Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Or Heroes of Olympus. What a sad, sad world.

Author's Note: Written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge found on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges forum. The prompt for this chapter is "rain".

This is the first time the prompt word is the first word in the chapter. Go figure. Also, for those of you who don't know, Blood of Olympus (the last Heroes of Olympus book) was released on Tuesday. I've already read it, and my spoiler free review is simply: Some main characters got the serious shaft while some side characters got seriously cool upgrades, but overall, I'm not very pleased with the conclusion, sadly. I still love the series as a whole, and I recommend it highly; I just think it could have had a better sendoff. Now that that's out of the way...

Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-One

Rain soaked through Davis's coat in minutes, which did nothing to help his already numb skin. His goggles sat over his eyes, protecting them from the watery onslaught, but it was the dread that washed over him quicker than any storm ever could that had his attention. What if there was nothing left to find? Surely anything strong enough to shoot Gatomon and Hawkmon out of the sky in one shot – and it had to be one shot, because they would have seen more, right? – could have been strong enough to delete them.

Davis's fists buried into his pockets, and his nails dug into his palms. This whole situation was so messed up. They were on a quest to save Gennai when they should have been focusing on finding TK, and the further they got from File Island the more it felt like they were just giving up on him. He had so much that he had to say to the egotistical jerk of a basketball player (who wasn't really egotistical or a jerk, which in Davis's mind, made him more of an egotistical jerk) that he couldn't bear the thought that he would never see him again.

He wanted to punch something – preferably a tree – but they were in the middle of nowhere with a tree nowhere in sight. The closest object that wasn't one of his friends was a cast iron fence, and even he wasn't upset enough to try to wrestle with that thing. He wanted to vent some frustration; not break his hand.

He hadn't been aware of how far they walked or how long he had been quiet for until Veemon punched him lightly in the leg.

"You okay there, pal?"

Davis blinked and then pasted on a smile. "Never better. You see anything?"

Cody swiped his soaked hair out of his eyes and shook his head. "Nothing useful. It might be easier to search once the rain lets up."

"We can't return without news, Cody," Armadillomon said. "Yolei and Kari are counting on us!"

"I agree," Davis said.

"Besides," Armadillomon continued, "a little rain never hurt anybody. Let's just look for a little bit longer, and if we don't see anything, we can take a break. Did you see where they fell, Veemon?"

Veemon shook his head.

Davis sighed. "What do you think happened?"

Veemon shrugged. "Maybe they did just get tired and forgot to say something."

"At exactly the same time?" Cody shook his head. "I don't believe it."

"They did used to DNA Digivolve," Armadillomon pointed out. "Maybe they have the same amount of energy and conked out at the same time!"

"They do say that girls' cycles line up when they spend a lot of time together," Davis muttered.

Veemon and Armadillomon looked confused.

Cody went red. "I don't think that applies here, Davis…"

Another lightning flash lit up the sky, and Davis wiped his goggles off.

He couldn't stop his mind from going back to everything that happened at Baihumon's palace. He should have known that if Thunderbirmon was an armor digimon that meant that he used one of their Armor Digieggs to digivolve, but it had never crossed his mind that it could be one of his. Somebody had copied his Digiegg of Friendship to create Thunderbirmon, and now he was in trouble for it. It just wasn't fair. Of course, he couldn't exactly blame Baihumon for not wanting to see him because of it. The guy had apparently taken the spit in the face pretty personally.

Still, Davis hated feeling like a reject. The others got to visit with the Holy Beast of the West. Davis got to wait in the lobby with Sinduramon, the Deva of short sentences and shiny feathers.

Lord Baihumon no longer trusts the smell of friendship, Caturamon had told him.

That had to be some sort of oxymoron, right? Friendship was the thing that was supposed to be super reliable, but Davis knew that he was being a little naïve thinking that. Friendship was supposed to be a sign of loyalty and all that good stuff, but he knew that friendships broke every day. But that wasn't him. He wasn't the kind of guy to just throw away friendship – no matter what happened.

Like with TK.

He'd been trying desperately not to think about it ever since TK up and disappeared, but the truth was that they hadn't exactly been on the best of terms. When TK vanished, all Davis could think about was that it was somehow his fault – that their arguing had somehow caused this. Davis and TK always argued, of course; it was normal. But this had been different. This had been over Kari.

But could you blame him? The girl was gorgeous. Of course, that didn't excuse Davis for acting like a total fool, but he couldn't help himself. At the beginning of the school year, he'd told himself that this was the year he was going to finally win her heart! Only to then be quite bluntly reminded by Yolei that Kari was not a prize to be won – that it was completely up to Kari if she was ever going to get with him, and him acting like a total jerk to TK was not going to help his case at all.

And somewhere in the midst of him attempting to understand what Yolei had been trying to say, Kari had made her decision all on her own. Naturally, it had not been him. Just his luck.

He was trying really hard not to be overdramatic, but he was starting to think that getting stonewalled was the theme of the year for him. The last three months, Davis had been stuck attending classes with TK and Kari and feeling like the unwanted third wheel as they became all… coupley. He was happy for them and all, but it still made him feel like they didn't want him around anymore.

For all he knew, they probably didn't. He wasn't very good at hiding his jealousy. Being subtle was definitely not his strong suit. For the first month, he'd been on pretty good behavior (at least by his definition), but as TK and Kari continued to be aware of his presence and avoided holding hands where he could see, it just reminded him of how much it all sucked. He couldn't take it out on Kari, so he'd been acting like a complete and utter jerk to TK instead. He told himself it was because TK could take it, but it was more because he'd been blaming him for all of this to begin with. If he hadn't been around…

And then he vanished. Some Digidestined of Friendship he turned out to be.

When they had received the email that said that the one with goggles would hold the answers they were looking for, Davis had been secretly excited. It meant that he was going to be the one to find TK, and he could use that rescue as a bit of a reset. They would be able to start over. He could stop being the third wheel and just enjoy hanging out with his friends again. But being frozen out by the Devas had just reminded him of what that felt like, being the "unchosen" one, the odd man out. The only difference was that the Devas had been a bit blunter about it.

Davis shook his head. He needed to focus on the problem at hand. Nobody was going to be playing any violins for him just because he didn't feel particularly important. "Do you think we were shot out of the sky?"

Cody turned toward him. "Like… by an enemy digimon?"

"It's a possibility, right? Better than them falling asleep on us."

"Wouldn't we have noticed?" Veemon asked.

Armadillomon suggested, "Maybe they were stealth attackers."

"I don't know," Cody said with a frown. "Something definitely happened. I just can't say for sure what."

"If we were shot down… there'd be evidence, right?" Davis said thoughtfully. He turned toward Veemon. "Wanna do a little investigating?"

Veemon perked up. "Detective Veemon is on the case!"

Davis rolled his eyes.

Cody frowned. "It's more than just evidence that you could find, Davis. If we were shot down, whoever did it could still be around. We should stick together."

"If we split up, we'll have a better chance of finding Gatomon and Hawkmon," Davis pointed out. "And I dunno about you, dude, but I am getting soaked. The quicker we can head back inside the better."

Davis could see the wheels turning in Cody's head. The younger boy looked very much like a drowned rat at the moment. His brown jacket was nearly black with moisture, and his hair was clinging to his face in sharp pointed strands. His green eyes scanned the area around them – maybe one last desperate look for Gatomon and Hawkmon to make splitting up unnecessary – before he let out a defeated sigh.

"Don't go too far."

"We won't," Davis promised. He really wasn't looking for trouble. "I just don't like this…"

"Yeah, me either," Cody muttered.

Davis and Cody shared one last look before he and Veemon turned to walk in the opposite direction to follow the perimeter of the fence. He really was looking for Gatomon and Hawkmon as he walked – even clues as to what happened would be nice – but his mind wandered elsewhere at the same time. He wasn't sure how much time passed when Veemon finally broke the silence.

"Penny for your thoughts there, pal?"

Davis started to deny that anything was on his mind when he was interrupted by a sudden voice.

You're wrong, Davis, it said.

He was so startled that he nearly fell flat on his face. He managed to regain his balance, but he couldn't see who'd spoken. Then he looked at the ground. Rain continued to pelt down on his head making the red dirt beneath his feet into mush, and the mud shifted and moved on its own. A ten-foot-wide area formed six eyes, a snout, and a mouth – the giant face of a sleeping dragon.

He didn't exactly speak. His lips didn't move. But Davis could hear his voice in his head, as if the vibrations were coming through the ground, straight into his feet and resonating up his skeleton.

"V-Veemon…" he stuttered out.

"I see it!" Veemon confirmed. His eyes were locked on the muddy dragon face as well, and he stood in a fighting stance, ready to jump into action to defend his partner if needed.

But he cannot hear me, the voice continued. I wanted to talk to you and you alone, Davis, just like old times. Haven't you missed me?

"Sure," Davis said. "Just like I've missed algebra!"

"Uh… don't tell me, you're talking to Dragon Breath?" Veemon guessed.

Davis gave a quick nod, trying to focus on the words reverberating inside his head. Not that he needed to focus on it to hear it; the voice was so loud that it threatened to give him a headache.

But I was your greatest friend. Surely that counts for something.

"Dude, just get to the point!" Davis snapped.

Always so impatient… But as you wish: You're wrong. They need you desperately, he said. In some ways, you are the most important of the twelve – the little miracle that keeps them all going. Without you, the power of the others means nothing. They will give up long before they reach me, they'll never be able to stop me. And I will fully wake.

Davis was shaking so badly, he wasn't sure how he was still standing. It must've had something to do with his shoes that had sunk several inches into the mud. He hadn't heard that voice since he was five, but it was him: the earthen dragon from the TV screen. "You tried to get me killed."

The face shifted. The snout bared its teeth in a sleepy grin, like it was having a pleasant dream. But it is my right for I also gave you life for I am Life itself. The Life of all worlds. The Center of it all. Do not oppose me. Walk away now. Let Belphemon rise from his slumber, and you will be spared. You will walk through all the worlds without worry.

Davis must have looked pretty awful – he certainly felt ashen and shaky where he stood – because Veemon suddenly decided that this conversation was over. He leaped forward and slammed both feet into the muddy face. "LEAVE MY PARTNER ALONE!"

Veemon jumped several more times for emphasis. Davis hoped he imagined the way that he seemed to sink further and further into the ground with every jump. Finally, fear overcame him, and he reached for Veemon and pulled him out of the ankle-deep mud pit he looked to be sinking into.

Davis stared at the ground, waiting for the face to reappear, but it didn't. If Veemon hadn't witnessed it himself, Davis would have liked to have pretended he imagined it.

"Davis, are you okay?" Veemon asked.

He was still holding Veemon tightly to his chest, and the sixteen-year-old dropped his partner and tried to shake off the fear. He was the Bearer of Courage. He wasn't supposed to be trembling like a leaf because of some stupid face in the mud. This was ridiculous.

"Yeah, I'm perfect," he said as he wrung out his jacket. The storm overhead was starting to slow down. "Let's go see if Cody's found Gatomon and Hawkmon yet."

It wasn't necessary. No sooner had they turned to head back the way they came then Cody came out of the darkness with Gatomon on his back and Armadillomon running next to him carrying Hawkmon, both of which were conscious but appeared a little out of it. Gatomon's fur was matted down from the rain and coated in rusty red mud, and Hawkmon had lost several tail feathers and looked like he was forming a bump on his head. Other than being muddy, a little banged up, and dazed from the fall, the two digimon looked perfectly fine. There were no obvious signs as to why they had just fallen out of the sky. The foursome came to a stop in front of them.

"Are you okay?" Cody blurted out.

Davis blinked. "Yeah, dude. What's up?"

"What's up?" he repeated, incredulous.

"We thought we heard Veemon shout something?" Armadillomon said.

Veemon glanced toward Davis uncertainly while Davis scrambled for an explanation.

"It was, uh… nothing!" he said. "Are you two okay?"

Gatomon groaned. "It's certainly not one of my better days."

"We're ruffled, but we'll survive," Hawkmon added.

Veemon looked between the two of them. "So… what happened?"

Gatomon shrugged helplessly. "Your guess is as good as ours."

"Last thing we remember is flying!" Hawkmon said. "Then we woke up with Cody and Armadillomon over us. Not very pleasant, I must say. I'm just glad Yolei's okay."

Davis raised an eyebrow at Cody.

He shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't want him to worry…"

"Worry?" Hawkmon repeated. "Why? Is something wrong?"

Davis thought that maybe Cody had a point. Hawkmon seemed to be alright physically, all things considered, but he doubted that hearing that his partner had broken her ankle from a fall that he could have prevented would make him feel very good. Problem was, now that Hawkmon was looking for an answer, Davis wasn't sure what to say.

He was saved from having to answer by the sound of a crash from the direction of the factory – like two shipping containers slamming together. Metal crumpled and groaned, and the noise echoed across the yard. Instantly, Davis knew that the others were in trouble.

"What was that?" Cody asked, his eyes wide.

"Sounded like trouble to me!" Veemon said.

Walk away now, the voice had urged.

"Not gonna happen," Davis muttered before louder saying, "C'mon, guys!"

He pulled his D-3 from his belt and ran toward the warehouse.