DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon. Enjoy.

"You what!?!" Matt frantically shook Tai, not believing what he was being told. Tai broke free of Matt's grip and brushed the dust off of his shirt.

"I told you already: we can't find TK. He didn't return with the rest of them. Izzy's trying to find him, but no luck." The younger digidestined sat huddled in the far corner of the room in silence, noone having the courage to say a word. Tai sighed.

"Look, you go and help Izzy track him down, while I get word to the others." Matt took a deep breath and nodded. While Tai got on the phone to contact the rest of the older digidestined, Izzy was working frantically at the computer, trying desperately to find out where T.K. was, but he wasn't having any luck, and having Matt looking over his shoulder didn't help matters.

Izzy groaned in despair and smashed his fists against the table. He turned to Matt.

"I'm sorry Matt. There's nothing more I can do. When the youngsters defeated MaloMyotismon, the digital gate was permanently closed. I have no way of getting back into, or even searching the Digital World. It's over." Matt gritted his teeth.

"No! I won't accept that! Keep searching!" Izzy shook his head.

"It would just be a waste of time and resources." The veins in Matt's neck strained as he clenched and unclenched his jaw.

"Are you saying we should just leave him there!?!" Izzy sighed.

"No. I'm saying that we can't do anything right now. We have to wait and hope that the digital gate opens again. Unfortunately, with the Digital World's chronometer in synchronous alignment with our world, the time will pass the same for him as it does for us. We just have to pray that a passage opens soon." Kari, having overheard the conversation, began sobbing into her hands in despair. Davis started to reach out his hand to comfort her, paused and, with a sigh, returned his hand to his knee. Tai returned to the room slowly.

"Any luck?" he asked hopefully. Izzy shook his head. "Damn!" Tai exclaimed. He turned to Matt. "I called the others and told them the news. They're praying for him to come back, but they can't do anything more." He turned so that he could face the younger digidestined as well. "We all need to go home and get some rest. We'll start fresh tomorrow. Thankfully, school doesn't start for another week. Until then, our cover story is that TK is staying at Davis' house. Is that clear?" Everyone in the room nodded, and filed out, with Matt and Tai staying behind.

"I should have been there to protect him!" Matt exclaimed brokenly. Tai put a hand on his shoulder.

"TK's old enough to take care of himself, Matt. Besides, we better damn well hope that he can hold on until we can get him home."


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