Tomoki tapped the glass again.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Izumi asked, clearly getting annoyed with the tapping against the window. She sat beside Tomoki on the bench inside the Trailmon they were riding. Tomoki was sitting on his knees and facing the window he kept tapping away at.

"It's cold," he murmured as he righted himself.

"Well yeah, it was snowing just a minute ago."

"It just felt cool, that's all." Tomoki sounded like he was pouting.

"You must be really bored," Junpei commented, sitting across from them. Takuya was next to him, and then Kouji was down a little farther, taking in some much needed alone time. Bokomon was pacing up and down the aisle, and Neemon was sleeping in the rafters above their heads for cargo.

"I never thought I'd miss walking so much," Tomoki said as confirmation for his boredom. Izumi had won Trailmon passes at the Autumn Leaf Fair while trying to find the boys' spirits. It had been quite the adventure, winning contests, finding the lost spirits, battling Petaldramon, and Tomoki finding his beast spirit. It really was quite something. When they were told to head to the Rose Morning Star, none of them had been looking forward to walking all that way, especially with their tiring day. It had seemed almost like a god-send when Izumi remembered the Trailmon passes, though now they realized that walking had been quite a bit more entertaining. They slept just fine on the cushioned benches, but there wasn't much else to do while they waited for the next stop to stretch their legs.

"Yeah, it's kinda weird, isn't it?" Takuya asked with a smirk. "We'll get out at some point to get some food. Til then, we should just enjoy this. We probably won't get to ride in comfort very much after this!"

"Yeah, I guess," Tomoki agreed, but his tone suggested he really wasn't going to be able to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

A moment later, Junpei pulled out a ball from one of his many pockets and a hankerchief. "What's this? A surprise performance from Howie-Do-Dat?!"

Tomoki's face lit up at the idea of having some entertainment. Izumi and Takuya both looked amused, but an audible groan came from Kouji's form. He was sprawled across the bench he held alone, pretending to sleep. With his groan, though, it was clear he wasn't actually sleeping.

"What's this? A volunteer?" Junpei teased in a loud tone.

"Don't," came Kouji's clipped reply.

"Well I was in need for a beautiful assistant, but if you're so eager, you'll have to do!" Junpei continued, walking over to Kouji.

"No."

"What was that?" Junpei was smirking, amused by what he was about to do. Everyone else was watching with bated breath to see if Kouji would snap or go along with whatever Junpei had in mind. There was a time when they all thought he'd surely snap and get violent. Now, though, Kouji was their friend. They could tease him, tickle him, joke with him. Takuya was actually a little impressed with how they got the warrior of light to come out of his shell.

So it wasn't much of a surprise when Junpei pulled Kouji from the bench and started trying to force him to hold a ball in his hands, and all Kouji did was complain.

"Just hold it like that!" Junpei insisted.

"I said no!" Kouji yelled back. Junpei was actually a lot stronger than he looked considering he was easily able to hold Kouji in place while still trying to get the ball in his hands.

"You're ruining the trick!"

"I don't want to be part of the trick!"

The two stopped bickering with each other when Tomoki burst out into a hardy laugh. Kouji looked embarrassed, but Junpei looked pleased with himself.

It was several hours later, long after the sun had set, when Takuya got up and started pacing. Tomoki appeared to be fast asleep, Kouji and Junpei both well on their way. Neemon had been asleep since they left, and it seemed like Bokomon was catching some z's as well. The only other person left awake was Izumi.

"Getting antsy?" Izumi questioned, watching Takuya pace back and forth.

"Huh? Oh, sorry... thought you were asleep too."

"Clearly you thought wrong."

"Yeah..."

Takuya kept pacing despite his audience. Around his third or forth lap, Izumi finally spoke up again.

"What's wrong?"

"Just anxious."

"I can see that." She smirked, then patted the seat next to her. "Why don't you sit down?"

"I don't want to sit down. I can't."

"Why?"

"Just... thinking."

Izumi rolled her eyes. Why was Takuya being so difficult? If she had to ask why again, she was going to throw something at him.

"Thinking about the Rose Morning Star," he went on. "What do you think is out there?"

"Oh... no idea."

"Right. What if it's bad? What if it's some sort of enemy we have to beat?"

"It probably is." Izumi raised a blonde brow at Takuya, trying to figure out where all of this was coming from. He wasn't usually the sort that got worried. "Is there a reason you're worrying about it now?"

"Eh, I guess Kouji's rubbing off on me," he said with a shrug.

"Really? He didn't seem too worried to me. And Junpei hasn't complained about it yet either."

"That's because we haven't had to walk yet," Takuya joked. "I don't know... guess I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Don't know how to handle so many thoughts?"

"No, I really... hey." Takuya narrowed his eyes at Izumi as she giggled. He was a little embarrassed that it took him a moment to realize she was calling him an air-head.

"Relax, I'm just trying to cheer you up!"

"By teasing me?"

"Naturally." Izumi giggled again. Takuya rolled his eyes, but he did finally sit down. It seemed the teasing did the trick, and at least calmed him down enough to stop the pacing. He'd never admit to her that it actually helped, though. "Just try to get some sleep, Takuya."

"Yeah, yeah. You do the same."

As the two retired to their own benches to get some sleep, Neemon finally woke up and decided to wake Bokomon up as well with a few pokes. Bokomon snapped at him, complained about needing sleep, and then rolled away. Neemon managed to fall back asleep as well. The night went on like that, someone waking up momentarily, and then rolling back over to sleep. Even though they had comfortable benches to sleep on, all of them were getting antsy without having to move around much. Tomoki had a dream about running, and he suddenly felt the need to move his legs. He walked into the other cars, up and down, not really going anywhere.

It was while he was in another car that Kouji woke up. As per his usual, he stretched, and then checked to see that all his friends were sleeping peacefully. This time, though, one little dreamer was not in his bunk. Worried, Kouji pulled his shoes back on and began searching the other cars for his small friend. It was two cars down that he found Tomoki.

"Kouji?" Tomoki asked when Kouji entered the car.

"What are you doing?" Kouji questioned.

"Just walking."

"Alone... in the dark... in the middle of the night?"

"You do it, don't you?" Tomoki hopped up onto one of the benches and pulled his hat down over his eyes.

"Uh... yeah, I guess. You don't, though."

"Well maybe I do now."

Kouji was confused. It was obvious Tomoki needed to get something off his chest, but Kouji was the absolute last person anyone should ever go to to ease their mind. He was terrible with people, and even worse with emotions. Still, he didn't want to head back without Tomoki, and Tomoki didn't seem like he was in a hurry to leave the car they were in.

"Uh... you wanna... talk about it?" Kouji asked awkwardly after several moments of silence passed.

"Talk about what?" Tomoki sounded like he was nearing tears, something Kouji really didn't want to deal with.

"Whatever it is that's bugging you."

"Nothing's bugging me."

Kouji huffed. "Yeah ok, look. If you don't want to talk about it, that's cool. But lying isn't helping anything. Lying badly is even worse." He wasn't even sure what the kid had to be upset about. Tomoki just got his beast spirit, so shouldn't he be happy? Everyone else was. Even Kouji felt satisfaction when he got his beast spirit, like he was accomplishing the mission he had been chosen to complete. So what did the kid have to be upset about?

"You don't actually want to talk to me," Tomoki pointed out, sounding more like he was whining than actually making an accusation. He wasn't wrong, though. Kouji really didn't want to talk, especially since it seemed like whatever Tomoki needed to talk about was going to bring on tears.

Another moment of silence passed, without Kouji confirming or denying Tomoki's statement. Finally, Kouji just decided to turn and leave.

"Takuya seemed really worried earlier... When he was pacing," Tomoki spoke up suddenly, stopping Kouji from leaving. Tomoki still had his at pulled down, so Kouji couldn't see his expression to try and get a read on him. It wasn't likely that Kouji would be able to read much from Tomoki anyway. What Tomoki said confused Kouji. He wasn't sure what he meant by Takuya pacing, so he figured it must have happened after he'd dozed off. He didn't think it was in Takuya's nature to be worried, though. It was something that always bothered Kouji. Takuya didn't get worried, or consider the fact that they may fail. It was both admirable and stupid, and Kouji wasn't sure if he liked the quality in Takuya or abhorred it.

There was more silence. Kouji realized that this was perhaps the time he was suppose to say something, but he wasn't sure at all what to say. Maybe just be honest and admit he wasn't sure what Tomoki was talking about? That seemed like a good plan. He opened his mouth to say just that, but then Tomoki continued on.

"What if there's a trap or something waiting for us at the Rose Morning Star. Or what if we never make it? Or what if we can't do whatever it is we're suppose to do there? If Takuya's worried, shouldn't I be too?" Tomoki really seemed like he was on the verge of tears now, and Kouji almost panicked. He hadn't even said anything and the kid was freaking out! Did he try and get him to calm down? Answer his questions? Kouji didn't even know what the answers were, other than they'd find out when they got there.

"But I guess we won't know until we get there, huh?" Tomoki sniffled, speaking the words as Kouji thought them. "Yeah, that's right. No use worrying about it until we get there, right?" There was another sniffle, and then Tomoki wiped at his eyes. "Right! No more worrying! We just gotta get there, that's all!" The words sounded enthusiastic, and Kouji was baffled by the turn of Tomoki's mood. Had he worked himself up into a panic, and then cheered himself up?

Tomoki hopped off of the bench, lifted up his hat, and grinned at Kouji. "Thanks for listening. It really helped!"

"Uh... sure..." Kouji mumbled as Tomoki hurried by him, apparently ready to sleep now. Was that how talking things out was suppose to work? Kouji was so confused, all he could do was shake his head and shrug. Whatever, at least Tomoki was feeling better and getting ready to sleep.

The next day held an adventure none of them had predicted, full of Trailmon, races, and cheating digimon. But for the moment, everyone was trying to rest as best they could on a train, on the tracks, in a very different world.

A/N: This chapter was sooooo hard to write. I might go back and fix things later, but for now I'm done with it. I rewrote the interaction between Kouji and Tomoki a couple of times, and there was suppose to be another interaction before everyone woke up, but I decided to leave that for another chapter.