DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon.

CHAPTER TWO

"The digiworld hasn't changed that much since the last time we came here. " Yamato said as they were all looking around the area. They were in a forest at that time looking for a nice place to set up for the picnic. "Seems like it's going to be one peaceful day. What a relief!" Mimi said gleefully realizing that they were finally able to have a nice get together without any huge catastrophe that's going to happen.

"That's true Mimi, it has been quite peaceful since we got in the digiworld." Koushiro said carrying a red duffle bag with a white strap. He let out a huge sigh and continued looked around their surroundings.

"So, does anyone know where our digimon are?" Ken asked the group realizing that they've been walking around for a while and none of their digimon have appeared. Everyone stared at Ken.

"You're right." Taichi said. Ken fell to the floor in a comedic way. "None of you noticed that our digimon aren't with us? " Ken said.

"Come to think about it, I don't see any digimon in the forest either" Iori said noticing that only the sound of rustling leaves was heard.

Everyone started to get concerned. Koushiro opened his laptop and tried contacting Gennai for some help. Taichi and the others looked around the forest to see if there were any digimon around. They split up into five groups to get more ground. Taichi went with Hikari, Takeru went with Yamato, Iori went with Miyako, Daisuke went with Ken, and Mimi went with Sora.

Koushiro patiently waited for a reply from Gennai while the others looked. "There must be something that happened here while we were gone." Koushiro said to himself. Suddenly, Koushiro received an email from Gennai. He opened the email and wasn't happy with what he read. 'No way…'

A few minutes later, everyone regrouped and shared what they have found out. "There were no digimons from where me and Hikari were at." Taichi said. "So did ours." Takeru and Miyako said and looked at the others. Daisuke and Sora shook their heads and said their find was a dead end too.

"So all the digimon here have vanished. But why?" Yamato asked thinking about some theories as to where the digimons could be. Koushiro suddenly stood up and ran to their bags. "Koushiro, what's wrong?" Sora asked. Koushiro then went through his bag and took out the basket where they put their food into earlier. He placed it in the middle of the group. Everyone was confused as to why he did this but then one by one their stomachs started grumbling.

"Maybe we should eat first. After all, we were here to have a picnic right?" Koushiro said and everyone looked at one another. They forgot the main reason why they were there in the first place. Taichi looked at Koushiro and noticed he was looking a bit glum.

With that Taichi smiled and said, "You're right Koushiro! Everyone, we got caught up again. I know this is serious but we can't deny we're all hungry."

Koushiro looked at Taichi still with that glum expression on his face. Everyone started looking a little helpless seeing the big picnic basket in front of them.

"I am hungry…" Daisuke said without any second thought.

"I'm not, there's this thing that's happening and all you think of is food." Miyako said standing up but then sat down after her stomach grumbled a bit louder. Everyone laughed.

"Then no arguments! Let's eat!" Taichi yelled. Everyone agreed and started preparing the food. While they were eating, Taichi sat next to Koushiro and looked at him seriously. Koushiro not realizing that there was someone next to him jumped at the sight of Taichi.

"T-Taichi! You scared me!" Koushiro said with Taichi still staring at him. "Spill whatever you were supposed to say to us when you're ready okay?" Taichi coldly replied. Koushiro didn't know what to reply to that but nodded.

A few hours later, they packed their belongings and did one more round before calling it quits. "It's starting to get dark here. Maybe we should return tomorrow and continue searching then." Yamato suggested. Everyone had no choice since they can't stay here longer or their parents would start to worry. They planned to meet in the forest the next day and continue their search.

Taichi, who was fixing his bag, heard someone whimpering.

No one can hear me… Please… anyone… help me…

"It's that voice again…" Taichi thought.

What? Hello… did someone hear me? Please answer me…

"Ye-" just as Taichi was about to reply, someone patted him on the shoulder. Surprised, Taichi dropped his bag and turned around.

"Koushiro?" Taichi looked at his friend holding his laptop. "Are you finally going to tell us what's happening?" Taichi asked Koushiro who was tightening his grip of the laptop.

"I'll tell them tomorrow. But Taichi, there is something I need to tell you."

"What is it Koushiro?"

"Gennai said to tell you this earlier but -" Koushiro was cut off when Taichi interrupted his saying, "Everyone was there and you needed to distract them."

"Y-yeah… Anyways, Gennai wanted me to tell you Be careful not to tamper with things that aren't supposed to be tampered with."

Taichi looked at Koushiro shocked. "What does Gennai mean? Could it be that the voices I've been hearing? I should tell Koushiro."

"Koushiro, there's something I-"Just then, Sora called them and said to hurry up. Taichi sighed and yelled back to Sora, "Yeah! We're coming!"

"Taichi what were you going to say?" Koushiro asked.

"I'll tell you tomorrow." Taichi said and walked to where the others are already.

When they returned, Taichi couldn't stop thinking about the voice that spoke to him earlier.

"What does it mean by help me? Maybe there's a connection to that voice and the digimon vanishing but how? Maybe if I rest a bit it would help out."

Taichi curled up in his blanket and closed his eyes. He quickly drifted to sleep and had started dreaming.

It was dark, there were no walls, no light. Taichi was floating in the darkness.

"Is anybody here?" He asked. Just then a blast of cold air surrounded him.

You can hear me right?

"That voice…" Taichi turned around and gasped. It was a black shadowy figure with blood red eyes. It was smiling at Taichi.

You can see me right?

"Just what the heck are you…"

END OF CHAPTER 2