"How rude!" Sora mocked, placing her hands onto her hips. She attempted to keep a straight face when Matt glared at her.

"Well," Izzy stood up. "Since they're not coming, I really need to go. My Internet tournament starts in an hour."

"I've got one of those too!" Tai said. "Only mine's probably more fun."

"What kind of tournament is it?" Izzy asked.

"Spyro Trivia," Tai grinned. "Against this Tyler kid from Pasco, Washington. He's going down!"

"Right," Izzy laughed. "Good luck anyways. What do you win?"

"Win?" Tai thought for a second. "I don't know, probably the satisfaction of winning and bragging rights. Why, what do you get?"

Izzy grinned. "A new laptop!"

Davis rolled his eyes. "Like you need another one."

"Izzy!" Tara skated back up to the group at full speed, an anxious look on her face. "I forgot to tell you something, and I know you need to go home but it's—"

"Hey Izzy," Tai interrupted her smiling. "Why don't you walk Tara home,"

"Uh…yeah sure, Tara?" Izzy stammered back bowing slightly to hide his anger for Tai's unsubtle hints.

Tara giggled slightly. "That sounds wonderful" she smiled. As she turned to skate alongside him, Mimi frantically came running out of the school and up to the group. She was too busy catching her breath to say anything, but by the look on her face Tai knew something was wrong.

"It's about time Mimi," Davis said. "We were all ready to leave."

"How long you going to be in town?" Sora asked. "Maybe we could—" Mimi put up her hand, motioning for silence. She tried to talk but still couldn't catch her breath. "Mimi, are you okay?" Sora asked now worried.

"Put you arms above you head," Joe instructed. "It opens up the lungs." Mimi looked at him, squinting in confusion.

"Just relax Mimi," Tai said. "What's wrong?"

"Something really...strange just happened in the computer lab," she said slowly, taking a big gulp of air.

"What do you mean strange?" Yolei asked slowly. "Like Digi-World strange?" Mimi nodded quickly in response, but stopped when she saw Tara out of the corner of her eye.

"Um...I really don't want to sound stuck up or anything but this is kind of private," Mimi said, directing the comment to Tara.

"It's okay she knows…Tai started but the look on Mimi's face showed she didn't care if she knew everything this was a matter for digi-destined ears only.

"Oh okay" Tara replied with a nod, catching the hint and stepping backward. Quickly she pulled some headphones from her pocket and placed them around her neck. "Well then I'll just turn this up and sit over here. I won't hear a thing. So you can just pretend I'm invisible."

Tara slid the headphones over her ears and took a seat on the nearby merry-go-round. Slipping a piece of gum into her mouth she acted like she was turning on her CD player, but curiosity kept her from actually turning it on.

"So Mimi what's wrong?" Matt asked moving a few steps forward. "Are our digimon in trouble?" When Mimi was satisfied that Tara was preoccupied she decided to talk.

"Not only our digimon," Mimi stated. "Us if we don't do what that crazy thing says within the next twenty-four hours."

"Who's this crazy thing?" Tai asked, trying to organize the conversation so that everyone could understand what was going on. Joe was really the only one who ever understood everything Mimi said.

"Okay, this is what happened." Mimi inhaled slow and deep to relax her nerves before beginning the tale, "We were in the computer lab typing up this thing for my mom, when this evil digimon took over the computer. He called himself Merlockmon."

Tara unexpectedly choked on her gum. Kari and Davis caught sight of her but she just smiled at them and tried to keep up the charade, making up her own beat by bobbing her head.

Mimi continued. "He threatened to release hundreds of virus digimon here in our world if the Digi-Destined that belonged to a specific digimon didn't show up within the next twenty-four hours."

"But the portals closed can her really do that?" Davis asked

"It's possible. I believe he would have had to open the portal on his side of the gate in order to transmit his image." Izzy stated inquisitively

Tara gripped her chest remembering that night shortly after Ken had left her home. The portal had opened one way and she didn't see it allowing something white hot and sharp through it cutting into her chest. She blacked out after that, woke up in her brothers arms asleep on the floor of her sanctuary. She hadn't seen him so worried for years.

"Who is he? Veemon and me will gladly take him on!" Davis shouted.

"Hold up Davis, who's the Digi-Destined he's asking for?" Tai asked, enthused.

"But see, that's just the thing," Mimi replied. "The digimon he showed wasn't one of ours, or anyone's in America. As far as we know it doesn't even belong to a Digi-Destined."

"Could that mean a new Digi-Destined has been chosen?" Izzy slipped into a deep train of thought, intrigued by the prospect.

"Already?" Davis whined. "But we just got our turn!"

"Well, how are we going to find this new Digi-Destined?" Tai asked, trying to keep the conversation focused on the situation at hand.

"What else happened?" Izzy asked Mimi. "Maybe we can get some clues on who it is."

"Most likely," Mimi said, continuing the tale. "Agumon, Gabumon, and Gatomon showed up and started a big riot with the evil digimon."

"Yeah!" Kari exclaimed excitedly. "That's my digimon!"

"What did this new digimon look like?" Yolei asked.

"Well..." Mimi thought for a moment. "She looked a lot like Gatomon...except no gloves, purple stripes all over, and two silver rings. One on her tail and the other around her right paw."

Tara's mouth dropped open, unseen by the others; she had begun to focus intently on the conversation no longer worried about keeping up her act.

"Okay, so anything else that could help us find the Digi-Destined he wants?" Izzy asked.

"Wait Izzy we can't give him the digi-destined…" Yolie started,

"Of course not but if there really is a new digi-destined the digimon's useless without him." Izzy clarified, "We have to get them together. What else you got Mimi?"

"Well, he mentioned that we know him because he's sensed him around us," Mimi said slowly. "And he called him the Digi-Destined of Strength."

A huge grin spread across Tara's face and she clenched the bar on the merry-go-round, eagerly waiting for the next thing to be said.

"Digi-Destined of Strength?" Tai repeated incredulously. "What is that an entirely new crest?"

"But I'm not done!" Mimi said quickly. "There was another digimon that appeared. And it sounded like he'd been hiding for a long time. And while the fighting went on the cat one jumped through the portal."

"What?!!" Tai shouted, and Tara jumped to her feet in surprise. Unaware of what she was doing, she quietly slipped her headphones and CD player into her bag and started walking toward the group.

"Where is she?" Izzy demanded.

"TK and Cody ran to catch her," Mimi replied.

TK and Cody walked up that moment completely exhausted. "We tried to catch her," TK gasped. "But no luck."

"She was way too fast," Cody said. "The only trace we found was her silver tail ring." As Cody held up the tiny silver ring, Tara slowly maneuvered her way into the group. Her eyes remained focused on the ring.

"That is a lot like Gatomon's ring," Kari remarked.

"And it looks to be made of the same metal that anklet was…" Izzy stated, "The key two weeks ago, it must be after the owner of the key."

"But Genni said it was returned to its rightful owner." Sora added

"The digimon must have sensed we had the anklet at one point that's why he thinks we know this digi-destined."

"So we have to find the owner, that's our digi-destined. How do we do that?" Tai asked turning to Izzy for the answer as he usually did.

"Uh…well," Izzy stammered, "We have to find out where it went and who had it last…"

Eyes shot to Tara but she wasn't where they had expected her to be. Standing slightly ridged Tara's eyes were locked on the small tail ring in Cody's hand. Being so caught up in the conversation no one questioned what Tara had heard in fact time was ticking away and Izzy's question needed to be answered.

"Who did you give the anklet to Tara?" Izzy asked.

Tara bit her bottom lip and nervously glanced around at everyone. She had just realized she was standing in the group. Her confidence seemed to waver, but looking back at the ring she drew in a long breath and without warning, she snatched the ring from Cody's fingers and skated down the sidewalk at full speed.

"Hey!!" Cody yelped.

"Izzy, your girlfriend's a thief!" Davis shouted accusingly, pointing a finger at Tara's retreating figure.

"She's not his girlfriend," Yolei stated in disgust.

Matt and Tai were first to head out in a dead sprint and everyone followed but with her head start Tara was going so fast there was no catching up.

Tara could hear the shouts behind her, getting father away the fast she pushed her self. Pain ran up her leg but she couldn't stop. "Nicki, I gotta tell Nicki!" She kept mumbling unsure if she should be excited or extremely scared, either way something wasn't right.

Nicki's apartment building came into view as she dodged people the best she could, she found Nicki had just put on her own rollerblades and was headed to the park to play a round of roller hockey with her team.

"Nicki!" Tara shouted, coasting directly toward her friend. Nicki held out her arms and caught Tara before she flew by. Tara whispered quickly into her ear and pressed Tigramon's tail ring into the palm of her hand. Both paused for a moment, sensing something was wrong.

Glancing back at the street they saw the eleven Digi-Destined closing in. Sora, Tai and Matt were in the lead, with Yolei and Joe taking up the rear. Nodding to each other, the two fugitives set out fast down the street. As soon as the mob was far back on the horizon, they split up.

"Great," Davis stammered as they slowed to a stop, gasping for breath. "They split up. What do we do now?"

"We split up!" Tai stated as if it were obvious. "Matt, TK, Davis and Kari go that way." He pointed in the direction Nicki had gone. Matt smiled slightly at the idea of chasing after her, but stopped quickly when he caught Tai giving him a look.

"Mimi, Izzy and Sora, you're with me. The rest of you stay here, chances are they'll double back. Let's go!"

"Um Tai, I think I should let you know I'm not wearing the right shoes for this!" Mimi shouted. As usual they ignored her and continued to run down the street.

Down the street Nicki came to a slow steady skate sure that she was no longer being followed. 'Now if I were a scared Tigra where would I go?' She thought gripping the cool metal in her hand, as the park began to come into view.

Sticking to the places with cement she called out softly "Tigramon? Tigramon it's me, Nicki! If you can hear me..."

"Shhhh, I can hear her..." Davis' voice echoed from farther down the road behind her. Clenching her teeth, she tried to quietly skate away.

In another direction Tara had skated farther into the shopping market and found a nice dark alley to hide in. Surely any panicked creature would find itself in place with food and if she remembered right all digimon loved to eat. Not moving for many long minutes Tara watched as Tai, Sora, Izzy and Mimi ran past. She allowed them to get further down the street before she slipped out from her hiding place.

"Tigra?" she said in a whisper. "Tigra? Hello, mon, where you are?"

"Wait! Listen!" Izzy stopped the fast-moving group, and spun around. They heard the whispering echo behind them. "It's Tara."

"How'd she get behind us?" Mimi asked, confused.

"And who's Tigramon?" Sora added.

"That's the digimon's name," Mimi stated simply.

"But how does Tara know that you never mentioned it." Tai asked, sounding suspicious.

"Come on," Sora said, moving ahead. "If we hurry we can block her in."

Continued back the way she'd come Tara got no response to her simple calls until she walked around the corner and ran smack into the people who were left behind.

"Well it's the doctor-hating optimist." Joe stated as Tara skidded to a stop in front of them. "Hello Tara."

Appalled to find Joe as she turned the corner to rush back down the street but instead she ran into Tai and Izzy blocking her path.

"Going somewhere?" Tai smiled.

"Guess not!" Tara sighed, and held up her hands as if waiting to be frisked. Tai approached her and made her put her arms down.

"Tara what's going on?" Izzy asked in his calm, settled voice.

"Long story, I don't really want to tell you." Tara replied simply.

"At least give us the ring back," Mimi demanded.

"Why?" Tara shuffled her feet nervously.

"Because I want to keep it safe until we can give it back to the owner," Mimi explained.

"Oh..." Tara stopped shuffling her feet and looked Mimi square in the eyes. "I don't have it."

"Where is it?" Joe demanded.

"I gave it to Nicki," Tara replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why'd you give it to Nicki?" Tai asked.

Tara hesitated for a second but then replied in a whisper, "Because I knew you'd catch me but not her."

"Look who we caught!" Davis shouted happily. Matt walked around the corner with Nicki's arm in his hand. His grip was firm and it was obvious he wasn't letting go.

"And..." Kari tossed the tail ring to Mimi, who clumsily caught it. Holding it up she examined it for a minute before slipping it into her pocket.

"Good job, now what's going on Nicki?" Sora inquired. "I've never seen either of you so wound up before."

"That's a lie!" Tai smirked.

"What she means," Matt restated. "What's the sudden panic over a ring?" Everyone waited for an answer, but it wasn't coming. So Mimi decided to add to the question.

"How did you know that digimon's name?" she asked bluntly. The group fell even more silent and waited for the answers.

Tara and Nicki wouldn't look at each other but it didn't really matter if they did. They both knew what the other was thinking and both of their minds were moving fast, searching for any words or possible stories to give.

"Too many questions!" Tara cried suddenly. She pulled her hair and dropped to her knees. "I can't stand all this pressure, too much thinking. Can't handle. Brain overload." Everyone looked worried but Izzy. He shook his head and laughed.

"Tara that only works with Math homework," he stated. "And educational TV, but not here." Tara sighed in defeat. Climbing to her feet, she placed her hands on her hips. "We just need some answers," he defended. "You are acting abnormal."

"I'm always abnormal," Tara shrugged.

Tai shoulders sagged. "I mean more than usual."

"He's right," Kari agreed. "We're wondering why."

"Well," Tara started with an air of getting the worst over and done. "I knew the digimon's name because I was kind of listening when Mimi told you guys about the incident and—"

"We kind of figured you were listening when you jumped up and bolted," Matt interrupted. "But Mimi never mentioned the name Tigramon."

After shooting Matt a glare for stopping her story, Tara opened her mouth to continue but was interrupted when a ring came from Mimi's pocket.

Slightly embarrassed, Mimi pulled her cell phone out and snapped it open. "Excuse me guys," she said, turning away from the group.

As she began chatting everyone exchanged confused glances. Typically Mimi would let her phone continue ringing when there were matters concerning the Digi-World at hand. Mimi closed the phone and gave the group and apologetic look. "Um...guys I really need to jet now."

As the focus shifted to Mimi, Tara and Nicki began to slowly inch their way backward out of the hands of there captures.

Mimi slipped her cell phone back into her pocket. "My mom said it was urgent, but I'll contact you all before the hour is up."

Tai nodded. "Okay. We'll tell you how the interrogation goes," he said, gesturing with his head to where he thought Nicki and Tara were. Mimi ran down the sidewalk out of sight and the focus shifted back the two semi-escaping girls.

"Hold it you two!" Matt called out, laughing at their attempt. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To...go pick out an outfit for your concert tomorrow!" Nicki said quickly. "Can't have your biggest friend looking like a homeless woman right."

"You're not getting off that easy," Cody said.

"But that really isn't a bad idea," Matt insisted, nodding his head. "So let's not keep them long."

"Matt," Tai reprimanded. "You might not have a concert tomorrow, considering the fact that we only have 23 hours to find someone we don't know before some loony evil...thing does something really, really not very nice."

Matt sighed. "You have a point."

"What loony evil thing?" Nicki questioned

"We'll give you the details after you explain yourself." Matt baited but Nicki looked over at Tara and suddenly the name popped into her mind.

Her look of confusion changed to horror in seconds. "Not possible!" she exclaimed before she could stop herself.

"What?" Tai and Matt asked in unison. Nicki casually shook her head and smiled.

Tara, however, didn't even try to hide her frustration. She looked down at her feet, mumbling something about the past coming back and biting them in the butt when suddenly a light formed right between her feet. Growing brighter and brighter until flooded like fog around them.

"What's happening?!" TK yelled.

"Tara?!!" Izzy shouted frantically.

"Izzy where are you!" Tara shouted back, equally worried she had been standing right beside him and Tai and just as suddenly she felt completely alone. "I can't see!" She blindly grabbed into the white fog, grabbing hold of someone's hand.

"Matt, don't let go!" Nicki shouted, and Matt wrapped his arms around her.

"What's going on?" Tai asked, his voice plainly worried.

"It's some sort of--" Izzy started.

"Oh face it Izzy," Tara interrupted. "You don't know this one."

"Yeah so," Izzy pouted.

"Wha...what's happening to me?!" Tai exclaimed, looking down at his hands as they changed and grew smaller. "I...I'm shrinking!"

"So am I!" Sora shouted.

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep There digivices suddenly went off, creating a huge amount of noise.