A/N: This piece is set at post-Adventure 02 and after Natsu e no Tobira (3rd Drama CD). There will be most likely to be background and references to those two pieces. If you do not know about Natsu e no Tobira, there is a fic around the site under "The Doorway to Summer" that has a fairy accurate translation to the CD Drama.

A/N (2): Do not be afraid to flame if something is seriously wrong or out of place, because I am certainly not perfect.

A/N (3): Normal text is actions, descriptions, etc. While Italics are thoughts and bold messages or Telepath voices.

Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Digimon. If I did, Tamers would have been a huge love-story between Takato and Ruki. Anyway, the disclaimer applies to all chapters in this fic.

Prologue: A Conclusion

Daisuke and Chibimon arrived back at home in their room. The trip to New York not only took an unexpected turn for them, but taxed their energy for the trips there and back as well. Flying down at his bed, Daisuke let out a sigh of relief, finally getting his much-needed rest.

"Ahhh... home at last" Daisuke said, smile forming on his face.

"Yeah... that trip was not pleasant... nor was our sightseeing..." Chibimon said, also flying down onto the bedside.

Almost getting into sleep, Daisuke and Chibimon's serene moment ends by a beeping sound on Daisuke's D-Terminal. Sitting up and opening the D-Terminal, Daisuke read the message.

Daisuke,

I need your help! The others are unavailable at the moment

and there seems to be some sort of strange occurrence at this

place of the DigiWorld. Please come with V-mon, we could use

some help.

-Takeru.

Daisuke sighed as he finished the message, Chibimon falling back down onto the bed facedown in response.

"Well, some summer this is..." Daisuke thought as he got up from his bed and got his D-3 ready while Chibimon still lay facedown on the bed. Being ready with his D-3, Daisuke grabbed Chibimon from the back of the head and ran out of his room.

"Daisuke! What are you doing?" Chibimon protested at picking up from his rest.

"Oh com'on! Takeru requested that we help him, and there is nobody else, so we have to go!" Daisuke said in response as he kicked open the door to Jun's room.

Thankfully for Daisuke, Jun was out at the moment so he could get access to his sister's computer with the Digiport. Opening the digiport, Daisuke and Chibimon travelled to the Digital World. Arriving at their place was a desert place area. Looking around their surroundings, Daisuke saw a black mass over the air from farther away to their right.

"Over there!" Daisuke pointed as he and V-mon rushed to the location.

Arriving at the location, Takeru turned around with Patamon with a grim look.

"What's going on here?" Daisuke asked, unknown to the cloud mass over the sky.

"That... seems to be some sort of evil covering over this place, and I have a bad feeling about this..." Takeru trailed off, almost feeling the darkness.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Daisuke said, rushing forward already.

"Alright... I was just afraid to go alone because I am not sure how dangerous it would be, I know I at least need somebody to help me" Takeru responded, catching up to Daisuke.

Daisuke turned around and let out a smiling face to Takeru. "Well, you picked the right person for this job!"

Takeru let out an evil grin, and then responded to Daisuke's statement. "Yeah, you were the last person available, that's why I called you."

"Hey!" Daisuke said in response as Takeru along with Patamon and V-mon laughed at the conversation.

Arriving at the centre, a dark figured emerged from the fog as Daisuke and Takeru with their partners looked in surprise.

The Digimon that came out had six legs along with the top part of the body looking like a human. Other features were that it was black colour all over as well as weak looking.

"Archnemon!" Said Daisuke and Takeru in unison as they looked at the spider Digimon barely standing.

"Ha... do you honestly think that I would be able to be defeated this easily?" Said the spider, rising and looking at the Chosen of Miracle and Hope.

"I thought she was dead, how come...?" Takeru questioned while Daisuke only looked onto the weakened Digimon with one single thought: Destory her.

"It doesn't matter, we'll beat her down!" Daisuke yelled, holding out his D-3 and Takeru followed.

V-mon and Patamon evolved into XV-mon and Angemon and jumped into battle. Archnemon shot out Acid Mist that halted XV-mon and Angemon in their advances and ran up to knock them to the sides. Getting up again, Angemon charged Heaven's Knuckle and shot towards the spider Digimon, knocking it back and XV-mon joined in with an X-Laser that further strike more pain to Archnemon. Archnemon got up and laughed despite the horrible condition or disadvantage situation.

"I may be weak... but you kids don't know what's coming for you..." Archnemon managed to say while raising her hands into the air, causing the dark mass to expand and release a wave of dark energy.

"What the... why is darkness pouring through? What's going on?" Takeru said, looking at the ugly sight of darkness expanding.

Archnemon laugh while releasing another wave of Acid Mist, gaining advantage over the adult form Digimon. Daisuke knew that the dark portal needed to be controlled, but Takeru was thinking differently to the situation.

"XV-mon! Go up and take care of whatever's making this mess!" Daisuke commanded and XV-mon lifts off from the ground to fly towards the cause of the portal.

"Daisuke wait!" Takeru called out, knowing that his power alone could not take on a perfect form enemy alone.

Angemon continued to fight with his rod while Archnemon gained the upper hand advantage. Takeru knew that it would not be possible to continue to evolve again into HolyAngemon since Qinglongmon's DigiCore had only lasted for a short while for that time. Angemon took heavy punches from Archnemon and fell down; adding onto the pain was Archnemon's legs stepping on the angel Digimon. Victory seemed definite for Archnemon when the portal above exploded in a blast of energy. Looking up, XV-mon returns with Daisuke running, the sky starting to return to normal.

"Impossible!" Archnemon said in surprise as Angemon strike her with Holy Rod and knocked her legs out of the way.

As Angemon stood up, Archnemon shouted in anger and delivered a hard punch to Angemon's chest, causing a great deal of pain as the angel flew back and reverted to Patamon.

"Patamon!" Takeru shouted, running to catch his Digimon.

XV-mon flew down at Archnemon and bit the spider with Strong Crunch that brought the spider down.

After taking down the spider, XV-mon and Daisuke stood beside Takeru with the unconscious Patamon.

"Takeru..." Daisuke said, looking down at the worried Chosen.

Takeru stood up with anger boiling inside him. "You! Why did you run off like that, you know we cannot take a perfect form by ourselves! Now Patamon might be dead!" Takeru said in anger.

"Hey, cool down, don't get so angry, we took her out and the portal... no telling what could come out of there..." Daisuke responded, not knowing what to say.

"No... You just don't get it... you never had your Digimon die in front of your face before, so how would you know?" Takeru responded angrily again, almost about to threaten Daisuke.

"Just calm down, I am sure..." Daisuke trailed when a fierce shout became clear to them.

Turning to the direction of the noise, Archnemon used her most deadly attack: Spider Thread. The attacked came in the form of a spear strike and came straight at Patamon; Takeru's eyes widen, but could not reach Patamon in time.

The impact sound echoed throughout the desert area, and when Takeru and Daisuke looked to the sight of attack, they saw XV-mon having the Thread through him.

"You just don't know when to give up huh?" XV-mon said, releasing an X-Laser that shot straight towards Archnemon and blasted the viral-spider into data while falling down and reverting to V-mon.

"V-mon!" Daisuke yelled as he picked up the mortally wounded V-mon in his hands.

V-mon slowly opened his eyes and smiled at Daisuke. "Daisuke... I am sorry it looks like I won't be able to go on..."

"V-mon! Don't say that... you've got to live... and the worst case you'll be reborn right?" Daisuke asked, concern showing over his face.

"Daisuke... I need to tell you something..." V-mon said, his voice weakening.

Daisuke leaned down with his head and V-mon whispered something to Daisuke that caused his eyes to widen. "V-mon..." Daisuke said, sadness filling his voice.

"Sorry..." V-mon said at last, taking one last breath and disappearing.

Silence filled the air as Takeru looked at the unmoving Daisuke looking at where V-mon died. Takeru no longer felt anger from before; instead, fear took the place of his anger. Fear of how his might have caused the event.

Finally, Daisuke broke the silence as he stood up and walked away from Takeru and Patamon. Takeru also stood up with Patamon in his arms and called out. "Daisuke..."

Slowing down a little, Daisuke raised his right hand and put it where his forehead is and pulled off his goggles, tossing them backwards where Takeru caught them. "Daisuke!" Takeru called in, with a tone of urgency in his voice.

Daisuke stopped walking away, but did not turn to face Takeru. Another brief moment silence filled the air before Daisuke spoke. "You're right... I really don't know... my bad, I am sorry..." Daisuke said, continuing to walk away in a faster pace.

Takeru could not muster any words to say as Daisuke walked away, taking off his yellow rubber gloves, tossing them to the side, and exploding into data. Next, Daisuke took off his flame jacket and tossed it in the air, it exploded into data before even reaching the ground. At this point, Patamon started to stir in Takeru's arms and Takeru looked down at his partner.

"Takeru... are you ok?" Patamon asked.

Takeru felt a sharp pain in his heart as Patamon asked the question, knowing that he himself was far from ok.

"Yeah, I am fine..." Takeru managed to say.

"Alright then, is it safe now? Where is Daisuke and V-mon?" Patamon asked.

"Yeah, it's safe now... let's go home..." Takeru responded, ignoring the second question and avoiding eye contact with his partner.

Back at Odaiba in Daisuke's room, Daisuke lay down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He had not eaten much or said much to his family since he came back from the Digi World, and refused to come out of his room.

Daisuke reflected on what V-mon said to him as V-mon disappeared.

I am an Ancient Digimon, and because of that I won't be reborn because V-mon of my kind no longer exists... besides, the attack destroyed my core data... V-mon's words rang in Daisuke's mind as he threw a fist down on the bed.

V-mon... Daisuke thought as feelings of emptiness in his heart chewed on his body, causing a wave of pain. It became clear to him that his role as a Chosen Child is over with V-mon's death. Closing his eyes, Daisuke tried not to think of V-mon, or the day's events. His D-Terminal beeped, and he picked it up and opened the message, if it was Takeru, he would delete it immediately, if it was anybody else trying to comfort him, he would delete it. To his surprise, the message was from Mimi, and the message was not anything about V-mon or the event.

Daisuke,

Something very strange has happened, just a few hours ago, when

Nat-chan's Digitama laid there on my desk, it started to shake. I

thought the egg was hatching and watched it, but suddenly, the egg

glowed a dark blue aura around it and it disappeared! I don't know

how, but it vanished into thin air! Do you know what could be the

cause of this?

-Mimi

Interesting... but... I don't think this might be of a concern to me at the moment... Daisuke thought as he closed the D-Terminal and tossed it on his desk. Lying down and closing his eyes again, Daisuke tried to sleep.Whatever... might as well not think about Digimon...

Daisuke's journey to sleep stops when a knocking sound came from his window. Sitting up again, Daisuke looked towards the window; the curtains blocked his vision from seeing who it was. Getting up, Daisuke walked towards the window, opening the curtains and opening the window.

A Small winged Digimon and a white cat Digimon came into his room, and Daisuke recognised the two figures.

"Patamon, Tailmon... what is it?" Daisuke asked, not knowing what the two Digimon would want with him.

"Umm, I just wanted to say that... I'm sorry about what happened to V-mon," Patamon said.

"Daisuke, we're all sorry about the loss, and Takeru also says he's sorry" Tailmon said in her assuring voice.

Silence grew as the two Digimon spoke, and Daisuke was thankful for the darkness of the night to hide his face, knowing that any Digimon related matter would pain him greatly as he thinks back to V-mon. Mustering up his strength, Daisuke replied. "It's fine..."

"Huh?" Patamon questioned at Daisuke's short response.

"It's not Takeru's fault I know... V-mon jumped into that attack for you Patamon. I don't hate Takeru... so tell him not to trouble himself. Also, since you two are here, I might as well give this to you..." Daisuke said, walking to his garbage can and reaching in to pick out two specific items. "Here, catch!" Daisuke said, throwing the two articles to Tailmon and Patamon.

Patamon flew in and caught the black long shaped object with yellow pointing out, the Digimental of Friendship.

Tailmon caught the egg shaped object with a small blade pointing outwards, the Digimental of Courage.

"Daisuke... we can't take these! They are yours!" Tailmon protested.

"And why can't you? They flew out of my D-Terminal shortly after arriving home. I believe I might not be able to use them..." Daisuke said, and then letting out a sigh before continuing. "Anyway, Patamon, don't think you or Takeru is at fault for this accident. I have nothing against you guys, now if you will just let me be for now..." Daisuke trailed off.

Seeing no other purpose to stay and that Daisuke was sure of being grudgeless, Patamon and Tailmon left the room with the Digimental, leaving Daisuke to his much-needed peace.

Daisuke banged his head lightly against the wall, snapping his eyes shut, and tears falling out on his face. These were tears with mixture of sadness and relief. Sad because of such a great loss, but relief at the same time for leaving the past behind himself. Daisuke let out a small laugh as the relief overthrew the sadness emotion.

Falling down onto his bed, Daisuke closed his eyes once again and covered them with his forearm. Might as well sleep from this and then wake up fresh... Daisuke thought as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

A feeling of coldness washed over Daisuke as he slowly woke up from his slumber. Sitting up, he noticed his current location was not his room. He was sleeping on harder surface. Standing up and looking around, Daisuke could not believe his surroundings. What is this? Daisuke thought as the environment unfolded to him.