-The outside world-

Katashi was starting to get annoyed by all those stuff to do with Smith. It had only been the beginning of the summer holiday, and already so much had happened. He didn't know if he could even live a normal life after all this. Liollmon could sense his frustration and fatigue. Being constantly called by Smith really wasn't the nicest way to spend a holiday.

When he reached Smith's office, he saw that the twins were there as well, their expressions equally annoyed.

"What is it this time?" mumbled Katashi as he walked towards them. It all seemed redundant to him. The most that had happened was a boy coming from the outside world and Kaoru being alive again, and already they'd had more than enough meetings to actually come up with something to duel with the issues.

"Maybe you can understand now why I hate him that much." Kaito told him as he came closer.

"I know." Said Katashi plainly. He simply didn't know what to say. At least he didn't start by picking up a fight.

"Anyone knows why we're here, again?" asked Rikuto as he approached the two. Green followed him and asked the same question.

Katashi shook his head numbly, sighing. "I wish I could know." He couldn't even think of a way to get the conversation to somewhere that did not involve Smith or Digimon. "Let's just get this over with quick." He said.

That was when something fresh occurred. He noticed Rikuto have a little quiver, as a hand appeared from behind his shoulder, along with a light, cheery voice. "Didn't expect me here, Riku?"

Rikuto turned around immediately, saying before his eyes could even capture the image of whoever was behind him. "Ren?"

Ren stepped back a little when Rikuto faced her, smiling. "It's good to see you here." She said. Katashi, watching on the side, was wondering if he'd seen Ren before. It took him seconds to recognize that Ren was the one Smith had recommended them to recruit, a day before. Still confused, he asked Kaito, "What did you do to make her here this soon?"

Kaito simply shrugged, looking at Rikuto. Blue helped him say, "It's Riku who did the job."

In the meantime, Rikuto and Ren were acting like they'd been friends for a while, chatting so naturally that Green considered himself wrong about something happening between Rikuto and Ren earlier. They seemed plainly like friends, nothing more.

"How'd you know to get here?" asked Rikuto. "I'm quite sure you didn't get that spam mail."

"What mail?" Valkyrimon, who'd been by Ren's side, asked.

Rikuto took out his phone and showed Ren the overly long and redundant email he'd gotten earlier that morning, sent by Smith. The email could be concluded with three words: come at once.

Ren seemed to be confused as well. She looked at the mail cautiously, possibly considering the meaning in those lines, but was just as perplexed when she turned her sight on other things as she'd been. "I didn't get that mail." She commented, taking her phone out. "But I did get this." She said, holding the phone out so that Rikuto could see clearly. It was composed of just few lines, and was sent by the Institute –the one Ren would've been studying in if not for her parents.

"And how did that lead you here?" he asked.

"You know who's the greatest shareholder in the Institute?" said Ren lightly. Rikuto, not having had enough attention towards the loosely named facility, which was more a school than an Institute, couldn't think of even a viable theory. Green, who'd been quiet by his side, poked him lightly in the waist, beckoning towards Katashi, whom Rikuto recognized has the most knowledge about the Institute. He turned towards him, ready to ask him for advices.

But Ren didn't let him the time to do so. She clutched Rikuto by his sleeve, pulling him towards her. When their faces were met again, she smiled and saw Rikuto's face glowing a little pink.

"Can you stop pulling me like that?" he whispered.

"Oh c'mon, you're a boy!" she almost shouted that, before she realized that she shouldn't bring more embarrassment to Rikuto. So instead she whispered. "And," she said after that, tapping something on her phone for a few seconds before she passed the phone to Rikuto.

And then his face froze, for at least twenty seconds or more, his jaws dropping slowly. The picture depicted a middle-aged man with combed, slick black hair and a pair of red eyes so piercing that he looked almost like a character straight out of a horror film. But Rikuto didn't feel that way. He'd seen this face before, and he hated it.

But Ren didn't notice that. Instead, she simply skipped to the answer of the question. She was enjoying herself, not bothering to have a look on Rikuto's expression as she said, "He's called Edward Smith, and he was practically the founder of the Institute." She pointed at the building next to her. "And this is where his office is located. In the letter, they told me that they were in need of Tamer for something vital that they couldn't tell in the mail. They called me to be here, so here I am." She finally turned her gaze upon Rikuto, who was simply standing there, his eyes blank.

"What's the matter with you?" she asked, patting him on the shoulder.

Rikuto would've answered her, that the very person she'd just mentioned happened to be one of his most hated. But his attention was shifted away when two new faces appeared from a street diagonally opposite to Smith's office. Katashi's face turned down the moment he saw one of them. Though unwilling, he was the one to first approach her.

"Why're you here, Elsa?" he asked, demanding in tone.

"Because I'm pretty much the reason all of you're here." She answered pleasantly, taking a quick glimpse at the crowd. Had she the chance to say it, she'd say that there were "too many boys", but she couldn't. Before she could say another word, Katashi gave her a dissatisfied look and once again demanded, "You won't be just end up wandering in the streets in a normal day. You said that Smith somehow wanted you here, but for what reason?"

She simply smirked in return, not even bothering to answer.

And then, before anyone could announce their observation of the boy standing beside her, he walked up and said lightly, "Shall we get to the serious stuff now?"

All eyes fell upon him. "Who're you?" Kaito questioned, approaching the boy.

Katashi, who was standing near Kaito, stopped him by holding out an arm. He didn't need another close examination to tell that the boy was the one he'd rescued, the one that had caused all those troubles lately. He didn't blame him, but he was wondering if things would've turned out differently had he not appeared. He stepped forth, holding a hand out. A smile shaped itself on his face; he was, after all, just another boy like him, so there was no reason for him to treat him harshly.

"Hi, I'm…" he couldn't even finish the introduction as the boy walked past him, apparently in a hurry.

"I'm here to get back what belongs to me." He uttered, more to himself than to Katashi.

Katashi gave a questioning look at Elsa. Something must have happened between the two of them, he knew. Things were just more incomprehensible now that communication seemed farther apart between each member of this supposed team. Elsa, as usual, just shrugged in return.

Katashi glared at her more fiercely before she talked. "His name's Kynan." She said, eyeing the boy in black jacket. "And, as you can see, he's not a nice guy."

Katashi approached Elsa, apparently annoyed by her indifference towards whatever was happening, only to hear a voice from behind that got all his attention. He turned, and there stood Smith, right in front of the door of his office.

"I should say that you exceed my expectation." He commented, eyes settling on Ren and the twins. "So, should we get going now?"

"I don't have anything to say until you give it back to me." Kynan said with audible rage. He hadn't even gotten a sit in the overly large meeting room, his palms having slammed against the light gray table. His eyes narrowed, staring straight towards Elsa.

"I just told you about the one having what you want, but I didn't promise you to have it back." she argued, in an inappropriately casual tone as she turned her gaze towards Smith. "He's the one you have to threaten, not me."

Smith walked close to a screen hung on a wall as Kynan turned his gaze towards him. There wasn't even a moment of flinching on Smith, Katashi noticed. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself, though his face remained as placid as ever. "That is not a problem." Smith said plainly as he gestured to Kynan to tell him to have a seat. When he saw that Kynan was being uncooperative, he walked towards one end of the room and examined a small cupboard and took something out of it.

With an invisible smirk, he held out his hand and handed Kynan the very object he'd been demanding for, the peculiar device that he'd carried with him when all others had first noticed his existence.

For a moment Kynan was motionless, not sure what to do. Silence followed for the next few seconds before he said, "Thanks."

"We haven't needed it since the techs has made several copies of this." Said Smith solemnly.

Kynan's calmness was short lived. "What?" he yelled, almost in a snarl.

"That should not be unexpected." Stated Smith.

"I didn't come all the way here so it could be copied and spread around!" Kynan said.

"Perhaps you should've told us back then." Said Smith. He and Kynan had now dominated the entire discussion, leaving no space for the others to join in. It seemed to them that they were simply there to watch a play. "Because we have already extracted everything out of it."

"That doesn't give you the right to use it for your own benefit."

"You seem to have misunderstood me, I am afraid." Smith said politely –so polite on this verbal fight that he sounded terrifying. It was one of his talents to shut others up, though Kynan didn't. Instead, he just stood up and slammed his palms on the desk again, like he'd done when he'd first arrived.

"What's inside there is not to be read, by anyone!" he uttered.

"Maybe you should explain the reason you kept it, then."

For a moment Kynan's wrath seemed to have subsided. He didn't speak for a long time –probably a couple of minutes –before he got back to his seat again, his eyes on the desk. Kudamon, who'd been with him and had remained silent, said, "There is something that should never be reminded of." He stretched a little outwards and moved from Kynan's shoulder to the desk, looking him in the eyes. "You don't have to tell them if you don't want to." He whispered.

Kynan stared at him for a couple of seconds, and then raised his head again. "It's alright." He whispered with a few quick breaths. "I need to say it."

He then faced the group again, trying to avoid eye contact with Smith. "I have to start it from the beginning."

"The beginning?" muttered Liollmon. "You mean, when you're outside?"

Kynan nodded.

"We never knew that there're still humans living outside of Ventrium." Katashi added.

"Would you stay quiet so that I can finish it quickly?" Kynan muttered, giving a sharp look towards Katashi, whose head lowered a bit to acknowledge his apology.

"I used to live in a village." He continued. "Ava, it was called. We never knew that there were something –someone –living outside of the village, and we dared not explore the surroundings, since it's surrounded by barren land and Digimon, lots of them. We didn't have any trouble living, though."

"So what happened?" Katashi once again found himself embarrassing, having interrupted Kynan again.

"That was until about a year ago." He said, his eyes glistening with tiny teardrops. "Digimon –big, red and bulky –just showed up from nowhere, and started to kill everyone in sight." He paused, choking. "I'm the only one who escaped."

Before any words of sympathy could be pronounced, Smith said, "I don't see how that's related to the map."

"The map…" said Kudamon, so quietly that it was barely audible. "You have no idea what it is."

"Then tell us, instead of sobbing there."

"The map," Kynan started again. "It is kept safe for generations, my family. I was only told the importance of it."

"What is it then?"

"It tells the location as to where the virus was kept hidden." Said Kynan. "I was told that there was a devastating war years and years ago, which resulted in the barren landscape and the few population. My father once told me that it was the virus that ended the war. And because it's so dangerous it was kept hidden since then."

"That virus?" muttered Ren automatically.

Kynan nodded. "It is passed from generation to generation, at least in my family." His voice started to get clear again as he suck in several deep breathes. "My father gave it to me, right before he died in front of me."

There was silence all over the room. Being the most factual person in the room, Smith said again, "They should've destroyed it if it really is that dangerous, and so should you."

"I don't care why they didn't do it!" Kynan yelled, his hands shivering. "This is the last thing my father gave me, and I can't just burst it into pieces!"

"But how did you end up here?" asked Kaito. "You said you thought you were the only ones out there."

"Because of me." Kudamon said, swiftly moving towards the center of the table such that everyone could hear him. "I suggested that we go here."

As Kudamon straightened his overly long body, Katashi could see it –a simple, circular tattoo that he'd seen on Leomon when Liollmon had been a lost exile on the streets, the very day Katashi had taken the responsibility to take care of the Digi-egg that had been formed by the Leomon. Kudamon must have come from Ventrium, he had no doubt.

Kudamon eyed Kynan, who nodded in agreement. "The first time I met Kynan, he was running away from some more aggressive Digimon out there. I saved him."

"And then," Kynan continued for Kudamon. "He kept sticking around with me. I'd been alone for five months, and was not sure how to react, so I let him join me. I also persuaded him that we should go take a look at the location where the virus is hidden, a village called Destiny, if I remember correctly."

"You've been there before?" Ren uttered with both excitement and astonishment.

Kynan shook his head slightly, muttering, "No; we didn't"

"The village is surrounded by mountains –really high ones." Kudamon added.

Katashi asked, "Then what drove you here? Surely you wouldn't be out there for that long if you'd only followed a path here."

"Going here was my idea." Kudamon replied. "The day we got attacked."

"Surely you got attacked a lot, living out there for that long." Elsa added.

Kudamon gave her a menacing glare, but she ignored it. "It was the first time I –we –have seen a Digimon out there that wasn't purely attacking to survive. That one Digimon was different, I knew, and he looked weird enough as well, having a glowing purple head."

The mention alerted Katashi at once. He was, however, not the only one with that observing ability. Before he could say anything, Blue shouted out, "Was that the one we faced at the Wall?"

"Did he, by any chance, say his name?" Katashi asked quickly, so eager that his torso actually leaned towards where Kynan was sitting.

"He did. That's one of the things that made him different than the others."

"And the name is?"

"Cyberdramon."

Kaoru asked Cyberdramon, slightly unwillingly, about the experience he'd had with Yuzuki a day before. So much had changed since then. He couldn't possibly link the name that had such an impact on his mind with the very person Cyberdramon had warned him about.

"I want to ask something about Yuzuki." He said lightly. "Who is she actually?"

"I told you I had no idea." Replied the Digimon, his voice light but creepy.

"But I saw her yesterday," Kaoru continued, "And she's the one you wanted me to kill." He paused, sucking in a deep breath while avoiding eye contact with Cyberdramon. "Have you been hiding something from me?"

Cyberdramon was surprisingly honest, answering before Kaoru had even finished his line. "Yes indeed."

"Why?"

"I will have to show you." Cyberdramon replied calmly, ignoring the eagerness Kaoru was showing. He paced slowly towards a computer, and clicked a few buttons, which made loud cracking sounds, before showing something on the screen.

For a moment Kaoru couldn't recognize the places shown in all those photos; they were too blurry and low quality and, to be honest, messy. He could be certain that those photos were taken in a hurry, since they depicted unsteady movements and out-of-focus objects. One common trait he discovered was that the color scheme of the photos all tended to be orangey, like a piece of glass had been covering the camera while the photos had been taken. Upon further examination he figured out that the blurry objects were mostly buildings, primitive or not, and they were collapsing, being torn into pieces. And then he understood, that the orange shade had been caused by fire.

"What are these?" he mumbled, eyes fixed on the pictures. "And what do they have to do with me?"

"Observe." Answered Cyberdramon, magnifying one of the many photos. All Kaoru could see was shapes, something that could only have been covered by the strong flickers of fire in the photo. He focused more, trying to figure out whatever Cyberdramon had wanted him to find, but he could at most said that those shapes, silhouetted by the flame, looked not unlike human beings.

And then Cyberdramon switched the screen to another photo, equally disturbed by intense light. Again, Kaoru could at most make out shapes. Cyberdramon then gave him another. This time, however, he could tell more than just shapes. The images of the humanoid silhouettes were sharper, more focused, precise. That was when he recognized one of the faces of those humans –the very girl he'd seen just a day before, Yuzuki.

"What does that mean?" he questioned. "What does that have to do with me?"

Cyberdramon looked rather pleasant, if he could show any emotions on his face. Unhurriedly he turned off the screens, so that Kaoru could focus on him. "There are much more of these kind of records." He said, in a mechanical voice that sounded plain and cold. "What do all those have in common?" before Kaoru could even move his lips, Cyberdramon murmured almost to himself. "They were there, every time."

"They?"

"The people I warned you about." Cyberdramon continued. "Every time a village was burnt down, a factory was blown, or something of that sort of nature, they were all there."

"So?"

"They were the cause of those misfortunes." Uttered Cyberdramon coldly, the lights on his head flickering, as though indicating that he was deep in thoughts. "There were six of them. Twelve, including their respective partner."

"But you only told me about five."

"That's the point." Cyberdramon said, slowly and grimy, such that his already haunting voice sounded more alerting, as if anything could happen after his words. He made a pause long enough to get Kaoru fully focused on him. And then, when he could see that Kaoru's curiosity had reached maximum, as though his eyes were trying to jump out of the sockets just to see an answer, he said, "You were one of them."

Instead of screaming in utter shock or panicking, Kaoru stood rigidly still, not even blinking. For a moment he was immobilized, and could not move even if he wanted to. To him, everything felt so distant as soon as he'd heard what Cyberdramon'd just said minutes, as if he was the only one standing in the middle of nothingness. He didn't even know how to feel.

A few seconds later, when his mind was a bit clearer and his thoughts organized, he uttered, "I was…one of them?"

"It cannot be more true." Cyberdramon commented, sounding dull and emotionless.

"But…but that can't prove anything." Kaoru said between breathes. Just the information of that made him feel like he was suffocating. "That doesn't mean anything."

"It does, of course." Said Cyberdramon matter-of-factly. "It is more than enough to deduce that they were the causes of the various destruction that had been brought about in the Digital World."

Kaoru didn't even feel like standing anymore, his legs trembling. "And I was…then why did you save me instead of just…" he found it hard to spit the word out. "Just kill me?"

For an extended period Cyberdramon maintained silent. Though he'd only been with him for less than a year, Kaoru knew that was not a good phenomenon to begin with. He'd always been asking about his past, and as he'd just realized, Cyberdramon hadn't been truthful to him. Yet, Cyberdramon had never hesitated to answer his questions, even if he'd been lying.

"You were alone." Said Cyberdramon coldly. "You were alone, in the middle of a ruin, and had no memory at all. I just did what I needed to do." Even in his flat voice, Kaoru felt a sense of humanity in it. "I just gathered all the information after having saved you. In other words, I saved you before I knew that I shouldn't."

Kaoru found himself in a loss of words. He simply didn't know whom to trust. Yuzuki had sounded just like Cyberdramon, filled with compassion. And the both of them had never shown him any hostile gesture: Cyberdramon had been taking care of him, giving him Mephistomon as a Digimon partner; Yuzuki had hesitated in the fight between them, and had shown mercy when she could've easily finished him off. And both of them held completely different versions of his past, with Cyberdramon going for Yuzuki being evil and Yuzuki insisting on the reverse.

"I…" he mumbled, starting to feel dizziness in his head. He couldn't even stand, sitting on the ground. "I…I can't…"

"There is no need to rush." Said Cyberdramon lightly, almost in a whisper. "Just remember one fact: you were amnesiac, and they weren't there." Even with no eyes, his visor biped with flashes of lilac, as if he was having a secret smirk on the inside. "They abandoned you; the left you to die with no regret."

Kaoru stopped feeling the heaviness in his head. Cyberdramon was right. He'd been there, not them. The truth seemed much simpler. They left him behind, and Cyberdramon didn't.

"I suppose you've overcome your doubts?"

"Yes, sir." Said Kaoru lightly and obediently.

"Then be prepared. You and Mephistomon still have a job to do/"

"Where do I go, then?" he asked.

"The very person who confused you." Answered Cyberdramon. "Yuzuki."

"So, you want us to go out there because he happened to have come across Cyberdramon?" Katashi uttered in surprise. "But he's stated that there is literally no point in getting there!'

Smith, as he'd always been, ignored him and said, "You have no idea how important it is."

"You have no idea!" Kynan yelled. "You know that, too! Let the virus remain hidden is the best way to handle it."

"Even if that means letting it fall into wrong hands?"

"I don't get it." Ren uttered. She hadn't engaged in the conversation much, but she felt like it was her responsibility to help the Digi-Destined make the most sensible choice.

"I thought you'd love something like that." Muttered Elsa, looking around uncaringly. "You looked like the adventurous type."

"And you?" Rukuto asked. "You didn't even have a reason to be here."

"Well of course I do." She answered bluntly, giving him a random glare. "You're in a shortage of hands, so Smith called me here."

"And we find this less boring than everyday routines." LadyDevimon added.

"Did none of you hear what I said?" Kynan shouted. "There is no point in getting to somewhere that is unreachable."

"Not to Cyberdramon, if it really were him you came across." Said Smith. "I have never seen him, but the description given to me was enough. He is a threat not to be underestimated."

"But the data's here with us." Kudamon added.

"Not anymore." Katashi interrupted the conversation, his expression unreadable, as though he was reading something transparent in front of him, his eyes wide with fear and shock, "You said the techs had copied the data, right?"

"Shit!" uttered Smith. For the first time he seemed to have lost control, his face giving out a typical look of astonishment.

"What is it?" asked Blue.

"If there is multiple copies of the map," Katashi started again, "Anybody could get it single-handedly, especially for someone as smart as Cyberdramon."

"If he had access to our database."

"Have you not listened to what Takumi told us?" Katashi yelled back, too preoccupied that he forgot to mind his manners. "The guy could bring the dead alive again, in some zombie-like ways, could design a workable teleportation system and an army of killing machines just by studying Millenniummon. What makes you think that he couldn't have accessed to our database already?"

"So what're we gonna do?" Kaito demanded. "That doesn't have anything to do with us."

"I believe that all these are linked." Liollmon announced. "Remember the time when we met Cyberdramon at the Wall? I think he knows about these."

"So what?"

"So, as a Digi-Destined, you're obliged to stop him!"

Before Kaito could even think of another word to say, Ren shouted. "Enough, you two!" She then cleared her voice and said, "We need a plan, not arguments."

"Fortunately we have a guide here." Said Elsa, turning to face Kynan. "Say hello!"

"What do you want from me?" he retorted immediately. "And why should I listen to you?"

"Because, sexy," she whispered in his ear. "You owe me a favor."