Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Even if I hold my breath until I turn blue.

Author's Note: I haven't forgotten about this story, no matter how much it may look like I have. I am just kinda trudging along with it now instead of speeding along like I was at the start. I still have very vivid dreams of finishing this story, and since I finished Coughing & Wheezing, I really believe that I can finish this one as well. Hopefully there's still a few people out there who are interested in how it's all going to come together.

Enjoy!

Chapter Eighteen

"Where are we?"

Mimi's voice seemed to echo off of the—well, walls wasn't exactly an accurate description. They were standing in the middle of the strangest landscape of shapes and colors, none of which made any sense. Sora felt like they had just stepped into someone's terrible hallucination, and she took a step back toward Tai, trying to soak up some of his courage. She found herself afraid for reasons that she couldn't even explain. This entire place was just… wrong.

"The World of Dreams," Ken answered, looking as disturbed as Sora felt.

"Just as creepy as I remember it," Gatomon said.

"And confusing," Veemon complained.

"That's great and everything," Yolei said, as she grabbed onto Ken's hand probably for her own comfort as well as to offer her boyfriend a little comfort in return, "but I thought we were supposed to wind up in TK's dream? This looks like the place where we battled MaloMyotismon."

"That's because I believe this is the place where we first battled him," Hawkmon said. "Unless there are other creepy worlds out there."

"Could be," Biyomon said. "You never know!"

"Thanks for the reassurance, Biyomon," Joe sighed. He pushed his glasses up his nose as he looked around the area. "But I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that Ken's led us to the right place… but how do we get to TK now?"

"We need to hurry!" Patamon said. "I need to get to TK…"

"I know, Patamon," Tai said. His arm slipped around Sora's waist as he clutched Matt's digivice tightly in his hand. "I just don't know how… Any bright ideas, Izzy?"

The computer genius stared at the world around him with wide excited eyes. "I'd love the chance to be able to study this phenomenon… Is it digital like the Digital World or is it something else entirely? Gennai mentioned that it was created off of the collective conscience of the human world, but that's not so different from the Digital World. I wonder how similar they really are…"

"Izzy!" Tentomon snapped. "Maybe we can do this later?"

Izzy blinked before realizing that everybody was staring at him. "Oh, right… Uh, what was the question?"

"We need to get to TK!" Patamon snapped.

"And the others," Gabumon added.

"I know that," Izzy said, though he was aware enough to sound ashamed at his distraction. "But, to be honest, Patamon, I'm not sure what we're supposed to do now. This isn't exactly an—"

"—exact science," Tai finished with a groan. "We know."

"So, what now?" Gatomon asked. "We can't just sit here like a couple of helpless kittens while Kari and the others are in danger! We need to do something!"

"Gatomon's right," Armadillomon said. "Our friends need us."

Izzy nodded solemnly. "I know. I'm thinking."

He started to pace back and forth, one arm crossed in front of his chest and a hand on his chin. His eyebrows furrowed together in deep thought, but Sora had seen that look before. It was the look of a genius who didn't have the slightest idea how to solve the problem. This wasn't good.

Sora let out a helpless sigh as she turned to look at the rest of the group. She had nearly forgotten that most of the group had been up for several days straight, but she could see how wilted everybody looked. They were about to head into battle with most of them at half energy, some even less. Her stomach clenched with worry. She could not see how this was going to end well, but she couldn't even attempt to speak up. What would she say? Wait, guys. I think we need to take a nap first! She'd never consider it. Not with TK, Matt, Kari, and Cody's lives on the line. They would just have to make do with the energy they had.

Yolei let out a small whimper and sunk down to her knees. She held Kari's pink D-3 in her hands, and Sora could see her hands shaking. Ken looked too lost in his own thoughts to be much of a comfort. The redhead detached herself from Tai to go over to the younger girl. She lowered herself in front of her and took Yolei's hands into her own.

"Yolei," she started softly before freezing. Her breath caught as she stared down at Kari's D-3. "Of course…"

Yolei blinked. "Sora?"

Sora shot up to her feet. "Maybe we're thinking too hard about this," she said.

Everybody turned to look at her, looking just as confused as Yolei.

"What do you mean?" Biyomon asked.

"How do we get to every other place we need to get to?" Sora asked. She held up her digivice. "We use our digivices!"

Patamon gave her a funny look. "But we're already in the Dream World," he said.

"Yeah, we just need to find a way to get onto the same wavelength as TK," Gatomon said. "Oh, and trick the world into thinking we're asleep."

"But didn't Gennai say that our digivices connected us?" Mimi said. "Maybe Sora's right."

"It's worth a shot," Tai said, smiling proudly at his girlfriend.

"What about the whole tricking the world into thinking we're asleep thing?" Davis asked, blinking.

"Come on, Davis," Veemon said, punching his partner in the knee with a grin. "Weren't you the one that taught us that anything is possible if we just believe in it hard enough?"

Davis looked down at TK's D-3 in his hand for a moment before he grinned. "That was me, wasn't it?"

Sora gave him a sly smile. "Now, don't go be getting all full of yourself."

"Come on, guys!" Tai called out, pulling out his own digivice as he held it out in front of him. "Just think of the others. We have to get to them one way or another. There is no other option."

"Hear, hear!" Agumon cheered.

Sora pulled out her own digivice and held it out in front of her. The digidestined gathered around, all eight currently present and accounted for, surrounded by twelve digimon. The eight active digivices were held out into the middle of the circle where, for a moment, nothing happened. Just as Sora was starting to doubt her own theory, each of the devices started to beep. A bright light exploded around them before fading, leaving them in an entirely new location. Sora blinked.

"Okay…" Mimi said slowly, looking around. "Now where are we?"

They were standing in the middle of the street of some darkened city. Some of it looked familiar, but mostly it just looked all wrong, like buildings had been dropped here from all over. The structures and patterns of the buildings didn't make much sense. It was a jumble of architectures from all around the world. Sora's hand dropped as confusion replaced alarm. Had something gone wrong?

"I have no idea," Tai admitted.

"I think that's the least of our problems right now," Gatomon said. She was on all fours, and her fur was standing on end as she stared down one of the many alleyways that surrounded them. "We've got company."

Sora turned to look in the same direction, and she felt her heart skip a beat. The city wasn't darkened, because it was the natural state of things. The shadows that caused the darkness were alive, unnatural, and starting to move and grow into shapes. A strange feeling settled in her bones; it was the feeling of pure despair. She had only felt this once before, seven years ago, in the Dark Cave that had rendered her paralyzed in her own self-loathing. She could feel the paralysis trying to take control of her once more, but she shook it off.

"What is that!?" Palmon squeaked.

"Darkness," Ken whispered. "Pure evil…"

Yes, Sora realized. That was exactly the feeling she was getting from it. Pure darkness, evil, the black pit of despair. The same darkness that had tried to drown her before. They were staring right at it.

"I don't care what it is! It's not going to stop me from getting to my sister," Tai said. "Agumon, digivolve!"

"Uh, I hate to break it to you, Tai," Agumon said, "but I can't."

Sora looked desperately over at Biyomon who was already shaking her head. "Me either!" she said.

"Digi-Armor Energize!" Yolei cried out desperately.

"I'm afraid it seems that digivolving is not an option right now," Hawkmon said.

"It's the darkness," Wormmon said. "It's the same mist that was outside the portal. It's not allowing us to digivolve."

"Oh, that's just great," Joe groaned.

"Hey, look on the bright side!" Gomamamon said. "At least you were right!"

"I've got an idea," Gatomon called out. "Run!"

She took off running down the street, and not having any better ideas, everybody followed her.

x X x

Whatever Cody expected Nocnitmon to look like, the real thing was ten times scarier. He clung to the doorframe that led out to the balcony, his entire body trembling as he stared at the Mistress of Nightmares floating above the forests. She seemed too far away and too shrouded in darkness to be able to see the digidestined very well, and yet Cody got the feeling that she was staring right at them with perfect vision. She knew exactly where her prey were, and she knew very well they were trapped.

Puppetmon's Mansion stood to its full height, trapping them hundreds of feet up in the air. The darkness continued to swirl around them, lapping at their feet like waves. The four digidestined stood huddled at the balcony entrance, reluctant to expose themselves fully to Nocnitmon but desperate to escape the darkness leaking into the room. And to make matters even more hopeless, their digimon, as far as they knew, were still in an entirely different world.

They were screwed.

"How are we supposed to fight her?" Kari asked.

"I… I don't know…" TK admitted.

They were both pale and clinging to one another as they peered out across the balcony. As if hearing them, Nocnitmon let out a chilling laugh that they all heard perfectly despite the distance between them. Cody heard Matt gulp next to him.

"If anybody has any brilliant ideas," the rockstar said, trying and failing to keep his voice even, "now would probably be a good time to share them!"

Cody really wished he did. Instead, his mind had gone painfully blank with fear, so much so that he had even forgotten to breathe. He wondered idly if this was part of Nocnitmon's power, if she was able to strike fear into the hearts of her enemies simply by looking at them, or maybe it was the power of the darkness surrounding them as it filled them with hopelessness at ever getting out of this alive. Either way, Cody knew that the fear he was feeling was borderline irrational, but he couldn't seem to shake it.

"I've got one," TK said suddenly, and Cody had to tear his eyes from Nocnitmon to look at him, "but it's completely insane."

"I'll take insane," Matt said.

TK stared at him. "We jump."

"On second thought…"

Cody leaned forward to peer over the edge of the balcony at the little spec that the ground had become. He paled even further and swallowed thickly before turning to look at his DNA digivolving partner, wondering if his head injury in the Real World was affecting his judgment here in the Dream World.

"You're right. That is insane," he said.

"Do you trust me?" TK asked, looking between the three other digidestined.

Cody wanted to say yes immediately, but he hesitated. Logically speaking, TK had been in a coma for close to four days now – longer if the time difference was greater than he calculated – and one of the injuries he sustained was a blow to the head. He wasn't sure if now was exactly the time to blindly trust TK, DNA digivolving partner or not, especially when he just told them to leap to their deaths. Matt and Kari exchanged an uncertain look, apparently thinking along Cody's lines as well.

"TK, of course we trust you," Cody said, trying to be diplomatic. "But think about what you're asking us to do. It's not exactly very safe sounding."

"And staying here is?" TK pointed out. He shot a nervous look over his shoulder as he took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, but the darkness hadn't advanced any further. It was just staying there, lapping at their shoes threateningly, but not engulfing them just yet. "Calumon said something earlier… He said that Nocnitmon could manipulate the dreams that she was in, but he couldn't."

"So?" Matt asked.

"I didn't realize it at the time, but… I think I did."

"Did what?" Kari asked, sounding as confused as Cody felt.

"Manipulate the dream," TK explained. "Kari, remember? When you first showed up, in the gym… That's not where I was before. I just kind of… appeared there. And you said you didn't do it."

"I didn't," she verified.

"Right before it happened, the only thing I was thinking about was finding you, making sure you were safe, and then… I thought I heard your voice and there was this tug in my gut…" TK's expression looked far off as if he was thinking on something that he couldn't quite explain. "And then there you were."

"And you think you did that?" Cody asked, wishing he didn't sound as skeptical as he did, but he couldn't help it.

"It happened again," TK continued. "When I left the gym, I was just trying to get away from Nocnitmon. That's all I was thinking about, trying to get somewhere safe, and then I ended up in that snowy landscape you guys found me in."

"Lucid dreaming," Matt said.

"What does that mean?" Kari asked.

Matt looked away from his brother to answer her, "You know when you're in a dream, and you suddenly realize you're dreaming, so you just take control of it? That's lucid dreaming. If it happens in regular dreams, it makes sense that it'd happen here too."

Cody shook his head. "That doesn't make sense," he protested. "We know we're dreaming. We've known since we've gotten here. And we have complete control over what we do."

"And that's different to most people," TK said. "Calumon told me so. The fact that we're aware is not normal, but even then, we don't necessarily have the ability to change the world around us. I didn't when I first got here, but… I think I can now."

"Then why don't you do that right now?" Kari asked. "Why do we have to jump?"

"I'm with Kari on this one," Cody said. "Jumping seems like a really bad idea. Even if this is a dream."

"I think Nocnitmon's darkness is making it so that we can't leave," TK explained.

"And how exactly do we know that this darkness won't follow us when we jump, TK?" Matt asked. "If that happens, we're pretty much pancakes on the ground!"

"We don't know," TK admitted. "You're just going to have to trust me!" He glanced around at all three of them. "Do you?"

Cody sent a nervous look out across the balcony to Nocnitmon. She was still hovering there, and it may have been Cody's imagination, but she was starting to look a bit bored. He figured that was probably not a good sign. How long would it be before she decided to just destroy them? They were just kids. They didn't even have their digivices on them. If she deemed them unworthy of her attention, she could probably squash them like a bug and be done with it. It wasn't exactly the most comforting thought Cody had ever had.

"It's better than staying here and letting Nocnitmon finish us off," he finally said.

Matt and Kari stared at him. He expected them to start worrying about his sanity next, but instead, they slowly started to nod in agreement.

"Okay, TK," Matt said. "We'll do it your way."

TK smiled gratefully at both of them before he grabbed Kari's hand in one of his own and grabbed Matt's hand in his other. Cody followed his lead and took Matt's other hand. Already, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He had never been scared of heights before, but the last thing he wanted to do was approach the balcony's ledge and jump off. TK proved that despite their nearly empathic connection, he still could not read Cody's mind, and inched toward the edge.

"On three, we jump," he ordered.

And hopefully on four we don't die, Cody thought desperately.

Matt squeezed his hand as if to reassure him, and Cody steeled himself. He could do this. He had complete faith in his DNA digivolving partner, so it was time to prove it.

"One…"

They climbed over the railing and balanced on the small two inches of landing provided to them on the other side.

"Two…"

Nocnitmon's voice sounded across the open landscape, "What do you think you're doing?" She sounded almost amused. Cody tried not to see this as a bad omen.

"Three!"

And then they jumped.

x X x

Just a little while ago, Calumon watched a scene unfold before his eyes that he never thought would have been possible: Someone fighting back against Nocnitmon and it actually working – even if only briefly. Nocnitmon looked genuinely frightened as TK stood there, two seconds away from attacking her with everything he had… What that was, Calumon wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to put anything past the human teenager at this point.

Nocnitmon probably thought she had merely made a miscalculation. But the boy that the Bringer of Nightmares assumed was broken ended up bent on exacting revenge on her, and he clearly didn't care if it killed him to do it.

That was, until TK suddenly disappeared.

The forest rippled as its creator left the area, leaving a dreamlike wave in its wake. In some places, the trees completely disappeared, leaving a hole in the ground led to a star-filled nothing. And with it, Matt's body faded into nothing. For a moment, Calumon felt relieved. Maybe, just maybe, TK had woken up…

Nocnitmon's confused face melted into a smirk as she shot him a look. "Don't hold your breath," she said, reading his mind. And then, she disappeared as well.

Calumon's eyes watered as he realized what happened. TK had not woken up. He simply escaped somehow. She was on his trail once again, and he would be in danger. This time, though, he couldn't warn him. He considered just leaving, wiping his little paws clean of this mess and escaping as he should have done the second that he realized TK was no ordinary dreamer. But just like what compelled him to stay the first time, urged him to stay this time as well. He left the fading forest in search of his new friend, hoping that he wasn't too late.

He wandered for what felt like hours. His feet ached as he moved from forest into city into gardens into snow-filled valleys. Just like most Dream Worlds, TK's didn't seem to have much logic to it. The landscape just moved from one location to the next, like a mismatched jigsaw puzzle. His fear dissipated somewhere between an abandoned ice cream parlor and an empty amusement park to instead be replaced with boredom.

"I don't like this at all," he complained to the empty air. "At least give me something interesting to do!"

Silence answered him.

He let out a forlorn sigh and continued his trek. He knew that at any moment he could abandon his search and return to his worry free life of jumping from dream to dream, but a part of him feared that idea. If he was a digimon, shouldn't he know that? Why was his memory so foggy? What exactly had he forgotten? And why did he feel the need to stick around to figure that out when Nocnitmon could grow tired of him at any moment and destroy him?

Calumon shivered in fear at the idea. He very nearly turned on his heel to run from the dream right then and there, but he managed to keep his feet planted long enough to calm himself down.

Nocnitmon wouldn't destroy me, he thought, trying to be reasonable. We're all each other has. She may be scary sometimes, but she's never hurt me before. She's the only awake being I've ever known… I think. In a way, she's kind of my… friend.

TK had proven to be a better friend in just a few hours while he was asleep than Nocnitmon had ever been to him, but that still didn't make the thought fade from his mind. Nocnitmon was his friend. It was strange but also true. And if Nocnitmon was his friend that meant that he was Nocnitmon's friend too, right? So, she wouldn't hurt him. That didn't protect TK, but at least it was a start.

"TK!" Calumon called out. Snow was starting to cling to his little clawed feet as he trudged through the cold wet stuff that led up a hilly forest. "TK, where are you?"

Then something entirely strange happened. A tall wooden doll suddenly stood up far above the treetops. Its head looked like a house and the rest of its body was blocky and awkward. Calumon let out a horrified gasp and turned to run in the opposite direction, but his little legs refused to move. Instead, he fearfully turned back toward the gigantic doll only to find it just standing there at its full height. Calumon's entire body trembled, but he realized why he stayed put. TK was in there; he just knew it. Inky shadows climbed up the dolls legs and arms, painting the brightly colored body in blacks and grays. Soon, the shadows would consume whoever was inside. He couldn't let that happen.

Not knowing what exactly he could do, Calumon ran up to the nearest tree and climbed as quickly as he could to the highest branch. From this angle, he could see Nocnitmon in the distance, and he heard as she laughed in delight at the sight. Calumon whimpered, but he didn't move. The one good thing about being small was that he knew it was unlikely that he had been spotted. That gave him ample time to try to find TK amongst the doll's windows and doors. Then, suddenly—

There! Along the mouth of the doll stood four teenagers on a balcony. They climbed over the edge as if getting ready to jump, and Calumon's eyes widened in alarm. Even from way down here, he could see TK's blond hair sticking out amongst the shadows. He stood next to another blonde that Calumon recognized as his dead brother Matt – which really didn't make any sense, but it would have to be analyzed later. A girl stood on TK's other side, and on Matt's other side stood a rather unremarkable boy.

Calumon almost bypassed him completely, but something returned his gaze to him. That something continued to grow like a sprouting flower, filling him with ache and longing as he stared at the young boy. He reminded him of somebody, somebody that he knew long ago. The memory was so fuzzy, but it became clearer the longer he stared.

"I… I know you…" he whispered, almost unwilling to believe his eyes. "Wait… I think I know you!"

The four teenagers jumped.

"Hiroki!"

And then they disappeared before his very eyes before they even touched the treetops.

x X x

Ken and Wormmon took up the rear. His eyes kept scanning the digimon and digidestined, trying to make sure that nobody lagged behind as they ran for their lives. He could see Tai at the front of the pack, leading them through alleyways and streets that made no sense. He had seen at least four buildings that he had recognized, but none of them had been where they were supposed to be. It all was very confusing, and Ken had the strongest feeling that they were running in circles.

"Where are we going?!" Mimi called out.

She wasn't looking too good. Running, apparently, wasn't one of Mimi's many hobbies, especially if being red in the face and panting were any indication.

"Away, seems like a pretty good idea!" Hawkmon replied.

"Those things are still right on our tail!" Gatomon said. "Keep it moving!"

Ken tried to do just that, but something was off about the group in front of him. It didn't click right away as he looked at all of the running digidestined and digimon in front of him, but when it did, he came to a sudden and quick stop.

"Ken," Wormmon said nervously, "what are you doing?"

"Where are Davis and Veemon?" he asked.

The rest of the group was still running ahead, having not realized that Ken had come to a sudden stop. Wormmon climbed onto his shoulders and looked back the way they came.

"I don't see them… but, Ken, if we don't move, those dark creatures are going to get us!"

Ken hesitated. He couldn't just leave. He didn't know where Davis was, but he knew that he couldn't be anywhere good. He was going to kill his best friend when he found him – if he found him.

Glancing from the retreating group of Digidestined as they disappeared down the street and toward their pursuers, Ken gritted his teeth and ducked into an alleyway. He would just have to double back. Davis had to be somewhere.

x X x

TK had enough time to think, I really hope this works! before he jumped off of the balcony and started to fall. After that, he pushed all doubts aside. He couldn't second guess himself. Not when he was falling legs first toward a snowy forest floor, his brother to one side and his maybe-but-maybe-not-because-he-never-got-the-chance-to-ask-girlfriend on the other side. If he allowed his uncertainties and doubts to overwhelm him right now, they all were going to die.

He concentrated.

The world around them rippled, and he felt the strangest sensation of tugging on his navel before it finally dissipated. Heat replaced the cold, light replaced the darkness, but they were still falling. TK's eyes flew open to see them headed toward an ocean surface.

Well, at least it wasn't concrete.

TK hit the water feet first and dropped several meters below the surface before he finally stopped falling. His hands were empty, and he spun, panicking, thinking he had lost the others when he saw their dark flailing shapes in the water as well. TK kicked up to the surface and gasped in the fresh salty air. The nearby shore was a good swim away, but other than the beach and palm trees waiting for them, they were surrounded by nothing but water. Nocnitmon was nowhere in sight.

"You dumped us in the ocean!" Matt sputtered out.

"What?" TK asked innocently. "Would you have rather hit the ground?"

"Shut up," he grumbled, sweeping his soaked hair out of his face.

"You did it," Cody said, amazed.

TK turned toward him. "Yeah, I guess I did…"

"Are we safe?" Kari asked. "I don't see Nocnitmon anywhere."

"Maybe for a little while," TK said. "She has a really bad habit of finding me."

"Then let's not stay here," Cody said. "Come on."

He took off toward the shore and the others followed. TK wasn't sure how much time had passed when he finally dragged himself up onto the beach, but he'd realized that thinking about time in this place was relative anyway. His arms burned from the swim, and his body ached as if all of this were real. He groaned and collapsed out onto the sand, his chest heaving as he took a breather. The others were laid out next to him, just as exhausted.

TK was just starting to think that he might actually feel sleepy for the first time since arriving here when—

"You're getting better at that, Child of Hope."

TK leapt to his feet and spun, coming face-to-face with Nocnitmon. The others scrambled to their feet. Matt put himself in front of TK as Kari clung to his hand and Cody stood by his side. Nocnitmon smirked and didn't seem at all concerned by their very brief escape. In fact, she almost seemed almost amused.

"You won't get away again," she promised. She raised her hands over her head and called out, "NIGHTMARE MIRAGE!"

She seemed to explode with darkness, and before the four of them could even think to run, they were engulfed in it.

x X x

Davis collapsed against the alleyway wall. He didn't know what buildings he was nestled between – they all looked strangely out of place to him – but this was as good of a hiding place as any. He winced as he pulled up his pants leg to get a good look at his ankle, and his wince turned into a grimace at the sight of the reddened lump the size of an orange. His doctor was going to kill him.

"This is so not my day," Davis groaned.

Veemon crouched down next to his leg. "I don't think that looks very good. We need to find the others."

Davis slid down the wall until he was sitting, his legs outstretched in front of him. He turned toward Veemon with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, dude, I think I'm benched again."

"You can't just sit down and give up!" Veemon protested. "Our friends are counting on us!"

"If we catch up with them, Veemon, we're only going to be slowing them down." Davis dropped his head into his hands. "It's like Coach said… you gotta know when it's time to quit."

"What are you saying…?"

Davis lifted his head to turn toward him. "I'm saying that we're done. Hopefully the others can defeat this Nocnitmon chick without us."

"Davis! Snap out of it! This isn't like you—" Veemon stopped suddenly as his eyes shot upward.

The hairs on the back of Davis's neck stood on end. "What is it…?"

"Something's coming," Veemon said.

Davis looked up, and he watched in horror as the blue sky turned black.

x X x

"Do you think this was such a good idea?" Wormmon asked.

Ken slid his back along a wall as he avoided another patrol of those dark creatures. His heart thumped in his chest, and his hands grew sweaty with nerves. He didn't respond to Wormmon, but he was starting to think that his partner might have a point. This was probably not one of his better ideas. He looked around a corner when he felt the strangest sensation of ice traveling down his spine, a pure feeling of dread. His mouth went dry. He turned slowly toward his partner.

"Wormmon…?"

"K-K-Ken…" Wormmon stuttered out. "Something bad's happening…"

Ken slowly turned to look up at the sky just as blue turned to darkness.