Chapter 6: Darkness at Play

Taichi shuffled about in the empty streets, trying to make it home before his parents woke up. He stuffed his sweaty hands into his pockets and dried them against the fabric. He was still a bit on edge, and he probably would be until he made it back into his bedroom. There was something getting at his nerves. Taichi had the feeling he was being followed.

The boy looked over his shoulder and picked up his pace. His building was at the corner of the street. He could see it through the morning fog. As he crossed his parking lot and pulled open the door to the stairwell, he checked over his shoulder once more.

"Almost home..." he muttered to himself, trying to sound reassuring. He paused for a moment and scanned the lot. There was nothing- just a bunch of cars. A gust of wind blew past him, the breeze cool against his neck. He swallowed and closed the door.

For as quiet as he was trying to climb the stairs, his footsteps still sent echoes up and down the stairwell. It was made entirely of concrete, and it trapped in the cool night air. Taichi could hear the pitter-patter of dripping water in the distance. There was probably a leak in the ceiling somewhere.

Pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat-CLANK.

A door opened and was slammed shut with a bang. Taichi jumped. He'd reached his floor, but he held onto the doorknob, unable to open it. If someone was following him, he didn't want them to see what floor he was heading onto.

There were no footsteps.

Pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat.

Taichi pulled the door open and walked briskly towards his apartment door. It felt like the fog had grown thicker while he was busy heading upstairs. He couldn't see the horizon from the open hallway. He stared over the ledge as he passed his neighbor's doors. 301, 301, 303, 304... he made it.

The boy pulled open the screen door and grabbed his key out of his pocket, his shaky hand struggling to connect with the lock.

"Come on..." Taichi muttered again, a strange sense of urgency filling his voice. His heartbeat pounded, like his body was trying to warn him of something. Taichi glanced back towards the stairwell door and noticed a figure standing there. It was the figure of a man, and he was covered by the shadows.

The boy dropped his key to the ground and spun around to face whoever was staring at him. The man was just standing there... watching. He stood still for a moment before turning and heading back down the stairwell, disappearing as quickly as he'd shown up.

Taichi blinked. "Hey!" he called out, dashing off after him. He made it back to the door of the stairs and yanked it open. "HEY!" His voice bellowed down. No one responded. If anyone was actually there, they weren't there anymore.

"Shit..." The boy murmured. He wondered if he was so tired that he'd imagined it. He was definitely on edge- perhaps his eyes were playing tricks on him.

The boy walked back to his door and leaned over to pick up the key, pausing momentarily to glance back at the other end of the hallway. Another chilly breeze went by, jingling some chimes that someone had up in front of their door. Besides that, though, it was silent. There was nothing.

Hesitantly, Taichi pushed his key in the door and opened it. The temperature inside matched the outdoor air. It threw Taichi off and forced his attention towards the back of the apartment. The balcony door was wide open, and someone was standing on the deck. The boy quickly shut the front door behind him and sped off towards them.

It was Hikari. What was she doing up so early? The sun had just completely broken the horizon. A full circle of light could be seen out over the sea.

"Hikari?" Taichi asked, pushing his way through the blowing curtains. "What are you doing out here?"

The girl's gaze was locked out over the harbor. It was like she didn't hear him over the sound of waves crashing in the distance.

"Hikari?" Taichi repeated. "Hey, Hikari!"

He had to raise his voice to get his sister's attention. Her body became tense until she turned and found the source of the call.

"Taichi?" She asked quietly, squinting her eyes and looking around. "What are we- what are you doing out here?"

The older Yagami furrowed his brows. "I was about to ask you the same question." Lines of concern formed on his forehead.

Hikari looked her brother up and down, a curious look coming across her face once she realize he was in jeans and sneakers. He didn't want to explain anything, but thankfully she spoke up first. "I think I had a bad dream."

"What?" Taichi asked, "Did you sleep walk out here?"

The girl didn't answer. She glanced back out over the ocean, like she was looking for something. Taichi tracked her gaze and stared out towards the sea as well. "What's bothering you?"

"Nothing." Hikari said swiftly, trying to squash her brother's concerns. "I just, uh, needed some air." She glanced down at his shoes once more. "Where were you, anyways?"

Taichi sighed. "Let's go inside. We have some things to talk about."

It was 7am, but Yamato was a morning person. He enjoyed getting up early and making himself a good breakfast. This morning, he'd just stirred up a bunch of eggs and mixed them with some herbs and spinach. He poured the contents onto a heated pan and got ready to chop up some ham. This would be quite the omelette.

Yamato usually made enough for two people, but his father wasn't home. His bedroom door was closed, but Yamato could tell due to the lack of snoring. He assumed that he'd spent another all-nighter at work, the workaholic he was. The more hectic the news was, the less he saw of his father. There was nothing particularly interesting going on though, so Yamato wondered what big story he could be working on.

The blonde was already sat down and eating when the front door opened. He expected to see his father with bags under his eyes, dragging his briefcase along behind him. Instead, his father was dressed like he'd just gone out to a fancy meal.

"Hello..." Yamato said curiously, much like a parent who'd caught their kids coming home late after a night out. "You didn't wear that to work, did you?"

"Work? Oh, no." Mr. Ishida said, stifling a yawn. He followed the smell of freshly brewed coffee towards the kitchen and poured himself a cup. "I meant to come home last night after- er, well. I meant to come home. Sorry."

Yamato kept his face emotionless, but it wouldn't have mattered. His father avoided his stare. The boy figured he had a date with that woman he was seeing. That's what he was dressed for, anyways.

"Well I hope you had fun." Yamato stated, glancing at his father as he took a sip of his drink. He peered at him from over the mug.

Mr. Ishida finally locked eyes with him. "I did."

Yamato let out a long exhale and looked down at his empty plate. He heard his father go into his room and plop himself into bed. He didn't want to think about it, but it sounded like he had a long night.

The boy felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out to see that he'd been added to a group message, started by Koushiro.

'Can everyone make it to my house in a few hours? I've got some updates about the digital gates.'

Yamato glanced at the clock. He wondered if 'a few hours' meant before or after noon. His friend was foolish if he thought all of the chosen would be awake by mid-day, especially on a weekend. The boy was about to respond that he'd be there, at least, but another buzz meant that someone beat him to it. Sora.

'Sure! Thanks for organizing. Noon?'

Sora was another morning person. No matter how early it was, she always managed to be chipper. He used to love that about her. There was one morning...

"Sora? Are you sure your mom won't be home anytime soon?"

"Don't worry, Yamato! It's 8am. She's not coming home until after dinner."

"She won't know I was here?"

"No. As long as you don't forget anything. Do you know where all your clothes are?"

"Probably lost in the blankets. Look, they're all messed up! You're a blanket hog, you know that?"

"Yamato!"

He didn't want to think about it. Yamato scooped up his dishes and dropped them in the kitchen sink. He hoped someone else would reply between him and Sora, but just as he suspected, everyone else was still asleep.

'I'll be there.'

Koushiro's response made him cringe.

'Thanks for the quick replies. You two are always reliable.'

Across town, Jyou Kido's alarm was going off. It continually beeped, but it couldn't seem to wake the sleeping boy. He was wrapped up with one of his text books, holding it like a pillow. Like he had many nights before the last, he fell asleep while studying. He dreamt of his exams, although, to be honest, the dreams felt more like nightmares.

"Jyou? Jyou!" There was a knock on his door. It yanked Jyou from his sleep.

"Y-yeah?!" He fumbled around in his blankets, trying to find his phone. The door opened just as he managed to turn his alarm off. It was his older brother.

"Your alarm was going off for like fifteen minutes. I wanted to make sure you were up."

Jyou let out a small yawn and glanced down at his textbook. He hoped his brother didn't see him snuggled up with it. "I am now. Thanks."

The older Kido nodded and closed Jyou's door. His younger brother laid in bed, trying to find the will to get up while knowing his day would be filled with more studying. Textbooks were piled up on his bedside table, like they'd lined up to taunt him one by one.

Jyou sat up and swung his legs over the edge of his bed. The wooden floor was cold, and it tricked him into thinking that it wouldn't even be worth it to get up. He needed to study, but what good would it do? The boy felt like he plateaued and couldn't possibly do any better in his classes.

Perhaps a few years ago, Jyou would have felt a sense of responsibility when seeing the type of message that Koushiro sent. Now all he could think about was how it would cut into his studies. He struggled to consolidate the responsibilities of being a chosen child with the need to study and become an adult. How was he supposed to do both?

He toyed with the idea of skipping the meeting, but eventually gave in and let Koushiro know he'd be a little late. By the time he'd sent back any sort of response it was nearing 11:30. He'd only made it through a chapter of his book.

Jyou leaned back in his chair for a moment and stared out the window. "What am I going to do?"

He left his desk covered in books and papers and headed to Koushiro's apartment. When he arrived, he found that everyone else was already there, but they'd waited to start discussing. No matter how many times the group did thoughtful things like that for him, he would always be surprised.

"Sorry I'm late..." Jyou mumbled, glancing around and offering each of his friends an apologetic look. They were spread out around Koushiro's bedroom. Mimi, Sora, and Taichi were sat on his bed. Takeru and Hikari sat cross-legged on the floor. Yamato was leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed. Koushiro was sat at his desk, pulling some things up on the computer. "Just us?" Jyou asked, realizing that the only younger kids that were present were Takeru and Hikari.

"Oh, what, we're not good enough for ya?" Taichi teased. He popped up off the bed and put a hand on Jyou's shoulder. "I for one think it's nice to have the original gang together!"

"And-" Koushiro cut in, "now that everyone's here, we can start. First, a confession..."

Everyone directed their attention towards the boy genius.

"Taichi and I... did something last night. We didn't want to tell you because we didn't want to get any of our friends in trouble."

If it was possible, Yamato put on a heavier pout. "What did you mean you did something? Without us? Did you get into the digital world?"

"No." Koushiro replied, attempting to keep his cool while Yamato shot daggers at him. "Listen, it was my idea to only tell Taichi. Let me explain."

Yamato leaned back up against the wall and let his shoulders drop, although his arms were still locked tightly across his chest. Koushiro recounted the previous night's adventures, much to the awe of their friends. Mimi stared at Koushiro with concern as he spoke. Hikari, who'd already been filled in, kept glancing seriously at Takeru, as if to confirm that the story was true. Sora twisted her head around so fast to glare at Taichi that the boy thought it could have popped off.

"What do you mean you broke into the department of defense?!" Sora yelped. "And without asking for our help?!" She turned back towards Koushiro. "Are the two of you crazy?!"

"That's what I asked when Koushiro first told me about this!" Taichi interjected. "This is for real though. We have the program that the government used to block the gates."

Sora furrowed her brows. She seemed displeased to know anything productive came out of Taichi and Koushiro's little adventure. Yamato perked up across the room. He still looked like he was sulking, but it was easy to tell he was interested.

Koushiro pulled up the copy he'd made of the program and pointed towards his computer screen. "Look. I already told Taichi, but someone made this from scratch. I predict that a team of people were assigned to watch our movements in and out of the digital world in order to make this. People are starting to pay attention to us, to our digimon, to what we're doing... Who knows who else is watching, or who else is planning something. It's become our duty to make sure the power of the digimon doesn't fall into the wrong hands."

"The wrong hands?" Yamato asked, frowning, "So, the government? The military? Koushiro, we're teenagers. We can't possibly do that. What business do we have telling the government what to do?"

It was Taichi who answered. He turned to face Yamato directly. "What business does the government have messing with the digital world? Do you know what could happen if someone decided to use them for something?"

"Do you honestly think some average humans are going to be able to access that type of power?" Yamato shot back. He was already in a bad mood due to his father, and the retort from Taichi didn't help.

"What reason do we have to think they won't?!" Taichi exclaimed. "Someone's already made a program to open and close the gates at their whim- apparently for anyone! That stupid kid got in! What was his name?"

"...Reiji..." Hikari mumbled quietly, lines of concern planted across her forehead.

"Reiji!" Taichi repeated, his eyes still locked on Yamato.

Although Taichi was starting to raise his voice, Yamato attempted to sound level-headed. "That couldn't have been anything more than a fluke." He looked off to the side, his arms still crossed. At this point, Taichi could have been inarguably right and Yamato would have still tried to deny it.

"We can't assume that." Taichi retorted.

Yamato had nothing. He was still looking over towards an empty wall. Sora's lips twitched downwards as she locked eyes with Koushiro. He gave her a helpless look. They were too used to the fighting at this point.

Sora looked at Yamato for a moment, trying to gauge how poorly he'd react if she jutted into the conversation. He refused to look at her, though, so she decided to risk it. "Taichi, I think what Yamato is meaning to say is that we have to be careful. If we're going to start-"

"-That's not what I'm saying." Yamato interrupted. "I'm saying we shouldn't do this at all. I'm saying it can't be our responsibility to keep world leaders in check. That's above us."

"Nothing's above us!" Taichi exclaimed. "We're the chosen children. We have to keep the peace between the two worlds. It's in the job description." He paused for a moment and narrowed his eyes. "Or did you not read it?"

Yamato's stance became tense once again. "Oh, fuck off Taichi."

"Yamato!" Sora said shrilly. Taichi spun his head around to look at her, but the blonde just looked down at the ground. He tried to pretend like he didn't care, but his face looked pained.

Another shrill voice broke through the fighting, but this time it wasn't Sora's. Mimi stood up from the bed and looked angrily from Taichi to Yamato. "You're both being stupid! None of us came here to listen to you two fight! Koushiro did all this work, and you can't even listen to what he has to say? God forbid we let the one who actually knows what's going on tell us what he thinks we should do."

Everyone's attention turned back to Koushiro, and he could feel the tension like a slap in the face. "Oh- I, I mean.. uh.."

As Koushiro stumbled while trying to find his words, Jyou tried to figure out whether he wanted to add his own two cents or not. That'd never gone well in the past during Taichi and Yamato's spats, but he felt like he needed to be the voice of reason. He was the oldest, after all. "Mimi's right." He said. "We don't even really know what the problem is yet- or if there is one- but if Koushiro has an idea, I think we should listen to him. So?"

Koushiro took a deep breath. "I don't think we should do anything drastic yet, but we definitely need to keep a close eye on this. If anyone tries to manipulate the gates again, we need to stop them. I know we all have this fantastic idea in our heads about the real world and the digital world living in harmony, but we can't just merge two worlds. There's going to be problems, and Taichi's right about us being the delegates."

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Fine. As long as we don't do anything rash. I don't know about you all, but I don't want anyone thinking the digimon are to be feared."

That made enough sense to everyone, but Taichi was still fuming. He was glaring at Yamato, like he was trying to will the blonde to lock eyes with him. He wouldn't.

"Right." Koushiro agreed. "So here's what we should do-"

"Keep an eye on the gates?" Taichi interrupted, a hint of sass in his voice. He didn't know what else there could possibly be to do at this point, especially if everyone was so set on kicking back and waiting for trouble.

"Can you let him speak?" Sora scolded. Taichi spun around to look at her. He had a million retorts prepared, it was just a matter of which one to use. However, something caught him off guard. Sora's skin was flushed. She was red, like she'd just run a mile. Could she really be that flustered? The quick up-down motion of her shoulders caught his eye, and he noticed that her hair was pulled back with some sort of bobby pin.

Taichi watched her look of frustration turn into one of confusion. He moved his gaze back up to her eyes and pulled out the first comeback he could think of. "Okay, mom."

Sora blinked. Her lack of response caused him to become incredibly aware of his actions. Taichi tried to pretend like he hadn't stared at her for a second too long. He could feel Yamato's eyes on him from across the room, watching him. He looked up to meet his gaze and narrowed his eyes to match it. However, Yamato didn't look angry. He looked concerned... he was observing.

Taichi felt an uncomfortable twitch in his stomach before turning back to Koushiro with a heavy exhale. "Well?"

"Well," the redhead began, "if you're all ready to listen, what I think we should do is this: We need to keep track of the gates. I want to know everything going in, and everything going out. I'm going to start tracking that, and if anything abnormal happens I'll let you know."

The group nodded. That seemed simple enough.

"And," Koushiro continued, "we can't forget about that weird signal I got before. There's something else strange happening, I can feel it." He paused and glanced at Takeru and Hikari. "When you guys went looking for the source of the disturbance, my computer said you disappeared. However, Mimi and I were able to find you quite easily. I think we should continue investigating that."

The group nodded again.

"Finally," Koushiro said, sighing, "someone needs to talk to Reiji. I don't like that he was able to go through the digiport, even if this program was to blame. He was so angry and uncooperative when he came back, too. I want to make sure nothing happened to him."

"So what are we going to do?" Taichi asked, "Interrogate the kid?"

"You're going to interrogate the kid." Koushiro clarified, the corners of his lips twitching upwards in satisfaction.

"Me?!" The brunette questioned, "but he hates me! I'm the last person he'd want to talk to."

"Well then, you and Sora." Koushiro said, looking over at the girl. "I need you two to find out how Reiji got into the digital world, and what happened to him. Okay?"

Taichi pouted, so Sora elbowed him in the arm and spoke up for both of them. "Sure thing, Koushiro."

"Great. Now, Yamato and Jyou-"

Jyou bit his lip and interrupted quietly. "Ah, I don't really.. er... I don't really know if I can be off in the digital world right now. I have exams. Is there something I can do in this world?"

Koushiro sighed and took a moment to rethink his plan. "Fine. Jyou, you'll be on call if anything strange happens with the gates. The next time someone messes with them, I'm sending you to investigate."

Jyou didn't like that very much, but he figured he couldn't be too picky. He nodded. "Fine."

Next, Koushiro turned to Yamato. "Yamato, I need you to take Takeru and Hikari into the digital world. They'll lead you to the spot of the disturbance. I need you guys to investigate it, and I need you to be ready to fight in case you run into those Divermon again."

"And me?" Mimi asked, looking at Koushiro intently.

"You..." the boy responded, forcing back a smirk. "I need your help tracking the digital activity going on with the gates. Is that alright with you?"

Taichi noticed that Mimi was the only one who had the luxury of saying whether she was alright with her assignment or not. He watched the two of them smile at each other. Wasn't it strange for Koushiro to pick Mimi for help with computers?

Their meeting concluded with everyone deciding to check back in with each other after their respective tasks were complete. Yamato, Takeru, and Hikari would head home to gather their things and then head into the digital world. Taichi and Sora needed to plan out how to get Reiji to tell them what happened. Jyou left the meeting in a guilt-ridden trance, both upset and relieved by his assignment. Mimi stayed behind.

"I hope all this works..." Koushiro said quietly, looking at the floor to hide the tinge of red on his cheeks.

"It will." Mimi said reassuringly. "It has to."

The redhead looked up and smiled sheepishly at her. His blushing made Mimi smile. "How do you do it?" she asked.

Koushiro blinked. "Do what?"

"Always organize plans like this." she answered, as if Koushiro should have known what she was talking about. "You always have an answer of some sort. You always know what to do. Every time we all show up here sad, confused, whatever, we always leave feeling much more reassured. How do you do it?"

The boy furrowed his brow. "I... I don't know." In reality, he was good with computers and data. He could figure out any problem if he had the time. However, he was so taken aback by Mimi's compliment that he couldn't put two and two together. It was nice that someone noticed his hard work, and the effect it had on the group. Perhaps that was his role in all of this.

"Well, either way," Mimi went on, finally standing up from his bed and stretching her arms into the air with a yawn, "don't stop doing it! We'd be lost without you, you know. Who else could figure out how to track the activity of the digital gates?"

"Probably any one of you, if you took the time to learn." Koushiro stood himself and flashed the girl a grin. "You notice all these details, I think you'd be quite good at it."

Mimi stuck her tongue out at him and gave a smile that scrunched up her nose. "Just stick around so I don't have to learn, okay?"

"Don't worry." Koushiro replied. "I'm not going anywhere." He smiled back and blushed. "You know, I've enjoyed spending all this time with you. The work feels less tedious when you're around."

Mimi was the one blushing now. Comments like that from Koushiro were rare. He'd grown to like the company of other people, but still, the girl knew her company must really have been appreciated in order to elicit such a compliment.

A silence grew between them as the space between them closed. With one more half step, Mimi was sure she could stand on her tip-toes and kiss him if she wanted to. And she could have, she was almost there.

Koushiro's eyes were locked on her. She'd have to be the one to make the first move, but she'd never felt drawn to someone like she was drawn into him. She stared at him as she leaned in closer, careful to watch him, to make sure what she was doing was okay.

"I... Mimi.." he stuttered, their faces inches away from each other. It wasn't a plea or a rejection, it was out of nervousness. Mimi wondered if he'd ever kissed someone before. The thought of being his first was exciting, and she leaned in more.

And then, a steady beeping sound came from his computer. It pounded space between them and pulled both their attentions towards the screen.

Internally, Mimi cursed it. She wanted to grumble something about ruining the mood, but she knew that something important could be happening. As always, the digital world trumped their personal lives. "What is it?"

Koushiro needed a moment to gather himself. He could feel his cheeks burning red. He stumbled back towards his desk and grabbed at the computer mouse, pushing papers onto the floor as he reached out with his shaking hand. "I, uh, give me a, here-!"

Mimi leaned in next to him, her shoulder touching his chest. His heart was pounding.

"There." He pointed on the screen, swallowing hard. "More irregular activity with a digital portal. I don't recognize that one though, do you?"

Mimi squinted her eyes at the spot he was pointing to. "No... that looks like the middle of a street. What's going on?"

"Nothing good, I'm sure." Koushiro sighed, glancing at the clock. "It's too early for Yamato, Takeru, and Hikari to be doing anything, too." He plopped himself back down into his chair and prepared to get back to work. He could smell Mimi on him, though, and it was incredibly distracting. He kept thinking back to what could have just happened.

Taichi kicked an empty can along the sidewalk and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "So how are we going to get that kid to talk?"

"I'm not sure." Sora replied, taking a moment to push her bobby pin back farther in her hair. "You're right about him disliking you though. Maybe I should approach him first."

"What's there to even dislike?" Taichi asked. Sora glanced at him and expected to see a sassy look on his face, but he looked serious. She raised her brows and looked at him skeptically. Taichi scoffed. "Yeah?"

Sora shook her head and heard her stomach rumble. She hadn't eaten all day. She'd felt so stressed lately that she'd been skipping meals. Her appetite was totally stolen from her, but it was loud enough to grab Taichi's attention.

"Are you hungry?" Taichi asked, "I am too. Maybe we could pull over for some food and think this out."

Sora agreed, and Taichi's gaze was once again drawn to the pin in her hair. "Is that new?"

"Yeah. Do you like it?" Her expression brightened a bit, happy that Taichi had noticed.

Taichi pulled his hands out of his pockets and waved them back and forth in front of him. "Now that's a loaded question!"

Sora was the one to roll her eyes now.

The two of them walked along for a little, suggesting restaurants to each other until they found one they agreed upon. Taichi couldn't help but laugh as he watched Sora scour the menu for the healthiest option.

"You're a rabbit." He teased. He reached out and tugged lightly on her menu, pushing it down towards the table. "Let me order for you, will you? What do you want? Lettuce? Some carrots chopped up into small pieces?"

Sora pulled the menu out of his reach and raised it up again. "Okay, then I'll order for you. Should I just have the waiter pour ten packets of sugar onto your plate?"

Taichi stuck his tongue out. "Order me a drink, actually. What beers do they have here?"

"Beer?" Sora raised a brow. "Now?"

"It's been a long day!" Taichi stretched his hands above his head and yawned. "Do you want one too? I think they have specials here, or," Taichi caught her skeptical look, "are you still recovering from Mimi's party the other night?"

Sora felt her cheeks get hot. She was embarrassed, but she couldn't remember what she should be embarrassed about. Taichi smirked, loving her reaction, so he went on.

"I think I like drunk Sora. She's tons of fun. Why don't you bring her around more often?"

Sora glared at him from behind her menu. "No way." she said flatly. Sora liked a drink every now and then, but after remembering how she felt the morning after Mimi's, she decided she'd be alright with never touching alcohol again.

Taichi laughed at her, creases around his eyes brightening his persona. "Well, either way, you're lucky you eat like a rabbit! If your body was filled with unhealthy food instead of lettuce maybe I wouldn't have been able to get you into bed."

Sora felt heat rush to her face once again. She was sure she was bright red at this point. "Taichi!" she yelped exasperatedly, drawing more laughter from her friend. He really needed to watch his phrasing. Perhaps 'carry you into bed' would have been more appropriate. "That's not funny! It's your fault you know. We didn't have to have that last drink."

Taichi smirked again. "I think you crossed the point of no return long before then."

The boy was saved from whatever scolding Sora had for him by the waitress who came up to take their orders. The momentum for argument was totally lost, and the two of them ate their meals in relative peace and quiet, pausing every now and then between bites to bring up an idea about talking to Reiji.

An hour didn't go by that didn't have Reiji thinking about his short trip into the digital world. He longed to go back and learn more. It was a new frontier for him- a fantastic image in his mind.

At this particular time, he was thinking of it because he'd received an email.

'Reiji,

I told you I'd locate you! I did it! Listen kid, I've figured out a way to get you back here. Here's the coordinates for an open digital port. Get there soon, and I'll give you further instructions!

Your partner,

Impmon'

The boy's eyes glazed over as he read each word, his mind thumping with excitement as he registered the word 'partner'. He closed his laptop and glanced at the clock. After checking the location of the coordinates, he figured he could be there in a half hour.

The boy seemed all-too eager to leave his home world behind for an amount of time that was totally unspecified. It was an adventure to him- one that would grant him a digimon partner and the chance to get back at the chosen children at the same time. Why were they so deserving?

After packing a bag and putting on sneakers, Reiji caught a glance of himself in his bedroom mirror. It hung above a plain dresser that might have had trophies or photos of friends on it if he were somebody else. The boy thought he looked lanky and unimpressive, his dark hair in a messy heap on his head. He slowed down and furrowed his brows, flashing a sign of uncertainty that he quickly hid away.

"You're deserving." he mouthed to himself, dashing out the door of his empty apartment. He didn't have to worry about anyone questioning him. Folks were rarely home, anyways. Reiji wondered who would be gone longer. He wondered if they would miss him.

The coordinates led the boy towards an alley closer to downtown. Perhaps it was fate, but his route led him past a restaurant, and at that restaurant, two chosen children were busy paying their bill. Taichi Yagami noticed Reiji go past the window, a bit too urgently for his liking, and looking so flustered that it unsettled his full stomach.

"Hey, Sora..." he caught her attention and motioned towards the boy, who was busy looking all around him before dashing down the road.

Sora didn't have to say anything for the two of them to realize they needed to act. They left some cash on the table and ran out. If they needed to confront Reiji anyways, now was as good a time as ever. They crossed the street, dashing past cars and eliciting a few horn honks. They caused such a ruckus that Reiji took the time to glance behind him, his brows shooting up once he locked eyes with Taichi.

"Hey!" The brunette called out towards the younger boy. "Wait up!"

"We have to talk to you!" Sora yelled, feeling like it wouldn't have made a difference if they called out to him or not. Reiji turned into an alley and Sora and Taichi picked up their pace. He was fast, but the two of them made it into the alley before he could go anywhere else. They had him cornered now- or so they thought.

"Hey- whoa!" Taichi called again, a bright light at the end of the alley catching his attention. He skidded to a halt and stared. It looked like a rip in space and glowed a bright orange-yellow. "Reiji, what are you doing?!"

The boy paused for a moment, wiping the look of awe off his own face before turning around to face the two chosen children. "I'm going into the digital world! I'm going to meet my partner!"

Sora and Taichi looked at each other, both of them feeling the same unsettled sickness that plagued them when they first saw Reiji running.

"Reiji, you can't just go into the digital world like this!" Taichi exclaimed. "This isn't even what a digital portal usually looks like! You could be going anywhere! It's dangerous!"

"This portal was made especially for me!" Reiji shot back. "Don't try and stop me! I'm going, and I'm sure more kids will come! It's only a matter of time until more people get partners, and you won't be the only special ones anymore."

The boy turned around and faced the light once again.

"Reiji!" Taichi called out again, his voice deep and hoarse. "No!"

"Don't!" Sora yelled, stumbling forward and reaching out in an attempt to hold Reiji back. She grabbed a hold of his shirt, causing Reiji to look back and glare at her.

"Let go!"

"No!" Sora gasped in response. "This isn't about 'being special', Reiji! Whenever a portal opens like this- whenever people travel into the digital world with such disregard- something bad happens! You can't put yourself in danger!"

The boy blinked, his mouth agape. For a split second, Sora thought he showed some signs of fear. However, any breakthrough that Sora had with him was reversed at the sound of a strange, deep voice.

"Reiji!" It beckoned him.

The light grew bigger and bigger, and Reiji looked determined once again. "Let go! I'm going!"

The girl grunted, trying to shield her eyes from the blinding light while still maintaining a solid grip on the boy. He took a half step forward, and it was apparently all the portal needed to swallow them hole. There was a blast of light, a loud noise, and then there was nothing. Reiji had entered a different world, and Sora was dragged in with him.

Taichi lowered his arms from in front of his eyes and let them adjust to the normal light. He should have been concerned about the portal and about Reiji, but all he could register was the absence of his friend.

"Sora!" Taichi yelled, running up towards the spot where the portal appeared a minute ago. "Sora!?"

He ran towards the other end of the alley and turned around. There was still nothing. There was no gate, no portal- just the panic-inducing lack of his friend. His shoulders rose and fell heavily as he struggled to catch his breath, his eyes pierced with panic, his skin paled.

"Shit!" He yelled out. He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and took off towards a library that was a few blocks away. There were computers there. There was a digital portal. There was a way to get to Sora. As he turned a corner so fast he nearly slipped, his feet pounding against the sidewalk, the voice that called Reiji's name played over and over again in his head. Something dark was at play here, and he let his best friend stumble right into it. Taichi couldn't afford to hesitate this time.

Thank you for reading! I'm happy to report that this chapter took a week to post instead of the usual couple of months. I had a ton of fun writing it. A lot happened I think, but I hope you all enjoyed it! As always, reviews/grammatical corrections/constructive criticism is always greatly appreciated. Shout out to user Growlm0n for beta-reading this, too. I hope that between the two of us we managed to cover any glaring errors. Thanks!

-Garudamon