Hey, I did it! Hope you enjoy

And as a reminder, I don't own Digimon. The old kids would still be here if I did.

Waiting

No one spoke for the longest time after Ken opened the door. The children were at a loss, trying to figure out where Patamon's partner could possibly be. Footsteps were heard out in the hall, but Patamon stayed put after glancing at who it was. The other kids however were nearly panicking, motioning to the digimon to get in and hide. As it turned out, Sora was the one who leaned into view, a confused look on her face. It wasn't often one of the digimon were out in the open like that.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Have you seen TK?" Tai replied, not wasting any time explaining.

"No," she said, glancing at the nervous Patamon. "Is there something wrong?"

"You could say that."

Kari put in, "We haven't seen him since school got out. I'm worried."

"Maybe he just went home early," Sora said, staying optimistic like the boy in question would. "Why would he be in any trouble?"

Kari and Davis could see why their friend would want to leave early, after what happened during science. He hadn't looked that much better the day before either. But Ken and Yolei knew the truth. The former explained.

"Yolei, TK, and I had a visit to the world of darkness on Friday. The same world where we sent Daemon before the battle with MaloMyotismon. TK was the one who helped me save Yolei, but we noticed while trying to escape that the darkness was mainly going after him. We're concerned he may still be in danger."

Sora nodded in understanding, "What are we doing about it?"

"Well, Patamon just showed up," Izzy finally spoke up. "Which further confirms our suspicions. We should split up into groups of two and look for him, and try and contact him via D-Terminal."

Kari gasped, "Of course! We should have done that sooner!"

She pulled hers out of a backpack in a hurry and sent a hastily put together message. TK, are you okay? Where are you?

She waited breathlessly for an answer as the others proceeded to put together the teams. She only heard her name once, and that she was going with Ken, despite some objection from Davis. He had settled down when he heard he was going with Tai, however. Kari herself took no participation in the conversation

TK strolled rather slowly down the sidewalk, his mind in another world. He had gotten the email from Kari, and put a simple, instinctive response, and continued on, receiving one more reply that he didn't answer. People passing by him barely got a glance, where on any other day they would get a full-fledged smile from the Child of Hope. His troubling thoughts, not to mention the unnerving dream, diverted all of his attention to where he was planning on going. He knew the others would be wondering where he was, but he had to meet up with Matt alone. He didn't feel comfortable with concerning all the others about his lack of sleep and nightmares.

That nightmare...TK shuddered. It had been so real. He had nightmares before, but never before had they been so real. He felt everything. All the cold and pain, terror and despair. He could hear everything and see everything, and the images and sounds were ingrained into his mind. He wasn't just a passive presence in dream-land this time. It was as if he was actually in the Dark World all those times. He felt a prick on the back of his head, and he absent-mindedly took his hat off to scratch it, his thoughts still on the dream. And then a voice interrupted his musing. It sounded like Matt's, and it didn't have a pleasant tone. TK looked around for his brother, stopping his slow pace all together.

"Dangit...Takeru, I know you heard me!"

TK felt a lump in his throat and he let his hat slip out of his hand. Matt's voice was in agony. He spun to where he heard it come from, and hesitated. There was a narrow alley between two shops there he had just passed. He walked over and peered down the dark, tunnel-like corridor. "Matt?"

"Here..." Matt's voice was weak and dry. "I need a little help, bro. I...I can't feel anything."

TK's mind was racing with frantic thoughts. How could he help? How bad was Matt hurt? How did it happen? He braced himself and stepped into the shadows.

The D-Terminal beeped. Everyone stopped and turned to Kari.

I'm fine, Kari read aloud to the others. I was planning on meeting Matt on the way before coming in. He better not be there...or is he?

Kari put in her answer and sighed. The atmosphere in the whole room had lifted with the reply, almost to the point where Kari felt like laughing in relief. Tai was the one who let out a chuckle, breaking the silence. "Well, I guess that's that. What do we do while we wait?"

"How about some soccer?" Davis replied hopefully, and everyone responded with an enthusiastic shake of the head.

"Especially not after last time, Davis." Yolei said.

"Aw, come on!" He argued. "It was only one window!"

Cody interjected, "Not to mention one of the computer monitors. And besides, I don't think Upamon would volunteer to be the ball this time either."

"Unless you let me digivolve, Cody," the little in-training digimon said, a glint in his black eyes. "Then Davis can kick me as hard as he wants!"

"Yeah! Why not?" Davis replied, pumping a fist, obviously oblivious.

Cody was about to object, when Izzy's laugh interrupted. "Not a bad idea. Cody, you should give Davis just one good hard shot."

The youngest considered, and then realized the computer whiz's meaning and his partner's plan. "Alright, go ahead Upamon."

"I'm on it!" The digimon said, already beginning to glow. "Upamon digivolve to...Armadillomon!"

The rookie turned to Davis. "Where do you want to go?"

Davis was ecstatic, and would've had Armadillomon curl up for kicking right there. "Oh, uh...how about...in the hall?"

"Okay with me."

They all crowded out into the hall, cautious of any who might see. The school was practically empty by then, so the hallway was silent. Everyone was rather nervous, excepting Davis, concerning the whole kick the diamond-shelled digimon idea. Armadillomon had been holding a sort of grudge after Davis kicked him into a computer monitor as Upamon, off which he bounced and broke through a window. The poor digimon had been forced to digivolve to rookie and curl up so that the long fall to the pavement wouldn't harm him.

This was a long awaited chance for Armadillomon at revenge. Davis backed up a few feet to get a head start, and then charged. His kick was aimed on a straight line to the end of the hall, but the rookie only rolled a few inches, leaving Davis hobbling on one foot, trying to keep from screaming. The others dragged him into the computer room, and the door was shut behind Armadillomon. Davis sat in Izzy's chair and let out a few angry groans as he clutched his injured foot.

Tai tried his best to keep his grin concealed. "Harder than a basketball, huh?"

For a moment Davis could only glare. "You guys knew that would happen, didn't you?"

"Diamond Shell, Davis. "Armadillomon said with victory and satisfaction in his voice. "That's my specialty. It looks like that almost hurt worse than falling out of a two-story building."

"You still haven't gotten over that?"

"I have now."

Davis grunted. He may have started it, but he would pay Armadillomon back somehow. Everyone fell silent as Davis massaged his foot. If they had to wait much longer, the whole trip might as well be cancelled. And then the door opened. The sound of hard breathing filled the air, and the newcomers had everyone's attention.

Or newcomer, rather.

Matt stood there, his eyes wide with panic. He held out his hand and all eyes in the room were fixed on what he had grasped there.

TK's hat.

Yes, that was Matt.

I'll try and not leave you guys in the dark much longer, okay?