"I just had the weirdest dream," Matt groaned.

"Matt! It’s time to get up!"

Matt looked up. It was morning. That was a weird dream… Genai… and… what was his name? Gokar?

Matt stumbled downstairs, Gabumon behind him.

His mom smiled at him. His mom. As natural as it would be to some, Matt was still trying to get back to the feeling of his mom making breakfast. Well, at least she didn’t burn the pancakes…

"Where’s dad?"

"At work," Mrs. Ishida said. (Mrs. Ishida once again! If you remember T.K. has a different last name, which is their mom’s maiden name. Now that she’s married again, we can call her Mrs. Ishida. Also, some may have the desire to e-mail me telling me Matt's parents don’t get back together. Well, this is my story, and my happy ending. So there!)

"What’s for breakfast?"

"Eggs. You know, that reminds me. Just last week, I was talking to that Tachikawa girl, and you wouldn’t believe the ways she eats eggs! Preposterous!"

Matt rubbed his eyes. "I might."

"Preposterous," Mrs. Ishida repeated, serving out scrambled eggs. "Would Gabumon like some, dear?"

"Mom, he speaks English. You could ask them yourself."

"I know that, dear."

"I wouldn’t mind some," Gabumon said, uncomfortable at being talked about in the third person.

The phone rang. Mrs. Ishida stepped towards it. "I’ll get it. Hello?"

"Oh, hello! Yes… yes… of course… beg pardon? Oh." She turned to Matt and whispered, "it’s for you."

Matt took the phone. "Hello?"

It was Tai. "Matt, something’s wrong. Augumon and Gatomon were found in front of my apartment… unconscious. And I called Sora’s house… Sora was unconscious, too. Her mom found her. Biyomon looks okay, but she’s asleep."

"Did you call the others?"

"I tried. Get this: Jamie and Izzy have been gone since they went biking yesterday, Joe and T.K. are at summer camp, and Mimi has her door locked. And then we find Augumon, Gatomon, and Sora unconscious? Something’s not right here, man."

Matt nodded. "Can you say, coincidence?"

"You were the only one available. And that’s not all. Remember MetalEtemon? At the mall? Something weird is goin on, man, I just know it. Something bad."

"You sound like Joe," Matt said weakly, "except for the informal "man." Okay, I’ll come, but give me some time, okay? The family and me have just started to return to being a normal family. You know the kind that doesn’t have to save the world, and doesn’t have parents that just got together after breaking up, who didn’t try to kill his best friend once. Remember normal?"

Tai grinned invisibly over the phone line. "Barely. See ya."

Matt hung up the phone. His mom had gone back into her room. Matt smelled the smell of burning eggs. He ran over to the stove, turned off the burners, and through the utterly ruined eggs in the trash. Then he collapsed in a chair.

"Why does everything happen to me?"

"Everyone wake up!"

About three eight year-olds actually heard him. Out of them, two responded by putting their heads up. Out of them, only T.K. got out of bed.

"You know," Gomamon said, "I think little kids are chemically classified as Rutherfordium."

Joe blinked. "What’s that?"

"The densest element known to science."

Patamon flapped up. "We’re ready to go!"

"Okay, okay, everybody up!" Gomamon yelled loudly, clapping his hands. Once the eight year-olds got past the concept of a weird seal-like thing, they decided it was not worth listening to.

"Alright, that’s it! Marching Fishes!"

The all-too-familiar fish flew from the bathroom sink, where they bombarded the poor kids.

Meanwhile…

"You’ve failed me again, Piedmon."

Piedmon, since being resurrected, was still not used to having to take orders. "And how did I fail you this time, Lord Konar?" he said with blatant contempt in his voice.

"First the fools MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon got away. They are under your command, are they not?"

"Yes, but—"

"Then you failed to snatch them away when they were in a trance. Once again, my brother continues to get in the way."

"He will not succeed."

"What’s to stop him?" Konar asked dangerously. "What? A batch of fools? The ex-Dark Masters? Oh, believe me, Piedmon, I’ve heard enough of your arrogance. We must destroy them one by one, so they cannot protect each other."

He turned. "Send the Divermon! This time, they’ll by trapped… like rats."

A picture of Joe and T.K. suddenly started to shimmer into the air. Konar gave a booming, evil laugh.

"Muhahahahaha!"