Prologue. Piedmon has a better idea

Foolish agents, what a ludicrous performance they're giving. Their feeble bodies crumble like cloaked dolls under Mekanorimon's attacks. Had I known we were facing such an underwhelming cast, I would have come as a one man show. Oh well.

I graciously make my grand entrance on the main stage, the laboratory used to create their ultimate weapon against us, and approach a glass case. Fabulous! The digi-eggs are here, each linked to a device and a necklace. What a marvelous example of pure ingenuity being wasted on foolish ideals. I raise my hand and blast the glass away, then reach in and collect the necklaces. Hmph … Hope? Courage? What nonsense. Why bother using such—

"Piedmon! Hands off those crests!" An agent draws his sword and rushes toward me, his hood flying off his head.

"Gennai?" Ah ah, such a frivolous attempt at stopping me.

I swiftly fly away from his weak attack and re position myself behind him. He's at my mercy. What to do now? Pointlessly insert a black bead inside him? Kill him? Rejoice at the sight of his despair once he learns the fatal mistake he and his group made? I push Gennai against the glass case and grab his neck. His eyes widen for a second, then comes the vain attempts at freeing himself. This proves to be too much, my head falls back and I laugh to my heart's content.

"Oh Gennai. Even if we're enemies, I have to salute what you've accomplished here. Your group has created such an incredible tool! Channeling human emotional energy into digivolution, magnificent! But sadly, my praise for you stops here. See, all of you are so obsessed with keeping the balance between good and evil that you've failed to harness the full potential of this weapon." Gennai's eyes start to glow with hilarious fear. "These? What kind of power were you hoping to get with mere sincerity or reliability?" I send the crests flying across the room. "And this …" I grab one of the digivices from the case behind him. "This device is too restrictive, too inconvenient." I drop the digivice on the ground and crush it. "But don't worry my dear, I promise to put this powerful technology you've so kindly provided us to better use."

I watch Gennai's last attempts to breathe. His hands lose their grip on my arm. His eyes beg me and his lips move, then he loses consciousness. I toss him to the closest Mekanorimon. "Here, lock him up. He might still be useful." I scan the room full of machinery and computers. So much to do! I'll need the others' help.

Yamato, Ten years ago.

"Yamato! How dare you talk back to me like that!" Mom yells into my ear.

My hand holding the receiver is shaking. I squeeze my lips shut not to let any sound escape. I don't want to give her the satisfaction of hearing me cry.

"Tsk. I'm so tired of your attitude … It might not be a good idea to let Takeru go to the summer camp with yo—"

"SHUT UP!" I immediately cover my mouth. Tears begin to stream down. "Mom, I'm sor—" I begin, but she already hung up.

I crouch and bury my face in my arms. I can vaguely hear the receiver making beeping sounds as it dangles against the counter. What's wrong with me? Why do I always end up fighting with Mom, all I want is for her to lo… I hit the cabinet with my fist. Why can't she?

I get up and return to my bedroom. My backpack is on the bed, almost ready for the camp. I guess I won't need it. If Tk is not going then there's no point, I might as well stay here. I grab my harmonica, slide down on the floor and my back against the door start playing a slow melody.

A sharp glass shattering noise in the living room sends a jolt running throughout my body. Before I know it I dropped the harmonica and raised my arms to protect my head. Oh god is it a tornado?! But Dad would have called. Something heavy stomps on the living room's floor. Maybe a bird flew through the window, in that case it's probably injured.

I turn around and grab the doorknob. Is it safe to look? I don't like this at all, I wish Dad was here. Holding my breath, I open up a crack. Something is struggling on the floor, wrapped in the curtain. The window is completely broken, the television too. The animal rolls around, hitting a chair and then the table. It's probably terrorized and in pain right now. I get up and open the door.

"Have you found him yet? What are you doing stupid?!" It says outside the window.

It is a ghost and it's flying in the apartment. But it looks too real to be a ghost, I mean, ghosts would be more— Why am I thinking about that now?! That thing lands inside and starts helping the other thing. I slowly step back inside my bedroom, I could hide and … No. I'll be trapped, there's not even a window in here. I grab my backpack and take a deep breath. The front door is locked so I need to get out now, while they're busy.

I sneak out of my room, but the stuck ghost looks my way.

"Oh! I see him, hurry!"

I rush to the door. My hand slips on the lock. No no no! I try again and manage to unlock the door and get out. I resist the urge to look back as I run downstairs, but stop short when I arrive at the main entrance. Two more of these things are trying to get in, pushing on the locked entrance doors. They see me and start hitting the glass with their mouths wide open, showing off their huge, pointy teeth. I spin around and run for the emergency exit on the back.

I take a peek out at the deserted narrow alley. Yes! They didn't think of coming over here, yet. I look both side. Where should I go? They're flying and they seem to be after me. I shouldn't stay in the open for too long. I look up. Squadrons of insects are flying high up in the sky. Wait, if I can see them from this far, that means their size is … What the heck is going on?

I walk down the alley, closely following the walls, until I find an open window leading to a basement. It's dark in there, but it seems to be some sort of storage room. I put on my frontal lamp and throw my bag inside. The window is quite small, but I'm small enough to fit through. Just as I'm sliding my legs in, I hear footsteps coming over from around the corner. Humans? I'm not taking the risk. I throw myself in and fall down on the floor, causing a loud stomping noise that echos around the room. Shit! I grab my bag and hide behind a shelving unit.

"Did you hear that? Maybe it was a human."

"Yeah, whatever. It'll probably run away like the other one. Master told us to make sure we're being seen by a lot of humans. Why are we wasting our time over here?"

What, so they just want to be seen?

"Don't you think chasing after lone ones is more fun? … Right, I just don't want to get in the way, we could end up crushed or worse. And I'm not interested in destroying this world anyway. Let's just find a safe spot and hide until this is over."

Destroying … Oh god, Tk! I hope he's fine.

"Good idea. We wouldn't make a big difference anyway, the big ones are already gathering all their attention."

I start breathing again once the footsteps are gone. I get up and stare at the window while running scenarios after scenarios in my head, but it's useless, there's just no way I can get to Takeru alive. Tsk … did Mom really have to move so far away from us?

There's no other way, I'll have to stay here until things calm down outside first. I turn on my frontal lamp and look around. The room is quite empty, is it still even used? There's only two doors, one is locked and the other leads to a small office with no window. Perfect, I lock myself inside and immediately walk up to the mini fridge in a corner. I find two bottles of water, a ton of beers and nothing to eat. Well, it's better than nothing I guess. I get up and look around the office. No, it can't be, I must have missed it. I search the desk again. Why wouldn't there be a phone?! What the heck is this office for?

Distant muffled explosion sounds are now constantly coming through. I don't like this, I know Dad would have called as soon as he knew something was going on. Maybe the station was attacked and … My arm brushes away a pile of papers that I watch glide to the floor. I turn around and continue searching the office.

I open a drawer and find the expected stash of dirty magazines. Beer, porn and no phone, whoever works down here probably doesn't get much done. There's magazines with naked women, but also with naked men. That person is probably like me, they don't see the difference. I mentioned this to Dad once, but he got really mad. He yelled that I was feeling that way just because I was still too young to understand these things. It's a good thing I didn't start by mentioning the crush I have on a boy in my class. Before that I used to think that I could tell Dad anyth—

A huge explosion, way worst than any of the ones before, sends the floor and the walls shaking like everything is made of cardboard. I drop the magazine and plunge under the desk. After the initial blow, this long, horrible crumbling sound just go on forever, filled with metal bending, cables snapping and splashing noises. I cover my head. Tk, Dad … Mom, please be safe.