It was raining and they were stuck inside Koushiro's office with their partners, a very stressed Yamato and a Koushiro relying on his flashlight until he could discover why didn't the generators work.
"W-WHY ARE YOU BLAMIN' ME?!" Daisuke was pretty offended, "I can't control the weather. I also cannot control the power. I can't do any of those and of course I'm tired of being here listening to Yamato-san bugging me with his nightophobia."
"It's nictophobia , Daisuke" Taichi tried his best to keep Daisuke calm but he couldn't with all that noise.
Koushiro was still busy checking the generators with Tentomon, and the other three digimon were sitting in the corner, chatting about trivial things to pass the time. Unlike their partners, the digi-trio were fine in the dark. Not like Taichi and Daisuke enjoyed to be stuck in a room in the dark, but they had to survive Yamato's bad mood.
"Yeah, that thing you said! We're not trying to scare you, we are not bad people!" Daisuke kept upset with Yamato's growls.
"I'm sure Koushiro can fix it in time, Yamato. And we won't do anything to- Daisuke, stop making grimaces, you said we are NOT trying to scare Yamato."
"I'm not trying to scare Yamato-san…! I just kicked the table by accident…! It hurts!"
"How did you only complain 'bout it now then?!"
"From all the things I've passed, kicking the freaking table while trying to find the couch is like nothing…! B-But it hurt! Aaa… I wish phones had a flashlight inside!"
"You meant included."
"W-whatever!"
"Just sit where you are and don't make any noise" Yamato ordered him with a serious tone, "Is it Koushiro back?"
"Can't tell, he took the only flashlight we had" Taichi shrugged.
They heard a sound of someone falling on the ground; Taichi used his phone as light to see what was, but the screen wasn't good enough for it. Suddenly he heard the digimon screams and Daisuke's.
Apparently Daisuke had bumped on Agumon and then fell on the floor.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"My tail!" the poor V-mon had also his tail smashed by Dai's foot "Aaa, Daisuke stop walking around the room!"
"My bad!"
"You're clumsier than Agumon" Taichi laugher nervously "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine… I'm sorry Vee."
"At least you didn't fell upon Gabumon…" The blue digimon commented "He has a horn and..."
"I wanted to NOT think about it…"
"I'm glad I didn't hurt him by accident" Gabumon was so concerned about that scenario that he carefully stepped away from the young goggle boy and sat in the corner, closer to the walls.
"Don't worry, he won't get hurt if HE STOP WALKING AND STAY QUIET" Yamato lost his patience and Taichi (who was next to him) just elbowed him, but lightly "What?! I'm distressed here!"
"Yamato-san dislikes the dark, huh?" Daisuke sat on the floor, next to V-mon and Agumon "So… Have I ever told you the time I was hospitalized and I saw a ghost in the window?"
Yamato reacted with a gasp.
"Daisuke," Taichi said calmly "I don't think we should tell ghost stories at this time, and Yamato does not like them…"
"It was like, midnight and I woke up to ask to pee" Daisuke refused Taichi's request to stop and began his tale "I had been dreamin' about things, some weird things. So yeah, the nurse was taking too much time to come and I HAD to pee. Then I glanced at the window and-"
A thunder sound outside made Yamato and Daisuke scream in panic. Taichi tried to calm them down again, but it was useless. With all that confusion, he saw the lights blink for an instant until they turned off again.
But in that moment, something strange happened.
Another flash coming from the thunder outside made everything bright inside the office, then Daisuke saw Koushiro's laptop turn on and… A man come out of it. In the panic, Daisuke fell upon Agumon and V-mon again, but didn't hit Gabumon's horn because the third digimon had left in time.
The man was looking at Daisuke, who was petrified and had grabbed V-mon to use as shield. Agumon was sure he knew that person before.
"I won't hurt you, don't worry…!" The man said calmly yet embarrassed by that.
"T-TEACHER NISHIJIMA?!" Taichi and Yamato gasped when they heard his voice, also could see a silhouette moving in front of them.
"Wait… I-isn't he dead?!" Daisuke babbled, his eyes widened. He pretty looked like Nishijima Daigo.
"I am, but…" Daigo scratched the back of his head "How to explain what actually happened to me…"
"I-I saw you dying!" Taichi was also frightened by that visit "Did you survive?! But you said you are dead so what do you mean with what actuallyhappened to you?!"
"Yes, I'm dead" the man said "But I… Not sure how, but Homeostasis made me become… One of her agents. So I live now, but as a Digital World's being."
"That's different from death" Daisuke narrowed his eyes on Nishijima's silhouette "Or you meant you died as human and then Homeostasis made you reborn as a servant of hers?"
"Wait, is it possible?" Taichi blinked.
"If so, does it mean Oikawa-san is a Homeostasis' agent too?"
"I don't know if Oikawa Yukio had the same fate" Daigo answered Daisuke's question "But as far as I know, I had this chance since… My old partner digimon begged Anubismon to not delete my soul from the Digital World."
"Okay, you're dead-as-human-but-alive-as-agent and you came here for something?" Taichi frowned "How can we trust you? I mean, that other Gennai has used Ichijouji's face to enter in this world, what if you're him fooling us?"
"Yeah, I agree with Taichi-senpai!" Daisuke poked Daigo's leg with his foot "How can we be sure you won't kill us while we're in the dark with no success of evolving our partners to fight you?"
"Calm down, I'm not lying!" Daigo babbled "I know this is strange and you had been tricked by a renegade clone of Gennai who had been corrupted by Yggdrasil, but it's me!"
"Can you prove it to us?" Yamato stared at the man just like the others.
"... For the school festival I was too excited for it that I helped a class with promotion of their corn dog shop by wearing a corn dog outfit!"
Daisuke laughed hard, but Taichi and Yamato glanced at each other.
"It's him," Yamato shrugged "Only Nishijima Daigo, our teacher, would do something like that for his students."
"Seriously?!" Daisuke was rolling in the floor, laughing loud "Nishijima-san wore a freakin' corn dog outfit?! And I missed it?!"
"Well, you were missing after all…" Taichi responded Daisuke's comments "But why are you here, teach?"
The lights came back, and then they all saw clearly where they were. Daisuke was next to the balcony, with V-mon on his lap now. Agumon was next him, and Gabumon had been in the other corner of the room. Taichi and Yamato were in the couch, while Daigo was in front the desk but now they could see the difference: Daigo was wearing a (good) Gennai-ish robe..
"We fixed it-" Koushiro and Tentomon entered in the room and met… all of those men in silence and now looking at them "I-Is he…"
"Yes, he's Nishijima-san" Taichi gave direct and quick answers "He's dead but reborn as a Homeostasis' agent. And we were about to learn what he had to tell us when you fixed the generator problem."
"Oh…"
"Actually we didn't only fix it" Tentomon corrected Taichi "The power has just returned right when he had solved the issue."
"We're lucky!" Daisuke cried and hugged V-mon "I thought I'd have been stuck here forever! I need to go home or mom will be worried again, call the police and then I will end up in troubles!"
"But I thought you had phoned her!" Yamato was acting like a real mother of all those teenagers.
"I couldn't find my backpack in the dark, dummy" Daisuke sighed.
"Well, since everything's fine, I'm going home too" Yamato announced, took his suitcase and got up from the couch.
"Wait!" Daigo interrupted "... I came here because I needed to check on you kids."
"We're all fine, deadman" Daisuke also got up from the ground and took his backpack "Have fun as Gennai companion."
"Good to hear that" he sighed in relief "I'm still feeling guilty for not actually helping…"
"You didn't know she was tricking you too, teach" Taichi tried to cheer Daigo up "Now that you can go everywhere you want to, have you tried to find her?"
Daigo looked down.
"I tried, but… Not sure if she died or what. How many years had passed since Yggdrasil attack?"
"A year" the boys replied.
"Nishijima-san, can you tell me, with all details, how is to be a Digital World agent?" Koushiro started the questions, him excited and wanting to know everything that had happened to his old teach/Data Bureau agent.
"D-details?" Nishijima gasped and blinked.
"What do you know? How was the first thing you did after transitioning to a Homeostasis agent? Do you have any special ability like Gennai-san and the renegade clone of his? How did you still have your memories? How..."
Koushiro kept babbling while the other three were ready to leave. But Daisuke looked at Daigo with a serious expression in his face, walked back to the room and gently shoved Koushiro aside. He cleaned his throat and everyone watched the young kid carefully.
"I have a question, Nishijima-san"
Koushiro's curiosity inner alarm has been activated. What was Daisuke interested to know? Maybe how did Daigo become an agent? Or how does he stored his memories? Or…
"Can a Homeostasis agent eat food and poop?"
Everyone in the room, with exception of Daisuke, fell on the ground. Wow, THAT question…
"I'M UTTERLY INSULTED BY THAT KIND OF QUESTION!" Koushiro hissed, but then he whispered "... I want to know that part too, so please answer it."
"I…" Daigo had NO IDEA how to answer it.
"Okay, Daisuke had too much sweets and coffee today" Taichi dragged Daisuke to the entrance, where Yamato and their partners were waiting "He's under sugar effect."
"B-But, senpai!"
"Anyway, can you answer my questions?" Koushiro bowed his head "Please, Nishijima-san."
"It's okay but I don't have time for all of them…!" Nishijima babbled "I need to make sure that corrupted clone won't come back again. The other Gennai-san clones are working hard to find him, so I can't stay."
"I see… Can you answer those when you're free then?"
"I will do my best."
"We're going home, won't you come with us, Koushiro-san?" Daisuke called the other boy.
"I-I'm coming…! I'll be waiting for another time to discuss about those, Nishijima-san."
Daigo gave him a warm smile, "I'm sure we will meet again" and then he vanished in like data.