I do not own Digimon, the characters in it, or any other franchise I may accidentally mention. This is fan-made, and not for profit. Enjoy.

The digivices started glowing the moment we turned them to face the diamond, which in turn made the diamond glow. I realized that making it glow probably wasn't the best thing to do when there were two very strong digimon trying to find it, but thinking about it I didn't think we had much of a choice. We couldn't exactly lift it, and standing around trying to get Kaisergreymon or Magnagarurumon's attention was likely to get the same result. Then the diamond started floating in the air, which of course meant the Knights were even more likely to notice it.

"Why's it floating?!" Tomoki yelled. I flinched because he was right next to my ear when he yelled that. Did I mention I'm not a big fan of loud noises?

"I have no idea," Junpei was also yelling.

By this point the diamond was about fifty or so feet above us, still glowing. I could see Rhodoknightmon fighting Magnagarurumon way off in the distance, both of them moving narly too fast for me to see. It was the closer fight that caught my attention, however. Dynasmon blasted Kaisergreymon into the city's town hall and started flying towards us.

"We've got to get out of here!" Izumi cried.

I took one look at the approaching Dynasmon and joined her and the others in running back the way we had come. Dynasmon, intent on getting the Digicode, completely ignored us and flew right at the diamond.

"How appropriate," I heard him say. "The Digicode shines like a beacon. Just like lord Lucemon."

Then there was a massive crash above us as a nearby building started falling. I think what happened was that that part of the building's wall had been damaged earlier in the fight, but had held out until that point. Anyways, like I said the building came falling down about fifty feet away, which wouldn't be so bad except it blocked off the street, effectively trapping us. Izumi uttered a loud curse in Italian. I turned to look back at the diamond.

Dynasmon was building up power for that Breath of Wyvern attack he uses. The one that had effectively blown us to the moon the last time we'd fought them. He was probably going to use that to break the diamond and get the Digicode. He never got that attack off however. Magnagarurumon, seeing what was about to happen, used that exploding armor attack to distract Rhodoknightmon, then Starlight Velocity'd his way over to Dynasmon, hitting the Royal Knight before he could get the attack off.

"Dynasmon!" Rhodoknightmon exclaimed. He suddenly had to dodge a swipe from Kaisergreymon's sword.

"You fool!" Dynasmon cried. "Feel the wrath of the Royal Knights! Dragon's Roar!"

He fired a laser out of the palm of his hands at Magnagarurumon, who dodged it rather easily. The beam hit the diamond, and something rather strange happened. Instead of bouncing off the diamond or going right through the diamond the beam went into the diamond, then somehow got trapped inside. The diamond's glow turned red and it started shaking.

"What's going on?" Tomoki asked.

"I'm not sure, but my best guess is that that laser got trapped in the diamond," Junpei said.

"But, why's it shaking like that?" Izumi wondered, as both Magnagarurumon and Dynasmon noticed the shaking. My brother at least had the sense to realize that it probably wasn't a good thing and started backing off. Dynasmon however was a bit more stubborn.

"This data belongs to lord Lucemon," he declared, once again heading for the diamond.

"Because," Junpei said, "If what I read in that book is true, that laser's bouncing in there and building up strength and when it get too strong for that diamond to contain..."

I didn't need him to finish that sentence. That meant the diamond would explode. And my brother was right next to it.

"Kouji!" I shouted. "Kouji, get away from there!"

It was one of those things that seems to happen in slow motion. Magnagarurumon, no doubt trying to keep Dynasmon away from that diamond, took off after Dynasmon. That was when the diamond, as Junpei had predicted, exploded.

"Kouji!" Oh, please be alive... I thought. If he died, I...

I'd never forgive myself.

I began running at the explosion. Behind me, I could hear the others calling my name. It didn't matter.

Two lights flew past me. It wasn't until two more flew right to me and went into the digivice I'd completely forgotten I was still holding that I realized that they were Junpei's and my Spirits. I looked at my digivice in horror for one moment, realizing that Kouji wasn't Mgnagarurumon anymore, then started running again.

The smoke around the place where the clock tower had fallen was once again clearing, but this time there was something glowing around this place, Aquamarine City's Digicode. Something pink suddenly swooped past me.

"Dynasmon!" Rhodoknightmon, I realized belatedly. Not that it mattered to me. What did matter was the limp body of my brother lying not too far from where the Digicode started.

"Kouji!"

Only a few more seconds and I was at my brother's side. He was battered and bruised, but as I reached a tentative hand to his chest, I could see he was still breathing.

He was alive!

I took a deep breath and scrubbed at my face to prevent the tears from leaking any further than my eyes. I had to get him out of there before anything else happened. I Spirit Evolved to Lowemon and picked Kouji up. That's when I realized that the Digicode was starting to grow. Almost as if...

...The Knights were scanning it.

I Spared a quick glance over my shoulder to see Rhodoknightmon supporting an unconscious Dynasmon with one arm, and scanning the Digicode with the other. I began to run as fast as I could without getting too rough on Kouji. I had to make it to a Trailmon track or something. They never got scanned, something that had always puzzled me even back when I was Duskmon.

"Kouichi!"

Izumi? I looked up to see Kaisergreymon, who was already holding her and the others, floating above me. With one last leap up, I managed to use my free hand to grab Kaisergreymon's hand, an instant before the land under me turned to Digicode and scanned. I heaved a huge sigh of relief and looked down at Kouji. He was still out cold. I shuddered at how close I'd come to losing him again, and looked back at the remains of the city. I could see the Royal Knights floating off to wherever they had come from, Rhodoknightmon cooing in a motherly fashion over Dynasmon's injuries.

"Don't worry, Dynasmon. When we get home I'm going to take such good care of you! Ah, the healing love that comes from nursing a loved one back to health is so refreshing!"

"Those two are so weird," Junpei said.

It didn't take Kaisergreymon too long to catch up to the Trailmon that Neemon, Bokomon, and Patamon were on. Once we got there, the others helped me lay Kouji down on one of the Trailmon's seats.

"He'll be fine," Takuya told me as the others nodded their support. "He just needs to rest a while."

"I know," I said, quietly.

"So do the Knights for that matter," Junpei remarked. "I don't think we'll be hearing anything from them for a few days."

"C'mon everyone," Izumi said putting her hands on her hips. "It's hard for someone to get any rest with all of us chattering around him. Let's go see if they remembered to pack something to eat."

The others filed out, leaving me with my brother. I sighed and settled down on the floor with my back leaning against the seat. It was going to be a while before he woke up, right? Just like the time on the moon...I pushed that memory away. Kouji survived that time, he was going to survive this time. Still, that didn't stop me from worrying about him.

And thinking about my brother and his injuries was making it worse for me. In an effort to forget about Kouji's injuries for a while, I pulled the book he had given me yesterday (Had it only been yesterday?) Out of my pocket and began reading.

It was dark, and I was thankful the Trailmon had lights inside its' cars to read by when Kouji stirred.

"Kouichi?"

I pulled myself out of my book.

"Kouji, you...Are you feeling better?"

"Some. I feel like one big bruise. What happened? The Knights scanned the city, didn't they?"

I nodded. "That diamond blew up, it took you and Dynasmon down. Rhodoknightmon scanned the city, but since Dynasmon's injured, it could be a few days before we see them again."

Kouji cursed softly. "They beat us again. Every time..."

"Yeah, I know. But we're all alive. We can beat them next time."

He looked at me. "You can really be an optomist sometimes, big brother."

I grinned at him shyly. That was when the door opened and Izumi poked her head in.

"Kouichi...? I-Oh, Kouji, you're awake. Good thing I made spaghetti for both of you."

She pushed herself the rest of the way into the car with a plate of pasta balanced on either hand.

"Bokomon says the Trailmon's heading towards some place called Steel Town, I figured you guys wanted to know."

"Thanks," I said taking one plate from her. Kouji was about to stand up to grab the other one, but Izumi moved faster and gently pushed him down.

"Kouji, take it easy, all right? You're still injured."

Kouji glanced at me. "Now I know how you felt the other day, Kouichi."

I chucked a bit as Izumi placed the other plate down on his lap with a roll of her eyes.

"He's feeling better, all right. I'll just go tell the others, they'll be happy to hear that."

I smiled a bit as she left, and began eating. For a minute, neither of us spoke.

"Hey, Kouichi?

I looked up again.

"I heard you back there, you were trying to tell me to get away from that jewel. I should have...I thought Dynasmon was going to get that Digicode, and scan the city. I'm sorry, I should've listened to you."

"It's not your fault, Kouji. You were doing the right thing. It just got out of hand." I stifled a snort. "In fact, it..."

"...Blew up in our faces?" Kouji rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, that's what I was going to say..." I paused. "But how did you know?"

"Twin thing, I guess. It just felt right."

We stared at each other. for a moment, then he grinned at me. I couldn't resist cracking that shy smile back.

"Maybe there is something to that twin connection thing after all," I said.

FIN

Author's Notes: I'll admit, I did play things a bit fast with the laser bouncing around in the diamond and Junpei knowing what was about to happen. (Sigh) If I ever do a re-write, I'll have to think of a way around that. So that's my re-entry back into the horrors of actually writing fanfiction. I hope you all enjoyed it.