Genre: Mostly action/adventure, drama (not angst), and horror, but it also has a lot of epic, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, tragedy, family, and friendship qualities. Small splash of Humor (especially in the second arc) and Mystery.

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon, nor any of the characters used in this fic except one or two. XD No infringement intended.

Author's Note: This is a TEST to see how things look. It'll be deleted, HOWEVER, I do plan on re-posting a better, edited version of it as well as future installments (I'm thinking about 12-15 chapters). If you would like to know when the story actually begins, tell me and I will e-mail you when the new story is being published (or if you don't have account, fav my profile). Again, this is a test to see how things look regarding this story. And before anyone asks, this is a second draft. XD

Digimon 02: Parallels

Bury all your secrets in my skin
Come away with innocence and leave me with my sins

—Snuff by Slipknot

Chapter One

The Stolen Heart

Hikari had seen a lot of horrible things in her life—reports of women getting the blood sucked out of their necks, her brother and Agumon floating up and up and... up into the sky like a couple of diligent balloons, her friends one-by-one turned into cloth and plastic and metal by a single ripple of a white tablecloth; she'd seen creatures with eyes the color of garnet wine, staring deep into her own as they reached their rubbery mitts toward her to grab her and drag her into the depths of their endless shadow.

Yes, Yagami Hikari had seen many terrible, disgusting things and terrible, disgusting people—but not once had she ever seen nor felt what she had the moment her (one and only) eye spied Gatomon leaning over her shriveled figure. Hikari jerked her head back in a shrill scream, fingertips digging into the grainy sands of a desert she didn't know the name of. It wasn't even mainly her shoulder or her legs or her face or her stomach that hurt; it was the feeling like something had been wrenched out of her. It was a feeling that ended at many places in her body, all stemming from the beginning: Her chest was flaring with uninterrupted, undiluted pain, stinging particularly where there was a single fist-sized hole right above her left breast.

"It'll be okay, Kari," Gatomon attempted to comfort her. She could feel the feline's hot breath press against her face, tickling her neck, before pain swept across her body. If she couldn't feel a rush of stinging agony consuming her right shoulder (or, at least, what was left of her right shoulder), she would've smiled and nodded at her digimon as if nothing was wrong.

Hah, she mused in her mind, trying to laugh through all the goddamn anguish burning from her toes and up, yet no matter how much she tried, she could only scream through her laughter. You know what's wrong about laughing?

Her gaze traveled to the nearby figure who disappeared behind a cloud of golden beads that sparkled like diamond shards in the sun; like bread crumbs leading her further and further away from home when, if anything, they should've been leading her to her goal. When the gale of wind stopped and the bronzy grains of sand halted, the figure was gone.

I can't even feel my diaphragm.

Again, she let out an ear-splitting shriek that was a cross between a scream and a cackle, causing Gatomon to jolt upright. Her eyes widened, the tip of her paw brushing Hikari's chin as she tried to contemplate what would happen if the others didn't get here soon.

"Kari, just hold on!" she cried, reaching forward to grab Hikari by the arm.

It's too late, Gatomon, Hikari wanted to say. You can't come to my rescue now.

As the others arrived, she could feel their hands lift her from her blood-soaked spot in the sand. Her eyes rolled in their sockets, lids flapping as her limbs tangled in a sudden flurry of movement. She tried to say something, but whatever it was came out as a gurgled jumble of unintelligible nonsense.

"Kuh... Kuh... Ken... his name..." she stuttered, lacing her fingers through Ken's wiry raven hair as he picked her up and began carrying her to the nearest portal. She screamed as his foot jammed into a pocket of sand, his knee slamming down and causing her bleeding arm to yank to the right. She swore she heard a snap that anyone could hear if they were close enough; she could see Ken wince more than enough to know it wasn't just in her imagination. However, that snap made it all that much easier to scream; scream and say exactly what she needed to say:

"KAY

US

MON"

And with another flow of blurry blues and greens of a nearby DigiPort, a painful unconsciousness consumed her sight. Even though she was supposed to be asleep, however, there was something inside her that wasn't asleep. Something that was awake; something that was watching, waiting, remembering; something that was a dark, deep red, curled up inside her chest as it lusted for vengeance.

Something that sifted through her memories as it brought her back to what got her into this predicament in the first place. Yes, what did bring her to this desert?

What was the thing that replaced her arm with something else—something... deadly?

-\/-

Hikari remembered that it was the anniversary of MaloMyotismon's defeat. As always, the Destined planned a big celebration. After all, not only was it MaloMyotismon's defeat, but after him, every other "bad guy" seemed like a piece of cake. MaloMyotismon was probably the hardest digimon the Destined ever had to face—after him, all that was left were small fries: a few lackeys, some wanna-be viruses, a messed up digimon here or a misguided vigilante there. Somehow, it was always the humans that scared Hikari the most and, after MaloMyotismon's defeat, there were a lot of humans the Destined had to stop.

After all, most people on Earth received a digimon partner. It was a sweet concept—it was like the Destined were given a great gift, a gift they could now share with the rest of the world. And it made Hikari happy to know that fact, since everyone had those moments when they needed someone to talk to more than anything or anyone else. When a partner was down and out, Digimon were always there to be with you—be there for you, when no one else could be or wanted to be. So when humans used their digimon for evil purposes, the Destined (especially Hikari) always worked hard to either make them realize the error of their ways or to bring them down. However, she always had a sneaking suspicion that she was the only one actually scared of "misguided" humans. After all, it'd been only four years since MaloMyotismon's defeat. Only four perilous, tiring years since two tremendously different worlds were still clashing and fusing together. Problems only began to arise.

Just as there were evil digimon, there were plenty of evil humans to suit evil dues.

However, Hikari supposed that was why there were Destined—and not only were there twelve now (twelve who fought for roaring courage, fighting friendship, guiding love, fruitful knowledge, dutiful reliability, loving sincerity, cherished hope, and shining light), but there were hundreds of Destined spread across the Digital World who fought for countless reasons, with countless attributes embedded past flesh and into core. By allowing the world to discover digimon, it opened the doors to so many realizing their potential and their purpose in a world that was swiftly changing. In that respect, Hikari was glad. In other ways, she was worried.

Some people deserved having a digimon partner.

Others... were another story.

That was why, when Hikari looked down at her lap to see Gatomon curled up in a tightly-knit ball, she smiled and sighed, running her fingers delicately through her thick white fur. Feeling the touch of her gentle partner, Gatomon took a deep and ragged breath. Without opening her eyes, the digimon asked, "What's wrong, Hikari?"

Hikari didn't want to answer.

Another thing about digimon partners: they always knew with just a single gesture if something was wrong with their dear human.

At least, Gatomon always did.

When Hikari didn't answer, Gatomon continued, "If you don't tell me, I'll have to force it out of you."

Hikari grinned and raised an eyebrow at her, amused by the gesture. Since when did Gatomon use force anymore? Despite her saucy side, Gatomon became a peaceful creature in the past few years. Hikari softly laughed and raised her eyebrows. "Oh? And how will you 'force it out of me'?"

"Hm," Gatomon sighed, rolling on her back to peer up at Hikari. She could see her reflection in the digimon's big blues, staring tiredly down at her partner with a weary gaze that seemed a mixture of amused and, well, kinda' dead-tired. Gatomon gave that same Cheshire cat grin and said, "I think I'll force it out of you like... sneak attack style!"

Gatomon pounced. In seconds, she sprang to her feet and her paws reached forward, brushing Hikari's sides and causing the sixteen-year-old girl to throw her head back in a low bellow of outrageous laughter. Gatomon laughed, too, but her laughter was a lot more quiet that her partner's—partly because she wasn't the one being tickled.

"H—Hey! Stoppit!" Hikari said between giggle fits as she tried to swat her partner's paws away from her sides, but it wasn't working very well. Gatomon just kept on coming back, her paws going from Hikari's sides to her feet, and from her feet to her neck, whereupon Hikari thrust her arms into the air and plunged them back down into a crushing bear-hug around Gatomon. The feline squeaked in surprise, causing Hikari to grin. "Catcha'! Now you'll see things my way!"

And, still clutching Gatomon very, very tightly, her fingers twitched along Gatomon's sides as the cat digimon bit her mouth shut. Hikari grinned evilly at that; she would make Gatomon laugh, dangit! No matter what happened! And before long, Gatomon's eyes filled with tears, her shoulders shook, her fangs still clamped tautly on her bottom lip.

"C'mon," Hikari goaded, flashing a grin of pristine pearly whites. "You can't hold out forever!"

And, just like that, Gatomon snapped. She burst into laughter as she struggled to get out of Hikari's grasp, but to no avail. Ah, there it was! Hikari's revenge! She was waiting for that lovely bit of information. She'd always loved making Gatomon laugh since it was so rare when she truly did, especially lately. Lately, things were... less than stellar. But that was for later more depressing times, now was the time for fun! She wanted to make Gatomon laugh until her voice was sore, mwahaha!

"Oh no you don't!" Gatomon shouted, suddenly grabbing Hikari's wrists with her velvety gloves. Hikari gave her a wide-eyed blink, stunned by her partner's keen flexibility. Gatomon gave an all-knowing grin, which was something Hikari very much envied. "No getting off-topic for you, missie. Seriously. You don't ever look this tired. And, uh, you know, you kinda went to bed a eight yesterday. Seriously, Hikari? Eight."

Another wide-eyed blink.

Hikari mouthed the word "eight" as she held up eight fingers, both eyebrows rising in surprise.

"Wow," she said quietly, turning to stare up at the ceiling as Gatomon sighed and tapped her claw against her partner's leg. Hikari knew that motion better than anyone—that was her If you don't tell me, I'm gonna tell Taichi warning. Gatomon learned to do that lately. If something was wrong, she'd go right to Taichi. Or Takeru. Or Miyako. Or Daisuke. Or Iori or Ken. But most of the time, it was Taichi. Even so, Hikari still didn't want to tell her.

Tp, tp, tp.

Her claws continued to tap against her knee. Eventually, Gatomon rested her elbow against the fat of Hikari's upper-leg as she leaned her chin against the palm of her free paw while the other paw continued tapping, even though she gave the appearance of a lazy-eyed security guard during night shift.

Tp, tp, tp.

She really didn't want to tell Gatomon. Maybe she could say something else? Maybe she could mention how Gatomon seemed different now. It was odd, but true. She wasn't different personality-wise or anything, but Hikari could remember when Gatomon seemed a lot bigger back a few years ago. Now that Hikari was older, the girl grew a few inches from the good 'ole bang-bam-boom-you're-dead days. She felt like an old woman now, even though she was only a little bit past half of her teens.

Gatomon, however, looked exactly the same. She was maybe a bit thinner (probably from recent stressing about Hikari's mental health), but she was still a spry young thing.

Tp, tp, tp.

Ugh, that was getting annoying.

"Are you still having those nightmares?" Gatomon finally said, her gaze slowly venturing toward Hikari's eyes. Hikari didn't meet her partner's stare, only looked ahead of her like a ghost. She didn't want to look into those innocent eyes.

"...Maybe?" Hikari responded.

"Maybe," Gatomon said back with raised eyebrows. "Kari, I thought we were going to talk about this when it happened. Do you think they mean something or not?"

"I don't know."

"If you don't know, then they probably do. Why haven't you told anyone about them yet?"

"Because I don't know what they mean!"

"What even happens in them?" Gatomon frowned, reaching forward to cup Hikari's hand in her own. It was a calming gesture in an attempt to tell Hikari that it was okay; everything would be okay. But Hikari wasn't so sure.

"Well, they change from time-to-time," she said, biting her bottom lip in thought. Gatomon stared at her blankly for a few seconds, completely silent. Hikari could almost hear her say, Well, I'm waiting! She smiled wearily at her partner and sighed, folding her arms before she spoke. "Sometimes, there's just me. Alone. Watching the world around me slowly fade away, or even explode. It's like—I have all these—these—memories—and they're so amazing until they're ripped away from me like I'm a kid getting my candy stolen from me. Everything burns. Shrivels. Dies."

Silence.

"So what happens after that?" Gatomon's voice was a quiet quiver.

"Sometimes, nothing happens. I wake up." She smiled that same tired, lazy smile, which faded as the next few words fell on her lips. "Other times, just as the world is about to be ripped out from under me, I'm saved." The tired smile was replaced by a more happy, energetic one, like the kid got her candy back. "He's draped in this... this... white light, so bright it's blinding. He holds his hand out to me and grabs me, holding me as we stare up at the figure who's ripping the world away from me."

Her smile faltered, her gaze slowly drawing back toward Gatomon as the digimon listened intently. Hikari sighed and shook her head. She felt like an idiot. Tiredly, she reached up and rested her hand against her forehead, her fingers entangled in her bangs as she closed her eyes.

"Go on," Gatomon said. "I'm still listening."

"I think... the figure is oblivion..." she continued, her chin rising slightly as she turned to stare out at the nearby window. She watched a couple of bluebirds chirp a tittering duet, beaks opening and closing, black beady eyes glistening against the morning sun. Dew was beginning to form on the green tree leaves. "The birds, the trees, the wind—he stops it all. Destroys it all. He creates only destruction. It's—driving me insane, Gatomon. It's better when the man saves me, but it's still so frustrating."

The two sat quiet for a while. Hikari didn't want Gatomon to think she was an idiot or silly for worrying about it, but there was an alarming realistic quality to each dream—she could feel the heat licking off her skin, could feel a stream of sweat drip down her brow, could feel the wind lancing through her brunette tassels of hair. It was all so... real.

Hikari was always the one person to believe the unbelievable, and to believe it in a snap. When her brother came for a short while during summer camp, she hadn't questioned it when she learned about digimon. She didn't freak out like most people would (at least, not like Jou did). When she saw Gatomon for the first time, there was a part of her that knew exactly who Gatomon was. It was buried deep down, but it was there, as clear as the golden sun and silver moon and all their glowing children of the skies. Gatomon was a digimon, and she was Hikari's partner.

Just like there was a dark figure who would rain heaven and hell upon the Earth.

"So..." Gatomon began, glancing up at Hikari as the girl winced. The feline smiled gently as she brushed her index finger against Hikari's chin, forcing her to look at the digimon. "...Was he cute?"

Blink, blink.

"What?"

"Was your savior, Mr. Hero, cute?"

"I don't know—heh, I don't even know his name," Hikari mused, giving a harebrained smile at her digimon. That made it even more silly. "Looking at him is kind of like looking into the sun—you can never see things clearly because it's too bright."

"And you'll burn your corneas."

"Yeah."

They chuckled slightly. Hikari was acutely aware that Gatomon really wasn't going to let this go—not for a while. Even though everything was fun and games for now, there were problems and things they needed to talk about. Talk about a lot.

"I did recognize one thing, though," Hikari said. Gatomon's head perked in interest. Hikari smiled. "On his shoulder, there was this tattoo of a black dragon. Freaky little thing, it looked like it was going to eat me."

You're too freaked out, said a voice inside her head. In turn, you're going to freak out Gatomon.

She looked over, expecting to see Gatomon's furry brows curled into a livid V, but the expression she saw wasn't anything like that at all. Well, at first, it was something similar, like a concerned glare, but in the end, they were an angel's blue, warm and worried. Gatomon sighed and shook her head, one of her paws resting on Hikari's head so she could ruffle the teen's hair. Hikari smiled slightly at the gesture, to which Gatomon smiled back.

"I'm glad it didn't," Gatomon said. "I'm a little fond of ya'."

She paused.

"...So," she began. Instantly, Hikari knew this wasn't gonna be good. When Gatomon began with that single word, Hikari knew that something awkward was going to come next. And sure enough... "What were you doing looking at his shoulder anyway? I presume it was, you know, bare and all..."

"Gatomon!" Hikari blushed and turned away from Gatomon, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. Gatomon gave a mischievous little snicker, her prying eyes watching every single of Hikari's movements until the girl turned her swiftly reddening face toward Gatomon's. She pursed her lips, folded her arms, and said in a very firm voice, "Well, that is just none of your business. So keep your big flat nose outta' it!"

"Yowch!" Gatomon laughed. "Jeez, just curious! I know you'd never do anything like that. Right. Riiiiight? You're still my sweet little innocent sheltered Yagami Hikari, huh, huh?"

Normally, Hikari would've giggled and nodded, then head off to meet the fridge. She'd mentally say to the fridge, Now, sir, I need some ice-cream, so you better have some ice-cream, sir! And if the fridge didn't, well, one, that'd suck, and two, she'd just have to put it on the grocery list. One of her favorite past times with Gatomon was eating ice-cream while watching foreign musicals—something about attempting to sing along to it was always amusing, especially when Miyako was involved.

However, this time, Hikari realized she was very sick of Gatomon's big flat nose and instead waited until Gatomon was done laughing (Jeez, instead of a cat, maybe she should be a hyena, Hikari jabbed with a chuckle). When the feline was looking straight at a silent Hikari, the girl gave her the sliest grin she could muster.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Hikari answered.

Gatomon blinked.

Hikari grinned.

Stood.

And headed toward the kitchen.

"Um—um—" Gatomon continued to blink into stunned silence.

Hikari continued to, well, grin. And laugh. And giggle like a giddy schoolgirl (which she technically was, so it all worked out in the end).

Bubblegum pink adidas let off high-pitched squeaks as she moved toward the white fridge. The soles of her shoes eventually hit aquamarine flower-speckled tiles as she reached for the cold metal handle and roughly pulled it open. She stared into the endless depths of the freezer, gaze wandering toward the items stocked in groups of five. Peas, corn, salmon, sushi, Ramen (What the heck is Ramen doing in the freezer? Hikari wondered—and immediately dismissed the thought when she remembered that Taichi came to visit for a weekend after he moved into his apartment), and, there in the far corner, she spotted it! A bucket of raspberry truffle ice-cream!

"Ah," she said, plucking it from its frozen misty spot. She plopped it down on the gray-dotted counter and immediately pulled off the lid, careful not to put the soft sensitive underbelly of her arm down on it lest she wanted to get frostbite. Which could never happen. But hey, the bucket was freezing as heck. "Best of all, Gatomon, this raspberry truffle ice-cream isn't the mushroom truffle kind!"

Hikari remembered when her mom tried to make raspberry truffle ice-cream. Not realizing the directions meant the candy kind of truffle, she'd bought actual truffles. It... wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. Even Taichi and Agumon were afraid to touch the stuff, and they ate practically anything, even if Mom made it! But then again, when she took out the delicacies from her ice-cream, it wasn't half-bad. She had to give credit where it was due, after all.

After a few seconds, she realized she hadn't heard a thing coming from Gatomon's mouth since she'd teased the digimon. Granted, Gatomon wasn't exactly the boisterous type, but she hadn't even come out to get a bowl with Hikari. The girl blinked and glanced toward the hallway, where she could see a dim light flowing from her room.

"Hey, Gatomon?" Hikari began, blinking as her brow crinkled. "I didn't shock you that much, did I? I was just kidding around. And even if I wasn't, is it really that stunning that I could have a great sex life? I mean, seriously. Come on!"

Still nothing.

Hikari sighed and shook her head as she swiftly plopped two monster scoops into one bowl and three monster scoops into another. Her fingers were already frozen, and she'd just barely touched the bucket! However, the cold only made her move quicker. She put the bucket of ice-cream back into the freezer, grabbed the two bowls, and headed toward her room. As soon as she stepped one foot into the hallway, she realized something was terribly wrong.

Her first clue was her mahogany door slamming shut, blocking the golden-orange light from hitting the darkness of the hallway.

Her second clue was the fuzzy clicking sound she heard echo from her room, like someone turned on a television to a channel no longer in service. She could imagine the white and black squares fluttering across her T.V., flickering between each other in a snowy abyss. Even so, why would Gatomon shut the door over that?

Her final clue was Gatomon's worried voice echoing hollowly from inside the room. Her words were too muffled to understand, but clear enough to know that she was saying something very important—something she didn't want Hikari to be bothered about. Yes, Hikari was concerned and stressed lately. No, Hikari didn't appreciate getting her own door slammed in her face while she held two bowls of ice-cream.

"Hey, Gatomon, these bowls are cold! I think my fingers are about to fall off!" she shouted at her door. It was true, the shiny black glass bowls were beginning to feel a lot colder, like metal in winter. She sighed and knocked on her door with the brunt of her left foot. When there was still no answer, she kicked the door harder.

Still nothing.

"You're starting to worry me!" Hikari frowned.

Actually, she'd been worried the first time she noticed Gatomon wasn't responding, back when Hikari was still in the kitchen shouting to her partner. She should've noticed that Gatomon hadn't followed her to the kitchen—usually, Gatomon and she had this routine. They'd have girl time, then get ice-cream together.

Hikari's foot came rushing forward to kick the door a third time, however, just as toe should've met wood, her door was flung open. Instead of hitting door, her foot continued barreling forward into nothing but air until she found herself slipping on her rug and nearly doing the splits. While Gatomon winced, Hikari fought to keep the ice-cream from spilling out of her hands.

"I guess all those dance lessons really did pay off after all," Hikari said with a nervous grin as Gatomon helped her to her feet.

"If they paid off," Gatomon snorted, "you wouldn't have been so graceless in the first place."

Hikari gave her a half-hearted glare before her attention turned to the rumbling digivice on her desk. She quickly moved toward it despite Gatomon's worried glance, her footsteps like heavy clogs on bathroom tile.

"Gatomon, what happened here?" she spluttered, placing the bowls down on the desk beside her digivice. She quickly picked it up, her gaze briefly tracing over the flickering face talking to her through the D-3. The reception must've been crap because she could only see the figure through a few dim flickers before the digivice turned snowy again (that explains the humming sound I heard). The few times the digivice did remain steady, she could see a golden mane, pink scars—eyes a frozen blue, buried beneath the deepest arctic snow.

Leomon?

Why was he contacting her?

"We have to go to the Digital World," Gatomon said firmly, picking up the digivice. "Leomon's in trouble. He's getting help from Ogremon, but neither of them is overly prepared. Before it fully broke up, he told me to just press a button and a portal will transport us to the place."

"Did you get a hold of the others?"

"Yeah, they'll join us later," Gatomon said, taking the digivice from Hikari and pressing the center button. Hikari watched her with narrowed eyes, her heart beginning to thump loudly in her chest. Why was Gatomon being so serious? Why didn't she just let Hikari come into the room?

"Gatomon—"

"Leomon's injured, Hikari." Gatomon answered her before she could even ask the question. The feline's gaze caught Hikari's, her fangs clenched into a venomous snarl. "The bastard hurt him, and Ogremon. They're going to digivolve."

"What? But—that'll mean—"

Hikari had no idea that Ogremon had the power to digivolve as well. Did that mean he'd remained Ogremon by choice? And Leomon... the last time Leomon digivolved, he became SaberLeomon, and SaberLeomon...

She didn't have the greatest memories about SaberLeomon's fate.

"He's not digivolving into SaberLeomon," Gatomon warned. Hikari blinked at her, but Gatomon only pulled her claw away from the button on the digivice. Immediately, a cloud of swirling mystic blues and greens manifested in front of them. Light flashed across the room, oxygen was both sucked into and breathed out from the DigiPort—almost as if it were alive, like a careless, hungry monster, and the Destined and their partners was its prey. Its food. And boy, was it lusting for their flesh. The DigiPort exhaled as a gale of wind swept over her room, ruffling pieces of paper and tugging at loose pieces of Hikari's clothing. The DigiPort inhaled, shifting the winds toward it—sucking in pencils and bits of dust before exhaling them a second later.

Hikari couldn't feel herself move.

She didn't want to.

"What do you mean?" Hikari asked, turning to look at Gatomon.

"Now's not the time, Kari," Gatomon hissed, grabbing her partner by the hand and leading her toward the portal. "We have to get there now—this is urgent, don't you understand?"

"Tell me what's going on, Gatomon." It was no longer a question. It was a demand.

"Fine," Gatomon hissed, still walking toward the portal as she spoke. "They're facing someone, Hikari—something they can't handle on their own. They're facing the worst of the worst, the kind of bad guy you don't screw with no matter how macho you think you are. Do you know about the Four Great Dragons, Kari?"

"No, but I have a feeling I'm going to find out."

"The Four Great Dragons are the greatest of all dragon types—they're lords and masters, and rulers of their own realms—and while they might not hold the highest power of each realm, they keep the balance," Gatomon told her. "Azulongmon is the balancer of our world."

"And what do they have to do with what's going on right now?"

"I have no idea," Gatomon said nonchalantly. Hikari blinked before giving a nervous grin, feeling a bit like her words were pointless. However, just as she stepped one foot into the portal, she turned to Hikari and continued, "But apparently, Ogremon and Leomon are trying to protect someone from one of the Great Dragons. Azulongmon can't be here to protect that person—so in the meantime, Leomon and Ogremon have to do it. I think Azulongmon was crazy for sending them, but I guess it was whoever's closest, and since Ogremon has a fetish for stalking Leomon and all that..."

They allowed the DigiPort to swallow them whole, covering them in its glowing spectacle. Hikari could feel it lightly pull at her skin, tearing away cloth and replacing it with something new—something fresh. It was different than the outfit she used to wear when she'd travel to the Digital World. Now that she'd grown older, so had her fashion sense—and so had the Digital World's fashion sense. However, the change between going from real to digital was barely noticeable now. She'd gotten used to it—feeling as if she was swimming through an endless lake of blueberry jell-o.

"Hikari."

The firmness of Gatomon's voice brought her out of the gentle trance. See, the DigiPort usually had this affect on people—most of the time, it gave this feeling of ultimate euphoria, like nothing could go wrong. If you lived in paradise, Hikari always imagined this is what it would've felt like. However, it also was a façade—a false calm in the wake of tremulous storm. To stop the lightning from striking her home, Hikari would have to use Herculean strength to pull the clouds from the sky and drown them in the mercurial sea.

But for now, she'd have to settle for Gatomon's warning. It was rare to call her "Hikari"—most of the Destined just referred to each other in nicknames. While Gatomon called Hikari "Kari", Daisuke was called "Davis", Miyako was "Yolei", Iori was "Cody", and Takeru was "TK". When they called each other by their full name, well... it was rare, serious occasion.

Gatomon was all business, then.

"We're done with small fry," Gatomon told her, her eyes narrowing into cat-lit strips. "This time, we face the big boys. This time, we could die. I mean, MaloMyotismon and Apocalymon were powerful, but... Kari, the Great Dragons are considered as gods by some—and by 'some', I'm not only talking about digimon, either. Their power is so ancient and great that some consider them legendary, while others consider them myth. If it weren't for Azulongmon showing himself to us years ago... I wouldn't believe in them, either."

-\/-

That's right. That's what brought them to the desert, wasn't it? They got a distress call from Leomon. Remembering Gatomon's words of wisdom, Hikari could've laughed in the darkness of her unconsciousness. They were foolish not to wait for the others—but they thought, hey, we have time. Hey, it's okay. It's no big deal, right? The others will be here within moments, and Leomon and Ogremon need our help now.

But then again, even if they had shown up as a group, Hikari doubted they had the strength to face what Hikari saw there.

When Hikari and Gatomon arrived at the battle site, they didn't see any Great Dragon. The only thing they saw was the hot sand that burned to the touch, that sizzled in the crackling sunshine. Rays poured over Hikari's back, forming round beads of sweat barely one minute into their arrival. However, sand and heat weren't the only things Gatomon and Hikari found.

They also saw a silhouette.

A single figure, walking away from them as sand twirled and fluttered around him. A small flock of sand would puff around his feet for every step he took, but that didn't slow him down a second. He was ready to go, even though Hikari and Gatomon stood only a mere few feet from his towering figure. Not only did the figure leave gaping footprints in the sand, but there was something else he left behind.

Red.

It caught Hikari's eye instantly, quick enough that she could crouch down to the ground and reach forward, her finger tracing the thick substance staining what was once golden-brown grains of sand. Russet brown eyes the size of Russia looked up from the bloodied footprints to the retreating figure, who was groping his front as he hobbled through the sandstorm.

Was this... blood? Was the man... bleeding?

No.

No, he wasn't bleeding. This blood was old. Barely even still a liquid anymore, even—it was almost like it was just stuck to his armor, barely even there. From this distance, she couldn't see too many details. It was mostly platinum armor glinting in the radiant shine with a shawl twisted around his waist. He moved with a sort of graceful flounce, one hand holding his front while the other clutched for a blade residing at his hip. Oddly, there was something... familiar about the figure. Maybe it was the platinum armor that reminded her so fondly of Omegamon and Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, or maybe it was the way he held himself (that strong, heroic figure she'd seen so often in so many of her friends), but... It was like she'd met him before.

Many times before.

At the same time, she didn't recognize him. She only wished she did.

She wanted to meet him.

Smile at him.

To tell him, Hey, how are you? Wanna get a cup of joe sometime and tell me what you're doing covered in blood? Or, lemme guess, it's just paint?

No, she wanted to be friends with the figure.

It was an instant maternal instinct she'd always had. Hikari couldn't remember a time when she wasn't like that. She'd instantly accepted Numemon, even when they'd kidnapped her and tried to make her their queen. She'd tried to help a bunch of Scubamon, even though they were supposed to be controlled by Dark Spirals. She trusted Taichi to find her medicine when she had a fever, even though it was nearly impossible to find human medicines in the Digital World. She trusted everyone instantly, without a second thought—she remembered a time when she even tried to forgive Myotismon, yet that forgiveness was for naught.

"Kari, do you know him?" Gatomon turned to her partner as Hikari watched the figure walk away.

She shook her head.

"No," she said. "Not yet." She gave Gatomon a warm smile before standing and stepping toward the figure. "But he might be hurt—or know someone who is. He might also know where Leomon and Ogremon are."

She reached out her hand to brush the figure's shoulder. Even though Gatomon tensed, Hikari felt as loose as string, free and smiling as she felt the figure's power wash over her. It was true that, whoever he was, had a warm, gentle aura. It was a strong aura, but kind all the same. It was almost as if she were curled beneath the covers at home, holding a glass mug of hot chocolate with puffy white marshmallows floating at the top. It was a feeling she missed; it was a feeling she enjoyed.

Her fingertips clasped at the red, green, and blue shawl around his waist. "Hey, sir, do you need some he—"

Maybe it was this "destiny" she'd always had to deal with so much, or maybe it was her own innate animalistic instincts, or maybe it could've been what she saw at the very last moment, but she heard Gatomon scream her name just in time to look up and watch as something—something resembling a white wind—came barreling at her too fast for the naked eye to see.

It hit her like a cannon ball.

PSSSSSSH