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Chapter Text

In a dark void, four beings are discussing the state of the Digital World. These beings are the Digimon Sovereigns, a group of Holy Beast Digimon that look over and protect the Digital World from evil, whether they do it themselves or call for the help of the Digidestined.

“It’s been a few years since the Digital World was in danger,” said one of the Sovereigns.

This Sovereign is Zhuqiaomon, a bird-like Digimon that looks like a phoenix with four wings, a jet engine on its back, four red eyes, a red mask covering its beak and face, and 12 orbs called DigiCores surrounding its body with six around its neck and the other six around its tail. Zhuqiaomon guards the south of the Digital World, and it manipulates incandescent flames. It burns anything insignificant, which approaches it to cinders. It holds the power of Courage and Love.

“Is that a bad thing?” Asked another Sovereign. “I kind of enjoy the peace and quiet.”

The Sovereign that spoke is Ebonwumon, a tortoise-like Digimon with two heads, a giant tree on its shell, and 12 DigiCores surrounding the tree. Ebonwumon guards the north of the Digital World, it uses phantasmagoric water techniques, and, as the oldest of the Sovereigns, it is the gentlest. It holds the power of Reliability and Sincerity.

“But I’m bored,” said the third Sovereign. “Kind of makes you wish something would happen.”

The third Sovereign is Baihumon, a large white tiger Digimon with blue stripes, four eyes looking through a mask with pointing ends on the side, and its 12 DigiCords surrounding its torso. Baihumon guards the west of the Digital World and is the youngest and the most powerful of the Sovereigns. It holds the power of Friendship and Knowledge.

“It’s not good to wish for something to happen because of boredom,” said the last Sovereign.

The last Sovereign is Azulongmon, a dragon-like Digimon with a body made of electricity, five pairs of wings going down its snake-like body, a chain covering its body, a blue mask with a lightning pattern covering its face, a lightning bolt horn, four eyes, and a long white beard. Azulongmon guards the east of the Digital World and is not likely to lend help to its allies unless there’s something serious. It holds the power of Hope and Light.

“Azulongmon’s right,” said Ebonwumon’s left head. “It’s our job to protect this world,” said the right head.

“But I’m bored,” whined Baihumon.

“Remember the last time you wanted something to happen,” Azulongmon spoke. “We were trapped away by Apocalymon.”

Baihumon looked back two years ago when they were sealed away. Without them to protect the Digital World, it allowed evil Digimon like Devimon, Myotismon, and the Dark Masters to run wild, Myotismon was even able to make it to the Digidestined’s world. It wasn’t their best moment as the Sovereigns. They were lucky that Azulongmon was able to summon the Digidestined. Baihumon doesn’t even want to think what would happen if Azulongmon wasn’t able to summon them.

“We were lucky you were able to summon the Digidestined, Azulongmon,” Ebonwumon’s right head said. “Both our world and their world would have been destroyed,” the left head spoke.

“We didn’t need them,” Zhuqiaomon spoke. “We could’ve handled it.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Baihumom.

“We’re the Four Sovereigns that look over the Digital World, and we don’t need any humans to come and do our work,” stated Zhuqiaomon.

“We had no choice, Zhuqiaomon,” Azulongmon told his fellow Sovereign. “There was nothing we could’ve done.”

“We could’ve fought back!” said the bird Digimon, heating the area a little.

“Calm down, Zhuqiaomon,” said the left head of the tortoise Digimon. “We don’t want our tree to catch fire again,” the left head said.

“Listen, I just don’t want any humans in our world, alright,” Zhuqiaomon said, calming down a little.

“I didn’t want to summon them, but Apocalymon forced me,” the dragon Digimon said.

If Azulongmon was being honest, it didn’t even want to summon the Digidestined. The thought of humans running around in their world sickened it, and if it had its way, humans wouldn’t have even known about the Digital World. But with Apocalymon being a nuisance and the rest of the evil Digimon that inhabit their world trying to take over, Azulongmon had no choice but to summon the destined. It also didn’t like that the two youngest members got the power of Hope and Light.

The void seemed to shake a little alerting the Sovereigns.

“What was that?” asked Baihumon.

“I don’t know,” Zhuqiaomon said before cringing in pain.

“Zhuqiaomon, what’s wrong,” asked Azulongmon worriedly.

“I don’t know. It feels like something pierced my chest,” Zhuqiaomon said through the pain.

“THE CRESTS!” Both of Ebonwumon’s heads said.

The Sovereigns rushed to where the core of the crests resided. They reached the cores and were met with a hooded figure attacking the cores. Looking at the cores, they saw the Core of Courage cracked and on the brink of destruction.

“STOP!” screamed Zhuqiaomon.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” blared Azulongmon.

“DON’T DESTROY THE CORE!” shouted both of Ebonwumon’s heads.

“YOU’ll PUT THE DIGITAL WORLD IN GRAVE DANGER!” roared Baihumon.

Not listening to the Sovereigns’ screams, the hooded figure created a spear of light and pierced it through the Core of Courage, destroying it immediately.

Screeching in pain, Zhuqiaomon attacked the hooded figure.

“Phoenix Fire,” Zhuqiaomon screamed as ultra-high-temperature flames spewed from its mouth.

The hooded figure dodged the fire and moved to the next core, the Core of Knowledge. Forming its light spear again, the hooded figure struck the core.

Seeing that one of its cores is being attacked, Baihumon sprung into action. Baihumon pounced at the figure with its claws turning into iron.  It clawed at the figure, trying to tear it limb from limb.

“This’ll teach you a lesson!” growled Baihumon.

Blinded by rage, Baihumon kept clawing at the figure, trying to make contact. The figure kept dodging the tiger Sovereign's attacks, leading it around the void. Getting more and more frustrated by the figure, Baihumon started swinging its paws more wildly, not paying attention to its surroundings. Realizing this, Azulongmon tried to warn his fellow Sovereign.

“Baihumon, calm down!” yelled Azulongmon.

But Baihumon didn’t hear the dragon Digimon as it continued to attack. Continuing to dodge the attacks, the figure led the Sovereign to the Core of Sincerity. Seeing that one of the cores was going to be destroyed by its comrade, Zhuqiaomon flew towards Baihumon to knock it away from the core.

But Zhuqiaomon was too late as the hooded figure, standing in front of the Core of Sincerity, moved out of the way of the wolf’s Sovereigns attack, and the iron claws pierced through the core. The cries of pain from Ebonwumon’s heads snapped Baihumon out of his rage. Looking around and seeing that the Core of Sincerity is missing, it realizes its mistake.

“Baihumon you, IDIOT!” screamed Zhuqiaomon. “How did you not realize that they were toying with you?”

Baihumon was about to respond when it felt great pain. Looking around, it saw the hooded figure floating where the Core of Knowledge was.

“YOU MONSTER!” Baihumon roared. “I WILL KILL YOU!”

It got ready to attack again when a giant red wing appeared in its face.

“What are you doing?” yelled Baihumon, confused as to why its fellow Sovereign was preventing it from attacking. 

“You need to calm down,” the bird Sovereign said. “We don’t need you to go on another rampage and destroy another core.”

Realizing that they were right, Baihumon began to calm down. 

Looking around, trying to find the figure, the Sovereigns saw it moving towards the Core of Love. Seeing that its last core is going to be destroyed, Zhuqiaomon charged at the figure, launching another Phoenix Fire attack.  Wanting to help its comrade, Baihumon formed its iron claws and pounced at the figure.

“Ebonwumon, are you feeling alright?” Azulongmon asked.

“I’m fine,” the Sovereign said. “Go help the others.”

Azulongmon nodded before charging into the fray. Getting closer to the fight, lightning began to form from its horn.

“Lightning Whip,” it shouted as a bolt of lightning shot from its horn, heading straight for the figure. 

The figure flew up, barely avoiding the attacks.

“Nice of you to join us,” Zhuqiaomon jokingly said.

“I couldn’t let you have all the fun,” Azulongmon responded.

Setting their attention back to the figure, they saw it start to form 10 spheres of light. The light started to rain down among the sovereigns, causing a great amount of pain, knocking them down. Grunting in pain, some of the Sovereigns began to get up.

“Is everyone all right?” Azulongmon asked.

“I think I’ll be sore in the morning,” said Baihumon. “But, I think I’ll manage.”

“We’re all right over here,” said the right head of Ebonwumon. “What type of attack was that?” questioned the left head.

Ebonwumon began looking around at the cores and gasped in shock. Every core has been cracked, and the Core of Love destroyed. Looking over to where Zhuqiaomon formerly was, it saw its fellow Sovereign passed out in the void.

“ZHUQIAOMON!” both heads shouted.

Because both the Courage and the Love core were destroyed, Zhuqiaomon would lose power quickly and eventually knock them out. It works the same way for all the Sovereigns, and seeing that the rest of the cores were cracked, they were losing power fast.

“I don’t know how much time we have left,” Azulongmon said. “So let’s end this now.”

Ebonwumon started to form a dark cloud over the figure, and black ice began raining down from the cloud.

“Black Hail,” Ebonwumon’s heads said.

“Lightning Whip.”

Baihumon opened its mouth, and a gold orb began to form.

“Gold Strength,” it roared as a gold wave emerged from its mouth.

Seeing that all three attacks are heading towards it, the figure flies to the side and heads straight towards the Core of Friendship. Forming a spear of light, it threw the spear through the core, destroying it instantly. 

Letting out a howl of pain, Baihumon passed out.

“Baihumon, no!” shouted Azulongmon. “Lightning Whip.”

Azulongmon constantly sent lightning bolt after lightning bolt, trying to make contact with the hooded figure, but it kept dodging every attack. Forming another light spear, the figure threw it at the dragon Sovereign. Azulongmon dodged the attack, but it gave enough time for the figure to destroy the Core of Reliability, knocking out Ebonwumon.

“Why are you doing this?” Azulongmon growled in frustration.

All the Sovereign got in response was a chuckle as the hooded figure turned its attention to the last two cores.

“Don’t!” shouted Azulongmon. “You don’t know what would happen if you destroy one of those cores, let alone both of them.”

Not listening, the figure turned to the Core of Light and thrust a spear of light through the Core of Light, destroying it. 

Knowing that it doesn’t have much time left, Azulongmon shot a beam of light at the Core of Hope. The light made contact with the core, and a blinding light was created. When the light faded, the core was gone.

“I don’t know what your plan is, but it’s over,” Azulongmon said between breaths. “I sent the Core of Hope to its holder and a warning to a being in the Digital World to warn them about you.”

“When the Digidestined arrive, they will stop you,” Azulongmon said before passing out.

Seeing that all the Sovereigns were defeated, the figure started to chuckle.

“Then let them come.”

(Japan)

In a schoolroom, waiting for the day to end sat a boy with big wild spiky brown hair, brown eyes, and wearing a blue button-up shirt and a pair of black gym shorts, with a pair of goggles around his head. This boy is a 13-year-old Taichi Kamiya or Tai, as his friends call him. Tai was currently looking at the clock, not paying attention to his teacher. Seeing that there were seven minutes left, Tai decided to look around the room.

Tai first looked over and saw his friend Yamato Ishida, or Matt to his friends. Matt is also 13, has short blond spiky hair and blue eyes, and he is wearing a dark green t-shirt and jeans. When they were younger, he and Matt would butt heads whenever they had differing opinions, but they always made up in the end. Unlike Tai, Matt is more into music than sports as he’s starting to learn the bass guitar.

Turning his attention to the back of the room, Tai saw his other friend Sora Takenouchi. Sora is a girl with shoulder-length orange hair, maroon eyes, and is wearing a yellow t-shirt and jeans. Unlike Matt, Sora likes to play sports, though not as much as she used to because she began to help her mother’s flower shop. She is also the same age as both Matt and Tai.

Their friendship confuses a lot of people because their personalities don’t seem to blend together. Tai is energetic and adventurous, Matt is a more secretive loner type, and Sora is kind, responsible, and protective. But, they have one thing in common.

They’re Digidestined.

Them, along with their friends, Izzy, Mimi, Joe, Matt’s younger brother Tk, and Tai’s younger sister Kari were summoned to the Digital World two years ago, with Kari joining them later on. They didn’t know it early on, but they were summoned to save the Digital World and, in the process, their world as well.

The final bell rang, alerting all the children that school ended. Getting their things together, Tai, Matt, and Sora grouped up at the classroom door before walking through the halls.

“Got any plans for after school?” Tai asked.

“I have a bass guitar lesson,” Matt said.

“And my mom asked me to help with the shop,” replied Sora. “Why, were you planning something?”

“I just wanted to see if either of you wanted to play a quick game of soccer before I have to go pick up Kari,” Tai admitted.

They walked through the main doorways, and Matt and Sora walked down the steps. Tai, on the other hand, was about to jump down the steps when something struck him mentally. Looking at the steps, Tai felt like the steps were too steep. Tai cautiously grabbed the handrail and slowly walked down the steps.

That action confused both Matt and Sora.

“What was that about?” Matt asked.

“You always jump down the steps,” Sora said. “Even in the rain, snow, and even that one time when the sidewalks were covered in ice.”

“I don’t know?” Tai said.

“Are you feeling alright?” Sora asked, a little concerned.

“I feel fine,” Tai replied.

Tai was confused. He didn’t understand why he was acting a little different from the way he normally would. Maybe it’s being caused by his mother’s cooking or just being more exhausted from all the soccer he’s been playing lately.

“Well I got to go, see ya,” Matt said before leaving.

“Oh, I need to hurry up as well,” Sora said as she began to walk away. “Tell Kari I said hi.”

Now all alone and with no one to play soccer with, Tai began his journey to his sister’s school.

(New York)

In a bedroom in a small apartment was an 11-year-old girl with medium-length brown hair with a few pink stripes, brown eyes, and wearing pink pajamas and was currently looking through her closet at 3 am on a school night. This girl is Mimi Tachikawa, a sweet, pure-hearted girl, and she was having a bit of a conundrum. Tomorrow or considering it is past midnight, today is her friend's birthday, and she wanted to look nice. Usually, she would have an outfit already planned out, but something in her head as she was sleeping was telling her that the outfit she picked out was wrong.

Mimi didn’t understand why she was having those thoughts because she never had a problem picking out an outfit. She always knew what looked good, and all of her friends came to her for fashion tips. But now she was having a difficult time picking out an outfit when she already had one planned out.

“I don’t get it?” Mimi whined as she pulled out another shirt from her closet. “Every piece of clothing that I pick out doesn’t seem to look good even though I bought them.”

Then she started to have some doubts about her fashion sense. Maybe she wasn’t good at picking out clothes and maybe she lied to all of her friends when she said something looked good on them. Mimi started to feel guilty because maybe she did lie to her friends and they’re gonna start hating her. Tears start to form in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Mimi said between sobs. “Please don’t hate me.”

(Japan)

At another school in his final class is a 12-year-old boy with short spiky red hair, black eyes, and is wearing an orange polo and khaki shorts. This boy is named Koushiro Izumi or, as his friends call him, Izzy. Izzy is a very intelligent boy for his age and is currently in one of his favorite classes, math. Now, math isn’t his absolute favorite class as he much prefers to work on the computer, but he still enjoys it because without math, computers wouldn’t be invented.

“Would anyone like to solve this problem?” the teacher asked.

Izzy looked at the board and saw that the problem was a simple one, 9-3÷1/3+1. Izzy raised his hand and waited for the teacher to call on him.

“Koushiro, do you have the answer?” the teacher asked.

Izzy was about to answer when he started to feel confused. He was sure that he had it before, but now he’s starting to second guess himself. Izzy looked at the problem again, trying to accumulate an answer.

“Is it seven?” Izzy asked, unsure of his answer.

This shocked the teacher. Never before in his class had Koushiro ever got a question wrong.

“Sorry Koushiro, but the answer is one,” the teacher told him.

Izzy was stunned, but he was more confused as to why he got the answer wrong. Before he went to answer, he knew the answer was one, but something in his brain told him it was seven.

“Let’s move on to the next one,” the teacher spoke, breaking Izzy out of his thoughts. “What is 2x2.8?”

Izzy raised his hand, and the teacher called on him.

“4.8,” Izzy said with confidence.

“Wrong again, Koushiro,” the teacher said as he began writing the answer down on the board. “It’s 5.6.”

Now Izzy began to worry. He never got any problems wrong, let alone two in a row. Izzy began to doubt himself and his intelligence. The final bell brought him out of his thoughts. Deciding to worry about it later, Izzy got ready to leave.

“Koushiro, can I talk to you for a little bit?” the teacher asked.

“Sure,” Izzy agreed.

Waiting for everyone to leave, Izzy walked to his teacher’s desk.

“What did you want to talk about?” Izzy asked, with a hint of worry.

“Is everything okay, Koushiro?” the teacher asked. “You never got any questions wrong the whole time you were in my class.”

“It’s probably nothing,” Izzy said while rubbing the back of his head. “I’m probably tired.”

“Well, if you say so,” replied his teacher. “Then you should probably get some rest.”

“I will, and thank you for worrying,” Izzy said before he left the classroom.

Izzy left the school wondering about what happened to him. He doesn’t get how one second he knows the answers to the math problems, and the next second, he doesn’t. Izzy decided that when he got back home, he'd call one of his friends.

Sora arrived at her mother’s flower shop, and like most days, it wasn’t busy. Now, that wasn’t a bad thing as not a lot of people would buy flowers at the same time, also, it wasn’t close to any holidays. She looked around and saw the average man, and sometimes woman, who forgot their anniversary and had to do damage control.

“I’m here, mom,” Sora called out. She headed into the back of the shop to put her stuff away and to put on an apron and gloves.

She saw her mother working on a bouquet of roses. Her mother has long black hair tied into a ponytail and brown eyes. She was wearing a green kimono. One of the many kimonos she wore during work.

“Can you please work behind the register as I finish up here?” her mother asked, never taking her attention away from the roses.

Sora agreed and made her way to the counter. She stood there and waited for anyone to come and ask for her input. Now, she wasn’t all that knowledgeable with flowers, but studying under her mother for the past year gave her some understanding of which flowers were the best looking and set the best mood. A balding middle-aged man came up to her looking clueless.

“Hello,” he greeted. “I need your help.”

“Well, that’s what I’m here for,” Sora responded, as this wasn’t the first time someone had asked for her help.

“That’s good because I need some flowers for my wife’s birthday,” the man told her.

“So what’s your wife like?” Sora asked. Her mother taught her that every flower has meaning and the customer should buy the flowers that represent how they feel and who they’re buying for.

“She’s sweet, caring,” the man began to list off. “Oh, and she’s a little goofy.”

Sora smiled at that description. She loves hearing the nice words that people have to say about their partners.

“That’s sweet,” Sora happily said. “How long have you and your wife been married?”

“Going onto 14 years,” the man joyously said.

Sora nodded at that before going through the catalog of the flowers in the shop. She went through a couple of pages before getting hit with sudden grief. Sora suddenly didn’t want to help this man with his flower selection. She didn’t even care if this man went home without any presents for his wife either.

“I don’t think we have what you’re looking for,” Sora plainly said.

“What?”

“Yeah, everything we have here will send a bad message to your wife,” Sora said with a hint of disgust in her voice.

“But, everything here looks so beautiful,” the man confusedly said. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” she said bluntly.

The man left empty-handed and downtrodden. Sora turned around and saw her mother with a look of disappointment.

“What was that, Sora?” her mother asked.

“I just told him that we have nothing,” Sora responded.

“But, we do, Sora,” her mother told her. “You didn’t tell him about the heliotrope, a red chrysanthemum. You didn’t even suggest a simple rose.”

“Well I didn’t think they would be good choices,” Sora responded.

“It doesn’t matter if you think they’re good choices,” her mother scolded. “It matters if the customer thinks they’re good choices.”

Her mother sighed.

“Why don’t you go work in the back,” her mother suggested.

“Fine,” Sora agreed, before walking into the back of the shop.

Matt walked into his and his father’s apartment and saw that it was messy as ever. Since it was just him and his father, they never got around to cleaning as they were both busy with their own things. His father is usually at work around the time he gets out of school, so he wasn’t expecting him to be home.

Matt walked over to the house phone and saw that there was a new message. He pushed play and walked over to the fridge to see if there was something he could eat before his lesson.

“Hey, Matt,” the sound of Izzy’s voice drew his attention to the answering machine. “I need your help with something.”

Now that confused Matt. Never before had Izzy needed help with anything, and even if Izzy did, he would usually ask Sora for help. Deciding to question Izzy about it later, Matt kept on listening to the message.

“I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m kind of freaking out about it,” the message said.

Hearing that part of the message, Matt had a good idea of what Izzy was freaking out about. It was that time in Izzy’s life where he would be seeing women in a different light, and Matt felt a little honored that his friend would come to him for help.

“Today in math class, I couldn’t get any answers right, and I had a hard time remembering your number earlier.” 

And hearing that brought Matt back to his senses. It made sense that Izzy wouldn’t have any girl problems. He doesn’t even talk to any girls outside of the Digidestined anyway. But, hearing that Izzy got some answers wrong concerned him. Izzy never got any school problem wrong, even Joe asked Izzy for help with school work. Izzy barely remembering his number just confused him.

“Please call me back when you have the opportunity,” and the message ended.

Matt picked up the phone and dialed the first three numbers of Izzy’s number before hanging up the phone. Matt didn’t feel like calling his friend and seeing what’s bothering him. Izzy didn’t even say that it was urgent. Matt walked back to the fridge and pulled out a cup of yogurt, and walked over to the couch. Matt turned on the tv and ate his yogurt and waited before he had to go to his lesson.

Walking back home from school is a tall, lanky, 14-year-old boy with short blue hair, black eyes, wearing khaki shorts, a light purple dress shirt, and small oval-shaped glasses. This boy is Joe Kido, and he is currently in a conversation with his classmates.

“That history test was hard wasn’t it,” said a brown-haired classmate.

“Yeah,” a glasses-wearing classmate said. “Especially since the first five questions in the multiple-choice question were all B.”

“I almost rearranged some of my answers,” said his brown-haired classmate.

“Wait, you got all B’s for the first five multiple-choice questions,” Joe said, panicking a little. “I got all C’s.”

If Joe was being honest, history wasn’t his best subject, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t try his best. To be fair, the career he’s aiming for wouldn’t need him to be all that knowledgeable in history. When Joe graduates from school, he wants to be a doctor, and by what he wants to do, he means his father. Don’t get him wrong. Joe loves his father. It’s just he doesn’t love that his father is picking his career choice.

“Well that sucks, Joe,” the bespeckled student said.

“Maybe if you’re lucky, those first five questions won’t affect your grade,” the brunette added, being more optimistic than Joe.

“Knowing my luck, they probably will,” Joe said, dropping his head.

They continued walking until they reached Joe’s apartment complex.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Joe said as he began walking to the building doors.

“See ya, Joe,” his glasses-wearing classmate said. “And remember to stop by at my place for the project.”

“Don’t worry,” Joe said. “I’ll be there.”

And with that, Joe went inside.

After a quick elevator ride, Joe made it to his family’s apartment and saw that no one was home. It made sense because both of his parents work late, and both of his brothers are at college. He began getting his notes ready so he’ll be out the door to get to his friend’s house to do the project. Joe was about halfway through getting all his notes together before suddenly getting drowsy. Joe looked at the time and saw that he had a few hours before he needed to get to his friend’s house.

Deciding that taking a nap would be a smart decision, Joe made his way to his bedroom. Putting his glasses on his nightstand, Joe fell asleep thinking he’ll take a quick nap. But, what he didn’t know is that his quick nap turned into an eight-hour sleep.

The walk to his little sister’s school was torturous for Tai. He flinched at everything that came close to him, whether it being people, cars, or pets. Tai was confused because every day before today, Tai had no problem walking on the sidewalk or anywhere for that matter.

Tai finally made it to his sister’s school, and just in time, too, because he saw a sea of children running out of the front gate, and it startled him. He looked through the children, trying to find his 10-year-old sister.

“Where is she?” Tai muttered to himself. “She’s usually the first one to-”

“BOO!” a young girl’s voice shouted behind him.

Tai let out a scream and turned around to see a girl with short brown hair that reached the top part of her neck, brown eyes, and wearing a pink skirt and a white t-shirt. This girl is Hikari Kamiya, or Kari, as she liked to be called. Kari is a sweet, innocent, and cheerful girl who is Tai’s younger sister.

“Geez, Tai,” Kari said in a cheerful tone. “I didn’t think I scared you that bad.”

“Kari!” Tai said angrily. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Sorry, Tai,” Kari apologized.

“Let’s go,” Tai said, as he grabbed her hand.

They walked home in silence. Tai held Kari’s hand the whole way, and she thought it was because he didn’t want her to run off, but in reality, it was for Tai to calm his nerves. 

After making it home, Tai bolted to his and Kari’s bedroom, leaving Kari alone in the living room. She looked in the kitchen and saw her mother making “dinner.” Her mother has long brown hair tied in a ponytail, brown eyes, and wearing jeans, a yellow button-up, a red sweater, and a yellow apron. Even though she tries, Kari’s mother can’t cook to save her life.

“Hi, Kari,” her mother said. “Would you like to try my tuna meatloaf casserole?”

“Maybe later,” Kari said, holding back her disgust.

“Ok,” her mother said. “Did you need something?”

“Yeah,” Kari answered. “Can I use the computer to email TK?”

“Sorry, Kari,” her mother told her. “But, TK’s probably waking up right now and getting ready for school.”

“Oh,” Kari sadly said.

“Don’t worry, Kari,” her mother began. “TK’s mom said that his Summer Vacation starts tomorrow, and he’ll be free to email at any time.”

“I know,” Kari said with her head down.

“Why don’t you go and watch tv for a little bit,” her mother suggested.

Kari didn’t respond. She just felt empty. She slowly made her way to the couch and sat down just looking at a blank tv. Kari didn’t even feel like turning on the tv. She was enjoying the dark screen.

Chapter Text

As all of that was going down in Japan, the day was just beginning for another Digidestined. In a small house, a boy with short spiky blond hair and blue eyes was waking up. This boy is Takeru Takaishi or TK as he likes to be called

TK got out of bed and got ready for the day. He decided to wear a plain yellow t-shirt and blue shorts, and to cap it off, he put on a white bucket hat before leaving his room.

TK walked into the kitchen and saw a bowl of lumpy oatmeal. He heard his mother typing away on the computer, something about needing to finish an article about “The necessities of dramas,” or something like that. TK finished his breakfast and put his bowl in the sink.

“I’m going now,” TK said.

“Alright, sweety,” he heard his mother say. “Have a good day at school.”

“OK,” TK said as he left the house. TK got on his bicycle and began his ride to school.

As TK rode through town, he began to think back on the previous two years. After the Diaboromon incident, his mom thought that it was best that they move to Paris to be closer to his grandparents and away from anything Digital World related. Now, TK was happy that he got to see his grandparents more, but he really missed his friends and brother. After moving, TK and his friends were summoned back to the Digital World for a day to reunite with their Digimon partners. TK was happy to see his brother and his friends that day, especially Patamon.

After that day, everything was normal. TK was able to visit his brother and friends during the summer and holidays, but that didn’t mean he didn’t get lonely on any other days. He was really grateful for the e-mails from his brother and Kari, but it was really hard to figure out when either of them would be awake due to the different time zones.

TK arrived at his school and locked his bike on a bike rack. He turned around and saw a girl with shoulder-length blond hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a white shirt, denim overall shorts, and a purple bow in her hair.

“Hey TK,” the girl greeted.

“Hi Chloe,” responded TK to the now identified as Chloe. “How are ya?”

“I’m good,” she replied. “You ready for Summer Break?”

“After a whole year of school, I would say I’m ready,” he said with a grin.

“I can say the same thing,” Chloe replied. “Do you know how many times I fell asleep in class during the year?”

“I lost count after 10,” TK answered as they walked through the main doors of the school.

When TK and his mom moved to Paris, he had a hard time making friends. It wasn’t because TK couldn’t speak French because his mother was from Paris and wanted both him and his brother to be fluent in the language. It was because TK didn’t try to make any friends the first few weeks in Paris. Chloe was one of the few people to actually talk to him.

“Do you have any plans for the summer?” Chloe asked as they reached their lockers.

“I signed up for a basketball camp,” TK told her.

“That’s neat,” Chloe said after pulling out a bag of pain aux raisins. “Want one?”

“No thanks,” TK said. “Do you have any plans for the summer?”

“I’m continuing the dance lesson’s I took last summer,” Chloe said as she began eating her food.

“Do you even eat breakfast?” TK asked. “Because every day that I’ve known you, you always have something to eat before class even starts.”

“I eat breakfast,” Chloe said with her mouth full. “I just like to have something extra.”

“Well whatever get’s you through the day,” TK said as they started walking to their homeroom.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chloe pouted.

TK chuckled. “It means that you have a black hole where your stomach should be,” he said as they reached their homeroom. “All I’m saying is that maybe it would be a good idea to lay back on the after-meal sna-,”

TK was interrupted when a dry erasure hit him in the face. “There you are, Takaishi!” A girl seethed. After rubbing his face, TK saw the person who threw the eraser, a girl who looked exactly like Chloe, but with long blonde hair tied into pigtails and was wearing a red skirt and a black tank top.

“And hello to you too, Miss Deneuve,” TK said sarcastically.

“Cut the crap! You lost the right to be polite after what you did!” the girl fumed.

“What did he do, Catherine?” Chloe asked.

Catherine turned to her bag and pulled out a fake rubber snake. “Your friend here put this in my locker, scaring and embarrassing me.”

TK laughed.

“IT’S NOT FUNNY!” Catherine screamed.

“Oh, but it is,” TK said between breaths. “I just wish I was there to see it.”

“You’ll wish you weren’t here in a few seconds,” Catherine said as she approached TK.

Chloe stepped in between the two, trying to calm down Catherine. “Hold on, Catherine,” Chloe said with her hands up. “You shouldn’t do anything drastic.”

“Don’t try to protect him, Chloe,” Catherine steamed. “He had this coming for months.”

“But you put a fake roach in his lunch last week,” Chloe said.

“Only because he put salt in my drink,” Catherine retorted.

“I only did that because you dumped a lot of hot sauce in my sandwich the week prior,” TK butted in.

“Yeah, only because--,”

“That’s enough,” Chloe interrupted. “You two have been going back and forth this whole year, and I don’t want either of you to rip each other apart.”

“But he started it,” Catherine complained.

“I don’t care,” Chloe stated. “Now go sit down.”

Following her sister’s order, Catherine went and sat in her seat. Chloe exhaled and turned to TK.

“I don’t get this rivalry that you and my older sister have,” she said while shaking her head. “It’s starting to give me a headache.”

“It’s just how our friendship works,” TK answered with a grin. “By the way, thank you for stopping your sister back there. Who knows what she would’ve done to me if you hadn’t.”

“Well I didn’t have a choice,” Chloe replied with a grin of her own. “I did help you put that rubber snake in her locker.”

“And that’s why I call you the good twin,” he said, lightly punching her shoulder. “Anyways, we should get to our seats, homeroom’s about to start.”

They took their seats and waited for their teacher to enter. TK leaned over to Catherine and smiled. He doesn’t hate or dislike her, and she doesn’t hate him either. It’s just how their relationship worked. He would tease her, and she would tease him back, but after a few minutes, they would be friends again.

“So Cat, what are your plans for Summer?” TK asked, using the nickname that he and Chloe thought for her.

“Singing lessons,” she answered. “And you?”

“Basketball camp.”

“Not continuing the piano lessons?” Catherine asked.

“No, the lessons were something for me to do when basketball ended,” TK answered

“Got it.”

Their teacher walked in as the bell rang, indicating the start of the day. TK turned his head towards the window and tuned out his teacher’s early morning rambling. He sighed and began wondering what his friends were doing at the moment. TK began to wonder how Patamon was doing.

The world was falling apart. Trees were falling over, the land was breaking apart, the seas were rising and flooding the lands, and the weather was getting stronger with every passing minute with the constant rain, thunder, lightning, and strong winds. Some were panicking and trying to find shelter under the trees that are still standing or a cave system. Others were either flying or swimming away from the storm.

A creature that resembled a guinea pig with bat wings for ears, blue eyes, a cream-colored underbelly, and an orange back, head, and stubby tail was trying not to be blown away by the storm. The creature was confused and frightened at the same time because one moment it was hanging out with his friends, and then the next, this storm began and separated him from his friends. He grabbed hold of a tree branch, hoping that it would last long enough until the storm ended or slowed down enough for him to look for his friends.

A few minutes passed, and the storm didn’t slow down one bit, and the creature began to worry that the storm wouldn’t end, but he wouldn’t lose hope until his final breath. He wouldn’t let go of the branch no matter how many times he was pelted by the rain.

“HELP!”

The cry of help drew the creature’s attention. He looked around, trying to pinpoint its location. He knew the risk he would be putting himself in if he tried to help it, but it wasn’t in his nature to not help. He kept his ears peered, listening for the next cry.

“HELP!”

The creature turned to his left after hearing the cry. He saw a flooded area knocked over trees and falling rocks. The creature began his difficult trek over to the area to help whoever cried out. He tried to fly, but the strong winds made it difficult to take off from the branch. He didn’t let that stop him from trying as he began to flap his wings.

The wind thrashed him around, and the rain made it harder to see, but the creature didn’t let that stop him from getting to his destination. He landed on a tree branch to see how much progress he made. He saw that he was halfway from where he started, but there was still so much land he needed to get past to help who needed it. The creature looked over to the flooded area to see if he could make out the being that called for help. The rain made it hard to see, but he was able to make out an orange body and a horn.

Seeing his target, the creature grit his teeth and begin to fly again. This flight was a little more difficult because both the rain and the winds picked up speed. The creature started to get tired, and the wind started to knock him out of his flight path, but the creature never gave up and continued flying until he made it to the flooded area. He landed on a rock and looked over the flooding waters, and saw who cried for help.

The creature saw two beings, both with round bodies and white faces, but one creature had an orange body with a horn and the other had brownish-black eyes, a green body, a plant growing out of its head, and four white feet.

“A Tsunomon and a Tanemon,” the creature spoke.

After hearing a voice, the Tsunomon looked over and called out for help.

“HELP US!” She screamed.

“Don’t worry I’ll save you!” The creature proclaimed as he began to fly over the flooding area. He made his way over the flooding waters and landed next to the two creatures.

“Thank you for coming to save us,” the Tsunomon said.

“Don’t thank me yet,” replied the creature. “We still need to get out of here.”

“But, how are we going to do that?” asked the Tanemon.

“I’m gonna try to fly you out of here,” the creature responded.

The creature grabbed onto the Tsunomon and began to fly up and away from the area. But, when they got a far enough distance away from the ground, the wind blew them away. The creature couldn’t keep his balance as the wind hurled both him and the Tsunomon towards a pile of rocks. The creature closed his eyes and wrapped his wings around the Tsunomon as it braced for impact.

“Sticky Net!”

The creature opened its eyes and saw that he had landed on a giant web. He looked around and saw a green caterpillar with ten legs with pink claws, a pair of long antennae on its head, purple mandibles, and pink pincers on its end.

“I’m glad I caught you,” the caterpillar said.

“And so am I,” the creature responded. “You’re a Wormmon, right?”

“Yes, I am,” Wormmon answered. “And you’re a Patamon.”

The crack of thunder interrupted their introduction as Wormmon helped Patamon out of the net, and they both returned to where the Tanemon was.

“How are we gonna get out of this?” asked Wormmon.

“I tried flying, but with the heavy winds and the added weight, the wind will drag me away,” replied Patamon as he began to think of another plan.

“What we need is a cave to hide in,” Wormmon said.

“How are we gonna find a cave if I can’t fly out of here or climb out of here while carrying Tsunomon or Tanemon?” asked Patamon

Suddenly, the wall behind them collapsed, and out came a small purple dragon with golden eyes, a golden diamond on its forehead, and wings attached to his hands and forearms. He signaled them to follow him into the cave as he grabbed Tanemon and ran back into the cave. Seeing no reason to argue, Patamon grabbed onto Tsunomon and hurried into the cave along with Wormmon. They traveled deep into the cave until they saw the purple dragon resting by a fire with Tanemon.

“Thank you for saving us back there,” Patamon said as he landed near the fire.

“Don’t mention it,” replied the dragon. “I heard you talking when I began making this cave, so I decided to help you.”

“It’s a good thing that you did,” Tanemon said. “It feels like my plant is wilting.”

“So what do you think caused this storm?” Wormmon asked.

“I don’t know, but it happened out of nowhere,” Tsunomon responded.

“Well let’s hope that it’ll end soon,” Patamon said as he stared into the fire.

After the storm started, they were separated, and Patamon was starting to worry. He didn’t know if they were safe or if they were in any danger, and what made it worse was that Patamon wasn’t able to do anything until the storm let up. Making up his mind, Patamon decided that when the storm calmed down, the first thing that he would do was that he would look for his friends.

“By the way,” Tsunomon said. “What Digimon are you?”

The dragon looked at the horned Digimon and cleared his voice. “I’m a Monodramon.”

The final bell rang, and all Chloe could do was cheer. After a long day of doing nothing, TK, Catherine, and her made their way to the bike rack.

“Do you guys want to do anything later?” Chloe asked. “Maybe go see a movie or maybe some shopping?”

“Maybe another day,” TK said after unchaining his bike. “My mom wants me to help her with the article that she’s writing.”

“The one about dramas?” Catherine questioned.

“The very one,” TK said. He got on his bike and said his goodbyes and began his journey back home. As he was riding home, TK was hoping that he got an email from one of his friends to lift his spirits after a boring last day. He reached his house after a few minutes and walked inside.

“I’m home,” TK called out. TK walked into the kitchen, waiting for a response when he spotted a note.

TK,

Went out to get ink for the printer. Be back soon.

Love,

Mom

After reading the note, TK walked to his room to check his emails. He entered his room and heard the sound of a faint beeping. TK decided to ignore the sound as he logged on to his computer. He looked through his inbox and looked through his recent emails. TK saw that there were no new emails, so he began to type one to his brother.

Hey Matt,

I just finished school for the summer so I’m free to chat whenever. How is everyone? Things are good over here. I think Mom is becoming more interested in her computer than Izzy. Please get back to me when you have the chance.

TK

TK sent the email and began to type out another one for his best friend.

Hi Kari,

I’m finished with school for the summer. Jealous? Anyway, I’m sending this email to let you know that I’ll be free to chat whenever I just need a heads up. But enough of what’s going on in my life let’s talk about yours. How’s school? Did you pick up any new hobbies? Is Tai bothering you? Please get back to me when you have the chance, I need to go find something that’s making a beeping noise.

TK

TK stretched out his arms and began looking for the cause of the beeping. He began looking over his desk, moving around some papers and magazines, thinking that it was probably buried under all his junk.

“I should probably clean this up at some point,” TK said as he continued digging around his desk. TK then turned his attention to his desk drawers. He looked through each of them, but most of them were empty because he had everything sprawled on his desk.

Figuring out that the noise isn’t coming from his desk, TK turned his attention to the nightstand next to his bed. He opened the top drawer and saw what was causing the noise. It was a small teal roundish square device with three buttons and a screen.

“My Digivice?” TK said as he reached to grab the device. “Why is it making this noi-”

The second he grabbed hold of his Digivice, TK was sucked into his computer.

Catherine was currently on her computer looking for movie showings in the coming week. Hearing her sister suggest they watch a movie got her excited for the upcoming week. Her singing lessons won’t start until the next week and she knows that Chloe’s dancing lessons won’t start until the end of the week so she wants to do something special before they go into their respective hobbies. Catherine heard her bedroom door open and saw her sister walk in.

“Hey Cat,” she said. “Whatcha doing?”

“Looking at the upcoming movie showings,” Catherine answered.

“Why?” Chloe said, tilting her head.

“Well, ever since you brought up the movies, I had the idea to go see one before our lessons begin,” Catherine told her.

“Anything good?” Chloe asked, looking at the computer screen.

“Not really,” Catherine sighed. “I’ve been searching for the past few minutes and couldn’t find anything.” She moved to the side so her sister could see the screen. “Tell me if you see anything interesting.”

Chloe began scrolling down the screen, looking at every movie title. Nothing looked intriguing to her and the ones that did come out later in the summer. She sighed with disappointment.

“Nothing,” she said dejectedly.

Catherine rubbed her sister’s shoulder. “It’s fine,” she told her. “We can try some other time.”

Catherine moved to turn off her computer when static took over her screen.

“Aw man, I just got this,” she groaned.

“Do you want me to smack it?” Chloe asked.

“No, I just need to turn it off and on,” Catherine said and reached for the power button. As her finger hovered over the power button, two lights started to form on the screen. She backed up and saw the two lights grow brighter.

“What’s happening?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t know?” Catherine said, shielding her eyes.

The light died down, and when they uncovered their eyes, they saw two small teal roundish square devices with three buttons and a screen.

“What are those?” asked Chloe as she moved closer to the strange devices. She reached out for one of the devices when her sister smacked her hand away.

“Don’t touch it!” Catherine exclaimed. “You don’t know what that is.”

“I know, but,” Chloe said, never taking her eyes off the device. “It feels like it’s calling to me.”

“What are you talking about?” Catherine said. “Listen, Chloe, why don’t you go and get something to eat.”

“But, Catherine,” Chloe said. “Don’t you feel it too? Just look at it.”

Taking her sister’s advice, Catherine looked over at the devices. The more she looked at them, the more she felt like she had a connection to it. It felt like one of the devices was meant for her. Letting go of her sister’s arm, she reached over for the one that called to her the most. Following her sister’s example, she also reached for one of the devices. When they grabbed hold of the devices, they were sucked into the computer.

(Japan)

Currently working on a project is a young boy with flat blue hair that is combed to the right side of his face, blue eyes, and wearing a pink t-shirt with blue-collar and green cargo pants. He was on his computer looking up information to help him with his project. His door opened, and a woman with brown hair stuck her head in.

“Ken, honey it’s getting late. You need to turn off your computer and go to sleep,” she told him.

“Okay, mom,” Ken replied. “Just let me finish reading this article.”

“Okay, but make sure to brush your teeth when you’re done,” his mother said before leaving.

Ken turned his attention back to the computer screen and continued reading the article. As he was reading Ken’s mind wandered back to that strange world that he was sucked into. He remembers how peaceful and beautiful the land was and all the strange creatures he saw. He also remembers a caterpillar that stood by his side and protected him on his little adventure. Ken began to wonder what his caterpillar friend was doing now.

After a big yawn, Ken started exiting out of websites. When Ken was about to turn off his computer, he heard a beeping noise coming from his desk drawer. He opened up the drawer and saw the device that came out of his computer on the first day he went to that strange world. This confused Ken because the device never made any noise before, not even when it came out of his computer. Ken reached down towards the device to see what was causing it to beep, but when he touched it, Ken was transported into his computer.

In a small apartment, a boy was currently playing video games on his computer. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and was wearing a brown sweater and khakis. This boy is Ryo Akiyama, and he is trying to be quiet because his parents are sleeping. Ryo was supposed to be asleep, but he wanted to play his game for a few more minutes, and those few minutes turned into an hour and a half. He turned his attention to the clock on his wall to check what time it was.

“10 o’clock!” Ryo exclaimed. “Yeah, I think that’s enough video games for the night.”

Ryo pushed the power button on his computer, expecting the screen to turn black, but it didn’t. He pushed it again, but nothing changed. Ryo was starting to get frustrated and began button mashing the power button. Ryo groaned, seeing that his computer wasn't turning off, and smacked the side of his monitor in frustration. The screen turned to static after his hand made contact with the monitor, and Ryo felt his stomach drop.

“Oh no!” he said in a panic. “No no no nonononono!”

In his frenzy, Ryo didn’t notice a bright light forming in the static. The light shot through the monitor and hit Ryo in his face. That frustrated Ryo more and growled when he saw the small teal device.

“Lousy piece of junk!” Ryo said as he grabbed onto the device. When Ryo had a full grasp on the strange device, he was swallowed into his computer. With the room empty, the computer turned off.

(USA)

On a nice hot summer day, most kids would be outside playing sports, swimming, or spending time with friends. All of that sounds fun to a normal kid, but one kid doesn’t see it as a fun day. In a big Colorado house is a boy with short blonde hair and green eyes, wearing a grey shirt underneath a magenta jacket and blue shorts. This boy was on his computer, gaining as much knowledge as he could. As he was learning, two almost identical creatures were watching him on his bed.

One creature resembled a dog with its white fur and green markings on its body, long frayed ears, black eyes, and a single horn on its head. The other resembled a rabbit with its brown fur and pink markings on its body, long frayed ears, black eyes, and three horns on its head. Both of these creatures were extremely bored and tired of seeing the boy spend his days on the computer instead of being outside.

“Willis, I’m bored,” the dog creature whined. “Can you get off the computer so we can go outside and play?”

“I’m sorry, Terriermon, just a few more minutes,” replied Willis.

“But you said that yesterday,” the rabbit creature complained.

“I know, Lopmon, it’s just that I need to know this,” Willis retorted.

Terriermon hopped over to Willis’ computer to see what he was reading. Terriermon looked at the screen and saw a complex equation and long words. Just looking at the screen made the dog-like creature’s head hurt. It looked over at its human companion in awe, confused about how he’s able to understand the complex words and imagery on the screen.

“What is this anyway?” Terriermon asked.

Willis turned his attention to Terriermon. “It’s a scientific theory that there are other dimensions out there and if we’re able to make contact with any of them,” he explained and turned his attention back to his monitor. “It’s very interesting.”

“Why are you interested in this theory, anyway?” Lopmon enquired.

“If you ask me it’s a big waste of time,” Terriermon interjected.

“Well, it’s because of you two,” Willis said after turning his attention to the two creatures. “Two years ago, two weird eggs and a weird device came out of my computer, and I want to know where you came from.”

“So you’re planning on getting rid of us,” Lopmon said sadly.

“No,” Willis said quickly. “I just want to know where you came from, that's all.”

“That’s a relief,” Terriermon said, patting Willis’s head. “What would you do if we weren’t here anymore?”

Willis sighed while shaking his head. “Probably be lonely,” he said as he got out of his chair. “I think that’s enough computer time for today. Why don’t we go outside.”

Both Terriermon and Lopmon cheered. They were finally going outside after being cooped up in Willis’ room for a week. Both Terriermon and Lopmon were standing by the door when they heard a beeping coming from Willis’ desk. Willis looked over his desk and saw the strange device that came out of his monitor with Terriermon and Lopmon’s eggs two years ago.

“Why’s it beeping?” Willis questioned. “It's never done that before.”

“I don’t know?” Terriermon said. “But can you deal with it later?”

“Just a quick minute,” Willis said as he reached for the device. “I just want to examine it.” Willis grabbed hold of the device to check it out, but when he held it up to his face, Terriermon, Lopmon, and him were sucked into his computer. 

Chapter Text

TK didn’t know what was happening. One minute he was in his room then the next he was floating around inside his computer. TK looked around and saw that the walls, floor, and ceiling were made of computer chips. There were also different colored wires and circuits lining the walls and the floor. Suddenly, words started to fly past him, TK studied each word and saw that they’re in the form of sentences. More sentences flew by him, some long, some short, and others were in different languages, but the one thing they all had in common was that they went into short windows of light.

“What is this place?” TK said out loud. He looked ahead and saw a bright light and started floating towards it. He passed through the light and saw that he emerged from a tunnel into a wide-open space. TK saw that this space’s walls, ceiling, and floor matched the tunnel he came from, but he noticed other tunnels were leading to this place as well. The sound of a girl screaming drew his attention to one of the tunnels. Exiting the tunnel next to the one he came out of, TK saw both Catherine and Chloe with Catherine clinging onto her sister.

“Woah, this place is amazing!” Chloe was awestruck as she looked around the area. “Catherine, look around and see how cool this place is.”

“No! All I want to do is go home and never use a computer for as long as I live!” Catherine wailed and held onto her sister tighter.

“Chloe! Catherine! Over here!” TK called out, drawing both of their attention to him.

“TK! What are you doing here?” Chloe asked as both her and Catherine made their way over to him.

“Better question. How do we get out of here?” Catherine asked, trying not to freak out more than she has been. Catherine was looking around the room to see if there was some exit for them to get out of this place. She looked at the tunnel that she and her sister came from, praying that maybe if they went back the way they came, they could get out of this place.

“I don’t know? I was finishing up some emails for my friends back in Japan, then my Digivice started beeping,” TK began to explain.

“Digivice? What’s a Digivice?” Chloe asked. TK started to panic a little. No one was supposed to know anything related to the Digital World unless they’re a Digidestined. TK began to backtrack his previous statement when Chloe pulled out a Digivice of her own.

“Is this a Digivice?” Chloe said as she held up the device.

“Where did you get that?” TK asked as he pulled out his own Digivice to compare. They both look exactly the same, with both of them being the same size and the buttons being in the same place.

“It came out of Catherine’s computer. She even got one too,” Chloe then turned to her sister, who was still looking for an exit. “Catherine show him yours.”

“What?” Catherine said confusedly because she wasn’t paying attention.

“Show him the device that came out of the computer,” Chloe told her, holding up her Digivice.

“Oh, that?” Catherine said as she held up her Digivice. “What about it?”

“TK has one too,” Chloe said as TK showed his Digivice, and just like Chloe’s, Catherine’s Digivice looked exactly like TK’s as well.

“Wait! How did you know what they’re called?” Chloe asked when she realized that TK knew what the devices in their hands were called.

“Do you know how to get out of here?” Catherine asked as both she and her sister began to lean closer to the blond boy.

“Um, well, y-you know,” TK stammered as he rubbed the back of his head. He began to sweat as both girls were in his face. He didn’t know how he was going to get out of this situation with Chloe hearing him call the device a Digivice and Catherine wanting to escape from this strange world. All TK could do was pray that some outside force would save him from this situation. As TK was trying to form some kind of answer, his prayers were answered as a blinding light surrounding the three French kids.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” Catherine shouted.

“I don’t know, but I think we’re about to find out,” TK screamed in response. The three kids screamed as the light swallowed them whole.

As the light faded, the three kids were missing from the world.

Catherine was scared. First, she was transported to a strange computer world with her sister. Then TK knows about the device that brought them to that world. Then, finally, they were all engulfed by a bright light that’s taking them to who knows where. To say that Catherine regrets asking her parents for a computer for Christmas would be the understatement of the decade. After the light engulfed them, it felt like they were falling yet flying simultaneously, and all Catherine was hoping for was to feel the sweet feeling of the ground again.

After what felt like an eternity of being off the ground, the kid’s touched down on a squishy, wet terrain. Looking around, they saw that they were in a forest with fallen trees, patches of dirt where pieces of land were, and rocks strewn all over. Looking up, they saw a dark cloudy sky with a light drizzle falling upon them.

“Where are we?” Chloe asked after looking around.

“I don’t know, but whatever we did to get her let’s never do it again,” Catherine groaned as she rubbed her neck.

TK was looking at his Digivice to see if it confirmed his suspicions of this world. He looked at the screen and saw three different colored dots close together. One is light yellow, his Digivice, and two red ones, which he assumes are Chloe’s and Catherine’s Digivices.

“TK!” Catherine shouted to get his attention. “Did you hear us?”

“Huh? Sorry, my mind was somewhere else. ” TK said, drawing his attention to the blond girl in front of him. “What did you say?”

“We said, do you know where we are?” she told him.

“Maybe, but I need to check something first,” he answered.

“What do you need to check?” Chloe asked and held up her Digivice. “And you didn’t answer my question of how you know what this device is.”

“I’ll tell you later, but I need to see something to confirm my suspicions,” TK said and began walking in a random direction. The twins chased after him, not wanting to be alone in this strange world.

They walked in complete silence. Well, TK was silent, Catherine was slightly panicking over every little noise she heard, and Chloe was trying to calm her sister. They made it to a clearing, and TK stopped and signaled for the two girls to follow him to hide behind a knocked-over tree. They sat behind the giant log and watched the wide-open space in front of them.

“What are we doing?” Chloe whispered.

“Waiting,” TK answered quickly.

“For what?” Catherine asked, starting to get annoyed.

“The answer to your questions,” TK said, never taking his attention away from the clearing. They sat there for a few minutes waiting for this “answer,” TK spoke of. A few more minutes passed, and Catherine was getting impatient and annoyed with TK dodging their questions.

“What exactly are we waiting for?” Catherine said suddenly.

“I told you-”

“Yeah, ‘the answer.’ That’s not answering anything!” she said, cutting him off. “Why don’t you just tell us what we’re waiting for and what these devices are?!”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” TK answered. That seemed to irk Catherine even more as she grabbed the boy from his shirt.

“We were sucked into a computer, transported to some technologic world, swallowed by a bright light, and landed in this forest!” she said as she shook him. “And you think I wouldn’t believe whatever you tell us?! I would believe you if you said that you were the son of Marie Antoinette after all that we went through today!”

As Catherine was arguing with TK, Chloe kept her attention on the clearing, trusting her friend. The sound of a rustling of leaves drew her attention as she saw a tiny creature made of rocks walking across the field. She couldn’t believe her eyes as she saw the creature pick up sticks that were in the surrounding area.

“Uh, Catherine,” Chloe said, trying to get her sister’s attention.

“Not now, Chloe, I’m gonna turn our friend here into a pretzel,” Catherine sternly said as she twisted TK’s arm.

“But you need to see this,” Chloe said and reached for her sister.

“I said not now,” Catherine said, shaking off her sister’s reach.

Knowing that her sister won’t listen to her, Chloe grabbed her twin’s head and turned it in the direction of the clearing. Catherine gasped and let go of TK as she saw the rock creature picking up sticks. With everything that happened today, seeing this creature has to be the weirdest thing that has happened. She pinched herself to see if she was dreaming.

“Ow!” she said, rubbing her arm.

“Why did you do that?” TK asked, confused as to why his friend hurt herself.

“I just wanted to make sure that I’m not dreaming,” Catherine said and pointed to the rock creature. “What is that thing?”

“Yeah, you said it was the answer,” Chloe recalled.

“That creature right there is a Digimon, a Gotsumon to be exact,” TK told them.

“And what is a Digimon?” Both girls asked.

“Digimon, or digital monsters, are digital creatures that inhabit this world that could take the form of animals, plants, or robots. Digimon can be friendly creatures or very dangerous,” TK explained.

“Ok, but how did we get here?” Catherine asked.

“Because of this,” TK held up his Digivice. “This strange device that came out of your computer is called a Digivice. Only the Digidestined will receive a Digivice, and seeing that both of you got one, I guess that makes you a Digidestined.”

“And how do you know this?” Questioned Chloe.

“Two years ago, August 1st, me and six other kids were summoned to this world to protect it, but unlike the way you got your Digivices, ours fell from the sky,” TK told them.

“But what about that computer world we were in before?” Catherine inquired.

“That I don’t know,” TK said.

Suddenly, their Digivices started beeping. TK raised his Digivice to his face and saw two new blue dots on the screen to the east of them.

“What does this mean?” Catherine asked, worried about what the dots mean.

“It means there are other Digidestined close by,” TK told her and began moving in the direction of the other two dots.

“Is it one of the other Digidestined that you came here with two years ago?” Chloe asked, following him.

“No, if you look on your screen, you see that there is a yellow dot,” TK said. “That’s mine.”

“And why is yours a different color?” Catherine interrogated.

“I’ll tell you later, but right now, we need to find out who these two dots are,” TK told them, and they began to run towards the two dots.

Ken was tired and sore after the craziness that he went through. After being sucked into his computer, he found himself in a weird computer world, and after a few minutes, a blinding light transported him into an open field. Ken felt some familiarity with this place, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. 

“Ah, if that’s what being downloaded feels like, then I feel bad for all the games I bought,” a boy groaned, reminding Ken that he wasn’t alone. Ken looked to his left and saw the boy he had met in the computer world. If he recalled, the boy said his name was Ryo.

“So, where are we?” Ryo asked while looking around. “Because if you ask me, it looks like we’re in some field in the country.”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think we’re in Japan,” Ken told him.

“What makes you say that?” Ryo said.

“Well if you look in the sky, even with the clouds, you can see that it’s daytime, and in Japan, it was about 10 at night,” Ken stated.

“So what you’re saying is that we’re not in Japan anymore,” Ryo said.

“Yes,” Ken calmly answered.

“So what do we do now?” Ryo queried.

“I think it would be best if we find some form of a water source and food,” Ken suggested.

And that’s what they did as they moved to find a water source. They walked through the forest, looking at every tree and bush that held berries and fruits that they might be able to eat. They kept their ears peeled for the sound of running water. Ken suggested that they should also pick up some loose sticks and some broken branches to make a fire and a shelter, only if they didn’t find a cave.

They emerged through the forest and found a river close by to a cave. They race to the cave to check how far it goes in. They walked through the cave entrance and saw some smoke leading towards the exit.

“Do you think we should check out where the smoke is coming from?” Whispered Ryo.

“No, we don’t know what made the fire or if it’s still there,” Ken whispered back. “We should leave the cave for now, but not go too far from the river.”

They left the cave but stayed close to the river because they didn’t know how far the next water source was. They walked back into the forest to collect more of the berries and fruits that could feed them for a little bit. They met back close to the cave to look over what they collected. Ken collected large amounts of berries while Ryo collected more sticks for a fire.

Suddenly, their Digivices started beeping. They looked at their screens and saw three dots, one yellow, while the other two were blue, and they were heading straight towards them quickly. They looked up in the direction of where the three dots were coming from and saw three blond kids, a boy, and two girls. The boy started to speak, but neither Ken nor Ryo knew what he was saying.

“Huh,” Ryo said.

Then the short-haired girl started to speak in the same language as the boy, and they still didn’t know what they were saying.

“Do you know what they’re saying?” Ryo asked Ken.

“Maybe it’s how the natives talk around here?” Ken said.

“Actually, it’s French,” the boy said, surprising both Ken and Ryo. “Hello, my name is TK, the one with the short hair is Chloe, and the other one is Catherine.”

“You speak Japanese,” Ken said.

“It’s my native language,” TK responded. “And no, this isn’t France.”

“Well if we’re not in France, then where are we?” Ryo asked.

“The Digital World,” TK answered.

“What is the Digital World?” Ryo questioned.

TK told them what he told Catherine and Chloe and about the Digimon that live in the world. Then both Ken and Ryo introduced themselves to the French kids, and TK translated for both of them. Ken then led the group to the cave and told them that there could be Digimon living there and asked what they should do. Ryo suggested that they go explore the cave and that there probably wasn’t any Digimon in the cave. Catherine said that the idea was dumb and that they should just abandon the cave altogether. TK decided that he and whoever wanted to follow him were gonna go check out where the fire was coming from, and whoever wasn’t going with him would wait outside of the cave.

Both Ryo and Chloe decided to follow TK down the cave while Catherine and Ken chose to wait at the entrance. TK suggested that they should each grab a stick for protection just in case that if there were any Digimon in the cave, they weren’t defenseless if the Digimon were dangerous. The group walked deeper into the cave, keeping their voices down so that if there was anything in the cave, it wouldn’t hear them coming. As they got deeper into the cave, it got bright, as to be expected due to the smoke.

As the cave got brighter, the deeper the group was able to hear the cracking of fire and were able to see some shadows on the wall. Now confirming that there were Digimon in the cave, the small group began to walk slower and gripped their sticks tighter. They heard voices, and to their shock, they were able to understand the voices. They moved closer and were able to identify the Digimon, a worm, a dragon, an orange ball, a green ball with feet and a plant growing on its head, and a guinea pig with bat wings.

TK dropped his stick and began walking towards the fire, revealing himself to the Digimon. Both Ryo and Chloe tried to stop him, but when the Digimon turned their attention to the blond boy, the duo backed off. Then TK surprised the duo by talking to the guinea pig.

“Patamon?” TK said, moving closer to the group of Digimon.

“TK!” Patamon then took flight and flew into the open arms of the boy. “It’s been so long, I missed you.”

“I know, buddy, I missed you too,” TK told his partner.

“What are you doing here?” Patamon asked.

“That’s what I want to know, but what are you doing in this cave?” 

“I was with the others when this huge storm happened out of nowhere,” Patamon began. “We were separated shortly afterward. I was lucky enough to run into these guys.”

“And who are these Digimon,” TK said, looking over the group. “I know about the Tsunomon and the Tanemon, but who are the other two?”

“Well the worm-looking Digimon is Wormmon,” Patamon said.

“Greetings,” Wormmon politely introduced itself.

“And the dragon Digimon is Monodramon,” Patamon stated.

“Yo,” Monodramon waved its claws.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” TK greeted. “And if we’re introducing people, then I want you to meet some people.” TK waved over to Chloe and Ryo to introduce themselves and seecome and introduce themselves and seeing that TK wasn’t in any danger they revealed themselves. 

“Hello, my name is Chloe,” She said with a wave.

“I’m Ryo,” He said with a two-finger salute.

Tsunomon bounced over to Chloe with stars in its eyes. “You’re really pretty, Miss,” it said after it reached the girl. “I’m Tsunomon,” Chloe bent over and picked up the orange creature.

“Thank you, I really like your horn,” Chloe complimented the creature.

“You think so,” Tsunomon said with rosy cheeks. “No one ever said that to me before.”

“Definitely, it suits you,” she said, pointing the tip of its horn.

Ryo walked over to Monodramon in awestruck. “Are you really a dragon?” he asked after reaching the dragon.

“Yeah,” Monodramon answered, confused as to why this being walked over to it.

“That’s so cool!” Ryo exclaimed with joy. “I never thought that I would ever meet a dragon that wasn’t in a video game. Monodramon felt uncomfortable from Ryo’s reaction and felt a sweat drop form on the side of its head.

“Are the others here with you?” Patamon asked. “Because I think it would be easy to find the others with their help.”

“I don’t think so. They’re not showing up on my Digivice,” TK told his partner. “But there are two more people waiting at the entrance to this cave.”

“What are we waiting for? Let's go,” Patamon said and began flying towards the exit.

“But what about the other Digimon,” TK said.

“Why don’t they come with us,” Chloe suggested. “The storm has calmed down, and it beats staying in a cave.”

“It would be nice to get some fresh air and feel the damp ground,” Tanemon said. It started to crawl to the exit, but due to its small legs, it wasn’t going any fast. Seeing this, TK picked up the Digimon and chased after his partner. He heard the footsteps of his friends and the other Digimon following behind him as they quickly ran through the cave. As they were running, TK realized something and turned to Chloe.

“Catherine doesn’t know that Patamon is a good Digimon,” he told her.

“So, Patamon doesn’t look dangerous,” she responded while scratching the top of Tsunomon’s head.

“But she never met a Digimon before,” TK retorted.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” she told him. A high-pitched scream echoed throughout the cave, causing the small group to run faster. They emerged from the cave to see Catherine hiding behind Ken. They looked down and saw Patamon with a confused look on its face.

“I guess screaming is the worst thing that could happen,” TK told Chloe. He got a laugh in response as they both made their way to Catherine to attempt to calm her down. “Calm down, Catherine, you’re freaking out over one of the friendliest Digimon there is.”

“Well excuse me for not knowing what’s friendly and what’s dangerous in this world,” Catherine said, agitated at her friend. “Anyone would’ve done the same.”

“I don’t know,” TK said with a sly grin. “Chloe is currently petting one, and Ryo tried to befriend the dragon.” Catherine smacked him in the back of the head and made her way to Patamon. She crouched in front of Patamon and scratched it behind one of its batwings, causing Patamon to cry out in delight.

“You’re not so scary when I got a second look at you,” she told the small Digimon.

“You can make any assumption about me as long as you keep doing this,” Patamon said, enjoying the treatment that it’s getting. Tanemon walked over to the two with a curious look on its face.

“Does it feel good?” It asked with wonder and a little jealousy.

“It feels amazing,” Patamon responded. Catherine looked at the plant Digimon and stopped scratching Patamon and picked up Tanemon and embraced it with a hug.

“Aren’t you precious,” Catherine squealed, tightening the embrace. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Tanemon, and I like breathing,” it squeaked out, causing Catherine to loosen her embrace. To make up for suffocating the poor creature, Catherine started to scratch around the plant on top of Tanemons head.

“What about me?” Patamon asked, missing Catherine’s touch. TK walked over to Patamon and rubbed the top of his partner’s head.

“You have me,” he told Patamon and placed the Digimon on top of his head. “So is that everyone?”

“Everyone but Wormmon,” Patamon said.

“Where is Wormmon?” Tsunomon asked, still in Chloe’s arms. “Wasn’t Wormmon behind you, Monodramon?” Everyone turned their attention to the dragon Digimon, who then pointed towards Ken, who was hunched over near the cave entrance. At first glance, it looked like Ken was injured, but when they looked more closely, they saw Wormmon in Ken’s arms.

“I take it you two know each other,” TK said, drawing their attention.

“We met about a year ago,” Ken told them. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been to the Digital World, but I didn’t spend enough time in this place to learn everything about it.”

After Ken revealed that he’s been to the Digital World before, everyone started talking with each other, with the help of TK. TK and Ken caught up with their respective Digimon partners, telling them stories of what they did since they last saw each other. Catherine started to get more comfortable with her surroundings with the help of her sister and Tanemon. Ryo tried to talk with Monodramon without making the Digimon uncomfortable, but it was really hard to do for the boy.

Then, all of a sudden, their Digivices went off, causing everyone to jump. They looked on their screens and saw a single blue dot to the north of where they were.

“Another Digidestined?” A surprised Catherine said.

“Looks like it, come on,” TK said and began making his way to the location.

“But what about the cave?” Chloe asked, making TK stop in his tracks. “If we go searching for this person we’ll probably forget where this cave is.”

“She’s right, and if we stay at the cave, then we at least have shelter and food,” Catherine said logically. This made TK think because he wants everyone to be safe, but he also doesn’t want to put the life of the new Digidestined at risk if they don’t go searching for them. Then he came up with the idea that a small group stays at the cave while the others go looking for the Digidestined. He relayed his plan to everyone, switching between languages, and they agreed to it.

They Decided that to make it easier on TK, and not wanting to leave her sister behind again, that the twins would stay at the cave while the boys, Patamon, Wormmon, and Monodramon would go searching for the Digidestined. As the boys were beginning to leave, TK turned to the girls and gave them certain instructions.

“If you both sense that you’re in danger don’t go into the cave because we don’t know how deep it goes or if there is a dead-end,” he ordered. “Use your Digivices to find us and don’t attempt to fight anything, ok.”

The girls agreed, and the boys began their trek to find the Digidestined.

Chapter Text

Being transported to two worlds was not something that Willis expected to happen when he woke up that morning. Checking his surroundings, he saw that he was close to a huge lake and was surrounded by a forest. Willis was glad that he was close to a huge water source. He didn’t want to worry about dying of thirst, but food was another problem. Being close to a forest was a good thing for Willis because there could be food growing throughout the foliage and he could use the branches and leaves to make a makeshift shelter, but he didn’t know what lived in the area or if any of the food he would find would be edible.

Willis then turned to his two companions, worrying how they would fit into his equation. If he was on his own, he would have a lot more food to eat, but with the two extra mouths to feed, he would have to limit how much food they would have per meal. Willis hoped that there were a lot of edible fish in the lake for a good source of protein and a food source to rely on if there wasn’t anything edible in the forest. Willis was going to ask Terriermon to go search the lake to see if there were actually fish in it, but he saw that both Terriermon and Lopmon were mesmerized by the area they were in.

“It’s wonderful isn’t it,” Willis said, breaking them out of their trance. “To be back where you came from.”

“How do you know that?” Terriermon tilted its head, wondering how its partner knew this is where they came from. “We’ve never been here before, and neither have you.”

Willis lifted his Digivice to show the dog-like Digimon. “It’s because of this.”

“That doesn’t answer anything,” Lopmon said, causing Willis to chuckle a little. He then crouched down to their level so they could get a better look at the device.

“It’s because when both of your eggs came out of my computer two years ago, this device came with it,” he told them, hoping they understood what he was saying.

“But you told us this already,” Lopmon told him.

“You’re not making any sense, Willis,” Terriermon said, making Willis fall over in disbelief. He got back up and showed them the device again.

“We were sucked into my computer when this thing beeped and since you both came out of my computer with this device two years ago I assumed you came from this place because it looks like it can inhabit life,” Willis explained to the two, receiving a sound of understanding from both creatures. Willis stood up straight and made his way to the lake.

“Anyways, I think it’s best if we prepare for when night comes,” he said as he reached the lake. “So what I want the two of you to do is to search the outer area of the forest for sticks and branches, but don’t go in too deep because we don’t know what’s in it and I still need to be able to see you.”

Both Digimon gave a small salute and made their way to the forest. While they were doing that, Willis began to see if he could spot any edible fish for them to eat. He saw some shad, bass, and some minnows swimming around, so he knew that they at least had a good food source, but he didn’t know how they would catch them.

Suddenly Willis’ Digivice startled to beep which startled him because the last time it made a noise he was transported to another world. He looked on the screen and saw three dots coming towards him, two blue, and one yellow. This scared him because he doesn’t know if the device is warning him of danger or not. Not wanting to take any chances, Willis called out to his partners and hid behind one of the many trees that surrounded the area.

A few minutes passed, and nothing happened. Willis checked his Digivice and saw the three dots getting closer. The rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs signaled that the unknown beings arrived. Keeping his breathing low and steady, Willis covered the mouths of both Terriermon and Lopmon as an extra precaution to not be discovered.

Emerging from the woods, Willis identified three boys, one with a hat, one with blue hair, and the last one was taller than the other two. He also noticed that they were being followed by strange creatures with their own unique descriptions. Willis saw their lips moving, but he wasn’t close enough to make out what they were saying. He saw the blue-haired one looking at something in the palm of his hands and then suddenly pointing to where he and his partners were hidden.

Willis was panicking as he saw the group walk towards his hiding spot. He wanted to run, but he didn’t know what was hidden in the forest, and he came to the assumption that the group was able to track him. All he could do was pray that the group was friendly or if it came down to it, he would be able to hold them off long enough for Terriermon and Lopmon to escape. When he heard the sound of footsteps getting closer, he prepared for what he was going to do. When the sound of footsteps stopped, Willis took a deep breath and leaped out of his hiding spot and tackled the first body he saw.

“LOPMON, TERRIERMON, RUN!” Willis screamed, and the two look alike Digimon ran out of their hiding spot to join their partner. “What are you two doing? Run!”

“We’re not leaving you, Willis!” Lopmon cried.

“Yeah! What kind of partners would we be if we abandoned you,” Terriermon told him.

Willis felt tears form in the corners of his eyes, happy that his partners wouldn’t abandon him. “Thanks, you guys,” Willis wiped away his tears. “Now let’s show these guys whose boss!” They turned their attention to the group ready to defend themselves when they saw the group had confused looks on their faces.

“What are you doing?” asked the flying guineapig.

“What does it look like,” Terriermon interjected. “We’re defending ourselves.”

“But why?” It asked again with a more confusing look on its face.

“Because you were going to attack us,” Lopmon answered.

“We weren’t going to attack you,” the worm said. “We just wanted to find you and take you back to see the others.”

“To attack us?”

“No, it’s because your partner is a Digidestined,” the guineapig told them. “Also, can you get off my partner, he’s been asking that for a while now.”

Looking down, Willis saw that he tackled the boy with the hat. He also realized that the group was speaking in a different language than him. Willis helped the boy up, apologizing as well, but the boy didn’t seem to understand what he was saying. The boy began to speak in a language, but all Willis was able to make out was Japanese and French. Willis gave an unknowing look as he didn’t understand the French-Japanese boy, but suddenly the boy looked like he had an idea and began talking to the guineapig.

“My friend asks if you speak Japanese or French?” It said. Willis understood what the boy was trying to do. He was using this creature as a translator to communicate with each other.

“Well I don’t speak either of those languages, but I can read them,” he told the flying creature. It relaid the message back to the hat-wearing boy, and the group nodded before speaking again.

“My friends want to know your names,” it spoke.

“My name is Willis,” then he pointed to Terriermon. “This is Terriermon,” and finished off by pointing to Lopmon. “And this is Lopmon. What are your names?

“I’m Patamon,” it said before listing off the others.

“TK”

“Ken”

“Ryo”

“Wormmon”

“And I’m Monodramon”

After introducing themselves, Willis began asking questions like the strange device he has, where they are, who the other Digidestined they wanted him to meet, and what is a Digidestined. They answered his questions with Patamon, Wormmon, and sometimes Monodramon translating. With all his questions answered, Willis agreed that he would follow them to meet the other Digidestined, seeing that he and his companions would be safer in a big group. 

Suddenly, he saw two girls, with the only different characteristic is hair length, run out of the forest straight to the four boys. They began speaking in a panic towards TK and pointing at where they came from. They looked in that direction and saw that trees were being knocked down and felt the ground shaking. Seeing that there was no time to run, the Digimon moved in front of their human partners and got ready for whatever was coming.

(Few Minutes Earlier)

As the boys were away, the girls got to work setting the cave up for when they returned. Catherine and Tanemon went out to find some berries to eat and collect a large number of leaves to make some makeshift beds. Chloe and Tsunomon, on the other hand, chose to collect sticks to make a fire for warmth. When they returned to the cave, Catherine separated the leaves, sticks, and berries into evenly neat piles, while Chloe let the Digimon eat some of the berries.

As they were working, they made idle chit-chat about anything that came to mind like clothes, food, and whatever trends were popular at the moment. The Digimon didn’t know what the two girls were talking about, but seeing that they were happy they didn’t want to butt in. The girl’s conversion changed when Chloe brought up the topic of the new Digidestined.

“So, what do you think the new Digidestined is like?”

“I don’t know?” Catherine sighed. “I hope they’re nice.”

“I hope they’re nice as well,” Chloe walked over to the two Digimon that finished their berries. She picked up Tsunomon and started to rub the top of its head. “What do you think of the other two?”

“Do you want me to be honest?” Chloe nodded in response. “I don’t really trust them that much.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just that after being transported to this world it’s hard to trust two people that we just met,” Catherine answered.

“They seem nice, though.”

“You’re right, but we barely even know them,” Catherine told her sister. “And look at TK. We’ve known him for almost two years, yet he never told us about this.”

“To be fair, would we believe him even if he told us?”

“No, no, we wouldn’t” Catherine felt Tanemon brush against her leg, and she smiled as she picked up the plant Digimon. “But, I guess being in this world isn’t so bad.”

The sound of rustling leaves drew their attention to the forest across the river. They stepped out of the cave to find out what made the noise.

“M-maybe it’s the wind,” Catherine stuttered. “Or TK and the others are just trying to prank us.”

“But they went the other direction,” Chloe looked at her Digivice. “And this says that they’re not even close to us.”

The ground started to shake, freaking out both the girls and Digimon. Catherine wanted to run, but Chloe said that the shaking was caused by nature. Knowing how stubborn her sister could be and also not wanting to leave her alone, Catherine stayed with her sister. Suddenly, they both saw trees falling over and felt the shaking growing stronger.

“We’re leaving, NOW!” Catherine grabbed her sister and began running in the same direction the boys went earlier. Chloe wanted to tell her sister that it was probably the wind when an Earth-shaking roar motivated her to run faster.

(Present Time)

Seconds past, and nothing happened. The sound of everyone’s breath was the noise being made at this moment. Everything being too calm made everyone loosen up, thinking that maybe whatever was chasing the twins lost interest and left. Their hopes were crushed when they heard a loud roar, and a dinosaur crashed through the forest.

It looked like a gray triceratops with only one large horn, black armor covering its face, back, and shins, and it has a white underbelly.

“What is that thing!?” Cried out, Catherine.

“It’s a Monochromon!” TK shouted.

“A what?!”

“It’s a Monochromon, they say that the armor that covers its body is as tough as diamonds and its horn can pierce through anything,” Patamon explained as it got ready to attack. The Monochromon opened its mouth, and a bright flame started to form in its mouth.

“What’s it doing!?” Chloe, for the first time she was in this world, was panicking.

“It’s going to attack!” TK started to run. “MOVE!”

Even though he said it in French, the boys understood the panic and urgency in his voice and because he and the girls were running. They all ran in separate directions with TK and the girls being in one group and Ken, Ryo, and Willis in another group. Getting out of the Monochromons range of attack, the children saw it launch its attack. It was a huge ball of fire, and even though none of the children were close enough to the blast, they still felt the heat radiate off of it, and it landed right where they previously were.

“Alright, no more playing around!” TK raised his Digivice. “Ready Patamon!”

“Ready!” Patamon was shrouded in a veil of light, and whoever was close to it could feel power radiate from it. “Patamon digivolve too… Patamon?” The veil of light disappeared, leaving behind a confused Patamon.

“What happened?” TK asked with concern.

“I don’t know? I guess I ran out of energy during the storm, sorry.”

“It’s ok, but we need to find a way to defeat this Digimon,” TK stated.

“Defeat!? You want to defeat that thing!” Catherine exclaimed. “Didn’t Patamon say that its armor is as tough as diamonds!”

“But it’s not covering its whole body,” TK pointed at the Digimon to draw the girl’s attention to the beast. “Look at its underbelly. It’s completely unprotected. If we’re able to hit that, then we might be able to scare it off.”

“And how will we be able to hit its stomach?” Chloe asked.

“If one of us can distract it, then the others can attack its weak spot,” TK explained.

“And who will be dumb enough to distract it?” Catherine realized what TK was going to do. “NO! You are not going to do what I think you’re going to do!”

Paying no attention to Catherine, TK turned to Patamon. “Patamon, I want you to go and tell Ken and the others to attack Monochromon’s stomach when I have it distracted.”

“Ok, but are you sure you want to do this?” Patamon was a bit reluctant to go along with his partner’s plan.

“Don’t worry I’ll be fine. Just make sure to join in on the attack with the others,” TK said and ran out of their cover to draw the Monochromon. While he did that, Patamon flew over to the boys to relay TK’s message.

“Over here you rejected Triceratops!” TK was waving his arms, gaining the dinosaur Digimon’s attention. It charged towards the French boy, ready to pierce him with his horn, but TK moved out of the way before the Digimon reached him. “That was close,” he said as the Digimon began to charge after him again.

“What is TK doing?!” Ken said out loud, wondering why the boy he met a few minutes ago is risking his life.

“I don’t know, but he’s going to get himself killed,” Ryo said.

“Maybe he’s trying to fight it?” Wormmon interjected.

“Well, he’s not doing a good job doing it,” Monodramon was frustrated. It wanted to be the one out there fighting instead of hiding like a coward.

“Maybe he’s trying to tire out Monochromon,” Lopmon suggested.

“Maybe, but…” Ken looked into the field and saw that TK was beginning to breathe heavily while the Monochromon looked like it still had enough energy to run a marathon. “But who's going to tire out first?”

“GUYS!” The group jumped at the sound of Patamon’s voice. They saw the flying Digimon behind them, but they were confused as to why it wasn’t out there with its partner. “I need to tell you something.”

“Well spit it out!” Ryo said concernedly.

“TK wants you to attack Monochromon’s stomach,” Patamon relayed.

“Well, how are we supposed to do that?”

“I don’t know, but we have to get him out of there,” Ken sternly said, and the Digimon ran from their cover and charged the Monochromon.

TK was exhausted. He didn’t think he would waste this much energy trying to dodge a stampeding Digimon. He saw Monochromon digging into the dirt with one of its clawed feet. ”You know, I was only joking when I called you a rejected triceratops,” TK lightly chuckled between breaths. Monochromon ignored his comment and charged at the boy. TK began to move out of the way, but he tripped over his own feet. Seeing that he doesn’t have enough time to get out of the way all TK could do was close his eyes and wait.

“Sticky Net!”

Opening his eyes, TK saw Monochromon stuck on a giant web on the ground. He looked around, trying to see who shot that attack when he saw Wormmon with a concerned yet proud look on its face. TK felt someone’s hands on his arms, trying to help him up.

“Now is not the time to be lying around!” TK turned around and saw that Ken was the one trying to help him up. “You’re crazy you know that.”

“Hey, sometimes you need to be crazy,” TK told them, and they both ran for cover.

With both Ken and TK out of harm’s way and Monochromon being stuck, it allowed the Digimon to attack the beast. Aiming at Monochromons underbelly the Digimon used their strongest attacks.

Patamon inflated with air and then shot out a blast of air.

“Boom Bubble!”

It was a direct hit, but since there wasn’t a clear shot to the stomach, the attack bounced off Monochromon’s armor.

Lopmon and Terriermon began to spin at a rapid pace, creating two small wind vortexes from their ears.

“Terrier Tornado!” “Tiny Twister!”

Just like Patamon’s attack, both vortexes landed a direct hit, and just like Patamon’s attack, they both bounced off of Monochromon’s armor.

“Our attacks aren’t working!”

“We need to find a way to get under it!” Patamon shouted.

“Leave that to me!” Monodramon ran straight for Monochromon, drawing back its fist to attack.

“Beat Knuckle!”

Monodramon put as much force and strength behind its attack. It landed a direct hit, causing Monochromon to tumble over and out of Wormmons net. Seeing that they had an open shot at Monochromon’s stomach, they attacked at the same time, using their strongest attacks.

“Boom Bubble!”

“Terrier Tornado!”

“Tiny Twister!”

“Beat Knuckle!”

“Thread Punch!”

Wormmon formed a blob of silk, shooting the silk towards the dino-Digimon’s stomach, landing a direct hit. The Monochromon wailed in pain from the attacks. Realizing that it won’t win the fight, Monochromon got up and started to flee from the area.

“Alright!” The boys and the Digimon cheered, but they soon realized that Monochromon was heading straight for the girls. The Monochromon was moving too fast for any of the boys or Digimon to reach the girls, and since none of the Digimon had a clear shot at its stomach, they weren’t able to attack.

“MOVE!”

“RUN!”

“GET OUT OF THERE!”

But the girls weren’t able to move as they were frozen in fear. Both Tanemon and Tsunomon began to squirm in the girl’s arms. As Monochromon got closer, Tanemon and Tsunomon squirmed harder until they broke free from the girl’s arms and stood in front of the charging Monochromon.

“No, Tsunomon!” Chloe cried out.

“Get back here, Tanemon!” Catherine reached out for the Digimon.

Suddenly, both of their Digivice’s vibrated, and Tanemon and Tsunomon were surrounded by a bright light.

“What’s happening?” Ken asked in a panic.

“They’re Digivolving,” TK answered.

“Tanemon Digivolve too…” Tanemon grew in size as its back legs became roots, grew a green lizard-like tail, its front legs grew into two long whitish-purple flowers for arms, and the plant on its head moved to its neck and sprouted into a large red flower with the top petal draping over its head like a mask. “Floramon!”

“Tsunomon Digivolve too…” Tsunomon grew in size as its orange fur turned purple, it grew two yellow feet with red claws, two long purple flippers with red claws, a white belly with purple markings, losing its horn it gained a long yellow beak with a purple marking at the end. “Penguinmon!”

“Who are they?!” Ken asked in shock.

“That’s Floramon,” Wormmon answered. “They say that when it’s in a good mood, the petals on its head and arms open up wide.”

“And who’s the penguin?” TK asked.

“That’s Penguinmon,” Patamon told him. “Even though it can’t fly or walk really fast, it is fast when sliding across ice.”

Both girls were in disbelief from what they just saw. Moments before they were holding two small creatures, then the next, they grew into bigger and different looking creatures. Their disbelief didn’t last long as the rumbling from Monochromon reminded them that they were in danger.

“Look out!” Catherine screamed.

“Be careful!” Chloe shouted with worry.

Both newly Digivolved Digimon didn’t say anything as their attention was on the charging Digimon. They waited until Monochromon was close to them, and when it was, Penguinmon raised its right flipper and brought it down on Monochromon’s cheek.

“Super Slap!”

The force of Penguinmon’s slap caused Monochromon to stop in its tracks and come face to face with Floramon. Floramon raised both of its arms to Monochromon’s face and sprayed it with orange pollen.

“Rain of Pollen!”

The pollen cleared to reveal a disinterested-looking Monochromon. It looked around before slowly retreating back into the forest. Seeing that the immediate danger left the Digidestined grouped together.

“That was amazing!”

“How did you do that?”

“Are you girls ok?” TK asked.

Since they were only able to understand TK’s concern, they both nodded. They both turned to Floramon and Penguinmon, who were both receiving praise from the other Digimon. They made their way to the two Digimon, gaining their attention.

“That was awesome…?” Chloe said, trying to remember its name.

“Penguinmon,” it helped her.

“Was I awesome too?” Floramon asked Catherine.

“You were more than awesome. You were amazing,” Catherine told the plant Digimon, causing the petals on its arms and head to open up. The two girls hugged their new partners as everyone started to calm down from the events from earlier.

Patamon flew to the lake and began to study the water. It had a curious look on its face, Patamon felt like it might have seen this lake before. Curious as to why his partner was interested in the big body of water, TK walked over to Patamon and stuck his hand in the water.

“Already thinking about lunch?” TK jokingly asked.

“Does this lake look familiar, TK?” Patamon asked, ignoring TK’s joke.

TK looked at the lake, moving his hand under the water to see if he could understand what his friend was talking about. The more TK looked at the water, the more he felt like he’s seen this lake before. TK pulled his hand out of the water and turned to Patamon when he realized where they were. Noticing that both TK and Patamon weren’t with the group, Ken walked over to the blond boy with Wormmon in tow.

“What are you guys doing over here?” Ken asked, gaining both of their attention.

“We’re just seeing if we know this lake?” TK answered.

“And do you?” Wormmon spoke as it got closer to the water.

“Yeah, we’ve actually been insi-,” Patamon was interrupted by a light that was coming from the lake. It was so bright that the rest of the children and Digimon were drawn to it. They all stood at the base of the lake when the light faded, revealing a staircase leading down into the lake. With a day that kept on getting weirder and weirder, this strangely felt normal.

TK and Patamon began making their way down the stairs, worrying the group, but TK eased their worries when he showed them a reassuring smile. Seeing that both TK and Patamon weren’t in any danger, the group followed them down the stairs. The walk wasn’t far, but it felt like they were walking for miles. They reached the end of the steps and were met with a large wooden door and a white stone wall.

TK walked up to the door to knock when the door opened itself. Seeing this as an invitation to enter, the group walked in to see a large open field of green grass, sakura trees, and a traditional Japanese house. Standing in the center of the walled-off area was a short old man with a long grey mustache, a bald head with a ponytail growing out of the top of his head, and he was wearing a purple and red robe. He smiled when he saw the group.

“It’s been a while hasn’t it, Child of Hope.”

Chapter Text

“Gennai!?”

“You know him?” Catherine asked.

“Kind of,” TK told her. “Remember when I told you about how two years ago when me and my friends were transported here?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Gennai kind of helped us in a way,” TK explained before turning his attention back to the old man. “But Gennai what’s going on? Why are we here? And where are the others?”

“All will be explained in due time, but I must give you all something first. Follow me into my home, and make sure to close the door behind you,” Gennai said as he led the group of kids and Digimon into his home. Being the last one to enter, Chloe closed the door behind her, and when she did, the lake reflooded itself.

“Woah,” she said in awe. “It looks so beautiful out there!”

Penguinmon, who was standing next to her, was more amazed by the fish swimming around. “Look at all those fish. I wonder what they taste like?”

Chloe called back to when Monochromon was charging at her, and her sister and Tsunomon and Tanemon jumped in to protect them. Chloe was extremely worried, not only for her and her sister’s health but also for the two small creatures’ well-being. She couldn’t have been more surprised when the small orange fuzz-ball transformed into a penguin and saved both her and her sister.

“Penguinmon was it?” Chloe asked, drawing the penguin Digimon’s attention. “I would like to thank you for saving me and my sister. If you didn’t transform, then me and my sister would’ve become a kebab back there.”

“I should thank you as well,” Peguinmon said, confusing Chloe. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to Digivole.”

“I guess you could say that we helped each other out then,” Chloe said, scratching the fuzz on top of Penguinmon’s head, causing it to squeal with delight. “From now on let’s agree to help each other out in any way we can. Deal?”

“Deal.”

They shook hands, well more like Chloe shook Penguinmon’s flipper, but her intention was still the same.

“There you are,” Catherine said as she emerged from a corridor. She slightly startled the two, but they didn’t show it. “What were you doing?”

“Just admiring the fish,” Chloe said, confusing her sister. Longer-haired twin didn’t know why her sister was admiring fish from behind sliding doors or why Peguinmon was chuckling to itself, but it didn’t bother her enough to question them further.

“Alright then. I actually came here to get you, everyone’s waiting,” Catherine told her sister, causing the short-haired twin to blush. She didn’t realize that the others went on without them.

“Oh, lead the way then,” Chloe said as Catherine led them further into the house.

The twins, plus Digimon, entered a dining area where the four boys, plus the six Digimon, minus Patamon who was perched on top of TK’s head, sat on the floor around a dining table. Catherine took her spot, which was being occupied by Floramon, next to TK, while both Chloe and Penguinmon took the other empty spot next to TK.

“Where have you been?” TK asked after Chloe sat down.

“Just admiring the fish,” Chloe told him, and he fully understood what she was telling him.

“Yeah, they’re pretty amazing,” TK gave her a wink, causing Chloe to chuckle, which frustrated Catherine.

“Ok, what’s so amazing about the fish?” Catherine asked, irritated. “Is it their color, their size, or their species?”

“It’s none of that. They’re just your run-of-the-mill koi fish,” TK told her, frustrating her even more.

“Then what’s so special about the fish!?”

“Oh, It’s because-,” Patamon began, but TK quickly silenced him.

“Don’t tell her yet, buddy. You don’t want to ruin the surprise,” TK told his partner. Patamon didn’t understand what TK meant, but it decided to go along with it.

The other three kids sitting at the table were confused with what they were watching. They even asked the Digimon to translate what they were saying, and they still didn’t understand what they were saying. It appeared to the three boys that the short-haired girl and the boy in the hat were hiding something from them. Ken wanted to ask what they were hiding, but from what Wormmon translated, he would find out later.

“So, uh, where’s the old guy?” Chloe asked.

“He went to get something after I sent Cat to get you,” Tk told her. “Though it has been a while now.”

“What do you think he went to get?” Catherine asked.

“I hope it’s food because I’m feeling a little hungry,” Patamon said while patting its belly.

“Food does sound good right about now,” Lopmon spoke up.

“Yeah, we didn’t get to eat breakfast today,” Terriermon added. Willis said something to his two Digimon partners that no one at the table understood, but he had an apologetic look on his face, so it didn’t take long for everyone to figure out what he said.

“You know, I’m feeling a little peckish myself,” Chloe said, drawing annoyance from Catherine.

“You just had three chicken sandwiches not too long ago. How are you still hungry?” Catherine asked, annoyed with her sister’s bottomless pit of a stomach.

“The sandwiches weren’t big,” Chloe retorted.

“They weren’t bite-sized either,” Catherine spat back.

“You eat that many chicken sandwiches for breakfast?” Terriormon said in awe, interrupting the sister’s spat. “Why am I sneaking food from your scary mom when I could be chowing down on some delicious chicken, Willis?”

“I don’t eat chicken sandwiches for breakfast,” Chloe said, slightly confused.

“Yeah, we were talking about her after-school snack, if you can call it that,” Catherine said the last part quietly, still bothered by her sister’s appetite.

“Wow, you must have to go to school early if you get back home around breakfast time,” Lopmon said in amazement. “Willis sometimes complains about wanting to go to something called night classes, but his mother won’t let him.”

“Where are you from exactly?” Catherine asked.

“Colorado,” the twin Digimon answered.

“I guess that answers that question,” Chloe said.

“What do you mean?” A confused Lopmon asked.

“We,” Catherine pointed from herself to her sister. “Live in France.”

“What’s that?” Terriermon asked.

“It’s a European country,” TK told the dog Digimon.

“But why do you go to school at night?” A still confused Lopmon asked.

“It’s because we live in a different time zone,” Neither of the two Digimon or any other Digimon that was listening in understood what the hat-wearing boy was saying. Seeing this, TK tried his best to explain himself. “It’s like this when you guys get up in the morning. It would be the afternoon for us,” he indicated to himself and the twins. “While for them,” he pointed towards Ken and Ryo. “They would be getting ready for bed because they live in a country called Japan.”

The Digimon were more confused from TK’s explanation than they were before, and they didn’t even know what a time zone was. TK was about to clarify himself when Catherine cut him off before he could do any more damage.

“What he means is that when it’s morning for you, it’s the afternoon for us, and for them,” she pointed at Ken and Ryo. “It’s nighttime.”

“OH,” said all the Digimon, causing TK to hang his head in embarrassment. Chloe patted his back to lift his spirits. It worked a little bit, but he still felt a little embarrassed.

“Man, what’s taking that old geezer so long?” TK heard Ryo say. “He’s been gone for like what, an hour?”

“It’s actually been five minutes,” Ken told him, causing Ryo to groan in frustration.

“Well, it felt like an hour,” Ryo retorted.

“Maybe someone should go check on him,” Wormmon suggested. “Make sure he’s ok.”

“I’ll go,” Patamon volunteered. “It’ll give me a chance to stretch out my wings.”

“There will be no need for that, Patamon,” Gennai said as he entered the room carrying a tray of six teacups. “Though I do appreciate your concerns, I don’t like to be called a geezer.”

Gennai passed a cup to each of the children and then sat down at the head of the table. After he sat down, the floodgates opened with nonstop questions.

“What’s going on?”

“Why are we here?”

“What did you give us?”

“Will you be serving food as well?”

Gennai felt his eyes twitch. “If I knew I was gonna be bombarded with questions the moment I sat down, I would’ve stayed in the kitchen.” The children quieted down, feeling bad for annoying the old man.

“Sorry,” TK said. “We’re just confused with what’s going on.”

“I understand your concern, and I will answer your questions soon, but first, why don’t you all have a drink,” Gennai said.

The six children looked at the cups in front of them. They were filled with a cactus green-colored liquid with steam coming off of it. They felt uneasy about the beverage, not knowing what the old man wanted them to drink.

“What is it?” Ken asked.

“It’s tea,” Gennai told them. The children slightly felt better about the beverage in front of them, but they were still apprehensive about it.

“Hey,” Floramon spoke up after not saying anything this whole time. “How come there isn’t any tea for us, Digimon?”

“Yeah!” Monodramon exclaimed. “I’m feeling a little thirsty and hungry as well.”

“Yeah!” The rest of the Digimon cheered in agreement.

Gennai raised his hand to silence the Digimon and to get everyone’s attention. “I hear your complaints and don’t worry, food and beverages will be provided later, but I made this tea to help the Digidestined.”

TK raised his cup and swirled the liquid inside of it. He took a whiff of the tea and didn’t smell anything wrong with it. He brought the cup to his lips and started drinking. The rest of the Digidestined watched him with both worry and anticipation. TK started to cough after finishing his tea, causing everyone to panic.

“Are you feeling ok?”

“Does anything hurt?”

TK waved them off after he finished coughing. “Yeah, I’m fine it just tasted bitter,” TK heard Willis gasp. He saw Willis wide-eyed and his hands covering his mouth.

“What’s wrong?” TK asked. He knew that the English-speaking blond couldn’t understand him, but he hoped that one of his Digimon would translate for him. What he didn’t expect was for Willis to respond.

“I can understand you!”

It was TK’s turn to be shocked, but for a slightly different reason. Sure, he was surprised that Willis could understand him, but what really shocked him was that he could understand Willis as well.

“I can understand you!” TK exclaimed, shocking the remaining Digidestined.

“You can understand him?!” A surprised Catherine asked.

“How can you understand him?!” An equally surprised Ryo asked.

TK became extremely confused. He swears that he was speaking in French during his outburst, so how could Ryo understand him?

“How are you able to understand me?” TK asked Ryo.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m speaking in French right now. When could you understand French?” This confused Ryo because it doesn’t sound like TK is speaking in French.

“But it sounds like Japanese,” Ryo said, with Ken nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, it sounds like you’re speaking Japanese.”

TK ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He swears he’s speaking French, but somehow Willis, Ryo, and Ken can understand him. He looked at the three boys sitting across from him.

“I want to try something,” he told them. “I’m gonna talk in French to both Chloe and Catherine, and what I want you to do is repeat what I’m saying to them, got it?”

The boys nodded as TK turned to the girls.

“Chloe, you’re a great dancer, but you sing like a saucepan,” TK said, and the three boys repeated what he said in their native tongue perfectly. He was both confused and a little impressed that they were able to repeat him perfectly, but he still wants to know how he could understand Willis and how the three boys can understand him when he’s speaking French. He looked to Gennai, hoping he’ll explain what was happening.

“I can see you’re confused as to what’s happening, and there is a perfect explanation for it,” Gennai told him, and TK sighed in relief. “It’s because the tea I gave you gives you the ability to understand any language.”

“That explains how I can understand Willis, but how can Ryo, Ken, and Willis understand me even though I’m speaking in French?” TK asked.

“Because you’re not necessarily just speaking in French,” Genna received some confused stares from everyone sitting at the table. “What I mean is that you’re speaking every language at the same time, and whoever hears you, it sounds like you’re speaking in their native language.”

“So what you’re saying is that not only can I understand any language, but also speak any language without having to learn any of them?” TK asked in disbelief.

“In a word, yes.”

“And is it permanent?”

“Yes.”

It was quiet. The children, other than TK, looked at the tea in front of them, contemplating the choice they had to make. They knew that if they drank the tea, they would be able to understand each other, but they would never be able to go back to normal afterward. They know that if they drink it, everyone will only hear them in a certain way. Will they be willing to make that sacrifice?

“Eh, I’m down,” Ryo broke the silence as he chugged down his tea. “Besides, it beats having to learn how to understand and speak someone’s language.”

“It would’ve taken us at least three months to learn one language, let alone two,” Willis spoke up after finishing his tea. “This was an easy choice to make.”

“I would be crazy to pass up this chance!” Chloe downed her drink in one sip. “Besides, I always wanted to understand the Egyptians.”

“When will you ever go to Egypt? Let alone meet an Egyptian?” TK asked.

“You never know what can happen in the future,” she responded, drawing a chuckle from the boy.

Ken looked at his drink, unsure if he should drink it or not. He knows the benefits of drinking the tea and what it’ll do to him, but he doesn’t know if he wants to take that risk.

“What’s wrong, Ken? Don’t you want to drink your tea?” Wormmon asked his partner. Wormmon saw the worried look on Ken’s face and wondered if he was scared about the effects of the tea.

“I don’t know Wormmon,” Ken said. “I’m just feeling a little apprehensive about this.”

“Are you worried about the side effects? Because the others seem fine.”

“I know, Wormmon. It’s just… I don’t know?” Ken put his head down. He knows there’s nothing holding him back from drinking the tea. He has no relatives outside of Japan, and even if he did, his parents never told him about them. But to be heard a certain way, his entire life is a scary thought.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to drink the tea,” Ken shot his head up and saw TK smiling at him. “I know it’s scary, but if Gennai said this will help us, then we have no reason not to trust him.”

“But to be heard a certain way for the rest of your life? Is that something that I want?”

“I understand your concerns. My mother was born and raised in Paris, and my father and brother were born and raised in Japan. Sure it saddens me that my mom will only hear me speaking in French for the rest of her life, but if Gennai says that this will help us that means something serious is going on and it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to take to help,” TK said seriously.

“But you didn’t know about the side effects when you drank your tea. Would you still drink it if you knew what it did?”

“I would’ve hesitated first...” TK paused. He brought his hand to his chin, thinking about what he’s going to say next, then put his hand down and gave Ken a big toothy grin. “But I still would’ve drunk it.”

Ken looked back at his drink. Who was he to worry about how he sounds to people when the blond boy sitting in front of him would still drink the tea even though his parents and brother are from different countries with different languages. Ken grabbed his cup and drank every last drop of the green beverage.

“Yeck,” Ken pulled the cup away from his face. “It really is bitter.”

“That’s what I said,'' TK joked, causing everyone but Catherine to chuckle. After they calmed down, everyone looked at Catherine, who had yet to drink her tea.

“You gonna drink your tea, Cat?” Chloe asked her sister.

“I just don’t see a reason for me to drink it,” she told her sister. “I mean everyone can understand me, and I can understand them, so there is no reason for me to drink it.”

“Yeah, but think about how cool this is!” Chloe exclaimed. “You can speak and understand any language without having to learn any of them. You’re really gonna pass up that opportunity?”

“We have family whose first language isn’t French,” Catherine said, receiving a quizzical look from her sister.

“So? Wouldn’t this help us talk with them?” Chloe scratched her head. She didn’t understand what her sister was talking about.

“Don’t you remember how Aunt Alva says how much she loves to hear us speaking French?” Catherine asked. “Or how Cousin Fynn is trying to learn French so he can actually talk to us? And you just want me to squash their hard work and happiness?”

“I’m sure they would understand if they were in our position,” Chloe said calmly.

“They wouldn’t even be able to comprehend the fact of alternate dimensions, let alone magic tea!” Catherine snapped, slamming her fists on the table. Everyone stared at her with their mouths agape.

TK should’ve known this was a stressful situation for her. It’s actually a pretty stressful situation for everyone. One moment you’re in your home or with your family, then suddenly you’re in a strange world with strange creatures and other people who don’t even speak the same language as you. He should’ve assumed that Catherine, and maybe Chloe would’ve been terrified with their situation, but since he was so caught up in being back and the Digital World and seeing Patamon again he just ignored how they were feeling.

Seeing that he had a hand in Catherine’s outburst, TK knew he had to diffuse the situation. He cleared his voice to draw everyone’s attention.

“It’s ok, Catherine,” TK said calmly as he rubbed her back to soothe her. “I know you’re under a lot of stress with what’s been happening, and I’m sorry for ignoring your feelings. You don’t have to drink the tea, I don’t want to force you to do something that you don’t want to or aren’t comfortable with.”

“Thank you,” Catherine said.

Gennai waited a few moments to let everyone settle down. He took everyone’s cups and placed them back on the tray, and moved it to the side.

“I’ll save your tea if you change your mind,” Gennai told Catherine. She nodded her head to show gratitude towards the old man for thinking about her, but she knew in her heart that she wasn’t going to drink it.

“Now it’s time to talk about why you’re here,” Gennai said, causing the children to perk up.

“Yeah, why are we here?” Ryo asked.

“I would like to know more about this world?” Willis was more intrigued about the world and its inhabitants than about why he’s there.

“Where are the others?” TK asked with concern. Sure, he was interested as to why he was there, but he was more concerned about where his friends were.

“All will be revealed soon, but first a history lesson,” the children, except for Willis, fell over after hearing Gennai speak. Willis was excited. Finally, he was able to learn about where his two friends came from. Shortly after, they picked themselves up one after another, some muttering to themselves.

“Why are you like this?” TK said as he slapped his forehead.

“I thought I was done with history when Summer break started,” Chloe complained.

“Got sucked into my computer just to receive a history lesson,” Ryo said sarcastically.

“Don’t worry, it’s not your average history lesson that you get at school,” Gennai explained after hearing their complaints. Willis was disappointed after hearing that, but still, any information about this world is good information.

Seeing that he has everyone’s attention, Gennai cleared his throat and began his story.

“Two years ago, seven kids were summoned to the Digital World-” Gennai began but was quickly interrupted by Patamon.

“Oh, I know what you’re talking about! He’s talking about your first adventure in the DigiWorld, TK!”

“I know, Patamon. But, maybe you shouldn’t interrupt Gennai during his story,” they looked towards the old man who looked mildly annoyed about being interrupted. Patamon bowed its head as an apology and allowed Gennai to continue.

“As I was saying, seven kids were summoned to the Digital World, each with their own Digimon companion. Together they were able to defeat any evil they went up against using the power of Digivolution, allowing their Digimon partner to reach their next stage to grow stronger,” Gennai looked around the table to see if any of the children had any questions. He saw Catherine have a confused expression on her face and allowed her to speak.

“I’m sorry, but what’s Digivolution?” She asked, hoping for a simple answer.

“It’s when a Digimon changes forms and becomes stronger. It can happen naturally or, in some cases, the power of a Digivice.”

Catherine looked at the Digivice in her hand and showed it to the old man. “You mean this?”

“Yes, it’s an indicator of you being a Digidestined, and with it, you were able to make your partner Digivolve,” Gennai told her. She felt a tug on her dress and saw Floramon with a bashful look on its face.

“Yeah, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to Digivolve to protect you.” Catherine looked at the flower Digimon and recalled back to the altercation with the Monochromon. She didn’t think she did anything to help during the altercation and just thought that Tanemon transformed into Floramon on their own, but hearing that she had a part in that transformation made her feel better about the situation.

“Well, don’t sell yourself short. You did most of the work.”

Catherine rubbed the petal on top of Floramon’s head. When she removed her hand, the petals on its head and arms bloomed.

Gennai waited a few moments for everyone to calm down from the heartwarming moment to pass before he continued with his story.

“After a while, that group of seven grew into eight after the evil of this world managed its way into yours,” Ken shot up when he realized what Gennai was talking about.

“I remember that! Two years ago me and my brother were kidnapped by these ghost-looking creatures. We were held hostage in a TV station with other kids who were being judged by a cat and a vampire,” the children and Digimon gave him surprised looks, but TK was the most surprised. He knew that a lot of children that lived in Odaiba were kidnapped by Myotismon’s henchmen, but he never expected any of them were actually Digidestined.

“Do you remember anything else?” Chloe asked with pure fascination.

“It was extremely foggy that day, but other than that, nothing,” Ken admitted.

“I remember that,” Ryo drew their attention. “It was all over the news, ‘The Mysterious Fog of Odaiba,’ they called it. I don’t remember any reports about the fog, but one thing I do remember is something weird happened after the fog cleared.”

“What happened?” Wormmon asked.

“Part of the sky ripped open, revealing a strange land.” Everyone, except for TK and Patamon gasped. Already knowing the story, TK and Patamon weren’t surprised when Ryo talked about the Digiworld showing up in the sky. They even knew it was seen around.

“Did you say a strange land was seen from the sky?” Willis asked intensely.

“Yeah.”

“I also remember that happening,” Willis revealed. “I remember seeing all the different cities on the news, but I also remember seeing a cyborg gorilla climbing the Empire State building.”

“What did the news have to say about that?” Ryo said with a smirk. He found it humorous that a gorilla would climb the Empire State building, just like in those old movies.

“Surprisingly, nothing,” Willis said, causing the children’s eyebrows to raise. “It’s like the reporters were completely oblivious to the monster on their screen. I even told my parents about this, and they just said I was seeing things.”

After hearing their stories, the twins thought back to what they remember on that day two years ago.

“Wait, how were you the only person able to see that monster?” Ken couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that no one else was able to see something as obvious as a gorilla climbing a building. “That shouldn’t be possible.”

“But it is,” TK spoke up. “After the sky ripped open, a bug Digimon called Kuwagamon emerged from it and almost caused a plane crash.”

The children gasped.

“Don’t worry, one of my friend’s Digimon helped land it into the river,” TK clarified, calming their nerves. “But another one of my friend’s Digimon tried attacking the Kuwagamon, but they said that their attacks just fazed right through it.”

“What are you saying?” Willis asked.

“What I’m saying is that the Digimon that we saw on tv or in-person weren’t physically there,” TK told him. Willis started to think about what he told him. What he said made sense as to why no one else was able to see the monsters, but it didn’t explain why they were able to see them.

“But how were we able to see them?”

TK brought his hand to his chin to think over what Willis told him. He then looked at his Digivice as if it held the answer.

“Maybe it has to do with the Digivices,” he looked towards the twins, both sharing a confused look on their faces. “Do you remember seeing any Digimon two years ago when the sky ripped open? Whether it was on tv or in-person?”

“No,” Chloe said while shaking her head. “But there was an earthquake.”

“Yeah, but it didn’t feel like a normal earthquake,” Catherine recalled. “It felt more like a giant shaking the ground every time it took a step.”

“Could that have been a Digimon?” TK said to himself. 

“It has to be,” Ken spoke up. “I remember before I got my Digivice, I was out with my family when the ground cracked around us and the walk sign tore off from its pole.”

“I guess that answers that then. The reason why you’re Digidestined is because you had some form of an encounter with a Digimon or the Digiworld,” The children nodded to what TK said. It made sense that there were many people who saw the Digiworld in the sky, and multiple kids were kidnapped by Digimon, but only they were summoned. Maybe there’s another reason they don’t know yet.

Gennai cleared his throat.

“That’s a good theory, Child of Hope.”

“Why do you call him that?” Catherine spoke up. “That’s the second time you called him that since we got here.”

“It’s because he had the crest of Hope,” Patamon spoke up.

“What are crests?” Willis asked.

“Crests are the physical manifestation of a Digidestined best trait. It also helps the Digidestined’s partner Digivolve into its next evolution form,” Gennai explained.

“So, TK’s crest is Hope. Then what were the others?” Chloe asked.

“Courage, Friendship, Love, Knowledge, Sincerity, Reliability, and Light,” TK listed off the names of his friend’s crests. “The power of the crests helped us out a lot in our adventures, but we had to give that power to protect the Digital World.”

“And that leads to why you’re here,” Gennai said grimly.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s something I’ve never told you or the other Digidestined. The Digital World has four Guardians, Sovereigns to be exact, and they’re the protectors of the Digital World. Each Sovereign holds the power of the crests, Zhuqiaomon holds Courage and Love, Ebonwumon holds Reliability and Sincerity, Baihumon holds Friendship and Knowledge, and Azulongmon holds Hope and Light,” Gennai explained.

“If they’re the protectors of the Digital World, then why didn’t they help us with our adventures?” TK wanted answers. If they protect the Digital World, then why didn’t they step in to help defeat the Four Dark Masters, Myostismon, or Devimon? Why did Angemon have to sacrifice themself when it’s their job to protect the Digital World.

“Apocalymon trapped them away, causing some Evil Digimon to run wild. You see, the Digidestined are the last resort to protect the Digiworld. Whenever the Digidestined are summoned, it means that something happened to the Sovereigns,” Gennai explained. Both the children and Digimon had grim expressions on their faces.

“Then why not call upon TK and the other Digidestined? They seem to be more qualified for this than us,” Catherine felt like panicking, and Chloe wasn’t far off.

“Their connection to the Digital World is broken.”

“What do you mean, Gennai?” TK needed to know why his friends aren’t here with him. How come they can’t get into the Digital World, but he can?

“Their crests were destroyed.”

TK and Patamon felt the air get sucked right out of them. Their friend’s not only lost the ability to enter the Digital World but also lost their crests as well. Never again would their friends be able to reach Ultimate or Mega.

“Their crests were destroyed when the Sovereigns were defeated. Only yours, the crest of Hope, was saved. Without the crests, the Digital World was thrown into utter chaos; storms, earthquakes, and tsunamis in the first hour of the crests being destroyed.”

Gennai picked up his laptop and showed everyone the screen. It was a map of what they assumed is the Digital World. There was a continent and a few islands 

“This is the Digital World, or what it was before. You see, the crests keep the Digital World a peaceful place. But without them…” Gennai switched the screen to a different map. Everyone gasped, and there were more islands because the continent was broken apart. “The Digital World would be destroyed and put your world in danger. We were lucky that the crest of Hope was saved or else we would’ve been plunged into a world of darkness, and the real world would’ve been put in grave danger.”

The Digimon were horrified to learn that their home is being destroyed and that it was so close to being wiped out completely. Patamon was worried about its friends because they were separated when the storm started. Did they get separated as well? Are they on different parts of the broken continent? Patamon wanted to get out there and look for them, but couldn’t because when the storms start back up again, it would be putting its life in danger and wouldn’t be able to help anyone.

TK is also scared. Scared that since a majority of crests are destroyed, there could be no barrier to protect the real world from evil Digimon, and his friends have no way to protect their world from that danger. And if his friend’s crests are destroyed, how does that affect them?

“I know it’s selfish of me to ask you this but…” Genna bowed to the children and Digimon. “Please help save our world!”

They looked at the old man pleading with them. They were hesitant, knowing that if they accept his pleas, they’ll be putting their lives in danger, but if they don’t, then their world would be in grave danger.

Chloe and Catherine looked at their partners. Even though they just met, Penguinmon and Floramon risked their lives to protect them. Would they be able to do the same for them?

Ken thought back to when he first met Wormmon and the joy he felt when he first arrived in the Digital World.

Though Terriermon and Lopmon were born in the real world, Willis doesn’t want their world to be destroyed.

“I’ll do it!” TK stood up. “I wouldn’t be able to call myself a Digidestined if I turned my back on this.”

“I’m with you!” Patamon said.

The children and Digimon looked at the blond boy and Digimon in awe. At first, they thought they were crazy but then thought about what TK said. They’re Digidestined now, and this isn’t something they can just turn their back on.

“Beats going to school, I’m with ya!” Ryo stood along with TK.

“I’m not about to let my world get destroyed!” Monodramon slammed his claws together.

“This’ll give me a good opportunity to learn about this world!” Willis grinned as he stood up.

“As long as this gets you to go outside, we’re with you!” Terriermon climbed up Willis’ left shoulder.

“Yeah, we were getting worried about you,” Lopmon climbed up his right shoulder.

“What do you think we should do, Ken?” Wormmon asked its partner. “Whatever you choose, I’ll follow you.”

Ken rubbed his chin and weighed his options. “This is absolutely crazy…” he stood up and had a look of determination. “But sometimes you need to be crazy.”

The boys looked at the girls who had yet to stand up with them. While the girls looked like they were contemplating whether or not to join them, the Digimon were determined to help the boys if the girls were with them or not.

“I know this is a lot to ask, and it’s ok if you don’t…” TK was interrupted when Chloe gave him a toothy grin.

“Are you kidding!? No way, I’m gonna pass this up!” She jumped out of her seat and joined the boys.

Catherine was apprehensive. She saw the determination in Floramon and the excitement in her sister, but she couldn’t feel the same way. She’s scared, scared of this world, of its inhabitants, and scared for her life. She knows that if she joins them, her life will be in serious danger, but if she doesn’t join them and they fail, what’ll happen to their world?

She then thought about how Floramon risked its life to protect her from Monochromon. If something so small was willing to put its life on the line to stop something big and menacing, then what’s stopping her from returning the favor.

“There’s no way I’m gonna let my little sister risk her life without her big sister there to help her!” Catherine joined the group, and no one was happier than Chloe.

Watching the group from afar, all Gennai could do was smile.

“Thank you, Digidestined.”

After the group agreed to help save the Digiworld, Gennai suggested they should spend the night in his house and leave in the morning. They agreed, seeing after the day they had, it would be for the best to rest up. They had a delicious meal and washed up before heading to bed.

It is late at night, and everyone is asleep, almost everyone. After failing to fall asleep, TK decided to watch the fish to tire himself out. But no matter how long he watched the fish, he stayed wide awake. All he could think about was their situation.

He didn’t have the time to think about it earlier after being transported to the Digital World, reuniting with Patamon, and the altercation with Monochromon, he just put their situation in the back of his mind.

But now that he’s alone, it’s all that he can think about.

He’s in a world that’s falling apart without the help of his friends and brother. If he fails, not only will the Digital World be destroyed, but the real world would be put in peril as well. He doesn’t want to think about what will happen to his friends and family if that happens.

He’s scared.

“TK?”

TK quickly turned around to see Patamon tiredly fly to him. TK met the tired Digimon halfway and held it in his arms.

“What are you doing up so late?” Patamon tried to wipe the sleep from its eyes but couldn’t because it felt comfortable in its partner’s arms.

“Sorry, buddy. Just thinking about stuff that’s all,” TK walked back towards the window. TK felt Patamon stir in his arms as it stretched its wings.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

TK contemplated telling his friend he didn’t want to put any stress on the little guy, but they never kept any secrets from each other before.

TK took a deep breath.

“I’m scared, Patamon. This is the first time we’re in the Digital World without the others,” TK recalled when his brother left him alone in an abandoned amusement park in the Digital World, but this time is different. He knows Tai, Matt, or Sora aren’t gonna come and save him this time. This time he’s alone.

“But you’re not alone,” TK looked down at his partner, who was smiling up at him. “You have me, Catherine, Chloe, Ken, Ryo, Willis, and their partners.”

“Yeah, but they all have little to no knowledge of the Digital World,” TK said.

“But neither did you guys when you first came to the Digital World,” Patamon countered. “And if you ask me, I think this new group is more prepared.”

“What do you mean?”

“This group has you and your experience in the Digital World,” Patamon told its partner.

TK took in what Patamon said. It was right. Knowing that this new group will not be going into this blind as he and his friends did filled him with hope. Even though their situation is completely different, TK feels confident that they will get through this.

“Thanks, Patamon, I needed to hear that,” Patamon yawned, and TK felt himself getting tired. “Now why don’t we head to bed.”

As the two went to bed, they didn’t notice Catherine standing in the bathroom doorway. She listened in on their conversation, taking in what TK was saying. She felt bad. The whole time they were in the Digital World she’s been selfish, only thinking about herself and not her friend and sister, and how this has affected them.

She’s the only one who didn’t drink the tea, for heaven’s sake.

Catherine realized that if she wanted to help out, then she needed to be less selfish. And that starts now.

With a new feeling of determination, Catherine marched to the kitchen and opened the fridge. She searched around for a few minutes before she found what she was looking for. Catherine pulled out her teacup from earlier.

She swirled around the green liquid before taking a deep breath and drinking every last drop. She cringed and stuck out her tongue.

“Bleugh, I probably should’ve heated this up first,” Catherine placed the cup in the sink and made her way back to her bed.

(Omake)

Catherine and Chloe were talking with one another as they waited for the bathroom to clear out. It was like any other conversation they had before until Catherine brought up the topic of fish.

“Anyways, weren’t you going to show me the fish?”

“Yeah, I’m quite curious myself?” Floramon spoke up. Chloe and Penguinmon looked at each other and snickered.

“Alright,” Chloe had a devilish smirk on her face. Both Catherine and Floramon were worried but decided to go against their better judgment.

They walked towards a window, and both Catherine and Floramon were speechless, though for different reasons. Floramon was in awe of how the house is able to keep standing underwater while not affecting the underwater life.

Catherine, on the other hand… 

“Wha? But how? It’s just not possi…” Catherine fainted.

Chloe and the Digimon looked at each other.

“I think we should’ve warned her first,” Chloe said. The two Digimon nodded in agreement.

Chapter Text

After a good night’s sleep and filling breakfast, the Digidestined and their partners were doing their own things. Ken and Ryo were having a conversation about music, while Wormmon and Monodramon were listening in. Chloe was showing Penguinmon a few dance moves, as her sister and Floramon are talking amongst themselves away from everyone else.

While TK and Patamon were talking with Gennai in a backroom. The boy and his partner were sitting at a table while Gennai was working on his computer.

“Sorry, it took me so long to work on yours. It’s faster to download this program on the newer devices than it is on the older ones,” Gennai walked over to the table TK was sitting at and handed him his Digivice.

“It’s fine. As long as it can help us, then I don’t care how long it takes,” TK took back his Digivice and quickly put it in his pocket. “Though, I don’t know why you need to update the tracking system on the Digivices? It worked pretty well.”

Gennai took a seat across from the blond boy and cleared his voice.

“That is true, though I haven’t been entirely honest with you. You know how nothing dies in the Digital World?” TK nodded he still remembers Angemon sacrificing himself to defeat Devimon. The pain he felt seeing his friend die in front of him and the joy he had when Patamon came back from an egg, it’s something he’ll never forget. “Well, it’s the same for the crests.”

TK’s and Patamon’s eyes shot right up. The crests aren’t destroyed, which means his friends haven’t lost connection to the Digital World.

“That’s great! All we have to do is find them, and then you can summon the others, and they can help us defeat whatever took out the Sovereigns!” Patamon hovered in the air, and TK smiled at his partner’s enthusiasm, but the look on Gennai’s face told him that it wasn’t so simple.

“It’s not that easy Patamon, only the Sovereigns can summon the Digidestined,” Patamon landed on the table dejectedly, TK patted his partner’s head to make it feel better, though he was saddened by the news as well.

“But you do know where the crests are, right?” After hearing that his friends won’t be able to help them, all TK wanted to know is where the crests are so he can at least give his friends a chance to return to the Digital World someday.

“No…” TK felt his heartbreak hearing that word. He wanted to storm out of the room and scream, but Gennai held up his hand, stopping him before he could cause a scene. “But, that’s what the new program is for. Since you don’t have the tags anymore, this will help you locate the crests.”

TK looked at his Digivice and saw his yellow dot on the screen and a bunch of red dots grouped together close by. TK smiled, happy that he had something to find his friend’s crests, but also because he knew he’s not alone.

“It’s important you find the crests, not only to restore the Digital World to what it was but also your friends as well.” TK nor Patamon understood what Gennai said. They understood that returning the crests would fix the Digital World, but how does that involve his friends?

“What do you mean?”

“The crests aren’t just a physical manifestation of your best traits. They’re a part of you, a part of your heart. When the crests were destroyed, your friends lost a part of themselves, meaning they’re not who they once were,” TK’s stomach dropped hearing this. He had a feeling that they were affected by losing their crests, but he didn’t think they would change.

“B-But, Apocalymon! They destroyed our crests and we were fine!” Gennai shook his head.

“Apocalymon did destroy your crests, but the power of your crests was always in your hearts. Even when you gave up that power, the crests were always connected to you, but now that they’re destroyed, everyone but you lost their connection.”

TK was silent for a moment, taking in what he heard. If he and this new team failed, not only would the Digital World be destroyed, but also his friends would never be the same. It’s a stress that he hasn’t felt since Angemon went up against Piedmon. But, they were able to get through it, they were able to save his friends then, so why not now?

With a new sense of hope, TK placed Patamon on his head and stood up.

“Well, how can I help if I’m just standing around doing nothing? Thank you for everything, Gennai,” TK did a little bow and left to join his new team.

“Thank you, Child of Hope. I pray for good fortune for you and your friends on this journey,” Gennai said with a proud smile on his face.

Dinner was hell for Tai. Not because of his mother’s terrible cooking, his taste buds are numb to that, but because of the sharp utensils they had to use, his wobbly chair, and the purring that would happen at random times, which he soon learned was his cat.

But what scared him the most was his sister, Kari. She just sat at the table with a blank expression on her face the whole time. She didn’t even react to their mother’s terrible food. Tai doesn’t know what caused his sister to react like this. All he knows is that he wants to be far away from her.

Tai is currently on the bottom bunk of his and his sister’s bunk bed, hiding under the covers, believing that if he can’t see the world, and if the world can’t see him, he’s safe.

Silence.

That’s all that rang through his room. No sound of cars, planes, people, or the living room tv could be heard. Tai was safe. He was happy.

*SQUEAK*

Tai started to shake from the sound of his bedroom door opening. He heard someone’s footsteps get louder and louder as they got closer to him. He started breathing heavily as his heartbeat was speeding up.  The footsteps stopped, and Tai felt someone’s eyes were on him. He didn’t dare to look, believing that a demon was waiting for him to show his face so they could take his soul the second they made eye contact.

“What are you doing in my bed?”

The monotone voice of his little sister brought Tai back to reality. Knowing that it wasn’t a demon, Tai felt a little safe but didn’t dare to peak his head out of the covers.

“H-Hey, K-Kari. I-I just thought that it would be a g-good idea for me to s-sleep on the bottom bunk for a w-while,” all Tai could hear was his sister’s breathing. He thought his sister would jump at the opportunity to sleep on the top bunk.

But she didn’t. Tai didn’t hear the squeak of the ladder when someone climbed on it or the sound of his sister’s footsteps moving away from him. All there was was silence. And Tai didn’t feel safe.

After what felt like an eternity, Tai heard his sister move away from him and the sound of someone sitting down in the computer chair. Tai assumed she was just checking to see if she received any emails from TK. He remembers overhearing her say something like that earlier. But he didn’t hear any mouse clicks or the typing of the keyboard. All he could hear was his sister’s breathing.

Gathering up all his courage, Tai peeked his head out of the covers to see what his sister was doing.

She wasn’t doing anything, just staring at the black screen without a care in the world.

“Y-You know, y-you’re supposed t-to turn on the m-monitor?” Tai chuckled awkwardly.

He quickly wished he didn’t say anything as his sister slowly turned her head and stared at him with empty eyes. Tai quickly hid under the covers as Kari slowly turned back to the blank computer screen.

Listening to the ocean.

After leaving Gennai’s house, the group of kids and Digimon journeyed through the forest, trying their best to stay dry. Just like the day prior, it was drizzling, though it was coming down harder. It was also windy as well, to the point that TK, Ken, and Willis had to hold their partners close to them. They don’t know when the wind will slow down or if the rain will stop. But one thing they did know was…

“Do we even know where we’re going?” Chloe asked.

They were lost.

When the group left Gennai’s house, they picked a direction and stuck with it. To be honest, Gennai never told them where to go, only giving them a backpack of supplies. He also never told them how to save the Digital World, only telling TK, who later relayed the information to the group, about the crests.

“I don’t know? But we should find shelter soon before it starts to rain harder,” TK wiped some of the rainwater off of his face to see better.

“I don’t know why you’re complaining? The rain feels great!” Floramon danced around with its arms open wide, soaking in as much water as it could.

“There is such a thing as overhydration, Floramon,” Willis told the plant Digimon. “But I agree with TK. We should get some type of roof over our heads and plan out our next steps.”

“I can fly ahead and try to find a cave,” Patamon flew out of its partner’s arms and tried to fly ahead of the group, but the wind was too strong, and if it wasn’t for TK, the wind would’ve taken Patamon away.

“Maybe it would be better to just stick with me for a while,” TK pulled his partner close to him as the group continued on in the rain.

A few minutes passed, and the rain started to pour. The group started to run, looking for anything to shelter them. They found a cave, and they made a break for it. When they entered the cave, they started to dry off, and TK checked to make sure no one was missing.

“Is everyone here?” TK rang out his hat and heard a sea of “Yes.”

TK looked out of the cave and only saw the rain pouring down. He couldn’t even see the trees in the forest. He shook his head and turned back to the group.

“I don’t think we’ll be leaving anytime soon. So, what’s the plan moving forward?” TK sat down, and the group sat down with him.

“We find the crests and fix the world,” Ryo said.

“But how do we do that? All we know is that our Digivices can find the crests, and we don’t even know where they are!” Ken sighed. He knew that their journey would be hard and dangerous, but he didn’t think they would run in blind without a plan.

“Ken’s right, and even if we did know where they are, how are we supposed to get them? You all saw that map. How do we know that they’re not on any of those islands?” Willis just shook his head.

Willis was right. Everything he said was right. How were they supposed to get them, let alone find them? They’re not ready. Who were they kidding, a bunch of kids in a strange world that’s falling apart. Maybe they should just give up.

“Hey now don’t be like that!” The group looked up to see TK, who had a huge smile on his face. “No one ever said this was going to be easy. I’ve felt the same way you guys are feeling right now, and I never gave up because I knew my friends were right there with me. So let’s stop feeling bad about our situation, and let’s put our heads together and figure this out like a team!”

“TK’s right! We’ll get nothing done if we just sit around feeling sorry for ourselves!” Terriermon shouted with Lopmon nodding its head in agreement. Willis perked up after seeing his partner’s excitement.

“Yeah! What good will it do if we do nothing!” Penguinmon shook Chloe, who laughed in response.

“Come on, Ken, let’s save the world!” Ken smiled at Wormmon and agreed that he shouldn’t feel sorry for himself.

“Alright, Wormmon! We’re gonna save this world together!” Ken told his partner. Then, he turned his attention to the rest of the group. “So, what should be our first move?”

“If I remember correctly, there’s a city close by. Maybe there’s something there that can help us?” Monodramon spoke up. Patamon flew up beside the dragon Digimon.

“I know what you’re talking about! Candlelight City, that place has great food and a famous lighthouse!”

TK picked up his excited partner and placed it on his head.

“Well, it looks like Candlelight City is our first destination,” the group cheered at TK’s proclamation.

The rain seemed to slow down as the Digidestined started their journey back up again.

Izzy had to excuse himself from the dinner table. He couldn’t eat after what happened in class. He had a hard time believing that he would get a simple math equation wrong. It had to be a fluke, and he’s gonna prove it.

Sitting at his bedroom desk, Izzy is working on his math homework. Looking over the equations, Izzy couldn’t understand any of them. It’s like he’s reading a made-up language.

“What even is this?” Izzy ran his hands through his hair. “3.3÷3? 3/4x6? 2x2? Is this even Japanese!?”

Izzy was so frustrated he wanted to slam the table. He was about to, but he calmed himself down with a couple of deep breaths. He looked back at the equations and tried to solve them.

“Alright, 3.3÷3 equals… 3?” Izzy was chewing on his pencil. He doesn’t think that he has the right answer, but nothing else is coming to him. He looked at his laptop, and then he looked around to make sure no one could see him. He lunged for his laptop and quickly turned it on.

“I’m not cheating. I’m just using my resources, that’s all,” Izzy told himself, though a part of him didn’t believe it.

The screen turned on to reveal the login screen, and Izzy clicked on the username bar. Izzy just sat there looking at the screen. Seconds turned to minutes, and Izzy still hasn’t logged onto his laptop.

Izzy groaned.

“I knew I should’ve written down my login information.”

Izzy gave up on his homework and lay down on his bed.

“Maybe I’ll try again another time,” Izzy dozed off to sleep.

During their trek to Candlelight City, Chloe noticed something. Her sister hasn’t said much the whole day, and when she has, she’s usually away from everyone or when everyone else is speaking. Wondering why Chloe distances herself and her sister from the group.

“You want to explain to me why you haven’t been talking all day?” Chloe asked. She received a confused look from Catherine.

“What are you talking about? I’ve been talking all day,” Catherine answered, but in a hushed tone of voice.

“Only when you’re away from everyone or when everyone is talking. Is everything ok?” Catherine looked away from her sister.

“I’m fine,” Catherine answered. Chloe started worrying, thinking that she did something to upset her.

“Listen, if it’s about the fish, I’m sorry,” Catherine shook her head.

“It’s not that, though I forgive you. It’s just…” Catherine looked away again. She started biting her thumb’s nail, contemplating something. She wanted to tell her sister, but a part of her brain kept telling her to be quiet. And the look on her sister’s face made her feel worse. They never keep secrets from each other, and when they do it’s always for something minor, like Christmas and birthday presents.

Sensing its partner’s conundrum, Floramon decided to speak up.

“She drank the tea last night.”

“Floramon, not so loud!” Catherine quickly shushed her partner. She turned to see her sister stifling a laugh along with Penguinmon. “Hey! Don’t laugh!”

“That’s what this is all about? I thought it was something serious,” Chloe said after gaining her composure.

“It is serious!” Catherine seethed.

“I don’t see what’s so bad about it? Everyone else drank it, and they’re fine,” Penguinmon spoke up, and Chloe nodded along.

“That’s what I said, but she just doesn’t seem to listen,” Floramon shook its head in disapproval.

Catherine groaned.

“I don’t want TK to make fun of me! OK!”

“Why would he make fun of you?” Penguinmon asked. Chloe ruffled its head fuzz.

“They have a little friendly rivalry,” she told her partner and then turned her attention back to her sister. “But, what is this really about?”

“What do you mean? I told you,” Catherine answered, but Chloe just shook her head at her.

“You know I can tell when you’re lying, so you might as well tell me what this is really about.”

Catherine put her head down in shame.

“I’ve been nothing but selfish since we’ve been here,” Chloe was taken aback by her sister’s reveal. She never thought her sister acted selfishly during their time in the Digital World. She thinks she acted how a normal person would in their situation.

“Why do you think that?” Chloe asked.

“Last night, I overheard TK talking with Patamon. He said he was feeling stressed out about being here without the help of his old friends. And I know he has us, but we don’t know anything about the Digital World or Digimon,” Chloe took in her sister’s words and looked at TK. She never thought about how this was affecting him. She decided that she’ll give him a hug the first chance she got.

“Then why did you drink the tea?” Penguinmon asked.

“Since TK is sacrificing so much, I felt like I should also make some sacrifices as well. Though I’m starting to regret my decision,” Chloe hugged Catherine and patted her back.

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, I bet TK will be ecstatic that you drank the tea.”

Catherine smiled and returned her sister’s embrace.

“Hey! What’s going on back there?” TK called out.

Chloe and Catherine looked at each other and laughed.

“Just girl talk!” Chloe responded.

“Alright! But you might want to catch up, Monodramon says we’re almost there!”

Chloe and Catherine looked ahead and saw they were a little far away from the group. They hurried back to the group, though Catherine stayed in the back, Cloe made her way to TK and hugged him.

“What was that for?” TK said with a smile.

“Felt like it,” Chloe said with a cheeky grin.

Mimi and her friends planned to go to the mall for her friend’s party, and she’s been dreading it ever since she woke up. She is wearing a pair of plain blue jeans, a plain pink t-shirt, and a white sun hat. After her little panic attack at 3 in the morning, she decided to be as plain as possible because you never look bad if you’re plain.

She saw her friends chatting amongst themselves in the food court. She saw that one of her friends was wearing a dark green sundress with a sunflower pin. It was one of the ugliest dresses she had ever seen.

“Hey, Mimi! What do you think of my new dress? I got it for my birthday,” she did a little twirl for her to see all of it.

“It’s beautiful!” Mimi said with a bright smile. She was screaming at herself for saying that. No, she didn’t think it was beautiful, but she felt compelled to say it was.

“You sure? Cause I thought it was ugly,” Mimi nodded, her smile never wavered.

Her friend shrugged.

“If you say so. You never lied to me before,” she turned towards the group. “Alright, so my mom gave me some money, so we can shop and watch a movie.”

“Ooh, what movie should we watch?” one of the girls asked.

“I don’t know? A lot of good ones just came out,” the birthday girl said.

Another girl put her arm around Mimi’s shoulder. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Besides, we can always ask Mimi to decide for us.”

“You’re right!” they cheered while Mimi chuckled nervously.

“Yeah…” she looked away from the group. Today is gonna be a long day.

The rain is starting to get heavier, the wind is getting stronger, and they didn’t feel like they were any closer to Candlelight City than they were before, no matter how many times Monodramon reassured them.

“Are you sure we’re close? Because I don’t want to be out here longer than I have to!” TK shouted. The sound of the rain and the wind is so loud that if they don’t shout, their voices will get drowned out.

“Almost there! It’s just over that hill!”

Monodramon pointed to the hill in front of them. It wasn’t a huge hill. On a normal day, it wouldn’t be a challenge, but the strong winds and heavy rain would make climbing a regular hill feel like climbing a small mountain.

“Let’s hurry up then! I don’t think my ears can soak up any more water!” Terriermon wrangs out its ears only for them to instantly be soaked.

At the foot of the hill, it was easy to climb. But when they got halfway, it felt like the wind was trying to blow them off, while the rain was trying to drown them.

“This is torture! I don’t think I can make it!?” Ken wiped the rain from his eyes. 

“Don’t give up! We’re almost at the top!” TK shouted.

The ground started to shake, knocking them all to the ground.

“What now!?”

They looked up to see a big brown bear with red eyes.

“Frigimon?!” TK said out loud.

“No! That’s MudFrigimon: Just like Frigimon, MudFrigimon is a gentle creature and hates fighting ,” Patamon explained.

MudFrigimon charged at them with its fist drawn back.

“It doesn’t look gentle to me! MOVE!!” The group dove in different directions before MudFrigimon brought its fist down and destroyed the ground they were previously on.

“I thought you said they were gentle?!” TK said after picking himself up.

“I have been wrong before!”

They saw that Ken and Wormmon were close to them, and they quickly made their way to them.

“What are we gonna do? One hit from that thing, and we’re toast!” TK listened to what Ken said. He knew that they had to beat MudFrigimon fast before the storm got any worse, but he also knew they wouldn’t be able to do it with the Digimon they have now.

“You thinking what I’m thinking, Patamon?”

“I’ve been waiting ever since yesterday!” Patamon lunged at MudFrigimon while TK stuck out his Digivice.

“Digivolve!”

“Patamon Digivolve to…” Patamon was draped in a veil of light and started to transform. It grew into a giant being with six wings on its back, long flowing golden hair, and a helmet covering its eyes. It wielded a golden staff and wore a blue loincloth.

“Angemon!”

Everyone was speechless. A small creature like Patamon is able to transform into an angel is unbelievable, but a lot of unbelievable things have happened to them since they’ve been there, so this shouldn’t surprise them. But it did.

“Alright, Angemon! Make this quick!”

“Don’t worry, this won’t take long!”

Angemon swung its staff at the mud Digimon, but it blocked it. MudFrigimon swung at Angemon, who dodged it. Angemon once again swung its staff at MudFrigimon, making contact, disorienting the mud Digimon.

“Finish it, Angemon!” Angemon nodded its head at its partner and drew its fist back. Its fist started to illuminate a golden light, and the Digidestined and Digimon could feel its power.

“Hand of Fate!” Angemon shot its fist forward as a beam of light shot towards MudFrigimon. It made a direct hit to the mud Digimon’s stomach, sending it down the hill.

“Alright! You did it!” TK and the rest of the Digidestined cheered. But their celebration was short-lived, as the storm started to get stronger.

“Ah! We need to hurry!” Chloe screamed.

Angemon quickly scooped up the children and Digimon and quickly flew them down the hill and into the city. Angemon didn’t stop until it found a building that looked like an inn. Angemon dropped off the children before reverting back into Patamon and entered the building.

Inside was a nice warm, cozy lobby with a waiting area and a bar/dining area off to the side.

“I didn’t forget anyone, right?” Patamon looked around and saw that everyone was there before resting on top of TK’s head.

“That was awesome! The way that you handled that mud Digimon was so cool!” Ryo gushed with a few of the others nodding their heads.

“That was cool, but why couldn’t you do that earlier?” Willis asked

“It’s because I use up a lot of energy to Digivolve. I didn’t want to Digivolve and run out of energy on the way here and be defenseless during an attack,” Patamon explained. Willis looked like he was making a mental note as he stared off into space.

“Hey, guys! I don’t think we’ll be able to go out anytime soon,” Ken called out to the group. They saw him and Wormmon standing by the window. TK walked towards them and saw that it was dark out with a few street lights being blown around by the wind and the rain pelting the window.

“He’s right. I think it would be best to bunker down for the night,” TK said as they made their way back to the group.

“Well, it’s a good thing that I dropped us off at this inn,” Patamon said proudly.

“But how can we afford it? We don’t have any money and I don’t think the owner would like it if we set up a campsite in their lobby,” Floramon pointed towards the clerk, a yellow egg-shaped Digimon that is mostly made up of plants.

Patamon felt sad, but TK started to dig through the backpack Gennai gave them.

“What are you looking for, TK?” Chloe peered over his shoulder as he was rummaging through the backpack.

“Something that we could trade with the clerk to let us at least stay for the night,” TK looked through the pockets of the backpack. Taking out six reusable water bottles, food, and some matches. He dug further into the bag until he pulled out a plastic paper bag full of money.

“Woah,” Willis gasped. “How much do you think that is?”

“I don’t know, but let’s hope that it will buy us a room for tonight,” TK moved up to the clerk, which he was able to recognize it being a Vegiemon.

“Hello. How may I help you?”

“How much will this get us?” TK handed Vegiemon the money. It counted the cash thoroughly before handing it back to TK.

“One night,” TK lit up hearing this.

“We’ll take it”

“You sure…?” Veggiemon looked at the group standing behind him. “Because the rooms aren’t really big.”

TK nodded.

“A small room is better than staying out there.”

Veggiemon shrugged.

“Alright, but I don’t want to hear any complaints,” it handed TK a room key. “Breakfast is between 7:30 and 9:00. If you’re late, you won’t get served.”

“Got it,” TK paid and received a few bills and coins as change. “Thank you!”

TK returned to the group and showed them the key.

“Got us a room for the night,” the group cheered.

“So, what are we gonna do for sleeping arrangements?” Chloe asked.

“We’ll figure it out when we get there. But right now, I want to rest my feet,” Ryo yawned.

Feeling a little tired as well, the group made their way to their room.

Chapter Text

The Digidestined were tired. Barely any of them got a good night’s sleep, and the ones that did still had bags under their eyes. TK knew that the rooms were small, and he did warn the others about it, but he didn’t expect them to be that small.

Sitting in one of the dining room booths, the Digidestined were trying their best not to face plant onto their breakfast.

“That was the most uncomfortable sleep I’ve ever had,” Chloe groaned as she dragged her hands down her face.

“Try sleeping in the bath. I couldn’t get comfortable no matter what I did,” TK stretched his arms and cracked his neck. TK chose to sleep in the bathtub because the bed and the pull-out couch were crowded, and he didn’t want to sleep on the floor. So he thought sleeping in the bathtub would be a good idea.

Though he’s regretting his decision now.

“I’m so tired, I don’t think I can eat,” Ryo looked at the Digimon who were scarfing down every morsel of food on their plate. “How can you guys eat after a night like that?”

Monodramon lifted its head from its plate.

“I don’t know why you guys are complaining? We all slept well.”

Terriermon swallowed its food.

“Maybe it’s a human thing,” the Digimon laughed at Terriermon’s joke while the kids groaned.

“I’m too tired to deal with your jokes, Terriermon,” Willis lightly slapped his face to wake himself up.

“What’s the plan now? We still need to find a way to get the crests,” Ken said. The kids groaned, they’re back to square one, and they didn’t even think of any ideas on their way to Candlelight City.

“Yeah, but we don’t even know where they are,” Willis looked at his Digivice and saw the same six dots on the screen and became frustrated. “The old man said that the program would help us find them, but he never explained how. Does it beep? Glow? And how far of a reach does this thing have? For all we know, we walked past one of the crests!”

“Not possible!” TK spoke up. “When my friends and I first looked for the crests, we had these things called tags. They let us know if we were close to our crests, and they were able to pick them up by hundreds of feet, even if the crest was underground. So I’m assuming that the program will work like the tags, but with a better range.”

“And let’s say that you’re right. We still don’t know if the crests are scattered across the Digital World or close together,” Ken started biting his thumbnail. “If they are scattered across the Digital World, then how are we going to get to them? Because we don’t know how far apart the Islands are? And we can’t ask Angemon to fly us, only for him to run out of energy in the middle of the ocean.”

Ken’s right. How were they going to travel around the Digital World? It’s not like planes exist in the Digital World, and they can’t ask Patamon to carry them the whole time. Swimming is out of the equation. It’s suicide. So what options do they have left?

“Ahem,” the Digidestined looked up to see a blue fish-like creature peeking into their booth. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation, and I think I might know a way to help you guys out.”

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Chloe asked. TK couldn’t help but think that he’s seen this Digimon before. The blue skin, spikey teeth, and webbed hands were familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“I’m Divermon, I spend most of my time in the water, but I like to come onto land every once in a while . Nice to meet ya,” Divermon introduced themself, and the Digidestened did the same, though Divermon eyed TK suspiciously. “You seem familiar. Did we grow up in the same neighborhood or something?”

“Probably not,” TK said with a light chuckle. “But didn’t you say that you might know a way to help us?”

Divermon brightened up.

“Oh yeah! Meet me at the docks in 10 minutes. I might have something to help you guys out,” Divermon said before leaving.

Digidestined looked at each other, questioning whether or not to listen to the Digimon.

“So, should we trust him?” Ryo asked.

“I don’t know, but what other options do we have?” Willis scratched his head.

“Yeah, we don’t have any choice but to trust him, though…” Chloe turned her attention to TK. “It seemed like you two knew each other. Did he help you at all during your first journey?”

“I don’t know? But you’re right. We have no choice but to trust him,” TK said.

“But what if he’s planning a surprise attack for when we arrive at the docks?” Ken raised a good question. Could Divermon be planning a surprise attack?

“Listen if it is a surprise attack, we’ll deal with it when it happens. But right now, all we can do is trust that Divermon will help us out,” TK said, and they all nodded in agreement.

All they have to do is hope.

After finding a way to choke down their food, the Digidestined were making their way to the docks. They noticed a few stores, restaurants, and a library on their way there. It was a nice day, still cloudy and windy, but there was no rain.

Just like the day before, TK was leading the group with Catherine taking the rear, which worried TK. He noticed that she’s been keeping to herself the past two days, only talking to Chloe and Floramon.

“Have you noticed how quiet Catherine has been?” TK slowed down, so he was walking next to Ken.

“Now that you mentioned it, I haven’t heard her talk since we spent the night at Gennai’s. I wonder what that’s all about?” Ken scratched his chin.

“Do you think she’s angry?” Wormmon asked, and TK felt dreadful. Though he wasn’t there to witness it, he remembers seeing Catherine passed out on the couch and Chloe telling him what happened. He didn’t think she would react like that, Joe handled it well, so he assumed Catherine would’ve been fine.

TK hid his face in his hands.

“I hope that’s not the case! I’ve messed with her before, but she never stopped talking to me because of it,” TK pulled his hands away from his face.

“You should’ve warned her, TK,” Patamon told TK, and he nodded in response.

“I know. But how should I make it up to her?” TK asked.

“You should apologize to her,” Ken suggested.

“You’re right. The first chance I get I’ll apologize to her,” TK said after thinking it over.

“Hey, if you need any help, me and Wormmon are willing to lend a hand,” TK smiled at his offer.

“Thanks, man,” they bumped fists before TK made his way back to the front of the group.

A little while later, the scent of the ocean and the sound of waves crashing against the ground filled their senses. They quickly spotted the docks and the ships it harbored.

TK turned to the group.

“Be prepared for anything. We don’t know if this is a trap,” the group nodded as they stepped foot onto the dock. They quickly spotted the Divermon from earlier, waving to them.

“Hey! Over here!” The group slowly made their way to the Digimon, keeping their eyes peeled for any surprises. “So glad you could make it.”

“Yeah, well, we didn’t have any choice in the matter…” Willis quietly said to himself.

“So, what’s the thing that you think will help us?” TK asked.

“Oh, that’s right! But first…” Divermon quickly brought two fingers to his mouth and made a loud whistle. Soon after, two Divermon hoped out of the water with harpoons in their hands.

“Whoa!!”

The Digidestined grouped together as the Digimon stood in front of their partners, ready to defend them.

“I knew it was a trap!” Ken exclaimed as he moved in closer with the other Digidestined.

“Patamon!” Patamon nodded at its partner and flew ahead of the group. TK was halfway through extending his arm when he noticed the Divermon dropped their harpoons and had their hands up.

“What’s happening!?” The Divermon on the left said panicky.

“I don’t know!?” The Divermon in the middle was shaking and sweating bullets.

“Please don’t hurt us!” The Divermon on the right begged.

“Hurt you? You were gonna hurt us!” Ryo, along with everyone else, was shocked by what they were seeing. One second, they were being jumped, and then all of a sudden, the would-be attackers were begging for their lives.

“Why would we do that?” The Divermon in the middle started to calm down but kept its guard up.

“Yeah! We only came up because we thought we had customers. Not attackers!” the Divermon on the left said with extra venom.

“Customers? Then this place is…” the Digidestined began to ease up as the Divermon started to do some strange poses.

“That’s right! You’re standing on the docks of the Divermon Chandlery!” The Digidestined sweat dropped from what they were watching. While glad they weren’t in any danger, they felt uncomfortable watching the Divermon.

“What’s a chandlery?” Penguinmon asked.

“It’s a store that sells supplies and equipment for boats and ships. But I don’t think they sell actual ships?” Willis answered. The Divermon seemed irritated by the blond boy’s answer.

“Yeah? Well, we do!” The middle Divermon grunted.

“First they threaten us, then they criticize our business! These people don’t have class!” The Left Divermon crossed its arms and turned away from the group.

“You’re the ones with harpoons!” Lopmon shouted though the Divermon pretended to not hear the rabbit Digimon, which frustrated the creature even more. Willis petted its ears to calm it down.

“Calm down, Lopmon. These guys don’t seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed,” Terriermon nodded along to what his partner was saying.

While their conversation was happening behind him, the cogs in TK’s head were turning in his head. He thought that the Divermon from the diner looked familiar, but meeting the other two Divermon, he knew that he'd seen them before.

“What are you thinking, TK?” Patamon whispered in his ear.

“Do they seem familiar?” Patamon looked at the Divermon. Patamon didn’t understand what TK said at first, but the longer he looked at them, the more they seemed familiar to the flying Digimon.

“Yeah, but I don’t remember where?”

“Maybe it’ll come back to us later,” TK said. He soon noticed the Divermon calmed down and started to walk back to the land.

“Anyway, why don’t you follow us back to our shop so we can talk business,” the Divermon led the group to a building close to the docks. It had a large window facing towards the ocean and a large sign with the three Divermon’s smiling faces.

They entered the building, and the Divermon took off and did their own thing. One went behind the counter, one started to stock some shelves, and the final one started to sweep the floors. The Digidestined separated as well, Chloe and Catherine browsed through the aisles, Ken and Willis were reading through some catalogs, and TK and Ryo, mostly Ryo, was conversing with the Divermon behind the counter.

“So, at the inn’s diner, you said that you might have a way to help us. Is it in the form of some kind of ship?” Ryo asked. He placed his arm on the counter and stared directly into the eyes of the Divermon behind it.

“That depends. What kind of ship are you in the market for?” Divermon asked, not deterred by the boy.

“Something big that me and my friends here can reside in, but can also get us around the Digital World fast,” Ryo answered.

“Then might I suggest one of our brigantines,” the Divermon brought out a book full of pictures of the ships they have in stock. He opened it to a page that has pictures of long giant ships with two masts. “A shallow-draft boat with great maneuverability and speed. Has enough room to hold up to 200 of us Divermon.”

Ryo and Monodramon whistled as they looked over the pictures, TK and Patamon were intrigued by them as well. The ships had some great designs, beautiful colors, there was a lot of space on the ships, and the two masts could make for fast travel. There was just one problem…

“Did we forget to mention that the ship also has to be cheap?” Monodramon spoke up. Reading the prices underneath the pictures, they were way out of their price range. Divermon didn’t mind as he flipped back towards the front of the book.

“Then a sloop is just what you’re looking for. It might not be as fast as the brigantines, but it can still get you there,” Divermon said. The Digidestined looked at the pictures on the page. The ships weren’t as big as the brigantines. They only had one mass, but it was big enough to hold them and their partners. Though, there was one problem…

“This is out of our price range as well,” Patamon said. The sloops were cheaper than the brigantines. They were still too expensive for them to afford.

Divermon closed the book and put it away. “Then what is?”

TK took out the remainder of the money they had left over from the inn and placed it on the counter. Divermon looked at the money, then at the Digidestined before going into the back of the store, returning shortly with a box in its arms. Divermon slammed the box on the counter and revealed an inflatable one-person boat was inside.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Ryo asked. Divermon chuckled in response.

“This? No…” he stopped laughing and had a serious expression on his face. “The joke is that you think you can afford a ship with 15 Digi-Dollars! Let alone one of ours!”

“Hey, that's all we have!” TK argued, but that just made Divermon angrier.

“I don’t care! We are a serious business, and it’s expensive to hold and care for all these boats!” Divermon slammed his fists on the counter. “We have to spend a lot of money to not only hold these boats but to keep our shop as well! Repairs aren’t cheap either. We have to replace any torn sails, cut rope, or a broken floorboard every once in a while, and that costs a lot!”

Divermon sighed, calming himself down a bit. “Sorry. It’s just been difficult for us these past couple of months. Business was slow, and ever since these storms have started, no one ever comes to our shop anymore.”

TK felt bad. He wanted to purchase the inflatable boat to help out the Divermon, but couldn’t because he knew that he and his friends were gonna need the money to help themselves. He turned to leave, but Ryo grabbed his shoulder, preventing him from leaving.

“What are you doing?” TK asked. Ryo responded by moving closer to his ear.

“Hold on. I think I can haggle them for a discount,” Ryo whispered. TK gave him a confused look.

“Why would they do that? They’re not going to sell us a ship for 15 Digi-Dollars!” TK said, but Ryo just shook his head.

“I know that. But if I can get them to lower the price on one of their ships, we can work to get the money,” Ryo said. “There’s 13 of us, and if we all get jobs, then we can get the ship in no time!”

TK just rolled his eyes, throwing his hands in the air. He didn’t like the plan, even if Ryo could get them a discount, the ship would still cost a lot and it would take a lot of time to build up a large amount of cash to pay for it. But since they didn’t have any better ideas, TK allowed Ryo to go through with his plan.

“This is a nice shop you have here. Good location too,” Ryo said, trying to butter up the Divermon.

“Thanks, we built it ourselves after our last job,” Divermon said.

“Oh, really? And what was that?” Ryo asked, but the Divermon looked away in shame.

“I’d rather not say. It’s something we’re not proud of,” Divermon admitted. The other two Divermon nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, we don’t like to talk about it,” the sweeping Divermon said.

“It wasn’t our fault. We were forced to do it!” the stocking Divermon exclaimed.

“What were you forced to do?” Floramon asked.

The Divermon behind the counter sighed. “Years ago, an evil Digimon called MetalSeadramon came out of nowhere saying ‘I am the Master of the Sea! All those who oppose me will be terminated!’ We didn’t believe him at first, but then he started destroying Digimon. Those who were smart and fast enough to get away were lucky. But those of us who were too slow were either destroyed or became his slaves.”

“That’s horrible!” Chloe exclaimed.

“Yeah, but one day, we got lucky!” the stocking Divermon said. “He sent us to destroy a bunch of kids, like you guys. They got away with the help of a Whamon, and when we saw the opportunity to run, we jumped at it! Those children destroyed MetalSeadramon shortly after.”

“That’s where we know you from!” TK exclaimed. The Digidestined gave TK confusing looks, but the Divermon looked shocked. “I was one of those kids!”

“He’s right!” The Divermon surrounded the boy and Patamon. They poked him to see if he was real, and one of the Divermon pinched themselves to see if they were dreaming.

“What are you doing here? Where are the others?” they asked.

“I’m here because the Digital World is in danger! And as to why my friends aren’t here is the reason why the Digital World is in danger!” The Divermon started to panic a little, but TK quickly calmed them down. “But don’t worry, me and my friends here are going to save the world!”

“That’s great! Is there any way that we can help?” one of the Divermon asked.

“Yeah, we’ll do anything to make sure a Digimon like MetalSeadramon doesn’t take over the Digital World!” Another Divermon added.

Patamon grinned.

“Well, you see, we need a way to get around the Digital World to find our friends' crests,” Patamon said, and the Divermon jumped to action.

“Alright, we get what you’re saying. Though we can’t give you one of our ships for free, we could give you a discount on our cheapest ship,” a Divermon went behind the counter. “We’ll even throw in this inflatable boat and a few supplies for the 15 Digi-Dollars. Heck, we’ll even throw in a few free hammocks.”

“That’s great!” Willis cheered. ”But what’s your cheapest ship?”

“Look out the window,” the Divermon closest to the window directed the Digidestined. They looked out the window and saw a two-mast ship. “It’s our last caravel, even though it’s small, it’s a highly-maneuverable ship. It can get you around the Digital World well.”

Ken whistled.

“How much is it?”

“Originally it would’ve cost 64,000 Digi-Dollars. But with the discount, we’ll sell it for 32,000 Digi-Dollars,” the Divermon behind the counter told them. Some wanted to groan, but they knew this was the best offer they were going to get.

“Alright, you have a deal. But could you hold onto the supplies until we buy the ship?” TK asked.

The Divermon nodded. “We can do that. Just make sure to save the Digital World.”

Standing in front of the Chandlery, the Digidestined’s spirits were high. They’re finally taking a step forward to saving the Digital World. Now, all they need to do is find a way to make money.

“So… Now what?” Chloe asked. “We finally have a way to get around the Digital World. Now we just need to make money.”

“How do we do that?” Ken asked. Everyone scratched the back of their heads or looked away. They didn’t know the answer to his question.

“I saw a few help wanted signs on the way here,” Penguinmon spoke up.

“I also heard of there being a pawn shop somewhere in the city,” Monodramon added.

“Ok, so let’s split up and meet up by the inn at the end of the day,” TK said. The group nodded in agreement. “So, how should we split up?”

“I think the best way is to split up into three groups of two. That way, we can make up more ground,” Willis answered.

“Then who wants to pair up with who then?” TK asked. Chloe rushed up to Willis and latched onto his arm.

“Willis! You and me! How ‘bout it?” Chloe asked. Willis was extremely uncomfortable, while Catherine had a look of betrayal written on her face.

“Uh, sure?” Willis said a little hesitantly.

“Great! We’ll see you guys at the inn later!” Chloe cried out as she led Willis away from the group. Terriermon, Lopmon, and Penguinmon chased after them.

“Hey! Wait for us!” Lopmon shouted.

The remaining Digidestined were confused as to what they just witnessed but chose to ignore it.

“Uh, Ryo… Wanna partner up?” Ken asked.

“Sure,” Ryo shrugged. Ken, Ryo, Wormmon, and Monodramon walked in the same direction that Chloe and Willis went, leaving TK and Catherine alone with their Digimon.

“I guess it’s the two of us then,” TK said with an awkward chuckle. He received a hum in response as the four started to walk towards the city.

Chapter Text

“Hey, slow down! Do you even know where you’re going?” Willis asked as he broke free from Chloe’s grasp.

“Sorry, I just needed to quickly get away from the group,” Chloe slowed down and started to peruse around the buildings.

“Ok, but why did you choose to pair up with me? I thought you would’ve wanted to work with your sister,” Willis asked. Chloe gave him a sly grin.

“I have my reasons. Besides, I want to know more about you! You’re the only American in our group,” she heard Terriermon snicker.

“You won’t get much from this guy. He just spends all day on his computer or reading books.”

“Terriermon!” Willis whined.

“What? It’s true. If it wasn’t for us, you would never see the light of day,” Terriermon said with Lopmon nodding in agreement.

“Terriermon’s right, Willis,” Lopmon said softly, causing him to groan and hide his face in his hands.

“So, you like learning?” Chloe asked. Willis nodded. “That’s neat! I was never really the smartest student in my class, so it’s awesome that you value your education so much.”

“Thanks,” Willis said after revealing his face. “You’re the first person outside of my family to ever say that to me.”

“Why is that?” Penguinmon asked.

“No one ever talks to me in school, except for my teachers. It’s because I skipped a couple of grades,” Willis said, stunning Chloe.

“You skipped a couple of grades!?” Willis nodded. To which Chloe exploded with amazement. “You must be some kind of genius! A prodigy, even!”

“It’s not something I brag about,” Willis said, trying to calm the French girl.

“Are you kidding!? I would boast about my intelligence if I was you!” Chloe shook the boy. “How did you get so smart anyway? Were you born that way, or was some kind of chip implanted into your brain?”

Willis broke free from Chloe and slowly backed away from her. “I just studied a lot when I was growing up, that’s all,” Willis could see that she was disappointed by his answer, he didn’t know why though, it’s not like he did anything special to get smart anyways.

“But why? Wouldn’t you have wanted to play with other kids, growing up?” Chloe asked. Willis looked down in sadness.

“No one wanted to play with me when I was a kid. I was so lonely that I buried my head into books to fill in the emptiness that I felt,” Willis saw Terriermon and Lopmon smile up at him as they pat his leg to which he smiled in return. “Then one day, two eggs came out of my computer, which soon hatched into these two, and I’ve never felt lonely since.”

Chloe and Penguinmon cooed at the heartwarming scene in front of them, to which Willis blushed from embarrassment.

“Ahem, shouldn’t we be looking for a way to make money?” Willis said.

“Yeah, but where should we start?” Chloe said as she, Willis, and the Digimon started to look around for potential jobs. Then Penguinmon started to excitedly jump up and down.

“I remember seeing a library on the way down to the docks! Maybe they could use some help!” Penguinmon suggested. Both Chloe and Willis liked that idea because it gave them a chance to make money, and it allowed Willis to learn more about the Digital World.

“That’s a great idea, Penguinmon!” Chloe praised her partner, causing the penguin Digimon to blush.

“Then let’s go! The sooner we start making money, the sooner we’ll save the Digital World!” Terriermon shouted as he ran up the road.

“Hold up, Terriermon!” Willis chased after his partner, with Chloe, Lopmon, and Terriermon following closely behind.

As Ken, Ryo, Wormmon, and Monodramon were walking down the road, they spotted Willis and Chloe chasing Terriermon into a library, with Lopmon and Penguinmon following closely behind.

“Should we follow them?” Wormmon asked. Ken shook his head in response.

“No. I think it would be better to find a place that will pay us more.”

They walked past the library and deeper into the city. They soon came upon a plaza with stores surrounding an open space full of benches, dining tables, and a fountain in the center.

Ryo whistled. “I bet this place looks nice on a regular day.”

“But where is everyone?” Monodramon said out loud. The dragon Digimon was right. There was no one in the plaza. They felt like they were in an abandoned part of the city.

“I guess this is the effect that the crests have on this city,” Wormmon said solemnly.

“That’s why we need to make some money so we can find the crests! So places like this will be full of Digimon!” Ken said with such determination that both Ryo and Monodramon were inspired.

“Yeah! You said it!” Ryo patted Ken’s back, which made him lose his balance. “So, where should we start?”

“I don’t know? I was hoping that one of you guys already knew of a place,” Ken said, which deflated the momentum that Ryo and Monodramon built up from earlier.

“That’s fine. We’re in a plaza. There are loads of shops and restaurants that might be looking for help,” Ryo reasoned.

All of a sudden, the group saw a yellow creature streak out of a restaurant and down the road. Intrigued by this, the small group walked up to the restaurant the creature came from. There was a painting of a huge fire on the window with “Meramon’s Spice Kitchen!!!” written underneath.

They all looked at each other and shrugged before they entered the building. They started sweating like pigs after stepping foot in the restaurant. They looked around and saw that it was an ordinary diner with pictures of smoking volcanoes, lava, and fires lining the wall.

“Why is it so hot!?” Ryo cried out as he rolled up his sleeves.

“I don’t know! Is this place behind on its AC bill?” Ken wiped his forehead as he tried to find the source of the heat.

“Ken, I don’t know how long I can last in here!?” Wormmon started to go limp in Ken’s arms as the boy felt his partner start to dry up.

“No! Don’t pass out on me, Wormmon!” Ken cried out as he covered his partner, trying to make sure he didn't lose any more moisture.

“I don’t know what you guys are complaining about? It feels nice in here,” Monodramon said. The others slowly looked at the dragon Digimon, and sure enough, he’s perfectly fine, reveling in the heat.

“Of course, the lizard is fine,” Ken muttered to himself.

“I envy you,” Ryo said to his partner. He pulled at his sweater collar to unstick it from his body. “There’s no one here. Let’s just go and find someplace else.”

“Agreed,” the group turned to leave but stopped when they heard a door swing open behind them. When they turned around, they saw a candle holding a take-out box hop towards them.

“Sorry, for the wait, I had business in the back to take care of. Anyway, are you here for a pickup?” The candle asked. “Sorry that we won’t be able to seat you, because of the storms we decided it would be safer to deliver or have the orders be picked up.”

Ryo leaned over towards Monodramon’s ear. “Hey, who’s that?”

“That’s Candlemon: I heard that if the flame on its head, it dies ,” Monodramon said. Ryo nodded, thinking that Candlemon was ripping something off.

“No, sorry, we just saw something leave this place and got curious,” Ken explained.

“You must be talking about Doggymon . He’s our delivery mon,” Candlemon said. As if he was summoned, the front doors opened to reveal a small cartoonish yellow dog with dark blue ears and tail, and a white D on its chest, he also had a small bag around his stomach. Doggymon looked excited. He got extremely close and started sniffing Ken, Wormmon, Ryo, and Monodramon, making them uncomfortable. “Don’t worry he’s harmless with no malice or aggression .”

Ken, Wormmon, and Monodramon were still uncomfortable that Doggymon had no understanding of personal space. Ryo, on the other hand, enjoyed the dog Digimon’s enthusiasm. He gave Doggymon some belly rubs.

“Aw, who’s a good boy?” Ryo spoke like he was talking to a baby. Though Doggymon didn’t seem to mind, he enjoyed it. He enjoyed it so much that he repeatedly stamped his right foot on the ground. Seeing enough, Candlemon whistled Doggymon over to them.

“Did you make the delivery?” Doggymon nodded vigorously to Candlemon’s question. “And did you get the money?” Again, Doggymon nodded vigorously and unzipped the bag around his stomach and handed the candle Digimon a wad of cash.

“Good boy,” Candlemon took the money and handed the delivery dog the takeout box. “Please deliver this to the BookMark Library.”

Doggymon saluted and rushed out the door. “I tell ya, he might not be the smartest mon out there, but he sure does get the job done. So, does that answer your question?”

“Yeah,” Ken answered, and once again, the group turned to leave.

“And you’re sure you don’t want to at least place an order to pick up later?” Candlemon asked. The group shook their heads no as they were one foot out the door, cherishing the cool air.

“Sorry, we’re currently looking for jobs, so we can’t afford to buy anything at the moment,” Ryo regretted speaking the moment he said those words because he saw a cunning look on Candlemon’s face.

“Why didn’t you say that earlier! We’re short a few hands, and we have a big order to fill for an event later today!” Candlemon hopped towards them and tried to lead them away from the door. Ken gave Ryo an uncertain look.

“Oh, you don’t want us. We don’t know anything about cooking,” Ken tried to talk them out of working in this scorching environment, but Candlemon wouldn’t listen to their subtle hints.

“Don’t worry, we have recipes, and I’ll help you with everything. Besides, we can always ask our head chef if things get difficult,” Candlemon started to push the group closer to the kitchen, and the temperature was getting hotter with each step they took.

“What about Wormmon? I don’t think he can take the heat any longer,” Candlemon looked at Wormmon and saw that the worm Digimon was extremely dry. Candlemon knew that Wormmon wouldn’t last long in the kitchen. Then he had an idea.

“We’ll put him under some running water and find something for him to do in a little bit,” With one final push, the DigiDestined and their partners were sent into Hell’s Kitchen.

TK wished he was anywhere else right now. Waking through Candlelight City with Catherine in complete silence, and TK hated it. He wanted to be alone with her. He’s grateful for Chloe and Ken for pairing up with Willis and Ryo, giving him the chance to be with Catherine. But right now, he wished he was with anyone else. At least they would talk with each other.

And it’s not like he didn’t try.

Every time he tried to start a conversation with her, she would always hum in response. It annoyed him that she wouldn’t talk with him or anyone, except for Chloe, Floramon, and sometimes Penguinmon. He wished she’d just tell him what he did wrong so he could make it up to her.

“I don’t know, Patamon? No matter what I do, I just can’t get her to talk,” TK told his partner after he created some space between him and Catherine.

“Did you try asking her why she stopped talking?” Patamon asked, and TK dragged his hands down his face.

“Yes! I even asked if she was feeling alright, too!” TK sighed. “And it’s not like she gave any signs that she would do this. She just stopped talking out of nowhere!”

They saw Catherine quietly talking with Floramon, making TK shake his head. “I just wish she would talk to me again.”

“Now would probably be a good time to apologize to her then,” Patamon said, and TK nodded in response.

“You’re right, and if this doesn’t get her talking, then we should probably invest in her future mime career,” TK jokingly said as he walked closer to Catherine. As he got closer, he overheard Floramon say “He’s getting closer!” Which he assumed was referring to him.

“Hey, can we talk?” TK asked. Catherine looked surprised but nodded anyway. Floramon backed away from the two to give them space.

They walked in silence for a little bit. TK was having a mental battle on how he’ll apologize. ‘Should I just be blunt or try to sugarcoat it. Ah, defeating the Dark Masters was easier than this!’

While this was happening, Catherine was having her own mental battle. ‘Why did I agree to talk with him? And why did Floramon leave us alone? I wish Chloe partnered up with me so I wouldn’t have to be here.’

After thinking it over for a while, TK decided to be blunt. “Listen, I would like to apologize for what happened two days ago. It was wrong of me not to give you a warning about the house being able to stand underwater, and for that I’m sorry.”

TK did his best to sound sincere, and he was being sincere. He just hopes this is what’ll get Catherine talking again. Catherine gave him a confused look, which worried TK because he thought he did something wrong. Then she started laughing.

“You thought I stopped talking because I was upset with you?” TK was happy to hear Catherine’s voice again but was confused about why she stopped talking in the first place.

“Yeah. I thought you were upset with me this whole time,” TK said. Catherine stopped laughing and had a solemn expression on her face.

“No, I was more upset with myself than anyone else.”

“Why? You didn’t do anything wrong,” TK told her, and Catherine shook her head at him.

“I was nothing but selfish the whole time we’ve been in the Digital World,” TK made a move to speak, but Catherine stopped him. “I’ve only been thinking about myself and not about how stressful this situation is to you, Chloe, or the others, I didn’t even drink the tea!”

TK placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder to calm her down. “Hey, where is this coming from?”

“The night before we left on our adventure, I overheard you talking with Patamon, and it made me think about how selfish I’ve been,” Catherine said.

“I don’t think you’ve been selfish. I think you acted how a normal person would after being transported to a strange world,” TK squeezed her shoulder, and Catherine smiled.

“Thanks, but I wanted to do something to not only prove to the others, but to myself that I’ll be able to make sacrifices to help the group. So, I… drank the tea,” Catherine revealed, and TK laughed.

“What’s so funny?!” A frustrated Catherine asked, but TK continued to laugh.

“It’s just… You didn’t have to do that. No one would’ve known that you drank the tea,” Catherine was about to hit TK, but he put his arms up in defense. “But… I’m happy that you’re thinking of the team.”

Catherine calmed down and smiled. “Thanks, TK.”

Behind the two kids were their partners enjoying the scene that was playing out in front of them. Patamon told Floramon about TK feeling bad that Catherine isn’t talking, and Floramon told Patamon the reason why Catherine stopped talking. Patamon felt bad for Catherine but was happy that she was talking again.

“Hey, guys!” TK and Catherine turned around and saw Floramon pointing at a small shop. “I think this is the pawnshop that Monodramon mentioned earlier!”

There was nothing special about the shop, it wasn’t big, and if it wasn’t for the sign you wouldn’t have noticed it.

“Pumkinmon’s Pawn-Atorium!” TK read the sign out loud. The small group looked at each other and silently decided to enter the shop. They knew they didn’t have much to pawn off, but any amount of cash, no matter how small, would help them on their journey.

Looking around the store, they were able to spot a lot of cool stuff. There was a suit of armor, some swords, a whistle, paintings, and Patamon pointed out a phone that used to belong to a phone booth. Catherine and Floramon didn’t think much of it, but TK and Patamon had amused looks on their faces, thinking that one of their friends could’ve used that phone during their first adventure.

“I don’t think anyone’s here,” Catherine said. Even though the entrance was unlocked and the sign said open, there was no employee or owner behind the desk or around the store.

“Did you try the bell?” TK pointed at the bell on the counter. Patamon flew towards it and rang the bell three times. They heard the sound of someone rummaging in the backroom when a small pumpkin-headed creature stepped out in front of them.

“Hello, I’m Pumpkinmon, and this is my pawn shop,” he said dryly.

“Hi, we’re looking to pawn off some stuff,” TK said after stepping up to the counter.

“Have anything of worth then?” Pumpkinmon asked. TK started digging through the bookbag for anything that they won’t need.

“Let’s see…” TK pushed aside the remaining cash they had on them and dug deeper into the bag. He knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to give away any of their water bottles, and he didn’t think the clerk would take any of their food or matches. Patamon even flew into the bag to see if there was anything on the bottom that TK missed, but there was nothing.

TK looked at Pumpkinmon dejectedly. “I guess we don’t have anything. Sorry for wasting your time.”

TK and Patamon moved away from the counter and towards the exit, but before they left the building, Catherine swiped the hat off of TK’s head and gave it to Pumpkinmon. “How much could we get for this?”

“Let’s see…” Pumpkinmon did a quick look over the bucket hat. It was worn down, a little damp, and had a few loose strands of hair on it. “The best I can do is 20 Digi-Dollars.”

“Deal!” Catherine said before TK could voice his displeasure. Pumpkinmon put away the hat and handed Catherine the money. She grabbed TK’s wrist and dragged him away from the shop before he could try to take his hat back.

“Why did you do that!?” TK whined. He covered his head with his arms and hands to try and hide his hair.

“We need money, and it was the only thing of value we had! I don’t know why you’re complaining. You have a full head of hair!” Catherine huffed, but TK didn’t seem to care.

“You don’t get it! It makes me feel whole. Without it, I feel naked!” TK complained. Catherine just shook her head in disappointment, thinking that he was just overreacting. Patamon landed on TK’s head, which made the boy feel better knowing that his hair was covered.

“I like it. Your hair feels really comfortable,” Patamon said, which caused TK to moped some more.

“Great, my hair can be used as a nest then,” TK said sarcastically, causing Catherine to laugh.

“So, what do we do now?” Floramon spoke up. “We still need a lot more money if we want to afford that ship.”

Floramon was right. They still need a lot more Digi-Dollars to afford the ship, and they don’t even have enough to afford another night at the inn. They walked down the road to see if there were any job openings, but there weren’t any.

“Ah, why doesn’t anyone need any help!” Catherine groaned. “Maybe I should’ve asked for more for your hat than jump at the first offer that was given.”

“I don’t think you would’ve been able to get 30,000 Digi-Dollars for my hat,” TK mumbled.

“We can get you a new hat ok,” Catherine sighed in frustration.

“Hey, look,” Patamon called out. The Digimon pointed at a theater with a small frog-like Digimon standing out front, holding a clipboard. The closer they got to the theater, the more they heard the frog Digimon. Patamon was able to identify it as a Gekomon, asking everyone to sign up for a competition.

“Come one, come all, and sign up for Candlelight City’s 5th Annual Singing Competition! Judged by myself, Otamamon, and Lord ShogunGekomon! The winner gets a grand prize of 100,000 Digi-Dollars! The competition starts around 2 pm, so this is your last chance to sign up!”

The Digidestined looked at each other with stars in their eyes. This was perfect, 100,000 Digi-Dollars, they would be able to buy the ship, buy supplies, and still would have enough money to hold them over for a while.

“Let’s sign up!” TK said with a new kick in his step. “You can sing, and I’ll play the piano. It’s perfect!”

“OK… but what song will I sing?” Catherine said, sounding a little apprehensive about the plan.

TK thought about what song they could perform. TK looked at his Digivice and saw that it was 11:30 a.m., not giving them enough time to practice anything new.

“Do you still remember the song we practiced for our school’s talent show but weren’t able to perform because you got food poisoning?” TK asked, Catherine slowly nodded. “Perfect! Then let’s do that.”

“Yeah, but it’s been a while since we practiced. We might be rusty,” Catherine said, but TK just brushed it aside.

“Oh come on, we practiced that song every day, and we have about 2 and a half hours to practice before the competition starts. Please, Catherine, this is the fastest way for us to make money,” TK begged. He was close to getting on his knees.

Catherine looked uncertain about the whole thing. She didn’t think they were good enough to win and was also uncomfortable about performing in front of a crowd. She was all but ready to turn and run for the hills, but Floramon stopped her.

“Please, Catherine. I want to hear you sing,” Floramon begged, and Catherine felt a twinge in her heart. She knew she couldn’t run away.

“Fine, let’s do it,” Catherine sighed. The group cheered and quickly signed up for the competition before the signing period closed.

“Alright, let’s practice,” TK said.

“WAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

Before the group walked into the theater, they saw a yellow streak run by, and they thought they heard Wormmon screaming. They looked among themselves and shrugged, thinking that they were just hearing things.

Chloe and Penguinmon collapsed onto each other after moving another heavy box of books. They’ve been working for hours ever since they showed up at the library without any breaks.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this? I can barely feel my arms,” Chloe complained.

The pay was good, though. The librarian, an old lady Digimon called Babamon, said they would pay them 200 Digi-Dollars, each. It was an offer they couldn’t refuse. Well, it was the only offer they had.

“Try lifting boxes with flippers,” Penguinmon waved her flippers in front of Chloe, and Chloe rubbed her partner’s head.

“I know, but it would be nice if SOMEONE would help us with these boxes!” Chloe said loud enough for Willis to hear her. After about an hour of lifting and moving boxes, Willis stopped working and moved to a quiet spot away from everyone else, which annoyed her.

She looked over and saw both Terriermon and Lopmon beating dust off of some old rugs with their ears. Chloe was upset. She was upset that they were all working but him. She got up and walked over to him to give him a piece of her mind.

“Hey!” She said loud enough not to disturb anyone at the library, but Willis. The blond boy jumped and quickly hid something behind his back.

“Oh, hey Chloe, what’s up?” Willis said innocently.

“Nothing much, just finished moving another box of books,” Chloe huffed. Willis just slowly nodded.

“That’s good. You’re making money and building up some muscle,” Willis joked, even giving a light chuckle, but Chloe wasn’t laughing.

“You know what would also be great? You getting off your lazy butt and helping us!” Chloe grabbed Willis and tried to lift him off the ground, but he squirmed around in her grasp, trying to break free.

“NO, stop!” Willis whined.

“Come on, we all agreed to work, and you’re the only one who’s not doing anything! What are you hiding?!” Chloe pulled Willis forward and pulled out the thing that he hid. It was a plain book, and it made Chloe angrier. “A book? You spent all this time reading a book?!”

“Hold on! Let me explain,” Willis extended his hand to prevent Chloe from doing anything to the book. Chloe crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the ground.

“You have five minutes to explain yourself.”

“Thank you,” Willis sighed and gave her a grateful smile. “I was moving some boxes in the back earlier, and I saw that book lying on the ground. I didn’t think much of it in the beginning, but something in my gut told me to look through it.”

Chloe looked at the book and didn’t understand his intrigue with it. There wasn’t anything special about it, just a plain book with no title. Just looking at it, Chloe assumed it was a journal.

“After skimming through the first page, I learned that this book holds the history of the Digital World!” Willis revealed, and Chloe raised an eyebrow at this. Sure, she didn’t have any interest in the history of the Digital World, but it would be useful to have some knowledge about it.

“Alright, so what are you going to do with it?” Chloe asked. She knew that Willis wasn’t going to give up something that he saw as useful.

“I’m gonna take it,” Willis said.

“So you’re gonna check it out?”

“No, I’m going to take it,” Willis revealed, shocking Chloe. In her shocked state, Willis quickly took the book from her grasp and hid it in his shirt. “It was stored away in the back underneath some boxes. I don’t think Babamon will know it’s missing.”

“Fine,” Chloe said. “But you owe me, not only for keeping this a secret but for doing all the work from earlier.”

“Deal,” the two walked back and resumed working. Soon after they finished, Babamon walked in to check on their work.

“I must say, you all have been working really hard,” Babamon said. “And for all your hard work I’ve decided to give you all an award.”

The Digimon cheered, but both Willis and Chloe didn’t think it was necessary. Babamon pulled out five tickets and waved them in front of them. “I was able to obtain these tickets for a show that’s starting in a few minutes.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Willis said, doing his best to be modest.

“Come on, Willis! After all we did today, I think we deserve a reward!” Terriermon complained. The Digimon agreed with the dog-Digimon and Chloe didn’t have the strength to argue with them.

“We should let them have this, Willis. Besides, it would be nice to rest for a while,” Chloe said. Realizing that he was outnumbered, Willis gave in and took the tickets.

“Oh, and before I forget…” Babamon then pulled out five envelopes. “This is for all your hard work today, and I hope you’ll come and visit someday.”

They all grabbed an envelope and thanked Babamon for everything she’s done for them. They left the library with huge smiles on their faces.

“We did it!” Penguinmon cheered. “We’re a step closer to being able to set off on our journey!”

“Yeah, we are!” Chloe agreed. “So, what should we do now?”

Willis looked at the tickets Babamon gave them. “I guess we should go and see this show.”

The group agreed and started to make their way to the theater. But on their way there, they saw a yellow streak fly by them.

“WAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

They looked at each other, confused as ever.

Walking down the road was a Digimon, solely made of fire, carrying trays of food. He was being trailed by Ken, Ryo, Monodramon, and Candlemon, all carrying something except for Candlemon for obvious reasons. Ken and Ryo were carrying some tables, and Monodramon was carrying some trays of food, just like the flaming man. Now, some might assume that they were annoyed about carrying two heavy tables, but in reality, they were grateful for being out of the Hell known as Meramon’s Spice Kitchen.

It was horrible. The blistering heat, the hard-to-read recipes, and the yelling. Oh, the yelling was the worst. Whenever they made the smallest mistake, the head chef would yell at them and force them to do it again, or if a dish is raw, the head chef would smash it. Ken still shudders from being called an idiot sandwich.

“Alright, we’re almost there,” they heard the flaming man say. The flaming man is the owner and head chef of Meramon’s Spice Kitchen, Meramon. “And remember, serve every mon with a smile and a positive attitude. We have a reputation to uphold.”

“Yes, Chef!”

They soon arrived at a theater. Meramon was hired to cater for an event of some sorts. They didn’t know and were too scared to ask. Meramon told them that if they did a good job, he would pay them extra for all their hard work. He even told them about any possible tips they might get, which excited them for two reasons. One, they would be able to afford the ship quicker, and two, they wouldn’t have to work for Meramon much longer.

They walked around the lobby, searching for a place to set up their tables. Meramon pointed towards the entrance of the theater hall and ordered them to set up there. They obediently obliged and set everything up.

Doggymon arrived with Wormmon webbed to its back, carrying more trays of food. Ken pulled Wormmon off of Doggymon and quickly consoled his partner.

“How are you feeling, Wormmon?” Ken said while rubbing the worm Digimon’s back.

“I think I’m gonna throw up,” Wormmon said sickly.

“Don’t worry, buddy, you won’t ever have to do that again,” Ken whispered as he prepared the meals.

They pulled off the tin foil covering to reveal half of the trays holding spicy chicken wings and the other half of trays holding red curry. Ken was curious about how the Digital World had real-world food but decided it would be better to ignore it.

“Now, listen up!” Meramon’s voice boomed, commanding their attention. “Soon, those doors will open to the public, and I want everyone ready. It will be crazy but please remain calm. We want everything to run smoothly without any hiccups. There will be a 30-minute intermission for bathroom breaks and refills of food and beverages, so be ready when that happens. Everyone will be serving the food, but Wormmon and Candlemon, they will be working the register. Everyone understand?”

“Yes, Chef!” They shouted as they got into position.

Shortly after, a whole slew of Digimon of all shapes and sizes started flooding in through the main entrance. It was crazy, Ken and Ryo didn’t know how they were going to serve all the hungry Digimon lining up in front of their table. But they knew that if they wanted to get paid, they were gonna have to power through. So they made their brightest smile and prepared for the worst.

It started off smoothly. They greeted everyone the same way and handed them the amount of food they were told to serve. Everyone was grateful. Some even tipped them just like Meramon said. Then things started to turn sour.

A pink Digimon in a trashcan started complaining about not getting a big serving, saying they only got two chicken wings instead of the limit of three. Ken knew they were lying. He could clearly see three on the Digimon’s plate, but they kept on complaining. Ken was annoyed that not only did he have to deal with an annoying customer, but they were holding up his line.

“What seems to be the problem here?” Meramon said after noticing the hold-up in Ken’s line.

“They won’t leave after I gave them the proper amount of wings,” Ken told his boss.

“It’s not the right amount! You can clearly see there are two wings on my plate instead of three!” The Digimon thrust the plate towards Meramon’s face to give the fire-Digimon a better look. After one quick glance at the plate, Meramon was able to tell that there were three wings on it, and two of them were just stuck together.

“Sir, you do have three, two of them are stuck together,” Meramon said calmly, hoping that the Digimon had just made a stupid mistake and moved on and pay. But they didn’t.

“No! There are only two on my plate!”

“If you just move those two pieces you’ll be able to see that you have three wings,” Meramon said through gritted teeth. Meramon’s flames started to grow, and Ken could feel them get hotter. He tried to signal to the garbage-Digimon, trying to tell them to walk away, but they didn’t notice.

“Maybe if you had a competent staff, we wouldn’t be having this conversation!” That sent Meramon off the edge as he erupted. He took the Digimon’s plate away and grabbed hold of their trash can.

“Listen you fucking donut! You can say whatever you want about me and my food, but don’t you ever say shit about my staff! Got it!?” The garbage-Digimon nodded vigorously out of fear of the flame-Digimon. “Now Fuck Off!”

The Digimon hopped away from the table and out of the theater crying. Meramon huffed and went back to his station. Ken stood there shocked, after the day he had working with Meramon he was surprised that he would stand up for him.

After that, everything went off without a hitch, mostly because everyone was afraid of Meramon. Meramon told them that they could use this time as a break, and he even told them that they could watch the show.

“Man, I never thought working in the restaurant business would be so difficult!” Ryo whined. He leaned up against the wall to rest his feet and legs, but it wasn’t doing much.

“I know, but at least we got a break, and a free show,” Ken told the older boy.

“Yeah, but it’s a singing competition. Most of the people who sign up for those can’t sing,” Ryo complained. Ken wanted to argue but remembered that most of the singing competitions he had seen were on TV, and the producers probably cut most of the bad competitors.

“Hey, Ken! Ryo!” The two heard their names called out and saw Chloe, Willis, and their partners walking towards them. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Working,” Ryo said emotionlessly.

“Yeah, we got a job working at a restaurant and we’re catering for this event,” Monodramon told them.

“That sounds awesome! I wished I partnered up with you guys!” Chloe cheered, but the boys weren’t cheering, they actually looked traumatized. Willis noticed this and decided to change the topic.

“Hey, Wormmon, we thought that we heard you screaming down the road earlier?” Willis said.

“I was. I was stuck with delivery duty with Doggymon,” as if he was summoned, the cartoon dog-Digimon zoomed in front of the crowd. “No, I didn’t call you, Doggymon!”

Doggymon saluted and went off to do his own thing. Ken just shook his head at the shenanigans of the Digimon. “So, what are you guys doing here?”

“We actually finished our job and our boss gave us tickets to this show along with the money for the work that we did,” Terriermon said, and the group showed their tickets along with the envelopes holding the money.

“Well, we’re still working, but we did get a few tips,” Monodramon, along with Ryo and Ken showed their friends some wads of cash that they received. “But we will get our pay after the show is over and we return our stand back to the restaurant.”

The group started to feel better about their situation. Sure, they don't have much now, but if they keep working hard they’ll be able to afford that boat in no time.

“Well, the show’s about to start, so we should go find our seats,” Chloe said. “Sorry, that you have to work during the show.”

Ken waved her off. “We’re on break right now. We’ll be able to see the show from the theater’s entrance.”

The group broke apart and went on their own endeavors.

It was the end of the intermission and TK, Catherine, Patamon, and Floramon were waiting backstage. TK was wearing a white dress shirt, gray dress pants with suspenders, a black tie, and a black fedora while Catherine was wearing a black dress. They decided to dress up so their performance would be more memorable.

They were told that they would be performing fifth after the intermission, and TK thought they were lucky. Being one of the last performances means that theirs would be more memorable and give them a better chance at winning. But Catherine didn’t see it that way. She was holding herself as her right leg was shaking, and was also breathing lightly.

“You feeling ok?” TK asked when he noticed her state of unease.

“Yeah, just a little nervous,” she told him.

Disclaimer: I do not own these songs. I will write down the title and artist of the song before every performance, and will only do one or two verses, and maybe the chorus for each, except for the main character’s performance.

Standing on the stage was Gekomon as he was welcoming the audience back from the short break.

“Welcome back! I hope you’re ready for more awesome performances by our contestants! Please welcome to the stage, a Digmon who came all the way from the mountains, Falcomon!”

The audience cheered as a small brown and green feathered Digimon took the stage. It stood facing away from the microphone and waited for the music to start. When it did, the bird-Digimon started to wiggle its shoulders before quickly facing the audience.

Take on Me, a-ha

“We’re talking away

I don’t know what

I’m to say I’ll say it anyway

Today’s another day to find you

Shying away

I’ll be coming for love, okay?

Take on me (take on me)

Take me on (take on me)

I’ll be gone

In a day or two

The bird Digimon sang as high as his voice could go, but he couldn’t hit the high note. The judges jotted that down as he continued to sing. He looked disappointed, but he didn't let that stop him from performing.

As Falcomon was performing, Catherine started to shake some more and breathe heavier.

“Are you sure you’re feeling ok?” TK placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She nodded but her breathing and shaking stayed the same.

Falcomon walked off the stage to a roaring crowd as Gekomon ran out to introduce the next contestant.

“How was that!” The crowd roared again. “Alright, up next, are they robot or turtle? It’s Kamemon!"

A small cyborg turtle walked out and grabbed hold of the microphone.

Mr. Roboto, Styx

Domo arigato misuta roboto

Domo arigato misuta roboto

Mata au hi made

Domo arigato misuta roboto

Himitsu wo shiritai

You’re wondering who I am (secret secret I’ve got a secret)

Machine or mannequin (secret secret I’ve got a secret)

With parts made in Japan (secret secret I’ve got a secret)

I am the modern man

The judges looked amongst themselves, wondering why the cyborg Digimon was singing the backup vocals. Though, she was doing a great job.

Catherine jolted up from her seat and started to walk away. “I got to go to the bathroom.”

“Cat?” TK cried out but Catherine didn’t stop. TK and the Digimon gave each other worried looks.

The crowd cheered, not as loud as they were for Falcomon, but still loud.

“That was great!” Gekomon addressed the crowd. “Up next is a duet between everyone’s favorite duo, Chuumon, and Suukamon!”

The audience clapped, but then stopped when they saw the two. A small pink mouse and a giant yellow turd grabbed the mic and waited for the music to begin.

Hungry Like the Wolf, Duran Duran

Chuumon: Darken the city, night is a wire

Steam in the subway, earth is a afire

Suukamon: Do do do do do do do do dodo dododo dodo

The crowd instantly hated their singing. Chuumon's raspy voice was like nails on a chalkboard and Suukamon was singing off-key. Some audience members rushed for the exits, while the rest covered their ears.

Chuumon: Woman, you want me, give me a sign

And catch my breathing even closer behind

Suukamon: Do do do do do do do do dodo dododo dodo

The judges didn't hide their hatred for the song. Gekomon and Otamamon covered their ears and made noises to drown out the horrible singing. ShogunGekomon was angry. It was like Chuumon and Suukamon were insulting him with their performance.

Chuumon: In touch with the ground

Chuumon and Suukamon: I’m on the hunt I’m after you

Chuumon: Smell like I sound, I’m lost in a crowd

Chuumon and Suukamon: And I’m hungry like the wolf

“I'm hungry right now,” Suukamon said before eating the mic.

The judges looked on in disapproval as Chuumon tried pulling the mic out of his friend's mouth.

“Hey, we need that to sing!”

TK pounded on the bathroom door. “Cat, come out! We’re almost up!”

“I-I’m not finished yet!” He heard her scream.

“You and I both know that’s a lie, so please, come out so we can talk!” TK shouted.

“Please, Catherine!” Floramon pleaded.

It was quiet for a few seconds before they heard Catherine sigh. “Okay, give me a minute!”

After Chuumon and Suukamon’s performance, barely anyone clapped. Gekomon ran out on stage, a little confused by what he just saw.

“That was Chuumon and Suukamon,” he said with an awkward laugh. “Well, up next is a unique mon, ToyAgumon!”

A small dragon-Digimon made up of toy bricks walked on the stage and was handed a mic that wasn’t used by either of the two previous performers.

We Built This City, Starship

We built this city

We built this city on rock and roll

Built this city

We built this city on rock and roll

The crowd shot to their feet when they heard the toy Digimon hold on to the last note. It gave ToyAgumon a boost of confidence. They gripped the mic and walked along the stage to the beat.

Say you don’t know me or recognize my face

Say you don’t care who goes to that kind of place

Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight

Too many runaways eating up the night

ToyAgumon pumped their arms, hyping up the crowd. They walked along the stage, repeating the motion and the crowd responded kindly by getting louder.

Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don’t you remember?

We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

Gekomon and Otamamon were impressed by ToyAgumon's performance while ShogunGekomon was moved to tears.

After emerging from the bathroom, Catherine was met with a worried-looking TK and Digimon. “So, are you going to tell us what’s wrong, or is this normal for you before every performance?”

“Please Catherine, tell us what’s wrong,” Floramon pleaded. Catherine looked around to see if she could escape, but TK, Floramon, and Patamon blocked off all exits, except for the bathroom, and there’s no exit in there, she checked.

“I-I’m nervous, okay,” she admitted. She received puzzled looks from the trio.

“Why?” Patamon said. “We heard you guys practice and you sound great!”

“Yeah!” Floramon agreed with the flying Digimon.

“It’s not that!” Catherine shouted. “I’m scared to go out there and perform! I’m scared of being judged by people! I’m scared of being booed off the stage!”

Catherine broke down and started crying. TK quickly pulled her into a comforting hug as he let her cry into his chest.

“It’s ok, you’re alright,” he soothed her.

“I didn’t have food poisoning back then,” Catherine said between sniffles. “I lied because I was scared about being judged by our classmates. Thinking about failing in front of everyone, and being teased about it for the rest of the year scared me!”

“Listen,” TK pulled her away from him and locked eyes with her. “You don’t have to worry about any of that here. After this you won’t ever see any of those Digimon ever again.”

“But I’m worried about facing the crowd and them remembering my face,” Catherine retorted, but TK shook his head.

“I’ll be out there with you. Just look at me the whole time,” they heard the crowd roar, signaling that Toy Agumon finished with their performance and that it’s their turn to perform. TK grabbed hold of her hand and led her to the stage. “Just look at me the whole time.”

Chloe and Willis were enjoying themselves, their Digimon as well. Willis was surprised that he knew most of the songs, and that they were actual songs from the real world.

“I never thought that I would be having this much fun at a singing contest!” Willis said.

“I know!” Chloe agreed but then had a sad expression on her face. “Though, I wish Cat was here to see this. She loves anything that has to do with singing.”

“Does she also perform?” Willis asked. “I remember you telling us that she has a great singing voice.”

Chloe shook her head. “She has terrible stage fright. One time our school had a talent show and she was supposed to perform with TK, but she chickened out at the last second saying she had food poisoning.”

Willis felt bad for her. He hadn’t known Catherine for long, but he understood the pressure of performing in front of your peers.

“I just wish that she could get over her fears so she could see how much people would love to listen to her sing,” Chloe said. Willis wanted to say something but was interrupted by Gekomon addressing the crowd.

“That was amazing!” The crowd roared in agreement. “I would hate to follow that one up, but someone has to do it. Up next is another duet, coming from out of this world is TK and Catherine!”

Chloe was stunned to see both her sister and best friend walk out on stage in fancy clothing. She was stunned to see her sister grab the mic. Her sister was shaking like she was in the tundra. She saw TK mouth something to Catherine as he sat down at the piano.

Catherine nodded and turned her back to the audience, much to their confusion. Some of the audience members voiced their displeasure and the judges wrote it down in their notes. Catherine became stiff as a board, but TK said something to make her relax a little. TK waited for Catherine, and when she nodded he started playing the piano.

It’s Not Like I Like You!!, Static-P

When TK started playing the piano and Catherine started singing the crowd slowly silenced their boos. Once TK joined in, the crowd was silent and the judges listened intently.

Catherine: Whaaa!

TK: “Hey! That’s pretty good!”

Catherine: “Wha-! No one asked you!”

TK: I’ve got myself just a little bit of love that I wanna spend on you

But baby, I’ll never get that chance to dance that romance with you

Oh, no, ‘cause you’re always hittin’

Catherine performed a karate chop.

And kickin’

She then did a small side kick.

And putting me down

I hope you don’t mean what you say

But I keep seeing you stickin’ around

TK and Catherine: Like you can’t get enough

So I stay and I wonder

How my hand would feel intertwined with yours?

TK reached a hand out to Catherine.

TK: As of now though

Catherine: “What are you doing?”

TK: Nothing but closed doors

TK pulled his hand back and started playing passionately.

My girl’s a Dere

A Tsun-TsunDere

Just saying “hi” gets me a punch in the face

And if I should compliment her, she starts to chase

Catherine: “Hey! That was a direct attack!”

Catherine flailed her arms around as if she were flustered and TK smirked.

TK: Oh, no! The wild cat found my hiding place!

Catherine composed herself and crossed her arms.

Catherine: “Stupid octopus! Take it back!”

A small part of the crowd started getting into their performance. Some clapped, others cheered, and Gekomon and Otamamon tapped their feet to the beat. No one was more happier to see this than Chloe.

“I knew this would've killed,” she squealed.

The Digimon agreed. They nodded their heads along to the music or hopped in their seats. The only one who wasn't moved by the music was Willis.

“It’s good, but…” Willis looked around the crowd and saw that some of them were still miffed that Catherine still wasn't facing them. ShogunGekomon also wasn't moving to the beat and still taking notes. “If Catherine doesn't sing to the crowd then I don’t know if they can win.”

TK: “So, uh, how am I an octopus?”

Catherine: “How am I a cat!?”

TK: “Well-uh, cats are cute!”

Catherine: “Go away!”

Catherine turned her head and waved her hand in TK's face.

TK: Can we get along? You’re so headstrong

Catherine: There’s no way, go away, now so long!

TK: Just talk to me and you will see

Catherine: That’s not fair, using flair you dummy!

Chloe was on the edge of her seat. Catherine’s solo was coming up and she was worried if her sister couldn't go through with it. She bit her lip and hoped for the best.

I’ve got myself just a little bit of love that I wanna spend on not you

‘Cause baby, I’m afraid you’ll say, that it’s not okay with you

Oh-oh, ‘cause you’re always laughin’

TK smirked

And jokin’

He then wiggled his eyebrows.

You look like a clown

TK puffed his cheeks and stuck out his tongue.

But I hope you mean what you say

TK: “I do”

Catherine clasped her hands together and acted like she was daydreaming.

Catherine: And I wonder what you would think

If I let my pride down, let it sink

Could we hold hands, kiss?

Live our lives in gentle bliss?

TK: “We could”

Catherine then acted flustered and backed away from TK.

Catherine: “Ah! I’m not talking about you!”

You’re not my prince in this

Catherine became stiff again and TK mouthed something to her. He then gave her a reassuring smile and nodded. Catherine took a quick breath and brought the mic to her face.

I’m not a Dere

A Tsun-TsunDere

I have a jello heart, I’m not that mean!

I’m not blushing, I was just rushing and forgot the sunscreen!

TK: “Your smile is really cute though”

Catherine grabbed her pigtails and covered her face.

Catherine: You’ll never see it from underneath my pigtails!

TK: “Alright I just wanted to let you know”

TK looked dejected and Catherine slowly scooted over to him

Catherine: “Uh-um hey”

TK: “Yeah? Are you okay?”

Catherine: “Y-Yeah, um, well, hehehe”

Hey, hey are you free free today?

TK: Oh ho ho, why do you want to know?

TK looked interested and Catherine looked away.

Catherine: It’s not like I like you, okay?!

TK: Alright cool, where do you want to go?

We could rent a boat and sail, find a bunny and feed it some juicy kale

Catherine: “No that sounds really stupid”

TK: Okay, well, how about a

Classy dinner by candlelight

Or scary stories till midnight

So then I could hold you tight

Catherine acted flustered and rapidly shook her head.

Catherine: “And get Cheeto crumbs on me?! No way!”

TK: Ba da ba da ba!

Catherine: Okay, I think you’re a little dense

I really do not like all this talk you have in the present tense

Ba ba da ba da!

So listen here buddy

It’s all just a big fantasy you see inside of your head! No!

So just say goodbye!

TK looked annoyed and rolled his eyes.

TK: “Ugh eh-whatever”

Catherine: Ba ba da ba da!

Chloe could now relax. Catherine got through her part with no hiccups. All that was left was the finale, and TK and Catherine would be singing that part together. She didn’t have to worry about either of them messing up and ruining their performance. Which was good because there was still a minority of the crowd not enjoying it, and ShogunGekomon was still writing his notes.

Chloe watched TK mouth something to Catherine. She then watched her sister turn and face the crowd. This quieted the small minority, and ShogunGekomon pulled his head out from his notes.

I’m not a Dere

A Tsun-TsunDere

TK:My girls a Dere a Tsun-TsunDere

Catherine: Hey! I can kick your butt even in this dress!

TK: Ugh! I digress! So let’s just go to the park I guess

Catherine crossed her arms and turned her head away from TK.

Catherine: “Pff, you wouldn’t even know what to bring”

TK: Oh, come on, will you please just say yes!

Catherine: “Geez fine, Baka Tako! It’s not like I’ll enjoy it or anything”

Catherine then softly smiled to the crowd with a playful giggle as the song came to an end.

After the final note on the piano was played the crowd erupted in applause. Gekomon and Otamamon were giving the two a standing ovation while ShogunGekomon was nodding with approval. TK gave a little wave while Catherine rushed off the stage.

“I can’t believe she did it,” Chloe said in disbelief. “Catherine sang in front of a crowd.”

“She had her back to the audience for most of the song,” Terriermon muttered, and Willis reprimanded him.

Chloe didn’t care. Nothing would ruin how proud she was of her sister.

For the second time in the span of a few minutes, TK was waiting outside of the bathroom. After their performance, Catherine ran straight to the bathroom to throw up, only allowing Floramon to be in there with her.

“You did great Catherine! I’m proud of you!” TK shouted. He heard the sound of a toilet flushing and the sound of running water from the sink.

Shortly after, Catherine emerged from the door feeling disgusting. “Oh, I hope I don’t ever have to do that again.”

“I heard that the top 3 performers would have to go out on stage at the end of the show,” Patamon spoke up and Catherine looked mortified.

“WHAT!?”

“But you won’t have to perform. It’s only to announce the winners,” Floramon clarified and led her partner to a bench. TK handed her a cup of water as they waited for the final performance to finish.

“I would like to say, whatever the outcome, I’m proud of you,” TK placed his arm around Catherine’s shoulder as she welcomed the embrace.

Gekomon took the stage one last time to the sound of a roaring audience. “First off, before we bring out our top 3 performers, I would like to thank everyone for coming out, and Meramon’s Spice Kitchen for catering this event!”

The audience clapped as Meramon waved to the crowd from the theater entrance.

“And I would also like to thank each and everyone of our contestants for coming out and singing for us! Can we give them a big round of applause!” The crowd clapped for a few seconds before Gekomon silenced them. “I will now hand off the mic to our judge, ShogunGekomon, to introduce our top three!”

Taking the stage was a large red amphibian Digimon with two horns coming out of its back. “Thank you Gekomon! It was hard deciding our top 3, but we came to a decision that we like and we hope you will too! Let’s welcome to the stage, Toy Agumon, Falcomon, and TK and Catherine!”

The audience cheered when they saw the four walk out onto the stage and stand underneath their spotlight.

“And the winner of Candlelight City’s 5th Annual Singing competition, and the 100,000 Digi-Dollar prize is…” A drumroll started playing as the spotlights waved around the stage. “ToyAgumon!

The crowd erupted with cheers as golden confetti rained down onto the stage. The others were disappointed but were proud of themselves for making it this far.

“I guess it’s gonna take a little longer to get that boat, huh?” Catherine said disappointed. TK rubbed her back to comfort her.

“Well, no one said this would be easy.”

The two walked off the stage and were met with their partners and a small tadpole Digimon.

“Congrats on making it to the Top 3!” It cheered. “I’m Otamamon and I was one of the judges!”

“Thanks, Otamamon, but we’re a little disappointed that we didn’t win. We could’ve used the money,” TK solemnly said.

“Did no one tell you?” Otamamon asked. “If you’re one of the two runners-up, you get 25,000 Digi-Dollars!”

TK and Catherine hugged each other to celebrate after hearing the good news. They’re now a lot closer to being able to afford the ship.

(Line Break)

TK, Catherine, and their partners were making their way back to the inn. They changed back into their normal clothes, though TK did try to steal the fedora from the theater.

“25,000 Digi-Dollars!” Patamon cheered. “After today we might only have to work for one more day to get that caravel!”

They walked through the inn’s entrance and were swarmed by their friends.

“You guys were amazing!” They cheered. TK and Catherine gave each other confused looks because they didn’t know what their friends were talking about.

“Huh?”

“The show! We saw you guys perform!” Chloe clarified, causing Catherine to feel a little dizzy.

“I need to sit down,” she said, moving to an empty couch. The group sat down with her as they started to count the money that they accumulated that day.

“It’s a shame that we didn’t win, but we did get 25,000 Digi-Dollars out of it,” TK placed the envelope holding the prize money down on the coffee table in front of them. “Plus the 15 Digi-Dollars we have and the 20 we got for my hat, we have 25,035 Digi-Dollars.”

Chloe and her group placed their envelopes down on the pile after TK. “Plus the 1,000 we made working in the library.”

Ken’s group followed suit as they placed down their money onto the pile. “We each got paid 1,000 Digi-Dollars and 3,382 Digi-Dollars in tips.”

“So that brings our total too…” Willis started to do some quick calculations in his head. “33,417 Digi-Dollars!”

“We have enough for the ship and have 1,417 to use for supplies!” Ryo cheered. Everyone started to celebrate as they rushed to Divermon’s Chandlery.

“Alright, everything should be set and ready to go!” Divermon said as his two co-workers finished loading their supplies onto the ship.

“Thank you for everything, you’ve been a great help,” TK said as he handed over the money to pay for the ship.

“Don’t mention it, but one more thing and everything will be ready…” Divermon quickly ran into his shop before running back out with a bottle. “Every new ship must be christened with a bottle of champagne.”

TK took the bottle and looked at his friends. “To a new adventure!”

“And to new friends!” They cheered as TK smashed the bottle against the ship.

Chapter Text

Peace. Even though it was cloudy with light rain, it was peaceful. Quiet, too. Only the sounds of waves crashing against their ship were the only noises they heard.

“Oh, we be pirates. We love to sail the seven seas.

Just a bunch of scallywags who are as free as free could be.

We swim through storms and waves all because you see.

Great treasure and adventure waiting just for me!”

“CHLOE! Get down from there and come inside. We’re planning our next moves! And stop singing that song!” Catherine yelled at her sister, who was currently up in the crow's nest. It’s been a few minutes since they departed from Candlelight City, and Chloe has done nothing but sing that annoying song. It was cute the first time she sang it, but it quickly lost its charm.

“‘Kay!” Chloe slowly made her way down to her sister.

“This girl,” Catherine quietly muttered under her breath.

The twins joined up with the others who were in their kitchen area. TK and Ken were talking with each other, probably about their past adventures, while Willis was currently studying his Digivice. Surprisingly, Ryo was at the stove making them food, and unsurprisingly, the Digimon were trying to sneak in a few snacks before dinner.

“Now that everyone is here, what should we do next?” TK asked out loud when he saw the twins had arrived.

“I say we should circle around the island to see if we missed anything, and after that, we should pick a random direction and hope for the best,” Willis suggested. Though they hated the idea of randomly picking a direction, it was probably their best plan to go with.

“Yeah, though maybe our Digivices could pick up a signal so we’re not traveling the Digital World completely blind,” Ken agreed with Willis, with a little more optimism.

“That’s a start. Is there anything else we should go over?” TK asked.

“What are we going to do about night? How are our sleeping arrangements going to be, and who’s going to make sure we don’t crash? I don’t want to wake up at the bottom of the ocean,” Ryo called out.

“Well, I don’t know about you boys, but me and Chloe will be sleeping close to each other,” Catherine stated and no one argued with her, they all assumed that the siblings would want to be close to each other.

“We set the hammocks up like bunk beds, so pick someone who you’re comfortable with and decide what hammock you want,” Willis said. “Now for steering the ship, I propose we do it in shifts. Since there are six of us, plus our partners, I think each of our shifts should last about an hour and twenty minutes so we can all get an equal amount of sleep.”

“No problem here. So who’s going to take the first shift?” Chloe asked, and TK raised his hand.

“I’ll do it. After we finish circling the island, Angemon and I can fly around the island and use my Digivice to see if the crest is more inland,” TK suggested, and everyone nodded. Soon, everyone started volunteering for when they’ll stay up to watch the ship. Catherine volunteered to go last because she was used to getting up early back at home, and Floramon added that she wanted to see the sunrise.

Ryo came over to the table with a pot of stew, and he started to pour the liquid into everyone's bowl. The Digimon instantly dug into their dinner while the kids took their time to eat.

“This is delicious, Ryo. When did you learn to cook?” Chloe asked, and Ryo smiled.

“I taught myself! My parents usually work late, so I have to fend for myself,” Ryo said pridefully. “Willis also told me that since we don’t know how long it will take until we’re on land again, we can’t waste any food.”

The mood changed after Ryo said that. Maybe the high of buying a ship made them forget about how important food is going to be. There are thirteen of them in total, and from what TK told them about Digimon stomachs basically being bottomless pits, then food is going to be pretty scarce. Plus, Digimon need a lot of energy to Digivolve, so they might even have to skip a few meals in favor of feeding their partners.

TK thought back to his first adventure and how they didn’t have a lot of food. After their first day in the Digital World, they ate all of the food they had because the Digimon were too tired to hunt for themselves. After that day, they ate every edible piece of food that they came across, whether it came from a forest or village they weren’t going to pass up free food. Maybe that’s the reason he always cleans his plate, no matter what was served.

“Let’s not think about that now, and besides, we can have Angemon forage for food when he’s out looking for the crest,” Ken said to cheer everyone up.

“You’re right, and we still have a lot of food left,” Ryo said.

Everyone started to feel a little better, but they knew that the food they had now won’t last. But Ken was right. They can’t worry about food right now. They should be happy they’re a lot closer to finding the crests than they were a day ago.

“Hey, is it okay if we have seconds?” Patamon asked. He and the other Digimon held up their empty bowls. The Digidestined laughed, even if times get rough as long as they have their partners, they know everything will be alright.

Bitterness, that’s all he felt. It was a nice, warm, sunny day, and he hated it. Even though it was warm, Matt decided to wear a black sweatshirt to match what he was feeling in his heart. He didn’t have a good day yesterday, he was late for his bass lesson, he missed dinner, and when things couldn’t have gotten any worse, his mother called in the middle of the night saying that his brother is missing. But, he couldn’t care less.

He didn’t know why. Any good big brother would care that their younger brother is missing, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. It’s not like he sees him all the time, outside of their adventures in the Digital World and whenever they see their grandparents. Plus, he’s in France. What did his mother expect him to do? Fly to a different country to find someone who’s probably with their friends. That would just be a waste of time and money if you asked him.

Besides, he has his own stuff to worry about. He and a group of guys from school are planning to form a band with him as lead vocals. Also, he’s almost done with his bass lessons, and that’s gonna help with the band. He almost wanted to play the guitar. His dad even bought him one but decided to go with the bass because he liked the sound better and felt like it suited him more.

Matt was coming up to the school, and he saw Sora waiting by the front steps. She was wearing all black, a black shirt, black pants, black shoes, and even a black hat that he didn’t even know she had. She gave him an uninterested wave, but he didn’t react.

“Pretty rude, don’t ya think?” Sora said dryly after he reached the school.

“Didn’t feel like it,” Matt responded, and Sora rolled her eyes.

“Whatever,” she sighed. “Heard about TK going missing.”

“And?” Matt scoffed. He expected Sora to blow up in his face, lecturing him about how he should care about his younger brother, but she didn’t seem to care. The only reaction that she gave was her eyes widening a little, and you wouldn’t have even noticed it if you weren’t paying attention.

“Just thought I'd show you my support and see how you were feeling,” she said, and Matt felt a little annoyed by this.

“I don’t need your support, I’m not my brother's keeper! Whatever happened in France is out of my control!” Matt yelled at her. He didn’t know why. She was just trying to be a good friend, and he yelled at her for it. Too bad for him, because he made her angry.

“Well sorry for trying to be a good friend, you jerk! I thought you of all people would understand!” She yelled back at him. Any remorse that Matt had for yelling at her earlier was long gone and was replaced with nothing but rage for the girl.

“I never asked for you to be a friend! I don’t remember asking to be your friend in the first place, and if it wasn’t for the Digital World, we wouldn’t even know each other!” Matt screamed. Time froze after those words left his mouth. He didn’t mean any of them, yet something in his heart was glad that he said them.

Who did Matt think he was? She was trying to be nice, and he blew up in her face for no reason. She hated that he yelled at her, hated everything he said, and she even started to hate him.

A cough broke them out of their trance. It was Tai. For some reason, he was wearing puffy clothes, but what really got their attention was that he was shaking with tears in his eyes. How long has he been standing there, and how much did he hear? Matt didn’t want to know, so he slowly walked up the stairs and into the school. Not before leaving one last comment for the girl, and to some extent, Tai.

“Just… Just leave me alone.”

Now alone, Tai was worried about both of his friends. Matt seemed distant, and Sora looked like she was ready to rip Matt apart. He didn’t know what caused the argument. He knew how it ended, but he was scared that their friendship would end.

“Uh… Sora?” Tai meekly said.

“Not now, Tai!” Sora snapped at him. He flinched, but she didn’t notice. She paid more thought to how she could get back at Matt. She ran after the blond boy, leaving Tai alone.

“Everything will be fine… I-It has to b-be,” he told himself, but he didn’t know how much he believed it.

TK huffed as he leaned back in his chair. If this was how his friends felt when they kept watch during their first adventure, then he should thank them because he was bored out of his mind. It was pouring out, so he was relegated to using the windows in the kitchen area, which was a struggle in itself. The rain covered the windows, making it difficult to look out of, resulting in him needing to look through the door and getting a little wet. He’s extremely grateful that the ship's steering mechanism was also in the kitchen, so if he saw that there was something in the ship’s way, he could easily change direction.

“How much longer, TK?” Patamon asked with a yawn. TK looked at his Digivice and saw they had about 10 minutes left until they had to wake Ken and Wormmon for their shift. They actually set up their sleeping arrangements around their shift order, with him and Ken sharing a bunk, Willis and Ryo sharing a bunk, and obviously, Catherine and Chloe sharing a bunk.

“Not much longer, buddy,” he told his winged companion. He got up from his seat to check through the front door to make sure there wasn’t anything in their path. Thankfully, there wasn’t anything, but he chose to keep looking out the door. Maybe he wanted to make sure there was nothing because it was really dark, or maybe he wanted some fresh air he wasn’t exactly sure.

He must’ve kept the door open for too long because Patamon started to get worried.

“You gonna close the door soon? You’re getting wet,” Patamon said, and TK broke out of his trance. He quickly closed the door and quickly returned to his seat. Patamon soon flew onto his lap, giving him a worried look. “Everything ok?”

“I was just thinking about something Ryo said earlier,” TK told his partner, and Patamon cocked his head.

“Is it about the food? Because we can go foraging when we search for the crest,” Patamon said, and TK just shook his head.

“It’s not that. It’s what he said about his parents. I didn’t say anything because I was too caught up in being back in the Digital World and the others didn’t seem to mind but, how do you think our parents reacted to us being transported to the Digital World?” During his first adventure, they got lucky because time in the Digital World moved faster than in the Real World, so to everyone else, they were gone for a few minutes. But after they defeated the Dark Masters and Apocalymon, the Real World and the Digital world synced up, and each world’s time moved at the same pace.

“We’ve been here for three days, going into our fourth! Back then, it took us days to find the crests and weeks until we were able to go back home!” Even though it’s a little selfish of him to think this, he can’t spend weeks in the Digital World, he has a life in the Real World and so does the others. Plus, how does his mother feel after all of this?

His mother was worried when he had to go back to the Digital World after they defeated VenomMyotismon, and she forced him to move with her to France after the Diaboromon incident. She wasn’t even home when he was summoned to the Digital World, so for all she knows, he was kidnapped on his way home. She must be freaking out right now.

“Then you have a great reason to find the crests quickly,” Patamon said, making TK feel a little better. The sooner they find the crest, the sooner they save the Digital World, and they could go home.

“You’re right, Patamon,” TK checked his Digivice and saw they had a minute left until their shift ended. “Hey, you can go to sleep now. We only have a minute left.”

“No, I want to see this until the end with you TK,” Patamon said, barely keeping his eyes open. TK smiled at his partner and rubbed his head.

“Thanks, buddy.”

“What the heck Joe, where were you last night!? I had to do the whole project last night!” Joe’s glasses-wearing classmate yelled at him.

Joe dreaded going to school all morning, not because of his classes or any failed tests, but because of his classmate. He abandoned him to do all their work, and he didn’t even know why he did it. He never left his work to be done by his classmates, even if he didn’t know the subject.

“S-Sorry, I was just tired, and I couldn’t make it,” Joe tried to explain himself. He knew it wasn’t a good excuse, but it was the only one he had, and it was the truth.

“So, I’m always tired after school! I’m extremely tired right now because I had to stay up late to do your work!” He screamed, obviously not liking Joe’s excuse.

Joe flinched. He should’ve expected this was how his classmate would’ve reacted. He’s in high school, so being tired isn’t a good excuse because everyone is tired. He felt horrible that his classmate had to stay up late to do his work.

“I’m sorry, is there anything I could do to make it up to you?” Joe pleaded. He knows that he’s not the smartest or most physically gifted student in their school, but people know they could always rely on him for help.

“I want you to do all of today's homework for me. I need a break after last night,” his classmate said, and Joe nodded. It’s the least he could do, plus he needs to face some repercussions after what he did. It’s going to be a lot, not only doing his classmate's homework but his own as well, he’s most likely going to have to stay up late but if he wants to become a doctor then he’s going to need to get used to pulling all nighters.

“Deal! I’ll even change a few of my answers so you’ll get a higher grade!” Joe promised, even though he wasn’t asked to. His classmate just rolled his eyes.

A few minutes passed since TK and Angemon left to go search inland. Turns out the island they were originally on wasn’t that big since they passed Candlelight City by morning. Since it was smaller than expected, they almost decided not to search inland, but they went ahead with their original plan because it’s better to be safe than sorry. Plus, TK said that he and Angemon would go out and look for food, which was a big part of why they chose to stick with the plan.

To the shock of no one, it was still raining which disappointed Floramon because she wanted to see the sunrise, but the rain wasn’t coming down hard so the others could walk around the ship if they didn’t mind getting a little wet.

Chloe was back in the Crowsnest humming the song she sang yesterday, while Catherine was warning her sister to be careful. Ken was cleaning the deck because he was worried mold would form from all the rain, and Floramon decided to help him. Ryo, Wormmon, and Penguinmon were using the fishing net they got from the Divermon to fish for extra food for their journey. While the rest of their group stayed indoors because they didn’t want to get wet.

“Are you sure this will work?” Wormmon asked Ryo, who responded by chuckling while rubbing the back of his head.

“I’ve watched a lot of TV back home, and this is how they caught fish,” Ryo said. He wanted to use one of the fishing rods because he thought it would be easier, but he didn’t have any bait and he didn’t want to waste any of their food if he didn’t catch anything. “Just throw the net in the water, and we pull up the net. After some time has passed, we’ll have a bunch of fish.”

Penguinmon’s mouth watered at the prospect of a lot of fish. It was her favorite food, even though she had never had it before. Ryo noticed the expression on Penguinmon’s face, and he chuckled.

“If we get a big haul I’ll let you have a few fish,” Ryo said, and Penguinmon cheered.

Suddenly, the net started to rise out of the water, startling the boy and Digimon, who were fishing. Ryo knew that no one was pulling up the net, so how was the net moving on its own? His question was soon answered because a huge white squid rose out of the water with the net on its head. Even though he hasn’t been in the Digital World for a long time, he knew that this creature wasn’t a fish.

Ryo couldn’t move nor could he speak. He was terrified by the giant squid, and why wouldn’t he be. It had no eyes, two giant tentacle arms with claws, and a huge mouth and sharp teeth. He should move and warn the others of this monster. He should try to fight this thing off and protect the others, but he can’t. The only solace he can take in this situation is that the squid wasn’t moving.

It didn’t last long because the squid was bringing one of its huge tentacles down onto the ship. Ryo couldn’t move. He was frozen in place. All he could do was close his eyes and wait for impact.

“Beat Knuckle!”

Ryo opened his eyes and saw Monodramon punch away the tentacle. He then felt someone pull on his shoulders.

“You need to move, Ryo!” Ken’s voice rang through his ears. Ryo quickly shook his head and followed the boy to safety.

“What is that thing?!” Ryo shouted.

“That’s Gesomon: It’s known as the White Demon of the Depths. It only attacks creatures that end up in its territory !” Wormmon explained.

“Then why is it so close to the surface!?” Ken shouted, and no one had an answer for him. The boys and Wormmon joined up with the rest of the group who were away from the action.

“What are we gonna do? We can’t let that thing destroy the ship!” Catherine exclaimed.

“We have to fight it!” Willis answered, and Catherine looked at him, eyes widened.

“You expect us to fight that thing!”

“We just need to hold it off until TK and Angemon get back!” Ken said.

As this was going on, Ryo was lost in thought. He didn’t know why he froze when he saw Gesomon. He wasn’t scared when he saw other Digimon, so why was Gesomon different? Was it because of the lack of eyes, sharp teeth, or giant tentacles Ryo didn’t know? What he did know was that if it wasn’t for Monodramon, then he would have been… Wait a second.

Ryo looked around, trying to find the Dragon Digimon, but he was nowhere to be found. Wasn’t he with him when Ken pulled him away from Gesomon? Ryo didn’t remember. He was lost in his own head during that time. If Monodramon wasn’t with him, then that means…

Monodramon cried out in pain from being crushed by one of Gesomon’s tentacles. Ryo felt his heart twinge with pain in guilt from hearing his partner’s scream. While he was frozen in fear, Monodramon jumped in to protect him, and now it was time for him to return the favor. Without a second thought, Ryo charged at the giant squid, ignoring the others’ cries because he only had one thought on his mind.

“Let go of him, you freak!” Ryo shouted at the monster. There was a bright light that covered both Ryo’s Digivice and Monodramon.

“Monodramon Digivolve to…” Monodramon grew bigger as he gained metal plates on his hands, feet, ankles, shoulders, head, and the tip of his tail. Long orange hair peeked out from underneath his helmet, and he gained a pair of green pants. “Strikedramon!”

“Whoah,” Ryo said, shocked by the transformation of his partner.

“Who’s that?” Ken asked.

“That’s Strikedramon: Watch out for his Strike Fang attack because it’ll leave with more than a serious burn, ” Penguinmon explained, and Ryo grinned from ear to ear hearing this.

“Go get 'em, Strikedramon!” Ryo cheered on his partner.

Smoke started to form in Gesomon’s tentacle when suddenly Strikedramon burst into flames. Gesomon cried out in pain and tried to throw the flaming Digimon, but Strikedramon held on tightly. He started to climb up the tentacle until he gained his footing and charged at the Squid Digimon’s head.

“Strike Fang!”

Strikedramon made full contact with Gesomon’s head, leaving behind a burn mark and making the giant squid cry out in pain. Not letting up its attacks, Strikedramon started to use its claws to viciously attack the burn mark. Not being able to withstand the attacks, Gesomon dove deep underwater to not only get Strikedramon off of it but also to escape.

The flames on Strikedramon were extinguished after he landed in the water before reverting back to Monodramon. Thinking quickly, Ryo used the net to pull his partner back onto the ship.

“You were amazing, Monodramon!” Ryo hugged the Digimon in a big bear hug, slightly suffocating the creature.

“Thank you, but you’re kinda choking me!” Monodramon said while trying to breathe. Ryo loosened his grip and gave him an awkward chuckle.

“Sorry, but you were really amazing! And thank you for saving me earlier,” Ryo said, and Monodramon blushed.

“I knew you would do the same if you were in my situation,” Monodramon said bashfully before his stomach growled.

“Why don’t I make you something to eat as a reward for what you did,” Ryo offered, and Monodramon nodded as the two headed to the kitchen.

TK and Angemon soon landed back on the ship, carrying bags of food.

“We’re back, and - What happened?” TK asked when he noticed his friends were looking a little tired.

“We’ll tell you later,” Catherine groaned. TK and Angemon just gave each other confused looks as they took the food to the kitchen where they saw Monodramon devour whatever food was left on his plate.

Chapter Text

Spirits were high knowing that they had two Digimon that could digivolve they felt safer. Whatever monster came to attack them, they knew they wouldn’t have to be afraid because Angemon and Strikedramon would protect them. Maybe they were a little overconfident, but they didn’t care. They were happy.

They decided to hold a vote on which direction they should go. It had to be a unanimous decision not to upset anyone. It wasn’t difficult for everyone to agree on a direction because no one knew where anything was, and it was nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see. Ryo suggested that they go straight from Candlelight City, and everyone agreed.

As they were sailing to who knows where the Digidestined were doing work around the ship. Tired from the Gesomon attack, both Monodramon and Ryo decided to take a nap, which no one objected to. TK took over the fishing with the help of both Floramon and Penguinmon, Chloe and Patamon were up in the crow’s nest looking out for any islands, while Catherine, Willis, Terriermon, and Lopmon were inside steering the ship.

Ken was cleaning the ship far away from the others, and unlike them, he did not share the same sense of cheerfulness they felt. His mind kept wandering back to the Gesomon attack and how little he did to help. Sure, he pulled Ryo away to safety, but he didn’t help with the actual fight. He knows that he wouldn’t have been able to do anything against the giant squid, but it didn’t stop Ryo from running after his partner.

What if Wormmon was in the same position as Monodramon? Would he run in to save him? He would like to say yes, but he wasn’t entirely sure. Digimon are powerful and could easily kill him if they tried, but TK and Ryo know this, and that didn’t stop them from putting their lives in danger to help the group and their partners. Ken doesn’t know if he has the courage that they have.

He suddenly heard the sound of buzzing, making him jump. He looked around and noticed that he wasn’t on the ship anymore but in a hot desert. He felt a heavy wind as sand blinded him. He quickly covered his eyes and ran in a random direction, not caring where he was going just as long as he got out of this sandstorm.

“Ken!”

Someone shouted his name, but he didn’t stop. He had to get out of this storm. He kept going, ignoring the stinging pain from the sandstorm, ignoring his aching feet, ignoring everything that was telling him to stop. He didn’t slow down until he stopped feeling sand scrape against his skin. He opened his eyes and saw that he was out of the storm, feeling great relief.

He wanted to cheer, but he noticed that he was by himself, his friends were missing, and so was Wormmon. He called out to them, hoping for a response, but all he heard was the sound of a light wind blowing through. He walked around, calling out to his friends every few seconds, listening for some type of response. He kept going until he saw something that terrified him. It was the sandstorm.

He was about to run away when he quickly noticed the sandstorm wasn’t blowing anywhere. It stayed in one place. Ken placed his hand through it and quickly pulled it out when he felt the stinging pain from earlier. It was like the sandstorm was some kind of barrier meant to keep him out. Not seeing any reason for him to stay, Ken turned to leave to go look for his friends.

“Ken!”

He froze in place. It was Wormmon’s voice calling out to him, and it was coming from the sandstorm. Ken faced the storm, unable to move, because he was scared of getting hurt, but Wormmon was in there, and he had to save his friend. But he kept pulling away, not wanting to get hurt from the storm.

The buzzing sound from earlier was getting louder as Ken kept trying to break through the barrier. But he couldn’t. The sand hurt too much, and the buzzing was louder than before. He was about to do a running start when suddenly a giant gray dragonfly broke through the barrier and flew straight towards him.

“KEN!”

He was back on the ship with no giant dragonfly in sight. It was just him and Wormmon out on the deck as everyone ran inside due to the heavy rain.

“Are you ok? You wouldn’t respond to me earlier,” a worried Wormmon said, and Ken hugged the bug Digimon.

“Don’t worry about it, pal. I was just lost in my thoughts,” Ken told him. The rain started to come down harder than before, and Ken noticed how soaked he was. “Let’s hurry inside before the rain washes the color out of my clothes.”

The two rushed through the kitchen door to find everyone, minus Ryo and Monodramon, sitting at the kitchen table bored out of their minds. Willis had his head in the book he got from Candlelight City, Chloe and Catherine were talking with each other, and TK was staring at the ceiling, waiting for time to go by quickly. Ken put Wormmon down and urged the insect Digimon to go join the other Digimon in the corner. Wormmon reluctantly wiggled over to the other Digimon as Ken joined the others at the table.

“Get enough water?” TK jokingly asked after Ken sat down. He just brushed off the blond boy’s joke and put his head down.

“Do you guys think we’re close to an island?” Ken asked. After being cooped up on the ship for a day, he was ready to be on land again.

“Closer than we were a few hours ago,” Willis responded, not turning his head away from his book.

Ken checked at his Digivice for the time. He groaned when he saw that it was a few minutes past noon. Seeing that the rain wasn’t going to let up soon, Ken decided to go take a nap to pass the time.

“I’m gonna go take a nap,” Ken told the others as he got up from the table.

“Don’t get my hammock wet,” TK told him, and he responded with a thumbs up.

Ken quickly climbed into his hammock and allowed the rocking of the ship to lull him to sleep.

He was back in the desert again, but this time, there was no sandstorm. He was in the middle of nowhere with the hot sun baking him alive. He wanted to move, but the heat wouldn’t let him. He laid back accepting his fate when suddenly he felt something poke at his foot.

It was a giant green caterpillar with a look of pure joy on its face.

“It’s you! I’ve been waiting so long to meet you, and you’re finally here!” It said with pure joy.

“Wormmon?” Ken asked. He slowly sat up, and Wormmon quickly jumped into his chest.

“I’ve dreamed of this day my whole life, and you’re here!” Wormmon snuggled into his chest. Ken got up and pulled Wormmon away from his chest and looked the bug Digimon in the eye.

“Y-You don’t remember me?” Ken asked, feeling a little confused as to why his partner doesn’t know who he is.

“What do you mean? This is the first time we’re meeting,” Wormmon told him, surprising the boy. How did Wormmon not remember him after everything they’ve been through? All of a sudden, Ken was hit with a huge sense of nostalgia, he’s been in this desert before and not when he was daydreaming earlier, but when he was younger.

It was a year ago, and he and his brother were hanging in their room when a strange device came out of his computer. He thought it was meant for his brother Osamu, or Sam, as he sometimes likes to be called, but he felt like it was calling for him. Sam put the device in a drawer and told him not to touch it. Ken agreed, but he kept feeling the call of the device.

One day, when Sam was out, Ken opened the drawer to look at the device. Sam never said he wasn’t allowed to look at the device. He just couldn’t touch it. Ken wanted to follow his brother’s wishes. He really did, but the device’s call was too strong. It wouldn’t hurt if he just held it for a few seconds, would it?

He grasped the device in his hand, feeling its metallic casing and its shape. Even though he knew he was doing something wrong, disobeying his brother’s wishes, he felt that he was supposed to do this. He was so engrossed with the device that he didn’t notice he was being engulfed by a bright light. However, he did notice being sucked into the computer and landing in the desert.

“Are you ao, Ken?” Wormmon asked, and Ken nodded.

He got up and carried Wormmon in the same direction that he went when he was younger. Why was he going this way he didn’t know, but if he was reliving a memory, then he should do the same thing he did the first time.

“Where are we going, Ken?” Wormmon asked. Ken didn’t answer his partner. He just kept walking.

Ken’s been walking for what seems like hours now, and he feels like he’s walked further than he did the first time he was here. Was he looking for an answer to a question that he didn’t remember, or was he looking for a way to go back home? Maybe he was looking for a way to get out of this heat, as he started to see his skin turn red from sunburn.

“Wormmon, do you know if there’s any shade close by like a cave or mountain?” Ken asked after being silent for so long.

“I don’t know anything about caves or cliffs, but I’ve heard rumors of there being a giant cactus somewhere,” Wormmon answered, and Ken groaned. The only form of shade that Wormmon knows about is a rumor, and it might not even be in the desert they’re in.

Out of nowhere, the sandstorm came back. Ken quickly covered his eyes and ran in a random direction, hoping to find a way out of the storm. Ken seethed in pain as he felt the sand cut his skin, which didn’t help his sunburn at all. It was also getting harder to breathe because the strong winds were making it harder to take in oxygen, but he couldn’t give up. He had to get out.

Ken kept running until he couldn’t feel the sand scratching against his skin anymore. He opened his eyes and saw that he was out of the storm, but before he could celebrate, he realized that Wormmon wasn’t with him. He called out to his partner, but he didn’t get a response. They must’ve been separated during the storm.

Ken looked for his partner, hoping that he was close by, but he couldn’t spot the small caterpillar Digimon. He kept going until he saw something that froze him in place, the sandstorm. Ken was about to run when he noticed the storm wasn’t moving but staying in one place. Ken was going to disregard the storm, seeing that it wasn’t a threat to him anymore, but froze in his tracks when he heard someone call out to him.

“KEN!”

It was Wormmon. His friend wasn’t able to make it out, and he abandoned him there. Ken sprinted to the storm with every purpose of saving his friend but froze when he reached the edge of the storm. He reached his hand in and seethed in pain as he felt the sand scratch him.

Ken quickly pulled his hand out, not being able to take the pain anymore. He couldn’t go into the storm to save his friend unless he wanted to get hurt. He was scared because he couldn’t do anything to save his friend.

“KEN!” Wormmon cried out again, and Ken started to cry. He was useless.

He soon heard a buzzing noise coming from inside the storm, and it was getting louder and louder. Ken covered his ears to block it out, but he could still hear it. It kept getting louder until a giant gray dragonfly burst through the sandstorm and flew straight at him.

Ken shot up, breathing heavily from his nightmare, though it wasn’t just a nightmare but a memory. He considers it one of the best days of his life the day he met Wormmon and came into this amazing world. Being transported in the middle of a desert and being caught up in a sandstorm wasn’t amazing, but you had to take the good with the bad.

He heard a loud buzzing noise, similar to the one from his dream echoing throughout his head. He covered his ears to block out the noise, but it still echoed throughout his head. He wasn’t the only one to hear the buzzing.

“I don’t remember setting an alarm!” Ryo seethed after being rudely awakened. Monodramon woke up growling, showing his displeasure of being woken up. Soon, Chloe entered the room with a look of urgency on her face.

“Wake up, boys! We got trouble!” She told them, and they all raced after her.

The trio ran out onto the deck to see the others watching the sky. Ken, Ryo, and Monodramon followed their gaze, and they saw Angemon fighting a swarm of giant bees with four purple wings.

“Who are they?!” Ryo asked.

“They’re Flymon: The buzzing from their wings can be heard for miles! ” Floramon explained. Flymon shot a brown stinger, and everyone dodged the oncoming attack. “Watch out for their stingers as well. They can paralyze you!”

Angemon was struggling with the swarm, not being able to hit a direct attack because he had to keep dodging the oncoming stingers. Angemon was getting tired, and he didn’t know how long he could hold off the swarm. Ryo gripped his digivice and turned to Monodramon.

“You ready?” Ryo said determinedly, and Monodramon nodded. “Then let’s do this!”

“Wait!” Willis stopped them before Monodramon could digivolve.

“What?” Ryo asked.

“They’re too high up, Strikedramon can’t fly! And before you suggest he jump up there, we don’t know how high he can jump, and even if he could he might land in the water or worse, accidentally put a hole through our ship,” Willis said and Ryo balled his fists in frustration.

“So you’re saying we should do nothing!?” Willis shook his head and looked at his partners.

“No, we try to distract some of the Flymon to help out, Angemon!” Willis stated, and Terriermon and Lopmon started firing off their attacks at the bee Digimon.

“Terrier Tornado!”

“Tiny Twister!”

Terriermon and Lopmon started to spin as small tornadoes formed from their ears. The small tornadoes flew up and hit one of the Flymon, but it didn’t seem to faze it. Not wasting any time the rest of the Digimon joined in on the attack.

“Ice Prism!” Penguinmon shot ice shards at a Flymon.

“Rain of Pollen!”

“Sticky Net!”

Terriermon and Lopmon also sent out their attacks, and they all landed a direct hit. That got one of the Flymon’s attention because it flew straight at them. Angemon tried to stop it, but he was swarmed by the rest of the Flymon. The DigiDestined spread out when the Flymon flying towards them shot its stinger.

Ken landed hard when he dove out of the way. He was separated from the others and Wormmon. The rain started to get heavier, making it hard to see in front of him. He thought he was safe from the Flymon until he saw it through the rain, heading straight for him. He tried to get up, but he slipped and hit the ground hard.

Suddenly, he was back in the desert and a different bug Digimon was flying at him. He couldn’t move; he was frozen with fear. He started to cry because no one was going to save him, not his parents, not Sam, and not even Wormmon. He was all alone and about to be eaten by a giant dragonfly in a strange world.

He was blinded by his tears and couldn’t see his Digivice light up or the emergence of another bug Digimon coming through the sandstorm. It didn’t look like a bug but more like a human wearing a green and black exoskeleton. It had pincers on its feet, claws on its hand, two long antennae on its head, and two giant insect wings. It tackled the giant dragonfly to the ground, saving Ken’s life.

Ken was back on the ship, and before him was the same bug Digimon tackling Flymon to the ground. A pink blade made of light emerged from his knuckle, and he slashed the bee Digimon. Ken felt a hand on his shoulder and saw TK pull him away from the fight. Ken let the blond drag him to others.

“What happened to Wormmon?” Chloe asked, and TK pointed at the insectoid Digimon who was currently cutting the Flymon. “Who’s he know then?”

“That’s Stingmon: They say his blade can cut you like a blade through hot butter! ” Monodramon explained as Stingmon defeated the Flymon that attacked the ship. He then flew up to help Angemon defeat the rest of the Flymon.

“Mind if I buzz in?” Stingmon quipped as he sliced at the Stingmon that was behind Angemon’s back.

“You don’t hear me complaining,” Angemon said with a smirk. They both flew back to back, with Angemon gripping his staff and Stingmon having his blade drawn.

The Flymon charged at them, but they were ready as Stingmon managed to parry their stingers with his blade while Angemon knocked them back with his staff. Stingmon slashed a few Flymon, causing them to flee while Angemon used his staff to make the rest of the Flymon join the other retreating Flymon. There was one Flymon left shooting its stinger at the two, but they didn’t let it affect them.

“Can I have the honors?” Stingmon asked, and Angemon nodded.

Stingmon called out his blade and flew straight at the remaining Flymon.

“Spiking Strike!” Stingmon sliced the side of the Flymon’s body, causing it to cry out in pain. Not being able to withstand any more pain, the Flymon left and joined its swarm. Sighing in relief, both Angemon and Stingmon descended back onto the ship and turned back into Patamon and Wormmon, who soon jumped into their partners’ embrace.

“Did I do good, TK?” Patamon asked, and the blond smiled and rubbed the top of his head.

“You were amazing, Patamon!” TK told his partner.

“How about me, Ken?” Wormmon asked, and Ken had a blank stare.

He was back in the desert, and the giant dragonfly was retreating as Stingmon reverted back into Wormmon. Ken was speechless. His small caterpillar friend jumped in to save his life.

“Is everything ok, Ken?” Wormmon asked him, and he hugged the bug Digimon with tears in his eyes.

“Thank you!” Ken said between sobs.

“It’s ok, I’ll always be there to protect you!” Wormmon told him.

Ken was back on the ship, and he gave Wormmon a big hug.

“You were awesome, Wormmon!”

Chapter Text

Everyone was avoiding her, and she didn’t mind it at all. The teachers were worried but she didn’t care. She wanted to be avoided, to be feared by her peers. It made her feel powerful.

“Okay, everyone, we’re starting our projects today! Please pair up with your partners,” her teacher told the class. Yesterday, her teacher announced they were going to do a project, and she allowed them to pick their partners. Now, she would have preferred to be with her friend Yui, but the world seemed to have other plans.

“Hey, Kari!” A boy with spiky maroon hair said. This is Daisuke Motomiya, or Davis, as he likes to be called, and he is the bane of her existence.

They met last summer when her family visited her brother at soccer camp. He was on the same team as Tai for the most part, and they formed some type of bond. He idolized Tai to the point of emulating the way her brother acted and dressed, and he even got his own pair of goggles to be just like Tai. Her brother thought it was endearing, but she thought it was creepy.

“Hello, Daisuke,” Kari said, using the boy's given name. She was not looking forward to this class when she came into school this morning. Yesterday, when they were picking their partners, Davis came out of nowhere and pretty much begged her to be his partner, and being the nice person she was, she said yes. Now, after sleeping on it, she wished she had turned down the boy’s request and partnered up with her friend.

Kari knew that she was going to do most of the work when she came into class. Sure, Davis wasn’t an idiot but his grades were below average. Whatever work Davis does she’ll change it when she gets home. Though Davis does have his uses, she could make him present their project because he’s great at talking in front of others, and the less she had to talk, the better.

As expected, Kari did most of the work, and Davis helped out a little bit, though Kari made a mental note of what Davis did. Everything was going well until Kari noticed Davis moving around in his seat. It made her feel uncomfortable, and it made matters worse when she noticed the blush on his face, letting her know what was going to happen.

“Hey, I was wondering after school if you would like to go on a-”

Kari stood up from her seat and walked away from the boy before he could finish his question. It was the main thing that she hated about Davis, his not-so-subtle crush on her. She felt flattered at first, but after a while, it started to get annoying. It also freaked her out because Davis mimicked her brother so much that it was like Tai asking her out.

She told the teacher that she was going to the bathroom and left the room. She enjoyed the silence that echoed throughout the hallway. It was comforting and made her feel whole. She made it to the bathroom and splashed water on her face. She wasn’t going back to class; she wouldn’t be able to stand another minute working with Davis.

The sound of the ocean filled her ears again, the same ocean she heard last night. It scared her at first, but there was something comforting about the noise. Something about the noise was the only thing that made her happy.

Static rained over a mirror like it was a TV. Kari knew that she should be freaking out, but she had seen weirder things before. Two red eyes and a shadow figure could be seen behind the static. It reached its webbed hand out to her, and she reached out to take it.

The bell rang, and the shadow figure was replaced by her reflection. Kari shook her head and walked out of the bathroom. Even though the shadow figure was unnerving, Kari hoped that it would return someday.

In the ship’s dining area, Chloe was dancing for Penguinmon. She moved around the room quietly to not wake anyone up. She memorized every movement she saw during her lessons and recitals for perfect execution. She finished her performance, and Penguinmon clapped, and Chloe quickly silenced her partner.

“I’m glad you enjoyed my performance, but you need to remember that the others are trying to sleep,” Chloe whispered, and Penguinmon quickly stopped clapping. Willies had just woken them up for their shift and after being exhausted during her first shift the night prior, Chloe thought it would be a good idea to dance for the first few minutes to get her blood pumping.

“Sorry. You were just so amazing that I couldn’t help myself,” Penguinmon said, making Chloe rub the fuzz on top of the penguin Digimon’s head. “Where did you learn to move like that?”

“I take dance lessons back home…” The emotions that Chloe felt hit her like a truck. She’s been distracted by all the Digimon and the adventure that they’re currently on. She never once thought about how her parents were feeling. Her father is probably tearing the city apart, trying to find them.

Her father is her hero. Whenever she had a nightmare, her father was the first one to comfort her and make her feel safe. Or when she was jealous of Catherine for being a great singer, her father suggested that she should take dancing lessons and that there were some things that she was better at than her sister. She’s glad that he urged her to take dance because she likes to move around and express herself through her dances.

Chloe remembers her mother telling her that she and her father split the work taking care of her and her sister, with her mother spending more time with Catherine and her father with her. Some would consider her to be a “Daddy’s girl,” and they would be right, but after everything her father has done for her, she loves him with all of her heart.

“Are you ok?” Penguinmon asked. Chloe felt some tears run down her face. She didn’t know that she was crying.

“I’m fine,” she told her partner as she wiped away the tears on her face. To take her mind off of her father, Chloe checked outside the door to check the weather. It was raining lightly with a light wind blowing. After seeing how calm it was outside, Chloe got an idea.

“Let’s go outside, Penguinmon,” her partner gave her a worried look, not wanting to go outside and the rain to go crazy. “Don’t worry, we’ll come back in if it starts to pour.”

Chloe was out the door before Penguinmon could respond. Unlike her sister, she likes the rain. One of her favorite things to do on a rainy day is dance like people she sees in movies, on TV, and in music videos. She thought it looked amazing and that those people were having fun.

She remembers one day she, Catherine, and TK were playing basketball at the park, and even though both she and her sister had no experience playing the sport, TK allowed them to team up. Even though they had the numbers advantage, TK wiped the floor with them. She was surprised that they managed to even score a point. After their game, it started to rain, and both TK and Catherine ran for shelter but not her. She stayed out on the court and danced as the rain soaked her.

She remembers her sister telling her to get out of the rain, but she ignored her pleas. She was having fun, and no one was going to stop her. TK ran out to her, and she thought that he was going to drag her to the shelter, but her worries were erased when he joined her, making her even happier. Catherine stayed in the shelter, but she heard her laugh at them and say they looked like two dorks, and looking back on it now, Chloe agreed that they did look a little silly.

To the shock of no one, she came down with a cold the next day. Her mother was upset and told her that she can’t keep dancing in the rain, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care how many times she would get sick from doing it because she was having fun, and it made her happy.

“Chloe, I don’t think you should be out there this late,” Penguinmon told her. Penguinmon was standing in the doorway, not wanting to get wet, even though it’s an aquatic Digimon.

“It’s fine, Peguinmon. Join me,” Chloe told her partner, but Penguinmon still had doubts.

“But it’s dark,” Peguinmon pointed out. Because of the rain, the moon was covered by storm clouds, causing little to no light to break through. “What if something happens?”

“Nothing will happen,” Chloe reassured her partner. She started to dance to prove that everything was alright. “See, everything is fine. So come join me.”

Even though she was still worried, Penguinmon joined Chloe out on the deck. Chloe grabbed her flippers and twirled the penguin Digimon, causing her to squeal with joy.

“Looks like you’re having fun,” Chloe said, noticing the huge smile on her partner's face. She led Penguinmon to the upper part of the deck so they wouldn’t wake anyone up if they made too much noise. “Try to follow my exact movements.”

Chloe started with a simple spin, and Penguinmon copied it perfectly. She then added to the spin by standing on her toes after she spun. Penguinmon had a little trouble mimicking Chloe because her feet were pretty much attached to her body, but she soon figured it out. Finally, Chloe put the two moves together before gliding backward.

“Woah! What was that!?” Penguinmon said with stars in her eyes.

“It was a moonwalk,” Chloe told her.

“But we’re not on the moon.”

“It’s the name of the dance move,” Chloe said to clear up any confusion that her partner may have. “Now, why don’t you give it a try.”

“But…” Penguinmon looked down at her feet and wiggled them a little. “I don’t think my feet will allow me to do that.”

Chloe walked over to Penguinmon and held one of her flippers. “Don’t worry, I’ll hold your hand throughout the whole thing.”

They first spun and then stood on their toes. Penguinmon was second-guessing herself for the final part before Chloe lightly squeezed her flipper to let her know that she believed in her. Penguinmon took a deep breath before both Chloe and she started to glide backward slowly. Her moonwalk wasn’t as smooth as Chloe’s but she felt happy that she was able to do something with her friend.

“I did it!” Penguinmon cheered, and Chloe hugged the Digimon.

“I’m so proud of you, Penguinmon!”

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Penguinmon said, making Chloe smile. She brought her Digimon partner into another hug before the winds picked up as the rain started to pelt them. “Ah, we need to get inside!”

The two ran down the steps in hopes of getting inside quickly when a big wave crashed into the side of the ship, causing it to lean over. The sudden movement of the ship caused Chloe to lose her balance and go overboard. She let out a loud scream before crashing into the water with a loud splash.

“CHLOE!”

Chloe emerged from the water, flailing her arms. She was having a hard time keeping her head above the water because the big waves kept forcing her underwater. When the waves weren’t pushing her under, mixed with the strong winds, the waves were spinning her around, making her exhausted. But the worst thing about the whole situation was that she didn’t know how to swim.

She never had the opportunity to learn how. Growing up in Paris, she was never around a huge body of water to swim in. There is a river, but it’s illegal to swim in it, and her family never went to a public pool because her mother didn’t want them to swim in what she called “A public toilet.” The only thing she knew how to do was to constantly move her arms and legs to stay afloat, and she only knew how to do this because her father taught her and her sister how to do it.

Back on the ship, the Digidestined burst through the door to find Penguinmon looking down the ship.

“What happened!? Where’s Chloe!?” Catherine asked when she noticed her sister was missing. She didn’t have long to wait for an answer when she heard her sister scream from the water. Everyone looked over the edge of the ship to see Chloe flail her arms to stay above the water, and the ship was sailing away from her fast.

“Quick, tie up the sail!” TK ordered. Without wasting any time, Monodramon pulled the sail close while Patamon tied it together. As this was going on, Catherine was about to dive off the ship before TK grabbed her. “Are you crazy!?”

“I have to save Chloe! She can’t swim!”

“Neither can you!” TK told her, but that didn’t stop her from trying to break free from his hold.

Penguinmon wasn’t paying attention to what TK and Catherine were doing. She watched Chloe struggle to keep her head above the water. She knew that Chloe didn’t have long until she ran out of energy. Without a second thought, Penguinmon dived off the ship and swam towards her friend.

It didn’t take Penguinmon long to reach Chloe. She was an excellent swimmer.

“Don’t worry, Chloe, I'm here,” Penguinmon told her.

“Penguinmon!?” Chloe said, still flailing her arms. Penguinmon could tell in her partner’s voice that she was exhausted and also relieved.

“Quick, grab onto my body, and I’ll swim us back to the ship!” Penguinmon said and did not need to be persuaded. Chloe grabbed onto her partner. It was like she was using a kickboard that she saw other kids use on TV, but unlike regular kickboards, this one came with a motor. Like a torpedo, Penguinmon rocketed back to the ship.

They were almost halfway to the ship, and Chloe saw Willis throw down a rope they could use to climb up when she felt something grab her leg. She tried to kick it away, but whatever was holding onto her wouldn’t let go. Chloe started to urge Penguinmon to move faster and hoped that the thing holding her would loosen its grip.

They made it to the ship, and Chloe didn’t feel anything on her leg anymore. Thinking she was safe, Chloe reached for the rope when she was suddenly dragged underwater.

“CHLOE!!!” She heard the muffled screams of her sister and Penguinmon. She had her eyes closed, but she didn’t think she would’ve been able to see because it was already dark. She didn’t need to see to know that she was being dragged further down because she could feel both the water and bubbles move up her body.

She couldn’t breathe, and she could feel the air leave her lungs. She didn’t have much time left before she drowned. She felt light-headed, and the last bit of oxygen left her lungs. Water instantly filled her lungs as her vision turned black.

She felt whatever was holding her lose its grip, and something dragged her back to the surface. She started to cough up water and felt someone guide her arms to the rope.

“You ok?” Penguinmon asked. Chloe coughed up more water in response as the others pulled her back onto the ship. The second she was on board the ship, she was embraced by her sister, which caused her to cry.

“Everything is fine. You’re safe,” Catherine soothed her. Chloe continued to cry, but she was relieved and happy to be in her sister’s arms. TK smiled at the twins before looking back towards the water.

“You’re next Penguinmon,” TK called down to the Digimon. TK threw the rope over the edge for Penguinmon. She bit onto the rope, and the boys started to pull her up. 

Penguinmon wasn’t halfway up the ship when a large fish flew out of the water and tackled Penguinmon back into the ocean. It had two large wing-like fins and two arms that it used to drag Chloe underwater earlier.

“Oh my gosh, it’s Tobiumon! I heard they’re called the hunter fish because they can catch their target whether they're in the sea, on land, or in the air ,” Lopmon said after they saw the monster.

Penguinmon managed to break free of Tobiumon’s hold, but that didn’t mean she was safe. She watched as both Tobiumon’s fins circle her, much like a shark. Soon, the fins darted towards her, and she was suddenly dragged under the water.

Back on the ship, Chloe noticed her partner wasn’t with her. She broke away from her sister to see that everyone was watching the water.

“Where’s Penguinmon?” Chloe asked, her voice a little hoarse from both her coughing and crying. No one said anything, but they all held the same worried looks on their faces. They moved aside to give her space, and when she looked over the ship, she felt her heart break. Instead of seeing her partner, she saw tiny air bubbles before they disappeared.

Chloe felt a new set of tears in the corner of her eyes. Penguinmon saved her life, and now she can’t save theirs. She has never felt so useless, but she had to do something. If Penguinmon is willing to risk their life to save her, she has to do something to help them.

“PENGUINMON!” Chloe cried out. Her Digivice started to glow, and they could see the same light in the water. Under the water, Penguinmon was covered in a veil of light, forcing Tobiumon to let go of its prey

“Penguinmon Digivolve to…” Penguinon grew with her feet being replaced by a tail, her purple fur being replaced by blue blubber, and a long snout replacing her beak. She grew four fins on her back and a blowhole on her head. “Dolphmon!”

Dolphmon bolted straight up and jumped out of the water, shooting some water out of her blowhole in the process. Everyone was mesmerized by the spectacle, especially Chloe, who was both relieved that her partner was alright but also overjoyed by the fact that her partner Digivolved.

“I don’t think you’re Penguinmon anymore,” Chloe said, and Dolphmon nodded her head.

“I’m Dolphmon! I’m really fast in the water, and my pulse blast attack will leave you hearing static , and it’s all thanks to you, Chloe. Without your help, I wouldn’t have been able to Digivolve!” Dolphmon told her, making Chloe feel overjoyed. Chloe was about to say something to her partner when she noticed Tobiumon's head peek out of the water. Dolphmon noticed this, too, and smirked. “Don’t worry, I got this.”

Dolphmon turned her attention to the stalking Tobiumon. They didn’t move, studying each other and waiting for the other to make the first move. After a few seconds of eyeing each other, Tobiumon lunged at its prey. Dolphmon waited until Tobiumon got close to her before gliding backward on her tail and backflipping into the water.

Now underwater, Dolphmon zoomed straight at Tobiumon’s stomach. She speared the hunting fish with her snout, but at the same time, Tobiumon shot a missile from its abdomen. It blew up in her face, sending her spiraling backward. Even though it suffered from the explosion as well, Tobiumon was back on the attack with its fins drawn out like swords.

Dolphmon’s vision was hazy, but she was still able to see Tobiumon jetting straight at her. She managed to move out of the way in time but wasn’t able to escape injury as Tobiumon managed to cut her tail. She was able to gain some distance from the hunting fish, though not as fast as earlier because of the injury. She watched as Tobiumon prepared themselves for another charge.

Tobiumon lunged at her again, fins already drawn out, but this time Dolphmon was ready.

“Pulse blast!” Dolphmon shot out an ultrasonic wave from her mouth, and it made a direct hit on Tobiumon’s face. Tobiumon appeared dazed but didn’t stop their charge. Not letting up, Dolphmon sent out multiple pulse blast attacks. Tobiumon was getting closer, but Dolphmon noticed that they were getting slower and slower.

Tobiumon was right in front of Dolphmon, and she shot a pulse blast attack at point blank. She landed a direct hit as Tobiumon’s head flew backward. Tobiumon then slowly sunk into the ocean. Dolphmon sighed in relief and slowly swam up to the surface.

As she was swimming back up to the surface, Dolphmon Dedigivolved back into Penguinmon. She slowly swam to the ship and bit onto the rope, and allowed the others to drag her back onto the ship. When she was back on board, she sprawled on the deck.

“That was… exhausting!” Penguinmon exhaled. The others chuckled, and Chloe rubbed the top of her partner’s head.

“You were amazing,” she told her. Penguinmon smiled from her partner’s praise before wincing. Chloe instantly became worried and noticed the cut on Penguinmon’s right leg. “You’re hurt!”

“It’s just a scratch! I’ll be fine after some rest,” Penguinmon said, and Chloe just sighed. She picked up her partner and carried her to the sleeping area.

“We’ll be going to bed. We kinda need it after the night we had,” Chloe told everyone, and they waved her off. They all waited a few seconds before moving to join the blond girl before Terriermon called out to them.

“Everyone, look!”

They all looked at where the small Digimon was pointing and noticed an island not too far from them. It was too dark to see what was on the island, but they all could see the large mass of land off in the distance.

“Alright, we’ll check it out after breakfast. Everyone, get a good night's rest because we’ll be needing our energy in the morning,” TK told everyone before they all went to the sleeping area.

Chapter Text

“Man, after a few days, it feels good to be back on land,” Ryo said after he set foot on the beach. He, TK, Willis, and their partners were stretching to prepare themselves for the journey ahead. 

“We were only on the ship for a day and a half,” TK said, but Ryo didn’t care. TK then turned to the ship to see Catherine and Ken staring down at them. “Are you guys going to be alright?”

“We’ll be fine, besides we’ll have Stingmon to protect us if anything happens,” Ken told him and Wormmon climbed up on the railing to show that he was prepared to defend the ship and his friends.

After breakfast, TK thought that they would all look around the island in hopes of either finding one of the crests or something that could help them find the crests, but Catherine disagreed with the idea. She didn’t want her sister to do anything dangerous after what happened earlier that morning, and TK agreed with her. Chloe did argue, but Catherine pointed out that Penguinmon was still hurt and was in no shape to travel. Chloe quickly agreed to stay behind after hearing that, and Catherine chose to stay with her to make sure she doesn’t run off.

TK didn’t want to leave them alone and defenseless if a Digimon attacked, with Penguinmon being hurt and Floramon not being able to Digivolve yet. He didn’t want Ryo, Willis, and Ken to go off alone and get hurt because they were inexperienced with the Digital World. He was gonna ask Ryo to stay behind, but after seeing how excited he was about seeing more of the Digital World, he didn’t want to force him to stay behind. He wasn’t going to ask Willis to stay behind because neither Terriermon nor Lopmon had been Digivolved yet and thought it was a bad idea to have four rookies, with one of them being hurt to defend everyone. Which led him to ask Ken and Wormmon to stay behind.

It made sense, and they were both willing to stay behind. Wormmon could Digivolve, and Stingmon could fly, so if his group needed help for any reason, they could signal back to the ship, and Stingmon could fly in and help them.

“Good luck, guys! Stay safe!” Catherine cheered for them. The group waved back and started to walk into the jungle.

“We’ll make sure to come back with food!” Terriermon called out.

“Make sure you don’t clean out the fridge!” Ryo added.

“Don’t worry we’ll– CHLOE, FLORAMON, PENGUINMON, get out of the fridge!” The group heard Catherine scream, and they laughed as they entered the jungle.

A few minutes passed by as the group traveled through the jungle. They kept their heads up searching for food, Digimon, and low-hanging branches, which Ryo had a habit of walking into. Willis kept looking at his Digivice, hoping to find any sign of the crests. It was frustrating that after a few days in the Digital World, they haven’t even found anything that could lead them to a crest.

He was glad that he was summoned into Terriermon and Lopmon’s world, and he was happy that he made some new friends along the way, but he was getting annoyed. In the short amount of time he's been in the Digital World it’s been raining every day. He worked in a library, and he’s been attacked by multiple Digimon. Sure, he did find a book about the Digital World in the library, but it was more like a history book than anything else. But what annoyed him the most was how useless he’s been.

He didn’t help Chloe make money for the ship, and he doesn’t help out on the ship either, choosing to stay inside to read his book. He was expecting someone to yell at him and force him to clean, but no one did. They all just let him sit at the kitchen table and read. Then there were the Digimon attacks.

For the past day and a half, when they were attacked, he barely did anything to help. When the Flymon attacked, he did order for their Digimon to help out Angemon, but that was after he told Ryo to not Digivolve Monodramon. They were lucky that Wormmon managed to Digivolve. Then when Chloe almost drowned, he froze and watched her helplessly flair her arms, trying to stay afloat. It was scary to think that if Penguinmon didn’t save her, then Chloe would most likely be dead right now.

“Heads up!”

TK’s voice broke through his head as Willis looked up for a branch to smack into his face. He reeled back and grabbed his nose to see if it was bleeding. Thankfully, he wasn’t but the laughter of Terriermon and the snickers of Lopmon and the others filled him with embarrassment.

“You ok?” TK asked after he calmed down a little, though Willis could still see him smirking.

“My nose hurts, but other than that I’m fine,” Willis answered. He saw Terriermon sprawled on the ground, dying from laughter. “And what’s so funny, Terriermon?”

“Because you look like that reindeer from the Christmas movie,” Terriermon continued to laugh, and after trying to hold it in for so long, Lopmon burst out laughing as well. After a few seconds, Willis laughed along with his partners. He probably did look silly even though he couldn’t see what he looked like.

After everyone calmed down, they continued walking through the jungle. Willis was thankful for the distraction. He would’ve liked it more if he didn’t get hit in the face, but he would take what he could get.

“Hey, could I ask you something?” TK asked Willis. “How come you have two partners? During my first adventure, all of my friends had one partner, and everyone in our group had one.”

Willis looked at Terriermon and Lopmon as he mulled over TK’s question. If he was being honest, he didn’t know why he had two partners. He didn’t even know there were other people with Digimon partners until a few days ago.

“I guess I’m just special,” Willis chuckled. “I never really think much about why Terriermon and Lopmon are my partners. I’m just glad that I have two great friends who are always there for me.”

“If it weren’t for us you’d be locked up in your room all day,” Terriermon said. Willis wanted to argue, but he knew there was some truth to Terriermon’s statement.

“Hey guys, look at this!” Ryo called out. The group caught up with Ryo and gazed at what was before them. It was a wide-open field with huge toy building blocks and trees with toys hanging off them. Willis thought the place looked like a huge play area for babies while both TK and Patamon had stars in their eyes. Without warning, TK and Patamon bolted down into the open field, ignoring both Ryo’s and Willis’ cries.

They chased after the boy and his Digmon down to the open field, looking out for any dangerous Digimon. Out of nowhere, the ground suddenly became soft, and they all bounced in the air after every step they took. The Digimon loved it, Ryo looked nauseous, and Willis was confused about why the terrain changed. TK and Patamon stopped, allowing Willis and the others to catch up.

“Why did you run off, TK?” Willis asked. Both Terriermon and Lopmon continued to bounce on the soft surface with Patamon joining them, while Ryo was dry heaving as Monodramon was rubbing his partner’s back.

“Sorry, it’s been so long since we’ve last been here,” TK apologized with a huge smile on his face.

“And where exactly is here?” Ryo asked after he started to feel better.

“This is Primary Village! The place where all Digimon life begins!” TK told them as he led the group through the village. Now that they were closer, Willis could tell that the blocks that he saw earlier were stuffed and were used to build a tower with no entrance. “During our first adventure, Patamon and I were separated from our friends, and we ended up here.”

TK started to tell a story about his first adventure, but Willis wasn’t paying that much attention to it. He was in awe of the village, a place where all life began. It was amazing to think that this was the place where Terriermon and Lopmon started out before they were sent to him.

“Hey, what’s that?”

Ryo’s voice broke him out of his thoughts as he looked where Ryo was looking. There was a vast field filled with big colorful eggs, each with its own design. There were also these weird stone carvings as well that Willis couldn’t make out.

“Those are Digi-eggs. All of us Digimon start off as eggs,” Patamon said, and Ryo was awestruck by what the winged Digimon told him.

“You mean you guys come from eggs!?” Ryo exclaimed. He picked up a cream-colored egg that had a red swirl pattern.

“Yeah, we do! And if you rub that egg gently, it will hatch,” Patamon told him, and Ryo did just that. After gently rubbing the egg, nothing happened for a few seconds until they all heard a cracking noise. The egg hatched, revealing a white blob with long red ears and a red tail.

“Pao!” The blob said.

“Aww, it’s adorable,” Ryo cooed. The blob broke the rest of its shell and hopped in Ryo’s hands. “It’s so slimy.”

“That’s Paomon: It’s naturally slimy and not because it’s freshly hatched ,” Patamon informed them, but Ryo wasn’t paying attention to the Digimon. He was too busy pinching Paomon’s squishy cheeks.

“Ok, that’s enough gushing over the baby Digimon. we should get back to exploring the island,” Monodramon said, annoyed that his partner is paying so much attention to Paomon.

“Fine,” Ryo sighed as he stopped pinching Paomon’s cheeks. “I have to go now, little buddy. I wish I had somewhere to put you.”

TK and Patamon looked at each other and smirked because they knew what’s gonna happen next. Suddenly, there was a huge puff of smoke as a crib appeared in front of them, with Poamon sleeping inside. Everyone was amazed by this while Willis’ mind went elsewhere.

He was back home standing in a hallway watching his mother crying over a crib. He didn’t understand why she was sad when she was happy the day prior. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find the words to say. He’s never seen his mother in such an emotional state before.

He wanted to walk up to her and show her that he was there for her, but he couldn’t. He was scared. He didn’t want his mother to yell at him like she did to his father.

“Willis?” Lopmon said, breaking him out of his trance. She had a worried look on her face, which made him feel bad. “You wouldn’t respond no matter how many times I called out to you.”

“I’m sorry, Lopmon,” Willis apologized, and he picked up the small Digimon. He looked around to find that the others were nowhere to be found. “Where are the others?”

“They went on ahead. They didn’t go too far just over that hill,” Lopmon pointed towards a hill that was close by. Willis thanked his partner and walked over to the hill. When they reached the top, he saw the others talking to a small red creature with nine tails.

“Hey, guys! Thanks for waiting for us!” Willis said sarcastically when he reached the group.

“We knew you’d catch up. Besides, we didn’t go that far,” Terriermon answered back in his own sarcastic tone. Willis just rolled his eyes at his partner’s shenanigans before turning to the red creature before them.

“So who’s this?” Willis asked.

“I’m Elecmon, I am the Guardian of Primary Village and the caretaker of all the baby Digimon . It’s nice to meet you,” Elecmon said with a little bow.

“Me and Patamon met him on our first adventure when we were separated from the others,” TK said.

“Yeah, I beat him in tug-of-war,” Patamon said proudly. “You ready for another round?”

“Maybe another time,” Elecmon said. “So, what are you guys doing here?”

“We saw this island earlier in the morning and decided to check it out,” TK said, but he could tell that wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

“No, I mean, what are you doing in the Digital World?” Elecmon said grimly.

“The crests were destroyed, and we and three others were summoned to the Digital World to find them and fix everything!”

Elecmon sighed and scratched the back of his head. “That explains why Primary Village has its own island. Can’t say it’s a bad thing, more fish to catch, and the babies are safer from evil Digimon attacks. But if you guys are here, then that means that the whole world is in danger, and it wouldn’t matter if the babies had their own island or not!”

“Right! So, do you think you could help us?” TK asked. Elecmon massaged his chin like he was thinking, and then he looked over at the field of eggs and cribs.

“I wouldn’t be much of a caretaker or guardian if I don’t protect the world so all the little ones can live and be happy! I’ll help you guys out!” Elecmon declared, and both TK and Patamon cheered a little. “What do you want me to do?”

Willis stepped forward and showed Elecmon his Digivice. “Gennai installed something in our Digivices that shows us where the crests are, but so far we’re coming up with nothing. Have you seen any crests or anything that can lead us to a crest?”

Elecmon looked at Willis’ Digivice and studied the screen. Three dots were grouped together, one yellow and two blue, with three blue dots off to the side of the screen. “Sorry, but I can’t say I’ve seen anything.”

The group groaned, and Willis put his Digivice away. “It’s fine. If the Digivice didn’t pick anything up when we arrived, then I wouldn’t have expected you to see anything.”

Elecmon frowned, sad that he wasn’t that much help. TK knelt beside the caretaker Digimon and patted his head. “Don’t worry about it. If it’ll make you feel better, then we can scour the island and see if the Digivice picks anything up.”

“I’d like that,” Elecmon perked up a little before having a troubled look on his face. “But I don’t want to leave the babies alone for too long.”

Ryo was about to volunteer when Willis spoke up. “I can look after them.”

“Are you sure?” TK asked. He didn’t want to leave Willis alone and defenseless if a Digimon attacked. It was one of the main reasons he didn’t ask Willis to stay with the ship.

“I’ll be fine. Terriermon and Lopmon will be with me, and three heads are better than one,” Willis said, but TK was still worried.

“But…” Willis cut him off before he could even say another word.

“Don’t worry, if anything happens I’ll have Terriermon or Lopmon with me. Besides, why would any Digimon attack a bunch of babies?”

TK had to agree with Willis’ logic. There’s no point for a Digimon to attack babies, and it’s not like Elecmon is the strongest Digimon in the Digital World. Elecmon isn’t a mega, an ultimate, or even a champion-level Digimon, only a rookie. So even if a Digimon did attack, it wouldn’t be anything Terriermon or Lopmon couldn’t handle.

“Ok, but if anything happens, try to contact us somehow, and we’ll come running,” TK said, and Willis nodded.

“Thank you, Willis, Terriermon, and Lopmon! We’ll try not to be away too long,” Elecmon told them. The group started to walk away except for Ryo, who didn’t want to leave the babies. Monodramon sighed before dragging Ryo away by his arms.

“Come on, the babies will still be here when you get back!”

“B-But, I wanna stay and help out!” Ryo cried out as he was dragged away into the forest. Willis rolled his eyes and walked over to the field of cribs and eggs.

“Why did you want to stay behind, Willis?” Lopmon asked.

“You can barely take care of yourself. What makes you think you can take care of a bunch of babies?” Terriermon added.

“I just needed to be away from the others for a few minutes,” Willis admitted. He poked the cheeks of the Paomon from earlier, who cooed in response. “Besides, I managed to take care of you two. How hard can this be?”

After a few minutes, Willis was proven wrong. Even with both Terriermon and Lopmon’s help, he had a hard time keeping track of all the babies' needs. He had to constantly send out both Terriermon and Lopmon to get fish and fresh water for the babies while he had to constantly comfort the cranky ones. Whenever he managed to calm one baby, three more would burst out in tears.

When Terriermon and Lopmon came back to help out was the only time Willis was able to catch his breath before he had to send them off to get more food and water. It always gets harder when his partners leave not only because he has to calm down more cranky babies but also because when they leave, their big ears would always brush up against some Digi-eggs, causing them to hatch. The freshly hatched babies were always the hungriest, too.

“I don’t know how Elecmon does it,” Willis exhaled after he collapsed underneath one of the toy trees. He managed to put almost all the babies to sleep, and the ones that were still up weren’t far behind. Both Terriermon and Lopmon were under the tree with him massaging their feet.

“Maybe he has some secret ability that feeds the babies all at the same time,” Terriermon speculated. “Because I have a hard time believing that a Digimon that is as tall as me can take care of that horde!”

“The others shouldn’t be long now. Let’s hope they found something,” Lopmon said, and Willis hummed in response. She soon yawned and curled up in a ball. “I think I’m gonna take a nap.”

“After the day we had a nap sounds good right now,” Terriermon said before curling up into a ball as well.

Willis leaned against the tree as he massaged his partners’ ears as they both slept. After a few seconds of enjoying the silence and being out of the light rain, Willis decided it wouldn’t hurt to rest his eyes for a few minutes.

Willis didn’t even have his eyes closed for five seconds before he felt the ground rumble. He bolted upright, waking both Terriermon and Lopmon. He heard the babies getting restless as he was looking around for where the rumbling was coming from. He heard trees crumbling behind him, and he prepared himself for whatever was coming.

It was quiet for a few seconds before a hulking monster made up of rock and crystal burst through the trees. It let out a ferocious roar, and it swung its arm right where Willis was standing. Remembering that his legs still work, Willis grabbed both Terriermon and Lopmon and dove out of the way. Willis felt his heart sink into his stomach when he saw the crater that was left behind from the Digimon’s attack.

“Why is there a Gogmamon here!? Don’t they live deep inside caves!? ” Terriermon said, and it didn’t make Willis feel any better about the situation by learning the monster’s name. The crystals on Gogmamon’s back started to glow, and Willis could only feel dread watching it.

“What’s happening?” Willis managed to say.

“He’s charging up his ultimate attack, Curse Refraction,” Lopmon answered while having a puzzled look on her face. “But I’m surprised he’s able to attract light in the rain.”

The wails of the babies rang through Willis’ ears. They needed to quickly come up with a way to prevent or at least change the trajectory of Gogmamon’s attack before he hurt one of the babies. “Quick, Terriermon, Lopmon make it lose balance!”

“Terrier Tornado!”

“Tiny Twister!”

Both cyclones made a direct hit on Gogmamon, but the golem didn’t even flinch. Willis was getting worried when he saw the crystals getting brighter. “Spin faster!”

Both Terriermon and Lopmon’s attacks were growing as the two spun faster. Willis helped out by throwing some toys at the giant. Gogmamon’s crystals continued to grow brighter as all their attacks bounced off him. Willis continued to urge his partners to spin faster.

Terriermon and Lopmon’s cyclones grew bigger, and they began to pull toys and chunks of ground into the air and flung them at the giant. Willis didn’t know if their attacks were doing a thing until he saw Gogmamon shift his feet filling Willis with hope. He threw more toys, and Terriermon and Lopmon spun faster as both their cyclones became even bigger.

Then, both of their cyclones merged into one big tornado. Willis could see Gogmamon’s crystals grow even brighter, but it didn’t matter because he saw the giant being pushed backward. Gogmamon lost his balance right as he fired off his attack. Willis watched the beam shoot overhead missing the babies but hitting one of the block buildings, causing a huge explosion.

Terriermon and Lopmon collapsed after they stopped spinning.

“We should never do that again,” Terriermon said, and Lopmon grumbled in agreement. Not wasting a second, Willis scooped up his partners and turned to the giant.

“Hey! Over here, you freak!” Willis yelled at Gogmamon. He waited until Gogmamon had their attention on him before bolting into the jungle. He didn’t need to look behind him to know that Gogmamon was chasing him. He could feel the ground shake underneath his feet.

Willis dodged trees, jumped over roots, and ducked underneath low-hanging branches. He didn’t know how far ahead he was of Gogmamon, but he wasn’t going to slow down to check.

“Willis, what are you doing?” Lopmon asked after the world stopped spinning for her.

“Buying us some time. Hopefully, someone saw that explosion, and they’re on their way to help us!” Willis told his partner. He ran through a shallow stream, almost slipping on some rocks, but he quickly regained his footing.

“Then why didn’t we stay back in Primary Village?” Terriermon asked.

“I didn’t want to put the babies in any danger,” Willis said. He could see an opening in the trees, and he burst through to be met with the ocean. He couldn’t see the ship anywhere, and he could hear Gogmamon getting closer. He started to run along the beach before he tripped on his own feet and slammed onto the sand.

He couldn’t even get onto his knees before Gogmamon burst through the trees. Willis looked behind the giant to see that he left behind a trail of destroyed trees.

“Bunny Blast!”

“Tiny Twister!”

His partners didn’t waste any time defending him, launching their strongest attacks. Just like earlier, Gogmamon didn’t react as the two attacks bounced off him. Gogmamon reared back his fist and slammed it to the ground, creating a shockwave and sending the Digimon flying.

“Terriermon! Lopmon!” Willis cried out before he noticed Gogmamon was standing over him. Gogmamon reared back his arm again, and Willis closed his eyes, waiting for Gogmamon’s attack.

“Willis!” Terriermon and Lopmon cried out. Willis’ Digivice started to glow, and both Terriermon and Lopmon glowed as well.

“Terriermon Digivolve to…” Terriermon grew in size as both of his hands were replaced by mini gun gauntlets. He gained a pair of jeans and strapped a brown belt across his chest. “Gargomon!”

“Lopmon Digivolve to…” Lopmon also grew, and her brown fur turned into a light shade of purple. She wore a yellow gi, a blue bandana around her neck, red gloves, and black martial arts shoes. She also wields iron claws on both arms. “Turuiemon!”

Turuiemon instantly jumped in between Willis and Gogmamon and blocked the giant's attack with her claws. Gargomon shot Gogmamon’s face, causing him to back off.

“Terriermon? Lopmon?” Willis said, but he could tell they weren’t exactly his partners.

“Not exactly. I’m Turuiemon! I wield the Tokaku Tessou, and I use them to defeat any bad Digimon who wants to bring harm to my friends! ” Turuiemon explained.

“And I’m Gargomon! Don’t let my size fool you, I am very nimble! ” Gargomon said proudly. Gogmamon stirred behind them and let out a ferocious roar. Gargomon and Turuiemon smirked at each other. “Don’t worry, we got this!”

Gargomon and Turuiemon started running around Gogmamon with Gargomon shooting pellets at the beast. “Gargo Pellets!”

The pellets didn’t faze Gogmamon, but they were able to distract the beast for Turuiemon. She jumped high into the air, and her claws covered her knuckles.

“Gauntlet Claw!” Turuiemon sliced down Gogmamon’s face before kicking off of the giant’s chin. Not wanting to be shown up, Gargomon jumped into the air after Turuiemon kicked off of the golem.

“Gargo Pellets!” Gargomon blasted his pellets onto Gogmamon’s face. Gogmamon cried out and started swinging randomly. His fist managed to hit Gargomon, launching the Digimon into a tree.

“Gargomon!” Willis screamed. Not wanting to waste any time, Turuiemon jumped onto Gogmamon’s arm and started to run on the beast. She kept her body low to appear small to Gogmamon but also used her claws to scratch the rock giant’s body. She quickly reached Gogmamon’s head and cocked her fist back.

“Gauntlet Cla–” Before Turuiemon could even attack, Gogmamon swatted her away and into a tree.

“Turuiemon!” Willis cried out again.

He quickly realized that he was alone, and that feeling was enhanced when he saw Gogmamon walk toward him. He backed into the ocean, trying to create as much space between him and Gogmamon. He took another step when his foot sunk into the sand, causing him to fall over. He saw Gogmamon tower over him once again, and just like earlier, he reared his fist back and brought it down towards him.

“Strike Fang!”

Willis saw a flaming Strikedramon fly into Gogmamon’s body. He then felt someone pull him out of the water.

“I don’t think now is a good time for a swim,” Ryo said jokingly. Willis smiled, glad to see one of his friends before he looked past him to see TK emerging from the jungle with Angemon trailing behind him.

“Hey, man. We saw the explosion and came as fast as we could,” TK said before he turned to his partner. “What are we dealing with?”

“That’s Gogmamon. He’s an ultimate,” Angemon said while gripping his staff. Hearing Angemon say that raised a few questions for Willis, but he could save them for later.

“So, we need to take care of him fast,” TK muttered to himself. “Everyone, we need to attack at the same time!”

“Say no more!” Gargomon shouted and aimed his gauntlet guns at Gogmamon. “Gargo Pellets!”

“Hand of Fate!”

Angemon’s beam mixed with Gargomon’s pellets and the combined attack connected with Gogmamon’s face. With their opponent dazed, Strikedramon and Turuiemon sprung into action.

“Strike Fang!”

“Gauntlet Claw!”

Strikedramon rammed into Gogmamon’s face, knocking him off balance with Turuiemon jabbing both of her claws into Gogmamon’s face, forcing him into the ocean. Gogmamon created a huge splash when he crashed into the ocean. Everyone stood around with bated breaths, waiting to see if Gogmamon would get back up. They all sighed in relief when they saw the giant wasn’t moving.

All the Digimon turned back into their rookie forms and jumped into their partner’s embrace. Willis heard the others shower their partners with praise while he squashed Terriermon and Lopmon in a big bear hug. They all soon heard a buzzing noise and saw Stingmon flying towards them with Ken riding on his back.

“Guys! I saw the explosion and came as fast as I…” Ken stopped panicking when he noticed Gogmamon passed out in the water and everyone was fine.

“Don’t worry, Ken, we had it all under control,” TK said before putting his arm around the boy’s shoulder. “Besides, you can help us collect food since Elecmon stayed behind at Primary Village.”

“But shouldn’t I get back to the ship to protect Chloe and Catherine? And who’s Elecmon and what’s Primary Village?” Ken asked, but TK just chuckled.

“I’m sure they can handle being alone for a few minutes, and I’ll tell you along the way,” TK said as he led the group back into the jungle.

They were on the edge of the jungle when they heard their Digivices go off. One by one, they each pulled out their devices and saw a green arrow on the screen, pointing North from where they were standing.

“Well, I guess we know where we’re going,” Willis said as the group stared off into the sea.

Chapter Text

Catherine huffed after she pulled her sister, her sister’s Digimon, and her partner out of the kitchen. They’ve only been on the island for a minute, and she already had to prevent her sister and the Digimon from cleaning out the fridge. Not only that, she heard TK and his group laughing as they walked away, and she knew her blond friend would tease her for it when they returned.

“I don’t understand why you had to freak out on us back there. The guys are going to come back with food anyway,” Chloe said. She was doing a little dance to cheer up Penguinmon, who was disappointed that they couldn’t explore the island with the others. They wrapped Penguinmon’s injury with some bandages that the Divermon packed for them.

“It’s not guaranteed that they’ll come back with food, and if they do come back with some, we don’t know if any of it would be edible. It could be poisonous for all we know!” Catherine exclaimed, and Chloe gave her a weird look.

“You’re overreacting. Do you really think TK would bring back poisonous food?”

“If it’s to embarrass me and make me look silly, then yes!”

Floramon came up behind her partner with both a worried and puzzled expression on her face. “Why would TK do something like that?”

Catherine was going to respond, but her sister’s cackling prevented her from saying anything. “They just have a stupid little rivalry going on, and Catherine is worried that TK is getting ready to mess with her again.”

“He is! Just yesterday, I saw him walking around my hammock!” Catherine explained, but Chloe rolled her eyes after calming down a little.

“He probably wanted to walk around and couldn’t do it on the main deck because it was raining,” Chloe tried to reason with her sister, but she wasn’t having any of it.

“You’re in on it aren’t you? You always helped him out more than you helped me!” Catherine accused her sister. Once again, Chloe rolled her eyes before stopping her dance.  She walked over to her sister and put a supportive hand on her shoulder.

“I helped you both equally. You’re freaking out over nothing, TK’s been too busy with the Digital World to worry about messing with you. So, just relax and enjoy yourself before we head back to sea,” Chloe said, and Catherine sighed. Maybe her sister was right. She shouldn’t be worrying over something pointless right now, especially when TK doesn’t seem to care about something as pointless as their rivalry.

“You’re right, I’m freaking out over nothing,” Catherine said, and Chloe giggled.

“Aren’t I always,” Chloe said and went back to dancing. Catherine rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics. Even though she still has some uncertainty about the Digital World, she’s really glad her sister is here with her. She wouldn’t know how she would be able to handle being the only girl in a group of guys.

Speaking of the others, where was Ken? She knew he didn’t follow her into the kitchen, and he wasn’t on the main deck, so where did he go?

“Have you seen Ken?” Catherine asked her sister. Chloe shrugged her shoulders because she didn’t know, and neither did Floramon.

“I think I saw him on the beach,” Penguinmon answered, and Catherine thanked the penguin Digimon for her help. Catherine looked over the edge of the ship and saw Ken and Wormmon digging in the sand.

“What are you doing?” Catherine called out to them. Ken waved her over, and since she had nothing better to do, she climbed off the ship. When she got closer to the two, she could see that the hole they were digging was a little deep.

“Why are you digging a hole?” Catherine asked, and Ken shrugged.

“We decided to dig a hole to pass the time,” Ken answered as he continued to dig.

“Why?”

“Well, we wanted to build some sandcastles, but the rain kept messing them up,” Ken answered. He stood up and moved aside like he was inviting Catherine to join them, but she shook her head.

“Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I was just wondering where you were, that’s all,” Catherine told him, and Ken nodded before going back to his hole.

“Ok, but you can join us at any time,” Ken said, and Catherine walked away.

She didn’t get back on the ship because she liked being on land again. She took off her shoes and walked along the shoreline, and felt the water cover her feet. It was cold, but Catherine didn’t hate it. It was soothing. It’s moments like this that make everything feel normal again.

Back home, whenever she had a long stressful day, she would always rest her feet in cold water. She doesn’t know why she does it, but it always makes her feel better. She really needed to soak her feet after everything that happened over the past few days. Ever since she came into the Digital World, her life has been in danger almost every day, with only one day. Nothing tried to kill them, and that was stressful in its own way.

But that was nothing compared to what happened that morning. Seeing her sister almost die scared her beyond belief. How would she be able to tell her parents that one of their kids drowned in a digital world, and if TK didn’t stop her from jumping in after her sister, would she be dead? It was something that she didn’t want to think about and hoped to never think about again.

Catherine shook her head. She shouldn’t be thinking about that stuff right now. She should just do what her sister said and enjoy herself. Who knows, the next time she’ll have a chance to relax without worrying about a Digimon attacking her. She walked away from the ocean and moved toward a nearby tree to give her some shelter from the rain.

Catherine sat down at the base of the tree and enjoyed her surroundings. She watched the waves crash into the sand and listened to the sounds the forest was making behind her. It felt like paradise with the only downside being the rain, but that was something she had grown accustomed to since being in the Digital World.  She was starting to doze off when she saw Floramon walking up to her.

“How’s it going, Floramon?” Catherine asked her partner as she stood over her.

“Pretty good,” Floramon answered while shrugging her shoulders. “The others decided to help Ken and Wormmon with their hole, and I wanted to see what you were up to.”

“Oh really, and how deep is it now?” Catherine asked with mild curiosity. She patted the ground next to her, and Floramon took the hint and sat next to her partner.

“I don’t know, but when I left, it was up to Penguinmon’s waist, so I would say it’s pretty deep,” Floramon said. Catherine hummed in response as she looked out into the ocean. “So, what are you doing?”

“Just enjoying myself for as long as we are here,” Catherine answered. Floramon nodded her head, but she didn’t fully understand what her partner was doing. She started to get a little restless while sitting around and doing nothing. She wanted to move around and stretch her legs, but she also didn’t want to leave Catherine alone.

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” Catherine said when she noticed her partner's restlessness.

“No no no no, I want to stay. I just don’t know how to stay in one spot for too long,” Floramon admitted, and Catherine gave her a supportive pat on the back.

“It’s ok, let me teach you,” Catherine said, and she situated herself behind her partner. She put Floramon in a slouching position and turned her head towards the ocean. “Now, close your eyes and turn off your mind and let the world consume you.”

Floramon did what Catherine said, but she couldn’t do it. The ocean and forest were too loud, and she was slouching on a tree root. She cracked her eyes open a little and saw Catherine in her own world, and Floramon felt terrible. She hated that she wasn’t able to mimic Catherine’s actions, and she was scared that she would hate her for it.

A few minutes passed, and Catherine broke out of her trance. She was more at ease and happier than she was earlier that morning. She turned to Floramon and smiled at her, and she received a shy smile in return.

“Wasn’t that relaxing,” Catherine blissfully sighed. Floramon didn’t know how to respond, so she quickly nodded her head, making Catherine frown. “You didn’t like it?”

“No, I did,” Floramon answered quickly, but Catherine easily saw through her.

“You’re lying,” Catherine said, and Floramon drooped her head. Feeling bad, Catherine pat Floramon’s head to show she wasn’t upset. “It’s ok. Everyone relaxes in their own way.”

Catherine got up and extended a hand out to Floramon. “Come on, let’s go back and see how the others are doing.”

Floramon took her hand, and the two made their way back to the others. “How did you know I was lying, anyway?”

“When you have a sister like Chloe, you tend to pick up on those things,” Catherine answered as they came up on the hole the others were digging. It’s gotten a lot deeper since Catherine last saw it, now reaching up to Chloe’s shoulders.

“Oh hey, did you come to help with the hole?” Chloe asked, and since Catherine didn’t have anything better to do, she agreed. She was about to jump into the hole when they heard a loud explosion. Ken and Wormmon instantly jumped out of the hole and got into a defensive position with Ken gripping his Digivice.

“What was that?!” Ken looked around, waiting for anything to come out and attack them.

“I think it came from the forest!” Penguinmon said, and they all turned to the forest to see smoke rising towards the sky.

“We need to go, Ken!” Wormmon exclaimed, and the boy nodded before becoming apprehensive when he turned back to the girls. He knew he should go help, but he promised TK that he’d stay back to protect the girls. He didn’t want to leave them defenseless to any Digimon attacks.

“Go help them! We’ll be fine,” Catherine told him after she saw his inner battle. Ken tried to speak up, but Catherine stopped him. “They need you more right now! We can handle ourselves until you or the others come back!”

Ken wanted to argue, but with Catherine all but throwing him towards the explosion, his hands were tied. His Digivice shined bright, and Wormmon Digivolved into Stingmon. Not wanting to waste any more time, Ken hopped onto Stingmon’s back, and the two bolted towards the smoke.

“Do you think they’re fine?” Floramon asked. Catherine didn’t answer right away as she stared at the smoke. She wanted to believe that the others were fine, they had TK with them, and their partners could also Digivolve, so she had no reason to worry. But being away from them and not seeing what was going on made her feel uneasy.

“Catherine?” She turned to Floramon, who had a worried look on her face. She also saw that her sister and Penguinmon were also worried. She realized that she had an effect on the people around her and that she can’t be overly worried during these situations. She needs to trust the others, especially TK, that they’ll handle anything thrown at them.

“Don’t worry, it’s probably Ryo and Monodramon butting heads. Why don’t we go back to digging until Ken comes back,” Catherine said with a bright smile to ease everyone’s nerves. She could see that everyone still had their doubts, but they didn’t say anything. Catherine hopped into the hole with Floramon, and the duo picked up where Ken and Wormmon left off.

Minutes passed, and there were no signs of Ken or the others returning any time soon. Chloe wanted to say something but decided against it, not wanting to ruin the mood Catherine created earlier. The hole they were digging had gotten pretty deep. Only the top of the two girl’s heads was peaking out. Catherine suggested they stop before it becomes impossible for them to climb out.

The group climbed out of the hole and admired their work. Everyone’s spirits were high, which made Catherine feel more at ease. It also helped that they haven’t heard any more explosions, whether that be a good or bad thing.

Chloe and Penguinmon yawned.

“I’m gonna take a nap. Wake me when the others get back,” Chloe said, and Penguinmon slowly nodded behind her partner. Catherine wasn’t feeling tired, but she followed her sister back to the ship. She planned to clean up the ship so it looked neat for when the others came back.

The four girls rounded the ship but instantly jumped behind it for cover when they saw something frustratingly studying it. It was a gold coin the size of Penguinmon. It had arms, legs, and a mustache. It also wore a top hat and carried a briefcase.

“Who is that?” Catherine asked in a quiet voice to not draw attention to them.

“That’s Ganemon: They love money and would use any means to get it ,” Floramon explained.

“Do you think he’s here to talk?” Chloe asked, and Catherine shook her head.

“I don’t think so. We should wait until TK and the others come back before we do anything,” Catherine said. She led the group back to the hole to gain some distance between them and Ganemon.

“Hey! Is this your ship?” The four girls froze and slowly turned to see Ganemon impatiently tapping his foot. “Well, I’m waiting.”

“Yes,” Penguinmon said slowly, and Ganemon devilishly smirked.

“Well, this is a no docking area,” Ganemon informed them, and the girls and their partners gave each other puzzled looks.

“We’re sorry, we’ll leave after our friends get back,” Catherine told the Digimon, but Ganemon shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but you still broke the law, and you now must pay the price of 10,000 Digi-Dollars.”

“What!” The four girls exclaimed. “We don’t have that type of money!”

“But you do have money,” Ganemon said, and the four girls looked between a mixture of puzzled and surprised. Ganemon smirked as he twirled his mustache. “My mustache can detect money, and it detects a large sum on your ship.”

Ganemon approached the girls with a friendly smile on his face, but they could easily see right through it. They could see in his eyes that he had ulterior motives. “I can tell you’re a bunch of intelligent girls, so I’ll cut you a deal. You won’t have to pay the 10,000 Digi-Dollar fine, but I’ll be taking at least half of the money you have on your ship. Deal?”

Ganemon extended a hand out to the girls, but they remained steadfast. They weren’t going to give the stingy Digimon a cent, especially on an island that they perceived to be deserted. They also remembered Willis theorized that they might have to buy other supplies in other towns, so it would benefit them to save up their money.

“No,” Catherine said sternly. Ganemon’s smile fell as he turned his back to the girls.

“I guess it can’t be helped then,” Ganemon said. He then opened his briefcase, and a bunch of small gold coins with arms and legs jumped out. “Go and take their money, Zenimon!”

“Hey!” Floramon and Penguinmon tried to get in the way of the tiny coin Digimon, but they were quick and nimble. Some ran between Floramon’s legs while the others climbed up Penguinmon and used her as a springboard to get closer to the ship. Floramon tried to chase after them, but Ganemon made it difficult.

“Gold Bowling!” Ganemon pulled out a huge wad of cash from his briefcase and hurled it at Floramon’s head. The attack landed a direct hit, causing Floramon to tumble over. She rubbed the back of her head and picked up one of the Digi-Dollars.

“Did you just throw money at me!?” She asked, astonished.

“And there’s more where that came from,” Ganemon said while throwing another wad of cash. Floramon dodged the attack and charged at the coin Digimon.

“Rain of Pollen!” Floramon sent out a mist at Ganemon, and it covered the coin Digimon. Floramon smirked, thinking she defeated her opponent, but it quickly fell when the mist disappeared, and she saw Ganemon still standing unaffected. “What! How are you still standing?”

“Your pollen has no effect if your opponent doesn’t have a nose,” Ganemon said and hit Floramon with another wad of cash, which hurt a lot more than the last attack.

“Floramon!” She heard Penguinmon cry out. She looked up and saw the Zenimon carrying Digi-Dollars, dodging every one of Penguinmon’s attacks and moving out of the way of Chloe and Catherine.

“Ah, yes, come to Papa,” Ganemon said as the Zenimon handed him the money and ran back to the ship. Floramon groaned, thinking that Ganemon was going to use the cash he received to attack her, but to her surprise, he ate the Digi-Dollars. She was going to yell at him but bit her tongue when Ganemon grew after every dollar he ate. He grew to be a quarter of the size of the ship as his shadow covered Floramon.

“You only have yourselves to blame!” Ganemon said before jumping into the air.

The girls first thought that Ganemon was leaving, but that was quickly disproven when the Zenimon kept taking more and more of their money. They quickly learned what was happening when they saw Ganemon hurling toward them. Catherine, Chloe, and Penguinmon moved out of the way, except for Floramon. Her vision was blurry, and the world around her was spinning, making it hard for her to get up.

Catherine saw this, and without hesitation, she ran back to her partner. She ignored the cries of her sister and Penguinmon, only paying attention to her partner and getting them both out of there. She reached Floramon, and without wasting any more time, Catherine lifted Floramon off the ground and dived out of the way as Ganemon crashed into the ground. Catherine and Floramon coughed up sand as the dust clouds filled their lungs.

“Are you ok, Floramon?” Catherine asked her partner after finishing her coughing fit.

“Yeah,” Floramon responded. The two looked back at the crash site to see Ganemon getting up and the Zenimon feeding more Digi-Dollars. “But how are we gonna beat him?”

Catherine quickly surveyed the scene. It was obvious that the Zenimon was the biggest problem, constantly feeding Ganemon until he eats all their money. They needed to find a way to stop the Zenimon first before Ganemon grew to the size of their ship and squished them all. Catherine was trying to think of a way to stop them when she noticed the hole they dug earlier, giving her an idea.

“We need to lead the Zenimon into the hole before we even think of attacking Ganemon!” Catherine exclaimed, and Floramon nodded.

“Got it! I’ll try to distract Ganemon and scare the Zenimon towards the hole!” Floramon said. She got up and tried to run into the fray, but Catherine held her arm. Floramon turned back to see Catherine with a concerned look.

“Be careful,” Catherine said and let her partner go. Floramon nodded, and she ran into the battle at the same time Catherine ran to her sister to tell her the plan. Suddenly, Catherine’s Digivice started to glow, and Floramon was blanketed in a veil of light.

“Floramon Digivolve to…” Floramon’s body shrank and became brown and furry. She lost her arms, and her legs became longer and grew some talons. Her flower petal was replaced by a white mask with a long beak and leaves around her neck. “Kiwimon!”

Kiwimon dashed at Ganemon, dodging the wads of cash that were thrown at her. She then shot small miniature versions of herself at the coin Digimon. “Pummel Peck!”

The chibi Kiwimon exploded upon contact with Ganemon, dazing him. Not wasting the opportunity, Kiwimon ran between Ganemon’s legs and chased after the Zenimon. The small coin Digimon tried to run to the shelter of the ship, but Kiwimon did another Pummel Peck attack to direct them to the hole. When the Zenimon got close to the hole, Catherine and Chloe blocked off any escape routes, and Penguinmon smacked the Zenimon into the hole.

“Alright!” The sisters and Penguinmon cheered.

“You were amazing, uh, I guess it’s not Floramon anymore,” Catherine said, and Kiwimon shook her head.

“I’m Kiwimon: I may not be able to fly, but I make up for it with my speed ,” Kiwimon said. They heard Ganemon groan behind them and saw him shake off any dizziness that he had. “Don’t worry, I got this!”

Kiwimon ran back, ready to fight while Ganemon slyly smirked.

“I’ll admit, you got the best of me, and you even managed to trap my Zenimon,” Ganemon laughed before he had a serious expression on his face. “But don’t think beating me will be easy.”

Ganemon pulled out a huge wad of cash and hurled it at Kiwimon, who easily dodged it. He threw another wad of cash, and again, Kiwimon dodged the attack. Kiwimon ran around Ganemon, making it hard for the coin Digimon to land a direct hit. As she was running, Kiwimon used her Pummel Peck attack to, at the very least, cause some annoyance to her opponent.

If she was being honest, she didn’t have a plan. She first thought that if she could tire out Ganemon and wait for the others to get back, then they could either help her or get back onto the ship and leave. But there was a huge problem with that plan because she didn’t know when the others would return, and she didn’t know if she could tire out Ganemon enough to give them enough time to leave. As she was thinking up a plan, Kiwimon tripped over her own legs, allowing Ganemon to grab her.

“You know, my diet only consists of money, but I can make an exception with you. You might even taste like a kiwi,” Ganemon laughed, causing Kiwimon to cringe from his repulsive breath. Kiwimon tried to break free from Ganemon’s hold, and she heard Catherine’s pleas, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break free. She tried to thrash around when Ganemon brought her closer to his mouth, but it was futile.

“Pummel Peck!” Kiwimon shot her attack into Ganemon’s mouth, causing a little explosion. Even though it wasn’t huge, it was enough for Ganemon to let go of Kiwimon and reel back in pain.

“What the heck! That was foul-” Before he could finish his sentence, Ganemon started to cough up smoke. He continued to hack and wheeze until the girls heard him gagging. It didn’t take long until Ganemon threw up.

“Ew,” the girls said with disgust.

“Guys, look!” Kiwimon exclaimed, and they all looked at Ganemon. He was no longer a towering figure, but in fact, he was shrinking back down to his normal size.

“That was cheap. I’ll show…you,” Ganemon started to threaten them but quickly became quiet when he saw the girls tower over him with looks of scorn. “Let’s talk about this.”

Not wanting to listen to anything that he had to say, Catherine and Chloe grabbed Ganemon’s arms and threw him into the hole.

(Line Break)

“We’re back! And we brought food,” TK called out as he and his group returned to the ship. They found Catherine cleaning the main deck.

“That’s great. But try to keep your voices down, the others are trying to sleep,” Catherine told them, and they nodded.

“So, did you find any treasure?” Ken asked, and Catherine chuckled.

“You could say we did.”

“That’s neat,” TK said, and he headed to the kitchen. “But make sure you didn’t leave anything on the island beca-”

A bucket of water was dumped on his head after he opened the kitchen door. He heard everyone laughing as he wiped away his wet hair from his eyes. He could see Catherine laughing the hardest, and he just smiled while he rolled his eyes.

“Nice one, Miss Deneuve.”

Chapter Text

Heavy rain pelted against the ship as loud cracks of thunder filled the air. The Digidestined were sitting around the kitchen table waiting for the storm to pass. They had just left Primary Island, as Patamon dubbed it, and were on their way to finding their first crest.

“Do you think when we find the crest, it would do something about all this rain?” Catherine asked out loud. She watched the rain pelt the window as her sister and Penguinmon were racing raindrops on the window.

“It better because I can feel my flowers starting to wilt without sunlight,” Floramon said glumly. She slouched in her chair as she looked at the drooping petals on the end of her arms. Catherine patted her partner’s head, which made the floral Digimon feel better.

“Yeah, this rain is starting to get on my last nerve,” Terriermon grumbled. The small dog Digimon peered over at his partner, who was fiddling with his Digivice. The second they set sail, Willis instantly started tinkering away on his device to learn how it worked. He barely acknowledged anyone, only giving out short direct answers. “How much longer until we get there, Willis?”

“I don’t know, Terriermon,” Willis answered without lifting his gaze from his device. The small Digimon groaned as he dragged his little paws down his face.

“I’m so bored! There’s nothing to do, and you guys won’t even let us eat!” Terriermon whined. The other Digimon agreed with his sentiment, and they started to get restless, too. TK saw this and quickly took charge.

“I’m sure we could find something to pass the time.”

“Ooh, like eye spy!” Chloe said energetically. She quickly looked around and saw that there wasn’t a lot of variety of items in the room and knew that a game of eye spy would get boring quickly. “Or not.”

“How about we tell stories? My family always does that on long road trips,” Ken suggested, and everyone quickly agreed to the idea. Ryo excitedly jumped at the opportunity to go first.

“Me first! One time, I placed third in a hot dog eating contest because I threw up a couple of dogs,” Ryo proudly said, causing Catherine to blech in response while Chloe appeared unimpressed.

“That’s nothing! I won a pie eating contest and set a record for eating the most pies in the shortest amount of time.”

“That’s not something to be proud of!” Catherine scolded her sister, to which Chloe responded with a toothy grin.

The Digimon and the rest of the Digidestind laughed at the scene created by the two sisters. Ken was the first to regain his composure and turned to TK, who was chuckling to himself.

“You knew them before we were summoned here. Do you have any fun stories to share?” Ken asked, causing TK to think before a grin appeared on his face.

“I have plenty, but I think my favorite story of Cat and Chloe was when we first met,” TK said while looking at the two bickering sisters.

“Well, don’t keep us waiting! What happened!?” Patamon prodded his partner, and TK chuckled.

“Ok, ok, I’ll tell you. It all started back when I moved to France. It’s been a week since me and my mom moved and I was extremely homesick…”

TK glumly stared at the new computer his mom bought him. He was waiting for an email from either his brother or his best friend, though his mom told him not to get his hopes up. She said that when he’s waking up and getting ready for school, both Matt and Kari would be getting out of school and that it was rude to distract them both from doing their homework. TK understood what his mother was telling him, but he wished that Matt or Kari would send him an email to make him happy, especially for today.

It was his first day at a new school, and he was extremely scared and nervous. He has changed schools before because of his mom’s job, but never to a level such as this before. He doesn’t know what a school in France is like, and it was freaking him out. He was also worried about the other students as well.

He wasn’t worried about the language barrier. His mom made sure he knew French from the moment he knew how to talk. He was more worried about how the other students would react when they saw him. He remembers Mimi telling him and his friends stories about how she was outcasted in her school when she moved to America all because she was from Japan. He didn’t want to go through what she did.

“TK, are you ready?” He heard his mom call him from the kitchen. TK looked through his bookbag and saw he had all of his school supplies packed away. He checked his email one last time, hoping to see something from either Matt or Kari, but sighed when he saw it was empty.

“Yes,” TK reluctantly answered before grabbing his bag and heading for the kitchen.

He reached the kitchen to find his mom dashing all over the place, getting stuff ready for her job. He sat down at the counter, and his mom quickly gave him a bowl of lumpy oatmeal before rushing back into preparing her stuff.

“Sorry that I won’t be able to bring you to your first day of school, but I’m running late for work,” his mom apologized while pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“It’s fine, I understand,” TK responded before digging into his breakfast. His mom finished getting ready when he was almost done with his breakfast. She came over to him and kissed him on the head before ruffling his hair.

“I know you’re nervous about today, but look on the bright side, you have a chance to make some new friends and get to learn some new things that you wouldn’t have back in Japan,” she comforted him before looking at the clock. She jumped a little before getting her stuff together and heading for the door. “Ok, I’m gonna be late. Your grandfather will be here soon to take you to school, so don’t keep him waiting. I love you.”

“Love you too,” TK called out before she left.

TK finished his breakfast and went back to his room to check his email. He let out a defeated sigh when he saw his inbox was still empty and began typing an email to his brother and best friend.

Hey Matt,

Starting my first day of school over here, and I’m feeling a little nervous. Mom just left for work, so that means Grandpa is taking me to school. Pray for me. Other than that, everything is fine over here. Email me back when you get the chance because I miss you.

TK

After he sent the email, he started typing one for Kari.

Hi Kari,

It’s my first day of school in France and I’m nervous. I wish I were back in Japan so I could see you and the others whenever I want. Please get back to me when you get the chance because I like hearing about what’s happening over there.

TK

After TK sent that email, he heard someone knock on the front door. Assuming that it was his grandfather, he grabbed his school bag, opened the front door, and saw the elderly man standing on the porch.

“Ah, TK, how’s my favorite grandson that is living in Paris?” His grandfather beamed while ruffling TK’s hair.

“I’m good, Grandpa. I’m ready to go,” TK responded while closing the front door. He started to head for the driveway, but his grandfather placed a firm hand on his shoulder, holding him in place.

“Before we go, you know what you have to do,” his grandpa told him. TK didn’t know what he was talking about before realization hit him like a truck and made him groan.

“Do I have to?”

“Yes, TK. You know you have to sing Frère Jacques every time you see me. It’s tradition,” his grandfather reminded him, causing him to let out another groan. After singing the nursery rhyme and doing an embarrassing dance, TK’s grandfather led him to the driveway where there was a motorcycle with a sidecar waiting for them.

“Does Mom know about this?” TK worriedly asked. His grandfather let out a hearty laugh before tossing him a helmet.

“No, and let’s keep it that way. What she doesn’t know won’t kill me later. Now come on, you don’t want to be late on your first day!”

TK shrugged before putting on his helmet and hopping into the sidecar. His Grandpa revved the bike’s engine a few times before taking off down the road. He maintained a good speed so as not to give his grandson any whiplash before his first day.

After a short ride, the two reached the young blond’s school. TK got out of the sidecar and gave his helmet back to his Grandpa.

“Thanks for the ride,” TK told him. His Grandpa smiled and gave him a pat on the back.

“Any time, TK, and don’t worry about your first day. I know that I’ve never been to a Japanese school, but what I do know is that a school is a school no matter what country you’re in. After today you’ll see that school here isn’t so different from school in Japan,” his grandfather told him.

TK smiled and nodded to what his grandfather said. His words did little to dissuade his nerves, but it’s the thought that counts.

“Thanks, Grandpa.”

“Don’t mention it. I’ll be back to pick you up when school’s over,” his Grandpa said before driving off.

TK waved him off before turning to his new school. It towered over him as his nerves started to get to him. He took a couple of deep breaths before trudging toward his new school.

He first went to the principal’s office to get his class schedule and to meet his new homeroom teacher. She then led him to the classroom and told him to wait outside to prepare the class for him. As he waited, he listened in on the classroom and heard the teacher settling down the class. He then heard her give a small little speech before she called his name.

He took a deep breath before entering the room. He looked over the whole class, and he noticed they all had the same expression. It wasn’t a judgmental expression but a look of disappointment that confused him greatly…

“Hold on! They were disappointed to see you?” Ken interrupted his story with a bemused expression.

“Yeah, I guess I wasn’t who they were expecting,” TK answered with a light chuckle.

“But why, though? You’re a great person,” Patamon asked.

“We know why?”

The boys looked over at Chloe and Catherine, who were listening in on the story. Catherine looked embarrassed while Chloe sheepishly tried to avoid eye contact with them.

“Well, are you gonna tell me or…?” Catherine and Chloe tried to avoid looking at TK before Catherine gave in and let out a sigh.

“The week before you showed up, our teacher told the class that we were gonna have a new student that was coming from Japan. We were all excited, and the teacher spent the whole week teaching us about Japanese culture. She showed us some pictures of some cities, schools, and some traditional clothing too. We sorta thought you’d look something like the people we saw in the pictures,” Catherine slowly explained.

“So you guys expected me to walk in dressed in a kimono and getas?” TK tried to summarize, and Chloe quickly jumped in to correct him.

“No no no, we didn’t think that! We just didn’t expect to see someone who looked like someone we see walking down the street. To be honest, we thought you would’ve looked more like Ken than you.”

TK was a little offended by what his two friends said, but he couldn’t be completely upset with what they said. He wouldn’t argue that he didn’t look like an average Japanese person, even going as far as to say that he looked more like a foreigner back in his home country than in France. The only distinguishing features he had that would let someone know he was Japanese were his last name and his slightly slanted eyes. But that didn’t mean what Chloe and Catherine said didn’t hurt.

Sensing that what they said hurt their friend, Chloe and Catherine quickly went over and hugged him to show their love.

“We want you to know that we wouldn’t want anyone else to take your place,” Catherine comforted the boy.

“Yeah, you made these past few years fun, and we wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Chloe added. TK smiled and returned their embrace.

“Thanks, girls. I really appreciate it.”

The three held their embrace for a few more seconds before Monodramon cleared his voice to gain everyone’s attention.

“I don’t want to interrupt this heartwarming moment, but could you please get back to your story?”

“Yeah, It was starting to get interesting,” Terriermon added before quickly getting reprimanded by both Lopmon and Willis. TK chuckled before continuing with his story.

“I’m gonna skip ahead a little because nothing interesting happened for my first week at school outside of my first day…”

A week passed since his first day of school, and nothing interesting happened. After his weird introduction to his class, TK decided not to talk with anyone. Matt, Kari, and his mom told him that it was a stupid thing for him to do, but it wasn’t like anyone was going out of their way to talk to him. If no one was going to try to talk to him, then he wasn’t going to do the same to them.

It was lunchtime, and he sat at his self-assigned table, the one that was the furthest away from everyone. Barely anyone sat at his table, and if they did, they didn’t acknowledge him. He still remembers his first day and the disappointed looks the other students gave him when he pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich his mom made him. He didn’t know what they had against ham and cheese sandwiches, so he asked his mom to make him something else for lunch.

Ever since that day, his mom made him either roast beef or chicken sandwiches. He still got a few glances from people, but he would rather get a few glances than the whole cafeteria watching him while he ate.

He took out his lunch, a roast beef sandwich, and started to eat. He was a few bites into his lunch when he saw a girl sitting across from him. There was nothing that stood out about her appearance-wise other than her shoulder-length blond hair and purple bow, but what did stand out about her was the big lunch bag she was carrying. She smiled at him when she caught him staring at her.

“Is it fine if I sit here? My sister is out sick, and I have nowhere else to sit.”

TK pondered it over before slowly nodding. She let out a small cheer before pulling out a huge assortment of food from her bag. It looked like she set up a small picnic for herself.

“I’m Chloe, by the way,” the girl introduced herself.

“Takeru,” TK mumbled in response. He saw that Chloe had stars in her eyes as she started to eat.

“You’re the new kid, right? We’re in the same homeroom, and I think I have you in some other classes as well,” Chloe said with her mouth full. TK was disgusted and wanted to look away, but the more he looked at her, the more familiar she became.

“You’re the girl that always sleeps during class.”

Chloe choked on her food before managing to slowly swallow it. She sheepishly chuckled, red in the face, while rubbing the back of her head.

“Yeah, that’s me, but I can’t help it! We learn nothing in homeroom, and all my other classes are boring!” Chloe defended herself. TK laughed, and Chloe calmed down and joined him.

The two continued having lunch together, and TK had to admit that he was having fun for the first time since he moved to France. Chloe told him stories about the times she scared her sister, and TK told her some stories about his time in Japan, minus the Digimon stuff, of course. She especially loved the story of when he almost accidentally cut off his friend, Joe, hand.

When he finished one of his stories, he noticed that Chloe was done with her behemoth of a meal, which was gone while he still had half of his sandwich. He caught her eyeing it, and she was almost drooling as well. He decided to relinquish the remaining half of his lunch to her, which she graciously took.

“You really like eating, huh,” TK said as he watched her eat. Chloe finished his sandwich and beamed at him.

“I do! Sweet food is my favorite!”

“But aren’t you worried about getting fat?” TK asked, to which Chloe just shook her head.

“Oh, no, I’m a dancer, so I move around a lot. It also helps that I have a high metabolism,” Chloe proudly revealed, and TK gave her an uncomfortable smile.

“T-That’s neat.”

“So do you have any fun hobbies?” Chloe asked, and he was grateful for the change of topic.

“I play basketball.”

“That’s awesome! Are you thinking of joining the school team? We weren’t so good last year but with your help, I’m sure we won’t finish in last place again!”

“Yeah… maybe,” TK lightly said after being bombarded by the girl.

The bell rang, and Chloe got up and smiled at TK.

“Today was fun. We should do this again tomorrow.”

“Yeah, sure,” TK responded before Chloe skipped off to her next class. TK slowly got his stuff ready for his class as he wondered what chaos Chloe would bring him in the near future.

“And that’s how I met Chloe,” TK finished his story, and everyone was giving Chloe weird looks.

“What?” She asked everyone.

“You really don’t have a filter, do you,” Catherine sighed disappointedly while shaking her head.

“It’s not like I said anything bad!”

“Yeah, but I don’t think people want to hear about your metabolism, especially someone you just met!” Catherine argued, and Penguinmon spoke up.

“What’s a high metabolism?”

“It’s someone who burns calories faster than the average person, meaning that she could eat a lot without having to worry about getting fat,” Willis explained.

“Yeah, she makes everyone jealous at our school about how she can’t get fat,” TK told them, and Chloe proudly smiled, which frustrated her sister.

“Don’t take pride in that!” Catherine yelled, and it started a whole new argument between the siblings with Ryo chiming in about how she technically cheated to win her food-eating competition.

As that was going on, Ken realized something about TK’s story.

“You forgot to tell us how you met Catherine,” he reminded the blond boy, and he embarrassingly rubbed the back of his head with a light chuckle.

“Oh, right, you see Catherine was out for a week with food poisoning when I met Chloe. She told me all kinds of stories about her sister, but she forgot to mention that they were twins,” TK slowly revealed, and Ken realized where the story was going. “One day while I was walking down the hallway, I thought I saw Chloe at her locker. As a joke, I decided I was going to scare her, and as I got closer, it never dawned on me that she looked slightly different from the day before. Let’s just say that our first meeting was very painful.”

“Ouch,” Ken said sympathetically while TK subconsciously rubbed his left cheek.

“I had a handprint on my cheek for the rest of the day, but after a couple of days and some intervention from Chloe, we eventually became good friends,” TK fondly smiled as he looked at the two siblings. Even though he missed his old friends back in Japan, he was glad that he moved to France because he couldn’t picture his life without Catherine and Chloe.

“Hey, guys! Look!” Everyone turned to see Patamon hovering over by the door.

They first noticed that the rain had stopped but also there was a bright light coming from the door’s window. Floramon was the first to jump out of her seat and raced over to the door. She kicked it open to reveal the bright sunny sky. Something they had been missing for the past couple of days.

They all raced outside and embraced the bright, warm sky. It felt a little too hot, but at that moment, they didn’t care. They all enjoyed the warm air when Lopmon pointed out something that they were surprised to miss at first.

“Guys, land ho!”

Everyone looked in front of the ship to see that they were sailing to a ginormous desert island.

Chapter Text

“I need to speak to the king! It’s urgent!” A gray canine like Digimon screamed as he kicked open the doors to the ginormous palace in the center of the city. He was immediately apprehended by two giant monkey Digimon with yellow fur and a big bone staff.

“You dare barge in here and demand for the king!? We could have your head for this!” One of the monkey Digimon threatened the canine while the other wielded his bone staff. The canine struggled under the guard’s hold as he tried to plead his case.

“Apemon, it’s important that the king hears this! This might save us—!” Apemon slammed the canine’s head into the ground as the other Apemon prepared his staff. He swung it down as the canine Digimon screamed one last plea for his life. “IT’S THE DIGIDESTINED!”

“Hold it!”

Apemon froze as the king’s voice rang out in the room. The king signaled for the other Apemon to release the canine Digimon, allowing him to get close to the king.

“Speak, Gazimon!”

“Ah, yes, my liege. You see, a ship was spotted off the coast of Leaton. We have reasons to believe it’s the Digidestined,” Gazimon spoke.

The king hummed as he slowly stood up from his throne and slowly walked over to the ginormous window behind him. He peered through it and looked down at his kingdom. He watched the owners of the local shops clean up the wreckage from the last attack. He also saw the baby Digimon bouncing along the street, playing with whatever debris they could find.

Ever since that monster showed up, living in his kingdom was becoming difficult for his subjects. Businesses had to close down because they couldn’t afford rent after having to pay for repairs to their buildings. Children were disappearing almost daily; he had to set a curfew for all the baby Digimon. Even then, it wasn’t enough because the monster always found a way to break into his subjects’ homes and kidnap the babies.

His subjects pleaded with him to do something about the monster, and he did. He built an army and sent them to defeat the monster and bring back all the kidnapped children. He sent over a hundred Digimon, and only seven came back, each with a horror story more terrifying than the last.

He pleaded with other kingdoms to send him some of their strongest soldiers, offering them some of his finest riches, but they all declined. They told him that they each had their own monster problem to deal with and that they couldn’t afford to send him soldiers until they handled theirs first.

He had over a thousand subjects when he took over as king, but now he was down to a few hundred. With all the attacks and his lack of action to do anything, most of his subjects left. The few that stayed tried to continue living as if nothing was wrong, but he wouldn’t be surprised if they were planning a coup.

“Uh, my liege?” One of the Apemon guards spoke up. The king cleared his throat as he stepped away from the window.

“Tell the Digimon of Leaton to prepare a welcome party for the Digidestined. Apemon, prepare one of my finest carriages for them. I want them here by tomorrow, you understand!?” One of the Apemon guards nodded and rushed out of the room while Gazimon followed his lead and ran out of the palace to relay the king’s message.

The king then sunk into his throne, and the other Apemon guard stood around waiting for his order.

“And what do you want me to do, sire? Do you want me to get the royal chef to make you a banana sandwich or maybe a banana smoothie?”

“That would be nice, Apemon. How would I, the king of kings, KingEtemon rule over his kingdom without his brain food!” KingEtemon proclaimed as Apemon walked to the kitchen.

Now alone, all KingEtemon could do was hope for his message to reach Leaton and hope that the Digidestined would save his people and his kingdom.

The Digidestined were celebrating that they were finally in the bright, warm sun and not in the dark cloudy rain that they’d grown accustomed to these past couple of days. Floramon didn’t waste time stealing some nutrients from the sun. Everyone else basked in the sun's warm embrace, enjoying every last second of it. Well, everyone except Penguinmon.

The small penguin Digimon was doing her best to avoid the sun’s rays, choosing to remain in the somewhat cool shade. She was hunched over, dry heaving, and doing her best not to pass out. She wanted to reach out to one of the others, but she didn’t want to ruin their fun.

“You don’t look so good. Are you feeling alright?” Penguinmon looked up and saw her partner’s worried face. Penguinmon tried to act like she was fine, but her face and body language told Chloe a different story.

“I don’t do too well in the heat,” Penguinmon admitted, and Chloe gave her a sympathetic look. She then draped an arm around her before leading her inside.

“I’m gonna take Penguinmon inside for a bit,” Chloe called out to everyone. TK gave her a thumbs-up before the two went inside.

TK peered over Willis’ shoulder and studied his Digivice. The green arrow pointed directly at the island. The two blonds gave each other a knowing look.

“You think the crest is on the island?” Willis asked, and TK nodded.

“It’s probably our safest bet. Now the real question is how we’re going to dock the ship,” TK pondered as he looked at the island. “I don’t see any ports, and I don’t want to lay the anchor by the beach.”

“Why not?” Terriermon asked. “We did it for Primary Island.”

“Yeah, but this island is bigger, and we’re not leaving anyone behind to look after it,” TK answered. He continued to look at the island and groaned. Everything was far away, and he couldn’t see anything with his naked eye. “Does anyone have a telescope?”

“I think Ken is using one in the crow’s nest,” Patamon answered. TK then walked over to the ladder that led to the crow’s nest. He looked up, and just like Patamon said, Ken was up there using the telescope.

“Hey, Ken! See anything?”

“No, just nothing but sand,” Ken answered back. He was about to give up and let someone else have a turn with the telescope, but he caught something last second. Off in the distance, he spotted a large docking area. Not only that, he saw a pink bird trying to direct them to it. “I see a port straight ahead!”

“You heard him. Monodramon and I will go steer the ship while you guys make sure we don’t crash into the land,” Ryo ordered as he and his partner went inside.

“And I’ll go get Chloe,” Catherine said, as she followed Ryo.

Working together, the Digidestined managed to steer their ship to the port. They didn’t get close to them, though, choosing to float close to their destination, in fear of crashing and sinking their ship. TK walked to the side and was shocked to see the Digimon that was waiting for them.

“Biyomon!?”

“Hello, Digidestined. Let us help you dock your ship,” the Biyomon told them, not recognizing the blond boy. Willis walked next to TK, puzzled by what the bird Digimon said.

“Did they just say us?”

All of a sudden, their ship started to move into the port slowly. Terriermon and Lopmon looked off the side of the ship and saw multiple small green Digimon with a big orange fin on their heads guiding their ship. Soon, they were in the port, and Ken lowered the anchor to keep the ship in place.

Once they were on land, Biyomon greeted them with a courteous bow before signaling to something in the water. The same creatures that helped guide their ship into the port jumped out of the water and covered the ship in a giant tarp.

“Hello Digidestined, welcome to Leaton. We are so happy to have you.”

“And we are happy to be here!” Ryo happily replied while the bird Digimon’s politeness slightly threw everyone off.

TK was confused, though, because he didn’t understand how Biyomon didn’t recognize him or Patamon. Not a lot of time has passed since they last saw each other, and he knew he didn’t look completely different than he did then. They also knew he was a Digidestined, so it wasn’t like they didn’t completely recognize him.

“Hey, Patamon, why doesn’t Biyomon recognize us?” TK quietly asked his partner, and Patamon chuckled like he just told him a joke.

“It’s because that’s not the Biyomon that we know. There are other Digimon out there that look like our friends but aren’t them.”

“So you’re saying there could be a village of Patamon somewhere?”

“Probably,” Patamon answered, and TK imagined a cute little village filled with Digimon that looked like his partner.

Back up front, Biyomon waved at the group to follow them.

“Come along, we would like to give you a tour of our wonderful town, and later a party will be thrown in your honor!” Biyomon revealed which excited the Digimon. None were more excited than Lopmon and Terriermon.

“Did you hear that, Willis? They’re throwing a party for us!” Terriermon cheered.

“Do you think there will be cake? It’s been a while since I’ve had it,” Lopmon added. Willis wrangled his partners together to prevent them from having any more outbursts. The group laughed while Ken noticed something that Biyomon said.

“You knew we were Digidestined before we introduced ourselves. You even had a party planned out for our arrival.”

“The Divermon that you bought the ship from has to send out a report to every kingdom whenever they sell a ship,” Biyomon answered. “As for the party, the king ordered for there to be a welcome party when he heard reports of your ship being spotted in the area.”

“Ok,” Ken responded, satisfied with their answer.

“Anyway, let’s start our tour befo–!” Biyomon was interrupted by someone’s loud coughing. Everyone turned to see Penguinmon hunched over dry heaving while Chloe comfortingly rubbed her back.

“She doesn’t handle hot weather too well. Is there somewhere cool for her rest?” Chloe asked, and Biyomon signaled for one of the green amphibian Digimon to get out of the water.

“Betamon, please take our guests somewhere to cool off.”

“On it, Biyomon. Please, follow me,” Betamon started to lead the two away. Catherine tried to follow after them, but Chloe stopped her.

“Don’t worry, Cat. We’ll be fine, and we’ll catch up with you guys later,” Chloe told her sister as the trio left.

“Well, shall we begin the tour?” Biyomon asked, and the group nodded.

The bird Digimon led the group away from the port and into the town. It was huge, with buildings bigger than their ship and stores and restaurants almost around every corner. Ryo pointed something out to Ken, which made him shudder.

“I didn’t expect it to be a chain,” Ken commented. TK looked over to where Ryo pointed and didn’t understand why it gave Ken such a reaction. It was just a plain restaurant with a picture of Meramon on it.

“Did you wanna stop there for lunch?” TK asked, and Ken shot him a glare.

“NO!” Ken quickly exclaimed, and TK backed off with an awkward chuckle.

As that was happening, Willis was up front, talking with Biyomon. He had so many questions about the town, like how long it took to build it, what are the Digimon like here, and how they came up with the name for their town. But his biggest question was why their town wasn’t a city. It was certainly big enough to be mistaken for one.

“We did apply for our town to be a city. We met all the requirements to become one too; multiple buildings and a big population. The king was about to approve our application, but something happened, which caused many of our citizens to leave,” Biyomon answered solemnly.

“What happened? Was it because of this heat?” Terriermon asked, and Biyomon shook its head.

“No, it wasn’t because of the heat. We managed to work around it by opening our shops at night or going to the beach.”

“Then what’s causing the Digimon to leave?” Willis asked, and Biyomon brushed him off.

“You just got here. I don’t want to worry you about our problems when all you should be worrying about is having fun at your party later!” Biyomon cheered before racing ahead to get away from the blond and his two partners.

Willis slowed his pace and turned to everyone who was listening in on their conversation. They all had different expressions ranging from worried to confused.

“I know they said not to worry about it, but the way Biyomon was trying to avoid the topic only made me worry,” Ryo said, and Monodramon growled.

“Do you think it has something to do with the king? I swear I won’t hesitate to overthrow the monarchy on this island!”

“I don’t think it’s that, Monodramon. It didn’t sound like Biyomon had any resentment toward the king when they talked about him, and it sounded like they were happy to throw the welcome party,” TK explained. He wanted to believe that the king was the reason why all the Digimon were leaving, but he couldn’t. All the evidence pointed to the king being good unless Biyomon was a good actor, but he had a hard time believing that.

“Well, whatever it is, I think we should go find Chloe and set out what we came here to do,” Catherine said while raising her Digivice. “The sooner we find the crests, the sooner we can–wait, that's odd?”

“What?” TK asked as he moved closer to her.

“The arrow moved,” Catherine answered as she showed everyone her Digivice. No longer was the arrow pointing inland, but it was now pointing toward the ocean. Everyone pulled out their own Digivice, and sure enough, the arrow was the same as Catherine’s.

“Did someone take it already?” Floramon asked, and TK shook his head.

“Unless they have a tag with them, I don’t think anyone can just go and take it.”

“Then what caused the arrow to move then?” Ken asked, and an explosion went off in the distance. Everyone turned in time to see a sand cloud disappear before turning back to their Digivices to see that the arrow was pointing in that direction.

“I guess we’re gonna find out. Come on!” TK yelled as he led the group into what was most likely going to be a fight.

(A few minutes earlier)

Penguinmon let out a refreshing sigh as she emerged from the water. When Betamon led them away from the port, she expected to be taken to some building that was cool inside, but instead, they took them to the beach. It was a gorgeous beach with all sorts of Digimon basking in the sun’s rays or swimming in the water. Feeling the top of her head starting to dry, Penguinmon dove back under the water and continued to swim.

Over on dry land, Chloe watched her partner enjoy herself. Not only did she watch Peguinmon, she also watched the Koromon, Agumon, Betamon, Yokomon, Biyomon, Mushroomon, Pagumon, Gazimon, and Gizamon all play and have fun too. She let out a relaxing sigh as she lay back on the sand. After all the Digimon attacks, she enjoyed the few minutes of rest and relaxation the world has given her.

“Excuse me, miss,” Chloe looked up and saw a slightly nervous Mushroomon standing over her. “Could I offer you anything to drink, or maybe something to eat?”

Chloe politely waved them off. Ever since she separated from the group, she and Penguinmon have been treated nothing short of royalty. It felt like everywhere she went, every Digimon tried to wait on her hand and foot. She didn’t hate it, but she never liked being pampered. That was more of a Catherine thing than her.

Speaking of her sister, Chloe thinks that they should catch up with the group now, but she doesn’t know how far they’ll get before she has to worry about Penguinmon passing out. She also didn’t want to leave her here in case anything happened. She quickly called out to Mushroomon and asked if there was anything to help her.

“I can get you a hat from the hat store if you want.”

“That would be great!” Chloe cheered. She then thought about how TK had been complaining about how Catherine sold his hat and decided to get him a gift. “Could you also get one for my friend TK, too? He’s a Digidestined like me.”

“Of course! Anything for the Digidestined!” Mushroomon instantly said before running off.

Chloe chuckled before moving to the water. She let the cool ocean water cool her off as she called out to her partner. Penguinmon poked her head out of the water and swam up to the shore.

“Yes, Chloe?” Penguinmon asked, keeping a majority of her body in the water.

“Mushroomon went to get you a hat so when he comes back we’re gonna go look for the others,” Chloe told her partner, who looked a little sad to be leaving the water. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to come back later, and you can continue to swim around until they return.”

Penguinmon cheered as she dove underwater. Chloe smiled as she walked back to her spot. Not knowing how long until Mushroomon will come back with the hats, Chloe decided to rest her eyes for a few minutes. She didn’t have to worry about anything happening to her because the Digimon had shown her nothing but love and gratitude since stepping foot onto the beach.

Chloe closed her eyes and allowed the ocean’s song to take her away.

All of a sudden she heard a high-pitched scream and she saw all the Digimon running around in a panic. She was on high alert and saw a tall woman in a red strapless leather suit, black high heel boots, and a white and green cape held together by a pink jewel slowly walking onto the beach. She had long flowing blond hair underneath a helmet that not only covered her eyes but was also shaped like a rose. She also carried a vine whip that snaked around her whole body to allow her to carry both ends of it in her hands.

“So you’re the Digidestined that has come to save this land. I must say, I expected someone who didn’t look so pitiful,” the woman chuckled. Chloe felt her blood freeze as she slowly backed away. She felt her shoes hit the water, and she slowly reached for her Digivice, hoping that Penguinmon was close enough to the surface to hear what was happening.

“Oh no, you don’t!” The woman swung her whip at Chloe when she noticed her reaching for her Digivice. Chloe flinched and waited for the horrible pain the thorny whip would give her, but it never came. She looked and saw that an Agumon jumped in front of the attack to save her.

“Are you ok?” Chloe quickly cradled her protector’s head in her arms. She looked over it for any injuries and was taken aback when she saw its eyes glowing pink. The Agumon stirred in her arms as it began to growl. It then tried to bite her, but she dropped its head before scooting away from it.

Chloe felt herself tremble, and the woman chuckled.

“Foolish girl. Once you’re hit with my whip, you become my slave, body, and soul!” The woman grabbed the Agumon under their chin. Agumon eased into her touch, and she scratched under their chin. She then forced their attention onto Chloe with a sadistic grin. “Now destroy her, my pets!”

Agumon growled as a fire started to build in their mouth. Chloe tried to move out of their line of fire, but she couldn’t because her legs were frozen in place. She wanted to plead with Agumon, but she knew they wouldn’t listen while they were under the woman’s control. She raised her Digivice and hoped that her prayers would reach Penguinmon.

A bright light shone underwater as Agumon shot their fire. Chloe waited for the flames to engulf, but she heard something jump out of the water behind her.

“Pulse blast!”

A sonic wave made contact with the fireball and created a small explosion. The wind from the explosion pushed Chloe back a little, but she maintained her balance. She turned and saw Dolphmon, who had a worried but also serious expression on her face.

“Thank you, Dolphmon!”

“No problem, Chloe, but get to somewhere safe. I’ll handle this,” Dolphmon told her partner, and Chloe nodded before running off.

Now alone, Dolphmon scowled at the woman, giving her a small frown.

“So you’re that pitiful human’s partner. Makes sense that they would have a pitiful Digimon, too.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“You’re only limited to the water while I can do whatever I want on land. You’re just an easy-to-avoid obstacle, barely a threat,” the woman chuckled, and Dolphmon growled. She then started to stroll over to where Chloe was, and Dolphmon shot her with a pulse blast. It bounced off the woman, and she chuckled.

“That tickled,” the woman then snapped her fingers, and a small army of Agumon, Betamon, Biyomon, and Gizamon appeared. All of their eyes were glowing pink, and they all looked angry. “Since you want to feel useful, you can play with my puppets.”

Dolphmon growled. She shot another pulse blast at the woman, but Agumon shot another fireball, and Biyomon shot a spiral flame to intercept the attack. A huge sand cloud formed when the attacks hit. Both Betamon and Gizamon used the sand cloud to discreetly get into the water.

After the cloud disappeared, Dolphmon was ready to attack, but she was struck by an electric shock on her belly. As the electricity was coursing through her body, something sharp started sawing away at her side. She could feel herself being pushed out of the water, and after one more electric shock, she was launched onto the dry sand and into the fiery attacks of Biyomon and Agumon. After their attacks hit and the dust settled, all that was left was a barely conscious Penguinmon.

“PENGUINMON!” Chloe raced over and cradled her fallen partner in her arms. She was covered in cuts, bruises, and burns, and she was also having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

“I-I’m sorry, Chloe. I-I wasn’t s-strong enough.”

“Don’t say that! You did your best, and that’s good enough for me!” Chloe said behind a waterfall of tears as she hugged her partner. They heard the woman chuckle, and Chloe whipped around with a fire in her eyes. “WHAT!”

“This is so sad. She’s supposed to be the one to protect you, yet you’re the one comforting her. But I must thank you for making destroying you easy,” The fire was quickly extinguished when Chloe saw the whip in the woman’s right hand turn into a sharp spear. Chloe shielded her partner from the oncoming attack.

“Rose Spear—!”

“Hand of Fate!”

A beam of light struck the woman and knocked her away. Chloe looked over and saw her friends and their Digivolved partners racing onto the beach.

“Nice shot, Angemon,” TK praised his partner as Catherine and Kiwimon rushed over to Chloe and Penguinmon.

“Are you ok? Did she hurt you?” Catherine looked over her sister, and Chloe lightly pushed her off.

“I’m fine, but… Penguinmon,” Catherine then saw how messed up the penguin Digimon was. She then hugged her sister and helped her support Penguinmon.

A sultry laugh rang out in the air as the woman regained her composure. The Digimon got in a defensive stance and prepared to protect their partners.

“Who’s that, Agemon?” TK asked.

“That’s Rosemon: Because of her rose-like appearance, she was dubbed the Queen of Flowers. ”

“You know me so well, and you managed to actually hurt me, though I’ll never complain when a big strong Digimon throws me around,” Rosemon said while licking her lips. Angemon felt slightly uncomfortable by her actions, but he didn’t falter.

“What have you done to the crest!?” Ken demanded, and Rosemon laughed.

“That’s only for me to know, little boy, and for you to never find out.”

“We won’t hesitate to beat the answer out of you!” Strikedramon said while cracking his knuckles. Rosemon laughed again before whistling. A Flymon landed behind her, and she hopped onto the bee Digimon.

“As much as I want to entertain you, I know when I’m outnumbered, so this is goodbye for now. But I’ll make sure not to leave without my parting gift,” Rosemon whipped Flymon, and the bee Digimon darted to the twins. Catherine saw this and quickly pushed her sister and Penguinmon to the ground.

“NO!” TK screamed as Flymon took their prize. Angemom and Gargomon couldn’t shoot at Flymon for fear of hitting their friend, and Flymon was too far away for the flying Digimon to catch up.

“CHLO—!”

“CATHERINE!”

Everyone turned to see Chloe on her knees with tears on her face, screaming for her sister. TK quickly got onto his knees as he comforted the younger twin as he wondered how he was going to save his friend.

Mimi was screaming internally. The day after her friend’s birthday where she gave them nothing but horrible fashion tips and suggested they watch a bad movie. She was asked to meet them at the mall again today. She declined their offer and lied to them about how her father was extremely sick. Her friends bought it but she wished they didn’t.

She hated lying. She was always sincere and honest with everyone, but after these past few days, she was finding it hard to do those things. She lied to her friends and family, and whenever she managed to tell the truth, she was extremely rude. Her parents didn’t like her attitude and she could tell that she was getting on her fiend’s last nerves.

She wished she knew what was wrong with her and for things to go back to normal.

Chapter Text

“CATHERINE!”

Chloe’s cries filled the air as TK held her in his arms. The others watched in stunned silence, unsure what to do next. Both TK and Ken ordered their partners to chase after Rosemon and Flymon, but they remained stationary.

“They’re too far ahead for us to catch up. We’ll revert to our rookie forms before we even reach them.”

“We also don’t know if Rosemon will use Catherine as a shield,” Angemon added, and Chloe wailed even louder.

“NO! You need to go and save Catherine now!”

“Chloe!?” TK said in disbelief as she broke out of his hug. She ran up to both Angemon and Stingmon with a desperate look in her eyes.

“Please! You have to save my sister! I can’t live without my big sister!” Chloe pleaded, but the two sorrowfully shook their heads.

“We’re sorry, Chloe, but there’s nothing we can do,” Angemon said, and it broke Chloe.

Tears poured down her face as she fell to her knees. Her wails were as loud as they ever heard them. TK moved to comfort his friend again, but Willis swooped in and swamped her in a hug. She cried into his chest as he whispered comforting words to her.

Seeing that his friend was in good hands, he turned to Penguinmon, who was trying to sit up slowly. He placed a supportive hand on the Digimon’s back and slowly helped her up.

“Take it slowly. There’s no need to rush,” he told her, but she tried to push him off.

“It’s just a few scratches. I’ll be fine,” she said, but when she stood up, she instantly collapsed into the sand. TK helped her up, and Ryo rushed over to help keep her steady.

“It’s more than a few scratches. Let’s get back to the ship to patch you up and plan what we’ll do next.”

“There’s no need for that,” Everyone turned to see the Biyomon from earlier. She had a solemn look on their face as they scanned over Penguinmon’s injuries. “These look bad. Please, follow me and I’ll lead you to the town doctor.”

Biyomon walked away before anyone could argue. They wondered if they should listen to the bird Digimon, but Biyomon never gave them any reason to distrust them. Deciding to bite the bullet, the group chose to listen.

They followed Biyomon through town with some struggle. Angemon carried Penguinmon in his arms while everyone else was keeping Chloe from running away. She kept breaking free from their holds, causing them to stop following Biyomon and chase her down. It felt like dealing with a disobedient kid.

They reached the doctor’s office after managing to keep Chloe in check. They were greeted by a Gazimon who took Penguimon to the back. Chloe tried to follow them, but TK was quick to stop her.

“Hold on, we can’t trust you to be on your own right now.”

“I’m not gonna run away. I’m gonna stay right beside Penguinmon. I promise,” Chloe said, but TK didn’t believe her.

“I’m not buying it. Until we can trust you not to run off, we can’t leave you by yourself,” Chloe pouted, and TK brought her in close and whispered in her ear. “I understand you’re worried about Catherine. We all are, but you running off is only going to cause more problems. She’s strong and has Floramon with her. She can handle herself, and I know she wouldn’t want you to be acting like this.”

Chloe glared at TK, but he remained unwavered. He stared deeply into her eyes, silently telling her that he wouldn’t change his mind. After what felt like an eternity, Chloe let out a defeated breath and agreed to TK’s demands.

“Terriermon, Lopmon, and I will go with her. Three is better than two,” Willis volunteered. The four walked to the back to join Penguinmon, and TK took the opportunity to collapse onto one of the chairs and allow what happened to sink in.

One of his friends was kidnapped by a very powerful Digimon. He couldn’t blame Chloe for acting the way she was because he wanted to do the same thing, but he couldn’t. He had to remain strong and calm to prevent everyone else from panicking.

“You ok?” Ken asked, and TK nodded.

“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine,” TK answered before turning to Biyomon, who had a guilty look on their face. “I’m gonna guess that you knew about Rosemon.”

“I did, and I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you tell us!? We could’ve been more prepared and possibly prevented this whole thing from happening!” Monodramon growled, and Ryo placed a hand on his partner’s shoulder to calm him down. Biyomon flinched but didn’t show any other emotion.

“We didn’t expect her to attack us. Rosemon rarely ever travels far away from the kingdom, so we thought we were safe. She must’ve caught wind of your arrival and came to attack you at your most vulnerable.”

“So you’re saying it’s our fault this happened!?” Ryo accused the bird Digimon. Biyomon recoiled from Ryo’s accusation, causing TK to come to their defense.

“Hey, let’s not point fingers right now. It’s no one's fault other than Rosemon, so let’s not tear each other’s heads off!”

Ryo and Monodramon appeared defeated and apologized to Biyomon. They accepted them but were still shaken by what they said. TK and Patamon quickly comforted them and let them know they did nothing wrong, and the whole thing was a freak accident.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you guys about Rosemon, but we didn’t want to stress you all with our problems. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” Biyomon asked.

“You can tell us everything you know about Rosemon, anything that will help us get our friend back,” Ken answered, and Biyomon nodded.

“I don’t know much, but what I do know is that she showed up when it started getting hot out of nowhere. She proclaimed that she was the land’s new ruler and that whoever stood against her would be terminated. We didn’t take her seriously at first, but when we learned she was a Mega-level Digimon, we kept our heads down and mouths shut.”

“And what’s a Mega-level Digimon?”

“The most powerful Digivolved form,” TK grimly answered. He was frozen in his seat with all of his worry hidden in his eyes.

“What do you mean?” Ryo asked.

“Remember Gogmamon from Primary Island?” Everyone nodded, and TK ran a shaky hand through his hair. “He was an Ultimate, and it took four Champion Digimon to beat him.”

“So what you’re saying is that Rosemon is stronger than that beast we fought, and we have no chance of beating her,” Ryo summed up, and TK slightly nodded.

“I wouldn’t say we have no chance, we certainly do, but I don’t know if Patamon can reach Ultimate without the crest.”

“Maybe we don’t need him to reach Ultimate,” Ken spoke up. “Angemon managed to hurt her, and she retreated when she was outnumbered. The next time we see her, our partners will attack her and not let up until she’s defeated.”

TK hummed and nodded along to what Ken said. He looked at his Digivice and saw that Catherine’s dot was no longer on his screen.

“Finding her is going to be a problem because we can no longer pick up Catherine’s Digivice.”

“The king knows where her hideout is,” Biyomon spoke up. “He can tell you where you can find your friends and Rosemon.”

“That’s great! So, how do we talk to the king?” Patamon asked, and Biyomon smiled.