A/N: Here's the second chapter, complete with an investigation into the hidden face of the Juggernaut sister project.

…

THE JUGGERNAUT PROJECT

…

Kamiya Residence, Kari's Room

December 20, 2003

Kari was slow to rise from her bed that morning. She was exhausted from the previous evening walk and café trip with TK, Yolei and Ken. They had done it as a double-date, but Ken didn't seem to gather the underlying tone and concept of the experience. Instead, Kari had to watch with a sad laugh in her heart at Yolei's sad eyes while Ken had eaten a cake with almost overbearing politeness.

Davis had wanted to go, of course, but Kari talked him down from it at the end of school, telling him to move on. TK had mustered all of his courage the month before in telling her, so by what right did Davis try to interfere with that?

She didn't want him to misunderstand – he was funny, quirky and of definite leadership-material, but she didn't see him as anything more than a friend lost in his own zany overzealousness. Perhaps this was her polite way of calling him stubborn, perhaps irritating at times, but she was far too nice for her own good to say it, even in private thought.

The first thing she did was go across to her desk, yawning quietly and recalling a faint beeping noise in the night, knowing that her D3 had gotten mail. She would usually check it without hesitation in hope of the news that the Digital World was again open, but last night she had felt drained by the double-date and ignored it.

Snapping the screen open and activating it, there was one new mail from Izzy. All that the note atop the message said was 'URGENT – GET TAI'.

She sent him a reply simply asking why she should and why he hadn't messaged Tai to begin with. She disliked being a mediator between her friends, especially after the debacle with Yolei and Ken only yesterday. Leaving it at that, she went to brush her teeth and have a shower, wondering passingly if Izzy would have sent her his reply when she had returned.

Twenty minutes later, hair slick and shiny with the water and shampoo and a towel pressed to her cheek, Kari returned to her room, finding her D3 with an indication that a message had been received.

She opened the message, finding an irritatingly short response, as though she were acting selfish for not just telling Tai to check his mail. Sure, he didn't have a D3 and neither did Izzy, but they could at least use their cell phones. Why couldn't he have just done that?

Sighing, she read it again.

'No special reason. I just need Tai to come to my apartment and discuss something with me.'

'Like what?' Kari typed. 'I don't appreciate being told to give a message and not ask why. Why not call him yourself?'

A minute or two passed by, Kari already dressed into jeans and a baggy T-shirt she enjoyed wearing on 'lazy days' or weekends when Izzy sent a response.

'The phone isn't the best place to discuss this. Just trust me, Kari, please. Get your brother to come over, it's very important.'

Now Kari was feeling slightly worried by the tone of the messages, 'Izzy, if something bad is going on, then you can tell me.'

'No, it's nothing like that,' Izzy responded through mail, followed in quick succession by, 'I got told by Sora last night in a message that he had a girlfriend now. I wanted to congratulate him and catch up.'

Kair frowned deeply, sceptical of why Izzy would be so secretive and enigmatic to not talk about such a thing over the phone. She was even more annoyed by Tai not telling her about it, though it was true that he didn't know about TK yet. As far as he knew, when she was on dates she was actually being a lot more proactive with friends who were definitely not of TK's gender by going to the movies or to meals.

Still annoyed, she typed in her response and headed out of her room and toward Tai's pit of a room where mountains of junk awaited.

'I'll tell him you want to give soccer a try. He'll be there in a little bit.'

…

Izumi Residence, Izzy's Room

December 20, 2003

'Did you really have to lie to her about why you need to see Tai?' Tentomon asked, standing atop Izzy's bed. 'Kari can be trusted, can't she?'

'Are you kidding?' Izzy scoffed, feeling a weight in his chest at having lied to Kari. 'I don't like it, but going over her head is the optimum way to keep her safe – I must have read through this Juggernaut data three times through the morning. I trust Tai the most, Tentomon.'

'I understand,' the Digimon buzzed, his odd stump of a hand going to his chin. 'I must say however that Kari was close to you, as were the rest last I heard. What happened in the past year?'

'Oh, just things and stuff…' Izzy deflected, 'Trust me, I'll tell them all at the opportune time, but this isn't exactly safe to look at. I'm also concerned as to whether or not anyone has noticed that I'm looking at these files.'

'Don't worry about that,' the insect waved his stumpy hand defensively, 'Gennai has guaranteed that there is protections on your computer that he uploaded with the files. As long as you use only that one to read them, nobody will ever know.'

'That's good,' Izzy breathed a little easier, licking his dry lips and realising that he would need breakfast and a drink soon. 'But I can't talk about it over the phone. I don't know if anyone might be listening.'

'So that's why you dismissed Kari's suggestion?' his old partner sounded proud. 'That's my Izzy – still as bright as ever!'

'Thanks pal, but we need to eat something,' Izzy got up from his desk and locked his computer, waving for Tentomon to follow. 'My dad's missed you almost as much as me since you're great at Go. My mom's also wanted to repay you for protecting us when Myotismon flattened the city.'

It was amazing how casually he could talk about the Odaiba Incident, as many people from Odaiba always talked about it with fear of a 'giant' and the funny 'world in the sky'. He knew better since he had survived, thanks entirely to his best friend, Tentomon.

'Come on, let's go and have something to eat,' Izzy said as the beetle Digimon flew across the room to the door with him. 'My mom and dad want to see you, anyway.'

…

Streets of Odaiba, On Approach to Izumi Residence

December 20, 2003

Izzy had better have a good reason for waking Tai up on that day. He had hoped to skip the day entirely as it was the weekend. Sure, some Saturdays he would have to go in, and Izzy did as well to catch up with his already-completed computer studies with Natsuko, but now he wanted to give soccer a try?

Tai didn't buy it. Izzy wasn't the type to play soccer unless it was compulsory and even then he stuck to the sidelines, avoiding the ball. He had to have had another reason for seeing Tai.

The air was chilled and his breath came from his mouth like a thick fog, as there had been on that day three years ago. Snow lined the streets with some beaten tracks from other early birds, seeing as it was only seven-thirty in the morning. The sun was barely shining over the tall tenement buildings erected in the last three years.

Whatever Izzy had said that was so urgent had annoyed Kari. She had shaken him and literally rolled him from his bed to the hard wooden floor of his bedroom, her face screwed up and a slight red at her puffed-out cheeks. She rarely made that face, and it was often made due to him hiding something from her.

Izzy must have told her something else and she must have told him a lie about him wanting to play soccer. That was his conclusion, though it saddened him a little, knowing that his once-innocent and sweet sister was now being wilful and secretive. Being a teenager on the cusp of adulthood must have dimmed that Light she was once so proud of. Either that or TK had made her more outgoing and secretive.

He was passing by a park when he spotted a group of what looked like elementary school kids. They were throwing snowballs at each other, laughing so happily and contently and bringing a twinge of envy into Tai's mind. Once, he and his now distant and divided friends would have laughed like that in the Digital World. The snow reminded him of Frigimon, a living snowman. He remembered the cold fondly, though at the time he would have felt more like he was going to freeze.

Nostalgia washed over him like warm water, only to be knocked from him along with his senses as pain staggered him – a stray snowball had hit him in the face.

'Not cool!' he shouted at the elementary school kids, watching them run away with mischievous giggles at their mistake as they fled. 'Stupid brats…'

'Tai?'

He looked with tears in his eyes through his fingers, seeing Sora wrapped snugly within the blue coat she had worn at Matt's concert the year before. She had a bag at her side and a worried look on her face.

'What happened?'

'Remember when I told you about Frigimon before?' Tai asked, getting a nod while he pinched his nose and lifted his head. 'Feels like I got punched by a snowman.'

Sora chuckled at his agony, as she always had when he had been struck by a stray soccer ball when they were kids. Of course, he had always done the same, and the laugh soon became reciprocal between them.

'Oh – man this hurts…'

'It was an elementary school student – a girl from what I saw,' Sora said hotly folding her arms with the bag dangling before her. 'Get over it, little Missy.'

'That kid's not a little girl, she's a fiend,' Tai cut across, still pinching his nose. 'The great snow demon of Yagami Elementary, that's all she is.'

'Are you actually envious of a little girl?'

'Who wouldn't be with her strength – it feels like she broke my nose.'

'No, she didn't. I can tell since you're still standing and not bleeding.'

'Alright Joe, calm down,' Tai cooed, his voice thick due to his nose being pinched. 'Is this how it felt when we saw LadyDevimon on top of Spiral Mountain?'

'What do you mean?' she gave him a funny look, something burning dangerously in her eyes. 'What about her?'

'Well, you and Kari were acting all funny when she appeared, then Angewomon did as well,' Tai recalled, picturing LadyDevimon's buxom form in his mind's eye. 'Then again,' his eyes strayed to Sora, though not her face, 'I guess I kind of get why.'

His was released and he grabbed hold of the back of his head, feeling it pound with pain after Sora used her monstrous strength to slap him upside his head.

'What do you say?' she demanded strongly.

'I'm sorry… I'm really, really sorry with ice-cream and cherries and all that good stuff on top.'

'That's better,' Sora snapped at him, though her mood immediately improved. 'So, why are you of all people up at this hour? Aren't you hibernating through winter again?'

'Same to you,' Tai said, suspicious. 'You getting groceries or something?'

'No, I was getting some baking goods – I'm making cookies again for Matt and everyone at the reunion on Christmas Eve. Do you know that Joe's been quiet on me all year?'

'Yeah, that's kind of his thing,' Tai mumbled, avoiding the subject of Matt altogether. 'I got messaged by Izzy this morning that he wanted to talk to me about something urgent. Kari came in and acted weird when she told me.'

A hand went to Sora's face, masking what he could tell was a smile behind her gloved fingers.

'What?'

'That… might have been my fault,' she explained, chuckling. 'See, I knew Izzy had Natsuko, so I thought you might want to ask him about this 'Eri' you told me about.'

'Yeah, about that,' Tai began sarcastically, 'I don't think knowing the whole lingo behind techno-speak will make this go any better. Besides, I don't know much about her, like I said, she'd just come up to me yesterday.'

'That a fact?' Sora said, nodding almost disinterestedly. 'Listen, why don't you go to school later and find out what club she's in? If she was there that late then she's got to belong to one – go and join it.'

'I'll do that,' Tai moaned. 'But first I've gotta go see Izzy. I'd rather have Joe of all people tell me about this 'Kaori' of his, but there you go. I'll see you later, alright?'

'See you.'

…

Izumi Residence

December 20, 2003

Tai rung the bell and waited for an answer, looking out over the balcony of Izzy's place, remembering his old apartment had been flattened by VenomMyotismon and he had been moved, but still, it was a nice place. Snow blanketed much of what he could see and it was still falling lightly around him.

He could tell that the forthcoming Christmas would be filled with snow, unlike the year before where he had travelled to France and found little other than cold air.

The door opened behind him and Tai looked back, though he didn't anticipate what he saw.

'Tentomon?' he gasped, stunned. 'H-how're… why're… is Agumon here, too?'

'No, he is not,' Tentomon buzzed. 'Come in, Tai. Izzy will explain everything.'

'Explain?' Tai followed the Digimon inside, still in disbelief that he was there. 'Explain what, like how you're here?'

'In part, but that is not all there is to it, I'm afraid.'

'Ah, Tai!' Mrs Izumi called, appearing from the living room. 'I haven't seen you in so long! How are you doing?'

'I'm okay,' he said. 'Um – so, you're alright with Tentomon being here? My mom would freak if she saw Agumon, even now.'

'Oh, I spoke to him last Christmas,' she said, smiling radiantly. 'I suppose I just got used to him. Don't worry, I never told anyone about him or any of you kids. I doubt that they would believe me if I did.'

'Thank you,' Tai gave a small bow of appreciation. 'Is Izzy in?'

'Yes, he's in his room,' Mrs Izumi pointed him to it, though he remembered it from the year before quite well. 'He seemed upset over something and barely talked at breakfast.'

'That may have been because of me talking about the Digital Government we set up,' Tentomon explained, waving his stumpy hands around. 'Izzy's dad seemed interested, so we talked for the past hour until you got here. It was such a nice chat, too.'

'Well sorry,' Tai quipped, unable to prevent a smile from breaking out across his face. 'Listen, how about you go talk to Izzy's dad again while I go see Izzy?'

'I would like that very much. My toast was tasty and I need to finish it.'

'Alright then,' Tai said, Mrs Izumi and Tentomon heading back into the living room while he moved toward Izzy's door, knocked and entered. 'Izzy, you here?'

'I was wondering what was taking you so long,' the redhead snapped rather harshly, rubbing his eyes. 'Sorry… I haven't slept all morning, and I just had to lie to Natsuko so that I could have today off from school.'

'It's the weekend – why would you go in anyway?' Tai joked.

Izzy returned in kind, 'You have to go for remedial lessons and soccer, I have a girlfriend and computer studies to do.'

'Do you want to rephrase that?' Tai indicated a small amount with his thumb and index finger, 'Even a little?'

'No,' Izzy declared, putting his laptop on and the computer beside it. 'Get your mind out of the gutter and onto this.'

Tai sneered playfully at his old friend – he never was one for a dark sense of humour, even when they had both turned sixteen. Natsuko fit in so well with him in Tai's mind because she was too uptight to actually swear or cuss or even make a euphemism, much like Izzy.

'So Izzy, I saw Tentomon,' Tai said with some urgency. 'Should I get my hopes up or is there something wrong?'

'No, the Digiports are still under guard, so Tentomon's here on special loan,' Izzy said seriously. 'I'm sorry, Tai. Agumon is still with the others in the Digital World.'

'Then why's Tentomon here?'

'Gennai sent him through my computer last night – we have something we need to check out,' Izzy stated, pointing to the many open windows on his computer and laptop screens. 'Listen to me for a minute and try to keep up.'

'I – alright, hit me.'

Izzy then began to explain all of it to Tai, about the Juggernaut project and its failure, about the government's plan to counter Digimon having gone wrong and the sister project, though he was sketchy on the details of what it entailed other than the ascertained location of the facility itself.

'So basically I need your help to look at this hidden facility,' Izzy pressed some keys on his computer's keypad, bringing up the image of a glass building. 'This is the fake, but the real one's in a shipyard.'

'Alright, but why're you asking me?' Izzy had never been one to openly ask for help, save for the incident with Diaboromon. 'Why not go with Tentomon? With your Digivice and all, nothing can get in your way.'

'What are you thinking?' Izzy suppressed his voice desperately, looking appalled at the idea. 'I can't go in and have Kabuterimon just wreck a government facility! Not to mention that people might be in there!'

'Alright, it was just a suggestion!' Tai threw his hands up. 'Don't bite my head off – so what's the plan and why am I here?'

'You…' Izzy licked his lips, looking uncertain of himself, 'I'll be honest with you – you're the Digidestined I trust implicitly, above all the others. Don't ask me why, you just are, even now when we aren't the Digidestined.'

'What do you mean?' Tai asked. 'We're always going to be the Digidestined. We saved the worlds – twice.'

'And that is something that we might never be thanked for, Tai,' Izzy sounded mature, far beyond a sixteen year old like Tai. 'Listen, I don't mean to sound cynical, but the world might never know what we did in the first place. Even then, does it need to know that the monsters that came into the world last Christmas aren't just a few but a world-full?'

'I guess not… but that doesn't mean that we're not the Digidestined anymore,' said Tai, firmly. He refused to admit that his friends were separate now as their duty to the Digital World was done. 'We always will be. That's why I'm gonna help one of my friends, whatever it is he wants to do, just like old times.'

Izzy didn't counter him, instead pointing to his computer screen and bringing up what looked like an online form, filled in with typed letters.

'What's that?'

'This is Project Juggernaut,' said Izzy. 'It describes how it failed due to other Digidestined kids in some unmentioned part of Japan during that crazy Christmas. But if this was serious enough to be tried by the government – poisoning Digimon with a virus – then what could be bad enough to hide as a sister project?'

'Maybe some anti-Digimon weapon,' Tai scratched his head, fingers wading through his thick hair. 'But what'd that be at best – maybe some something to make them crash or overload or something.'

'That was the aim of Juggernaut, but this project Gennai's given me some information on is pretty vague, but it seems like some anti-Digimon program of some sort. That's why we've got to look at this facility.'

'And I'm going because you trust me?' Tai was astonished and humbled at once. 'Wait – I'm not some sort of shield if you get caught, am I?'

'No.'

'And nobody else is coming?'

'Well, I trust you enough to take the risk with me, but who do you trust most?'

'Hang on,' Tai said, pulling his cell phone from his pocket and looking through his number directory. 'I'll give them a call.'

'Wait, make sure that you don't talk about Juggernaut – people might be listening!'

'I get it so stop whimpering like a puppy!' Tai hissed, placing the cell phone to his ear. 'C'mon, pick up the phone…'

…

Ishida Residence

December 20, 2003

'And basically you're saying that Prime Minister Ichijo owes the public an explanation about the Odaiba and Christmas Incidents?'

'Let me ask you this – do you feel at all safe knowing that some creature flattened your street or maybe even your house, and yet your Prime Minister refuses to utter a word?' some would-be expert was debating, sweaty and conceited. 'The monsters need to be squashed as a threat, and yet the powers that be refuse to even look a reporter in the eye when asked, even with the anniversary of the latest instalment of monsters upcoming. Who's to say that Highton View Terrace wasn't a starting point?'

'Matt, are you still watching that garbage?' his father had not been overly impressed by his sudden interest in political debates, especially as Matt had arguably proven himself more aware than his father. 'Shouldn't you be getting ready for the little lady and your date?'

'You mean 'Sora',' Matt scolded, hating that particular petname for his girlfriend of almost a year. 'And yeah, she'll be here soon, but I want to catch as much of this as I can.'

'But an early morning debate – where did you go wrong?' his father sniffled to himself, only to follow with a laugh. 'Whatever it is, just make sure that Sora's happy or I'll cut your allowance for a month.'

Matt looked over the back of the couch to look at his father in disbelief, watching him eat his cereal with a serene expression on his face. He was serious.

'Sure dad, I'll do that,' he said as calmly as he could manage. 'How's everything going at the station?'

'Ah, it'll be fine. Told one of the guys once that the sphere fell because they angered me and word got around. Trust in your old man from time to time.'

'They actually bought that?'

'Apprentices,' his father said. 'What more is there to say? Anyway, I've got work today so I'll be heading off. Today you might be eating alone, so invite a friend over or something okay?'

'Alright,' Matt drawled, not okay with the idea at all. His father was a chief at the nearby broadcasting station of Odaiba, but aside from average pay at the best of times, it had stolen many hours and even days without him at Matt's side during dinner. 'Hey, how about a movie before Christmas – you know, just us for once?'

'I-,' Matt could see in his eyes that he was going to flatly deny it, but then he changed to, 'maybe – I'll see what I can do. Sorry I can't give you a firm answer, Wolf.'

Matt smiled at his dad's pseudonym for him, the nickname paying homage to his band, the 'Teenage Wolves'.

'That's okay, dad… be safe, alright?'

'I'm old, not senile or infirm. Calm down, Matt.'

'Someone's got to worry in mom's place,' Matt said with a cool smile, watching his dad smile back, grab his coat and leave the apartment. Matt lay across the couch like a bed. 'Great – another weekend alone… fantastic…'

He looked over to the time at the corner of the debate on TV, seeing that it was almost ten. Sora would arrive within minutes, which was a gift in its own right. He couldn't see why she would want to meet so late in the morning, however. Usually she would drag him out to watch her tennis practice, but not this time.

It was odd, but he cast that from his mind. Whatever Sora wanted to do, he supported it fully. That was their rapport, the very basis of their relationship – trust.

Then he heard it, his phone ringing. The theme he had chosen was 'Hitomi No Tsubasa' by Access. It sounded a little funny after listening to it many times, but he still enjoyed it as his ringtone. Standing up, he followed the noise into his room and grabbed his cell phone from the table.

The caller ID labelled the caller as 'Tai'.

Matt sighed, uncaring to talk to Tai at that moment and wanting to get ready for his date with Sora.

Whatever it was that Tai wanted it could wait.

…

Joan's Diner and Eatery, Odaiba

December 20, 2003

'S'up, squirt?' Jun asked, slurping on her drink as she did so in an unladylike manner. 'You've been down for a while. Girl trouble?' she flared her nostrils and smirked, 'Boy trouble?'

'Jun, shut up,' Davis hissed, trying his best to not chance a look at the other patrons around him, hoping they didn't care for what Jun had just suggested. 'Why're you even here with me? Don't you have to get ready for college next year or something?'

'Lighten up, would you?' Jun smiled deviously, 'It's Christmas, the time for peace on Earth and love.'

'For the last time, Matt's still with Sora and Jim's gone already. Unless you're making a move on me, give it up.'

'I have standards, unfortunately,' Jun stated matter-of-factly, tucking into her burger. 'That Kari girl's moved on, right? Do the same and get some addled, low-standard girl – there's gotta be ten of them in some soccer club somewhere.'

'Soccer's a way of life,' Davis corrected.

'It's a way on keeping your eye on the balls,' Jun corrected right back.

It took Davis a moment to grasp her snappishness, 'Wait… what?'

'Nothing, nothing at all,' she smiled. 'You'll be a great soccer player.'

'Sometimes I really, really hate you,' Davis mumbled, his face burning with embarrassment.

'And other times?' his sister giggled with a saintly smile.

'I really hate you.'

'Good,' she said, clapping her hands together, 'at least you won't be moping around the apartment anymore.'

'That's honestly what you're doing right now?' Davis sneered. 'C'mon, least buy me a burger if you're gonna do this.'

'I worked hard for this money, I'll have you know,' Jun smiled. 'Why should I spend it on a dweeb who hates me?'

'I – uh…' Davis hated her flawless argument – she had recently gotten a job at a local convenience store, practically depriving him of any argument that she was lazy, which did annoy him. 'Whatever…'

'Good boy,' she cooed. 'Anyway, I think you should just go out and find some new girl to bother. That 'Kari' seemed pretty uninterested anyway. She strung you along for a while, but that's done now, so get over it.'

'Jun, I'm not doing this-'

'Actually, dad's locked us out until I tell him that you're done being all depressed and start seeing your friends again.'

Davis was mortified.

'He'd do that?' he blurted, though his father was strict in that way. 'But… but you'd be locked out too!'

'Actually I have friends, unlike you at the minute,' Jun clipped, taking another sip from her drink. 'So, what'll it be?' she lifted her hand, two fingers extended victoriously, 'Either you talk to me now or you go find a friend to hang with for tonight. What'll it be, Davis?'

'Ken's probably got a bed going,' Davis said, rising from his seat. 'I'll go check.'

'Your choice. I'll check with Beth and Miyako later on then and have a sleepover.'

'As if that'll work – who'd want to see you out of school, anyway?'

'Same to you squirt,' Jun snapped, a fire in her glare. 'Impromptu sleepover? Can you manage that with people you've avoided for a month?'

Davis wasn't happy about it, but he settled back into his seat, recognising that he would be ridiculed and scolded for being distant to begin with, especially by his best friend. Besides which, Ken seemed preoccupied with surviving Yolei's endless advances, not that any of them got very far.

'Fine, fine…'

'Good, better start talking,' his sister said with what she apparently thought sweet words. 'What's the big issue?'

…

Joan's Diner and Eatery, Odaiba

December 20, 2003

Today was the third day. How he had survived was a mystery, but he doubted that such peace would last for long. His transfer into the local junior high school was perhaps a little haphazardly placed, but he was looking forward. He would be remembered as the boy who just casually came in at the end of the school's term, though to him it would be a great beginning. He could feel it.

At that moment he sat at a diner, sitting within a booth of his own beside the window, watching snow fall softly to the ground. This gentleness was stark to the racket behind him. He could sense some of the other patrons and even waitresses giving looks to the girl who sat behind him, talking down to her brother.

'Get over this 'Kari' girl and find someone else to suffer you,' she was saying snippily. 'She's a Kamiya anyway – have you seen her brother? You wanna be a soccer hard-head like that guy?'

'He's younger than you, and it's not nice to talk smack about someone younger behind their backs,' her brother snapped back in turn. He did his best to ignore their tiff and watched the snow fall. 'This is why no dude's going to touch you with a thirty foot pole if you were stranded at sea.'

'Oh, aren't you just cute?' the sister crooned, a vicious tone in her sugary voice. 'How's Kari doing with her boyfriend who's not a total washout, I wonder?'

The snow was gradually slipping from his attention. He wasn't sure how much longer he could stand it. His brow twitched angrily without his leave.

'How's Matt doing with his girlfriend who's not a complete hag?'

'Did you just call me a hag, nitwit?'

'Sure did, troll.'

He could feel himself snap on the inside, and he rose, exited the booth and headed toward the exit, hearing some random chatter on his way out.

'Whoa – why's the window cracked?'

…

A/N: And therein ends the second chapter. Again, this is entirely a fiction and no secret projects to slay digital dinosaurs has been undertaken by the UN to public knowledge.