Hey everyone, Amna here again with her second chapter! Remember, your feedback means everything to me as it lets me know what I'm doing right and wrong since it's my first time writing a fanfic. If there are things you like, it makes me feel I'm doing something right! If there are things you dislike, it tells me there are things that need improving. All in all, here's the second chapter. I also would like to thank everyone for their constructive reviews and relax everyone! You'll get background soon! Also, Miss A, moving the shift-focus mainly to one character. A huge thanks to AspiringWriterGirl for betareading this and helping me with description.

Chapter 2: Inner Turmoil

Jyou arrived about 5 minutes later with his medical supplies. He applied some anti-septic cream and began cleaning the wounds before wrapping Ken's arm tightly in bandages. Ken stirred slightly causing Takeru and Hikari to rush back to his side, each taking a seat beside him. The indigo-haired boy opened his eyes before bolting upright, frantically looking around. He suddenly clutched his arm and groaned through the shooting pain which coursed through it.

"Ichijouji-kun, are you alright?" Hikari cried, desperation and concern ringing in her voice. "You're still hurt." She knew he was feeling lost and worried, but his current condition was alarming. His face was now pale and white, his eyes downcast and downtrodden. Hikari felt like she knew that Ken had experienced something horrible, she just hoped it was not as bad as world where the dark ocean was.

"But Hikari-san...Daisuke, he's still trapped in the other world...He...he got me out of that horrible place but...Somehow, wait, but he's still trapped there...I have to save him!" Ken insisted, his voice cracking. He blinked hard trying to hold back tears, because of protecting him, Daisuke was trapped. Ken had to save Daisuke, he had to. In the past, Daisuke had always saved him and now when it was Daisuke who was trapped, all he could do was cry about it. The indigo-haired Chosen Child wiped away his tears, his fists clenching at his own helplessness.

"Calm down, Ichijouji-kun," Takeru said softly, trying to sound reassuring. "Koushirou-san has found a way to open a portal to the warped dimension but it will only remain open for 30 seconds. You're still badly injured, I think you would be safer here."

Takeru placed a hand on Ken's shoulder as he noticed Ken's eyes lit up when Takeru explained there was a way to open a portal to the warped dimension but frowned as his injuries were mentioned.

"Of course I have to go," Ken protested quietly. "Daisuke means a lot to me, I can't leave him alone when he needs me the most." Ken felt his voice get louder. He could tell that he was being impulsive but right now, it didn't matter. Daisuke was all alone, trapped inside there with perhaps no way out.

"Ken, your health comes first," Jyou spoke up sternly, his eyes going back and forth between Ken and the other younger chosen. Of course, he understood why Ken was behaving like that, but as his friend and a medical student, he couldn't allow Ken to go ahead with this. "I'm sorry but I can't allow you to go ahead with the others. I know Daisuke means a lot to you, but even he wouldn't want you putting your health in danger like this. Takeru, Hikari-kun, the two of you should know better than to even consider this request."

Jyou raised his eyebrows at the pair causing Hikari to instantly remember the danger that she had put the others in when she caught a fever on her first time in the digital world.

Ken frowned, making a noise of protest at this from the back of his throat.

"But it's Daisuke!" Ken protested, not caring how injured he was right now. He glanced at his friends helplessly, silently begging them to let him help.

Takeru sighed. Deep down, he would have wanted to go back for Hikari if she was trapped in some warped dimension. He knew that since the moment she disappeared to the Dark Ocean dimension. Despite the fact that he wanted to convince Ken to stay back and let him, Hikari and the others to handle things, he knew he would have acted just like Ken if someone as close to him as Hikari was on her own, cold and lost somewhere, no matter where she was. Looking at the girl in question, he reached for her hand, causing the brunette to look up. Their eyes met and she gave him a weak smile before nodding slowly. The blond sighed in resignation knowing it was only right to let Ken come with them.

"Jyou-san, I know Ichijouji-kun is still injured," Takeru said softly, glancing between Jyou and Ken. "But he won't be able to live with himself if he lets us go and something happens to Daisuke-kun. I'm not saying we'll fail..." His voice almost turned hesitant at this, considering their past record and he subconsciously glanced around, biting his lower lip. "But if we don't manage to get to Daisuke-kun and something happens, Ken is just going to blame himself for it all."

He remembered Daisuke saying the same to Ken once before. Daisuke had told him that if he had let Ken go at the time and he never returned, he would always regret it. The blond could see the hesitation on Jyou's face and saw him clench his fist, showing it was a hard decision for him to make but finally, Takeru saw Jyou's eyes soften.

"All right," the doctor-in-training gave in with a sigh before reaching into his bag and taking out a few painkiller tablets. He handed two of them to each of the younger team. "This is a pain-reliever tablet that can be taken without water. If Ken appears in too much pain, give it to him. I've given some to Ken to keep, just in case you guys get seperated in there. Make sure he takes it, ok?" Jyou waited for a nod from the younger team.

Ken smiled a little, his whole face lighting up and he glanced back to Takeru, sending him a thankful look.

"Of course, Jyou-san," Ken agreed immediately.

Takeru released Hikari's hand, he had not let go of it since he got it not long ago, and walked over to Ken to support him from one side. Hikari immediately got the message and went to his other side, offering her support. Miyako moved besides Hikari and Iori moved besides Takeru, all of them ready to jump in into a strange world on the signal. Takeru did feel slightly tense whether things would work out, but he had to believe that they would.

Koushirou noticed the five Chosen Children were ready for action and began typing furiously into his computer, code after code. The whirlpool appeared once more and the younger team prepared themselves. Takeru grabbed Ken's right hand while Hikari grasped the left. Miyako took Hikari's free hand while Iori took Takeru's one. It sucked the group in together.

Takeru felt as if he were travelling through a long vacuum and felt his hands starting to slip from both Ken and Iori. He attempted to tighten his grip but he saw a dark shadow appear, slithering itself around Iori's waist and pulling him away.

"Iori-kun!" Takeru cried, grasping his friend's scrawny wrist in an attempt to bring him back to him but something knocked into him, sending him tumbling away from Ken as well. He tasted blood in his mouth and realised that he had bit his lip so hard in his anxiety that it began to bleed. Takeru's landing on a gravelly, sharp-stoned floor wasn't exactly the most pleasant as there was a large scraped on his knee and hands because he had then extended out to avoid a nasty face plant. He groaned, trying to sit up but let out a yelp of pain, crashing back down to the ground.

"That could have gone better," The blond muttered to himself, glancing around and noticing that none of his friends were around him. The place was a little too dark and he was sure he could hear a hissing noise but there was no way of telling which direction it was coming from. "Patamon?" Takeru's heart pounded in his chest, he could feel each beat in his ears. He didn't even realize his hands were slightly shaking violently. The hissing noise was definitely not Patamon, his Digimon would never be so cruel as to play such a mean trick on him. The blond boy reached into his back pocket, bringing out his D-3 and pressing a few buttons to light up his path.

As he walked along the path, the hissing noise grew louder and Takeru noticed sweat building up on his neck. He couldn't see Daisuke anywhere nor any of the others. Had his friend gone to a place that was unreachable? His thoughts drifted to Hikari and he wondered if she was alright. The girl with the crest of light was far more vulnerable to the darkness having been targeted by the Dark World once before. This place was admittedly different it made him feel like was going to throw up. He felt a sense of suffocation, feeling like the trees that surrounded him were closing in on him. From what he could make out in the darkness, he was in a forest with trees lined up vertically coated in a luminescent green slime. Finally, after what seemed like hours of walking, Takeru came to a an abrupt stop, shivering from the cold breeze.

There was a body lying there covered in blood. With this little light, he could not make out who it was but someone was hurt. Anxious that it might be one of his friends, his legs moved faster however he stopped in his tracks when he saw who it was. His face paled and his eyes watered. His legs felt as if a Yukidarumon had used his attack on him because he couldn't move. This couldn't be...this had to be a nightmare, this world was trying to trick him somehow.

"Go to him, Child of Hope," A voice hissed and Takeru faintly recognized that the sound which had a distinct hiss to it. "This one...is precious to you...go closer, fall into despair seeing the one you love...lost forever...embrace this reality..." The darkness seemed to surround the blond causing him to stumble back, covering his ears, trying to block out the voice.

"L-leave me alone!" He cried, his voice choking up as the despair threatened to engulf him and swallow him whole. "This is a lie! It's a fake world, nothing here is real! Nothing!" Takeru wanted to run but a part of him forced him towards the body whilst another wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. He felt sharp claws grasp him by the shoulder, digging into his skin. The blond let out a loud, painful cry. The creature holding Takeru pulled him towards the body he so desperately wanted to avoid.

His hands trembled as he tried to pull himself away but the creature's grip was too strong and every second that it had a grip on him he felt himself sinking into the depths of a Dark Ocean. The Child of Hope couldn't see a way out of this, there was nothing to fight for anymore. For all he knew, Hikari, Iori, Daisuke, Miyako and Ken were safe, they must have been finished with while they had come to this warped and psychotic dark world and this creature was going to send him the same way, to his death. The blond winced as the creature threw him down besides the body.

Trembling, Takeru reached his hands and cradled the body. The blood stained Takeru's green and yellow shirt, but he didn't care. Tears cascaded down his cheeks as he realised the one person who had always protected him, always tried to shelter him from the harsh realities of life was now gone.

"O-Oniichan?" The blond asked in a desperate, broken voice. "P-please...Not you."