Wow, your reviews for the last chapter were AMAZING! Thank you all, so much, this is really awesome. Ayelet, I'm glad you're enjoying this and like how it's going. Tudyjr, I'm glad you're enjoying this story! Thanks for giving it a try! WOW544, sad endings are what I live for. MacDreamy, you're ideas do hold some intrigue, I'll have to think about them. As for the bond with Calumon… well, I have some ideas for that, but it's mostly going where ever the wind blows. AUehara-san, you're awesome, I love your reviews. Lightus of the Light, thanks, m8.

Sorry, I've been meaning to do that for a while, now, onto the story.


"Dad!" I watched as Henry ran into the room, a mix of eager and anxious. We had just been told that he was stable enough that we could visit him, but he might be a little drowsy from the pain medication. They told us that he had multiple broken ribs, one of with that had started to punctured his heart, and the hours of surgery had been setting the ribs back into the right place and removing it as carefully as possible, without killing him.

Henry's face had gone white at that part, and he had taken his eyes off of the Doctor and steadied his breathing, the technique to calm himself down reminded me of what Cody would do, calm his breathing to calm his mind, apparently it was important for martial arts and stuff. But I also remembered what Yolei would do in such situations, and even though I wasn't sure if we were good enough friends to do this, I reached my hand over and started to rub his back.

His breath hitched for a second and his body went rigid, but after a few seconds he leaned into my touch, taking in the comfort. Now we were all heading into the room that we had been waiting to go into all day. Takato and Rika had called their parents to tell them that they couldn't be home right now. We decided to let him go in alone, and see his dad in private.

Meanwhile, in the room, Henry entered saw his dad, lying broken, riddled with bandages, his breathing laborious.

"Dad, are you awake?" He asked, his voice a whisper. Mr. Wong stirred, and his eyes managed to open.

"Henry, you and Terriermon are okay." He said, and Henry started to cry again, but a small laugh bubbled out of his throat.

"Of course we are, thanks to you. You should be more worried about yourself." Henry sad.

"Henry's right." Terriermon said, and Mr. Wong changed to look at his sons partner Digimon.

"You saved me earlier, it was my way of saying thank you." He said, and Terriermon gave him a little hug. His face became serious. "Henry, I haven't been completely honest with you. The other day when you made me scan that card, the signature on it wasn't meaningless data, it was a signature I knew almost too well."

"What?!" Henry exclaimed.

"It appeared to be a combined effort of two people I used to know. The double sided K, Koushiro and Kamiya." Henry took the words in, taking a deep breath.

"How did you know them?" He asked, and his dad looked away from his eyes.

"I- I'm sorry, Henry, I can't tell you that right now."

"Why not?!" He asked, seeing no reason why there had to be secrets between them.

"Probably a similar reason why you wouldn't tell me about Terriermon." Mr. Wong petted said Digimon before looking up to look Henry in the eyes. "To protect you." The conversation ended then and there. Henry pulled up a seat next to the bed and sat down. After a little while of silence the conversation changed several times to less contentious topic, though the tenseness persisted in the air.


After we got a chance to say hi to Mr. Wong and thank him most of us didn't see much reason to stay around. Henry would have stayed, but his dad was determined that he go home and tell his family everything that had happened. Well, not everything, more like a believable lie that would calm them down. Takato needed to go back to his house and at this point Rika didn't see any purpose in hanging around.

"Hey, Rika!" I did my best to caught up to the girl, but she had a nasty long stride.

"Oh, it's you." She said it like I was some kind song she couldn't get out of her head and it's only purpose was to annoy her.

"Uh, yeah." I sweat dropped. "Takato said you're really good at Digimon, you know, the card game." I started, and she turned to me. I guess that grabbed her attention.

"I'm not just good, I'm the best." She cooly replied.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you could teach me?" I looked at her hopefully. I had felt so useless during that entire battle, I couldn't even help with the cards. She looked me up and down, surveying me.

"Follow me to my place, I have some spare decks there." She replied and picked up her pace. I widened my eyes in surprise. I hadn't been entirely sure she'd say yes. "Are you coming or not?" She shouted over her shoulder. Realizing I had been lagging behind I hurried up behind her.

In a matter of minutes we arrived at her house, a rather scenic place that had a very traditional Japanese look. I ended up spending longer than I thought I would.

"Okay, so I'm going to use Gargomon…" I looked up at Rika, carefully watching her face, but she just gave a slight nod. "…and then have him attack, using the digimodify…" I fanned through some cards. "…Digmon's drills." I looked back up at Rika. She carefully surveyed the cards, then an accepting smile slowly spread across her face.

"I have to say, Bucket Hat, you're not too shabby."

"Bucket Hat?!" I said in mock appall. "And I thought we were friends." The afternoon had actually been a lot of fun. Rika had taught me how to play Digimon, and then after that we had mostly just talked while we played through a few rounds of the game, Rika always winning. Around three Rika's grandma had come in and given us some snacks.

Rika opened her mouth to come back with a no doubt sharp retort, but first the sound of her front door opening stopped her.

"Rika, honey, I'm home! Sorry I was a little later, I had to visit an old friend of mine!" A female voice called, and Rika's eyes widened. She hurried to her door leading to their garden and opened it, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt, shoving me outside.

"You have to go, Bucket Hat." She hissed. "I can't let my mom know that I had a boy over, she'll start getting… ideas. Like that I'm becoming more girly or something."

"W-wait, am I supposed to jump the fence or something?" I asked.

"Yes!" She replied before slamming the door. Slightly shocked, I headed back to Takato's place. I had noticed that despite everything she had seemed a little tense, I had thought it was because Renamon was missing, I guess there was more to it than that.


Mr. Wong's consciousness came in waves, to be more specific it came in waves he couldn't control due to the pain medication. So when he heard the door open he was too tired to open his eyes to see who it was, but he assumed it was his son. But then when a delicate hand, smooth and soft, definitely not his wife's but definitely a girls, grabbed his hand, there was little more he could do than hive it a squeeze as he felt his consciousness leave him. The last feeling he had before the darkness overtook him was a gentle kiss on his forehead.

It might have been a few hours later, or even a few minutes later, when he came to again. The room was exactly as it had been when he had closed his eyes last, and he dared to think that it had been no more than a dream, until he looked at the nightstand next to his table.

Resting on top of the papers was a bag with a note resting over it. Careful of his stitches he moved so that he could pick up the card. When he did it revealed the symbol on the white shoulder bag, a red cross.

Sorry about your mishap!

It was my turn to carry the bag ;P

The signature on the note was a kiss mark, pink lipstick that smelled like strawberries. He smiled a little to himself. He couldn't believe she still remembered that argument from years ago, when she had meant little more to him than any other 'popular' girl.

"I'll forgive you." He whispered to himself, even though she couldn't hear his reply.


I was walking back to Takato's place when I Digivice started to beep again. I pulled it out and the screen with the arrow on it came up again. My heart rose and adrenaline started to pump. There was something for me again. I had to wonder if it would be my crest this time, since last time it had just been the tag.

I dashed through the park, running past the kids sitting playing their card games, jumping over little kids playing in the dirt. Something was pulling to me this time, and I could've sworn whatever I was searching for was calling to me.

"Hey, Chumley, what bring you this way?"

"Sorry, Kazu, gotta run!" I replied as I 'lightly' shoved him out of the way. I approached a lazy river and the screen disappeared. I heard Kenta and Kazu coming up behind me.

"Hey, Tk, what's wrong?" Kenta asked, and he placed a hand on my shoulder. But I just kept staring a little further up stream.

"What'cha looking at?" Kazu said, following my gaze.

"Wait is that-" Kenta started, but couldn't finish it.

"Patamon." I breathed out as my eyes stared at the white with orange stripes egg slowly making its way down stream.


Woot! Patamon is (kinda) coming in! Yay! This chapter was mostly setting things up for the next stage, but overall I thought it wasn't that bad. It's way shorter than the previous one, but hopefully the next one I can make a little longer. Sorry, I've been super busy and I wanted to make sure I got something out for you guys, cause you're totally worth it! ;) please review and stuff!

~the-east-hunter