Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Quietly, Taichi Yagami crept through the wooded area, all his sense on high alert. His partner, WarGreymon, came along with as much stealth as the giant mecha dinosaur could. But they had no choice; it was too dangerous for them to come without being at full power at all times. It was for that reason that Taichi had forbidden the others except Yamato from coming anymore. Gennai would prefer if they didn't come at all. But the digital man's opinion had lost all sway over Taichi when, two years ago, he revealed how he'd lied to them for so long.

Though, it was true that Taichi wouldn't allow himself or Yamato back here again either, if they didn't have to search.

"Taichi," WarGreymon growled low in warning.

"I see it," Taichi replied. A tendril of darkness was creeping out from between two trees a few yards from where they stood. Experience told Taichi they would be safe enough for the time being, but that they shouldn't linger. His Digivice would be able to ward off the darkness for a time, but they couldn't afford to draw attention. They'd been lucky enough not to encounter anyone this time as it was.

As much it pained him to admit it, there was nothing he could do except continue The Search. Taichi hated this helpless feeling. For the past six months since he'd given the order, he and Yamato were searching alone. He knew this meant the chances of them finding them had plummeted. But he couldn't do nothing. Searching every day was the only option they had left. They couldn't go to the Dark World now for any kind of frontal assault. Koushiro had been trying to find a way in for three years now. And Taichi was convinced that if his genius friend couldn't find a way in that time then it was impossible.

Nor had the enemy, whoever or whatever that was, revealed themselves yet. No, they had no way to combat this slow deterioration of the Digital World. All they had was The Search.

"Taichi Yagami, Guardian of Courage, Leader of the so-called Chosen Children." The voice came from the same darkness that was still crawling out along the forest floor. It was strange because it sounded like two voices speaking together: one of a young man overlaid by a deeper, darker voice.

In that instant, Taichi was on edge and moved his body into a defensive stance. He turned halfway with his arm up in front of him. He could feel his muscles tightening and tensing up. WarGreymon, at the same time, came in front of his partner, leaving the tiniest space for Taichi to see beyond him. His Digimon partner also looked ready to fight at a moment's notice with his claw-armored hands up in front of him. "Who's there?" WarGreymon growled. "Show yourself."

They had a right to be wary. It had been a long time since they had encountered anyone who could still recognize who they were. Longer still since they ran into someone capable of sane speech. His eyes narrowed as a figure appeared, just enough for him to make out the shape of it. Taichi cocked his head to the side. The figure was definitely smaller than him and human shaped. And not in the way that some Digimon were humanoid like. This was like an actual human being. But he knew he was the only human in the Digital World. So he didn't know who it could be, unless…

As his mind finally caught up with what he was seeing, Taichi's eyes widened. He could feel his heart begin to pound in his chest. His body relaxed the tension in his muscles as he straightened. "...Takeru?" he asked. His voice trembled as he spoke the name. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught WarGreymon's brief glance back at him in shock.

"Don't bother," the figure replied, still in that strange two-toned voice. He stepped closer as he spoke. "He's dead." Taichi tried not to think of what that meant as he came out of the darkness. For the first time in three years, Taichi got a look at Yamato's younger brother. And he tensed again as he wondered how he was going to tell his best friend.

Not only was he worried about what he said, Taichi knew instantly that this was not the Takeru Takaishi he'd known. He was recognizable to be sure. It was expected that after three years he would be a little taller and look older than Taichi remembered. The familiar mop of blond hair was the same as ever, but that was where all the similarities ended.

His entire ensemble was black, a color Taichi had not seen the young man wear with great frequency. His skin was a paler white than before; his face, usually so full of expression, now empty and blank. But the most obvious change was his eyes. No longer were they the bright blue he'd known, but now they were a blood red. Taichi was so shocked by his appearance that he was struck speechless. "We merely thought to return something to you," the not-Takeru continued.

Out of the darkness behind him, tendrils of darkness reached into the space between them. Taichi slid back a step, and WarGreymon shifted his stance as well. They were moving quicker than he'd ever seen before. But they stopped about halfway and coalesced into a dome shape that was more than twice as long as it was wide. Suddenly, it occurred to Taichi that it was the right size for a person to fit under. The words the boy had spoken moments before ran across his mind again. Because there was only one thing, one person, they were still missing. His heart stopped as the dome dissipated, and the darkness retreated back beyond Takeru. "Hikari." Her name breathed through his lips, and he found himself taking a step forward before he thought about it.

His way was blocked by WarGreymon as his partner put himself in his path. "Taichi, wait," WarGreymon said. For a moment, he was annoyed that his partner would stop him, but then he looked into his green eyes and understood. The Digimon could be rational as Taichi had never been when it came to his little sister. But WarGreymon was right; he could read in his eyes the thought that this could be a trap.

He gritted his teeth in frustration. If it was Hikari before him and not some trick or illusion, she looked in worse shape than he'd ever seen her. Her clothes were the same ones she'd been wearing when she disappeared, albeit now too small and tattered. She looked far too fragile, thin and bony, skin sallow and cheeks sunken. There were dark black marks wrapped around her arms and legs, and her feet were completely bare. Hikari looked worse than that time she'd almost died from pneumonia. In fact, she looked dead.

Unable to hold back, he placed his hand on WarGreymon's arm and then stepped past him towards his sister. His partner came alongside him. After two steps and no reaction from the Takeru look alike, Taichi lengthened and quickened his stride until he was close enough to kneel at her side. The Drs. Kido had insisted they all learn the basics of first aid, so Taichi felt for her pulse. Sagging in relief when he found it (though it was too faint for his liking), he felt for her breath to be sure and was glad to find she was breathing. This was his sister. He had Hikari back.

Narrowing his eyes, Taichi's gaze found the boy in front of him again. If he had any doubt that this was not Takeru, it was eliminated at the sight of what state his sister was in. Taichi was sure in the knowledge that Takeru would have died before he allowed this to happen to her. And he certainly wouldn't stand there with blank indifference. "Who are you?" Taichi asked.

The mask of indifference disappeared as the boy's lip curled upward. But not into any sort of semblance of a smile or even the smirk so reminiscent of his older brother that Taichi had caught on his face a couple of times. No, it was a sneer accompanied by a haughty glint in his eyes that broke through the blankness. A look that Taichi decided he neither liked nor wanted to see on the younger boy's face. "Does it matter?" he goaded. It reminded him too much of Ken in his Kaiser days.

"Of course, it matters," Taichi bit out in retort, glaring at him. "You're not Takeru." And he needed to know what had happened to the boy.

Folding his arms across his chest, the boy's sneer morphed into an arrogant, smug smirk that held none of the warmth or teasing behind a usual Ishida smirk. "No, we are not the Guardian of Hope," he replied. A feral, triumphant gleam entered his eyes that almost had Taichi flinching back. "We defeated that sorry excuse for a Chosen." But Taichi latched onto what was left unsaid there. To be defeated, one had to fight back. Considering the state he'd been told Takeru had been in when he disappeared, that was amazing. It brought back the memory of the eight-year-old boy he'd been ready to storm the castle to save (though it was more of a giant demented playhouse) only to find the boy had saved himself.

His sister attracted his gaze once more, and the state she was in. A rush of pride and gratitude surged through him as he wondered if this could have been the reason he caved. Then, his brows furrowed in confusion as he realized he was getting his sister back. The Digidestined would now be stronger with her on their side again. It made no sense to return her. "Why are you doing this? Why give her back?" he demanded.

"Having her with the other Chosen will make things...interesting," he replied, as if he was so sure of his victory that it would be boring otherwise. As he spoke, he extended his hand out to the side. Another tendril of darkness came from behind him and formed into a shape under his clenched fist. Moments later, it changed into a black drawstring bag that he tossed in their direction. It landed near Hikari's side with a thump. The resulting small clangs from inside indicated that there was more than one object inside.

Suddenly, all trace of smirks or sneers disappeared from his expression. Instead, a look of deadly seriousness replaced it; a look so fierce that a chill ran down his spine. Taichi finally understood what he'd never been able to wrap his mind around since Ken had told them. Takeru could be terrifying. "Be on your guard, Chosen. We will begin soon." With those ominous words, the boy that was not Takeru turned and began to walk back into the darkness.

As the boy began to get swallowed by the black, Taichi jerked up. He'd completely forgotten to tell him. They'd all agreed that it would be the first thing they said to the boy if any of them encountered him. And even though it was clear that it was not exactly the boy he knew, he had to hope that he would hear him anyway. "Wait, Takeru!" he called, coming to his feet and almost tripping over himself doing so. "Patamon is…" he trailed off as he realized it was too late. The boy had already disappeared. Taichi heaved a sigh, livid at himself for forgetting.

But he steeled himself, knowing that for now he had to focus on Hikari. Even Yamato would understand that. He bent down and grabbed the black drawstring bag. Opening it, he found a green D-3, a pink D-3, two D-Terminals, and the camera Hikari used to wear around her neck. Even though he knew he still had his moments where he was pretty thick, no one had to tell him the symbolism of that. His mouth turned down into a grim line as he drew the bag close and tied it to a belt loop on his pants. "Let's get back to Headquarters," he said.

Then, he cradled his sister in his arms as he lifted her up off the ground. Alarmed by how light she was and fragile she felt, Taichi wasted no time in getting back to the gate, no longer bothering to hide his footsteps. WarGreymon tromped behind him, but again they were lucky enough to have no encounters.

Exiting the Digital World, they arrived in what Koushiro had dubbed the Gate Room; WarGreymon once again back down to Koromon. Monitors and computers lined the walls of the room. Taichi had no idea what the information on most meant. Koushiro had been sitting in front of one of them with Motimon at his side but came to his feet as the trio appeared. The redhead spent most of his spare moments in this room. Andromon was beside him, wires connected to some other computer. The Digimon only called out a monotone welcome from where he stood.

Koushiro's steps slowed as he and Motimon came closer. "Taichi, is that-"

"Koushiro," Taichi interrupted holding out his hand. Perhaps it was a sign that they'd all been doing this for too flipping long that Koushiro immediately shut up. Without another word needed, Koushiro reached out and grabbed the intercom microphone. Turning, he handed it to Taichi, following his unspoken order. Taichi set down his sister's legs but kept her head cradled against his chest as he spoke into the intercom. "Infirmary, this is Courage." Koushiro had insisted on the code names in case anyone intercepted their transmissions. The Digidestined had pretty much cut themselves off from the rest of the world for a reason. They wanted to keep it that way. With the Digital Barrier around Headquarters full time, it should be impossible to find them, but there was always room for caution.

He continued, "I need immediate assistance in the Gate Room." Taichi paused, looking down at the girl in his arms, still hardly believing it himself. "I brought back Light from the D World. She...she looks bad," he broke off from the near military speech they'd developed since starting to live here. Remembering again how she looked like she was dead, lying there on the ground. "Chosen to the Conference Room for immediate debrief."

When he handed the intercom back to Koushiro, he said to him, "Go on. I'll join you as soon as I see Hikari to the Infirmary." Now that he had her back, Taichi wasn't about to let her out of his sight until he knew she was okay.

Of course, Koushiro understood it all, both that which was said and that which wasn't. He only scooped up Motimon in his arms and nodded his agreement before turning back to Andromon. "Alert me if there is anything."

"Affirmative."

As Koushiro and Motimon left the room, Jyou's mother and older brother, Dr. Mizuki Kido and Shin Kido, arrived rolling a stretcher between them. Taichi was not surprised by their quick arrival; they'd all had a hand in designing Headquarters. Jou had pointed out that having the Infirmary next to the Gate Room made the most sense as most injuries were bound to happen in the Digital World. Picking up Koromon, he followed them after they laid Hikari on the stretcher. Gatomon was waiting at the door when they arrived, her great blue eyes shined with unshed tears. They all stayed out of the way as the doctors moved her onto one of the beds. Nothing was said as Gatomon hopped onto the end of the bed where her human partner lay. It was likely she'd come from the Shrine, as she spent much of her time there and it wasn't far from the Infirmary either.

Taichi could only watch as the doctors began to hook his sister up to various things. "Let's get the IV in her," Mizuki ordered. With practiced movements, she put the heart monitor on her finger and an oxygen tube around her face. Shin nodded and wheeled over a hook and bag. "It's most important to get her hydrated and get some nutrients in her first."

"Dr. Kido," Taichi said, looking away as Shin stuck a needle in his sister's arm to prepare for the IV. And she stopped and turned to him, following the command in his voice. It struck Taichi, as it sometimes did, with the thought. Sometimes, he had to wonder when exactly he, a teenager who hadn't even graduated high school yet, had become the leader of this entire complex. A complex of not only the Digidestined but their families and Digimon, too. His own parents followed his orders now. Pushing those thoughts aside, Taichi focused on the task at hand. "What can you tell me?"

The doctor sighed and looked back at her patient. "Only what I can see on the surface at the moment," she told him. "She's probably severely underweight and suffering from dehydration and various nutrient deficiencies. Those bruises on her arms and legs look particularly nasty, too." As each word was spoken, Taichi felt his heart drop further and further in his chest. He did not miss how Gatomon's ears drooped down as well even though her gaze did not leave Hikari. He knew she was hearing every word. "But," Mizuki added and Taichi perked up at that word. She turned back to him. "All of those things can be treated with time and proper care. I hesitate to promise anything, but unless I find something more serious, I think she'll pull through just fine."

A great rumbled of relief rolled through him. He wanted nothing more than to stay at her side until she woke up, yet he knew that the others were waiting for him. And out of them all, Taichi had to tell Yamato what had happened. Hurried, pounding footsteps sounded in the hallway, drawing him to turn around. He looked to see his mother come barreling through the sliding doors, breathing hard. She paused, one hand gripping the doorway and the other pressed flat against her chest, gazing at the scene wide-eyed. But the pause was only for a second before she came all the way into the Infirmary.

Before she passed him, Yuuko reached out and wrapped her arms around Taichi, eliciting a muffled protest from Koromon still nestled in his arms. Taichi had grown taller than his mother, though he still had yet to match his father's height. "Thank you," Yuuko whispered in his ear, and she pressed a kiss to his cheek. He flushed in embarrassment but didn't even try to push her away. Yuuko had not taken to her daughter's disappearance well. Lingering a moment longer, he heard Mizuki give Yuuko the start of the explanation she'd given him. With Gatomon and his mother to look after her now, Taichi was less worried to leave her.

The Conference Room was in the same part of the complex as the Gate Room and the Infirmary. (That whole part was called the Business Quarter by their fathers and the name sort of stuck). So, it didn't take long for him and Koromon to reach it. The din of conversation he'd heard as he had been approaching cut off when he opened the door and stepped into the room. Eighteen pairs of eyes trained their gazes on him, some more heavily than others. A quick cursory glance around the room told him everyone had arrived. His seat at the head of the long oval table was empty and waiting for him. In the original plans, Taichi had wanted a round table to give the room more of an equality look and feeling. But Yamato had talked him out of it. His friend said that they understood his view, but an oval table was more practical and took up less room.

Around the table, there were twelve chairs, one for each Digidestined. On the far wall in front of his seat was a screen for the projector on the ceiling. A box that folded out into a shelf where Koushiro could hook up his computer was attached to the wall beside it. Chairs lined the other three walls of the room, in case anyone else besides the Digidestined was there. Two of the chairs around the table were always empty. They all had agreed for that reminder of why they were there.

The silence of the room remained as Taichi walked to his seat. He pulled out his chair and moved in front of it but did not sit down, though he did set Koromon down on the table in front of him. Their Digimon partners remained in their In-Training forms while in the Real World for the simple reason that they took up less room. Not to mention it was easier to fit them all in the Conference Room and the Residential Block.

In that moment, with his friends looking at him, he didn't know where to begin, so he took a moment to survey his group. Yamato sat on his right with Sora next to him. The two empty chairs followed with Iori seated after that. Daisuke was next, seated across from him at the other head of the table. On his left, starting from himself and going to Daisuke, were Koushiro, Mimi, Jyou, Miyako, and Ken. The Digimon each sat on the table in front of their human partners. For the first time in a while, expressions that were almost hopeful showed on many faces. Taichi struggled with how to begin, unwilling to have to tell them everything. Telling them about Hikari was easy; the fact that she was back with them was cause for celebration. It was telling them about Takeru that would be difficult.

"Don't bother. He's dead."

"No, we are not the Guardian of Hope. We defeated that sorry excuse for a Chosen."

"Be on your guard, Chosen. We will begin soon."

A cold feeling of dread slid through Taichi, and he locked gazes with Yamato. In response, his best friend narrowed his eyes, and Taichi knew Yamato had figured out something was up. But, his eyes moved past him as Sora spoke, breaking the silence. "Did you really find her?"

"Yes," Taichi replied, actually grateful for a question to answer. Around the table, a great sigh seemed to run through the group accompanied by a couple murmurs of relief. Some smiles even cracked out a quite a few faces.

In his high voice, Koromon piped up. "Yeah, we did. She didn't look too good, though. She looked like she'd been...what's that word, Taichi?"

"Tortured."

Dead silence fell in the room as all eyes landed on Koushiro. "What?" Mimi choked out in a breathless whisper. She looked on the verge of tears, and she was not the only one. The rest had looks of varying amounts of shock and disbelief.

Koushiro had not wavered in his locked gaze with Taichi. "She looked like she'd been tortured," the redhead stated in his blunt way. And Taichi could not disagree with him.

From the far end of the table, Daisuke asked, "Is she really that bad?"

All eyes returned to Taichi for his answer. He had to nod because it was the truth. Without going into too much detail, he gave a quick description of how she looked when he found her. "But Jyou's mom said she'd be okay," Koromon added. The somber silence returned as everyone contemplated their friend's state. Eyes exchanged glances. Taichi could see it. He could see them wondering in what condition they would find their other missing member.

"And?"

The terse question from Yamato needed no more elaboration. For a moment, Taichi closed his eyes to brace himself. The time had arrived for him to tell his best friend. "And Takeru was the one who handed her to me," he replied as he opened his eyes again to look at Yamato. He could see the blonde's mind working, figuring out what he meant by that. As the two friends stared in silence at each other, the room around them erupted into questions. Everyone spoke over each other, and Taichi couldn't make what anyone was saying.

By far one of the loudest of the group, Daisuke roared above the cacophonous, "Oi! Everyone shut up and let Taichi explain." It helped that he rose to his feet and slammed his hands on the table. DemiVeemon let out a squeak, whose tail Daisuke missed hitting by less than an inch. It took a few moments, but everyone did stop talking and returned their attention to Taichi. Daisuke gave him a nod before sitting down himself again.

On the other hand, Taichi was trying to figure out exactly how to explain it. "I mean," he began. "It was Takeru but at the same time, it wasn't." A bunch of blank looks met him at that. "It was like…" He snapped his fingers and turned to Yamato as an idea occurred to him. "Do you remember that fight we had?"

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that," Yamato said after a moment. There was a small smirk playing on his lips despite the situation.

"Puppetmon."

While the younger generation looked confused, one by one, the original Digidestined had realization dawn in their eyes. There had never really been a moment when the older generation had told their entire story to them. They only knew the brief overview. "Uh...someone's going to have to explain that," Miyako said at last. "What do the Dark Masters have to do with anything?"

Koushiro, who could always pull out an explanation at the drop of a hat, was the one who answered. "During our battle with Puppetmon, Taichi and Yamato had a difference of opinion." Taichi almost snorted at Koushiro's description of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon (not to mention the boys themselves) duking it out. "As it was happening, Hikari was...possessed, for lack of a better word, by a spirit of the Digital World and showed us how we'd been chosen to become Digidestined." After he said that, his dark eyes moved back to Taichi. "I assume something of a similar nature has happened to Takeru."

Grateful as he always was to have Koushiro on his team, Taichi nodded his agreement. "Yeah...except Hikari had a spirit of light in her. I don't think he does. And before you ask how I know, the thing inside him was giving him this weird two-toned voice. And it told me he wasn't Takeru. The red eyes were kind of a dead giveaway, too."

"His eyes were red?!" The incredulous, almost panicked disbelieving outburst from Iori gave Taichi a small start. Iori was almost always quiet during their meetings, in part due to his nature and partly because he was the youngest. The kid looked stricken, as did Miyako and Daisuke and their partners. Most of the rest had varying degrees of the same, but more grim acceptance played on the older generation. And Taichi was reminded again of the wide experience gap between them.

Two of the Digidestined stood out by having completely different reactions from the rest. Yamato's reaction he expected. The older brother was gripping the arms of his chair with white knuckles. He looked livid, ready to storm into the Dark World to rescue Takeru by any means necessary. The other surprised him, though it probably shouldn't have. Ken looked somewhere between understanding, resignation, and regretful. It was hard to tell as his eyes stayed trained on the table. He, more than the rest of them, knew what it was like to be on the other side. Though his days as the Kaiser where long forgiven, they unfortunately could not be forgotten. Not that anyone blamed him. A kid, alone and vulnerable, had no chance against the influence of the Dark World. There was a reason that there were so many of them. The Digidestined needed each other. And Ken was another reason Taichi was very much unimpressed with Gennai at the present.

"So, unlike that time, you think that this is some kind of spirit of darkness that has possessed Takeru," Koushiro inquired. Taichi could already see it in his eyes. The wheels in his head were turning and analyzing the situation. He would already be trying to come up with possible solutions. Sometimes, Taichi had to wonder how he could think so much all the time without frying out his brain every other day. Then again, he supposed that was why Koushiro had been chosen for the crest of Knowledge.

The leader could only shrug in answer to Koushiro's explanation as again the not Takeru's words fluttered across his mind again. Don't bother. He's dead. A part of him thought that he should tell everyone about it, but he'd already decided to keep it to himself. They didn't need that kind of despair on them now. As the leader, he would shoulder the burden of this knowledge himself. Besides, he refused to believe it; it was not too late for Takeru. "I'm not sure, but at least something like that. Someone is using him. And one last thing, guys," he added, and he could see them all tense at his words. They'd been at this too long not to always expect the worst. It was times like this that Taichi missed Takeru's almost unwavering optimism the most. Taichi continued, "He gave me a warning. Told me to be on guard because they will begin soon."

"Who?" Mimi asked with the tiniest tremble in her voice.

"And begin what exactly?" Jyou added.

Again, Taichi shrugged, unsure what the exact answer was. "I don't know," he said. "But I think this might be it. The end we've been waiting for."

Chapter Text

The screen on the wall across from Taichi blinked to life. This drew the attention of everyone, interrupting anything anyone might have said. As expected, the image of Andromon appeared. He was the only one outside this room who had any idea how to run all the technical aspects of things. Not to mention that he was also the only one who could remote access the terminal from the Gate Room. So many things had become possible to them after they rescued Andromon. Things like firewalls and passwords meant nothing to the Android Digimon. Koushiro was a whiz whose knowledge seemed to grow each day, which was only appropriate. But even he could not manage all the things that Andromon did. “Digidestined, something has happened in the Digital World,” intoned Andromon. The monotone voice of the Digimon belied the power he held. The same power that had once allowed him to go toe to toe with Piedmon for a few essential minutes.

In response, Koushiro came to his feet, immediately in his element. “Do you need me to come to the Gate Room or can you show us here?” he asked. He hadn’t moved from his spot, but he did look at Taichi for a moment, eyes asking silent permission. Taichi gave him a single, short nod that he knew Koushiro would interpret correctly. It was his sign that Koushiro could leave if needed because Taichi had told them all he needed to say.

However, that became unnecessary as Andromon said, “I will transfer the data.” A few moments later, his image moved to a corner of the screen, and something else was displayed: a spinning globe. Taichi knew it was not Earth as the shapes of the continents were all wrong. This was an image he’d first seen as a hologram many years ago, back in the Etemon days. It was also one of the permanent features on one of the monitors in the Gate Room. But there was something different about it since the last time he’d seen it that Taichi couldn’t quite place. Then again, it was only during crossovers that he spent any extensive amount of time in the Gate Room to begin with. Monitoring the Digital World was a mantle that Andromon and Koushiro had taken up, so Taichi waited for the explanation of what was troubling the Digimon.

“Wait...but…” It was Ken who had spoken first. The other resident genius seemed to have picked up on whatever Andromon wanted to show them. Biting his lip between his teeth, he turned to the redhead down the table. “Koushiro?”

“I see it,” Koushiro said, eyes narrowed in assessment. Taichi could see the lightning fast calculations in his eyes as he analyzed whatever data he was seeing.

But he didn’t immediately say anything after that, and the room fell to silence for a second. And a second was apparently only as long as Daisuke was willing to wait. “Well, are you going to explain it to the rest of us?” he blurted out, slamming his hand down on the table, narrowly missing DemiVeemon’s tail once again. They had a long since given up trying to get him to stop that habit. As the screen was behind him, both he and Iori had scooted their chairs closer to the empty chairs, so that he could turn to see better. Daisuke swung his arm wide, encompassing the screen in his arch. “Cause I haven’t got a clue what I’m supposed to be looking at.”

Pushing his chair back, Koushiro walked the length of the room to approach the screen. Motimon hopped off the table to follow his partner. “This is our Digital World Monitoring System. It tells us what’s going on there in the vaguest sense.” Taichi knew that everyone in the room already knew this. But Koushiro was in what Taichi termed his “lecture mode”. Any interruption at this point might cause him to go into unaffiliated tangents, so they had learned to let him speak. Only if he he got too far off the point did they step in to move him back into the real explanation. “At the moment, we use it to track the spread of darkness, similar to what we did with the Dark Spires. It’s how we’ve known where it was relatively safe to send Taichi and Yamato out to search. The darkness has been slowly spreading since Takeru and Hikari disappeared, increasingly more so in the past year.” Left unsaid was the truth that things had been getting steadily worse in the last year since the Digital World had appeared in the sky, like it had all those years ago when the Dark Masters reigned. They still had no explanation why exactly this had happened, even if they were experiencing the consequences of it. “But…” he trailed off, resting his hand on his chin, lost in thought again.

When a few seconds passed with nothing else from Koushiro, the Digidestined glanced around at each other. Taichi locked gazes with Sora. He inclined his head toward Koushiro, volunteering her to prod the younger boy into finishing. Sora rolled her eyes, but her voice was gentle when she spoke, “But what?”

Yet, Koushiro did not answer right away. “It’s gone,” Ken commented in a whisper, after another few moments of silence had passed, his eyes glued to the screen. Taichi was reminded that he too had noticed what Andromon was trying to show them. “The darkness...it’s just gone.” Ken scanned the room as he finished speaking, almost flinching as if he expected an outburst to his words.

It was a hush that fell on the room. Realization rushed through Taichi as he looked at the globe of the Digital World. That was what was different about it. All the black that indicated to them where the darkness had spread was gone, as Ken said. He probably should be worried at how quickly and easily he quenched any of the hope he initially felt at this news. Three years of things going only from bad to worse had taught him that even good news was not always so. “What does that mean?” Blunt as always, Bukamon voiced the question they were all thinking.

This time, Koushiro did provide the answer to the question. “Well, what Ken said is not entirely accurate. You can still see some pockets of darkness left. Andromon, what happened exactly?”

“Approximately six point two minutes ago, all the darkness in the Digital World converged into these seven areas.” On the image, seven red dots appeared on the globe, spread out around the world across all the continents. “The concentration of darkness it equivalent to the amount prior to this event. Levels are increasing at the same pace.”

Because Koushiro looked alarmed at this news, Taichi felt the same, even if he wasn’t always able to follow Andromon’s speech pattern and vocabulary. Before he even ask for an explanation, he was provided a semblance of one from Motimon. “Are you saying that these seven spots have the same amount of darkness as the whole world used to?”

“Affirmative,” Andromon confirmed.

“Is there any way you can show us what is happening in these spots?” Koushiro asked. In answer, seven images popped up on the screen. At first, Taichi thought there might be some sort of glitch as they appeared to all be the same thing. “Each spot has one of these towers?”

“Correct.”

“What are they?” Miyako asked.

“I...I don’t know,” Koushiro admitted. He looked down at his small partner. “Motimon?” Even though they had learned so much since their adventures first began, sometimes the Digimon still knew more about their own world.

The little pink Digimon shrugged his shoulders before he answered. “Sorry, Koushiro. I’ve never seen them before.” Without prompting, the rest of the Digimon echoed Motimon’s sentiment, including Andromon.

There was one more source of information they could call upon, but Taichi was reluctant to do so, even as Koushiro looked to him in silent question. The matter of either one of them mentioning it out loud was taken out of their hands by the blond on Taichi’s right. “Taichi, we need to call Gennai.” The words came from Yamato in a firm tone. Taichi could not stop the grimace that appeared at the mention of the digital man. Two years was not even close to long enough for him to lose his resentment against him. In fact, even if some of the anger had abated at Hikari’s return, Taichi knew that some part of him would be angry with Gennai until the day they got Takeru back. Because he couldn’t very well be angry at Hikari and Takeru for being just that special that they became targets.

From the table in front of him, Koromon piped up with his opinion. “He does know more about the Digital World than anybody else.”

As much as he was at odds with the man, he knew they were right. If anyone was going to know what those towers were, it would be Gennai. “Call him up, Andromon.” Since he was connected to every bit of technology at Headquarters, Andromon could locate Gennai faster than anyone else.

Only a few minutes passed before the door opened, and Gennai walked in. No longer the old man as in years past, Gennai looked as he had during the vision they’d seen of Piedmon’s attack on their partners before they’d even been hatched. Koushiro explained the situation, and Gennai’s eyes were glued to the screen that still displayed the Digital World and the seven towers. “Then it’s as I thought,” the man whispered, but it carried so everyone heard. Taichi bristled at the words, wary of anything the man said since he’d finally told them the truth two years ago.

“Keeping something else from us, Gennai?” Yamato gritted out, reminding Taichi that his best friend had as much right to resent him as Taichi did. Even if he was the one to suggest calling the man here. After all, it was partly Gennai's fault that Takeru and Hikari had disappeared in the first place.

Gennai shook his head, but his eyes did not leave the screen as he answered Yamato’s accusation. “Merely a suspicion I had after Takeru and Hikari disappeared. Well, I say disappeared, but we can say kidnapped, I believe now.” Taichi almost yelled at the man to get to the point already. It wasn’t like it hadn’t been crystal clear to him that the two had been kidnapped. Staring into the red eyes of what had become of the little brother he’d never had sent chills through him that he didn’t like to think about. Before he could say anything, Gennai continued to speak. “I had no confirmation. In any case, these are the Towers of the Seven Deadly Sins.” This answer still meant little to him.

Judging from the reactions of the others, he was not the only one confused by it. “The seven deadly sins?” Mimi repeated.

“You mean, like pride, greed, wrath, those deadly sins?” Jou asked. That clarified things a little bit more, but Taichi still didn’t know what this all meant for them. and the worlds they protected. Though he was reminded of the hour of the beast stuff from when they were fighting Myotismon.

“Yes, exactly. In this case, each sin corresponds to a Digimon. The seven Great Demon Lords, to be exact.”

This time, gasps of understanding rose from the Digimon around the room. Taichi didn’t have to know who they were exactly to know “Great Demon Lord” didn’t sound promising. “So, we have to beat these guys to get Takeru back and fix everything back to normal, right?” Daisuke asked. The young soccer player could always be counted on to put things into the simplest form. But Taichi knew that it would be far from that easy to actually do. Or else they wouldn’t have gone through all they had these last few years. Yet, Taichi knew they would do it. It was what they were born to do. What the Digital World had made them into.

“Oh, but you can’t.” Gennai’s words brought an abrupt end to his thoughts. Never before had he told them they couldn’t do something. He may have lied to them, but he had always before told them that he believed in them or at least gave them the information they needed to win.

Exchanging glances first with his best friend beside him and then with Koushiro across the room, he could tell that they understood what Gennai was saying and were as shocked as he to hear him say it. But it seemed incomprehensible that there could be something they could not overcome. “Can’t what?” Miyako asked blankly.

“Defeat them,” Gennai clarified. Silence descended on the room as everyone caught the full meaning of his words. Then, as if a dam had broken, multiple voices broke out around the room, speaking protests over one another. Gennai cut them off with a wave of his hand. “Tell me. Do you remember Apocalymon? The Dark Masters?”

“Kind of hard to forget,” Bukamon threw out sarcastically.

Finally, Gennai turned from the images on the screen, piercing each of them in his gaze. The seriousness in his expression was something Taichi had not seen in a while. Not since that day when Gennai had explained to them what the Digital World had done to them five years ago. “Each Demon Lord has power equal or greater to that of Apocalymon. It took all eight of you to defeat these threats. Even then, it was close. Very close.” His eyes took on a faraway look as some thought crossed his mind.

“But we won,” Yokomon pointed out. “We beat them.” The little Digimon looked around the room, eyes darting to everyone as if she searched for validation.

“Yeah,” Koushiro said in that way that he did when he caught the point most everyone else missed. “The eight of us did.” And Taichi understood the meaning behind the words. The eight of them had defeated Apocalymon. But they only had six of them right now. Even with Hikari back there was no telling how long it would take for her to recover. It had been close (Taichi shuddered in thinking how close) with the eight of them. Following that logic, it would be next to impossible with only six of the original remaining.

Taichi’s gaze was drawn to Gennai when the man began to speak to him. “Tell me, Taichi, who do you think they targeted Takeru first?" Taichi had always wondered that. Targeting Hikari, he could understand. She had been targeted by dark forces before. But no one, not even Gennai, had been able to tell him why they targeted Takeru. If this was one more thing the man had kept from him, Taichi was going to be furious.

Gennai looked back at the screen. "Even in the Demon Lords there is a hierarchy. I will admit you might be able to defeat most of them, especially now that they have returned Hikari to us. It could be possible if you all accessed the Mega Digivolutions of your partners. But to defeat the greatest of Demon Lords, we would need the highest of Angels. And there is only one line that can attain that. So, they made sure to neutralize them in the very beginning.” It was a variation of things they’d all heard before, but it struck Taichi hard to have it put in context of this new threat. That these Demon Lords had been planning this for so long worried him. But some part of him was so proud. It was clear now that Hikari and Takeru had been fighting this battle alone for the past three years. That things had only started to get very bad in the last year spoke volumes of the young teens’ strength.

Beside him, Yamato scoffed. His posture in his chair was laid back and nonchalant, but his knuckles were whie where he gripped his chair. “So what are you saying? We should give up because there’s no hope of winning?” Taichi could hardly blame the blond for his words. Gennai wasn’t exactly very forthcoming with encouraging words at the moment or with any sort of plan for them to take them out.

A small, secretive smile tugged upward on the corner of Gennai’s lip. “Oh, there is hope. As long as Takeru lives, there will always be hope. We must simply rescue him first before we try to defeat Lucemon.” Yamato turned his gaze away, but Taichi saw his eyes flash and his clenched jaw. His friend was livid.

Don’t bother. He’s dead.

Taichi felt the slice of dread as those words ran across his mind once more. He didn’t want to believe it could be true, and he definitely still didn’t want to tell everyone about it. Not if it didn’t turn out to be true. But now he had to wonder what he would do, what they would do, if it did turn out to be true. “So, what do we do?” DemiVeemon asked in a small quaky voice.

“You need to gain your Mega Digivolutions. Well, those that can.” The response was stated flatly, as if that would be so simple. Experience told Taichi that it would be anything but that.

Clearly, he was not the only one to think so as Mimi folded her arms across her chest and snapped out, “And how are we supposed to do that? Last time, Angemon and Angewomon shot the boys with arrows. Obviously, that option is not available to us.” Which, as it always was when Mimi spoke, was the absolute truth. Even if they had Hikari back, there was no telling how long it would take for her to recover. As for Takeru and Patamon...Mimi was right. Neither was an option at the moment. And Taichi knew of no other way for them to gain that level.

“It is my opinion that the potential was unlocked the moment the Digital World made the eight of you what you are. We only have to find the right trigger to activate them.”

“And in the meantime, what?” Yamato spat out. “Are we supposed to sit around waiting for the right trigger to magically appear, while these Demon Lords wreck havoc?”

“There’s no other choice. Their towers are up, the barriers hang by a thread, and they have Takeru. In their perspective, they’ve already won.”

An alarm began blaring around the room, cutting off anything that anyone else might have said to that. This time, Koushiro didn’t even ask. He scooped up Motimon on his way to the door and was gone almost before anyone else could process what happened. Gennai, the other one standing near the door, was close behind. The sound of chairs scraping across the floor followed as everyone grabbed their Digimon and left the room to go after them. Taichi arrived in the Gate Room as Koushiro slid into one of the chairs. With practiced ease, Ken, Miyako, and Iori moved into the room and took the three remaining chairs, all analyzing the data on the screens in front of them. “It’s Singapore,” Miyako called out.

“Yamato, take Mimi and go. Sora, follow behind with Jou,” Taichi ordered. Without any other words needed, the four he named moved to the lockers along one side of the room. Each pulled out the black jacket, hat, and dark sunglasses that rested inside.

The disguises were the idea of Daisuke, who’d only said it as a joke, but then Yamato’s dad, Hiroaki, said that it would be a good way to keep their anonymity. The reporter reminded them how lucky they’d already been not to be caught during their first adventure, not to mention using the school’s computer lab during the second. So, since the crossovers started about a year ago, they all wore them to help keep other people from finding out who they were. “The last thing we need is the government of any country finding out who you are,” Hiroaki had said.

While they put the outfits on, Gennai came up to him. “You’re sending four of them?” Gennai asked. Taichi ignored him as he watched his friends gear up to go, hoping that if he didn’t say anything then the digital man would get the hint and leave him alone. Unfortunately, he was not so lucky. “You should at least send some of the Knights instead.”

Jaw tightening, Taichi continued to ignore him, trying not to be insulted by the insinuation that he didn’t know what was at stake here. Like it didn’t rankle him to send them to Digital World, if only for two minutes. The truth was that Taichi’s ability to see the big picture had only grown in the years since he became leader for the group. But he couldn’t leave the world alone to face the crossovers. And the hard facts were that the “Knights”, as Gennai had termed the three younger chosen, did not have the power that the original group did.

Ken had some of the potential, given his Crest and the fact that he should have been part of the group from the beginning. That had been a rude awakening to learn that they should not have been able to win that first time around. That it had been a true miracle that the worlds had not been annihilated. A miracle they did not have anymore at the moment. Even so, because he had not been there with Apocalymon, Ken was not what the original eight now were. They knew that because if he was, his reign as Digimon Kaiser would have been worse than it had been. Much worse. And though he had the potential, Taichi was reluctant to use trial by fire to see it realized, even if that was exactly how it had been for them.

“Everyone else is on standby to extract the family, if necessary,” Taichi said, keeping his eyes on his friends and not even acknowledging Gennai was beside him.

The digital man sighed and murmured, “What will it take for you to forgive me?” It was the first time that the man had actually voiced the question out loud.

Finally, Taichi looked at him, glaring. “You know the answer to that.”

“Yes, I suppose I do.”

The final item the four put on were ear pieces so that they could communicate back to Headquarters. They didn’t work across worlds, but they were helpful during crossovers.

“The pathway has been acquired,” Andromon stated from his corner of the room. Because Andromon could access any digital network, he could pretty much turn any computer anywhere into a gate terminal for the Digital World. So, whenever a crossover occurred, no matter where it was, the Digidestined could be there within minutes. The only downside was that they had to enter the Digital World from Headquarters and exit to the remote gate from there. Though it was for a short amount of time, it still made Taichi tense that they had to go at all.

“I’ve found a safe place to send you,” Koushiro stated. With a nod of acknowledgement, Yamato and Mimi took position in front of the gate terminal. They held out their Digivices, disappearing from the room with Tanemon and Tsunomon in their arms. Sora and Jou were quick to follow, after Jou grabbed his first aid bag, the very same one he’d had from the beginning, from a cupboard beneath the terminal. The moment they were gone, Koushiro said to Andromon, “Open the Singapore gate.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Everyone? This data is really weird,” Ken said. “I don’t think this a normal crossover.”

“What is the news like?” Taichi asked Iori as he leaned over the youngest’s chair. While they couldn’t always understand the language used, the videos from the reports were always helpful in figuring out what they were up against. The crossovers were always extensively covered, no matter where they happened. The rest of the world had taken to calling them “monster attacks”. The Digidestined themselves had earned the title “Monster Hunters”. (Daisuke had protested the complete unoriginality of the name.) There was a lot of speculation about who they were and who they worked for. It was worth all their anonymity to not bother correcting anyone about anything. Especially after the first few months as the world accepted their role in things and let them get to it.

“Ken’s right. This is not a normal crossover. Look.”

There, on the screen, behind the reporter speaking to the camera was something that Taichi had recently seen. “Is that…” he trailed off the unnecessary question because there was no need to confirm.

Surrounded by an expanding cloud of darkness, smack dab in the middle of the streets of Singapore, stood one of the Towers of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Chapter Text

Steadying Mimi at his side, Yamato took the chance to see where Andromon had sent them when he opened the gates. Looking around and seeing the shelves full of books, it wasn’t that hard to figure out. He rolled his eyes as he thought how wonderful it was that they should be dropped in the middle of a public library. Ignoring the people rising from chairs and peeking from the stacks, Yamato stepped out of the way. He pulled Mimi along with him by wrapping his hand around the top of her arm. He knew that Sora, Jou, Yokomon, and Bukamon would be right behind them. Yamato paused only long enough to see them arrive before he began walking towards the door. “Headquarters, this is Friendship. Do you copy?”

Miyako’s voice crackled in his ear. “We copy, Friendship.” The lavender hair girl had been put in charge of communications early on. So, they were used to hearing her voice in their ear. There were other headsets in the Gate Room, but it was Miyako who relayed most of the information out to the field.

“We have arrived on location and are waiting for directions to the crossover.” Some days, he couldn’t quite believe how easy it was to slip into the speech pattern. The idea to use it had come actually from Chikara Hida, Iori’s grandfather, and Piximon. It came as no surprise that the kendo master and the relentless Digimon had become friends. After Koushiro and Taichi had rescued the little guy, Piximon moved into Headquarters. All of the Digimon they rescued during The Search moved into Headquarters with them. Piximon had been one of the first, back in the early days of The Search. Back before darkness had covered so much of the Digital World. Before Taichi had forbidden all but the two of them from going. The military-like speech had been hard to pick up at first. But now it came naturally these days when they stepped outside of Headquarters.

By the time he finished talking, they had reached the door to the building. But he paused with his hand on the handle when Miyako spoke again. “Acknowledged, Friendship. One of the towers has appeared from the D World. This is your destination.”

“What?” He heard Mimi and Sora’s startled exclamation both from his earpiece and from behind him. Yamato threw the door open and raced into the street, scanning the skyline. However, too many skyscrapers were blocking the view, and he couldn’t see the tower from where they were.

Jou’s unfazed reaction almost made him smile. “We’re on our way,” his voice stated. Yamato turned back to see the oldest Digidestined herding the two girls out of the library. He locked gazes with Yamato. Even through the dark glasses, Yamato could imagine the admonishment in his eyes when he gave a single, sharp shake of his head. He was right, of course. Yamato was in command right now, and he needed to keep it together. Which was why he had pushed all thoughts of his brother to the side once the crossover started. If he let himself dwell on it now, he would be next to useless for the others. Without further prompting, Yamato fingered his Digivice hooked onto his pants. It began to glow, as it had so many times before. The Crest of Friendship blazed blue on his chest, shining even through the black jacket. Tsunomon became Gabumon, who Warp Digivolved into MetalGarurumon without pause. Going aerial was the quickest way to spot the tower in the city.

The street exploded into activity as the citizens realized what was happening. Enough crossovers had happened that the Digidestined were recognizable almost everywhere. Even if only by their disguises. The people’s reactions increased exponentially once Yokomon Digivolved up to Birdramon. Tanemon joined her as Lillymon, as the green Crest of Sincerity glowed on Mimi’s chest. On the other hand, Bukamon only Digivolved up to Gomamon. Considering neither of his higher forms could mobilize in the air, it was a wise move.

As all this was happening, Headquarters had not been quiet in their ears. “It’s not as bad as it could be,” Gennai said. It was kind of a surprise to hear the Digital Man’s voice rather than Miyako’s. In fact, Yamato thought it was an even greater surprise that Taichi hadn’t kicked Gennai out of the Gate Room yet. But Taichi was anything but impractical when it came to being the leader of the Digidestined. And no one knew more about the Demon Lords at this point than Gennai. “That’s Gluttony Tower. You can tell by the slight yellow tone of the bricks.” Yamato and Mimi mounted onto MetalGarurumon as Lillymon launched into the air. Sora, Jou, and Gomamon climbed onto Birdramon’s feet.

Mimi gripped him around the waist, her arms in a vice grip. “What does that mean?” she asked after MetalGarurumon flew up, followed right after by Birdramon.

“That means Beelzemon,” Gennai answered. Which still meant little to Yamato. Having only heard the group's name less than half an hour ago, this would be the first time he’d heard any of their individual names. But Gennai did say that it wasn’t as bad as it could be. That must mean Beelzemon wasn’t the strongest of the Demon Lords.

It didn’t take very long for them to find the tower once they were high enough. Gluttony Tower stood in the center of a street. Dark purple-black clouds were billowing out from it and spreading. “Headquarters, we can see the tower,” Jou said.

“Hold on, everyone. Courage and Knowledge will be joining you shortly. Do not engage target until they arrive.” This took Yamato aback, and he heard Mimi’s small gasp of surprise from behind him. Neither Taichi nor Koushiro usually left Headquarters for crossovers. Usually it was decided that both could better coordinate efforts from there. Most of the time Taichi sent them and the Knights out. Sometimes, it grated on Taichi’s nerves to not be a part of the action. But they had never faced an enemy in a crossover that required the full might of the Digidestined.

But maybe that was it. They’d never faced a Digimon as powerful as the Demon Lords before.

Yamato had MetalGarurumon pause in the air a few blocks away from the tower itself. The cloud was creeping out, consuming more and more with each passing second. Yamato tried not to think about what was happening to the people and buildings inside it. With the destructive power of Digimon, they hadn’t always been able to prevent casualties during the crossovers. They tried to arrive as fast as they could, but unfortunately, they could only react. There wasn’t a way yet to prevent the crossovers from happening or to detect when they were going to happen. As time had gone on, people had begun to recognize when it was happening and evacuated. Now, they waited for the “Monster Hunters” to get there. The numbers have decreased with each attack, but they all felt each one deep inside. While they knew it wasn’t their fault, it was hard not to feel guilty when protecting the worlds from Digimon was the Digidestined’s responsibility.

And as the leader, no one had felt it more heavily than Taichi.

Yamato took a deep breath. There was nothing for it now. He had to focus on who they could save. “Love, stay in the air for now. I don’t like the look of those clouds. Circle around the area, staying up high,” Yamato said. He knew that it was harder for Birdramon than MetalGarurumon to hover in the air. Sora acknowledged his command with a quick “got it”. Then, Birdramon flew off, flying in wide circles around the tower.

“Sincerity, can you get Lillymon to scout out the situation?” Mimi acknowledge his request. He felt her release his waist with one hand to wave her partner over and relay the information. It was frustrating at times that earpieces for the Digimon were completely impractical. With all their different Digivolutions, there was no way to find ones that fit. The small fairy-like Digimon swooped down closer to the tower.

Taichi’s voice appeared in his ear at that moment. “Seriously, a library?” Yamato smirked in spite of the situation at Taichi’s tone. “We’re here. Be with you in a few minutes, Friendship.”

“No sign of Beelzemon yet,” Yamato relayed back. Not that he would ever admit it out loud, but Yamato relaxed in relief that Taichi was here now to take back the reins of command. “Or any other Digimon for that matter.”

Jou interrupted. “Besides a few news crews, the streets seem pretty empty around the clouds.” Yamato was relieved. The citizens must have evacuated. At that moment, Lillymon flew back and shook her head at Yamato. She hadn’t seen any sign of Beelzemon or any other Digimon.

“Look out!” Sora yelled and MetalGarurumon banked to the right as a beam of energy shot through the air where they had hovered. Caught unawares, Mimi’s grip slipped from around his waist, and she fell off MetalGarurumon’s back. Her screams tore through the air as she plummeted towards the earth. Fear and horror gripped Yamato’s heart as he watched, wide-eyed, his friend falling.

Lillymon raced after her partner, slamming into her around the waist. Everyone heard her giant exhale of air, but Lillymon had saved her and that was what was the important thing. They had never had such as close call like that before. Bumps, scrapes, and bruises were only to be expected. Not to mention the one time Daisuke had managed to break his arm, but never anything like this. Yamato looked down to see a giant motorcycle come flying out of the cloud, roaring its engine. It came slamming down onto the street.

It was rather unnecessary what Gennai said next. “That’s him. That’s Beelzemon.” Yamato thought that was obvious.

“He’s headed for one of the news crews!” Iori’s alarmed voice came seconds before WarGreymon’s Terra Force ripped through the sky towards the motorcycle.

But Beelzemon leapt up from his bike and batted the attack away, swatting it with no more effort than Yamato would a fly. It was apparent that Gennai was not joking about the Demon Lords’ power. The orange energy ball slammed into one of the buildings in a giant explosion. The Demon Lord guffawed in derision. “Hello, Digidestined! Have you come to play? Lucemon will be so happy you came to see me.” Yamato definitely did not like the sound of that laugh. It was far too confident.

Neither did Taichi. “Friendship, join Knowledge and me in holding him off. Responsibility, check to make sure Sincerity is alright. Love, get those news crews out of here.” Taichi gave his orders with the efficiency and confidence he’d developed through the years. And without question, they all followed them.

After repeating his orders to him, MetalGarurumon dropped Yamato off on a rooftop. A street over, he could see Mimi and Lillymon on top of another building. His partner flew off to where WarGreymon and MegaKabuterimon were fighting Beelzemon. Yamato didn’t see Taichi and Koushiro on either of their backs, so presumably, they had been dropped off somewhere safe as well. A few seconds later, he watched Birdramon drop off Jou and Gomamon on the roof by Mimi before flying away again.

“This is Responsibility. Sincerity had the wind knocked from her, but she’s alright.”

Yamato breathed a sigh of relief that was very short lived. Beelzemon, feral grin on his face, appeared above the skyline a couple of streets over. Spinning in midair, he kicked away the Horn Buster MegaKabuterimon had shot at him. Too late, Yamato realized where the attack was now headed. It slammed into the rooftop where he stood. He flung his arms up to cover his face but the force from the explosion knocked him backwards off his feet. Any second, he expected to slam into the rooftop.

However, he soon realized there was nothing beneath him but air.

The moment Taichi gave his orders, Sora had Birdramon fly over to where Lillymon had taken Mimi. It pained her to see her friend clutching at her chest, like she couldn’t breathe. Lillymon stood over her with a hand on her shoulder and a worried expression on her face. They hadn't even landed before Jou and Gomamon hopped off. Knowing there was nothing else she could do for her friends, Birdramon took off again.

It had terrified her, seeing Mimi falling like that.

But she had her orders and directed Birdramon towards the nearest reporters. Unfortunately, it was also the street Beelzemon was on. Sora jumped down as Beelzemon ran up the side of a building to slam into WarGreymon, crushing him into the building on the other side of the street. Sora tried to ignore the battle and the warm red Crest of Love that appeared on her chest as Birdramon Digivolved into Garudamon.

With a sudden jolt, Sora realized she wasn’t even sure what language they spoke here in Singapore. She was almost sure it was some form of Chinese, but she wasn’t positive. Not that the knowledge would help her any, as Sora didn’t know Chinese anyway. Or any other language for that matter. As a digital denizen, only Gennai was well versed in the languages of the world. Well, any language that had been digitally recorded.

It didn’t matter. The Digidestined had a fall back plan for this kind of situation: use English. They’d discovered that a lot of people, especially professionals, had at least a rudimentary knowledge of English. Not unlike the Digidestined themselves. Most people could understand the simplest phrases, and it helped to keep the Digidestined anonymous. It wouldn’t do for them to go around speaking their native language, thus narrowing the search for anyone looking for the “Monster Hunters”. “Go,” she said to the reporters in English, aware of the camera on her. “Go,” she repeated when they made no effort to move. That was the extent of English that they used in these situations.

When they still showed no signs of leaving, Sora huffed in frustration. She couldn’t understand why they hadn’t left already when things got dangerous. There was a need to report the crossovers, she wouldn't deny that. It helped the people know when and where they were and helped the Digidestined in the initial phases. But there was no need to stick around for so long and risk their lives.

Her gaze returned to the scene above. WarGreymon attacked him with Metal Claw, but Beelzemon gripped his claws and spun him around. When he let go, WarGreymon went flying right into MetalGarurumon, sending both of them through a building. Beelzemon, a predatory and almost fanatic grin still on his face, leapt up above the skyline, as MegaKabuterimon shot off his Horn Buster at him. Spinning in mid-air, Beelzemon kicked the attack away. It must have gone a street or two over before it exploded into something.

Quite suddenly, Mimi was screaming. “Lillymon, save him!”

“Sincerity, what is it?”

“Yamato was on that roof!” Mimi, out of them all, had the hardest time taking to the code names. She tended to drop them completely when she panicked.

Ice trailed down her spine even as Sora asked, “Which roof?” She was terrified that she already knew the answer to that question.

Jou’s quiet reply was Sora’s fears all realized. “The one Beelzemon kicked the Horn Buster into.” Without another second’s delay, Sora was on the move. As far as she was concerned, if the reporters wanted to risk their lives than that was their own prerogative.

Cupping her hands up to her mouth, Sora called out to her partner. “Garudamon!” Once she had her attention, she signaled that she wanted up. Garudamon bent so that Sora could climb onto her hand. “We’ve got to go where the Horn Buster landed.” Garudamon took off as MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon engaged Beelzemon again. Sora remembered seeing the blond on the street over when she dropped off Jou and Gomamon.

“Sincerity, Responsibility, is he okay?” Koushiro asked.

There was a moment’s pause before Mimi answered. “I...I don’t know.” The words were spoken in a hush, and anyone could hear the fright in the girl’s voice. “Lillymon is with him down on the street, but I can’t tell from up here.”

Sora reached the street as Taichi spoke her code name. Mimi, Jou, and Gomamon stood on the edge of the roof, all looking down to the street below. She looked down as Garudamon descended and saw Yamato lying in the street, with Lillymon at his side. Debris, presumably from the Horn Buster hitting the roof, lay all around them. “I see them. Just a minute.” When they landed again, Sora hopped down from her partner to check on Yamato.

Lillymon looked up when she arrived. “I caught him in time, but I think I did something to his arm when I did,” she said.

Sora grimaced. There was definitely something wrong with his right shoulder. She was no expert, but Sora thought it might be dislocated. There were cuts and scrapes all over his body, though his face seemed clear. She shook his left shoulder a few times, calling his name but there was no response. “He’s unconscious but breathing.” When she said no more than that, Sora knew everyone would be able to read between the lines. Yamato was in bad shape, but he was alive.

Koushiro’s voice came over the earpiece. “Love, Beelzemon is heading in your direction. Our Digimon are in pursuit.” She looked up to see the Demon Lord standing on the edge of a rooftop, looking down at them, still with that grin on his face. WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, and MegaKabuterimon hung in the air around him. They looked almost like they were hesitating. Sora could imagine they would be more reluctant to attack now with what happened to Yamato. Jou and Mimi were, after all, on the roof directly across from him.

She couldn’t stand it. First, Mimi and now Yamato—none of them had ever had it this bad before. No crossover had been like this. And she couldn’t stand to see her friends, these people she loved so much, hurt like this. There had to be something more that she could do.

The Crest of Love burned on her chest, brighter and warmer than it ever had before. Garudamon became to glow brightly before bursting into brilliant gold flames. In her place, a giant four-winged bird Digimon shot into the air. Her feathers were all gold except for the rainbow-colored ones sticking out from her gold-plated head and spiking down her back. Familiar golden rings wrapped around her ankles. Mixed among her golden tail feathers were what looked like red diamond shaped ropes. “That’s Hououmon,” boomed MegaKabuterimon’s voice.

“Garudamon Digivolved?” Sora said. The wonder in her voice was plain for anyone to hear. She had only seen Gabumon and Agumon Warp Digivolve to their Mega forms. She had assumed that it would be the same for the rest of them. That they would only be able to Digivolve to Mega from their Rookie forms. She hadn’t expected them to be able to Digivolve directing from Ultimate.

“Well, Lucemon is not going to be happy about this. Or maybe he will. The strangest things amuse him, you know.” Beelzemon laughed. WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, and Hououmon formed a triangle around him as he jumped into the air. “By the way, Taichi Yagami, did you enjoy Lucemon’s gift? Lilithmon wanted to play with it a bit more, but Lucemon insisted. He’d gotten what he wanted from it. After all, the other one was already...well, you know.” There was a smugness to Beelzemon’s look as he looked past the Digimon around him, presumably towards wherever Taichi was standing.

Sora assumed that this ‘gift” was Hikari, but that still didn’t stop her shock by the fierceness of Taichi’s growl. He actually growled. Sora hadn’t even known he was close enough to hear what Beelzemon had said, despite how loud the Demon Lord spoke. “Get him,” Taichi yelled, loud enough to make Sora wince. There was almost a reckless anger to his tone that stunned her. It had been a very long time since Taichi had lost control. Since Beelzemon hadn’t said anything beyond what they already knew and it had been a long time since Taichi had lost his cool against some Digimon’s taunts, it led Sora to one conclusion.

Taichi was hiding something from them.

She didn’t know how they had heard him, but at the same time, all three Mega Digimon attacked. “Terra Force!” WarGreymon gathered the large compressed energy between his palms and flung it at Beelzemon. In contrast to the overpowering heat of his friend’s attack, MetalGarurumon opened his mouth and unleashed his sub-zero Metal Wolf Claw. Hououmon flapped her golden wings. “Star-Light Explosion!” Golden rain joined her fellow Digimons’ attacks. All three hit Beelzemon at the same time. Sora waited with baited breath to see if that had done it.

The air cleared and Beelzemon remained. He hovered in mid-air, alive but not unscathed. Yet, he was still laughing. “Sorry, but it seems like playtime is over. See you next time, Digidestined.” With that, Beelzemon and his tower faded away, taking the purple black clouds with them and leaving ruin behind.

Chapter Text

Jou thought there were many ways the day could have gone better.

As soon as Beelzemon left, Taichi had instructed them to gather where Yamato was. Hououmon had come to pick them up, while MegaKabuterimon went for Taichi and Koushiro. Since they weren't that far away, they arrived only a few seconds after him and Mimi. MetalGarurumon was standing at his partner's head when they touched down. Taichi reached his friend first, staring down at Yamato's unconscious form; his face was pale and grim. Not since the Dark Masters had the Digidestined been in that much danger. And, at the time, those experiences hadn't felt quite like this. Perhaps it was because they had been children, unable to quite grasp the fact that their lives were on the line. Perhaps it was because of what had led to this that had made them more aware of their own vulnerability.

Eleven! Takeru and Hikari had been all of eleven years old when they were kidnapped. It made Jou sick thinking about the three long years the two had been in the Demon Lords' hands. Tortured, if Koushiro's description was to be believed. Which knowing Koushiro as he did, Jou knew that he did. And if Hikari had gone through that, it wasn't that far of a stretch to imagine Takeru had as well.

Without being prompted, Jou slipped into his role of battlefield medic. Even a few years ago, he'd been hesitant to say that being a doctor was the path he wanted to take. Despite his parents being ones and one of his older brothers on his way to it, he hadn't committed himself. But then the kids were taken, and Gennai revealed the truth. As they began to build Headquarters, Jou knew this was what their leader needed him to be. So, he started spending all his spare moments studying. He was in the Infirmary as much as possible absorbing anything his parents and brother had to teach him.

Kneeling next to Yamato, he started by taking his friend's pulse. "I think his arm is dislocated," Sora whispered. Jou nodded, more focused on keeping his eye on his watch as he counted. Satisfied that Yamato's pulse and breathing were normal, he turned his attention to the shoulder. He had to agree with Sora's assessment.

Jou looked up, finding the Digimon he was looking for. All of their partners were making a ring around the teens. The streets were still empty, but that could change at any time. It was the hope that the Digimons' presence would discourage any curious onlookers. "Lillymon, did he hit his head on anything?"

The flower Digimon shook her head. "He was falling. I caught him by the arm before he hit the ground and then laid him down here. He was unconscious by the time I caught him. Maybe during the explosion something happened?" she suggested. The tilted lilt of her last words showed how hesitant she was to say it.

Jou nodded again, thinking that was possible. But he didn't want to move him unless he was sure he couldn't make anything worse. "Headquarters, patch me through to the Infirmary," Jou instructed.

"Got it."

His mother's voice crackled in his ear, a new comforting presence. "What is it, son?" In precise, succinct words, Jou described all his observations about Yamato's condition. "I understand your worry. I'll send you a stretcher to bring him in."

"Copy that." Taichi then told Andromon to find the nearest possible gate to where they were.

"It's the building to the west," Miyako informed them as soon as Andromon located one. A few tense seconds later, her voice came over the radio again. "Blue Knight and Kindness have left with the stretcher. They'll be with you in less than a minute."

A groan caught all their attention as Yamato shifted a little. Jou breathed a sigh of relief. Yamato's unconsciousness had been what worried him the most. In less than a moment, Taichi leaned over his best friend. "Yamato? Are you alright? How do you feel?"

"Like I just got blown up and flung off the top of a building," Yamato bit back. "How do you think I feel, idiot?" A relieved smile filled Taichi's face at his friend's sarcasm. Jou couldn't fight a smile of his own at the familiar tone of voice. If Yamato was making sarcastic comments that he couldn't be too badly off. "MetalGarurumon?"

His partner nudged his head with his nose. "I am here, friend."

Yamato tried to raise his arms to his partner. He stopped as soon as he started and grabbed his dislocated arm with his other hand with a pained hiss. "Okay. Ow. That hurts. What happened?"

"I think your arm is dislocated," Jou answered. At the same time, MetalGarurumon said, "Beelzemon went back to the Digital World."

Before anymore could be said, the door to the building next to them opened. Flamedramon and Stingmon came out with Daisuke and Ken right behind them. The two boys were carrying a stretcher between them. Yamato groaned and covered his eyes with his uninjured arm. "Oh, tell me you didn't."

"We did, and you're getting on it, no arguments," Jou informed him. As the Doctors Kidos had insisted everyone receive basic training, Yamato was placed on the stretcher with ease. They hauled him back into the building the two boys had come from to gate back to Headquarters. The Digimon all De-Digivolved back to their In-Training forms. (Mostly for practical reasons as half wouldn't fit through the door or in the Gate Room.)

Back in the Gate Room, Taichi gave one last tired order. "Jou, you're with me. Everyone else, go get cleaned up. Dinner should be ready soon."

The Digidestined and their Digimon filed out of the room. Taichi stopped Mimi by gripping her arm. "What is it?" she asked.

But Taichi's eyes were on the small green Digimon in her arms. "Tanemon, thank you. Thank you for being on time." The sheer amount of gratitude in Taichi's voice washed over the room in a wave. They were all aware of the special place Taichi and Yamato held for each other. Theirs was a deep friendship forged and purified. Truly, only the two older brothers could understand each other in a way that no one else could.

And Jou knew that Tanemon understood all this. She didn't brush off his gratitude, but received it with sincerity. "You're very welcome," she piped, smiling at Taichi.

Taichi turned to Mimi. "I want you to come to the Infirmary, too. Just to make sure everything is okay."

The bright girl nodded. "I'll come after I get cleaned up. You know, give Dr. Kido a chance to look at Yamato first."

"All right," Taichi agreed. "But if you don't come, I will find you and drag you back if I have to," he teased, a smile on his face again. Jou smiled himself to see it. Though he understood the necessity of his seriousness in battle, it was always nice to see that carefree grin that defined Taichi. One that got rarer and rarer the more time passed since The Disappearance.

Mimi's lips split into a smile of her own. "Oh, I don't doubt that." Once she left, he and Taichi carried Yamato in the Infirmary.

His mother pronounced Yamato's arm dislocated and had Taichi hold his friend as she put it back in place. This caused Yamato to cry out in pain and curse the Demon Lords. Mizuki ignored his mutterings and fixed his arm into a sling. Then, she began a rapid-fire set of questions as she examined him which Yamato sullenly answered.

Jou tuned them out when he got his first look at Hikari. Gatomon was curled up on the pillow near her head, gazing unblinking at her partner. Hikari's mother, Yuuko, sat at the bedside, holding her daughter's limp hand in her own.

And Hikari looked so small, hardly any bigger than when she'd been eleven. Her brown hair laid around her head, and the paleness of her skin almost matched the white on her hospital gown. Black and purple bruises colored her arms and what he could see of her neck and collar. Jou shuddered to think what the rest of her body looked like. His mother had put an oxygen mask over the lower part of her face. With an IV drip connected to her bony hand, his only comfort was the steady beat of the heart monitor at her bedside.

"How is she?"

Jou jumped at the voice, not having heard Yamato approach. His arm was in a sling, and there was a bandage over the larger gash that had run down the length of his left forearm. None of his other scrapes had been bad enough to bandage after they were cleaned. Otherwise, he looked fine, which brought no small amount of relief.

Mizuki answered. "My first assessment seems to be holding out so far. She's dehydrated and severely underweight. There are bruises, contusions, and lacerations all over her body. But none are infected and should heal with proper care. There seems to be no evidence of any internal injuries. But I think this might be more than normal unconsciousness. I believe Hikari is in a coma." A chill ran down Jou's spine. There were many different kinds of comas, but Jou was well aware of the ones from which some never woke up. Yuuko choked out a sob, and Taichi moved to place a hand on her shoulder. Mizuki continued, "I can't be sure of everything. We're well equipped here, but the Infirmary is not a hospital. In my opinion, I think her coma is more mental than physical. Whatever happened to her must have been terrible enough that her mind shut down to protect her." She looked at Taichi. "I'd like to take her down to Tokyo for a few days to run further tests."

And wasn't that just sad. That his mother, a fully-trained, highly qualified doctor, looked to a sixteen-year-old boy for permission before even asking Yuuko. But Taichi ran Headquarters (and ran it well), and they all knew it, even their parents. She didn't even have to check herself; the instinct to turn to Taichi first was that strong. Jou wasn't even sure when that instinct formed for the adults. Then again, he wasn't sure when exactly it formed for them either. But Jou would guess it was probably sometime during Etemon, even if it hadn't been acknowledged out loud until Myotismon's Castle.

Perhaps the most telling bit was that Taichi didn't even blink, didn't ask his mother, didn't so much as twitch at the description of his sister's injuries. He only asked one question. "Will you be able to bring her back?" And Jou understood that. Though some of their parents left Headquarters almost every day to commute to work, they all felt better behind its safe walls. To have Hikari hospitalized outside for an unknown amount of recovery time would put them all on edge.

Mizuki gave a shake of her head. "I don't actually know. If her condition is worse than I believe, it may be a possibility that we will have to stay there."

"But it will help her, right," Taichi asked. Mizuki nodded. "Then do whatever it takes to heal my sister."

Mizuki nodded again, eyes steely. "I'll arrange for transportation. We'll leave tomorrow morning. Ideally, I would like to bring her back and take care of her here." She moved over to the small desk set aside for the doctors down here. Both his parents had a bigger office upstairs above the Classroom and Conference Room. All the records, school, medical, or otherwise, were kept up there.

Jou followed her. "Where's Shin?"

"He went to pick Susumu from the station. We called him about Hikari, and he got on the first train out."

Jou nodded in acknowledgement, biting his lip. Lowering his voice, he asked uncertainly, "Mom, is Hikari going to be okay?"

"I haven't found any outward signs of head trauma, which lead me to my conclusion. But, Jou." She looked him straight in the eyes. "Hikari was kidnapped and held against her will for three years. And there is every indication that those years were not pleasant. She has been abused, both body and mind. Some people never recover from that." She kept her voice quiet so that only Jou could hear her, but her tone was still straightforward and unrelenting. His mother had never sugar coated anything for him, and it wasn't like he expected her to start doing so now. "On the other hand, some people overcome the adversity they encounter and come out stronger than before. So, it all depends on Hikari's strength."

And Jou remembered. How young she had been, how young they all had been (not that they were old no by any means, he was the oldest at seventeen years old), sure in the knowledge that none of them had been chosen by accident, that none of them would have been chosen if they weren't strong enough. "She'll get through it, you'll see," Jou said, eyes not on Hikari herself, but those around her. They would help her, as they would help Takeru when they got him back. To be a Digidestined meant you never had to face anything alone.

Koushiro and Motimon cleaned up with haste and left the House again. They did not head to the Cafetorium to wait for dinner but back to the Business Quarter in search of Gennai. The redhead didn't resent the digital man quite as much as Yamato and Taichi did. It was true that, had Gennai told them the truth about what had really happened to them after the battle with Apocalymon, Takeru and Hikari might have never been kidnapped. Then again, knowing everything that he did, Koushiro had already concluded that there might have been nothing they could have done to stop it.

Takeru and Hikari had never been the types to sit on the sidelines. At the time, the three Knights hadn't been enough to fight the darkness that had held Ken, and there had been no one else. Yes, Gennai should have told them what had happened to them. He should not have waited until a year after it had become obvious to everyone that Takeru and Hikari could not be saved. Koushiro had figured that out after two weeks, but he wouldn't have said it out loud. Not with Taichi and Yamato around. But too many events lead up to the actual kidnapping. If the Digital World hadn't used them. If Ken had been with them from the beginning. If he hadn't become Emperor. If their power hadn't been suppressed by the Dark Towers. If Angemon hadn't...Koushiro sighed as he walked into the Gate Room. Unfortunately, only Andromon remained.

"Andromon, do you know where Gennai went?" Koushiro asked.

"Twenty-six point seven minutes ago he departed after Taichi and Jou took Yamato to the Infirmary. He did not disclose his destination." Two years of constant interaction with them had done nothing to help Andromon stop his more robotic speech.

"Can you find him?"

"Searching...target located. Gennai is in The Shrine. Would you like me to send a message?"

"No, thank you, Andromon. I'll go to him."

"Why are you looking for Gennai?" Motimon asked as they left the Business Quarter again.

"Someone has to tell him about Garudamon's Digivolution," he answered, even if that wasn't quite the truth. Gennai, after all, had been in the Gate Room during the crossover and was aware of it. There was something else on his mind. Something he was almost afraid to speak out loud. Something that had been forming since he saw Taichi return with Hikari in his arms, building with all the little observations he'd made since then.

The Shrine was a small lone building nestled in a nook at the back of Headquarters between the Residential Block and the Business Quarter. Koushiro wasn't even sure who exactly called it that first, though it was a rather apt description. He slid open the door and stepped in, Motimon on his heels. Two dog beds rested on either side of the door, one for each Gatomon and Elecmon. Both Digimon lived in The Shrine, though for different reasons. Though, with Hikari back, it was likely that Gatomon would not stay here any longer.

Standing before the central focus of The Shrine with his arms folded across his chest was the object of Koushiro's search. He came to stand next to him, eyes on what Gennai was gazing at. On a short flat pedestal, encompassed by a blue blanket, sat a gold and white striped Digi-Egg. As far as they knew, currently the very last Digi-Egg in existence. File Island had been among the first areas covered in darkness. They had managed to save Elecmon from Primary Village, though he'd heard that it about killed him (and Mimi) to leave all those eggs behind. Koushiro had been with Jou and Taichi at the time getting Centarumon.

The Digi-Egg hadn't so much as stirred in the three years they'd been taking care of it. According to Elecmon, this was a very unusual long amount of time for a Digimon to remain an egg. Nothing he did, despite his long experience, had hatched it. But this was not exactly a revelation to them. Everyone knew what he was waiting for. Or rather, who.

Koushiro had been told that ten seconds had been about the difference.

"Garudamon Digivolved into Hououmon, and it still wasn't enough to defeat Beelzemon," Koushiro said. It bothered him that even that hadn't been enough. Three Megas versus one Demon Lord...they had damaged him but he remained undefeated. Mimi and Yamato had both almost died. And Gennai had said he was on the lower end of the hierarchy.

"No, this is a good thing," Gennai said. The Digital Man looked more heartened then Koushiro had seen in years. He knew Gennai felt terrible about the kids' disappearance. And the brothers livid and blatant resentment did not help matters. "Hououmon may be exactly who we need while Takeru is still in their hands, and Hikari is recovering."

"What do you mean?" It didn't take a genius to figure out that the targeting of the two specific kids meant that they would be needed to defeat the Demon Lords. Gennai's words in the Conference Room had only reaffirmed that to Koushiro, not pointed it out. He didn't see how, Hououmon, specifically, would help, Mega Digimon though she was. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon were ones as well, after all.

To his surprise, Motimon answered first. "Oh, I see," the little pink Digimon said. He had been the source of so much information back in the day said. So Koushiro guessed, it wasn't much of a surprise at all to hear him answer. "Hououmon is a Holy Beast Digimon."

Gennai nodded in agreement, but Koushiro was lost (a feeling he did not like) as to what that exactly had to do with anything. Thankfully, Gennai began to explain without him asking. "While it is true that the Angel Digimon are the pinnacle of Holy Digimon, thus making them the ultimate counterpart to any Demon Digimon, they are not the only Holy Digimon. Hououmon is part of what we call the Holy Beasts."

"Did you see the gold rings around the ankles?" Motimon asked.

Koushiro thought back to the battle, placing his hand on his chin, as he did so. Though he and Taichi had been further away from the battle than the others, their view had not been obstructed by any of the buildings. And Hououmon was still at least as big as Garudamon had been. "Yeah, they kind of reminded me of Gatomon's tail ring," he said as he saw the bird Digimon in his mind's eye.

"They would as they are essentially the same thing," Gennai explained. "They're called Holy Rings. You could say that they're the mark of a Holy Digimon, as all of them have them."

"So that would mean Gatomon…"

"Is also a Holy Beast," Gennai finished. "As is her previous form, Salamon. It is probable that when Myotismon found her he recognized this. That could be the reason he wanted to turn her, regardless of whether he was aware of her destiny as Hikari's partner. There's nothing quite as dangerous as a Fallen Angel Digimon. Almost half of the Great Demon Lords are." Silence fell for a while. "Anyway, did you notice when the attacks were combined with Hououmon's, it actually affected Beelzemon before the crossover ended?"

"Yes." Beelzemon hadn't been defeated, but he also hadn't come out unscathed from that last attack either, like he had all the others they had thrown at him.

"I think that's what will help us win. Alone WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon might not be able to defeat them. Yet when their power is combined with a Holy Digimon, it could be enough. And once the rest of your partners reach their Mega level as well, the power will be that much more exponentially great."

Once he thought about it, he realized that was how they had beaten many of their ultimate foes in their early days. Devimon. Myotismon. Machinedramon. Piedmon. All had only been beaten when Holy power had been added, whether from the Digimon or from Takeru and Hikari themselves.

Gennai continued, "I had hoped that her final form would be Hououmon, but no Digimon's Digivolution is absolute. Not even your own partners." Koushiro had to look no further back than Taichi and SkullGreymon to know what he said was true. Digivolutions were hardly ever a set line. There were many variables that determined which way a Digimon would go. "It gives me hope. Something of which I have not felt for quite some time now."

Koushiro stepped forward and placed his hand on the Digi-Egg. It was warm beneath his fingers, but still it did not so much as twitch at his touch. "Tell me the truth, Gennai. What are the chances that we can save Takeru?" He'd seen Taichi's reaction to Beelzemon's taunts. Koushiro hadn't seen him snap like that since Hikari was sick when they were fighting Machinedramon. And Koushiro was anything but stupid. Something was bothering Taichi and for some reason, he was keeping it to himself.

"You saved Ken, didn't you? He was once likewise possessed by the darkness." Koushiro frowned at that answer. Gennai had dodged his question.

So, he pressed him again. "I can't help but think this is different." He narrowed his eyes at the man in warning that he was not to be taken lightly.

Gennai chuckled. "The Digital World made no mistake when it chose you, Koushiro. You are right, of course. From what you said before, it seems that Takeru may be possessed by Lucemon himself."

Koushiro's eyebrows shot up. He didn't know that Digimon could possess a human like that. "He can do that?"

"In the Digital World, or it's mirror counterpart, the Dark World, you become as much data as anything else there. The manipulation or corruption of data can be accomplished."

"But processes can be reversed, right?"

Gennai never looked graver than when he spoke his next words. "I'm worried more about what may have already happened. Koushiro, it may be that two entities cannot occupy the same space."

Koushiro's blood ran cold. "What?" Motimon asked sharply. Koushiro was too shocked to speak. Gennai could not be implying what he thought he was. There was no way that he would accept that possibility.

Gennai nodded, his face solemn and eyes straight on Koushiro, serious and unwavering. And Koushiro knew that he was implying what he thought. "The question is perhaps not 'can we save him' but rather 'what will be left when we do.'"

Chapter Text

As she left the Business Quarter, Mimi saw Centarumon and Elecmon out in the Garden with Sora and Ken’s mothers. She wasn’t sure what time it was with the activity today, but it had to be close to the time when the workers would return. Soon, her mother would ring the intercom for dinner. Her mother would have heard the alarm for the crossover. When they built Headquarters, they installed the intercom system throughout the entire complex.

She walked the Courtyard Path toward the House on the opposite corner from the Business Quarter in the Residential Block. The entire path was covered. Mimi was always grateful for that. In the winter, it kept the snow off the path so no one had to trudge through it when they had to get places.

Mimi entered the House, the three-story building where they all slept. The top two floors had the bedrooms where all the parents slept. The first floor was split into two separate large dormitories. There was one where the girls slept and one for the boys. Each dormitory had an empty bed in it. Mimi hoped that soon only one would still be empty. The foyer she walked into led immediately to the large staircase that went up to the second floor. Mimi ignored that and turned to the door on the left. This door would take her to the girls’ dormitory. This room held a couple of chairs, desks, and bookcases. Miyako’s sisters affectionately coined it as the Sitting Room. It served as a barrier between the foyer and the bedroom. The boys had something similar on their side.

Mimi made a beeline for the other door to the bedroom. She didn't even glance at the beds and rushed to the bathroom. She set down Tanemon and shed her clothes as she went straight into one of the showers. Tanemon followed in silence. Mimi turned the knob and jumped in, not even waiting for the water to heat up. Her Digimon partner hopping in right behind her. With the water pounding down on her, Mimi sagged against one wall as her knees finally gave out beneath her. Only willpower had kept her on her feet and teasing Taichi like normal until this moment.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and dropped her head on them. In her mind, Mimi saw the few seconds of her fall. It had felt like an eternity to her. She had heard about people feeling like time slowed down, but she had never experienced it before. In truth, she expected it to have all become a blur, but Mimi remembered everything with startling clarity.

The rush of the air past her ears. The feeling of her stomach rising in her throat. Her vision had been filled with Yamato and MetalGarurumon. That image of him looking down at her, reaching out a hand too late to catch her, was burned into her eyelids. And for that short eternity, Mimi had been sure she was going to die.

And then Yamato had fallen.

To see that moment of impact, his body arching up into the air only to descend, had somehow been even scarier than her own fall. They had been so lucky the building had been tall enough so that Lillymon could reach him in time.

“Mimi?”

She gasped and jerked as the tiny hand of Tanemon touched her. “Oh, Tanemon,” she said, turning and putting her legs down so that she could gather her partner in her arms. “Thank you. Sometimes, I feel like you guys do so much for us, and we don’t do anything at all.” Like they were in the way every time they battled.

Tanemon shook her head. “Don’t say that. Without you, I wouldn’t even be able to protect anyone. None of us would.” Her big eyes looked at Mimi with some kind of imploring, some wish for Mimi to understand her.

Mimi knew she was right on some level. Gennai had told them once that they and their partners were so intrinsically connected that their partners would never be able to Digivolve like other Digimon. Without the Digidestined, there was no way for their partners to reach their full power. And without the Digimon, there was no defense from the dangers of the Digital World. The worlds would be laid bare to the machinations of evil.

A humorless puff of laughter escaped from her lips. Mimi despised all the fighting. But she had come such a long way from the spoiled selfish brat she had been in the beginning. And she was honest enough to admit that was exactly what she had been. She understood though. She knew there was no one else. Mimi knew she would get past this and fight again. For Takeru and Hikari. For Taichi, for her parents, for everyone. They needed her. No one was unimportant.

With this in mind, Mimi placed a hand against the wall and stumbled to her feet. She would be stronger than this. For them. As fast as she could, she finished her shower and then wrapped herself in a towel. She moved around the bathroom, picking up all the clothes she had discarded before. She went back into the bedroom but stopped as she stepped over the threshold.

Sora and Yokomon sat on her bed.

Worried that the other girl’s deep compassion would make her lose her composure all over again, Mimi turned her gaze away. She headed right for her closet, dumping her other clothes in the hamper along the way. Sora remained silent as Mimi picked out an outfit and got dressed. “Come here, Mimi,” Sora finally said as soon as Mimi finished. She shut her eyes and her shoulders sagged when she couldn’t stop her flinch as Sora spoke. It wasn’t like she hadn’t expected the girl not to say anything. After all, Sora was sitting on Mimi’s bed rather than her own. But she was pleasantly surprised when Sora continued with, “Let me do your hair.”

Sora handed her the pillow off the bed, and she set it on the ground, sitting on it right in front of Sora. It was soothing to have Sora brush her hair, separating the strands until the brush slid through without getting caught. She set the brush down and caught the strands between her fingers, beginning to French braid Mimi’s hair. Miyako’s older sister, Momoe, had taught them all how to do it in the early days of Headquarters. Back when things hadn’t seemed quite so bleak. Back before the darkness and crossovers and Demon Lords.

The older girl hummed as she slid the strands of Mimi’s hair into the braid. Mimi allowed herself to get lost in the soothing feeling. As Sora worked, Mimi rubbed Tanemon’s head with her fingertips. All was silent aside from Sora’s humming. All too soon, Mimi could hear and feel Sora tying off the end of her braid with a ponytail band. “All done,” she said, letting the braid fall against her back.

Mimi turned to her friend. All-encompassing compassion shone from every feature of Sora’s face. Mimi bit her lip as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Sometimes, she felt like the weakest link in their chain. “You don’t have to pretend, you know,” Sora said. “It’s okay not to be perfectly alright with what happened.” The tears in her eyes burned hotter. Unable to take it any longer, Mimi flung her arms around Sora’s waist and sobbed uncontrollably into her lap. Sora did not shush her or speak any empty reassurances. She allowed her to cry as she rubbed her hand over Mimi’s back.

After a few minutes, Mimi felt composed enough to lift her head. She raised a shaking hand to her face to wipe the tears from her eyes. Through the blurry burn of her tears, she saw the state of Sora’s shirt. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “I’ve gotten your shirt all wet.”

“That’s alright,” Sora reassured her and coming from Sora, Mimi believed her. Sora pulled her up onto the bed beside her, and Mimi winced as the movement twinged the bruise on her stomach. Then, she reached to get Tanemon for her. As Tanemon settled into her lap, Sora wrapped her arm around her, and Mimi laid her head against Sora’s shoulder.

“Oh, Sora, it was awful. So awful,” she finally admitted.

“Mimi…” Tanemon murmured. Sora didn’t actually say anything but did squeeze her tighter for a brief moment.

And with that, the floodgates were opened.

“When I was falling…there are very few times I’ve been so scared. But a part of me knew I would be saved. I’ve always been saved before. Even with Yamato—and it had been so close, Sora, if Lillymon had been even a second later, she would have been too late—I didn’t really think…at the time…and it makes me feel like a baby when I think about them and what they must have gone through alone because I have Tanemon and all of you and they only had each other, if they actually did, since I wouldn’t put it past any Demon Lord to keep them separated…”

When Mimi paused to take a breath, Sora interjected. “Slow down, Mimi. Are you talking about Takeru and Hikari?”

She nodded, wiping away her tears again with the back of her hand. “Why didn’t we protect them better?” Mimi wailed. More tears were falling and she wished they would stop. But she couldn’t help it. “They were out there fighting every day to protect us when it should have been the other way around. But we were so useless back then.” With the Dark Spires, they couldn’t do anything and left it to the younger ones. Now, they could look back on what it all was: a trap. The thought of what Takeru and Hikari must have gone through these past three years was too much. Mimi dropped her hands into her lap as she sobbed, “They were babies! We should have protected them!”

Sora rubbed her back, and Mimi looked up to her friend’s face to find her frowning. “There was nothing we could have done, Mimi, even if we had been there.”

“Tortured!” Mimi burst out. “Koushiro said that she looked like she’d been tortured.” It was too horrible to think about as Mimi squeezed her eyes shut. As if that would help stop the images of what that must have been like for them.

Sora bit her lip. “Their plan…we never saw it coming. We thought Ken was the threat. None of us predicted that he was only the distraction. Even Gennai admits that.” That’s all it had been. One giant trap to capture them. Mimi knew that. They all knew that now, when back then they hadn’t had a clue.

It didn’t make her feel any better about it.

“I know,” Mimi whispered. “Somehow, that just makes it worse, knowing they would have been kidnapped no matter what.”

Squeezing her into another shoulder hug, Sora said, “We have Hikari now. And we will save Takeru. You have to believe that.”

Mimi nodded again, but in her heart, she knew she still had doubts. It was so hard to hope these days. Ultimately, the state of the Digital World bled into this one. Their presence here kept the darkness from overtaking this world like it had the Digital World. But they could not stop everything. The Digital World being seen in the sky this past year was proof enough of that.

She looked away, unable to keep her emotions to herself. She didn’t want Sora to know her doubts. She scrambled for another topic to talk about. “Do…do you know if anyone has talked to Yamato yet?” she asked, changing the subject. She knew the blond may have appeared fine during the battle. But there was no way he wasn’t mulling over the things Taichi told them about Takeru during the meeting.

“I’ll do it tomorrow. He’s likely to snap at anyone who tries tonight, so I’ll let him sleep on the news first.”

Mimi hummed in assent. Tanemon interrupted, “Mimi, we should go to the Infirmary.”

Sora leaned back, looking alarmed. “Infirmary? Why? Are you hurt?” She looked Mimi up and down, as if she could find what was wrong with her by looking.

Rubbing a hand over her sore stomach, Mimi tried for a reassuring smile. “I’m sore from where Lillymon hit me. Taichi wanted me to get it checked out just in case.” She hurt, of course, but she felt like it would hurt a lot worse if she was seriously injured.

Sora smiled in relief. “Well, then you better go before he tracks you down.”

Mimi wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. “Thank you for listening, Sora.” She managed a smile. “You too, Yokomon.” She knew she looked like a wreck. She was not one of those girls that one would say cried prettily. But Sora was right. Taichi was likely to track her down if she didn’t go soon.

The tiny Digimon beamed at her. “You’re welcome.”

Gathering Tanemon in her arms, Mimi pushed herself off the bed. With a wave of her hand, she left The House and walked back along the path to the Business Quarter. Her steps slowed as she got closer. She entered the door to the building into the hallway beyond. The door across from the entrance led to the Conference Room. She turned left and began walking down the hall, passing by the stairs that led up to the Offices. Not long after she came to the spot where the hallway split. If she continued forward, she would reach the Classroom. That was where they worked on their online classes during the weekdays.

Instead, she turned left and entered the other hall. This hall had two doors. The one along the right wall led to the Gate Room. She wondered if Koushiro was already back there again. They rarely saw their resident genius outside of school and meals. One hand gripped her skirt as her eyes landed on the sliding doors in front of her. Those lead to the Infirmary, and her movement stopped altogether.

“What are you waiting for?” Tanemon asked.

Mimi’s hand lifted and she pushed her hair behind her ear. “Do you think it makes me a terrible person that I don’t want to see her?” she whispered to her partner.

“No,” Tanemon answered. Mimi looked down at her partner. “You’ve always hated to see your friends hurt. But it was never because you didn’t care.” Mimi gulped and nodded. Taking a deep breath, she walked toward the doors and pressed the button to slid them open.

Despite herself, her eyes immediately found the bed where Hikari lay. The younger girl wasn't immediately visible. Yuuko sat by her head, gripping her daughter's hand in her own. Gatomon sat on the bottom corner near her feet, her tail swishing back and forth over the side of the bed. Mizuki was at the small desk in the other corner. The light of the computer screen glinting off her glasses as she gazed at it.

She hovered inside the door, not exactly thrilled to be here but knowing that Taichi would not let this go. She started when Yuuko spoke. "Are you here to see Hikari?" The mother looked worried but still a lot better than she had since Hikari was kidnapped.

"Umm...no," Mimi admitted. "Taichi told me to come here to get treated."

The sound of a chair being pushed back caught her attention. "Treated?" Mizuki asked sharply. "Treated for what?"

"I got injured during the battle," Mimi said, laying a hand on her abdomen that still ached.

Mizuki was walking toward her now. "He didn't say anything to me when they brought Yamato in." Her eyes narrowed and lips pursed into a thin line.

Waving her hand in front of her, Mimi said, "It wasn't as serious as that. I got hit in the stomach pretty hard."

Mizuki pursed her lips. "Well, come over here and I'll examine you." She moved toward an empty bed but paused as if something occurred to her. She stepped over to Hikari's bedside and pulled the curtains close around the girl's bed. Before she closed them completely, she leaned down to say something to Yuuko, who only nodded in reply. Mizuki walked back to Mimi and guided her to another bed. She pulled the privacy screens closed around them as well. Mimi pulled off her shirt, wincing as the muscles of her stomach stretched. Mizuki's hands trailed along her ribs, pressing certain places and asking Mimi how much it hurt. After finishing the examination, she stepped back. "Well, it appears nothing is broken, but you are quite bruised. You must have been hit hard." Mimi nodded in confirmation, the moment Lillymon slammed into her flashing in her mind. "I'd like to wrap it up anyway, just to be sure. If it starts to swell or hurt any worse, let me know immediately. Understand?"

"Yes, Doctor Kido," Mimi replied. Mizuki wrapped her ribs with practiced ease. Once she was finished, Mimi pulled her shirt on. As Mizuki pulled the curtains open, her eyes found the curtain now blocking her view from Hikari. “Dr. Kido?” The woman paused and turned back with a questioning hum. “Is Hikari…is she going to be okay?”

Mizuki’s smile was kind. “I’m hopeful. We are taking her into Tokyo tomorrow for more extensive tests, but I believe she will recover.”

Mimi breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank you for telling me.”

“You’re welcome. Now, don’t forget to tell me if the pain gets worse.”

“I will.” Mimi hopped down from the bed and walked out of the Infirmary doors. She hadn’t taken two steps down the hall before she had to press herself and Tanemon against the wall to leave room for Susumu to run past her. Someone must have told him because it wasn’t quite the right time for the working parents to return. She wondered if one of the Digimon went to get him or if he took an earlier train.

As she left the Business Quarter, she paused when she saw Koushiro and Motimon leaving The Shrine. She stopped at the crossroads, where the path split either leading to the Residential Block or The Shrine. She could tell the moment he caught sight of her. His eyes widened and his steps slowed.

Making a decision, she strode down the path for The Shrine. Mimi didn’t bother to hid her surprise when she saw Gennai leave The Shrine, too. He slipped off the path, heading off to who knows where. “Hey, guys,” she said as she approached Koushiro. “What were you talking about with Gennai in the Shrine?” She wasn’t known for subtlety. But given Koushiro’s whole deer in the headlights look, perhaps she could have been a bit less blunt in her question. Koushiro sputtered, struggling for an answer.

Mimi decided to help him out. “Does it have anything to do with what Taichi’s hiding from us?”

Koushiro’s mouth dropped. “You noticed?” Mimi raised her eyebrow at him. “Sorry. Right. Of course, you noticed. I should have realized we all could recognize when Taichi is hiding things by now.”

She shrugged because it was true. They had all been through much together. “Well, the younger kids might not have noticed anything. What do you think it is?” she inquired, almost unsure that she wanted to know the answer.

He shook his head. “I can’t know for sure.” He gripped Motimon a little tighter to him.

Mimi read his body language. She could tell he was reluctant to tell her. Which meant it was bad. “But you have a pretty good guess,” she prodded. Koushiro always had a theory, and he was almost always right.

“I…”

“You might as well tell her, Koushiro,” Motimon piped. “If Gennai is right, they’ll all find out eventually.”

Koushiro’s shoulders slumped in a clear sign of defeat. “The entity possessing Takeru must have said something to him that he doesn’t want to repeat to us. I had an idea that it had something to do with the state of the real Takeru.”

“So, you talked to Gennai about it?” Tanemon checked.

Koushiro nodded his head, not making eye contact with either of them. “He’s…he’s worried that this dark entity might have some sort of permanent effect on him. I believe that the dark entity must have eluded to this in some way to Taichi.”

Mimi frowned. It wasn’t like Koushiro to stutter over his words, but let it go in favor of asking another question. “Why would Taichi hid that from us?”

Koushiro looked very solemn as he answered. “Because it may be worse than any of us could imagine.”

After the shift, Beelzemon jumped to the top of his tower, landing in a crouch. He remained that way for the moment. His tower, like all Demon Lords, was part of the source of his power. It would replenish his energy and heal his wounds. With the Holy Beast, the battle had become harder than he had anticipated. Nothing he couldn’t handle, of course. They all could have Digivolved, and it wouldn’t have been enough. Not while Gluttony Tower was in sight.

“It appears you had a bit of trouble with the children.”

Beelzemon whipped around at the sound of the dual tone voice. Lucemon, still in the body of the human boy, stood behind him. His expression was blank, but that was nothing new. He had been a blank mask long before he broke the boy. “I’m disappointed, Beelzemon.” Though his expression hadn’t changed, Beelzemon tensed. In all the worlds, there were only two things he feared, and they both existed in the person before him. Admittedly, the boy was next to useless without his partner, but Beelzemon had not forgotten the three years it had taken to finally kill him. He also had no idea how much of his power Lucemon could access while inside his body. It was a Digidestined’s own power that fueled their partners. The idea that Lucemon could control that from even one of them was frankly terrifying, even to him. Beelzemon was under no illusions that Lucemon could and would destroy him if he felt like it.

Lucemon had been known to devastate whole continents because he was bored.

But the moment passed and Beelzemon relaxed. Feeling safe enough for the time being, he retorted, “Tch. Hardly. The bird Digivolved into Hououmon is all. Just took me by surprise. Nothing I still couldn’t handle.”

“A Holy Beast? How interesting.” Though there was nothing in his expression to give away how he felt about this new development, Beelzemon could tell he was anything but worried. There was no reason to be. They had killed or broken they only real threats to them.

“Why did you give the girl to them? For that matter, why do you possess the boy’s body? He’s dead, isn’t he?”

“Of course. When the boy gave in to save her, I made sure to erase every last shred of his existence. But the Digidestined are weak. You ask why I gave the girl back? It’s simple. Because it is something the boy would have done. I gave Taichi Yagami a reason to believe the boy is still alive. And while that doubt remains, they will not even attempt to attack me while I possess this body. Besides, the girl will be of no use to them. We broke her beyond repair.”

Chapter Text

Yamato sat on a low branch in a tree in the center of the courtyard. The tree was one of the few that had already been here before they had built Headquarters. It had been a bit more difficult to get up here with his arm in a sling, but he had managed it. Tsunomon sat on a branch near him. One leg was propped up on the branch and the other hung freely as he sat with his back against the trunk. In his one good hand, he idly twirled his harmonica.

He couldn't play it well (or his guitar for that matter) until his arm healed. As he stared at it, he could almost feel his little brother leaning against his side, sleeping soundly as he played. He'd been up here since breakfast, thinking about Takeru. And he'd almost died yesterday. He almost died without seeing his little brother again.

His grip on the harmonica tightened, and Yamato felt a twinge of pain from the long gash on his arm. He had a bunch of other minor scrapes and bruises from when he fell off the roof, but he'd insisted that Mizuki only bandage that one. He had no desire to walk around like a mummy. Given Hikari's condition, Takeru was sure to have suffered far worse than he had.

A commotion caught his attention. Peering through the leaves, he could see Ikuto, Mizuki, and Shuu wheeling Hikari's gurney down the path to the entrance. Yuuko and Gatomon were walking alongside. Both of Jyou's parents and brother were supposed to go back to the hospital today, but Yamato knew they were all escorting Hikari there this morning first. No one wanted anything to happen to the young girl now that they had her back.

She had looked so small and pale on that bed yesterday. Only the steady rise and fall of her chest and the lines on her heart monitor had proven to him that she was alive at all. He wondered if Takeru was in a similar condition, physically. Taichi hadn't mentioned one way of the other, but with how Hikari was Yamato could understand if Taichi had other things on his mind at the time. Yamato could imagine what the Yagamis were feeling. He'd avoided both of his parents last night. Taichi had left out the bit about Takeru that he had told them in his announcement last night. Yamato understood why. None of the others needed to know that Takeru was possessed by some dark spirit and wasn't on their side.

There was always the question of how long the dark spirit had possessed Takeru. Yamato grimaced. "What is it, Yamato?" Tsunomon asked. They'd been together so long that his little partner could almost always sense when his mood took a certain spiral downward.

"What if he was the one that did that to her?" Yamato voiced his thought. "How could I ever face Taichi again if Takeru was the one who-"

"He wasn't," a female voice interrupted. Yamato jumped slightly but managed not to fall out of the tree. When he looked down, he saw Sora and Yokomon at the base of the tree. Both were also watching the ambulance, which had just left to go down into the city. Yamato hadn't heard them approach, but he did tend to get lost in his thoughts so he wasn't that surprised she'd snuck up on him.

"What?" Yamato asked. He didn't exactly trust himself to jump down from the tree without injuring himself further, but Sora hauled herself up into the branches without an invitation. She settled into the branch just below his, not quite halfway around the full trunk of the tree. His mind caught up with what she'd said. "How can you know that?"

Sora looked thoughtful for a second before she answered, "Because he promised me once that he would look after her, and I've never seen him break that."

"Wait, what? When was this?"

"When we were fighting Piedmon," Sora said. "You have to understand what it was like. Taichi had sent me to find you, and, well, you remember." Yamato nodded, thinking of helping her defeat the darkness. "Anyway, I did it. I found you and brought you back. When I saw Taichi and WarGreymon broken, I was so worried that I had been too late. But when your Crest healed them, I knew that was it. We were going to win. Then, with a small white cloth, you were gone. And we ran. Andromon told us to run, and we did. We all knew there was not a chance we could beat him without you two.

"As we went through Piedmon's castle, I think it was in the back of our minds: protect the little ones. We all made sure to look after Hikari and Takeru, maybe because you weren't there to. And soon, it was just me and Gomamon with them and Patamon.

"And when I looked at him, I knew he was our last chance. Without Jou and Garudamon, Gomamon and I were next to useless. Even Angewomon had been taken by then. I thought about the miracles he'd already pulled off: Devimon, Myotismon...I could only hope that he had one more miracle in him. Takeru argued about leaving me, but I wanted him to still get as far away from Piedmon as he could. So, I gave him something to protect, and it certainly wasn't going to be me. I told him he was the only one who could keep Hikari safe. And Takeru took that very seriously." She shrugged. "I don't know exactly what happened after that, I don't know that anyone ever asked, but he did it. He pulled off that very last miracle we needed. And I've read between the lines of enough of Daisuke's stories to know that he's been protecting her ever since." She looked into his eyes. "I can't believe he's out of miracles yet."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, he brought her back, didn't he?" Sora gave him half a smile before she climbed back down the tree, stopping at the bottom only to hold her arms and catch Yokomon, and began walking toward the Garden. Yamato wondered if that was where she had been headed before she spotted him in the tree. He looked out at the gate and saw the ambulance was gone. It had probably left soon after Sora had come.

His mind raced from the story Sora had shared, something he had never heard before. "Why didn't I ever think to ask them what had happened, Tsunomon?" As far as he remembered of that time, one moment he was running at Piedmon with Taichi and the next he was standing with everyone and there were a whole lot more of their partners Digivolved than he remembered. He went straight from the utter confidence that they were going to defeat Piedmon right into the battle where they did beat Piedmon. It must have been terrifying for the others to see the two strongest Digimon they had defeated so easily.

"Well, after we beat him, it didn't really matter. And there was Apocalymon. Just like how Taichi hadn't cared that had been gone, just that you were back."

Yamato nodded thoughtfully, but that didn't change the fact that he'd never asked his brother just what had happened to bring about his partner's final Digivolution. He vaguely remembered Takeru coming and excitedly talking to him about how it was all thanks to him. He hadn't understood what Takeru was talking about at the time and had been distracted by the battle to ask for clarification. Tsunomon was right. It hadn't really been important after Piedmon was gone and Apocalymon. Suddenly, he really wanted to know. But the three that could tell him couldn't.

Now he had one more reason to want Hikari to wake up.

Daisuke let his head hit the desk as soon as he finished the online lesson. The End of the World was pending, and he was one of the few that stood between it and total annihilation. Yet somehow this did not give him a free pass from school. It had been a few days since the whirlwind of getting Hikari back and the attack of Beelzemon. Hikari was still in the hospital in Tokyo. Jou's parents wanted to run what seemed like every medical test possible on her. It would still be a couple more days yet until they got all the results back.

"Everything okay?"

He turned his head to look at his friend. Ken was leaning towards him. A worried frown lined his face. "Just peachy," Daisuke answered.

"Ah. Bored?" Ken guessed. A knowing look crossed his eyes now. This was not a new thing for the two of them. Ken sat next to him in the Classroom, so was used to dealing with Daisuke's boredom during school time.

Turning his head back down, Daisuke scoffed. "Like you wouldn't believe," he muttered out of the side of his mouth. He could use any kind of distraction right now. It was terrible of him, but he'd take another crossover if it got him out of this room. He twisted his lips. That was too much. Daisuke knew he shouldn't wish for a crossover only to relieve his boredom.

A small puff of air (that could have been a laugh if Ken wasn't Ken) escaped Ken's mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, Daisuke saw Ken refocus his attention back on his own computer. "Well, you know…"

"Yeah, yeah. Just get it done and I'll be free to do what I want." He had to admit that was one of the perks of doing school online rather than in a classroom. They all had a set of lessons to complete each weekday. Once they were done, they were free to pursue their own interests. Taichi did require them to do some sort of physical activity each day as well. Their leader wanted the Digidestined in good condition for the crossovers. After all, it did involve a lot of running sometimes. But Daisuke actually enjoyed that part of the day. He looked forward to when he could leave this room and hit the gym or get out his soccer ball.

He lifted his head and looked around the room. Though they called it the Classroom, calling it a computer room could have been an accurate description as well. Twelve desks were lined up in four rows and each one had a computer on it. One of the desks in the back row behind him was always empty, but one in front of him was empty as well. A quick check told him Koushiro was the one missing.

Daisuke looked at the clock, noting that it was almost noon. He hadn't noticed that much time had gone already. He shrugged and clicked on his next lesson for the day. Koushiro pretty much always finished his assignments before noon. Daisuke suspected that the only reason Koushiro hadn't graduated from college was because he only did the minimum required of him each day. Then he left to work on his own private projects with whatever he and Andromon got up to. Projects that were way more advanced than whatever lessons he was currently on. It was almost redundant for the genius to be here. But they all promised their parents that they would keep up with their studies. It was one of the stipulations for them to move into Headquarters in the first place. Koushiro, who loved his parents, wouldn't break a promise to them.

Everyone else was still in the Classroom. They all took their classes here, even Miyako's older sister who was still in high school as well. The rest of their older siblings who went to university commuted into town with the parents that worked in the city.

Daisuke was halfway through his next lesson when the siren went off. Crossover. Well, his was reminded all the time about being careful what he wished for. Immediately, he paused the lesson and stood. Taichi was already almost to the door. "Wait here," he ordered. He stopped to grab the intercom off the wall. "DP to the Classroom. Repeat, DP report to the Classroom." He hung it back on the wall. "Red Knight, Yellow Knight, follow me." Miyako and Iori jumped up from their chairs and walked out behind Taichi.

Jou stood up and began to pace. Daisuke could hear Sora and Mimi speaking in hushed tones, though he couldn't make out what they said. He started drumming his fingers on the desk and bouncing his foot on the floor. It wouldn't take Taichi more than a few minutes to assess the situation and decide who to send. But those few minutes of waiting were always filled with anxiety. This time there was almost an extra edge to the room. He was sure the thought on his mind was the same as everyone else.

It wasn't more than half a minute before the ajar door was pushed open further. Their Digimon partners bounced into the room and spread out to find their Digidestined. Daisuke smiled as DemiVeemon hopped over to him, exclaiming his name. They learned very early on that keeping them in the Classroom during school time was not a good idea. The Digidestined would get distracted, and the Digimon would get bored. So, during school time the small Digimon all played together in the Courtyard. Elecmon was more than happy to keep an eye on them so that they didn't get into too much trouble.

"What if it's Beelzemon again?" Ken whispered as he picked Minomon up from the floor. He voiced the thought that Daisuke knew was on everyone's minds. With the Demon Lords in the picture, crossovers got even more unpredictable than they already were. Daisuke shrugged, unable to answer. A few days ago, before Beelzemon appeared, he might have exerted his bravado and exclaimed how there was nothing to worry about. But that was before.

Before Mimi and Yamato almost died.

Before the older generation came back without a victory.

The crackling sound announced the intercom turning on before Miyako's voice started speaking. "Blue Knight and Sincerity to the Gate Room. Repeat, Blue Knight and Sincerity report to the Gate Room." Even as Daisuke stood up and gathered DemiVeemon in his arms, a palpable feeling of relief permeated the air of the room. If Taichi was requesting him, that must mean it was a normal crossover.

And this was his life now. Headquarters, online school, and normal crossovers. Knowing that meant there were now crossovers that were going to be different. As if anything about this was normal at all. His life had been far from normal the moment a blue Digivice burst from a computer and landed in his hands.

Daisuke went to the lockers to get his outfit right as he entered the Gate Room. Mimi wasn't far behind. He pulled out the jacket, hat, and sunglasses and began to pull them on.

"It's in America. New York City," Taichi explained as they dressed. That explained calling Mimi. She was usually called when they were in the United States or another country that spoke a lot of English. Having lived in the United States for so long, she had a better grasp of the language than many of them.

"Anyone we know?" Mimi asked. Those were always the worst. When it was a former friend they had to stop. Because the darkness of the Digital World was absolute. It had only spared those they had saved before the darkness could touch them.

Taichi looked grim. "It's Meramon."

Chapter Text

It had been almost a year, and it was still weird.

Miyako pulled her arms tighter around herself, careful not to squish the Digimon in her arms. The covered walkways of the Courtyard meant that she didn't have to trudge through the snow. But they didn't stop the cold winter air from biting across her cheeks.

They had lived in Headquarters for a year now. And sometimes she could not believe this was her life.

She looked down at her partner in her arms. "Are you warm enough, Poromon?"

"I'm fine, Miyako."

She smiled in fondness and kept walking toward the House. In truth, she didn't have to live here at all. After Takeru and Hikari were kidnapped, Gennai made it clear that keeping the remaining original six Digidestined safe was their number one priority. They had to move into Headquarters for their safety, with or without the rest of them. Given the choice, once they knew the stakes, their parents went along with the plan.

Of course, that was weird, too. It was strange to think that another world had turned eight kids into something more than human. Especially since they didn't look any different.

But it was different for her. For her, Daisuke, and Iori. Gennai may have given them Digimon partners; his Knights, he called them. Yet, for all other intents, they were still just normal kids. For the three of them, the safety of Headquarters hadn't been a necessity. Gennai told them they could stay behind.

Unanimously, they decided to come.

For Ken, it was a different matter altogether. Headquarters was the only place they were sure could keep his dark spore repressed. At least, until they could figure out a way to remove it. Gennai speculated that either Angewomon or MagnaAngemon, channeling their partners' respective Crests, could use their healing powers to remove it. For obvious reasons, that was not an option they could pursue at the moment. And they hadn't figured out another way to get rid of it.

Before she entered the House, her eyes lifted to the sky. Strips of the Digital World crossed the blue. It had appeared six months ago. Like the last time it happened, no instrument on Earth could confirm it was there. But everyone could see it. For the first few weeks, it was all the news could talk about but not anymore. Miyako figured out that humans could get used to anything. It wasn't even put on as an end note.

Unfortunately, they all had something else to worry about now.

Her hand turned the doorknob open, but stopped when Taichi's voice came over the intercom. "I need all the Digidestined to come to the Conference Room immediately."

Her heart seized. She hoped this wasn't what she thought it was. Miyako raced back the way she'd come. She knew that many of the others would get there before her. They would have still been in the Classroom. She'd finished her lessons that day, it was where she had been coming from, but many of the others hadn't yet.

She was right. Most of the others were already in their chairs by the time she arrived. As she walked to her seat, she saw that Koushiro had his computer hooked up to the large screen. It was exactly what she feared. There was another attack. This was the fourth one since the sky changed.

Within another few seconds, as Miyako was sitting down, Jou and Ken arrived. Other than Koushiro, who was always the first one done, they had been the ones who finished their school work before Miyako today. Taichi didn't wait for them to sit before he started. "Where is it?" he asked as the two boys found their seats and set their partners on the table. Miyako thought she knew what he was asking beyond the question alone. Taichi wanted to know if it was somewhere they could get to. Somewhere they could save.

Koushiro frowned and shook his head. Ice settled in her chest. She knew it was not good news. "It's in New York. America. It started about ten minutes ago." Grim silence met that news, because they all knew what that meant.

There had been three Digimon that had come across the barrier since the Digital World appeared in the sky. The first had been Snimon. He appeared in London, and they didn't even learn about it until the next day. Koushiro read a story about a monster in London and recognized him from one of the amateur photos taken. Reports said that he only appeared for less than a minute before he was gone again. There had been some property damage but no serious injuries.

If there was anything to be grateful about the second attack, it was how lucky they'd been. It had happened in Tokyo, but even then, if Sora hadn't been in the city and nearby, it might have been a lot worse. They had been lucky that her father had been visiting from Kyoto and she went to see him that day. She said that Kuwagumon stayed longer than Snimon, but Garudamon kept him contained until he disappeared.

No one liked to think about the third attack. They hadn't been able to save Rio de Janeiro from Shellmon's rage. Like the rest of the world, they could only helplessly watch as the Digimon destroyed part of the city. It had been longer than the last two attacks but the Digimon had disappeared like the other two.

But these three attacks had all been by Digimon they'd encountered before. And not in a good way. The Digimon on the screen right now wasn't like that. Miyako knew this one. She'd met this one.

This was different, and Miyako felt terrified of what it could mean.

"But it's Frigimon," Mimi protested. "He's our friend." Her eyes flitted around the room as if searching for support. "I mean, he wouldn't attack New York even if he did get pulled into the real world, right?" Miyako wanted to believe her. She gripped the bottom of her coat in her hands.

Judging from Koushiro's somber expression, this wasn't the case. "All the reports I've scanned say otherwise."

Ken rubbed the back of his neck. Miyako recognized the gesture. It was a nervous habit he adopted after they learned about the dark spore resting there. "You said that darkness is spreading across the Digital World, right?"

Folding his arms across his chest, Koushiro nodded his head even as his eyes narrowed. Miyako could see him puzzling out why Ken was bringing this up. "Correct. I haven't found the cause for it, but it has been increasing in the last few months."

"What if they're infected? Like me? We all know that the dark spore changed me into the Kaiser. Could it happen to them?"

Motimon rubbed his head. "It wouldn't be the first time something like this happened."

"The dark rings," Iori said.

"The black gears," Jou added. Silence fell for a moment as everyone absorbed this new theory.

"But if it is like before, can't we save them?" Tanemon asked.

"That's right," Bukamon said, slapping his fin to the table. "We got rid of the dark rings and black gears."

Koushiro tilted his head and rested his hand on his chin. After another moment, he shook his head. "Even if we could, there is no way to get to New York in time to check. Or at least, I would hope that this attack, this crossover from the Digital World, would finish before that." His frowned deepened as he continued, "There is something else I'm more worried about."

Leaning back in his chair, Yamato muttered, "What now?" Miyako couldn't blame him for that attitude. Already, so much had gone wrong—Hikari and Takeru's disappearance, the attacks in the real world, the darkness spreading. How much more would they have to take before they could actually do something? She understood Daisuke's constant frustration completely.

Koushiro didn't speak for a moment as he looked back at the screen. When he did speak, he didn't turn back to look at them but kept his eyes on the image from New York. "If the darkness continues to spread and our friends can be infected by it, soon we will have few allies left to help us." A heavy silence followed.

"What if we brought them here?"

Miyako's eyes landed on Koromon. "Bring our Digimon friends here? To the real world?" she asked. She never would have thought of that. She always assumed that their partners could come here because of the special connection they shared.

"Myotismon brought his army," Tsunomon pointed out. "I don't see why we couldn't do the same."

Taichi looked at Koushiro. "Is it possible?"

"I would have to ask Gennai to be sure," Koushiro admitted. "But logically, it would make sense. He's been here for over a year himself, and he is as much a digital entity as they are."

Taichi nodded even as he grimaced. He did that whenever Gennai was brought up. Miyako knew his feelings toward Gennai had something to do with Hikari and Takeru, but she didn't completely understand them. "We'll talk to him. Everyone else wait for us to come back. We might be going to the Digital World to save some of our friends."

"Koushiro?"

The red-haired boy paused as he was about to leave. He looked at Yamato and hummed in inquiry. "Turn it off," the blond murmured, nodding to the screen.

"Oh, right. Of course.

As Koushiro went to unplug his computer, a part of Miyako was thankful to Yamato for saying that. It was depressing to watch something they couldn't fix.

The bright colors of Primary Village lifted Mimi's spirit as she walked in with Jou. The older boy had his doubts that they could convince Elecmon to come with them. In truth, Mimi was sure they would never get the guardian to leave his babies. But he was one of their friends they knew for sure where he was. As Mimi pointed out, they could ask him if he knew where anyone else was. And they could ask about Patamon. If anyone was going to know how to help their friend, it would be him.

A few dark tendrils had curled about the forest when they arrived, but Primary Village looked untouched. Mimi hoped that it would always remain this way. She hoped that the darkness never touched this place.

"Hey, guys." The little red and purple Digimon hopped up to them. "I thought you might be showing up to take care of things." His grin was wide as he asked his next question. "Where's Takeru and Patamon? I sure miss those guys."

Her steps faltered, the words of greeting dying on her tongue. Mimi had never had to tell anyone about them before. When it had happened, she had still been in America. There hadn't been anyone for her to tell. She hadn't told her parents about it. In the beginning, she guessed she viewed it as Digidestined business. Even though her parents had known about Digimon, she hadn't felt the need to tell them.

And in the beginning, none of them thought it would be more than a day or two before they got them back.

Her parents learned about it from Gennai, when he told them all the truth and the necessity of Headquarters became clear. So, Mimi had never had to say the words, explain out loud to someone who didn't know, that Takeru and Hikari were kidnapped.

Palmon wrapped her arm around Mimi's leg. She looked down at her partner, grateful for the reassurance, but the words did not come. She couldn't bring herself to be the one who destroyed the hopeful smile on Elecmon's face.

Another moment passed until a hand laid down on her shoulder. She gasped and turned wide-eyed to Jou. The silent words he spoke flooded her with relief. He would handle this.

"You remember the Kaiser, correct?" he asked.

Elecmon nodded, rubbing his chin with his hand. "Of course. The kid came stumbling into this village a few days after the battle and found his partner again."

Mimi jolted in shock. She hadn't known about that. Ken had never told them. She looked at Jou and it looked like he was as surprised as her. "Yes, well," he recovered. "In the final battle with him, Takeru and Hikari were kidnapped. We still haven't found them."

Elecmon's expression turned somber. "That's terrible. I suppose that's why all this darkness has been spreading. I've been wondering about that for a while." He clapped his hands together. "What can I do to help?"

"It's Patamon," Jou continued. "It's been more than two years since he regressed back to a Digi-Egg. No one knows more about them than you, so we were hoping you could help."

"Two years, eh?" Elecmon scratched the side of his head. "I've never had an egg stay like that for that long. Did you bring him with you?"

"No. Actually…"

"We want you to come with us." Mimi interrupted the conversation, unable to contain herself any longer.

Elecmon's jaw dropped for a second. "Where? To your world?"

Mimi crouched down to be more level with the red Digimon. "Please, Elecmon." She didn't want to see anymore of their friends like Frigimon.

"The darkness is infecting our friends, so it isn't safe here," Palmon explained. "Please come back with us."

He shook his head. "I can't leave my babies."

Mimi nodded, wiping the tears away. It was what they thought he would say. She didn't want to accept it, but she knew she would have to.

Gomamon said, "What about Patamon?"

"Well, all I can say is that if hasn't hatched in so long, maybe it's because he doesn't want to." He rubbed his chin and closed his eyes. "Maybe he's waiting for Takeru."

"Jou, look out!"

Mimi looked over as Gomamon cried out. She could see the glow of the Digivices and knew that Gomamon or Palmon (or both) were Digivolving. The next thing she knew Jou slammed into her side, pushing her into the ground. Her eyes squeezed shut as the breath was knocked from her. Pain laced down the side of her that hit the ground. Jou's body covered her own. She opened her eyes, about to demand what his problem was, when a bright light caused her to shut her eyes again.

A loud booming sound broke out, so loud that it almost sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once. A wave of heat rolled over them as the ground shook. Jou clutched her tighter to him, burying her face into his chest. She felt small debris hit places he wasn't covering. The debris was hot and burned when it hit bare skin.

Hands cupped her face after Jou moved off of her and pulled her up to sit. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at Jou. She could see his mouth moving, but she couldn't make out any sound beyond the ringing in her ears. But, knowing Jou, she could guess what he was saying.

"I'm fine." Her voice sounded muffled even to her. He stopped talking but frowned and didn't move away. Mimi thought of her own hearing loss and realized that maybe he couldn't hear her either. "I'm fine," she repeated, enunciating her words so he might be able to read her lips.

His face was still grim, but he nodded and helped her to her feet. Mimi studied her friend closer. Dust and dirt covered him from head to toe. Through the dust, she could see scrapes and red marks on the bare skin of his arms. There was a cut on his forehead above his glasses and a long red gash across his right cheek. A small trail of blood ran down to his chin. Her hand reached up and brushed the blood, noting that it was already almost dried. "You're hurt," she murmured. A warmth spread in her chest as a rush of gratitude flowed through her. He protected her. She frowned, because that made her realized she had no idea what he had protected her from. "What ha…" She cut off as her eyes turned and caught sight of Primary Village. Her hands clasped over her mouth and tears prickled her eyes.

Or at least, what was left of Primary Village.

The warmth in her chest extinguished as ice gripped her heart instead. The once bright block-like walls were charred hollow shells of what they used to be. Half-destroyed cradles were upturned everywhere, dotting the place. A large crater was all that was left of the center of the village. Togemon and Ikkakumon stood in front of them, blocking a lot of her vision of the village, but she could see enough.

A black silhouette hovered above the center of the crater. The dust was settling, giving a better view by the second. Maybe it was because they were back here again, but the figure reminded her of Devimon. Large red demonic wings stretched out behind them. The dust settled enough for her to make out the rest of him. His body was gray down to his black pants and spiked-toed boots. A black shoulder guard rested on his right shoulder. Too long arms ended with red wrapped hands and gold spiked claws. Red orbs embedded down the left side of his chest matched the color of his wings. His face was covered in a gold mask with two horns coming from the top.

"What have you done to my babies?!" Elecmon rushed at the mysterious figure. "Super Thunder Strike!" He launched his attack at the figure. But it didn't matter. The other Digimon batted away the attack and it exploded as it hit the ground. It reminded Mimi of Myotismon, when nothing had affected him until Angemon and Angewomon had come. Then, the Digimon hit Elecmon, swatting him away. The red Digimon slammed into the ground and didn't move.

The warmth of the crest of Sincerity filled her. She could see the green glow coming from her chest, though she did not look down to see it. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the silver glow of the crest of Responsibility on Jou's chest. Within seconds, Togemon Digivolved into Lillymon and Ikkakumon into Zudomon.

The other Digimon approached but stopped before he got close. Mimi's stomach churned and she side-stepped closer to Jou. "How interesting. We didn't expect to find Chosen Children here. The Masters are enjoying playing with the two they have. Perhaps I should have you join them?"

It took Mimi a moment to realize what he was talking about. She gasped as the thought hit her. "Jou, he has the kids."

"I know. But Mimi, we have to get out of here."

"What?" Jou didn't reply other than to grab her hand and start running in the opposite direction. Mimi stumbled the first few steps until she managed to catch herself. Her head turned back in time to see Zudomon slam his hammer down to create his attack. Her eyes landed on Elecmon, still unmoving on the ground. "Lillymon, grab Elecmon!" She knew she couldn't save Primary Village, but they could at least save it's guardian.

She didn't get a chance to see if her partner heard her because Jou tugged her hand again. This forced her to turn her attention back to where she was going so she wouldn't trip. As Jou pulled her, Mimi finally figured out they were heading back to the gate portal.

As they reached the small television that served as the portal back to their world, Lillymon came flying alongside them, Elecmon in her arms. She set Elecmon down on the ground and stood by Mimi.

"Go," Jou said. "Take Elecmon with you."

"What about you?"

"I'll be right behind you. I can't leave Zudomon."

Mimi nodded. She crouched to place a hand on Elecmon's back, hoping that this worked. Lillymon set her hand on her shoulder as Mimi held out her Digivice to return to Headquarters. Light encased her and the next second she was tumbling back into the Gate Room.

Elecmon was still with her. It worked.

But as she stared at the guardian, her mind went back to what she had seen. Primary Village, all those Digi-eggs and babies, all of it was gone. The horror of what she witnessed gripped her, immobilizing her.

"Mimi? Are you…alright?"

"Mimi…"

She heard Ken's question and Tanemon's murmur, but she couldn't bring herself to answer either one. The images played over and over in her mind.

The room lit up as Jou arrived with Bukamon into the Gate Room. He turned immediately to Ken. "Do you know how to set up a gate on a laptop?"

The younger boy's eyes went wide at the sudden question. "Y-yes."

Jou let out a sigh of relief. He was glad Ken knew how, because he had no idea how to do it. And it was important that they set one up right away. "Take one of the laptops and set up a gate outside. Find the nearest portal to Taichi and Koushiro. They'll be bringing Centarumon, and he won't fit in here."

"Right." Ken left the room, presumably to do what he instructed.

Jou looked at the Gate Room's monitors. "Mimi, can you send a message to everyone? Tell them to grab our friends and come back right now."

Bukamon pressed his fin to his arm. Jou looked at his partner, humming in inquiry. "What?" Bukamon looked passed him and nodded in Mimi's direction. Jou looked at his friend. Mimi sat on the ground. One hand was still resting against Elecmon's back. The other was wrapped loosely around Tanemon on her lap. She gave no indication that she had heard Jou at all. Her gaze remained unseeing, fixated on something only she could see. But Jou could guess what it was.

After witnessing the destruction of Primary Village, any normal kid would be horrified by what they had seen. And Jou was. Unfortunately, they had all lost the luxury of being normal kids the moment their hands wrapped around the Digivices at that summer camp. Or maybe it was the moment that Digi-Egg landed in Taichi's and Hikari's laps at Highton View Terrace. The moment where all this really began. Regardless, they didn't have time to be horrorstruck. Not when the others could still be in danger.

Jou walked over to Mimi and knelt in front of her. Gently, he rested his hands on her shoulders. She jerked at his touch and looked at him with wide, shining eyes. "Mimi," he said, keeping his voice even and calm. "I know it was horrible, but I need your help. Our friends could be in danger. We have to send them a message telling them to come back right now."

She blinked at him. "But…why? How are they in danger? We were the only ones in Primary Village."

"He said, 'we'," Jou answered. His lips turned down in a frown.

"What?"

"The Digimon said, 'we were not expecting you.' Which means there might be more of them out there, so we have to warn them."

Fire lit her eyes again. "Shouldn't we go back and fight them? We're the Digidestined. We should be protecting the Digital World."

Bukamon piped up. "We can't. Didn't you see the darkness?"

"The darkness?"

"While you and Jou were running, it was spreading out from the forest, covering everything quicker than it had before," Tanemon answered.

Jou shook his head. "I had to use my Digivice to keep it at bay long enough for Zudomon to reach the portal. When we came through, what remained of Primary Village was covered in it. I don't even know if we can use that portal again."

"What's happening, Jou?"

"I don't know. But I don't think it's a good idea for us to be separated right now."

"Right. Okay. I'll send the message right now." She reached into her bag and pulled out a D-Terminal, typing the moment she opened it.

Jou stood back up and gazed at the monitors. He knew only a little about what each one showed. They all relied on Koushiro to interpret what they meant. He looked down at Elecmon. He wished he could help the Digimon. His lip twitched as he remembered creating a sling for Ogremon. He knew from experience that as long as they weren't deleted, Digimon healed far more quickly than humans. When Elecmon woke up, he would ask if there was anything he could wrap up and bandage for him.

It felt like hours passed before the door slid open. Taichi strode in with Koromon, followed by Koushiro and Motimon. Behind them, Andromon ducked through the door. When he straightened, the Android Digimon's head almost touched the ceiling. Koushiro led their friend over to the computers. Wires shot out from Andromon, hooking up to various ports. The images on the screens began to change.

Jou's attention moved to Taichi when their leader spoke, "Sora, Miyako, Iori, and their partners are all safe. As you can see, they brought Andromon back. Thanks to Mimi's message, we got out with Centarumon. The temple collapsed around us as we left. If Mimi hadn't sent that message…"

"Taichi, come look at this."

Both of them walked over to Koushiro. The screen in front of him showed an area covered in black. A small mountain peak showed above the darkness about in the center of the screen. "Andromon was able to bring a visual of the Digital World." Koushiro was frowning deeply, and Jou knew that couldn't mean anything good.

"What is it?" Taichi asked.

Koushiro's finger pointed out the small mountain peak. "That mountain is Infinity Mountain."

Jou blanched. If that was Infinity Mountain, that meant… "That's File Island?!"

Koushiro nodded in confirmation. "What's left of it."

Taichi's face tightened. "What about the Piximon group?" he asked. He hid it well, but Jou could still hear the note of desperation in his tone.

"Currently executing search parameters," Andromon interjected. "Signal located. Estimated arrival time: three seconds."

"What?"

The room lit up again as Yamato, Tsunomon, Daisuke, and DemiVeemon tumbled into the room. Piximon was clutched in between them. Yamato pushed himself to his feet. "What happened? We got Mimi's message."

"We can't go back."

All eyes fell on Taichi. He was looking at the monitor still showing what had been File Island. His eyes moved to Mimi and finally landed on Jou. Jou was conscious of what he looked like. He knew he hadn't come out of the attack on Primary Village unscathed.

"I can't—we can't lose any of you." Left unspoken but clear was the addition of 'we can't lose you like we lost Hikari and Takeru'. "If the darkness can get to our Digimon friends and turn them against us…if what happened to Ken could happen to us…" He shook his head. "It's too dangerous. We can't go back to the Digital World."

Chapter Text

New York City. The City That Never Sleeps.

Miyako had heard the nickname before but hadn’t understood it until now. “What time is it?” The question was muttered almost under her breath. She wasn’t expecting an answer, but she got one anyway.

“It’s almost midnight there.” Iori’s voice came through the earpiece. Miyako looked down at the cars and lights and people at the streets below. The noise. The chaos. The panic. In her mind, she couldn’t help but replace that nickname with another one.

New York City. The City That Was on Fire.

She gritted her teeth and made a frustrated noise in her throat. “Halsemon, do you see him?” Her eyes cast about searching for their target.

No sooner had she asked the question, then her partner yelled back to her. “Hold on, Miyako!”

Miyako clenched her knees and arms tighter around Halsemon. He banked to the right as a fireball flew past them. Her eyes again saw the streets below where the people were fleeing from the flames. Clenching her jaw, she wrenched her gaze away back to the task at hand. There was nothing to be done about that. She had her job. “Headquarters, I found him,” she reported.

“Stay where you are.” Iori’s voice cracked again in her ear. “I’ll send Blue Knight to your location.”

“Wasn’t planning on going anywhere,” she muttered under her breath as she turned off the comm on her end. “Halsemon, let’s set down and take him on. Blue Knight is on the way.” Halsemon landed on the road behind Meramon, and Miyako slipped off his back. In her ear, she heard Ken instructing Mimi to help evacuate the area, while Iori listed off directions to Daisuke. She had no idea where the boy was, but it was their job to contain Meramon as long as they could to mitigate the destruction until the crossover was done. Unfortunately, it had taken longer to find him than expected, so there was already a lot of damage done.

She ducked into an alley as Halsemon charged at Meramon to gain his attention. Pushing her back against the wall, she peeked around the corner to watch the battle. Halsemon leapt out of the way of Meramon’s fireball. Her eyes flicked up and down the street, and she sighed in relief. The street was empty of everyone else.

“Hey, flame breath, why don’t you buzz off?”

Daisuke’s arriving statement was punctuated by a lightning strike from Raidramon. Miyako rolled her eyes. It was truly a wonder that boy had survived as long as he had.

Meramon screamed as the lightning hit him and collapsed to one knee. Raidramon leapt down from the roof of a building, bouncing off walls and signs to land on the far side of Meramon from her and Halsemon. Now, they just had to hold on for a few minutes. Hopefully.

It had not escaped her notice that the Crossovers were getting longer each time.

Slamming a fist to the ground, cracking the road underneath, Meramon pushed himself to his feet. He lifted his arms up and roared, causing the flames of his body to flare up and flicker even faster.

“Dang it. I was hoping that would knock him out.”

Miyako jolted and looked up behind her. Daisuke descended from the fire escape on the side of the building. Raidramon must have left him on the roof before jumping down. The moment his feet hit the ground, Miyako gripped his sleeve. “Blue Knight, are you trying to get killed?”

Daisuke shrugged off her hand and moved to the entrance of the alley. “It’s fine, Red Knight. Now that we found him, Raidramon and Halsemon can hold him.”

“That’s no reason to antagonize him!” Frustration surged through her at his flippant attitude. “Meramon was their friend! Don’t you care at all?”

Daisuke froze and looked back at her. “Of course, I do!” he snapped back at her. His eyes blazed in fury and Miyako flinched, knowing she took it too far. She clashed with Daisuke frequently over a variety of things. But she should have touched upon his devotion to his friends.

She knew, as few others did, that Daisuke considered the kidnapping a personal failure.

Another explosion, close to the entrance of the alley, caused both teens to press themselves against the brick wall. After a few moments, the distant sounds of sirens and normal city hum were all the sounds that could be heard.

Halsemon appeared at the entrance of the alleyway. “He is gone.”

Miyako heaved a sigh of relief and activated her comm again. “HQ, Meramon has gone back to the D World.”

Iori’s voice came through her ear. “Copy that. Andromon is searching for a safe route back. Meet up with Sincerity and wait for further instructions.”

“Understood.” Miyako looked over at Daisuke, who had his arms folded tightly across his chest. Because he seemed the most unchanged out of everybody to their new circumstances, sometimes she forgot that Daisuke had experienced all the same things in the past few years. “Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, but you know that I had a point.” She could admit that she’d been too harsh with her words, but she didn’t think that she was all wrong with what she’d said. Daisuke could be more careful. The last thing they needed was someone else injured right now.

His arms fell back to his side as he shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, whatever.”

Clamping her teeth together to stop another hasty retort from escaping, Miyako closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As much as she wanted to whack Daisuke upside the head, the rational part of her brain screamed that she had apologized to him moments before and smacking him now would hardly do any good to anyone.

No matter how much it might make her feel better.

She chose to focus on Mimi instead. “Sincerity, where are you?” she asked through the comm link. She pulled out her Digivice to see if she could find the green dot that would lead her to their friend.

“Just south of Central Park on Fifth Avenue,” Mimi responded. “HQ, there’s a bunch of retail stores. Should be an easy spot to get a Gate open.”

Miyako almost squealed. Central Park? Fifth Avenue? They were that close to them? These were places that she’d only heard about before, but she had always wanted to see them. She vaguely remembered seeing a park while she was in the air, but it hadn’t really crossed her mind when she was focused on finding Meramon.

“Looks like she’s about a kilometer from where we are,” Daisuke said, snapping Miyako from her thoughts. When she looked at him, he was putting away his Digivice and moving toward the end of the alley.

“Can’t we…” Miyako trailed off as he climbed aboard Raidramon. His Digimon partner hopped up the side of a building and disappeared across the rooftops. Her request died before it could be completed. It was ridiculous of her to ask, she knew. There was no way she could stroll Central Park and Fifth Avenue now. Walking toward the end of the alley, she climbed back onto Halsemon.

Just another dream that died with The Disappearance.

Iori slipped the headphones off his head and hung them on the hook beside the screen. His eyes glanced over to where Taichi was talking to Mimi. Daisuke and DemiVeemon were already gone. The boy was out the door the moment he hung up the uniform. Miyako and Poromon were right on his heels. She had been yelling after him about returning to the Classroom. Iori remained in his seat, rubbing the top of Upamon’s head.

“Are you finished today?”

Iori jolted and looked at Koushiro. It only took moments for him to realize what the other boy was asking. “No. I have a couple more lessons.” Koushiro nodded, and Iori found himself dropping his gaze away from that scrutinizing look.

Upamon moved under his hand and met his gaze. “What’s on your mind, Iori?” His partner’s question caused him to hunch his shoulders. He’d been mulling over this concern since Taichi had told him. It wasn’t something he wanted to voice, not to the older generation. An image flashed through his mind: livid anger and searing rage in a face where he had never seen it before. Where he hadn’t thought it was possible to be.

Though Ken had told everyone what happened between him and Takeru in his one-time base, Iori had never mentioned that he had been there. That he had seen the beginning of that anger, that rage, that consumed his friend. A friend, who up to that point, had been all smiles and friendly gestures. Iori had seen Takeru be serious in their battles, but it was never like that before.

For three years, he wrestled with these two different images of his friend, unable to settle himself about it. It wasn’t long after that event that the kidnapping happened. And Iori in no way was going to burden anyone else with his struggles when everyone had enough problems to deal with already.

Taichi bringing up Takeru’s red eyes and possession by Lucemon brought it all to the forefront of his mind again. Still though, he found himself unable to voice his thoughts. Talking to Koushiro might be better than Yamato or Taichi, but what would Koushiro think of him to have such thoughts of his friend?

Why did Takeru react in the pyramid that way?

Why was the catalyst for the kidnapping?

How did someone so enraged by evil fall into darkness?

Instead of voicing his thoughts and questions, Iori swallowed them down and shook his head. “Nothing. I’m going back to the Classroom.”

Upamon settled into his arms. “Alright, then. Let’s go.”

Iori looked up and met the eyes of Koushiro. The older boy’s mouth tightened and his head tilted to the side. For a moment, Iori thought the older boy might not believe him and question him. Dread sliced through him as the thought of trying to explain himself without outright lying. His eyes darted over to Taichi and Mimi again. Neither one had noticed yet and that was the last thing he wanted. “Good-bye,” he muttered hastily as he bowed and rushed from the room.

He tried not to look at the Infirmary door as he turned quickly toward the Classroom. Hikari was down in Tokyo right now, but he hadn’t gone to see her before they left. Guilt tugged at his chest for that, but it had never seemed like the right moment with all her family and other friends to see her first.

He should have done something. His arms clenched a little tighter around Upamon, and his eyes burned with unshed tears of frustration. He had been standing right next to her before she had run to Takeru.

Her cry of dismay.

His look of despair.

The dark shadows that swallowed them.

Feathers falling from the sky.

Iori had stood there. Useless.

Much as he felt now standing in front of the door to the Classroom. He knew Daisuke and Miyako would still be inside (as they had also missed part of morning lessons like him). But who else would he encounter? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. His eyes looked to the right where the stairs lead to the second floor. It was mostly office space for the adults up there, in case they needed it. But there was a computer lab up there as well. That lab was really for the older kids who were in college, if they were here in Headquarters. But it wouldn’t be that hard for him to boot up a computer and finish his lessons.

“You sure you’re alright?”

Upamon’s voice brought him back to the present and where he was. “Yes,” he said, shaking his head. He would do what he always had done. Pretend everything was normal, ignore is conflicted feelings about his friend, and try not to be as completely useless around here as he felt.

Opening the Classroom door, he kept his head down. He would finish his lessons and then find the only thing that brought him any semblance of peace these days: practicing kendo his grandfather and Piximon. What else could he do?

Hiroaki Ishida dropped his bag to the floor as he slipped off his shoes. Tugging on his tie to loosen it, he grimaced as he saw two other sets of shoes in the entryway. It was late in the evening, which meant that the other two, whoever they were, were planning on staying the night. He shrugged. If the bed was taken, the couch was comfortable enough.

It was always a long rough day when there was a Crossover. News stations were flooded with information that had to be siphoned through quickly to get the pertinent news out to the public. And news had been scarce in the beginning today. Crossovers waited on no one’s convenience. Though it had been early afternoon here, it had been close to midnight there. Until people could be roused and put to work, there hadn’t been anyone to call on to get news other than amateur reports. Hiroaki would have gotten more information from one phone call to his son than what they had finally managed to pull together.

But he would never ask that of Yamato.

Back when all this started, he promised Natsuko (and himself) that he would never exploit Yamato like that. Too much insider information made people suspicious. And if he was going to do anything, he would protect the son he had left. The last thing he wanted was the higher ups to discover Yamato was one of the “Monster Hunters”.

The bedroom door opened and closed, revealing Susumu Yagami. Hiroaki blinked at him. His mind was sluggish this late into the night, so it took him a long moment to realize why he would be here. Finally, it clicked. Natsuko had told him about this.

Taichi brought Hikari back from the Digital World.

Hiroaki couldn’t help but hate the other family a little bit for that.

With no brain power left and that thought lingering in his mind, he nodded his head in acknowledgement and gave a grumble of greeting that was just a hair’s breadth on the side of politeness. He moved into the kitchen, intent on getting a drink of water, and then shucking off his house shoes before collapsing on the couch. He was slightly annoyed when Susumu followed him. Intellectually, he knew it was not their fault in the least. The kidnapping was no one’s fault beyond the ones that had taken them.

But the fact remained that Susumu and Yuuko now had their daughter back.

And Takeru was still gone.

A part of him hated himself for hating them. It wasn’t like he’d made an effort when Takeru was here. How long had it been since he’d seen his younger son before his kidnapping? Even the times that he had seen him had been because Yamato brought him over and not any effort on his part. Yeah, he wasn’t about to win any father of the year awards. What right did he have to begrudge them getting their daughter back?

He shook those thoughts aside the best he could. That was a dangerous path to go down.

Opening the fridge door, he pulled out a bottle of water. “How is she?” If he couldn't have Takeru, the least he could do was be civil to Susumu. They had become friends over the year and a half since they moved to Headquarters. And though the bond had started in their shared grief, it did go beyond that now.

Susumu shook his head. “They are still waiting on results from some tests. But Mizuki thinks that her first assessment is correct. Physically, she’ll be fine.”

He lifted and eyebrow. This was not the look of a man whose daughter was going to be fine after being missing for three years. “But?” He took a drink of his water bottle and waited for Susumu to fill in the blanks.

It wasn’t long before Susumu complied. “But they don’t know why she’s in a coma yet. That’s what they are trying to figure out.”

“So, you’re staying here?”

“Until they let us take her back to Headquarters. We want to be here to take care of her. Is that okay?”

Hiroaki shrugged. It didn’t bother him, and as far as he was concerned, Susumu didn’t even have to ask. Since they had to have a name on the lease for the apartment, he and Natsuko had been the ones to sign it. But it was understood that this apartment was owned by all of them. They kept the one apartment in the city just in case anyone needed to stay in the city overnight, for whatever reason. Hiroaki used it often, but it was the Kidos that probably used it the most. “What about Taichi?” Judging from the fact that there were only two pairs of shoes, it was clear that their son had not come into town with them. Their leader was probably still at Headquarters and had run the Crossover, like always. But he could admit he was curious what Susumu’s answer would be.

Susumu chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. It was a habit he and Taichi shared. “Taichi can take care of himself. And everyone else.”

Hiroaki was more surprised by his lack of shock at that answer than the actual answer itself. He was a journalist. It was basically his job to be observant. And he had seen plenty in these last few years. Other than that whole Myotismon fiasco, he didn’t know much of what happened during the kids’ first adventure, but he could see some things in the way they interacted with each other. The kids followed Taichi. And somewhere along the way, all of the rest of them had fallen into line behind that mindset.

What a terrible burden for such a young kid.

Hiroaki had to admit Taichi was good at it, no doubt about it. From Susumu’s words, so did his father. His journalist brain suddenly had a bunch of questions, wondering what it was like for Susumu and Yuuko to see their son like that. With a shake of his head and an exasperated sigh at himself, he pushed those questions aside. “That’s true,” he answered simply with a little chuckle. He downed the rest of the water bottle and tossed it in the recycle.

As he walked out of the kitchen, Susumu grabbed his arm. “They’ll find Takeru, too. You have to believe that.”

After the last few years, Hiroaki had some major adjustments on what he believed these days. And as long as the kids didn’t give up, neither would he. “Yeah, thanks,” he muttered, too tired to muster up much more of a reply.

“Do you think they might have found some sort of clue?”

He stopped and turned back. “What makes you say that?”

Susumu folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t know. I mean, just the way Taichi and some of the other older kids have looked at Yamato the last couple of days since Hikari was brough back makes me think…something.” He finished his statement with a shrug of his shoulders and a slight shake of his head.

Hiroaki was one of the parents that was the most often not at Headquarters, so he couldn’t dispute anything Susumu said. He hadn’t been back since before Hikari came back, after all. “Perhaps it’s because of his shoulder,” he suggested. After he found out about Yamato’s injury, he did video call his son to see how he was doing. Yamato was pretty quick to give him a glare and ground out, “I’m fine, Dad.” And it may make him a bad parent, but Hiroaki let the matter drop. Because he was actually sure he didn’t want to know because if he did, he might try something stupid, like stop the kids. And he couldn’t do that.

Like it or not, these kids were the only hope the world had.

Susumu shrugged again. “Maybe.”

To Hiroaki, it sounded like he didn’t believe that. Resolving to observe the kids the next time he was at Headquarters to see if he could pick anything up, Hiroaki shook his head. “They would tell us if they knew something.”

Susumu barked an incredulous laugh. “They would tell us exactly nothing and you know it.”

Hiroaki hung his head. It was true. He knew that all too well.