A/N: Ugh, well, this certainly bodes well for my update schedule for the rest of the story.

Anyway, turns out I lied. This story will have OCs.

––

Night had fallen. The Digimon Emperor was nowhere to be found, his slaves had withdrawn from their daily rampage and gone back to who-knew-where, and things were, for lack of a better word, peaceful. This was the time the entire Digital World had come to cherish; after hours of running and hiding and praying, they could all breathe sighs of relief, knowing they'd made it through just one more day. Now was the time for solace and for rest – it was the only time they had left for it.

At least, it would be on any other night.

Agumon rubbed his hands together nervously as he was marched through a dark, spooky area of the forest he'd always taken care to avoid. He kept glancing back at the two Gazimon directly behind him, trudging along in perfect formation and making sure he didn't go anywhere they didn't want. They certainly weren't the Emperor's slaves, judging by the lack of Dark Rings anywhere, so he couldn't imagine why they'd rounded him up in the middle of the night and led him out here. He was pretty sure he could take them in a fight, but he didn't want to do that just yet… not until he was sure he was really in trouble.

"This is certainly no way to treat a lady," huffed Biyomon on his left.

"It's no way to treat anybody, if you ask me!" said Tentomon on his right.

"Quiet, all of you," said one Gazimon. "We've already told you, our leader needs your cooperation, and you're going to give it to him."

"And don't even try playing dumb," warned the other one. "We know who you are. You're the partners of those Digidestined."

Well, that was no surprise. Just about everybody in the Digital World knew who they were; being the partners of the children who'd saved the entire world, they were probably the closest thing you could find to celebrities. At least they had been, all those years ago.

Agumon and his friends walked in nervous silence for the rest of the way, wondering what in the world was going on, until finally the Gazimon marched them through the trees and into a broad clearing in the middle of the woods.

"What in the – what's going on here?"

There was a large campfire roaring in the middle of the clearing, and crowded around it in an attempt to keep warm, sitting on logs or perched up in the tree branches, were dozens of Digimon of all kinds – Floramon, Mushroomon, Gotsumon, and more. All of them looked exhausted and beaten, most looked hungry, and none of them looked happy.

"Who… who are they?" Biyomon asked nervously. Neither of the Gazimon answered her, but one of them suddenly stepped forward to address a small Rookie Digimon standing on the other side of the campfire from them, arms folded and facing away from them.

"Hey! Bearmon! We got 'em!"

The addressed Digimon turned to face them, allowing Agumon and the others a good look at him. He looked just like a little bear cub, if not for the myriad blue buckles he wore across his arms and chest and the blue baseball cap he wore backwards over his head. Unlike the rest of the gathered Digimon, he didn't look tired at all… in fact, he looked pretty tough.

"Ah," he said, looking quite satisfied. "So, the guests of honor've finally showed up, huh?"

He walked over to them, and Agumon and the others subconsciously braced themselves a little. "Nice to finally meet the famous Agumon. The name's Bearmon. I'm the leader of all these Digimon here… circumstances bein' what they are."

"Uh… nice to meet you?" Agumon said awkwardly. "If you don't mind my asking, Mr. Bearmon, why did you bring me and my friends here in the middle of the night?"

"We'd like to know that too," Tentomon grumbled. "I'm falling behind on my beauty sleep."

"I figured you'd ask. You guys are here because we're all havin' a problem, and you're gonna help us," Bearmon said sternly. "Like I'm sure you've heard, Agumon, a few days ago there was a huge forest fire a ways away from here. The Digimon Emperor sent one of his slaves on a rampage, and 'cause of that, all of us lost our homes."

Biyomon gasped. "You mean you – all of you are from the forest?"

"Yes, we heard about the fire," Agumon said uneasily. "I mean, we saw it too – but was it really the Digimon Emperor?"

"He burned down nearly half the forest," Bearmon said angrily, clenching his fists very tightly. "We all had to run for our lives. I don't think I gotta tell you that not all of us made it out."

Agumon glanced back at Biyomon and Tentomon, who were both sharing his horrified expression – well, he thought Tentomon was, anyway.

"I… that's horrible," he said softly. "Where will you all go now? Where will you live?"

"If I knew the answer to that, I'd tell you," Bearmon grumbled. "But that's not why I brought you guys here. You're here because I gotta put a stop to this. I gotta make sure this never happens to my friends again… and that's where you all come in."

"…I'm afraid you're going to have to repeat that," said Tentomon.

"We thought this was just another one of those acts of terrorism the Emperor always does," said Bearmon, starting to pace back and forth. "But news travels fast in the Digital World, y'know, and we've heard things. People have been sayin' that he sent that Tyrannomon into the forest for a reason. He was trying to get rid of somebody."

He stopped pacing and glared directly at them. "Somebody you guys all must have met."

All three of them were momentarily silent.

"I'm… not sure I follow," said Agumon, not liking where this was going at all.

"We all know the Digidestined have finally come back after all this time, to fight the Digimon Emperor," Bearmon said shortly. "And that's not all. We also know there's been a wild Digimon helpin' those guys out, one who doesn't even got a human partner. The Emperor was trying to rub him out to make a statement."

"Wait a minute – " Biyomon's hands flew to her beak. "You mean – you're talking about Wormmon? Cute little Wormmon?"

"You mean the Digimon Emperor went after him? Why, that's horrible!" Tentomon cried. It was true, all three of them had been present one of the times Wormmon had stepped in to save the day… not only that, but Agumon and Tai had helped the others to liberate a group of Gotsumon prisoners earlier that very day, and Wormmon had been there for that too. Was that the only reason the three of them were here? So Bearmon could find out who he was?

The leader of the forest Digimon narrowed his eyes. "So, his name's Wormmon, huh?" Well, that answered that.

"Yes, he's a little green insect Digimon," said Agumon. "But it's a good thing you told us about this. He's a friend of ours. Maybe now we can find him and protect him…"

"I don't think you guys get it," said Bearmon. "We're not interested in protecting him. We're turning him in."

Dead silence.

"Wait – you're – what?" cried Agumon.

"Now, wait just a minute!" Tentomon shouted, buzzing up and down in anger. "What gives you the right to do that, you big bully?!"

"Don't you get it?! If this Wormmon guy is still out there, then the Digimon Emperor won't stop until he's gotten rid of 'im – and in the meantime, we all gotta suffer from the collateral damage!" Bearmon snapped at them. "We all lost our homes because of one Tyrannomon! Imagine what the Emperor could do to us with his whole army if he got desperate?"

"So you think handing Wormmon in to that monster will solve all your problems?" Biyomon demanded, hands on her hips.

"Of course it will! The Emperor's only after him! I say we give him what he wants before we lose anybody else." Bearmon turned to address all of his followers, still circled eagerly around. "And now, thanks to Agumon and his friends, we finally know who to blame for all a' this! By this time tomorrow, he'll be outta the picture and we'll finally have justice for what's been done to us!"

Much to the horror of Agumon, Biyomon and Tentomon, every other Digimon present started roaring in agreement, throwing their fists into the air, jumping up and down and clamoring in righteous fury. Agumon looked at his two friends in the midst of the cacophony, who were looking very hopeless indeed.

"Oh, man... I really need to learn when to keep my big mouth shut."

––

Wormmon slowly opened one eye at the sound of a loud beeping noise coming from Davis. The gogglehead had been casually sprawled on his bed and tossing a soccer ball up and down, but at the sound of the beeping he immediately sprang to attention, sitting up and pulling his D-Terminal out of his pocket.

"What is it, Davis?" asked Demiveemon from his partner's lap.

"Is there something going on in the Digital World?" asked Wormmon. He'd been curled up at the foot of Davis's bed, where he'd spent most of his time the past few days when they weren't in the Digital World.

"Sounds like it, yeah," said Davis as he opened his D-Terminal and studied it. "I just got a message from Yolei. Guess we got an SOS signal from the Digital World. She wants us all over at the computer lab right now."

"Right nowwwww? But I'm sleepy!" Demiveemon whined, rolling off Davis's lap as he stood up.

"Vee, you did nothing but nap all day today. Now c'mon, you two! I don't wanna look like a bad leader and show up late!"

"Okay, Davis!" said Wormmon, hopping on Davis's shoulder as he strode out the door with Demiveemon in his arms. Ever so slowly, Wormmon was becoming acclimated to living in the human world with Davis and Demiveemon… as much as one could get acclimated to Davis, anyway. He still missed his old home dearly and was deeply unhappy at the thought of never getting to go back… but at least he was safe where he was, he reminded himself. He should count himself lucky that the human children cared so much about him.

Davis raced out of the apartment and over to the school as fast as he could go, Wormmon clinging to his shoulder all the while. He was already panting by the time he made it inside and scrambled to a stop in front of the computer lab.

"Hey guys, I'm – aww, no," he groaned as he saw everyone else was already there waiting for him. He held Demiveemon out in front of him. "We're late! This is your fault, man!"

"Nice of you to join us, Davis," Kari said with a giggle while Yolei was seated in front of the computer with her arms folded impatiently. Wormmon suddenly realized that there was someone else in the room, someone he didn't recognize: an older blond boy wearing a green school uniform.

Davis didn't seem to recognize him either. "Hmm? Who's this guy?"

"Oh, right… you guys might not have been introduced yet," said TK. "Davis, this is my brother Matt. He was one of the original Digidestined, just like me and Kari."

"Ohhhh… you're Matt Ishida?" Davis's eyes widened in recognition. "Hey, you're that Teenage Wolves guy, right? Man, my sister's crazy about you. Didn't you guys have a concert today or something?"

"…Something like that, yeah," Matt said evasively, shaking Davis's hand. Then he noticed the little Digimon he was holding in his other arm and the second one riding on his shoulder. "Hey, what gives? You have two partners?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. My partner's Demiveemon," said Davis, glancing over at his shoulder where Wormmon was perched. "Wormmon is a friend of ours. He… well, he had his home destroyed by the Digimon Emperor, so he's staying with us for a while."

"Just like those Gotsumon from the other day… lucky for us Wormmon is a lot easier to hide," TK laughed. "Sheesh, at this rate we'll be hiding half the Digital World over here…"

"Oh, is that right," said Matt, giving Wormmon a curious look. "So you don't have a partner then, Wormmon?"

Wormmon shook his head sadly. "I want one very badly, though," he said, as though that would make it happen.

"Uhhh, hello guys? Whenever it's convenient for you?" Yolei cut in, still folding her arms and looking quite irritated at them for wasting time. "We still got that distress call, in case you forgot."

"Right! Gabumon might be in trouble!" Matt snapped to attention. "Let's go, everyone!"

The trip from one world to the other was as unpleasant as ever; Wormmon didn't think he'd ever get used to it. At least they didn't have far to go when they arrived, as the first thing they saw was a badly bruised Digimon sprawled in front of the TV. From the way Matt rushed to him with a cry of "Gabumon!", it was clear that they were partners. Wormmon couldn't help but feel another prick of sadness and jealousy as he watched Matt take his partner into his arms.

"It was horrible, Matt," Gabumon groaned. "There's an entire village that's been taken prisoner by the Digimon Emperor. I barely made it out of there in one piece."

"Not this guy again," TK groaned. "He just doesn't know when to stop, does he?"

Gabumon quickly led them over to the entrance to the village, where they were able to hide and observe it from a safe distance away. Sure enough, standing atop the cliff overlooking the village was a Control Spire, one of the Emperor's sinister black obelisks that signified his dominion wherever they stood. Wormmon had seen plenty of those before ever meeting the Digidestined, and he shivered at the sight of it.

"This is terrible… we need to free all those prisoners right away," Cody muttered. Armadillomon nodded in firm agreement.

"I agree, but how do we do that?" asked Matt. "There's too many guards over there, and we can't fight them if they're using the prisoners as hostages."

Wormmon started thinking deeply before timidly lifting up his head and venturing to speak. "Well… what if… what if I went?"

Everyone turned to look at Wormmon as he spoke. "What do you mean, Wormmon?" asked Kari.

"I'm sure the Digimon Emperor wants to capture me," said Wormmon, sounding a bit glum as he did. "If I turned myself in, I'm sure all of the guards would be focused on me. Then maybe… you could all sneak by and free the prisoners?"

The others actually seemed to be considering this idea. They hadn't actually seen the Emperor since the forest fire, but the way he'd spoken about Wormmon, it wasn't hard to imagine that he'd divulge special attention toward having the little caterpillar in his grasp.

"That's really not a bad plan, Wormmon," said TK.

"Yeah, well, I don't like it," Davis said shortly. "Wormmon's our friend! We can't have him put himself in danger for us like that!"

"Davis, he's been putting himself in danger for us since we first met him," Kari reminded him. "This is no different. Besides, we'll be right there to help him if things go wrong."

"Please, Davis?" said Wormmon, gazing up at his human friend. "I want to help all of you somehow… even if I can't digivolve. I don't want to just be a burden to all of you every time I come with you to the Digital World."

Davis looked reluctant, but finally he ran his hand through his hair and sighed. Kari was okay with it, after all, and he certainly didn't want to disagree with her.

"Yeah, okay, fine… I guess we don't have any better ideas."

"While Wormmon's distracting the guards, we'll look for a way to rescue the other prisoners," Matt said determinedly. "And get rid of that Control Spire too. That thing's an eyesore."

And so a few minutes later, Wormmon found himself slowly and timidly shuffling up to the village gate, stopping in front of the two Vegiemon guards who were each wearing a Dark Ring.

"Erm… hello?"

Both guards snapped to attention at the sight of him. "Hey, wait a minute!" one of them gasped. "You… you're Wormmon, aren't you?"

"The Digimon Emperor's been looking for this one!" the second one realized.

"Uh… yes, it's me," Wormmon said awkwardly. "I'm here to… turn myself in."

There's no way they're going to fall for this, he thought nervously.

As it was, his fears were completely unfounded. "Ha! No way! Wormmon's surrendering to us?" the first guard laughed. "Talk about a lucky break!"

"The Emperor will give us a raise for sure!" the second one cheered.

"We don't even get paid!" the first one cheered along with him.

Wormmon gasped as they both shot their long fibrous arms at him, wrapping him up and hoisting him in the air. "You're coming with us, prisoner," one of them sneered as they turned and marched into the village, carrying him along above their heads.

Oh, Davis… please come and find me soon… thought Wormmon, trying not to whimper as he was carried away.

Back where the others were waiting, Davis immediately stood up. "Okay, he's in! Now let's get in there quick before it's too late!"

"I'm with you, Davis!" said Veemon as he raced after his partner, who had already taken off without waiting for the others.

"Remember, Davis, we're here to rescue the other prisoners first!" Matt shouted after him. "Ugh… this guy is like Tai, only more so."

"What a brave little guy… I sure hope Wormmon will be okay without us," Kari said quietly as they all followed after Davis.

"He'll be just fine, Kari," said TK. "We're getting him out of there the minute we save the other prisoners."

Unbeknownst to any of them, they weren't the only ones who had been watching the scene at the gate. As soon as the Digidestined had all disappeared inside the village, a Gazimon stuck her head out of the bushes where she'd been hiding in perfect silence.

"The Digimon Emperor has captured Wormmon?" she said, looking quite alarmed and ducking out of sight as fast as she could. "I have to tell Bearmon about this!"

––

Wormmon grunted in pain as he was hurled inside a small cell and slammed into the wall, wincing as he slumped to the ground and the door slammed shut behind him.

"Just you wait, prisoner," sneered one Vegiemon from the other side of the bars. "We're going to personally let the Digimon Emperor know you're here. You're going to pay for your insubordination!"

Both guards threw back their heads and laughed as they marched away, leaving Wormmon all alone inside the cell. He gazed after them, then lowered his head to the floor, curling up with a sigh.

Well, I did it, he thought. Oh, I hope the others get me out of here soon… I don't like it in here one bit.

He let out a shudder. What if the Digimon Emperor gets here before they do? What would he do to me if he actually captured me? …What if the others couldn't save me?

He frowned. No… I can't think like that. My friends wouldn't let anything happen to me. He closed his eyes. They'll be here… I know they will.

But the minutes ticked by, and there was only silence. Wormmon cautiously opened one eye, looking for anything going on outside, but there was nothing. He stood up, crawled up to the bars and peered out, but there was no sign of his friends anywhere; only guards standing at the corner of every street.

They said they'd only be a few minutes… he thought, trying not to get scared. Ohh, what if something's happened to them? What if they were all captured too?

He went back to the middle of the cell and settled down, trying to keep calm. No, it can't be… I know my friends. They're stronger than that. They won't be captured. They couldn't be…

But still time dragged on, and Davis and the others didn't show up. Wormmon told himself again and again that nothing was wrong, that they were just taking longer than he'd thought, but it was doing him no good at all. He was getting more and more afraid by the second.

Oh, Davis… where are you?

There was a loud crash that sent him flying nearly to the ceiling with a scream. He scrambled to the back of the cell and spun around to face the noise, realizing with widened eyes that a large hole had just been burst in the wall of his cell, sending in a shaft of sunlight. Standing among the wreckage was a duo of Gazimon, neither one wearing the Emperor's Dark Rings.

"Wormmon… we got you in time," said one Gazimon, dusting her hands off and never taking her eyes away from him.

Wormmon stared up at both of them. If they weren't the Emperor's slaves, then who were they? "What… what's going on?" he asked. "Who are you? Are you here to rescue me?"

The Gazimon put on a dark smirk. "Not exactly."

Wormmon didn't have time to react before a large net was thrown over him.

––

"Well, whaddaya know… the Control Spires are what's powering all the Dark Rings!" TK laughed as Digmon was destroying the Spire in front of them. "Somehow these things are broadcasting the power from the Emperor's digivice. We just have to knock all these things down, and the Dark Rings are useless!"

"All of them? But this was just one!" cried Davis. "Ugh… sounds like we're in this for the long haul. And I thought math homework took forever…"

"Guys, we should get Wormmon out before the Emperor finds out we were here," Gatomon reminded them.

"Right! I saw where they took him! Follow me, everybody!" said Patamon, flying along ahead as the others raced after him. They ran back down the cliff to the village, ignoring all the confused-looking guards standing around the streets, only for Patamon to suddenly come to a stop in front of a small cell block and look confused.

"But… he was in here! What happened?" he cried, everyone gathered around him and staring at the large hole in the cell wall.

"Wow. The little guy's stronger than I thought," said Davis.

"Davis, I don't think Wormmon did this," Cody said flatly.

"But then who did?" asked Kari, sounding alarmed. "What could have happened to – "

"Davis! TK! Help me!"

Everyone whipped around in a panic. "Wormmon!" Davis cried.

Wormmon was already several yards away, caught in a large net. He was thrashing and flailing but unable to free himself as he was quickly being dragged away from his friends by a group of Gazimon. Standing next to them and surveying the scene was Bearmon, and as he noticed the Digidestined he turned to them with a stone cold look in his eyes.

"Tell the Digimon Emperor that if he wants Wormmon," he said, "he's gotta get him from us, and nobody else."

And then as quickly as they had come, they were gone, and Wormmon was gone with them.