Takes place three years after the events of 02. The Frontier kids will be slightly older than they are in canon, more like teenagers. For those of you wondering what's going on with Hope In Tamers, it's not discontinued or anything, I've been really busy with college lately and been in a Digimon mood. So I thought, why not just work on ideas I have, and get to them when I have the time.

oOo

It is the distinct screeching sound that draws Joe from his deep sleep, like a fish on a hook it reels him up at a frightening speed from the abyssal realm of black dreams until he breaches the surface and jolts forward in his bed, heart racing and mind instantly awake, running a million miles an hours as it tries to sort out the fact that the sun has yet to sneak out from the horizon, the sky outside of his window black and starless from light pollution. His hands reach towards his alarm clock before he realizes that it is silent, simply displaying the time as 2:00 am. The screeching sound continues. With clumsy tired hands that are still trying to shake off the paralysis of sleep he pries open his desk drawer.

His digivice. It's screen is lit up in a blinding white light that illuminates his room, dragging shadows out impossibly long making them look almost elastic, stretched black sheets of elastic making figures on his wall. The loud screech was unending and Joe's fingers felt around the device, tripped over the buttons until at last it stopped and the light died down to a soft warm glow. The fuzzy shape of a symbol was on the front and Joe reached over and snagged his glasses from his nightstand, putting them on and squinting as the symbol came into focus. It was nothing recognizable, but the fact that it was on his digivice meant that it was important, regardless of the meaning it currently held to him.

"Go to the train station." A voice rang out, and a thrill went up Joe's spine, a spark of warmth filling him. He hurriedly changed out of his pajama's putting on casual clothes and shoes fit for walking, even as his digivice continued to repeat the instruction every few minutes. If his digivice was alive, and giving him instructions, it had to mean that something was going on in the digital world. Or with the Digimon. It meant that finally, after three years of silence, he would get the chance to see Gomamon again. As he stuffed some supplies into his backpack - at least enough for the twelve of them for a little bit, he had to hope the others were as forward thinking - his phone rang. Joe flipped it open and put it up to his ear as he slung his backpack over his shoulders and surged forward, out of his families' apartment and onto the street outside, leaving a lone note on the refrigerator explaining why he was gone assuming he hadn't returned by the morning.

"Hello." Joe said, his feet already taking him the direction of the station.

"Thank goodness - I got Joe!" The voice of Izzy rang back through the phone.

"Izzy, are you with everyone else?" He asked. It was hard to simply walk, and he found himself at an awkward place between walking and running, like at any moment he'd finally give into temptation and take off. He might, the night was still young.

"No, right now it me, Tai, Sora, and Ken." Izzy replied, sounding vaguely out of breath. "TK, Kari, Yolei, and Cody are together. Davis and Matt have also met up." Izzy reported. "No one's gotten in touch with Mimi yet. She's in America though, so her situation might be different." He said thoughtfully, and Joe recognized the sound of Izzy being on the precipice of a chasm full of thoughts and theories. Through the phone he faintly caught the sounds of Tai saying something to the resident computer geek. "Regardless, let me give you the information of where we're meeting up." An address was rattled off and Joe changed his direction, feet immediately knowing where to go. It was near the old apartment buildings they had all grown up in, that fateful night that had changed their lives, and he knew the way well.

"Joe!" He didn't stop his forward momentum, simply slowed down slightly as Davis and Matt crossed the street to join him, all of them running. "You got the memo too?" Davis asked, holding up his digivice just in time for it to repeat 'Go to the train station' in that ethereal feminine voice. Joe gave a jerky nod, voice coming in and out in gasps. They had started running at some point, he couldn't recall when, just that it had happened, their feet hitting the pavement as it marching to a rhythm that only they could hear or feel. The streets were deathly quiet and empty, adding to the unrealistic feeling that the evening (morning?) had.

With exhausted breaths and screaming lungs they came to a stop among the other digidestined, who all seemed significantly much fresher. Many of them wore backpacks similar to Joe's, almost all of the original crew, and everyone seemed to have had the sense to get properly dressed despite the seeming urgency of the call they had each received. Joe wondered how long they had been standing here waiting for them, but he was relieved that they had as his eyes scanned the area.

"The train station…" Matt said in disbelief, voicing the exact thoughts of Joe. Usually the train station was a walk on walk off platform, but somehow it had transformed into something more similar to a metro station or subway tunnels, the digidestined currently standing in front of the mouth of of the station, with stairs leading down.

"Is that new?" Davis asked, peeking over the edge. The other's gave firm shakes of their heads.

"I've never seen it before - I take this station fairly often." TK inserted, and Matt gave a nod. Oh, of course they both probably used this train fairly often in order to visit each other. Joe had to wonder how far Matt had to go in order to meet up with Davis and him. The trains weren't running this late at night. Well, except for theirs it seemed.

"Now that we're all here - we are all here, right?" Tai looked around hasilty, counting them off several times, his eyebrows scrunching together. "I'm getting eleven, who're we missing."

"Mimi, remember?" Yolei said, and from that tone of voice Joe wondered how much frantic counting Tai had been doing to try and make they were all here before taking the next step on whatever journey it was that awaited them.

"Then I guess… it's time to go." Tai said, and Joe noticed how his hand slipped onto Kari's shoulder protectively, his other clenched so tight around his digivice that his knuckles were white.

The undertones of excitement and fear only grew as the digidestined descended into the darkness of the station, and voices were quiet, on edge and fearful. Cody had at some point appeared next to him - the oldest and the youngest digidestined side by side. His small hand crept into Joe's, purposefully not looking in his face, keeping his eyes trained forward and Joe let his own hand closed around Cody's giving it a comforting squeeze. If this was what it appeared to be, they digital world was in danger again. It would be the first time that the second group of digidestined were called back to the digital world. He could remember having to go back after defeating Vamdemon, and the way that it made his stomach clench, knowing that they were facing down something difficult and uncertain. But they were together, and that's what mattered. Cody, so knowledgeable and reliable, would be okay. And if this ended up being an extended stay, well, at least it was summer vacation.

"I would have thought that it would look newer." Ken commented from somewhere in the group. Joe tried to use his height to his advantage and find the kid through the huddle. Now that Ken brought it up, the stairs were already scuffed looking, and there was gum stuck to some, the handrail along the side of the stairs filthy and worn down.

"How strange…" Sora commented, a hand brushing down the side thoughtfully.

The stairwell ended in a wide open, circular platform area with several long lengths of platforms leading out to the side of the ten trains that sat at the station. Joe looked around the space with wide eyes. Light came from somewhere up above but he could discern no light source, and the area behind the trains seemed to go on forever in darkness, as if they led to nothing.

"Please get on a train." The voice rang through all of the digivices in unison, creating an unearthly and chilling effect. Davis let out a frustrated sound.

"Which train, there's like a billion of them."

"Ten, Davis, there's ten." Yolei corrected with an eye roll. Izzy already had a hand on his chin, thoughtfully looking up and down the trains. They were each a different color and style, which would seem to indicated that there was a difference in their destination, if Joe had to guess. Just as He was about to add his own two cents the sound of footsteps came from behind, and the group all jerked around at the noise, years of paranoia and battles making them all a little jittery.

Down the steps came a familiar cowboy booted girl, wearing jeans and a red, tassled leather jacket, signature pink hat atop her head. Mimi stopped before she even reached the bottom of the stairs, staring at the group of digidestined in stunned surprise even as her digivice, held in her hand, politely asked her to choose a train.

"Mimi!" Cody broke the silence, voice still a signature neutral but with surprised undertones. "I thought you were in New York."

"I am." Mimi replied, and glanced behind her back up the stairs. "Or… I was." She said, letting her voice drop off in awe. Through the corner of his eye he saw Sora rush forward, and with the reverie and surprise shattered the rest of the digidestined followed suit, enveloping Mimi in a collective group hug. Words of enthusiasm and thankfulness flowed out of mouths, becoming a mottled and unintelligible thing. Joe could feel a sense of 'rightness' and calm come over him as at last their group was whole.

He understood and supported Mimi living in America, but things just never felt quite right when they were too spread out, and without the digiports being able to gather all in one place on either side of the globe was simply an expensive affair. Judging from the faces and words of the others, they felt the same, and with Mimi here, the tenseness of the situation seemed to melt away slightly.

"So, we have to choose a train?" She asked as she looked around the platform.

"There's so many ways to split it." Izzy said thoughtfully, pulling out a notebook from his backpack and beginning to write down everyone's names, and Joe could swear he could see straight through Izzy's eyes to the wheels turning in his head. "We could separate it by DNA partners… but not everyone has a DNA partner. Crest bearers could go with the younger digidestined who share their same crests… Technically we can each take one and I suppose Matt and TK could go together, same for Kari and Tai."

"You're overthinking this." Sora said, coming forward. "The digital world wouldn't call us here if there was a 'wrong' choice, and why would they call us all here together if they didn't want all of us? I say we all get on one train. We're a team, we go together." She said the worlds confidently with a sense of finality to them, and Joe found himself nodding along. The idea of going alone terrified him, and while the crests might have made a good plan, what would they do with Ken? And putting the people with similar or compatible crests together wouldn't get much in the way of a variety of inputs and ideas. There were eight crests for a reason. Twelve digidestined for a reason.

Looking up he could see the rest of the group nodding along to the line of reasoning, Izzy looked panicked for a moment, as if the thought of leaving the other trains unsolved would split his brain. But he closed his eyes, took a few measured breaths, and opened them again only when they shone with resolve and peace. Joe looked at the other digidestined fondly, as if seeing him for the first time in a while, mature and growing. Able to deal with his anxiety already better than Joe.

"So which one are we picking then?" Kari asked, looking at the various trains. Matt scoffed.

"The blue one." He said.

"The orange one." Tai countered, and instantly playful competition rose between the two, lighthearted bickering between the two and they weighed the pro's and cons of each train.

Joe began to walk around the platform, walking to look in through the windows of the different trains. Even the insides were different and distinct, with different patterns and styles of seats.

"What's wrong?" Mimi asked, coming up next to him, easily reading the disappointment on his face.

"I don't know, I guess I kind of was hoping that our digimon would be waiting for us in one of them." He admitted, adjusting the straps of his backpack. Mimi sighed and nodded her head in understanding.

"I understand. Even though it's been years, most mornings I still look down for Palmon's advice on my outfit for the day, before remembering that she's gone." Mimi's hand inched out and curled around Joe's numb fingers and gave a gentle squeeze before parting again. "But we're going to them." She held up her digivice, even as it relayed the same message again. "We're close."

"We've decided!" Tai yelled, his voice calling Joe, Mimi, and the other digidestined that had meandered off back to the rest of the group. Next to him Izzy was nodding his head solemnly and while Tai wore a small frown, so did Matt. So neither of them had won. "We're going on the pink train."

"The least interesting one." Matt grumbled. Kari and Ken both looked very proud of themselves, the two digidestined with pink crests. Of course. A smile tugged at Joe's lips.

First the younger digidestines boarded, and then the senior group after them, Tai going last and counting everyone as they went on, careful not to have someone wander off and get left behind. The interior of the pink train was warm, with wooden floors and seats carved with flowers. Nice light blue cushions were on each seat, and the with a glance Joe could see that there were several other train cars in front of them, providing them with plenty of room to spread out.

As Tai boarded the clothes automatically closed behind him and the light died from each digivice. Seeming to come from somewhere above them, the same female voice rang out.

"The trip may take some time, a long journey is ahead of it. Thank you, digidestines, for answering the call." Cody, Yolei, and Matt were standing on the back of the train, watching as it drew away from the station, entering the darkness that lay before them. Nervously, Joe pushed the buttons of the digivice. It was as dead as ever, gave no readouts of Gomamon. He frowned but didn't despair. He repeated Mimi's words to himself. They were so close.

oOo

Somewhere, deep in the digital world, a small group of teens get a message, an ethereal feminine voice, the same that drew them here in the first place.

Help, it assures, is coming.

oOo

I hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading!