Chapter Three

Pieces Falling In

The sun rose in the early morning hours of the Digital World's new day, casting the pigmented world in speckly little hues of pink, blue, and lavender as the golden orb of the morning slowly ascended past the mountains.

For all intents and purposes, all those colors working in harmony should have made the castle look beautiful, but instead, it just looked all the more startling.

The glaring white smoothness of the castle's stone walls didn't sparkle a single solitary glimmer in the sun's rays, appearing more like bleached bones to all those who would dare to look at it, from far away or otherwise. Further adding to its unapproachable nature was the slatted parapets atop the walls, guarding the towers and inner grounds with crossbows and haloed Kotemon every few feet pacing and ready to man them.

At the centermost point of the outside walls was the entry gate, a criss-cross of spiked bars that stood at the edge of the white stone bridge, denying entry to anyone who the master of the castle deemed necessary to bar.

Most striking of all were the banners that hung on both sides of the gate, telling all who dared approach who the lord of the castle was.

Amongst the bright golden threads of the banner was an inlaid symbol of even brighter yellow; one that appeared to be that of a kite shield with a pair of angel wings spread behind it with rays of light shining outward, giving an illusion of luminescence that the rest of the castle lacked.

This was the symbol of the Digital Paladin and this was his castle.

But due to the earliness of the day, the Digital Paladin was absent from his castle, only present by the sound of his faintly echoing from the centermost point of the castle's innermost sanctum.

"So you have yet to find any trace of the insurgents following their escape?" From the great screen above the throne, the shadowy visage of the Paladin bore down upon the prostrate Rapidmon with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, my Lord," Rapidmon replied, his voice quailing just the smallest amount beneath the dim light of the screen.

"And in your zealotry to capture them, you also destroyed the entirety of the forest bordering the area where we were yesterday, is that correct?" The Paladin did not ease up on his disapproval, and Rapidmon actually trembled when he saw a brief gleam of the cold, hard blueness of his eyes.

"Y-Yes, my Lord," He only managed to repeat.

"Did you think you could capture them had you destroyed them?" The Paladin challenged.

Rapidmon gulped, "I was—truly, I was only trying to—I thought it would help if I—"

"Simply put, my Liege, Rapidmon wasn't thinking once again."

Rapidmon's anxiety fell away to immediate irritation when he heard the pompous voice of one of his compatriots. "Did anyone ask you?!" He snarled, turning to face the one who just had to weigh in from his side of the room.

The other General laughed capriciously, raising one of its great ebony wings to cover his golden adornments as he continued to snicker.

"Whaddya expect, Rapidmon?" And to make matters worse, the third General decided to speak up, stepping forward just a bit so Rapidmon could see the faint light of the room gleam off the metal adorning his skull. "Ya overdid it. If I were you, I'd start watching where you're slingin' those missiles. Wouldn't want the boss to shrink you down to size, would ya?"

"Shut your mouth!" Rapidmon barked, inwardly recoiling at the thought.

"All three of you be quiet," The Paladin said tonelessly, pulling the attention of all those present upon him again. "The fact of the matter is that the ones who interfered in our matters escaped, and to worsen matters, there are opponents we've never seen before now in the fray as well."

"So what should we do, boss?"

"All that we can do," The Paladin said. "We keep an eye out for their return, same as always. All three of you will report to your sectors and continue your required supervision, keeping an eye out should the insurgents poke their heads from wherever they may be hiding once again."

"And that's when we dispose of them, I'm guessing?" The ebony feathered General guessed.

"Yes, save for one exception," The Paladin said. "Should the one known as Kari Kamiya reappear, she is not to be harmed. Instead, you are to bring her back here."

"Back here?" Rapidmon raised his gaze upward. "What for?"

"Are you questioning me, Rapidmon?" The Paladin asked.

"N-No, sir!' Rapidmon said in an instant.

"Then simply do as I ask," The Paladin continued. His sights drifted down to the throne, or, more specifically, the one who stood tall just behind it. "Or I may have to rely on a more trusted companion…"

All three Generals shrank back when the eight brilliantly white wings of the one standing behind the throne puffed up slightly, and a glaring bright ring of light began to gleam, illuminating the brilliant amethyst helmet of the one it floated above.

"We will not fail you, sir!" The three Generals cried in appeasing unison.

"Good. Await my return in the meantime."

And with that, the screen flicked to black, leaving the three Generals alone with the one standing behind the throne.

"Are we cool to go?" The metal-skulled General asked warily.

Rapidmon watched the one behind the throne, breathing as shallowly as he could. It was only when the light of the halo dimmed and the soft fluttering of the wings settling sounded in their ears that he allowed his tense body to relax.

"We can go," He said, rising off the ground. "And I don't know about you, but I plan on leaving before he wakes back up."

"Ditto," The metal-skulled General agreed.

"Myself as well," The ebony-feathered General concurred as well.

The three fled the sanctum shortly after, leaving the one behind the throne once more.

The Digimon that they knew they stood no chance against.

The Digimon the Digital Paladin trusted more than anyone else.

"You holding up okay in there, Gatomon?" Kari tried her best to keep her backpack steadied as she stepped into the elevator.

Gatomon groaned, glaring up at her partner with an irritated sneer. "You're lucky I'm not prone to motion sickness or I'd definitely be coughing up more than a hairball in here."

Kari smirked in reply, "You're lucky I got us out before my mom could make me eat breakfast. Wouldn't it be your responsibility as my partner to help me with that?"

Gatomon shivered, "Sorry, but you might be on your own with that one, Kari."

Kari gave a fake gasp of shock, retaining her smile as the door opened and she stepped out. "Traitor!" She laughed.

She trotted out into the sunlit pavilion, shielding her eyes along with Gatomon, but keeping her sights forward to search for now fellow Digidestined.

She smiled wryly when she saw him, sitting in the same spot as the day before, though in contrast to the previous day, Davis didn't have his head lolled back in slumber.

Instead, he had his head bowed forward, appearing to talk to something hidden within his arms.

Kari's smile widened into a full impish grin. Good, he was distracted. That meant he was easy pickings today.

"Gatomon, wanna see something funny?" Kari looked back at her partner in her backpack, earning a sneaky little smirk in reply. "Keep quiet then, this'll be great."

Carefully, Kari crept towards the bench, her hands poised like claws in the air, ready to give her friend a healthy morning jolt to start the day.

"So…Your Mom and Dad aren't just digivolved versions of you?" She was stopped however by the curious voice of Demiveemon, speaking to Davis from his hiding spot within Davis' own backpack.

"No!" Davis laughed, bouncing the backpack on his knee. "They're just my parents! I'm never gonna turn into them! No way, no how!"

Kari resisted the urge to click her tongue at that. She'd seen Davis and Mrs. Motomiya watch a soccer game together. The reactions they shared to a bad call was most definitely genetic.

She'd never seen chips fly through the air like that.

"Then, what are parents exactly?" Demiveemon asked, tilting his head.

Davis bit his lip, mulling that question over. "Hmm…I've never had to explain that before." He licked the inside of his cheek and looked back down at Demiveemon, "I guess the easiest explanation is that they're the people who take care of you, the people who've known you since the very beginning."

Aww, Davis, ya big softy! Kari thought, her claws lowering so she could lean on the back of the bench, still unnoticed by Davis.

"You mean they were there when you first came out of your digiegg?" Demiveemon asked.

Davis had to take a moment to absorb that next question. When he fully processed it, he could only laugh some more. "Sure, something like that," He replied, bringing a finger to give Demiveemon a scratch between his ears.

Demiveemon quirked a single red eye as his leg kicked from Davis' scratch, catching Kari leaning against the far edge of the bench and summoning another question into his mind.

"Wait, does that mean you and Kari are my mom and dad?" He queried. "Since you were both there when you released me?"

"Wha?" Davis squawked with a jolt.

Oh, I have to get him now, Kari thought, leaning over the back of the bench.

"Good question, whaddya say, papa?" She teased.

Davis nearly threw his backpack ten feet into the air, Demiveemon and all when he realized Kari was there. "Kari?!" He cried, pulling the pack against his chest after he was on his feet.

He whirled around to face her, "What the—How long—Did you hear—"

Kari smirked and stepped around the bench, tapping her finger against her cheek in mock thought. "Hmm, if we're Demiveemon's parents, we're gonna need to set up some ground rules." She looked up at the sky, "We'll need to account for Gatomon too, so we'll probably both have to get a paper route or something. Digimon are pretty much bottomless pits after all." She glanced back at Davis, grinning like the Cheshire cat, "You wouldn't mind doing the cooking would you? Judging by the White day fiasco, I've probably inherited my mom's cooking skills."

Davis groaned and let his head fall, laying his forehead between Demiveemon's ears, "You really suck, Kari…"

"Hey!" Gatomon popped her head out from behind Kari. "Watch what you say to Kari, buddy boy! That's your Digimon's Mama you're talking to!"

Kari chuckled and brought her hand to rub Gatomon's head as well. "Okay, Gatomon, ease up there. I was only teasing him." She looked back at Davis, "It's kind of our dynamic, right, Davis?"

Davis turned away before he started blushing thanks to the way Kari's maroon irises sparkled, "Yeah…It's what we do…"

Kari smirked and stepped past Davis, going onto the sidewalk and beginning the journey to school. "Tell ya what," She said, turning back to him with her hands clasped behind her back, her smile softening (and unfortunately summoning the pinkness into his cheeks despite his best efforts) as she tried to soothe his embarrassment, "Why don't we stop at that convenient store again? Considering how you pretty much inhaled that melon bread yesterday, I'm willing to bed you wouldn't mind some more, right?"

Davis bit his cheek and gently slung his backpack over his shoulders, earning a giggle from Demiveemon when he bopped against Davis' back. "As long as you didn't make them, I'm sure I would," He said, his tone lightening again with his teasing.

"Oh, haha," Kari huffed, walking in pace with him.

As for the Digimon on their backs, they spoke amongst themselves in whispers too low for their partners to hear.

"Smooth move there, pipsqueak," Gatomon said with a wink.

Demiveemon giggled in reply, "I couldn't resist."

Despite how arduous every day had been for the past few months for Ken, he couldn't deny that he never found himself dreading the morning. Why would that be? Well, two reasons actually.

The first reason? Breakfast.

Despite his parents both having to leave fairly early for work every day, Ken's mother always made sure to put her very heart and soul into making sure he had a hearty breakfast to start the day with, both to make sure he had the energy he needed for his school work and to simply let him know that she loved him.

The second reason? Breakfast was the only time of day that Wormmon could be at the table with him, thanks largely in part to his parents aforementioned absence; and being able to enjoy a meal with his partner was the absolute perfect morale booster for the boy who lead the Digital Resistance.

"More jam, Wormmon?" Ken asked, pushing the little jar of strawberry spread towards him.

"Ooh, thank you, Ken," Wormmon said, dropping his slice of toast and picking up a knife between his large purple nails to scoop the jam onto it.

Ken smirked at the sight of Wormmon awkwardly maneuvering the knife along the golden slice and took another sip of his tea.

"Are you nervous about today?" Wormmon asked once his bread was sufficiently strawberried.

"No more than usual," Ken replied, his lip quirking as he dug his chopsticks into his egg-laden rice. "I just hope that nothing goes wrong before Gatomon leads Kari to the hideout." He sighed and stuffed a particularly large clump of rice between his lips, That and I'm not feeling particularly excited about having to put up with that annoying Daisuke…

"I'm sure everything will be okay," Wormmon soothed, his feelers perking when the sweet taste of strawberries hit his tastebuds. "It's like we said yesterday, we finally have something to be hopeful for, right?"

Ken's spirit grew a little lighter at Wormmon's reminder. "Yeah, that's right," He affirmed, beaming at him. He took his chopsticks and carefully used them to cut up the grilled fish his mother had prepared for him, divvying it up between two smaller plates to give half of it to Wormmon. "You're not worried about any nasty surprises though?" He asked.

"Like what?" Wormmon's eyes glimmered when he was given the fish.

Ken sort of wished he hadn't asked that last question, curse his pessimism. "Well…Remember the last time we thought we were winning? That's when the Paladin's Generals showed up."

He didn't want to be the thunderstorm to Wormmon's ray of sunshine, but Ken, young as he was, was no stranger to the cruelties of life, and the hope he felt when he met Kari, bright as it had been in the moment, felt more like a single cinder floating above a tumultuous sea of fear and anxiety.

"That was a pretty lousy day," Wormmon conceded with a nod. "But we still managed. And look at us now! We've finally met some new friends to help us!"

Wormmon's words ignited the cinder that was Ken's hope further, giving it just a little more staying power above the sea of anxiety.

"Things will work out, Ken," Wormmon assured, standing up a little taller. "I know they will. We just have to believe ourselves until we manage to do what needs to be done."

Ken bit his lip, somewhere between a giddy grin and a powerful pout. He may have been a thunderstorm, but Wormmon was the sunny day and the rainbow that came after.

"How do you manage to stay so optimistic?" He found himself asking, his sleeve going to rub at his misty eyes.

"Easy," Wormmon said, going over to wrap Ken's arm in a hug. "Because I have you."

Ken really did love mornings.

What a weird little thing this is… Yolei turned the strange device into her hand, inspecting its form as its opalescent sheen and ruby-colored grips gleamed prismatic lights into her desk thanks to the sun coming through her window.

The object had fallen from her bag when she had gone rifling through her bag shortly after waking up, catching her attention when she swore she saw the little square screen it bore on its face glowed at her.

At first she had thought that her parents had finally gotten her one of those cool new phones she had been pestering her about, an excitement that was squelched when she saw the device only had three buttons on it.

Her disappointment quickly gave way to curiosity when she the device seemed to grow warmer in her palm; not the warmth of an overheating device, but a warmth like she was holding a living breathing thing.

She would've have inspected it further right then and there, but the call of her mother for breakfast alerted her to the imminent possibility on missing out on good food thanks to her many siblings, necessitating the need to drop the device and run to the kitchen before the platters were bereft of little more than rice grains in the single digits.

After she had gotten her fill (And given her older brother Mantarou a smack for trying to steal her bacon), Yolei returned to her room and continued her observations of the device as she waited for Cody to arrive so they could walk to school.

Doesn't seem to do much, does it? She thought, pressing her finger on one of the buttons again.

Blip!

As if to prove her wrong, the device responded to her touch after several previous button presses. The screen lit up for a second, bringing up a grid of lines upon it with a red light at the center—

And several others moving around it.

Above the red light by several lines was purple light, slowly moving downward and then past the red one. Below the center by several more lines was a blue light, moving to the left. And last was a yellow light, on the same row as the red one and closing in quick.

What is all that abo—

Thunk-Thunk-Thunk!

Yolei almost leapt out of her skin when the gentle knock on her door reverberated into her room.

"C-Come in, Cody," She gulped, knowing it was the boy by the simple fact that he was knocking.

The door opened with a dim creak, revealing the boy three years her junior standing at the entrance.

"Mornin' Yolei," He greeted.

"Hey Cody," Yolei replied, ushering him in with a wave of her hand, not noticing the yellow dot joining the red dot in the center.

Cody, however, did notice the device in Yolei's hand.

"Hey! You got one too?!" He exclaimed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a device of his own.

Cody's device shone with the same mother-of-pearl sheen as Yolei's, with the grips gleaming like polished topazes at its sides and bright white buttons.

"You got one?" Yolei mimicked, standing up and going over to Cody. "Does that mean you know what it is?"

"I was actually hoping you'd know," Cody replied. He placed the device into Yolei's hand, "I mean—You're the computer club president after all…"

Yolei blushed, "Right…" She held up the devices up in both her hands, inspecting them for any sort of clue on what they could be.

Looks like this was that yellow dot I was seeing, She surmised when she finally noticed the two dots atop one another. Then could that mean those other ones I saw were—

Just before she could examine them further, the other two dots disappeared, with the blue dot vanishing off in one direction, and the purple one in another.

More of these things? She guessed.

"I'm guessing by that look in your eyes that you've thought of something?" Cody said.

"Just a theory," Yolei said. She bit her cheek and placed the yellow device back in Cody's hand, "And it's not much in the way of explaining where these things came from, or of what they are."

She eyed her own device before putting it into her pocket, "But maybe we can keep an eye out for some extra clues today."

Cody nodded, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down (An action that Yolei secretly found adorable), "Sounds like a plan." He looked back up at Yolei, "Oh, that reminds me, we're still having a meeting today, right?"

"Of course!" Yolei proclaimed with gusto. "We may be the only members, but nobody's taking our meeting time away from us, not even those annoying drama club kids!"

Cody's brow quirked, "Uh, yeah…Just make sure to keep it civil with them, okay? No water balloons."

"They knew what they were getting into…" Yolei muttered whilst she went to pick up her backpack. She slung it over her shoulder, turning back to Cody with a smirk, "Now c'mon! We can't afford to be late. Especially considering how detention happy Mr. Fujiyama tends to get."

Cody sweat dropped, Right, and that had nothing to do with him being in the crossfire of one of those water balloons.

"I'm borreeeed!"

Gatomon rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that afternoon. "Pipe down!" She hissed at Demiveemon. "We're supposed to be inconspicuous. Why do you think we're hiding in this tree?"

"I was hoping we'd find some berries or something in here," Demiveemon pouted. "But all there is in here are leaves and acorns! And I can't eat what I can't chew! And now I'm bored and hungry!"

Gatomon placed her paws over her ears, Aw jeez, I'm starting to debate jumping out this tree to test the whole "Cats always land on their feet" thing. The worst that can happen is I knock myself out. At least then I can get a break from pipsqueak here.

"Gatomooooon!" Demiveemon whined.

Or maybe I'll just shove him out myself, Gatomon thought with a sneer. She rubbed her temples, trying to eke the oncoming headache away before it could grow into a full blown migraine. Figures, the first Demiveemon in who knows how long and he turns out to be the most annoying thing on two worlds.

Suddenly, another thought popped into Gatomon's mind.

"Say…" Gatomon turned to face Demiveemon again. "That makes me wonder. Where exactly did you come from?"

Demiveemon's ceased his whining, instead focusing his crimson irises upon Gatomon, "Where did I come from?"

"Yeah, you appeared after Davis pulled the Digimental," Gatomon explained. "What's the deal with that? No one's seen a Veemon since before the new Digital World showed up. Heck, even in the old world that was a ton of time ago. What's the deal?"

Demiveemon blinked, absorbing the question.

"Hmm…" He hummed, looking into the foliage that surrounded them. "Now that I think about it, I don't really know how I got there."

A moment passed in which the two Digimon sat in silence, letting the only sound be the gentle breeze of the wind that rustled the leaves they hid amongst.

"I just know…" Demiveemon's lips quirked, "that I was waiting, waiting for a really long time to be released, waiting for my partner to come find me so I could do something—something important."

He closed his eyes, trying to focus what that thing could be.

"But I can't remember that," He admitted with a dour little shake of his head. "All I remember about my time before seeing Davis was a lot of grassy hills, some pretty flowers—and a lake, a lake that you could see straight to the bottom of."

He opened his eyes again, now suddenly looking less like the eyes of a hungry and whiny In-training Digimon and more like that of a being with significantly more life experience under their proverbial belt.

"It was really nice," Demiveemon said. "Now that I think about it, I kinda miss that place. I hope I can go there again someday."

The tree grew silent again, with only the breeze keeping them from suffocating in the stillness of it all.

Wow, gotta hand it to the pipsqueak, Gatomon thought with a gulp. He went from annoying me to making me feel bad for him in a minute flat. Guess I better do something about that. Kari'll be mad if I just let him be a sadsack.

"I'm sure it's over there somewhere," She said, going to sit a little closer to Demiveemon amongst the branches. "Pretty much every part of the old Digital world was recreated in the new one. Chances are, your lake is somewhere in that new world as well."

Demiveemon looked over at Gatomon, the dullness in his eyes lighting up with hope. "You think so?" He asked, bouncing a little bit on his stubby little feet.

"Most definitely!" Gatomon replied, putting a good dosage of cheer into her voice for the little Digimon. "And bonus for you; you can bring us along to see it with you!"

Demiveemon laughed and stretched his arms to the sky, "Yeah! I can show you, Davis, Kari, and all the friends we're going to make the lake! It'll be the best day ever, Gatomon, just you wait!"

Gatomon couldn't but laugh herself, her irritation with the little Digimon all but completely evaporating from within her.

"I'm sure it will be, Demiveemon."

When one leads resistance, whether it be a full-fledged militia, a small band of mercenaries, or even a plucky little band of rebels in the single digits, there was something of vital importance that must always be kept in large supply. Not armor. Not weaponry. Not even intel.

But food.

And that's what left Impmon sitting out on a log out in the middle of a clearing filled with tall grass and cattails, his red leather glove curled against his scowling face as he waited impatiently while Guilmon rolled around in the great expanse, flattening the greenery and goldery with his bulky crimson frame.

"Can you please cut that out!" Impmon barked. "We're trying to hide! Don't you think it'll be hard to do that with you mowin' down the grass that we're using to hide?!"

Guilmon did as Impmon asked, coming to a stop atop his white belly, sending a few final dandelion wisps into the air that soon landed upon his nose. "Sorry," He hummed, gazing at Impmon with giant, puppy-dog eyes. "I'm just happy to be above ground for a bit, aren't you!"

"Considerin' it could end with us bein' deleted, I can't say I am," Impmon retorted. He scoffed and looked skyward. "When the heck is that stupid egg gonna get here?"

The dandelion seeds that had escaped Guilmon flitted about above them, acting as little flits of whiteness against the cloudless azure sky.

Try as he might, seeing all that open space before him did stir something inside his chest, and no matter how much he wanted to keep them at bay, the tears came anyway.

Stupid Paladin… He thought, bringing up his arm to wipe the tears away against his dark purple fur. Makin' me break out the waterworks just at seein' the stupid sky.

"It's okay, Impmon," Guilmon soothed from where he laid.

"Oh shut up, ya dumb dino," Impmon huffed.

"Am I interrupting something important?" To make matters worse for Impmon, a snide voice cut across the moment of vulnerability, and from the ten-foot tall grass came another; a Digimon whose whole body seemed to be nothing more than a giant shell of an egg with a noticeable gap of blackness in the face, and a pair of thick, green, scaly legs.

"You?!" Impmon leapt off the log. "What took you so long, Digitamamon? It ain't exactly safe for us to be out here, y'know!"

The pupilless yellow eyes of Digitamamon narrowed impishly and his body shook with a snide laugh. "What's this 'us' business? It's perfectly safe for me to be out here."

Impmon grit his teeth together, "Yeah? Well we don't got the fortune of being a Data type Digimon that gets to walk about and make a profit off both sides of the fight like you do!"

Digitamamon let out a cackle, "Well what can I say? Regimes may rise and fall, but money still makes the world go round! Speaking of which, do you have my digidollars?"

Impmon sneered and brought his hand up, delving his fingers between the fabric of the red bandana around his neck. "Here!" He spat, bringing out a sizeable wad of blue and pink bills.

Digitamamon chuckled wickedly, "That stack looks a little small there. Didn't you hear that my prices have gone up?"

Impmon jolted and his hands clenched around the bills. "This is the price we've been agreeing on since we started this arrangement," He hissed, several wisps of smoke coming off his other hand, now clenched at his side.

"Prices change with the times, Impy!" Digitamamon jeered. "Haven't you heard about the haves and the have-nots! It's the haves who call the shots! Hasn't living underground taught you that?" He stood taller on his giant green legs, his vile purple claws catching the rays of the sun as a shadowy aura surrounded him, "And I'd tell your friend to back off he knows what's good for him."

Impmon's bristled fur fell and he turned around.

Guilmon was back on his feet. His back was arched and his eyes were narrowed in primal protectiveness towards his friend, complete with bared teeth.

"Guilmon, stand down!" Impmon ordered, unclenching his fist and holding his palm out to him.

"He's trying to take advantage of you!" Guilmon said, his tail whipping around in the grass.

"I'll handle it!" Impmon said brusquely. "Just relax!" He turned back to Digitamamon, "Both of you! If we start a fight, we risk attracting the Paladin's flunkies! And Data type or not, I doubt you want to be seen consorting with Virus types, Digitamamon!"

His words seemed to have the effect he wanted, as the aura around Digitamamon faded and he fell back on the flats of his feet.

"I'll give you another fifty, nothing more," Impmon said, reaching into his bandana again for the aforementioned amount. "That's plenty and you know it; considering how much business has gone down all over the place with the way the Paladin's been running things."

Digitamamon's eyes zeroed in on the extra bit of cash. "Deal," He said, his malicious chuckle returning. His eyes suddenly faded, leaving the gap as nothing more than a dark void. From within, the sounds of rattling could be heard when suddenly—

POP!

From out of the darkness came two sizeable crates of food, launching into the air for a split second before they landed before Impmon and Guilmon in a soft Thump!

"Thank you for your continued patronage," Digitamamon said when his eyes reappeared.

The money floated off of Impmon's hand, disappearing into the darkness of the egg as if never to be seen again, "I look forward to doing business with you again!"

Impmon continued to glower at Digitamamon as he bent down to pick up the crate, "Yeah, I bet you are…"

The three parted quickly enough after that, Impmon and Guilmon striding in one direction, Digitamamon bouncing away in the other.

"You're aware he's an ultimate, right, pea-brain!" Impmon spat at Guilmon as they entered a heavily wooded area that was mired in darkness. "Even if you fought your absolute hardest, he'd still wipe the floor with you!"

"I didn't like the way he was talking to you," Guilmon mumbled apologetically.

"I don't need you to fight my battles for me," Impmon huffed, squaring his shoulders so he could focus his vision forward. "I can handle dingbats like Digitamamon any day, got it?"

Guilmon didn't respond.

"I said 'got it'!" He repeated.

"Got it…" Guilmon repeated morosely.

BRRRRIIIIING!

The final bell of the day rang through Davis and Kari's ears, bringing about emotions of apprehensive giddiness and anxious anticipations to their minds.

Finally! Kari thought, pushing herself up from her desk, practically lunging for the front door.

"Finally!" Davis unknowingly repeated her sentiment out loud, trying to get through the door at the same time as her and getting stuck between the frame shoulder to shoulder.

"Wow," Kari said, her tone someplace between amused and resigned. "Feeling a little impatient Davis?"

"Hey, I just wanna get to Demiveemon before he gets knocked outta that tree by a soccer ball or something," Davis said, wriggling himself out of the doorframe and nearly falling flat on his face in the hallway.

Kari smirked, catching herself from her momentary off-balance by stamping her foot. "Sounds like you're already pretty attached to him, Davis," She observed with a touch of heartwarmed smarm.

Davis clicked his tongue, but didn't deny the claim, instead responding with a muttered, "Attached is an understatement. I feel like I should be starting a college fund for the little dude…"

Kari laughed and joined him in their walk towards the courtyard. "That's sweet, but I can't imagine your partner sitting still in a desk for a long period of time considering how you yourself struggle with that."

"Hey!" Davis objected, not really having any sizeable retort to respond with.

Not long after, the two made it to the courtyard, stopping below the tree they had left their partners and casting a quick cursory look around the area to make sure no one else was around.

"Alright, you're good to come out," Kari whispered up to the leaves.

"DAVIS!" Demiveemon, who had to be held back by Gatomon, bounded from the tree branches, landing in his partner's outstretched arms. "I missed you!" He exclaimed, curling up against his chest.

"I missed you, too!" Davis replied, pulling him close.

He couldn't explain it, but something about Demiveemon did make Davis miss him terribly. That was why he felt no qualms about hugging him right then. Though, he did blush when he saw Kari smiling at them with her hands folded over her heart.

"Jeez, would you look at them, Kari." Gatomon landed on Kari's shoulder the next moment, not even making her flinch in her nimble movements as she leaned against her head. "We just had lunch together not three hours ago and he's acting like he hasn't seen him since the Digital world got reconfigured."

"Oh, hush," Kari said, craning her arm up to flick one of Gatomon's ears. A mischievous grin overcame her and she pulled Gatomon down into her arms in a whirl. "And give me a hug!"

Gatomon bared a single fang in her squished up smile. "Okay…" She said, acquiescing to the hug by wrapping her own arms around Kari.

"Hey, you two!" The moment of affection between the two Digidestined and their partners was cut short by the arrival of Tai, jogging up to them from the front gate.

"Oh, Tai!" Kari looked up from Gatomon, flashing her brother a smile. "Glad you made it!"

Tai came to a stop in front of them, huffing with slight exertion. In his hand, a plastic bag filled with various food stuffs hung freely, their bright and colorful wrappers shining gaudily in the sunlight.

"Glad to be here," Tai panted. His eyes suddenly went to the top of Kari's head and a slight scowl came over his face. "And I'm also glad to see my goggles didn't just vanish into thin air this morning."

Kari immediately attempted to charm her way out of trouble with her big brother, employing her self-proclaimed "love me smile" as cutely and endearingly as possible. "Oh, when did those get up there?" She said, her hands going up over the little blue and silver accoutrement upon her mousy brown hair. "I swear, Tai, it's like they just fly to my head every morning. What are you gonna do?"

Tai's lip quirked unreceptively, "I'm gonna give my little sister three seconds to give them back to me before I snatch them off myself and accidentally pull a few strands of hair while doing it."

Kari sighed and pulled the goggles off her head. "Okay…" She said, wincing when she actually pulled a few of her hairs herself. Karma sucked.

"Honestly, Kari, do I go into your room and take your stuff?" Tai groused.

Kari bit her cheek, "Well there was that time you borrowed my perfume when you were going to Sora's house…"

"Hey! You promised not to talk about that!" Tai squawked.

Kari closed her eyes and lifted her chin haughtily, "What? You mean the day you went around smelling like a peach? What's to be embarrassed about? You had so many butterflies following you when you went outside."

Davis perked up, "Wait, I remember that day. Tai was practically covered in them! How much perfume did he put on?"

Tai groaned and brought his arm over his eyes, "Can we please just drop it? I'd like to go see Agumon now if you two don't mind."

"Don't we need to wait for Izzy to bring back Kari's Digivice?" Davis posed with a quirked eyebrow.

Tai's face flushed with further fluster and he threw his arm down, "Well, we don't have to wait for him hear, do we?" He huffed and went past Davis and Kari, "And I don't know about you two, but I'm gonna go wait in the computer room so we can get going the second he does!"

Kari huffed herself and followed after Tai, "Fine by me. We can recount the whole story when we get there. Right up to when you had the unfortunate luck of running past that beehive."

Davis jolted and followed after the two Kamiya siblings. "Wait, a beehive!? Oh, I gotta here this!"

Gatomon rolled her eyes as the exchange went on, and a thought came to Demiveemon's mind as he looked between Davis and Kari.

Humans are funny. Funny, but weird.

"I swear…" Tai rubbed his fingers along his temples, glaring daggers at Kari in chair beside him. "I am so getting you back for bringing that story up again."

Kari turned her head with little, "Hmph! And what story do you have on me?"

"Um, the White Day fiasco?"

All the hair on Kari's day stood up, making her look a little bit more like her brother for a split second before it fell back to normal. "Don't you dare!" She snarled, using her hands to muss down any residual prickles that stayed in her hair.

Gatomon looked up at Kari, "What's the Wh—"

"Trust me, she's not gonna wanna talk about it," Davis dully interjected. "It's best just to let it lie." He split the chocolate bar he had unwrapped in two and handed a piece to Demiveemon. "What I'm wondering is how we're gonna meet up with Ken once we get over there."

"I'll be leading you to our base," Gatomon informed. "But we'll have to be careful. Even though we'll be arriving in the same spot we left, we don't know what could have happened since the time we left yesterday."

"It really is bad over there, isn't it?" Tai gulped.

"It really is," Kari answered. She gulped when she recalled the stillness, the abnormal quietness of everything she had come across, followed quickly by the image of the haloed Digimon. "Everything feels so off-kilter." She squeezed Gatomon against herself, setting her chin atop her head when she thought of her beloved partner living in such a world. "Do you think Ken will be upset we didn't find the two other Digidestined he told us about?"

Davis scoffed and bit off a sizeable chunk of his own piece of the chocolate bar, "You kidding? It's only been a day since we saw him! Heck, when we got back, it was already nighttime. I'm pretty sure he has to give us more time than that to find these two other guys."

Gatomon looked up at Kari, "He's right, Kari. It took Ken months for him to establish contact with you guys so I'm sure he'll understand."

Kari smiled a small smile and nodded. "You're right," She agreed. "Finding the other two Digidestined isn't something we could do in a day. It's not like they're just gonna walk through the door and meet us by chance, after all."

CLICK!

"Cody, leaving a single tomato on your plate isn't wasting food, okay? No one would think less of you for not—"

At that moment, the entryway door opened and two others walked into the computer room with the trio.

"Oh, hello," The girl with long purple hair and big circular glasses said. "Are you here to join the computer club?"

Kari's heart skipped at least a couple beats. The computer club, she'd completely forgotten! How were they supposed to go to the Digital world in secret with them around? "Um…" She said lamely as her mind shifted into overdrive for something to say.

"YOU!" Davis leapt to his feet, pointing an accusatory finger at the girl as his eyes immediately lit up like a bull seeing a red cape.

The girl's eyes lit into a blaze as well at the sight of Davis. "YOU!" She repeated, thrusting a finger of her own towards Davis.

"You're the four-eyes who bumped into me!"

"You're the frizzy-haired jerk who ran into me!"

The girl reached a hand into her bag, "Trying to get the jump on me, are ya? Well, I've got a whole bag of water balloons that'll take care of you!"

The boy apparently named Cody jolted, "You still have water balloons?!"

"Well yeah, what if the drama club showed up?" The girl posed.

"Yolei, we talked about this!" Cody said.

"Go ahead and throw 'em!" Davis challenged, taking a step forward, "Ain't no way you'll be hitting me!"

"Bring it on!" Yolei cried, charging towards Davis with her hand delving into the bag. "I'll soak you, and that plushy you're carrying!"

"Wait, wait, WAIT!" Kari leapt between the two of them, putting a stop to the chaos that had so rapidly erupted. "There's no need for any of that! No one was here to get the jump on anybody! We were just here to—Just here to…"

Right, she hadn't thought of a reason yet. How could she have considering what had went down in the last minute.

"Don't tell me…" Yolei's expression hardened further. "You guys are with the drama club!"

Kari's eyes widened, "What? No! I'm not with anybo—"

CLICK! The turn of the door briefly scared Kari into thinking that Yolei had backup coming behind her, and she found herself wondering if she would actually need Davis and Tai aid her in what was about to be a very watery fight.

"Hey, guys." Fortunately, the burly computer techs that Kari had strangely envisioned did not step through the door. It was Izzy, walking through with his sights set on her digivice in his hand.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting," He said, rubbing his chin as he pressed away at the buttons. "I just wanted to get in a few final observations before I—"

"EEEEEE!"

Izzy stiffened and finally looked up just in time for his hand to be grabbed by Yolei.

"It's you!" She squealed giddily as she shook his hand. "Koushiro Izumi! The previous head of the computer club! I'm Yolei Inoue, the current head. What brings you here?"

"Um…" Izzy said, still absorbing what had just happened.

A gasp caught everyone's attention next, coming from Cody. "Yolei, look!" He pointed at Kari's digivice in Izzy's hand. "Mister Izumi has one of those things that we've got!"

Time froze for everyone in the room at that declaration, most of all Kari.

"He does!" Yolei gasped as well. She reached back into her bag, rifling around through it for a moment before she pulled out an honest-to-true Digivice, shining red and white beneath the fluorescent lights of the computer room. "Do you know what these are, Mister Izumi! Cody and I have been wracking out brains all day over them!"

"Um…" Again, Izzy was a bit flabbergasted. Understandable since Yolei had a tendency to talk a mile a minute.

"They're called Digivices." Kari stepped in, gently retrieving hers from Izzy's grasp. "And do you really both have them?" She asked, looking between the one in Yolei's hand and then at Cody.

Cody reached into his pocket and pulled out his own topaz-accented Digivice. "Yup," He said, presenting it to Kari. "Do you know what they're for."

Kari thanked her lucky stars. Fate had really brought the other two Digidestined right to her. Now she just had to explain the situation to them.

"Uh-huh," She said, nodding. "They're for—"

She bit her lip. Where to begin.

"They're for traveling to the Digital world…" She stated dully. Gee, that doesn't sound crazy at all, She thought.

"The Digital World?" Cody tilted his head curiously.

"What is that, some sort of theme park?" Yolei asked.

Kari sweatdropped, "Not exactly…"

"It's a whole 'nother world!" Davis chimed in, pulling the attention of the three towards them. "Yeah, a world we go to through the computer! It's filled with all these things called Digimon. They're having a rough time of it right now because some jerk called the Digital Paladin is messing with their world!"

Davis flipped the side of his vest flaps to show them his Digivice in one of his inner pockets. "That's why we got these things! We're being called over there to help the Digimon deal with this guy!"

His impassioned speech, heartfelt as it was, seemed to fall into dead silence after he gave it, and Yolei leaned towards Kari.

"Should we be concerned about him?" She asked.

Kari turned back to Yolei, "It's true though! The Digital World is real and the Digimon need our help!"

"Uh, Kari, you're getting kind of intense," Tai murmured.

Kari fell back on her feet, unaware that she had been standing on her toes as she tried to convince Yolei.

Yolei, however, already seemed plenty bothered by Kari's outburst. "Okay…" She murmured, her hand going out to pull Cody against herself protectively as she slowly backed out. "I can see you got your own thing going on here so tell you what, you can have the room, we'll just be on our way."

Kari's heart nearly stopped. "Wait, you don't understand! We—"

"DIGI-PORT OPEN!"

The cute little cry of Demiveemon wrenched everyone's sights back to him and Davis and they saw that the little one had pulled Davis' digivice from his jacket and brought it face first to the computer screen they had been standing by.

"Did—Did that plushy just talk?" Yolei asked in a hush.

Suddenly, the light of the computer brightened to blinding levels. Then, as if an invisible rope had lashed around the waists of everyone in the room, they were all wrenched forward, disappearing into the computer and leaving behind not only the computer room, but their very world.

The Digidestined were about to return to the Digital World.

AN: Ha! Demiveemon took matters into his own hands! Well, by hook or by crook the Digidestined are finally returning to the Digital World. What conflicts await them? Will they be able to return safely as they did before? Will the Paladin show up? Stay tuned dear readers because stakes will only get higher next time on The Digital Paladin!

And as always, reviews and feedback are always greatly appreciated! Doubly so for the more in-depth ones!

Manegie, out!