Chapter 3: Believe

Taiki stared, his stomach churning at his partner's condition. While there had been times his partner had been in a poor condition, he seemed really hurt. He was glad Damemon and Gumdramon were supporting his friend because otherwise he looked like he would just topple over any moment. Pushing aside his concerning thoughts, he knelt down besides his partner.

"Shoutmon," he breathed as Tagiru and Yuu rushed besides Gumdramon and Damemon.

"I-I'm fine," Shoutmon managed to mutter, managing a smile. "We got bigger problems to worry about. Dorulumon and Cutemon have been captured by this new enemy and they're in a lot of trouble. DarkKnightmon and Bagramon...they're back." He almost collapsed again but Gumdramon shifted back from Tagiru, catching the injured King.

"Ou-sama!" Gumdramon cried, concern clearly shown in his voice.

"'M fine," Shoutmon murmured. "Tagiru...Ballistamon said...he saw..."

Tagiru knelt by them.

"Don't try to talk, Shoutmon," Tagiru murmured, glancing at his mentor's concerned face anxiously.

"B-but..." Shoutmon protested, but Taiki ushered him to be silent this time.

"Tagiru, can you get some water?" Taiki asked. "Yuu, is there any food left? If so, get something small. Shoutmon needs to regain his strength."

Tagiru and Yuu both nodded, rushing off to get the food and drinks while Taiki got Shoutmon seated on the couch.

Tagiru poured a glass of water for Shoutmon whilst Yuu made to get the food.

"Tagiru, is everything ok?" Yuu asked. "You seemed down earlier so..."

Tagiru waved him off.

"We have bigger problems to worry about right now," he replied curtly causing Yuu to frown.

Yuu didn't understand his friend at times, even though he did have a point right now so he quickly followed with the food. Taiki had made his partner quite comfortable on the couch as the other two brought the food and water.

After a good rest and some food and water, Shoutmon seemed a little better.

"Now," Taiki said gently. "Since you can actually talk and everything, why don't you tell us what happened?"

Shoutmon smiled a little, although it quickly fell into a frown.

"Dorulumon and Cutemon were captured," he said, grimacing as he recollected the events. "I didn't understand...still don't why Dorulumon didn't fight back. It was almost like he were I dunno paralyzed or somethin cause he couldn't move at all."

Taiki had a sharp intake of breath at that. It wasn't like Dorulumon not to fight back so something must have been stopping him.

"Who's the new evil?" he asked, trying to take things one step at a time.

Shoutmon shook his head, sighing.

"DarkKnightmon's back," Shoutmon said, unsure of how to put that in a way that wasn't too blunt so he just went outright and said it. Oh well, he wasn't known for his tact after all.

Yuu felt himself freeze as DarkKnightmon was mentioned. His heart thudded in his chest and sweat began to develop in his palms. He opened his mouth to say something but the words got caught in his throat and he felt he couldn't speak.

"Yuu-kun?"

"Yuu?"

"Yuu, look at me."

Yuu snapped out of it to see Airu, Tagiru and Nene all looking at him in concern. Taiki glanced his way as well but felt he was well-taken care of right now.

"Are you okay, Yuu?" Tagiru asked, forgetting his earlier jealousy of Airu and Yuu being together. He knew about Yuu's past and didn't know if Airu did but he wanted Yuu to know he wasn't alone in this.

Yuu knew they were all trying to help but right now, he felt as if the walls were closing in on him and he had nowhere to go. It wasn't possible...DarkKnightmon couldn't be back, he just couldn't be. He knew he was acting suspicious, most of them didn't know the horrible deeds he had committed after all, but he didn't know how to deal with this. Glancing once at his sister, he ran outside. He needed the fresh air and even though it was a boat party, it felt like he was trapped in a room with no way out.

"It's not your fault, Yuu," The voice came from behind him and Yuu was surprised at who the owner of the voice was. He had expected it to be his sister or even Tagiru but it wasn't. He turned away again.

"I'm sure the digimon I've hurt won't agree with you, Taiki-san," Yuu choked out with a bitter laugh. They all made light out of it. It would be so much easier if they just hated him and cursed him for the things he had done. He felt Taiki's hand on his arm and looked up at him. "I don't get it sometimes...I tried to kill you, I hurt Neesan, yet you all...never had any resentment towards me?"

"Haven't you punished yourself enough?" Another voice said and Taiki and Yuu turned to see Tagiru standing there, a smile gracing his features.

"Tagiru..." Yuu murmured. "Thanks for not saying anything to Airu."

Tagiru shook his head.

"We're friends, Yuu," he replied simply. "We may still bicker over the stupidest things but I'm not about to go tell your secrets to the world."

Yuu sighed a little.

"Why do you forgive me though?" he asked quietly. "Because of me, Damemon died, I almost killed Neesan and Taiki-san, all because I thought everything was a game. And now he's come back." He laughed although the laugh was filled with sarcasm. "Who knows what he has up his sleeve this time?"

Taiki sighed a little before smiling.

"Tagiru just answered that," Taiki pointed out. "You blame yourself and punish yourself enough without us having to add to it." He paused for a moment. "Nene never gave up on you, Yuu. No matter how much it hurt her, she never gave up on you. So don't you give up on yourself."

"Taiki-san..." Yuu murmured softly, unshed tears brimming in his eyes.

"Cheer up, Yuu!" Tagiru said cheerfully, flinging an arm around his best friend's shoulders. "We all mess up, make mistakes, fall down and scrape our knees right? But no matter how bad the scrape is, we gotta get back up and keep going ok? It's what Damemon would want for you as well!"

Yuu nodded a little, subconsciously leaning close to Tagiru.

"We gotta keep going," he agreed, tilting his head to bury it in Tagiru's shoulder for a moment in order to compose himself.

Tagiru felt a flush creep up to his cheeks but squeezed Yuu's shoulder in comfort. He saw Taiki watching them with a look in his eyes and glanced over causing his eyes to meet with his mentor's who smiled at him This caused him to flush even more and look away. It felt nice holding his best friend like this but no, he shouldn't be having those thoughts. Yuu and Airu were practically dating each other after all, considering they had come to the party together. He had to stop thinking like this or he'd only make things difficult for himself.

It didn't seem as if Airu would be willing to let Yuu go so easily and he seemed to like her well enough...didn't he just decide he'd stop thinking this? Instead he focused on helping Yuu calm down. Airu didn't know about Yuu's past, so he needed to help his friend be composed enough to answer her erratic questions.

After Yuu was calmed down enough, the three headed back inside. Nene leaned over, pulling her little brother into an embrace and squeezing his hand.

"You ok?" she asked, concern echoing through her tone. Yuu wrapped his arms around her.

"Yeah, I'm okay now," he assured her. "I just have to get back up and keep going." He gave a quick glance at Tagiru as he said this who grinned back at him, giving him a thumbs up. Nene just held him closer to her, kissing him gently on the forehead.

"I'm glad you're ok dame," Damemon admitted. "I don't like it when you think of that time. Makes me think I'm not a good enough partner when you do."

Yuu smiled a little, giving his sister a final squeeze before kneeling down besides Damemon.

"As long as you and the others are with me, I can keep going," Yuu promised his partner who beamed at him in return.

Once that was settled, the group headed to the digital world through Shoutmon cracking open a portal. Being the Digimon King did have it's advantages even when he was exhausted.

As the group landed in the digital world, it was a mess, to put it in the simplest words possible. There were frozen sculptures of digimon lying everywhere and the entire place was just a frozen wasteland.

Akari shivered a little at how cold it was, wearing a dress was not the ideal wear for this weather. Taiki, noticing her discomfort ignored his own cold and shrugged his jacket off, wrapping it around her shoulders.

Airu shivered as well, clinging onto Yuu.

"Yuu-kun, it's cold!" Airu complained. She wanted to ask about why he was so sad and what the big secret was...but Ryouma had stopped her, saying something about timing. Still...it was annoying that Tagiru knew about it and she didn't!

Yuu smiled a little, wrapping his own jacket around Airu's shoulders and holding her close, although felt sickened at the sight in front of him. He somehow wanted to shield his friends from it, especially Tagiru. And the other Hunters of course, but for some reason, Tagiru had entered his mind first.

'Not important right now' he scolded himself, trying to focus.

Ryouma shifted behind him, before draping his own jacket around Airu's shoulders as well and giving her a small smile. Airu looked surprised but flushed and smiled at the kind gesture. She reached over taking his hand and squeezing it.

"Thanks," she said softly. Her friend had been rather quiet since the whole Quartzmon incident and she wanted him to know they were there for him.

Ryouma blushed and simply nodded in response to that. Ren clapped his hand on his friend's back to show his support.

"Welcome to the Digital World!" A cheerful voice rang out. "I missed you, Tagiru!"

Tagiru's eyes suddenly widened and he stared. His insides squirmed as he saw who it was. Standing there on a hill above the frozen digimon was Mashimo Hideaki with a triumphant smirk on his face.

"H-Hideaki?" Tagiru finally managed to stutter, a little caught off guard. "Are you and Dobermon trying to help the hurt digimon?"

Hideaki shrugged, his smirk instantly changing to a concerned frown.

"Yeah, but it's hard to find what caused this," he said slowly. He moved closer to Tagiru, almost too close for comfort. "Will you come with me to find clues, Tagiru?"

Taiki got a strange feeling in his stomach and glanced at Hideaki. Following his gut instinct, he grabbed Tagiru by the arm, pushing him towards Yuu.

Tagiru cried out in slight alarm as he stumbled into Yuu who reached out, catching him.

"Tagiru! You ok?" Yuu asked, biting his lower lip, wondering why Taiki had suddenly pushed Tagiru towards him.

"Yeah, what's going on though?" Tagiru asked befuddled.

Yuu shook his head. He didn't know but it seemed Taiki was worried about something, regarding Hideaki and Tagiru. A strong desire to protect engulfed him suddenly and he shifted, so he was standing in front of the other.

Taiki turned back to Hideaki.

"I think splitting up is a good idea," Taiki said to him. "Why don't we search for some hints together, Hideaki?"

Hideaki's features immediately shifted to form a scowl on his face.

"I'd rather be with someone I know well," Hideaki practically demanded forcefully.

Tagiru shook his head, clearly confused.

"Hideaki, don't worry, Taiki-san's really nice," Tagiru said softly. "And he says things for a reason usually, so what about the rest of us, Taiki-san?"

Taiki pondered that for a moment.

"Tagiru, you and Yuu go together, Nene and Kiriha can be paired up, Zenjirou, can you go with Akari?" Taiki asked turning to his rival-friend. "I have my reasons and Ryouma, Ren and Airu, you three work well together so I'm not going to split you three up."

The others nodded although Hideaki scowled even more, making to protest before deciding to go with it. He glanced at Tagiru once, before following Taiki into the forest.