The digidestined looked at the glowing pool of liquid with awe and wonder. It would be a misnomer to call it water, because water didn't ripple without wind.

"This must be it," suggested Kari.

"We've checked everywhere else," said Cody. "This has to be it."

What's this? What's going on?

TK nodded. "Okay, then let's get it and get out of here," said the boy as he stepped up to the pool and looked down, expecting to see a muddy waterbed. "...I can't see the bottom."

"So what?" said Yolei. "It's just dirty water."

"In the digital world, it can be anything," said Ken warningly. TK nodded in affirmation.

"Well we have to check to see if the egg is inside don't we?" said Kari. "If we give up now, then we'll never see Gatomon again."

Is this a dream? It has to be...I'm nowhere in sight. I'd never miss a mission if I had a say in the matter.

"Who has to pick the egg up?" Ken asked.

Kari glanced down at her D-terminal. "Since Davis isn't here, I have to."

Why am I not there? What the heck is going on?

Cody, Ken, and Yolei stepped back while TK moved closer to the girl. "Okay Kari...be careful," said TK just before he touched her lips gently with his own. Kari accepted the kiss and added her own emotions to it.

Hmph...this has to be a nightmare. TJ and Kari aren't like that (thankfully)!

Eventually they broke the kiss. "I'll be waiting for you," said TK softly.

"I'll be with you soon," she answered just as quietly. TK finally joined the others, while Kari turned and knelt next to the strange shimmering pool. As the others watched intently, Kari extended her hand ever so slowly towards the opaque liquid.

...This is weird. What are they doing? What eggs are they looking for?

The instant Kari touched the liquid, she cried out in pain. A horrible, disgusting noise of flesh being burned filled the air, and Kari seemed to be the source. Or rather...her hand seemed to be the source.

"It's acid!" cried Ken as the kids all ran forward to try and aid her.

"Help me!!" she cried just as she was seemingly pulled into the fluid. TK and the others gasped in total shock at the sight. TK was about to jump in, but Ken and Yolei held him back as best they could.

"Kari!!" he cried.

Kari!!

The girl's hand poked up one last instant, though most of it was burned and melted beyond recognition. Soon, her hand once again sank down into the murky acid, disappearing with one last bubble of air from what was left of her lungs.

NOOO!!!!

****

"NO!!!" cried the young man. Davis jerked awake, dripping in sweat and breathing heavily. He looked left and right, shouting Kari's name pleadingly. Slowly, he began to realize where he was, though that didn't take away the pain he felt. He clenched his knees to his chest and slowly wept into his knees at the horribly vivid nightmare.

"Davis?!" cried Jun as she came running into his room, dressed in her nightie and covered in the standard facemask she wore every night. She quickly ran over to her little brother's bed and put a hand around the shaking boy's shoulders. Davis didn't seem to notice. Instead he just continued to weep and tremble, while Jun comforted him.

"Shh..." she whispered. "It's okay...you just had a nightmare."

Davis looked up at her through teary eyes. Slowly, a smile formed on his lips. "What are you doing here?"

Jun realized what he meant. She definitely wasn't prone to acts of sisterly love nowadays, since all they did was fight. Slowly, she smiled back. "Old habits die hard. When you were little and had nightmares, I would come in and take care of you. Mom and Dad are such heavy sleepers."

"I didn't know you could actually be a nice sister," he said softly.

"It must be because it's two in the morning," she whispered back.

Davis laughed a little and wiped the tears from his face as he nodded in agreement. "Well...thanks sis."

"What happened?" she asked sympathetically. "You haven't woken up in the middle of the night like this in years."

Davis sighed sorrowfully. "...I dreamt that someone I loved was dying...dying horribly."

"How awful..."

Just the memory of the dream was enough to restart Davis' weeping, though this time it wasn't as strong. Davis lay his head on Jun's shoulder, and he cried a little more before finally falling asleep. Jun carefully lay him down on the bed once again, and whispered good night to him before returning to her room to get to sleep herself.

----------------------

Motomiya Residence

Later that morning...

----------------------

Davis swirled his spoon around in his bowl of Lucky Charms slowly and methodically. This had been going on for the past ten minutes at the table. His parents had already left for work (even though it was Saturday), so he and Jun were the only ones at home as usual. Jun was already leaving by the time she noticed Davis sitting at the table in just his boxers.

"Davis, hurry up unless you want your friends to see you like that," Jun said as she grabbed a poptart from a cupboard in the kitchen.

"Huh?" he responded after coming out of his trance.

"It's 7:30 right now. You still have to get dressed for the game."

"Yes 'mother'." Davis gave up on eating and dumped the cereal into the sink. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"The Teenage Wolves are playing down at the stadium today, so I have to take the bus down there in time to get in line. If I start now I should get there in time to get a good spot." Jun picked up her camera and stuck it in her bag, along with some film and some money.

"Are you going to throw your bra at Matt again?" Davis said with a laugh as he went to his room to get dressed.

"Hey, how do you know about that?!" bellowed Jun from the living room.

"TK told me how you pelted Matt in the face at the last concert," Davis yelled back from his room. "He says you'd be a great pitcher."

Jun whined and held her hands in her face. "I can't believe Matt knew it was me! I'm so embarrassed..."

Davis ran out in his standard soccer attire- a red shirt with a number 18 on the back, along with white shorts and red and black cleats. In addition though, he brought out his goggles, just because he felt better wearing them. They wouldn't let him wear them during the game (since they weren't prescription ^_^;), but that didn't matter. Besides, they were like his good luck charm.

"Okay, I'm ready!" he cheered. "See, unlike you, I don't take an hour to get dressed."

"Yeah, but you don't smell as good as I do," she said, plugging her nose as she walked out the door.

"Very funny!" he shouted as she shut the door behind her.

****

Davis heard a knock at the door, and quickly grabbed his stuff on the way there. He answered the door, and saw exactly who he expected...though it made him sad to do so.

"Hey Davis, you ready?" asked Kari. Davis looked at her face, and then without answering he took her hand and examined it closely. The others looked at each other wonderingly, though neither Kari nor anybody else stopped him.

"Davis, you okay?" asked Yolei.

Davis shook himself awake and let go of Kari's hand. "Uh...yeah. Sorry." The young man walked out the door quickly and shut it behind him. "Let's go," he said as he bounded down the stairwell. The others followed him at a slower pace.

"What was that all about?" asked TK.

Kari shrugged. "Don't ask me."

"He's Davis," said Cody simply. "Nobody understands Davis- not even his own family."

"I guess," said TK just as their D-terminals all beeped in unison. "Whoa!"

They all stopped to look at their messages. They read them calmly, though slowly their faces grew more and more shocked. By the time they finished reading them, they were all a bit surprised.

"Am I seeing things, or is this a message from Gennai?" asked TK.

Davis bounded back up the stairs to where they all stood. "What's going on?"

"There's a message from Gennai," repeated TK. "He says we're needed in the digital world immediately."

"Hold on, you mean the Gennai?" asked Yolei. "The one from when you guys were kids? I thought he was gone."

"I thought so too," said TK. "But it's definitely his style of messaging."

"You mean that dancing old guy in the corner of the message is normal?" said Davis.

"Yep, that's Gennai," said Kari. "He's always been a little weird."

"The message says that we have to go to the digital world right away," said Cody. "There's a gate coordinate on the bottom of the message."

"Then what are we waiting for?" said Yolei. "Let's go!"

"Right now?!" whined Davis. "I've got a soccer game against Ken's team! We have a bet going on who makes the most goals this game!"

"Davis, which is more important; a stupid bet or the digiworld?" said Yolei.

"But it's twenty bucks!"

"Let's go! We can use my computer," said Kari as they ran to the stairwell that led to her apartment. Davis eventually followed the rest of them, still whimpering. When he caught up with them, they were already inside at the Kamiya computer terminal. Kari was running through the house, telling Gatomon to wake up, resulting in a miniature squabble between the two. Eventually they joined the rest, who were busy opening the gate and warning their digimon at home to be prepared for pick-up.

"Digiport o-pen!"

****

(After each digimon was picked up...)

The digi-team exited from the TV in a flash...or rather, a heap. After sorting themselves out, they stood up and looked around the room curiously. They had arrived in a room the size of any typical living room, though this one was furnished with a much different decor than any living room the kids knew of. This room had a couch, two cushy chairs, and a table in the center with five or six flashlights on it. The walls were covered with pictures of very familiar people...

Cody walked over to one of them. "Hey...isn't this a picture of TK and Kari?"

"What?" TK and Kari walked over to where Cody stood, and looked up at the picture. Indeed, it was a picture of the two...although they were younger in the picture. In fact, it was a picture of them from three or four years ago. They were each sitting at a campfire, apparently talking about something. Whoever (or whatever) took the picture had apparently done so from a hidden spot outside the camp, judging from the angle of the photo.

Davis and Yolei walked up behind the other three and looked at the picture as well. "...Whoa. Creepy."

Yolei walked over to another picture nearby. "Here's a picture of me!" The others looked at that picture and saw a little Yolei, also eight years old. The picture looked like a school photo, judging from her less than flattering shot.

"Here's one of me!" said Davis, looking at what appeared to be an old soccer photo from several years ago. "Man, I look good..."

"Why are all these pictures of us here?" Kari said nervously.

"Here's some of Ken and I," said Cody calmly from the other side of the room. "Mine is from about three years ago too."

"So these are all old pictures," said TK. "Why would Gennai have us come here? What's going on?"

The TV glowed once again, and this time the final digidestined appeared, along with his little green digimon partner. Ken's eyes picked up everyone in the room before he was even fully materialized. He and Wormmon stepped into the room warily. "...What's going on?"

"Ken, you got the call to?" asked Yolei.

"Of course I did, but where are we?" Before anyone could answer, the digimon started to cry out in pain.

"Aaaahhgghh! Kari!" cried Gatomon as she doubled over in pain.

"Gatomon! What's wrong?!" answered the girl as she fell to her knees and clutched the digimon. The others did the same with their digimon, all of whom were engulfed in a searing pain.

"What's happening?!" cried Yolei as Hawkmon collapsed. "Guys, what's wrong?!"

"Wormmon!" yelled Ken just as the digimon depixelated right in his arms. The rest of the digimon did likewise almost at the same time, leaving each kid with a look of panic and unbridled fear.

"They...they vanished!" cried Yolei. "They..."

"No, not again!!" cried Ken. "Not!"

Digidestined...

Davis looked over at the TV they had entered through. "What the..."

Do not worry. Your digimon are safe...for the moment.

Ken ran over to the TV screen and grabbed it violently. "What did you do to them?! Where are they?!"

They are safe. If you want to see them again, you would do well to listen to me.

Davis stood up and clenched his fist angrily. "...Who are you," he said evenly.

Don't you recognize my voice? Oh wait, you haven't heard my voice before have you Davis?

"How do you know my name?!"

TK looked up in horror at the TV screen. "...Gennai? That's Gennai's voice!"

Correct. Greetings TK.

"Gennai is the one who just killed are digimon?!" yelled Davis.

I did not kill them. I just got through saying that didn't I?

"Then where are they?!"

...They are safe. If you complete the task I have for you, then they'll be returned to you. Otherwise...you'll never see them again.

"What?!"

TK stood up angrily. "You are not Gennai! Gennai wouldn't do anything like this!"

TK, you're going to have to trust me. I can't explain to you why I'm doing this, but for now you'll have to believe me when I say I'm doing this for your own good.

Kari looked at her empty arms, and slowly clenched them before her. "Poor Gatomon..."

TK looked back at the TV screen. After seeing Kari's current state, he was less than amused by this. "Whoever you are...you'd better explain yourself real quick and real well, before we find you and do something you'll regret."

Heh heh heh, that would be interesting. I never knew you had that kind of aggression in you TK. But even if you could find me, I don't think you could win against a trained warrior. Anyway, I still haven't explained what you're all here for.

Yolei helped Kari up, and eventually the whole team stood before the TV set to see a display of nine crests on the screen. Two for Davis, Cody, and Yolei, and one for TK, Kari, and Ken. Each of you are a digidestined, and have done your jobs for some time now...but unfortunately, you haven't quite lived up to the standards of those in charge of the whole thing.

"What do you mean?!" yelled Davis. "We defeated BlackWargreymon!"

Eh...not quite. Azulongmon, the Eastern Guardian, took care of him.

"We helped though!" retorted Davis. "We freed him from confinement!"

After losing five of the six Destiny Stones in the process.

Suddenly Davis didn't look so confident. "Well..."

My point is that the six of you may not be worthy to serve as Digidestined.

"What?!" they shouted.

I thought that'd get your attention. So, I'm here to find out just how skilled you are as chosen children. Assuming you follow my instructions correctly, precisely, and effectively, you'll show me what I want to know, and you'll free your digimon pals from returning to an eternity as digieggs.

Yolei was seconds away from smashing the TV. "You cruel piece of-"

Silence!!

"..."

That's better. Now, I assume you'll be accepting my proposal?

"Proposal..." repeated Davis, nearly spitting out the word. "Well Kari, this Gennai you've told us about is one big jerk."

"Arukenimon is nicer company," said Yolei, equally as distasteful. Cody stood by quietly, while Ken worked on calming himself after that relapse of Wormmon's death.

"I guess we have no choice," said TK in an angry whisper. "...What is it you want us to do 'Gennai'?...if that's who you really are."

Actually, it's not that simple. Each of you will be doing something for me, and only sometimes will you be working together. There are a few segments to this task, as it is fairly complex.

"Oh come on..."

At each successive completion of a segment, you will get one digiegg. Fair enough?

Davis looked at the others. They didn't answer vocally, but he could see their thoughts. "...Fine Gennai. Let's get this over with."

Good. As you may have guessed, there are six segments to this- one for each digimon. Each segment will have two or three simple yet trying instructions to complete. Once you satisfy my conditions in whatever way you see fit, I declare whether you have completed the given task or not. If you fail, that particular digimon will not be returned, and that digidestined will be stripped of their digivices. Understood?

"Geez, this sounds like a game show," said Yolei disapprovingly.

...Whether you think this is a game or not, the results of your decisions are real. Beware chosen children...your "final answer" won't necessarily be an easy one to make. You'll have to make choices that may decide the fates of your digimon...each other...or even your own lives. Are you prepared for such a responsibility?

The six digidestined looked at each other once again. They didn't have to think too hard to answer this question. Davis leaned towards the TV screen, and ominously whispered...

"Bring it on."

****

NEXT: The first task is given...