A/N: Welcome to the first chapter of Those Connected by Darkness. If you have read my earlier Digimon fic, then you know that this is written to replace that fic and thus is sort of a rewrite, but it will be majorly different. If this is your first time reading my Digimon Fics, here's a little summary for you.

The story is a sort of crossover between the the Tag-Tamers game and the Digimon Adventure 02 anime. The way it's set up is that prior to the events of the original Digimon Adventure, Davis got sucked into the Digital World when he was 7 years old, along with Ken and Ryo, and the three of them went on a quest to vanquish Milleniummon, similar to the Tag Tamers game. The way it all is tied together will be revealed as the fic progresses, so if you are willing to give it a read, you'll find out.

Di-di-di-disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Digimon franchise.

Chapter One: Cryptic warnings and secrets revealed!

Davis watched in horror as JewelBeemon fell out of the sky after having been struck by Milleniummon's Giga Cannon. The humanoid insect-digimon's body had been completely roasted by the blast and the usually light green armor had turned a burnt black, still smoking from the heat of the attack. Milleniummon moved to finish his handiwork, but was thankfully intercepted by UlforceVeedramon.

"JewelBeemon!" Ken cried out in despair and tried to run out from their hiding spot.

Before he could make it to his partner however, Davis grabbed him by the wrist and held him back. Ken rounded on him in a second and looked like he wanted to argue, but one look at his friend was enough to dissuade him. There was nothing either of them could do at this point and they knew it. By putting themselves in danger, they would only become a hindrance to their partners in the fight. And at this point, they absolutely couldn't afford any setbacks.

They turned their attention back front, where UlforceVeedramon and Justimon did their best to hold off the beserk Milleniummon from finishing off JewelBeemon, with limited success. The sheer size of the beast made it difficult to hold it back, and a single hit from its powerful cannon could be enough to finish either of them off. The mere fact that JewelBeemon hadn't reverted to his Rookie Form yet was impressive.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Justimon called to his companion, as he dove out of the sky to avoid being struck by one of Milleniummon's claws. "We're hardly doing any damage to this thing at all, and the longer the battle goes on, the more exhausted we will get!"

Just then, UlforceVeedramon dodged yet another "Giga Cannon" from Milleniummon without realizing that the blast hadn't been aimed at him in the first place. Both Davis and Ken screamed as they saw the large blast heading their way...

With a start, 12 year old Davis Motomiya sat up in his bed. He was breathing heavily and sweat was pouring down his body as if he had just run a marathon. Underneath his wet shirt that was clinging to his torso like a swimming suit, he could feel his racing heart beat forcefully, almost painfully, in his chest.

It took a few moments for him to collect himself enough to recognize his surroundings. He was in his room in the Motomiya Residence, not in the Desert Area of the Digital World. And the light that was currently blinding him came from a ray of morning light that managed to get past his closed curtains, not from Milleniummon's Giga Cannon attack. And he was 12 years old, he repeated to himself, not 7 years old. To think that it had already been almost 6 years since... those events.

Taking a deep breath, he swallowed down a large amount of oxygen and tried to calm his beating heart. He closed his eyes and clenched his fist around the edge of the bed covers. He had to calm down or he'd faint from hyperventilation.

"It was just a dream." he whispered to himself in attempt to calm down. "Just a dream, nothing more, nothing less."

Breathing in one last deep breath, he opened his eyes again and turned to check what time it was on his wake-up-clock that was located to his left on his bedside table. 05.30 in the morning. Groaning in despair, he lied back down and rested his head on the pillow, focusing his gaze on the ceiling. He could've slept for an entire hour longer if it hadn't been for that stupid nightmare.

Well, there was no way he was going back to sleep now so he might as well get up and start the day. Sighing to himself, he rolled out of bed and began digging through the pile of clothes on the floor by his wardrobe to see if any of it could be re-used. He stopped himself as he remembered what day today was. Summer vacation was over, which meant that he would be starting High School today, which in turn meant that he would be wearing that blasted school uniform.

He sighed as he turned around to find the familiar uniform hanging by the door to his room. His parents had been estatic when he had brought home the news that he had been moved up two years in his education due to his outstanding grades and intelligence. At the time, he hadn't been too thrilled by the prospect of being separated from Hikari, one of his best friends, and seeing the green jacket and white shirt hanging over by his door now made him almost wish he would've refused the offer so that he would've put off wearing that uniform for as long as possible.

'Well, no going back now.' he thought grimly as he grabbed the hanger and made his way to the bathroom, careful not to make any noise since he knew that his parents and Jun were still asleep.

Once he was inside, he slipped out of his pyjamas and turned on the shower at as high temperature as he could, without getting scalded. Hot showers usually helped his muscles relax after Soccer Practice so hopefully it would help him relax after his nightly torment.

Taking another deep breath and willing his muscles to try and relax, he stepped into the shower and felt the hot water cascading down on him. It filled him with a strange sense of peace. For a few moments he just stood there, relishing the feeling of the water massaging his stiff back.

Eventually, he decided that it was about time he start freshening up for the day, so he reached for the soap and picked it up. However, with the water still flowing down his arm, his hand became slippy and he lost his grip on it.

Then something shifted in the air.

Davis felt rather than saw, how time slowed down around him as if he was in a Blue Ray film and someone had just hit the "Pause"-button. The falling soap stopped in mid air and the water from the shower stopped cascading down on him.

For a moment, he just stood there frozen in place like the surrounding area, all of which had frozen in the same moment. Then, he tried moving his fingers, only to find that he himself wasn't frozen. He tried grabbing the soup out of thin air and though it stayed in his hand when he withdrew it, the surface of the object stayed frozen in time. What was going on here?

"Your worlds have been connected." a hoarse voice came from the other side of the draperies, making Davis jump in surprise and if time hadn't been frozen, he would've probably slipped on the slippery water on the floor.

Feeling his heartbeat rise, Davis slowly parted the drapery to find a humanoid figure at the far end of the bathroom, sitting with his arms crossed on the toilet seat as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The figure was dressed in an ominous cloak that was seemingly devoid of any distinguishing traits. Davis couldn't even catch a glimpse of his face due to the large hood that was pulled up over his head. If he hadn't looked so ridiculusly out of place, sitting casually on the toilet seat, Davis imagined the figure would've actually looked a bit more intimidating than he currently did.

When the figure felt Davis eyes on him, he (Davis assumed it was a he because of his build) turned around to face him, but despite that, Davis still couldn't get a good look on the stranger's face.

"Tied to the great darkness that threatens both worlds." the figure continued in his hoarse voice.

The sound of the stranger speaking again snapped Davis out of his shock at seeing a hooded stranger just magically appear in a room that was supposedly locked, and he suddenly became very aware of exactly where they were.

"Hey you!" Davis burst out and pulled the drapery higher up his body, feeling very vulnerable standing there with just a piece of plastic cloth covering him in front of a stranger. "Have you ever heard of privacy?!"

For a moment, the stranger didn't say anything. Then, he got up from his seat and dusted off some imaginary dust off te front of his cloak. Davis instinctively pulled the drapery closer around himself.

"You would do wisely to heed this warning, Davis. You're the only one who knows your enemy's true power."

Just like that, Davis forgot all about his so called privacy, as he felt his heart clench painfully in his chest and skip a beat. The words "your enemy's true power" echoed through his head. He had heard those words before, in a past he had been trying to forget... the past that had recently come back to haunt him in the form of nightmares, like the one that had woken him up just this morning!

"You cannot even begin to understand the extent of your enemy's true power. We do not know where he came from, or how he was created, but we do know that in terms of raw strength, he is unmatched in this world. You and your partners may be strong, children, but Milleniummon controls space and time itself. If you wish to save our world, and your own, you will need to match the power of a true god."

The temporary calmness he had managed to achieve while in the shower was gone as quick as it had come. Davis felt his heartbeat pick up as he remembered Lord Azulongmon's warning about the beast they were going up against, prior to their first confrontation with the monster in question. Milleniummon's power could tear continents in half and split even the sky into pieces. It was enough to make even one of the mighty sovreigns shake in their boots (or in that case, chains).

"What do you mean "my enemy's true power"? Milleniummon was destroyed 6 years ago! Veemon and I made sure of it!"

The mere thought of Milleniummon returning made Davis' throat go dry. That monster had been so close to ripping apart both worlds that even he couldn't make a joke about it. And even though they had managed to stop him, the damage had already been done. Time flow itself had been damaged by Milleniummon's Rampage and the gateway between the Human World and the Digital World had been severed. And truth to be told, Davis had hoped that the gateway would never open again.

"I've said what I came to say. Now, I shall take my leave."

With that, the stranger took a step backwards and was engulfed in digital code. Seeing that he was about to disappear again, Davis snapped out of his stupor and threw the drapery aside, reaching out with his hand towards the stranger that was slowly disappearing in front of him.

"Hey, wait! Tell me more! What's going on and what do I have to do?!"

Too late. By the time he had finished the sentence the stranger had already disappeared and the moment he did, time unfroze itself. The sound of the cascading water in the background returned and the strange thickness of the air disappeared.

However, Davis didn't move. He just stood there, frozen in place, the words the stranger had spoken to him ringing through his ears. 'Your world has been connected, tied to the great darkness that threatens both worlds.' What in the name of the sovreigns did that mean? Well, it wasn't that hard to discern what "worlds" he was talking about, given that Davis only knew of two worlds that it could apply to, but what did he mean "connected"? And what was this "great darkness" that his world had supposedly been tied to?

Davis felt like a cold hand had gripped at his heart. Did it have something to do with Milleniummon? The stranger had mentioned "your enemy", and aside from a few minor evil digimon he had come across during his journey, Milleniummon was the only one that fit that simple description and was definetely the only one strong enough to threaten both worlds. But if Milleniummon was back, then that would mean...

"Hey Davis, you in there?! Hurry up! I need to get ready for school!" his sister Jun's voice brought Davis out of his thoughts and made him jump in surprise again. This time however, time wasn't frozen and so the wet and slippery floor was... well slippery, causing Davis to lose his footing and fall on his butt.

Groaning at his bad luck, Davis cast an angry glare in the direction of the door. Why was Jun up this early? It couldn't have been more than... he froze as his gaze found the digital clock on the wall. He had been in here for 40 minutes already?!

"Just a few more minutes, I'll be done in a jiff!" he called through the door as he got to his feet and hurried back into the shower to finish cleaning himself up.

-:TCD:-

While Davis was getting ready for school and tried to explain to his sister why he spent over 40 minutes in the bathroom, a close friend of his was getting ready for the day, though her morning had went by smoothly, unlike Davis'. Hikari Kamiya stretched out on her bed covers and drew a deep, content breath as she relished the feeling of being done with her morning routines early. It was the first day of school and she didn't want to be late, but considering she had almost half an hour before she was supposed to walk out the door, she figured she could do with some relaxing.

As she took the time to relax a little and listened to the sounds of her brother desperately trying to find the stuff he needed for his first day back in High School, she thought about how excited she was for this upcoming year. There were lots of things that 5th graders were allowed to do that 4th graders weren't. They would have unrestricted access to the Computer Lab now which, while not something that excited Kari personally, definetely would make it easier to search for information for essays and pre-exam studies. Another thing that she would be allowed to do this year was to try out for the cheerleader team, as she would've turned 13 by the time of the tryouts.

Surprisingly, she looked forward to another year with the Photo Club. Originally, she had only joined the club on her brother's insistance that she take up some kind of hobby to keep her mind off of Gatomon and the others they had left behind in the Digital World. At first, she had been sceptic to what good joining a club could really do for her, but she had found that it actually did help a lot to have something else to think about.

Another thing she looked forward to this year was that TK, the only Digidestined who was close to her in age, had moved back to Odaiba and as such would be going to the same school as her. She really looked forward to sharing classes with him. Over the time they had spent in the Digital World, as well as the time they had spent together afterwards when they could meet up, the two of them had grown pretty close. It would be really nice to have him live closeby and she looked forward to introducing him to her friends.

Thinking of her friends however, that brought to mind the one thing that she didn't look forward to this year. Her arguably best friend, Davis Motomiya, would no longer be going to the same school as her. They hadn't been sharing classes for quite some time now since Davis had been moved up two years in his education, but they had still spent most of their breaks together and always took the time out to stop and greet each other when they passed by in the corridor.

Sighing, Kari sat up and shook her head. She couldn't think like that. It wasn't like their friendship would end just because they might not see each other on a daily basis, right? They had known each other since they were 5 years old, and if their friendship could survive 7 years of all kinds of friendly trials, then surely it could survive them not seeing each other as often as they used to!

With that thought in mind, she got up and grabbed her bag that was hanging from the end of her bed. Unlike her brother, she had made sure to pack everything the previous day, before she went to bed so she wouldn't have to run around like a necked chicken in the early morning hours looking for stuff that she needed. After making sure she hadn't forgotten her cellphone and that her camera was hanging securely around her neck, she swung the bag over her shoulder and left her room.

"Kari!" her brother was on her the moment she closed the door to her room behind her. "Have you seen my goggles anywhere? I could've sworn I hung them over the edge of my chair in the kitchen yesterday, but now they're not there!"

Stiffling another yawn, Kari had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. This wasn't the first time Tai's goggles had disappeared over the last week, and she was pretty sure of who the cuprit was even this time.

"I think mom is trying to hide them. You know that she thinks you're too old to wear those out in public anymore, right?"

Cursing loudly, her brother stomped off muttering curses about their mom, who had already left for work that morning. Kari cast a glance after him before making her way to the door and leaving for school.

-:TCD:-

Davis looked both ways before he crossed the street, schoolbag hanging loosely over his shoulders and hands in his pockets. While he walked, he mentally pondered what the stranger could've meant with his cryptic warning. It obviously had something to do with the Digital World, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what he had been trying to say. He had tried to call Ken and ask if he had received any similar warning, but for whatever reason all he got when he dialed Ken's number was static.

He was so engulfed in thought that he didn't even notice his best friend, Kari, waving to him from further up the street before she was right in front of him. By the time he noticed her and finally returned the greeting, a frown and spread across her pretty face. That more than anything snapped Davis back to reality. If he was so engrossed in his musings that he didn't even notice his best friend waving to him and calling his name, then he was really out of it.

"Oh, hi Kari! Sorry, guess I was kind of gone there for a second." he scratched the back of his head sheepishly and did his best to put on a smile.

Kari's frown just deepened at that.

"No kidding. Did something happen to you?" she paused for a second to take in the bags under his red eyes. "Did you have another nightmare?"

Davis just nodded in response. There was no use trying to deny it, even though that wasn't what had him spaced out. The two best friends fell into a step beside each other, with Kari studying the face of her friend with worry. It had been about 2 weeks ago now, that she had first noticed that Davis seemed to kind of... deflate, was probably the best way to describe it. He was usually a very cheerful and out-going person, but over the last two weeks he had grown distant and quiet. He kept more to himself, preferred to stay at home rather than go to the park and play soccer like he used to. Kari was starting to become seriously worried about him.

"Maybe you really should talk about it?" she began hesistantly, but Davis immediately broke her off.

"Kari, we've been over this. It's nothing to worry about. I'm probably just anxious to start High School two years earlier than I should have." he said firmly, the tone of his voice letting her known that he had no intention of discussing this further.

Silence fell over the pair as they came to a stop where Davis was supposed to break off in a new direction and go to High School, whereas Kari would have to walk the remaining distance to Middle School without him, for the first time since they had gotten enrolled.

"Well, I'll see you later then." she said, trying to ignore the slight sting in her chest as she realized just how much she used to treasure these morning walks with her best friend. It was one of the few times of the day when it was usually just the two of them. Since they otherwise spent a lot of time either in the park or in one of their apartments, there were always other people around, be it their friends or family.

"Sure thing. I'll drop by your school once I can escape from mine. If nothing else, I wanna rub it in Mr Fujiyama's face that I got away from him two years early." Davis added the last part with a goofy grin.

Kari wanted to reprimand him for his blatant disrespect towards their teachers, but found that she couldn't get angry with him for trying to ease up. Over the last two weeks, his smiles had become all the more unusual, so seeing him smile at her again, even if it was forced, made her feel like she could allow him to get away with his antics just this once. Besides, Mr Fujiyama wasn't technically Davis' teacher anymore, so he was under no obligation to treat him as such.

"Sounds great!" she smiled back at him.

And with that, they parted ways. As she continued on the familiar route towards the Odaiba Middle School, Kari found herself glancing back over her shoulder at Davis' retreating form. She wished she knew how to help him. There was something that wasn't quite right with her best friend and she didn't know what to do about it. Nightmares wasn't anything unusual, but when they had been consistant for a good two weeks straight, something definetely wasn't right. Davis' refusal to share them with her also did nothing to ease her suspicions. It was as if he knew what was wrong, but didn't want her to know about it, which in and of itself was really weird. They usually shared anything and everything with each other.

Well, that wasn't entirerly true. There was one thing that Kari had knowingly kept Davis in the dark about, namely her involvement with an entirerly different world. Originally, she had wanted to tell him about it, she really had, but Tai and Sora had convinced her that he was better off not knowing. Besides, it wasn't as if they had any contact with their partners at this point, much less the Digital World in general, so even if she told him she wouldn't be able to prove its existance. He would probably just think she had hit her head or something if she told him, or think she had gone crazy. If they ever got to see their partners again, she knew that she would have to tell him about it. They simply spent too much of their time together for him not to find out sooner or later. But until that happened, she wasn't willing to risk their friendship over it.

Unbeknownst to her, Davis was thinking almost the exact same thing. It had been almost 6 years now since he had been sucked into the Digital World, and not even a single day had passed without him reconsidering his decision to not tell Kari about what had happened. While he had spent an entire year in that world, only a day had passed in the Real World and so the changes in his personality had been obvious to anyone who knew him even remotely.

However, Kari was the only one he had ever considered sharing his adventures with, but had ultimately decided against it. He had reasoned that she was better off not knowing what he had been forced to endure. And yet, for every day that had passed since then, the feeling of guilt for not telling her had kept on growing. And with the cloaked stranger's warning still fresh in mind, Davis was glad that he hadn't told her. If he was called back to the Digital World again, he didn't want to make her an unwilling target by asociation.

-:TCD:-

Chaos. That was the best way to describe the state the Digital World was currently in. It had been three days now, since the Digimon Emperor had first appeared and created the first Control Spire, and ever since then the Digital World had been thrown into a state of panic. He struck quick and mercilessly, and he always appeared when the world's inhabitants least expected it. And such had been the case even in the forest where the majority of the Digidestined's partners had lived since their separation from their friends.

Gatomon was, just like the rest of the forest's inhabitants, running as far away from the Control Spire that had appeared atop the hill just on the outskirts of the forest's north edge as she could. She had no idea where the others were, or how they were doing, but she had enough on her plate as it was without worrying about Agumon and the others. Even though they were all just rookies, they were strong enough to take care of themselves.

All around her, she heard the terrified screams of Digimon that either got caught by one of the Emperor's Dark Rings, or watched one of their friends get caught and turned against them. She did her best not to think about the possibility that one of those screams could be one of her own friends in need of help. Her rational mind told her that she should try and do something to stop it. It was her duty as a protector of the Digital World. Her survival instincts however, which were admitedly far more sharpened than those of her friends' due to having been subjected to Myotismon's cruel reign, told her to run as far away from the threat as possible. If she got distracted and got caught, she wouldn't be able to help anyone.

So engrossed was she in this internal dilemma that she didn't notice the approaching shadow of a Unimon that was, unfortunately, wearing a Dark Ring around its neck. She cried out in pain as the slave of the Emperor struck her with its signature move and she was thrown back into the trunk of a tree. The Unimon didn't let up its assault though, and barely had she gotten back on her feet before she was forced to dodge another "Aerial Attack!".

As she rolled forward to avoid yet another blast from the unicorn-like Digimon's mouth, she failed to realized that she had gotten too close to her opponent in the process. Unimon's hoof descended on her small form and caught her tailring against the ground, resulting in it being pulled off her tail when she rolled to avoid another stomp.

The effect was immediate. The moment the tailring lost contact with her tail, Gatomon felt her muscles go lax and slack, as if they had been stung with a needle and deflated. Exhaustion caught her for a moment and that was all the time Unimon needed to finally land another successful "Aerial Attack!". Gatomon cursed mentally as she felt her feet leave the ground again. She flailed wildly with all four of her limbs until she landed painfully on her back on a hard surface.

The moment she landed, the sounds of the forest disappeared to be replaced by the unmistakeable sound of a bustling street. For a moment, Gatomon just lay there, exhausted from the escape and the battle. What greeted her when she opened her eyes however, was not the glowing red eyes of Unimon, or an approaching Dark Ring, like she had expected. Instead, she was greeted by the sight of... asphalt?

Feeling her energy return to her, Gatomon swiftly jumped to her feet in shock and swung her head around, feeling disorientated. What had just happened? Hadn't she been in a forest? However, as her sharp eyes travelled across her surroundings, there wasn't even a hint of green to be found. She was standing in an alley of some sort, surrounded by dustbins and garbage. For a moment, she just stood there and stared at the closest dustbin in shock. Then, the implications of what had happened finally sunk in.

She was in the human world!

-:TCD:-

At that exact moment when Gatomon crossed over to the human world again for the first time in four years, Kari's Digivice reacted to the familiar prescence. It began beeping and the screen lit up with a pink light that made her entire school bag look like it was glowing. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on what way you wanted to look at it, Kari herself was not carrying her bag at the time. It was lying in her locker while Kari herself was attending her last class for the day, and only the janitor that was currently cleaning the corridor saw it. Mistaking it for some kind of paranormal activity, said janitor dropped his mop and left the corridor in a rush.

Davis was just on his way towards where he remembered Kari's locker to be when he passed the fightened janitor. He didn't hear exaclty what the man was screaming about, but he was able to make out the words "ghost" and "haunted locker" from his incoherent babbling. Frowning, he turned around the corner and came to a complete stop at the sight of Kari's locker being lit up like a christmas tree.

"What in the world...?" he muttered as he cautiosly made his way over to the locker.

He felt like a cold hand had gripped at his heart, and was tightening its grip around it the closer he got to the locker. Stopping right in front of the locker, he had to squint his eyes to shield them from the blinding light. Slowly, he reach over towards the lock and only hesitated for a second before he began turning the wheel around to dial the code to unlock it. Kari had given him the code to her locker once when she had asked him to bring home some books she had left in her locker so she could study at home, even though she was sick, and he knew for a fact that she hadn't changed the code since.

True enough, the lock clicked and Davis wasted no time in pulling it open. The glow was coming from Kari's schoolbag, and it had an eerily familiar feeling to it, like he had seen it somewhere before. He bit his lips in anticipation as he reached into her bag (he didn't want to open it and look inside if he didn't have to. That would feel like he was invading her privacy) and felt his hand automatically close around a pulsating metal object. He felt his heart sink in his chest as he recognized the familiar feeling of the device. Even though he hadn't seen it yet, he knew exactly what it was.

'A Digivice?!' he thought in shock as he pulled the object out of the bag.

Sure enough, it was a Digivice. It looked just the same as his own Digivice had looked when he first got it all those years ago, when it came out of the computer in his dad's computer room. Since then, his own Digivice had changed to a new shape after their final clash with Milleniummon, but that had hardly mattered since at that point he no longer had a partner. There had been six of them that entered that final battlefield, and only two of them had made it out alive...

As he took a moment to reminise about those days, Davis felt anger rise in his chest. Hadn't the Digital World ruined enough lives as it was? Not only that, but it had to be Kari of all people, his Kari! How long had she been in possession of this cursed thing? Had she already been dragged into the Digital World and exposed to its horrors? Davis knew first hand that while the Digital World wasn't nescesarily a horrible place, it was ruled by the Law of the Jungle, where the strong killed the weak. For a weak human who did not enjoy fighting, it would be like a living hell.

His hand clenched around the Digivice, his entire body trembling. There was only one way to find out how Kari was connected to the Digital World and that was to ask her himself. There was of course possible that she didn't know what the device was even for, or that it had appeared in her bag just now for the first time, but somehow he doubted it.

Closing the locker with unnescesary force, Davis pressed a button on Kari's Digivice to stop its glowing and pulsating and the object fell lifeless in his hand. Taking a deep breath to try and clear his thoughts, he looked around to make sure no one else was there before he put it in his pocket and leaned against the locker next to Kari's, to wait for the girl in question to arrive. However, despite the calm and nonchalant expression he wore, inside his heart was still racing. This was the worst first day in High School he could've possibly gotten.

-:TCD:-

Kari sighed as the door to the Kamiya Residence clicked open. So far, her afternoon hadn't been quite what she had expected. Davis had finished his first day in High School early, so he had come over to meet up with her in Elementary School, just like he had promised, but aside from that nothing had gone the way she had wanted it to.

First off, she had attempted to introduce TK and Davis to each other. They were after all the two best friends she had and she had hoped that they would get along. Sadly, they had only exchanged greetings and then turned away from each other. While that was nothing new for Davis (especially not when he was in a foul mood), TK was usually more receptive of strangers than that.

After that, she had hoped that the three of them could go downtown and find something fun to do, since they had yet to receive any homework, but TK had said that he had promised he'd meet up with two kids from his new apartment building, Cody Hida and Yolei Inoue, that afternoon and do something with Yolei's computer. Kari didn't know the girl personally, but she knew that Yolei was one year older than them, and that she was a member of the school's Computer Club. While Kari couldn't fault TK for trying to make new friends when he had just moved into the neighbourhood, she had hoped that he would want to spend his first day with her and Davis.

On top of that, Davis had been in a strange mood ever since they left school. He had kept staring at her whenever he thought she wasn't looking. It was obvious there was something that was bothering him, but when she asked if there was something on her face, he just looked away and ignored her question.

As the two of them went to Kari's room to drop their stuff off, Kari sat down on her bed and opened her bag to retrieve her cellphone. However, it was another device that caught her attention. Or rather, the lack of another device...

"Hey, where's my...?" she just barely caught herself as she was reminded of Davis' prescence. It was times like these, more than anything, that she wished she could just up and tell her best friend about the Digital World. It had been such a huge part of her personality for the last four years, and yet she couldn't tell her best friend about it. And she knew that she wasn't the only one who wished they could talk to someone about it.

"You looking for this thing?" Davis voice brought her out of her musings.

Kari looked up from her bag and felt her blood run cold. Leaning against the doorframe of her room, Davis was looking at her with a calculating look in his eyes, and with one hand in his pocket. The other hand... was holding her Digivice!

"O-oh, that thing? Yeah, as a matter of fact I was looking for it. Where did you find it?" she asked nervously. Something about this didn't seem right to her. Why did Davis have her Digivice. She was certain it had been in her bag all day and as far as she knew, Davis hadn't been anywhere near her bag. The look he was giving her also made her feel slightly unnerved.

"Cut the crap Kari, I know what it is. How long have you had this Digivice?"

If she had been unnerved before, then Kari felt like she was a nervous wreck by now. She felt like the words Davis had just spoken had been a physical slap to her face. He knew! But how?! She hadn't told him anyhting about the Digital World, she had been so careful not to accidently mention it or tell him anything!

She felt a headache coming up. This was not happening. It couldn't be happening! Groaning, she brought both her hands to her heads and fell back against the bed covers. Her head was spinning with questions and confusion. Davis knew about the Digital World! The realization hadn't really sunk in yet. It was just too absurd for her to completely process it.

Davis was watching Kari's reaction from over by the door. As he watched her face turn from surprised, to shock and then to horrified, he felt his tense facial muscles ease up. He wasn't angry with her or anything, he was just worried. Seeing how distressed his friend had become over the revealation, he slowly made his way over to the bed and sat down next to her. Kari, who had been lying down facing the ceiling, turned her head and their eyes locked on to each other. Trying to put on the best smile he could muster, Davis reached out and grabbed his friend's hand and squeezed it reasuringly to show that he wasn't upset.

"H-how do you know about the Digital World?" Kari managed to croak out. Her throat constricted painfully as she spoke, as if it was still trying to deny the fact that Davis somehow knew about Digimon. The pressure on her windpipe almost made her choke and cause a few involuntary tears to escape her eyelids.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, and the conflicting feelings of anger and relief he currently felt, Davis couldn't help but smile. Kari wasn't angry with him for taking her Digivice or for not telling her anything about the parallel dimension that they were both apparently connected to. She was more worried about that he would be angry with her for not telling him, if the look in her eyes was anything to go by.

Without saying a word, he reached down to his belt and pulled out his own Digivice. He had heeded the stranger's warning from earlier that morning and had brought it along with him wherever he went as a precaution if something really did happen. That was the only way he could think of as "preparing" for whatever was coming his way.

As her eyes landed on the other Digivice that Davis was now holding in front of her, Kari felt her heart skip a beat. It looked a bit different from her's and the others' Digivices, having a more oval-like shape to it and being colored dark gray and blue, but it was most definetely a Digivice. Davis was a Digidestined! For a few seconds, Kari just sat there staring at the proof in front of her. Then, she felt her lips being drawn out into a smile as the tears that had formed from choking earlier turned into tears of joy. She wouldn't have to hide the Digital World to her best friend any longer! Without thinking, she grabbed Davis by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

"Wha-! Kari, what are you...?" Davis yelped in surprise and the unexpected embrace, but the girl just shook her head as she snuggled into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so happy right now. I won't have to hide anything from you anymore..." she whispered emotionally into his ear.

Davis just sat there, shocked at her reaction to the revealtion, but soon found that he too felt a certain weight being lifted from his shoulders. He had kept this secret from his best friend for 6 years, and now he could finally share it with her. Feeling his own eyes sting slightly as he thought about it (he was not crying!), he returned the embrace. Time was lost on the two best friends as they sat there, relishing the feeling of a burden having been lifted off their shoulders, but they were eventually brought out of their musings as Kari's Digivice went off again.

The beeping and flashing light brought them out of their semi trance-like state and made them separate to stare at the little device. Drying her happy tears on her sleeves, Kari reached out and grabbed the Digivice and examined it. The digital device hadn't been activated since they separated from their partners 4 years ago, so for it to activate again now of all times, then that would have to mean...

Knock, knock!

A/N: Yeah, I think that will do it for now. The pace at the start of the story will be kind of slow, as the new digidestined needs to be introduced properly and get to know each other. I feel like in canon, they were all just randomly slapped together and then they went from there. I want my characters to have some kind of depth to them, especially Davis and Kari as they are the main protagonists.

And if you read "Those Linked by Darkness" and that is the sole reason why you're here right now, then you might notice that I changed quite a few things. I got reasons for making the changes I did to the introduction of the characters, but there is two things in particular I want to adress and that is Davis attending High School, rather than Elementary School, and the state of the Digital World.

Where I live, if a student keeps achieving outstanding grades and study ahead of their age group, they are usually moved up a year as to not hamper their development. Davis is supposed to be this borderline prodigy in this fic (for a reason you can probably guess), so it stands to reason that he would keep getting ahead of his peers. As it stands, he have been moved up a year at 2 separate occasions, putting him 2 years ahead of Kari and TK, and 1 year ahead of Yolei.

When it comes to the Digital World and the gateway between the two worlds, here's how I see it. After the Digidestined were called back to release their Crests and restore the Digital World, the gateway sealed itself shut in order to allow the world to recover properly without any outside influences. As such, none of the original Digidestined have seen or even heard from their partners since then.

Now, I hope that you enjoyed Chapter One and that you will be back for the next chapter, when our friends re-enter the Digital World for the first tme in 4 years! If you liked this, then there is this nice little thing called the "Follow" and the "Favourite"-button somewhere down below that you can click and I would appreciate it if you would leave a review to let me know what you think. Until next time! :)