Digimon Adventure: Secret Police

Chapter Fourteen: Guardian Angel

Maia stretched in the orange sunrise light. It looked as if she was the first one awake. Patamon still slept soundly from beside her. A grin cracking onto her face, Maia tickled his neck.

"Maia, I'll have a waffle and some milk," Patamon groaned.

Maia giggled for a second. "You're so forgetful."

Patamon groaned, still half asleep. "What?"

"Remember the whole trapped fiasco from yesterday?" Maia questioned, her head tilted downwards.

Now fully alert, Patamon frowned. "Right."

"What are we supposed to do? We'd know if the door were opened, and the Shadow Reigners are still after us," Maia questioned, now serious.

"I'm not quite focused on that as much as what you heard yesterday," Patamon said.

Maia sighed, closing her eyes. "Deep down, I don't believe it. Kaez was said to be dead years ago. But there's still a part of me that hopes. Hopes that Kaez is okay and is waiting for me somewhere."

Patamon flew into her arms. "I hope so too."

Maia heard some rustling off to her side. Fumiko was awake and holding Terriermon. She stroked the sleeping bunny, humming so quietly it was nearly impossible to hear from Maia's position.

"Morning," Maia told her.

Fumiko looked up with a smile. "As to you."

Maia looked off into the distance silently. Her hair blew in the slight breeze. Maia closed her eyes, lost in thought. She thought something was wrong with her ears or something, believing the Kaez thing was a mirage of desperation.

Fumiko caught on. "You heard it too?"

Maia gasped. "Too?"

"I heard her too. I still remember her voice four years ago like it was yesterday, and the comparison was uncanny," Fumiko explained.

"I have to find her. Will you come with me?" Maia asked.

"Shouldn't the others come too?" Fumiko questioned.

"They'll be fine. Don't worry. Impmon and Gatomon are here," Patamon grinned.

"Then let's get going," Fumiko suggested. This received a nod from Maia in return.

-----

Raegan, Ceya, Charlie, and Ayame sat in a circle around a stone circle where the fire from the previous night had been.

"What's the plan?" Charlie asked.

"Find others, beat Shadow Reigners, go home," Ceya replied simply.

"I don't think it's going to be that simple," Ayame pointed out.

Raegan's eyes locked with her crest. "What's that?"

Ayame removed it from her neck. "This? I don't know. I never really found out. I found it four years ago in the Digital World, but it got lost. When Falcomon ran off, he discovered it again, and that's when Jimmee, Anna, and I called for backup against ShadowWereGarurumon." Ayame sighed, clutching her crest tighter. "In a way, this is all my fault. If I hadn't lost this four years ago, we wouldn't be trapped here still." Ayame's voice was tainted with guilt.

"You need to take a chill pill...wonder if those can be found in the Digital World," Ceya said. She looked lost in thought at the end of her mini-speech.

"She has a little bit of a point," Charlie agreed.

Ayame looked down, tears forming in her eyes. But as her crest glowed a little more, Ayame felt a little sunshine through the rain. That had always been why she loved it so much. Her crest represented hope and happiness to her.