Disclaimer: All TOEI Digimon and such belong to them. Any other characters, well, they belong to me, Chaos Knight Matthew. I did used a few ideas that were used from Trillermon's Infection Story, which motivated me to try this one out... I hope he doesn't mind... I'm not really too keen on the geography of the Digimon world or where the Digidestined live so if there is something that doesn't seem right with placement, let me know at chaosknightmatthew@hotmail.com. Thanks.

Anyhow... Enjoy the story.

Chapter 5: Forgiveness clears a Path

The Digidestined ended up waiting the entire day just for the results to come from Izzy's computer. Lei and StarRenamon sitting near the window, looking outside every now and again, FlamePalmon sitting with Palmon, talking, Yolei sitting next to Davis in silence, still a little shocked by what Hawkmon, her faithful Digimon, had tried to do to her and Davis was quiet too, more than likely thinking about his own partner.

By nightfall, Davis was getting a little too tired of waiting, having gotten no sleep for nearly fourteen hours, he retired to the guest room to get a little bit of rest, being careful not to wake up Yolei. The other Digidestined were sleeping at this point, so no one noticed a young, brown-haired girl sneak by a few moments later. StarRenamon and Lei were, unfortunately, asleep at the window, Yolei and Palmon were asleep on the couch and Izzy is asleep at the computer as a little piece of paper fly across the screen as the searching continues, FlamePalmon asleep against StarRenamon. A few minuets passed. Yolei stirred awake and felt a little thirsty, so she went into the kitchen for something to drink. After getting her a glass of water, she heard something from the guest room. Taking the frying pan that Davis used on Gatomon, she goes to the door to the guest room and places her ear on it listening. She can hear a voice in the room.

"... let Yolei take you away from me."

Yolei stood back. -What the...?- She pondered about it for a moment before opening the door. Over at the couch where StarRenamon and his friend, FlamePalmon was sleeping at, FlamePalmon twitched slightly and let out a little groan. Her dream of her and Demirenamon was starting to turn into a nightmare.

****************************************FlamePalmon's Dream************************************

FlamePalmon and Demirenamon were enjoying the mid-day air as they had their picnic in the Digital World, in the forest that was near Primary Village.

"So, how do you like my surprise?" She asked her friend.

"Well, I wasn't expecting a picnic, but so far I like it." Demirenamon told her, a smile on his face. "Still, how did you know that cheese sandwiches are my favorites?"

FlamePalmon looked at her friend. "Well, it's also my favorite." She said to him. They started to eat the cheese sandwiches, when Demirenamon suddenly doubled in pain. The sky began to grow dark.

"What's wrong? Was it the sandwiches?" FlamePalmon asks, worried. One of Demirenamon's gloved hands reached out to her, as if warning her to stay away from him.

"No... Stay away...Flame-- AHH!" He shouted in pain. Not listening to him, she still jumps to his side.

"What's the matter?" The other hand shot out at her, only this time it wasn't orange... it was purple, and doubled in size. He grabbed her throat and began to squeeze the life out of her, raising her up higher and higher as Demirenamon's form changed.

"D... Demirenamon...?" He looked at her as he rose to stand up, suspending the red plant in the air by the neck.

"Your mistake was that you didn't listen to your friend...." A female voice called out from the dark sky. "Now you die, stupid plant. May your next life be more forgiving. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" Her laugh echoed across the area. She looked down at the source of the purple glove. It looked like Demirenamon, but his fur seemed to be switched, black to blue and blue to black. An evil aura covered this demon from head to toe. The black fox in purple armor stared at her, slowly changing from the once happy eyes of Demirenamon, to a dark and cruel set. He said her name, his voice as deep as a gorge.

"FlamePalmon...." She could still hear her attacker's voice over the laughter.

"FlamePalmon!" It was getting louder and higher as he squeezed her neck with unbelievable force. Her spine inside of her neck was beginning to snap.

"FlamePalmon!! Wake up!!" Was the last she heard as she fainted and dissolved into nothing.

**********************************************End********************************************

"FlamePalmon!! Wake up!!" StarRenamon was one of the first ones awake. The brown -haired girl turned out to be Kari and she wasn't on a social visit. StarRenamon looked over to where Gatomon was and saw Kari running to her. He was trying to get FlamePalmon off of him, but she held on to his armor, scared almost to death to let go.

After tearing the duct tape to shreds, Kari pulled Gatomon up. Izzy looked around, uncertain yet to what's going on.

"... Kari, What are you doing?!" Izzy asks her. He notices that her clothes looked a little tattered, ripped in some areas.

"Jor keir poa rota roto , Keruti?“ (“What does it look like, smart boy?") Kari said, a menacing grin on her face. Izzy didn’t understand at first why Kari was acting like this. "Yri erso que Kerpokin trie!“ (“I'm getting my Digimon back.") With that, she shoved Izzy to the floor, causing him to hit his head on the shelf behind him knocking down almost all his books on top of him, and burst out of the computer room, then out the front door of the apartment, running down the street with inhuman speed. Lei was the second to awake as he was the first to make a move. As Kari raced out the door, Lei had only noticed for three seconds that her eyes looked a little off. He ran out the door, his backpack falling off his back, Yolei standing at the doorway, a mean look to her face and a frying pan in her right hand. She watched the two run and grits her teeth.

"Paraspell!" Lei cried out, hand aimed at the retreating group. A white light shot from his hand, missing the two and leaving no remains of the spell as it hit the ground. He tried again before his weirdness got to him, but missed again. Lowering his hand, he gets his fallen backpack and heads back inside.

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Kari got a good ways away, avoiding Lei’s paralyzing spell in the process, but she didn’t get very far. The parasite in her didn’t realize how frail she was at maintaining the speed needed of her and collapsed onto the ground, holding Gatomon tight as she rested. She was over at the park when she fell.

“I don’t know Patamon, this might be your best chance to win Gatomon over. She needs a friend to be with her at times like these.” T.K. said to his partner, Patamon, who was resting on his head.

“Maybe you’re right T.K… I’m just not sure how to approach her…” Patamon said to him. He looked further ahead and saw Kari lying on the ground. “T.K.!!! Kari’s on the ground!!”

“What?!” He said, looking in Patamon’s direction. He also sees Kari on the ground, holding Gatomon close to her, her clothes tattered and torn. “Kari!!” T.K. runs to her and kneels down next to her, checking her. “She doesn’t look too good… we need to get these two out of here. Can you carry Gatomon?” T.K. asks his partner.

“Of course I can! Let’s hurry back home.” Patamon said to him as T.K. moved Kari’s arms so that Patamon could get Gatomon. T.K. picked up Kari and they both carried the exhausted two to their apartment.

*********************************************************************************************

"No human could've avoided that... That was one of 'them' I guess..." Lei asks StarRenamon as he and Yolei came back inside and closed the door. StarRenamon nods in answer to his partner's question. Lei's sleepy eyes close. "Oh." He fell to the floor, exhausted from the effort used for his magic and lack of sleep. StarRenamon still couldn't get FlamePalmon off him to help Lei, not wanting to hurt her if he tried to get up. Izzy came back to the room, hand on the side of his head.

"What... What'd I miss..." Izzy looked down and saw Lei on the floor near the door. He runs to his aid, putting Lei's arm over his neck and carrying him back to the couch, Yolei on the other side of him. After setting him down, Izzy quickly went to the door to shut and lock it The blue fox reaches for his backpack on the floor. He gets it and tosses it onto the table. FlamePalmon slowly woke up.

"Star? Oh...It was horrible!" She sobbed.

"What was?" StarRenamon asked. FlamePalmon didn't respond, just kept on crying, her tears falling on the blue fox's bronze armor. "There there..." StarRenamon said soothingly, petting her petal on the back of her head. Davis walked out of the bedroom and looked around.

"Wow..." He said simply.

"ANNNNND YOU!" Yolei snapped around. Lei opened his eyes a little at the sudden cry and turned to face Yolei. StarRenamon, still trying to comfort FlamePalmon, Palmon and Izzy lifted their heads in surprise. FlamePalmon sniffled and looked to see what was going on. Davis eeped at the sight of the frying pan.

"WHAT exactly were you doing?" She growled.

"Well... uh... y'see..." Davis chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head and sweating, "Uh... she forced me! It's not my fault!"

"Like HELL it isn't! Not even one yell for help!" Yolei slapped the frying pan in her hand, making Davis jump.

"I, guh... er... was going to wait.... for the right moment!"

"And WHEN would that be, HMM?" Yolei grit her teeth, "When you were SCREWING HER?!"

"Uh-oh.." Lei muttered thankful that only StarRenamon heard him. FlamePalmon was within hearing, but was still too distraught from her dream to pay notice. Davis blushed deeply and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yolei... I wasn-"

"DON'T YOU `YOLEI' ME!!" She yelled, smacking Davis across the face with the metallic pan. He hit the ground, knocked out from the blow, and Yolei stomped into Izzy's bedroom, slamming the door. Izzy and Palmon exchanged nervous glances. Lei told StarRenamon in his lowest talking level,

"I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side, who knows what would happen to me."

"No kidding... and I thought Flames here had a bad temper." StarRenamon said, as FlamePalmon cried herself to sleep. Lei closed his eyes and went back to sleep, the exertion of the spell catching up to him.

*********************************************************************************************

Izzy blinked at his computer screen. It hummed with indifference as "SEARCHING..." kept blinking on the screen.

"Of course!" Izzy said to himself, trying to figure out what exactly happened. "Humans do harbor some electricity inside them. That could be the only reason." Izzy sighs and yawns, rubbing his eyes. Looking around, Davis was still knocked out on the floor but moved next to the couch, as he had been for the past few hours. Izzy was considerate enough to put a pillow under his head. Yolei was still locked up in the other room. Palmon had moved and fallen asleep in an arm chair in the corner, so Izzy was the only left up with Lei, StarRenamon, and that red digimon, FlamePalmon, back at their post. Lei was knocked out so he was sleeping while StarRenamon watched outside, determined not to let the same thing happen again. FlamePalmon was asleep also, StarRenamon continued to pet her maroon petal on the back of her head to keep her calm. Izzy stood up from his chair and stretched with a grunt as he stepped into the kitchen. Aside from seeing his digimon friends being taken over by a green blob, being attacked by quite a few people, and not getting any sleep, he was keeping things pretty well together. Izzy poured himself a cup of hot tea as he turned to go back into the living room. Seeing StarRenamon, he asks, "StarRenamon?"

The blue fox looked his way. "Yes?"

"Would you like some tea?"

"Sure, if it's not too much trouble." Izzy went back in and made another cup for the guardian fox. As he walked out with two cups of hot tea, he yelled with surprise as he nearly walked into Yolei, dropping his cup.

"Jeeze... Yolei... Where... What...?" Izzy said, startled, almost dropping StarRenamon's cup.

"I need to talk..." Yolei sighed, walking into the kitchen and sitting at the table. Izzy took a deep breath.

"Hold on." He took StarRenamon his cup.

"Thanks." He replies. StarRenamon noticed Yolei enter the kitchen. -I hope she's alright...- He thinks to himself. Curious to know what's going on, he listens to what they are talking about.

Izzy went back to the kitchen and picked up his cup, pouring more tea, throwing a towel over the mess on the floor, then sat down across from her.

"Something bothering you?" He asked.

"Well... It's about Davis."

"Right..." Izzy nodded, "You DO know it really wasn't his fault?"

"Yeah... But... But, still..." Yolei sighed, closing her eyes, "Ever since we started dating and everything... Well... I just felt that... Davis still had feelings for Kari..."

"What do you expect? He loved her first."

"I know... But I mean... I can't help but think about that. How I was second choice... And how... Well... Davis might not really care about me..."

"What?" Izzy nearly spat out his tea, "How can you think that? He really does-"

"Love me?" Yolei interrupted, "I don't know... I've seen the way Davis acts around her... I thought that maybe... If Kari... Changed her mind about her feelings towards Davis... He'd leave me at the drop of a hat..."

"Hey, we all know Davis really loved Kari, but we also know that he would never do anything THAT harsh." Izzy assured. "Besides, I don't think that Kari was exactly herself tonight."

Yolei sighed and nodded. "When I saw... Kari on top of him... Like that... All my fears... Just kind of... Got the better of me." Yolei sniffed and shook her head, "I'm really sorry about overreacting..."

"I think you're telling the wrong guy this..." Izzy nodded towards the living room. Yolei looked back and nodded, getting up from the table.

"Thanks, Izzy..."

"What are Digidestined for?" He smiled back, watching Yolei walking into the living room. StarRenamon glanced at her as she went to Davis. Yolei sat next to Davis, looking at him and running her hand through his hair. She sighed and gently shook him awake.

"Guh... Uhhmmm... Wha?" Davis grumbled, looking around with his vision blurred,

"Y... Yolei? Uhg... What time is it?"

"Almost morning... I need to talk to you." Yolei pulled him up off the floor.

"That's something you never want to hear..." She lead a groggy and slightly disorientated Davis into Izzy's room. StarRenamon watched them leave.

-I'm sure they'll work things out.- He looked back down to FlamePalmon. She was sleeping soundly now, giving off a little moan after each exhale every once in a while. The blue fox looked at her a moment longer, then looked back outside, watching the sky light up with the morning light. He didn't see them for the rest of the morning.

*********************************************************************************************

Kari woke up, now fully rested. She felt her chest, where Gatomon was, but felt nothing there. Opening her eyes, she figured she was at T.K. and Matt’s apartment. Looking around, she sees Gatomon next to her, still sleeping and slightly bandaged. -Hmm… This might be just the opportunity I needed to get Numbers 20 and 21 while I’m here… Now, where is he- -

“You’re awake?” T.K. asked her, Patamon flying next to him. “How did you end up like that Kari? You looked like you were raped or some… thing…” After he said that, she started to cry, as if that’s what had actually happened. Kari jumped a little, startled out of her thoughts as she looks to the two, a sad expression on her face. Patamon helped Gatomon into the next room to care for her there.

“I… Gatomon and I were heading home from a store errand and someone had pulled me to the shadows. I tried calling for help, but… he put his hand over my mouth…” Kari tried to explain, a few tears falling from her eyes. “The next thing I knew I was on the ground in the park, I could barely move at all… I was so scared…”

“Kari!” T.K. said in shock. He leaned forward and gave her a comforting hug. “Who would do such a thing to you…” He semi-asked her, his anger building up inside him at a rapid rate. Kari pushed on T.K. a little going face to ace with him, whispering…

“Thank you for caring so much about me…” And gave him a deep kiss. T.K. felt something wrong with the kiss and tried to get away, but his body suddenly became limp as she let him go, her eyes glowing white slightly. “Welcome to the group… Number 21.” Kari said to T.K. as he sat up a little, stretching his limbs.

“It’s good to be here… What next love?” T.K. asked her, a hint of lust in his slightly lit eyes as the snake got a better hold onto his spine.

“How about a little fun with our new bodies, hmm?” Kari said, just as a scratched up Patamon tried to escape from the other room nearby, but Gatomon pulled him right back in.

“T.K!!! Don’t kiss her! Whatever you do don’t let her- Ack!” T.K had gotten up and grabbed his faithful partner by the back of the neck, holding him up in the air with a strange strength that T.K. never had before.

“Need some help Number 3?” T.K. asked Gatomon as he pinned Patamon down on the ground.

“Thanks much… Seems like your feelings for Kari are your motivation… Nice catch Number 10.” Gatomon said to her partner with a grin as she advanced onto Patamon. All three of the enslaved people and digimon had the same evil-like grin as the darkness of their shadows covered Patamon completely.

*********************************************************************************************

Back at Izzy’s house …

Izzy had nodded off in front of his computer and didn't notice Davis and Yolei walk in.

"That was a nice nap." Davis remarked. Yolei tapped him on the arm playfully. Then they noticed Izzy. Seeing Izzy asleep, Yolei chuckled and pulled him away from the computer, lying him on the couch.

"Spirit is willing..." She chuckled, "But the flesh is weak."

Davis nodded and looked over at the computer monitor. "Search complete..." He hummed.

"What's that?" Yolei looked up. Lei woke up a few minuets before Yolei and Davis came into the room. He was up and putting on his backpack. Lei noticed something outside. He looked and saw that night was approaching.

"How long did I sleep..." Lei asked himself. He thought about waking his fox partner, who had fallen asleep with FlamePalmon on his lap, but didn't. -They need the sleep. He's been keeping watch all day...- Lei thought. Lei joined the three at the computer. Davis nodded to the monitor.

"That's what it says." Yolei immediately ran up and nearly knocked Davis down. Lei was behind Izzy's chair, barely avoiding Yolei himself. He slowly read what was flashing to himself.

"Search... Complete." -Well... maybe it is parasitic.- Lei thought to himself. Yolei read the screen over and ran back to Izzy.

"IZZY! WAKE UP!" She shook him violently. He grunted and snapped awake, looking up at Yolei.

"Wha... What? What?? What is it?" He groggily sat up.

"LOOK!" Without waiting for an answer, she yanked Izzy up and pushed him to the computer. He sat down and brushed himself off, giving Yolei an odd look before turning to the computer. He scanned over the message and blink, rereading it.

"So? What does it say??" Yolei said eagerly. Davis went over to the computer as well, looking over Izzy's shoulder, pushing Lei away by mistake. Lei went to the spot where Davis was. As Izzy typed rapidly on the keyboard, various graphs and lists came up. Finally, the computer beeped and popped up with a small list.

"Well... According to this... The one ingredient we have that this thing is weak against is... Sodium Benzoate..."

"Great, so we need, like, some sort of permit to get this stuff or something?" Davis sighed.

"I'm... Not entirely sure..." Izzy leaned back in his chair, "It sounds familiar... But..." Izzy got up and quickly went into his room.

"What is it?" Yolei asked.

"I'm not sure... I've got some chemistry books I can look through." Izzy replied form the other room. Lei groaned and lowered his head.

"Great, more waiting..." Davis sighed, plopping down on the couch next to a sleeping Palmon. She stirred awake and stretched. Lei walked back in and sat back next to StarRenamon. As Izzy went into the other room to gather the books, Yolei sat down next to Davis with a sigh.

"By the time we find a way to stop this thing, all of our Digimon friends will have been turned into zombies..." Davis groaned.

"Everything will be fine." Yolei patted his arm and kissed his cheek, giving his hand a squeeze, "We've always found a way to get past evil before. And well get through it again." Davis muttered something and nodded, seemingly deep in thought. Yolei looked down at his hand and stroked her thumb along his palm, squeezing again as she spoke. "Want something to drink?"

"A soda would be nice." He nodded. Yolei smiled and kissed his cheek before getting up and heading into the kitchen as Izzy returned with an armful of books dropping them down onto a table. Davis felt a strange feeling coming over him, like something was happening that shouldn’t be happening or something to that effect. Yolei noticed and was a little worried. “You ok Davis?” She asked him.

“Yeah… I think so.” Davis said as she headed for the kitchen. Lei groaned again and puts his right hand onto his head, still feeling a little piece of the headache from before.

"What a day this has been." Lei muttered to himself before following Yolei into the kitchen. StarRenamon and FlamePalmon's snores were barely audible in their sleep. Davis watched Lei as he left, then focused on Izzy as he searched through the pages of the chemical books. He leaned deeper into the cushions and closed his eyes. His and his friend's Digimon companions were turning into slaves for some sort of goo, the world would most likely be next, so far the Digidestined were powerless to stop it, and on top of all that, his own best friend Veemon was the infected by this thing. Davis never felt so much pressure be bestowed on so few destined children left. And how many of his friends truly WERE his friends anymore? The Digidestined of Courage shook his head from the plaguing thoughts and looked up as Yolei handed him a grape soda. Lei was right behind her as he regained his spot on the couch, opening his soda. It woke up the sleeping couple.

"You didn't get me one...?" StarRenamon moaned as he stretched his legs. FlamePalmon was also stretching her limbs and yawned. She blinked her eyes twice and asked.

"One of what?" Lei reached in his jacket pockets and produced two sodas, one cherry, the other grape. FlamePalmon got the cherry one as StarRenamon got the other. He opens FlamePalmon's can. Not knowing how to drink this, she takes it down in one gulp. "Mmm Good."

StarRenamon laughs after he took a slug from his. "You're not suppose to drink it in one go Flames."

Her eyes flutter and she gets even more awake from the caffeine and giggles at her friend. "Sorry..."

Davis watched the group as he drank his. He laughed too as he saw what StarRenamon's friend did.

-She does kind-of remind me of Veemon in a way...- But the thought of his friend brought back those disturbing thoughts. Davis took a long, satisfying gulp before looking at the label.

"Contains all natural flavors... Artificial flavors..." He looked over at Izzy racking his brain for an answer in the textbooks and turned the can lazily over to the ingredients. "Sugar... Water... Riboflavin... Sodium Be..." Davis blinked.

"What was that Davis?" Lei asked him as he looked on the label of his can. "I'll be damned if it isn't..." StarRenamon looked at him with a questioned look. Davis sat up slowly on the couch and looked over to Izzy.

"Hey, uh, Izzy?"

"What is it, Davis? This is very important." Izzy replied crossly.

"Uh, what was that chemical we were suppose to find?"

"Sodium Benzoate, why?" Izzy stopped and looked up.

"Well... That's one of the ingredients in this soda." Davis said. Izzy fell silent while Yolei just looked at Davis with surprise.

"You're kidding?" Izzy stood up.

"I see it too..." Lei held up his can, then looked back at it, a smile over his own face. Izzy snatched the can away from Davis and read over the ingredients quickly. He reread them and looked at Davis with a small, excited smile.

"DAVIS, YOU'RE A GENIUS!!" He grabbed him into a tight hug, before dancing around the room repeating the words, "It's in soda! Of COURSE!! Why didn't I see it before??" Yolei and Davis exchanged odd looks before the Digidestined of Knowledge could contain himself again.

"So, now that we know WHAT to stop them with, how do we do it? I mean, how do we have to give it to them?" Yolei asked.

"Good question..." Izzy hummed, still a little out of breath, "My best guess would be consumption of the soda itself."

"Yolei's store has tons of pop!" Davis grinned, "We'll get our friends back in no time!"

"There's an idea..." The blue fox said to himself, FlamePalmon agreeing.

"There's something that I need to tell you guys if you didn‘t catch it last night..." Izzy said. "I noticed how Kari was acting last night and I now believe that even humans can become infected too."

"WHAT!?" Half the group shouted out.

"Humans also carry electricity inside their body, just not much. Like enough to power up a Nine-Volt Battery." After Izzy explained, everyone started to keep their distance from Davis.

"Then that would mean..." Yolei started to say before moving away from Davis.

"Now come on! If I were on this green stuff, do you think I would know?" Davis stated.

"He has drank soda and nothing happened..." Lei said to Izzy.

"Well, just be careful out there and don't trust the first thing you see aside from what you already know. All right, Davis, Lei and Yolei get down to her store as quickly as possible, I'll stay here to make a few more observations on what we've seen so far as well as try to get in touch with a few of the others, if this hasn't reached them by now." Yolei and Davis nodded before searching Izzy's room for suitable clothes to wear out on the street. Lei leaned over and said to StarRenamon.

"While I'm gone, you'll be the only one able to protect them."

"No he won't, he has me!" FlamePalmon said defiantly. StarRenamon smiled and told him.

"Don't worry, we got it. Just get that soda." They shook hands and then Lei got up, removing his compressed backpack off of his back as he went to the restroom to change into a better outfit. When the door closed, StarRenamon shouted back.

"And don't forget to get us one too!"

Veemon leaned over the kitchen table in the Motimya apartment with a variety of maps spread out across the wooden surface, sunlight flooding the room with it's light from an open window. A serious look was on his face as his eyes ran over small red circles and other symbols written on the maps. The one he was looking at most recently, on top of the others, was one of the city of Tokyo. He hummed in thought and scratched out one of the markings with a red pen, drawing another one similar to it in another section of the city. Just as he finished writing, Matt Ishita entered the kitchen, kneeling beside the chair the blue Digimon was standing on. He popped the cap onto the pen and turned to the kneeling Digidestined with a sigh of frustration.

"What is it, number 4?"

"Numbers 14, 20 and 21 has been acquired, my lord. 9 and 3 are mobilizing to take 13, 16, and 6."

"Excellent." Veemon quirked a smile.

"Err... However, we have reports from number 8 that 5, 12 and 11 have mobilized in the direction of the Inoue drug store."

"Hmm... They're becoming quite a nuisance to us..." Veemon hissed softly, drumming his claws along the table, "I'll deal with them myself."

"You mean...?"

"Yes, number 4, they're more trouble than their worth to bring to our cause. I'm afraid they will have to be terminated. Their behavior would be far too risky to the collective." Veemon tossed the pen on the table and hopped down from the chair, heading to the door. He stopped and turned to Matt.

"Tell 9 and 3, search out number 16, 13 and 7. Leave Number six to me. I'll deal with him myself once I'm finished." Veemon left the room. Matt nodded and rose to organize the mess of maps.

Outside the apartment unknown to Veemon was a dark furred feline, who was listening to their progress.

-Hmmm... So this is what Coren and Sari were talking about. I wonder who they are. Perhaps that Gatomon knows.- She looked down with her bright yellow eyes as she said this and saw Gatomon leaving the apartment, a little slide in her step as her body didn't fully recover yet, but she is now on another mission and was heading out to finish it. DarkTailmon jumped down and landed in a nearby tree. Gatomon heard the noise and jumped to an attack position.

"I guess you would be a little jumpy, wouldn't you Number three? Being molested quite a bit were you earlier today?" A surprised look came over Gatomon's furry face. DarkTailmon jumped down to the ground and presented herself to Gatomon, the black feline's silver tail ring a pale reflection of the white's gold one.

"You're wondering how I know this?" DarkTailmon asked the surprised Gatomon. She walks toward Gatomon. "I know a lot of things, that Veemon is Number one, Matt is Number Four, among others." Thinking this may be a trick of that Number Six, Gatomon tries to pounce on her, claws ready. DarkTailmon let herself be pinned to the ground. Gatomon gave her a sly smile, like she caught a mouse.

"How do you know this?" She asked matter of factly. DarkTailmon smiled back and wrapped her long tail around Gatomon's neck. Gagging, she is held up for a moment before she was slammed to the ground.

"But... " DarkTailmon scratches her chin, ignoring Gatomon's question. "I seem not to know who Six, Sixteen, Thirteen, Seven, Five... " She counted each off with a claw on her glove. Gatomon was sitting up. "Eleven and Twelve are. Could you tell me?" The grin on DarkTailmon's face was full of evil as her eyes flashed momentarily with her own Cat's Eye Hypnosis. Gatomon told her everything she knew about them. After Gatomon finished, DarkTailmon said to her with another flash of her Hypnosis.

"One more thing, I was never here." And jumped off. Gatomon blinked a couple of times and shook her head. Not knowing what happened, except what was relayed to her by Matt, she continued to walk out to the main street, Tai meeting up with her along the way to Izzy‘s place.

End of Chapter 5