Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Bandai does

Chapter 4: the journey begins

As the Tamers stepped though the portal they found themselves on a flat plane with mountains in the distance. The wind whipped up on the rust grey plains kicking dust into the air, BT started coughing hard.

"You Ok?" Terriermon asked his dark counterpart.

BT turned and looked at Terriermon and Henry for a moment and then frowned "i…I'm fine! Better then you at any rate" BT replied crossing his arms.

Before Terriermon or Henry could reply Shin interjected "Get in the bag BT"

"What? Why?" BT protested.

"I'm your Tamer and you'll do as I say. Get in the bag now" Shin stated coldly.

The other tamers looked at him confused at the boy's sudden change, and then Takato spoke up "um is something wrong?"

Shinjiro was usually sharp when dealing with people who invaded his personal emotional space but looking at the honesty in Takato's eyes Shin softened "nah it's…nothing don't worry about alright" the blue eyed boy replied trying his best to smile.

The group relaxed and was about to set out when a familiar voice sounded from behind them. "Henwy wait for me and Lopmon"

Henry turned around "Susie?!" both he and Terriermon exclaimed half panicked.

"And it goes from bad to worse in three, two, one" BT stated as the portal closed at the end of his statement.

The tamers all looked at each other worried. "I guess we're stuck now…" Shin laughed nervously.

"I knew it! You were lying to Yamaki weren't you?" Rika asked sternly glaring at Shin.

"eh heh heh. Sort of I kinda assumed that Ryo was using another portal but that might not be true" Shin laughed backing away from the now enraged queen of Digimon.

Susie looked on at Rika then to Takato who was half panicked trying to find a way to stop Rika from possibly killing Shin and finally to her brother "Is Rika and the angwy kid like Jaarin and Akihiwo Henwy?"

Akihiro was the boyfriend of the two sibling's older sister and while Henry found the idea to be funny he managed to keep a straight face. Shaking his head the blue haired boy replied "No Susie they aren't like that…"

After Terriermon had processed the idea he immediately began giggling loudly and lost his balance on Henry's shoulder and hit the ground where he continued giggling.

Guilmon wandered over wondering what his little friend found so very funny. "Are you playing a game Terriermon? Oooh can I play?" the red dino asked curious

Terriermon recovered and was about to explain to Guilmon that he wasn't playing a game when Takato's foot slipped while trying to stop Rika from killing Shin and the brown haired goggle wearing tamer and the queen of Digimon ended up in a heap with Rika on top which sent Terriermon, BT and Shin all into fits of laughter.

"OWNED!" BT proclaimed before another fit of giggles claimed him.

Shin kept laughing even after he had lost his balance "Oh man I might die for this later but it'll SO be worth it!" he exclaimed struggling to his to feet expecting to be chased.

Takato and Rika however had locked eyes neither sure of how to proceed. Luckily fate chose this point to intervene as the wondrous sound of dial up internet coming from the group's Digivices.

When the group collectively recovered and retrieved their Digivices all of them save for Susie found a message displayed on screen. Shin was Level accepted while everyone else had Conversion complete.

"Ok…well this is bad" Shin muttered.

"Hey Shin Susie's doesn't have one of them messages" BT exclaimed.

"ok…that's good…" Shin stated weary of the eyes now upon him.

"Do you know something about this?" Henry asked as Terriermon hopped up on his shoulder.

"Well if my guess is correct then BT and I have become a sort of cap for the group's Digivoution." Shin stated shifting his feet oddly.

Rika twitched. "Ok so then what level can you reach?" the red head asked her voice skimming near murderous intent.

Shin twitched splaying a nervous grin on his face as he rubbed the back of his head avoiding eye contact with the queen of Digimon. "Uh champion…" he answered his voice cracking slightly.

Rika narrowed her eyes. "And you expected to save Leomon…this better be a joke"

Shinjiro sighed. "Why do you think I was gonna bring Calumon for conversation? And my original plan wasn't to be traveling with a big group just Me, Beelzemon, BT and Calumon and after we got him back Leomon…and the first leg of the journey we'd have been able to use Behemoth as a way to get around"

"And you didn't come up with a back up?" Henry asked raising an eye brow.

Shin shrugged. "That isn't exactly my strong suit. I'm more of a make the first plan work sort of guy" The blue eyed tamer paused reaching for the cards in his deck. "I had planned to use these to get myself out of a jam but considering the circumstances you three should have them." He stated holding up Mega Gargomon, Sakuyamon and Gallantmon as well as his crimson mode.

Henry, Rika and Takato each in turn took their respective cards. "Awesome" Takato mumbled looking at the two holographic foil trading cards.

"Yeah I thought you'd say something like that. Crimson mode is one of a kind…only reason that it isn't hard cased is because I use it in real fights with BT…that reminds me. Jeri and Susie will need theirs too" Shin stated fanning his deck and taking two cards from it and giving them to their respective tamers. Susie was enamoured by the gift itself while Jeri gave Shin a somewhat confused look.

"But I don't have Leomon…" the orange skirted girl protested.

Shin smiled gently putting a hand on her shoulder. "But you will and you'll need it then" Shin eyes locked with Jeri's amber ones and his heart sped up slightly. 'huh? BT's wrong…he has to be…' Shin thought trailing off.

Jeri smiled back content with Shinjiro's answer.

"Well now that we've settled this problem there's no use sticking around so let's go get Leomon" Takato stated cheerfully.

The group nodded in unison. "Ok so Lopmon you mind leading us to your former leader?" Shin asked.

The group looked at Shin again with something between fear and confusion. "Well how else did you think we'd get directions to the eastern quadrant?" BT piped up giggling slightly at the looks everyone was giving them.

"A sovereign is not to be laughed at little one" Renamon stated sternly.

"Sure he is look I'm doing it right now" BT replied bursting into a fit of giggles.

After the black dog bunny recovered he found his tamer staring at him with hard eyes. "Shin?" BT asked nervously his ears twitching.

Shinjiro looked down at his partner narrowing his eyes. "You forget rather quickly that you failed against her rather badly. Since you don't seem to learn on your own and keeping quiet seems too much of a chore perhaps I should ask Renamon to instruct you on the finer points of humility"

BT shivered looking at Renamon and shook his head hard causing his ears to flail. "I'll be good. I promise"

Shin nodded and motioned for BT to get on his shoulder and shot Renamon a look of interest.

The vulpine Digimon returned his look with a questioning one of her own and the group reformed with Lopmon leading the way while voicing her concerns about this plan. The others whole heartedly agreed with her but Takato made the point that none of them had been out of the south sector and weren't sure of what or who they would face.

After awhile night shrouded the sky and the tamers had to stop and set up camp. The camp site was a slight ways from a lake and a ruined temple of sorts.

Hirokazu, Kenta and Susie all went to sleep almost right away being tried from walking all day. Takato, Rika and Henry on the other hand were more used to long trips being a great deal more active as tamers, aside from which all three had a great deal to think about. Takato about Leomon's return and certain odd feelings that he had been having lately, Rika about her own feelings and how best to approach Shin about the early morning misunderstanding as well as the group's current debilitated state and Henry about creating a back up plan for their current glass house, BT's attitude concerning Terriermon and the blue haired boy's observations concerning his two best friends.

All three tamers had heard Shin stand up and jostle his backpack forcing the little passenger inside to awaken and then the duo headed toward the lake, each tamer in turn taking their time to process why he might be doing it.

Takato figured he needed to use the bathroom and shrugged it off while Henry had picked up on the fact that he had woken his partner and clearly knew that the blue eyed boy was up to something but didn't leave to check for fear that the group might be attacked.

Rika and Renamon didn't know what was happening with Shin but came to a silent consensus that it would be better for Renamon to check it out by herself given the shaky ground the two tamers were on regarding their state as friends.

As the vulpine Digimon followed the black goggled tamer she found he had dragged his partner into the ruined temple.

"aww but I'm tired Shin! Can't we train later" BT complained.

"I carried you the whole freaking way so don't whine!" Shinjiro replied a little sharper then he had intended causing the little bunny to give him a hurt look.

"Sorry buddy it's just…well this whole level down mess, then Renamon's questions which I still don't understand what she was getting at…then there's that mess with Rika over hearing that stuff and…god help me you might be right" Shin sighed slumping against the wall and sliding to a sitting position on the floor.

"Right about wha--! No wai!" BT squeeked.

Shinjiro groaned. "Yeah I think maybe…if you say anything I make rabbit stew"

BT started to giggle but stopped when he realized the two were being watched. "Show yourself!" the little dog bunny growled.

Renamon stepped into the door way slowly. "I'm sorry for intruding but I needed to speak to you."

BT growled until Shin placed a hand on his head and rubbed it. "s'ok BT let her have er piece cause I got questions of my own." His tamer stated with a weary smile.

Renamon and stepped inside. "First I'd like to know what you think of the incident early with Rika."

"Big sister to the rescue huh? Alright fair enough. To be honest I was absolutely pissed when it happened because I thought she might tell everyone. It's not like I'd hide those things…well alright I don't think I'd tell Takato about him being my hero cause that'd be weird but the other stuff isn't exactly private, I suppose the big thing was that I didn't choose to tell her. I'm not angry with her because I realize that she hadn't intended on hearing such personal things but I'm not exactly in a place that can trust her completely right now. But since we're talking about that little pow wow what exactly were you trying to get out of me?" Shin explained cocking an eye brow.

Renamon twitched visibly when Shin said big sister but nodded when he had finished understanding the boy's feelings. "Obsession can be a dangerous thing…I wanted to make sure you were…on the level I believe is the correct term" Renamon answered.

Shin's eyes flashed darkly but he kept control. "Never…and I mean ever compare me to that frozen freak! I'm not trying to force them together nor would I have spoken to Rika about it if she had interest in someone else." Shin paused taking a breath as he rolled up his sleeves revealing scars along his arms. "I know what it's like to feel alone, to lose people and to watch those you care about fall apart. I had my Digivice for years before BT showed up, I made myself a repository of every bit of knowledge regarding digimon that existed and when BT showed up I made myself a promise that if I could find a way to this world that I would help those whose pain resonated with my own. Jeri, Rika and Henry in particular. Rika shouldn't put herself out because Takato has a crush on Jeri, I'm not saying she should force anything but she has to at least workout and admit her feelings to herself if not him…"

"And what if while she's working out her feelings Takato decides his heart belongs to someone else?" Renamon asked coolly.

"Wow. You really do have a way of sidestepping. What you're really asking is what if Takato tells Jeri how he feels and she likes him back…Firstly I think you're forgetting who you're referring to. Takato isn't the sort who thinks before he acts where it counts the shining knight acts and makes the battlefield his…even if he has no idea he's fighting, that's why Takato is the leader of your troupe he and Guilmon have accidental charisma he impresses you by being himself, that being said he doesn't have that boundless courage when it comes to girls. Secondly you completely missed the part where he's been weirded out since just after Rika slung her arm around him" Shin paused laughing a bit as he gathered his thoughts. "Thirdly I think Takato needs someone to ground him in reality because the dude gets lost when he lets that imagination of his go for a walk unsupervised. Now say what you will but I wasn't blowing smoke the other night, I really do think there's a connection between them that goes beyond friendship. The reason I only made Rika aware of it is because it would just confuse Takato and because as Rika works out her answers consciously her subconscious will start following that path, where that path leads I can't say but you have to admit the idea of a queen and her knight is a rather sweet one."

"Fair enough…Sweet? I don't know what you mean…are you sure you aren't a girl?" Renamon teased.

"That would explain a lot" BT giggled joining in.

"Hey!" Shin exclaimed his cheeks going a slight red. "Uh well I wanted to ask if something happened between you and BT…he seems kinda freaked out." Shin stated pulling BT into a hug.

Renamon nodded. "When I was chasing him he became cornered in an alley and something triggered a panicked response, he began calling out for you and screaming about a monster"

BT was about to speak up when a gentle hand patted him on the head. "It's alright buddy. I know…BT was originally Terriermon we fought Devimon and he managed to corrupt BT's data before being destroyed…for awhile after that BT had nightmares constantly, if I could guess your rather mystic appearance must have caused a relapse…it really is my fault, I never understood that BT was still himself. I couldn't comprehend that he would still be my friend or that he wouldn't be feral in battle so I stopped going to the digital world and shut out any idea of fighting…I did anything I could to keep him safe from being hurt and in the end I ended up hurting him the most because he thought I didn't want him" Shin stated sadly petting his little friend.

BT stared up at his tamer and for once the black bunny found himself at a loss for words, settling at hugging his partner.

Renamon nodded. "I'll tell Rika that you aren't mad but…as for the rest of what you told me…it isn't important to our fight"

Shin smiled slightly in understanding as the vulpine Digimon phased out. "Tomorrow will be a big day BT let's get some sleep" Shin stated as he began to drift off.

End of chapter 4 to be continued.