Title: Always Follow the Rabbit

Author: Mrpointyhorns aka Blemery

Beta: Takato The Dreamer

Rating: R

Status: In Progress

Part: 15

Pairings: Taichi/Koushiro

Warnings: Slash

Spoilers: Season 1 and 2, plus some of the movies (nothing blatantly but there)

Summary: Taichi's has started to settle in his life, and while that can be quite nice, he and Koushiro have never been better, it can also be a bit disappointing, especially his dead-end job. The only thing interesting that ever happens is when he has to babysit his nephew. Until Koushiro detects a disturbance that is about to give Taichi the adventure he craves.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by someone else. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

"Patamon look around and see if you can find Tentomon, alright?" Takeru said from behind Taichi. The little digimon took off back over the debris.

"I sent a message to his D-3. He should answer," Ken said from off to one side. Daisuke stood at his side staring a hole at Taichi's back. "Daisuke, you need to be in charge right now okay. Tai can't do it."

"Huh?" Daisuke looked up. He looked from Ken to Takeru. They both nodded. "Oh right, but I…don't know what to do." Ken and Takeru both looked just as lost as he did. Daisuke started to pace in front of the two of them and behind Taichi. "I know! Send Wallace a message. See if he can find the GPS on Koushiro's d-terminal."

"Hmm, that is a good idea," Ken said, opening his d-terminal. "It may not work though." Still he finished typing the message. "Wormmon why don't you digivolve and help Patamon."

"You too, Veemon!" Daisuke called. The two digimon quickly digivolve to Stingmon and ExVeemon, they flew off in opposite directions searching around the building.

"Now!" Daisuke said looking at Takeru and Ken. "I think we need to get Tai out of here. He hasn't moved for ten minutes now, and I don't think he's going to be of any help to us."

"I agree. I think he's clouded in darkness." Takeru looked at Taichi. His eyes were still glassed over like he wasn't seeing anything outside his mind. He knew it wasn't the first time that Taichi had been frozen with fear. Fear was the form darkness took when it attacked Taichi. His courage, his light, could only succumb to the darkness of fear. "Augmon? Can you get him out of here? Take him back to the RV?"

Augmon looked up from where he was holding his partner in his clawed arms. He nodded. "Someone hold him of a second," Augmon instructed. Takeru and Daisuke both crouched down to bear Taichi while Augmon stepped back to digivolve to Greymon. He was careful to reach out and take Taichi in his arms.

The three remaining digidestined watched Greymon until they could no longer hear his footfalls. Takeru turned to look at Ken and Daisuke. He his eyes were filled up with unshed tears. He wasn't much of a crier as an adult, but seeing Taichi so broken up and the thought that they might have just witness a building collapsing on one of their best friends was too much. Daisuke swallowed hard and looked away. Ken reached out and took his hand.

"T.K.!" Patamon called zooming back over to the trio. He had something in his mouth and when he dropped it into Takeru's hand, the three people recognized it right away. It was mashed up and crack the buttons were missing and some pieces fell to the sand between Takeru's fingers. It was a d-terminal.

The digimon and guys searched for several more hours hoping that the terminal had been lost when the man had survived, but they searched the rubble and the terrain and didn't find Koushiro or Tentomon. They didn't find a body or any sign of them other than the D-terminal. The three guys tried to reassure each other that no body and no digimon meant that Koushiro might have escaped and found his way back to the RV. But that didn't sound likely, first of all there was no sign of him in the desert and second Koushiro wasn't likely to leave his friends behind like that. Even if he had left them behind, Koushiro's computer was never recovered and so he could have sent them a message from that, but didn't. Also, they didn't get a message from Taichi or Wallace reporting that Koushiro had shown up there.

It was starting to look hopeless and after a few hours the digimon were becoming as frustrated and hopeless as the people. They had already been up for more than half a day searching the desert; they found the prison and then had to explore it. By the time they made it back to the RV it was long past when they would normally be asleep. Wallace had some food for them and the digimon ate, but the people picked at their food. He said that when Augmon arrived he put Taichi to bed, and joined him after a quick bite to eat. Wallace said that neither had made a peep since then. Rika was sleeping on the couch across from the kitchen. She was in a sleeping bag and she didn't wake up when Daisuke and Ken crawled up into their loft bed. Or when Takeru made sure she was tucked in.

They couldn't bear discussing any of the events that happened earlier that day, so they silently agreed to wait until later.

Two and a half days went by. The RV stayed in place. The digimon left sometimes to keep an eye on the desert, but other than that there was little movement. Taichi didn't leave his room except to use the bathroom and once when he stood in the kitchen and drank a large glass of water. He stared out the window and sipped it slowly, before going back to his room. The same dark look seeped from his soul and his eyes looked bloodshot and lost.

Takeru and Wallace had been at the table between the kitchen and the cab of the truck. Taichi's presence had moved the sad silence to an awful darkness that filled the entire room. Patamon had shivered from on top of Takeru's hat, and the digimon that had been looking down from the loft over the cab, moved away to look out of the RV windows. Rika was sitting on the couch with the book that Takeru wrote, but she hadn't been reading it. She was well aware the Koushiro hadn't returned and she could easily pick up from the other people that whatever happened wasn't good. But when Taichi stood in the kitchen, she pulled her legs up to her chest pressing the book between them and looked as scared as she had ever been.

When Taichi finished his glass of water, he set it down and went back into his room. The darkness followed him slowly, it took a while, but RV became light again. Takeru let out a hiss under his breath.

"What was that?" Daisuke asked. He was sitting in the driver seat. He had been staring out at the landscape, mostly listless, but when Taichi had come in he had turned to watch.

Ken came out from the bathroom, but looked like he was well aware of what just happened. He sat down on the couch next to Rika. "Do you want to help me with dinner?"

"Okay." Rika agreed softly. The darkness in the room slid away when she relaxed and joined Ken in the kitchen.

Takeru looked over at Daisuke. They didn't say anything, but after a moment Daisuke nodded and turned back to the front window looking out of the RV.

A half days later, Takeru, finally, went to Daisuke to talk to him. Daisuke had gone outside and sat at the table that pulled out from the camper. Veemon was close by, but the digimon were as listless and upset as the people. They were all upset about Koushiro and Tentomon, but they were also worried about their partners.

Takeru felt that this was the best time to approach Daisuke because the others still sat listless and unmoved in the RV. Taichi still didn't leave his room except to use the bathroom and drink water. Augmon confirmed that he hadn't eaten anything since returning to the RV.

"Daisuke." Takeru swung his leg over the table's bench. He left Patamon inside with Rika. Daisuke looked up at him his eyes dark from lack of sleep and depression. Takeru hadn't seen a look like that on Daisuke before. "We need to talk."

Daisuke nodded and sat up putting his elbows on the table. "What's going on?"

"I know that it's only been threes days since…well since, you know." Takeru paused trying to swallow around a lump in this throat. Daisuke waited for him to continue swallowing around his own lump. "And I wish it wasn't like this, but we need to figure out what to do next. So far we've relied on Taichi and Izzy to guide us, but we don't have that option anymore. You have to take charge. I'm not saying we need to make any drastic moves, but we need to at least start talking."

"How can I, T.K.?" Daisuke face grew even darker than before. Takeru reached out and put a hand on Daisuke's shoulder. Daisuke looked up at him lost and distressed. "I know I took charge before, but you remember then, that Izzy was around to help. He kept having those ridiculous meetings to explain things. They were boring, but without them I would've been even more lost than I was!"

Takeru frowned. He remembered that time of course, but he forgot that out of all the older digidestine Koushiro had spent the most time helping them. He was constantly going to the school's computer lab to watch over them while they were in the digital world and there were many times they only made it out because of Koushiro's help. It had been the same thing with Taichi back during the first adventure. "Daisuke I know it's hard, but we have to try."

Daisuke stared for a long time. Takeru saw the light return to him, the darkness created by loss, confusion and fear seeped away. "We can try."

"Good." Takeru smiled softly.

"How do we start?" Daisuke asked.

"The first thing we have to do is sit down with Ken and Wallace and discuss everything that happened," Takeru explained. Since they returned they had yet to relay any information about the events to Wallace. He had received the messages on the D-terminal and he could infer the results, but not what happened. It wasn't much, but it was a good start.

Daisuke nodded standing up. "Good, maybe the two of them can almost be as smart as Izumi."

They decided not to delay and went inside to talk to the guys. Taichi was still in his room and Takeru decided that was for the best. Rika smiled at them when they came inside. Takeru returned the smile. She had become so comfortable with them in just a few days. Was it because of how badly she was treated in the prison? Or was good food and a safe place to stay giving Rika the security she needed to feel safe. Rika sat on the corner of the couch with the book he had lent her, but she was mostly stroking Patamon's head.

Ken sat with his chair backed against the side of the RV. Wallace was next to him, his back towards the front of the RV. They both had their laptops open, but neither had worked in their computers for the last three days. Daisuke took the seat next to Ken, but with a corner of the couch between them, and back to the kitchen area. Takeru took the fourth seat that put him next to Wallace, with his back to the passenger seat.

"We need to talk." Daisuke took charge. Takeru smiled; even though Daisuke had been worried it was in his nature to take control. "We don't know where Izzy is; and Tai's out of commission for a while, but we were brought here for a reason, and we can't just sit around."

Ken looked up at Daisuke, but Takeru could see that he looked completely bewildered by Daisuke's words. Wallace was worse though. He was completely seething. "You want us to just forget about our friends and move on?" Wallace hissed.

Takeru jumped. He always forgot that Wallace and Koushiro were good friends. They had lived together when Koushiro had gone to school. Takeru had never really seen Koushiro and Wallace together, so he always assumed that he was the closest one to Wallace, but now he realized he was wrong. "Wallace, wait. I was the one that approached Daisuke. I think we should discuss a few things, but it doesn't mean giving up on our friends. I just don't want to sit here and do nothing."

Wallace turned his glare on Takeru, but it fell after a few moments. His shoulders slumped and he looked worn out and broken up.

"Dai-kun, you could have thought of a better way to explain yourself," Ken spoke up. He wasn't upset anymore either.

"Sorry Ken." Daisuke looked pretty sheepish.

Ken nodded. "We can at least do some talking. And I want to say. I think Izzy is probably still out there."

"You do?" Wallace looked up.

"Yes I do. He was on the second floor, and if he had been crushed by the explosion, there would have been evidence of some kind. There wasn't even blood," Ken explained.

"You didn't tell me that," Wallace sat up. He looked between the three of them. He still looked just as tense, but not as angry about it. "If you think he's out there, then why have we been sitting around here?"

Takeru shook his head slowly. "You don't know what it was like," He said before looking up at Wallace. "The entire building collapsed in matter of minutes. It was overwhelming, but the worst of it was seeing Tai." He could see Daisuke and Ken nodding in agreement. "He was so devastated. I think we all were. When we looked and couldn't find Izzy, I guess we just gave up."

Wallace's stress fell away long sigh. "Fine. But we should start looking now then."

"There is something I'm more concerned about," Ken spoke before anyone could agree with Wallace. Immediately, Wallace's anger returned, but Ken held him off with a hand. "I want to find Izzy too, but I can't help but worry about the kids. That place was a prison for children and they need help."

"Izzy is our friend," Wallace whispered.

"He has Tentomon, and we have to trust that he can take care of himself. These are kids." Ken shifted uncomfortably. Takeru knew how he felt choosing between helping a great friend and saving kids it was a difficult decision.

There was silence around the table for a long time. None of the guys really wanted to be the one to make the decision. Takeru finally turned to Daisuke. He told Daisuke that he had to take charge, so that meant that Daisuke had to make the decisions. Daisuke glared at him for a moment when he caught him looking. However, Daisuke was never one to back down from a challenge so eventually he spoke up, "Well we can't help either right now, because we have no idea where Izzy went and have no idea what happened to those kids."

"Okay, you three need to explain what happened at that prison," Wallace countered sitting up and looking at Daisuke for an explanation.

"Alright, so you know, Ken and I followed Rika's footprints to the prison. When we arrived we immediately sent a message to all you guys. We tried to be cautious about being seen until more help arrived. But we looked around the prison," Daisuke continued to explain to Wallace how they had circled the prison and had seen only two doors. The first door was the one that they had entered and the farther door had been the one where Veemon broke them out. When they were at the farther door they saw digimon through the glass window, but they didn't dare get too close and couldn't make out what digimon were on the other side. Then they had gone to wait for Koushiro, Taichi and Takeru.

Then, he explained to Wallace about going into the prison. He gave details that they were separated at the elevators and how the basement held the prison cells. There were about thirty, but it was clear that four or five were being used. In those cells there had been blankets and the digimon could smell that humans had been there recently. They had even said that one smelled like Rika. There were some cells that were completely dark, or the toilets were bone dry or overflowed indicating that they were not being used. Others looked like they might be used, but there was no solid evidence. It had made all of them angry and bitter. The worst was that the cells seemed to be used that day or maybe the day before. After finding no evidence of prisoners or guards they went back to the elevator and met up with Taichi.

Daisuke explained how they explored the second half of the first floor and about how the building imploded around them in just a few short minutes. After Daisuke was finished Wallace seemed to understand more why everyone had been so distressed when they returned especially Taichi.

"Okay so is there anything else I should know?" Wallace asked.

"Aside from the fact that there was a control room on the second floor, we don't know anything about what was up there," Takeru explained. It helped also to relay what they didn't know.

"There is this." Ken pulled a folded up piece of parchment from his pocket and unfolded it. "It was on the first floor. I think it's a map of the area." Ken laid it on the table. The map looked just as bleak as the desert outside. The map lacked any trees, waterways, mountains anything that could be interesting. Ken pointed to one spot. "I think this is where the prison was. I have no idea how to scale this map, but I think we are probably about here, and we started out back here." Ken measured about one hand length from the prison to an unassuming spot in the desert. Then he backed his hand up about three lengths. His hand was still in the middle of the desert, just a little more down, or west, or some direction. "If we had Izumi's laptop we could be certain of our travels, he's kept track of that so far."

"Well this isn't very helpful, except these areas on the edges." Wallace dragged his fingers over a pentagon at the edges of the map. The lines weren't completely straight, but it did seem interest. "Do they look like borders to you?"

"Yes, I think so. And from the looks of it the borders start new terrain." Daisuke pointed at the one close to him. "This one is white like a tundra. And this looks like a body of water."

"Hmm." Takeru looked over the map. "I can't argue with you, but it also just looks like this part is colored in yellow dirt, this is white and this one is blue, but then look this area is pink. It doesn't make sense."

The guys grumbled a little as they tried to make sense of the map. Then Ken grabbed his backpack and pulled out a pencil and paper. "I forgot that there was one more thing I found curious." He put his backpack down and then created a rough sketch of the portrait of the digimon that they had seen in the prison. "Was that it?"

"I think so." Takeru picked up the pencil and adjusted some of the details. Then he set the drawing down. "The digimon didn't know him."

"That's Sandiramon," Rika said from where she sat on the corner of the couch. She was looking on with semi-indifference that Takeru suspected was to hide fear. "He rules this region."

"I've never heard of a digimon like that," Patamon said looking up at Rika from her lap. "What do you know about him?"

Rika shifted slightly pulling away from them once again and started to clam up. "Rika," Ken called her softly. She looked at him. "You don't need to be afraid here. You're safe." Rika swallowed hard and nodded. She didn't say anything for a long time, but Takeru saw the struggle on her face and in her eyes.

"No worries, you don't have to tell us about Sandiramon if you're not ready."

Rika's anxiety fell and she relaxed considerably. She nodded her head confirming that she wouldn't say anything more about Sandiramon. "What can you tell us?" Daisuke sounded kind of exasperated, but Takeru wasn't sure if Rika would hear it since she didn't know Daisuke that well.

"That's enough," Wallace scolded.

"Tunnels," Rika spoke. She still looked a little nervous, but Takeru saw her rally her courage and she spoke with her head up and with pride. "When I first came here, I was brought through the underground tunnels to the prison. There are tunnels. Just so many of them. If you want to find anything around here, you have to go through the tunnels. That's why I came out here."

"There are tunnels leading into the prison? That would explain how the prison had digimon inside when we arrived, but they were gone by the time we explored, and no sign of them in the desert after," Ken suggested.

"Then we need to go back to the prison. See if we can excavate these tunnels and maybe that can lead us to the other children and Izumi." Daisuke stood up as he spoke, like he might run off right then to start doing it.

"I think that's a good place to start." Takeru agreed. "But, I think we shouldn't split up anymore. Let's drive the RV over there and camp there for a while. It will save a lot of time everyday if we do so."

Wallace nodded in agreement. "I think that's the best solution the prison is a long way from here even when Pegasusmon gives you a lift. So flying there everyday will take too much time. Rika are you going to be okay with that?"

"Huh? Me?" Rika looked up from where she sat on the corner of the couch. She seemed genuinely surprised that they were including her. "Why would I care?"

"Because you spent time in there as a prisoner, we're not asking you to go back into the prison or help us with the excavation, but we will be really close to it. If it makes you uncomfortable then we won't move the RV there, or we won't move it as close. What do you say?" Wallace asked.

"But, you said that the prison collapsed to rubble right?" Rika looked at Daisuke since he had explained about what happened in the prison. Daisuke nodded. "Then I don't mind. I kinda want to see what it looks like now, and anyway…the digimon will be there right?"

"Right!" Patamon smiled up from Rika's lap. "We'll be around to make sure nothing bad happens." Rika smiled at Patamon and then looked up at the guys. She nodded.

"Alright it's settled!" Daisuke jumped. "And I get to drive!" Daisuke smiled even more moving away from the table and starting to go toward the cab of the RV.

"Wait, Davis." Ken stood up following him over to the cab, "I'll help navigate."

End Note: I hope you enjoyed a different perspective!