A.N.: As of starting this, the mid-way point between two arcs, the LONGEST Chapter is Chapter 20, with the shortest being Chapter 8. I'm surprised really. I thought some of the later ones were longer. Huh. ANYWAYS. I'm still looking for help with the TV Tropes page for this story (link available through my profile), so if anyone wants to help me out on making it fuller, please do so! Now then, onto the story at hand!

Wind howled eerily against the static in the void that really should not have been solid enough to produce any kind of noise, let alone any kind of edge tone.

There was a gust of wind, and a small burst of static as the words "DIGIMON: XROS WARS" Appeared in a plain, ordinary font before fading away along with the static.

Floating through the void were the rest of the credits usually attributed towards an opening sequence, Writer, Director, Animators, Voice actors- The usual stuff.

Then, once all of those faded back into the void, a flat screen computer monitor, whose standing base was broken and sparking- yet somehow it was still active and showing an "Aperture Science" Logo on it's display-, floated into view and took up the entire screen as it cut to static and then...

*Cue Title Theme*

"Time Travelers! Xros Heart: Escape the Void!"

"SPAAAAAAAAACEEEEE...!"

Dorulumon stared at the white sphere that had just flown past him and his traveling companions. "What the hell was that?"

Cutemon, from his spot on Dorulumon's back, simply sighed. "Probably someone who's been stuck here longer than we have."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad." Revolomon, who was floating upside down near by, huffed. "I'm sure everyone's just fine!"

As if to confirm that statement, Wizardmon and Tailmon suddenly -blip-ed back into existence a few yards ahead of them.

"Hi ho di do!" The cat said with a wave.

"Eh?" Dorulumon blinked. "What?"

"Can't a cat just be silly for a change?" Tailmon rolled her eyes.

"I suppose so." Wizardmon said as he walked over to the others. "So where have you all been?"

"I saw a Larval Mode Lucemon get cut with the same sword in the same strike twenty times!" Revolomon said with glee. "It was the awesomest thing ever!"

"Cutemon and I haven't been anywhere yet." Dorulumon said. "What about you?"

"We saw an alternate Human World being saved from a Myotismon." Wizardmon said.

"A Tailmon turned into an Angewomon in a single moment!" Tailmon grinned ear to ear. "It was awesome! This whole team of digimon fired their attacks into the Angewomon's attack and then she blasted that vampire to kingdom come!"

"She...Evolved in a single moment?" Dorulumon asked. "How is that even possible?"

"The girl the Tailmon was partnered to had a strange necklace and something similar to a Xros Loader, I'm assuming." Wizardmon said. "The girl activated both items in unison and the Tailmon in that universe evolved instantly."

"That's rather impressive." Dorulumon said with a frown. "I wonder if it's possible for us to harness the same energy and get out of here?"

"Probably!" Revolomon said. "That's pretty much what some Digi-Xrosses do!"

"Like ours."

Everyone facing Wizardmon looked surprised in a happy way, and when the Wizard turned around, he spotted Akari and Lopmon standing behind him.

"Hi everyone." Akari waved, a smile on her face.

"Akari!" Revolomon let out a whoop as he spun around in circles. "Yeah! Finally! Now we can get out of here with an awesome Digi-Xros!"

"Shoutmon has the Xros Loader." Lopmon said, immediately deflating Revolomon's glee.

"Oh..." he sunk down towards the 'ground.'

"But if we can find Shoutmon..." Dorulumon began. "Then maybe we could create a Digi-Xros that can teleport us out of here?"

"Sorry, but I don't think that's going to work." Kotemon said as he and Zenjirou suddenly -blip-ed into the middle of their gathering. "Zenjirou's Xros Loader's completely dead!"

"Again?" Lopmon groaned. "Why can't the Xros Loaders stop breaking on us?"

Cutemon sighed again, muttering "It's hopeless." under his breath before taking a deep gulp of air in..."WE'RE NEVER GETTING OUT OF HERE!"

The void around them suddenly KLICKED, as if someone changed the channel, dropping Xros Heart down into the middle of a playground, somewhere on earth.

"What." Revolomon breathed in sharply. "The..."

"-Hell is going on here? !" Shoutmon finished his rant with a huff.

"Well..." The man began. "For starters, the name's Marcus, Marcus Damon."

"Pleasure to meet you."Hephaestus said.

"And secondly, I'm just about as lost as you are." 'Marcus' said as he crossed his arms. "ShineGreymon and I were sent to investigate a dimensional disturbance that occurred when a Milleniumnmon appeared in your universe, just the latest in a long line of oddities that we'd put off investigating until we had the resources."

"Oddities?" Taiki asked.

"Stable time loops that haven't even started yet, for one thing." Marcus said with a roll of his eyes. "See, there're these Digimon in your world that-"

"No." Shoutmon said as he held up a finger. "Hold Up for one second." He narrowed his eyes. "You said Our "Universe" as if you're from some other dimension or something."

"That's 'cause we are." ShineGreymon began. "Haven't you noticed that this void shows you other worlds, and not just other times?"

"So those were other dimensions?" Shoutmon asked. "Seriously?"

"That's right." The man before them smirked as he fished out his wallet and flipped it open. "We're a part of a team that operates outside of the normal flow of the Multiverse." The piece of paper on prominent display seemed to be made up of some sort of psychic paper that was on the fritz like everything else in this weird void. "We have dozens of names, plenty of sub divisions, and hell, at times there are even more alternate universe versions of ourselves working in the same office then we can shake a stick at." he looked at the piece of paper and scowled. "And apparently, your universe is the epicenter of something that we haven't encountered before."

"Thanks for that by the way." ShineGreymon said sarcastically.

"You say it like it's our fault!" Hephaestus protested.

"Says the Digital God locked in the body of a perfectly normal boy." Marcus rolled his eyes.

Shoutmon crossed his arms in front of his chest and narrowed his eyes un-appreciatively . "Let's Say for a moment that I don't believe you?"

"Look." the man sighed. "Agumon and I came here looking for something we knew how to beat and suddenly we're blown clear out of the water into some situation we can't get out of." he reached for a pocket in his coat and pulled out what looked like an iPod fused to a Xros Loader, and then changed up somewhat. "See this? Specially modified so that it can open portals from any-where and any-when back to our base. It's also got dampeners that block any kind of known interference that would prevent it from working." he pressed a button to prove his point. "And look at that. Would you believe it? Nothing happened!" he angrily shoved the device back into it's pocket.

Shoutmon pulled out the red Xros Loader and looked at it with a sigh. "Still Dead."

"I don't even need to look inside to tell me it's broken." Hephaestus remarked. "I created these things, and...They're NOT supposed to break as easily as they have been."

"Cheap knockoffs?" ShineGreymon offered.

"Anyways." Marcus continued as he sat down, ignoring his partner's comment along with Taiki and Shoutmon. "Whatever's going on here is something that's dangerous. And if we can't get back to HQ and report it, then..." he narrowed his eyes. "How can we stop it?"

"Didn't Tactimon say someone had to live through the source of the waves?" Shoutmon said after a moment of silence.

"What?" Marcus looked up.

"Yeah." Taiki nodded. "Someone whose role in events was as 'subtle as a brick.' Quote unquote."

Shoutmon laughed as he jabbed a thumb over at Marcus. "I doubt these two are the ones he was talking about though!"

"Subtle as a brick?" ShineGreymon asked. "What does that mean?"

"Alright, our turn to explain now!" Shoutmon grinned. "We know where the source of this storm is!"

"What?" Marcus stood up from where he had just sat down. "Where?"

"My home town." Taiki said. "Or somewhere close to it, at least. One year from now."

"One year?" Marcus narrowed his eyes. "Where the hell did you get that information from?"

"Someone who's lived through it already." Shoutmon said. "Someone who got sent back in time to twenty years ago along with Akari's parents."

"Twenty years ago?" Marcus stared at them incredulously. "What the hell happened?"

"He didn't say." Taiki said. "We were all pulled into the void before he could tell us what we needed to do."

"Well that's convenient!" ShineGreymon remarked.

"Not like we planed it that way." Shoutmon frowned. "But beyond that, we also saw a video from back then too."

"A video?" Marcus groaned. "Seriously?"

"Seriously!" Akari stared at the two high school girls who were trying to break open a green colored pumpkin...

It still refused to break after half a minute of beatings.

"What the hell is that thing made of?" Dorulumon asked, eyes as wide as dinner plates. "A rock?"

The one girl jumped into the air and THREW the object so hard at the ground it left a trail of white light in it's wake...

The ground exploded from the impact!

"Now that's got to have finished it!" Zenjirou said, fists clenched in anticipation.

When the smoke cleared, the green pumpkin was still intact.

Everyone stared at it in shock and dismay.

Marcus stared at the duo in shock and dismay as they finished explaining what they had learned from Tactimon.

"I know." Shoutmon said. "It's a lot to take in..."

"And that's saying something." ShineGreymon muttered. "considering the things we've seen...?"

"But we've got to work together on this!" Shoutmon continued. "Tactimon told us someone had to live through the event so that we could fix it! Even if you're not the guy he said had to do it...You've still got a job protecting the multi-whatever, right?"

"I guess so..." Marcus replied as he looked up at the static cloud above them. "So, I guess Agumon and I'll have to-" He stopped.

And then...

"SPAAAAAAAAAACE! SPACE! GO TO SPACE! BA-BA-BA-BA-BA!" That weird white core from before shot over head as it cried out, with a passion: "SPAAAAAAAAACEEEEEEEE!"

Marcus' eyes widened. "SHINEGREYMON!" he roared. "After that Core!"

"On it Boss!" And with that, they took off after the Infamous "Space Core."

"SP-AAAAA-CE!"

"Um?" Shoutmon protested. "Why are we going after this thing?"

"Haven't you played Portal 2 before?" Marcus asked, a grin on his face.

"RAAAHHH!"

Poor Space Core, after a few minutes of zig-zagging through sub-space, was tackled from above by Marcus as he leaped off of ShineGreymon.

"SPACE?" The core asked, frightened, as it's one single eye shot back into the furthest recesses of it's casing while, simultaneously, Marcus hit the ground and rolled to a stop, still holding onto the technological artifact.

With a grin, he stood up and held the core out at arms length to get a proper look at it. "Well hello there!"

"Who are you?" the core asked, it's eye spinning around on it's track. "You the space cops? Space cops help! Here come the space cops!"

"haha!" Marcus laughed. "Oh man, when Thomas sees this, he's gonna flip out!"

"We just chased this thing all over time and space just so you could see Thomas react to it?" ShineGreymon asked as he landed on the ground.

"Of course." the man grinned at his digimon partner.

"Dad?" The core asked. "Are you space?" it changed to a lower voice. "Yes Son, now we can be a family again." Back to it's higher voice. "SPACE-DAD!"

"Okay." ShineGreymon laughed. "I approve."

Taiki and Shoutmon had climbed down off of ShineGreymon's shoulder by this point, and were walking over to the spacey-Space Core.

"What the hell is this thing?" Shoutmon asked as he stared at the Space Core.

"This would be Space Core." Marcus replied as he held it up for view. "And this is a thing that should not exist in this universe!"

"Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!" The core hummed as it spun around. "Space cops! Look out here come the space cops!"

"I'll say it shouldn't." Hephaestus said in astonishment as he stared at it. "This thing isn't made out of data like Digimon... It's completely man made!"

"We don't have this level of AI back on Earth either." Taiki added.

"S. P. Aaaaaace! SPACE!" The core cried out in glee. "Hey I know! I know I know I know!"

"Wow this thing is annoying." ShineGreymon remarked. "Can't we just dump it into the void?"

"Mister! I know! I know! Hey Mister! Let's go to space!"

"No." Marcus said as he shifted his grip on the core. "We need to see where this guy's from and why he's working when our tech isn't."

At that moment, a thought hit Taiki. "Wait a second..." With that, he pulled out his Xros Loader and turned the dial.

The screen came on with it's normal light.

"Taiki!" Shoutmon gasped. "How come you didn't say it was working!"

"I didn't think to check." he began. "Then again, it was inside it's case when we entered..."

"You know what?" Hephaestus grumbled. "I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say that someone, somewhere, is just messing with us now."

"But this means we can get out of here!" Shoutmon grinned. "Just open up a Zone Portal and Bam! Back to the Digital World!"

"We should see if we can find the others first." Taiki began. "Then maybe..."

As if on cue, those of Xros Heart that had managed to regroup together -blip-ed back into existence around them.

"Shoutmon!" Akari jumped towards the dragon and hugged him tightly.

"Akari!" he hugged back.

"Taiki!" Zenjirou and Dorulumon said simultaneously.

"Everyone!" Taiki smiled.

"SPACEEEEEEEE!"

And then everyone stared at Space Core, who was still being held up by Marcus at arms length.

"Who's that?" Wizardmon asked.

"Long story." Marcus said. "We'll explain later."

"Hi." ShineGreymon waved at them.

"Is this everyone?" Taiki asked.

"As much as it's going to be." Tailmon replied. "I get the feeling that we aren't going to run into anyone else from this point on."

"Why's that?" Marcus asked.

"Portals act the way they do for a reason." Tailimon reiterated. "And Taiki's got a working Xros Loader, doesn't he?"

"Yeah..." Kotemon nodded. "Looks like he does."

"Then that's it then." Tailmon said. "We use it to get out of here and back to the others!"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Revolumon shrugged. "What else do we have to lose?"

"Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt..." Taiki held the orange Xros Loader up. "ZONE TRANSFER!"

In front of them, an oval of light formed, with electricity sparking across it's surface...

It "POP"ed out of existence a second later.

"Guess that's out of the question then." Kotemon said sourly.

"Hold on..." Taiki began. "I have an Idea."

*Cue DIGIXROS*

"Revolomon!" Taiki ordered. "Dorulumon!"

"HOWDY!"Revolomon spun his twin revolvers.

"ROGER!" Dorulumon growled as he crouched down in preparation.

"DIGI-XROS!"

"DIGI-XROS!"

And as the two Digimon fused together, Taiki tapped into Hephaestus' creation powers and altered the resulting Digi-Xros's design from the standard Dorulu-Cannon...

The cannon formed as per usual, with Revolomon in the control position... However...

Something new was added to back, a rather large gun handle, and on the end of the handle was a third cannon mount, directly centered overhead above the other two cannons.

"XROS UP!" Revolomon called out. "HYPNO-RAILGUN STRINGER!"

Yes, the name was long, and yes, the formation looked ridiculous, but Taiki had a plan.

"When I open the Portal again, I want you to fire, Revolomon!" Taiki said. "If the new cannon can't force it open, then I want everyone to attack at once!"

"Alright." Shoutmon gripped his mic-stand. "Sounds like a plan!"

"Ready?" Taiki asked, holding up his Xros Loader again... "ZONE TRANSFER!"

Once again the circle of light appeared, arcing with un-controlled power.

"YUUGOTH BLASTER!"

The three mouths of the cannon glowed brightly as spheres of energy formed at the tips...Then, lighting arced between the three spheres and the whole assembly FLUNG itself into the unstable portal.

The two energy wavelengths combined, and the energy of the portal turned blue as it made a rather odd... Splooshing sound.

"SOUL CRUSHER!"

Wasting no time to see if the portal was still unstable or not, Shoutmon and Akari let off their signature attacks at the same moment, sending fire and song directly into the portal.

With a tone, the energy turned orange on it's edge as the inside faded away into a flickering green static.

"MAGICAL GAME!" Wizardmon threw his staff forward, sending a bolt of lighting into the event horizon.

"FIRE MEN!" Kotemon threw his own kendo sword into it for good measure.

"GLORIOUS BURST!"

And finishing it off was ShineGreymon's massive energy blast, pumping more energy than was good for it into the portal.

Suddenly, the portal began glowing with an intense white light...

"KEEP FEEDING IT!" Hephaestus ordered. "WE NEED TO GET IT OPEN!"

Marcus, finally getting tired of holding the fidgeting Space Core, flung it up into the air and then punched it towards the portal as if it was a volley ball.

"EARTH! WANNA GO HOME!" The Core cried as it flung into the portal. "EARTHHHH! ! ! !"

Everything went white, and nobody could see a thing as the portal quite literally exploded in their faces.

EYECATCH!

The camera zoomed onto a large disk with Marcus standing on one side, then slid over to Agumon. Both were standing in a matching pose, ready to strike whatever may be foolish enough to challenge them.

The Camera zoomed out and the disk flipped over, revealing a bright red outline cutout of ShineGreymon, holding what looked to be dual swords in each hand.

EYECATCH!

EARTH_ _ _| JAPAN_ _ _|

"Use this Xros Loader, Kudo Taiki." With that, the unclaimed Xros Loader turned a bright shade of orange, and floated down to the boy's hand. "And Save the Melody of the Digital World."

Kudo, Taiki, almost a month younger now, easily caught the Xros Loader, identical to the one in his dream- that, for you readers, had only just happened two chapters ago-, that descended from the green light above them. "Now then..." Taiki turned the device towards the shrinking orange glow that was Dorulumon's melody. "Can I?"

"If it'll put me out of my misery, go ahead." was the only reply.

"Wait! Kudo Taiki!" Zenjirou interrupted. "Think about this calmly! Just put the strange device on the ground and...!"

"Revive!" Taiki called out, causing the top half of the Digivice to slide open, and absorb the orange glow into it's memory within one second. "You alright in there?" He looked at the screen to see a toonish looking drawing of the wolf's face.

"What power... I'm feeling all my injuries being dissolved away!"

Zenjirou could only stare in shock at the sudden friendship between the creature and his rival. "B...but...but... This... That... he... I...But...!" You know, Zenjirou, this is just as annoying as it was the first time. "But...!" Seriously, I can't believe how static you were back here and then. "I..." Oh, Stop gaping like a fish already, would ya? "He... It..." Can you please calm down already? "What?" Ah, wait, here we go. In three...

Two...

Suddenly! (Or not so suddenly, actually!) A Portal of glowing green energy opened up underneath Taiki and Zenjirou, dropping them down into the Digital World before the portal began to lift itself up into the air...

Once it was a good six feet in the air, it exploded with a blinding white light and a shock wave that shattered any nearby glass that wasn't already broken.

When the smoke cleared, all those that had been on the other side groaned as they were deposited into a dog-pile.

"You know..." Marcus said from the bottom of the pile. "I'm reminded of that first time we went to the Digital World."

"At least things aren't upside down." Agumon, formerly ShineGreymon, remarked casually.

"Speak for yourself." Cutemon, who was lying on his back on the top of the pile, grumbled.

Somewhere in the middle, Taiki let loose a yelp of surprise as his Xros Loader began sparking heavily and...

Ejected the only thing within it's memory vault as it died: The human girl that had once been DeadlyAxmon, still unconscious as she reloaded on the ground and seemingly unaware about all that had just transpired.

"Great." Shoutmon grumbled. "There goes the last Xros Loader."

"I'll take a look at them in a minute..." Lopmon said tiredly. "Just let me catch my breath first..."

"You didn't even do anything." Revolomon replied.

"Yet." Lopmon replied. "I was going to attack after that last attack..."

"I think I beat you to the punch." Marcus chuckled. "Literally."

After getting untangled, everyone tried to sort out what had just happened, where they were, and if it was a hostile environment or not.

The second and third were easily answered: "This is the alley way where we were pulled into the Digital World." Taiki noted.

The first came easily after that: "The explosion must have opened the portal too far, and put us back on earth." Marcus deducted. "Either that, or when I threw Space Core in, he redirected the destination."

And once that was sorted out, everyone took a look over themselves, having not even done such yet.

"WHAT!" Akari cried out in surprise- She had changed back into her other form, the one she had "Mode Changed" Out of back in Sweets Zone.

"Oh dear." Wizardmon sighed as he looked at the younger girl. "I was afraid something like this might have happened."

"Woah! Wizardmon! Look! Look!" And then, everyone looked over towards Tailmon...Or where she would have been if she hadn't been turned back into a human. She was pretty, with blond hair and blue eyes, about as old as any of the rest of them, wearing a pair of blue jeans, a sleeveless white shirt, and a pair of run down looking sneakers.

This surprising turn of events caught everyone except Wizardmon by surprise, as he knew her back story while they didn't.

"Well." Wizardmon huffed. "This makes things even more troubling."

Meanwhile, Zenjirou couldn't help but be distracted by their location. "We're...home?"

Taiki nodded. "Looks like it."

"We're home?" Zenjirou repeated. "Back on earth? Back...?"

Silence fell between the two for a moment.

"I wonder." Taiki began. "Did we remain constant across time? A day for a day?"

"Eh?" Zenjirou stared at the General. "Oh yeah. That storm was warping us around for a while."

"Incredible!" Wizardmon's exclamation drew everyone's attention back over to him. "Somehow all traces of the spell, even the tiniest remnants of the broken one on Akari, are gone from the both of you!"

"What?" Akari blinked. "How could that happen?"

"It's like what happens when you wipe a magnet over a VCR tape." Tailmon said. "You lose the data on it!"

"So the portal did this?" Shoutmon asked.

"I'd assume so!" Wizardmon mulled the thought over for a few moments. "I think I have a solution to the elephant in the room."

"What elephant?" Revolomon asked.

"Most of us are Digimon in the human world." The Wizard said. "And the Xros Loaders are- for the moment- all broken. We can't use them to hide inside." he pointed to Akari. "She's a Digimon who normally looks like a Human but was then locked out of that form and then returned to it." he pointed to Tailmon. "She's a human who's been turned into a Digimon all this time, using the exact same spell I used to turn Akari back into a human."

It took a few moments before it finally clicked in everyone's mind.

"You're going to turn us all into humans!" Dorulumon stared, wide eyed.

"Wait what." Marcus blinked. "You can turn digimon into humans?"

"It's the perfect disguise." Wizardmon said as he crossed his arms, and completely ignoring the man's question.

"How long will it take?" Hephaestus asked.

"About ten, maybe fifteen minutes tops." Wizardmon gave an estimate. "Why?"

"Zenjirou and I need to check something out." Taiki said as he grabbed the other General by the shoulder and began dragging him out of the alley way. "We'll be back as soon as we confirm it."

"Alright then." Wizardmon nodded.

"I'll come too!" Tailmon jumped to her feet. "It's been forever since I was in Japan!"

"Woah!" The girl stared wide eyed at the carnage that was littering the street. "It looks like a Mammothmon walked through here."

"That's because one did." Taiki noted as he looked around. "I think we returned the exact moment that we left."

Zenjirou walked over to a nearby store front. "Look at the time."

Just a bit after One in the afternoon... And factoring in the amount of time it took to get sorted out and find their way out of the alleyway...

"We did arrive at the exact moment we left." Taiki corrected himself. "Odd."

"Not really." Tailmon said as she put her hands on her hips. "Portals always make sure things happen for a reason."

"You sound like you're talking from experience." Hephaestus remarked.

"A few years ago, I was at a party." The girl said. "It was just some causal thing at a beach. A lot of stuff happened, and...Well..." she shrugged. "I fell into the Digital World and I gave up my old life as Tairru Yagami for a chance at being Wizardmon's familiar."

"'Tairru'?" Zenjirou paled. "Really?"

"Nene thought it was a funny coincidence." The girl smiled. "Considering that my Digimon self was a Tailmon? Yeah." she looked over her reflection in the mirror. "Wow, have I grown!" she started toying with her hair. "I could really do with a hair cut too..."

"You haven't seen your parents then?" Zenjirou asked. "For all those years?"

"I was an orphan." She said with nonchalance. "Parents died when I was just a baby. I never really had a life here on earth anyways. Always bouncing from one foster home to the next, never really staying in the school system for more than a few months at a time."

"Oh..." Zenjirou went silent at this point, looking up to the sky and thinking about a certain fairy. 'Lila...'

"You okay?" Taiki asked.

"No." He sniffed. "I promised Lila that if I ever got back to the human world that I'd take her back with me."

"Really?" the boy blinked, having never heard of this before.

"I hope she's okay." the newest general began. "I...I couldn't save her in time."

No one said anything in response after that.

After a few moments, Taiki clapped his hands. "Well, all things considered. I think our first stop should be my place."

"Eh?" Zenjirou blinked. "Why?"

The boy narrowed his eyes. "I have some questions for my mom."

Returning to the alleyway, our trio of humans found that everyone (save three) had been enchanted and were now as human looking as the rest of them.

Akari, being back in her usual attire, was the easiest to pick out. Next to her was a boy with red hair and blue eyes, slightly shorter than Akari was, and was dressed in a white t-shirt with a red vest and tan shorts. With the state of his hair, and the fact that he was wearing Shoutmon's still broken headphones around his neck, it was easy enough to guess who he was.

Next to Marcus was a boy with shaggy brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing a blue pull over hoodie with a strange...Windy symbol on the front; the sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, revealing the red bracers running up along his arms. Combined with the blue stripes on his orange pants, and the claw mark pattern on his sneakers: it was obviously Agumon.

Nearby, in a striking cowboy costume, was a boy with golden eyes and very tanned skin- Revolomon. Next to him was an older man in what looked to be a detective's uniform (looking ripped right out of an anime Taiki had seen once). The orange flame pattern on the jacket and pants legs screamed Dorulumon. Standing rather uncomfortably behind him was a boy in a kendo costume- Kotemon.

Leaning against a wall was a young boy with light pink hair, wearing a dark purple T-Shirt that read "PUT THE BUNNY BACK IN THE BOX" in red text underneath a light green jacket. His fingers were tied up with bandages, and, as if that wasn't enough, the fact that the headphones on top of the boy's head had bunny ears on them tipped you off to who this was: Cutemon, looking not quite so cute and actually rather dashing.

Next to Cutemon was a little girl who could pass as Taiki's younger sister. Her hair was brown, and tied up into twin tails that reminded one of ears. Her eyes were blue, her dress was purple, and her boots matched those of a certain bunny rabbit. Combined with the same oddly shaped bandanna, you could tell that this was Lopmon.

Wizardmon...was still Wizardmon. "Turns out you can't cast the spell on yourself without the aid of a mirror." he said with a shrug.

"So..." Marcus began. "What did you want to confirm?"

"We're on earth, the same day and time as when Zenjirou and I left." Taiki explained. "I think we should go to my place, and see what we can do to fix the Xros Loaders."

"You're the home town expert on this Zone, Taiki." Akari said with a smile. "So lead the way!"

The walk to Taiki's house began soon enough, with the General walking down the streets towards his destination.

"You know." Zenjirou began. "I don't think I've ever been over to your house before."

"Hm, probably." Taiki nodded. "I don't think I ever invited anyone over. I always went over to other people's houses instead."

"How come?" Shoutmon asked, half distracted by looking around at everything.

"Well..." Taiki laughed nervously. "You'll see when we get there."

They walked some more.

"I never really thought about ever visiting the Human world in my life time." Dorulumon, who was carrying the still slumbering DeadlyAxmon on his back, mused aloud. "It's different from what I imagined."

"I always thought the Digital World was better, to be honest." Tairru remarked. "Earth has a lot of down sides to it."

Wizardmon, gathering quite a few odd looks from passerbys due to his state of dress, laughed. "The Digital World has it's problems too, you know."

"Earths with Digital Worlds have it easy. Even then, whole other universes don't even have earths and they're just as screwed up as the rest of 'em some times." Marcus remarked. "One time, Agumon and I visited a space ship that was being invaded by a bunch of self-replicating fur-balls that had kids as soon as they ate something."

Agumon shuddered. "The horror! The Horror!"

And so they continued walking, conversing about things as they went. And as they walked, they passed a cafe where a boy with blond hair happened to be sitting at a table. The light reflecting off of Taiki's goggles caught his attention, and recognition sparked in his eyes.

"TAIKI-SAN!"

Everyone stopped.

'That voice.' Shoutmon's eyes widened.

"Huh?" Taiki asked as he turned around to face the boy who had stood up. "What?"

"It's me!" The boy grinned. "Yuu Amano! From grade school?"

"Yuu..." Taiki's hand went up absentmindedly to the goggles on his head. "Yuu?"

Shoutmon stared at the scene. 'Is this why we got pulled back here?'

"I'm surprised you actually remembered me." Yuu said as he took a sip of his tea. "But then again you're still wearing my old goggles, so... I probably shouldn't be."

"I haven't stopped wearing them." Taiki said with a shake of his head. "I've replaced the band a few times since then, but I haven't stopped wearing them."

Nearby, Akari leaned in and whispered to Shoutmon. "What's going on?"

"Taiki explained it to me back in Sweets Zone..." Shoutmon began. "There was a boy who Taiki didn't help when he was a kid, and he got put into a coma and Taiki kept his goggles until he woke up." He jabbed a thumb over at Yuu. "That kid there eventually gave the goggles back after he woke up and Taiki's been wearing them ever since."

"Yuu Amano?" Zenjirou asked. "Why have I never heard of this before?"

"What gets me is the name." Dorulumon began, barely above a whisper. "Do you think he's related to Nene and Kotone?"

"Only way to find out is to ask." Akari frowned.

Meanwhile, back at the table...

"So, what have you been up to, Taiki-san?" Yuu asked.

"Quite a lot, actually." He pulled out his broken Xros Loader and placed it on the table. "And it all started with this, not a few minutes ago, by local time."

"Eh?" Yuu stared at the broken Xros Loader. "That?" he looked up at Taiki. "And what do you mean by 'local time'?"

"Before I go into it..." Taiki said, glancing over at the rest of Xros Heart. "Do you happen to have any sisters? By the names Kotone and Nene?"

Yuu, who had taken a mouthful of tea into his mouth at that exact moment, spit it out in surprise, thankfully to his left and into the street and not onto Taiki. "W-What!"

("I guess that answers that question." Shoutmon rolled his eyes.

"Yup." Akari nodded.)

"Answer me, Yuu." Taiki begged. "If you don't know them, then what I have to say will probably just sound like some crazy story."

"Yeah." Yuu nodded. "I did have sisters...Kotone and Nene..." he frowned. "They went missing right around the time that I was in the hospital though. Mom had me quit mostly because she was dragging us all over creation trying to find them."

"I found them." Taiki said, as seriously as possible. "I found them, and then..." he stared down at his own drink. "We got separated."

"What?" Yuu asked. "How?"

Taiki looked up, a solemn look in his gray eyes. "Have you ever read "Digica Scrab" before?"

As Taiki launched into his explanation, Deadly Axmon's eyes fluttered open. "Wuh..?"

"Ah, looks like sleeping beauty's awake." Tairru smiled. "Hey, there!"

"Huh?" DeadlyAxmon blinked, then glanced around. "Wh...Where am I?"

"You're at a cafe." Wizardmon said as he pulled a flash light out of a pocket and shined it into one of her eyes. "What can you remember?"

The girl blinked at the light. "Corone." she said. "My name is Corone."

"That's good." Wizardmon said with a smile. "You remembered it without me even having to ask specifically." he moved the flashlight over to her other eye. "What else?"

"Um..." She blinked again at the light. "I was born in Reaper Zone and I...I was kidnapped by a shadow."

Wizardmon took the light away. "Anything else?"

"No. Sorry." The girl shook her head.

"Well, you've done better than I'd have expected." He held up a hand in the peace sign. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two." She replied immediately.

He pulled his hand back and opened his thumb. "Now?"

"Three." She replied immediately.

("Relax!" Tairru said to a concerned passerby. "He's a licensed doctor, and we just came from a costume party.")

"What's the square root of 1?"

"An Irrational number." the girl said on instinct.

"Forty-Nine?"

"Seven."

"What's four hundred Thirteen plus Six hundred and twelve?"

"One thousand twenty five."

"Reactions are normal." Wizardmon mumbled to himself. "Motor skills fine..." He smiled at her and said, louder, "You seem to be recovering just fine."

"You're...What?" Yuu stared.

"I know it's hard to believe." Hephaestus began. "But it's all true."

Yuu's eyes shrunk in surprise as he squeaked "you talked differently."

"Yeah. We can do that." the Denizen replied. "You get used to it after a while."

"You're...The guy in Taiki's head?" Yuu asked.

"Yeah, you could say that." Hephaestus replied.

"And Nene and Kotone have them too?"

"Echinda and Cetus, yes."

"Why?" Yuu frowned. "Why didn't they tell me?"

Meanwhile, across the street, two school girls were walking towards the cafe our heroes were currently at.

"Mato?" The girl with green eyes asked as he companion stopped suddenly. "What's wrong?"

"Yomi..." Mato, the blue eyed girl, just stared in horror as she pointed at the car that was half-way stuck inside a nearby wall. "Look...!"

Yomi screamed.

Everyone, and I mean everyone in the general area, looked up at the scream, and then they all saw it: A floating car stuck inside a wall half way up a four story building.

Panic ensued, even as the poor driver (who had literally only just realized her predicament) tried to get herself out of her car; but it was clearly evident that the car was sliding out of the building, to fall to the ground a story below.

Taiki didn't waste any time. He jumped over the waist high fence that their table was next to, and ran across the street towards where the car was about to fall.

The Driver had barely gotten her door to finally open when the car came loose.

Everyone screamed.

VWHIRRR!

THUD.

And then the car's descent stopped as Taiki's transformed hands managed to grab hold of the car before it could hit the ground. The car's descent should have stopped then and there, and yet, somehow...

It kept pushing downwards, as if something was pulling it harder than Gravity could normally.

Taiki's arms strained, and the ground beneath his feet cracked from the pressure, but he forced out a grin and said, very casually through the pain, "Second floor, Superhero costumes and wares!"

Thankfully, there was a window near where the car had stopped near, and the person in that office had opened the window to see just what the hell was going on out there. Of course, once he saw the suspended car, he immediately began ushering the poor driver inside. (Curious fact: these two would eventually get married, and have a son who would end up creating nanite micro technology that would give a random boy somewhere else several years down the line the exact same powers as Taiki had at this exact moment, not to mention the fact that this had already happened in an alternate dimension YEARS before this!

Sorry, I ramble. Back to the story?)

With the Driver out of the car, Taiki tried tossing it to the side...

Only to find with absolute horror that the car wouldn't budge in any direction but DOWN.

"Taiki." Hephaestus said trivially as the metal and data that made up their transformed arms began to crunch under the pressure. "I do believe this is going to hurt."

"Ya think?" Taiki shot back not a moment before the transformation finally broke and the car crashed down into the ground- and Taiki too- with more force than really should have been possible.

There was an explosion...

Everyone stared in horror...

But, when the smoke cleared, Taiki stood in the center of the wreckage with his right hand transformed into it's drill form, looking no worse for ware other than the burn marks and soot all over his clothes and face.

"Yeah!" The driver began cheering as the man who had opened the window clapped in agreement. "Whoo! Awesome man! Just absolutely awesome!"

Soon enough, the gathered crowd began clapping as well, cheering, and whistling.

Taiki just brought his arm back to normal and tried to look humble at all the attention he was getting.

Back at the cafe, Yuu just stared with his jaw on the table while the rest of Xros Heart joined into the applause. "He really...did...what?"

"Well." Hephaestus thought to Taiki. "Now we really do have a reason to go to your place."

"And what's that?" Taiki thought back.

"We just survived an exploding CAR. I think our clothes could do with a bit of replacing, don't you?"

As if they didn't get enough stares from Wizardmon's presence before, now Taiki was getting all the attention from people passing by.

"If I ever find a way to use the time storms to our advantage." Taiki muttered. "I am erasing that moment from history."

"That's an understatement, Taiki." Shoutmon remarked. "If we ever find a way to use them to our advantage, I'm going to make sure there was a camera there to record all of that!"

"Shouto." Akari lightly hit him on the head. "I think that's going a bit too far now."

"I gotta say, dude." Marcus punched his fist into his left hand. "That was pretty hard core. I mean, you held a car in place and the drilled through it!"

"And the explosion?" Agumon threw in. "I thought you were a goner there for a moment!"

"Yeah, so did we." Taiki said as he tested out his shoulders. "Ow. I think I might need to lie down for a few hours...Or a week..."

"Taiki." Yuu began, finally having figured out how to react to what had just happened. "Forget any doubts I had. That was epic in all forms of the word!"

"Well, thanks." Taiki said with a shrug, and grimaced at the action. "Ow. Again."

"Where can I get a Xros Loader?" Yuu asked. "I want to come with you when you go back to the Digital World."

"Well, that's going to be a bit of a problem."Hephaestus began.

"Why?" Yuu blinked.

"Because I haven't even opened up our Xros Loaders to see what's wrong with them yet." Lopmon said. "You can call me either Lopmon or Kaiyumi, by the way."

"Um..." Yuu blinked. "Okay?"

"Cutemon or Simon." Cutemon threw in, apparently continuing a thing that was apparently happening.

"Dorulumon, please." Dorulumon said. "But my given name is Dren."

"What?" Cutemon blinked. "Really?"

"Yes." Dorulumon sighed.

"Tsurugi, Zenjirou!" Zenjirou introduced himself. "Taiki's rival and best friend!"

"Tairru Yagami!" Tailmon said again. "Pleasure to meet ya!"

"Akari Hinomoto." Akari said with a smile.

"Shoutmon." Shoutmon said. "Just Shoutmon."

"Wizardmon at your service." Wizardmon said.

"Kotemon'll work just fine." Kotemon shrugged.

"Umm..."

Everyone paused to look at DeadlyAxmon, who was nervously tapping her index fingers together.

"I'm Corone."

"Well..." Yuu said with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you all!"

Everyone stopped to stare at Taiki's house.

"Yeah." Shoutmon said flatly. "I can see why you never invited anyone over."

It was a two story mansion, on a hillside overlooking the bay-harbor, located a few blocks away from the bridge that spanned said bay-harbor.

Zenjirou whistled. "I never knew being a writer paid this well."

"Half of this is from my dad's work too." Taiki said as he fished through his pockets for his key.

"What did he do again?" Zenjirou asked.

"He owns a chain of restaurants across the globe." Taiki pulled out the dull bronze key that belonged to the front door, and frowned at it's state. Horribly bent out of shape. "Mom's going to kill me for killing another key." he muttered under his breath.

"Restaurants?" Yuu pried. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Taiki began searching the small rock garden next to the front door for something.

"So basically your mom's a writer and your dad's a chef?" Shoutmon asked.

"Pretty much." Taiki replied as he pulled up a blue rock and twisted it open, revealing a spare key. "But he doesn't do half as much cooking as it is making sure each and every restaurant functions according to schedule." He closed the rock up with a snap and put it back in place before walking over the door. "He's gone most of the time anymore anyways. You'd be surprised at how much can go wrong between visits."

"Good old Daiko." Hephaestus mused as Taiki unlocked the door. "Stuck with his dreams, I'll give him that."

With a deep breath, Taiki opened the door and called out inside. "Mom? I'm back!"

Silence was the only reply.

Taiki frowned. "Odd. I didn't think she was going anywhere today."

"Better for us then." Zenjirou said as he rubbed his hands together. "Let's get our Xros Loaders fixed and get back to the Digital World!"

As Xros Heart and company spread out into the spacious front room, Taiki went over the answering machine, which was blinking to indicate a new message.

"*BEEP**click* _Message One_*BEEP**click*" The machine intoned as he pressed the replay button. "Hi, this is Katelin Zeron from the D'ni Restoration Foun-" he hit the 'skip' button. "_Message Two_ *BEEP**click* Taiki?" Came his mother's voice. "Sorry to leave you hanging like this, but I'm pretty sure you saw what happened in town today." everyone looked over at the machine at this. "I've got to meet up with some old friends. Out of country, actually. I'll be bringing your father back home too, if the stars are aligned right..." Taiki frowned. "Anyways, There's a DVD you need to see, it's in my office, in the safe. Code's Four Twelve Six Thirteen, and I will be resetting it when I get home mister." Taiki sighed. "Sorry. Got to run, my flight's in. Leftovers in the fridge, and pizza money's in the bread box if I'm not back by tomorrow. Love you! *BEEP**click*_End Of Messages_"

"I guess this makes sense." Wizardmon said with a shrug. "You did say your parents were heroes of the Digital World before...If she saw what happened in town with the storms, she might have recognized it as Digital World related."

"Yeah..." Taiki frowned. "But what can they do that we can't?"

THE DIGITAL WORLD_ _ _| UNKNOWN TIME_ _ _| THE DEMON'S NEST: AKA: BAGURA EMPIRE HQ_ _ _|

Thunder cracked and lightning rolled through the darkened clouds surrounding the eviler, more demonic looking palace, with a dark purple Code Crown hovering over it's top.

A Command Carrier Whamon floated into the nearby dock, and allowed it's passenger, a humanoid, purple scaled Dragon Digimon by the name of Dorbickmon, access to the waiting bay where, a much slimmer looking DarkKnightmon and a bulkier Duskmon stood in wait.

"Ah, Commander Dorbickmon." DarkKnightmon began. "What gives me the honor of receiving one of the Seven Death Generals on this fine day?"

"Nothing good, I'm afraid." The Dragon said with a smirk as he refused to disembark. "Just...Coming to offer my condolences before the upcoming war."

"Condolences?" DarkKnightmon asked, raising an eyebrow on his now much more expressive mask. "What ever do you mean?"

"My scouts and I have encountered a disturbance within my domain recently." Dorbickmon said. "I've come here personally to tell you of the fact that it is the result of a boy with a Xros Loader."

"Kiriha Aouma?" DarkKnightmon mused. "He is nothing but a thorn. Blue Flare is not powerful enough to cause any long lasting wrinkles to our plan."

"No, Dear Knight." Dorbickmon said. "This boy saved the Blue Flare General from me, and gave us a nasty surprise too."

"A surprise?" Duskmon inquired. "Of what kind?"

"A Digimon who transformed into another form via the Xros Loader, without Digi-Xrossing with another Digimon." Dorbickmon answered.

"Impossible." DarkKnightmon said with a scowl. "The Xros Loaders do not have such an ability."

"Ah, but you see..." Dorbickmon chuckled. "This was no ordinary Xros Loader..."

DarkKnightmon's scowl deepend. "Explain."

"It was red."

And as DarkKnightmon's eyes narrowed at this...

SEAMLESS TRANSITION INTO THE NEXT EPISODE!