I do not own Digimon.

I welcome thee to Digimon Adventure: Revolution!

Why 'Revolution'? The answer comes two fold.

One, after rewatching 02, I think that 'Revolution' is a fair title, given what happens in both the human and digital worlds. It starts with the first challenge, the Digimon Emperor, whom they over throw, then against all the other evils in their path until the grand ending. (I'm being purposely vague to avoid spoilers for anyone who may not know how the series ends, however unlikely that may be.)

Two, I like the Matrix Trilogy. Yeah, the second movie sucked. A lot. And the third was only marginally better. But I still like the title they gave to the third installment. Thus, Digimon Adventure: Revolution!

Now, for a more serious, and world changing, note. In this version of 02, Davis Motomiya does not exist! I was never overly fond of his character, to the point that I downright hated him at one point. I think he's ill suited to replace Tai, as he was slated to do in the series, and, instead of turning this into an effort in futility of trying not to bash his bad qualities to the point of exhaustion, I've taken the far more simple route of removing him from the equation. This one fact greatly changes the story already, without adding in Lucy and Skymomon, and it is just the first change that is readily apparent. It also leads to the only real spoiler you're going to get from me.

Lucy will not be taking Davis' spot as leader of the team. I've already worked out how things are going to flow, and I found that another cannon character would make a much better leader than either Lucy or Davis.

Now, please enjoy.

P.S. I do not own The Matrix.

Chapter One: Enter Nibimon

In this world, there are some things that will always remain true. The good will oppose evil. Dawn will come. Children will hate school. Junk food will always taste better than vegetables.

And Life will go on.

It had been four years, four whole years, since nine kids and their digimon friends had saved the world from the threat of the evil Apocalymon and all of his minions. The entire world had watched as the children, between the ages of eight and thirteen, stepped up to save, not just one reality, but two. They had risked their lives, just on the hope they could win.

Then, a year later, when a virus infected an artificial Digi-egg, making the digimon inside it go berserk, they had stepped up to the plate again, doing what needed to be done, and they were the only ones that could do it. Once again, almost the entire world was privy to this battle. Everyone with access to a computer had seen it as the Digidestined did everything they could and more to make sure they stopped the menace.

But still, life went on. It seemed like no time at all before the rest of the world forgot that digimon even existed. The threat over with, most people simply went back to their lives as if nothing had ever happened, believing it to be little more than a weird dream.

Some, though, would always remember. They would remember the friends they had left behind in the Digital World, and how they would forever be better for knowing them. They would remember the bond they shared. They would remember the promise they made. The promise to see one another again, no matter how long it took.

So, they waited, moving on with their futures, but not forgetting their pasts.

+-9

"Run! It's the Digimon Emperor!" A gravelly voice yelled. Many other voices screamed in terror, trying to get away from the threat.

The threat itself did not appear to be all that intimidating at first. It was a human boy with wild blue hair. He wore a pair of sunglasses with golden frames, a split blue cape trimmed in gold, coming out of two golden shoulder guards, black shoes, black gloves, and a blue and white body suit that ended in metal cuffs over his wrists and ankles.

Behind the wickedly grinning human was a massive black tower and all around him were black rings, flying under some strange power.

"Go!" he commanded the rings, "Capture all of the digimon!" He laughed wickedly as they flew through the air, opening up and snapping into place around any digimon they came across.

Gotsumon, the rock digimon. Gazimon, the grey rabbit digimon. Even Unimon, the flying horse digimon. All of them were simply targets for the rings.

But one so far was proving more resistant to the Digimon Emperor's control. A single Gatomon.

The white cat digimon with purple tufts of fur coming off the tips of her ears and the end of her tail was running for her life, just like all of the others. Around her neck was a whistle and on her tail was a golden ring.

And most importantly, she was the digimon partner of one of the Digidestined from four years ago. Of the nine digimon that had been bonded to a human partner, only Gatomon had achieved a state that allowed her to remain in her Champion form indefinitely. It was this aspect that made her perfect for the mission of investigating this so called Digimon Emperor. Of them all, aside from one who was indisposed at the time, she had the best chances of success.

It was a good thing it had been her, too. The other digimon did not have the same agility that she possessed.

She dodged the rings left and right, jumping over one as it flew towards her. At the last second, before it could touch her, she smacked it with her brightly glowing tail ring, knocking it far off course.

Gatomon then rested against a tree, taking a breather. Whatever this strange human had done, it seemed to be draining her energy. Were it not for the tail ring, she'd be a goner already.

"I need you, Kari," she whispered the name of her human partner from so long ago. She took another deep breath and stood ready to run again, to warn the other digimon, when a noise came from the early dawn darkness off to her left.

In the shadows, a red strip of light glowed ominously and something growled from that position.

"Who's there?" the cat digimon demanded, looking into the shadows.

From the darkness came Unimon. Unimon had large grey wings, white fur and a red helmet over his equine head with a visor that was normally blue. The newest accessory he wore, a black ring with red glowing Digicode around his neck, that seemed the be having quite an effect on his attitude. He didn't even introduce himself before just opening his mouth and firing a blue and white sphere of energy at Gatomon.

"Horn Blaster!"

+-9

In the Human World, in the Odaiba district of Tokyo, Japan, to be specific, a woman's voice filled an apartment.

"TK, are you awake? It's almost time for school!"

"Yeah! I'm just finishing up breakfast!" the boy in question shouted back before mumbling to himself, "New apartment, new school, same old, lumpy oatmeal." TK Takaishi had grown since his first time in the Digiworld. Where once stood a runt, all elbows and knees, stood a young preteen who had finally hit his growth spurt. In honesty, the young man was taller than Tai and Matt had been when their journey first started. His blonde hair was a little wild, but he tamed it down well enough, and his crystal blue eyes were full of warmth. He was wearing a green shirt, with long yellow sleeves, green shorts and, on his belt, a silver device not of his world.

"I'm heading out, now," the boy called to his mother as he picked up his backpack and a white bucket hat that he dropped on his head, "See you later."

"I'm sorry I can't drive you to school on the first day," his mother said as he passed her office, "but I've really got to get this done. They're having me write a full report on the history of toilet paper," the woman who also had blonde hair did not sound very entheusiastic about her chore, but was typing away at her computer none the less.

"It's okay," TK told his mother, "I'll walk. It's not that far from here and I can see the old sights on the way."

"Okay, sweetie. Have a good day," the blonde woman told him, going back to her assignment.

As he walked to the door of his new home, another device in his pocket beeped musically and vibrated. Reaching in, he pulled out a hand held computer with a yellow glyph of Patamon on the back. He flipped it open to find he had an email.

Hey, TK,

Good morning! Just thought I'd let you know, I'm in Class A. Meet you at lunch?

Your friend, Kari.

TK grinned as wide as ever, seeing this note from his best friend. He quickly typed out a response before hitting send. He slipped his shoes on by the door.

"Later, mom," he called out, before opening the door and heading to the elevator. He couldn't keep the grin off his face. Finally, after having been away for about three years, he'd finally get to see, not just Kari, but almost all of the old group again. They had used the D-terminals to keep in contact, for the most part, but there was a big difference between sending emails back and forth and standing right before your friends and talking to them. In particular, he couldn't wait to see his older brother, Matt. Last he heard, the older blonde was beginning his own band.

The only two he wouldn't be able to see by moving back to Odaiba were Mimi Tachikawa, who'd moved to America with her family, and Lucy Suzumebachi. The ninth member of their group, Lucy, had decided to stay in the Digiworld, four years ago. She also kept in contact through email, but, with being Gennai's apprentice, her responses were a little sporadic and she seemed to drop off the scene a few months ago.

Still, knowing that a major reunion was in his future, the boy couldn't have been happier unless the digimon were pulled back into the picture.

The elevator finally reached his floor, the doors opening and revealing two kids already riding within. The first was a girl who appeared to be a little older than him, with purple hair and large, circular glasses. The second was a young boy with dark hair and eyes, wearing a blue sweater and black pants.

"Hi," TK said with a smile, "I'm TK, I'm headed to Odaiba Junior High. Nice to meet you."

"Oh," the girl blinked at him for a moment before smiling, "I'm Yolei. Would you like to walk to school with us? It will take twelve point three minutes without wind," she said, then gestured to the younger boy to her right, "This is Cody, my neighbor."

"Welcome to the building, TK," the little boy said with a smile of his own, happy to meet a new potential friend, "Come on, we don't want to be late on our first day." The younger boy's voice was a little raspy, it kind of reminded TK of Lucy.

The blonde nodded, stepping into the elevator, "Sounds good to me."

The trip, just as promised, took not that long at all. TK was grinning like a loon the whole way to school. Some things had changed, especially the area round where the old TV station used to be. Myotismon, or rather VenomMyotismon, had stomped it flat when he had fought against the Digidestined so long ago, and the entire area had to be rebuilt. They had even remade the old station, almost exactly as it was before, even with the spherical viewing platform.

"Hey, Yolei, can you come over after school and fix my computer again?" Cody asked as they approached the gates to the combined Odaiba Elementary and Junior High School.

"Only if your mom makes those brownies I love," the girl responded with a grin.

"I'll send an email and ask her if she'll make a batch, right away," the little boy told her.

"It's a deal!" Yolei then replied. Cody's mom was a great cook.

TK was walking a little bit behind them, listening to their conversation with one ear, while reminiscing about the past again. He knew that Kari had become interested in photography over the years, but he wondered how she had grown. Honestly, none of the kids had really thought about sending each other photos with their D-terminals, what with most of them living around one another, so he wondered if the girl had grown tall, just like he had.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bunch of kids playing soccer. It seemed, today, that everything was bringing back memories of the past and his old friends. For a split second, he even thought he saw Tai in amongst the kids, but the image faded when he turned to regard it fully.

TK just shook his head with a nostalgic grin, "Nah, Tai couldn't be here. He's in High School already," he turned to the two he had walked to school with, "Thanks for walking to school with me," he told them.

"No problem, it's always good to meet new people," Cody replied.

"Yeah, think nothing of it. And if you ever have any problems with your computer, just come to me. I'm president of the Computer Club this year," Yolei said next.

"Cool, I'll be sure to come to your door if my computer goes on the fritz, then," he turned to walk in the direction of his classroom then, waving good bye to them, "See you later."

+-9

As the warning bell rang, students began to file into their classes. Some cheerfully, waiting to see friends after their summer break, others dragging their feet and bemoaning their fate, as if they were walking to their doom. Kari Kamiya was part of the former group.

Today was looking promising already. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and her best friend in the whole world had moved back to Odaiba, and was even attending her school, starting that very day.

Kari, like TK, had grown a lot, though not nearly as much as the blonde boy. Currently, her hair was short, her bangs held back by a pink hair clip, she was wearing a white tank top with a pink stripe, long, fingerless pink gloves that reached midway up her biceps and yellow shorts. She also had a digital camera hanging from her necklace in place of the whistle she'd given to Gatomon the last time she'd seen her.

A few minutes later, the teacher came into the room, just as the final bell sounded.

"Okay, class, take your seats," the teacher drawled, getting the children to quiet down and pay attention, "I know the semester has just started, but we've already got a new student. Young man, please introduce yourself."

Kari looked up and a delighted gasp escaped her throat.

"I'm TK Takaishi, twelve years old," the blonde boy said, bowing formally, "Nice to meet you all." He caught Kari's eye and winked at her.

"Yes, thank you for that, now take a seat next to..." the man trailed off, looking around the room, "the girl with the camera around her neck, please."

TK nodded and moved over to sit next to his friend, the grin on his face getting more brilliant with each step.

"TK," she greeted him with her own shining smile, "Together again, eh?"

"Yeah," he nodded with as he sat down in the desk to her left, "I would have told you, but I wanted it to be a surprise."

"It was a good one," the girl agreed.

"And our teacher," he dropped his voice to a whisper, "Doesn't he look like Ogremon?"

The girl almost choked on laughter at that point. If you squinted, you could see the resemblance. If they ever got back to the Digiworld, she'd have to ask the green digimon if he had any family on this side, maybe a cousin.

+-9

Things were not going quite so well in the Digital world. The Digimon Emperor continued his rain of terror. Now, he was sending the digimon he had capture with his rings after those he had not.

"Oomph!" Agumon grunted as he fell to the ground, exhausted, "Tai, help! Tai!" the poor yellow digimon cried as more dark rings flew by over head.

+-9

In the human world, Tai's Digivice began to beep excitedly.

"What in the...?" the teen said. He was much taller than he had been four years ago and wearing the uniform of the local High School, but those were basically his only changes. He pulled the Digivice off his belt. Across the screen, red Digicode flashed urgently. He couldn't understand it, but he had an inkling of what was going on. "Agumon's in trouble," he looked up from his lunch, "Hang on, buddy!"

He ran from the cafeteria to the computer room. He didn't know if this would work, but he had to at least try. He turned on the nearest computer. The screen took a few moments to boot up, but when it did, it seemed to be a digital Digivice. The screen on the Digivice glowed red for a moment before it came to life with an image of his digimon, falling in the forest and calling out for his help.

"I'm coming, Agumon!" he exclaimed, holding the sides of the screen, then he grimaced, "Just as soon as I figure out how..." Luckily for him, his Digivice began glowing and keening, almost like the times it caused Agumon to Digivolve. He pulled the device up to his eyes again, then shot a look at the computer. "Well, here goes nothing," he thrust his hand forward, holding the Digivice up to the image of Agumon.

From outside the computer classroom, all you could see was a momentary flash of light then nothing. Inside, no one would even find a trace of Tai as the computer had turned itself off behind him.

+-9

By the time lunch had rolled around, TK and Kari were ready for a break. Even on the first day, school could be tiring. Luckily, no one had assigned any homework so far.

"So, how do you like your new apartment?" Kari asked the boy as they switched into their outdoor shoes.

"It's pretty nice, but my mom has hardly seen it. She's been locked up in her office for almost three days straight!" the blonde mentioned.

"Wow, must be an important article she's writing," the brown haired girl said.

"Hmm," the boy looked at the ceiling, considering what his mother had told him about the report on the history of toilet paper, "I guess you can say that," he grinned a little mischievously, "But it might get really nasty at some points."

"Oh, my!" Kari held a hand before her mouth, looking a impressed.

+-9

In the forests of the Digiworld, Agumon was not the only one being forced to run for his life. Patamon, Biyomon and Tentomon weren't having that great a time of it either. Behind them, a much bigger insectoid digimon with sharp blades for arms crashed through the trees with an angry roar. Around his middle was another dark ring.

"Hurry!" Tentomon cried, "Don't let Snimon catch us! This preying mantis digimon can cut through anything with his Twin Sickles attack!"

Even as the red bug digimon spoke it, the big green one powered it up.

"Twin Sickles!" lashes of pulsing pink energy flew through the air from his blade arms, smashing into both Tentomon and Biyomon.

Patamon was luckily unscathed, using the opportunity to hide in a tree well out of the digimon's path.

"Oh no," the tan little digimon said, "Biyomon! Tentomon!" Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. No, not something, someone.

It was Tai!

"Agumon," the sixteen year old called out as he ran towards his fallen digimon. He knelt before the yellow dinosaur, trying to help him to his feet.

"Tai, you're here!" Agumon said. If it weren't for the whole running and fighting for his life thing, he'd be jumping for joy.

+-9

In his lair, in a dark room with multiple holographic screens, the Digimon Emperor watched the reunion of Digidestined and digimon with a malicious smile.

"You've got to Digivolve!" Tai told his partner on screen, his Digivice beeping as he said. But nothing was happening. It just continued beeping, but the keening sound of evolution wouldn't start. "Huh? What's wrong with this thing? Did I forget to change the batteries?"

"That's why I need your help, Tai," Agumon told him, "I can't Digivolve!"

"Did you forget how? It's just like riding a bicycle," Tai said to his partner, a slight frown on his face as he ordered, "Now, start pedaling and Digivolve!"

The evil Emperor just laughed, "It's no use," he gloated, even though they couldn't hear him, "As long as I have the Black Digivice, there's no way they can Digivolve. Ha ha ha ha!"

+-9

"Tai!" Patamon cried out as he flew down to the boy and his digimon, "I can't believe you're back! Did the others come with you? Where's TK?"

"Patamon," the wild haired teen greeted, "No, I think everyone else is still back home."

Before the conversation could continue, Snimon flew over head, noticed them on the ground and began a wide turn to come back and attack.

"I think we should talk more about this somewhere else," Agumon insisted, "Run!"

And they did, quickly moving out of the way of one attack, and just kept running.

"Over here!" a voice called.

They paused in their run briefly to see Gatomon, pointing off to the side before running that way herself. She quickly led them to a cave in a rock side. The entrance was far too small for Snimon to fit into, but that was only a temporary measure against this threat.

"We're gonna need more help," Tai said as he pulled out his D-Terminal with the orange Agumon emblazoned on the back, "I better contact the others." He began typing away with his thumbs as fast as he could, just sending a simple message." In his haste, he didn't write down everyone's individual email addresses, instead sending it to the local schools, hoping Izzy was still tapped into the network so he could gather up everyone.

+-9

In Odaiba Junior High, just after classes had ended for the day, Yolei was doing a maintenance run on the computers, making sure the network and the hard drives were all up and running.

Imagine her surprise when an email appeared on screen.

"'Come to the Digital World right away. The digimon need our help'?" she read aloud, "It must be a link to an online game. Let's see who sent it," she pulled up the sender, "Tai Kamiya. Hey, there's a girl in the seventh grade with the same last name. This email is probably hers." She quickly hit print and moved to go deliver the message to the younger girl in question.

+-9

At that very moment, TK and Kari were getting ready to leave for the day. They had plans to meet all the members of their group that still lived there in the park and just reminisce. It would still feel a little sad, not having Mimi and Lucy there, but they could still email the girls, so it wouldn't be too bad.

"So, are you glad to be back?" Kari asked her friend.

"Oh, definitely," TK grinned, "You can't believe how much I missed you guys."

"Yeah," the girl agreed, "Email is nice, but actually being here, together, makes all the difference."

"You bet," he nodded, "So, have you heard Matt play in his band yet? He says they're coming together pretty well."

"Mmhm!" Kari affirmed, "He's even better at the guitar than he is the harmonica."

Just as they were about to leave, Yolei ran up behind them, "Hey!" she paused, panting for breath.

"Oh, hi, Yolei!" TK waved.

She ignored him for the moment, walking up to the girl that was about a head shorter than him, "You're Kari Kamiya, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's right," she nodded, "Why do you ask?"

"Well," the purple haired girl unfolded the piece of paper in her hand, showing them the message, "Are you related to Tai? He sent this email."

Seeing the message, both TK and Kari gasped. Then a firm look overcame the brown haired girl's face.

"My brother needs us," she said simply. She looked over her shoulder at TK and he nodded to her. The two of them turned back to Yolei, "Please take us to the computer room."

"Uh, you got it," she blinked, wondering why everyone was so serious all of a sudden.

They ran back through the building, rushing as fast as they could to get there. They came to a set of stairs that led both up and down just in time to see another familiar face.

"Izzy!" Yolei said, recognizing the genius.

"Hey, Yolei, I'm glad I found you!" the older boy with deep red hair and the uniform of the local High School said, "I need to use the computer room right away!"

Yolei had a wide smile on her face and practically had stars in her eyes, "You mean the legendary former Computer Club president is actually looking for me? I'm honored!" she clasped her hands before her, leaning slightly forward.

"What's up, Izzy?" TK grinned at his old friend.

Then Kari stepped forward, unfolding the paper for the tech genius to see, "Tai sent us an urgent email!"

"Yeah, I know!" the older boy nodded, "I got one, too."

"Well, come on, it's just this way," Yolei pointed down a hallway.

Finally making it to the computer room, Izzy quickly took over, going to the computer that Yolei had left on and began typing away.

"I was just about to send Tai an answer when the battery ran out on my D-terminal," Izzy explained, "I knew I should have recharged it after I played Trigonometry Trivia on the internet, last night, but boy, talk about fun," he smiled, remembering, "I got him!" he said suddenly, hitting send on his email to Tai.

+-9

After what seemed like an eternity, Tai's D-Terminal beeped and buzzed in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and flipped it open.

"It's from Izzy!" the wild haired teen explained, "He's got Kari and TK with him!"

"Tai!" Agumon called out from somewhere deeper in the cave, "Come here, quick!"

The teen looked up from his portable computer, seeing his digimon and Gatomon and Patamon had disappeared deeper into their hiding place.

+-9

"What's the Digital World?" Yolei asked with an inquisitive smile, "Is that a new amusement park? I bet they have some great rides."

TK and Kari looked to one another with sheepish grins. While it was no real secret that there was a Digital World, what with the events of four years ago, the world seemed happy enough to forget about it entirely.

"It's, uh," Izzy stumbled, trying to think of a way to explain it, "It's not quite..."

"Hey, I've got an idea," Yolei said suddenly, clasping her hands before her as she looked from Izzy to TK and Kari, "Let's all go to the Digital World!"

"Yolei," Cody's voice came from outside the class room, the little boy showing up, "Weren't you coming over?" he asked, "Remember? You were gonna fix my computer."

"Oh!" The girl smacked herself on the forehead, "Sorry, I forgot," she turned back to the two underclassmen, "I guess we'll all take a trip to the Digital World some other time. Later." She left then with the little boy.

After she left, Izzy was able to pull up a similar program as the one that had allowed Tai to travel to the Digiworld.

"If Tai's there, that must mean the gate to the Digital World is open," he explained, "Now, we just need to find out how to get through." The gate on the screen remained red, no matter how Izzy prodded it with his computer skills.

+-9

Tai had followed the sound of his digimon's voice to a chamber in the cave that was much wider than the rest of it. It was well lit, a circular hole in the ceiling allowing the sun to shine through, and in the center, on a raised mound, was a Digi-egg. It had flame patterns all over it, and a giant blade sticking out of the top like a horn. Most importantly, the egg had the symbol for the Crest of Courage, just under the horn.

"Look at that!" Agumon exclaimed, looking at the egg.

"That's weird," Tai spoke, "It's got the Crest of Courage on it. Is it an egg?"

"I never saw an egg with a spike in it," his digimon answered.

"It must have been rough on the chicken that laid that thing," Gatomon quipped.

Tai grinned for a moment then took a couple steps forward, bending down to inspect the Digi-egg, "Let's have a closer look at this thing," he grabbed it, careful to avoid the blade, and tried to lift it up. Try being the operative word. The moment he touched it, the egg shined with blinding orange light, forcing the teen to let go so he could cover his eyes.

Once the light had cleared away, three fire balls about the size of a child's fist lifted into the air.

"Whoa," Tai breathed, "They look like fireflies," suddenly, the fireballs streaked through the opening at the top of the chamber, "Fast ones!"

+-9

In the human world, Yolei and Cody were just reaching the stairs after leaving the computer room.

"You did promise," Cody said plaintively at the somewhat depressed girl.

"I know," she drawled. It really wasn't so bad, but she had so wanted to go to the Digital World. It just seemed familiar to her for some reason. Like she had heard of it before.

Back in the class room, Izzy, TK, and Kari all had their Digivices out, trying to get them to respond in one way or another, but it just wasn't happening.

"I don't get it," Izzy sighed as he sat back down in the chair, "I've tried everything I can think and, short of prying it open with a digital crowbar, I just can't get it to respond. I'm sorry, TK, Kari. Tai might have to fight this one on his own."

Kari sighed, "It's okay, Izzy, we'll just have to keep trying. Tai might be in trouble, not to mention the digimon. We know he wouldn't stop trying to get to us, so we can't do any less for him!"

Just as the girl finished speaking, the entire screen lit up with blue radiance.

"Whoa!" Izzy exclaimed, forced to duck as three beams of light shot out of the monitor. One was pink, the next was purple, the final one was red. The pink light streaked towards Kari, curving forward just before it would hit her and combining with her Digivice, obscuring it in the pink glow.

The other two lights streaked out of the room, curving out into the hallway where they sought out Yolei and Cody, smacking into their hands and startling the two of them.

In the classroom, when the light died down, Kari's Digivice was dramatically changed. It had went from a little silver device with a short antenna, three buttons and a screen to the size of a cell phone. It still had the screen and the short antenna, but it rested more easily in her hand now, was colored mostly white and had pink side paneling. The buttons had changed a little, too, with a directional pad below the screen and two buttons right next to it for some reason.

"What in the world?" TK asked, looking at the new Digivice, "What happened to it?"

"I don't know, do you think it evolved, like our digimon, maybe?" Kari suggested.

"Look!" Izzy said suddenly, cutting off that train of thought, "The gate is open!"

TK and Kari looked at one another and nodded, "Let's go!"

Kari held up her weird new Digivice first. A flash of bright white light filled the room and the girl was gone. TK held up his old fashioned model next, "I'm right behind you." Again, a flash of light and then the boy was gone.

Izzy stood up and held his own Digivice before him, "I can't wait to see Tentomon again," just as he was about to hold his up to the screen, Yolei came skidding back into the room.

"Whoa! What's going on in here?" she asked, Cody right behind her.

Her sudden appearance startled Izzy, causing the boy to nearly drop his Digivice as he hid it behind his back, "Uh, nothing!" the teen tech genius laughed nervously.

"But, Izzy, what was that light?" Yolei asked as she approached him.

The High School student looked away from her, unable to lie directly to her face as he tried to brush it all off, "Uh, the computer must need a new screen saver," he said, followed by more nervous laughter.

+-9

Two orbs of light suddenly appeared in the forest of the Digital world, almost shaped like an egg. The slowly dissolved, piece by square piece, until they were completely gone, leaving behind TK and Kari.

"Wow," TK said, looking around at the oddly colored wild life and the beautiful but weird sky, "It's almost exactly like I remember."

"Yeah," Kari said, a frown on her face as she looked around, "But this is no time to stroll down Memory Lane. We need to find my brother, and the digimon."

"Uh-huh!" the blonde nodded, "Without them, we wont be able to fight if we get in trouble."

Kari pulled out her new Digivice again, hoping it had the same tracking capabilities as before. Luckily it did, and there was the mark of another Digidestined nearby.

"This way," she told TK walking through the foliage.

Unseen by either of the twelve year olds was a black ring floating in the canopy about them.

+-9

In his lair, the Digimon Emperor observed the two newest people to come to the Digital World.

"It seems I have some visitors in my garden, and they weren't even on the guest list," he grinned maliciously, "Let's see just where these interlopers are going, then I can send a friend to meet them there."

+-9

Kari's Digivice beeped regularly, showing that TK was right next to her and Tai was somewhere up ahead.

"I think we're getting close," she told the boy next to her.

They passed a soda machine as she spoke, TK only giving it a passing glance as he scanned the forest for any hint of their friends, or danger. So far, nothing had come out and attacked them, but the Digiworld could be a dangerous place for the unaware.

"I wonder where all the digimon are," TK asked, "I mean, we should have seen something by now, right? Even if it was a bad guy."

"I think I'll pass on the bad digimon, but I wouldn't mind seeing Gatomon again," Kari replied.

"TK!" The familiar, child like voice of Patamon broke over the two Digidestined. The tan colored digimon flew forward with all due haste and landed in his partners arms.

"Patamon!" the blonde boy exclaimed, "Boy, am I glad to see you!" he laughed happily.

"Hi, guys!" Tai said as he came out of the tree line with Gatomon and Agumon right behind him, "I'm glad you made it, but where's Izzy?"

Before they could answer, Gatomon moved around the teen and jumped into a hug with his sister.

"Kari!" the cat cried, latching onto her human friend.

"Gatomon!" the girl greeted her digimon, laughing with relief. Then she gasped, "Your tail ring!" she pulled the digimon back to look in her big blue eyes, "Tell me what happened."

"Come on," Tai said before Gatomon could get started, "We'll tell you all about it back in the cave."

Luckily, they had appeared not far from the entrance of the hiding spot and soon the small group stood in front of the blade bearing Digi-egg. Then Gatomon began her story.

"One day, this bossy human appeared and began making digimon into his slaves," the cat digimon explained, "He said, 'I am the Digimon Emperor!'" her voice deepened to make a passing imitation at his voice, "I heard we're all gonna have to punch a time clock, too. I was running away from one of his enslaved digimon when I lost my tail ring. I would have been crushed without it, but it came off in the scuffle."

"Another human?" TK asked, shocked, "You mean that someone else comes here besides us? There goes the neighborhood."

"Yeah, and he's got this strange, new Dark Digivice that makes us unable to Digivolve," Gatomon continued.

"Hmm?" the blonde boy looked at his best friend, finding her eyes on his.

"Did it look anything like this?" Kari asked, holding up her pink Digivice.

Gatomon gasped, "Yes, it's exactly like that, but it's all black and evil! How did you even get that? What happened to your old Digivice?"

"We're not sure," TK answered, "Three lights shot out of the computer in our world, just a little while ago. One of them collided with Kari's Digivice, turning it into that."

So, that's what that light was! Tai thought, It transforms our Digivices. But why didn't it change mine? Why Kari? And who else had their Digivice change?

+-9

In the Human World, Izzy was under scrutiny for his rather pathetic lies. Yolei was leaning forward, causing him to lean back, with her eyes narrowed and her hands on her hips.

"Where did everyone disappear to, Izzy?" she demanded rather loudly.

"I-I told you already, Yolei, they went home," Izzy was almost quivering. Sure, he was older than the girl, but she could be intimidating when she wanted to be.

"I'm not letting you off the hook that easy!" She crossed her arms and stood up straight, "I know you're hiding something, Izzy! Now, what is the Digital World? And what, exactly, are digimon?"

"Uh, I, I don't know what you're talking about!" he tried, hoping she would believe him. An effort in futility.

She just narrowed her eyes at him again, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a red Digivice, the same model as Kari's, "Then what do you call this?"

Izzy gasped in surprise, "Where did you get that?"

"Cody's got one, as well," she told him, "Start talking!"

Just outside the classroom, talking into a pay phone, Cody explained to his mom why he was late in getting home.

"No, Yolei's not coming over. We have to stay after school for computer club," he told her, "But since you made the brownies, I'll come home and pick them up, first." In his right hand was the blue paneled Digivice, just like Yolei's and Kari's aside from color.

+-9

"The Dark Digivice is draining our power and making us all weak as newborn kittens," Gatomon said, still staring at the one in Kari's hand, unable to comprehend how the two might be related. Hell, Kari was the holder of the Crest of Light, the polar opposite of Darkness! So how did this all make sense?

"So, that's why you couldn't Digivolve," Tai said, looking at Agumon.

"Yeah!" the yellow dino said, crossing his arms, "If I could Digivolve, he wouldn't stand a chance!"

Even as they spoke, the ring that had spotted TK and Kari had followed them into the cave, observing them, sending its signal back to base.

Gatomon went on with her explanation, no one noticing as the ring floated into the chamber, "The Digimon Emperor uses these Dark Rings to control the digimon."

"Yeah," Patamon nodded, "That's right. And once a ring captures you, you're his slave for life!"

"The collars do everything but get rid of fleas," Gatomon said with a drawl.

"Digimon Emperor," Kari almost spat out, a frown on her face, "I'm gonna slap a Dark Ring on him!"

+-9

In the dark room from which he was watching them, the Emperor just laughed at her declaration.

"Oh, you think so, do you? Well, this is just a game to me," he smirked at the close up of Kari's face, "And I'm afraid if you can't play by my rules, I'll just have to disqualify you," he lifted his hand into the air before him and a rectangle made of red holograms appeared before him, each of them holding a single character of Digicode, "Hm, now who will destroy you? Eeny, Meeny, Miny, 'Mon!" He tapped on on the right side of the rectangle causing a picture of a four legged dinosaur digimon to pop up, "Attack, Monochromon!"

Deep in his dungeon, lights traced along the floor until they reached the cell with the corresponding digimon, waking it up and causing its eyes to glow an eery red. It was lifted up to the surface, panels sliding back to allow him into the fresh air. The digimon roared angrily, moving off to follow his orders.

+-9

In the cave, Tai had pointed out the Digi-egg to them.

"Looks like a deflated beach ball," TK commented, "No wonder, it's got a spike through it."

"Yeah, and it's heavier than my mom's meat loaf," Tai said, "I couldn't make it budge an inch."

"Hm, let me try," the blonde boy said. He took a few steps forward and gripped the egg. He pulled up with as much strength as he could must, but it didn't even twitch. "It wont come loose."

"Move aside," Kari said, coming up from behind him, "This is a woman's job." The girl rubbed her hands together then wrapped them around the egg, careful to avoid the blade spike. She took a breath and lifted.

The girl was almost thrown off her feet. She had expect some resistance. If the struggle TK had put up was any indication, it must weigh a ton. But just not to her.

"Wow! It's actually pretty light," the girl marveled.

"Whoa," TK said, "How did you do that?"

"It just came right up, no problem at all," Kari replied, holding the egg in one hand, "Here," she held it out to her brother.

"Huh!" he took the egg from her. It really only weighed about as much as a large orange, "I wonder what it means that you could pick it up and we couldn't."

"I don't know," the brown haired girl shrugged again, taking the egg back, "But I've got another question for you. What do I do with it?"

Before that question could be answered, the ground began to shake violently, debris falling from the ceiling.

"Why don't I think this is the cavalry?" Tai yelled over the sound of breaking rock.

"Look!" TK pointed up. The others looked, just in time to see the ceiling beginning to crack before a white digimon with black armor plates burst through the rock with a roar in its throat, "Monochromon!" the blonde remembered this digimon from his first day in the Digiworld four years ago, though this one had a large Dark Ring around his middle, "His shell is harder than diamonds! His attack, Volcanic Strike, sends out millions of fireballs!"

Patamon immediately moved to protect his partner as the dinosaur digimon moved into the chamber, "Boom Bubble!" The ball of condensed air slammed into the digimon harmlessly.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon tried next. It was equally useless, only getting the enslaved digimon to roar again.

It opened up its mouth, showing rows of sharp teeth, "Volcanic Strike!" Fire gathered in the back of his throat.

"Run for it!" TK shouted, leading the way, closely followed by Tai, Kari and their digimon.

The attack hit the entrance just behind them before dissipating, but the digimon didn't stop there. The could hear, and feel, it stomping along behind them, crashing through the areas that were too narrow for it with no difficulty what so ever.

"He's been eating his vitamins!" Tai quipped even as he ran for the exit.

"There's the exit!" Kari pointed ahead, over taking the boys and getting out ahead of them, Gatomon right next to her, "Fresh air, open space, plenty of directions to dodge," she turned around to see TK and Tai just as they were pulling out of the cave, "Over here!"

The boys took a step in her direction, meaning to get over to her. But it was not to be. Monochromon exploded out of the rock just twenty feet to their right, a debris washing over the area in a storm.

The dinosaur digimon didn't give them any chance to recover, turning to them with his mouth open, fire gathering in his throat, "Volcanic Strike!"

"No! Tai! TK!" Kari cried out, watching as her brother and best friend were about to be fried to a crisp. There was nothing she could do. She wouldn't be fast enough. And Gatomon couldn't Digivolve to Angewomon. Tears gathered in her eyes as she realized she was about to lose two of the most important people in her life.

Just as she was about to try futilely running forward, the egg in her hand and the mutated Digivice on her hip both began to glow brightly with the light of fire. Then words appeared in her mind.

"What's happening, Kari?" Gatomon said, "I can feel energy flowing through me, what's going on?"

"I... I don't..." she frowned then with determination in her eyes as she held up the egg, "Digi-Armor, Energize!"

The bladed Digi-egg dissolved into a stream of fire that swirled through the air, rushing towards Gatomon. Instead of consuming the cat, the flames began to cloak her, change her. They seeped into her every pour, made her every strand of fur glow with the orange power they were unleashing upon her.

"Gatomon, Armor Digivolve to..." phantom images of Agumon, Greymon, Metalgreymon, and even Wargreymon appeared in the flames before they dispersed, revealing what Gatomon had become, "Nibimon!"

Like most Digivolutions, this one caused Gatomon to grow into a much larger shape, standing just a foot taller than the average human adult. Her fur retained its usual white hue, with a mane of fire going down the back of her neck. She stood on her hind legs, her eyes glowed with the light of fire and smoke and embers blew out of her nostrils when she exhaled heavily. Her upper body was covered from her neck down in a metal chest plate with feminine definition. The actual 'breasts' of the chest plate were painted with a fire pattern, and on her sides, over her ribs and hips, were glowing red stripes that trailed steam behind her. On her shoulders were shoulder guards covered in gold and red fur that almost appeared to be fire themselves. Coming out of each arm hole in the chest plate was a long kimono sleeve, blue with orange fire patterns flicking upwards from the bottom seam of each sleeve, her four fingered hands, each digit ending in a wicked claw, sticking out from the cloth. A charcoal black belt held up a pair of parachute pants with the same pattern as the sleeves. Finally, coming from the base of her spine, was not one, but two, long tails, each one lashing about separate from the other and ending in blue fire.

The new evolution of Gatomon didn't waste a second, jumping forward with a lion like roar.

"Twin Tail Inferno!" Her voice was deep but feminine. The attack started at the ends of her tails, the flames turning into huge fireballs. The tails lashed forward, touching her hands, wreathing them in the flames. Then the evolved cat digimon jumped forward, meeting the fireballs from Monochromon, head on.

"What the...? Nibimon?" Tai asked, seeing his sister's digimon Digivolve, "Armor Digivolve?"

"That's Nibimon!" Agumon exclaimed, "She's a legendary fire cat digimon with two tails! Her Twin Tail Inferno can burn even other flames and her Warrior's Fire is nothing to shake a stick at, either!"

Having negated the attack with her own fire, Nibimon shot forward at the Monochromon, landing on his snout then jumping into the air. While above the dinosaur digimon, she reached into her left sleeve and pulled out a black claymore, blanketed in in blue flames, "Warrior's Fire!" The fire cat digimon lashed the sword at Monochromon, specifically at his Dark Ring, the blade slicing through the evil device like butter, yet not even nicking the enslaved digimon.

The ring cracked outwards from the cut then shattered into millions of bits of corrupted data.

"Oh, wow!" TK breathed, watching the whole battle take place in about ten seconds, total.

Before he could do anything else, TK and Tai were bowled over by a girl that was nearing hysterics.

"Tai, TK!" she cried, hugging them both to her, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Ugh! That's, un, great, Kari," Tai grunted, "But you're, guh, squeezing too hard!"

"Huh?" the girl opened her eyes, seeing her brother and her best friend struggling for breath, "Oh, I'm sorry!"

Even as she spoke, Nibimon came over, glowing yellow for a moment before the energy drained back into Kari's new Digivice.

+-9

The Emperor frowned at the battle he had just witnessed. Then he began to grin.

"Armor Digivolve, huh?" his smirk grew wider, "Against the power of my Dark Digivice, they shouldn't be able to Digivolve at all. Hm... They're more resourceful than I thought," he began to laugh to himself, still assured of his complete dominion over the Digital World, no matter what these interlopers tried.

+-9

"Take care, Monochromon!" Kari yelled to the retreating dinosaur digimon, "Try not to get caught again, okay?"

Monochromon seemed to nod, but otherwise just continued on his way, keeping an eye open to make sure he didn't get blindsided by another Dark Ring.

With that done, they needed to find a safe place, or alternatively, a way back home, before something else came after them.

"Wow, Kari!" TK gushed, walking next to his friend as they made their way through the forest, "That was awesome!"

"Thanks, TK," the girl smiled, "But I couldn't have done it without Gatomon."

"Nope!" the cat disagreed, "I would have been worse than useless if your Courage hadn't opened the Digi-egg, Kari."

"Yeah!" Tai said, "That's my sister," he spoke proudly, "But something's missing." Looking back at him, the teen had a slight frown on his face and a hand on his chin in thought, "Aha!" He grinned as he pulled his goggles off his head and slid them over his sister's.

"Huh?" She intoned, "What are you doing?"

"None of us can get our digimon to Digivolve anymore, Kari, only you can," Tai said seriously, "That means you have to take charge of the team," then he grinned, "And the leader needs an awesome pair of goggles, right?"

Kari blinked at her older brother for a couple moments, then smiled brightly. She touched the goggles sitting on her forehead, feeling the weight of their symbolism, then hugged her brother.

"Thanks, Tai! I promise, I'll make you proud," she said.

"I know you will. Now, let's get somewhere safe before it gets dark," the teen said.

"Yeah," TK piped in, "Who knows what the Digimon Emperor will send after us once the sun is down?"

"Actually," Gatomon broke in, "The Digimon Emperor never comes out at night, it's the only time we're safe from that maniac."

"Huh," the blonde boy hummed, "I wonder why that is?"

"Look!" Kari said, pointing forward at a TV in the Middle of a field. On the screen Izzy, Yolei and Cody were enjoying a batch of brownies, fresh baked.

"Wow! You were right, Yolei! These brownies are great!" Izzy said, taking a bite.

"I know, right?" the girl said with a blissful smile on her face.

"They're my mom's special recipe," Cody explained, proud of the praise his mother's cooking was getting.

Tai looked at the TV with his head tilted to one side, "Hey, I wonder if we can use this to get home."

"I don't know," TK shrugged, "I mean, it seemed simple enough to get here, but we had to take the cable car back last time."

"Well, we'll never know if we don't try, right?" Kari said, reaching for her new Digivice.

"Wow, you guys are slick."

The group whirled around, facing the forest that the feminine voice had come from. It was a little raspy, almost like the persons throat was sore, and it was very clearly feminine.

"Who's there?" Kari called out, stepping into her role as leader of the group, "Show yourself!"

"Oh?" the voice came again, clearly amused, "It's not every day you get to see Kari Kamiya's resolve face. Must be a special occasion."

The kids gasped.

"How do you know her name?" TK yelled into the forest.

"That's not all I know," the owner of the voice stepped out from behind a tree, "I know that you are TK Takaishi and he's Tai Kamiya, Kari's older brother," the person was human, wearing a black hoodie with short sleeves and a pink stripe going up the arms. She had beige colored baggy pants that went down to just below her knees before they were taped down by white bandages. On her feet were a pair of red Converse. Her forearms were covered by blue bracers, her hands resting in the big pocket of her hoodie. Her face was covered by the shadows projected by her hood. All they were able to see was her grinning mouth. "And I know," she said, grabbing the sides of her hood, "that none of you are leaving here..."

Tai, TK and Kari tensed, getting ready for a fight. If this was the Digimon Emperor they had to take her down quick, before she called in more of her slaves.

She pulled the hood down, showing off long pink hair with light pink highlights tied back in a ponytail, only a few strands resting on the sides of her face, and bright green eyes glittering mischievously, "Without giving me a hug."

The small group blinked. Had she just asked for a hug? What kind of evil wannabe emperor would ask for a hug, of all things? Then Tai's eyes widened.

"Lucy?" he breathed, "Lucy!" He was the first to rush forward, sweeping the somewhat shorter girl up in the requested hug. The girl laughed at his exuberance, her feet not even touching the ground anymore, hugging him back.

"Hey there, Goggle Brain," she said, pulling back, "Good to see you, too."

TK and Kari made it to them then, making it a group hug, only getting more happy laughter from the fourteen year old that spread to the others. It was nice to feel so appreciated.

Meanwhile, Skymomon dropped out of the trees to reunite with the digimon.

"Hey, Skymomon, where have you two been for the last three months?" Gatomon asked the flying blue monkey.

"Ogremon and Leomon were getting into it again," the digimon explained, brushing back some of her green braids, "So, we had to go all the way to File Island and mediate. Round One lasted an entire week!"

"Wow, that's kind of rough," the cat digimon said.

"So, who won?" Patamon asked.

"Neither one of them," Skymomon shrugged, "After two rounds that lasted a week each, they knocked each other out in the third. We would have been back sooner, but Whamon had to take a detour."

"Wow!" Tai said, once they had all pulled out of the hug, "Look at you, Lucy, you look great!"

The teen girl smiled, only a slight dusting of pink on her cheeks, "Thanks, you're not looking too bad yourself, Tai," she then turned to TK and Kari, "And you two, who would have ever guessed that the runt of the group would end up being so tall? Or that Kari Kamiya, Queen of the Digimon, would turn out to be a warrior princess?"

"Hey, I wasn't that short!" the blonde boy said with mock indignity.

"Ha! Say's the boy who was shorter than Kari by no less than three inches," Lucy teased.

The blonde stepped up beside the brown haired girl in question, "Yeah, well not anymore, huh?" The boy had, at least, five inches on Tai's little sister now.

"We missed you," Kari said after a couple seconds, then her mouth formed an 'o', "Hey, Lucy, do you know anything about the Digimon Emperor? Or these new Digivices?" Kari held her's up for the Guardian's perusal.

"Well, I dunno anything about your Digivice, but that Digimon Emperor guy?" The pink haired girl frowned, "Yeah, I know a little. Jerk showed up a few weeks back, just as I was leaving File Island. The digimon have told me that the ego maniac declared himself king of our world. He's got some Dark Rings he controls the Digimon with and," she glared off into the distance, "He's got these huge, black towers spread out all over the place. I dunno what they're for, but I doubt it's to grow flowers."

"Hey, now that you mention it," Gatomon said, holding a paw to her chin, "I remember seeing something like that this morning when he showed up with all those Dark Rings."

Tai clenched his fists at his side, "This guy sounds like he's gonna be a real problem."

"Okay, now one last question," Kari said, "Do you know how to get back to the Human World? We were thinking about trying to use our Digivices on the TV, but would that really even work?"

"Yeah, it should," the pink haired girl said, "I remember Gennai saying something about it. Something about Izzy figuring it out the last time we were here. He's been working on that ever since everyone had to leave last time. He wouldn't tell me exactly what, but I guess this is it," she stepped forward making sure not to get to close, "Only question I've got is why he just dumped them all over the place like this. I must have run into dozens of these, all across the continent, and another couple of 'em back on File Island."

Tai, TK and Kari looked at one another, then the teen with wild hair spoke, "Did any of the other TVs have any big caves or something nearby? Anything worth noting?"

Lucy looked skyward, tapping her chin for a moment, "Now that you mention it, a few of them were near some landmarks, but the rest were just scattered around. Why?" she looked at Tai then the two preteens, "Something going on? Aside from his holy jerk-itude?"

Kari pointed back the way they came from, "There's a cave about a mile behind us. Tai used it as a hiding spot to contact us at first, but then he found this Digi-egg with the Crest of Courage on it."

"Yeah," the teen nodded, "When I tried to pick it up, it wouldn't move, but these three lights came out of it. One of them changed Kari's Digivice into that. And when they came through the portal, only Kari could pick up the egg."

"And that's not all," TK said with a grin, "Kari used the egg to get Gatomon to Armor Digivolve into Nibimon. It was so cool!"

"Holy- No way!" Lucy said, her eye wide, "Gennai told stories about Armor Digivolving, but I thought he was just going off on tangents, you know? Old guy hasn't gotten any more straight forward than he was the last time you all saw him, I swear," the last part was grumbled out, getting the kids to chuckle a little.

Then Tai got serious, "Listen, Lucy, it's been a while since most of the gang has been together, so we were gonna hang out in the park, catch up. With what's happening in the Digiworld now, I think we're gonna have to tell everyone what's going on. Will you come with us?"

"Yeah!" Kari said with a grin, "That's a great idea! You can spend the night at our place and you can come back home tomorrow! Besides, I'm sure that Sora and the others would love to see you again."

Lucy crossed her arms for a moment, tilting her head to one side, then shrugged with a smile, "Sure, I think it'll be good to see everyone again."

"Alright!" Tai cheered, "So, how do we use this to get back to our world?" he gestured at the TV.

"Simple, you just hold your Digivice up to it, and it will do all the rest," Lucy grabbed hers off her waist and held it up to the screen of the TV. Her form was ensconced in light for a few moments before she was gone. The last thing they heard before she was in transit was, "I'll be back tomorrow, Skymomon, see you soon."

"Sounds simple enough to me," the wild haired teen said as he repeated her actions, "I'll try to bring everyone I can tomorrow," he told the digimon before the light enveloped him.

Kari knelt before Gatomon, TK standing behind her with Patamon, "You take care of yourself, okay? We'll be back as soon as we can, then we'll stop the Digimon Emperor."

"Yeah, weird towers, Dark Rings, Dark Digivice, doesn't matter," TK said, "We'll get the job done."

"Right!" their digimon said at the same time.

The two turned to the TV, holding up their Digivices and letting the light take them.

+-9

In the Human World, Izzy was taking a breather from the chocolatey goodness, "These are completely delicious." Finding out Yolei was apparently a Digidestined allowed the boy to explain about what had really happened, and by the time he was done with that Cody came back with the brownies. So, now, all they had to do was wait for the others to get back, then he could find out what happened in the Digiworld.

His eyes closed, he missed it when the gate opened again, but Yolei didn't.

"Hey, Izzy, that thing is blinking," she told the older boy.

"Huh?" He looked over at the computer, just in time to see a bright flash of light and get a tangle of kids dropped on him.

Lucy proved she hadn't only grown taller, but more agile as well, managing to catch herself on the computer table as she appeared and flipped out of the way of the others, allowing her to laugh at the tangle of Digidestined on the ground before her.

"Wow!" she gasped out through her giggles, "This brings back memories."

"Aw, man!" Tai groaned as he lay there in the middle of the heap, TK and Kari above, Izzy, Cody and Yolei below, Lucy watching, "This is not how I imagined this going."

"Get off!" Izzy grunted, "You're crushing my brownies!"

Chapter One: End.

Please Enjoy.