I know that this one was really quick, but I already had it mostly done and wanted to go ahead and post it. I'm sorry to say there will be a large number of flashbacks in this chapter, but I need to set up some things. However, this one does have the tamers in it. It is also longer than the last one, which is another plus. Hopefully, you will enjoy this chapter fairly well. So, here we go.

A routine, you would think, would get boring after a while. Day in and day out, doing the exact same thing. But surprisingly, Impmon was enjoying his new lifestyle. The small, purple rookie digimon with a red bandana, gloves, and a knack for trouble grinned slightly as he considered it.

First thing, he would wake up at the insistence of two young twins, also known as Ai and Mako, who wanted to play. After keeping the active pair busy for a little while, the tamers' mother would announce breakfast and he would grab his. Soon as he practically inhaled his food (which would lead to her rolling her eyes at his table manners), he'd head out for a while. Ai and Mako would watch him leave with some concern, but they were getting more trusting that he'd be fine. They were great kids overall, and he could sort of understand why they would worry (Impmon did not want to reflect on that too much though), so he accepted that they didn't like him leaving. At least they weren't as clingy as Bunny-boy and his brainiac partner.

After leaving the Olkowski residence, he headed towards another home. Jeri Katou. He still felt a heavy sense of guilt when he thought about his past actions concerning her, so he kept an eye on her. True, through a series of interesting circumstances (which again was not a fun memory for him), her partner Leomon was with her once more. But a tall, lion-like being with a sword tended to be noticed walking around. And even if the humans in the neighborhood were becoming slowly more adjusted to the presence of the digital creatures, it was easier for their nerves not to be confronted with the larger ones too often. So Leomon tended to remain either on Jeri's roof or in the park. Impmon was less noticeable and just kept an eye out for her when she wasn't near the champion or another one of the digimon. He wasn't sure if she noticed his presence, and he would automatically have denied he was playing body guard for the girl, but it made him feel… better to make sure she was safe. Not that he didn't trust Leomon to protect her. So his mornings were spent quietly trailing her, like a certain fox-face with her Ice Queen partner, while amusing himself with snagging snacks from the various carts and scaring poor, unlucky humans (at a reasonable distance from the brown-haired girl or else she would definitely notice him). After she either went to the park, met up with another tamer, ended up at school, or drew near her actual partner, Impmon would once again swing by the house to see his tamers and get lunch.

Then was the weirdest part of his day. This one only took a few moments and it seemed like a waste of time, but he had to do it. A few houses down, he felt drawn to check on another child. There was no logical reason why he felt it was so important to watch out for her, like he did for his partners or Jeri, but he did. This one was four years old, just like Impmon's tamers. She had dark hair and deep blue eyes. Her expression was always one of cheerful innocence. But she was more than just another kid. Or she would be…

"Impmon," called Mako, his voice snapping the purple rookie out of his unusually peaceful reflection.

"Yeah? What is it, munchkin?" he yawned.

The virus digimon was lying on the roof, enjoying the sun's warmth. The whole week had been cloudy and cool. Given the change in weather, he knew that eventually a few romantically inclined pairs would dare the approach of winter to enjoy the coming sunset and each other's company. Which meant Impmon had plans for them. But until then, he was relaxing. Below, however, his tamers seemed to disagree with his desire.

"Come on," coaxed Ai sweetly. "We have to go. Suzie's party will be starting soon."

He muffled a groan. The creepily-adorable sister of brainiac Henry was turning eight and she was essentially having two parties. One that had been made up of equally annoying pretty-in-pink classmates. Terriermon and Lopmon had hidden in the park that day. The other one, today's, was made up of tamers, digimon, and those who were part of that group. And no one had any excuse to escape.

At least there would be food and, if he was lucky, a possibility of Bunny-boy suffering. It would be worth it just to see that. And if that girl came near him with anything pink…

"Alright," he groaned, sitting up. "But if we have to go, we're going in style."

As Impmon leapt off the roof, his form grew and shifted. What landed on the ground was a tall, black shape. While most of the digimon cared about worrying the humans in the area, he actually enjoyed a little panic. Leather jacket and a pair of guns suggested he was a member of an extreme biker gang. A large, high-tech weapon covered one of his arms while the other sported sharp fingertips. Raven-black wings burst from his back and three emerald eyes glittered from beneath a dark helmet. The entire figure looked like something from a nightmare. Mrs. Olkowski barely glanced out of the window.

"You two be good for Beelzemon," she instructed, "and mind your manners. All three of you."

"Sorry toots," laughed the mega as he took flight, holding the two four year olds and a colorfully wrapped package in one arm easily. "Can't hear you."

Mother of the youngest tamers in Shinjuku, she simply shook her head at the digimon. While she had been rather startled the first time she saw the mega form of him, threatening to beat the demon-shaped being with a frying pan, Mrs. Olkowski could now see that he was the same trouble-maker as the small purple pyro-maniac that couldn't quite hide his good heart beneath his attitude. She, her husband, and the other parents had simply subscribed to the age old tradition not judging by appearance when it came to digimon.

"Have fun," she chuckled as they disappeared out of view.

"Henry!" screamed a green and white rabbit-like being, leaping from the ground to a bench to the shoulder of a boy. "Save me!"

"Tewwiermon! Come back!" ordered a young girl, chasing after him. "I have to get you weady fow the pawty! Lopmon is alweady pwetty with pink wibbons. Now you!"

Henry, older brother to the girl and partner to Terriermon, sighed, "Suzie, leave him alone. Why don't you go play with Calumon and the others?"

Suzie gave him a slight glare at the older boy, "Fine, but don't blame me if he doesn't look pwetty."

With that, she dashed over to where the white creature floated through the air while a large red dinosaur tried to catch him. A brown-haired boy with yellow goggles was also engaged in the game of tag. All three were surprised as Suzie joined in, but adapted quickly.

"Watch out, Suzie," the boy laughed. "Guilmon's it."

The reptile smiled cheerfully, "I'm it. I'm it. Come on, Takatomon. You can be it too!"

"Guilmon, that's not how it works," chuckled Takato.

"But we make a good team. You said so," the rookie reminded him.

Henry smiled at the odd exchange. Somehow, that particular digimon never ceased to amaze. His own digimon was easier to predict. Any minute now, Terriermon would have some kind of remark...

"Thanks," the rabbit-like creature sighed. "She was talking about a tu-tu. Poor Lopmon…"

"But Terriermon," asked the boy, feeling a little mischievously, "don't you like playing Princess Pretty-pants anymore?"

"I never thought you'd join the dark side," muttered Terriermon after staring for a moment in disbelief and then shaking his head, "but that was evil, Henry."

A picnic table had been set up for the event. Along with a huge pink cake, the table held a brown and pink bunny who could nearly be Terriermon's twin. Lopmon, partner to Suzie, was done up in ribbons and bows. The poor former Deva looked resigned to her fate. Under a nearby tree, a girl in a ponytail and a tall yellow fox leaned against the bark and observed the rough-housing. Rika and Renamon tried to look mature and aloof, but occasionally a smile flickered on their faces.

A little farther, two boys were engaged in a card game. One wore glasses and had a small pink shape poking out of his pocket. The other wore a cap and had a large metallic being standing behind him cheering. Kenta and MarineAngemon. Kazu and Guardromon. An interesting group of friends that had changed so much. Both humans were still a pair of goofballs, but a sense of responsibility had somehow snuck up on the tamers. It had happened around a month and a half ago, when about half the tamers were in the digital world. During that week, a lot had happened to influence them. Kazu getting burned by Meramon, Biomerging, Ryo…

Henry pulled his mind away from that thought. While Cyberdramon and his human partner had not been their closest friends, they were still… The boy once more forced his mind to more cheerful ideas.

Yamaki, the blond man who once represented the enemy of all digimon and now the oldest tamer here, was talking with the boy's father. Hypnos was officially in charge of all digimon bioemerges and such. In reality, those like Shibumi, Dolphin, Henry's own father, and the other Monster Makers assisted Hypnos which played support for the tamers. Yamaki had recently joined the ranks of the tamers when he became the partner to Calumon, the most energetic and innocent being ever. The thought still made all the children smile. Especially when the happy digimon convinced the mature and business-like man to loosen up when he thought no one was looking.

"Hi everyone," a familiar voice called.

The boy turned to the sound. A tall shape was approaching carrying two children. One was around the same age as most of the tamers and wore a green dress. The other was a young boy with a happy expression. The digimon, a lion-like figure with a sword, was carrying the pair on his shoulders. Leomon and Jeri together again was the most joyful sight one could imagine. When she had lost her partner, the girl had sunk into a depression that had not ended until the near destruction of both the human and digital worlds at the hands of the D-reaper, which still caused her occasional guilt. With the brave champion once more restored to life, Jeri was completely her cheerful self again. Even her half-brother, Masahiko, enjoyed the presence of the tall lion, though he was more closely connected with Calumon. The white being remained in the Katou residence most of the time even after gaining Yamaki as his partner.

A few more faces were scattered around the park that Henry knew. While for the most part, digimon were becoming more accepted by the community, especially by the kids, some parents were still wary of the digital beings. So, Suzie had received an earlier party for those who would not have been allowed to attend today's event. Everyone invited here today was perfectly comfortable sitting next to a red dinosaur or a large humanoid lion. This included Ayaka from school, Henry's sensei, Destiny…

The boy sighed. That girl was a real mystery. He could remember when Impmon had come to his house about a week after they returned to the digital world…

Henry had been at his desk, trying to finish his homework. Apparently saving two worlds, twice now, was no excuse for late assignments. Of course, this time the threat had been less obvious to the general public. Terriermon was dozing on the bed. Both of them jumped as someone knocked on the window.

A pair of emerald eyes stared through the glass. A familiar impish grin at their reaction greeted them. The tamer slid open the window to admit the purple rookie.

"Impmon? What's going on?" the boy asked, noticing an odd expression on the digimon's face.

"Brainiac, you're pretty smart, right? Could you come back with me?" requested the virus type. "I need your opinion on something weird."

"And when you find something weird, you automatically think of us," commented the rabbit digimon. "How nice."

Henry sighed in resignation, "Terriermon."

"Momentai!"

Impmon rolled his eyes in annoyance, "And could you leave Bunny-boy here? I don't think his commentary will help."

Frowning slightly, the boy became very intrigued. Whatever the mystery was, it had the rookie acting so thoughtful. Once Impmon would never have asked for help in anything. Even now, it was a rare act. But apparently he felt that whatever it was that seemed so strange was worth the effort. His eyes seemed so preoccupied. And Henry was growing more and more curious.

"…Okay," he nodded.

"No way am I staying here," argued Terriermon. "I'm coming and you can't stop me."

"Suzie!" her brother called suddenly. "I think Terriermon wants to play with you!"

The young girl burst in, babbling excitedly about "Pwincess Pwetty-pants," and dragged the poor rabbit out of the room in less than a minute. The purple rookie was left blinking in amazement at the relentlessness and speed of the young tamer.

"That… was scarier than he D-reaper," he muttered in shock. "If Ai ever turns out like that… What's going to happen to him?"

Henry reassured him, "It's nothing that she hasn't done before. Now, where are we going?"

"Ai's and Mako's house. What I need your advice on should still be there."

"So what's the fastest way there: walking?"

Impmon climbed back out the window, grinning once more, "Flying."

Henry allowed himself to be picked up by Beelzemon. While he had been airborne in various states before, he had never been carried by the raven-winged mega before. It was a little odd since he had once tried to kill the tamers, though at the time he did not fly. Still, all of them trusted the virus type now. The setting sun turned the sky golden as they soared towards their destination.

They actually landed a short distance from the house and the digimon reverted to is rookie form. He then leapt up on the fence and glanced down on the far side. Henry waited to see what the big deal.

"Hey, assorted munchkins," the purple digimon called to those out of sight. "Come around front for a second."

"Okay," answered Mako's voice.

A few minutes later, the front door opened up to reveal three young children. Ai and Mako grinned as they spotted the older tamer. The third was also strangely familiar.

"Hi Henry," greeted Ai, "This is our new friend, Destiny."

The boy stiffened at the name. He studied the new young girl's face closely. Henry could see features he recognized. Especially her deep blue eyes. Last time he had seen this shade, they had been in an older child.

"…Nice to meet you," the boy whispered. "How old are you, Destiny?"

The girl held up her right hand with her thumb folded down. "Four."

As far as he could tell, this girl was a younger version of the girl they had met who could manipulate the boundaries between the worlds and possessed unbelievable knowledge of prophecies in appearance and even had the same name. While the twins had not yet appeared to make the connection, Impmon had.

"Henry has a digimon too," explained Mako excitedly. "Terriermon looks like a bunny and is always saying 'Momentai.' But Impmon is cooler."

The older tamer forced a smile and mentioned, "While it was very nice to see you, I have to get home so Terriermon doesn't cause any trouble."

"And I'll be back in a minute, munchkins," added Impmon. "Just need to talk to him for a minute."

"Okay," nodded Ai.

As soon as the three young children re-entered the house, the purple rookie asked, "Please tell me it's not just me. You guys saw her more, but that…"

The boy nodded slowly, "Yeah, she looks exactly like her, only younger."

"So you agree that's weird. Not our normal 'creepy jell-o, attacking Devas, two versions of me' weird, but 'Guilmon on a diet, Renamon throwing a tantrum, quiet and polite Terriermon' weird. Why do we have the mini-version of cloak girl running around? How does that end up working?"

Henry carefully considered, "She more or less told us she travels through time, space, and realities. I think this is her before she started it up. This Destiny is the younger her before he began to handle prophecies. She's never met us yet because that's in her future, but our past."

"Time travel," the digimon muttered. "Way too many headaches."

The next day, Henry had filled all the older tamers and their digimon in on the strange development. The announcement had been received with a wide range of reactions. Kazu had worn an expression of confusion. Kenta had looked shocked and disappointed. Takato had tilted his head, his mouth open to question and no words able to form yet. Guilmon was blinking his yellow eyes. You could almost see him try to figure out how the girl they had met in the digital world could be a child near the twins' size and age now. No doubt the innocent rookie was considering if it was possible for her to have de-digivolved, even though he now understood the differences between humans and digimon. Jeri and Leomon both just waited to learn more; curious and thoughtful of the oddness. Guardromon seemed to have real trouble with the logic behind the concept but could not immediately disprove Henry's theory. Kenta's partner, still in the grey in-training stage of Bukamon at this point, didn't seem to care too much beyond looking at his human's reaction. Rika and Renamon were harder to read.

Renamon's icy blue gaze was always difficult to decipher. The yellow fox generally kept her emotions under her control. But the boy could almost imagine a look of intrigued interest in her face at the revelation that Destiny could exist in their world, their neighborhood, in the form of a sweet child.

The yellow rookie's partner was also surprisingly blank faced. But her eyes seemed to burn with frustration and anger. The Digimon Queen was still bitter over what had happened to Ryo and his partner. While she had treated his playful flirting with general distaste, the older tamer's antics had grown on her. They may not have been a "romantic date, moonlight walks, boyfriend/girlfriend" pair like Terriermon liked to suggest (when he was WAY out of earshot), but she threatened to kill him less often than she did with Kazu and Kenta. That was as close to admitting to being his friend as she would ever do. She blamed the deaths of the boy and digimon on Destiny because the prophetess had to have known and didn't say a word. But on the other hand, all the tamers had received the impression she could only tell them so much and could not change certain events. And as angry as she might feel, even Rika couldn't blame a young child who hadn't done anything yet. No matter how much she might want to.

"So, the creepy cloak version we met was from the future," Terriermon commented slowly. "And… that means Kenta's in love with a four year old!"

As the named boy turned bright red, Henry rolled his eyes, "Terriermon, not helpful and not tactful at all. And that's not the point. This kid's going to vanish in about eight years and eventually meet us last week."

"Ow," the rabbit complained. "My brain hurts. Time travel: it's a cornucopia of disturbing concepts."

Takato raised his hand, as if he was in class, "So what do about it? I mean, as far as we know, we can't change it. She's going to be scooped up and teamed up with a partner so she can help out prophecies."

"And eventually lose her partner," reminded Renamon.

The boy nodded as he continued, "And I've seen enough sci-fi movies to know that trying to bother the past, or future, or whatever isn't good. If we try to change what happens to her, even if we knew how, would mess up what's already happened to us. Ugh, this is confusing."

"No, I get it," Kenta declared, his face still tinged pink. "Changing Destiny's future changes our past."

Rika growled, "Maybe a change wouldn't be so bad. Maybe if she hadn't messed up our lives, things would be better."

"Or they could be worse," murmured the yellow fox.

"Don't you remember what would have happened if she didn't get us involved," Jeri asked. "The D-reaper/evil Beelzemon would have eventually come out of the dark dimension and destroyed everything."

Takato sighed, "There is still the question of what do we do."

"We keep an eye on her," shrugged Henry. "She had no problem with Impmon, so I doubt she'll have any trouble meeting the rest sometime. I suggest we keep in contact with her and watch out for signs of anything odd."

"What counts as odd anymore?" asked Kenta reasonably.

"Hello! Earth to Henry," Terriermon called, waving in front of the boy's face. "You zoned out."

"Sorry about that," apologized the boy.

The green and white rabbit shook his head, "I wonder about you sometimes. What were you doing?"

"Just thinking."

"Okay… Hey, when do we get the cake?" he asked. "I want to make sure I get some before Guilmon eats it all."

"We have to wait until everyone gets here," answered the tamer patiently. "So we still need Ai, Mako, their neighbor, Destiny, and Impmon."

As the rookie digimon opened his mouth, likely to snidely suggest that the party would be better without the fire-tossing troublemaker, a shadow passed overhead. Swooping down like a bird of prey was the familiar shape of Beelzemon. The mega landed easily on the ground, holding his two young partners comfortably. The sweet appearance of the twins contrasted sharply with the dangerous glint in his emerald eyes, but the children were thrilled by their flight and had no problems with their partner's form. Terriermon did have a comment about the mega's arrival, however.

"I'll give the showoff one thing. He can make an entrance."

Things will pick up somewhat soon. I just need to bring everything up to speed and make sure it makes sense. I promise the next chapter will not disappoint. Please leave a review. I like to know what you think.