Jeri Katou was a young and cheerful girl.

The very sight of her brought out horrible memories of what happened to her in the show.

I saw her, here and now, young and innocent. The girl who would befriend a Leomon, becoming his partner.

The girl who would lose that partner.

The girl who would, in her despair, be kidnapped by the D-Reaper, which would feed on her misery, her dark emotions, using her to its purposes.

The memories invoked a sense of protectiveness. I wanted to keep her safe, keep her happy, and make sure that she never, ever suffered through what I'd seen her suffer through.

That was understandable, yes? Anybody who'd known what this girl would go through would want to prevent it, surely.

My head tilted to the side as I looked at her, wandering through the city, heading towards Takato's home/bakery- I guessed, anyway.

The girl was smiling- not for any particular reason, just smiling because she could.

I leaned back, looking out over the city. The smile, for some reason, continued to linger in my thoughts.

Because she was happy. Because she could smile without having known the pain of loss.

And that was what was at stake, wasn't it?

A little girl's smile. The lives of billions of beings.

The D-Reaper appears, and kills Humans and Digimon alike. If not stopped, it would kill all Humans, all Digimon in these dimension.

So what if it couldn't kill me? It could kill Takato, and Guilmon. It could kill Henry, and Terriermon. It could threat Rika, and Renamon.

It could threaten Calumon, and Impmon.

I hung my head.

Darkness briefly surged in my hand, a Gummi Block appearing.

I stared out at the Sea of the Skies, looking at the countless Worlds.

I knew exactly four of them. Back there; the Elemental Nations. Over there; Madoka's World. In the middle of there; Twilight Town. And finally, here; the Digimon multiverse.

Four.

Out of a seemingly infinite number of Worlds.

Each one containing countless people, doing their own things.

Each one living their own lives.

Oh no, existence did not revolve around me. Here I was, just a little speck of Darkness, unknown and utterly irrelevant to so many of those countless worlds.

Hah.

I stepped back into the World, appearing on the same building that I'd left on.

Jeri was gone- Talking with Takato a little ways away from the bakery.

Rika and Renamon were together, currently at Rika's home.

Henry and Terriermon were wandering around the town, not seeming to actually be doing anything.

Impmon...

Was watching over Ai and Mako.

Ah.

I slipped into a Corridor of Darkness.

This was the first time I'd entered a Corridor of Darkness in this World, actually.

The difference was immediately obvious; a change in the symbols that swirled around the Corridor of Darkness. Instead of the Konoha Leaf that had appeared around the Land of Fire, the 'I' that appeared around the Land of Earth, and so on, so forth; there were odd symbols.

Symbols which, after a few moments, I recognized as DigiCode.

Why is there DigiCode of all things in the Corridors of Darkness?

I stopped in the middle of the Corridor, looking at the DigiCode.

My eyes traced over the symbols, entire rows of DigiCode slowly streaming around, repeating over and over again with a gap between the blocks of DigiCode.

Something clicked, and I began to read them.

"A-Group Two; Area One: Matter Dimension." I spoke aloud.

Now that was interesting.

'A-Group Two'... If there was a meaning there, it was entirely lost on me.

'Area One: Matter Dimension'... The second part was an obvious reference to the fact that Human Dimension was Matter instead of Data. 'Area One', however...

I took a step back, shifting the destination of the Corridor of Darkness away from the Hum- Matter Dimension, into the Digital World.

Some of the floating DigiCode segments changed, the ones on the half that was closest to the Matter Dimension remaining the same, while the half that was closest to the Digital World shifted.

"A-Group Two; Area Two: Data Dimension." I read again.

Area Two: Data Dimension.

Ah. The second part had been a descriptor, Area One referred to the Real World, and Area Two to the Digital World.

Matter Dimension and Data Dimension.

That is going to trip me up a lot.

I stood silently behind Impmon, watching him as he stared at Ai and Mako.

Ai and Mako, who were currently fighting over a plush bear, trying to yank it out of each other's hands. I knew exactly how that would end.

"4 year old children."

Impmon just about jumped out of his skin, almost falling off the roof he'd been standing on if I hadn't caught him.

I gently let go of him when he stabilised, taking a seat next to him.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Nothing." I shook my head.

A pair of cries caught my attention, and I saw that Ai and Mako were now holding two pieces of the plush toy.

"Too young to understand why they shouldn't fight." I shook my head.

Impmon, I noticed, was staring at the scene, frowning. I could see the disgust in his Heart, alongside... Happiness?

Something like that.

But I could also see, deep down, the sadness. Longing.

But Impmon would never admit that to anybody.

Not even to himself.

"Humans. Buncha idiots. Those two especially"

"They're four, Impmon. They simply don't know any better."

One day, they'll grow up. One day, they'll be able to handle the responsibility that comes with being a Tamer.

But that day wasn't today.

And honestly, who picks a pair of four-year-olds to be partnered with a Digimon, anyway?

Harpymon, I decided, was aptly named.

She had a very irritating, screeching voice, which wasn't helped by the fact that, aside from declaring the names of her attacks, the only method of communication she seemed to employ was screeching.

Thankfully, she wasn't going to be staying for long.

Go on, Guilmon. End the source of my suffering.

"Pyro Sphere!" Guilmon called, shooting a blast at Harpymon, who, unfortunately, dodged, letting out another one of those irritating screeches.

"Wind Seeker!" Harpymon screamed, shooting a blast of energy at Guilmon, carving out a gouge in the ground behind him when he dodged.

Guilmon suddenly sped up, Takato happily employing his cards to great effect. Guilmon charged at Harpymon, leaping at the obnoxious Digimon in a flying tackle, slamming into her waist and wrapping his arms around her, his weight dragging the both of them into the ground.

Harpymon landed underneath Guilmon, the latter holding down the former's arms, leaving her unable to escape.

She screeched, but Guilmon ignored her, breathing in.

"Pyro Sphere!" Guilmon shouted, exhaling a fireball directly into Harpymon's face, deleting the Data-Type just about instantly.

Takato walked up to his partner, a smile on his face. "Good job, Guilmon."

Guilmon nuzzled against Takato, the latter rolling his eyes before beginning to scratch the former behind the ears.

It was a moment that was promptly ruined. "Oh come on, twice in the same day?! Really?" Rika grouched.