Disclaimer: <Yeah, yeah, you know what I’m gonna say, don’t you? I don’t own Digimon, because if I did, MATT WOULD NOT MARRY SORA!!!> Didn’t he realise I loved him? <Mimi, there’s a thousand fangirls who love him. Just because you are a Digimon Empress does not mean he will look at you and say, "Where have you been all my life?"

Matt opened his eyes and groaned. It was still dark. He rolled over to see his digivice, which showed the time (<if you remember>). It flicked to 03:56.

Matt hated this. Every anniversary, he always woke up early. He rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, but it was impossible. He yawned and got out of bed. And in the Digiworld, another human opened his eyes…

The seven digidestined met at a more respectful hour (9:45), at Kari and TK’s place. They were all dressed casually, except Mimi, who was wearing a pink and silver sleeveless and a pair of flowery shorts. Not the best outfit for the Digiworld.

However, nobody made any comment and Izzy opened the digiport. About a minute later, they all stood next to a waterfall and were greeting their Digimon.

They all sat down and talked, whilst Matt tried to catch fish with Garurumon, whilst talking to him, "Honestly, Garurumon, I’m always being chased by fangirls. There’s one in particular, called Jun (<I had to put her in! > ~ Yuck! I hate her! ~ *At least it gives us a chance to mock her*.)."

"You know, Matt, you should try and find a girlfriend. If you have one, the girls will probably stop following you around. Although they’d probably start attacking the girl," his friend growled.

"It’s a thought, I suppose. The problem is, I don’t like any girls."

"Think about it, anyway. Maybe you just can’t find the right one."

Meanwhile, Mimi and Togemon were having a similar conversation, "I don’t know, Togemon. I just can’t get used to any of the boys. And the chances of me going out with any of the digidestined are extremely slim. I mean, Joe and TK are married, and Izzy’s dating."

"What about Matt?"

"What? You mean, Matt and me? Not likely."

Matt finally staggered back to the group, soaking wet and bearing fourteen dead fish. Birdramon got a fire going and the fish were roasted in silence. Mimi bit into hers whilst thinking about what Togemon had said. And whilst they ate, someone was watching them…

Pterodactylmon trembled slightly as he flew into his master’s presence. The man turned round, "What?"

"My lord, squad A is ready to leave. Should I go with them?"

"Yes. I need you to communicate with them. Now go…"

Mimi was washing her hands whilst the rest of the group talked with their Digimon. Suddenly, there was a rumbling growl, so low it seemed to originate in the earth. They all looked up, startled. There was another, then another, and then there was a thunderous roar.

Joe nearly wet himself when he saw a pair of red eyes with black pupils staring at him out of the tree he was standing next to. He backed away, and then he saw five pairs of orange eyes glaring out of the darkness below the tree. That was enough, "AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

He ran backwards, but tripped over a root that was conveniently sticking out of the ground and fell on top of Kari. The owners of the orange eyes emerged from the shadows and revealed themselves to be five Greymon.

The red-eyed shadow flew down in front of them. It looked a bit like a pterodactyl, except it had dragon’s wings, with three sharp claws at the end, like hands. His feet had three claws each, plus an extra one on the back. His ears curved up, bending almost right over about halfway up. He had a long tail that was at least twice his height (he was about as big as a Golden Eagle) and ended in a point like an arrowhead. He was completely grey, except for his stomach, which was white, and his red eyes.

The pterodactyl thing spoke, "My name is Pterodactylmon. I was sent by my master to take you to him."

Matt cleared his throat. Pterodactylmon turned one eye to look at him. The blonde asked, "`Your master`? Who’s that?"

"The Dino Master."

At the sound of the name, each person felt a strange sensation. Kari felt what was probably the strangest. It was the sensation that she knew those words, and yet she didn’t. A bit like déjà vu. It sounded familiar, and yet it wasn’t.

TK felt tiny shivers go up his spine, as if someone had taken ice cubes and run them along it. Joe felt as though someone had slurred his reflexes (*His what? * ~ Reflexes, Batpig. Reflexes. Er, what are those anyway? ~ <(Takes dictionary down from shelf) `Reflex or reflexes: 1) noun. An automatic and instinctive action. `> *Which is...? * <Like Mimi hating you. That’s a reflex>). Normally, he’d jerk back at seeing those monsters, but his reflexes wouldn’t act.

Izzy felt a strange memory flick through his mind. He tried to grab it, but it slipped through his fingers like water. Mimi felt as though someone had just squeezed her suddenly, and jerked. Sora felt a strange wave of fear wash over her, and her eyes widened.

Matt felt a strange combination of emotions. He felt defiance, puzzlement, fear and most of all, rage. He felt as though this `Dino Master` had hurt him in some way. He managed to say, "Why does he want to see us?"

"I don’t really know. All he said was that he `wanted to settle an old score with an old rival`."

Matt looked back at the group. They looked back at him. He suddenly realised that they were waiting for him to decide. He took a deep breath, thinking it through. Finally, his curiosity won, "Alright, we’ll come."

None of his friends objected. Pterodactylmon flew into the air. The Greymon exchanged glances. One of them growled, "What was the point of us coming?"

Pterodactylmon retorted, "In case they fought. You can go back now. I heard he had another job for you after this."

The Greymon who had spoken nodded, and the group retreated into the shadows. Pterodactylmon sighed, then gestured, with his wing, for the digidestined to follow him.

They trudged along a rough path through the forest. Mimi started wailing about not coming for a hike, Joe started listing all the things that could go wrong, and Matt walked just under their `guide`, so he wouldn’t have to listen to them.

Eventually, they reached a clearing and Pterodactylmon said that they could stop to rest. Mimi plonked herself on a rock, everyone else on the ground, apart from Matt, who leant on a tree, away from his friends.

Soon, they started again. Matt remained under Pterodactylmon, and only Mimi noticed. She thought, "I wonder why Matt’s staying away from us…"

A looming shape started to form in the distance. It grew as they walked closer, and eventually they realised it was a castle. As they got closer, they saw flocks of Pterodactylmon flying above it, plus groups of Greymon, Tyrannomon and DarkTyrannomon.

Pterodactylmon (<the one guiding them, silly>) flew up to the door. It was huge, stretching up in front of them, and made of stone. A picture of a WarGreymon was carved into it, with a bunch of weird signs under it.

Matt asked, "What do those signs mean?"

Pterodactylmon replied, "They’re Dinospeak. They’re like digispeak, but only dinosaur Digimon can read them. They read `Beware, Digimon, do not take the power of Courage lightly. It could destroy you. ` "

Mimi shivered, "That’s not something I’d want to read if I was bringing bad news."

They all laughed. The sound sounded eerie, as if it wasn’t wanted. Suddenly, the door melted away. They all stopped. Pterodactylmon flapped in silently. Matt bit his lip and followed. When he wasn’t killed, the others followed.

They walked in silence along a thousand passageways, until Pterodactylmon gestured that they should go into a room. They entered the one he had pointed to, and stopped. A figure stood with its back to them. It wore a black cloak and black boots showed at the bottom. Then it turned round.

It was a man. He wore black trousers and a black T-shirt. His black jacket was open, and covered his arms all the way down to his black gloves. A sun fastened his cloak, but it was orange, not black. The change of colour was startling. His eyes glared at the group. Matt gasped. He knew those eyes. Those chocolate-brown eyes…

The blonde managed to say, "I know who you look like. But that may be an illusion. Why don’t you let us see all of you?"

The man’s black gloved hands reached up and flung back his hood. A mass of brown hair was revealed. There was no doubt about it. The man was Taichi Kamiya…