Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except M.J and various digimon

A/N: Hopefully the team make it out of there :O

Chapter 08

Guardromon's grenades shredded the stairs, making M.J pull the other teens into the room. She slammed the door behind them.

"Grab that dresser and put it against the door- barricade it!" M.J yelled, pointing at the large wooden chest that was nearby. "Gennai, can you stand? We need the bed now!"

The young adult grunted, pulling himself up from the bed. He clutched his side and grabbed Dan for support.

M.J ordered the twins to help her drag the bed over as they heard the rushing of Guardromon's thrusters carrying the Digimon up the stairs.

"You can't hide forever!" Guardromon called out as his metal feet pounded the corridor outside.

Hudiemon was still frozen in shock. The butterfly Digimon flew towards the window, throwing it open. "Children, you must run. I will hold off Guardromon in the meantime."

Gennai grunted in pain, "What about you, Hudiemon?"

"Do not worry about me... Valkyrie, you must lead them to safety, gather the eggs and find the other Digidestined."

"And what of the other Digi-Eggs we have here?" Gennai allowed Dan to lead him to the window where the twins and their Digimon along with Hana were climbing out.

"They're in the containment pods downstairs." Hudiemon panicked, giving Gennai a wide eyed look.

M.J looked over at Pawmon and together, they nodded.

One of Guardromon's rusted hands thrusted its way through the wood of the door. Guardromon snapped off a chunk of wood.

"Pummel Fist!" Pawmon yowled, throwing himself agilely through the hole Guardromon had created. "M.J, now!"

His partner climbed through as Pawmon swung his gloved fists at the mechanical Digimon's head.

Gennai struggled against Dan who held him, "We have to stop her, go stop her Dan. I will take care of your friends."

Dan didn't want to divide the group, but the speed that everything was happening at made him give in quickly. "Hudiemon, get them to safety. I will go after Valkyrie- I mean, M.J! Veemon, let's go!"

Riki and Kaito called out for Dan to stop, but it was hopeless when the eldest had already ran through the broken door with Veemon.

A grenade from Guardromon ripped a hole in the wall at one end of the corridor. "Give me the Digi-Eggs, Valkyrie! I know you and Gennai brought them here!"

Dan waved Veemon down the corridor when Pawmon came flying out of the next room and down the splintered staircase. "Watch out!"

Guardromon clanked out into the corridor, turning to look at Dan and Veemon. "Warning Laser!" The expressionless eyes turned red and just as a red laser was about to fire through the air and hit Dan, Hudiemon pushed the boy over the bannister, bearing the full force of the attack.

As Dan tumbled over the bannister, his hand scraped past the wood railing before slamming into a sofa that was pushed across the hallway under him. When he sat up, he could see M.J crouched by the doors.

"Come on then, doofus!" she shouted as Guardromon tried to fight off Hudiemon.

Dan and Veemon squeezed into the room and flinched as she immediately barricaded the door with a broom handle. "Somehow I don't think that's going to stop Guardromon…"

M.J growled at him in frustration. "Help me look for the containment pod. There's a Digi-Egg in there." She started to crawl around the wood floor, swiping her hands backwards and forwards as if she was looking for a dropped pin. "Do you mind?" M.J taunted when she noticed Dan staring at her. "Perhaps instead of staring at me, you could lend a hand."

Veemon stood beside the girl. "Well that would depend on what we are looking for?"

The door cracked as a large weight was slammed into it.

"Come on Valkyrie, I wouldn't want Pawmon to get badly injured now, would you?" They heard Guardromon shout from the other side of the door. "Just hand over the egg and I promise you I won't cause him harm."

Dan found a strange switch button and when he pressed it, a cylindrical panel rose up from a small panel of flooring. "I got it!" he cried out excitedly, before noticing M.J slap her hand to her face. Dan felt his face go bright red in embarrassment.

"Then open the door and hand it over, boy!" Guardromon boomed, throwing Pawmon against the door again.

M.J got up quickly. "We're going to open the door, snatch Pawmon and made a run for it. Hopefully Gennai will have taken the others some place safe. Ready?"

Dan held the egg in his hands, knowing it would not be a good time to argue with her. He watched her prepare to slide the broom stick away from the door handles. There wasn't much time to encourage her to reconsider so Dan went along with her plan. "Prepare for a Vee Headbutt, Veemon…"

Veemon nodded. "You got it, Dan." Veemon bounced back when the door was thumped again, causing the door to split, held together by the broom.

It suddenly went silent. Dan felt M.J's hand on his arm and he stiffened slightly. He went towards the door, wondering whether M.J would tell him to stop and not open the door. The silence was creepy, until a very slow knocking on the door from the other side.

"Your partner looks like he could do with a recharge!" a chirpy sounding voice called out from the other side of the door. "Don't worry, Guardromon won't be bothering you again – at least not any time soon!"

M.J and Dan looked at each other with wide eyes. She pushed him towards the door, shaking her hands at him to get him to say something.

"Ah- Oh, erm, who is there?" Dan stammered, backing into M.J. "Who are you?"

"Well I'm no dan-fan silly!"

"Dan-fan?" he whispered curiously. "Give us your name."

"Please and thank yous cost nothing," the girl retorted. "Then I'll tell you my name, fellow Digidestined."

M.J whispered in Dan's ear. "She's like is, can we open the door?" Leaning forwards, M.J tried to look through the cracked door to see who might be there, but she saw Pawmon limp and propped up against the wall opposite the door. "Pawmon!"

Dan watched as M.J threw open the doors and darted to her partner. Then he saw the girl who had saved them from Guardromon.

She was much younger than he and M.J. Perhaps about nine years old with red brown short, shaggy hair. A button was in her hair, serving as a clip to tame a rogue clump of hair. She was wearing a green and cream flower printed dress with a green collared jacket. To her side, was a red insect with big round eyes and amber coloured antennae that looked immaculately well kept.

"You're lucky me and Tento were passing by- otherwise you two would be fried gennada."

The word 'gennada' had Dan and M.J confused.

"Well I suppose I should say thank you." She bent down to Pawmon, plugging her Digi-Stick into the back of her partner's neck. "At least we can heal Pawmon. Where did Guardromon go?"

The girl shrugged. "Tento and I startled him and he scarpered, making a hole in the roof." Her finger pointed up.

Dan and M.J followed the girl's finger up to the ceiling where a large hole had been ripped.

M.J shook her head rapidly. "This still doesn't explain who you are."

"I could say the same about you- I do know your boyfriend though. Dan Motomiya?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" M.J clenched her fists tightly. "Nor will he ever be!"

Dan shrugged his shoulders at Veemon. "So what can we call you?"

"You can call me Sakura. Sakura Izumi!" Sakura hugged M.J around the waist. "I like you!"

"Her name is M.J..." Dan pointed out calmly. "So what are you doing here, Sakura? How did you find us?"

Sakura clapped her hands to her mouth. "Me and Tento had been patrolling the Digital World when we came across this place. We saw your friend get attacked by Guardromon and just had to investigate." She paused momentarily. "You must be here to defend this place, right?"

"Of course, we have to. The Dark King has sent his allies to six corners of this place and I want to know why and what for."

M.J scratched Pawmon's ear, listening to the Digimon purr after being restored. "Me too. But right now, we need to find out who the other Digidestined are. Not that I know how we'll do that..." She looked up the destroyed staircase. "And then there's Gennai. I hope he's taken care of the others..."

-o-

Gennai had led the others away from the base, but with his leg injured, he was heavily reliant on Ronin and Kaito for support.

Riki and Hana walked in front of them whilst they made their way to 'someplace safe' according to Gennai.

"Up ahead, there's a large tree, it's unmissable..."

As described, Riki and Hana saw the tree and gasped at it in amazement. The tree was more than large. Its trunk spanned the width of a whole apartment block. The branches above were filled with vibrant green leaves spanning almost as high as the eye could see.

The twins helped Gennai towards the tree where Tokomon noticed a door outline in the trunk.

"Ronin, this door opens." Tokomon head butted the right place, despite the fact he was too small and weak to move it a millimetre.

The white Digimon's human partner pushed on door, but a feisty Digimon bounding out the door, landing on Ronin hard.

"No!" Ronin called out and squirmed when a green light travelled from his pocket to Tokomon.

"Tokomon digivolve to, Patamon! Boom bubble, pah!" Patamon spat a bubble of air at the Digimon pinning Ronin down.

Gennai lurched forwards, protectively grabbing the Digimon. "Swanmon, I must apologise. I had not had the chance to tell them about you."

Swanmon flapped her wings. "Honest mistake from both parties I suppose." She looked up at him. "What brings you back here, twice in one day?"

"I think I accidentally but really on purpose left something here."

"In that case, why didn't you say? Come on in children... Gennai, are these the Digidestined children?"

"Indeed..."

Swanmon ushered the teens inside where they almost stood pointlessly in the doorway. "Yes, it is a little cramped in the Digital Nursery..."

Rows and rows of eggs were incubating, with internal tree branches acting as higher shelves with a canopy stretching between them to hold more of the big eggs. There was also a small hollowed out root that childish giggling could be heard from within.

Hana squealed in delight. "Look at all the eggs – are they all Digimon that are about to hatch, Swanmon?"

Swanmon brushed a wing against the nearby eggs. "Yes, there is a delivery of eggs every now and again. It's up to me to incubate and hatch the eggs." The Digimon leant over to the hollowed root. "Here are some of our newly hatched babies. Your Patamon and Salamon must have digivolved quickly."

Hana smiled at the little Digimon inside, especially the little black ball that had two leaves sprouting from their head. "They're very cute, but why did you bring us here, Gennai?"

Kaito clicked his fingers. "Of course!"

"What is it, Kaito?"

"Why do you hide something when you need to know it won't be found?" Kaito saw that none of his friends were going to guess the answer, so he continued. "The Digi-Eggs that he took from me and M.J, he hid them here. Where they would be safe under the disguise of a hundred other eggs, right Gennai?"

Gennai nodded, pushing Riki towards the far point of the tree trunk's interior where a piece of torn canopy have been crammed into a small root. "Behind that, go on."

Riki whispered sarcastically, "yes sir…" before pulling the canopy from the root. "Two eggs and devices that look like USB sticks." He lifted the eggs and devices out and held them up to Gennai.

"They're not for me, Riki Kamiya… They are for you." Gennai smiled with pride, proud that the eggs had been protected and were now safely in the rightful owner's hands. "Now there are some other Digi-Eggs that were stolen by Guardromon- the one Digimon we thought was our actual ally. It is up to you all to decide where you go from here. You can either venture to one of the six points of the Digital World in order to obtain the six keys that will open the Motherboard, or you go back to the Dark King's castle to take back the eggs that were stolen."

"What about you, Gennai?" Hana asked, looking up at the older boy with shining blue eyes that glistened as she worried what was being planned. "We need you too."

Gennai knelt down to Hana, grimacing from the pain in his body. "Hana, you have nothing to worry about. You are a Digidestined child as well. Together, you will play a hug part in bringing salvation to this place. I have faith in you, and you should too." He playfully knocked her chin with his fist. "So, what do you say, Digidestined girl?"

"Okay… but what will you do if you aren't coming with us?"

"I'll have to stay here and restore what I can of the Light Queen's work…"

"Light Queen- who's she?" Hana wrinkled her nose.

"The counterpart of the Dark King. She's a friend though, don't worry." Gennai straightened up with a pained expression on his face. "Kaito, Ronin. You're in charge now. Dan and Valkyrie will have another Digi-Egg in their protection..." His sentence trailed off as he thought about the pair and what they might be doing.

Kaito smiled softly. "We'll find them, Gennai- if we can reconvene, we'll be able to fight the Dark King's forces, right?" The teen held out his hand to Gennai. "Thank you… We'll see you again soon, right?"

"Of course, I just wish we could have said the same about Hudiemon."

"Lost but not forgotten."

Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = I had to shake the group up, they were getting a little bit too comfortable with everything! But a new character in Sakura, who do we think she is the daughter of?