Mwahahaha! It's that time of year right now. Halloween! (Technically, it isn't exactly Oct. 31, but its close.) So have a happy one!

Okay, back to business. I don't own digimon, but I did create the characters of Destiny, Fate, and Miss Mizutani. There will be others before this story is done (including some cool digimon).

It hadn't taken the pair long to become lost in the forest. Neither Ryo nor Monodramon had ever left the village before, so they hadn't realized how easy it was to lose one's way among the tall trees. But the two friends wouldn't admit they were lost, so they kept going. The simple act of rebellion was becoming a real problem.

"I think the village is that way," Ryo informed his friend, pointing in a random direction.

Monodramon gave him an incredulous look, "Really? Because I think we passed this tree three times already."

"… I'm sure," the boy continued stubbornly. For some reason, he always took the leadership role when dealing with his "twin" and the other young digimon in the village. He didn't know why and he didn't feel comfortable in that position, but he had to look out for them. He acted like the hero who always knows what he's doing. So Ryo kept that image so his friend wouldn't get concern. "It'll be fine."

It was that point where the pair encountered a digimon.

Those in power of any kind must have sources of information. Preferably, these sources should be secret and efficient. Spies. The better the spies, the greater the chances of retaining power.

The best spies are those placed within enemy ranks. They have better positions when they are ignored even trusted by the enemy. There, they can search loyally for threat tidbit of information for their true commander.

One of the many members of the janitorial service, he was ignored by most people. He was just another guy with a low-paying job who cleaned up after the geniuses. But not as low-paid as his fellow workers. Tenji had another source of income, courtesy of Miss Suzuki. All he had to do was keep his ears open for interesting information. And today he had definitely earned his second source of money.

Outside the Hypnos building, he found a pay phone still in operation. While they were slowly becoming obsolete, some people were still nostalgic about having a few left. So, when repairing all the damage caused by the D-reaper, they agreed to fix some of the pay phones in the area as well.

"This is Miss Suzuki," she greeted after the third ring.

"Hello, this is Tenji. You asked me to listen for important information at Hypnos," he reminded her. Miss Suzuki's displeasure with Hypnos was fairly well known. Especially since the D-reaper, when the appearance of digimon slowed and Yamaki's attitude towards the creature shifted. The woman now sought a way to discredit him and remove him from power. But those closest to him were loyal and kept his secrets. Even with the whispers of him approving of the children and their digimon, of him supporting their efforts to do Hypnos' job, or even the faintest rumor that he was a tamer himself, there was no solid evidence to support it. And she could only gather so much information as long as the blond man was present, his shade-hidden eyes watching her every move. But now… "I just overheard Yamaki's little arrogant secretaries saying he left abruptly without warning. There is no indication of when he'll return, but his absence should cause some chaos as those under him deal with his disappearance."

"Perfect," the woman purred. "I'll see if I can make his absence permanent. Yamaki should have been removed from power and kept out of power. He and his work is a waste of time and money with little to show for his efforts. I'll find evidence of his incompetence." Without another word or even a good-bye, Miss Suzuki hung up on her informant.

Tenji calmly walked home, his shift over. He didn't care what she did. Just as long as he was paid.

A hooded figure studied the woman before her. As Destiny was supposed to, she had begun to seek out those who needed to go somewhere important in this world. Most would go there anyway, having seen the chaos at the park and seeking answers. But some were yet ignorant and must be guided to where they must be.

The prophetess considered the woman, a parent, who instead of reacting with awe to the mysterious arrival, was glaring ferociously.

"Now, I don't know who or what you are," the mother informed her, "but I'm warning you now that no cloak is going to intimidate me."

"Be at peace, Kokoro Olkowski," Destiny instructed. "I mean you no harm. Instead, I bring you news and instructions to help you in the coming events."

The woman lowered the colorful block she had been holding as a weapon since the girl's appearance in her children's room. "I know who you are now. You showed up last time Ai and Mako vanished."

The cloaked figure nodded, "While I do not recall the specific incident, I accept that this might be so. But it is not the past I come to discuss. Instead, I come to speak of the present and future."

The mother's expression softened slowly, her eyes closing sadly, "They're not coming home soon, are they? They're gone again."

"Yes, none of the tamers nor their partners are present in this world currently," confirmed Destiny. "And once more, those you love must walk a different path from you. But there is something you can do to help all those threatened by a woman's ignorance and hate."

Mrs. Olkowski, hearing she could do more than wait and worry, looked into the shadowy hood and nodded, "What do I need to do?"

Destiny, wondering momentarily why this house and this woman seemed vaguely familiar, answered carefully, "'Seek out those who protect the protectors, who guard the guardians, and are caregivers to those who care for those of two worlds. Gather together at the place that once promised death, but now has hope. Where those who have questions may seek answers. Where the adult tamer rules. Go there and stop the woman who tries to meddle in what she knows not.' And take care, Mrs. Olkowski: Her temper is great and her anger fierce. You and the other caregivers must be greater or she may unleash greater harm than she knows."

She smiled slightly at the prophetess, "Impmon was right; you do seem to enjoy confusing people. I'll do what I can."

The phone began to ring in the other room. As the woman turned to look in the direction of the sound, Destiny left. She knew that most would already be going to where they needed to go. This one just needed the push.

Now the girl had other business to attend to. While the "caretakers" and the others in this world took care of this problem, she had to prepare those in the digital one. Their simple rescue mission would not remain simple and they would need help. And the help would be difficult to give them. If she wasn't who she was, that was.

"'And the guardians of two worlds will gain new power. A power not naturally part of their universe, and yet not unknown. It is a power born from within and stronger than what they already have'," she whispered as she disappeared.

DemiDevimon couldn't believe his luck. Below him were two familiar figures from his earlier days, from before he died. From when he was in the human world and spying on those tamers. The two figures were supposed to be dead too. Guess that didn't really mean anything anymore.

"You look lost," he confided in the pair, eyeing them for any sign of recognition. About half, if not more, of all revived digimon had no memory of their previous life. Others had only vague ones. He had to be careful with these two. "What are you doing around here?"

"Do we know you?" asked the taller figure, the human one.

DemiDevimon grinned evilly, "Course you do, Ryo. I met you both before you died."

"'Died'?" frowned Monodramon. "We met you before we 'died'? Really?"

"How else would I know your names, Ryo and Monodramon, if we hadn't met?" the bat-like creature informed them, a plan forming in his twisted mind. "How else would I know that you possess a D-arc?"

"A what?"

The dark virus rolled his yellow eyes, "Something humans have when teamed up with digimon to make their partner more powerful. Yours is blue."

"What's a human," the boy questioned.

"Wow, I really have my work cut out for me," muttered DemiDevimon. Then, louder, he explained, "You know the big, circle thing in the sky? That's the human world. Creatures that look like you," he pointed a taloned foot at Ryo, "live there. Most are evil and mean. But kind digimon like me found a few good ones. Like you, kid."

Monodramon and his partner exchanged looks. It was clear they didn't quite trust the virus and his silken words. But he seemed to hold answers to their questions, like why Ryo seemed different than other digimon. They continued to listen.

"Great beings such as me gave you D-arc and loyal digimon as partners. That way, you can give me help in my selfless efforts help others," the bat described creatively. "But some of these human and digimon pairs betrayed our trust and aligned themselves with the crueler humans. They killed you both and took most of my power."

"You know this seems fairly hard to accept," growled Monodramon softly, put on edge by the virus type.

He fixed a yellow eye of the human, "Do you not own a blue device? One with a white ring around a screen?"

"…Yes," acknowledged Ryo. "I have. I've always had it." He pulled out the D-arc and looked at it. His expression was thoughtful and DemiDevimon could see his lies were taking root. "Floramon told me it was important and I'd understand when I was older. Did she know I'm… human?"

"Yep," he answered, not knowing who Floramon was and not caring. "Don't blame her for not telling. She didn't know how important you are to me and what the both of your purpose in life was."

"And what is that?" asked Monodramon.

The bat digimon grinned, "You are here to help me to regain power and to destroy those traitorous humans, those tamers. You two will help me destroy them all and gain revenge for your deaths and my suffering."

"Look at how pwetty," laughed Suzie, waving one of the ribbons that earlier adorned Lopmon. "I'm a wibbon dancer."

"Me too," Calumon giggled as he glided around, trailing another one. "I'm Ribbonmon now."

"I don't think so," sighed Lopmon, who had opted to ride with Yamaki after Suzie began her excited movements and it became obvious she could not walk fast enough on her own. "Ribbonmon are not generally that outgoing. They're rather shy."

"Okay, then I am SuperAwesomeCoolnessmon," he declared, landing on the head of the girl and struck a heroic pose.

Lopmon sighed again. The former rabbit Deva was just happy that the ribbons that Suzie had decorated her with were off now. Suzie was a sweet, innocent girl, but she did sometimes push it with dress-up. Still, for some reason, Terriermon still received the worse treatment in that regard. Somehow, the brown rabbit had yet to be forced into the new tutu.

Now, they were traveling through the shadowy forest, searching for any sign of their friends. Or rather, she and Yamaki were. Suzie and Calumon had started off some form of a game, dashing around the adult as he walked. Both he and the rookie had given up trying to keep the pair's attention on business.

"Do you have any ideas of what to do?" asked Yamaki suddenly.

"Excuse me?" she questioned, confused by the human. She as not really that close to the adult tamer, but had heard from Terriermon of his past attitude. Apparently, he once hated digimon as strongly as her Sovereign despised humans. Now, he was supposedly a changed man. Just the fact that he was partnered with Calumon seemed to support this. "Why are you asking me, Mr. Yamaki?"

"You've been in the digital world before and, unlike the other two, you are not playing 'ribbon dancer' while we're in a dangerous situation. So I am hoping your opinion on the best course of action might be logical and useful," he explained.

She considered carefully, "Destiny told us that Ryo and Monodramon are on the forest level. But that covers a lot of territory. Perhaps my former master, the Digimon Sovereign, may have some ideas of where they may be or how to find them. But Lord Zhuquiaomon holds no great love for your kind. I would suggest we search this level for the village she told us about and only ask for his assistance if we still cannot locate any of our friends."

The man nodded, "It is probably best not to antagonize him with our presence if we can help it. From what I've heard, he's very powerful." Lopmon nodded as he continued. "But, even if we can find this village, what about the rest of the group? How can we find them?"

"We can always find our friends," cheered Calumon as he took off from Suzie's head once more. "It just takes awhile sometimes. So have fun! When we find everybody, they can play with us too."

"What are we going to do?" groaned the hat-wearing tamer, staring up at the strange sky.

"Guardromon suggested, "Find our companions?"

"No duh, but how?" Kazu asked. "They could be anywhere. And we have no idea where to start looking."

"Well, we've already know they are not here," the robotic digimon pointed out, indicating the empty landscape. "Logically, we should look elsewhere."

The boy bit back another groan. His eyes caught sight of his wrist. A discolored area of scarred skin formed a perfect handprint. Meramon, a fiery champion, had grabbed hold there. The tamer had been lucky to survive and the damage could have been far worse. But the encounter had taught him several important lessons. One was to always watch your enemy. Another was to listen to his inner voice.

As if summoned, it began to speak to him. And, as usual, it sounded like Rika. The temperamental girl had yelled at Kazu and Kenta so often, the boy guessed she had sunk into his subconscious mind so she could still yell at him. She wasn't a nice part of his subconscious.

"Get up and get moving, you lazy, good for nothing, idiot!" she snarled in his head. "Guardromon can still lead you to that connection to the other levels he sensed earlier and the others were looking for the forest level, right? Chances are if you head that way, you'll find them. If not, you're no worse off than you are now. And if you are stupid enough not to even try, I swear I'll have Renamon use you for target practice when I find you."

Kazu wondered if a threat from his inner voice could be fulfilled by the real Rika. Then he decided not to risk it. With that girl, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Still think you can lead me to that connection to the other levels, Guardromon?" he asked.

Yay! Things are developing! Okay, Miss Suzuki is also mine (and was in "Destiny"). Tenji is mine as well, but he won't be around a lot. Ribbonmon is Linkmaste's, so talk to her about her. And I know Kenta didn't show up, but he is around and I'll let you know where he ended up being later on. I just have them a little scattered and timing of everything determines whether or not someone is given much attention at that point.

Alright. Time to make a request. I want your predictions on some of the things I have been hinting at lately. Like why Mrs. Olkowski needs to go somewhere. Or what "power" the tamers need, according to Destiny in this universe. Come on, I want your guesses.

If you won't make a prediction, could you at least give me your opinion on how this is going so far? I hope you're enjoying it and thanks for reading (and maybe reviewing).