"So, Ryo," A kid with a visor asked. "Do you know this guy?"

"Never seen him before." Ryo shrugged. "And I've seen a lot of things, but as far as I know… before you guys, I've been the only human here."

"… Huh." A boy in an orange vest hummed thoughtfully, taking the time to glance over to Masaru. The Digimon on his shoulder did the same. "Do you think he ended up in the Digital World accidentally like Shaochung did? He did just drop out of the sky…"

"Hell no! I came here on my own choice!" Masaru cut in with an irritated tone, startling the group as he and Agumon clambered out of the sand crater. "And I'm still standing here, you know."

"Right, sorry…" The kid in orange said apologetically, scratching the side of his cheek.

"It's fine. Don't do it again though, got it?" A moment later, Masaru placed his hands on his side. "But like I was saying, I came here to the Digital World because I wanted to. Getting caught in that stupid thing was an accident, but whatever." He grumbled. "I've been here for five years, and I've never seen something like that."

"Never seen a Data Stream before, huh? What'd you do, stay in a cave for five years?" The Digimon on the kid's head said in a singsong voice. "You must be new around here!"

"Terriermon…!"

"What? What?" Terriermon laughed. "Momentai!"

"Sorry," The blue-haired kid apologized again. "He's always like that to everyone… but anyway that thing you dropped out of was a data strea—"

"Oi! My name is Masaru Daimon!" He said loudly. "Stop calling me 'you'! I have a name, you know. Now, what're your names?"

In response to this outburst, the Takato and the others exchanged glances.

"Well, like I said before," Takato started, but this time he gestured to the red dragon-like Digimon beside him. "I'm Takato, and this is Guilmon."

"Sorry for the reception earlier." The guy in the orange vest picked up with a resigned tone. "My name's Jenrya Lee, and this is my younger sister, Shaochung." He said, gesturing to the girl beside him, who was hugging (or accidentally strangling) a distinct recolor of Terriermon, save for the two extra horns on its head.

"You'we kinda scawy, but that's okay, mister angwy man," She beamed, tilting her head slightly. "You know, you and the angwy kid should be friends!" Saying this, she pointed over to Takato, who covered his face in embarrassment.

"Shaochung, why don't you introduce Lopmon…?" Jenrya suggested with an awkward smile.

"Ohh, wight! How wude of me! Hey angwy man, this is Lopmon!" Shaochung introduced with a giggle, as she lifted up one of its paws to wave. "Say hello, Lopmon~!"

"P-Pleased to meet… you…" Lopmon gasped. Masaru felt somewhat sorry for it.

"Hey, Jenrya," Terriermon whined. "Why didn't you introduce me?"

"I think you've already made a lasting impression, Terriermon." Jenrya said offhandedly, much to Terriermon's dismay.

"So, she's your younger sister…?" Masaru muttered, folding his arms across his chest with a frown.

"What about it?" Jenrya asked with a confused look.

"Why would you let her go to the Digital World? What kind of older brother are you?"

For a moment, a anger flashed on Jenrya's face. As he took a step forward, he opened his mouth as if to let loose a tirade against Masaru. It was at that same moment Terriermon shifted and placed himself in between the two of them, stopping the boy from advancing despite being barely his size.

"You—"

"Jenrya," He called, completely calm unlike the previous times before.

"Terriermon, move!" Jenrya seethed, fists clenched at his sides. "He—"

"Come on Jenrya, momentai." Terriermon murmured softly, climbing back on his Tamer's shoulder. "He doesn't know what he's taking about."

After a moment of fuming, Jenrya backed off with an irritated expression. The next second, another kid and his digimon stepped forward.

"Well that aside… Sorry about before," Another kid in a tattered outfit waved to Masaru, before gesturing to the dragonoid Digimon beside him, which only growled in response. "I'm Ryo Akiyama, and this is my partner, Cyberdramon."

"Are you my enemy?" It said the next second, causing Ryo to frown and shake his head with an irritated expression.

"I don't know," Masaru quipped, fist ready at his side. "Do you want to start a fight?"

"Please don't." Takato said, shaking his head with an utterly confused look. "And… you get into fights with Digimon, Daimon-sa—"

"Masaru." He corrected. Takato blinked, and fell silent.

"Just call him that." Agumon suggested. "Aniki's not too good at all that human honorific stuff."

"Kinda makes you wonder if he's a Digimon." Terriermon quipped, earning a glare from Agumon.

"Anyway, Masaru… Sorry about Cyberdramon." Ryo murmured. "He's always like this."

"Always looking for a fight, huh?" The nineteen year old mused, before glancing back at Takato. "And yeah— well, no, not really. Not anymore. Y'see, me and my buddy Agumon go around the Digital World beating down any Digimon that threaten the peace with our fists!"

"That's pretty interesting and all, but the only problem with that is that the enemy the Digimon are going against can't be touched, unless you want to be deleted." Jenrya shook his head, relatively calm, if not a little livid from before. "That's why the Sovereign told us to leave. Don't you know?"

Both Masaru and Agumon gave Jenrya a dumb look.

"See, what'd I tell you? He doesn't know what's going on at all." Terriermon began, prodding the side of Jenrya's head as he went on. "I'm telling you, Jenrya, This guy's had his head stuck in the sand for waaay too long."

"Anyway," Takato chipped in, ignoring Terriermon's comment. "Those two guys are Kazu and Kenta—"

"Hey Chumley, me and Kenta are perfectly capable of introducing ourselves, y'know." The kid in the visor interrupted, before looking over Masaru. The next second, he grinned. "The name's Hirokazu Shioda, but you can just call me Kazu. This here is my awesome partner, Guardromon!" The bronze robot beside him waved in a rather clunky matter in response.

"And I'm Kenta Kitagawa," A relatively wimpy-looking boy spoke up rather embarrassedly. "I don't have a Digimon partner… and…" He took a moment to glance at another girl, one probably the same age as the rest of the group. She had a yellow dog puppet on her hand, and she smiled eerily at Masaru the moment they made eye contact.

"Who's the chick with the puppet?"

"That's Juri." Takato answered somberly, but didn't say anything else. The next moment, he looked away from Masaru altogether, and towards her with a poignant expression.

Masaru didn't understand, but he thought it would be best not to push the subject like what he did with Jenrya. Masaru then decided it was a good time to change the subject.

"Great, now that that's out of the way…" He took a moment to glance at every single human and Digimon present before going on. "What the heck are you kids doing in the Digital World?" The nineteen-year old inquired in a brusque manner. "Don't you know that this place isn't safe?"

"Oh yeah. Danger." Takato sighed, giving Masaru a tired stare, one that a boy of his age shouldn't have. "…We're definitely familiar with that."

Puzzled, Masaru stared at Takato. Now that he noticed it, all of the kids wore the same tired expression— it was disturbing. It was as if all of them had been through some unimaginable horror while in the Digital World… but what? Just as he was about to ask, Takato cut him off.

"Daimon-san," He began. "You—"

"Masaru!" He corrected sharply again, inadvertently causing Takato to flinch this time. Relaxing slightly, he offered the boy a slight smile. "Just call me Masaru, will you, Takato? Like Agumon said, I don't do well with honorifics."

"…Masaru." Takato paused, before nodding in acknowledgment. "Well… anyway, we're just trying to go home now, if that's what you're so worried about."

"No way." Masaru refuted, much to the boy's bewilderment. "Don't you know the barrier will break if you go to the Real World?"

"Barrier? What're you talking about?" Takato asked with a puzzled look.

"The barrier dividing the Digital World and the Real World, duh."

"Hypnos is sending over an Ark to take us back home." Takato looked to Jenrya for some kind of confirmation. The latter shrugged, and the former merely sighed. "I don't think that'll break any barrier... I think?"

In any case, Takato still looked uncertain. From what Masaru knew, DATS had been so adamant on keeping the barrier intact; were they reopening it so these children could get home? How exactly had they come to the Digital World anyway?

…And now that he thought about it, what the hell was a Digimon Tamer?

Both Masaru and Agumon exchanged glances, before turning towards the rest of the group.

"Could we go with you?"