Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ By My Decision ❯ Jenrya and Juri ( Chapter 8 )

[Notes:

BMD's not dead, no-hooh… far from it, really. I just had too much fun this summer. Needless to say I'm back in school, senior year, yay, I have a job, more yay. It's a lot less intrusive than I thought it'd be though, so I shouldn't have big delays like this throughout the rest of this year. ^_^;

Anyway… this chapter is evil. I mean, it's REALLY REALLY EVIL. If you think about it too hard, something will surely break down in your brain. I know it does it to me when I try rereading the whole thing, and it's MY writing. @_@; I dunno… it's just an uncommonly evil chapter which just got so deep that it's hardly sane now. In fact, it's… um, not sane at all. But it is torture-ful! And a very plot-essential chapter, yes. So unfortunately, reading it is a must! Only Juri and Jenrya (and… a tad of Renamon and Terriermon later on) are in here this time. So if you wanted something Jurato-ish, Jenkato-ish, or Ruki/Ryo/Hirokazu-ish… I'm saving that all for the next chapter. Because this one was a brain numbing bitch and I hope it goes to hell. I will say right here and now that nothing romantic goes on in here. ^_^;; This is SIMPLY just a big chapter in which Juri and Jenrya's relationship in general starts coming out into the open and will develop into something more screwed up as the chapters progress. I'd like to think it IS at least one step up on all the pretend Jenjuri crap 98% of the Rukato authors unleash upon the world. ^^; But I wouldn't know. My head hurts from getting through all this. Like, thank god for ABCFamily deciding to air Tamers again so I'd get jump-kicked into finally finishing this.

But… yes. Try not to get too deep into this one. It'll give you head explodey. Then you'll understand later on why Juri and Jenrya are going so nuts. Because you would too. @_@; I know I would. Satanic head bitey all the way. And I do promise to have something more worthwhile on EVERYONE'S part in BMD9 (I miss writing Takato, dammit…^^). Just won't say when that part in particular will be out. Just staaaaay with me people~! It might not seem like it sometimes because I take my goddamned time a lot, but I DO intend to finish this! So enjoy this until it gives you a massive, bleeding brain tumor!]

[POV - Nobody]

By now, Jenrya had given up trying to figure out where he was at the moment. From all his experiences with both Earth and the Digital World, there had surely been no place quite as dark, bleak, and utterly hopeless as this. Of course, it didn't add up as to how he got into this world in the first place; all he was doing originally was stepping outside for a breath of fresh air. Being held captive in his overheated bedroom made him eager to escape and cool off the first chance he got. Naturally, his parents and siblings were far too paranoid to just let him go wherever he wanted… it hadn't yet even been a day since Jenrya regained his consciousness. They insisted he stayed home from school today, backing up their decision by telling him that Takato hadn't recovered yet, and so he wouldn't see him there anyway.

Like Takato, Jenrya had found himself coming up empty when it came to recalling last night's events. He well enough remembered how mad he was over Rinchei, and moreso Jaarin… but anything about freezing to death in a lake wasn't making its presence known in his memory. It was particularly odd, as Jenrya knew he had no problems with his long and short-term memory… why would he forget such a life-threatening event in his life?

That was, more or less, one of the major reasons Jenrya chose to step outside when nobody was around to witness it, and tattle on Janyuu and Mayumi. He felt he needed the fresh air to clear his head… as he was still reasonably a little ill from such a severe case of pneumonia, and god knows what else. But ever since his Tamer adventures ended, Jenrya found it a little strange that he was suddenly involved in some situation with a purely innocent festival, that almost cost him his life, as well as Takato's. He wasn't Hirokazu; nobody who would just fling themselves into a life-threatening event. Jenrya was smarter than that… if he almost died, there'd be a good reason for how it would've happened.

Yet the details were drawing up as blanks in Jenrya's head.

It took a little time… but eventually after some hard, long time of silence and thinking, it seemed as if some form of detail was starting to regain form in his memory. It was very slight, and most likely not an important detail at all in the long run, but it was something at the very least.

And then, the darkness came, as if day was passing into night naturally, but fast-forwarded. When the sun was hidden by the hills and the various skyscrapers of Shinjuku, Jenrya was not met by a usual calm night-time setting. The front door, the hallway lining the apartments, the apartment building itself… and all of the natural surroundings of the city that Jenrya had practically grown up with… all of it faded into a hazy nothingness. Black, maroon, and royal purple… these were the only colors available in the new setting.

Jenrya only briefly shouted, for he realized when his voice almost immediately bounced back at him in an echo, and therefore could draw the one disturbing conclusion of his status: he was completely alone in this dimension.

The echo range concerned Jenrya, leading him to believe he was in a tightly concealed trap. And yet, the moment he thought that, a solid white lined vertical row of squares appeared before him, starting right where he stood. With no proper lighting, and every angle of this dimension looking exactly the same, Jenrya couldn't make heads or tails of anything. But now with the existence of the simplistic pathway, he could understand that it was somewhat of a tunnel, going straight ahead in one direction. As far as he could see, there was no fabled 'light at the end of the tunnel', but logic told him anything was better than standing around in nothing.

So cautiously, Jenrya strolled down the pathway, and as he kept observing his new unworldly surroundings from left to right, he realized that nothing was changing at all. The lighting and overall pattern of the background remained constant and repeating no matter how far he walked, or which angle he looked in. After a certain amount of time, Jenrya reached the end of the path, where the lined squares promptly cut off. There was no wall… just the path continuing along. It was confusing for Jenrya… unsure whether or not to press on, or wait right at the end of the trail and see if something would happen.

He did the wise thing and waited… ever so patiently, as he always did. But when his patience wore thin from aggravation in this new, lonely world, Jenrya scoffed at the idea of staying any longer, and proceeded beyond the given path.

And that's when the darkness came like a snap. Jenrya was then surrounded in total darkness.

During this quiet time, he was given more time to think about the situation with him, Takato, and the festival… after all, with no one around to say anything, and there was NOTHING to observe now, Jenrya figured he might as well… think of something that might get him somewhere.

That's when he heard the voice. The sickeningly putrid, yet all too familiar accompanying voice.

Jenrya tried to remain calm… he really did. But the patronizing tone of the voice was intensely grating on his nerves, and by now he was ready to do anything just to get the hell out. Back home… back to his family, and friends.

He insisted to end the darkness, despite the voice's warnings. He wanted to see just what was so horrible. What was worth giving up all his determination for going home. And finally, when he saw… where he had been this whole time, Jenrya really WISHED he'd think 'I shouldn't be such a smartass sometimes.' but instead…

Instead… he had thought, 'Th… this place feels so familiar…'

The familiar swirled colors of black, maroon and purple had made a return. This time he was accompanied with some lightning, making it seem like he was in a room for once… and all to make him more 'comfy' was a batch of slippery, sticky, steaming wet black slime, from the floor, thin and thick trails alike escalating to the ceiling. Jenrya himself was nowhere near floor level… he was stuck right in the middle, held securely by said slime. The slick, oily strands of slime clung faithfully to Jenrya's legs, arms, torso, and neck as if it were a sling. All right against a larger tower of slime, the main one of the batch.

Jenrya was covered. His legs could only twitch around, his arms were stiffly bounded within the slime, only allowing his fingers to squirm around uselessly, as Jenrya realized in his position, he couldn't simply rip the slime off from him. His torso was only partially covered at a diagonal angle, but he didn't even need to be covered that much… his body refused to move against the material holding him captive.

It was sickening… yet for some reason Jenrya couldn't exactly feel overly panicked about anything. Somehow, he had a feeling he'd be getting out of this alive and unscathed… physically anyway. He wasn't quite sure about his mental state… he already felt like it was being manipulated somehow. However, he had no idea how to stop it…

"Look, just don't fight it. You'll be fine."

Jenrya snapped from his trance and looked ahead. Hovering at his level was a rather pathetically built body made entirely of some gaseous black material. It didn't really have enough detail to it to look like anybody… but it almost seemed human. Almost.

"So," Jenrya began, with an all-too cynical and annoyed look to his face. "You expected me to be incapable of looking at this? It's the exact same place I was at already!" He attempted to make some attempt at moving in the captive slime, but it was clear he wasn't going anywhere. "Except I have all of… whatever this is on me."

"So you don't fear the true essence of darkness?"

"I don't see what's so scary about it, honestly," Jenrya admitted, examining it. He was sure it didn't scare him… but deep inside himself, Jenrya knew somehow it was inwardly affecting him. Something didn't feel right at all. But it wasn't fear Jenrya was plagued with… he didn't know what else it could've been, however. "But it's really sickening. Can you get me out?"

"Why would I do that?"

That remark pissed Jenrya off. It was sassy and incriminating to him… and his patience was just about empty at this point "Because you obviously thought you could scare me with this cheap 'darkness' and as it turns out, it didn't work. Now if you're done, I'd like to get back home."

"And how exactly would you know that I only did this to scare you?" The figure's eyes narrowed… if it had a discernible mouth, it probably would've been smirking. "For all you know, I could've just put you in radioactive substances and mutated you into a monster. I could just be leaving you hanging there to starve you, or better yet it could be a perfect bound position for you so I could just kill you on the spot. You know how logical it is, as I am a total stranger to you. Yet, you initially think I'm only doing this to scare you?"

A dull pain coursed into Jenrya's mind, as he couldn't believe this disfigured blob of smoke was actually meaning to have some sort of logical conversation with him. He obviously didn't look forward to arguing his way out of this; he was still feeling a little sick and he'd kill to be back in his bed now. But as it was… he realized he was practically at this figure's mercy. Until he found a way to break free from his grotesque prison, he'd probably have to hang around for just a while longer.

"You didn't kill me when you had the chance to earlier," Jenrya admitted, casting his eyes away from the patronizing figure. "Unless you're some kind of sadist, I'm guessing you wanted me to be here for a reason. So can you just get to the point…?"

The figure didn't seem to care much for Jenrya's well being as it was. Then again, as little detailed it was, there probably would've been no conceivable way for it to show a form of emotion anyway. "It's your own fault, don't you see? It wasn't me who brought you to this miserable hellhole. You brought yourself here. Entirely, a self-inflicted situation." The tone of the figure's voice was scarily familiar. It harkened back to a popular Ruki-style tone: demeaning. That was the only like quality to Jenrya's reluctant ally, however; the voice was easily a male's.

"That doesn't make ANY sense at all," Jenrya angrily spat out, as he felt deeply offended for even hearing how this rotten mass of nothingness was trying to twist around this conversation and making it out to be his fault. And he was right. It didn't make sense. Jenrya had no idea such a place of this even existed… heaven forbid he'd ever want to visit it! "All I did was go outside to clear my head… I wasn't secretly wishing to be thrown into THIS stupid pithole, I was trying to remember how I almost died this past weekend! Is that so wrong?!"

"This is exactly why you're in this position." The figure said oh-so casually, like he expected Jenrya to know what would happen if he dared try to recall… "It frustrates you, doesn't it? Because no matter how hard you try… you have no hope whatsoever of recalling what happened on the night of that festival."

"I don't have to listen to you trying to shoot me down when I've barely had a chance to try," Jenrya said with a snarl, as he put more effort into attempting to move his limbs. He was barely faring any better than he had at the beginning. "But I would like to know what the HELL you are, sneaking around, stealing me off the streets practically, pretending you know everything about me and all what's going on here…"

Jenrya's loathsome company cut him off before he could finish the sentence. "What's the harm in not believing me? I've already made it clear that I'm not here to harm you. After all… if I didn't know you, like you don't think I do… I suppose I'd have to be some kind of fantastical psychic to… already know about your night in the festival." There was a short, but agonizing pause as Jenrya, realizing this, wasn't ready to reply… "Down to the very last detail."

The thought of this absolute stranger knowing what had happened when Jenrya himself didn't… nor anybody else for that matter… he frantically shook his head, trying to eliminate any ounce of sense the earlier theory had now made. "Y-you're a liar! How could you know ANYTHING that happened between me and my friends?! Who ARE you?!"

The figure seemed to cast its deformed face to the side now. "I don't think you're ready for that kind of enlightenment yet… come to think of it, I don't think you're ready for anything… not at this point." The averted gaze was suddenly looking right into Jenrya's face again. "I'm not expecting you to accept this right now… but you can't handle the truth very well."

"Will you stop acting like you know me?" Jenrya asked impatiently, narrowing his eyes… looking utterly annoyed. "Because you don't! Not many people do…!" He was riled up from saying that, realizing just now how true his words seemed to be… Jenrya wasn't sure he was comfortable with the fact that barely anyone knew him that well. It didn't seem to bother him too much in the past… but now…

… it seemed to hurt.

"You're… right on that, at least," the figure credited, moving ever so slightly closer to his prisoner. "It's true; not many people know the real Lee Jenrya. How could they… you've hardly opened up to anyone your entire life. Even to your own gigantic family… a busy, hardworking father, a mother that has the daily task of raising her two sons and two daughters the best way she can to ensure their full, well-lived lives…" Cautiously, it placed a hand (though it looked more like a stubbed arm) on the greasy, dark slime that kept Jenrya securely in place. It was very subtle… but the slime emitted a slight (but brief) glow upon the figure's touch. Jenrya was too deep in thought, letting the figure's words course through his mind… he barely noticed what was happening.

"And what have you given to your family? You well enough know… you were too afraid to stand out after you accidentally hurt one of your neighbors. You stayed in the background since that event, not ever daring to assert yourself… what few times you did, it only caused trouble."

Jenrya slumped… his own mind torn between how accurate these words on his history were, and how on earth this disrespectful blob would just magically know this. 'W…why is he so right about this…?' He thought… as the angst inside him was balling up and swelling by now. 'How could he know? It's… it's like he's not even reading my mind… he just automatically knows it! As if my mind were… were…'

"My own?"

Eyes widened, beads of sweat well into formation… Jenrya was instantly shocked back into reality with those two words from his mysterious acquaintance.

"You…"

The figure almost seemed offended itself. "Please, don't be so rude to interrupt me with your nagging little thoughts. As I said… you didn't feel comfortable being an active member of your own family. Rinchei and Jaarin had already excelled at sports and generally being popular. Even your little sister, Shuichon… you're three years her senior, yet she's already one step ahead of you; she practically rules her own grade at school. Surely, you've long been at the top of your grade when it comes to academics… but when you're intensely popular, high grades are a staple in the strengths of those gifted." There was another pause. "Until your Digimon came, you were no more special than your brother and sisters. You were the one lacking."

"God, just… please… why are you telling me this?" Jenrya pleaded. His eyes were wide and watering with the depressing memories coming back to haunt him. "What do you want from me…? I don't CARE how you know this anymore… my past life ISN'T what I'm having memory issues with right now, thank you very much! I know I'm practically the black sheep of my own family! I KNOW I was a miserable, terrible person when I was younger! But what is this all FOR? What are you trying to prove?!"

There was no mercy to be had just yet; the figure almost completely ignored the questioning. "You saved the world… but by then you weren't so special. Shuichon had her own Digimon. Rinchei and Jaarin were obviously well off enough to not need their own… you know how it didn't affect them to know that they weren't going to be Tamers like their kid siblings. They've grown and moved on… and knowing that you couldn't stand out anymore just from being a Tamer… you went back to where you were before. After the D-Reaper and Parasimon… you've returned back into your niche. You don't care if anything else ever shoves you out of it again… because you're not even worth being recognized. You never were."

Jenrya direly wanted his arms to be free at least. He couldn't face this patronizing shadow blob now… his silvery eyes had not looked this emotionally killed in ages. They were well beyond the stage of welling up with tears… but Jenrya relentlessly held back on officially crying. He clenched his eyes shut and refused to show his entire face to the figure by bowing his head down as far as it would go. His limbs were twitching, though they still had no way of going anywhere…

"Why won't you stop…?" He managed out through his quick, panicked breaths. "What… do I have to do to get you to SHUT UP?! Tell me WHAT!"

"It's a very simple matter," the figure said, as if he expected Jenrya to understand the motives all along. "You want to know what happened to you and your friend at the festival, don't you?" It heard no verbal response, just frustrated sniffling and panting from the other side. "Don't you?" The figure asked a little louder.

"Of COURSE I do!!" Jenrya practically screamed. "GOD! Isn't that obvious?!"

"And I recall you wanting to know what this place is… who I am, and why you're here."

"Naturally!"

The figure just sighed in its own frustration. "Then I say that you can't handle the truth… you start telling me I'm full of it… and then I merely talk about some events in your past life, events that you know by heart because they've tortured you every day of your life… and look at you now. You can't even handle acknowledging that."

Jenrya could tell where this stranger was going with the explanation. He simply didn't deserve to know yet, apparently. And the fact that he didn't was just killing him inside…

"And you think I'm going to break any more news to you? You should see yourself in a mirror right now. If I were you…" the figure paused again… this time Jenrya noticed that this was an awkward place to pause at, too. "… Heh, if I were you, I would like to think I'd be better off just not knowing what happened. Some knowledge just isn't worth completely losing your mind over. Sure, it might be nice to know just what the hell happened that almost made you and Takato lose your lives, but the point is… you aren't ready to come to terms with the how and why. You aren't ready to know who I am, Lee Jenrya. Until you can learn how to cope with changes in your life, you're much better off being oblivious to what's happening around you right now."

"So what's the point of KEEPING ME HERE FOR?!" Jenrya shouted out, full of unwilling rage… as if he had trouble admitting even to himself that he probably couldn't handle the truth. "You WON'T tell me anything regarding why I'm even here in the first place. Naturally I'd be insistent to get my answers to the very end…" Jenrya seemed to sink more into the captive slime… and just remembering those disgusting binds still existed all over him seemed to finally just make Jenrya lose it in general. He lifted his head in order to meet this figure face to face, even if it lacked a discernible one.

He opened his eyes, each unleashing a single tear stream at the moment. His gray eyes, despite their neutral tone, almost looked on fire now.

"But right now… I just WANT to go home!! This is ALL probably just some fucked up dream anyway, because if this really was happening to me, you can make DAMN sure that I wouldn't be hanging here in your grotesque little prison for as long as I've been!"

The figure observed his captive with the utmost silence… almost as if he expected this sudden violent reaction.

"I don't care how much you happen to know about my life… you DON'T know me, and all I can say in your case is that you're an arrogant snot with NO fucking idea whatsoever how to live your own life!" Jenrya was definitely no longer himself… sweating intensely, forming fists and acting as if he'd be able to break out of the slime all on his own. His eyes were murderously focused on his opponent… the well-mannered, mild-tempered Jenrya had snapped. If only it could've been from a frivolous situation akin to the time where he argued with Shuichon in the Digital World. Instead, it was from someone that barely resembled a human being, who practically had Jenrya at his mercy, and reveled in this fact by mocking every single aspect of his life.

While Jenrya could only hang there and listen to every painstakingly accurate word.

"You think I don't even deserve to live, how selfish of you."

Momentarily, Jenrya was stunned. This mockery of a human form had just guessed what he was going to say next… and couldn't guess more correctly. The surprise in Jenrya's face once more faded into raw hatred.

Despite the increasing tension from this debate, the figure did not look phased in the least. "In any case, you don't need to rush yourself right now with knowing all there is to know about your current problem. If you search deep inside your heart… into your very soul, you're going to find your answer in due time."

Cheesy and cliché as it sounded, Jenrya found himself seeing logic in the statement…

"However, you're not even close to ready to finding out… much less even capable of getting the answer from your own memory. But you don't need to worry. Because this isn't the last time you'll be here with me." Limited at the figure's emotions were, it almost seemed delighted saying that Jenrya would be visiting again. "In fact, I'm sure it won't be long before I see you here very soon for a second try. Things are going to feel very different for you when you return home today, Lee Jenrya. You can consider this a promise."

Jenrya was doing everything in his power to keep himself from exploding in a fit of rage once again. The best he could manage was a straightforward death glare through his clenched teeth right at the floating body mass. He couldn't even bring himself to form words to this obvious fraud of a human being.

The figure itself only tsked, sensing the boy's mental death wishes. "One thing you might want to consider: it's awfully contradicting of a pacifist like you to suddenly wish a total stranger like me to be dead… for no reason at all."

That had done it. Jenrya's rage was instantly changed into broken uncertainty. So many times today this figure has practically read his mind as if it was a giant open book for him to see… he was dying to know who this was, doing such a horrible thing… but once more, what little confidence Jenrya still had was shot down when he did realize that he wasn't ready to know anything yet. Not even so much as the figure's name. If it had one.

Finally, the body of dark gaseous material started floating backwards, away from Jenrya until he was barely visible. Despite this, this entire realm was defying every law of physics it could, and Jenrya could still clearly hear the figure's last words, as a sudden beam of light shone from the top of the domain. He was too weary to tell, but it almost seemed to Jenrya as if he was moving up towards the light, though he was still as trapped as ever in the slime…

Before Jenrya was consumed into a white nothingness… he could only hear one last statement from the only one who was there to talk to him during his time in the most twisted world ever.

"Know this: You may not know anything yet on what happened… but always stay on your feet, Lee Jenrya. Above all else… follow your gut instinct. For it's only your gut instinct that truly knows everything at this point. … And it's your only hope for you not doing something you'll later regret."

[POV - Nobody]

Juri had no idea how long she'd been running now… but what more could she do outside of running until she couldn't run anymore? She soon realized it didn't matter which way she ran; all directions were giving her the same thing: nothing. Everything was the same, one-dimensional as always, black surroundings with only a white outline tiled pathway.

But Juri knew anything was better than just standing around and doing nothing at all. It wasn't like there was anything to analyze, and there were certainly no obvious openings for a possible escape. If there was any chance of an escape at all, Juri well knew that she'd have to find it herself. All the while, however… she couldn't stop thinking about her situation aside from the immediate one. Takato was sicker than ever, Jenrya's disappeared… and Juri couldn't do anything to help them until she was able to find her way back home… or at the very least, back into her own world. It was obvious; she wasn't in Shinjuku anymore.

"It's like it doesn't matter where I go, and how much I keep going," Juri sighed to herself, as she slowed to a stop, feeling fatigue rear its ugly head. It was time to rest, and catch her breath. "It's all been the same thing since I got here… isn't there any way out of this?"

With no living soul to answer her question, Juri's anxiety could only grow. Her only options were quite simple: give up, or keep going. But she didn't know just how much more she could take. How was she going to be able to tell when she was doing the right or wrong thing? What could possibly signal such a thing in this world? A world where length was meaningless and puppets could talk? How was Juri going to know how to do things?

One plus one could equal fish in this world, for all she knew!

"… And puppets could talk!" Juri repeated that part of her thought pattern. Her eyes lit up, but by no means in a positive way. "I… I dropped mine a while ago! … I forgot to pick him up…"

"Bark bark bark! This was a bad thing for Juri to do!"

Upon hearing another voice, Juri quickly turned around, to find her Puppet floating on its own again. Its eyes were glowing, just like last time. However, this time, it oddly didn't seem as sinister.

"Abandoning me, your lifelong partner. I always listened to your problems! And this is how I'm repaid?"

For a little while, Juri wasn't sure how to respond. After all, she was talking with her Puppet… something she'd had ages ago for self-help issues after her mother died. Since then, she'd never had the heart to part with it… nonetheless, Juri wasn't crazy. She knew something odd was going on if her own Puppet suddenly had the ability to really converse with her.

"BAD!" The Puppet chanted. "You've totally hurt my feelings from your neglect! How do you like them apples?!"

By now, Juri was incapable of looking anything but completely frightened. Despite it, she still remained calm within herself. "W-well… how about we talk about this at a later time? Like, when… we find a way out of here? I don't know about you, but I don't want to stay in this place forever." She looked once more at her surroundings… as they were still remaining the same. It was like an endless maze of the same thing.

"And… I think until we get some real help, I think we are doomed to stay here forever…"

"Have you given up hope on escaping on your own?" The Puppet inquired.

"Put yourself in my shoes," Juri challenged, looking to her feet. "There's nobody else here. This world defies every physical law of Earth, so I doubt we're even there anymore. It doesn't matter which way I run, or how long I keep going in a particular direction, everything's the same. I'm sure you've realized this, but have you noticed that even though I can still move around freely, it looks like I'm going absolutely nowhere at all?"

The Puppet almost seemed to nod. "You probably are going nowhere. So there's no chance of finding an exit anywhere."

"Look, the way things here work may be screwed up beyond reason, but I'm still pinned down here by Earth's laws," Juri reminded. "It's not like I can just fly around here, or walk on walls, or just magically defy everything like this place has managed to. It's like I wasn't meant to be here. If I can't escape by walking, then I'd be safe to assume that I'm going to be here forever, you know!"

"So you've already tried," her Puppet noted. "I imagine it does seem hopeless now, then?"

"You're obviously not helping," Juri muttered, sitting down and leaning against her risen knees. "I've tried everything… everything that's come to my mind so far. Nothing matters anymore… how long have we been here again?"

"There's really no way of telling. The rules of time apparently don't apply here either."

Juri sighed in frustration. "And I haven't seen Jenrya at all…" She immediately eyed her Puppet. "In fact, it was you who said I'd find him here! You said if I could find him, he'd take me out of this stupid place and back home!"

"Oh, now you're accusing me?" The Puppet whined. "That's not like you, Juri. Not like you at all."

"There's obviously someone else here if you were able to get possessed…"

The Puppet gasped, almost sounding hurt. "H-how could you! Treating me like I don't exist… that I don't have my own soul…"

"PLEASE," Juri interrupted as loudly as she could, looking nothing but aggravated. "I'm tired of this game. I've moved on from my problems years ago… I don't need all this just to remind me of 'darkness' or whatever. If Jenrya-chan's really here, I want to find him, and get out of here. Is that just too much to ask?!"

"If you're certain you want to leave…"

"Of course I do!!" Juri practically shouted. "Why would I want to stay here?!"

"You almost gave up hope right then and there before I showed up," The Puppet pointed out. "You already look like you're throwing in the towel. Are you solely relying on me to help you out of this place?" Despite these emotional responses the Puppet was throwing at Juri, it was still retaining the same dead, soul-less expression it always had, minus the glowing eyes.

"You're all I've got," Juri whispered. "Otherwise, what choice do I have…? I'm practically doomed if I don't have any help… I'll just be here forever…"

"Because you have no hope for yourself…" The Puppet whispered back.

This made Juri snap out of her depression and stare at her Puppet. "Huh…?"

There was no response, but finally, some changes were taking place. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very promising change. Overall, things were getting darker… now to the point where it obscured Juri's vision. Despite being in a dimension where it was completely black and not much else, things seemed well enough illuminated to where she could see herself just fine, and also now her Puppet. Now that was no longer the case… almost everything seemed dark now.

Juri could no longer see The Puppet. She pulled out her hand and noted that she could still see that… only because the hand was outlined simply in yellow. Looking herself over, Juri realized she herself was more or less an outline, just like her surroundings, which by now had vanished.

"W-what…?" She wondered out loud, standing up and actively looking around. "Where did you go?!"

When she heard no answer, Juri's shoulders slumped. … She was all alone again. Her situation only seemed to get worse; now she had no way of telling how to get anywhere in addition to not even being able to go anywhere in the first place.

"I guess this is it for me," Juri assumed with a heavy sigh.

A bright, green light suddenly flashed in front of her. Juri seemed almost stunned as she let that moment pass, and the light eventually seemed to soak right into the darkness, leaving a dull green color residue in her background… this was indeed the moment Juri was looking for.

She finally knew where she had to go.

And thus, she ran towards the direction of the light, approaching an even bolder green background the further she went. Noting this, Juri had a feeling about what she'd find at the end of the path…

[POV - Nobody]

"Jen-chan…!"

The sound of a familiar voice stuck out like a sore thumb in Jenrya's hearing. He opened his eyes, forced himself to rise up so he was at least sitting up… it was apparent that he'd been unconscious for some amount of time. He wasn't sure how he was feeling at the moment… at one end, he felt great relief, almost excitement that he thought he'd heard Juri's voice. On the other hand… the memories of what he'd just been through struck back with a vengeance. Jenrya looked around, noticing that he wasn't where he was before… this was a different place. But it still wasn't home.

Briefly, he tried to check back in his memory to see if he remembered anything at all from the festival… and as the dark, mocking figure promised, Jenrya was coming up empty as usual. Still yet, this was brief… by the time this registered in Jenrya's mind, he was met with an immediate headache. It wasn't severe, but it was certainly unexpected… Jenrya grasped at his head with one hand, and used his other to keep himself from falling down. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, and hoped the pain would eventually just dull out… there wasn't much for him to see anyway. Just a black background, plain and simple, with occasional splatters of illuminating green.

"Jen-chan!"

Jenrya's eyes shot open again, the shock of hearing the voice almost sent another wave of pain through his head.

"J… Juri?!" He called back in surprise, now having no trouble ignoring his headache, and even standing up and looking around himself in hopes of finding his friend right there by him. No such luck, yet… but he wasn't giving up already. "Juri, where are you?!"

Jenrya didn't get a quick response to his calls… confusion once again was building up inside his mind, just one of many emotions he experienced while talking to the mysterious wannabe-person. 'What, am I imagining things now? I'm not surprised…' Jenrya thought sullenly. 'I must be an idiot to think I'd get out of this mess so easily.'

Just to keep the hope alive, though, Jenrya started to walk, thinking maybe Juri was nearby and it was just too dark to see her. Perhaps it was too dark for her to find him? It didn't hurt to try… however, it wasn't too long before Jenrya realized that his surroundings weren't moving along with him. So was he really even getting anywhere? He himself could move around just fine…

"Juri!" Jenrya shouted out again, as loud as his lungs would allow him to. … It probably wasn't a good idea, because after doing this just a few more times, fatigue took over Jenrya quickly… now he was feeling similar to how he was when he just woke up from his coma. Ill in the stomach, pain in his head… in addition to feeling feverish and having a difficulty with breathing normally.

The nagging thoughts of what the mysterious figure had told him were pecking at his logic, too… and now Jenrya was feeling overwhelmed.

'What's going on…?' he wondered pitifully. 'Why does this keep happening to me…? What's wrong with me?! ' It was a definite overload, Jenrya knew. He wouldn't be able to keep on going like this… his mind was too occupied with trying to make sense of what had happened just recently, what had happened at the festival, why his emotions were so scrambled now…

… Not to mention he still needed to figure out how to get home. Would anyone understand his excuse of why he left his home without permission from his family?

It was just too much for him right now.

Under the pressure, Jenrya finally felt crushed to beyond his limits. And thus, he collapsed.

"JENRYA!"

… He was this close to passing out again.

"J… Ju…"

"Oh god… a-are you okay?!"

Jenrya put his health at the end of the priority list for now. He was sure Juri was with him now… "Juri…"

Juri knelt down and watched in anticipation as Jenrya slowly cracked his eyes open, and raised himself to sit up, so he could be at her level. Juri's eyes were welling up with tears, looking nothing but absolutely scaredfor Jenrya… as he really looked like he was on his last legs.

Jenrya shook his head a bit, trying to clear up any final misconceptions… he wanted to be sure that he wasn't just imagining things this time. And, much to his overwhelmed relief… he was finally right. The yellow-outlined Juri suddenly looked normal now… and seeing her on the brink of sobbing, Jenrya felt his eyes ready to leak any moment now as well.

As soon as Jenrya was stable with sitting up… Juri didn't waste any time.

She flew into his arms and sobbed.

The sudden impact almost knocked Jenrya right onto his back… but this wasn't a time to show off how weak he was at this point, he decided. He tried to look as strong for her as he could in his condition, and gratefully accepted Juri by resting his arms around her back, securing her into his grip. Still, though, Jenrya refused to outright sob along with Juri… his eyes were flooding over, definitely… but no sound escaped his lips. Forecefully, he pent it up inside him now, only being able to think about what kind of torture Juri just had to go through to get like this…

After the D-Reaper was defeated, Juri accepted her losses and moved on. She wasn't the type to cry and look so miserable unless something terrible happened to her, these days. Jenrya saw his own pain and frustration reflected in Juri's expressions… so he knew Juri had just gone through as much hell as he had, if not more. Hearing her sobbing over his weak body had Jenrya almost scared for her… scared for imagining her in all the sickening situations he himself were recently in.

Questions still needed to be answered, though. The how and why. Especially since there was no way Juri could've gotten here through the same circumstances as Jenrya… she wasn't the one who had lost memories of near-death experiences.

"I… I'm so relieved," Juri sputtered, attempting to put an end to her sobbing. It was stressful to do, however… the more she tried to stop, the tighter she held onto Jenrya. "I thought he was lying for sure… and I really thought I was trapped here forever, Jenrya…"

This made Jenrya more than concerned. More than anything, frightened… "W-wait… he?"

"That's right…"

"Who are you talking about?" Jenrya asked, slowly trying to pull away from Juri, and fiercely wiping his own eyes, rubbing out any trace of tears in them. "Wh-what did he say to you…?"

"Someone, or something started possessing my puppet," Juri replied, her head slumped after releasing her old on her friend. "He… he kept saying things about how everything was hopeless, and how I was doomed to be here forever, and how it was all Takato's fault, and then he said you were here and you were doomed too…" She paused, to shudder in reflection of all those hideous words. "I've been trying forever to get out of here, Jen-chan… I really have… but I just couldn't find anything. It was like I was trapped here and I couldn't talk to anyone!" Juri raised her head to look directly to Jenrya. "You know how horrible that would've been?! To be trapped in isolation forever?!"

A sting of guilt nailed Jenrya right in his heart. He was suddenly at full attention, staring fully at Juri in return. Reason being, Jenrya couldn't relate to Juri's plight at all when it came to isolation… he intentionally isolated himself for most of his life before he became a Tamer. In fact, since the Digimon fights had ended, Jenrya had subtly been trying to get right back into that lifestyle now that he wasn't required to work with a bunch of people he barely knew anymore. It was a little different this time, obviously… he had Takato now, so Takato made sure to keep him from completely cutting off his social relations… but still.

Being in a large family made Jenrya long for privacy much more than anyone else he knew. Eternal isolation, to him at least, seemed hardly like anything at all compared to what he went through.

Despite this, Jenrya decided not to comment on that. Juri was all he had right now, and earlier he'd even told Takato how much he wanted to get to know her better… just so he could at least HAVE a female acquaintance that he wasn't exasperated at half the time.

He decided to avoid the topic altogether. "Did he do anything to you…? I mean, did he hurt you or say something else? I-I just… where were you…?"

"Half the time he was trying to pretend being my puppet," Juri said bitterly. "I… I didn't fall for it, I'm not stupid… but it was all I had to talk to, Jenrya. I figured… if I went along with it, he'd find me a way out of here, or at least get me to you… h-he said some pretty scary things." Her angered expressions changed to fear. "A while ago… he said that you were already 'doomed'. That you already accepted your fate and I was to go down with you, or something… I barely remember it now…"

"Me…? Why would I be doomed?"

"I guess he wasn't lying about that," Juri reconsidered. "After all, I did find you collapsed here, looking like you were going to die or… something…"

"I suppose you can tell I haven't been having a big joyride either," Jenrya said, with the last ounce of sarcasm possible. "Though I can't say my experience wasn't anything like yours…"

Jenrya paused for a moment, suddenly wondering it any time, much less now was a good time to tell Juri just what had happened to him. To the gaseous figure with the evil mocking voice, or the putrid slime that had him bound for what seemed like an eternity; he was beginning to wonder if that actually given him some physical and psychological side-effects in the long run…

"I'm just so happy that you're okay," Juri sighed out, almost happily. "I mean… am I right…? Were you hurt any…? You still don't look very well…"

"Guess I haven't fully recovered from my last big incident," Jenrya assumed, trying to sit up straighter. "I don't really feel that great right now… but it doesn't matter, Juri. I didn't get hurt, but… I remember some voice talking to me about, er…"

Juri's eyes widened. "You heard him too?!"

"Um, yeah," Jenrya responded, looking slightly uneasy as he looked up, now apparently trying to think up a good lie… "He didn't say anything about how doomed I was… in fact, he didn't even mention you, but… er…"

"Don't you remember?" Juri's expressions seemed almost perplexed at Jenrya's nearly avoidant behavior on something so simple as recalling something that just happened. At least, even when she just had to recall the hell she just experienced…

There was a sudden glare on Jenrya's face. His eyes looked nothing but cold and unforgiving… "I almost passed out, OKAY?!" With no forewarning, he slammed a fist onto the floor. "Forgive me if my memory isn't crystal-fucking-clear like yours!!"

Not surprisingly, Juri was stunned. Even to the point where she couldn't utter a word in response…

An uncomfortable amount of time passed before Jenrya realized what he just said, and how he said it. His logic was suddenly frozen, as Jenrya was overcome in his own embarrassment and shame… suddenly his own well being was being questioned to him through his mind. He well knew he's not one to blow up at anyone… not unless it was a highly provocative family member. Juri was anything but that.

She was a friend. Considerably the closest friend he had aside from Takato. And Terriermon, of course.

And he was so close to threatening her.

There was a few more moments of silence… as the fear retreated from Juri far enough to where she wasn't paralyzed with it now. And slowly, she backed away… it was bad enough to get mocked and yelled at by her own Puppet, but Jenrya…? Her last hope for escape? The only friend she had in this dreary place…?

Jenrya immediately extended his hand, the one formerly as an enraged fist, out to her as she drew away. His expressions were back to his soft, sympathetic self again… "J-Juri, I…"

At that notion, not believing anything anymore, Juri started standing up, trying to get even further away from him. "No, DON'T! …J-just leave me alone! I'm sorry I asked, okay?! Just don't hurt me!"

Jenrya gasped at the thought, not daring to even think of that possibility in detail, despite how close he might've come to actually doing it… "I would never do that!"

"You screamed at me!" Juri shouted accusingly. "I didn't mean to make you upset! Why are you being like this, Jenrya?!"

"Being like what?!" Jenrya shouted right back.

"You're KEEPING something from me!" Juri claimed, pointing directly at him. "S-so how can I trust you?! What if you're another mind trick like the floating puppet?! What if I'm really just all alone AGAIN?! Doomed like I was meant to be?"

That wasn't something Jenrya expected to hear… 'I just blow up at her once… and she already loses her trust in me? … She must've been through more than I thought…'

"Well, I'm not going to sit here and believe in what I was 'destined' to fall to anything! Don't think I've forgotten the lessons I've learned from Leomon and my experience with the D-Reaper!" Juri assured, full of confidence and anger now. "I can make my own destiny, so whether or not you're really Jenrya, I'm going to find my way out of here, and that's THAT!" With that, she started marching off. "I'm not letting some carbon copy of my friend slow me down from my goal!"

"Wait a second!" Jenrya cried out, forcing himself to stand up (though he barely had the strength for it). He ran straight for Juri, though she was barely any distance away from him… but because he knew she didn't trust him now, he made sure to maintain a reasonable distance from her… until he proved that he did care, and he wanted out just as much as Juri herself did… "Juri, please don't leave me here!!"

"Funny, the other guy made it sound like you felt right at home here," Juri spat, in an uncharacteristically mean way. "Wonder if I should even believe him, but it sure is fitting your description."

Jenrya looked desperate… but he still didn't want to share anything of his traumatizing experience with her. She might understand, yes… but he didn't want to plague her with any more dark, depressing thoughts. He wanted to get her out of here; he wanted to get himself out of here. Thoughts of being bound in some dark, foreign substance was something he didn't feel the need to share with Juri.

"Look… I'm really sorry, Juri," he apologized in the most convincing voice he could conceive. "I… I don't know what I could… say or do to make you believe me, b-but this isn't the time to be talking about what happened to us right now! I'm worried sick for the both of us!" He insisted, now sounding as desperate as he looked. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible, Juri… I want to help you find a way home! Believe me, I don't want to stay here either. I've got family and friends that I want to go back to too!"

"Why would you yell at me, Jenrya?" Juri asked bluntly. "What have I done to deserve to be treated that way from you?! How am I supposed to WORK with you when you're like this?"

His resistance giving out, Jenrya fell to his knees, right in front of Juri. Despite the pain he was going through, his eyes wouldn't leave Juri. His expressions were even more pained and ravaged than before… another psychological analysis on him is exactly what he didn't need at this moment.

"I'm so sorry I did that to you," he whispered. He felt his eyes watering up once again… "If… if I were thinking straight… I know I never would've let myself treat you like that, you deserve better, Juri… I mean it. It's just… been a really long day…"

"I don't want your excuses!" Juri told him honestly. "Jen… what's with you? What did that guy say, or do to you?! I… I think I have a right to know! After all, I told you what he's done to me!"

"I'll… I promise to tell you later, okay?" Jenrya practically begged, suddenly reaching over and taking Juri's hand, slowly and gently pulling her closer. "J-just don't leave me here… please…" He was officially crying again. "I'm sick to death of this place, and I want to go already… I at least want to make sure you make it out, I don't know how to get out of here, but…"

Juri was slightly uncomfortable with Jenrya suddenly touching her out of the blue, but she went with it anyway… she wanted to at least give him a chance… "Th-that's okay… we can work together…"

Jenrya tried to rise up closer to her, but his condition would have none of it… and thusly almost stumbled right down in front of her. His eyes were wide open, begging, pleading… hoping for some kind of compromise to be met.

"I… just want to save you, Juri-san…"

Time almost seemed to stop for Juri. And she couldn't seem to do anything but just stare at her desperate friend, who all of a sudden… didn't seem like the harsh, cold, secretive person he just was.

He was being sincere.

Juri suddenly had a new refound hope in her friend… and in humanity.

Without another thought or word said, she fell to her knees as well, and drew Jenrya into a tight embrace. Jenrya fell right into it, looking surprised, but more than anything happy… because he gained back her trust.

And most of all, she was looking more like her old self again.

Refusing to let go, Juri held Jenrya as tightly as she could without completely smothering him. Both were too emotionally caught up with themselves to notice, but there was some very subtle glowing happening right at this moment…

It wasn't too different from Takato's glowing situation… only since the sources of the glow weren't covered in clothes like Takato's; they were much more noticeable. On Jenrya's left cheek, a green symbol resembling a teardrop was coming into formation… the tears flowing alongside it made the glow seem even more magical.

On Juri's right hand, an illuminating yellow symbol in the shape of a five-pronged award ribbon was also making its appearance, seeming to intensify in its brightness the tighter Juri held onto Jenrya. Despite this, neither of them noticed what was happening… as they both refused to let go of each other, and just sobbed as loudly as they could together. This time, Jenrya wasn't holding back on his emotions. He was unloading every ounce of his true feelings that he had…

Juri just felt good to have someone to confide in for once… someone to trust, and believe in. And just as they reached their peaks in their emotions… spheres of green and yellow light consumed them both, though both still failed to realize what was happening.

The Puppet was eerily floating overhead, as the lights grew brighter and brighter, until it was practically blinding; it had essentially erased the bleary background both Juri and Jenrya were long tortured with.

And just like that…

All was black again.

Jenrya, Juri… and The Puppet… were gone.

[POV - Nobody]

"Do you sense anything yet, Terriermon?"

"You act like I'm the Jenrya Metal Detector, or something!" Terriermon shouted out, as Renamon was carrying him as she ran through the streets and on top of buildings, hardly taking a moment to slow down. "Really, it's weird, though! I mean, I could always sense him before… but I swear I'm coming up blank this time!"

"You have to admit, that's a bit of an odd case; Jenrya and Juri running off, and now you can't even pick up Jenrya's trail," Renamon noted. "As if he's not in the city at all."

Terriermon just sweatdropped. "There's no way that boy can make it out of the city limits on his own, especially in his condition! Besides, we should've totally run into him by now! How many times have we SCALED this entire city?!"

"Only twice," Renamon said as she slowed to a stop, what she said being her one small attempt at humor now. "Perhaps we should go about this a little slower, then. Not that it's a good way considering Takato's condition, but we obviously aren't picking up anything by speeding around the place either."

"Couldn't hurt to try," Terriermon figured, leaping off of Renamon and starting off by foot immediately. "He's so gonna get it when I take 'im back home, though. Everyone's gone ballistic since he left, and you know it's a bad idea to piss off five people like that!"

He sighed. "He's not gonna stand a chance when he gets back."

"I'm sure he has an excuse for what he and Juri are doing, separate or together," Renamon assured. "Good excuse or bad. And where were you when he disappeared?"

"I was…around!" Terriermon said quickly, a little taken aback by the question. "Everyone else was out for either school or work, and I had to look after Jen! He came out of his room and said he wanted some fresh air, so I thought, y'know, that'd do him some good! He sounded normal, it just didn't occur to me that he'd like, run away for no reason!"

Renamon shook her head. "There's no need to get so defensive."

"He sounded like he wanted some alone time to reflect on stuff," Terriermon continued. "And I know how Jen values what little privacy he actually gets in his own house! So I just, like, respected that and let him get some fresh air like he wanted…"

"Terriermon…"

There was no stopping him now, though. "And I didn't wanna intrude on him or anything, so I just waited until I got that funny feeling that he was gone a liiiittle bit too long… and when I checked on him, he was gone! No trace of him whatsoever! And now everyone's gonna start blaming me even though I don't REALLY think I did anything wrong, but I probably made a mistake anyway in not keeping an eye on him, but HEY. How was I to know that-"

"Terriermon," Renamon sternly interrupted. "No one is blaming you for anything. You have to understand that no one thinks that you caused this."

"Christ, you're making it sound like someone is," Terriermon muttered. "Sheesh… I should moumantai…"

Renamon just sighed. "I didn't mean to insinuate anything. It was only a question."

"Yeah, well…" Terriermon grumbled, having a hard time finding the right words… he just didn't feel right in general without his Tamer. He well knew how his current behavior wasn't like himself at all… but with Jenrya's whereabouts being up in the air like this, Terriermon didn't have the time or patience to care.

"I apologize, you apologize, you forgive me, and I forgive you," Renamon summarized quickly, and peacefully. "There."

Terriermon blinked for a moment… then smirked. "That's one way of fixing a misunderstanding. Good job!"

"It was my pleasure."

A strong, overwhelming feeling suddenly struck Terriermon in the head, almost making him jump.

"Waaah… hello!"

Renamon didn't move a muscle. "Hm?"

Terriermon just shook his head, with his giant ears flopping rapidly about. "Um… you're not gonna believe it, Renamon…but I think I know where Jen is now! And he's close!"

"Just now?" Renamon wondered aloud. "All of a sudden?"

"Like I said, isn't it hard to believe? But it's definitely better than having nothing to go by, don't you think?"

"A very good point," Renamon concurred, quickly picking Terriermon up and placing him on her shoulder. "You'd better lead the way, then. We don't want to lose him again."

"Intuition's tellin' me to go… that way!" Terriermon announced, pointing off towards the right… a long sidewalk that eventually gave way to a dark, suspicious-looking alley.

One look of the road ahead made Renamon all the more concerned and certain that what she and Terriermon would find would be nothing short of frightening.

"… Wonderful. We'd best be on our way, then."

Renamon proceeded to start running on what thankfully would not be a very long trip.

[POV - Nobody]

The glowing had dissipated. The symbols were gone. It was as if Jenrya and Juri had never been in another dimension to begin with… had it not been for the fact that they both still looked as tortured as they ever did since their encounters.

They'd been so overwhelmed in their own misery, desperately trying to comfort each other, that it had taken until now for them to stop crying and actually acknowledge the sudden change in their environment.

Juri was the first one to notice.

"Jenrya… look," She whispered out, abruptly pulling away from him, her eyes now focused on the scenery behind him. … It had been a while since she'd seen a background this colorful and alive.

Jenrya was immediately jolted out of his crying when Juri pulled out of the embrace; his first thing seen was the area behind her… and it was a remotely normal alley. Dark, dank, and surely none too safe… but it was proof. Proof that he had to be back in Shinjuku.

"How… how did…"

"What does that matter?!" Juri practically shouted in delight, standing up and skipping around the area, until she came to a wall, which she joyously hugged. "We're HOME, Jen-chan! We're home!"

Not that he wasn't as overjoyed as she was, but Jenrya could only remain sitting where he was, looking at his surroundings just to make sure this wasn't another trick… and of course, giving Juri odd looks as she was practically kissing the pavement in her gratitude of being out of that wretched, evil dimension.

"Not… literally," He pointed out. "But I guess it's definitely better than where we were. I guess we did something right, then…"

"You guess?" Juri echoed, now being the one to give Jenrya the weird gesture. "Of course it's better than where we were before! Look, Jen! There's a real SKY, and actual walls and I can MOVE and I can see things go behind me when I pass them!" She pointed out every piece of garbage and trash can as if they were gold. "We're not in that alternate reality anymore! We can go home now and help Takato!"

'Help Takato? What's she talking about?' Jenrya had totally missed out on the latest news of Takato's condition, apparently. He picked a very bad time to disappear. "Juri, that's great news and everything… but where are we now? It's not like Shinjuku is a small district or anything. And I don't have any money on me…"

Jenrya's negative attitude was almost getting offensive to Juri now. "Can't you at least be a little thankful for what happened?! True, we are lost, but we have people to help us now! It's nothing like our situation before." Despite Jenrya's stubborn refusal to be overly happy for themselves, she tried smiling for him. "I have a feeling we wouldn't have made it back here by ourselves, though. So thank you, Jen-chan. For being there and helping us both get home."

Jenrya couldn't help but give a smile in return. "Right back at you, Katou."

"Je~en!! JEN!"

No more words were exchanged between the two as two new presences made themselves known: Terriermon and Renamon.

"… And Juri's here too," Renamon verified when she came to a halt. "Thank goodness."

"T-Terriermon…!" Jenrya caught Terriermon, who wasted no time leaping off Renamon and into his partner's arms. "H-how did you manage to find us…?"

Terriermon pretended to scoff. "If you haven't figured out the Tamer-Digimon bond by now, Jen, there's no hope for you! But just where have you two been all this time?!"

"You've both been gone for most of the day," Renamon informed, gesturing up to the sky that, while mostly gray and dreary (it hadn't been a good day for the weather, apparently), was gradually beginning to darken, showing that it was around the evening now. "With not so much as a note telling us where you've gone."

Juri and Jenrya looked to each other uneasily, mentally asking each other if it was even a good idea to go into detail of what really happened to them… it'd surely be a pain to recall completely in detail. Juri recalled how Jenrya was having issues with even telling her what happened to him. Jenrya himself was still looking as weakened as ever from his own remnants of his illness. And just because they were safely in their own world with the comfort of their allied Digimon, it didn't seem to improve Jenrya's mood, much less eager to divulge into something that would most likely upset him.

"It's a long story," Juri responded, as terse and innocently as she could put it.

"Y-yeah," Jenrya immediately nodded along with her. "Very long."

"I suppose it would be more fitting for you to apologize with everyone else present to hear it," Renamon reconsidered. "You should know they're not going to be happy with either of you disappearing on them like this, you realize."

"Heck," Terriermon added. "Even we aren't happy with you. You'd better have a good explanation for worrying us sick!"

"Don't worry," Juri nervously assured. "It's a pretty good reason… and it won't happen again, I promise."

"Well, neither of you seem hurt; I'm thankful for that," Renamon noticed, nodding in approval. "That's the most important thing of all. So let's be on our way so we can show your friends and family so they won't be worrying themselves sick any longer."

Juri nodded and started to follow Renamon out of the alleyway. "Sorry we've caused so much trouble…"

"It was an honest mistake, I'm sure."

Jenrya, still with Terriermon in tow, was about to follow, when he noticed a peculiar item on the ground next to him.

It was Juri's Puppet… thankfully, without the possessed glowing eyes.

Terriermon just stared at it blankly, as the same as many others; he didn't trust The Puppet for anything. Like everyone else, he figured it was the source of any insanity or evil Juri ever had.

Jenrya was a bit more thoughtful, though. He wasn't a bigger fan of The Puppet any more than the others were, but it was Juri's… and as a friend, Jenrya knew he had to act responsibly if he ever wanted a chance to have a social life outside of Takato.

As he picked The Puppet up and followed his friends out of the alley, he started wondering again… on what the big deal on Takato was about. Something didn't seem right in his mind…

"J-Juri-san! Don't forget this…!"

With Renamon's speed, the group reached the Matsuda Bakery in no time at all. So she, Juri, Jenrya, and Terriermon were there, practically, standing across the street from the building. From there on, they started walking normally… Juri could only stare at the place hard… as she was deep in thought of how to handle the situation of explaining her whereabouts. She had no idea she'd spent so much time away… then again, there really was no way for her to tell how much time had passed while she was in that awkward world.

She felt terrible; the situation had made it seem like she just up and abandoned Takato. If she didn't tell her friends something, they might remain angry with her. But could she bear to tell them everything? Juri herself wasn't sure exactly what was going on with her, Jenrya, and the mysterious voice… she didn't want to senselessly have the others worry over her when it was clearly Takato who needed the immediate attention. Plus, she felt she needed more time to reflect on what had happened… not to mention wait for Jenrya to get into better spirits so that he'd hopefully one day share his side of the story. It just simply wasn't a good time to go into such an uncomfortable subject. Juri had been very close to her friends over the years, at least… so she could at least hope they knew her well enough to trust her.

Juri wouldn't blame them for being angry. She hated being so secretive like Jenrya was right now… but until she had this mess sorted out in her mind… it was best to just keep it between herself and Jenrya.

Right now, all she wanted to do was be there for Takato in his time of need.

Who knows how much damage had been done with Takato not having her around for comfort and reassurance? She and Jenrya were Takato's closest friends out of everyone else.

And out of everyone else… it just had to be precisely her and Jenrya to not be present for him while he suffered.

"I hope you're both ready to face the music," Renamon said, as the building crept ever-so closer to them as they walked. "I know it won't be easy. But if your intentions were pure, like I'm sure they are… I know they'll understand."

Tempted as Terriermon was to make a crack at the fact of Jenrya and Juri suddenly disappearing together… even he knew this wasn't a good time to try and be funny. "That's right. It's YOUR turn to talk now!"

At that notion, Jenrya's pace of walking started to blatantly slow down altogether. And it didn't take long for Juri, Renamon and Terriermon to notice this, and look to their lagging companion.

Juri realized that Jenrya hadn't looked all too well since she first rediscovered him. Naturally, it made her very concerned. "Jen-chan… you okay…?"

"C'mon, you said yourself that you were getting better," Terriermon whined. "Before you ran off, that is!"

Jenrya just slumped; his eyes cast right down towards the ground. His eyelids were drooping, and his posture in general was turning from bad to worse. Not a good sign at all.

"I'm… sorry," he apologized quietly. "I think it's some kind of backlash or something… I don't think I can really… do this right now."

"D-do what?" Juri asked, not quite understanding what her friend was getting at.

"Just… tell Takato I had to go back home," Jenrya requested. "I'll call him later if that's okay… I just don't… I don't think I can do this today. Not after everything else that happened…"

As much as Juri understood why Jenrya would be feeling so bad, she realized that he was essentially ditching her to defend her position all by herself. Something she wasn't looking forward to doing.

"Can't you stay for a little while?" she urged, looking nothing short of desperate. "Even if it's just for a few minutes… I think Takato would really like to see you after not getting to for a few days."

"It really is crucial that you be there for him," Renamon suggested. "He hasn't said very much today, but what few words he did say included your name."

That had caught Jenrya's attention. "… My name?"

They were practically at the front door now. Jenrya was looking straight inside it, to see the bakery he'd been in so many times before… whether it was to wait for Takato so they could walk to school together, or having a snack together as they did their homework. Beyond the desk he saw the hallway that led to the staircase. The staircase that led straight to Takato's room.

He'd been in this place so many times, he'd practically memorized everything in it.

… Suddenly, time almost seemed to freeze for Jenrya. That's how it looked, anyway… nothing in the background was moving, Juri, Renamon, and Terriermon were all stuck in their positions… Suddenly Jenrya realized that he himself could only move his head and various facial gestures.

It looked like he would have to go this trip alone, apparently.

He closed his eyes and prepared to be taken back to his obscure prison… only to find that nothing was taking him anywhere. He was still in front of the bakery. His friends were all frozen in front of him, and they were still visibly in Shinjuku.

"… I wonder what's going on," Jenrya weakly whispered to himself, as he looked back towards the Matsuda Bakery… and suddenly, a streak of fear crossed his face. Some sort of dark shadow loomed over the entire building… and now it looked anything but inviting.

"DON'T LOOK AT HIM!"

Jenrya would've jumped a foot into the air if he were able to. His feet were still firmly planted to the ground, though. All he could do was gape at the bakery where a voice that had no visible body to it continued to warn him…

"DON'T VISIT HIM… DON'T TALK TO HIM… DON'T TOUCH HIM…"

"Y-you mean…?" Jenrya gulped nervously… he was pretty sure who the voice was referring to. There was only one person he would so regularly look at… visit… talk to, and touch…

Suddenly, in the middle of the bakery, a window of an entirely different situation was playing like an old black and white movie reel. It was fuzzy… a bit scratchy… but he could vaguely make out the details.

Two figures in a boat… one figure in a dark robe… and the other in a lighter one. A familiar shape rested on the shoulder of the dark-robed figure. And the two main figures in the boat didn't seem to be doing anything more than holding a conversation. Unfortunately, the clip didn't provide any sound.

Then again, Jenrya didn't need for it to provide a single noise.

The audio was automatically playing in his head like it was natural.

And then it hit him. … This was a memory. Jenrya was the one wearing the dark kimono, and Takato wearing the lighter one. The figure on his shoulder was Terriermon…

They were both talking about the evils of having a brother and/or sister.

This was from the festival! Jenrya didn't recall this scene earlier… but now it stood out like a sore thumb. It registered perfectly, now; this was a legitimate, actual PART of the missing memory of his night at the festival. Already, within hours of talking to the mysterious figure, he had already found one piece of his memory puzzle.

It all made sense now. Jaarin cheating him out on the game to make him ride the boat ride, Takato, who had been separated from his friends all that time wound up on the ride completely on accident. And fate had seemingly brought the two into riding the boat together. Rather than Jenrya having to uncomfortably ride it out with a random girl he didn't know and Takato being embarrassed to no end by riding it out with another guy.

They both got over the shock easily, though. So both he and Takato had made use of their alone time by discussing several things.

Jenrya loved talking to Takato. He was one of the few people he really felt comfortable holding a conversation with. Seeing the memory made him happy… if nothing else, he could rest knowing the festival wasn't a total disaster. And yet…

"DON'T LOOK AT HIM."

"DON'T VISIT HIM."

"DON'T TALK TO HIM."

"DON'T TOUCH HIM."

… Something was telling Jenrya to essentially avoid all contact with his best friend.

Would Jenrya do this for no reason? Of course not. He wasn't gullible. Plus, if he ignored Takato, he might as well ignore everyone else. He was always very careful keeping his friendship with Takato alive… one wrong move would mean he'd lose just about everyone, most likely.

But Jenrya had a reason this time. As much as he hated to admit it…

He knew what this voice was, now.

It was his gut instinct.

And just like that… time moved freely again. All surrealistic aspects of Jenrya's surroundings had vanished; the bakery was back to normal. And now Jenrya was staring at it in utter fear.

"… So will you join us?"

Jenrya immediately looked to the source of the voice: Renamon. Apparently, no one but him noticed what had happened… but they were frozen in time. So things probably continued on as normal for them.

"Uh…"

"C'mon," Terriermon egged on playfully. "You can tough it out for a few minutes, at least!"

"I could really use your help," Juri reminded, going about it as undemanding as she was able to. "It's going to be a long story, telling them what happened and all… but Takato's going to feel tons better when he sees you, I bet!"

Jenrya looked almost taken aback by all the pleas for him to go inside. 'Why is this such a big deal?' he wondered. 'I can't be THAT important to Takato… it's not like I can magically heal him or anything…'

"I can understand if you're not feeling well," Juri continued. "So I'll do all the talking… I just think I'd like it if you were there with me, you know? So we can all be together to make sense of this whole thing?"

The anxiety of what Jenrya's gut instinct told him… what the figure told him earlier… his illness in general… had finally worn his patience down to nothing. Holding Terriermon firmly in his arms, and giving the bakery one last fearful look… he passed by Renamon and Juri completely, and proceeded to walk away from the Matsuda Bakery.

"W-where are you going?!" Juri shouted out, purely in shock of what was happening.

"Don't tell them anything, Juri," was the response Jenrya gave. "I mean it. Don't tell them a single detail of what went on today. I don't want you to do ANYTHING but make sure Takato makes it through whatever happened to him."

He refused to even look back to the pair as he walked on. Anger and frustration shown on his face… and this just confused Terriermon.

"ExCUSE me, who're you to dictate what Juri does?" Terriermon asked, purely annoyed. "Especially since you obviously don't care enough to go with her and make sure she doesn't!"

"Don't you start," Jenrya snarled under his breath, making it apparent that something had definitely irked him. And Terriermon was nothing short of aghast. "Just keep quiet until we get home. I'm going to take a nap, so don't bother talking to me."

Terriermon uneasily looked off to the side… and resumed his sarcastic role once more. "Sure, if you gotta be that way, Mr. Friendly."

Renamon didn't look impressed… but she knew this wasn't her place to object. "You still don't look very healthy, Jenrya. Would you like me to take you two home? I can get you there-"

"No. Just go back inside with Juri."

This sheer display of rudeness was once again offending Juri. And by now this was concerning her; Jenrya was one of the more mature, polite members of the Tamers group. All of a sudden he was being just as cold as Ruki, as negative as Kenta, and as immature as Shuichon. Along with that, he was also being annoyingly secretive. He wouldn't even divulge into a little hint as to why he was behaving this way.

"Jenrya!" Juri was stern this time. She wasted no time, and started running after him. "This is no time for you to act selfish! And it's certainly no time for you to be mean to your own friends! I understand you must be feeling terrible, but that's no excuse at all to-"

Jenrya immediately turned around, glaring straight into her, stomping into the ground with his feet as he made his turn complete. With that, Juri stopped in her tracks.

"Don't you DARE follow me," Jenrya hissed, with exasperation seething through his teeth. "I can take care of myself just fine without you. You and Renamon go BACK into that bakery right now and do whatever needs to be done with Takato. I mean it! This isn't the time to give me your bullshit." Slowly, he rose a fist. "Now stop wasting time and get back to him. NOW."

Juri stared at him, eyes wide open in fear… it was like she barely knew him now. He was violent again, just like he was before… she suddenly looked down to Terriermon, who was giving her facial gestures that read 'Don't-Worry. I'll-Deal-With-Him-Later.'

And, upon getting that signal, she gave a slight nod… and without saying anything to Jenrya, she gave him a wary look, and ran back towards the bakery.

"C-come on, Renamon…" she said, her voice visibly shaking. She tried her best not to dare look at Jenrya again… "Let's go back inside…"

Renamon gave a silent nod, and the two entered the building. Leaving Jenrya to monitor them up until the very last moment… and silently, he turned back around, and resumed walking home.

Terriermon could only glare at his Tamer… in confusion, annoyance, and disappointment. It was frustrating that he refused to tell anyone what his problem was, but he figured time WAS the greatest healer after all…

… And perhaps after a nap, maybe then he'd be more willing to talk.

Jenrya himself refused to speak, even as he returned home. He'd deal with the panicked family members as they came at him, but his main concern for the moment was to sort today's events all out in his head.

There were so many things he needed to make sense of all of a sudden.

Little did he know, the figure… who would soon make everything make sense to Jenrya, was watching him, perched on the very top of the Matsuda Bakery. He seemed different now, though. He almost had hands… most of his limbs were vaguely developed now, in fact. The figure also seemed to have hair now… just about.

It's beginning to look a lot like doom, now.

[Pass GO and collect 200 bucks if you're not DEAD yet… and TBC!]