During their separation, while Takato, Henry and Terriemron had managed to escape the seemingly endless fall into light, the three found themselves in a new predicament.

Unsure how long it had been, Takato gave a small groan as he awoke, feeling a little lightheaded after all he had been through.

"What happened?" He questioned, only to find more confusion rising as bubbles left his mouth as he spoke.

And after getting a clearer view of his surroundings, seeing that he, Henry and Terriermon were underwater, the brunette began to freak out, before quickly covering his mouth and rushing/swimming upward, desperate for air.

'Just a little further, just a little further!' Takato thought, trying to remain calm as he continued to head for the surface. 'Oh, why does just a little further have to be so far way?'

After reaching the top of the water, Takato exhaled greatly, feeling his heart throbbing at what he just experienced.

"That was too close." He commented, trying to calm down after nearly drowning, before noticing two things, the first of which was that here was nothing but cavern wall blocking him from proceeding further.

The second was Henry and Terriermon were no where to be seen, leading him to guess they were still under the water and filling Takato with a sudden panic.

"Henry! Terriermon! Where are you Can you guys hear me?" He called, shoving his hands back in the water as he frantically felt around for any sign of Henry or Terriermon.

But after seeing the pair then surface, Takato gave a relieved sigh.

"You guys had me really worried." Takato confessed, before saying with some seriousness. "Don't do that again."

"Momentai. There's no need to worry, we're fine." Terriermon said in reply, keeping a more relaxed mood despite their situation, feelings Henry seemed to share.

"Terriermon's right." Henry then said, swimming closer to Takato, kneeling a little as he told him. "Feel my hair."

Confused by the request, but doing so, Takato found a further confusion as he pointed out. "It's dry."

"Exactly. Before you woke up, I noticed that your clothing was dry despite being underwater, which interested me and gave me a conclusion. Even though we are in water, if we focus and believe, we can actually change the very code of the water and think it is breathable." Henry told Takato, surprising the brunette at what Henry had just told him.

"So just relax and dive (back/on) in." Terriermon then said, before submerging, followed by Henry, leaving Takato with some uncertainty.

But trusting his friends and seeing there was no other way out, Takato set his goggles down, gave a deep breath as he too dove down, returning to the waters, where he saw Henry and Terriermon both waiting for him.

"It's alright, Takato. Just breathe." Henry said with a comforting and trusting voice, sensing and seeing the doubt within Takato, who was still having some trouble accepting the information.

'Ok... Just relax...' Takato thought, closing his eyes, slowing down his breathing and leaving him to think. 'If I can believe it it won't affect me.'

While it was a little hard to wrap his head around the logic at first, finding himself continuing to relax and focus his thoughts, Takato not only found himself no longer in concern of drowning, but found the sights of the Digital World underwater quite beautiful.

As the trio continued to swim, making their way through the water and with no more hesitations, from his perception, Takato noticed a long rusted pipe in the distance.

"Check it out, guys." He said, swimming over to the pipe, looking inside and asking. "Where do you think it leads?"

"Anywhere is better than here." Henry pointed out at the lack of options to pathways, before swimming within the pipe, accompanied by Terriermon and followed by Takato, finding that after a moderate path, the surroundings of the pipe changed from the metallic cylinder they were (encased within/that circled around them) and to a clear (glass-like/bubble-like/any ideas) tube, amazing the three at the sights, finding tons of similar pipes running through the area and connected to one giant sphere.

Overcoming from his awe, Takato commented. "It's like a world of water slides.

"What's up with this place?" He then had to ask.

"Perhaps each pipe connects to area of the Digital World." Henry (guessed/suggested/thorized) as he too found the sights of amazement, which continued to grow as a small (collection/collective) of glowing creatures approached them.

"What are they, some kind of Digimon?" Takato asked, stretching his hand out to touch one, but found it moving back, giggling alongside the others as they waved their hands around and swam around the tube.

"Whatever they are, I think they want us to follow them." Henry said in reply, guessing from their behaviour, seeing the small creatures stopping whenever he, Terriermon or Takato would stay in one spot too long.

Continuing to make their way down the tube, guided by the giggling creatures, the trio found themselves amazed once they (swam/were lead) to a gigantic bubble within the core of the area.

Amazed, Takato said. "Well it looks like this one pipe connects to that big bubble."

"Maybe it's an underwater city." Henry thought aloud, looking around and at the various glass-like pathways as he added. "Perhaps one of these could connect us to the Real World."

"Before we go back, we still need to find Guilmon, Rika and the others." Takato pointed out in reply, refusing to take a single foot back in the Real World, not until he knew (his partner, the girl he loved and those he cherished in his heart were by his side.

With so many tubes around, there were so many choices to make, but finding the glowing creatures continuing to surround them, Takato, Henry and Terriermon followed and were lead to a large building that lay in the heart of the giant bubble, looking like a library of sorts.

(Pushing the doors open/Finding the doors opening for them), Takato, Henry and Terriermon made their way within the building, finding the atmosphere around them changed, where the three slowly landed to their feet, no longer circled to the effects of the water, before looking around and seeing that amongst the countless rows of shelved books and the Candlemon-like statues, there were lights illuminating the area.

"Someone must live here, the electricity's running." Takato said as he pointed out, his words agreed by Henry, who also looked around the area and remarked. "And someone must've read all these books."

Knowing they were onto something, maybe even having the chance to reunite with the other Tamers, Takato, Henry and Terriermon headed deeper within the library, passing row after row, bookshelf after bookshelf.

"Man, this is like a a studying nightmare. You couldn't get through all these books if you read for a hundred years." Takato commented as he looked amongst the books, unable to tell what the subjects ranged from, but from the width of each, they were quite long.

"Two hundred for you." Terriermon then said in reply.

"Yeah." Takato replied, before letting out a defensive 'Hey!' at the realization Terriermon was teasing him.

But ignoring it, Takato, Henry and Terriermon then came across another set of doors, disguised as a pair of bookshelves, which, after the doors slid open, the trio were astonished at the sight, finding the area set up like a university study hall, noting the giant D-Power floating within the centre.

Breaking the silence, Takato had to ask. "Is that a giant Digivice or is it just me?"

Before he could ask more questions or get a reply however, the group then saw what looked like a man, past the giant Digivice and resting their head (on the/a) desk, seemingly resting, only the black cap they were wearing was concealing his identity.

"It looks like he's asleep." Henry commented, causing Takato to say in reply. "Yeah, and it looks like he's transparent, too."

Taking in the form of the being, seeing that they could almost see through him, it left the Tamers curious as to who exactly this person was, let alone if they were human or not.

"Excuse me, sir?" Henry spoke up, before asking. "Are you awake?"

Groaning a little to Henry's voice, the figure turned their head up, allowing Takato, Henry and Terriermon to see the face of the figure, seeing they had a brown beard

"Hello...? Oh, it's been a while since I've seen anyone solid." The being let out as they looked upon Takato and Henry, taking some curiousness in the Tamers, where he then asked. "What do you want?"

Having questions of his own, Henry asked back. "Who are you? Are you human or some kind of Digimon?"

"My name is Mizuno, and as to being human... well, the answer is yes. At least i used to be." Mizuno said in reply as he took off his cap, to look at them with a strained and tired face.

Finding more questions coming to mind, Henry then asked. "May I ask you something, how did you wind up here?"

"I could ask the same with the three of you." Mizuno pointed in reply, before adding. "But why ask meaningless questions?"

"I already know who you are and why you're here because I created you." He added, which caused Takato to point out in reply. "You didn't create us."

"Are you sure? Maybe you're just dreaming of what you want to become, and when we awake we can begin our evolution." Mizuno said in a calm, almost tired reply, puzzling Terriermon, who had to say. "Geez. Even my dreams make more sense than this."

Drawing his D-Power and looking upon it and the one above them, Takato asked. "Hey, how come our Digivices look like that big thing you have hanging to the ceiling?"

"They're arcs for transporting data." Mizuno replied.

"Wait, I heard my dad say something like that." Henry thought aloud, before questioning. "You aren't one of his old friends, are you?"

"His name is Janyu Wong, and I'm his son, Henry." Henry went on to say, which brought a smile to Mizuno's face at the mentioned name, leaving him in a nostalgic state as he pondered. "Ah, I remember your father all too well, he was one of the programmers who helped with the Monster Makers Program, and a good friend. It's nice to meet his son. I know I said my name is Mizuno, but your father used to call me Shibumi."

Finding Mizuno's attitude more welcoming, Takato and Terriermon introduced themselves, with the Rookie Level Digimon climbing aboard Henry's shoulders and saying proudly. "I'm Terriermon."

"And I'm Takato." Takato followed up, before looking back upon the giant Digivice and asking. "Hey, do you think you could help us to find our friends and get us back home?"

"I could try, but I can't promise you anything. One of the functions of the arcs is to store and move data." Mizuno said in reply, just as several of the light creatures from before returned, handing him a book.

Curious, Takato asked. "So what are those giggling guys anyway?"

"They're digital gnomes." Mizuno said in reply, looking at the small creatures with a light smile, where he added. "I call them DigiGnomes."

"Are they some kind of Digimon?" Henry asked, which made Mizuno shake his head and say in reply. "No. They're another form of artificial intelligence that evolved on their own. It just seemed logical to call them DigiGnomes, at least to me."

Unsure how to respond to Mizuno's reply, Takato and Henry were a little surprised as the DigiGnomes approached them, giggling as they handed both Tamers a familiar item.

"Hey, it's a Blue Card." Takato let out with an understandable surprise.

"It might look like a Card to you, but it's really an algorithm, a formula." Mizuno said back, piquing Henry's interest, where he then asked. "A formula? So how exactly does it work?"

Giving a small sigh ashe thought about the past, Mizuno then gave his answer as he told the Tamers. "I'm sure your father and the others forgot about it when the project ended but I wanted to complete our work, so I created an algorithm that would allow Digimon to evolve on their own, beyond what we humans could imagine for them. I originally wrote the algorithm to prove Digimon were not just toys, that they were a true lifeform that could grow on their own, but I gather the Blue Cards have a different meaning for the two of you."

Now curious himself, Mizuno asked his own question. "So how do you use the algorithm I wrote."

"Well I don't know about the algorithm part, but we use the Blue Cards to become Digimon Tamers." Takato said with pride, before explaining. "As Digimon Tamers, me and my friends fight with our Digimon to stop wild Digimon from attacking the Real World."

"But due to unforeseen circumstances, we were separated from our other friends." Henry added, expressing a small downcast voice, knowing that as much as he missed the others, Takato was missing Guilmon and Rika more and more.

"I apologize for your loss." Mizuno said, expressing empathy for the bonds Takato, Henry and Terriermon shared amongst their missing friends, before commenting. "But it seems the Blue Card is being used for a way I never imagined, to bring humans and Digimon together."

"And if your friends are as tough as you three, I am certain they can face any troubles that cross their paths." He added with a sincerity and trust, emotions that the DigiGnones seemed to share as they played around the area, with two giving light giggles as they borrowed Takato's D-Power.

"What are they doing?" Takato asked as the DigiGnomes handed back his D-Power, watching as the screen shone briefly, before projecting an all too familiar (image/drawing), the sight surprising the trio, with Takato letting out as he stared upon the image. "Hey, that's my (first) drawing of Guilmon."

"It seems the DigiGnomes used packets of data to create him when you dreamed him up, probably an attempt to communicate with you or maybe Guilmon was created especially for you." Mizuno theorized as he too looked upon the drawing of Guilmon, watching as it changed from a mere picture, to the mainframe layout of the Hazard Digimon, before turning to a three dimensional model.

"However, you must be careful with Guilmon. That mark on his chest is much more than you know. It is a dark power, a corruption that infected some of my earlier work and evolved alongside the Digimon, making the two forces into one." Mizuno told the Tamers, his words concerning Takato, while Henry and Terriermon nodded.

"We know a little about that power. We call it the Digital Hazard, and we have seen how it makes Guilmon flip out." Terriermon said, shuddering a little at the memory.

"But fortunately for us, our friend has a Digimon who has been training Guilmon to control that power." Henry added, causing Terriermon to keep his smile and add. "I hear that. Rika and Renamon are a power you don't want to mess with."

While the mention of Rika saddened Takato a little, confusion fell upon him when many of the DigiGnomes drew their attention around him, grabbing at the brunette's jacket and pulling him to the chalkboard.

"Now what are you guys up to?" Takato asked, finding the DigiGnomes grabbing at his jacket then let go, only to draw around his hand, bringing it up to the chalkboard and handing Takato a piece of white chalk, guiding his hand around, where two familiar images were then displayed.

"Amazing." Henry let out, now seeing the images of Rika and Renamon upon the chalkboard, and in great detail, which also astonished Takato.

"I didn't do this, I mean I did, but it was like the DigiGnomes were guiding me." Takato said, not wanting to take all the credit for the drawings.

"There is no need for modesty, Takato." Mizuno said with a smile, before informing. "The DigiGnomes picked up on your emotions and helped bring them out to help me get a better understanding of your friends, and It is my belief Renamon was destined to be Rika's partner, not only so she could become stronger, but Renamon was also destined to bring balance to Guilmon, just as you have a balance in your group of friends."

Looking upon the image of Renamon, Mizuno smiled as he told Takato, Henry and Terriermon. "In a way, Renamon acts almost like anti-virus software for a computer, only instead of destroying unwanted data, she acts to purify the Digital Hazard inside of Guilmon."

"And while Renamon can help control the Digital Hazard, you have the key to unlock its true potential." He then added as he looked upon Takato with a confident smile.

From all Mizuno had told them, it was a lot to take in, to which Henry decided to change the subject, getting back to their other topic and asking. "So, do you know a way out of here and back to our friends and to get us back home?"

"Yes. If you reach the highest plane of the Digital World, you will be able to see all the areas of the Digital World below and locate your friends before you go back to the Real World ." Mizuno said in reply, causing Henry to ask. "Go up? Just how many levels are there to the Digital World?"

"There is one final level above this one, and it is home to the four most powerful and most evolved Digimon." Mizuno replied. "The Digimon Sovereigns."

"Sovereigns?" Takato questioned, feeling somewhat ill at ease and had to ask. "Wait, you mean there's four of them?"

"That is correct. The Sovereigns accell in their Digivolution. They want to grow stronger on order to resist something. It seems they are afraid of what is coming to them, believing they must grow stronger in order to overcome this problem."

"But what could they be scared of?" Henry questioned, with Takato having the same thought on his mind, but feared he already had an answer, thinking with worry. 'Could they be afraid of Guilmon, or what Guilmon could become?'

Though Takato, Henry and Terriermon had questions on their minds, the three found they were unable to ask any, finding a beam of light then emit from the giant D-Power and draw them up.

"That is all I can tell you." Mizuno said, slumping his head back on the desk and adding with a more tired voice. "The rest you must learn on your own."

"But what about you?" Takato questioned.

"Me. I must sleep." Mizuno said, sounding more and more tired, before drifting back to sleep, leaving Takato, Henry and Terriermon boarding within the D-Power, finding that within, there were no controls or ways to operate the device, but found that it then took off.

And while concerned as to what could happen in their future, looking below and taking in the changing scenery of the Digital World, Takato thought. 'Just hang on, guys, we're coming back.'