Yay, another chapter down! *does happy dance* That should leave maybe two more, maybe one depending on how I divide things or how long certain parts get, and then an epilogue! We're almost to the end! And I'd really like to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing throughout all of this story, it's really encouraged me and I appreciate everything. I hope that you guys have enjoyed this story because I know that I have, and I think that I've learned a lot through writing this one.

Please enjoy this chapter, and leave a review if you've got the time! :)

Chapter 13~

The rain water splashed up around me as my feet hit the ground a good fifty meters away from my former master and the minions that flanked him. Strabimon shot me a loathing snarl and the DeviDramon that seemed to have appeared out of the very night itself growled from deep within their wide throats. I responded to neither party, keeping my eyes locked solely upon Devimon's crimson stare.

Finally, after having nothing to listen to but the steady pounding of the rain on our bodies and the cement, the black-clothed demon man spoke in that smooth, bottomless drone that had once hypnotized me. "Moroamon…" I caught him stealing a short glance at the DeviDramon, who both appeared a tad nervous. They must've been the ones ordered to get rid of me.

"You're much more…whole than I expected you to be. Not that I ever thought I'd see you again…" He said in a tone that was rather calm and low, though it was as if he'd screamed threat upon threat at the two black dragons behind him. They flinched and one took a step back, both their growls momentarily weakening. But Devimon ignored them. "No matter…no matter…

"But I think that we'd all love to know…" He gestured to himself and his minions briefly, his unfathomable red eyes staring me down as if he wished to smash me into the ground beneath his thumb like an ant. "…Why are you here? What gave you the right to stay alive? Were you too big a coward to do as you ought? Too selfish to die?" A sick grin twisted his face; beside him, Strabimon chuckled.

Perhaps an hour ago—no, even a half hour—their words might've bothered me. They would've been painful to hear, unbearable to take. Hearing the taunting voice of the one who drove me to kill and forced me to become the monster that I was today…it would've been too much for me. But now…

I turned from them and looked up, high into the rain that beat against my face, and stared at the light illuminating the balcony high above me. Several of the DigiDestined were leaning over the edge to watch, and I could see the concern on their faces as they glanced between me and Devimon. The glow of the apartment behind them hid their worried faces in shadow, but I knew them well enough to know who they were. Davis was one of them; I locked eyes with him for the briefest of moments, and cast him a reassuring smile.

I turned back to Devimon straight-faced, not bothered at all by his words or his grin or the snickers and comments made by the creatures hiding in his large shadow. They were only words after all; they were sharp, but my armor was stronger than them. "I remember leaving you. I am no longer yours. My personal affairs should be of no concern to you." There was silence for a moment as my words sunk into his being.

The smile upon his lips slowly faded when he saw that I wasn't going to continue. When he saw that I was not cowering before him, that I wasn't afraid of what he could and would do to me if he got close enough. His bewilderment quickly turned to a burning rage, his pale lip curling back over his vampire-like fangs. A sudden roar ripped from his throat, and it was all I could do not to flinch.

"It's them, isn't it?!" His eyes stayed on me, but his mind was suddenly turning to the DigiDestined standing high above us. Devimon raised one long-fingered hand and closed it into a tight fist; my lungs were being crushed within my chest by an unseen force, the collar around my throat tightening to the point that it was cutting into me. I dug my claws into it, trying to pull it away. I fought the pain, forcing myself to stay upright, to focus on the power I had, to make it surface. But it wasn't coming.

Devimon's voice was still roaring in my ears, louder than the blood that pounded unmercifully around my brain. "They made you think that you're worth something! They made you believe that you're something you're not: good! Your heart is as evil and black with sin as mine! There is no forgiveness for you—" I threw my head back and let out a deafening bellow, drowning out Devimon's voice.

And the collar cracked.

"You're wrong!" I panted and took a deep breath of the city's air, the crack down the center of the white metallic collar allowing me to breathe normally. It was a minute before I could speak again, but when I did, I'd never heard my voice so strong and sure before. "Yeah, it was them—my friends, the DigiDestined! They showed me the truth, they brought me into the light and they told me that forgiveness comes to those who are repentant, to those who ask for it!

"I am sorry for what I've done in my life, but giving up won't do anyone any good! Pitying myself and spiraling into the darkness that you've created for me to sink into won't solve anything! Believing in the good of this world and the good that exists within myself and others around me, trusting in the bond that I have with the people I care for and that care about me, focusing on my goal and always keeping before me the knowledge that all life has been given to this world for a reason…

"Only then will the souls I've stolen be reunited with the light you've hidden from them! Only then will my humanity be returned to me, and only then will I finally be rid of you and the chasm that you've been trying to lock me in for five endless years!" Every fiber of my being tensed, each muscle knowing what was coming and preparing me for it. My mind was sharp as a steel blade, ready. "Only with my friends beside me will this world and the Digital World finally be rid of your tyranny!"

With a final roar to punctuate my point, I rushed forward, whole body tensed and unafraid of whatever would face me. My mind, however, was thinking of every sharp blow that Devimon had ever dealt to me, every cruelty that had ever scarred my skin or left me trembling and whimpering in fear and agony. But with every step forward I took I reminded myself that this time would be different. I could fight back now, and I was not alone.

I would never lose to him again.

But I never reached him. A flash of white amidst the black night and heavy rain dashed forward and slammed into me, knocking me farther back than where I'd started. Snarling, I shoved Strabimon off of me; I should've been anticipating that one of Devimon's cronies would fight for him, especially after the collar had cracked. The pale-skinned demon would want to know what had changed, if he was at any kind of a disadvantage now.

Getting back to my feet with a deep growl in the wolf-faced Digimon's direction, I stole a glance at Devimon when he uttered a strangely aggravated noise. He was looking up at the balcony that I'd leapt from only a few moments ago. Strabimon noticed my gaze wandering there and looked as well. I was shocked by the scene.

Standing illuminated by the golden light of the apartment behind them were six Digimon, each flanked by their human partner, determined expressions on every face that I could see. FlameDramon was perched upon the balcony railing, where Nefertimon had her front paws placed sturdily, the rain dripping from her headdress as she stared down righteously at the dark creatures below her. Halsemon was hovering next to Stingmon, who was on FlameDramon's other side, and Pegasusmon beat his powerful wings to keep himself next to Nefertimon despite the torrent of rain plummeting from the sky. Digmon had drilled a hole through the floor of the balcony (which I doubted anyone was happy about) and had stuck his head through it.

Acting almost as one body, they leapt down from the height, FlameDramon landing lightly beside me, hardly making a splash but making Strabimon take a precautionary leap backward. The other Digimon hit the ground with varying degrees of control, and I watched with a slight bit of surprise as four of them surrounded the DeviDramon, Stingmon joining FlameDramon and I to trap a startled Strabimon.

While Strabimon was distracted by Stingmon's sudden appearance, I turned to look up at FlameDramon. "What are you doing?" The question came out sounding more like a mere statement, like I was saying the words but had no real idea what they meant. Devimon had never sent me out to fight alongside anyone before; they always got in my way.

The red-armored Digimon smiled and made a loud 'hee-aaw' sound as he sprang into a lithe fighting position. I made a surprised 'huh' noise in response, still a little distracted as he said cheerfully, "You didn't think you'd have to take on all these bad guys by yourself, did you?" I stared at him wide-eyed for a long moment. That was exactly what I'd been thinking. Why would they all risk their lives for me?

But it was a foolish question, a question I should've known the answer to. "So," I said with a fond smile, turning to gaze over the fearless expressions worn by the Digimon facing the DeviDramon, who were looking between themselves, Devimon, and their enemies with uncertainty. I'd never seen them at such a loss before. Devimon seemed puzzled, too. "I suppose this is what friends do?"

"I like watching morning cartoons better, but we do this, too, yes," Stingmon replied with a nod, a glowing purple sword coming out of a compartment above his hand when the white Digimon snarling at him took a step too close. He backed off as soon as the weapon appeared, but was still glaring malevolently at the three of us, occasionally shooting anxious glances at Devimon like the others were.

I smiled briefly at the insect-man's reply, a feeling of elation beginning to course through me like never before. It didn't matter if I had the collar on or not, it didn't matter if I was starving or not, nothing mattered except that I wasn't alone anymore. And, quite clearly, I would never be alone again. There was a kind of power in that knowledge that I'd never known, a kind of power that you were satisfied with, where you knew you didn't need any more than what you had.

This was true power.

But Devimon didn't seem too thrilled about it. "Hm…" I heard him murmur something softly to himself, something in a decibel that he knew very well I would be unable to hear. Then the demon began to speak in a much louder, clearer, voice. "You've trained your little army well, Moroamon. They come even before you call. Impressive trick." He chortled for a moment, his minions giving nervous laughs as well.

"But, on the other hand…" The momentary smile had been erased from his face as if someone had hit the 'undo' button. He gestured to each individual Digimon around me, his long hand finally sweeping up to the humans far above us. "…they are not so impressive alone. Your little pets—excuse me, pests—have nowhere near as much power as I possess…Oh, you look confused. Allow me to explain thusly." With one swing of his hand, my friends flew backwards and landed a hundred yards away with cries of pain.

A shuddering breath ripped through my lips as I stood alone before all of them, and I did my best to control the fear that erupted in my heart as if injected by a syringe. How could Devimon have done that so easily? Where had he gotten enough power to be able to fling such strong Digimon away as if they were made of wet newspaper? Had he already opened the Gate to the Dark Ocean like what Gennai had warned me about?

Devimon lowered his hand and twisted his head to the side, cracking his long neck before letting out a contented sigh. He grinned at me, red eyes glowing as his image began to fade along with his minions. "My plans are coming together nicely, traitor. I hope you're there to see it when I open the Gate." And without another sound from anyone, all four Digimon disappeared into the night.

I stared with my mouth agape at the places they'd previously occupied while the other Digimon uttered sounds of surprise or anger. They started talking to each other in hushed or confused tones, others avoiding conversation and going back to their partners. But I couldn't move. None of them knew what Devimon had been like before this moment, but I did. And this was a terrifying development.

We all returned to the apartment and the DigiDestined discussed whether or not they should all just stay there for the night instead of going home. Eventually they decided that it would be safe enough for some to return. Ken, having a much longer trip than the others, opted to stay with Izzy. A few others, including Davis, Yolei, and Cody chose to stay, but the Kamiyas and TK returned home.

Those who stayed and their Digimon went to bed almost immediately due to the time, though the group had agreed that some would stay home from school to start start working on strategies the next day. It had been decided that whoever stayed with Izzy would work with him on the planning, and I waited for morning eagerly, pacing silently throughout the apartment while I waited for the sky to allow the sun to return. It was the longest few hours I'd ever suffered through; it was as if the seconds were worming their way along.

I couldn't stop thinking about Devimon and his plot while I wandered the place, but I had far more questions than answers when the others decided to rise. Davis was the last to get up, and though he was clearly still tired, he seemed glad that I hadn't reverted back to my previous behavior of staring into space or glaring at the happy people across the street.

The first thing Izzy did when he got up, before he even found pants to wear, was print off a huge map of the Digital World. He gave it to me wearing only a T-shirt and underwear and told me, "While I track down some pants, I want you to take a look at this and make a mark wherever you think Devimon's main base is and other places he would go if he abandoned his base. Try to get as close as possible, it'll help." Then he left to acquire pants after handing me a couple of pencils.

I spread the large sheet of paper out over the living room table, even though the sheet was a bit too long to fit completely on it. Kneeling where the world would be best positioned, I stared at the many landmarks that I knew, trying to think about exactly where Devimon's base had been. I'd gone there so often that it had been impulse, routine. I'd completely stopped thinking about where it was. I just knew.

"How's it goin'?" Davis asked as he sat on the couch behind me, joined after a moment by Cody and their Digimon. He watched me with interest as I went to make a mark at a point, but pressed unnecessarily hard and broke the pencil like a toothpick. I sighed and picked up the next pencil, doing the same to it by accident. "Not well, huh?"

I scowled at the entertainment in Davis's voice. "I haven't written anything down in five years! I'm trying to remember how to draw a circle and not break the pencil. It's hard when you're as strong as I am," I growled, though Davis merely laughed at me. Cody seemed a bit wary about poking fun at me, but he didn't tell Davis to stop. I took that as a reasonably good sign.

The pencil snapped again; in frustration, I gripped it tightly in my fist and pulverized it while Davis continued to laugh. Still glowering at the map and pencil shards, I held up the last pencil in one hand, my face buried in the other. "Will someone please help me?" At first no one moved and I was afraid that I would have to ask Izzy for more pencils, but then I felt it lift from my fingers. Glancing up, I watched as Cody knelt down beside me.

And so, for the next hour, I rummaged around in my thoughts and memories and pointed to several places that Devimon could be hiding at, and had Cody put an 'X' wherever I knew we wouldn't have to look. I knew my old master quite well, and though there hadn't been many times when we'd needed to, the black-clad creature had forged several emergency hideouts. Most were near the mountains, one rather impervious one at the bottom of the largest Digital sea.

However, I still couldn't figure out where the main base was. I crossed out—well, I had Cody operate the pencil for me, but still—every place that I knew it couldn't be, but that left the entire lower east side of the largest Digital desert (where the DeviDramon had dropped me off and were that Wizardmon had found me) to search. It was an area of about one hundred thousand square miles, which was a bit smaller than Japan itself, and there would be plenty of traps scattered around the place, set up to keep intruders and wanderers away. If that was even the right place.

I sighed and leaned back against the couch; Cody took this as my giving up for the time being and he left me to wallow in frustration alone. Devimon would've done everything that he could to keep others from finding his base, so there was a good chance that the entire edifice was hidden in that place, maybe underground or hidden by some kind of invisible shield.

I couldn't even be sure of either of those points, or if it was hidden at all, because I couldn't remember for the life of me what the main hideout was like. Was there a chance that Devimon had made me that way, unable to tell the details of his location to another being, just in case I was to ever betray him or be captured? I wouldn't put it past the demon, honestly. And it wasn't a terrible idea, either, which I hated to admit.

Izzy appeared beside me out of thin air, and I had to resist the urge to spring to the other side of the room out of surprise. "What have you...got for me…?" His words began to fail him when he saw that I'd had Cody turn shade most of the map in so darkly that the only parts that weren't black were few and far.

Yolei peered over my other shoulder while brushing her hair, which smelled faintly of purple lilac. She cocked her head to the side and I had to lean over to avoid breathing her hair in. "It looks kinda like a frowny face if you look at it like this…" When she saw that I wasn't doing it, she forcibly moved my head, and I noted that she was right with an audible 'hm'.

The red-head on my other side seemed less than impressed with Yolei's comment, though. "We're here to find a powerful villain's base, Yolei, not find—oh, it does—I mean, we're not trying to connect dots." After a moment of staring at the map, he added, changing the topic back to what it should've been, "So, what exactly does all this mean?"

Davis and Cody had joined us again, followed by Ken, and I waited until they were in a position where they could clearly see the map as well before I began to elaborate. "I had Cody cross out any place that I knew Devimon wouldn't go, and circle wherever I thought he might. That's why everything's in black except for these spots," I gestured to them. "And the one's that I've circled are really only educated guesses and assumptions based on the little I can recall."

"Why aren't you sure?" Davis asked, shoving Yolei to the side rather uncouthly so that he could get closer. The lavenderette tried to push him back, but he refused to budge; the two glared at each other before Yolei finally relented and scooted over a bit, however callously. Davis barely noticed.

I thought for a moment before replying. There were a lot of ways that what I said could end up worrying them, and I needed to put my hypothesis into a form that wouldn't upset them. If I explained incorrectly or too bluntly, they might begin to think that perhaps Devimon had some sort of control over my mind still, and of course, that would cause unnecessary concern. Then again, how could I be sure myself that he had no control left?

"…I'm not completely certain, but I believe that it's some part of my makeup—you could say it's my DNA—that keeps me from recalling the exact location. Devimon told me several times about why he made me the way he did, and he also once claimed to have feared from my creation that I would turn on him. I think that because of that fear, instead of making me a mindless drone, he took away my ability to remember where his base was.

"Devimon didn't want me to be able to come back if I chose that path. He probably thought I would be able to gather some kind of army and return to take revenge, or maybe come back alone to try and destroy him—which, without this—" I pointed to the collar. "—I would most certainly be able to do. Or at least I might've been able to before he got more power from someone." There was a long moment of silence after I said this.

Thinking—actually, knowing—that I'd said too much too soon, I was about to try to convince them that there really wasn't that much to worry about, but I was cut off by a chorus of, "What?!" being shouted from each of the five people around me. The Digimon looked up from across the room, only slightly curious due to having been interrupted while playing a rather riveting game of checkers. DemiVeemon had tried to flip the board once and had slipped on it instead.

Yolei was the first to get a word in. "What do you mean you'd be able to destroy him? I thought you were only a Rookie-level! And as for not remembering, how is that even possible?! Unless he wiped your mind every time you came or left, there's no logical way to do what you're saying he did!" She took a deep breath. "And what exactly do you mean by 'he got more power from somebody'? You mean he's already succeeded that plan you mentioned before about Daemon?"

Since the girl had summed up most everyone's questions, the others closed their ready-to-speak mouths and awaited my answers. And I truly wished that I could give some to them. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what to tell you about a lot of that. Devimon wanted me to be as powerful as possible, but also altered my personality to make me more trusting of him so that I wouldn't try to fight him. He gave me this collar when I started hanging around you more, Davis. When I first started to doubt Devimon.

"And as far as my lack of memory, I wouldn't put anything past that creature…" I trailed off for a moment, lost in the memories that I hadn't forgotten. Memories of dark rooms filled with the scent of evil, a room filled with fire, and an abyss in his castle that stretched to the heart of the Digital World—a chasm that Devimon had often thrown some of his victims into, laughing at the thought of them taking an eternity to attempt to climb back out. I shuddered and clutched at a scar on my side.

Taking some deep breaths to clear my mind again, I tried to focus on whatever else Yolei had mentioned. "…Um, I don't think Devimon has opened the Dark Gate quite yet. I actually think that a good way to tell if he has is if the world has begun to cave in on itself or perhaps burst into flames. Since neither of those has happened, more likely than not, we have a little while more to think things through."

The others nodded, some a little more absentmindedly than others. I believed that they were picturing what I'd partially intended to be a joke. A surge of unease made my belly tingle, and it reminded me just how long ago it had been since I'd hunted, let alone eaten anything. I tried to let it fade from my mind again like it had before, but since it was already lunchtime for the humans and Izzy's mother was starting to cook something that smelled absolutely wonderful, I found my ravenous stomach as difficult to ignore as fleas.

I rested my head down on the table, the others having already dispersed, leaving me alone with the map. The hunger now driving my thoughts made me want to attempt eating human food again, but I was afraid to risk it. It never ended terribly, I suppose, but it was awful being that sick all because I was trying to be like the human I knew I was deep down. If anything other than disgusting, it was discouraging.

But I have a different mindset now… I raised my head as a light began to spread throughout my mind. Maybe I should try again. Maybe I'll be able to handle it this time around. I sat there thinking for a moment, unsure whether or not I actually wanted to trust my thoughts. There was a higher chance of this little plot failing rather than being successful, and the last thing I wanted at the moment was to become impaired, if only for a short time.

However, eventually my head won and I reluctantly got up and walked into the kitchen. With everyone else in either the dining room or Izzy's room (I could hear Izzy and Cody in there trying to figure out what sort of landmarks were nearby the places I'd marked on the map), I had free reign of the kitchen and was prepared to use it to its highest potential.

Glancing around the clean, orderly place, I began to ponder what exactly I should try. Something simple seemed like the most logical idea, seeing how something more complex might be too much for a digestive system that was unused to human food. But what kind of human food would be the simplest? I opened one of the cupboards carefully, moving it so that it wouldn't squeak, and wondered briefly if I should ask someone for an opinion.

I tried to suppress a nervous groan as I closed the cupboard. I knew that I should ask someone what I should try, what with it having been years since I actually had any kind of proper food. However, part of me knew how they would respond, especially since Davis had been present the very few times that I'd attempted something like this. He would anticipate how it would end, and would tell me I was being stupid to try something that was doomed to failure.

And yet, as I opened the refrigerator and pried a small, bright red radish from a plastic bag, I felt that same human part of me saying that I would never truly know until I'd tried. There was something so human, natural, about failure and its relation to success, and somehow, that made it seem a bit more acceptable. Perhaps even necessary.

Not knowing which outcome would be dealt me, I prayed very briefly for success in this test as I took a small bite of the red vegetable. Chewing quickly and swallowing even faster, the slight burning sensation light on my tongue, I covered my mouth with my hand and waited, ready to rush for the sink or the restroom should the need appear.

I wasn't sure how much time passed with me standing there in the middle of the kitchen, eyes closed and hand pressed over my mouth as if I'd said something foul, but as a few more minutes passed and nothing happened, I felt a trill of triumph beginning to grow in my heart, filling it to the point where I could've exploded. Feeling excited that something had gone right, I started out of the room, thinking I ought to get back to work.

But the second I moved something flopped threateningly in my stomach. I paused and rested a hand on my abdomen, trying to figure out whether or not that had anything to do with the radish, though part of me knew that it had to be. I tried to take another step as soon as my stomach seemed to settle again, but the second that I did I realized just how big of a mistake that I'd made.

I spent the next ten minutes with my mouth under the faucet in the kitchen. A bitter feeling fell over me as the water continued to gush in and out of my mouth, slowly driving away the burning tingle on my tongue. Someone had come in a few seconds after I'd begun, but they'd left almost immediately and hadn't asked what was going on. I was glad that whoever it was hadn't.

Comprehension had come to me quickly, but I didn't want to accept it. I didn't want to believe that my mind had been unable to overcome my body, unable to fight past the walls that Devimon had built around me to keep me from normality, humanity. Every second that I spent under that faucet was a slap in the face, making the ache deep in my soul grow and develop into a throb so painful that I could hardly move.

Finally I forced myself to remove my head from the sink and I sat down on the floor in front of it. Drawing my legs up, I wrapped my arms around them and hugged my knees to my chest, trying to ignore the sensation of there being a hole where my heart and lungs should be. I stared at the floor, doing my best not to look at my monstrous form or fall back into the darkness that had enveloped me for days before.

But it was difficult, like trying to break steel. There were tiny whispers in my head, frozen drafts blowing in from the deepest recesses of my brain, all of them telling me that there was no hope. I found it hard to disagree with them. What was the point of knowing I was human on the inside if nothing could convince my body? The mind can't live without the body, and vice versa, so…what was I supposed to do if they simply refused to agree?

"Are you okay?"

I glanced up to see Davis walking into the room, concern in his eyes when he saw me. Knowing that whoever had come in before had told him what I had been doing, I let out a deep sigh. He sat down beside me, and I reluctantly murmured against my arm, "I tried human food again, and it didn't work out. I…I really thought it would be okay this time…" I ignored the fact that my voice had broken halfway through my statement.

The brunette beside me was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking about how to respond. I was about to tell him not to worry about me and that no part of this incident mattered, but before I could he said, "Devimon pulled a lot of jerk moves that we can't fix by ourselves. After we find him and beat him, then Izzy and Ken and everybody are gonna do everything they can to help you. Don't let things like this get to you. If I let the little problems of life get to me, I'd have been kicked out of school a long time ago."

I let out a small laugh; I hadn't expected Davis's comforting to go that way. "Don't talk to me about school when you've been putting off your homework ever since I first showed up. I've never seen you open, let alone touch, a textbook all the time that I've known you," I said with an accusatory tone.

Davis looked at me, shocked and offended. "You're a bit more important than homework! And why are you talking about school? You haven't gone to school to learn anything for five years, and you were younger than me when you stopped!" I smirked, deciding not to point out that I'd had no choice in the matter. Obvious monsters weren't allowed in most schools.

"I'm glad I'm more important than the homework that you neglect," I said with a smile as I stood up, offering Davis my hand to help him up as well. He took it and I relished the heat of his hand in mine for that short moment. I tried to hang onto the feeling even after his hand had gone. I held it deep within my conscious mind, held it as tight as I could, knowing that it would fade away soon, but wanting to make the most of it while it was still present.

We walked back into the sitting room, where Izzy, Yolei, Ken, and Cody were gathered around the map and Izzy's yellow laptop. Yolei had just been snapping a cell phone closed when we entered. "Tai says that he's got practice and TK broke a pencil sharpener so he's got to serve detention, and then Matt has band practice and can't get out of it. Joe's got classes today, too, and Sora's got her tennis stuff to do. Everybody else is coming, though."

There was a short silence. Ken glanced at Yolei out of the corner of his eye. "…Doesn't that just leave Kari since Mimi's in America?" There was another moment of quiet, aside from Izzy's typing and Cody's doodling on the map, while Yolei thought this over. I sat down on the floor by Cody and watched her slowly start to glare off into the distance.

When she came to the realization that the boy was indeed correct, her face turned bright red and she punched him roughly on the shoulder, growling under her breath, "Shut up, Ken. Being cute doesn't give you the right to criticize me." Ken rubbed his sore shoulder and gave a small smile to the blushing girl, but said nothing more regarding the subject.

We all waited for a good ten or fifteen minutes to start going over what other information Izzy had, only because Izzy thought that we may as well wait for Kari to get here so that no one would have to repeat anyything that we went through. Several of us paced as we awaited our final member, others sat down to play tic-tac-toe. Cody beat me three times before Kari finally arrived.

She apologized for how long she took several times as she removed her shoes and raincoat. Hurrying over with water still dripping from her hair, she took a seat on the couch beside Yolei and Ken. I tried my best not to think about the way that Davis looked at her as if she were an angel walking around on planet earth. Instead, I turned the entirety of my focus on Izzy when he started to speak.

"We all know why we're here: this Devimon has been terrorizing people for long enough now, and the last thing we want is for him to actually open the Gate to the Dark Ocean. Now that we know what's been going on, I don't think there's any way that we can't beat this guy. Moroamon believes that she's got his hideout, and Cody and I think that we've got a plan that should work wonders.

"Moroamon, if you don't mind…" I glanced up with surprise when Izzy started gesturing for me to explain, and I stuttered for a moment before telling them (mainly Kari since the others had already heard) about how I couldn't remember exactly where the base was, but I had a few ideas. After I'd finished, Izzy continued from where I'd left off. "Cody, Ken, and I analyzed which points she picked out and we think that we've figured out the most likely spot that Devimon will hide at.

"Devimon didn't want Moroamon to be able to know anything about where his bases were, so he made her in a way that would keep her from remembering the location, but at the same time would allow her to find her way there when she needed to. So, as you can see—" He held up the blackened map. "—she filled in everything that she knew, so whatever was left must be Devimon's bases.

"She's left these three spots blank," he said, pointing to each of them as he went along. "Here, here, and here. This small one up here in the north is probably for emergencies; if we fight him in either of the other two places and he loses but isn't destroyed, he'll most likely come here to recover. This other small one here is sort of like a summer home, he only comes here when he wants to or thinks he should. It's underwater, so let's hope he doesn't go here.

"This huge one here, though, is rather odd. It's all desert here; there aren't any villages or anything in the entire area, and it's only a little smaller than Japan. I got into contact with Gennai and he told me that the Digimon don't live there because the ground is very fragile and you could easily slip through the sand into the bowels of the Digital World. However, it's only that part of the desert, the rest of it is fine.

"All this information has led me to one conclusion: this whole spot is Devimon's main base, and it's completely underground. It must be where he plans to open the Dark Gate, and it's where we'll have to go first if we plan on finding him quickly. I'd be willing to bet that he'd expect us to look at the other two bases first since it really is a foolish move to stay in one spot, and that's why he'll be at the main one for sure. He'll be expecting us to think he's too smart to make a stupid move.

"We'll need to find a good time for all of us to go, otherwise just have everybody miss a day of school or a practice. This weekend might actually be the best time; the earlier the better, really." There was a general consensus around the room, people nodding their heads or smiling or saying something confident that I barely heard.

I was on my feet before I'd even registered the fear electrifying my soul. "You can't possibly think that Devimon is someone that you can mosey up to and start a fight with, do you? So what if we know where his base is now? He's expecting us to come and get him! He knows that it would be possible for me to find my way back there, but he doesn't think I've got the moxie! He knows I'll be afraid to go back alone, so he'll be waiting for all of you!

"He said that he needs one more soul before he can open the door, and I'm sure that he's going to try to wait for one of you guys for as long as he can. He said before he left last night that he wants me to be there when he opens that gate—he knows that if I come, you DigiDestined will as well." I breathed heavily for a moment, my heart pounding hard as a hammer against steel.

"Moroamon," Kari, her hair still wet from her walk over, extended a hand toward me in a gesture that tried at consoling. I tried to get myself to calm down as she gazed at me with flawless brown eyes, eyes that wondered why I was reacting so strongly, wondered what I'd seen that they hadn't. "You know we have to go fight him—you've been with us on this completely up until now—"

"I didn't think about it like I should've until Izzy was talking," I mumbled under my breath, beginning to feel more anxious than anything as time wore on. "I've seen pain and destruction all my life, so it normally doesn't bother me that much. But I wasn't thinking about how you guys would be there, too, that it wouldn't just be me, Devimon, and his minions.

"And that's why, if we go in the next day or two, I have one condition: if you're coming along, don't go after Devimon. Leave him to me." Bewildered cries and outbursts came from everyone in the room, and, having expected nothing less, I remained silent as their words droned on through my head. There was nothing that could be said that would change my mind.

I heard Yolei's voice rise above the others. "Are you nuts?! He's come inches from killing you a billion times, and now you're just going to waltz in and say, 'Let's do this' and hope to high heaven that you'll win?! That's about as stupid as Davis walking up to him and challenging him to a game of blindfolded chess!"

Cody was next to try to talk me down. His voice wasn't as strong as I was used to it being, and I kept my eyes off of the youngest member of the DigiDestined as he spoke. "Moroamon, I know that you're still feeling a lot of bad things about Devimon and what happened, but you promised last night that you wouldn't endanger yourself like this! We want to beat Devimon, too, but not if you're the only one who's going to pay a price!"

Izzy, Ken, and Kari gave similar speeches, but Davis sat as silent as the Digimon, who were trying to comfort and encourage their partners via their presence. DemiVeemon said Davis's name once, and that drew everyone's attention to the strangely quiet gogglehead. Having been sitting next to him on the floor for some time now, I looked down at him and waited for him to try to talk me out of this course of action as well.

"…Moroamon's got a good point…" An impenetrable, shocked silence dropped upon the room like a heavy iron curtain. Davis stood up beside me and faced his fellow DigiDestined with an unfamiliar flame burning in his eyes. I stared, bewildered as the others were, as he spoke with a tongue of fire, "Devimon's gotten more power from somebody; we saw that last night. He was too strong for all of our Digimon combined, but his minions weren't.

"We already know that Moroamon's got enough power to be a problem for a Mega Digimon, so if she can get that collar off then she'll be fine. But she'll need us to keep the DeviDramon and whatever else Devimon's got holed up in that place off of her so that she can get a fair fight with him," he looked to me for confirmation. "Right?"

It took me several long moments to realize that Davis was on my side for once. He was agreeing with me, saying that he trusted my judgement this time around and was willing to do whatever I needed him and the rest of our friends to do. He believed in me; he believed that I could defeat Devimon, that I could overcome.

I'd never had any idea what it felt like to be believed in before. It was unlike anything I'd ever had the pleasure of feeling before. "…Thank you, Davis." He gave me a very small smile and nodded, but didn't say anything else. The flame that had burned previously was beginning to smolder as he calmed again, and it didn't seem to trouble him that the others still didn't seem convinced that this was okay.

A long moment of silence enveloped the room, only some whispering and nervous fidgeting threatening to break it. A few kept glancing at each other, hoping that the other might be able to put their thoughts into words, that anyone might be able to show us that we were wrong somehow. However, no one made any sign that they were going to stand to oppose us.

Several people jumped when the Izumi's phone rang and shattered the quiet. Izzy set his laptop down and jumped up to go answer it while everyone else was trying to recover from the miniature heart attacks they'd just had. "Izumi residence…oh, hey, Tai...Yeah, Kari's here," he glanced back at the rest of us; his eyes paused on me. "No, actually, you should come over here to get her. I've got some stuff to tell you in person…

"Well, we've got a plan. And Moroamon's got some more ideas…" There was another short pause, during which Izzy tried to interrupt several times but never got farther than opening his mouth. Finally, he turned back to me with an unreadable expression. "Don't run off too fast, just yet," he said. "Tai says that he and the others will want to hear your idea from you."

It was a long time before the rest of the DigiDestined finally let me return with Davis to his home. All of those who hadn't been there to hear the first telling of my plans were just as against it as the others had been, though they were more vehement about their opposition. Matt angrily accused me of reverting back to yesterday's attitude.

"No," I'd told him as calmly as I'd been able to. "I haven't. If anything, I'm as far from yesterday as possible. I've been thinking much more clearly since last night, and during that fight with Devimon, like I said, I saw things from him that I've never seen before. I know exactly what friendship is now, and I'm trying to be a friend to you guys by keeping you from going into a fight in which you would all die."

Their retort, given by TK, was short but to the point. "And you have a less likely chance of it, then? One-on-one is better than ten-, maybe twelve-to-one?" All sets of eyes were on me; Izzy's mother was even peering in on the heated discussion from an open door. She looked as worried as the others, concerned and nervous about how I might respond. But I think, somehow, they knew what I would say.

Gulping down the tingling, wriggling sensation of fear in my belly, I forced steadiness into my voice, but only succeeded in hushing it to the point of a whisper. "Yes. If I get this off—" I pointed to the collar. "—then I'll have a more likely chance of surviving than any number of you will against him." I paused for a moment, ready to add something else, but then thought better of it.

However, Sora, in a light, anxious voice, asked what I was afraid to say. "And…if you can't get it off the rest of the way? What then?" Everyone in the room had leaned forward toward where I stood as her question continued to drift through the air, filling up the entire room like some kind of gas. Though it didn't bother anyone else, it was toxic to me. My lungs could barely function.

Trying to hide my trembling knees by shifting my stance, fisting my hands, I opened my mouth but at first had no voice. If I couldn't get the collar off… "Then when the moment comes, you will leave me there with him—" Some stood up and shouted in horror at the thought, but I talked over those who did. They quieted only to hear me, but their rage burned in the air around us.

"I know every part of that place he hides in. I probably know more of it than he does. Since I'm meant to live for an eternity, I'll keep him there. He'll want to find me and get rid of me before he does anything else, so he won't give up. I might be able to break the collar off during that time, and then I should be able to finish him off. After his minions disperse, I might even be able to come back and let you know it's safe.

"Otherwise…you will still leave…" I paused again, unsure if I should say this or if I should keep it to myself. Looking into each of their frightened faces, each of them wondering if they would see me again next week, convinced me that I ought to tell them. "And after you do, I'll destroy the place. I'll tear everything down, barricade us in, and make sure no one ever gets out of that place again. The Gate stays closed, Devimon stays trapped, and no one will have anything to fear anymore."

My options were met by silence at first. But then Sora covered her mouth, and, watery-eyed, left the room. A few moments passed before Matt went after her; Tai looked like he would've, but Kari seemed just as distraught and he stayed near her instead. Izzy looked to be in shock and hadn't reacted yet. Cody wasn't far from that state, either.

Ken was staring at me as if he wanted to say something, Yolei watching the both of us to see if we would begin to talk with some sense, but the conversation never began. No one knew what to say; no one knew what to do. I hadn't had any idea what to do until Davis had finally stepped in after being silent for such a long time.

"Let's just stick with the first plan we had until we get farther along. If you can't get the collar off…then we'll figure it out then." His voice was strained, both from emotion and lack of use. He stood, and I noted that his face was unusually inexpressive. The boy looked as if he were sleepwalking. "It's late. You guys have the gist now, so we're gonna go home."

And with that, he'd led me out into the rain, and we'd started for home. It hadn't gotten to be very late yet, but the sky was darker than normal, the rain heavier, and we hadn't bothered to come up with a plan to hide me. No one in their right mind would've gone out in this storm, anyway, so we were as alone as aliens, outsiders. Neither of us spoke. We had nothing more to say at that point.

After we got home and dried off, Davis and DemiVeemon got some supper while I went to wait in his room. I was contemplating the events of the night before and those of today when he finally came in, looking drained but a little better after getting some warm food in his system. I knew not to mention what had gone on earlier.

I straightened up, having been slouching in my position on his bed. "I organized a little." Davis, looking confused, was guided by my gesture to his desk, and immediately his face fell. His homework had been divided into several stacks, categorized depending on either how long the assignment would take or how willing Davis would be to complete it. "I told you earlier, just because you're saving the world doesn't mean you can slack off."

Glaring at me, but too surprised to make a rebuttal, the brunette grumbled under his breath (all of which I heard, for the record) as he plopped down at his desk and began to work. Smiling to myself, I listened to the scratching of his pencil on the paper and the flipping of pages and the slamming of text books, offering my assistance whenever there was a silence that lasted a little longer than normal.

During one of these, I'd just been about to ask if there was something he didn't understand when he cut me off and asked suddenly, "Why did you do it, anyway?" For a second I thought he was talking about his homework, but realized that he wasn't when he resisted the urge to look back at me. Was it something about earlier this evening?

"What do you mean? I explained a lot today…" I trailed off, my high spirit beginning to come back down rather quickly, falling fast as a bird after being shot. It was hard to believe that he wanted to go over this more; I had half a mind to refuse to answer his inquiry and shove his head back into his book. I was kept from doing this only by a shake of his head.

He still didn't look back at me as he said, "No, I didn't mean that…" He paused for a moment, and I could sense that he was preparing his thoughts. I didn't interrupt. "Okay, when you first came to get me and Ken, you got hit with that pan and you stopped. I've seen you fight a lot by now, and I don't think that a human—Izzy, really—hitting you with a pan should be enough to make you black out.

"I want to know why you stopped that night. Izzy didn't stop you; no human could've alone. Something else did, and I really wanna know what it was." Shocked, I stared at the back of the brunette's head for the longest time, long enough to make him nervous. "If it's a stupid question—"

"No," I stopped him quickly. "It's not. It's actually a very…it is a very good question…And I really don't have a good answer for you, but if I were to tell you anything…I suppose it would be…" Several thoughts rushed through my head. Words like 'fate', 'destiny', and 'glitch' ran through my mind, all of them ways to escape this conversation quickly.

But none of them were the full truth. "It would be that, down deep inside me, I was...confused. Devimon gave me jobs, missions, but he didn't give me facts that I knew I could trust. I think, to a certain extent, I always had my doubts about him. And about you DigiDestined, you full-humans. He said that it didn't matter what I did to you, that I just needed to listen to him and everything would be fine. I was confused because inside, unbeknownst to me, I knew there was something wrong.

"And you guys confused me, as well. I hate to admit it even now, I suppose, that I didn't understand you as well as I wanted to. I had questions, and I never got any answers because there was no one that was safe to ask. Devimon would know if I had, and this whole bloodbath would've started earlier, maybe before I'd had your support. After a while, I told myself that you had to be human to understand another human. But even then, that's wrong, too.

"There've always been two voices in my head: the one you're hearing now, and the one you heard that night. This one is Satu's; it's mine, it's good. The one you used to hear belonged to a creature who belonged to someone as dark as the devil. That night was the first time in a while that I heard both so clearly. One said, 'Finish the mission.' The other said, 'Do whatever you can to stop.'

"But if you remember when Strabimon came that first time at Ken's home, you know how hard it is to stop. It wouldn't be easy, it would be foolish, really, and so I ignored that other voice. I ignored my humanity. However, when that pan hit me, it was what the human me had needed: a diversion, a surprise. I'm very rarely surprised, and my subconscious knew how to work with that.

"So, I shut myself down. I think. The most human part of me made the first move towards a better life, and sometimes that step means going against what you want to do, what you think you have to do. And it was a large first step, because from that point on that voice was louder than ever before. There was no ignoring it.

"You led me to my senses and showed me what humans do, how they laugh and can be happy and how they have friends. You showed me what friends are, and you weren't afraid to correct me when I was in the wrong. You got me to see that others have emotions that are influence by my actions—in other words, people care about me. Davis, you and your friends and your families showed me how to be human again. I'll always be grateful to you for that."

I paused for a moment. "That was why I tried that radish before, because I've never felt this human before in my life, I've never belonged so much before…I've never wanted to belong so much before…" Allowing my voice to fade, I listened to both DemiVeemon and Davis's breathing, for it was the only sound in the room. It comforted me a little as I waited for Davis to respond.

For a long while I thought he wasn't going to respond, that I'd said much more than what he'd wanted to know. But finally, he said this: "Moroamon, you belong with us. Being involved with the Digital World makes you a DigiDestined, and so you've always been one of us. The name comes with a lot of stuff, like saving the world a lot, but the bond between all of us never breaks."

It was then that Davis looked back at me. He was smiling. "That bond is stronger than you, Miss Makes-Me-Do-Homework." I gave a surprised but amused snort at his quip, and DemiVeemon began to laugh, falling back onto the bed and beginning to roll around giggling.

Laughing harder at the creature, I deviously tied him up in a part of the blanket, watching with a smile as he continued to roll and laugh until he'd been completely hidden by the blanket. We all laughed when his little blue feet suddenly popped back out.

After regaining our normal breathing patterns, I got Davis to do a few more questions in one of his assignments before he obviously could do no more. He changed and I got out of his way when he turned out the light and headed for his bed. "You don't have to sit in the corner all night every night, you know," he said, making me stop halfway to my designated spot.

I was about to ask him what other idea he had, but DemiVeemon had emerged from the sheets at that moment and began to energetically pat the blankets beside him. I sighed when Davis didn't rebuke him or say anything else. Mumbling about how they were both going to freeze, I leaped lithely onto the corner of the bed behind DemiVeemon, curling into a tight ball.

DemiVeemon turned himself into a blanket-burrito before snuggling up to me, and I was surprised by how comfortable I was, by how easy it seemed to fall asleep. I never did fall asleep, but the thought of its simplicity was rest enough for me. I did my best not to think of what the next few days would bring, though, and in the place of such wonderings, I focused on Davis's snoring, relishing the loud sound. It was music to me tonight.