"The gate is still too unstable," said a male voice. "Opening it now might cause another incident just like the first time we tried. Then we add the gate rip from five years ago and—"

"That's not necessarily true," said a female voice. "While the gate system is at its most basic level all we need is a security clearance."

"Touma, is this true?" asked another female voice.

"Yes, Yoshino," said Touma—he know recognized the first voice as his. "But I'm afraid unlocking the security on the gates does require actual security clearance. Only top ranking officials have that."

"Is there any way to get around them?"

"There might be. However, the people who designed the locks actually knew what they were doing. If anything, hacking it might make the gate system more unstable than attempting it right now."

"Who has the security clearance?"

"You don't want to know." It was a deeper male voice this time.

That was the conversation that he was hearing outside. When Ikuto had woken up he realized that sleeping might have been a better option—he only felt the pain in his body while he was awake—but upon remembering why he was covered in bandages he decided to ignore the pain and attempted to get up. However, he soon found that sitting up was quite a challenge and knew that it would be a while before he could fight again. He attempted to stand up again but realized that he was still hurting from what had happened to him earlier.

Damn it, I don't remember him even trying too hard!

Duftmon had managed to defeat him quite easily. He did not even remember being this hurt after their scuffle, but he knew that it was due to not having adrenaline rushing through his system that instant. Mustering energy from within he managed to sit up to realize that he was in a small room—he assumed that the door close to him lead to where the others were having their conversation.

"Hey, you're finally up." Said a surprised, but relieved, voice

"Chika?" Ikuto saw that it was his friend from school. Chika was wearing her regular clothes—a blue medium-length skirt and a pink short-sleeved shirt—as opposed to her uniform; Ikuto knew that he must have been past out for a while for her to have time to change. "Hey, where are we?"

"We're at the old DATS headquarters. Touma is here as is Yoshino and the rest of the team. Your parents are here, as well."

"How... How long have I been out for?" He was rather curious at how bad his beating had been at the hands of Duftmon.

"Almost a day. Yoshino found you after they left."

"They?"

"The Royal Knight; they did a coordinated attack at three different old DATS bases."

"The Royal Knights? This doesn't make any sense. Even if Yggdrasil was back they learned that he wasn't all omnipotent—they were willing to turn against him at the end when they saw that he was wrong."

Chika walked closer to his bedside. "That's what they've been talking about for a while." She said as she pointed to the door. "They've decided that the best way will be to find their digimon and see just what's going on in the digital world."

"Right!" Ikuto removed the sheets covering him. "Then I'm going, too."

Getting up had not been the best choice for the injured teenager. He soon found that setting his foot on the ground and attempting to stand up was much harder than previously thought. While his legs had no problem sustaining his weights his injured abdominals were preventing him from maintaining his balance. Chika expected as much and helped catch him before he fell.

"I don't think that is such a good idea." She was now supporting his weight. "At the very least you won't be climbing trees for a while."

With Chika supporting his weight Ikuto managed to make it to the door. Barging in the current conversation—which he had stopped listening to a while ago—he made his demands heard.

"I'm going as well."

Inside the room were all the former DATS agents—Satsuma, Touma, Yoshino, Miki and Megumi—and blonde girl around his age that he recognized as Touma's sister, Relena. However, what caught his attention more than anything else were the two figures of his biological parents, Kenji and Misuzu Noguchi. His father was a portly man with brown hair and a mustache while his mother was a beautiful, tall woman with blue hair.

"Ikuto!" Misuzu embraced her son with a hug, being relieved that he was okay. However, her look of relieved was soon replaced with that of overly protective. "How could you go out and do something as reckless as attempting to fight-off a digimon by your lonesome self? You're very lucky that he choose not to kill you."

"Mom..." Ikuto realized that she had been right; he did act reckless attempting to fight off a digimon—especially when that digimon was a member of the Royal Knights. However, he seemed to recall that before fighting Duftmon he forgot all about both his parents and his baby sister, Yuka. It wasn't for lack of caring; it had more to do that he was not used to fighting when he had something meaningful in his life like family. He knew that he should have been more considerate. He held back his tears. "...I'm sorry."

Touma was glad that Ikuto was okay but, judging from his injuries, he knew that he would be in no condition to go to the Digital World right away—and yes, he recognized the hypocrisy in himself saying someone was in no condition to fight while he himself suffered from a broken leg. However, he was a doctor, so he gave himself permission to go out and explore the Digital World.

"Listen," Touma decided that they had to act fast if they wanted to know just what was happening in the Digital World. "Five of the Royal Knights managed to steal a computer that had the location of some of the strongest digimon in the Digital World. We have no idea why they were after it or just what Digimon they were seeking. Heck, we don't even know if they will attack again. At the moment, we are essentially at their mercy—the only way to change the status quo will be to reunite with our digimon and assuming Masaru isn't dead, try to get what information he might have—it might even be useful at last." Touma looked over at Chika just to make sure she knew that he was joking about the dead Masaru joke.

Satsuma stood up. "I agree with Touma. The Royal Knights managed to kill several people during their rampage. While there were little civilian causality they will have to answer for what they did yesterday. The only way that we will have chance to fight them off will be with other digimon.'

It had then occurred to Ikuto that Satsuma's partner, Kudamon, was a member of the Royal Knights and that it had been Sleipmon who had attacked him first. "Wait, what about Kudamon? Wasn't he part of the attack?"

At that point, Chika wanted to tell Ikuto that he needed some tact. However, everyone in the room had been struck silent with what Ikuto said. They were all expecting Satsuma to not answer the question; who could blame them, with the look in his face he certainly seemed unwilling to answer. However, much to their shock, they were surprised that he managed to blurt out an answer. "Like I said, the Royal Knight will have to answer for what they did. No exception."

They were not surprised by his answer; as their boss he was always tough and did keep the mission at hand, even during times like these when there was no "real" mission. However, to hear it coming so coldly—to hear him essentially condemn his partner to die—was a bit belligerent of the commander. But, really, what other choice did they have? They betrayed an alliance they had, small it may be, and killed innocent people during their rampage. And for Satsuma, his friendship and trust was betrayed.

Yoshino knew she had to remember one important aspect. "This is all fine but we still lack a way to enter the digital world. So, unless we want to create another incident that we will get blamed for, we need to fix the Gate System."

Ikuto's father, Kenji, stepped in. "We've tried everything. As long as the security lock are in place, even if we managed to open it, we would have no control over where any of you would land—inside a volcano, under the sea, heck, even inside a Digimon or a mountain—and that's just a best-case scenario. We might have to steal—"

"You cannot be serious!" Yoshino interrupted, much to the surprised of everyone. "We'd be committing a national offense... against several nations at once!"

"—it from someone who has it."

"I'm sure we could ask for permission to use it. After all, even if they rejected Mr. Daimon's official plea they might reconsider if we make a better case. Who do we know who has it?"

"Him." Satsuma pointed towards the door, marking a man who had just entered.

Being accompanied by three large men was a short black-haired man. Standing besides the three large brutes he looked especially petit, and not in the huggable way, either. All the DATS agents looked at him with contempt. However, the Noguchi's—Ikuto, Misuzu and Kenji—seemed to especially have a hateful look in their eyes that seemed to be cause just by him being in the same room. Not that of contempt, like the others, but that of scorn and hatred. Heck, if his injuries were not holding him back, Ikuto looked like he would have killed him. Fortunately for the short man, he was hurt.

"By being here you are all breaking the law," the short man said. "This base was shut down a long time ago, thanks to you all."

Kenji Noguchi was the first to speak up. "What the hell do you think you're doing here? You think you can barge in here like that after what you did to my family?"

He ignored the anger in the man's eyes, feeling confident they would do nothing while was accompanied. "Barging in? Ha! You're the ones who are trespassing. This base was not reauthorized for use by anybody; I can have you all arrested for a very long time."

Satsuma stepped forward. "Hashiba—"

"That's Director Hashiba to you, Satsuma." He interrupted him mid-speech "After all, I'm a higher rank."

Satsuma continued. "You have to let your grudge against us go. We do not know if they will attack again, much less when. The only way to successfully stand a chance against them will be with other Digimon."

"Ha! I don't know how you failed to notice who it was that attacked us (probably to busy being a coward and hiding out)." Hashiba pulled out a picture from inside his jacket, showing the Sleipmon that attacked. "We easily identified this creature as your partner. Is this correct?"

Satsuma remained quite.

Yoshino jumped in. "Listen, we don't even know what we are dealing with here. This is why—"

"Shut up! You're just a nobody. Now, Satsuma, answer my question: was this or was this not your digimon partner?"

"...Yes." He hesitated. "Yes he is... was."

"Then you are under arrest for conspiracy." He signaled his company. "Gentlemen, arrest him. And, while you're at it, get the rest of these trespassers, as well. I'm sure that there are several chargers they could be held against."

The three large men approached Satsuma.

Satsuma, however, still kept his composure. "Five years and you still haven't learned anything, have you, Hashiba?"

"It's Director Hash—"

"You don't deserve to say anything in front of these people. They've all risked their lives for something else while you still hold a petty grudge against us for proving you wrong."

"How dare you!"

"Yes, how dare I. Five years ago I chose not to speak out against you. You are a cowardly human being. People like you just get in the way—people like you never seem to realize just how wrong they are until it comes to bite them in the ass."

As the first man attempted to grab Satsuma—who was easily several inches taller than him—the Commander of DATS was not going to take it lying down. He elbowed him in the gut and, as his defense lowered, delivered a heavy punch to his head, knocking him down. The other two were approaching. Satsuma dodged the first one by tripping him and as the third approached Satsuma put his foot behind his, put his hand on his chest, and swept and pushed, knocking him down. But he was not done yet. Lifting his right arm he threw his fist at the downed opponent, hitting him in the forehead and causing his head to collide with the floor. The third was approaching and when he was is striking distance he threw a kick but Satsuma managed to block it with his arm. Pushing the leg to the side he threw the brute off his balance and delivered a kick of his own to his head. With all three knocked out everyone in the room had been amazed at just how easily he had taken them out, each with essentially one shot. Heck, Touma thought he could not have done a better job himself.

Hashiba was scared at this point. He thought they would go down quietly when he threatened them. This, however, he did not see coming; he seriously thought Satsuma would surrender when the proper accusations were hailed against him.

"Listen," he said, "surrender now or things will get worst from now on. I will make it my responsibility to lock you away for life."

"And you don't seem to realize is that I don't care." Satsuma approached the stubby man, managing to instill even more fear, if that were possible. "There is something else we all need to do that is far greater than us. I don't care what it takes, but we will get to the bottom of this. You can either stand in our way or step aside—it will not matter to me which you choose."

Hashiba wobbled back. "If you do anything rash I will make sure everyone here suffers for it. They will all be locked up forever!"

Satsuma stopped approaching him. He was willing to sacrifice himself for the current cause, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice everyone else, at least not without their consent. However, hearing someone else step into the room he would not have to make that decision, at least not today. An old gray-haired man wearing glasses steeped in the room and all attention shifted focus on him.

"Yushima," Satsuma greeted the newcomer.

"Please, Satsuma," he responded, "we've been friends for a long time. Call me Hiroshi."

Hashiba disrupted their introductions. "Fine, I'll arrest you, too! I'll arrest you all."

Hiroshi remained calm and faced Satsuma. "I told you we should have campaigned to have him removed." He now faced the short man. "Satsuma may face charges against harming government employees but the thing is that I have more then enough evidence to take you down. And I'm not just talking about from five years ago, no. You are a corrupt man, Hashiba, and if any harm comes to any one of them then you will suffer for it. I know you have the security clearance to open the gate, so give it up nicely and you might continue maintaining your position."

Hashiba was now genuinely scarred; he knew that he had no more bargaining chips. "Do... do not... do not attempt to blackmail the Director. I... I will have you all jailed."

Having had enough of him—not to mention, holding a personal grudge against him—Noguchi Kenji rushed Hashiba and nailed him with three punches directed at his head. Knocking him down he began shaking his fist to relieve the pain—he was not much of a fighter after all.

"That's what you get for trying to break my family apart, you!"

To everyone in that room this had been a surprising day. Not only had their commander broken the law but, also, the usually calm Noguchi Kenji had attacked Hashiba for what had happened five years ago. Then again, none of them got to pay him back for what he did with their memories. Of course, none of them felt that he had gotten what he deserved just yet, but they knew that his punishment would have to wait.

Approaching the downed Director, Hiroshi began searching through his jacket, looking what something. Finding it, he took out a blue keycard.

"He almost makes this to easy. Are the portals ready to go?"

Misuzu spoke up. "Once we enter the card in the slot then we will have control of the gate system. It will be ready in a bit."

With that said, both the Noguchi's made their way towards the computer, being accompanied by Miki and Megumi.

As they were working on getting the system operational, Satsuma knew that they had to plan things out. "We will have to plant ourselves as far away from the Royal Knight's base as possible. This will all have been for not if they manage to find us before we are properly armed. Touma, will your injuries prevent you from going to the Digital World?"

Touma was now in an actual cast and supporting himself with an actual crutch. "I'm not 100 percent, but I should do just fine. However, like I said, we also need to seek out Masaru to see if he knows just what is going on, unlikely as that might be."

Chika stepped in. "Hey, that's not very nice!"

Yoshino looked at Satsuma. "Commander, will you be alright?"

Satsuma looked a bit worried. "I've said what I had to say; if Kudamon did betray us then he will have to answer to us."

Yoshino heard what she needed to hear. If Kudamon did? I knew he had some reservations about his innocence.

"I'm going, too!" Ikuto still had a hard time standing up, still being held up by Chika. "If Touma can go so can I."

His mother came forward. "Ikuto, you can't—"

"This is something that I have to do. Duftmon... I need to find Falcomon."

"Ikuto." Satsuma began. "I know what you are thinking—I can consider myself in the same boat as you—but unlike Touma you can barely stand up."

Hearing that Ikuto let himself go of Chika and attempted to stand on his own. Though he was managing he stand up straight now without any help he was still struggling.

"That may be," Satsuma continued, "but even so I will feel guilty sending someone of your age to fight, especially in that condition."

"But you let Masaru do the same when he was one year younger than me. This is something that I have to do!"

"If you want to reunite with Falcomon then you will get a chance once we are done. Until then, I'm sorry."

Ikuto knew that there would be no arguing with him but knew that he would get to the Digital World later. Knowing what he had to do he decide to drop the issue.

Satsuma, turning to Hiroshi, began talking. "Will you be coming along with us?"

"I'm afraid not," he responded. "They might need my help if any of them wake up. Plus, I can only achieve perfect—I do not need you guys worrying about me while fighting the Royal Knights."

"Just make sure that they don't do anything reckless." Satsuma was referring to both Ikuto and Chika. "They are up to something."

"Very well."

"The gate is ready," called out Megumi.

"Where are your coordinates, sir," said Miki.

Commander Satsuma readied what little troops he had. "Touma, Yoshino, are you ready?"

"Yes, sir," both responded.

"Do you have your digivices ready?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Miki, Megumi, try to get us as close as possible to Mercurimon old base. We have no idea where Gaomon and Lalamon are—for all we know they are on the other side of the world—but rest assured that they should seek us out just as we will seek them out. As impossible as this mission seems we will succeed."

All of the DATS agents we wearing their uniforms from before DATS was disbanded. Along with them they also had hiking backpacks with, presumably, gear that would be useful for traveling the digital world. The three of them steeped inside the Gate System as the portal opened up. Absorbing them, their bodies soon disappeared as they made their way to the Digital World. However, all would not seem well, as both Megumi and Miki soon found out.

"Oh, no!" Said Miki.

"What's wrong?" Hiroshi said.

"The security system needed at least one hour before it was fully shut down." Answered Megumi. "We do not know where we sent them."

"Well find them and make communication."

"Yes, sir."

Ikuto now knew that they would require his help more than ever, even if they did not know it yet.

Yoshino knew that something went wrong when she appeared several feet above the ground. Before she hit the ground she managed to roll, taking some of the impact away. As she looked around frantically for her allies she knew she had more to worry about than a simple fall. In front of her two perfect level digimon were waging a fight. The first one was a large parrot, properly named Parrotmon. The other was a gigantic white beetle-like creature—it was named Okuwamon. Luckily for Yoshino, the two were more concerned about each other than her, but that did not mean that she was safe. As Parrotmon knocked Okuwamon on his back Yoshino saw that he was about to fall on her. Since they were both easily much larger than her they would crush her like an insect. Before the large bug feel on top of her Yoshino managed to roll out of the way. But their fight was far from over.

I need to get out of here and find the others. She began walking as Okuwamon stood back up to fight. As the Parrotmon charged towards Okuwamon the large bug managed to hit it sending it, once again, towards Yoshino. Rolling out of the way once again she knew the safest thing to do—besides running, that is—was to know her surroundings. She saw that she was in a small canyon, meaning that the safest place would be hard to find as both of the Digimon had the ability to fly. However, she soon found relief in her situation when she spotted both Satsuma and Touma inside a cave just ahead, slightly above the ground.

"Yoshino, watch out behind you!" Touma warned.

Yoshino saw that behind her was a blue energy blast—she assumed it came from Parrotmon—and steeped inside a large-enough crack that allowed her to stay alive. Looking forward she saw that the attack from the giant parrot destroyed the nearby rocks; saying they had turned to ruble would have made the rocks seem in better shape than they actually were.

Okay, now I'm really hoping that Okuwamon wins. She thought as she managed to reach where both her allies were. As she jumped up to try to reach them Satsuma managed to catch her hand and easily pulled her up to safety.

"The Gate System must have had something else preventing it from being fully operational," Touma theorized. "Regardless, we must attempt to make contact with the others to know where we are."

Removing and opening his backpack, Touma pulled out a small device.

"Miki, Megumi, can you hear me?"

All that came from the other end was static.

"Maybe mine got damaged when we came in? See if any of you can find a decent signal."

They both did, soon realizing that they had no more luck than Touma. However, Satsuma carefully inspected his communication device and realized that it seemed operational.

"Something is blocking the signals."

"What?" Said Touma. "Could the Royal Knights have guess we would come so soon?"

"It's a possibility. Somehow, we managed to walk into a difficult situation, near impossible, even, and it was made worst. We have no idea where we are and worst of all we don't know where our... your partners are."

"This really is the worst."

As the three of them were left stranded in a world with powerful being both Okuwamon and Parrotmon continued their battle. Strong as those two were they were nobodies in comparison.

Megumi turned to Hiroshi. "Sir, we cannot seem to connect with them. It's almost as if something is blocking the signal."

"The Royal Knights, could they have been planning our arrival?"

Miki managed to temporarily get a signal. She recognized the voice as Yoshino's.

"Yoshino, can you hear me?"

"Miki, Megumi, we landed in an unknown location. We can't seem to reach—"

"Yoshino, we can't seem to locate you. Are you with the other's?"

"Mi—gumi— you hear us?"

"There is something blocking the signal. We can't even find them, much less hear them."

Hiroshi knew the predicament that they were in: they were stranded alone with no possibility of support, no one knew where they were and they had no way to talk.

"This situation just got a whole lot worst."

"It's no use," Yoshino said, "we are not getting through. There really might be something blocking our signal."

While both Yoshino and Satsuma were focusing on trying to establish connection Touma saw a more imminent danger. Still outside the small cave that they managed to seek shelter in Okuwamon and Parrotmon were still outside, trying to kill each other while destroying their surrounding. They were getting closer, and Touma knew that his injuries would be slowing his team down.

"Captain Satsuma," he said, "they are getting closer. You two need to get out of here."

Hearing Touma, both Yoshino and Satsuma went to inspect the situation. Touma was right; both digimon were approaching their location as they carried out their fight.

Touma continued. "My leg will prevent me from going as fast as you two. If you attempt to take me with you then our safety will be compromised."

Yoshino was shocked at his suggestion that they leave him there to die. "No, we can't do that! The only way that we will accomplish this mission is with all of us. I don't think I can take out all the Royal Knights by myself."

"Touma," Satsuma interfered. "We will not leave you behind just so that you can feel better about yourself by not holding us back. Pointlessly sacrificing yourself to give us a few seconds will do us no good."

Without even waiting to hear him respond Satsuma fireman carried Touma and signaled Yoshino to run towards the entrance. Jumping out of the cave they safely landed on the ground and began running. They were right in escaping because a few seconds after they left Okuwamon was knocked towards the cave, crushing the entrance and anything that might have remained inside of it.

Yoshino could not help but rub it in his face. "And to think that you wanted that to be you."

As Parrotmon opened his mouth to attempt to deliver another blast Okuwamon moved fast and managed to impale the large bird directly through the chest. As it screamed out in pain it soon reverted back to a digitama, signaling that Okuwamon had won.

"It served him right." Yoshino was glad that she picked the winner.

However, they were not out of danger quite yet. Okuwamon had managed to see them running and flew above them, landing in front of them and blocking their path. Though he had just defeated his opponent he looked hungry—the fight had clearly worn him out and now he was waiting to enjoy a meal.

"Perhaps it was best to have left me there."

"Their is no point in arguing over this, Touma, he would have caught up to us regardless."

Okuwamon was about to strike when suddenly it was knocked to the side by a kick that seemed to come from nowhere. As the three DATS agents looked to see their savior they saw what appeared to be a muscular golden caped monkey.

"I am thee KingEtomon!" he said. "I, as a member of thy Royal Knight tis my duty to defend those who are in need. Now, be gone you foul beast before I blast you away!"

The Okuwamon did not listen to the monkey's warning. As it rushed him KingEtomon readied a counter. Once it got close the golden monkey jumped towards the large bug.

"King mon-kick!" When the kick landed not only did it manage to send the large bug towards the nearby walls but also upon hitting it reverted back to a digitama. "And another victory I has achieved. This knight shall not rest until all creatures are safe."

While grateful for being saved the DATS agents had no idea what had happened.

"Um, captain?" Yoshino looked at Satsuma. "This guy isn't a Royal Knight, is he?"

"No. This is KingEtomon, a puppet digimon. We should be grateful and continue the mission." Satsuma put down Touma and approached the one who saved them. "Thank you for your help. We will be on our way now."

"Thy is welcome. However, as thy, a chivalrous knight, it would be unheard of me to let you explore this world with thine lady in your present."

"Thanks, but that will not be necessary."

"Does thy not realize that thy are receiving a gift in the services of one of the Royal Knights?"

Yoshino knew that she had to interfere. "You are not a Royal Knight, and your ascent is slipping."

"How-eth dare to insult my—I mean, thy voice and status. I am a knight of the highest order!"

Yoshino could not stand this guy. "No, you're not, and your ascent slipped several times while talking."

"Thy wench has insulted thy honor! I will have to hurt you three for such blasphemy!"

"Your ascent keeps slipping."

"Yoshino," Touma screamed, "just let it go."

Satsuma tried to calm him down. "Look, we are hear on an important mission. We cannot involve anyone who we feel would be a liability to our cause."

"Is thy calling this knight a liability? I shan't have you know that thy is an honest knight."

They should have left me inside that crushed caved. It would be a lot safer. Touma thought.

However, as Touma was questioning their safety—as well as the sanity of his allies—he felt something he had not felt in a while. It was his partner, Gaomon. He felt him approaching—his digisoul told him that. Now he was just hoping that his partner would get there before anything bad happened to them. And, just before KingEtomon manage to hurt any of the DATS agents a small blue hurricane managed to hit him, sending the caped-monkey to the floor."

"Who dares to punch one of the Royal Knights?" KingEtomon stood back up.

The one had assaulted KingEtomon revealed himself. A blue dog-like creature with red boxing gloves stood next to Touma and got ready for the attack.

"Gaomon, let's do this!" Touma ordered, not wasting any time.

"Yes, master," Gaomon said."

Touma took out his digivice and summoned his digisoul. "Digisoul charge! Overdrive!"

Touma's digisoul fully surrounded his body as it made its way into the digivice. Gaomon's body began to change shape and size. As his body seemed to delete itself it was being replaced by something else.

"Gaomon evolve to..." In place of where the small dog once was now stood a gigantic blue mecha-like being. Each of its fists were adorn with three razor-sharp claws. His chest was designed with a wolf-like design and, though clearly a robotic creature, his head still retained the dog shape from his previous evolutions. "...MirageGaogamon."

"MirageGaogamon," Touma ordered, "go easy on him. He did help us, after all.

As KingEtomon approached the beast knight MirageGaogamon easily managed to manhandle the golden monkey. Tossing him aside it was obvious that the fight had won. Knowing that he was done with the fight MirageGaogamon de-evolved back to Gaomon, and decided to greet his partner.

"Gaomon, it seems that you've improved since the last time we saw each other." He approached his partner. "Needless to say, I do miss your tea."

"Yes, master. May I infer that you are hear because of the Royal Knights?"

"Um, Gaomon, how did you know that we were here because the Royal Knights invaded the real world?"

"Rumors travel fast in the Digital World, master. However, I did not know that they invaded the real world."

Being glad that they were out of danger, Yoshino knew that she had to ask. "Um, Gaomon, due you know where Masaru is?"

"I'm sorry, but I have not seem him in some months."

"Gaomon, what exactly do you know about these rumors that involve the Royal Knights?"

"Let's just say that these knights are not exactly who they appear to be."

AN: So, yeah, in case anyone is wondering, I did redo chapter 1. It's much better now, in my opinion. For the record, I'll probably be rewriting chapters 2 through 8 since I don't care for those too much. But, hey, that's what happens when you write in a very amateurish way. Also note that I will be using some of the "better translated" names for certain Digimon. For example, Raramon will now be spelled as Lalamon and whatever else I feel looks rights, though I should barely be noticeable .

And now for some bad news: a job I'm taking requires me to leave a lot of my stuff behind, including my computer. I won't bore you with the details, just note that I will be really busy for the next few months earning some much needed dough—there is very little chance I will have time to work on any sort of writing. So there will be no rewriting of older chapters or starting chapter 12. Yep, this is the biggest outcry since Fred Gallagher drew porn of his own characters and denied it. However, I will make no promises to stop writing due to this and later backed out of said promise, because that's not cool. So yeah, if you're wondering why it's January and still no update you can blame my job.